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.

ASIA, IRELAND, WORLD

The discovery of a mass baby grave under a Roman bathhouse in Ashkelon, Israel

The discovery of a mass baby grave under a Roman bathhouse in Ashkelon, Israel

In the seaport of Ashkelon, along the coast of the Israeli Mediterranean coast, archaeologist Ross Voss made a bizarre discovery, while exploring one of the sewers of the area, he found a significant amount of bones.  At first, the bones were accepted to be chicken bones. Later, it was found that the bones were that of human.

Remains of Roman bathhouse in Israel

Newborn child bones from the Roman period. With the remaining parts adding up to in excess of 100 children, it was the biggest disclosure of babies remains to date.

Why were these roman babies killed?

As curious as you are, so was the Archaeologist while he found out the bones of the newborns. Voss took the remaining parts to forensic anthropologist Professor Patrician Smith. Smith analyzed the baby remains and established that there was no indication of the chances of survival of the babies longer than a week before being killed.

She used a technique of forensic testing that enabled her to confirm that none of the newborn children was healthy when they died.

During the era of Romans, it was normal for babies to be murdered as a type of birth control. It wasn’t a crime, as babies were seen as being ‘not completely human.

As a rule, a Roman lady who did not need an infant would take part in the act of “exposure” as she would desert the newborn child, either to be found and taken care of by another person or to die.

As per the convictions at the time, it was up to the gods to decide if the newborn child would be saved or not.

According to Roman mythology, the most popular record of close child murder, in which Romulus and Remus, two newborn children of the war god, Mars, were surrendered in the forested areas yet were raised by wolves and later established the city of Rome.

The most famous account of attempted infanticide, in which babies were left exposed to the elements, is the story of Romulus and Remus

Research showed that the newborn children at Ashkelon did not seem to have been “exposed”. Rather, it shows up they were deliberately murdered. One piece of information into the purpose behind their murder lies in the area of the bodies.

Investigations uncovered that the sewer where the remaining parts were found was straight underneath a previous bathhouse. It is conceivable that the babies were born to prostitutes or workers who worked at the bathhouse. However, this remains a mystery as there is no additional information on this theory.

While Ashkelon bathhouse was not the only place the bodies of the Roman infants were found.

Hambleden(the site of a former Roman villa) mass killing

In 1912, Alfred Heneage Cocks, the guardian of the Buckinghamshire County Museum in England, made a stunning disclosure. While driving an unearthing in Hambleden, Cocks revealed the remains of 103 people.

Of those 103 people, 97 were newborn children, 3 were children, and 3 were adults. While this frightful find delivers inquiries of how and why these babies had been slaughtered, Cocks neglected to conduct any further examination with regards to the roots of the bodies.

Hambleden – site of mass baby grave, Buckinghamshire, England.

Jill Eyers, archaeologist and director of Chiltern Archeology in England, found the remaining in a historical centre file, the bones spent near a century in 35 little boxes intended to hold free cigarettes and shotgun cartridges, each container sufficiently enormous to hold the total skeleton of one baby.

“It was quite heart-rending, really, to open all these little cigarette boxes and find babies inside,” said Eyers.

Then he chose to look into the reason for the mass killing. People believed that the Hambleden site is another area where prostitutes would give birth to an unwanted child that was consequently murdered. The site was not a region of poverty, so an absence of resource couldn’t clarify the mass executing.

There were additionally no recorded diseases in the region at the time that could represent the huge volume of death. People believe that the main sensible clarification is that the site once housed a brothel.

Because of the absence of birth control at that time, there were restricted choices for the who needed to abstain from having a baby or bringing up the child. So, child murder may have been the main decision they trusted they had.

Dr Simon Mays, a skeletal biologist at English Heritage, has examined the Hambleden Roman infant bones

However, the reasons for the death may be any, but the mass graves of newborn child remains are genuinely heartbreaking. The history behind the roman era living is a big mystery. In time, it is trusted that we may discover more responses to precisely how and why these newborns were killed.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Medieval ring with a skull emblem found in Wales declared treasure

Medieval ring with a skull emblem found in Wales declared treasure

Medieval ring with a skull emblem found in Wales declared treasure
Images of six of the medieval treasures found in Wales by metal detectorists in recent years.

