The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
08-11-2020
A WEIRD, ANCIENT SHRIMP HAS CHANGED SCIENTISTS' UNDERSTANDING OF EVOLUTION
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.”
A holotype of the strange new fossil, Kylinxia zhangi.D.-Y. Huang & H. Zeng
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.
While strange, this patchwork creature sheds new light on how antennas or pincers evolved in modern arthropods.D.-Y. Huang & H. Zeng
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.
A very rare 2,000-year-old gem seal depicting the Greek god Apollo has been discovered in Jerusalem. Interestingly, experts have stated that whoever owned it probably wasn’t Greek or Roman and that they were more than likely Jewish.
In a statement, Eli Shukron, who is an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority and a tour guide at the City of David archaeological park, stated, “It is rare to find seal remains bearing the image of the god Apollo at sites identified with the Jewish population,” adding, “When we found the gem, we asked ourselves ‘What is Apollo doing in Jerusalem? And why would a Jew wear a ring with the portrait of a foreign god?’”
Metal statue of the Greek god Apollo.
In a City of David video, Shukron went into further details by explaining, “I don’t think he believed in the god Apollo,” adding, “But he believed in the virtues that the god Apollo offered; light, purity, health, success, which are very, very positive attributes — very, very conventional. Everyone wants to have them.”
The carved dark brown jasper stone was found by visitors to the City of David but were supervised by archaeologists. It was discovered in the soil that had once been the foundation of the Western Wall which surrounded the Second Temple until the Romans destroyed it back in 70 AD.
Drawing of Apollo.
The gem seal (also known as an intaglio) is oval in shape and is quite small, measuring 0.5 inches in length, 0.4 inches in width, and 0.1 inches in thickness (or 13 by 10 by 3 millimeters). The upper side of the gem is carved with the face of Apollo with his long hair, large nose, thick lips, and a prominent chin over a wide neck. The gem dates back to the Second Temple period which was between the years 516 BC to 70 AD. And it is very rare as it is only the third one that’s ever been discovered.
As for its purpose, archaeologists believe that the carved jasper gem was probably attached to a ring and was used as a stamp on beeswax for people’s signatures on different types of documents.
Several pictures of the carved gem seal can be seen here.
A gem seal depicting a portrait of Apollo.
Photo by: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David.
A gem seal depicting a portrait of Apollo.
Photo by: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David.
The seal in the Sifting Project in the Tzurm Valley.
Neanderthals and Humans Were at War… For 100,000 Years!
Neanderthals and Humans Were at War… For 100,000 Years!
Once much of Eurasia was dominated by Neanderthals, our archaic humanancestors. And the extinction of Neanderthals is one of the great mysteries in science. Anevolutionary biologistand paleontologist now believe that the extinction of Neanderthals was the result of losing a 100,000-year war with anatomically modern humans. It seems that the expansion of our ancient human ancestors across Eurasia was a result of conquest.
The Neanderthals and the ancestors of the modern humans separated in Africa over 500,000 years ago. Homo neanderthalensis migrated into the Middle East and spread over much of Europe and Asia. According to BBC Future they “They weren't our ancestors, but a sister species, evolving in parallel.” The Neanderthals were not primitive cavemen and women: they were comparatively quite advanced. They were capable hunters who lived in complex social systems. Neanderthals had a culture, and even buried their dead, which may indicate they even had some form of religion.
Neanderthals Were Predators and Territorial Like Us
Anatomically modern humans left Africa about 200,000 years ago. We know that they encountered Neanderthals because there is some evidence of interbreeding between the two hominins. This may indicate that the two species lived in harmony and even cooperated.
Nicholas R Longrich, who teaches evolutionary biology and paleontology at the University of Bath, Britain wrote in Science Alert that “It's tempting to see them in idyllic terms, living peacefully with nature and each other, like Adam and Eve in the Garden.” Many philosophers believed that war and violence are modern phenomena that were biproducts of civilization.
Prehistoric Neanderthals or Homo Sapiens? It's difficult to say as we were so similar.
But as Longrich writes in Science Alert “Biology and paleontology paint a darker picture.” Neanderthals were predators and they were hard-wired to be territorial. They would defend their territory with violence, and they would work in a cooperative way to fight off all trespassers. This means that the extinction of Neanderthals could not have been easy.
Territorial Behavior
Defending one’s territory and using violence to do so, if necessary, was a trait that Neanderthals, modern humans and chimpanzees all inherited from their ancestors. As a result, modern humans and our sister species, the Neanderthals, were programmed to be violent when protecting their territory.
Longrich told BBC Future that “ cooperative aggression evolved in the common ancestor of chimps and ourselves 7 million years ago.” This impulse is the root of all organized violence and war. The expert also stated in Science Alert that “War isn't a modern invention, but an ancient, fundamental part of our humanity.” Evidence for this is everywhere in the archaeological record and in our earliest myths.
Neanderthals were remarkably similar to modern humans. They behaved as we do, and Longrich said in Science Alert that “If Neanderthals shared so many of our creative instincts, they probably shared many of our destructive instincts, too.” So, when the ancestors of modern humans left Africa and encountered other species of archaic humans, conflict and war was inevitable.
The Stone Age archaeological record has provided us with some examples of prehistoric stone tools or weapons of violence. Probably, these tools were used for daily life and territorial defense.
A look at the paleontological record shows that there is evidence of trauma on the bones of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. The primitive weapons found by archaeologists at prehistoric sites also tell a tale of violence, as the bone record does. In particular, it seems that young Neanderthal males showed signs of injuries from blunt force trauma. These would have been the fighters of their groups and this may indicate that they were injured or killed in violent confrontations. While some deaths may have been accidental, some may have been the result of raids and ambushes.
The Extinction of Neanderthals Took 100,000 Years!
There is a real possibility that Neanderthals and early humans were engaged in violence similar to the inter-tribal conflicts of the past and even present. The Neanderthals resisted the incursions of modern humans into their territories. Longrich told the Daily Express that this “led to a 100,000-year war to determine who was top dog.” So, the extinction of Neanderthals was not fast: it took humans a long time to achieve.
The Neanderthals were formidable foes. This was because they survived for tens of thousands of years after encountering modern humans. They were capable hunters, and they had the skills and weapons to resist newcomers. Moreover, they were stockier and stronger than our ancestors, and probably had better night vision, which could have helped them in ambushes after dark. This means that the extinction of Neanderthals was not necessarily an obvious outcome. We won but not so fast . . .
A prehistoric cave painting showing a battle between two groups, who may have been Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens. As we know, the Homo Sapiens were the ones who won the war.
The war between the two human species ebbed and flowed for many thousands of years. Likely there was a stalemate between the two species for countless millennia and it was a war of attrition. BBC Future reports that “In Israel and Greece, archaic Homo sapiens took ground only to fall back against Neanderthal counteroffensives.” It took our ancestors some 75,000 years to achieve the extinction of Neanderthals from what is now Israel and Greece.
No one is sure why early modern humans were ultimately able to prevail against their sister species. The Daily Express quotes Longrich as stating that “It’s possible the invention of superior ranged weapons – bows, spear-throwers, throwing clubs – let lightly-built Homo sapiens harass the stocky Neanderthals from a distance using hit-and-run tactics.” Over time, we evolved and acquired advantages that, eventually, resulted in the extinction of Neanderthals.
However, it is also possible that our ancestors used better hunting techniques and had other strategic advantages. Our early hunting groups may have been bigger than those of the Neanderthals. And with more fighters, humans may have had an advantage.
The theory that our ancestors eventually overcame the Neanderthals through violence, seems to support the view that they disappeared because they were exterminated by H. sapiens . However, there are also other theories to explain the extinction of Neanderthals, including disease, failure to adapt to changing environments and even a lack of genetic diversity.
The more we learn about the extinct predecessors to modern humans called the Denisovans (Homo Denisova), the more amazing they become. First discovered in the Siberian Denisova Cave, their remains have now been positively identified in the Baishiya Karst Cave in Tibet, showing this cold weather species didn’t mind heights or thin air either. Even more interesting, the proof did not come from the piece of jawbone found in the cave.
“We detected ancient human fragments that matched mitochondrial DNA associated with Denisovans in four different layers of sediment deposited around 100,000 and 60,000 years ago.”
