Researchers discover exclusive kitchenware set in Roman officer’s villa
An exclusive kitchenware set in the villa of a Roman officer in the legionary camp Novae in Bulgaria has been discovered by Polish archaeologists. Consisting of pots with lids, bowls and cups, the researchers also found glasses resembling today’s beer glasses.
The area of research conducted by Polish archaeologists in Novae.
Carried out by a mission of the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Centre of the University of Warsaw, the archaeologists are continuing excavations of the so-called House of Centurion.
This is one of the largest buildings previously exposed in the area of the camp Novae, occupying an area of a quarter of a hectare and resembling a luxurious villa rather than a military commander’s quarters.
The centre of the complex is a spacious courtyard with a pool with niches on its ends. The walls of the building were decorated with wall paintings and the floors in some rooms were lined with ceramic plates.
Lead archaeologist Professor Piotr Dyczek said: ’Unexpectedly, one of the most interesting discovered artefacts was a set of kitchenware used in the House of Centurion. The set is unique.
“Not only is it made of great quality clay, but it also presents a full set of used forms, indirectly giving us insight into the culinary tastes of the lady of the house.
“In addition, the execution and clay are of very good quality.
A vessel was discovered in the House of Centurion.
“There are also small cups, one beer pint that resembles our modern pints. But the pot we discovered has no handle and its surface is formed so that it can be easily and firmly held in the hand.
“Its size indicates that food was prepared for a small group of people, probably the centurion and his deputies or the guests.”
The dishes were either made in a single pot or boiled and roasted – a pan fragment is preserved. The researchers also found oyster shells next to the set which they assume are the remnants of a feast.
Dyczek continued: “After conservation and analysis of the vessels, we will be able to say more about the food. It will be also possible by analysing the bones we have found nearby. It is already clear that the food prepared for centurion was more sophisticated than that for ordinary legionnaires.”
A vessel was discovered in the House of Centurion.
The House of Centurion also had porticos, mandatory in Roman residential architecture, and an extremely large (nearly 40 m long) hypocaust system used to heat some of the rooms and the bath complex that included pools.
This year, archaeologists also discovered a toilet. Dyczek said: “The only part preserved to this day is a hole in the ground, which once was timbered with boards. This is an important discovery because there are very few of them known from similar buildings in the Empire.”
A vessel was discovered in the House of Centurion.
New findings from the 3,500-year-old tomb of a bronze age warrior
The discovery, in the words of one of the archaeologists who uncovered it, was “the find of a lifetime.” The tomb of a Bronze Age warrior left untouched for more than 3,500 years and packed to the brim with precious jewellery, weapons and riches has been unearthed in southwestern Greece, according to researchers at the University of Cincinnati.
University of Cincinnati researcher Sharon Stocker stands in the shaft tomb of a wealthy Bronze Age warrior.
The shaft tomb, about 5 feet deep, 4 feet wide and 8 feet long, was uncovered in May by a husband-and-wife team from the university. But the find was kept under wraps until an announcement Monday by Greek authorities.
Sharon Stocker and Jack Davis began excavating the site near the modern-day city of Pylos, Greece, in May. They were working near the Palace of Nestor, a noted destination in Homer’s “Odyssey.” That site was uncovered by famed University of Cincinnati archaeologist Carl Blegen in 1939.
Stocker and Davis initially thought they might have stumbled upon a Bronze Age home just outside the palace, but as they continued digging, they uncovered one bronze piece after another.
“That’s when we knew,” Stocker told the Los Angeles Times in a phone interview from Greece, where she is still working.
What she and a team of dozens of researchers uncovered were incredible riches in a rare solo grave of a Mycenaean warrior who was buried several centuries before the rise of classical Greek culture.
Here’s a sampling of what they uncovered:
Solid gold jewelry and precious stones on his right
This picture provided by Greece’s Culture Ministry shows a gold signet ring decorated with two acrobats vaulting over a bull, found in the tomb.
Four solid gold rings, carved with intricate designs, were found in the tomb near the warrior’s remains. The researchers say this is more than has been found in any other single burial in all of Greece.
A unique solid-gold necklace, unearthed in the warrior’s tomb.
The necklace is more than 30 inches long and features two gold pendants on each end, decorated with ivy leaves.
