Animation discovered on 5,200-year-old pottery

Cory Doctorow 2:15 am Wed Mar 12, 2008

A 5,200 year old piece of pottery from Iran has been discovered to embody the oldest known animation in the world — a wild goat eating vegetation:

The wild goat motif can be seen on Iranian pottery dating back to the 4th millennium BCE, as well as jewellery pieces especially among Cassite tribes of ancient Luristan. However, the oldest wild goat representation in Iran was discovered in Negaran Valley in Sardast region, 37 kilometers from Nahok village near Saravan back in 1999. The engraved painting of wild goat is part of an important collection of lithoglyphs dating back to 8000 BCE.

However, wild goat representation with a tree is associated with Murkum, a mother goddess who was worshipped by all the Indo-Iranian women of the Haramosh valley in modern Pakistan, which culturally had closer ties with Indus and subsequently the Burnt City civilisations, than Mesopotamia, which could had influenced the ancient potter who made this unique piece.

Link

(Thanks, Robbo!)

Here's what really happens when you swallow gum

If you swallow chewing gum, does it really stay in your body for seven years? In this video from the Institute of Human Anatomy, "lead dissector" Jonathan Bennion reveals the truth and how much it's stretched. The video below will give you something to chew on: READ THE REST
Sex as a cure for nasal congestion, flying rhinoceroses, and cat-human communication: winners of the 2021 Ig Nobel prizes

For 31 years, the Annals of Improbable Research have awarded the delightful Ig Nobel Prizes honoring scientific "achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think." Of this year's ten winners announced yesterday, here are a few of my favorites: * Lund University's Susanne Schötz, "for analyzing variations in purring, chirping, chattering, trilling,… READ THE REST
Sci-Hub, the "pirate bay of science," undergoes expansion

Sci-Hub provides free access to millions of papers and books. Its disregard for copyright makes it the target of legal threats, but its mission of providing open access to publicly-funded studies has made it overwhelmingly popular among scientists and lay readers alike. And it's growing again. "It's a place where people can find scientific studies… READ THE REST
These beginner watercolor painting courses can turn you into a regular old Claude Monet

Got a stroke of genius and nowhere to make your mark? Sounds like you could use some help in the art department. You could go back to art school and get in-person lessons, but people are full of germs these days, and it's still a safe bet to just stay home. Try the Watercolor Painting… READ THE REST
This Indiegogo-funded charging cable does way more than charge your devices

Between the pictures from your vacation you need to send to your mother-in-law to the files you need to upload for the meeting tomorrow, your digital tasks are on overload, to say the very least. And with these, comes the need for various apps, cords, chargers, and then some. Quite frankly, it's hard to keep… READ THE REST
Clean up your storage on your Apple device with over $100 off this top-rated app

We probably all have a dozen apps right now that share and save pictures and videos. Between Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and a handful of others, there's just so much visual data floating around on our iPhones and iPads. Wouldn't it be nice to clean up some unwanted or repetitive data so our devices move… READ THE REST