Tag: donkey

This undated file image provided by Jilin University in northeast China's Jilin Province shows a reconstructed 3D image of Equus ovodovi, an extinct ancient horse. (Jilin University/Handout via Xinhua)

China: Ancient Chinese Horse Reconstructed! (12.9.2026)

The horse fossils, dating back roughly 40,000 years, were first found in a cave in southwestern Siberia in Russia. Initially, only broken jawbones and teeth were discovered, without a complete skull. Over the years, related fossils have also been unearthed in North America, Africa, Siberia and northeast China. However, because the bones were scattered fragments, the animal’s true appearance had remained a mystery for more than a hundred years.

In 2022, Chinese researchers at Jilin University and Northwest A&F University in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province successfully extracted high-quality gene data from the fossils. Building on that work, they worked with American researchers in 2026, comparing the fossil data with living species, such as the Asian wild donkey and domestic horse. They reconstructed the skeleton, built up muscle structure, and eventually recreated the animal’s full appearance.

Continue reading

Prof. Chuck - Astrology!

UK: Charlie Chuck Does Horoscopes! (7.6.2026)

Wonderfully discontinuous! Professor Charles Chuck from up North! Today, the venerable Professor addresses the subject of ancient Celtic Horoscopes – and informs the audience of an interesting archaeological find in a cave somewhere in England. Although I am considered an expert in translating ancient Chinese text – I cannot translate what Prof. Chuck is saying (or the way he is saying it) for non-native Brits. Apologies for that – you are stuck with reality I’m afraid. Just allow the cadence to wash across you like a cool breeze and permit the jumbled metaphors to come and go as they please. This is from the James Whale Show of 1993. A masterpiece of a sketch. It may not mean a lot to you – but it meant even less to Prof. Chuck! I have had academic teachers who made about as much sense to me as Ptof. Chuck means to everyone else!

Continue reading

Alexamenos Graffito: Was the Earliest Depiction of Jesus Christ – a Crucified Man with a Donkey’s Head? (6.9.2023)

Although this object originates from the Roman graffiti scratched into the plaster of a wall found in a room of a building (the ‘domus Gelotiana’ or ‘House of Gelotian’) – situated in the Palatine Hill area of Rome (modern Italy – the object subsequently being relocated to the Palatine Museum) – it could be that the ‘artist’ was inspired by the (197 CE) writing of Tertulliani or that Tertulliani was motivated in 197 CE by the already existing graffiti. A third scenario is that Tertulliani and the graffiti are unrelated – but that both represent an underlying and common reality – the essence of which both are referencing. Depending upon the exact date – the ‘Alexamenos Graffiti’ may well be the ‘earliest’ depiction relating to Christianity – albeit in a derogatory form. The crude Greek text scratched under the cross reads ‘ΑΛΕ ΞΑΜΕΝΟϹ ϹΕΒΕΤΕ ΘΕΟΝ’ – which seems to say ‘Alexamenos Ingests [his preferred] God’.

Continue reading