The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
11-11-2021
Over 1,200 Mesolithic Stone Tools Unearthed Near an Aberdeenshire River
Over 1,200 Mesolithic Stone Tools Unearthed Near an Aberdeenshire River
More than 1,200 ancient Mesolithic stone tools have been found along the River Dee in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, by archaeologists and volunteers during a “field walk”. These flints, which included scrapers, waste material, blades, and a portion of an egg-shaped mace head, would have been used by ancient humans who lived along the river between 10,000 and 6,000 years ago. It is believed that the tools were used to kill animals and prepare the food as well as to make raw animal hide into clothes.
Sheila Duthie, who is the co-secretary at the archaeology group Mesolithic Deeside, talked about her decades-long discoveries of ancient tools, “When I started finding flints over 20 years ago, I could never have imagined contributing to such a massive project which is without doubt broadening our understanding of prehistoric human activity on Deeside.”
In an interview with MailOnline, Alison Cameron, who is the chair of the Mesolithic Deeside and an archaeologist, stated that the individuals who would have lived next to the River Dee between 10,000 and 6,000 years ago would have had everything they needed in order to survive thanks to the nature during that time. This was why so much “flint scatter” has already been discovered in the fields next to the river banks as the individuals would have made and used the stone tools there.
Since every tool found at the site has been collected and sent for analysis where the information gathered will then be put into a database, River Dee is one of the most substantial studies ever conducted on flint deposits found near a river in all of Scotland. “The work of Mesolithic Deeside has made a real contribution to our understanding of the prehistoric communities who lived along the Dee,” noted archaeologist Caroline Wickham-Jones.
Further excavations will be conducted in the coming days at the Milton of Crathes (this includes digging numerous small trenches), so perhaps they’ll discover even more items and/or other significant findings. Additionally, the archaeologists will look at specific features that were noticed during aerial survey maps of the site that may indicate the remains of an ancient settlement. Geologists will be in the area to investigate the ground of the river terrace in order to find out if there was ever an ancient flood as well as to look at what types of environmental conditions were present during the time that the individuals lived there.
That Old “Second Sphinx” Chestnut Is Back – Is There or Is There Not A Hidden Sphinx?
That Old “Second Sphinx” Chestnut Is Back – Is There or Is There Not A Hidden Sphinx?
A tourism official in Egypt has been ridiculed by his peers after claiming a second giant statue of the famous Sphinx awaits discovery. This supposed second sphinx is causing quite a stir amongst Egyptologists who argue that it is all just a hoax.
Putting the Second Sphinx Claims in Context
We will reverse into this story after I tell you a tale about UFOs. Perhaps nothing antagonizes career debunkers and skeptics more than when a supposed “expert” or “official” in any given field skips over to the perceived dark side. This happened in February 2021 after astrophysicist Avi Loeb, Director of the Harvard Astronomy Department, told the New Scientist that the space rock Oumuamua was “maybe a piece of alien technology.”
As almost the entire scientific community facepalmed, as they watched a U.S. icon of logic and reason dive down the scientific rabbit hole, Loeb doubled-down, telling Scientific American that “aliens have visited, and I am not kidding.” Loeb is now leading the Galileo Project , searching for “extraterrestrial technological signatures of Extraterrestrial Technological Civilizations (ETCs).”
Returning to the story at hand, Reda Abdel Halim is the director of public relations for the Giza pyramids district at the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Causing similar waves to Dr. Loeb in the U.S., Halim has told Cairo Live that he discovered “a statue in the pyramids area that is of similar size to the Sphinx.” In other words, he claims to have found a second sphinx.
Reda Abdel Halim has claimed that there is a second sphinx buried under the sand and that it is shaped like the Great Sphinx of Giza, pictured above.
Abdel Halim, just like Loeb, has also doubled down, hard. It’s one thing to casually speculate that astounding archaeology awaits discovery beneath the Egyptian sands. But Halim has gone so far as to say that the second sphinx is “73 meters (246 ft) high, with a head 20.5 meters (67 ft) high, and hands extended over 15.5 meters (50.8 ft).” In other words, it is shaped like the Great Sphinx of Giza .
When the tourist official was pressed for evidence related to his dramatic claims, he was ready with an apparently dynamite reference, a “scientific study” no less. Supposedly undertaken by a team of experts from Egypt’s Zagazig University, Halim claimed that the archaeologists conducting the study had “confirmed the existence of this statue.” Now Halim has made waves for “rediscovering” the second sphinx statue once more.
Reda Abdel Halim, director of public relations for the Giza Pyramids district at the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has claimed that there is a second sphinx.
What then does the greater archaeological community have to say about Abdel Halim’s incredible claim that a second sphinx is hidden under the sand? Well, that’s the thing, they say it is “incredible.” Very incredible in fact.
This idea, in its entirety, is nothing more than a “media fanfare” according to Zahi Hawass, the well-known former Minister of Antiquities. Hawass told Al-Monitor that the Great Sphinx of Giza “is unique in Egypt and the world.” He also said Halim’s reference to a study at the Zagazig University is also “false” and that nobody in Egyptological circles knows anything about the discovery of any such second sphinx.
At this stage of the story, it’s hard not to picture Halim with a shovel, in a pit, up to his neck. As hard as it might have been reading Dr. Hawass’s response to his claims, the enthusiastic Halim could have looked up humbly (from the pit) and said, “okay, I got carried away.”
When presented with such an uncomfortable situation, Halim could have chosen to climb out of the deepening rabbit hole. But Abdel Halim’s press return statement insisted the lost Sphinx featured on ancient writings carved into the original statue, but that they were “erased” to keep the second sphinx secret. A potential conspiracy theory was born.
Zahi Hawass on the left, one of the critics of the second sphinx claims, on a visit to the Great Sphinx of Giza with Barack Obama in 2009.
The Skeptics Bombing Run of “Baseless” Second Sphinx Claims
In military terms: Dr. Zahi Hawass was first to engage with the “bogie” (Abdel Halim) who courageously survived the first dog fight. However, over the horizon, a conceptual Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber would bring shock and awe to the extraordinary claims of Halim.
The bomber came in the form of Professor Mohammed Hamza, the former dean of the faculty of archeology at Cairo University. Putting the story to bed, Dr. Hamza told Al-Monitor that “any talk about the discovery of a new Sphinx is completely baseless.” Does that mean that this latest second sphinx claim is just another archaeological hoax?
It is perhaps worth noting that at the alleged site of the second sphinx another statue was discovered in the past. However, Dr. Halim said it has “nothing to do with the original Sphinx.” Furthermore, if you have been reading Ancient Origins news over the last two years you will understand that perhaps the greatest fact refuting the second sphinx claim is that news of such a discovery would have been all over the news. The Egyptian Antiquities Authority never fails to turn even the smallest discoveries into a story, never mind a second sphinx !
Top image: The Great Sphinx of Giza. Claims of a second sphinx are causing a stir in Egyptological circles.
Archaeologist Discovers Swiss Roman Battle Site and 2,000-Year-Old Dagger
Archaeologist Discovers Swiss Roman Battle Site and 2,000-Year-Old Dagger
Sometimes experts can get it wrong. And that is what seems to have happened in the case of a Swiss Roman battle site from 2000 years ago. The new site was found between the towns of Tiefencastel and the Cunter thanks to the persistence of an amateur archaeologist. Using a metal detector, Lucas Schmid, who is a volunteer at the Graubünden Archaeological Service, found a Roman dagger in the remote south-eastern region of Switzerland near the Crap-Ses gorge, which was a solid piece of evidence for what was until then an unknown Swiss Roman battle.
Using a metal detector, Lucas Schmid, a hobby archaeologist, found a Roman dagger in the south-eastern region of Switzerland, which was a solid piece of evidence for what was an unknown Swiss Roman battle.
The Swiss Roman Battle Site: Revealed Artifacts for 20 Years
Although the site became known 20 years back and yielded many artifacts at the time, it was believed to have surrendered all its treasures over the years. However, local amateur archaeologist Lucas Schmid believed otherwise.
His tenacity paid off when, two years ago, he managed to uncover the well-preserved 2000-year-old Roman dagger . This alerted experts to the possibility that there were more artifacts at the site to uncover. The University of Basel then began a five-year research project with the federal government and the canton.
Swissinfo.ch reports that over the last two years archaeologists have found a rich haul of hundreds of artifacts including the dagger, well-preserved slingshot stones , coins, nails, and part of a shield that are assumed to have been left behind after a Swiss Roman battle between the Roman army and a local tribe. The battle took place between the Roman army and a local Rhaetian tribe in what is the present-day canton of Graubünden.
“It looks like the locals have holed up and were shot at by the Romans with slingshots and catapults,” Peter Schwarz, professor of Provincial Roman Archaeology at the University of Basel, said.
A sling lead with an inscription that suggests that the twelfth Roman legion was involved in the Swiss Roman battle against the local Celtic Helvetii tribes.
The Roman Conquest of Switzerland Leads to Local Battles
The area of what is now Switzerland was populated by numerous tribes, most of which were Celtic, before the Roman conquest. The Helvetii were the most numerous but there were many others including the Rauraci in north-west Switzerland based around Basel, and the Allobroges around Geneva. South of the Swiss plateau were the Nantuates, Seduni and Veragri in the Valais region, the Lepontii in the Ticino and the Raetians in the Grisons area.
