Chinese Boy Accidentally Finds 66-Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Eggs
The Beijing Youth Daily revealed that a 9-year-old primary school student from Heyuan, South China’s Guangdong province, accidentally discovered what he suspected to be a dinosaur egg fossil while playing with his mom on the downtown riverbank.
Third-grade Zhang Yangzhe (pictured) made the extraordinary discovery while playing on the embankment of Dong River in Heyuan, southern China’s Guangdong Province
Huang Zhiqing, deputy director of the research department of Heyuan Dinosaur Museum, said they rushed to the scene with police after receiving the news.
A total of 11 “stone eggs” each about 9 centimeters in diameter were excavated, later verified as dinosaur eggs all dating back to the late Cretaceous age, according to the local museum.
Huang Zhiqing said houses were built at the place where the dinosaur eggs were discovered, so the soil softens as time flies. Dinosaur egg fossils that remain in good condition despite water and erosion are extremely rare.
Huang Zhiqing said the museum will organize manpower to clean and repair these dinosaur egg fossils. They will also find an appropriate time to re-examine and further excavate the abutment.
“Maybe we will discover new things,” Huang Zhiqing said.
Li said the child’s recognition of the dinosaur egg is inseparable from his education.
“Maybe because of the city’s environment, he is full of curiosity about everything related to dinosaurs,” she said, adding that he goes to libraries and museums to search for information he is curious about.
Greek Farmer Accidentally Discovers 3,400-Year-Old Minoan Tomb Hidden Under Olive Grove
Sometime between 1400 and 1200 B.C., two Minoan men were laid to rest in an underground enclosure carved out of the soft limestone native to southeast Crete.
Both were entombed within larnakes—intricately embossed clay coffins popular in Bronze Age Minoan society—and surrounded by colorful funerary vases that hinted at their owners’ high status. Eventually, the burial site was sealed with stone masonry and forgotten, leaving the deceased undisturbed for roughly 3,400 years.
When a farmer was parking his truck under some olive trees on his property when the ground beneath him started to give way. After the farmer moved his vehicle to a safer location, he saw that a four-foot-wide hole had opened up in the ground. When he peered inside, he realized this was no ordinary hole.
The hole in the ground led to a Minoan Bronze Age tomb.
The farmer called in archaeologists from the local heritage ministry to investigate, and they began excavating what turned out to be an ancient Minoan tomb, carved into the soft limestone, which had been lying hidden for millennia.
Two adult Minoan men had been placed in highly-embossed clay coffins called “larnakes” which were common in Bronze Age Minoan culture. These, in turn, were surrounded by funerary vases which suggest that the men were of high status.
The ancient chamber tomb was entirely intact and undamaged by looters.
The tomb was about 13 feet in length and eight feet deep, divided into three chambers that would have been accessed via a vertical tunnel that was sealed with clay after the tomb’s occupants were laid to rest.
One larnax was found in the northernmost chamber, with a number of funerary vessels scattered around it.
The chamber at the southern end of the tomb held the other larnax coffin, along with 14 amphorae and a bowl. The tomb was estimated to be about 3,400 years old and was preserved in near-perfect conditions, making it a valuable find.
The skeletal remains were found inside two larnakes (singular: “larnax”) – a type of small closed coffin used in the Minoan and Greek Bronze Age.
Kristina Killgrove, a bioarchaeologist, wrote for Forbes that the ornamentation on the artifacts found in the tomb suggests that its inhabitants were men of wealth.
The fanciest tombs from the same period, however, had massive domed walls in a “beehive” style, which this tomb doesn’t, so they probably weren’t among the wealthiest.
The find dates from the Late Minoan Period, sometimes called the Late Palace Period.
In the earlier part of that era, the Minoan civilization was very rich, with impressive ceramics and art, but by the later part of the period, there is an apparent decline in wealth and prestige, according to Killgrove.
It’s believed that civilization was weakened by a combination of natural disasters, including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake, and the eruption of a nearby volcano. This made it easier for foreigners to come in and destroy the palaces.
The ornate pottery vessels found inside the tomb were all in good condition.
Locals don’t anticipate the discovery of any more tombs of this type, but the area is known to be the home of a number of antiquities, and a great deal of them have been found by coincidence, as with this find.
The Deputy Mayor of Local Communities, Agrarian, and Tourism of Ierapetra pointed out that the tomb had never been found by thieves, and went on to say that it would probably have remained undiscovered forever, except for the broken irrigation pipe that was responsible for the softened and eroded soil in the farmer’s olive grove.
