Archaeology
Stonehenge stood at the heart of a sprawling landscape of chapels, burial mounds, massive pits and ritual shrines, according to an unprecedented survey of the ancient grounds.
Archaeologists in Japan have discovered that a large mound in the village of Asuka in Nara Prefecture contains a pyramid-shaped tomb underneath, according to a news release in the Japan Times.
The mystery surrounding Stonehenge has suddenly deepened — literally. A first-of-its-kind study suggests that 15 previously undiscovered or poorly understood monuments lie hidden under the ancient stone monument and its surroundings.
Ancient Egypt is just one example of a society in which everyone had been more or less equal began to schism into classes, with clear leaders emerging. In many cases, these leaders held absolute power.
The “out of Africa at 60,000 years ago” scenario remains the majority view. But the orthodoxy is slowly being challenged as ancient bones are uncovered in the east.
10,000-year-old rock paintings depicting aliens and UFOs have been found in Chhattisgarh (India). According to archaeologist JR Bhagat, these paintings have depicted aliens like those shown in Hollywood and Bollywood flicks.
The ‘Plague of Cyprian’ seriously weakened the Roman Empire, hastening its fall. Newly unearthed remains at Luxor underscore the plague’s potency.
Just a few weeks from now, scientists from across the globe will gather in the town of Les Eyzies in the Dordogne to commemorate one of the most important – and fortuitous – events in the study of human origins. They will congregate to mark the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the Madeleine mammoth, a small piece of ancient art that provided unequivocal proof of the deep antiquity of Homo sapiens.
New carbon dating that determined the age of the oldest known camel bones has challenged Biblical accuracy. Camels are described in the Old Testament stories of Abraham, Joseph and Jacob as pack animals. The latest findings, published in the journal Tel Aviv, reveal that camels were most likely domesticated around 900 BC – centuries after the biblical stories are believed to have taken place.
Until recently, archaeologists believed that there were only two species of humans in existence over 400,000 years ago. But, new findings, as well as the recent discovery of the “hobbit” bones in Indonesia, make it clear that it’s far more likely the world of ancient Earth was nowhere near as simple as scientists thought.
From Indonesia To Turkey New Archaeological Discoveries Uncover The Mysteries Of A Lost Civilization
“Everything we’ve been taught about the origins of civilization may be wrong,” says Danny Natawidjaja, PhD, senior geologist with the Research Centre for Geotechnology at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. “Old stories about Atlantis and other great lost civilizations of prehistory, long dismissed as myths by archaeologists, look set to be proved true.”
The existence of a mysterious ancient human lineage and the possibility that the earliest humans were actually all one species were among the human-evolution-related discoveries of 2013. Other breakthroughs include the sequencing of the oldest human DNA yet. Here’s a look at what scientists learned about humanity and human origins this year:
Hank Green lays out three of the most awesome discoveries in science in 2013, from the fields of physics, space science, and anthropology: (1) Higgs Boson confirmed at CERN; (2) Life-sustaining water on Mars; (3) 400,000-year-old human ancestor.
DNA analysis of early human remains from a Siberian cave has revealed the existence of a mystery human species. A team of researchers speculates that this could have been Homo erectus, which lived in Europe and Asia a million years ago or more.
Researchers have uncovered a new clue about human origins after discovering the oldest known human DNA in a legendary Spanish archeological site called Sima de los Huesos, or the “Pit of Bones.” Researchers were able to extract DNA from a leg bone that was estimated to be 400,000 years old. That’s about 100,000 years older than the previous oldest human DNA, and 200,000 years older than modern humans. In addition, scientists were surprised to find that the specimen was related to a little-known group of ancient human relatives known as Denisovans that were previously only found in Siberia.
