Ancient

New York City
Photo Source: I took this photo from the Twin Towers

Horse
Photo Source: Stock.xching

Scientists have found evidence that early man was a lot smarter than first thought. They base this opinion on the fact that evidence has been found that they believe shows that he modified wild horses genetically to create tamer creatures. They were said to do this by selective breeding. That is also the method early man used when he bred wolves and wildcats to create dogs and cats. This just shows you that early man certainly was not stupid, he just lacked the technology to be us. The horses became domesticated about 5000 years ago, according to DNA studies.

I just finished a bout with the dentist and it made me think how it must have been to go to a dentist 2500 years ago. Oh yes there were dentists and this was confirmed when skulls were found of native Americans that contained teeth with precious gems inserted into them. The gems were expertly placed so as not to destroy the tooth or make them prone to cavities. You can see the teeth at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History. I wonder if they had pain killers back then?

Computers with Artificial Intelligence have solved a 4000 year old mystery. A Indus Valley civilization that disappeared thousands of years ago left a script. For many years scientists have labored to figure out what the script said, but to no avail and then smart computers came along. Maybe I should say smart computer software? Anyway the script dated back to somewhere around 2200 B.C., and was found in an area that today is part of two countries, eastern Pakistan and northwest India. One of the reasons that scientists had such a hard time with it, is that the longest inscription is only 27 signs long. Thousands of pieces of pottery with partial inscriptions have also been found in the region. It turns out that the script, according to one scientist, pertains only to religious and political matters.

Maya Temple
Photo Source: Stock.xching

When the Maya disappeared from their grand cities, many different theories came into view. There is yet another theory that states that the culprit was deforestation and that was the reason for their downfall. Data was obtained from satellites that hint at such a scenario. Could it be that the Maya just cut down too many trees? Sometimes the simplest explanations are the correct ones.

Some scientists and historians are insisting that Atlantis really did exist. They point to the graphic descriptions by Plato such as, "Twice in the year they gathered the fruits of the earth—in winter having the benefit of the rains of heaven, and in summer the water which the land supplied by introducing streams from the canals." Many feel that he would not have taken the trouble to be so careful in his description if Atlantis was a fictional place and they also cite the fact that descriptions of other cities like Troy turned out to be true. According to Plato, Atlantis was huge and if this is to be believed, then every place that was suspected to be where Atlantis was located, was far too small. He described it as, “An island larger than Libya and Asia put together.”

Well they haven't found it yet, but the search is continuing. What am I talking about? The search for Cleopatra's tomb of course. They have been searching in Egypt for the tomb for quite some time now and expectations have run quite high that it would be found soon. Some think that when they find it, Mark Anthony will also be in it. Well they may not have found Queen Cleopatra's final resting place yet, but archaeologists insist that they have found the tomb of her sister. The skeleton that was found was said to be that of her younger sister Princess Arsinoe. Could it be that those stories of Egyptian mummies found in the Grand Canyon are true and Cleopatra's body was taken there?

Just when you thought that all of Da Vinci's portraits of himself were found, a new one appears. Maybe I should say another old one that was discovered? This portrait is unique since it depicts Leonardo as a young man, not as an old one like we are used to seeing. The picture laid for 500 years within one of his most famous manuscript, Codex On The Flight Of Birds. An Italian scientific journalist noticed that beneath bold black ink, there seemed to be the outline of a nose. Art historians and forensic experts for the police, along with graphic artists, were able to discern more detail. Little by little they made the covering text white not black and this revealed the art underneath. When they were done there was a drawing in pencil of a much younger Da Vinci staring them in the face. It was a marvelous discovery.

Did you think that English was a young language? It has been discovered that some of the words in the English language date back tens of thousand of years. Yes you read that right, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS. Some of these words are, "I", "we", "two" and "three". A team of computer analysis now states that they can also state which words are likely to become extinct first, they are "squeeze", "guts", "stick" and "bad".

I don't know about others, but when I look at the Roman Pantheon, I always wonder why the Romans built it with a circular hole in the center of the ceiling. Well a new theory has emerged on that point and it is that the whole building was built as a gigantic sundial. Looking at the building from that point of view, it begins to make sense.

Tests have revealed that the famous Viking steel really wasn't made by the Vikings. Rather it was imported from Afghanistan of all places. An electronic microscope was used to analyze Viking swords. Swords were very important to the Vikings. A comment by one scientist was, “On their travels, the Vikings were keen to pick up any innovative new means of improving their sword-making, but until now we haven't known where they have sourced some of their materials. The results from NPL confirm for the first time that the material analysed was brought by the Vikings from the Middle East to the Baltic area – and thrown new light on an important trade route that was in use until the 11th Century.