Minoan fresco is commonly known as the ‘Prince of the Lilies.’
He went on to say how pleased they were with having the tomb to further enrich their understanding of their ancient culture and history, and that the tomb was proof for those historians who didn’t think that there had been Minoans in that part of Crete.
Previously, it had been thought that the Minoans only settled in the lowlands and plains of the island, not in the mountains that surround Ierapetra, although there was an excavation in 2012 that uncovered a Minoan mansion in the same area.
Killgrove will be analyzing the skeletons, to see what further information can be gleaned from them. She said, “As a bioarchaeologist, I routinely pore over the skeletons of ancient populations so that I can learn about their health, diet, and lifestyles.” It’s also hoped that analysis can contribute more information to the research on Minoan and Mycenaean origins.
Rabbit hole leads to incredible 700-year-old Knights Templar cave complex
An outstanding discovery was made when a 700-year-old Knights Templar cave was found beneath a farmer’s field in Shropshire, England, in a complex known as the Caynton Caves network.
The Knights Templar was a major catholic order which was popular during the Crusades and their name comes from Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
The Knights Templar were first created in 1129 according to the order of the Pope, and it was their first duty to help religious pilgrims who visited the Holy Land and Jerusalem.
The photographer Michael Scott, from Birmingham, saw a video of the 700-year-old Knights Templar cave in Shropshire and decided to visit the Caynton Caves network to witness them for himself.
Some of Scott’s photographs of the cave have been published, including those in The Mirror, and these show an exotic candlelit labyrinth which Fox News note looks extremely similar to scenes straight out of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
Templars at Pope Francis’ weekly audience in Rome on November 26, 2014. A secret cave used by the Knights Templar 700 years ago has been found in Shropshire.
Michael Scott explained that as you walk through the farmer’s field in Shropshire, you would have no idea that there was a Knights Templar cave directly beneath it if you didn’t know it existed in the first place, which would have made it the perfect meeting place in the past.
“I traipsed over a field to find it, but if you didn’t know it was there you would just walk right past it. I had to crouch down and once I was in it was completely silent.”
The inside of the cave
The untouched caves, in Shropshire, apparently date back 700 years when they were used by the Knights Templar
The Knights Templar cave was carved out of sandstone, and the Caynton Caves network is found in woodland by Shifnal, and the entrances to the caves are so small they could almost be mistaken for rabbit holes.
Some of the chambers of the caves are also so narrow that visitors have to get on their hands and knees to move around inside of them.
The history of the Knights Templar is such that once the Holy Land was lost, the influence that the Knights Templar once held waned, although they remained extremely wealthy.
In 1307, King Philip IV of France decided that he wanted to expunge the debts that he owed to the order and plotted to bring about the end of the Knights Templar.
He did this by accusing members of many false things like heresy and had them locked up or burned at the stake. In 1312, Pope Clement V made the decision to permanently disband the Knights Templar.
The Caynton Caves network in Shropshire where the Knights Templar cave is also has a darker history, and it is alleged that there were once ceremonies involving Black Magic here, the Birmingham Mail reported.
The Shropshire Star note that at one point the caves were filled with graffiti, rubbish and other debris and because of this, the owners of the caves sealed off the entrance in 2012.
The Knights Templar cave, along with the entire Caynton Caves network, is said to be extremely popular with Pagans and Druids and is also frequently visited during times like Halloween and the Winter and Summer Solstices.
There is much history to be found in this part of Shropshire, and the Knights Templar cave isn’t the only place in this area that is linked to the Templar.
For instance, the Norman temple inside Ludlow Castle may have also been used by the Knights Templar.
There is also Penkridge Hall in Leebotwood, where Lydley Preceptory once stood. This was used by the Templars in 1158 and shut down in 1308 at the end of their order.
Eggshell beads made by hunter-gatherers 33,000 years ago used as a social network
New U of T Scarborough research offers physical evidence that ancient hunter-gatherers were exchanging ostrich eggshell beads in order to form large-scale social networks.
The exchange of ostrich eggshell beads is thought to be the earliest example of social networking among humans. While it’s been theorized for decades this was the case, this study offers the first hard evidence supporting the claim.
“This is evidence of a very early social innovation humans were using to help adapt to their physical environment,” says Genevieve Dewar, associate professor in the department of anthropology and one of the authors of the research.
“The exchange of ostrich eggshell beads, some dating back to the late middle stone age, offers proof that humans were using cultural tools to develop these large networks in order to reduce the risk of living in harsher environments.”
Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), the research looked at the archaeological evidence of ostrich eggshell beads in two sites within highland Lesotho in southern Africa.
Ostrich eggshell beads have been used to cement relationships in Africa for more than 30,000 years.
Through isotopic analyses, Dewar and colleagues at the University of Michigan found that the practice stretched back at least 33,000 years ago, the age of the oldest beads found at the archeological sites.
Genevieve Dewar is an associate professor in the department of anthropology at U of T Scarborough and an expert on the origins of modern human behaviour
The exchange of ostrich beads, which persists even today among hunter-gatherers in southern Africa’s the Kalahari Desert, is part of a system of delayed reciprocity known as Hxaro.
The purpose is to solidify relationships among groups, so if one suffers a lack of resources through drought or lack of food, they can rely on other groups living in areas of relative plenty.
“It’s a form of reciprocity that strengthens social bonds,” explains Dewar, an expert on the origins of modern human behaviour.
“If I give you a gift of an eggshell necklace, you are socially obliged to give me one in return. It works best if it’s not done right away, as it establishes a trading relationship between the two parties. Part of the social obligation includes allowing me to come and stay with you when my resources are low, and vice-versa.”
Through further isotopic analyses, the researchers found that beads were originating from at least 350 km, showing that this type of social networking was taking place on a large scale.
Since hunter-gatherers will forage up to 10 km per day looking for food, Dewar says committing so much time and resources to create a tool with no immediate practical purpose show how important the beads were to forging social bonds.
Archeologists work at rock shelters at Sehonghong and Melikane in southern Africa to uncover beads and the evidence of their origin.
Ostrich eggshell was used by hunter-gatherers to make beads because it’s a fairly common raw material. In fact, the beads are found in archeological sites across southern Africa.
Dewar says it offers some clues into how Homo sapiens were able to leave Africa and essentially colonize the planet rapidly.
“Previous species, like Homo erectus, were able to leave Africa, but they didn’t adapt as successfully to very diverse environments as humans, so there are important innovations that allowed us to do this.”
She adds that anthropologists are trying to unpack these specific social innovations that humans used in order to move into areas of the world lacking in abundant resources.
“If you have a lifeline back to a place that you know is predictable and plentiful, then you are probably more willing to push on into the unknown.”
Scientists identify ‘mummy juice’ in Egyptian sarcophagus
In Alexandria, Egypt, there was opened a mysterious black granite sarcophagus that dated back to the time Alexander the Grand invaded the city in 331 B.C., has been opened.
This 2,000-year-old black, granite sarcophagus was found in Alexandria, Egypt. Inside, archaeologists found a mix of sewage and skeletons.
The finding was believed that the huge sarcophagus contained Alexander’s remains at the beginning of this month and that opening the sealed and foreboding-looking box would unleash a curse. Neither seems to be true … unless stinky sewage causes some sort of torment.
Archeologists discovered inside the sarcophagus the bones of three skeletons along with the waste. These may be those of soldiers, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said in a statement.
Pictures released by the ministry show the sarcophagus full of the liquid sewage, which must have seeped in at some point.
Analysis of the skeletal remains is ongoing, but initial results suggest that one of the individuals found in the sarcophagus suffered a blow from an arrow, the ministry said in the statement.
No inscriptions or works of art have been found on the outside or inside of the sarcophagus so far. It’s also unclear what artifacts, if any, were buried with the skeletons, the researchers said. An alabaster head of a man was found near the sarcophagus when it was discovered.
Archaeologists with Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities prepare to open the black granite sarcophagus.
The sarcophagus, which is nearly 9 feet long, 5 feet wide and 6 feet tall (2.7 by 1.5 by 1.8 meters) — the largest found in Alexandria — was discovered with a thick layer of mortar covering much of it, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in a statement released by Egypt’s antiquities ministry.
The mortar led Waziri to suggest that the sarcophagus was never opened after it was buried in Alexandria. It’s uncertain if that suggestion is accurate.
The sarcophagus was discovered by archaeologists from the Ministry of Antiquities who were inspecting an area of land in the Sidi Gaber district of Alexandria before construction took place. Researchers opened the sarcophagus at the site where it was discovered.
The opening of the sarcophagus creates a series of new mysteries for Egyptologists to tackle: Who were these three people? When exactly did they live? What killed them? Why were they buried in such a giant sarcophagus? What were they buried with (if anything)? And how did so much liquid sewage get into the sarcophagus?
Three skeletons and liquid sewage were found inside the black sarcophagus from Alexandria, Egypt.
