Google gives me some decent articles about when dogs were considered “domesticated” but no real answers about how and how long it was taking place to actually have them domesticated.

I’d obviously assume that early domesticated dogs were wolves and bred down to domesticated dogs, but how did this happen and how long did it take? Hundreds of years? Longer? Shorter?

How did the humans domesticating dogs turn to different breeds for different jobs? Just observation? We’re some bred simply for pets while others for jobs, or did they slowly discover that some were better for pets and some were better for jobs?

I am interested in reading about Turkemnistan history during the Soviet era, but I'm having trouble finding any books on the subject. The only one I have found period is called Tribal Nation. Are there others? If not, can anyone speak on if Tribal Nation is worth a read?

We see ‘Village Idiot’ on census records and the like, so it was obviously a legitimate designation for a person at the time, but what did it entail?

Were they like a jester/fool? Did they get any special treatment? Or were they simply a poor handicapped person to be made fun of?

I tried google, but I couldn’t find any information.

It is commonly thought that throughout most of human history people lived very short lives (relative to today). This is, I gather, due to life expectancy statistics from various time periods. However I have heard that these numbers are misleading because infant mortality lowered the averages significantly. Is it there any truth to the idea that life expectancy is skewed in this way for any or all historical periods?

I'm having trouble finding decent, particularly primary, sources that might relate to this topic. If anyone here just has some suggestions about fruitful authors or works to look into, that would be helpful. All I've really been able to find so far, with regard to primary sources, is Usama's Book of Contemplations, and the The Alexiad Of Anna Comena. Anything that might give insight to the perception of the crusades from those still in European countries would help as well. Skewing more towards the first and second crusade, but anything up to the Children's Crusade would be helpful. I am sorry if this is not the place to ask this, and thank you.

Reposting, since I didn't get an answer on the original two weeks back. While there are multiple internet sites that talk about a variety of ship types, I have yet to find a comprehensive resource that goes into depth on the characteristics, size, time period, and purpose of the major types. As such, I was wondering if anyone here has any recommendations for books or other resources that cover this topic?

Diplomatic immunity seems to have been practiced and understood even in the ancient world. Herodotus framed the story of Xerxes' invasion as divine vengeance for the Spartans' killing of his ambassadors. Muhammad strictly forbade the harming of diplomats and Amān is part of classical sharia. Genghis Khan even conquered the Khwarezmid Empire because of their mistreatment of his emissaries. Why did the Mehmed not follow these conventions? Were there any diplomatic repercussions for this act?

Edit: Typo, I meant Constantine XI

For example the Roman republican tactic was the Triplex acies formation. In the front were the hastati, in the middle the principes and in the rear the triari. So how do the generals and officers decide which soldiers would be in the first line, second, third, etc. Of the hastati, principes and the triari? Sorry for my bad English, hope you understood the question.

Were Byzantines romans in the sense they were citizens of the Roman Empire alone? Or could they also reasonably claim to be Romans culturally too?

Please help!

Thank you for these fantastic answers!

I think I will pick up some Paris Green this weekend. Although If I do come across an anteater, I will certainly try to tame it.

I suppose this is an obvious question, but I was curious about how shifts were managed during long ocean voyages in pre 20th Century sailing? Did they have 6 or 8 hour shifts? Did they just let things ride on calls nights (I guess not). Were there regulations or best practices? I know nothing about sailing...

I ask because I'm really just now aware of how fluid our conception of race is. Skin colour obviously does have some genetic correlation, but people can be born much lighter or darker than their parents. What happened to people who were born to black parents but were albino, or were born much darker than their white parents?

Basically I'm thinking about the view that the latifundia owners came to see the Roman government as absolutely useless and impotent, so they transformed into a "feudal" manorial system under barbarian overlordship and protection?

If they were, what kind of issues arose during the desegregation of prisons?

I have been reading about ballroom culture in the US and how black and latino LGBTQ youths kicked out of there homes would join balls and be taken in by houses led by elders within the community that took on parental roles. I was just wondering if there was a similar phenomenon within the white LGBTQ community, or perhaps homeless white working class LGBTQ youth were welcome in ball culture?

Just to be clear, I'm not asking whether there was a white ballroom culture, I'm asking whether older white LGBTQ people provided such support for LGBTQ youth. I'm guessing that such support was on the whole less necessary for white people because of white privilege and the ability for young white people to be more economically independent. However, white working class LGBTQ youths would have similarly be rendered homeless if kicked out of their family homes.

Were people in Elizabethan England aware of Roman civilization and customs, or was it only in libraries and universities that it was being researched and preserved?

Obviously enough information was preserved for us to learn about them now, but it's strange to imagine that knowledge being widespread before public education.

In games, there are certain fictional objects that recur across titles that have nothing to do with one another. Final Fantasy and Pokémon are made by different people, owned by different companies, and exist in entirely unrelated worlds, but both contain items called Potion and Ether, which have more or less the same effects - the former is a health restorative, the latter restores magic power (functionally ammunition).

"Potion" evidently derives from the Latin "potare", meaning "to drink", and became used to describe medicinal drinks around the 12th century. The concept of a magic potion is not exclusive to the RPG genre, and appears, for example, in the Asterix series, the first of which was published in 1959. But when did the idea of a potion in games become standardized as a health restorative, and is there a particular title we can trace the concept back to? And what about other common elements, such as the association of the colour red with health and blue/green with magic, or that irritating noise that plays when you are near death?

For example, Oliver Twist came out in September 1912. Would it still be in the theatres in December 1912? I assume it would be, there wouldn't be that many films to cycle through in that time. Can anyone please confirm? And were silent film theatres very accessible to everyone or were they places only rich people went?