EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Skull found in Turkey with neat hole may have been the work of mystics

Skull found in Turkey with neat hole may have been the work of mystics

Skull found in Turkey with neat hole may have been the work of mystics
Trepanated skull of a woman-Tumb 3 Corseaux-En Seyton-on display 6, Cantonal Museum of Archeology and History.

A 3,200-year-old skull was recently uncovered in Turkey’s eastern Van province. This find was made even more intriguing by the skull’s clearly man-made triangle-shaped hole, indicating that the deceased owner had undergone an ancient medical procedure now called trepanation.

Trepanation, a procedure that involves drilling a hole into the patient’s skull, is one of the oldest known surgical procedures in human history and a practice used by ancient humans all over the world. Archaeologists have found trepanned skulls in Europe, the Americas, Africa and China. 

Skull-drilling in the 21st century

The practice is still used today to treat subdural hematomas, but surgeons have refined the process and now refer to it as a craniotomy or a burr hole. 

Burr holes tend to be used in emergency situations after a traumatic head injury to relieve pressure due to fluid buildup in the skull which puts undue pressure on brain tissue. Craniotomies, per the National Cancer Institute, resemble ancient trepanation more so than burr holes; the surgeon removes a small piece of the skull in order to gain access to the brain.

This is sometimes used to relieve pressure, but can also be used to remove a tumor or a tissue sample, as well as to repair a skull fracture or brain aneurysm (a bulge in a blood vessel wall). 

Unlike in ancient trepanation practices, modern surgeons nearly always replace the removed piece of the skull once they have finished their procedure. 

Detail from The Extraction of the Stone of Madness, a painting by Hieronymus Bosch depicting trepanation (c.1488–1516).

What was the practice used for in ancient times?

According to the science news website Live Science, trepanation was used in ancient times to treat head injuries and pain, and some scientists believe it was used to ritually remove evil spirits from the body. 

A 2013 article published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology concluded that often, patients did survive the procedure and would heal after surgery. Researchers found scarring from trepanation, but the injury to the skull had healed. 

Researchers have not yet determined whether the skull found recently in Turkey belonged to a survivor or a victim of trepanation. They also do not yet know – and perhaps never will find out – whether the procedure was performed in order to treat a medical issue or exorcise demons. 

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Archaeology: A 2,700-year-old inscription in Jerusalem proves Bible RIGHT, expert claims

Archaeology: A 2,700-year-old inscription in Jerusalem proves Bible RIGHT, expert claims

The Siloam Tunnel, also known as Hezekiah’s Tunnel, is an ancient waterway carved under Jerusalem some 2,700 years ago.

The tunnel ran under the City of David, funnelling freshwater into Jerusalem from Gihon Spring, outside of the city’s walls. Mention of the tunnel is found in the Old Testament’s 2 Kings 20, where the Bible says the tunnel was constructed on the order of King Hezekiah.

According to scripture, the tunnel was carved into Jerusalem’s bedrock to ensure a supply of water during an impending siege by invading Assyrian forces.

2 Kings 20:20 reads: “Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?”

Tom Meyer, a professor in Bible and theology at Shasta Bible College and Graduate School in California, believes the tunnel is an incredible testament of the Bible’s historicity.

Professor Meyer told Express.co.uk there is ample archaeological evidence that validates the account in 2 Kings 2020.

Archaeology news: An expert believes an inscription in Siloam Tunnel proves the Bible right
Archaeology: A 2,700-year-old inscription in Jerusalem proves Bible RIGHT, expert claims
Archaeology news: Siloam Tunnel is also known as Hezekiah’s Tunnel

In particular, an ancient Hebrew inscription found inside the tunnel sheds light on its construction.

Professor Meyer said: “Though the American historical geographer, Edward Robinson, was the first person to explore the tunnel in modern times – 1873 – it was a local boy named Jacob Spafford – the adopted son of the famous hymnist Horatio Spafford – who, while playing in the tunnel, stumbled upon one of the most important ancient Hebrew inscriptions ever found – 1880.

