What is flint good for? Stone tools
What is flint? Flint is a sedimentary rock made out of an igneous rock. What is flint made of? It's pretty complicated. Billions of years ago, silicon and oxygen atoms [...]
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09, 2017
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09, 2017
Terence – Plays – Roman literature
A page from a manuscript of Terence, written about 825 AD (now in the Vatican) Terence was born about 185 BC, soon after the end of the Second Punic War. His whole [...]
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09, 2017
Third Punic War – Carthage and Rome
The ruins of Punic Carthage After the Second Punic War, in 202 BC, Italy was a wreck. Hannibal's army had been marching up and down Italy wrecking things for more than ten years. All [...]
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08, 2017
Moses and Egypt – Bible stories
The Pharaoh's daughter picks Moses up out of his basket (synagogue at Dura Europos, Syria, 200s AD) The Book of Exodus According to the Book of Exodus in the Bible [...]
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08, 2017
Where do Easter eggs come from? History of religion
Ostrich eggshell from Diepkloof Rock Shelter, South Africa (60,000 BC) When did people start dyeing eggs? Easter eggs go back long before Easter, and even long before the beginning of farming. As [...]
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08, 2017
Donatists – Christianity – history of religion
The Roman emperor Constantine - the first Christian emperor - had to deal with the Donatists When did the Donatists get started? Almost as soon as Constantine had won the battle [...]
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08, 2017
Cyprian and the Decian Persecution – Christianity
Sacrifice certificate on papyrus from Oxyrhynchus, in Egypt, dating to the Decian persecution (about 3 inches wide) Rome celebrates 1000 Years About 249 AD, the situation of the Christians took a sharp turn for the worse. The [...]
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08, 2017
African-American slavery – American history
The Middle Passage: Slave fort in Ghana Millions of people enslaved Although other people, both white and Native American, have been held as slaves in North America, the experience of the African people [...]
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08, 2017
History of Bicycles – Steel and feminism
A velocipede Early wooden bicycles Bicycles were invented bit by bit in many different countries. They grew out of earlier inventions like wheels (from Central Asia) and wheelbarrows and cranks (from China), but Karl [...]
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08, 2017
Protestant Reformation – Early Modern Europe
Catherine de Medici ruled France during the Protestant Reformation What was the Reformation? By the time Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England both died in 1547 AD, attacks by the Ottoman Empire were less [...]
