ASIA, IRAQ, WORLD

3,400-year-old ‘lost’ city re-emerges from Tigris River in Iraq

3,400-year-old ‘lost’ city re-emerges from Tigris River in Iraq

The tightening grip of climate change on our planet is revealing secrets buried for millennia. As waters and ice recede under warming conditions, the traces of people and civilizations long gone from the mortal realm emerge.

3,400-year-old ‘lost’ city re-emerges from Tigris River in Iraq
The archaeological site of Kemune in the Mosul Dam.

In recent months, Iraq has been hit particularly hard, battered by extreme drought, with the Mosul reservoir shrinking as water is extracted to keep crops from drying.

Amid this crisis, the ruins of an ancient city, submerged for decades, are once again on dry land. Since the dam was created in the 1980s before the settlement was archaeologically studied and catalogued, its re-emergence represents a rare opportunity for scientists to explore it. The archaeological site has been named Kemune.

The ruins consist of a palace and several other large structures, dating back to the Bronze Age in the region, around 3,400 years ago. Scientists think the ruins might be from the ancient city of Zakhiku, a bustling centre for the Mittani Empire, which thrived on the banks of the Tigris River between 1550 and 1350 BCE.

This isn’t the first time that the city has risen from the waters like a lost Atlantis. In 2018, the dam waters receded enough to give archaeologists a brief window in which to discover and document the ruins, before the water level rose and covered them again.

So, in December of 2021, when the city began to emerge once more, archaeologists were ready to leap in and take advantage of the second brief window.

In January and February of this year, archaeologist Hasan Ahmed Qasim from the Kurdistan Archaeology Organization in Iraq, along with fellow researchers Ivana Puljiz of the University of Freiburg and Peter Pfälzner from the University of Tübingen in Germany, set about mapping the mysterious city.

The walls of a storage building. (Universities of Freiburg and Tübingen, KAO)

In addition to the palace that was uncovered in 2018, the researchers found some other interesting structures. These included a large fortification with a wall and towers, an industrial complex, and a huge, multi-story storage building, all dating back to the Mittani Empire.

“The huge magazine (storage) building is of particular importance because enormous quantities of goods must have been stored in it, probably brought from all over the region,” Puljiz says.

The preservation of the mud-brick walls was rather remarkable, considering they had been underwater for over 40 years, but that was a result of the city’s rather abrupt fall in 1350 BCE.

During this, an earthquake devastated the region, toppling buildings, which resulted in a protective coating of rubble falling over the remaining intact walls, covering their painted murals and the buildings’ contents.

One of the ceramic vessels contains cuneiform tablets. (Universities of Freiburg and Tübingen, KAO)

Fascinatingly, the city also yielded some ceramic jars containing over 100 unfired clay tablets inscribed in cuneiform, dating to the Middle Assyrian, shortly after the earthquake.

The team hopes that these records might contain some information about who lived in the city, and maybe even about the earthquake itself that led to its demise.

“It is close to a miracle that cuneiform tablets made of unfired clay survived so many decades underwater,” Pfälzner said.

The dam has since been refilled, submerging the city once more, but steps have been taken to make sure that it will be preserved for future excavations when the water recedes once more. The ruins have been sealed under plastic coverings that will prevent future erosion and degradation in the years ahead.

In the meantime, the frenzied work has given the archaeologists material to study that may shed light on the lives of the ancient Mittani who lived in the once-great city.

“The excavation results show that the site was an important centre in the Mittani Empire,” Qasim said.

AUSTRALIA, WORLD

First Australians ate giant eggs of huge flightless birds, ancient proteins confirm

First Australians ate giant eggs of huge flightless birds, ancient proteins confirm

Proteins extracted from fragments of prehistoric eggshells found in the Australian sands confirm that the continent’s earliest humans consumed the eggs of a two-metre tall bird that disappeared into extinction over 47,000 years ago. 

Detail from an illustration of Genyornis being chased from its nest by a Megalania lizard in prehistoric Australia. .

Burn marks discovered on scraps of ancient shell several years ago suggested the first Australians cooked and ate large eggs from a long-extinct bird – leading to fierce debate over the species that laid them. 

