Posts Tagged ‘archeology’

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Sudanese Pyramids


07 Feb

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Have you always dreamed of visiting the Pyramids? Of making it to both Egypt and the Mayan peninsula? If so, there’s one more destination to add to your list- the Sudan. That’s right, the Sudan, where a cluster of 35 pyramids has been found.

None of these pyramids still have their tops, and they certainly aren’t anywhere near the size of the more famous versions, ranging from 22 feet wide to the smallest at 30 inches wide. But the necropolis they form is quite impressive, with 13 pyramids packed into an area just a little bigger than a basketball court.

Finding a Missing Monarch


13 Sep

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Since I didn’t even know that King Richard III’s body was missing, I was rather surprised to hear that archaeologists in England think they may have found his skeleton. It makes sense that because he was killed in battle during the English civil War of the Roses that his body was not taken to London to be buried, but instead was buried somewhere near where he fell. It just hadn’t occurred to me that one of the monarchs of England had been “lost”.

They don’t know for certain yet if this is Richard III, but they are starting DNA tests.

Danish Bog Men


16 Aug

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Lest you think that we know all there is to know about western Europe, and that the Middle East and South America are the only places left where exciting archaeological finds can be made, Denmark (home of Hamlet) would like to clear things up.

In a bog in Denmark, archaeologists have found hundreds of bodies, an entire army, that appears to have been sacrificed, right around 2000 years ago. In fact, the site is so large, they don’t expect to be able to dig all of it, but instead plan lots of small digs.

There is always more to learn.

Meanwhile, in Turkey


01 Aug

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Once again, an exciting find by archeologists that makes me vaguely regret my decision not to go into museum studies. (Only vaguely because there are very few museum jobs out there.) InTurkey, an international team uncovered a giant human statue that they believe marked a gate on the border between the worlds of the human and the divine. The figure is most likely one of a king, as they played the important role of guiding their subjects between the two realms. The Suppiluliuma statue is over 2,500 years old, and beautifully preserved, with the head and torso still intact.

The Temple of the Night Sun


26 Jul

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It’s not the name of a song, movie, or book. It is an actual Mayan temple, recently discovered in the midst of the Guatemalan jungle. TheTemple of the Night Sun was part of the El Zotz Mayan kingdom, and had faces of the sun god, painted red, carved into the sides. Archeologists have been working at the site for close to three years but just recently announced the find. It is one of the best preserved Mayan sites, and many specialists hope that it will be able to prove or disprove theories about their view of the sun god.

The Family Graveyard


11 Jul

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Before property lines, deeded lands, even before the written word was common, how would you show that land belonged to you and your family? Perhaps by showing where your ancestors were buried on the property? But what happened when one family married into another and the land now belonged to both? No one wants too many bodies around, so how about taking parts from multiple bodies among the families, binding them together, mummifying them, and then burying them?

Sound too strange to be true? It’s actually one of the theories surrounding mummies in England that are composed from multiple people.

Calling Indiana Jones


24 May

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Some of the most fascinating archeological work currently being done is in Central and South America. One of the major sites is Pachacamac, outside of Lima, Peru. It’s currently under review to receive World Heritage status, which is only given to sites judged to have outstanding universal value.

Just recently there was a new find at Pachacamac- a massive burial tomb containing over 80 bodies, including a many infants, adults, and even some animals. The reasons for this tomb are still unknown, with many more questions than answers.

I am completely jealous of those working on finding out the answers.

Old Dreams


11 Jan

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Way back when, I was a History major who wanted a masters in Museum Studies and my brother was an Archaeology major. I used to have these fantasies of us working at an important archeological site together and finding something amazing, something like the Hallaton Helmet.

Dating from Emperor Claudius’s invasion of Britian around two thousand years ago, the helmet took over 10 years to restore after it was first found (by a guy with a metal detector, along with a number of ancient coins). What a perfect combination of the work of archeologists and the specialists at the museum.

The Year in Science Stories


29 Dec

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I love end of year lists. They let me sort through things and find what I’ve missed. It’s not my full time job to find interesting movies or books, or scientific breakthroughs, even though I love all of those things. Reading the year end lists from those whose full time jobs it is, means that I get to catch up.

To that end, over the next week or so, you’ll probably be seeing a number of posts by me from the Cosmic Log’s year end round ups of the biggest stories in outer space, archeology, and science stories in general.

Culture is more inclusive than that


26 Dec

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I find this headline misleading “Culture may trigger evolution of human features, study finds.” Why? Because it implies that culture as a whole- religious practices, laws, artwork, literature, plays a part in human evolution. And that’s not what their study has shown at all.

They are talking about one very specific part of “culture”, the part that deals with marriage and procreation. It seems rather obvious to me that if one mans’ sons (not all his children, just his sons) comprise one quarter of the population, then that man’s genetic traits are going to be passed down to future generations.

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