Iraq is battling its worst drought in decades. Lack of rainfall and poor resource management has left communities that depend on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers devoid of the water they need to survive. So authorities drained part of the Mosul Dam reservoir in the country’s Kurdistan region this January to keep crops from drying out.
Archaeologists got brief access to the city during another drought in 2018, but this is the first time they managed a comprehensive site study.
As it turns out, the decision preserved more than crops. Out of that drained area, an ancient city emerged—and with just days to examine the area before the waters came back, archaeologists successfully mapped what they believe to have been a major city in the Mittani Empire (also spelled Mitanni Empire) built 3,400 years ago.
People in the area knew the city was there when the dam was created in the 1980s, but the buildings and artifacts that survived the city’s destruction in an earthquake around 1350 B.C.E. had never been fully investigated, Live Science’s Patrick Pester reports.
Parts of the city first arose from the depths during a major drought in 2018, as Smithsonian magazine’s Jason Daley reported at the time. During that brief time, researchers were able to explore a lost palace with massive, 22-foot-high walls, some six feet thick, and discovered “remains of wall paintings in vibrant shades of red and blue.” However, the archaeologists ultimately didn’t have enough time to sufficiently map the city before the waters returned.
So when drought struck again this year, a research team was assembled in a matter of days to hurry out to the site, according to a statement from the University of Tübingen. Researchers obtained short-notice funding through the University of Freiburg to examine as much as the city as possible before it was re-submerged.
The walls of the city were amazingly well-preserved.
Now, archaeologists have a clearer picture of what this ancient city might have been like, thanks to the team’s mapping of numerous large buildings and uncovering of hundreds of artifacts. Among the buildings found were an industrial complex, a fortification with a wall and towers, and a multi-story storage building.
“The huge magazine building is of particular importance because enormous quantities of goods must have been stored in it, probably brought from all over the region,” Ivana Puljiz, an assistant professor of archaeology from the University of Freiburg, says in the statement.
Hasan Ahmed Qasim, chairman of the Kurdistan Archaeology Organization and the expedition’s leader, adds that “The excavation results show that the site was an important center in the Mittani Empire.”
The team was impressed by how well many of the walls—sometimes reaching almost ten feet high—were preserved, despite being made of sun-dried mud and submerged for more than 40 years.
That’s likely due the earthquake that destroyed the city. It turned the upper parts of the walls into rubble, which buried and protected the lower parts of the city for centuries.
Also astonishingly well-preserved: five ceramic vessels containing over 100 cuneiform tablets, some still in their clay envelopes. In the statement, Peter Pfälzner, a professor of archaeology at the University of Tübingen, describes the underwater survival of unfired clay tablets as being “close to a miracle.” The team hopes the tablets, some of which could be letters, will shed more light on what the city and its daily life were like.
It’s possible the site could be the ancient city of Zakhiku, a major hub in the Mittani Empire, which lasted from roughly 1500 to 1350 B.C.E. One of a number of kingdoms and states founded by the Indo-Iranians in Mesopotamia and Syria, at its peak the empire spanned just over 600 miles, extending from the Zagros Mountains to the Mediterranean Sea.
In the empire’s early years, the Mittanis tussled with Egypt over control of Syria until a truce was reached with Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose IV around 1420 B.C.E. The Mittanis fell to the Hittite Empire around 1360 B.C.E., and the Assyrians soon took over the area.
Though the emergence of this underwater city is incredible, it’s not the only abandoned town to have been revealed from the depths by drought this year.
In February, the Spanish village of Aceredo—which was flooded to create the Alto Lindoso reservoir in 1992—was fully exposed during a drought, Gizmodo’s Molly Taft reports.
Though the tops of houses are sometimes visible when the reservoir’s water levels drop, full buildings had never been exposed before this winter, which was unnaturally dry due to climate change.
Before the waters came back, researchers covered the area with tarps and gravel for safekeeping.
Drought can also reveal other archaeological wonders. The 4,000- to 7,000-year-old megalithic monument known as the Dolmen of Guadalperal emerged in 2019 when drought hit a Spanish reservoir that had covered the stones for about 60 years, Smithsonian’s Meilan Solly reported at the time.
Iraq has been hit especially hard by global warming—temperatures there are rising twice as fast as the global average, according to PBS’ Simona Foltyn. Average annual rainfall is down by 10 percent, and as a result, historic wetlands have dried up, livestock are dying, and people are struggling to get fresh water.
For now, there’s still enough water that the Mosul reservoir refilled in February, ending the researchers’ investigation. To protect the city, the team covered the area in tarps overlaid with gravel fill before the waters fully re-flooded the area.
Drought is expected to continue to plague the region. That will be a disaster for locals—and could present other opportunities for archaeologists.
There’s likely plenty left to discover: As Qasim told the Art Newspaper’s Hadani Ditmars, “There are more than 100 underwater sites in the Eastern Tigris area” alone.
“Vikings: Beyond the Legend” display sails into Cincinnati with four ships, and around 500 artifacts
On November 11th Viking Ships will sail into the Cincinnati Museum Center.Vikings are invading once again, but not in their usual violent way. The ships will enter the Union Terminal on November 11th to celebrate the opening of the newest special exhibit, featuring the Scandinavian seafarers.
People most likely picture burly, bearded barbarians with horned helmets whenever Vikings are mentioned, yet experts now state this to be inaccurate. The “Vikings: Beyond the Legend” exhibit aims to combat the stereotype by showcasing four ships and around 500 artifacts that highlight the skilled craftsmanship the Vikings possessed.
