Question for the ones who write excellent and detailed answers on here. What kind of work goes into composing the answers? Sources are cited too. Do you open up the book/source and look up the info? Or do you take notes which you refer while answering? How many books do you guys read to have such an excellent volume of knowledge at hand?

Genuinely thankful for the excellent work you guys do. Been a lot of help in some of my researches.

I know this thread is for short answers. But I would love a detailed one too. If it's okay.

Who Were Some Famous Native Americans Who Never Met Any Europeans?

I'm looking for Native Americans who we know (or at least strongly believe) really existed before 1942/European contact. So far, all I can find on my own is the Hiawatha/Peackemaker/Jigonhasee trio for the Haudenosaunee. It's completely okay if they're legendary/semi-mythical so long as they likely existed in some form. Maybe I just don't know what to google, but there's gotta be more than just those three, right?

How did bells get so entwined with Christian tradition?

How did people think about gender identity in every ancient society that left no written records?

OK, here's my real question: All of the ancient Mediterranean jewelry I see with gem settings have either cabochon or cameo styles of gem cuttings. When and where did faceted gem cutting emerge, and was there a specific technological breakthrough that allowed it to happen?

Some questions about colonial America from my 8th graders that I can’t find satisfying answers for:

-Is there any truth to the idea that coffee becoming Americas hot beverage of choice instead of tea is because of the boycotts against British taxes that took place before the Revolution?

-When Alexander Hamilton left the Caribbean it was because of donations from people on the island. Was he expected to return someday so Nevis could benefit from his education?

-They had some political differences, but how close were John and Sam Adams as cousins?

Was there any discussion on interning Japanese people in Hawaii during WWII?

Hawaii was a territory not a state and the Japanese population was much higher there then on the mainland US. If the argument for internment was to keep the country “safe” then that logic would carry over to where a giant naval base is

Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy has a line that says "this was the only civilization to invent aerosol deodorant before the wheel". What are some specific examples of civilizations that invented things in an uncommon order compared to other civilizations?

I remember hearing a story about a country in central or south America which was forced to move its capital city because Spanish conquerors had a hard time breathing at the high elevation of the city's location, and had it moved to a place with thicker air. Which country was this in, and what city? I tried looking it up online first to little success and I just can't for the life of me remember.

Was there any pushback from other Noble and Royal houses to the House of Habsburg-Lorraine claiming the name Habsburg?

I mean normally there's a dynasty change when a male line marries into a position so the last few Holy Roman emperors and later Austrian rulers would be just the House of Lorraine, since the male line of Habsburgs are extinct in both Austria and Spain.

I'm aware of the Wars of Spanish and Austrian Successions, I mean more of the petty opposition to using Habsburg in newspapers or in journals. Like just denying the Habsburgs the use of the name to separate them from the Holy Roman Empire and general German medieval romanticism.

I see that we have a coronation sword for Emperor Frederick II of the HRE but do we have a sword for Frederick Barbarossa?

Using Google turns up this expensive wall hanger but I can tell if they're replicating a piece from a museum or if it's just an in house design that's being copied other places.

It's surprisingly hard to search for museum pieces.

What did a battlefield look like a week, a month, six months, a year, ten years after a major battle? Did people remove and bury the dead or were they left to rot? Was equipment and abandoned weaponry plundered or left in situ? How long would it take for life in surrounding villages to return to normality?

I was thinking mostly in terms of Hugo's descriptions in the aftermath of Waterloo so I guess the framing of my question is Napoleonic, but interested in answers from any point in history.

I remember seeing about this practice where a (presumably) medieval merchant would have this file/whetstone and grind coins on it and compare the resulting streaks to actual gold or silver to make sure the coin was real. I cannot find any reference to this anywhere. Does this practice have a name?

Hey! I have a strange question a bit. And i tried to find some answers but i have hard time to formulate the question right. So i am looking for some studies or books that are focused on inventions through nations. And i mean similarities. Inventions that have a starting point or legend in most cultures. And is there any inventions like that. Thanks.

Did INS Mysore(C60)/HMS Nigeria have her torpedo tubes removed when it was refitted for sale to India?

I found this link that says TT was removed. But no other site mentions anything about torpedo tubes' existance or removal. And there is no reference in that article.

http://old-navypedia.org/ships/india/in_cr_mysore.htm

What % rate was the wool import tarrif in 1489?

Is there a word for European colonialism from the 15th to 19th centuries? For example, when referring to the English-African slavery of the same time period, rather than something like Roman or Islamic slavery, it is referred to as the "Atlantic Slave Trade." Is there a title or succinct name for the mid-second millennia European colonialism? Can it just be referred to as such?

According to US Marine Corps lore, the "blood stripe" worn on the dress blues trousers represents the heavy losses of Marine NCOs and Officers in the Battle of Chapultepec. The story is obviously baloney, but how many Marine NCOs and Officers did perish in the battle?

What was the hierarchy of Italian nobility (noble titles) during the middle ages / the Renaissance?