The Swedish Warship That Sank in 1628

The Vasa Museum is located on Djurgården Island in Stockholm, Sweden

In 1628, the Swedish warship Vasa sank less than a mile into its maiden voyage, and around 30 people died.

Then, 333 years later, the ship was recovered from the sea floor, almost completely intact.

The Vasa was commissioned by Sweden's King Gustavus Adolphus, and built in Stockholm's navy yard between 1626 and 1627.

The sculptures carved out of oak, pine or linden on the ship were aimed at projecting authority, wisdom and power.

Several factors contributed to the Vasa sinking, including asymmetrical design measurements and an undisclosed failed seaworthiness test.

As the Vasa sailed away in 1628, a wind caused the 226-foot-long ship to keel over and water poured into the open gunports, The ship sunk to the bottom of Stockholm harbor to a depth of 32 m (105 ft), in full view of a large crowd of onlookers.

Most of the dead were trapped inside the ship.

In 1956, Swedish marine technician and amateur naval archaeologist Anders Franzen, discovered the sunken Vasa, it was salvaged between 1959 and 1961. 

The Vasa was painstakingly raised, in 18 steps - a metre each time- from 32 metres, so that the wood could be treated as it became exposed to the atmosphere, and not disintegrate.

The Vasa was so well preserved that after the gunportals were sealed, and water and mud were pumped out, it could float.

The Vasa is housed in a museum that was specially built.

The Vasa Museum is located on Djurgården Island in Stockholm, Sweden.

The hulk of the Vasa after recovery operations, 14 May 1961

The Vasa at a museum on Djurgården Island in Stockholm, Sweden

The Vasa Museum is located on Djurgården Island in Stockholm, Sweden

As the Vasa sailed away in 1628, a wind caused the 226-foot-long ship to keel over and water poured into the open gunports, The Vasa Museum is located on Djurgården Island in Stockholm, Sweden

The Vasa Museum is located on Djurgården Island in Stockholm, Sweden

The Vasa Museum is located on Djurgården Island in Stockholm, Sweden

The Vasa Museum is located on Djurgården Island in Stockholm, Sweden

Scale model view of daily life inside the ship. Vasa Museum is located on Djurgården Island in Stockholm, Sweden

Ephesus, an Ancient Greek city in Turkey

 Ephesus was once the most important Greek city in Ionian Asia Minor

The ruins of the ancient port city of Ephesus lie near the modern village of Selƈuk in western Turkey.

The remains of an enormous amphitheater, the Library of Celsus, the public square (agora) and the aqueducts, give a glimpse into the life of the wealthy and educated citizens of Ephesus, long ago.

Built in the 10th century BCE by Greek colonists, during the Classical Greek era, the city came under the control of the Roman Republic in 129 BCE and became the second most important city of the Roman Empire.

In 356 B.C., a man named Herostratus burned down the Temple of Artemis. But the Ephesians rebuilt the temple and made it bigger and it became known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Only one column remains of the temple today.

Later, about 60AD, Paul the Apostle wrote a letter to the Ephesians. This is the tenth book of the New Testament. In about 53 AD, Paul wrote his “First letter to the Corinthians” and St John is said to have written his Gospel, here.

In AD 431 the Council of Ephesus of Christian bishops was convened in Ephesus by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II.

In 263, the city of Ephesus was destroyed by the Goths.

Places To See

The first agora (public square) was built in the 6th century BCE in Hellenistic style. This agora was found buried approximately 2 meters below the present agora.

 The Commercial Agora at Ephesus was surrounded by colonnaded porticoes

The grandeur of the ancient city is apparent in the facade of the Library of Celsus, which had been reconstructed from original remains. The library was built in memory of Tiberius Julius Celsus Polemaeanus, who is buried in a sarcophagus beneath.

The grandeur of the ancient city is apparent in the facade of the Library of Celsus, at Ephesus

The theatre, which had a capacity of 25.000, was used for dramatic performances but later evidence shows gladiatorial fights occurred.

