Maya rulers’ ashes turned into pelota balls – expert
Some Maya rulers may have been incinerated and their ashes mixed with rubber to make the balls used in the game of pelota, an archaeologist says. Burnt human remains uncovered at the ruins of a Maya city have led to a new theory about the death rites of the ancient civilisation.
Descendants of the Maya have been trying to revive the ball game
Archaeologist Juan Yadeun Angulo came up with the hypothesis after finding urns containing human ashes, rubber and roots at a Maya temple in Mexico.
Pelota is among the oldest team sports.
Mr Yadeun, an archaeologist with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), has been studying a recently uncovered crypt underneath the Sun Temple at the Toniná archaeological site in southern Mexico.
Inside the underground crypt and its antechamber, archaeologists found 400 urns containing a mixture of human ashes, coal, rubber and plant roots.
Vases containing human ashes and rubber were found in a crypt 8m (26ft) underground
Mr Yadeun believes the crypt was used to burn the bodies of the dead in a religious ritual.
The ashes were then added to other organic material to make the heavy balls used in pelota, the team game played in Mesoamerica thousands of years ago, the theory goes.
The Toniná archaeological site may not be as well-known as that of Mayan ruins in Palenque but it is an impressive complex built on a hill in the jungle of Chiapas.
Among the constructions preserved to this day is the sunken ballcourt where the Maya played pelota.
The sunken ballcourt at Toniná is well preserved
According to Mr Yadeun, stone carvings at key locations inside the ballcourt offer clues that back up his theory.
He says the stone carvings suggest that three rulers, all of whom died between 722AD and 776AD, were taken to the “cave of the dead” for their “transmutation”.
“Just as Egyptians tried to preserve [bodies], we know here they were transformed in another way,” Mr Yadeun told Reuters news agency.
The archaeologist thinks that the Maya wanted the bodies of their rules to “be converted into a life force, something to stimulate their people” and therefore worked their ashes into the rubber used to make balls for the game.
“We have evidence they were incorporated into balls, during the Classic Period the balls were gigantic,” Mr Yadeun explained.
A carved stone disc found at a different site in Chiapas suggests the size of the pelota ball in the 6th Century and how players propelled it with their hips.
The disc of Chinkultic, which dates back to 590, depicts a Maya ball player
Possible Hessian Remains Found at Revolutionary War Battlefield
Researchers believe they have uncovered in a mass grave in New Jersey the remains of as many as 12 Hessian soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War, officials announced Tuesday.
Shown is a King George III gold guinea, discovered in an excavation site at the Red Bank Battlefield Park in National Park, N.J., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. Researchers believe they have uncovered in a mass grave in New Jersey the remains of as many as 12 Hessian soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War, officials announced Tuesday.
The remains, found at the site of Fort Mercer and the 1777 Battle of Red Bank, rested for 245 years until a human femur was found in June during an archaeological dig of a trench system that surrounded the fort, scientists said.
The additional excavation yielded more skeletal remains and items including pewter and brass buttons and a King George III gold guinea, which would have been a soldier’s pay for a month.
A team of scientists from Rowan University and officials from Gloucester County presented their preliminary findings during a news conference at Red Bank Battlefield Park, just south of Philadelphia.
Officials believe the remains are part of a mass grave of Hessian soldiers—German troops hired by the British—who were part of about 377 troops killed by Colonial forces during the Battle of Red Bank. Americans lost 14, historians said.
The victory allowed Americans at the fort to delay the British from moving supplies up the Delaware River.
“Based on everything we’ve found and the context of what we’ve found, these appear to be Hessians,” Wade Catts, principal archaeologist for South River Heritage Consulting of Delaware, said in a statement.
Shown is a soldiers knee buckle discovered in an excavation site at the Red Bank Battlefield Park in National Park, N.J., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. Researchers believe they have uncovered in a mass grave in New Jersey the remains of as many as 12 Hessian soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War, officials announced Tuesday.
Shown is a casting made of human remains discovered in an excavation site at the Red Bank Battlefield Park in National Park, N.J., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. Researchers believe they have uncovered in a mass grave in New Jersey the remains of as many as 12 Hessian soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War, officials announced Tuesday.