In a new paper published in the journal Science, Bo Li, co-author and dating specialist from the University of Wollongong in Australia, reveals that mitochondrial DNA was found in multiple layers of the soil in Baishiya Karst Cave, indicating the Denisovans had lived there for quite a while. An international team, including archaeologists, geologists and geneticists from China, Germany, the US and Australia, found charcoal from fires, bones from rhinos and hyenas, and over 1,000 stone tools dating from 190,000 to 45,000 years ago. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited from the mother and can tell who the Denisovan was related to on the maternal side. That’s where the find yielded another surprise.
“Interestingly, we found that the hominin DNA from 60,000 years ago share the closest genetic relationship to the Denisova 3 and 4 specimens sampled from Denisova Cave [in Siberia]. In contrast, the DNA dating to 100,000 years ago show evidence that those Denisovans separated earlier from the lineage leading to Denisova 3 and 4.”
Li tells Cosmos how the different layers yielded different lineages from the Denisovans in Siberia and showed how long they lived there and how often they moved around … In this case, a long way from Denisova cave and 2 miles above sea level. Furthermore, the age of the tools indicate they may have lived there even longer. Sediment possibly from as late as 30,000 years ago appears to have unconfirmed mitochondrial DNA, making it possible that the Denisovans could have share the cave with early modern humans, who first appeared in Tibet about 40,000 years ago.
While is the first confirmed evidence of Denisovan DNA in Tibet, it’s no secret that they got around and highly likely they mated with humans. There is evidence of Denisovan DNA in modern humans ranging from southeast Asia to China and Mongolia to Australia and Papua New Guinea. However, so little physical evidence of them has been found that virtually nothing of their lives is known, including when and why they disappeared, and what made them so darned sexually attractive to humans and Neanderthals.
That, as always, means more studies.
ALL RELATED VIDEOS, selected and posted by peter2011
Parks Canada is trying to figure out how a face, estimated to be about 7 feet tall, appeared on a cliff in a remote region of Canada. It was discovered a few weeks ago by Hank Gus of the Tseshaht First Nation. He’d been searching for it for two years.
In 2008, a kayaker had reported seeing it and sent a photo of it to Parks Canada, but could not identify the precise location. Parks Canada had contacted the Tseshaht administration office to ask about it and Gus eventually began his search.
The debate now is whether it is man-made or a natural formation.
It is difficult to get to. Gus estimated it’s about 40 feet up from the bottom of the cliff face and about 25 feet from the top. A rugged coastline and rough waters have prevented further investigation these past few weeks, reported CTV News . It is located on Reeks Island, part of the Broken Group Islands, in British Columbia.
Parks Canada First Nation’s program manager Matthew Payne told ABC News : “The Tseshaht has lived in area for thousands of years, so we working with the First Nations to find out if there are any oral histories the face could link back to.”
Discovery News noted that, “There are psychological reasons why people see faces where they don’t exist: It’s a phenomenon called pareidolia, in which the brain sees faces in ambiguous stimuli such as clouds, coffee stains, and rocks. The human brain is hard-wired to recognize faces; in fact faces are the first things that babies learn to recognize, and parts of the brain are specialized for finding and recognizing faces.”
Is this a case of pareidolia or is it the handiwork of someone who scaled the difficult landscape long ago?
Gus told CTV it reminds him of a carving on the door of the Tseshaht administration offices of “Ugi,” a symbol of the wind.
Featured image: A face found on a cliff face in Pacific Rim National Park Reserve's Broken Group Islands in British Columbia, Canada. (Parks Canada/Tanya Dowdall)
“The Search for Techno-Artifacts” –Did an Earlier Civilization Exist in the Solar System?
“The Search for Techno-Artifacts” –Did an Earlier Civilization Exist in the Solar System?
One of the primary open questions of astrobiology is whether there is extant or extinct life elsewhere the Solar System. Astrophysicists Avi Loeb at Harvard and Penn State’s Jason Wright have both explored the question, with Loeb suggesting that ancient technological artifacts from beyond the Solar System may exist on Earth’s Moon amounting to a letter from an alien civilization saying, “We exist.”
Wright, a member of the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, has considered the possibility that a technological species could have existed in the Solar System prior to humanity’s rise on Earth in his study, Prior Indigenous Technological Species.
In 2016, Wright authored a paper that discussed possible origins and locations for “technosignatures” of such a civilization while other astronomers have suggested looking for lights on Kuiper Belt Objects that “may serve as a lamppost which signals the existence of extraterrestrial technologies and thus civilizations.”
The origins and possible locations for technosignatures of such a priorindigenoustechnologicalspecies might have arisen on ancient Earth or another body, such as a pre-greenhouse Venus or a wet Mars. In the case of Venus, the arrival of its global greenhouse and potential resurfacing might have erased all evidence of its existence on the Venusian surface. In the case of Earth, erosion and, ultimately, plate tectonics may have erased most such evidence if the species lived a billion years ago. Remaining indigenous technosignatures, observes Wright, might be expected to be extremely old, limiting the places they might still be found to beneath the surfaces of Mars and the Moon, or in the outer Solar System.
“The most obvious answer is a cataclysm, whether a natural event, such as an extinction-level asteroid impact, or self-inflicted, such as a global climate catastrophe,” Wright asserts. “In the case of a prior space-faring species that had settled the Solar System, such an event would only permanently extinguish the species if there were many cataclysms across the Solar System closely spaced in time (a swarm of comets, or interplanetary warfare perhaps), or if the settlements were not completely self-sufficient. Alternatively, an unexpected nearby gamma ray burst or supernova might produce a Solar-System-wide cataclysm.”
From a purely scientific standpoint, observes Wright, it’s a perfectly reasonable question to ask whether life may have existed elsewhere in the Solar System, or does today.
Remaining indigenous technosignatures might be expected to be extremely old, suggests Wright, limiting the places they might still be found to beneath the surfaces of Mars and the Moon, or in the outer Solar System.
In a later, 2019 study, Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, suggested that Earth’s Moon might yield traces of technological equipment that crashed on the lunar surface a billion years ago, amounting to a letter from an alien civilization saying, “We exist.”
A 2019 paper Loeb wrote with Manasvi Lingam answers this question with a resounding “yes”, suggesting to consider the moon’s surface for interstellar objects collected over time and potentially deliver building blocks of life from the habitable environments around other stars.
“The absence of a lunar atmosphere,” writes Loeb in “The Moon as a Fishing Net for Extraterrestrial Life”, “guarantees that these messengers would reach the lunar surface without burning up. In addition, the geological inactivity of the moon implies that the record deposited on its surface will be preserved and not mixed with the deep lunar interior. Serving as a natural mailbox, the lunar surface collected all impacting objects during the past few billions of years. Most of this “mail” comes from within the solar system.”
The Astronaut of Casar Is An Unsolved Mystery, But Can We Explain It?
The Astronaut of Casar Is An Unsolved Mystery, But Can We Explain It?
Some artifacts seem to be easy to misunderstand or are not well understood at all and this leads to wild theories. One of the biggest curiosities on display at the Caceres Museum in Caceres, Spain is a steleor upright stone slab that originally stood at the southern end of the cemetery in the nearby village of Casar. The carving on the stele appears to be a human figure with a misshapen head and bulbous shoulders. It has been dubbed by some “the astronaut of Casar”, but why?
The stele has an inscription, which is in Latin letters , but, so far, no one has managed to decipher the text. This has led to a great deal of speculation regarding the nature of this carving. Some fringe theorists have even gone as far as to suggest that it is an image of an of extra-terrestrial, hence the name “the astronaut of Casar.” But archaeological and linguistic analysis of the astronaut of Casar stele shows that the unusual features of the stele can all be explained with the knowledge that scholars have of the cultures and languages of ancient Iberia. Within this explanation, visitations from extra-terrestrials are not necessary. Nonetheless, the astronaut of Casar artifact does highlight ways that the science of archaeology may one day be able to contribute to the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence.
The stele dubbed “astronaut of Casar” is exhibited in the Caceres Museum, Caceres, Spain.
The astronaut of Casar stele was originally located in the cemetery of Casar, a village outside of the city of Caceres, Spain. The image appears to have generated a lot of local suspicion and superstition. It is alleged that villagers would cross themselves as they walked by the stele and that children would throw rocks at it.
The figure in the stele does look strange. His head is misshapen and appears slightly too large. His shoulders also appear to bulge out. Although the carving is weathered, the figure looks like he is smiling. The image has been suggested to be that of a Celtiberian warrior made in the 2nd or 1st century BC. The inscription in Latin letters suggests that it was written during Roman times or just before the Roman occupation of Iberia.
