Earring
Ear piercing is one of the oldest known forms of body modification, with artistic and written references from cultures around the world dating back to early history. Gold, silver and bronze hoop earrings were prevalent in the Minoan Civilization (2000–1600 BCE) and examples can be seen on frescoes on the Aegean island of Santorini, Greece. During the late Minoan and early Mycenaean periods of Bronze Age Greece hoop earrings with conical pendants were fashionable. Early evidence of earrings worn by men can be seen in archeological evidence from Persepolis in ancient Persia. The carved images of soldiers of the Persian Empire, displayed on some of the surviving walls of the palace, show them wearing an earring.
Hymenaea allendis
"Hymenaea allendis" is known from a solitary fossil flower which is an inclusion in a transparent chunk of Mexican amber. The specimen is currently housed in the Eliseo Palacios Aguilera Paleontological Museum in Chiapas, Mexico. Mexican amber is recovered from fossil-bearing rocks in the Simojovel region of Chiapas, Mexico. The amber dates from between 22.5 million years old, for the youngest sediments of the Balumtun Sandstone, and 26 million years old for the oldest La Quinta Formation. This age range straddles the boundary between the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene and is complicated by both formations being secondary deposits for the amber; the age range is therefore only the youngest that it might be. The fossil was examined by paleobotanists Laura Calvillo-Canadell and Sergio Cevallos-Ferriz of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and Lourdes Rico-Arce of the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, United Kingdom; Calvillo-Canadell, Cevallos-Ferriz and Rico-Arce's description of the species was published in a 2010 article in the "Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology". The etymology of the chosen specific name "allendis" is in reference to the town Simojovel de Allende which is located within the amber mining area.