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The Persian Constitutional Revolution, also known as the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, took place between 1905 and 1911 during the Qajar dynasty. The revolution led to the establishment of a parliament in Persia, and has been called an “epoch-making episode in the modern history of Persia

BOLOGNA, ITALY—Newsweek reports that a grave dated to the seventh century B.C. has been discovered in central Italy’s Corinaldo Necropolis by researchers from the University of Bologna. The grave consists of a quadrangular pit measuring about 12 feet long by seven feet wide surrounded by a large circular ditch measuring about 100 feet in diameter. More than 150 artifacts have been recovered from the pit, including a two-wheeled chariot, a bronze helmet, a bronze cauldron, and a set of bronze containers. An iron ax for processing meat and pottery for serving food were also recovered. The tomb is thought to have belonged to a celebrated member of the Picene artistocracy, who occupied the region. This is the second tomb linked to the Picene aristocracy to be found in the Corinaldo Necropolis. The first was discovered in 2018. To read about that other Picene tomb, go to “Fit for a Prince.”

PURPOSE: By the resolution 45/216 since 1989, The World Population Day is observed every year on 11 July, The Day seeks to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues, including their relations to the environment and development. A population and housing census is among the most complex and massive peacetime exercises a nation can undertake. It requires careful planning, resourcing and implementation – from mapping an entire country, mobilizing and training large numbers of enumerators, and conducting major public awareness campaigns, to canvassing all households, carefully monitoring census activities, and analysing, disseminating and using the resulting data. The United Nations Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs conducts demographic research, supports intergovernmental processes at the United Nations in the area of population data, population development, and assists countries in developing their capacity to produce and analyse population data and information.

FORUM: “Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities.” World Population Day 2023. Women and girls make up 49.7% of the global population, yet women and girls are often ignored in discussions on demographics, with their rights violated in population policies. This pervasive injustice keeps women and girls out of school, the workforce and leadership positions; limits their agency and ability to make decisions about their health and sexual and reproductive lives; and heightens their vulnerability to violence, harmful practices and preventable maternal death, with a woman dying every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth. We must advance gender equality to create a more just, resilient and sustainable world. The creativity, ingenuity, resources and power of women and girls are fundamental to addressing demographic and other challenges that threaten our future, including climate change and conflict. When women and girls are empowered by societies to exert autonomy over their lives and bodies, they and their families thrive. Follow the conversations with the hashtags: #womenandgirls, #WorldPopulationDay; #11July; #HarnessingOpportunities, #Infinitepossibilities.

EVENTS: On July 11th; to mark the World Population Day 2023, the UNFPA and the Specialized agencies will highlight the need support women and girls around the world, and to advance gender equality to help realize the dreams of all 8 billion of us on our planet. This World Population Day is a reminder that we can achieve the prosperous, peaceful and sustainable future envisioned by the ICPD and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development if we harness the power of every human being on the planet. When we unlock the full potential of women and girls – encouraging and nurturing their desires for their lives, their families and their careers – we galvanize half the leadership, ideas, innovation, and creativity to better society.

PUBLICATIONS: Read the World Population Propects and the 2023 State of World Population report.

STATEMENTS: Read the statements from the United Nations Secretary-General on World Population Day 2023; July 11th and the Statement from the UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem on World Population Day 2023; July 11th.

Siena, and Bologna analyzed the cultural remains left by groups of early Homo sapiens at Grotta di Castelcivita in southern Italy, dating back to before the major eruption known as the Campanian Ignimbrite.

This explosive event, originating in the still-active Phlegraean Fields about 40,000 years ago, is considered the most powerful volcanic eruption ever recorded in the Mediterranean. Crucially, Grotta di Castelcivita is one of the rare archaeological sites where volcanic ash has sealed a high-resolution archaeological sequence.

By employing a set of cutting-edge methodologies to meticulously reconstruct the methods used in crafting stone tools—the most enduring artifacts unearthed in prehistoric excavations—the researchers demonstrated that cultural development at Castelcivita predates both the deposition of the volcanic layers and the sub-contemporaneous cold climate phase known as Heinrich Stadial 4, which lasted for about 2 millennia.

Examples of material culture remains discovered in the uppermost layers of Grotta di Castelcivita, before the definitive sealing of the archaeological sequence by the volcanic eruption. The micro-points (a) were extracted from cores (b) that bear the negatives of these removals. In addition to stone tools, over a hundred marine shells of different species were collected from the Mediterranean shores and perforated for decorative purposes (c). On the right, one of the micro-points is shown on top of a fingertip. Credit: University of Tübingen

The most remarkable cultural innovation recorded at the site is the production of miniaturized stone points from rocks collected near the cave with the most suitable fracture properties. These micro-tools were likely intended to be hafted into multi-component projectile weapons.

