Secret HistoryS


Blue Planet

Best of the Web: Gunung Padang: Giant pyramid buried in Indonesia could be oldest in the world, initial construction began 27,000 years ago

Carly Cassella
Science Alert
Fri, 03 Nov 2023 10:13 UTC
Gunung Padang
© RaiyaniM/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0Gunung Padang.
A giant underground pyramid hidden beneath a hillside in Indonesia far outdates Stonehenge or the Giza Pyramids and may come to rival the oldest megalithic structures ever built by human hands.

Remember the name Gunung Padang.

The exceptional hillside of ancient stone structures on the island of West Java is sacred to locals, who call this kind of structure a 'punden berundak', meaning stepped pyramid, for the terraces that lead to its peak.

Archaeologists have barely brushed the surface of the site, and yet it is already shaping up to be a "remarkable testament" to human ingenuity.

Comment: Graham Hancock features Gunung Padang in his recent documentary series, Ancient Apocalypse.

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Blue Planet

Sacrificial pits filled with 120 horse skeletons found in Bronze Age city in China

Jennifer Nalewicki
Live Science
Sat, 04 Nov 2023 10:03 UTC
china bronze age
© Kai Bai; Antiquity Publications LtdOne of the six sacrificial horse pits unearthed at Yaoheyuan in northwestern China. The walled city likely served as a political and cultural hub in Bronze Age China.
Archaeologists in China have discovered the remains of a walled Bronze Age city that once contained a palace, moat, cemeteries, sacrificial pits, pottery workshops and a bronze-casting foundry.

The ancient city, known as Yaoheyuan, was situated in the foothills of the Liupan Mountains in northwestern China. It was once a political and cultural powerhouse that was prominent during the Western Zhou Period, a historical time in Chinese history that stretched from 1045 B.C. to 771 B.C. during the Zhou dynasty, according to a study published Aug. 3 in the journal Antiquity.

Although there are other Bronze Age sites dotting this part of the country, archaeologists consider Yaoheyuan the likely regional hub at this time based on the breadth and variety of structures unearthed during excavations.

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Satellite

Hundreds of lost Roman forts revealed by spy satellite imagery, challenging history's view on ancient frontiers

Tim McMillan
The Debrief
Wed, 01 Nov 2023 19:56 UTC
roman forts discovered by spy satellites
Images of Roman forts recorded by spy satellites.
In a fusion of modern espionage technology and ancient world secrets, archaeologists have uncovered hundreds of previously unknown Roman forts using imagery first captured by Cold War-era spy satellites.

Examining declassified spy satellite imagery collected from the 1960s to late 1980s, a team of archaeologists from Dartmouth College say they identified 396 lost ancient Roman fortresses across the landscapes of present-day Syria and Iraq.

Experts say the findings, published in the journal Antiquity, upend long-standing beliefs about the Roman Empire's eastern frontiers and the relationship between the Western and Eastern culture during antiquity.
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Magnify

The Art of the Cold War: How the CIA employed its 'wonder culture weapon' to fight the USSR

Robert Bridge
RT
Thu, 02 Nov 2023 18:33 UTC
cia cold war
© RT
During the Cold War, the CIA heavily promoted one of US' most popular modern artists, in a covert propaganda campaign designed to tarnish the image of the Soviet Union. Did the subterfuge succeed?

When reflecting upon the Cold War (1947-1989), most people entertain images of missiles, soldiers and tanks taking up positions on either side of the Iron Curtain, not armies of bohemian artists splashing paint against canvases in an outburst of creativity. Yet that is what was happening during this ideological showdown as the US government began weaponizing the world of art in its battle against communism, which was looking increasingly attractive to Westerners disillusioned with the shortcomings of capitalism.

