Category Archives: WORLD

EUROPE, FRANCE, WORLD

Why There Are Six Million Skeletons Stuffed Into The Tunnels Beneath Paris

Why There Are Six Million Skeletons Stuffed Into The Tunnels Beneath Paris

One of his mysterious entrances into the French capital Paris should you be closely looking for. But if you trip over it, it shows a dark and dank and narrow tunnel underground world with a fascinating history.

The bones of 6 million people known as the French Empire of the Dead a reality brought to life in the recent CNN movie-lie underneath the City of Light where 12 million people are living there.

The Paris catacombs are a 200-mile network of old caves, tunnels, and quarries – and much of it is filled with the skulls and bones of the dead.

Much of the catacombs are out of bounds to the public, making it illegal to explore unsupervised. But nevertheless, it is a powerful draw for a hardcore group of explorers with a thirst for adventure.

A tourist-friendly, the legal entrance can be found off Place Denfert-Rochereau in the 14th arrondissement of Paris, near the Montparnasse district.

Here, visitors from all over the world can descend into the city’s dark and dank bowels for a whistle-stop tour of a small section of the catacombs.

One visitor told CNN: ‘I think people are fascinated with death. They don’t know what it’s about and you see all these bones stacked up, and the people that have come before us, and it’s fascinating. We’re trying to find our past and it’s crazy and gruesome and fun all at the same time.’

Why There Are Six Million Skeletons Stuffed Into The Tunnels Beneath Paris
The macabre mosaics lining the walls of the underground network are the remains of 6million former Parisians

The well-worn trail might be enough to satisfy the tourists, but other Parisians like to go further – and deeper – to explore the network. The name given to the group of explorers who go into the cave network illegally and unsupervised is Cataphiles.

The top-secret groups go deep underground, using hidden entrances all over the city. And they sometimes stay for days at a time, equipped with headlamps and home-made maps.

Street names are etched into the walls to help explorers navigate their way around the underground version of the city and some groups have even been known to throw parties in the tunnels or drink wine.

For catacomb devotees, the silence experienced deep in tunnels cannot be replicated anywhere else.

Urban explorer Loic Antoine-Gambeaud told CNN: ‘I think it’s in the collective imagination. Everybody knows that there is something below Paris; that something goes on that’s mysterious. But I don’t think many people have even an idea of what the underground is like.’

Empire of the dead: While much of the 200-mile network is out of bounds, a small section is open to tourists

Those caught exploring unauthorized sections of the network could end up out of pocket. Police tasked with patrolling the tunnels have the power to hand out fines of 60 euros to anyone caught illegally roaming the network.

A by-product of the early development of Paris, the catacombs were subterranean quarries which were established as limestone was extracted deep underground to build the city above.

However, a number of streets collapsed as the quarries weakened parts of the city’s foundations. Repairs and reinforcements were made and the network went through several transformations throughout history.

However, it wasn’t until the 18th century that the catacombs became known as the Empire of the Dead when they became the solution to overcrowding in the city’s cemeteries.

The number of dead bodies buried in Paris’s cemeteries and beneath its churches was so great that they began breaking through the walls of people’s cellars and causing serious health concerns.

So the human remains were transferred to the underground quarries in the early 1780s. There are now more than 6million people underground.

Space was the perfect solution to ease overcrowding in cemeteries but it presented disadvantages elsewhere. It is the reason there are few tall buildings in Paris; large foundations cannot be built because the catacombs are directly under the city’s streets.

The tunnels also played their part in the Second World War. Parisian members of the French Resistance used the winding tunnels and German soldiers also set up an underground bunker in the catacombs, just below the 6th arrondissement.

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

17th-Century Tunnel Decorated with Pre-Hispanic Carvings Discovered in Mexico

17th-Century Tunnel Decorated with Pre-Hispanic Carvings Discovered in Mexico

Historians in Mexico have found an intriguing, 11 drawings decorated tunnel from the 17th century.

The pictures were created before the Spanish conquistadors arrived, but were incorporated into the walls of the tunnel when it was built centuries later.

This suggests that the Aztecs, known for their magnificent temples, the method of a hieroglyphic writing system, and gruesome penchant for sacrificing children.

