Historic Well Discovered Under Mysterious Sinkhole In Boston’s Ronan Park
Over the weekend, a mysterious sinkhole was found in Ronan Park by a local, and Archeologist Joe Bagley of the City of Boston announced on Thursday that the sinkhole actually leads to a historical well from the 1800s.
According to Bagley, this was discovered by lowering an iPhone with LED lights into the hole with a rope.
“The way the well is positioned in the ground, it is currently under about 10 feet of fill that is brought to the site to create Ronan Park in 1912,” said Bagley.
A mysterious sinkhole in Ronan Park.
“The top of the well is located 10 feet below that and the well is about 6.5 feet deep. That makes the total opening in the park about 16.5 half feet deep. The well is about 2.5 feet wide.”
Bagley also said the reason sinkhole formed was due to the recent rain that loosened up the soil in the ground.
He went on to explain the interesting history behind the well and how it became a part of the land.
According to Bagley, a pastor for the nearby First Church in Dorchester purchased the property in the 1790s and built a mansion on the northern end of the park.
The land where the well ended up being located remained underdeveloped until it was purchased in 1818 by John F. Pierce, a cabinet and piano maker. He built a 10-acre property and lived nearby.
His estate was broken up on September 22, 1871, and a widow by the name of Mary L. Pierce, who Bagley said was possibly related to John F. Pierce, ended up getting the property.
Bagley says the well was either built-in 1818 by John F. Pierce and his estate or by Mary L. Pierce between 1871 or 1872.
“It’s either or at this point,” said Bagley. “The well would have likely been abandoned in the 1870s to 1890s when this area received running water for the first time from Boston Water and Sewer.
At that point, Mary passed away and the property transferred to another person by the name of Hannah Bliss, who then sold the property to the city of Boston to turn it into Ronan Park.”
The resident who found the sinkhole over the weekend called 311, so Boston Fire and Police responded.
Ryan Woods, the Commissioner of Boston’s Parks and Recreation, says the sinkhole is being examined to make sure all the drainage is intact before it is filled again.
“It should be filled back within the next two weeks. So by the end of this month, it should be back to normal, completely reseeded and completely filled,” said Woods.
As of Thursday, the hole had been blocked off with barricades, police tape and a fence.
Amazing mosaic of the ancient Greek god Poseidon found in Turkey
Archaeological excavations in the southern Turkish province of Adana’s Yumurtalık district have unearthed a rare mosaic depicting the ancient Greek god of the sea, Poseidon. It is believed to date back to the 3rd or 4th century B.C.
The Poseidon mosaic was found in the frigidarium (large cold pool of a Roman bath) part of the ancient bath at the ancient city of Aegae, which is a 1st-degree archaeological field.
The bottom part of the mosaic contains partly ruined writing in Greek: “Greetings to all of you bathing.”
Adana Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Sabri Tari said the coastal Yumurtalık district was called Aegae in the ancient era.
Tari said the city served as a naval base in the era of the Roman Empire and it was also a famous place for Asclepius, the god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology.
“One of three big Asclepius temples of the ancient world is in this city,” he added.
Archaeological excavations near the Turkish province of Adana have unearthed a rare mosaic depicting the ancient Greek god of the sea, Poseidon
Tari said the region is rich in historical tissue, and they had previously found a mosaic depicting the god of love, Eros.
“We found a new mosaic during recent excavations. The Poseidon mosaic, which is a rare one in terms of its beauty, was unearthed in the grounds of the frigidarium,” he said.
Mosaic nearly 11 square meters
Adana Museum Deputy Director Nedim Dervişoğlu said they continued to place a big importance on excavations in order to further boost the province’s tourism potential, with such works carried out in a number of different parts of the city.
“During excavations, we found a mosaic on a field over a space of 11.39 square meters. It is separated into two main panels.
The depiction in the southeastern part of the mosaic has been completely destroyed while the depiction in the north shows Poseidon carrying a trident.
There are dolphins in the right and left of Poseidon. When the excavations are completed around the mosaic, the depiction will be meaningful. We believe it dates back to the 3rd or 4th century B.C.,” Dervişoğlu said.
17th-Century Warship Pulled From Icy Baltic Sea Is Almost Perfectly Preserved
In the 1620s, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden ordered the construction of a new warship to protect his citizens. The warship was named Vasa and its construction was hurried as the Swedes waged war in those years with the now-historic bi-confederation entity reigned by one monarch–the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Vasa’s port bow.
