The History Blog

All done now. My post auto-published and everything.

Edit: It seems we’re still on the old server. It might be a while.

Edit again: Now it’s really done.

We’re moving to a new server tonight, so there will downtime. Hopefully it will be brief and painless and we’ll be back tomorrow morning. I have tomorrow’s entry set to publish automatically so that even if I have problems accessing the server, it might just take care of itself.

If you have trouble loading the site tomorrow, don’t worry. It’s probably a DNS propagation issue and will resolve itself over the next 24-48 hours.

Keep your fingers crossed!

If you’re anywhere near the Niagara Falls area, drop your sad little picnic-n-fireworks plans and haul ass up to Old Niagara Fort because they have the coolest events scheduled for the long weekend.

Old Fort Niagara has guarded the mouth of the Niagara River since 1726, and was in the eye of many a French, British, US and Iroquois storm. This year is the 250th anniversary of the Siege of Niagara, so to commemorate it the fort is throwing the history nerd shindig to end all history nerd shindigs.

More than 2,500 re-enactors plan to gather along the mouth of the Niagara River—more than doubling the population of this tiny village — to commemorate a war for control of North America.

They will wage six battles over the course of three days, attack a tall ship in the harbor and carry out a nighttime artillery salute, all to depict the scene in July 1759 when a British army, along with 1,000 Iroquois allies, laid siege to the Frenchheld fort. [...]

[Thomas Faith, chairman of the re-enactment committee] said that the Rangers and Native American contingents have been working for three years to present two scenarios to be performed in native languages — the French Embassy to the Native Americans at 11 a. m. and the British Embassy to the Native Americans at 2 p. m., both on Saturday.

“This is important because both countries competed on a daily basis for the loyalty of the Iroquois,” he said, adding that it also highlights the crucial role of the interpreters.

You can see the schedule of events here. Look at all the awesome packed into just the first 3 hours of events:

Friday, July 3

10:00 am: Battle on the Beach – A French hunting party from Fort Niagara discovers that British forces have landed east of Fort Niagara. Rangers, Native American warriors, and French troops engage in combat. Both sides are reinforced until a major battle unfolds on the shores of Lake Ontario.

10:00 am – Noon: Meet the British Engineer – Siege Works

11:30 am – 12:30 pm:18th Century Games – British Camp

Noon: L’Iroquoise Attacked – Cove Area
British boats attack the French schooner Iroquoise, anchored in the cove below Fort Niagara.

1:00 pm:Parade and Pageantry – Parade Field
The armies pass in review with over 2,500 reenactors, dressed as Native American warriors, French, British, and American Provincial soldiers.

An attack on a tall ship narrated by the descendant of Rene LaForce, the Iroquoise’s captain! Artillery bombardment/fireworks display! Three days of reenactment awesomeness, all for $13 bucks a head, kids under 6 get in free.

Be sure to check out the video of the reenactors being adorable here. If I could teleport to New York state I’d be posting from there right now.

Action Comics #1, the first comic featuring Superman, is the Holy Grail of comic book collectors. There are maybe 100 copies still around, and most of them have been restored or are in less than fine condition.

So it’s no surprise that even in these dire economic times, an original Action Comics #1 in excellent condition has sold for a whopping $317,200.

It’s one of the highest prices ever paid for a comic book, a likely testament to the volume’s rarity and its excellent condition, said Stephen Fishler, co-owner of the auction site ComicConnect.com and its sister dealership, Metropolis Collectibles.

The winning bid for the 1938 edition, which features Superman lifting a car on its cover, was submitted Friday evening by John Dolmayan, drummer for the rock band System of a Down, according to managers at ComicConnect.com.

Dolmayan is rare comic dealer and bought it for an anonymous client, not for himself.

The seller is also anonymous. He bought it at a second-hand comic store in the 50’s when he was 9 years old, then squirreled it away and forgot about it for 15 years or so.

When he found it again in 1966, he figured he’d hold on to it just in case it increased in value. Well, it did. From 35 cents to 31,720,000 cents.

I’m sure you all fondly remember our neo-pagan heroes Arthur Pendragon et al. standing up for their pre-Christian, post-living brethren. Well, thanks to the always juicy Daily Mail, we can now take a look at the men/drunken sots behind the self-delusion.

First of all, “Arthur Pendragon” is the short version. His actual name — legally changed in 1976 — is King Arthur Uther Pendragon. He’s a former Hell’s Angel and current barfly. Oh, and of course, the Battle Chieftain of the Council of British Druid Orders.

In his capacity as Battle Chieftain, King Arthur Uther Pendragon has accomplished many feats of strength.

‘I work out the political tactics for the druids. My order is the political arm. We’re the guys in white frocks, up the trees. We’re the ones trying to stop the Newbury by-pass.’

Hasn’t that been open for a few years?

‘Whatever — we’re at the sharp end. We’re the political arm of the whole spiritual movement.’

Unfortunately, not everyone is on board with Battle Chieftain King Arthur Uther Pendragon’s vision of the Druidic future. There are heretics, splitters, blasphemers who dare question his approach.

The ‘row’ concerns a small breakaway group of druids (known to some as COBDO West) who’ve requested the museum release the remains so they can rebury them where they came from. King Arthur and mainstream COBDO want the same thing — but are upset that COBDO West have taken matters into their own hands. ‘COBDO West are just a joke — three men and a dog, without even the dog,’ splutters King Arthur. ‘I’ve got thousands of members in my Arthurian War Band all round the world and loads more in the UK. I could field hundreds of activists at the drop of a hat. Bunch of idiots.’