In the 15th century, the Aztec emperor Moctezuma I ordered the construction, in an attempt to control severe flooding from surrounding rivers, of a reservoir project in what is now Mexico City.

However, when infamous conquistador Hernán Cortés and his posse arrived, the system was destroyed, before being rebuilt in the 17th century. The dike system is now known as the Albarradon de Ecatepec.  

The stone used in the initial construction was likely repurposed when the dikes were rebuilt, explaining the Aztec symbols etched into the sides of the tunnel.

It is believed they were drawn by locals from the nearby towns of Chiconautla and Ecatepec prior to the Spanish invasion.

The images include both petroglyphs (rock carvings) and stucco relief panels and depict various things, including a war shield or chimalli, the head of a bird of prey, and a flint point.

Some icons are still being carefully examined to assess what they might portray, notes INAH, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.

The head of a bird of prey drawn on the rock.

The main arch of the tunnel also includes an etching of a temple dedicated to Tlaloc, the Aztec god of rain, earthly fertility, and water. He was viewed by the Aztecs as a provider of life and sustenance.

Hidden within the 8-meter (27-foot) tunnel also lay various artifacts made from glass, porcelain, and a type of pottery called majolica, along with a statue of a seated person that appears to be missing its head and the lone feet of a larger statue.  

The discovery is part of a long-term government project to excavate the Albarradón de Ecatepec, which has been running since 2004.

The newly discovered tunnel is located 500 meters (1,640 feet) from the start of the Albarradón in an area called Patio de Diligencias.

The INAH now plans to replace the glyphs with replicas and house the originals in the Casa de Morelos Community Center.

The depiction of a temple dedicated to the Aztec god of rain.
ASIA, RUSSIA, WORLD

Américas – Skeleton mystery solved: One-legged remains of Napoleon’s favorite general identified

Américas – Skeleton mystery solved: One-legged remains of Napoleon’s favorite general identified

DNA tests on a one-legged skeleton found under a dance floor in Russia have officially confirmed the identification of one of Napoleon’s favorite generals

In Smolensk, Russia, a team of French and Russic archeologists discovered the remains of General Charles-Étienne Gudin, one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s most admired military commanders.

The one-legged military man was killed by a cannonball when he was 44 on Aug. 22, 1812, according to LiveScience — and his remains were left buried until now.

Found on July 6 beneath the foundations of a dancefloor, the skeleton was indeed missing a left leg and also showed evidence of injury on the right leg — two essential details that suggest that these remains, in fact, belong to Gudin.

The body of Charles-Étienne Gudin was found on July 6 under the foundation of a dance floor in Smolensk, Russia. Gudin had been buried for more than 200 years.

Records from 1812 note that the man had his leg amputated below the knee after sustaining grievous harm during the Russian invasion. Upon his death, Napoleon ordered Gudin’s name to be inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe while his bust was put in the Palace of Versailles, and a Parisian street was named after him.

Meanwhile, his heart was removed and placed in a chapel in Paris’ Père Lachaise Cemetery as a token of honor.

A depiction of Charles-Étienne Gudin.

“It’s a historic moment not only for me but for our two countries,” said French historian and archaeologists Pierre Malinovsky, who helped find Gudin’s remains.

“Napoleon was one of the last people to see him alive, which is very important, and he’s the first general from the Napoleonic period that we have found.”

Bonaparte and Gudin were childhood friends and attended the Military School in Brienne together. Gudin’s death had a profound impact on his old friend. Napoleon reportedly cried when he heard the news and immediately ordered that the man receive high honors.

In July, the research team eagerly planned on testing the skeleton for DNA to officially lay all doubt about its identification to rest, Reuters reported.

“It’s possible that we’ll have to identify the remains with the aid of a DNA test which could take from several months to a year,” the Russian military-historical society explained. “The general’s descendants are following the news.”

A close-up of the one-legged skeleton now confirmed to belong to General Charles-Étienne Gudin.

According to CNN, Malinovsky has since eradicated any uncertainty. In November 2019, he revealed that he transported part of the skeleton’s femur and several teeth from Moscow to Marseille shortly after the excavation to conduct a detailed analysis.

The overnight trip concluded with a genetic comparison between the remains and that of the deceased general’s mother, brother, and son.

