Living in the Longue Durée

Jacob Dicken

  • De-Extinction: A History

    John Hammond: “None of these attractions are ready yet, of course, but the park will open with the basic tour that you’re about to take, and then other rides will come online six to twelve months after that. Absolutely spectacular… Continue reading

    De-Extinction: A History

  • Slaughter Before the Walls of Troy

    In Homer’s Iliad, the following lines appear from Book 20, line 455 until the end of the book. The Greek hero Achilles is raging in battle against the Trojans following the death of his beloved Patroclus. Finding Hector, the Trojan… Continue reading

    Slaughter Before the Walls of Troy

  • Extraterrestrial Impactors

    The mother Quetzalcoatlus leaps from the nesting ground to take to the air. She is a pterosaur, a flying reptile related to dinosaurs, and specifically one of the largest examples of one that will ever live, her 11-meter wingspan capable… Continue reading

    Extraterrestrial Impactors

  • Buddha, Alexander, and the Intertwining of Eurasia

    The following is what is titled by historians Major Rock Edict XIII of Ashoka, which was issued in 256 BC and inscribed in large stone inscriptions along with others in several places throughout the ancient Maurya Empire of India (traditionally… Continue reading

    Buddha, Alexander, and the Intertwining of Eurasia

  • 10,000-Year Warnings

    This place is a message… and part of a system of messages… pay attention to it! Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture. This place is not a place of honor… no… Continue reading

    10,000-Year Warnings

  • Death of the North American Megafauna

    It’s dawn in America and you and a friend have woken up early to summit a craggy peak and get a good look at sunrise over the great valley below. In these early dawn hours, an unmolested array of stars… Continue reading

    Death of the North American Megafauna

  • The Wealth of Mali on the Ground

    The following is a quotation from the Arab historian Ibn Fadlallah al-Umari (1301-1349) in his great work on the administrative history of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt (1250-1517). He wrote it in either 1337 or 1338 concerning an event that… Continue reading

    The Wealth of Mali on the Ground

  • Göbekli Tepe and the Neolithic Process

    You and your clan have been walking for days through the warm chapparal of the Konya Basin, the occasional hunting of small game and a collection of edible plants keeping you sustained. You’re a bit hungry though and your thoughts… Continue reading

    Göbekli Tepe and the Neolithic Process

  • Maya Glyphs and How They Work

    The date is 9.12.11.5.18 and K’inich Janaab’ Pakal is dead. As the great king of Palenque who ruled for an incredible 68 years is carried to his tomb and the crowds watch on, mourning the deified ajaw, he wears a… Continue reading

    Maya Glyphs and How They Work

  • A Tragedy Down Under

    It’s a January morning on the farmstead and the rising Sun will soon bring in another very hot day. The call of the laughing kookaburra has become a more common sound since its introduction from the mainland a couple years… Continue reading

    A Tragedy Down Under