All posts by Archaeology World Team

Late Roman Burial Analyzed in London

Archaeologists try to identify silk and gold-clad woman buried in London’s Spitalfields 1,600 years ago

The Independent reports that researchers from the Museum of London Archaeology have analyzed the 1,600-year-old burial of a woman discovered in a lead coffin placed inside a stone sarcophagus in northern London. Known as the “Spitalfields Lady,” her head had been placed on a pillow stuffed with bay leaves.

Archaeologists have succeeded in piecing together after 21 years of investigation, the remarkable tale of an ultra-high-status Roman aristocrat buried more than 16 centuries ago in London. The extraordinary facts, released today, implies that she might well have been a member of the senatorial elite that presided over Roman Britain’s final years.

‘It is possible that she was the wife of one of the last Roman kings of Britain,’ said Dr Roger Tomlin, a leading scholar of Roman Britain and author of Britannia Romana, a major study of its people and social history.

Her cemetery, on the northern outskirts of the city at Spitalfields, is arguably the largest late Roman grave ever found in Britain. Scientific analysis has shown that she was buried wearing an exquisite garment made of 97 per cent pure gold thread and Chinese-originating silk.

What’s more, her funerary apparel featured at least one band of woollen textile, which appears to have been dyed purple.  Purple was the colour normally associated with imperial or aristocratic status – and experts believe that the dye used to adorn her garment was probably the most expensive in the whole of the ancient world, most likely coming from an eastern Mediterranean species of sea snail, used to produce the dye for imperial and senatorial togas.

Additionally, isotopic research on her teeth shows that she was brought up in Rome itself. Buried in a pure lead coffin inside a large stone sarcophagus, she made her journey to the next world equipped with the very finest of grave goods.

They included at least two continental-made glass perfume vessels: a 41cm tall, 2.5 to 5.5cm diameter biconical container made of very thin 1mm thick colourless glass – and a roughly 25cm tall, 3cm diameter beautifully patterned cylindrical colourless glass vessel, the like of which has never been found before anywhere in the territories covered by the Roman Empire.

Conservators inspecting the skeleton of the Spitalfields Roman woman inside the lead coffin

Both vessels probably held perfumed oils – and the latter one was equipped with a unique 24cm long dipstick made of the semiprecious stone, jet (quarried in what is now the Whitby area of Yorkshire).

The investigation also revealed that, in her grave, her head rested on a pillow filled with bay leaves, almost certainly imported from the Mediterranean area. Scientific tests also showed that pine and pistachio tree resin had been used to freshen the air in her coffin.

“Her presence in the Spitalfields cemetery shows that, even towards the end of Roman Britain, London was fully integrated into high status economic and political networks,” said Michael Marshall, a specialist in Roman archaeology at Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA), the organisation which investigated the Spitalfields discovery.

“Her grave goods demonstrate the ways in which a highly mobile social elite was capable of displaying their power and sophistication,” he said.

The 215-page full-colour report on the decades-long investigation into the cemetery, and the skeletons and grave goods found in it, is being published today by MOLA. However, one of the big remaining enigmas is the identity of the ultra-high status Spitalfields lady herself. There is no inscription on the sarcophagus or associated with the grave – and it’s likely that her gravestone was looted many centuries later to help construct medieval London or even to build the medieval metropolis’ city walls.

But the archaeological evidence may be sufficient to allow historians to explore a number of options as to who she was. The ultra-high status nature of her funerary clothing, the probable purple dye, her stone sarcophagus, her grave goods and the fact that she was brought up in Rome, all suggest that her family was probably of senatorial or equestrian rank.

Her grave is by far the highest status ever found in Roman Londinium. In late Roman London, there would have been only a very limited number of individuals of that sort of background.

It is therefore conceivable that she was either the wife of a governor of Flavia Caesariensis (the British province covering what is now the English Midlands, East Anglia, and southern England, north of the Thames) or, possibly, that she was the wife of one of the overall bosses of late Roman Britain (a so-called vicarious Britanniarum – Britain’s imperial “viceroy”).