More than 1,000 precious stone beads were also uncovered, many of them with holes drilled in the centre for stringing together. The beads were made of carnelian, amethyst, jasper, agate and gold, researchers say. Some may have even been sewn to a burial shroud of woven fabric, a tiny square of which survived 35 centuries in the grave.
A solid-gold chain necklace, more than 2 feet long with pendants on either end, was also found near his neck.
Weapons on his left
A 3-foot sword with a handle made of ivory and overlaid in gold lay at the warrior’s left chest. Underneath it was a dagger that was decorated with gold using an intricate technique that resembles embroidery.
Other weapons, made of bronze, including a slashing sword and spearhead, were found at his legs and feet, and the remnants of a bronze suit of armour were found on top.
Stone seals with intricate designs and carvings
One of more than four dozen seal stones with intricate Minoan designs found in the warrior’s tomb. Long-horned bulls and human bull jumpers soaring over their horns are common motifs in Minoan designs.
Dozens of seal stones, which were decorated with detailed etchings in the Minoan style, were found to the left and right of the warrior’s skeleton. About the size of a quarter, the seal stones depicted goddesses, lions and bulls, and men jumping over a bull’s horns, a common sport in the Minoan civilization.
Beauty essentials: combs and a mirror
A bronze mirror with an ivory handle was among the more than 1,400 objects found in the grave.
One of six ivory combs found in the warrior’s tomb.
Six fine-toothed ivory combs, mostly intact and about 6 inches long, were uncovered in the grave. They were intricately decorated and accompanied by a bronze mirror with an ivory handle. Stocker says it’s significant that the warrior was buried alone, and that jewels, combs, and a mirror accompanied him.
It was extremely rare for a person to be buried alone, Stocker says, and archaeologists uncovering group graves in the past have had trouble determining which objects are associated with which remains, male or female. “In the past, people have wondered if you could divide finds along gender lines. Did the beads go with women? Did the combs go with women and the swords with the men?” Stocker told The Times.
“Since it’s only one burial, we know that all these objects went with this man.”
A rich person’s cups, bowls and jugs – made with bronze
Most graves from this era were packed with ceramics and another stoneware, Stocker says. But piled on top of the jewels and weapons were vessels, bowls and basins made strictly of bronze, some ringed with gold and silver trim.
Some of the bronze vessels, once round, had been flattened by centuries of earth weighing down on them.
“This guy was really, really rich,” Stocker says. His bones indicate he was “strong, robust … well-fed,” she says. He may have been royalty or even the founder of a new dynasty at the Palace of Nestor. (A conqueror may not have wanted to be buried in a communal grave with generations of the previous dynasty, Stocker says).
The man, who was 30 to 35 years old when he died, could have been a warrior who led a raiding party to the nearby island of Crete and whose loot was buried with him. Or even a trader who acquired the goods through commerce.
“We don’t know his name, and we don’t really know anything else about him,” she says.
700,000 Ancient African Books survived in Timbuktu University, Mali
Many writers on African history did not believe until recently that African societies had any sort of tradition of writing. This idea has gradually lost recognition since the rediscovery of ancient collections of manuscripts, some dating back to at least the 8th century A.D.
In present-day Ethiopia, about 250,000 old manuscripts from the Timbuktu libraries survive. Also, at the southern Egyptian site of Qasr Ibrim, thousands of documents from the medieval Sudanese empire of Makuria, written in at least eight different languages have been dugout.
In the western African cities of Chinguetti, Walata, Oudane, Kano, and Agadez, thousands of more ancient manuscripts have survived similarly.
Approximately 1 million manuscripts have since managed to survive from the northern edges of Guinea and Ghana to the shores of the Mediterranean, against the real and present dangers posed by fires, insects, and plundering.
National Geographic also predicts 700,000 manuscripts in the city of Timbuktu alone have survived.
Ancient texts from Timbuktu, the evidence
Local families and institutions still own and maintain over 60 libraries in Timbuktu, some of which are collections that survived the turmoil through the city, as well as the ravages of nature.
The Ahmed Baba Institute, established in 1979 and named after the famous scholar of the 16th/17th century, considered the greatest in Africa, is a true example of this.
Text saved from burning
Today, the institute has only about thirty thousand manuscripts, which are constantly being examined, catalogued and stored, but at the time of the French colonial administration of Timbuktu (1894-1959), many of the manuscripts were taken by the occupying colonialists and brought to light.
