The bond between humans and dogs is one of the oldest stories in anthropology. It may also be a cautionary tale for other animals, though the organic, holistic, free-range, ayurvedic, shade-tree grown dog food is probably pretty good.A new study of bones recovered from Gough’s Cave and Pınarbaşı says we may have been dressing pets up in funny outfits even farther back. Evidence shows they...
read moreToday is, in Christian observance, Twelfth Night, the end of The 12 Days of Christmas in that song.(1) The Twelfth Night celebration ends Christmastide then tomorrow is Epiphany - the day when the Three Wise Men who saw the Star of Bethlehem during the birth of Jesus arrived after their journey.(2)In modern times, today is also Divorce Day. Couples who vowed to just 'get through the holidays'...
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A recent analysis of Neanderthal bones from the Troisième caverne of Goyet in Belgium, which has a whopping 101 skeletal remains, notes cannibalism was happening 45,000 years ago - women and children impacted most. The consumed Neanderthals were not from the local tribe and the presence of bones from numerous other animals means they were likely to have been brought into the community just for...
read moreThe next time someone tries to tell you ancient folk medicine was equivalent to modern science, remind them that people once consumed other humans as part of legal trade. Apothecaries sold powdered mummies, or at least what they claimed were powdered mummies, because of belief in medical cannibalism and that it cured everything from headaches to the plague.Take that, antibiotics, your job could...
read moreSamhain, All Hallows Evening. Hallowe'en, Halloween. The name has changed but the world’s fascination with a day of spooks and scares has never wavered. Except it has also always been about harvests and farming and food. It may seem odd to lump together food and ghosts but that is Halloween in a cultural nutshell; a confusing mash-up of cultures and beliefs. That is actually a good thing. It...
read moreA new paper argues that academic ecology is culturally corroded. 'Stay in your lane', 'do you want to die on that hill?' and other territorial and undermining behavior were reported by 44% of predominantly ecologists who responded to a survey. They say it was most common as graduate students, a third of the time by their own supervisor. Of those, 18 percent reported they had experienced it...
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