Alva's Knowledge Tornado

Chaos? Learning? Both? Main blog: alolvovan

[prokopetz]

Realistically, future archaeologists will probably figure out quite readily that you had yourself buried with a bunch of weird, anachronistic junk in an effort to deliberately confuse future archaeologists.

There is, however, a reasonably good chance that they'll invent a whole religion out of thin air to explain why it was important for you to confuse future archaeologists.

[ennuyeuxbabe]

this is how your email finds me

[avoidbeing]

[bayouette]

I have a folder called Time is a Flat Circle in which I collect evidence of humanity. Here is most of them.

[mars-da-volcanic-elemental]

@a-captions-blog could you provide alt text for @bayouette to edit their post to include for the images in their post, please? 🙏🏽 💕

This post was and still is beautiful when I queued it so—I want folks who need the accessibility to know what it said, too.

Yes, I’m going through my 1K post queue to provide accessibility and add alt text when I can. Not everyone doesn’t use screen readers. It’s…also a lot on queue 😅 as I wanted to keep my blogs active while I’m going through life and it’s instabilities.

[a-captions-blog]

[Image descriptions:

A compilation of screenshots about the history of humans. These go as follows:

1. A photo of a skeleton embedded in rock in an almost-fetal position. Text under the image reads, ‘They gathered that he became paralyzed from the waist down before adolescence, the result of a congenital disease known as Kilppel-Feil syndrome. He had little, if any, use of his arms and could not have fed himself or kept himself clean. But he lived another 10 years or so. They concluded that the people aroud him who had no metal and lived by fishing, hunting and raising barely domesticated pigs, took the time and care to tend to his every need.

2. A large wooden chair carved with many layers of words and drawings. The caption reads, ‘Most of the graffiti on the back part of the Chair is the result of Westminster schoolboys and visitors carving their names in the 18th and 19th centuries. One of the tourists carved “P. Abbott slept in this chair 5-6 July 1800” on the seat.’

3. A photo of runes etched into smooth stone (possibly marble). Text underneath shows a translation in English, which reads, ‘Halfdan carved these runes’ and includes a handwritten version underneath.

4. A photo of a Paleolithic dog skull. The text underneath reads: “The remains of three Paleolithic dogs, including one with a mammoth bone in its mouth, have been unearthed at Predmosti in the Czech Republic, according to a new Journal of Archaeological Science paper. The remains indicate what life was like for these prehistoric dogs in this region, and how humans viewed canines. The dogs appear to have often sunk their teeth into meaty mammoth bones. These weren’t just mammoth in terms of size, but came from actual mammoths. (in bold) In the case of the dog found ith the bone in its mouth, the researchers believe a human inserted it there after death.”(end bold).

5. Text that reads: “Here the stone says it holds a white dog from Melita, the moust faithful guardian of Eumelus; Bull they called him while he was yet alive; but now his voice is prisoned in the silent pathway of night.” (Source) 6. A photo of a torn letter, capitioned as ‘Letter of Apion, a Young Soldier in the Roman Army, to his Father, Epimachos, in Egypt.’ Text under the photo says: A real letter from a Roman soldier, written in the 2nd century AD by a boy named Apion from a small Egyptian town. He enlisted in the Roman army in Alexandria, boarded a large government ship and sailed for Italy. The ship weathered a terrible storm. As soon as he landed, received his new uniform and paid for it, he went to be painted in a picture for his family and sent it home along with this letter: Apion to his father and lord Epimachos: Happy birthday! First of all I hope that you are will and that things are going well for you, my sister, her daughter and my brother. I thank Lord Serapis [an Egyptian god] for saving me right away when I was in danger at sea. When I arrived in Miseno [the Roman port of war, near Naples], I received three gold coins from the emperor [Trajan+] As money for the journey, and I am fine. Please write me a line, my lord father, on your well-being, second on that of my brother and sister, and third so that I may piously greet your hand, for you have brought me up well and I can therefore hope for a quick promotion, the gods willing. Give my regards to Capiton [a friend] and my brother and sister and Serenilla [a family slave?] And my friends. I am sending you my little portrait via Euktemon. My [new] Roman name is Antonius Maximus. All my best! The letter was written in Greek on papyrus by a hired public letter writer. Two of Apion’s friends who enlisted with him added their greetings in the left margin. The letter was originally folded and sealed. He passed through the highly efficient Roman military post and arrived safe and sound as far as the small village in Egypt, where the boy’s father and family read it almost two thousand years ago. After the death of his father, the letter was lost in the household waste and archaeologists found it under the collapsed walls of the house. With it was another letter written by Apion years later to his sister after he had long been stationed somewhere on the Roman frontier and had a wife and children. That’s all we know. Some considerations: Generous the per diem for the transfer, of 3 aurei, correspending to 300 sesterces, that is to say about a year’s wages. Surprising that in addition to the letter he sent a portrait in uniform. The Cursus Publicus is amazing, enough to deliver the letter in a small Egyptian villiage. Let us remember that at the time the provincials were “Peregrini”, that is, not Roman citizens. 7. A photo of a tile with a child’s footprint in it. Text reads: A child’s footprint in a Roman Tile The footprint of a Roman toddler has been preserved on this tile for 1,800 years. It was found in Carnantum, Austria. Carnantum, was the most important ancient Roman legionary camp of the upper Danube frontier, situated at Petronell.

