A rare Roman-era Mausoleum With Mosaics Excavated in London

 

Photo: Museum of London Archaeology

Roman London was a thriving metropolis and outpost of empire. Known as Londinium, it was founded around 43 CE when Roman troops invaded England. They built the earliest “London bridge,” as well as temples, bathhouses, palaces, and more. The remains of this ancient cosmopolitan network still lie below the modern city, and are often discovered during building projects and archeological digs. Recently, a rare mausoleum was unearthed in London's Southwark neighborhood in the Liberty of Southwark site. This incredible find includes mosaics, stairs, and other fascinating relics.

The excavation site has previously yielded impressive mosaics. The Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) on behalf of Landsec and Transport for London (TfL) conducted this most recent dig which encountered the mausoleum. The building consists of a mosaic floor, raised platforms, walls, and even stairs leading up to another mosaic. It appears the ancients may have built a second, raised floor above the original lower mosaic. Over 100 coins, pottery shards, roofing tiles, and metal fragments were uncovered, too.

The site was likely a burial ground for wealthy Roman Londoners. However, coffins have not yet been uncovered. “This relatively small site in Southwark is a microcosm for the changing fortunes of Roman London—from the early phase of the site where London expands and the area has lavishly decorated Roman buildings, all the way through to the later Roman period when the settlement shrinks and it becomes a more quiet space where people remember their dead,” says Antonietta Lerz, senior archaeologist at MOLA. While The Liberty of Southwark will be a commercial complex, there are plans to preserve the site so that the public can see this cool part of the city's history.

Lerz adds, “The rediscovery of thus Roman mausoleum and mosaics is a testament to the rich tapestry of our past.” You can explore the site in 3D with this model to see for yourself.

A rare Roman-era mausoleum has been excavated in London's Southwark neighborhood, indicating the former presence of a substantial building of Roman London.

Photo: Museum of London Archaeology

The unique site features a mosaic floor that likely was part of a larger burial complex.

Photo: Museum of London Archaeology

Photo: Museum of London Archaeology

Helen Keller Wrote a Letter to Book-Burning Nazis About the Power of Ideas In 1933

 

Nazi students picking through the collected materials of Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld, director of the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin on May 6, 1933 in preparation for a book burning. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

Helen Keller is known for her activism for the disabled community. After a childhood illness rendered her deaf and blind, she learned to read, write, sign, and speak. Graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Radcliffe College in 1904, Keller was the first deafblind person to earn a Bachelors of Arts degree in the United States. A writer, a socialist, and a suffragette, her activism extended far beyond the deafblind community to touch many national and world affairs. Powerfully, in 1933, Keller penned an open letter in The New York Times warning Nazi students—who were openly burning books, including her own—of the perils of the fascist desire to crush opposing ideas.

The letter can be seen in a typed draft by Keller from May 9, 1933. It contains handwritten additions from Keller's aid Polly Thompson. Keller's book, How I Became a Socialist, had been earmarked for burning on a long list made by the Nazi party for a mass burning event on May 10, 1933. On that day, university students participated in burnings across Germany. The 25,000 books burned targeted a variety of topics, from socialist works like Keller's to Freud to science fiction like H.G. Wells. While anything deemed “un-German” or antithetical to the Nazi regime was in danger, the burnings were heavily targeted towards the works of Jewish authors.

Keller for her part was aware of this attack's anti-Semitic focus. “Do not imagine that your barbarities to the Jews are unknown here,” she wrote in her open letter. Her letter, shared below, speaks to the power of ideas and the impotency of the fascist response to destroy and suppress. While incredibly dangerous, such responses cannot kill ideas which have already permeated the ether of society. Her words, while spoken 90 years ago and directed at a foreign nation, are worth remembering today, as books are banned from school libraries or pulled from public shelves for describing the experiences of people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals. History, as always, must prove a lesson—even as book banning parties would try to rewrite it.

In 1933, Helen Keller wrote an open letter in The New York Times to Nazi students, warning them of the perils of trying to stamp out ideas.

