The Real Story of the 300 - Battle of Thermopylae

This is Sparta! Want to find out what really happened to the 300 Spartan warriors that were completely outnumbered but stood up to the Persian army! Check out today's epic video that reveals the real battle of Thermopylae!

Archaeologist Uncovered An Ancient Egyptian Tomb — Then Noticed The Strange Markings On Its Entrance

In a vast cemetery close to Egypt's Great Pyramids, Professor Oleg and his team of archaeologists are hard at work. The researchers are motivated by the hope that they are about to discover something truly amazing, despite the heat and dust. And sure enough, they find the entrance to an elaborate tomb with baffling symbols on the openings. But what do these strange symbols mean? Experts found an ancient Egyptian tomb and noticed the strange markings on the entrance. It was back in October 2021 When the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and antiquities announced this outstanding discovery of an ancient tomb, the one on Earth blog Aziz team, the Krypton, a site called secara, a vast necropolis that lies not far south of the modern Egyptian capital Cairo, l magazine. Has been researching this area and making many remarkable discoveries there since 2005. Of course, there was still much work to do in interpreting the symbols and wall paintings of the tomb entrance. The researchers had already reached some conclusions, though. In the October 2021 statement, Mustapha Waziri, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of antiquities revealed what researchers already knew about this crypt.

Experts discovered an ancient bracelet in a cave - and it changed our view of history

As the team of experts ventured deep into the mysterious cave, little did they know that they were about to uncover a stunning artefact that would rewrite history as we know it? With every step they took, the excitement grew. When they finally discovered the ancient bracelet hidden within the cave's depths, they knew they had stumbled upon something truly extraordinary. This remarkable discovery has challenged our long-held beliefs and shed new light on the mysteries of the past.

Today we will discover an ancient bracelet in a cave and the mystery behind it.

Do You Know What Is Hiding Under The Trees Of The Amazon Rainforest?

The Amazon rainforest has always been shrouded in mystery and intrigue, with stories of lost civilisations and treasure troves hidden deep within its dense foliage. For centuries, adventurers and explorers have ventured into the jungle in search of El Dorado, the legendary city of gold. However, the harsh terrain and thick canopy of the rainforest have made it difficult to uncover its secrets. That is, until now.

In this video, we delve into the fascinating world of lost civilisations in the Amazon and the latest technology that is helping to uncover their secrets. Lidar, a remote sensing technology that uses lasers to create detailed 3D maps of the terrain, has revolutionized the way we explore the rainforest. By using Lidar, researchers have been able to uncover vast networks of ancient settlements, roads, and structures that were previously hidden from view.

We also explore the history of adventurers like Percy Fawcett, who famously disappeared while searching for El Dorado in 1925. Fawcett believed that the city of gold was located somewhere in the unexplored depths of the Amazon, and his story has captured the imagination of generations of explorers and treasure hunters.

Through interviews with archaeologists, explorers, and historians, we learn about the latest discoveries in the Amazon and the ongoing search for lost civilisations.

Why Japanese Calligraphy Ink Is So Expensive

Traditional Japanese calligraphy ink, referred to as sumi ink, comes in a solid form. It takes at least four years of production before these ink sticks can be sold, and even longer for the most expensive ones. A 200-gram high-grade ink stick from a producer like Kobaien costs over $1,000. And at some other retailers, prices can reach almost $2,000. Meanwhile, almost double the amount of commercial India ink can go for as little as $9.

Rare runes and Roman hoards: five treasures discovered in UK last year

The British Museum has recorded more than 50,000 archaeological finds, of which 1,000 were treasure, made by members of the general public in 2020. Here are some of the highlights.

A record-breaking pendant

The millionth record logged on the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) database was a copper alloy medieval harness pendant found in Binbrook, Lincolnshire.

A seal belonging to a woman of status

An unusual silver seal matrix dating to the early 13th century inscribed in Latin with the name Matilda de Cornhill was found at Hollingbourne, Kent. It depicts a kneeling female figure, assumed to be a representation of Matilda herself, praying to the enthroned virgin and child, a well-known motif of the medieval period. The find is unusual because seal matrices from this period were more commonly owned by men, and were usually made of copper alloy or lead alloy, leading archaeologists to suspect that Matilda was a person of status in her own right. The owner may be Maud de Cornhill, the steward of St Augustine’s Abbey, Canterbury, whose husband was Reginald de Cornhill – active 1189–1215 – the high sheriff of Kent and constable of Rochester Castle.

