NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Live Civil War Shell Discovered at Pennsylvania Battlefield

Live Civil War Shell Discovered at Pennsylvania Battlefield

Live Civil War Shell Discovered at Pennsylvania Battlefield
Historic ordnance discovered by archaeologists at Little Round Top in Gettysburg.

Archaeologists working at a historic battlefield at Gettysburg recently made an explosive find: a live 160-year-old artillery shell that had to be detonated by a specially trained U.S. Army disposal team.

The shell was found on Feb. 8 at Little Round Top, a hill that offered Union forces a strategic position during the Civil War. On July 2, 1863, the second day of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg, the North and the South struggled for 90 minutes to control Little Round Top, leaving thousands of soldiers dead.

The rocky hill was not, however, an ideal platform for an artillery offensive, as Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee suggested in his 1864 report about the Gettysburg campaign. Lee reported that Confederate Gen. Longstreet was delayed by Union forces firing from Little Round Top, but Longstreet decided to go around them rather than attempt to take the hill.

An 18-month-long rehabilitation project is currently taking place at Little Round Top as the National Park Service works to preserve and protect the battlefield landscape and to add new signage for Gettysburg visitors.

Archaeologist Steven Brann and his team from Stantec, a consultancy company that also performs archaeological work, were sweeping the area with metal detectors when they hit on something nearly 2 feet (0.6 meter) underground. “It is standard procedure to use metal detectors on battlefields,” Brann told Live Science in an email.

The unexploded round they discovered was about 7 inches (18 centimeters) long and weighed about 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms). “There are procedures in place in case such objects are found,” Brann explained.

Ultimately, the Army’s 55th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company (EOD) from Fort Belvoir, Virginia, was called in to remove the shell and destroy it safely.

“Unexploded ordnance still found on the battlefield is a fairly unique circumstance,” Jason Martz, a spokesperson for Gettysburg National Military Park, told Live Science in an email. “It’s only the fifth found since 1980.” 

“Most of the objects we find are much smaller, such as percussion caps, bullets, and uniform buttons,” Brann said. “Much of what we find turns out to be modern trash or objects that were discarded during the construction of monuments, such as iron straps and nails.” Still, these artifacts are not usually discovered unless excavation is happening. And as evidenced by the current find, excavation at a battlefield can be dangerous.

“Archaeology work is always completed before any ground disturbance takes place, and it’s a federal offense to dig or metal detect for these items by the general public,” Martz said.

Many commenters and history buffs on the Gettysburg National Military Park’s Facebook post lamented the fact that the ordnance — which Capt.

Matthew Booker, commander of the EOD, identified as a 3-inch Dyer or Burton shell for a rifled cannon — had to be destroyed. 

Nonetheless, “this particular shell hasn’t told us its whole story yet,” Martz said. The park is researching the shell and its discovery location in greater detail now, trying to figure out, for example, whether it was fired by Union or Confederate troops, and will release that information to the public when it is available. 

“The fact that this shell was found nearly 160 years after the Battle of Gettysburg is a very powerful and tangible connection to the past,” Martz added. “It also reminds us that the battlefield still has stories to tell.”

ASIA, JAPAN, WORLD

Lost World War II-Era Submarine Identified

Lost World War II-Era Submarine Identified

Lost World War II-Era Submarine Identified
Though conditions made it difficult to obtain high-quality imagery, the ROV footage revealed enough details to confirm the wreck as the USS Albacore (NHHC)

Naval History and Heritage Command has confirmed the identity of a wrecked submarine off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan, as the lost USS Albacore (SS 218).

NHHC’s Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB) worked with Dr. Tamaki Ura of the University of Tokyo to confirm the identity of Albacore, which was lost at sea on Nov. 7, 1944.

“As the final resting place for Sailors who gave their life in defense of our nation, we sincerely thank and congratulate Dr. Ura and his team for their efforts in locating the wreck of Albacore,” said NHHC Director Samuel J. Cox, U.S. Navy rear admiral (retired). “It is through their hard work and continued collaboration that we could confirm Albacore’s identity after being lost at sea for over 70 years.”

USS Albacore off Mare Island, 1944 (NHHC)

Albacore was built by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, CT and commissioned on June 1, 1942. She conducted 11 war patrols and is credited with 10 confirmed enemy vessel sinkings (and potentially as many as three more unconfirmed).

Six of the ten enemy sinkings were enemy combatant ships, ranking her as one of the most successful submarines against enemy combatants during the war. These include the light cruiser Tenryu and the aircraft carrier Taiho. 