Helen Keller in 1920. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0)

Keller, a socialist, paints a bleak picture of the fascist desire to stamp out ideas.

Helen Keller's own draft of the 1933 letter she wrote to Nazi students. (Photo: Internet Archive)

Here is the text of Helen Keller's Letter:

To the student body of Germany:

History has taught you nothing if you think you can kill ideas. Tyrants have tried to do that often before, and the ideas have risen up in their might and destroyed them.

You can burn my books and the books of the best minds in Europe, but the ideas in them have seeped through a million channels and will continue to quicken other minds. I gave all the royalties of my books for all time to the German soldiers blinded in the World War with no thought in my heart but love and compassion for the German people.

I acknowledge the grievous complications that have led to your intolerance; all the more do I deplore the injustice and unwisdom of passing on to unborn generations the stigma of your deeds.

Do not imagine that your barbarities to the Jews are unknown here. God sleepeth not, and He will visit His judgment upon you. Better were it for you to have a mill-stone hung around your neck and sink into the sea than to be hated and despised of all men.

Her words on learning from history, and the resilience of ideas against oppression, can certainly have modern meaning.

The Empty Library at the Bebelplatz in Berlin, designed by Micha Ullman. The sculpture is a memorial to the book burnings of Nazi rule. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0)

Manuscript 500-Year-Old Contains First Recorded Stand-Up Comedy Routine

The first known mention of the phrase “red herring” in its modern meaning. (Photo: National Library of Scotland)

One can find fascinating, surprising things in medieval manuscripts. These rich records of history and culture include anything from a list of herbs or religious prayers to innovative dog names and pictures of cute kittens. Time-consuming to create, expensive to buy, and precious to pass on, these books hold a certain fascination today. A new find suggests they may even provide insight into the history of comedy. Before there was Monty Python, there was Richard Heege. His manuscript is a rare record of a real-life performer's “stand up” comedy in the 15th century, and it includes the first recorded use of the phrase “red herring” in its modern meaning.

The comedic value in this manuscript, held by the National Library of Scotland, was noted recently by Dr. James Wade, a scholar at Cambridge, in the Review of English Studies. “We shouldn’t assume that popular entertainers weren’t capable of poetic achievement. This minstrel clearly was,” explains Dr. Wade. Around 1480, Heege copied three texts by hand into a volume. He likely copied the storylines from a memory-aid for minstrels, traveling performers who made their living entertaining crowds across England. Much of the humor contained within could be considered slapstick sketch comedy, by today’s standards.

The three texts include a burlesque romance called The Hunting of the Hare, a “mock sermon in prose,” and The Battle of Brackonwet, nonsensical verse. The Hunting of the Hare features killer rabbits, a trope often seen in medieval literature and in the Beast of Caerbannog of Monty Python fame: “Jack Wade was never so sad / As when the hare trod on his head / In case she would have ripped out his throat.” The hunted become the hunters. The next piece, the “sermon,” then encourages drinking and references popular drinking ballads. In poking criticism at the nobles of the day, the author calls events a “red herring” or distraction. This is the first known reference of the phrase in this meaning.

Lastly, The Battle of Brackonwet invokes the famous robin hood among a cast of trippy characters, such as jousting bears, that would have been at home in Disney's film. “Heege gives us the rarest glimpse of a medieval world rich in oral storytelling and popular entertainments,” says Wade. In the late 15th century, society was changing. Heege, who was a tutor to a wealthy family, captured this change in a rare insight into a vanished culture. “These texts remind us that festive entertainment was flourishing at a time of growing social mobility. People back then partied a lot more than we do today, so minstrels had plenty of opportunities to perform. They were really important figures in people’s lives right across the social hierarchy. These texts give us a snapshot of medieval life being lived well.”

This medieval manuscript from the 15th century contains fantastical jokes and sassy social critique.

