History of the World attempts to tell the story of humans from Prehistoric times, through the Ancient Period, Middle Ages, and Modern History in a concise movie. It's meant for people who want to have a basic understanding of the major events of human history.
Human history, or world history, is the narrative of humanity's past. It is understood through archaeology, anthropology, genetics, and linguistics, and since the advent of writing, from primary and secondary sources.
The failure of rainfall in the Middle East has caused the Fertile Crescent to dry up, resulting in horrific findings in the Euphrates. Do you know why the drying of the Euphrates river is causing problems in many countries? If not, then please continue watching this video till the end.
The Euphrates River has delivered unimaginable prosperity to the regions of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia for the past six thousand years. Due to its status as the region's primary water supply, the area has experienced unprecedented levels of growth and fertile soil. But the river's conditions are shifting, and new questions have emerged. Follow us as we delve deeper into the horrifying details that experts have disclosed regarding the alterations in the Euphrates River and what they could imply for the future of humanity.
After making his way through the cold waters of Loch Arnish, Chris Murray finds exactly what he is looking for. On this lake on Lewis off the west coast of Scotland, the diver is examining a mysterious man-made island known as a crannog. And, incredibly, the secrets that Murray discovers deep below the water’s surface will change everything that experts know about these strange, prehistoric landmasses.
In 1935, Egypt was still the main draw for archaeologists digging for answers. It was hardly more than a decade since the British Egyptologist Howard Carter discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen on November 4, 1922, that had lain nearly undisturbed for over 3,000 years. Yet that is another amazing story still to be investigated. However, right now, our attention is focused on the latest attempt to hide the real ancient history of an unknown civilization that left us with great wonders both above and below the sands of the Giza Plateau.
Ancient Lost City Unearthed in Egypt
The first news of a ‘Secret City’ hit the World Press in the first week of March 1935. By July of that year, much more had been found and the Sunday Express ran an article by Edward Armytage who had just returned to England from Egypt where he had watched the excavation of an ancient Egyptian city that was then thought to date back 4000 years.
Media Silence
…….then came silence, as if every living Egyptologist had lost all interest in this wonderful underground metropolis. All their articles during the ensuing years were centered on tombs of queens and shafts that had sunk deep into the ground to burial tombs some time during the 24th Dynasty, which was as late as 732 BC to 716 BC. It is very odd that such an immense discovery of a whole underground city dating back at least 4,000 years was ignored completely in favor of a late period Dynasty that almost passed without notice.
Denial of Previous Discoveries
That was some eighty years ago and today we have come up against a similar ‘rose granite block wall’, in the person of the former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, Zahi Hawass , who held that position until Egypt’s revolution in 2011 that toppled Hosni Mubarak—and also ended Hawass’ controversial reign as the supreme chief of all Egypt’s antiquities. However, he still has his ‘finger in the pie’ so to speak. Much has been written about the Egyptian ‘Indiana Jones’ who presents a big smile at one moment but red-raged faced the next when any unwelcome question is posed to him. This side of his character is well documented in Robert Bauval and Ahmed Osman’s book “Breaking the Mirror of Heaven”.
However, such a temperament doesn’t duly explain why Zahi Hawass has so publicly announced that there is nothing at all below the Sphinx, neither any tunnel nor a single chamber, when there have many photos of him entering descending shafts from the head of the Sphinx and another at the far rear of the Lion Body. Are we supposed to forget completely what we have seen several times in the past and accept such denials without question?
Statements Contradict Photographic Evidence
Apparently, he brushed off such enquiries of hidden tunnels under the Giza Plateau and chambers under the Sphinx by saying that it wasn’t possible to look deeper, as the chambers were either blocked or full of water. That may well be the case, though we can see from one of the photos showing a rear downward shaft from the side of the Sphinx that the floor far below is quite dry.
We do know that Hawass had climbed down ladders from the rear entrance of the Sphinx, into a deep chamber on a middle layer and then even further down to a bottom chamber which apparently contained a very large sarcophagus and that was filled with water, as these scenes are all in a documentary film made by Fox. It is hard to imagine how he could possibly think that he could later deny all that he had earlier accomplished.
