Category Archives: ASIA

ASIA, EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

A 1,000-Year-Old Bible Found in Turkey Has Images of Jesus and Other Biblical Figures

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A 1,000-Year-Old Bible Found in Turkey Has Images of Jesus and Other Biblical Figures

Nearly thousand-year-old bible has been recently discovered by171 the Turkish Police when smugglers  tried to sell the priceless book to undercover officers.

Police in the central Turkish city of Tokat seize the ancient Bible together with additional priceless artefacts after catching the smugglers red-handed.

The Turkish Police also confiscated a valuable collection of jewelry and  53 ancient coins as well as  two parts of valuable rings and two arrowheads were also recovered from the crooks trying to gain a profit off of the  immensely valuable artifacts.

“They steal everything that they can sell, and what they can’t sell, they destroy,” Qais Hussein Rasheed, Iraq’s deputy minister for antiquities and heritage, said earlier this year of the Islamic State’s looting practices.

“We have noticed that the smuggling of antiquities has greatly increased since last June,” 

Researcher lists through 1,000-year-old Bible, written in the old Assyriac language and illustrated with religious motifs made of gold leafs, in a video posted on October 28, 2015.

The origins of the bible are still unknown. The bible is reportedly damaged, but the  writings in the old Assyrian language can be still noticed on the crumbled pages.  The cover is completely ruined, but the remaining fifty-one pages  have images and religious motifs in gold leaf.

Theologians are hoping that the 1,000-year-old document will shed clues about how Christianity developed in past centuries.

Holy book The Bible, written in the old Assyriac language, is estimated be around 1,000 years old and is illustrated with religious motifs made of gold leafs.

Discoveries of biblical artifacts have made news a number of times this past year, with a team of scholars claiming to have discovered the world’s earliest-known version of the Gospel back in January.

A team of researchers headed by by Craig Evans, a professor of New Testament studies at Acadia Divinity College in Nova Scotia, said that they found a sheet of papyrus used to make an ancient mummy’s mask in Egypt which contains a written portion of the Gospel of Mark, and dates back to as early as 80 A.D.

“Where did we find it? We dug underneath somebody’s face and there it was,” Evans said. ” It was from one of these masks that we recovered a fragment of the Gospel of Mark that is dated to the 80s. We could have a first century fragment of Mark for the first time ever.”

The oldest surviving copies of the Scripture had been dated to the second century, between the years 101 to 200 A.D.

In July this year,  Israeli archeologists announced that they had found a rare inscription of the name of an apparently influential person from the time of King David, which is also mentioned in the Bible.

The researchers found a 3,000-year-old large ceramic jar with the inscription of the name “Eshbaal Ben Beda,” which is mentioned in the Old Testament book of 1 Chronicles in 8:33 and 9:39.

Archaeologists Yosef Garfinkel and Saar Ganor expressed doubts, however, that the jar belonged to the same Eshbaal that is mentioned in the Bible.

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Archaeologists Discovered A 9,000-year-old Underground Megalithic Settlement of Atlit Yam

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Archaeologists Discovered A 9,000-year-old Underground Megalithic Settlement of Atlit Yam

In a groundbreaking discovery, archaeologists have uncovered a skeleton in the ancient underground city of Atlit Yam, which is believed to be around 9,000 years old.

The well-preserved city, located near the coast of Israel, has been the subject of extensive research for decades, but this recent find has the potential to reveal even more about the people who once inhabited the area.

The skeleton was found in a well-preserved state, with its bones and teeth intact. Experts are currently analyzing the remains in order to determine the gender, age, and cause of death.

The discovery of the skeleton is particularly significant because it provides a rare glimpse into the lives of the people who lived in the city during the Neolithic period.

Atlit Yam is a unique archaeological site that has been the subject of much interest over the years. The city was built on a small hill and was protected by a massive seawall, which is still visible 2023.

The city is believed to have been inhabited from around 8000 BCE until 5500 BCE and was likely a major center of trade and commerce in the region.