Now, an international team led by scientists from the universities of Cambridge and Turin have placed the animal on the evolutionary tree by comparing the protein sequences from powdered egg fossils to those encoded in the genomes of living avian species.  

“Time, temperature and the chemistry of a fossil all dictate how much information we can glean,” said senior co-author Prof Matthew Collins from the University of Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology. 

“Eggshells are made of mineral crystals that can tightly trap some proteins, preserving this biological data in the harshest of environments – potentially for millions of years”    

Prof Matthew Collins 

According to findings published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the ancient eggs came from Genyornis: a huge flightless “mihirung” – or ‘Thunder Bird’ – with tiny wings and massive legs that roamed prehistoric Australia, possibly in flocks.  

Fossil records show that Genyornis stood over two metres tall, weighed between 220-240 kilograms, and laid melon-sized eggs of around 1.5 kg. It was among the Australian “mega-fauna” to vanish a few thousand years after humans arrived, suggesting people played a role in its extinction.  

Pencil sketch of a Genyornis by Nobu Tamura.

The earliest “robust” date for the arrival of humans to Australia is some 65,000 years ago.

Burnt eggshells from the previously unconfirmed species all date to around 50 to 55 thousand years ago – not long before Genyornis is thought to have gone extinct – by which time humans had spread across most of the continent.  

“There is no evidence of Genyornis butchery in the archaeological record. However, eggshell fragments with unique burn patterns consistent with human activity have been found at different places across the continent,” said senior co-author Prof Gifford Miller from the University of Colorado.

“This implies that the first humans did not necessarily hunt these enormous birds, but did routinely raid nests and steal their giant eggs for food,” he said. “Overexploitation of the eggs by humans may well have contributed to Genyornis extinction.”

While Genyornis was always a contender for the mystery egg-layer, some scientists argued that – due to shell shape and thickness – a more likely candidate was the Progura or ‘giant malleefowl’: another extinct bird, much smaller, weighing around 5-7 kg and akin to a large turkey. 

The initial ambition was to put the debate to bed by pulling ancient DNA from pieces of shell, but genetic material had not sufficiently survived the hot Australian climate.

Miller turned to researchers at Cambridge and Turin to explore a relatively new technique for extracting a different type of “biomolecule”: protein.

Genyornis eggshell recently exposed by wind erosion of sand dune in which it was buried, South Australia.

While not as rich in hereditary data, the scientists were able to compare the sequences in ancient proteins to those of living species using a vast new database of biological material: the Bird 10,000 Genomes (B10K) project.    

“The Progura was related to today’s megapodes, a group of birds in the galliform lineage, which also contains ground-feeders such as chickens and turkeys,” said study first author Prof Beatrice Demarchi from the University of Turin.

“We found that the bird responsible for the mystery eggs emerged prior to the galliform lineage, enabling us to rule out the Progura hypothesis. This supports the implication that the eggs eaten by early Australians were laid by Genyornis.”

The 50,000-year-old eggshell tested for the study came from the archaeological site of Wood Point in South Australia, but Prof Miller has previously shown that similar burnt shells can be found at hundreds of sites on the far western Ningaloo coast. 

The researchers point out that the Genyornis egg exploitation behaviour of the first Australians likely mirrors that of early humans with ostrich eggs, the shells of which have been unearthed at archaeological sites across Africa dating back at least 100,000 years. 

Prof Collins added: “While ostriches and humans have co-existed throughout prehistory, the levels of exploitation of Genyornis eggs by early Australians may have ultimately proved more than the reproductive strategies of these extraordinary birds could bear.”   

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Volunteer delighted to uncover very rude Ancient Roman graffiti at Vindolanda

Volunteer delighted to uncover very rude Ancient Roman graffiti at Vindolanda

You see them scrawled on school desks, toilet walls and underpasses across the UK. However, it seems that the tradition of drawing the male appendage as graffiti goes back far further than any of us would have realised – after a volunteer uncovered graffiti at Vindolanda depicting an explicitly carved phallus.

Dylan Herbert, the volunteer who discovered the stone

The popular museum has found some hugely significant archaeological finds over the years, including the world’s oldest boxing gloves and the largest collection of leather shoes, consisting of around 7,000 items.

