An ancient city has been found in the middle of the ocean

The ancient ruins are located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and could be the remnants of a long lost ancient civilization. Some even say it was one of the many cities belonging to the mythical Lemurian empire.

Science channel’s series What on Earth analyzed the mystery behind the ancient city ruins located off the coast of Micronasia—a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean.

The ruins are located on the remote island of Pohnpei, where we find Nan Madol, an archaeological site of great importance. Curiously, the name Nan Madol means “Space in between.”

But despite the fact that Nan Madol has attracted researchers, scholars and authors, little is known about the ancient structures and the people who once called it home.

The entire city of Nan Madol appears to sit on top of a lagoon, connected by a number of different canals and massive stone walls.

According to reports by Research Gate, the entire archaeological site could date back to around the first or second century AD. But there is very little verified information about the ruins.

As noted by Atlas Obscura, human activity dates back to around the first and second century AD, but the site was probably erected around the 12th or 13 the century.

The ancient structures are clearly visible on Google Earth if anyone wants to take a look at the archaeological site from the air.

The archeological site covers an area of around 1.5 kilometers and contains around 100 artificial islets.

The legend behind Nan Madol is fascinating.

Locals believe that Nan Madol began with the arrival of twin sorcerers Olisihpa and Olosohpa from the mythical Western Katau.

They are said to have been much taller than the local inhabitants. The two brothers erected an altar on Nan Madol in order to worship Nahnisohn Sahpw, the god of agriculture.

They performed numerous rituals at the altar and levitated massive stones with the help of a flying dragon.

This brings us to one of the greatest mysteries surrounding Nan Madol. How on Earth did the ancients build this ancient city? And how did they manage to transport the massive blocks of stone across nearly inaccessible terrain?

Researchers suggest that the massive rocks were most likely ‘floated’ via rafts to the different islets.

But, this remains only a theory as the exact means by which the ancient managed to transport the massive stone from distant quarries, over land and water, and then erect them on reef complexes remains a profound archaeological and architectural mystery.

Reference:

• Images From Above Reveal An Ancient City In The Middle Of The Ocean

The door to a lost continent?

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

28-02-2021 om 23:55 geschreven door peter  

 Dogon ritual dance, Mali.

( CC BY 2.0 )

The Dogon’s Extraordinary Knowledge of the Cosmos and the Cult of Nommo

France, 1920: Marcel Griaule is a young man who is very well-established in his studies, especially in mathematics. He has recently served as a volunteer in the French Air Force and aspires to attend the prestigious Lycée Louis le Grande.

Although his future already seems marked, fate has other plans for him - a new road that begins to take shape when he decides to attend a conference that same year. The speakers are Marcel Mauss, anthropologist, sociologist, and historian of religions, and Marcel Cohen, linguist.

Griaule is struck by their words and decides to devote himself entirely to the study of anthropology. Between 1928 and 1933 he took part in two ethnographic expeditions, and in this period (1930) he came into contact with a mysterious African tribe: the Dogon.

• Did Ancient Aliens Impart Advanced Astronomical Knowledge to the Dogon Tribe?
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Dogon men in their ceremonial attire.

(Devriese/ CC BY 3.0 )

The opportunity was given to him during a period of study in Mali alongside his pupil Germaine Dieterlen, who was also a pupil of Mauss and deeply interested in the study of ancient myths. From that moment, the mystery of the Nommo is born. It is an element of an ancient heritage of which we cannot expand without having first spoken of the Dogon people 

One People, Many Mysteries

The Dogon are a tribe that lives in a desert land of Mali, near the border with Burkina Faso. It is a place that welcomed them after their escape to avoid the expansionist pressures of the medieval empires…we are around the year 1000, during the fierce battles on the banks of the Niger river.

Many researchers have already discussed the range of mysteries that surround these people, but what interests us particularly for the development of the hypotheses contained in this article is their complex cosmogony, based on faith in a creative god, Amma, and in a creation produced by the movements of the “Egg of the World”.

A Dogon schematic of the “egg of the world” .

( Nothing Too Trivial )

On the basis of these beliefs, the “Nommo”, the eight pro-genitors of the Dogon, brought to Earth a basket containing the clay necessary to build the grain stores of their villages. This image, which at first sight appears quite simple and devoid of particular significance, hides in reality a very profound knowledge of the universe and of the celestial bodies.

The granary represents the universe, its scales symbolize both the males and females that generated the Dogon and the various stars and constellations: in this sense we will find the Pleiades in the north, Orion in the south, and a comet in the west. So, everything started with a “basket”, or container, that carried life.

The Pleiades (Seven Sisters).

( Public Domain )

Dogon Astronomical Knowledge

But the thing that most struck the two scholars was the finding that, despite the Dogon having come into contact with our civilization in fairly recent times (about the beginning of the century), they possessed incredible scientific and astronomical knowledge. Some of this knowledge was certainly the result of a cultural heritage that is millennia old, but one element in particular has decidedly current characteristics - the detailed knowledge of the star Sirius.

The Dogon were in fact aware of the fact that Sirius is a binary system (i.e. a system consisting of two stars, Sirius A and Sirius B); they were aware of the fact that Sirius B revolves around Sirius A with an elliptical orbit and over a period corresponding to 50 years; and the most disconcerting discovery was that the Dogon knew the exact position of Sirius A within the ellipse.

Sirius A and Sirius B as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. The white dwarf can be seen to the lower left.

(NASA, ESA, H. Bond/STScI, M. Barstow/University of Leicester/ CC BY 3.0 )

Many may wonder what is so disconcerting about all this? The amazement arises from the fact that it was only in 1862 when the American astronomer Alvan Clark deduced the existence of Sirius B using a telescope, among the most advanced for that era, and it was not before 1970 that there was confirmation of the existence of this star, not to mention a photograph of it.

Yet the Dogon knew of it hundreds of years before, and not only that, they called Sirius B with the name of “Po Tolo”; this name is certainly the most apt and shocking way to describe this system, the term Tolo, in fact, means star, while Po refers to a typical cereal that has the characteristic of being extremely heavy despite its small size; an expression, therefore, very close to reality since Sirius B is a white dwarf and, as such, has a very high density.

A Dogon diagram said to represent Sirius B’s elliptical orbit around Sirius A.

( CC BY SA 3.0 )

All this information is practically inaccessible without adequate astronomical equipment, and it is useless to specify that the Dogon had never come into possession of any such instrument, they even ignored its existence.

But the mystery does not end here, the Dogon, in fact, used to represent the planet Saturn as surrounded by a sort of halo, thus demonstrating that they knew of its rings; moreover, they knew that the planet Jupiter had around “four companions”, which correspond exactly to its four main moons.

An artistic representation of Jupiter and its moons.

( CC0)

As if this were not enough, they depicted the Earth as a sphere and knew that this sphere revolves around its axis, and together with other spheres (the planets), around the sun; last, but not least, it is surprising that the Dogon, or in any case the elders of the village, described our galaxy as an immense spiral shape. We know very well that this concept began to be disclosed by Western astronomers only at the beginning of this century.

For the Dogon, Sirius B was the first star created by God and it represents the fulcrum of the Universe. All matter developed from it, including souls, following a complex spiral motion - the same that is symbolized in the intertwined baskets.

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Saturn is surrounded by rings, Jupiter has four main moons, and four calendars are used: one for the Sun, one for the Moon, one for Sirius, and one for Venus. Needless to say, that the Dogon believe a truth attested from ancient times - the fact that the planets orbit around the Sun.

The Dogon know what, logically, they should not know; their knowledge is not the result of ancient legacies acquired by observing the sky and the stars with the naked eye, as happened in other civilizations, they simply “know”; this is the most disturbing part of the Dogon mystery.

‘Master of the Slanted Eyes.’ Antropomorphic representation, probably a Dogon ancestor figure. 

(Public Domain )

The Nommo Cult

An old Dogon legend tells of when the God of the universe, Amma, sent the Nommo to earth. This was a half-man, half-amphibian creature which landed in the land of the Fox, a territory northeast of Bandiagara, in the Mopti region; the Nommo was red, but when it touched the ground it became white.

Mali, Dogon container This container shows the "Ark of the world", in which Nommo, the mythical progenitor of humanity, is supposed to have come down from the sky.

( CC BY-SA 3.0 )

The name Nommo derives from a Dogon word that translates as “to do well”; much more often, however, this is remembered as “The Master of Water” (perhaps a reference to the fact that the Nommo could not survive out of water), the Admonitor, or the Destroyer.

Nommo Figure with Raised Arms .

(Brooklyn Museum/ CC BY 3.0 )

We do not know exactly how this figure can be placed in the various events that characterized the growth of the Dogon culture, but it is not so difficult to identify other very similar creatures in different cultures - not only geographically distant but also with respect to various historical moments.

• The ancient wonder and veneration of the dog star Sirius
• The awesome, terrible, and unknowable creator gods through history

The same type of creature is present in a history of Mesopotamia written during the III Century BC from the priest Beroso; his name was Oannes, his body was similar to that of a fish, he lived only in water, and had feet similar to those of man. Are these images referring to the same event?

Oannes.

(Dr.regosistvan/ CC BY SA 4.0 )

In any case, this ancient, almost primordial figure occupies a prominent place in all African cultures; not infrequently, for example, in the most internal areas of Africa. People belonging to monotheistic religions turn to the priests of the various villages because in situations of extreme difficulty they invoke the assistance of the Nommo.

Finally, let us not forget the God fish Dagon of the Philistines, and the same symbol of the fish which the first Christians used to represent their deity. Whoever or whatever it was, the Nommo still continues to lengthen its shadow on African territory, perhaps as a messenger waiting to be able to reveal ancient truths to those who have the courage and the predisposition of mind to listen to it.

Nommo Archetype. 

(Nothing Too Trivial )

By Roberto La Paglia

• Roberto La Paglia is a contributing writer for the magazine Veritas Arcana  and this article has been republished with permission.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

28-02-2021 om 21:38 geschreven door peter  

Modern analysis of an ancient painting found on the walls of an Egyptian prince’s tomb has revealed very interesting and surprising results. The artwork, which was discovered back in 1871 at an Egyptian archaeological site called Meidum, depicted a never-before-seen species of goose.

New analysis was conducted last year by Anthony Romilio from the University of Queensland in Australia who studied in greater detail the six birds that were depicted in a 4,600-year-old painting known as the “Meidum Geese” that was found in the burial chambers of Prince Nefermaat I and his wife Itet (the painting is now in the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo). It has been described by historians as being “one of the great masterpieces of the Egyptian animal genre.” And it wasn’t just geese that were represented in the paintings inside of the tomb as dogs, leopards, cattle, and white antelope (called addax) were also depicted in great detail.

The geese, however, were incredibly unique as two of them belonged to a completely unknown species. “Artistic licence could account for the differences with modern geese, but artworks from this site have extremely realistic depictions of other birds and mammals,” Romilio explained.