The discovery of the skeleton is just the latest in a series of exciting discoveries at Atlit Yam. In recent years, researchers have uncovered a number of artifacts and structures that provide insight into the daily lives of the people who once lived there. These discoveries include pottery, tools, and even a ritual bath.

The discovery of the skeleton is a major breakthrough in the study of Atlit Yam and has the potential to shed new light on the ancient city and its inhabitants.

As researchers continue to analyze the remains and other artifacts found at the site, we can expect to learn more about the fascinating history of this remarkable place.

Human Remains to Reveal the Oldest Known Case of Tuberculosis

Ten flexed burials encased in clay and covered by thick layers of sand were discovered, both inside the houses and in the vicinity of Atlit Yam, and in total archaeologists have uncovered 65 sets of human remains. One of the most significant discoveries of this ancient site is the presence of tuberculosis (TB) within the village. 

The skeletons of a woman and child, found in 2008, have revealed the earliest known cases of tuberculosis in the world.  The size of the infant’s bones, and the extent of TB damage, suggest the mother passed the disease to her baby shortly after birth.

What Caused Atlit Yam to Sink?

One of the greatest archaeological mysteries of Atlit Yam is how it came to be submerged, a question that has led to heated debate in academic circles.

An Italian study led by Maria Pareschi of the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Pisa indicates that a volcanic collapse of the Eastern flank of Mount Etna 8,500 years ago would likely have caused a 40-meter-high tsunami to engulf some Mediterranean coastal cities within hours.

Some scientists point to the apparent abandonment of Atlit Yam around the same time, and the thousands of fish remains, as further evidence that such a tsunami did indeed occur.

However, other researchers have suggested that there is no solid evidence to suggest a tsunami wiped out the settlement. After all, the megalithic stone circle still remained standing in the place in which it had been constructed.  

One alternative is that climate change caused glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise and the settlement became flooded by a slow rise in the level of the Mediterranean that led to a gradual abandonment of the village.

Whatever the cause of the submerging of the settlement, it was the unique conditions of clay and sandy sediment under salty water that enabled this ancient village to remain so well preserved over thousands of years.

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

72-million-year-old Perfectly Preserved Dinosaur Embryo Discovered Inside a Fossilized Egg In China

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72-million-year-old Perfectly Preserved Dinosaur Embryo Discovered Inside a Fossilized Egg In China

A dinosaur embryo perfectly curled up in its fossilized egg was analyzed by a team of researchers in southeastern China.

The rundown: The fossil, estimated to be between 72 and 66 million years old, belonged to an oviraptorosaur — a beaked, toothless and omnivorous theropod that existed during the Cretaceous Period of what is now Asia and North America.

The embryo was estimated to be 27 centimeters (11 inches) long from head to tail. Researchers said the dinosaur, which would have fed on plants, would be 2-3 meters (79-118 inches) long had it lived to adulthood.

The embryo was close to hatching as evidenced by its “tucking” posture, a behavior seen in modern birds. Chicks preparing to hatch tuck their heads under their right-wing for stability as they crack the shell with their beak.

Modern birds are direct descendants of theropods, which are two-legged dinosaurs. Theropods include the Tyrannosaurus rex, spinosaurus and velociraptor, among others.

What the researchers are saying: Due to its complete structure, the fossil turned out to be one of the best dinosaur embryos found in history, the researchers told AFP. They called the creature “Baby Yingliang” after Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum, its current location.

“This skeleton is not only complete from the tip of the snout to the end of its tail; it is curled in a life pose within its egg as if the animal died just yesterday,” study co-author Darla Zelenitsky, an assistant professor of paleontology at the University of Calgary.

Lead author Waisum Ma, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Birmingham, said dinosaur embryos happen to be some of the rarest fossils. Most non-avian embryos are also incomplete, with bones separated at the joints.

“We are very excited about the discovery of ‘Baby Yingliang’ — it is preserved in great condition and helps us answer a lot of questions about dinosaur growth and reproduction with it,” Ma said.

