CZECH REPUBLIC, EUROPE, WORLD

Nail allegedly from Jesus’ crucifixion found in a secret chamber in a Czech monastery

Nail allegedly from Jesus’ crucifixion found in a secret chamber in a Czech monastery

A secret chamber of a monastery has been discovered with priceless Christian relics, including a nail allegedly used in Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. Archaeologists working in the Czech Republic’s Milevsko monastery discovered a six-inch-long piece of the nail inside a box with a 21-karat gold cross.

Archaeologists working in the Milevsko monastery in the Czech Republic unearthed the six-inch-long piece of the nail inside a box adorned with a 21-karat gold cross. The box was built between 260 and 416 AD and is inscribed with the letters ‘IR,’ which translates to ‘Jesus is King’

The box was built between 260 and 416 AD and is inscribed with the letters ‘IR,’ which translates to ‘Jesus is King.’ The hidden treasury room, according to experts, was used to conceal rare artefacts from raids by Hussite troops in the early 15th century.

Researchers excavating the scene say that they cannot confirm if the nail came from the true Cross,’ but note the discovery ‘is even greater than the reliquary of St. Maurus, reports the Czech News Agency (ČTK).

Ancient nails found in a hidden chamber of Czech monastery

The Maurus Reliquary is a large box made of gold that holds fragments from the bodies of three saints: Saint Maurus, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Timothy. 

There have also been dozens of nails uncovered that are linked to Jesus’s crucifixion, leading scientists to be skeptical about the recent find.

Jiří Šindelář, who took part in the discovery, told ČTK: ‘Because the Hussites destroyed the archive, there was no information that such a thing was here.’

The hidden treasury room, according to experts, was used to conceal rare artefacts from raids by Hussite troops in the early 15th century.

Šindelář added that the authenticity of the nail will be verified by other scientific expertise sometime next year.  Archaeologists have been working at the Milevsko monastery for several months and recently uncovered a secret passage that led to the treasury room.

The monastery was built in 1187 but was captured by Hussites in 1420 and taken over by the group’s nobility. However, before losing their place of worship, those who called the monastery home built a secret room to hide rare and priceless artefacts.

After analyzing the box through radiocarbon dating, the team found it was made with two types of wood. The larch wood, which is found in Israel’s subtropical climate, dates back between 1290 and 1394 AD.

The second sample, which is oak, was found to originate from 260 to 416 AD. A similar discovery was unearthed in October when a team found nails with ancient bone and wood embedded in them.

The nails were allegedly found in Jerusalem, in a first-century burial cave believed to be the resting place of Caiaphas, the Jewish priest who sent Jesus to his death in the Bible.

At some point after the cave was excavated in 1990, however, the nails went missing. Years later, filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici would claim to have found the nails, even claiming that they were used to crucify Jesus himself in the 2011 documentary, Nails Of The Cross.

At the time, scholars slammed the suggestion, denying that the nails Jacobovici had found were the same ones from Caiaphas’ tomb. But now an explosive new study has concluded that the nails are indeed the same ones – and that they were probably used to crucify someone too.

Lead author Dr Aryeh Shimron made the jaw-dropping find after comparing material from the nails with material from the tomb’s ossuaries – limestone boxes used to store the bones of the dead.

One of the nails allegedly found in a first-century burial cave in Jerusalem

He said: ‘The materials invading caves differ subtly from cave to cave depending on topography, soil composition in the area, the microclimate and neighbouring vegetation.

‘Consequently, caves have distinct physical and chemical signatures. The physical and chemical properties of the materials which, over centuries, have invaded the tomb and its ossuaries were investigated.

‘Our analysis clearly and unequivocally demonstrates that these materials are chemically and physically identical to those which have, over centuries, also become attached to the nails. Caiaphas’ cave was the only match for the nails out of 25 tombs tested, Dr Shimron found.

He continued: ‘We have also discovered fine slivers of wood accreted within the iron oxide rust of the nails.

