207-year-old whaling ship discovered in the Gulf of Mexico

The wreck of a 19th-century whaling ship has been identified on the sea bottom in the Gulf of Mexico. Its discovery was announced Wednesday (March 23) in a statement released by representatives of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and their partners in the expedition. 

Researchers onboard NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer spotted the wreck on Feb. 25 at a depth of 6,000 feet (1,800 meters).

They used a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) to explore a seafloor location where the shipwreck had previously been glimpsed, but not investigated, in 2011 and 2017, and their search received additional guidance via satellite communication with a scientific team onshore, according to the statement. 

A team of experts then confirmed that the vessel was the Industry, which sank May 26, 1836, while the crew was hunting sperm whales. It was built in 1815, and for 20 years, the 64-foot-long (19.5 meters) ship had pursued whales across the Gulf, the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean, until a storm breached its hull and snapped its masts. 

Though 214 whaling voyages crisscrossed the Gulf from the 1780s until the 1870s, this is the only known shipwreck in the region, NOAA representatives said.

The crew list for Industry’s last voyage was lost at sea, but past ship records show that among Industry’s essential crew were Native American people and free Black descendants of enslaved African people.

The discovery of the wreck could offer important clues about the role that Black and Native American sailors played in America’s maritime industry at the time, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves said in the statement. 

“This 19th-century whaling ship will help us learn about the lives of the Black and Native American mariners and their communities, as well as the immense challenges they faced on land and at sea,” Graves said.

Life on a whaling ship would certainly have been challenging, with long hours, hard physical labour and poor food that was likely to be infested with vermin, according to the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts.

Living conditions could also be extremely unpleasant; a whaler’s account from 1846 described the crew’s quarters, known as the forecastle, as “black and slimy with filth, very small and hot as an oven,” J. Ross Browne wrote in the book “Etchings of a Whaling Cruise,” according to the museum.

“It was filled with a compound of foul air, smoke, sea-chests, soap-kegs, greasy pans, [and] tainted meat,” Browne wrote.

A deep dive

NOAA’s Okeanos Explorer collects data on unknown or little-explored seafloor regions of the deep ocean, mapping seamounts and discovering mysterious forms of elusive marine life at depths from 820 to 19,700 feet (250 to 6,000 m), according to NOAA.

Past expeditions have revealed “mud monsters” in the Mariana Trench, the “most bizarre squid” an NOAA zoologist had ever seen, and a real-life SpongeBob and Patrick living side by side on the seafloor, Live Science previously reported.

Video from the ROV combined with Industry records enabled the scientists to confirm that they had discovered the long-lost whaling brig.

Another clue that helped experts to identify Industry was that there was little onboard evidence of its whaling activities; when the ship was sinking, another whaling vessel visited the foundering Industry and salvaged its equipment, removing 230 barrels of whale oil, as well as parts of the rigging and one of the ship’s four anchors, according to the NOAA statement.

“We knew it was salvaged before it sank,” Scott Sorset, a marine archaeologist for the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and a member of the expedition’s shore team, said in the statement. “That there were so few artefacts on board was another big piece of evidence it was Industry.” 

New research has also shed light on what happened to Industry’s crew on that final voyage.

Robin Winters, a librarian at the Westport Free Public Library in Massachusetts, unearthed an 1836 article from The Inquirer and Mirror (a Nantucket weekly newspaper) reporting that Industry’s crew was rescued by another whaling ship and brought to Westport.

That was a lucky turn of events for Industry’s Black whalers in particular, who could have been jailed under local laws had they reached shore with no proof of identity, said expedition researcher James Delgado, a senior vice president at the archaeology firm SEARCH. 

“And if they could not pay for their keep while in prison, they would have been sold into slavery,” Delgado said in the statement.

The largest Aztec temple was decorated with over 100 starfish

Aztec priests at Tenochtitlán offered a whole galaxy of starfish to the war god Huitzilopochtli 700 years ago, along with a trove of other objects from the distant edges of the Aztec Empire. Archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) recently unearthed the offering on the site of the Templo Mayor, the main temple in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, in what is now Mexico City.

