"A little mysterious" In Germany, a 1,050-year-old building was discovered. What is it?

What is today Germany was dominated by the mighty Ottonian dynasty approximately 1,000 years ago.

Excavations of the site took place during the summer of 2022 and in April and May of 2023, officials said. ROBERT PRUST Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt

The Ottonians, especially the powerful ones, originated from a territory that is currently a portion of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

The dynasty oversaw the building of churches, monasteries, and castles throughout the area, many of which served as bases for itinerant kings and political leaders.

Now, through a series of excavation initiatives, archaeologists and specialists with the State Office for the Preservation of Monuments and Archeology in Saxony-Anhalt are attempting to discover more about the dynasty and its rule.

The excavations in the Altenburg of Großwangen were overseen by Felix Biermann, who told McClatchy News that one such expedition there yielded startling outcomes.

Part of the “unusual” mortar wall that was excavated. Felix Biermann Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt

'Rather Mysterious' Finding

Archaeologists discovered two eminent buildings at the location: an outer castle and a rectangular core castle. Experts claim that the ramparts and ditches that encircle the castles are remnants of Ottonian defences.

When specialists analyzed their findings, they were shocked to learn that the main castle was extraordinarily well-protected, according to Biermann.

Archaeologists discovered a significantly more intricate free-standing mortar wall dating back around 1,050 years, as opposed to comparable constructions reinforced with wood-and-earth ramparts capped by stone walls, according to Biermann. The most significant castles and complexes from the period contain the only other comparable buildings.

As a result, the Altenburg is unusual and rather enigmatic, according to Biermann. There is currently strong evidence that the Ottonian emperor's ambitious ambition to establish a new capital here was a failure.

The planned constructions may not have been the most significant for monarchs, but they could have provided security for a nearby, more significant castle.

Stone and clay domes were found at the site. Felix Biermann Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt

Powerful leaders are undoubtedly engaged in their building, according to experts.

The Altenburg was unquestionably a key component of Ottonian rule, according to Biermann. One of the Ottonian kings undoubtedly had grand ambitions for the Altenburg and Memleben dominion complex that were never realized.

Additional Medieval Artifacts Found

Archaeologists also unearthed a number of early Middle Ages relics in addition to the wall.

Numerous small homes, stone and clay dome ovens, ceramics, animal bones, knives, and lances were discovered, according to specialists.

Archaeologists unearthed pieces of Ottonian pottery at the site. Felix Biermann Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt

These discoveries, according to Biermann, were predicted. "We had preconceived notions about the anticipated results. On the basis of its structural characteristics, it was assumed that the Altenburg belonged to the early Middle Ages, he added. The enormous size and strength of the free-standing mortar wall, on the other hand, as well as the low level of use of the castle, which did not match this construction effort, came as a big surprise.

Berlin is located roughly 150 kilometers southwest of The Altenburg.

The Most Expensive Artifacts and Antiques Ever Sold

Have you ever wondered what the most expensive artifacts and antiques in history are? From diamond-studded tiaras to ancient sculptures, some of these items are worth more than most of us could ever dream of. Join us as we explore the fascinating stories behind the ten most expensive artifacts and antiques ever sold.

In this video, we'll take a closer look at some of the most rare and valuable objects in the world, including the famous Pink Star diamond, the Qing Dynasty Jadeite Cabbage, and the Habsburg Tiara. We'll also explore the history and significance of each item, and discuss why they fetched such enormous prices at auction.

Archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old rock-cut face in the Roman fort of Benidorm

Archaeologists from the University of Alicante have discovered a rock carved face at the Tossal de La Cala, a roman fort in Benidorm on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.

Archaeologists from the University of Alicante discovered a 2,000-year-old rock-carved “inscultura” face with three artistic representations of a human face, a cornucopia, and a phallus during excavations.

The carving was described by University of Alicante professor Jesús Moratalla, head of the excavation, as “a relief of outstanding historical importance”.

The carving measures 57 x 42 centimeters, however, Moratalla and his team believe that this scene is “possibly incomplete” since “the upper right quadrant” being missing.

Historical and Cultural Heritage Councilor Ana Pellicer said that there are no parallel references to engraving and reliefs of similar composition at sites in Rome.