White-fronted goose

It is believed that two of the three birds that were looking towards the left were white-fronted geese (also called Anser albifrons). These birds are medium-sized and are still present in the Northern Hemisphere and North America. The first and last birds could have either been greylag geese or bean geese.

As for the two birds facing to the right, they looked similar to red-breasted geese (Branta ruficollis) that live in the western part of Europe; however, there is doubt as that species has never been found in Egypt. With so much uncertainty surrounding that species, Romilio compared thirteen visible characteristics from the pictures of the two right-facing birds in the painting to the red-breasted goose species. “

Red-breasted goose

His analysis revealed that there were too many differences so the birds in the painting couldn’t have been red-breasted geese. “This is a highly effective method in identifying species – using quantitative measurements of key bird features – and greatly strengthens the value of the information to zoological and ecological science,” he noted.

So, what species of bird was it? Based on their extended flank plumes, they would have stood out compared to other geese – a feature that hasn’t been identified in modern species, indicating that it is probably extinct. “From a zoological perspective, the Egyptian artwork is the only documentation of this distinctively patterned goose, which appears now to be globally extinct,” Romilio stated. The reasoning behind that specific species going extinct is currently unknown. (Pictures of the painting can be seen here.)

(Romilio, J of Arch Sci: Reports, 2021)

An evolutionary biologist thinks these grey geese are an example of an extinct species

Credit: romilio

The research was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports where it can be read in full.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

28-02-2021 om 17:43 geschreven door peter  

The oldest rock painting so far discovered in Australia dates back more than 17,000 years and was of a life-size kangaroo. Found in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, the two-meter-long painting was found on the sloping ceiling of an ancient rock shelter.

A team of experts from the University of Melbourne were able to determine the age of the kangaroo painting by radiocarbon dating mud wasp nests that were found inside of the rock shelter. Their results determined that it is the oldest in-situ painting (in its original place) and the oldest painting still present on the wall of a rock shelter ever found in Australia.

As for the mud wasp nests, they were located overlying and underlying the painting which is quite rare. Lead author of the study, Dr. Damien Finch, explained how they analyzed the nests, “We radiocarbon dated three wasp nests underlying the painting and three nests built over it to determine, confidently, that the painting is between 17,500 and 17,100 years old; most likely 17,300 years old.”

Researchers studied the kangaroo painting as well as other images close to it in order to determine in which order they were created. The kangaroo is an example of an old style of painting called Irregular Infill Animal/Naturalistic Period that began in approximately 28000 BC and depicted many life-size animals.

Dr. Finch detailed how important this discovery was, “This is a significant find as through these initial estimates, we can understand something of the world these ancient artists lived in,” adding, “We can never know what was in the mind of the artist when he/she painted this piece of work more than 600 generations ago, but we do know that the Naturalistic period extended back into the Last Ice Age.”

Dr. Sven Ouzman from the University Western Australia’s School of Social Sciences as well as one of the project’s chief investigators, stated how the painting could provide more information in regards to understanding the cultural history of Indigenous people, “This iconic kangaroo image is visually similar to rock paintings from islands in South East Asia dated to more than 40,000 years ago, suggesting a cultural link – and hinting at still older rock art in Australia.”

An example of rock art (not the paintings found in Australia).

While the kangaroo image is incredibly important, it isn’t the oldest rock painting in the world as that title belongs to a 45,000-year-old painting of a wild pig that was discovered in Indonesia.

The researchers are now planning to date more wasp nests and analyze additional rock paintings to hopefully confirm when each art period started and finished. Pictures of the kangaroo painting and the rock shelter can be seen here.

Traditional owner Ian Waina inspecting a Naturalistic painting of a kangaroo, determined to be more than 17,000 years old based on the age of overlying mud wasp nests

The painting is one of a number of 'motifs' discovered in the same area and part of a wider selection of ancient art currently being dated in Australia

This image shows the lower part of the painting on the sloping ceiling of a 17,500 year old kangaroo - thought to be the oldest in-situ cave art in Australia

Using the radiocarbon dating of 27 mud wasp nests, collected from 16 similar paintin

Traditional Aboriginal owner, Ian Waina, recording the 17,300 year old painting of a kangaroo

Side of the rock shelter housing the 17,300 year old kangaroo

A 3 metre long painting of a snake along Kimberley rock shelter wall with many other paintings painted over it. The illustration of the snake is directly below the painting

Rare depiction of a human figure from the oldest style of painting in the Kimberley. The inset shows the figure which has a wasp nest over the fingers at the top left. From the age of the wasp nest we know this painting is more than 9,000 years old

The study was published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour where it can be read in full.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

24-02-2021 om 20:12 geschreven door peter  

Australia’s oldest cave painting is 17,000-year-old kangaroo art

I mean, what else could it be?

Dating rock art is really hard. Aboriginal art uses iron oxide pigments and no organic material — which means any radiocarbon analysis isn’t possible. So instead, Finch got creative (and a bit lucky). He found that some of the rocks nearby contained the remains of ancient wasp nests, which can be carbon dated. He found these mud wasp remains both under and above the painted surfaces — so by dating both of these, he could pincer in on the age of the art.

It’s not the first time the method has been used, Finch says. It was used as early as 1997 when pollen extracted from a wasp nest (not over rock art) was dated, but it was less than 2,000, the researcher says. Now, researchers have adapted the technique and made it more reliable, even for small wasp remnants.

“By studying wasps building nests and then analyzing modern nests back in the laboratory, we determined that they frequently contained charcoal fragments. So we concentrated on methods to date charcoal rather than pollen which was less abundant. Radiocarbon dating has been used to date charcoal for more than 50 years and has been the mainstay of archaeological dating. Our radiocarbon dates on wasp nests built on top of paintings tell us that the painting must be older than the age of the nest. Similarly, if the nest is underneath the painting the age of the nest provides a maximum age for the painting.”

Overall, they found 27 such remains above and below 16 rock paintings. The paintings include a snake, a lizard-like figure, and three macropods (a family of marsupials including kangaroos, wallabies, and quokkas). However, one painting of a kangaroo (or a kangaroo-like creature) was dated to between 17,500–17,100 years ago, making it the oldest dated painted figure in Australia to date.

Unfortunately, however, not much is known about the people who created this art. Not much archaeological information has been retrieved, but Finch hopes we can learn something from this art.

“I don’t know that we can say too much about a culture as it was 17,000 years ago. We struggle to understand the culture at the time of the pyramids and that was only 5,000 years ago.  But now, for the first time, we can combine what we see in the paintings with what we know about the environment as it existed at the same time, around the end of the Last Ice Age. Science can tell us about the prevailing climate and sea-levels as well as the plants and animals available at that time.  I am sure future researchers will draw these threads together with what we now know about the age of the rock art to come up with further insights about the lives of these ancient people,” Finch tells ZME Science.

The kangaroo is unlikely to be Australia’s oldest painting — it’s only the oldest one we’ve found so far. Considering that humans reached Australia some 65,000 years ago, the chances are more ancient art is just waiting to be discovered.

In the meantime, this is a sobering reminder of how much we’ve yet to learn about these ancient peoples. Bit by bit, Finch hopes to fill in the gaps.

“It was surprising just how few records existed and how little was known about them in the non-indigenous community. Through our research, we aim to improve this situation.”

Journal Reference:

• Ages for Australia’s oldest rock paintings, Nature Human Behaviour (2021). DOI: 10.1038/s41562-020-01041-0 

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

22-02-2021 om 20:30 geschreven door peter  

Zooming in on the first underwater structure then it looks like a gigantic bridge with a length of 38 km. It looks like as if there is some sort of passage under the bridge leading to a square structure behind the bridge. 

A possible road connects the bridge to Discovery tablemount which is part of a chain seamonts, called Discovery Seamonts. The seamounts formed between 41 and 35 million years ago and once rose above sea level. 

Assuming that these structures are a bridge and a road and were built in ancient times, at a time the Discovery Seamounts once rose above sea level than who built it millions of years ago? 

Another strange structure can be found next to Bouvet Island which is an uninhabited subantarctic volcanic island. The size of the zigzag structure is enormous and covers an area of about 255 km x 136 km. 

It is remarkable that the lines in the zigzag structure all have the same dimensions It almost looks like an enormous electrical conductor.

Coordinates: Bridge: 43°21'8.50"S 0°51'12.19"W 

Zigzag structure: 51°28'16.59"S 6° 5'12.12"W

  

NOTE peter2011:

What happened to our planet in our past? Have there been earlier civilizations on Earth with a higher intelligence on our Earth? Was there a major natural disaster that destroyed parts of the civilizations of the time? A recent study shows that 42,000 years ago the poles flipped ... And then we probably don't forget the impacts of various asteroids.
By using satellites, researchers are finding more and more ruins on the mainland and in the depths of seas, oceans and lakes ... We travel to the moon and Mars, but our own planet still hides so many secrets.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ http://ufosightingshotspot.blogspot.com/ }

22-02-2021 om 15:40 geschreven door peter  

History must be Rewritten: A Huge Structure found in Antarctica (Video)

One of the most mysterious places on Earth is Antarctica , possibly due to the absence of humans and because anomalies and strange possibly artificial structures are often discovered that account for a very different past on the white continent, a past that history does not has taken into account.

A huge potentially artificial structure was discovered in Antarctica. At first glance it can be classified as the remains of a huge building or even an old castle , such as those existing on Earth.

Is it possible that an ancient civilization inhabited Antarctica when it had no ice? The evidence is that yes, it is possible. In addition, fossilized plants have even been found , indicating that millions of years ago, that icy place had a different climate, warmer and was a more suitable habitat for plant life, even animal, and why not, ancient humans.

A huge castle in Antarctica?

The satellite images reveal a structure that is too similar to a medieval castle, or a fortress in which members of an ancient civilization or even an alien species that arrived on Earth in the remote past could have taken refuge .

It goes without saying that if it really is an artificial structure, this would cause history to be rewritten – a huge problem for historians and the mainstream, no doubt. That is the reason why many surprising findings (like this one) are not studied further (in situ) and are forgotten.

Unfortunately for being Antarctica, independent researchers who could reveal an uncomfortable truth to the world, do not have access to investigate beyond what a computer with Google Earth allows them. We can only see satellite images, in some cases blurred or even modified for one reason or another.

It should also be clarified that what is seen in the images could have natural causes, possibly left by the thaw or for another reason. Some experts believe that it is only a Sastrugi, a snowy surface that presents many topographic irregularities, shaped by sharp and irregular grooves that are formed by the erosion of the wind, the saltation of snow particles and the deposition of the fallen snow itself, both in polar and temperate regions, as Wikipedia indicates .

This is not the first anomalous structure found in Antarctica (and possibly not the last). Dozens of these types of finds have been made in previous years. Could many secrets of a lost civilization predate historical records hide under the thick ice sheet?

Although the audio for the following video is in English, you can enable Spanish subtitles. In case you don’t know how to do it, you can consult this GUIDE .