The first part of Switzerland to fall to Rome’s armies was southern Ticino, annexed after the Roman victory over the Insubres in 222 BC. The last obstacle in the path of Roman control of the Alps as a shield to northern Italy were the Raetians. After a first expedition against them by Publius Silius Nerva in 16 BC, a more consistent campaign by Drusus and the later emperor Tiberius brought Raetia, and with it all of Switzerland, firmly under Roman control.
And it is around this time that the battle in Graubünden must have taken place. This would make it even more significant, considering that it may have been one of the last few skirmishes between the Roman forces and local Swiss tribal forces before the Romans established control over the entire Alps region .
The carefully protected Roman dagger that led to the discovery of the Swiss Roman battle site.
According to Arkeonews, archaeologist Thomas Reitmaier said 7,000 square meters (7,655 square yards) out of a total of 35,000 square meters (41, 859 square yards) have been combed so far and the process had led to several hundred Roman artifacts being found. “Among the objects found were hundreds of shoe nails, slingshots, coins, and fragments of a shield that could be assigned to a local,” Reitmaier added.
How many people died in the battle is not clear and to date no graves have been found. However, the area will continue to be searched over the next year for clues about what happened there 2000 years ago.
Meanwhile, Lucas Schmid can take pride in what his efforts two years ago have led to: research on such a large scale with the involvement of the University of Basel as well as the federal and canton governments. “Of course, I’m glad that what I’m doing is making a difference” he said, Arkeonews reports.
It is to be hoped that as the battlefield in Graubünden yields up more of its treasures that serve as records of past events, archaeologists will be able to paint a clearer picture of those events.
Top image: The Roman dagger found by an amateur archaeologist with a metal detector that revealed the “unknown” Swiss Roman battle site, where the twelfth Roman legion fought against local Celtic tribes.
Stonehenge Plaques Hold Secret Cultural Data, Says New Study
Stonehenge Plaques Hold Secret Cultural Data, Says New Study
Four Neolithic “chalk plaques” were discovered near Stonehenge between 1968–2017. A new study has shown that the ancient illustrations on the Stonehenge plaques are much more than just abstract patterns. The Stonehenge plaques were buried in a pit about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from England’s most famous ancient monument. English Heritagescientists have dated the plaques to between 2900 BC and 2580 BC. The new study has called these four ancient art works “some of the most spectacular chalk designs ever discovered in Britain.”
According to an article on Silent Earth , the plaque pit in which the artworks were discovered is located directly south of an entrance to the famous Cursus monument at Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, England. This is probably no coincidence and suggests some kind of connection between the chalk Stonehenge plaques and the Cursus, which was in use 500 to 820 years before the plaques were deposited in the nearby pit.
Examples of two-dimensional Neolithic artwork is a rarity in Britain, and chalk incisions, like these, are truly unique and unusual. The ancient chalk images discovered on the surface of the plaques have now been mapped by researchers at Wessex Archaeology and the full findings of the study were published in the journal Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society .
Since the first plaque was discovered in 1968, many archaeologists have been skeptical, maintaining that the chalk marks were mere random etchings. But now, using advanced imaging techniques, a team of scientists have revealed underlying “ geometric designs ” executed by artisans wielding “a range of artistic abilities,” according to the new study.
The reverse, back, side of the four Stonehenge plaques.
Aiming to “understand the creative process of these prehistoric artists,” professor of archaeology, Bob Davis, from the University of Cambridge, who led the new study, mapped the surfaces of each plaque using reflectance transformation imaging (RTI). This non-destructive scanning method means no physical contact with the artifacts was required, as it charted billions of data points pertaining to microscopic rises and dips of the surface texture of the plaques. The images show these points in different colors, representing highlights and shadows.
Plaque 1 shows the image of a twisted cord , which was the number one tool for farming, fishing, measuring, and building in the Neolithic period. The other three plaques demonstrate a kaleidoscope of apparently linear patterns. However, the new study demonstrates that these are interwoven with “deliberate, staged composition, execution and detail.” Having identified real world tools and conceptual elements (geometry) from Middle Neolithic culture, the paper suggests Late Neolithic Britain may have experienced a “golden age of chalk art .”
The lower part of Plaque 1 showing raw data under specular enhancement mode on the left and the engraved sequence on the right showing selected phases in red, dark blue, yellow, green, light blue and orange.
Neolithic Art Views Greatly Changed By the New Study
Until this new paper, archaeology was split over the content depicted on the chalk Stonehenge plaques. Many believed the linear patterns were random and contained no data whatsoever, while others maintained they were examples of hallucinogenic art under the influence of magic mushrooms . However, there has always been a faction of archaeologists that believed these plaques were much more than idle graffiti. Now, high technology has affirmed the last group’s suspicions demonstrating underlying meaning and “cultural significance” in the chalk Stonehenge plaques.
Co-author, archaeologist Phil Harding, first analyzed the plaques in the old analogue world, back in 1988. He said the modern analytical tools used in the new study offer deep new insights into the mindsets of the ancient people who made them, which they projected onto the ancient plaques with chalk.
Furthermore, another paper co-author, Matt Leivers, said the application of modern technology to the ancient artifacts allowed for not only a better understanding of the working methods of the Neolithic artists , but it also provided a rare glimpse into the artists’ “motivations.”
Having interpreted all of the lines and angles on the four plaques, the archaeologists concluded that they represent “an important cultural marker in the Neolithic period.” And with the twisted cord having been found marked on one plaque, it can be speculated that the Neolithic artists were inspired by everyday objects, trades and tools, just like today’s artists.
Top image: Two of the Stonehenge plaques, make of chalk, analyzed with high tech in the latest study.
‘Astounding’ Roman Statues Found Under Medieval Church in Britain
‘Astounding’ Roman Statues Found Under Medieval Church in Britain
Archaeologists digging at the site of a Norman-era church north of London received quite a surprise recently. Their ongoing excavations unearthed the well-preserved remains of three large Roman statues that must have been buried there for more than 1,000 years. The find included three detached statue heads - of a man, woman, and child - along with two intact busts (neck, shoulders, and chests) that matched the heads of the adults.
The archaeologists who made this shocking discovery were carrying out excavations below St. Mary’s Church, a 900-year-old structure located in the village of Stoke Mandeville adjacent to Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire county. They were working under the authority of the HS2 high-speed railway project, which is currently sponsoring excavations (as required by law) along the rail line route that will eventually connect London with the West Midlands.
In an HS2 press release , Dr. Rachel Wood, the lead archaeologist for HS2 contractor Fusion JV, referred to the Roman statues as “utterly astounding finds.”
Male head and torso of Roman statue discovered during a HS2 archaeological dig at the site of old St Mary’s church in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire.
“To find one stone head or one set of shoulders would be really astonishing,” she said, “but we have two complete heads and shoulders as well as a third head as well.”
This incredibly rare discovery has generated a lot of excitement among the HS2 archaeological team. It has also forced them to reconsider their initial interpretation of an earlier discovery at the St. Mary’s site.
Just last month, the archaeologists found the ruins of a large stone building buried directly beneath the Medieval church. The Normans had built a compacted dirt foundation on top of the rubble of that building, before beginning construction on St. Mary’s in the year 1080.
“The team working at St Mary’s discovered flint walls forming a square structure underneath the Norman levels, enclosed by a circular boundary ditch, and a small number of associated burials,” an HS2 spokesperson announced in September . “Archaeologists believe this to be an Anglo-Saxon church.”
“The flint foundations are about one meter wide,” the spokesperson continued, “which indicates it would have been a tall structure, although its footprint would have been small.”
The archaeologists were finishing excavations in and around the building at the time they discovered the Roman statues . Reaching the bottom layer of the hidden church site, they thought they were digging into the foundations of an old Anglo-Saxon tower. But when they saw the Roman busts, they realized the site’s history went back even further than they’d imagined.
The Statues and Other Finds that Link the Site to Roman Settlers
The statue heads and torsos were all in excellent condition. It was possible to make out precise facial details, and also to identify the types of clothing and head coverings they were wearing.
Female head of Roman statue discovered during a HS2 archaeological dig at the site of old St Mary’s church in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire.
While the Roman statues are the most notable find at St. Mary’s, they were not the only artifacts that linked the site to Roman settlers.
The HS2 archaeologists also unearthed the remains of a hexagon-shaped Roman glass jug, which was in excellent condition and could easily be reconstructed with no missing pieces. Only one other vessel of this kind is known to exist. It is presently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Other distinctive Roman artifacts were also found during the latest excavations, including large roof tiles, pieces of painted wall plaster, and Roman cremation urns.
The last discovery seems especially significant, as revealed by the contents of the HS2 press release about the discoveries at the site.
“Archaeologists now believe the square building that pre-dates the Norman church is a Roman mausoleum,” the release said. “Roman materials found in the ditch around are too ornate and not enough in number to suggest the site was a domestic building.”
If the stone tower was in fact a mausoleum, or large tomb, it may have hosted the cremated remains of the three individuals (members of a wealthy and important family?) who were depicted in the statues.
A few pieces of Saxon pottery and a Saxon coin were found in the circular ditch that surrounded the large structure. But the archaeologists now believe the Saxons only occupied or modified pre-existing Roman structures, rather than building something new and original on their own.