Viking Ship Museum
The exhibit will feature four large ships on an interactive, hands-on display. There will also be more than 500 artifacts on loan from the Swedish History Museum.
These original artifacts display the craftsmanship of the people, who used bone, silver, iron, bronze, wood, textiles, leather, and ceramics to create everyday items and ceremonial objects.
Guests will be able to virtually excavate the Viking ships layer by layer, uncovering rich finds like animals, tools, and weapons just like the archaeologists did. You can also test your own strength using a model Viking sword, and compete in unique Viking games.
On Wednesday, around a dozen people had to maneuver two replica ships into a warehouse which will hold them before their transfer to the Museum Center later this month.
The Krampmacken is a replica of a 26-foot Viking trading boat that was discovered on Gotland Island, Sweden, in the 1920s. The Karls is a reconstruction of a 21-foot sailing vessel.
The exhibit will feature two more ships that have not yet been moved to Cincinnati. One is a unique “Ghost Ship”, made with original iron rivets supporting the spots they would have been placed before the oak hull deteriorated over the course of 1,000 years.
Possibly the most astonishing ship is the 122-foot Roskilde 6, a partly intact Viking long ship that was uncovered from the Roskilde Fjord, Denmark in 1997. This is the only artifact on loan from the National Museum of Denmark.
This Viking warship was one of their fastest due to its long, narrow shape. Several rowers and a shallow draft helped it navigate Scandinavian and Northern European ports, as well as sail up the rivers and deep inland. The ship has never been on display in America, for the reason that not many museums have the capacity to house such a large artifact.
A news release from the museum states the exhibit burst the myth of a culture that was devoted to war and destruction. Vikings actually were explorers, traders, and artisans who contributed to literature, navigation, and religion.
Silhouette of an original Viking ship
The Vikings were originally from Scandinavia, the area that today encompasses the countries of Finland, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Yet they also inhabited land throughout northern and eastern Europe. Between 750 and 1100 CE they also went through North America, Iceland, and the British Isles.
While they were definitely warriors, and some did raid and plunder towns, even as far as the Mediterranean and northern Africa, they were also storytellers, merchants, and farmers.
Their source of status was land ownership instead of brute strength. With the plundering aside, they engaged in trade through a large part of Europe. They favored their knowledge of sea current and the winds as alternative navigational tools for travelling between their trading centers.
The Vikings also worshiped Norse gods like Thor, Freya, and Odin, but accepted several aspects of Christianity. Unlike their European counterparts, women were the heads of their households and had great influence in Viking society.
Discounted tickets for museum members went on sale October 3rd. General admissions tickets are on sale November 1st. Tickets will cost $19.50 for adults, $12.50 for children, and $17.50 for seniors.
“Viking: Beyond the Legend” is a combined venture between The Swedish history Museum and the Museum’s Partner located in Austria. The Rokilde 6 is a display of a joint venture between the National Museum of Denmark and it’s Partners.
Child Buried With 142 Dogs in Ancient Egyptian Necropolis
Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of 142 non-ritually buried dogs, covered in blue powder, in an elite Egyptian tomb. It is believed they were drowned in a reservoir flood.
Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979, the Faiyum Oasis necropolis contains a group of ancient Egyptian tombs located approximately 62 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of Cairo. The tombs feature well-preserved paintings and inscriptions from the Middle Kingdom (2040-1782 BCE) through the Ptolemaic Period (305-30 BCE), illustrating the day-to-day activities of ancient Egypt.
The Faiyum Oasis is a marvel, including precious archaeological sites and geological wonders
An article by Heritage Daily explains that archaeologists from CEI RAS have been excavating 4th century BC to 7th century AD burials at Faiyum for several years.
In 2021, an international team of archaeologists uncovered a large tomb dating back to the New Kingdom period (1550-1070 BC) that contained the remains of “142 dogs,” buried alongside the tomb’s owner, who is believed to have been an elite 8 or 9 year old girl.
Four Legged Family Members, Or Working Dogs?
The discovery of the 142 dogs’ remains offers newfound insights into ancient Egyptians’ relationship with canines, both as pets and working dogs, which is an important aspect of their culture that is not well understood.
The researchers said the dogs were “ carefully buried ,” with many of them lying on their sides, facing the tomb’s human inhabitant. According to an article in Greek Reporter , this suggests the dogs were highly valued and possibly even considered members of the family.
Different dog breeds were identified in the tomb, with some of the races resembling modern-day breeds, such as greyhounds and salukis, while others were wild pariah dogs.
This discovery indicates that Egyptians bred dogs for specific jobs, like hunting, herding, and companionship. To learn more about their breeds and origins, the archaeologists are now planning a study of the 142 dogs’ DNA.
The mummified remains of a young girl with 142 dogs raised interesting questions. There were a variety of dog breeds in ancient Egypt, and in the newly discovered tomb
They All Died Together, But Not By A Human Hand
In ancient cultures, it was not uncommon for animals to be buried alongside their owners, which were often regarded as companions and served as status symbols. In ancient Egypt, dogs were highly valued and were sometimes mummified and buried with their owners in tombs or cemeteries. But not in this case.
This discovery of 142 dog remains is significant, in that it has the potential to provide new insights into the culture and society of ancient Egypt, and how they interacted with animals. Zoologist Galina Belov , from the Centre for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Egyptology Department, examined the dogs and found that they all died at the same time, with “no evidence of violence”.
Mummy of a dog with naturistically modelled head, face covered with dark-brown linen, one eye applied.
Accidental Death by Drowning?
