Tag: ancient history

Five Mysterious Ancient Artifacts That Still Puzzle Archaeologists

Archaeologists are often described as “stumped” or “baffled” by their discoveries. But, in reality, specialists have a good grasp of what most historical objects were created for. But there are a few exceptions to this rule. 

The following list is a selection of intriguing mystery objects. They’re a great example of why digging up the past continues to hold great fascination for professionals and public alike. 

1. Neolithic Stone Balls 

The elaborately carved stone balls found predominantly in Scotland and dating from the later Neolithic period (circa BC3200-2500) are one such mystery. 

Over 425 balls have been found. They are generally the size of a cricket ball and made from a wide variety of stones. Their surfaces are sculpted, sometimes into raised circular discs and sometimes with deep incisions defining knobs and lobes in high relief. Decoration takes the form of spirals or concentric shapes, echoing those found on pottery and monumental stones of the era. 

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Burial of Two Infants Found Under Dragon Stone At Prehistoric Armenia Site

An international team of scientists has unearthed the remains of two infants buried beneath a basalt monument known as a dragon stone at the Lchashen site in Armenia. This finding is remarkable not only for the unusual funerary context but also for the exceptional preservation of the remains, and the genetic information gleaned from said funeral. 

Dragon Stones: A Study in Armenian Folklore and Animal Motifs 

Dragon stones, or Vishapakar, are prehistoric basalt stelae adorned with animal images, primarily found in the Armenian Highlands and surrounding regions. These structures have long fascinated archaeologists due to their mysterious iconography and complex history of use and reuse, as per a new study published in The Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.  

Approximately 150 dragon stones have been documented, with more than ninety located in the Republic of Armenia and the rest in neighboring regions. These monoliths vary in height, ranging from about 150 to 550 cm (59 – 216.5 inches). 

Archaeologists have identified three types of dragon stones: those with carvings resembling fish (piscis), those depicting the remains of bovids such as goats, sheep, and cows (vellus), and hybrid dragon stones that combine features of both types. 

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Archaeologists uncover new evidence for prehistoric comet

If you wanted evidence that a giant comet wiped out the wooly mammoth, you might look for a giant crater. 

But so far, you’d be out of luck. 

“Some of our critics have said, ‘Where’s the crater?’” says Christopher Moore, an archaeologist at the University of South Carolina. “As of now, we don’t have a crater or craters.” 

But Moore says that by looking below the surface, you can find strong evidence for the Younger-Dryas impact hypothesis, which states that large comet fragments hit Earth or exploded in the atmosphere shortly after the last ice age, setting off cataclysmic changes in the environment, crater or not. 

Moore’s research involves digging down to layers of soil that would have been exposed in the Younger Dryas period, around 12,800 years ago when the climate suddenly cooled in the northern hemisphere. He analyzes minerals and artifacts found there in search for “proxies” of a comet strike—findings that are not direct evidence, but which do tell a story. 

In Greenland’s ice cores, Moore and others have found elevated levels of chemicals, called combustion aerosols, indicating a large, prehistoric fire raged at the beginning of the Younger Dryas climate event.

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11 Ancient Canoes at Lake Mendota Reveal Wisconsin’s Early Civilizations

Archaeologists from the Wisconsin Historical Society have unearthed up to 11 ancient canoes at the bottom of Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin, offering new insights into the region’s early civilizations. Among these remarkable finds is a dugout canoe estimated to be approximately 4,500-years-old, making it the oldest canoe ever discovered in the Great Lakes region. This discovery not only sets a new record but also deepens our understanding of the technological and cultural practices of the ancient peoples who once inhabited the area.

The Journey to Discovery

The journey to this significant discovery began in 2021 when a dive team excavated a 1,200-year-old canoe from Lake Mendota, Madison’s largest lake. Nearly a year later, divers successfully retrieved a second wooden boat estimated to be 3,000-years-old. At the time, this canoe was considered the oldest of its kind ever found in the Great Lakes region. However, this record was shattered with the recent unearthing of an even older elm canoe, dating back to around 2,500 BC, shown in the top image.

Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) notes how in total, the archaeologists have discovered as many as 11 ancient canoes in a section of Lake Mendota, including the two excavated in 2021 and 2022. The canoes range in age from 800 to 4,500-years-old, representing different periods and potentially multiple generations of canoe builders.

Dr. Amy Rosebrough, State Archaeologist for the Wisconsin Historical Society explains of the remarkable set of findings on the Wisconsin Historical Society website:

“What we thought at first was an isolated discovery in Lake Mendota has evolved into a significant archaeological site with much to tell us about the people who lived and thrived in this area over thousands of years and also provides new evidence for major environmental shifts over time.”

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The Enigmatic Origins of Cro Magnon: Europe’s First Humans

Cro Magnon Man, a robust and powerful hominid of the Upper Paleolithic era, emerges from the shadows of prehistory, leaving behind skeletal remains primarily found in southern France. Classified as Homo sapiens, these ancient beings bear striking anatomical similarities to modern Europeans, West Asians, and North Africans, yet with notable distinctions. Their weaponry, including spears, harpoons, and bows, hints at their prowess as hunters and toolmakers.

Unlike their Neanderthal contemporaries, Cro Magnons exhibit straight foreheads and short, wide faces akin to modern humans. Their larger brains and powerful physiques suggest a species adapted for survival in the harsh landscapes of ancient Europe.

Discoveries in caves like Cromagnon Rock Shelter reveal not just physical traits but also insights into their lifestyles. Evidence of injuries and traumas underscores the challenges they faced, living a physically demanding existence.

Recent archaeological findings challenge long-held beliefs about human evolution. The discovery of ancient stone tools in the Middle East suggests that anatomically modern humans inhabited the region much earlier than previously thought, reshaping our understanding of the relationship between Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens.

Skull comparisons, meticulous measurements, and genetic analyses offer tantalizing clues about the origins and migrations of our ancestors. The Hofmeyr skull, dated to over 36,000 years old and discovered in South Africa, challenges conventional theories by revealing unexpected affinities with European Cro Magnon specimens.

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Ancient ‘megastructure’ submerged under the sea discovered by archaeologists

Historians and archaeologists know that human civilisations have existed for thousands of years before us, and their latest discovery is a huge step forward.

Scientists now believe they have found a groundbreaking discovery with an ancient ‘megastructure’ that is thought to date back 11,000 years.

A stonewall found beneath the Baltic Sea is thought to have unlocked secrets of the Stone Age, and researchers believe they may have once used the wall for hunting reindeers.

Archaeologists explained their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, having made their discovery in the surface of the Bay of Mecklenburg, on the northern coast of Germany.

The area is known for historical discoveries, and people in the Stone Age are thought to have settled in the area on and off due to the sea’s high and low rising tides.

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Scientists may have solved mystery behind Egypt’s pyramids

Scientists believe they may have solved the mystery of how 31 pyramids, including the world-famous Giza complex, were built in Egypt more than 4,000 years ago.

A research team from the University of North Carolina Wilmington has discovered that the pyramids are likely to have been built along a long-lost, ancient branch of the River Nile – which is now hidden under desert and farmland.

For many years, archaeologists have thought that ancient Egyptians must have used a nearby waterway to transport materials such as the stone blocks needed to build the pyramids on the river.

But up until now, “nobody was certain of the location, the shape, the size or proximity of this mega waterway to the actual pyramids site”, according to one of the study’s authors, Prof Eman Ghoneim.

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7,000-Year-Old Native American ‘Bog Burial’ Found Off The Coast of Florida

Archaeologists have uncovered a Native American burial site dating back 7,000 years off the coast of Florida. The site was found by an amateur diver in 2016 who was looking for shark teeth but stumbled on an ancient jawbone.

The 167 bodies discovered in a pond in Windover, Florida started to stir up excitement in the archaeological world only after the bones were declared very old, and not the product of mass murder. Researchers from Florida State University came to the site, believing that in the swampland some more Native American bones had been found.

