All posts by Archeology worldwide team

1,000-Year-Old Skeletons ‘Wrapped in Textiles’ and ‘Buried in Seated Position’ Looking Out to Sea

June 15, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

1,000-Year-Old Skeletons ‘Wrapped in Textiles’ and ‘Buried in Seated Position’ Looking Out to Sea

The remains of four bodies dating back to 1,000AD have been discovered in a strange sitting position in a series of tombs.

Archaeologists discovered the skeletons of three adult women and one man in the middle of a residential neighbourhood in Lima, Peru

They are part of a civilisation that dominated Peru before the rise of the Inca, and while the remains appear to have decomposed, archaeologists believe they were once wrapped in textiles in an attempt to mummify them.

The four skeletons, which were found in separate tombs, were part of the ancient Ichma culture that formed following the break-up of the South American Wari Empire before later being absorbed into the Inca Empire.

The figures, some of which still have hair, were found seated, looking out towards the sea, alongside offerings such as ceramics and weaving tools. The exact reason for this position is still unclear, but archaeologists believe it must have had some ritual significance. The Incas, and likely cultures before them including the Ichma, believed there was a link between the living and the gods.

Some of the skeletons still have hair and were found buried along with ceramic pots and weaving tools (pictured). While the remains appear to have decomposed, archaeologists believe they were once wrapped in cloth in an attempt to mummify them

As a result, mummies would be ‘consulted’ on important occasions and were often given ‘places of honour’ near temples and on high ground.

The living used artificial techniques such as embalming and drying out the flesh, known as desiccation, to preserve their Dead.

Spanish conquerors during the 16th century were reportedly so disgusted by the ritual that they destroyed many mummies after looting their graves.

This may explain the lack of other artefacts, and even the cloth the mummies were wrapped in, in the newly-discovered tombs.

It is the latest in a number of ancient tombs to be discovered in Peru’s capital, but these are among the first from the Ichma, or Ychsma era, helping to provide new clues about this little-known, early culture.

Isabel Flores, an archaeologist and director of the excavation at Huaca Pucllana, the ancient ceremonial complex in the Miraflores district of Lima where the skeletons were found, said: ‘There are four human burial sites, for adult individuals, three women and one man, who lived between the years 1000 to 1450.

‘These are the first four tombs of the Ichma culture. We think that we may still find more.’

The discovery of the tombs has allowed archaeologists to confirm that the Ichma culture, which dominated the central coast of Peru, had a foothold in Lima.

It dominated the area south of Lima in the Lurin Valley from 1,000AD and later spread north into the Rimac Valley.

It was later absorbed into the Inca Empire in around 1440.

It is known that the Wari culture, which emerged around 600AD, had used the large temple complexes in the area that is now covered by the Peruvian capital.

Archaeologists believe Huaca Pucllana was initially built, however, by the Lima culture who lived there in around 200AD. There are around 350 of these ‘huacas’, or ceremonial complexes in Lima which predate Spanish colonisation.

The Ichma people are credited with constructing at least 16 including the Huaca Huantille in the Magdalena del Mar and the Huaca San Borja in the San Borja District.

**Mummification was an ancient Andean way to worship ancestors**

In the Huaca Huantille, at least nine mummies have been discovered, buried with ceramic items and jewellery.

Excavations in Pachacamac found a further 80 mummies in a burial chamber. In 2013, the remains of three skeletons from the Ichma culture were uncovered at a nearby site just a few yards from Peru’s national football stadium in Lima.

Dr Flores said: ‘So this is the first district in the country that has more than 1,500 years of known history to date.’

Recently new analysis techniques have enabled scientists to learn new details about the ancient mummified remains of people from the Incan civilisation and those that came before them.

The mummified bodies of children who died around 500 years ago have been discovered in remote parts of the Andes, thought to be victims of an ancient ritual sacrifice called capacocha. The children were drugged before being taken into the mountains to die, where the freezing dry climate preserved their bodies.

AFRICA, ASIA, EGYPT, WORLD

Dozens of Mummified Cats Found in 6,000-yr-old Egyptian Tombs

June 14, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

Dozens of Mummified Cats Found in 6,000-yr-old Egyptian Tombs

An Egyptian archaeological mission recently found dozens of cat mummies in seven Pharaonic Age tombs, some dating back over 6,000 years, at a site on the edge of the pyramid complex in Saqqara, south of Cairo.

It is the latest discovery in excavation work that began in April, according to antiquities minister Khaled el-Enany. The team also discovered a rare collection of mummified scarab beetles.

Three of the tombs were particularly used for cats. The felines held a special place in ancient Egypt and were mummified as religious offerings.

