Written by fatih al-farahat in


XCOR and ULA Update





Time for an update on theprogress around the XCOR.   This puts the company firmly into the enginedevelopment business with the resources to build out hugely improved enginesfor the aerospace industry.  Checkprevious posts to see the past demonstrations. (google XCOR on this site.

We can expect to see a line ofengines with different power ratings come quickly although they are surely waitingfor a shoe to drop somewhere. It appears to this outsider to be goingwonderfully.


XCOR and ULA Demonstrate Revolutionary Rocket Engine Nozzle Technology;Also Sign Contract for Liquid Hydrogen Engine Development


  
XCOR test fires its Lynx 5K18 engine with lightweight aluminum nozzle;

United Launch Alliance(ULA) and XCOR to apply the nozzle and XCOR's liquid hydrogen

(LH2) pump technology to new LH2 engine development.  (PhotoCredit: Mike Massee / XCOR)

March 22, 2011, Centennial, CO, and Mojave, CA, USA: United Launch Alliance (ULA) and XCOR Aerospace announcedtoday their successful hot-fire demonstrations of a lighter-weight, lower-costapproach to liquid-fueled rocket-engine vacuum nozzles. The new nozzletechnology, which uses aluminum alloys and innovative manufacturing techniques,is projected to be less costly and save hundreds of pounds of mass compared tonozzles in use today in typical large upper-stage rocket engine systems.

Under a 2010 joint risk-reduction program by XCOR and ULA, ULA facilitated anaccelerated demonstration of the nozzle technology, which was developed inXCOR's Lynx reusable, suborbital-vehicle technology program. ULA sought todetermine the nozzle technology's applicability to future expendable launchvehicle programs. Earlier in the same risk-reduction program, XCOR demonstratedthe ability to pump liquid hydrogen (LH2) using cryogenic piston-pumptechnology it developed for the Lynx suborbital vehicle.

Based on the results of these successful technology demonstrations, ULA todayannounced a larger follow-on program with XCOR to develop a liquid oxygen(LOX)/LH2 engine.

Conceived as a lower-cost, risk-managed program compared to traditional enginedevelopment efforts, the multi-year project's main objective is to produce aflight-ready LOX/LH2 upper-stage engine in the 25,000 to 30,000 lbf thrustclass that costs significantly less to produce and is easier to operate andintegrate than competing engine technologies. If successful, the effort willlead to significantly lower-cost and more-capable commercial and US governmentspace flights delivered by ULA. 

"ULA understands that we have to offer competitive prices to ourgovernment and commercial customers along with the outstanding and unmatchedreliability they expect from us," said Dr. George Sowers, vice presidentof business development and advanced programs at ULA. "By working withXCOR, we see the potential to develop engines that offer the performance andreliability our customers need at a more affordable price."




XCOR Lynx 5K18 main engine being  prepped for a test series. 

The companies structured their LOX/LH2 engine development programwith multiple "go / no-go" decision points and performance milestonesto ensure a cost-effective and risk-managed approach to this challengingeffort. As demonstrated during prior ULA and XCOR joint engagements,XCOR's small-company environment facilitates rapid turnaround for build andtest cycles that drive innovative learning, while ULA's small company projectmanagement approach ensures their needs are met but does not stifle thecreative process or saddle XCOR with excessive paperwork burdens typical oflarge government contracts. In addition, ULA is helping to bolster the Tier 2and Tier 3 aerospace-industrial supply chain in the United States, which is critical to ensuring the United Statesaerospace sector remains competitive in the global marketplace.

"This announcement validates XCOR's business mantra of 'stayfocused on propulsion, Lynx and the customer' and ULA is a greatcustomer," said Andrew Nelson, Chief Operating Officer at XCOR. "Andwhen you have innovative, safe, low-cost and fully reusable technologies thatfly multiple times a day, those technologies will find other buyers, such asULA. Whether it is non-toxic thrusters, fully reusable main-engine propulsion,cryogenic flight-weight piston pumps, or non-flammable cryogenically compatiblecomposite tanks and structures - the future looks bright for XCOR."

