Lost pyramids discovered via Google Earth

I've been behind on keeping this blog up to date! I've got a backlog of old posts, links, and half-articles. I'd feel better if I could just get a little caught up. So here are some (older) news briefs:

Archeologists may have discovered lost pyramids using satelite imagery from Google Earth.

From Archeology News Network:

The sites have been documented and discovered by satellite archaeology researcher Angela Micol of Maiden, North Carolina. Angela has been conducting satellite archaeology research for over ten years, searching for ancient sites from space using Google Earth. Angela is a UNC Charlotte alumnus and has studied archaeology since childhood. Google Earth has allowed her to document many possible archaeological sites, including a potential underwater city off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula that has sparked the interest of scientists, researchers and archaeologists. Angela is also a board member of the APEX Institute, founded by archaeologist William Donato, who is pioneering underwater archaeological research in the Bahamas. Angela has been assisted by Don J. Long, fellow APEX researcher and colleague.

So far, the sites have been confirmed as not being previously cataloged by egpytologists.

Images via Archeology News Network

Sandstone caves of Nottingham

Video: Nottingham Caves Survey
Boing Boing mentions a post over at the BLDG BLOG on the caves of Nottingham, which are being mapped as part of the Nottingham Caves Survey. They are, in many respects, similar to those at Cappadocia (manmade, cut into sandstone bedrock and cliffsides).

The storied history of the caves which inlcudes ties to Robin of Locksley--has long been the spark of tall tales. From the article:

Incredibly, there are more than 450 artificial caves excavated from the sandstone beneath the streets and buildings of Nottingham, England—including, legendarily, the old dungeon that once held Robin Hood—and not all of them are known even today, let alone mapped or studied. The city sits atop a labyrinth of human-carved spaces—some of them huge—and it will quite simply never be certain if archaeologists and historians have found them all.

"Even back in Saxon times, Nottingham was known for its caves," local historian Tony Waltham writes in his helpful guide Sandstone Caves of Nottingham, "though the great majority of those which survive today were cut much more recently." From malt kilns to pub cellars, "gentlemen's lounges" to jails, and wells to cisterns, these caves form an almost entirely privately-owned lacework of voids beneath the city.

Here's a look at some maps they've created:

Some interior shots:

Images: Nottingham Cave Survey and BLDG BLOG

10 lost civilizations --some maybe not so familiar

What are the ten most familiar civilzations you think of when you hear the word "lost"? There's several on this remarkably ordered list over at io9 of ancient civilizations that I wasn't aware of. We've all heard of the Maya and Easter Island, but there's a few that (I am ashamed to admit) I missed in Archeology 101 from college. For instance:

Click to enlarge

4. Catalhöyük
Often called the world's oldest city, Catalhöyük was part of a large city-building and agricultural civilization thriving between 9,000-7,000 years ago in what is today south-central Turkey. What's interesting about Catalhöyük is its structure, which is quite unlike most other cities since. It contained no roads as we know them, and was instead built sort of like a hive, with houses built next to each other and entered through holes in the roofs. It's believed that people farmed everything from wheat to almonds outside the city walls, and got to their homes via ladders and sidewalks that traversed their roofs. Often, these people decorated the entrances to their homes with bull skulls, and buried the bones of their honored dead beneath the packed dirt of their floors. The civilization was pre-Iron Age and pre-literate, but they nevertheless left behind ample evidence of a sophisticated society, full of art and and public ritual, that was possibly 10,000 strong at many points in its 2,000 year existence. Why did people eventually abandon the city? It is unknown.

And I'm ashamed to say I don't think I knew there was a city here in the US--prior to Europeans arriving.

Click to enlarge

5. Cahokia
Long before Europeans made it to North America, the so-called Mississippians had build a great city surrounded by huge earthen pyramids and a Stonehenge-like structure made of wood to track the movements of the stars. Called Cahokia today, you can still see its remains in Illinois. At its height between 600-1400 AD, the city sprawled across 6 square miles, and contained almost a hundred earthen mounds as well as an enormous grand plaza at its center. Its population might have been as much as 40,000 people, some of whom would have lived in outlying villages. The people of this great city, the biggest so far north in Mesoamerica, were brilliant artists, architects, and farmers, creating incredible art with shells, copper, and stone. They even diverted a branch of the local Mississippi and Illinois rivers to suit their needs for irrigation. It's not entirely certain what led people to abandon the city starting in the 1200s, but some archaeologists say the city had always had problems with disease and famine (it had no sanitary system to speak of), and that people left for greener (and healthier) pastures elsewhere on the Mississippi River.