Flags indicate the location of human remains discovered at the Red Bank Battlefield Park in National Park, N.J., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. Researchers believe they have uncovered in a mass grave in New Jersey the remains of as many as 12 Hessian soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War, officials announced Tuesday.
The remains have been turned over to forensic anthropologists at the New Jersey State Police forensic unit to extract DNA from the bones and teeth to identify their origin. Additional studies are being conducted to examine life history, health and disease.
The scientists hope they can identify the remains and find their descendants.
“We’re hoping that eventually, perhaps, we can find some of these individuals,” Rowan University public historian Jennifer Janofsky said in a statement.
“If we can extract their stories, and if we can tell their stories, it lets us put a name to a face. And that, to me, is a very powerful moment in public history.”
Officials said the remains were excavated with “extraordinary attention” to preserving the dignity of the war dead.
Wade Catts, the principal archaeologist for South River Heritage Consulting of Delaware, speaks with members of the media and officials at the Red Bank Battlefield Park in National Park, N.J., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. Researchers believe they have uncovered in a mass grave in New Jersey the remains of as many as 12 Hessian soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War, officials announced Tuesday.
Rowan University public historian Jennifer Janofsky speaks with members of the media at the Red Bank Battlefield Park in National Park, N.J., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. Researchers believe they have uncovered in a mass grave in New Jersey the remains of as many as 12 Hessian soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War, officials announced Tuesday.
Rowan University public historian Jennifer Janofsky speaks during a news conference at the Red Bank Battlefield Park in National Park, N.J., Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022. Researchers believe they have uncovered in a mass grave in New Jersey the remains of as many as 12 Hessian soldiers who fought during the Revolutionary War, officials announced Tuesday.
When the study is complete, they will be interred at another site, and the trench will be refilled. The land will be incorporated into the park on a bluff overlooking the river.
“Archaeology is helping us better understand what happened on the battlefield,” Janofsky said.
The Legendary Emerald Tablet and its Secrets of the Universe
The origins of Western alchemy can be traced back to Hellenistic Egypt, in particular to the city of Alexandria. One of the most important characters in the mythology of alchemy is Hermes Trismegistus (Hermes the Thrice-Great). The name of this figure is derived from the Egyptian god of wisdom, Thoth, and his Greek counterpart, Hermes.
The Hermetica, which is said to be written by Hermes Trismegistus, is generally regarded as the basis of Western alchemical philosophy and practice. In addition, Hermes Trismegistus is also believed to be the author of the Emerald Tablet.
Legends of the Emerald Tablet
The Emerald Tablet is said to be a tablet of emerald or green stone inscribed with the secrets of the universe. The source of the original Emerald Tablet is unclear; hence it is surrounded by legends.
The most common story claims that the tablet was found in a caved tomb under the statue of Hermes in Tyana, clutched in the hands of the corpse of Hermes Trismegistus himself.
Hermes Trismegistus.
And the creator of the Emerald Tablet has been provided in myth as the Egyptian god Thoth, who Armando Mei writes “divided his knowledge into 42 plates of emerald, codifying the great scientific principles ruling the Universe.
The legend tells that after the gods’ fall, the Hermetic tablets were cleverly hidden so that no human being might find them. Only Thoth, on his return to that dimension, was able to recover the mysterious book.
Thoth
Another legend suggests that it was the third son of Adam and Eve, Seth, who originally wrote it. Others believed that the tablet was once held within the Ark of the Covenant. Some even claim that the original source of the Emerald Tablet is none other than the fabled city of Atlantis.
Spreading Stories of the Emerald Tablet
While various claims have been made regarding the origins of the Emerald Tablet, as yet no verifiable evidence has been found to support them.
The oldest documentable source of the Emerald Tablet’s text is the Kitab sirr al-haliqi (Book of the Secret of Creation and the Art of Nature), which was itself a composite of earlier works.
This was an Arabic work written in the 8th century AD and attributed to ‘Balinas’ or Pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana. It is Balinas who provides us with the story of how he discovered the Emerald Tablet in the caved tomb. Based on this Arabic work, some believe that the Emerald Tablet was also an Arabic text and written between the 6th and 8th centuries AD, rather than a piece of work from Antiquity, as many have claimed.