“It is interesting to see this dinosaur embryo and a chicken embryo pose in a similar way inside the egg, which possibly indicates similar prehatching behaviours.”

The researchers said the embryo was found in Jiangxi province and acquired by Liang Liu, director of a Chinese stone company called Yingliang Group, in 2000.

It was stored and forgotten until museum staff found it some 10 years later, during the construction of Yingliang Stone Nature History Museum, according to CNN.

Embryos that don’t adopt the tucking posture are more likely to die as a result of unsuccessful hatching. The team plans to study the fossil further using advanced scanning techniques since part of its body remains covered by rock.

ASIA, WORLD

Mysterious Hand Imprint Discovered In 1,000-Year-Old Moat Wall In Jerusalem

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Mysterious Hand Imprint Discovered In 1,000-Year-Old Moat Wall In Jerusalem

Around 1,000 years ago, just before the Crusades, a deep 10-meter large moat was hewn into the rock surrounding the walls of Jerusalem. Carved into the rock was also a mysterious hand imprint, whose author and meaning remain obscure. The discoveries were announced by the Israel Antiquity Authority on Wednesday.

“The historians who accompanied the First Crusade, describe the arrival of the Crusaders at the walls of Jerusalem in June 1099,” said Dr. Amit Re’em, Jerusalem regional Director at the IAA.

“Exhausted by the journey, they stood opposite the huge moat, and only after five weeks succeeded in crossing it with deploying tactics and at the cost of much blood, under heavy fire from the Muslim and Jewish defenders.”

The excavation began ahead of construction works in the area adjacent to the Old City (as required by Israeli law). A team from the IAA uncovered the moat underneath the main Sultan Suleiman Street.

“People are not aware that this busy street is built directly over a huge moat, an enormous rock-hewn channel, at least 10 m wide, and between 2–7 m deep,” Excavation Director Zubair Adawi remarked.

“The moat, surrounding the entire Old City, dates back about 1,000 years to the 10th century CE or earlier, and its function was to prevent the enemy besieging Jerusalem from approaching the walls and breaking into the city.

Moats, usually filled with water, are well-known from fortifications and castles in Europe, but here the moat was dry, its width and depth presenting an obstacle slowing down the attacking army.”

The moat added another layer of protection to Jerusalem in addition to the defensive wall. The current wall was built in the 16th century, but in the 10th century, the city was already fortified.

“The earlier fortification walls that surrounded the ancient city of Jerusalem were much stronger,” said Re’em.

“In the eras of knights’ battles, swords, arrows, and charging cavalry, the fortifications of Jerusalem were formidable and complex, comprising walls and elements to hold off large armies storming the city.”

In the past, archaeologists had already uncovered tunnels that were part of the fortifications.

“Armies trying to capture the city in the Middle Ages, had to cross the deep moat and behind it two additional thick fortification walls, whilst the defenders of the city on the walls rained down on them fire and sulfur,” Re’em explained.

“As if this wasn’t enough, there were secret tunnels in the fortifications, some of them uncovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists in previous excavations, whereby the city defenders could emerge into the moat and attack the enemy by surprise, and then disappear back into the city.”

Carved in one of the walls of the moat, the archaeologists identified a mysterious hand imprint.

“Does it symbolize something? Does it point to a specific nearby element? Or is it just a local prank? Time may tell,” the experts commented.

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

“Rock” Containing Stunning Agate Turns Out To Be 60-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Egg

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“Rock” Containing Stunning Agate Turns Out To Be 60-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Egg

Back in 1883, a pretty agate mineral was registered to the Natural History Museum’s Mineralogy Collection. Around 15 centimeters (6 inches) across, almost completely spherical but otherwise unassuming, the specimen has remained in the collection for the last 175 years, until a chance finding revealed it to be a dinosaur egg.

The specimen’s pretty colors of light pink and white interior caught the eye of Robin Hansen, one of the Mineral Curators at the museum who helped prepare the specimen when it was selected to go on display in 2018. Then a trip to a mineral show in France helped reveal the significance of the rock.