{ https://mysteriousthing.com/ }

20-02-2021 om 23:58 geschreven door peter  

An Elongated Skull In The Paracas Museum In Peru Dates Back Approximately 3000 Years.

The analysis of DNA in some of these skulls of Paracas has been done recently and verifies that the elongation was not only caused by the artificial cranial deformation, but rather by genetics. Part of the cranial volume of the elongated skull is up to 25 percent larger and 60 percent heavier than conventional human skulls. Which means that they could not have been intentionally deformed by clogging the head or flattening, since the cranial deformation can change the shape, but it does not alter the volume or weight of a skull …

https://youtu.be/YOAjt-PJ1W4

New DNA Testing on 2,000-Year-Old Elongated Paracas Skulls Changes Known History

The elongated skulls of Paracas in Peru caused a stir in 2014 when a geneticist that carried out preliminary DNA testing reported that they have mitochondrial DNA “with mutations unknown in any human, primate, or animal known so far”. Now a second round of DNA testing has been completed and the results are just as controversial – the skulls tested, which date back as far as 2,000 years, were shown to have European and Middle Eastern Origin. These surprising results change the known history about how the Americas were populated.

Paracas is a desert peninsula located within Pisco Province on the south coast of Peru.  It is here where Peruvian archaeologist, Julio Tello, made an amazing discovery in 1928 – a massive and elaborate graveyard containing tombs filled with the remains of individuals with the largest elongated skulls found anywhere in the world. These have come to be known as the ‘ Paracas skulls ’. In total, Tello found more than 300 of these elongated skulls, some of which date back around 3,000 years.

Elongated skulls on display at Museo Regional de Ica in the city of Ica in Peru

( public domain )

Strange Features of the Paracas Skulls

It is well-known that most cases of skull elongation are the result of cranial deformation, head flattening, or head binding, in which the skull is intentionally deformed by applying force over a long period of time. It is usually achieved by binding the head between two pieces of wood, or binding in cloth. However, while cranial deformation changes the shape of the skull, it does not alter other features that are characteristic of a regular human skull.

In a recent interview with Ancient Origins, author and researcher LA Marzulli describes how some of the Paracas skulls are different to ordinary human skulls:

“There is a possibility that it might have been cradle headboarded, but the reason why I don’t think so is because the position of the foramen magnum is back towards the rear of the skull. A normal foramen magnum would be closer to the jaw line…”

LA Marzulli points to the position of the foramen magnum in a Paracas skull which is also the point at which they drilled in order to extract bone powder for DNA testing.

Marzulli explained that an archaeologist has written a paper about his study of the position of the foramen magnum in over 1000 skulls. “He states that the Paracas skulls, the position of the foramen magnum is completely different than a normal human being, it is also smaller, which lends itself to our theory that this is not cradle headboarding, this is genetic.”

In addition, Marzulli described how some of the Paracas skulls have a very pronounced zygomatic arch (cheek bone), different eye sockets and no sagittal suture, which is a connective tissue joint between the two parietal bones of the skull.

The pronounced cheek bones can be seen in artist Marcia Moore’s interpretation of how the Paracas people looked based on a digital reconstruction from the skulls. 

Marcia Moore  / Ciamar Studio

In a normal human skull, there should be a suture which goes from the frontal plate … clear over the dome of the skull separating the parietal plates - the two separate plates – and connecting with the occipital plate in the rear,” said Marzulli. “We see many skulls in Paracas that are completely devoid of a sagittal suture.

There is a disease known as craniosynostosis, which results in the fusing together of the two parietal plates, however, Marzulli said there is no evidence of this disease in the Paracas skulls.

The sagittal suture, highlighted in red, separates the two parietal plates

( public domain )

LA Marzulli shows the top of one of the Paracas skulls, which has no sagittal suture.

DNA Testing

The late Sr. Juan Navarro, owner and director of the Museo Arqueologico Paracas, which houses a collection of 35 of the Paracas skulls, allowed the taking of samples from three of the elongated skulls for DNA testing, including one infant. Another sample was obtained from a Peruvian skull that had been in the US for 75 years. One of the skulls was dated to around 2,000 years old, while another was 800 years old.

The samples consisted of hair and bone powder, which was extracted by drilling deeply into the foramen magnum. This process, Marzulli explained, is to reduce the risk of contamination. In addition, full protective clothing was worn.

The samples were then sent to three separate labs for testing – one in Canada, and two in the United States. The geneticists were only told that the samples came from an ancient mummy, so as not to create any preconceived ideas.  

LA Marzulli holding up a replica of one of the Paracas skulls that was tested

Surprising Results

From the samples, only the mitochondrial DNA (DNA from the mother’s side) could be extracted. Out of four hair samples, one of them couldn’t be sequences. The remaining three hair samples all showed a Haplogroup (genetic population group) of H2A, which is found most frequently in Eastern Europe, and at a low frequency in Western Europe. The bone powder from the most elongated skull tested came back as T2B, which originates in Mesopotamia and what is now Syria, essentially the heart of the fertile crescent. “It rewrites history as we know it,” said Marzulli.

“If these results hold,” writes Brien Foerster on his website Hidden Inca Tours , “the history of the migration of people to the Americas is far more complex than we have been told previously.”

If these results are confirmed through further tests, it means that peoples from Europe and the Middle East migrated to the Americas long before it is conventionally believed.

Marzulli said that mainstream academics will probably attack these results by pointing to the fact that he is not a scientist, but he urges any skeptic to replicate the study. “Attack the evidence folks. Go down and get your own samples, pay for a DNA lab and then come back to me with your science… do some science like we’ve done,” he said. The full lab reports of the DNA tests are available in LA Marzulli’s book Nephilim Hybrids .

The results are also consistent with the fact that many of the Paracas skulls still contain traces of red hair, a color that is not natively found in South America, but originates in the Middle East and Europe.

“No academics as far as we can tell can explain why some of the skulls that still have hair are red or even blonde,” writes Brien Foerster, “the idea that this is from time or bleaching has NOW been disproven by 2 hair experts. For the ancient Paracas people, at least, they had blonde to reddish hair that is 30% thinner than NATIVE American hair. It is GENETIC!”

A Paracas skull with its red hair.

Credit: Brien Foerster

Extra-terrestrial Hypothesis

Due to the unusual shape and features of the Paracas skulls, there has long been speculation that they are extra-terrestrial in origin, and many have hoped that DNA testing would prove that to be the case.

“As regards an “alien” component or ancestry to the skulls, we may never know,” writes Brien Foerster. “The DNA testing programs can only compare sample DNA with those that are known, and those are held in a huge database called Gentech in the US. Further testing with cooperation from Peruvian archaeologists and the Ministry of Culture are now ongoing.”

Nevertheless, LA Marzulli explained that the DNA results fit perfectly with the hypothesis he has held since before any testing was undertaken. That is that the Paracas people are the Nephilim. The Nephilim, according to ancient Biblical texts, are the offspring of the Fallen Angels and the women of earth, resulting in a hybrid entity, and they said to be based in the area of the Levant, the same place that the Paracas DNA traces to.

Whether or not this hypothesis is correct, the results of the DNA tests are dramatic and history changing and further testing may help to unravel the complex history of the Paracas people.

Next Steps

LA Marzulli and colleagues have plans for further testing and are currently working with Peruvian and American archaeologists. They have verbal permission from the head archaeologist of a Peruvian Museum to take more samples. These will then be presented to the Ministry of Culture for final consent before the samples are taking to US labs for testing. This process is expected to take at least a couple of years to complete.

The full account of the investigation and DNA testing is shown in LA Marzulli’s latest video Watchers 10 , which can be ordered here .

• Top image: A Paracas elongated skull and an artist’s impression based on a digital reconstruction.
• Credit:  Marcia Moore  / Ciamar Studio

By April Holloway

 { https://dailymysteries.com/ }

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

20-02-2021 om 23:09 geschreven door peter  

Parallel Twin Ziggurats: The Tower of Babel and Pyramid of Cholula

From the oasis sands of the biblical cradle of Mesopotamia all the way to the volcanic Valley of Mexico, parallel pyramids and mirroring myths have endured across the ages. Isolated from each other by vast oceans and deserts of time, disperse cultures have incorporated analogous stories into their mythology, building structures, such as the Tower of Babel or the Pyramid of Cholula, that are strikingly similar even though they are located in different corners of the globe.

Stories of ziggurats built by different cultures abound, one could even call them twin towers, challenging conventional narratives of human history. These tales have several components in common: offended deities, the multiplication of languages, a global deluge and vexing ancient structures. These aspects are all intertwined, as if they are all pieces of a grand global puzzle waiting to be deciphered. 

Mythology must not be blindly accepted at face value (thank you very much Dr. Jones), but on the other hand, to instantly dismiss mythology as ancient fiction is equally flawed reasoning. The former results in superstition, the latter produces ignorance. Some of the most renowned scholars on the subject of comparative mythology, such as Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, theorize that widespread mythological parallels amongst separate cultures can be explained away by the formation of base archetypes conjured from the cauldron of the collective human subconscious. While their expertise and the essence of this concept are beyond question, some myths are so specific, so universal, and are then compounded by their entanglement with mysterious structures, they defy this concept.

There are widespread mythological parallels relating a story to that of the Tower of Babel.

( Elena Schweitzer / Adobe Stock)

The Biblical Tower of Babel

The most commonly known of all these accounts is the biblical Tower of Babel narrative found in the Book of Genesis, chapter eleven verses one through nine. This narrative basically states that the generations following a global deluge cataclysm united together under one language. They migrated west into the region of Shinar ( Sumer or modern day Iraq) and they were determined to build a great city, with a tower.

There is a curious indication that somehow, this tower would empower them and prevent any future annihilation. Furthermore, this project is seen as an affront to the supreme deity. To counter this effort, the deity intervenes by confounding the language that united them, thereby undermining the project and causing the people to scatter throughout the planet.

• Ziggurat: A Mesopotamian Manmade Mountain to Reach the Gods
• The Qur’an and Torah on the True Meaning of the Tower of Babel and Multiple Languages
• Once Hidden in Plain Sight and Surprisingly Ignored: The Great Pyramid of Cholula

Scholarly Positions on the Biblical Narrative

Authors and scholars ranging from ancient times up to the present have made a variety of noteworthy observations and interpretations regarding this account. Josephus for example, wrote that a key aspect of the story is the arrogance of the tyrannical ruler who commissioned the construction whom the biblical text names Nimrod. Another interpretation is that this is more of an etiological myth (a myth that explains the origin of something unknown) which provides an explanation for the origin of different languages and cultures.

Perhaps the scholarly observations of the greatest magnitude are the attempts to identify the structure in question by associating it with the mysterious ziggurats of ancient Babylon and Sumer. This is quite logical due to the fact that the cities mentioned in the texts have historical basis in fact, were said to have been founded by this ruler in the texts, and come complete with enigmatic ziggurat structures, or towers, as their focal point. The extremely loose consensus among modern scholars identifies this tower with the Ziggurat of Etemenanki in Babylon which was somewhat restored by Nebuchadnezzar II and then eventually destroyed in a restoration attempt by Alexander the Great .

Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s depiction of the Tower of Babel.

( Public domain )

What Exactly is a Ziggurat?

A ziggurat is an enormous, ancient structure composed of terraced layers of stone which ascended to great heights by stacking raised platforms atop each other and were physically climbed by spiraling ramps. These were built by the Elamites, the Elbaites, the Akkadians, the Sumerians, and the Babylonians, dating as far back as the sixth millennium BC.

The ziggurat was not utilized for communal worship, but instead was believed to be the literal dwelling place of the deity to whom it was dedicated. Human presence at the ziggurat was restricted to an elite priesthood and a small contingent of armed guards. According to Herodotus, at the summit of the ziggurat was a temple that housed a small shrine, and at this shrine, offerings were made exclusively by the high priest who also preformed other secretive occult rituals.

The Ziggurat of Etemenanki

In the 1880s, foundation cylinders were discovered with Neo-Babylonian inscriptions that chronicled the restoration effort by the king. It reads:

At that time my lord Marduk told me in regard to E-temen-anki, the ziggurat of Babylon, which before my day was (already) very weak and badly buckled, to ground its bottom on the breast of the netherworld, to make its top vie with the heavens. I fashioned mattocks, spades and brick-molds from ivory, ebony and musukkannu-wood, and set them in the hands of a vast workforce levied from my land. I had them shape mud bricks without number and mold baked bricks like countless raindrops. I had the River Arahtu bear asphalt and bitumen like a mighty flood. Through the sagacity of Ea, through the intelligence of Marduk, through the wisdom of Nabû and Nissaba, by means of the vast mind that the god who created me let me possess, I deliberated with my great intellect, I commissioned the wisest experts and the surveyor established the dimensions with the twelve-cubit rule. The master-builders drew taut the measuring cords, they determined the limits. I sought confirmation by consulting Samas, Adad and Marduk and, whenever my mind deliberated (and) I pondered (unsure of) the dimensions, the great gods made (the truth) known to me by the procedure of (oracular) confirmation. Through the craft of exorcism, the wisdom of Ea and Marduk, I purified that place and made firm its foundation platform on its ancient base. In its foundations I laid out gold, silver, gemstones from mountain and sea. Under the brickwork I set heaps of shining sapsu, sweet-scented oil, aromatics and red earth. I fashioned representations of my royal likeness bearing a soil-basket, and positioned (them) variously in the foundation platform. For my lord Marduk I made it an object fitting for wonder, just as it was in former times.

Aerial view which shows the remains of the Ziggurat Etemenanki

(Lyaschuchenko / CC BY-SA 4.0 )

Herodotus’s Account of the Same Babylonian Ziggurat

Before the discovery of this royal inscription in the 1880s, the only other description of this particular ziggurat came from Herodotus who described it in his writings from the mid-fifth century BC, he wrote:

The center of each division of the town was occupied by a fortress. In the one stood the palace of the kings, surrounded by a wall of great strength and size: in the other was the sacred precinct of Jupiter [Zeus] Belus, a square enclosure two furlongs [402 m/1319 feet] each way, with gates of solid brass; which was also remaining in my time. In the middle of the precinct there was a tower of solid masonry, a furlong [201 m/659 feet] in length and breadth, upon which was raised a second tower, and on that a third, and so on up to eight. The ascent to the top is on the outside, by a path which winds round all the towers. When one is about half-way up, one finds a resting-place and seats, where persons can sit for some time on their way to the summit. On the topmost tower there is a spacious temple, and inside the temple stands a couch of unusual size, richly adorned, with a golden table by its side. There is no statue of any kind set up in the place, nor is the chamber occupied of nights by any one but a single native woman, who, as the Chaldeans [the Babylonians], the priests of this god, affirm, is chosen for himself by the deity out of all the women of the land .

The White Temple ziggurat in Uruk is an example of a simple ziggurat from ancient Sumer. It’s purpose was to bring the temple closer to the heavens.

(tobeytravels / CC BY-SA 2.0 )

Enmerkar and the Lord of Arratta

There are many, extremely ancient Sumerian myths that predate biblical narratives. They are most certainly their precursors especially since the biblical narrative itself emphasizes the role of the patriarchal figure Abraham whose father was said to have had significant status in one of these very cities. Among these precursor narratives, is one that is undoubtedly the original version of the biblical story of the tower and the confounding of languages.

The story is entitled Enmerkar and the Lord of Arratta . Although some lines of text are missing, the nucleus of the story is that a king called Enmerkar is told by his patron deity to subjugate a neighboring kingdom and demand huge quantities of mineral tribute so as to embark on future constructing of more ziggurat dwellings and sanctuaries for the deities. The rival king refuses to submit, and Enmerkar (aided by the deities) conquers the rival king and the deity Enki/Ea is invoked to confound the united language.

This sets of a chain of events resulting in the dispersal of the population who now speak a variety of languages. The incantation invoking Enki reads:

 “Enki, the lord of abundance and of steadfast decisions, the wise and knowing lord of the land, the expert of the gods, chosen for wisdom, the lord of Eridu, shall change the speech in their mouths, as many as he had placed there, and so the speech of mankind is truly one."

Could it be that the parallel myths throughout the world are actually the story of the same event in history? Here an artist’s version of how the Great Pyramid of Cholula in Mexico looked originally.

( Public domain )

Many Other Parallel Myths Exist Worldwide

Similar parallel myths exist throughout the world. The Native American Cherokee have an oral tradition that contains many elements which are similar to the Sumerian myth.

When we lived beyond the great waters there were twelve clans belonging to the Cherokee tribe. And back in the old country in which we lived the country was subject to great floods. So in the course of time we held a council and decided to build a storehouse reaching to heaven. The Cherokees said that when the house was build and the floods came the tribe would just leave the earth and go to heaven. And we commenced to build a great structure, and when it was towering into one of the highest heavens the great powers destroyed the apex, cutting it down to about half of its height. But as the tribe was fully determined to build to heaven for safety they were not discouraged but commenced to repair the damage done by the gods. Finally, they completed the lofty structure and considered themselves safe from the floods. But after it was completed the gods destroyed the high part, again, and when they determined to repair the damage they found that the language of the tribe was confused or destroyed.

The Greco Roman narrative of the Gigantomachy is almost identical to this story. However, it must be objectively conceded that the close contact of these cultures very well could have transmitted this myth from Mesopotamia to the Mediterranean via contagion and conflation much in the same manner as it was transmitted from Mesopotamian to Hebrew cultures. Be that as it may, this mode of transmission cannot explain the parallel myths and enigmatic structures found at far flung corners of the globe. One of the most striking parallels is the proverbial twin tower of the Great Pyramid of Cholula in Mexico.

The Great Pyramid of Cholula, also known as Tlachihualtepetl, is the largest known pyramid on Earth in terms of volume.

( Aleksandar Todorovic / Adobe Stock)

The Great Pyramid of Cholula

The largest known pyramid on Earth, in terms of volume, resides in the Valley of Mexico. Known as the Great Pyramid of Cholula, this enormous pyramid is closely associated with the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl and the nearby, equally enigmatic, site of Teotihuacan. While this structure and the previously discussed ziggurat are not remotely twin in terms of their design, they are astonishingly twin in terms of their mythological traditions and mysterious functions.

According to Aztec mythology, (note that the Aztecs absolutely did not construct the Cholula Pyramid or Teotihuacan, but regarded them as sacred sites of pilgrimage) the Quinametzin were a race of giants who inhabited the region in the previous “Sun of Rain” era. They stood twelve-feet-tall (3.7 meters) and it was they who were responsible for the construction of both Teotihuacan and the Great Pyramid of Cholula.

In the sixteenth century AD, Dominican friar Diego Duran wrote a report that was relayed to him by an old priest of Cholula. This account stated that when the sun first rose there were giants in the land and they decided to build a tower that would lead them up to the Sun. The creator deity was angered by this and summoned the inhabitants of the sky to destroy the tower and scatter the race of giants. Another variation within Aztec mythology is that of seven giants (principle among them Xelhua), who, having survived a cataclysmic deluge, arrived in the valley and attempted to construct a mountain that would prevent another such catastrophe. The gods were angered by this, and hurled fire down onto the pyramid, killing many of them and ceasing its construction.

The Key to the Mystery is Etymology

It can, and has, been argued that these Mesoamerican myths were subject to the biblical projections of the friars and missionaries who first recorded them, and that this is the explanation for such stark parallels. However, this convenient cop-out does not stand up in the court of reality, and the reason why is the etymology of the names associated with the sites which existed long before these missionaries ever arrived and which parallel the Tower of Babel narrative.

Chapter eleven verse six of the Book of Genesis states: “And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.” The word cholula itself originates from the Nahuatl word cholollan which means “place of refuge.” The word Teotihuacan itself means “The Place Where Men Become Gods.”

In the Chimalpopoca Codex is a narrative in which, after a period of just living on Earth, Quetzalcoatl (the deity associated with Teotihuacan and Cholula) becomes intoxicated with his celibate priestess sister, copulates with her, and neglects his sacred obligations. The next day, he and his subjects erect an enormous stone chest. In the story Quetzalcoatl lies down inside the chest, clad entirely with jade, and is set ablaze. His ashes and heart then rise up into the heavens whereupon he became the morning star.

The Greek Gigantomachy narrative states that the giants sought to lay siege to Olympus (literally translated as sky) by stacking mountains atop mountains. The Greek etymology of the word pyramid itself is pyr-fire ra-star mid-heart. These etymological connections were not projected by anyone as they existed for thousands of years before contact of any kind.

What all this means is a mysterious riddle wrapped in an enigma. The reader will have to draw their own conclusions, but it can be objectively stated once again that these links cannot be the result of some kind of cultural contagion. Furthermore, it must be noted that the ziggurat and the pyramids of both Teotihuacan and Cholula were built by unknown peoples for unknown functions using unknown methods in some dark distant recess of prehistory.

• Top image: Is the mythology surrounding the Tower of Babel somehow connected to that of the Great Pyramid of Cholula in Mexico?
• Source: breakermaximus / Adobe Stock

By Mark Andrew Carpenter

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

19-02-2021 om 00:48 geschreven door peter  

Ancient Tanzanian Paintings of Bizarre Humanoids Perplex Experts

Rare, multidimensional art has been discovered in a Tanzanian cave shelter. However, the ritual scenes depicted in the ancient art don’t tally up the traditions of the modern Sandawe people.

Archaeologists exploring in Tanzania have discovered rare examples of cave art made by the ancient ancestors of the Sandawe people. These indigenous descendants of the older “Gogo” group are credited with having the oldest DNA lineage known to science, which can be dated back at least 87,000 years. The recently discovered images show a range of human figures, some speared with horns and some eating other humanoid characters, and other paintings show buffalos, giraffes, and domesticated cattle.

