Category Archives: AFRICA

The cache of 13,000 Ancient Clay Texts Found in Sohag

The cache of 13,000 Ancient Clay Texts Found in Sohag

A German-Egyptian mission at Al-Sheikh Hamad archaeological site in Tel Atribis in Sohag has unearthed a collection of 13,000 ostraca (clay vessel fragments) which bear engraved text in demotic, hieratic, Coptic, Greek and Arabic, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism said on Wednesday.

The cache of 13,000 Ancient Clay Texts Found in Sohag

“This is a very important discovery because it sheds light on the economy and trade in Atribis throughout history.

The text reveals the financial transactions of the area’s inhabitants, who bought and sold provisions such as wheat and bread,” said Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the antiquities ministry’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Christian Latis, head of the German mission, explains that archaeologists are now studying the ostraca in order to learn more about the activities of the area’s past inhabitants.

Latis suggests that the text written on the ostraca indicates that the area may have housed a school for teaching demotic, hieratic, hieroglyphic and Greek writing.

Mohamed Abdel-Badia, head of the central department for Upper Egypt, revealed that the mission has also found a collection of ostraca that date back to the Roman or Byzantine eras.

Atribis was one of the ancient towns of the nine nomes of ancient Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile southwest of Sohag city.

These mysterious Egyptian head cones actually existed, grave find reveals

These mysterious Egyptian head cones actually existed, grave find reveals

Researchers have revealed details of mysterious cone-shaped headgear discovered at the ancient Egyptian city of Amarna.

Two figures wearing head cones in a wall painting from Akhetaten, Egypt

“Ancient Egyptian art frequently depicted people wearing cone-shaped headgear, but none had ever been found,” the researchers explained in a statement emailed to Fox News.

Archaeologists from the Amarna project have been working with Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities to analyze the mysterious head cones. A head cone was discovered at a grave in Amarna in 2010 and another head cone was uncovered at the site five years later.

“This confirms the objects actually existed, which some researchers were sceptical of,” the researchers added in the statement. “Instead, they thought they were just artistic additions, like Christian halos.”

“It is unknown why these cones were included in the burials,” the experts continued. “They may have been thought to purify the wearer so they could engage with the rituals and deities of the afterlife. Alternatively, they could be connected with ideas of fertility and resurrection.”

A grave at Amarna with the remains of a head cone.

A paper on the research is published in the journal Antiquity.

Egypt continues to reveal new details of its right history. Archaeologists, for example, recently discovered a long-lost 2,200-year-old ancient temple linked to Pharaoh Ptolemy IV.

In a separate project, an ancient fortress built by Pharaoh Ramses II is revealing its secrets. Archaeologists recently uncovered an ancient cemetery near the famous Giza pyramids just outside Cairo.

Depictions of head cones in Ancient Egyptian art from the ancient city of Amarna.

In another project, experts uncovered the 2,500-year-old remains of a powerful high priest in dramatic fashion.

The opening of the priest’s stone sarcophagus was broadcast by the Discovery Channel during “Expedition Unknown: Egypt Live,” a two-hour live event. Archaeologists discovered what they describe as an “exquisitely preserved” mummy inside the sealed sarcophagus, covered in gold banding.

The incredible find was made at Al-Ghorifa, a remote site about 165 miles south of Cairo. Located within the inner chambers of the burial site, experts accessed the sarcophagus via a network of ancient tunnels.

Elsewhere, archaeologists found a large ram-headed sphinx that is linked to King Tutankhamun’s grandfather. In other projects, a teenage girl’s skeleton was discovered in a mysterious grave near the Meidum pyramid, south of Cairo.

In April, experts announced the discovery of dozens of mummies in ancient desert burial chambers. Archaeologists also recently explained the strange brown spots on some of the paintings in King Tutankhamun’s tomb.

In January, archaeologists announced the discovery of ancient tombs in the Nile Delta north of Cairo. In a separate project, two ancient tombs dating back to the Roman period were uncovered in Egypt’s the Western Desert.

