#I’ve seen this about Otzi

[clarascuro]

Archaeologists love to dig up a dead guy and say it’s the earliest known case of personal violence. Like which one is it

[skpct]

Bonus Post! (Names)

The names of others, and the names they’ve given me. Here’s a key.

(Information about this person.)

[Their trail name. If it’s a trail name that they’re still considering or might still be considering I’ll put a question mark to let you know it’s uncertain]

<Any trail names they’ve given me.>

[Ghost] (Trail angel I met at the start of the hike. He gave me a lot of good advice.) <Walking Home>

[Papa Bear] (Met briefly.)

Eric (He was checking permits at the southern terminus.)

Wolfram and Brigitte [2 Matching Hats] (I hope I’m spelling their names correctly. They’re a German couple, they rode with me on the bus to the southern terminus. I’ve seen them quite a lot on the trail. They aren’t going all the way to Canada, they’re just doing a section.) <Terracotta>

Robert (A fellow hiker. I haven’t seen him since the very start.)

Finn and Willow (They were going pretty darn quick, but I haven’t seen them for about 100 miles. Maybe they passed me. They let me use their lighter one time, so they’re all right in my book.)

Logan (From Tennessee! I haven’t seen him since Lake Morena.)

Annabelle or Abagail? (Her name fell right out of my head. Haven’t seen her since Lake Morena.)

[Sevvy] (This dude is basically part of nature, very experienced hiker. When I first met him I’m pretty sure he was tripping on mushrooms. Seemed chill though. Haven’t seen him since Lake Morena.)

[Tee] (A bit like Sevvy, very experienced, part of nature, etc. A much older guy, though. I ran into him only once. He asked me if I had any marijuana to trade with him. I did not, unfortunately.)

Hunter (From Kansas City! He’s a big baseball fan, which is funny, because the Royals aren’t that good but the Chiefs are in the middle of a dynasty. Only saw him once.)

Jacob (I actually saw Jacob at the start of the trail, but I didn’t really get to meet him until we stayed at that Mt. Laguna Hostel together. He’s going super fast, so I don’t imagine I’ll see him again.)

Solomon [Cricket?] (Another hostel buddy, also going fast. We slept right next to each other, haven’t seen him since.)

Mark (Also met at the hostel, also going fast. Mark may have broken his ankle. He’s okay, he got to a hospital, but he might be off trail for good.)

Mike and Caitlin [m&m’s?] (Also stayed at the hostel. They’re going a little slower than me, but they were really locked in on what they needed to do to be successful. Nice folks, I’ll probably see them again at some point.)

[Otzi] (Old hiker dude, incredible belly. Absolutely magnificent. It was like, perfectly spherical. Guy was built like a freaking wreaking ball. He asked me if I had a trail name yet and told me if I didn’t by 1500 miles he’d write me a ticket. Then he gave me 4 trail names in the span of a minute.) <Whimsy, Pueblo, Borrego, Skedaddle>

[Problem Bear] (An old hiker dude that was hiking with Otzi. He was doing some trail maintenance. He didn’t talk much, but as I was leaving he called me “Seattle,” so I’m taking that as a potential trail name.) <Seattle>

[No-Nonsense] (She takes sponge baths on the trail, and swears that they work wonders. She’s also a vegan. She’s going slow, but I passed her not too far back on the trail, so there’s a good chance I’ll see her again.)

Pierce (He’s hiking the trail to help raise money for his brothers medical bills. He let me have some of his water, which was nice.)

[Orca] (She’s from Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. She was doing a little section hike, going from Idyllwild to Warner Springs. She did a through-hike 5 years back.)

Neil (Of all the people on this list, Neil is the only one I actually, like, hiked with. He had to get off the trail due to a family emergency, but we were together for a day. He misremembered that one of my potential trail names was “Terracotta,” and in doing so gave me another potential trail name.) <Clay Feet>

Well, that’s everyone. I’m wondering what trail names y’all like the best, so I’m making a poll.

The results of this poll have no impact on the trail name I choose. This is just me seeing what people think.

[lawful-evil-novelist]

Okay I got enough genuine requests to share things about mummies and mummification so instead of like, talking about anything useful on my blog I’m going to spend however many words talking about my favorite mummy because of course I have one.

His name is Otzi and if you’ve heard about him it’s because he’s really famous but you don’t understand he’s fucking cool as shit and tells us so much about Europe just before the Bronze Age.

Rest under the cut bc I’m about to share pictures of Otzi and he is a very mummified mummy.

So this is Otzi:

He’s a natural mummy, meaning he was mummified through natural means in the Otztal Alps after his death around 3230 BC, which predates the commonly accepted start-date of the Early Helladic period of Ancient Greece by only 30 years.  Otzi was buried under a glacier, forming a cold, anaerobic environment that preserved his body really really well.  His stomach contents are intact and we know he had tattoos because they’re still on his skin.

There’s been a lot of speculation about the nature of his tattoos but what archaeologists currently think, due to the placement of the tattoos and the wear on his body in those areas, is that they were therapeutic tattoos.  He has 61 visible tattoos, all in these distinctive line and cross patterns, which were actually made by cutting into his skin and rubbing charcoal into the wounds.

Another thing we know, this time very certainly, is that Otzi was probably murdered.  He showed signs of pursuit and physical altercations days before his death, and he has an arrowhead embedded in his shoulder blade that severed his subclavian artery alongside a severe head injury.  It’s likely Otzi bled to death, however, and didn’t die from the head injury.  He was 45 years old.

Otzi’s physical health is also very easy to track because of how intact he was.  We know his haplogroup today is found predominantly in Sardinia and Corsica, and that he had a tooth gap and no wisdom teeth.  He stood at around 1.6 meters, or 63 inches, and weighed approximately 50kg or 110lbs.  He also showed signs of Lyme disease–the oldest evidence of the condition that we have on record–and was predisposed to cardiovascular disease.