USS Albacore departed Pearl Harbor for her final patrol in October 1944, and she and her crew were never heard from again. Japanese war records indicated that an American submarine had hit a naval mine near the coast of Hokkaido on Nov. 7, 1944, and related documents from the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (JACAR) guided Dr. Ura’s missions.

The location mentioned in the records lined up with an independent effort by UAB volunteers to find the location of the shipwreck.

Dr. Ura’s team visited the site with an ROV team to confirm the historical data. Strong currents, marine growth, and poor visibility made it challenging to get good imagery of the wreck, but several key structural elements stood out and allowed the team to make a positive identification. 

In particular, the ROV video footage showed documented modifications made to Albacore before her last patrol, including an SJ radar dish and mast, a row of vent holes along the top of the superstructure, and the lack of steel plates along the upper edge of the fairwater. These were unique enough that the team could confirm the wreck as the Albacore.

Like other lost U.S. naval vessels, Albacore is a protected site, under the jurisdiction of NHHC. “Most importantly, the wreck represents the final resting place of sailors who gave their life in defense of the nation and should be respected by all parties as a war grave,” the agency noted. 

Locating lost wrecks can add detail to historical records, but it also has meaning for the families of the fallen. William Bower II, the son of Albacore engineering officer Lt. William Walter Bower, told CNN that the knowledge helped bring him closure. 

“I know that he was lost somewhere off the coast of Japan,” said an emotional Bower. “But to actually know the spot where the remnants of the submarine are is much more meaningful.”

EUROPE, NORWAY, WORLD

Archaeologists surprised when 3,500 year old arrowheads made of shells melted out of the ice in the Norwegian mountains

Archaeologists surprised when 3,500 year old arrowheads made of shells melted out of the ice in the Norwegian mountains

Archaeologists surprised when 3,500 year old arrowheads made of shells melted out of the ice in the Norwegian mountains
The arrowheads of freshwater pearl mussel were found together with shafts and sinew. The scale at the bottom of the photo shows millimeters.

Unique arrowheads made of freshwater pearl mussel have melted out of the ice in the mountains in Jotunheimen in Norway. Arrowheads like this have not been found anywhere else in the world, according to archaeologist.

They were in use only a couple of hundred years, and nobody knows why.

“Why they chose to use shells to make arrowheads is something to ponder,” says archaeologist Lars Pilø.

“Folks at the time did have access to stone which can be used to make arrowheads, and they also used bone and antlers,” he says.

Melting out of the ice

Pilø is an archaeologist in Innlandet County Municipality where he heads the renowned glacier archaeological program Secrets of the Ice. Archaeologists have collected several thousands of finds from glaciers and ice patches in the Norwegian mountains since the onset of the program in 2011.

Arrowheads made of shell is breaking news, according to glacial archaeologist Lars Pilø.

“Our glacial archaeologists were very surprised when the first arrowhead made from mussel shells melted out the ice. Now they have found a total of three,” Pilø tells sciencenorway.no.

In addition, some such arrowheads have been found in two other locations in mid-Norway.

“We have also found arrow shafts with the same type of fixing. These have most likely also had shell arrowheads,” Pilø says.

The archaeologists have also found the sinew used to bind the arrowheads. At the other end of the arrow, the shaft has been fitted with feathers. The arrowheads are probably made out of freshwater pearl mussels – Margaritifera margaritifera.

Short time period

The finds were made in a small area, and stem from a short time period.

“This has been a short-lived tradition, from the Early Bronze Age around 3,700 to 3,500 years ago,” Pilø says.

The freshwater pearl mussels have probably not existed in the areas where the arrowheads were found. The arrows have apparently been made in the lowlands, and then hunters have brought them up in the mountains to go hunting.

When several thousands of years old ice melts, archaeologists are finding incredibly well-preserved items.

“Objects that have been encapsulated in the ice have in a way become frozen in time. They don’t age. This way also the organic material is preserved,” Pilø explains.

A different kind of find

Professor of archaeology Christopher Prescott at the University of Oslo also talks about these unique conditions of preservation:

Archaeologist Christopher Prescott does not know of other finds of arrows made of shell.

“Mountain archaeology has a long history in Norway. The interesting things is that they can find these organic components,” he says.

Usually, when archaeologists excavate an open area, they only find the hardest materials.

“We know that human culture also consists of many other things. I have myself found pearls made from mother of pearl which were more than 4,000 years old. Shells are a part of this type of find, but as far as I know this is one of few or perhaps the first time that such arrowheads made from shells have been found,” Prescott says.

