Where Did the Polynesians Really Come From?

Oceania was the last region to be settled by humans and the last part of Oceania to be settled by humans was Polynesia. Polynesians are famous for their voyages to remote islands in distant parts of the Pacific. Using outrigger canoes, they founded a society across islands stretching in a triangle from the Hawaiian Islands to Easter Island to New Zealand. That society was reasonably well-connected by trade, language, culture, and religion, despite its distribution over such a large area.

One major question today is where did the Polynesians originally come from? Several theories have been proposed over the years, but one which is gaining ground is that the Polynesians originated from Taiwan, parts of Papua New Guinea, and Southeast Asia. Another intriguing area of study is the genetic connection between Polynesians and South Americans.

Could the Polynesians Have Origins in South America?

One early theory of the origin of Polynesians is that they came from South America and sailed west, eventually reaching the Polynesian triangle. This was proposed by the archaeologist, writer, and explorer Thor Heyerdahl , who even constructed a Polynesian outrigger canoe and, with a team, sailed it west of Easter Island from the South American coast. This demonstrated the feasibility of using a primitive craft such as an outrigger canoe to cross the Pacific.

Girls Carrying a Canoe in Samoa by John La Farge. ( Public Domain ) Polynesian outrigger canoes may have been used to cross the Pacific.

The thing to remember about experimental archaeology is that just because something could have theoretically been done doesn’t mean that it actually happened that way. Although it is plausible that Polynesia was settled by ancient South Americans; all the genetic, linguistic, and ethnographic evidence points toward a predominantly southeast Asian origin.

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The Express Train or Slow Boat to Polynesian Origins

The two main theories today are called the Express Train Hypothesis and the Slow Boat Hypothesis. The Express Train Hypothesis says that Polynesians originally come from Taiwan by way of the Philippines and Melanesia. According to this view, Polynesians are mainly a part of a migration wave that came out of Taiwan.

The western part of Polynesia was settled between 3000 and 1000 BC by people from Taiwan via the Philippines as well as parts of New Guinea. Eastern Polynesia was settled beginning around 900 AD as Polynesian voyagers began to set out from Tonga and Samoa and other islands of western Polynesia to settle the Hawaiian Islands, New Zealand, and Easter Island, among other islands of the region.

According to the Slow Boat Hypothesis, the ancestors of the Polynesians are of Austronesian descent and still have a connection to Taiwan, but the ancestors of modern Polynesians spent several centuries intermarrying with people of Papuan and Indonesian lineage before setting out to Polynesia.

Depiction of possible Tahitian warrior dugouts. ( Public Domain ) Much of the origins of Polynesians remains uncertain.

The first view is supported by linguistic and ethnographic data, but there is genetic evidence for the second hypothesis. Genetic studies have shown, for example, that a significant percentage of the Polynesian population has y-chromosomal DNA haplogroups coming from Papua New Guinea while most of the mtDNA comes from haplogroups in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

This suggests some degree of intermarriage between Polynesians and other Austronesian groups as well as non-Austronesian groups. Another possible line of evidence for this hypothesis comes from the fact that there is a gap in the language evolution of Polynesian Austronesian languages. Polynesian languages have features that no other Austronesian languages possess. This could be because of interaction with Papuan and Indonesian populations.

Reconstruction of the face of a Lapita woman. National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka. (Yanajin33/ CC BY SA 3.0 ) Genetic studies have shown that most mtDNA in Polynesia comes from Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

Are there Amerindian Connections to Early Polynesians?

It is even possible that Thor Heyerdahl may have been partly right about an Amerindian connection . Genetic studies of the Rapa Nui of Easter Island reveal a small percentage of Native American ancestry (8%). To be fair, this study also revealed 16% European ancestry for the Rapa Nui.

However, the genes and haplogroups associated with European descent are much less degraded due to recombination than those associated with Native American descent, making it clear that European haplogroups are from 19th century Europeans intermarrying with the natives. The genes associated with Native American ancestry are much older, suggesting a date closer to the 13th-15th centuries AD for these elements entering the genes of the Rapa Nui .

However, a study in 2020 has suggested that the date for Polynesians meeting South Americans should be pushed back even further, to around 1150 AD. The nature of those genetic links and the location for that first contact also differs from previous beliefs. As Ed Whelan writes:

“Genetic evidence appears to prove that Polynesians are related to present-day Indigenous people, especially from the coast of Colombia and Ecuador. Interestingly, the DNA study concludes that the earliest contact was on Fatu Hiva, an island in the South Marquesas islands, sometime around 1150 AD, and not Rapa Nui which is much closer to the coast of South America.”

Is it possible that Amerindian cultures are partially responsible for the colonization of Polynesia, or at least part of it, after all?

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Genetic analysis appears to prove that Polynesians have genetic roots tracing back to diverse regions across the Pacific and the Americas, denoting the mixed origin of the population. 

(Ruben Ramos-Mendoza / Nature)

Although it is possible that South American voyagers sailed to Polynesia to meet the Rapa Nui or another group of Polynesians, the Polynesians are known to have been more skilled at seafaring at the time, so it is more likely that it was the Polynesians who came to the Americas. The Polynesians may have come to South America to trade with the natives, and as a result may have ended up also bringing home South American brides.

Intriguingly, there is circumstantial evidence for pre-Columbian contact between Native Americans and Polynesians - chicken bones that have been found at an archaeological site on a beach in Chile that appear to predate the coming of the Spaniards.

Regardless of where the Polynesians originally came from, their ancestry appears to be more complex than initially thought. The more we learn about historical genetics , the more we realize just how convoluted the communication and intermarriage between different populations was in the past.

If we go far back enough, current thinking is that we are all a mixture of many lineages of mankind which originally diverged from a single lineage that goes back to Africa, perhaps 200,000 years ago.

• Top Image: A Wa'a Kaulua (double canoe) of Hawaiian Nobility of the 18th Century. Polynesia was inhabited by skilled seafarers. Source: Herb Kawainui Kāne

By Caleb Strom

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/general }

02-09-2020 om 01:23 geschreven door peter  

Elongated Skulls Found in Completely New Region of Peru

Five sets of human skeletal remains have been discovered by investigators in Peru and, surprisingly, two of the five have elongated skulls. The find has been made in an area where this type of skull has never been found before. To add to the story, local knowledge speaks of a race of ‘Gentiles’ (pronounced ‘jenteelez’), who were larger than the indigenous people living in the region.

The History of Elongated Skulls in Peru

Throughout history, many cultures have artificially deformed the skulls of babies in order to achieve a flattened or elongated shape, which was often associated with the ruling or elite classes . Examples of this artificial cranial deformation (ACD) have been uncovered in Australia, the Middle East, Europe, Russia, and the Americas from ancient times, as well as Oceanic and African tribes in modern times. When examined, most of these skulls exhibit features common to modern skulls, such as 3 cranial plates and sutures, as well as a brain size of around 1200-1400 cc.

But in 1928, Julio Tello , a Peruvian archaeologist, came across extraordinary elongated and oversized skulls in a cemetery in Paracas, Peru. These skulls had a cranial capacity that far exceeded the norm for modern humans

Paracas skulls, found on the south coast of Peru.

( CC BY-SA 4.0 )

These examples were baffling due to their size and unorthodox structure , and remain so to this day. In fact, DNA testing performed in 2014 perhaps just muddied the water more, when a geneticist reported that they have mitochondrial DNA “with mutations unknown in any human, primate, or animal known so far”. And then later testing at labs in Canada and the USA claimed they were from “the Haplogroup (genetic population group) of H2A, which is found most frequently in Eastern Europe, and at a low frequency in Western Europe.”

So when it comes to elongated skulls in Peru, there is clearly much more work needed in order to reach any conclusions regarding how or what has caused the misshapen forms and abnormal capacities.

The recent find involves examples of skulls that seem to have roughly normal capacity but are misshapen. What is most exciting about this find, however, is the location of the discovery.

Locations of Elongated Skulls in Peru

Paracas is a desert peninsula located within Pisco Province on the south coast of Peru, and the skulls there are known to range from 2800 to 800 years old. An example found in 2015 was a mummified baby’s skull with an enlarged cranium . This finding is suggestive of a genetically elongated skull since the process of ACD takes at least 6 months to produce the desired effect.

