MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

The giant pyramid is hidden inside a mountain

The giant pyramid is hidden inside a mountain

Although the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt is by far the most talked-about pyramid in the world, it is not by a long shot the tallest. The title goes to the Great Pyramid of Cholula, an ancient temple of the Aztecs in Puebla, Mexico, with a base four times the size of Giza, and about twice the volume.

Why is the world’s biggest pyramid so often overlooked? It could be because that gigantic structure is actually hidden beneath layers of dirt, making it look more like a natural mountain than a place of worship.

In fact, it looks so much like a mountain, that famed Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés completely missed it, and unwittingly built a church right on top of it, as you can see in the image above.

To understand how awesome the Great Pyramid of Cholula is, we must jump back to well before Cortés and his army planted a symbol of Christianity on its peak.

Known as Tlachihualtepetl (meaning “man-made mountain”), the origins of the pyramid are a little sketchy, though the general consensus is that it was built in around 300 BC by many different communities to honour the ancient god Quetzalcoatl.

As Zaria Gorvett reports for the BBC, the pyramid was likely constructed with adobe – a type of brick made of out of baked mud – and features six layers built on top of each over many generations. Each time a layer was completed, construction was picked back up by a new group of workers.

This incremental growth is what allowed the Great Pyramid of Cholula to get so big. With a base of 450 by 450 metres (1,480 by 1,480 feet), it’s four times the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The pyramid was built to appease the “feathered serpent” god

In fact, at roughly 66 metres (217 feet) tall, the pyramid’s total volume is about 4.45 million cubic metres (157 million cubic feet), while the Great Pyramid of Giza’s volume is just 2.5 million cubic metres (88.2 million cubic feet).

The Great Pyramid of Giza is taller, though, at 146 metres (481 feet) high. The ancient Aztecs most likely used the Great Pyramid of Cholula as a place of worship for around 1,000 years before moving to a new, smaller location nearby.

Before it was replaced by newer structures, it was painstakingly decorated in red, black, and yellow insects. But without maintenance, the mud bricks were left to do what mud does in humid climates – provide nutrients to all kinds of tropical greenery.

“It was abandoned sometime in the 7th or 8th Century CE,” archaeologist David Carballo from Boston University told Gorvett at the BBC. “The Choluteca had a newer pyramid-temple located nearby, which the Spaniards destroyed.”

When Cortés and his men arrived in Cholula in October 1519, some 1,800 years after the pyramid was constructed, they massacred around  3,000 people in a single hour – 10 per cent of entire city’s population – and levelled many of their religious structures.

But they never touched the pyramid, because they never found it. 

In 1594, after settling in the city and claiming it for their own, they built a church – La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios (Our Lady of Remedies Church), on top of the hidden pyramid mountain. 

It’s unclear if the Aztecs knew the mud bricks would encourage things to grow all over it and eventually bury the entire structure, but the fact that it looks more like a hill than a pyramid is probably the only reason it still survives today.

And just as well, because according to the BBC, not only is it the world’s largest pyramid, it retains the title of the largest monument ever constructed anywhere on Earth, by any civilisation, to this day.

The pyramid wasn’t discovered until the early 1900s when locals started to build a psychiatric ward nearby. By the 1930s, archaeologists started to uncover it, creating a series of tunnels stretching 8 kilometres (5 miles) in length to give them access.

Now, over 2,300 years after its initial construction, the site has become a tourist destination.

Hopefully, as our ability to study important sites using non-invasive tools continues to improve, archaeologists will gain a better understanding of how the structure was built, by whom, and how it came to look so much like a mountain.  

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Couple finds more than 66 bottles of Prohibition-era whiskey hidden in the walls of their New York home

Couple finds more than 66 bottles of Prohibition-era whiskey hidden in the walls of their New York home

After finding 66 bottles of whiskey from the Prohibition period concealed in the walls and floorboards of their home in upstate New York, a couple is left shocked.

Late last year in the town of Ames, Nick Drummond and Patrick Bakker bought the property and were told that it once belonged to a ‘childless German baron who turned to bootlegging in the 1920s.’

