Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Ancient Irish Were the First Known to Mark an Eclipse in Stone
More than 5,000 years ago people in Ireland carved a representation of an eclipse into three stones at a megalithic monument—the first known recording of a solar eclipse, scholars say. Researchers have further noted that the sun shines into a chamber of this monument in County Meath on the later ancient Celtic festivals of Samhain and Imbolc.
IrishCentral reports:
Our ancient Irish ancestors carved images of an ancient eclipse into giant stones over 5,000 years ago, on November 30, 3340 BC to be exact. This is the oldest known recorded solar eclipse in history. The illustrations are found on the Stone Age “Cairn L,” on Carbane West, at Loughcrew, outside Kells, in County Meath. The landscape of rolling hills is littered with Neolithic monuments. Some say that originally there were at least 40 to 50 monuments, but others say the figure was more like 100.
“Cairn L” received a mention in Astronomy Ireland’s article: “Irish Recorded Oldest Known Eclipse 5355 Years Ago.” They write that the Irish Neolithic astronomer priests recorded the events on three stones relating to the eclipse, as seen from that location.
Researchers Jack Roberts and Martin Brennan found the sun illuminates a chamber in the monuments on November 1 and February 2, the cross-quarter days, which marked dates halfway between solstices and equinoxes.
A solar eclipse, May 20, 2012 (Photo by Brocken Inaglory/Wikimedia Commons)
November 1 is the end of summer, which is what Samhain means. The ancient Celts, who came later than the people who made the eclipse carving, considered Samhain the beginning of winter. Christians call it All Saints Day.
- Ancient Myths and Legends Served to Explain the Startling Phenomenon of Solar Eclipse
- Does Oldest Written Text Reveal a 30,000 year old Cult that Worshipped the Prediction of Eclipses?
- Do the ancient stone walls of Saksaywaman in Peru contain hidden communication?
February 2, or Imbolc, is midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It was later celebrated by Christians as Candlemas and in Ireland as St. Brigit's Day. The Celts called it the Festival of Lights and lit every candle and lamp in the house to commemorate the rebirth of the sun. Christians too celebrated February 2 with lights. On that day candles were lit in churches to celebrate the presentation of Jesus Christ in the Jerusalem temple.
The Irish called it Imbolc (“lamb's milk”) because it was when lambing season started.
“It was also called Brigantia for the Celtic female deity of light, calling attention to the Sun's being halfway on its advance from the winter solstice to the spring equinox,” Alamanac.com explains.
Angels take St. Bride or Brigit, a Catholicized ancient Celtic goddess of light, to Bethlehem to foster the Christ child, John Duncan (Sofi/Flickr)
Imbolc is also called Brigit's Day. Brigit means The Bright One. This sun goddess, later subsumed into the Catholic roster of saints, presided over the forge and hearth, crops, livestock and nature and also inspired skills of sacred arts and crafts, according to Celticatlanta.com.
Irish Central reports that many people believe the Celts invented the Festival of Lights to welcome the eclipse. They are also believed to have predicted when the eclipse would happen.
Brennan and Roberts noted the sun may not have shown into the chamber on Samhain and Imbolc when the Celts built it in 3340 BC.
In addition, Brennan and Roberts observed full moonlight illuminating the end of the cairn, where light shone on a cup mark on the endstone on August 26, 1980. Then, as the light moved across the chamber, it illuminated the bottom of the Whispering Stone.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Oldest pages of the Koran found in England may date to Mohammed's lifetime
Two pages from a Koran, which are believed to have been written down by a contemporary of Mohammed himself, have been found in a library in England. The folios had been in a collection in the University of Birmingham's library for a century, but an expert who looked at them recently decided they should be dated using scientific methods. It has now been determined that they are the oldest known pages of the Koran in existence.