All of Otzi’s equipment, his longbow, his arrows, his quiver, all of his clothing, etc. was also really well preserved and gives us insight into everything about pre-Bronze Age Europe.  One of the items Otzi had in his possession is very special though: a copper axe.  The axe is the only one of its kind in the world today, as most others have been lost to time.  It’s also an amazing insight into Otzi’s status–these were incredibly rare items seen often as status symbols–and tool construction techniques in the Copper Age.

Archaeologists also put a lot of attention into the fact that his murderers did not take this valuable item after killing him despite evidence of removing the shaft of the arrow lodged in his shoulder.  There’s some speculation that, since the item was rare, it would out the murderer for their crime, but we have no confirmation and can only speculate on motive.

Otzi is one of the oldest natural mummies in existence.  In fact, he is the world’s oldest wet mummy, as the environment he was preserved in was anaerobic, rather than lacking moisture.  He bears the oldest tattoos we have on record and provided archaeologists ample information about the age of several medical conditions.  Before Otzi we had very little information on how Neolithic Europeans lived before the Bronze Age.

Otzi presently resides in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy, and is kept in a special cold cell to keep him preserved, as outside his glacier burial, he begins to deteriorate and melt.  It’s been 31 years since he was found and remains one of the coolest pieces of archaeology I’ve ever heard of and is one of my favorite things to infodump about so thank you for letting me.

I did have to leave some stuff out for brevity but luckily for my other mummy-loving friends, Otzi has a website!  You can read more here: https://www.iceman.it/en/the-iceman/

[entwinedmoon]

John Torrington: Reflections

(Previous posts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)

Today, January 1, 2020, is the 174th anniversary of John Torrington’s death. Him dying on New Year’s Day must have dampened whatever celebrations the crew were most likely enjoying, a dark day in a quite literally dark month, as the sun would not return for some time. He would have been buried in that endless night, during a snowstorm (a layer of snow was still preserved on top of his coffin), the first death in what had so far been a successful expedition. A death so soon may have worried the crew, but since it was due to an illness he’d brought with him, it may have just been considered a fluke. They may not have been concerned, still thinking they would make it through and discover the last piece of the Northwest Passage. If they had succeeded, Torrington would have been a minor footnote in the history of a triumphant journey, his grave a small curiosity for anyone who may pass by. But no one made it home from the Franklin Expedition, and Torrington is now seen as an early warning sign of the tragedy awaiting the rest of the men.

Why is it that, after all these years, anyone still talks about Torrington? What is the fascination with him and the other men buried on Beechey? I know what draws me to his story, and while I can’t speak for everyone, I think there are at least some people who share the same reasons.

So what intrigues me about John Torrington? Why did I write this series, spanning eleven blog posts and over 25,000 words (that’s half a book!), about a 174-years-dead Victorian sailor, spending my spare time researching and dedicating long hours to studying his life and death?

In trying to pin down just what fascinates me about Torrington, I went through some of my old writing, and I found this little snippet from an essay I never finished. It was written almost ten years ago, on January 13, 2010:

It was all John Torrington’s fault. I couldn’t sleep because of that frozen grimace, mouth and eyes both slightly open—eyes, intact, seriously, staring back at me. He just stares, cold, frozen, dead. I’m not likely to go on a polar expedition any time soon and possibly die from lead-tainted food or whatever killed him, but it’s not that idea that frightens me. He stares at me in the night, in the corners, in the reflections in the moonlit mirror on my closet door, in the folds of the dirty laundry on the floor, he’s there, staring at me. Going to the bathroom at night is the worst, walking through the dark hallway, knowing he’s following me, just behind me, out of sight, but still manages to jump ahead to stare at me in the split second before the bathroom light comes on, inches from my face in the thick darkness, but then he runs and hides again in the shadows of the hall, lurking, waiting to follow me back to my room.

Sometimes it’s Otzi or Jaunita or Ida Girl or Cherchen Man. Never King Tut or Ramses II for some reason though. But John has always stood above the rest, just the memory of a picture haunting me.

As you can see, I had a slightly different attitude toward Torrington back then. To explain this, let me start from the beginning.

When I was about seven or eight, my older brother brought home a copy of Buried in Ice from school, where he was learning about the Franklin Expedition. He of course shared the pictures in the book with me and my older sister because he thought they were creepy and that’s what you do when you’re a kid, you share creepy stuff to try to scare your siblings. I’m in my early thirties now, so the memory has faded over the years, but there’s still a lot that stands out even now. I remember eating a particular type of corn chip that to this day I associate the flavor of with lead poisoning. My brother told me about how the brains of the three mummies had turned into a yellow liquid—something we thought was gross but also cool for some reason. I remember that there was no way to just flip the book over to cover up the picture of Torrington on the front cover because—oh goodie—there was a picture of him on the back too. My brother and I commented on the golden color of Torrington’s discolored skin (I don’t know why we thought “golden” instead of yellow—it sounds more poetic to call it “golden” but that was certainly not our intention). I also remember that later, after my brother had returned the book to school but we were still haunted by the images, we couldn’t recall the names of Hartnell and Braine, so we called them Big Head and Snarl Face instead. But we remembered the name Torrington, probably because he was featured more prominently in the book. And due to that prominence, Torrington was the one I would think of when lying in bed at night, watching shadows in the closet morph into monsters.

To try to combat my fear, I used a trick I’d learned where I turn the scary thing into something ridiculous (this was before Harry Potter was published, but it’s the same theory as how to fight a Boggart). I put the three mummies into a long-running story that I’d made up in my head—and I made them undead idiots. Like zombie versions of Beavis and Butthead. Yeah, I did that. I made them weird funny sidekicks in my story, but it didn’t really stop me being afraid when I saw pictures of them again.

