Archaeological trap: Fish can make skeletons appear hundreds of years too old

science & techPhys.orgMedieval · Svendborg, Denmark

Archaeological trap: Fish can make skeletons appear hundreds of years too old

from Phys.org

The Danish town of Svendborg was once home to a Franciscan monastery. As at other monasteries in Denmark, it was considered highly prestigious to be buried as close to the monastery church as possible, preferably inside the church itself, for instance near the chapter house or along the cloister.

explained

A fish is an aquatic, gill-bearing vertebrate with a tough cranium that protects the brain, and many species use fins for stability and movement. Fish are the largest group of vertebrates, with over 33,000 living species, and most belong to the ray-finned fishes. Modern phylogenetics treats fish as a paraphyletic group, since tetrapods descended from them. The study of fish is called ichthyology.

Background adapted from Wikipedia: Fish ↗ · text CC BY-SA 4.0

how it works

Living things take in carbon-14 from the air, then it decays at a known rate after death, giving an age. Ocean water mixes slowly with the air, so its carbon-14 is already partly decayed. Fish and seals carry this depleted signal, and humans who eat them inherit it, making their bones look older.

so what

Radiocarbon dating is the main clock of archaeology, and diet can silently skew it by centuries. Correcting for it changes the dates of graves and the history built on them.

fun fact

Radiocarbon dating was developed by Willard Libby in the 1940s, and he won the 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for it.

source: Phys.org ↗

politics

Trump and Netanyahu reportedly clash over whether to resume military action against Iran

the gist

Israeli reports also say the cabinet directed the military to prepare for a possible new attack on Iran.

so what

The United States and Israel have been closely aligned on Iran's nuclear programme and regional threats, so open disagreement between their leaders over military strategy is unusual and closely watched. Whether to resume strikes is a decision with consequences for shipping, oil markets and the wider Middle East.

fun fact

Benjamin Netanyahu has served as Prime Minister of Israel for more years in total than any other person.

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Data: GDELT Project

Illustrative photo · Israel Belkind and Fanny Abramovitch (original) “The Provis…, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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supplementary video · Epimetheus on YouTube ↗

world cultures & travelWikivoyageclassic9th–15th century · Siem Reap, Cambodia

Angkor was the largest pre-industrial city on Earth, covering about 3,000 square kilometres

the gist

Angkor, near Siem Reap in northern Cambodia, was the capital of the Khmer Empire, which ruled much of mainland Southeast Asia between roughly the 9th and 15th centuries. At its height the city spread across about 3,000 square kilometres, making it the largest pre-industrial city on Earth by area. Its growth depended on water: huge reservoirs called barays, along with canals and embankments, stored monsoon rain and carried it to rice fields. That system let farmers harvest more than once a year and fed a very large population through the dry season. The temple complex of Angkor Wat, built in the early 12th century, is the best-known monument and still stands at the heart of the park.

how it works

The Khmer kings built enormous rectangular reservoirs that caught monsoon rain during the wet season. Earthen dykes and canals moved that water into rice paddies, so farmers could grow crops across much of the year. The surplus food supported craftsmen, builders and the workforce that raised the temples.

so what

Angkor shows how a society without industrial machinery could build a city on a scale that rivals modern metropolises, using engineering and water management instead. Some historians link its decline to drought, flooding and shifts in its water systems, which makes it a long-running case study in how cities depend on managing water. The site is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important archaeological landscapes in Southeast Asia.

fun fact

The outline of Angkor Wat appears on the national flag of Cambodia.

more on this

background

Angkor (Khmer: អង្គរ [ʔɑŋkɔː], lit. 'capital city'), also known as Yasodharapura (Khmer: យសោធរបុរៈ; Sanskrit: यशोधरपुर), was the capital city of the Khmer Empire, located in present-day Cambodia. The empire flourished from approximately the 9th to the 15th centuries. The site of Angkor has a variety of religious temples, libraries, moats, and other buildings. These other buildings could have been used by officials to the grand palace housing the Khmer king. Those constructed outside the main complex were not made of stone. One of the more visited places in Angkor is Angkor Wat, a temple complex that is one of Cambodia's tourist attractions.

From Wikipedia: Angkor (CC BY-SA 4.0) ↗ · text CC BY-SA 4.0

see

Satdeep Gill, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Marcin Konsek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

key facts

Country: Cambodia
Located in: Siem Reap Province
Area: 35,100 km²

Facts: Wikidata (CC0)

Adapted from Wikivoyage, the free travel guide · CC BY-SA 4.0

source: Wikivoyage ↗