History

Here we bring you the fascinating world of history, U.S. history, archeological history, anthropological, natural, and historical figures. To know where we’re going we must first understand where we’ve been.

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Tracking Humans’ First Footsteps in North America

Richard Grant / Smothsonian MAGAZINE

Ancient human footprints, preserved in a dry lakebed at White Sands National Park in New Mexico, reveal remarkably vivid vignettes of life in the late Pleistocene: children jumping in puddles and splashing, a group of hunters stalking a giant sloth. The scientists studying these footprints initially estimated their age as between 11,500 and 13,000 years. But now, radiocarbon dating has allowed experts to make a bombshell discovery: The oldest of these footprints are nearly 23,000 years old.

For many decades, archaeologists were convinced that the first people to arrive in the Americas came some 13,000 years ago, after the Ice Age glaciers melted. The White Sands footprints, whose age scholars estimated again, in a paper published this past October, by analyzing tree pollen and quartz grains in the sedimentary layers, provide the most conclusive evidence to date that humans were actually here much earlier, toward the end of the last ice age. It’s possible that they reached North America more than 32,000 years ago. Read more here.

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11 Objects Carried by American Civil War Soldiers

Bob Zeller – history.com

The Civil War soldier carried his world with him. On the march, he had to carry everything he owned—his musket, ammunition, shelter, bedding, clothing, food, cooking utensils, cherished photographs, letters from home, playing cards and other personal effects.  All of it had to be carried on his back, around his waist or in his hands during long, dusty marches on country dirt roads.

The soldier’s load typically weighed 30 or 40 pounds, which was a heavy burden to bear under a broiling sun or a drenching rain. To lighten their loads before a march, soldiers would be extremely judicious about what to keep and what to discard after accumulating things while encamped for extended periods.

Much variety existed in the types of weaponry and accoutrements, but these were the essential objects carried by a Civil War soldier.  

1. Musket: Most Civil War soldiers carried single-shot, muzzle-loading, rifled muskets.Read more here.

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The Myth of ‘Bloody Mary,’ England’s First Queen

Meilan Solly / Smithsonean MAGAZINE

The first woman to rule England in her own right didn’t simply inherit the throne. She seized it with unprecedented ambition from those who sought to thwart her.

Historian Sarah Gristwood describes the ascension of Mary I as a “staggeringly bold” course of action undertaken with little chance of success. After unseating Lady Jane Grey, the Nine-Day Queen, Mary rode into London on August 3, 1553, to widespread acclaim. In the words of one contemporary chronicler, “It was said that no one could remember there ever having been public rejoicing such as this.”

Centuries later, however, the Tudor queen is remembered as one of the most reviled figures in English history: “Bloody Mary.” This is the story of how a heroic underdog became a monarch who was then mythologized as a violent despot, despite being no bloodier than her father, Henry VIII, or many other English monarchs. It’s a tale of sexism, shifting national identity and good old-fashioned propaganda, all of which coalesced to create the image of an unchecked tyrant that endures today. Read more here.

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Evidence of Ancient Human Activities Discovered in Lava Tube Caves

By Griffith University – SciTechDaily

Recent advancements in interdisciplinary archaeological research in Arabia have revealed new insights on the development and historical progression of regional human populations. This research has also shed light on the shifting patterns of cultural change, migration, and adaptation to environmental variations.

Despite the challenges posed by the limited preservation of archaeological assemblages and organic remains in arid environments, these discoveries are reshaping our understanding of the region’s rich cultural heritage.

One such breakthrough led by Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), in collaboration with international partners, comes from the exploration of underground settings, including caves and lava tubes, which have remained largely untapped reservoirs of archaeological abundance in Arabia. Read more here.

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