‘While I was looking around the show, a dealer showed me an agatized dinosaur egg, which was spherical, had a thin rind, and dark agate in the middle,” recounts Hansen in a statement.

“That was the lightbulb moment when I thought: ‘Hang on a minute, that looks a lot like the one we’ve just put on display in the Museum!’”

The mineral was then inspected by dinosaur experts at the museum who decided to run a CT scan on the specimen to see what clues they could unveil. Unfortunately, the density of the agate meant the CT scan could not pick out any finer details.

On the plus side, the team agreed that the thin layer around the agate looked like a shell, and found that the outside of the specimen suggested that more than one object had been gathered together. 

Furthermore, the specimen was collected in India and the size, shape, and surface features are the same as those of other specimens of titanosaur eggs from China and Argentina.

The egg is thought to date back to 60 million years ago when titanosaurs were the most common dinosaurs living in India. Titanosaurs, despite their massive size, were thought to have laid clutches of around 30-40 eggs and had no parental care involvement with their offspring.

“This specimen is a perfect example of why museum collections are so important,” explained Hansen.

“It was identified and cataloged correctly as an agate in 1883 using the scientific knowledge available at the time.”

“It is only now that we have recognized that this specimen has something extra special – the agate has infilled this spherical structure, which turns out to be a dinosaur egg.”

The team thinks this occurred due to volcanic activity causing the egg to become encased in the solidified volcanic rock after an eruption.

The internal structures would have eventually decomposed, and the silica-rich water would have made its way through the rock and into the egg cavity, creating the banded agate specimen we see today.

ASIA, EGYPT, WORLD

3,600-Year-Old Ancient Giant Hands in Egypt Archaeologists Discovered Pits Full

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3,600-Year-Old Ancient Giant Hands in Egypt Archaeologists Discovered Pits Full

A glimpse into the brutal way warriors proved their prowess 3,600 has been unearthed in Egypt.

Archaeologists excavating a palace in the ancient city of Avaris have dug up four pits containing 16 large right hands believed to have been sliced from the arms of vanquished enemies.

Experts believe the discovery is the earliest and only physical evidence that soldiers used to present the cut-off right hands of enemies in exchange for gold.

After beating the enemy successful fighters would chop off their opponent’s hand to remove his strength and deprive him of his power for eternity.

Archaeologists excavating a palace in the ancient city of Avaris have dug up four pits containing 16 large right hands believed to have been sliced from the arms of vanquished enemies

Two of the pits discovered are situated in front of what is thought to be a throne room and contained one hand each.

All the hands found in the Nile Delta northeast of Cairo are right hands.

Manfred Bietak, project and field director of the excavations, said: ‘Most of the hands are quite large and some of them are very large.’ It was reported .

The finds are from a period when the Hyksos, thought to be from northern Canaan, established the heart of their kingdom at Avaris today known as Tell el-Daba.

Hyksos ruler King Khayan was thought to be living at the Palace at the time the hands were buried.

Egyptian writing and art depict soldiers presenting the cut-off right hands of enemies in exchange for gold, says Bietak.

In two of the pits 14 right hands were discovered, while two other pits were found holding one right hand each. It’s not known to whom these hands belonged, they could have been from Egyptians or people in the Levant.

He added: ‘Our evidence is the earliest evidence and the only physical evidence at all. Each pit represents a ceremony.’

Cutting off the right hand helped to count victims and was a symbolic way of taking an enemy’s strength.

The hands could have belonged to Egyptians or enemies the Hyksos were fighting in the Levant.

One inscription on the tomb wall of Ahmose, son of Ibana, an Egyptian fighting in a campaign against the Hyksos about 80 years later than the time the 16 hands were buried.

‘Then I fought hand to hand. I brought away a hand. It was reported to the royal herald.’ For his efforts, the writer was given ‘the gold of valor.’

Later, in a campaign against the Nubians, to the south, Ahmose took three hands and was given ‘gold in double measure,’ the inscription suggests.

