Liar, Liar

A great, brilliant, brave, and noble man. These are the words that some use to describe Marco Polo, 'The man who traveled the world.' Or atleast this is the illusion he tried to create.
Over the years, Marco's claims of traveling to lands far and wide, such as China, are being re-evaluated. This man says he went to China but in the many years he claimed to have spent there, he did not pick up on their language, or even one of their most popular past times, drinking tea. Along with that, no Chinese record mentions his name even though he claimed to have played an important role in China's government.
Although, when he went back to Europe and told the westerners about his amazing journey, they embraced his story with open arms. His book, "The Travels of Marco Polo" became the most read book in Europe. Even though the book used Persian terms to refer to many people and things. The other ironic thing about his book is that he wrote it with the help of a fiction writer.
So what do you think? Did the alleged hero really go to China or did he pull the greatest trick of all time?

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/mysteries/marco.htm

-Jasmeen R

Period 5

Cannibalism in Germany?

Herxheim in southern Germany shows remnants of many butchered skulls. About 7,000 years ago the Germans took war prisoners and slaves and used them for ritual sacrifice and they were killed as if they were animals. Boulestin, an anthropologist at the University of Bordeaux, has found evidence that several hundred people were all eaten in a short period of time. Miriam Haidle and Jorg Orschiedt have discovered that the bodies were buried, and then they took the bodies apart and removed the flesh from the bones, and then reburied them. Another cannibalism sight was in France and these people were butchered as well, but the answer could have been reburial, and not cannibalism. Herxheim was excavated from 1996-1999 and ditches have been found that contain both human and dog bones. Many human skulls and limbs were found; the bones contain many incisions. Boulestin's team thought that possibly bodies were brought to Herxheim to be buried, but the bones show otherwise. There are chew marks on the bones and the bones are opened at the ends, so that the marrow could have been removed. It is very possible that these Neolithic people could have been cannibals, because the skulls of these people had been crushed as if the Germans held an uncontrollable hatred against them.

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/mass-cannibalism-german-village.html

Stefanie Studen
Period 7

Who is the Real Gandhi?

When thinking about world peace and nonviolence, the name Mahatma Gandhi comes to mind. Students have been taught that Gandhi used his peaceful hunger strikes to defy British Raj, or British Reign, in India around the time period of 1859 to 1947. Although, when Mr. G. B. Singh finished twenty years of research on the unedited information on the life of Gandhi, the truth was revealed about how Gandhi really became widely known as a promoter of peace. It all began when white Christian clergy, in an attempt to convert the great influence of India, spread misinformation that convinced the West that Gandhi was "The Greatest Man Since Jesus Christ". These clergy are the reason that people still today believe Mahatma Gandhi to be a peaceful person. The clergy made an attempt to convert the so called apostle at the height of his popularity in order to introduce Christianity to the many Hindu followers of Gandhi. Along with this propaganda is the fact that when working as a lawyer for the natives of South Africa, Mohandas Gandhi, who closely followed the Hindu caste system, believed Africans to be of a lower status than the Untouchables, the lowest level of the system. In an instance where Gandhi was put into jail with the Africans, he revealed his true racist self by refusing to live with the very people he was fighting for in courts. In the end, the biggest lie that Gandhi won Indian freedom without violence. It was in fact that, because of the harshness of World War II on Britain, all of the links to their colonial powers had to be severed. After being told the other half of the story of Mohandas Gandhi, one must be curious to know more about the man behind the mask of divinity.

http://www.sikhsundesh.net/gandhi.htm

Kainaat K. Bajwa

Period 7‏

Da Vinci da man

Due to new scientific fingerprinting techniques, a new painting of a nineteenth century German girl is said to be one of Leonardo da Vinci's. Purchased by Peter Silverman, an art collector, in 2007 for around 19,000 dollars, it is now worth around 150 million. Biro, the forensic art expert, claimed that the fingerprint on this painting matched fingerprints on many of his other famous paintings. The fingerprints used were easily readable due to da Vinci's frequent use of his fingers. Biro also noticed how the style of da Vinci was repeated in the new painting. Biro also believes this painting to be priceless seeing as how it is uncommon to find an artist as good as Leonardo. Silverman bought the painting for his Swiss friend and began researching it but was skeptical of it being a da Vinci painting. However, all his research brought him back to Leonardo. A year ago, Silverman met Nicholas Turner, an art expert, who, along with many other experts, claimed it was a da Vinci painting. The painting was confirmed to be da Vinci's after the fingerprint test results came in.

http://news.discovery.com/history/da-vinci-painting.html

Alex Moniz
Period 7

Which came first the Chicken or the European?

