Turkey
At the Acemhöyük site in Yeşilova, Aksaray, archaeologists have uncovered what they perceive to be a “child’s toy rattle”, or at least an equivalent of a modern one. The clay object contains beads that make a sound when the object is shaken.
I do not agree with the interpretation that this is a child’s toy rattle. I am almost certain this is a shamanic object, used in ritual to cleanse the aura of a person during a ceremony that involves shamanic healing. Rattles were in common use in Native American shamanic ritual, and they are still even used today for the same purpose by the spiritualist movement for cleansing auras.
I find these kinds of interpretations extremely biased and annoying. There is no evidence of any child’s toy rattle anywhere in the world for that time period, but there is a huge amount of evidence for rattles being used in shamanic practise.
Sometimes I wonder how some of these archaeologists are ever allowed on site!
On the other hand, no quote from the archaeologist in the report mentions anything about a toy… so is this just a case of bad journalism once again?
Israel
This incredible discovery in the Hilazon Tachtit Cave in Israel has produced a highly detailed shamanic grave of a 45-year-old woman who died some 12,000 years ago.
The woman was from the Natufian culture, which existed between 12,500 to 9500 BC. The article states the Natufian period was from 15,000 to 11,500 BC but that is another error on the part of the author of the article, unfortunately a common thing these days. Ironically the date of 9500 BC is the same as Plato puts on his Atlantis story, and it’s also the time when sea levels rose dramatically and a comet or asteroid slammed into North America, so it’s likely the demise of the Natufian is linked to the same disaster that brought an end to “Atlantis”. Fragments of that comet hit areas in nearby Syria, so it is quite likely the Natufian culture was decimated at that time, or at least affected to such an extent that the culture disappears from the archaeological record. Thankfully our shaman lived around 500 years before the comet impact of 9500 BC.
Found back in 2005, the woman was one of 29 burials discovered in the cave, but hers was the most unusual. It has taken archaeologists many years to painstakingly uncover the contents of the grave and meticulously measure what they have found. This intense scientific procedure has produced the most incredible conclusion – the woman buried in the grave was an important shaman. He grave was laid out with an array of bones and goods, and the many layers of her grave show clearly she was a very important person.
Scotland
The now well-known Ness of Brodgar site on the Orkney Islands has produced yet another mystery.
Below a “rubbish dump”, archaeologists have found a large structure, 33ft (10m) long and 13ft (4m) wide, and suspect it may be a burial chamber. That is, at this point however, just speculation. Personally I have never come across a burial chamber buried under a midden, and that would certainly be a first, but it would also raise serious questions because the perceived way the Neolithic people cared for their dead would be brought into question.
The Ness of Brodgar is one of the most important Neolithic sites in the whole of Britain, and it has improved our understanding of our ancestors to a great degree.
So, a 33ft long, 13ft wide structure buried under a midden? My guess is it’s probably an earlier building (i.e. house or ritual building) that was discarded for a new structure. Hopefully in the next couple of years the answers will be provided.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-37154410
Russia
Quite an astonishing find in Khakassia, Siberia, has produced a 4,500-year-old grave of a ‘noble’ woman from the Okunev culture.
As the article states, these people were those most closely related to the Native American Indians who populated north America across Beringia. In other words, it was ascendants of the Okunev who were the first in the Americas. This statement, however, is nothing more than regurgitating the now ‘myth’ of the populating of the Americas. There was more than one group which set foot in the Americas and populated it – quite possibly hundreds of them all over the entire continent of north and south – so to suggest the Okunev were the relatives of the native Americans is bad science. Also the genetic markers are many thousands of years apart when it comes to relating those who supposedly first reached the Americas some 12,000 years earlier to the bronze age Okunev culture. It’s clear to me the Bering land bridge was an unlikely route taken by these people – It’s almost certain they came by boat.
That aside, the grave also contained the remains of a child, and it was full of rich goods. The Okunev are considered the most richly diverse and artistically advanced in the entire Siberian region for that time period, and no other culture comes close to them. They are known especially for their astonishing rock carvings. The woman’s grave has such stunning ornamental goods that nothing in the entire bronze age in Siberia has ever matched this find. Also, the graves found may indicate origins from modern-day Kazakhstan. It truly is a remarkable discovery.
Hungary / Turkey
He was the most powerful of all the Ottoman Empire’s leaders, and now his tomb has apparently been discovered in Hungary.
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (Suleiman I), who reigned from 1520 until his death in 1566, was the longest running sultan of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman’s had finally crushed the Roman Empire at Constantinople less than a hundred years earlier in 1453, and they were a force to be reckoned with, and by the time Suleiman I came to power the empire was at its height. Beginning in 1299 and mainly fighting against Roman rule in Asia Minor, the Ottoman’s were so influential they were still in power during the first quarter of the 20th century.
It has always been known the Suleiman I died in Szigetvar, Hungary, in September 1566, just a few hours before his huge army defeated the Habsburgs who were defending the castle there. As the story goes, the Ottomans wanted to return his body to Constantinople but weather forced them back, so they removed his organs and buried them, and made a shrine over the place where they were buried. That shrine was destroyed by the Habsburgs who retook control in the 1680s, and ever since the exact location has been “lost”. Now, though, it may have just resurfaced…
Cyprus
One of the richest bronze age graves ever found in Cyprus has been discovered in Hala Sultan Tekke.
The grave contains a wealth of goods, from Mycenaean pottery to Egyptian gold, and is a testament to the importance of Cyprus as a trade hub in the ancient world.
The grave dates to between 1500 to 1300 BC – at least 3,300 years ago – and during this time the Mediterranean area was expanding trade routes through ancient Greece, Egypt, and Asia Minor. Cyprus, being in the middle of these expanding empires and cultures, was one of the most important routes between all three of the main cultural centres mentioned above.
The grave contains over 140 ceramic vessels – some of them elaborately carved Mycenaean pottery – as well as gold objects, beads, earrings, Egyptian scarabs, gemstones and other objects from as far away as Syria and Mesopotamia. The grave almost seems like a collection of artefacts from all the ancient civilisations that existed at the time, and the culture that lived in the city of Hala Sultan Tekke dates to between 1600 and 1150 BC – more than a thousand years before the rise of the Roman Empire.
The first draft of The Guru has been completed and now the editing process is under way.
I have just written a brief synopsis which can be viewed here:
https://www.stephenmaybury.co.uk/books/the-guru/
Nine “lost” cities…
Not really lost though…
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/15/lost-cities-6-thonis-heracleion-egypt-sunken-sea