8. Text that reads: the context is the final line Martial 5.34 if anyone’s wondering: To you, father Fronto and mother Flacilla, this girl I commend: she was my sweet and my delight. Little Erotion must not be frightened by the dark shades and the monstrous mouths of Tartarus’ hound. She was due to complete chills of a sixth midwinter, no more, Had she not lived that many days too few. Now let her frisk and play among old friends Now let her chatter, and so lisp my name. And let the soft turf cover her brittle bones: Earth, lie lightly on her: she lay lightly on you. 9. A photo of a bust of a tan-skinned woman with brainded brown hair. She has been given a hand, which holds a pendant on a necklace draped around her neck. Text reads: The Whitehawk Woman. She lived in England around 5,000 years ago and was buried with great care. She was also buried with a newborn infant, and died aged between 19 and 25 years old. Researchers believe she died during or very soon after childbirth. Her bones indicate she was otherwise in good health.

10. A bust of a pale-skinned man with short brown hair and a mustache. He is wearing a checkered shirt pinned with a piece of metal. Text reads: The Slonk Hill Man was found semi-crouched in a grave near the seaside town of Brighton, England — in the same area as the Whitehawk Woman. Their lives, however, were separated by nearly 3,000 years. The Slonk Hill Man lived during Britain’s Iron Age. The reconstruction artist (an archeologist and sculptor) described him as being “very good looking”, tall, muscular, and in robust health at the time of his death. There were no obvious signs of what caused his death.

11. A bust of a pale-skinned man with long brown hair. Text reads: Adelasius Ebalchus. He lived in Switzerland 1,300 years ago, and was in his late teens/early twenties at the time of his death. His gravesite indicated he came from wealth, and his bones showed he was well-nourished. His bones also showed that Adelasius suffered a lingering infectionarcheologists believe he most likely died from lung inflammation.

12. A bust of a light-skinned woman with ong hair and large hoops in her earlobes. Text reads: The Wari Queen. She was found in 2012 by a Polish-Peruvian archeology team, entombed in an underground mausoleum in El Castillo de Huarmey, Peru. She lived approximately 1200 years ago and died in her sixties. Her bones indicate she led a leisurely life, and her decayed teeth indicate a diet high in sugar (most likely she regularly drank the sugary corn-based beer, chicha). Other artefacts in her chamber suggest she was an expert weaver — a very highly-valued craft. 13. A Tumblr post by Guooey that says, ‘ancient humans were also just some guy, if you got a baby from 60,000 BC and raised him in the 21st century he’d be just another teen boy named logan who tech decks off your arm.’ The reblog shows a an art piece of a young boy wearing fiurs and looking over his shoulder at the viewer. The comment reads, ‘this boy from tom björklund’s art (caps) would (end caps) own a minecraft creeper plushy. The following reblog by EvilSwampChicken shows the same image, edited so that the boy is holding a creeper plushie. 14. Art of a sleeping young child with curly dark hair wrapped in fur and holding a wooden figure of a humanoid big cat.

15. A text post by Elucubrare that says: The chronicle of the monk Herbert of Reichenau for the year 1021 ends “My brother Werner was born on November 1.“ 1021 was not an uneventful year. The emperor began a campaign into Italy. Illustrious abbots died. There was an earthquake. But Herbert took the time to note, at the end of the year, that his brother was born. Of such acts of tenderness is history made. 16. A text post by MarzipanAndMinutiae that reads: There was a medieval parenting manual that recommended parents smack pieces of furniture their toddlers bumped into and scold the furniture for being so naughty as to get in the way, so that the kids would laugh and forget their bumps and bruises I read that and my heart melted (source: Medieval Women by Deirdre Jackson. She cited the primary source but | cannot for the life of me find the book to check what it was called) 17. A text post that reads: In 11th century Constantinople, the historian, philosopher, monk, and general insufferable know-it-all Michael Psellos once wrote a letter to his infant grandson. He begins like this: “Perhaps I will not live to see you, dearest newborn and offspring of my soul, when you reach adolescence, if God so wishes it, or when you mature; for the days of my life are failing and the time approaches when its thread will be cut short. I have thereforedecided to address this peech to you in advance of that day and reciprocate your innate charm with the graces of speech. I should be ungrateful and entirely thoughtless if at a time when your perceptions and thoughts are undeveloped (though as far as I alone am concerned you are perfect in these respects, insofar as you hear my voice and feel my affection, cling to my neck, slip into my embrace, and put up with my annoying kisses), I should be ungrateful, I say, if I myself failed to render to you a fitting return.”

