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POPSToes bones reveal a footwear fetish They compared the way the toe bones grew between bare footed, and shod people. Shoes produce a different walking style, where the foot is pushed off the big toe of people wearing shoes, rather than the middle toes of bare footed people. They also tested modern examples by comparing the toe bones of habitually barefooted Native American Pueblo Indians, with the shoe wearing Inuit, and found differences that supported their conclusion.
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POPSAncient Maya sacrificed boys not virgin girls "It was thought that the gods preferred small things and especially the rain god had four helpers that were represented as tiny people," said de Anda. "So the children were offered as a way to directly communicate with Chaac," he said Archeologists previously believed young female virgins were sacrificed because the remains, which span from around 850 AD until the Spanish colonization, were often found adorned with jade jewelry. It is difficult to determine the sex of skeletons before they are fully matured, said de Anda, but he believes cultural evidence from Mayan mythology would suggest the young victims were actually male
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POPSThe Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race An oldie but a goodie, not on clipmarks elsewhere (so far as my searches have shown). Written by Jared Diamond two decades back. Before being critical, read the entire article please. If you think the anthropology is somehow flawed, I suggest Anthropik's Thirty Theses ( http://anthropik.com/thirty ), which cover a lot of ground.
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POPSAncient Burnt City Fortune-Teller's Artificial Eye Found Too bad, thought a child like part of me! This wise woman's relic will now be locked up where no one can touch or hold it. My childish self is wishing this treasure would have stayed buried in the earth longer or that at least it would have been found by an ordinary kid with a wide and deep imagination - who could keep it top secret for years, then pass it on to a grandchild! I know - what an irresponsible thought and silly, selfish notion! But that childish part of myself is often like that and not afraid to admit it.
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POPSArchaeology and Beijing Olympic Construction "The fact that the eunuchs were wealthier and had finer belongings reflected in part their standing in the imperial court. 'It was also because they didn’t have any children,' Mr. Song said." Tell me about it
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POPSOlmec influenced ancient city discovered The ruins, which consist of the bases of six ceremonial temples and two small sculptures of jaguar-like men, were discovered when a neighboring brewery began building a parking lot.
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POPSNemrut Dagi, Turkey: Unique Mountaintop Shrine From source: "During the reign of Antiochus, the naturally occurring mountain top of Nemrut Dagi was extensively contoured, capped with a soaring conical peak, and graced with two temple compounds and many beautiful stone sculptures. The conical tumulus rises 50 meters above the temples, is 150 meters in diameter and is composed of countless thousand fist-sized pieces of white limestone. Archaeologists, assuming the tumulus enshrines the burial remains of Antiochus, have tunneled into the great cone of rocks but found nothing to substantiate their assumptions. The purpose of this massive undertaking remains a mystery."
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POPSFake eye - prosthetics from 4,800 years ago. Harris said the primary reason for the artificial eyeball would not have been medical. "She could have worn a patch, but perhaps her family wanted her to look her best for public appearances," he explained. Damn the wealthy!!;) I'm sure all the other girls back then would have wanted the fake eye too.
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