Mysterious ruins discovered at the bottom of Lake Van, Türkiye’s largest lake
At the bottom of Lake Van, Türkiye’s largest salty soda lake with 3,712 square kilometers, divers discovered a cemetery and areas bearing the traces of an old village.
Lake Van (Van Gölü in Turkish) is the largest lake in Turkey and the second largest in the Middle East. It’s also the biggest sodium water lake in the world.
While the ruins at the bottom of Lake Van were introduced to the world by diving, new ones were added to these remains.
Following the dive made by members of two associations in Bitlis and Van provinces, it was stated that sunken ruins determined to be part of a historic city imprinted with cross marks were discovered in the depths of Lake Van.
Eastern Sea Association President Cumali Birol said in a statement to Demirören News Agency (DHA) that they discovered new mysteries waiting to be solved by diving.
Cumali Birol said that as the water levels decreased, notifications were made to relevant institutions regarding some tombstones and ruins seen in the water between Tatvan and Ahlat regions.
“Our divers saw structures similar to a village in the region, streets and tombs with crosses and marks of the Kayı tribe on them. We are endeavoring to bring the history of the region to light by giving the findings to experts. We discovered a very large area between Ahlat and Tatvan. There are cemeteries at the bottom of the water here. There are cross signs on the graves.”
Emphasizing that Lake Van is a mysterious place for divers, Birol said that over 3 meters of water has receded in the lake basin in recent years, which brought to light many ruins, as traces of ancient civilizations are seen everywhere in the lake basin.
“We brought two geologists from England to the workshop organized by our association. Therefore, we have proved that Noah’s Flood happened in the Lake Van Basin. These new findings, which we found at a depth of 23 meters, prove this thesis,” Birol added.
In 2017, a team of archaeologists and independent divers from Van Yüzüncü Yıl University had been found 3,000 years old underwater fortress while diving to explore the lake.
How white skin evolved in Europeans: Pale complexions only spread in the region 8,000 years ago, study claims
Humans around the world display myriad skin tones and eye colors that are fascinating and wonderful in their variety. Research continues on to see how people have acquired the features they have now and when to complete our puzzle of ancient human history.
New anthropology research now suggests that light-colored skin and the tallness associated with European genetics are relatively recent traits to the continent.
An international team of researchers as headed by Harvard University’s Dr. Iain Mathieson put forth a study at the 84th annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists recently.
Based on 83 human samples from Holocene Europe as analyzed under the 1000 Genomes Project, it is now found that for the majority of the time that humans have lived in Europe, the people had dark skin, and the genes signifying light skin only appear within the past 8,000 years.
This recent and relatively quick process of natural selection suggests to researchers that the traits which spread rapidly were advantageous within that environment, according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).
This dramatic evidence suggests modern Europeans do not appear as their long-ancient ancestors did.
Spreading Genetics
The samples are derived from a wide range of ancient populations, rather than a few individuals, and they supplied researchers with five specific genes associated with skin color and diet.
AAAS reports that the “modern humans who came out of Africa to originally settle Europe about 40,000 years are presumed to have had dark skin, which is advantageous in sunny latitudes.
And the new data confirm that about 8500 years ago, early hunter-gatherers in Spain, Luxembourg, and Hungary also had darker skin: They lacked versions of two genes—SLC24A5 and SLC45A2—that lead to depigmentation and, therefore, pale skin in Europeans today.
Then, the first farmers from the Near East arrived in Europe; they carried both genes for light skin. As they interbred with the indigenous hunter-gatherers, one of their light-skin genes swept through Europe, so that central and southern Europeans also began to have lighter skin. The other gene variant, SLC45A2, was at low levels until about 5800 years ago when it swept up to high frequency.”
This differed from the situation farther north. Ancient remains from southern Sweden 7,700 years ago were found to have the gene variants indicating light skin and blonde hair, and another gene, HERC2/OCA2, which causes blue eyes.
This indicated to researchers that ancient hunter-gatherers of northern Europe were already pale and blue-eyed. This light skin trait would have been advantageous in the regions of less sunlight.
Natural Selection
Mathieson and colleagues do not specify in the study why the genes were favored and spread as quickly as they did, but it is suggested that Vitamin D absorption likely played a role. Ancient hunter-gatherers in Europe also could not digest milk 8,000 years ago. The ability to do so only came about 4,300 years ago.
Paleoanthropologist Nina Jablonski of Pennsylvania State University notes that people in less sunny climates required different skin pigmentations in order to absorb and synthesize Vitamin D. The pale skin was advantageous in the region, as well was the ability to digest milk.