Great historical inspiration for getting the gears turning and fantastic fodder for stories, indeed!



Images are from the full article over at io9.

Transylvanian Treasure Horde of Gold Discovered!

Image: Mihai Barbu, Reuters via National Geographic

Here's a few images of a treasure trove of gold goodies that was unearthed in Transylvania and belonged to the Dacians, an ancient civilization from around the time of the Roman Empire™.

From National Geographic:

Most of the 2,000-year-old accessories tip the scales at about 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) each, more than some laptops—a heft that materials scientist Paul Craddock found "surprising."

"Yes," Craddock concluded, "they did have a lot of gold."

"They" are the Dacian people, mysterious contemporaries of the ancient Romans. Ruling Transylvania centuries before Bram Stoker dreamed up Dracula, the Dacians left behind no writings but, the bracelets suggest, were apparently flush with treasure—as historians have long suspected, given the mineral wealth of the region's mountains and rivers.

Full story at Nat Geo...

What you should be watching: documentary TV as inspiration

I'm an unabashed lover of science and historical documentaries on TV, be they productions of PBS, the History Channel, Discovery, the Science Channel, etc. There's a lot out there these days to draw inspiration from--even the wacko programs on Ancient Aliens and Nostradamus that are filled with pseudoscience and the weakest of "facts" are still fun "info-tainment". I thought I'd share a list of my favorites along the spectrum of fact, fiction, and things-in-between:

Hard science and world-renown experts...

The Universe (History Channel) 
Chock full of great topics with experts like Neil Degrasse, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Natural History / Rose Space Center in NYC.

NOVA (PBS)
Speaking of Dr. Degrasse, he hosts PBS's most venerable, and longest-running science program. Never disappointing and Dr. D is probably one of the most enigmatic hosts since the late Dr. Sagan.

How the Earth Was Made (History Channel)
Another wonderful show focusing on more than geology or volcanology but really a whole slew of Earth sciences (meteorology, oceanography, biology, thermo-dynamics, etc.). My favorite so far has been the recent episode on Iceland (timely!) which described the birth of the island of Surtsey in 1963, off the southern coast. An island the literally "arrived" via volcanic gestation.

Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking (Discovery Channel)
Arguably the smartest man in the (known) universe, Dr. Hawking has made quite a splash in recent episodes of his program about extra-terrestrials and the search for life in the universe. Into the Universe is a fantastic program that gives the topic of cosmology the beauty, grace, and raw intellect it so much deserves.

Planet Earth (Discovery Channel / BBC)
One of my all-time favorite programs. I own the DVD and it's spectacular documentation of the natural world at this time in history is superb. It sets a new standard in TV documentaries not only in cinematography but in scope--covering every continent and type of environment the planet has to offer. From Wikipedia:

To capture all the footage required by the producers, 71 cameramen and women filmed in 204 locations in 62 countries on all seven continents, spending more than 2000 days in the field

If there is any program here you must see, this is the one. A sequel series Life is now airing on Discovery in the US.

Speculative, but still credible...

Life After People (History Channel)
By now you've likely figured that I watch too much History Channel, and while I can't completely deny that, most of these episodes I caught on On-Demand. This program takes current pop-culture's post-apocalyptic fascination and tries to visualize for the viewer what a post-people world would look like months, years, centuries, and millennia after we're long gone. A really intriguing topic with plenty of credible experts in the Earth sciences as well as metallurgists and investigative experts.

Cities of the Underworld (History Channel)
This is another great show that's filled with plenty of factual and historical background on underground hideouts, lairs, tunnels, and more, hosted by actor Dan Wildman. I've put it into "speculative" if only because many of the wonderful stories are often based on a combination of myths and local legends--to be fair though an expert archeologist is always featured. The show was recently discontinued on the History Channel, but I'm certain it will pop up (if it hasn't already) on DVD soon.

Hardly credible, fun as hell...

Ancient Aliens (History Channel)
This show wanders dutiful (and happily, I might add!) into science fiction territory, but it's filled with so many great ideas--and so well constructed that it's impossible not to watch. My only regret is that the network's current audience may take much of this for fact. Frankly, I've gone to bed paranoid a few times already! ;)

Honorable mention...