Other elongated skulls have been located in Nazca, 111 miles (178 km) to the south and dated from 200 to 100 BC, Tumbes 935 miles (1500km) to the north of Paracas, and Colca Valley in the south-east of the country (from the Collagua people and dated 1100 to 1450 AD ).

Proto Nazca deformed skull, c 200–100 BC.

( CC BY-SA 4.0 )

The elongated skulls discovered by Philip J.S. Jones and his indigenous friends are not as voluminous as the Paracas examples, and it is not currently established whether their unconventional shape is a result of ACD or a genetic factor. However, the significance of the find is that they have been found in an entirely new region, with no other extended skulls found anywhere near it previously. This, along with the local folklore, demanded further investigation.

Side and front angle of skulls.

(Image: © Philip J.S. Jones)

Well Worth a Call

When I was first approached by Philip J.S. Jones, I administered my usual measure of skepticism. I was intrigued, but in my position working with a successful website I am lucky enough to get a bunch of emails of the ‘discovery’ type each month. They range across the spectrum of possibilities and various levels of excitement. It’s part of the thrill of the role. Each day one learns something new, and each day one ‘discovers’ something previously unknown (even if it was only previously unknown to me).

However, the following kind of email doesn’t drop into one’s inbox everyday:

“At the end of 2018 I found some skeletons with skulls that have extended crania, in a previously undiscovered tomb in the Peruvian Andes at about 3400m above sea level. They are said to come from a long lost civilization, called the "Gentiles" locally. This is an important discovery as these types of skulls were unknown in the area.”

When someone writes to say they have found some elongated skulls, and the clincher – ‘I’ve got pictures’, the adrenaline begins to rise.

One of two elongated skulls discovered in the mountains in the Cuzco region of Peru, North of Abancay.

(Image: © Philip J.S. Jones)

How to ‘Come Across’ Elongated Skulls in Peru

Philip J.S. Jones is someone who could be described as an explorer, or perhaps these days as a ‘seeker’ personality, although he would probably refer to himself as ‘just a normal bloke’. But his exploits stray far from the norm. ‘Normal blokes’ don’t end up high in the Peruvian Andes gallantly defending a local community from incumbent mining companies - and winning. Normal blokes don’t just happen to be in the right place at the right time with the courage, grit, and qualifications to save a community’s homeland. ‘Normal blokes’ take a hike to Machu Picchu and shoot a selfie.

Now, elongated skulls are not a new discovery, and, although they are rare, there are still hundreds of them in various museums around the world. But finding one (or more) is just not the kind of thing that happens every year or even every decade, and for any archaeologist, or even anyone curious about dipping into mankind’s ancient origins, this is likely to be ‘once in a lifetime’ stuff. Eat your heart out Brien Foerster !

Two of the skulls show distinct signs of elongation.

(Image: © Philip J.S. Jones)

So how did this extraordinary find come about?

In 2008, Philip first visited South America and, as many of us do, he fell in love with the continent and its unusual and intriguing people. And because he ‘could build things’ he found himself off that well-beaten track, building a dormitory in a village in the mountains, a place he would return to almost every year over the next decade.

In 2018, he was making one of his regular visits to his now long-time friends when one of those friends iterated a local folk tale, known as “ Los Tres Foresteros: The Lost Legend of the Chancas ”, which Philip has since put to paper. This tale talks of a lost race of people known as ‘Gentiles’ - a different race who once lived in the region and were “said to be taller than the Chanca tribe” and thriving in the region in the years before the 1530 AD. Legend has it that the Gentiles were banished to live underground by a firestorm sent down upon them by the gods as punishment for their greed.

Although interesting, what brought about the discovery of interest here was the viewing of a documentary a few days later that discussed the Paracas skulls. Speaking of them with his friends, Philip was told there were examples of these to be found in caves in the surrounding mountains, and some had extended mandibles to boot! (Presumably longer than the Habsburgs).

Some of the skulls include teeth, but no mandibles have been recovered.

(Image: © Philip J.S. Jones)

Seeking Out the Extended Skulls

Once Philip had heard there were long skulls in those hills, I imagine it was hard to shake them out of his own cranium, which, incidentally, appears to be fairly ordinarily shaped.

And so it was, the small group of Philip, Vilma (his friend), and two wily 15-year-olds called Tania and Wilder, set off from the tiny pueblo near where the skulls were found. After a treacherous hike (as it is dramatically portrayed by Philip in his book, ‘ The Three Foresteros: The Lost Legend of the Chancas’ ), they found what is described as a ‘worked cave’, having some human modification to transform it into somewhat of a tomb (common in the mountain cave tombs found in the Andes). Here they did make a find, but not exactly what they were seeking. Yes, there were some human remains, but there were no skulls attached.

Disappointment is a feeling often associated with exploring, seeking, and archaeology, but the antidote to this can be perseverance, and it was just two weeks later that Philip received word that Wilder had gone on his own quest for skulls and, in a staggering spot of luck (or perhaps the reward for perseverance), had been successful.

Fifteen-year-old Wilder, demonstrating admirably the invaluable contribution of local knowledge in this type of investigation, had come across the skulls that are the subject of this report. They were found in a completely different tomb, somewhere in the mountains nearby. It is highly likely that this tomb was previously known to the local community through the ages, but had been long forgotten.

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Three of the skulls, including the two extended skulls.

(Image: © Philip J.S. Jones)

Ramifications of the Find

So we have the discovery, almost completely by chance, of evidence of extended crania in a new region of Peru, around 100 miles (150 km) north of Abancay. It shows that the tradition of modifying skulls spread wider than was previously known; or that there was a separate race with odd-shaped skulls living in the region - the Gentiles?

To find out the details of this find, such as their antiquity, cranial capacity and origin, the skulls will need to be sent off to laboratories with the appropriate equipment, and this will require a suitable institution to take interest. So, for now, confirmation of the reach of the artificial cranial modification tradition in Peru – or indeed the existence of ‘Gentiles’ – remains in the realms of amateur interpretation, with questions that still abound. For now, the skulls are in the safe hands of the authorities in a remote community high in the Andes in South Central Peru.

You can discover more about how a lawyer from England happens across elongated skulls in Peru, the legend of the Gentiles, and more, in Philip’s books, The Three Foresteros: The Lost Legend of the Chancas’ , and ‘ A Peruvian Diary’ , or even tune in for more of Philip’s fascinating discussions on Strange But True Radio .

• https://www.facebook.com/hughan88/
• Top image: Several of the extended or elongated skulls being measured. Source: © Philip J.S. Jones

By Gary Manners

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/general }

02-09-2020 om 01:05 geschreven door peter  

Ancient Sea Monster Discovered in Hull of King’s Ship

During the summer solstice of 1495 AD, the royal flagship Gribshunden of the Danish King Hans, also known as King John of Denmark, sank when sailing from Copenhagen to Kalmar, Sweden, where it was to meet Sten Sture the Elder as part of Hans’s claim to the Swedish throne. The shipwreck was discovered by sport divers in the 1970s, but unaware of its significance they didn't alert archaeologists until 2000. The Gribshunden shipwreck, from the late medieval period, came to media attention when archaeologists salvaged a fabulously well-preserved wooden figurehead of a dragon-like monster from the stern and brought it to the surface, probably the only one left in the world from a 15 ^th century ship.

Buried in silt in the ancient hull of the ship, archaeologists have now discovered a barrel containing the skeleton of what appears to be an ancient sea monster measuring two meters (6.56 feet) long. Having applied DNA analysis to the sea monster’s remains, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have announced that the remains come from an Atlantic sturgeon. It appears that King Hans was aiming to demonstrate both power and grandeur to Sten Sture by presenting the giant fish, but the Gribshunden caught fire and sank, taking with it the monster’s skeleton which has remained on the bed of the Baltic Sea for over five hundred years.

The Gribshunden shipwreck came to media attention when archaeologists salvaged a fabulously well-preserved wooden figurehead of a dragon-like monster from the stern and brought it to the surface.

( Blekinge Museum )

The 120,000-Million-Year-Old Legacy About To Go Extinct

The Atlantic sturgeon is a prehistoric fish that has existed for more than 120 million years. Its long, hard, upturned snout, has four sensory barbels on the side of its mouth which is soft and toothless. Famed for its eggs, which are used for caviar, this bony ancient-looking fish has no scales but five rows of bony plates, called scutes, which protect its head and body. While males can weigh up to 90 pounds (41kg), females can weigh up to 160 pounds (72.5kg). Atlantic sturgeons can live for more than 60 years and while males do not reach sexual maturity until they are at least 10 years old, females take nearly 20 years to mature.