A Hole in the Sphinx’s Head
Around 1798, Vivant Denon etched an image of the sphinx, although he hadn’t copied it that well. However, he no doubt knew that there was a hole on the top of its head as he had drawn an image of a man being pulled out.
A sketch can hardly be used as proof, but in the 1920’s an aerial photo of the sphinx taken from a hot air balloon showed that there is such an opening on the top of its head.
The Enigma of the Sphinx’s Head
It seems quite clear from the totally different construction materials and color of the Sphinx head, which we believe is not rock, but some type of man-made substance compared to its limestone and eroded body, that the head and face of the Sphinx must have been changed from its original shape long after the monument was first carved. There is hardly any erosion to the head compared to its body.
The sides of the headdress are quite smooth and we only need glance at the mythical creature to spot the lighter color of the body compared to the darkness of the head.
According to Tony Bushby in his “The Secret in The Bible” a badly fragmented Sumerian cylinder tells a tale that could easily be taken as having happened at Giza and involving a beast that had a lion head with a tunnel entrance hidden by sand. Everything now points to the Sphinx body having been sculpted out of natural stone when there was frequent heavy rainfall and that takes us back to about the same time that Robert Bauval and Robert Schoch have calculated for the construction of the Orion’s Belt Pyramids, i.e. circa 10,450 BC.
Two Sphinxes?
There have been sketches of the Giza (the word Gisa in Ancient Egyptian means ‘Hewn Stone’) complex from as far back as 1665 and some do show two heads peering out of the sands, one usually having female features.
It was an ancient Egyptian practice to inscribe two lions, which they called Akerw, next to their doorways for heavenly protection and that would lead us directly to a mound near the sphinx, which Gerry has identified and measured. Could this mound contain the buried body of a second sphinx?
One would have thought that this mysterious, large, covered shape so close to the sphinx would have been greeted with great enthusiasm by the Egyptian authorities, yet Hawass and Mark Lehner didn’t want to listen to his theory, according to a reliable source.
Gerry had contacted someone in a renowned institute in Cairo that had equipment that could detect objects under the sand. That person applied for a permit to the then Supreme Council of Antiquities to investigate the mound, but they didn’t respond. Apparently, no one else was granted a license to investigate the specific area of the mound where we believe a Second Sphinx could be unearthed. No doubt they had a reason for it!
Why the Denial?
Why would those two Egyptologists be so alarmed by the suggestion that there was something that had been missed for centuries? Is it possible that they don’t want to reveal something beneath that mound? It isn’t reasonable that anyone should have so much objection to any kind of probe or even a simple aerial photograph being taken, which might lead to the discovery of yet another amazing wonder of the world and a wonder that would draw many more thousands of tourists to Egypt. They won’t even admit to ever having examined the mystery mound themselves, and surely had this been done they would be the first to say so.
A few years ago, Zahi Hawass met the Foreign Press Association in Cairo to vent his frustration with a group of pseudo-scientists whose personal attack, through television and other media, had escalated to the point where it had become threatening. Apparently, he was worried that a NBC interview would support and publicize their ideas, which he suggests were purely for personal gain.
He apparently said in a statement:
"I want to talk about things that do not make any sense,”
His gesture expressed his increased frustration with what he commonly classified as "pyramidiots" - those with views greatly at variance with the established scientific community.
"They are saying secret excavations…are going on around the Sphinx and are not being revealed. This is definitely not so."
Zahi Hawass is not only a great showman and probably the most knowledgeable man in the world about ancient Egypt, he has also achieved a lot to promote tourism for his country. However, he appears to have an agenda, and that is to keep in place the conventional understanding of ancient Egyptian history, no matter how many new findings contradict what is currently believed to be true.
In today’s video we will talk about gruel. Watch the video for more and enjoy!
In the video below we will be talking about Jordan river, and how it has finally dried up. Enjoy!
In this video we will be investigating why the Ancient Greeks couldn’t see blue. Enjoy!
