CHILE, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

Mummified Parrots Found In The Atacama Desert Transported Hundreds Of Miles While Alive

Mummified Parrots Found In The Atacama Desert Transported Hundreds Of Miles While Alive

The more we delve into Chile’s desolate Atacama Desert, the more we discover, Phenomena both mystifying and wonderful, occasionally bordering on alien. But in this incredibly dry place, it wasn’t just the climate that was unforgiving. Its ancient human inhabitants, making do in a parched place not best suited to hosting them, traded in whatever they could get their hands on.

Sometimes, it seems, that was the brilliant feathers of colourful birds brought unceremoniously to a desert they didn’t belong to, but were destined to be buried within. What we consider acceptable interactions with animals under our care was very different back then, says anthropological archaeologist Jose Capriles from Pennsylvania State University.

“Some of these birds did not live a happy life. They were kept to produce feathers and their feathers were plucked out as soon as they grew in.” Capriles is something of a specialist when it comes to discovering the exotic oddities of pre-Columbian American culture.

This is how the mummified macaws would’ve looked when they were alive.

This time, his mother – Eliana Flores Bedregal, an ornithologist by profession – came along for the ride, co-authoring a new study examining the life and death of over two-dozen mummified and partially mummified parrots found within the Atacama Desert.

In total, at least six species of parrots originally recovered from five of the desert’s archaeological sites were studied in the research, with the remains variously dating from between 1100 to 1450 CE.

Mummified Parrots Found In The Atacama Desert Transported Hundreds Of Miles While Alive
Researchers identified a mummified Blue-Fronted Amazon parrot, recovered from an ancient cemetery in the Atacama Desert.

“The feathers of tropical birds were one of the most significant symbols of economic, social, and sacred status in the pre-Columbian Americas,” the authors write in their study.

In the Andes, finely produced clothing and textiles containing multicoloured feathers of tropical parrots materialized power, prestige, and distinction and were particularly prized by political and religious elites. Behind the folds of this marvellous drapery, the colourful birds likely lived a miserable existence in captivity, far from the Amazonian rainforests that were once their home.

Sometimes, the feathers were plucked elsewhere and imported into the Andes in special containers, but the remains of the 27 parrots and macaws analyzed here suggest many other birds were specifically brought to the desert for their vibrant plumage.

The feather trade in the region dates back much longer than this, at least to the Chinchorro mummies of around 5050 BCE. Thousands of years later, feathers were still a cherished feature used in garments, hats, headdresses, and other ornaments.

Most of the mummified birds examined in the new study were originally recovered from an archaeological site called Pica 8, located close to an oasis community within the Atacama Desert that still exists today.

Mummified scarlet macaw.

Once upon a time, though, the people here buried their birds alongside themselves.

“Most birds were placed in direct association with human burials,” the researchers write, noting the parrots’ tails were often removed.

Sometimes the animals were positioned in elaborate stances, with beaks opened and tongues sticking out, perhaps tied to ritualistic practices invoking parrots’ ability to mimic human speech. Others had their wings spread as if to forever soar in the afterlife.

During their life on Earth, it seems many had their wings broken and their feet strapped, although the researchers also observe care was taken with some of the animals, with evidence of clipping of their beaks and claws, in addition to healing processes for fractures sustained by the parrots.

“We have absolutely no idea why they were mummified like this,” Capriles says.

“They seem to be eviscerated through their cloaca (a common excretory and reproductive opening), which helped to preserve them. Many times, they were wrapped in textiles or bags.”

What is certain is that it can’t have been easy to get these grounded birds to the desert. Transported by llama caravans, it’s likely the journey from the Amazon would have taken months, the researchers think, although it’s possible some of the birds were procured from regions closer to the desert.

Once there, they were held as valuable pets, treasured for their wondrous palette of feathers, with each enticing shade certain to be stolen.

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

In 1980, while cleaning out her garage, a woman found the hidden mummies

In 1980, while cleaning out her garage, a woman found the hidden mummies

In 1966, two California teenagers became fascinated with mummies and archaeology. They wanted to make a find for themselves and had heard that the prehistoric tribes of northern Mexico had a tradition of burying their dead in caves.

Near Sunny San Diego, the small area known as Lemon Grove is famous for its Giant Lemon, a sight to behold for all roadside novelty-seekers. Also, mummies. 

