Anthropology.net

Although people alive at the time probably didn’t appreciate the benefits to posterity of their contemporary troubles and wars, their efforts to hide and preserve those objects they considered to be of value, have inadvertently become their gift, a legacy of artifacts that have come down through the years, enabling us in many cases to appreciate the true extent of skills in manufacture and design that existed in the past.

The most important Viking treasure find in Britain for 150 years has been unearthed by a father and son while metal detecting in Yorkshire... The ancient objects come from as far afield as Afghanistan in the East and Ireland in the West, as well as Russia, Scandinavia and continental Europe. The hoard contains 617 silver coins and 65 other objects, including a gold arm-ring and a gilt silver vessel.

As we can see, finds like these also bear testament to the wide network of trade and commerce that existed across the world at 927 AD, although we know from prehistory that many objects and materials were traded across distances of thousands of miles for some considerable time before the Vikings graced these shores with their presence. (TJ)

see also: ‘Becalmed Viking Ship Takes A Tow‘ (update on the ‘Sea Stallion’ project)

It’s not often we hear much in the way of good news from Africa – for Africans – (n.b. this post has since been amended, please see below) but the news that one of the prime drivers of the civil war in Sudan, namely a scarcity of water, may have been halted, or at least slowed, will give encouragement to those wishing for an end to the conflict…

The (Boston University Center for Remote Sensing) team used radar data to find the ancient lake, which was 30,750 km2 – the size of Lake Erie in North America – the 10th largest lake in the world. A similar discovery was made in Sudan’s neighbour Egypt, where wells have been used to irrigate 150,000 acres of farmland, the researchers say.

The discovery is “very significant”, Hafiz Muhamad from the lobby group Justice Africa told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme. “The root cause of the conflict is resources – drought and desertification in North Darfur.”

He says this led the Arab nomads to move into South Darfur, where they came into conflict with black African farmers. He also said that it has long been known there was water in the area but the government had not paid for it to be exploited.

I would have thought that a government aware of plentiful water supplies which could potentially palliate a war in which 200,000 people are estimated to have dies, with a further 2 million being displaced, would have been keen to exploit this resource – and if they didn’t have the money to do so, I would further have thought they’d at least have announced it to the outside world, from where financial and other aid may well have been forthcoming.

Of course, it will need more than the discovery of this vast underground lake to end hostilities – it will have to be shown that both sides, the farmers and nomads, are being treated equally and being given sufficient access for their needs – I’m not sure if this lake is being fed and constantly replenished, or whether it will simply be sucked dry, merely for war to break out once more. And as in any war, there are many side issues, such as the deep resentment and mistrust between the two sides that has built up over the years, that will need to be addressed, for any long lasting peace to be able to take hold – but at least this discovery offers some sort of foundation on which a better future can be built. (TJ)

n.b. Update 20/07/07 – It now transpires that this lake may have no water after all – please see this link from BBC News – Ancient Darfur Lake ‘Is Dried Up’

See also: this report from 2005 – Radar Finds Water For Sudan Refugees

International Journal Of Remote Sensing.

Whilst the Mesolithic people living in the huntin’, shootin’ and fishin’ paradise that was Doggerland at the end of the last Ice Age, had little idea of the watery world it would one day become as Britain became cut off from mainland Europe, it’s improbable they realised that similar events had happened in their own distant past. This from BBC News, who describe one event at around 400,000 – 425,000 bp…

It is believed that hundreds of thousands of years ago, when ice sheets had pushed down from Scotland and Scandinavia, there existed a narrow isthmus linking Britain to continental Europe.This gently upfolding chalk ridge was perhaps some 30m higher than the current sea level in the English Channel.

Palaeo-researchers think it bounded a large lake to the northeast that was filled by glacial meltwaters fed by ancient versions of the rivers Thames and Rhine. Then – and they are not sure of the precise date – something happened to break the isthmus known as the Weald-Artois ridge.

“Possibly this was just the build-up of water behind. Possibly something triggered it; it’s well known today that there are small earthquakes in the Kent area,” explained Imperial’s Dr Jenny Collier. Either way, once the ridge was broken, the discharge would have been spectacular.

One can imagine the effect such a deluge would have had on anything living in its path – maybe there were a few archaic humans dotted here and there across the landscape, along with a suite of Pleistocene wildlife to accompany them – which if caught in the sudden release of countless millions of tons of water from the breached ridge would have been swept up and destroyed in the cataclysmic torrent.

At its peak, it is believed that the megaflood could have lasted several months, discharging an estimated one million cubic metres of water per second. And from the way some features have been cut, it is likely there were at least two distinct phases to the flooding.

“I was frankly astonished,” said Dr Collier. “I’ve worked in many exotic places around the world, including mid-ocean ridges where you see very spectacular features; and it was an enormous surprise to me that we should find something with a worldwide-scale implication offshore of the Isle of Wight. It was completely unexpected.” Read the rest of this entry »