6 km long underground world under the Pyramids of Egypt

Egypt is a historical treasure. Packed with monuments, many have been discovered under the surface. This suggests the existence of a whole underground world.

Egypt is the land of mystery and ancient treasures. Many people still believe that the Great Pyramid of Giza is the oldest , however, there is one that is even older.

The Stepped Pyramid of Djoser was built about 4,700 years ago , in the Third Dynasty of Egypt.

According to Egyptologists, Djoser , during his reign, was in charge of its construction , naming Imhotep as its architect. A young man who, without knowing it, would revolutionize Egyptian architecture and continue to surprise us today.

The Step Pyramid and what it meant to Ancient Egypt

Egypt had never seen anything like it. It was built entirely of carved stone, becoming the first great monument in history.

For its construction, Imhotep had to have a colossal workforce , almost impossible. According to archeology, it took around 19 years to complete , suggesting that Djoser ruled throughout that time.

According to experts, the pyramid did not start as one, as its foundations show that it was thought of as a mastaba , so Imhotep had to redesign its construction in the process.

In fact, Egypt lacks square mastabas, or at least, to date, none have been found.

The Metropolis of Saqqara

Despite the fact that this pyramid was the most complex construction in the Saqqara Metropolis , there are other buildings of greater importance in the area.

The structures that were in the center were totally surrounded by a limestone wall that reached up to 10.5 meters in height , which had up to 14 doors, but with only one entrance.

It should also be noted that the complex was massive ; it is estimated that it reached up to 15 hectares of land. Simply put, it was 3 times bigger than the Old Kingdom city ​​of Hierakonpolis .

Despite all the marvelous things that we have mentioned, from the dimensions of the complex and the construction of the pyramid, this takes second place when it is known that, under the surface , there is a city equal to or more impressive than the one on its surface.

The underworld

If we believe that the entire Saqqara complex was colossal, the underworld that was built under the Djoser pyramid is a whole metropolis .

Until now, it is not known, nor is it understood, why Imhotep built a whole network of tunnels , chambers, rooms and an extensive labyrinth that, according to studies, reaches up to 6 kilometers in diameter.

This underground world is connected to a kind of chamber of several square meters, located at a depth of 28 meters   that is practically in the heart of the Step Pyramid.

Egyptologists assure that this intraterrestrial world under the pyramid would be a funerary complex that tried to imitate the palace and would serve as the place where the spirits of the royal family would live.

But there is a problem; if Djoser’s Step Pyramid was the one that inspired the construction of the rest of the pyramids , why weren’t more underground complexes built?

In fact, this was never attempted again in the next Egyptian generations, not even with the great complex of Giza and its colossal pyramids.

So far this mysterious complex has not been fully studied, so what it hides is not really known. We still have thousands of rooms to go through and study, so a story that, to date, has remained hidden from the world will possibly be discovered

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29-12-2020 om 23:29 geschreven door peter  

Massive Tsunami Hit the Neolithic Middle East 9,000+ Years Ago

Study may explain why previous archaeological surveys have found no evidence until the Late Neolithic for low-lying coastal villages at Tel Dor, Israel

The small bays of Israel’s Tel Dor.

Image courtesy of University of Haifa-UC San Diego Carmel Coast Marine Archaeology Expedition.

This wasn’t Noah’s flood. But it was still a catastrophic event that profoundly changed the landscape and could have given rise to legends, too. According to a new study from an international team of researchers, a massive tsunami swept over the coastline near Tel Dor, Israel, sometime between 9,910 and 9,290 years ago.

The date makes it the oldest known paleo tsunami in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, the paper is by Gilad Shtienberg, Richard Norris and Thomas Levy from the University of California San Diego, with colleagues from Utah State University and the University of Haifa. It is part of an ongoing, long-term project between UC San Diego’s Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology (SCMA) and Haifa’s Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies, directed by paper co-author Assaf Yasur-Landau, to investigate how humans have, over the past 12 millennia, adapted to climate and environmental change along Israel’s Carmel Coast.

The researchers discovered evidence for the tsunami by cutting open sediment cores from their coastal study area at the South Bay of Tel Dor. In these samples, they found an abrupt layer of seashells and sand, dated to between 9,910 and 9,290 years ago, in the middle wetland layers deposited 15,000 to 7,800 years ago. The only way that this marine material could have arrived so far inland, or what would have been inland at that time, the authors determined, was through a destructive wave.

They estimate that the wave capable of doing this would have traveled inland between 1.5 to 3.5 kilometers (about 1 to 2 miles) and would have been between 16 and 40 meters (52 to 130 feet) high at the coast.

Tsunamis are not uncommon in the eastern Mediterranean; historical records and geographic data suggest that a tsunami has been occurring about once per century over the past 6,000 years. For comparison, however, previously documented tsunami events have traveled inland only around 300 meters (or about 1,000 feet). In other words, this Neolithic event was significant. The authors suspect a strong earthquake on the Dead Sea Fault System was followed by an underwater landslide.

If there was a village at the site, this tsunami would have devastated it – and destroyed crop lands, pastures and herds, as well as near-shore marine fisheries and resources.

This event, which occurred during the Early to Middle Neolithic cultural periods of the region, might explain why previous archaeological surveys have found no evidence for low-lying coastal villages in that particular area until the late Neolithic, the researchers said. The evidence for earlier settlement may have been wiped out.

“We can’t know for sure why people weren’t living there, in a place otherwise abundant with evidence of early human habitation and the beginnings of village life in the Holy Land,” said Levy, the paper’s senior author, co-director of UC San Diego’s SCMA and an archaeology professor in the university’s Department of Anthropology. “Was the environment too altered to support life? Was the tsunami part of their cultural knowledge – did they tell stories of this destructive event and stay away? We can only imagine.”

By the Late or Pottery Neolithic period, however, archaeological sites along the coast begin to reappear – and coincide with the resumption of wetland deposition in the core samples from Dor, indicating resettlement and highlighting, Levy said, people’s resilience in the face of massive disruption.

One of those rare Pottery Neolithic submerged sites was excavated at the South Bay of Tel Dor by Assaf Yasur-Landau and Levy’s joint University of Haifa-UC San Diego team as part of the PLOS ONE paper.

To conduct their analysis, the authors of this paper used photogrammetric remote sensing techniques to create a digital model of their study area at Tel Dor, combined with underwater excavation and terrestrial borehole drilling. The dating was locked down using a relatively new radiometric dating technique called Optical Stimulated Luminescence, or OSL, in co-author Tammy Rittenour’s Luminescence Laboratory at Utah State University. OSL dates the last time quartz sediment was exposed to light.

“Our project focuses on reconstructing ancient climate and environmental change over the past 12,000 years along the Israeli coast,” said Shtienberg, the paper’s first author and a Koret postdoctoral scholar at UC San Diego’s SCMA, who is studying the sediment cores. “We never dreamed of finding evidence of a prehistoric tsunami in Israel.”

In the future, the researchers hope to do more geophysical research in deeper water and send divers down to test their results and perhaps find evidence of earlier settlements.

The research is supported, in part, by funding from the Koret Foundation (Grant ID 19-0295); the Murray Galinson San Diego-Israel Initiative; the Israel Institute (Washington, D.C.); Marian Scheuer-Sofaer and Abraham Sofaer Foundation; Norma and Reuben Kershaw Family Foundation; Ellen Lehman and Charles Kennel - Alan G Lehman and Jane A Lehman Foundation; Paul and Margaret Meyer and the Israel Science Foundation (Grant ID 495/18).

{ https://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/ }

26-12-2020 om 22:33 geschreven door peter  

Archaeologists Find Evidence of Neolithic Mega-Tsunami in Israel

A catastrophic tsunami occurred sometimes between 7,910 and 7,290 BCE with an extreme 16 m (52.5 feet) wave height and 1.5-3.5 km (0.93-2.2 mile) run-up on the Carmel coast of Israel, according to new research published in the journal PLoS ONE.

“Tsunami events in antiquity had a profound influence on coastal societies,” said lead author Dr. Gilad Shtienberg from the Department of Anthropology in the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology at the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues.

“6,000 years of historical records and geological data show that tsunamis are a common phenomenon affecting the eastern Mediterranean coastline, occurring at a rate of around 8 events per century in the Aegean region over the past 2,000 years and approximately 10 per century over the past 3,000 years in the Levant basin.”

“Most of these events are small and have only local impacts.”

In the study, the researchers found a large paleo-tsunami deposit (between 9,910 to 9,290 years ago) at the archaeological site of Tel Dor in northwest Israel.

“Tel Dor, located along the Carmel coast of northwest Israel, is a maritime city-mound that has been occupied from the Middle Bronze II period (2000 to 1550 BCE) throughout the Roman period (3rd century CE) while Byzantine and Crusader remains are also found on the tel,” they said.

“The local environment of Dor is characterized by a series of unique embayments/pocket beaches that stand out from the linear morphology of the southeastern Mediterranean littoral shore face.”

To conduct their analysis, the scientists used photogrammetric remote sensing techniques to create a digital model of the Tel Dor site, combined with underwater excavation and terrestrial borehole drilling to a depth of 9 m (29.5 feet).

In their samples, they found an abrupt layer of seashells and sand, dated to between 9,910 and 9,290 years ago, in the middle wetland layers deposited 15,000 to 7,800 years ago.

They estimate that the ancient tsunami had a run-up of at least 16 m and traveled between 3.5 to 1.5 km inland from the paleo-coastline.

The near absence of Pre-Pottery Neolithic A-B archaeological sites (11,700-9,800 years ago) suggest these sites were removed by the tsunami, whereas younger, late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B-C (9,250-8,350 years ago) and later Pottery-Neolithic sites (8,250-7,800 years ago) indicate resettlement following the event.

“We can’t know for sure why people weren’t living there, in a place otherwise abundant with evidence of early human habitation and the beginnings of village life in the Holy Land,” said Professor Thomas Levy, a researcher in the Department of Anthropology and the Levant and Cyber-Archaeology Laboratory in the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology at the University of California, San Diego.

“Was the environment too altered to support life? Was the tsunami part of their cultural knowledge — did they tell stories of this destructive event and stay away? We can only imagine.”