As a result, many families there are still refusing to allow researchers entry, anticipating a repeat of the French treatment. Many texts were lost due to climatic effects including drought, which forced many people to bury them and evacuate.
Of the surviving manuscripts, these are:
* Main Islamic texts include Korans, hadith collections (actions or prophet’s sayings), Sufi texts and devotional texts
* Activities of the Islamic law school in Maliki
* ‘Muslim science’ texts, including grammar, mathematics and astronomy
* Historical works from the area, including contracts, commentaries, historical chronicles, poetry, and marginal notes and jottings, proving to be a remarkably rich source of historical evidence.
For whatever reason, much of the manuscripts themselves are of great interest to the owners. For example, those who have so far claimed royalty have been found to be from the servile class because of the manuscripts’ evidence.
Certain documents also exposed one family’s atrocious relations with another, which may have occurred a very long time ago but still have meaning to this day. As in contested ownership of land and properties.
These raise the question as to why to this day these manuscripts are of utmost importance. Many of those in possession of the manuscripts hid them during colonial times or even had them buried.
In addition, French was forcibly introduced as the region’s language and instruction, meaning that many owners lost their ability to read and understand the manuscripts in the languages they were originally written in.
Eventually, it wasn’t until 1985 that much energy was breathed into this region’s academic life, meaning it would take a long time to fully understand the full scope and import of the manuscripts that were found.
Textiles discovered in a Stone Age community explain the history of clothing production.
Cities from the Stone Age sound like an oxymoron. However, 8000-9000 years ago in Turkey, 10,000 people lived at atalhöyük. It’s the largest village from the Neolithic and Chalcolithic eras, according to experts.
“Çatalhöyük is one of the most famous archaeological sites,” says Lise Bender Jørgensen.
She is an archaeologist and professor emerita from NTNU’s Department of Historical and Classical Studies and has helped to confirm what people in the ancient city wove their clothes from. Bender Jørgensen is a specialist in archaeological textiles, so it comes as no surprise that she has been involved in this work.
This piece of cloth is from the Stone Age. For 60 years, academics have debated whether it is made of wool or linen. So what is it really made of? The answer will surprise you.
Under discussion for almost 60 years
Experts have been discussing what kind of clothes people wore in Çatalhöyük since 1962 when they found the first pieces of cloth here. Some specialists believed that people made their clothes from wool. Others thought they made them out of linen instead. So who’s right? After almost 60 years, we now know the answer.
“Neither,” Bender Jørgensen and her colleagues say.
Now they have presented their findings in Antiquity, an archaeological journal.
Çatalhöyük is a superstar
You may not have heard of Çatalhöyük, but the city is considered a superstar in archaeological circles.
Professor Ian Hodder shows Antoinette Rast-Eicher around the excavation site.
“When Çatalhöyük was excavated from the late 1950s onwards, it was considered one of the oldest cities ever. Even though new discoveries show that this is no longer true, the place still has a high celebrity factor,” says Jørgensen.
Archaeologist James Mellaart led the earliest excavations. Turkish authorities later expelled him from the country, as he was allegedly involved in the black market sale of archaeological artefacts.
Çatalhöyük the city is genuine, however. People were already living here more than 9000 years ago, and 18 layers of settlements have been identified. People called the city home until about 7950 years ago.
Unearthed textiles from the Stone Age
One of the world’s leading archaeologists, Professor Ian Hodder at Stanford University, undertook new excavations between 1993 and 2017. They yielded large amounts of new data and have provided us with a whole new understanding of the site. The finds made by Hodder and colleagues unearthed several pieces of cloth that later turned out to be between 8500 and 8700 years old.
“When Hodder’s excavations began to reveal textiles, they invited me to examine them with my Swiss colleague Antoinette Rast-Eicher,” Bender Jørgensen says.
Rast-Eicher, who is affiliated with the University of Bern, specializes in identifying fabric fibres. She has experience with some of the oldest European textiles found in Alpine lakes. The two researchers have collaborated on several projects in recent years, including under the auspices of NTNU.
In August 2017, they travelled together to Çatalhöyük and examined the textiles that the archaeologists in Hodder’s group had found. They also collaborated with postdoctoral fellow and archaeobotanist Sabine Karg from the Free University of Berlin. This group of specialists found clear answers.
This is what bast fibre looks like.