The largest Atlantic sturgeon ever recorded was caught in America’s Chesapeake Bay , measuring over 4.2 meters (14 ft) long and weighing almost 370 kilos (811 lbs). The Atlantic sturgeon was an important fishing industry commodity from colonial times up until the early 20th century. However, in 2012 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  officially declared the Atlantic sturgeon an endangered species, defining it as “almost extinct.” Today it is illegal to fish for, catch or harvest Atlantic sturgeon or their eggs.

Skeletal remains of the ancient sturgeon were found in a barrel buried in silt in the hull of the shipwreck.

(Lund University / Science Direct )

Ancient Sea Monster Preserved in the Pantry of a King’s Ship

Discovered fifty years ago, King Hans’s shipwreck was well preserved in the Baltic Sea’s high salt oxygen-free environment, and an absence of deteriorating shipworms has offered researchers data about how royal ships in late Middle Age Europe functioned. But it was the discovery last year of a wooden barrel in the royal pantry that uncovered the giant fish.

In a press release , Dr. Stella Macheridis, a researcher at the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at Lund University, said “it is a really thrilling discovery” and that it has been “very exciting” to work with the ancient sea monster . The professor also added that when the fish remains were first discovered, they instantly knew it was a sturgeon because of its bony plate armor.

Skeletal remains of the ancient sturgeon which measured two meters long.

(Lund University / Science Direct )

A Monstrous Tool of Propaganda

While the scientists knew the fish was a sturgeon, it was incorrectly assumed to have been a European sturgeon, commonly found in the Baltic Sea at that time. However, the new DNA analysis revealed it was an Atlantic sturgeon, the species currently on the endangered list and nearing extinction. King Hans must have planned on seriously impressing the Swedes with the ancient sea monster !

Maria C. Hansson, the molecular biologist at Lund University who carried out the DNA analysis, said that for her the discovery is “of major significance” because it offers a glimpse of what the Baltic Sea looked like before we interfered with it. Thanks to the discovery we now know that the Atlantic sturgeon was a member of that ancient ecosystem. In order to reanimate the creature, the professor claims that by using underwater DNA it might be possible “to recreate what it looked like previously.”

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Sturgeon remains are rare archaeological finds. Thanks to this breakthrough discovery in an ancient royal environment, it is now known that the giant creature was a symbol of high status and power in the medieval period. Brendan P. Foley, marine archaeologist at Lund University, and project coordinator for the excavations, explains that the sturgeon located in the ships pantry was “a propaganda tool” that would have served a political function. As such it provides archaeologists with crucial information about medieval European politics, religion and economics.

• Top image: Buried in silt in the hull of the Gribshunden shipwreck, archaeologists have now discovered a barrel containing the skeleton of what appears to be an ancient sea monster measuring two meters long. Source: Reuseableart

By Ashley Cowie

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/general }

02-09-2020 om 00:43 geschreven door peter  

Underground city in Chiapas (Mexico): Mystery in the depths of the Earth

Today our article is going to touch on a fascinating underground mystery , which has Chiapas , Mexico , as the axis of a legendary story centered on the Mayan mystery , and its secrets.

Many of his references seem to link with La Cueva de los Tayos , in a subject that, as I always say, is not exhausted. I invite the reader to join me in the search for an enigmatic lost city, its golden library, and hidden tunnels.

Let’s discover the Veil of Isis.

Fray Diego de Landa – Maya Bibliographic Holocaust

“These people also used certain characters or letters, with which they wrote their ancient things and their sciences in their books. And some signs in the figures, they understood their things, and they gave them to understand, and they taught. Let us find them large numbers of books of these, their letters, and because they had nothing, in which there was no superstition, and falsehoods of the devil. We burn them all ”. Manuscript of Relationship of the things of Yucatan. Diego de Landa. Century XVI.

To try to understand the events that we are now going to relate, we must center our first clue on the figure of Diego de Landa Calderón . Who would later become, one of the most controversial figures of his time, came to the world in Cifuentes , Alcarría de Guadalajara , Spain , 1524-1579.

At the age of twelve he entered the Franciscan convent of San Juan de los Reyes de Toledo . When he was 27 years old, he was sent to Yucatán to begin his evangelizing mission. In the beginning, Fray Diego de Landa, tried to carry out a protective task with the natives, whom he tried to educate in the new faith.

However, frustrated by the persistence of the still latent pagan beliefs, which made his pastoral work difficult, he decided to summon an Inquisitor Court . What happened later would be recorded forever, as one of the most atrocious acts carried out during the cruel colonizing period.

“On the night of July 12, 1562, a bonfire lit up the dark streets of Maní , Yucatán . That fire was fed with sacred objects, and above all, with the forty codices in which the entire life and history of the Mayans was explained ”.

Landa was convinced that in Yucatan there existed “a clandestine network of Mayan apostates”, practitioners of the most deeply rooted Satanism. Many indigenous Mayans, subjected to cruel torture seeking to break their silence, later ended up committing suicide.

Later Landa, marked by a great repentance, would publish the famous Relationship of the things of Yucatán , 1566, presenting his personal interpretation of the mysterious Mayan language. Despite his good will, the translation proposed by Landa , considered a reputed Mayanist, would prove useless. One of the first scholars to recognize this difficulty was the French abbot, geographer and scholar, Charles Etienne Brasseur de Bouborg , 1814-1874, who admitted his bewilderment with what Landa had done .

During his stay in Chiapas, Brasseur de Bouborg , who in addition to being a missionary held the position of ecclesiastical administrator, later wrote a book, Voyage sur l’Isthme de Tehuantepec dans l’état de Chiapas et la République de Guatémala , 1861, narrating his experiences in Mexico and Guatemela , appearing inserted in it, curious references about a people of enigmatic customs called the Lacandones .

According to Brasseur de Bouborg:

“From time to time a group of natives of small stature and white skin would appear in the border cities and towns of Chiapas and Western Guatemala, bartering merchandise, and they would quickly go to their great stone temple where they said they lived, already who tried to follow them, disappeared, or turned up dead ”.

This story about a tribe alien to the traditional cultures of Central America , although similar to the Mayan ethnic group in the words of some testimonies, we will see reported by several authors, although its written transmission contains slight variations. Let’s tackle the tracks.

Lacandones. People of true men

One of the oldest mentions about the Lacandones, a term that according to this tribe alludes to “the people of true men”, comes from a 15th century manuscript, Historia de la Provincia de Chiapas y Guatemala, by the Dominican friar Francisco Ximénez de Quesada (1550-1620), who was also a translator of the Popol Vulh, describes in this work, his encounter with a Lacandon prisoner.

With the arrival of the 19th and 20th centuries, rumors began to be heard about an ancient Mayan city lost in the Mexican jungle, guarded, according to what they say, by a mysterious people. One of the first to collect this story was the American writer John Lloyd Stephens , who, in Travel Incidents in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatán , 1841, presents an intriguing oral testimony bequeathed by a Spanish priest:

“Four days down the highway that leads to Mexico , entering the other side of the great sierra, there is a living, large and populous city, hidden underground. According to the traditional account of the Chajul Indians , no white man has ever reached her. The inhabitants speak in the Mayan language, they know that a foreign race has conquered everything, and they kill anyone who tries to enter their territory. They have no currency or other means of calculation, they lack horses, cattle, mules or other domestic animals, only poultry that they hide underground ”.

The priest also told Lloyd Stephens that a Spanish guide told him:

“They possessed a great light that shines in the underworld, the secret of which seems to have been entrusted to them long ago, by those who have previously lived underground.”

Another author who will also echo this rumor about a lost city, will be the famous British explorer and journalist, Harold Tom Wilkins , 1891-1960, who in his book Mysteries of Ancient South America , 1945, delivers revelations about a mysterious lost race, sighted in the vicinity of Chiapas , and that Wilkins identifies as linked to the Mayans or perhaps Aztecs.

