NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Dino-mite: N.C. museum gets fossils of dinosaurs that apparently died fighting

Dino-mite: N.C. museum gets fossils of dinosaurs that apparently died fighting

Apparently locked in battle on the plains of modern-day Montana, about 66 million years after two dinosaurs died, an unusual fight over who owns the entangled fossils has become a multimillion-dollar issue that depends on the legal definition of “mineral.”

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last week that the “Dueling Dinosaurs” located on private land are minerals both scientifically and under mineral rights laws.

The fossils belong both to the owners of the property where they were found and two brothers who kept two-thirds of the mineral rights to the land once owned by their father, a three-judge panel said in a split decision.

Eric Edward Nord, an attorney for the property owners, said the case is complex in dealing with who owns what’s on top of land vs. the minerals that make it up and addresses a unique question of mineral rights law related to dinosaur fossils that no court in the country has taken up before.

His clients own part of a ranch in the Hell Creek Formation of eastern Montana that’s rich with prehistoric fossils, including the Dueling Dinosaurs whose value had been appraised at $7 million to $9 million.

Lige and Mary Ann Murray bought it from George Severson, who also transferred part of his interest in the ranch to his sons, Jerry and Robert Severson. In 2005, the brothers sold their surface rights to the Murrays, but retained the mineral rights, court documents said.

At the time, neither side suspected valuable dinosaur fossils were buried on the ranch, court records said. A few months later, amateur palaeontologist Clayton Phipps discovered the carnivore and herbivore apparently locked in battle. Imprints of the dinosaurs’ skin were also in the sediment.

A dispute arose in 2008 when the Seversons learned about the fossils — a 22-foot-long (7-meter-long) theropod and a 28-foot-long (9-meter-long) ceratopsian.

The Murrays sought a court order saying they owned the Dueling Dinosaurs, while the Seversons asked a judge to find that fossils are part of the property’s mineral estate and that they were entitled to partial ownership.

One of two “duelling dinosaur” fossils is displayed in New York. Ownership of two fossilized dinosaur skeletons found on a Montana ranch in 2006 is the subject of a legal battle over whether they are part of a property’s surface rights or mineral rights. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a split decision saying fossils are minerals under mineral rights laws.

It had wider implications because the ranch is in an area that has numerous prehistoric creatures preserved in layers of clay and sandstone. Palaeontologists have unearthed thousands of specimens now housed in museums and used for research.

But fossils discovered on private land can be privately owned, frustrating palaeontologists who say valuable scientific information is being lost.

During the court case, the Dueling Dinosaurs were put up for auction in New York in November 2013. Bidding topped out at $5.5 million, less than the reserve price of $6 million.

A nearly complete Tyrannosaurus rex found on the property was sold to a Dutch museum for several million dollars in 2014, with the proceeds being held in escrow pending the outcome of the court case.

Other fossils found on the ranch also have been sold, including a triceratops skull that brought in more than $200,000, court records said.

The 9th Circuit decision on Nov. 6 overturned a federal judge’s 2016 opinion that fossils were not included in the ordinary definition of “mineral” because not all fossils with the same mineral composition are considered valuable.

“The composition of minerals found in the fossils does not make them valuable or worthless,” U.S. District Judge Susan Watters of Billings wrote. “Instead, the value turns on characteristics other than mineral composition, such as the completeness of the specimen, the species of dinosaur and how well it is preserved.”

The Severson’s had appealed, arguing previous court cases determined that naturally occurring materials that have some special value meet the definition of minerals.

Attorneys for the Murrays asked the 9th Circuit this week for an extension of a Nov. 21 deadline to petition the judges to reconsider or for a hearing before an 11-judge panel.

ASIA, IRAN, WORLD

12000 Years Old Body Of A Anunnaki King Found Completely Intact?

12000 Years Old Body Of A Anunnaki King Found Completely Intact?

This discovery was made completely by chance in 2008, and if we know what happened is certainly thanks to the Russian media, and to the television press.

It happened in Kurdistan, Iran, a country quite closed to the world, at least in the western world, but with good relations with Russia. (Body of an Anunnaki King)

Although hidden until today, we get to know what has been published by the Russian press.

The discovery occurred in work when digging the ground to make the foundations of a house.

Then came a mausoleum containing three coffins, and after making more concise excavations, the remains of an ancient civilization and the ruins of a city were found in a layer of earth. (Body of an Anunnaki King)

Archaeologists determined that the monument and the city were built between 10,000 and 12,000 years ago, a date quickly revised by the Islamic authorities after Find publication in the Russian press.