Going hunting

And in keeping with this, Lars Pilø talks about the find as breaking news.

“Arrowheads made from mussels were completely unknown in Norway before the melting started, and they have not been found anywhere else in the world,” he says.

What archaeologists do not know yet, however, is what it was like to go hunting with shell arrowheads.

“The only way to find out is to do experimental archaeology, meaning we will make and try to shoot with a few different types of arrowheads,” Pilø says.

“For the hunter this was about needing the arrowhead to penetrate the animal and create a proper wound. I would imagine that sharp mussels are quite well suited to do so,” he says.

ASIA, IRAQ, WORLD

Discovery of 4,500-year-old palace in Iraq may hold key to ancient civilisation

Discovery of 4,500-year-old palace in Iraq may hold key to ancient civilisation

Archaeologists and workers excavate the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu, located in modern-day Tello, Iraq.

It has been described by the director of the British Museum as “one of the most fascinating sites” he has has ever visited, but the archaeologist who led the discovery of a lost Sumerian temple in the ancient city of Girsu has said he was accused of “making it up” and wasting funding.

Dr Sebastien Rey led the project that discovered the 4,500-year-old palace in modern-day Iraq – thought to hold the key to more information about one of the first known civilisations.

The Lord Palace of the Kings of the ancient Sumerian city Girsu – now located in Tello, southern Iraq – was discovered during fieldwork last year by British and Iraqi archaeologists. Alongside the ancient city, more than 200 cuneiform tablets were discovered, containing administrative records of the ancient city.

Archaeologists and workers excavate the ancient Sumerian city of Girsu, located in modern-day Tello, Iraq.

More than 200 cuneiform tablets were discovered at the site, containing administrative records of the ancient city.

Rey said that when he first brought up the project at international conferences no one believed him. “Everyone basically told me, ‘Oh no you’re making it up you’re wasting your time you’re wasting British Museum UK government funding’ – that’s what they were telling me,” he said.

Girsu, one of the earliest known cities in the history of humankind, was built by the ancient Sumerians, who between 3,500 and 2,000 BC invented writing, built the first cities and created the first codes of law. The ancient city was first discovered 140 years ago, but the site has been the target of looting and illegal excavations.

The discovery is the result of the Girsu Project, an archeological collaboration, established in 2015, led by the British Museum and funded by the LA-based Getty Museum.

Alongside the discovery of the palace and the tablets, the main temple dedicated to the Sumerian god, Ninĝirsu, was also identified. Before this pioneering fieldwork, its existence was known only from ancient inscriptions discovered alongside the first successful excavation of the ancient city.

The project follows the Iraqi scheme first funded by the British government in response to the destruction of important heritage sites in Iraq and Syria by Islamic State. Since its establishment, more than 70 Iraqis have been trained to conduct eight seasons of fieldwork at Girsu.

The first mud brick walls of the palace, which were discovered last year, have since been held in the Iraq Museum in Baghdad. The Sumerians inhabited the ancient eastern Mediterranean region of Mesopotamia, and were responsible for many technological advancements, including measurements of time as well as writing.

Discovery of 4,500-year-old palace in Iraq may hold key to ancient civilisation
An aerial view of the excavation site in Tello, Iraq. The Sumerians inhabited the ancient eastern Mediterranean region of Mesopotamia.

The excavation site in Tello, Iraq

According to Hartwig Fischer, the director of the British Museum, the site of the ancient city in southern Iraq was “one of the most fascinating sites I’ve ever visited”.

He said: “The collaboration between the British Museum, state board of antiquities and heritage of Iraq, and the Getty represents a vital new way of building cooperative cultural heritage projects internationally. We are delighted that today’s visit could celebrate the recent discoveries that are the result of this collaboration, and continue the British Museum’s long-term commitment to the protection of the cultural heritage of Iraq, the support of innovative research, and the training of the next generation of Iraqi archaeologists at Girsu.

“While our knowledge of the Sumerian world remains limited today, the work at Girsu and the discovery of the lost palace and temple hold enormous potential for our understanding of this important civilisation, shedding light on the past and informing the future.”

The ancient Sumerians may not be as well known a civilisation as the ancient Egyptians or Greeks, but according to Dr Timothy Potts, the directory of the Getty Museum, Girsu is “probably one of the most important heritage sites in the world that very few people know about”.

The discovery is the result of the Girsu Project, an archeological collaboration established in 2015 and led by the British Museum and funded by the Getty Museum.