Sci Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible (Science Channel)
I've only watched an episode or two online since we don't dropped the Science Channel from our subscription package (I still miss it...) but Sci Fi Science has a lot to appreciate in the way of using the hard sciences to explain how science fiction concepts could work. File this under "speculative" if you need to put it on the spectrum. It's hosted by Dr. Michio Kaku one of the world's leading astro-physicists and author of one of my favorite cosmology books, Parallel Worlds: A Journey Through Creation, Higher Dimensions, and the Future of the Cosmos. He's the Science Channel's default host for many of their mainline shows, including a series that previously aired on the topic of his book.

Ancient Monster Hunters (History Channel)
One of my favorite single-episode docs that traces the origins of the mythological beasts such as the cyclopes, and griffins in antiquity as told through the paleontologists, archeologists, geologists, and biologists who've done the dirty work. The griffin segment is particular fascinating. It airs occasionally, but your best bet is to monster-hunt a copy down.

This is just a sampling of what's out there to gorge your eyeballs on. I'm a big fan of ancient history (particularly Egyptian) as well as paleontology--and there's just too many to name, including many one-off specials--but hopefully this list gets you started. So, what are your favorite documentary programs to pull ideas from for stories, games, or whatever gets your gears turning? 


Let us know in the comments!

4,000-Year-Old Euro Mummies Found in... China?!

Image: Liu Yu Sheng via New York Times

A cemetery of 200 mummy's from four millennia ago has been discovered in the Xinjiang of China (north of Tibet)--extremely well preserved thanks to the arid air of the Gobi Desert. The rest of the story is so weird that the NYT does better than I ever could at recounting. From the New York Times:

Their remains, though lying in one of the world’s largest deserts, are buried in upside-down boats. And where tombstones might stand, declaring pious hope for some god’s mercy in the afterlife, their cemetery sports instead a vigorous forest of phallic symbols, signaling an intense interest in the pleasures or utility of procreation.

Of course! How else can you find a cemetery of mummies under a pile of boats? There's more...

The 200 or so mummies have a distinctively Western appearance, and the Uighurs, even though they did not arrive in the region until the 10th century, have cited them to claim that the autonomous region was always theirs. Some of the mummies, including a well-preserved woman known as the Beauty of Loulan, were analyzed by Li Jin, a well-known geneticist at Fudan University, who said in 2007 that their DNA contained markers indicating an East Asian and even South Asian origin.

The mummies in the Small River Cemetery are, so far, the oldest discovered in the Tarim Basin. Carbon tests done at Beijing University show that the oldest part dates to 3,980 years ago. A team of Chinese geneticists has analyzed the mummies’ DNA.

Full story.....

Newly discovered species of humans in Siberia

Archeologists publishing in the journal Nature, have discovered the 40,000 year-old pinky bone of what appears to be a new species of human--in Siberia. (Actually, it's southern Siberia, but it's still SIBERIA). A DNA analysis revels that the, uh, owner--was neither directly related to humans or neanderthals of the era, but more likely a distinct offshoot of humans. From USAToday:

Analysis of the pinky bone discovered in a dirt layer about 40,000 years old yielded enough DNA for the gene study. It shows the creature's ancestry diverged from humans and Neanderthals roughly 1 million years ago. Dubbed "x-woman" by the researchers, despite its undetermined gender, the pinky owner may have belonged to an archaic human species such as Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis, known only from fossils, or an unknown pre-human species. From the size of the pinky tip, the team estimates its owner was a 5- or 6-year-old child.

Check out the full article or the article at Nature.com. Sharp readers will note that the image found at USAToday is a bit misleading as the pinky belonged to a child and the image is of an already known hominid.

Previously: Hobbits Discovered!