“Our project focuses on reconstructing ancient climate and environmental change over the past 12,000 years along the Israeli coast; and we never dreamed of finding evidence of a prehistoric tsunami in Israel,” Dr. Shtienberg said.

“Scholars know that at the beginning of the Neolithic, around 10,000 years ago, the seashore was 4 km (2.5 miles) from where it is today.”

“When we cut the cores open in San Diego and started seeing a marine shell layer embedded in the dry Neolithic landscape, we knew we hit the jackpot.”

_____

G. Shtienberg et al. 2020. A Neolithic mega-tsunami event in the eastern Mediterranean: Prehistoric settlement vulnerability along the Carmel coast, Israel. PLoS ONE 15 (12): e0243619; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0243619

{ http://www.sci-news.com/ }

26-12-2020 om 22:25 geschreven door peter  

They discover a 12 KM “WALL” with Paintings from 12,500 YEARS AGO in the Amazon Rainforest

These are tens of thousands of cave paintings made in the middle of the Ice Age along a cliff 12,500 years ago. They show various scenes of people and animals.

One of the largest collections of prehistoric rock art in the world has been discovered in the Amazon rainforest. Called the “Sistine Chapel of the ancients,” archaeologists have found tens of thousands of paintings of animals and humans created up to 12,500 years ago on cliffs that stretch for more than 12 kilometers in Colombia.

His date is based in part on his depictions of now-extinct Ice Age animals, such as the mastodon, a prehistoric relative of the elephant that has not roamed South America for at least 12,000 years. There are also images of the paleolama , an extinct camelid, as well as giant sloths and horses from the Ice Age.

These animals were seen and painted by some of the first humans to reach the Amazon . His images give a glimpse of an ancient lost civilization. Such is the magnitude of the paintings that it will take generations to study them.

The discovery was made last year, but has been kept under wraps until now, as it was filmed for a major Channel 4 series that will screen in December: Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms of the Amazon .

The site is located in the Serranía de la Lindosa where, along with the Chiribiquete National Park, additional rock art has been found. The host of the documentary, Ella Al-Shamahi , an archaeologist and explorer, told Observer:

“The new site is so new they haven’t even given it a name.”

Al-Shamahi referred to the thrill of seeing “impressive” images that were created thousands of years ago.

Ella Al-Shamahi, explorer, paleoanthropologist, evolutionary biologist, and comedian.

The discovery was made by a British-Colombian team, funded by the European Research Council . Its leader is José Iriarte, a professor of archeology at Exeter University and a leading expert on Amazonian and pre-Columbian history.

Al-Shamahi said:

“When you are there, your emotions flow… We are talking about several tens of thousands of paintings. It will take generations to record them… Every turn you make is a new wall of paintings. We start to see animals that are now extinct. The images are so natural and well done that we have little doubt that you are looking at a horse, for example. The ice age horse had a wild and heavy face. It is so detailed that we can even see horse hair. It is fascinating.”

The images include fish, turtles, lizards and birds, as well as people dancing and holding hands, among other scenes. One figure wears a mask that resembles a bird with a beak.

The site is so remote that, after a two-hour drive from San José del Guaviare , a team of archaeologists and filmmakers walked for about four hours.

Somehow they avoided the most dangerous animals in the region. “Alligators are everywhere, and we were on the lookout for snakes,” Al-Shamahi said.

As the documentary points out, Colombia is a land torn apart after 50 years of civil war between the FARC guerrillas and the Colombian government, now with an uncomfortable truce. The territory where the paintings have been discovered was completely off-limits until recently and still requires careful negotiation to enter safely.

Al-Shamahi said in a statement:

“When we entered the FARC territory, it was exactly how some of us have been shouting for a long time. The exploration is not over. Scientific discovery is not over, but great discoveries will now be found in disputed or hostile places. “

Paintings of various sizes and at great height

The paintings vary in size. There are numerous handprints and many of the images are on that scale, be they geometric, animal or human shapes. Others are much larger.

Al-Shamahi was surprised by how tall many of them are: “I am 1.64 cm tall and I had to bend my neck a lot to look up. How did they climb those walls?

Some of the paintings are so tall that they can only be seen with drones.

Iriarte believes the answer lies in the representations of wooden towers among the paintings, including figures that appear to bungee jump from them.

Iriarte said:

“These paintings have a reddish terracotta color. We also found pieces of ocher that they scraped to make them ”.

Speculating on whether the paintings had a sacred or other purpose, he said: “It is interesting to see that many of these large animals appear surrounded by small men with their arms raised, almost worshiping these animals.”

Noting that the images include hallucinogenic trees and plants, he added: “For the Amazonian peoples, non-humans, like animals and plants, have souls, and they communicate and relate to people in a cooperative or hostile way. through the rituals and shamanic practices that we see represented. in rock art ».

Al-Shamahi said:

“One of the most fascinating things was seeing the megafauna from the Ice Age because it is an indicator of time. I don’t think people realize that the Amazon has changed in appearance. It has not always been this rainforest. When you look at a horse or a mastodon in these paintings, of course they were not going to live in a forest. They’re too big. Not only are they giving clues as to when they were painted by some of the first people, which in itself is just mind-boggling, but they are also giving clues as to what this very place could have been like: more like a savanna. “

Iriarte believes that there are still many other paintings to discover: “We are only scratching the surface,” he said. The team plans to return as soon as the pandemic allows.

There is no doubt that the Amazon hides a huge ancient treasure left by very little documented civilizations, which lived in an environment very different from what we see today in the jungle of this part of the world.

• Top Image: Tens of thousands of ancient paintings were found on a wall that spans more than 12 kilometers. Credit: Ella Al-Shamahi

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25-12-2020 om 21:23 geschreven door peter  

The Passage to the Underworld found under the pyramid of the Moon in Teotihuacán

Underground world in Teotihuacán:

Mexican archaeologists map a cave located 8 meters deep under the Pyramid of the Moon.

They also found access tunnels to that cave and they realized that the pyramid was built on the basis of that cave , being the first structure to be built in Teotihuacán. This latest study confirms that the three pyramids have a similar network of tunnels and caverns below that represent the underworld .

This was an investigation carried out by archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH) and geologists from the Institute of Geophysics of UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico). The current study confirms findings from 2017 and 2018.

Cave and tunnels under the Pyramid of the Moon

Teotihuacán is located in the Valley of Mexico and was built by an unknown civilization . The three main pyramids were temples used for ceremonies dedicated to pre-Columbian gods .

The Pyramid of the Sun is the main one, at 65 meters high , while the Pyramid of the Moon is the second highest, at 43 meters . This second pyramid is thought to have been built on top of seven layers of structures, from AD 100 to AD 450 .

The cavity discovered under the Pyramid of the Moon is 15 meters in diameter and includes a tunnel located 8 meters deep . But it is very possible that there are more tunnels. The investigative techniques were non-invasive geophysics (ANT and ERT) , which managed to detect the vacuum of the underground cavity.

Geophysicists identified this cave in 2017 , through an Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT). Previous studies also revealed the presence of other man-made tunnels under the Pyramid of the Moon , as well as passageways and caves under the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent .

This cave was used as the nucleus for all of Teotihuacán

For 30 years, it has been believed that this cave “of the Moon” is natural and that its pre-Columbian architects must have used this underground world to lay the foundation, trace and build the entire city of Teotihuacán . The cave was the starting point.

Another aspect that points to this urban project is in building 1, the first base part of the Pyramid of the Moon , and “the oldest known Teotihuacan monument . ” It was built between 100 BC. C. and 50 d. C., being prior to all other buildings in the city.

Workers removing dirt in a tunnel under the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent, Teotihuacán. Credit: Janet Jarman. That first stage of construction began at the front of the pyramid … And it was expanded, until it formed the current structure and covered the entire underground cave . Additionally, the Pyramid of the Moon is located on the central line of Teotihuacán , at the end of the extensive Calzada de los Muertos , the backbone of the entire city … There we note its importance.

The meaning of the three pyramids of Teotihuacán is mysterious, but this new discovery of the cave under the Pyramid of the Moon completes the trilogy of underground passages in the three buildings. That is why it is theorized that the construction culture wanted to emulate the mythological underworld under the Earth and worship the world of the dead.

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25-12-2020 om 20:42 geschreven door peter  

24-12-2020 om 00:53 geschreven door peter  

It had an interesting, spiral-like arrangement.

 by Alexandru Micu

New research at the Oregon State University (OSU) discovered a new species and genus of fossil flower from a specimen encased in Burmese amber.

Christened Valviloculus pleristaminis, the flower is pretty tiny, around 2 mm across for the specimen, a male. However, it boasts some 50 segments arranged in a spiral pattern with vertical pollen-bearing anthers.

Ambered

“This isn’t quite a Christmas flower but it is a beauty, especially considering it was part of a forest that existed 100 million years ago,” said George Poinar Jr., professor emeritus in the OSU College of Science.

“Despite being so small, the detail still remaining is amazing. Our specimen was probably part of a cluster on the plant that contained many similar flowers, some possibly female.”

The fossil consists of an egg-shaped floral cup, the outer layer of petal-like structures (tepals), and anthers made up of two chambers. These anthers hold pollen sacs that are meant to split open “via laterally hinged valves”.

Its name reflects the flower’s structure. ‘Valva’ is a Latin word that is the root of ‘valve’, the authors explain, ‘loculus’ means compartment, ‘plerus’ is ‘many’, while ‘staminis’ refers to its male sex organs. The flower was encased in amber on the bygone supercontinent Pangaea. Although its current location was in western Burma, its original source lies some 4,000 miles across the ocean from Australia to Southeast Asia, Poinar explains.

The geological structure it formed in is known as the West Burma Block, and eventually broke away from Gondwana around 200 to 500 million years ago. The exact date is unknown, but the current discovery can help.

Valviloculus pleristaminis belongs to the angiosperm family, a group of vascular plants with stems, roots, and leaves, which fertilize and develop their eggs inside the flower. Angiosperms only evolved and diversified about 100 million years ago, meaning the block couldn’t have wrenched free before then, Poinar explains. This is a much later date than those currently being considered, so it could spur renewed effort — and interest — into dating the event.

