Blair Mastbaum's User Profile - Atlas Obscura

Blair Mastbaum

Writer currently stationed in Berlin, focusing on culture, history, archaeology, language, travel, food & drink, and the power of walking.

https://blairmastbaum.substack.com

2021
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Leaderboard Highlights

Blair Mastbaum's activity rankings

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Places visited in Ronda, Spain

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Places added to Cádiz, Spain

1^st

Places visited in Cádiz, Spain

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Places edited in Cádiz, Spain

Some Residents in This Scottish Dark Sky Town Decided to Go Even Darker (Updated)

In Moffat, a volunteer-led effort to switch off artificial lighting has had some unexpected results.

February 17, 2023

How the Discovery of a Unique Sign Language Reconnected a Linguist With Her Past (Updated)

Algerian Jewish Sign Language evolved over centuries in isolation, within a walled city of the Sahara, before turning up in Israel.

January 18, 2023

The ‘Perpetual Broths’ That Simmer for Decades (Updated)

Taking stock of the world's oldest soups.

December 15, 2022

Is 'Mele Kalikimaka' Really the Thing to Say on a Bright Hawaiian Christmas Day? (Updated)

Popularized by Bing Crosby's kitschy pop classic, the phrase doesn't delight everyone. It also makes no sense.

December 8, 2022

Did Ancient Humans Use Echolocation? (Updated)

Archaeologists test how our ancestors may have used this (nearly) lost skill to navigate caves and other dark spaces.

November 1, 2022

Why Isn’t the Most British of Masks in the Most British of Museums? (Updated)

The iconic Guy Fawkes mask is everywhere—except where you might expect to find it.

October 7, 2022

The Heraldic Rebus, Born in Battle and Embraced by Tudor England, Lives on in Your Smartphone (Updated)

Expressing your identity in a clever string of images was a thing long before emojis.

August 17, 2022

In Algeria, Ancient Cave Art May Show Psychedelic Mushroom Use (Updated)

Thousands of years ago, artists documented their world on rock walls—including, perhaps, ritual use of hallucinogens.

Making Prehistoric Cave Art in Spain Was an All-Ages Activity

Children and even infants joined adults in making their marks, say archaeologists.

Welcome to the Spanish Village Saved by Art—And Nearly Destroyed by Fire (Updated)

In Southern Spain, a destructive blaze threatened both Genalguacil's people and their beloved public art.

January 7, 2022

The Ancient People Who Burned Their Culture to the Ground

At a site in Spain, archaeologists piece together the last days of Tartessos, an advanced society that vanished 2,500 years ago.

September 23, 2021