‘It is well preserved and entirely petrified* the wood is therefore ancient and not a chance or man-made fake attachment to the nails. Within the rust and sediment attached to the nails, we also identified and photographed a number of microscopic fragments of bone.’

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

‘Extraordinary Discovery’: Secret Medieval Tunnel Found By Electricians In Wales

‘Extraordinary Discovery’: Secret Medieval Tunnel Found By Electricians In Wales

BBC News reports that a medieval tunnel system was discovered in southern Wales by a team of technicians who were moving an electrical pole.

The four-foot-tall tunnels are located near Tintern Abbey, which was constructed in the twelfth century, and appear to run underneath a footpath located alongside Angiddy Brook. 

A team of electrical technicians stumbled on a “secret” medieval tunnel while undertaking a routine dig to relocate a span of underground cable.

A Western Power Distribution team had been moving a pole when it found the network
The tunnel runs alongside the Angiddy Brook

The ruins of Tintern Abbey, a Gothic monastery founded in 1131, are near the valley where the tunnel was found. But the passageway isn’t shown on any ordinance survey maps and it was unknown to local residents and authorities, Western Power Distribution said.

It could take “years” of archaeological investigation before more about the “secret” tunnel is known, WPD technician Allyn Gore said.

In the meantime, his team have backfilled the trench they had begun digging and are putting their cables down elsewhere.

Mr Gore, who headed up the dig team, said he had never seen anything as “exciting and impressive as this” during excavations before.

“The tunnel system was tucked away underneath a footpath, running parallel to the Angiddy Brook, and seemed to follow the brook’s route along the valley; it may have been unknowingly walked on for centuries,” he said.

His team alerted Cadw, the Welsh Government’s historic and cultural heritage agency, who was “fascinated by the sheer scale of the tunnel” and thought it could be “linked to ironwork ruins previously discovered in the area”, he said.

Archaeologists are now working to establish more details about the tunnel.

EUROPE, POLAND, WORLD

Skeletons of WWII-era nuns murdered by Soviets unearthed in Poland

Skeletons of WWII-era nuns murdered by Soviets unearthed in Poland

The remains of three Catholic nuns killed by the Nazis while they were trying to help the wounded Soviet soldiers at the end of the Second World War were found, as they cared for the wounded Soviets, to the last. The Red Army invaded Poland when the Nazis withdrew their soldiers in 1944.

An effort was made to gain control over the area by subduing militia as well as religious figures by looting and destroying churches.

Records discovered from 1945 showed Soviet soldiers killed seven nuns in the order of St. Catherine of Alexandria who was serving as nurses at Marian Hospital in Olsztyn.

Skeletons of WWII-era nuns murdered by Soviets unearthed in Poland
Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance previously discovered three of the murdered nuns in Olsztyn.

A project by the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland was launched to discover their remains and Polish archaeologists announced they found the remains of Sister Charytyna (Jadwiga Fahl) in Gdansk last summer.

In October they found Sister Generosa (Maria Bolz), Sister Krzysztofora (Marta Klomfass) and Sister Liberia (Maria Domnik) in Orneta.

And now the bodies of the last missing trio, Sister Rolanda (Maria Abraham), Sister Gunhilda (Dorota Steffen) and Sister Bona (Anna Pestka) have been found too.

Experts also unearthed crucifixes, ‘religious clothing’ and rosaries from around the remains, according to Live Science.

Graves in Orneta, Poland, held the remains of three bodies thought to belong to nuns in the order of St. Catherine of Alexandria who were killed by Russia’s Red Army.

A statement by the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland (IPN) said: ‘The purpose of the study was the finding of the remains of the Catherine Sisters who fell victim to the soldiers of the Red Army in 1945.

‘They all served the sick at the Marian Hospital (St Mary’s Hospital) in Olsztyn.

‘They worked as nurses, looking for help for the sick, and the deceased by organizing burials in a nearby cemetery. 

Where they served, they died there as well – defending themselves against the disgrace of the Red Army soldiers who entered Olsztyn in the winter of 1945.