An Egyptian archaeologist cleans mummified cats during the demonstration of a new discovery made by an Egyptian archaeological mission through excavation work at an area located on the stony edge of King Userkaf pyramid complex in Saqqara Necropolis, south of the capital Cairo, on November 10, 2018.

Cats were valued for killing poisonous snakes and were believed to have protected the pharaohs since at least the First Dynasty of Egypt.

Skeletal remains of cats have been found among funerary goods dating back to the 12th Dynasty.

One of the sarcophagi belonged to Khufu-Imhat, who was the overseer of the buildings in the royal palace.

Mostafa Waziri, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said they had also uncovered the first mummies of scarabs to be found in this area.

“The [mummified] scarab is something really unique. It is something really a bit rare,” Waziri said, according to The Guardian.

“A couple of days ago, when we discovered those coffins, they were sealed coffins with drawings of scarabs. I never heard about them before.”

**The Gayer-Anderson cat, believed to be a representation of Bastet.**

The relationship between Egyptians and cats is complex.

In a NPR interview, curator Antonietta Catanzariti said ancient Egyptians didn’t worship cats. “What they did is to observe their behavior,” she says.

People noticed that cats — especially big ones — were expert hunters. Also, cats were nurturing. “They’re protective against their cubs for lions, or kittens for cats, as well as they are aggressive when it’s necessary, kill if necessary,” said Catanzariti.

The ancient Egyptians saw those characteristics as signs of divinity. They created gods and goddesses in their image. The Sackler show (which originated at the Brooklyn Museum) has 80 examples. Now, Egyptians had lots of animal gods and goddesses. “Crocodiles or snakes, dogs, bulls, mention it, you will have it,” laughs Catanzariti.

**Egyptian mummies of animals in the British Museum.**

But cats were the most important. The powerful cat goddess Sakhmet has the face of a lion and the body of a woman. She protected pharaohs in war. Once, according to the myth, her father the sun god sent her down to punish mortals for rebelling against him.

But her punishment was too harsh, so her father gave her a special drink. “She drinks and she transforms into a cat, which is more docile and peaceful, and humankind is saved,” Catanzariti says.

**The Obsequies of an Egyptian Cat, by John Reinhard Weguelin, 1886.**

As for the cat goddess Bastet, she protected the home from evil spirits and disease, especially diseases associated with women and children.

Along with other Egyptian deities, Bastet played a role in the afterlife as a guide and helper to the dead although this was not one of her main duties.

AFRICA, ASIA, EGYPT, WORLD

3,500-Year-Old Mummified Bear Found in Siberian Permafrost

June 14, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

3,500-Year-Old Mummified Bear Found in Siberian Permafrost

As the permafrost in Siberia melts, it has revealed a mummified brown bear that lived more than three millennia ago. Scientists are now planning to conduct an autopsy on the bear, with the hope of making a breakthrough in the study of ancient animals.

The bear’s remains were found by deer herders on Bolshoi Lyakhovsky Island, about 5 miles from the Bolshoi Eterikan River. Maksim Cherpasov, a senior researcher at the Mammoth Laboratory Museum of Russia’s North-Eastern University, explained that the carcass was already fossilized because it was in the permafrost.

The body parts were extracted from the soil, prepared for transportation, and taken to a nearby settlement.

Studying the Carcass: Dissection and Analysis

“This find is absolutely unique: the complete carcass of an ancient brown bear,” said Maxim Cheprasov, laboratory chief at the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory at the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, eastern Siberia.

The scientists now have the opportunity to study its internal organs and examine the brain. The bear is 3,460 years old, which means it lived more than 1,400 years ago, before the fall of the Egyptian and Roman empires.

The researchers determined that the bear was female, measuring more than 5 feet tall and weighing more than 170 pounds, reports Reuters.

The researchers are keen to learn more about the bear’s exact age, how it died, and how it compares to modern animals. They also want to examine the bear’s histology and cells. So far, it appears that the bear died between the ages of 2 and 3 from a spinal injury.

South Korean cell researcher Hwang Woo-Suk is optimistic about the research prospects that the autopsy provides. “We have a very extraordinarily important chance to have an autopsy and to get a sample from the ancient brown bear,” he said.

“I am sure we can start culturing from that samples and hopefully, when we get the live cell, it will be one of historic achievements, breakthrough for ancient animal study.”

The Changing Climate and Siberia’s Melting Permafrost

As the permafrost in Siberia melts, it has revealed well-preserved remains of animals that lived during the last ice age, such as woolly mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, cave lions, and cave bears.

These animals lived in the region tens of thousands of years ago when the climate was much colder than it is today, reports Radio Free Europe .

The melting permafrost has also revealed other animals that lived in more recent times, including ancient horses, bison, and wolves. In 2015, a well-preserved body of a cave lion cub was discovered in the Siberian permafrost.