By Sarantos I. Kargakos
Had it not been for Demosthenes' slanderous characterizations against Philip - especially against Alexander - the question of the Greekness of the Macedonians would not have been raised. Every supporter of this opinion relies on Demosthenes. The other data they put forward are merely supplementary elements, which have no historical weight.
We could consider Demosthenes' insults as an outburst of political passion that drives him into the madness of insults and that's all. When someone insults, he does not mince words. That is why Demosthenes often calls Philip the barbarian, knowing that he is insulting and humiliating him. But if Philip was a barbarian (foreigner), why should this characterization bother him? Even with this designation, Demosthenes wants to portray Philip as a foreigner who usurps the freedom of Greece in order to unite all Greeks against him. In politics, the end justifies the means.
But the extent to which Demosthenes' characterizations are accurate can be seen in the insults of his great rival, Aeschines, who also calls Demosthenes a barbarian!
In particular, in the famous "On the False Embassy" oration,the insulting phrase is heard twice: "And you say this, Demosthenes, although your lineage on your mother's side is descended from Scythian nomads". And again: "On his mother's side, Demosthenes is a Scythian. A barbarian who uses the Greek language!"
His mother Demosthenes Kleoboulis was the daughter of Gylonos, who had settled in the Taurian peninsula (Crimea). But I ask: Are insults a solid basis for the scientific foundation of historical theories? With this I do not want to bypass the only "document" that Mr. J.B. quotes. Rather I will present all insults of Demosthenes chronologically in order to be able to draw the necessary conclusions. Before doing so, however, I will avoid mistaking the great orator for a common insulter and examine the meaning of the Demosthenes-Philip dichotomy, which reflects the dichotomy of the democratized southern Greek cities versus the monarchical Greek north. One element is that the Greeks had a politics of city-states. They had a city-centric view. The city was the center of all political action. In other words, Athens, Sparta, Thebes were important cities.
Statue of Demosthenes
Macedonia, on the other hand, was a state with many cities, but they were not so important that they determined political life. Thus, the state-centered monarchical system of the northern Greeks contrasted with the city-centered democratic system of the southern Greeks. Demosthenes' opposition to Philip was thus not racial, as many propagate. It was politics. If Philip had in mind the Great State, Demosthenes, who had grown up with other political ideals, had in mind the Great Man, "the free in justice". The Citizen, not the servant of the state. The personality and character and not faceless political being. Therefore, he remained faithful to the idea of "Athenism". Only Athens gave him some guarantees for the State of Free Citizens.
Demosthenes did not reject the idea of Panhellenism. But he gave it cultural meaning. Philip made a realistic policy. Demosthenes from the 4th century BC imagines a federation of cities with a democratic form of government. Philip, on the other hand, sought a unity of Greeks by all means. He was a Machiavelli who did not write, but acted. Therefore, the conflict between Demosthenes and Philip was not a conflict of races, but a conflict of visions.
Yet despite noble visions, neither shied away from mean means. After all, they were engaged in politics, not religious preaching. Macedonia and Philip were what Prussia and Bismarck were to Germany. If Bismarck expected to unite Germany with Kant's wonderful vision of perpetual peace, he should have eternal life as well. But the politicians who create eternal work are those who know that life is short and time is running out.
Let us now turn to the "shocking" document that J.B. quotes:
"Not only a non-Greek and not related to the other Greeks, but not even a barbarian from any place that could be called with any honor, but like a pestilent knave from Macedonia, where one cannot even buy a decent slave" (The Third Philippic, Demosthenes' political orations ). But let us see what Demosthenes himself says: "Not only is he not a Greek, nor has he anything in common with the Greeks, but he is not even a barbarian of good stock, but a pernicious Macedonian, from whose country one cannot even buy a slave."
The reader should note that Mr. J.B. commits a scientific indecency. He translates "pernicious Macedonian," which is indeed a heavy epithet, with the phrase "pestilent knave from Macedonia," which has no correspondence with the original. No Greek researcher denied that this text, because of its verbal severity, raises the suspicion of an ethnic division between Greeks and Macedonians. It is also not absent from any Greek historiography, ancient or translated. However, what Mr. J.B. seems to ignore the psychology of language, i. e. a word that means something specific, is used with a different meaning in a specific case. We all know, for example, what history means.
