Ancient ‘Lost City’ Home To A Vanished Civilisation Found Deep In Jungles Of Honduras
” The jungle-choked remains of a “lost city”, abandoned by a mysterious civilization several centuries ago and long fabled for reports of its gold and “monkey children”, have been uncovered in the depths of the rainforests of Honduras.
A team of American and Honduran archaeologists, aided by the bushcraft and survival skills of former British SAS soldiers, has just emerged from one of the most remote locations on Earth with news of their stunning discovery.
The expedition was seeking the site of the legendary “White City”, also known as the “City of the Monkey God”, a goal for Western explorers since the days of the Spanish conquistadores in the 16th century.
The city, believed to be one of many lost in the Mosquitia jungle, was home to an unknown people that thrived a thousand years ago but then vanished without trace – until now.
Unlike the Maya, so little is known of this pre-Columbian culture that it does not even have a name.”
Category: Antiquity
Ancient Chinese Buddha Statue Has A Mummy With Surprises Inside
” A 1,000-year-old Buddha statue from China has revealed some surprises, after being given a thorough medical exam, including CT scans and an endoscopy.
The statue contains the mummified body of the Buddhist master Liuquan of the Chinese Meditation School, according to the Meander Medical Center in Amersfoort, Netherlands, where the statue was scanned.
The Drents Museum in Assen, Netherlands, which exhibited the statue last year as part of its “Mummy World” exhibition, said the monk lived around the year 1,100.
Some scans showing the mummy were taken prior to the exhibition, and a second round of scanning was done in September after the exhibition was taken down. “
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In New Jersey, A Flintlock Pistol Can Get You A 10-Year Jail Sentence
” Where is there any justice in locking up a 72-year-old man for up to 10 years for having an antique flintlock pistol? I’m sure in the Garden State authorities can find frivolous reasons, but there really isn’t any justification for such a prosecutorial overreach.
NRA News’ Ginny Simone ventured into New Jersey to speak with Gordon VanGilder, public enemy No. 1 in Cumberland County. VanGilder is a retired teacher whose career spanned 34 years. He’s an admirer of 18th century artifacts and historical memorabilia and bought the pistol to go with his collection. The pistol featured in Simone’s report is approaching its 300-year anniversary.
This case will impact Gordon’s pension as a New Jersey educator, his ability to vote, and his reputation. He will be a convicted felon if the State of New Jersey is successful in their crusade against him.”
This from the state run by a potential “republican” presidential candidate … read more at Townhall
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Viking Treasure Haul Unearthed In Scotland
” A haul of Viking treasure has been unearthed from a field in south west Scotland by an amateur using a metal detector.
Derek McLennan, a retired businessman from Ayrshire, made the find in Dumfriesshire in September. In total, more than 100 items were recovered, including armbands, a cross and brooches. Experts have said the discovery is one of the most important Viking hoards ever found in Scotland.
The items are believed to be worth a six-figure sum. Mr McLennan last year uncovered Scotland’s biggest haul of medieval silver coins. “” ” I unearthed the first piece, initially I didn’t understand what I had found because I thought it was a silver spoon and then I turned it over and wiped my thumb across it and I saw the Saltire-type of design and knew instantly it was Viking.
” Then my senses exploded, I went into shock, endorphins flooded my system and away I went stumbling towards my colleagues waving it in the air.” “
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Early Mankind’s Secret Weapon For Slaying Mammoths? Dogs
Evidence from Predmosti, in the Czech republic - a large fragment of bone was placed in a dog's mouth shortly after burial - some 27,000 years ago. Picture: Mietje Germonpre.
” After hunting them for at least a million years, humans suddenly became really good at killing woolly mammoths, but modern humans haven’t been able to figure out just how they did it. A new theory suggests that, maybe, man’s best friend played an important role.
In central Europe and north Asia, there are massive mammoth graveyards dating back to 44,000 years ago, with tens of thousands of mammoth bones, some arranged in geometric patterns and some arranged into huts, found with stone tools and evidence of people. There wasn’t however, any evidence of how they were killing the shaggy ancestors of today’s elephants.