How Lost and Forgotten Artifacts Reveal the Truth about History
The Romans remained in Britain for nearly 400 years after conquering the lands in the first century AD. They would have occupied the land on which St. Mary’s Church was built sometime during that time period, when the statues and mausoleum were created.
It is likely that the Roman statues were intentionally damaged by future occupants before being abandoned, which would explain why the heads were disconnected from the bodies.
“The disfiguration of the Roman busts, namely the removal of the head of each, is not entirely unusual as it is common for statues such as these to have been vandalized in some way before being torn down,” the HS2 press release explained. “These are early examples of how statues and historic artifacts have been discarded as society has evolved over time.”
Of course, archaeological ventures are launched primarily to search for such abandoned and forgotten objects, which can dramatically enhance our understanding of past eras.
“These extraordinary Roman statues are just some of the incredible artifacts uncovered between London and the West Midlands,” said Mike Court, the HS2, Ltd. lead archaeologist. “As HS2 builds for Britain’s future, we are uncovering and learning about the past, leaving a legacy of knowledge and discovery.”
The HS2 archaeological initiative has given archaeologists access to vast tracts of land that had been largely off-limits before. They are taking full advantage of the opportunity, learning many new and exciting facts about the United Kingdom’s complex and colorful history in the process.
Top image: Complete bust of female Roman statue discovered at the site of old St Mary’s church in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, England. Source: HS2
Hundreds of ancient artifacts revealing a Roman battle site from about 2,000 years ago have been unearthed in Switzerland. The items include well-preserved slingshot stones, nails, coins, a portion of a shield, and a dagger – they were believed to have been left behind after a battle took place between the Romans and a local tribe around the year 15 BC.
It was Lucas Schmid who made the first discovery of a dagger close to the Crap-Ses gorge which is between the towns of Tiefencastel and Cunter. It was actually rather surprising that he found anything as there wasn’t thought to have been any artifacts left after several people with metal detectors had previously gone over the property and found other items.
(Not the dagger mentioned in this article.)
In an interview with SWI swissinfo.ch, Schmid described how he found the dagger, “The signal from the metal detector was very inconspicuous and quiet. At first there was nothing to suggest such a large find,” adding, “As I dug deeper the tension rose – I knew it had to be an old object. When I exposed one end of the object I saw that it was a dagger. When I saw it was a complete dagger I was overjoyed.”
After Schmid found the dagger, a team of archaeologists from the University of Basel went to the site and unearthed several hundred more items within a 35,000-square-meter area. The items found at the site, which included shoe nails and coins, were from around 15 BC when the battle occurred.
As for the battle, the local Raetian tribe was living in the eastern Alps (this included portions of what is now Italy and Austria), but when the Romans conquered the area, they referred to it as Raetia under Augustus (in reference to the Roman Emperor Augustus). It is estimated that up to 1,500 soldiers were involved in the battle.
Peter Schwarz, who is a professor of Provincial Roman Archaeology at the University of Basel, told SWI swissinfo.ch, “This is the first time that remnants from a Roman battle site has been found in Switzerland,” adding, “It seems that the Romans attacked their enemy on one side of the valley and then drove them over a river to the other side, before attacking again.”
Interestingly, researchers have not found any graves at the battle site and it’s unclear as to how many of the estimated 1,500 soldiers died. Further excavations will be conducted next year so perhaps they’ll make even more discoveries at the site.
Mysterious shards of glass strewn across Chile's Atacama Desert were likely created by an ancient exploding comet, a study has claimed.
The pieces of dark green or black glass, which came to scientists' attention a decade ago, are clustered in a vast corridor that stretches almost 50 miles (75km) across.
Some are up to 20 inches (50cm big) and look as if they've been folded and twisted into their current forms.
It had been thought they could have been created by volcanic activity or ancient grass fires — because the region wasn't always a desert — but new research led by Brown University has come to a different conclusion.
The study discovered that the glass contained tiny fragments with minerals often found in rocks of extraterrestrial origin.
Discovery: Mysterious shards of dark green or black glass strewn across Chile's Atacama Desert (pictured) were likely created by an ancient exploding comet, a new study has claimed
The pieces of dark green or black glass, which came to scientists' attention a decade ago, are clustered in a vast corridor that stretches almost 50 miles (75km) across
Out of this world: The fragments of glass contain exotic minerals such as cubanite and troilite (pictured) only found in meteorites and other extraterrestrial rocks, the researchers said
WHAT WERE THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL MINERALS FOUND IN THE DESERT GLASS?
Researchers led by Brown University collected more than 300 samples of the glass found in Chile's Atacama Desert before examining them under an electron microscope.
They then analysed the objects' chemical composition through spectroscopy.
Minerals in the glass called zircons decomposed to form baddeleyite, the study found, which would have required extremely hot temperatures of above 3,038°F (1,670°C).
The fragments also contained exotic minerals such as cubanite and troilite only found in meteorites and other extraterrestrial rocks.
They closely match the composition of material returned to Earth by NASA's Stardust mission, which sampled the particles from a comet called Wild 2, the authors said.
Those minerals closely match the composition of material returned to Earth by NASA's Stardust mission, which sampled the particles from a comet called Wild 2, the authors said.
They concluded that the minerals are likely the remains of an extraterrestrial object — most likely a comet — streamed down after an explosion that melted the sandy surface below.
'This is the first time we have clear evidence of glasses on Earth that were created by the thermal radiation and winds from a fireball exploding just above the surface,' said the study's lead author Pete Schultz, of Brown University.
'To have such a dramatic effect on such a large area, this was a truly massive explosion.
'Lots of us have seen bolide fireballs streaking across the sky, but those are tiny blips compared to this.'
Researchers collected more than 300 samples of the desert glass before examining them under an electron microscope and analysing their chemical composition through spectroscopy.
The samples showed evidence of having been twisted, folded, rolled and even thrown while still in molten form.
According to the researchers, that is consistent with a large incoming meteor and airburst explosion, which would have been accompanied by tornado-force winds.
They added that the glass fragments 'indicate nearly simultaneous (seconds to minutes) intense airbursts close to Earth's surface near the end of the Pleistocene' 12,000 years ago.
The glass is in patches across the Atacama Desert east of Pampa del Tamarugal, a plateau in northern Chile nestled between the Andes to the east and Chilean Coastal Range to the west
The minerals closely match the composition of material returned to Earth by NASA's Stardust mission, which sampled the particles from a comet called Wild 2, the authors said
Researchers collected more than 300 samples of the glass before examining them under an electron microscope and analysing their chemical composition through spectroscopy
Minerals in the glass called zircons thermally decomposed to form baddeleyite, the authors said, which would have required extremely hot temperatures of above 3,038°F (1,670°C)
WHAT WAS NASA's STARDUST MISSION?
The Stardust probe was launched back in 1999 with the primary goal of visiting the comet Wild 2.
It completed this mission in 2004, capturing dust particles from around the comet nucleus that it later returned to Earth in a capsule for study.
In 2009, this analysis revealed that a fundamental building block of life had been found in a comet for the first time, bolstering the theory that the raw ingredients of life arrived on Earth from outer space.
Traces of the amino acid glycine were found, having been captured 242million miles from Earth by the Stardust spacecraft.
However, with sufficient fuel supplies still in its tanks, NASA then decided to send the probe to the comet Tempel 1, which it swept past in 2011.
During the Pleistocene epoch, there were fertile patches in the desert with trees and grassy wetlands created by rivers extending from mountains to the east.
It had been suggested that widespread fires may have burned hot enough to melt the sandy soil into large glassy slabs.
But the amount of glass present, along with several key physical characteristics, make this theory extremely unlikely, the new research found.
Minerals in the glass called zircons thermally decomposed to form baddeleyite, the authors said, which would have required extremely hot temperatures of above 3,038°F (1,670°C), which is far hotter than a wildfire.
The glass is concentrated in patches across the Atacama Desert east of Pampa del Tamarugal, a plateau in northern Chile nestled between the Andes mountains to the east and the Chilean Coastal Range to the west.
It contains exotic minerals such as cubanite and troilite only found in meteorites and other extraterrestrial rocks, the researchers said.
'Those minerals are what tell us that this object has all the markings of a comet,' said co-author Scott Harris, a planetary geologist at the Fernbank Science Center.
'To have the same mineralogy we saw in the Stardust samples entrained in these glasses is really powerful evidence that what we're seeing is the result of a cometary airburst.'
The pieces of dark green or black glass are clustered in a vast corridor that stretches almost 50 miles (75km) across Chile's Atacama Desert
(stock image)
Researchers said more work is needed to establish the exact age of the glass, which would then help determine when the ancient comet exploded in the Atacama Desert (pictured)
Pictured is an artist's impression of the Stardust spacecraft approaching comet Wild 2 in 2004
More work needs to be done to establish the exact age of the glass, which would determine exactly when the event took place, Schultz said.
But experts believe the impact happened around the time large mammals disappeared from the region.
'It's too soon to say if there was a causal connection or not, but what we can say is that this event did happen around the same time as when we think the megafauna disappeared, which is intriguing,' Schultz said.
'There's also a chance that this was actually witnessed by early inhabitants, who had just arrived in the region. It would have been quite a show.'
The research has been published in the journal Geology.
Explained: The difference between an asteroid, meteorite and other space rocks
An asteroid is a large chunk of rock left over from collisions or the early solar system. Most are located between Mars and Jupiter in the Main Belt.
A comet is a rock covered in ice, methane and other compounds. Their orbits take them much further out of the solar system.
