'Hobbit' joins human family tree

Scientists have discovered a new and tiny species of human that lived in Indonesia at the same time our own ancestors were colonising the world.

The three-foot (one-metre) tall species - dubbed "the Hobbit" - lived on Flores island until at least 12,000 years ago.

The fact that little people feature in the legends of modern Flores islanders suggests we might have to take tales of Leprechauns and Yeti more seriously.

Details of the sensational find are described in the journal Nature.

Australian archaeologists unearthed the bones while digging at a site called Liang Bua, one of numerous limestone caves on Flores.

The remains of the partial skeleton were found at a depth of 5.9m. At first, the researchers thought it was the body of a child. But further investigation revealed otherwise.

Wear on the teeth and growth lines on the skull confirm it was an adult, features of the pelvis identify it as female and a leg bone confirms that it walked upright like we do.

Read more at the BBC News Site

How Spiritual Are You?

Take the Time Magazine Spirituality Test

UNITED STATES, October 20, 2004: Are you fascinated by the many things in life that cannot be scientifically explained? Do you seem to have a "sixth sense" that sometimes allows you to know what is going to happen? Do you sometimes feel so connected to nature that everything seems to be part of one living organism? To find out how spiritual you are, click on "test" above. The short test is adapted from a personality inventory devised by Washington University psychiatrist Robert Cloninger, author of "Feeling Good: The Science of Well-Being."

Indian Mounds Mystify Excavators

COLLINSVILLE, Illinois -- A thousand years ago along the banks of the Mississippi River, in what is currently southeast Illinois, there was a city that now mystifies both archeologists and anthropologists.

At its zenith, around A.D. 1050, the city that is now called Cahokia was among the largest metropolitan centers in the world. About 15,000 people lived in the city, with another 15,000 to 20,000 residing in its surrounding "suburbs" and outlying farmlands. It was the region's capital city, a place of art, grand religious rituals and science.

But by 1300, the city had become a ghost town, its carefully built structures abandoned and its population dispersed.

Archeologists continue to comb what is now the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, looking for clues that will tell them what happened here -- why the city and its culture vanished and why the people who lived here built more than a hundred earthen mounds, many of which are still scattered across the countryside.

Read more at the Wired News site

Festivals and Myths for Today

In the Mahayana Buddhist calendar, this festival commemorates the sacred moment at which the divine being variously known as Tara, Kwan Yin, Kannon, Kwanzen and other names attained bodhisattvahood, and became the lady of mercy and compassion.

Om Tara, Tu Tare, Ture Soha.

In a wonderful synchronicity, the Roman Catholic calendar honors St. Raphael, the archangel of healing, on this day.





Image and text courtesy of the Universal Festival Calendar by Dan Furst at hermes3.net