• The paper “Zygadelphus aetheus gen. et sp. nov., an unusual fossil flower from mid-Cretaceous Myanmar amber” has been published in the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas.

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23-12-2020 om 21:23 geschreven door peter  

Craniums and Controversies of the Chachapoya Cloud Warriors

Over a thousand years ago, in the mists of the cloud forests of northern  Peru, near the source of the mighty Amazon River, the Cloud Warriors reigned supreme. Long before the emergence of the  Inca State , these mysterious, shamanic warlords ruled a vast swath of the Andes before being defeated by the Inca, abandoning their great citadel, and vanishing into history. In recent decades, additional archaeological evidence has come to light from two primary sources, the fortress city known as Kuelap, and the cliff face necropolis at the Lagoon of the Condors. Because these cultures left no written records (that we’re currently aware of), the only sources of information relating to them were native, oral traditions, and documentary accounts by early European explorers, which has lead to centuries of speculation and controversy. 

Kuelap and the Lagoon of the Condors

Rising up nearly ten thousand feet (3,048 m.) above the Utcubamba Valley, surrounded by clouds, orchids, and epiphytes, the walled settlement of Kuelap dominates the landscape. Sometimes called the  Machu Picchu  of the North, Kuelap is an underrated wonder of the ancient world. The perimeter walls of the settlement are sixty feet (thirty meters) high, protecting over four-hundred circular dwelling structures which originally had thatched conical roofs, which is absolutely anomalous in  pre-Columbian architecture. There are many other features unique to Andean civilization, like the twenty-foot (7 m.) tall defensive towers from which stone spheres were used as projectiles from slings.

In 1997, about 500 miles (805 km) to the north of Kuelap, over two hundred mummies were discovered high in the cliffs around this remote lake. The mummies were wrapped in seated positions and sealed within individualized, anthropomorphic sarcophagi overlooking the lake, all of which is highly abnormal amongst Andean cultures. Many of the mummies had been looted, and some had strange cranial features such as elongated skulls or holes from trepanning (a premortem cavity drilled into the skull). Kuelap also had human skulls embedded within the walls, which also isplayed stone sculptures of decapitated victims.

• Cloud Warriors: The Mysterious Power of the Lost Chachapoya Culture
• Kuelap, Peru - Ancient Fortress of the Cloud Warriors
• Peruvian Necropolis Destroyed by Looters and Tourists is Preserved by Salvage Archaeology

The two hundred mummies discovered at the lake were astonishingly well preserved considering how humid the region is. Scientists later discovered that the caves and crags that the Cloud People modified in mausoleums are very cold and dry microclimates, perfectly suited for long term preservation. Scores of human remains, artifacts, and biological remnants were discovered at Kuelap, including hallucinogenic plants, sacrificial animal bones, and stone weapons. 

Evidence of violence and fire were discovered at Kuelap, random age and gender skeletons were discovered in scattered, open locations, suggesting they were not interred there, but rather, that they died suddenly in that spot. The two-hundred and thirty mummies are now quietly kept at the Museo Leymebamba, but the remains and artifacts from Kuelap are not being displayed, publicly studied, and their exact location is unknown.

Archaeological remains, including a reconstructed circular dwelling, at Kuelap in Peru, a walled settlement built by the Chachapoya culture.

( LindaPhotography / Adobe Stock)

Controversies Regarding the Origins of the Chachapoya Cloud Warriors 

The Routledge Handbook of the Bioarcheology of Human Conflict  quotes the European chronicler Pedro Cieza de Leon’s 1553 description of the Cloud People: 

“Among the Chachapoya  Huayna Capac  (an Incan ruler) met great resistance, so much that twice he had to make hasty retreat to the fortresses he had built for defense. But with reinforcements brought to him, he marched on the Chachapoyas once more and inflicted such a defeat on them that they sued for peace and laid down their arms. The  Inca granted them favorable terms and ordered many of them to take up their residence in  Cuzco, where their descendants still live; he took many of their women because they are handsome and comely and very white; he set up garrisons of mitimaes as soldiers, to guard the frontier .” 

This description, combined with several others, the anomalous and Old World nature of their architecture and funerary practices, have lead to many theories that the Chachapoya originated in Europe or Eurasia.

Hail to Independent Researcher #1: Dr. Hans Giffhorn

In 1998, German professor Dr. Hans Giffhorn journeyed to the remote cloud forests of northern Peru in search of a rare hummingbird, but left bewildered by what he had seen: the ruins of Kuelap. In his essay “Chachapoya: Was America Discovered in Ancient Times,” Bell explains how Giffhorn reasoned the most irrefutable hypothesis for the  Chachapoya having migrated from the Old World. 

Giffhorn identified six complex and typical cultural traditions which appeared out of nowhere, which are inadequately explained by archaeologists and which are essential to testing theories regarding the origins of Chachapoya culture. They manifest in a) Kuelap construction methods, b) trophy heads and head sculptures, c) funerary (fetal positioning and high up in inaccessible cliffs), d) unique trepanation techniques, and e) the fabrication and utilization of stone projectile slings.

After sixteen years of research, Giffhorn found strong evidence linking the sudden, aboriginal emergence of Chachapoya Culture to Old World Cultures that matched the previously mentioned criteria. Specifically, he reasoned that these practices mirrored Galacian, Celtiberian, and Balearic traditions. Even the casual observer can make the obvious connection between the Celtic Castros Ruins of the Spanish Islands to these ruins in Northern Peru; furthermore, the principal weapon of both cultures was the  sling and stone sphere projectile. 

According to mainstream archaeologists, the sling first emerged in South America at this time and in this region, and the pattern runs much deeper, circular stone dwellings, towers, trepanation,  elongated skulls , these aspects can be traced across islands of the Mediterranean and far into prehistory. But possibly the most intriguing link is the unique practice of wearing these slings tied around the head, which is practiced even today by the Majorcans (modern descendants of Celtiberians), and was found to be practiced by the  Cloud Warriors  who were mummified with their slings tied around their heads. 

The Lagoon of the Condors, also known as the Lagoon of the Mummies, is famous because of the cliff face mausoleums containing ancient mummies.

( JOSEROGER / Adobe Stock)

Skulls Crushed by Sling Balls in Human History

Returning to the trusty but dusty  Bioarcheological Handbook of Human Conflict , a long pattern of skulls crushed by and the use of the  stone projectiles  is cultural phenomenon that can help us trace ancient migratory patterns. “Cilingiroglu (2005) argues that sling missiles, either of clay or stone, are found repeatedly throughout Southwest Asia, Anatolia, and Southeast Europe during the PPN (pre-pottery Neolithic), suggesting that slings were known to the Neolithic peoples around the Mediterranean.” 

When putting these cultural puzzle pieces together in a macro, ancient perspective, it becomes rather obvious that there was a fractured migration and assimilation of people radiating outwards from the Black/Caspian Sea/Caucus Mountain region. This culture’s footprints can be traced by the trail left behind of elongated skulls, stone slings, trepanned craniums, towers, megalithic structures, sacrificial and mummification funerary practices, but it is  DNA that is the smoking gun key to unlocking exactly who these people were, unfortunately, academic and scientific authorities are desperately evading these analyses because to bring them to light would be catastrophic to the human history narrative they have been peddling for the past two centuries. 

Celts and Gauls: Similarities to the Chachapoya Cloud Warriors

Who were these Mediterranean island dwellers with such similar culture? Ancient Greek historians like Strabo and Diodorus Siculus in his  Bibliotheca Historica  (volume eighteen, book six, chapter five), have some interesting reports about the Balearic Island inhabitants. They tell that the inhabitants would live naked or clad only in sheepskins until they were colonized by the Phoenicians, who admired their legendary skill with the sling and employed them as mercenaries. 

They also tell of how they used to live in artificial caves and hollow rocks, they were insatiably lusty, and had very peculiar marriage and funerary customs compared to those of the Hellenistic observer. The etymology of the Celts and Gauls is suspected by scholars to have Proto-Celtic tribal roots. They were known as  galno which in Old Irish means power, ferocity, or strength, although linguist Patrizia De Bernardo Stempel believes this term to be coined by the Greeks and translates as the tall ones. 

A Paracas skull with its red hair.

( Brien Foerster )

Hail to Independent Researcher #2: Brien Foerster

Is there any other evidence to corroborate Giffhorn’s theory? Independent researcher  Brien Foerster  (who deserves a medal for striving to genetically analyze skeletons of the  Paracas Culture ), has uncovered genetic evidence that links the ancient inhabitants of Southern Peru (who had  elongated skulls , auburn hair, practiced trepanation, and were wiped out) to Eurasia. In his book  Beyond the Black Sea: The Mysterious Paracas of Peru , Forester has successfully identified traces of DNA haplogroups and blood types that should not exist according to the mainstream human history narrative. 

If the conventional narrative were accurate, the genes of ancient South Americans should be relatively monolithic and so should their blood types (meaning haplogroups A-D, mostly B, and blood type O). However, Forester has discovered the strong presence of haplogroups H, U, and R along with several other discoveries that challenge the narrative and strongly suggest a migration from another part of the world.

Forester also points out that when Francisco Pizzaro asked who these pale skinned, red haired people were, the  Incareplied that they were the last descendants of  Viracocha (a fair skinned, bearded Incan deity/demi-god). “The Viracochas, they said, were a race of divine white men with beards. They were so like the Spanish that the Europeans were called Viracochas the moment they came to the Inca Empire. The Inca supposedly thought that they were the  Viracochas who had come sailing back.” A similar instance allegedly occurred between the Aztecs, Hernan Cortes, and their belief that hey was Quetzalcoatl (another or possibly the same fair skinned, bearded Mesoamerican deity) returning from across the sea. 

Intriguing Discoveries: Father Crespi’s Collection and Manuscript No. 512

Not too far north of the Chachapoya stronghold, in an Ecuadorian government bank vault, are curious artifacts that were the vast collection of Salesian monk known as  Father Crespi . In short, Father Carlos Crespi Coci was an Italian monk/missionary who accumulated great favor with local Ecuadorian tribes due to his endless warmth and generosity, and to repay him for his kindness, the natives began presenting him with strange relics allegedly from a great hoard hidden away in a remote cave. Father Crespi correctly identified some of the iconography to be of Mesopotamian origin, but upon his death, the Ecuadorian government swooped in and acquired his collection only to squirrel it away in bank vault where it remains to this day gathering dust and not being studied.  