A meteor is what astronomers call a flash of light in the atmosphere when debris burns up.
This debris itself is known as a meteoroid. Most are so small they are vapourised in the atmosphere.
If any of this meteoroid makes it to Earth, it is called a meteorite.
Meteors, meteoroids and meteorites normally originate from asteroids and comets.
For example, if Earth passes through the tail of a comet, much of the debris burns up in the atmosphere, forming a meteor shower.
The mystery of the massive amounts of shards of glass spread across Chile’s Atacama Desert has finally been solved and it involves an exploding comet from thousands of years ago.
In a new study that was led by researchers from Brown University, they claimed that the extensive heat from a comet exploding above the ground fused the sandy soil in the desert into countless patches of dark green or black silicate glass. These shards of glass stretched across an area of about 75 kilometers (46.6 miles). This event occurred approximately 12,000 years ago. Interestingly, it was believed to have happened around the same time that large mammals disappeared from the area, although more studies need to be conducted in order to know for sure.
During their research, they studied glass samples from the desert and they found that they contained small portions of minerals that came from space. The minerals included troilite, cubanite, and calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions that were very similar to those found in samples that were collected from a comet named Wild 2 and were brought back to Earth by NASA’s Stardust mission. They were able to confidently say that the minerals found in the shards of glass in the Atacama Desert came from a space object that was probably a comet similar to Wild 2.
Scott Harris, who is a planetary geologist at the Fernbank Science Center, stated, “Those minerals are what tell us that this object has all the markings of a comet,” adding, “To have the same mineralogy we saw in the Stardust samples entrained in these glasses is really powerful evidence that what we’re seeing is the result of a cometary airburst.”
This is very significant news as it remained a mystery for such a long time, especially since experts couldn’t find any proof that they were caused by volcanic activity. Another theory was that they were caused by ancient grass fires that melted the sandy soil into glass; however, since there is so much glass as well as its space minerals, a fire seemed very unlikely. Additionally, since the glass was folded, twisted, thrown, and rolled, evidence points to an exploding comet that would have caused winds as strong as a tornado.
Furthermore, chemical analysis on the glass revealed that they contained zircon minerals that were thermally decomposed in order to create baddeleyite. This means that the temperature would have been as hot as 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,649 degrees Celsius) in order to form them – much hotter than a grass fire.
Pete Schultz, who is a professor emeritus in Brown University’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, weighed in by noting, “This is the first time we have clear evidence of glasses on Earth that were created by the thermal radiation and winds from a fireball exploding just above the surface.” “To have such a dramatic effect on such a large area, this was a truly massive explosion.” (Pictures of the shards of glass stretched across the Atacama Desert can be seen here.)
Meet little Leti: Tiny 250,000-year-old skull discovered in South Africa is the first child found from an ancient human species known as Homo naledia which had features of humans and extinct primates
Meet little Leti: Tiny 250,000-year-old skull discovered in South Africa is the first child found from an ancient human species known as Homo naledia which had features of humans and extinct primates
The remains were found in 28 pieces, along with six teeth that researchers reconstructed to form the partial skull of the child Homo naledia - the first to be discovered
Scientists say Leti, the name given to the child, died when it was between ages of four and six about 250,000 years ago
The location of the tiny skull suggests the body had been placed there on purpose and could have been part of an ancient ritual
Homo naledia was a species of archaic human that lived in what is now Africa during the Middle Pleistocene about 335,000 to 236,000 years ago and had a combination of human and non-human traits
A tiny skull discovered in the remote depths of the Rising Star cave in Johannesburg, South Africa is the first evidence of a Homo naledia child ever found.
A team of international researchers led by Wits University found the partial skull and teeth of the child – which they have named 'Leti' – and concluded that it was between the ages of four and six when it died roughly 250,000 years ago. The child's gender has not been disclosed.
Homo naledia was a species of archaic human that lived in what is now Africa during the Middle Pleistocene about 335,000 to 236,000 years ago and had a combination of human and non-human traits.
Remains of adults have been previously found in the Rising Star Cave System, but Leti is the first child to be unearthed, which provides insight into the growth and development of this species.
The location of the tiny skull, which was found in pieces and later reconstructed, suggests the body had been placed there on purpose and could have been part of an ancient ritual.
The placement 'adds mystery as to how these many remains came to be in these remote, dark spaces of the Rising Star Cave system,' said Professor Guy Berger of the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who led the team and made the announcement Thursday.
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A team of international researchers led by Wits University found the partial skull and teeth of the child that they say died when it was between ages of four and six about 250,000 years ago
The name Leti, which means 'lost one' in Setswana, was chosen because it was found alone without any other parts of its body.
The remains were discovered in a tight passage that measures only five inches wide and 31 inches long and was located just beyond an area named the 'Chaos Chamber.'
The partial skull consists of 28 fragments and six teeth and when reconstructed, the team found it had frontal orbits and the top of the skull showed some dentition.
Dr Darryl de Ruiter, a paleoanthropologist who previously led a study of the adult skull of Homo naledi and who is a co-author on the paper, said in a statement: 'There were no replicating parts as we pieced the skull back together and many of the fragments refit, indicating they all came from one individual child.
The partial skull consists of 28 fragments and six teeth and when reconstructed, the team found it had frontal orbits and the top of the skull showed some dentition
Remains of adults have been previously found in the Rising Star Cave System, but Leti is the first child to be unearthed, which provides insight into the growth and development of this species. Pictured are the skull fragments found
Leti's brain size is estimated at around 29 to 37 cubic inches.
Leti's brain size is estimated at around 29 to 37 cubic inches
Dr Debra Bolter, co-author on the paper and a specialist in growth and development, said in a statement: 'This would have been around 90 percent to 95 percent of its adult brain capacity.
'The size of Leti's brain makes it very comparable to adult members if the species found so far,' said Bolter.
The first remains of a Homo naledi were found in 2015 in in the Rising Star cave system.
Scientists unearthed more than 1,500 bones belonging to at least 15 individuals.
Human evolution expert Prof Chris Stringer, who was involved in the 2015, work said: 'Some of Homo naledi's features, such as its hands, wrist and feet, are very similar to those of modern humans and Neanderthals.
'Other characteristics are much more primitive. The species' small brain and the shape of its upper body are more similar to the pre-human australopithecines and the very early human species Homo habilis.
Homo naledi's anatomy suggests it walked on two legs with a modern gait and an efficient long-distance stride.
A tiny skull discovered in the remote depths of the Rising Star cave in Johannesburg, South Africa is the first of a Homo naledia child ever to be found – and researchers have named it 'Leti'
Its shoulder position and shape of its fingers would have helped it climb and hang from trees and could be traits retained from a more ape-like ancestor.
'Homo naledi remains one of the most enigmatic ancient human relatives ever discovered,' said Berger.
'It is clearly a primitive species, existing at a time when previously we thought only modern humans were in Africa. Its very presence at that time and in this place complexifies our understanding of who did what first concerning the invention of complex stone tool cultures and even ritual practices.'
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT HOMO NALEDI
- Homo naledi lived in Africa between 236,000 and 335,000 years ago
- The species' feet share many features with a modern human foot, indicating it is well-adapted for standing and walking on two feet
- Wrist bones and thumb show anatomical features that are shared with Neanderthals and humans and suggest powerful grasping and the ability to use stone tools
- Finger bones are more curved than most early fossil human species, suggesting that H. naledi still used their hands for climbing in the trees
- The species had delicate bones of the inner eye region and nose
- The average height of the Homo naledi was around 5 feet (1.5 metres)
- They had a brain the size of an orange - this is around one third the size of a human brain
- Homo naledi may have stored the dead, suggesting they were an intelligent species
Does it seem as if not a day goes by without news concerning yet another ancient human ancestor that may or may not have had sexual relations with humans? Most of these discoveries are tiny bone fragments or environmental DNA (eDNA) – cellular material from skin, feces or other sources – so the discovery of a 250,000-year-old skull of a child of the ancient species known as Homo naledi is a stop-the-presses moment (ask your grandparents what it means). Not only may it reveal more on how we’re related to this species which had both human and non-human traits, the skull was positioned purposefully in what may have been a funeral ritual. Did you say non-human traits? Is this the missing link?
“This is the first partial skull of a child of Homo naledi yet recovered and this begins to give us insight into all stages of life of this remarkable species.”
Juliet Brophy, lead author of a study of the skull and an associate professor at Louisiana State University, explained in a press release announcing the discovery that the team nicknamed the fossil “Leti” which is short for “letimela” and means “the lost one” in the South African Setswana language. The skull was found with great difficulty in the Rising Star cave where the first Homo naledi fossils were discovered in 2013. They date to the Middle Pleistocene era 335,000–236,000 years ago and the 1,550 fossil specimens have been linked to at least 15 different individuals. Homo naledi were small and had unusually small brains – Leti confirms this (photo here)
— but indications are that they could speak, use tools and intermingle with other larger-brained homo species in the Cradle of Humankind. (More photos here.) However, Lee Berger, lead researcher on the study, says Leti was very different from the other hominids at the time.
You can learn so much from a skull
“Homo naledi remains one of the most enigmatic ancient human relatives ever discovered. It is clearly a primitive species, existing at a time when previously we thought only modern humans were in Africa. Its very presence at that time and in this place complexifies our understanding of who did what first concerning the invention of complex stone tool cultures and even ritual practices.”
