New evidence of harnessing and milking uncovered in Kazakhstan shows that wild horses may have been domesticated  5500 years ago, 1000 years than previously thought . The horse milk could have been fermented and made in to an alcoholic drink similar to  the Mongolian ‘ayrag’.

The Terractotta Warriors, Darwin, Cranach, Blake,  Byzantium and Babylon (the latter fully booked!). Blockbuster exhibitions have huge visitor figures. High visitor figures are a measure of success.

But looking at the exhibits includes new experiences;  not being able to linger too long on a object as someone else is hovering in wait, even jostling, for the prime position. Crowds are reflected in the protective glass. At last, you are propelled out of the exhibition and straight into the gift shop. 

This dinosaur met its death as it was trapped in a sticky lime lagoon. It lay motionless, as the salty low-oxygen water was lethal to any scavengers who may have disturbed its position.

The unique mud in which it lay could capture impressions with unusual detail. It recorded the imprints of soft bodied organisms such as jelly fish and even the movement, a trail, of a horseshoe crab. Because of this, after millions of years, we are able to see that the dinosaur had feathers. A bird!

The bird appears to be ‘spread eagled’, ‘ splayed’  and ‘flat like a roadkill.’*

The limestone is ideal for printmaking process, lithography. Being smooth and fine it is able to print great detail and breaks off from the quarry in thin white slabs.

*From: Dry Store Number 1 by Richard Fortey

The famous chenille and wire Easter chick. Made in China or Japan and around since the 1960s. Who designed it?

I found this image in a 1962 Italian “Encyclopedia of the Woman“.