Scientists are not certain who started this gruesome tradition. No records of the practice have been found in the Hyksos’ likely homeland of northern Canaan, Bietak said.

ASIA, RUSSIA, WORLD

46,000-year-old Bird Found Frozen in Siberia Sheds Light on the End of Ice Age

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46,000-year-old Bird Found Frozen in Siberia Sheds Light on the End of Ice Age


The research team said the specimen will help them to understand how the horned lark evolved. They also plan to compare its genomes with all other subspecies of the horned lark.

A well-preserved carcass of a 46,000-year-old bird discovered by ivory hunters in Siberia could help in understanding how the ecosystem evolved at the end of the ice age, new research suggested.

It was found buried and frozen in permafrost near the village of Belaya Gora in north-eastern Siberia, said reports.

The ivory hunters soon passed on the specimen to a team of experts from the Swedish Museum of Natural History for tests and analysis.

Scientists studying the specimen identified it as a horned lark and said it was ‘exceptionally well preserved’.

A frozen bird found on the ground in Siberia is actually about 46,000 years old and was well-preserved by permafrost

DNA of the bird and radiocarbon dating revealed its age to be around 46,000 years old.

The scientists then carried out a genetic analysis to identify the bird as Eremophilia Alpestris, according to a paper published in the journal Communications Biology.

The scientists said the discovery was significant because it offers new information about how the ‘mammoth steppe’ was divided into three types of biological environments when the ice age ended.

The Mammoth steppe was the Earth’s most extensive biome that spanned from Spain eastwards across Euroasia to Canada and from arctic islands southward to China.

Love Dalén, who carried out the study, said the bird may be an ancestor of two subspecies that are still alive today.

“Our results support this theory since the diversification of the horned lark into these subspecies seems to have happened about at the same time as the mammoth steppe disappeared,” Dalen said in a statement.

The research team said the specimen will help them understand how the horned lark evolved. They also plan to compare its genomes with all other subspecies of the horned lark.

About its well-preserved state, team members said it can be explained by the cold state of the permafrost.

However, everyone agreed the specimen was exceptionally well preserved as compared to other discoveries.

ASIA, EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Prehistoric Rock Art Discovered in Western Turkey

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Prehistoric Rock Art Discovered in Western Turkey


New paintings believed to be from the prehistoric era have come to light during the ongoing studies on Mount Latmos (Beşparmak), home to significant rock paintings from ancient times.

Located in the western province of Aydın, the Latmos region is one of the places that attracts attention with its natural beauties, as it is also on the route of local and foreign tourists who want to explore nature and history.

While studies have been carried out to preserve the region and reveal its historical importance, the rock paintings of Latmos shed light on prehistoric times.

The number of the first known prehistoric rock paintings in Western Anatolia, discovered by German Archaeologist Anneliese Peschlow in 1994, has reached 200, with new paintings found since then.

The main subject of Latmos rock paintings, which have unique features in terms of subject and style, is related to the relationship between men and women, family, spring festivals and wedding ceremonies. In many paintings, decorations and figures resembling weaving patterns are also seen.

The newly discovered painting, which is believed to date back to prehistoric times, was found on a rock and in its cavities during the research conducted by the Ecosystem Conservation and Nature Lovers Association (EKODOSD).

Stating that they applied to the Aydın Cultural Heritage Preservation Board after the new discovery, EKODOSD President Bahattin Sürücü said, “There are human figures and ornamental motifs in the paintings drawn on a rock surface and its natural cavities.

It is seen that a figure drawn in a natural cavity has a different shape from the previous rock paintings. Peschlow, who has been working on prehistoric rock paintings in the Latmos region for years, has studied the newly found paintings. It was reported that the painting with interesting figures was not in Peschlow’s records.”

He said that further examinations will be made on the rock paintings by the Directorate General for Preservation of Natural Heritage.

After the first rock painting was discovered in Söğütözü in 1994, nearly 200 paintings have been so far found, Sürücü said.

