Ancient Alien Monolith Found In Utah Desert, First Contact Scenario? VIDEO! UFO Sighing News.

Date of discovery: Nov 2020
Location of discovery: Utah, USA

A tall metallic monolith was discovered in the Utah desert landing tall in a dead end canyon. The object was reminiscent of an old science fiction movie. But this was real, the people who were counting the sheep, landed the helicopter and took a closer look. They warned each other if one of them disappears suddenly, the rest has to get the hell out of there. No joke. Then they stood next to it and measured it with two humans high, or 12 feet tall. 

Also I notice that at the base of the monolith, no dirt was disturbed or misplaced, piled or mounting about. The metal monolith was just sticking out of the desert floor and no explanation of how it happened or why it took place. 

This could be the first signs of an alien base under the ground or a sign that alien needed an antenna like device to allow other aliens to homier on their location. 

Looks 100% alien to me. 

Scott C. Waring - Taiwan

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

24-11-2020 om 18:39 geschreven door peter  

A Shiny Metal Monolith In Utah Wilderness ...

23-11-2020 om 23:39 geschreven door peter  

Aliens in ancient Egypt helping build the pyramids? Believable. Aliens in pre-Columbian Central America inspiring drawings of spaceships? Sure. Aliens in ancient Bulgaria? Sorry, we’re gonna need some proof. Well, this might be it. An archaeologist digging in the settlement mound of the oldest town in Bulgaria discovered a small artifact carved with what looks suspiciously like a classic Grey alien face with large almond eyes and an oversized head. If it’s real, why Bulgaria?

“Many are likening it [the mask or figurine] to… an alien in a space suit.”

The clay piece (see pictures here) was found by a team led by Professor Vasily Nikolov excavating what was once the town of Provadia Solnitsata (Salinas de Provadia) near the present-day town of Provadia in northeastern Bulgaria. The lines carved into the triangular clay artifact make it look like an alien face – a miniature version of a large mask – and has two holes drilled in the upper corners, suggesting it was worn as a necklace. Adding to the mask-like design is the fact that the flip side is indented.

The mouthless prehistoric clay mask or figurine from the 5th millenium BC found in the Salt Pit prehistoric settlement near Provadiya in Northeast Bulgaria has been compared to “an alien in a space suit” in media reports.

Photo: Bulgarian National Radio

The more than 6,000-year-old mouthless prehistoric “alien” mask from the Salt Pit prehistoric town in Northeast Bulgaria might have been a status symbol.

Photo: Provadiya – Solnitsata Prehistoric Settlement Facebook Page

The more than 6,000-year-old mouthless prehistoric “alien” mask from the Salt Pit prehistoric town in Northeast Bulgaria might have been a status symbol.

Photo: Provadiya – Solnitsata Prehistoric Settlement Facebook Page

Prehistoric archaeology expert Prof. Vasil Nikolov is seen here showcasing the mouthless clay mask from the 5th millenium BC.

Photo: Bulgarian National Radio

The mouthless prehistoric clay mask or figurine from the 5th millennium BC found in the Salt Pit prehistoric settlement near Provadiya in Northeast Bulgaria has been compared to “an alien in a spacesuit” in media reports.

Photo: Bulgarian National Radio

What are you implying?

“[The face] has shaped eyebrows, a stylized nose, and elliptical eyes. The artifact was most probably a status symbol hanging on the chest of the person worthy of it. It is interesting that the artifact does have even a hint of a mouth. That is certainly not accidental and bears its own symbolism. The emphasis is on the eyes – their shape, their size as well as the vertical polished bands beneath them are saying a lot more than the missing mouth.”

They’re not saying “it’s aliens” to Archeology in Bulgaria, but it definitely looks like one. Why would aliens be visiting of Provadia Solnitsata in the 5th millennium BCE at the end of the Chalcolithic (Copper) Age just prior to the start of the Bronze Age? One clue might be that Solnitsata was the site of a massive salt mining operation at a time when today’s most common spice was a precious commodity. Salt was so valued back then that Solnitsata, which supplied salt across the Balkans, was walled to protect its residents and the mining operation from invaders and early pretzel makers. Could salt be a reason why aliens might have visited Provadia Solnitsata, prompting someone to capture their likeness on a stone necklace?

It turns out that a number of people claiming to have been abducted by aliens report having a craving for salt upon their return. This could be due to a loss of bodily fluids voluntarily or by force. Are aliens taking salt-filled fluids for examination or consumption? The carved artifact from Provadia Solnitsata could be the missing link to proving this theory.

This prehistoric society specialized in the production of salt which was exported to distant markets. The salt production boosted trade, and salt itself was probably used as a currency at first, before the arrival of gold.

Credits: Bulgarian Academy of Sciences

Or … it could be the carving of an owl, a praying mantis or some other animal. Professor Nikolov thinks it’s a mixture of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic features, and is “categorically connected with the male beginning” but he doesn’t elaborate. The professor also found another alien-like artifact with a triangular face in southeast Bulgaria he calls “the goddess with hair in a bun.” And a prehistoric settlement near Telish in northwest Bulgaria has yielded artifacts resembling “space rockets” and more goddesses with triangular faces. Evidence or art? Other pieces of jewelry were discovered at Provadia Solnitsata, lending credence to the fact that this was once a town made rich by salt. However, all good things come to an end – climate change dried up the sources of salt and the resulting economic recession caused infighting amongst the citizens. Before they could switch to another line of work, an earthquake destroyed the city and covered it with the soil that is the mound today.

Prediconica mask, Vinca culture 4500-4000 BC.

Does the clay face represent aliens, an animal, a person, a goddess or something else? Until more are found, the needle rests on ‘interesting but uncertain’.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

23-11-2020 om 22:17 geschreven door peter  

Oldest Known Aztec Evidence Found! Tip of South America! UFO Sighting Archeology News.

Date of discovery: Nov 22, 2020

Location of discovery: Mountain side at tip of South America

Google source location: 

• https://earth.app.goo.gl/dxxEXo

I was searching for interesting artifacts left behind by ancient aliens and I found this, a sitting warrior figure, carved into the side of the mountain above a river bed. Oh...and my website has been on Ancient Aliens TV show several times in the past. So my interest in such things is clear. The sitting warrior looks to be very older, many times older than the 2,000 years old Aztec pyramids and cites already known. I would estimate this carving to be close to 5,000 years old or older. Google ruler measures it to be 112 meters from tip of hat to bottom of foot and wide is 44 meters from back to knee or 67 meters from shoulder to fist. Still in archeology, most people are reserved to read, study and learn about others discoveries in school, some even apply it out side, but few if anyone has ever used Google Earth map to find such evidence. 100% proof that ancient Aztecs set down on the tip end of South America from an alien ship and migrated north 5,000 years ago. 

Scott C. Waring 

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://www.ufosightingsdaily.com/ }

23-11-2020 om 18:35 geschreven door peter  

Submerged prehistoric settlements in both the Bland and Mediterranean seas show that these areas were above water 6000 years prior, but sea levels shown at the time by classic academia are off by 1000 years. 

Additionally erosion patterns at the Kailash Temple complex in India indicate a far older monolithic structure than academia will allow. 

Out of time artifact where ever we look.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

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

22-11-2020 om 17:06 geschreven door peter  

Inscriptions found on an ancient Egyptian temple revealed constellations that were previously unknown. In addition to the inscriptions, the original colors that were painted onto the 2,000-year-old temple were still present.

The researchers were very careful in removing the dirt and soot from around the temple (occasionally with an alcohol and distilled water mixture) and that’s when they found several carvings and hieroglyphics that “looks like it was painted yesterday,” as described by Christian Leitz who is a professor of Egyptology at the University of Tübingen in Germany and the project leader. In an interview with Live Science, he made it clear that they were not going to repaint anything and that they were only removing the dirt and soot from around the temple.

As for the constellations, the researchers found inscriptions of those we are already familiar with, such as the Big Dipper (or Mesekhtiu) and Orion (or Sah). However, they did find other inscriptions of those that were previously unknown, like the “Apedu n Ra” constellation (also known as “the geese of Ra”) in reference to the ancient Egyptian sun god. Unfortunately, there were no pictures accompanying the inscriptions so it’s impossible to know for sure which stars they were referring to.

