Man Finds Buried Treasure of 1,500-year-old Gold Coins Worth Over $13,000 in English Field

• Chris Kutler, 54, read article that coins might be in the area and started scanning
• Coins are 1.5 grams each, ~$13,000 total
• Merovingian style dating back to Dark Ages
• Technically a "hoard" from Royal burials

An Englishman named Chris Kutler has been hunting with a metal detector for over 25 years and just made the biggest discovery of his life. 

He spent 4 days systematically scanning a 5,200 sq foot field in Chelmsford, Essex (~1.5 hours northeast of London) because he read an article suggesting there may be remains of treasure there. Chris had actually been there 18 years before when he found other rare Anglo-Saxon coins at that are now housed at the British Museum.

Ancient Coin "Hoard"

According to law, a treasure is considered "two or more coins from the same find, at least 300 years old, and contains at least 10% gold." So, technically, Kutler found a "hoard" of ancient coins.

These specific coins are called "Tremissis" meaning "a third of a unit," which measured 1.5 grams. It turns out the belonged to the Merovingians, a Salian Frankish dynasty that ruled the Franks for nearly 300 years in what is today's France starting from the mid 5th century. 

Researchers believe these newfound gold coins were buried with an Anglo-Saxon King about 1,500 years ago. That would mean they're from the Dark Ages of 620-640AD. These kinds of coins are usually found buried with high-class people or even royalty.

“It was the best feeling in the world.”

— Chris Kutler

“It is kind of the Holy Grail of metal detecting. It was an incredible feeling to find the coins.

When I found the first, I thought it was a wasp. I got a flash of yellow and threw it back but then I realised what it was.”

— Chris Kutler

Treasure Hunter Methodology

When asked how he found these rare gold coins, Mr. Kutler actually did a lot of careful research and investigation before investing the time to scan locations. "I started collecting data about place names, I would locate the name of the place, and field names often indicate archaeological activity."

Then on the field, he used a simple yet very practical and systematic strategy. "I decided to rake the topsoil off and get down to the compact soil [underneath], and scanned the area off in 100 square meters, and did every one individually."

When asked about why he decided to return to the area when hearing possible more coins were hidden in the area after he'd already scanned it before, Mr. Kutcler said: "I thought I really need to do it because this is the last time I am going to do it. I needed to go back. If you find one coin there are probably many."

The official value of these Anglo Saxon gold coins will be appraised by the British Museum but may take up to a year for a complete analysis. Let's hope they don't go missing and forgotten like artifacts in the Smithsonian.

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Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5111751/Treasure-hunter-unearths-1-500-year-old-Anglo-Saxon-coins.html#ixzz502Q6mJRn 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merovingian_dynasty

X-Ray Scans Reveal Secrets of Ancient Egypt's Child Mummy After 1,900 Years

• Found in Hawara, Egypt in 1911
• One of 100 "portrait mummies"
• Combined X-ray and CT scans
• From upper-class and died of disease

This astonishing small 3-foot mummy was originally found in 1911 by archaeologists in Hawara, Egypt and named the Garret Mummy. There's a detailed portrait covering the face and the linen wrappings were intricately woven in a  geometric pattern of overlapping rhomboids that framed the portrait. It's an image of a little girl with a serene look on her face, dark hair tied back, wearing a dark red tunic and gold jewelry. Entombed besides her in the same underground chamber were four other mummies.

Modern Tech Solves an Ancient Mystery

After 106 years of patiently waiting for some method to examine the mummy without damaging it, scientists from Northwestern University are using an innovative X-ray scanning technique to see through her mystery. These scans revealed how her body was prepared 1,900 years ago, what items she was buried with, and even what killed her. 

This is the first time x-ray scattering technique has been used on a human mummy as it uses extremely brilliant high-energy x-rays combined with CT scans to probe the materials and objects inside the mummy, while leaving the mummy and her wrappings intact. 

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This recreated a 3D map of the mummy's entire structure allowing researchers to confirm she was a 5-year-old girl. 

The study's leader, Professor Stuart Stock, said:

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"This is a unique experiment, a 3D puzzle. We have some preliminary findings about the various materials, but it will take days before we tighten down the precise answers to our questions. We have confirmed that the shards in the brain cavity are likely solidified pitch, not a crystalline material. We also are investigating a scarab-shaped object, her teeth, and what look like wires near the mummy's head and feet."