Earlier this year, a Roman Altar from the 3rd century AD was uncovered, thought to be from a similar time period to the most recent discovery. Though this one is quite a lot ruder!

Not only was there a drawing, but the 40 x 15cm stone is also engraved with SECVNDINVS CACOR, making the graffiti a very personal insult. Specialists in Roman epigraphy, Drs Alexander Meyer, Alex Mullen and Roger Tomlin, recognised it as a mangled version of ‘Secundinus cactor’ or in English, ‘Secudinus, the sh**ter.”

Retired biochemist Dylan Herbert was delighted to make the discovery on May 19. He said: “I’d been removing a lot of rubble all week and to be honest this stone had been getting in my way, I was glad when I was told I could take it out of the trench.

“It looked from the back like all the others, a very ordinary stone, but when I turned it over, I was startled to see some clear letters. Only after we removed the mud did I realise the full extent of what I’d uncovered, and I was absolutely delighted.”

Volunteer delighted to uncover very rude Ancient Roman graffiti at Vindolanda
The stone with the depiction of a phallus and the insult

Dr Andrew Birley, director of excavations and CEO of the Vindolanda Trust said: “The recovery of an inscription, a direct message from the past, is always a great event on a Roman excavation, but this one really raised our eyebrows when we deciphered the message on the stone.

Its author clearly had a big problem with Secundinus and was confident enough to announce their thoughts publicly on a stone.

“I have no doubt that Secundinus would have been less than amused to see this when he was wandering around the site over 1,700 years ago.”

What do you think of Vindolanda’s latest discovery? Let us know!

Though the Roman phallus is often seen as a good luck charm or symbol of fertility, in this case, the author has taken the meaning and subverted it to their own aims. Each letter has been carefully carved, which would have taken a while, leaving little doubt about the depth of feeling held.

Described as a ‘fabulous’ bit of social commentary, it is expected to amuse visitors for many years to come.

According to the team at Vindolanda, carving such a message would have been one of the best ways to get a lot of people to notice a point of view, centuries before printed papers or social media existed.

Excavations have taken place at Vindolanda for almost 100 years, and in that time the site has chalked up more phallus carvings than any other on Hadrian’s Wall.

The new addition takes that tally up to 13, and while that’s considered unlucky for some, Vindolanda archaeologists hope it’s a great sign for the rest of the excavation season in a huge year for the Wall.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Remains at Bronze Age Funeral Pyre in Italy Analyzed

Remains at Bronze Age Funeral Pyre in Italy Analyzed

A team of anthropologists studying Salorno, a stretch of scorched earth in northern Italy, say the site is a Late Bronze Age cremation platform where the remains of at least 172 individuals may have been burned. What’s more, the researchers believe the remains were simply left on the ground for the last 3,000 years.

Remains at Bronze Age Funeral Pyre in Italy Analyzed
The ustrinum at Salorno during excavations in 1987.

The site is called Salorno—Dos de la Forca, and it dates from 1150 BCE to 950 BCE. Besides the cremains (cremated remains) researchers found charred animal bone fragments, pottery shards, and bronze burial goods.

There was also a uniquely shaped boulder on the site (seen in the image above); it’s unknown whether it had any ceremonial purpose.

Though Salorno was first excavated in the 1980s, researchers only recently completed a bioanthropological analysis of the remains on the site. The team’s analysis was published last week in PLoS One.

“What is interesting at Salorno is that different from contemporary known cemeteries characterised by fields of cinerary urns or burials, this site appears as something very different: a pyre of dead bodies that were not selected for burial but intentionally left in the open, commingled with offerings and their own personal goods,” said Federica Crivellaro, a bioanthropologist at Stony Brook University and a co-author of the recent paper, in an email to Gizmodo.

“Salorno must have been a ‘sacred’ place for its community, in the way it was chosen but also protected from being looted or destroyed, but we cannot assess why exactly,” she added. “The fact that it serendipitously was preserved till today is simply very special.”

The site is a ustrinum, Latin for a cremation platform. Cremation was a widespread means of disposing of bodies in the Late Bronze age, but often the remains would be buried after they were burned.

