First documented herbal / medicinal book

8 October 2014 by admin
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The earliest collection of written articles about medicinal herbs and plants is the De Materia Medica, compiled by the Greek surgeon, Pedanios Dioscorides, in approximately 77 AD. Dioscorides was a Greek physician from modern-day Turkey who gathered his information during travels through Europe and North Africa with the Roman army of Emperor Nero. De Materia Medica was originally written in Greek, and was separated into five sections which covered the themes of: (1) medicinal plants, (2)animals, dairy products and cereals (e.g honey, milk), (3)herbs, juices, Continue reading →

First documented animal execution

8 October 2014 by admin
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The capital punishment of animals dates back to at least the early medieval period, with the earliest known documented case involving a pig tried and burnt for eating a child. The trial of the infanticidal pig took place in 1266 in Fontenay-aux-Roses, France, and was overseen by the monks of St Genevieve. It was usually illegal to execute without trial in Medieval Europe, so everyone and anything would face a judge if suspected of a capital crime. Dogs, pigs, cows, horses and even bulls went Continue reading →

First domesticated cat

8 October 2014 by admin
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The oldest archaeological evidence of the domestication of the cat dates back 9,500 years. The bones of a cat were discovered in the neolithic village of Shillourokambos on Cyprus. The position of the cat in the ground was next to the bones of a human, whose similar state of preservation strongly suggests they were buried together. The discovery was made by French scientists, led by Professor Jean Guilaine of the CNRS Centre d’Anthropologie in Toulouse, France, and announced in the journal Science in April 2004.

First domestication of dogs

8 October 2014 by admin
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The earliest domestication dogs (Canis familiaris) is thought to have been done by Palaeolithic humans in east Asia, approximately 15,000 years ago, as they successfully bred aggression out of wolves (Canis lupus). Much of the genetic research by Peter Savolainen (Sweden) of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden, found that due to the high genetic diversity of dogs in east Asia, it suggested that these dogs had been domesticated the longest. The domestication of dogs preceeded that of other animals such as sheep, Continue reading →

First drive-in cinema

8 October 2014 by admin
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The first patent for the Drive-In Theater (United States Patent #1909537) was issued on 16 May 1933 to Richard Hollingshead who opened the first one on 6 June 1933 on a site for 400 cars in Camden, New Jersey, USA to show the film Wife Beware (USA 1933).