So I'm an American recently moved to the UK, and they tell me that encountering archaeological sites is a very common hindrance to construction in the UK.

I don't remember hearing about this being an issue in the US. Do Americans just have no regard for ancient cemeteries that they find and build right over them? Do they not notice because less is known in general about Native American society? Is there less archaeology in general because the Native American population was smaller and not in the Americas for as long a period? Or perhaps, is it easier to avoid building on archaeological finds since the US population density is lower than in the UK?

What's going on here? So curious. Thanks!

I know this is a pretty broad question, so I guess we can focus on Western Europe as that is where my ancestors resided. I've always wondered why there are so many last names, which naturally led me to ask the question on how they were chosen. Some of them, such as profession names (Tailor, Smith, etc.) make sense, and I'm guessing some came from location (So-and-so of <insert town name here>), but how in the heck did we come to have so many different last names? How were they chosen, beyond the obvious, and why are they so varied?

So I was listening to the History of Rome podcast and the narrator talked about how when Augustus returned to Rome from Egypt he went about destroying everything to do with his late rival. My question is how did all the information we have regarding Marcus Antonius survive this purge?

I like to think, as probably many, that wars are extreme disruptors of long term trends, and have the ability to dramatically alter structures in the economy and culture of society. Following this hypothesis, the losing or winning of important battles in these wars are enormous hinges, were the door could swing either way - stagnate, or quicken historical processes. Now, are you guys aware of any theorys that may support this hypothesis?

I work with a various people who grew up during the days of the Soviet Union. Somehow we got on the subject of cold war propaganda, and I showed them some of the old films we were shown in school about the "evil" Soviet Union. They were appalled. When I asked them if they didn't see similar things growing up, they told me that they had never seen "anti-America" stuff like the "anti-Soviet" stuff I showed them.

So the question is, did the Soviet Union use anti-american propaganda internally similar to how the US used it? If so, do we know where?

The relationship between the United States and Bishop's People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada clearly hadn't been particularly rosy ever since the New Jewel Movement coup put Bishop in power in 1979, and those tensions seemed to worsen considerably during the construction of the Point Salines Airport. Was a U.S. invasion of Grenada already imminent before Bernard Courd and then Hudson Austin seized power in October 1983? Was the apparently more radical political stances of Courd and Austin the primary reason for the invasion, or was the U.S.'s gripe primarily with the New Jewel Movement in general, regardless of who its leader happened to be?

The Scots don't seem to recognize or celebrate the foundation of their nation by Kenneth MacAlpin and the Dal Riatta at all. Any ideas why?

Always believed it to be 100 as a rule, but over the last few years I'm sure I've read (no sources sorry) that it could be anywhere from 80-160.

Am I just wrong?

And if it isn't 100, why is our calendar century 100 years?

Thanks!

I can see the themes of tragedy, transformation, love and mythology. But I have read that it is considered a "blend of comedy and tragedy", can you point me to some examples? Or am I misunderstanding what is meant by comedy?

I've read other poems and plays (medieval, Roman and Greek) and normally can see the parts that are meant to be humourous even if I don't find them funny myself.

Does it mean comedy in a morbid way or something?

Thanks.

My main inspiration for asking this question is the events around Jack the Ripper, history's first celebrated serial killer. Was there ever much chance of catching him/her or was it just that mistakes were made early on? Did murderers get away with their crimes a lot more easily before fingerprints and DNA were used?

Today, 3D and 2D models of designs can be constructed in a modelling software and simulated using 'finite element analysis' to determine relatively accurate values for stresses and displacements etc. These results require complex calculations only possible due to high processing speeds seen on todays computers.

Before and During the second world war, how did engineers determine the same values to accurately determine the crush depth of the U-boat?

Aristarchus of Samos calculated the distances and size of both the moon and the sun some time between 300BC and 200BC. These distances and, at least for the sun, the sizes are so mind boggling they continue to awe us to this day.

How were these quantities perceived by ancient astronomers and thinkers of the day? I know that question is open ended as far as time goes, but I'm not sure just how much exists on it and I'd really be curious to hear from any era's perspective.

Augustus never called himself emperor and none of his succesors did either, so why call them an empire?