Perhaps the biggest ‘complexifier’ is the location where Leti’s skull was discovered in 2017 – deep within a spiderweb of passages in a narrow one only five inches wide and 31 inches long. It seems obvious the 4-to-6-year-old was carefully and painstakingly placed there for a reason. What was it?
“It is not known whether Leti was buried in the passage or whether her bones were placed there. The situation is very similar to the way Neo, and adult male Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber of the Rising Star system, in that he was also found in a narrow passage. However, there have been no remains of Leti’s body found yet. The situation where Leti’s skull was found is very difficult to access, making excavation difficult, but at this stage it appears that only Leti’s skull was in the passage.”
One is enough
Only the skull … that makes the discovery even more puzzling. But what a skull it is – not only is it the first skull remains of a child of Homo naledi discovered, it has a set of teeth that will help researchers better understand the growth and development of the species.
Egypt's long-rumoured second sphinx may have been unearthed by construction workers building a new road.
According to local reports, a sphinx-like statue was found on Al-Kabbash Road, which connects the two temples of Karnak and Luxor built around 1400BC.
Officials have confirmed the statue has a 'lion's body with a human head'.
The 'second sphinx' has not yet been lifted from the ground, however, officials said tourists are welcome to visit the construction site to view the ancient statute.
No photographs of the structure have been published, the Director General of Antiquities has confirmed.
The Great Sphinx of Giza was discovered by the Great Pyramids on the west bank of the river Nile. It is the oldest and largest known monumental sculpture in the world.
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Reports suggest a sphinx-like statue (stock image) has been discovered between the ancient temples of Karnak and Luxor which date to around 1400BC
Excavations first started on the Karnak and Luxor temple complexes, located within the ancient city of Thebes, back in 1884, according to RT.
This led to a flurry of significant archaeological discoveries until around 1960, when excavation work at the sites ceased.
Construction workers uncovered the 'second sphinx' during a roadworks project between the temples of Karnak and Luxor.
The Egyptian infrastructure project has been halted while the statue is examined.
According to the area's Director General of Antiquities, Mohamed Abdel Aziz, the statue can not yet be lifted 'due to the nature of the environment it is in'.
Aziz has confirmed tourists are able to visit the road to see the statue for themselves, however, he confirmed no images of the statue have been released.
The Al-Kabbash Road project to excavate and restore the road first began in 2005 and is scheduled to be finished by the end of this year at a cost of $12.7 million (£10m).
The Al-Kabbash Road project in Luxor is due to be finished by the end of this year at a cost of $12.7 million (£10m)
The Great Sphinx of Giza was found by the Great Pyramids on the west bank of the river Nile and is the oldest and largest known monumental sculpture in the world
With the body of a lion and the head of a human, Great Sphinx of Giza measures a grand 239ft (73 metres) long and 65ft (20 metres) high.
Literally translating to 'Father of Dread,' this mythical creature is believed to resemble Pharaoh Khafre, who was the ruler at the time of construction.
It is believed that Djadefre, the elder brother of Khafra, built the Sphinx to honour his father Khufu.
With the body of a lion and the head of a human, Great Sphinx of Giza measures a grand 239ft (73 metres) long and 65ft (20 metres) high
It is just next to the Great Pyramid of Giza which was built as a tomb and a symbol of eternity for the Pharaoh Khufu
This would place the time of construction somewhere between 2550 BC and 2450 BC.
However the limited evidence linking the Sphinx to Khafra is circumstantial and somewhat ambiguous.
It was constructed around during the reign of Pharaoh Khafra, and it is thought that the face of the statue was modelled on his.
Over time it gradually became buried up to its neck in sand, which helped to preserve it before it was finally excavated in 1925.
It is just next to the Great Pyramid of Giza which was built as a tomb and a symbol of eternity for the Pharaoh Khufu.
It stands 456ft (139 metres) high – just over nine double decker buses stacked on top of one another.
It was the tallest man-made structure on Earth for 3,800 years and is accompanied by the smaller pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure
WHAT IS THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS?
The Valley of the Kings in upper Egypt is one of the country's main tourist attractions, situated next to the Giza pyramid complex.
The majority of the pharaohs of the 18th to 20th dynasties, who ruled from 1550 to 1069 BC, rested in the tombs which were cut into the local rock.
The royal tombs are decorated with scenes from Egyptian mythology and give clues as to the beliefs and funerary rituals of the period.
Almost all of the tombs were opened and looted centuries ago, but the sites still give an idea of the opulence and power of the Pharaohs.
The majority of the pharaohs of the 18th to 20th dynasties, who ruled from 1550 to 1069 BC, rested in the tombs which were cut into the local rock. Pictured are godess statues in the valley
The most famous pharaoh at the site is Tutankhamen, whose tomb was discovered in 1922.
Preserved to this day, in the tomb are original decorations of sacred imagery from, among others, the Book of Gates or the Book of Caverns.
These are among the most important funeral texts found on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs.
The Valley of the Kings in upper Egypt is one of the country's main tourist attractions, situated next to the Giza pyramid complex
A SPHINX, possibly more than 4,000 years old, has been discovered buried by workmen building a road in Egypt.
The roadworks between the ancient temples of Karnak and Luxor have been halted after the large statue was discovered featuring a “lion’s body and a human head”.
Archaeologists photographed the find alongside a metre-long measuring stick to give an idea of the sphinx's size, although much of the statue remains buried in sandCredit: Ministry of Antiquites
The relic could date as far back as 2500 BC and the reign of Pharoah Kafre.
The Director General of Antiquities Mohamed Abel Aziz announced plans to excavate the statue, which is still buried in the ground and embedded in the soil.
He added the process could take some time due to the age of the statue and the chances of damaging it after thousands of years.
Mr Abel Aziz confirmed the new find had similarities to the “classical” Great Sphinx of Giza which stands 66ft tall in front of the Great Pyramids.
Images from the site show unearthed parts of the statue, which experts say has a human head and lion's body
Credit: Ministry of Antiquites
The Great Sphinx at Giza stands 66ft tallCredit: Getty - Contributor
A mystery sarcophagus has been opened in Egypt despite a deadly history of Egyptian archaeology
What does the Sphinx represent?
A sphinx is a mythical creature usually depicted in Egypt as having a human head with the body of a lion.
Egyptian sphinxes are usually depicted as male but Greek ones are often female.
The Egyptian ones are seen as benevolent, but possessing incredible strength, and seen as guardians and can often be seen outside the entrance to temples.
Many believe the head of the sphinx at Giza to be the pharaoh Khafra.
The oldest known sphinx was found near Gobekli Tepe in Turkey and is believed to date to 9500 BC.
In Greek mythology, the sphinx was said to ask all passers-by the riddle: ""Which creature has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?"
The sphinx then is meant to have devoured anyone who could not answer.
Oedipus, according to legend, finally solved the riddle by replying: "Man—who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then uses a walking stick in old age"
Mysterious void discovered inside the Great Pyramid of Giza
Mysterious Void Detected Inside Giza’s Great Pyramid ...
Khaled al Anani, the national heritage chief, encouraged people to go and visit the site to see the new discovery.
Local news website Youm reported that the statue could not yet be lifted above ground “due to the nature of the environment it is in.”
The "second sphinx" was found just over six miles from the famous Valley of Kings – the burial place of the ancient Pharaohs.
It was uncovered between two the temples on the opposite bank of the River Nile.
Egyptologists and archeologists have a number of holy grails on their bucket lists – the tomb of Alexander the Great and that of Antony and Cleopatra are certainly at or near the top. A non-tomb Egyptian grail is the long rumored second Sphinx which many believe is positioned very near to the current one-and-only Great Sphinx of Giza. One would think that a statue of that size would easy to find but that hasn’t been the case, leading many to believe that ancient writings touting its existence are fakes. That hasn’t stopped sphinx-seekers like Reda Abdel Halim, who claims he’s known the location of the second sphinx since 1986 and is finally ready to reveal its location. Would this have anything to do with the fact that Reda Abdel Halim is currently the director of public relations for the Giza pyramids district at the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities?
“Dr. Reda Abdel Halim, Director of Public Relations at the Giza Pyramids, and the discoverer of the second Sphinx rock in the Giza pyramids area, said that this rock has existed for a long time in the tenth of King Khafre and perhaps before him, because some inscriptions found inside suggest that there is a connection between these The rock and between the ancient first Sphinx.”
(Google translation from Cairo Live)
Reda Abdel Halim announced his discovery to Cairo Live in late October and the news was met with skepticism throughout the Egyptology world, not to mention in his own department. Halim claimed he brought in a “property manager” in 1986 to measure the giant rock he found and its dimensions were 73 meters (246 feet) long, 20 meters (67 feet) high at the head, and the hands reach 15.5 meters (50.8 feet), which is … get ready … the same size as the Great Sphinx of Giza. Abdel Halim did not reveal the location, only to say it is in the area of the pyramids and he found it using research done by archeologists at Zagazig University.
“This is completely not true. The Sphinx is unique in Egypt and the world. … Any talk about discoveries of other similar statues is baseless and has only one purpose, which is creating media fanfare. Any claims about research on the Sphinx at the Zagazig University is also false. Studies and research must be published in a scientific journal so that we can respond with scientific evidence. Talks about a text that is said to have been inscribed on the Sphinx but got erased by the passage of the time mentioning the existence of another similar statue, are baseless.”
Renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, former Minister of Antiquities and an archaeologist who oversaw the pyramids area for nearly 20 years, told Al-Monitor Abdel Halim’s claims are completely false and he scoffed at the ‘evidence’ – a description that was once on the Great Sphinx but is now worn off. Nevin al-Arif, media advisor to the minister of tourism and antiquities, agreed with Hawass and revealed the identity of the statue Adel Halim claims is the second Sphinx.
“The statue in question was discovered a long time ago in the area and has nothing to do with the original Sphinx. It is nothing but a normal statue.”
However, the final nail in the sarcophagus was hammered by Mohammed Hamza, the former dean of the faculty of archeology at Cairo University, who said:
“The Giza pyramids area is an active zone in terms of archaeology and tourism. If there were another Sphinx, scientists would have discovered it earlier. This area is of paramount importance, whether in the past or nowadays. Had there been any other Sphinx statue, it would have been discovered two hundred years ago. Excavations and digging operations are nonstop there.”
The Giza pyramids area is one of the most studied, looted, probed, scanned and searched archeological sites in the world. And yet, professional and amateur Egyptologists and archeologists are like Fox Mulder – they want to believe there’s a second Sphinx … so much so that they’re willing to ignore that Abdel Halim claims to have known about what would be a ‘this changes everything’ discovery since 1986.
Ok, just another day of exploration. I think I found the lost island of Atlantis. I mean only a technologically advanced civilization could construct such a massive face. It measures 4km across and over 14km tall from neck to top of head. The face looks very similar to ancient statues found on archeological digs around the world, and yet, this one is 14km long! I believe this is part of the lost island of Atlantis. I circled the island in a Google Earth photo at the bottom of this post. It looks like a sunken island that measures hundreds of km across. This could be the legendary island of Atlantis. This face...could be the face of the ancient Atlantans who lived there. A species of ancient aliens that tried to live on Earth long ago.
Even Plato told a story of Atlantis around 360 B.C. The founders of Atlantis, he said, were half god and half human. They created a utopian civilization and became a great naval power. Plato said Atlantis existed about 9,000 years before his own time, and that its story had been passed down by poets, priests, and others.
And now...we have found it! If people explore and find ancient alien technology still remaining intact...what will the world do with such technology?
New Research Rewrites History of Egyptian Mummification Process!
New Research Rewrites History of Egyptian Mummification Process!
There is new research to show that the ancient Egyptians started using their complex mummification process a good 1000 years before previously believed. This startling revelation will be made in National Geographic’s new season of its documentary series called ‘ Lost Treasures of Egypt ’. The mummy that is behind this discovery was found in 2019, and it was thought to be 1000 years younger than the recent dating analysis has found. If this discovery is reinforced by further evidence, it could lead to a rewriting of history books!
The finding indicates mummification was well understood and used ten centuries before any previous evidence found in Egypt has indicated. The Khuwy mummification was very advanced and involved the use of superior-quality linen bandaging and a lot of excellent resin, reports The Guardian .
More important for some researchers is the fact that the mummy of the high-ranking nobleman called Khuwy is from one of oldest Egyptian tombs ever discovered. Khuwy’s tomb was dated to the Old Kingdom, 2700–2200 BC but the mummy was thought younger due to the mummification processes used and hence the condition of its preservation.
Egyptian archaeologists examining the inside of Khuwy’s tomb, where the earliest example of advanced mummification was discovered and dated to the Old Kingdom period.
The 2019 Saqqara Discovery Rewrites Mummification History
The original discovery of the new Saqqara mummy in 2019 figured in an earlier season of National Geographic’s program. The mummy was found in a very well-appointed tomb in the necropolis at Saqqara. A well-researched article appeared on the Ancient Origins website detailing the fascinating discovery.
The mummy was found while listing the collection of pyramids from the time of Pharaoh Djedkare Isesi. He was the last king of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt which ruled for approximately 150 years from the early 25th century BC to mid-24th century BC. The Third, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth dynasties are clubbed together as Egypt’s Old Kingdom period . The entrance to the tomb replicated the architecture of royal pyramids from the Fifth Dynasty.
Although the pottery in the pyramid dated to the Old Kingdom, the mummy’s state of preservation and the materials used in the process originally misled the archaeologists involved in the excavation and so they believed he was younger than the artifacts recovered from his tomb by 1,000 years.
However, subsequent dating and analysis of the mummy revealed its age and its advanced mummification process . It is the investigation into this process as well as the discoveries it has led to that will be aired in an episode of the new season of National Geographic’s Lost Treasures show.
A cow being slaughtered as depicted in the nobleman’s tomb where the mummification process was suddenly found to be 1,000 years older than previously believed.
Now Scientists Have To “Rewrite” The Old Kingdom Period
Hieroglyphics found in the Saqqara tomb revealed that the body was that of Khuwy, who was related to the royal family and lived more than 4000 years ago.
As reported in the Guardian, Salima Ikram, a member of the archaeology team who is head of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, said:
“If this is indeed an Old Kingdom mummy, all books about mummification and the history of the Old Kingdom will need to be revised. This would completely turn our understanding of the evolution of mummificationon its head. The materials used, their origins, and the trade routes associated with them will dramatically impact our understanding of Old Kingdom Egypt.”
She further stated,
“Until now, we had thought that Old Kingdom mummification was relatively simple, with basic desiccation – not always successful – no removal of the brain, and only occasional removal of the internal organs. Indeed, more attention was paid to the exterior appearance of the deceased than the interior. Also, the use of resins is far more limited in the Old Kingdom mummies thus far recorded. This mummy is awash with resins and textiles and gives a completely different impression of mummification. In fact, it is more like mummies found 1,000 years later.”
The embalming process in ancient Egypt involved bathing the body in resins from tree sap which served to preserve the flesh. The cadaver was then wrapped in linen cloth bandages. Khuwy’s body was coated with high-quality resins and wrapped in fine linen bandages . According to Ikram such good-quality linen was seen only around the time of the 21st Dynasty of Egypt. Astonishingly, the 21st Dynasty reigned more than 1000 years after Khuwy lived!
In many ways, our understanding of Egypt’s mummies and mummification can be dramatically revised when an older mummy or tomb is discovered, as Khuwy’s tomb has so clearly proven.
Top image: The tomb of Egyptian nobleman Khuwy, where evidence showed that advanced mummification process knowledge existed 1,000 years earlier than previously thought.
Aerial Survey Reveals Hundreds of Olmec and Maya Sites in Mexico
Aerial Survey Reveals Hundreds of Olmec and Maya Sites in Mexico
Researchers from the University of Arizona recently completed a groundbreaking and breathtaking aerial survey of large areas of southern Mexico that were once occupied by Olmec and Maya civilizations, the builders of ancient Mesoamerica’s first great civilizations. The survey was groundbreaking because it was the largest aerial imaging study ever carried out, covering more than 32,000 square miles (84,000 square kilometers) in five southern Mexican states. The results were breathtaking because the researchers were able to identify the remains of 478 Olmec and Maya ceremonial complexes, an extraordinary result that could profoundly impact modern archaeology’s understanding of both cultures.
This massive research project utilized an imaging technology known as LiDAR to detect the Olmec and Maya ritual centers, most of which would have been constructed between the years 1,100 BC and 400 BC. The territories surveyed covered most of ancient Olmec territory and the western Maya lowlands, which on modern maps represents the entire state of Tabasco, southern Veracruz, and smaller sections of Chiapas, Oaxaca, and Campeche.
What was most remarkable about the survey results, which have just been published in the journal Nature Human Behavior , is the close relationship they revealed between Olmec and Maya ceremonial construction practices and themes.
Mexico’s Aguada Fénix archaeological site as seen from the air reveals little about Olmec and Maya similarities and imitations in ritual architectural design. It took a LiDAR survey, see image below, to reveal what was really there!
In 2020, the same team of researchers, led by University of Arizona anthropologist Takeshi Inomata, discovered the oldest and largest Maya ceremonial site ever found, which they dubbed Aguada Fénix .
This long, flattened, rectangular mound is almost one mile (1.6 kilometers) in length and is raised between 33 and 50 feet (10 and 15 meters) off the ground. It features 20 much smaller platforms built around its perimeter, and from the air resembles a long banquet or pool table. Aguada Fénix was constructed between 1,000 BC and 800 BC, in the pre-classical stage of the Maya civilization .
Many of the religious complexes discovered in Maya territory during the latest survey greatly resemble Aguada Fénix in shape and design. Most significantly, all of these sites seem to mimic a newly discovered rectangular ceremonial complex found at San Lorenzo , the oldest and one of the most important Olmec population centers . It is here that the famed colossal heads that depict Olmec rulers were discovered, along with other signs of a complex culture that created the first great Mesoamerican civilization in the second millennium BC.
The newly discovered ceremonial monument at San Lorenzo is 3,300 (1,000 meters) long and 900 feet (275 meters) wide, with 20 raised platforms arranged around its edges. It was clearly a gathering place of some sort, and important religious ceremonies or rituals were almost assuredly held there, the researchers believe.
The monument’s resemblance to Aguada Fénix and the other freshly detected Maya sites is unmistakable. Yet it was constructed two or three centuries earlier, which has led the University of Arizona researchers to speculate that the San Lorenzo site may have acted as a template for Maya ceremonial site construction.