What do you do when your earnest search for a mummy actually yields one? What if it yields two? If you are the two teenage boys who managed to find this treasure trove of mummification, you panic and hide them in a garage. 

In 1966, two California boys went to Chihuahua, Mexico in search of mummies. Quite the mummy fanatics, they knew Indian tribes had once brought their dead to the cool, dry caves near Chihuahua, and considered the area prime hunting grounds for a mummy of their very own.

The mummies were found in a cave in Chihuahua, Mexico

For over a month they peeked into every nook and cranny of the caves, until their tenacity finally paid off—the boys not only found a coveted mummy, they found two.

The boys gazed at their prizes, the mummified remains of a teenage girl, as well as the tinier corpse of a one-year-old. Despite their determination to find them, they were now faced with the reality of having them.

They couldn’t exactly carry the bodies out of the country in backpacks, and the gravity of their mothers finding out began to become a very worrisome, previously overlooked issue. So the boys did what any secret-keeping teen would—they smuggled the bodies over the border, and convinced a friend to hide them in her garage. 

  • In 1980, while cleaning out her garage, a woman found the hidden mummies
The mummy of Lemon Grove Girl, San Diego Museum of Man

With no real endgame in sight the boys left their macabre finds in this safe location—safe that is until their friend’s mother decided that it was tie to do some spring cleaning. 14 years after being stashed away behind the garden tools and moving boxes, the girls were found.

The woman who found them was understandably shaken and naturally assumed that some sort of murder had taken place. Stolen mummies stashed there by neighbor kids isn’t exactly the first place the mind goes.

The police recognized immediately that the bodies were not likely to be murder victims, but could not figure out how the two ancient cadavers found their way into this suburban family garage—the teen is thought to have died between  A.D. 1040 and 1260. While they investigated, the mummies were delivered to the San Diego Museum of Man for safekeeping. 

Fondly nicknamed “The Lemon Grove Girl”, the teenage mummy and her infant companion were stashed away until rightful ownership could be sorted.

Eventually the police caught up with the boys, who were now grown men of course, and asked for an explanation. The men told their story, and in an ever so generous act of contrition offered to donate their mummies to the Museum of Man. 

The officials, eyes rolling, informed the men that due to their juvenile status when the crime was committed and the time that had passed, they were lucky that no charges would be pressed, and thanked them for the charitable offer, but the mummies were not theirs to give.

The museum however was very keen on becoming the keeper of the girls, and after being granted permission by the Mexican government to retain them, including the Lemon Grove Girl in their gorgeous Ancient Egypt and Mummies exhibit. 

ASIA, INDIA, WORLD

17th-Century Gold Bracelet Unearthed in India

17th-Century Gold Bracelet Unearthed in India

In the hilltop complex in Mahad, nearly 160kilometers from Mumbai, the India Archeological Survey, and the Raigad Development Authority (RDA) organize excavations.

Following the news of the finding of a gold bracelet, Shri Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, a descendent of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, visited the fort and had a closer look at the artifact.

“This will help us understand the lifestyle, culture, and architecture of the time period contemporary to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. I would like to appreciate ASI for their efforts on Raigad excavation and conservation work,” said Sambhaji Chhatrapati, who belongs to the royal family of Kolhapur and a President-nominated Rajya Sabha member.

“A gold ornament (gold bangle) was discovered during excavation. It is possible that such invaluable objects can be found during future excavation,” said Sambhaji Chhatrapati, the chairperson of RDA.

“Till date, many ornaments, vessels, contemporary things used in construction, coins etc has been discovered through excavation,” he said.

In 1674, Shivaji Maharaj made Raigad Fort his capital.

Earlier known as Rairi, Shivaji Maharaj seized the fort from Chandraraoji More, the king of Jawli and a descendant of Chandragupta Maurya, in 1656. For over a decade, it was renovated and strengthened. The villages of Pachad and Raigadwadi are located at the base of the fort.

After the death of Shivaji and thereafter the killing of his son Sambhajil Maharaj in 1689, the fort was captured by Mughals under Aurangzeb, and in 1818, it was the target of an armed expedition of the British East India Company.

Located 820 meters (2,700 feet) above sea level in the Sahyadri mountain ranges, the fort can be accessed by a single pathway comprising 1737 steps.

Surrounded by deep green valleys, the fort has several gateways that enthrall its visitors, namely, the Mena Darwaja, Nagarkhana Darwaja, Palkhi Darwaja, and the majestic Maha Darwaja which is the main entrance to the imperial structure.