Ahuizotl, coast to coast

The offering included 164 starfish from a species called Nidorella armata, known less formally as the chocolate chip starfish because it’s mostly the colour of cookie dough, but it has dark spots. (It shares the nickname with the other chocolate chip sea star, Protoreaster nodosus, which provides an excellent argument in favour of scientific names.) Nidorella armata lives along the Pacific coastline from Mexico south to Peru, where it hangs out on shallow-water reefs of rock and coral.

For Tenochtitlán, the nearest source of chocolate chip starfish would have been nearly 300 kilometres away from the Aztec capital. Chunks of coral found in the same offering came from about the same distance away but in roughly the opposite direction—the western end of the Gulf of Mexico. At the time, these items came from the farthest eastern and western edges of the Aztec Empire, places that the Aztec ruler Ahuizotl had only recently conquered.

Ahuizotl took the throne in 1486, and he jumped straight into two major projects: renovating the capital, including the Templo Mayor, and expanding the borders of his empire. His campaigns nearly doubled the size of the Aztec Empire, stretching Aztec rule west to the Pacific coast of Mexico and southeast to Guatemala. All that conquest meant that the Aztecs could easily bring starfish from the Pacific and corals from the Gulf of Mexico, along with an assortment of marine shells (and even pufferfish) to Tenochtitlán to lay before their gods.

Conquistadors ruin everything

Back in the capital, Ahuizotl ordered the reconstruction of large parts of the city. His efforts included expanding the Templo Mayor, which in Aztec terms meant building a new, bigger outer layer over the top of the previous temple. (The prior construction was often ritually “killed” before the new one could be consecrated.) That’s convenient for modern archaeologists, who can date each layer of construction at the Templo Mayor.

The oldest part of the temple dates to around 1325, when a group of people called the Mexica migrated into the area surrounding what is now Mexico City. There, according to Mexica lore, their leaders saw an eagle perched on a prickly pear and eating a snake; it was the sign their priests had told them to expect from Huitzilopochtli, and it’s an image you might recognize from the modern Mexican flag. At the site, the Mexica built a city called Tenochtitlán, and from there, they ruled the Aztec Empire.

Huitzilopochtli shared the Templo Mayor with the rain and farming god Tlaloc; each god had his own shrine at the top of the pyramid, reached by separate staircases. Ahuizotl’s expansion, where archaeologists found the starfish offering, is the sixth layer of the Templo Mayor. Only one more layer would be added before the temple’s destruction.

Ahuizotl was the eighth ruler of the Aztec Empire and the last to rule before the Spanish conquistadors, led by Hernán Cortés, arrived and changed everything. Cortés arrived during the reign of Ahuizotl’s nephew, Moctezuma II, who died fighting the invaders. Moctezuma’s brother, who took the throne next, died of smallpox, a disease brought by the Spaniards. The throne passed to Ahuizotl’s son, Cuauhtémoc, who surrendered to Cortés in 1521, only to be tortured for the whereabouts of mostly nonexistent gold and silver. Cortés had Cuauhtémoc, the last ruler of the Aztec Empire, executed in 1525.

Seashells for the war god

By the time Ahuizotl’s son died, Cortés had already destroyed the Templo Mayor and had begun building a Christian cathedral in its place. Archaeologists rediscovered the buried remains of the temple in the 20th century, and they soon found that most of the seventh and final layer was too demolished to learn much from. The last well-preserved layer of the temple was the one Ahuizotl ordered built-in 1487. And that’s where archaeologists discovered the galaxy of starfish that the Aztec priests had once offered to Huitzilopochtli.

The offering had been placed in a round building called the Cuauhxicalco, which might have been where the remains of rulers like Ahuizotl were cremated. It’s in a part of the temple usually associated with Huitzilopochtli, based on historical descriptions and other archaeological finds, so archaeologists suggest that the starfish and other items were probably offerings to the war god.

Along with the starfish, seashells, and pufferfish, the offering included a resin figurine and a female jaguar holding an atlatl (a type of spear-thrower) in one claw.

This find is not the first time archaeologists working at the Templo Mayor site have found starfish among the offerings, but it’s the largest collection unearthed so far. And many of the starfish are larger than their modern descendants because global warming and centuries of harvesting by humans have caused the species to evolve toward a smaller body size.