"People always thought San Lorenzo was very unique and different from what came later in terms of site arrangement," Inomata said, in a University of Arizona press release announcing his research team’s discoveries. "But now we show that San Lorenzo is very similar to Aguada Fénix – it has a rectangular plaza flanked by edge platforms. Those features become very clear in LiDAR and are also found at Aguada Fénix, which was built a little bit later. This tells us that San Lorenzo is very important for the beginning of some of these ideas that were later used by the Maya ."
A LiDAR view of the same landscape shown in the previous picture at the Aguada Fénix archaeological site that reveals the Maya building complex and its similarities to Olmec design.
According to Inomata and his colleagues, the Maya would have been imitating Olmec building practices because the two cultures shared elements of the same metaphysical belief system.
“City plans symbolizing cosmologies have long been recognized as a defining element of Mesoamerican civilizations,” they noted in their Nature Human Behavior paper.
After analyzing the orientations of the ancient Olmec and Maya sites carefully, the researchers discovered that most are aligned with the sunrise on certain dates. These choices appear to be related specifically to zenith passage day, when the sun at its highest point is aligned directly overhead the ground level observer, at a 90-degree angle to the horizon.
Zenith passage day varies by latitude and occurs on May 10 in the region surveyed. The researchers found that many of the Maya and Olmec sites were oriented to face the sunrise exactly 40, 60, 80, or 100 days before that date. Mesoamerican calendars are based on the number 20, which would explain why such orientations were chosen. It would also explain why there were 20 small platforms placed around the edges of the larger ceremonial platforms built at San Lorenzo, Aguada Fénix, and other newly discovered Maya sites.
"This means that they were representing cosmological ideas through these ceremonial spaces," Inomata declared. "In this space, people gathered according to this ceremonial calendar."
Zenith passage day was important to Mesoamerican civilizations because it represented the arrival of both maize planting season and the rainy season that would help new crops grow tall and strong. But the coordination of monumental structures with important astronomical alignments was a common practice among virtually all the ancient cultures in the Americas, including the Olmecs, the Maya, the Aztecs, and the Hopewell culture of North America.
One mystery archaeologists and ancient historians have pondered over the years is how much influence Olmec practices and customs had on their Maya neighbors. If San Lorenzo was indeed an inspiration for the Maya ceremonial building practices, it would seem the influence was quite strong, at least in this one vitally important area.
This Olmec style stone face on the Lamanai Mayan temple in Belize is almost identical to the later Maya temple shown in the main image at the top of this article.
This extraordinary new study has enlightened scholars about the deep connections that may have developed between the Olmec and Maya cultures, which existed side-by-side in Mesoamerica for approximately 1,500 years. This research was only possible because of the LiDAR remote-sensing system, which has been a boon to archaeologists seeking to study ruins and artifacts on a broader and more inclusive scale.
LiDAR, which stands for “light detection and ranging,” is an aerial sensing technology that uses pulsed laser reflections to create precise three-dimensional images of the earth’s surface. This methodology can be used to spot ruins that would otherwise be hidden by trees, vegetation, or shallow layers of earth.
"The advantage of LiDAR is that it provides a three-dimensional, birds-eye view of the landscape and modifications to it made by humans - ancient and modern - in the form of building, transportation, agricultural and water control infrastructure," study participant Juan Carlos Fernandez-Diaz, who works at the University of Houston's National Center of Airborne Laser Mapping, told Reuters .
In addition to producing superior imagery, LiDAR technology also gives archaeologists the ability to explore large sections of the land from the air. The process is swift and efficient, making studies like this new one far easier to complete.
This ambitious research project fully leveraged the capabilities of LiDAR, more so than any other study that has been carried out in the area so far. It will likely be used again to explore these regions, as archaeologists and historians continue to search for more information about the great pre-Columbian civilizations that once flourished in ancient Mesoamerica.
Top image: Olmec and Maya architecture have more than a few things in common as has been recently revealed by a massive LiDAR survey project in southern Mexico. The Olmecs came first but the Mayas copied their approach to ritual architecture. This image shows a Maya building in the Lamanai archaeological reserve in Belize. Source: vadim.nefedov / Adobe Stock
A skull of a new species of ancient human has been discovered in Africa that experts believe was a direct ancestor of modern humans.
The new species has been named Homo bodoensis, and lived during the Middle Pleistocene, around 500,000 years ago.
Researchers from the University of Winnipeg hope the discovery will bring some clarity to this era, during which human evolution is poorly understood.
Dr Mirjana Roksandic, who led the study, said: 'Talking about human evolution during this time period became impossible due to the lack of proper terminology that acknowledges human geographic variation.'
A new species of ancient human has been discovered in Africa that experts believe was a direct ancestor of modern humans
(artist's impression pictured)
In their new analysis, the researchers suggest that a skull found in Bodo D'ar, Ethiopia belongs to neither H. heidelbergensis or H. rhodesiensis, but instead, is a new species entirely
What do we know about the new species?
In honour of the location in which the skull was discovered, the researchers have named the species H. bodoensis.
While little is know about the new species yet, the researchers believe that H. bodoensis had a short, stocky body adapted to conserve heat in colder climates.
Males were likely about 5 ft 9 in tall and weighed almost 10 stone, while females averaged 5 ft 2 in (157 cm) and around 8 stone.
The species went extinct around 200,000 years ago - long before modern humans migrated out of Africa.
In the study, the researchers reassessed existing fossils from Africa and Eurasia dating back to the Middle Pleistocene period.
Traditionally, these fossils have been identified as either Homo heidelbergensis or Homo rhodesiensis.
However, recent DNA evidence has shown that some fossils in Europe identified as H. heidelbergensis were actually early Neanderthals.
Meanwhile, African fossils from this period have previously been identified as both H. heidelbergensis and H. rhodesiensis, confusing things even further.
In their new analysis, the researchers suggest that a skull found in Bodo D'ar, Ethiopia belongs to neither H. heidelbergensis or H. rhodesiensis, but instead, is a new species entirely.
In honour of the location in which the skull was discovered, the researchers have named the species H. bodoensis.
While little is know about the new species yet, the researchers believe that H. bodoensis had a short, stocky body adapted to conserve heat in colder climates.
Males were likely about 5 ft 9 in tall and weighed almost 10 stone, while females averaged 5 ft 2 in (157 cm) and around 8 stone.
While little is know about the new species yet, the researchers believe that H. bodoensis had a short, stocky body adapted to conserve heat in colder climates
The species went extinct around 200,000 years ago - long before modern humans migrated out of Africa.
Going forwards, most Middle Pleistocene humans from Africa and some from Southeast Europe will be classified as H. bodoensis, while many from the latter continent will be reclassified as Neanderthals,
Predrag Radović, an author of the study, said: 'Terms need to be clear in science, to facilitate communication. They should not be treated as absolute when they contradict the fossil record.'
The team hopes the findings will help to 'cut the Gordion knot' and allow clearer understanding of the Middle Pleistocene.
Dr Roksandic added: 'Naming a new species is a big deal, as the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature allows name changes only under very strictly defined rules.
'We are confident that this one will stick around for a long time, a new taxon name will live only if other researchers use it.'
In honour of the location in which the skull was discovered — Bodo D'ar — the researchers have named the species H. bodoensis
WHEN DID HUMAN ANCESTORS FIRST EMERGE?
The timeline of human evolution can be traced back millions of years. Experts estimate that the family tree goes as such:
55 million years ago - First primitive primates evolve
15 million years ago - Hominidae (great apes) evolve from the ancestors of the gibbon
7 million years ago - First gorillas evolve. Later, chimp and human lineages diverge
A recreation of a Neanderthal man is pictured
5.5 million years ago - Ardipithecus, early 'proto-human' shares traits with chimps and gorillas
4 million years ago - Ape like early humans, the Australopithecines appeared. They had brains no larger than a chimpanzee's but other more human like features
3.9-2.9 million years ago - Australoipithecus afarensis lived in Africa.
2.7 million years ago - Paranthropus, lived in woods and had massive jaws for chewing
2.6 million years ago - Hand axes become the first major technological innovation
2.3 million years ago - Homo habilis first thought to have appeared in Africa
1.85 million years ago - First 'modern' hand emerges
1.8 million years ago - Homo ergaster begins to appear in fossil record
800,000 years ago- Early humans control fire and create hearths. Brain size increases rapidly
400,000 years ago - Neanderthals first begin to appear and spread across Europe and Asia
300,000 to 200,000 years ago - Homo sapiens - modern humans - appear in Africa
50,000 to 40,000 years ago - Modern humans reach Europe
A newly named ancient species that lived over half a million years ago might have been a direct ancestor of modern humans. Scientists have officially named this ancient species Homo bodoensis.
While Homo sapiens currently inhabit the planet, there were several other ancient species that were previously alive, such as Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Homo floresiensis. And a new study has focused on another ancient species, Homo bodoensis.
Several human bones dating back between 774,000 and 129,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene Period (also known as the Chibanian period) were analyzed by researchers. This was a time in human evolution that is a little foggy to experts and has even been described as “the muddle in the middle” by paleoanthropologists.
Human fossils from that time period have normally been categorized as belonging to either the Homo heidelbergensis or Homo rhodesiensis species. The problem with that was they had characteristics that often contradicted each other. For example, DNA analysis has recently confirmed that several bones found in Europe that were categorized as being Homo heidelbergensis were in fact from Neanderthals.