Statue of Philipp of Macedon in Thessaloniki, Greece
But you have to know the psychology of the Greek language to understand the phrase "we will have histories", which means entanglements, struggles, and so on. We all know what politics means, but few know that politics in the medieval Greek language meant also whore! So, in order to understand Demosthenes' phrase, we need to know the psychology of language, which means that in relation to Philip, we need to trace the psychological transitions or upheavals that Philip's politics triggers in him. We begin with an observation: of the nine orations Demosthenes made against Philip, Philip is called a barbarian in only three (the relevant part in the "Against Stephanos" oration is a later addition). But let us start with the orations from the beginning:
1. In the "First Philippic" oration against Philip, written when the Macedonian king had reached Thermopylae and was also threatening to cut Athens off from the allied cities of Thrace and Euxinus, Demosthenes uses harsh language but never calls him a barbarian. Neither in the First nor in the Second Olynthiac oration.
2. Philip is first called a barbarian in the Third Olynthiac oration: "He is not an enemy, he does not possess what is ours, he is not a barbarian, whatever else one may say". The last sentence ("whatever else one may say") shows that the previous word "barbarian" is also used as an insult and not as a national designation. Demosthenes here stigmatizes Philip's behavior and not his origin.
3. In 346 BC, Demosthenes delivered his "On the Peace" oration. Philip has already conquered Olynthos, crushed the Phocaeans, and become a member of the Delphic Amphictyony. But now that the threat is more immediate, Demosthenes says nothing in his speech about Philip being a barbarian. Yet it would have been a wonderful opportunity for him to denounce before all Greeks that a barbarian had become a member of the amphictyony in which only Greeks participated. The reason why he did not do this is simple: he knew that all Greeks knew that Philip was not a barbarian.
4. In 341 BC, Demosthenes delivered the "On the Chersonese" oration,which is a war cry against Philip, who is not called a "barbarian" here either. And yet Demosthenes had just returned from Macedonia, where he had gone as an ambassador and stayed for three months. Therefore, he had the opportunity to learn the language, customs and traditions of the Macedonians. If he thought they were barbarians, why would he miss such a wonderful opportunity to comment on them?
5. A year later, he delivers the "On the False Embassy" oration and while he sharply characterizes Philip, he still says nothing about barbarism. This oration is of a legal nature and is directed against Aeschines, the leader of the "Macedonian party" in Athens. His aim is to show the opportunism and political immorality of Aeschines and to point out his contradictions. Specifically, he says of Aeschines, "Formerly he preached before the people and called Philip barbarian and destructive. But now Aeschines calls him the most Greek of men and the greatest friend of Athens!". With this rhetorical trick Demosthenes tries to expose Aeschines in the eyes of the Athenians as well as in the eyes of Philip.
6. Finally, in "third against Philip" is found the sentence to which J.B. refers and modifies in the translation. In this oration from 341 (three years before the battle of Chaeronea) Demosthenes, desperate to see Philip's omnipresence, has lost control of his words, treats Philip like a gladiator, and uses the worst insults against him. This verbal frenzy and verbal jibes are aimed at insulting Philip personally and his country in general. This is also evident in the sentence of the ancient commentator of Demosthenes, who examines the characterization of "barbarian" in the third Olynthiac:
"Because Demosthenes wants to insult Philip, he calls him a barbarian. But if he really wanted to investigate, he would find that he is a Greek from Argos, descended from the lineage of Hercules, as all historians confirm."
Statue of Alexander the Great in Thessaloniki, Greece
Personally, I do not like simple interpretations. Demosthenes has a political goal in the sense that he wants to destroy Philip by any means. He sees the Macedonian monarch as an enemy of Greek freedom, i.e. the autonomy of the Greek cities. Therefore, with the last sentence, he actually wants to portray him as a foreigner in the eyes of the other Greeks and the Macedonians as foreigners seeking Greek independence in order to achieve a panhellenic alliance against them. So passionate is he that he does not hesitate to recommend to the Athenians an alliance with the Persians against Philip (Fourth Philippic):
"I think you should send a legation (to the Persians) to converse with the Persian king, leaving aside the silly phrase "the barbarians are the common enemy of everything and everyone".