Legendary explorer Percy Fawcett, who vanished in 1925 searching for lost cities in the Amazon, discovered an intriguing document in the Rio de Janeiro library archives in 1920. The document included the 1743 report of a Portuguese expedition who had came upon a massive stone city near where the Amazon Jungle meets the Andean Mountains (the Chachapoya region). The stone included inscriptions that were explicitly described and decades later were observed to resemble Celtic Ogham, an extinct Irish language. The expedition also reported being followed by “white Indians” and when Fawcett himself explored the area, he also documented the sparse presence of fair-skinned, red or blonde haired tribal people. 

The Chachapoya mummies should be archaeological superstars. Does their DNA link these ancient inhabitants of Southern Peru to a migration from another part of the world?

(pmoroni /  CC BY-SA 2.0 )

Curious and Contradictory Remarks of the Authorities

Dr. Sonia Guillen is the leading authority on  Peruvian mummies and the director of the Museo Leymebamba which houses the collection of  Chachapoya mummies . In 2017, in an interview with an Egyptian mummy expert, Guillen was asked about genetic testing of the mummies, to which she expressed that it was “ongoing” and that it was difficult to obtain “scientifically sound” genetic material from the mummies. 

This is a valid point. The public commonly believes that it’s a simple matter of sending of material and awaiting results (it’s not). But shortly after this remark, Guillen states that scientifically sound material has been harvested from “most” of the mummies. She then concludes with an extremely odd statement “then we have the problem of what do we compare them to?” 

These mummies should be archaeological superstars. At least a couple dozen of them should be touring the planet to the amazement of the public and delight of scientists worldwide. Instead, no genetic results have ever been published. In relation to Guillen’s final statement about comparisons, the only possibility for comparison is of course the compendium of all human genetic data:  GenBank. It almost seems like Guillen is accidentally or deliberately revealing that there’s something genetically anomalous about these mummies which defies comparison.  

• Top image: The sarcophagi of Carajia, the emblematic image of the lost Chachapoya culture.
• Source:  newfotografer / Adobe Stock

By Mark Andrew Carpenter

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

22-12-2020 om 18:05 geschreven door peter  

While it may be a tempting invitation that could lead to lost treasures of Egypt, anyone who has ever seen a ‘mummy’ movie knows that following one can only lead to bad things, not riches. And riches are one of the things ancient Egypt is known for. It’s no mystery how many non-local riches like gold, ivory, rare woods, and unusual wild animals were obtained – Egypt conducted a thriving trade business with many lands. One of those was the lost land of Punt – referred to in writings as Ta netjer or the “Land of the God” because it was considered to be a holy land associated with the Sun God and thought by some to be the Egyptian ancestral homeland. Despite that, little is known about where the land of Punt was actually located. That changed recently when a group of researchers followed a mummy (you knew we’d get back to that) – but not a human one … a baboon mummy. Wait … what?

“The Red Sea was witness to important events during human history, including the first long steps in a trade network (the spice route) that would drive maritime technology and shape geopolitical fortunes for thousands of years. Punt was a pivotal early node in the rise of this enterprise, serving as an important emporium for luxury goods, including sacred baboons (Papio hamadryas), but its location is disputed.”

A study led by Nathaniel J. Dominy, the Charles Hansen Professor of Anthropology at Dartmouth College, and others, published recently in eLife, describes the historical importance of Punt to the ancient world as a trader of valuable commodities, and to the Egyptians as a supplier of sacred goods. Despite its significance, historians have never agreed on its location – various spots have included northeast Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea on the Red Sea coast, or Somalia on the horn of Africa, reachable by the Gulf or Aden and the Indian Ocean. Its importance to Egypt is apparent by the distance needed to traverse to get there and back by sea, showing Egypt’s nautical prowess on the waters as far back as 4500 years ago. That’s a long way to go for baboons.

“Baboons were central to this commerce, so determining the location of Punt is important. For over 150 years, Punt has been a geographic mystery. Our analysis is the first to show how mummified baboons can be used to inform this enduring debate.”

Archeologists have found references to baboons, especially as a manifestation of Thoth, the god of wisdom, dating to 3,000 BCE. That explains why they were mummified with extreme care – often in a seated position with its tail wrapped and curved to the right, just like paintings of Thoth depict. Since baboons have never been native to Egypt, tracing their origin seemed to Dominy and his team like a good way to find Punt.

The story is getting good.

The study focused on mummified baboons from the New Kingdom period (1550-1069 B.C.) stored in the British Museum and specimens from the Ptolemaic period (305-30 B.C.) available in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London. For comparison, they examined tissues from 155 baboons from 77 locations, encompassing every hypothesized location for Punt. In particular, they measured strontium isotope compositions in teeth — strontium is unique to geographic locations and stored in tooth enamel as animals (and humans) drink water. Digging through the layers to get to early enamel, the researchers found strontium from when they were young in their birthplace. Two of the mummified baboons had strontium from somewhere other than Egypt.

“The area encompasses much of present-day Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti, and portions of Somalia and Yemen.”

Punt! Well, that’s still a big area but it’s a better answer than ever determined before. (Maps can be seen in the study.) Obviously, more research is necessary. The study also found that many of the mummified baboons had no non-Egyptian strontium isotopes at all, indicating that some Egyptians got tired of waiting for native baboons and bred them themselves.

It all adds up to the first story where something good happened to those who followed a mummy.

ALL RELATED IDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

21-12-2020 om 16:12 geschreven door peter  

The ‘Crazy Beast’ That Lived Among The Dinosaurs

Credit: © Andrey Atuchin

Adalatherium is an important piece in a very large puzzle on early mammalian evolution in the southern hemisphere, one in which most of the other pieces are still missing

The bizarre features of this mammal have scientists perplexed as to how it could have evolved; “it bends and even breaks a lot of rules”  

New research published today in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology describes a bizarre 66 million-year-old mammal that provides profound new insights into the evolutionary history of mammals from the southern supercontinent Gondwana – recognized today as Africa, South America, Australia, Antarctica, the Indian subcontinent, and the Arabian Peninsula.

Named Adalatherium, which, translated from the Malagasy and Greek languages means “crazy beast,” it is described based on a nearly complete, exquisitely preserved skeleton, the most complete for any mammal yet discovered in the southern hemisphere prior to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

The research, carried out over 20 years, demonstrates that Adalatherium was a “giant” relative to the mostly shrew- or mouse-sized mammals that lived during the Cretaceous period.

Its “bizarre” features include more trunk vertebrae than most other mammals, muscular hind limbs that were placed in a more sprawling position (similar to modern crocodiles) coupled with brawny sprinting front legs that were tucked underneath the body (as seen in most mammals today), front teeth like a rabbit and back teeth completely unlike those of any other known mammal, living or extinct, and a strange gap in the bones at the top of the snout.

A team of 14 international researchers led by Dr David Krause (Denver Museum of Nature & Science) and Dr Simone Hoffmann (New York Institute of Technology) published the comprehensive description and analysis of this opossum-sized mammal that lived among dinosaurs and massive crocodiles near the end of the Cretaceous period (145­–66 million years ago) on Madagascar.

The 234-page monographic treatment, consisting of seven separate chapters, is part of the prestigious Society of Vertebrate Paleontology (SVP) Memoir Series, a special yearly publication that provides a more in-depth treatment of the most significant vertebrate fossils. Initial announcement of the discovery was made in the journal Nature earlier this year.

Adalatherium, from Madagascar, belongs to an extinct group of mammals known as gondwanatherians, which were first discovered in the 1980s and, until recently, were only represented by a few isolated teeth and jaw fragments. But even those meager remains already indicated that gondwanatherians were very different from other contemporaneous mammals. So many mysteries had surrounded gondwanatherians that it was unclear how they fit into the mammalian family tree.

Now the research team presents the first skeleton for this mysterious group that once roamed much of South America, Africa, Madagascar, the Indian subcontinent, and even Antarctica.

The completeness and excellent preservation of the skeleton of Adalatherium opens new windows into what gondwanatherians looked like and how they lived, but the bizarre features still have the team perplexed.

“Knowing what we know about the skeletal anatomy of all living and extinct mammals, it is difficult to imagine that a mammal like Adalatherium could have evolved; it bends and even breaks a lot of rules,” Krause explains.

Although the life-like reconstruction of Adalatherium is superficially similar to a run-of-the-mill badger, its “normality” is only skin deep. Below the surface, its skeleton is nothing short of outlandish.

As Hoffmann puts it, “Adalatherium is simply odd. Trying to figure out how it moved, for instance, was challenging because its front end is telling us a completely different story than its back end.”

Adalatherium 

Credit Simone Hoffmann and Kathrine Pan

While its muscular hind legs and big claws on the back feet may indicate that Adalatherium was a powerful digger (like badgers), its front legs were less brawny and are more similar to those of living mammals that can run fast.

The limbs of Adalatherium also indicate that its posture was a hybrid between those of living mammals and more ancient relatives. Its forelimbs were tucked underneath the body (as seen in most mammals today) but its hind limbs were more sprawling (as in crocodiles and lizards).

This is not were the strangeness stops.

The teeth of Adalatherium, reconstructed by employing high-resolution micro-computed tomography and extensive digital modeling, are indicative of herbivory but are otherwise beyond bizarre.

Not only did Adalatherium have rabbit- or rodent-like ever-growing front teeth, but the back teeth are completely unlike those of any other known mammal, living or extinct. If just these teeth had been found, the mystery of what this animal was would likely not have been solved! Added to the seeming chaos is a hole in the top of the snout for which there is simply no parallel.

About the size of a Virginia opossum, the 3.1 kg Adalatherium was very large for its day. While not particularly large by today’s standards, it was a giant compared to the mostly shrew- and mouse-sized mammals living in the Cretaceous.

The geological history of Gondwana provides clues as to why Adalatherium is so bizarre.