They believed the bones were between 500 and 600 years old. But then the bones were dated with radiocarbon. It turns out that these corpses were between 6,990 and 8,120 years old. The academic community was then incredibly excited. Windover Bog has proved to be one of the United States’ most significant archaeological discoveries.

In 1982, Steve Vanderjagt, the man who made the discovered, was using a backhoe to demolish the pond to create a new subdivision between Disney World and Cape Canaveral. A large number of rocks in the pond confused Vanderjagt since the region of Florida was not considered to be particularly rocky.

Getting out of his backhoe, Vanderjagt went to investigate and almost immediately realized that he had unearthed a huge pile of bones. He called the authorities right away. It was only thanks to his natural curiosity that the site was preserved. After the medical examiners declared them ancient, the specialists from Florida State University were summoned (another brilliant move by Vanderjagt- too often sites are ruined because experts are not called).

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130,000-year-old Neanderthal-carved bear bone is symbolic art, study argues

A nearly 130,000-year-old bear bone was deliberately marked with cuts and might be one of the oldest art pieces in Eurasia crafted by the Neanderthals, researchers say. 

The roughly cylindrical bone, which is about 4 inches long (10.6 centimeters), is adorned with 17 irregularly spaced parallel cuts. A right-handed person most likely crafted the piece, probably in one sitting, a new study finds. 

The carved bone is the oldest known symbolic art made by Neanderthals in Europe north of the Carpathian Mountains. It gives scientists a glimpse into the behavior, cognition and culture of modern humans’ long-dead cousins, who lived in Eurasia from about 400,000 to 40,000 years ago, when they disappeared. 

“It is one of the quite rare Neanderthal objects of symbolic nature,” Tomasz Płonka, professor of archaeology at the University of Wrocław, told Live Science. “These incisions have no utilitarian reason.” For instance, the bone does not appear to be a tool or an object of ritual importance, the study found.

Researchers discovered the bone in 1953 in Dziadowa Skała Cave in southern Poland and initially believed it was the rib of a bear. They excavated the bone from a layer dating to the Eemian period (130,000 to 115,000 years ago), one of the warmer periods of the last ice age. However, Płonka’s team found that the bone is an arm bone (radius) that came from the left forelimb of a juvenile bear, most likely a brown bear (Ursus arctos).

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Scientists discover ancient HERPES in 50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones found in a Russian cave… and they want to bring virus back to life

The oldest human viruses, including herpes, have been uncovered in 50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones – and experts could soon recreate them. 

Researchers at Brazil‘s Federal University of São Paulo identified remnants of the herpesviruses, which causes cold sores, the sexually transmitted papillomavirus and adenovirus, also known as the common cold, in two male Neanderthals’ DNA found in a Russian cave.

Previous theories suggested that Neanderthals may have gone extinct because of viruses and the latest study may be the first to provide evidence for this idea.

Now, the team hopes to synthesize the viruses and infect human cells in a lab to see how they compare to their modern-day counterparts.

‘These Jurassic Park-like viruses could then be studied for their reproductive and pathogenic traits and compared to present-day counterparts,’ Marcelo Briones, the study’s lead author told NewScientist.

‘I am skeptical that this could be achieved given the lack of full understanding of how the viruses’ DNA is damaged and how to reconstruct the recovered pieces into a full viral genome,’ he added. 

‘Also, the host-virus interaction, especially in a completely different environment, is something to consider.’ 

The team found the Neanderthals’ remains in Siberia’s Chagyrskaya cave in the Altai mountains, which they used to sequence genome data of the ancient beings. 

The results determined that the remnants of the viruses were not contracted from possible predators that fed on Neanderthals or from modern humans who might have handled the bones. 

Adenovirus causes cold symptoms in modern humans and can cause infections in the tonsils, adenoids and other mucosal tissues while they could develop genital warts and cancer from the sexually transmitted papillomavirus.

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