Culture24 UK, Wessex Archaeology has just published the full results of their research into these newest discoveries. Neil Fitzpatrick, a representative from the organization, told the website that based on their findings, this site is officially the largest Saxon cemetery discovered in Wiltshire to date – something Fitzpatrick characterized as “pretty cool”, in his own words. There were several noteworthy features discovered regarding the cemetery, most striking of which was how each burial seems to include grave goods including an iron knife. Fitzpatrick remarked that the team was unsure of the symbolism of such an inclusion, but he pointed out that the cultural significance would have been high, as even a large number of burials featuring small children or infants had iron knives as well. There were other discoveries as well, such as nearly a full ten cremations and several warrior burials complete with varied spearheads and shield bosses. One such grave, according to Fitzpatrick, was located beneath an inhumation that had been bereft of grave goods; the warrior himself had been laid to rest with a sword that was in remarkably good condition. Meanwhile, another unique characteristic of the cemetery includes several crouched burials, which tended to either include just an iron knife or no grave goods whatsoever. When it came to the final resting place for women, the graves of female Saxons tended to have recycled Roman-style beads. Broaches of Germanic design festooned with spiral decorations were also common, especially in graves in one area of the cemetery running east to west that may date to the late Iron Age. Thanks to the wide variety of graves in the cemetery, and the several centuries’ worth of burials, Fitzpatrick remarked that it was easy to identify the change from earlier Saxon burials to later Roman ones. The former are much more likely to feature pagan iconography, while the Christian influences of the later Roman period are more prevalent in graves from that era. The Wessex Archaeology representative also pointed out that several funerary structures were found at the cemetery site. Much in the same way that modern cemeteries often feature small mausoleum structures, it seemed common to have similar structures at this cemetery – though they mostly consisted of four posts holding up a roof instead of an enclosed structure. The research findings are available here Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons user: Pasicles]]>
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Cell Press, adding, “We’ve been working for a long time to understand the fundamental mechanisms behind rod and cone development.” Previous work completed by Swaroop and his team has shown that NRL, a transcription factor, drives retinal cells towards maturing into rods. NRL accomplishes this by suppressing certain genes involved in the development of cone cells, leading researchers to wonder if the shorter wave-length cone cells were changed into rods during the evolution process. To determine the origin of these rods, Swaroop’s team examined the cone cells and rods in mice, taken at various stages of development. The details involved in the embryonic development of an organism frequently reveals traits its evolutionary ancestors carried, like how, for instance, human embryos will initially develop a tail and gill-like slits. What they found was that two days after they were born, the still-developing rod cells had genes typically expressed in cell cones, however, once the mice were ten days old these aspects had become repressed by DNA methylations and histone. When examining zebrafish, which are cone-dominated and diurnal (active during the daytime), the experiments indicated the rod cells didn’t look like cell cones at all. To determine when the elements, which turn cone cells to rod cells, may have originated, the researchers examined the genomic sequences from a number of vertebrate animals. What the team discovered was that as the modern retina developed, the genes which are responsible for NRL regulation became more refined in placental mammals but were lost in a number of non-mammalian groups. The origin of this system seemed to coincide with the evolution of nocturnal adaptations in early mammals. The team then concluded that for mammals, NRL became restricted to the photoreceptors found in the eye, forcing these cells to convert to rods from cones, thereby giving early mammals the needed edge to adapt to an active nocturnal lifestyle. In contrast, humans depend primarily on cone cells for our vision, because our ancestors evolved to take advantage of daylight hours once again The study has been published in the online journal Cell Press. ]]>
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Mutiny Sets Henry Hudson Adrift
Discovery mutinied on 22nd June, 1611. The vessel’s captain, famed explorer Henry Hudson; his teenage son and seven others were all overpowered by the ship’s crew and forced into a small, uncovered boat. Set adrift with few supplies in the harsh conditions, Hudson and the others were never seen again. The only hint to their fate came almost twenty years later, in 1631, when another expedition through the region found the remains of a shelter that could have been erected by Hudson and his eight companions. Hudson, for whom Hudson Bay is named after, was embroiled in an obsessive hunt for a Northwest Passage, a sea route through the North American continent that would connect Europe to the lucrative trading opportunities in Asia. The 55-ton Discovery had set off from London on 17th April, 1610, stopping briefly in Iceland before making its way into the Hudson Bay in August. For this expedition, Hudson had his ship cruised around the southern section of the Hudson Bay, searching for an outlet into the Pacific. Scouring the region and finding nothing, Hudson nevertheless continued his search. When the wintry Arctic conditions struck however, tensions quickly rose among the crew when the ship became trapped in the ice, with its supplies dwindling. Rumours started to spread among the crew that Hudson had started to hoard food, saving it for his favoured crew members while depriving others. He demoted Robert Juet, the ship’s first mate, while also getting into a heated dispute with another officer, Henry Green. Conspiracy began to spread around the ship, with Green and Juet recruiting men to their cause. In June, while the ship prepared to commence its journey back to Europe, the mission a failure, the mutiny took place and Hudson along with his supporters were apprehended and then set adrift. At least, that was the account provided by the surviving crew members. The Discovery eventually made its way back to England, but without Juet and Green. The surviving crew members claimed that the two mutiny leaders had been killed in a battle with Native Americans at some point on the journey home. This of course adds an interesting twist to the tale of the mutiny, raising the possibility that the crew perhaps altered certain elements of the story, or lied about Juet and Green’s fate, in order to shift blame away from themselves. Some of those who made it back were eventually tried for mutiny, but all were ultimately acquitted due to a lack of evidence. Little is known about Hudson’s early life. Likely born sometime late in the sixteenth century, in England, he earned a reputation as a formidable sailor and, ultimately, one of the world’s greatest explorers. How he gained such skill as a seafarer is unknown, with precious few details about his life prior to his first expedition as a ship’s commander in 1607 available. He embarked on four major voyages in his career, including the fateful final one. All were driven by the same aim, of finding a new passage between Europe and Asia, and with countries and businesses fighting to unearth new trade routes, funding for these ambitious expeditions was seldom hard to come by. His first two trips attempted to find a Northeast Passage, the second ultimately blocked by thick ice north of Russia. Giving up on ever finding an eastern route, he soon turned his attention to the North American continent, embarking on his first voyage there in 1609. Although ultimately failing, Hudson inspired a host of later explorers to search North America for the fabled Northwest Passage. His name, meanwhile, can be found on waterways, bridges and even towns across the continent, a mark of the esteem he is held in.]]>
