Author: T N

Citizens of a 17th-century Polish town weren’t taking any chances when they laid to rest a woman they believed to be a vampire: She was buried with a sickle blade laid across her neck, intended to decapitate her should she attempt to rise from the grave. Archaeologists from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, discovered the grave during excavations of a cemetery in the southern village of Pien. The unusual burial reflects superstitions surrounding vampires, thought to be undead monsters who subsisted on drinking the blood of humans. “Ways to protect against the return of the dead include cutting off…

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – Archaeologists excavating in Slovakia have made an unusual find. The remains of 38 individuals were found in a ditch surrounding the settlement of Vráble. Their well-preserved skeletons were jumbled together and all of them were missing their heads, with the exception of a young child. How, when, and why these people’s heads were removed are central questions for future investigations. Already last year, the team had uncovered headless skeletons there. “We assumed to find more human skeletons, but this exceeded all imaginations,” reports project leader Prof. Dr. Martin Furholt. Archaeologists from the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC)…

Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – Eight over-4,000-year-old, ostrich eggs were uncovered near an ancient fire pit in the Nitzana sand dunes in the Negev, in the south of Israel. This rare find, preliminarily dated between 4,000 and 7,500 years ago, was discovered in an Israel Antiquities Authority archaeological excavation in the agricultural fields of Be’er Milka. The excavation was carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority, initiated by the Jewish National Fund and the Ramat Negev Regional Council plans to prepare new agricultural land for Be’er Milka. “We found a campsite, which extends over about 200 sq. m, that was used…

A mysterious Egyptian mummy that was long believed to be a hawk is actually a rare example of a stillborn human baby, according to a new study. Researchers from Western University used micro-CT scans to virtually unwrap the mummy, which dates back 2,100 years. Their analysis suggests that it is a male, stillborn at 23 to 28 weeks of gestation, with a rare condition called anencephaly, which causes the brain and skull develop improperly. Dr Andrew Nelson, who led the study, said: “The whole top part of his skull isn’t formed. “The arches of the vertebrae of his spine haven’t closed. His earbones are at…

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered the remains of an ancient temple belonging to King Ramses II. Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities says that the discovery was made by an Egyptian-Czech mission in the village of Abusir southwest of Cairo. The excavation site is near the famous step pyramid of Saqqara. In a statement on Sunday, Miroslav Barta, the head of the Czech team, said the temple is the only evidence of the presence of Ramses II in the Badrashin area in Giza, part of Greater Cairo. He said the discovery confirms the continued worship of the sun god “Ra” in Abusir,…

Scarlett Witch’s Marvel Cinematic Universe story could be enhanced by the possibility the Magneto is her MCU father. In the comics, Magento was Wanda’s biological father, but Marvel writers have recently undone that storyline. It was revealed that Magento was lying to Wanda and Pietro in the comics all along, and he actually wasn’t their father but instead using the supposed family ties to use them. Wanda Maximoff, also known as the Scarlett Witch, has been a part of the MCU since 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron when she and her twin brother were introduced as morally complicated anti-heroes who worked with Ultron against…

After The Flash’s start in 2014, nine years later, the DC Comics show is set to come to an end with its final season—one that’ll see the return of John Diggle, Kid Flash, and Arrow himself. For those keeping up with information regarding Grant Gustin’s final hurrah as the Scarlet Speedster, clearly, he will have his hands full in this last season. The trailer for the batch of episodes features the return of basically his entire rough gallery, including a heavy focus on both Reverse Flash and Godspeed. It also revealed that Barry Allen would be up against a new speedster: Red Death. While Barry might not know…

At the event, held on Tuesday 5 July 2022, Nicki Lyons, Vodafone’s UK Director of Corporate Affairs & Sustainability, talked about some of the brilliant initiatives Vodafone has in place to support women in the workplace. Nicki also spoke about a new campaign – ‘It’s Not Nothing’ – created by Vodafone Foundation to help people recognise examples of ‘coercive control’, an insidious form of domestic abuse. Vodafone supports the charity Bright Sky, which has developed an app and website as a source of help and support. Vodafone has programmes in place to attract, retain and engage women at every stage of their…

