Turkey
This surprises me little. In fact, it just becomes more annoying that scholars continue to imply that our ancestors were stupid hunters, lacking in any advanced abilities, running around forests chasing deer and hogs.
The surprise, therefore, is not the discovery, but the continuous rhetoric of ancient peoples being no less than as thick as the pigs they were supposedly chasing.
It’s not difficult to grasp this very simple concept.
Our ancestors were probably more intelligent that us.
Why?
Firstly, they did not go to any great lengths to destroy their environment like we do, mainly in pursuit of financial gain to the detriment of resources and, in the process, emitting pollution on a grand scale.
Secondly, they were more advanced than us from a spiritual perspective, and employed these methodologies to their life, building construction, medical cures, and much more.
What I mean by that is they were using technology that we don’t. Sound vibration is one example. We have definitely devolved, not evolved, and our scientists still try to study the past from the perspective of the scientific method, whereby they only uncover mathematical facts, based on what we see here, or through artefacts which only show a small element of ancient life.
Because scientists assume our ancestors were less intelligent than us, and more superstitious, they miss the blatantly obvious facts that our ancestors were operating in a way that was completely different to ours, and by studying them from our perspective, we miss theirs.
I hope, one day, we will start to really learn something about ourselves, but until scientists start changing the paradigm, we are stuck with the limited methodologies that only show a small part of the picture.
Discoveries like this, however, are starting to open the doors to a better understanding of how advanced these people really were. We truly have to rethink the entire history of human civilisation, and reevaluate every site that has ever been discovered. And, ironically, the further back in time we go, the more advanced people appear to be.
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-israeli-archaeologists-find-hidden-pattern-at-gobekli-tepe-1.8799837?fbclid=IwAR1CDjeMHwe7n-yMI6jz-EvqUeQwacHPFokM6Sp4qFGlV7ChGIUCNXXlMzQ
Nigeria
Very little archaeology seems to come out of Africa if one excludes Egypt, so I am happy to report that this and my next report comes from the huge continent. Whether this lack of reporting is due to the lack of archaeology, or whether it’s to do with a lack of interest in Africa from the media is not something I can answer, but it’s nice to see it in the headlines for a change.
Suffice to say I know very little about the history of Sub-Saharan Africa, much to my own shame perhaps, although I am quite versed in the ancient tribal teachings of people like the Dogon and their well-known and astounding (although debated) knowledge of the Sirius star system. And then there’s the British Empire’s rape and genocide of the Zulu and other cultures that we were taught in school, although the lessons were never put like that since, of course, we were fighting barbarian nomads with little intelligence who couldn’t invent anything beyond a spear. All of it was pro-British of course. Shocked? Well, this is pretty much what we were taught in school 35 years ago. Thankfully times have changed, and rapidly too.
Of course, Saharan Africa is full of archaeology, what with the Egyptians, the Carthaginians, and the Romans, to name a few.
Here is an amazing report from Nigeria – almost 13,000 glass beads, dating to a thousand years old. And yet here we have the whitewashing of African history raising its ugly head again – archaeologists first thought the glass beads must have been imported, for our African brothers and sisters were not capable of such artistry, even a thousand years ago. That kind of arrogance and blatant racism should result in fines in the modern world. Perhaps there should be an “Arrogant Archaeologist of the Year” Award. I know quite a few who would qualify.
“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence”, Carl Sagan once said. And how right he was.
https://www.livescience.com/59462-early-glassmaking-west-africa.html
Mongolia
I have recently had a bit of a rest from writing as certain adjustments are being made in my life and, quite frankly, there has been little to report anyway. The new digging season, at least in the northern hemisphere, is just about under way, so soon we should be receiving news of interesting new finds.
A recent find in Mongolia, however, has shown the riches that were traded along the famous and ancient Silk Road. A body has been found covered in silk (the silk trade gives the road its name) and also an incredibly valuable bowl has ancient Greek gods carved into it. Also found were many gold pieces of jewellery. No doubt the individual was extremely wealthy, and the archaeologists believe the body may have been that of an elite family.