At Salorno, they were simply left in situ, setting the site apart from other ustrina.

Tooth fragments from the site.

Crivellaro’s team looked at the number of human remains and calculated the likely number of individuals that were burned on the site at between 48 and 172, based on the total mass of the cremains. (The number of individuals represented at the site depends on whether all individuals were cremated and left in situ, or some bones were later buried elsewhere.)

In any case, the team knows the individuals were burned because of the bones’ condition (specific cracks in the fragments indicate heat-induced trauma) as well as their white colour (a shade distinct from ordinary, hydrated bones), which suggests the pyre temperatures may have exceeded 1292° Fahrenheit (700° C). The site was used over a couple of centuries, judging from the style of grave goods and pottery found on the site.

Because the individuals at Salorno were burned, it’s difficult to discern whether they were all related genetically.

“Cremated human remains are never sexy for traditional physical anthropology as they are fragmented, deformed, and skeletons and teeth are normally depleted of DNA,” Crivellaro said.

But based on the quality of the goods, and the sizes of contemporary settlements in the area, the team posited that the individuals burned and left in Salorno may have been a small number of nuclear families or a group of local elites.

Though the researchers don’t know who started the fire, they know it burned for about 200 years and incinerated nearly 50 people at a minimum in that time. ‘Ashes to ashes, dust to dust’ takes on a new meaning when the remains are left right where they were burned; if not fodder for worms, the remains are great fodder for archaeologists.

EUROPE, ICELAND, WORLD

Viking-Era Structures Explored in Iceland

Viking-Era Structures Explored in Iceland

Ongoing excavations of Viking-era, man-made caves near Oddi in South Iceland have revealed an extensive system of interconnected structures that is not only much larger than originally thought but also much older. Mbl. is reports that excavations, substantiated by tephra layers, show that the caves at Oddi were the first dugout in the middle of the 10th century.

“There really are no words to describe it,” archaeologist Kristborg Þórsdóttir said of the experience of standing in what is one of the best-preserved man-made structures of the Viking era. Kristborg is leading the current interdisciplinary study on the caves, which has been ongoing since 2020.

“The size of these structures is just so vast, there hasn’t been a study of such large structures, and definitely not from this time period in Iceland.”

An important medieval cultural and political centre

The first intact, man-made cave at Oddi was discovered in 2018, which was a remarkable discovery in and of itself. But further investigation of the site revealed a much larger cave connected to the first. It is this cave that is currently being excavated by Kristborg and her team.

The historic site of a church, farm, and vicarage, Oddi was once one of Iceland’s most important cultural and political seats and home to a powerful clan known as the Oddverjar. The current study has been ongoing for two years, with the primary aim of shedding light on the writing culture that was there during the 11th and 12th centuries, when the Oddverjar were at the height of their powers. Sæmundur fróði (Sæmundur the Learned, 1056-1133) was the most famous member of the clan. He studied in France and wrote one of the earliest histories of the Norwegian kings, although that manuscript was lost. Sæmundur’s grandson, Jón Loftsson, was a powerful chieftain who fostered Snorri Sturluson, the renowned historian, poet, and lawspeaker who is thought to have authored or partially authored major medieval works such as the Prose Edda (known as Snorri’s Edda in Icelandic), the most significant extant source on Norse mythology, as well as the Heimskringla, a saga of the Norwegian kings that was likely based on Sæmundur fróði’s lost manuscript.

Kristborg Þórsdottir. The excavation site seen from above

A race against time

“We’ve just partially opened up the large, collapsed cave that our little cave is connected to,” explained Kristborg. “We still have deeper to dig; we’re just working on making conditions safe. It’s gotten very deep and the rock isn’t sound. So it’s taken some time.”

Kristborg notes that the excavation is unique in terms of how demanding on-site conditions are. The caves are not only at a significant depth, which is dangerous for the archaeologists involved in digging them out, but also built into sandstone. “The rock is so porous that it just crumbles before our eyes.” It’s thought that the caves were not used for very long because they are so prone to disintegration.

Resources for the archeologists also remain limited. “We only have limited funds and time and you never know what’s going to happen next year. Maybe we can continue, maybe not. And information is always lost from year to year, preservation gets worse.”