The demonstrations announced today are from integrated engine/nozzletest firings with XCOR's Lynx 5K18 LOX/kerosene engine. The engine/nozzlecombination demonstrates the ability of the aluminum nozzle to withstand thehigh temperatures of rocket-engine exhaust over numerous tests, with nodiscernable degradation of the material properties of the alloys.  Thetests validated the design, materials and manufacturing processes used in thenozzle, and laid a foundation for scaling the design to EELV-sized engines. Theresults also demonstrate the reusability of the engine and nozzle combinationwhich is essential for low-cost, daily suborbital flights by the Lynx and othervehicles.

"We are honored to work with the great team of individuals at ULA,a Tier 1 aerospace supplier," said Jeff Greason, XCOR CEO. "Thecritical engine technology we're developing for ULA may one day launchsatellites, capsules and space stations for government and commercialcustomers. Customers such as the US Air Force, NASA, the NationalReconnaissance Office, Boeing and Bigelow Aerospace all stand to benefit fromthis partnership. For a rocket engineer, there is nothing more exciting thanfiring a new engine for the first time. We can't wait for the day when we firstfire the new hydrogen engine for ULA."

# # # # #

United Launch Alliance - 50-50 joint venture owned byLockheed Martin and The Boeing Company - is the nation's rocket company,bringing together two of the launch industry's most experienced and successfulteams - Atlas and Delta. ULA provides reliable, cost-efficient space launchservices for the Department of Defense, NASA, the National ReconnaissanceOffice and other commercial organizations. ULA program management, engineering,test and mission support functions are headquartered in Denver, Colo.Manufacturing, assembly and integration operations are located at Decatur, Ala.and Harlingen, Tex. Launch operations are located at Cape Canaveral Air ForceStation, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. For more information onthe ULA joint venture, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com.

XCOR Aerospace is located in Mojave, California. The company is in the businessof developing and producing safe, reliable and reusable rocket poweredvehicles, propulsion systems, advanced non-flammable composites and otherenabling technologies. XCOR is currently working with aerospace primecontractors and government customers on major propulsion systems, andconcurrently building the Lynx, a piloted, two-seat, fully reusable, liquidrocket-powered vehicle that takes off and lands horizontally. The Lynxproduction models (designated Lynx Mark II) are designed to be robust,multi-commercial mission vehicles capable of flying to 100+ km in altitude upto four times per day and are being offered on a wet lease basis. (www.xcor.com)

Written by fatih al-farahat in


PreColumbian Landscape Modification






This work demonstrates animportant research tool.  I would like tosee it extended to a number of geographically separated water sheds and to seethe work extended back several thousands of years in time.

We should be able to establishthe onset of corn culture and perhaps even determine the size of localpopulations with this approach provided we collect enough data to get excellentresolution.

There are plenty of questionsthat need to be answered with something more than a slew of undiscovered andeven undiscoverable habitation sites. Perhaps high schools could be recruited into the sampling program.

Agriculture disturbs naturalsedimentation rates.  Let us take fulladvantage of this information.

Native Americans Modified American Landscape Years Prior To The ArrivalOf Europeans

by Staff Writers

Waco TX(SPX) Mar 23, 2011

http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Native_Americans_Modified_American_Landscape_Years_Prior_To_The_Arrival_Of_Europeans_999.html

A new study by Baylor University geologyresearchers shows that Native Americans' land use nearly a century ago produceda widespread impact on the eastern North American landscape and floodplaindevelopment several hundred years prior to the arrival of major Europeansettlements.

The study appears on-line in the journal Geology.

Researchers attribute early colonial land-use practices, such asdeforestation, plowing and damming with influencing present-day hydrologicalsystems across eastern North America. Previousstudies suggest that Native Americans' land use in eastern North America initially caused the change in hydrological systems,however, little direct evidence has been provided until now.