“May you obtain all that you love, but especially education and good sense, which alone can elevate the soul to its proper beauty and which constitute understanding of the more profound things. I wrote all this for you while holding you in my arms and kissing you insatiably.” 18. A photo of footprints in a cavebed. Text reads: The finding shows that children living in North America during the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago) liked a good splash. “All kids like to play with muddy puddles, which is essentially what it is,’ Matthew Bennett, a professor of environmental and geographical sciences at Bournemouth University in the U.K. who is studying the trackway, told Live Science. Read more.

19. A photo from Wikipedia titled, ‘Onfim’s homework exercises and “I am a wild beast” c. 1260 (item 199). The photo shows a collection of scribbles and drawings done by a child.

20. Text: Babies born with Down syndrome typically have distinctively-shaped eyes and skulls, which the authors of the Nature paper suggest might have set him apart as an infant. Chemical analysis of his bones shows he was breastfed, and when he died at about six months old he was buried in a monumental tomb, along with other children and adults, at a site called Poulnabrone on the west coast of Ireland. "The visible difference of that infant didn't preclude him being buried in a prestigious setting," says Trinity College Dublin geneticist Daniel Bradley, who led the new study. To Lorna Tilley, an Australian archaeologist who specializes in the way past societies cared for people who were sick or disabled, the the fact that the baby was buried in a monumental tomb with other children and adults should come as no surprise. "I'm not sure, unless it was a really dramatic case, it would have been thought of as strange," she says. "Most babies, in most circumstances, are looked after." Tilley says the archaeological record — from the Poulnabrone tomb to the jungles of Brazil — shows that global response to the coronavirus crisis is the rule, not an exception, in humanity's long story. "The most important thing we can learn from the past is the consistency of care," she says. "The last few months have reinforced that the behavior of care is something that has a continuing timeline from the Neanderthal times right through." 21. A photo captioned, ‘Dawn, a teenager from the Mesolithic period, which was around 7,000 B.C’ which shows a long-haired teen girl in white furs. 22. A chart showing graffiti with location and date. These are: Near the Vesuvius Gate, 7086: Marcus loves Spendusa On the Street of Mercury, 1321: Publius Comicius Restitutus stood right here with his brother. House of L. Caecilius Jucundus; peristyle, 4087: Staphylus was here with Quieta. In a bedroom to the left of the peristyle, 4456: Only Marcus Terentus Eudoxsis always supports his friends – he keeps them and protects them and supports them in every way. House of Sextus Pompeius Axiochus and Julia Helena; left of the door, 4485: Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you; 4477: Daphnicus and his Felicula were here. Long live Daphnicus. Long live Felicula. All the best to both of them. Under this is more graffiti: Aufidius was here. Goodbye. We two dear men, friends forever, were here. If you want to know our names, they are Gaius and Aulus. Graffiti in Arabic, including the phrase “This is an inscription that I wrote with my own hand. My hand will wear out but the inscription will remain.” 23. A statue of a woman and two children, one in her arms and one walking beside her and holding her hand.

24. Text: "Ofram the son of Sigurd carved these runes" "Haermund Hardaxe carved these runes" "These runes were carved by the man most skilled in runes in the western ocean" "Tholfir Kolbeinsson carved these runes high up" "This howe Vermundr carved" "Ottarfila carved these runes" "Benedikt made this cross" "Arnfithr Matr carved these runes with this axe owned by Gauk Trandilsson in the South land" "Tryggr carved these runes" "Arnfithr the son of Stein carved these runes" "Thorir" "Orkis' son says in the runes he carves" 25: Text in a book: Mνάσεσθαί τινά φαμι καὶ ἕτερον ἀμμέων. Someone will remember us I say even in another time

26. A text post and reblog by NateQuarter that read: i think we as modern humans have a tendency to forget that historical people were also humans who had thoughts and feelings and dreams just like we do bear in mind that i'm mostly interested in medieval english history, but... do you really think that all women suffered miserable, joyless lives? that no man ever loved his wife? that no gay person ever lived in peace? that no child ever grew up to live a life they loved? that no parent ever saw their disabled child and cared for them anyway? that nobody ever had sex, and enjoyed it? that no priest was ever truly virtous, that nunneries were always places where women were sentaway to be locked up? do you really think that it was just suffering day in, day out, unless you were the richest of the rich? do you really think that simply living in a different time made people stupid, senseless, violent? do you really think that people living in the past were so different from us, that they never had thoughts and feelings and dreams to rival our own? do you really think that people in the past were not people?