Cardiff-born opera and musical theatre director Jo Davies has been appointed artistic director of Opera Australia — the first woman to hold the role in the company’s 66-year history. The 52-year-old will take up the post formally in November next year, when she and her wife plan to relocate to Australia. The position has been vacant since October, when former artistic director (AD) Lyndon Terracini unexpectedly stepped down after 13 years at the helm. Speaking to ABC Arts ahead of the announcement on Monday afternoon, Davies said: “I’m very, very proud to be the first [woman to lead Opera Australia], although it’s…

Throughout the past year, a noisy debate has erupted in the media over the meaning of what Lisa Belkin of the New York Times has called the “opt-out revolution.” Recent articles in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Time, and Fast Company all point to a disturbing trend—large numbers of highly qualified women dropping out of mainstream careers. These articles also speculate on what might be behind this new brain drain. Are the complex demands of modern child rearing the nub of the problem? Or should one blame the trend on a failure of female ambition? The facts and figures in these articles are eye-catching: a…

Over the last century, women have made great strides in all walks of life. Some of them have done pretty well in the corporate world and have risen to leadership positions in some of the largest companies across the world. Though women start their careers with the same level of skills and education as their male counterparts, only a few of them rise to the top echelons. Despite this, a number of women have made their presence felt across different disciplines and gained celebrity status across different parts of the world. The following are a few qualities and characteristics of…

During the summer of 2013—about two and a half years after the start of a major effort to increase the number and proportion of senior-leadership roles held by women at eBay Inc.1 —we conducted a global gender-diversity survey on the attitudes and experiences of our top 1,700 leaders.2 The survey revealed some good news: for example, our leaders—women and men alike—consider gender diversity an important business goal. Moreover, we found no aspiration gap: women and men, in roughly the same proportion, want to move up. Many of the findings, however, were troubling, for they suggested that men and women experience the company…

Kristeen Marie Waddell, Indianapolis, a photographer who loves iced tea, purple, technology, and kids. She has always had a passion for photography and loves to share that passion with others. Her love for digital photography began as a child when she was given a “modern” digital camera for Christmas. The camera holds 8 photos, but that should be enough to get started. Since that day, no matter where you see me, she has a camera nearby.In 2006, she turned my hobby into a career and started KristeenMarie Photography. Indianapolis shares: “Newborns are my favorite thing to photograph! I can’t wait…

The British mother considers the birth of her baby boy a true Christmas miracle after doctors first said the fetus had ᴅɪᴇᴅ in the ᴡᴏᴍʙ but later found its heartbeat. Hannah Cole, 27 and from Wibsey, West Yorkshire, was admitted to the hospital in her 20th week of pregnancy after her amniotic fluid broke. Doctors at Bradford Royal Infirmary told her the next day that there was no heartbeat and that the fetus had ᴅɪᴇᴅ in the ᴡᴏᴍʙ. But Cole said she felt her son was still alive and asked hospital staff to do another test. On this occasion, the…

A delivery usually occurs between the 37th and 41st week of pregnancy.So last November, when Jade Ewoldt gave birth to twin girls after just 22 weeks of gestation, doctors didn’t give the two babies much of a chance of survival. And yet… Dr. Jonathan Klein, a neonatologist and medical director at the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, where the twins were born, said it was incredibly rare for babies born after 22 weeks to survive. “Nationally, the survival rate is 10%,” said the doctor. And when it comes to twins, that survival rate is even lower. Sisters Keeley James and…

Jan Bartek – AncientPages.com – It has been decided the skeleton of the Irish Giant Charles Byrne will not be part of the controversial exhibition at the Hunterian Museum in London, UK. With the approval of the Council of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, the Trustees agreed that instead, the skeleton will be retained as it is an integral part of the Hunterian Collection and will be available for bona fide research into the conditions of acromegaly and gigantism. It was also decided a new program called Hunterian Provocations will begin in the autumn of 2023 to promote…