Yes, how dare those men and their missing dog bother to actually fill out the paperwork to petition English Heritage for reburial of the Avebury skeletons. Don’t they know Battle Chieftain King Arthur Uther Pendragon could summon an army of RenFaire drunks with the merest whisper in the wind?

and the only prescription is more inauguration. I’ve been glued to CNN all day and now that it’s winding down, I feel a desperate need to drag it out longer.

I don’t have the time to research all the things I want to since, as I said, I have literally not torn my eyes off the cathode ray tube except for a few brief interludes of reading the back of the shampoo bottle while I peed, however, tomorrow’s entry is going to be all about the inauguration.

I hope you’re not sick of this shit yet, because you sure as hell will be when I’m done wallowing in it.

Although you might think so from the name. The Trypilians were a Stone Age people who lived in what is now Ukraine from 5400–2700 B.C. Apparently they created the largest settlements in the world (that we know of), only to burn them down and fade away.

The Royal Ontario Museum is putting on an exhibit of Trypilian artifacts on loan from the Ukrainian government.

Highly sophisticated, the Trypilians were both farmers and hunters. Their ability to adapt to different terrain led to their prosperity, and soon they had the largest population growth of any other Neolithic people. They built the largest settlements in Europe at that time, some with an estimated population of 10-15,000 people. Every 60 to 80 years, they burned some settlements to the ground and moved to settle another location.

In 1896, Ukrainian archaeologist Vikenty Khvoika discovered one of these settlements near the village of Trypillia. The artifacts he uncovered were instrumental in reconstructing the daily lives of this prehistoric civilization.

Many of those artifacts are among the 300 on display in the exhibit. Star Trek-sounding civilizations I’ve never heard of are definitely worth a trip to ROM, imo.

Happy New Year, all!

Thank you for reading, and for staying with me through my shameful breaks. All in all, I have to say I’m pretty psyched I managed to write fairly reliably over the last year, especially considering my supershameful false start way back in ‘06.

My resolution this year is to move from fairly reliable to straight-up reliable. I’m also thinking of doing a little more actual reportage, like contacting sources if at all possible.

I’ve gotten a couple of stories wrong by just passing along information from the article, and only found out that there were inaccuracies when one of the principles happened across this blog and commented, most notably in the awesome rostrum story.

I don’t want to overreach, though. My attempts to contact sources thus far have failed more than they’ve succeeded. If I manage to post daily with maybe a planned week off here and there, I’ll be a happy camper.

How about y’all? Would you like to see anything particular from this blog in the new year? More/fewer stories on a particular subject area, structural changes, style changes, anything at all?

Researchers have found just short of 2 pounds of kind bud in a tomb in China’s Xinjiang province. The cannabis has been carbon dated and is 2,700 years old.

The 789 grams of dried cannabis was buried alongside a light-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian man, likely a shaman of the Gushi culture, near Turpan in northwestern China.

The extremely dry conditions and alkaline soil acted as preservatives, allowing a team of scientists to carefully analyze the stash, which still looked green though it had lost its distinctive odour.

This is the earliest weed found in good enough condition and enough quantities to test thoroughly, and it’s also the earliest researchers can confirm was used for its psychotropic properties rather than for more practical hempen usages.

Out of the 500 Gushi tombs, only two have marijuana in them, so either it was exclusively the domain of shamans or administered under their supervision.

There were no smoking implements in the tomb, so researchers could not determine whether the marjuana was ingested or smoked in some other way.

My theory: ancient Chinese apple bong.

I came across an article today that pissed me off so much I actually bothered to register and comment: Genuine antiquities are surprisingly affordable.

Plasma TVs from the back of some guy’s van are surprisingly affordable too. Know why? BECAUSE THEY’RE FRIKKIN STOLEN.

I mean, just look at this quote.

I know it sounds unbelievable that it is possible to pay as little as $200 for a small Egyptian station (954-853 B.C.) or a Neolithic painted pottery jar c. 2000 B.C. or a free blown amber marbled glass flask c. 1st century A.D. for $1,000/$2,000.

Surprisingly the answer is because they aren’t very rare. According to Bill Gage, in the expert department of James Julia Auctions, they turn up regularly at auction. “They are still digging it up and it was untouched for 2,000 years.”

They are still digging it up. There. Right there. Who the hell does Anne Gilbert The Antique Detective think is doing that digging? Can ya maybe detect that every major antiquities-exporting country has LAWS against “digging it up” and selling it for a bargoon to Indiana Jones manqué IT professionals in the greater Chicago area?

Now watch this drive:

If you are still interested check before buying for historical significance, authentic age and good condition. Study museum collections and ask questions.

Historical significance, age and condition. Not a single word in the entire article about history of ownership. No need for buyers to care in the least if they’re supporting grave robbers, drug cartels and terrorists.

So here’s what I said in my comment:

I’m dismayed by your complete lack of acknowledgment that recently surfaced antiques (”They are still digging it up and it was untouched for 2,000 years.”) are most likely looted, stolen by highly destructive grave robbers and trafficked by criminal networks including a vast panoply of terrorists, drug dealers and all manner of criminals.

The market in Apullian red figure vases in particular is notoriously comprised of goods ripped from the ground of central Italy since 1970 in contravention of Italian law and the 1970 UNESCO convention.

To not even mention provenance or ownership history as something potential buyers should care about is deeply irresponsible. That sort of look-the-other-way attitude is why Shelby White, the Getty Museum, the Met and a myriad other collectors and institutions have been forced to return the stolen goods they so gleefully purchased with the reckless encouragement of people like you.

I had links in there but evidentally they don’t allow HTML in comments.

What do you think? Was I too nice?