The Baylor study found that pre-European so-called "natural"floodplains have a history of prehistoric indigenous land use, and thuscolonial-era Europeans were not the first people to have an impact on thehydrologic systems of eastern North America.

The study also found that prehistoric small-scale agriculturalsocieties caused widespread ecological change and increased sedimentation inhydrologic systems during the Medieval Climate Anomaly-Little Ice Age, whichoccurred about 700 to 1,000 years ago.
"These are two very important findings," said GaryStinchcomb, a Baylor doctoral candidate who conducted the study. "Thefindings conclusively demonstrate that Native Americans in eastern North America impacted their environment well before thearrival of Europeans. Through their agricultural practices, Native Americansincreased soil erosion and sediment yields to the Delaware River basin."

The Baylor researchers found that prehistoric people decreasedforest cover to reorient their settlements and intensify corn production. Theyalso contributed to increased sedimentation in valley bottoms about 700 to1,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought.

The findings suggest that prehistoric land use was the initial cause ofincreased sedimentation in the valley bottoms, and sedimentation was lateramplified by wetter and stormier conditions.

To conduct the study, the Baylor researchers took samples along the Delaware River Valley. Landforms were mapped based onrelative elevations to Delaware River baseflow and archaeological excavationsassessed the presence of human habitation.

The Baylor researchers then used a site-specific geoarchaeologicalapproach and a regional synthesis of previous research to test the hypothesisthat the indigenous population had a widespread impact on terrestrialsedimentation in eastern North America.

"This study provides some of the most significant evidence yetthat Native Americans impacted the land to a much greater degree thanpreviously thought," said Dr. Steve Driese, professor and chair ofBaylor's department of geology,College of Arts and Sciences, who co-authored the study. "It confirms thatNative American populations had widespread effects on sedimentation."

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Asherah Edited From Bible







Biblical research is a gift thatkeeps on giving.  It is our one clearwindow into the lifeways of the Bronze Age and its culture.  Other scraps have survived, but none so completelyas that of the Bible unless we accept much older lineages for some of the IndianScriptures.  We should address that.

In the meantime, the originalpantheon consisted of Yahweh and Asherah which is mirrored by all the other pantheonsthroughout the Near East.  The cult of the one god appears to have beentolerated up to the Babylonian exile when the leaders chose to effectivelysuppress all other gods to create the modern Abrahamic religions.

The Levantacted as a religious crucible for the Mesopotamian – Hittite cults, TheEgyptian cults including Atan, and the Cult of Baal which appears to be atleast the Mediterranean Phoenician cult. We also have the Atlantean cult of Zeus and Poseidon identified.

It is startling to uncover ideasand practice that properly explain the often otherwise unexplainable.  Cross fertilization of these cults easilyproduce and even explain the most bizarre assertions.

I wonder how many prayers to Yahwehcan be profitably rewritten as a prayer to the mother goddess.



GOD'S WIFE EDITED OUT OF THE BIBLE – ALMOST

God's wife, Asherah, was a powerful fertility goddess, according to atheologian.


http://news.discovery.com/history/god-wife-yahweh-asherah-110318.html



By Jennifer Viegas 

Fri Mar 18, 2011 07:00 AM ET 


God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshipedalongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar.

In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that theancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained newprominence due to the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her workat Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in thedepartment of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.

Information presented in Stavrakopoulou's books, lectures and journalpapers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now airing in Europe, where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherahconnection.

"You might know him as Yahweh, Allah or God. But on this fact,Jews, Muslims and Christians, the people of the great Abrahamic religions, areagreed: There is only one of Him," writes Stavrakopoulou in a statementreleased to the British media. "He is a solitary figure, a single,universal creator, not one God among many ... or so we like to believe."

"After years of research specializing in the history and religionof Israel,however, I have come to a colorful and what could seem, to some, uncomfortableconclusion that God had a wife," she added.