‘The works in Orneta were also the last stage of the search for the remains of the Sisters, for whom the church side is carrying out the beatification process at the same time. Earlier searches were carried out in Gdańsk and Olsztyn.

‘On the basis of historical data, anthropomorphic features and found objects, the remains of three women were selected for exhumation, with the probability that they are the wanted Sisters.

‘In the remains of the collected remains, religious medals, crucifixes, elements of religious clothing and religious rosaries were found.’

Buried objects such as crucifixes helped experts identify the nuns’ remains.

The skeletons have been taken to the Forensic Medicine Institute in Gdańsk. Historical records show Sister Generosa was ‘locked in the hospital’s attic’.

While the IPM says Sister Krzysztofora was stabbed with a bayonet 16 times, had her eyes gouged out and tongue cut out.

EGYPT, WORLD

Ancient Egyptian sarcophagus spotted on MARS in Nasa photo, crackpot YouTube conspiracy theorist claims

Ancient Egyptian sarcophagus spotted on MARS in Nasa photo, crackpot YouTube conspiracy theorist claims

There has been a lot of controversy about recent images produced by the Curiosity Rover on Mars has sparked a debate about how ancient Egyptians might have originated from the red planet.

Didn’t expect? There is, in reality, an old theory that has been preached, that several millions of years ago there was indeed life on Mars and that life on Earth had been seeded via a meteorite carrying life from the red planet.  

However, when you discover a statue of a female warrior head of an Egyptian statue on Mars, it goes beyond any theories or speculations you might have had.

Egyptians on Mars? NASA

In this day and age of photoshop, it’s hard to believe any photographic evidence. However, the discovery was made by Joe White, who has a YouTube channel called ArtAlienTV — MARS ZOO, while he was browsing through some of NASA’s released pictures from the Curiosity rover.

“I have found what looks like to be a small feminine looking statue head on Mars in Gale Crater in this latest Curiosity Rover picture from NASA,” said Joe White in the description of the YouTube video.

He believes that it looks like a deteriorated statue that resembles one of the ancient Egyptian warriors.

As per a report by healththoroughfare, this discovery has sparked a massive debate online about the existence of alien life on Mars, wherein people have claimed that this was the clearest evidence of ‘pre-Ancient civilizations on Earth originated from Mars’.

People also believe that the ancient Pyramids of Giza were a by-product of alien architecture, though no one has been able to prove it conclusively.

But let’s be honest here. In all likelihood, this could just be an oddly shaped rock that just happens to resemble somewhat an Egyptian statue. However, the possibility that life could have originated on Earth from Mars or vice versa is still very stunning.

Also, it is worth noting that Joe White has spotted some other interesting things in the photos that were taken by the Curiosity rover.

An alien skull on the surface of Mars. ArtAlienTV — MARS ZOO

He has had a history of uncovering possibly human artefacts on the surface of Mars from the photos, including a warrior’s boot and a monster’s skull among other findings.

He also believes that NASA is part of a big cover-up with regards to possible alien findings on the Martian surface and that it is working with YouTube to demote his videos.

ASIA, EUROPE, RUSSIA, WORLD

Remarkable 3,900-Year-Old Suit Of Bone Armor Found In Siberia

Remarkable 3,900-Year-Old Suit Of Bone Armor Found In Siberia

Archaeologists are intrigued by the discovery of the complete set of well-preserved bone armour which is seen as having belonged to an ‘elite’ warrior. The armour was in ‘perfect condition’ – and in its era was ‘more precious than life’, say experts.

‘It was more precious than life, because it saved life’.

It was buried separate from its owner and no other examples of such battle dress have been found around Omsk. The analysis is expected to determine its exact age but Siberian archaeologists say it dates from 3,900 to 3,500 years ago. 

Nearby archaeological finds are from the Krotov culture, lived in a forest-steppe area of Western Siberia, but this bone armour more closely resembles that of the  Samus-Seyminskaya culture, which originated in the area of the Altai Mountains, some 1,000 km to the south-east, and migrated to the Omsk area. The armour could have been a gift, or an exchange, or was perhaps the spoils of war.