At Dayr al-Barsha, a Coptic village in Middle Egypt, the remains found in shafts and burial chambers included dogs, foxes, eagle owls, bats, rodents, and snakes.
However, these animals were not ritually buried, but rather trapped in the shafts by accident. And it would seem that an accident was also the cause of death of the 142 dogs discovered last year.
According to a report on News AM , the researchers identified traces of “blue clay” over the dog’s remains, which are thought to have come from an ancient Egyptian reservoir.
This discovery suggested the dogs had been involved with a flooded water source in which they might have drowned. In conclusion, it is thought that maybe the child had been caring for the animals, but an even bigger mystery surrounds “the linen bag” found on the girl’s head!
Linen Indicated High-Status in Ancient Egypt
A similar linen bag was found on another head at the same necropolis, but on an executed man with an arrow in his chest. By 3600 BC, Egyptians had begun to mummify the dead by wrapping them in linen bandages or strips with plant extracted embalming oils, and the linen was adhered to the body using gum, as opposed to a glue.
Linen dressings provided the body physical protection from the elements, and depending on how wealthy the deceased’s family was, the departed could be dressed with an ornamental funeral mask and shroud.
However, in this case, the deceased girl with the linen bag on her head was laid amongst almost 150 dogs, which while not being gold, also indicated elite status, as someone had to pay for the feed and upkeep of all these animals.
Scientists Uncover Nearly 100 Dinosaur Nests in Fossilized Hatchery
Paleontologists in central India have uncovered 92 preserved dinosaur nests and 256 eggs in an extensive fossilized hatchery. During the Late Cretaceous period, this breeding ground belonged to long-tailed, long-necked titanosaurs.
Five images display (A) an unhatched egg, (B) a circular outline of a possibly unhatched egg, (C) a compressed egg showing hatching window (arrow) and eggshells collected around the hatching window (circled), (D) an egg showing a curved outline, and (E) a deformed egg showing egg surfaces slipping past each other.
Combined with other sites previously found nearby, this trove of fossilized nests makes up one of the world’s largest known dinosaur hatcheries.
“Such nesting colonies would have been a sight to see back in the Cretaceous,” Darla Zelenitsky, a dinosaur paleobiologist at the University of Calgary in Canada who was not involved in the study, tells CNN’s Katie Hunt. “The landscape would have been dotted by a huge number of large dinosaur nests.”
Researchers studied these nests from 2017 to 2020 and published their findings Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE, revealing insights into the dinosaurs’ reproductive habits.
Some 40 species of titanosaurs, a kind of herbivorous sauropod, are known to have lived, and several of them likely used this hatchery. The researchers found evidence of six species—or kinds of dinosaur eggs—at the site.
With so many nests in close proximity, it would have been hard for the massive reptiles to access the site to incubate eggs or feed hatchlings. Likely incapable of stepping delicately through the hatchery without crushing eggs underfoot, titanosaurs presumably were hands-off parents.
Instead, they might have incubated eggs by covering them, likely with sand, the researchers suggest. Laid and buried in shallow pits, titanosaur eggs may have been warmed by sunlight and the heat of the earth. After hatching, the young dinosaurs would have left the clutch quickly.
“It looks like sauropods laid their eggs and then left their offspring to fend for themselves,” Susannah Maidment, curator of dinosaurs at London’s Natural History Museum who was not involved in the study, tells the museum’s James Ashworth.
To that end, the paleontologists did not find any preserved dinosaur remains with the eggs and nests. No evidence of adults—or even hatchlings—was found in the area.
“It could be possible that this area was only for nesting and not for habitation purposes,” Guntupalli Prasad, a study co-author and paleontologist at the University of Delhi in India, tells Gizmodo’s Isaac Schultz in an email. Alternatively, it’s possible “the bones could not get preserved, or are deeply buried or still unexposed and yet to be discovered.”
One find in particular stood out to the researchers: a rare egg-within-an-egg. This phenomenon, called “ovum-in-ovo,” is a known occurrence in birds. It happens when an egg that’s going to be laid gets pushed back into the body and becomes embedded within another egg, usually under stressful conditions like disease, a shortage of food or extreme temperatures. However, this kind of egg has never been identified in a dinosaur—or in any reptile.
This first-of-its-kind find, if confirmed, suggests that titanosaurs had a similar reproductive system to modern birds. They may have laid eggs sequentially, as birds do, rather than all at once in a clutch, like crocodiles. But the dinosaurs still shared some traits with crocodiles: They nested in marshy areas, and their eggs were randomly spaced.
The reproductive systems of titanosaurs, the researchers conclude, were likely more similar to birds and crocodiles than to any other modern-day reptiles.
Experts note that it’s difficult to tell whether these 92 nests were all active at the same time or just created in the same vicinity over the course of decades, centuries or millennia.
Regardless, the find is astonishing, Zelenitsky tells Joshua A. Krisch in an email. “Frankly, it is surprising that discoveries of this magnitude are still being made.”
Archaeologists Unearth the ‘Golden Man’ of the Saka Burial Mound in Kazakhstan
Last week, Ancient Origins reported on the fascinating discovery of a golden treasure left by the ancient Saka people in a burial mound in Kazakhstan.
It was called one of the most significant finds in helping archaeologists unravel the history of the ancient Scythian sub-group. Now, archaeologists have found the missing element of the Saka burial mound – a ‘golden man’.
According to Archaeology News Network , the mummy of a Saka man who died in the 8th-7th centuries BC was found in the Yeleke Sazy burial mound in the remote Tarbagatai Mountains of eastern Kazakhstan. He died when he was just 17 or 18 years old and it is estimated he was 165-170 centimeters (5.4-5.6 ft.) tall.