Thus Demosthenes frees the Persian king from the status of barbarian and assigns it to Philip, whom he also calls "the robber of the Greeks" and implores the gods to destroy him.
The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the pyramids in the Giza pyramid complex bordering present-day Giza in Greater Cairo, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact. Egyptologists conclude that the pyramid was built as a tomb for the Fourth Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh Khufu and estimate that it was built in the 26th century BC during a period of around 27 years.
Initially standing at 146.5 meters (481 feet), the Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made structure in the world for more than 3,800 years. Over time, most of the smooth white limestone casing was removed, which lowered the pyramid's height to the present 138.5 meters (454.4 ft). What is seen today is the underlying core structure. The base was measured to be about 230.3 meters (755.6 ft) square, giving a volume of roughly 2.6 million cubic meters (92 million cubic feet), which includes an internal hillock. The dimensions of the pyramid were 280 royal cubits (146.7 m; 481.4 ft) high, a base length of 440 cubits (230.6 m; 756.4 ft), with a seked of 5.5 palms (a slope of 51°50'40").
The Great Pyramid was built by quarrying an estimated 2.3 million large blocks weighing 6 million tonnes in total. The majority of stones are not uniform in size or shape and are only roughly dressed. The outside layers were bound together by mortar. Primarily local limestone from the Giza Plateau was used. Other blocks were imported by boat down the Nile: White limestone from Tura for the casing, and granite blocks from Aswan, weighing up to 80 tonnes, for the King's Chamber structure.
There are three known chambers inside the Great Pyramid. The lowest was cut into the bedrock, upon which the pyramid was built, but remained unfinished. The so-called Queen's Chamber and King's Chamber, that contains a granite sarcophagus, are higher up, within the pyramid structure. Khufu's vizier, Hemiunu (also called Hemon), is believed by some to be the architect of the Great Pyramid. Many varying scientific and alternative hypotheses attempt to explain the exact construction techniques.
The funerary complex around the pyramid consisted of two mortuary temples connected by a causeway (one close to the pyramid and one near the Nile), tombs for the immediate family and court of Khufu, including three smaller pyramids for Khufu's wives, an even smaller "satellite pyramid" and five buried solar barges.
Russia is a country steeped in history and full of wonder. And for people outside of Russia, there is also a sense of mystery. It’s the largest country in the world, spans over two continents, and has 11 different time zones. And as we’ll uncover, it is also home to a number of mysteries happening too. Here are 15 unsettling discoveries in Russia nobody can explain.
With their magnificent buildings and their unique culture, the ancient Egyptians have managed to immortalize themselves deeply in the consciousness of posterity. Although the age of mummies and pharaohs has passed for many centuries, that fascinating civilization still fascinates us. While the overwhelming buildings of the Egyptians have always attracted countless tourists from all over the world, archaeologists are working flat out to uncover the secrets of the inhabitants of the pharaohs, which are still hidden.
However, it happens that the experts occasionally come to a dead end in their search for clues. What's more, it sometimes seems as if some discoveries are being deliberately withheld from the interested public - or have you actually heard of the Baka Pyramid? This unfinished masterpiece is one of the greatest mysteries ancient Egypt has to offer. What is the background of this building really about? What purpose should it have served? And above all: Why was the gigantic construction project suddenly abandoned? Together with you we are looking for answers today!
We all know what we’re looking for when we head out for a day on the beach; sun, sea, sand, and strangeness. OK, so maybe not everybody goes looking for strangeness, but they end up finding it anyway! You never know what might be hiding on or underneath the sand when you take a trip to the coast, and the beach finds you’re about to see in this video might just blow your mind. Let’s get started!
For many people, farms epitomize idyllic country life. Given this theme, images of many different animals and endless fields immediately come to mind. Unfortunately, this romantic notion does not always correspond to reality. On the contrary: Some farmers have already discovered things on their farms that could easily have come from a scary horror film! In today's video we show you which surprising, frightening and even disturbing discoveries have already been recorded on farms!