“The inscription is significant not only because it validates the Biblical account, but because it is the only inscription from ancient Israel that commemorates a public works program and is one of the oldest examples of Hebrew writing.”

The inscription was brought to the attention of local authorities but was irreparably damaged during its removal.

Hezekiah’s tunnel demonstrates once again the historical reliability of the Biblical account

Professor Tom Meyer, Shasta Bible College

However, Professor Meyer said the inscription contained a description of workers tunnelling under Jerusalem from two opposite ends.

Where the two groups finally connected, they left an inscription on the wall to commemorate their achievement.

The connection to King Hezekiah would place the tunnel’s construction at around the seventh century BC.

Professor Meyer said: “This amazing feat is mentioned numerous times in the Bible in connection with Hezekiah’s fortification preparations against Sennacherib of Assyria attacking Jerusalem.

Archaeology news: The inscription describes workers carving out the tunnel
Archaeology news: Water is still carried into the the Pool of Siloam from Gihon Spring

“The Siloam Inscription is stored at the Istanbul Archeology Museum because it was discovered when Israel was under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire.

“Hezekiah’s tunnel, which still brings water into Jerusalem to this day, was an incredible feat of engineering; along with the epigraphical evidence – the accompanying Siloam Inscription – Hezekiah’s tunnel demonstrates once again the historical reliability of the Biblical account.”

Mention of the tunnel is also found in 2 Chronicles 32:1-4: “After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.

“And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,

“He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.

“So there was gathered much people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?”

The tunnel is also mentioned in 2 Chronicles 32:30: “This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works

Another mention is found in Isaiah 22:11: “You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool.

“But you did not look to him who did it, or have regard for him who planned it long ago.”

EUROPE, NORWAY, WORLD

A large hall from the time of Viking Harald Bluetooth discovered

A large hall from the time of Viking Harald Bluetooth discovered

A large hall from the reign of King Harald Bluetooth of Norway was unearthed during housing construction work near Hune, a village in the Jammerbugt Municipality of North Jutland, Denmark.

The hall was up to 40 meters long and 8-10 meters wide, with 10-12 oak posts supporting the roof. They are rectangular in cross-section and measure up to 90×50 cm.

The hall probably served as a crucial location for political gatherings, for hosting visitors, and as the hub of social activity in the community’s social life.

Preliminary dating places the hall in the last half of the ninth century or the very first part of the eleventh century, but it was probably in use during the reign of Harald Bluetooth.

A rune stone near the excavation site has a date that fits this time frame. The stone, which dates from between 970 and 1020, is located in Hune Kirke and is inscribed with the words “Hove, Thorkild, and Thorbjrn set their father Runulv den Rdnilde’s stone.”

A rune stone near the excavation site.

The hall’s design is reminiscent of structures found at Harald Bluetooth’s ring castles, including Fyrkat at Hobro and Aggersborg at Aggersund.

The researchers have only excavated a portion of the hall, but they believe that additional buildings and features lie beneath the surface to the east of the hall, as buildings of this type rarely stand alone.

Thomas Rune Knudsen, from North Jutland Museums said: “This is the largest Viking Age find of this nature in more than ten years, and we have not seen anything like it before here in North Jutland.”

Excavations will resume in the New Year, with a Carbon-14 analysis on organic remains for more accurate dating, the results of which are expected to be published by the end of 2023.

King Harald Bluetooth, a Viking-born king who turned his back on old Norse religion and converting to Christianity. He is noted for bringing Christianity to Denmark and earned the nickname Blåtand (meaning blue tooth) because of a dead tooth that is said to have been dark blue.

EUROPE, PORTUGAL, WORLD

Saint Anthony of Padua revealed in stunning facial approximation

Saint Anthony of Padua revealed in stunning facial approximation

A team of international researchers has revealed a facial approximation of what Saint Anthony of Padua may have looked like.