Picture of Neanderthals by Charles R. Knight in 1920.
(Via Wikipedia)
The same thing happened with DNA analysis of numerous fossils in East Asia that were identified as being Homo heidelbergensis. Several of their facial and other features were quite different than the ones seen on the European and African bones from the same time period. The Homo rhodesiensis species was also poorly categorized.
The researchers recently analyzed a skull dating back about 600,000 years that was discovered in Bodo D’ar, Ethiopia, back in 1976, and it has been identified as being a new species that they named Homo bodoensis. Interestingly, this new species has been identified in numerous ancient fossils that were previously categorized as being either Homo heidelbergensis or Homo rhodesiensis.
Since the majority of ancient bones discovered in Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean from the Chibanian period will be reclassified as being Homo bodoensis, many more of the fossils found in Europe from the time period will be re-identified as being Neanderthals, although the researchers will study the remains to see if there are any belonging to Homo bodoensis. This means that the Homo heidelbergensis and Homo rhodesiensis names will no longer be used. As for the Chibanian remains from East Asia, they might receive their own names but more research needs to be conducted before that happens.
The experts then went a step further and suggested that this newly identified species was a direct ancestor of Homo sapiens. They would have come from a different branch of the human family tree than where Neanderthals and Denisovans came from. The study was published in the journal Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews.
An image of what Homo bodoensis may have looked like can be seen here.
Homo bodoensis may help to untangle how human lineages moved and interacted across the globe.
(Image credit: Ettore Mazza)
Homo bodoensiswas named after a 600,000-year-old skull found in Ethiopia.
Within the last few years, new archaeological discoveries have continued to push back the timescales on when humans are believed to have initially arrived in the Americas.
Most recently, ichnofossils in the form of ancient footprints found at White Sands National Park in New Mexico suggest a human presence there as early as 23,000 years ago, in an area where it was once thought humans wouldn’t begin to arrive for another 10,000 years.
The history of American anthropology boasts a long record of disputes over when the earliest arrivals of humans began. Early in the 20th century, many leading anthropologists would have looked no further than 3000-4000 years ago for the arrival of the first Americans, a view that would quickly change with the discoveries at sites like Folsom and Clovis in New Mexico, which established the reality of a human presence in American by the end of the last Ice Age.
Although the “Clovis First” model predominated American archaeology for decades after the discoveries in New Mexico early in the 20th century, by the beginning of the 1970s it began to become clear that there was a potential for an even earlier human presence in the Americas. Sites like Meadowcroft Rock Shelter in Washington County, Pennsylvania, and Monte Verde in Chile seemed to offer indisputable evidence of human activities well in advance of Clovis. It begged the question: just how far back do the earliest human arrivals in the New World go?
Additional discoveries of “pre-Clovis” sites throughout parts of North and South America leading up to the 21st century continued to increase awareness among archaeologists of earlier human arrivals than once would have been deemed acceptable. However, a few purported archaeological site discoveries were suggestive of something even more controversial, with implications far beyond just when and where the first humans arrived.
Excavations began at the Topper Site in Allendale County, South Carolina, in the early 1980s under the direction of Albert Goodyear, who would continue excavations there for the next several decades. An undeniable Clovis presence at the site was established, accompanied by what appeared to be earlier evidence of human tool use at the site (which, at the time of their discovery, would have been viewed as far more controversial than they are in light of recent pre-Clovis discoveries in America).
However, in 2004 the already compelling Topper site garnered additional attention for Goodyear’s announcement that the remains of carbonized plants, recovered from the site’s lowest excavated levels, appeared to have been radiocarbon dated to around 50,000 years ago. Intriguingly, Goodyear also said that evidence in the form of simple tools, along with chert (a sedimentary rock consisting almost entirely of silica) showing evidence of being struck for use in making such implements, was also found at this depth.
While many archaeologists disputed the discoveries, they raised a number of thought-provoking possibilities. While homo sapiens are believed to have begun leaving Africa between 70,000 and 100,000 years ago, the idea that they might have been in eastern North America 55,000 years ago would have been unprecedented. Nonetheless, Topper was not the only such site where evidence for an anomalously early human presence had been claimed. Even prior to excavations at Topper, the Calico Early Man Site in San Bernardino County, California, had seen publicity for the controversial claims about tools that were recovered there.
Famed archaeologist Louis Leakey, who participated in early excavations at the site, had been among those convinced that the tools found there might date back more than 100,000 years, although more recent estimates place the Calico artifacts much closer to around 20,000 years ago, consistent with discoveries like those at White Sands. Even Leaky’s wife Mary would later write that her former husband’s zeal for the antiquity of Calico had been “catastrophic to his professional career and was largely responsible for the parting of our ways.” Still others have argued that many of the purported “artifacts” from Calico are more likely the result of natural processes, as opposed to being produced by human hands.
Louis and Mary Leakey in 1962
(Smithsonian Institution/Flickr Commons).
Had the purported tools at Calico indeed been proven to extend back 100,000 years or more, they not only would have challenged our notion of when humans first arrived in the Americas, but also when they first left Africa. After all, it would seem inconceivable that around the same time humans were believed to have made their exit from Africa, evidence of tool usage would also appear in North America. Thus, only one of two possibilities would have seemed feasible: either early humans would have had to leave Africa earlier, or perhaps another variety of archaic hominin had made its way to the Americas first.
Of course, the questionable nature of Calico’s purported artifacts left little need for such considerations. However, it would not remain the only location in southern California where archaeological sites boasting extreme ages would turn up. In 2017, the Cerutti Mastodon site located nearby in San Diego County made headlines after researchers said they had recovered mastodon bones there, which appeared to bear evidence of human butchering in the form of markings on the bones dated to 130,700 years ago.
Much like Calico before it, the Cerutti Mastodon site was roundly dismissed by the majority of archaeologists on account of several factors, the main one involving the fact that no human remains, and only questionable artifact remains were recovered there. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that rather than some kind of early hominin, a megafaunal variety of capuchin monkey that existed in some parts of the Americas during the Pleistocene could have been responsible for the marks found on the mastodon bones in question! Still others suggest that the marks in question could have been produced by recent construction activities, rather than impacts with stone more than 130,000 years ago.
Obviously, many questions remain about these purported archaeological sites. To date, no evidence that has been presented offers undisputed proof of an anomalously early human presence in southern California, or anywhere elsewhere in the Americas. While most archaeologists are now warming up to the notion of arrivals 20,000 to 25,000 years ago, some estimates place arrivals as far back as around 40,000 years ago. These dates may not present evidence that causes us to question accepted notions about the earliest human migrations out of Africa—let alone whether homo sapiens were the first ones to arrive in the Americas. However, they do mark a notable shift in the attitudes of anthropologists, who in decades past had been far more resistant to accepting new evidence.
If time has shown us anything, it is that every few decades, new discoveries tend to emerge that cause us to have to rethink what we thought we knew. Our study of the ancient Americas is dynamic and ever-changing, and as new insights continue to emerge over time, perhaps at least one thing does remain predictable: when it comes to the ancient world, learn to expect the unexpected.
Archaeologists believe they have discovered the first ever depiction of a biblical plant engraved on an ancient amethyststone near Israel’s City of David. This biblical plant is known as the Balm of Gilead (also called Bosem, and Balsam).
The stone was found in a drainage ditch that is located next to Jerusalem’s Western Wall when archaeologists and volunteers were digging through it at the Emek Tzurim National Park. It dates back to the time of the Second Temple around 2,000 years ago.
An amethyst is a popular stone in jewelry.
Eli Shukron, who is a former archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority, described the location where the stone was discovered, “Jerusalem’s primary drainage channel was built under the pilgrimage road. The pilgrimage road started from the Pool of Siloam in the City of David and went up to the Temple on the Temple Mount of the Second Temple period. Apparently, this ring with the seal fell into the drainage ditch 2,000 years ago.”
Shukron went on to explain the incredible stone which measures 10 millimeters in length by 5 millimeters in width, “It is a stone seal made of semi-precious amethyst stone with an engraving of a dove and a branch of a tree with fruit on the branch.” “Once we found the seal with the branch and the fruit, we hypothesized that it was the biblical persimmon fruit plant as mentioned in the Bible and in the sources of the Second Temple period and the Byzantine period.” “What was surprising was that the branch is a branch with fruits that are not recognized from other seals from that period.” The tree and the dove represent success and good fortune.
(Not the amethyst mentioned in this article.)
Ancient Hebrew farmers were the only people in the world who were known to have cultivated the Balm of Gilead for approximately a thousand years. It was used for cosmetic and medicinal purposes during that time as well as an expensive ingredient in Temple incense as stated by Guy Ehrlich who has been attempting to bring back biblical agriculture by growing the plant, “This is the same persimmon that is identified with the biblical persimmon. It is the persimmon that served as the first of the incense ingredients of the Temple and as the anointing oil of the kings and priests.” He added that the stone is “amazing” and that “Someone took a branch of the Balm of Gilead and drew it on the stone. It does not remind me of any other plant I know.”
A news report about the discovery can be viewed here and a photo of the amethyst with the engravings can be seen here.
Amethyst stone depicting balsam tree.
(photo credit: ELIYAHU YANAI/CITY OF DAVID)
A building on the Pilgrimage Road in the City of David.
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