What are the pits of Grimes Graves, near Thetford, Norfolk?

In Norfolk, there is a field with 400 pits; what is this field, which resembles the moon's surface?

Inside Neolithic flint mine Grime's Graves, near Thetford (Image: Newsquest)

Grime's Graves, originally known as Grim's Graves, is a Neolithic flint mine and Site of Special Scientific Interest that serves as a refuge for endangered plant species.

One of the pits was discovered to be a network of flint mines that had been dug more than 5,000 years earlier when it was unearthed in 1870.

English Heritage looks after a grassy environment with more than 400 shafts, pits, quarries, and spoil dumps on the property, which also houses Britain's sole accessible prehistoric flint mine.

It was discovered in 2011 during a dig that the region was larger than first believed. While this does not necessarily mean there are new sites to find, it may point to a greater area of archaeological importance.

The Stone Age archaeological site is currently closed for conservation work, however it is frequently open to visitors when they can descend nine meters by ladder to observe black flint.

Up to nine persons could have participated in the pit digging at once during the seasonal Neolithic villages.

They would fill the mineshaft back up with the materials they were taking out to make the next pit once they had completed digging the first one.

Canon William Greenwell conducted the first excavations at the location between 1868 and 1870, confirming that it was a flint mine. Greenwell's Pit was once more excavated in 1971–1972 and by the British Museum in 1974–1976; it has since been abandoned.

The hole contained a greenstone axe from Cornwall, antler picks, and a bird's skull.

Archaeologists are astounded by the 2,000-year-old computer that was discovered

An 'astonishing' computer that dates to roughly 2,000 years ago has been found by archaeologists.

At 2,000 years old, the Antikythera mechanism is a hand-powered orrery — a mechanical model of the Solar System (Image: AFP via Getty Images)

In Greece, archaeologists are accustomed to discovering antiquities. After all, the nation formerly served as the home of the Ancient Greeks, who flourished thousands of years ago and had a significant impact on math, medicine, astronomy, and philosophy.

They were responsible for a number of world-changing discoveries, including the fact that the planets revolve around the Sun, the size of the moon, the circumference of the Earth, and the development of the first astronomical calculator. Now, this most recent discovery has once more astounded specialists.

The Antikythera mechanism, the first known analog computer, is a hand-powered orrery that depicts the solar system in mechanical form. It is 2,000 years old. It is thought that the ancient civilization would have utilized it to foretell eclipses and astronomical locations decades in advance.

In order for the Olympics to take place every four years, they also used it to keep track of the Olympic cycle. The Antikythera mechanism was discovered in 1901, long before analog computers were invented. It was discovered among the debris that was recovered after a shipwreck off the coast of the identical Greek island.

It was discovered to have a hidden piece of gear by archaeologist Valerios Stais a year later. Professor Tony Freeth of University College London (UCL), who has conducted in-depth study on the system and revealed its secrets and complexities, was contacted by the BBC.

Along with the Antikythera mechanism, researchers discovered marble statues, vases, exquisite jewelry, and ancient money. According to Prof. Freeth, "no one knew quite what to do with" the peculiar artifact at the time. He said: "It was not recognized as being anything interesting when it was discovered, it was just a corroded lump about the size of a large dictionary."

However, there was much excitement when Mr. Stais discovered gear wheels inside because of what it indicated for the object's significance and social position. Anything from Ancient Greece shouldn't contain gear wheels, thus this was the first surprise, according to Prof. Freeth. These gears were precise and had millimeter-long teeth. And the whole thing was simply shocking.

It's currently on display at a museum in Athens ( Image: AFP via Getty Images)

But why exactly did the Greeks of antiquity require such a thing? According to Professor Freeth, the Greeks' fixation with astrology holds the key to the solution. It was really amazing back then to think that your scientific theories might be automated, he remarked.

