In Massachusetts, It’s Illegal to Scare a Pigeon

Since 1848, it has been illegal in the state of Massachusetts to not only kill a pigeon but also to purposefully frighten one from “beds which have been made for the purpose of taking them in nets.” Offenders face up to a month in prison as well as a $20 fine, and they’re also liable “for the actual damages to the owner or occupant of such beds.” According to Massachusetts Historical Society librarian Peter Drummey, the law was a sign of the times — in the 19th century, pigeons were both a food source for residents and used in target shooting, so the law was meant to protect hunters’ rights (rather than those of pigeons). While now outdated, the law, like many others in Massachusetts, has remained on the books.

WORLD HISTORY

Saber-toothed tigers and woolly mammoths weren’t roaming the Earth during the last ice age — Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were. A period of global cooling, known as the “Little Ice Age,” spanned the late Middle Ages through the Renaissance era, ending around the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800s. Some locations cooled down more than others, including northern Europe and western North America, which experienced temperature fluctuations between 1.8 and 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than the thousand-year averages for those regions.

This drastic change in climate had several possible causes. One leading theory points to a decrease in sunspot activity, which caused less solar radiation to reach Earth’s surface. Significant changes in atmospheric patterns also might have contributed to cooler temperatures in some regions. Or an increase in volcanic eruptions could have been the culprit, causing gas and ash to spew into the atmosphere, cooling the Earth. Some experts suggest it was a combination of all these things. Researchers at University College London believe the temperature drop was exacerbated by an entirely different issue: the depopulation of the Americas following the arrival of European colonists. Mass warfare and disease caused the deaths of 56 million Indigenous people by 1600. Large areas of once-cultivated land turned into forests, absorbing massive amounts of carbon dioxide and preventing it from reaching the atmosphere to warm the planet.

The impacts of the Little Ice Age were global, causing food shortages in parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. China’s long-standing Ming dynasty fell in 1644, partially due to agricultural woes. Widespread famine uprooted the regular order of society, and Europe’s medieval feudal system (which relied on peasants growing crops for their lords) collapsed (partly due to climate change, though many other factors contributed), giving way to markets and trade systems. This new way of life led into the 17th-century Age of Enlightenment, when exploration, religion, art, and philosophy transformed European society.

Egyptian pharaohs were seen by their subjects as gods — but sometimes, those “gods” had to prove their worth. This occurred at a jubilee-style celebration meant to reaffirm an aging ruler’s kingship, known as the Heb-Sed or Sed festival. The tradition dates back to the first dynasty of ancient Egypt, around 3000 BCE, and usually took place in the 30th year of a pharaoh’s reign (and every three years after that). The event was filled with sacrifices, crownings, and other lavish displays; the Heb-Sed of Amenhotep III, for instance, featured the construction of temples and colossal sculptures all along the Nile valley. But the main event was a footrace run by the pharaoh — dressed in a kilt with an attached animal tail — to demonstrate their physical fitness.

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According to Egyptologists, ancient Egyptians likely related the health of their ruler to the overall health and virility of the kingdom. If a pharaoh couldn’t complete the race, it signaled that it was time to make way for a younger, healthier leader. Of course, thousands of years before modern medicine, 30 years was a long life span, and only a small percentage of pharaohs lived long enough to celebrate a Heb-Sed. Not all of them passed the test: Although a simple footrace may seem like a relatively easy method for reaffirming your reign, pharaohs were not nearly as svelte or athletic as hieroglyphics and ancient carvings would have us believe. Many kings and queens were plagued with various maladies caused by inbreeding, as well as obesity: A pharaoh’s diet, often filled with beer, wine, bread, and honey, contained an awful lot of sugar.