Sunset at Grand Canyon (Arizona, USA) from Yavapai Point. Photo: Tobias Alt
1. Sweden’s Mummified Bishop Found with Fetus
Swedish researchers studying the mummified remains of a bishop buried in 1680 have made an unusual discovery – a fetus hidden at the feet of the prominent clergyman. Read more at CNN.
2. Why Did Cervantes Want to Be Buried under a Convent?
Miguel de Cervantes, the author of Don Quixote, asked to be buried at Madrid’s Convento de las Trinitarias Descalzas because the nuns raised money and paid a ransom for his release when he was a young man held captive in North Africa. Read more at NPR.
3. Modern Humans and Neanderthals Interbred in Europe
An analysis of 40,000-year-old DNA suggests an early Homo sapiens settler in Europe harbored a Neanderthal ancestor just a few generations back in his family line. Read more at BBC.
4. The Most Threatened Historical Places in America
The Grand Canyon, The Factory and the A.G. Gaston Motel, Little Havana are just a few of the names on the list. Read more at Smithsonian.com.
5. Islamic State Militants Destroyed Mausoleums in Syria’s Palmyra
A Syrian official says the Islamic State group has destroyed two mausoleums in the historic central town of Palmyra. Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the Antiquities and Museums Department in Damascus, tells The Associated Press that one of the tombs belongs to Mohammad Bin Ali, a descendant of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad’s cousin Imam Ali. Read more at U.S. News and World Report.
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