Remarkably, despite being terrified of Torrington, I became obsessed with mummies as a kid, an obsession that continues to this day. I would marvel over pictures of Tollund Man, Ötzi, and the Qilakitsoq mummies of Greenland.

But not John Torrington.

Whenever I would flip through a book about mummies, if I encountered a picture of Torrington, I would slam my hand over the page to cover it. I would be creeped out by other mummies, but it was never to the same level as it was with Torrington. And yet, I would still be compelled to peek, even after covering the page. I would regret it immediately, but there was something that made me want to look, even though looking at him was the last thing I wanted to do.

Over the years, Torrington would find his way into a few more stories of mine, in some form or another. In college, I wrote a short story for a fiction writing class where the picture of Torrington on the cover of Frozen in Time started talking to a young woman, representing her repressed thoughts and fears (he cracked a lot of jokes in that one). At that point in time, however, I hadn’t been able to bring myself to read Frozen in Time. I had bought a copy a while ago—the 2004 revised edition—and when it arrived from Amazon I flipped through it, telling myself that I was an adult and I loved mummies and I could bravely face the pictures of these boogeymen from my childhood.

That last part turned out to be incorrect. Several weeks of being too afraid to turn off the light at night ensued. I wouldn’t read the book for another eight or nine years.

But eventually I did read it, multiple times in fact, and I’m no longer terrified of pictures of Torrington, or Hartnell and Braine. That all started a little less than two years ago.

It began with another story idea I had that incorporated Torrington, one I have yet to write. I thought I should do some research into him first if I was going to include him. Around the same time, The Terror was airing on AMC. The exact timeline is a little hazy for me, because the story idea actually first came to me at the end of 2017, but The Terror first aired in March 2018. I can’t remember if I had the idea to add Torrington to my story before I started watching The Terror or not, but I think it was before.

Once I started researching Torrington and the Franklin Expedition, I quickly became obsessed. I had poked around Franklin research before, but my fear of Torrington would always hold me back. I would peer through my fingers at pictures and facts, but I could never do more than that. But now I was hooked.

My childhood nightmares were there at first, just out of the corner of my eye, but my research started to shift those in strange ways. I had always seen Torrington as this ancient, towering monster, but then I discovered that he was only twenty when he died and stood at only five-foot-four. I’m older than him. I’m taller than him. His desiccated body weighed less than ninety pounds, which I definitely weigh more than. Basically, if he came charging out of the closet, I could take him.

But what really drew me in was realizing that we knew so little about him. I could look at a picture of his face, frozen in time, but I couldn’t reach back into the past to ask him about himself. I’ve known about him almost my whole life, with him skulking in a corner of my brain, stepping out of the shadows every now and then, but I didn’t really know who he was as a person. The Franklin Expedition can drive people mad with the mystery of what happened to the men after they entered the Arctic, but suddenly I became obsessed with knowing what had happened before the expedition. Who was John Torrington? Who was this guy that has occupied my dreams and nightmares, who has taken up a permanent residence in my mind ever since I first laid eyes on him? Who was this young man who has somehow been a part of my life for so long, but whom I know so little about?

I know I’m not the only one who has been asking these questions, or who has been living with the Franklin ice mummies in their heads. I’ve met some amazing people online who are just as obsessed, if not more so. Thanks to this series, I’ve had people contact me about their own interest in Torrington and the Beechey Boys and how they understand my love for them.

Many times before, I’ve attempted to put in words just what draws me to mummies. In 2011 I even started a long-since-abandoned blog about mummies called Digging the Dead, where I tried to explain my interest. But I’m going to try my best now to pin down what has compelled me to study Torrington, and why he keeps popping up in my life.

I think part of the appeal of Torrington—and Hartnell and Braine—is the shockingly alive appearance of their preserved bodies, with some morbid curiosity over their undead vibe thrown in. The preservation of a body, preventing the natural process of decay, is fascinating. It’s a type of immortality, although one the mummy doesn’t get to enjoy. Torrington looks like he could get up and walk around—possibly in a zombie-like way, but still. He looks more like a real person than some mummies, like bog bodies that became too twisted by the weight of the peat or desert mummies that have a freeze-dried appearance. But a large part of the fascination with Torrington, and mummies in general, is that it’s like touching a piece of the past. When we see their pictures, we’re looking at something that is from a time long gone, but they seem so very present, so tangible in the here and now. They are time travelers, in a way, and this is our way of reaching out to them across the years.

And with the mystery of the Franklin Expedition, Torrington, Hartnell, and Braine add an extra layer of intrigue as well as reminding us that there were more than just officers on board. We have pictures of Franklin, Crozier, Fitzjames, and many of the lieutenants and mates, but the ordinary sailors and marines didn’t have the luxury of having their pictures taken. What they looked like has been lost to time, but the preserved remains of Torrington and the Beechey Boys literally puts a human face on the ordinary men of the expedition, the ones who never wrote memoirs or had journals that were preserved for posterity. Men who have been largely forgotten by history, who don’t get the same reverence we give the captains, who don’t get memorials or landmarks in their names. When thinking of the men of the Franklin Expedition setting sail for their destiny, it’s easy to see Torrington on deck—alive, his striped shirt billowing in the wind as they sail toward Lancaster Sound—and to imagine that these were working ships, fully manned with ordinary people who led regular lives and had dreams of what they would do when they returned home to double pay and the fame of having helped discover the Northwest Passage.

But on January 1, 1846, those dreams winked out for one of those men. On this day, I think not about how well Torrington’s body has defied time and decomposition, but about who sat with him as he passed. Was he alone? Did he have friends on the crew? And what of his family back home? Did they toast him and his journey, not knowing that he was gone?

Who said a prayer for John Torrington 174 years ago?

If it’s not too late, I think I’ll say one for him today.