Most mysterious of all is the inscription on the astronaut of Casar stele. Although the inscription is in the Latin script it appears to be written in an unknown language . The language is not completely mysterious, however, since it is likely an Indo-European language. Nonetheless, scholars have not been able to translate it and some say that it cannot be translated.
The Astronaut Of Casar Stele Inscription Origin Theories
At the beginning of the Roman period in Spain, several languages were spoken on the Iberian Peninsula including Celtiberian, Lusitanian, Tartessian, proto-Basque, Latin, and probably Greek and Punic. Of these languages, Celtiberian, Lusitanian, Tartessian, and proto-Basque were native to the Iberian Peninsula while the others were introduced by foreign cultures.
The equally mysterious Stela of Hernan Perez VI, like the astronaut of Casar stele, was also found in Caceres, Spain. It is carved in a single granite block and shows etched eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth.
Although the astronaut of Casar stele inscription seems mysterious it could have been written in one of the lesser-known native Iberian languages. The understanding of many of the Iberian languages is fragmentary and only a handful of inscriptions or documents have been found for some of these languages.
This makes it probable that the inscription uses words from Iberian languages that have not been found in other inscriptions. The fact that it appears to be an Indo-European language may also help to identify the language. One way to identify the language is to examine each of the Iberian languages and determine which one is most likely the dialect used in the inscription on the stele.
The Inscription Could Be In The Basque Language
The original, ancient Basque language was already being spoken in northern Spain in Roman times. The Basque language is unique among western European languages in that it is a non-Indo-European language. Ancient Basque is a language isolate, and its language family is unknown. This has led to speculation about the origins of the Basque people, including the idea that they descend from Paleolithic hunter-gatherers , although current evidence suggests that they are more closely related to early Neolithic farmers .
An ancient inscription written in proto-Basque.
(Nafarroako Gobernua - Gobierno de Navarra / CC BY-SA 4.0 )
The Basque language is agglutinative, meaning that phrases are constructed from root words using prefixes and suffixes. The Basque language also follows the SOV (subject-object-verb) word order, in contrast to languages, such as English, that have a SVO (subject-verb-object) word order. Other languages that are SOV, like Basque, include Japanese and Turkish.
The ancient Basque language influenced the development of Castilian Spanish. Certain features of the Spanish language, such as the lack of consonant clusters, are features that come from the Basque language. Furthermore, certain Spanish words, such as arroyo and izquierda, are Basque in origin.
Although the Basque language, or at least a proto-Basque language, existed during the time the astronaut of Casar stele was made, it was largely restricted to northern Spain. However, the stele was found in southwestern Spain near the modern Portugal border. Also, the inscription appears to be Indo-European, suggesting that the language was more likely a Celtic or Romance language, the two Indo-European language groups that were most prevalent in the Iberian Peninsula at the time. All these facts suggest Basque may not be the best way to figure out the inscription on the astronaut of Casar stele.
Celtiberian was spoken on the Iberian Peninsula until about the 1st century BC. Celtiberian is a Celtic language that is related to the Gaelic languages of Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. This is interesting because the Irish Book of Invasions claims that the Irish descended from the Milesians who were supposed to have come from Iberia.
An example of the ancient Celtiberian writing script.
The Celtiberians are described by Roman writers as having been a mixture of Celtic and native Iberian stock. They may have been related to the Hallstatt culture, a Celtic culture known across Europe, which first entered the Iberian Peninsula around 600 BC.
About two hundred Celtiberian inscriptions have been found. Considering the possible origin of the Celtiberians as a mixed Celtic and Iberian population, the Celtiberian language may have loanwords from early non-Indo-European Iberian languages. The Celtiberians also used their own script, which was similar to other Iberian scripts.
It is possible that the inscription on the stele is in Celtiberian, but the Celtiberian language is relatively well known and would be more likely to be recognized. Also, the Celtiberians lived to the northeast of the region in which the stele was found. This makes it less likely that the inscription was in Celtiberian.
Would Lusitanian Be A Better Candidate?
Lusitanian was a language spoken in western Iberia. It is named for the realm of the Lusitania, where inscriptions in the Lusitanian language have been found. However, few inscriptions in the Lusitanian language have been uncovered possibly suggesting that the language was not typically used for official documents or written declarations. The Lusitanian language appears to have been mainly written in the Latin script even though native scripts are found in surrounding regions.
Lusitanian was spoken in the general vicinity of the region in which the stele was found. Also, the Lusitanian language was generally written in the Latin script used for the astronaut of Casar stele inscription. The timeframe of when the language was used, from the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD, is also roughly consistent with the period during which scholars believe that the stele was made.
Nonetheless, Lusitanian is still a fairly well-known language so a Lusitanian inscription might be more likely to be recognized. For this reason, it is possible that the inscription is written in a yet rarer, or at least less well-known, Indo-European language.
Maybe The Tartessian Language Is The Key
The Tartessian language was spoken in southwestern Iberia in what is today southern Portugal and southwestern Spain. It is named for the city of Tartessus known for its great wealth. The region surrounding Tartessus was considered highly valuable by ancient civilizations such as the Phoenicians, the Greeks, and probably the Romans, because of its silver mines. The region of Tartessus was also distinctive in having retained a largely pre-Celtic, Iberian character, whereas the northern parts of Iberia were more influenced by Celtic culture or conquered by Celtic peoples who displaced or absorbed the native Iberian populations.
The Tartessian language used its own script which has not yet been deciphered. For this reason, the Tartessian language is shrouded in mystery. It is uncertain whether Tartessian was a Celtic language or more related to pre-Celtic Iberian languages. Some scholars believe that Tartessian was related to Lusitanian and some even call it southern Lusitanian.
It is not known if Latin letters were ever used to write Tartessian or if Tartessian continued to be spoken into Roman times. The latest inscriptions in the Tartessian script only date to the 5th century BC. Nonetheless, The Tartessian language was probably spoken in the vicinity of where the stele was found, and it is a language that is largely unknown and undeciphered. For this reason, it is possible that the language of the inscription could be Tartessian.
This is speculation, but it is possible that the stele could have been made by a community living in the vicinity of modern-day Caceres which lived in Roman times but still spoke Tartessian or Lusitanian as a mother tongue. They may have forgotten how to write the script of their mother tongue, so they wrote the inscription using Latin letters.
Was The Man of Casar An Ancient Astronaut?
There has been much speculation among fringe theorists that the man depicted on the Casar stele is not a human being. This is mainly due to the unusually shaped head and bulging shoulders of the figure that make it look like he is wearing a spacesuit. The oddly shaped head bears a passing resemblance to the big-headed aliens of popular science fiction and UFO lore.
Some think the odd shape is reminiscent of a space suit.
Although this is an interesting idea, all the evidence surrounding the stele can be explained by conventional means. The inscription is in an unknown language, but it is most-likely Indo-European. Also, the stele appears to be extremely weathered so the misshapen appearance of the head could be due to time and weathering. Moreover, it could be that he is wearing a helmet, or it could be his hairstyle. Also, besides the passing resemblance to modern depictions of extra-terrestrials or astronauts, there is nothing unusual or otherworldly about the man on the stele. It looks like it was carved out of stone by human tools and it fits into the archaeological and historical context of Celtiberian and Roman Spain. The only reason to believe that the figure is an extra-terrestrial is if there is a strong desire on the part of the observer for the figure to be an extra-terrestrial.
Another reason that it is unlikely that this is an extra-terrestrial is the low probability that an intelligent being from another planet would resemble a human being. The fact that it looks so human makes it likely that it is meant to depict something that is earthly in origin.
Implications For The Search For Extra-terrestrial Life
Most claims that particular archaeological discoveries reveal past visitations by life from another planet have eventually been disproven or at least found to be unconvincing. Nonetheless, this does not mean that there is no place for archaeology in the search for evidence of extra-terrestrial intelligence on planet earth.
The big question about extra-terrestrials is did they visit planet earth or didn’t they?
The vast majority of organisms that have evolved over the course of the earth’s history have gone extinct. It is likely that the same rule applies on other planets where life and civilization have evolved. For this reason, we will probably find an extinct extra-terrestrial civilization before we find a living one.
Therefore, it makes sense to use archaeological methods to search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. One way to conduct exo-archaeology would be to look at nearby stars for signs of megastructures, such as Dyson spheres. This would use the tools of astrophysics and would not be significantly different from traditional SETI research approaches, which focus on extra-solar and extra-terrestrial intelligence.