This discovery challenges long-held speculations that natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions and cooling events, were crucial drivers of major changes in the lifeways of hunter-gatherers throughout human prehistory.

The study, published in Scientific Reports, hypothesizes instead that cultural innovations among early Homo sapiens originated from mechanisms of cultural transmission and the establishment of large-scale networks that extended beyond the Alps.

Overall, this research represents a significant step towards understanding how Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherer societies developed sophisticated strategies to thrive in changing environments.

Grotta di Castelcivita is one of the most important prehistoric deposits in Europe, containing a high-resolution stratigraphic sequence with evidence for the replacement of Neanderthals by early Homo sapiens groups about 43,000 years ago.

Excavations and research at this site are conducted with permission from the Italian Ministry of Culture by the Research Unit of Prehistory and Anthropology, Department of Physical Sciences, Earth, and Environment at the University of Siena, under the direction of Adriana Moroni.

Journal information: Scientific Reports 

Provided by University of Tübingen 

To date, little has been known about people living in north-western Saudi Arabia during the Neolithic—the period traditionally defined by the shift to humans controlling food production and settling into communities with agriculture and domesticated animals.

The piecemeal evidence available hinted traditional ideas—of small struggling groups constantly on the move across the barren lands—needed to be revisited.

Now, an Australian-led team has released new research in the journal Levant on monumental buildings we call “standing stone circles.” The findings are helping to rewrite what we know about the people who lived on this land between 6,500 and 8,000 years ago.

Our evidence reveals what they ate, what tools they used and even the jewelry they wore. It leads us to think these people weren’t struggling so much after all, but rather had found complex and strategic ways to thrive on the land for millennia.

The project

Over the past five years, our team of researchers has studied 431 standing stone circles in the AlUla and Khaybar regions of north-west Saudi Arabia, as part of an ongoing project sponsored by the Royal Commission for AlUla. Of the 431 structures, 52 have been surveyed in detail and 11 excavated.

Our latest findings come from a selection of buildings found on the Harrat ‘Uwayrid—a volcanic plateau formed over millennia. The dense clusters of standing stone circles on the harrat show us how complex these mobile pastoralist communities actually were. We also recovered remnants left behind by the people who lived in these buildings for more than 1,000 years.

We used a range of modern and traditional techniques to tackle the practical limitations of working in such a remote and rugged landscape. Aerial survey by helicopter helped us identify examples of the dwellings across 40,000 square kilometers of basalt and sandy desert. Drones were also used to make plans of the sites, some almost three hectares in size.

ROME, ITALY—Wanted in Rome reports that traces of a garden thought to have belonged to the emperor Caligula, who ruled from A.D. 37 to 41, were uncovered in Rome’s Piazza Pia during a construction project. The traces include a travertine wall, the foundations of a colonnaded portico overlooking the right bank of the Tiber River, and a lead water pipe inscribed with the name of the emperor. Caligula’s garden was described by Philo of Alexandria, a first-century Jewish leader and philosopher who wrote of a meeting between Caligula and a legation of Alexandrian Jews in a garden with a monumental portico overlooking the Tiber River. Other inscribed lead pipes uncovered in the area suggest that the residence passed from Livia Drusilla, second wife of the emperor Augustus and grandmother of Germanicus

ATHENS, GREECE—ABC News reports that traces of a round building estimated to be 4,000 years old were discovered on a hilltop on the island of Crete during an investigation conducted ahead of the construction of a radar station to serve a new airport. No other Minoan structures like it have been found, according to archaeologist and Culture Minister Lina Mendoni. The entire structure covers about 19,000 square feet, and consists of eight stepped stone walls measuring up to more than five feet tall surrounding an inner circle split into smaller, interconnecting spaces. Researchers think that these rooms would have been covered by a conical roof, similar to early Minoan beehive tombs. Many animal bones were recovered inside, suggesting that the building may have been used for communal ceremonies and offerings involving the consumption of food and wine. Mendoni said that a new location for the radar station will be found.

KUTNÁ HORA, CZECH REPUBLIC—According to a Live Science report, a hiker has discovered a hoard of more than 2,150 silver coins in a field in the central Czech Republic. Researchers from the Czech Academy of Sciences identified the coins as medieval versions of the denarius, a standard silver coin minted by the Roman Empire. The coins had been stored in a pottery jar, but only the bottom of it has survived years of plowing. Examination of the coins has shown that they were minted in Prague in the eleventh century during the reigns of the Přemyslid kings Vratislav II, Břetislav II, and Bořivoj II. The coins are thought to have been buried in Bohemia sometime in the first quarter of the twelfth century. “At that time, there were disputes in the country between members of the Přemyslid dynasty over the princely throne in Prague,” said archaeologist Filip Velímský. The scientists plan to analyze the composition of the coins to try to determine the origin of the silver.