Archaeology News - Paleontology, Mythology, Atlantis

Schiller's Pins

Convicted forger A. Schiller was serving his time in Sing Sing prison in the late 1800s when guards found him dead in his cell. On his body they found seven regular straight pins whose heads measured the typical 47/1000ths of an inch or 1.17 millimeters in diameter. Under 500 magnification it was found that the tiny etchings seen on the heads of the pins were the words to The Lord's Prayer, which is 65 words and 254 letters long. Of the seven pins, six were silver and one was gold - the gold pin's prayer was flawless and a true masterpiece. Schiller had spent the last 25 years of his life creating the pins, using a tool too small to be seen by the naked eye. It is estimated that it took 1,863 sepatate carving strokes to make it. Schiller went blind because of his artwork.

Stonehenge birthdate discovered by archaeologists

The monument's original stones were erected in about 2300 BC, it has been discovered - 300 years later than had previously been thought.

Analysis has indicated that the original circle of bluestones was transported to the site from the Preseli hills, 150 miles away in South Wales - an extraordinary feat.

The finding came in an ambitious project, involving the first dig inside the historic stone circle for 44 years.

Professors Timothy Darvill and Geoffrey Wainwright, the project leaders, are set to disclose other early findings.

The pair have found evidence suggesting Stonehenge was a centre of healing. They have compared the monument to a "Neolithic Lourdes", to which sick people travelled from far away, hoping to be healed by the stones' powers.

An "abnormal number" of remains found in tombs nearby display signs of serious disease, they say, while teeth found in graves prove that about half the bodies there were "not native" to the local area.

Prof Darvill said: "Stonehenge would attract not only people who were unwell, but people who were capable of healing them. Therefore, in a sense, Stonehenge becomes 'the A & E' of southern England."

Discovering the site's birthdate - which was done by sending 14 samples for carbon dating at Oxford University - was described as a "dream come true" by Prof Wainwright. "It's an incredible feeling," he added.

Before the project it was believed the first stone circle dated from between 2600 BC and 2400 BC. The new testing has rounded this down to between 2400BC and 2200 BC - and a more precise date is expected by the end of the project.

"We told the world we were going to date Stonehenge. That was a risk, but I was always confident," said Prof Darvill.

Experts said the new discovery was a major milestone in the history of Britain's most famous monument.

Dr Simon Thurley, the chief executive of English Heritage - which maintains Stonehenge - described the dig as "tremendously exciting".

He said: "The bluestones hold the key to understanding the purpose and meaning of Stonehenge.

"Their arrival marked a turning point in the history of Stonehenge, changing the site from being a fairly standard formative henge with timber structures and occasional use for burial, to the complex stone structure whose remains dominate the site today."

Dr Andrew Fitzpatrick, of Wessex Archaeology, said: "This is a great result - a very important one.

"The date of Stonehenge had been blowing in the wind. But this anchors it. It helps us to be secure about the chronology of events."

The last time an excavation was allowed inside the sarsen stone pillars was in 1964.

A documentary on the dig has been recorded by BBC Timewatch and will be broadcast on Saturday.

The mystery of the step pyramids of Tenerife by Bard of Ely

Tenerife in the Canary Islands is usually thought of as a hoilday resort and, indeed, most of the visitors to the island know little or nothing about the mysterious pyramids that can be seen in several locations there. However, more adventurous tourists, who are prepared to travel away from the resorts down south, may well find out about the Ethnographic Park in Güímar where there are six step pyramids that had come to the attention of world famous explorer, the late Thor Heyerdahl.

In 1990, Heyerdahl had read about the pyramids of Güímar in an article by Francisco Padrón in the Tenerife newspaper Diario de Avisos, and he decided to investigate. Whilst it was being said by some people that the constructions were no more than large piles of rocks placed there by local farmers, Heyerdahl was sure they were proper step pyramids like those he had seen on his travels to Mexico, Peru and elsewhere.

With the help of wealthy shipping magnate Fred Olsen he set up the park and centre that now houses the pyramids. So keen on Tenerife and its pyramids was he that Heyerdahl decided to set up home on the island and lived there for the last decade of his life.