<<Back

Torrington Series Masterlist

[earthstory]

THE GEOLOGY OF GRAVEYARDS

If you think this is going to be a tame article on the geology of rocks that make up tombstones, scroll back through The Earth Story to some safe post on super volcanoes or catastrophic earthquakes or being wiped out by asteroids before it is tooooooo late… http://tinyurl.com/p9zsvot

In this post, I am going to deal with the nitty-gritty spooky feature of graveyards: they are places where your body is meant to rot! The geologic environment of a graveyard affects just how this happens and, in poorly selected gravesites, doesn’t happen at all.

Squeamish yet? http://tinyurl.com/o6qoxos

First, we have to assume you’re going to die. I am, you are, we all are. No zombies allowed here: this is REAL science. What will happen to your body when you die? Since everyone on Earth is now expert on how bodies decompose due to the prevalence of CSI on global television, let me merely remind you that the rate a body rots within the ground is a function of factors such as temperature, humidity, aerobic conditions, water availability, acidity, chemical composition (of both you and the grave), and bacteria population. For a pretty fair description of the processes in action, try this: http://tinyurl.com/c3vonaw

There is even a mathematical-sounding formula called Casper’s Law (I don’t know if this is named after the friendly ghost) that states “a body left in the open air decomposes twice as fast as if it were immersed in water and eight times faster than if it were buried underground.” There are optimal conditions and combinations of conditions present for each of these factors promoting decomposition: there is an optimal temperature range for decomposition, an optimal humidity, optimal worm population. And if there isn't?

You've seen the documentaries – the desiccated bodies left from the Incan sacrifices, Otzi the frozen Neolithic Man of the Alps, catacombs in Italy, Celts left in bogs way too long… The effect of a cemetery gone wrong most often results in the production of a mummy. Too dry? Mummy. Too cold? Mummy. Bodies kept in anaerobic conditions? Mummy. Grave under groundwater, particularly one with acidic waters and tannin? Mummy.

Imagine you’re a geologist sent to inspect a potential cemetery plot (imagine that it’s Halloween to make things even better!) (Actually, I’ve done this, though thankfully not on Halloween.) There’s a great place on that hillside, really scenic, just below the rising moon – but it’s situated on an active landslide. And yes, several graveyards in local Greek villages have slipped down the valley, distributing relatives in multiple states of disrepair all over the place. No good!

But what about this quiet valley, with the willow tree and mossy path, a surreal fog on the ground, how lovely! but… unfortunately, the water table here is too high, and the water tends to stagnate. You won’t rot here, you’ll mummify, uck!

Oh here’s a great place! Water percolating through loose sands, just perfect conditions except… where does that water go to? See down the hillside? That’s the village spring. Unless you want to drink fluids liberated during decomposition, it’s to be avoided.

Let’s look at the soil. Yes, a cemetery should have soil, good soil, not just coarse rocks. If you want a good population of bacteria to do the main job in decomposition for you, you need dirt. It’s a shame that vineyard took up all the best dirt.

Pick up that rock, go ahead. Take a look. What’s that beneath it – a root? Ahhh. Perfect location! Worms already present, dirt healthy, drainage good, not too hot, not too cold, why has that root crawled off the rock, why is it crawling onto my boot, why is it… http://tinyurl.com/5fsnjk

Make sure your potential cemetery is not haunted before it becomes one.

Happy Halloween from Annie R and The Earth Story crew!

Photo: Icelandic Cemetery courtesy of Johan Stellar http://johanstellerphotography.wordpress.com/tag/graveyards/ The Hearse Song performed PERFECTLY by Harley Poe.

A worthy video to watch during the witching hours: National Geographic Ancient Graves Voices of the Dead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNpIcJwBYnQ And several other scientific references on graveyard geology: http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=cemetery-science-the-geology-of-mau-08-10-30 http://www.freeradicalsmag.com/2009/10/07/the-geology-of-fear/ http://www.ucl.ac.uk/es/impact/geology/walks/Earth_Sciences_Geotrail_Graveyard_Geology.pdf How Bodies Rot in Graves: http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/23-03-2006/77751-corpse-0/ And… Mummies! http://books.google.gr/books/about/The_Scientific_Study_of_Mummies.html?id=P_xj3QTHHvoC&redir_esc=y

[zinbiel]

I’ve seen the sheep & goats post a lot both on here and on facebook the last few days, and I’ve made the terrible mistake of trying to read molecular phylogeny literature.  Highlights of me trying (and probably failing) to grok academicese include:

•The thesis that sheep and goats were speciated by human domestication isn't true, but the literature disagrees about how wrong it is. This paper seems to put the goat/sheep common ancestor at about 15 million years ago based on a gene in mtDNA variations, but this paper cites 5-7 million years ago based on fossil evidence. The younger estimate puts the divergence close to a human-gorilla divergence, but the older one is closer to a human-gibbon divergence.

•The problem of not knowing whether bones are sheep or goat bones isn't unique to archaeology, though, since this paper seems to say that there aren't any good systems for classifying extinct sheep and goat species based on shared fossil characters--except when it comes to the metacarpals, which are much shorter in goats than in sheep & cows, allowing them to do goat things

•Ötzi's loincloth was made from a sheep that was a lot like every modern European sheep but with a few mtDNA polymorphisms that aren't found in European sheep today. What's really important, though, is that when the same lab sequenced Ötzi's DNA, they gave his weird mtDNA haplogroup a metal umlaut

(did I misinterperet everything I read? probably!)

[ntrending]

The stiletto heel is the embodiment of post-war material science

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/the-stiletto-heel-is-the-embodiment-of-post-war-material-science/

The stiletto heel is the embodiment of post-war material science

The rise of the stiletto in the 1950s was a pivotal moment in the history of fashion, feminism, and culture. Defined by a thin, spiked heel as little as 0.9 inches in circumference, the stiletto can be any height, but is often associated with a lift of 3, 4, 5, or more inches. Without it, the pages of Vogue magazine and the sets of Sex and the City would have looked rather, well, pedestrian. The most florid designs of revered shoe designers Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutin might never have come to fruition. And the ceaseless speculation about an innate human desire for stilettos likely never would have begun.