Wilkins writes :

“They only come into contact with Indians, barter some products, and they disappear as quickly as they arrived. Officials Mexicans and Guatemalans never comment on them. People traditionally place them as custodians of the entrance to an underground city, where an ancient civilized race lives that ruled Mexico before the waters. No foreign man knows the part of the jungle that they inhabit, where this tribe develops as their parents did, maintaining the same majestic buildings, stone, palaces and temples, large courtyards and elevated towers with high terraces of stairs, which mark the site. . This tribe still sculpts in stone the mysterious hieroglyphs that no modern scholar has been able to decipher in Yucatan ”.

Cueva de los Tayos, and the Mayan connection

At the beginning of my research on Cueva de los Tayos, I had access to certain reserved material, made up of certain pieces of Mayan origin. This legacy would have belonged to Julio Goyén Aguado , a close friend of the enigmatic Juan Móricz, who revealed to the world the discovery of a gold library in the Ecuadorian jungle, in addition to other finds.

The truth is that one of those plates accompanied by other objects, are of Mayan origin. Although it is not yet possible to elucidate all the questions, about what happened to the Cueva de los Tayos and its treasures, certain connections between South and Central America , may perhaps begin to be understood if we focus our attention on the issue of the underground tunnels. Up to this point.

Conclusion

Mexico has a long underground tradition, although many of its stories are lost in legend. The history of the Mayans is still in full reconstruction, as well as their legacy that we are just beginning to discover. The decoding of its complex writing still worries the experts, which, due to the destruction practiced at the time of the Conquest , prevents us from advancing in its better understanding.

Perhaps that is why it is not unreasonable to think that the ancient Mayans believed that they preserved their documents, perhaps heirs, as some think, of previous civilizations. Chiapas and its mysteries is just the tip of the iceberg. The future may bring us surprises about this enigma, it is just a matter of waiting. To be continue.

{ https://mysteriousthing.com/category/mystery }

31-08-2020 om 23:11 geschreven door peter  

The oldest artwork ever found in Britain was discovered on the Channel Island of Jersey (specifically at Les Varines in southeast Jersey) between 2014 and 2018. The artwork that dates back at least 15,000 years appear to show a scene from the Ice Age with mammoths in now-drowned lands that could have been Doggerland which was once a land bridge that connected Britain to Europe before rising waters from the North Sea submerged it around 8,000 years ago.

The images were drawn on ten fragments of plaquettes (flat stone) and seem to depict mammoths in addition to some abstract patterns that were etched on top on each other. The abstract patterns were made with straight and curved lines while the other drawings seemed to show the body of what could be an ox or bison with mammoth tusks on top of it. An additional overlaid portrait seemed to depict a human face as it had several circular lines. The drawings, which were engraved by using ancient stone tools, were more than likely created by the same person in a very short amount of time. (Pictures can be seen here.)

The drawings engraved on the stone plaquettes from the ancient site on the Channel Island of Jersey are thought to be about 15,000 years old, making them the oldest artworks found in Britain.

(Image: © Natural History Museum London)

Some of the ancient drawings are overlaid on each other. The engravings on this stone fragment are thought to show a bovid animal like an ox or bison; the outline of a mammoth; and circular scratches that could portray a human face. 

(Image credit: Silvia Bello/Natural History Museum London)

Archaeological project at Les Varines in 2013.

It was actually because of a local farmer that the drawings were even found. Ed Blinkhorn, who is a geoarchaeologist from University College London and was the director of the excavations, stated that when a farmer was ploughing the fields, he found fragments of flint and since it isn’t local to the area, it must have been brought in from another location.

“We traced this flow of material to its source — a largely intact saddle of land between an ancient sea stack [a coastal rock formation] and a buried granite cliff,” he explained to Live Science. At that point, excavations began and they found several pits, big granite slabs, numerous hearths that were used for fires, and ochre.

As for the artwork, three of them were discovered underneath a granite slab while the rest of them were located close to one of the hearths. In a statement, Chantal Conneller, who is an archaeologist at Newcastle University in England and a co-author of the study, said, “These engraved stone fragments provide exciting and rare evidence of artistic expression at what was the farthest edge of the Magdalenian world.”

Previously found engraved plaquettes that were unearthed in Portugal, Spain, France, southern part of Germany, and Belgium, were connected to the Magdalenians who were hunter-gatherers that thrived between 23,000 and 14,000 years ago.

Another picture of an archaeological project at Les Varines in 2013.

Since the island of Jersey is only 9 miles in width, the large animals that may have been depicted in the artwork would have lived in the areas that are now submerged in water. In fact, numerous artifacts from the Stone Age as well as human remains have been uncovered beneath the waters of Dogger Bank. It is possible, however, that the Magdalenian people did stay at the site at Les Varines on a temporary basis even though the intentional artwork suggests they may have stayed longer.

Connoller explained this by stating, “The engraved stones are firmly domestic art.” “The people at Les Varines are likely to have been pioneer colonizers of the region, and creating engraved objects at new settlements may have been a way of creating symbolic relationships with new places.” Whether they stayed there for a short amount of time or on a more permanent basis, the artwork is very important and symbolic nevertheless.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

29-08-2020 om 20:27 geschreven door peter  

Another biblical location gets an archeological certification as a site on the Sea of Galilea excavated 32 years ago has finally been confirmed to be the location of the once famous and later cursed city of Bethsaida. Does this end the curse or merely reclassify it as a veiled threat?

“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you! And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to Hades! For if the miracles done among you had been done in Sodom, it would have continued to this day. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you!” (Matthew 11:20–24)

Things don’t look good for Bethsaida – the home of disciples Philip, Andrew and Peter — in this passage from the book of Matthew, which is duplicated in the book of Luke. In fact, despite the tales of Bethsaida hosting the biblical miracles of the feeding of 5,000 people and a blind man seeing, Bethsaida appeared to have disappeared from maps and records around the 3rd century CE. There was some evidence that el-Araj might be its current location, but in 1988 Professor Rami Arav of the University of Nebraska at Omaha began pushing for e-Tell as the true location of the lost and cursed Bethsaida. Located close to one another, Arav felt that el-Araj was more like a Roman army camp serving Bethsaida than the actual location.

In new revelations reported by Haaretz, Arav talks about discoveries in e-Tell of a city gate, granaries and a stele depicting the moon god, indicating that e-Tell was probably the capital of the Iron Age (10th century BCE) kingdom of Geshur, mentioned in the early books of the Hebrew Bible well before the coming of Philip, Andrew, Peter and Jesus. At that time, Arav says e-Tell was named Zer, which he claims was eventually morphed into Bethsaida.

What about the curse on Bethsaida?

Interpretations of the story say that Jesus was upset with residents of Bethsaida for not believing in him, while Bethsaida’s people were embarrassed because Jesus led the blind man out of the city before curing him – a cure that took two applications of spittle, indicating how bad things were in Bethsaida. Telling the man not to go back to Bethsaida was both an embarrassment to the city and a warning of what was to come. The man probably missed it because what is often said to be the end result of the curse was a massive earthquake in 363 C.E. followed by another two years later that destroyed Bethsaida and covered the area in silt.

The debate on the location of Bethsaida has gone on for nearly 2,000 years, and Arav’s confident pinpointing it at e-Tell will not end it. However it’s a good enough case that modern residents might do well to think twice before ignoring a blind man.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

28-08-2020 om 23:54 geschreven door peter  

Grand Canyon cliff collapse reveals clawed footprints made by egg-laying animals that traveled up sand dunes 313 MILLION years ago

• A boulder fell from a mountain during a collapse at Grand Canyon National Park
• Experts found there were footprints in the red rock dating back 313 million years
• The tracks were made by two shelled-egg-laying animals at different times
• One of the creatures appears to have been injured according to the prints 

By STACY LIBERATORE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

Some 313 million years ago, two creatures trekked across sand dunes in what is now the Grand Canyon and now paleontologist have uncovered evidence of their journey.

A massive boulder fell from the Mankacha Formation during a collapse and imprinted in the red stone are two pairs of the oldest recorded vertebrate tracks.

Researchers say the footprints belonged to four-legged shelled-egg-laying animals and reveal such animals traveled up sand dunes eight million years earlier than previously believed.   

The newly discovered tracks record the passage of two separate creatures of the same species walking a few hours or days apart from each other. 

One pair of tracks consists of 28 imprints with claws in each impression while the other set suggests the animal may have had an injured right foot - as there were no claw marks present on that side. 

