I know that history is not everybody's cup of tea but seriously folks, can you really hear about all the archaeological stuff that has been going on over the last few weeks and not get a little excited? It all makes me drool like one of Pavlov's pups.King Tut lived over three thousand years ago but we are still finding out more about him every year and are always clamoring for more. Egyptologists have recently announced that thanks to DNA testing, one of the unidentified mummies from the Valley of the Kings has been proven to be Tut's mother. How cool is that?
Egypt doesn't have the market cornered on archaeology though. People working in England at the site of the 2012 Olympics discovered a cache of 50+ bodies, obviously the victims of a massacre. Untouched site like that?!? Now I have the drool and the shimmies. Today, CNN and Discovery.com are blowing up the net with the findings from the burial site. The massacre happened about 1000 years ago and the 50+ men were Vikings, all from their late teens to early 20's. (Go ahead and imagine Eric from True Blood here- I did) They must have been the losers in a battle because all were beheaded before they were thrown into the mass grave. To make it cooler/creepier, one of the guys also had his hands cut off. Forensic historians think that even though his hands were bound for his beheading, he somehow managed to try to stop the blade, hence the loss of hands and head.
You gotta admit, even if you aren't into history like I am, this is interesting. Creepy, yes. Gross, yes. But oh so very cool and interesting!
You are completely right. This stuff is awesome. I saw come stuff about how they did DNA testing and found that Tut died of malaria and had some sort of injury that brought it on. I also found it cool that he had a club foot. I wish we could go back in time and watch those people live their lives. I really think they are an interesting generation, and I wish so much that we knew more. I love reading about that stuff and watching it on TV. :)
ReplyDeleteI love it too. What kills me though is how we are always finding "new, definitive evidence." There have been so many things about King Tut- he was bludgeoned to death, proven by a crushed skull...no, he died of infection caused by a broken leg from a chariot accident...no he died from malaria that he caught when he was bedridden due to his broken leg...he was 13 when he died...he was 17 when he died...yada yada yada. I know that's frustrating to Egyptologists but to me it's all interesting. Go figure, I'm easily amused.
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