Boris Konikov, the curator of excavations, said: ‘It is unique first of all because such armour was highly valued. It was more precious than life because it saved a life. 

‘Secondly, it was found in a settlement, and this has never happened before. There were found separate fragments in burials, like on Rostovka burial ground.’

  • Remarkable 3,900-Year-Old Suit Of Bone Armor Found In Siberia
‘We hope to reconstruct an exact copy’. Pictures of the site, and drawings of what the armour looked like: Polina Volf, Yuri Gerasimov, A.Solovyev

Currently, the experts say they do not know which creature’s bones were used in making the armour. Found at a depth of 1.5 metres at a site of a sanatorium where there are now plans to build a five-star hotel, the armour is now undergoing cleaning and restoration.

‘We ourselves can not wait to see it, but at the moment it undergoing restoration, which is a long, painstaking process. As a result, we hope to reconstruct an exact copy’, Boris Konikov said. 

Scientist Yury Gerasimov, a research fellow of the Omsk branch of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, said: ‘While there is no indication that the place of discovery of the armour was a place of worship, it is very likely. Armour had great material value. There was no sense to dig it in the ground or hide it for a long time – because the fixings and the bones would be ruined.

‘Such armour needs constant care. At the moment we can only fantasise – who dug it into the ground and for what purpose. Was it some ritual or sacrifice? We do not know yet.’

Gerasimov, who is engaged in the restoration, said: ‘Each armour plate in the ground was divided into many small fragments, which are held only by this ground. The structure was removed from the excavation, in ‘monolith’ as archaeologists say – namely, intact with the piece of ground, not in separate plates, and taken to the museum. 

‘Now we need to clean these small fragments of bone plates, make photographs and sketches of their location, and then glue them in a full plate.’

He is certain that the armour belonged to a ‘hero’, an ‘elite warrior who knew special methods of battle’ and would have ‘given good protection from weapons that were used at the time – bone and stone arrowheads, bronze knives, spears tipped with bronze, and bronze axes’. 

Lots to do – Siberian archaeologists have months to assemble parts of the armour together. Pictures: Maria Savilovitch, Yuri Gerasimov

The archaeological site where the armour was found includes a complex of monuments belonging to different epochs. There are settlements, burial grounds, and manufacturing sites. Burials have been found here from the  Early Neolithic period to the Middle Ages. 

The site, beside the Irtysh River, is now owned by Popov Omsk Radio Factory which has supported the archaeological research.

Konikov, who worked on the site as a researcher for many years and is now a representative of the plant, supervising the excavations, said: ‘Our goal is to save the site, to research it and to promote it. 

‘We organise excursions for schoolchildren and draw the attention of citizens to this unique site.’

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Byzantine-Period Mosaic Map of Ancient Egyptian City Uncovered in Israel

Byzantine-Period Mosaic Map of Ancient Egyptian City Uncovered in Israel

A mosaic map of an ancient Egyptian settlement is going on display where it was found — in an industrial-park parking lot in Israel.

Byzantine-Period Mosaic Map of Ancient Egyptian City Uncovered in Israel
A 1,500-year-old church mosaic shows a maplike cityscape of Chortaso, Egypt, where early Christian tradition suggests the minor Hebrew prophet Habakkuk was buried.

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced the first public display of the elaborate mosaic, which was discovered two years ago.

Dating back to the Byzantine period, the mosaic shows streets and buildings arranged like a map. A Greek inscription reveals that the map shows Chortaso, Egypt, the site of the burial of Habakkuk, a prophet in the Hebrew Bible.

This mosaic graced a church floor some 1,500 years ago, archaeologists said in a statement. Today, it sits in the midst of an industrial park in the city of Kiryat Gat (also spelled Qiryat Gat) in Israel.

“The appearance of this Egyptian city on the floor of the public building in Qiryat Gat might allude to the origin of the church’s congregation,” Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists Sa’ar Ganor and Rina Avner said in the statement.

1,500-year-old mosaic map of Chortaso.
A section of the 1,500-year-old mosaic. 