After its creation, with several superlatives, the Vasa warship was described as being the largest and most capable battleship at the disposal of the Swedish navy.
The ship came to symbolize Sweden’s Great Power Period, in which the Nordic country controlled most of the Baltic Sea and forged its status as one of Europe’s most powerful kingdoms.
Warship in Vasa museum in Stockholm
The ship’s appearance was stunning, measuring 226 feet in length, 164 feet in height, and weighed more than 1,200 tons. With some 64 cannons installed on it, it promised whoever tried to mess with Vasa would face serious consequences. As it turned out, it never came to that.
The ship, against everyone’s expectations, proved to be fallible and faced an end that might easily remind people of the story of the RMS Titanic. Vasa did not hit an iceberg but still ignominiously sunk on its very first journey.
It was an embarrassing incident, overseen by crowds of Swedes who had gathered at the port of Stockholm from where the ship set sails towards the open seas for the very first and last time on August 10, 1628.
There were also prominent guests in the onlooking crowd, including royals and ambassadors from other countries. Having not sailed even one nautical mile, the mighty warship suddenly plunged into the water. Accounts point to errors happening during construction. The vessel was the work of a Dutch shipbuilder. The contract was signed early in the year 1625 and Vasa was one of four vessels agreed on the list with shipbuilder Henrik Hybertsson.
The original arrangement was to have two smaller and two bigger vessels. Hybertsson died shortly after undertaking the project, and the construction effort was taken over by his assistant, Hein Jakobsson.
Illustration from a treatise on salvaging from 1734, showing the traditional method of raising a wreck with the help of anchors and ships or hulks as pontoons, basically the same method that was used to raise Vasa in the 20th century.
Construction plans were obviously modified, as Vasa, which was supposed to be one of the two smaller ships, appeared to be fitting the pair of two bigger ships upon completion. The ship came out much heavier than planned. It also carried extra weights such as hundreds of sculptures and at least 100 tons of ballast.
More evidence shows that the Swedes had the warship tested and noticed something was wrong with it, but under the pushy demands of the king, Vasa was prematurely sailed into the open sea and towards its premature doom.
The preserved Vasa in the main hall of Vasa Museum seen from above the bow.
A strong gust of wind was enough to overturn the vessel. When the water began to enter, all it took was a few minutes for it to sink 105 feet below the surface.
The Swedes were quick to dismiss and forget Vasa. This was to be their new favourite war toy and national pride and joy, yet it now lay sunk on the bottom of the ocean on its maiden voyage. It was a scandal that hurt the reputation of the kingdom, as well as having huge economic repercussions. Vasa had costed a fortune.
While an investigation was ushered in immediately after the ship sank, little could be done. The main shipbuilder had already been dead for over a year.
Illustration of a Swedish Emperors: Gustav Vasa, Gustav Adolf, Dronning Christine, A. Oxenstierna, Charles Gustav, Charles IX, Torstenson
There were efforts to recover Vasa from the seafloor immediately, but the task seemed impossible with the limited technology of the time. By the 1660s, a group of divers was able to retrieve the cannons, using an early model of the diving bell. The shipwreck was eventually left abandoned and forgotten…until the mid-20th-century.
In 1961, a few years after the shipwreck was rediscovered and identified as the lost 17th-century Vasa vessel, Sweden finally managed to recover it. Although Vasa had for centuries remained submerged in the sea, upon its reappearance it seemed positively in pristine condition.
The underwater position where it had sunk was key. The water was dark enough to stop ultraviolet light from protruding and affecting the ship’s wood. The chilly temperature of the Baltic was also soothing, preventing any rapid deterioration processes.
The inside of the lower gun deck looking toward the bow.
Having sunk close enough to the harbour, there was enough pollution in the water to bleach most parasites that may have wanted to feast on the wood of the wreck.
But some decaying issues began once the ship was taken out of the water. Vasa underwent restoration at that point and was treated with substances to protect the wood, however, lab research later confirmed that the wood of the ship was struggling with extremely slow, ongoing fibre degradation.
Vasa warship canon hatches detail
There is no threat of immediate collapse, but this has remained a major occupation for conservationists who are still looking for the best way to stop the risky process.
Should the Vasa museum where the shipwreck is famously displayed in Stockholm allow its prime exhibit to perish for the second time, it would be a huge national loss. The Vasa goes a long way and has a special history with the Swedes as well as being one of the best-preserved historical ships in all of the world.
Thracian King Sevt III discovered: 2,400-yr-old Solid gold mask weighing 640 gr found near the village of Shipka
A 2,400-year-old golden mask that once belonged to a Thracian king was unearthed in a timber-lined tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, archaeologists reported.