In an article titled “How do you kill 86 mammoths?,” Penn State anthropologist Pat Shipman theorizes that humans’ secret weapons may have been dogs.
While combing through the literature about the mammoth megasites, Shipman found that none of the usual big-mammal slayers seemed like plausible explanations for a mass mammoth die-off.”
Read more at Motherboard
” In Berelekh – in the north of Siberia’s Sakha Republic – are more than 160 of the tusked goliaths.”
Picture: P. Lazarev, The Mammoth Museum in Yakutsk
” ‘ One of the greatest puzzles about these sites is how such large numbers of mammoths could have been killed with the weapons available during that time,’ she said.
Theories on such ‘mammoth megasites’ have included floods washing bones to a certain spot or herds that fell through thin ice. But they seem to date to 44,000 years ago, around the time modern humans emerged.
She found that ‘few of the mortality patterns from these mammoth deaths matched either those from natural deaths among modern elephants killed by droughts or by culling operations with modern weapons that kill entire family herds of modern elephants at once’.
The professor concluded in her research, outlined in Quaternary International, that the mammoths were killed in the same spot for many generations. ‘There’s something that’s drawing them to that location,’ she said.
She believes the sites may have been on migration routes in spots where early humans and their domesticated dogs could attack.”
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‘World’s Largest Dinosaur’ Discovered In Argentina
” The largest creature to have ever walked the earth – a dinosaur measuring 130 feet and weighing 77 tonnes – has been discovered in Argentina, palaeontologists have said.
Its gigantic bones were found by a local farm worker in a desert in Patagonia, the southern Argentine region that has yielded many important dinosaur discoveries.
Based on the size of the thigh bones – taller than an average man – the dinosaur would have been 130 feet long and 65ft tall, scientists said.
Its calculated 77-tonne weight would have made it as heavy as 14 African elephants, beating the previous record holder, Argentinosaurus, by some seven tonnes.”
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Humongous Megamouth Shark Caught Off Japan Coast
” A 13-foot long female megamouth shark weighing nearly 1,500 pounds caught off the coast of Japan was dissected before thousands of onlookers at the Marine Science Museum in Shizuoka City Thursday. The creature was caught by fishermen from a depth of 2,600 feet.
The first specimen of a megamouth shark was caught off Oahu, Hawaii, in 1976, and megamouth sightings are extremely rare. According to the Japan Daily Press, this catch in Japan marks just the 58th occasion when a megamouth was actually seen by people.”
The Megamouth is the second rare shark caught recently , joining the Goblin shark caught off Key West last month .
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Westerners Fear Obama Preparing Monuments Land Grab
” Just south of Canyonlands National Park, the redrock wonders merge into a scrubland oasis with a peak that juts 11,000 feet into the sky. Mesas and buttes provide panoramic views and canyons, and ancient cliff dwellings offer a unique retreat.
It’s a region that holds sacred and historic value to the Navajo Nation, which has pitched Congress on creating the Diné Bikéyah National Conservation Area to protect the 1.9 million acres in San Juan County from development. But as with most things involving Congress, inaction has been the order of the day.
Even as supporters of a conservation area remain hopeful, they’re ready for Plan B: Asking President Barack Obama for a national monument.”
” Willie Grayeyes, and other members of the nonprofit Utah Diné Bikéyah, traveled recently to Washington to lobby Interior Department officials to designate the region north of the San Juan River and just outside the Navajo Reservation as a monument.
” The Utah delegates are only fumbling the ball. They aren’t really tackling it,” Grayeyes said. A monument is a logical fallback to congressional designation, under which many of the current uses could continue.
Obama already has named a handful of monuments across the country — using his unilateral power under the 1906 Antiquities Act — and has promised more.
” I’ll use my authority to protect more of our pristine federal lands for future generations,” he said in his State of the Union address earlier this year.”
