I learned about quipus on a visit to the Museo Larco in Lima. Quipus were a string-based system used by the Incas for storing numeric information like the size of the population or other resources. The PeruForLess blog has a demonstration of how the

The most interesting fact about the Incans is that they didn't use the wheel. At least not in any serious sense; it appears they did have wheeled toys, but did not use the wheel to transport goods and people. Jennifer Povey explains why [https:

This [https://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/wingwalker-rescue-180978193/] might have been one of the craziest stories I've ever read: In 1926, a 'wingwalker' rescued a pilot by attaching a wheel to the landing gear of his plane in mid-flight, then held the wheel in place

A well preserved street food stall was found in Pompeii recently (photos [https://www.ansa.it/english/news/lifestyle/arts/2020/12/26/pompeii-a-street-food-shop-emerges-from-the-site_15dca658-2553-420d-a841-f70f58654867.html] ). It must have been in active use before the eruption of Mount Vesuvius (79 AD). It's interesting how

Remarkable find [https://www.dw.com/en/spectacular-ice-age-rock-paintings-found-in-colombian-rainforest/a-55960718] : ice age (> 12,500 years old) rock paintings in Columbia show now extinct animals like Mastodons.

Luis Dias on Beethoven's business life [https://scroll.in/magazine/981180/on-his-250th-birth-anniversary-remembering-beethoven-the-astute-businessman] : > Once Beethoven had poured his creative energy to the fullest into a composition, he regarded it as commercial property, deserving the best possible price on the most favourable terms. Of the hundreds

Mark Isaak has collected a large number of flood myths from across the world here [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/flood-myths.html]. Here's one from Papua New Guinea, notice the resemblance to the Noah story: > The wife of a very good man saw a

The AskHistorians subreddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/1odqwp/what_is_the_most_accepted_explanation_for/] on what the best accepted explanation for Stonehenge is: > They believe that Stonehenge is a domain of the dead; there are no signs of habitation there,

A few days ago, I found myself wondering when people started shaving and how. Sculptures of Roman emperors depict most of them as clean shaven. How did people shave back then? Bust of Roman emperor Augustus / Source: Sailko [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:

The diary [http://ariwatch.com/VS/TheDiaryOfThomasEdison.htm] of Thomas Edison, covering the short period from 12 - 21 July 1885. Not much of scientific interest here, just some amusing bits: > It has just occurred to me that the brain may digest certain portions

How researchers figured out what Ancient Egyptian sounded like:

The Tabula Peutingeriana [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_Peutingeriana] was an ancient map believed to have first been constructed by the ancient Romans, although the copy we have today was drawn in 1265. While reading Charles' Allen Coromandel: A Personal History of South

The Roman Empire was huge: 5 million sq. km [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire#:~:text=The%20Empire%20reached%20its%20largest,of%205%20million%20square%20kilometres.] at its peak, larger than India (3.2 million sq. km), about half the size of the

In 1992 there was a remarkable archaeological finding in Greece: writing on a wooden tablet that turned out to be 7000 years old. From Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dispilio_Tablet]: > The Dispilio tablet is a wooden tablet bearing inscribed markings, unearthed during

One silver lining I hope we see from the pandemic is more museums creating virtual experiences. Google Arts & Culture already has a good collection of virtual exhibits from museums around the world. Here's one I've been enjoying recently: The Getty Book of the Dead:

By Aurbina - Own work [https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=133096], Public DomainI'd always been curious about the origins of the giant statues of Easter Island. Why, and how were they made? Then I found that Jared Diamond had written eloquently

> Physicians who were university trained during the Renaissance considered surgery beneath them. They relegated operations—​which consisted mainly of bloodletting and amputations—​to the barbers; although they were merely apprenticeship trained, they had the sharpest knives. Paré was among this guild of barber-​surgeons.