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Thirteenth century "vampire" remains discovered in Bulgaria

Vampire Skeleton
© HispanicallySpeakingNewsRemains found in Perperikon, Bulgaria.
The skeleton of a man who lived between the 13th and 14th centuries, and had an iron stake driven into his chest to prevent him from becoming a vampire was found in Bulgaria, archaeologists said.

The finding was made at the ancient urban complex in Perperikon, located in southern Bulgaria, chief archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov said.

"The man who was buried was between 35 and 40 years old. Bronze coins we found between his teeth show the period he lived in. He had an iron stake driven into the left side of his torso, between the neck and the chest," Ovcharov told the Standart news agency.

Vampire beliefs from pagan times were preserved by Orthodox Christians in the Balkans during the Middle Ages, when people thought that iron and wooden stakes could be driven into the heart of a dead person to prevent them from becoming vampires.

Another "vampire" was found in June 2012 in Sozopol, a small city on the shores of the Black Sea. An iron stake had been driven into the heart of the man, who lived in the 8th or 9th centuries.

The ritualistic driving of a stake into the heart may have been performed on people considered evil or who engaged in practices not understood by society, such as scientific or medical research, Bulgarian National History Museum director Bozhidar Dimitrov told Efe last year.

People at the time believed that after dying "these persons turned into vampires and tortured and tormented the living, and they drank their blood in the night," Dimitrov, who discovered the remains, said.

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Melting snow reveals Iron Age sweater

Iron Age tunic
© Marianne Vedeler/Museum of Cultural History, University of Oslo.The Iron Age tunic.
A boat neck sweater made of warm wool and woven in diamond twill was a dominating fashion trend among reindeer hunters 1,700 years ago, according to researchers who have investigated an extremely well preserved Iron Age tunic found two years ago under melting snow in Norway.

Announced last March, the finding has been detailed in the current issue of the journal Antiquity.

"Due to global warming, rapid melting of snow patches and glaciers is taking place in the mountains of Norway as in other parts of the world, and hundreds of archaeological finds emerge from the ice each year," Marianne Vedeler, from the University of Oslo, Norway, and Lise Bender Jørgensen, from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, wrote.

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'No single center where modern day humans originated, even within Africa'- anthropologist

Ancient Humans
© YouTube Screenshot
Homo sapiens were not the only kind of humans to reside on this planet. Two experts in the field exposed to the Voice of Russia that other forms of humans died out due to poor social networking and climate. Interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Neanderthals went on hundreds and thousands of years ago, making modern humans around one percent Neanderthal according to the newest book on evolution, Lone Survivors.

"There is no single center where we originated even within Africa, our origins were kind of composite, a patchwork, Professor Chris Stringer, author of Lone Survivors and Researcher at the Natural History Museum in London said and added, "So different bits of Africa contributed to what we call today modern humans."

The new theory on how present day humans came to be, according to the book Lone Survivors, is that we came from Africa and then journeyed from there. However, we are not full bred modern humans, as we all have a microscopic percentage of Neanderthal DNA in us, if originally from Europe.

Though, Australians and New Guineans have an extra ingredient in their DNA, from an archaic human known as the Denisovans. This group was discovered in a cave in Siberia, and those with the Denisovan gene, also have Neanderthal and modern human roots tied to them.

It was more than likely that interbreeding made it possible for certain humans, who were not used to the environment, to have offspring that would survive through disease and other possible debilitating factors of the region.

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8 rulers of ancient Egypt: Most precise timeline revealed

Royal Cemetery at Abydos
© M DeeMonumental tombs of the Royal Cemetery at Abydos, Upper Egypt, where the First Dynasty kings of Egypt are buried.
The most precise chronology of Early Egypt yet suggests the country formed much more quickly than previously thought.

The new finding reveals a robust timeline for the first eight kings and queens of Egypt, including, in order of succession Aha, Djer, Djet, Queen Merneith, Den, Anedjib, Semerkhet and Qa'a. The accession of King Aha to the throne is often thought to define the start of the Egyptian state, with the new study suggesting (with 68 percent probability) that he became king between 3111 B.C. and 3045 B.C.

Existing timelines of Egypt's transition from a nomadic community along the Nile River to a permanent state are mainly based on changes in pottery artifacts found at various locations around the country. However, such timelines are flawed due to the subjectivity required to distinguish one pottery style from another, and because styles might vary from site to site without signifying a change in time period.

To create a more reliable timeline, archaeologists based at the University of Oxford have developed the most comprehensive chronological analyses of Early Egypt artifacts yet based on a computer model of existing and newly measured radiocarbon dates.

The analyses suggest the rise to statehood occurred between 200 and 300 years faster than previously thought, beginning between 3800 B.C. and 3700 B.C., rather than the past estimate of 4000 B.C. The findings, which also suggest the preceding Neolithic period lasted longer than thought, are detailed Sept. 4 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A.

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Cause of Yuri Gagarin death finally revealed by fellow cosmonaut

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© NASA Yuri Gagarin before launch of Vostok-1 on April 12, 1961.
For more than 45 years, the death of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to cross the Earth´s threshold and venture into space, has been shrouded in secrecy. But now, details of his 1968 death have been released by none other than the first man to walk in space, Aleksey Leonov.