The style of her grave goods and other evidence reveals that she almost certainly died in the four or five decades after around AD360. Of the dozen relevant vicarii, who ruled Britain in that period, the names of only four of them have survived. What’s more, hardly any names of the wives of mid-to-late fourth-century Roman rulers in Britain are known.

One, a lady called Namia Pudentilla, illustrates the sort of women Britain’s Roman governors and vicarii married. Namia”s husband, Flavius Sanctus, married a noblewoman from a senatorial family. He was a governor in Britain in the mid-fourth century. Archaeologists and historians are now able to piece together the life story of the Spitalfields lady.

She was probably born (and certainly brought up in) Rome in the mid-fourth century. When she was four or five years old, she suffered a brief (but potentially serious) illness which temporarily stopped her tooth enamel growing (a fact that has been spotted by the archaeological investigators).

It’s likely that her potentially very high-ranking fiance married her when she was in her mid-to-late teens and he would probably have been up to twice her age. She then appears to have accompanied him to London (probably because he had been appointed to a high government position there – potentially as a governor or as Britain’s vicarius).

However, probably within two or three years of arriving in the Romano-British capital, she died – most likely in childbirth (or from some then common disease like tuberculosis, typhoid, cholera or scarlet fever).

It’s possible that her death took place in the final quarter of the fourth century or conceivably even in the first decade of the fifth. That was a pivotal period in the history of Britain, as it represents the run-up to the end of Roman rule in Britain in AD410. The Roman government collapsed in Britain several generations before similar collapses occurred in continental western Europe and that chronological difference, in turn, helped to shape subsequent British and English history in ways that were very different to those that operated on the continent.

Among the governors and other political players who could conceivably have been the Spitalfields lady’s husband are:

Alypius of Antioch, vicarius of Britain from around 361 to 363. He was involved in a temporary re-paganisation of the Empire

Civilis, vicarius of Britain in around 369, who temporarily cleared Britain of barbarian invaders

Chrysanthus a vicarius of Britain, who had been a Roman governor in Italy before being posted to London

Victorinus, the vicarius of Britain who may well have been the very last conventionally appointed Roman ruler of Britain.

Another possible candidate for being the Spitalfields lady’s husband could conceivably be one of the four individuals in Britain who declared themselves Emperor during the chaotic years between AD383 and 407.

30,000-Year-Old Sacsayhuamán Secret Writing Method Discovered

30,000-Year-Old Sacsayhuamán Secret Writing Method Discovered

A researcher has suggested a highly thought-provoking theory that the fabulous Sacsayhuamán temple in Peru might involve secret 30 000-year-old writing. A discovery of this magnitude could easily re-write not only our understanding of the Stone Age but also world history.

In our article “Sacsayhuamán – Was It Built By ‘Demons’ Or Viracocha The Bearded God?” we examined the walls built by stones that our gigantic modern machinery could hardly move and put in place. Sacsayhuamán, located on the outskirts of the ancient Inca capital city of Cuzco is one of the most impressive and mysterious fortresses of the Andes.

Sacsayhuamán is still shrouded in mystery. The question of how the Sacsayhuamán stones have been transported remains unanswered. Will the corners of the stones maybe throw more light on the enigma of Sacsayhuamán? Dr. Derek Cunningham, a researcher has put forward a controversial and highly intriguing theory.

30,000-Year-Old Sacsayhuamán Secret Writing Method Discovered
The Sacsayhuamán complex

Based on his studies of the Sacsayhuamán complex, he concluded that the curious angles formed by these stones reveal ancient Inca knowledge of astronomical alignments of the moon, sun, and the earth, as well as knowledge of lunar and solar eclipses.

This should perhaps not be so surprising because many ancient temples were astronomically aligned. However, what Dr. Cunningham is suggesting is unorthodox because his hypothesis revolves around the thought that our ancient ancestors developed ‘writing’ at least 30,000 years ago from a geometrical form of text that is based on the motion of the moon and the sun.

He asserts that such ancient astronomical text, identical to that seen at Sacsayhuamán, is also found in both Lascaux and Chauvet caves in Europe, the African carved Ishango tally bone, and a circa 30,000-year-old carved stone found at the Shuidonggou Paleolithic Site in China.

Dr. Cunningham became interested in Sacsayhuamán when he first noted a series of unusual ground patterns located close to some Scottish sites.