Scroll down for video 

Some 313 million years ago, two creatures trekked across sand dunes in what is now the Grand Canyon and now paleontologist have uncovered evidence of their journey. A massive boulder fell from the Mankacha Formation during a collapse and imprinted in the red stone are to pairs of the oldest record of vertebrate tracks

The 'surprising discovery' was made by Norwegian geology professor Allan Krill, who was hiking with his students through the canyon.

Krill noticed a boulder lying next to the trail with suspicious markings along one side.

He snapped a photo and sent it to his colleague Stephen Rowland, who is a paleontologist at the University of Nevada Las Vegas.

'These are by far the oldest vertebrate tracks in Grand Canyon, which is known for its abundant fossil tracks' Rowland said.

Researchers say the footprints belonged to four-legged shelled-egg-laying animals and reveal such animals traveled up sand dunes eight million years earlier than previously believed (artist's impression)

The newly discovered tracks record the passage of two separate creatures of the same species walking a few hours or days apart from each other

'More significantly,' he added, 'they are among the oldest tracks on Earth of shelled-egg-laying animals, such as reptiles, and the earliest evidence of vertebrate animals walking in sand dunes.'

The researchers' reconstruction of this animal's footfall sequence reveals a distinctive gait called a lateral-sequence walk, in which the legs on one side of the animal move in succession, the rear leg followed by the foreleg, alternating with the movement of the two legs on the opposite side.

Living species of tetrapods―dogs and cats, for example―routinely use a lateral-sequence gait when they walk slowly,' says Rowland.

'The Bright Angel Trail tracks document the use of this gait very early in the history of vertebrate animals. We previously had no information about that.'

The boulder fell from a collapse 

The team looked deeper into the tracks to learn more about these animals that trekked across the sand dunes millions of years ago.

Trackmaker 1 appeared to drift to the right as it walked and was moving slower than its counterpart.

Each row has four footprints that are about three inches apart and its feet had claws at the end that pointed forward.

The second set, from Trackmaker 2, appears to be of the same species and came after the other set, after more sand gathered on the surface.

Each row has four footprints that are about three inches apart and its feet had claws at the end that pointed forward. Pictured is a look at what is now the US is now millions of years ago

'Two of the animal's claws on three of its feet apparently penetrated just deeply enough to leave small impressions preserved in the same bedding plane in which Trackway 1 had been preserved, perhaps a few hours or days before,' reads the study published in PLOS.

Researchers noticed something interesting about Trackmaker 2 – it may have had an injured foot.

The prints show a missing row of claw marks on the right foot and occasionally one of the left suggesting it may have been limping to ease the pain of wound.

Read more:

• Early adaptation to eolian sand dunes by basal amniotes is documented in two Pennsylvanian Grand Canyon trackways

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25-08-2020 om 22:36 geschreven door peter  

Has the Biblical Moses Been Identified in Secular Egyptian Records?

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/general }

22-08-2020 om 23:57 geschreven door peter  

Assyrian soldiers carry beheaded heads of their prisoners as depicted on a wall in the South-West Palace at Nineveh, during the “First” Fall of Neneveh.

Source: Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin / CC BY-SA 4.0

August 10 612 BC: Nineveh, the Largest City in the World, Fell

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/general }

22-08-2020 om 18:09 geschreven door peter  

The mysterious “bag” of the Gods: represented in Sumeria, America and Göbekli Tepe

The mysterious purse of the gods displayed by various ancient civilizations separated by more than 12,700 kilometers apart, from Sumer to Mesoamerica.

This mysterious bag is observed in sculptures and bas-reliefs of Sumeria of 6,000 years ago (the Anunnaki carried it) and in the temple of Göbekli Tepe of the millennium 10 BC. C. It is also carried by Mesoamerican deities (the Olmecs, Toltecs, Aztecs , etc.) and Australia . Its symbology is enigmatic, it could represent a type of universal standard weight measure or be part of the equipment of alien gods with futuristic technology.

The mysterious purse of the Gods: paradigmatic pictographs

The Sumerians from the beginning of their civilization in 4,500 BC. They portrayed the Anunnaki with peculiar artifacts , such as the pine cone , a type of “wrist watch” and this mysterious bag . Many pictographs show a winged god holding a pine cone in one hand and the divine purse in the other.

Other images show Adapa, Dagon or the fish god Oannes holding it. This aquatic god emerged from the waters of the Persian Gulf and founded civilizations , according to Mesopotamian mythology. 12,700 kilometers away , in Mesoamerica, sculptures of the Mayans, Aztecs, Toltecs and Olmecs show the same artifact.

The most prominent Mesoamerican example is from the Olmecs , at the La Venta archaeological site in Mexico . There is a stone engraving of the god Quetzalcoatl holding the same bag of the gods that the Anunnaki carried . This site was founded in 1750 BC.

Atlanteans of Tula and Göbekli Tepe

Another impressive example is in the monumental Toltec statues of the Atlanteans of Tula (in Tula, Mexico). They are representative warriors of Quetzalcóatl and carry the enigmatic contraption, although it is thought to be an atlat or dart thrower .

In Göbekli Tepe we found it. This massive temple located in Turkey  is considered the oldest in history , from the 10th millennium BC. C. The artifact appears on Pillar 43 , in a row of three bags and on figures of animals such as birds and snakes.

Also tribes of ancient Australia painted images of this bag of the gods, in addition to the Native Americans of California , United States, mainly for the Coso petroglyphs . It should be noted that in Ancient Egypt a similar device is noted: the ankh or Egyptian cross , which is loaded in a similar way.

Symbol of a standard weight?

According to the book Ice Age Language: Translations, Grammar and Vocabulary by Dr. Robert Duncan-Enzmann and Jay R. Snyder, the symbol on the bag expresses a standard weight , a standard of weighing. This “standard weight” also denotes a “weight of authority” or “weight of power” , as it was always drawn being held by the Anunnaki or by Sumerian kings (authorities with power).

Another more futuristic explanation is in that of the ancient astronauts , that these artifacts could have been bags for cosmonaut equipment , since they are similar to those used today and because those ancestral gods were celestial travelers .

The interpretation of the standard weight makes sense but does not explain why various ancient civilizations of the world engraved the same bag of the gods . You might think that the Anunnaki and the ancient gods of places like Mexico, Guatemala, North America and Australia were the same deities .

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21-08-2020 om 00:48 geschreven door peter  

Lying off the southern tip of Japan’s Ryukyu archipelago, which includes Okinawa Island, is a small 11.5 square mile speck of land called Yonaguni Island. It is the westernmost inhabited island in Japan, lying just 75 miles off the coast of Taiwan, and its azure waters, rich biodiversity, and large populations of hammerhead sharks that gather in great numbers off the coast every year have made this place a haven for daring scuba divers from around the world. Indeed, it was the sharks that brought here a diver in the 1980s who would make a spectacular discovery in that inviting blue water, for down there in the depths he discovered a strange set of ancient ruins that have gone on to be discussed and debated to this day.

In 1986, a diving instructor by the name of Kihachiro Aratake, who was also the director of Yonaguni-Cho Tourism Association, was at Yonagumi looking to photograph and study the many hammerhead sharks that congregate here every winter. While scouting out a good spot from which to observe the sharks, he came across something very unusual. There on the bottom was what at first looked like an enormous cliff face, only here there were obvious geometrical terraces, nearly perfectly flat horizontal surfaces with sharp edges, walls, platforms, columns, vertical stone blocks, a road, and even a star-shaped platform. One of the structures was a massive, rectangular formation measuring 500 feet long, 130 feet wide and 90 feet tall, with closely placed pillars which rise nearly to the surface, as well as a ledge that circles the whole thing. For all appearances it seemed to be some sort of vast, manmade structure, evidently crafted out of the sand and mud stones of the area and in some cases seemingly directly merged with the bottom itself, but what was it doing out there under the water in the first place? What did this all mean?