There are 21 villages around the Raigad Fort.

The Fort stands as a silent reminder of Maharashtra’s glorious past though the sound of trumpets and drums or the clang of clashing swords and shields are heard no more at this historic monument, which is identified as ‘durgaraj’ (king of forts).

The Britishers had named it “Gibraltar of the East” as the well-fortified structure atop the hill was extremely difficult to access, leave alone conquer. Various landmarks have lent it the credo of ‘Shiva-teerth’.

The fort has attained the status of a holy shrine for the devotees of Lord Shiva as hundreds and thousands of people visit the fort every day not alone for its heritage character and its being a specimen of perfect defense architecture but also for being the seat of their role model, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, who is well known for valor, courage, administrative acumen, benevolence, and patriotism.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

1,500-Year-Old Mosaic Discovered in Turkey

1,500-Year-Old Mosaic Discovered in Turkey

According to an Anadolu Agency report, researchers from the Izmir Archaeology Museum uncovered a 1,500-year-old mosaic in a remote, mountainous area of western Turkey.

A monastery built during the Roman era and a 1,500-year-old mosaic was unearthed in western Turkey as security forces nabbed two suspects conducting an illegal excavation.

Turkish Gendarmerie teams, acting on a tip, launched an operation in the mountainous area where there is no method of transportation by vehicle in the Aliaga District of Izmir province.

The suspects were nabbed trying to remove the historical remains about 2 meters (6.5 feet) below the ground.

Later, experts from the Izmir Archeology Museum investigated the region and the area was taken under protection.

1,500-Year-Old Mosaic Discovered in Turkey

The mosaic will be taken to a museum after initial studies are performed.

Hunkar Keser, the director of the Izmir Archeology Museum told Anadolu Agency that the team came to the region following the Turkish Gendarmerie’s notification.

“We detected the floor mosaic. This place was used as a monastery and has a basilica,” said Keser.

Explaining that the team estimates the monastery was used between the fourth and fourteenth centuries, Keser said the mosaic was very valuable archaeologically.

“It is located at a point where it can be reached by tractor from the pathways. This is a universal cultural asset and a rare artefact,” he said.

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Mississippi Repatriates Native American Remains and Artifacts

Mississippi Repatriates Native American Remains and Artifacts

The Associated Press reports that the Mississippi Department of Archives and History will hand over more than 400 sets of human remains and 83 artefacts in its collections to The Chickasaw Nation under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA).

The William F. Winter Archives and History Building in Jackson, Mississippi

A man and a woman were found buried among wolf teeth and turtle shells. Other graves contained mothers and infants. Some tribal members were laid to rest with beloved dogs. Over the past century, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History has stored the remains of hundreds of Native Americans who once inhabited the state.

Most of the remains were found in the Mississippi Delta and range from 750 to 1,800 years old. For decades, they sat on shelves in the state’s collections.

Now, the remains of 403 Chickasaw ancestors along with various artefacts have been returned to their people to be laid to rest on Mississippi soil.

The initiative is the largest of its kind conducted by the state of Mississippi since the passage three decades ago of the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. Since 1990, the law has required that institutions like museums and schools that receive federal funding return human remains, funerary objects and other sacred items to their Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian descendants.

“We see the repatriation process as an act of love,” said Amber Hood, director of historic preservation and repatriation for The Chickasaw Nation. “These are our grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles and cousins from long ago.”

Around 83,000 ancestral native remains in the United States had been returned to descendants as of last fall, according to National Park Service data. But at least another 116,000 still are waiting to be returned.

Anne Amati, NAGPRA coordinator with the University of Denver Museum of Anthropology, said institutions in the southeastern United States have more remains than anywhere else in the country.

Volunteers hand-sewed unbleached muslin collection bags that are being used for holding several hundred Chickasaw ancestors and artefacts that soon will be returned to native hands.

Dozens of tribes, including the Chickasaw, Choctaw and Cherokee, once lived across millions of acres throughout the Southeast until forcibly and violently removed by the U.S. government following the Indian Removal Act of the 1830s.

After the Great Depression, thousands of graves were disrupted by the Tennessee Valley Authority as workers built reservoirs. Nearly 11,500 remains from Tennessee have now been returned to descendants, but 21,200 remain. More than 18,600 in Alabama have been returned, but there are still about 10,650 more.