This discovery drove him on to look at other ancient sites hoping to find some similarities and he did. He discovered that the Sacsayhuamán stone angles reveal something extraordinary.

“Each astronomical value (there are 9 standard values in total) was chosen by ancient astronomers to aid the prediction of eclipses. These astronomical terms are a mixture of values astronomers use to measure time (the 27.32-day sidereal month) and values to determine when the moon, earth, and sun align at nodes.

This includes the use of the 18.6-year nodal cycle of the moon, the 6.511 draconic months period between eclipse seasons, and also the 5.1-degree angle of inclination of the moon’s orbit.

The remaining values typically are either half-values of various lunar terms or values connected to the 11-day difference between the lunar and solar years,” Dr. Cunningham says.

Dr. Cunningham believes that scientists should focus their attention on the hidden writing discovered at Sacsayhuamán. “Now, substantial evidence has also been discovered that this archaic writing was used, perhaps almost continuously, until 500 years ago,” states Cunningham.

“Recently the analysis of the Muisca Tunjo figurines from Columbia uncovered evidence that they were constructed to the exact same astronomical design as Bronze Age figurines uncovered in Cyprus.

This discovery of such possible “recent” use of a Stone Age text thus prompted me to take a new look at circa 15th to 16th century Inca architecture, which is famous for its fabulous over-complex interlocking walls.

The question I asked was could the massive polygonal walls of Sacsayhuamán align to the exact same astronomical values used in the Columbian Muiscan figurines and the Atacama Giant of Chile? The surprising result is yes.”

“What is powerful about this new theory is that it is very simple and easy to test,” adds Cunningham.

“Further work is of course required. Satellite images cannot clearly take the place of direct fieldwork, and photographs placed online may have become distorted, but so far the data obtained appear highly consistent.” Dr. Cunningham is not afraid of criticism. “I honestly do not care whether I am right or wrong about this,” he concludes.

“All I have found so far is that the data is what it is. The potential of the idea to explain some things about so many sites from the pyramids of Egypt to the Atacama Giant in Chile is obviously very controversial, and it should be. But if correct, it could rewrite some aspects of our understanding of not only the Stone Age but also world history. If, on the other hand, scholars prove this specific astronomical theory wrong, then we can move on, knowing that it has been sufficiently tested.

2 Ancient Villages Emerge in Arizona National Park

2 Ancient Villages Emerge in Arizona National Park

Archaeologists have uncovered a second ancient village in Arizona’s Petrified Forest National Park that is 1,300 years old. The latest basket-maker village dates between 200 A.D. and 700 A.D., based on the types of pottery found, according to Bill Reitze, the park’s archaeologist.

This is an undated file photo of the Petrified Forest National Park, Ariz.

It was discovered in summer, following the first discovery last year of similar slab-lined pit-houses.

These are dwelling structures dug into the ground unique to the Southern Colorado Plateau and found throughout the park, but not often in these high concentrations, Reitze said.

Both of the large basket-maker sites are in neighboring, stabilized sand dunes less than a kilometer apart, Reitze said.

The discoveries were made as part of an expansion project that has doubled the park’s size after Congress passed the Petrified Forest National Park Expansion Act of 2004.

“There are not a lot of national parks that have the opportunity to get bigger like this to protect sites and produce future research,” Reitze told ABC News.

Archaeologists surveying land acquired by Petrified Forest National Park have found traces of two ancient villages. The flags mark a site where pottery was found.

“A lot of archaeology happens in response to development. What makes this unique is new sites are discovered, research [is] being done and all these sites are being protected, all at once.”

The artifacts are primarily stone tools, including spear points, scrapers, and knives, made out of petrified wood, shells, and small early ceramics.

Last year, ruins of a multi-story house were discovered that may have been part of a trade network.

One “really neat artifact,” Reitze said, was a white pendant carved from soapstone or siltstone.

“It’s really interesting because it really allows us to see on a larger scale things we’ve noticed in other areas in the park,” Reitze said.

The park is split between Navajo and Apache counties.

2 Ancient Villages Emerge in Arizona National Park
A projectile stone point with serrated edge is among the artifacts found at the sites.