The cub was estimated to have been frozen for around 28,000 years, making it one of the best-preserved Ice Age animals ever found.

**An Ice Age bear cub found on the Yakutia mainland (North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk)**

In 2018, a well-preserved head of a steppe wolf, which is believed to be around 30,000 years old, was found in the Siberian permafrost. The head was remarkably preserved, with fur, teeth, and even the brain intact.

In 2019, a large, intact mammoth foot was discovered in the Siberian permafrost. The foot is believed to be around 50,000 years old and is one of the best-preserved mammoth fossils ever found.

In addition to these large animals, the permafrost has also preserved the remains of smaller creatures such as rodents, birds, and insects.

The discovery of these animals provides important insights into the ecosystems of the past and how they have changed over time. They also offer opportunities for scientists to study the genetic material and other biological information that has been preserved in the permafrost, which could help in understanding the evolution of these species and their interactions with their environment.

ASIA, JAPAN, WORLD

Mermaid Mummy at Japan Temple Exposed as Gruesome Man-Made Hoax

June 13, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

Mermaid Mummy at Japan Temple Exposed as Gruesome Man-Made Hoax

Medical tests performed on a mummified mermaid corpse on display at a temple in Japan have been exposed as a hoax, although it isn’t made of quite what was suspected.

The so-called “mermaid mummy” is actually a tiny mannequin, constructed out of a mixture of man-made organic and manufactured materials. Despite painstaking efforts to create a mermaid that resembled Japanese folklore, advanced technology ultimately proved too difficult to deceive.

Scientists from Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts used radioactive dating techniques, X-rays and CT scanning technology to study the mermaid mummy. The results from these tests enabled them to finally uncover the truth about the supposed mermaid which has been on display at the Enjuin temple in the city of Asakuchi, Japan’s Okayama Prefecture, for several decades.

“Based on our analysis and the history of mummy creation in Japan, we can only conclude that the mermaid mummy was probably man-made,” Takafumi Kato, a paleontologist working on the project, said in an interview with Vice World News . Scans of the mermaid mummy have confirmed his hypothesis.

**Dating and scanning technology has revealed the mermaid mummy to be a hoax.**

Unlocking the Secrets of the Mermaid Mummy

X-rays revealed no interior structure or bones, while the fake mermaid mannequin did incorporate a mix of fish parts, cotton and cloth. While the jaw and teeth of its monkey-like head were harvested from some type of fish, the lower body had incorporated some fish bones as well. Its arms, shoulders, neck and cheeks were covered with fish scales, yet its upper body features resembled those of a small monkey.

The 12-inch (30 cm) mermaid mummy was said to have been captured in Pacific waters in the 18th century. Nevertheless, radioactive dating tests revealed that it had actually been constructed in the 19th century.

The scientists have concluded that the fake mermaid mummy was actually created by artisans working during Japan’s Edo period , which lasted from 1603 to 1868.

Approximately a dozen alleged mermaid mummies have been found at different times and in different locations in Japan, and all are believed to date to this era. This period was plagued by epidemics of smallpox and measles, among other diseases. The mermaid mummies were possibly crafted as sacred idols and talismans to bring an end to terrible outbreaks.

This particular mermaid mummy was carefully preserved and protected at the Enjuin temple, where it was worshipped by priests and by many locals. It remains to be seen how things change now that the truth of its origins have finally been brought to light.

**Radioactive dating techniques, X-rays and CT scanning technology have revealed that the “mermaid mummy” is actually a man-made mannequin.**

The Not-So-True Story of the Enjuin Temple Mermaid

The study of the Enjuin temple mermaid was undertaken at the urging of Japanese cultural historian Hiroshi Kinoshita, who is affiliated with the Okayama Folklore Society. Before the study of the object was launched, Kinoshita admitted to the press that he didn’t believe in mermaids and had no illusions about what his study would discover.

Nevertheless, he still felt the study was important, as a way to learn more about how these mummified “mermaids” were actually manufactured.

According to Japanese legend , the mermaid had been captured in a fishing net cast in the sea off the coast of Kochi Prefecture on Japan’s Shikoku Island. The creature’s lower half was all fish, but it had a human-like head covered with thin, wispy hair and pointy teeth, along with the arms and hands of a tiny person.

Its face was permanently locked into what looks like an expression of terror, with its teeth bared and its long-fingered hands held up to the side of its face, framing its head as if to emphasize its fear.

This bizarre escapee from the land of ancient mythology had supposedly been caught sometime between the years 1736 and 1741. This was revealed in a letter dated to 1903, held along with the mummified remains at the Enjuin temple, allegedly from one of the people who’d owned the mermaid in the 19th century. Details about the mermaid’s demise and the process that led to its mummification were sketchy, but at the temple the creature was treated with reverence and respect.