The Iranian authorities publicly stated that the ruins were 850 years old, which obviously does not correspond to the facts and is, again, an official lie.

Of the three sarcophagi found in the mausoleum, we only have video evidence of the first two.

We know nothing of the third, nor of its content, nor of who was inside.

As you can see, it is very difficult from the video to determine the height of the individual, although they appear to be very high.

Both seem to be in a state of suspended animation. One wears a crown, suggesting that he was the ruler of the city, and was buried, as can be observed, with his sorcerer, which leads him to conclude that in the third sarcophagus he must have contained his wife Reina.

There are gold coins placed in the eyes of the king, which is a well-attested habit of antiquity. This is a first blow to the official lie that the ruins are from the twelfth century.

It can be observed that it has Caucasian features, but copper skin: the second individual sarcophagus shares these same characteristics.

It looks like they are adorned with gold and precious stones.

These ornaments carry a cuneiform script that is not identifiable but has been translated, giving the name of the second man found in the second sarcophagus and thus his magician by profession.

The royal sarcophagus seems to be clothed with gold or metal that resembles it, and near the monarch can be seen a gold casket encrusted with strange gems, just like those found adorning the king, it is said strange because they seem luminescent. (Body of an Anunnaki King)

EUROPE, SLOVAKIA, WORLD

Bronze Figurine with Gold Eyes Unearthed in Slovakia

Bronze Figurine with Gold Eyes Unearthed in Slovakia

In the village of Jánovce, near Poprad, the Spiš Museum in Spišská Nová Ves has presented an important discovery: a Celtic bronze statue.

The museum conducted archaeological research in Jánovce in the location of Pod Hradiskom (Under the Hillfort) in spring and autumn of this year, explained archaeologist Mária Hudáková.

It is a locality known since the 19th century, but had not been systematically researched until now, she said.

The excavation works revealed more than 800 objects from different historical time periods, from prehistory to the modern era.

“These are mostly Celtic coins, bronze clips and other parts of clothing, products from clay, ceramics, wharves and glass beads and bracelets,” Mária Hudáková said, as quoted by the TASR.

The Celts were almost everywhere within the European borders. Their movements began during the Great Celtic Migrations that took place, in approximately around 500 BC and ended in c. 100 BC.

During these 400 years, the Celts, in seemingly endless waves, spread out throughout Europe and lived in large parts of Europe during the Bronze Age and Iron Age.

By 200 BC, the Celtic language was being spoken in the modern-day nations of Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy, and, even to a lesser extent, Turkey.

Undoubtedly, the most precious find discovered in Jánovce is the bronze figurine of the man who is depicted naked but he wears a piece of jewellery in the form of a neckerchief.

The man’s golden eyes are another unique detail in this very realistic depiction.

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Sinkhole Reveals 19th-Century Well in Boston Park

Historic Well Discovered Under Mysterious Sinkhole In Boston’s Ronan Park

Over the weekend, a mysterious sinkhole was found in Ronan Park by a local, and Archeologist Joe Bagley of the City of Boston announced on Thursday that the sinkhole actually leads to a historical well from the 1800s.

According to Bagley, this was discovered by lowering an iPhone with LED lights into the hole with a rope.

“The way the well is positioned in the ground, it is currently under about 10 feet of fill that is brought to the site to create Ronan Park in 1912,” said Bagley.

Sinkhole Reveals 19th-Century Well in Boston Park
A mysterious sinkhole in Ronan Park. 

“The top of the well is located 10 feet below that and the well is about 6.5 feet deep. That makes the total opening in the park about 16.5 half feet deep. The well is about 2.5 feet wide.”

Bagley also said the reason sinkhole formed was due to the recent rain that loosened up the soil in the ground.

He went on to explain the interesting history behind the well and how it became a part of the land.

According to Bagley, a pastor for the nearby First Church in Dorchester purchased the property in the 1790s and built a mansion on the northern end of the park.

The land where the well ended up being located remained underdeveloped until it was purchased in 1818 by John F. Pierce, a cabinet and piano maker. He built a 10-acre property and lived nearby.

His estate was broken up on September 22, 1871, and a widow by the name of Mary L. Pierce, who Bagley said was possibly related to John F. Pierce, ended up getting the property.

Bagley says the well was either built-in 1818 by John F. Pierce and his estate or by Mary L. Pierce between 1871 or 1872.