Archaeologists discovered a stunning sphinx statue at an ancient temple in southern Egypt in a separate project.

Last summer, experts unlocked the secrets of a mysterious ancient ‘cursed’ black granite sarcophagus. The massive coffin, which was excavated in the city of Alexandria, was found to contain three skeletons and gold sheets with the remains.

Archaeologists also found the oldest solid cheese in the tomb of Ptahmes, mayor of the ancient city of Memphis.

A mummy buried in southern Egypt more than 5,000 years ago has also revealed its grisly secrets, shedding new light on prehistoric embalming practices.

Human remains with golden tongues found in Egypt

Human remains with golden tongues found in Egypt

Two golden tongues were found still inside the mouths of an ancient Egyptian man and woman who died over 2,500 years ago, the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Sunday.

A golden tongue was found inside the skull of an ancient mummy in Egypt, December 2021.

The identities of those interred are unknown, but the stone sarcophaguses were placed alongside each other.

A University of Barcelona archaeological mission discovered the pair of tombs containing the golden prosthetics at Oxyrhynchus, modern-day El Bahnasa, which is located some 220 kilometres south of Cairo.

The tombs are believed to be from the Saite dynasty, a late period of ancient Egypt that ended in 525 BC.

According to the ministry, golden tongues were placed inside the mouths of the dead to enable them to speak with Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god of the underworld, who judged those on their way to the afterlife.

The male’s tomb was still sealed, an unusual find, keeping the mummy inside in a good state of preservation, according to Esther Pons Melado, co-director of the archaeological mission of Oxyrhynchus

“This is very important because it’s rare to find a tomb that is totally sealed,” she told the National News in a Monday report on the discovery.

Along with the mummy, there were four canopic jars that were used to preserve the internal organs of the deceased. In addition, archaeologists found a scarab, other amulets, and about 400 funerary figurines made of faience, a tin-glazed earthenware.

The woman’s tomb appeared to have been opened in the past and the contents were not in a good condition, Melardo said.

An additional three golden tongues were also found outside the tombs, according to the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry. They were dated to the Roman period in Egypt that began in 30 BC.

The excavation team of 14 included members from Spain, Italy, France, the US and Egypt.

In February, archaeologists at the ancient Egyptian site of Taposiris Magna found over a dozen tombs, one of which contained a mummy with a similar golden tongue in the skull.

A 4.6-billion-year-old meteorite is the oldest volcanic rock ever found

A 4.6-billion-year-old meteorite is the oldest volcanic rock ever found

A lonely meteorite that landed in the Sahara Desert in 2020 is older than Earth. The primaeval space rock is about 4.6 billion years old and is the oldest known example of magma from space.

A 4.6-billion-year-old meteorite is the oldest volcanic rock ever found
The EC 002 meteorite is “relatively coarse-grained, tan and beige,” with crystals that are green, yellow-green and yellow-brown.

Its age and mineral content hint that the rock originated in our early solar system from the crust of a protoplanet — a large, rocky body in the process of developing into a planet, according to a new study. 

The meteorite, called Erg Chech 002 (EC 002), is likely a rare surviving chunk of a lost baby planet that was destroyed or absorbed by bigger rocky planets during our solar system’s formation. 

Pieces of EC 002 were found in Adrar, Algeria, in May 2020, and the fragments were “relatively coarse-grained, tan and beige,” sporadically studded with crystals that were “larger green, yellow-green and less commonly yellow-brown,” according to a description by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI). 

EC 002 is an achondrite, a type of meteorite that comes from a parent body with a distinct crust and core, and lacks round mineral grains called chondrules, according to the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University.

Approximately 3,100 known meteorites originated in crust and mantle layers of rocky asteroids, but they reveal little about protoplanet diversity when our solar system was young. About 95% come from just two parent bodies, and around 75% of those originated from one source — possibly the asteroid 4 Vesta, one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, the researchers reported.

Two views of a piece of EC 002. The main mass of the meteorite resides at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum.