Radiocarbon dating conducted by Oxford University puts the age of the sheep- or goatskin pages between 568 and 645 AD with 95 percent accuracy. They had been in a collection with other Middle Eastern manuscripts. When researcher Alba Fedeli looked at them more closely, the decision was made to test them to estimate their age.
"They could well take us back to within a few years of the actual founding of Islam," said David Thomas, a University of Birmingham professor of Christianity and Islam. "According to Muslim tradition, the Prophet Muhammad received the revelations that form the Koran, the scripture of Islam, between the years 610 and 632, the year of his death."
Mohammed himself could not read or write, but it is possible he knew the person who wrote down this part of the Koran, the most sacred book to Muslims, who consider its every syllable the word of God.
The person who wrote the scriptures down “would have seen [Mohammed] probably. He would have maybe heard him preach,” Thomas said.
The pages are written in archaic Hijazi script and is very close in content to the Koran Muslims know today. The Koran is considered so holy to Muslims that they adhere exactly to the original language of 1,400 years ago when reproducing it.
“The parts of the Koran that are written on this parchment can, with a degree of confidence, be dated to less than two decades after Muhammad's death,” Thomas told the BBC. “These portions must have been in a form that is very close to the form of the Koran read today, supporting the view that the text has undergone little or no alteration and that it can be dated to a point very close to the time it was believed to be revealed."
Thomas told the BBC that around the time of Mohammed the Koran was written on various objects, including camels' shoulder bones, rocks and palm leaves in addition to parchment, enough of which was difficult for Muslims to obtain to write down the entire book.
There are other manuscripts that may be as old as this one, the BBC says. Radiocarbon dating provides a range of years for an object being dated, and the years of this and other manuscripts overlap. But these two pages are among the oldest known surviving Koran manuscripts in existence.
Muhammad Isa Waley, a British Library expert on old manuscripts called the discovery exciting and Muslims would rejoice over it.
A closeup of one of the Koran folios, written in the early Hijazi Arabic script, found in the University of Birmingham's library.
Susan Worrall, the library's special collections director, said “in our wildest dreams" the folios were not expected to be so old. "Finding out we had one of the oldest fragments of the Koran in the whole world has been fantastically exciting,” she said
Body of 4,000-year-old teenager near Stonehenge may give clues about Bronze Age lives
Archaeologists have unearthed a 4,000-year-old adolescent who lived near Stonehenge and was buried in the fetal position with an amber necklace. Now archaeologists working at the site of Marden Henge in Wiltshire, England, will study the body to determine the child's gender, diet, cause and time frame of death. By examining minerals in the child's teeth, they may also be able to tell what part of England he or she was from. Scientists hope the studies will provide information about the people who lived near and built Stonehenge in the Vale of Pewsey.
It is possible the adolescent traveled to Stonehenge itself, though the site where the body was found, at Marden Henge, is 15 miles (24 km) away from the world's most famous stone circles.
Marden Henge, about which little is known, is the largest and considered one of the most important ancient ceremonial sites in Britain, researchers say. Archaeologists this summer are excavating the remnants of a house up to 4,400 years old on the site, which lies halfway between the World Heritage sites of Stonehenge and Avebury.
Lead archaeologist Jim Leary told The Daily Mail: “The skeleton is a wonderful discovery which will help tell us what life was like for those who lived under the shadow of Stonehenge at a time of frenzied activity. Scientific analysis will provide information on the gender of the child, diet, pathologies and date of burial. It may also shed light on where this young individual had lived.”
The skeleton's arms were crossed, its head turned to the right and its legs drawn up. The teenager was 1.5 meters (4.9 feet) tall. In addition to the skeleton, archaeologists have found blades, flint arrowheads, shale and copper bracelets and decorated pottery. They also unearthed a Roman brooch.
"Marden Henge is located on a line which connects Stonehenge and Avebury,” Leary said earlier this month. “This poses some fascinating questions. Were the three monuments competing against each other? Or were they used by the same communities but for different occasions and ceremonies? We hope to find out.