“Natural selection has favored two genetic solutions to that problem—evolving pale skin that absorbs UV more efficiently or favoring lactose tolerance to be able to digest the sugars and vitamin D naturally found in milk,” writes AAAS.
This new research follows related studies on pre-agricultural European genomes and modern humans in Europe before the rise of farming.
Artist’s depiction of Stone Age peoples
DNA taken from the wisdom tooth of a 7,000-year-old human found in Spain in 2006 overturned the popular image of light-skinned European hunter-gatherers. The study revealed that the individual had dark hair and the dark-skinned genes of an African. However, the man had blue eyes, an unexpected find by researchers. The hunter-gatherer is the oldest known individual in Europe to have blue eyes.
Artist’s impression of a blue-eyed hunter gatherer
Previous research published in 2008 found that the earliest mutations in the eye-color genes that led to the evolution of blue eyes probably occurred about 10,000 years ago in individuals living in around the Black Sea.
The surprising aspect of the findings is that while it is fundamental to natural selection that advantageous genetic attributes spread, it is not often a speedy process. The study shows that these genetic pale skin traits swept across Europe speedily, and that phenomenon is of particular interest to researchers.
The preprint study “Eight thousand years of natural selection in Europe” by Mathieson and colleagues has been published in the online journal BioRxiv. These new findings shed light on humanity’s genetic past, giving us a clearer vision of our ancient origins.
Egypt dig unearths 41 mln-year-old Whale in desert -Tutcetus rayanensis-
Paleontologists in Egypt announced the discovery of a new species of extinct whale that inhabited the sea covering present-day Egypt around 41 million years ago.
With an estimated length of 2.5 meters and a body mass of approximately 187 kilograms, the new species, named Tutcetus rayanensis, is the smallest basilosaurid whale known to date and one of the oldest records of its family in Africa.
The name of the new whale draws inspiration from Egyptian history and the discovery’s locale. Tutcetus combines “Tut” — referring to the famous adolescent Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun — and “cetus,” Greek for whale, highlighting the specimen’s small size and young age. Rayanensis refers to the Wadi El-Rayan Protected Area in Fayoum, where the whale was found.
Additionally, the name was chosen to commemorate the centennial of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb and coincides with the forthcoming opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza.
Despite its modest size, Tutcetus has provided scientists with remarkable insights into the life history, phylogeny and paleobiogeography of early whales.
Hesham Sallam at Wadi al-Hitan.
Team leader Hesham Sallam, of the American University in Cairo (AUC), said it was a “remarkable discovery that documents one of the first phases of the transition to a fully aquatic lifestyle”.
From Land to Sea
The Basilosauridae, a family of extinct, fully aquatic whales, represent a crucial stage in whale evolution. As they transitioned from land to sea, the basilosauridae developed fish-like characteristics, such as a streamlined body, a strong tail, flippers, and a tail fin. Their hind legs, which previously served them on land, were no longer used for walking but possibly for mating.
“Whales’ evolution from land-dwelling animals to beautiful marine creatures embodies the marvelous, adventurous journey of life,” Sallam said. “Tutcetus is a remarkable discovery that documents one of the first phases of the transition to a fully aquatic lifestyle that took place in that journey.”
The team’s findings have been published in Communications Biology, an open-access journal from Nature Portfolio publishing high-quality research, reviews and commentary in all areas of the biological sciences.
Through detailed analyses of the teeth and bones of Tutcetus using CT scanning, the team reconstructed the growth and development pattern of the species. Rapid dental development and small bone size suggest that the whale was precocial, meaning it was able to move and feed itself from birth.
The discovery also adds to our understanding of basilosaurids as successful, competitive, and adaptable during their transition from land to sea. The team’s findings suggest that this transition likely occurred in the (sub)tropics.
“Modern whales migrate to warmer, shallow waters for breeding and reproduction, mirroring the conditions found in Egypt 41 million years ago,” explained Abdullah Gohar, a PhD student at Mansoura University, member of Sallam Lab, and a co-author of the study. “This supports the idea that what is now known as Fayoum was a crucial breeding area for ancient whales.”
The study’s lead author, Mohammed Antar, from the MUVP and the National Focal Point for Natural Heritage, added, “Tutcetus significantly broadens the size range of basilosaurid whales and reveals considerable disparity among whales during the middle Eocene period.
The investigation of early layers in Fayoum may reveal the existence of an older assemblage of early whale fossils, potentially influencing our current knowledge of the development of whales.”
