Archaeology

A group of German archaeologists have set off to find a priceless ancient treasure and I'd rather they not get it.    Sounds like the plot of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" right? As smashing as I look in a Stetson fedora, the reality involves no Nazis or theological death rays, instead it involves 2,156 gold tablets on which the Maya recorded their laws, which may be buried in Guatemala's Lake Izabal.  But the reality does involve a treasure map, which is always fun.   Mayan expert Joachim Rittsteig claims to have thoroughly studied the Dresden Codex, a pre-Columbian Maya book…

If you've been to Bible study classes, you know the story of Jericho.   Actually, if you're an atheist you may know it even better, since on quizzes atheists seem to know The Bible better than many religious people.  In the story, Joshua, successor to Moses, led the Jews across the Jordan to what would be their land.   Jericho was clearly sitting on it so using trumpets for seven days and finally their voices they were able to take out the walls of the city and kill most everyone inside. Wait until the Mythbusters try and tackle that one.   The timeframe of that…

While many in America were happy about the collapse of the Mubarak government, they were likely happy for the wrong reasons.   Optimists, it is said, are people who do not learn from experience and the toppling of a dictator in Egypt looks a lot more like Iran in 1979 than it does America in 1776. But regardless of the irrational optimism of many in the political spectrum, plenty of scientists are going to be happy that protesters have now turned their sights on Zawi Hawass, a man who could only have gotten his job in a dictatorship and wielded his position just like one. (See also Young…

An artificial big toe found attached to the foot of an ancient Egyptian mummy is the world's oldest prosthetic.  At least for now.   It predates the previous earliest known practical prosthesis , the Roman Capula Leg, by several hundred years. It wasn't simply cosmetic.   The two toes, a three-part wood and leather artifact housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, and the Greville Chester artificial toe on display in the British Museum, also helped their toeless owners walk like Egyptians. Dr. Jacky Finch, based in the University of Manchester's KNH Centre for Biomedical…

Despite the various claims surrounding the idea of alien visitation in the past, one of the primary arguments has been the creation of immense structures in the past that have been argued as being impossible to create without sophisticated modern technologies.  More to the point, the argument even suggests that it would take quite advanced technologies (even beyond our abilities today), to produce such construction projects. Invariably the size of the blocks is mentioned (on the order of several tons to several hundred tons), as well as the issue of moving them, positioning them, and of…

Well, we now know what a Cargo Cult is, and we are now up to date on the recent research into the Nasca Lines. What I haven’t brought you completely up to date on is the actual Ancient Alien Theory explanation of the Nazca lines. The History Channel sums it up pretty succinctly: “The Nazca Lines   Etched into a high plateau in Peru’s Nazca Desert, a series of ancient designs stretching more than 50 miles has baffled archaeologists for decades. Along with simple lines and geometric shapes, they include drawings of animals, birds and humans, some measuring more than 600 feet across…

In ancient times, when things went wrong in battle or the economy, people blamed leaders (if they didn't like them) or the Gods (if they liked the leaders) but maybe they should have blamed global warming.   Errr, and cooling. A new study in Science uses the same techniques as dendrochronology to map the rise and fall of empires and cultures as it was recorded in tree rings - and then to weather conditions. Obviously this requires some calibration, which is as much art as science.    They took weather records from the past 200 years (I know, I know, sketchy for all but the last…

A cave inside some remote mountains of Armenia contain what is being called the oldest winery yet discovered, dating back to around 4,100 B.C., 1,000 years earlier than previous finds. The discovery was made in the same mysterious Armenian cave complex where ancient leather shoe was found last summer. This is the oldest complete wine production facility ever found, including grape seeds, withered grape vines, remains of pressed grapes, a rudimentary wine press, a clay vat apparently used for fermentation, wine-soaked potsherds, and even a cup and drinking bowl. The discovery in 2007…

Let me tell you, there is a lot of crap out there about the Nasca Lines, and I do mean crap. Everything from linking them to 2012 to, of course Aliens. Surprisingly, Aliens are not the #1 explanation for the lines, it seems, from the sites I’ve seen, that the general consensus is that they are spiritual in nature. The Spiritual-ness is so broad and varied that I’m not going to even try and tackle it here. The nitty-gritty of what the lines are made of is that the lines are glyphs that were “etched” into the southern Peruvian desert floor by the removal of the darker, oxidized brown rocks,…

If you think people in your family can't cook, imagine how bad the soup must have been to bury it and leave it untouched for 2,400 years.    Chinese archaeologists say a bronze cooking pot dug up near the former capital Xian (for 1,100 years - go see the terracotta army at the burial site of Qin Shihuang, the first emperor, there) contains bone soup.   They found it while excavating a tomb because they need an extension of the airport - nothing new, China is sort of like a "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy" opening when it comes to history getting in the way of Progress. Back…