Stavrakopoulou bases her theory on ancient texts, amulets and figurinesunearthed primarily in the ancient Canaanite coastal city called Ugarit, nowmodern-day Syria.All of these artifacts reveal that Asherah was a powerful fertility goddess.

Asherah's connection to Yahweh, according to Stavrakopoulou, is spelledout in both the Bible and an 8th century B.C. inscription on pottery found inthe Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud.

"The inscription is a petition for a blessing," she shares."Crucially, the inscription asks for a blessing from 'Yahweh and hisAsherah.' Here was evidence that presented Yahweh and Asherah as a divine pair.And now a handful of similar inscriptions have since been found, all of whichhelp to strengthen the case that the God of the Bible once had a wife."

Also significant, Stavrakopoulou believes, "is the Bible'sadmission that the goddess Asherah was worshiped in Yahweh's Templein Jerusalem. Inthe Book of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the templeand that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her."

J. Edward Wright, president of both The Arizona Center for JudaicStudies and The Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, told DiscoveryNews that he agrees several Hebrew inscriptions mention "Yahweh and hisAsherah."

"Asherah was not entirely edited out of the Bible by its maleeditors," he added. "Traces of her remain, and based on those traces,archaeological evidence and references to her in texts from nations borderingIsrael and Judah, we can reconstruct her role in the religions of the SouthernLevant."

Asherah -- known across the ancient Near East by various othernames, such as Astarte and Istar -- was "an important deity, one who wasboth mighty and nurturing," Wright continued.

"Many English translations prefer to translate 'Asherah' as'Sacred Tree,'" Wright said. "This seems to be in part driven by amodern desire, clearly inspired by the Biblical narratives, to hide Asherahbehind a veil once again."

"Mentions of the goddess Asherah in the Hebrew Bible (OldTestament) are rare and have been heavily edited by the ancient authors whogathered the texts together," Aaron Brody, director of the Bade Museumand an associate professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific Schoolof Religion, said.

Asherah as a tree symbol was even said to have been "chopped downand burned outside the Templein acts of certain rulers who were trying to 'purify' the cult, and focus onthe worship of a single male god, Yahweh," he added.

The ancient Israelites were polytheists, Brody told Discovery News,"with only a small minority worshiping Yahweh alone before the historicevents of 586 B.C." In that year, an elite community within Judea wasexiled to Babylon and the Templein Jerusalemwas destroyed. This, Brody said, led to "a more universal vision of strictmonotheism: one god not only for Judah, but for all of thenations."

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Largest Spam Source Shut Down





For long suffering internet usersthis is a little light at the end of the tunnel.    The close cooperation between Microsoft andthe USMarshalls is likely a harbinger of things to come.  Effective strategies to end this plague maywell be on the way.  Tossing the perps injail is certainly a good start and will plausibly send the small fry packing.

No one objects to legitimate advertisingor even targeted advertising if only because sometimes you want to be thetarget.  The spammer’s only clients areobviously criminal fronts for all sorts of doubtful product and free intrusive advertisingis their only way of penetrating the market. Besides, I am getting tired of hitting the delete button every day todispose of another Viagra offer or Nigerian fraudster.

Of course the worst aretransmitting out of country and we have to try harder with them.

The only reason I control commentaccess on this blog is to block multiple spam attempts which do appear at timesand they never quit in their efforts to bypass defenses.



World's biggest source of spam email shut down

The world's most prolific source of spam emails has been shut down in aseries of coordinated raids by Microsoft and US federal authorities.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/8391532/Worlds-biggest-source-of-spam-email-shut-down.html



Three Spanish men with 'limited' hacking experience are believed to bebehind the vast Mariposa botnet Photo: CLARE KENDALL

By Christopher Williams, Technology Correspondent 6:20PM GMT 18Mar 2011



The Rustock botnet, an international network of virus-infectedcomputers, had for years generated billions of emails per day, promotingunlicensed online pharmacies and cut-price impotence pills.

But on Wednesday, security firms noticed email traffic from Rustockcompletely collapsed. It has now been revealed that Microsoft, backed by USMarshals acting on a court order, seized servers that it's estimated covertlycontrolled almost a million Windows PCs.