It was not long at all before the word got out on this mysterious place, and one of the first scientists to arrive to seriously study it was marine seismologist Masaaki Kimura, who came to what is now called the “Yonaguni Monument” in 1990 with his team from the University of the Ryūkyūs, and he would spend the next two decades studying them. According to Kimura, the structures are most definitely and clearly manmade, likely carved thousands of years ago at a time when the site sat above water. He has claimed to have found a mysterious script carved into some of the stones, as well as quarry marks, various monuments, rudimentary sculptures, a triumphal arch, five temples, and even a pyramid and a stadium within the complex, in addition to various pottery, stone tools and fireplaces scattered throughout. Kimura has said of this place:

I think it’s very difficult to explain away their origin as being purely natural, because of the vast amount of evidence of man’s influence on the structures. The characters and animal monuments in the water, which I have been able to partially recover in my laboratory, suggest the culture comes from the Asian continent. One example I have described as an underwater sphinx resembles a Chinese or ancient Okinawan king. The largest structure looks like a complicated, monolithic, stepped pyramid that rises from a depth of 25 meters [82 feet].

He has said in the past that he believes the structures to be possibly remnants of the legendary ancient lost Pacific continent of Mu, or perhaps the remains of the lost 1^st century Japanese city of Yamagai. Adding to Kimura’s assertion that the ruins are artificial in origin are the sheer number of perfect 90-degree corners and sharp, straight edges to be found, as well as the sheer number of these structures in such a small area. Not everyone is so convinced that this is evidence of a lost civilization, though, and there are others who believe this is nothing more than anomalous looking natural formations caused by earthquakes, natural erosion from the strong currents of the area, and fracturing. One Robert Schoch, a professor of science and mathematics at Boston University, has personally seen the site up close, and has said of it:

I’m not convinced that any of the major features or structures are manmade steps or terraces, but that they’re all natural. It’s basic geology and classic stratigraphy for sandstones, which tend to break along planes and give you these very straight edges, particularly in an area with lots of faults and tectonic activity.

In the end there has been no conclusive answer to just what the mysterious Yonagumi Monument actually is, but it has certainly become a popular diving destination for curiosity seekers. Interestingly, the ruins are not designated as important cultural artifacts and are not under any sort of protection. They might as well be just rocks lying on the bottom for all the government seems to care, which seems to be strange considering more research could definitely be done here. Whatever their origins, largely the formations have remained just forgotten curiosities and a cool dive site. What is the meaning and purpose of this place, if any? Was this crafted by some lost civilization for inscrutable reasons or is it just a neat geological formation? The mystery remains.

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18-08-2020 om 23:54 geschreven door peter  

Prehistoric armored sea bugs called trilobites that lived nearly half a billion years ago had disco-ball-like-eyes that are remarkably similar to those of modern bees and dragonflies. Trilobites were a marine arthropod with many legs that lived at the bottom of the seafloor during the Cambrian time period (543 million to 490 million years ago) until becoming extinct around 250 million years ago.

Numerous fossils from the sea bug’s strong exoskeleton were discovered by paleontologists and surprisingly its eye was very well preserved. Actually, the remains of the eye were initially found in 1846 close to Loděnice in the Czech Republic but it’s only been recently studied in great detail.

Fossil of a trilobite.

The researchers analyzed the left eye of a type of trilobite called Aulacopleura koninckii from approximately 429 million years ago (pictures can be seen here), specifically the light-sensitive receptor cells in the lenses that suggested a very early evolution of compound eyes. As a matter of fact, trilobites from as far back as 522 million years also appeared to have had compound eyes which suggest that those types of eyes may have evolved a lot earlier than previously thought, maybe in shell-less creatures. Their protruding oval-shaped eyes are situated on the back part of its head.

They studied the eye using microscopy and found hundreds of optical units called ommatidia that make up the compound eyes that are found in today’s insects and crustaceans. According to the scientists, the ommatidia found in the trilobite’s left eye had eight cells that detected light “forming a kind of rosette”. The cells were gathered around a translucent cylinder that channeled light that’s called a rhabdom in addition to there being a thick lens that covered the top of the ommatidia. They also found that the dark-colored rings of pigmented cells created a “cellular basket” surrounding the optical units as well as a thin crystalline cone “although its shape is not very distinct”. You put all of that together and you have a compound eye that looks similar to a disco ball.

3D model of a trilobite.

Based on the fact that the Aulacopleura koninckii’s eye facets were just 0.0001 inches in diameter, the creature would have had a vision of around 200 “pixels” which would have helped it to glide around the waters and avoid predators. It “surely was day active and lived in shallow, light-flooded waters,” Brigitte Schoenemann, who is a paleontologist in the Institute of Biology Education at the University of Cologne in Germany and the lead author of the study, explained in an email to Live Science.

She finished off by stating that today’s insects and crustaceans have vision that is “an enormously old and effective system, quite unchanged since our trilobite”. Things change over the course of hundreds of millions of years but apparently the eyes of crustaceans and insects remained the same. That reminds me of the old saying, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”.

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17-08-2020 om 21:01 geschreven door peter  

16-08-2020 om 23:19 geschreven door peter  

The Great Pyramid, Built By the Nephilim, Has Many Stunning Mathematical Codes

Irish author Patrick Heron returned to the show to share “the last few pieces of the jigsaw puzzle” concerning the pyramids and Bible prophecy. The Great Pyramid has a number of stunning mathematical features and could not be replicated today. There is enough stone in it to build a 6 ft. wall that stretches from New York to Los Angeles, said Heron, who believes it is impossible that the Egyptians constructed the Great Pyramid.

Rather, he suggested that 5,500 years ago, the Nephilim, who were the “fallen angels” written about in Genesis, built the pyramids and other ancient structures. They were beautiful looking “spirit men,” who appeared human but were not bound by the same laws of physics as mankind, he explained. They mated with Earth women during two periods, before the Great Flood and afterwards, he added.

Heron said the Nephilim never died, but were entombed in an “abyss” or netherworld. According to prophecy in the Book of Revelation, a spirit man or “star” comes down to Earth with the “keys” to the bottomless pit. He identified this being as the Antichrist, whom people will be deceived into thinking is the Messiah, but he’ll actually lead the world into the prophesied Apocalypse. 

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

16-08-2020 om 21:32 geschreven door peter  

What mysteries lie beneath the surface of the oceans of our world? In early 2001, two marine engineers by the names of Pauline Zalitzki and her husband Paul Weinzweig were out on an exploration and survey mission with their Canadian company, Advanced Digital Communications, at a location off the Pinar del Río Province of the western coast of Cuba. They were there under commission by the Cuban government in order to carry out sonar surveys off the Guanahacabibes Peninsula, looking for shipwrecks dating back to the Spanish colonial era, often known to hold vast amounts of lost treasure, and several of which the team had already successfully located. However, on this day, the expedition was to discover something far stranger than a sunken Spanish galleon down there in the murk upon the sea floor. Thus would begin the strange tale of a purported ancient underwater city lying under the waters of Cuba, which has drawn to it all manner of debate and discussion.

At the time the crew were utilizing sonar in about 2,000 feet of water when they began getting startling images that baffled and perplexed all who were present. There flickering on the screen were sonar images of what appeared to be large structures resembling pyramids, massive blocks, and mysterious circular structures, sticking out there on the otherwise flat and barren seafloor of the area. They had no idea what they were looking at, but one thing they were sure of was that this was no shipwreck. Intrigued, they made a second trip to the location, this time bringing along a remote-controlled sonar submersible vehicle to confirm that not only were the structures really there, but they actually seemed to be arranged in a symmetrical grid along the bottom. The stone blocks used in the geometric structures also seemed to be smooth and polished granite, something that had no business being down there at the bottom of the sea. In fact, it looked to them like a vast, urban center of some sort, like a sunken city hiding there in the depths away from the rest of the world.

The story hit the news in a major way at the time, with sensational headlines exclaiming that an underwater lost civilization had been found off the Cuban coast. It was not long at all before people were mentioning the strange submerged ruins in the same breath as the legendary lost continent of Atlantis, UFOs, ancient aliens, and other such oddities. Even as this was all capturing the imagination of the public it was also capturing the attention of curious scientists, to mixed reviews. For the most part those who studied the images, including National Geographic magazine and others, admitted that the structures were anomalous, but they were wary of making any conclusions or endorsing the idea that this was some sort of lost city made by humans or aliens. Marine geologist Manuel Iturralde would notably concede that it was a cool discovery, but pointed out that the ruins were too deep to have possibly been manmade, as he estimated that it would have taken around 50,000 years for such a city to have sunk that low into the sea, putting it past the technology that would have been available at the time. He would say:

50,000 years ago there wasn’t the architectural capacity in any of the cultures we know of to build complex buildings. It would be cool if they were right, but it would be real advanced for anything we would see in the New World for that time frame. The structures are out of time and out of place.