What’s often overlooked is that the stiletto was also a pivotal moment in the history of material science—that beautiful, applied stepchild of the master discipline physics—and engineering. Whether they credit André Perugia, Roger Vivier, or Salvatore Ferragamo, experts agree this particular heel, named for an Italian dagger with which it shares its sinewy shape, could never have been realized without desire, creativity, and steel. Where the much-maligned heel is going, however, is anyone’s guess.

“I’ve spent the past 18 years trying to unravel all this history,” says Elizabeth Semmelhack, senior curator at the Bata Shoe Museum and the author of several books on shoes. The Bata, which is situated in the heart of downtown Toronto, was designed by its architect to look like a shoebox. Its collection, the largest of its kind in the world, includes more than 13,000 shoes and related objects. There’s an exact replica of Otzi the Ice Man’s shoe, which looks like a bird’s nest and is the size of a dinner plate; 19th century chestnut crunching clogs that seem more like a Sweeney Todd set piece than a common agricultural tool; and Vietnam War-era boots designed with a second sole to leave the impression of enemy troops, thereby covering an American’s tracks.

High heels (of which stilettos are a sky-high, ultra-fine sub-category) were originally worn by men. “I’ve traced it back to as early as the 10th century in Persia, where heels were worn in tandem in stirrups,” Semmelhack says. The lift better anchored soldiers to their noble steeds and, Semmelhack says, allowed them to wield heavier weapons. Eventually, the style spread, likely through trading and political networks. By the mid-1500s, heels were propping up Dutch and English men.

“But the question becomes, when did women begin to wear heels?” Semmelhack says. In Venetian courts, wealthy women took to wearing a particularly precarious platform called the chopine in the 1500s. It often required an attendant’s help to balance in. But the heel’s mainstream appeal among women likely began in the early 17th century, as trendy European women began riffing on menswear broadly, according to Semmelhack.

Heels were a natural facet of this gender-bending fashion, with men and women wearing the stylish lifts simultaneously. As a result, the shape of the heel became the distinguishing factor in the 17th century. Men wore big, blocky heels. And women wore thinner, more narrow heels. “This is why we don’t consider cowboys to be wearing heels, although they’re often wearing significant heels,” Semmelhack says.

By the 18th century, men had given up on being “well-heeled” altogether. The once-fashionable shoes were seen at odds with the principles of the Enlightenment, like rationality and the notion of equality (between free white men), according to Semmelhack. With the exception of a few masculine outliers like the cowboy boot, heels came to be considered solidly and solely feminine—a sensibility that largely persists to this day.

Throughout this thousand-year history, heels got higher and wilder. But there was a limit to their potential: wood, which was the primary material in shoemaking prior to World War II. “You can only carve wood so narrow that, from a physics standpoint, it cannot support a woman’s weight,” Semmelhack says. In the 18th century, cobblers and cordwainers tried to cope in numerous and largely unsuccessful ways. Semmelhack has seen shoes with reinforced shanks in the instep, for example, and heels placed near the center of the sole instead of the back. Still, women would often return heels that had splintered, according to newspaper articles Semmelhack studied.

With only wood to work with, most women in the early 20th century wore wedge heels or platforms. These shoes were considered fashionable and graced the pages of magazines like Vogue. But they weren’t considered desirable. As a result, erotica illustrators dreamed up fantastical, fictional footwear for their posters and postcards. “They end up drawing women in these heels that are so long and so thin, they couldn’t resist in reality at that time,” Semmelhack says. These images, which were taken into the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific, created new expectations for how women should look and act, Semmelhack says, but material science hadn’t caught up.

That all changed in the 1950s. Like architects designing the first skyscrapers, fashion designers found that steel’s high tensile strength—or ability to stay strong and withstand heavy loads even as it’s elongated—was an asset in shoemaking, too. While the precise history is disputed, it appears that around 1951, André Perugia sent his “needle heel” to market. It was nearly 4 inches tall and mind-bendingly thin, with a subtle swooping shape. In 1954, Roger Vivier of Dior released the 3.1-inch Aiguille stiletto, which helped to cement the fashion house’s reputation as a forward-thinking purveyor of luxury goods. “It seems that the ability to extrude very narrow but extremely strong steel was an innovation that was required before the stiletto heel could be invented,” Semmelhack says.

But the breakthroughs weren’t over. Like Benjamin Braddock in the 1967 film The Graduate who’s told “there’s a great future in plastics,” designers soon turned to synthetics. “The metal stiletto is quickly replaced by very, very hard and strong plastic, which is lighter weight and could also be done in very, very thin shape,” Semmelhack says. Today, she notes, many heels are still sculpted from plastic.

The stiletto’s popularity has waxed and waned over the last half-century. Marilyn Monroe loved them and Sarah Jessica Parker does, too. But women of the 60s found them repressive, and today many consider them downright dangerous. While steel and plastic can keep people propped up and their weight carefully distributed without the shoe cracking, our feet are a different story. Ingrown toenails; “hammer toes,” where toes are permanently bent downward; and even tendonitis are common among individuals who wear high heels regularly.

In recent years, some have tried to rehabilitate the stiletto. Podiatric surgeon Marion Parke started a luxury footwear line that reportedly rely on a “unique insole, which is sculpted to follow the natural contour and curvature of the bottom of the foot” to reduce pain—for a few hundred dollars a pair. According to an article in Forbes, padding around the foot and in the arch keeps it straighter in the shoe, stabilizes the heel, and redistributes body weight. Former SpaceX executive, Dolly Singh, founded Thesis Couture in 2013 to solve a similar problem. Singh’s $900 “Olympus One” stilettos reportedly redistribute the burden of your body weight from your toes—which cope with 80 percent of your body weight in a traditional heel—to the rest of the foot using her own secret engineering strategies.

