Archaeologists from the Decentralized Culture Directorate in Cusco (DDC Cusco) have discovered samples of cave art in a sector of the Qhapaq Ñan or Great Inca Trail that crosses the Archaeological Park of Machu Picchu in Peru.
This information was provided by Francisco Huarcaya, the person responsible for the sector of the Inca Trail that crosses the aforementioned park.
Huarcaya reported that said discovery occurred in early September this year at the 87th kilometre of the railway that leads to the Inca citadel, on the left side of the Vilcanota River.
Said samples consist of a set of images painted on different parts of a huge rock and represent figures of camelids and the sun —the most important deity for the Inca civilization.
Abstract graphics and other graphics with geometric shapes have been identified as well.
“There are other images that cannot be identified due to geological problems and rock wear caused by long exposure to sun, wind, rain, and water filtration,” he noted.
The archaeologist explained that this cave art was associated with a funerary context and the cult of the apus (guardian deities in the form of mountains), such as the Huacayhuilca and Casamentuyoc mountains, as well as the Huilcamayo River —considered sacred and located near the area.
In addition to said evidence of cave art, archaeologists found human bones of a skull and a femur, which were exposed to the surface and partially covered by brush.
New Dates Offer Insight Into Ice Age Occupation of the Philippines
Archaeologists from UP Diliman (UPD) and the National Museum, and leaders and members of the indigenous Pala’wan community unearthed new discoveries dating back to the last glacial maximum (LGM) or at the height of the last ice age at Pilanduk Cave in Palawan.
The research Tropical island adaptations in Southeast Asia during the Last Glacial Maximum: evidence from Palawan presented new data from the re-excavation of Pilanduk Cave such as “evidence for specialized deer hunting and freshwater mollusc foraging, LGM fossils for the tiger and remains of other native mammal and reptile fauna of Palawan,” UPD archaeologist Janine Ochoa, PhD, said in an UPDate Online email interview.
Ochoa, an assistant professor of anthropology at the UPD Department of Anthropology, is the co-principal investigator and lead author of the research article.
She said the research also found “new radiocarbon dates that securely place the age of human occupation of Pilanduk Cave at the LGM/Last Ice Age at ca. 20,000-25,000 years ago,” and “evidence for shifting foraging behaviours (ecological and behavioural flexibility) of modern humans occupying changing tropical environments (climate and environmental changes) across ca. 40,000 years on Palawan Island.”
The 2016 Archaeological Team.
Together with co-principal investigator Ame Garong, PhD, of the National Museum, the research team re-excavated the site in October 2016.
“We conducted the analysis of the archaeological material (vertebrate fossils, mollusc/shell remains, lithics/stone tools) from 2017 up to 2020,” Ochoa said.
Pilanduk Cave is known to be an important late Pleistocene archaeological site in the Philippines. It is part of the ancestral domain of the Pala’wan community in Maasin, Quezon Municipality in Palawan with Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title No. RO4-QUE-O110-143.
Ochoa and the team pursued the re-excavation of Pilanduk Cave to further the previous research conducted by Jonathan Kress and the National Museum in 1969-1970.
She said, “There has been a need to verify the dates reported by Kress, due to the limited stratigraphic data available for Pilanduk, and the limitations of the radiocarbon dating method at the time of Kress’s excavation in the 1970s particularly for dating mollusc remains.”
According to Ochoa, the site has a large and well-preserved archaeological assemblage of faunal material, which are vertebrate remains and shells/molluscs, as well as lithic materials or stone tool assemblage.
Panoramic view of Pilanduk Cave.
“In fact, it has the best preserved LGM archaeological record from any site in the Philippine archipelago. There are not many LGM sites in the Philippines because many are likely submerged underwater when the coastlines and the sea levels were much lower during the LGM,” she said.
The research has been released online and is published in Antiquity, an international archaeology journal. It will come out in the October 2022 issue and can be viewed at https://www.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.88.
In a related development, Kress, who led the first archaeological research of Pilanduk Cave in the 1970s passed away on Aug. 6. His colleagues, led by Ochoa, issued the following statement with his passing:
A tiger’s foot bone was recovered during the October 2016 excavation.