A ‘Memento Mori‘ gold ring engraved with a skull is one of nine stunning medieval and post-medieval objects found in Wales. The ring, found in Carreghofa Community, Powys, would have been kept as a reminder of the inevitability of death. 

‘Memento Mori’ is a Latin term that literally means ‘remember you must die. Among the other priceless objects are three gold and silver coin hoards and the first ‘Anglo-Saxon style’ double-hooked fastener to be identified in Wales. 

All the nine finds were discovered by metal detectorists in Powys and Vale of Glamorgan and have been declared treasure by National Museum Wales. 

Pictured, ‘Treasure case 19.11’ – a post-medieval Memento Mori gold finger ring found in Carreghofa Community, Powys

They were all personal items owned by wealthy members of Welsh society from the 9th to the 17th centuries AD. The gold Memento Mori ring, dubbed ‘Treasure case 19.11’ was found in Carreghofa Community by metal detectorist David Balfour. 

Its flat bezel is engraved with what National Museum Wales calls ‘death’s head’ – a skull – inlaid with traces of white enamel. The skull is surrounded by the inscription ‘+ Memento Mori’ in a small neat italic script arranged in a circle.  The inscription, the style of the engraved skull and the neat italic lettering indicates that this ring dates between 1550 and 1650, according to National Museum Wales. 

The government body said in a blog post that it hopes to acquire this artefact for the Welsh national collection. 

‘This is a rare example of a Tudor or early Stuart memento mori ring with a clear Welsh provenance,’ said Dr Mark Redknap, deputy head of collections and research at National Museum Wales.

‘Its sentiment reflects the high mortality of the period, the motif and inscription acknowledging the brevity and vanities of life. 

‘This discovery increases our knowledge of attitudes to death in early modern Wales.’

Among the other findings, all listed by National Museum Wales this week, are a medieval silver annular brooch, a Tudor silver coin hoard and a medieval silver bar-mount. 

Three medieval gold coins (Treasure 19.44) were found by Chris Perkins and Shawn Hendry while metal detecting in Llanwrtyd Community, Powys in April 2019. 

The coins are ‘nobles’ from the reigns of Edward III and Richard II (1327-1399), with a total value of 20 shillings, which was about 50 days’ wages for a skilled tradesman. 

They were probably buried for safekeeping around the end of the 14th century but were never recovered by their owner. The newly opened Y Gaer Museum, Art Gallery & Library, in the town of Brecon in mid-Wales, hopes to acquire the gold coins for its new galleries. 

Late medieval silver-gilt finger ring found in the Tregynon area, Powys, Wales.

‘Very few gold coins have been discovered within south Powys, so we would welcome the possibility of adding these to Museums new medieval displays,’ said Senior Curator Nigel Blackamore. 

A group of five silver coins (Treasure 19.22), comprising 4 groats and a Burgundian ‘double patard’, was discovered by Aled Roberts and Graham Wood in May 2019, while metal detecting in Churchstoke Community, Powys. This small hoard was buried in about 1530 during the reign of Henry VIII, whose portrait features on three of the coins.

17th century gold coins found by metal detectorists in the Trefeglwys Community, Powys, Wales.

Y Lanfa Powysland Museum and Welshpool Library hopes to acquire this coin hoard to contribute to the museum’s collection, which does not yet include examples of locally found 16th century coins. 

‘It would be wonderful to have these coins within the museum’s collection and to put them on display for the public to enjoy,’ said Centre Manager, Saffron Price. 

Meanwhile, the early medieval decorated silver double hooked fastener (Treasure case 19.23) was found by Stuart Fletcher in Churchstoke Community, Powys on an undisclosed date. 

National Museum Wales says: ‘The stylisation of the debased zoomorphic motifs show that this is Anglo-Saxon work belonging to the ninth century, and it was probably used to fasten an upper garment, as functional costume jewellery.’ 