While Balinas claimed that the Emerald Tablet was written originally in Greek, the original document that he purportedly possessed no longer exists, if indeed it existed at all. Some say the text burned up in the Library of Alexandria. Nevertheless, Balinas’ version of the text itself quickly became well-known and has been translated by various people over the centuries.
For instance, an early version of the Emerald Tablet also appeared in a work called the Kitab Ustuqus al-Uss al-Thani (Second Book of the Elements of the Foundation), which is attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan. It would, however, take several more centuries before the text was accessible to Europeans. In the 12th century AD, the Emerald Tablet was translated into Latin by Hugo von Santalla.
A reconstruction of what the Emerald Tablet is believed to have looked like.
What’s Written on the Emerald Tablet?
The Emerald Tablet would become one of the pillars of Western alchemy. It was a highly influential text in medieval and Renaissance alchemy, and probably still is today. In addition to translations of the Emerald Tablet, numerous commentaries have also been written regarding its contents.
For instance, a translation by Isaac Newton was discovered among his alchemical papers. This translation is currently being held in King’s College Library in Cambridge University. Other notable researchers of the Emerald Tablet include Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus, John Dee, and Aleister Crowley. And today knowledge of the legendary Emerald Tablet (at least one interpretation of it ) is reaching new audiences with its presence in the surreal German-language series Dark.
An imaginative 17th-century depiction of the Emerald Tablet from the work of Heinrich Khunrath, 1606.
The interpretation of the Emerald Text is not a straightforward matter, as it is after all a piece of esoteric text. One interpretation, for instance, suggests that the text describes seven stages of alchemical transformation – calcination, dissolution, separation, conjunction, fermentation, distillation and coagulation. Yet, despite the various interpretations available, it seems that none of their authors claims to possess knowledge of the whole truth. Furthermore, readers are encouraged to read the text and try to interpret and find the hidden truths themselves.
2,700-year-old ancient Egyptian stroke victim discovered
The recent medical inspection of the mummy in Egyptian led to a novel discovery believed to be one of, if not the earliest examples of a stroke in an Egyptian mummy.
A 2,300-year-old mummy is displayed after it was found by the Sakkara pyramids south of Cairo, May 3, 2005.
Upon examination, a research team from the Spanish National Program for Scientific Research, Technology and Innovation concluded that the mummy, a woman between 25 and 40 years of age who died about 2,700 years ago, suffered a right cerebral stroke.
The mummy was studied both macroscopically and radiographically.
The findings, published last month in World Neurosurgery, explain that the position of the female mummy’s shoulders, head, flexed arm and inward turning of the left foot indicate she endured a stroke on the right side of her brain.
The researchers also note that a stick or a crutch remained with her in the mummification process, which they speculate she used in life following the stroke.
The earliest example of a stroke
The researchers believe the woman lived with the aftermath of the stroke for several years. Strokes, which occur when blood supply to the brain is disrupted, are the second highest leading cause of death and disability globally.
The typical stroke patient today is at least 60 years old, decades older than the mummy is believed to have been.
Stroke (illustrative)
Ancient mummies can advance modern medicine
In another study this month that analyzed the remains of a 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy and found that she may have suffered from nasopharyngeal cancer, Polish researchers said that investigating mummy illnesses can significantly contribute to modern medicine.
Octopus lures from the Mariana Islands were found to be the oldest in the world
An archaeological study has determined that cowrie-shell artefacts found throughout the Mariana Islands were lures used for hunting octopuses and that the devices, similar versions of which have been found on islands across the Pacific, are the oldest known artefacts of their kind in the world.
University of Guam archaeologist Michael Carson at the 2013 excavation of Sanhalom, near the House of Taga, on the island of Tinian in the Northern Mariana Islands. The excavation uncovered an octopus lure artefact from a layer that Carson has since carbon dated to 1500–1100 B.C., making it the oldest known artefact of its kind in the world.
The study used carbon dating of archaeological layers to confirm that lures found on the Northern Mariana Islands of Tinian and Saipan were from about 1500 B.C., or 3,500 years ago.
“That’s back to the time when people were first living in the Mariana Islands. So we think these could be the oldest octopus lures in the entire Pacific region and, in fact, the oldest in the world,” said Michael T. Carson, an archaeologist with the Micronesian Area Research Center at the University of Guam.