27. A CNN screenshot that says: (CNN) — A toddler laid to rest with their head on a pillow in a cave in eastern Kenya is thought to be the oldest human burial ever found in Africa. The remains of the child, who was between 2 1/2 and 3 years old, date back 78,000 years and were found buried at the mouth of the Panga ya Saidi cave, according to new research published Wednesday in the journal Nature. [The drawing is in red and shows a child resting under some sticks] An artist's interpretation of the child, who was laid to rest in a cave in eastern Kenya 78,000 years ago. It is believed to be the oldest human burial ever found in Africa. Plaintext of reblog: Yes, I’m going through my 1K post queue to provide accessibility and add alt text when I can. Not everyone doesn’t use screen readers. It’s…also a lot on queue 😅 as I wanted to keep my blogs active while I’m going through life and it’s instabilities. \End descriptions]

[tentacion3099]

From the Bronze Age, the magnificent Rhos Rydd shield.

Expertly made c. 3,000 years ago from a single disc of bronze. 20 concentric circles are decorated with 3,700 singly punched bosses.

Found in a bog near Blaenplwyf, Wales, in 1804.

[alvsstudies]

This could be us but u playin

[archaeologicalnews]

Oldest medical amputation on record was performed on a Stone Age child in Borneo 31,000 years ago

About 31,000 years ago, a skilled prehistoric surgeon cut off the lower leg of a child hunter-gatherer in Borneo. Now, archaeologists have concluded that this ancient surgery is the earliest medical amputation on record.

The skill of the Stone Age surgeon was admirable; the patient went on to live an additional six to nine years after the surgery, a radiocarbon dating performed by researchers of the individual’s tooth enamel revealed, according to a study published online Wednesday (Sept. 7) in the journal Nature.

“It was a huge surprise that this ancient forager survived a very serious and life-threatening childhood operation, that the wound healed to form a stump and that they then lived for years in mountainous terrain with altered mobility,” study co-author Melandri Vlok, a bioarchaeologist and postdoctoral research associate at the University of Sydney,“ said in a statement. ”[This suggests] a high degree of community care.“ Read more.

[alvsstudies]

Learning a new language is like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle but with the difference that once the pieces are starting to fall into place you can see a million images and not just the one

[alvsstudies]

Hello and such pleasure to meet you

👋

[fairydrowning]

— Love poetry discovered by Archaeologists in Egypt from the New Kingdom period 3,300 years ago.

[TEXT ID: I shall lie down at home / and pretend to be dying. / Then the neighbors will all come in / to gape at me, and, perhaps, she will come / with them. / When she comes, I won't need a doctor, / she knows why I am ill. END ID]

[winsaykophum]

[alvsstudies]

庭には二羽鶏がいる 🐔

にわ には にわ にわとり が いる

There are two chickens in the garden

[themudangx]

Korean Folk Magic (Spirits): Sanshin

Sanshin (산신) is the Korean spirit (신) of the mountains. Typically an old, healthy man with a walking stick always surrounded by fierce tigers, the above painting is rarer but not unheard of. Sanshin can also appear as a matronly woman, also leading her own tigers.

Sanshin was often prayed to for health, protection, abundant crops (and thus, favorable weather) and good fortune. As each mountain in Korea is different, so is the Sanshin associated with that mountain. However like I said, they are usually seen to be elderly men. I like to think of it as soft polytheism here. All Korean mountain spirits can be Sanshin but have individual facets that make each stand out a little differently from its neighbor.

Kings and queens would hold huge ceremonies and rituals for Sanshin, in hopes that they be “deified” after death to become a mountain spirit as well. It is rumored that Dangun (단군) the founder of Korea, transformed into a Sanshin in his death. Tigers are fierce symbols and viewed as royalty of the animal kingdom. Sanshin’s tigers help them enforce their good (or ill) will. 

Korean deities hold their own “realm” without regards to one another. There isn’t technically a hierarchy like one often sees in polytheism of other cultures (e.g. King of Heaven doesn’t make them King of Everything). While Sanshin is primarily a benevolent spirit and gives blessings, s/he can easily make the opposite true if we anger them. Because Sanshin watches over crops and fortune, if they were to be angered, they would make my crops be shit this year or make it so I have unbelievable bad luck.

[finnlongman]

Protip: if you're feeling discouraged about the amount of progress you've made learning a language, start learning a different language and realise you've actually come a lot further than you thought.

[alvsstudies]

Or help a newbie out!

[alvsstudies]

Near death experience

[alvsstudies]

me trying to learn how to read knitting patterns

[alvsstudies]

Gatekeeping academia makes me want to rip my hair out