“The archaeological work in Pilanduk Cave would not have been possible without the previous research of Jonathan Kress, who led the first excavation of the site in 1970. Jonathan passed away on 6 August 2022. The Pilanduk and Ille Cave teams remember him most fondly, especially for his joie de vivre and enthusiasm for field work, stone tools, and molluscs. He would share and recall the local names of various shell taxa, which were taught to him by the indigenous team he worked with. Engaging with students was important for him and he regaled us with exciting and adventurous stories about Palawan in the 1970s. We remember Jonathan as gentle, kind, patient, and full of wisdom.”
CT Scans Reveal Gnarly, 1,000-Year-Old Mummies Were Murdered
A 3D CT scan of the skull of one of the South American mummies in the new study.
Around 1,000 years ago, two men in South America were likely murdered in cold blood — one getting stabbed in the back and the other experiencing severe neck trauma, according to a new analysis of their mummified remains.
Behaving more like detectives than academics, a research team scanned three mummified bodies from Chile and Peru in South America to look for clues on how the individuals died. One male victim was hit on the head and stabbed in the back, while another male was likely killed after receiving “massive trauma” to the neck, which included dislocation, the researchers revealed.
The study adds to evidence of violence in prehistoric human societies and highlights how mummified remains can hold secrets that are lost when only bones are preserved. Both the stabbing and the cervical rotational trauma of the dislocated neck would have escaped detection in skeletons, the authors wrote in the study.
“The types of trauma we found would not have been detectable if these human remains had been mere skeletons,” study co-author Andreas Nerlich, a professor in the department of pathology at Munich Clinic Bogenhausen in Germany, said in a statement(opens in new tab).
Human bodies can be naturally mummified in dry, cold or other extreme environments, as these environments interfere with the process of decay that normally destroys soft tissues and organs. In this case, researchers studied mummies that were preserved in the very dry environments of South America and were held by museums in Germany and Switzerland.
Radiocarbon dating revealed that the mummies were between 740 and 1,120 years old, meaning they predated the colonial Spanish period.
One male mummy likely came from the Arica culture in what is now northern Chile. He was buried alongside fishing tools, so the researchers determined he likely came from a fishing community.
The two other mummies, a male and female, likely came from the Arequipa region in what is now southwestern Peru and were buried wearing materials made out of cotton and hair from llamas or alpacas, as well as viscachas, which are rodents in the chinchilla family.
The researchers used computed tomography (CT) scans to create virtual 3D reconstructions of the bodies, which revealed previously hidden details about their deaths. While the female died of natural causes, both of the male mummies died from extreme intentional violence, according to the research.
Other mummified remains may also have histories waiting to be revealed through modern scanning and reconstruction techniques. “There are dozens of South American mummies which might profit from a similar investigation as done here,” Nerlich said.
The study was published online on Sept. 9 in the journal Frontiers in Medicine.
Egypt recovered on Sunday two ancient Egyptian statues that were smuggled to Belgium, as the country continues intensive efforts to retrieve thousands of artefacts found in the unlawful possession of museums and individuals around the world.
Assistant Foreign Minister for Cultural Relations Omar Selim (L) and General Supervisor of the Repatriation Antiquities Department Shaaban Abdel-Gawad during the hand-over of two ancient statues retrieved from Belgium.
The two pieces are a wooden, painted figurine statue of a standing man resting on a pedestal and a wooden ushabti figurine.
The first piece dates back to the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BC), the other to the Late Period (664-332 BC), a statement by the ministry read.
In 2016, the two pieces were seized by the Belgian authorities at an exhibition for selling antiquities after investigations concluded the exhibition owner did not possess their ownership documents, the statement added.
The two pieces were handed over by Assistant Foreign Minister for Cultural Relations Omar Selim to the Repatriation Antiquities Department (RAD) at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in the presence of General Supervisor of the RAD Shaaban Abdel-Gawad and a representative of the Ministry of Interior.