General view of the paintings at Amak'hee 4, in Tanzania.

( M. Grzelczyk, Antiquity, 2021 )

The paintings were discovered in June 2018 hidden beneath a rock overhang in what is known as the Amak'hee 4 rock shelter site, in the Dodoma area of central Tanzania. Researchers from the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland, told Sci News that while many of paintings depict unknown figures, others show animals like domesticated cattle, buffalo, and giraffes. However, none of the rituals depicted in the artworks can be correlated with modern Sandawe people rituals.

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There is No Animal as Vicious as a Human

The team of Polish researchers said that the Tanzanian cave paintings were “well-preserved and in good condition.” This is because the rock overhang served to protect the pigments from centuries of flowing water and sunlight, which both degrade the vibrance and luminescence of inks and paints. One thing the team of researchers couldn’t do, however, was accurately date when the paintings might have been executed. Dr. Maciej Grzelczyk, from the Institute for the Study of Religions at the Jagiellonian University, explained that the team were only able to summarize that the artworks were “several hundreds of years old.”

Comparison of the Amak'hee 4 (A), Kolo B2 (B) and Kolo B1 (C) trios. 

(M. Grzelczyk, Antiquity, 2021 )

In a Daily Mail article the newly discovered Amak'hee 4 paintings are described as centering around three primary images, consisting mostly of stylized buffalo heads. Dr. Maciej Grzelczyk said that based on “superimposition,” the Tanzanian paintings were probably created from right to left. One disturbing section of the large mural shows what appears to be a collection of small figures that look like they’ve been speared by horns. Another area depicts what the archaeologists have interpreted as someone crushing someone else in their mouth.

Possibly a Deeply-Ancient Tanzanian Scared Site?

The team of Polish scientists were slightly perplexed during the research because “no elements of anthropomorphisation of buffaloes, nor belief in the possibility of transformation of people into these animals,” exists within modern Sandawe people groups. However, Dr. Maciej Grzelczyk pointed out that the present day “simbó ritual,” requires people entering “trance states,” which is a key element in Shamanic transitionary processes.

Comparison of the head of figure 059 (top left) and African buffalo (top right) and close-up of the digitally enhanced photograph (using DStrech) showing finer detail and superimposed layers.

( M. Grzelczyk, Antiquity, 2021 )

Furthering their speculations into the possible ritualistic or ceremonial nature of the Tanzanian cave site, and the artwork, the researchers said the modern Sandawe group believe caves in hills “harbored spirits and would travel to such structures to perform rituals and shout prayers not to disturb the ghosts.”

Moreover, evidence suggests the Tanzanian site was use repeatedly over many generations. When the paintings were analyzed it was discovered that the artists had “intentionally respected” an existing figure by not superimposing the new image onto it.” Rather than simply painting over the older image, the painter incorporated the preexisting image into the new scene.

The study says that a great example of this same sympathetic painting technique, where the work of an older artist is included in a new piece, can be seen in one of the buffalo paintings. The new study shows how the tail of one buffalo was interrupted so that it would not superimpose onto the leg of a human figure.

Digital tracing of the Tanzanian paintings at Amak'hee 4. 

(M. Grzelczyk, Antiquity, 2021 )

What this shows is not only artistic prowess, but a significant degree of foresight, preplanning, and logical thinking. The artist must have first conceived the image, before conceptualizing it within the bounds of the available space. Then, before executing the painting, the painter must have studied all of the preexisting figures and forms, looking for ways that parts of animals could be used to represent human parts.

• Top Image: A trio of anthropomorphic figures from the Tanzanian cave art at the Amak’hee 4 site.
• Source: Maciej Grzelczyk, Jagiellonian University

By Ashley Cowie

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

19-02-2021 om 00:25 geschreven door peter  

Pindai Caves, Once Home to the Lapita People and Extinct Species

New Caledonia, in the South Pacific , is a special collectivity of France. Not only does it have a fascinating history and unique culture, the islands also have one of the most important archaeological sites in all of Oceania, the Pindai Caves. These caves have provided archaeologists with a treasure trove of human remains, and palaeontologists with remains of extinct birds, reptiles and other fauna that dates to the Holocene Period.

The Ancient History of Pindai Caves

The Lapita people were the first people to settle on the islands of New Caledonia. As these sailors of Austronesian extraction were extremely skilled navigators, New Caledonia played a very important role in their colonization of Oceania. They are regarded as the ancestors of the Polynesians who went on to populate many Pacific Islands and New Zealand. They are also the ancestors of the modern Kanak people of New Caledonia.

Archaeologists have found items that once belonged to the Lapita people, including many pot shards, within the Pindai Caves. They also left several heaps of shellfish scraps. Guano (bird excrement) was harvested in the caverns and used as a fertilizer.  

Lapita pottery, found on Port Vila , Vanuatu 

( CC BY-SA 3.0 )

New Caledonia was absorbed into the French Empire in the 19 ^th century when they used the islands as a penal colony. While the caves were explored in the 19 ^th century, archaeologists only investigated in the 20 ^th century and found two settlements in the Pindai Caves that were occupied by humans over a period of at least two millennia.

The extinct horned turtle, Meiolania.  

Source: CC BY SA 2.0

The Amazing Fossils of Pindai Caves

Along with the prehistoric settlements, a great many animal and bird remains have been discovered. Of the 45 species found, at least 20 are now extinct in New Caledonia or globally. Among the extinct species are rails, a kagu, pigeons, and a large snipe. Other long-extinct species of birds found includes the Sylviornis, a flightless megapode who laid its eggs on the ground in mounds, and a flightless swamp hen. The remains of a number of owls were also found. These too have been extinct for many years. A great number of these remains were found in potholes and sinkholes in the caves, which trapped the birds.

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Sylviornis, the extinct flightless bird 

( Renata Cunha )

A number of extinct reptiles were also found, including a land-dwelling crocodile ( Mekosuchus) as well as fossils of the giant horned turtle, Meiolania. The fossils and remains in the cave are providing researchers with insights into the extinction of species after the arrival of the first humans.

The results of various studies have not shown a definite link between human activity and the extinction of species such as the flightless birds on New Caledonia. The remains have been carbon dated and indicate that humans and the extinct species co-existed for many years. Over time, humans had an adverse impact on the environment and this, rather than overhunting, led to the demise of many species.

Layout of the Pindai Caves

The caves are on a peninsula on the north coast of the main island, Grande Terre. The location has six caves of the karst type, two of which are accessible. The remaining four caves have been categorized as sinkholes - chasm created by the flow of subterranean water.

The location of New Caledonia 

(Google Maps)

The two accessible caves were once the homes of the first people who settled on the islands. The entrances of the cave broaden out into a large chamber and contain stalactites and stalagmites. Many species of birds lived in the caves, such as the extinct prehistoric birds whose fossils have been found by palaeontologists.

Visiting the Pindai Caves in New Caledonia

The caves are 130 miles (182 km) north of Noumea, the capital city of New Caledonia. There are guided tours of the region and they include excursions to the caves. The caves are protected by the local government and visitors are asked to respect the site.

• Top image: New Caledonia Cave. Credit: damedias / Adobe Stock

By Ed Whelan

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

18-02-2021 om 20:50 geschreven door peter  

Mystery Of Markawasi: UFOs And Baffling Stone Monuments

Marcahuasi (Markawasi) is located on the mountain range that rises to the right bank of the Rímac River nearly 4,000 meters high in Huarochirí Province, east of Lima, Peru. This plateu is home to a various set of huge granite rocks with unusual shapes resembling human faces, animals, and religious symbols.

There are many theories as to their origins. There is also a collection of ruins on the north side of the plateau. Over 50 structures still stand in varying states of decay. There are also what appear to be burial tombs on the outskirts of the settlement.

The plateau is shrouded in mystery at many levels. There is even disagreement as to the derivation of the name Marcahuasi (Markawasi). Daniel Ruzo states that the name is relatively recent and means “two-storied house,” referring to the stone buildings (which Ruzo regards as Inca military garrisons) found on the plateau.

In contrast, Lisa Rome states that marca in Quecha means the land belonging to a community, and huasi means town, so the name Marcahausi refers to the land for the town or entire community, and from this etymology she suggests that the plateau was communal religious center for the surrounding area.

She states that there is are no Inca remains to be found at Markawasi, dating many of the structures to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries A.D. Others have tentatively dated some of the buildings to a good five hundred or more years earlier.

Local people say nothing about who the builder were, where the figures were made or quite possibly more important — where were they from. Yet still an extraordinary energy pervades this sanctuary cloaked in the clouds for untold centuries, having only recently been discovered by the outside world. In this place, many reports of UFO’s being seen, as well as strange beings who reportedly walk around the place day and night.

The local people believe these beings come from inside the earth or are materializing from other dimensions. The archaeological community is at a loss to explain some of the more unfathomable images carved in the stone.

Supposedly they created monumental carvings from the granodiorite cliffs, boulders, and outcroppings on the top of the plateau – carvings of an anthropomorphic and zoomorphic nature, including peoples of many different races and animals found not just in the immediate vicinity, but from other continents as well.

There was even an alleged sculpture of the Egyptian divinity Ta-urt (Thoueris), goddess of childbirth and maternity, in her typical form as an upright female hippopotamus. If these reports were true, this would indicate a pre-Columbian culture that had transoceanic ties, and just perhaps it represented a branch of the primordial global lost civilization of which many writers and philosophers have speculated over the centuries.

In addition to toads, dogs and condors which are all indigenous to the area, there are also 25-foot tall carvings of a walrus, camel, lion, polar bear, alligator, turtle and what can only be described as a prehistoric stegosaurus dinosaur! These and other creatures haunt this mist shrouded plateau from a lost world.

There is a3-story tall human head carved from a single bolder and faces carved on a cliffs that drop thousands of feet representing all the different races of the world, speaking in muted silence of the many questions permeating these stones resting upon the Markawasi plateau. So what are the meaning of structures, the monuments, the gigantic megalithic sculptures, found at Markawasi?

Dr. Robert M. Schoch interpret the monuments of Markawasi as incredible simulacra – that is, in this case, natural objects that in the mind’s eye take the shape of forms of other entities, such as human faces and animals. He believe they were recognized as such even in very remote ancient times. The weathering and erosion of the granodiorite of which the plateau is composed gives rise to rounded anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features that, with a little imagination and insight, can be seen as very convincing sculptural forms.

The Markawasi sculptures are point-of-view manifestations, not typical sculptures in the round. Most can only be seen from a particular angle, and in many cases under particular lighting conditions, be in morning, evening, a solstice sunrise, by the light of a full moon, or under other special conditions.

Believers in the sculptures feel there are special spots that have been designated as viewing locations, and to move even a few feet from some of the spots means that the sculpture is obscured or not visible at all.

Certain sculptures appear to change forms as one moves or the light changes, perhaps from a face of one race to a face of another race. Such apparent subtlety and precision in sculpting and viewing has been used to argue for the reality of the artificiality of the monuments, but likewise has been advanced as strong evidence that they are simply natural structures to which humans brings their own meaning and interpretations.