The Antikythera mechanism, which is split into 82 pieces and has a large portion missing, is currently on display at an Athens museum. But because of advances in technology, Professor Freeth and his team were able to collect data from every item using an eight-ton X-ray machine.

"When we first looked at the results it was astonishing because it showed us not only all the gear wheels in three dimensions so we could separate them, but it showed us all these new inscriptions in the fragments as well," he remarked.

They have been able to compile a wide range of data and create the first-ever image of the device's front. To further investigate how technologically proficient the Ancient Greeks were and whether any other secrets are concealed within the Antikythera mechanism, Prof. Freeth plans to take his study and construct a full-scale physical model of the device.

Roman Army during the Crisis of the Third Century

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I Am King Tut (Pharaoh Tutankhamun)

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Researchers learn that neanderthals used psychedelics to get high millions of years ago

A recent study discovered that after a long day of hunting and gathering, Neanderthals enjoyed relaxing by using psychoactive substances.

We now have proof that people used drugs in prehistoric times because to the finding of human hair strands at a burial site in Menorca, Spain.

A recent study that was presented sheds new information on drug use throughout history and was published in the journal Scientific Reports.

The research revealed numerous distinct alkaloid compounds that originated from nightshade plants.

They contain ephedrine, a stimulant, as well as scopolamine and atropine, which can both lead to hallucinations and out-of-body experiences.

Additionally, there were boxes in the cave that had psychedelic patterns on them; these could have been made by neanderthals while they were high.

The study's principal author, Elisa Guerra-Doce, is an associate professor of prehistory at the University of Valladolid.

People occasionally assume that using drugs is a modern practice. These outcomes reveal a distinct narrative.

Giorgio Samorini, an ethnobotanist who was unrelated to the study, added to the article: "This was not a profane purpose of'searching for a high' but rather more generally the search for existential meaning that has been largely lost to time."

Mahbubnagar has rock art from the Neolithic era

Neolithic axes and megalithic tombs had previously been found in the hills surrounding Thatikonda town in the Moosapet mandal.

The rock bruising of a bull appears dull because of exposure to sun and rain.

On Sunday, a bull's bruises were discovered on a 4,000-year-old Neolithic rock that was discovered atop a hill in the Moosapet mandal headquarters of the Mahbubnagar district. Archaeologist and Buddhavanam consultant E Sivanagireddy discovered ruins of temple architecture from the Rashtrakuta, Kalyan Chalukya, and Vijayanagara periods while he was studying the Ramaswamy Gutta temple.

He discovered a bull's rock bruise and a few figures of men and animals below it while inspecting the brick-built superstructure over the Ramalingeshwara temple. These figurines had been marked with neo-stone instruments. The 400-foot-high rock carving, which was formed through thousands of years of exposure to rain and sunlight, had a lifeless appearance.

In order to avoid animals, Neolithic humans sought to live at higher altitudes, and they used to cultivate rainfed crops in tiny soil patches on the hillocks. They used to use their stone axes and other tools to continuously strike the rock until they ultimately created the imprint of the animal on the rocks to display their artistic talent because they had lots of free time while living on the hillocks.

Neolithic axes and megalithic tombs had previously been found in the hills surrounding Thatikonda town in the Moosapet mandal. Between the Raichur road and the Bangalore national highway, the mandal's entire terrain is ornamented by rocky hills. He asked the villagers to keep the rock bruising since it is an important archaeological site.

The Inbred Who Could Barely Rule The Nation

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Inside the Walls of Carthage - The Rome of Africa

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We begin with a brief history of the origins and rise of Carthage. Then we layout the landscape of the city of Carthage with a tour of its major districts. This includes its massive triple walls, the byrsa hill acropolis, the Hannibal quarter, the agora, the Cothon naval harbor, and more.

The 14 Most Interesting Lost Cities and Structures Reclaimed by Nature

Although humanity has built magnificent and important cities in the course of history, there are many examples of cities lost to nature. For various reasons, humans left the towns they spent a lot of effort building, and nature reclaimed what it is its after some time. Consequently, empty buildings covered in greenery, sand, or water fill these cities.

