Adventure Ausrama Blog

There is proof that the Roman Empire had trade links with Pangkung Paru in Bali in Southeast Asia. This is a revelation. It was thought that Rome conquered most of the known world, but knowledge of far away Asia must have been commonly known on Europe. An oval stone sarcophagus was found and it was excavated by the Bali Institute of Archaeology (BALAR). It contained the largest collection of Roman gold-glass beads. Moreover, there were also bronze mirrors from China. People did not stay in their home villages in those days. They travelled widely. Trade from Europe to far Asia blossomed on the mid 1st-millennium. However it was not thought to have happened this far back. Another four burial sites in Pangkung Paru yielded bronze artifacts, shells, gold ear pendants, and more gold-glass beads as well as Chinese bronze mirrors. A second sarcophagus had a bronze drum and artifacts draped around the individual's skull. The gold-glass beads were from the time when Rome occ...

Myopic vision is genetic as well as Environmental - Health. Myopia is a very odd condition. Shortsighted people can only focus at a close distance because their eyeballs have grown too large. It is not so much an illness as a consequence of growing. It is a genetic problem. About 90 per cent of East Asians suffer from myopia. This compares to 25 per cent of Australians. Too much reading indoors is a causative factor. The more years one partakes in education the higher the probability that shortsightedness will occur. Spending time outdoors where it is necessary to focus on things at a distance seems to be preempt the ailment. Getting glasses does treat the condition. However, it can lead to problems in the future. There is a higher possibility of going blind. Detached retinas and glaucoma lead up to this. The age of technology has not been a factor in myopia. Yes, there is a lot of reading on tablets which is detrimental. Whether reading a book or looking at ...

We all know that rats can get really big, particularly when they eat "quality" garbage left by humans. Yet, city people have never seen the giant rats found in East Timor. Africa was thought to be the home of large rats, but this is not the case. No less that seven new species of large rats have been observed in East Timor. If you can image one 10 times larger than your "domestic" beast, you are getting close to the mark. The giants weigh about 5 kilograms. There is evidence that ancient man actually ate the rats on Timor as far back as 50,000 years ago. This was before tools were introduced from Asia. It seems that they were hunted then thrown onto the fire to cook because there were no cooking pots. The study aims to find out what animals were like before humans arrived there from Southeast Asia. Were they large then? It is known that mammals actually get smaller when isolated on an island. ◆ Science by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventure Australia ...

Scientists have always said that Australia is the safest country on earth in regard to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.  Now we find that this is totally wrong.  A massive volcanic chain has been discovered stretching from Hillsborough in central Queensland in a straight line down to Cosgrove in Victoria, then into the sea. The Australian continent has moved right over the top of the chain leaving volcanoes under the sea in Bass Strait.  Yellowstone in North America is only a third as long as the new Australian hot spot.  It is unusual because it is not located on a tectonic plate boundary.  This type of volcanic chain was not thought to exist. A weakness above a mantle plume has allowed volcanoes to break through to the surface.  The mantle is 3,000 kilometers below.  The Cosgrove hot spot could become active especially in the south where it is younger.  This could happen as the Australian tectonic plate is the fastest moving on the p...

Captain Cook discovered Australia in 1770. If you believe this you are living in dreamland. The Portuguese took Malacca, a small Malaysian state, in 1511. Spain controlled part of the Philippines from 1521. Indonesia "welcomed" the Netherlands from 1596 and the Southeast Asian country was later ruled by the Dutch from 1825. France sent emissaries to Siam in 1600. The question is did any of the sailors from these countries land in Australia before the British arrived in Singapore in 1819: note Britain had been around in India since 1612. It is obvious that Dutch sailors landed on the north coast of Australia because Indonesia is just next door. Why didn't they claim it? Why didn't Portugal claim it? The Portuguese colonized East Timor from 1613 and that is even closer. The truth is they didn't want it because they couldn't find any advanced societies there. No trade was on offer. In those days trade was everything. There was no welfare state in those days. Y...

Generally, people do not keep up with the latest infectious diseases that could come their way. We all know about the Asian flu because it has been around for a while. However, there is little fear involved because many believe that they will not catch it. Last year a new disease appeared called Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). It killed more than half of the 79 people infected. In the serious 1957-1958 Asian Flu outbreak the death rate was 0.13 per cent. While MERS is still present, the number of new cases has held steady. There is a worry that the disease could suddenly become highly contagious. It is not yet known whether the virus is spread by human contact or it has an animal source. The number of cases did rise during the Muslim hajj to Mecca. The World Health Organization (WHO) is in an emergency sitting at present considering whether to declare the coronavirus a public health emergency. An emergency would allow travel restrictions to be put in place. Pilg...

Some countries are moving toward other fuels such as coal gas. However, public opinion about it polluting the environment could bring an end to the trend of companies running roughshod over properties belonging to others. The search is driven by potential profit not for any long-term goal. People are complacent. Australia is dependent on fuel from mainly Middle Eastern countries. If a major conflagration occurred there the Australian economy would come to a standstill in a matter of weeks. Rationing would have to be introduced immediately. Health and food would be the main priorities. Distribution would be hit hard as it uses most of the oil imported, apart from private use of motor vehicles. Australia does not keep an oil reserve. Even though some countries have reserves. It would put off the economic hit for a few months. What is shocking is that even dried food in this country would last only nine days. Using solar power for transport is not possible. If such a scenari...

Our ancestors not only fished rivers and the coastline. They caught marine food in the deep ocean. It is known that people travelled across oceans 50,000 years ago. However, proof that they could catch fish in the deep sea went back only 12,000 years. New evidence shows that Man ate fish from the ocean further back than 12,000 years. In caves on the island of East Timor remains of tuna and other large fish have been found. East Timor was "out of bounds" for paleontologists until recently because of the ongoing troubles with Indonesia. Information on ancient Man is changing scientific knowledge about our ancestors. Bone fish hooks dating back 42,000 years have been found there. The diet of early Timorese was varied. It included birds, rodents, bats, snakes turtles and fish. Few large animals lived there. Half of the fish found were tuna, a fast moving fish that would have taken great skill to catch. Using nets was the only way, so they had an advanced culture. http:/...