Ancient Ramblings A 40,000 year old bone tool was found and archaeologists think they found out what it was for and the answer really surprised them. We find many bone tools but they are usually for food preparation, or weapons, but this one was neither. The archaeologists believe it was a tool used to tailor the skins people wore to make them fit better. Prior to this it was thought no one cared about that and they would just throw on the old skins and go out. It seems our ancient relatives may have had some style. Did you know a double ancient pyramid exists in Mexico? More precisely, it is in the ancient community of Tenayuca. It was built on a lake named Texcoco. The date of its construction is believed to be around 1224 A.D. The lake was where many other ancient Aztec cities were built, but it is no longer there. What happened to that lake? What happened was the Spanish. They drained the lake. After it was drained, Mexico City was built on the lake bed and this is why Mexico City is sinking. Being a double pyramid helped make its claim to fame. The pyramid is 203 feet wide by 164 high. The great Egyptian pyramid at Giza, when it was built was 482 feet high and each side was 755 feet. Something, which I think is really cool has happened. It started with a description of what king Midas had eaten which was found in a tomb. A diner in Spokane Valley decided to offer this meal on its menu. The meat consist of nutty sheep’s milk cheese, spicy fire-roasted lentil-lamb stew and Midas golden elixir. What is in the golden elixir is not stated. I think quite a few of us who read the news have noticed how ancient ruins are found in Italy and other places which date back thousands of years. It is very annoying to the companies performing new construction, but the archaeologists love it. I bet you never thought it could happen in this country. Well, it has and is causing havoc in Miami at a seaside location. A major native American find has been found which contains over one million artifacts and is at least 2,000 years old. The dig has been going on for over two years. The settlement was known as Tequesta. It was thought to be a major trading center at the time. When we think of Giza and the pyramids there, I don’t think any of us would think anything else could be found near there. After all, one might think that entire area has been searched many times. It turns out something else has been found there and it is a tomb. The tomb is 3,200 years old and belongs to an Egyptian named Panehsy. He was the guard of the temple of Amun, an Egyptian god. The tomb was found in Saqqara necropolis, just south of Cairo. The tomb is very temple like and has three temples. Sometimes you have to wonder what our ancient relatives were thinking, especially when you read about some of the horrific things the did, like human sacrifice. There have also been artifacts found which look very hellish and make you wonder why they may have worshiped them. One of the things which we are yet to understand completely are what are known as bog bodies. Bodies were thrown into peat bogs and this had the effect of preserving them. The oldest one found dates back to 8,000 B.C. One body had a rope around his neck. This begs the question, were all the people thrown into the bogs already dead or could this have been some form of capital punishment? On the other hand, was it just an easier way to get rid of a body? Another question was who was thrown into the bog? Was it just criminals who people thought didn’t deserve a decent burial, or was there some other reasons for this type of burial? We keep finding out more about our Neanderthal cousins. I say cousins because most of us have some Neanderthal DNA. Recently some terrifying facts were found out about some of them. A cave in Belgium was found to be a Neanderthal residence, and in that cave evidence of cannibalism was found. Then evidence of the same thing was found in other places where Neanderthals resided. Not all Neanderthals seem to have been cannibals however, so what prompted some groups to eat their fellows? At this time, we have not found the reason for this horrible practice. Could this have something to do with the reason they disappeared about 50,000 years ago? Maybe modern humans were so repulsed at this practice they killed them all? On the other hand, maybe those Neanderthals who were not cannibals fought those who were and eventually the race was destroyed? Scientists are thinking about cloning an ancient Bison. The Bison died in Russia when it was about two years old and became mummified about 8,000 years ago. It was a member of an extinct species of Bison. Some experts are saying this won’t work because they don’t believe the DNA is preserved well enough for the cloning. We tend to think a dead person can not hurt us. I am not talking about the paranormal, I am talking in particular about mummies. It turns out they can. A group of mummies was on display when scientists noticed a fungus on them. The mummies have been traveling around the United States to different events. Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History has alerted the public the mummies may not be safe to get near. The mummies are in glass cases, but the authorities said they don’t know how airtight the cases are. A batch of severed right hands were found from ancient Egypt. It seems the Hyksos people had them. Archaeologists believe they might have been the right hands of their captured enemies. I am not so sure, because they could have been criminals who had their hands cut off. Unless we find a record of why this was done, we may never know for sure. Archaeologists in Armenia just found the find of a lifetime. The dig was begun in 2013 at Metsamor. What they found blew their collective minds. It was a vast treasure of gold and silver beads and decorations. These were found in a tomb. It is amazing how people thought they could take this stuff with them. Another amazing thing about the graves they found is the fact this grave had not been looted as many of the others had. It has gained the name, the golden tomb.
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