Birch Bark Letters, part 1

Sep 12, 2011 by

This past summer a certain anniversary might have slipped you by: July 26 this year was the 60th anniversary of the first birch bark document discovery in Novgorod, Russia. While birch bark has been used for writing in various...

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Is "linguistic relativism" always about language?

Jan 20, 2011 by

As mentioned in yesterday’s posting, linguistic relativism (that is, the view that the language one speaks affects how one thinks) is gaining popularity in both scientific quarters and among the general public. But some...

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Give me some space!

Oct 5, 2010 by

In yesterday’s posting, I mentioned that medieval manuscripts and inscriptions often used a line over the top of an abbreviation or an acronym to mark them as such. This was illustrated with the Kirkdale sundial. Another...

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