One starfish, in particular, left behind a fossil-like imprint of not only its shape but its internal structures.

“It was, perhaps, one of the first stars that the Mexica priests placed in the offering, so when receiving the weight of the jaguar and all the elements, it sank into what is believed to be a layer of fibre below it, preserving the mark of its internal structure,” explained INAH in a press release. “This situation is unusual since the remains of the other 163 stars are scattered, due to the natural loss of their organic matter.”

Side note: What’s in a name?

If the name Ahuizotl sounds familiar to you and you’re not a student of Aztec history, you’re probably a My Little Pony fan or a tabletop RPG player. The Aztec ruler took his name from the name of a mythical creature that lived near lakes and in swamps. Reportedly, the creature looked a bit like a dog, except with monkey-like hands (including one at the end of its tail) and spiky fur. It also reportedly killed one of Cortés’ soldiers.

Dungeons and Dragons and Pathfinder both feature swamp-dwelling creatures called Ahuizotl, which bear a passing resemblance to the creature of Mexica legend. And a recurring villain in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic was a dog-like, spiky-furred character named Ahuizotl. Now you know.

And knowing, after all, is half the battle.

Archaeologists stunned by ancient ‘death mask’ found in Mexican temple

Palenque is set amid lush forest and dense foliage in a slice of southern Mexico. It is not the largest Mayan city by any stretch, but it has been described as one of the most stunning. Its architecture and the accompanying carvings and sculptures are some of the finest surviving pieces of Mayan history, in a region where the civilisation once thrived.

Compared to other Maya settlements in Mexico, Palenque was technically advanced.

A sophisticated aqua-duct system provided its inhabitants with abundant spring water — just one of the many perks of living there.

In the seventh century AD, the city was ruled by the powerful king, Pacal the Great.

He had one of the longest reigns of any Maya monarch, taking the throne in 615 at the age of just 12, and ruled until his death aged 80.

While in power he oversaw the construction of some of Palenque’s jaw-dropping sacred sites like the huge Central Palace.

Perhaps most importantly, he commissioned the construction of the now-iconic Temple of the Inscriptions.

The temple and the work archaeologists have carried out in and around it was explored during the Smithsonian Channel’s documentary, ‘Sacred sites: Maya’.

In the mid-20th century, researchers discovered a relic that would give a “new insight” into what the Maya believed about the afterlife, according to the documentary’s narrator.

Excavating the temple floor, they uncovered a passage to a chamber deep within the pyramid.

It contained a sarcophagus covered by a stone lid — inside, lay the remains of an elite Mayan wearing a Jade “death mask”.

Hieroglyphs on the sarcophagus soon confirmed that the remains belonged to King Pacal, much to the surprise of the researchers.

This is because it meant that the temple housed the tomb of the great king himself. The narrator noted that while it is a place of burial, it is also “intended as a place of resurrection.”

On the sarcophagus lid, the images illustrate a central Mayan belief that the Universe is made up of three levels: the Earth, the underworld and the heavens. Leaving this world, Pascal emerges from the underworld and is reborn into eternal life in the heavens in the engravings.

The narrator said: “This is the essence of Mayan religion.”

Later on, in 2018, archaeologists made yet another groundbreaking discovery at the site when they came across an ancient stucco mask unlike any other, thought to have been cast from Pacal’s face.

Unlike other artefacts found, however, it showed the king in old age, his wrinkles and other facial details clearly visible.

The 20-centimetre (7.8 inch) mask was found by a team with the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) during an investigation of the temple’s ancient drainage system.

Diego Prieto, director of the institute, said: “Palenque continues to astonish us with everything it has to offer archaeological, anthropological, and historical research.”

Ceramic figures were also found alongside the mask, as well as decorated bones and the remains of several animals.

Experts believe these were most likely offerings made for the completion of the building’s reconstruction. Palenque eventually perished in the eight century AD, and became consumed by the jungle of cedar, mahogany, and sapodilla trees.