Another approach that could be considered exo-archaeology would be to use the remote sensing tools of planetary science to survey planetary surfaces, such as the moon and Mars. It is unlikely that anything would be found from such a survey, but the discovery that another technological civilization existed in our solar system would be extraordinary. So, a low-cost search of high-resolution images from spacecraft that have visited the Moon and Mars would seem a good start.
Finding extra-terrestrial intelligence, however, requires critical thinking and careful analysis of the evidence. Claims such as the astronaut of Casar can be easily explained without any extra-terrestrials. A true archaeological discovery of intelligent life outside of Earth would be one which was unmistakably non-earthly in origin, such as the discovery of artificial structures made of materials that did not exist anywhere else on earth or in our solar system.
Conclusion? The Astronaut Of Casar Was Human Made!
The astronaut of Casar stele is mysterious but the inscription and the appearance of the figure can both be explained without involving any theories about extra-terrestrials. Nonetheless, the astronaut of Casar does reveal the increasing enthusiasm for archaeology as a big part of the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence. Archaeology does have a role to play in this quest, but the so-called astronaut of Casar is really nothing more than an example of earthly archaeology being mistaken for something otherworldly.
Top image: The stele dubbed by some as the “astronaut of Casar” is exhibited in the Caceres Museum, Caceres, Spain.
Photograph and tracing of horse egraved in Aitzbitarte Cave. Credit: Garate et al, PLOS ONE.
Spanish researchers reported today the discovery of rock art in a cave system in the Basque Country, in northern Spain. The 27,000-year-old art, which includes engravings of bison and horses, is characteristic of a cultural style common across Europe but which was never before seen in the Iberian Peninsula until now.
Video: Bison engravings discovered in Spanish caves reveal a common art culture existed across Europe over 25,000 years ago
In this video, a cave explorer goes around the Aitzbitarte caves in Spain, in which bison engravings discovered in Spanish caves reveal a common art culture existed across Europe over 25,000 years ago.
Share this video:Bison engravings from 25,000 years ago discovered in Spanish caves
A clash of two cultures
“Western Europe has the biggest density of Palaeolithic cave art in the world, including the famous Altamira andLascaux caves. It is especially concentrated in Northern Spain and Southwest France. Despite this, there was a void in what nowadays is the Basque Country. A decade ago, we started several survey projects in order to understand this absence. Consequently, we found more than 20 new [samples of] cave art — that is four times more than we knew before, including the four caves of Aitzbitarte hill,” Diego Garate of the Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria in Spain told ZME Science.
Undetermined animal at the bottom of the ramp in Aitzbitarte III.
Credit: Garate et al, PLOS ONE.
Garate first performed surveys in the Aitzbitarte cave complex in Basque Country in 2015. Deep inside cave number five, the researchers found that the walls were covered in recent graffiti. Remarkably, next to them were also ancient cave paintings engraved thousands of years ago.
“Suddenly, under an ‘exit’ and an arrow written on the wall, a so some fine tracings that were not so recent. After some minutes I was able to see a bison drawing. This is how we started watching all the walls looking for other engravings,” Garate said.
“Some of them are in dangerous places, even after descending vertical slopes of 15 meters. Paleolithic people were very habituated to the underground landscape. This difficult access to the decorated areas was a real challenge when documenting and studying the artworks,” he added.
Scientists had been exploring the Aitzbitarte caves since the end of the 20th century. So far, they’ve recovered thousands of stone tools and butchered bones, suggesting the caves sheltered hunter-gatherers continuously over the span of ten thousand years.
When compared to other cultures, the Aitzbitarte cave art bears a striking resemblance to the style of the Gravettian cultural complex. An Upper Palaeolithic (Late Old Stone Age) culture, the Gravettian culture succeeded the Aurignacian to dominate much of Europe from around 29,000 BC.
The Gravettian people are famous for the many Venus figurines they created, which are widely distributed across Europe and into Siberia. Another famous prehistoric discovery of this period is represented by hand stencils in Cosquer Cave close to Marseilles, in the south of France.
Bird’s head (left) and detail of bison. Credit: Garate et al, PLOS ONE.
Back at Aitzbitarte, Spanish researchers described Paleolithic animal engravings drawn in a Gravettian style in which the horns and legs lack proper perspective, and pairs of limbs are consistently depicted as “double Y” figures.
“We have compared these figures with others found in Europe using multivariate statistics and have concluded that their distribution coincides with the dispersion of the most frequent tools in the region about 27,000 years ago. The diffusion of this style largely agrees with finds of Noailles burinsand Isturitz points, tools that appeared in the Western Pyrenees between 31,000 and 29,000 years ago and later spread towards southern France and finally reached the Mediterranean, where the most recent figures in this style are found,” Garate told ZME Science.
“These peculiarities differentiate them from other cave art in northern Spain. To give an example, while in Aitzbitarte they were engraving bison with these specific conventions, in the rest of the Cantabrian region they were painting red deer by applying the pigment with their finger-tips, however, certain details are common to different styles, such as the way of representing horses and the absence of perspective in both front and back legs. Therefore, despite the existence of particularities in each region, long-distance cultural exchange networks also existed,” the researcher added.
In the future, Garate plans on exploring other caves in the region. He is sure more forgotten cave art is waiting to be found.
“These are the first remains of human artistic ability and some of them have been named World Heritage by UNESCO. Without a doubt, knowing them helps us understand who we are,” he said.
252 MILJOEN JAAR GELEDEN VERDWEEN BIJNA AL HET LEVEN VAN DE AARDE - EN NU WETEN WE WAARDOOR
252 MILJOEN JAAR GELEDEN VERDWEEN BIJNA AL HET LEVEN VAN DE AARDE - EN NU WETEN WE WAARDOOR
Vivian Lammerse
Het begon allemaal met een flinke stijging van de concentratie CO2…
Het leven op aarde heeft een lange, maar ook uiterst turbulente geschiedenis. Meer dan eens stierven talloze soorten uit en kromp de reeds sterk ontwikkelde biodiversiteit opnieuw tot een minimum, waarbij de loop van de evolutie telkens veranderde. De grootste massa-extinctie ooit vond ongeveer 252 miljoen jaar geleden plaats. En nu krijgen we dankzij een nieuwe studie voor het eerst een uniek inkijkje in de belangrijkste gebeurtenissen die hebben geleid tot deze mega-catastrofe.
Vulkaanuitbarstingen De grootste massa-extinctie aller tijden markeerde het einde van het Perm-tijdperk en luidde het begin van het Trias in. Talloze dieren werden onverhoeds van de planeet weggevaagd: ongeveer driekwart van al het landleven en zo’n 95 procent van het leven in de oceaan verdween binnen slechts enkele duizenden jaren. Tot nu toe werden altijd gigantische vulkaanuitbarstingen in het huidige Siberië als schuldige aangewezen. Grote hoeveelheden methaan zouden uit de zeebodem de atmosfeer in zijn gepompt en voor onleefbare situaties hebben gezorgd. De exacte oorzaak en volgorde van de gebeurtenissen die tot de massale uitsterving hebben geleid, bleven echter zeer controversieel.
Schelpen Een team van onderzoekers heeft daar nu voor het eerst verandering in gebracht. In een nieuwe studie zijn ze in staat geweest om de hele cascade van gebeurtenissen nauwgezet te reconstrueren. Hiervoor gebruikten ze de schelpen van gefossiliseerde armpotigen. “Dit zijn mossel-achtige diertjes die al meer dan 500 miljoen jaar op aarde voorkomen,” legt onderzoeker Hana Jurikova uit. “We hebben voor onze analyses goed bewaard gebleven fossiele armpotigen gevonden in de Nieuw-Zeelandse Alpen gebruikt. Deze schelpen zijn 252 miljoen jaar geleden afgezet op de bodem van ondiepe gedeeltes van de Tethysoceaan en hebben de omgevingscondities kort voor, en aan het begin van, de massa-extinctie goed vastgelegd.”
Borium De onderzoekers concentreerden zich met name op verschillende isotopen van het element borium in de kalkhoudende schelpen. Hierdoor slaagde het team erin om de veranderingen van de pH-waarden in de 252 miljoen jaar oude oceaan te bepalen. Omdat de pH-waarde van zeewater nauw verbonden is met de CO2-concentratie in de atmosfeer, konden de onderzoekers tevens de veranderingen in de atmosferische CO2 aan het begin van de massa-extinctie in kaart brengen. Vervolgens gebruikten ze een innovatief model om de impact van CO2 op het milieu te bestuderen.