The mask, discovered over the weekend, was found in the tomb along with a solid gold ring engraved with a Greek inscription and the portrait of a bearded man.
“These finds confirm the assumption that they are part of the lavish burial of a Thracian king,” said Margarita Tacheva, a professor who was on the dig near the village of Topolchane, 180 miles (290 kilometers) east of the capital, Sofia.
Georgi Kitov discovers the head thought to represent King Sevt III (Seuthes III) at the entrance of the mausoleum near the village of Shipka, October, 2004.
Georgi Kitov, the team leader, said that they also found a silver rhyton, silver and bronze vessels, pottery, and funerary gifts.
“The artifacts belonged to a Thracian ruler from the end of the 4th century B.C. who was buried here,” Kitov added. According to Kitov, the Thracian civilization was at least equal in terms of development to the ancient Greeks.
The Thracians lived in what is now Bulgaria and parts of modern Greece, Romania, Macedonia, and Turkey between 4,000 B.C. and the 8th century A.D. when they were assimilated by the invading Slavs.
In 2004, another 2,400-year-old golden mask was unearthed from a Thracian tomb in the same area.
Mausoleum of Thracian King Sevt III discovered: Solid gold mask weighing 640 gr found near the village of Shipka It is thought to belong to 5th century BC king Teres – Dr – Georgi Kitov and his team found this mask in Bulgaria in October, 2004. Today it’s kept in the Archaeological Museum in Sofia.
Dozens of Thracian mounds are spread throughout central Bulgaria, which archaeologists have dubbed “the Bulgarian valley of kings” in reference to the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt, home to the tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs.
Seuthes III (Sevt III)
Seuthes III was the ruler of the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace from c. 331 BC to c. 300 BC, After the campaigns of Philip II in 347–342 a significant part of Thrace was dependent on Macedon.
After Philip’s death in 336 BC, many of the Thracian tribes revolted against Philip’s son Alexander the Great, who waged a campaign against and defeated the Getae and King Syrmus of the Triballi. All other Thracians sent troops to join Alexander’s army.
Seuthes revolted against Macedon in about 325 BC, after Alexander’s governor Zopyrion was killed in battle against the Getae.
After Alexander died in 323 BC he again took up arms in opposition to the new governor Lysimachus. They fought each other to a draw and each withdrew from the battle.
Ultimately Seuthes was compelled to acknowledge the authority of Lysimachus, by then one of Alexander’s successor kings.
In 320 BC, Seuthes III moved the Odrysian kingdom to central Thrace and built his capital city at Seuthopolis (Kazanlak, present-day Bulgaria).
In 313 BC he supported Antigonus I in the latter’s war against Lysimachus, occupying the passes of Mount Haemus against his overlord but was again defeated and forced to submit
Meet “Stuckie” — The Mummified Dog Who Has Been Stuck In A Tree For Over 50 Years
Loggers expect to come across some things when they cut down trees. Bird’s nests and things stuck in the branches seem like a given – a mummified dog in the center of a tree, however, does not.
But that’s exactly what a team of loggers with the Georgia Kraft Corp. found while cutting down a tree in the 1980s.
The loggers were working on a grove of chestnut oaks in southern Georgia when they found a most unusual sight.
Stuckie, as the dog is affectionately known now, still stuck in his tree more than 50 years later.
After cutting off the top of the tree, and loading it onto a truck for transport, a member of the team happened to peer down the hollow trunk.
Inside, he found the perfectly mummified remains of a dog, looking back at him, its teeth still bared in a fight for survival.
Experts who studied the carcass concluded that the pup was most likely a hunting dog from the 1960s, who had chased something such as a squirrel through a hole in the roots, and up the center of the hollow tree.
The higher the dog got, however, the narrower the tree became. From the position of the dog’s paws, experts believe that it continued to climb until it effectively wedged itself in. Unable to turn around, the dog died.
Due to a perfect set of circumstances, however, though it was dead, it was not forgotten.
Normally, a dog that had died in the wild would succumb to decay and be eaten by other foragers.
However, as the dog had died inside a tree, it was unlikely that other animals could reach it – and, due to the height of the body, it was unlikely that other animals could smell it either.
Additionally, the kind of tree that the dog had lodged itself in was uniquely qualified to lend itself to the natural mummification process.
Chestnut oaks contain tannins, which are used in taxidermy and tanning to treat animal pelts so that they don’t decay. The tannins from the inside of the tree seeped out into the dog and prevented it from rotting inside.