In some instances, shell beads, stone tools, celts and vessels found in burial sites across the nation have been put on exhibit in museums.

Many remains in Mississippi were discovered by Delta farmers developing land from the 1950s to 1970s.

Meg Cook, the Mississippi agency’s director of archaeology, said the state has an ethical as well as a legal responsibility to return remains.

“We’re doing everything that we can to reconcile the past and move forward in a very transparent way,” Cook said. “It’s our responsibility to tell the Mississippi story. And that means all of the bad parts, too.”

There are more than 1,000 remains still to be identified and returned to tribes in Mississippi.

The Chickasaw Nation told Mississippi officials they wanted remains and objects from their ancestors to be transported in muslin bags, which will decompose when reburied. Volunteers were recruited during the pandemic shutdown to hand-sew the bags at home.

Mississippi Repatriates Native American Remains and Artifacts
Volunteers sewed these muslin bags, which were used to transport the remains of 403 Native Americans back to the Chickasaw Nation.

“Volunteers knew they were helping in some ways to bring these people home, to put them to rest,” Cook said.

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Trapped In A Fossil: Remnants Of A 46-Million-Year-Old Meal

Trapped In A Fossil: Remnants Of A 46-Million-Year-Old Meal

A mosquito plunged its proboscis into an animal, perhaps a bird or a mammal, and filled up on a blood meal around 46 million years ago. Then its luck turned for the worse, as it fell into a lake and sunk to the bottom.

Normally this wouldn’t be newsworthy, and nobody would likely know or care about a long-dead insect in what is now northwest Montana.

But somehow, the mosquito didn’t immediately decompose — a fortuitous turn of events for modern-day scientists — and became fossilized over the course of many years, said Dale Greenwalt, a researcher at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Greenwalt discovered the mosquito fossil after it was given to the museum as a gift, and he immediately realized the specimen’s rarity.

Trapped In A Fossil: Remnants Of A 46-Million-Year-Old Meal
A very old squished mosquito found in fossilized rock from Montana. Analysis of the insect’s gut revealed telltale chemicals found in the blood.

It is, in fact, the only blood-engorged mosquito fossil found, Greenwalt told LiveScience.

The fossil is even stranger because it comes from shale, a type of rock formed from sediments deposited at the bottom of bodies of water, as opposed to amber, the age-old remains of dried tree sap, in which insect remnants are generally better preserved. 

“The chances that such an insect would be preserved in shale is almost infinitesimally small,” Greenwalt said.

In their study, Greenwalt and his collaborators bombarded the mosquito fossil with molecules of bismuth, a heavy metal, which vaporizes chemicals found in the fossil.

Fossil mosquitoes collected by Dale Greenwalt, a volunteer research collaborator at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. The fossils were collected as part of a 5-year project to produce a research collection of fossil insects from the Kishenehn Formation.

These airborne chemicals are then analyzed by a mass spectrometer, a machine that can identify chemicals based on their atomic weights, Greenwalt said.

The beauty of this technique, called time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, is that it doesn’t destroy the sample — previously, similar techniques required grinding up portions of fossils, he added.

The analysis revealed hidden porphyrins, organic compounds found in hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in the blood, hidden in the fossilized mosquito’s abdomen.

The finding may bring to mind the story of “Jurassic Park,” a novel and movie in which scientists resurrect dinosaurs from DNA preserved in blood-engorged mosquitoes preserved in amber.

Although this finding doesn’t really make this fictitious story any more likely, it does show that complex organic molecules besides DNA can be preserved for a long time, Greenwalt said.

The discovery also shows that “blood-filled mosquitoes were already feeding at that time, suggesting that they were around much earlier and could have fed on dinosaurs,” said George Poinar, a paleo-entomologist at Oregon State University, who wasn’t involved in the research.

Greenwalt said he had no way of knowing exactly how the mosquito was preserved so well. Perhaps the most likely hypothesis is that the insect was trapped in a covering of water-suspended algae, which are capable of coating specimens in a sticky, gluelike material, before sinking to the bottom; this algae process has been shown to fossilize other types of insects, he said.

Researchers don’t know what kind of animal the blood came from since hemoglobin-derived porphyrins amongst different animals appear to be identical, Greenwalt said.