As nothing more than folklore, the couple passed off the storey before last month they started renovating the 105-year-old home and found hidden liquor in the gaps between the walls and floors.

Couple finds more than 66 bottles of Prohibition-era whiskey hidden in the walls of their New York home
A New York couple has been left stunned after finding 66 bottles of Prohibition-era whiskey hidden in the walls and floorboards of their upstate home. All of the bottles are Old Smuggler Gaelic whiskey – a Scottish label which is still in production today

Drummond told CNN that he was removing outside skirting from a mudroom when he found the bottles of whiskey wrapped up in a brown paper.

‘I’m like what is that? I’m was very confused… I’m like holy crap. This is like a whiskey stash. And this is like, all of a sudden, the whole story of the bootlegger [makes sense].’

Drummond told CNN that he was removing outside skirting from a mudroom when he found the bottles of whiskey wrapped up in brown paper
The three-story home in Ames is pictured. Drummond and Bakker had no idea of the property’s incredible history when they made the purchase last year

Drummond shared a video of the remarkable moment to his Instagram page – which has recently attracted thousands of new followers, which means he doesn’t need to use Instagram growth services like gramista to help expand his following as this amazing and quite possibly once in a lifetime discovery has done the job for him instead.

‘OUR WALLS ARE BUILT OF BOOZE!’ he wrote.

‘I can’t believe the rumours are true! He was actually a bootlegger! I mean I thought it was a cute story, but the builder of our house was ACTUALLY a bootlegger!’

The couple uncovered 42 bottles of whiskey in the wall space. All of the bottles are Old Smuggler Gaelic whiskey – a Scottish label which is still in production today.

However, Drummond and Bakker went on to discover even more concealed booze beneath floorboards inside the mudroom. So far, the pair have found a total of 66 bottles, and say it’s likely they’ll come across others as they continue their renovations.

Drummond and Bakker went on to discover even more concealed booze beneath floorboards inside the mudroom

The bottles are estimated to be worth around $1,000 a pop – but the couple did not reveal whether they had opened one to give the whiskey a try.

Unlike wine, whiskey does not improve with age once it has been bottled. While it’s unlikely to be harmful if the pair do decide to drink it, there’s no guarantee that it’ll taste any good.

Bottles of the whiskey – dating back at least 90 years – were discovered wrapped in brown paper

After making the discovery, Drummond subsequently began researching the history of the home, and learned there was some truth to the rumours it was owned by a’a ‘childless German baron who turned to bootlegging’.

The original owner was a German man known as Count Adolph Humpfner – who died mysteriously in 1932 and left behind a large fortune.

‘His estate was worth over $140,000 in 1932,’ Drummond told his Instagram followers.

‘He had many aliases and was known as the mystery man of the Mohawk Valley, and ‘the count’; although there was never proof of his royalty beyond his own claims.

‘It was a mystery to locals at the time how he amassed his fortune. He owned a local bank, the school gymnasium, and 23 properties in NYC and NJ.’

Now, it seems apparent that he amassed his fortune through bootlegging during the Prohibition-era, which ran from 1920- 1933.

Ames is located about halfway between New York City and the Canadian border, making it the perfect place for bootleggers who may have been bringing in illegal alcohol from the north.

ASIA, EUROPE, RUSSIA, WORLD

Eerie train graveyard gives a glimpse into the golden age of Soviet steam trains

Eerie train graveyard gives a glimpse into the golden age of Soviet steam trains

In Russia’s central Perm region, near the village of Shumkovo, a cemetery lies on the sidetrack. Instead of tombs and headstones, it is filled with trains from the 20th century.

There are dozens of steam locomotives, the oldest dating back to 1936 and the youngest from 1956. They sit on rusty rails, in the middle of overgrown vegetation.

During the Soviet era, the location served as a backup railway base in case of nuclear war. At that time, around 140 locomotives were docked there. But, as electric power replaced steam, these reserve trains hit the end of the line.

As railway authorities waned, maintenance work on the locomotives eventually came to a complete halt, leaving the way for rust.

Many of the trains have bought and taken away by Chinese owners. Others have been restored to become exhibits at museums and memorials.

