All posts by Archaeology World Team

ASIA, INDIA, WORLD

Did Hindu’s build Egyptian Pyramids?

Did Hindu’s build Egyptian Pyramids?

Egyptian Pyramids, Mayan Pyramid Temples, Babylonian Ziggurats (Shikara in Sanskrit) and Hindu temples—all look like a cone. The design and structure are same. Hindus were the originators. Hindus taught the world that God lives in a high place-sacred mountain MERU.

The Greeks changed the name to Mount Olympus. Hindus are the only race in the world continuing temple buildings in the same way and worshipping God in it. All others made them as museums.

We took this concept of ‘sacred mountain’ to Cambodia and built the largest temple complex in the world Angkor Wat and Borobudur in Indonesia. We used the temple for Gods, where as others used them for God like kings.

Scholars around the world knew the connection between India and Egypt from 1400 BC. That was the time Mittanni King Dasaratha wrote ten letters (it is available in all the encyclopaedias as Amarna letters) after marrying his daughter to Egyptian king Amhenotep (Sramana Dev).  Tushratta/ Dasaratha was a king who ruled Syria (now a Muslim country), but his name and his forefather names are in Sanskrit.

To confirm they are Indian Hindus we have an inscription giving the Vedic Gods Mitra, Varuna, Indra and Nasatya (Asvini Devas) in an agreement with the Hittites and a horse manual with Sanskrit numbers.

(Though all these things were in encyclopaedias from 1930s, the ruling British were very careful not to teach this or about South East Asian Hindu Empire to Indian History students. All these excavations were done by non British scholars! British were very successful in sowing the poisonous seeds of divisive Aryan Dravidian Invasion theory which is not in Sangam Tamil or Sanskrit literature.

They carefully hid facts like Tamils worshipped Indra, Varuna, Vishnu, Skanda and Durga which was found in the oldest Tamil book Tolkappiam).

Bible which was put to writing around 945 BC (Hutchinson Encyclopaedia) also gave Sanskrit words  for imports from India such as karpasa (cotton),Tuke (Siki for peacock or Suka for parrots), Kapi (monkey)etc.

But many of us do not know that the first king of Egypt was Manu, the law giver. But they were not Dasaratha of Valmiki Ramayana or Manu of Manu Dharma Sastra. 

Many of us do not know that the Egyptian builders used the Sanskrit word  Sutra for measurements during building Egyptian Pyramids.

Sulba Sutras are Vedic manuals giving measurements for Yaga Kundas (fire pits for sacrificial fire ceremonies). It contains Pythagorean Theorem and other Vedic mathematics. Sutra means thread/plumb line,also book of formulas.

Arta Dama, a Mittanni king, married his daughter to Egyptian king Tuthmose IV and the daughter of Sutharna was married to Amenhotep III (1390 BC). Another daughter was married to his son Akhenaten.

He was the most revolutionary king who established ONE GOD for the Egyptians. His name in Sanskrit means Eka Aten (One Aten is God). He worshiped Surya (sun).

Egyptian kings’ sun worship looks exactly like Brahmins doing Sandhyavandhana. Brahmins do it thrice a day facing sun. Egyptian kings worship the sun in the same way.

Manu=Nara Meru

In my earlier posts I have established that the big conflict between Krishna/Arjuna pair and the Nagas under the leadership of Maya Dhanava just before 3100 BC resulted in a mass exodus of Nagas to South America and Central America.

After Krishna’s burning of Naga lands (Kandava vana) in the Gangetic plains, there were continuous clashes. It was followed by the mass execution of Nagas (Sarpa Yagna) to avenge the assassination of King Parikshit by the Nagas. A Naga hid himself in the fruit basket and killed King Parikshit.

Around 3100 BC another dynasty started their rule in Egypt. Since they were Hindus, they named the first king Manu (Manes). His other name was Narmer i.e. Nara Meru, a pure Sanskrit word meaning Mountain among the Kings. Meru was the holiest and highest mountain in Hindu Mythology. Any high point was named Meru.

We have different Merus around the world. Pameru (Pamir Plateau), KuMeru (Kumari in the South of India). Su Meru (Sumerians) of the Middle East. The word Khmer of Cambodia may be related to Kumari/Ku Meru. I will write about it separately. North and South Poles were also called Merus in Hindu Mythologies (Puranas).