Thor Heyerdahl had a theory that at one time there was a pyramid-building culture who were able to travel the oceans of the world on rafts like the Kon-Tiki one, which he had built and sailed on himself to prove the feasibility of his idea.

However, a series of excavations were carried out by an archaeology team from La Laguna University, with the first of these taking place in 1991. The archaeologists discovered that the pyramids were constructed on layers of earth and stones and in the bottom layer they came upon a small number of pottery fragments, of which some were local and some imported, but both kinds being estimated as belonging to the 19th century.

Because the main part of the pyramids were standing on top of the layer where the century pottery shards had been found they concluded that the earliest the constructions could have been built was the 19th century.

Because of this, the academics led by Professor Antonio Tejira Gaspar, have claimed that the pyramids were not made in any ancient time at all and are fake. Other people, however, suggest that the Guanches, who were the original islanders before the Spanish conquest had made the pyramids, or that they were made by ocean travellers as suggested by Heyerdahl.

Helping this theory is the fact that a volcanic cave was found under one of the pyramids by the excavation team and in it they discovered evidence that the Guanches had been using it.

As well as this, in 1991, research by Antonio Aparcio Juan and Esteban López, from the University of La Lagunas Institute of Astrophysics, suggested that the long sides of some of the terrace structures at Guimar were deliberately aligned for both solstices.  The pyramids also have stairs on their western side, which face the direction of the rising sun at the time of the solstices.

Another link between the Guanches and the pyramid-builders of Egypt and Central and South America is that these people practised embalming and the mummification of their dead.

Although, the archaeologists and academics are able to give a date for the earliest when the pyramids were made they have not been able to explain their purpose or why such care was given to their construction. And, in addition to this, there are other pyramids in various places on the other side of the island that have not had the attention the ones in Güímar have received.

The Pyramids of Güímar, because of the park and tourist centre around them, plus all the publicity they have had because of Thor Heyerdahl's involvement, are well known even if the debate about them goes on, but the equally impressive pyramids in Santa Bárbara and La Suerte in San Marcos near Icod de los Vinos are virtually ignored.

In Santa Bárbara, a village also near Icod, there are several of the mysterious constructions. The village appears to have been built around them and farmers are growing grapes and papayas in the fields surrounding the pyramids, some of which are showing neglect.

In San Marcos the best of two pyramids stands in a banana plantation and is an impressive site but its neighbour further along the road has stones fallen away and weeds and scrub growing on it. There are other examples in La Mancha and Santo Domingo and it is said that there were many more of these pyramids once on Tenerife but they were destroyed by developments and used as building materials.

It is difficult to find any information on the other pyramids of the island and it is almost as if they have been conveniently forgotten about. The pyramids of Tenerife and their builders and function still remain a mystery.

NB: For further info and photographs of the pyramids of Tenerife please see:
The Mysterious Pyramids of Tenerife Island

Prehistoric land under the sea

It's a landscape no human has even seen. And those who live right beside it had no idea it even existed.

Deep below the sea, off the north coast of Northern Ireland, a dramatic geological mystery has been discovered.

Huge cliffs, vast basins and plateaus, a lake and even rivers have been found. But so far no-one is certain what caused them to end up like this deep under the sea.

The discovery was made when the seabed was being surveyed to update old Admiralty charts, drawn up in the mid-1800s.

Funded by the European Union and backed by the UK's Maritime and Coastguard Agency, a survey vessel has been scanning the seabed along most of the north coast of Ireland, including the seabed north of Rathlin Island.

Most of the bottom was largely flat and unremarkable, but as the survey headed east it suddenly came across an unexpected landscape.

For the first time marine biologists could understand what was down there and the scale of it all.

"I'm always very envious of my terrestrial biologist colleagues", said Joe Breen, Head of Aquatic Science with Northern Ireland's new Environment Agency, who has dived the area for years.

"They can go out on land and see where their habitats are. Underwater we've never had that luxury.

"On a dive you can only see about 15 metres so it's like operating in fog. Now, with this survey, we can report on the true extent of the features.