There is no great stone circle at Marden Henge. Two amateur archaeologists, Sir Richard Colt Hoare and William Cunnington, dug a shaft into a huge burial mound in the early 1800s. They didn't close the shaft, perhaps meaning to return to it. But the entire mound collapsed, and all that remains there now is a 3 cm rise in the ground. A farmer later filled in a moat that had surrounded the barrow. They left written records about animal bones, burned wood and two fragments of burned human bones—citations that tantalize and frustrate archaeologists.
This latest excavation and research project at Marden Henge, which will explore and record the huge site, will take place over three years. Scientists hope to shed light on the lives of the people who operated the ceremonial center at Marden but also the vicinity around Stonehenge.
The house that is being excavated was on a terrace in a small circle of earthen banks. The site had ramparts that researchers think were 3 meters (10 feet) tall that enclosed 15 hectares (37 acres). This is far larger than Avebury, and larger than Stonehenge itself. Leary says it was too big for a practical purpose, telling The Guardian it may have been to show off power and wealth in the ability to enlist a large workforce.
Also at the site is a previously undiscovered Roman complex that includes the foundations of a barn and a deserted medieval village.
Featured image: The child's skull after excavation; scientists hope to determine a lot about the person buried, such as diet, place of habitation, any diseases and cause and year of death.
Prehistoric Disaster: Nearly 100 Bodies Found Stacked in Ancient House in China
The skeletal remains of nearly 100 bodies have been found crammed into the ruins of a tiny wooden house in northeast China, and archaeologists are trying to piece together the puzzle of what happened.
Anthropologists believe a “prehistoric disaster” killed potentially hundreds of people 5,000 years ago, and forced the village to stuff the house full of the dead instead of burying them. At some point the house was set on fire, or caught on fire, as evidenced by the state of the remains. Some of the skulls and limb bones were charred and deformed, and it’s thought the fire caused the wooden roof to collapse, damaging the bodies within.
At least 97 bodies from the pile have been unearthed. They were ranging in ages between 19 and 35 years, reports LiveScience. The many skeletons were found in a disorderly tangle, within the ruins of a crypt-type house dubbed F40—a small structure that was only 210 square feet (20 square meters) in size.
The “Hamin Mangha” site in northeast China dates back 5,000 years and is the largest and best-preserved prehistoric settlement site found to date in northeast China, according to archaeologists in a published study in the journal Chinese Archaeology.
- Relics from the Niuheliang Goddess Temple, the most mysterious site of the ancient Hongshan
- Sacrificed humans found in ancient Chinese tombs from the Qijia Culture
- Chinese man finds old sword in ground, uses it as kitchen knife
After the fire, the remains were never reburied, and this allows modern archaeologists the opportunity of studying the gruesome find.
The American Association of Physical Anthropologists website hosts the Jilin University study on the remains of the Hamin Mangha victims.
Study authors Ya Wei Zhou and Hong Zhu write that the treatment of the 97 bodies is consistent with other locations which had suffered prehistoric mass deaths in China. The researchers compared the Hamin Mangha site with “Lajia” and “Miaozigou” groups—sites in northeast China related by the possible outbreak of “an acute infection disease (pestilence).”
As the victims died they were placed in the house successively and stacked in a pile. It is assumed the living did not have the ability or resources to bury the dead, as there were simply more deaths in the village than they could handle.
In 2011, researchers at the Hamin Mangha site unearthed foundations of 29, one-room houses with hearths and doorways. The houses were orderly and laid out in rows.
In addition, researchers recovered more than 100 pieces of pottery, jade works, stone implements, and artifacts of bone, shell and horn. Three tombs were located, as well as 10 ash pits, and a ditch or moat which surrounded the area.