Menes was given a legendary date 3100 BC by the Greeks because Indian Kaliyuga Calendar begins in 3102 BC. Mayans also followed this Kali Yuga Calendar. (Full details are in my posts)

Menes (Manu) was praised the first Law Giver of Egypt by the Greek Historian Diodorous Siculus. Egyptians were just like Indian Hindus. They believed kings were half God, half man. Indian words for kings and palaces are synonymous with Gods and Temples. Diodorous links Heracles (Hercules) with Egypt and India. Hercules was one of the 12 ancient Gods of Egypt and he cleared India of wild animals, says Diodorous.

Narmer palette shows his picture as a strict man punishing the wrong ones.

( In Tamil Khon means King and God, Koil means Palace and temple, In Sanskrit Deva is used for Lord and the King). Khon became Khan in other languages like Kesari/lion gave a new word Caesar. Tele in the Ancient Middle East means temple, which is the corrupted form of Sanskrit word STHALA. Tamils changed it to Thali=temple)

Egyptian kings called themselves children of Surya/sun. This corresponds with the Surya Vamsa of Hindu scriptures. Like Indian Hindu kings, Egyptian kings had two names : 1. Name given at birth 2. Coronation name or Abisheka Nama.

Nile River (Sanskrit word)

River Nile is known as Blue Nile because of its BLUE colour. It is a Sanskrit word NILA meaning blue. If I find only one Sanskrit word from among 1000 place names in Egypt, scholars will laugh at me. But almost all ancient Egyptian names are Sanskrit names. (Just a few examples: Heliopolis= Suryapura, Thebes=Devas, Zawyet el Aryan=Arya of ?, Saqqara= Chakra, Dashuf= Dasyu or Dasa, Asyut=Achyuta, Hierakonpolis=Swarnapura, Amra, Amarna= Amara, Dishashasa=Disa,  El Badari= Badri (nath), Beni Hasan=Vani dasan,  Naj el der=Naga….?). Please note that Greek words are also in many place names.

Ramses=Rama Seshan?

Ramses is a title for at least seventeen kings in Egypt. Kanchi Paramacharya Swamiji has mentioned this is the name of Rama, Hero of Ramayana, in his 1932 Chennai lectures.

Naga on their heads

Many of the kings have Naga ( Naga gave birth to English word Snake=S+Naka) on their heads. There is no Hindu God without snake on their bodies. But Egyptian Kings look exactly like Lord Shiva of Hindu mythology. Another word for snake is Uraga=Uraes of Egypt.

Belief in Rebirth

The reason for building Pyramids was their belief in after life and rebirth. All the oriental religions (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism) believe in after life and Rebirth. Semitic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) don’t believe in it. This shows very clear connection with the Hindus of India. In Indian mythology we have Nimi (see the Puranas) saving his body like the Egyptians.

ASIA, RUSSIA, WORLD

The 4,000-year-old Aryan city discovered in Russia

The 4,000-year-old Aryan city discovered in Russia

Russian archaeologists have unearthed some ancient and virtually unknown settlements which they believe were built by the original Aryan race about 4000 years ago.

According to the team which has discovered 20 of the spiral-shaped settlements in a remote part of the Russian steppe in southern Siberia bordering Kazakhstan, the buildings date back to the beginning of Western civilisation in Europe.

The Bronze-age settlements, the experts said, could have been built shortly after the Great Pyramid some 4000 years ago by the original Aryan race whose swastika symbol was later adopted by the Nazis in the 1930s.

Swastika symbol.

TV historian Bettany Hughes, who explored the desolate part of the Russian steppe for the BBC programme ‘Tracking The Aryans’, said: “Potentially, this could rival ancient Greece in the age of the heroes.”

“Because I have written a lot about the Bronze Age world, there always seemed to be this huge missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle,” Hughes was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.

She said: “We are all told that there is this kind of mother tongue, proto-Indo-European, from which all the languages we know emerge.

“I was very excited to hear on the archaeological grapevine that in exactly the period I am an expert in, this whole new Bronze Age civilisation had been discovered on the steppe of southern Siberia.”

