issue 03 / volume 41

news // 5

Modern advancements in history

» Previous week full of historical surprises

 
  

a «, Angela Espinoza
FF News Editor

Minews
@theotherpress.ca
everal major discoveries
were announced last
week by palaeontologists,
archeologists, and researchers
alike. From the UK to Canada,
spanning various eras, each of
these discoveries has taught
the world a bit more about our
still minimally known pasts.

 

September g - One of two Franklin ships found

During the search for the Northwest Passage in the 1800s, Sir John
Franklin embarked on a journey with a crew of 128, divided between
two ships, to try and find the passage. The two ships, known as the
HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror, disappeared in 1846. Numerous
searches for the ships were what led to the eventual discovery of the
Northwest Passage.

Now, after 169 years, one of the two ships has been located
under arctic waters in Nunavut. The ship is still somewhat intact,
holding up pieces of rubble that have crumbled over time. The
search was backed by Parks Canada and Research in Motion, and
has been going since 2008. Now, from collected artifacts, researchers
will be able to ascertain which of the two ships they’ve found.

Extended grandson of Franklin, Adrian Gell, told CBC, “This
has completely opened up again a new chapter in the mystery and
hopefully now we will find out a lot more.”

September 10 — Digital map expands scope of Stonehenge
For the past four years, the Hidden Landscapes Project
has been using technology to learn more about the history
and landscape of Stonehenge. The discovery reveals a
clearer scope of the land and various artifacts hidden
underground. CBC outlined some of the artifacts found
included the “super henge,” a Stonehenge-like circle of
structures spanning 1.5 kilometres, “mounds containing
piles of gold and jewelry,” and an intricate series of “pits
hundreds of years older than Stonehenge that appear
astronomically aligned ... at certain times of the year.”

President of Lightship Entertainment Terence
McKeown, who worked on some film sequences of
Stonehenge for an upcoming The Nature of Things special,
told CBC, “What Stonehenge appears to have been was the
spiritual centre of a sophisticated culture.

“The population around Stonehenge clearly included
accomplished engineers, surgeons, artisans, and there’s

evidence they had close ties to Europe that advanced their
skills.”

 

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September 11 - Spinosaurus “discovered” in detail

The actual discovery of the Spinosaurus was back in 1820, though
granted the evidence was only two teeth. Then in 1912 German
palaeontologist Ernst Stromer uncovered more of a skeleton in
Egypt, and coined the name “Spinosaurus” for the creature—
but those bones were destroyed during WWII. Finally in 2008,
a partial skeleton was unearthed in Morocco, but could not be
recovered until 2013. In 20n, a fossil discovered in Australia
revealed more about the dino, and now with further fossil
discoveries announced on September u, palaeontologists have a
better idea of how strange the creature really was.

The latest discovery reveals the fact that the Spinosaurus
was larger than the Tyrannosaurus Rex, previously thought to be
the largest carnivorous dinosaur to walk on land at 15.2 metres
(50 feet) long. Additionally, the Spinosaurus is the only known
dinosaur capable of swimming. Scientists have determined that,
with its long, skinny, jagged-toothed mouth and slender tail, the
Spinosaurus swam much like a crocodile.

Speaking to National Geographic, dinosaur expert Thomas
Holtz of the University of Maryland stated, “All in all, the
discoveries by this team show that Spinosaurus is an extremely
unusual and specialized carnivorous dinosaur.”

 

Carry that weight

» Performance art piece protests Columbia University’s mishandling of a sexual assault

Brittney MacDonald
Staff Writer

A fter allegedly being sexually

: student newspaper for the
student of New York’s Columbia :
: me, I was raped in my own

: dorm bed. Since then, it has

: basically become fraught for

: me, and I feel like I’ve carried

: the weight of what happened

: there with me everywhere since
: then.”

ssaulted two years ago, a

University, Emma Sulkowicz,
has decided to fight back
against her campus’ lack of
action.

A visual arts major,
Sulkowicz has dedicated her
final thesis to a performance
piece in which she will carry
around a dorm room mattress
everywhere she goes. The
mattress is meant to bea
physical representation of the
emotional weight she carries
with her, after she was raped
by a fellow classmate during
her sophomore year. To make
the weight of the mattress even
more akin to the emotional
weight and trauma of the
assault, Sulkowicz has rules to
the piece: she cannot ask for

: help in carrying the mattress,
: but she may accept help if it is
: offered.

: assault, Columbia University

: held a hearing in which

: Sulkowicz was forced to

: recount the intimate details of
: the assault, and even draw a

: diagram in order to explain to

: the university administrators

: how an assault such as hers

: happens. Despite the fact that

: two additional female students
: claimed that the same student
: assaulted them as well, the

: student received no known

: punishment and was allowed to :

: remain at the university.
Sulkowicz and the two

: other women believe that the

: university’s own authorities are

: at fault for their poor record

: keeping, in which names were

: changed in the earlier reports

: in order to protect the identity

: of those involved. The use of

: aliases later lead to confusion

: when the cases were actually

: brought before the university

: administrators.

: Sulkowicjz has decided

: that her performance will

: only end either if her alleged

: attacker is expelled, or when

Ina filmed interview with
the Columbia Daily Spectator,

campus, Sulkowicz said, “For

Several months after the

: interview with the Columbia

: Daily Spectator that the loss of
: her “anonymity” has been the

: hardest part.

: At this point, Sulkowicjz

: is one of many who have dealt

: with mishandled sexual assault

: students have filed complaints
: with the university.

: she graduates. She claims in the

: cases at Columbia University: 23