As for the temple itself, it is located in the town of Esna which is approximately 40 miles south of Luxor. The Temple of Esna was once a sanctuary that turned into a storage warehouse for cotton in the early part of the 19^th century. But after many years of neglect, it is now covered with dirt and soot with only the vestibule remaining.

This large sandstone building measures 120 feet in length by 65 feet in width and 50 feet in height. It has 24 support columns and 18 free-standing columns that contained beautifully painted carvings of plants. Leitz estimated that it would have taken approximately 200 years for the ancient Egyptians to complete its construction and finish all the carvings and decorations.

The restoration project started in 2018 and it was only recently that they found the inscriptions of the previously unknown constellations. Leitz explained that when the temple was decorated, the ancient Egyptians would have drawn the images in black ink first, and then an artisan would have created the carvings before a painter colored them. Interestingly, several of the inscriptions on the ceiling were only drawn in black ink and they were never carved or even painted.

Pictures of the temple and some of the decorations can be seen here.

This 2019 photo shows the temple of Esna from the east. 

(Image credit: Ahmed Amin)

A column before restoration 

(Image credit: Ahmed Amin)

The same column, after restoration. The name of Trajan is written in the cartouche. 

(Image credit: Ahmed Amin)

Workers found vibrant colors under the soot and filth. 

(Image credit: Ahmed Amin)

The constellation Orion as Osiris (left) and Sothis as Isis (right). 

(Image credit: Ahmed Amin)

The representation of a constellation in form of a mummy. 

(Image credit: Ahmed Amin)

A column with plant designs that has been fully restored. 

(Image credit: Ahmed Amin)

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

20-11-2020 om 15:52 geschreven door peter  

The Colossi of Memnon: Why Did the Giant Statue Sing at Dawn?

The Colossi of Memnon are a pair of giant statues made of stone that are located in the Theban Necropolis in Luxor, Upper Egypt. The statues were made during the 14th century BC, during the period in ancient Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. The best-known legend about the Colossi of Memnon is that of the ‘ Vocal Memnon ,’ in which one of the statues was reputed to ‘sing’ every morning at dawn.

The Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Who Created the Colossi of Memnon

The Colossi of Memnon were built during the reign of Amenhotep III , a pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty who ruled Egypt during the 14th century BC. The statues, which are each about 20 meters (65.62 ft.) in height, are made of quartzite sandstone. The stone is thought to have been quarried either from El-Gabal el-Ahmar (near Cairo) or from Gebel el-Silsileh (near Aswan), and then transported by land to Luxor. The statues depict Amenhotep III in a seated position, with their hands resting on their knees, and their faces facing the Nile in the east.

• Questioning the Mycenaean Death Mask of Agamemnon
• Mycenae, the Ancient city founded by Perseus
• Archaeologists find Magnificent Statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III and His Protector, the Lioness Goddess of War

Amenhotep III's Sitting Colossi of Memnon, Theban Necropolis, Luxor, Egypt. 

(merydolla /Adobe Stock)

The Name and Purpose of the Egyptian Colossi of Memnon

The original function of the colossi was to serve as guardians at the entrance of the pharaoh’s mortuary temple. When it was completed, this temple complex was one of the largest and most luxurious in the land. Today, however, little is left of the mortuary temple, and its foundations were gradually damaged by the annual flooding of the Nile , which led to the temple being demolished, and its stone blocks re-used for other structures. The colossi were spared this fate, though they also suffered extensive damage over the millennia.

The Colossi of Memnon in front of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III's mortuary temple.

( Ancient Egypt )

The colossi were named ‘Memnon’ towards the end of the 1st century BC. Memnon was a hero who lived during the time of the Trojan War . As the King of Ethiopia, Memnon led his soldiers to Troy, where they fought against the Greeks on the side of the Trojans. He was eventually slain by Achilles.

According to legend, Memnon was the son of Eos, the goddess of dawn. On learning of her son’s death, Eos wept, which is said to form the morning dew.

‘Statues of Memnon at Thebes during the flood,’ David Roberts. (1848) ( Public Domain ) The statues in Luxor, Egypt have been impacted by the annual flooding of the Nile.

The Ancient Egyptian Statue Sings at Dawn

Eos’ weeping was associated with the sound said to have been produced by one of the colossi at dawn. According to the Greek geographer Strabo, in 27 BC, a strong earthquake caused the top half of the northern colossus to collapse, and its lower portion to crack. As a consequence of this, the statue began to ‘sing,’ i.e. emitted a light moaning or whistling sound each morning as the Sun rose.

In order to explain this phenomenon, the ancient Greek and Roman travelers to the site began to associate the colossi with the legendary Memnon. The ‘singing’ of the colossus, therefore, was said to have been made by Eos mourning for her dead son. Alternatively, it was believed that the sounds were the cries of Memnon greeting his mother.

Ahmed Osman notes that “Whether associating the Colossi with his name was just whimsy or wishful thinking on the part of the Greeks – they generally referred to the entire Theban Necropolis as the “Memnonium” – the name has remained in common use for the past 2000 years.”

• Eight More Statues of the Ancient Egyptian Goddess Sekhmet Found in Luxor
• Revealing the Ramesseum Medical Papyri and Other Remarkable Finds from the Temple of Ramesses II
• Two colossal statues of Amenhotep III unveiled in Luxor

Antonio Beato, Colossi of Memnon, Egypt, 19th century. Brooklyn Museum.

( Public Domain )

A natural explanation for the signing or wailing phenomenon has been put forward. It has been suggested that due to the increase in temperature at dawn, the dew inside the porous rock evaporates, thus causing the statue to ‘sing.’

Silencing ‘Memnon’

Some believed that it was good luck to hear the statue ‘sing,’ while others were of the opinion that the statue was an oracle. With this in mind, the Colossi of Memnon was a popular tourist attraction and many ancient travelers visited it, including several Roman emperors. One of these was Septimius Severus, who reigned between the end of the 2nd century AD and the beginning of the 3rd century AD.

Drawing of the ancient Egyptian Colossi of Memnon.

(Wellcome images/ CC BY 4.0 )

According to local tradition, the emperor visited the Colossi of Memnon in 199 AD. During his visit, Septimius Severus decided to repair the broken statue by having the two halves re-connected. This caused the statue to stop ‘singing’ forever. Nevertheless, the Colossi of Memnon still remain a tourist attraction even today.

• Top Image: One of the seated statues known as the Colossi of Memnon. Source: danheller /Adobe Stock

By Wu Mingren

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

20-11-2020 om 01:13 geschreven door peter  

The Walls of Jericho: How Accurate Was The Biblical Account?

Jericho is famous both to prehistorians and Biblical scholars. It is likely the oldest continuously inhabited permanent settlement in the world, known for ancient astronomical observatories, plastered skulls, and impressive walls, and it is these walls that the city is probably most famous for. The walls of Jericho are the subject of much discussion and research due to their importance for evaluating the historicity of the Biblical narrative of the ancient Israelite invasion of Canaan.

Before the Bible

Early archaeological work was done on Jericho in the late 1950s by investigators, such as Dame Kathleen Kenyon . Among many other things, they found evidence of walls and a city that had been attacked. This has made Jericho a place of great importance for those interested in Biblical studies.

The earliest evidence of settlement comes from 12,000 years ago when hunter-gatherers settled in the area. Although they were hunter-gatherers, the area seems to have been abundant enough that they were able to live a sedentary lifestyle. They lived in oval stone structures that were partially underground. By about 10,500 years ago, or around 8,500 BC, the people of Jericho had adopted agriculture and Jericho had become a major Neolithic settlement engaging in long distance trade. It was during this time that the famous tower of Jericho was built.

The tower of Jericho was originally discovered by Dame Kathleen Kenyon who suggested that it might have formed part of the original fortification of the town. Modern archaeologists have suggested that it is an ancient astronomical observatory . Within the tower is a staircase that leads to a position where, on what was the summer solstice at the time, the sun could be seen setting behind Mount Quruntul within the Judaean mountains.

The 8000 BC Tower of Jericho at the site of Tell es-Sultan, 2009.