Grigoriy Gordeyev has managed the place for 30 years and resists calls to have the locomotives scrapped down for metal.

“You can see for yourself how they (the locomotives) are living out their lives, just standing there,” he says.

“People are interested, they come here, take photos, observe. It’s our history after all.”

Visitor and photographer Alexander Osipov, also believes that the trains take you on a trip back in time.

“It’s like you go several decades into the past, especially when you get inside a steam train. There are all these levers, which someone touched, you get this feeling. You really feel that there are fascists and the Red Army are running just outside the window. It is all really very interesting,” he says.

According to museum manager Alexander Yemelyanov, Russian steam locomotives dating to early 20th century are a rarity nowadays.

“Trains were mass-produced technology and the attitude towards them was neither reverent nor very serious. They were sent to be melted for disposal. And unfortunately, many types of locomotives at the beginning of the 20th century were not preserved,” he explains.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

A 2,100-year-old statue of Cybele the Anatolian mother goddess unearthed in northwestern Turkey

A 2,100-year-old statue of Cybele the Anatolian mother goddess unearthed in northwestern Turkey

An approximate 2,100-year old Cybele’s rare marble statue, Anatolia’s mother goddess, has been discovered in excavations on the Black Sea coast of Northern Ordu province.

The historic sculpture of Cybele sitting on her throne weighed a whopping 200 kilograms and was about 110 centimetres tall.

The statue is also the first marble statue found in Turkey in its original place.

The ancient artefact was unearthed in excavations launched by a team of 25 archaeologists led by the head of the Department of Archeology in Gazi University, Prof. Dr Süleyman Yücel Şenyurt, in the 2,300-year-old Kurul Kalesi, or the Council Fortress.

“We are continuing our work non-stop. Two days ago we found an extraordinary artefact.

According to our research, the statue remained intact after the walls of the entrance of the fortress of Kurul collapsed during an invasion by Roman soldiers.

This statue has also shown us that the fortress of Kurul in Ordu was a very important settlement [in ancient times],” Prof. Şenyurt said.

Saying that it was an incredibly rare find, the professor said that they were proud to unearth such an artefact in Turkey. He also said that the priceless statue would be later on transferred to the archaeology museum in Ordu.

The professor also said that the first attempts to conduct excavations in the area were made ​​about 6 years ago, but had been postponed for various reasons.

Meanwhile, Mayor Enver Yılmaz also pledged to provide TL 500,000 in funds to all excavations in the fortress of Kurul.

He also said that the fortress will be turned into an open-air museum in the near future and hopes the excavations will contribute to tourism in the region as well as in Turkey.

The excavations in the fortress are also the first archaeological diggings on the eastern coast of the Black Sea.

Cybele, an Anatolian mother goddess, is the symbol of prosperity with her pregnant belly, seated on her throne.

In Anatolian mythology, she was the personification of the earth. In Greek mythology in which she was equated to Earth-goddess Gaia, Cybele was mostly associated with fertile nature, mountains, town and city walls, as well as wild animals such as lions.

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Incredible ancient ruins in the USA you probably didn’t know About

Incredible ancient ruins in the USA you probably didn’t know About

The ruins of the ancient civilizations are all common in Rome, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Mexico. These cultures are the backbone of the western world, but all of them are so far away that most people see only one or two times in their lifetime.

What to do?

Ok, how about going to see any of them in your own backyard? Many people are surprised to discover that America has many civilizational ruins that have existed for thousands of years. Here are the top 6 choices for the best places to visit ancient ruins in America.

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado

This park is perhaps the best known ancient ruin in the US. The massive sandstone and wood structures date between 900 – 1200 A.D. when the ancient Puebloans struggled to scratch a living out of the unpredictable desert climate. They wedged their dwellings under large overhanging rocks and inside the alcoves in canyon walls, giving them the name cliff dwellers.

