THE AFRICAN BOOK Africa has the oldest and most diverse book culture of any continent. Here, in a dozen tweets, is why. One of only four independent inventions of writing on earth - hieroglyphics - is African, as is the first surviving 'book': the Egyptian Book of the Dead. 1/

I have to routinely show this map because there are so many new followers. This is an 1894 map by the Smithsonian's Bureau of Ethnology showing the mound sites they had identified at that time--but only in the eastern half of the USA. The red dots are sites, many with multiple

According to scientists at CERN, a mysterious entity was detected inside their particle collider. Physicists claim they have “captured and calculated the characteristics of a ‘ghost-like’ structure—an invisible entity that can alter the paths of particles…”

The Sagrada Família in Barcelona, started 142 years ago and still not quite finished, is one of the world's most beloved buildings. And that makes sense, because it's totally unique, right? Not exactly. This is the story of how you create an iconic building...

Caral, about 180 km north of Lima, Peru, is the main city of the Caral civilization, that developed between 3,000 and 1,800 BCE, contemporary with other primordial civilizations, but unlike them (who exchanged their achievements), it developed in complete isolation. It is

This is a thread of my all-time favourite literal translations, starting with this one… In Hungarian, the word for a shark, hiszékeny, translates literally to “sea bastard”

People who accidentally found their doppelgängers in museums - a thread 🧵

«If you jump into a black hole, your mass energy will be returned to our Universe, but in a mangled form, which contains information about what you were like, but in an unrecognisable state. It is like burning an encyclopedia. Information is not lost, if one keeps the smoke and

Who were the Sea Peoples that invaded Egypt ? No one knows exactly who the Sea Peoples were. Archaeologists have been unable to determine where they came from, what language they spoke, or even if they were a group of related people at all. The one thing they do know is that the

The Rassam Cylinder (ten-sided clay prism) was created in 643 BC, during reign of King Ashurbanipal who ruled the Neo-Assyrian Empire from 669-631 BC. It was discovered in the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh, near Mosul, present-day Iraq, by Hormuzd Rassam in 1854. In over

Just finished re-reading Techgnosis by Erik Davis in time to learn about Blotter, coming April 30th 😍 t.ly/1HVdC

Arkadiko Bridge (1300-1190 BC), a Mycenaean Chariot Bridge; is the one of the oldest in Europe, which is still in use, located in Greece : The oldest bridge in Europe that is still in use today can be found in Greece; named the Arkadiko Bridge, it dates back to Mycenaean times.

another etymology graph for you: the shared ancestry of horse, car, and chariot!

There are a lot of misconceptions about witch trials. Opponents of religion often point to the Church’s handling of witch hunts, hoping to paint a simplistic picture of an “evil” medieval Church. But the real story is more complicated…🧵(thread)

Some of the strangest and most frightening paintings ever made: 1. The Dog by Francisco Goya (1823)

The most disturbing art ever made is 500 years old, by a mysterious Dutch painter. But these aren't just imaginative nightmares. They're warnings about human nature — and what a world without religion is like. Click this thread if you dare... 🧵

The creepiest places on Earth 🧵 1. Vezio Castle, Italy