The 2,000-Year-Old Antikythera Computer

The Extraordinary 2,000-Year-Old Computer That You've Never Heard Of -- The Guardian

The Antikythera mechanism was designed to predict movements of the sun, moon and planets. Why isn't it better known?

Right, that's enough of the Queen for now. Have you ever heard of the Antikythera mechanism? You have? Well done. If not, I suspect you're in good company and the fact that I learned about it from a fascinating BBC4 programme – the high point of my jubilee weekend – on Sunday night is unlikely to broaden public knowledge as much as we might hope.

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My Comment: The ancient Greeks definitely knew their stuff.

Stone Age Superglue Found -- Hints at Unknown Smarts?

Ancient people in what is now South Africa whipped up a glue of powdered red ochre and acacia-tree gum to keep their tools (above, a replicated tool with adhesive made by scientists) intact, a May 2009 study says. The ancient people's understanding of chemistry may have required more smarts than we give our ancestors credit for, researchers added. Photograph courtesy Lyn Wadley

From The National Geographic:

Stone Age humans were adept chemists who whipped up a sophisticated kind of natural glue, a new study says.

They knowingly tweaked the chemical and physical properties of an iron-containing pigment known as red ochre with the gum of acacia trees to create adhesives for their shafted tools.

Archaeologists had believed the blood-red pigment—used by people in what is now South Africa about 70,000 years ago—served a decorative or symbolic purpose.

But the scientists had also suspected that the pigment may have been purposely added to improve glue that held the peoples' tools together.

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Mummified Iceman's Ancient Job Determined

Methods used to crack the dress code of Oetzi, the iceman mummy, seen here in 1998, whose mummified remains turned up in an Alpine glacier almost two decades ago, could be a boon to the clothing industry, a new study showed Wednesday. (AFP/APA/File)

From Yahoo News/Live Science:

Before his body froze and mummified, a now-famous Neolithic guy dubbed the Iceman took his last steps while donned in a coat and leggings made of sheep's fur and moccasins made of cattle leather. That was more than 5,000 years ago.

The 45-year-old man apparently trekked up the Schnalstal glacier in the Italian Alps before dying, and a new study reveals more about how he lived.

The body of the Iceman (also called Ötzi, Frozen Fritz and Similaun Man) was discovered in 1991 by accident by German tourists and made headlines around the world. At first he was thought to have died recently.

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