The remains of the ancient city were explored for the first time around 20 years ago shortly after then Soviet officials relaxed strict laws banning non-military aerial photography.

But because the region is so remote the incredible cities have remained virtually unknown to the rest of Europe until now, according to the archaeologists.

They are about the same size as several of the city-states of ancient Greece and would have housed between 1,000 and 2,000 people, they said.

Hughes was driven to the vast region by the expedition’s chief archaeologist Professor Gennady Zdanovich who pointed to the cities that were buried in the ground beneath them.

The Aryan’s language has been identified as the precursor to a number of modern European tongues. English uses many similar words such as brother, oxen and guest which have all been tracked to the Aryans.

Items that have so far been dug up at the sites include make-up equipment, a chariot and numerous pieces of pottery.

The artefacts were daubed in swastikas which were used in ancient times as symbols of the sun and eternal life. But the swastika and Aryan race were adopted by Hitler and the Nazis as symbols of their so-called master race.

Evidence of ritual horse burials was found at the site which ties in with ancient Aryan texts that describe the animals being sliced up and buried with their masters.

Hughes, a visiting research fellow at King’s College London, said that “ancient Indian texts and hymns describe sacrifices of horses and burials and the way the meat is cut off and the way the horse is buried with its master”.

“If you match this with the way the skeletons and graves are being dug up in Russia, they are a millimetre-perfect match.”

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

3000-year-old Wine Vessel Unearthed in Shaanxi

3000-year-old Wine Vessel Unearthed in Shaanxi

Wine dating back 3,000 years has been unearthed in a nobleman’s tomb in Shaanxi province, northwest China, and is said to be the earliest wine in China’s history.

A bronze wine vessel from the West Zhou Dynasty

According to Chinese news wire Xinhua, the wine was found inside an ancient bronze vessel from the West Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC-771 BC) in the city of Baoji.

“The liquid is likely the oldest wine discovered in China”, said Liu Jun, director of the Baoji Archaeology Institute, which is in charge of the excavation project.

According to Jun, the discovery of the liquid was made when the vessel – one of six found in the tomb – was shaken.

However, the cover of the vessel remains tightly shut, and with no appropriate tools to open it at the excavation site, the liquid inside has yet to be identified.

3000-year-old Wine Vessel Unearthed in Shaanxi
A large “Jin” and several bronze wares discovered in the noble tomb in Shaanxi province

“Wine became a symbol of corruption during the Shang Dynasty (1600BC-1046BC) as officials drank to excess.

“This leads to the emergence of prohibition devices during the succeeding Zhou dynasty, which was put on the table to remind people to drink in moderation,” Jun said.

A 95cm-long “prohibition device” was unearthed with the vessels in the tomb, the first of its kind found in Baoji.

Excavation work is still underway at the site, with more bronze devices expected to be discovered in the next few days.

The Shang dynasty’s decline is sometimes attributed to its rulers’ heavy drinking habits.

Ancient wine isn’t unknown in China, which boasts one of the oldest wine traditions in the world.

The residue of wine over 9,000 years old has been found in ancient Chinese vessels.

In a 2004 BBC report, archaeo-chemist Patrick McGovern reported the liquid was composed of “rice, honey and fruit.”

The second oldest evidence of wine, dating back 7,000 years, hails from Iran.

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

Earliest known bubonic plague strain found in a 5000-year-old skull

Earliest known bubonic plague strain found in a 5000-year-old skull

Five thousand years ago, a rodent bit a Stone Age hunter-gatherer. The creature carried a strain of pernicious bacteria called Yersinia pestis – the pathogen that caused the Black Death, or bubonic plague in the 1300s.

Earliest known bubonic plague strain found in a 5000-year-old skull
The skull of a young man thought to have died from plague 5000 years ago

The bacteria likely killed the Stone Age man, who died in his 20s, according to a study published Tuesday. It’s the oldest strain of plague known to science so far.

The strain’s genome closely resembles the version of plague that wrecked medieval Europe more than 4,000 years later, killing up to half the region’s population over the course of seven years. But it’s missing a few key genes – notably, traits that helped it spread.

Unlike its microbial descendants, the plague that sickened the ancient hunter was a slow-moving disease and not very transmissible, according to Ben Krause-Kyora, a professor of ancient DNA analysis at Kiel University in Germany.