The ‘golden man’ found in the Saka burial mound.
There are plans underway to find out more about the man, as lead archaeologist Zeinolla Samashev, stated, “We will do facial reconstruction from the skull of this young man, extract DNA from the bones to find out the environment people lived in back then, to learn about their everyday life and habits”.
Kazakhstan’s ministry of information and communications explained why the human remains received its shining nickname, “When buried, the young man was dressed in gold, with all of his clothes being embroidered with gold beads.
The man was buried with a massive gold torc around his neck (suggesting his noble origin) and a dagger in a golden quiver beside him.”
The man’s remains were removed from the site for analysis.
That fits in well with the previous discovery of 3000 golden artifacts in the kurgan (burial mound). Archaeologists have unearthed plates, necklaces with precious stones, earrings, beautifully crafted figurines of animals, and golden beads which may have been used to embellish Saka clothing.
The find also corresponds with the belief that elite members of the culture were laid to rest in the Saka burial mound. As Yegor Kitov, an anthropologist at Moscow’s Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, said, “The finds and the size of the mound suggest that the young man buried inside had a high social status.”
Kitov also suggests “The body was mummified to allow time for those coming from far away to say farewell to the man,” further exemplifying the man’s social status in his time.
These gold beads would have been used to decorate his clothing.
The burial mound which held the man’s remains was created by members of the Saka culture. This was a Scythian nomadic group who spoke an Iranian language and lived on the Eurasian Steppe.
The Saka are best remembered as skilled horsemen and metalworkers. Danial Akhmentov, head of the East Kazakhstan regional administration, notes the craftsmanship of the Saka in the recently revealed treasures from the burial mound, “The finds indicate the high level of technological development in gold jewelry production in the 8th century B.C., which, in turn, suggests the high level of civilization at that time,” he said .
One of the gold figurines found in the treasure.
The Saka are known to have buried members of the elite in their kurgans, usually in pairs or as a family unit. That means that there may still be other skeletons inside the Yeleke Sazy burial mound.
There are still more plans to excavate in the area because estimates suggest that there may be 200 burial sites in varying states of conservation nearby. Unfortunately, it is believed that looting has been an issue in at least some of the kurgans.
DNA reveals large migration into Scandinavia during the Viking age
We often think of the Vikings as ultimate explorers, taking their culture with them to far-off lands. But we may not typically think of Viking age Scandinavia as a hub for migration from all over Europe.
In a study published in Cell, we show this is exactly what happened. The Viking period (late 8th century to mid 11th century) was the catalyst for an exceptional inflow of people into Scandinavia. These movements were greater than for any other period we analysed.
What’s also striking is that later Scandinavians don’t show the same high levels of non-local ancestry present in their Viking-era counterparts. We don’t completely understand why the migrants’ genetic impact was reduced in later Scandinavians, but there are some possibilities.
We analysed genomes (the full complement of DNA contained in human cells) from around 17,000 Scandinavian individuals, including nearly 300 from ancient burials. We combined existing datasets with new samples. These were analysed together in a dataset spanning 2,000 years.
We used these genomes to explore when people arrived in the region from outside and where they came from. New DNA samples were collected from several iconic Swedish archaeological sites.
These included Sandby borg, which is a “ring fortress” where a massacre occurred just before 500 AD, and the Vendel cemetery, which features several burials contained in large boats and dating to between the 6th and 8th centuries AD. We also used samples from Viking chamber burials and remains from Kronan, a warship that capsized with more than 800 men in 1676.
Two previous studies noted extensive migration into Scandinavia during the Viking age. But in our latest study, we have clarified some of the details about this flow of genes into the region.
We found that movements of people from western Europe impacted all of Scandinavia, while migration from the east was more localised, with peaks in the Lake Mälaren Valley and Gotland. Finally, gene flow from southern Europe largely affected the south of Scandinavia.
Since the study was based on a 2,000-year chronology, it was not only possible to see there was an increase in migration during the Viking era, but also that it starts to fall with the onset of the medieval period.
The non-local ancestry that arrives in the region at this time falls away in later periods. Much of the genetic influence from eastern Europe disappears and the western and southern influence becomes significantly diluted. The best way to explain this is that people who arrived in Scandinavia during Viking times did not have as many children as the people who were already living there.
An archaeologist uncovers human remains at Sandby borg in Sweden. Daniel Lindskog, Author provided
There are different possible reasons for this. The migrants could have belonged to groups that did not intend to settle down in Scandinavia, instead aiming to return to where they came from. Tradespeople and diplomats are examples in this category. Additionally, the migrants could also have belonged to groups that were not allowed to have families or children, such as slaves and priests.
We also looked at influences that began at earlier periods in time. For example, the DNA of modern Scandinavians changes gradually as you travel from north to south. This genetic “cline”, or gradient, is due to migrations into the region of people carrying shared genetic similarities known as the Uralic component.
Modern examples of where the Uralic genetic component can be found are among Sami people, people in modern Finland, some Native Americans and some central Asian groups.
In our dataset, we found occasional instances of people with Uralic ancestry – mainly in northern Scandinavia – during the Viking period and medieval times. But the Uralic influence seems to increase after this time, since individuals from our 17th century sample have similar levels of this ancestry to people living today.