Adalatherium was found in rocks dated to near the end of the Cretaceous, at roughly 66 million years ago. At this time Madagascar had already been an island separated from Africa for over 150 million years and from the Indian subcontinent for over 20 million years. “Islands are the stuff of weirdness,” says Krause, “and there was therefore ample time for Adalatherium to develop its many extraordinarily peculiar features in isolation.”

“Adalatherium is an important piece in a very large puzzle on early mammalian evolution in the southern hemisphere, one in which most of the other pieces are still missing,” adds Hoffmann.

More than anything, the discovery of Adalatherium underscores how much more remains to be learned from new finds of early mammals in Madagascar and other parts of the southern hemisphere.

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology Memoir series represents one of the few print publishing platforms for monographic treatments like that completed for Adalatherium by Krause and Hoffmann. Particularly notable is that this work uses an extensive digital modeling (µCT) approach, with the data accessible to researchers via Morphosource (www.morphosource.org); phylogenetic information used in the comprehensive study is accessible via Morphobank (www.morphobank.org).

Funding used in support of the field and laboratory research was provided by the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society.

Contacts and sources: 

• Simon Wesson 
• Taylor and Francis Group

Publication: 

• Introduction to Adalatherium hui (Gondwanatheria, Mammalia) from the Late Cretaceous of Madagascar
• https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2020.1805455
•  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724634.2020.1805455 

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21-12-2020 om 12:07 geschreven door peter  

Ancient Aliens Bombshell! Lost Race of Biblical Giants Uncovered

Ancient Aliens: Lost Race of Biblical Giants Uncovered (Season 15) | History

“Ancient Aliens” explores the controversial theory that extraterrestrials have visited Earth for millions of years. HISTORY® is the leading destination for award-winning original series and specials that connect viewers with history in an informative, immersive, and entertaining manner across all platforms.

The network’s all-original programming slate features a roster of hit series, premium documentaries, and scripted event programming.

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20-12-2020 om 18:56 geschreven door peter  

Was the Magi’s Mission History or Myth?

In just twelve short verses the Gospel of Matthew records the visit of the mysterious Magi to pay homage to the baby Jesus. The allure of mystical wizards from exotic lands captured the imagination of early Christians. Matthew’s short narrative was expanded and elaborated to the Christmas tale we hear today.

But did any such wise men exist, and if so, who were they and where did they come from? The predominant opinion among New Testament scholars is that the whole story is a fabrication—a fantastic myth devised to make the birth of Jesus extra special, but are they correct?

Making of the Magi Myth

The Magi story began to be elaborated along with the growth of Gnosticism and early Christianity. Extra Biblical writings about the mysterious Magi proliferated. The earliest apocryphal version of Jesus’ birth is a document called The Gospel of James or The Protoevangelium of James. The Protoevangelium tells the story of Mary’s birth and childhood, her betrothal to Joseph and the birth of Jesus. The account of Jesus’ birth follows Matthew and Luke’s account, but there are some extra details: Mary rides a donkey to Bethlehem, there is no mention of an inn as such, and the stable where Jesus is born is in a cave.

There is a midwife named Salome present, and as Jesus is born, a wonderful, mysterious light appears. In the Protoevangelium there are no shepherds, but the story of the Wise Men is told— obviously quoting from Matthew. Adding to Matthew, the Wise Men in the Protoevangelium say, the star was so bright on its appearing that all the other stars dimmed in its light.

Around the same time one of the earliest Christian writers, Ignatius of Antioch (d.108) in his epistle to the Ephesians, waxes eloquently about the star, “a star shone in the night brighter than all other stars. Its light was indescribable, and its strangeness produced wonder. And all the rest of the stars with the sun and the moon made a choir around that star which outshone them all.”  The exaggeration and glorification of the Magi story had already begun.

By the third century the idea that the Magi were kings was starting to get traction. Tertullian and Origen mused on the Old Testament prophecies that kings would come to worship the Messiah bearing gold and frankincense, and concluded that the Magi must have been kings.

• The Mysteries of the Three Kings: Who Were They and Where Did They Come From?
• What the Magi Had in Common with Scientists
• The Slaughter Of The Magi: How Ancient Persia Made Genocide an Annual Holiday

Journey of the Magi. (Eric Wilcox /

 CC BY-NC 2.0 )

It was also in the third century that the Magi story began to take the leap from legend to myth. The Legend of Aphroditianus is an apocryphal writing that originated in Syria, where there was a strong Persian influence. The tale begins with the account of a miracle in the temple of a pagan goddess in Persia at the time of Christ’s birth. According to the myth, the statues in the temple danced, sung and announced that the goddess Hera had been made pregnant by Zeus.

Suddenly a star appears above the statue of the goddess Hera. A voice from heaven is heard, and all the dancing statues fall on their faces. The wise men of the court take this to mean that a king is to be born in Judea. That evening the god Dionysus confirms their interpretation. Then the god sends the Magi to Judea with gifts, the star pointing them along their way. The story tells of the Magi’s journey to Bethlehem, and how they meet the Jewish leaders, and finally Mary and Jesus. They return to Persia bringing a portrait of Jesus and Mary, and subsequently put it in the temple, where the star first appeared.

Depiction of The Magi following the star in search of baby Jesus.

(Kevin Phillips / Public domain )

In another third century work, the opus imperfectum, a writer named Ephraim said the Magi saw a human image in the star. While the eighth century Chronicle of Zuqnin says there were twelve Magi, all of whom saw a different human image in the star. Clearly, the Magi story had found its wings and soared to mythical heights impossible to imagine by the simple storyteller Matthew.

Another bizarre apocryphal text is The Revelation of the Magi. This story pretends to be told by the Magi themselves. The Wise Men are residents of a mythical land called Shir in the Far East. They are the descendants of Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve , who passed on to them a prophecy from his father that one day a star of amazing brightness would appear to announce the birth of God in human form.

The story continues as every year the mystical Magi of Shir ascended their holy mountain where the Cave of Treasures is located. This cave contains the wisdom of Seth and the treasures of Adam, and it is there that the super bright star, brighter than the sun, appears to them as a tiny radiant human. The star child tells them to go on a long journey to Bethlehem. After long preparations they set off only to find that the star child accompanies them, removing all obstacles and miraculously providing them with food and protection.

Apart from being historical curiosities, these Gnostic texts have no value apart from being mildly entertaining. They are about as important to the search for Matthew’s Wise Men as Disney’s Sword in the Stone is to the search for the historical King Arthur .

The Medieval Myth

By the sixth century Christians may not have believed the wildly fantastic Magi stories of the Gnostics, but the idea that the Magi were wise men from Persia had taken root. So in the sixth century we find the Emperor Justinian commissioning the famous mosaic of the three Magi in Ravenna. Justinian’s mosaic actually named the Wise Men, and it is at the beginning of the sixth century that their names were first documented.

Mosaic of the Three Magi (young, middle aged & elderly) in Sant Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna.

( vvoe / Adobe stock)

The Excerpta Latina Barbari composed in Alexandria, calls them Bithisarea, Melichior and Gathaspa or as we now know them, Balthasar, Melchior and Caspar. In contrast, Syriac Christians named the Magi, Larvandad, Gushnasaph, and Hormisdas. Ethiopian Christians called them Hor, Karsudan, and Basanater, while the Armenians said they were named, Kagpha, Badadakharida and Badadilma.

The various ethnic names of the Magi also indicate a widening out of the Magi tradition from the assumption that they were Persian priests. The Syrian, Ethiopian and Armenian Christians were among the first to accept the Christian message, and their independent Magi traditions attests to both the antiquity of the Magi story and affirms St Augustine of Hippo’s (d. 430) suggestions that the Wise Men represented the whole of the Gentile (non-Jewish) world.

Some two hundred years after Justinian’s famous mosaics, an eighth century Irish manuscript Collectanea et Flores offers more details about the appearance of the Wise Men, explaining that they represent the three ages of man (youth, middle-age and old age). By this time, they were no longer Persian Magi. Instead the Wise Men assumed three different racial characteristics showing that they represented Europe, Africa and Asia - the three regions of the known world.  At the same time, the British historian, Venerable Bede mused that the international origins of the Three Wise Men could also signify the three sons of Noah who, as tradition had it, re-peopled the globe and were the source of humanity’s three basic racial groups. These accumulated traditions explain why, in Christian artwork, the Magi are shown to be young, middle-aged and elderly: African, Asian and European.

Detail of the Three Kings from The Adoration of the Magi (elderly, middle-aged, young / European, Asian, African).

(Edward Burne Jones / Public domain )

The legends about the Magi continued to develop, so that according to the 12th-century life of St Eustorgio , the bodies of the Three Kings were discovered in Persia in the early fourth century by St. Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine and eventually translated to the cathedral in Cologne.

In the fourteenth century the Venetian explorer Marco Polo recorded that he had visited the village in Persia where Helena had identified the tomb, and in the same century, the Carmelite monk John of Hildesheim wrote Historia trium regum, (History of the Three Kings). John of Hildesheim recounts how the star was first sighted in the forty second year of the Emperor Augustus from the summit of Mount Vaus in the East by a group of pagan astrologers who were aware of the Old Testament prophecy of Balaam.

Hildesheim says the star was as bright as the Sun, and that the Three Kings from their own lands set out to follow the star they had seen. Melchior travelled from Nubia and Arabia. Balthasar from Godolia and Saba, and Caspar from Tharsis and Egrisoulle. Each with a magnificent retinue, they followed the star for thirteen days and arrived at the same time in Jerusalem, where they were amazed to discover that they understood one another’s languages. After their audience with King Herod , and instructed by his scribes, they continued their journey to Bethlehem, again guided by the magical star.

The Magi before King Herod, on a 13th-century stained glass window in Chartres Cathedral, France.

(Lawrence OP / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 )

History or Mystery? A Quest for Investigation

Matthew’s simple story burgeoned into a fantastic tale as no other Biblical narrative had. But what if the wildly elaborated myth, like that of King Arthur, was rooted in historical circumstances and real individuals? What if it could be shown that there were circumstances and players in first century Judea who fit the story? Always wanting to stand orthodoxy on its head, I set out on a quest of my own. I began to investigate whether there might be a foundation of historical truth beneath the accumulated legends surrounding the Magi story. To do this, I had to strip away the accretions that encrusted Matthew’s simple story.