Rare runes

A rare and mysterious early medieval gold pendant with a rare runic inscription was found in the north of England. The pendant, in the form of a cross, dates to about AD700-900 and was found near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland. Runic inscriptions often provide the name of a person associated with the object, such as its maker or owner. This one can be translated as Eadruf, suspected to be a previously unknown name, potentially making it a new addition to recorded early medieval names.

A Roman hoard

A hoard of Roman coins was found in three pots at Wickwar, Gloucestershire, by the metal detectorists Mark Lovell and Mark Wilcox. They contacted the British Museum, which block-lifted the hoard to keep it intact and brought to labs where it was X-rayed and carefully micro-excavated. Conservation work revealed more than 6,500 coins that dated to the 4th century AD, which seem to have been put in the ground at different times. During this period, Romans commonly buried hoards for safekeeping, making this potentially a previously unknown Roman site.

Roman piping

In September 2020, Steven Scott and David Taylor were metal detecting at Rudston, east Yorkshire, when they found an unusual shallow cylindrical lead object about 30cm deep. Subsequent archaeological excavation revealed the object had been placed in a circular pit cut into chalk subsoil beside a pre-existing wall. They found pottery shards, burnt animal bones and sandstone quern fragments around the container, which is thought to be the base of a Roman cistern. It is the first to be found in Yorkshire and has an unusual form, possibly used to collect water running from the roof of a building to supply water to the home.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/d...

Mummies With Gold Tongues Found Inside 2,500-Year-Old Tombs in Egypt

Archaeologists have unearthed two tombs, containing the mummified remains of a man and woman who died about 2,500 years ago, in the ruins of the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, in what is now El Bahnasa.

During the excavation, the team stumbled upon a unique find: three gold-foil tongues. Adding to the surprise, one of the tombs had never been opened.

“This is very important, because it’s rare to find a tomb that is totally sealed,” Esther Pons Mellado, co-director of the archaeological mission from the University of Barcelona, tells Nada El Sawy of The National.

The sealed tomb, a male sarcophagus made of limestone, held mummified remains and an array of items, including a scarab amulet, four canopic jars that were used in the mummification process, and more than 400 pieces of faience, in the form of small funerary figures made of glazed earthenware. The mummy’s face was also well preserved with a golden tongue still inside his mouth, reports Sebastian Kettley of the Daily Express.

“We are still studying the inscriptions on the vessels that, we assume, will reveal the identity of the buried person,” Maite Mascort, mission co-director with Mellado, tells Sílvia Colomé of La Vanguardia.

In ancient Egypt, embalmers sometimes crafted tongues from gold foil and placed them inside the mouths of the dead to enable them to speak with Osiris, the god of the underworld.

Earlier this year, archaeologists working in Alexandria discovered a mummy with a similar gold tongue dating to around 2,000 years ago, as reported by Isis Davis-Marks for Smithsonian magazine at the time.

The three gold tongues found in the two tombs date to the Roman period that began in 30 B.C.E., reports The National.

Mellado tells The National that gold tongues have only been found at archaeological sites in Alexandria and El Bahnasa.

The other tomb, which had already been raided by grave robbers around the time of burial, held a sarcophagus in the shape of a woman, but the mummified remains were in poor shape, per the Daily Express. Buried alongside the body were beads, a stone headrest amulet and a figure of the falcon-headed god Horus. Two more gold tongues were also found; one inside the woman’s mouth, and another believed to have been placed in the mouth of a child’s remains.

The tombs date to the Saite dynasty, a period that lasted from about 664 to 332 B.C.E.

Prior to the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 B.C.E., Oxyrhynchus was known as Per-Medjed. Located about 140 miles south of Cairo at the site of the modern town of El Bahnasa, it was an important Egyptian hub during the Saite dynasty, according to the University of Barcelona’s website.

The city connected caravan routes from the west to a port on the Bahr Yussef waterway, allowing the flow of people and goods to the Mediterranean Sea. When Alexander arrived, the city became home to large numbers of Greek colonists and enjoyed a close relationship with Alexandria.

In 640 C.E., Per-Medjed fell into a decline after Arab occupation of the area. More than 1,000 years later, during Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign of 1799-1802 C.E., French scholars identified the ruins, and the first excavations began in 1897. At that time, the archaeologists discovered a huge collection of ancient documents known as the Oxyrhynchus Papyri.

Per a translated statement released by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities earlier this month, Jamal Samastawi, director general of the Architects of Central Egypt, commended the mission’s work in the area over the past 30 years. During this time, archaeologists have found many graves that date back to the Sawi, Roman and Coptic era that have been of great importance to the El Bahnasa region, he says, in the statement.