The church structure itself is long gone, but the floor mosaic remained. With funding from the company that manages the industrial park where it was discovered, archaeologists carefully excavated and removed the mosaic for conservation two years ago.

Now, they have returned the ancient artwork to its original place. It will open for public display during a “Factories from Within” festival at the industrial park.

The mosaic is made of 17 different colours of tile. It depicts birds, a rooster and a deer in one surviving fragment, as well as a goblet filled with red fruit.

The Byzantine mosaic also shows birds, animals and red fruit in a goblet.

The second fragment shows the Egyptian settlement, complete with roads, buildings and a boat with a sail. Each building is two or three stories tall and carefully detailed; galleries, balconies, windows and even roof tiles are depicted.

“The investment in the raw materials and their quality is the best ever discovered in Israel,” the archaeologists wrote.

Though Christian tradition places Habakkuk’s resting place in Chortaso, the final burial place of this minor prophet is unknown — both Israel and Iran now claim sites said to be the prophet’s tomb.

The Byzantine period of Israel, however, was a time of elaborate church construction. Intricate floor mosaics are often part of the designs of these houses of worship.

The Byzantine Empire stretched from the “toe” of the boot of Italy through modern-day Greece and Turkey and down into today’s Syria, Lebanon and Israel. It flourished from the collapse of the western half of the Roman Empire (often estimated to be around A.D. 476) until 1453.

ASIA, INDIA, WORLD

The Diamond Sutra: The Oldest Known Printed Book in the World

The Diamond Sutra: The Oldest Known Printed Book in the World

The Diamond Sutra: The Oldest Known Printed Book in the World
A page from The Diamond Sutra

With the holiday mood in the air and the sun blazing down in almost every part of our country, you might be one of those who does some reading to relax yourself after a draining session, playing outside.

We’ve all taken to books at one point or another, be it just for the pleasure of reading, to do some activities or study for exams. Do you, however, know which the oldest dated printed book still in existence even today is?

That honour goes to The Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist religious text. While the book dates back to the year 868 AD, it was found only in 1907, having remained hidden for nearly 1,000 years. The credit for this goes to Sir Aurel Stein, a Hungary-born British archaeologist and explorer.

Sir Aurel Stein

Unearthing a diamond

Born in Budapest in 1862, Stein studied Sanskrit, Old Persian, Indology and Philology, preparing himself for a career in India. While his formal positions from 1888 included being a registrar of Punjab University, principal of the Oriental College, Lahore and principal of the Calcutta Madrasah, his real interest was in exploring India, China, Central and West Asia.

Stein carried out three successful Silk Road expeditions during which he not only carried out archaeological excavations and photographing, but also geological and ethnographical surveys. He eventually died in his 80s in 1943, a week after arriving in Afghanistan, while embarking on his long-dreamt expedition to the country.

Perfect for preservation

Stein is now best-known for his discovery of the library cave at the Mogao Grottoes or Caves of a Thousand Buddhas in Dunhuang, China.

This secret library is believed to have been sealed up around the year 1000 AD when the area had expected a threat from the outside.

Aurel Stein (centre) with his expedition team.

Having remained hidden since then, the dry desert air had provided the perfect conditions for the preservation of the paper and silk scrolls inside.

Nearly 40,000 such scrolls were finally found in 1900 when a monk discovered a sealed entrance to the unknown cave during restoration work at a Buddhist monastery. Among these was The Diamond Sutra, the world’s earliest, dated, printed book. Stein gained access to it during his second exploration in 1907.

The Diamond Sutra

While this copy of The Diamond Sutra is now considered the oldest known printed book, its contents are central to Indian Buddhism and are believed to have been translated from Sanskrit to Chinese in about 400 AD. The development of printing in China in the 8th Century paved the way for this book.

Carved wooden blocks were employed for printing, the technique for which had been refined and mastered by the time this book was produced in 868 AD.

Comprising seven panels of paper, each of these is printed from a single block and stuck together to create a single scroll. While The Diamond Sutra isn’t the earliest example of block printing, it is the earliest to include a colophon, which gives details about when and why this book was produced.