Ancient “Coyote-Man” Sculpture Recovered in Mexico

Archaeologists from the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia in Mexico have recovered an important artefact of pre-Hispanic culture: a monumental coyote-headed figure perched on a throne.

Known as the coyote-man from Tacámbaro, an area in the central Mexican state of Michoacán, the sculpture was discovered almost 30 years ago during construction work in the municipality.

The artefact was held in a private collection until it was recovered by the NAH Michoacán Center through a Mexican federal law that regulates the ownership and preservation of national cultural property.

The Llanos de Canícuaro neighbourhood in Tacámbaro, where the coyote-man was first unearthed, was the site of the Tarascan city of Tzintzuntza, meaning “place of the hummingbirds” in the Purépecha language.

Representations of coyote spirits were prolific in the ancient settlement, though few were as tall or intricately carved as the sculpture recovered.

In a statement, INAH said its specialists are now assessing the state of the work, as a series of fractures were sustained during its rough extraction by the municipality.

Once the conservation is executed, it’s expected to “have a place of honour within the archaeological collection of the community museum of the city council,” according to the institute.

On the importance of the sculpture, archaeologist José Luis Punzo said, “We know that the last lords of Tzintzuntzan, who wrote the Relacion de Michoacán, were the so-called uacúsecha, the ‘lineage of the eagle’.

Next to this was another large city on Lake Pátzcuaro, Ihuatzio, which means ‘place of coyotes’, where most of these sculptures have been located.”

He added: “One of the hypotheses is that the coyote-man sculptures could represent a dynasty that ruled this place, even before the Uacúsecha history was written.”

Archaeology breakthrough after human remains found in 2,000-year-old Aztec pyramid

The ancient Aztec civilisation has captured the imagination and intrigue of millions of people across the world. At one point, they were among the most advanced humans on the planet, leading the way in both fields of science and medicine.

They built great cities for hundreds of thousands of people, creating complex irrigation systems not seen for hundreds of years. But, in the early 16th century, after Spanish invaders reached Central American shores, the once-great civilisation fell to its knees and was lost forever.

The ancient city of Teotihuacan has since been excavated and studied by archaeologists, many travelling from the US and around the world to learn about how the Aztecs once lived and ruled.

One surprising discovery made beneath the largest pyramid in the city, the Pyramid of the Sun, was explored during Discovery’s short documentary, ‘Shocking Artefacts And Human Remain Found In 2000-Year-Old Pyramid’.

Here, archaeologists unearthed a tunnel in the bedrock, at first believing that it was a natural cave. However, on further investigation, they hit a carved out chamber, and beyond it, the remnants of 17 thick man-made walls, built to block access to the tunnel.

At the very end of the tunnel, they fund an elaborate chamber carved in the shape of a clover. Now, the tunnel lies empty, likely stripped of its contents by robbers over the centuries.

But, the discovery under the Sun pyramid was just the beginning: in 2003, a tunnel was discovered beneath the Feathered Serpent pyramid. Then, in 2017, Mexican archaeologist Sergio Gómez uncovered another secret tunnel under the Feathered Serpent pyramid.

JUST IN: Scientists stunned at ‘perfect’ Ice Age discovery: ‘Could have died…

This tunnel appeared untouched by thieves as Sergio and his team discovered more than 100,000 different objects.

He said: “Extraordinary objects, some of them never seen before in any Mexican archaeological exploration.”

Undisturbed for 1,800 years, the objects were found lying exactly where they had first been placed as ritual offerings to the gods. Some of the pieces unearthed included greenstone crocodile teeth, crystals shaped into eyes, and sculptures of jaguars ready to pounce.

Above the intricate system of tunnels, at the heart of the pyramid, excavations revealed a darker secret: the remains of countless humans. Anthropologist Saburo Sugiyama examined the myriad bones unearthed from the ancient city of Teotihuacan.

He said: “Human bones tell us a lot of things: male, female, how many years they had when they died, how they lived, how they died.”

He believes the bones found may be evidence of gruesome human sacrifice, with the biggest clue coming from the way in which the bones were found. Archaeologists stumbled across them while tunnelling deep inside the body of the pyramid.