A meteoritic rarity

Among the thousands of rocky meteorites, EC 002 stood out. Radioactive versions, or isotopes, of aluminium and magnesium, indicated that the meteorite’s parent was an ancient body dating to 4.566 billion years ago, and EC 002’s chemical composition revealed that it emerged from a partly-melted magma reservoir in the parent body’s crust.

Most rocky meteorites come from sources with basaltic crusts — rapidly cooled lava that is rich in iron and magnesium — but EC 002’s composition showed that its parent’s crust was made of andesite, which is rich in silica. 

“This meteorite is the oldest magmatic rock analyzed to date and sheds light on the formation of the primordial crusts that covered the oldest protoplanets,” the study authors reported.

While EC 002 is highly unusual, other studies have found that such silica-infused andesite crusts were likely common during our solar system’s protoplanet-forming stage, “contrary to what the meteorite record suggests,” the researchers wrote.

“It is reasonable to assume that many similar chondritic bodies accreted at the same time and were capped by the same type of primordial crust,” the study authors said. Yet, when the scientists peered at distant cosmic objects’ spectral “fingerprints” — wavelength patterns in the light they emit or reflect — and compared them to EC 002, they found no matches.

Even after comparison with 10,000 objects in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database, EC 002 was “clearly distinguishable from all asteroid groups,” the scientists reported. “No object with spectral characteristics similar to EC 002 has been identified to date.”

Where are all the protoplanets with andesite crusts today? During our solar system’s volatile period of planetary birth, most of these protoplanets likely didn’t make it past infancy, according to the study.

Either they were smashed to bits in collisions with other rocky bodies, or they were absorbed by bigger and more successful rocky planets, such as Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury, leaving few traces behind to spawn meteorites such as EC 002. 

“Remains of primordial andesitic crust are therefore not only rare in the meteorite record, but they are also rare today in the asteroid belt,” the scientists wrote. 

Enigmatic footprints, once thought to belong to a bear, linked to the unknown human ancestor

Enigmatic footprints, once thought to belong to a bear, linked to unknown human ancestor

Ancient footprints reveal a mysterious relative of humans who may have lived at the same time and in the same area as the famous human ancestor “Lucy” in Tanzania. Strangely, these enigmatic tracks possess an unusual cross-stepping gait where one leg is crossed over the other during walking, a new study finds.

The oldest solid evidence of upright walking among hominins — the group that includes humans, our ancestors and our closest evolutionary relatives — are tracks discovered at Laetoli in northern Tanzania in 1978. The footprints date back about 3.66 million years, and previous research suggested they were made by Australopithecus afarensis, the species that ranks among the leading candidates for direct ancestors of the human lineage and includes the famed 3.2 million-year-old “Lucy.”

Other footprints discovered at the nearby “site A” in 1976 proved more enigmatic. One possibility was that these unusually shaped tracks — five consecutive footprints — were left by an unknown hominin. Another was that they were made by a bear walking on its hind legs.

These strange “Laetoli A” tracks were never fully excavated. To solve the mystery of the origins of these tracks, scientists have now fully examined these footprints and compared them with tracks from humans, bears and chimpanzees.

One of the first major hurdles as the scientists began this research “was our difficulties trying to track down original casts of the Laetoli A prints from their initial discovery,” study lead author Ellison McNutt, a biological anthropologist at the Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine at Ohio University, told Live Science. “We were unable to locate any original casts and were concerned that exposure to the sun and decades of seasonal rains may have destroyed the original fossil prints.”

Luckily, when the researchers went back to Laetoli to re-excavate the prints, they found “the rains had actually washed nearby sediment over the original footprints, which protected them and allowed them to remain beautifully preserved,” McNutt said. 

Here, a topographic map of the footprints found at Laetoli Site A in Tanzania.

The scientists went on to clean, measure, photograph and 3D-scan the footprints. “Looking at the fully excavated ‘A’ prints, we knew immediately that these were really intriguing and potentially different from the other two bipedal trackways at Laetoli,” McNutt said.