There are four main areas to explore, three on guided tours and a fourth on your own. The largest dwelling Cliff Palace and the view from Balcony House are so impressive they both made the list of top 6 ruins. Make sure you leave yourself enough time as it is difficult to visit both on the same day. Cliff Palace, the most recognized of the four, faces southwest to take advantage of the warm afternoon sun during the winter months. The Palace has almost 150 rooms, making it the largest of the cliff dwellings.

Balcony House is set up on a high ledge, and the only access in or out is a series of toeholds in the cleft of a cliff, which made this dwelling very defensible. Today you can visit these impressive dwellings by climbing a series of ladders.

Camping sites are available, as well as several hiking trails, guided backcountry tours, and bike trips. Exploring the dwellings themselves can be vigorous, involving climbing several ladders, crawling through tunnels, or walking up steep steps.

Serpent Mound and Earth Works, Ohio

Spread throughout Ohio are ancient Indian burial mounds, including some just a stone’s throw from where I grew up. There is the famous Serpent Mound that slithers throughout the valley in the shape of a giant snake.

Until a couple of years ago, Serpent Mound was thought to have been created around 100 A.D. However, new evidence shows that these mounds may be as old as 321 B.C. This means that when these burial mounds were being built, at the same time in Greece Aristotle was pondering the meaning of life.

Several other of these man made mounds are in the form of elaborate geometric shapes called Earth Works. Some of these Earth Works date back to 10,000 B.C. It is mind-blowing to see how ancient cultures buried their dead in such a unique way. The mounds have been expertly repaired and preserved, and there is talk about UNESCO making them a World Heritage Site.

Chaco Culture National Park, New Mexico

Between 900 and 1100 A.D., Chaco served as the major cultural heart of the ancient Puebloans. Chaco Canyon is in northwestern New Mexico in the San Juan Basin and is surrounded by mountains. The Indians built their dwellings to reflect solar and lunar cycles, which required incredible levels of study and knowledge.

There is also proof of a thriving turquoise mining and manufacturing trade in the area around 1,000 A.D. These people were called “Anasazi” by the Navajo, a word meaning ‘ancient ones’. This culture was highly developed for their time and is still celebrated by the Hopi people as their sacred ancestors.

Come visit the ruins of what were the largest buildings in North America until the 19th century. These truly impressive ruins built on arid plains can be seen for miles.

Cahokia Mounds Historic Site, Illinois

This ancient Mississippian culture spread across much of the central and southeastern parts of the United States. Cahokia was a large cultural and economic hub due to its ideal location near where the Missouri and Illinois Rivers join with the massive Mississippi River. Evidence of trade exists between the Cahokian population and other civilizations as far north as the Great Lakes and south to the Gulf coast.

The present day site has around 80 identified mounds, but at the peak of trade in the 13th century, there were over 120 mounds. At its height, the area had a population of over 40,000 people.

When you visit the site, you can immediately see the most prominent mound and focus of the city, called Monks Mound. Excavations have revealed a large building that could have been either a temple or the residence of the highest ranking chief.

Visit mound 72, a burial mound, where archeologists found the body of “Birdman”, a man in his 40s thought to be an important ruler. He was buried on a mound of shell beads shaped into a falcon, an important and common motif in Mississippian culture.

They also found hundreds of bodies interred there in various states of ceremony, some even showing the possibility of having been buried alive. This park also has North America’s only known copper workshop in Mississippian culture. One interesting find is the discovery of what experts believe is a ‘woodhenge’, a circular structure similar to Europe’s Stonehenge that was instrumental in marking agricultural cycles.

Wupatki National Monument, Arizona

Unlike most ancient dwellings sites that only have a couple buildings, the Wupatki National Monument spreads out over an expansive area in the desert just outside of Flagstaff. There are five large sites open to the public. They date back to the 12th and 13th centuries when the Anasazi Indians expanded into the desert after the eruption of Sunset Volcano in 1064 A.D.

The ash fall made the area infertile, so the Indians moved further into the desert. You can walk the dramatic red structures made of Moenkopi sandstone at each of the five sites and even visit the Wupatki Pueblo, an Anasazi word meaning “big house”.

It is a 3 story dwelling with over 300 rooms. Take in the impressive views from Wukoki Pueblo, built on a high block of sandstone and visible for miles. After touring all the pueblos, check out Sunset Crater Volcano, the dormant volcano a bit further down the road.