Inside the Feathered Serpent’s pyramid, at its centre, is a “dark secret”: 20 skeletons, almost completely intact, carefully arranged in what looks like a “symbolic pattern”.

They were not alone, as, in total, over 260 bodies were found to be built unto the fabric and foundation of the building.

The narrator noted: “The pyramid is a mass grave.”

The dead, and the way in which they were killed, can now yield crucial clues about the civilisation and how they lived.

READ ALSO: RESEARCHERS CONFIRM: THE LARGEST PYRAMID IN MEXICO HAS BEEN FOUND

These will add to the already far-ranging finds made at Teotihuacan, including the existence of a playing court near the plaza, where residents would have played the Mesoamerican equivalent of racquetball.

And, in another pyramid, copious remains of animal sacrifices have been discovered, including wolves, rattlesnakes, golden eagles and pumas.

Researchers confirm: The Largest Pyramid in Mexico has been found

Researchers in Mexico have discovered an immense pyramid, even larger than Teotihuacan’s Pyramid of the Sun. It’s 75 meters in height and was explored by specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History. It is located in the acropolis of Tonina, Chiapas and is likely around 1,700 years old.

The director of the archaeological zone, Emiliano Gallaga, says that the work, done over the course of two years, verified that the northeastern portion of the site was, indeed, the largest pyramid in Mexico. It is comparable to pyramids found in Tikal and El Mirador of the Mayan civilization.

One unique feature is the seven platforms that serve as palaces, temples, housing, and what were essentially administrating offices. This unique structure functioned within the social, religious, and political-cultural structure.

“It’s a big surprise to see that the pyramid was done almost entirely by pre-Hispanic architects and therefore is more artificial than natural,” says Gallagas. “This is because it was believed that the entire structure was a natural hill, but recent evidence has revealed that the structure was almost entirely built by ancient inhabitants.”  Archaeologists noted that the pyramid was much larger than they expected it to be. The structure has roads running through it as well.

The temple-pyramid complex was built in four stages, starting from the 3rd century BC through the 9th century AD, and was dedicated to the deity Quetzalcoatl. It has a base of 450 by 450 metres (1,480 by 1,480 ft) and a height of 66 m (217 ft).

According to the Guinness Book of Records, it is in fact the largest pyramid as well as the largest monument ever constructed anywhere in the world, with a total volume estimated at over 4.45 million cubic metres, even larger than that of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, which is about 2.5 million cubic metres.

However the Great Pyramid of Giza is higher at 138.8 metres (455 ft). The ceramics of Cholula were closely linked to those of Teotihuacan, and both sites appeared to decline simultaneously. The Postclassic Aztecs believed that Xelhua built the Great Pyramid of Cholula.

At its peak, Cholula had the second largest population in Mexico of an estimated 100,000 people living at this site. Although the prehispanic city of Cholula continued to be inhabited, the Great Pyramid was abandoned in the 8th century at a time when the city suffered a drastic drop in population.

Even after this drop-off in population, the Great Pyramid retained its religious importance. The site was once called Acholollan (in Nahuatl) meaning place of flight.

This meaning has led some to believe that this site was founded after its original inhabitants fled (from?) elsewhere. According to myth, the pyramid was built by a giant named Xelhua of adobe bricks, after he escaped a flood in the neighboring Valley of Mexico. 

The pyramid consists of six superimposed structures, one for each ethnic group that dominated it. However, only three have been studied in any depth.

The pyramid itself is just a small part of the greater archaeological zone of Cholula, which is estimated at 154 hectares (0.59 sq mi).

The building of the pyramid began in the Preclassic Period and overtime was built over six times to its final dimensions of 450 metres on each side at the base and 66 metres tall. This base is four times the size of that of Pharaoh Khufu’s Great Pyramid of Gizaand is the largest pyramid base in the Americas.

The earliest construction phase features talud-tablero architecture that is characteristic of the region, and that became strongly associated with the great metropolis of Teotihuacan. Some of the pyramid constructions have had burials, with skeletons found in various positions, with many offerings, especially ceramics.