Next, McNutt and her colleagues teamed up with Ben and Phoebe Kilham, who run the Kilham Bear Center, a rescue and rehabilitation center for black bears in Lyme, New Hampshire. They identified four semi-wild juvenile black bears at the centre that have feet similar in size to that of the Laetoli A tracks.

The researchers used maple syrup or applesauce to lure the bears to stand up and walk on their two hind legs across a trackway filled with mud to capture their footprints. They found the gait seen with the Laetoli A tracks bore a closer resemblance to those of hominins than those of bears.

“As bears walk, they take very wide steps, wobbling back and forth,” study senior author Jeremy DeSilva, a paleoanthropologist at Dartmouth University, said in a statement. “They are unable to walk with a gait similar to that of the site A footprints, as their hip musculature and knee shape does not permit that kind of motion and balance.

Enigmatic footprints, once thought to belong to a bear, linked to unknown human ancestor
This image shows a Laetoli A3 footprint (on left) and a cast of the Laetoli G1 footprint (on right).

In addition, the prints suggest feet more like those of hominins than bears. Bear toes and feet are fan-like and they have tapering heels, while the Laetoli A prints, like those of hominins, are squared off with a prominent big toe and a wide heel.

The researchers also collected more than 50 hours of video of wild black bears. The bears walked on their hind legs less than 1% of the total observed time, making it unlikely that a bear made the footprints at Laetoli A, especially given that no footprints were found of this individual walking on four legs. Moreover, the scientists noted that although thousands of animal fossils have been found at Laetoli, none are from bears.

Ellison McNutt, a study author, collects data from a juvenile female black bear (left.) A footprint from one of the juvenile male black bears, right.

However, the Laetoli A tracks are unlike those of any other known hominin. The footprints are unusually wide and short, and the feet that made them may have possessed a big toe capable of thumb-like grasping, similar to the big toe of apes.

All in all, McNutt and her colleagues concluded the Laetoli A prints were made by an as-yet-unidentified hominin, and not by A. Afarensis. 

“Our work suggests that the Laetoli A prints are one of the oldest unequivocal pieces of evidence in the hominin fossil record of multiple hominin species coexisting in the same area at the same exact time,” McNutt said. “It is not inconceivable that the individual who made the A trackway could have looked across the landscape and seen A. afarensis individuals.”

Curiously, this hominin walked with an unusual cross-stepping gait — each foot crossed over the body’s midline to touch down in front of the other foot.

“The ability of this individual to demonstrate cross-stepping is actually one of the additional lines of evidence that Laetoli A was made by a hominin,” McNutt said. Primates that primarily walk on all fours, such as chimps, “lack the necessary anatomical adaptations in their hips and knees to allow them to maintain their balance while placing one foot across the midline past the other.” 

Although humans typically do not cross-step, “it does happen occasionally,” McNutt said. “It can be used as a strategy to help walk across uneven or slippery surfaces.” 

Still, the cross-stepping may not have resulted from a hominin attempting to keep its balance. “Other potential options include that this particular individual hominin walked in a peculiar manner,” McNutt said. “It is also possible that this unknown hominin species was adapted to walk in this way. We’ll be able to answer these questions more clearly as more footprints are discovered.”

In the future, the researchers aim to continue excavations at Laetoli around site A. “Additional prints from this individual or others made by the same species may give us further insight into how they moved across the landscape and what species they belonged to,” McNutt said. The scientists detailed their findings in the Dec. 2 issue of the journal Nature.

3600 Year Old Pits Full Of Giant Hands Discovered In Egypt Archaeologists Discovered

3600 Year Old Pits Full Of Giant Hands Discovered In Egypt Archaeologists Discovered

An astonishing discovery occurred in the fall of 2011 when a team of archaeologists working in the palace of ancient Avaris, Egypt, found the remains of 16 human hands in four graves in the compound.

Two of the pits, located in front of the throne room, contain one hand each. And the other two holes, located outside the palace, have the remaining 14.

