A metropolis older than the cities of Sumer and Egypt — On 28th February 1934, Murder in the Calais Coach hit bookstores in the UK and the US. You probably know the book by its more well-known title, Murder on the Orient Express. The famous detective fiction author Agatha Christie wrote it. Those who have read the book will vouch for…

The rise and fall of Çatalhöyük — On a chilly November day in 1958, archaeologist James Mellaart went to a mound near Konya in the Anatolian plateau of Turkey. The mound was 450 meters long and 32 acres in size. Between 1961 and 1966, Mellaart excavated the mound, revealing an incredible human settlement. Rectangular, mud-brick houses arranged…

And the highest grossing ones (updated monthly) — A warm welcome to all my followers, old and new. I began writing on Medium in December 2020. It took me a few months to figure out what works best for me as a writer and how to develop an audience. As I approach my second anniversary on Medium, I…

The tragic tale of Fritz Haber — During peace time a scientist belongs to the World, but during war time he belongs to his country- Fritz Haber, Nobel laureate. Few awards are as controversial as the 1918 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The recipient’s discovery of producing ammonia from the air saved humans from extinction. But the man…

A Medieval prank that had the whole of Christendom fooled — In 1165, a letter reached the Byzantine emperor Manuel Comnenus, Pope Alexander III, and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. They were stunned at the contents of the letter. The letter came from the ruler of an empire so big that 72 kings paid him tribute. Gems and gold flowed…

It just doesn’t feel right — It was the summer of 1994. My mother woke me up at 5:00 a.m. to watch television. I was shocked since, at such a young age, TV was a rare pleasure that was strictly supervised. We had tuned in to the FIFA World Cup. I have hazy memories of who…

One of the earliest incidents of mass censorship — On August 12, this year, novelist Salman Rushdie was stabbed in New York as he prepared to deliver a speech for artistic freedom. Since the 1980s, Rushdie has received several death threats because of his controversial book The Satanic Verses. Many countries have banned his books. An attack like the…

How do we know an ancient site is really a city? — In human history, two major revolutions changed our lives. The first was the Neolithic revolution when we abandoned the hunter-gatherer lifestyle and became farmers. Next was the urban revolution, which began with the urbanization of farming communities, laying the groundwork for future progress. The urban revolution was a watershed moment…

Exploring the roots of caste in Indian antiquity — Have you wondered what the caste system or the “varna system” was like in ancient India? Did it resemble modern Indian society? Did caste even exist in ancient India? Recently I had the opportunity to collaborate with Dr. David Miano, Professor of…