The current excavations, led by the University of Barcelona in cooperation with the Egyptian Antiquities Organization, began in 1992. Scientists hope these new discoveries will allow them to better understand the funerary rights observed during this time period.

Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/...

World's Biggest Dinosaur Arrives in UK Museum: 115-Feet-Long Titanosaur Is Thrice the Size of T.Rex

After its rough transportation through two British Airway crafts, the world's biggest dinosaur has now reportedly landed in the UK.

World's Biggest Dinosaur

According to the Daily Mail, this titanosaur replica skeleton has been transported from Argentina all the way to London for a special showcase at the Natural History Museum.

Interesting Engineering reports that, due to this titanosaur's massive size, the diplodocus, or dippy, is bound to be "dethroned." This Patagotitan mayorum titanosaur has four times the weight of Dippy. It is also among the largest creatures to have ever stepped foot on the earth's surface.

This close-to-complete dinosaur has a length of around 115 feet, from its nose all the way to its tail, making it around 40 feet longer compared to the blue whale that is currently on display at the museum. It also tripled the size of the T. rex. The titanosaur could have also weighed around 60 to 70 tons.

The Daily Mail reports that the huge exhibit was disassembled and kept in over 40 crates last November. This was before it was kept in two aircraft bellyholds. It will reportedly fit just right inside the huge Warehouse Gallery, which is around 30 feet high, in the prominent tourist spot.

The historic exhibit was brought all the way to the UK for the special "Titanosaur: Life as the Biggest Dinosaur" exhibit that will start on March 31. This marks its first display in Europe after being loaned by Argentina's MEF (Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio).

Exhibition science lead professor, Paul Barret, states that this Patagotitan mayorum is a remarkable specimen that has shed light on these huge titanosaurs. Its weight compares to that of over nine African elephants. With this, the remarkable exhibit will inspire the audience to look out for creatures that are huge and vulnerable.

Titanosaurs

According to Brittanica, titanosaurus lived from the late Jurassic Epoch all the way to the Cretaceous period's end. Fossils of these creatures were found on every continent except Antarctica. There are around 40 species included. Brittanica reports that this group of creatures is the largest group of land animals that have ever walked over the earth.

The Daily Mail reports that titanosaurs were herbivores, just like sauropods. They also had long necks and tails, as well as small heads.

However, compared to other sauropod species, these titanosaurs had stockier bodies. They also had a wider stance due to their limbs.

The sizes of titanosaurs are widely varied. One of the smallest species was the Neuquensaurus, which had an estimated length of 7 meters and a weight of 10,000 kilograms.

Some species with full remains were from the Dreadnoughtus, which covers around 70% of the skeleton. Such findings enable paleontologists to come up with estimates regarding the weight and length of these creatures.

Source: https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/4227...

One of the World’s Oldest Cities is 4,000 Years Older Than the Pyramids

There’s an ancient city in Syria that is said to be one of the oldest cities globally, so old that it even predates the Egyptian pyramids. Called Tell Brak, this ancient city dates back to when history itself was not being written.

It is older than old, so ancient that it predates the most ancient Egyptian pyramids by around 4,000 years. The city known today as Tell Brak remains shrouded in mystery.

Although we don’t know what the settlement was called more than 8,000 years ago, evidence suggests that people referred to the city as Nagar at one point in history.

Despite being one of the most ancient cities on the planet’s surface, its history, evolution, and fall have been anything but clear for historians. In fact, we didn’t even know the city existed until old Spy satellites from the US snapped images of the desert in the middle east, revealed the faint remnants of an ancient city. This ancient site is one of the best examples of archeology aided by aerial photography.

Tell Brak; an ancient city older than the pyramids

Imagine all the treasures that remain hidden beneath the surface, waiting to be spotted, uncovered, and revealed to the world.

The remnants of the ancient city were photographed by a US spy satellite and located in 50-year-old imagery by Dartmouth College anthropology professor Jesse Casana.

Professor Casana spent years studying and analyzing Corona Spy photographs of the Middle East.

These images are of great importance because 50 years ago when the images were snapped, the countryside was much less industrialized than today. The researcher and his colleagues documented around 10,000 previously unknown archeological sites thanks to the Corona Spy images.

The U.S. ran the CORONA spy satellite program between 1959 and 1972. During this time, the spy planes crisscrossed the skies snapping countless images o military infrastructure and innumerable archaeological sites.

A city buried by sand and history

The remnants of the city are located in the Khabur plain, a region in northeastern Syria, not far from the borders of Turkey and Iraq.