There are big, small, high, low, loose, tight, and downright funky when it comes to baby bumps. “Women come in all different shapes and sizes, and carry differently depending on a number of factors,” says Jessica Kiley, MD, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine.And, here are 12 of the most oddly shaped baby bumps. 1. Squashing It! 2. POP! Goes The Woman 3. Floating Shelf 4. Busting Out 5. Hey Baby All Gut, All Glory Womb Mates Three Times A Lady Beautiful Belly The B Belly A Little To The Left A Little To…

It was already a huge surprise for the couple when they found out that they were expecting triplets, but it soon became clear that they would have four babies. The father fainted from the excitement in the delivery room. The chances of someone having naturally ᴄᴏɴᴄᴇɪᴠᴇᴅ quadruplets – and they are all girls – are 700,000 to 1. Gemma Robson and her partner Andy Raine are one of the few couples who have this good fortune. The parents found out at the 12th week ultrasound that they were expecting triplets and were already very surprised, but while they started to…

The stereotype of the “strong black woman” is more than just a cultural trope: Many black women in America report feeling pressured to act like superwomen, projecting themselves as strong, self-sacrificing, and free of emotion to cope with the stress of race- and gender-based discrimination in their daily lives. “[Women] talked about every day walking out of their houses and putting on their ‘armor’ in anticipation of experiencing racial discrimination,” said Amani M. Allen, associate professor of community health sciences and epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley, describing focus groups she led with African American women in the San…

The latest 3D forensic reconstruction technology has put a face to the woman whose 13,600-year-old remains are the most ancient ever discovered in the Americas. Diver Octavio del Rio found the remains of the woman, dubbed Eve, in a flooded cave in the Naharon sinkhole as part of an investigation in the Quintana Roo state of south-eastern Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula back in 2001. Brazilian designer Cicero Moraes has now used 3D technology to enable the world to see what Eva, who was aged 20 to 25, and 1.41 metres (4 ft 8 ins) tall, looked like. Around 80 per cent of her…

Scientists have discovered remnants of fat in an ancient fossil that belongs to the earliest confirmed animal. The fat, which was discovered by researchers from the Australian National University, dates back 558 million years, and belonged to a strange creature called Dickinsonia. Dickinsonia grew up to 1.4 metres in length and was oval shaped with rib-like segments running along its body. Its fossilised remains were discovered in a remote area near the White Sea in Russia. Dr Jochen Brocks, who led the study, said: “The fossil fat molecules that we’ve found prove that animals were large and abundant 558 million years ago, millions…

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered an extremely rare marble head depicting the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. The head, which shows the emperor with wavy hair and a beard, was discovered in the city of Aswan in southern Egypt, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities. In a Facebook post, Dr. Ayman Ashmawy, head of the Ministry’s Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector, described the find as unique, noting that it is rare to find statues of the Roman emperor in Egypt. Egypt Independent reports that the statue’s head was found when experts were reducing the level of groundwater at the Kom Ombo temple in Aswan.…

It’s hard enough to choose the perfect name for one baby, but what about when you have to do it for three? That’s the dilemma facing the parents-to-be who are about to bring multiple bouncing bundles of joy into the world. Naturally, triplets occur in about 1 of every 10,000 births; with fertility measures such as medication and assisted reproductive technology, the chance is much higher. But no matter how your triplets came to be, there’s still the matter of what to call them once they get here. You want something that’s not too matchy-matchy, but still sounds coordinated; something…

Marvel Studios producer Nate Moore went into the details behind the injury that Letitia Wright suffered while shooting Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Black Panther 2 became one of the toughest challenges in the MCU’s long history, which went far beyond the tragic passing of lead actor Chadwick Boseman in August 2020. After countless other COVID-19-related delays, things were compounded further when Shuri star Letitia Wright suffered a fairly serious injury while performing a stunt during exterior filming in November 2021, then leading to more issues and controversy surrounding the actress. Wright commented on her experience with the injury in September 2022, feeling that she “came away really proud in the face of adversity” while…