The Great Theatre is located in the ancient city of Ephesus, which is situated in the city of Selcuk in modern-day Turkey, is well-preserved

With its Corinthian-style pillars, the (small) Odeon Theatre was built around 150 AD by Publius Vedius Antoninus and his wife.

The Temple of Hadrian was built before 138 AD by P. Quintilius.

the Temple of Hadrian, stands in front of the Scholastica Baths, facing the Curetes Street, Ephesus, Turkey

The Temple of the Sebastoi was dedicated under the reign of Emperor Domitian CE 89/90 but later re-dedicated to Vespasian, Domitian’s father.

The Temple of the Sebastoi in Ephesus, formerly called the Temple of Domitian, is a Roman temple dedicated to the Imperial cult of the Flavian dynasty, Ephesus, Turkey

Several aqueducts, supplied water to Ephesus. 

The Scholastica Baths, built in 1st century CE, has latrines (toilets) constructed over a flowing channel of water and toilet seats, formed by cutting holes into marble benches that line the walls.

The Scholastica Baths, Ephesus, Turkey

The Basilica of St. John was built in the 6th Century AD by Emperor Justinian I.

The ruins of the Basilica of St. John, Ephesus, Turkey

This UNESCO World Heritage Site is 80 km inland from the seaside city of İzmir and close to the towns of Selcuk and Sirince, Turkey.

 

In 1415, Linear Perspective Was Rediscovered

Perspective in a painting creates the illusion of depth and distance on a flat surface,

The earliest art did not show perspective.

Reproduction of Lascaux artwork in Lascaux IIJack Versloot - originally posted to Flickr as Lascaux II

It is believed that around the 5th century B.C.E in ancient Greece, a system of perspective was developed in theatrical scenery and then lost.

The ancient Romans also developed linear perspective. For example, Roman Frescoes from Room M of the Villa of Publius Fannius Synistor, c. 50-40 B.C.E., originally Boscoreale, creates a convincing 3D illusionism, due to the use of linear perspective.

Roman; Cubiculum (bedroom) from the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor; Date    ca. 50–40 B.C

The Gardenscape from Villa of Livia, from Italy c. 30-20 BCE, uses a technique called atmospheric perspective, by blurring the most distant forms.

Villa of Livia - Garden fresco from Italy c. 30-20 BCE, Gleb Simonov -

However, it was not until the year 1415 that the artist and architect Filippo Brunelleschi rediscovered linear Perspective using a mathematical approach.

When creating a painting, Filippo Brunelleschi determined the vanishing point, the point on the horizon where parallel lines converge, and then drilled a hole.

Perspective drawing for Church of Santo Spirito in Florence ilippo Brunelleschi Date: c.1428; Italy 

By using converging lines leading towards this central point (the hole), the vanishing point creates an illusion of depth.

It is believed that Brunelleschi developed the technique by studying classical architecture.

Brunelleschi used mathematical calculations to scale objects within a painting to make them seem more realistic.

Soon many artists were using Brunelleschi's technique to create an accurate illusion of space that seemed natural.

This change, from the flatness of Medieval art, was integral to the development of Renaissance art.

The Delivery of the Keys fresco, 1481–1482, Sistine Chapel, by Perugino (1481–1482), features both linear perspective and Brunelleschi's architectural style
Pietro Perugino -

When We Lived With at Least Eight Other Human Species

Around 6 million years ago, a branch of apes evolved and became the first species of the genus Homo.

The Stone Age, which began about 2.6 million years ago, is the earliest period showing evidence of humans using stone tools.

Homo habilis, with braincases slightly larger than those of apes, are believed to have evolved nearly 2.4 million years ago. Homo habilis means "Handy Man" due to the large number of tools found with fossils in Tanzania.