Saint Anthony of Padua revealed in stunning facial approximation
A facial approximation of Saint Anthony of Padua, the patron saint of lost and stolen articles.

A newly released image shows what Saint Anthony of Padua, a Portuguese priest who lived and died in the 13th century, may have looked like.

Using CT (computed tomography) scans of the priest’s skull, an international team of researchers created a lifelike facial approximation of St. Anthony, the patron saint of lost and stolen articles.

The final image includes a man with a cap of thinning brown hair crowning his head. The man wears a brown robe, just as Franciscan friars did in the Middle Ages.

However, this wouldn’t be the first time that a facial reconstruction was made of the religious figure. In 1981, Italian sculptor Roberto Cremesini created a replica of St. Anthony’s skull using plaster.

The piece was the result of an exhumation of the saint, which Pope John Paul II authorized, according to the new study, which will be published in the March 2023 issue of the journal Digital Applications in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage. 

More than 30 years later, in 2014, researchers from the University of St. Anthony of Padua’s Anthropology Museum, along with a team of international forensic researchers, made another facial reconstruction using only a digital copy of the exhumed skull, according to a Catholic News Agency article.

That image features a man, his face angled to the viewer, also with a balding head of dark hair, dressed in a robe to make him appear more lifelike.

“Today’s work is an update on the technique and shows a clear evolution from the 2014 face,” Cícero Moraes, the study’s lead author and a Brazilian graphics expert who also worked on the 2014 reconstruction, told Live Science in an email.

“The present approximation has greatly improved anatomical coherence…and is more compatible with a real face.” 

In addition to the facial approximation, Moraes and his co-authors, Luca Bezzi, an Italian archaeologist, and Nichola Carrara, with the University of St. Anthony of Padua, also made a reconstruction of the endocranium, the skull’s base, which was exceedingly large compared to the average human skull.

In other words, St. Anthony had a very large head. “The fact is that this volume is large even compared to modern individuals,” Moraes said.

St. Anthony died in 1231 in Padua at age 36; he was canonized a year later.

AFRICA, MOROCCO, WORLD

7-foot-long arthropods commanded the sea 470 million years ago, ‘exquisite’ fossils show

7-foot-long arthropods commanded the sea 470 million years ago, ‘exquisite’ fossils show

7-foot-long arthropods commanded the sea 470 million years ago, 'exquisite' fossils show
Fossils from the Fezouata Shale. From left to right, a non-mineralized arthropod (Marrellomorpha), a palaeoscolecid worm and a trilobites.

Exquisitely preserved fossils in Morocco suggest that some of the earliest arthropods were nearly 7 feet (2 meters) long — gigantic in comparison with the shrimps, insects, and spiders that are descendants of these early invertebrates, according to a new study.

Researchers made the discovery while exploring the site, known as Taichoute, which is part of the Fezouata Shale, a swath of fossil deposits dating to the Lower Ordovician period (485 million to 470 million years ago) that was discovered in 2017.

Now part of the Moroccan desert, Taichoute was completely undersea millions of years ago.

Prior to the exploration of Taichoute, the closest Moroccan fossil sites were near Zagora, a town 50 miles (80 kilometers) away, where giant arthropods make up roughly 1% to 2% of the total fossil material.

At Taichoute, nearly half of the fossils are of these jumbo creatures, according to the study.

“All of our previous knowledge on the Fezouata Shale was solely based on fossil sites near the Zagora region,” Farid Saleh, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, told Live Science in an email.

“The dominance of large arthropods in Taichoute is unique. You can possibly find [many specimens] in one day.”

“These arthropods were active swimmers and dominated this area 470 million years ago,” Saleh said. “Some of these arthropods were described before, but there’s a good number of new species.”

While researchers are currently identifying the roughly 70 specimens collected from the fossil beds during the dig, they unearthed multiple examples of Aegirocassis, an extinct genus of filter-feeding arthropods. They were also “free-swimmers and could move any way they wanted to in the water,” Saleh said.