Reitze said he plans to record additional discoveries and date what they’ve found with radiocarbon.

One of Reitze’s colleagues will be conducting an ethnobotanical study to analyze prehistoric sites.

“Because the park is doubling in size, we are finding something every day — certainly not like these sites, but we are finding things every day,” he said.

An Ancient Mask With An “Alien Face” Dug Up In Bulgaria

An Ancient Mask With An “Alien Face” Dug Up In Bulgaria

This year’s archaeological season at the oldest salt mining center in Europe, which dates back to the 5 – 4th  millennium BC and became the first prehistoric town on the continent, is now over.

The site is located near the present town of Provadia (northeastern Bulgaria) and has been studied for years. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, archaeologists’ work began later this summer, but the season was extremely successful.

The latest find by Prof. Vasil Nikolov and his team is a mass grave. Days ago, while exploring the bottom of an evaporation pool, archaeologists came across 6 skulls, including children’s.

It is not known whether the people buried there were killed in some of the attacks against the fortress city, or whether it was an internal conflict over salt, which was used as currency at the time.

Among the most interesting finds at Provadia-Saltworks this summer is a unique late Chalcolithic artifact. The ancient ceramic object has a triangular shape and shows an anthropomorphic image of a human face. It looks a lot like a mask.

The mouthless prehistoric clay mask or figurine from the 5th millennium BC found in the Salt Pit prehistoric settlement near Provadiya in Northeast Bulgaria has been compared to “an alien in a spacesuit” in media reports.

In its upper part, one can see something similar to stylized ears. In addition, the object has two holes, which most likely served for hanging.

The eyes of the mask are elliptical, eyebrows are painted and a nose can be seen.

View of the Provadiya Settlement Mound

But the strangest thing is that the human-like image has no mouth, and many say it looks like an alien in a spacesuit. It is assumed that the object was a symbol of high status in the social hierarchy.

The focus of the archaeological works this summer was the fortification systems of the Saltworks, as well as its settlement part, including two houses, one of which was a two-storey building, and its occupants used 400 square meters of space.

Pottery fragments and stone tools found at the Provadiya Settlement Mound

The origin of the Saltworks is linked to the largest and only deposit of rock salt in this part of the Balkan Peninsula. Thanks to salt, the inhabitants of the ancient town accumulated innumerable riches.

Prof. Vasil Nikolov connects the salt deposit near today’s Provadia with another unique find in the area – the Varna Chalcolithic Necropolis, where the oldest processed gold in the world was discovered, dating back to the same era as the Saltworks.

Here is the list of top 10 Archaeological Discoveries of 2020

Here is the list of top 10 Archaeological Discoveries of 2020

Archaeology is the closest thing we have to a time machine. Instead of using flux capacitors, however, archaeologists rely on technology like ground-penetrating radar, scanning electron microscopes, DNA sequencing, and of course, the good-old-fashioned shovel.

Equipped with the right tools and techniques, the work of these scientists allows us to reconstruct the past and imagine things as they once were.

Years from now, when we look back on the year that was 2020, archaeology won’t be the first thing that comes to mind. But that’s not to say it wasn’t a good year for this important scientific discipline, here is the list of the 10 most prominent archaeological discoveries to hit the headlines in 2020.

10. Melting Ice Reveals a Viking Mountain Pass

Melting Ice Reveals a “Lost” Viking-era Highway in Norway’s Mountains As the glaciers of Scanadvia melt, the long-forgotten journeys of intrepid Vikings are revealed.

Reported in the journal Antiquity today, a retreating Lendbreen glacier in the mountains of Norway has recently revealed a mountain pass used by Vikings over 1,000 years ago, along with a treasure trove … Continue reading Melting Ice Reveals a “Lost” Viking-era Highway in Norway’s Mountains→

9. Oldest Maya Temple

Mexico: 3,000-year-old Mayan ceremonial complex discovered in Tabasco In the latest breakthrough discovery of lost civilization, researchers have found the largest and the oldest Mayan site through a unique laser technology called lidar.