(Salamandra123 / CC BY-SA 3.0 )

In addition to the tower, mysterious plastered skulls have been found, where the skulls were taken out of their graves and given plastered facial features and shell eyes. They are believed to be related to ancestor worship.

• ARCHAEOLOGISTS CLAIM TO HAVE DISCOVERED THE LOCATION OF THE BIBLICAL CITY OF SODOM
• ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNCOVER THE GATE OF JESUS’ FEEDING MIRACLE CITY

Plastered Skull from Jericho from 7,000 BC discovered by Dame Kathleen Kenyon, 1957.

(Merryjack, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 )

By about 7,000 BC, there was a cultural shift where the population in Jericho was reduced and architectural styles changed from round to rectangular houses. Jericho continued to exist as a small village but did not become a large settlement again until around 3,000 BC. After 3,000 BC, extensive fortifications, consisting of walls and towers, were constructed around Jericho. Large cemeteries were also built. Around 2300 BC, Jericho became occupied by the Amorites. During the Amorite period, Jericho appears to have declined as an urban center. By about 1900 BC, the site was occupied by the Canaanites and once again became a major city. It is this Canaanite Jericho that was encountered by the ancient Israelites in the Book of Joshua.

The Walls of Jericho

The Biblical narrative describes the city as having nearly impregnable walls, which were intimidating to anyone who tried to take the city. There is archaeological evidence that the city was once fortified and that it was subsequently attacked and burned sometime in the middle or late Bronze Age between 1550 BC and 1400 BC.

Biblical depiction of the fall of Jericho.

(Otto Semler, CC BY SA 2.0 )

The city of Jericho sat atop a mound or hill, which was surrounded by an embankment. The embankment was supported by an enormous stone retaining wall. Above the retaining wall was an 8-10 meter tall and 2 meter thick mudbrick wall. The wall was directly above the retaining wall and lined the edges of the embankment.

At the perimeter of the summit of the flat-topped hill on which the city was built was another mudbrick wall, which contained the upper city. There is evidence that houses were also built on the embankment and people lived on the lower part of the hill between the inner wall and the outer wall. Since this part of the city would have been less safe in times of war, it has been suggested that this was likely the poorer part of the city. The upper city may have been inhabited by the elites, while commoners lived in the lower city.

Although the inner and outer walls were only mudbrick, they would have been impressive for the time and would have made Jericho a mighty fortress to which people from surrounding towns and villages could flee in times of invasion.

Jericho and Bronze Age Fortifications

The city of Jericho appears to follow a Bronze Age tradition in which cities were built on top of artificial embankments or mounds surrounded by walls. This style of defense is found outside of Jericho at locations such Hazor, Megiddo, and Shechem. Typically, the site would consist of a mound with an artificial embankment surrounding it. Around the embankment would be a stone retaining wall. Settlements with this type of defense structure also had a mudbrick wall built atop the retaining wall as well as another wall surrounding the crest of the mound. This type of fortification is referred to as a glacis and is found all over Palestine and in large portions of the Middle East.

Citadel of Allepo, Syria, showing an example of a glacis fortification, 2007.

(Brian Harrington Spier / CC BY-SA 2.0 )

Scholars have speculated about the origin of the glacis. When research into these structures began in the early to mid-20 ^th century, these fortifications were originally associated with the Hyksos. Originally, the Hyksos were thought to be Indo-European chariot warriors . The fortification was postulated to represent the original fortifications that they used in their homeland.

Since the mid-20 ^th century, this theory has been abandoned and the glacis fortifications are no longer considered to be associated with chariot warfare. Today, the Hyksos are known to have spoken a Semitic language and were likely more closely related to the ancient Hebrews than they were to Indo-European steppe warriors.

Although archaeologists had abandoned the idea that the fortification design came from the steppes of the Indo-European homeland, they were still convinced that the fortification must have come from the north, such as from Anatolia or Syria. By 1968, archaeologists had begun to suggest that the glacis was a native design invented by the Palestinians themselves. This appears to be the predominant view currently.

Another point of contention has been the use of the fortifications. Archaeologists in the mid-20 ^th century, originally believed that the glacis-fortifications were primarily military forts. It is now known that they were simply fortified towns and that at their summits and on the embankments were houses, temples, and other civilian structures.

The glacis first came in to use in the late 18th century BC and was widespread through the middle Bronze Age. By the Iron Age, the glacis appears to have fallen out of use. The legacy of the glacis, however, is reflected in the mound or hill-shaped structure of many archaeological sites across the Levant.

• 11 OF THE MOST ANCIENT AND CONTINUALLY OCCUPIED CITIES IN THE WORLD
• HOW HUNGRY, HUNGRY HIPPOS STARTED A WAR IN ANCIENT EGYPT

 The Walls of Jericho and Biblical Archaeology

For a while, Jericho presented a problem in Biblical studies. On a broader level, there appears to be a discrepancy between the account of the Israelite settlement of Canaan in the Book of Joshua and what is known from archaeology. An initial reading of the Book of Joshua gives the impression that Canaan was taken in a sudden conquest. This is not what is reflected in the current archaeological record that suggests a more gradual settlement, which is more consistent with the account given in the Book of Judges.

However, a closer reading of the Book of Joshua shows that not all of Canaan was conquered by Joshua. Only three cities were specifically described as being burned and destroyed by the ancient Israelites, Ai, Hazor, and Jericho.

As can be seen, evidence of a swift invasion is not necessary to reconcile the Book of Joshua’s account with the archaeological record. Nonetheless, the story of the destruction of Jericho, Ai, and Hazor, around 1400 BC, is consistent with what is known from archaeological excavations.

When the Bible speaks of the walls of Jericho falling down, the original Hebrew wording carries the idea of the walls falling “below themselves.” This is consistent with the design of the glacis since the outer wall would probably be a mudbrick wall sitting atop the stone retaining wall. Thus, if the outer wall was toppled, it would fall below to the base of the retaining wall.

During early archaeological excavations by the British archaeologist Dame Kathleen Kenyon, a stone retaining wall was found at the base of the tell associated with Jericho, but a mudbrick wall wasn’t found. However, a deposit of collapsed mudbrick was found at the base of the retaining wall at certain locations around the tell. This is surprisingly consistent with the account in the Book of Joshua. This collapsed wall would have also created a ramp for the Israelite warriors to march up the embankment to take the city. In this way, the archaeological record makes the Biblical account surprisingly believable. It supports the idea that the walls tumbled “below themselves” as well as the statement that the Israelites went “up” to take the city.

Birdseye view of the unearthed foundations at Tell es-Sultan in Jericho and the surrounding area, 2008.

( Public Domain )

Another specific part of the narrative that is also made plausible by the archaeological record is the account of Rahab’s house being spared. In the Biblical narrative, two spies were sent into the city and they were harbored by a prostitute named Rahab. For helping the spies, Rahab was promised that she and her family would be spared when the city was destroyed. It is implied in the Biblical text, when the walls collapsed that her house was not destroyed even though it was connected to the wall.

During an early excavation in 1907-1909, German archaeologists found that, although most of the wall had collapsed, a portion of the wall had not entirely collapsed and appeared to have been preserved. They also found evidence that houses had been built along the wall. These houses typically had a thickness of only one brick, suggesting they were built for the poorer inhabitants of the city. Although this may not have been the location of Rahab’s house, it is consistent with the Biblical narrative.

Another detail that is also of interest in the archaeological site of Jericho is the presence of pots of charred grain that were burned from when the city was attacked and destroyed. What is unusual about these grain pots is that grain would probably have been eaten during a siege if it had been prolonged over a long period of time. The siege of Jericho by the ancient Israelites is said to have lasted only seven days. The fact that the grain pots were still full is consistent with a short siege. This also supports another part of the Biblical narrative, which mentions that the battle of Jericho happened in the spring, shortly after harvest time.

Biblical depiction of the battle of Jericho.

( Public Domain

Implications for the Biblical Narrative

These details do not prove that the Bible is true necessarily, but they do demonstrate that the Biblical narrative is plausible and makes sense. This is consistent with other archaeological finds that increase confidence in the Biblical narrative as being at least archaeologically and historically realistic.