Being entombed in the mud-caked fossil beds for millions of years has led to the “exquisite preservation of [the] fossils,” Saleh said. In some cases, even soft parts of the animals, including their internal organs, were preserved.

While the upper portions of their external shells were well preserved overall, “they’ve been fragmented to some extent, because they were transported by underwater landslides prior to their preservation.”

Researchers think they have barely scratched the surface of what could be lurking in the Fezouata Shale.

“There’s a lot to do in Taichoute,” Saleh said, “and more fieldwork will bring a lot more in the future.” 

The findings were published Dec. 13 in the journal Scientific Reports.

WORLD

Massive graveyard of fossilized shark teeth found deep in the Indian Ocean

Massive graveyard of fossilized shark teeth found deep in the Indian Ocean

Massive graveyard of fossilized shark teeth found deep in the Indian Ocean
Researches collected more than 750 shark teeth at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

A graveyard studded with thousands of shark teeth is lurking nearly 3.5 miles (5.400 kilometers) beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean.

Researchers made the shocking discovery in October during a month-long expedition along the southern tip of Indonesia aboard the RV Investigator, a 308-foot-long (94 meters) research vessel operated by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia’s national science agency.

On the final day of the voyage, and after 26 previous attempts, the researchers sank a trawling net into the deep water hoping to catch fish as part of an ongoing biodiversity survey. Instead, they pulled up a net’s worth of hundreds of shark teeth, according to a statemen.

“It was our very last sample of the trip before heading back to Australia,” Dianne Bray, senior collections manager at the Museums Victoria Research Institute, told Live Science.

“I was a little disappointed at first when we hauled up the net because it was filled with mud and I knew that there wasn’t going to be many fish specimens. And even if there were, they would be rumbled and damaged from all the mud.”

But as the researchers sifted through the mud-caked material, they realized the catch was than just a colossal mud pie.

“We tipped the contents out on the deck of the boat and as we went through everything, we found shark tooth after shark tooth,” Bray said. “We were finding teeth from [modern] mako and [great] white sharks, but also fossilized teeth from ancient sharks like the immediate ancestor of the giant megalodon shark.” 

In total, researchers collected more than 750 teeth ranging in size from 0.39 inch (1 centimeter) to a single tooth from the megalodon ancestor measuring 4 inches (10 cm).

The researchers noticed deposits of black manganese nodules growing on many of the teeth, which were the result of the teeth sitting on the ocean floor for so long. Otherwise, the teeth were all in good condition.

“It’s quite remarkable,” Bray said. “The teeth weren’t weathered, rumbled or tumbled. Bacteria consumed all of the organic matter from the teeth and the roots were gone, but otherwise, the enamel was left.”

Researchers aren’t entirely sure why so many teeth accumulated in this swath of the ocean but they don’t think that hundreds of sharks died there, Bray said.

Unlike humans, who are born with one set of baby teeth and replace them with one set of adult teeth during their lifetimes, sharks have an endless supply of teeth that are replaced “like a conveyor belt,” Gareth J. Fraser, lecturer in Evolutionary Developmental Biology at University of Sheffield in the U.K., wrote in The Conversation.

The area where the teeth were found likely hosted a community of ancient sharks. 

“The teeth were found on an abyssal plain and not out in the open ocean,” Bray said. “This area was part of an ancient reef covered with seamounts and we think a community of sharks swam around this area long ago.”

As they swam, they likely dropped their used-up teeth.

Bray said that the shark tooth haul barely “scraped the surface” of what was buried there.

AFRICA, CHINA, WORLD

Skeletons of 5,000-year-old Chinese ‘giants’ discovered by archaeologists

Skeletons of 5,000-year-old Chinese ‘giants’ discovered by archaeologists

Skeletons of 5,000-year-old Chinese ‘giants’ discovered by archaeologists
The tallest of the skeletons uncovered measured at 1.9m (YouTube)

Archaeologists in eastern China have found 5,000-year-old skeletons of people experts say would have been unusually tall and strong.