One of the oldest known early humans, Homo ergaster, the first of our relatives to have human-like body proportions, with shorter arms and longer legs relative to the torso, lived on the Savannah in Africa but might have been the first human species to leave Africa, expanding into southern Eurasia by 1.75 million years ago. (Asian Homo erectus)

Homo habilis, Sterkfontein Caves exhibition, flowcomm

Homo Rudofensis evolved about 1.8 to 1.2 million years ago. While only a few fossils of this species have been found in Kenya, they had a larger brain than Homo habilis.

Homo ergaster made complex tools. The first evidence of stone tools is about 2.6 million years ago.

Distant cousins of Homo ergaster still lived in Indonesia until 110,000 years ago. (1.)

Homo ergaster, (recreation) F. Javier Menéndez

These cousins (Homo erectus), lived isolated on islands in South-East Asia and appear to have evolved into smaller forms, such as Homo floresiensis - the "Hobbit" - on Flores, and Homo luzonensis in the Philippines. Homo floresiensis, survived until around 12,000 years ago.

The Cro-Magnons (Early Modern Humans), the first humans (genus Homo) to have a prominent chin, were anatomically similar to us, and living in Europe 25,000 years ago. Evidence of rituals and burial practices, with bodies covered with ochre, suggests belief in an afterlife.

Tools used for hunting, fishing or sewing were used by the Cro-Magnons. They were able to control fire which enabled them to live in the coldest regions of Europe and to fire clay figurines in a kiln. Venus figures were widespread in Europe after around 30,000 years ago.

The Cro-Magnon, early Homo sapiens date from the Upper Paleolithic Period (c. 40,000 to c. 10,000 years ago) in Europe.

Venus of Willendorf as shown at the Naturhistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Uspn (30,000 year old Venus of Willendorf from Austria)

Homo Heidelbergensis evolved around 700 to 200 thousand years ago, with the first fossil found in Germany in 1908. They built shelters, used fire and spears for hunting animals.

Our closest relatives — the Neanderthals and Denisovans, lived in the cold climates of Europe and southeastern and central Asia, about 600 to 30 thousand years ago, before they became extinct. They made clothing, and used complex tools such as sewing needles made from bone.

Cro-Magnon & Neanderthal Skulls, Horniman Museum, London. https://www.flickr.com/photos/brighton/. (Cro-Magnons wore decorative beads, and plant-fibre clothes dyed with various plant-based dyes. For music, they produced bone flutes and whistles, and possibly also bullroarers, rasps, drums, idiophones)

Neanderthals spread out across Europe and the Middle East, Denisovans spread through Asia.

Neanderthal Mother and child, Taken in Anthropos Pavilion, Brno, Czech Republic. https://www.flickr.com/photos/kojotisko/

Many modern humans carry DNA derived from these archaic populations from interbreeding during the Late Pleistocene. Humans and Neanderthals lived along side each other in Northern Europe 45,000 Years Ago,

About 300,000 years ago, a time of extreme climate change, Homo sapiens (us) evolved in Africa and spread throughout the Middle East by 100,000 years ago.

Homo Sapiens 68,000 Years Old, Taken at the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. https://www.flickr.com/photos/ideonexus/

Like the other early humans living at this time, Homo sapiens probably survived as hunter gatherers, living in small extended family groups.  

Climate change and perhaps war and violence and competition for food led to Homo sapiens being the sole remaining hominid.

The Revolt of The Gladiator Spartacus in 73-71 BCE

Spartacus was the leader of a rebel slave army that wreaked havoc on Italy in 73-71 BCE. 

Ultimately, Spartacus was defeated by the Roman general Crassus.

Enslaved by the Roman Republic, Spartacus, was a Thracian mercenary, who became a gladiator in Capua.

About, 73 BC, Spartacus escaped with about 70-80 slave gladiators from the gladiator school to the side of Mount Vesuvius.

Clodius Glaber, a military commander, was sent from Rome, along with 3,000 soldiers, and according to Plutach, “slaves were able to surround them and to shock the Romans with a surprise attack. When the Romans fled, the slaves seized their camp.”