The resourceful scientist had simply packed the bone and teeth in his luggage to do so. The results were satisfactory, to say the least.

“A professor in Marseille carried out extensive testing and the DNA matches 100 percent,” he said. “It was worth the trouble.”

Malinovski said Gudin will likely be buried at Les Invalides. The historic compound of military monuments and museums will see the one-legged general in good company — as it also holds the body of Napoleon, himself.

ASIA, IRAN, WORLD

Ancient 70-Mile-Long Wall Found in Western Iran. But Who Built It?

Ancient 70-Mile-Long Wall Found in Western Iran. But Who Built It?

Everyone knows of the Great Wall of China, the series of fortifications constructed across the northern border of China, designed to protect against numerous nomadic forces, which is supposed to appear from the space (fun fact, it’s not). But have you ever heard of the wall of western Iran?

Not likely because it has recently been found by historical experts and archeologists.

Ancient Wall

The wall is located in the district of Sar Pol-e Zahab, in the west of Iran, and stretches for about 71 miles (or 115 kilometers) as far as the legendary Adrian Wall, constructed in England by the Romans.

This satellite image was taken on July 31, 2019, by the WorldView-2 satellite. The red arrows show a surviving section of the Gawri Wall.

The walls stretch from the Bamu Mountains north to an area close to the village of Zhaw Marg, south, as per the release says.

“With an estimated volume of approximately one million cubic meters [35,314,667 cubic feet] of stone, it would have required significant resources in terms of workforce, materials and time,”

Sajjad Alibaigi, a doctoral student in the department of archaeology at the University of Tehran, wrote.

According to the paper, the wall would have been built somewhere between the 4th century B.C. and 6th century A.D., as evidenced by some ancient pottery that has been found along the wall.

“Remnants of structures, now destroyed, are visible in places along the wall.

These may have been associated turrets [small towers] or buildings,” Alibaigi added, noting the wall itself is built from natural local materials, such as cobbles and boulders, with gypsum mortar surviving in places.

However, while the wall itself has just been recently identified, locals living around the area are aware of its presence, calling it the “Gawri Wall.”

Unfortunately, because it hasn’t been preserved properly, archaeologists aren’t sure how tall or wide it actually is, with the best guess sitting at 13 feet wide and around 10 feet tall. Why it was built, or who built it, is unknown as well.

However, since the Gawri wall isn’t the only ancient wall discovered in Iran, then it’s theorized that it may have been made for defensive purposes since similar structures have been located in the north and eastern parts of the country.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Archaeologists Discover Remains Of Three Different Cats Inside Ancient Egyptian Mummy

Archaeologists Discover Remains Of Three Different Cats Inside Ancient Egyptian Mummy

An elderly cat mom’s scan showed that the 2500-year-old feline, ostensibly inside the covers, wasn’t a single animal. Instead, according to recent results, the mummy contained partial remains of three cats.

Cat mummies in ancient Egypt are not common, although thousands of cat mummies have been identified in burials by the archeologists. In ancient Egypt pets with their families are usually buried.

According to an earlier BBC Report, the desire to preserve animals as a gift to the Gods led to the establishment of an entire industry and the mummification of over 70 million animals.

The 2,500-year-old Egyptian cat mummy, who belongs to a collection at the Fine Arts Museum in Rennes, France was recently examined by a group of researchers.

The scientists performed a computerized tomography (CT) scan, a type of X-ray, to illuminate what was inside the mummy without unwrapping it, and then they created 3D digital and transparent 3D-printed reconstructions of the mummy.

The scans revealed that this ancient mummy was filled with some surprises. Instead of the cat’s head, the mummy held a ball of fabric.

It was also missing a skull, vertebrae, and ribs, and instead held five hind leg bones from three different cats, according to a statement from the National Institute of Preventive Archeological Research (Inrap) in France.

The bones were decomposed and riddled with holes created by corpse-eating insects, said Théophane Nicolas, a researcher at Inrap who was part of the project.

Researchers used a CT scan to examine the insides of the cat mummy without damaging it.

“Cat mummies have been found in very large quantities sometimes in extremely degraded states and reduced to the state of accumulation of bones,” Nicolas told BBC.

