Tag Archives | Ancient World

Engraved Stone Discovered in China May Suggest Complex Language Existed 30,000 Years Ago

By on December 3, 2012 in News 3

Picture: "The Tower of Babel" by Bruegel the Elder (PD)

An artifact unearthed in north China may suggest that complex language systems may have existed in the area as early as 30,000 years ago. The item is a stone engraved with a series of lines deliberately carved by human hands. Dr. Fei Peng, a postgraduate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences had this to say concerning the stone, as well as an ostrich egg bead also discovered at the site:

Via Sci-News:

“Furthermore, creation of such an engraved object may indicate the possible existence of complex communicative systems such as language,” he said.

“In addition to the engraved stone artifact, one ostrich egg bead was unearthed from Locality 1. The lithic assemblage of this locality includes blade production and elongated tool blanks. The blade technology was probably introduced from the Altai region of Russian Siberia, according to comparison between lithic assemblages.

… Read the rest

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Strange History: Did Native Americans Land in Ireland?

By on November 19, 2012 in News 14

Another possible case of Pre-Columbian Trans-Atlantic travel?

Picture: Edward Curtis (PD)

Via Strange History:

One of the most dramatic pieces of evidence for a pre-Columbian crossing of the Atlantic is to be found in a single Latin marginalia, that is some words scribbled into the margin of a book. The sentence in question appears in a copy of the Historia rerum ubique gestarum by Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini which was published in Venice in 1477. In that work Piccolomini discusses the arrival of Indians in Europe blown from across the Atlantic at a date when America was unknown to Europeans (another post another day). Next to this passage a reader has written in Latin the following extraordinary words:

Homines de catayo versus oriens venierunt. Nos vidimus multa notabilia et specialiter in galuei ibernie virum et uxorem in duabus lignis areptis ex mirabili persona.

Keep reading…you’ll never guess who scribbled in the book.… Read the rest

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Buried Indonesian Structure Older Than the Pyramids

By on November 19, 2012 in News 8

Picture: Mohammad Fadil (CC)

Gunung Padang style…

Via Jakarta Times:

A recent analysis of carbon-dating by the Miami-based Beta Analytic Lab has apparently validated findings by a government-sanctioned team that a man-made structure, buried under Mount Padang in Cianjur, West Java, is older than the Giza pyramid.

Carbon-dating test results from the Miami lab show that the structure could date back to 14,000 BC or beyond.

The lab used samples of sand, soil and charcoal found at a depth of between three and 12 meters beneath the mountain’s surface.

The Giza pyramids were constructed around 2,500 BC.

“The analysis of the Miami lab dismisses doubts over an earlier test conducted by the National Nuclear Agency [Batan]. There is no more doubt that the structure beneath Mount Padang is older than the Giza pyramid,” geologist and member of the Mount Padang research team Budianto Ontowirjo said on Sunday.

Keep reading.… Read the rest

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Secret Room Discovered in Great Pyramid?

By on September 27, 2012 in News 8

Picture: Nina (PD)

Science Ray reports on rumors that a team of scientists has succeeded in inserting a mini camera into a sealed-off room in the Great Pyramid. The room is located inside one of the pyramid’s shafts. Prior to now, scientists seeking to open the door have been stymied by both a lack of adequate technology and social unrest. If the rumors are true, this will be the first time eyes have been laid on the room’s contents since the pyramid was constructed sometime around 2500 BC.

Supposedly, this is a list of the room’s contents:

  1. Several small statues were spotted on the video camera but no details on what exactly they represent were able to be seen.
  2. A gold or copper chain was spotted in the corner of the chamber
  3. Small pottery and stone jars are spread throughout the floor of the chamber
  4. In the center of the chamber lies a gold or copper box which is closed and its contents are unknown.

    5. … Read the rest

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Archaeologists Discover Subterranean Pyramids Attributed to Etruscans

By on September 24, 2012 in News 2

Picture: Fraaxe (PD)

Via Discover.com:

A team of American and Italian archaeologists have uncovered a most unusual find: a series of underground Etruscan pyramids buried beneath a wine cellar. Cue the Indiana Jones theme…or drink some nice Pinot Grigio. Or both.

Carved into the rock of the tufa plateau –a sedimentary area that is a result of volcanic activity — on which the city stands, the subterranean structures were largely filled. Only the top-most modern layer was visible.

“Within this upper section, which had been modified in modern times and was used as a wine cellar, we noticed a series of ancient stairs carved into the wall. They were clearly of Etruscan construction,” David B. George of the Department of Classics at Saint Anselm, told Discovery News.

As they started digging, George and co-director of the excavation Claudio Bizzarri of the Parco Archeologico Ambientale dell’Orvietano noted that the cave’s walls were tapered up in a pyramidal fashion.

… Read the rest

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1600 Year Old Mayan Temple Discovered in Guatemala

By on July 24, 2012 in News 0

Via National Geographic:

A scarlet temple emblazoned with the likeness of a blood-drinking god may sound like something from an H. Rider Haggard or Robert E. Howard story, but that’s what scientists seem to have stumbled upon in the jungles of Guatemala:

The noonday sun is depicted as an ancient being with crossed eyes who drank blood, and a final series of masks resemble the local jaguars, which awake from their jungle slumbers at dusk.

In Maya culture the sun is closely associated with new beginnings and the sun god with kingship, Houston explained. So the presence of solar visages on a temple next to a royal tomb may signify that the person buried inside was the founder of a dynasty—El Zotz’s first king.

 

Read more – and watch an amazing video – at National Geographic.… Read the rest

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DisinfoCast with Matt Staggs: Episode 15: Lost Mayan Technology with James O’Kon

By on July 11, 2012 in Podcasts 7

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ArchaeoEngineer James A. O’Kon, the author of The Lost Secrets of Maya Technology is here to discuss some of the astonishing discoveries he’s made while researching the technological innovations of the Mayan culture. O’Kon, who has spent years in the field, has uncovered evidence of Mayan suspension bridges, concret manufacturing and more. Prepare to have everything you think you know about this ancient civilization challenged.

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