If only our ancient ancestors left us a helpful instruction guide or manual buried alongside all of their artifacts. If they did, we wouldn't be so baffled by so many of the discoveries we've made about them, their civilizations, and the times that they lived in! The truth is that even the most educated experts sometimes don't know what they're looking at for sure, and so without any answers, they're forced to concede that they've uncovered a mystery. You'll find out all about many of those mysteries in this video!
In today’s video we are analyzing why we don’t taxidermy humans. Watch the video for more and enjoy!
Under the ice can seem like a completely alien world... Kathryn Jeffs (Series Producer) talks us through the difficult process of capturing 'The Brinicle' on film. Enjoy!
During the Victorian era, 'mummy parties' were hosted to unwrap the outer layers in order to take a glance at what mysteries lay behind the cloth, but today's researchers are working on new methods that do not 'destroy the integrity of the object.'
A team from Northwestern University used powerful X-rays for the first time in the scientific community to see through the wrapping of a 1,900-year-old mummy.
Researchers used a combination of computed tomography (CT) and CT-guided synchrotron X-ray diffraction mapping, which is capable of identifying different materials, objects and bones.
The examinations provided a number of details about the mummy – the person was a girl about five years old and buried with a scarab amulet that was meant to spiritually protect the body as it travels to the afterlife.
The analysis also revealed that the young girl's skeleton is still well preserved and shows no sign of trauma, suggesting she likely died from disease.
This is the first time an intact mummy has been analyzed using such techniques, which the team says 'will draw a lot of excitement from the archaeological community.'
Stuart Stock, research professor of cell and molecular biology at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine and the first author on the papery, said: 'We knew there were objects within the mummy, and we wanted to find out which materials were present.'
'Short of opening the mummy, there's no way other than X-ray diffraction to identify those materials.'
The X-rays are designed to differentiate between different materials.
Jonathan Almer of Argonne's X-ray Science division, a co-author on the paper, said: 'Each of these materials has a unique signature.'
So for example, bone and ceramic have extremely different patterns, so that is a very easy thing to differentiate.'
'But we can even see differences between different types of bone.'
The mummy in this examination dates back to the Roman era that began in 30 BC and was discovered in Hawara, Egypt in 1911.
In 2018, the mummy became was put on display at and exhibit at exhibition at the Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary on Northwestern's Evanston, Illinois campus.
Prior to the event, Stock was asked to conduct research on what is behind the wrappings.
He started by imaging with a CT scan that, he says, 'provided a roadmap' for this study by allowing them to identify areas in which to aim the powerful X-ray beams generated by the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility at DOE's Argonne National Laboratory.
'Without the CT scan to refer to, this literally would have taken two weeks,' Stock said.
Almer, who led the team, explained that the mummy is the largest object to be measured at APS, which measures more than three feet long and weighs about 50 pounds.
This proves that we can find a needle in a haystack,' Almer said.
'Often our research is looking for micron-level objects in a millimeter-sized sample.' 'This was a scaling-up of work we do every day, and it shows that we can experiment with and see within a wide range of size scales.'
Almer also noted that the beams did not damage the mummy in anyway, but was able to reveal information that would only have been possible by unwrapping the linen.
Stock notes he and his team did not find conclusively prove the body belonged to a girl, but other evidence points to it and would match the portrait discovered with the mummy.
X-rays detected several small pins holding areas of the linen together, and Stock said he was able to determine they were made of modern metals, probably added 20 years ago as part of exhibiting the mummy.
However, the most exciting discovery made by the X-rays was the amulet that was determined to be made of calcite, a carbonate mineral.
While it is not unheard of for these amulets to be made of calcite, he said, it is rare, and knowing the composition will allow scientists to trace it to a time and place of origin.
Marc Walton, co-director of the Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts and research professor of materials science and engineering at Northwestern's McCormick School of Engineering, said: 'Not only does this work provide historians with data on the composition of the mummy, its burial conditions, and, therefore, its biography, but the complexity of the composite object pushed the authors to innovate new methods of synchrotron-based X-ray diffraction.'