The team of archaeologists who made the discovery determined that all the bones date to about 3,600 years ago, indicating that they all came from the same ceremony.

3600 Year Old Pits Full Of Giant Hands Discovered In Egypt Archaeologists Discovered

All the hands appear to be abnormally long or even more significant than usual. They were classified into four different graves within what scientists believe was the actual Hyksos complex.

The Austrian archaeologist, Manfred Bietak, in charge of the excavation of the ancient city of Avaris, explained to the Egyptian Archeology newspaper that the hands seem to support the stories found in the writings and art of ancient Egypt, this being the first physical evidence of that the soldiers cut off the right hands of their enemies to receive a reward of gold in return.

Besides cutting off the enemy’s hand being a symbolic means of removing the enemy’s force, the meaning of this ceremony would also be supernatural as this was done in a sacred place and temple as part of a ritual.

So far, there is no evidence to show what kind of people these hands belonged to. Whether the hands belong to Hyksos or Egyptians cannot yet be determined.

When Bietak was asked to explain why he believed this ritual might have been performed, he said: “You deprive him of his power forever. Our finding is the first and only physical evidence. Each moat represents a different ceremony.”

The two pits, each containing a hand, were placed directly in front of a throne room. This section of Egypt was once controlled by an occupying force that most historians believe were initially Canaanites, so there may be a connection to the invasion.

The other hands, which may have been buried at the same time or a later date, are found on the outer grounds of the palace.

These sacrifices are not surprising in an area that faced a foreign invasion.

Egyptians often called on their gods to punish invading armies with plagues, famine, or general misfortune. It is possible that these sacrifices were part of a curse against the invading armies.

Much more needs to be investigated, but many signs point to this being some ritual for a god or gods. It is not known to whom these hands belonged. But the fact that the hands were abnormally large indicates that these people were specially selected, which is more characteristic of a sacrifice than killing an invading army.

Two hands were buried separately may indicate that these offerings were intended to be incredibly satisfying to the gods. In addition, it could enter the theory of the Hyperborean civilization, where some ancient writings comment that this civilization was vast, that they came from Lemuria where the waters of the Indian Sea submerged that continent.

This find could reveal the true story of a civilization of enormous dimensions. The discovery of these giant hands could shed light on ancient previously discussed stories, which were only fables or inventions of conspiracy theorists.

Fossilized monkey teeth help fill six million year gap in the evolution

Fossilized monkey teeth help fill six million year gap in evolution

Researchers have used fossilized teeth found near Lake Turkana in northwest Kenya to identify a new monkey species — a discovery that helps fill a 6-million-year gap in primate evolution.

UNLV geoscientist Terry Spell and former master’s student Dawn Reynoso were part of the international research team that discovered the species that lived 22 million years ago.

Understanding the evolution of Old World monkeys is important because, along with the great apes and humans, they belong to the anthropoid group of primates — primates that resemble humans.

UNLV geoscientist, student among international research team behind the discovery of ancient monkey species that lived in Africa 22 million years ago

According to Spell, the monkey fossil discovery grew out of a more extensive study of a section of sedimentary rocks in Kenya that contain a large number of different types of fossils, including several hundred mammals and reptile jaws, limbs, and teeth.

Previous studies had documented the early evolution of Old World monkeys using fossils dated at 19 million and 25 million years old, leaving a 6-million-year gap in the earliest record.

However, the new fossil was determined to be 22 million years in age. Isotopic ages on the rocks were obtained in the Nevada Isotope Geochronology Laboratory on the UNLV campus.

“This adds to our understanding of the earliest evolutionary history of Old World monkeys, including changes in their diet with time to include more leaves,” Spell said.

“Monkeys originated at a time in the past when Africa and Arabia were together as an island continent. Plate tectonic motions pushed this landmass into the Eurasian landmass 20 to 24 million years ago, and an exchange of animals and plants occurred.

It is unclear if competition with newly introduced species or changing climate conditions drove changes in diet.”

Scientists named the newly discovered monkey species Alophia (“without lophs”) due to the lack of molar crests on its teeth — a phenomenon that sets them apart from geologically younger monkey fossils.