Although there are still unanswered questions and discrepancies between the Biblical account and the archaeological record, the Bible can be thought of as a basically reliable document that does provide some useful details for archaeologists and historians interested in understanding the lifeways and societies of the ancient Levant, even if it turns out to not be true or accurate in its entirety.

An analogy is Homer’s Iliad. The archaeological site now considered to be the site of ancient Troy was first excavated by Heinrich Schliemann in the 1870s. Schliemann was in search of the Troy of Greek legend. During this excavation, Schliemann discovered artifacts, which he believed to be the treasures of King Priam, although this idea was later discredited. Nonetheless, in the century and a half since the initial excavations by Heinrich Schliemann, scholars have noted that the topographic descriptions of the land and city in the Iliad do seem to match what is known of the ancient city from archaeology. This is interesting in light of the fact that Hisarlik, the current Turkish name for the archaeological site, has been associated with the legendary city for thousands of years. Although it is far from clear how much of the Trojan war is history and how much is legend, it does appear plausible that there is truth to the narrative.

The Ramayana is another possible example. Although Rama, the main character, is not mentioned on any monuments or coinage, as would be expected of a historical monarch, most of the cities and places mentioned in the Ramayana are known to exist or have been discovered through archaeological investigation. This does not necessarily mean that the events in the Ramayana happened as described, but they do make the story of the Ramayana more plausible.

In the same way, these archaeological findings at Jericho do not necessarily prove that the Biblical narrative happened exactly as described, but they do lend credence to the story described on the pages of the Bible. Although sometimes archaeology casts doubt on traditional stories about the past, other times it confirms them in surprising ways.

• Top Image: Bible Old Testament: Joshua and the walls of Jericho.           
• Source: Archivist / Adobe Stock

By Caleb Strom

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

19-11-2020 om 23:49 geschreven door peter  

An ancient tunnel system may have spanned the entire Earth, from continent to continent. Seems hard to believe at first but there are many legends and tales of subterranean worlds scattered throughout old texts. 

There are also fascinating caves and cities that have been discovered under our feet, but no one seems to know who built them or for what purpose. 

Some people an advanced civilization built them in a time before recorded history. Could they be right? 

Watch this until the end and you will get a revealing insight into what these tunnels are now being used for.

 

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by petter2011

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

18-11-2020 om 20:43 geschreven door peter  

A new study has revealed that at the end of the Triassic Period, there was a “lost” mass extinction and a rain storm that lasted more than a million years. These events happened around 233 million years ago when there was one supercontinent named Pangaea.

The long-lasting rain storm has been named the Carnian Pluvial Episode (or CPE) and a huge mass extinction occurred during that time that killed off one-third of marine species in addition to large amounts of land animals and plants that died as a result of climate change caused by volcanic eruptions in Wrangellia in what is now the western coast of Canada.

In fact, studies have suggested that at least 5,000 gigatons of carbon was released into Earth’s atmosphere during the eruptions that triggered the climate change. There would have been a lot more humidity as well as huge rain storms. The oceans then turned acidic which killed off countless marine species.

A volcanic eruption in Wrangellia triggered climate change.

Even though the CPE caused major extinctions, there was a silver lining as the researchers described this period as being a “turnover” that ultimately helped the dinosaurs dominate the land and aided with the evolution of numerous animals – some of which are still around today.

Jacopo Dal Corso, who is a geology professor at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan and the lead author of the study, explained this further in an interview with Eos.org, “A key feature of the CPE is that extinction was very rapidly followed by a big radiation [of new species],”adding, “A number of groups that have a central role in today’s ecosystems appeared or diversified for the first time in the Carnian [an age within the Triassic that lasted from 237 to 227 million years ago].”

Coral reefs and plankton are part of these groups in addition to several species like lizards, frogs, turtles, crocodilians, and certain dinosaurs that prospered for the following 150 million years. And conifer trees appeared for the first time during the CPE.

The Carnian Pluvial Episode paved the way for dinosaurs.

Mike Benton, who is a professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and a co-author of the study, stated that part of the research focused on how significant the CPE was in comparison to other mass extinctions that occurred in Earth’s history. “It appears not as substantial as the “big five”, but not far off, and with proper analysis in future it might turn out to be of similar magnitude,” he explained. “The end-Permian extinction wiped out 95% of all marine species, and the Triassic was a time of recovery.” “It now seems the CPE was a key punctuation [in that process].”

The study was published in the journal Science Advances where it can be read in full.

ALL RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

17-11-2020 om 18:08 geschreven door peter  

The devastating “nuclear war” between Lemuria and Atlantis more than 10,000 years ago (VIDEO)

The war between Lemuria and Atlantis : advanced civilizations of antiquity. The Atlanteans were manipulated by the Anunnaki.

In this hidden history of more than 10,000 years ago , which appears in books such as The Chronicles of Akakor , the lost continents of Lemuria and Atlantis sank due to a nuclear war caused by the Anunnaki themselves who had influenced the Atlanteans to rule. to other towns. This created a world catastrophe , but there were Lemurian and Atlantean survivors.

Both continents would have been found on the oceanic surface until 10,000 years ago . Lemuria would have been located in the Pacific Ocean and Atlantis in the Atlantic.

Ancient Hidden History of Atlantis and Lemuria

In The Chronicles of Akakor , Karl Brugger states that both continents were home to two races of gods, two civilizations more advanced than today . They had entered into conflict, thus developing a war with aircraft and ancient nuclear weapons . In the end, both continents sank due to this catastrophic war. Quote from Akakor’s book:

“Twilight covered the surface of the Earth. The sun was still shining, but a grayish mist, great and powerful, was beginning to obscure the daylight. Strange signs were showing in the sky… A red sun and a black path crossed each other. Black, red, the four corners of the Earth were red … The two races of gods began to dispute. They burned the world with solar heat and tried to take power from each other… The course of the rivers was altered, and the height of the mountains and the strength of the sun changed. There were continents that were flooded … “

Enigmatic Hindu tablets found by James Churchward in 1868 speak of Lemuria . He, together with the High Priest of the temple, interpreted that the tablets spoke of the disappeared land of Mu where the Naacales or Holy Brothers lived . According to the tablets, Mu sank about 12,000 years before the present era and Easter Island , along with other Polynesian islands, are remnants of Mu or Lemuria .

The book The Visitors of JJ Benítez narrates the alien abduction of scientist Daniel W. Fry on July 4, 1959. On the ship, the aliens told him that their ancestors lived in the land of Mu and that there was another civilization in Atlantis advanced. Atlantean scientists ” learned to handle atomic energy more skillfully than you currently have . ” He also mentioned an arms disaster that was imminent.

Alternative history of Atlanteans vs. Lemurians: nuclear catastrophe

Edgar Cayce , an American medium, received telepathic messages from aliens from Cassiopea. His information says that the Atlanteans lived from ancient times . They made space travel and even had bases on various planets like Mars. In addition, they possessed a mysterious technology to collect energy from the cosmos through gigantic crystals .

Different informants say that the Atlanteans were advanced and benevolent humans who fell into evil, while others propose that they came from another solar system and that they already had a genetics that predisposed them to be cold and cruel.

In the first story it is said that from 210,000 BC. C. they lived in Atlantis in peace and harmony. However, the Anunnaki reptilian aliens  began to negatively influence them , specifically the Atlantean High Priests.

These corrupted Atlanteans called themselves “Sons of Belial” and there began the conflict with Lemuria . About 25,000 years ago , these Sons of Belial began arguing with the Lemurians about how to rule the Earth. Atlantis wanted to rule all the other tribes and civilizations in the world .

The Lemurians preferred the other peoples to develop on their own, so they ordered them to leave them alone . That decision made the Atlantean Sons of Belial want to wage war on Lemuria , culminating in a plan for a nuclear-armed bombardment of Lemuria .

Earth changes and reboot of civilizations

This caused a disaster, with underground gas fields exploding . In the end, more than 60 million Lemurians perished . The survivors took refuge in Agartha and, later, attacked Atlantis .

However, the sinking of that lost continent was due more to a series of natural disasters . The Earth had become unstable as a result of the excessive nuclear explosions of the Atlanteans (because of that, the Earth’s axis shifted and the poles began to shift ).