But what happens when a city is left eerily abandoned, its homes and buildings still standing without anybody to call them home? Nature takes over. Moss coats crumbling buildings, sand dunes swallow up whole houses and trees and animals clamber over once busy walkways.

From a former mining town swallowed up by the Namib desert to a rabbit-infested Japanese island, here are 14 historic cities and settlements that have been reclaimed by nature.

Every Time Things Have Evolved Into Turtles

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Predynastic Egypt - Early Egyptian History Before the Pharaohs and Pyramids (5000-3000 BC)

Today’s video takes a look at early Egyptian history before the pharaohs, specifically at the cultures of the Faiyum, Merimde, Badarian and Naqada, all of whom helped to lay the foundation for the ancient Egypt that most of us are familiar with. Enjoy!

What did Archaeologists Discover in Peru?

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Where Legend Places King Arthur's Birthplace, a Palace Was Discovered

Geoffrey of Monmouth, a historian, published History of the Kings of Britain about the year 1138, which is the first comprehensive documented chronicle of King Arthur. Many other academics of his day did not at the time believe Monmouth's account. But even if concrete proof of the reality of Arthur, Merlin, Lancelot, and Guinevere has proven elusive throughout the years, their story has come to dominate public imagination.

Excavations of a Dark Ages palace on the Tintagel Peninsula in Cornwall Emily Whitfield-Wicks/English Heritage

However, a recently discovered building on Cornwall's Tintagel peninsula lends a tiny bit of credibility to the Arthur narrative. Archaeologists are reportedly seeking to find a sizable palace with three-foot wide stone walls and flagstone floors in the region that Monmouth claimed was Arthur's birthplace (or at least where he was conceived), according to David Keys of the Independent. The palace is the largest edifice from the dark ages discovered in Britain so far, and it was most likely constructed in the 6th century.

The palace is just one of a dozen buildings discovered on the Tintagel peninsula by ground penetrating radar studies, some of which probably housed laborers, warriors, and artists. However, since it was the middle centuries, whoever resided in the main building led a quite opulent existence. The researchers have proof that these people consumed wine from what is now Turkey and used olive oil from Tunisia and the Greek Isles. They ate off plates from North Africa and drank from French painted glass cups.

The worldwide feast demonstrates that even though the Romans left Britain in 410, they probably resumed trading with the country, particularly with Cornwall, to gain access to Cornish tin a century later. "The discovery of high-status buildings ― potentially a royal palace complex ― at Tintagel is transforming our understanding of the site," Winn Scutt of English Heritage, the government organization financing a five-year excavation at the site, tells Keys. "It is helping to reveal an intriguing picture of what life was like in a place of such importance in the historically little-known centuries following the collapse of Roman administration in Britain."

Could the palace be related to a real-life King Arthur? The complex most likely belonged to the Dumnonian kings who, throughout the Dark Ages, ruled over that region of Cornwall. Those buildings may have been deserted at the time Monouth penned his tale, but their history may have been passed down orally.

According to Graham Phillips, author of "The Lost Tomb of King Arthur," the evidence "is showing there could indeed be some truth behind the earliest stories about King Arthur’s birth at Tintagel. If nothing else, it means the legend about where Arthur was born isn’t so fanciful after all and deserves further investigation. It is going to start a whole new line of investigation by historians."

According to Rowley and Harley, Geoffrey Ashe, a historian who thinks the Arthur account is probably a synthesis of legends about a number of early British rulers, feels the new discovery may lend Geoffrey of Monmouth more credibility. "Hollywood versions of Arthur never happened. But behind it, I would certainly say there is more and more evidence that there was a British ruler at about the right time and in about the right place. It is not the Arthur of the manuscript, but it is not wishful thinking either."