But sometimes what you see on the outside is not what you get on the inside, he said. While some animal mummies are complete, others are empty or have only fragments of animal bones.

What’s more, because the larger mummies preserved as offerings for the gods sold for more money, many of the mummies were made to appear bigger than the animals themselves, and some didn’t contain animal remains at all. Instead, they were filled with organic material such as leather and gravel, according to the previous BBC report. 

It’s unclear why the Rennes cat mummy held the partial remains of three different cats, but some researchers believe that it was part of an “ancient scam organized by unscrupulous priests,” Nicolas said in the statement.

Priests could have “resorted to less elaborate preparations, impossible to detect by sight” for rituals which “gradually lead to mummies whose cat shape represents a visible reality beyond the real content,” he told BBC. 

But Nicolas and his team don’t think that’s necessarily true. “We believe on the contrary that there are innumerable ways to make animal mummies,” he said in the statement.

The group of scientists projected the internal 3D reconstruction onto the 3D-printed model of the mummy.

This glowing object was presented last month in Sweden at the European Heritage Days 2019 event and will be on display for people to view at the Museum of Fine Arts in France.

CT scans allow researchers to examine different layers of mummified animals, like this cat mummy.
EUROPE, GREECE, WORLD

Newly-Discovered Remains Suggest Earliest Humans Came From Europe, Not Africa

Newly-Discovered Remains Suggest Earliest Humans Came From Europe, Not Africa

For 200,000 years on earth has been Homo sapien, give or take a few ten-thousand-year stretches. Much of that time is shrouded in the fog of prehistory.

Everything we know has been assembled into the principles of evolutionary theory by deciphering fossil record. Nonetheless, new discoveries have the ability to refresh their information and bring researchers to new results that have not yet been considered.

This may just have happened a set of 8 million years old teeth. The upper and lower jaw of an ancient European ape was recently examined by scientists.

Their findings suggest that the forebears of mankind may have originated in Europe before migrating to Africa, potentially upending a scientific consensus that has stood since Darwin’s day.

Rethinking humanity’s origin story

The frontispiece of Thomas Huxley’s Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature (1863) sketched by natural history artist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins.

As reported in New Scientist, the 8- to 9-million-year-old hominin jawbones were found at Nikiti, northern Greece, in the ’90s.

This upper mandible was found in Nikiti, northern Greece

Scientists originally pegged the chompers as belonging to a member of Ouranopithecus, a genus of an extinct Eurasian ape.

David Begun, an anthropologist at the University of Toronto, and his team recently reexamined the jawbones.

They argue that the original identification was incorrect. Based on the fossil’s hominin-like canines and premolar roots, they identify that the ape belongs to a previously unknown proto-hominin.

The researchers hypothesize that these proto-hominins were the evolutionary ancestors of another European great ape Graecopithecus, which the same team tentatively identified as an early hominin in 2017.

Graecopithecus lived in south-east Europe 7.2 million years ago. If the premise is correct, these hominins would have migrated to Africa 7 million years ago, after undergoing much of their evolutionary development in Europe.

Begun points out that south-east Europe was once occupied by the ancestors of animals like the giraffe and rhino, too.

“It’s widely agreed that this was the found fauna of most of what we see in Africa today,” he told New Scientists. “If the antelopes and giraffes could get into Africa 7 million years ago, why not the apes?”

He recently outlined this idea at a conference of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists.

It’s worth noting that Begun has made similar hypotheses before. Writing for the Journal of Human Evolution in 2002, Begun and Elmar Heizmann of the Natural history Museum of Stuttgart discussed a great ape fossil found in Germany that they argued could be the ancestor (broadly speaking) of all living great apes and humans.

“Found in Germany 20 years ago, this specimen is about 16.5 million years old, some 1.5 million years older than similar species from East Africa,” Begun said in a statement then.

“It suggests that the great ape and human lineage first appeared in Eurasia and not in Africa.”

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

Divers found a perfectly preserved ancient Chinese underwater city

Divers found a perfectly preserved ancient Chinese underwater city

A maze of white temples, memorial arches, paved roads, and houses… hidden 130 feet underwater: this is China’s real-life Atlantis.