Many Atlanteans sought refuge in Agartha and others spread throughout the world. Prehistoric structures such as stone circles (Stonehenge), dolmens and geoglyphs are said to be Atlantean work , since they knew the technology of acoustic levitation to lift heavy rocks (in addition, in caves around the world there are symbols of Atlantis: the spirals, the crescent and the serpent ).

Then, with the passing of the millennia and the Earth already stabilizing, both civilizations came to the surface, restarting in those we know today: Sumer, Egypt, India, China, etc. Más adelante regresarían los Anunnaki reptilianos y comenzaría nuestra historia que conocemos. Los reptilianos tomaron control de la Tierra de una manera encubierta.

This is an alternate story that transforms conventional history , but it does make sense because of everything we have discovered about Atlantis, Lemuria, and even the mythology of the Anunnaki , including the geological changes on Earth . It may be a true story, but the elite and secret societies keep it hidden.

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011

{ https://mysteriousthing.com/ }

16-11-2020 om 18:31 geschreven door peter  

Experts have recently studied two Egyptian mummies that were discovered back in the year 1615 in a rock-cut tomb. The remains were analyzed by using CT scans that revealed interesting facts about the deceased individuals.

The two mummies, in addition to a third one that was on display in Egypt, are the only surviving “stucco-shrouded portrait mummies” from the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Saqqara. And they weren’t buried in coffins as their bodies were put on wooden boards and then wrapped up in a textile that was decorated with gold, 3D plaster, and a portrait of the individual. They were described as a “beautiful mummy shroud” by Stephanie Zesch, who is a physical anthropologist and Egyptologist at the German Mummy Project at Reiss Engelhorn Museum in Mannheim, Germany, as well as the lead researcher of the study.

The three mummies that were studied were an adult male and two females (one adult woman and one teenager) who lived sometime during the late Roman period (30 BC to 395 AD). The females were both still wearing several necklaces and other artifacts were found with the individuals such as coins that may have been placed with them as a payment to the Roman and Greek deity Charon who was said to carry the souls of the deceased across the River Styx.

(Not the mummies mentioned in this article.)

The CT scans showed what types of medical conditions the individuals suffered from, such as advanced arthritis in the adult female’s left knee. In an interview with Live Science, Zesch stated, “The examination of the individuals yielded that they died at rather young ages … however, the cause of death of the individuals could not be determined.”

As for their body sizes and when they died, the male, who passed away between 25 and 30 years of age, was about 5 feet 4 inches tall. He had two unerupted teeth (those are teeth that hadn’t grown in yet) and numerous cavities. Several of his bones were broken but researchers believe those happened when he was unwrapped after being found.

The adult female, who stood around 4 feet 11 inches in height, passed away between 30 and 40 years of age. The female teenager was approximately 5 feet 1 inch in height and passed away when she was between 17 and 19 years old. The scan revealed that she had a benign tumor in her spine (called vertebral hemangioma) which was odd as it normally shows up in people over 40 years of age.

(Not the mummies mentioned in this article.)

The adults’ brains were not preserved and they couldn’t find any proof that they had been removed prior to their burials. On the other hand, the teenager’s brain was preserved (despite shrinking over the years) as well as her internal organs. “We are quite sure there was no removing the brain or the internal organs,” Zesch noted, adding, “It’s very probable that those mummies were only preserved because of a kind of dehydration with the use of [the desiccation mixture] natron, but there is not a huge amount of embalming liquids.” (Pictures from the scans can be seen here.)

The male (left) and female (right) mummies first found in Saqqara, Egypt in 1615.

(Image: © Zesch S, et al. PLOS One (2020); CC BY 4.0; © Sculpture Collection, Dresden State Art Collections, photos: H.-P. Klut/E. Estel)

An example of a ‘grain mummy’ (600 – 400 BC) in the form of the god Horus ( CC by SA 4.0 / Wolfgang Sauber )

Archaeologists from the Reiss Engelhorn Meuseu, Germany, had to use CT scans as, unlike other mummies, the bodies were coated in a hard plaster shell - not wood

They are the only known surviving 'stucco-shrouded portrait mummies' from Saqqara - an ancient Egyptian necropolis - and were first discovered in 1615

Dating back to between the third and fourth century AD, researchers found they contained the remains of a teenager girl, a man in his 20s and a woman in her 30s

An example of a ‘corn mummy’ in the form of the god Osiris. While the mummy looks like a small child, it is actually made with mud and grains

( CC by SA 3.0 / Bombaladan )

The man died between the ages of 25 and 30, was about 5ft 4in and some of his bones were broken and jumbled - possibly due to someone trying to unwrap him

At least one of the three mummies had been buried with their organs - including the brain - and both females were wearing necklaces, according to the researchers

The body is placed on a wooden board, covered in a shroud and then coated in plaster and gold to create a shell which is then painted to show the whole body

The research was published in the journal PLOS One where it can be read in full.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

14-11-2020 om 22:26 geschreven door peter  

A 2-million-year-old skull that belonged to a distant human cousin named Paranthropus robustus was unearthed during an archaeological dig at the Drimolen cave system located close to Johannesburg, South Africa.

According to researchers from La Trobe University in Australia, the nearly-complete skull (which they labelled DNH 155) of the large-toothed, small-brained male hominin is the best preserved and earliest remains ever found of our distant cousin. Even though the skull is now put together, when it was first discovered, there were hundreds of small individual bones. (Pictures of the skull can be seen here.)

Paranthropus robustus had relatively large teeth and a small brain.

(Supplied)

Palaeoanthropologist Angeline Leece noted that Paranthropus robustus lived around the same time as Homo erectus. “But these two vastly different species — Homo erectus with their relatively large brains and small teeth, and Paranthropus robustus with their relatively large teeth and small brains — represent divergent evolutionary experiments,” she explained, adding, “While we were the lineage that won out in the end, two million years ago the fossil record suggests that Paranthropus robustus was much more common than Homo erectus on the landscape.”

Paranthropus robustus evolved to adapt to climate change.

It was previously thought that Paranthropus robustus lived in groups where large dominant males co-habited with smaller females; however, the male skull was actually pretty close in size compared to the female remains that were discovered at the same site.

This discovery seemingly sheds new light on human microevolution (the evolutionary change within a species in a short amount of time). In fact, it could be the best evidence so far of a human ancestor evolving in order to adapt to climate change. South Africa was believed to have transformed from a wet and lush environment to much drier conditions around two million years ago due to climate change. Because of the change, Paranthropus robustus would have had to evolve in order to survive the new climate – such as being able to chew on tougher plants.

Interestingly, the male skull was quite a bit smaller than other male skulls that were discovered in a nearby cave called Swartkrans; however, those skulls belonged to Paranthropus robustus who were around 200,000 years younger than the one found at the Drimolen cave system. And since the older male’s chewing muscles were not as strong as those found at Swartkrans, that would indicate that they evolved during that time period.

Archaeologist Andy Herries explained this further by stating that the species evolved enough to survive in South Africa for around a million years. “Like all other creatures on Earth, to remain successful our ancestors adapted and evolved in accordance with the landscape and environment around them.”

He went on to say, “We believe these changes took place during a time when South Africa was drying out, leading to the extinction of a number of contemporaneous mammal species,” adding, “It is likely that climate change produced environmental stressors that drove evolution within Paranthropus robustus.”

The research was published in Nature Ecology and Evolution where it can be read in full.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

12-11-2020 om 21:01 geschreven door peter  

Saudi Arabia’s 7,000-year-old ‘mystery structures’ revealed up close in stunning new images

The mysterious structures which could date back around 7,000 years can only be appreciated from the air. Who built them and what was their purpose? 

New Aerial Images Shed Light on Ancient 'Desert Kites' ...

Located in the Harrat Khaybar region in Saudi Arabia are stunning gate structure dubbed as the oldest man-made structures in the landscape.

The incredible structures, only visible from the air, are believed to have been built around 7,000 years ago.

Around 400 of these mysterious stone structures adorn the landscape in the remote Saudi Arabian Desert, and archaeologists have no idea what their purpose was, why they can only be seen from the air, and who created them.

Some of these structures are more than 500 meters long and were built on top of lava domes, thousands of years ago.