Evidence of stone age sailors discovered

 

Image: Nicholas Thompson and Chad DiGregorio via New York Times

Stone tools dating back to circa 100,000 years (or more) ago have been discovered on the island of Crete, indicating prehistoric sailors visited the island long before the Greeks became Ancient History, according to two new findings. From the New York Times:

Previous artifact discoveries had shown people reaching Cyprus, a few other Greek islands and possibly Sardinia no earlier than 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.The oldest established early marine travel anywhere was the sea-crossing migration of anatomically modern Homo sapiens to Australia, beginning about 60,000 years ago. There is also a suggestive trickle of evidence, notably the skeletons and artifacts on the Indonesian island of Flores, of more ancient hominids making their way by water to new habitats.Even more intriguing, the archaeologists who found the tools on Crete noted that the style of the hand axes suggested that they could be up to 700,000 years old. That may be a stretch, they conceded, but the tools resemble artifacts from the stone technology known as Acheulean, which originated with prehuman populations in Africa.

More than 2,000 artifacts were recovered from the site, so this appears to be a mega find re-writing the history books. And in what qualifies as best sci-fi inspiring quote from the article:

“We were flummoxed,” Dr. Runnels said in an interview. “These things were just not supposed to be there.”

Indeed! But still amazingly cool that these things not only existed, but in huge numbers. Now wouldn't it be cool if they discovered Atlantis and Lemuria! ;)

Read the full story...

Best Archeological Finds of 09

National Geographic has listed their Top 10 Archeology Finds for the past year, which includes some really great discoveries. My personal favorites:

Blackbeard Pirate Relics!

Who wouldn't want to get their hands on some genuine pirate booty? (Okay, let me rephrase). Who wouldn't want to get their hands on a real-life pirate chest? (Oh, nevermind!) Read the article you scallywags:

Some of the newfound relics add to evidence that the ship belonged to the pirate. ""We feel pretty comfortable that that's what this is," said Marke Wilde-Ramsing, director of the Queen Anne's Revenge project for the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology.

...and...

Navigational instruments were favorite targets of looting pirates, because the tools could easily be sold or traded, said archaeologist David Moore of the North Carolina Maritime Museum, who is working on the wreck site.

World War II Samurai Subs

These WWII era submarines discovered off the coast of Hawaii were at the peak of naval stealth technology for the age and even carried folding-wing planes for sneak attacks. Maybe they should be called Ninja Subs? From the article:

Specifically designed for a stealth attack on the U.S. East Coast--perhaps targeting Washington D.C., and New York City--the "samurai subs" were fast, far-ranging, and in some cases carried folding-wing aircraft, according to Dik Daso, curator of modern military aircraft at the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum, speaking in the new National Geographic documentary Hunt for the Samurai Subs.

No word on whether the Samurai Sub commanders understood that DC and NYC are clear on the other side of North America....

Pre-Stonehenge Structure Found....Surrounded by Crop Circles!

Cue the sci-fi music, this one is just plain eerie. Archeologists found this site spanning nearly 500 acres when they examined aerial photos of crop circles. What they found were the remains of an undiscovered 6,000 year-old temple complex complete with tombs and burial mounds. From the article:

During the late Stone Age, it's believed, people in the region left their dead in the open to be picked clean by birds and other animals.

Skulls and other bones of people who were for some reason deemed significant were later placed inside the burial mounds, Wickstead explained.

"These are bone houses, in a way," she said. "Instead of whole bodies, [the tombs contain] parts of ancestors."

This one is among my favorites because there are so many unanswered questions. Were the crop circles just coincidence? Or do they exist to draw attention to the site? Be sure to check out both pages of this article on Nat Geo's site.

Read the complete list--it's chock full of fodder for pulp adventure, including the largest Anglo-Saxon treasure every discovered (pictured up top). Wait, let's try that again. I also take no small pride in that I covered one of the discoveries about the "Vampire crypt" on this blog, back in August. Score!

So there's like, 10 new ideas for you--now go have fun!

All photos: National Geographic

Witch Bottle Wards Off Evil, Hygiene

Photo: National Geographic

File this one under: strange and slightly gross. How do witches and warlocks fight evil spirits? By concocting their own magic talismans in form of enchanted bottles of course! The practice was bigger in the 16th century, but fell out of favor sometime during the Age of Reason. Why? Because it was the Age of Reason. It's rare for a witch bottle to be found intact, but that's exactly what's happened. From Nat Geo:

In the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain, the supposedly cursed often put their toenails and fingernails, urine, and hair into the witch bottles.

These jugs, usually buried near a house or building, were meant to keep evildoers at bay.