One thing is certain: this major discovery is likely one of many more to come. In recent years, Sallam and his team’s discoveries include the bones of a 34-million-year-old rodent, a 37-million-year-old gigantic catfish, snake and legless lizard fossils, and the first evidence of a 100-million-year-old Abelisauroid, a meat-eating dinosaur, in Egypt’s Bahariya Oasis, among others.
“The Eocene fossil sites of Egypt’s Western Desert have long been the world’s most important for understanding the early evolution of whales and their transition to a fully aquatic existence,” said Erik Seiffert, chair and professor of integrative anatomical sciences at the University of Southern California and a co-author of the study. “The discovery of Tutcetus demonstrates that this region still has so much more to tell us about the fascinating story of whale evolution”.
Fayoum Oasis, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of Cairo, boasts Wadi al-Hitan, the Valley of the Whales, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has turned up hundreds of fossils of some of the earliest forms of Whale.
Now an oasis in the Western Desert, Fayoum lay under a tropical sea in the Eocene period 56 to 34 million years ago.
The Oldest Known Neanderthal Engravings were Discovered in a French Cave
According to a recently published study, the oldest engravings made by Neanderthals have been discovered on a cave wall in France. Hundreds of faint stripes, dots, and wavy lines at the Loire Valley site were created more than 57,000 years ago, say researchers.
Hundreds of faint stripes, dots, and wavy lines that adorn a cave wall in central France are the oldest known engravings made by Neanderthals, according to Jean-Claude Marquet of the University of Tours in France and colleagues, who analyzed ancient markings.
The authors of the study published in PLOS One analyzed, plotted, and 3D modeled these intriguing markings and compared them with other wall markings of all types to confirm that they are the organized, intentional products of human hands.
The team also dated deep sediment layers that had buried the cave’s opening to reveal that it was sealed up with the engravings inside at least 57,000 years ago and as long as 75,000 years ago—long before Homo sapiens arrived in this part of Europe.
Scientists discuss the markings on the walls of a cave in La Roche-Cotard in the Loire Valley.
The authors said: “Fifteen years after the resumption of excavations at the La Roche-Cotard site, the engravings have been dated to over 57,000 years ago and, thanks to stratigraphy, probably to around 75,000 years ago, making this the oldest decorated cave in France, if not Europe!”
Over the past few decades, research has shed light on the cultural sophistication of Neanderthals. However, our understanding of their symbolic and artistic expression remains limited.
Only a short list of symbolic productions is attributed to Neanderthals, and the interpretation of these is often the subject of debate.
This, combined with the fact that the stone tools within the cave are only Mousterian, a technology associated with Neanderthals, is strong evidence that these engravings are the work of Neanderthals.
Because these are non-figurative symbols, the intent behind them is unclear.
However, they share a similar age with Homo sapiens engravings found in other parts of the world. This adds to the mounting evidence that Neanderthal behavior and activities were as complex and varied as those of our own ancestors.
“For a long time, it was thought that Neanderthals were incapable of thinking other than to ensure their subsistence,” notes archaeologist and study co-author Jean-Claude Marquet, of the University of Tours, France.
“I think this discovery should lead prehistorians who have doubts about Neanderthal skills to reconsider.”
La Roche-Cotard is an ancient cave nestled on a wooded hillside above the Loire River. It was first uncovered in 1846, when quarries were operated in the area during the construction of a railroad line.
Gladiators were mostly Vegetarians and they were fatter than you may think
What better epitomizes the ideal male physique than the Roman gladiator? Gladiators were the movie stars of the first century, so famous that free men lined up to try their luck in the arena.
In reality, what we know about gladiators’ diets and physiques suggests that they had a very different physical appearance than those depicted in classical art and popular culture.
Scholars from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria and the University of Bern in Switzerland found that the Gladiator’s diet was grain-based and mostly meat-free, based on data from the gladiator cemetery in Ephesus, present-day Turkey. Sure, this does not mean they didn’t eat meat.
In Roman times, the entertainment industry was very important. After all, there were over 100 gladiator schools spread across the empire. The majority of schools were concentrated around the Colosseum. The largest school, Ludus Magnus, was connected to Colosseum with a tunnel.
Pliny, the famous Roman author, referred to gladiators as hordearii, which translates as “barley eaters.” The Romans believed that eating barley would help to strengthen your body. They ate oatmeal and dried fruit in addition to barley and beans.
Reliefs of Roman gladiators in training from the ancient city of Kibyra, Turkey, 2nd – 3rd centuries AD.
Also, an examination of gladiators’ bones also found evidence they drank a drink made from plant ashes. This ash drink was a form of health-boosting tonic to help gladiators recover after fighting and training.