So far, experts were unable to study the structure up close due to restrictions in the country, however, a leading archaeologist from Australia has recently been given special permission to fly over the enigmatic formations, obtaining the clearest yet images of the mysterious formations ever.

Archaeologist Dr. David Kennedy, from the University of Western Australia, has spent more than two decades studying the ‘Works of the Old Men,’ as they were dubbed by the local Bedouin population when asked about the mystery formations in the 1920s.

In an article published in Live Science, he said that the overflight of his helicopter could be the first systematic archaeological aerial reconnaissance ever made in that Arab country.

Curiously in many cases, the structures which include structures that eerily resemble gates, kites, pendants, and keyholes are revealed only when seen from above, just as the famous Nazca Lines in Peru.

Scholars believe that fresh aerial photography combined with fieldwork at the structures could lead to breakthrough discoveries.

Flying in a Saudi Royal Commission helicopter, Dr. Kennedy spent a total of fifteen hours in the sky exploring around 200 sites of interest and snapping a staggering 6,000 images of the mystery formations.

“The number of high-resolution “windows” on Google Earth has increased rapidly, especially since the launch of the Landsat 8 satellite in February 2013. Google Earth will remain a useful tool for prospection. It is simple to “pin” and catalog sites, measure them, sketch them and generate distribution maps for interpretation,” wrote Dr. Kennedy in an article for Live Science.

“The limitations are equally obvious, however. The imagery is two-dimensional, and even the best resolution can be very fuzzy when enlarged. Detail is missing, and some sites are effectively invisible for various reasons. And imagery may be months, or even years, old and thus less valuable for routine monitoring, explained Dr. Kennedy.”

The mysterious structures were built across lava domes in a region that is now inhospitable. However, experts say that when the structures were built, thousands of years ago, the area would have been much more hospitable than it is now.

Some of the structures show evidence of lava flow on top of them which indicates that the structures are older than the lava flows.

The next step in solving the mystery behind the so-called Gates is to study the structures on the ground.

{ https://www.ancient-code.com/ }

12-11-2020 om 01:31 geschreven door peter  

A very bizarre-looking, shrimp-like, five-eyed creature that lived in the ocean more than 500 million years ago may be the “missing link” in the evolution of arthropods. Six very well preserved fossils were unearthed in the Yu’anshan Formation in the southern part of China and the newly discovered creature has been named Kylinxia zhangia.

Arthropods began thriving during the Cambrian period (between 543 million and 490 million years ago) and there are still plenty of them today. They are defined as being invertebrates with an exoskeleton, segmented body, and appendages with joints. Insects (bees, dragonflies, ants), arachnids (scorpions, spiders), myriapods (centipedes, millipedes), and crustaceans (shrimp, crabs, lobsters) are all examples of arthropods.

The Kylinxia zhangia lived in the water more than 500 million years ago.

The Kylinxia zhangia had five compound eyes (two that were twice as large as the rest), a jointed upper portion to its body; big “arms” that curved upwards; and 15 jointed limbs that had spines at the end. It measured approximately 3 inches long. While some of its features coincide with other arthropods from ancient times, it also had very bizarre features that were present in other species.

The remains were so well preserved that several tissues and digestive glands were still present. In a statement, Fangchen Zhao, who is a professor with the Nanjing Institute of Palaeontology and Geology (NIPG) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing, China, as well as a co-author of the study, said, “The Kylinxia fossils exhibit exquisite anatomical structures,” adding, “For example, nervous tissue, eyes and digestive system – these are soft body parts we usually cannot see in conventional fossils.”

There are still missing pieces to the evolutionary history of arthropods which is why the discovery of the Kylinxia zhangia is so important. Since several of its features were known to be present in other species, it is believed that the Kylinxia zhangia is the “missing link” that scientists have been searching for.

The Kylinxia zhangia has been described as shrimp-like.

Researchers compared the features of the Kylinxia zhangia to around 300 features of other arthropods in over 80 taxonomic groups. An ancient ancestor of arthropods called Opabinia also had five eyes, and a three-foot-long Cambrian marine arthropod named Anomalocaris had appendages that looked like those of the Kylinxia zhangia.

Han Zeng, who is a NIPG assistant professor and the lead author of the study, explained this further, “Kylinxia represents a crucial transitional fossil predicted by Darwin’s evolutionary theory.” “It bridges the evolutionary gap from Anomalocaris to true arthropods and forms a key ‘missing link’ in the origin of arthropods, contributing strong fossil evidence for the evolutionary theory of life.” The study was published in the journal Nature where it can be read in full.

Images of what the Kylinxia zhangia would have looked like more than 500 million years ago can be seen here.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

11-11-2020 om 01:15 geschreven door peter  

The Fossil Record Cannot Be Wrong... Strange Giants Once Lived On Earth

The Fossil Record Cannot Be Wrong… Strange Giants Once Lived On Earth

There has been an on going secret for many years. Scientific establishments have been rushing away the evidence as quickly as possible. But now, researchers from all around the world are revealling their findings and the secret can not be kept hidden any further. Our world was once inhabited by various giants that had some incredible attributes. What happened to them and where did they go?

RELATED VIDEOS, selected and poster by peter2011

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

10-11-2020 om 23:09 geschreven door peter  

Women were hunters as well as gatherers in ancient societies, reveals grave of teenage female warrior who died 9,000 years ago in the Andes

• Researchers found a woman hunter's grave at the Wilamaya Patjxa site in Peru
• The 17–19 year old was buried with stone projectiles, a knife and butchery tools
• The discovery is the earliest-known hunter's grave unearthed from the Americas
• Researchers said the find has helped overturn the 'man-the-hunter' hypothesis

By IAN RANDALL FOR MAILONLINE

Women warriors hunted and slaughtered big game in the Andes some 9,000 years ago, a burial site containing projectile points and butchery tools has revealed.

The remains of the 17–19 year old hunter and her artefacts were found in a grave at the high-altitude archaeological site of Wilamaya Patjxa, in what is today Peru.

She was found with tools including stone projectile points for felling large animals, a knife, and implements for gutting an animal and scraping or tanning hides.

It had long been assumed that — among early human hunter-gatherer societies — it was the men who did the former while the women undertook the latter task. 

However, the find — along with an analysis of early burial practices more broadly — 'overturns the long-held "man-the-hunter" hypothesis', the US researchers said.

It is possible that nine millennia ago the hunters of Wilamaya Patjxa may have hunted vicuña — animals related to llamas and camels — which still roam the Andes today. 

 Women warriors hunted and slaughtered big game in the Andes some 9,000 years ago, as depicted, a burial site containing projectile points and butchery tools has revealed

'We believe that these findings are particularly timely in light of contemporary conversations surrounding gendered labour practices and inequality,' said paper author and anthropologist Randy Haas of the the University of California, Davis.

'Labour practices among recent hunter-gatherer societies are highly gendered, which might lead some to believe that sexist inequalities in things like pay or rank are somehow "natural" ', he commented.

'But it's now clear that sexual division of labour was fundamentally different — likely more equitable — in our species' deep hunter-gatherer past.'

Professor Haas and colleagues — with in collaboration with the local Mulla Fasiri community — discovered the warrior woman's burial, complete with its hunting 'toolkit' — during excavations at Wilamaya Patjxa back in 2018. 

The researchers noted that the objects that accompanying people to their graves in death tend to also be those that they made use of in life.

The team determined that the hunter's remains were likely those of a woman based on the structure of the bones — a conclusion that was later validated by analysing the proteins found in samples of the individual's teeth.

Analysis of the woman's bones also found isotopic evidence of meat consumption, which the researchers said supports the conclusion that she was a hunter.

The team also found another hunter's burial site — this one occupied by the remains of a man — believed to be around 25–30 years of age.

'Our findings have made me rethink the most basic organizational structure of ancient hunter-gatherer groups,' Professor Haas said. 

“Among historic and contemporary hunter-gatherers, it is almost always the case that males are the hunters and females are the gatherers. 

'Because of this – and likely because of sexist assumptions about division of labour in western society – archaeological findings of females with hunting tools just didn't fit prevailing worldviews.'