Those who have tried the shoes say both Parke and Singh have made something moderately more comfortable. But few say they want to wear them all day. And, Parke has said repeatedly in interviews with the press, no one should think her shoes will fix their existing orthopedic issues.

If steel and plastic were the ground-breaking tools of 20th century shoemakers, Semmelhack thinks 21st century footwear could be refashioned by 3D printing technology. “With the ability of very strong, innovative materials to create new shoes, and women turning away from very high heels, I wonder if we will see new innovative heel shapes emerging,” she says. The stiletto may never disappear, but new prototypes are already emerging, from 3D printed crescent-moon heels to stylishly warped, Gaudi-like wedges.

But, fashion aside, what’s the most sensible footwear choice? Try sneakers, sandals, even Crocs—just put the heels down. “Your foot needs to be in flat in order to be comfortable,” Semmelhack says.

Written By Eleanor Cummins

[watsonrodriquezie]

Weekend Link Love — Edition 512

To ring in Amazon Prime Day, The Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook is getting a big discount, a full day before the rest of Prime Day kicks in: $3.99 for the Kindle book, 20% off the physical book. If you haven’t picked it up yet, you’re missing out. Sale starts at 8:35 a.m. PDT and ends at 2:35 p.m. PDT. Later this afternoon from 4:10 p.m. to 10:10 p.m. PDT, 12-pack PRIMAL KITCHEN® Bars (all flavors) will be discounted 35%, too.

Research of the Week

Dog food with legumes tied to heart disease.

Advanced glycation end products have no relationship to inflammation or obesity in healthy teens.

Air pollution may be responsible for a lot of diabetes.

The more cushioned the running shoe, the harder the impact.

Smiley scientists achieve more.

Having a black doctor reduces black cardiovascular mortality.

Wearing a tie cuts brain circulation.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 261: Tania Teschke: The Book Launch: Host Elle Russ chats with Tania Teschke about the journey to get her latest and greatest book—The Bordeaux Kitchen—published and launched.

Each week, select Mark’s Daily Apple blog posts are prepared as Primal Blueprint Podcasts. Need to catch up on reading, but don’t have the time? Prefer to listen to articles while on the go? Check out the new blog post podcasts below, and subscribe to the Primal Blueprint Podcast here so you never miss an episode.

Interesting Blog Posts

Finger strength tips from a Spanish climber.

Foggy brain? Blame adenosine (and consider coffee).

Media, Schmedia

Human prehistory is far more complicated than we ever imagined.

The US trade war with China may hit soy hard.

It’s the lifestyle, not the calories.

Everything Else

In case herring ice cream isn’t enough for you, they’ve also got raw herring ice cream.

The mayor of Lancaster, CA read that necktie paper too.

Otzi the Iceman had goat fat, deer meat, ferns, and ancient wheat in his belly when he died.

The world is far more urban than we thought.

Would you try this?

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

I feel like I’ve seen this study a dozen times, but I’m still happy to welcome it: Full-fat dairy appears to be healthy.

N=1 experiment I enjoyed: The great Vitamin K2 experiment.

Glad to see this misconception targeted: Plenty of people lived to an old age in ancient times.

Amazing new medical technique: Injecting new mitochondria revives dying organs.

Great op-ed with whose op I agree: It’s the carbs, not the fat.

Recipe Corner

Peaches are in, so make watercress with seared prosciutto and peaches.

Keto chipotle lime tacos. I can think of a chipotle mayo that would make a nice topping… Just make sure you use meat, not the vegan replacement.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Jul 8– Jul 14)

CrossFit’s Criticism: How Do I Eat Enough Calories on Primal? – Is it possible to support CrossFit energy needs on a Primal way of eating?

Need to Know Factors for Bone Health – Get better bones.

Comment of the Week

“Please tell me you were joking when you wrote ‘everyday staple foods like whale blubber and Angle fish liver.’?”

– I’m not sure what you’re implying, Jenny. I just took a trip to Costco and now have half a ton of bowhead whale blubber hanging in my curing room and a few boxes of canned angle fish liver (was on sale) in my pantry. About half the folks in checkout had the same in their carts.

[fishermariawo]

Weekend Link Love — Edition 512

To ring in Amazon Prime Day, The Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook is getting a big discount, a full day before the rest of Prime Day kicks in: $3.99 for the Kindle book, 20% off the physical book. If you haven’t picked it up yet, you’re missing out. Sale starts at 8:35 a.m. PDT and ends at 2:35 p.m. PDT. Later this afternoon from 4:10 p.m. to 10:10 p.m. PDT, 12-pack PRIMAL KITCHEN® Bars (all flavors) will be discounted 35%, too.

Research of the Week

Dog food with legumes tied to heart disease.

Advanced glycation end products have no relationship to inflammation or obesity in healthy teens.

Air pollution may be responsible for a lot of diabetes.

The more cushioned the running shoe, the harder the impact.

Smiley scientists achieve more.

Having a black doctor reduces black cardiovascular mortality.

Wearing a tie cuts brain circulation.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 261: Tania Teschke: The Book Launch: Host Elle Russ chats with Tania Teschke about the journey to get her latest and greatest book—The Bordeaux Kitchen—published and launched.

Each week, select Mark’s Daily Apple blog posts are prepared as Primal Blueprint Podcasts. Need to catch up on reading, but don’t have the time? Prefer to listen to articles while on the go? Check out the new blog post podcasts below, and subscribe to the Primal Blueprint Podcast here so you never miss an episode.