Underwater excavations of the Kronan wreck. Image: Lars Einarsson. Lars Einarsson, Author provided
There were many other fascinating stories from our study. For example, at the Viking age burial site of Sala, by the river Sagån, we find a woman that seems to be fully British or Irish in her genomic composition. This woman was buried in a prestigious Viking period boat burial. We don’t know exactly what position she held in society, but she would not have been a slave or a priest.
Among the individuals found on the wreck of the Kronan, there were two people who came from what is now Finland and another who has a genetic affinity with people from the Baltic states, such as Lithuania and Latvia (though this identification is not conclusive). At the time of the Kronan incident in 1676, these areas were part of the Swedish Empire, though they are independent today.
The work sheds more light on the historical events that shaped the populations of Scandinavia over time. The Viking age was marked by Scandinavians’ curiosity of the world outside their home region. But, from our results, it also appears that the world outside this region was curious enough about the Vikings to travel to Scandinavia.
Great white-shark-sized ancient fish discovered by accident from fossilized lung
A 66 million-year-old fossilized lung from a previously unknown species of ancient fish, as large as a great white shark, has recently been uncovered in Morocco.
An example of what a complete fish fossil coelacanth looks like.
Researchers believe the fish was a much larger member of the coelacanths, an Order of fish nicknamed the ‘living fossils that were thought to be extinct until a live specimen was found in 1938. Given the size of the newfound lung, this particular coelacanth would have been 17 feet (5.2 meters) long, according to the researchers.
The fossilized lung was part of a large slab, uncovered in phosphate beds in Oued Zem in Morocco, which contained several other bones belonging to pterosaurs. The bones confirm that the coelacanth dates back to the end of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago, just before the dinosaurs became extinct.
“It is absolutely enormous; it’s a giant coelacanth, in a place we have never found them before” said study co-author David Martill, a paleontologist at the University of Portsmouth in England.
The new discovery sheds light on one of the most mysterious fish groups to ever swim in the oceans, but it also raises questions about what happened to them.
A lucky find
A private pterosaur collector in London bought the fossil slab from a seller in Morocco and originally mistook the fossilized fish lung as part of a pterodactyl skull. But on closer inspection, he was unsure, so he contacted Martill to get his professional opinion.
The slab of fossils bought by the private collector, including the coelacanth lung and pterosaur bones.
“He sent me a bunch of pictures, and I really didn’t know what it was,” Martill told Live Science. “But I really didn’t think it was part of the pterosaur.”
However, after visiting the fossil slab in person, Martill knew exactly what he was looking at. “I realized that instead of being one bone, it was actually hundreds of very thin sheets of bone,” Martill said.
The fossil lung was somewhat barrel-shaped, but instead of the staves — the wooden planks that make up a barrel — lined up along the barrel, they were wrapped around it and overlapping.
“There’s only one species that has a bone structure like that, and that’s the coelacanth fish,” Martill said. “They actually wrap their lung in this bony sheath, it’s a very unusual structure.”
Initially disappointed, the collector allowed Martill to separate the lung from the rest of the slab so it could be properly analyzed.
After discovering the fossilized lung, Martill teamed up with Brazlillian paleontologist Paulo Brito, a world leading expert in coelacanth lungs, from the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Brito confirmed Martill’s suspicions and was “astonished” at the size of the specimen, according to a statement from the University of Portsmouth.
The fossilized coelacanth lung separated from the slab of fossils.
Previously discovered ancient coelacanths lived in rivers and had bodies extending between 10 and 13 feet (3 and 4 meters) in length; but the new unnamed species, which is thought to have lived in the open ocean, would have been much bigger. Modern-day coelacanths are smaller than both and reach around 6 feet (1.8 m) long.
“The coelacanth body plan has been pretty constant for the last few hundred million years,” Martill said. “This one is just much bigger.”
The collector has since donated the lung to the Department of Geology at Hassan II University of Casablanca in Morocco.
Mysterious end
One of the biggest mysteries surrounding the fossilized lung is where the rest of the coelacanth’s massive body ended up. Martill’s leading theory is that one of the large reptilian marine predators that dominated the Cretaceous oceans — such as plesiosaurs and mosasaurs — may have eaten it
“Coelacanths were slow-swimming fishes; this massive version would have been easy prey for these big predators,” Martill said.
The researchers also found damage on the lung, which also suggests the fish was bitten by one of these massive predators.
A diagram showing where the lung fragment would have been located within the coelacanth’s body.
Plesiosaurs and mosasaurs would have also regurgitated up large bones from their meals, like modern-day lizards do, which could explain why the lung ended up isolated with other bones from different animals. It would also explain why other coelacanths haven’t been found in the area, as the fish may have been eaten hundreds of miles away and then regurgitated much later.
However, there is no way to prove that it died in this way.
“We haven’t written about this in the paper, because the evidence is really tenuous,” Martill said. “It’s a good story but it’s only one possibility.”
What happened to the rest of the coelacanths is also a mystery. They completely disappear from the fossil record at the end of the Cretaceous period, which is what originally led scientists to think they were extinct. But live coelacanths found within the last century prove that at least one species managed to survive.
“We keep finding coelacanths up until the end of the Cretaceous, and then they just disappear,” Martill said. “This is one of the last coelacanths before what we call the pseudoextinction.”
It is possible that these giant coelacanths could still secretly roam the unexplored pockets of the deep sea today. But although he hopes this might be the case, Martill admitted: “the evidence of this happening isn’t good.”
More Orichalcum, the Atlantis Alloy, Turns Up with Helmets at a Sicilian Shipwreck, What Was its Use?
Researchers have recovered yet more ingots, possibly of the fabled metal orichalcum, from a ship that sank off the coast of Sicily around 2,600 years ago.