Can you imagine finding 300-year-old pee and fingernails? “magic” wouldn't exactly be the first word that comes to my mind. An X-ray confirms nothing nasty in this bottle. (Thankfully!) But that didn’t keep it from being charged with powerful magic:

Despite their name, witch bottles were more often intended as all-purpose lucky charms against bad luck, Norton said—"a modern equivalent of hanging a horseshoe on your door."

The superstitious also stuck children's shoes inside walls or buried horse skulls by doors—animals were believed to be able to see spirits, he said.

Ah, so it imbues one with the power to see plot points in M. Night Shyamalan films? Now that IS magical!

Read more...

Cave Complex Discovered Under Giza Pyramids!

Image copyright Andrew Collins, 2009 via Discovery News

This is REALLY cool news--a British expolorer claims to have discovered a series of caves and tunnels under the pyramids at Giza! The place is crawling with venomous spiders and bats! It's like real-life dungeon crawl!

From Discovery News:

"There is untouched archaeology down there, as well as a delicate ecosystem that includes colonies of bats and a species of spider which we have tentatively identified as the white widow," British explorer Andrew Collins said.

Collins, who will detail his findings in the book "Beneath the Pyramids" to be published in September, tracked down the entrance to the mysterious underworld after reading the forgotten memoirs of a 19th century diplomat and explorer.

"In his memoirs, British consul general Henry Salt recounts how he investigated an underground system of 'catacombs' at Giza in 1817 in the company of Italian explorer Giovanni Caviglia," Collins said.

If true, this is seriously one of the more exciting archeological finds I've heard of--like a real life Indiana Jones adventure!

Image courtesy Wikipedia

More from Discovery News...

Ancient Egyptian Stronghold Discovered

A newly discovered Egyptian fortress was discovered near the Suez Canal and El-Manzala Lake, just northeast of the town of Qantara. The outpost dates back 12 centuries before Christ and was constructed out of mud bricks. From MSNBC:

The discovery shouldn't come as a surprise; Tell Dafna was long known to be a strategic outpost against Egypt's enemies. King Ramses II of the 19th Dynasty (1279-1212 B.C.) chose the site to erect a fortress. King Psammetichus I, the first ruler of the 26th Dynasty (664-625 B.C.), later established a garrison of foreign mercenaries to defend the eastern borders of Egypt from invaders.

Dating to the 7th century B.C., the foundations unearthed by the archaeologists most likely belonged to Psammetichus I's fortified garrison town.

Read more...

Photo credit: Supreme Council of Antiquities via MSNBC

Roman Imperial Treasure Found!

Archeologists in Naples, Italy have uncovered a treasure trove of Roman antiquity, including a marble bust of Emperor Titus. From MSNBC:

The long-term digging effort in Rione Terra, a cliff in the port town of Pozzuoli, has yielded remains of 12 ancient statues, columns, and fragments bearing inscriptions from what appear to be monuments from the Republican and Imperial periods of ancient Roman history.

Among the most striking finds was the marble head of Emperor Titus, who ruled at the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. and who was celebrated throughout antiquity for providing generous financial assistance to survivors of the eruption. Bearing a crown of laurel leaves, the emperor's head was found in an ancient water tunnel.

Read more....

Props to MSNBC for the photo via Soprintendenza speciale per i beni archeologici di Napoli e Pompe

Indeciperable, Ancient Language Cracked by Artificial Intelligence

It seems that Hal and Skynet have teamed up to unlock a 4,000-year-old mystery by deciphering symbols long thought to be just "decorative". As it turns out, the elaborate pictograms from the Indus Valley were actually an ancient language.

Wired has the story:

An ancient script that's defied generations of archaeologists has yielded some of its secrets to artificially intelligent computers. Computational analysis of symbols used 4,000 years ago by a long-lost Indus Valley civilization suggests they represent a spoken language. Some frustrated linguists thought the symbols were merely pretty pictures.

"The underlying grammatical structure seems similar to what's found in many languages," said University of Washington computer scientist Rajesh Rao.

The Indus script, used between 2,600 and 1,900 B.C. in what is now eastern Pakistan and northwest India, belonged to a civilization as sophisticated as its Mesopotamian and Egyptian contemporaries. However, it left fewer linguistic remains. Archaeologists have uncovered about 1,500 unique inscriptions from fragments of pottery, tablets and seals. The longest inscription is just 27 signs long.

Fascinating! No word on when the supercomputers will turn against us. Read more...

Props: Pic borrowed from Wired.com