“Japanese mermaids have a legend of immortality,” Hiroshi Kinoshita told The Sun . “It is said that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid, you will never die.” It is not known if anyone actually took a bite out of this particular mermaid while it was on display in Asakuchi. What is known is that temple priests prayed to the mermaid during the Covid-19 pandemic, asking for deliverance and protection.

**A mermaid mummy similar to the Enjuin temple mermaid, with an upper monkey body and a fishtail, currently housed at the British Museum.**

When Mermaids are Sacred, Who Needs the Truth?

Mermaids, which are known as Ningyo in Japanese, have long been a fixture in Japan’s mythological traditions. They were said to possess golden scales and fish teeth, but with a monkey’s mouth and a charming, flute-like voice.

While mermaids have long been worshipped in Japan, it is believed that they should remain in the sea and not be brought to land. It has been said that catching a mermaid will bring stormy weather, rough seas and other types of disasters. Should a dead mermaid wash ashore, that is supposed to be a harbinger of war.

**Mermaids, known as ningyo in Japanese, are a fixture within Japanese mythology and are the reason for the popularity of mermaid mummies, such as the Enjuin temple mermaid.**

One famous story from Japanese folklore, the tale of Yao-Bikuni, tells of how the daughter of a fisherman from Wakasha Province caught a mermaid and then fed the creature’s flesh to his daughter. This poor woman stopped aging, became a nun and spent the next 800 years of her life wandering the Earth before the spell was broken and she finally died.

In addition to the apparently man-made creation held at the Enjuin temple, there is another well-known mermaid mummy currently on display at a religious site in Japan. This mermaid is said to be 1,400 years old, and can be found encased behind a glass case at the Tenshou-Kyousha shrine in a cloud-covered forest near Japan’s Mount Fuji .

Considering the underwhelming findings of recent research, it’s doubtful that the shrine’s administrators will permit the same testing methods used on the Asakuchi mermaid mummy . Instead, they will likely strive to maintain the mystery surrounding their mermaid’s history for as long as possible.

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

Fossilized Leg of Dinosaur Ripped Off by Catastrophic Asteroid Impact Found

June 13, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

Fossilized Leg of Dinosaur Ripped Off by Catastrophic Asteroid Impact Found

Scientists now know that a massive Yucatan asteroid struck the earth 66 million years ago at the end of the Cretaceous Period, ultimately causing most species of dinosaur to go extinct.

It was the sudden change in climate that accompanied this disastrous astronomical collision that made the earth unlivable for these cold-blooded reptiles, leading to the complete disappearance of creatures that had roamed the earth for more than 100 million years.

But there were some dinosaurs who didn’t meet their demise as a result of catastrophic post-asteroid climate change. These dinosaurs lived in what are now known as the Americas, within the range of the impact zone of the Chicxulub strike, which occurred in the Gulf of Mexico just off the northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula.

These hapless creatures would have been destroyed immediately or soon after the earth-shattering Yucatan asteroid impact, unable to withstand the unimaginably destructive forces unleased in the wake of this planet-killing calamity.

Now, for the first time, paleontologists have uncovered fossilized remains from one of these dinosaurs, an animal killed by the direct physical effects of the Yucatan asteroid, the single most destructive event in the earth’s history.

**The Chicxulub Yucatan asteroid hit the Caribbean Sea and somehow cleanly severed the dinosaur’s leg on the same day 3,000 kilometers (1,864 miles) away.**

Skin-covered Dino Leg Severed by Yucatan Asteroid Blast!

While excavating at the Tanis fossil site in the state of North Dakota, in what is known as the Hell Creek Formation, a team of explorers working under the direction of University of Manchester paleontologist Robert DePalma uncovered the fossilized leg of a Thescelosaurus, a small lizard-like herbivore from the late Cretaceous Period .

Amazingly, the leg was intact and still covered by fossilized skin, suggesting that whatever force had removed the leg had been incredibly powerful and concentrated.

“This looks like an animal whose leg has simply been ripped off really quickly,” Professor Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum in London, told the Daily Mail . “There’s no evidence on the leg of disease, there are no obvious pathologies, there’s no trace of the leg being scavenged, such as bite marks or bits of it that are missing.”

The Hell Creek Formation , and the Tanis fossil site it contains, were created in the aftermath of the Chicxulub asteroid strike , 66 million years ago. The Yucatan asteroid created an impact creator that was 93 miles (150 kilometers) wide, and its collision with the earth sent out echoes of mass destruction radiating in every direction from ground zero.

North America was hit by seismic waves equivalent to those generated in a magnitude 11 earthquake, and soon after by inland waves that were as powerful as those created by the most destructive tsunami.