The find has led some to ponder whether the mythical island of Atlantis , where the legendary alloy was supposed to have been created, was real. The shipwreck, however, dates to about seven millennia later than the legend of Atlantis.
In 2015, researchers diving near the shipwreck found 39 ingots of a copper, zinc, and charcoal alloy that resembles brass. They believe it may be the ancient metal orichalcum. The new cache of the same metal consists of 47 ingots.
Some of the orichalcum ingots found near a 2,600-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sicily.
While the metal is rare, it is not as precious as researchers expected from reading ancient Greek philosopher Plato’s description of it in the Critias dialogue . Plato said only gold was a more precious substance than orichalcum.
Plato said only gold was a more precious substance than orichalcum. Here are two of the recently discovered ingots.
Several ancient thinkers mention the alloy in writings – as far back as Hesiod in the 8th century BC. Until 2015, the metal had never been found in any appreciable quantities, says an article about the find on Seeker.com. Scholars have debated the origin and composition of orichalcum for a long time.
The shipwreck was found near two others about 1,000 feet (305 meters) off the coast of the Sicilian city of Gela. The wrecks were submerged in about 10 feet (3 meters) of water. Researchers think the ship went down in a storm, while close to the port.
Underwater archaeologists and some of the other artifacts found at the site.
“The waters there are a priceless mine of archaeological finds,” Adriana Fresina told Seeker.com. She works with archaeologist Sebastiano Tusa, Sicily’s superintendent of the seas.
Greek myth says Cadmus, a Phoenician and the first king of Thebes, invented orichalcum.
Cadmus, the Greek mythological figure who is said to have created orichalcum.
Artist’s representation of Atlantis.
Djonis writes that the orichalcum cargo likely originated on Cyprus, another island in the Mediterranean. Every known alloy containing copper has been produced, including orichalcum, on Cyprus since the 4th millennium BC.
Plato wrote that orichalcum covered the walls, columns and floors of Poseidon’s temple. He wrote the only metal that surpassed it in value was gold.
“The outermost wall was coated with brass, the second with tin, and the third, which was the wall of the citadel, flashed with the red light of orichalcum,” Plato wrote. Poseidon’s laws were also inscribed onto a pillar of orichalcum, according to Plato.
The city of Gela on Sicily was rich and had many workshops that produced fine objects. Researchers believe the orichalcum pieces were en route to those workshops for use in decorations and fashion objects.
Plato wrote that orichalcum covered the walls, columns and floors of Poseidon’s temple. He wrote the only metal that surpassed it in value was gold.
“The outermost wall was coated with brass, the second with tin, and the third, which was the wall of the citadel, flashed with the red light of orichalcum,” Plato wrote. Poseidon’s laws were also inscribed onto a pillar of orichalcum, according to Plato.
The city of Gela on Sicily was rich and had many workshops that produced fine objects. Researchers believe the orichalcum pieces were en route to those workshops for use in decorations and fashion objects.
Altogether, the researchers have discovered 47 new ingots of varying sizes and shapes.
In Search of The Lost Testament of Alexander the Great: Excavating Homeric Heroes
The ancient city of Aegae in Greece, where the royal tombs are located, dates back to the 7th century BCE; it became Macedonia’s first capital after it was conglomerated from a collection of villages into a city in the 5th century BCE. Aegae was eventually supplanted by a new capital at Pella in the 4th century BCE but retained its status as the spiritual home and burial ground of the Macedonian kings.
Aegae Becomes Lost to History
Both settlements were partially destroyed by Rome in 168 BCE following the Battle of Pydna when Macedonia was finally defeated, and a landslide which buried the older capital in the 1st century, after which it was uninhabited.
The name ‘Aegae’ ceased to be used and its history was grazed over by goats and sheep and survived in oral legend only, while papyri and faded vellums told of a former city of kings. Only a nearby early Christian basilica built from the stones of the ancient ruins marked the forgotten location.
In the 1920s, on what had once been the southeast side of the Macedonian royal palace, Greek refugees from the Euxine Pontus region of Asia Minor founded the village of Vergina, and the still unidentified fallen stones were used as masonry in the new houses.
Supervised excavations at what turned out to be the founding city of the Argead (otherwise, Temenid) dynasty go back to the 1860s when a dig by French archaeologist, Léon Heuzey, sponsored by Napoleon III, revealed a Macedonian tomb next to the village of Palatitsia, ‘the small palaces’, a name that hinted tantalizingly at its former significance, though it was erroneously thought to be the site of the ancient city of Valla. In the 1930s, Konstantinos Romaios, a professor of archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, revealed a further tomb, but as Albert Olmstead’s above despondent summation affirms, as late as 1948 archaeologists still had not pinpointed the location of Aegae.
Royal Macedonian Burial Mound in Vergina.
Between 1958 and 1975 excavations in the area were extended by Georgios Bakalakis and Fotis Petsas, the antiquities curator (from 1955-1965). Professor Manolis Andronikos, a pupil of Romaios, eventually became convinced the so-called Great Tumulus, Megali Toumba, must house the tombs of the Macedonian kings.
But it was the British historian, Nicholas Hammond, who first voiced the idea (in fact in 1968) that the ancient ruins lying between Vergina and Palatitsia (rather than those at the town of Edessa) were in fact the lost city of Aegae, a contention that was not immediately accepted.