The indigenous Andean peoples had a traditional concept of wakas (guacas), which can in an abstract sense refer to laws (as laws or nature) or knowledge, or could at times be personified as heroes and deities (similar, perhaps, to the Egyptian concept of neterw or divine principles) or as cult ancestors.

Wakas, it was believed, could sometimes take the physical form of uniquely shaped rocks or other natural structures. This is exactly what we may behold in the simulacra of Markawasi. The perfection and abundance of the manifestations of the wakas would make this an incredibly sacred place indeed. Schoch believe there is no doubt that Markawasi is a very powerful, energy-filled, and sacred place.

There are also numerous chulpas (chullpas), or tombs, to be found on the plateau, some neatly constructed of stone blocks (and in some cases rebuilt in modern times) and other tombs that simply utilized natural overhangs and shallow caves on the edge of the plateau. Bodies were bound and formed natural mummies, but most of the tombs have now been cleared out and any remains removed. Schoch and his team did come across human skulls and other bones in one of the more inaccessible regions, however.

The plateau is spotted with a number of artificial and natural lakes and reservoirs, most of which were dry during our August 2005 visit. Artificial dams and canal systems collect water during the rainy season and carry the water down to the village and terraced fields below the plateau.

Even today the people of San Pedro de Casta celebrate a ritual festival in October that celebrates the water that is captured on the Markawasi Plateau.

According to Ruzo, men opened the festival with rituals in honor of the Huari (their pre-Inca ancestors of a thousand or more years ago deified as the god Huari that was their protector; huari means giant or strong and the women and girls carry out the remainder of the ceremony over a number of days.

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{ https://anomalien.com/ }

18-02-2021 om 18:32 geschreven door peter  

They find track of Gigantic Vehicles “12 Million Years Old”

A famous geologist claims to have discovered intricate tracks that would have been made by vehicles, but several million years ago. 

These peculiar marks on the ground are found in Turkey, specifically in the Phrygian Valley, according to the researcher, they were created by an ancient highly technological civilization and today unknown.

These ancient furrows discovered in Turkey’s Phrygian Valley have left Dr. Alexander Koltypin , a geologist at the National Science Scientific Research Center in Moscow, in complete awe.

The geologist believes that this construction could have been created by an intelligent race more than 12 million years ago.

The ruts in the Phrygian Valley have been closely examined, and one of the theories given is that they were made by off-road vehicles, much like those used today. But how could these clues, more than 12 million years ago, have been made from artifacts that to our knowledge had not yet been invented? Or better yet, an ancient and unknown civilization operated this type of vehicle?

Geologist Dr. Alexander Koltypin believes that these mysterious furrow-like marks in the Phrygian Valley in central Turkey were made by an intelligent race 12 and 14 million years ago.

“We can assume that older vehicles drove their heavy wheels on soft ground, perhaps a wet surface,” he said.

Inspections have found that the distance between the grooves is approximately the same as that left by current vehicles. However, there is one thing that does not match, these ruts seem to have been made by something much heavier than modern common transport.

These tracks are, for the most part, an impressive three feet deep.

In addition to the deep grooves, horizontal notches have been found in them along their interior walls. These notches on the inside of the grooves or tracks could well have been made by some kind of shaft, which adds more mystery to the matter.

Dr. Koltypin was aware that this finding would be too controversial and would cause quite a stir.

Koltypin stated the following:

I think we are seeing the signs of a civilization that existed before the classical creation of this world. Perhaps the creatures of that pre-civilization were not like modern human beings. These ancient clues can prove the existence of ancient civilizations, yet they are often ignored by scientists. ”

Although many detractors of Dr. Koltypin’s theories have emerged, in reality the Phrygian Valley of Turkey is not the only place where these ancient roads are found. Other areas, like the Maltese archipelago , have tracks that run along the cliffs and others that lead to the ocean.

These tracks in Malta have the same amount of controversial theories. More information on this can be found in the following video.

Although the audio for the following video is in English, you can enable Spanish subtitles. In case you don’t knowhow to do it, you can consult this GUIDE.

Despite the fact that conventional archeology pays no attention to these impressive discoveries, Koltypin continues to rely on his controversial theories.

It is possible that in the future, history will reveal many other findings that reveal once and for all that we are not the first to have advanced technology and that other sophisticated humanities existed before us.

{ https://mysteriousthing.com/ }

17-02-2021 om 23:51 geschreven door peter  

This con has endured for years.

By Rhys Thomas

PHOTO: SASA KADRIJEVIC / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Conspiracy theories make the world go round (or flat). The greatest hits include the Illuminati, lizard people and Avril Lavigne being a clone, but none have endured quite like the theory that ancient aliens built the pyramids. The tin-foil belief has been kicking around since medieval times and now, thanks to TV series like Ancient Aliens – currently in its 16th season - it’s more popular than ever.

In July, 2020, tech edgelord Elon Musk tweeted “aliens built the pyramids, obv” and conspiracy theorist bed friend Joe Rogan has hosted a podcast with an autodidact who believes ancient civilisations ruled the earth. Believers aren’t just your classic conspiracy theorists, LSD heads or Louis Thereoux longform nut-jobs either. Mainstream international publications including the BBC and National Geographic have reported on the matter, and it’s also popped up on TikTok, which suggests people debate the theory across all walks of western (we’ll get to this later) life.

What they all believe, in one form or another, is that the pyramids in Ancient Egypt were built by outer-space terrestrials who likely use them as a way to monitor and observe planet Earth. But where, of every absurd belief in the world, did the idea that aliens built the pyramids come from?

To find out, I spoke to Karen Douglas, a professor of social psychology at the University of Kent, who explained that – much like simulation theory, which Elon Musk also loves – “the most popular conspiracy theories are those which can’t be proven wrong, or theories that mainly just ask questions about what happened”.

When the mystery is as big as the Great Pyramid of Giza – the world’s tallest building for about 3,800 years and the only original wonder of the world still standing – it’s easy to see how conspiracy theories can stick like a bad case of super skunk-induced paranoia. These points don’t really explain the astronomical leap from “those who lived there did it” to “aliens did”, though.

I decided to poll my Instagram and Twitter following to see how many of the people I regularly enjoy beers with also harbour a belief that aliens knocked up the Egyptian pyramids and, if so, why.

Twitter came in at 24 percent, Instagram 42. Almost everyone who said yes said their primary reason for believing the conspiracy is the sheer scale of the pyramids and the lack of technology to build them at the time, plus some stuff about space (essentially: there’s a correlation between the location of the three largest pyramids in Giza and the Orion’s Belt constellation). 

For Rhian, 21, from Cardiff, “it just seems impossible that any humans could have [built the pyramids] back then, they’re so intricately built and there’s a lot of mathematical clues supposedly built into them”.

Dr. Nicky Nielsen is an egyptologist at the University of Manchester who knows that the Egyptians built the pyramids themselves, as proven by quarries, diaries, tool marks and other forms of evidence. For the benefit of the theorists, I asked how humans could have lifted the giant stones used to build the pyramids (some weighing 80 tonnes, or around around 40 small elephants) into the sky.

“Pulleys,” he says calmly. “They could pull very heavy blocks up a very steep gradient using pulleys and a ramp. The actual ramp that's preserved is very steep, I think it's something like 16 degrees.”

Despite there being academic reasoning for how Egyptians built the pyramids – AKA the pulleys – people still believe aliens built or at least instructed the building and go on to make YouTube videos about the conspiracy, which then perpetuates the belief for a whole new generation of skeptics and extraterrestrial enthusiasts. We’ll never know the full story, so people fill in the gaps with the narrative they believe the most – which, for lots of people, goes back to aliens.

Tim, 25, from Northampton, says: “A theory I’ve thought of is that the pyramids might have been used like hands on a clock, so that aliens could measure the passage of time when observing Earth from the outside.” This, he says, is “why they are placed in such a specific position”.

For Rhian, the ambition of the task of constructing 400 foot high pyramids, coupled with how “there must be other forms of life out there'', suggests “there’s a fair chance extraterrestrials could have been involved. [The pyramids are] way beyond anything else of the time that we know about.” 

But is it really true that we don’t know of any other elaborate structures from a similar, ancient period? Greek and Roman architecture are historically seen as ahead of their time, both beautiful and intricate, but no one suggests extraterrestrials came down and helped build the Colosseum.

“I don't think that the people who believe [that aliens built the pyramids] are all racist, but the conspiracy perpetuates a very Eurocentric view of other cultures – not just the Egyptians, but Mayans and Incas and whoever else,” says Nielsen.

“Aside from Stonehenge, European ancient monuments aren’t dragged into the whole Ancient Aliens debate, like the Colosseum, even though it's clearly a massive work of construction. It removes agency from indigenous cultures, and it takes their ownership of their own history away from them. Arabic writing from the time pretty unanimously says it was the Egyptians, but nobody bothered to check for a long time.”  

When I raised this with Rhian, she says: “I hadn’t thought about that – it is problematic. All of the people I’ve seen mention the conspiracy are white, too. It is still the most impressive of all of the ancient buildings, though, so perhaps it could be the one aliens did help with… I’ll have to think more about it.”

Nielsen happily concedes that while there is evidence for many things, there’ll always be questions about how exactly the pyramids were built. “In 200 years, when something else becomes popular in culture, maybe that will be used as the alternative to Egyptians themselves building it,” he says, adding: “People will always have an alternative idea instead of accepting that non-Europeans are capable of building monumental architecture, which is, after all, the easiest explanation: the pyramids were built by the Egyptians. Because they were there.” 

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17-02-2021 om 00:51 geschreven door peter  

17,000-Year-Old Musical Instrument Is “Discovered” By Archaeologists

During a recent inventory of items held at a museum of natural history in Toulouse, a team of archaeological researchers took the opportunity to re-examine a conch (sea snail) shell retrieved in 1931 from the Marsoulas cave in southern France. Based on its curvature and enclosed shape, it was long believed that the conch shell has been used as a communal or ceremonial cup by the Magdalenian hunter-gatherers who roamed the region surrounding the Pyrenees Mountains near the end of the last Ice Age. After studying the shell more closely, with the assistance of modern, high-tech imaging technology, the researchers realized that what they held in their hands wasn’t a ceremonial cup but a musical instrument. They discovered that the shell had been reshaped and engineered to create a fully functional musical instrument, which they eventually found could produce three distinct musical notes: C, D, and C sharp.

Previous carbon dating analysis had dated the conch shell to approximately 15,000 BC, which meant it had been deposited in the cave during the Upper Paleolithic era. Marsoulas itself is best known for its impressive collection of cave wall paintings, which link it to the European cave painting cultures of that time. 

• Ancient Acoustic Artifacts and Communication with the Gods
• Instruments of Mass Destruction: Do Tutankhamun’s Trumpets Really Summon War?
• Primeval Communication and the Beat of the Drum

Making “Spiritual” Music In Ice-Age Europe

The Marsoulas conch shell appears unadulterated to the normal eye. But deeper analysis revealed several signs of alteration.

