News About Ancient Finds There is a lot to talk about different things today so I am deciding on what I think might be the most interesting. I think I would like to start out by talking about evolution and recent finds. Some scientists are saying they might have to rethink the theory of evolution. I think this is a good start because much of it is forced. When something doesn’t fit it is just ignored. So why are they thinking this way all of a sudden? One reason is science if finding out brain size does not always equate with differences in intelligence. An ancient race has been found which is thought to have only had a brain the size of an orange and yet they had skeletons which would have enabled them to do much the same thing as modern humans such as making tools. It was found these creatures which looked more like apes than humans were burying their dead in a ritualistic way. Some scientists couldn’t believe what they found when a cave full of their bodies was unearthed. They said creatures like this didn’t do that, but they were wrong. The creatures are known as H.naledi and evidence was found they were butchering their food. Scientists were able to figure out much about their brains using new techniques. When they examined their skulls what they found astounded them. The skulls showed they had a large frontal lobe which indicates language. They also had areas of their brains which are linked to emotions. The idea in evolution is ever increasing brain size leads to more complexity, but these proto-humans may have had brains as complex as ours only smaller. Many of us think the earth has been pretty much explored and everything which could be discovered probably has, but this isn’t true. To illustrate this point the lost city of Mardaman has been discovered in Iraq. The city is 4,800 years old and it is not like it was hidden in a jungle and covered by foliage. This city prospered for thousands of years. The problem was while there were ruins know about for some time nobody knew what they were ruins of. This was only answered when tablets were found and even then, they had to be translated which took quite some time. The tablets were written in cuneiform and they were written about 1,250 B.C. This city was sometimes under the rule of empires but there were also times when it was independent. Ninety-two tablets were found in an area which had been demolished. The city existed for trade and prospered due to its location between other cities. It became the victim of numerous attacks. Ancient technology has been discovered and some scientists are claiming it is some of the oldest technology on earth. The cave where it was found is located in Kenya and the technology spoken about goes back more than 60,000 years. It could turn out to be even older since science is finding out things are much older than first thought. As the cave was being excavated thousands of objects were found. They may not seem like much to us today, but we have to remember how old they are. Take for example crayons which were found. It is estimated these red crayons are about 48,000 years old. Beads were found which were made from sea shells and ostrich eggs. It was a surprising find since these people were hunter gatherers and one scientist said it was like finding a smart phone from a hundred years ago. That almost makes sense to me but not quite. Over 30,000 of these items were found and they were in mint condition. There were also sharp arrow points which were made from bone. I have to wonder about this cave, could it have been some sort of Stone Age factory for the trading of objects? Scientists are saying the cave had 78,000 years of human habitation. This seems almost impossible doesn’t it? Can you imagine a city being populated for that long? I can’t. It makes me wonder why some of our most ancient cities are not far older. It seems like the Dead Sea Scrolls just keep giving up more information. Researchers in Israel are using a new NASA technology to examine the scrolls and it is revealing here to fore unknown words and letters. The examiners now believe this technology has allowed them to find out about a new unknown manuscript. So far about 1,000 ancient manuscripts have been found. This makes me think there could be even more and the discovery of an unknown one seems to indicate this. It seems there were dozens of fragments which nothing could be seen on but this new procedure has made the ink visible on them. Researchers announced they have translated one of the last two parts of the scrolls. When you dig in places like Italy and Greece you have to expect to have your projects delayed due to unexpected finds. A subway project has been going on in Greece for the last 13 years or so and was projected to take 15 years and finish in 2020. That was until a city named Thessaloniki had to stop their dig due to the fact an ancient highway from the 6th century was found along with other urban works. The amazing part was they were in pristine condition. The head of the antiques department of the cultural ministry said, "We did not know such important urban changes had been carried out in this era, probably under (Byzantine Emperor) Justinian." She went on to say "We were surprised to discover the road in such exceptional condition. This phase of the city's history was mostly unknown to us." Being in a country which is only a few hundred years old, it is amazing to me that some of the ancient cities in Europe and other places keep finding even older parts of their cities along with buildings and other structures. When we find something a hundred years old we think wow that was old, but in the scheme of things it is nothing compared to other places. Will we ever find something we didn’t know existed here which is ancient? It is possible, but only very remotely and if we did, it would most likely be Native American in content because it doesn’t seem there was much here before them.
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