Is there any interest in a possible catch-all thread for items of archaeological or pre-historical interest, along the lines of the astronomy thread? Possibly not, I suppose, as the field doesn't have comparable popularity as a hobby.
Anyway, with no hook or topicality, here's the Wikipedia page on the Happisburgh footprints, which I just read about in Bill Bryson's The Road to Little Dribbling. It's mind-blowing: footprints made not far short of a million years ago (the oldest ever found outside Africa), hidden for all that time until discovered a few years ago, then available for research for only a few months before the tide destroys them. A metaphorical shooting star, if you will.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happisburgh_footprints
I've only recently realised just how much new stuff is being discovered about pre-historical periods, thanks to the ever more ingenious science and technology and the brilliance of the people who work in the field. The range of scientific disciplines which can shed light on the long disappeared past is awesome. I have been captivated by Cyprian Broodbank's The Making of the Middle Sea, a panorama of the pre-history of the Mediterranean from the early evolution of man and other hominids up to the dawn of classical Greece.
Anyway, with no hook or topicality, here's the Wikipedia page on the Happisburgh footprints, which I just read about in Bill Bryson's The Road to Little Dribbling. It's mind-blowing: footprints made not far short of a million years ago (the oldest ever found outside Africa), hidden for all that time until discovered a few years ago, then available for research for only a few months before the tide destroys them. A metaphorical shooting star, if you will.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happisburgh_footprints
I've only recently realised just how much new stuff is being discovered about pre-historical periods, thanks to the ever more ingenious science and technology and the brilliance of the people who work in the field. The range of scientific disciplines which can shed light on the long disappeared past is awesome. I have been captivated by Cyprian Broodbank's The Making of the Middle Sea, a panorama of the pre-history of the Mediterranean from the early evolution of man and other hominids up to the dawn of classical Greece.
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