Category Archives: Viva!

Found: Two of the Quarries Responsible for the Megaliths of Stonehenge

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In 1923, British geologist Herbert Henry Thomas published a now-infamous study on Stonehenge, in which he claimed to know the precise location where the prehistoric architects had quarried the stones used in the massive monument. Turns out he was way off.

In a recently released study published in Antiquity, a team of archaeologists and geologists have reported the exact location of two of these quarries in western Wales. Stonehenge is made up of several different types of rocks collectively called “bluestones,” which have long been known to have come from somewhere in the Preseli Hills in Pembrokeshire. However, the researchers (who have been excavating the area for eight years) now know believe they know more precisely where this megalith quarrying took place 5,000 years ago, and how it was done.

The radiocarbon dates from charcoal from both quarries show that the stones were extracted around 3000 B.C., which lines up with the first stage of Stonehenge’s construction (when bluestones were erected in the Aubrey Holes) and with previously found dates for when people were buried near the Neolithic monument. Additionally, researchers found tools such as sharp hammer stones and stone wedges that appear to illustrate how the quarrying was performed. In a stroke of early engineering genius, the stone wedges were likely used to maneuver naturally occuring vertical pillars off of the parent rock by creating space between “joints.”

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These quarries sit about 180 miles away from Stonehenge, which is much farther than initially reported by Thomas in 1923. Mike Parker Pearson, who studies British prehistory at University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, and led the project, says that this “shows an unusual degree of connectivity and unity between different tribal groups in the west and east of southern Britain, uniting to build Stonehenge despite their geographical distance apart.” Previously, scientists flirted with the idea that the early builders may have transported the bluestones south to Milford Haven and then brought them to Stonehenge’s location by water. But now, since both quarries are located on the hills’ north side, Pearson and his team think that people probably carried them east over land instead. “It is making us think that this was part of a coordinated and unified operation that extended across southern Britain and that Stonehenge’s purpose was to unify the two cultures (east and west) of Neolithic Britain,” he says.

Richard Bevins of the National Museum of Wales is one of the two geologists involved in the study, and his work contributed greatly to pinning down the exact quarry locations. Based on his findings, he says, it’s likely that the “bluestones were first erected to form a henge by a Neolithic population in Pembrokeshire, and then as that population migrated to Salisbury Plain they literally took their henge with them.”

One quarry site, Carn Goedog, is what principally produced dolerite (diorite) bluestones, a blue-green igneous rock with white spots. Craig Rhos-y-felin, the other quarry, is responsible for the rhyolite bluestones found at Stonehenge. Rhyolite is a similarly “hard” rock, but lighter blue in color. Though both quarry sites produced rocks that made their way to Stonehenge, Bevins says, they don’t have much in common beyond that. Rocks from both locations are “very well-jointed,” he says, “so extracting a ‘pillar-sized’ monolith would be a relatively easy task.” Bevins and his fellow geologist, Rob Ixer of University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, performed “detailed whole rock chemical analysis as well as detailed mineral chemistry analysis”—specifically involving flecks of zircons in the stone, which he calls “an innovative approach.” This analysis indicated a match between the rocks at Craig Rhos-y-felin and at least one type of rhyolite at Stonehenge.

The only other known megalith quarry in Neolithic Europe is one on the Orkney Islands, where the slabs lay horizontally, not vertically. Moving forward, the team plans to look for a dismantled bluestone circle close to theoe quarries. Depending on what they find, it may suggest whether Bevins is right, and Stonehenge once stood elsewhere before it was dismantled and moved, stone-by-stone, to the familiar Salisbury Plain.

Sixteen states, including California, sue Trump administration over national emergency declaration – Los Angeles Times

Along with Becerra, attorneys general from Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Virginia joined in the lawsuit, which was filed in the Northern District of California.

Source: Sixteen states, including California, sue Trump administration over national emergency declaration – Los Angeles Times

Elizabeth Warren Wants a Wealth Tax. How Would That Even Work?