New DNA Research Modifies Human Species Origin

According to a new theory of human evolution, numerous closely related groups gave rise to Homo sapiens

A new model for human evolution asserts that modern Homo sapiens stemmed from multiple genetically diverse populations across Africa rather than a single ancestral population. This conclusion was reached after researchers analyzed genetic data from present-day African populations, including 44 newly sequenced genomes from the Nama group of southern Africa.

The earliest discernible separation between Homo sapiens and other different species occurred between 120,000 and 135,000 years ago, following extended periods of genetic mixing, according to a recent study published in Nature, which contradicts long-held beliefs.

Researchers have discovered a new model of human evolution, disproving earlier theories that claim that a single African population gave rise to all humans. They did this by analyzing the genetic makeup of current populations in Africa and comparing it to fossil evidence of early Homo sapiens populations there. On May 17, the journal Nature published the latest study.

Although it is well known that Homo sapiens began in Africa, Brenna Henn, professor of anthropology at the Genome Center at UC Davis, and the study's corresponding author, said that it is unclear how human evolution branches diverged and how humans moved across the continent.

"This uncertainty is due to limited fossil and ancient genomic data, as well as the fact that the fossil record does not always align with expectations from models built using modern DNA," the author stated. "This new study alters the theory of species origins."

View of the village of Kuboes, on the border of South Africa and Namibia. DNA samples were collected from Nama individuals who have historically lived in the region. Credit: Brenna Henn/UC Davis

Henn and Simon Gravel of McGill University co-led research that used population genome data from southern, eastern, and western Africa to examine various opposing theories of evolution and migration across Africa that have been put forth in the paleoanthropological and genetics literature.

The 44 modern Nama people from southern Africa, an Indigenous population noted for having very high levels of genetic variation in comparison to other modern groups, were included in the authors' study along with newly sequenced genomes. Between 2012 and 2015, researchers collected saliva samples from contemporary people going about their daily lives in their communities in order to generate genetic data.

The model predicts that after two or more slightly genetically distinct Homo populations had been mixing for hundreds of thousands of years, the earliest population split among early humans that is discernible in modern populations took place 120,000 to 135,000 years ago. People continued to move between the stem populations after the population split, resulting in a weakly structured stem. The authors argue that this provides a more comprehensive account of genetic variation within and between human populations than earlier theories.

Henn stated of the study, "We are presenting something that people have never even tested before." This makes major progress in anthropological science.

Nama woman standing in the doorway to her home in Kuboes, South Africa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Credit: Justin Myrick-Tarrant/with permission

Tim Weaver, co-author and professor of anthropology at the University of California, Davis, noted that earlier, more complex models had suggested contributions from archaic hominins, but that this model shows otherwise. He contributed comparative research for the study and is an authority on the appearance of early human fossils.

According to the scientists' predictions, variation in the stem populations will account for 1-4% of genetic difference between modern human populations. The application of this paradigm could have significant ramifications for how the fossil record is interpreted. These numerous lineages were likely morphologically similar due to migration between them, which means morphologically different hominid fossils (such Homo naledi) are unlikely to represent branches that helped to evolve Homo sapiens, according to the authors.

Researchers are going to look into where the smuggled relics from Turkey came from

A team of Turkish and German historians will investigate the provenance of the items recovered at the archaeological sites at Zincirlihöyük, Didim, and Samarra as part of a project launched by state museums in Berlin for the return of stolen historical relics.

The focus of the study will be on whether the excavation of historical objects from various geographies displayed in Berlin museums or their entry into Germany constitutes criminality.

The pilot project, which involves Turkish and German scholars, will first look at the origin of artifacts found at archaeological sites in Iraq and the former Ottoman Empire's Samarra, Didim in the southwest and Zincirlihöyük in the southeast.

Return mechanisms will be used between the nations if investigation reveals that the excavation effort was illegal or it is determined that historical relics were smuggled.

It was also stressed that this endeavor might open the door for the return of numerous historical treasures that have been smuggled out of Turkey.

German origin studies have thus far concentrated on colonial-era artifacts and purchases that may have been looted by the Nazis.

Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, said during a news conference in Berlin that "visitors increasingly want to know where objects came from."