Gladiators were significant investments for their owners, therefore why lack meat in their diet?
Having more fat meant having a better chance of surviving in the arena. An extra layer of fat provided nerve and muscle protection. As a result, cut wounds were less deadly.
Being overweight had the added benefit of making wounds more likely to be shallow, allowing gladiators to continue fighting even as blood poured from their bodies. What a spectacle for the onlookers!
Given they belonged to such a civilized and sophisticated society, the Romans’ deep attraction to extreme violence remains surprising and strange. Undoubtedly, bloody, brutal, but popular gladiatorial contests were the dark side of Roman civilization.
The battle between inhabitants of Pompeii and Nuceria in the Amphitheatre of Pompeii (see Tacitus Annals’ XIV.17). Roman fresco from Pompeii in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples)
When using extremely sharp weapons, gladiators fought without much to no body armor. Trainers didn’t like seeing their gladiators die quickly after months of training, so they gave them the armor that any fighter could wear, regardless of armor: fat.
As a result, gladiators didn’t appear to be strong, athletic men with steel abs.
The majority of gladiators were condemned prisoners or enslaved people whose athletic prowess was the only thing separating them from death. The fighting was ferocious and bloody. Stamina and the ability to recover quickly were critical.
Early gladiator fights began in the 3rd century B.C.E. as ritual blood offerings to the spirits of recently departed nobles. After the slave revolt of Spartacus in 73 BC, the State assumed greater control of public games (ludi), and large numbers of gladiators were trained in imperial schools. With the coming to power of Augustus in Rome around 27 BC, it became a regular part of the entertainment cycle in Rome.
High school student discovered a 1500-year-old ancient Magical Mirror
A High school student discovered an ancient “magical mirror” meant to ward off the evil eye in an archaeological excavation in northern Israel.
A few days ago, seventeen-year-old Aviv Weizman from Kiryat Motskin, near Haifa, took part in an Israel Antiquities Authority archaeological excavation at the ancient site of Usha and uncovered an exceptional find from the Byzantine period—a 1,500-year-old “magical mirror.”
Usha (also known as Osha) was a jewish village in Galilee, located about 8 kilometers southwest of the city of Nazareth. Remains of the city founded by rabbis fleeing Roman persecution in Judea were recently uncovered, revealing roads, stunning mosaic floors, ritual baths and oil and wine presses.
As part of a “Survival Course” run by the Shelah branch in the Ministry of Education, 500 high-school pupils participated in archaeological excavations around the country together with the Israel Antiquities Authority.
An almost complete mirror plate was used as a demonstration. Previously found in a Nitsana excavation.
During the Survival Course, the young leaders take part in a 90-km survival trek from Mount Meron to Mount Hermon. During the trek, the youth participate in Israel Antiquities Authority archaeological excavations at sites located around the country that will be opened to the public in the future.
One of the places where the youth dug was the site of Usha close to Kiryat Ata, directed by the Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologist Hanaa Abu Uqsa Abud.
This week, the excavation produced a special find: an unusual pottery sherd that peeped out of the ground between the walls of a building. Aviv uncovered the sherd and picked it up, and showed it to Dr. Einat Ambar-Armon, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority Northern Education Center, who recognized the find as the plaque of a magical mirror.
According to Navit Popovitch, Israel Antiquities Authority Curator of the classical Periods, “The fragment is part of a “magical mirror” from the Byzantine period, the 4th–6th centuries CE.
A glass mirror, for protection against the Evil Eye was placed in the middle of the plaque: the idea was that the evil spirit, such as a demon, who looked in the mirror, would see his own reflection, and this would protect the owner of the mirror.
Similar mirror plaques have been found in the past as funerary gifts in tombs, to protect the deceased in their journey to the world to come.”
3800-years-old Akkadian Cuneiform Tablet found in Turkey’s Hatay
A 3,800-year-old Akkadian cuneiform tablet was found during the archaeological excavations carried out in the Aççana Mound, the old city of Alalakh, in the Reyhanlı district of Hatay city in southern Turkey.
Tell Atchana, Alalakh is the capital of the kingdom of Mukish in the second millennium BC, located in the Amuq Valley of Hatay, near present-day Antakya.
Alalakh was one of the most famous cities in the ancient world; part of the larger Yamhad kingdom in the Middle Bronze Age, vassal to the Mitannian kingdom in the Late Bronze Age, and incorporated into the Hittite Empire at the end of the fourteenth century BC.
The earthquake on February 6, centered in Kahramanmaraş, which caused great destruction in the city, also affected the mound in Reyhanlı district, where Alalah, the capital of the Muşki Kingdom, was located during the Middle and Late Bronze Age periods.