Scutt, though, cautions against making snap judgments and claims that the researchers aren't seeking for Arthur-related signs. He explains to Rowley and Harley, "we don’t know what Geoffrey of Monmouth was drawing on: his was a work of fact and fiction and disentangling the two is fraught with difficulties."

We might begin to believe if the researchers find a staff that reads "Merlin," though.

Hittite Tunnel Discovered With 3,000-Year-Old Wooden Structure Mentioned On Cuneiform Tablets

In a deep, lengthy tunnel that the ancient Hittite civilisation used, archaeologists have uncovered wood buildings that are 3,000 years old.

The fact that the tunnel is described on old cuneiform tablets is among the most intriguing aspects of this discovery.

Oymaağaç mound. Image credit: Mehmet Ali Yılmaz, Rainer Czihon - Public Domain

The 8-meter-deep, 22-meter-long Oymaağaç Tumulus tunnel at the Hittite city of Nerik in the Vezirköprü neighborhood of Samsun, Turkey, has been being excavated by scientists since 2009. Numerous intriguing ancient artifacts have been discovered at the site over the years. "A previously unknown group of Late Bronze Age painted pottery, which obviously existed besides the dominating Hittite pottery" is one of them.

According to research, "ceramic group belonged to an independent regional pottery tradition of the Central Black Sea region and it is likely that it can be associated with the so-called Kaška people."

In the most recent excavations, archaeologists entered the mound, climbed 52 steps, and looked at the old tunnel.

The tunnel was used by the Hittite civilization. Image credit: İlyas Gün/AA

A significant discovery is the spring at the end of the tunnel.

"The spring at the end of the tunnel is mentioned in the cuneiform texts during the Hittite period as the spring that the air god loved very much. There is water at the end of the tunnel, as you can see. This water is high now. During the Hittite period, water flowed more regularly from a gutter. We can say that it was an important source of water for the Hittites, especially for their rituals", according to Dr. Mehmet Ali Ylmaz, lecturer and deputy head of the carvings association at Uşak University's archeology department.

The wood finds are 3,000-year-old. Image credit: İlyas Gün/AA

Archaeologists discovered wooden buildings in mud and water. The wooden constructions' function is still a mystery. Although it is not yet known why, it is possible that the Hittites placed them there on purpose. They might have been a component of a spring-related installation. Scientists will investigate it by constructing three-dimensional models.

What is known is that the wooden constructions discovered submerged in the tunnel's water were regarded as being of utmost significance in the literature.

"The radiocarbon dates of these wooden finds pointed to the Iron Age. In other words, these woods date to the end of the 10th century BC and are 3,000 years old," Assoc. Dr. Mehmet Ali Yılmaz added.

Has the puzzle surrounding the fresco in the Diver's Tomb been solved?

An exquisite and instructive book about the historic site in Paestum, Italy, famous for the enigmatic frescoes that grace its walls, has been authored by a German archaeologist.

Fresco known as Il Tuffatore preserved in the archaeological museum of the city of Paestum, near Salerno.

A significant city in ancient Greece was Paestum. Its renowned ruins, which today include the Tomb of the Diver, are located in the southern Italian province of Salerno.

Five enormous stone slabs, each holding a fresco, were used to construct the tomb. They feature male couples, a supper, and a symposium. However, one of the most researched ancient artistic creations—and possibly the most unsettling—is the fresco on the ceiling.

A naked boy is seen diving into a body of water from a tower in the eye-catching sight. What exactly this scene represents—vigor, sensuality—remains a mystery. A burial context is inappropriate for the photograph.

Aside from the assumption that the deceased person was a male and young person, it is also unknown who was buried in the tomb. There are no inscriptions, and the only items buried with the body were basic ones like a tortoise shell and a fragment of a lyre. Any bones that might have been examined are long since vanished.