Until the end of World War II, the United States was considered something of a cultural backwater as far as artistic superpowers go. Yes, the capitalist powerhouse might be able to create Disneyland, McDonald's, and Coca-Cola, the critics sneered, but never anything of lasting cultural value. And in the off chance that something worthy of praise did appear in America's galleries and art exhibitions, it was most likely the handiwork of the Europeans. After the war, however, the critics toned down their rhetoric as the cultural scales began to tip in America's favor. Europe lay in ruins, while Paris, once the epicenter of the Western art scene, had become largely devoid of its best artists and writers, many of whom had fled abroad to escape the horrors of Nazi Germany. This momentous migration thrust New York City into the cultural limelight almost overnight.
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Info

A 3,400-year-old pyramid from the Scythian-Saka period found in Kazakhstan

Leman Altuntaş
Arkeonews Net
Thu, 02 Nov 2023 16:30 UTC
Kazak Pyramid
© Dr. Aibar Kassenali
A pyramid belonging to the Scythian-Saka period was found in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan.

Experts announced that the Karajartas mausoleum belongs to a ruler from the Begazı Dandibay period, which was the last phase of the Andronovo period.

The pyramid, which was excavated over the course of four excavation seasons by archaeologists from Karaganda University, is situated atop a hill overlooking the Taldy River in the Shet district of Karaganda.

From the National Museum of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Dr. Aibar Kassenali made the first evaluation of the discovered pyramid to TRT Haber.

Dr. Aibar Kassenali announced that according to the results of carbon 14 analyses carried out on the finds, the pyramid structure was dated between the 14th and 12th centuries before Christ (BC).

Dr. Kassenali explains the meaning of this dating: "The presence of multiple pyramidal stepped mausoleums detected in the region shows that the Taldı River valley, located in the Sari Arka steppes, was used by the Andronovo communities in the Bronze Age as the valley of kings where their great leaders were buried, like the Nile Valley in Egypt. " he explained with his words.

Dr Aibar Kassenali said that when the findings in the burial chamber were examined, the steppe pyramid may have been built on behalf of a local ruler who ruled the Kazakh steppes during the Andronovo period.

Dr. Aibar Kassenali said, "Looking at the cut stones found in the pyramid, the size of the mausoleum, and the fact that such a huge structure was built in the Bronze Age in a very arid region such as the steppe is an indication of the high understanding of art and rich spiritual beliefs that the Begazi Dandibay communities have reached."
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Blue Planet

Nutrient-rich seaweed was staple of European diet for thousands of years, study of dental plaque reveals

Katie Hunt
CNN
Mon, 30 Oct 2023 14:31 UTC
Orkney
© Karen HardySome of the remains used in the study were found at Isbister Chambered Cairn, a 5,000-year-old tomb, located in South Ronaldsay, Orkney, Scotland.
Virtually absent from most present-day Western diets, seaweed and aquatic plants were once a staple food for ancient Europeans, an analysis of molecules preserved in fossilized dental plaque has found.

Evidence for this hitherto hidden taste for the nutrient-rich plants and algae was hard to detect in the archaeological record, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications. Previously when researchers uncovered evidence of seaweed, they explained its presence as a fuel, food wrapping or fertilizer.

Prior research had suggested that the introduction of farming, starting from around 8,000 years ago, prompted ancient humans to largely stop eating seaweed. In Europe, by the 18th century, seaweed was regarded as a famine food or only suitable for animal feed.


Comment: And the poor health of people in the 18th century perhaps reflected this loss of knowledge.


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Blue Planet

Rare 2,100-year-old gold coin bears name of obscure ruler from pre-Roman Britain

Owen Jarus
Live Science
Sun, 29 Oct 2023 11:29 UTC
pre-roman coin britain
© SpinkThis rare gold coin was minted in the time between Julius Caesar's unsuccessful invasions and Roman emperor Claudius' successful invasion of Britain.
A gold coin minted by a little-known ruler in ancient Britain — an Iron Age man who said he was as "mighty" as a god — has been found by a metal detectorist and auctioned off in England.

The rare coin was discovered in March 2023 in Hampshire county and was auctioned Sept. 28 for 20,400 British pounds ($24,720), Spink auction house said in a series of statements.