A neglected old material
“In the past, researchers largely neglected the possibility that the fabric fibres could be anything other than wool or linen, but lately another material has received more attention,” Bender Jørgensen says.
People in Çatalhöyük used assorted varieties of exactly this material.
“Bast fibres were used for thousands of years to make rope, thread, and in turn also yarn and cloth,” says Bender Jørgensen. A fibre sample from a basket turned out to be made of grass, but several of the textiles are clearly made of bast fibre from oak trees. They are also the oldest preserved woven fabrics in the world.
Bast fibre is found between the bark and the wood in trees such as willow, oak or linden. The people from Catalhöyük used oak bark, and thus fashioned their clothes from the bark of trees that they found in their surroundings. They also used oak timber as a building material for their homes, and people undoubtedly harvested the bast fibres when trees were felled.
The experts’ conclusions also align with another striking point: No large quantities of flaxseed have been found in the region. People in Çatalhöyük do not seem to have cultivated flax.
Bender Jørgensen notes that a lot of people often overlook bast fibre as an early material. “Linen tends to dominate the discussion about the types of fabric fibres people used,” she says.
As it turns out, people in this area did not import linen from elsewhere, as many researchers have previously thought, but used the resources they had plentiful access to.
Excavation planned along the river after 1200 prehistoric tools found in Scotland
A river in Aberdeenshire has yielded more than 1,200 Mesolithic tools. The flints, which were discovered by researchers and volunteers just three days ago, were used by people who had lived along the Dee 6,000 to 10,000 years ago.
Finds include a broken piece of a hammer-shaped object called a mace head.
Archaeology group Mesolithic Deeside now hopes to uncover more clues to prehistoric life at the site at Milton of Crathes.
It has organised a week-long excavation from 11-14 November.
Flints, pieces of worked stone, have been found at Milton of Crathes in the past.
A broken piece of a mace head has been among the finds at the site
The tools are thought to have been used as scrapers for turning raw animal hide into clothing, and as blades for cutting.
Mesolithic Deeside co-secretary Sheila Duthie said: “When I started finding flints over 20 years ago, I could never have imagined contributing to such a massive project which is, without doubt, broadening our understanding of prehistoric human activity on Deeside.”
“My ideal pastime is footerin’ in flat fields with fine folk finding flints, fair or foul.”
Flints are worked pieces of stone and are thought to have been used for scraping and cutting
The Egyptian-German mission has uncovered a collection of decorated blocks and fragments from the King Nactanebo I temple at the Matariya archaeological site in Heliopolis.
A collection of decorated blocks and fragments from the western and northern fa ade of king Nactanebo I temple at Matariya was uncovered.
The discovery was made several weeks ago during excavation work at the central area of the temple.
The blocks and fragments are made of basalt and belong to the western and northern façade.
A northern extension probably connected the sanctuary with the main axis of the precinct of the sun god.
Several blocks of the Lower Egyptian geographical procession were found, among them the scene with the Heliopolis Nome while others display the representation of the additional nomes of Lower Egypt.
Aymen Ashmawy, head of the ancient Egyptian antiquities sector and head of the mission from the Egyptian side, explains that the inscriptions mention the regnal years 13 and 14 (366/365 BCE) as well as the dimensions and the materials used in this sanctuary.
“Several blocks were unfinished too and no further decoration work seems to have been commissioned after the death of Nectanebo I in 363 BCE,” he said, adding that other architectural elements attest to the building projects of Ramesses II (1279-1213), Merenptah (1213-1201 BC) and Apries (589-570 BCE).
The activity of the Ramesside Period is also represented by an inlay for relief of the early 19th dynasty (c. 1300 BCE). A statue fragment of Seti II (1204-1198) adds to the evidence for this king of the late 19th Dynasty at Heliopolis.
Dietrich Raue, head of the German mission, pointed out that the main processional axis was investigated further west. Scattered fragments point to separate building units of the Middle Kingdom, the 22nd Dynasty (King Osorkon I, 925-890 BCE) and a sanctuary for Shu and Tefnut of King Psametik II (595-589 BCE).
Raue said that some fragments of the statuary of King Ramesses II, a part of a baboon statue, a statue base and fragments of a quartzite obelisk of King Osorkon I and parts of cult installations such as an offering table of Thutmose III, 1479-1425 BCE were found.