The Thescelosaurus was apparently killed in a sudden and exceedingly violent fashion, even though the asteroid’s point of impact was approximately 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) away. Putting all the pieces together, it seems clear that the Thescelosaurus was an early and immediate victim of the Yucatan asteroid impact event, which ultimately killed off not only the dinosaurs but up to 75 percent of the animal species living on the planet at that time.

The discovery of the severed dinosaur leg is groundbreaking, paleontologists say, because no other dinosaur fossil has ever been linked directly to the most catastrophic event in earth’s history.

“This is the most incredible thing that we could possibly imagine here, the best case scenario, the one thing that we always wanted to find in this site and here we’ve got it,” Robert DePalma told the BBC . “Here we’ve got a creature that was buried on the day of impact—we didn’t know at that point yet if it had died during the impact but now it looks like it probably did.”

The paleontologists have been able to reconstruct what happened at Hells Creek Formation after the Yucatan asteroid hit. Following the asteroid strike, rising sea levels and tsunamis would have created an inland sea to the north.

The process that created this sea also would have spawned at least two massive, towering waves that moved so far inland that they actually reached what are now the lands of North Dakota. These enormous waves washed over the Tanis site, and eventually covered the animals that died there with up to six feet (1.8 meters) of sediment.

Between the first and second of these waves, glass beads called tektites would have been raining down from the sky like tiny ballistic missiles, reaching speeds in excess of 200 miles (320 kilometers) per hour. It is possible one of these tiny but deadly glass pieces struck the ill-fated Thescelosaurus with enough force to slice off its leg and kill it, although this is just one possible explanation for the creature’s death.

Tellingly, the sediment layer at the Tanis site eventually turned into a type of clay rich in iridium. This substance is rare on earth, but asteroids and meteors have it in abundance.

**University of Manchester paleontologist Robert DePalma working at the Hell Creek site, where the Yucatan asteroid impact cleanly severed the dinosaur’s leg.**

The Dinosaurs’ Final Day, Revealed in Terrifying Detail

The amazing story of the Tanis site will be introduced to the British public on April 15, when BBC One will broadcast a new documentary entitled “Dinosaurs: The Final Day with David Attenborough.” The documentary was filmed over the course of three years, and as its narrative unfolds Sir David Attenborough will introduce viewers to many of the fossil finds that have been unearthed at Hell Creek Formation since the site was discovered in 2008.

“We’ve got so many details with this site that tell us what happened moment by moment, it’s almost like watching it play out in the movies,” DePalma explained. “You look at the rock column, you look at the fossils there, and it brings you back to that day .”

DePalma and the other paleontologists involved in the research at the Tanis site have yet to submit their latest findings for peer review and publishing. Nevertheless, they chose to reveal what they’d discovered now, to help generate more interest in the upcoming documentary.

ENGLAND, WORLD

Ancient Death Pit of Sacrificed and Butchered Humans Found in England

June 12, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

Ancient Death Pit of Sacrificed and Butchered Humans Found in England

Sometimes archaeologists happen upon discoveries that are stark reminders to our animalistic past and such was the case last week in Oxfordshire, England.

A team of Thames Water engineers laying water pipes in a chalk stream were shocked to discover an ancient death pit of “dozens of human skeletons”, many of which show signs of having been brutally sacrificed almost 3,000 years ago.

**Some of the human remains found in the ancient death pit in Oxfordshire, England.**

Discovering the Ancient Death Pit

Archaeologists were immediately called in and they soon began excavating what turned out to be artifacts from an ancient Iron Age settlement .

A selection of tools and animal parts, including a horse’s skull, were recovered along with body parts from 26 individuals dating to the British Iron Age and Roman periods .

One person was found with their skull placed by their feet and a woman was discovered with her feet chopped off and her arms tied behind her head.

**One person was found with their skull placed by their feet in the ancient death pit found in Oxfordshire.**

A CNN article quotes Paolo Guarino, Cotswold Archaeology project officer, who released a statement claiming that the team of archaeologists inspecting the human remains believe they were involved in creating England’s iconic ‘ Uffington White Horse’ , a vast prehistoric chalked geo-glyph located on a hill near the location where the bodies were recovered.

He said, “The results from the analysis of the artefacts, animal bones, the human skeletons and the soil samples will help us add some important information to the history of the communities that occupied these lands so many years ago.”

The White horse is a tribal symbol and archaeologist Joshua Pollard pointed out that the horse aligns with the midwinter sun, when it appears to overtake the horse, reflecting mythological beliefs that the sun was carried across the sky on a horse or in a chariot ; a motif known as the “ Solar Horse ” across ancient Europe.

And the recently unearthed remains of the people might also be evidence that they were sacrificed to assure the daily return of the Sun.