Scribe's additions to Richard Heeg's comedic manuscript. (Photo: National Library of Scotland)

Killer rabbits are a theme in medieval literature. (Photo: The Smithfield Decretals, decorated in London, England, in the 1340s: Royal MS 10 E IV, f. 59v-61v/British Library)

Global Seed Vault on a Norwegian Island

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault. (Photo: Subiet via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Would you like a tour of one of the world's most exclusive venues? It may not be the hottest club in Manhattan or the chicest Instagram backdrop in Paris, but only a select few get to see the inside of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The doors only open a few times a year for select people, but now a virtual tour is allowing everyone to peer inside the concrete “doomsday” collection of seeds from around the world. Start at the entrance and work your way through the snow-shrouded interior of the mountain to learn more about the 1.2 million seeds deposited inside.Opened in 2008, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the world's backup reserve of seeds from plants both common and rare. The location was chosen for its relative insulation from warming climates and its remoteness. The building, which looks like a concrete “pride rock,” was carved into the side of Plateau Mountain. It stands alone against the cold landscape. Some of the vault lies under 400 feet of rock, and five metal doors separate the seeds within from the world outside. Inside, towers of shelves hold thousands of boxes containing seeds in aluminum envelopes. A low temperature of -18 degrees Celcius preserves this precious material.

The aluminum envelopes contain over 1.2 million samples of plant seeds from around the world. Each envelope can hold 500 seeds, and the entire vault has the “capacity to store 4.5 million varieties of crops,” according to Crop Trust. So, why collect these crops? Many countries, in fact, have their own gene banks around the world. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the backup to these local reserves, in the case for some reason they are unavailable or depleted. For example, the vault stepped up to provide samples in 2015 for the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas after an Aleppo seed bank became unusable during the Syrian civil war. Now 15 years into its mission, the vault's collection continues to grow.

“From here in Svalbard, the world looks different. This seed vault represents hope, unity, and security,” says Stefan Schmitz, executive director of the Crop Trust and a co-manager of the vault, in a statement. “In a world where the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, natural catastrophes, and conflicts increasingly destabilize our food systems, it has never been more important to prioritize safeguarding these tiny seeds that hold so much potential to adapt our future food to such global threats.”

Explore this potential yourself through the virtual tour, by Virtual Tour Company. Click the arrows to “walk” or use the map function to see the entire amazing facility.

Interior storage of the vault. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

The vault holds over 1.2 million seed samples, including examples from most of the world's countries.

Aluminum bags holding seeds. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

18th-Century Chinese Vase Accidentally Discovered

 

The magnificent imperial vase which languished for years in a kitchen. (Photo: Dreweatts)

Who doesn't dream about stumbling on a trove of fabulous, valuable artwork? For some people, the discovery of a lifetime is an ancient Roman bust waiting on a Goodwill shelf or a Ming Dynasty bowl at a yard sale. For one family in the UK, their treasured possession turned out to have been sitting in their kitchen for years. Purchased by a surgeon and passed down to his son, the vase turned out to be a Chinese imperial work of art from the era of the famed Qianlong Emperor.

The provenance of the vase is unknown, so how and when it traveled from China to the UK is a mystery possibly shrouding the imperialistic looting. What is known is that a surgeon in the UK purchased the vase for a few hundred pounds in the 1980s. Eventually, it passed to his son. One of the son's friends noticed the two-foot-tall blue and gold bulbous vase sitting in his friend's kitchen. The friend is an antiques specialist and alerted the son of his suspicion that the vase was in fact a valuable artifact.

Crafted of porcelain, the vase is glazed in “sacrificial blue,” a name that hearkens to the blue vases used in sacrifices. It is decorated with clouds, palms, and cranes in silver and gilt (gold). These are symbols from Taoism (or Daoism), the philosophy and religion popular in 18th-century China. The Qianlong Emperor ruled from 1735 to 1796. A member of the powerful Qing Dynasty of China, he is one of the longest-reigning rulers in history. On the base of the vase is a mark signifying its manufacture in the Qianlong period, the years of the Qianlong Emperor's reign. The vase was made for the emperor and likely kept in an imperial palace until it was given away (or stolen).