After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., a line of pharaohs descended from one of Alexander’s generals ruled Egypt for centuries. Once the last pharaoh, Cleopatra VII, killed herself in 30 B.C., the Roman Empire took over Egypt.
These pharaohs were involved in numerous wars and conflicts, and it’s possible the three individuals found in the sarcophagus were killed in one of these squirmishes. One of the skeletons shows signs of an arrow injury, suggesting the three may have died in battle. The exact age of the skeletons is unclear.
Why three skeletons, which may be those of soldiers, were buried in a sarcophagus so massive — Waziri said it may be the largest ever found in Alexandria — is also unknown. In ancient Egypt, it was not uncommon for a sarcophagus to be reused, the bodies of its former occupants removed and new occupants put inside. Whether that occurred with this sarcophagus is unknown.
It’s also unclear what artifacts, if any, were buried with the skeletons. Any objects placed in the sarcophagus could have been destroyed by the sewage or may be found later when the object is studied in more detail.
After the sarcophagus was opened, it was transferred to Alexandria National Museum for conservation and further study.
S. Korea identifies 4 Korean War soldiers from remains found in DMZ
The bones of the soldier and its relics were excavated in arrowhead ridge in the central section of the inter-Korean border in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, a region of heinous battles in the 1950-53 Korean War that is now inside the Demilitarized Zone.
This photo, provided by the defense ministry on March 9, 2020, shows the remains of a South Korean soldier who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War. The remains were found at Arrowhead Ridge inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas during an eight-month government excavation project that ended in November 2019.
The Ministry for Defense, on Monday, has just named four soldiers killed in a war that has been identified.
A sergeant first class, a staff sergeant and two sergeants are believed to have died in the fourth battle that took place on Arrowhead Ridge, now inside the DMZ, about two weeks before a truce ending the Korean War was signed July 27, 1953.
A National Defense Agency for Killed in Action Recovery and Identification (MAKRI) taskforce conducted excavation work on the ridge, a central section of the inter-Korean border in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, between April and November last year.
The team identified another three soldiers last year.
“Numerous items were found with the remains of the four soldiers, such as water bottles, ammunition, identification tags, insignias, certificates, bayonets, combat shoes, and helmets,” the team said in a press release.
“The four soldiers participated in the Korean War at the age of twenty. Among them, three were married and each had a child left behind with their wives.”
The team said the identification of the dead soldiers was possible thanks to genetic sampling conducted on around 40,000 bereaved family members. But it said it still needs to collect more samples.
Through the excavation conducted last year, the team found about 2,000 bones believed to be from over 260 soldiers as well as 67,000 war items in the DMZ area.
It is estimated that there the remains of over 10,000 war dead are in the area.
The finding of a burial site from the 14th century deep in the tropical forest of Gabon will demonstrate a little known period in Africa’s history.
A cave located in the south-east of the country, which was discovered in 2018 by a French geo-archaeologist, contains hundreds of medieval artifacts with human remains.
“This is a unique discovery in Africa because human remains are almost non-existent,” said Richard Oslisly, leading an expedition financed by the National Agency of National Parks.
An exceptional archaeological cave, Iroungou, was discovered in September 2018 in Gabon by a team of French and Gabonese researchers.
The mission is also funded by the local environmental branch of Singapore’s palm oil giant Olam International, which is well established in Gabon. There are no golden platters or diamonds at the end of the 25 meters (82 feet) of rope needed to reach the floor of the cave, but the site named Iroungou is still a treasure trove for scientists.
Almost 30 skeletons have been discovered on three levels, with more than 500 metallic artifacts made mostly of iron and ranging from knives, axes and spear tips to bracelets and collars. Researchers also found 39 pierced teeth from hyenas and panthers.
Oslisly, 69, only began to speak of the discovery a year afterward, but it has caused a wave of excitement and hope in the regional scientific community.
“This cave will enable us to find out a little more about these peoples of central Africa, largely unrecorded in history,” the French researcher said in his Libreville office, full of local antiquities.
In sub-Saharan Africa, “soils are very acidic, so everything of human and animal origin decomposes very quickly,” said Geoffroy de Saulieu, an archaeologist with France’s Research Institute for Development (IRD).
“It is exceptional to obtain this kind of remains.” With carbon-14 dating practiced on 10 femurs — or thighbones — it was possible to date the skeletons in the cave in the 14th century, a worthwhile discovery in itself.