Under the leadership of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, restoration and conservation work has been initiated in the mound, where some parts of the palace walls were damaged after the earthquake.
The head of the excavations and an academic from the Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Murat Akar told state-run Anadolu Agency, the tablet features a contract on sales of a city, which consists of information about parties, and witnesses, said.
Removing the wall rubble as part of the study, the team found a cuneiform clay tablet among the remains.
In the first examination of the Akkadian tablet, information regarding the agreement made by Yarim-Lim, the first known king of Alalakh, to buy another city was found.
Akar emphasized that the tablet found among the remains, dating back 3,800 years, is in a well-preserved form. “While removing the debris of a few collapsed walls at the mound, it was very exciting to come across a tablet that had never been touched or damaged,” he said.
Akar continued by stating that the historical period of the artifact extends to the Middle Bronze Age. “During the Middle Bronze Age, a period we define as such, we observe that the kings of this region possessed economic power.
This is evidenced by astonishing examples documented in written records. In this tablet, we see that Yarim-Lim, the first known king of Alalakh, intended to purchase another city and, in this regard, entered into an agreement.
This actually demonstrates that the kings in this region had the economic capability and potential to acquire another city,” he said.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Akar, who pointed out that the tablet would also contribute to understanding the economic structure of the era, stated,
“The tablet likely contains the names of significant individuals from the city who witnessed this sale. In a sense, we see evidence of a witness list from that period.
The artifact has emerged as an exceptionally unique example, particularly for understanding the era’s economic structure, city relationships, and economic and political model.
‘Lost’ 1,500-year-old Teotihuacan village discovered in the heart of Mexico City
Archeologists have unearthed the lost remains of a Teotihuacan village, including human burials, in the heart of Mexico City.
Archeologists discovered three human burials in the remains of the lost village.
Ceramics found scattered around the site, which is located 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) northwest of the city’s historical center, indicate the village dates from around A.D. 450 to 650 and may have housed a community of artisans and craftspeople.
“The finding was surprising,” said Juan Carlos Campos-Varela, an archaeologist at Mexico’s National Institute of History and Anthropology (INAH) Directorate of Archeological Salvage, who co-led the dig.
“It shows that 1,300 years ago, the islets inside Lake Texcoco, on which Mexico City was founded [after the lake was drained], already supported a permanent population that took advantage of the resources of the lake environment,” he told Live Science in an email.
The newly excavated settlement may have formed during the “ruralization” of Teotihuacan, an ancient metropolis that flourished in the highlands of what is now central Mexico between A.D. 100 and 650, Campos-Varela said.
The village is located 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Teotihuacan and may have been one of several small towns that supported themselves through subsistence farming and fishing as the ancient city reached its zenith.
These settlements maintained commercial ties to Teotihuacan, and the new discoveries shed light on the role these settlements played in the city’s supply network, Campos-Varela said.
“The discovery is rare because it occurred in a fully urbanized context where the possibility of finding archeological evidence associated with the Teotihuacan culture was very low,” he added.
Gifted craftspeople
Archeologist Francisco González Rul discovered the first clues to this village’s existence in the 1960s, during construction works in the Mexican capital. Based on the ceramics he unearthed, González Rul suggested at the time that the inhabitants were self-reliant fishers and gatherers. The new excavations confirmed this.
Several previously unseen architectural structures—including post holes, flooring, channels, and an artesian well — as well as ceramics have come to light. The excavation also unearthed three human burials containing the skeletons of two adults and a child.
Teotihuacan was an ancient metropolis that flourished in the highlands of what is now central Mexico.
Teotihuacan ceramics are categorized into phases, according to a 2016 study in the journal PLOS One. The newfound ceramics displayed features that correspond to the Xolalpan (A.D. 350 to 550) and Metepec (A.D. 550 to 600) phases in the 2016 study, which enabled the researchers to date the remains of the village and its inhabitants.
The Teotihuacans were gifted artists and craftspeople, said Michael Smith, a professor of archeology and director of the Teotihuacan Research Laboratory at Arizona State University. “To decorate the walls of their houses and temples, the Teotihuacanos used the same fresco technique used by Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel,” Smith told Live Science in an email. “They also used the fresco technique on ceramic vessels.”
The ceramics could reveal important information about trade with Teotihuacan through chemical analysis, Smith said.
Archeologists have concluded the excavations and are now analyzing the discovered materials and bones. Much of Teotihuacan’s sprawling architecture remains buried, but the site is largely unaffected by modern construction and will eventually be unearthed in its entirety, Arizona State University said.