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, foreign teams were frequently awarded excavation licenses that contained agreements outlining how found objects would be shared between the host nation and the visiting archaeologists.

However, Christina Haak, the deputy director of the Berlin State Museums, claimed that these agreements are frequently broken and that illegal actions were utilized to obtain the findings.

According to Haak, the three archaeological sites whose artifacts are the subject of the pilot project are situated in the Ottoman Empire.

The classical antiquities collection's deputy director, Martin Maischberger, stated that some dubious instances need more investigation.

According to Maischberger, the 8,000 pictures in the Berlin archives hold important information regarding how unearthed artefacts were treated.

A display covering the future period of archaeological cooperation between Germany and the Ottoman Empire is also being prepared by the institutions.

The Pergamon Altar is one of the most significant pieces of art in Berlin that was illegally exported from Turkish land.

The Pergamon Altar, which was smuggled from Turkey to Prussia in the 1870s and is currently on exhibit in Berlin, has been missing for many years, and the Turkish government has been working to have it returned.

The altar could be able to go back to its original location thanks to this project.

The epic voyage to oblivion of an ancient beast is revealed through South African fossils

The future of life on Earth was bleak. At the conclusion of the Permian Period, around 252 million years ago, runaway global warming brought on by catastrophic volcanism in Siberia caused the largest mass extinction on record, wiping out perhaps 90% of all species.

This undated illustration shows the Permian Period tiger-sized saber-toothed protomammal Inostrancevia atop its dicynodont prey, scaring off the much smaller species Cyonosaurus. | Photo Credit: Reuters

Unlike the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, this extinction event took place over a long period of time, with species dying off one by one as the situation grew worse. Scientists said on Monday that fossils discovered in South Africa offer a glimpse into this drama, telling the story of an apex predator that travelled halfway around the globe over several generations in a last-ditch effort to live.

Prior to additional bones being found at a farm in central South Africa, information about this creature, a tiger-sized, saber-toothed mammal precursor known as Inostrancevia, had only been gleaned from fossils discovered in Russia's northwest corner bordering the Arctic Sea.

The fossils indicate that Inostrancevia left its home region and journeyed over time—possibly hundreds or thousands of years—across the ancient supercontinent Pangaea, when the continents of today were united, covering around 7,000 miles (12,000 km). After four other species had previously gone extinct in South Africa, Inostrancevia filled the ecological void left by the top predator.

Inostrancevia and all of its closest relatives perished in the mass extinction known as "the Great Dying," according to palaeontologist Christian Kammerer of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, who is also the lead author of the study that was published in the journal Current Biology.

"So, they have no living descendants, but they are a member of the larger group called synapsids, which includes mammals as living representatives," Kammerer continued.

Inostrancevia is a member of the group of creatures known as protomammals, which combines characteristics of both reptiles and mammals. It was around the size of a Siberian tiger, 10 to 13 feet (3 to 4 meters) long, but had a proportionately larger and elongated cranium, as well as massive, blade-like canine fangs.

According to Kammerer, "I think these animals mostly killed prey with their saber-like canine fangs and either carved out chunks of meat with the serrated incisors or, if the prey was small enough, swallowed the prey whole."

The body of Inostrancevia possessed a peculiar position that was characteristic of protomammals; it was neither sprawled like a reptile nor erect like a mammal, but rather a combination of the two, with splayed forelimbs and mainly erect rear limbs. In addition, it lacked the face muscles found in mammals and was incapable of lactation.

"Whether these animals were furry or not remains an open question," stated Kammerer.

The mass extinction, which took place over the course of about a million years, prepared the way for the emergence of dinosaurs during the following Triassic Period. Large-scale volcanism unleashed lava flows throughout much of Eurasia and released tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere for a very long time. Global desertification, an increase in ocean acidification, a rise in global temperatures, and a decrease in atmospheric and oceanic oxygen content were all brought on by this.

Because they needed the greatest food and area, top predators were particularly susceptible to extinction.

The field location where the fossils of Permian Period tiger-sized saber-toothed protomammal Inostrancevia were found - a farm called Nooitgedacht in the Free State Province of Karoo Basin, South Africa is seen in this undated handout photo. | Photo Credit: Reuters

They have a propensity to grow slowly and produce few progeny. Top predators are disproportionately impacted when ecosystems are disrupted, prey supplies are diminished, or there is a lack of adequate habitat, according to Kammerer.