**Satellite view of the Uffington White horse.**

Human Sacrifice Wasn’t a Sport, It was Cultural

Neil Holbrook, chief executive of Cotswold Archaeology, told reporters in a statement “The discovery challenges our perceptions about the past, and invites us to try to understand the beliefs of people who lived and died more than 2,000 years ago.” And, according to Holbrook, the evidence “suggests that burials in pits might have involved human sacrifice .”

The archaeologists removed the remains from the site for deeper forensic investigation and hope to learn more about ‘the way’ in which people were sacrificed, which will lead to clearer understanding of ‘why’ it happened.

Way back in 2015 an Ancient Origins article titled, The practice of sacrifice in Iron Age Britain asked “How often were sacrifices made, for what reasons and what – or more interestingly, who – were sacrificed?”

All over the ancient world agricultural and fishing based communities made human sacrifices after floods, plagues, famines, earthquakes and landslides to improve their perceived favor with the gods, asking “for divine forgiveness or foresight, or to apologize for an event or task that might have angered them.” Alternatively, sacrifices were made to assure bountiful harvests and success in impending territorial battles and wars.

**One of the skeletons found during the dig at Oxfordshire. ( Thames Water ) Archaeologists believe the bodies may be evidence for human sacrifice.**

More Evidence for Ritualized Murder

While the recently discovered bodies were sacrificed 3000 years ago, there is an abundance of evidence for ritualized murder in Britain happening as far back as 5000 years ago.

A 2015 Daily Mail feature discusses findings in Wiltshire, the home of the famous Stonehenge stone circle. Archaeologists discovered that thousands of ancient people stood along great earthen walls surrounding an oval-shaped arena situated in Salisbury Plain and beneath these mounds were thousands of animal bones that had been sacrificed and eaten in huge feasts.

Archaeologists told reporters at the Mail that “When you dig in these areas, you often find pits with animal remains in them. Because the skeletons are intact or in large ‘chunks’, they were probably killed not to be eaten, but as some kind of offering to the gods and the bones suggest pigs were the animal of choice for eating, feasting and sacrificing in the Neolithic period, from 4000 BC to 2500 BC.”

**Example of an animal skull, probably from a horse, placed in one of the Iron Age pits at Oxfordshire.**

But the archaeologists in Wiltshire also “found humans with arrowheads embedded between vertebrae, and head injuries. They died violently and possibly in sacrifice.”

In contrast to medieval warriors who fell on battlefields and were buried in large groups, ancient bodies are more often found buried individually and within larger, custom built monuments, which suggests they were sacrificed in a religious ceremony.

As ancient hunter gatherers emerged from the wild wooded landscapes of Britain, throwing down their spears for farm tools, and began crafting England’s green fields, it would appear that everything possible was undertaken to assure agricultural success, including lopping the feet off of a woman, according to this new evidence. Ladies, you should be really thankful for pesticides and tractors!

PERU, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

Man in Peru Caught Out Drinking With an 800-year-old Mummy!

June 12, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

Man in Peru Caught Out Drinking With an 800-year-old Mummy!

A pre-Hispanic mummy of between 600 and 800 years old, was found inside the backpack of a delivery man from a delivery company in the Peruvian region of Puno, near Bolivia.

The 26-year-old Peruvian man who was caught with the mummy said, ‘Juanita’ was a kind of ‘spiritual girlfriend’ he kept it at home “and took it out to show his friends.”

Drunk in Charge of a Mummy

The police found three young men accompanied by a mummy that was inside a thermal delivery suitcase. The discovery occurred on Saturday, February 25, 2023, in the city of Puno, in southern Peru.

The group of friends was surprised by the police authorities in a routine check while they were consuming alcoholic beverages at the Mantaro viewpoint of Puno.

The 26-year-old had with him a delivery box from the company ‘Pedidos Ya’. Inside, there were human remains in a fetal position still bearing soft tissues with characteristics corresponding to a mummy.

According to the BBC , the young man described the mummy as ‘a kind of spiritual girlfriend’ as he had been sharing his room with it for some time.

The mummy was supposedly owned by his father, and was generally kept in a box next to the TV. It is unknown how the mummy came to be owned by his father.

The Ministry of Culture specified through a statement that the remains – classified as a national cultural asset – were identified as a mummified adult man presumably from the eastern area of Puno.

Sources from that office informed EFE that the individual would have been over 45 years old and approximately 1.51 meters (5 foot) tall, according to preliminary investigations.

An Odd Housemate

The authorities estimate that the human remains were 800 years old, and would likely come from the district of Patambuco. Apparently, they had been in the possession of the family for about 30 years, the authorities from the Peruvian Ministry of Culture informed various local media.

**Photograph from the Ministry of Culture, which shows a pre-Hispanic mummy found inside the backpack of a delivery man.**

The delivery man stated that the mummy was kept at his parents’ house and that he took it out to be seen by his friends from the neighborhood, according to the newspaper El Comercio .

