Why Many Women Have Small Calf Muscles

Modern society has made a lot of changes to our bodies. One of them that's hard not to notice is that it's made many people fat. The other is that what we wear actually has changed our bodies a bit. Have you ever wondered why many women have small calf muscles? Yes, women have a tendency to have less developed calves, but it's not because of a predisposition to this. It's simply because of wearing high-heeled shoes.

Based on scientific research by anthropologist Erik Trinkhaus of the Washington University in St. Louis, it's been found out that high heels contribute to less use of the calf muscles, as compared to when wearing flat shoes, which allow women to shift their weight from the rear to the front of their feet while walking. High heels keep the weight concentrated towards the toes, keeping the calves relaxed. Doing calf raises everyday should help compensate for the lack of calf activity while wearing heels.

Trinkhaus also found a time in human history when the toe bones began to shrink. He found a link between this and the first time people began wearing shoes, which began about 40,000 years ago. Pictured above is a preserved sole from an archaeological dump in France which yielded shoe remnants between the 13th and 18th centuries. At left is a visual summary on how wearing heels can result in physical changes to the body.



Care for a high-heeled shoe puzzle, instead?
Artist Andy Warhol made artwork out of high-heeled shoe images. If you don't want to wear high heels, why not just have fun with this fine artwork on high heels of the modern artist made into a puzzle! Just click here to check out the details or to order!

Find out why TOMS Shoes store gives away free shoes...

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Reconstruction of the Skull of Nicolas Copernicus Reveals Face of 16h-Century Astronomer

A skull discovered buried in the cathedral of Frombork in Poland has proved to be that of the astronomer Niclolas Copernicus, who put forth the heliocentric theory of the Sun being the center of the universe. The actual burial site of the famed priest-astronomer was unknown until now. Genetic material from the skull was matched with hair found in one of Copernicus's books.

Using modern reconstructive forensics graphics, Polish archaeologist Jerzy Gassowski and his team recreated the 16th-century astronomer's face. The result shows a resemblance to how he was depicted in many old illustrations and paintings, although in some, his jaw is pointed (left) and not square as his "younger" portraits show. SInce his jaw is not among the remains found, we can only speculate on whether he was square- or pointy-jawed. At least the nose is consistent in all of the pictures. Notice how they've even got the vest right?

Alas, poor Copernicus for he was ridiculed for saying the Sun was the center of the universe - but at least we now now him well.

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Lost City of the Khazars May Have Been Found

Russian archaeologist Dmitry Vasilyev claims he has found, or may have found, the lost city of the ancient Khazars, a strong nation that thrived a thousand years ago near the Caspian Sea and then disappeared.

Vasilyev has been excavating the site for nine years where he has uncovered structures made of fired bricks. He believes it is Itil, the Khazar capital. By tradition and law, the Khazars, a Turkic tribe, could only use fired bricks only in the capital, which is already a big clue as to the origins of the ruins.

Between the 7th and 10th centuries, the Khazars conquered most of Southern Russia, the Caucasus regions, and Central Asia. Vasilyev found ceramics which could tell more of the culture of the people who lived there. He has yet to find inscriptions that relate to Judaism, which the Khazars adopted as a religion in the 8th or 9th centuries.

The Khazars acquired riches due to their access fo the fabled Silk Road between Europe and China.

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Hole in Inca Skull Caused By Musket Ball

An Inca skull with a round hole was discovered among a pile of oddly-buried skeletons in Lima, Peru. Archaeologist Guillermo Cock says he immediately thought people may have been shooting guns at the site. But careful analysis of the hole showed that it was an old one and it had traces of metal which can only be attributed to a musket ball. The victim died along with others of his people in the 1500s, the time when Spanish conquistadors invaded their civilization and eventually, practically wiped their culture out.

Cock and fellow archaeologist Elena Goycochea have recovered 72 victims of apparent violence during that time. All were in shallow graves with no evidence of any ceremonies given the dead. They could have been buried by the Spanish soldiers themselves after an uprising against them which occurred in 1532.

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Salted Man From Iran Surfaces after 1,800 Years

This man, a miner from northeastern Iran, was buried in a salt mine 1,800 years ago in a tunnel accident. Buried by rock, soil, and salt, his body was preserved by the antibacterial and drying properties of the salt in the mine. He is the sixth salt man to be unearthed by archaeologists from the Chehr Abad mine in Zanjan province. Hassan Fazeli Nashli, director of Iran's Archaeology Research Center, says that they have always had a problem in maintaining the preservation of the other "salt men."

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Qin Dynasty Tomb Contains Skeletons Believed Buried Alive

Archaeologists have discovered a tomb dating back to the Qin dynasty (221-206 BC) in Fengyang China that contains the remains of nine people believed to have been buried alive in an enclosure that had been filled first with corpses. The location of the tomb was the hometown of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming-dynasty. He is famous for driving the Mongols out of China in AD 1368.