Egypt is set to repatriate 16 artefacts that were stolen and smuggled out of the country after they were recovered by the authorities in the United States as part of their investigations into a major case of international trafficking in Egyptian antiquities.
In June, New York prosecutors announced seizing five Egyptian artefacts worth more than $3 million from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of an investigation into international trafficking in Egyptian antiquities involving Jean-Luc Martinez, the former president of the Louvre, who was charged in May with complicity in fraud.
In recent years, Egypt toughened penalties for unlawful possession or smuggling of artefacts.
Last year, parliament amended the law on protecting antiquities to stipulate that those illegally possessing or selling antiquities face imprisonment and a fine of EGP 1 million to EGP 10 million.
Egypt has succeeded in recovering 5,000 artefacts from the US, 115 from France, and 36 from Spain in recent years.
Archaeologists uncover 2,600-year-old blocks of white cheese in Egypt
Archaeologists in Egypt made an unexpected discovery on Saturday, opening a set of ancient pots to discover a block of halloumi inside, preserved for 2,600 years.
Yep, we’re serious—it was halloumi.
The ancient Egyptians ate a cheese they called haram (no, it wasn’t haram), which eventually evolved into the word halloum—aka halloumi.
The world’s squeakiest cheese, which tastes at its rawest like new sneakers on a hospital floor in the best possible way, was found as part of the Egyptian archaeological mission working in Giza in the Saqqara antiquities area. Yep, the same place as Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb was set.
No word yet on whether it is edible, but perhaps they’re taking volunteers?
While some scientists point to Cyprus as the originate of the cheese during the Byzantine period, others dispute this, and claim it was previously known as haram in ancient Egypt.
The archaeologists found a number of clay pots that contained the cheese, which was inscribed in Demotic script, a type of writing that was discovered on the Rosetta Stone.
The archaeologists on saturday discovering the halloumi.
They found a large number of containers, the rest of which are planned to be open in the coming days. No speculation on whether they all contain halloumi or whether there are other cheeses—or non-cheese substances of some kind—within the pots.
The Saqqara area has been a hugely fruitful area for relics in recent years, with more than 100 sarcophagi discovered, which was turned into the 2020 Netflix documentary.
Archaeologists have more planned excavations for the area too. The Egyptian Antiquities Mission has been working on the site since 2018, and through the past five excavations seasons, it had highlights including the discovery of the unique tomb of the priest of the Fifth Dynasty “Wahi”, in addition to 7 rock tombs, including three tombs from the New Kingdom and four tombs from the Old Kingdom, and the facade of a tomb from the ancient state, in addition to the discovery of more than a thousand amulet of faience, dozens of wooden cat statues, cat mummies, wooden statues and animal mummies.
None, of course, is as delicious as halloumi.
Archaeologists in Egypt still a huge hit for Netflix
Netflix’s feature-length documentary Secret of the Saqqara Tomb, released in October 2020, was viewed by 22 million households around the world in its first four weeks, according to the streamer.
That amount puts the documentary in the top five documentary films in Netflix history, says the film’s director, James Tovell.
Netflix doesn’t often release numbers, so the figures and rankings are an interesting insight into how popular documentaries are on the platform. Extraction, the Chris Hemsworth action film released last year, was viewed by 99 million homes in its first four weeks, for comparison.
“All of these experiences and the amazing discoveries that were made have of course become all the more rewarding now that so many Netflix members have come along with us on this journey.
We’re extremely grateful to all those who have watched the film, and thrilled that so many people have found something to enjoy, from those learning about ancient Egypt for the first time to those familiar with this world who were able to learn or experience something new,” says Tovell.
An ancient human skeleton dating back about 2,300 years has been discovered at the Giong Ca Vo archaeological site in Ho Chi Minh City’s Can Gio district.
A 2,300-year-old human skeleton is unearthed in HCM City’s Can Gio district.
According to specialists, the skeleton belongs to a 1.65m-tall man with a high social ranking due to two animal fangs found on his neck.
The Giong Ca Vo archaeological site was discovered in 1993 and first excavated in 1994.