Although the digs were carried out between 2012 and 2014, as usual it can take many years for the findings to be released. This is often the result of the time consuming work required to unravel the finds – in this case a coffin – as ancient textiles especially can disintegrate on exposure to the air or by being handled. Also, finds are kept under wraps (another great pun!) until the site has been deemed to be secure to stop grave robbers coming along and destroying the rest of the possible artefacts that may be in the same area.
The grave here dates to around 1,500 years ago, and archaeologists believe this to be a rich burial belonging to the Northern Wei Dynasty, which flourished between 386 to 534 AD. The bowl shows depictions of “Zeus, Hera, Athena and Aphrodite”, according to this report. The body itself is still covered in silk so the archaeologists do not know anything about the occupant, such is the difficulty in removing the silk without damage.
http://www.livescience.com/58630-ancient-cemetery-found-inner-mongolia.html
Scotland
A dig on a construction site in Carnoustie, Angus, has produced a bronze age hoard of weapons, among other items, that dates to between 1000 BC to 800 BC.
A bronze sword and a gold spearhead are the two most valuable items, and I am not referring to their monetary value. Organic materials, namely that of a leather and wooden sheath that covered the sword – the best preserved ever found from the bronze age – and fur skin covering the gold spearhead, are equally as valuable. Items of this nature rarely survive due to climatic conditions, so the preservation of these items makes the findings even more important.
The Celtic tribes that existed in ancient Britain, prior to the many invasions from Europe, consisted of warrior clans in small numbers, most likely farming and hunting communities. Although the druids were not mentioned until at least 400 years after 800 BC, the tribes likely had shamanic priests who were also tribal leaders, soothsayers, and medical and political advisors. The gold spearhead was likely to have been used as a symbolic status symbol, but also may have been used in ritual. In other words these items may have belonged to a very important tribal leader.
On the same site, the largest neolithic hall ever found in Scotland, and dating to 4000 BC, has also been discovered. This was clearly an important settlement that had continuity for at least 3,000 years. To put that into perspective, the neolithic hall is 3,000 years older than the bronze age hoard, and the bronze age hoard is 3,000 years older than today…
Mexico
As many of my theories on our past are slowly proven correct, I should be the world’s leading theoretical archaeologist by now!
And here’s another one.
For years I have been extremely irritated by the generally accepted theory that the two great Maya “collapses” were caused by drought. I find this one of the dumbest theories out there. First of all, Mexico lies in a tropical climate, and while there may be less rainfall in certain years, drought is an extremely unlikely scenario for an entire civilisation to seemingly disappear. Like the Nazca Lines, in which the prevailing theory is that they were created in relation to a water cult because there was supposedly little water, the same stupid idea has been placed on the Maya. Like the Nazca, the Maya had plenty of water. And if you are running out of water, you move to an area where there IS water. You don’t spend centuries making lines in the earth in the hope that gods may bring it to you. People are NOT that stupid, and these arrogant archaeologists who assume our ancestors were “primitive” need to be lined up against a wall and shot.
If we go back to the Maya collapse(s), it has always been obvious to me that other reasons caused the people to “disappear” and abandon their cities. The obvious explanation is internal, tribal warfare on a large scale, reminiscent of today’s civil wars.
Thankfully new research is suggesting exactly that – the Maya collapsed due to social instability, political strife, and internal warfare, the latter of which would be the final phase of such upheavals. No doubt the idiotic old guard will say drought preceded those issues, but I can assure you there was no drought involved in the collapse of the Maya.
At least there are some sensible archaeologists out there who think outside the box, because if there weren’t we’d be stuck in the dark ages of archaeological research forever.
https://phys.org/news/2017-01-archaeologists-uncover-clues-maya-collapse.html