The study is exciting because it provides more evidence that porphyrins, organic compounds found in “virtually all living organisms from microbes to humans in varying amounts” are “extremely stable” — and are thus a perfect target for studying long-dead plants and animals, said Mary Schweitzer, a researcher at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, who wasn’t involved in the study. 

EUROPE, IRELAND, WORLD

Dead bodies of 800 babies found in a septic tank at a former Irish home for unwed mothers

Dead bodies of 800 babies found in a septic tank at former Irish home for unwed mothers

The discovery of nearly 800 dead babies in the septic tank of a home run by nuns has set off a round of soul-searching in Ireland and sparked calls for accountability from government and Catholic Church officials.

The entrance to the site of a mass grave of hundreds of children who died in the former Bons Secours home for unmarried mothers is seen in Tuam, County Galway

According to new evidence, 796 children were secretly buried in the sewage tank of a home in Tuam, County Galway, where unmarried pregnant women were sent to give birth in an attempt to preserve the country’s devout Catholic image.

Officials said they were “horrified” at the discovery and said it revealed “a darker past in Ireland,” a country often haunted by its history of abuse within powerful church institutions.

Dead bodies of 800 babies found in a septic tank at former Irish home for unwed mothers
“Unclaimed bodies” used without consent for the “study of the anatomy and the structure of the human body.”

The home was run by nuns from the Bon Secours Sisters congregation between 1925 and 1961. It was one of the “mother and baby” homes across Ireland, similar to the Sean Ross Abbey, in Tipperary, where Philomena Lee gave her child up for adoption in a story that was this year made into the eponymous Oscar-nominated film “Philomena.”

People who lived near the home said they have known about the unmarked mass grave for decades, but a fresh investigation was sparked after research by local historian Catherine Corless purportedly showed that of the hundreds of children who died at the home, only one was buried at a cemetery.

Speaking to the Irish Mail, which first reported her research, she also said that health board records from the 1940s said conditions at the home were dire, with children suffering malnutrition and neglect and dying at a rate four times higher than in the rest of Ireland.

Local historian Catherine Corless at the site of the alleged mass grave in Tuam.

Charlie Flanagan, minister for children and youth affairs, said that there was a “cross-departmental initiative underway” to determine how to react to allegations.

“Many of the revelations are deeply disturbing and a shocking reminder of a darker past in Ireland when our children were not cherished as they should have been,” Flanagan said.

According to the Reuters news agency, Ireland’s Roman Catholic Church told the order of nuns who ran the former home that it must co-operate with any inquiry into the discovery. Tuam’s Archbishop Michael Neary said that the diocese had no part in running the home but urged the Bon Secours Sisters to “act upon their responsibilities in the interests of the common good.”

“I am horrified and saddened to hear of the large number of deceased children involved and this points to a time of great suffering and pain for the little ones and their mothers,” he said.

The Bon Secours congregation did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.

A figurine in the infants’ graveyard at Sean Ross Abbey in Roscrea, Tipperary, which was mother and baby home operated by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary from 1930 to 1970.

The claims came to light after Corless obtained death records for the home and cross-checked them with local cemetery records. Two local boys reportedly unearthed the home’s concrete-covered tank while playing in 1975 and found hundreds of children’s bones inside. The tank has now been surrounded by a housing estate, but an officer from Ireland’s Gardai police force said remains had recently been found after a police survey at the site.

“We do not know what we’re dealing with here yet, it could go back much further,” the officer told NBC News on condition of anonymity. “This is a historical investigation going back to the 1950s.

“We are investigating this matter, the grounds have been surveyed and there is what appears to be human remains discovered. But [the remains] could go back as far as famine times, which is 160 years, we just don’t know yet.”

Police could not confirm if a full excavation of the site was planned.

Ireland’s once-powerful Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of scandals over children’s abuse and neglect in recent years. The Church operated as a quasi-social service in the 20th century and the mother and baby homes were run in a similar fashion to the Magdalene Laundries, where single women who became pregnant were sent away.

“Children went in there so the families could conceal their shame”

While government and church officials were quick to express their shock at reports of Tuam’s high infant mortality rate and allegations of mass burial, the traits were not uncommon for such institutions in Ireland, according to Eoin O’Sullivan, associate professor at Trinity College Dublin.

“Tuam was a former workhouse and conditions were pretty bleak,” said O’Sullivan, co-author of the 2001 book “Suffer the Little Children: The Inside Story of Ireland’s Industrial Schools.”