The study, titled “Let’s catch octopus for dinner: Ancient inventions of octopus lures in the Mariana Islands of the remote tropical Pacific,” is published in World Archaeology, a peer-reviewed academic journal. Carson, who holds a doctorate in anthropology, is the lead author of the study, assisted by Hsiao-Chun Hung from The Australian National University in Canberra, Australia.
The fishing devices were made with cowrie shells, a type of sea snail and favourite food of octopuses, that were connected by a fibre cord to a stone sinker and a hook.
They have been found in seven sites in the Mariana Islands. The oldest lures were excavated in 2011 from Sanhalom near the House of Taga in Tinian and in 2016 from Unai Bapot in Saipan. Other locations include Achugao in Saipan, Unai Chulu in Tinian, and Mochom at Mangilao Golf Course, Tarague Beach, and Ritidian Beach Cave in Guam.
Known artefacts, unknown purpose — until now
“The artefacts have been known — we knew about them. It just took a long time considering the possibilities, the different hypotheses, of what they could be,” Carson said. “The conventional idea — what we were told long ago from the Bishop Museum [in Honolulu] — was that these must be for scraping breadfruit or other plants, like maybe taro. [But] they don’t look like that.”
The shells didn’t have the serrated edge of other known food-scraping tools. With their holes and grooves where the fibre cord would have been attached as well as the stone sinker components, they appeared a closer match to octopus lures found in Tonga from about 3,000 years ago or 1100 B.C.
“We’re confident they are the pieces of octopus lures, and we’re confident they date back to 1500 B.C.,” Carson said.
An invention of the ancient CHamorus?
Carson said the question now becomes: Did the ancient CHamoru people invent this adaptation to their environment during the time when they first lived in the islands?”
That’s a possibility, he said, the other being that they brought the tradition with them from their former homeland; however, no artefacts of this kind have yet been discovered in the potential homelands of the first Marianas settlers.
If the CHamoru people did invent the first octopus lures, it provides new insight into their ingenuity and ability to problem solve — having to create novel and specialized ways to live in a new environment and take advantage of an available food source.
“It tells us that […] this kind of food resource was important enough for them that they invented something very particular to trap these foods,” Carson said. “We can’t say that it contributed to a massive percentage of their diet — it probably did not — but it was important enough that it became what we would call a ‘tradition’ in archaeology.”
The next question to look at, Carson said, is whether there are similar objects anywhere else from an older time.
“Purely from an archaeology standpoint, knowing the oldest of something is always important — because then you can track how things change through time,” he said. “[…] The only other place that would be is in the overseas homeland area for the first CHamoru people moving to the Marianas. So we would look in islands in Southeast Asia and Taiwan for those findings.”
An 8,500-year-old human skeleton and musical instrument were found in the garden of the apartment
An approximately 8,500-year-old human skeleton and a three-hole musical instrument were found during an excavation in the garden of an apartment in the Bahçelievler District of Bilecik.
This place, which is likely to be one of the first points of human settlements in Western Anatolia, was discovered for the first time when a resident of Bilecik reported some ceramic pieces found here to the Archeology Museum.
As a result of two years of work, 11 human skeletons estimated to be 8,500 years old and musical instruments with three holes from the same period were found in the garden of the apartment.
Archaeologists also found grains such as lentils, barley and vetch, as well as varieties of wheat used to make bread and pasta.
Stating that this year’s most important find is a three-hole wind instrument, Fidan added: “We also found religious objects such as ornamented boxes made of terracotta, human-shaped amulets and animal figures during the excavations. In addition, a skull we found in the courtyard gives us information about the religious life of that period.”
8,500 years old 3-hole musical instrument found in Bilecik
Fidan said, “We think that this musical instrument, which has 3 holes, is a part of a musical instrument that makes sounds and changes sound notes. He also stated that the tool can be used thanks to an appliqué mouthpiece attached to this piece.
The head of the excavation, Assoc. ErkanFidan said, “The human skeletons found in the excavation area belong to the oldest adolescent people in the Neolithic Age in Western Anatolia.
