the shape of history
Tucson
Davis Monthan Airforce Base – the boneyard of mothballed aircraft.
Neanderthals ’sang and danced’
Steve Mithen of Reading University is in the news again about his forthcoming book – another on cognitive archaeology and evolution. The BBC have picked up on his argument about neanderthals, language and symbolic behavior [Link] Prof Mithen thinks the cave- dwellers would have enjoyed the rhythms and sounds made by rap artists. He said:…
Charles Redman on environmental politics
It has taken me too long to get round to reading Charles Redman’s great book Human Impact on Ancient Environments – Arizona, 1999. I came to the book because of the upcoming exhibition at the Cantor Arts Center, Stanford, of the photographs of Edward Burtynsky – they foreground massive environmental impacts. [Link] We need a…
the end of the Neanderthals – biology and culture
photo – BBC – amended There is an item today on the BBC web site connected with what sounds like a comprehensive TV treatment of the now classic puzzle of the end of the Neanderthals – BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | The icy truth behind Neanderthals. What happened to the Neanderthals? Did they die out?…
creationism, intelligent design and redefinitions of science
Suzanne Goldenberg writes an informative summary today in the Guardian of the latest stage of the creationist debate in the US – Religious right fights science for the heart of America. Classroom confrontations between God and science are under way in 17 states, according to the National Centre for Science Education. In Missouri, state legislators…