Fossilized monkey teeth help fill six million year gap in evolution
A fossil jaw of the newly discovered ancient Old World monkey named Alophia.

Old World monkeys are the most successful living superfamily of nonhuman primates with a geographic distribution that is surpassed only by humans. 

The group occupies a wide spectrum of land to tree habitats and have a diverse range of diets. They evolved to develop a signature dental feature — having two molar crests — which to this day allows them to process a wide range of food types found in the varying environments of Africa and Asia.

Others involved in the research were scientists from nine U.S. universities and a foreign national museum.

200,000-Year-Old Bedding Found in South Africa May Be World’s Oldest

200,000-Year-Old Bedding Found in South Africa May Be World’s Oldest

Archaeologists studying the interior of a cliffside cave in South Africa have found what may be the world’s oldest bedding, reports Cathleen O’Grady for Science magazine.

200,000-Year-Old Bedding Found in South Africa May Be World’s Oldest
Archaeologists discovered these fossilized fragments of grass deep inside South Africa’s Border Cave.

Dated to more than 200,000 years ago, the grass bedding—discovered in the Lebombo Mountains’ Border Cave—was placed atop layers of ash, perhaps to keep crawling insects like ticks at bay.

The findings, published in the journal Science, push the earliest record of human-constructed bedding back by at least 100,000 years. Previously, notes George Dvorsky for Gizmodo, the oldest known specimen was 77,000-year-old grass bedding found in Sibudu, South Africa.

Humans inhabited the Border Cave, so named because it sits near the border of South Africa and eSwatini (formerly known as Swaziland), sporadically between 227,000 and 1,000 years ago. More recently, the site has yielded an array of significant archaeological finds related to these early residents.

Lead author Lyn Wadley, an archaeologist at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, tells Gizmodo that excavations at the cave revealed “ephemeral fossilized grass.” She says the layer of grass was probably at least a foot thick and “would have been as comfortable as any camp bed or haystack.”

Wadley and her colleagues used scanning electron microscopes and infrared spectroscopy to identify fossilized plant materials. In addition to broad-leafed grasses, the team found traces of burned camphor bush, which is still used by people in rural East Africa as an aerial insect repellent, reports Ashley Strickland for CNN.

The Border Cave rock shelter in the Lebombo Mountains of South Africa

Because the ash is thought to have come from the same grass used in the bedding, the researchers suggest that Border Cave’s occupants periodically burned and replaced their mats with fresh plant matter. Per the paper, the ash repelled crawling insects by blocking “their breathing and biting apparatus and eventually [leaving] them dehydrated.”

Wadley says the findings are indicative of considerable sophistication on the part of early humans.

“Through the use of ash and medicinal plants to repel insects, we realize that they had some pharmacological knowledge,” she explains.

“Furthermore, they could extend their stay at favoured campsites by planning ahead and cleaning them through burning fusty beds. They therefore had some basic knowledge of health care through practising hygiene.”

Mixed in with the bedding, the team found ocher particles and flakes of stone possibly chipped off during toolmaking. The slivers of rock may indicate that the soft bedding was used as a seat for daily chores, while the red pigment may have rubbed off of individuals’ skin or other Stone Age canvases.

The researchers can’t be absolutely certain that ancient humans slept on the grass bedding. But Javier Baena Preysler, an archaeologist at the Autonomous University of Madrid who was not involved in the study, tells Science that this is the “most plausible interpretation.”

To estimate the proposed bedding’s age, Wadley and her team conducted radiocarbon testing on a pair of teeth discovered in the same strata of the cave’s sediments.

Speaking with Science, Dani Nadel, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa who was not involved in the research, deems this methodology “a bit shaky.” He points out that relying on just two teeth rather than analysis of the actual plant remnants could have yielded inaccurate dates.

Since the final layer of plant bedding was left unburned, the archaeologists suggest that the humans who had once lined the Border Cave’s floor with soft, green grass eventually abandoned the site.