The dry environment inside the trunk also provided shelter from the elements and sucked the moisture from the carcass. The air that was sucked into the tree through the base created a sort of vacuum effect, further contributing to the drying process.
After finding the mummified pup, the loggers decided to take it to a museum, to show off the rare sight to the world.
The dog, now affectionately called “Stuckie,” resides at the Southern Forest World museum, still encased in his woody tomb, and on display for the world to see.
How pharaoh Khufu boat was found ‘perfectly preserved’ near the Great Pyramid
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a boat, which believed to have been used by Pharaoh Khufu himself “perfectly preserved,” which helped confirm theories over how the ancient society constructed their wonders.
Of the three pyramids that still stand today, the Great Pyramid of Giza, or the Pyramid of Khufu, remains a spectacle to people all over the world, who marvel at how a society over 4,500 years ago managed to build such a colossal structure.
However, thanks to a find made more than half a century ago, archaeologists were able to slowly piece together what this ancient civilisation may have looked like and the ingenious way they worked together.
The 2014 series explained: “On this plateau, set on the edge of the desert, the story of the pyramids achieved its finest hour. “It is here that we best appreciate the grandeur and majesty of these constructions, and the organisational skills and methods used to erect them.
The workers pulled together
“The workers here were organised into teams that hauled blocks of stones on huge sledges mounted on logs of wood.
“Each team was made up of about 1,000 men organised along military lines and led by a master mason and various underlings.
“They were not slaves, they earned a regular wage, bed, and board and it is thanks to their work that these immense structures were ever completed.” The series continued, explaining the clever tactics used by the ancient society to haul together in the building process.
It added: “Even today, such imposing buildings would involve complex engineering problems.
“The Great Pyramid of Cheops, which was the first one to be built in Giza around 2500BC, has a base that covers over 12 acres (48,500 square metres).
“More than 2,300,000 blocks of stone were needed to build the base and weighed between two and 200 tonnes each.
“It may sound incredible, but this was once a lush green land, with neither desert nor buildings.
“Irrigation canals linked the areas to the Nile, and some of the stones used in buildings were transported on these canals.” The documentary went on to reveal how evidence of this was discovered more than 50 years ago.
It added: “A boat made with cedarwood built almost 5,000 years ago was discovered here in 1954 near the Pyramid of Cheops, still in a perfect state of preservation.
Khufu’s boat was found in this hole
“Archaeologists found it belonged to the pharaoh Cheops himself, 140 feet long, equipped with 12 oars and was probably used by Cheops when he travelled along the Nile.
“On those occasions, his subjects could get a glimpse of their Pharaoh and pay homage to him.”
At completion, the Great Pyramid was surfaced with white “casing stones” — slant-faced, but flat-topped, blocks of highly polished white limestone. However, in 1303, a massive earthquake loosened many of the outer casing stones, which were taken away 50 years later to be used in the building of mosques and fortresses in Cairo.
Many other theories have been proposed regarding the pyramid’s construction techniques, disagreeing on whether the blocks were dragged, lifted, or even rolled into place. The Greeks believed that slave labour was used, but modern discoveries made at nearby workers’ camps associated with construction at Giza suggest it was built instead of thousands of skilled workers.
Czech archaeologist, Miroslav Verner, claimed that the labour was organised into a hierarchy, consisting of two gangs of 100,000 men, divided into five zaa or phyle of 20,000 men each, which may have been further divided according to the skills of the workers.
Incredible Footage as Giant Spinning ice disk is formed on a River in China
Residents in a northern Chinese city have flocked to see a giant ice disc rotating on a river, a rare natural phenomenon that occurs in cold climates.
Incredible footage shows the ice circle, measuring about 33 feet (10 metres) wide, spinning on the surface of the Taoer River in Inner Mongolia’s Ulanhot, a city with an average winter temperature of minus six degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit).
The captivating rarity, usually formed on the outer bends in a river, is created by accelerating water that breaks off a chunk of ice and smooths it into a circle.
Residents in the city of Ulanhot, northern China’s Inner Mongolia have flocked to see a giant ice disc rotating on a river, a rare natural phenomenon that occurs in cold climates
Footage filmed Wednesday by local newspaper Xing’an Daily shows the naturally-formed ice disc, with a reported diameter of 10 metres (33 feet), appearing to spin on its own in an anticlockwise direction.
