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A Desert Oasis Hints at a Long History of Resilience and Exploration

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  On the Arabian Peninsula, Jubbah holds clues to how humans adapted in the past. Rock art found at Jebel um Sanman, on the west side of Jubbah, includes the earliest depiction of dogs on the Arabian Peninsula. RICHARD MORTEL The oasis of Jubbah stands out like a smudged green footprint in the sea of dunes that is Saudi Arabia’s Nefud Desert. It’s fitting that the image was taken by a modern explorer, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station: The site is a testament to changing climate patterns, and to human resilience and exploration. Thousands of years ago, when the region was considerably less arid, the basin was a lake, offering fresh water to wildlife, livestock, and humans alike. Even in times of drought, the lake remained, sustaining pastoral communities. Rock art and evidence of hearths dotting its ancient shoreline suggest long-term human occupation beginning about 10,000 years ago. Our presence in the area may be considerably older, however. The Nefud Desert is...
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MICHELANGELO'S HIDDEN DRAWINGS

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FLORENCE, ITALY THE DOODLES OF A GENIUS LINE THE WALLS OF A SECRET ROOM UNDER THE MEDICI CHAPEL.  IN 1530, TO ESCAPE THE Wrath Of The Pope, Michelangelo Holed Up In A Tiny Secret Room Under The Medici Chapel Of The Basilica Di San Lorenzo. The Artist Had Been Working On The Lavish Tomb When All Hell Broke Loose In Florence, And He Was Forced Into Hiding. With Nothing But Time And A Little Charcoal On His Hands, He Covered The Bare Walls With Some Prisoner Graffiti. Michelangelo Di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni Designed The Medici Chapel As An Elaborate Domed Mausoleum For His Patron Family, But For Three Months He Hid Underneath It And Filled The Walls With Drawings—of Himself, Of Christ, And Even, Some Experts Believe, Sketched Reproductions Of Images From The Ceiling Of The Sistine Chapel, Which He Had Completed In 1512. Michelangelo Owed His Career To The Medici, One Of The Wealthiest And Most Powerful Families In Europe. In 1529 He Joined Ranks With Other Florentines Who Had Grown...
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The Road to Nowhere Bryson City, North Carolina

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This road in the Great Smoky Mountains was supposed to assuage a  displaced community, but ended up a $52 million dead end.  THE FONTANA DAM, RISING HIGH above the Little Tennessee River in western North Carolina, is the tallest dam in the eastern United States. It was a long and winding road to getting the dam built, and what was lost during the journey can be seen in the nearby “Road to Nowhere. ” Fontana Dam was built in 1941, on land given over to the Tennessee Valley Authority by the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA). The United States’ entry into World War II meant a huge spike in the demand for aluminum for aircraft, ships, and munitions, so a deal was struck for the TVA to build the dam with ALCOA as the primary consumer. With a readymade customer in the U. S. War Department, the aluminum company stood to benefit from all that hydroelectric power coming in. The people that did not benefit were the flooded-out communities along the banks of the rising water. Where the...
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