Interesting Blog Posts

Finger strength tips from a Spanish climber.

Foggy brain? Blame adenosine (and consider coffee).

Media, Schmedia

Human prehistory is far more complicated than we ever imagined.

The US trade war with China may hit soy hard.

It’s the lifestyle, not the calories.

Everything Else

In case herring ice cream isn’t enough for you, they’ve also got raw herring ice cream.

The mayor of Lancaster, CA read that necktie paper too.

Otzi the Iceman had goat fat, deer meat, ferns, and ancient wheat in his belly when he died.

The world is far more urban than we thought.

Would you try this?

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

I feel like I’ve seen this study a dozen times, but I’m still happy to welcome it: Full-fat dairy appears to be healthy.

N=1 experiment I enjoyed: The great Vitamin K2 experiment.

Glad to see this misconception targeted: Plenty of people lived to an old age in ancient times.

Amazing new medical technique: Injecting new mitochondria revives dying organs.

Great op-ed with whose op I agree: It’s the carbs, not the fat.

Recipe Corner

Peaches are in, so make watercress with seared prosciutto and peaches.

Keto chipotle lime tacos. I can think of a chipotle mayo that would make a nice topping… Just make sure you use meat, not the vegan replacement.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Jul 8– Jul 14)

CrossFit’s Criticism: How Do I Eat Enough Calories on Primal? – Is it possible to support CrossFit energy needs on a Primal way of eating?

Need to Know Factors for Bone Health – Get better bones.

Comment of the Week

“Please tell me you were joking when you wrote ‘everyday staple foods like whale blubber and Angle fish liver.’?”

– I’m not sure what you’re implying, Jenny. I just took a trip to Costco and now have half a ton of bowhead whale blubber hanging in my curing room and a few boxes of canned angle fish liver (was on sale) in my pantry. About half the folks in checkout had the same in their carts.

[milenasanchezmk]

Weekend Link Love — Edition 512

To ring in Amazon Prime Day, The Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook is getting a big discount, a full day before the rest of Prime Day kicks in: $3.99 for the Kindle book, 20% off the physical book. If you haven’t picked it up yet, you’re missing out. Sale starts at 8:35 a.m. PDT and ends at 2:35 p.m. PDT. Later this afternoon from 4:10 p.m. to 10:10 p.m. PDT, 12-pack PRIMAL KITCHEN® Bars (all flavors) will be discounted 35%, too.

Research of the Week

Dog food with legumes tied to heart disease.

Advanced glycation end products have no relationship to inflammation or obesity in healthy teens.

Air pollution may be responsible for a lot of diabetes.

The more cushioned the running shoe, the harder the impact.

Smiley scientists achieve more.

Having a black doctor reduces black cardiovascular mortality.

Wearing a tie cuts brain circulation.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 261: Tania Teschke: The Book Launch: Host Elle Russ chats with Tania Teschke about the journey to get her latest and greatest book—The Bordeaux Kitchen—published and launched.

Each week, select Mark’s Daily Apple blog posts are prepared as Primal Blueprint Podcasts. Need to catch up on reading, but don’t have the time? Prefer to listen to articles while on the go? Check out the new blog post podcasts below, and subscribe to the Primal Blueprint Podcast here so you never miss an episode.

Interesting Blog Posts

Finger strength tips from a Spanish climber.

Foggy brain? Blame adenosine (and consider coffee).

Media, Schmedia

Human prehistory is far more complicated than we ever imagined.

The US trade war with China may hit soy hard.

It’s the lifestyle, not the calories.

Everything Else

In case herring ice cream isn’t enough for you, they’ve also got raw herring ice cream.

The mayor of Lancaster, CA read that necktie paper too.

Otzi the Iceman had goat fat, deer meat, ferns, and ancient wheat in his belly when he died.

The world is far more urban than we thought.

Would you try this?

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

I feel like I’ve seen this study a dozen times, but I’m still happy to welcome it: Full-fat dairy appears to be healthy.

N=1 experiment I enjoyed: The great Vitamin K2 experiment.

Glad to see this misconception targeted: Plenty of people lived to an old age in ancient times.

Amazing new medical technique: Injecting new mitochondria revives dying organs.

Great op-ed with whose op I agree: It’s the carbs, not the fat.

Recipe Corner

Peaches are in, so make watercress with seared prosciutto and peaches.

Keto chipotle lime tacos. I can think of a chipotle mayo that would make a nice topping… Just make sure you use meat, not the vegan replacement.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Jul 8– Jul 14)

CrossFit’s Criticism: How Do I Eat Enough Calories on Primal? – Is it possible to support CrossFit energy needs on a Primal way of eating?

Need to Know Factors for Bone Health – Get better bones.

Comment of the Week

“Please tell me you were joking when you wrote ‘everyday staple foods like whale blubber and Angle fish liver.’?”

– I’m not sure what you’re implying, Jenny. I just took a trip to Costco and now have half a ton of bowhead whale blubber hanging in my curing room and a few boxes of canned angle fish liver (was on sale) in my pantry. About half the folks in checkout had the same in their carts.

[cristinajourdanqp]

Weekend Link Love — Edition 512

To ring in Amazon Prime Day, The Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook is getting a big discount, a full day before the rest of Prime Day kicks in: $3.99 for the Kindle book, 20% off the physical book. If you haven’t picked it up yet, you’re missing out. Sale starts at 8:35 a.m. PDT and ends at 2:35 p.m. PDT. Later this afternoon from 4:10 p.m. to 10:10 p.m. PDT, 12-pack PRIMAL KITCHEN® Bars (all flavors) will be discounted 35%, too.

Research of the Week

Dog food with legumes tied to heart disease.

Advanced glycation end products have no relationship to inflammation or obesity in healthy teens.

Air pollution may be responsible for a lot of diabetes.

The more cushioned the running shoe, the harder the impact.