“It’s either or at this point,” said Bagley. “The well would have likely been abandoned in the 1870s to 1890s when this area received running water for the first time from Boston Water and Sewer.

At that point, Mary passed away and the property transferred to another person by the name of Hannah Bliss, who then sold the property to the city of Boston to turn it into Ronan Park.”

The resident who found the sinkhole over the weekend called 311, so Boston Fire and Police responded.

Ryan Woods, the Commissioner of Boston’s Parks and Recreation, says the sinkhole is being examined to make sure all the drainage is intact before it is filled again.

“It should be filled back within the next two weeks. So by the end of this month, it should be back to normal, completely reseeded and completely filled,” said Woods.

As of Thursday, the hole had been blocked off with barricades, police tape and a fence.

EUROPE, GREECE, WORLD

Amazing mosaic of the ancient Greek god Poseidon found in Turkey

Amazing mosaic of the ancient Greek god Poseidon found in Turkey

Archaeological excavations in the southern Turkish province of Adana’s Yumurtalık district have unearthed a rare mosaic depicting the ancient Greek god of the sea, Poseidon. It is believed to date back to the 3rd or 4th century B.C.

The Poseidon mosaic was found in the frigidarium (large cold pool of a Roman bath) part of the ancient bath at the ancient city of Aegae, which is a 1st-degree archaeological field.

The bottom part of the mosaic contains partly ruined writing in Greek: “Greetings to all of you bathing.” 

Adana Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Sabri Tari said the coastal Yumurtalık district was called Aegae in the ancient era.

Tari said the city served as a naval base in the era of the Roman Empire and it was also a famous place for Asclepius, the god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. 

“One of three big Asclepius temples of the ancient world is in this city,” he added. 

Archaeological excavations near the Turkish province of Adana have unearthed a rare mosaic depicting the ancient Greek god of the sea, Poseidon

Tari said the region is rich in historical tissue, and they had previously found a mosaic depicting the god of love, Eros. 

“We found a new mosaic during recent excavations. The Poseidon mosaic, which is a rare one in terms of its beauty, was unearthed in the grounds of the frigidarium,” he said. 

Mosaic nearly 11 square meters 

Adana Museum Deputy Director Nedim Dervişoğlu said they continued to place a big importance on excavations in order to further boost the province’s tourism potential, with such works carried out in a number of different parts of the city. 

“During excavations, we found a mosaic on a field over a space of 11.39 square meters. It is separated into two main panels.

The depiction in the southeastern part of the mosaic has been completely destroyed while the depiction in the north shows Poseidon carrying a trident.

There are dolphins in the right and left of Poseidon. When the excavations are completed around the mosaic, the depiction will be meaningful. We believe it dates back to the 3rd or 4th century B.C.,” Dervişoğlu said.

EUROPE, SWEDEN, WORLD

17th-Century Warship Pulled From Icy Baltic Sea Is Almost Perfectly Preserved

17th-Century Warship Pulled From Icy Baltic Sea Is Almost Perfectly Preserved

In the 1620s, King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden ordered the construction of a new warship to protect his citizens. The warship was named Vasa and its construction was hurried as the Swedes waged war in those years with the now-historic bi-confederation entity reigned by one monarch–the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Vasa’s port bow.
Vasa’s port bow.

After its creation, with several superlatives, the Vasa warship was described as being the largest and most capable battleship at the disposal of the Swedish navy.

The ship came to symbolize Sweden’s Great Power Period, in which the Nordic country controlled most of the Baltic Sea and forged its status as one of Europe’s most powerful kingdoms.

Warship in Vasa museum in Stockholm

The ship’s appearance was stunning, measuring 226 feet in length, 164 feet in height, and weighed more than 1,200 tons. With some 64 cannons installed on it, it promised whoever tried to mess with Vasa would face serious consequences. As it turned out, it never came to that.

The ship, against everyone’s expectations, proved to be fallible and faced an end that might easily remind people of the story of the RMS Titanic. Vasa did not hit an iceberg but still ignominiously sunk on its very first journey.

It was an embarrassing incident, overseen by crowds of Swedes who had gathered at the port of Stockholm from where the ship set sails towards the open seas for the very first and last time on August 10, 1628.