Using the aerial remote-sensing method, researchers at the University of Arizona found a colossal rectangular elevated platform that was built between 1000 … Continue reading Mexico: 3,000-year-old Mayan ceremonial complex discovered in Tabasco→

8. 11,000-year-old mine in underwater cave surprises archaeologists

11,000-year-old mine in the underwater cave found by archaeologists Paleoindian ochre mining has been found by divers in three underwater caves near Akumal, on the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. From the Maya era, the cave’s were a source of mineral and pigment but they were long preceded by mining activity in this … Continue reading 11,000-year-old mine in the underwater cave found by archaeologists→

7. Anglo-Saxon cemetery with 200 graves

Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Excavated in the East of England BBC News reports that an Anglo-Saxon cemetery that may date to the sixth century A.D has been found at a site slated for residential development in the East of England, within the border of the Kingdom of the East Angles. Brooches, pottery, small iron knives, wrist clasps, … Continue reading Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Excavated in the East of England→

  • Ancient String Discovery Sheds Light on Neanderthal Life

It looked like a white splotch on the underside of a Neanderthal stone tool. But a microscope showed it was a bunch of fibres twisted around each other. Further examination revealed it was the first direct evidence that Neanderthals could make string, and the oldest known direct evidence for string-making overall, researchers say.

The find implies our evolutionary cousins had some understanding of numbers and the trees that furnished the raw material, they say. It’s the latest discovery to show Neanderthals were smarter than modern-day people often assume. Continue Reading……..

6. A Bizarre Circular Structure Discovered Near Stonehenge

Massive Prehistoric Monument Detected Near Stonehenge Two miles from Stonehenge, a series of ancient shafts excavated thousands of years ago has been found.

Analysis of the 20 or more shafts suggests the features are Neolithic and excavated more than 4,500 years ago – around the time the nearby ancient settlement of Durrington Walls was built. … Continue reading Massive Prehistoric Monument Detected Near Stonehenge→

5. An Ice Age Structure Made From the Bones of 60 Mammoths

A Mysterious 25,000-Year-Old Structure Built of the Bones of 60 Mammoths Mysterious bone circles consisting of hundreds of mammoths bones helped scientists understand how people survived the last ice age. According to a new analysis, the bones at one location in Russia were more than 20,000 years old. The wall of the 30 ft building was … Continue reading 

4. A Giant Cat Reappears in Peru after 2,000 Years

Large 2,000-year-old cat discovered in Peru’s Nazca lines Southern Peru’s dunes, carved with the geoglyphs of a hummingbird, a monkey and an orca-a figure some would dearly love to believe is an astronaut – have now revealed the form of an enormous cat lounging across a desert hillside. During the work to increase access to one … Continue reading Large 2,000-year-old cat discovered in Peru’s Nazca lines→

3. Mummy Cache

  • Nearly 100 coffins buried over 2,500 years ago found in Egypt

Nearly 100 coffins buried over 2,500 years ago found in Egypt On 14 November, Egyptian antiquities officials declared the discovery. Some of the coffins had mummies inside them, the officials said.

Archaeologists discovered as many as 13 coffins from a burial ground in Egypt back in September that was believed to have been sealed for … Continue reading Nearly 100 coffins buried over 2,500 years ago found in Egypt→

  • Egypt finds 59 ancient coffins buried more than 2,600 years ago

Egypt finds 59 ancient coffins buried more than 2,600 years ago The Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities said on Saturday, dozens of ancient coffins were discovered by archaeologists in a large Necropolis south of Cairo. Khalid el-Anany said that 59 sealed sarcophagi, most of the mummies, have been discovered to have buried more than … Continue reading Egypt finds 59 ancient coffins buried more than 2,600 years ago→

2. A Buried Female Hunter Upends Beliefs About Prehistoric Gender Roles

9,000-Year-Old Remains Of Female Hunter Found In Peru Nine-thousand-year-old human remains discovered at the Andean highland site of Wilamaya Patjxa in Peru appears to have belonged to a woman hunter buried with a toolkit of projectile points and animal processing implements, according to a report in Science Magazine.  They were fascinated by a tool kit with 20 … Continue reading 9,000-Year-Old Remains Of Female Hunter Found In Peru→