Tijdlijn De bevindingen tonen aan dat vulkaanuitbarstingen vanuit de toen nog actieve vulkanische vlakte die de Siberische Trappen wordt genoemd, enorme hoeveelheden CO2 naar de atmosfeer transporteerde. Deze grote CO2-uitstoot duurde enkele millennia en leidde tot een sterk broeikaseffect, met extreme opwarming en verzuring van de oceaan tot gevolg. Dramatische veranderingen in chemische verwering op het land veranderden de productiviteit en de kringloop van voedingsstoffen in de oceaan, waardoor uiteindelijk al de zuurstof uit de zeeën verdween. En dit werd tal van dier- en plantensoorten fataal. “We hebben te maken met een trapsgewijze tragedie waarbij de stijging van CO2 in de atmosfeer een reeks gebeurtenissen in gang zette die vervolgens bijna al het leven in de zeeën uitroeide,” aldus Jurikova. “Deze domino-achtige ineenstorting van onderling verbonden cycli en processen leidde uiteindelijk tot de waargenomen immense massa-extinctie op de grens tussen het Perm en het Trias.”
Toekomst Het onderzoek trekt ook sombere lessen voor onze toekomst. Want ook op dit moment zijn de CO2-concentraties in onze atmosfeer bijzonder hoog en verzuurt de oceaan in rap tempo. “De uitstoot van de vulkaanuitbarstingen uit die tijd is niet direct vergelijkbaar met antropogene koolstofemissies,” zegt Jurikva. “En in feite zijn alle moderne fossiele brandstofreserves niet in staat om gedurende honderden jaren evenveel CO2 in de atmosfeer te pompen als 252 miljoen jaar geleden. Het is echter wel verbazingwekkend dat de CO2-uitstoot van de mensheid momenteel veertien keer hoger is dan de jaarlijkste uitstoot op het moment van de grootste biologische catastrofe in de geschiedenis van de aarde.”
Hoewel de meteoriet-inslag van 66 miljoen jaar geleden die tevens het einde van het dino-tijdperk markeerde tot nu toe als bekendste massa-extinctie werd gezien, krijgen we nu dankzij de nieuwe studie ook meer inzicht in eerdere noodlottige en wereldwijde catastrofes. En zo lossen onderzoekers steeds meer mysteries uit de geschiedenis van de aarde op.
WIST JE DAT…
…de grootste massa-extinctie ooit ook leidde tot een soort biologische wapenwedloop? En deze mondde uit in warmbloedige zoogdieren en vogels. De overlevende dieren moesten zich namelijk zien te redden op een barre en onverbiddelijke planeet. En omdat een paar van de overlevenden op primitieve wijze al endotherm waren, moesten alle andere ook endotherm worden om zo te kunnen overleven in de nieuwe en snel veranderende wereld.
Archaeologists uncover huge new cache of unopened sarcophagi dating back 2,500 years at Saqqara - two weeks after they recovered 59 coffins from the ancient necropolis
Archaeologists uncover huge new cache of unopened sarcophagi dating back 2,500 years at Saqqara - two weeks after they recovered 59 coffins from the ancient necropolis
Authorities announced the coffins were discovered at the famed necropolis near ancient capital of Memphis
The 80 sarcophagi are believed to be more than 2,500 years old, according to preliminary analysis
Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly toured the area and viewed the finds earlier this week
Egypthas unearthed another trove of ancient coffins in the vast Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, announcing the discovery of more than 80 sarcophagi.
The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said in a statement that archaeologists had found the collection of colourful, sealed caskets which were buried more than 2,500 years ago.
Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly and Tourism and Antiquities Minister Khalid el-Anany toured the area and inspected the new discovery yesterday.
Egypt has unearthed another trove of ancient coffins in the vast Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, announcing the discovery of more than 80 sarcophagi. Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly toured the area and viewed the finds earlier this week (pictured).
Egypt has sought to publicise its archaeological finds in an effort to revive its key tourism sector, which was badly hit by the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising. Pictured, the Egyptian Prime Minister looking inside one of the coffins
This photo from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities shows Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly looking inside at one of the coffins discovered at an ancient burial shaft at a necropolis in Saqqara
Pictured, Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly (L), Egyptian Minister of Antiquities Khaled el-Anany (C) and secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri (R) looking at a sarcophagus
Archaeologists also found colourful, gilded wooden statues, the ministry said.
Details of the new discovery will be announced soon in a news conference at the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser, it said.
Egypt has sought to publicise its archaeological finds in an effort to revive its key tourism sector, which was badly hit by the turmoil that followed the 2011 uprising.
The sector was also dealt a further blow this year by the coronavirus pandemic.
As well as more than 80 coffins and mummies, there were various artefacts discovered inside the burial chamber presenred here before the Prime Minister
The Tourism and Antiquities Ministry said in a statement that archaeologists had found the collection of colourful, sealed caskets which were buried more than 2,500 years ago
Located 19 miles south of Cairo, the vast burial complex of Saqqara — which features the step pyramid of Djoser and flat-roofed tombs — served the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis
More details of the new discovery will be announced soon in a news conference at the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser, Egyptian authorities say
The dramatic find was unearthed south of Cairo in the sprawling burial ground of Saqqarah, the necropolis of the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis, a UNESCO World Heritage site
Ancient Egyptian burial rituals
Over thousands of years, ancient Egyptians developed elaborate and complex funerary practices that they believed were necessary to enter the afterlife.
The processes evolved over time, but many elements remained consistent through different ancient Egyptian dynasties.
The most classic form of mummification dates back to the 18th Dynasty that spanned the the period from 1549/1550 to 1292 BC.
First, the brain was removed. Some say this was by a metal hook inserted through the nose, while others say it was with a rod through the cranium which was used to liquefy the brain.
The brain would have then been drained out through the nose before the skull was filled with a mixture of tree resin and fragrances.
This stopped the decomposition of any residual brain tissue, and also suppressed the smell.
Then, the lumbar area was sliced open and the organs of the abdomen were removed. The heat was usually left. These were then heavily salted and placed in canopic jars.
The now-empty chest cavity was then filled with a mixture of aromatics.
All incisions into the body were then filled with a salt called natron which disinfected wounds.
The body was then put on a bed of natron for a period of between 35 and 70 days.
At the end of this period, the now dehydrated corpse was washed, oiled and covered with resin as adhesive.
The body was then wrapped in linen until it was fully covered.
Depending on the social status of the deceased, the mummy was sometimes then adorned with decorations, such as a mask or a shroud.
The mummy was then buried in a tomb, ready for the afterlife.
Just over two weeks ago Egypt revealed 59 sealed sarcophagi, with mummies inside most of them, in the same area of Saqqara.
The Saqqara site is located south of Cairo and the vast burial complex, which also features the step pyramid of Djoser, served the ancient capital of Memphis.
It also includes the famed Giza Pyramids, as well as smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur and Abu Ruwaysh.
The ruins of Memphis were designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1970s.
The plateau hosts at least 11 pyramids, including the Step Pyramid, along with hundreds of tombs of ancient officials and other sites that range from the 1st Dynasty (2920-2770 B.C.) to the Coptic period (395-642).
Earlier this month, one of dozens of ornately decorated sarcophagi was opened for the first time before assembled media.
The team slowly revealed mummified remains wrapped in burial cloth that bore hieroglyphic inscriptions in bright colours.
The majority of coffins housed mummified remains which initial research suggests would have been priests, top officials and elites in ancient Egyptian society.
All of whom would have likely been subject to ancient Egypt's complex burial rituals after they died, including having their brains removed with an iron hook.
Egypt's Minister of Antiquities and Tourism, Dr. Khaled El-Enany, said at the time: 'I can say most of the discoveries have been made by Egyptian teams on Egyptian soil. This is something I am immensely proud of.'
He said the mission had started re-excavating the site two months ago, and uncovered a burial shaft 36 feet deep. Inside, they found 13 intact coffins.
The team continued their excavations, discovering two more shafts - 32 and 39 feet deep - also filled with coffins.
All the coffins discovered so far are in good condition and bear their original colours.
'My colleagues in the Supreme Council of Antiquities discovered burial shafts filled with wooden, sealed and intact coffins,' El-Enany said.
'I am really impressed that Covid-19 did not stop them from digging to unveil more mystery and secrets about our great civilisation.'
The minister said that the coffins would be transported to the Grand Egyptian Museum to be displayed to the public.