This success led to Spartacus attracting an army of about 30,000 escaped slaves.

The slaves then split in two groups commanded by Spartacus and Crixus.

Rome in alarm, sent two consular legions, who defeated 30,000 rebel slaves commanded by Crixus. The Roman legions are then defeated by Spartacus and his slave army.

Crassus, the richest man in Rome, is appointed to command eight legions  --more than 40,000 soldiers against the slaves. However, first, one-tenth of the soldiers are killed as a form of punishment (decimation).

Spartacus and his slave army move to southern Italy, where they have more successes against Crassus.

Plans by Spartacus, to transport his slave army to Sicily, fail, when Cilician pirates betray him.

Spartacus tries to make a truce with Crassus, who attempts to entrap the slave army. The slave army break through the Roman fortifications and escape.

The Battle at the River Silarus is believed to be the final battle, bringing the death of Spartacus, though his body is never found.

Crassus takes his revenge on the slave army, ordering 6,000 slaves be crucified along the Appian Way. Their bodies are left to rot from Rome to Capua, a distance of more than 100 miles.

Spartacus' death by Hermann Vogel

Skara Brae: Older Than Stonehenge or The Egyptian pyramids

Skara Brae is near the Bay of Skaill, Orkney, Scotland.

In 1850, a storm blew away a sand dune on a windswept bluff in the North Atlantic and revealed an intact Neolithic village, where farmers and cattle herders once lived.

The village of Skara-Brae is 5,000 years old (3200 BCE) – centuries older than the Pyramids of Egypt.

The ten houses grouped together were inhabited, approximately, between 3100 and 2500 BC. C.

Some of the earliest known and well-preserved furniture in Europe comes from the Neolithic village at Skara Brae

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae in the Bay of Skaill, Orkney

Stone beds, chairs and dressers that were used by the prehistoric fishermen, hunters and farmers, can be found here.

Hearths in the homes show us that the houses were warmed by fire. The houses also had a stone slab door which could be locked “by a bar made of bone that slid in bar-holes cut in the stone door jambs.” (Professor V. Gordon Childe, 1927)

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae in the Bay of Skaill, Orkney

The people who lived at Skara Brae made tools, jewellry, gaming dice, grooved ware (a unique type of pottery), and other ornaments from bone, stones, and precious rocks.

There existed a basic sewer system, with "toilets" and drains in each house, with water to flush waste into a drain and out into the ocean.

Carved stone balls (petrospheres) found at Skara Brae on Orkney, date from 2900 - 2600 BCE.

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae in the Bay of Skaill, Orkney

The chairs at Skara Brae are among the earliest known, with chairs from the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt dating to 3100 BC.

The Skara Brae site includes Maeshowe, the Standing Stones of Stenness and other nearby sites. 

The Neolithic village of Skara Brae in the Bay of Skaill, Orkney

The nearby Ring of Brodgar, a Neolithic stone circle that dates back to the same period as Skara Brae, Orkney

The nearby Ring of Brodgar, a Neolithic stone circle that dates back to the same period as Skara Brae, Orkney

More Information

Skara Brae: Uncovering the Secrets of Scotland's Ancient History

Getting to Skara Brae 

Orkneyology

The Earliest Horse Chariots

Horses began appearing in cave art around 30,000 BCE.

However, the earliest evidence for spoked wheel chariots comes from the Sintashta-Petrovka culture of the Eurasian steppe (Russia) c. 2100 BCE.

The Sintashta culture is thought to represent an eastward migration of peoples from the Corded Ware culture.

The remains of a fortified settlement dating to the Bronze Age, c. 2800–1600 BC, has been partially destroyed, with thirty-one of the approximately fifty or sixty houses in the settlement, remaining.

With rectangular houses arranged in a circle 140 m in diameter and surrounded by a timber-reinforced earthen wall with gate towers, the settlement shows evidence of copper and bronze metallurgy taking place in the houses excavated at Sintashta.