"For the European Habitat Directive, we have to report the extent of our reefs and sandbanks. This will help with the whole concept of marine spatial planning.

"So, if someone wants to put in renewable energy or extract aggregate, we now have a blueprint and can see how they're going to interact and if it's sustainable."

One of the most striking details is a large lake or crater on what was once the top of huge cliffs towering above the plateau below.

The streams and rivers that fed it are still clearly defined.

And that raises one of the mysteries. Why did coastal erosion not obliterate all that detail as the sea slow rose over the land?

Could it mean that some cataclysmic event took place that allowed the sea to overwhelm the land before erosion could begin?

But already the marine scientists are excited about what they've found.

"We can now get a true idea of the true extent of the rare and endangered species and habitats", said Mr Breen.

"We can now see that we have got more of certain features which we weren't aware of - like sandbanks and reefs. The sandbank features in particular are stunning."

The survey is part of a 2m euro cross-border collaboration with the Marine Institute of Ireland. The area covered is a three nautical mile strip ranging from Tory Island off Donegal to Torr Head near Ballycastle.

Treasures of Afghanistan

Prehistoric Baby Mammoth Found - Scientists May Be Able To Clone!

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Ancient Temple Found Among Inca Ruins

A temple thought to have once housed idols and mummies has been unearthed near an ancient Inca site in Cusco, Peru The temple was discovered outside the ruins of a stone fortress known as Sacsayhuaman, which is thought to have been built by a pre-Inca culture called the Killke around 1100 A.D.

The fortress was later occupied and expanded by the Inca, experts say, and its ruins are now a UN World Heritage site.

Scientists who found the temple say its discovery upends theories that the Sacsayhuaman complex was used strictly for military purposes.

"We are in the process of investigating, but we are very excited about what we have found," said Washington Camacho, director of the Sacsayhuaman Archaeological Park.

"We believe that the temple we have found was used for ceremonial purposes."

The temple covers some 2,700 square feet (250 square meters) and contains 11 rooms thought to have held idols and mummies, Camacho said.

The temple contained "funeral structures," he added, and was found next to "an enormous rocky formation" that researchers speculate was used as a "sacred place" prior to the Spanish conquest in the 16th century.

Christina Conlee, an anthropologist at Texas State University who was not part of the excavation, said that the team's theory about the site's ceremonial use seems valid, based on evidence cited in recent media reports.

"I think the discovery is potentially important, because although we know quite a bit about the later Inca Empire, the early Inca and origins of their culture are less well known," she said.

"The finding of an earlier temple near Sacsayhuaman seems to suggest this was a sacred area in pre-imperial times." Researchers also discovered an ancient footpath or roadway that Camacho said was built during the period of Inca occupation.

"The path connected the fort at Sacsayhuaman with Lake Cochapata," Camacho said.

The roadway was lined with walls of mud and ran approximately 0.25 to 0.3 mile (400 to 500 meters) throughout the complex, Camacho said.

Archaeologists also detected traces of an ancient but simple aqueduct system, a type of gutter that ran alongside the road, possibly supplying water to the ancient city of Cusco.

Brian Bauer, an expert on the Inca at the University of Illinois, Chicago, said the newfound temple expands the known size of the Sacsayhuaman complex.

For more information click here or to view the video footage of the site from National Geographic click here

New Plesiosaur Species Discovered

The remarkably well-preserved fossil of a dinosaur-era sea creature found in a Canadian mine is turning out to be a gold mine for paleontologists. The Cretaceous-period reptile, dubbed Nichollsia borealis, is not only a new species it represents a whole new genus, scientists announced on March 20. It's also one of the oldest and most complete plesiosaur fossils ever unearthed in North America.

Plesiosaurs were carnivorous reptiles that roamed the seas between about 205 million to 65 million years ago. Mine workers found the intact creature about 200 feet (60 meters) deep in a surface mine in Alberta in 1994. The Syncrude company extracts oil from the mine's sandy soil. A "tomb" of sandstone preserved the 8.5-foot-long (2.6-meter-long) creature almost perfectly—unlike other plesiosaur fossils that are often found in porous shale.

