Keep a close eye on 'em from now on New cat family tree revealed
Modern cats have their roots in Asia 11 million years ago, according to a DNA study of wild and domestic cats.
The ancient ancestors of the 37 species alive today migrated across the globe, eventually settling in all continents except Antarctica, say scientists.
Eight major lineages emerged, including lions, ocelots and domestic cats.
The moggy is most closely related to the African and European wild cat and the Chinese desert cat, an international team reports in Science.
Story on marbles (not of the Elgin variety for a change If I ever become an archaeologist, I’ll go look for them
But the game of marbles is really nothing new. It was invented long before ships sailed for the New World, before the Vikings pillaged the European coasts, even before Alexander conquered Asia.
The game was part of a childish diversion some 4,500 years ago. Records show that adults used marbles for divination practices designed to augur the fortunes of kings and tribes and only through disuse were they bequeathed to youngsters.
Marbles, in the form of the knucklebones of dogs and sheep, existed in the Near East as auguries more than a thousand years before they became toys.
Links to past linger near a bridge's future shadow
Pull off Route 5 into Chickahominy Riverfront Park today and you'll find a quiet, unusually secluded waterfront oasis. Except for the occasional clang of heavy equipment working on the nearby bridge, all you'll hear down at the fisherman's dock are the sounds of the wind blowing through the trees and the water lapping.
But 300 years ago, this point of land bustled with an entirely different kind of character. Horse-drawn wagons and carriages pulled up at the end of the well-traveled road from Jamestown and Williamsburg, then waited for the ferry that would connect them to the James River plantations and Richmond. Boats of all kinds put in from both the James and the Chickahominy, full of goods and people eager to tap into a traffic hub that linked both the land and the rivers.
The link has several pics of artifacts and the excavations in progress.