In this part of the world, vestiges of the past are unusual, but that is also partly because archaeological research is generally insufficiently funded and comes late in the day. The first written texts regarding Gabon came from European adventurers who landed on its Atlantic Coast at the end of the 15th century. It was not until the 19th century that explorers ventured far inland on territory almost completely covered with forest.
The oral record of indigenous clans and families handed down in villages “doesn’t let us go back further than one or two centuries,” said Louis Perrois, a French anthropologist who has studied oral tradition in much of Gabon since the 1960s.
When researchers questioned the elders in villages around the Iroungou cave, nobody was aware of the existence of the site. The villagers said they had no idea who the men and women buried there could be.
Molar teeth extracted from skulls have been sent to France for DNA testing. Scientists can also count on a DNA base compiled with saliva data from peoples across central Africa.
Oslisly hopes to “cross-check the data and, perhaps, to find the descendants of these skeletons,” with the DNA tools used by linguists. In March, a team of anthropologists and specialists in bone pathology — people with skills to diagnose illnesses from remains — were due to go down into the cave.
“We’re going to find out more about the diet of the buried people, and the illnesses they have contracted during their lives,” says Oslisly, still enthusiastic after 35 years of work in Gabon and Cameroon.
“Above all, we’re going to learn what they died of,” he added.
Apart from a collective burial site unearthed at Benin City in southern Nigeria in the 1960s, Iroungou is the only cave grave to be found in Africa. Like the Iroungou skeletons, the bones in Benin City have been dated to the 14th century, an epoch which witnessed the fall of many African civilizations, according to several historians.
Some researchers wonder whether Africa was struck by the Great Plague, over the same decades as it ravaged Europe and Asia. Maybe the Iroungou bones hold an answer.
“In Benin City, the ADN was not saved, but in Iroungou the bones are in very good shape,” de Saulieu says.
Alcohol Bottles Uncovered at Convict Station in Tasmania
In the structural remains of solitary cells of the convicts in Tasmania, archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of convict era artefacts. 160 prisoners took part in the construction of a highway between Hobart and Launceston between 1838 and 1847 at the Picton Road Station in the Southern Midlands.
Archeologists found ceramics, tableware, bottles, bones and tools during an excavation on the site during the summer. Professor Eleanor Casella from the University of Tasmania said they also unearthed solitary cells used to house convicts.
“The solitary cells themselves are brutal,” she said.
“They’re eight foot by four foot [2.4 metres by 1.2 metres]. They’re so small. It wouldn’t have been a comfortable experience.”
Evidence of many types of alcohol was found at the dig.
The presence of so many alcohol bottles Professor Casella has confirmed it was shocking. “It’s supposed to be heavily regulated in these kinds of punishment stations,” she said.
“We’ve got gin case bottles that have been imported all the way from the Netherlands, plus beer bottles.”
The site on private farmland along the Midlands Highway, near Kempton, was discovered in 2012 when a farmer was doing agricultural work. There have been two archaeological digs at the site, carried out with University of Tasmania students and the Southern Midlands Council.
Aerial shot of archaeology dig site project, former Picton Road Station in the Southern Midlands, Tasmania
Archaeologist Angela McGowan said she worked on the excavation of the southern wing of the station, which was the first part built.
Archaeologist Angela McGowan says they have found unexpected evidence of earlier buildings at the site.
“The first and most surprising thing we found was some extra wall footings at the back of the trench, so we found a whole small room that wasn’t on the 1841 plan,” she said.
“We have found a great deal of butchered animal bones, cuts of meat basically.”
Aerial shot of archaeology dig site, former Picton Road Station in the Southern Midlands, Tasmania
Ms McGowan said they also found a drain filled with artefacts.
“We certainly found quite a lot of rubbish, broken bottles, broken china, some bits of iron that had been washed down and washed through the hole in the wall,” she said.
Deborah Baldwin, the collections, exhibitions and data officer at the Southern Midlands Council, said processing the artefacts had given her an idea of what a convict’s diet was like.
Many pieces of broken ceramics were found at the old convict site at Kempton.
“It was pretty heavy on the meat, but because they were working on the road, breaking stones, they did need a reasonable diet,” she said.
“There were lots of sheep jaws, so they were using the heads and lots of long bones, ribs and that sort of thing.”
Ms Baldwin said the ceramics were in good condition.
“The ceramics, because they have been fired, seem to fare fairly well underground,” she said.
“Obviously they get dirty, but the glass can change because it interacts with the salts and moisture in the soil.” Another archaeological dig will be held at the Picton Road Station site in 2021.