“Ireland’s first mother and baby home, at Bessborough, in Cork, had an even worse infant mortality rate of around 82 per cent: In the year ending March 31, 1944, 124 children were born or admitted there, and 102 died.”

O’Sullivan added that the practice of mass burial, often with just one headstone marking the site, was not uncommon in many mother and baby homes and psychiatric hospitals at the time.

“Remember that the children went in there so the families could conceal their shame, and the kids were often adopted,” he said. “The nuns were not going around grabbing pregnant women; the women were taken there by their families who knew what conditions were like.

“Why have politicians and the Church reacted with such shock? I’m not sure. I suppose they have to every time something like this comes out connected with religious institutions.”

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

The ancient helmet was worn by a soldier in the Greek-Persian wars found in Israel

The ancient helmet was worn by a soldier in the Greek-Persian wars found in Israel

A well-preserved Greek ancient helmet near the Israeli city of Haifa was discovered in 2007 by the crew of a dutch ship crossing the Mediterranean Sea. As required by local law, the dredging vessel’s owner promptly handed the find over to archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA).

Now, reports the Greek City Times, researchers have offered new insights on the object, which is the only intact helmet of its kind found along Israel’s coast.

Crafted in the sixth century B.C., the Corinthian armour was likely used during the Persian Wars, which pitted Greek city-states against the Persian Empire in a series of clashes between 492 and 449 B.C.

The ancient helmet was worn by a soldier in the Greek-Persian wars found in Israel
This bronze helmet was likely worn by a soldier fighting in the Greek-Persian wars.

“[It] probably belonged to a Greek warrior stationed on one of the warships of the Greek fleet that participated in the naval conflict against the Persians who ruled the country at the time,” says Kobi Sharvit, director of the IAA’s Marine Archaeology Unit, in a statement.

After spending 2,600 years on the seafloor, the helmet’s cracked surface is heavily rusted. But scholars could still discern a delicate, peacock-like pattern above its eyeholes. This unique design helped archaeologists determine that craftsmen made the armour in the Greek city-state of Corinth.

According to Ancient Origin’s Nathan Falde, metalworkers would have fashioned the piece to fit tightly around the head of a particular person—but not so tightly that it couldn’t be swiftly and safely removed in the heat of battle.

“The helmet was expertly fabricated from a single sheet of bronze by means of heating and hammering,” notes the statement. “This technique made it possible to reduce its weight without diminishing its capacity for protecting the head of a warrior.”

As Owen Jarus wrote for Live Science in 2012, archaeologists excavated a similar helmet near the Italian island of Giglio, which is about 1,500 miles from where the crew found the recently analyzed artefact, during the 1950s.

That headgear—also around 2,600 years old—helped modern scholars determine when craftspeople manufactured the Haifa Bay armour.

Depiction of Greek hoplite and Persian warrior fighting during the Persian Wars

Experts speculate that the headpiece’s owner was a wealthy individual, as most soldiers wouldn’t have been able to afford such elaborate gear.

“The gilding and figural ornaments make this one of the most ornate pieces of early Greek armour discovered,” wrote Sharvit and scholar John Hale in a research summary quoted by UPI.

One theory raised by researchers speculates that the helmet belonged to a mercenary who fought alongside the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho II, per the Express’ Sebastian Kettley.

Another explanation posits that a Greek soldier stationed in the Mediterranean donned the headpiece, only to drop it into the water or lose it when his ship sank.

Though archaeologists aren’t sure exactly who owned the artefact, they do know that the warrior sailed the seas at a time when Persia controlled much of the Middle East.

As Live Science’s Jarus explains in a more recent article, the Persians attempted to invade Greece around 490 B.C. but were defeated near Athens during the Battle of Marathon.

A second attack by the Persians culminated in the Battle of Thermopylae, which saw a heavily outnumbered group of Spartans led by King Leonidas mount a doomed last stand against Xerxes’ Persian forces. (The 480 B.C. clash is heavily dramatized in the film 300.) But while Thermopylae ended in a Greek loss, the tides of war soon turned, with the Greeks forcing the Persians out of the region the following year.

In the decades after the Persians’ failed invasions, the Greek military continued the fight by campaigning against enemy troops stationed in the eastern Mediterranean. 

Ancient Origins notes that the helmet’s owner was likely active during this later phase of the war—“when the Persians were often on the defensive” rather than offensive—and may have served on either a patrol ship or a battleship.

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