Most scientists were of the mind that more data was needed to derive any conclusion about what was shown in the images, but theories swirled anyway. One idea was that there had perhaps been some catastrophe such as a massive tectonic event that had brought the city down to the depths, but there was no evidence at all that anything of sufficient magnitude had happened in that region at any point in history. Another idea was that the whole area had once been above sea level on a basin and that rising sea levels had submerged it all over time, similarly to what is thought to have happened to Atlantis, but it is considered improbable that this ever happened in the Caribbean, and Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews, of the site Bad Archeology, has said of this theory:

The depth of the alleged remains is the biggest problem of all: during the Pleistocene, sea levels dropped as water was locked up in the ice sheets that developed around the globe. At the maximum extent of the ice, the drop in level was around 100 m, which is very different from the 600-750 m depth of the alleged remains. At no point during the Ice Age would they have been above sea level unless, of course, the land on which they stand has sunk. This is the claim made for Atlantis: according to Plato’s account (the only primary source for it), it was destroyed σεισμῶν ἐξαισίων καὶ κατακλυσμῶν (“by violent earthquakes and floods”). However, if we take Plato at his word – as we must if we assume Atlantis to have been an historical place – the violence of its sinking makes it improbable that an entire city could have survived plunging more than 600 m into an abyss. Rapid sinking would devastate structures; the persistence of mud just below the surface suggests that the sinking was not to a depth of 600-740 m. Unless we are prepared to jettison Plato’s text – the sole source for the story of Atlantis – we cannot identify the features found by Paulina Zelitsky with Atlantis.

A computer generated mock-up of the supposed city

There have been other, even more fringe theories thrown around as well, such as that the city was intentionally built underwater or even that it was created by ancient aliens. For their part, Zalitzki and Weinzweig maintained that they believed it to be the remnants of a city that had been built by local peoples upon a land bridge connecting Cuba to the mainland at some point, although such a bridge is not known to have ever existed. Of course, another, more mundane notion is that this is simply anomalous looking natural structures. The problem is that all of this is mostly based on just those sonar images, which in itself has its own problems, as Fitzpatrick-Matthews explains:

The next problem involves trying to understand what the sonar shows. All the fancy graphics showing pyramid-like structures are computer generated: they are not photographs of things seen under the sea. All the detail is limited to the resolution of the side-scan sonar, which is not good enough to determine whether the supposed structures exhibit 90° angles, let alone confirm the claims that some stones are covered in hieroglyphs. The initial images, which do not have the three-dimensional data provided by the side-scanning sonar, show rectilinear but not rigorously right-angled features, so I suspect that the angularity of the generated images is an artefact of the processing, much like many of the details claimed for the ‘Face on Mars’. We have some interesting sonar images that are basically like ink-blot tests: they need interpreting and the interpretation is entirely dependent upon the preconceptions an biases of those looking at them. Paulina Zeltisky was predisposed to see artificiality, because that is what she was being paid to do (even if the artificiality she was specifically interested in involved sunken ships). Others have seen geological formations.

In other words, there is simply not enough imagery data, and the ruins might be anything. Interestingly, there seems to have been no real follow-up expedition to the site, which some have seen as rather suspicious and conspiratorial. One reason that has been proposed is that the Cuban government has initiated a cover-up and chased people away from the area, including the original crew that discovered it, but the more skeptical take is that it just hasn’t been seen as worthwhile enough for anyone to want to front all of the funding it would take to launch a proper expedition. Whatever the case may be, there has been very little in the way of follow-up, and the story of the amazing underwater city of Cuba went from a media sensation to just sort of fizzling out to be forgotten, only briefly getting a shot in the arm with an appearance on the TV show Ancient Aliens. What is this place and is there anything to it at all? If it really does exist, is it the work of an ancient civilization, aliens, or merely mundane geological forces? For now no one knows, no one has gone out there to really check it out, and all we can do is wonder and speculate.

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16-08-2020 om 00:23 geschreven door peter  

Egyptian American Artifacts In The Burial Mounds of North America

Historian Glenn Kimball provided updates of his research into ancient manuscripts as well as artifacts found in burial mounds in Southern Illinois (known as “Little Egypt”) that may show North America was visited by overseas travelers thousands of years before Columbus set sail.

According to Kimball, the Mississippi Valley is home to over 10,000 burial mounds, which contrary to widely held academic opinion were not all left behind by Native Americans. Black market relics found in the region, he explained, depict pharaohs, Moorish sailors, Christ on the cross, Jewish warriors, and Roman military imagery. Further, runes from artifacts found in Illinois, Michigan, California and Utah talk about migrations of people from the Middle East, Kimball said.

Kimball also discussed Atlantis, modern-day Mayans, 9 1/2 foot tall giants of the Yucatan, and the Bee Bible, which he reported has been used by the Chinese for 2,000 years.

{ https://beforeitsnews.com/ }

14-08-2020 om 23:33 geschreven door peter  

Pole Shift: Ancient Suppressed Texts Offer Evidence for a Lost Civilization via Earth Cycle of Destruction

COAST TO COAST AM – After the great cataclysm, knowledge of past civilizations such as Atlantis was lost (Atlantis was destroyed in stages by a combination of rising sea levels and volcanic activity, he cited). Ancient megalithic sites like Gobekli Tepe have been dated as far back as 11,600 years old, and the pharaonic dynasties inherited the pyramids from a far earlier culture, he said. Some of the ancient structures have vitrification or scarring– damage from extreme heat.

“It seems that our Earth goes through…cycles of destruction” in which dangerous solar outbursts lead to cataclysmic events like earthquakes, tsunamis, and pole shifts, he commented. LaCroix also theorized that we live in a multiverse in which many versions of reality are layered on top of each other, and our consciousness can shift between them.

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09-08-2020 om 22:49 geschreven door peter  

Lake Titicaca and the Anunnaki

by Janice Friedman

The Anunanki are considered by many as the “founding fathers” of civilization and mankind, the cradle of civilization is considered to be in Sumer. Some archaeologists even suggest that the anunnaki have a very important history with south America and the Pre-Inca and Inca civilization. (Remember the Fuente Magna Bowl?) Modern-day archaeology does not agree with these theories even though there is plenty of evidence. Newly found discoveries such as the pyramid that has been located buried underneath Tiahuanaco provides new theories regarding this ancient culture. These new theories, together with the sum of research for over a hundred years provides new insight into the connection between the Anunnaki Gods and South American deities.

Lake Titicaca has a very special place in all of this. In the past, over two thousand archaeological pieces have been rescued from the depths of Lake Titicaca. Most of the pieces were recovered by Belgian underwater archaeologists with the support of the Andean Underwater Archaeology Centre (CASA), yet archaeology today, seems to ignore these findings as if they hold no importance.

The incredible artifacts recovered among their collection include bones, statues, golden pieces, precious stones and ceramics. The extensive history of these artifacts holds a great importance as some of the pieces have been dated to the Inca period, others to the pre-Inca period and a few artifacts have even been dated to the year 500 AD.

According to historians and archaeologists, several of the pieces that have been recovered are actually offerings that the ancient inhabitants of the Tiahuanaco culture threw into Lake Titicaca, which in ancient times was considered a sacred lake. Among these “speculations”, ancient alien theorists believe that there are very important clues that have been overlooked by mainstream archaeologists, clues that point toward a very powerful link between the ancient cultures of the region and the Ancient Anunnaki. The golden artifacts hold a very important clue, and the thirty pieces of gold discovered at the bottom of Lake Titicaca point toward the ancient alien theory and Zecharia Sitchin.

According toSitchin, around 4000 BC, Enki, one of the leaders of the mining operations of theAnunnaki on Earth, decided to invite his father, King Anu to visit the world’s most important metallurgical plant, Tiahuanaco. According to several ancient alien theorists, among themSithcin, the structures at Tiahuanaco were covered with golden plates, this in honor of the arrival of King Anu. Evidence for this theory is based on the findings of Austrian archaeologist Arthur Posnansky who found and photographed several small holes in the polished stone blocks Tiahuanaco, these holes, are believed to have been made by advanced precision tools.