 

Portrait Mummies

Other than the Garrett mummy, there are about 100 other mummies with lifelike portraits placed over their faces. Researchers believe Romans influenced the Egyptians to create paintings for the deceased instead of sculptures. 

The Garrett Mummy's portrait looks different than the others, like using a unique style from another artisan or workshop. Analysis shows the painting was made with beeswax and pigments. These clues lead researchers to believe this mummified girl belonged to an upper-class household who had the wealth and culture to preserve their child in such a way. 

Such an exotic find among an already rare mummy caused great excitement for Professor Marc Walton, a researcher of the study, who said:

"Intact portrait mummies are exceedingly rare, and to have one here on campus was revelatory for the class and exhibition. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our undergraduate students - and for me - to work at understanding the whole object that is this girl mummy. Today's powerful analytical tools allow us to nondestructively do the archaeology scientists couldn't do 100 years ago."

The scans suggested the girl died of tuberculosis, smallpox, or malaria, says Dr. Taco Terpstra.

Since there were no obvious signs of physical damage, it's more likely she died from a disease. 

“We’re basically able to go back to an excavation that happened more than 100 years ago and reconstruct it with our contemporary analysis techniques. All the information we find will help us enrich the entire historical context of this young girl mummy and the Roman period in Egypt.”

— Professor Walden

Future Possibilities

With this Garrett Mummy study as an example of how technology can help archaeologists and historians extract more information from hard to investigate artifacts, especially such old and delicate ones wrapped beneath layers of culturally significant materials, there may be a new wave of data when scientists restudy such ancient items with new scanners.

The mysterious void found in the Great Pyramid of Giza is one more example of this, and I can't wait until they try scanning those crystal skulls! 

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Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5132131/Unravelling-mystery-Garrett-mummy.html

http://www.cetusnews.com/tech/Unravelling-the-mystery-of-the-Garrett-mummy.SkaLO5pgG.html

Ancient Underwater Castle Discovered in Turkey After Decade of Searching

After 10 years of searching, Turkish underwater diving team finally make a huge discovery. 

Hidden beneath the waters of Turkey's Lake Van researchers found a 3,000-year-old castle. The leader of this long adventure is Tahsin Ceylan from Van Yüzüncü Yıl University who admits he was actually hunting for the mysterious Lake Van monster instead.

"There was a rumor that there might be something under the water but most archaeologists and museum officials told us that we won't find anything," Ceylan told the Daily Sabah. But he paid no heed to the neigh sayers, kept following his vision, and now made an even greater discovery than he dreamed. Arnold Schwartzenegger would call this kind of person a champion. 

Lake Van is the largest body of water in Turkey and once belonged to the Urartu civilization that peaked about 2,600-2,900 years ago, corresponding to the biblical Kingdom of Ararat. There were many conflicts around here in the past and it's debatable that this castle was actually used as a fortress in ancient times. 

It measures .6 miles long (1 km) and made of cut stones stacked up to 13 feet high. Despite being underwater for many years, it's still in good shape due to the alkaline water.

"Many civilizations and people had settled around Lake Van," Ceylan told Hurriyet Daily News. "They named the lake the 'upper sea' and believed it had many mysterious things. With this belief in mind, we are working to reveal the lake's 'secrets'."

Finding More Sunken Treasures

Besides this fortress castle, Ceylan's team has found other impressive treasures along their journey of discoveries. Last year they found 1.5 square miles of stalagmites they nicknamed "Underwater Fairy Chimneys" after Cappadocia's famous "Fairy Chimneys" that were supposedly built or inhabited by mountain fairies. Perhaps then these new ones built by mermaids? They also found thousands of years old gravestones and a Russian ship from 1948. 

Ceylan is very excited to find such a large historically significant artifact and is eager for researchers to arrive so the world can learn more. 

"It is a miracle to find this castle underwater. We now believe we have discovered a new area for archaeologists and historians to study. Archaeologists will come here to examine the castle's history and provide information on it," Ceylan said. 