“It lacked the genes that enabled transmission by flea,” Krause-Kyora, who co-authored the new study, told Insider. During the Black Death, bites from fleas and lice were the key source of infections.

So in the millennia between the hunter-gatherer’s demise and the Black Death, Y. pestis bacteria mutated in a way that gave it the ability to jump between species via fleas.

“The change was a major driving force of a fast and widespread plague,” Krause-Kyora said.

Bacteria in the bloodstream

Yersinia pestis bacteria as seen under a microscope. This bacteria is the cause of the Bubonic plague.

The Stone Age hunter-gatherer died in a region that’s now Latvia. Near his bones, anthropologists also excavated the remains of another man, a teenage girl, and a newborn, but none had been infected. Krause-Kyora’s group hadn’t gone looking for ancient plague victims – rather, they wanted to see if the four buried people were related. But before completing their planned genetic analysis, the team screened ancient DNA extracted from the bones and teeth for traces of pathogens. That’s how they found the bacteria.

The Riņņukalns site on the banks of the Salaca River in Latvia, where 5,000-year-old bones were found.

The researchers then compared the bacteria’s genome to other ancient plague strains. A previous study described other strains that are roughly 5,000 years old, but Krause-Kyora said this particular one is a couple hundred years older. So his team concluded it was the earliest-known version of Y. pestis.

The hunter-gatherer’s DNA also showed that he had a large quantity of bacteria in his body, which suggests that he died from it. His grave site indicated that other members of his group meticulously buried him, according to the study.

“It’s hard to tell if he died quickly,” Krause-Kyora said, adding, “from the number of bacteria present, it seems he survived a higher dose and lived longer or in a more chronic way with it.”

The jawbone of a Stone Age hunter-gatherer buried in Riņņukalns, Latvia, around 5,000 years ago.

The plague can take three forms. Bubonic is the type that ravaged Europe and left victims with swollen, painful lymph nodes. Septicemic refers to infections in which the bacteria enters the bloodstream and the patient’s skin turns black and dies. Pneumonic plague, meanwhile, can cause respiratory failure.

Krause-Kyora thinks the ancient hunter had the septicemic plague, which could explain why no other members of his small group got the disease.

“They would’ve had to have direct contact with his blood,” he said – or another infected rodent would have had to bite them.

The plague is mostly zoonotic, meaning it hops from animal hosts to humans. Krause-Kyora said that the hunter-gatherer’s case can show epidemiologists how zoonotic pathogens – like Ebola, swine flu, and (most likely) the new coronavirus – change over time.

“We really have to think about how the evolution of zoonotic events could take thousands of years,” he said.

During the era when the Stone Age man lived, the plague didn’t cause widespread outbreaks. Y. pestis would pop up here and there in groups of hunter-gatherers, farmers, and nomads across Eurasia, but there was never a Black Death-level event.

“The finding confirms the early strains are associated with sporadic outbreaks that didn’t spread far,” Krause-Kyora said. What changed by medieval times, he thinks, is that people started to live in bigger communities and in closer proximity. That shift might have influenced the evolution that led the plague to live in fleas – which bite people more easily.

“It’s the bacteria adapting to population density,” Krause-Kyora said.

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

Possible Medieval Road Uncovered Near Bannockburn Battlefield

Possible Medieval Road Uncovered Near Bannockburn Battlefield

A long stretch of road was uncovered on Saturday during the first-ever dig at Coxet Hill in Stirling. The hill is believed to be where the Scots King Robert the Bruce set up his camp to prepare for the battle ahead of the first day of fighting, on June 23, 1314.

The statue of Robert the Bruce near Bannockburn.

It is also likely to be where the Scottish camp followers and soldiers untrained in Bruce’s tactics were based during the decisive second day when the English army was forced to flee.

These “Sma’ Folk”, concealed by the hill, are said to have emerged once victory was assured to block the line of retreat of King Edward II’s army to Stirling Castle and turned the Scottish victory into a rout.

Stirling archaeologist Dr Murray Cook, who organised the dig to mark the 707th anniversary of the battle, said the stone-built road would have gone around the hill, which was established as a hunting wood for game birds by King Alexander III in the 13th century.