Such synergy between high technology and archaeology highlights what is possible when typical research boundaries are crossed.'
Stock said that while this method of examining the interiors of mummies may not be widely used in the future, given the logistical challenges, it may help scientists answer questions that otherwise would remain mysteries.
'It may be the only way to get out important information without disturbing the mummies,' he said.
An extraordinary cave network, never seen by human eyes, has been discovered in the depths of a US national park.
The eerie blue pool found hidden inside has been described as a "wonderous sight" by park employees at the Carlsbad Caverns National Park in New Mexico.
It followed an expedition into what are called "virgin" cave passages in the park, long renowned for its complex cave structures filled with wax-like stalactite rock formations.
Now explorers have discovered something uniquely remarkable – an isolated pool of milky-blue water untouched by humans, 700ft below ground.
Carlsbad Caverns announced the discovery on Facebook on June 2020, calling the site found within Lechuguilla Cave “completely pristine”.
Geoscientist Max Wisshak, who led the expedition wrote: "The edges beneath this pool appear to be ‘pool fingers’, which could be bacterial colonies that have evolved entirely without human presence."
Wisshak led the expedition in October 2019, alongside a team of specialist explorers who were given special permission to explore beyond a body of water known as the "Lake of Liquid Sky" which was discovered in 1993.
He said: "The goals of this expedition have been a long time in the making. Rest assured… The team took special precautions to ensure there were no contaminants introduced to these pools of water."
He posted a picture shows the strange alien-looking sight, comprising white frosted rock filled with a strange glowing milky-blue substance said to have been untouched for millennia.
Rodney Horrocks, Chief of Natural and Cultural Resources at Carlsbad Caverns National Park told local media: "This pool has been isolated for hundreds of thousands of years and had never seen light before that day."
Wisshak added: "Such untouched pools are scientifically important because water samples are relatively free of contaminants and the microbial organisms that may live in those pools are only those that belong there."
"Contamination can occur from the surface above the cave, but in case of Lechuguilla Cave, that’s not a big issue, since it is situated in a well-protected wilderness area. It can also occur via aerosols in the air. However, a newly discovered pool in Lechuguilla Cave is about as pristine as it gets."
The pool is estimated to be about a foot wide, 2 feet long and several inches deep and although it looks cloudy, the water is actually crystal clear and most likely formed of ancient filtered rainwater.
In 79AD, a baker in Pompeii fled for his life as Mt. Vesuvius erupted, leaving his bread to burn. Join us in recreating the Panis Quadratus and explore the history of Pompeii and this iconic loaf of bread.
A fossil fish that predates dinosaurs and was thought to have gone extinct has been found alive in the West Indian Ocean off the coast of Madagascar.
The fish named coelacanth was accidentally rediscovered by a group of South African shark hunters, according to reports.
According to a report by Mongabay News, the rediscovery was largely possible due to the fishermen's use of gillnets in their shark-hunting expeditions.
The high-tech deep-sea nets were able to reach the area where coelacanths gather, usually about 328-492 feet below the surface of the water.
Coelacanths predate dinosaurs but they resurfaced from extinction in 1938. Since then, this was the first instance that the fish was found alive. The recent re-discovery was a shock for scientists. They were able to identify it as a member of the "Latimeria chalumnae" species with its eight fins, a large body, and a specific pattern on its scales.
Now, marine scientists are calling for reinforcement of conservation measures to protect the fish.
It is believed the rediscovery of the fish has come in the wake of the ongoing increased demand for shark fins and oil. The demand has increased the use of gill nets, which can go deeper than regular fishing nets.
“When we looked into this further, we were astounded [by the numbers caught]… even though there has been no proactive process in Madagascar to monitor or conserve coelacanths,” said Andrew Cooke, lead author of a recent study published in the South African Journal of Science.
However, the journal noted that the fish might face new threats to survive with the increase in shark hunting in international waters.
"The jarifa gillnets used to catch sharks are a relatively new and more deadly innovation as they are large and can be set in deep water," the researchers wrote in the paper.