Treasure case 19.23, an early medieval silver double-hooked fastener found in Churchstoke Community, Powys

It hopes to acquire this artefact too for the national collection. This unusual object is the first Anglo-Saxon style double-hooked fastener to be identified in Wales,’ said Dr Redknap.

‘Reflecting the status of the original owner, it provides new evidence for the exposure of Anglo-Saxon styles within the early Welsh kingdoms, and of the melting-pot of styles and influences from which Welsh identity was to emerge.

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

Fossil of 67 million-year-old Raptor Dinosaur Found in New Mexico

Fossil of 67 million-year-old Raptor Dinosaur Found in New Mexico

Experts have discovered dinosaur fossils of what they believe is one of the last remaining species of raptors, a 67-million-year-old known as Dineobellator notohesperus.

The new species of dromaeosaurid — a species of “generally small to medium-sized feathered carnivores” —was discovered in the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, according to a study published in Scientific Reports. D. notohesperus lived during the Cretaceous period, which ended 66 million years ago.

The study’s authors noted a “number of unique features, including vertebrae near the base of the tail that curved inwards, which could have increased Dineobellator’s agility and improved its predation success,” according to a press release.

Illustration of three Dineobellator near a water source, with the ceratopsid Ojoceratops and sauropod alamosaurus in the background.

There is also a gouge mark on the fossil’s sickle-shaped claw, that the researchers believe could have been “inflicted during an altercation with another Dineobellator or other theropod such as Tyrannosaurus rex.”

Phylogenetic analysis of the dinosaur suggests it could be part of the Velociraptorinae subfamily, which also includes velociraptors, famous for their appearance in the “Jurassic Park” movies.

Though small in stature, at approximately 7 feet in length, this carnivorous dinosaur had huge claws and a tail that was flexible at its base, allowing it to increase agility and change direction, according to the study’s lead author, Steve Jasinski.

“Think of what happens with a cat’s tail as it is running,” said Jasinski in a release from the University of Pennsylvania. “While the tail itself remains straight, it is also whipping around constantly as the animal is changing direction.

A stiff tail that is highly mobile at its base allows for increased agility and changes in direction and potentially aided Dineobellator in pursuing prey, especially in more open habitats.”

Dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago by an asteroid that hit Earth in what is now the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. It not only wiped out the dinosaurs but also killed nearly 75 per cent of all species on the planet.

It may have also acidified Earth’s oceans after its impact, according to a study published in October 2019.

Another study published in September 2019 compared the impact of the asteroid to the power of 10 billion atomic bombs.

Researchers have uncovered several new species of dinosaurs in recent memory, including the world’s smallest dinosaur, a two-inch bird-like creature.

In early March, researchers published a study that suggested they have found traces of DNA inside a fossilized dinosaur skull.

ASIA, RUSSIA, WORLD

A New Human Ancestor Species Has Been Found… It also had a tail!

A New Human Ancestor Species Has Been Found… It also had a tail!

Just published by a multinational team of archaeologist, anthropologists and genetics, this shocking study details Homo apriliensis in detail. The building is based on fragments of fossil bones dating back about 50,000 years that were discovered in a cave in Siberia in April of last year.

The fossils consist of a pelvis, femur, coccyx, and a segment of the lower jaw. The fossils were originally thought to belong to our ancestors, Homo sapiens, but later DNA analysis revealed that they were indeed human, but of a different kind.

According to the Ancient assets, The new species was named Homo apriliensis, which is the same genus Homo as us.

In their DNA there are genetic traces of two other species, Denisovan and Homo sapiens, indicating that the three species had heterogeneous interbreeding at some point.

Human aprilensis has visible traces of a small tail.

An illustration depicting a human-like creature with a tail

However, according to Professor John Bennett, who teaches in the Department of Archeology at the University of Sheffield (UK) and Director of the British School in Athens (Greece), who is one of the main authors of the study, the extra part of the body remains as if it were an ancient remnant of normal evolution.

It is similar to the appendix or wisdom tooth in modern humans.

The modern human fetus also has a tail in the first four parts, after it absorbs it by the body and leaves a trace of the coccyx.