The total area of the site is 29,000sq.m, the centre of which is located on a red soil mound, about 1.5m higher than the surrounding area and covers an area of 7,000sq.m.
Prior to the discovery of the ancient skeleton, archaeologists excavated 185 burial jars and 13 earthen tombs, along with hundreds of precious relics made of various materials like precious stones, glass, and mollusks, at Giong Ca Vo archaeological site.
Some relics have been discovered for the first time at the site, such as animal-shaped earrings, three-pointed earrings or gold leaves, which contain historical, cultural values and especially the history of formation and development of this land over 2,000 years ago.
The archaeologists have determined that the age of the archaeological site is from 2,500BC to the early AD years.
Excavation results also show that the central area of Giong Ca Vo is divided into three phases: residence, burial and modern farming.
Based on the study of anthropological characteristics of the artefacts, Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Lan Cuong, General Secretary of the Vietnam Archaeological Association (VNAA), said that the area used to be occupied with indigenous groups, mainly natives of Dong Nai culture, who had cultural exchanges with the outside world.
Meanwhile, Assoc. Prof. Tong Trung Tin, Chairman of the VNAA, noted that this is the first time Vietnamese archaeologists have discovered such a density of burial jars at a relic site and the stratigraphic column is clarified with the continuous development from residence relics to burial relics.
He therefore requested HCM City and specialists to compile a dossier to submit to the Government to recognise Giong Ca Vo as a special national relic.
According to Dr Hsiao Chung Hung, an archaeology expert from the Australian National University, the Giong Ca Vo archaeological site is an important prehistoric archaeological site not only in Vietnam but also in Southeast Asia and Asia.
Located at the central point connecting the east and west, north and south regions, this site might have been a busy port and home to a large number of craftsmen and artisans about 2,500 years ago, as it is implied by the excavated items.
It was recognised as a national archaeological relic that needs to be protected in 2000 by the then Ministry of Culture and Information.
Currently, the artefacts excavated at the Giong Ca Vo archaeological site are displayed in a number of museums such as the National Museum of History in Hanoi, the Museum of Vietnamese History in HCM City and the Museum of Southern History and Culture.
The 2,000-Year-Old ‘Book Of Giants’ Describes How The Nephilim Were Destroyed
Over 50 years ago, researchers came across one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the century when they discovered thousands of ancient scrolls. Among them, they found The Book of Giants which speaks of the Nephilim and their destruction. One of the most important archaeological discoveries was made at the Qumran Caves over half a century ago.
Among the artefacts discovered were thousands of antique scrolls that offered extremely important insight into our past. Many of these scrolls helped complete a lost fragment in Earth’s history. But in addition to the numerous scrolls, archaeologists were surprised when they stumbled across a rare and unusual text: an ancient scroll that describes the demise of the ancient Nephilim. Called the Book of Giants, it speaks about the creatures that inhabited our planet in the distant past and how they were destroyed.
A small piece of the Book of Giants and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
But what are the Nephilim? According to mainstream historians, these beings are mythical creatures that didn’t actually exist on our planet. However, the truth behind the Nephilim might be more mysterious than any of us imagined. Starting from the beginning, we must understand that even today in the 21st century, the word ‘Nephilim‘ is not fully understood.
Throughout the years, scholars have proposed a number of etymologies, among them: ‘The Fallen, ‘Apostates’, and even ‘those that cause others to fall.’
But regardless of their name and the meaning, the enigmatic Nephilim have long been considered the giant beings that inhabited our planet in the distant past. There are several ancient texts that make reference to the Nephilim. One of those texts is the Book of Genesis, which undoubtedly describes these mysterious beings. Most of the information gathered today comes from the apocryphal Book of Enoch. This ancient work is historically attributed to Noah’s great-grandfather.
Enoch plays a very important role in history and curiously, is one of the most mysterious characters in the Book of Genesis. According to the Book of Genesis, Enoch lived for a staggering 265 years. He was taken before God and: “he walked with God: and he was no more; for God took him.”
During this time, our planet is said to have been inhabited by ‘Angels’ who interacted for years with mortal people, eventually interbreeding with the “daughters of men” which lead to the creation of a race of beings describes as being unnaturally strong, referred to as giant hybrids, or the Nephilim.