A Latin alphabetic inscription on the coin bears the name "Esunertos," which can be translated as "mighty as the god Esos," (also spelled Esus) the statements said. The name itself is Gaulish, a language commonly spoken in the region at the time, John Sills, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford's Institute of Archaeology who examined the coin before it was auctioned, told Live Science in an email.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Who was Jesus? Examining the evidence that Christ may in fact have been Caesar!

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Info

Archaeologists discover 7,000-year-old tiger shark-tooth knives in Indonesia

Leman Altuntaş
Arkeonews Net
Sun, 29 Oct 2023 04:26 UTC
Ancient Shark Tooth
© M.C. LangleyScratches and a ground section on the tip of a shark tooth indicate its use by people 7,000 years ago.
Excavations on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi have yielded an incredible find: two tiger shark teeth that were fashioned into knives and are thought to be approximately 7,000 years old.

Because it offers some of the earliest evidence of shark teeth being used in composite weapons worldwide, this discovery is significant. Until now, the oldest such shark-tooth blades found were less than 5,000 years old.

Attributed to the enigmatic Toalean culture, these blades hint at rituals and warfare from an era before Neolithic farmers reached Indonesia.

These weapons, as reported in the journal Antiquity, are not just older but more advanced than any previously discovered shark-tooth blades, which were at least 2,000 years their junior.

Using a combination of scientific analysis, experimental reproduction, and insights from modern human societies, the Australian and Indonesian scientists deduced that these teeth had been attached to handles, transforming them into blades. They were most likely used during rituals or battles.

Both of these shark teeth artifacts are attributed to the Toalean culture, a group that inhabited southwestern Sulawesi for several millennia. These enigmatic hunter-gatherers inhabited the island before Neolithic farmers from mainland Asia ("Austronesians") spread into Indonesia around 3,500 years ago.
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Archaeology

Ancient rock carvings revealed by receding Amazon river waters re-emerge amid drought

Constance Malleret
The Guardian
Tue, 24 Oct 2023 22:00 UTC
rock carvings amazon drought emerge
© Suamy Bedoun/ReutersAncient stone carvings on a rocky point of the Amazon river that were exposed after water levels dropped to record lows near Manaus, Brazil
Human faces and other figures believed to be up to 2,000 years old exposed as Brazil river level hits record low

Human faces and other figures etched in stone up to 2,000 years ago have been revealed on Amazon riverbanks as a historic drought in the Brazilian region has brought water levels to unprecedented lows.

The petroglyphs, which include animals and other natural forms, have been revealed on the shores of the Rio Negro, at an archeological site known as the Ponto das Lajes, or Place of Slabs.

Researchers estimate the markings to be between 1,000 and 2,000 years old.

The carvings had previously been sighted during a severe drought in 2010, when the Rio Negro's water levels dropped to 13.63 metres, then an all-time low.
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Better Earth

Climate change impacted human population numbers in the Neolithic and Bronze Age, study suggests


Public Library of Science
Wed, 25 Oct 2023 12:00 UTC
bronze age mound
© Johannes Müller, CC-BY 4.0 creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/The Schneiderberg near Baalberge (Saxony-Anhalt, Germany) is a burial mound built in the Neolithic period which was enlarged several times. One extension took place around 2000 BCE and contained a strikingly richly furnished burial. It is one of a whole series of burials of this kind in the region around the Harz Mountains, dating from a period of unfavorable climatic conditions. The linking of data on demographic development with regional climate data and actual archaeological finds in the study provides new insights into the interconnectedness of climate fluctuations and social changes in Central Europe between 5,500 and 3,500 years ago.
Human populations in Neolithic Europe fluctuated with changing climates, according to a study published October 25, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Ralph Großmann of Kiel University, Germany and colleagues.

The archaeological record is a valuable resource for exploring the relationship between humans and the environment, particularly how each is affected by the other. In this study, researchers examined Central European regions rich in archaeological remains and geologic sources of climate data, using these resources to identify correlations between human population trends and climate change.

The three regions examined are the Circumharz region of central Germany, the Czech Republic/Lower Austria region, and the Northern Alpine Foreland of southern Germany.

Comment: For more on the global cooling that's occurring, see: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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