“We think this has been 100 per cent effective," said RichardBoscovich, senior attorney in Microsoft's digital crimes unit, according to theWall Street Journal.

The servers were rented from commercial internet hosting firms acrossthe Mid West, who were apparently unaware of their role in Rustock. These"command and control" servers would issue instructions to infectedhome and business PCs worldwide.

The criminals behind the spamming business were named in Microsoft’slawsuit only as “John Does 1-11”. To get the court order, which empowered it toseize equipment and so "decapitate" the botnet, Microsoft alleged theJohn Does infringed its trademarks in some of their emails.

The scale of the shut down is unprecedented. A report last month bySecureWorks, a computer security firm, said Rustock was the world's biggestsource of spam.

“The reasons for this are due to the author’s relentless development ofstealth tactics,” it said, referring to how Rustock was frequently updated tostay one step ahead of anti-virus packages.

Written by fatih al-farahat in


XCOR and ULA Update





Time for an update on theprogress around the XCOR.   This puts the company firmly into the enginedevelopment business with the resources to build out hugely improved enginesfor the aerospace industry.  Checkprevious posts to see the past demonstrations. (google XCOR on this site.

We can expect to see a line ofengines with different power ratings come quickly although they are surely waitingfor a shoe to drop somewhere. It appears to this outsider to be goingwonderfully.


XCOR and ULA Demonstrate Revolutionary Rocket Engine Nozzle Technology;Also Sign Contract for Liquid Hydrogen Engine Development


  
XCOR test fires its Lynx 5K18 engine with lightweight aluminum nozzle;

United Launch Alliance(ULA) and XCOR to apply the nozzle and XCOR's liquid hydrogen

(LH2) pump technology to new LH2 engine development.  (PhotoCredit: Mike Massee / XCOR)

March 22, 2011, Centennial, CO, and Mojave, CA, USA: United Launch Alliance (ULA) and XCOR Aerospace announcedtoday their successful hot-fire demonstrations of a lighter-weight, lower-costapproach to liquid-fueled rocket-engine vacuum nozzles. The new nozzletechnology, which uses aluminum alloys and innovative manufacturing techniques,is projected to be less costly and save hundreds of pounds of mass compared tonozzles in use today in typical large upper-stage rocket engine systems.

Under a 2010 joint risk-reduction program by XCOR and ULA, ULA facilitated anaccelerated demonstration of the nozzle technology, which was developed inXCOR's Lynx reusable, suborbital-vehicle technology program. ULA sought todetermine the nozzle technology's applicability to future expendable launchvehicle programs. Earlier in the same risk-reduction program, XCOR demonstratedthe ability to pump liquid hydrogen (LH2) using cryogenic piston-pumptechnology it developed for the Lynx suborbital vehicle.

Based on the results of these successful technology demonstrations, ULA todayannounced a larger follow-on program with XCOR to develop a liquid oxygen(LOX)/LH2 engine.

Conceived as a lower-cost, risk-managed program compared to traditional enginedevelopment efforts, the multi-year project's main objective is to produce aflight-ready LOX/LH2 upper-stage engine in the 25,000 to 30,000 lbf thrustclass that costs significantly less to produce and is easier to operate andintegrate than competing engine technologies. If successful, the effort willlead to significantly lower-cost and more-capable commercial and US governmentspace flights delivered by ULA. 

"ULA understands that we have to offer competitive prices to ourgovernment and commercial customers along with the outstanding and unmatchedreliability they expect from us," said Dr. George Sowers, vice presidentof business development and advanced programs at ULA. "By working withXCOR, we see the potential to develop engines that offer the performance andreliability our customers need at a more affordable price."




XCOR Lynx 5K18 main engine being  prepped for a test series. 