It would have been used by Bruce and his army around the time of the battle, and Dr Cook believes it may also have been the route taken by the Sma’ Folk when they caused panic in the English ranks.

Dr Cook said: “Where we thought we had a boundary around Alexander III’s New Park, it now appears we have a road. We’ve got a 100-metre section of it, probably four metres wide.

Possible Medieval Road Uncovered Near Bannockburn Battlefield
The long-hidden thoroughfare skirted around the New Park, a ‘cockshot’ — a hunting wood for game birds established by King Alexander III of Scotland in around 1264. Pictured: the dig site

“This hard-packed stone road or track curves around the bottom of the Coxet Hill and doesn’t show on any of the maps going back the last 200 years, which suggests a medieval origin.

Coxet Hill was also where the sma’ folk — men lacking training or weapons — were held in reserve until the second day, once Bruce’s victory was assured. At this point, they emerged from where they had been concealed to block the line of retreat to Stirling Castle. Pictured: the Battle of Bannockburn as depicted in the 15th century ‘Scotichronicon’, showing Bruce wielding an axe and Edward II fleeing north towards Stirling Castle

“The fact it is around the medieval royal wood suggests it was there before the Battle of Bannockburn and was in use at that time. It is logical that it was used by Robert the Bruce.

“Potentially this was also the route used by the Sma’ Folk on the way to [the Battle of] Bannockburn.”

The Battle of Bannockburn was fought on June 23-24, 1314. King Edward II travelled to Scotland to find and destroy the Scottish army and relieve Stirling Castle, which had been under Scottish siege.

The Battle of Bannockburn between the English army of Edward II and Scottish forces led by Robert the Bruce took place from June 23-24, 1314. Pictured: an interpretation of the first day of the battle, in which the English cavalry formations advanced on the Scots, but were ultimately forced to retreat back south over the Bannockburn
Despite being vastly outnumbered — only 6,000 men made up Bruce’s army — the Scottish proved victorious. Pictured: On the second day of the battle, the Scottish forces surprised the English by emerging from New Park, ultimately hemming Edward II’s forces against the Bannockburn and ultimately driving them to retreat

Edward’s army of up to 25,000 men far outnumbered the force assembled by Robert the Bruce, but the Scots were victorious. After a day of skirmishes, the second day of the battle ended in a decisive victory for the Scots.

Had the English army retreated to Stirling Castle they might have regrouped to fight another day – and even secured a longer-term victory – but their path was blocked.

The Sma’ Folk, seeing the tide turn in Bruce’s favour, emerged from behind Coxet Hill and caused panic among the English ranks, who fled at the sight of a new force.

Dr Cook added: “When you walk around this area, you are walking where legendary heroes like Robert the Bruce walked. It is astonishing just how much survives.”

ASIA, JAPAN, WORLD

Eighth-Century Imperial Structure Uncovered in Japan

Eighth-Century Imperial Structure Uncovered in Japan

Archaeologists have excavated one of the largest ruins of a building ever found at the former site of the Heijokyu palace in this ancient capital. The Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties announced the findings at the government-designated special historic site on June 30.

It believes the structure was the centrepiece of a residence for emperors and crown princes during the late eighth century.

One expert said the building was likely a residence for female Emperor Koken (718-770).

Eighth-Century Imperial Structure Uncovered in Japan
Remains of a structure unearthed at the former site of the Heijokyu palace in Nara.

Archaeologists began examining a roughly 924-square-meter plot in the northern Toin district in March, according to the institute. Toin is located in the eastern part of the Heijokyu palace, the nerve centre of politics during the Nara Period (710-784).

They unearthed ruins of a rectangular-shaped structure, which spans 27 meters in an east-west direction and 12 meters in a north-south direction. Also found were 50 pits dug in the ground to place pillars into them. The holes are lined up about 3 meters apart.

The building, supported by pillars placed in a grid-like formation, likely served as a living space, according to the institute.

The researchers concluded that the structure stood there between 749 and 770 during the Nara Period, based on the characteristics of a pattern on roof tiles found in the pits.

Part of roof tiles retrieved from the ruins of a building excavated at the former site of the Heijokyu palace in Nara.
Ruins of what appears to be a cooking stove found among the remains of a structure unearthed at the former site of the Heijokyu palace in Nara.