Just over two weeks ago Egypt revealed 59 sealed sarcophagi , with mummies inside most of them, in the same area of Saqqara. This find adds to the enormous trove of historical finds in the African nation
Archaeologists also found colourful, gilded wooden statues, officials said. Details of the new discovery will be announced soon in a news conference at the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser
Pictured: A man opens one of the sarcophagi during the unveiling event in front of the media earlier this month. 59 anthropoid painted coffins have been discovered so far
The majority of the coffins found at Saqqara so far have contained mummified remains (pictured) of priests, top officials and elites
A sarcophagus that is around 2500 years old is seen inside the newly discovered burial site near Egypt's Saqqara necropolis, in Giza, Egypt, October 3
HOW ANCIENT EGYPTIANS EMBALMED THEIR DEAD
It is thought a range of chemicals were used to embalm and preserve the bodies of the dead in ancient cultures.
Russian scientists believe a different balm was used to preserve hair fashions of the time than the concoctions deployed on the rest of the body.
Hair was treated with a balm made of a combination of beef fat, castor oil, beeswax and pine gum and with a drop of aromatic pistachio oil as an optional extra.
Mummification in ancient Egypt involved removing the corpse’s internal organs, desiccating the body with a mixture of salts, and then wrapping it in cloth soaked in a balm of plant extracts, oils, and resins.
Older mummies are believed to have been naturally preserved by burying them in dry desert sand and were not chemically treated.
Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) techniques have been deployed in recent years in find out more about the ancient embalming process.
Studies have found bodies were embalmed with: a plant oil, such as sesame oil; phenolic acids, probably from an aromatic plant extract; and polysaccharide sugars from plants.
The recipe also featured dehydroabietic acid and other diterpenoids from conifer resin.
A little more than a month ago, I wrote an article on the 13 ancient Egyptian coffins that were unearthed in the desert necropolis of Saqqara, located south of Cairo, Egypt (the article can be read here). The colorful coffins that date back more than 2,500 years (between 664 and 525 BC) were completely sealed and untouched.
After their initial discovery of the 13 coffins inside of a burial shaft that was 36 feet deep, experts continued digging and found two other shafts (32 feet and 39 feet deep) that contained several more coffins that were in good condition and still held their original colors.
Step Pyramid in Egypt.
The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities revealed that more than 80 coffins have been discovered. Additionally, they found colorful, gilded wooden statues. The 28 statuettes were of the god Ptah-Soker and a carved bronze one depicting the god Nefertum which measured a foot tall and had precious stones embedded in it along with the name Priest Badi-Amun who owned it. In addition to those, several ushabti figurines and amulets were also found.
Earlier this month, on October 3rd, archaeologists opened one of the coffins as several people watched with excitement. The coffin revealed a mummy that was wrapped in ornate burial linen. Amazingly, the inscriptions and colorful designs were still present on the cloth after approximately 2,600 years.
Another picture of the Step Pyramid in Egypt.
It is believed that those who were buried in the coffins were top officials and other important members in Egypt during that time as well as priests from the 26th Dynasty. According to Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities and Tourism, Dr. Khaled El-Enany, the coffins will be brought to the Grand Egyptian Museum in order for the public to view them. Several pictures of the coffins can be seen here.
The Saqqara site where the coffins were located is part of the necropolis at the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis that includes the Giza Pyramids and smaller pyramids at Abu Sir, Dahshur, and Abu Ruwaysh. There are at least eleven pyramids located in the plateau that includes the Step Pyramid as well as hundreds of ancient tombs that date back between the 1st Dynasty from 2920 to 2770 BC and the Coptic Period from the years 395 to 642.
120,000-year-old human footprints found in Saudi Arabia offer glimpse into humanity's past
120,000-year-old human footprints found in Saudi Arabia offer glimpse into humanity's past
Footprints dating back 120,000 years have been discovered near an ancient lake in Saudi Arabia, which not only offer an insight into humanity's past, but also the previous climates of Earth.
The small, now dried up, lake, found in the Nefud Desert, was also frequented by mammals such as camels, buffalo and other animals.
In total, seven footprints in the area were identified as being from anatomically modern humans. In addition to the footprints, hundreds of fossils were found at the site.
How does one lose a tectonic plate – those massive sheets of the Earth’s crust and upper mantle that form a broken shell for us to stand on when they’re not rubbing together and causing earthquakes and volcanoes? Like the toilet paper aisle at the grocery store, there’s been a lot of pushing and shoving amongst Earth’s plates, with many disappearing and others taking their place. Finding some of these lost plates usually leads to others, but there’s been an ongoing disagreement about a plate that may or may not have existed off the Pacific coast of North America. Given the appropriate name “Resurrection,” this lost plate may have finally been resurrected by geologists who get excited about this sort of thing.
“We believe we have direct evidence that the Resurrection plate existed. We are also trying to solve a debate and advocate for which side our data supports.”
How did geologists at the University of Houston College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics resurrect Resurrection and why has there been a debate about its existence? There are currently seven major tectonic plates, 15 minor ones and dozens of microplates. The study of plate tectonics is just over 100 years old, but it really accelerated with the development of seismic tomography, which uses seismic data to locate ancient plates under the current one which have been subducted or shoved under other moving plates.
The benefit to finding these ancient plates is that they tell the history and location of ancient volcanoes, which caused ancient periods of climate change, which caused major changes in life on Earth. Geologists have long agreed that there are two ancient plates in the northern Pacific called Farallon and Kula, but some models show that they don’t match up to evidence of an ancient volcanic belt in Washington State and Alaska, leading some geologists to believe there’s a third ‘lost’ plate they’ve called Resurrection between them. Others refuse to accept this theory – hence, the debate.
“When ‘raised’ back to the earth’s surface and reconstructed, the boundaries of this ancient Resurrection tectonic plate match well with the ancient volcanic belts in Washington State and Alaska, providing a much sought after link between the ancient Pacific Ocean and the North American geologic record.”
In a paper published in the Geological Society of America Bulletin, Jonny Wu, assistant professor of geology at UH and Spencer Fuston, a third-year geology doctoral student, show how they used a new tomographic technique called slab unfolding to reconstruct what tectonic plates in the Pacific Ocean looked like during the early Cenozoic Era, 40 and 60 million years ago. That model revealed Resurrection hiding under western Canada and Alaska. (Pictures and video here in the press release.)
(l-r) Jonny Wu, assistant professor of geology in the UH Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and Spencer Fuston, a third-year geology doctoral student, applied a technique developed by the UH Center for Tectonics and Tomography called slab unfolding to reconstruct what tectonic plates in the Pacific Ocean looked like during the early Cenozoic Era.
A 3D block diagram across North America showing a mantle tomography image reveals the Slab Unfolding method used to flatten the Farallon tectonic plate. By doing this, Fuston and Wu were able to locate the lost Resurrection plate.
This image shows plate tectonic reconstruction of western North America 60 million years ago showing subduction of three key tectonic plates, Kula, Farallon and Resurrection.
Wu and Fuston are too professional to say it to Resurrection disbelievers, so we will for them.
“We’re not saying it’s Resurrection … but it’s Resurrection.”
Scientists Warn That What Killed Past Human Species Could End Us Too
Scientists Warn That What Killed Past Human Species Could End Us Too
One of the greatest mysteries in science is why there is only one species of humans in the world today. In the past, there were several and they often co-existed for considerable periods. These past human species are modern humans’ older ancestors. Now, researchers believe that they know why our ancestors disappeared. Since they could not adapt to climate change the past human species became extinct, unlike Homo sapiens .
Past Human Species Who Shared the Planet
For millennia there was more than one human species roaming the earth. Indeed, they often interbred with each other, and for this reason modern humans have genes of long-extinct past human species. A group of Italian researchers decided to examine why our ancestors vanished from the face of the earth and why we were the only ones to survive.
The researchers wrote in One Earth that ‘At least six different Homo species populated the World during the latest Pliocene to the Pleistocene.’ They focused on why Homo habilis, Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, and Homo neanderthalensis , all went extinct. These species of homo disappeared, the authors of the study are quoted in Science Daily as saying, “despite technological innovations including the use of fire and refined stone tools and the formation of complex social networks.”
Stone tools and simple clothing weren’t enough to save past human species.
The Italian researchers hypothesized that climate change played a key role in the demise of species such as the Neanderthals. All of them had a climatic niche, that is a climate that they had adapted to successfully. H. sapiens were included in the study to determine why they survived, unlike their relatives. Researchers examined an extensive fossil database spanning over a million years. They developed a climate emulator to create a model of past climates and how they changed over 5 million years.