The companies structured their LOX/LH2 engine development programwith multiple "go / no-go" decision points and performance milestonesto ensure a cost-effective and risk-managed approach to this challengingeffort. As demonstrated during prior ULA and XCOR joint engagements,XCOR's small-company environment facilitates rapid turnaround for build andtest cycles that drive innovative learning, while ULA's small company projectmanagement approach ensures their needs are met but does not stifle thecreative process or saddle XCOR with excessive paperwork burdens typical oflarge government contracts. In addition, ULA is helping to bolster the Tier 2and Tier 3 aerospace-industrial supply chain in the United States, which is critical to ensuring the United Statesaerospace sector remains competitive in the global marketplace.

"This announcement validates XCOR's business mantra of 'stayfocused on propulsion, Lynx and the customer' and ULA is a greatcustomer," said Andrew Nelson, Chief Operating Officer at XCOR. "Andwhen you have innovative, safe, low-cost and fully reusable technologies thatfly multiple times a day, those technologies will find other buyers, such asULA. Whether it is non-toxic thrusters, fully reusable main-engine propulsion,cryogenic flight-weight piston pumps, or non-flammable cryogenically compatiblecomposite tanks and structures - the future looks bright for XCOR."

The demonstrations announced today are from integrated engine/nozzletest firings with XCOR's Lynx 5K18 LOX/kerosene engine. The engine/nozzlecombination demonstrates the ability of the aluminum nozzle to withstand thehigh temperatures of rocket-engine exhaust over numerous tests, with nodiscernable degradation of the material properties of the alloys.  Thetests validated the design, materials and manufacturing processes used in thenozzle, and laid a foundation for scaling the design to EELV-sized engines. Theresults also demonstrate the reusability of the engine and nozzle combinationwhich is essential for low-cost, daily suborbital flights by the Lynx and othervehicles.

"We are honored to work with the great team of individuals at ULA,a Tier 1 aerospace supplier," said Jeff Greason, XCOR CEO. "Thecritical engine technology we're developing for ULA may one day launchsatellites, capsules and space stations for government and commercialcustomers. Customers such as the US Air Force, NASA, the NationalReconnaissance Office, Boeing and Bigelow Aerospace all stand to benefit fromthis partnership. For a rocket engineer, there is nothing more exciting thanfiring a new engine for the first time. We can't wait for the day when we firstfire the new hydrogen engine for ULA."

# # # # #

United Launch Alliance - 50-50 joint venture owned byLockheed Martin and The Boeing Company - is the nation's rocket company,bringing together two of the launch industry's most experienced and successfulteams - Atlas and Delta. ULA provides reliable, cost-efficient space launchservices for the Department of Defense, NASA, the National ReconnaissanceOffice and other commercial organizations. ULA program management, engineering,test and mission support functions are headquartered in Denver, Colo.Manufacturing, assembly and integration operations are located at Decatur, Ala.and Harlingen, Tex. Launch operations are located at Cape Canaveral Air ForceStation, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. For more information onthe ULA joint venture, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com.

XCOR Aerospace is located in Mojave, California. The company is in the businessof developing and producing safe, reliable and reusable rocket poweredvehicles, propulsion systems, advanced non-flammable composites and otherenabling technologies. XCOR is currently working with aerospace primecontractors and government customers on major propulsion systems, andconcurrently building the Lynx, a piloted, two-seat, fully reusable, liquidrocket-powered vehicle that takes off and lands horizontally. The Lynxproduction models (designated Lynx Mark II) are designed to be robust,multi-commercial mission vehicles capable of flying to 100+ km in altitude upto four times per day and are being offered on a wet lease basis. (www.xcor.com)

Written by fatih al-farahat in


PreColumbian Landscape Modification






This work demonstrates animportant research tool.  I would like tosee it extended to a number of geographically separated water sheds and to seethe work extended back several thousands of years in time.

We should be able to establishthe onset of corn culture and perhaps even determine the size of localpopulations with this approach provided we collect enough data to get excellentresolution.

There are plenty of questionsthat need to be answered with something more than a slew of undiscovered andeven undiscoverable habitation sites. Perhaps high schools could be recruited into the sampling program.