“Fidan stated that “the human communities that came here 9 thousand years ago and stayed here for about a thousand years, unearthed the first villages.” In addition, Fidan said that people living in the region who know how to do agriculture also domesticated animals.
8,500 years old 3-hole musical instrument found in Bilecik
Fidan also noted that they found other human skeletons in the excavation area and that these skeletons were examined in detail at the Hacettepe University Anthropology Department Laboratory.
He also stated that they aim to learn a lot about these people in the near future, about their age, gender, illness and the food they eat.
The finds found in the excavation will be exhibited in the Bilecik Archeology Museum after the restoration and research works are completed.
An almost one-metre-long sword estimated to be around a thousand years old has been found in southern Poland. Historians say it is one of the most valuable discoveries in the region in a long time.
The sword was found only 30 centimetres below ground level near the village of Lewin Klodzki, close to the border with the Czech Republic, by Konrad Oczkowski who is exploring the area with the permission of archaeologists.
No remains were found alongside the sword to indicate who its owner was, and neither were any other metal objects.
Joanna Klimek-Szymanowicz Wójt Gminy Lewin Kłodzki
Mr. Konrad Oczkowski explored the site with our permission and with all the permits – said archaeologist Marek Kowalski from the Wałbrzych branch of the Lower Silesian Monuments Conservation Department. – On Monday morning, he informed us about the possible discovery of an archaeological monument.
Mr Konrad was very professional. Since he was not an archaeologist, after removing the layer of soil and realizing it was a sword head, he covered and masked the monument with earth, marked the find’s location in a familiar way, and notified the conservation services. On Tuesday, July 19, archaeological services emerged at the site and picked up medieval weapons from the ground.
The sword is in good condition. However, it was deposited directly in the ground, so it was partially corroded due to oxygen ingress. The shaft is separated from the rest, and the blade is cracked at the blade. The sword was found in a place that restorers do not want to disclose yet. The fact is that there was a settlement in the area before 1945, but its origins date back only to the 17th century.
“Such a sword is priceless,” said archaeologist Marek Kowalski, quoted by Gazeta Wyborcza daily.
“It had the value of one or even several villages. So it undoubtedly belonged to some knight. Such things were not simply abandoned.”
It is not yet known whether the sword ended up underground in the 11th century or later. However, the expert who inspected the weapon, Dr Lech Marek from the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Wrocław, has no doubts regarding the sword’s age, said Kowalski.
“Identical swords have been excavated at Ostrów Lednicki, where one of the most important castles of the Piast state was,” Kowalski added, referring to the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland, which ruled Poland until the 14th century.
The first Piasts, probably of West Slavic and Lechitic tribe descent, appeared around 940 in the territory of Greater Poland (Wielkopolska).
The archaeologists speculate that there may have been a fortress near the site where the sword was found. In the 11th century, Bolesław the Brave, the first king of Poland, who was in conflict with the Czechs, ordered his son, Mieszko II, to invade Bohemia, today the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic.
The sword will now be subjected to a historical analysis, examined for metallography using CT scans in an attempt to find inscriptions despite the corroded surface, Kowalski told Gazeta Wyborcza.
This might help the researchers to determine where the sword was made and who was its potential owner.
Activists urge archaeologists not to assume the gender of ancient human remains
A group of activists have urged archaeologists not to categorise the gender of skeletons using only ‘male’ and ‘female’.
The Black Trowel Collective, a group of American archaeologists, claimed there are suggestions that many historical cultures had more than two genders and so archaeologists should be “wary of projecting our modern sex and gender identity categories onto past individuals”.
The group claimed scientists have a “long history of imposing modern patriarchal gender and sexual norms onto the past”.
“Human gender is highly variable and… human beings have historically been comfortable with a range of genders beyond modern ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ binaries,” the group wrote in a blog post.
The Daily Mail claims that some academics are beginning to label ancient human skeletons as ‘non-binary’ or ‘gender neutral.
The idea has been criticised by historian Jeremy Black, who said gender is key to understanding history.
“It is an absurd proposition as the difference between genders, just as the difference between religious, social and national groups, are key motors in history,” he told the Daily Mail.
“This very ideological approach to knowledge means that we’re in danger of making knowledge itself simply a matter of political preference.”
