Monday, June 22, 2015

Cyberflanerie: Western Digs: Dispatches from the Ancient American West

A new website on my radar: Western Digs, by veteran science journalist Blake de Pastino

Just a few of the many fascinating troves of information (some of them gruesome) in there:


Megafloods Spurred Collapse of Ancient City of Caokia, New Study Finds
Infamous Mass Grave of Young Women in Ancient Cahokia Also Holds Men: Study
Evidence of Hobbling, Torture Discovered at Ancient Massacre Site in Colorado
From Stone Darts to Dismembered Bodies, New Study Reveals 5,000 Years of Violence in Central California

Earliest Evidence of Gigantism-Like Disease Found in 3,800 Year Old California Skeleton (Interestingly, the Indians of Baja California told their missionary that the rock art had been made from "giants" who came from "the north." Read a bit about that in an excerpt from my book, Miraculous Air.)

Hallucinogenic Plants May Be Key to decoding Ancient Southwestern Paintings, Expert Says
 What Really Killed the Dinosaurs? (10 minute video) (A more complicated story than one might have thought... yes, includes Chikxulub... but also the prior volcanic eruptions of the Deccan Traps and massive marine regressions)


My own interest is in the Trans-Pecos region of Far West Texas (more about the book-in-progress here). 

In case you missed it, my podcast interview (with transcript) with Greg Williams, Executive Director of the Rock Art Foundation, is here

Plus here is a batch of brief videos of some of the rock art sites in the Lower Pecos and elsewhere along the US-Mexico border, as well as other sites in the Trans-Pecos.

> Your comments are always welcome.