The human coccyx or ‘tailbone’

With Homo apriliensis, the tail fetus is not completely absorbed but retains a small portion at the birth of the body. It is the first type of genus to have a tail.

The traces of the tail were discovered a year before the remains were discovered, she said Science Times.

However, the published evidence that we and our Homo sapiens interbreed this time is shocking.

According to the authors, this is the most important discovery related to human origin in the past 100 years.

These are the early search results. They are looking at a number of other issues such as when and how the species became extinct, with more results expected to be released next year.

ASIA, RUSSIA, WORLD

Massive Megalithic Stone Ruins Discovered in Russia

Massive Megalithic Stone Ruins Discovered in Russia

An incredible discovery that was recently made in Russia threatens to shatter conventional theories about the history of the planet.  In southern Siberia, researchers have found an absolutely massive wall of granite stones. 

Some of these gigantic granite stones are estimated to weigh more than 3,000 tons, and as you will see below, many of them were cut “with flat surfaces, right angles, and sharp corners”.  Nothing of this magnitude has ever been discovered before.

The largest stone found at the megalithic ruins at Baalbek, Lebanon is less than 1,500 tons. So how in the world did someone cut 3,000-ton granite stones with extreme precision, transport them up the side of a mountain and stack them 40 meters high?

Massive Megalithic Stone Ruins Discovered in Russia
Massive Megalithic Ruins Discovered in Russia Containing the Largest Blocks of Stone Ever Found.

According to the commonly accepted version of history, it would be impossible for ancient humans with very limited technology to accomplish such a thing. Could it be possible that there is much more to the history of this planet than we are being taught?

For years, historians and archaeologists have absolutely marvelled at the incredibly huge stones found at Baalbek. But some of these stones in Russia are reportedly more than twice the size. Needless to say, a lot of people are getting very excited about this discovery.

The following comes from a recent article in the magazine, Mysterious Universe:

“Alternate history buffs are about to be whipped into a frenzy! OK, maybe not, but they will find this interesting.”

“An ancient “super-megalithic” site has been found in Gornaya Shoria (Mount Shoria) in southern Siberia.

“This spectacular archaeological site consists of massive blocks of stone, which appear to be granite, with flat surfaces, right angles, and sharp corners.”

“These huge blocks appear to be stacked up and fitted together, almost in the manner of cyclopean masonry, and well…they’re enormous!”

“Russia is no stranger to ancient megalithic sites, like Arkaim  (Russia’s Stonehenge), and the Manpupuner formation, just to name two.”

“But the site at Shoria is unique in that, if it’s man-made, the blocks used are undoubtedly the largest ever worked by human hands.”

Prior to this expedition, there were no known photographs of these megalithic stones. Archaeologist John Jensen is mystified by these ancient ruins, and the following is an excerpt from a post on his personal blog.

“There are no measurements given, but from the scale depicted by the human figures, these megaliths are much larger (as much as 2 to 3 times larger) than the largest known megaliths in the world.

(Example: The Pregnant Woman Stone of Baalbek, the largest single known stone at the archaeological site in Lebanon, weighs in at approximately 1,260 ton). Some of these megaliths could easily weigh upwards of 3,000 to 4,000 tons.”

Of course, much more research needs to be done on this site. Nobody knows who cut these stones or how old they are. Jensen believes that they come from a time well back into the mists of pre-history.

“These megaliths reach well back into the mists of pre-history, so far in fact, that conjecture about their ‘builders’, methods, purpose and meaning is pure speculation, and as such, I would hesitate to offer any observation at all, other than to say our pre-historical past is richer than we ever dreamed.”

These stones are likely to remain an unsolved mystery for a very long time. But what is abundantly clear is that according to the commonly accepted version of history they should not be there. And of course, this is far from the only site around the world that contains massive megalithic ruins.

Evidence continues to mount that very sophisticated technology was used in the ancient world. These megalithic ruins are undeniable reminders of highly advanced ancient civilizations. So who were they and what happened to them? Could it be possible that they were wiped out by a massive global cataclysm such as a global flood?

All In One Magazine