Incredible images show an incredible sunken city hidden in the depths of Qiandao Lake in China. Divers discovered a jaw-dropping labyrinth of adorned temples, memorial arches and dragon carvings, deep in the tranquil waters.

The ancient city, which is hidden 130 feet underwater, was once Shi Cheng – the centre of politics and economics in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

But despite it’s beauty, the city was deliberately flooded by the Chinese government in 1959 to make way for a new hydroelectric power station.

The historical metropolis, built over 1,300 years ago, was slowly filled with water until it was completely submerged by the turquoise-blue mass now referred to as Qiandao Lake.

Qiandao Lake, China. The city was submerged when the valley was flooded to build the Xin’anjiang Reservoir and Xin’an River hydroelectric station in 1959.

The city, which is now dubbed “Lion City” because it is tucked between the Five Lion Mountains, then lay forgotten for 53 years in the man-made lake.

The 1,300-year-old city is in near-perfect condition 

But since being rediscovered in almost perfect condition, it has resurfaced as an underwater adventure park for tourists. Depending on where on the lake bottom it is, the city is between 85 and 131 feet underwater.

Qiu Feng, a local official in charge of tourism, introduced the idea of using Shi Cheng as a destination for diving clubs.

The first voyage was one of discovery, and Qui said: “We were lucky. As soon as we dived into the lake, we found the outside wall of the town and even picked up a brick to prove it.”

It was later discovered that the entire town was intact, including wooden beams and stairs. Now the city has attracted interest from archaeologists and a film crew has been on site to record the preservation of the lost ruins.

Visibility can be quite low due to the unusual conditions

April-October is the recommended months to visit, as there is warmer weather at the lake and hopefully warmer water below the thermocline.

The colder air temperatures in Nov-March can make it uncomfortable for divers to do three dives in a day, particularly those diving in wetsuits. Depending on the time of year, the water temperature can range from 7-16c.

The Dives

Although it is breathtaking, it’s important to remember the differences between the conditions encountered here vs. clear ocean water. All divers are required to do an initial 25ft dive in the lagoon, to ensure they are safe to continue.

Visibility at the surface is about 5ft at best, dropping down to a mere 6 inches in some places at the bottom of the lagoon. But this isn’t the only bizarre sunken city which has been uncovered after years of neglect.

EUROPE, WORLD

Real-Life Excalibur Found Underwater In Bosnia – Medieval Sword In Stone Pulled Out

Real-Life Excalibur Found Underwater In Bosnia – Medieval Sword In Stone Pulled Out

A 700-year-old sword stuck in the solid rock was pulled out. Credit: Igor Radojicic, the mayor of nearby Banja Luja, the second-largest city in Bosnia

The 700-year-old weapon is being compared to King Arthur’s legendary magical sword because of similarities in how it was discovered.

According to ancient legend, King Arthur was the only person able to pull a sword called Excalibur from a stone, making him the rightful heir to Britain in the 5th and early 6th centuries.

We haven’t been able to locate King Arthur’s legendary sword, but this discovery is stunning, nevertheless.

The archaeologists who recently pulled the 14th-century sword from the Vrbas River will not be getting a royal status but their find is being called archaeologically significant.

Archaeologists report they have pulled a Medieval sword embedded in rock at the bottom of the Vrbas River in Bosnia.

Igor Radojicic, the mayor of nearby Banja Luja, the second-largest city in Bosnia

The 700-year-old sword was found 36 feet underwater, stuck in a rock while archaeologists were excavating a nearby castle.

Only one other sword like this is thought to have been found in the Balkans in the past 90 years.

According to Ivana Pandzic, archaeologist and curator at the Museum of the Republika Srpska said: “The sword was stuck in solid rock, so special care was needed when pulling it out.

The blade has been dated back to around the 14 century and is the first sword to be found near the medieval city of Zveča.

The medieval castle nearby was destroyed in 1777 but had likely been home to medieval nobility who ruled over the local village of Zvecaj.

“Janko Vracar, a historian of the Republika Srpska Museum, the main museum in the mainly Serb entity of Bosnia, told the media that the sword was of a type used from the end of the 13th to the first half of the 15th century, based on analysis of the blade,” Balkan Insight reports.

Experts are now trying to work out how the weapon came to be embedded in the rock and why.