The City of Kings is Found
After initial disappointment in 1977 when shafts were sunk through the center of the mound (where remains of a stoa and/or cenotaph tumulus might have nevertheless been found) with some 60,000 cubic feet (1699 cubic meters) of earth removed, and while preparing an access ramp on the southeast perimeter for works planned the following season, Andronikos stumbled across gold, literally: two royal tombs were finally revealed.
Tombs I and II had originally been buried together under a single low tumulus with Tomb II at its center; Tomb III, close by, was discovered the following year. Andronikos was exposing what is now referred to as the ‘royal burial cluster of Philip II’, Alexander’s father.
A model of the tomb of Philip II.
The precious articles found within suggested to Andronikos that in the ‘monumental death chamber’ of Tomb II, ‘laid on an elaborate gold and ivory deathbed wearing his precious golden oak wreath’ – which features 313 oak leaves and 68 acorns – King Philip II had been ‘surrendered, like a new Heracles, to the funeral pyre’.
For the flesh-boned cremation (the evidence lies in the color, warping and minute forms of bone fractures) which took place soon after its occupant’s death (distinct from ‘dry-boned’ which takes place long after death when flesh has rotted away) revealed traces of gold droplets, a clue that the king was placed on the pyre wearing his crown. A more recent analysis suggests that in the holokautoma, the total incineration, his body was wrapped in an asbestos shroud to help separate the bones from the pyre debris.
Within the Great Tumulus of Aegae, Andronikos discovered some ‘forty-seven complete or nearly complete stelae’ [commemorative stone slabs] representing commoners’ graves dating back to the second half of the 4th century BCE. Since his death in 1992, the Eucleia and Cybele sanctuaries, the acropolis and vast necropolis with graves dating mostly to the Early Iron Age (1,000-700 BCE), and the northeast gate, have all been revealed, along with the royal palace, which is now considered to be the largest building in classical Greece.
Occupying 41,259 square feet (3833 sq. m.), it is three times the size of the Athenian Parthenon. Archaeologists have unearthed the fortress walls, more cemeteries with more sanctuaries and over 1,000 identified graves in total, besides the burial clusters of royal women and earlier Temenid kings (clusters ‘B’ and ‘C’), including the Heuzey and Bella clusters closer to Palatitsia. All in all, some 500 tumuli have been exposed covering over 900 hectares between Vergina and Palatitsia and they reveal the extent of the ancient city, which, with its suburbs, covered some 6,500 hectares.
The Death of Philip II
Having survived numerous battles, skirmishes, city sieges and hostile alliances against him, Philip’s death was sudden and unexpected. Intending to show the Greek world his impressive enhanced religious capital at Aegae with its revolutionary palace design that would have been visible from afar as visitors crossed the plains below, and when entering its older amphitheater at which the tragedies of the resident Euripides must have once been heard, Philip was stabbed at the wedding of his daughter, Cleopatra, in 336 BCE.
It was nothing short of a ‘spectacular, world-shaking event’. Unearthing in 1977 what is thought by many to be his tomb was no less dramatic and it has since been dubbed the ‘discovery of the century’.
A bust of Philip II of Macedon.
Philip’s funeral had been overseen by a grief-stricken, or perhaps a quietly elated, king-in-the-waiting, Alexander the Great. His bones appear to have been washed in emulation of the rites described in Homer’s Iliad in which Achilles’ remains were similarly prepared before being steeped in wine and oil.
After cremation, the bones were carefully collected and placed in the twenty-four-carat gold chest or larnax weighing 11 kilograms (24.25 lbs.), in a similar manner to the burial rites of Hector and Patroclus, and they were possibly covered in a soft purple cloth. However, the discovery of traces of the rare mineral huntite and Tyrian purple (porphyra) hint that Philip may in fact have been cremated in an elaborate funeral mask.
The gold larnax found in the main chamber, which contained the cremated bones.
The remains of bones and trappings of four horses have been found in what appears to have been a purifactory fire above the cornice. Along with two swords and a sarissa (pike), they were left to decay in a (now collapsed) mud brick structure above the tomb. Some scholars believe the remains include the mounts of Philip’s assassins and/or his famous chariot horses.
Once again, this would have followed the funerary rites Homer described for Patroclus. The Macedonian burial tradition, clearly following a heroic template, may have influenced Plato when he was writing his Laws which outlined the ideal burial in an idealized state.
Grave Goods of a Warrior King
What are believed by some scholars to be Philip’s remarkable funerary possessions provide a testament to a warrior king: a sword in a scabbard and a short sword, six spears and pikes of different lengths, two pairs of greaves, a throat-protecting gorget besides the aforementioned ceremonial shield (‘completely unsuitable to ward off the blows of battle’, according to Andronikos), body armor and the impressive once-plumed iron helmet.
The weaponry is representative of a soldier who fought in both the Macedonian cavalry and infantry regiments. In front of the sarcophagus in the main chamber were found the remains of a wooden couch decorated with five (of fourteen finally recovered) chryselephantine miniature relief figures thought (by some) to represent the family of Philip II.
Winthrop Lindsay Adams insightfully stated back in 1980 that the contents of the antechamber of Tomb II are ‘crucial to identification of the king in the main chamber’. And the contents are fascinating; they include a Scythian gold gorytos, the distinct two-part quiver that traditionally held arrows (seventy-four were found) often poison-tipped and unleashed by a compact powerful Scythian compound bow.
This is suggestive of a warrior woman whose identity we probe further in the epilogue. The gorytos, along with the exquisite items retrieved from the main chamber of Tomb II, are now on display in the Archaeological Museum at Vergina; the gold wreaths and the diadem have been described as the most beautiful pieces of jewelry of the ancient world.