Below is a list of other potential “national monuments” that , with the stroke of our dear leader’s pen could become off-limits to the people forever …
” Possible candidates for national monument status:
Alpine Lakes – Washington
Berryessa Snow Mountain – California
Boulder-White Clouds – Idaho
Desolation Canyon – Eastern Utah
Diné Bikéyah – San Juan County, Utah
Gold Butte – Nevada
Greater Canyonlands — Southeastern Utah
Organ Mountains – New Mexico
Rocky Mountain Front – Montana
San Gabriels – California
San Rafael Swell – Emery County, Utah
Tule Springs – Nevada “
For the record we would like it to be known that we are strongly in favor of preservation and the protection of our natural treasures . However , we are just as strongly against the Federal government taking whatever it feels the desire for or whatever special interest groups can succeed in persuading the Feds to snatch .
We feel that , as with all things state-related , the closer to the people that the decisions lie , the better will be the results for all . The behemoth in the east , DC , is in no position to tell the states of the west what is in their own best interests and as such conservation and preservation efforts are best left up to the people who will have to live with these efforts .
We all know that the Federal stewardship of far-flung lands is poorly managed and such is always the case with absentee-landlords . It is time for the states to start managing their own affairs and the power of confiscation by the bureaucrats in Washington to be reined in .
Read the whole thing
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Ancient Egyptians Transported Pyramid Stones Over Wet Sand
” Physicists from the FOM Foundation and the University of Amsterdam have discovered that the ancient Egyptians used a clever trick to make it easier to transport heavy pyramid stones by sledge. The Egyptians moistened the sand over which the sledge moved. By using the right quantity of water they could halve the number of workers needed. The researchers published this discovery online on 29 April 2014 in Physical Review Letters.”
” For the construction of the pyramids, the ancient Egyptians had to transport heavy blocks of stone and large statues across the desert. The Egyptians therefore placed the heavy objects on a sledge that workers pulled over the sand. Research from the University of Amsterdam has now revealed that the Egyptians probably made the desert sand in front of the sledge wet. Experiments have demonstrated that the correct amount of dampness in the sand halves the pulling force required.”
More details at Phys.org
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Reboot: These Stunning Still-Life Photos Will Take You Back To The Future
“ Jim Golden takes pictures of products, sometimes all by themselves. Other times he assembles incredible collections of everyday objects and antiquated technologies into stunning spreads, like this painstakingly placed array of retro video game systems.”
” Golden’s latest project is called Relics of Technology, and it’s a bit of both. Collecting bits and pieces of obsolete technology like floppy disks and Betamax tapes, he’s assembled some into pleasing patterns like his previous work. But he’s also taken single, iconic pieces of bygone tech and brought them to life with some of the highest quality animated GIFs you’ve ever seen. It’s one thing to see a still image of a rotary phone, but another entirely to remember — or realize — how the receiver would physically jump in response to an incoming call.”
” “The seeds for the Relics of Technology project started when I found a brick cellphone at a thrift store in rural Oregon,” says Golden. “Since finding it, similar bits and pieces of old technology and media kept grabbing my attention. The fascination was equal parts nostalgia for the forms, and curiosity as to what had become of them. One thing led to another and I was on the hunt for groups of media and key pieces of technology, most of which have now been downsized to fit in the palms of our hands. These photos are reminders that progress has a price and our efforts have an expiration date.” “
Take a walk down memory lane at The Verge
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FBI Seizes Native American, Other Artifacts At Rural Indiana Home
” A team of FBI agents, archaeologists and other experts are confiscating Native American and other artifacts and relics from a collection described as having immeasurable cultural significance from a home in rural central Indiana, authorities said.
An FBI investigation determined that the homeowner, Donald C. Miller, may have knowingly and unknowingly collected objects in violation of several treaties and federal and state statutes, Special Agent in Charge Robert Jones said Wednesday.
” We know that some of the items were acquired improperly,” Jones said.
The items, stored in several buildings on the property about 35 miles southeast of Indianapolis, are to be collected, identified and repatriated, he said. Those that properly belong to Miller are being safeguarded, he said. A number of statutes and law may not have been in effect when Miller collected some of the items, he said.
” The exact number of artifacts in the collection is unknown at this time but it’s believed to be in the thousands,” Jones said. “The monetary value of the entire collection and of its individual pieces is yet to be determined however the cultural value of these artifacts is immeasurable.”