'It took a strong case to help us recognize that the archaeological pattern indicated actual female hunting behaviour.'

The remains of the hunter and her artefacts were found in a grave at the high-altitude archaeological site of Wilamaya Patjxa, in what is today Peru, pictured

It had long been assumed that — among early human hunter-gatherer societies — it was the men who did the former while the women undertook the latter task. Pictured, the tools unearthed from the burial pit, among which are projectile points (Nos. 1–7), unmodified flakes (8–10), retouched flakes (11–13), a possible backed knife (14), thumbnail scrapers (15 & 16), scrapers/choppers (17–19), burnishing stones (17, 20 & 21), and red ochre nodules (22–24)

The teenage female hunter was discovered with a hunting toolkit at the Wilamaya Patjxa in southern Peru.

(Randall Haas / University of California, Davis )

The unexpected discovery of that one of the hunters' graves belonged to a woman prompted the team to investigate whether this case was a one-off — or whether women warriors were actually more common than was initially thought.

Consulting records of similar late Pleistocene and early Holocene burials that had been excavated across both North and South America, the researchers counted 429 individuals that had been laid to rest across 107 different sites.

Of this people, 27 had been buried alongside big-game hunting tools — with 11 being women and 15 men.

It is possible that nine millennia ago the hunters of Wilamaya Patjxa may have hunted vicuña (pictured) — animals related to llamas and camels — which still roam the Andes today

The find — along with an analysis of early burial practices more broadly — 'overturns the long-held "man-the-hunter" hypothesis', the US researchers said. Pictured, the Wilamaya Patjxa site

This sample, the researchers concluded, is sufficient to 'warrant the conclusion that female participation in early big-game hunting was likely non-trivial.'

Statistical analysis of the record of ancient hunter gathers concluded that between 30–50 per cent of hunters in these populations were women — a result in stark contrast to the same figures for recent hunter gathers, which are typically lower.

Even in agricultural and capitalist societies, hunting is usually a male-dominated activity with low levels of participation from women.

The researcher's review also revealed that the woman buried at Wilamaya Patjxa represents the earliest-known hunter burial in the Americas.

'We believe that these findings are particularly timely in light of contemporary conversations surrounding gendered labour practices and inequality,' said paper author and anthropologist Randy Haas of the the University of California, Davis. Pictured, researchers sift for remains at the Wilamaya Patjxa excavation site in the Andes

According to the researchers, their findings may shine light on the division of labour in early human societies — but such also raises new questions that need answers.

With their initial study complete, the team are now looking to explore how the sexual division of labour — and the consequences of such — varied across the early hunter-gatherer populations of the Americas, and how it changed with time.

The full findings of the study were published in the journal Science Advances.

The remains of the hunter and her artefacts were found in a grave at the high-altitude archaeological site of Wilamaya Patjxa, in what is today Peru

{ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ }

09-11-2020 om 13:59 geschreven door peter  

Researchers at the Wilamaya Patjxa archaeological site in Peru found an ancient grave that contained the remains of a female along with several weapons. What’s so interesting was the fact that she was a teenage hunter who died when she was between 17 and 19 years of age.

This discovery proves that women were just as good at hunting large animals as men were in ancient times around 9,000 years ago. It has been long believed that men hunted large animals while women gathered plants and herbs; however, this new discovery proves that females were able to hunt just like males. She was buried with several tools that included stone projectile points, butchery tools, and a knife. (Pictures of the archaeological site as well as the weapons found in the burial can be seen here.)

Randy Haas, who is an anthropologist from the University of California, Davis, and an author of the study, stated how significant this discovery was in regards to gender, “We believe that these findings are particularly timely in light of contemporary conversations surrounding gendered labor practices and inequality.” “Labor practices among recent hunter-gatherer societies are highly gendered, which might lead some to believe that sexist inequalities in things like pay or rank are somehow ‘natural’.” “But it’s now clear that sexual division of labor was fundamentally different — likely more equitable — in our species’ deep hunter-gatherer past.”

After the discovery of the grave, researchers were curious as to how common women hunters actually were in ancient times so they looked through old records of hunter-gatherer burials that date back to the late Pleistocene period (that finished approximately 11,700 years ago) and the early Holocene period (that started around 12,000 to 11,500 years ago). They analyzed the reports of 429 people who were buried in 107 locations around the Americas and they found that 27 of them were buried with big-game hunting weapons. And of those 27 skeletons, 11 were female. What’s even more amazing is that they calculated that between 30% and 50% of hunters during that time were in fact women.

In an interview with Live Science, Kathleen Sterling, who is an associate professor of anthropology at Binghamton University in New York but was not involved with the study, weighed in by stating, “This study should help convince people that women participated in big-game hunts.”

The study was published in the journal Science Advances where it can be read in full.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

09-11-2020 om 13:32 geschreven door peter  

SCIENTISTS THINK THEY'VE FINALLY SOLVED A 99 MILLION-YEAR-OLD FOSSIL MYSTERY

IN 2016, RESEARCHERS ANNOUNCED a landmark discovery made at a site in Myanmar: They had found 99 million-year-old chameleons, preserved in amber.

Fossils preserved in amber offer a far clearer glimpse at the ancient animal world than fossils embedded in rock or individual bones, but that doesn't mean mistakes cannot be made.

Now, a new paper published Thursday in the journal Science reveals the original study's researchers have a confession to make: These are not chameleons.

In fact, they are something else entirely.

Identifying a fossil animal's species is a complex process at best. Especially when you're dealing with 99-million-year-old fossils preserved in amber.

Juan Diego Daza is an assistant professor of biological sciences at Sam Houston State University and was the lead author on the 2016 study. Published in Science Advances, Daza and his colleagues reported the discovery of a dozen amber-bound fossils from Myanmar dating back to mid-Cretaceous period.

Amber is "good for trapping small and elusive animals that you won’t be able to find under other methods of fossilization," Daza tells Inverse. "These animals are so small that their chances of being fossilized with other methods — for example, normal, hard-rock fossils — would be very difficult."

But amber is no snow globe. With its dark, variable orange hue and rounded form, amber visually distorts the things it contains, making it difficult to easily identify details about the animals preserved within. This is made even harder when handling juvenile specimens, the bones of which would not have been fully developed when they were trapped.

Cut back to 2016. Daza and his colleagues were fairly confident that one of the fossils they found — which sported a nifty tongue bone — was an ancient chameleon.

It turns out that they were wrong.

FORENSIC FOSSILS

After publishing the 2016, Daza got a call. Another paleontologist, Susan Evans, had some bad (and good) news: Daza's chameleon was in fact a long-extinct species of amphibian — albanerpetontids, also known by the cute moniker "albies."

"The albanerpetontids — they’re very unusual amphibians," Daza says. "In a way, the body shape is similar to a salamander in the sense that they have four legs. And they have a tail — something that other amphibians that are alive today [don’t have]."

"MAYBE, SOME DAY, SOMEONE WILL DISCOVER ONE IN AN ISOLATED JUNGLE IN BORNEO OR SOMEPLACE IN THE WORLD WHERE NOBODY HAS GONE BEFORE."

With their claws and scales, albies are thought to have closely resembled a reptile — like a chameleon. But it turns out albies also shared another thing in common with the modern reptiles — that strange tongue bone.

"Albanerpetontids share with chameleons a unique bone in between the jaws, that’s basically a bone that supports the tongue. And that is very similar in both groups," Daza says.

To complicate matters, at the time, the majority of albie fossils had been found in Europe or North America, not Asia. Daza was left unsure what they had found, until he got an unexpected breakthrough in 2018.

At the end of 2018, Daza received an email from gemologist Adolf Peretti that would change everything. Peretti had 60 vertebrate fossil samples from Myanmar, and Daza suggested Peretti do a CT scan of the entire collection to better identify key details in the fossils.

The results turned out to be a boon for Daza — Peretti found a well-preserved adult albie specimen in his collection.

Comparing the juvenile in their study to Peretti's adult specimen allowed Daza and his colleagues to make key updates to the 2016 study.

They identified these fossils from Myanmar under a new genus and species: Yaksha perettii, named not only for Peretti, but also Hindu spirits, or yakshas, which are associated with nature.