Mule Canyon, Utah

In southeastern Utah there is a system of smaller ruins that wind through branched canyons through Cedar Mesa sandstone. This area is full of interesting sites, but by far the most exciting is the 4-mile trek through Mule Canyon. The trailhead is easy to reach, right off the main highway.

There are eight sites scattered along the trail, some that require climbing to reach, and some that have several rooms you can wander through. The most attractive feature: there are small natural springs near the upper end that feed a trickling stream. The entire hiking experience through the narrow canyon is one that you shouldn’t miss!

Whether you’re looking for a quick dip into the past or to immerse yourself into the lives of those that came before you, these six sites are some of the best in the country. All are protected public lands in different settings providing a unique experience. Hope you have fun exploring them all!

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

Mysterious 520 million-year-old sea monster with tentacles coming out of its mouth discovered

Mysterious 520 million-year-old sea monster with tentacles coming out of its mouth discovered

A recent research finds that the discovery of a fossil demonstrating an underwater marine monster with 18 tentacles surrounding its mouth has helped solve a modern-day puzzle about the origins of a gelatinous carnivore called a comb jelly.

The once unexplained “sea monster,” which scientists named Daihua sanqiong, existed in today’s China a whopping 518 million years ago. And the extinct animal shares a number of anatomical characteristics with the modern comb jelly, a little sea creature that uses so-called comb rows full of loads of hair-like cilia to swim through the oceans.

The finding indicates that this recently identified species may be the distant relative of the comb jelly, said study lead researcher Jakob Vinther, a paleobiologist at the United Kingdom’s Bristol University.

“With fossils, we have been able to find out what the bizarre comb jellies originated from,” Vinther told Live Science. “Even though we now can show they came from a very sensible place, it doesn’t make them any less weird.”

This finding, however, has sparked a debate. While the discovery of D. sanqiong is impressive, it’s hard to say whether this ancient creature is part of the lineage that produced comb jellies, said Casey Dunn, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University, who was not involved with the study.

“I am highly skeptical of the conclusions they draw,” Dunn told Live Science.

A magnified shot of the rows of cilia on Daihua sanqiong, which suggest that it might be a distant relative of the modern comb jelly.

18 incredible tentacles

Vinther came across the D. sanqiong fossil while visiting colleagues at Yunnan University in China.

The scientists there showed him a number of fossils in their collection, including the mysterious creature they later named Daihua sanqiong, which was discovered by study co-researcher Xianguang Hou, a paleobiologist at Yunnan University. The genus name honors the Dai tribe in Yunnan; “hua” means flower in Mandarin, and refers to the critter’s flower-like shape.

On each of D. sanqiong’s tentacles are fine, feather-like branches with rows of large ciliary hairs, which likely helped it catch prey. These hairs, according to Vinther, grabbed his attention “because we only find big cilia on comb jellies.” To swim, comb jellies move their cilia, which then flicker in beautiful iridescent colors.

A living comb jelly, known as Euplokamis. The creature’s rainbow iridescence is caused by the movement of the ciliary comb bands on the animal’s body.

Moreover, the D. sanqiong fossil bears an intriguing resemblance to other known ancient animals, including Xianguangia, another ancient creature with 18 tentacles, and the tulip-like sea creatures Dinomischus and Siphusauctum.

“To make a long story short, we were able to reconstruct the whole [early] lineage of comb jellies,” by doing anatomical comparisons, Vinther said. This is a big deal, because some scientists argue that these swimming carnivores were among the first animals to evolve on Earth, based on family trees analyses and genetic modeling of modern comb jellies. But now, this international team has possibly shown that comb jellies have a long lineage that precedes them, Vinther said.

This newly described lineage suggests that some of the ancestors of comb jellies had skeletons and that their ancient tentacles evolved into the combs with the densely packed cilia seen on comb jellies today.