The police confiscated the mummy and turned it over to the Peruvian Ministry of Culture. The delivery man and his two friends, aged between 23 and 26, have been detained and are being investigated for possible crimes against the country’s cultural heritage.

ASIA, EUROPE, RUSSIA, WORLD

46,000-yr-old “Icebird” Found Totally Intact with Feathers and Beak

June 11, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

46,000-yr-old “Icebird” Found Totally Intact with Feathers and Beak

A prehistoric “Icebird” has been found in Siberian permafrost in remarkably good shape. The freezing temperatures in parts of Russia, particularly Siberia, may be tough for most folks to cope with, especially during the long winter months.

But for scientists, the region can provide tremendous learning opportunities, because the permafrost often captures, and preserves, animal and bird specimens that the cold keeps largely unchanged from their original forms for.

That enables scientists and researchers to discover a great deal about these species, as they arrive in labs almost identical to the way they looked thousands of years ago.

In early December 2019, for example, the body of an 18,000 year-old puppy, either a dog or a wolf, was found in the permafrost near Yakutsk with it hair, teeth, tail and even its eyelashes intact.

It is undergoing tests now, and scientists predict it would reveal a great deal about how wolves evolved into the domestic dogs we know today.

In 2010, a baby woolly mammoth was found on Russia’s Arctic coast that was approximately 39,000 years old. In spite of its age, it was so well preserved that researchers even found hair on large portions of its carcass.

Russia has again brought such a specimen to the doorstep of scientists, this time a 46,000 year old bird, so well preserved that the hunters who found it, deep in a mine shaft, thought it had been alive only 24 hours earlier.

It is complete with feathers and even a beak so researchers know it is an ancestor of the modern day horned lark. (They have dubbed it “icebird.”)

**The 46,000-yr-old “Icebird” found in Siberia’s permafrost.**

The team studying the bird told the media that it is the first example of a bird from the last Ice Age found in the area.

It was fossil hunters, who go out specifically to look for treasures like this, who found the bird down the mine tunnel, about seven metres below ground. They were scouting the area near the town of Belaya Gora, in northeastern Siberia.

“Icebird” was sent to the Swedish Museum of Natural History, where it is being studied by paleontologist Love Dalen. He told the dailymail.com, “This finding implies that the climactic changes that took place at the end of the last Ice Age led to (the) formation of new subspecies.”

Sounding almost awestruck, Dalen added, “I was holding that little bird in my hand, and feeling like it could have died yesterday, but might actually have died tens of thousands of years ago.”

And because “icebird” was whole, with no indications of a fight, or struggle with a predator, Dalen said the bird did not expire in any violent way but rather passed away “easily”.

The fact that such a small and fragile specimen was near intact also suggests that dirt (and) mud must have been deposited gradually. Or at least that the bird’s carcass was preserved in a state very close to its time of passing.

In other words, it flew, it ended peacefully, and the permafrost took care of the rest, bringing the bird forward through time to present modern scientists to study and learn much about species in the last Ice Age.

**Modern day North American Horned Lark.**

Permafrost gives researchers many opportunities to delve into everything from specimens like this latest find, “icebird,” to mankind himself. Not long ago several bodies, some 2,500 years old, were found in Siberia, and they were so well preserved that even the tattoos on their skin were legible.

ISRAEL, WORLD

Does 2,800-Year-Old Statue Head Depict a Forgotten Biblical King?

June 10, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

Does 2,800-Year-Old Statue Head Depict a Forgotten Biblical King?

Archaeologists are in the midst of a mystery of forgotten identity. They are trying to discover the name behind a 2,800-year-old face found in the ancient city of Abel Beth Maacah in northern Israel.

They are perplexed by the head of a statue which may have been made to portray the likeness of a biblical king.

The head is a small 2 by 2.2 inches (5.1 by 5.6 centimeters) artifact which archaeologists believe once belonged to a statuette which measured approximately 8 to 10 inches (20 to 25 cm) in height, according to Live Science .

It is the representation of a man who had long black hair, a black beard, almond-shaped eyes and a yellow and black headband. His expression portrays the image of someone who had authority and demanded respect.

Which sent the team out to excavate the Abel Beth Maacah site, states that the statuette’s head was found in a possible administrative building. Azusa Pacific University’s Robert Mullins described the discovery .

Mullins that the location and high quality of the carving of the head suggest that it was meant to represent a member of Abel Beth Maacah’s elite class, “We’re guessing probably a king, but we have no way of proving that,” Mullins said.

**Mario Tobia, a student at Azrieli College of Engineering in Jerusalem, found this figure head on his first day at the excavation.**

An art historian who examined the small head has suggested it depicts a king or other important Aramean official. However, Mullin understands that more research will need to be completed before that claim could become a conclusion.