These finds point to the continuous royal support and investment in the temple of the sun and creator god at Heliopolis and the excavation work provided additional evidence for the 30th Dynasty and the Ptolemaic Period in the precinct.
Dietrich Raue pointed out that sculptures and limestone casts for reliefs and moulds used in the production of faience ushebti (a type of funerary figurine) testify to the activity of workshops before all evidence of the temple functioning ceases during the Roman Era.
Over the millennia, people in many places across the globe have reported the existence of giants. Some of these alleged giants were supposedly six or seven feet tall, while others were considerably taller – 10 feet or more. However, many of these accounts are considered mythical or legendary. But even if such giants existed, were they simply the result of disease or genetic abnormalities? And were there just a few of them?
The Cardiff Giant
But these sightings have continued into the modern era. Many people in America, for instance, have reported seeing giants – or at least the bones of giants. Given these accounts, one may think there were many thousands, if not millions, of these giants roaming ancient America – a race of giants, in fact. However, most of the evidence is anecdotal rather than scientific. Mistakes could have been made too, especially by people who know little or nothing about science, particularly archaeology or anthropology. Also, there have been plenty of hoaxes through the ages. Some people love to fool others.
So, have giants ever existed in America? Let’s see if we can answer that question. First, this article will provide a recap of the existence of giants through the ages and then finish the investigation with more recent information.
David and Goliath
King Arthur squares off against a giant
Giants in Mythology and Legend
Over the centuries, the existence of giants has been reported in many parts of the world. The word giant comes from the Greek word Gigantes, and of course, in the old days, the Greeks wrote about the existence of giants in much of Greek mythology. For instance, the Olympian gods fought a war with the Gigantomachy, and they weren’t victorious until Heracles decided to join the Olympians. According to Hindu mythology, the Daityas were a race of giants who fought against the Devas, because they were jealous of their Deva half-brothers. Power-hungry people, the Daityas often allied themselves with other races. Supposedly, female Daityas wore jewels as large as boulders.
The Old Testament of the Bible includes tales of giants too. The Book of Genesis mentions the Nephilim, who existed before and after the biblical deluge. And David battled the Philistine giant Goliath, who reportedly was about ten feet tall. Goliath’s brothers were also considered giants.
European Giants
In Norse mythology, most of their various monsters were giants. In the eventual battle of Ragnarök, a kind of end-of-the-world tale, the giants will lay siege to Asgard, which will bring about the destruction of the world. Moreover, the Norse gods are related to giants. The chief god Odin was the great-grandson of the first giant, Ymir.
In medieval folklore, people believed giants were responsible for many ancient civilizations. Their reasoning was that only giants could have built the immense walls, fortifications, temples and statues now attributed to the Greeks, Romans, Celts or Druids. Giants are also mentioned frequently in fairy tales, particularly Jack the Giant Killer, Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon and Young Ronald. In 1890, bone fragments discovered by an anthropologist in France, and dating from the Neolithic period to the Bronze Age, came to be known as the Giant of Castelnau. Judging from the size of these leg and arm bones, it’s been estimated this “giant” was anywhere from 10 to 15 feet tall!
Paul Bunyan
Bigfoot
Skulls found at Lovelock Cave
Artist’s depiction of Cahokia
Monk’s Mound
Creek Mound
Miamisburg Mound
The Case for Giants in America
Most Americans have heard of Paul Bunyan, who, according to American folklore, was a giant lumberjack who was so big and strong he could bat cannonballs with his huge hands. In more recent times, Paul Bunyan has become a cartoon character of note. And then there’s Bigfoot, aka Sasquatch, a hominid-like, ape-man that purportedly lurks in the woods of North America.
But these giants are just silliness, right?
Well, many authors have written about the possible existence of giants in America. Certainly, one of the better books in this genre was penned by Richard J. Dewhurst, who wrote The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America, published in 2014. The following text will pertain to the discoveries Dewhurst writes about in this very interesting book.
Red-Haired Giants Found in Nevada
According to Paiute oral history, red-haired giants known as the Si-Te-Cah (the “tule eaters”) cannibalized people in what is now central Nevada. Eventually, the Paiute tribes rebelled against these giants and eradicated them. Then, in 1911, a group of bat guano miners discovered the remains and artefacts of some of these giants in Lovelock Cave. Certainly, the greatest of these discoveries were some mummies of the Si-Te-Cah, which had been wrapped in elaborate textiles. During subsequent excavations by scientists in Lovelock Cave, numerous artefacts and some human remains were collected, but experts dispute the claim that giants once lived in the cave. Interestingly, archaeological samples taken from some duck decoys found in the cave showed that using a dating technique known as Accelerator Mass Spectrometry, the decoys were from 2,000 to 2,500 years old.