What I found was astounding. First, I discovered that because of their assumption that the Magi story was a fairy tale, very few scholars had taken the time to investigate thoroughly the possible identity of the Wise Men. My research brought me into contact with an almost forgotten ancient civilization and new technologies, which shed light on the subject. Some fresh archaeological findings and new understandings from the Dead Sea Scrolls also contributed to the quest.

Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls at Qumran, Israel.

( byjeng / Adobe stock)

Matthew said the Wise Men were “from the East.” By the end of the first century, because of the destruction of Jerusalem, the center of Christianity shifted north and west to Asia Minor, Greece and Rome. If you lived in present-day Turkey or Greece “the East” is clearly Persia. The fact that Matthew used the word “Magi” was also a powerful pointer. There was indeed an ancient caste of shamans from Persia called ‘the Magi’. But like most mystery stories, the first and most obvious solution is rarely the correct one.

Christianity’s hub may have shifted north and west, but Matthew’s Gospel was written in Judea to the Jews of that area. “The East” for them was the Arabian Peninsula. Furthermore, in the Old Testament the “people of the East” are always the nomadic tribes of Arabia. The Persians come from the North. The earliest Christian witness outside the New Testament is Justin Martyr, who is also situated in Judea. He says that the Wise Men came from Arabia. I therefore began to search for possible candidates from Arabia.

Petra and the Nabateans

This led, of course, to the fabulously wealthy and mysterious kingdom of Nabatea with the ancient city of Petra as its capital. Suffice it to say that once I discovered the Nabateans, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. The politics, economics, religion and culture of the time all combined to make the Nabateans the obvious choice.

The Nabatean monastery ruins in Petra.

( carbo82 / Adobe stock)

Just two details will illustrate the wealth of evidence that combines to strengthen this theory. The finest gold in the ancient world was mined in Western Arabia, and the shrubs from which incense and myrrh are sourced only grow in Eastern Arabia and Northeast Africa, which is all territory controlled by the Nabateans. The gold, frankincense and myrrh were clearly diplomatic gifts (representative of the Nabtean kingdom) from King Aretas IV of Nabatea to honor a grandson or great grandson of his neighbor King Herod.

Secondly, new discoveries by archaeo-astronomers from Spain have shown that the Nabatean temples were aligned to the solstices and constellations, and the archaeological dig at the temple of Khirbet et Tannur, uncovered a stone carved zodiac proving that the Nabatean Magi were star gazers.

These are just two pieces of evidence that direct the quest for the identity of the Wise Men to Nabatea.  It is perfectly probable that there were wise men who had the motive, the means and the method to pay homage to Jesus Christ, just as Matthew recorded.

My findings not only stand the established academic orthodoxy on its head, but they should cause everyone interested in New Testament scholarship, ancient history and the historical veracity of the Gospels to think again.

Like the story of King Arthur, the tale of the Wise Men who visited Bethlehem was embroidered and embellished over many years. But beneath it all there is a foundation of historical truth, which is fascinating and compelling.

The simple facts of the Magi story undermine the assumptions that the nativity narratives are fairy tales made up to make Jesus more special. Instead my findings show that beneath all the mystery, there is history.

Dwight Longenecker’s book The Mystery of the Magi - The Quest for the True Identity of the Three Wise Men is published by Regnery Press. It is available on Amazon and from his website: dwightlongenecker.com

• Top image: The Magi with baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Source: Henry Siddons Mowbray / Public domain

By Fr Dwight Longenecker

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

20-12-2020 om 00:34 geschreven door peter  

Reptilian Aliens Documented In Ancient Times | Sumerian Tablets, The Anunnaki - Anton Parks

Reptilian Aliens Documented In Ancient Times | Sumerian Tablets, The Anunnaki – Anton Parks

Anton Parks believes 20,000 newly excavated Sumerian tablets can finally show the true location of the Garden of Eden. Modern experts hypothesise proof of ancient genetic tampering that irreversibly changed the course of human evolution.

Adam, the First Man – Does the ancient Sumerian word “Adam” hold clues to the relationship between early humans and the Sumerian gods? The Anunnaki? Did scholars make deliberate choices to omit certain sections of the Bible’s creation story..

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18-12-2020 om 20:59 geschreven door peter  

2,000-Year-Old Realistic Green Mask Found Nestled Inside an Ancient Pyramid

Mexico is filled with incredible archeology that gives clues about its rich pre-Columbian history. One of the most impressive structures, the Pyramid of the Sun, is full of new surprises. As the largest building in Teotihuacan, archaeologists have been continuously studying the structure, which was built around 100 CE. Though few artifacts have been found on-site, in 2011 a surprising discovery was made by researchers from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History

(INAH).

By using a 380-foot-long tunnel dug by archeologists in the 1930s, the group was able to get to the mother-rock level. Once there, they discovered a rare cache of treasures. This included shards of clay pottery, animal bones, pieces of obsidian, three serpentine human figurines, and a stunning serpentine mask. The green mask is particularly interesting because, at the time of its discovery, it was the only mask of its kind to be found in a ritual context in Teotihuacan.

It's believed that these offerings were left as part of a ritual to inaugurate the construction of the pyramid—hence its location at the lower level. The mask itself is extremely lifelike, which gave rise to the theory that it's actually a portrait. This would be incredible, as archeologists have little information about the people who constructed Teotihuacan. There are also conflicting theories about the exact use of the pyramid. Even the name isn't original.

Photo: INAH

With so much information to discover, it's not a surprise that INAH continues to conduct research in the area. In fact, more recently, an underground tunnel was found under the nearby Pyramid of the Moon. By using electrical resistance technology, they were able to map the tunnel without breaking ground.

h/t: [Live Science, History]

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18-12-2020 om 01:47 geschreven door peter  

Dinosaur brain scan reveals how dog-sized ancestor of the diplodocus ran on two legs and hunted meat unlike its giant plodding plant-eating descendants

• The first Thecodontosaurus was discovered near what is now Bristol Zoo in 1834

• It is related to herbivores Diplodocus and Brontosaurus and was originally thought to be vegetarian

• But it is now thought to have run on two legs and eat meat, unlike its four-legged  descendants

By MATT DRAKE FOR MAILONLINE

Scientists have reconstructed the brain of a dinosaur that roamed Britain 205 million years ago, revealing startling insights into how it lived.

Thecodontosaurus is related to herbivore descendants Diplodocus and Brontosaurus.

But it is believed the creature, which was roughly the size of a dog, ran fast on two legs, ate meat and had good hearing and eyesight - making it an accomplished hunter.

Palaeontologists used CT scans to recreate the creature's two-inch-long strawberry-sized brain in 3D.

Antonio Ballell, lead author of the study published in the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society said: 'Our analysis of Thecodontosaurus' brain uncovered many fascinating features, some of which were quite surprising.

Thecodontosaurus ran fast on two legs and ate meat - unlike its giant herbivore descendants Diplodocus and Brontosaurus. The creature, roughly the size of a large dog, also had good hearing and eyesight - making it an accomplished hunter

From CT scans of the fossil, 3-D models of the braincase and the endocast were generated and studied. Lead author Antonio Ballell said: 'Our analysis of Thecodontosaurus' brain uncovered many fascinating features, some of which were quite surprising'

'Whereas its later relatives moved around ponderously on all fours, our findings suggest this species may have walked on two legs and been occasionally carnivorous.'

The fossilised remains were perfectly preserved and included the braincase - enabling a precise reconstruction of the organ.

Doctoral student Antonio added: 'It would have been around two inches in length, approximately the size of a strawberry.'

Despite being a carnivore, Thecodontosaurus was an early member of the plant-eating sauropods. Some weighed up to 100 tons and reached 110 feet long.

The pioneering study sheds fresh light on the evolution of the biggest land animals that ever lived.

More than six-feet-long and over three-foot-tall, Thecodontosaurus was the size of a large dog.

Computer images reveal brain regions involved in coordination, agility, sight, diet and hearing.

The team at the University of Bristol - where the animal's fossils are housed - used state-of-the-art software to extract new information without destroying them.

Bones were digitally extracted from the rock, identifying anatomical details about its brain for the first time.

Mr Ballell, a PhD student, explained: 'Even though the actual brain is long gone, the software allows us to recreate brain and inner ear shape via the dimensions of the cavities left behind.

'The braincase of Thecodontosaurus is beautifully preserved so we compared it to other dinosaurs, identifying common features and some that are specific to Thecodontosaurus.

'Its brain cast even showed the detail of the floccular lobes, located at the back of the brain, which are important for balance. Their large size indicate it was bipedal.

'This structure is also associated with the control of balance and eye and neck movements, suggesting Thecodontosaurus was relatively agile and could keep a stable gaze while moving fast.'

Palaeontologists used CT scans to recreate the strawberry sized brain - in 3D. The creature is known as 'the Bristol dinosaur' because of its origins in the city

Thecodontosaurus is related to herbivore descendants Diplodocus and Brontosaurus who walked on all fours, ate plantlife and were enormous

The first Thecodontosaurus was discovered near what is now Bristol Zoo in 1834 - before dinosaurs were recognised as a species.

Another eleven were uncovered in a quarry north of the city in 1975. Its diet has been debated for decades. It was previously believed to be a vegetarian.

Mr Ballell, of the School of Earth Sciences, said: 'Our analysis showed parts of the brain associated with keeping the head stable and eyes and gaze steady during movement were well developed.

'This could also mean Thecodontosaurus could occasionally catch prey, although its tooth morphology suggests plants were the main component of its diet. It's possible it adopted omnivorous habits.'

Thecodontosaurus was around when Earth's landmass was one supercontinent called Pangaea. Before it broke up, Bristol was roughly where Morocco is today.

The UK's rich reptilian past is largely overlooked. It was once a 'dinosaur paradise' that was home to over 100 different types - including three cousins of T Rex.

The majority come from Oxfordshire and the Isle of Wight. Others have also been unearthed in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Co-author Professor Mike Benton said: 'It is great to see how new technologies are allowing us to find out even more about how this little dinosaur lived more than 200 million years ago.

