Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2018 August 29

= August 29 =

Looking for any info on Asian coin found in Queensland, Australia.
Imgur link to coin

A coin my Uncle and Dad found medal detecting in Australia, a bit north of Brisbane by the beach. They found a bunch of WWII stuff there and suspect that there was dirt dumped there from somewhere else by the council, as the soil was not the natural colour. Would love to know what it says, if it has any significance or history. I appreciate any help.

58.179.70.15 (talk) 05:58, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * I don't know how helpful this is, but the overtly obvious obverse depicts the area encompassing Borneo, Java, Sumatra, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc.   Interestingly, there appears to be a Japanese flag at Jakarta. 107.15.157.44 (talk) 08:00, 29 August 2018 (UTC) ... hmmm, this might be relevant: Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies.  My guess is that it is more of a medallion rather than a coin. (Coincidental misspelling above: "medal detecting"?) -- P.p.s: you might want to check over at WP:Reference desk/Language for a translation of the reverse; 東 = "east" is the best I can do.

Haha, yes that's a coincidental error with medal. Thank you for the input, I really appreciate your insights. I'll do as you suggested and post this over on the language reference desk.

Thank you

58.179.70.15 (talk) 09:49, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

Someone with a better view than I have might identify the characters as "Greater East Asia" and what appears to be "participate." That suggests Japan's WWII "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere," but I can't see it clearly enough to be sure. DOR (HK) (talk) 12:39, 29 August 2018 (UTC)


 * The top, to me, looks like 戰亞東大 "zhan yadong da." It looks like a university medal to me, but I've never heard of a university named zhan yadong. Zhang Yadong - that is something completely different. 216.59.42.36 (talk) 18:51, 29 August 2018 (UTC)


 * This question was also posted to the Language Desk. Please don't multipost.  I'm moving the thread from there to here:


 * Imgur link to coin


 * A medallion my Uncle and Dad found metal detecting in Australia, a bit north of Brisbane by the beach. They found a bunch of WWII stuff there and suspect that this is also from WWII.


 * So far we know it's Japanese and that some characters are illegible due to damage but it seems to be a mix of old or new characters or dialects as even a Japanese friend could not translate properly.


 * I appreciate any help to find out what it says so we can track the history of it.


 * 58.179.70.15 (talk) 09:59, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * The map on the obverse appears to be of Indonesia with a Japanese flag on Java, likely Bandung, the Japanese headquarters. Perhaps the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies or Battle of Java (1942) will lead you places.  -- Jayron 32 11:39, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * On the top is 大東亞戰 (old kanji for 大東亜戦), Greater Asia War. In the center it is みのり會. Cannot speculate what it means. Шурбур (talk) 12:14, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure about the leftmost character, but the bottom looks like 參加記念, 'participation commemorative'. Top of the right column: 昭和?七. Is it 昭和十七, the 17th year of Showa (1942)? Top of the left column 爪哇, Java. Шурбур (talk) 08:51, 30 August 2018 (UTC)


 * (End of content moved from Language Desk) --76.69.47.228 (talk) 20:06, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * みのり會 = みのり会 (Minori-kai, Minorikai). —Stephen (talk) 05:09, 30 August 2018 (UTC)
 * This thread on a coin collecting site I've often found to be useful in identifying items.--Wehwalt (talk) 09:51, 30 August 2018 (UTC)
 * This website may be helpful . 86.133.58.87 (talk) 11:38, 30 August 2018 (UTC)

Did any Cuban rebels in the 1890s want Cuba to be annexed by the U.S.?
Did any Cuban rebels in the 1890s (during the Cuban War of Independence) want the United States of America to annex Cuba--either immediately or at some future point in time? Futurist110 (talk) 20:26, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * The article you linked answers the question In the section titled "background".  -- Jayron 32 20:52, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * Well, yeah, but I was wondering if anyone here knew of any additional information about this beyond what is written in that Wikipedia article. Futurist110 (talk) 21:10, 31 August 2018 (UTC)

History: early civilizations and polytheism.
Okay my current understanding is this: Native Americans did human-sacrifices, ancient Greeks/Romans did animal sacrifices (for sun god, rain god, etc.). I asked a history professor who specializes in African history, says not much is known about Africa before they were converted to Islam and Christianity, but he thought they leaned towards animal sacrifices.