Gagarin, who became the first man to travel into space on April 12, 1961, was killed when his MiG-15 aircraft crashed on March 27, 1968. Gagarin was just 34 years old. The details of that crash and his death have long been a confusing and controversial subject, with many theories coming forward on the actual cause of his death.

Now, Leonov, who conducted the first ever extra-vehicular spacewalk in 1965, has delved deeper into the touchy subject of the Gagarin death mystery. Leonov has been fighting for 20 years or more to gain permission to disclose the details of what happened that tragic day in 1968.

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Remains of iron age Scottish village discovered in rural area is hailed as 'exciting and unexpected'

Iron Age Village_1
© Historic ScotlandThe remains of an iron age settlement were discovered in Wigtownshire.
The remains of an extensive iron age "loch village" have been uncovered by archaeologists in the first discovery of its kind in Scotland.

The ancient site in Wigtownshire appears to have been a settlement of at least seven houses built in wetlands around a small loch, Historic Scotland said.

Experts believe the significant find could be "Scotland's Glastonbury", a reference to the lake village in Somerset, said to be a spot of international significance.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said the discovery at the Black Loch of Myrton was an "exciting and unexpected" find.

Historic Scotland said the dig began as a small-scale pilot excavation of what was initially thought to be a crannog in the now-infilled loch, which was under threat of destruction as a result of drainage work.

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Neolithic skull fragment discovered on banks of Avon

Ancient Skull
© Richard Vernalls/PAPart of a 5,000-year-old skull found on the banks of the Avon. Archaeologist says that where the fragment was found was unlikely to be where it was buried.
A 5,000-year-old mystery has been sparked after part of a human skull was found on a riverbank. Archaeologists said the unbroken piece of upper skull was in "fabulous" condition with the intricate marks from the blood vessels still visible on the inner surface.

There are suggestions it may have belonged to a middle-aged woman from the neolithic period - around the time Stonehenge was built. The skull is also prompting questions about where it may have come from.

A dog walker stumbled across the fragment, which measures 15cm by 10cm (6in by 4in), this year but initially thought it was part of a ball or a coconut shell. The next day he returned to the site on the banks of the Avon near Pershore, Worcestershire, for a closer look and, realising what it was, called police.

West Mercia police contacted experts at Worcestershire Archaeology, who sent the skull to be radiocarbon dated.

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Mystery of the ancient kingdom discovered in Nepal where thousands of caves are carved 155ft off the ground

  • An estimated 10,000 of the caves have been found in the former Kingdom of Mustang in North, Central Nepal
  • They have either been dug into the cliffside or tunnelled from above
  • Caves are thousands of years old but who built them and why remains a mystery
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Mystery: Thousands of man-made caves 155ft from the ground lie hidden within the Himilayas in a gorge so large it dwarfs the Grand Canyon
Hidden within the Himalayas, 155ft from the ground, these man-made caves are one of the World's greatest archaeological mysteries.

Thousands of holes are carved into the fragile, sandy-coloured cliff in a gorge so large it dwarfs the Grand Canyon.

The astonishing number of caves, some dug into the cliffside, others tunnelled from above are thousands of years old but who built them and why remains a mystery.


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Bizarre: With dozens of holes carved into the fragile, sandy-coloured cliff face this unusual 'neighbourhood in the sky' looks like a giant sandcastle

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10,000-year-old remains of settlements are unearthed in Bolivia - making it the oldest archaeological site in the Amazon

Swiss researchers from the University of Bern said mounds of seashells were left by settlers in the early Holocene period, around 10,400 years ago

Experts once thought the previously unexplored area had been rarely occupied by communities due to poor environmental conditions

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Swiss archaeologists analysed forest islands - small forested mounds of earth - which are found throughout Amazonia (pictured). Dashed lines and the grey arrow highlight the onion-like growth of the midden. The black triangles above mark the coring locations used to examine the contents of the mound
Ten thousand-year-old remains of human settlements have been found in Bolivia and is now the oldest archaeological site in the Amazon region.

The find came as a surprise to experts as it was thought the previously unexplored area had been rarely occupied by communities due to poor environmental conditions.

Swiss archaeologists made the discovery after analysing forest islands - small forested mounds of earth - which are found throughout Amazonia.

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Beautiful ancient ring found by archeologists on the Arctic Circle was not for a woman...but a bear

The find, as old as Christ, is the latest treasure from the sacred and mysterious site of Ust-Polui in Salekhard, say experts.

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'I'm writing still under the impression, as I've just seen these things. This is literally a world scale discovery'. Picture: Bear ring, bronze, finding of 2013, by Andrey Gusev
The 2,000 year old ring is seen as proof of a bear cult among these ancient polar people who left no written records but whose intricate artefacts, now the subject of intense interest by archeologists, are as artistic as they are valuable.

Made of high quality bronze, this ancient Arctic jewellery features an image of a bear's head and paws.

Archeologist Andrey Gusev, from the Scientific Research Centre of the Arctic in Salekhard, said: 'It is important to understand that bronze items for this period, and this area of Northern Siberia, are sparse and each bronze thing is a significant addition to our database.

'Ust-Polui is rich in such objects. More than this, many of them have genuine artistic value and help us understand something about the beliefs of these ancient inhabitants. This is the case with this ring showing the head and paws of a bear, which we have found this year.