Unfortunately, the mummies of the Si-Te-Cah have been lost; only the skulls of these alleged giants have been kept at the Humboldt Museum in Winnemucca, Nevada.
Mound Builders of America
Throughout Dewhurst’s book, he writes about the discovery of giants interred in burial mounds in parts of the United States. These accounts, dozens of them, in fact, cover a time period from the late 1700s until well into the twentieth century. According to Dewhurst, thousands of these burial mounds were discovered over this time period and many still exist, particularly the larger ones. But the remains of the supposed giants discovered in the burial mounds disintegrated shortly after discovery, were lost, or stored away – without scientific investigation – and then forgotten. A typical account from the book goes like this:
GIANT EIGHT FEET, SEVEN INCHES TALL UNEARTHED
Ohio Science Annual, 1898
A rare archaeological discovery has been made near Reinersville in Morgan County, Ohio. A small knoll, which had always been supposed to be the result of an uprooted tree, was opened recently and discovered to be the work of the mound builders. Just below the surrounding surface, a layer of boulders and pebbles was found. Directly underneath this was found the skeleton of a giant 8 feet, 7 inches in height. Surrounding the skeleton were bones and stone implements, stone hatchets, and other characteristics of the mound builders. The discovery is considered by the scientists as one of the most important ever made in Ohio. The skeleton is now in the possession of a Reinersville collector.
Cahokia, One of America’s Greatest Mound Builder Sites
The Cahokia mound builder site is one of the largest in North America. Located in southwestern Illinois, near Collinsville (across the Mississippi River from St. Louis), the site is near the confluence of three rivers, so the ancient people of the area must have loved this place. About a thousand years ago, Cahokia was a city larger than London, and there were 120 earthen mounds, though only 40 remain today. But the largest still exists, and it’s called Monks Mound, which is comparable in height and surface area to the largest pyramids built by the Egyptians, Maya, Aztecs and Toltecs.
Interestingly, also located near the Cahokia site, is what’s called Woodhenge, a structure that includes 48 wooden posts arranged in a 410-foot diameter circle. Woodhenge has many geological and celestial alignments. At the Cahokia site, built by the Mississippian culture, hundreds of human skeletons have been found, including the bones of many sacrificial victims and, of course, the remains of giants.
Blond-haired Giants of Santa Catalina Island
During the 1920s on Santa Catalina Island, which is off the coast of Southern California (considered one of the Channel Islands), scientists dug up the skeletal remains of more than 3,700 people. Alleged to be from a race of blond-haired giants, one of the skeletons was over nine feet in length, though the average length of the skeletons was about seven feet. In those days, this discovery generated lots of excitement. The ruins of a temple were also found at the Catalina Island site, where the remains of many sacrificial victims were unearthed. Investigated by the Spanish as long ago as the middle 1500s, the people of this civilization worshipped the Sun God. Subsequent radiocarbon dating indicated that at least some of the skeletal remains found on the island were as old as 7,000 years.
Dewhurst claims that most of these skeletons were taken by the University of California and the Smithsonian Institute, though the Smithsonian denied it had the remains for 50 years. However, in 2011, the Smithsonian admitted they had the skeletons in a restricted-access room. Be that as it may, 200 skeletons from the site can be found at UCLA’s Fowler Museum.
Evidence for a Smithsonian Cover-up?
Throughout the book, Dewhurst asserts that the Smithsonian Institute has engaged in a cover-up regarding the existence of a race of giants in America, but he provides no proof in his aforementioned book and, of course, the Smithsonian hasn’t admitted there ever was – or is – such a cover-up. According to the online article, “Big Buried Secrets: Giant Skeletons and the Smithsonian” written by Micah Hanks, if the Smithsonian can be blamed for anything regarding the lost bones of giants, it’s that the Institute’s recordkeeping is not perfect. A quote from the article could summarize this issue:
Of course, the knowledge that such skeletons may indeed have been found at times, paired with the Smithsonian’s apparent inability to keep very good records about their discovery, no doubt helps to fuel the conspiratorial speculation. With all the unknown quantities present here (and whether they are largely fact, or merely fiction), at times it does become difficult to know whether the entire truth is really being told.