He added: “Through its collections, exhibitions, research and publications the Getty seeks to promote the understanding and preservation of the world’s artistic and cultural heritage.

“The ancient world has been a particular focus of the museum’s programmes at the Getty Villa, and we are therefore delighted to have partnered with the British Museum on the Girsu Project in Iraq.

“This innovative programme provides critical support for the uniquely important archaeological site of Girsu, through the training of Iraqi specialists entrusted with its development for sustainable archaeology and tourism.”

Iraq’s culture minister, Ahmed Fakak Al-Badrani, said: “The British archaeological excavations in Iraq will further unveil significant ancient eras of Mesopotamia, as it is a true testimony to the strong ties between the two countries to enhance the joint cooperation between the two countries.”

The Sumerians explainer
Who were they?

The Sumerians were the inhabitants of Sumer, which is the earliest known civilisation in the historical region of Mesopotamia, located in modern-day southern Iraq. According to archaeological evidence, they built about a dozen city-states in the fourth millennium BC.

Girsu, which is located in Tello, Iraq, was first discovered 140 years ago, and was significant in that it first revealed to the world the existence of the Sumerian civilisation, as well as bringing to light some of the most vital monuments of Mesopotamian art and architecture.

What did they invent?

The Sumerians were ancient pioneers, having advanced the craft of writing, writing literature, hymns and prayers. They built the first known cities as well as creating the first known code of law. They also perfected several existing forms of technology, including the wheel, the plough and mathematics.

The epic of Gilgamesh, considered the world’s oldest surviving piece of literature, derives from five Sumerian poems.

They were also notably one of the first civilisations to brew beer, which was seen by the ancient people as a key to a healthy heart and liver.

ASIA, VIETNAM, WORLD

A 2,000-Year-Old Antler In Vietnam May Be Oldest Music Instrument Of Its Kind

A 2,000-Year-Old Antler In Vietnam May Be Oldest Music Instrument Of Its Kind

Reconstruction of the artifact (A) compared with examples of Vietnamese musical instruments: (B) the Bro JoRai; (C) Co Ke; and (D) K’ny.

An unusual deer antler found in Vietnam may be one of the oldest string instruments ever unearthed in Southeast Asia.

Discovered at a site along the Mekong River, the 2,000-year-old instrument is like a single-stringed harp and may have been a great-grandparent to the complex musical instruments people still pluck today in Vietnam. 

The artifact consists of a 35-centimeter-long piece of deer antler with a hole at one end for a peg, which was likely used to tune the string like the keys at the top of a guitar. While the string eroded away long ago, the object also features a bridge that was perhaps used to support the string.

Archaeologists from the Australian National University and Long An Museum in Vietnam recently described the fascinating objects in a new paper, reaching the conclusion that it was almost certainly a stringed instrument that was plucked to create music. 

“No other explanation for its use makes sense,” Fredeliza Campos, lead researcher and PhD student from ANU, said in a statement seen by IFLScience. 

The antler most likely came from a Sambar deer or an Indian hog deer, two species that are native to mainland Southeast Asia.

The team dated the object to 2,000 years old from Vietnam’s pre-Óc Eo culture along the Mekong River, which is exceptionally early for this kind of instrument.

“This stringed instrument, or chordophone, is one of the earliest examples of this type of instrument in Southeast Asia. It fills the gap between the region’s earliest known musical instruments – lithophones or stone percussion plates – and more modern instruments,” she added.

How the artifact could have been played.

There’s evidence to suggest that many ancient cultures had a rich and lovely music culture, but it often escapes the archaeological record. Songs don’t stick around in rocky sediments, after all. 

For instance, ancient Greece is one of the most studied portions of ancient history and we know enjoying music played a key part in their culture, as shown by the number of artworks showing instruments being tooted and plucked. However, the quest to discover what the music sounded like has been described as a “maddening enigma.”

To better understand the music cultures of ancient Vietnam, the researchers sifted through a catalog of over 600 bone artifacts found in the area. Their analysis indicates that this fashioned antler fits the bill and shows the emergence of contemporary Vietnamese musical instruments, such as the K’ný.

“The K’ný is a single-string bowed instrument that is uniquely controlled by the player’s mouth, which also acts as a resonator. It can play a wide variety of sounds and tones, much more than a chromatic scale you often hear on a piano,” added Campos. 

The new study was published in the journal Antiquity this week.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

This Wooden Phallus Might Be a Rare 2,000-Year-Old Dildo

This Wooden Phallus Might Be a Rare 2,000-Year-Old Dildo

The lifesize wooden phallus.