In Southern Urals, in Russia, the Bronze Age city of Arkaim, a settlement of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture.

The Sintashita culture also had communal sewage/drainage systems, and distinctive weapons.

Five cemeteries found associated with the site, have various chariot burials, with the remains of horses interred with the chariots in graves. 

These are the oldest known chariots in the world.

Recreated chariot from the Museum of Archaeological Wonders

Of the sixteen chariot burials recovered so far, two have been dated to around 2000 BC.

Horses were domesticated by 3000 BCE. However, dogs were domesticated 15,000 years ago.

The remains of a fortified settlement dating to the Bronze Age, c. 2800–1600 BC, of the Sintashta-Petrovka culture.

Timeline of the Chariot

Arkaim: 2050 BC
Minoan Crete: 2000 BC
Ancient Egypt: 1600 BC

Viking Treasure Found in a Field Near Harrogate

A father and son, David and Andrew Whelan were metal detecting in a field near Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK, in 2007. when David found a "ball covered with mud".

Called the "Harrogate Hoard", this archaeological find is of global significance, and the largest Viking treasure discovered in Britain since 1840.

Gareth Williams, curator of early medieval coins at the British Museum, examined the artifacts. The hoard consists of 617 silver coins and 65 other items, including ornaments, ingots and precious metal.

Interestingly, reports indicate that the coins bear Islamic, Christian, and pre-Christian Norse pagan symbols: "some of the coins mixed Christian and pagan imagery, shedding light on the beliefs of newly-Christianized Vikings".

The hoard includes objects from diverse locations, including Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan, North Africa, Afghanistan, Russia, Ireland, Scandinavia, and continental Europe, "illustrating the breadth of the Vikings' travels and trade connections".

The gilt silver vessel, in which many small objects were placed, was made around today's France or western Germany, about the middle of the ninth century, probably for use in church services.

The treasure was probably buried after 927, the year that the Anglo-Saxon, King Athelstan of Wessex, defeated the Vikings, conquered York, and received the homage of rulers from Scotland and Wales.

The Harrogate Hoard in the York Museum, UK

The Harrogate Hoard in the York Museum, UK

York Museum, UK

5,000 Year-Old Baby Bottles

About 7,000 years ago, ceramic baby bottles were used to feed babies milk derived from animals.

Archeologists have found these particular clay vessels during excavations of European villages, some of which are decorated with geometric or animal shapes.

Cups found in the Bavarian region of Germany, dating from 1200 B.C.E. and 450 B.C.E, have residues of milk fatty acids.

Milk from cows or goats would only have been available to humans with animal domestication and the move from hunting and gathering to settled societies.

The improved nutrition also led to the increase in human populations and the development of towns and cities. Farming allowed the production of surplus food which could be stored.

Hunting and gathering generally requires access to large areas of land.

The invention of agriculture facilitated a fivefold increase in population. (2.)

Data collected on 17 different hunter-gatherer societies, including Paleolithic and modern-day hunter-gatherers, shows that the mortality rate was high in all of them, with an average 49% of all children dying. (1.)

Prehistoric baby bottles shows infants were fed cow’s milk 5,000 years ago

2,000-Year-Old Roman Shoe Found in a Well

A 2000-year-old Roman shoe was found in a well at The Saalburg park in Germany.

On the ridge of the Taunus, Germany, the Saalburg Roman fort was built by Romans (circa 90 AD) when they came north into the German provinces.

This fort protected the boundary between the Roman Empire and the Germanic tribal territories. At its peak, 2,000 people lived in the fort and village. It remained active until around 260 AD.

The sophisticated design of the shoe indicates that the owner must have been a wealthy woman of high status.

2,000-Year-Old Roman Shoe Found in a Well

Hellenistic Bronze Statue Of a Boy Riding a Horse

Dated to around 150–140 BC, the Jockey of Artemision is a large Hellenistic bronze statue of a young boy riding a horse.

This statue was lost in an ancient shipwreck and was discovered in 1926. This may have saved the statue from being melted down and destroyed for its raw material.