Was a Cover-up Ever Needed?
Adrienne Mayor, in her book, Fossil Legends of the First Americans, published in 2007, writes that the existence of giants in America is little more than the subject of persistent rumours. She claims that the presence of bones of large extinct mammals such as mammoths, mastodons, cave bears, sabre-toothed cats and other Ice Age megafauna could have been mistaken as human bones. Moreover, she writes that hair pigment is not stable after death and that atmospheric conditions and different soil types can turn dark hair rusty red or orange.
Robert Wadlow and his father
Conclusion
There’s no incontrovertible evidence that any man or woman has ever been taller than eight feet 11 inches – the height of the world’s tallest human, Robert Wadlow. Other men and women have reached heights of above eight feet. Most, if not all of these people suffered from gigantism or acromegaly, that is, abnormal medical conditions. Moreover, some people, having no recognizable medical abnormality, have become taller than seven feet. (Many of these people play on basketball teams, in fact). Acromegaly affects about 60 out of every one million people, so over the ages there may have been thousands of so-called giants.
This begs the question: How tall is a giant? Is it anybody who suffers from gigantism – or anybody who’s taller than seven or eight feet? Who’s the authority to answer such a query?
Would he or she please step forward!
Anyway, in times past, there may have been quite a few giants, but what evidence is there that an entire race of giants – red-haired, blond-haired or otherwise – existed at some time and place on earth? Perhaps the Smithsonian Institute really has such evidence, but the organization insists that it does not. Without the bones of many such giants, people must assume that a race of giants has never existed on earth. But, in the coming months or years, that conclusion could change – by the author and many other people – so keep your mind open to all possibilities.
2,000-Year-Old Roman Face Cream With Visible, Ancient Fingermarks
The world’s oldest cosmetic face cream, complete with the finger marks of its last user 2,000 years ago, has been found by archaeologists excavating a Roman temple on the banks of London’s River Thames.
Measuring 6 cm by 5 cm, the tightly sealed, cylindrical tin can was opened yesterday at the Museum of London to reveal a pungent-smelling white cream.
“It seems to be very much like an ointment, and it’s got finger marks in the lid … whoever used it last has applied it to something with their fingers and used the lid as a dish to take the ointment out,” museum curator Liz Barham said as she opened the box.
The superbly made canister, now on display at the museum, was made almost entirely of tin, a precious metal at that time. Perhaps a beauty treatment for a fashionable Roman lady or even a face paint used in temple ritual, the cream is currently undergoing scientific analysis.
“We don’t yet know whether the cream was medicinal, cosmetic or entirely ritualistic.
The jar of Roman cosmetics uncovered beneath London’s streets (Museum of London)
We’re lucky in London to have a marshy site where the contents of this completely sealed box must have been preserved very quickly – the metal is hardly corroded at all,” said Nansi Rosenberg, a senior archaeological consultant on the project.
“This is an extraordinary discovery,” Federico Nappo, an expert on ancient Roman cosmetics of Pompeii. “It is likely that the cream contains animal fats. We know that the Romans used donkey’s milk as a treatment for the skin. However, it should not be very difficult to find out the cream’s composition.”
The pot, which appears to have been deliberately hidden, was found at the bottom of a sealed ditch in Southwark, about two miles south of central London.
Placed at the point where three roads meet near the river crossing – Watling St from Dover, Stane St from Chichester and the bridgehead road over the Thames – the site contains the foundations of two Roman-Celtic temples, a guest house, an outdoor area suitable for mass worship, plinths for statues and a stone pillar.
The complex, which last year revealed a stone tablet with the earliest known inscription bearing the Roman name of London, dates to around the mid-2nd century.
It is the first religious complex to be found in the capital, with rare evidence of organized religion in London 2,000 years ago.
“The analysis and interpretation of the finds have only just begun, and I’ve no doubt there are further discoveries to be made as we piece together the jigsaw puzzle we’ve excavated,” Rosenberg said. “But it already alters our whole perception – Southwark was a major religious focus of the Roman capital.”
Since excavation work was completed, the site will now become a residential development housing 521 apartments.