- The Bronze Age Srubna Culture and their Unique Timber Graves for the Dead
- The Cucuteni-Trypillian culture and the mysterious burning of the buildings
- Old skeletons, possibly plague victims, found under Paris grocery
Other significant archaeological burial finds in northeast China include the Niuheliang Goddess Temple, the most mysterious site of the ancient Hongshan from 5,000 years ago, in which beautiful relics of unknown deities, and larger-than-life statues were found. As well, the ancient tombs from the Qijia Culture in northwest China date to 4,000 years ago and reveal evidence of human sacrifice.
These shocking and sad discoveries at Hamin Mangha give researchers insight into the prehistoric peoples of northern China and how they coped with catastrophic events and mass disasters.
Featured Image: The nearly 100 skeletal remains, some charred, were found in the ruins of a tiny, 5,000-year-old house. They are believed to have been victims of a pestilence. Credit: Chinese Archaeology
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Forbidden Archaeology forbids the truth about the Piri Reis map
For posting my article about the Piri Reis map on Forbidden Archaeology’s Facebook page, I was blocked from posting on, or even seeing, the page. The article lampoons Robert Schoch’s anti-scientific nonsense about this incredible map.
I suppose some things are forbidden even to those who believe they are searching for the truth. I wonder when the cult of celebrity, which has protected Robert Schoch for years, will stop taking its toll on science.
Here is the astounding truth about the Piri Reis map – a truly ancient map fragment, on gazelle skin parchment, which accurately depicts the continent of Antarctica before it was covered by ice.
“Witchcraft Cartography and Clairvoyant Archaeology: A Review of Robert M. Schoch’s ‘Voices of the Rocks: A Scientist Looks at Catastrophes and Ancient Civilizations'”
Friday, July 24, 2015
Prehistoric four-legged snake discovered
Scientists have unearthed the fossil remains of a strange species of snake with four tiny limbs.
Dating back 120 million years, the specimen belonged to a species called Tetrapodophis amplectusand was found within the fossil-rich Crato formation in the Brazilian state of Ceará.
Even though primitive snakes with partially formed hind legs have been discovered before, this particular specimen is very unusual because it features a full set of four limbs.
"It has very snake-like vertebrae, it has a body longer than the tail, it has hundreds of vertebrae, it has the remains of other vertebrate animals in the stomach and so it was a carnivore," said palaeontologist David Martill. "All these things make it a snake."
The legs however are very small and were unlikely to have served much of a functional purpose.
Some scientists now believe that this peculiar specimen points to the likelihood that snakes evolved from burrowing lizards, making Tetrapodophis a unique transitional species between the two.
There is however much disagreement over whether this is actually the case.
"I honestly do not think the fossil represents the remains of a snake," said palaeontologist Michael Caldwell. "It completely lacks key features of the vertebral column that would make it a squamate [scaled reptile] and more specifically a snake."
"I think the specimen is important, but I do not know what it is."
5 Facts About Norse Gods Hollywood Won’t Teach You
You’re probably familiar with Thor and his mighty hammer—and if you’re a Marvel fan you might even know that the hammer is called Mjölnir. However, most of us would have a hard time recalling any other facts concerning Norse gods, well maybe with the exception of the name of Thor’s father, Odin. For example, did you know that Thor is actually a redhead, or that Odin formed the first humans out of wood? It’s true. So if you’re ready to learn some interesting facts about Norse gods, dive on into these 5 Facts About Norse Gods Hollywood Wont Teach You.
The first gods were the three brothers Odin, Vili, and Ve, who fought a war against a giant named Ymir and his sons. The gods won and killed Ymir, with whose body they created our world. His flesh was used for the ground, his bones were made into mountains, his blood into the oceans, the dome of his skull into the sky, and his brain became clouds.
The Norse gods used to belong to two separate pantheons: the Aesir and the Vanir. After the Aesir-Vanir War, they became one unified pantheon.
The Vanir gods were an old branch of gods who were known for being masters of sorcery and magic. They were also widely recognized for their talent to predict the future.
The Aesir were the male gods of Norse myth and they lived in Asgard with the female goddesses, the Asynjur.