During the building’s roughly 20-year lifespan, Koken ruled from 749 to 758 before abdicating in favour of Emperor Junnin. Koken, known to have favoured a Buddhist monk named Dokyo, again ascended to the throne as Emperor Shotoku from 764 to 770.

“Shoku Nihongi,” the imperially commissioned history text on the Nara Period, notes that Emperor Shomu (701-756), father of Koken, resided in Toin when he was crown prince.

The area was later used as a site to build a residence for emperors.

“Koken particularly liked Toin, according to Shoku Nihongi,” said Akihiro Watanabe, a professor of Japanese ancient history at Nara University. “I believe the (discovered) structure was her living space.”

The institute said it plans to post a video of the ruins on its official YouTube channel in late July. 

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

New Dates Obtained for Italy’s Bronze Age “Infinity Pool”

New Dates Obtained for Italy’s Bronze Age “Infinity Pool”

According to a Live Science report, Sturt Manning of Cornell University and his colleagues have dated the Vasca Votiva, a pit lined with wood unearthed in Italy’s Po Valley.

New Dates Obtained for Italy’s Bronze Age “Infinity Pool”
Sediment show the timber-lined pit was filled with water; archaeologists think it formed an artificial pool that reflected the sky and that it may have been used for water rituals.

A mysterious wooden structure built in Italy more than 3,000 years ago may have been a Bronze Age “infinity pool” that reflected the sky during religious rituals to give onlookers the impression they were looking into another realm, according to new research.

One of the authors of the new study has even likened the pool to England’s famous Stonehenge monument, which also symbolically may have led people into another world. 

The pool-like structure was likely built sometime between 1436 B.C. and 1428 B.C. — a time of great cultural change in the region, which reinforces the idea that was established for new ritual purposes, said Sturt Manning, an archaeologist at Cornell University in New York and one of the authors of a new paper describing the research.

“As you would have come up to this thing, as soon as you’d been able to start to see the surface, you would have seen effectively the edge of the land around the sky,” Manning told Live Science. “And as you got close to it, then you would have just been looking at the [reflected] sky — so you’d have, in a sense, entered another world.” Today’s infinity pools are similar in their reflective beauty.

Italian archaeologists discovered the structure in 2004 near the town of Noceto, just west of Parma in Italy’s northern Po Valley region. They called it “Vasca Votiva” — Italian for “votive” or “sacred” tank. The archaeologists noted that the pit was roughly 40 feet (12 meters) long, 23 feet (7 m) wide and more than 10 feet (3 m) deep. It had been excavated on a small hilltop and then lined with wooden poles, planks and beams; most of them were oak, but some were elm or walnut.

Layers of sediment showed that the structure had once contained water, although no channels to distribute water led away from it, and it seemed much too elaborate to have been just a reservoir for irrigation, Manning said. Previous research of ceremonial pots and wooden figurines found inside had revealed that the structure was built in the Bronze Age, probably between 1600 B.C. and 1300 B.C. But its exact age couldn’t be verified, and its purpose had been a mystery. The new study resolves some of that uncertainty.

The mysterious Bronze Age structure — a pit excavated from a hilltop and extensively lined with timbers — was unearthed by Italian archaeologists in 2004 near the town of Noceto.

Ancient timbers

Manning is a specialist in dendrochronology — the science of dating ancient wood — and he and his team joined the project with the hope that determining the age of the timbers used to line the Vasca Votiva could accurately reveal when it was built.

It’s a difficult task; wood quickly rots when it is exposed to oxygen, and the record of dates for the growth of trees in ancient times often depends on rare finds of logs in the layers of sediment beneath ancient rivers and bogs, Manning said.

The team studied the growth rings from the timbers and measured each ring’s levels of radioactive carbon-14, which is a naturally occurring fraction of the carbon that the trees absorbed while they were alive. The trees stopped absorbing carbon when they were cut down, and so the levels of carbon-14 that remain can be used to date when that happened.

Then, the team calculated when the timbers were harvested using “wiggle matching,” in which they compared the patterns of carbon-14 absorption — the “wiggles” — with the distinctive patterns from trees that grew elsewhere in northern Europe at different times.