The Permian catastrophe and the current, human-caused climate change are comparable in the eyes of the academics.

These species were directly impacted by the climate disaster brought on by global warming, thus they truly had no alternative but to adapt or perish. The fact that they survived for a short time despite these circumstances clearly demonstrates this, but eventually they all vanished, according to research co-author and paleontologist Pia Viglietti of the Field Museum in Chicago.

Viglietti continued, "Unlike our Permian forebears, we actually have the potential to do something to stop this kind of ecosystem collapse from occurring again."

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Could Short-Faced Bear Survive Nowadays?

The short-faced bears that once roamed North America belonged to the genus Arctodus. Two species were found on the continent during the Pleistocene- the lesser short-faced bear, Arctodus pristinus which predominantly lived during the early Pleistocene, and the giant short-faced bear, Arctodus simus, which predominantly lived towards the end of the Pleistocene. Both species likely overlapped with each other but Arctodus simus evolved from Arctodus pristinus.

The bears were similar in appearance to today's bears but considerably larger. The biggest was the giant short-faced bear which could grow up to 950 kilograms (or 2000 pounds) in weight, had a shoulder height of 1.6 meters (or 5.2 feet) and when standing on its hind legs could reach heights of 4 meters (or 13 feet). Although they are considered to have been omnivorous like many of today's bears, they are thought to be the largest carnivorous land mammals that ever lived.

Here, we ask the question, could short-faced bears survive nowadays?

This is The Most Dangerous Animal in Antarctica

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Golden Mountains Appeared After The Dried Up Euphrates River Finished

One of the oldest and most important rivers in the world is the Euphrates. This river is where a lot of history happened. Parts of western Asia are crossed by the Euphrates River, but it is drying up. In the past, there have been problems with the river's water level going down. And why is the Euphrates River so important? Some people think that when a river dries up, the world will end. Is this true? Keep Watching to find out why and what it means that the Euphrates River is drying up.

The Euphrates River starts in Turkey and flows through Syria and Iraq. Before it goes into the Persian Gulf, the river flows into the Tigris. The basin is about 190,000 square miles on average and is about 1,700 miles long. The longest river in Western Asia is this one. Most of the time, the water level is higher from April to May because it rains and snow melts more. Along the river, some of the original plants are still there. For example, the Euphrates River flows through a dry forest in the southeast Turkey mountains. Along the river's edge, you can also find a wide range of plants and trees, such as rose/plum, pistachio, and oak trees. Cereal grains like wheat, rye, and oat grow well in places that are dry.

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Elon Musk Reveals Terrifying Truth About The Euphrates River

Elon Musk has been called a "mad genius" and a "Twitter troll," but he is better known for his unique inventions than for his small fights, warnings about the future, or bringing down big names. But Elon didn't let that stop him from telling the world recently about what could happen if the Euphrates River dries up. People have been searching Google a lot about the Euphrates lately because it is one of the most important rivers in the world. Why is that so interesting? The Bible says that the end of the world will come when the Euphrates dries up.

What does Elon Musk mean when he says, "Be careful"? How does the rest of the world see the Euphrates? In today's video, we'll find out!

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Do you have what it takes to stomach the truth? Join us as we unveil the cosmic mysteries lurking beneath the sand dunes!

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Witnesses have reported hearing a deep grumble as if some unknown monster is stirring under the surface. There is some concern in the area since no one knows what is producing the noise. There's a sense of foreboding in the air, and the whole area prepares for whatever may emerge from the dark depths.

This 3000 Year Old Bible Revealed A Terrifying Secret About Human Existence

Books have been used as a permanent record of history ever since the practice was first developed. Modern historians have taken an interest in these writings in an effort to decipher their mysteries. Some of these books, however, stand out because of the unsettling information they contain; they contain details of strange happenings and languages that have not been spoken in thousands of years. And one of these books is a recently discovered old Bible that has some scary revelations. What does this book say, and what does it mean for Christians all across the world? Join us as we investigate some of the most terrifying mysteries disclosed by the Bible's various texts.

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