The vase is a shocking find, but a delight for an auction house. The vase went to auction through Dreweatts where it fetched $1.8 million at auction, well over the $186,000 estimate. The house reported “very strong interest” from bidders in China, Hong Kong, the U.S., and the UK, demonstrating “the demand for the very finest porcelain.” A technical wonder of art and craftsmanship, the vase is a historic, royal piece despite its humble recent location in a kitchen.

A UK man discovered the vase in his kitchen was actually a valuable Qianlong-era Chinese antique.

Detail of a crane in gold. (Photo: Dreweatts)

The piece was made for the 18th-century Qianlong Emperor, although it is unknown how it came to the UK.

The six-character mark of the Qianlong period on the base of the vase. (Photo: Dreweatts)

The vase fetched $1.8 million at auction.

The Qianlong Emperor, who lived from 1711-99 (r. 1735-96), painted by Giuseppe Castiglione. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons, Public domain)

This is one of several stories of treasures discovered in unexpected places.

Butterfly Populations Are Showing Recovery After a Winter in Mexico

Photo: Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Monarch butterflies are famous for their striking orange and black wings. These beautiful, elegant insects are also renowned for their impressive migratory regimen. Wintering in Mexico, they travel as far north as Southern Canada in the spring. However, as with many other species, the delicate natural rhythms of their migration are threatened by global warming and habitat loss. Thankfully, during the winter of 2021 to 2022, 35% more butterflies congregated in their winter home than in the past year—suggesting a possible path of resilience for the species.

Each October and November, thousands of monarch butterflies flock to the sheltered, forested mountains west of Mexico City. Typically, they return to northern, cooler climes in March. However, in the 2020 to 2021 season, the butterflies fled in February, suggesting climate change may be altering their pattern due to climate change. Yet in the spring of 2022, the butterflies lingered until April. It is unclear exactly why, but it suggests the species is adapting to a rapidly changing world.

The butterflies rely on trees when in their Mexican home. Logging, fires, drought, and plant disease are exacerbating deforestation. While logging activity rose this past year, other factors caused less damage and resulted in less total loss of flora. Declining milkweed in the United States, which monarch caterpillars eat, has also affected their numbers. Pesticides and clearing wooded areas endanger this vital plant. Activists encourage Americans to plant milkweed to combat habitat loss, but those who live in Mexico should not. The plant might erroneously encourage the insects to linger, interfering with their natural rhythm.

While the butterflies are still at the mercy of climate change, their recently rebounding numbers in Mexico suggest they may be able to adapt their calendar to a changing climate. This past winter, 160,000 tourists flocked to see the magnificent winged creatures gathered in the trees of the butterfly reserves. The butterflies may be adapting—but we humans have to adapt too. Fighting climate change will only make survival easier and surer for this incredible species.

This past winter, more monarch butterflies than the year before flocked to their winter home in Mexico.

Photo: NATICASTILLOG/Depositphotos

Amazing NASA Sun Mission - Solar Eclipse From Space

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observed a solar eclipse on June 29, 2022. (Photo: NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL)

Human eyes should not gaze directly at the Sun on any regular day, let alone during a solar eclipse. However, NASA's hyper-modern technology has no such limitations. Their Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) tracks, photographs, and studies the Sun from space. This high-tech observation center captured stunning images of a solar eclipse on June 29, 2022—the fiery beauty is a view unmatched by any on Earth.

The eclipse occurred on Wednesday, June 29, 2022. SDO is a NASA mission to document and explore both space and Sun. SDO launched in February 2010 as a solar spacecraft under the partnership of NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are of particular interest to the mission. CMEs—expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun—are a strange and confusing phenomenon which can disrupt power or GPS signals here on Earth. 