“Considering that there are thousands of rock shelters and caves on a wide area among the rugged, stacked rocks of the Latmos Mountains, it is a fact that it is difficult and takes decades to study and detect them.

It is not easy to find rock paintings in the complex structure of the Latmos Mountains, which is almost an open-air museum with its castles, ancient stone roads, monasteries and defensive structures.”

“The newly found rock painting shows once again that many paintings drawn by prehistoric artists on thousands of rocks in the Latmos region are waiting to be discovered. Latmos Mountains are world heritage and should be protected as a whole,” he added.

ARMENIA, ASIA, WORLD

The Everlasting Shoe: What Does a 5,500-Year-Old Shoe Discovered in a Cave Tell Us About Ancient Armenians?

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The Everlasting Shoe: What Does a 5,500-Year-Old Shoe Discovered in a Cave Tell Us About Ancient Armenians?

As any archaeologist knows, very few things other than stone last for a long time. In a moist, warm climate, most organic material such as hemp, cloth, wood, and leather will decay, leaving nothing but stone and perhaps bone at an archaeological site.

This is one reason why the Stone Age got its name, not because everything was made of stone, but because it is mostly stone tools and ornaments that have survived and thus it is mainly stone items that are representative of that time-period.

All organic materials such animal skins worn by Paleolithic or Neolithic peoples have, for the most part, disappeared. In the right environment though, such materials can last for thousands of years.

If an environment is dry, and undisturbed, normally fragile, perishable material can last for millennia. One example of this is a 5,500-year-old leather shoe found in an Armenian cave which is one of several other examples of ancient footwear.

Entrance to the Areni-1 cave in southern Armenia near the town of Areni. The cave is where the world’s oldest known shoe has been found.

Other Preserved Ancient Shoes

Two other famous examples of ancient footwear are sandals found in the Arnold Research Cave in Missouri and another in the Cave of the Warrior in the Judaean Desert.

The shoes in the Arnold Research Cave are between 800 and 8,000 years old. The youngest were made of deerskin while the oldest were sandals made of fibers from a plant called rattlesnake master.

The shoes found in the Cave of the Warrior were also sandals made from leather that were determined to be about 6,000 years old. The leather sandals were found with a reed mat, a bow with a quiver of arrows, and a flint knife, among other items.

The Judaean Desert is known for its dry climate, providing excellent preserving conditions. The desert has also been used for thousands of years by fugitives on the run who hid their belongings in caves and never retrieved them.

Other items found in the Judaean Desert include the Dead Sea Scrolls dating to between 200 BC and 200 AD and a cache of bronze instruments and ornaments determined to be about 6,000 years old.

A pair of sandals from the Middle Neolithic

It should be noted that the two other examples of ancient footwear were not directly dated, but were dated using comparison with other artifacts found in the caves.

The Armenian shoes were directly dated with radiocarbon dating. The great antiquity of the Armenian shoe is thus more certain than the antiquity of the other shoes.

The Armenian Shoe

The 5,500-year-old shoe was discovered by an Armenian graduate student from the Institute of Archaeology of Armenia, Diana Zandaryan. The shoe was preserved by both the cold, dry conditions of the cave and a layer of sheep dung which was covering it, acting as a weathering seal.

Along with the shoe, containers of wheat, barley, and apricots were also discovered. The shoe dates to about 3,500 BC making it is a few centuries older than the initial levels of Stonehenge, the construction of which began in 3,000 BC.

It is not certain why the shoe or the other items were left there. They could have been left for storage or hidden there in a time of conflict. It is also possible that they were left there as an offering, possibly of a religious nature.

Another question is whether it was worn by a man or a woman. The shoe is small, women’s size by modern European and American standards, however it could have also been worn by a man in this time-period.

Life and Times of the Shoe

During the time that this shoe was in use, the inhabitants of Armenia had already been farming for thousands of years, having adopted domesticates from the Levant.

It is also around this time that the Kurgan culture, the proposed carriers of the Proto-Indo-European language began to move out of their ancestral homeland.