Climate Change and the Extinction of Past Human Species
Using factor analysis, the experts were able to calculate how the changes in temperature and rainfall impacted the climate niche of each species . For three species, H. heidelbergensis, H. erectus, and H. neanderthalensis , they found that ‘their climatic niche widths shrunk suddenly just before they vanished,’ reports One Earth .
This means that the climate changed, making their environment challenging and they could not adapt to the new environment. This contributed greatly to their extinction. In the case of the Neanderthals, this was “made even worse by competition with H. sapiens,” according to Dr. Pasquale Raia of Naples University.
Neanderthals had to compete with Homo sapiens too.
The data from the climatic simulator offers strong evidence that the three extinct species of Homo were not able to cope with rising or cooling temperatures. Raia is quoted by Science Daily as saying that “We were surprised by the regularity of the effect of climate change.”
While there is evidence, based on the geographical distribution of remains, that the archaic humans tried to move to more favorable climates they were not able to adjust to the new conditions. Dr. Raia is quoted by The Independent as saying that:
“It was crystal clear, for the extinct species and them only, that climatic conditions were just too extreme just before extinction and only in that particular moment.”
Why Modern Humans Survived
In One Earth the study’s authors wrote that ‘Our results show striking differences in vulnerability between H. sapiens and the significantly more vulnerable extinct species .’ It appears that our Homo sapiens ancestors were less vulnerable to environmental changes. They had a much wider climatic niche, that is to say, that they could endure and adapt to changing temperatures and environmental conditions. Their cognitive abilities and technologies, such as fire , meant that they could ‘mitigate the effects of climate change on their survival by effectively manipulating their own microclimates or moving rapidly to settle under better conditions’ states One Earth .
However, the study noted that climate change also often had a profound impact on H. sapiens and could again in the future. At a time of rapid climate change the results of the study on early humans’ extinctions are truly relevant. Dr. Raia is quoted by The Independent as saying that “It is worrisome to discover that our ancestors, which were no less impressive in terms of mental power as compared to any other species on Earth, could not resist climate change.”
A Thunderous Warning Message
Unlike in the past, the current changes in the climate are almost certainly linked to human activities. The Independent quotes Dr. Raia as stating that “I personally take this as a thunderous warning message.” The research shows that modern humans are as vulnerable as our ancient extinct relatives, such as the Neanderthals, to climate change . We too may one day be as helpless as they were when their environment changed. Just because we successfully adapted in the past , that does not mean that we can in the future.
Top image: Several past human species went extinct due to climate change.
When most people think of sweat baths (the non-porn kind), they usually think of the ancient Romans or sometimes certain neighborhoods in New York City. However, archeologists trace the first (and possibly the best) steam rooms back to the Maya civilization which created the hot, steamy rooms in Mesoamerica somewhere around 900 BCE. Hot, steamy rooms in hot, steamy tropical lands? These rooms obviously had more ritual purposes than just cleaning out the pre-Columbian pores. A recent discovery in Guatemala reveals one unusual purpose of these steam rooms, the goddess associated with them and their connection to reptilian births. Wait … what?
“No other structure in Mesoamerica–sweat bath or otherwise–looks like this building. It would seem that when someone enters the front of the structure, they are entering the amphibian goddess who personified the sweat bath.”
You get the idea.
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) archaeologist Ashley Sharpe co-authored a study, published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal, which described the discovery of this unusual Maya steam bath and the search for its unique purpose. Maya steam baths themselves are not unusual – they generally have vented roofs and a firebox and were often built outside the homes of the elite. However, some have been found inside other buildings and had attached rooms for changing or recovering. Most were built for cleansing the body and the mind, helping heal the sick, talking to the gods or members of the underworld, or for other rituals. This particular one was different.
“Linking notions of birth to reptilian figures, however, is not uncommon among the Classic Maya as they express the verb ‘to birth’ as an upended reptilian mouth glyph. What we see at Xultun is an example where this reptilian goddess, as well as the ideas and myths she embodied, are expressed as a physical place.”
Boston University archaeologist Mary Clarke, main author of the study, reveals in a press release that this bath, discovered at the Xultun archeological site in modern Guatemala and named ‘Los Sapos’, was used for birthing – a tool that midwives believed aided in the process and produced healthier babies. To aid in the process, the steam bath was dedicated to a Classic Maya goddess (name not known but possibly ‘ix.tzutz.sak’) who is depicted “squatting in a toad-like position with legs ornamented with iguanas and cane toads.” The steam bath appears to have been built around 250 CE and used for 300 years before being buried. It appears to have been discovered about 300 years later and put back into use – not for steaming but for making offerings to the reptilian goddess that further solidified the purpose of the original bath.
She sounds hot!
“Because of the iconography on the outside of Los Sapos and because we know it was a sweat bath, we have a rare case where we can associate the offerings–an infant, figurines of women, and frogs and iguanas–with the role the structure played in the community.”
The offerings were found in an area that had been set on fire, so it’s difficult to determine if the infant had been a live sacrifice to the reptilian goddess, but human sacrifices were common to the Maya culture. Based on Clarke’s description of the reptilian goddess, that may have been the case.
“This supernatural figure is a ferocious embodiment of the Earth. When displeased, she may take revenge or withhold the things people need to survive. The offering at Los Sapos was both an attempt to appease this goddess and an act of resilience.”
The fire took place around 900 CE, at the end of the Maya civilization, so the people could have been negotiating with the gods to slow their demise. While the Maya are gone, their steam baths remain in the temazcal – round sweat lodges often run by shamans and popular in Mexico and Central America with tourists (when we could still be tourists … sigh).
Just be careful not to squat in one or you may get a surprise from the reptilian birthing goddess.
This is the newest Nazca lines discovery in Peru this week. The people reporting it says is a cat, but it has very little resemblance to a cat. I think its a kangaroo. Made 2,000 years ago there were no kangaroos in Peru, but I believe some of the people were allowed into a UFO and taken to other places on Earth to observe and learn...one of them being Australia. Fossils of kangaroos go back 20 million years in Australia and I think this is proof that aliens not only visited people in Peru, but took them to other continents to see how the humans react and learn. This would also explain why pyramids are all over the world and yet, they had no ways of visiting the other continents. Aliens abducted them and helped them see the world, other continents, animals, plant life and even structure of other cultures. This Nazca line drawing is 100% proof that aliens abducted humans even 2,000 years ago. The humans tried to draw the kangaroo for the aliens to see to show them that they will remember what they had learned and seen in Australia.
Scott C. Waring - Taiwan
News states:
The Nazca lines, a Unesco World Heritage site, is home to designs on the ground - known as geoglyphs - created some 2,000 years ago. Scientists believe the cat, as with other Nazca animal figures, was created by making depressions in the desert floor, leaving coloured earth exposed. The cat then went unnoticed until plans were recently drawn up for a new path leading to an observation platform.
The Super Antarctica Megalithic Structures and Giant Pyramid Materializations
The Super Antarctica Megalithic Structures and Giant Pyramid Materializations
Researcher and author Billy Carson explores the evidence surrounding super sized megalithic structures located in Antarctica as well as huge underground bases and tall white aliens. Could these hidden sites of alien technology be connected to a giant black coloured pyramid craft that resides on the far side of the moon?
Described as a huge dark mass, this strange pyramid was seen to materialize on earth for a short time before disappearing and returning to the far side of the moon.
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Satellite images taken in 1984 show objects such as ruins, strange artifacts and heavy machinery that currently are completely hidden under the Antarctic ice sheet.
The original 1984 Google Earth images are captured a very long time ago, but now, if you go back to the 1984 timeline on Google Earth, there is nothing left to see anymore. Of course, it is possible that the landscape has changed over the years through a natural process... although it does raise questions.
Looking at the original images, could it be that they have found ancient ruins and other strange artifacts on which they sent a secret expedition, inclusive heavy machinery, to explore this remote area?
10,000-Year-Old Footprints Tell Amazing Story of Human Encounter with Megafauna
10,000-Year-Old Footprints Tell Amazing Story of Human Encounter with Megafauna
Archaeologists at White Sands National Park in New Mexico examining a 10,000-year-old track of human footprints, have made more fascinating discoveries. But they’ve also unearthed a trowel-full of unanswered questions about the timeworn mystery of the relationship between humans and ice age megafauna.
Archaeology Detectives: Following Fossilized Footprints to Retrace Ancient Footsteps
The Alkali Flat in New Mexico , U.S.A, is a huge salt playa (dry lake) known as the world’s largest gypsum dune field, caused as a warming climate shrank an ancient lake bed that was eroded by the wind to create dunes and salt flats. On these flats, archaeologists have discovered hundreds of thousands of human footprints dating from the end of the last ice age (about 11,550 years ago), as well as the prints of many Ice Age megafauna that stalked, and were stalked by, early humans.
