Historical Nonfiction

fun facts, quotes, and pictures from history

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Surfing has changed a lot since the Polynesians first learned how to ride the waves on a flat piece of wood!

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Peacock fresco at the Villa Poppaea. Notice the illusion of depth with the columns, and how the peacock's tail juts over the edge of the border.

This art was preserved by Vesuvius's eruption in 79 CE.

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Terracotta Warriors fresh from the earth, before their colors deteriorate from the exposure. Photograph from a 1974 excavation

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The Viking Colony That Wasn't

L'Anse aux Meadows is (rightly) famous as the archaeological evidence of a Viking settlement in North America. Located on the northern tip of Newfoundland, the site has the remains of eight buildings and could house up to 100 people, and seems to have been occupied around the year 1000.

The interesting thing? The site does not quite fit with the descriptions of "Vinland" in the Norse Sagas. L'Anse aux Meadows has no graves and no cows, but the sagas describe an attempt to found a permanent settlement (suggesting a graveyard was needed) and showing cows to confused locals.

L'Anse aux Meadows also has butternuts and butternut wood, which grows at the northernmost much further south around New Brunswick. Even the name - Vineland - and the description of wild grapes does not match L'Anse aux Meadows. Wild grapes grow much further south, also by New Brunswick.

Hopes were briefly raised that another Viking settlement might have been found at Point Rosee on the southern end of Newfoundland. A satellite-based survey seemed to find 'cultural remains.' But the follow-up in-person survey found the remains were entirely natural in origin.

So the search continues. Or perhaps...the Sagas were slight exaggerations, and add descriptions from places scouted but not settled further into North America. Only time (and archaeology) will tell.

[historical-nonfiction]

The length of a day on Mars -- the time it takes Mars to complete a rotation on its axis -- has been known since 1666. It was even accurate to within 3 minutes!

The length of a day on Saturn was a mystery until 2019.

It was extremely difficult to measure for two reasons. First, because without a solid surface, Saturn had no geographical features by which to measure rotational speed. And Saturn has a funky magnetic field that makes alternative ways of measuring hard. Saturn's day was only measured when NASA's Cassini probe studied the planet's icy, rocky rings and their interaction with the planet.

[historical-nonfiction]

A Clever Crossword

On Nov. 5, 1996, (which was Election Day for the presidency of the United States) the popular New York Times crossword puzzle included a surprising clue:

39 [Across]. Lead story in tomorrow’s newspaper (!), with 43 [Across]

The answer for 43 Across was ELECTED. But which presidential candidate fit in 39 Across -- and presumably was the winner of the presidential election?

In fact there was not one answer but two. Rather than predict the outcome of the election, the writer of the crossword had managed to make it possible for CLINTON to work and for BOBDOLE to work, by changing the answers to the respective seven down clues.

Read the full crossword

[historical-nonfiction]

Possible Embassy Found In Major Mayan City

A recent study of the area in the Maya city of Tikal has found an unusual complex of buildings, which seems to be similar to the citadel of Teotihuacan. Tikal is in northern Guatemala, and Teotihuacan is central Mexico about 600 miles to the north.

Inside the complex in Tikal were found weapons in a Teotihuacan style, including ones made from green obsidian from central Mexico, incense burners, carvings of Teotihuacan's rain god, and a burial in a pyramid with offerings similar to offerings in Teotihuacan burials. Ceramics within the pyramid have been dated to around 300 CE.

Interestingly, an elite Maya compound has been discovered in Teotihuacan, with its murals smashed and buried. Was this site the corresponding Tikal embassy to Teotihuacan, the partner of Teotihuacan's embassy complex in Tikal? The two cities had a difficulty relationship: Teotihuacan invaded Tikal in 378 CE.

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The History The World According To Corn

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A Small Announcement

This blog has been going for almost 10 years now. It has expanded to include a website, a ko-fi, and a patreon. And it has always remained a one-person show. Historical-nonfiction is, frankly, a lot of time and effort. You ongoing support has allowed me to continue for this long. But the time has come for me to take a step back from historical-nonfiction.

What does this mean for you? You can still look forward to learning something interesting, something historical, something to expand your knowledge of world. But posts will come when inspiration strikes, not on a fixed schedule as it has been. In short: what this means for the future is fewer new posts.

I want to finish this small announcement by saying thank you all. For everything.

[historical-nonfiction]

The Meteor Crater (yes, that is it's actual name) is one of the best preserved meteor craters in the world. This is due to its young age for a crater, at approximately 50,000 years old, and the dry climate around it in Arizona.

That is not to say the Meteor Crater is perfectly preserved. Scientists estimate that 50–65 ft (15–20 m) of height has been lost at the rim crest as a result of natural erosion, and 100 ft (30 m) of sediment has been added to the basin.

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African-American cowgirl Nellie Brown, and her horse. Circa 1900 - 1915.

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Before And After The Bosnian War

The ethnic and religious composition of Bosnia and Herzegovina before and after the conflict (which began in 1991).

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Wyoming's Periodic Spring is well-named. It flows for roughly 15 minutes, then goes dry for 15 minutes, then repeats again. It is the world's largest intermittent spring, or rhythmic spring, or breathing spring. This is likely caused by an oddly-shaped cavern fed by spring water in the rock behind the spring.

There's only about 100 known intermittent springs in the world. Another famous one is in Jerusalem! Although it no longer runs intermittently naturally, and a pump is used to imitate it.

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Ancient History Fun Fact

In ancient Mesopotamia, cuneiform clay tablets were often so small that reading them was difficult and impractical. But they were not really designed to be read. Instead they were designed to be checked, by someone who already knew the text by heart, and just needed a reminder about what the next section or word started with.

The written clay tablet was to assist in the perfect passing-down of oral information between generations. Students learned by listening and repeating chanting, singing, or reciting -- not by reading.

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In the 1700s, Whalers Avoided Hawai’i for an Odd Reason

Honolulu was such an alluring port that many strong-minded captains refused to touch there, for desertions of nearly half a ship’s complement were not uncommon. In time the problem became so acute that ship owners banded together and paid head money to native gangs for each deserter hauled in from the hills or lush valleys, but some wise Yankee skippers avoided the whole problem by cruising back and forth in sight of land and sending ashore only longboats manned by trusted officers, who accumulated the required provisions and rowed back to their reluctant ships. Occasionally, of course, even such special crews deserted.

Michener, James A., et al. “The Globe Mutineers.” Rascals in Paradise. The Dial Press, 2016. 15, 16. Print.

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These are the people described as Lenin’s inner circle. Four out of thirteen definitely were killed, and multiple died of “unknown” causes.

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Purple Oceans

For about seven-eights of the Earth's history, its oceans were extremely rich in sulfides. This would have prevented animals and plants from surviving in 70% of the planet. But it was a great habitat for photosynthetic bacteria that require sulfides and sunlight to live. Known as purple and green sulfur bacteria (because those are the two colors it comes in) these single-celled microbes can only live in environments where they simultaneously have access to sulfides and sunlight.

That they thrived in the sulfide-rich ocean has been confirmed with the finding of fossilized pigments of purple sulfur bacteria in 1.6 billion-year-old rocks from the McArthur Basin in Northern Australia.