'We began working on Thecodontosaurus in 1990, and it is the emblem of the Bristol Dinosaur Project, an educational outreach scheme where students go to speak about science in local schools.

'We are very fortunate to have so many well-preserved fossils of such an important dinosaur here in Bristol.

'This has helped us understand many aspects of the biology of Thecodontosaurus, but there are still many questions about this species yet to be explored.'

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/  }

17-12-2020 om 18:52 geschreven door peter  

Ancient Text: The Earth was Ruled for 241,000 years by 8 Kings who came from Heaven

Discovered over the years by scholars in many regions of ancient Mesopotamia, copies of what is believed to be a unique manuscript, referred to as “Sumerian King List” or “the List of the Sumerian Kings,” detail how in In the distant past, our planet was ruled by eight mysterious kings for a mysterious period of 241,000 years. He even states that these rulers “descended from heaven.”

Discovered over the years by scholars in many regions of ancient Mesopotamia, copies of what is believed to be a unique manuscript, referred to as “Sumerian King List” or “the List of the Sumerian Kings,” detail how in In the distant past, our planet was ruled by eight mysterious kings for a mysterious period of 241,000 years. He even states that these rulers “descended from heaven.”

The List of the Sumerian Kings tells an incredible story that many find hard to believe.

“After the royalty descended from heaven, they went to Eridug. In Eridug, Alulim became king; He ruled for 28800 years. Alaljar ruled for 36,000 years. 2 kings; They ruled for 64,800 years … “

“In 5 cities 8 kings ruled for 241,200 years. Then the flood swept them … “ (This is written in the first part of the List of the Sumerian Kings).

But how is it possible that eight kings ruled the Earth for 241,000 years? Experts believe that the answer is simple: the list combines prehistoric and “mythological” dynastic rulers, who enjoyed long and implausible kingdoms with more plausibly historical dynasties.

Also, Check this article: 

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In addition, the Sumerian Kings List not only tells us how long these kings ruled on Earth, it specifically also says that these eight kings “descended from heaven,” after which they ruled for a surprisingly long period.

Interestingly, the list details how these eight kings met the end during the Great Flood that swept the Earth. The list also details what happened after the flood, since it clearly says that “other royalty came down from heaven,” and these mysterious kings ruled man once more.

But is the List of the Kings Sumerian a mixture of historically verifiable kings and mythological beings? Or is it possible that scholars have classified some of the rulers as mythological, due to their peculiar characteristics?

For decades people believed that the detailed history in the List of the Sumerian Kings, that is, the kings with incredibly long lives, their disappearance during the Great Flood and their replacement with the new kings that came from heaven, were just another set of stories mythological However, there are many authors and researchers who disagree, suggesting that what is on the List of the Sumerian Kings can not be mythology at all, and point to the fact that scholars today in part recognize some of the Kings detailed in the list.

The fact that the List of the Sumerian Kings mentions eight kings, their names and long kingdoms, as well as their origin – the royalty that came down from heaven – has made many think: “is it possible that what is written on the List of the Sumerian Kings be real historical references? “What would happen if, thousands of years ago, before modern history, our planet was ruled by eight other-world kings who came to Earth from a faraway place in the universe and ruled over Earth for a period of 241,000 years to then return to the heavens?

What if the details found in the Sumerian King list are one hundred percent accurate and that, unlike the mainstream scholars, these intransitable reigns were a possibility, at a time when civilization, society and our planet were very different from what it is today? Do these ancient texts show that the Earth was ruled by ancient astronauts for 241,000 years? Or – as the scholars mention – the List of the Sumerian Kings is only a mixture of historical records and mythology?

It is worth mentioning that in the ancient text there is a ruler who has been archaeologically and historically verified; it is Enmebaragesi de Kish, approximately 2,600 BC

• Credit Images: Jorge Jacinto

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16-12-2020 om 22:19 geschreven door peter  

Why ancient populations carved voluptuous ‘Venus’ women figures over 30,000 years ago

It's a story of obesity, hunger, and glaciers.

 by Mihai Andrei

If you’ve ever been to a history museum, you may have seen a Venus figurine. They’re made from soft stones, clay, ivory, or bone, and depict very voluptuous feminine figures. In fact, some features are so exaggerated that anthropologists often questioned whether they even represent pregnant or obese women.

Most Venus figurines were carved some 26,000–21,000 years ago, although some were dated to at least 35,000 years ago. Researchers today interpret them as symbols of beauty and fertility, but the original meaning and purpose of these figurines is not known — they may have even served a ritual purpose, but little is known about them.

A new study looking at ancient famine and ice age variations suggests that the figures were indeed obese, but this represented a type of beauty standard or an ideal at the time.

Unusual art

Obesity is, for the most part, a modern problem — having too much food available is not something many of our ancestors could have bragged about. So what’s the deal with this type of art?

“Some of the earliest art in the world are these mysterious figurines of overweight women from the time of hunter gatherers in Ice Age Europe where you would not expect to see obesity at all,” said Richard Johnson, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine specializing in renal disease and hypertension. “We show that these figurines correlate to times of extreme nutritional stress.”

Some 48,000 years ago, ancient humans in Europe were undergoing a period called the Aurignacian. The Aurignacians, people who lived in that period, had already established themselves as a force in the biological world. They hunted reindeer, horses, and mammoths with the spears and the tools they built. They also fished, and supplemented their diets by foraging for berries, nuts and plants.

But things took a turn for the worse for them. As the Ice Age set in, temperatures plunged and disaster struck. The ice sheets were advancing, it was getting colder and colder, and the ancestral lifestyle couldn’t be supported for most populations. Some moved south, in search of warmer climates. Others took refuge in forests, wreaking havoc on the ecosystem as they hunted and overhunted anything they could find.

It was in this period of generalized hunger that the Venus figurines emerged.

“During this period, humans faced advancing glaciers and falling temperatures that led to nutritional stress, regional extinctions, and a reduction in the population,” the authors note in the study.

Johnson and colleagues suspected this wasn’t a coincidence. They measured the waist-to-hip ratios and waist-to-shoulder-ratios of the figures and noted where the figures had been found. They then compared this map of locations with the map of known glaciers — the points where the temperatures were lowest and food was likely the scarcest.

They found an interesting trend: the closer the figurines were to glaciers, the more likely they were to have over-represented body ratios. In other words, the more people hungered, the more they looked at obesity as a standard.

“We propose they conveyed ideals of body size for young women, and especially those who lived in proximity to glaciers,” said Johnson, who in addition to being a physician has an undergraduate degree in anthropology. “We found that body size proportions were highest when the glaciers were advancing, whereas obesity decreased when the climate warmed and glaciers retreated.”

While this is somewhat speculative, it makes a lot of sense. It’s not uncommon for scarcity of resources to define ideals. An obese woman would have been more likely to deliver a child — although it’s unlikely that too many women were overweight at the time. However, the figurines may have had a spiritual meaning, a charm that would protect women through pregnancy and nursing children.

This idea is also backed by the fact that the figurines were worn down, suggesting that they were kept for many years, and possibly passed down through generations.

“The figurines emerged as an ideological tool to help improve fertility and survival of the mother and newborns,” Johnson said. “The aesthetics of art thus had a significant function in emphasizing health and survival to accommodate increasingly austere climatic conditions.”

The study has some limitations. The number of figurines was small to begin with, and the researchers didn’t have access to the actual sculptures — they had to rely on photographs for measurements (which means they couldn’t use measures like circumference). Researchers also note that the shift to leaner figurines could also mark a stylistic change rather than one relating to hunger.

There’s always some uncertainty when dealing with this type of study, but interdisciplinary methods, such as the ones deployed here, can help us better understand these ancient populations. In many ways, modern archaeology isn’t about finding new things — it’s about interpreting and putting them into context.

• The study has been published in the journal Obesity.

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15-12-2020 om 00:30 geschreven door peter  

Throughout history there have been mysterious artifacts that have defied understanding for years. Every once in a while a strange object will seemingly show up that challenges what we think we know, be that impossible fossils, strange devices lost to the mists of time, and others. One such mysterious discovery is what is claimed to be a modern, advanced device buried within ancient rock, which has managed to be discussed and debated to this day.

The year was 1998, and electrical engineer John. J. Williams was allegedly out hiking in the mountain wilderness somewhere in North America on an otherwise normal day. The location has never been explicitly named, but Williams has insisted that it was “far from human settlements, industrial complexes, airports, factories, and electronic or nuclear plants.” As he walked along, he noticed an oddly shaped rock jutting out of the ground, and after digging it out he could see that it was ancient granite, and embedded within it was what appeared to be a modern, 3-pin electrical plug, measuring about 8 mm in diameter; the pins of the device about 3 mm high. Curious, Williams tried to pull the plug out, but found to his astonishment that it seemed to be melded to the very rock itself, which seemed truly odd considering that the rock itself would have been absolutely ancient.

John. J. Williams

According to Williams, the rock would be found to be composed of of granite, quartz and feldspar, estimated as being at least 100,000 years old. He claims that he had the anomalous object within it examined by an engineer and geologist, who could not discern what material it was made of, and found that the apparent electrical component seemed to show no evidence of having been soldered, welded, or glued into place, and that it additionally demonstrated a weak magnetic attraction. X-ray scans of the rock would supposedly show that the device extended to an opaque internal structure within the stone, and there were also found melted blobs of a metallic-like material around the periphery of the plug. Furthermore, it was purportedly deemed that whatever the “plug” was, it seemingly impossibly existed before the very formation of the rock itself. Williams would call the mysterious device the “Enigmalith,” which is a combination of the words “enigma” and “monolith,” and so a rather strange mystery would emerge. How did this obviously artificial object get fused into strata that was tens of thousands of years old? That depends a lot on who you ask.

