Generally speaking, historical records do a decent job of painting a picture of the past. They frequently fail miserably in portraying the world as individuals of that era would have seen it. For instance, our understanding of ancient Chinese alcoholic beverages was very lacking, and we had no idea what Greek popular music was like.But as our ability to understand these and other issues about the past grows, we are getting closer and closer to living through history as the people who lived through it did. Listed below are 10 instances where scientific inquiry allowed us to re-create events from long ago.

10. A Phrygian Face

The widespread belief that people from different regions of the world have maintained essentially constant physical characteristics throughout history is a fallacy. Immunity to disease, dietary habits, and prevailing fashion are just a few of the many elements that shape people’s appearance over history, including face form.Even while we have no idea what the appearance of humans from any given era was like, some researchers have attempted to shed light on ancient Greeks. We’re not referring to the typical conception of “ancient Greece” here, but rather the entire Greece region, which is also one of the world’s oldest continually inhabited areas.Using CT scans and 3-D printing, together with the remains of a young girl who lived 9,000 years ago, scientists were able to recreate her face in 2018. Contrary to modern-day women from that area, she had a strong jawline and a more rugged appearance. The researchers speculated that this could have been caused by the process of making leather by chewing on animal skin. They speculated that she may have had scurvy in addition to anaemia.

9. Pompeii’s Collapse

Everyone knows about the Roman city of Pompeii being destroyed, right? Unless you’ve chosen to reject all the history lessons anyone has ever tried to teach you, that is. The devastating AD 79 eruption of Mount Vesuvius decimated this once-thriving cultural and commercial hub. To put it simply, Pompeii was levelled and many of its inhabitants perished; the extent of the devastation inflicted by the eruption is still being revealed.You can find out what the devastation might have been like to the locals if you so desire. A theatre installation featuring a brief animated film portraying the event was part of a 2009 show at the Melbourne Museum. Historians meticulously assembled the footage using all the knowledge available about the eruption at the time.

8. Classical Greek Pieces

Greek ancient music. The Orestes Chorus by Euripides
When compared to other ancient civilizations, what little is known about Greek music is astounding. From the writings of authors like Homer and Euripedes, we learn what instruments they utilised and how they structured their musical compositions. Despite having all that, we were still utterly bewildered by the compositions’ bizarre symbols and notation style, which rendered us unable to decipher them. Not till the present day, anyway.Newly discovered and assembled documents have improved our understanding of the process of musical creation in classical Greece. Some groups of musicians and researchers have used it to accurately recreate ancient Greek music.the third As more and more artefacts are discovered by historians and archaeologists, numerous additional specialists are currently attempting to replicate that sound to the exacting standards.

7. Hittite Banquet

From from 1600 to 1200 BC, the Hittite Empire dominated the area around the Asian portion of modern-day Turkey. The fact that it was the sole significant operator in the area during the Bronze Age was a crucial factor. Their documentation shows that they placed a premium on their culinary traditions; in fact, they instituted a strict policy of capital punishment for anyone caught entering the kitchen in an unclean condition. That goes too far.In 2015, a Turkish archaeologist and a chef collaborated to try to reproduce their cuisine by recreating their culinary techniques. One interesting fact about the Hittites is that they made bread without yeast and, on special occasions, they like to eat cold meat with cooked onions and bread. To top it all off, the crew utilised only a knife and their original cooking methods, staying true to the original recipe.

6. Chinese Cider

The history of ancient China is extensive and fascinating, spanning many centuries. From cave drawings to written records, we have a wealth of information about China’s past, but relatively little about the actual culture and lifestyle of the people who lived there.In 2017, a group of academics from Stanford University worked together to make beer in the same way that the Chinese did around five thousand years ago, in an effort to replicate some of that.[5] They derived the recipe from ancient inscriptions discovered on clay utensils and created what is likely the oldest drink that humans have ever had the opportunity to taste.Using millet, barley, and job’s tears, an Asian grass, the re-created beer had a fruitier, sweeter flavour than our current favourites.

5. Dogs from the Neolithic Era

One of the watershed points in human history occurred when we domesticated our best buddy, the dog. In addition to increasing our productivity, dogs allowed humans to become more self-sufficient by reducing our reliance on others to warn us of impending danger.We tend to think that dogs have always looked the same, but that’s not necessarily the case. Due to the lack of extensive artificial breeding, the first domesticated dog breeds resembled wolves more than modern dogs.In 2019, a forensic artist utilised a 4,000-year-old canine skull, along with 3-D modelling and projected photos supplied by other archaeological teams, to precisely recreate their appearance. Looking like a hybrid of a wolf and a contemporary dog, the meticulously recreated face was created by the artist after consulting with historians.

4. The King Midas Funeral

Like we said previously, alcohol has played a pivotal role in human history. Historians may learn a great deal about a past culture just by studying their drinking habits, and alcohol has had a greater impact on our society than any other innovation.Archaeologist Patrick McGovern of the University of Pennsylvania has spent a significant portion of his career researching and developing modern-day equivalents of classic alcoholic drinks. He has revived numerous long-lost drinks by searching for remnants of their ingredients in relics from bygone eras of cuisine. His most prized creation is a replica of the beer that was given during the funeral of King Midas, who governed Phrygia (modern-day Turkey) in the eighth century BC.[7]Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware produces and sells the drinks that McGovern created, so if you’re interested in trying any, you can do it there.

3. Scented Oils of Aphrodite

The components of an aroma are significantly more difficult to maintain through the ages, making it far more challenging to recreate old scents than old booze or sounds. The fact that societies who valued documentation, such as the Greeks, preserved accounts of those aromas suggests that this is not completely out of the question.As a celebration of the museum’s 150th anniversary in 2018, chemists from the National Archaeological Museum of Athens reproduced some of the scents connected with the goddess Aphrodite using inscriptions from the Mycenaean period, which are among the oldest Greek documents we have received.[8] The show-stopping Aphrodite’s Rose fragrance, which is mentioned in ancient texts, was the centre of attention. It took more than 18 months to finish, and getting the supplies meant travelling all around Greece.

2. Turkish Ale

Ale was definitely a staple of ancient Egyptian cuisine. It wasn’t because ancient Egyptians were always celebrating anything and everything; it was just because everyone had it with every meal. Since there weren’t many efficient methods for purifying water in those days, ale was thought of as a more secure substitute.Until this, we were completely unaware of the flavour of Egyptian ale. Israeli scientists in 2019 identified six different types of yeast from ancient jugs found in the area. They weren’t expecting the yeast to have made it through the pots’ pores.These scientists intended to do something more entertaining with it, instead of sending it to the lab like the less daring researchers would. The ancient Egyptians utilised it to make their own beer, which is considered the first human consumption of alcohol.

1. Roman Pavement

One of the longest-lasting man-made materials is Roman concrete. Buildings constructed with it can be seen all over the area that was formerly the Roman Empire. The recipe has remained a mystery throughout history, but ever since its discovery, scientists have been working tirelessly to replicate it.Its mystery may, however, have been solved thanks to the work of a few University of Utah researchers. The concrete’s renown durability came from the addition of seawater to the mixture of volcanic ash that went into its making. Researchers looked at piers and other structures built of the material and discovered that saltwater combines with the concrete’s ingredients to create interlocking particles that increase the material’s strength. These minerals are difficult or costly to produce in a lab.[10]It could be the technological breakthrough we’ve been waiting for to construct seawalls and other anti-ocean constructions, which are becoming increasingly important as sea levels continue to rise globally.

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