Nonetheless, the idea is an intriguing one for Mullin, who writes , “If the head proves to depict an Aramean, it would suggest that the local Aramean population continued to live there as Israelite citizens long after Abel Beth Maacah fell under the sway of the United Monarchy and the northern kingdom of Israel.”

Researchers received a timeframe of 902-806 BC when some material found near the sculptured head was radiocarbon dated.

Mullins said that Abel Beth Maacah changed hands many times during that period as it was bordering the kingdoms of Israel, Tyre, and Aram-Damascus.

Perhaps more information will be gathered when excavations start up again this summer at the administrative building of the Abel Beth Maacah archaeological site.

**Aerial view of excavations at the Abel Beth Maacah archaeological site in 2015.**

The intrigue of the artifact has garnered much attention. It has become a subject for a discussion at the 44th Annual Archaeological Congress at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, the topic for a paper which will be published this month in the journal Near Eastern Archaeology , and it is a fascinating addition to the collection of the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.

EUROPE, NORWAY, WORLD

Lost Mountain Pass Found in Norway and it’s Full of Viking Artifacts

June 10, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

Lost Mountain Pass Found in Norway and it’s Full of Viking Artifacts

Melting of glaciers in many Scandinavian countries has unearthed a lost viking mountain pass. And it was in 2011 that the hot sun of summer began to melt the Lendbreen Glacier at the Lomseggen mountain ridge in Breheimen National Park in Norway about two hundred miles from Oslo.

Since then, archaeologists have discovered a former mountain pass used during the Viking era as a route for people traveling between valleys, such as Bøverdalen and Ottadalen.

Some moved from permanent farms in valleys to summer farms at higher altitudes while others were traveling a long way, possibly even out of Norway.

Some of the treasure trove of artifacts found on the passage have been dated from 4,000 B.C. and include Viking swords, clothing, horse skulls, a three thousand four hundred year old shoe made from untanned animal hide found in 2006, arrowheads with wooden shafts, and a large amount of horse dung.

Dr. Lars Holger Pilø, co-director of the Glacier Archaeology Program at Oppland County Council in Norway, began the glacier archaeology in 2011 after a complete Iron Age tunic from Lendbreen was found. Results and images of these findings can also be found at Secrets of the Ice.

**The ruins of a stone-built shelter in the pass.**

Over the next several years, more than one thousand objects have been discovered, but only about sixty have been carbon dated. According to National Geographic, most of the items have been found in a melting ice patch which preserves objects better than if they fell into a glacier.

Glacier ice moves and usually destroys any relics that have been dropped there, but ice patches stay in place, preserving articles for thousands of years.

**Wooden bit used for goat kids and lambs to not get their mother’s milk, as it was used for human consumption.**

**A wooden whisk, radiocarbon-dated to the 11th century AD.**

Pilø also discovered a small rock shelter and stacked rock formations called cairns used as sort of road signs guiding travelers through the pass as they moved about Norway leading him to believe that the pass was a busy travel route for almost one thousand years.

Traffic in the pass was reduced after the Viking Age which could have been the result of the Bubonic plague that emerged in 1190 BC and decimated Norway, wiping out up to two-thirds of the population in the fourteenth century.

**A ”tong” found by two team members in the mountain pass at Lendbreen.**

**Ancient horseshoe found at Lendbreen.**

Another factor could have been a colder period, the Little Ice Age, perhaps caused by the eruption of Mt. Hekla in the south of Iceland in 1159 BC which was comparable to the eruption of Mt.

Vesuvius in 79 AD according Dr. Philip Norrie of the University of New South Wales Faculty of Medicine in Australia in his 2016 book, A History of Disease in Ancient Times at Springer Link.

Dr. Pilø, in Smithsonian Magazine, notes that there were several pandemics during the middle ages, all of which impacted population, lifestyle, and travel.

Fewer people traveled either to summer farms or long-distance. Later, as population and life normalized, the pass had become a distant memory, used by few.

**Dated to the 10th century AD, this is a very well-preserved textile containing its original blue color.**

The finds at Lendbreen have been of great archeological value. But there may be a problem now. Once organic ancient artifacts such as textiles, leather, wood, wool, and bone are exposed to air and light they deteriorate quickly and must be harvested right away to preserve them.

Ice archaeologists have covered an area of about forty-five acres at Lendbreen, possibly the largest glacial archaeology survey ever performed.

**Viking Age spear, originally found in one piece in front of the Lendbreen ice patch of the Viking mountain pass.**

The 2019 season yielded a big melt and another fruitful season with the remains of a dog still wearing a collar and leash, the bones of pack horses and a sled, and more horseshoes as well as a horse snowshoe from possibly from the 11th to about the 14th century.