Agriculture disturbs naturalsedimentation rates.  Let us take fulladvantage of this information.

Native Americans Modified American Landscape Years Prior To The ArrivalOf Europeans

by Staff Writers

Waco TX(SPX) Mar 23, 2011

http://www.seeddaily.com/reports/Native_Americans_Modified_American_Landscape_Years_Prior_To_The_Arrival_Of_Europeans_999.html

A new study by Baylor University geologyresearchers shows that Native Americans' land use nearly a century ago produceda widespread impact on the eastern North American landscape and floodplaindevelopment several hundred years prior to the arrival of major Europeansettlements.

The study appears on-line in the journal Geology.

Researchers attribute early colonial land-use practices, such asdeforestation, plowing and damming with influencing present-day hydrologicalsystems across eastern North America. Previousstudies suggest that Native Americans' land use in eastern North America initially caused the change in hydrological systems,however, little direct evidence has been provided until now.

The Baylor study found that pre-European so-called "natural"floodplains have a history of prehistoric indigenous land use, and thuscolonial-era Europeans were not the first people to have an impact on thehydrologic systems of eastern North America.

The study also found that prehistoric small-scale agriculturalsocieties caused widespread ecological change and increased sedimentation inhydrologic systems during the Medieval Climate Anomaly-Little Ice Age, whichoccurred about 700 to 1,000 years ago.
"These are two very important findings," said GaryStinchcomb, a Baylor doctoral candidate who conducted the study. "Thefindings conclusively demonstrate that Native Americans in eastern North America impacted their environment well before thearrival of Europeans. Through their agricultural practices, Native Americansincreased soil erosion and sediment yields to the Delaware River basin."

The Baylor researchers found that prehistoric people decreasedforest cover to reorient their settlements and intensify corn production. Theyalso contributed to increased sedimentation in valley bottoms about 700 to1,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought.

The findings suggest that prehistoric land use was the initial cause ofincreased sedimentation in the valley bottoms, and sedimentation was lateramplified by wetter and stormier conditions.

To conduct the study, the Baylor researchers took samples along the Delaware River Valley. Landforms were mapped based onrelative elevations to Delaware River baseflow and archaeological excavationsassessed the presence of human habitation.

The Baylor researchers then used a site-specific geoarchaeologicalapproach and a regional synthesis of previous research to test the hypothesisthat the indigenous population had a widespread impact on terrestrialsedimentation in eastern North America.

"This study provides some of the most significant evidence yetthat Native Americans impacted the land to a much greater degree thanpreviously thought," said Dr. Steve Driese, professor and chair ofBaylor's department of geology,College of Arts and Sciences, who co-authored the study. "It confirms thatNative American populations had widespread effects on sedimentation."

Written by fatih al-farahat in


Asherah Edited From Bible







Biblical research is a gift thatkeeps on giving.  It is our one clearwindow into the lifeways of the Bronze Age and its culture.  Other scraps have survived, but none so completelyas that of the Bible unless we accept much older lineages for some of the IndianScriptures.  We should address that.

In the meantime, the originalpantheon consisted of Yahweh and Asherah which is mirrored by all the other pantheonsthroughout the Near East.  The cult of the one god appears to have beentolerated up to the Babylonian exile when the leaders chose to effectivelysuppress all other gods to create the modern Abrahamic religions.

The Levantacted as a religious crucible for the Mesopotamian – Hittite cults, TheEgyptian cults including Atan, and the Cult of Baal which appears to be atleast the Mediterranean Phoenician cult. We also have the Atlantean cult of Zeus and Poseidon identified.

It is startling to uncover ideasand practice that properly explain the often otherwise unexplainable.  Cross fertilization of these cults easilyproduce and even explain the most bizarre assertions.

I wonder how many prayers to Yahwehcan be profitably rewritten as a prayer to the mother goddess.



