September 22, 2021

Peru’s Petrified Forest Before it was lost, Piedra Chamana must have been a wild paradise: a lowland tropical forest near the sea and thick with tall palms and other slim, flowering trees. The air would have been thick with birdsong and the click and buzz of insects. Then everything changed when a volcanic eruption destroyed this Peruvian forest 39 million years ago; the forest, buried in ash, was fossilized. The Andes continued to rise, pushing the remains of that lowland forest site skyward. At last, the rocks surrounding the petrified forest began to erode, revealing the world hidden within. After more than 20 years of work, a team of researchers has been able to reconstruct what that world was like, but it wasn’t easy.  READ MORE → GASTRO OBSCURA Finding Family Through Food For much of her life, Inez Cook knew nothing about her biological family. She had no idea that she was born a member of the Nuxalk Nation, one of the First Nations of Canada, until she reached adulthood. At the age of one, she was forcibly taken from her parents in Bella Coola by the Canadian government and given to a white family to raise. Cook might never have reconnected with the Nuxalk Nation were it not for food. To understand her indigenous heritage, she opened Salmon n’ Bannock to create the kind of representation she felt was missing. READ MORE → MÄGIPE, ESTONIA Kõpu Lighthouse In the 16th century, the construction of a warning marker for risky and shallow waters around the island of Hiiumaa was ordered by the Hanseatic League in order to secure the important trade routes along the Baltic Sea. The structure was built about 40 years after the request and the lighthouse was completed in 1531. It remains one of the best-known symbols on the Estonian island. READ MORE → CHICHIBU, JAPAN Hall of Curious Rocks The Chichibu Chinsekikan, or the Hall of Curious Stones, is a privately owned museum in Chichibu famous for its peculiar inventory. Its main attractions are jinmen-seki, stones that naturally look like faces. On the second floor are glass cases full of stones resembling, well, pretty much everything. There are stones that take on features of pop culture icons such as Jack Sparrow, Elvis Presley, and even Donkey Kong. READ MORE → ATLAS OBSCURA COURSES Creative Ice Cream Making Join ice cream artist and historian Hannah Spiegelman for this course and learn the basics of ice cream making. Then, explore how the frozen treat can be used to tell stories by mixing different flavors, textures, and colors in new and delicious ways. ENROLL NOW → SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA Fior D' Italia For over a century, Fior D' Italia has served plates of pasta and veal to presidents and Pavarotti. Purists may maintain that the restaurant’s multiple changes of ownership, moves, and closures (due to fires, the 1906 earthquake, and financial turmoil in 2012) might disqualify it from the title of “America’s Oldest Italian Restaurant.” But the venue claims the name anyway. READ MORE → FROM THE ARCHIVES ‘Horn OK Please’ In 2015, the transportation department of Maharashtra, the state containing the city of Mumbai, attempted to diminish the noise pollution caused by cars honking by outlawing a phrase found on the back of almost all Indian trucks: “Horn OK Please.” The phrase itself is intriguing for two reasons: the first being that it doesn’t seem to make grammatical sense, and the second for the question it raises—why would Indian trucks be encouraging drivers to honk their horns? READ MORE → THE ATLAS OBSCURA PODCAST Martian Meteorites and Greek Columns Editors John and Michelle are back again in the latest episode of The Atlas Obscura Podcast with a few new standout entries to the Atlas, including a spot in Antarctica that’s home to the oldest Martian meteorite and a column in Greece that symbolizes the fear and ritual past generations embraced when faced with their own plague. FROM THE ARCHIVES Mesmerizing Museum Map Even if you can't travel to New York City right now, as long as you have an Internet connection, you can explore 5,000 years of art from the museum’s holdings. Simply dive into a charming, illustrated map of the museum that was created before the Met had a Digital Media Department. Hand-drawn by artist John Kerschbaum, who received the commission in 2004, the Family Map charts out every gallery of the museum on a single, 18-by-24-inch page. READ MORE → CAMERON, ARIZONA Cameron Trading Post More than a century old, this trading post resides in the Navajo Nation. Originally established so the Navajo and Hopi could barter their commodities, the trading post’s location near the Grand Canyon made it popular with travelers. A hotel was added in 1928. Over the years, the trading post continued to expand and in addition to the market and hotel, now includes an RV park, gift shop, restaurant, and a Native American fine arts gallery. READ MORE →