Ancient Archaeological Treasures
Photo Source:Clipart.com No enlargement available. I admit it, I’m guilty, I love to talk about archaeology. I don’t know exactly why, but I am fascinated by old things, the older the better. I am slowing becoming one of those old things myself, maybe that is the reason? There is just something exciting about finding a structure that is thousands of years old and realizing that humans were around that long ago and were intelligent enough to build something that is really nice and sometimes very complicated. There are ancient structures that have such advanced construction, that we could not easily duplicate some of the techniques that were used and if we had to use the same tools that were used, then we probably could never equal those structures. I have been to Europe a couple of times, mainly Scotland and it is amazing to see how some of those castles were constructed. One would have thought that the capability to do this would not have existed when some of these things were built. There are a lot of lakes in Siberia. In one lake there is an island. This in itself is not unusual. The island is not very big and to put it another way, it is rather small, so small that the fortress that it houses is almost the size of the entire island. The fortress was built over 1,500 years ago. In the Siberian summer the entire fort is exposed. When winter comes and snow falls, the fort is much harder to notice. It is not as if a big castle can be seen or high buildings. It is rather more like a square wall that surrounds what used to be interior buildings that have been reduced to outlines with just some low interior walls remaining. It sort of reminds me of a packman maze when you look at it from the air. I am no expert, but it looks to me like the fort was built, not to protect the waterway, but to protect the people in it, by putting it in a hard to attack area. When we tend to think of ancient structures, our thoughts usually stray to places other than our own country the United States. The reason for this is that we are a young country and because of this it is believed that there aren’t any ancient structures in this country. Well a group of researchers came up with an astounding discovery. Everyone knows about Stonehenge in England, but they have found a Stonehenge in this country. How come no one has seen this before you might ask? It should have been a tourist attraction, right? The problem is that it was found at the bottom of Lake Michigan. First of all it is amazing to find that ancient people in this country even wanted to make a Stonehenge type structure. Why would they decide on the same type of structure that was being built thousand of miles away across a huge ocean. Did the ancients here have some contact with those in the British Isles? Lake Michigan is huge, 22,400 square miles and it is deep, about 279 feet. Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are really one lake, but you never hear of them called that. Scientists believe that the Great Lakes were formed about 8,000 years ago, so our Stonehenge has to be older than this. For all we know, maybe ours was first?
Kistvaen in Drizzlecombe on Dartmoor in South Devon, UK. (Ancient Tombs Over 4,000 Years Old) Ancient tombs are found all over the world. We expect to find them in Egypt and perhaps in the middle east, or Turkey, but many of us forget that Europe also has ancient roots that go far further back than just the Romans. Archaeologists were digging in Scotland, itself an ancient country when the came across a four ton rock slab. It fascinated them because it had ancient carved symbols of prehistoric power all over it and this indicated that it was a tomb for a very important person. The tomb was about 4,000 years old and is unique in Britain. The excavation is taking place at Forteviot, near Perth. It is from the early Bronze Age and the corpse is that of an ancient ruler who was buried on a bed of white quartz pebbles along with many of his possessions, which really excited scientists. Some of the things he was buried with were a bronze and gold dagger, a bronze knife, a wooden bowl and a leather bag. This may not seem like such a big deal to us, but these were probably very valuable objects back then. This find is a history changer for Scotland because no one ever suspected that the royal roots for this area went so far back. Along with this tomb, the remains of two henges were found.
Eilean Donan Castle Scotland Sometime it is not structures that are found, but other things. These things can be even more important to the history of man. Such a discovery was made in Georgia. This is the country of Georgia, not the state. The discovery is set to change the history of man. The oldest human skulls ever found, were found there and they are over 1.8 million years old. When I say the oldest human skulls, I am referring to the ones that the scientific world admits to finding. If you are a regular reader of this website then you know I have written about far older ones that are never admitted by the finders for fear of being labeled a kook, or being locked out of the scientific community. The scientists that found the skulls stated that these people walked like us, but were short and primitive. Hey maybe these are the skulls of children? If this is true than that would change their opinion, wouldn't it? Anyway here is what the director of the Georgian National Museum has said, “Before our findings, the prevailing view was that humans came out of Africa almost 1 million years ago, that they already had sophisticated stone tools, and that their body anatomy was quite advanced in terms of brain capacity and limb proportions. But what we are finding is quite different. Georgia may have been the cradle of the first Europeans.” He went on to say that he still believes that Africa is the cradle of human civilization. Does this still seem possible if the skulls found in Georgia are older than those found in Africa?
Bog In Germany One area where a wealth of ancient objects and bodies had been found is the bogs of Europe. A bog in Ireland produced butter that was 2,500 years old and found still in its cask. Bogs tend to preserve things. Bodies have been found in bogs that are very well preserved. Many of these bodies have been murdered, while others may have died from failed medical care such as trephining. That is where a hole is cut into some one’s skull to get at the brain. Ancient weapons have popped out of bogs, as have really old wooden wheels. The wheels are said to be from 2,700 B.C. Even a dugout canoe that dates back to 8,500 B.C. has been retrieved. Bogs are sort of storehouses for past treasures. Isn’t this as interesting as I said? That is why I love this stuff. |
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