Jones said that the extensive collection, which Miller amassed over eight decades, includes Native American artifacts and relics as well as items from the United States, China, Haiti, Australia, Russia, New Guinea, Italy, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, Greece, Peru and possibly several other countries.”
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British Museum: Prototyper For Noah’s Ark Was Round
” It was a vast boat that saved two of each animal and a handful of humans from a catastrophic flood.
But forget all those images of a long vessel with a pointy bow – the original Noah’s Ark, new research suggests, was round.
A recently deciphered 4,000-year-old clay tablet from ancient Mesopotamia – modern-day Iraq – reveals striking new details about the roots of the Old Testament tale of Noah. It tells a similar story, complete with detailed instructions for building a giant round vessel known as a coracle – as well as the key instruction that animals should enter “two by two.”
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New Homeowner Removes Baseboard In Her House And Gets A 100-Year-Old Surprise
” When you buy an old home, most surprises found inside the walls during a remodel are unwelcome: dead animals, asbestos, knob and tube wiring. The reaction of a Minnesota woman when she popped off a baseboard in her recently purchased 1910 Cape Cod kitchen was no different. Then she she took a closer look.
“ When I first pulled off the baseboard I thought, ‘ewwww…someone’s nasty stuff is back here,’” Amanda Reddy told TheBlaze in an email.
Then, she started pulling out post cards dating back to 1907 and 1909 along with a few other possessions.”
The Blaze has more and you can check out Amanda’s blog here .
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Early Humans With Tiny Brains Lived In Norfolk Caravan Park [VIDEO]
” Scientists believe that early humans may have created one of their first settlements around Manor Caravan Park in Happisburgh, Norfolk.
Stone tools and fossilised remains uncovered so far are believed to be the oldest found in the UK, dating back one million years.
Ancestors of modern-day humans existed then, a primitive predecessor of Homo antecessor, one of the earliest known human species in Europe, and also Homo erectus.”
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This 80 Year Old Man Has Not Taken A Bath In 60 Years. Just Wait Til You See Him… Whoa.
” This 80 year-old man looks like a troll or maybe a creature from The Lord of the Rings. His skin is scaly, you can barely see his eyes and he smells to high heaven. The reason for this is simple, he doesn’t have a skin disease or terrible condition: he has just refused to take a bath for sixty years. A Reddit user posted the gallery below. It’s hard to believe this is a real human being.”
Lots more at ViralNova
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Great Lakes Shipwreck Hunter Finds Keystone State, Lost In Lake Huron For 152 Years
Click Pic For Video
” The Keystone State was in trouble.
Big waves slammed into the wooden steamer’s sides as it rocked in the water near Port Austin under the weight of a powerful November storm.
And then it was gone, swallowed up by Lake Huron that day in 1861, claiming the lives of all 33 on board.
The ship’s final resting place was a mystery for 150 years.
But today, veteran shipwreck hunter David Trotter, 72, of Canton plans to announce he and his crew found the side-wheel steamer in July at the bottom of Lake Huron — the latest in the nearly 100 vessels Trotter has discovered in more than 35 years of Great Lakes shipwreck hunting.
Trotter — who will announce the discovery on his website,www.shipwreck1.com — said he didn’t think he’d ever find the Keystone State. “
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10,000 Year-Old House Uncovered Outside Jerusalem
” A remarkable archaeological find in the Judean lowlands southwest of Jerusalem includes a six-millennia-old cultic temple and a 10,000-year-old house.
The ancient sites were located in routine archaeological digs conducted ahead of a planned expansion of Route 38, the main access road to Beit Shemesh. The building is the oldest ever found in the area, and constitutes remarkable “evidence of man’s transition to permanent dwellings,” researchers said Monday.
Labeling it “a fascinating glimpse into thousands of years of human development,” the Israel Antiquities Authority, together with the Netivei Israel Company that is carrying out the highway expansion, invited the public to visit the excavation site in Eshtaol on Wednesday, November 27.”
As more and more archaeological finds are unearthed in and around Jerusalem in particular and Israel in general imagine the loss to human knowledge and understanding that will occur if the careless actions of our government allow the Iranians to turn Israel into a sheet of glass .
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