According to Williams himself, this is obvious evidence for an advanced ancient civilization or alternatively aliens. However, others are not so sure. There are a lot of red flags about this discovery that have been brought up, not the least of which is that Williams has always refused to divulge exactly where he found it, claiming that this is to prevent people from trouncing about ruining a site where there could be other miraculous discoveries. There is also the fact that it has never been formally studied as far as we know, despite his claims that it has been thoroughly examined by geologists and engineers. Who were these researchers and what are their credentials? Williams doesn’t say. He does say that he is perfectly willing to let others study it, but he has a laundry list of often unreasonable demands that need to be met before he allows this, such as that he be always present and that the device never leave his site, reserving the right to abort the analysis whenever he sees fit. This has put anyone off of studying it at all, which Williams has constantly lamented, saying:

I was hoping against hope that with all of this substantial coverage, a scientific exploration team would have emerged by now, or at least Hollywood and the major presses would have gotten involved so that additional huge boost in publicity would have pressured the scientific community to also get involved – hopefully before the dig site becomes much more trampled on that it already is. I have not been able to get a single New Mexico scientist or skeptic to even take a look at my rock – apparently, they are all a bunch of PC-controlled chickens – so much for science credibility in New Mexico.

Williams has even gone so far as to offer $100 dollars cash to anyone who can prove that it is a fake, which seems to ignore the fact that the burden of proof lies with the one making the claims, not the other way around. Perhaps the biggest strike against this purported “revolutionary discovery” is that it seems that Williams is a major publicity hound and is definitely looking to make a buck off the finding. For one, he charges $19 dollars on his site just for the privilege of having access to the full CD Rom of over 150 photographs of the thing and detailed descriptions of it, and you can buy the rock itself on the site for the bargain basement fee of just $500,000. You can technically access all of the CD Rom for free, as long as you match the criteria that he describes as follows:

If you want the CDROM for free as full compensation for your efforts on my behalf, you must first justify it by proving to me: (1) That you are a member of the media or an author, and that you are doing a story that will substantially include my rock and contain my webpage address; (2) That you are a bonafide scientist, engineer or professional fortean phenomena researcher or commentator, and that you are interested in evaluating my rock, and/or putting together and/or becoming a part of a scientific team to evaluate my rock and/or to dig the site; (3) That you wish to become a benefactor and will at this time irrevocably and without any qualifications or reservations pledge and obligate at least $1,000 to a non-profit organization, trust, LLC or corporation that I expect to later set-up for the research and exploration relevant to my rock and related fortean phenomena.

There are also heavily plugged books and manuals you can buy on it all. Indeed, much of Williams’ online presence seems to be devoted to drumming up publicity for and making money from his find, which definitely raises some eyebrows. He also just happens to have a site devoted to selling books on subjects such as mind control, computer hacking, electronic security, cheating your utility provider, among others. The main skeptical idea is that this is an obvious elaborate hoax and money-making scheme, and that this electrical engineer has managed to fit an electrical component into porous rock that he claims to be solid granite. We can’t even be sure what kind of rock it is since no one has really taken a good look at it besides the scientists he claims have seen it. Regardless, the Enigmalith has become much discussed and debated on UFO and paranormal forums and websites, and it has continued to be thought of as potentially real. Whether the Enigmalith is real or not, it is a very strange story indeed, and no matter what you think it still continues to be discussed. Is is a genuine archeological oddity or something else? Who knows?

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

14-12-2020 om 17:29 geschreven door peter  

Enormous Ancient Building Identified Beneath Monte Albán’s Main Plaza

Researchers in Mexico have discovered a vast ancient building buried beneath the Main Plaza at the ancient capital of Monte Albán.

Monte Albán is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site located in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, approximately 9 km (5.59 miles) west of Oaxaca City. Representing one of the first developed cities in pre-Hispanic Mexico, this expansive civic-ceremonial center was situated on top of an artificially levelled ridge about 1,940 meters (6,364 ft.) above mean sea level and it rises 400 meters (1,312 ft.) from the valley floor.

Over the years, archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of artificial terraces and dozens of mounds concealing lost architecture that completely covered the entire ridgeline. Now, buried beneath the surface of Monte Albán’s Main Plaza researchers from the University of Oklahoma recently scanned and identified a hitherto unknown ritualistic building.

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Reappraising the Monte Albán Plaza

Monte Albán was founded in 500 BC and became a powerful regional capital with many impressive stone buildings featuring a highly developed artistic style and written language system. The Main Plaza at Monte Albán was built, expanded upon, and remodeled over 1,000 years - before the site’s eventual demise around 850 AD. The ancient metropolis was partially excavated in the 1930s and the newly discovered building is similar to the temples discovered back then, which evidence suggested were used ritually, for burning incense , making offerings, and bloodletting.

Monte Albán.

( Dr. Marc Levine )

This new discovery was made by Dr. Marc Levine, assistant curator of archaeology at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History and assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology, College of Arts and Sciences . Using ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistance, and gradiometry to locate the structure, the researcher told KFOR that everything at this site “is deeply symbolic.” Furthermore, the intrepid explorer added that this new discovery “changes our understanding of the history of the Main Plaza and how it was organized and used.”

A Site Worth its Weight in Gold, Culturally

For almost a century, researchers have studied and investigated many of the stone buildings located around the Main Plaza at Monte Albán, which is deemed so important to modern Mexican culture that the site is featured on the country’s 20 peso note. However, the actual plaza itself has now been analyzed. Professor Levine says that to put the building in context we can look towards the “National Mall in Washington, D.C.” What he means by this is that every monument and every building on that mall has “a significance and was thought over, carefully planned and oriented in a certain way.” And the same goes for Monte Albán, according to the researcher.

Using ground penetrating radar at Monte Albán.

( Dr. Marc Levine )

To lift the lost building from its time capsule the OU team used drones to digitally map the entirety of Monte Albán’s Main Plaza and its surrounding structures and high resolution 3-D images revealed the sizes of all of the buried buildings. Levine estimates his team will spend the next two years analyzing all of their data to complete their study of the plaza. Their ultimate goal is to calculate how much work was involved in creating the site.

Ancient Mexican Vs Egyptian Pyramids

Since the creation of Lidar scanning technology, Mexico’s ancient secrets have been slowly revealed. For example, in July this year, the Guardian announced a mind blowing discovery at Aguada Fénix , near the Guatemalan border in Mexico’s Tabasco state. Scientists using an aerial remote-sensing method “discovered the largest and oldest-known structure built by the ancient Maya civilization – a colossal rectangular elevated platform built between 1000 and 800 BC.” Unlike Mexico’s other pyramids , this one was constructed with clay and earth, but like all of them, it was used for mass public rituals.

This massive ancient structure measures 1,400 meters, almost a mile long, by 400 meters (a quarter-mile) wide, it stood 10 to 15 meters (33 to 50 ft.) high, and it is estimated that its total volume exceeded ancient Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza . Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza was built 1,500 years earlier and as such it has become the outright winner so far as the most talked about pyramid in the world, but it isn't the biggest pyramid by a long shot.

The greatest of all Great Pyramids is the Great Pyramid of Cholula , an ancient Aztec temple in Puebla, Mexico, with a base four times larger than Giza's, and nearly twice the volume. What we can derive from the size and number of the Mexican pyramids is, if the building of pyramids was indeed an act of prestige by powerful, semi-divine rulers, than the regality and control held by kings in Mexico made the Pharaohs of Egypt look like mere landlords.

The Great Pyramid of Cholula. 

(juancramosgonzalez /Adobe Stock)

• Top Image: Monte Albán, Oaxaca, Mexico. 
• Source: WitR /Adobe Stock

By Ashley Cowie

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13-12-2020 om 22:58 geschreven door peter  

The Nephilim: Giant Offspring of the Sons of God and the Daughters of Man?

Who were the nephilim? The word nephilim appears twice in the Old Testament of the Bible. They are first mentioned in chapter 6 of the book of Genesis and then again in Number 13:33. But their brief mention in the Bible has led to an ongoing debate as to who or what the nephilim were. 

Much of this debate stems from the passage in the Bible that states:

When people began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that they were fair; and they took wives for themselves of all that they chose.
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days - and also afterward - when the sons of God went in to the daughters of man, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown . 

Genesis 6: 1-4

The Sons of God Saw the Daughters of Men That They Were Fair (1923) by Daniel Chester French. Corcoran Gallery of Art.

( CC0)

What Does ‘Nephilim’ Mean?

The traditional definition of Nephilim is giant. Some dictionaries describe the nephilim as being giants who also possess super human strength. The Greek Septuagint, an ancient translation of the Hebrew Bible , refers to them as gigantes, which actually means "earth -born," a concept we will be coming back to as we continue.

It is believed that the word Nephilim comes from the root word "Naphal" which means to fall. In biblical circles this definition has quickly put the Nephilim into the role of the children of the fallen angels . The word Naphal, however, is never directly associated with the concept of fallen angels. Its meaning in context is more closely associated with the idea of lying prostrate or of prostrating oneself. There are also ties in this word to the concept of failure, falling short, or being cast down.

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‘The Fall of the Rebel Angels’ (1685) by Charles Le Brun.

( Public Domain )

Mythos of the Nephilim

Over the years a mythos has developed around the concept of the nephilim. It alleges that these giants were the offspring of the "Sons of God" and the "Daughters of Man". Are the nephilim the children of the untoward relationship?

The connection between the biblical text and this claim, although commonly pointed to as the basis of this belief, is unfounded. The document in which we find statements that support this claim actually comes from the apocryphal Book of Jubiliees :

And it came to pass when the children of men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born unto them, that the angels of God saw them on a certain year of this jubilee, that they were beautiful to look upon; and they took themselves wives of all whom they chose, and they bare unto them sons and they were giants.

The Book of Jubilees - Chapter V: 1

Is the claim that the nephilim were the offspring of the sons of god and the daughters of men supported by sources outside the Judeo-Christian tradition?  In other words, does mythology worldwide support this belief?

The Sons of God Saw the Daughters of Men That They Were Fair, by Maurice Greiffenhagen.

( Public Domain )

Giants Roaming the Earth Across Cultures

The notion of giants roaming the earth can be found in cultures worldwide. Greek mythology tells us that the Titan Cronus castrated his father Uranus in order to gain control of the Greek pantheon . It is from the blood of the castrated Uranus that fell upon the earth that the giants, the "earth-born", were created.

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13-12-2020 om 18:15 geschreven door peter