An artist’s illustration of Daihua sanqiong

The discovery also sheds light on where these ancient animals likely sat on the tree of life. For instance, researchers previously thought that Xianguangia was a sea anemone, but it “is actually part of the comb jelly branch,” study co-researcher Peiyun Cong , a professor of paleobiology at Yunnan University, said in a statement.

These findings also make a strong case that comb jellies are related to corals, sea anemones and jellyfish, the researchers said. “Those [ancient] tentacles are the same tentacles that you see on corals and sea anemones,” Vinther said. “We can trace comb jellies to these flower-like animals that lived more than half a billion years ago.”

But not everyone agrees with this analysis. While Dunn commended the researchers for their detailed description of D. sanqiong and its proposed relatives, some of these creatures have such different body shapes that it’s challenging to see how they could be related, he said. It’s possible that the tulip-looking Dinomischus and Siphusayctum creatures are related to each other.

But Siphusauctum has ciliary rows on the inside of its body, and the animal purported to come after it, Galeactena, has these rows on the outside of its body.

It’s hard to see how this animal would, in effect, turn inside out as it evolved, Dunn said. Given that some of these claims are tenuous, the burden of proof is higher, and the researchers don’t quite get there, Dunn said.

“These are exciting animals no matter how they’re related to each other,” Dunn said. “Even though I’m skeptical that tentacles and comb rows are homologous [evolutionarily related], I think that as we describe more diversity from these deposits, certainly we’re going to learn a lot more about animal evolution.”

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Ancient goddess statue unearthed in central Turkey

Ancient goddess statue unearthed in central Turkey

In central Anatolia, at the site of Kültepe, the capital of the ancient kingdom of Kanesh, several goddess statues have been found, Yeni Şafak reports.

Fikri Kulakoğlu of Ankara University said that the largest of the 4,200-year-old statues unearthed this excavation season stands about 17 inches tall.

“We are happy to have found a 45-centimetre-high [17 inches] artefact, a statue. This is a very special piece,” Fikri Kulakoglu, a professor from the Ankara University and head of the excavation team, told Anadolu Agency on Sunday.

Kultepe, which was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Kanesh, is 20 kilometres from the central Kayseri province. It was accepted in the UNESCO Tentative List of World Heritage in 2014.

Kulakoglu said the goddess statue is being cleaned of dust to be displayed in a museum.

“This artefact is around 4,200 years old,” he said, adding that all of the statues, statuettes, idols found in Kultepe are women figurines.

“No idols of men have been found so far… the women statues are naked and have a decorated throne, and there are braids on their back,” he said.

Highlighting that the finding is unique, he said: “It is a very special piece for us… it is one of the most precious works showing religious beliefs of this region, of Kultepe.”

The professor said they found around 20 new artefacts during this year’s excavations, all of which are of great importance.

This year’s work was being carried out with a limited number of people due to the coronavirus pandemic, he added.

EUROPE, GREECE, WORLD

Byzantine Amphora Found By Swimmer At Cretan Beach

Byzantine Amphora Found By Swimmer At Cretan Beach

An ancient amphora, which is a vase that was historically used to store and transport things such as wine, oil and grain was discovered by a man who was swimming at Arina beach in Heraklion, Crete.

Admittedly, this is more likely if your holiday is in Crete than Gran Canaria, but it’s what happened to one man who had been swimming from his hotel beach.

When he got back inside, he looked at his photos and noticed something round and bobbing in the water. At first, he thought it could be a floating human head.

In fact it was a 12th century Byzantine amphora found by a man out for a swim

That would clearly be of concern, so he alerted the beach lifeguard and took a surfboard out to investigate what it was on Thursday.

It was not a human head In fact it was a 12th century Byzantine amphora found by a man out for a swim In fact it was an amphora, a kind of vase used to store and transport things like wine, oil or grain.

Although it was covered in shells and other debris from the sea, it was intact and is believed to date from the Byzantine period in the 12th or 13th centuries. It will be handed over to the Directorate of Antiquities, local media reported.

The amphora was found at Arina beach by Heraklio in North Crete. Authorities warned that any historical artefacts like this had to be declared as they are property of the Greek state.

People should not move them, however, as this could damage them. Instead, they should give details of where they can be found.

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