The prehistoric musical instrument that looks like a normal conch shell but isn’t.

(© Carole Fritz et al. 2021 /  Science Advances )

It seems that the shell’s apex had been deliberately removed to create room for a mouthpiece, which had been anchored inside the shell in two small holes that had been chipped out in the shell’s interior. The shell had been drilled to create two openings, one for the entrance of air and one for its exit, enabling it to produce musical notes. Its lip had also been modified, presumably to create hand holds for the conch player. Additionally, faded  red ochre pigment fingerprint markings were found on the interior of the shell, meaning the shell had been decorated in the same style as the cave walls.

Conch shells  crafted into wind instruments have been found during excavations at ancient sites in various regions, and other musical instruments traceable to the  Upper Paleolithic period  have been found previously as well. But the latter were  flutes and whistles  made from bone; none were made from conch shells, or from any similar materials. 

“Conch shells have served as musical instruments, calling or signaling devices, and sacred or magic objects depending on the cultures,” the archaeologists wrote in their article introducing their discovery in the journal  Science Advances . “To our knowledge, the Marsoulas shell is unique in the prehistoric context, not only in France but at the scale of Paleolithic Europe and perhaps the world.”

A Magdalenian-period red-ochre painting of a bison from the Marsoulas cave, France, where the musical instrument conch shell was found.

(HTO /  Public domain )

Cave Music, Altered States, And Upper Paleolithic Shamanism

It is notable that the musical conch shell was discovered at an Upper Paleolithic site that hosts an extensive display of  cave paintings . 

The artwork that decorates the walls at Marsoulas is typical of that produced by Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, which can be found in caves throughout southern Europe. The 330-foot (100 meter) long gallery of red-pigment paintings includes numerous images of animals (with the bison hunted by  Magdalenian hunter-gathers featured most prominently), abstract anthropomorphic figures with mask-like faces, and a variety of geometric shapes that don’t represent real-world objects or life forms. 

In recent decades, establishment experts and maverick researchers alike, ranging from Mircea Eliade to Graham Hancock to  David Lewis-Williams , have popularized the theory that such art is modeled after hallucinogenic imagery glimpsed by  shamans or medicine men  experiencing altered states of consciousness.

The South African archaeologist David Lewis-Williams descending into a part of Chauvet Cave, France, which is also famous for its cave paintings and where, according to Lewis-Williams, ancient shamans may have held hallucinogenic musical gatherings.

(David Lewis-Williams /  CC BY-SA 3.0 )

Lewis-Williams, a South African archaeologist recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts on ancient rock art has perhaps done the most to promote this intriguing and controversial hypothesis. According to his neuro-psychological model, the shaman would enter a trance state, either by ingesting psychoactive substances or through immersion in a musically stimulating environment, where the shaman and companions would be dancing, drumming, singing, or playing musical instruments over an extended period of time.

Once an altered state of consciousness was achieved, the shaman or medicine man would experience vivid and memorable visual hallucinations, which were considered sacred and were used as inspirations for the drawings on the cave walls. The shaman might create the cave drawings themselves while still in an altered state, or perhaps other artists would make the drawings later on based on the verbal descriptions provided by the shaman. 

These mind-altering ceremonies would be held inside caves in part because of their association with the spiritual realms of the underworld and in part because their acoustics were perfect for inducing expanded consciousness through immersion in a musical wall of sound. 

If shamanistic explorations of altered states of consciousness did inspire Upper Paleolithic cave art, it could explain why the conch shell wind instrument was created and why it was found inside the Marsoulas cave. The shell may have been carefully and painstakingly customized to produce specific musical notes (C, D, and C sharp) that could help provoke a dramatic shift in conscious awareness, if played continuously inside an enclosed space and accompanied by drumming, singing, and the playing of other sound-producing instruments.

Noting the red-ochre imprints found on the inside of the conch shell, one member of the Marsoulas conch shell research team has added legitimacy to this hypothesis.

“We are supposing that the shell was decorated with the same pattern as was used in the cave art of Marsoulas, which establishes a strong link between the music played [by] the conch and the images on the walls,”  stated Gilles Tosello , an archaeologist and cave art specialist from the University of Toulouse. “This, to our knowledge, is the first time that we can see such a relationship between music and cave art in European prehistory.” 

The Marsoulas conch shell research team plans to arrange a visit to Marsoulas, so they can listen and make recordings while the shell is played in the environment where it was originally used. If this plan comes to fruition, it will be interesting to see if they report any mind-altering effects as a consequence of their experiments. 

• Top image: Reconstruction of the conch shell musical instrument being played. In the background, a red dotted buffalo decorates the walls of the Marsoulas Cave; similar motifs decorate the instrument.                
• Source: © Carole Fritz et al. 2021 / drawing: Gilles Tosello /  Science Advances

By Nathan Falde

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

12-02-2021 om 00:53 geschreven door peter  

Listen to a 17,000-year-old musical instrument made from a seashell

It's one of the oldest wind instruments.

 by Tibi Puiu

 

In 1931, archaeologists stumbled upon a 17,000-year-old conch shell in a richly decorated cave in the Pyrenees. For more than eight decades, the ancient artifact had been gathering dust in the storeroom of a French museum until it was re-examined by researchers. They found that the shell was drilled purposefully to turn the shell into a musical instrument. Remarkably, they even managed to play near-perfect instruments out of the horn, showing that it still works after all these years.

Hunter-gatherers of musical notes

Originally, the shell belonged to some living organism, perhaps a sea snail called Charonia lampas, judging from its characteristics. It measures 31 centimeters in length and 18 centimeters in width.

Initially, when excavators found the shell in the Marsoulas cave, which was adorned with all sorts of marvelous prehistoric art, they thought it must have served a ceremonial purpose as a fancy drinking cup.

In reality, the conch shell is a lot more interesting than meets the eye. When scientists at the French National Centre for Scientific Research re-analyzed the artifact, they identified deliberate modifications that enabled the production of sounds with musical pitch. Besides holes drilled at certain intervals, the artisan also removed the apex of the shell, as well as the outermost lip of the shell, enabling a player to insert their hands to modulate the sound.

The prehistoric musical instrument that looks like a normal conch shell but isn’t.

(© Carole Fritz et al. 2021 /  Science Advances )

Essentially, the modified conch shell is a musical horn, the oldest known instrument of its type. Only bone flutes have been retrieved from an earlier date.Get more science news like this...

When the researchers realized the shell’s true purpose, they enlisted a trained horn player to offer some feedback. The musician was able to play three clear notes, very close to C, D, and C#.

“We already know that prehistoric people transformed many shells into portable ornaments and that they thus attributed substantial corporal symbolism to them. This seashell horn, with its unique sonority, both deep and strong with an enduring reverberation, sheds light on a musical dimension until now unknown in the context of Upper Paleolithic societies,” the authors wrote in the journal Science Advances.

The inner part of the conch is decorated with red pigment of the same kind as that used on the fingerprint artworks on the walls of the cave. This means that the hunter-gather musician who originally used the conch must have also participated in the painting of the images on the walls — making this perhaps the earliest combination of music and illustrative art in history. 

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

12-02-2021 om 00:43 geschreven door peter  

Sodom and Gomorrah, Mohenjo-Daro – Do The Ancient Texts Describe Nuclear Explosions And Weapons?

Nuclear power and the weapons that followed it, are developments of the twentieth century, right? But were they invented, or re-invented?

​As preposterous as it may be to some, there are people who firmly believe that nuclear power was possessed in the distant past, and what’s more, they say, there is evidence still to this day, that this power was utilized and weaponized.

Forty skeletons were found "scattered" around the streets.

Ancient Civilizations Destroyed?

The ancient cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa were discovered in the 1920s in what is now modern-day Pakistan.

Their discovery essentially proved the truth, albeit in part, in ancient writings and texts that claimed the cities were once home to a great civilization right across the Indus Valley – a civilization so great as to rival those of ancient Egypt and even those of Mesopotamia – and one that had mysteriously vanished almost overnight.

Further discovery demonstrated that the cities boasted great planning and even “modern day” amenities. The houses were furnished with brick built baths and even toilets, while the sewer and drainage system were also sophisticated – with generous supplies of “public” drinking water.

​However, as is seen in any modern day metropolis today, the clean streets and exceptional architecture ran alongside a seemingly darker and unsavory part of the city. In the uppermost levels, there were found basic “make-shift” housing that appeared to be set up around various industrial sites.

Ruins of Mohenjo-Daro

The ancient city showed sophisticated planning and amenities.

Perhaps most notably though, was the discovery of forty skeletons that were scattered around the streets – as if they had died instantly and without warning – all indications being they had suffered a violent and painful end.

British researcher and writer, David Davenport, spent more than a decade researching Mohenjo-Daro and it’s sudden demise, which resulted in the book Atomic Destruction In 2000 BC – a book in which he claimed what was responsible was nothing less than a nuclear explosion!

Davenport essentially stated that according to the Mahabharata texts the cities were destroyed using a weapon called “Agneya” – the following is text that Davenport quoted from the ancient writing:

“White hot smoke that was a thousand times brighter than the sun rose in infinite brilliance and reduced the city to ashes. Water boiled…horses and war chariots were burned by the thousands… the corpses of the fallen were mutilated by the terrible heat so that they no longer looked like human beings…”

You can read more from the Mahabharata here.

Do the ancient texts describe the use of nuclear weapons in the past?

Davenport stated there were indications of solids being fused at the site – something that would take a temperature of 1500 degrees Celsius to achieve before quickly cooling after, and all around where he claimed the epicenter of the blast took place there was further evidence of fusion and crystallization. This he said was proof of an explosion – a nuclear explosion.

According to Davenport “at least one of the skeletons” that were tested had extremely high levels of radiation – something that led him to compare the site to Nagasaki in Japan following the dropping of the atomic bomb at the end of the Second World War.

His theory was met with much interest and almost reserved “support” – perhaps most notably  Professor Antonio Castellani, a space engineer in Rome who said, “it's possible that what happened at Mohenjo-Daro was not a natural phenomenon!”

If what Davenport claims is true, then it raises the question of how advanced some of the ancient civilizations actually were. If it had indeed been a weapon and not an accidental explosion that brought this civilization to a screeching halt, who created that weapon, and why? And where did the technology and the civilization that allegedly unleashed it disappear to?

It is not that Mahenjo-Daro is an isolated incident – at least in theory.

​The Bible, to some, clearly describes a nuclear assault on the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and even tells why – the towns had turned into what was seen by “The Lord” as a pit of "sexual depravity", including the perceived sin in such times of homosexual relations, as well as bestiality. Whether you agree with this theory or not, you can do a little more reading here about alleged recent finds concerning the ancient cities.

Painting showing Lot and his daughters escaping the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Descriptions Of Nuclear Weapons In The Bible?