In other words, Daza and his colleagues might have got the species wrong. But what they have instead discovered is perhaps the oldest example of a projectile tongue discovered in nature.

WAITING GAME

 The albie's fast-moving "ballistic" tongue means it was likely a "sit-and-wait predator," according to Daza.

"They remain steady until a prey approaches and when the prey is in the range of their tongue, they will shoot at the tongue quickly. And, usually, the tongue is sticky at the end. And that allows them to engulf the prey and drag it to their mouths," he says.

But why does a chameleon, a reptile, share such a similar feature to an albie, an amphibian? It's all due to convergent evolution, Daza says.

"It’s a process in biology that we call convergence. It’s basically when two or more groups develop similar traits to perform the similar function," he explains.

"It’s the first amphibian of this group with such a good preservation, so it helped us to understand better the anatomy, and helped us do something that’s almost impossible to do with many fossils: to do a bone-by-bone analysis of each one of the bones that formed the skull," Daza adds.

The researchers also formed a better understanding of the creature's development. For example, it seems like albies don't necessarily have a larval stage, like a tadpole does before it becomes an adult frog.

"If this is a juvenile, and then this is an adult, we suspect, for example, when they hatch from their eggs, they are already almost formed. The lack the larvae stage that other amphibians might have," says Daza.

Albies had a long reign; the species existed for at least 165 million years and reportedly became extinct only two million years ago, leaving behind no living descendants today.

But is there a small chance that the albie may not actually be extinct, but is actually out there, just waiting to be found? It's actually not that far-fetched an idea.

"We don’t know. Maybe, some day, someone will discover one in an isolated jungle in Borneo or someplace in the world where nobody has gone before," Daza says.

Abstract: 

Albanerpetontids are tiny, enigmatic fossil amphibians with a distinctive suite of characteristics, including scales and specialized jaw and neck joints. Here we describe a new genus and species of albanerpetontid, represented by fully articulated and three-dimensional specimens preserved in amber. These specimens preserve skeletal and soft tissues, including an elongated median hyoid element, the tip of which remains embedded in a distal tongue pad. This arrangement is very similar to the long, rapidly projecting tongue of chameleons. Our results thus suggest that albanerpetontids were sit-and-wait ballistic tongue feeders, extending the record of this specialized feeding mode by around 100 million years.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

08-11-2020 om 23:56 geschreven door peter  

A WEIRD, ANCIENT SHRIMP HAS CHANGED SCIENTISTS' UNDERSTANDING OF EVOLUTION

Just a little evolutionary hiccup along the way.

DURING THE CAMBRIAN PERIOD, the world’s oceans were teeming with strange, swimming, segmented creatures.

Over the course of millions of years, these elongated, millipede-like animals would eventually evolve to become modern arthropods: crustaceans like crabs, arachnids like scorpions, and insects like bees and ants.

But some 500 million years ago, these aquatic Cambrian beasts were rather more experimental when it came to their physical traits and body plans than their more familiar descendants. There was the 3-inch-long Opabinia, with 5 eyes balanced on stalks and an elephant trunk-like mouth, and the predatory Radiodonta species, replete with two spine-laden, curving and segmented appendages designed to capture prey.

But there was another creature swimming around Earth's oceans, showcasing both of these strange features, and so much more. Enter the Kylinxia zhangi.

This newly discovered, shrimp-like species is described in a paper published Wednesday in the journal Nature.

In the paper, the researchers reveal that rather than just one special feature, this small fossil arthropod possesses a melting pot of physical traits, including five eyes on stalks and curved, spiny hooks extending upward from the front of its body like talons. It appears to have been armored, too. The fossil has a fused head shield, an armored, segmented body, and other claw-like appendages down its shell.

The discovery helps scientists understand how Cambrian arthropods may have been related to each other, and how their legacy lives on in crabs and insects today.

Diying Huang is a co-author on the paper and professor at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He tells Inverse that while modern arthropods may seem like a diverse bunch, they have nothing on their ancient ancestors.

“Modern arthropods are abundant and diverse. They are everywhere and familiar [to] people," he says. “The Cambrian arthropods are also complex, not only the diversity, [but] also the morphology, anatomy, and functional morphology.”

In a nod to its strange physiology, the researchers dubbed the new shrimp Kylinxia zhangi, named after Kylin, a Chinese mythological chimera. And while its mismatched body is curious, it is also a rare sign of a pivotal moment in ancient animal evolution. Kylinxia may be a “transition” species, able to shed light on the evolutionary relationships between the other animals that lived at the same time.

“[These] groups would [have] lived in the Cambrian sea at the same time or similar time,” Huang says. “They could have [the] same ancestor in an earlier time.”

Researchers use a process called phylogenetic analysis to try and reconstruct, on the basis of its strange physiology, Kylinxia's evolutionary pathway among arthropods. The analytic technique pays attention to details like how many segments a creature has, the shape of its head, or how spiky its appendages are. It assumes that similarities between animals are more likely to be based on evolutionary relationships than chance.

The fact that Kylinxia possess spiny, hunting appendages shaped like those of Radiodonta, combined with the fact these are upturned, like another arthropod, Megacheira, and a Megacheira-like body, leads the researchers to believe that Radiodonta and Megacheira inherited their appendages from a common ancestor, rather than evolving independently in each creature.

In other words, it’s the same creepy appendage, just flipped.

Adding Kylinxia to the ancient tree also sheds light on the evolution of modern arthropods. Previous work had suggested that Megacheira, with their spiny appendages, were closely related to Chelicerata, the group that includes modern scorpions and spiders, as well as a group of ancient animals with antennas, which may have evolved into insects, like bees and ants.

The spiny appendages on Megacheira, the mouth pinchers on scorpions and spiders, and antennas on bees are all similarly located on these animals' bodies, leading researchers to believe they may have all evolved from a creature or creatures with similar structure.

But researchers didn’t know what came first. Did the spiny appendages evolve into antennas, which evolved into pinchers? Or were mouthparts first? The discovery of Kylinxia ages the spiny appendages, suggesting they gave rise to both pinchers and antennae along separate lineages, rather than mouthparts arising from antennae, or vice versa.

The undersea world of little Kylinxia, swirling with segmented, many appendage beasts, is very unlike that of the modern oceans. But the diverse morphological and ecological experimentation by early arthropods like it “probably laid the foundation for their later evolutionary successes," the researchers say.

Abstract: 

Resolving the early evolution of euarthropods is one of the most challenging problems in metazoan evolution1,2 . Exceptionally preserved fossils from the Cambrian period have contributed important palaeontological data to deciphering this evolutionary process3,4 . Phylogenetic studies have resolved Radiodonta (also known as anomalocaridids) as the closest group to all euarthropods that have frontalmost appendages on the second head segment (Deuteropoda)5–9 . However, the interrelationships among major Cambrian euarthropod groups remain disputed1,2,4,7 , which impedes our understanding of the evolutionary gap between Radiodonta and Deuteropoda. Here we describe Kylinxia zhangi gen. et. sp. nov., a euarthropod from the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota of China. Kylinxia possesses not only deuteropod characteristics such as a fused head shield, a fully arthrodized trunk and jointed endopodites, but also fve eyes (as in Opabinia) as well as radiodont-like raptorial frontalmost appendages. Our phylogenetic reconstruction recovers Kylinxia as a transitional taxon that bridges Radiodonta and Deuteropoda. The most basal deuteropods are retrieved as a paraphyletic lineage that features plesiomorphic raptorial frontalmost appendages and includes Kylinxia, megacheirans, panchelicerates, ‘great-appendage’ bivalved euarthropods and isoxyids. This phylogenetic topology supports the idea that the radiodont and megacheiran frontalmost appendages are homologous, that the chelicerae of Chelicerata originated from megacheiran great appendages and that the sensorial antennae in Mandibulata derived from ancestral raptorial forms. Kylinxia thus provides important insights into the phylogenetic relationships among early euarthropods, the evolutionary transformations and disparity of frontalmost appendages, and the origin of crucial evolutionary innovations in this clade.

Correction:

• A previous version of this article misstated the length of Opabinia. We regret the error.

{ https://www.inverse.com/ }

08-11-2020 om 00:40 geschreven door peter