With its high-powered imaging mechanisms, SDO captured the moon passing between it and the Sun. NASA has not yet officially spoken on the celestial event, but space enthusiasts note that the Moon's ridges were illuminated by the Sun behind it, including the Leibnitz and Doerfel mountain ranges. The entire phenomenon passed by in about 25 minutes. The Moon blocked about 67% of the Sun's flaming surface. This may also be the closest picture of the Sun's surface many people have seen. While images such as these may help scientists observe the Sun and learn more about its magnetic properties, they also can help them learn about the optics of the telescope itself. For the rest of us, these images are one more chance to marvel at the magnificence of our solar system.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) tracks, photographs, and studies the Sun from space.D

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observed a solar eclipse on June 29, 2022. (Photo: NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL)

This high-tech observation center captured stunning images of a solar eclipse on June 29, 2022—the fiery beauty is a view unmatched by any on Earth.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observed a solar eclipse on June 29, 2022. (Photo: NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL)AD

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observed a solar eclipse on June 29, 2022. (Photo: NASA/SDO/AIA/LMSAL)

Then Most Millions of Baby Blue Eyes Blooms

 

Spring is the season where plants come alive. And while you can find beautiful blooms in cities, it'd be hardpressed to see an entire field dedicated to flowers. That is why people in Japan travel to a spacious nature park roughly two hours south of Tokyo. Spread over about 864 acres, the Hitachi Seaside Park contains millions of gorgeous florals that bloom every year to form a dreamy, storybook setting.

While the park features an array of flora, it is most famous for its field of nemophila, also known as baby blue eyes. Inside Miharashi's Hill—one of the gardens that make up the nature park—there is about 500 million nemophila that bloom from April to May. During this time, the luxurious pale color blends into the sky to create a romantic scene for visitors to photograph and stroll through, always staying on the provided trail.

In addition to baby blue eyes, the coastal destination also includes a section called Tamago no Mori Flower Garden. This area is reminiscent of Dutch landscapes, featuring 260 varieties of tulips in a range of colours, as well as model windmills scattered across the garden. The chromatic assortment of tulips creates mesmerizing patterns within the wooded area, which tourists can view from different angles as they stroll along the path.

Scroll down to see more spectacular photos of these flowers.

Japan's Hitachi Seaside Park is famous for its gorgeous natural beauty.

Located in Hitachinaka City, in the Ibaraki Prefecture, this popular destination features an array of colorful blooms.

Its most famous flower is nemophila, or baby blue eyes, which bloom from April to May.

They have about 500 million nemophila in their garden called Miharashi's Hill.

They also have a field of tulips called the Tamago no Mori Flower Garden.

It features 280 varieties of tulips in a range of colors.

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Watch these videos to learn more about the park:

An Italian Town Is Filled With Ancient Cave Dwellings

Italy is full of beautiful cultural cities. And while most people are familiar with Rome, Florence, and Venice, there are many hidden gems to explore. Undoubtedly, Matera is one of these gems. This southern Italian town is located in the Basilicata region and is known for its incredible cave dwellings, also known as Sassi.

Dug into the chalky stone that is typical of the region, these dwellings are small caverns that have undergone a series of transformations over the years. These prehistoric cave homes were actually inhabited until the mid-1950s when residents were evacuated due to poor sanitary conditions. In the late-1980s, the Sassi got a revival and has been turned into hotels, guest houses, art galleries, and cultural centres. Matera was even named a European Capital of Culture in 2019 to solidify its return to glory.

While scholars aren't completely sure when these cave dwellings were first occupied, it's believed that the town was settled as early as the 10th millennium BCE. This makes Matera one of the earliest places in the world to be continuously inhabited. Over history, Matera has been occupied by Greeks, Romans, Bourbons, and many others. Hollywood has also been drawn to Matera's unique beauty, with films such as No Time to Die, Wonder Woman, and The Passion of Christ using it as a key location.

Today, Matera is divided between the ancient town that includes the Sassi and the modern city. The Sassi sit on a rocky outcrop above the town, almost as a symbol of regeneration. These dwellings, which were once riddled with poverty, have now been reborn. With a thriving arts community and tourism centre, Matera is one of southern Italy's fastest-growing economies and is an example of how history can be preserved while still moving forward into the future.

Matera is a town in southern Italy known for its ancient cave dwellings.

or Sassi—are dug into chalky stone and have recently been revitalized.

The picturesque town is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the world.

In 1993, the Sassi were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.