In 1907, two mummies were discovered in Deir Rifeh Egypt in a tomb belonging to a governor and his sons from the 12th Dynasty (almost 4000 years ago). The tomb group is one of the best preserved and best known burials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. Although the mummies were heavily decayed, the skeletons were still preserved. Khnum-Nakht was about 40 years old and Nakht-Ankh about 60.

The two mummies were found to be brothers with the same mother but different fathers. This is confirmed by identical mtDNA and the detected differences in the Y chromosomes. Both suffered from osteoarthtritis and dental attrition. Khnum-Nakht had kyphoscoliosis and Nakht-Ankh had lung lesions from sand pneumoconiosis.

For the people of Pompeii the world reached a horrific end in the Autumn of 79 AD. The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters written by Pliny the Younger (who was 17 at the time of the eruption) to the Roman historian Tacitus some 25 years later. Observing the first volcanic activity from across the Bay of Naples 29 kilometers away, Pliny the Elder (his uncle) launched a rescue fleet immediately - while Pliny the Younger stayed behind. He wrote of a extraordinary dense cloud rising above mount Vesuvius. His words describe a pine-tree with spreading branches which was sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted - impregnated with earth and cinders. After three tremors the sea rolled back upon itself. Flashes appeared through dark clouds and ash fell like a blanket of snow.

Meanwhile for Pliny the Elder things were taking a turn for the worse. As commander fo the Roman fleet at Misenum he went to investigate the phenomenon at close range. He ordered the fleet galleys to evacuate the people on the coast. As he neared the other side of the bay he encountered thick showers of hot cinders, lumps of pumice and pieces of rock. Ignoring the helmsman to turn back Pliny insisted that Fortune favors the brave and continued to Stabiae - a town about 4.5km from Pompeii. Very soon they realized the strong onshore wind prevented any ships from leaving. Pliny and his party saw flames shooting from parts of the mountain - presumed to be burning villages. Forced to stay overnight the crew attempted to approach the beach with pillows tied to their heads to protect from rockfall - however the wind had not changed and exhausted Pliny sat down on a sail for a rest to never stand again.

Aethelred II, known later as the Unready, was King of the English from 978 to 1013 and again from 1014 until his death. He came to the throne at the age of 12 after his half brother was murdered. At the start of his reign, Danish raids on English territory began in earnest. Aethelred defended his country by a diplomatic alliance with the duke of Normandy. The Battle of Maldon on 11. August 991 AD involved 2,000-4,000 fighting Viking men led by Olaf Tryggvason against the Anglo-Saxon leader Byrhtnoth who was the Ealdorman of Essex. This ended in defeat for the Anglo-Saxons and King Aethelred was forced to pay tribute, also known as Danegeld, to the Danish king. This payment of 10,000 Roman pounds of silver was the first example of Danegeld in England - a pattern which would follow. The Danish army continued ravaging the English coast until a Danegeld of 22,000 pounds of gold and silver was paid - at which point Olaf Tryggvason promised to never return. Viking attacks only grew worse - Danish raids would follow leading to an even larger Danegeld payment of 24,000 pounds for peace in the Spring of 1002 AD.

The same year, Aethelred married Lady Emma, the sister of Duke Richard II of Normandy in hopes of a stronger diplomatic alliance. On St. Brice's Day, 13. November 1002, the confident yet paranoid King ordered the killing of all Danes living on border towns such as Oxford. Aethelred described this massacre in his own words: ... a decree was sent out by me with the counsel of my leading men and magnates, to the effect that all the Danes who had sprung up in this island, sprouting like cockle amongst the wheat, were to be destroyed by a more just extermination, and thus this decree was to be put into effect even as far as death, those Danes who dwelt in the afore-mentioned town, striving to escape death, entered this sanctuary of Christ, having broken by force the doors and bolts, and resolved to make refuge and defence for themselves therein against the people of the town and the subrubs; but when all the people in pursuit strove, forced by necessitym to drive them out, and could not, they set fire to the planks and burnt, as it seems, this church with its ornaments and its books.