1. Tens of Thousands of 12,000-Year-Old Rock Paintings Found

Tens of Thousands of ice age Paintings across a cliff face shed light on people and animals from 12,500 years ago In the Colombian jungle, archaeologists have found tens of thousands of ancient drawings dating back about 12,500 years. This prehistoric depictions of animals and humans have been discovered adorning cliff faces that stretch for … Continue reading Tens of Thousands of ice age Paintings across a cliff face shed light on people and animals from 12,500 years ago→

A bizarre chicken-sized dinosaur named lord of the spear is discovered in Brazil

A bizarre chicken-sized dinosaur named lord of the spear is discovered in Brazil

With a mane of yellow and brown fur down its back and long ‘needles’ growing from its shoulders, a peacock-like elaborate dinosaur has been identified. The neck spines of the creature are rare in the fossil record and made of keratin, which is the same protein that makes up parts of our hair, nails and skin. Dubbed Ubirajara jubatus, indigenous Indian for ‘Maned Lord of the Spear’

Experts led from the University of Portsmouth believe the flamboyant spines may have been used to impress prospective mates, and that the dinosaur may have indulged in ‘elaborate dancing’ to show them off.

The needle-like displays were positioned so they would not impede the dinosaur’s arms and legs — and would not have stopped it from hunting, preening or sending signals.

Ubirajara jubatus lived around 110 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, the researchers explained. The new species was originally unearthed in 1995 in the Chapada do Araripe in north-eastern Brazil, and was found among the collections of the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe, Germany.  The find could explain where birds like peacocks inherited their ability to show off, the team said. Birds are the modern descendants of dinosaurs. 

‘What is especially unusual about the beast is the presence of two very long, probably stiff ribbons on either side of its shoulders,’ said paper author and palaeontologist David Martill of the University of Portsmouth. These, he explained, ‘were probably used for display, for mate attraction, inter-male rivalry or to frighten off foes.’

‘We cannot prove the specimen is a male, but given the disparity between male and female birds, it appears likely the specimen was a male — and young, too, which is surprising given most complex display abilities are reserved for mature adult males.’

‘Given its flamboyance, we can imagine that the dinosaur may have indulged in elaborate dancing to show off its display structures.’

‘These are such extravagant features for such a small animal — and not at all what we would predict if we only had the skeleton preserved,’ said paper author and palaeontologist Robert Smyth, also of the University of Portsmouth.

‘Why adorn yourself in a way that makes you more obvious to both your prey and to potential predators?’ he mused. The truth is that for many animals, evolutionary success is about more than just surviving — you also have to look good if you want to pass your genes on to the next generation.’

‘Modern birds are famed for their elaborate plumage and displays that are used to attract mates — the peacock’s tail and male birds-of-paradise are textbook examples of this.’

‘Ubirajara shows us that this tendency to show off is not a uniquely avian characteristic, but something that birds inherited from their dinosaur ancestors.’

Experts led from Portsmouth found the new species — originally unearthed in 1995 — among the collections of the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe. Pictured, the two slabs of the Ubirajara jubatus specimen, in photograph (top row) and illustration (bottom)
Dubbed Ubirajara jubatus — indigenous Indian for ‘Maned Lord of the Spear’ — the creature’s neck spines are unique in the fossil record and made of keratin. This is the very same protein that make up parts of our hair, nails and skin. Pictured, an illustration of Ubirajara jubatus skeleton, with the fur and spines highlighted in orange

The fossil specimen of Ubirajara jubatus sports a section of extremely-well preserved mane. Long and thick, this would have run down the animal’s back. The researchers believe that the mane would have been manipulated by muscles — allowing it to be lifted, much like a dog raises its hackles when it feels threatened.  Ubirajara would have been able to lower the mane flush to its skin when not putting on a display, allowing it to move fast without getting tangled in vegetation. 

Its arms were also covered in fur, the team noted.

‘Any creature with movable hair or feathers as a body coverage has a great advantage in streamlining the body contour for faster hunts or escapes but also to capture or release heat,’ explained Professor Martill.

‘We know lots of dinosaurs had bony crests, spines and frills that were probably used for display but we don’t see these very often in living birds,’ said Mr Smyth.