The tomb, which was constructed around 480 BC, was found in 1968 by Italian archaeologist Marco Napoli. Since then, there have been disagreements over what cultural lineage it originated from: some believe it came from ancient Greece, while others believe it originated with the much older Etruscan civilisation. While this is going on, the figure of the diver has been associated with religious traditions and is often seen as a metaphor for life as the space between birth and death, with birth denoting the jump and death denoting the water. Another scenario is the portrayal of suicide.

A reconstruction of the Tomb of the Diver.

A passionate essay about the swimmer of Paestum was written in 2009 by French filmmaker Claude Lanzmann, who is well known for producing the Holocaust documentary Shoah (1985). Along with Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, he visited the ancient Greek city's ruins in the 1950s, but he didn't see the fresco until decades later:

“I would never have imagined being touched in the middle of my heart, upset in the deepest part of myself, as I was the day he [the diver] appeared to me, a perfect arc, as if endlessly plunging into the space between life and death.”

Professor Emeritus of Classical Archeology at Heidelberg University in Germany, Tonio Hölscher is an expert on the national buildings of Greece and Rome. He worked at the German Archaeological Institute in Rome and studied ancient city planning and Greek mythological images.

Hölscher, 82, issued a slim book titled The Swimmer of Paestum at the end of 2021, distancing the mural from symbolism. Instead, he suggests that the picture just shows a young man diving into water, as that is what it actually shows.

In a phone interview with EL PAS, Hölscher describes the book as "partly academic, but also designed for a wide audience, with attention to the emotion that paintings can arouse."

The academic highlights the need to situate the Paestum swimmer in a particularly Greek context:

“Young people were [seen as] the hope of society… in the universe of Ancient Greece, beauty [was] not only a physical trait, but also a spiritual and ethical one; the healthy and strong body is beautiful and an instrument of human excellence.” In this context, he proposes that the swimmer from Paestum is a realistic representation, “which does not imply a trivial one. It is quite significant.”

“The common opinion – until now – was that the young man didn’t simply jump into the sea, but made a transition from life to death. The sea was eternity, etcetera, etcetera. There was a general consensus surrounding that interpretation. To say that this image was simply [depicting] a jump has taken time to gain ground [as a legitimate interpretation], but has slowly convinced more scholars.”

For a long time, a popular claim in academia has been that the Ancient Greeks had a difficult relationship with the sea. Hölscher challenges this: “It was a very intense relationship, there was fear and fascination… but of course, although some scholars still deny it, the Greeks swam and liked to do so. In fact, there is a Greek proverb that equates not knowing how to swim to not knowing how to read.”

Tonio Hölscher, Professor of Classical Archeology at the University of Heidelberg.

Hölscher likewise disputes any Christian connotation or origin for the picture of the swimmer from Paestum. He maintains that the jump "portrays a young man – in transition to adulthood – demonstrating his athletic ability and courage by launching himself into the water, before the eyes of adult men who felt erotic attraction to the boys. The dive is, therefore, part of a rite of passage… but it’s not a metaphor, it’s a real image of a social activity." Therefore, the dive is a rite of passage. But it's a true representation of a social action; it's not a metaphor. He mentions that cliff-jumping competitions are being held today in the Italian region where the ruins are located for young people.

Hölscher emphasizes that the swimmer's dive displays excellent technique and the product of a lot of practice. The head, which is lifted high and unprotected by the arms, is the sole unrealistic aspect, although Greek art places importance on displaying the face. The author also discusses how important sex is in the picture: “The scene has a homoerotic component. And the small member isn’t infantilization: the Greeks preferred a small [penis] – to represent a big one was seen to be in bad taste.”

He continues by praising the scene's beauty, saying, “There is a wonderful harmony in the painting, with trees that seem to extend their bare branches towards the jumper. The sea is represented in a very delicate way”. The platform from which the diver jumps “is a mystery… I don’t have a definitive opinion on what that structure is. It looks like some kind of stone tower, but we haven’t found anything similar in archeology.”