The last state of construction has stairs on the west side leading to a temple on top, which faced Iztaccíhuatl. During the colonial period, the pyramid was severely damaged on its north side in order to build the Camino Real to Puebla. The west was damaged later with the installation of a rail line.

Mammoth graveyard unearthed at Mexico’s new airport

Archaeologists in hard hats and face masks carefully remove earth from around enormous bones at the site of Mexico City’s new airport, where construction work has uncovered a huge trove of mammoth skeletons.

The remains of dozens of the extinct giants and other prehistoric creatures have been found in Zumpango on the northern edge of the capital, which sits on an ancient lake bed.

“More than 100 individual mammoths, individual camels, horses, bison, fish, birds, antelopes and rodents have already been recovered,” said army captain Jesus Cantoral, who heads the excavation team.

In total remains have been found at 194 spots across the site since the first discoveries were made in October last year during work on a fuel terminal, he told AFP.

Most of the animals are believed to have roamed the Earth between 10,000 and 25,000 years ago. Experts worked painstakingly to extract the bones of one of the mammoth skeletons, taking care not to disturb a mound of the earth supporting another specimen.

At the same time thousands of construction workers continued to labour away across the site as dozens of excavators and trucks shifted earth and transported building materials.

The authorities say they have kept a careful watch to ensure the precious remains are preserved during work on the airport, which President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has promised will be inaugurated in March 2022.

Stuck in mud

Experts believe the mammoths were drawn to the area by food and water provided by a lake that existed in prehistoric times.

“The place had a lot of natural resources, enough for these individuals to survive for a long time and for many generations,” said archaeologist Araceli Yanez.

In winter the lake area became muddy, trapping the giant mammals who starved, she said.

“It attracted a large number of mammoths, and they got stuck, as is the case with this individual, and died here,” Yanez added.

The lake was also very good for preserving the remains.

Mexico has been the scene of surprising mammoth discoveries before. In the 1970s, workers building the Mexico City subway found a mammoth skeleton while digging on the capital’s north side.

In 2012, workers digging to build a wastewater treatment plant outside the capital discovered hundreds of bones belonging to mammoths and other Ice Age animals.

And last year archaeologists found the skeletons of 14 mammoths in Tultepec, near the site of the new airport.

Some bore signs that the animals had been hunted, leading experts to conclude at the time that they had found “the world’s first mammoth trap.”

The government began construction of the new aviation hub in 2019 at the Santa Lucia military airbase, months after cancelling work on another partially completed airport.

Lopez Obrador, who ran on a pro-austerity, anti-graft platform, had criticized that project championed by his predecessor Enrique Pena Nieto as an unnecessary mega-project marred by corruption.

His administration has tasked the military with overseeing the construction of the new airport, which will house a museum showcasing the mammoth skeletons and other ancient remains.

Aztec altar with human ashes uncovered in Mexico City

Sometime after Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan in modern-day Mexico City in 1521, an indigenous household that survived the bloody Spanish invasion arranged an altar including incense and a pot with human ashes.

The remains of that elaborate display have been unearthed by archaeologists near what is today Garibaldi Plaza, famed for its revelry and mariachi music, Mexico’s culture ministry said on Tuesday.

In the wake of the fall of Tenochtitlan, likely within the years of 1521 and 1610, the offering from the family of the Mexica people was made “to bear witness to the ending of a cycle of their lives and of their civilization,” the culture ministry said in a statement.

The interior patio where rituals took place is about four meters (13 feet) below ground level, according to a team of archaeologists who spent three months analyzing the site.

They found various layers of what had been home over the centuries, the statement said, along with 13 incense burners, five bowls, a cup, a plate and a pot with cremated skeletal remains.

The finding coincides with the 500-year anniversary of the Spanish conquest, which Mexico’s government commemorated by building a towering replica of the Templo Mayor, the Aztec civilization’s most sacred site, in downtown Mexico City.

A number of ancient discoveries in the Mexico City area in recent years, including some in the capital’s bustling downtown, have shone light on the Aztec civilization. They include the remains of a ceremonial ball court, a sacrificial wolf adorned with gold and a tower of human skulls.

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador had previously sought an apology from Spain and the Vatican for human rights abuses committed during the conquest of what is modern-day Mexico.