Russia.
A continuing and fascinating story. Archaeologists have now discovered why the Ice Princess, found in 1993 and recently gaining a lot of attention, was using marijuana – she had breast cancer.
No doubt the princess was using the miracle substance for pain management. Unfortunately the breast cancer got the better of her and she died in her twenties, 2,500 years ago in the Altai mountains.
Celtic and Druidic Europe.
An astounding book called “The Ancient Paths” by Graham Robb will be re-writing history if it’s accepted into mainstream historical thinking… but history itself suggests that will be hard to achieve. I won’t go on once again about how certain pieces of information are shoved under the carpet when they challenge accepted beliefs and, in the process, put into question nearly all of our historical science, but this kind of discovery, using extremely …good science, is almost impossible to ignore. But that’s exactly what will happen if this finding isn’t given the publicity it deserves. Celtic and Druidic Europe is overshadowed by the Roman Empire and its rapid rise and, despite what many people think, that power has never diminished from Rome as the Vatican still hold the riches and the control of billions of people. That control extends to the minds of the ‘general public’ (I hate that term, as if we are lesser than ‘them’!) and that power is kept through the control of knowledge. So what if it was actually the Celts that were the more powerful, dominating, knowledgeable and artistic culture that existed? Why is it solid stone buildings that dictate which empire contained more cultural riches?
Food for thought….
Greece.
After more than 100 years of dives, archaeologists are still bringing up incredible finds from the Antikythera shipwreck.
Famous for the Antikythera mechanism that bears the name of the island next to which the ship was finally laid to rest, the cargo almost seems to have been the contents of a museum!
As shown in this stunning video, a two-metre long spear was found during last season’s dives, probably a part of a large statue, perhaps of the goddess Athena. The ship…wreck covers an area of nearly a thousand feet and will take many more years before all its treasures have been found…. or perhaps looted, depending on how you look at it!
I wonder what will be found as diving get under way again in the next few weeks?
Mexico.
An anomalous Maya citadel.
Why is it an anomaly? The clue is in the above line – the Maya never built citadels, they built cities. This is the first example of a defensive wall surrounding a Maya city (that I know of). The new technology of LIDAR is revealing so many new places than were previously known, as I have mentioned in previous posts. What we will probably find out now is that some other Maya cities had a defensive wall, but I doubt it was many of them. The Maya controlled such a huge area with pretty much no concern for enemies that there was never any need for defensive walls. Once they’d created their huge empire all other tribes were pacified and created no threat. That was until, of course, the Spanish arrived in the early 16th Century and finally conquered them nearly two centuries later in 1697.
Thank you to Mark Johnson for sending this link.
http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/ancient-maya-citadel-discovered-belize-anomaly-002835
India.
Giraffe figurines found in Chhattisgarh and dating to 500 BC suggest the natives were seasoned travellers who went as far as South Africa to trade various goods.
This astounding discovery opens up a whole new chapter in Indian history. The Chhattisgarh region is at least 1,000 km east of the Indus Valley area, and my personal view is that these trading routes were first implemented by them a couple of thousand years earlier. It also shows that the Indians were bypassi…ng Egyptian trade, either by crossing through the country or going by boat, possibly from modern-day Yemen across to Eritrea or Somalia.
The article states that the region in Chhattisgarh was a major trading hub between 300 – 200 BC, and this is almost the exact time to Ptolemaic dynasty ruled Egypt (from 305 – 30 BC) during the Hellenistic period. It’s quite possible, therefore, that Greek rule in Egypt caused a change in trade with the Indian subcontinent, if only for a brief time.
As usual, this discovery brings up more questions than answers.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Ancient-site-in-Chhattisgarh-yields-rare-giraffe-figurines-suggests-ancient-people-were-big-time-travellers/articleshow/44775325.cms
Ten forgotten civilisations…
http://listverse.com/2014/03/29/10-ancient-civilizations-that-history-forgot/
Make that eleven..!
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/18/kenya-has-its-own-machu-picchu-the-lost-town-of-gedi.html
