Iron Pillar that never RUSTS - Ancient Secret Revealed?

In today’s video we will investigate this ancient iron pillar of India. It has many baffling features which have not been explained till date. One of the strangest features is that it has not rusted for more than a thousand years, although we can see some rusting in the recent years. Archeologists confirm that this was created at least 1600 years ago, but it could be much older than that. An iron pillar made such a long time ago should have rusted and completely disintegrated. How was such a pillar made, 1600 years ago, at a time when Historians claim there was no advanced technology?

In 2002, scientists studied the iron pillar and realized that it has a strange way of reacting to the atmosphere. Normally, Iron reacts with moisture in the atmosphere or rain and produces Iron oxide, which is called Rust (Fe2O3). This rust is very powerful, it will deteriorate the iron, and eventually destroy the entire structure. For example, if you look at this Nandu bridge in China which is less than 80 years old, it has been completely taken over by rust, making the bridge unusable. But the iron pillar does something very strange. When it comes in contact with moisture or rain, it produces a strange material called Misawite = y-FeOOH) which has not been seen anywhere before. This material actually forms a protective coating over the iron pillar and shields it from damage, and also increases its magnetic property.

Now, why does the iron pillar create Misawite instead of Rust or Iron Oxide? What makes this Iron pillar produce such a strange compound that is not seen anywhere else?

12 Most Mysterious Finds Scientists Still Can't Explain

When archaeologists dig up an old ceramic pot, they can usually figure out what it was used for back in the day. The same goes for other ancient things like tools, temples, weapons, and even whole cities. But, there are still some things that even these experts can't fully understand, and that's when they might reach out to scientists for assistance. To show you what we mean, we've put together this video compilation of some pretty perplexing finds that archaeologists have found.

Primitive Technology: Wood Ash Cement & Fired Brick Hut

Primitive technology is a hobby where you build things in the wild completely from scratch using no modern tools or materials. These are the strict rules: If you want a fire, use a fire stick - An axe, pick up a stone and shape it - A hut, build one from trees, mud, rocks etc. In this video we will build a hut from fired clay bricks and mortared them together with a cement made from wood ash left over from the firing process.

Uncovering the ancient secrets of the Great Pyramid

You stand there in awe, over-powered by their sheer magnificence. No wonder we've been intrigued, totally baffled for more than 4000 years. And of all Egypt's pyramids, the Great Pyramid at Giza is by far the most mysterious. It's so imposing, so perfect you can see why many insist it couldn't possibly be the work of mere mortals. It has to be a creation of the gods, either that, or aliens. But at last it seems this ancient riddle has been solved. There's one man who reckons he's figured it all out. And he's willing to share his amazing discovery with us. To take us to the very heart of the mystery, deep inside the Great Pyramid, where very few have ever been.

Lost Film Footage of The Sphinx Excavations Found and Restored

After a video showing vintage photographs of the Sphinx excavations from the 1920s and 30s we went on the hunt for more, and came across something we had never seen before, actual video footage of the Sphinx excavation and renovation work from nearly 100 years ago.

Most vintage black and white footage of the Sphinx comes from after 1930s, and you can tell this because the headdress has been restored, but finding footage of the Sphinx pre-1930s is incredibly rare. In fact such footage is generally stored on archives, owned by private companies and it never gets to see the light of day.

Experts Studying The 14,000 Year Old Remains Of A Frozen Siberian Puppy Made A Genetic Breakthrough

Scientists are poring over the body of a puppy; but this is no ordinary animal. The young pup has lain frozen in the Siberian permafrost for 14,300 years. Painstakingly, the researchers extract samples of tissue from cartilage, liver and muscle. And once they’ve analyzed the samples in the lab they make a groundbreaking discovery – and it may have huge implications for science.

Ancient Trilobite Had a Hidden Third Eye on Their Foreheads; What Were These Prehistoric Creatures?

New research suggests that extinct trilobites had a hidden third eye right in the middle of their foreheads.

Hidden Third Eye

Live Science reports that paleontologists are familiar with how these hard-shelled creatures had compound eyes that they used around 541 million to 252 million years ago, during the Paleozoic time.

The discovery of a hidden third eye is only recent. This eye was situated in the middle of their forehead, which is quite common among present-day arthropods. Findings were published in a Scientific Reports study.

When the researchers looked into an Aulacopleura koninckii specimen that had a missing part of its head, they discovered three tiny, inconspicuous, dark, and same-sized oval-shaped spots at the head's front.

Brigitte Schoenemann, the study's lead author and a substitute professor from the University of Cologne's Institute of Zoology, says that the regular and clear appearance of the feature distinguishes it from other formations that may have randomly formed due to fossilization or decay. It also corresponds with the expected relics of middle eyes that have a pigment layer. Schoenemann adds that, though this finding is singular, it supports the notion that ancient trilobites had median eyes on their foreheads.