Considered one of the largest ancient sites in what is known as northern Mesopotamia, an ancient settlement predating the city is known to have existed as far back as 6,000 BC. This means that more than 8,000 years ago, people already settled in the area.

Erected in a strategic position, Tell Brak is was built on a major route from the Tigris Valley northwards to the mines of Anatolia and westwards to the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. The city was likely highly regarded and acknowledged as an important commercial center, evidence of numerous workshops found at the site.

Excavations have also revealed evidence of mass production of bowls and other items made of obsidian and white marble. Stamp seals and sling bullets have also been excavated from the ancient city layers.

It suggests the cities inhabitants engaged in numerous craft activities, including basalt grinding, flint-working, and weapon making.

Archeological excavations also suggest that the urban-based society was based on rain-fed agriculture.

Seals recovered at the site have been dated to the pre-Akkadian kingdom and revealed the use of four-wheeled wagons and war carriages.

Although much of the city’s history remains shrouded in mystery, Contemporary cuneiform tablets excavated from Ebla suggest that during the third millennium Nagar was one of the dominant cities in this part of northern Mesopotamia. Moreover, scholars argue the city was also a major point of contact at the interface between the cities of the Levant in the west and those of Mesopotamia.

The earliest levels of the city that have been excavated are thought to date back to the mid-fifth millennium BC and include some of the most massive buildings of the site, some of which date back as far as the end of the Ubaid Period.

Nagar’s importance reflects its position at the western margins of Mesopotamia itself and controlling routes to the West and the Tigris and the south.

Although the city was of great importance and evolved greatly during the fourth millennium BC, it shrank in size at the beginning of the third millennium BC, just at the end of the so-called Uruk period, only to expand again around 2,600, precisely when it became known among people as Nagar.

Eventually, the ancient city became the capital of a regional kingdom that controlled much of the Khabur valley.

Today, the archeological settlement consists of a large—40 meter-high—central mound and various smaller “orbiting” mounds around it. The site covers a total area of nearly 300 hectares.

Archaeological excavations suggest a settlement of unknown—perhaps of a much smaller—dimension at the site before 4,200 BC. It was positioned at the center of the complex. However, its oldest remnants are buried deep beneath layers of buildings erected on top of it during later periods.

Although not many excavations have taken place at Tell Brak, the discoveries made by experts are nonetheless more than rewarding.

One of the most prominent discoveries made at the site is a non-residential structure that, according to experts, must have been gigantic. Although only a small part of the structure has been excavated, the building is thought to have had a large entrance with large towers covering its sides. Built with red mud bricks wall 1.85 meters thick, the remnants of the construction stand 1.5 meters today.

Radiocarbon dating of the structure suggests it existed around 4,400 BC.

The first excavations at the site took place in the 1930s by Max Mallowan, husband of Agatha Christie, who accompanied her husband in various excavations both in Syria and Iraq.

Mallowan’s central discoveries were the “Eye Temple” believed to date back to the 4th millennium BC, with its deposits of hundreds of small stone “idols,” and the “Naram-Sin Palace,” a discovery which confirmed that Mesopotamian political power was already there in the north during the 3rd millennium BC. The Naram-Sin palace was a huge storage and administrative building located at the southern edge of the city.

The ancient city was destroyed by the Assyrian empire around 1,300 BC, failing to regain its importance. As a result, it disappeared from history records during the early Abbasid era.

Source: https://curiosmos.com/one-of-the-worlds-ol...

Jimmy Corsetti Shares New Evidence for ancient Atlantis Theory

As the world continues to be fascinated by the mystery surrounding the lost city of Atlantis, renowned archaeologist Jimmy Corsetti has recently announced groundbreaking new evidence that could shed light on this ancient civilization.

Today we will uncover the secrets of this elusive city and explore the evidence that could finally bring it to light.

When Professors Pored Through Ancient Texts In Oxford, They Made A Huge Discovery About Jesus

At the University of Oxford, two biblical scholars are hard at work investigating ancient fragments of scripture. And one particular find stands out during the course of the academics’ efforts: a piece of text that at first they believe to be a “lost Gospel” of the New Testament. But while this isn’t quite the case, the duo have still uncovered something special. Astonishingly, they have found an ancient copy of the heretical First Apocalypse of James – an account of Jesus’ lessons to his brother.

12 Most Incredible Archaeological Finds

The collection of places and artefacts you're about to see comes from long ago and far away. We've found ancient treasures for you from all around the world and from every fascinating period in history. They all have one thing in common; they're incredible archaeological finds, and we're excited to show them to you. Let's get started.