A long and complex history, waiting to be uncovered

Kristborg says that the cave currently being excavated may possibly be Nautahellir, Bull Cave, which is mentioned in Jarteinabók Þorláks Biskups (Bishop Þorlákur’s Legends of Saints), which dates back to 1210 – 1250. The manuscript relates how Nautahellir collapsed with 12 bulls in it. One was then rescued from the rubble.

“Although it’s older than that, it’s likely that [the cave] was used for livestock,” explained Kristborg. “Whether it was for that specific bull, we don’t know. But the history of its use obviously goes back further than we’ve managed to trace yet.”

The caves at Oddi have a complex and fascinating story to tell, says Kristborg, but the scope of the current investigation is such that she and her team need to keep their focus narrow. “These are huge structures and an unbelievably large system of caves that we’re only just starting to come to grips with. […] We’d need to undertake a much, much larger study with a much bigger crew in order to get to the bottom of this and trace this history in full, the history of these caves’ use.”

WORLD

Satellite: Nephilim Giant Caught on Satellite Imagery Of The Patagonian Mountains

Satellite: Nephilim Giant Caught on Satellite Imagery Of The Patagonian Mountains

Have you ever given any thought as to why there are so many stories and myths about giants on the Earth?

Satellite: Nephilim Giant Caught on Satellite Imagery Of The Patagonian Mountains

Could it be that this “Society of Giant People” dwells in cities within the Earth but have above-ground access to secluded areas like the Patagonian Mountains located at the southern end of South America, shared by Argentina and Chile?

The existence of these unknown beings, known as the Patagones or Patagonian giants, was brought to light for the first time in the 1520s when Ferdinand Magellan and his crew saw them while exploring the coastline of South America en route to their circumnavigation.

It could well be that Magellan and his crew saw the Tehuelche.

These people were indeed very tall. But as he wrote explicitly about Patagonian giants, who were supposed to have exceeded at least double normal human height, some accounts giving heights of 12 to 15 feet, we may assume that they really saw Patagonian giants instead of the Tehuelche.

Further evidence of the existence of these giants is depicted on a map by Diego Gutiérrez from 1562, which shows Patagonian giants, who somehow related to the ancestors of the Nephilim and Rephaim, named the Didanum people.

Many people say that the story of the Patagonian giants is just a myth because there is no hard evidence that these giants have existed, but maybe the satellite imagery of the Patagonian Mountains showing a possible Giant being could change their minds.

Although the images taken from Google Earth are not really clear, the shape of a giant being sitting on a rock is recognizable, especially its head, eyes, nose, mouth, right hand and fingers as well as its left leg, foot and toes can be seen.

Roger inKC who discovered the being shows a detailed overview of the area in the next video.

Google Earth coordinates 54°50’32.78″S 69°21’57.08″W

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

250 mummies in coffins among the latest discoveries from Egypt’s Saqqara treasure trove

250 mummies in coffins among the latest discoveries from Egypt’s Saqqara treasure trove

Egyptian archaeologists have revealed another massive haul of priceless artefacts from the Saqqara Necropolis, a bountiful site near Cairo that likely still holds untold secrets.

On display Monday were dozens of newly-discovered, beautifully decorated coffins or sarcophagi, still sealed up with their owners mummified inside, along with dozens of bronze statues.

Monday’s big reveal, with artefacts lined up in front of Saqqara’s Step Pyramid of Djoser for journalists to admire, was the fifth by the archaeologists working at the site since 2018, and there are still many years of work left to carry out there.

Sarcophogi, or coffins, still sealed and containing the good-condition mummified remains of ancient Egyptians, are seen on display at the Saqqara Necropolis near Cairo, in Egypt, in a photo provided by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, May 30, 2022.

The latest discoveries, including about 250 still-sealed sarcophagi, came from the “Cemetery of Sacred Animals” at Saqqara, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, told CBS News.

There have now been more than 450 decorated, sealed coffins containing mummies in good condition discovered at the cemetery, all of them dating back some 2,500 years.

The cemetery site at Saqqara was previously called “Bubasteion,” a reference to the ancient Egyptian goddess Bast, who was worshipped in the form of a cat.