‘In birds, crests are made of feathers. This little dinosaur provides some insight into why this might be the case.’ Bone requires a lot of energy for a body to grow and maintain. It’s also heavy and can cause serious injury if broken,’ he continued.

Keratin — the material that makes up hair, feathers and scales — is a much better display alternative for a small animal like this one. Keratin is less costly for a body to produce, it’s also lightweight, flexible and can be regularly replaced if damaged.’

‘Ubirajara is the most primitive known dinosaur to possess integumentary [external] display structures. It represents a revolution in dinosaur communication, the effects of which we can still see today in living birds.’

The specimen was originally excavated by palaeontologist Eberhard Frey of the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe. It came out of the ground in two pieces. X-ray scans revealed previously hidden skeletal elements and soft tissue, from which the researchers were able to build a clearer picture of Ubirajara in life. Ubirajara jubatus is the first non-avian dinosaur to be discovered in a fossil-rich rock formation known to geologists as the Crato Formation.

At the time this was being deposited, the South Atlantic was opening up in a long narrow shallow sea, which accounts for the exquisite preservation of Ubirajara. The find is also important for the Americas, explained paper author and palaeontologist Hector Rivera Sylva, who curates the Desert Museum, in Mexico.

Ubirajara jubatus lived around 110 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, the researchers explained. Pictured, a close up of the small dinosaur’s fossilised remains

‘The Ubirajara jubatus is not only important because of the integumentary structures present for the first time in a non-avian dinosaur — completely changing the way of seeing the behaviour of certain dinosaurs,’ he added.

Rather, the find provides ‘the first evidence for this group in Latin America, as well as one of the few reported for the subcontinent of Gondwana,’ he explained.

This, he added, expands our ‘knowledge about non-avian feathered dinosaurs [in] America, whose evidence is very scarce.’ The full findings of the study were published in the journal Cretaceous Research.

Child’s bones buried 40,000 years ago solve the puzzle of Neanderthal long-standing mystery

Child’s bones buried 40,000 years ago solve the puzzle of Neanderthal long-standing mystery

If it was a boy or a girl, we don’t know. But this ancient child, a Neanderthal, only made it to about two years of age. This brief life, lived about 41,000 years ago, was unearthed at La Ferrassie, a prominent archaeological site in southwestern France.

The remains of several Neanderthals have been found there, including the most recent discovery, the child, known only as La Ferrassie 8.

When the ancient remains were first found – most at various stages of the early 20th century – archaeologists had assumed the skeletons represented intentional burials, with Neanderthals laying their departed kin to rest under the earth.

Examining material from the 1970s excavations.

Nonetheless, in contemporary archaeology, doubts now swirl around the question of whether Neanderthals did indeed bury their dead like that, or whether this particular aspect of funerary rites is a uniquely Homo sapien custom.

In part, the asking of these questions links back to the archaeological techniques and record-keeping used in the past, as the antiquated methods used by archaeologists and anthropologists from the early 20th century (and even earlier) mean we can’t always be entirely confident in their findings.

With such a mystery on their mind, a team led by researchers from Le Centre national de la recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Muséum national d’histoire Naturelle in France has now conducted a thorough re-evaluation of La Ferrassie 8’s ancient remains, which have now been kept in the museum for almost 50 years after being discovered between 1970 and 1973.

“The discovery and context of this skeleton have generally been regarded as poorly documented, but in fact, this deficiency stems from a lack of the necessary processing of the information and materials from La Ferrassie related to the penultimate excavation phase (1968–1973),” the researchers write in their new paper.

“Indeed, a huge amount of data remained unassessed prior to our current study.”

In the new work, the researchers reviewed the notebooks and field diaries used by the original excavation team, as well as analyzing La Ferrassie 8’s bones. They also performed new excavations and analyses at the La Ferrassie cave shelter site where the child’s remains were found.

The results of their multi-disciplinary approach suggest that – despite the substandard nature of previous research into La Ferrassie 8’s purported burial – the old conclusions were correct: the child was buried.

Child's bones buried 40,000 years ago solve the puzzle of Neanderthal long-standing mystery
This reconstruction shows the Neanderthal child’s burial at La Ferrassie

“The combined anthropological, spatial, geochronological, taphonomic, and biomolecular data analyzed here suggest that a burial is the most parsimonious explanation for LF8,” the authors explain.

