Ancient remains including a 3,000 year-old stone circle and presumed place of sacrifice have been discovered near Vitemölla on Österlen in the far south of Sweden. The site extends over two hectares and is older and bigger than the region’s celebrated Ale’s Stones.
The site, presumed to date from the bronze age, is reported to be probably the largest stone circle in the whole of northern Europe.
Source: thelocal.se
Volcanoes were active on the Moon’s surface soon after it was formed, a new study in the journal Nature suggests.
Precision dating of a lunar rock that fell to Earth shows our satellite must have had lava erupting across its vast plains 4.35 billion years ago.
This is hundreds of millions of years earlier than had been indicated by the rocks collected by Apollo astronauts.
Source: bbc.co.uk
Remains of a bus-sized prehistoric “monster” reptile found on a remote Arctic island may be a new species never before recorded by science, researchers said Tuesday.
Initial excavation of a site on the Svalbard islands in August yielded the remains, teeth, skull fragments and vertebrae of a reptile estimated to measure nearly 40 feet long, said Joern Harald Hurum of the University of Oslo.
“It seems the monster is a new species,” he told The Associated Press.
Source: wired.com
Ancient written texts from the Middle East may reveal that the use of biological weapons dates back more than 3300 years, according to a new review.
The historical documents hint that the Hittites – whose empire stretched from modern-day Turkey to northern Syria – sent diseased rams to their enemies to weaken them with tularemia, a devastating bacterial infection that remains a potential bioterror threat even today, says the review.
Source: newscientist.com
Many of history’s most famous shipwrecks, tombs and relics are still missing. Jennifer Saranow on the growing high-tech hunt for them.
With as many as 1,500 active satellites orbiting the Earth and the human population approaching seven billion, you’d think that everything of value on the planet would have been discovered by now.
Source: wsj.com
Carbon dating tests and excavation of a colorful pre-Incan temple indicate that it was built thousands of years ago by an advanced civilization, a prominent archaeologist said in comments published Sunday by a Peruvian newspaper.
Unearthed in Peru’s archeologically rich northern coastal desert, the temple has a staircase leading to an altar that was used for worshipping fire and making offerings to deities, Walter Alva, who headed the three-month excavation, told El Comercio.
Source: yahoo.com
A very interesting and very strange history of Gian Spheres from around the world.
Source: cabinetmagazine.org
Europe’s tallest man-made mound, Silbury Hill, may have been a tomb for the souls of dead Neolithic men, according to archaeologists.
Archaeologists discovered Neolithic builders introduced hundreds of sarsen stones into the hill, which they believe were considered sacred by humans of the period.
Source: dailymail.co.uk
Lawyers for the Central Intelligence Agency faced pointed questions in a federal court hearing Monday morning about the agency’s efforts to block disclosure of long-secret records about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Three appellate judges probed for explanations of the agency’s rationale for withholding records concerning a deceased undercover CIA officer named George Joannides whose role in the events of 1963 remains unexplained.
Source: huffingtonpost.com
French archaeologists have discovered an 11,000-year-old work of art in northern Syria which is the oldest known wall painting, even though it looks like a work by a modernist.
The two square-metre painting, in red, black and white, was found at the Neolithic settlement of Djade al-Mughara on the Euphrates, northeast of the city of Aleppo.
Source: telegraph.co.uk
Brazilian and Argentine paleontologists have discovered the largely complete fossil of a new species of giant dinosaur that roamed what is now northern Patagonia about 80 million years ago.The herbivorous Futalognkosaurus dukei measured an estimated 105 feet to 112 feet from head to tail and was as high as a four-storey building. It is one of the three biggest dinosaurs yet found in the world.
Source: reuters.com
Ecologists have photographed a little-known nomadic tribe deep in Peru’s Amazon, a sighting that could intensify debate about the presence of isolated Indians as oil firms line up to explore the jungle.
Carrying arrows and living in palm-leaf huts on the banks of the Las Piedras river, the tribe was glimpsed last week by researchers flying over the Alto Purus national park near the Brazilian border to look for illegal loggers.
Source: abcnews.go.com
The fossil of a prehistoric sea monster that lived more than 144 million years ago has been found in a river on the edge of west Belfast.
Source: bbc.co.uk
The mysteries of the Order of the Knights Templar could soon be laid bare after the Vatican announced the release of a crucial document which has not been seen for almost 700 years.
A new book, Processus contra Templarios, will be published by the Vatican’s Secret Archive on Oct 25, and promises to restore the reputation of the Templars, whose leaders were burned as heretics when the order was dissolved in 1314.
Source: telegraph.co.uk