There were also prominent guests in the onlooking crowd, including royals and ambassadors from other countries. Having not sailed even one nautical mile, the mighty warship suddenly plunged into the water. Accounts point to errors happening during construction. The vessel was the work of a Dutch shipbuilder. The contract was signed early in the year 1625 and Vasa was one of four vessels agreed on the list with shipbuilder Henrik Hybertsson.

The original arrangement was to have two smaller and two bigger vessels. Hybertsson died shortly after undertaking the project, and the construction effort was taken over by his assistant, Hein Jakobsson.

Illustration from a treatise on salvaging from 1734, showing the traditional method of raising a wreck with the help of anchors and ships or hulks as pontoons, basically the same method that was used to raise Vasa in the 20th century.

Construction plans were obviously modified, as Vasa, which was supposed to be one of the two smaller ships, appeared to be fitting the pair of two bigger ships upon completion. The ship came out much heavier than planned. It also carried extra weights such as hundreds of sculptures and at least 100 tons of ballast.

More evidence shows that the Swedes had the warship tested and noticed something was wrong with it, but under the pushy demands of the king, Vasa was prematurely sailed into the open sea and towards its premature doom.

The preserved Vasa in the main hall of Vasa Museum seen from above the bow.

A strong gust of wind was enough to overturn the vessel. When the water began to enter, all it took was a few minutes for it to sink 105 feet below the surface.

The Swedes were quick to dismiss and forget Vasa. This was to be their new favourite war toy and national pride and joy, yet it now lay sunk on the bottom of the ocean on its maiden voyage. It was a scandal that hurt the reputation of the kingdom, as well as having huge economic repercussions. Vasa had costed a fortune.

While an investigation was ushered in immediately after the ship sank, little could be done. The main shipbuilder had already been dead for over a year.

Illustration of a Swedish Emperors: Gustav Vasa, Gustav Adolf, Dronning Christine, A. Oxenstierna, Charles Gustav, Charles IX, Torstenson

There were efforts to recover Vasa from the seafloor immediately, but the task seemed impossible with the limited technology of the time. By the 1660s, a group of divers was able to retrieve the cannons, using an early model of the diving bell. The shipwreck was eventually left abandoned and forgotten…until the mid-20th-century.

In 1961, a few years after the shipwreck was rediscovered and identified as the lost 17th-century Vasa vessel, Sweden finally managed to recover it. Although Vasa had for centuries remained submerged in the sea, upon its reappearance it seemed positively in pristine condition.

The underwater position where it had sunk was key. The water was dark enough to stop ultraviolet light from protruding and affecting the ship’s wood. The chilly temperature of the Baltic was also soothing, preventing any rapid deterioration processes.

The inside of the lower gun deck looking toward the bow.

Having sunk close enough to the harbour, there was enough pollution in the water to bleach most parasites that may have wanted to feast on the wood of the wreck.

But some decaying issues began once the ship was taken out of the water.  Vasa underwent restoration at that point and was treated with substances to protect the wood, however, lab research later confirmed that the wood of the ship was struggling with extremely slow, ongoing fibre degradation.

Vasa warship canon hatches detail

There is no threat of immediate collapse, but this has remained a major occupation for conservationists who are still looking for the best way to stop the risky process.

Should the Vasa museum where the shipwreck is famously displayed in Stockholm allow its prime exhibit to perish for the second time, it would be a huge national loss. The Vasa goes a long way and has a special history with the Swedes as well as being one of the best-preserved historical ships in all of the world.

BULGARIA, EUROPE, WORLD

Thracian King SevtIII discovered: 2,400-yr-old Solid gold mask weighing 640 gr found near the village of Shipka

Thracian King Sevt III discovered: 2,400-yr-old Solid gold mask weighing 640 gr found near the village of Shipka

A 2,400-year-old golden mask that once belonged to a Thracian king was unearthed in a timber-lined tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, archaeologists reported.

The mask, discovered over the weekend, was found in the tomb along with a solid gold ring engraved with a Greek inscription and the portrait of a bearded man.

“These finds confirm the assumption that they are part of the lavish burial of a Thracian king,” said Margarita Tacheva, a professor who was on the dig near the village of Topolchane, 180 miles (290 kilometers) east of the capital, Sofia.

Georgi Kitov discovers the head thought to represent King Sevt III (Seuthes III) at the entrance of the mausoleum near the village of Shipka, October, 2004.

Georgi Kitov, the team leader, said that they also found a silver rhyton, silver and bronze vessels, pottery, and funerary gifts.

