Tag: ancient history

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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Potential Bronze Age Burial Chamber Discovered on Dartmoor

What appears to be a Bronze Age burial chamber has been unearthed on Dartmoor, promising to deepen our understanding of Devon’s ancient history. This discovery, potentially dating back 4,000 years, echoes the importance of the 2011 find at Whitehorse Hill (shown), which provided unprecedented insights into the early Bronze Age lifestyle.

Excited Anticipation of What Has Been Found

According to a Devon Live report, the latest find on Dartmoor has captivated historians and archaeologists alike. Found in a secluded area to prevent tampering, the site’s exact location remains undisclosed. The discovery was made possible due to peat erosion, revealing what appears to be a cist—a type of ancient coffin used during the Bronze Age.

Dr. Lee Bray, a leading archaeologist involved in the excavation commented, “We have every potential for this to be something quite special,…. We don’t know for certain if this is a cist, but it certainly looks like one. All the evidence we have points to it being a cist from the early Bronze Age,” reports Devon Live.

Bray highlighted the cist’s potential significance, likening it to the Whitehorse Hill find, which was identified as the resting place of a young woman from around 1700 BC. Also discovered on Dartmoor, that find attracted international attention for the insights it provided into Bronze Age life, and a video depicting how the woman’s life might have been gained much interest.

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Curious L-Shaped Structure Found near Giza Pyramids is 4,500-Years-Old

An international team of archaeologists has stumbled upon a mysterious L-shaped structure buried within a cemetery adjacent to the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Giza. The structure is 4,500 years and would have been built around the same time as the pyramid.

The discovery of this ‘blank area’ and ‘anomaly’ came about through the scanning of the surface of Giza’s prestigious Western Cemetery using ground-penetrating technology. This burial site was designated for members of King Khufu’s royal family and esteemed officials, interred in mastabas, funerary tombs typical of the era.

The newfound structure is encompassed by these mastabas, all meticulously arranged in uniform alignment. Yet, curiously, no notable excavations have previously taken place within this peculiar vacant space.

Mastabas, serving as burial structures for the royal family and esteemed officers, are distinguished by their flat roofs and rectangular designs typically crafted from limestone or mudbricks. Central to their architecture is a vertical shaft connecting to an underground chamber, essential for the burial rituals and eternal resting place of the deceased.

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THE MOST SHOCKING STORIES OF HUMAN SACRIFICE IN HISTORY

To many of us in the modern world, the idea of human sacrifice seems so strange and distant that it may as well be part of some half-remembered myth. Yet, there’s no ignoring the evidence left by societies across time and the globe: human sacrifice really did happen. Whether it’s physical clues excavated by archaeologists or written records from alleged eyewitnesses to sacrificial rituals, the sheer volume of it all means that we simply have to acknowledge that human sacrifice has happened.

That great number of cases also means that some sacrificial practices stand out for a variety of shocking reasons. A few are notable for the confounding number of people who may have been subjected to life-ending rituals, while others garner attention for the unique and protracted sequence of events that got people to a sacrificial site. For instance, the Incan children who were subject to mountaintop sacrifices now known as capacocha often went through months of good treatment and ritual preparation after they were selected for the rite, followed by a long hike to a cold and distant peak. Yet more cases of sacrifice have gone down in history for the striking ways in which remains were treated during or after the rite, leaving future humans to uncover the results centuries after the sacrifice was over and archaeologists to puzzle over their findings for generations.

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2,700-Year-Old Iron Age Pit Tomb Necropolis Unearthed in Italy

During excavations launched ahead of an upcoming electric power plant construction project, archaeologists unearthed an approximately 2,700-year-old necropolis about 31 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Naples, Italy. The fascinating discovery was announced in a press release issued by the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscapes for the provinces of Caserta and Benevento, which has been managing the archaeological work at the construction site.

“Although the excavation of the site has brought to light various levels of occupation, from prehistoric times to late antiquity, the best-preserved archaeological evidence concerns the large funerary area, which was used between the final phases of the Iron Age and the advanced Orientalizing period (third quarter of the eighth – second half/end of the seventh century BC),” the Superintendency press release (translated from Italian) stated.

Interestingly, the installation and use of the large cemetery coincides with the founding of the city of Rome, which according to legend occurred in 753 BC. But the Iron Age culture responsible for this burial ground had no direct connection with the Romans or with Rome, which was located 120 miles (200 kilometers) away.

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Unknown Assyrian Symbols Solved as ‘Tag’ of Sargon II

Ancient symbols on a 2,700-year-old temple which have baffled experts for over a century have been explained by Trinity Assyriologist Dr Martin Worthington. The sequence of ‘mystery symbols’ were on view on temples at various locations in ancient city of Dūr-Šarrukīn, present day Khorsabad, Iraq, which was ruled by Sargon II, king of Assyria (721-704 BC).

The sequence of five symbols – a lion, eagle, bull, fig-tree and plough – were first made known to the modern world through drawings published by French excavators in the late nineteenth century. Since then, there has been a spate of ideas about what the symbols might mean.

They have been compared to Egyptian hieroglyphs, understood as reflections of imperial might, and suspected to represent the king’s name – but how?

Deciphering the Assyrian Symbols

Dr Martin Worthington of Trinity’s School of Languages, Literatures and Cultural Studies has proposed a new solution in a paper published this month [April 26th] in the  Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research. He argues the Assyrian words for the five symbols (lion, eagle, bull, fig-tree and plough) contain, in the right sequence, the sounds that spell out the Assyrian form of the name ‘Sargon’ (šargīnu)

Sometimes, the same archaeological site uses only  three of the symbols (lion, tree, plough), which Dr Worthington argues again write the name ‘Sargon’, following similar principles.