 * 1.Did any civilizations did both human and animal sacrifices?
 * 2.What did Asians do, human or animal sacrifices?
 * 3.And when Native Americans did human sacrifices, did they ever do that to humans from a different tribe, rather than their own? Thanks. 12.239.13.143 (talk) 21:18, 29 August 2018 (UTC).
 * Your question 1 is an interesting question. Unless an usage strongly established, following a rigorous tradition it seems that the passage from the one to the other could easily be a matter of opportunity. During prehistory, auguries were practiced on the entrails of victims. Then they quite obviously could be human, or not. --Askedonty (talk) 21:39, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * The Carthaginians may have practiced child sacrifice as well as animal sacrifice. Blueboar (talk) 21:56, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * The medieval Scandinavians also practiced both: Old_Norse_religion. - Lindert (talk) 22:02, 29 August 2018 (UTC)
 * There also are some finds that could be interpreted as evidence for human and animal sacrifices by a neolithic society in todays Germany. There also are suggestions that some bog bodies could have been human sacrifices. But neither of those are definitive of course. 31.150.103.255 (talk) 04:39, 30 August 2018 (UTC)


 * You say "ancient Greeks/Romans did animal sacrifices", but the Romans, for all their loud and probably exaggerated, if not invented, criticisms of Gauls and others for making human sacrifices, did so themselves in various circumstances. Vestal Virgins who were accused of breaking religious vows were sealed in caves or pits to die on religious grounds, which might be viewed as human sacrifice. Prominent prisoners of war were taken back to Rome, exhibited in triumphal parades, and sometimes subsequently (perhaps after some years of imprisonment) sacrificed to Roman gods (c.f. Vercingetorix who was ritually strangled as an offering to Mars). Moreover, gladiatorial combat originated in the funeral rites of Latin tribes absorbed by Rome in which men fought to the death as a religious sacrifice. See also Religion in ancient Rome.
 * Greek legends also contain various stories that are suggestive of human sacrifice in an early period, but there is less material or direct written evidence for it. {The poster formerly known as 87.81.230.195} 90.208.127.181 (talk) 23:39, 29 August 2018 (UTC)

I don't think "Native Americans" in general did human sacrifices, but rather certain Mesoamerican civilizations -- probably the Aztecs were the most prolific. AnonMoos (talk) 02:43, 30 August 2018 (UTC)


 * That's true. Native Americans do not represent a cohesive cultural group; there were dozens of cultural areas, many of which had little to connection with the other, as different or more so than Icelanders would have been from Vietnamese.  -- Jayron 32 16:04, 30 August 2018 (UTC)


 * Agreed. I'll also suggest that a history professor who says that little is known about Africa from before the spread of Islam is just trying to stop talking to you. African history and archaeology are enormous fields of study. Matt Deres (talk) 13:31, 31 August 2018 (UTC)
 * I'm sure I read somewhere that the Mississippian culture had the same or similar religious practices to the Aztecs and other Mesoamericans, including human sacrifice, but our article here makes no mention of that (and Southeastern Ceremonial Complex says they developed independently, and makes no mention of sacrifices). Iapetus (talk) 09:29, 3 September 2018 (UTC)
 * Is it a myth that having the Chinese military pose for sculptures was a way to give the emperor an army in the afterlife without killing some soldiers? The Ancient Egyptians were even more efficient, they just had to draw servants on the tomb's walls and pharoah would have that many servants. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 14:29, 31 August 2018 (UTC)