Live Science also adds that, at varying evolution points, the creatures may have had one to multiple middle eyes. For instance, the scientists also discovered that the Cyclopyge sibilla trilobite had three median eyes that had lenses that were similar to human ones. The Cindarella ecualla, on the other hand, had four median eyes. Lately, most modern crustaceans and insects reportedly have three median eyes.

The study authors note that they now have a vital tool that can help in determining the position of the creatures in the evolutionary tree.

Trilobites

According to Oxford University's Museum of Natural History, trilobites are an extinct marine arthropod group that first showed up roughly 521 million years ago. Fossils of this arthropod group have been found across the globe.

Some of these creatures burrowed in the sediments, while others swam through open seas or crawled on the floor of the sea. Some trilobites could have also been predators, scavengers, or detritus feeders.

According to the Australian Museum, trilobites are the most species-rich arthropod group that is completely extinct. Among trilobites, its sturdy exoskeleton that covers the surface of its dorsal body and its "well-marked segmentation" are classic features of arthropods.

These creatures lived through almost the entire Palaeozoic Era for almost 300 million years. They became extinct by the end of the Permian period, which was roughly 251 million years ago. The Permian mass extinction event led to their eradication, as well as the deaths of over 90% of species across the globe.

Source: https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/4292...

The 'vampire graves': Archaeologists find corpses' buried with sickles around their necks to stop them rising up as demons

A resurgence of paganism may once have brought demonic fears to early-modern peoples, but an ancient Polish community found a way to cope.

Burying bodies with a sharp, curved iron sickle pressed against the throat or hips of a body guaranteed that if the dead rose back up, they wouldn't get very far.

Five such graves have been exhumed from a 17th century Drawsko cemetery, and researchers say the unique burials hint to folk demonology.

Of the graves studied, four bodies were buried with sickles placed with the cutting edge tightly against the throat, according to the paper.

The fifth body had a sickle pressed up against the pelvis.

The researchers, Marek Polcyn and Elżbieta Gajda, have written that such burial practices are often viewed as 'anti-vampiric,' measures, or can indicate the graves of 'vampires,' but they dismiss this term in order to open up the discussion to include a wide scope of demons.

'When placed in burials they were a guarantee that the deceased remained in their graves and therefore could not harm the living, but they may also have served to protect the dead from evil forces,' the researchers wrote in a study published in Antiquity.

'According to folk wisdom, a sickle protected women in labour, children and the dead against evil spirits.

It also had a role in rituals designed to counter black magic and witchcraft.'

Five bodies with sickles were found among 250 burial sites in the cemetery showed no differences from the ordinary ones, and they were all of good health.

The bodies were buried in the uniform way of Drawsko sites, and all featured copper coins or a headband.

Sickles were found pressed the throats of an adult man, who was between 35 to 44 years old, and an adult woman around 35 to 39 years old.

Both skeletons revealed copper staining near the skull, which suggests a coin was buried with them.

An older woman, who was 50 to 60 years old when she died, was buried with a sickle laying across her hips, and a medium sized stone at her throat. Staining in the oral cavity suggests she was buried with a copper coin in her mouth.

Two more graves, both with sickles placed at the throats of the skeletons and traces of copper, revealed an adult woman between 30 and 39 years old, and a young girl who was just 14 to 19.

Researchers believe the youngest may have met with a traumatic death, possibly from drowning.

In all the sites, evidence of a wooden coffin was also found.

The sickles may have been used to physically prevent the dead from walking again and terrorizing the living, but they also could have been a symbolic attempt to ward off demons and protect the wearer's soul.

Superstitions held that a 'bad death,' would cause the dead to rise.

A violent or unpredicted end from drowning, miscarriage, suicide, death before baptism, or even death at one's own wedding could lead a person to transform into one of 14 demons.

People who were considered 'others,' and were thought to have supernatural capabilities, would also be at risk for post-death demonization.

Commonly, these people were buried outside of cemeteries in 'liminal locations,' where the transformation would occur.

At the Drawsko site, the researchers note that the deceased still received a traditional burial despite the implications of the sickles.

'The dead from Drawsko, no matter how demonic they may have been thought by their fellow villagers, were after all buried with Christian rites in a cemetery in hallowed ground,' the researchers wrote.

'Despite this adherence to the recognized funerary rites, the problem of demons remained in the collective consciousness, and the presence of the sickle was meant to solve it.'

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ar...

A calendar that predates Mayan

Because human subsistence depended on the timing of planting, flooding, or game reproduction, the seasons have always been significant to humanity. 

K'awiil Yopaat of Quiriguá, symbol of the twentieth day -- Ahau (Ajaw). Late Classic period (653AD), a reference to the Maya calendar and their god K'awiil. Photo: José Luis Filpo Cabana. Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia

The calendar, however, is more than just the language of life; it is also its poetry, the enchantment through which we attempt to exert control over reality and time. 

That is why people began creating and erecting specifically orientated structures thousands of years ago; these constructions can now only be seen from a bird's eye perspective. 

Also, people were inventing their own time frames that were shorter than our 365-day calendar year.