That enabled them to determine that the true date for the Vasca Votiva structure was in the middle of the 15th century B.C., which corresponded to a time of tremendous cultural change in northern Italy.

The dominant society in the region at that time, the Bronze Age Terramare culture, was transitioning from a simpler period of individual small farms to a period of greater social complexity, with the development of larger settlements that became cultural centres and increased use of ploughing and irrigation for farmland, the researchers wrote.

The structure contained ceremonial pottery vessels and wooden figurines that had been carefully placed within it; they suggested it dated from the Bronze Age, between 1,400 and 1,600 years ago. (Image credit: Cremaschi et al, PLOS One)

Reflecting waters

The new dates reinforce the idea that the mysterious structure at Noceto was built for new ritual and religious purposes established in the area, Manning said. There was no sign that the tank had ever been used as a simple reservoir for irrigation, and it was much too elaborately built; also, the ceremonial pots and figurines found inside it showed it was used for ritual offerings, he said.

As well, a great deal of labour would have been needed to complete the elaborate Vasca Votiva, and the excavations have shown that it was the second such structure at the same hilltop site. The first was even larger, and started about 10 years before the later structure; but discarded tools and wood shavings suggest that it collapsed as it was being built and so the latest tank was built over it, he said.

A few similar ceremonial water features have been found elsewhere in the ancient world, such as the earlier “lustral basins” found at Minoan sites on Crete that date back to at least the 15th century B.C., although those were smaller and typically made of clay and stone.

But nothing like this infinity pool has been found in northern Europe. “To our knowledge, it’s unique in the area,” Manning said.

He likened the Vasca Votiva to the Neolithic Stonehenge monument in southern England. Although Stonehenge is on a much larger scale, “you have these avenues leading to a particular ceremonial place;  you’re sort of leaving one world that you’re part of and creating an impression that you’ve moved and joined another one,” he said.

“It was like an infinity pool, in a sense, because it was up at the top of a hill; if you were standing near it, looking into it, you would see through the water and see some of the pots and other objects that have been deposited carefully in it,” Manning added. “But you would also be very much looking at the sky and the clouds above you; it’s hard not to think that this might have to do with rainfall and things like that.”

The introduction of whatever supernatural water rituals took place at the Vasca Votiva in ancient times seems to have been an attempt to gain favour with the deities responsible for water and rainfall – elements that would have been vital to early farming communities, he said.

“If it was just for irrigation or something, then fine, but it doesn’t seem to work for that,” Manning said. “It’s more about some group activity that they think is going to be beneficial, or that the gods are going to be pleased that they have done this.” 

PERU, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

Ancient remains of noblewoman found in Peru

4,500-year-old female mummy discovered in Peru

This footage shows a 4,500-year-old mummy which has been unearthed by archaeologists in Peru. She is believed to be a noblewoman and can be seen wrapped in burial cloths.

She was buried in the ancient fishing village of Aspero in northern Peru along with objects featuring carved details of both coastal and jungle animals like birds and monkeys.

Experts believe the discovery is hugely significant and will provide insights into the ancient Caral civilisation.

Archaeologists in Peru have unearthed a 4,500-year-old mummy of a noble woman

The images of the coastal and jungle animals indicate possible trade between Aspero and the city of Caral, the most ancient civilisation of its kind in South America and the precursor of the Incas.

The two regions are located 14 miles from each other.

Ruth Shady, director of the Caral Archaeological zone, explained the significance of the discovery

She said: “In the settlements of the Caral civilisation there are sometimes burials.

“The sacrifice of human beings are not regular, they’re very rare.”

“In this case, it is a woman of 40 to 50 years who was buried with evidence and objects that allow us to identify her as a woman of important social status,” she continued.

“Her remains were with offerings of objects brought from different places,” Ruth continued.

“These objects, carvings depict different images from the jungle.”

“What we can infer on the basis of recovered evidence of a society which began the stage of civilisation formation 5,000 years ago in relation to settlement dwellers in the Super Valley,” she added.

4,500-year-old female mummy discovered in Peru
She was perfectly preserved

The Caral civilisation dates back to 2,600 BCE and its archaeological site reportedly predates Inca civilisation by some 4000 years.