But the stories about the Nephilim differ in the Book of Genesis and the ancient scrolls found in the Qumran Caves. The Book of Giants – which by the way is incomplete — offers a different perspective about the Nephilim. According to the ancient text, the Giants — The Nephilim — became aware that due to their violent ways, they face imminent destruction. They asked Enoch to speak on their behalf to God.
The ancient texts detail how the Nephilim lived on Earth and created chaos and destruction. At one point in history, they began having prophetic dreams of Armageddon, as fear swept through their hearts.
According to the texts, the first of the Nephilim to have such prophetic dreams was Mahway, the Titan son of the angel Barakel. According to his dream, a huge tablet was submerged under water, as the tablet surfaces only three names are left. This is believed to symbolize the Great Flood and the eventual distribution of all but Noah’s sons.
The Nephilim were unsure about the meanings of their dreams, and they spent time debating what Mahway had dreamed. However, they were unsuccessful in interpreting the meaning. Not long passed and two more Giants Ohya and Hahya, the sons of the fallen angel Shemyaza began having similar dreams: Ohya and Hahya dreamed a tree being uprooted all except three of its root.
However, Enoch wasn’t on Earth anymore, so the Nephilim sent out one of them on a cosmic journey. After the cosmic journey, Mahway comes to Enoch and makes his request.
If we analyze the above text carefully, a peculiar interpretation can be derived from it: „…He mounted up in the air… with his hands like eagles… he left behind the inhabited world and passed over Desolation…“
Interestingly, many people would agree that described in this ancient text is a journey that leads towards space, leaving the planet behind… describing the rest of the planet as the traveler was leaving Earth’s atmosphere.
It can all be resumed to our personal interpretation, which eventually depends on of our beliefs.
Returning to the Book of Giants, we find that Enoch sends Mahway back to Earth, promising only that he shall speak to God on behalf of the Nephilim.
However, the tablets Enoch Sent as a response did not bring good news for the Giants:
Archaeologists find remains of a man and his slave killed in the Pompeii eruption
The men may have escaped the first volcanic eruption that destroyed the city but died in the blast the next day.
Here are the plaster casts of what archaeologists believe was a wealthy man and his male slave fleeing the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago.
The deadly eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii happened nearly 2,000 years ago, but more evidence from that horrifying event continues to reveal itself even now.
Partial male skeletons from that time period have been unearthed, officials at Italy’s Pompeii archaeological park said on Saturday.
During an excavation of ruins about 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) northwest of Pompeii, two skeletons were found lying next to each other in a layer of grey ash at least 6.5 feet (2 meters) deep.
Archaeologists poured plaster into the empty spaces left by the decaying bodies in the ash.
This technique, pioneered in the 1800s, better shows the victims’ bodies but also makes the remains “seem like statues,” Massimo Osanna, an archaeologist who is director of the archaeological park operated under the jurisdiction of the Italian Culture Ministry, explained to AP News.
The skeletons were found in a side room of a suburban villa along an underground corridor called a cryptoporticus.
“The victims were probably looking for shelter in the cryptoporticus, in this underground space, where they thought they were better protected,” Osanna said.
Studying the skulls and teeth, archaeologists have determined one of the men was between the ages of 18 and 25.
The young man also had a spinal column with compressed discs, which led archaeologists to hypothesize he may have done manual labour as a slave.
Here’s a glimpse of one of the male skeletons found at the dig in Pompeii.
The impression of fabric folds left in the ash layer also shows the younger man may have been wearing a short, pleated wool tunic.
The other male skeleton had a strong bone structure, especially in his chest area.
He was estimated to have been between the ages of 30 and 40. He may have been wearing a tunic as well as a mantle over his left shoulder.
Archaeologists believe these two men died suddenly, according to a statement, not during the first eruption but instead during the second pyroclastic flow, a violent, energetic flow that struck Pompeii and the surrounding area in the early hours of Oct. 25, leading to the death of the survivors who were still present in the city and countryside.