Eternity is coming, and time is running out. According to the sundial painted on the wall of Wadowice's parish church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it bears this slogan. The town, which is close to Kraków, is a long way from Mesoamerica, the region where the oldest pre-Columbian 260-day calendar was recently sensationally discovered. The quotation was obviously significant even for cultures that were so apart by time and distance.

 

Every culture makes an effort to represent time measurement in some way. It can be tiny at times, like a sundial, or it can be epically large, like the 260-day calendar that was made along the Gulf of Mexico coast. A "pocket" version was more recently uncovered in Guatemala as a fresco on a pyramid wall.

 

The findings demonstrate that even without the cold certainty of a scientific background, individuals could measure time at that time.

Our earthly environment is characterized by chaos and disorder, but the sky's is by uniformity, rhythmicity, and harmony. Thanks to the observation of the skies, which has been a preoccupation of mankind from the dawn of time, it became possible to harness reality through the measurement of time itself, including times of day and of the yearly seasons.

A public debate has been sparked by French research on non-pictographic signs found in Paleolithic caves in Europe that were decorated like cathedrals by our ancestors anywhere between 12 and 30 thousand years ago. The oldest lunar calendar created by Homo sapiens, according to scientists, is 20–30 thousand years old. This indicates that the astronomical observations of the starry sky that allowed for the creation of such a calendar were made by individuals who had only learned how to properly smooth a stone, without the use of magnifying glasses (since there were none).

When discussing Mesoamerican calendars with Dr. Stanisaw Iwaniszewski of Warsaw's State Archaeological Museum and Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, I am reminded that as much was suggested more than 50 years ago by Alexander Marshack, who studied the linear incisions on bone objects from those distant centuries.

"The oldest discovery is thought to be a bone fragment from Abri Blanchard, which dates to around 31 000 BC and is from the Aurignacian civilisation. Marshack claims that this results from a computation based on observing the moon phases. Each mark on the bones' surface would represent a day (or night), and they would nearly match the Moon's form (waxing, full, or waning). Marshack discovered 69 characters, or a span of two months and ten days. The works of Boris Frolov on Paleolithic calendar records and mathematics were well-known in the 1970s "the archaeologist claims.

New Scary Discovery Done At Dried Up Euphrates River

As the Euphrates , the lifeblood of the ancient lands of Syria and Iraq, withers away, a waterless abyss consumes the once-lush regions. This grand river, revered throughout history as one of the world's most magnificent natural wonders, has drawn scholars and seekers of knowledge to its shores for ages. And now, as the river dries up, some wonder what other terrors the land might yield, for the mysteries surrounding the heart of the Middle East are countless and dark. Join us as we delve into the depths of this great waterway and uncover the most ominous discovery yet of the largest source of water in Western Asia. Welcome to a secret world!

12 Mind-Blowing Ocean Mysteries That Scientists Can't Explain

The ocean holds many secrets that continue to mystify scientists to this day. In this video, we'll explore 12 of the most mind-blowing ocean mysteries that scientists can't explain! From strange underwater sounds and unexplained disappearances, to deep-sea creatures that defy scientific explanation and ancient underwater cities, these mysteries are sure to leave you in awe. Join us as we dive deep into the unknown and uncover some of the ocean's most fascinating and perplexing enigmas. So, grab a lifejacket and get ready for a journey into the mysterious depths of the ocean!

5 Mythical Places That Might Actually Exist

In the early 20th century, British Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett found a mysterious document in the National Library of Brazil that spoke of an ancient city lost in the jungles of the Amazon. Then, during an expedition with his son and a companion in 1925, the three explorers vanished. However, it is believed that they might have been close to the place they were looking for.

When Fawcett found Manuscript 512, he was taken aback. The document was written by Portuguese bandeirante João da Silva Guimarães and stated that as early as 1753, explorers had discovered ruins that included arches, a statue, and a temple engraved with enigmatic hieroglyphs. And although the narration was detailed, the city's exact location was not mentioned.

Fawcett then began preparing an expedition to find the ruins, but World War 1 broke out, and the British government withdrew its support.

After serving in the Western front during the war, Fawcett undertook a personal journey to find “Z” in 1920, but was forced to stop due to an illness and the fact that he had to shoot his own pack animal.

The adventurer tried again five years later, this time accompanied by his son Jack and a friend of his, Raleigh Rimell. However, the three soon disappeared in the Mato Grosso jungle.

Several researchers argue that the explorer might have been influenced by indigenous tales, and locals could have told Fawcett of the archaeological site of Kuhikugu, near the Xingu River.

After Fawcett’s presumed death, the actual site of Kuhikugu was discovered, and it contained the ruins of about 20 towns and villages. Moreover, it is estimated that about 50,000 people might have lived in the extensive township.

In addition, vast geometrical earthworks were discovered in interfluvial settings along the southern Amazonia, and this fact has been recognized as supporting Fawcett’s theory.

While some relate the Lost City of Z with the infamous El Dorado, the mythical place has inspired its own set of stories, including a book by David Grann and a film adaptation by director James Gray.