The fossil ended up at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alberta, where University of Calgary paleontologists Patrick Druckenmiller and Anthony Russell recently ran 3-D CT scans of its braincase. The scans and other analyses of the reptile have provided more detail than for any other plesiosaur ever found, they said. The newfound reptile also gave them a window into an ancient seaway that once cut through North America and teemed with marine life. (See pictures of a sea monster that lived in the Arctic.)

"This individual was a pioneer in the marine waters that would eventually become the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway," Druckenmiller said in a statement. "It represents the oldest known forerunner of this amazing period in North American prehistory." Their research appeared in the German journal Palaeontographica Abteilung A. N. borealis is now on display at the Discoveries Gallery at the Royal Tyrrell Museum.

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Mummified Dinosaur Found! Again

Using tiny brushes and chisels, workers picking at a big greenish-black rock in the basement of North Dakota's state museum are meticulously uncovering something amazing: a nearly complete dinosaur, skin and all.

Unlike almost every other dinosaur fossil ever found, the Edmontosaurus named Dakota—a duckbilled dinosaur found in southwestern North Dakota in 1999 and announced to the public last December is covered by fossilized skin that is hard as iron.

It's among just a few mummified dinosaurs in the world, say the researchers who are slowly freeing it from a 65-million-year-old rock tomb.

"This is the closest many people will ever get to seeing what large parts of a dinosaur actually looked like, in the flesh," said Phillip Manning, a paleontologist at Manchester University in England, a member of the international team researching Dakota.

Animal tissue typically decomposes quickly after death. Researchers say Dakota must have been buried rapidly and in just the right environment for the skin to be preserved.

Tyler Lyson, a 25-year-old doctoral paleontology student at Yale University, discovered the dinosaur on his uncle's ranch in the Badlands in 1999. Weeks after he started to unearth the fossil in 2004, he knew he had found something special.

"Usually all we have is bones," Lyson said in a telephone interview. "In this special case, we're not just after the bones; we're after the whole carcass."

"This is the fourth dinosaur mummy that's ever been found in the world of any significance," said Stephen Begin, a Michigan consultant on the project.

"It may turn out to be one of the best mummies, because of the quality of the skin that we're finding and the extent of the skin that's on the specimen," he said.

Dakota was moved to the museum early last month and is currently surrounded by precariously perched desk lamps and a machine to suck up dust. State paleontologist John Hoganson, of the North Dakota Geological Survey, said it will take a year, maybe more, to uncover it.

Amy Sakariassen, part of the team working on the project, was toiling away with a brush whose bristles had been ground down to nubs.

"It really is wonderful to work on it," she said, as Begin, the Michigan consultant, used a sharp instrument to pick away tiny bits of rock and unveil a scale.

"Nobody's seen that particular scale in 67 million years. It's quite thrilling," she said.

Manning said his involvement has meant 18-hour days, seven-day weeks and "more work than I could have ever imagined. But I would not change a single second of the past few years."

Hoganson said the main part of the fossil is in two parts, weighing a total of nearly 5 tons.

"The skeleton itself is kind of curled up," he said. "The actual length would be about 30 feet (9 meters), from about the tip of its tail to the tip of its nose."

"We are looking forward to seeing what emerges from the huge dinosaur body block now housed in North Dakota," said John Francis, a society vice president.

Many prehistoric fossils have been found in the western North Dakota Badlands where terrain has been heavily eroded over time by weather. Hoganson said other treasures likely are waiting to be unearthed.

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Ancient Brain Surgery Woman Found

Thessaloníki, Greece; March 12, 2008—Greek archaeologists believe a large hole in the skull of a third-century A.D. skeleton is rare evidence of ancient—and failed—brain surgery.

The patient, a young woman, is believed to have died during or shortly after the operation.

Although references to such delicate operations abound in ancient writings, discoveries of surgically perforated skulls are uncommon in Greece.

Site excavator Ioannis Graikos said the woman's skeleton was found during a rescue dig last year in Véria, a town some 46 miles (75 kilometers) west of Thessaloníki.

"We interpret the find as a case of complicated surgery, which only a trained and specialized doctor could have attempted," Graikos said.

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