Makeup, hair, and fashion styles of four dynasties from Chinese history, by 弥秋君. The simplicity of the Han, luxury of the Tang, delicacy of the Song, and elegance of the Ming. Which is your favorite?

Canadian photographer Eiko Jones

Beautiful peonies I stumbled upon after a heavy rain | @millayvintage

Himalayan or Spotted Jesters (Symbrenthia hypselis, Nymphalidae) by Sinobug (itchydogimages) on Flickr. Pu’er, Yunnan, China See more Chinese butterflies on my Flickr site HERE…..

The Mystery of Maine’s Viking Penny

THE STORY THAT GUY MELLGREN told about the curious silver coin began on the shores of Maine, where he met a stranger named Goddard. In the fall of 1956, Mellgren and Ed Runge, a pair of amateur archaeologists, had come in search of the most basic of coastal dig sites—a shell midden—when they happened onto a more unusual discovery.

Goddard had invited them to explore his shoreline property, and there, on a natural terrace about eight feet above the high tide line, they found stone chips, knives, and fire pits, along with an abundance of other unexpected artifacts. Each summer for many years, Mellgren and Runge returned to excavate the “Goddard Site,” with little help from professional archaeologists. In the second summer, they produced the coin.

For two decades, based on an analysis by a friend in a numismatics club, Mellgren described it as a coin minted in 12th-century England, and no one questioned that identification. Read more.

Spiny Leaf-Rolling Weevil (Paroplapoderus sp., Attelabidae) by Sinobug (itchydogimages) on Flickr. Pu’er, Yunnan, China See more Chinese beetles on my Flickr site HERE…..

Bopha Devi with Apsara dancers (1964)

Song Hye-kyo as Hwang Jin-Yi in the 2007 Sageuk Film: Hwang Jin-Yi

Traditional Chinese hanfu in song and liao dynasty style by 装束与乐舞

Neanderthal boy's skull grew like a human child's: study

The first analysis of a Neanderthal boy’s skull uncovered in Spain suggests that he grew much like a modern boy would, in another sign that our extinct ancestors were similar to us, researchers said Thursday.

The rare discovery of a child’s partial skeleton was found among the remains of seven adults and five other youths at the 49,000-year-old archaeological site of El Sidron.

The 7.7-year-old boy, known as El Sidron J1 according to the report in the journal Science, is the first juvenile Neanderthal to be studied from the area.

“What we see in this Neanderthal is that the general pattern of growth is very similar to modern humans,” said co-author Luis Rios, member of the Paleoanthropology Group at Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, during a conference call with reporters. Read more.

Castle of the Sealand kings: Discovering ancient Iraq’s rebel rulers

British and Iraqi archaeologists identify the first known settlement built under the enigmatic Sealand kings

The Kings of the Sealand sound like they come straight out of a fantasy novel but it’s the name given to a royal dynasty who ruled a swathe of Bronze Age Iraq for almost three centuries (ca. 1730-1460 BCE). Archaeologists know almost nothing about the Sealand Kings or their kingdom; all we have to go on are a tiny number of ancient texts, mostly written about them by other rulers. We know they controlled the swampy land around the head of the Persian Gulf, including several of the great ancient cities of southern Babylonia, and we know that they thoroughly annoyed the Kings of Babylon from whom they’d wrestled their kingdom.

In some ways, the Sealand kingdom is a distant ancestor to the many independently minded communities to have thrived in the Iraqi marshes which, like the English Fens, have always resisted external control and provided a refuge for rebels. Read more.

Frog-legged Leaf Beetle (Sagra femorata, Chrysomelidae) by Sinobug (itchydogimages) on Flickr. Pu’er, Yunnan, China See more Chinese beetles on my Flickr site HERE…..

Menelik Puryear

The faces of Bayon.

Bayon is a richly decorated Khmer temple, located at Angkor, Cambodia. “The serenity of the stone faces” (Glaize, 1993) strikes one while walking through Bayon.

Photos courtesy of & taken by yeowatzup.