According to the measurements of bones in the graves at the site in Shandong province, a number of the people would have measured at 1.8m or taller, with one man estimated to have been 1.9m, Xinhua news agency reported.

Although not particularly unusual by 21st-century Western standards, it is thought their height would have seen them tower over many of their contemporaries.

“This is just based on bone structure. If he was a living person, his height would certainly exceed 1.9m,” Fang Hui, head of Shandong University’s school of history and culture, told the agency.

Locals in Shandong see their height as a defining characteristic. A study conducted in 2015 found the average height of 18 men to be 1.753m, compared to the country’s national average of 1.72m.

Confucius, who was born in what is now the Shandong province, was reportedly 1.9m tall.

The excavation site in the village of Jiaojia, near Jinan City, has been found to hold 104 houses, 205 graves and 20 sacrificial pits. A number of colourful pots and jade articles were also recovered.

Archaeologists have been uncovering artefacts and bones from the late Neolithic people since last year, who are understood to have lived mostly off pigs and millet.

The people living in the region 5,000 years ago are believed to have had relatively comfortable lives; the rows of houses that have been excavated suggested their living quarters had separate bedrooms and kitchens, according to China Daily.

Colourful pots were also found in the graves (YouTube)

The area is also believed to have been the political, cultural and economic centre of the Chinese region.

Taller men were found buried in larger graves, which could be due to them having a higher status and having access to better food.

Archaeologists have been uncovering artefacts and bones from the late Neolithic people since last 2016 (YouTube)
PERU, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

Ancient Peruvians gave themselves elongated skulls as a mark of status

Ancient Peruvians gave themselves elongated skulls as a mark of status

Ancient Peruvians gave themselves elongated skulls as a mark of status
The Collagua people would bind pieces of wood to children’s heads to modify the shape of the developing skull (Creative Commons)

Members of the ruling elite in parts of South America would have been very easy to spot 700 years ago – due to their tall, elongated skulls. Their artificially extended heads were apparently status symbols, and could have helped foster a sense of community and collective identity, according to a study.

Over 300 years before the Inca empire swept the south western Americas, members of a small ethnic community known as the Collagua practised intentional head shaping which developed to focus on creating a tall thin skull shape.

According to bioarchaeologist Matthew Velasco of Cornell University the cranial modifications may have bound the powerful elite together, but it may also have polarised other groups, resulting in social inequality.

The Collagua people lived in the Colca Valley in south-eastern Peru, where they raised Alpacas and llamas for wool.

Early Spanish accounts also detail another ethnic group – the Cavanas, who also populated the region. Spanish records say that in contrast to the tall narrow heads of the Collagua, the Cavanas also modified their skulls, widening and flattening them.

The Collagua would use pieces of wood, which were tightly bound to the heads of infants to modify how their heads grew. The practice was banned by the invading Spanish in the 16th Century.

Mr Velasco’s research, published in the journal Current Anthropology is the first time skull shape has been studied as a class differentiator within the Collagua.

By looking at skull shapes from over 200 individuals from a 300-year period, the research team saw that tall thin skulls became increasingly linked to high social status.

Chemical analysis of the bones revealed that Collagua women with purposefully distended heads were more likely to eat a broader diet than those without cranial modifications. The team also observed that these women typically had fewer injuries from physical attacks than women with unaltered skulls, Science News reports.

The study suggests the changes to head shape among those with power may have helped pave the way for a peaceful incorporation for the Collagua into the Incan empire.

“Greater standardisation of head-shaping practices echoes broader patterns of identity formation across the south-central highlands and may have provided a symbolic basis for the cooperation of elite groups during an era of intensive conflict,” says Mr Velasco.

The intensive conflict was due to the encroaching Incas, who originated from the highlands of Peru and through armed takeovers and assimilation, ultimately controlled most of Peru, as well as large parts of what are now Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile, in addition to a small part of southwest Colombia.

The civilisation was one of the largest empires in the world when it reached its peak in the 16th century before the Spanish conquistadors arrived.

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