The Scythian gorytos (quiver) and a pair of ornate greaves were photographed as they were found lying in the antechamber.
Unravelling Identities
Osteoarcheological studies on the bones of the two individuals from Tomb II, one of the longest and tallest of the chamber tombs at Aegae, have led to conflicting conclusions, as the press release made clear. But as Antikas’ 2014 report points out, the ‘…remains had been studied insufficiently and/or misinterpreted, causing debates among archaeologists and anthropologists for over three decades.’
Fortunately, the last thirty years have witnessed significant advances in bioarcheology. Working on behalf of the Aristotle University Vergina Excavation, Prof. Antikas explains that from 2009 to 2014 osteological and physiochemical analyses backed by CT and XRF scans (X-ray-computed tomography, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray fluorescence) have provided new theories regarding age, gender, paleopathology and morphological changes to the bones which are now catalogued by 4,500 photos.
Although the new investigations employed the latest tools in the science of physical anthropology that the earlier examinations of teams had not benefitted from in the 1980s, the technology has not yet put an end to the debate. In 2008, and prior to the highly scientific post-mortem by Antikas’ team in 2014, the Greek historian, Dr. Miltiades Hatzopoulos, summarized the background to the previous research: ‘The issue has been obscured by precipitate announcements, the quest for publicity, political agendas and petty rivalries…’ The summation sounds remarkably like the motives of the agenda-driven historians who gave us Alexander’s story.
Yet the Great Tumulus at Aegae, built from layers of clay, soil and rock, and thrown up by unknown hands laboring under a still-unnamed king, seems to have protected some of its finest secrets from historians and looters, both from the marauding Gauls and the invading Romans, who carted everything they could back to Italy following Macedonia’s defeat.
No doubt there is much more still to be discovered; the recent excavations at the Kasta Hill polyandreion (communal tomb) at Amphipolis some 100 miles (160 km) from Vergina and the newly unearthed tombs at Pella and Katerini, remind us we have only unearthed a fragment of classical Macedonia, and, we suggest, no more than fragments of the story of Alexander himself.
Discovery of 16,000-year-old Footprint That Could Change the History of the Americas
There are some discoveries that can change the way that we think about history. Archaeologists in Chile believe that they have made one such discovery. They have uncovered a human footprint that is approximately 15,500-16,000 years old.
It is the earliest evidence yet found of humans in the Americas. The imprint has the potential to change how we believe the continent was settled and who were its first inhabitants.
The imprint was found at the late Pleistocene period archaeological site of Pilauco, which according to phys.org “where scientists have been digging since 2007.”
The Pilauco site had also yielded evidence of extinct elephants and horses and is located in the Chilean city of Osorno some 500 miles (800 kilometers) south of Santiago, the capital of Chile.
The Pleistocene footprint is the oldest surviving human footprint in the Americas.
A Pleistocene Footprint
The footprint was found in 2010, near a modern house, by “a student at the Universidad Austral of Chile” according to Reuters. While the impression may appear to be clearly a human footprint, the scientists were cautious, as it could have been an animal’s tracks which had become misshapen and elongated over-time. It is believed that the imprint was buried under three feet of residue, which preserved it for posterity.
The Irish state broadcaster RTE reports that ‘”it took years for paleontologist Karen Moreno and geologist Mario Pino to reliably confirm that the print was human.”
It was only established by carrying out footprint tests with people and this proved that the imprint was human. These also established that it was made by a “barefooted adult human who was of ‘light body weight’” according to the Daily Mail .
Based on foot printing tests they conducted, scientists think the print comes from a straight down step. The diagram shows the different type of prints that could be made with different angles and pressure.
It is believed that the footprint is of a man who weighed 155 pounds (70 kilograms) and according to phys.org, was “of the species Hominipes modernus, a relative of Homo sapiens .”
This was established by ichnologicaly, that is by the scientific examination of the traces found in the sediment. Ichnologists comparing the mark with other traces were able to establish that it was H. modernus.
To establish if the Pleistocene footprint was human and how it was made, scientists performed foot printing tests on soil at different soil moisture levels and with different foot angles and pressures.
The Earliest Evidence of Humans
Scientists were able to date the find by using radiocarbon dating techniques that analyzed organic plant material near where the print was located and established that it was approximately 15,600 years old.
This made it according to RTE, the “oldest footprint found in the Americas.” While other prints have been unearthed, none are as old as the one found in the city of Osorno. It seems that the site was occupied by humans for some time as footprints dated a thousand years later have also been uncovered.
The Daily Mail reports that “this was the first evidence of humans in the Americas older than 12,000 years.” Previously it had been believed that the first inhabitants of the continent arrived from Siberia via the Bearing Straits some 10,000 years ago. This discovery is challenging the idea that Clovis Man, a paleo-Indian culture was the first to settle the continent.
Archeologist working on site of the location were Pleistocene footprint was discovered.
Who First Settled the Americas?
According to Plos One , the find provides evidence of “the colonization of northern Patagonia” in the late Pleistocene period . The footprint is supporting evidence found at the Monte Verde , Chile, that this region in the extreme south of the Americas was colonized much earlier than thought.
This, in turn, is supporting the so-called coastal migration model. This holds that the first settlers to inhabit the Americas migrated by following coastlines and may suggest that Pacific Islanders were the first to settle on the continent.
The impression and its surrounding sediment has been removed from the Osorno site and is now stored in a specially regulated environment. It has cracked somewhat as the moisture in the soil has dried but the impression is still distinct. The print could be put on display at some later date, but this depends on the state of the traces.