The last few lines of the text are the colophon, which reads: “Reverently made for universal free distribution by Wang Jie on behalf of his two parents on the 13th of the 4th moon of the 9th year of Xiantong.” In our calendar, that corresponds to May 11, 868.

The Diamond Sutra now resides at the British Library, along with an acknowledgement that it is the oldest dated printed book in existence.

The British Library is also part of the International Dunhuang Project, a collaboration aiming to make the thousands of manuscripts, paintings and artefacts from Silk Road sites available online.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Ancient Egyptian manual reveals new details about mummification

Ancient Egyptian manual reveals new details about mummification

According to a statement released by the University of Copenhagen, Sofie Schiødt and her colleagues have found evidence of an ancient Egyptian embalming process in the Papyrus Louvre-Carlsberg, a 3,500-year-old medical text dated to 1450 B.C

Embalming was considered a sacred art in ancient Egypt, and knowledge of the technique was limited to a select few. Egyptologists conclude that most secrets of the art were handed on orally from one embalmer to the next, but written evidence is scarce; until recently, only two texts on mummification had been identified.

Egyptologists were therefore surprised to find a short manual on embalming in a medical text that is primarily concerned with herbal medicine and swellings of the skin. The manual has recently been edited by University of Copenhagen Egyptologist Sofie Schiødt:

The papyrus contains new evidence of the procedure for embalming the deceased’s face, where the face is covered with a piece of red linen and aromatic substances.

– Many descriptions of embalming techniques that we find in this papyrus have been left out of the two later manuals, and the descriptions are extremely detailed.

The text reads like a memory aid, so the intended readers must have been specialists who needed to be reminded of these details, such as unguent recipes and uses of various types of bandages.

Some of the simpler processes, e.g. the drying of the body with natron, have been omitted from the text, Sofie Schiødt explains. She adds:

– One of the exciting new pieces of information the text provides us with concerns the procedure for embalming the dead person’s face. We get a list of ingredients for a remedy consisting largely of plant-based aromatic substances and binders that are cooked into a liquid, with which the embalmers coat a piece of red linen.

The red linen is then applied to the dead person’s face in order to encase it in a protective cocoon of fragrant and anti-bacterial matter. This process was repeated at four-day intervals.

Although this procedure has not been identified before, Egyptologists have previously examined several mummies from the same period as this manual whose faces were covered in cloth and resin. According to Sofie Schiødt, this would fit well with the red linen procedure described in this manuscript.

Four was the key number

The importance of the Papyrus Louvre-Carlsberg manual in reconstructing the embalming process lies in its specification of the process is divided into intervals of four, with the embalmers actively working on the mummy every four days.

– A ritual procession of the mummy marked these days, celebrating the progress of restoring the deceased’s corporeal integrity, amounting to 17 processions over the course of the embalming period. In between the four-day intervals, the body was covered with cloth and overlaid with straw infused with aromatics to keep away insects and scavengers, Sofie Schiødt says.

The Papyrus Louvre-Carlsberg

The manuscript, which Sofie Schiødt has been working on for her PhD thesis, is the Papyrus Louvre-Carlsberg – so-called because one half of the papyrus belongs to the Louvre Museum in Paris and the other half is part of the University of Copenhagen’s Papyrus Carlsberg Collection.

The two parts of the papyrus originally belonged to two private collectors, and several sections of it are still missing.

Based on the palaeography, that is, the sign forms, the six-metre long papyrus is dated to approximately 1450 BC, which means that it predates the only two other examples of embalming texts by more than a thousand years.

The bulk of the papyrus, which is the second-longest medical papyrus surviving from ancient Egypt, deals with herbal medicine and skin illnesses.

Specifically, it contains the earliest-known herbal treatise, which provides descriptions of the appearance, habitat, uses, and religious significance of a divine plant and its seed as well as a lengthy treatise on swellings of the skin, which are seen as illnesses sent forth by the lunar god Khonsu.

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