In a 2018 Ancient Origins article we featured a paper that described the ancient “ghost tracks” of now extinct giant ground sloths , mastodon, mammoth, camel and dire wolf, that only become visible at the surface during specific weather conditions, and it was suggested that the humans stepped into the sloth prints as they stalked them for the kill. Moving in “large flailing circles” the giant sloth was thought to have risen up on its hind legs, sweeping its arms “to keep the hunters at bay,” and when it overbalanced its knuckles and claws thumped to the ground to steady itself. But now, in light of new evidence, this story has now changed significantly.
Top: Panorama of Alkali Flats at White Sands National Park in New Mexico during current times. (Footwarrior / CC BY-SA 3.0 ). Bottom: A paleontological landscape painting showing now-extinct Ice Age mammals that roamed the area of White Sands National Park during the end of the Last Ice Age, including mammoths, ground sloths, dire wolves, camelops and more.
Exploring the Longest Straight Track in the Ancient Americas
A new paper published in Quaternary Science Reviews greatly expands on the initial 2016 observations, presenting what is described as the “longest trackway of fossil footprints in the world.” According to PHYS.org this new discovery comes from White Sands National Park in New Mexico. The findings were made by an international team working in collaboration with staff from the National Park Service . Unlike all of the other human footprint trackways “this one is remarkable for its length, measuring at least 1.5 kilometers” (0.9 miles) and is exceptionally straight.
The linear nature of this particular track indicates that the individual did not, by even a meter, deviate from their determined course, and even more thought provoking was that the person returned on their own trackway a few hours later. Just like detectives piecing together the clues at a modern crime scene, the depths and twists of each of these footprints has been measured revealing details about every inch of the track, so accurate that they determined when the person had “slipped here, and stretched there.”
The photo shows the fossilized footprints of a double trackway. This is the remaining evidence of an outward and homeward journey of what is believed to have been a lone woman about 10,000 years ago. In the central image you can see child tracks in the middle of nowhere.
This ancient track is made up of small fossilized footprints which the researchers believe they were most likely made by a young woman, or possibly an adolescent male. From this one long, straight track they determined that because the ground was wet and slick with mud the person maintained what would have been “an exhausting speed, of over 1.7 meters per second,” compared with a comfortable walking speed of about 1.2 to 1.5 meters per second on a flat dry surface.
Do you know that popular allegorical religious poem Footprints In The Sand ? “When you saw only one set of footprints, It was then that I carried you.” Well, it describes a person who sees two pairs of footprints in the sand, one of which belonged to God and another to him or herself. As the two pairs of prints become one, it is explained that this is where God was caring the person. Returning to the Alkali Flat, at several places on the outward journey a two-year-old child’s tracks were found as the carrier “set a child down, perhaps to adjust them from hip to hip, or for a moment of rest,” but while the child was carried outward, it was not present on the return journey.
Color depth-rendered 3D scans of some of the fossilized footprints uncovered. The distinctive curved shape is distinctive feature of someone walking while carrying a load.
All of the above discoveries were derived from the shapes, depths and twists of the footprints which were found to be broader on the outward journey, caused by outward rotation of the foot when its owner is carrying a heavy weight, while on the homeward journey they vary less in shape with a narrower form. Furthermore, between the time the person made their outward and return journeys, a giant sloth and a mammoth crossed the outward trackway, evident due to return journey footprints crossing those animal tracks.
In contrast to the story first published by the archaeologists, that the giant sloth moved in “flailing circles on its hind legs, sweeping its arms to keep the hunters at bay,” the sloth tracks show that it had been aware of the human’s passage and when it reached this trackway it reared-up on its hind legs “to catch the scent, pausing by turning and trampling the human tracks before dropping to all fours and making off. It was aware of the danger.”
While this unique trackway has already offered deep insights into human movement 10,000 years ago, it raises as many new questions. What was the person doing alone, moving at speed, with a child, out on the dangerous playa? What is for sure is that the child-carrying woman must have felt terribly vulnerable in this wild and unpredictable landscape. Whatever her motivation was, she made her journey, delivered the child, and returned.
Top image: After further analysis of the fossilized footprints, archaeologists have adjusted the narrative of the story they tell. During the end of the last ice age, a woman holding a child hurriedly walks along the shores of the ancient Lake Otero, leaving footprints in the mud.
Missing Link in Dinosaur Evolution Discovered in the Gobi Desert
Missing Link in Dinosaur Evolution Discovered in the Gobi Desert
Buried beneath the sands of Mongolia’s Gobi Desert for 68 million years, multiple skeletons of a new species of feathered, two-fingered, toothless dinosaurs have been unearthed by a team of researchers. Dubbed the Oksoko avarsan, this remarkable creature is thought to be a key ‘missing link’ and is already helping to demystify dinosaur evolution.
Two Digits and a Parrot’s Beak
The discovery of the group of new dinosaur skeletons, and their subsequent analysis, has helped to fill a range of gaps in the dinosaur evolutionary tree. While many dinosaurs have been found in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert , this one is extra special for a several reasons.
Achieving heights exceeding two meters, this dinosaur weighed about 45 kilograms (99 pounds). The Oksoko avarsan fed on plants and animals with its large, toothless beak, that is described as being similar to that of a parrot. This bizarre-looking ancient creature had two digits protruding from each forearm, similarly to a T-Rex.
This is the aspect of the discovery that the research scientists found most interesting, for these fossilized skeletons represent the first tangible evidence of digit loss in the three-fingered oviraptor family, an adaptation which the researchers say enabled the species to spread across vast distances during the Cretaceous.
This newly discovered species has just two fingers and no teeth, as can be seen in this skeletal anatomy of Oksoko avarsan.
This description of the dinosaur comes from a new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science written by Dr. Gregory Funston, of the University of Edinburgh 's School of GeoSciences, Philip J Currie of the Dinosaur Museum in Canada and a team of researchers from Hokkaido University in Japan and the Mongolian Academy of Sciences . According to the paper, it was the fact that this creature had two digits which “revealed some unexpected trends.” These have already helped to answer the question of why oviraptors were so diverse before the mass-extinction event that eventually brought the dinosaurs to extinction.
The Gobi Desert is a large brushland region in East Asia, covering parts of Northern and Northeastern China, and of Southern Mongolia, and it is notable in history as hosting several important trading stations along the Silk Road . However, according to Amicus Mongolia , beneath the scattered layers of early medieval archaeology, many world-famous fossils have been recovered from Gobi Desert providing many clues into dinosaur evolution, including the “two fighting dinosaurs (Velociraptor and Protoceratops)”, the “crowded infant dinosaurs – Protoceratops”, “Oviraptorosaur laying its eggs”, “Giant carnivorous Tarbosaur and its baby” and “egg fossils of many different dinosaur species, and an embryo in egg.” Oviraptor, meaning “egg-plunderer,” is a genus of small Mongolian theropod dinosaurs that was visually the most bird-like of the theropod dinosaurs and had three fingers.
Image of skeletons discovered in the Gobi Desert. In the lower diagram, the different colors represent different individuals.
Perhaps one of the most fascinating dinosaur facts, provided by Amicus Mongolia , is that if one was to take into account all of the dinosaur research conducted on the planet over the last decade, when totaled, it is estimated that more than “80 genera of dinosaurs, or 1/5 (one fifth) of the over 400 dinosaur genera known to science, have been found in the Mongolian Gobi.”
However, no matter how stiff the competition is, this new species is an exceptionally rare and valuable find. Thanks to its two digits, Oksoko avarsan is thought to have adapted its diet and lifestyle, which ultimately enhanced its breeding success. The research team also concluded that these prehistoric creatures were social beings when young, as the excavators discovered a group of four juveniles together.
The team of scientists studied the slow reduction, and eventual loss of, the dinosaur’s third finger across the oviraptors' evolutionary history and concluded in the study that the newly discovered creatures’ arms and hands “changed drastically in tandem with migrations to new geographic areas, specifically to what is now North America and the Gobi Desert.” When attempting to answer why this bird-like creature lost its third finger, the researchers suspect this most likely occurred in relation to changes in its foraging or nesting patterns, display requirements or other social habits.
Top image: An artist’s impression of the Oksoko avarsan dinosaur. Source: ( Michaeol Skrepnick / University of Edinburgh)
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
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