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Sylvia Rose
Feb 255 min read
Ancient Salt & Health: Physician Dioscorides
Dioscorides is a physician of Rome in the first century AD. He serves as a doctor in Nero's army and later writes De Materia Medici ,...
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Sylvia Rose
Feb 255 min read
Salt (NaCl): Science, History & Cuisine
Salt is primarily sodium chloride (NaCl). As a naturally occurring mineral it's known as halite or rock salt. Vital for food preservation...
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Sylvia Rose
Dec 31, 20246 min read
Milk into Cheese: Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB)
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) work to help transform milk into cheese, creating unique flavors and textures. They ferment sugars, mainly...
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Sylvia Rose
Dec 20, 20248 min read
Wild Yeast: Microbes Acting Naturally
Wild yeast is a fascinating part of the natural world. Ubiquitous and often overlooked, it's a coveted organism of science, well-known by...
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Sylvia Rose
Dec 19, 20247 min read
Yeast: Microbiology of Bread & Food Making
Yeast is a unicellular fungus essential in daily life. This gift of nature is used in baking leavened bread and in food fermentation. Its...
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Sylvia Rose
Dec 3, 20248 min read
Natural Glass Gemstones: Cataclysmic Fusion
Natural glass gemstones are caused by extraordinary geological events, such as intense heat and cataclysmic impacts. Natural glass...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 3, 20245 min read
Ethyl Alcohol: Science of Solvents & Booze
Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is the primary ingredient in alcoholic beverages. A clear, colorless liquid, it has a chemical formula of...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 1, 20245 min read
Chemistry of Rust: Minerals & Pigment Colors
Rust, the reddish-brown coating that forms on iron or steel due to exposure to oxygen and moisture is a fascinating display of chemistry....
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Sylvia Rose
Aug 30, 20245 min read
Hematite: Iron Oxide Red Earth Pigment
"Hematite" comes from the ancient Greek for blood. The stone makes red dust when cut and polished. The red color isn't always visible at...
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Sylvia Rose
Jul 23, 20244 min read
Galena: Silver Lead Ore of Metallurgy
Galena (PbS) is the primary lead ore for centuries. Lead can be smelted from galena in a regular wood fire. Some galena deposits contain...
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Sylvia Rose
Jul 14, 20245 min read
Salt: Exalted Mineral of Alchemy
Salt in alchemy is an independent mineral as well as one of the tria prima , or Three Primes, a medieval concept dominating Renaissance...
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Sylvia Rose
Jun 8, 20244 min read
Magic of the Circle: Spirituality & Lore
The circle is a magical place. With no beginning or end the circle is infinity. Circles hold or contain magic and spiritual energies....
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Sylvia Rose
Jun 2, 20245 min read
Yumuktepe: Neolithic on the Med
Yumuktepe (Yümüktepe Höyük) is a Neolithic mound site active from c. 6300 BCE to Byzantine times. On the turquoise Turkish Mediterranean,...
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Sylvia Rose
Jun 1, 20244 min read
Karaca DaÄŸ Volcano: Mountain of Life
Karaca DaÄŸ (KaracadaÄŸ, Karaca Dag) is a primeval shield volcano in today's SE Turkey. Migrating birds disperse countless seeds for...
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Sylvia Rose
Apr 20, 20246 min read
Lake Van: Fate of a Primeval Soda Salt Lake
Lake Van is the largest lake in Turkey. A saline soda lake, it's fed by numerous mountain streams. Van lacks a water outlet, making it...
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Sylvia Rose
Mar 13, 20248 min read
Çayönü Tepesi: Blood of the Earth
Çayönü Tepesi (Cayonu) is a Neolithic settlement in SE Turkey. From c. 8630-6800 BCE it's a site of innovation, agriculture and human...
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Sylvia Rose
Mar 10, 20243 min read
White Pigments of Ancient Artisans
White pigments used in ancient art, spirituality and beauty include bone, limestone variations like chalk and other natural sources....
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Sylvia Rose
Mar 6, 20246 min read
Red Ocher (Ochre) Ancient Pigments
Red ocher is among the first colors appearing on the palette of early humans, along with white and red. Black, white and red are also...
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Sylvia Rose
Mar 5, 20244 min read
Milk & Dairy: Ancient Lactose Gene
Neolithic farmers in Britain and northern Europe are the first to drink milk. Early humans are lactose intolerant but consume dairy...
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Sylvia Rose
Mar 4, 20244 min read
Broad Beans (Fava) - Bronze Age Crops
Broad beans ( Vicia faba ), faba or fava beans are cultivated as a crop from pre-Neolithic times to present day. Among the earliest...
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