Smiley scientists achieve more.

Having a black doctor reduces black cardiovascular mortality.

Wearing a tie cuts brain circulation.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 261: Tania Teschke: The Book Launch: Host Elle Russ chats with Tania Teschke about the journey to get her latest and greatest book—The Bordeaux Kitchen—published and launched.

Each week, select Mark’s Daily Apple blog posts are prepared as Primal Blueprint Podcasts. Need to catch up on reading, but don’t have the time? Prefer to listen to articles while on the go? Check out the new blog post podcasts below, and subscribe to the Primal Blueprint Podcast here so you never miss an episode.

Interesting Blog Posts

Finger strength tips from a Spanish climber.

Foggy brain? Blame adenosine (and consider coffee).

Media, Schmedia

Human prehistory is far more complicated than we ever imagined.

The US trade war with China may hit soy hard.

It’s the lifestyle, not the calories.

Everything Else

In case herring ice cream isn’t enough for you, they’ve also got raw herring ice cream.

The mayor of Lancaster, CA read that necktie paper too.

Otzi the Iceman had goat fat, deer meat, ferns, and ancient wheat in his belly when he died.

The world is far more urban than we thought.

Would you try this?

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

I feel like I’ve seen this study a dozen times, but I’m still happy to welcome it: Full-fat dairy appears to be healthy.

N=1 experiment I enjoyed: The great Vitamin K2 experiment.

Glad to see this misconception targeted: Plenty of people lived to an old age in ancient times.

Amazing new medical technique: Injecting new mitochondria revives dying organs.

Great op-ed with whose op I agree: It’s the carbs, not the fat.

Recipe Corner

Peaches are in, so make watercress with seared prosciutto and peaches.

Keto chipotle lime tacos. I can think of a chipotle mayo that would make a nice topping… Just make sure you use meat, not the vegan replacement.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Jul 8– Jul 14)

CrossFit’s Criticism: How Do I Eat Enough Calories on Primal? – Is it possible to support CrossFit energy needs on a Primal way of eating?

Need to Know Factors for Bone Health – Get better bones.

Comment of the Week

“Please tell me you were joking when you wrote ‘everyday staple foods like whale blubber and Angle fish liver.’?”

– I’m not sure what you’re implying, Jenny. I just took a trip to Costco and now have half a ton of bowhead whale blubber hanging in my curing room and a few boxes of canned angle fish liver (was on sale) in my pantry. About half the folks in checkout had the same in their carts.

[cynthiamwashington]

Weekend Link Love — Edition 512

To ring in Amazon Prime Day, The Keto Reset Instant Pot Cookbook is getting a big discount, a full day before the rest of Prime Day kicks in: $3.99 for the Kindle book, 20% off the physical book. If you haven’t picked it up yet, you’re missing out. Sale starts at 8:35 a.m. PDT and ends at 2:35 p.m. PDT. Later this afternoon from 4:10 p.m. to 10:10 p.m. PDT, 12-pack PRIMAL KITCHEN® Bars (all flavors) will be discounted 35%, too.

Research of the Week

Dog food with legumes tied to heart disease.

Advanced glycation end products have no relationship to inflammation or obesity in healthy teens.

Air pollution may be responsible for a lot of diabetes.

The more cushioned the running shoe, the harder the impact.

Smiley scientists achieve more.

Having a black doctor reduces black cardiovascular mortality.

Wearing a tie cuts brain circulation.

New Primal Blueprint Podcasts

Episode 261: Tania Teschke: The Book Launch: Host Elle Russ chats with Tania Teschke about the journey to get her latest and greatest book—The Bordeaux Kitchen—published and launched.

Each week, select Mark’s Daily Apple blog posts are prepared as Primal Blueprint Podcasts. Need to catch up on reading, but don’t have the time? Prefer to listen to articles while on the go? Check out the new blog post podcasts below, and subscribe to the Primal Blueprint Podcast here so you never miss an episode.

Interesting Blog Posts

Finger strength tips from a Spanish climber.

Foggy brain? Blame adenosine (and consider coffee).

Media, Schmedia

Human prehistory is far more complicated than we ever imagined.

The US trade war with China may hit soy hard.

It’s the lifestyle, not the calories.

Everything Else

In case herring ice cream isn’t enough for you, they’ve also got raw herring ice cream.

The mayor of Lancaster, CA read that necktie paper too.

Otzi the Iceman had goat fat, deer meat, ferns, and ancient wheat in his belly when he died.

The world is far more urban than we thought.

Would you try this?

Things I’m Up to and Interested In

I feel like I’ve seen this study a dozen times, but I’m still happy to welcome it: Full-fat dairy appears to be healthy.

N=1 experiment I enjoyed: The great Vitamin K2 experiment.

Glad to see this misconception targeted: Plenty of people lived to an old age in ancient times.

Amazing new medical technique: Injecting new mitochondria revives dying organs.

Great op-ed with whose op I agree: It’s the carbs, not the fat.

Recipe Corner

Peaches are in, so make watercress with seared prosciutto and peaches.

Keto chipotle lime tacos. I can think of a chipotle mayo that would make a nice topping… Just make sure you use meat, not the vegan replacement.

Time Capsule

One year ago (Jul 8– Jul 14)

CrossFit’s Criticism: How Do I Eat Enough Calories on Primal? – Is it possible to support CrossFit energy needs on a Primal way of eating?

Need to Know Factors for Bone Health – Get better bones.

Comment of the Week

“Please tell me you were joking when you wrote ‘everyday staple foods like whale blubber and Angle fish liver.’?”

– I’m not sure what you’re implying, Jenny. I just took a trip to Costco and now have half a ton of bowhead whale blubber hanging in my curing room and a few boxes of canned angle fish liver (was on sale) in my pantry. About half the folks in checkout had the same in their carts.

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