Although it hasn't been established that the young people leaped off of cliffs into the lake, Hölscher believes it makes sense to believe that they existed and will eventually be found.

Hölscher speculates that the swimmer from Paestum must have been “a member of the city’s elite – culturally Greek. It could be someone who died young. The Greeks made the most beautiful tombs and funerary monuments for those who died young… it was something that moved them a lot.”

The human-shaped stone 'effigies' discovered at an Aztec temple in Mexico City were probably looted during war and sacrificed to the gods

A variety of stone artefacts fashioned to resemble humans were found by archaeologists in Mexico City at a former Aztec site.

The 15 stone figurines depict 14 men and one woman. (Image credit: Templo Mayor Project)

Stone carvings of persons have been discovered by archaeologists in Mexico City; these carvings were probably used as offerings by the Aztecs.

The 15 artifacts were found concealed inside a stone chest buried on the site of the Templo Mayor, which once housed Tenochtitlan's temple complex and served as the Aztec Empire's capital. According to a translated account, Spanish armies demolished the temple in 1521; now, the location is home to the Mexico City Metropolitan Cathedral.

The smallest of the set of items depicts a lady, and fourteen of them show men.

According to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, every figurine is in the Mezcala style, which was used by an early Mesoamerican society famed for producing human-like artifacts in the state of Guerrero in southern Mexico.

According to the statement, experts believe that the Aztecs treasured Mezcala artifacts and may have looted the statues during combat.

This indicates that the figures were genuine antiques, some of them more than 1,000 years old, when the Mexicas (Aztecs) subdued those peoples, according to archaeologist Leonardo López Luján, director of the Templo Mayor Project, which oversaw the excavation. They were probably used as cult effigies that they took as loot from battle.

The chest contained two rattlesnake-shaped earrings, 186 green metamorphic stone beads, snails, shells, and marine corals in addition to the figurines.

According to López Luján's assertion, “In their homes, the Mexicas used to keep their most precious belongings in palm-frond chests, such as fine feathers, jewelry, or cotton garments. And if we see it from the Templo Mayor … we can imagine the priests storing in these 'stone cases' the quintessential symbols of water and fertility: sculptures of the rain gods, green stone beads, shells and snails.”

Archaeologists have discovered an 8,200-year-old water channel at the Yesilova Mound

One of the earliest water channels in history dating back 8,200 years was found during the excavation work carried out in the Yeşilova mound.

The mound that is being excavated has already uncovered significant Neolithic Age traces as well as a wealth of information about the earliest settlers in the region of Izmir off the coast of the Aegean, their surroundings, and their culture. For instance, unlike Catalhoyuk in central Anatolia, where the houses are next to one another, they lived in separate houses with separate roof systems.

The findings from the joint project between the Culture and Tourism Ministry of Turkey, Ege University, and the local authorities, are significant because they suggest that the historical settlements in the Izmir area go back 8,500 years, to 6500 BCE.

What's Behind the Locked Door in the Great Pyramid?

With our eyes fixated on the incredible ancient architecture, visitors to the Great Pyramid may not notice there is a small, locked metal doorway in the corridor between the Grand Gallery and the Antechamber, on your way towards the King’s Chamber.

In this video, we explain exactly what it is, why it’s there, how old it is and where it leads to. We’ll also take a look inside.

The Weirdest Stories From Greek Mythology

When it comes to Greek mythology, some of the stories you'll find out there are pretty strange. Goddesses being birthed from clam shells, women being kidnapped by Hades, and plenty of stories of cheating god husbands (we're looking at you here, Zeus). But if you go past the more well-known myths, things start to get even weirder. Yes, those wacky gods on Mount Olympus have a serious strange streak that would shock even the most open-minded historian.

The Greatest Archaeological Finds in Recent Years

In the video below we will analyze the greatest archaeological finds in recent years. Watch the video to find out more!