The unusual sight has drawn local residents to the banks of the Taoer River running through the city of Ulanhot, where the temperatures in winter range between minus eight degrees Celsius (17.6 degrees Fahrenheit) to two degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit).
‘It’s amazing,’ a resident told Chinese video news outlet Pear. ‘It’s the magnificent work crafted by nature, really captivating.’
Reporters can be seen in a picture standing at the centre of the ice disc as they hosted a live-streaming to promote local products.
Ice discs come into being due to the fact that warm water is less dense than cold water, therefore when the ice melts and sinks, the motion creates a vortex underneath the chunk, causing it to turn, according to National Geographic, citing a 2016 study.
Ice discs (pictured in Ulanhot, northern China on December 4) come into being due to the fact that warm water is less dense than cold water, therefore when ice melts and sinks, the motion creates a vortex underneath the chunk, causing it to turn, according to National Geographic
The unusual sight has drawn local residents to the banks of the Taoer River running through the city of Ulanhot in Inner Mongolia region. Reporters can be seen in a picture standing at the centre of the ice disc as they hosted a live-streaming to promote local products
The unusual sight has drawn local residents to the banks of the Taoer River (pictured) running through the city of Ulanhot, where the temperatures in winter range between minus eight degrees Celsius (17.6 degrees Fahrenheit) to two degrees Celsius (35.6 degrees Fahrenheit)
The ‘whirlpool effect’ slowly erodes the plate of ice until its edges are smooth and its overall shape is perfectly round.
Ice discs even rotate in water that is not moving, because the ice lowers the temperature of the surrounding water, making it denser and causing it to sink, creating a circular motion.
One of the most famous ice discs in recent times was sighted early last year in Presumpscot River in downtown Westbrook, Maine.
The spectacle was said to be about 300 feet in diameter and likely the largest spinning ice disc on record.
Last month, the natural rarity was spotted in Inner Mongolia’s Genhe, a city dubbed ‘China’s pole of cold’.
The ice disc was seen on the Genhe River, which has an average temperature of minus 5.3 degrees Celsius, and is frozen over more than 200 days per year.
Ancient Greek helmet found buried next to ‘elite warrior’ who died 2,400 years ago
In a rock-cut tomb where a warrior was laid to rest more than 2,000 years ago, an ancient Greek war helmet has been uncovered. The Illyrian helmet still boasts its classic open-faced design, which was first developed in the Peloponnese region of Greece during the 8th and 7th centuries BC.
The tomb was built on the side of a mountain in Zakotarac, on the Pelješac peninsula, in southern Dalmatia, Croatia.
Archaeologists have also uncovered a trove of ancient weapons and unearthed another set of remains of a woman buried with a bronze bracelet around her wrist.
An ancient Greek war helmet has been unearthed in a rock-cut tomb where a warrior was laid to rest more than 2,000 year ago
The discovery was made by archaeologists at Zagreb University, in collaboration with Dubrovnik Museums, which believes the grave was used for an elite member of the Greek military.
The Illyrian helmet was first used by ancient Greek Etruscans and Scythians and was later adopted by Illyrians – earning its well-known name.
The type of helmet also became popular in Italy, where it was constructed from ivory. The helmet became obsolete in most parts of Greece in the early 5th century BC – and its use in Illyria ended by the 4th century BC.
Along with finding the helmet used during the Greco-Persian Wars, the team uncovered a number of ‘grave goods’, which were personal items buried with the dead.
Some fifteen bronze and silver fibulae, ten needles or pins, several spiral bronze ornaments and pincers as well as several hundred glass paste and amber beads, once parts of a necklace were all in the tomb.
Dr. Domagoj Perkić, a curator with Dubrovnik Museums, said: ‘To date, more than thirty different vessels have been defined, mainly of Greek provenance, probably from the main Attic and Italic workshops.’
Some fifteen bronze and silver fibulae, ten needles or pins, several spiral bronze ornaments, and pincers as well as several hundred glass paste and amber beads, once parts of a necklace and pots were all in the tomb
‘It has to be emphasized that these were the most expensive kinds of pots of the time, which the local population put alongside the deceased as grave goods for their life beyond the grave.’
‘Whether these vessels were bought or plundered during acts of piracy cannot be known, but those who gave them were very certainly aware of their value.’
The warrior, according to researches, was buried wearing the helmet, as it sits where his skull once was – it has deteriorated over the last thousands of years.
The team found the tomb while restoring damaged burial mounds in the area, which they believe was once seen as a sacred place.
The warrior’s mound is more than nine feet deep and six feet wide, and his body was laid to rest in the west-east direction.