“Genesis 19”, tells of “two angels” who arrive at Sodom and are greeted by a man called Lot. Lot takes them to his house to offer them food and shelter for the night. However, as described in verse 4, the townsfolk had soon descended upon his house:

“(4)Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house.  (5) They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can know (have sex) with them.”

Lot spoke with the crowd and begged them to leave the men alone, even offering the crowd his daughters who had “never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you and you can do whatever you like with them” – to which the crowd demanded he get out of their way before trying to break into the house.

Verse 10 describes how the “angels” blinded the crowd with one device or another:

“(10) But the men inside (angels) reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. (11) Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.”

They then went on to inform Lot to gather his family and leave the city as “The Lord” was going to destroy it:

“(12) The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, (13) because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the Lord against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

Lot did as instructed and with the “angels” his family fled the city before dawn – they instructed Lot to run away from the cities and into the mountains so that he would not “be swept away” in what was coming. Lot asked the angels if he might be able to instead flee to a small town (Zoar) which might be spared. The angles agreed and as the “sun came up over the land” and with Lot now in Zoar the “Lord rained sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah” as he “destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.”

Is this the "pillar of salt" that Lot's wife was turned to?

Verse 26 also speaks of the death of Lot’s wife, who despite being told not to, “...looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.” What is interesting here is that if someone was to be caught up in a nuclear assault this is how they would essentially end up, while heading to the mountain would be what anyone hoping to survive the aftermath of a nuclear blast would be best off doing.

Verse 28 speaks of Abraham viewing the remains of the city

“(28)He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.”

Was the Bible describing a planned nuclear assault on the two cities? Could homosexual behavior and so-called other depraved sexual acts really be the reason for this, and if so why? Why was Lot spared and seemingly immune to the “behavior” of the rest of the town? Maybe it is worth noting that the following verses speak of Lot’s own daughters disguising themselves and getting their father drunk in order to become pregnant with his child to “preserve their bloodline!” And was the device the “angel” used to blind the crowd some kind of advanced technology?

If there is any truth at all to Davenport’s claims of Mohenjo-Daro, then you might think there would be some truth to the claims in the Bible of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Perhaps it is worth noting this response from Robert Oppenheimer, known as the “father of the atomic bomb.” He was known to study ancient Hindu and Vedic texts, and when asked, after the first nuclear bomb detonated if this was indeed “the first” nuclear explosion, responded, “Yes, in modern times.”

​Check out the video on Mahenjo-Daro below for a little further viewing and see what you think.

[Marcus Lowth February 2016]

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{ https://www.metimeforthemind.com/ }

08-02-2021 om 22:22 geschreven door peter  

Giant Obsidian Golden Eagle Surfaces in Mexico

The Aztec’s  Hueteocalli, otherwise known as the  Templo Mayor  (which translates into “Great Temple”) stood at the center of  Tenochtitlan (Mexico City), the capital city of the  Aztec world in  Mexico. With its twin temples dedicated to the war god Huitzilopochtli and to the rain god Tlaloc, archaeologists from the Templo Mayor Project ( PTM) of the National Institute of Anthropology and History ( INAH) have discovered a sculptured stone displaying a golden eagle. 

It is at the foot of this architectural wonder of the  Aztec religious world in modern-day Mexico City, on the central axis of the temple dedicated to Huitzilopochtl and the monumental sculpture of the goddess Coyolxauhqui, that archaeologists have unearthed the giant obsidian eagle. And this is no ordinary carved eagle, for it represents the largest of its type ever discovered.

The golden eagle bas-relief was discovered during excavations at the Templo Mayor in the center of Mexico City.

( Bill Perry  / Adobe Stock)

Measuring up the Golden Eagle

Dating to the rule of Motecuhzoma Ilhuicamina, between 1440 and 1469 AD, Mexico’s Secretary of Culture, Alejandra Frausto Guerrero, said the carved  itzcuauhtli (obsidian eagle) was discovered in February 2020. The representation of a golden eagle ( Aquila chrysaetos canadensis ) measures 1.06 meters (3.47 ft) long and 0.7 meters (2.26 ft) wide. The ancient  bas-relief is “the largest in a set of 67 similar elements discovered in the  Templo Mayor .

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The stone was discovered near the circular  Cuauhxicalco, or “place of the eagle's gourd,” where 16th century accounts say the Tenochca rulers were ritually cremated. Lead archaeologist Professor Leonardo López Luján says the eagle was carved on “red tezontle,” which is a porous, highly oxidized, volcanic rock used extensively in construction in both ancient and modern Mexico.

The golden eagle bas-relief, measuring 1.06 meters (3.47 ft) long and 0.7 meters (2.26 ft) wide, was discovered on the south side of the Templo Mayor in Mexico City

(Mirsa Islas /  INAH)

The Way of the Eagle and the Jaguar

Dr. López Luján added that the plaza floor in the  Templo Mayor  had been covered since pre-Hispanic time and that it is unique because its  bas-reliefs “alluding to the dual conception of the building.” The  eagle was discovered on the south side of the temple which is associated with the mythical birth cycle of  Huitzilopochtli; while to the north, the bas-reliefs are associated with  Tláloc, “the water cycle and the regeneration of corn.” Dr. López Luján’s team originally believed the floor was built by the government of Ahuítzotl between 1486 and 1502 AD, but now it is thought to date to the government of Motecuhzoma I in the 1440s.

Aztec boys were taught about weaponry and warfare until the age of 17 when the best students progressed to become “eagle warriors” and earned nobility in  Aztec society . However, to achieve adult status young men had to capture their first prisoner and after they had captured 20 a young man was eligible to become either a jaguar or eagle warrior. Either way, both paths meant a life spent in constant battle to capture prisoners for sacrificing to the gods.

The Mexican coat of arms depicts a golden eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus devouring a rattlesnake.

( Public domain )

The Golden Eagle in Mexican Society, and Beyond

The golden eagle  exists today in the  Mexican coat of arms , that depicts the bird of prey perched on a prickly pear cactus devouring a rattlesnake. This image reflects the ancient  Aztec legend that their capital city was located where an eagle was seen eating a snake on top of a lake. For the people of  Tenochtitlan the eagle symbol had strong and positive religious connotations, but for the European invaders it was the serpent from the Garden of Eden representing the sinister voice of temptation.

The eagle was not only symbolic in ancient Mexico but across the entirety of South America from Brazil in the east to Ecuador in the west, and Peru in the south: where it was incorporated in mythology with the condor. According to the the  Pachamama Alliance  “The Eagle and the Condor” is an ancient Inca prophecy that speaks of humans splitting and following two paths, that of the eagle or the condor. The path of the condor is the path of heart, of intuition, and as such it represents feminine universal aspects. On the other hand, the path of the eagle is the path of the mind: the masculine way.

The prophecy of the eagle and condor says that beginning in the 1490s a 500-year cycle would begin in which the Eagle people would become so powerful that they would nearly drive the Condor people out of existence. This prophecy is believed to have become manifest in the subsequent  Spanish conquest  of South America, and according to most indigenous communities in South America today is still unfolding in the shape of old giants ripping apart their indigenous lands for liquid gold.

• Top image: The giant bas-relief of a golden eagle has been discovered during excavations at the Templo Mayor in Mexico City.    
• Source: Mirsa Islas /  INAH

By Ashley Cowie

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

07-02-2021 om 01:11 geschreven door peter  

Mummy with a gold tongue found in Egypt

By Owen Jarus - Live Science Contributor 

Could they speak to the gods?

This 2,000-year-old mummy was buried with a golden tongue, likely to help the deceased speak in the afterlife.

(Image: © Egyptian antiquities ministry)

Archaeologists have found a 2,000-year-old mummy with a gold tongue at an ancient Egyptian site called Taposiris Magna. 

Embalmers perhaps placed the golden tongue on the mummy to ensure that the deceased would be able to speak in the afterlife, the Egyptian antiquities ministry said in a statement released Jan 29. 

For instance, if the golden-tongued mummy encountered Osiris, the god of the underworld, in the afterlife, they would have needed to be able to speak to the god, the statement said. It isn’t clear if the mummy had a speech impediment when they were alive. It’s also not clear why the tongue was made out of gold specifically. 

• Related: The 25 most mysterious archaeological finds on Earth

The archaeologists,  led by Kathleen Martinez, from the Dominican Republic, discovered the mummy in one of 16 burials at Taposiris Magna, which has temples dedicated to Osiris and Isis, a goddess who was both the wife and sister of Osiris. Previously, archaeologists found a hoard of coins decorated with the face of Cleopatra VII, suggesting the temples were in use during the queen’s reign. 

Among the other burials at the site, archaeologists discovered this female mummy who has a death mask that covers much of her body. 

(Image credit: Egyptian antiquities ministry)

The remains of several statues depicting the deceased were also recently found at the site. 

(Image credit: Egyptian antiquities ministry)

This statue also depicts one of the deceased, a man whose hairstyle is shown in detail. 

(Image credit: Egyptian antiquities ministry)

This 2,000-year-old mummy was buried with a golden tongue, likely to help the deceased speak in the afterlife. 

(Image credit: Egyptian antiquities ministry)

More mummies

The other 15 burials also date back around 2,000 years and contain remarkable treasure. In one, a female mummy is wearing a death mask that covers much of her body and depicts her with a headdress while smiling.  

Two of the mummies were found with the remains of scrolls, which scholars are currently analyzing and deciphering. The plastered layers, or cartonnage, encasing one of these mummies has golden decorations of Osiris, the statement said. 

The researchers also found several statues that depict the people who were buried at the site; the statues are so well preserved, you can still make out the individual’s hairstyles and headdresses, the statement said. The statues give the people a formal look, with no smiles on their faces.  

Though the archaeologists aren’t sure exactly when the individuals died, they can tell that the people lived at a time when Egypt was ruled either by the Ptolemies (304 B.C. to 30 B.C.), who were the descendants of one of Alexander the Great’s generals, or by the Roman Empire, which took over the country after the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 B.C.

A team made of archaeologists from Egypt and the University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic are conducting these excavations at Taposiris Magna. It is led by Kathleen Martinez, an archaeologist from the Dominican Republic. Excavation of the site and analysis of the remains is ongoing. 

Originally published on Live Science.

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{ https://www.livescience.com/ }

07-02-2021 om 00:30 geschreven door peter  

Archaeologists in Turkey have discovered a major, previously unknown kingdom

They ruled a big part of today's Turkey and defeated the legendary king Midas.

 by Mihai Andrei

 

“We had no idea about this kingdom. In a flash, we had profound new information on the Iron Age Middle East,” said Prof. James Osborne of the Oriental Institute, an archaeologist who specializes in examining Iron Age cities. Osborne and colleagues have discovered what looks like a major political center in ancient Turkey from about 2700 years ago — and we knew nothing about it.

The mound from above (Google Earth / via OI).

{ https://www.zmescience.com/ }

05-02-2021 om 23:23 geschreven door peter