Archaeologists have uncovered what could be a rare example of an ancient sex toy carved from wood, found in a Roman fort known for a plethora of phallic motifs. The ruins of Vindolanda fort sit near Hadrian’s Wall in England on the borderlands of what was once the great Roman Empire.

On this politically tense frontier, where Roman soldiers faced off with ‘barbarians’ to the north, symbols representing penises were a ubiquitous sign of protection. Imagery of male genitalia can be found on just about anything, it seems; stone walls, the lids of boxes, even horse riding gear.

Yet the wooden phallus mentioned above is unlike any other penis unearthed at the site. Or at any other Roman dig for that matter. The object was initially discovered in 1992 and rather innocently assumed to be a darning tool. But researchers are now pretty sure that it is actually a disembodied penis.

Apart from a carved line at the tip that looks suspiciously like the appendage’s glans, the wooden object is quite smooth, which suggests it made routine, rubbing contact with another surface.

The wooden penis found at Vindolanda, with A and B arrows pointing to tool marks. (R Sands)

Archaeologists have put forward three possible explanations for what that surface might have been. The 160-millimeter (6.3 inch) long implement could have been used as a grinding pestle, specially designed to ‘infuse’ food, cosmetics, or medicine with spiritual properties.

While the tool does look like it could crush soft materials, an absence of staining or discoloration on the object’s blunt end means there’s no easy way to confirm this particular hypothesis.

It’s also possible the wooden object was in fact a penis, one adorning a statue, or put on display outside of a building; a common feature in ancient Greece and Rome. People walking by might then have rubbed the penis for good luck. With no signs of outdoor weathering or of being removed or reinserted into an abrasive notch, this is also an unlikely purpose.

The third and final explanation put forward by researchers is the most interesting to consider: the ancient penis could be a uniquely preserved dildo from the second century CE.

“We know that the ancient Romans and Greeks used sexual implements – this object from Vindolanda could be an example of one,” says archaeologist Rob Collins from Newcastle University in England.

The wooden phallus from Vindolanda. (R Sands)

Today, we might be tempted to call it a sex toy, but archaeologists working on the artifact think that that term may not have applied in Roman times.

“Use may not have been exclusively sexual or for the pleasure of the user,” they explain.

“Such implements may have been used in acts that perpetuated power imbalances, such as between an enslaved person and his or her owner, as attested in the recurrence of sexual violence in Roman literature.”

The ancient dildo may not have even been used for penetration. In fact, the signs of wear on the object’s exterior might support clitoral stimulation better.

Researchers say the artifact shows “perceptibly greater wear at either end compared to its middle”.

This seems to align with signs of wear on a 2,000-year-old bronze dildo found in China, although experts say it’s hard to compare the patterns between such old artifacts.

Although the wooden phallus from ancient Rome is “simple in form”, researchers suspect it was created by the hand of a confident artist, a practiced practitioner of penises, if you will.

In a Roman fort like Vindolanda, that would have been quite the skill.

“The Vindolanda phallus is an extremely rare survival,” says archaeologist Rob Sands from University College Dublin.

“It survived for nearly 2000 years to be recovered by the Vindolanda Trust… “

Interpreting the wooden phallus as a pestle or a good luck charm might be less problematic and uncomfortable explanations, but archaeologists argue we need to “accept the presence of dildos and the manifestation of sexual practices in the material culture of the past.”

The oldest suspected dildo ever found in archaeology dates back 28,000 years.

In all likelihood, these sexual instruments are a part of human history, whether we acknowledge them or not.

WORLD

Lost sketches by Leonardo Da Vinci show that he understood gravity long before Newton

Lost sketches by Leonardo Da Vinci show that he understood gravity long before Newton

Leonardo da Vinci’s centuries-old sketches show that he may have understood key aspects of gravity long before Galileo, Newton, and Einstein.

Engineers from Caltech have discovered that Leonardo da Vinci’s understanding of gravity—though not wholly accurate—was centuries ahead of his time.

Recent research from the California Institute of Technology looked at long-forgotten diagrams in Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks. According to a statement from the university these notebooks, which have now been digitized, show experiments from the early 1500s of particles falling from a pitcher, demonstrating gravity is a form of acceleration.

Da Vinci, who lived from 1452 to 1519, was well ahead of the curve in exploring these concepts. It wasn’t until 1604 that Galileo Galilei would theorize that the distance covered by a falling object was proportional to the square of time elapsed and not until the late 17th century that Sir Isaac Newton would expand on that to develop a law of universal gravitation, describing how objects are attracted to one another. Da Vinci’s primary hurdle was being limited by the tools at his disposal. For example, he lacked a means of precisely measuring time as objects fell.

