From left to right: Jacob Ferdinand Voet, Thomas Burnet (1675). Courtesy National Portrait Gallery, London. William Whiston (18th century), anonymous. Giovanni Rinaldo of Carli-Rubbi (date unknown). Jul 20, 2012 Ever since 1950, ‘Velikovsky’ has been a household name, associated with a set of adventurous but highly unorthodox claims…
July 18, 2012 In June 2012, a team of 4 Japanese researchers revealed in Nature that “an extremely energetic event occurred around our space environment in AD 775.” An analysis of Japanese cedar trees showed a “rapid increase” in the concentration of radiocarbon for that year, matched by a…
June 19, 2012 Science and folk tradition are supposed to be strictly separate domains of knowledge, but in practice they often shade into each other. The image shown above right attempts to map the entire visible universe. The galaxies tend to collect into vast sheets and superclusters of galaxies surrounding large voids…
June 14, 2012 In parts of the Amazonian rainforest, traditional costume included a headdress consisting of a circular arrangement of feathers. The ring of 36 feathers, most of which are white, lacks an obvious counterpart in the skies we see above us. The above example was collected in c. 1910…
June 5, 2012 On 5 and 6 June 2012, Venus will appear to move across the face of the sun – a rare event, which will not be repeated until 2117. The occasion provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on the role of transits of Venus and Mercury in archaeoastronomy….
Apr 06, 2012 A sky-high column of glowing plasma has influenced countless religious ideas. The mediaeval scholar-monk Johannes de Sacrobosco (c. 1195 – c. 1256) was a renowned computist – expert in the calculation of the correct date of Easter in the Christian calendar. His Tractatus de Sphaera (c. 1230) contained…
Mar 12, 2012 Ever since the gradualist doctrine natura non facit saltus cast an ossifying spell on the academic community, catastrophist theories of myth and other traditions have been anathema to the learned. Some envisioned events considerably more dramatic than an earthquake or volcanic eruption. Hedwig Gollob was an Austrian art…
Mar 09, 2012 Ever since the gradualist doctrine natura non facit saltus cast an ossifying spell on the academic community, catastrophist theories of myth and other traditions have been anathema to the learned. Pre-Lyellians such as Thomas Burnet (c. 1635? – 1715), William Whiston (1667-1752) and Robert Jameson (1774-1854) had…
Mar 07, 2012 Even the lonely monuments left behind have a story to tell. Chavín de Huantar, in the Peruvian Andes, is one of many civilisations to have preceded the mighty Inca empire. The occupants of the ruins have no name; lacking a script, their cultural identity is forever buried…
Mar 05, 2012 Why are animals used so widely in coats of arms? The familiar red dragon of Wales and the double-headed eagle of the House of Habsburg exemplify a widespread and familiar practice to embed animal figures in heraldic devices, both in the Old and New Worlds, but few…