Posnansky doesn’t sound familiar? Well, that’s because mainstream archaeology has placed him as being only an “amateur archaeologists” even though his findings and work at Tiahuanaco and south America have achievements that are incalculable for history. Posnansky founded the Archaeological Society of Bolivia in 1930. Even though Tiahuanaco hasn’t been the place where great amounts of gold have been found, researchers believe that most of the golden items are hidden below the harsh terrain of the region and at the depths of Lake Titicaca where pieces of gold have already been discovered.

According Posnansky, at some point in its history, the incredible city of Tiahuanaco was covered with golden plates which were fastened with small gold studs that fit perfectly into the holes in the stone. Posnansky suggested that these precisely drilled holes were not placed there for decorative purposes but rather had a mechanical meaning. Recent discoveries seem to back the ancient alien they more than ever, and researchers expect that with the new excavations that are planned for mid 2015, new evidence will surface, meaning that mainstream archaeologists will have to change their approach on Tiahuanaco and its ancient history.

The mysteries about Tiahuanaco and Lake Titicaca are great, and with new discoveries being made in recent months, archaeologists hope to uncover all the secrets this mysterious region holds.

Related videos, selected and posted by peter2011

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09-08-2020 om 00:47 geschreven door peter  

Neolithic “Woodhenge” Discovered at Perdigões’ Complex Portugal

Remains of a Neolithic “Woodhenge” have recently been unearthed by a team of archaeologists at Perdigões in Portugal. The newly found wooden structure was built at the end of the Stone Age and is similar in design to the famous Stonehenge circle in England. The Perdigões Neolithic “Woodhenge” discovery is remarkable because nothing like it has ever been found in Portugal before.

Archaeologists discovered the new Neolithic “Woodhenge” within the Perdigões complex in southeast Portugal. The complex is one of the most important late Stone Age sites in the Iberian Peninsula, built around 5000 years ago, in the Middle Neolithic period. The 16-hectare (40-acre) site has many concentric ditched enclosures . It lies in a natural amphitheater and has been excavated since the 1980s by archaeologists from various countries.

The large Stone Age complex in Portugal where the Perdigões’ Neolithic “Woodhenge” was recently discovered.

( Perdigões Research Program )

Perdigões’ Neolithic “Woodhenge”: Ceremonial and Religious

The remains of the Perdigões Neolithic “Woodhenge” were found at the center of a number of extensive circular ditches. The team’s lead archaeologist, António Valera, is quoted by The Portugal News as saying that it was ‘a monumental wooden construction, of which the foundations remain.’ It was a circle of wooden posts, 60 feet (20 m) in diameter. The site was used from the Middle Neolithic to the beginning of the Bronze Age . In 2019, the location was recognized by the Portuguese government as a national monument.

Remains of the Neolithic “Woodhenge” were found at the center of a number of extensive circular ditches.

( ERA Archueologia )

This structure has been likened to a wooden version of Stonehenge. The Perdigões complex was ‘a ceremonial construction’ Valera told The Portugal News and was used for religious and ritual purposes. A number of pits with sacrificial deposits have been uncovered. Based on these findings, it seems likely that the Perdigões’ “Woodhenge” was used in rituals and ceremonies in the Neolithic area.

Two of the circular ditch dig sites at the Perdigões complex in Portugal

( Perdigões Research Program )

Important Festival Site Aligned With the Sun and the Stars

Important festivals were probably held at “Woodhenge” which were important in the socialization of individuals and for strengthening social bonds . It was also a burial ground for many centuries based on the many human remains found at the site. As has been established at similar sites, people travelled hundreds of miles to attend these festivals and ceremonies. They would often bring animals with them, such as pigs, which were sacrificed or eaten at festival feasts.

An aerial photograph of the Perdigões complex in Portugal where the Neolithic “Woodhenge” was recently found.

( Perdigões Research Program )

The complex’s entrances aligned with the sun rise in the summer months and during the winter solstice . Evidence has also been found that suggests Portugal’s Neolithic “Woodhenge” was orientated with the movements of the stars and the sun. Archaeology quotes Valera saying, “A possible access to the interior of this structure is oriented towards the summer solstice, reinforcing its cosmological character.” The Portugal News reports Valera stating that ‘this situation is also known in other European countries as 'woodhenges' and 'timber circles', where astronomical alignment entrances are frequent, underlining the close relationship between these architectures and the Neolithic views of the world.’

New “Woodhenge” Provides a Bigger View of Stone Age Europe

What is striking about the discovery is that it is not like anything else found in the region.  The characteristics of “Woodhenge” are almost identical to structures found in central Europe and the British Isles. One of the best known of these circular timber structures is the one found near Stonehenge.

Bell Beaker culture diffusion across Europe

(Fulvio314 / CC BY-SA )

Valera told Archaeology that, “The circle thus links Perdigões to similar Neolithic henge sites found elsewhere in Europe.” This discovery could indicate that the late Stone Age peoples of Perdigões had connections with other cultures from distant regions. It may also show that Europe was much more interconnected in the Neolithic.

• Almendres Cromlech: Rare Twin Megalithic Stone Circles of Portugal
• Legends say Mysterious Women Built the Megaliths of Portugal
• Capela do Senhor da Pedra: The Pagan Origins of the Chapel of the Lord of Stone

Perdigões’ Neolithic “Woodhenge” Made By Bell Beaker Culture

Another possibility is that the site could be related to the Bell Beaker culture (3500-2500 BC). “Woodhenge” may have been used as a shared social and religious site by members of this culture. Bensozia reports that the Bell Beaker culture ‘seems to have originated in Portugal.’ It is possible that the construction of these timber circles originated in this part of the Iberian Peninsula and spread elsewhere.

Valera told The Portugal News that “this discovery reinforces the already high scientific importance of the Perdigões enclosure complex in the international context of European Neolithic studies.” Future digs at the site may reveal more discoveries about Portugal’s Neolithic “Woodhenge” and the Perdigões complex. Every year students from all over the world gather at the site to learn archaeological techniques and approaches.

• Top image: Representation of how Perdigões’ Neolithic “Woodhenge” would have looked (with full worked area highlighted).       
• Source: ERA Archueologia

By Ed Whelan

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08-08-2020 om 18:42 geschreven door peter  

Era -Arqueologia recently announced that archaeological excavations that took place in the Perdigões complex in the Évora district of Portugal revealed a “unique structure in the Prehistory of the Iberian Peninsula”. In fact, nothing similar has ever been found in Portugal before now.

The Perdigões structure was a prehistoric ceremonial site that was found in the middle of a complex of 12 ditch enclosures and “articulates with the visibility of the megalithic landscape that extends between the site and the elevation of Monsaraz, located to the east, on the horizon,” as described by António Valera who was the archaeologist in charge of the excavations.

The site was used for religious ceremonies, burials, and for rituals as several pits with sacrificial items had been recovered. People would travel long distances to attend ceremonies and festivals at the location which was a good way for them to socialize and strengthen their bonds with each other.

Woodhenge at North Newnton.

The circular shaped structure has been nicknamed “Woodhenge” in reference to Stonehenge except this one was made from wood. “A possible access to the interior of this structure is oriented towards the summer solstice, reinforcing its cosmological character,” Valera explained, adding, “this situation is also known in other European countries as ‘woodhenges’ and ‘timber circles’, where astronomical alignment entrances are frequent, underlining the close relationship between these architectures and the Neolithic views of the world .”

It has been described as a “monumental wooden construction, of which the foundations remain, with a circular plan and more than 20 metres in diameter,” Valera noted. While this “Woodhenge” is the first of its kind to be found in Portugal, it is incredibly similar to other structures found in the central part of Europe and the British Isles – like Stonehenge. This may indicate that the people of Perdigões were in communication with those living in locations far from them and that those living across Europe were much more connected with each other during the Neolithic period than previously thought.

Woodhenge is the wooden version of Stonehenge.

The complex dates back from around the end of the Middle Neolithic Period (about 3400 BC) to the start of the Bronze Age period (around 2000 BC) – a time frame that lasted approximately 1,400 years. This time period brings up the possibility that the ancient Bell Beaker culture may have constructed “Woodhenge” as they are believed to have originated in Portugal and their culture thrived from around 3500 BC to 2500 BC.

Valera finished off by stating the importance of finding this structure, “discovery reinforces the already high scientific importance of the Perdigões enclosure complex in the international context of European Neolithic studies while increasing its heritage relevance,” which was recognized as a National Monument in 2019. Several pictures of “Woodhenge” can be seen here.

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