Columbus seemed to “stumble” upon the Americas, in his quest to reach the East Indies, but was he really the first to make it? Polynesians traveled to South America before Columbus, and brought their chickens with them. These chickens, had to be brought by humans, and were carbon dated back from about 1304 to 1424. Genetic sampling of this type of chicken also matches that of the Polynesians breed, instead of the Europeans. Some scientists speculate that this could never come to be, however, in 1947 Thor Heyerdahl a Norwegian scientists built a rudimentary boat, and sailed the Pacific. He built the same style boat the Polynesians used, and was able to accomplish his goal. The evidence goes to show that the Polynesian chicken really did come before the European.

http://www.livescience.com/history/070604_polynesian_chicken.html

Harrison Hucks

Period 7

Machu Picchu: A Pilgrimage

The “Lost City of the Incas” is now being suggested as not actually a city. Machu Picchu, the city that sits atop a giant mountain, is now being researched as a pilgrimage site instead of a settling city. It is said that the city was used for the inhabitants to make their spiritual pilgrimages to find their souls and gain a closer relationship to God. This place had a very important sanctuary which possessed a rock which was claimed to be the “Birthplace of the Sun”. Although this myth has never been proven, it is said that the people come to the city to cleanse the mind and gain spirituality.

Machu Picchu is perched at more than 8,000 feet into the clouds and is definitely very hard to get to. It is believed to be a place of pilgrimage because of its geographical location and challenges in the journey to arrive there. This historical suggestion poses many more question that still have not yet been answered

http://news.discovery.com/history/machu-piccu-incas.html

Erin Davis

Period 7

Ancient Twilight

Believe it or not, this is not the first time entire societies have had a completely ridiculous obsession with vampires. The people of the middle ages would much rather hunt vampires and perform exorcisms than make cheesy movies about them but they were, nonetheless, obsessed. The decomposition of human bodies was not a process that was widely understood at the time, which pushed most commoners to believing in blood sucking monsters. The decomposition process makes a body look as if blood is coming out of its nose and mouth so people immediately assumed it was from the monsters latest snack.
Lazzaretto Nuovo is a small island near Venice where the first evidence of an exorcism was found. The woman’s jawbone had a brick pushed into it, which was a technique used on suspected vampires. Inserting bricks or s4tones into the “vampires” mouth was said to stop the creature from spreading the plague. It isn’t often that archaeologists are able to diagnose something they find as being “undead”, but Matteo Borrini was first to get the chance.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090310-vampire-graves.html

Keely O'Brien
Period 7

Easter Island Red Hat Mystery Revealed

The questioning of how these statues received their mysterious red hats has been solved. These giant statues are found on Easter Island and British archaeologists believe that it all started with the discovery of a road on the tiny Pacific island. University of Manchester and University College, London provided a team that found a hidden quarry, known as Puna Pau, where the hats were built. The quarry was located in an ancient crater of a volcano and they analyze that the hats were rolled to the statues either by hand or using tree logs. Polynesians moved the hats between 500 and 750 years ago to where the statues are located. The hate were made of a red scoria, similar to pumice-like volcanic rock and weighed several tons. They were places on the heads of the moai, another name for the human like figures, which encircle the island’s coastline. The question that remains is how they were raised on top of the figures. Keep in mind the hats weigh several pounds, how could that be possible?

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/easter-island-red-hats.html

Tamara Eckert

Period 7

'Mini-Colosseum' Excavated in Rome

Since the 16th century, a “mini-Colosseum” has been hidden below Rome's Fiumicino airport in Portus, a harbor used in the second century. But not until the 1860’s was it seriously excavated by Rodolfo Lanciani. This 138 foot by 125 foot arena was believed to be used as a private venue by high status officials and possibly even emperors. Compared to the 50,00 people the Colosseum can hold, this mini arena can only hold up to 2,000. However, the purpose of it still remains unclear . Because it is shaped like an amphitheater, it’s suspected that it was used for a variety of events such as gladiator fights or the staging of mock sea trials. By the discovery of this arena, not only have archaeologists discovered that Portus was one of the most immense maritime foundations of the ancient world, but they also have come across luxuriously decorated rooms, a marble head that could possibly be of the Greek hero Ulysses, and also a column filled garden. Some people even believe that this discovery is so important that it should be ranked among the wonders of the world.

http://news.discovery.com/history/mini-colosseum-ancient-rome.html

Clarisa Hernandez

Period 7

The last of the Aztec Warriors

In Mexico city, 49 adult indigenous Mexican people were found in the remains of a pyramid in Tlateloco square, (destroyed by the Spanish). The pyramid was a mass grave, and many had already been found in it, buried haphazardly. However, these 49 were different because they were buried neatly, were all adult males, were tall, and some had bones that were previously broken. They are though to be some of the last Aztec warriors who fought the Spanish conquistadors (lead by Hernán Cotréz) during the conquest of Tlateloco square in 1521, which lasted for 76 days. Interestingly, these warriors not only buried neatly, but were also lying on their backs with their arm crossed (this is how Christians traditionally bury the dead). This indicates that the Christian Spanish did the burying. However, they burial also contains Aztec elements -- incense, animals, and copper necklaces, leading historians to hypothesize that the burials were ordered by the Spanish, but carried out by Aztecs.Overall, this discovery creates "more questions than it answers".

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/090211-aztec-video-ap.html

Jeffrey Seyfried

Period 7