This bronze statue was retrieved in pieces from the shipwreck off Cape Artemision in Euboea.

The image of the goddess Nike is engraved on the horse's right thigh, holding a wreath in raised hands -- a brand for racehorses in Ancient Greece.

The statue is displayed at the National Archaeological Museum, Athens from, 1972.

Dated to around 150–140 BC, the Jockey of Artemision is a large Hellenistic bronze statue of a young boy riding a horse

The Ancient Egyptians Used Makeup and Perfume

The Ancient Egyptians used makeup and perfume not only to look and feel good, but for spiritual and ritual reasons, as well.

Many women and men wore eyeshadow, eyeliner, blusher and lipstick. 

Eyeliner was made by crushing kohl or charcoal, eyeshadow from crushed stones like malachite and lipstick from crushed carmine beetles. These were ground on cosmetic palettes.

Cosmetic Box from the tomb of Sennedjem - PICRYL - Public Domain Media Search Engine Public Domain Image (Sennedjem was an ancient Egyptian official active in the early Nineteenth Dynasty-period, lasting from 1292 BC to 1189 BC)

Ancient Egyptian cosmetic set from c. 1550–1458 BC, featuring, from left to right, a kohl tube, a razor, a pair of tweezers, a whetstone, and a mirror, Metropolitan Museum of Art

Egyptians also often wore perfume cones on the head. These were made by mixing oils, resins and fat and containing myrrh (perfume from tree resin).

These cones, when placed on the head, would melt from the body heat and release perfume.

The first known depiction of the perfume cones dates from the reign of Hatshepsut (c. 1507–1458 BC), who was was the Great Royal Wife of Pharaoh Thutmose II. She reigned in her own right circa 1473–58 BCE.

Painting of Lady Tjepu, 1390–1353 BC

Wealthy people of both sexes wore wigs made from human hair and date palm fibre.

Merit's wig from the tomb of Kha and Merit, 14th century BCE, https://collezioni.museoegizio.it/en-GB/material/S_8499

Henna, was believed to drive away evil spirits. Nails and hands were painted with henna, and henna hair dye, originated in ancient Egypt.

The Dwarf Elephant of Cyprus

During the Late Pleistocene, c. 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, an extinct species of dwarf elephant inhabited the island of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.

Named Palaeoloxodon cypriotes, these dwarf elephants are believed to descend from Palaeoloxodon xylophagou, which was about 3.5 times larger than P. cypriotes.

Both of these species, are believed to descend from the large Palaeoloxodon antiquus (straight-tusked elephant) of mainland Europe and Western Asia, which probably swam to the island long ago from mainland Europe.

The most recent remains of P. cypriotes, date to around 12,000 years ago.

Palaeoloxodon cypriotes was around 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall and is an example of insular dwarfism, where due to the ecological conditions on islands, such as limited food sources over generations, animals develop a reduced body size.

The P. cypriotes probably weighed about 200 kilograms, a weight reduction of 98% from its ancestors, which weighed about 10 tonnes.

The island of Cyprus also has the remains of a dwarf hippopotamus, which lived there from the Pleistocene until the early Holocene (about 10,000 years ago).

Tusk of a young P. cypriotes, Catlemur

Mitochondrial DNA (maternal line) points to its closest living relative, being the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius).

At Aetokremmos (which translates to "Cliff of the Eagles") near present day Limassol, excavations have un-earthed bones and artifacts dating 13,000 years back. This makes it the oldest known organised settlement in Cyprus.

Evidence of the diets of the inhabitants are pygmy hippos, dwarf elephants, fish, bustards, fallow deer and pig.

Dwarf elephants inhabited many Mediterranean islands during the Pleistocene.

Pygmy hippos were also found in other Mediterranean areas, such as Crete, Malta and Sicily.

Paleoloxodon cypriotes was comparable in size to Palaeoloxodon falconeri from Sicily (depicted) SlvrHwk