Weekly Roundup- July 5th
The Supreme Court, Climate changes, women's health, and...Klingon. Intrigued? Keep reading.
BOOO! HISS! Recent Supreme Court ruling Overturned Roe v. Wade.
We would like to take a moment to discuss the overturning of Roe v. Wade. We oppose this decision and believe that all women, trans men, gender non-binary, and queer folks own their bodies and should be the only ones making such decisions. This is a huge breach of privacy and it’s scary what other rights might be taken away next.
Many of you might feel helpless and wonder what exactly you can do. We’ve pulled some resources for everyone here. Do what you are able to and take care of yourself, family, and loved ones in this dumpster-fire of a month as church and state separations are also voted down by this minority-rules, activist, white-supremacist Supreme Court.
In sum, donate $$$, protest, volunteer, and, most importantly, VOTE, especially in the midterms.
What Klingon and Other Constructed Languages Reveal
Sapiens recently interviewed Christine Schreyer, the scholar in charge of creating languages for hit movies like Man of Steel, Power Rangers, and Justice League and pioneer of the study of constructed languages. A fascinating topic especially when you apply some of these insights in early language construction in, say, ancient Egypt, for example. How do natural vs constructed languages develop differently? When asked how Schreyer starts creating a language, she thinks first about the component parts of nouns—prefixes, suffixes, etc. How well does this fit with naturally occurring languages, we ask? There is lots more to read in the Sapiens article.
Most importantly, the study of constructed languages will also aid in the preservation of endangered languages, helping to reconstruct parts that may be already lost. The more our globalism brings us together—in English, Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, Spanish, and French—the more we lose these precious and diverse human languages and all the history embedded within their etymologies and verb forms.
Rapid Change of Climate Did Not Cause the Fall of the Akkadian Empire
This article goes through the various hypotheses surrounding the possible link between the end of the Akkadian Empire (and the Egyptian Old Kingdom) and the climate. The standard theories range from Volcanic eruptions to meteorites to drought. However, studies have shown that, though some sites were depopulated like Tell Leilan, other sites seem to have faired perfectly well with no evidence of economic collapse.
A recent Antiquity article looking at the levels of carbon and nitrogen isotopes in human and animal remains clearly showed there were no disruptions in the food availability. It would appear that the collapse was purely political, not economic. Ah, humanity, we love you so…
Women’s Health and Healing Magic in Ancient Egypt
One of our Patrons on the Discord channel (you know who you are) shared this with us. Given the upsetting ruling from the Supreme Court it is all the more imperative to consider how women in the past dealt with everything related to abortions, miscarriages, and childbirth. Give it a watch!
Sofia Aziz of the University of Manchester is an egyptologist focusing on the Egyptian understanding of medical science and human biology. We appreciate her contributions!
A Brief History of Women’s Eyebrows in Art
This super fun article explores how ideals relating to eyebrows changed across time and culture. Who would have thunk that ‘no-eyebrows’ was the desired look in Medieval western Europe due to the belief that female body hair was a “psychic and physical danger to men.” WHAT?! How could a woman show her ire??
Or in Heian era Japan, women shaved their natural brows off, and added artificial pigment in the shape of their thumb print high on their foreheads. People nowadays just debate between the 90’s skinny brow and the 80’s Brooke Shields mega brow—who knew there was so much history in the aesthetics of the eyebrow. So we leave you with an image of Egyptian women doing it right—not too skinny, not too fat, but just right.
Divers Pull Marble Head of Hercules From a 2,000-Year-Old Shipwreck in Greece
At the famous shipwreck of Antikythera, archaeologists are still finding amazing artifacts. This site is best known for the finding of the Antikythera device, the ‘first computer,’ or what we think looks a bit like Bubo in the original Clash of the Titans. But many other lesser-known artifacts were found during earlier excavations, including a headless statue. Well, now archaeologists are claiming to have found the statue’s head—a marble head of Hercules. Given that the head is encrusted in undersea life we will be force to wait for the reveal post conservation.
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Rescuing ancient Maya history from the plow
Archaeologists Lisa Lucero started a salvage archaeology project to excavate and document the numerous Mayan mounds that are now exposed with the increase of farming in the region. The project has just begun, but already the team has had to develop new techniques to deal with how the plow has disturbed the soil beneath. Another example of how climate change and human-environment interactions affect the preservation of the past and archaeological excavations, but we suppose this is better than another Walmart built on Indigenous burial grounds…