“Our results show that LF8 is intrusive within an older (and archaeologically sterile) sedimentary layer. We propose that Neandertals intentionally dug a pit in sterile sediments in which the LF8 child was laid.”

In reaching this conclusion, the team confirmed that the well-preserved bones were laid to rest in an unscattered manner, remaining in their anatomical position, with the head raised higher than the rest of the body, even though the lay of the land was inclined at a different angle (suggesting a contrived elevation by Neanderthal hands).

Further, there were no animal marks on them, which the team consider another probable sign of a prompt, intended burial. Especially when compared to the weathered state of various animal remains found in the vicinity.

“The absence of carnivore marks, the low degree of spatial disturbance, fragmentation, and weathering suggest that they were rapidly covered by sediment,” the researchers explain.

“We cannot find any natural (i.e. non-anthropic) process that could explain the presence of the child and associated elements within a sterile layer with an inclination that does not follow the geological inclination of the stratum. In this case, we propose that the body of the LF8 child was laid in a pit dug into the sterile sediment.”

It’s not the first study in recent times to claim new evidence of Neanderthals burying their dead, and it likely won’t be the last.

The French team says it’s time today’s new-and-improved analytical standards were brought to bear on the varying skeletal remains of La Ferrassie 1 through to 7, giving us an updated assessment of how they too were interred.

Then, maybe, with all said and done, these very old souls might finally get some rest.

SHOCK CLAIM: Crystal Pyramids ‘found beneath Bermuda Triangle’

SHOCK CLAIM: Crystal Pyramids ‘found beneath Bermuda Triangle’

The Bermuda Triangle: mysterious, unworldly, sometimes deadly. For decades intrepid researchers delved into the maze of mysteries hidden deep within this most enigmatic place on Earth.

Some speculate the bizarre time anomalies, disappearances and weird phenomena can be explained by natural occurrences. Others are insistent that relics of an advanced, unknown culture left behind fantastic technology…great energy machines that literally warp spacetime and open portals to other realities.

Now American and French explorers have made a monumental discovery: a partially translucent, crystal-like pyramid rising from the Caribbean seabed— its origin, age, and purpose completely unknown.

Pyramid discovery challenges the current archaeological theory

A gigantic structure, perhaps larger than the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt, and initially identified by a doctor in the 1960s, has been independently verified by diving teams from France and the U.S.

The discovery has rocked scientists around the world. Will they rush to investigate it? No, they’re more likely to studiously ignore it. If pressed, they’ll officially position themselves as highly skeptical—especially in light of the potential ramifications.

The pyramid could confirm some engineers’ contentions that pyramids were originally created as massive power sources, support the claim that the ancient city-state of Atlantis did exist, or even provide answers to the mysterious goings-on that have been recorded since the 19th Century in the region of the Atlantic dubbed the Bermuda Triangle.

First discovered in 1968

According to history, the pyramid was accidentally discovered during 1968 by a doctor of naturopathy, Ray Brown of Mesa, Arizona.

Brown was in the Caribbean on vacation and making dives with friends in a region off the Bahamas known as “the Tongue of the Ocean.”

The area acquired that name because a tongue-shaped portion of the seabed extends out from the island before sharply dropping off into much greater depths.

When relating his discovery, the doctor explained he became separated from his diving friends underwater. While attempting to rejoin them he came upon a massive structure rising from the ocean floor: a black, hulking object silhouetted against the lighter sun-filtered water. The object was shaped like a pyramid.

Because he was low on air, he didn’t spend much time investigating the pyramid but did find a strange crystal sphere.

He brought it to the surface with him and later when the ancient crystal was studied researchers were astonished by its properties.

Is the crystal pyramid causing the Triangle phenomena?

Some Triangle researchers have theorized for years that a strange energy source exists at the bottom of the sea within the region of the ocean affecting planes, ships, and boats.

A few investigators postulate that if the fabled Atlantis really did exist the remains of its mythical energy-vortex machine might still be intact at the bottom of the ocean. Such a machine, they claim, would likely be pyramidal-shaped and the original historical template that succeeding cultures around the globe copied much later.