Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt. Solid and very detailed.

Agree that it was primarily a case of good timing; the tomb of King Tutankh-amon was not discovered until the 20th century. Had it been discovered 100 years earlier by a Brit, you can bet that the entire contents would reside today in that museum in London.

Catalhoyuk raises some interesting questions about that b/c it's a town entirely without roads. All the houses were built abutting each other and people walked across roofs and entered and exited through the roof. And it's one one of the oldest known towns.

You haven’t thought about coastal or river settlements, have you? That’s where it all starts …

Simple answer - they weren’t painted from life.

Interesting question. I guess it comes down to how you define a town and a road

History Books on Aftermath of WWII?

I have a mild curiosity for World War 2 (Europe theater specifically) and I’ve been reading anything from timeline history, to personal accounts, to extremely detailed info on the history of the SS. However, almost all of these books ends right after the fall of Berlin.

I have little memory from school education or what happened next and the aftermath of the years following, even though I have a pretty good idea.

Are there any books to recommend that covers this part of history?

Good write up. Japan's navy soundly beat Russia's navy. Didn't help that the British had denied coaling station access and the Russian navy had to go around Africa and then a long trek through warm waters while barnacles and coral built up on their hulls.

The Manchuria campaign did not "soundly" beat the Russians. It was an extremely brutal affair with two armies that were at parity of size and capabilities. Russia had to bring everything via the Siberian RR. Nonetheless it was a defeat of a European white power.

I’ve heard stories, I think they referenced it on an old Top Gear episode, where even today, at some automobile museums, they’d have some old time cars as exhibits

And the crank was a known safety trap, even among the staff like, “yes, we’ve had lots of staff members broken wrists here”

EDIT: YAY. Found It! Actually a good watch. Couple minutes on “what was the first car with a modern control layout

Extra Edit: AND it has the answer to OPs question. The 1916 Cadillac Type 53. First car with an ignition key, and a standard control layout (clutch, brake, and gas pedals in the same place they are today)

What comes first: The road or the town?

why are historical figures painted differently in paintings? For example Napoleon, in some paintings he has blue eyes in some brown and in some even green (in the ones where he is in emperor clothes). What was his real eye color and why did painters paint historical figures and people differently?

I read online, earlier this week, that one of the biggest code breaking leaks/espionage was done by the Dutch against the United States after WW2. The method? Good manners. In which they got the machines, and even codebooks. Is that even remotely true, can't find anything online about it...

Basically, keys kind of come hand in hand with the invention of the starter motor.

Prior to that, you had cranks on the front of the car. On Dodge vehicles they were colloquially known as wrist breakers due to the quirks of their operation.

As for separate door and ignition keys... that is exceedingly uncommon these days, but seems, to my knowledge, to be a quirk of the Detroit Big 3. These days, basically every vehicle is keyed the same door and ignition.

Intact tombs were an exception to the usual system of partage in which finds were divided between Egypt and the institutions sponsoring excavations. To quote Carnarvon’s permit,

>Mummies of the Kings, of Princes, and of High Priests, together with their coffins and sarcophagi, shall remain the property of the Antiquities Service.

>Tombs which are discovered intact, together with all objects they may contain, shall be handed over to the Museum whole and without division.

Well, when it came to starting them, they used to have a crank they would insert at the front of the car and turn it on order to get the engine running. Not sure when they switched to a key ignition.

Why did Tutankhamun’s treasures like the iconic gold mask end up staying in an Egyptian museum (aside from the world tours, of course) instead of ending up in a British museum? The exhibition was led by Howard Carter, an Englishman.

I’m just saying it’s not often a country like Egypt gets to keep its cultural heritage, at least back then.

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What is the history of cars and keys? Did they always have them, separate for doors and start up, or something more complicated?

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Vlad the impaler was said to have favored a kilij, which makes sense for his time spent in the ottoman court, but there are also other reports of him inheriting a toledo blade from his father. Would it have been a Toledo kilij? Or would it have been vastly different? Wondering how it would have looked :)

Ancient Romans would discard unwanted children after birth (if they had deformities) on refuse piles.

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Mules. Emperor Vespasian (AD 69 to 79) was nicknamed “Mulio” (Muleteer). A full Roman legion was thought to use 1,080 Mules in its baggage train.

They are generally larger than donkeys (despite having a donkey father), and often considerably so. Their body weight makes them better pack animals. It is more powerful than a donkey, more stamina than a horse, and has a gentler temperament than both Donkeys and Horses.

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The Accursed Kings of Maurice Druon is a really good read.

Also, from the article:

"American author George R. R. Martin called The Accursed Kings "the original game of thrones", citing Druon's novels as an inspiration for his own series A Song of Ice and Fire."