Little is known about the Kurgan culture except that they buried their dead in large mounds referred to as kurgans. These mounds are the most archaeologically visible features that they left behind, hence the name of the culture.

It is unknown whether the inhabitants of the caves were in some way related to the Kurgan culture, but we do know interesting things about them.

The people of Armenia of this day used domesticates prevalent during the Neolithic, including wheat, barley and sheep. Armenia was one of the earliest regions to adopt farming and pastoralism.

The archaeological site of Aratashen, which was inhabited about 8,000 years ago, has shown many details of the Neolithic culture of Armenia. They lived in adobe houses, raised barley and had shovels, spoons, and other tools made from wood, bone, and obsidian.

These shoes reveal yet another facet of Prehistoric Armenia, which is already known for its relatively rich archaeological record.

Eventually with enough research, we may learn more things about their culture beyond just what type of shoes they wore, what they ate and other aspects of their material culture.

We may also learn about the immaterial aspects of their culture, such as small glimpses of how they viewed the world.

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

4,000-year-old skeletons of a mother and her child embrace

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4,000-year-old skeletons of a mother and her child embrace

Victims of an ancient earthquake that had once struck the Chinese community of Lajia are now on display at the Lajia Ruins Museum.

The ruins of Lajia are in Qinghai Province in Northwest China, near the Upper Yellow River. China People’s Daily has said that the site is bringing people to tears; victims are shown to be huddling together in what were their final moments. One display shows women embracing their children in an attempt to protect them.

Heartbreaking: Skeletal remains show the mother kneeling down on the ground with her arms around her son in central China

This scene is reminiscent of the victims of the Roman city Pompeii, which was destroyed by the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.

One difference is that the Pompeiian people are shown with such humanity because they have been preserved by volcanic ash and mud, while the skeletal remains at Lajia inspire horror.

An earthquake shook the ground around them, triggering a mudslide that came down and demolished a Bronze Age building that the people had taken cover in.

The building was a family home that the people ran into thinking they would be safe. On one of the walls preserved for all of the eternity is a woman embracing her child, her skull looking upwards as she caresses the child in her arms.

The remains of two children clinging to an adult lie against another wall. Upstairs, you will find another woman and child in almost the same position as the first two. These people are from the Bronze Age Qijia culture, their remains date back to around 2,000 BC, making them 4,000 years old.

Earlier this year the remains of a child clinging to his mother were displayed in Pompeii. There are no skeletons in Pompeii – the ancient mud and ash saw to that.

Pompeii was destroyed by a pyroclastic flow: an extremely fast-moving cloud of rock and hot gas that can move at speeds of 450 miles an hour. Given these speeds, it is instantaneous death for those that chose to ignore the warnings given by Vesuvius.

It hugs the ground while it moves and spreads laterally, consisting of two parts: a hot ash plume that hovers above and the basal flow that consists of heavy rocks.

The ash plume incinerates anything it touches while the basal flow destroys anything in its path. Herculaneum was also devastated when Vesuvius exploded.

It is unknown how many died when Vesuvius exploded but it is estimated to be between 10,000 and 25,000. Many victims perished at the city port while trying to take cover in warehouses that were near the dock.

Others tried to get to the last remaining boats while others ran for their homes, most likely then praying to their household gods.

The mother and child were discovered in what archaeologists call the House of the Golden Bracelet. The home of a wealthy family, the walls covered in frescoes and also contained a large garden. It was all carbonized when the 300 degree cloud hit.

“Even though it happened 2000 years ago, it could be a boy, a mother, or a family,” said Stefania Giudice of Naples National Archaeological Museum. “It’s not just archaeology; it’s human archaeology.”

Now branded as the “Pompeii of the East,” the poor town of Lajia is now one of the most important archaeology sites in China.

Mirrors, oracle bones, and stone knives are just a few of the artifacts found at the site.

The victims of Lajia were first found in 2000 in a loess cave, one of many in the settlement that consisted of caves and houses.