4 ms·
Read the underlying study. What a stretch. There were proteins and peptides on the parchment from honey, eggs, cereals, sheep, as well as humans and mice. Th
by lurquer 6y ago
Read the underlying study.
What a stretch.
There were proteins and peptides on the parchment from honey, eggs, cereals, sheep, as well as humans and mice.
The human ‘cervical fluid’ proteins, from what I can tell, aren’t unique to the cervical fluid and, unless I’m reading the study referred to in the paper incorrectly, the ‘list’ of CVF proteins came from non-pregnant women.
I’m not saying the parchment wasn’t associated with pregnancy... hell, women today wear all kinds of elastic supports; nothing new about it.
But the scientific mumbo-jumbo is depressing as it reveals how silly these suppositions based on suppositions based on presumptions based on assumptions can get.
For instance, this bit — from the article, not the study (although a similar statement is made in the study) — makes me pull my hair out:
“ Signs of wear on the girdle’s surface suggest that someone felt, caressed or kissed it, according to the study.”
Really?! A worn portion of a dirty 500 year old parchment leads us to imagine kissing or caressing it?!
- Waterluvian 6y agoPublish or perish is difficult when you've got clay pot pieces to assemble into a narrative interesting enough for an audience.
- crygin 6y agoYour entire comment history is a giant expert fallacy. Maybe try and do better.
- dang 6y agoPlease make your substantive points without personal attack, regardless of how wrong others are or you feel they are. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- crygin 6y agohttps://anildash.com/2011/07/20/if_your_websites_full_of_assholes_its_your_fault-2 https://anildash.com/2011/07/20/if_your_websites_full_of_ass...
- yesenadam 6y ago> the scientific mumbo-jumbo is depressing as it reveals how silly these suppositions based on suppositions based on presumptions based on assumptions can get. ... For instance, this bit The study[0] says: "The images on the manuscript are particularly worn, especially those likely to be touched, rubbed or kissed as part of religious veneration, such as the nearly rubbed-out green crucifix, attesting to its use (figure 1)" and has a picture for you to see for yourself. It doesn't seem particularly silly to me. Also it says "severe abrasions implies that it was often touched or kissed, and accords with widespread evidence of medieval votive practices, where an image was kissed or rubbed so frequently the image is worn and blurred" and links to a rather fascinating 56-page paper (with lots of beautiful photos of illuminated manuscripts) on the subject, "Kissing images, unfurling rolls, measuring wounds, sewing badges and carrying talismans: considering some Harley manuscripts through the physical rituals they reveal".[1] [0] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.202055 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.202055 [1] https://www.bl.uk/eblj/2011articles/pdf/ebljarticle52011.pdf https://www.bl.uk/eblj/2011articles/pdf/ebljarticle52011.pdf
- speeder 6y agoSome years ago I saw an article on HN I think, where an archeologist comment on this. He said, paraphrasing: "You see, we keep finding those statues of penis, and people create crazy explanations of how it is a religions icon and whatnot. But know what? It is probably just a funny statue because people think making penis statues is hilarious."
- Smithalicious 6y agoThis one is always particularly weird for me since there's an unbroken tradition of penis ornaments and decorations
- clarkevans 6y agoFor those unfamiliar, "The Motel of the Mysteries" by David Macaulay is a satirical introduction to archeology. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Motel+of+the+Mysteries+by+David+Macaulay https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Motel+of+the+Mysteries+by+David+Ma...