Introduction to Dighton Rock The Dighton Rock is a 40-ton rock, originally in the riverbed of the Taunton River in Berkley, Massachusetts (originally in the town of Dighton). The rock is distinguished by its petroglyphs (“chiefly lines, geometric forms, and schematic figures of humans, supplemented by writing, both authenticated and unauthenticated.”), carved figures of ancient … Read more

Introduction to Yonaguni Monument The Yonaguni Monument (Japanese: 与那国島海底地形, Hepburn: Yonaguni-jima Kaitei Chikei, lit. ’Yonaguni Island Submarine Topography’), also known as the Yonaguni (Island) Submarine Ruins (与那国（島）海底遺跡, Yonaguni(-jima) Kaitei Iseki), is a submerged rock formation off the coast of Yonaguni, the southernmost of the Ryukyu Islands, in Japan. It lies approximately 100 kilometres (54 nmi; 62 … Read more

Introduction to Gate of the Sun The Gate of the Sun, alternatively known as Gateway of the Sun (in older books simply referred to as “(great) monolithic Gateway of Ak-kapana,” is a monolithic gateway at the location of Tiahuanaco by the Tiwanaku civilization, an Andean culture of Bolivia that flourished around Lake Titicaca in the … Read more

Introduction to Children’s Crusade The Children’s Crusade was an unsuccessful popular crusade by European Christians to create a second Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Holy Land during the early 13th century. Some historians have dated it specifically to 1212. Even though it is named the Children’s Crusade, it never gained the papal sanction by … Read more

Introduction to Temple of Artemis The Greek temple dedicated to an ancient, regional form of the goddess Artemis (associated with the Roman goddess Diana) was known as the Temple of Artemis or Artemision (Greek: Ἀρτεμίσιοv; Turkish: Artemis Tapınağı). It was located at Ephesus, which is close to the town of Selçuk in modern-day Turkey. It … Read more

Introduction to Poveglia Island Poveglia (/poʊˈvɛliə/ poh-VEL-ee-ə; Italian: [poˈveʎʎa]) is a tiny island between Venice and Lido in the Venetian Lagoon, in northern Italy. The island is split into two by a small canal. The island is first mentioned in the historical record in 421, and was inhabited until the inhabitants fled war in 1379. … Read more

Introduction to Svalbard Global Seed Vault The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (Norwegian: Svalbard globale frøhvelv) is a safe backup facility for the global crop diversity on the Norwegian Spitsbergen island in the isolated Arctic Svalbard archipelago. The Seed Vault offers long-term storage for duplicates of seeds from across the globe, preserved in gene banks. This … Read more

Introduction to Wallace Line The British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace drew the Wallace line, also known as Wallace’s line, in 1859. English biologist T.H. Huxley gave it its name. It separates the biogeographical realms of Asia and ‘Wallacea ‘, a transitional zone between Asia and Australia formerly also called the Malay Archipelago and the Indo-Australian … Read more

Introduction to Green Flash The green flash and green-ray are meteorological optical phenomena that sometimes occur transiently around the moment of sunset or sunrise. When the conditions are right, a distinct green spot is briefly visible above the Sun’s upper limb; the green appearance usually lasts for no more than two seconds. Rarely, the green … Read more