“The artifacts belonged to a Thracian ruler from the end of the 4th century B.C. who was buried here,” Kitov added. According to Kitov, the Thracian civilization was at least equal in terms of development to the ancient Greeks.

The Thracians lived in what is now Bulgaria and parts of modern Greece, Romania, Macedonia, and Turkey between 4,000 B.C. and the 8th century A.D. when they were assimilated by the invading Slavs.

In 2004, another 2,400-year-old golden mask was unearthed from a Thracian tomb in the same area.

Mausoleum of Thracian King Sevt III discovered: Solid gold mask weighing 640 gr found near the village of Shipka It is thought to belong to 5th century BC king Teres – Dr – Georgi Kitov and his team found this mask in Bulgaria in October, 2004. Today it’s kept in the Archaeological Museum in Sofia.

Dozens of Thracian mounds are spread throughout central Bulgaria, which archaeologists have dubbed “the Bulgarian valley of kings” in reference to the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, Egypt, home to the tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs.

Seuthes III (Sevt III)

Seuthes III was the ruler of the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace from c. 331 BC to c. 300 BC, After the campaigns of Philip II in 347–342 a significant part of Thrace was dependent on Macedon.

After Philip’s death in 336 BC, many of the Thracian tribes revolted against Philip’s son Alexander the Great, who waged a campaign against and defeated the Getae and King Syrmus of the Triballi. All other Thracians sent troops to join Alexander’s army.

Seuthes revolted against Macedon in about 325 BC, after Alexander’s governor Zopyrion was killed in battle against the Getae.

After Alexander died in 323 BC he again took up arms in opposition to the new governor Lysimachus. They fought each other to a draw and each withdrew from the battle.

Ultimately Seuthes was compelled to acknowledge the authority of Lysimachus, by then one of Alexander’s successor kings.

In 320 BC, Seuthes III moved the Odrysian kingdom to central Thrace and built his capital city at Seuthopolis (Kazanlak, present-day Bulgaria).

In 313 BC he supported Antigonus I in the latter’s war against Lysimachus, occupying the passes of Mount Haemus against his overlord but was again defeated and forced to submit

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Meet “Stuckie” — The Mummified Dog Who Has Been Stuck In A Tree For Over 50 Years

Meet “Stuckie” — The Mummified Dog Who Has Been Stuck In A Tree For Over 50 Years

Loggers expect to come across some things when they cut down trees. Bird’s nests and things stuck in the branches seem like a given – a mummified dog in the center of a tree, however, does not.

But that’s exactly what a team of loggers with the Georgia Kraft Corp. found while cutting down a tree in the 1980s.

The loggers were working on a grove of chestnut oaks in southern Georgia when they found a most unusual sight.

Meet “Stuckie” — The Mummified Dog Who Has Been Stuck In A Tree For Over 50 Years
Stuckie, as the dog is affectionately known now, still stuck in his tree more than 50 years later.

After cutting off the top of the tree, and loading it onto a truck for transport, a member of the team happened to peer down the hollow trunk.

Inside, he found the perfectly mummified remains of a dog, looking back at him, its teeth still bared in a fight for survival.

Experts who studied the carcass concluded that the pup was most likely a hunting dog from the 1960s, who had chased something such as a squirrel through a hole in the roots, and up the center of the hollow tree.

The higher the dog got, however, the narrower the tree became. From the position of the dog’s paws, experts believe that it continued to climb until it effectively wedged itself in. Unable to turn around, the dog died.

Due to a perfect set of circumstances, however, though it was dead, it was not forgotten.

Normally, a dog that had died in the wild would succumb to decay and be eaten by other foragers.

However, as the dog had died inside a tree, it was unlikely that other animals could reach it – and, due to the height of the body, it was unlikely that other animals could smell it either.

Additionally, the kind of tree that the dog had lodged itself in was uniquely qualified to lend itself to the natural mummification process.

Chestnut oaks contain tannins, which are used in taxidermy and tanning to treat animal pelts so that they don’t decay. The tannins from the inside of the tree seeped out into the dog and prevented it from rotting inside.

The dry environment inside the trunk also provided shelter from the elements and sucked the moisture from the carcass. The air that was sucked into the tree through the base created a sort of vacuum effect, further contributing to the drying process.

After finding the mummified pup, the loggers decided to take it to a museum, to show off the rare sight to the world.

The dog, now affectionately called “Stuckie,” resides at the Southern Forest World museum, still encased in his woody tomb, and on display for the world to see.

All In One Magazine