Many of the statues initially discovered there depicted the goddess. In 2019, however, the site has renamed the Cemetery of Sacred Animals after archaeologists discovered other mummified animals and statues of other Egyptian deities there, Dr Mohamed Al Saidi, the mission’s director, told CBS News.

A sarcophagus that is around 2,500 years old, from the newly discovered burial site near Egypt’s Saqqara necropolis, is seen during a presentation in Giza, Egypt, May 30, 2022.

The artefacts displayed on Monday included about 150 bronze statues of Egyptian deities of different sizes, including some portraying the gods Anubis, Osiris, Nefertem, Isis, and Hathor.

“Today’s discovery confirms that the temple wasn’t exclusively for cats, but for other Egyptian deities too,” Al Saidi told CBS News.

Two wooden statues are seen on display at the Saqqara Necropolis near Cairo, in Egypt, in a photo provided by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, May 30, 2022.

“We found two beautiful wooden statues with golden faces of the deities Isis and Neftis, named the protectors of the coffin,” he said of the artefacts pulled from one of the dig shafts at the cemetery.

“They were in a seated position [by one coffin], one of them by the head of the coffin and the other by the feet, in a position called ‘the mourners’ or ‘weepers’ for the deceased.”

Inside the same coffin, the archaeologists discovered a papyrus roll they believe maybe 10 yards long and containing chapters of the “Book of the Dead.” The papyrus has been sent to a lab at the Egyptian Museum for further examination.

The worksite is almost 440 yards long, and the archaeologists working there have only carried out excavations on the first 100 yards, so Al Saidi told CBS News the site likely still has a lot more treasures to reveal.

An archaeologist cleans a sarcophagus, or coffin, still sealed and containing the mummified remains of an ancient Egyptian, as artefacts are displayed at the Saqqara Necropolis near Cairo, Egypt, in a photo provided by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, May 30, 2022.

Egypt’s tourism industry is trying to get back on its feet after the shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the war in Ukraine has dealt a fresh blow. Russians and Ukrainians represented a significant proportion of the foreign tourists visiting the country before those calamities struck.

PERU, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

Archaeologists Find Massive Underground World Belonging To A Long Lost Civilization In Peru

Archaeologists Find Massive Underground World Belonging To A Long Lost Civilization In Peru

Researchers in Peru have discovered a complex underground world belonging to the ancient Chavín culture that has been identified as burial chambers that date back thousands of years.

The culture developed in the northern Andean highlands of Peru between 1,300 and 550 BC. The Chavín extended its influence to other civilizations along the coast.

The Ancient Chavin civilization developed advanced knowledge not only in metallurgy, but in soldering, and temperature control. The ancient Chavin used early techniques to develop refined gold work.

Not, researchers have discovered galleries, ceramics and even a place where this civilization carried out burials, located beneath the surface. They say it’s the most important archaeological discovery made in the last 50 years.

Archaeologists Find Massive Underground World Belonging To A Long Lost Civilization In Peru
Seen in this image are the new underground galleries that have been found containing the first human burials of the Chavin period.

Since June of 2018, a team of archaeologists has unearthed three new galleries in an area adjacent to the circular plaza of Chavín. In the place, they have found remarkable pieces of ceramics, utensils and intact human burials.

According to an American anthropologist and archaeologist John Rick, in charge of the Archaeological and Conservation Research Program of Chavín, the three discovered galleries come from the late period of this civilization that developed between 1,300 and 550 BC.

“What these galleries show is that Chavín has a much larger underground world than we think,” said Rick.

The Ministry of Culture estimates that to date only 15% of the area has been explored.

Inside one of these underground galleries, archaeologists discovered artefacts that belonged to the later Huaraz culture.

These successive occupations, found at different levels in the archaeological complex demonstrate the cultural and religious importance that Chavin had in the central highlands for centuries.

The project’s specialists used small robots with built-in micro-cameras to carry out the explorations. These machines – designed on-site by engineers from Stanford University – entered very small areas and discovered cavities in the Chavin labyrinths, where pottery was preserved.

Chavin de Huantar was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. So far 35 interconnected underground passageways have been found at the site, Peru’s culture ministry said.

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