Why is this even a question? The highest tax rate in the 1960’s and 1970s was at least 70%. When President Ronny dropped that to 35% or so, the great inequality began and now less than one percent control 90% of USA wealth. The $22/hr job is now $16/hour! More single parents than ever have to work two or more jobs to keep heads above water! There are other tools that don’t involve quite the risks and challenges of targeting the richest families.

‘I know what intolerance looks like’: Ilhan Omar takes her turn in the spotlight

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The Minnesota congresswoman faced fire over Israel and fury over her treatment of Trump official Elliott Abrams

Ilhan Omar made history in January when she became the first Somali American and one of the first Muslim women sworn into the US Congress.

Related: Democratic party elites silence Ilhan Omar at their peril | Trita Parsi and Stephen Wertheim

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Why Trump and his team want to wipe out the EU | Natalie Nougayrède

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Mike Pompeo’s wooing of eastern European states is an attack on the union’s very existence, and part of a wider ideological battle

The Trump administration not only dislikes the European Union, it is out to destroy it. The trip by the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to Europe last week was episode three of the onslaught, designed to play on east-west divisions within the EU. Episode one was Donald Trump’s 2017 Warsaw speech, infused with nativist nationalism. Episode two was Trump’s 2018 moves on tariffs, and his tearing up of key agreements such as the Iran nuclear deal and the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. To which should be added his open encouragements to Brexiteers, and his decision to pull out of Syria. All of the above affect European (including British) interests in very concrete ways, unlike mere tweets or insults thrown at allies.

Europe is trying to put up a resistance. Angela Merkel, Trump’s favourite political target in the EU, received a standing ovation on Saturday at the annual Munich security conference for her speech on the virtues of multilateralism. But perhaps we have yet to fully fathom what the EU is dealing with in this new Trump era. The man now whispering into Trump’s ears is John Bolton, his national security adviser. His brand of anti-EU ideology was on full display during Pompeo’s tour of Budapest, Bratislava and Warsaw.

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Trump urges Venezuelan military to desert ‘Cuban puppet’ Maduro

Even using outdated Red language – Dummy thinks he can get “strong” hard bullying a Latin American!

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  • President speaks to US-based Venezuelans in Miami
  • Trump calls on listeners to support opposition

Donald Trump has appealed to the largest Venezuelan community in the US, seeking to rally support for the opposition leader Juan Guaidó.

Related: Panama Papers ‘tightened the noose’ on offshore assets of Maduro’s inner circle

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“My dad came to America in the 90’s.  He worked at one of those…

Perfect immigrant that president Trump want to keep out or deport if he can. tumblr_pn5brtLqiH1qggwnvo1_500.jpg

“My dad came to America in the 90’s.  He worked at one of those stalls on 34th street selling ‘I Love New York’ t-shirts and plastic Statues of Liberty.  One of his coworkers had a sister back in Bangladesh, which was my mom. The whole thing was arranged over the phone.  Even the wedding was done over the phone. Everyone was on the line: my grandparents, my uncles, the Islamic priest.  My parents didn’t even meet in person until five months after the wedding.  I’m the oldest child in our extended family. Plus I’m the first one to grow up in America, so everyone is watching me. I’m like the lab rat for the American Dream. I was initially told that I was going to be a doctor. One of my earliest memories is sitting in my SpongeBob chair, practicing my numbers and letters.  In first grade my parents hired my kindergarten teacher to tutor me after school. My mother would actually negotiate with my teachers during parent-teacher conferences.  When I didn’t have a perfect grade in 5th grade science, she convinced my teacher to let me build a baking soda volcano for extra credit.  We didn’t have food coloring so we used Bengali spices for the lava.  Right now I’m in my first year of college. My parents have let go of the doctor thing. I think they trust me now because they’ve seen me accomplish a lot of things. But I still feel a lot of pressure.  A lot of people are watching me back in Bangladesh.  The sense of family is so big there.  If one person gets lifted up, everyone gets lifted up.  So everyone wants me to do well. And I want to do well for them.”