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Cosmic Rays, Tree Rings, and the Real Story of the Building of Jerusalem

A new archaeological study of ancient Jerusalem is forcing experts to reevaluate some of their past assumptions about the history of that holy city. New research has presented evidence that Biblical accounts of that history are more accurate than previously believed, and that Jerusalem was already a growing city even before the reign of the legendary King David, who ruled the United Kingdom of Israel in the early 10th century BC.

In a report just published in the journal PNAS, a team of archaeologists and researchers from the University of Tel Aviv, the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Weizmann Institute of Science explain the exciting and revolutionary results of their detailed study, which emerged from the application of newly refined radiocarbon dating technology. With the most accurate dating results ever obtained from the old city of Jerusalem, the archaeologists claim to have shown infrastructure projects there were initiated centuries earlier than other research had suggested.

“Until now, most researchers have linked Jerusalem’s growth to the west, to the period of King Hezekiah – just over 2,700 years ago,” said study co-author Yuval Gadot, an archaeologist from Tel Aviv University, in an interview quoted in the Daily Mail Online.

“The conventional assumption to date has been that the city expanded due to the arrival of refugees from the Kingdom of Israel in the north, following the Assyrian exile. However, the new findings strengthen the view that Jerusalem grew in size and spread towards Mount Zion already in the ninth century BC. This was during the reign of King Jehoash – a hundred years before the Assyrian exile.”

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‘Curse’ behind King Tutankhamun’s tomb mysterious deaths finally solved, experts claim

The unsettling curse of King Tutankhamun’s tomb in Egypt has bewildered archaeologists since it’s been feared to be linked to the mysterious deaths of multiple excavators who discovered it in 1922.

However, a scientist now claims to have solved the mysteries of the infamous “Pharaoh’s Curse” more than 100 years later.

Toxic levels of radiation emanating from uranium and poisonous waste are believed to have lingered inside the tomb since it was sealed over 3,000 years ago, Ross Fellowes wrote last month in the Journal of Scientific Exploration (JSE).

The radiation level inside Tutankhamun’s tomb is so high that anyone who comes in contact with it could very likely develop a fatal dose of radiation sickness and cancer.

“Both contemporary and ancient Egypt populations are characterized by unusually high incidences of hematopoietic cancers, of bone/blood/lymph, for which a primary known cause is radiation exposure,” Fellowes wrote in his study.

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Carved Bone in Poland shows us how Neanderthals were Thinking

Nobody thought much of the bone fragment when it was discovered in the Dziadowa Skała Cave in southern Poland in the 1950s. It would take the better part of a century, and a brilliant new study, for the secrets of the artifact to be fully revealed.

The find, a fragment of the radius bone of a bear with 17 incisions, is proving to be a vital early indicator of Neanderthals’ cognitive abilities in the area. Dated to the Eemian period between 130,000 and 115,000 years ago, it offers stunning insight into how our lost relatives were thinking.

How Smart Were They?

A team of researchers has now re-analyzed the fragment using advanced microscopy and X-ray computed tomography techniques, publishing their finds in the Journal of Archaeological Sciences. The findings confirm the bone is one of Europe’s oldest symbolic cultural artifacts. Further, it has been shown that the bone had been intentionally marked with a retouched stone tool: the Neanderthals carved this, and with a very specific purpose.

“This makes it one of the earliest traces of symbolic culture recorded in Eurasia, which is represented by a series of seventeen incisions made with a broad-edged flint tool, possibly a bifacial knife. Current analyses show that the marks were made in a single session by a right-handed individual through repeated incisions, mostly using a technique where the movement was towards themselves. Apparently, the incisions served no practical purpose,” write the authors of the study.

The incisions had been made during a singular event by a right-handed individual employing repetitive, unidirectional motions of the tool’s cutting edge. These incisions, distinctively purposeful in nature, were not incidental to practical tasks but rather deliberate actions.

The bear radius from Dziadowa Skała in southern Poland’s Upland of Częstochowa serves as compelling evidence for the early development of symbolic culture among hominids in both Africa and Eurasia. Furthermore, it stands as the earliest known instance of deliberately marked bone north of the Carpathian Mountains, shedding light on the cognitive capacities and cultural practices of ancient inhabitants in this region.

Excavated between 1952 and 1954 by Waldemar Chmielewski, the Dziadowa Skała site resides within a natural karst cavity amidst the Jurassic limestone formations of a wooded hill near Łężec in Skarżyce, a district of Zawiercie. The bone, initially mistaken for a cave bear rib upon its recovery in 1953, has turned out to be so much more than a cast off remnant, reports LBV Magazine.

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The Incredible Sound Effects of Malta’s Hypogeum Hal Saflieni

The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni in Malta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is believed to be the oldest prehistoric underground temple in the world.  The subterranean structure is shrouded in mystery, from the discovery of elongated skulls to stories of paranormal phenomena. But the characteristic that has been attracting experts from around the globe is the unique acoustic properties found within the underground chambers of the Hypogeum. 

Hal Saflieni Hypogeum is a cultural property of exceptional prehistoric value, dating back approximately 5,000 years and the only known example of a subterranean structure of the Bronze Age. The ‘labyrinth’, as it is often called, consists of a series of elliptical chambers and alveoli of varying importance across three levels, to which access is gained by different corridors. The principal rooms distinguish themselves by their domed vaulting and by the elaborate structure of false bays inspired by the doorways and windows of contemporary terrestrial constructions.  

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