GOD'S WIFE EDITED OUT OF THE BIBLE – ALMOST

God's wife, Asherah, was a powerful fertility goddess, according to atheologian.


http://news.discovery.com/history/god-wife-yahweh-asherah-110318.html



By Jennifer Viegas 

Fri Mar 18, 2011 07:00 AM ET 


God had a wife, Asherah, whom the Book of Kings suggests was worshipedalongside Yahweh in his temple in Israel, according to an Oxford scholar.

In 1967, Raphael Patai was the first historian to mention that theancient Israelites worshiped both Yahweh and Asherah. The theory has gained newprominence due to the research of Francesca Stavrakopoulou, who began her workat Oxford and is now a senior lecturer in thedepartment of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter.

Information presented in Stavrakopoulou's books, lectures and journalpapers has become the basis of a three-part documentary series, now airing in Europe, where she discusses the Yahweh-Asherahconnection.

"You might know him as Yahweh, Allah or God. But on this fact,Jews, Muslims and Christians, the people of the great Abrahamic religions, areagreed: There is only one of Him," writes Stavrakopoulou in a statementreleased to the British media. "He is a solitary figure, a single,universal creator, not one God among many ... or so we like to believe."

"After years of research specializing in the history and religionof Israel,however, I have come to a colorful and what could seem, to some, uncomfortableconclusion that God had a wife," she added.

Stavrakopoulou bases her theory on ancient texts, amulets and figurinesunearthed primarily in the ancient Canaanite coastal city called Ugarit, nowmodern-day Syria.All of these artifacts reveal that Asherah was a powerful fertility goddess.

Asherah's connection to Yahweh, according to Stavrakopoulou, is spelledout in both the Bible and an 8th century B.C. inscription on pottery found inthe Sinai desert at a site called Kuntillet Ajrud.

"The inscription is a petition for a blessing," she shares."Crucially, the inscription asks for a blessing from 'Yahweh and hisAsherah.' Here was evidence that presented Yahweh and Asherah as a divine pair.And now a handful of similar inscriptions have since been found, all of whichhelp to strengthen the case that the God of the Bible once had a wife."

Also significant, Stavrakopoulou believes, "is the Bible'sadmission that the goddess Asherah was worshiped in Yahweh's Templein Jerusalem. Inthe Book of Kings, we're told that a statue of Asherah was housed in the templeand that female temple personnel wove ritual textiles for her."

J. Edward Wright, president of both The Arizona Center for JudaicStudies and The Albright Institute for Archaeological Research, told DiscoveryNews that he agrees several Hebrew inscriptions mention "Yahweh and hisAsherah."

"Asherah was not entirely edited out of the Bible by its maleeditors," he added. "Traces of her remain, and based on those traces,archaeological evidence and references to her in texts from nations borderingIsrael and Judah, we can reconstruct her role in the religions of the SouthernLevant."

Asherah -- known across the ancient Near East by various othernames, such as Astarte and Istar -- was "an important deity, one who wasboth mighty and nurturing," Wright continued.

"Many English translations prefer to translate 'Asherah' as'Sacred Tree,'" Wright said. "This seems to be in part driven by amodern desire, clearly inspired by the Biblical narratives, to hide Asherahbehind a veil once again."

"Mentions of the goddess Asherah in the Hebrew Bible (OldTestament) are rare and have been heavily edited by the ancient authors whogathered the texts together," Aaron Brody, director of the Bade Museumand an associate professor of Bible and archaeology at the Pacific Schoolof Religion, said.

Asherah as a tree symbol was even said to have been "chopped downand burned outside the Templein acts of certain rulers who were trying to 'purify' the cult, and focus onthe worship of a single male god, Yahweh," he added.

The ancient Israelites were polytheists, Brody told Discovery News,"with only a small minority worshiping Yahweh alone before the historicevents of 586 B.C." In that year, an elite community within Judea wasexiled to Babylon and the Templein Jerusalemwas destroyed. This, Brody said, led to "a more universal vision of strictmonotheism: one god not only for Judah, but for all of thenations."