One of da Vinci’s sketches details an experiment involving pouring water from a pitcher to help understand the effects of gravity.

Da Vinci’s experiments were first spotted by Mory Gharib, the Hans W. Liepmann Professor of Aeronautics and Medical Engineering, in the Codex Arundel, a collection of papers written by da Vinci that cover science, art, and personal topics.

In early 2017, Gharib was exploring da Vinci’s techniques of flow visualization to discuss with students he was teaching in a graduate course when he noticed a series of sketches showing triangles generated by sand-like particles pouring out from a jar in the newly released Codex Arundel, which can be viewed online courtesy of the British Library.

“What caught my eye was when he wrote ‘Equatione di Moti‘ on the hypotenuse of one of his sketched triangles—the one that was an isosceles right triangle,” says Gharib, lead author of the Leonardo paper. “I became interested to see what Leonardo meant by that phrase.”

The researchers had to translate da Vinci’s notes into Italian, which were written in his renowned left-handed mirror writing that reads from right to left, in order to analyze the sketches. The researchers then carried out da Vinci’s experiments using computer simulations.

According to Da Vinci’s notes, the velocity of the falling material accelerates downwards, and as the particles fall, they are no longer influenced by the pitcher but are instead accelerated by gravity pulling them downward. However, at the time, he was unable to translate his observations into an equation.

A photograph of one of Leonardo da Vinci’s sketches of experiments to understand gravity.

“What we saw is that Leonardo wrestled with this, but he modeled it as the falling object’s distance was proportional to 2 to the t power [with t representing time] instead proportional to t squared,” Chris Roh, co-author of the study and assistant professor at Cornell University, said in the statement. “It’s wrong, but we later found out that he used this sort of wrong equation in the correct way.”

When modeling the water vase experiments, the team yielded the same error da Vinci did centuries ago.

“We don’t know if da Vinci did further experiments or probed this question more deeply,” Gharib said in the statement. “But the fact that he was grappling with this problem in this way — in the early 1500s — demonstrates just how far ahead his thinking was.”

Their findings were published in the journal Leonardo. The paper is titled “Leonardo da Vinci’s Visualization of Gravity as a Form of Acceleration.”

ASIA, JAPAN, WORLD

300-Year-Old Mummified Mermaid From Japan Mystery Solved; Creature Is Artificial

300-Year-Old Mummified Mermaid From Japan Mystery Solved; Creature Is Artificial

300-Year-Old Mummified Mermaid From Japan Mystery Solved; Creature Is Artificial

A mummified mermaid has been worshiped in Japan for centuries because locals believe it has healing powers. However, upon closer inspection, it was discovered that the item was not as mysterious as it appeared because it was only artificial.

In Japan, there is a legend that the 300-year-old mummified mermaid will grant immortality to anyone who eats its flesh.

The mysterious object has been on display for four decades at the Enjuin Temple in Asakuchi.

The 12-inch creature was allegedly caught in the Pacific Ocean, off the Japanese island of Shikoku, between 1736 and 1741.

The creature has two hands reaching up towards its grimacing face. Hair is still visible on its head and it has the remains of sharp, pointy teeth in its mouth. But its body gives way to a distinctly fish-like tail.

The fish-like lower half of the ‘mermaid’s’ body gives way to a strange-looking tail.

Scientists have been perplexed by the finding for years.

Chief priest Kozen Kuida told the Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun they even worshipped it in the hope it would help to “alleviate the coronavirus pandemic”.

Last year, researchers from the Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts took the mummy for tests and CT scans in a bid to unravel its secrets.

They subjected the ‘mermaid’ to tests to determine if its an organic creature or not. Sadly, they have now discovered that the creature is completely artificial – made in the late 1800s. It has no skeleton as its body is made of paper, cloth, and cotton.

Radiocarbon dating also showed that the mummy dates back to the late 1800s, which fit the team’s initial estimations for when it was made.

The lower portion of the body was indeed from a fish’s tail, according to the scientists, but they thought that it had only been added later. Its head was from a mammal, and its jaw and teeth were also taken from fish.

Hiroshi Kinoshita, a board member of the Okayama Folklore Society, became aware of its existence after seeing a photo of the bizarre creature in a mythical encyclopedia.

It still remains a mystery how the mermaid mummy ended up inside the Okaya temple.

All In One Magazine