With an estimated 600,000 year history, this lake is set to contain many more remnants of our humankind's distant past. The only way to know for sure is to keep looking deeper like Ceylan and his team have been doing. So, sometimes you have to just trust yourself and ignore the skeptics to make true breakthroughs.

Keep exploring and go further. Let us know what you find. 

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Sources:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/castle-discovered-lake-turkey-underwater-lake-van-urartu-thousands-years-old-a8070911.html

http://www.iflscience.com/editors-blog/mysterious-3000yearold-castle-found-hidden-in-turkish-lake/

5 Clues that a Global Flood Actually Happened

In the book Genesis, it was said that there was once a flood so great that it overwhelmed the entire world. This flood was known as the Global Flood, and all people died from the flood besides a few people chosen by God. Those chosen few were supposed “not wicked” in their hearts and didn’t deserve to die like the rest of the world did. Although many people believe that the story is just a myth, there have been hints that support the legitimacy of the story. Without further ado, here are five clues that a Great Global Flood actually happened.
 

1. International Flood Stories

The first clue that a Global Flood happened is the fact that many, many cultures around the world have had flood stories that occurred in similar time periods. Such ubiquitous presence of flood legends across the world can’t just be a mere coincidence. Efficient communication tools existed back then, so how did they all come up with the story of a great flood?

From Mesopotamia to Nigeria to China, these flood stories and legends are in almost every culture imaginable. Although nowadays, these are thought to be mere myths, we have to understand that people back then could not share information as fast and easily as we can today. Most of the time stories were how people passed down information about events that occurred.

So maybe there are myths and legends about a great flood from all around the world because people all around the world did, in fact, witness a great flood.
 

2. Evidence in China

Like in many other civilizations, ancient texts say that the Chinese civilization began due to a great flood. Recently, archaeologists have found evidence of a great flooding of the yellow river that provides clues about the Xia dynasty, which is the almost mythical first dynasty of China.

Legends say there was a flood that had waves as tall as a 30 story building and crushed anything in its path, even toppling mountains and seemed like it would never stop.

Lands in China was submerged in water, and it was because of the efforts of Da Yu or Yu the Great, who gathered the people to dig tunnels channeling the water back to its source, thus becoming the ruler of the Xia Dynasty. Of course, this 4,000-year-old story was believed to be only a myth to some, but recently researchers say, it may not have been a myth at all.

After observing the Yellow River’s Jishi Gorge area, geologists stated that there was an ancient landslide that created a dam about 660 feet tall. The dam blocked the river and as a result, created a lake that rose high above present river levels. Months later, when the water broke the dam, it created a massive flood that destroyed everything in its path.

Sediments were found by researchers that gave evidence to a flood that rose as high as 50 meters above river levels. Precise dating later revealed that the approximate date for the flood would have been 1920 BC. So It’s possible that the Global Flood occurred at that time, and China was heavily affected by it.
 

3. Rising Water Levels 12,000 Years Ago

The third clue comes from a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The NOAA has recently documented evidence that water levels rose dramatically around 12,000 years ago, which would supposedly rewrite the entire geological history. After looking at satellite images, evidence has been found of water recession during the past 12,000 years.

During the same time, there was also a major pole shift that explains the displacement of the icebergs during the end of the last Ice Age. This shows that there could have been a great flood that happened thousands of years ago that was caused by a pole shift due to changes in the magnetic resonance of the Earth. The water from the melting glaciers began to rush toward the world's oceans, causing floods all around the world.
 

4. Submerged Civilizations

There are many massive underwater structures and sunken discovered all around the world.  For example,  a city was found off the coast of West India in the Gulf of Cambay. The city was found to be 10,000 years old and was completely submerged under 130 ft of water. Fishermen in the area had previously claimed that there were stories passed on from generation to generation of an underwater city in the area, but no one believed them or cared to investigate.

It was only until the pollution survey test was made by India’s National Institute of Ocean Technology that scientists found huge structures at the bottom of the ocean in that area.The structures that were retrieved were carbon dated to be around 10,000 years old. Like I mentioned underwater cities like this one are found all around the world researchers even discovered wheel tracks such as the ones in Maltese archipelago where the tracks look like they deliberately plunge off cliffs or up and down very steep ridges, and some even drive off the island and into the sea, continuing underwater. It is not yet known who made the tracks, or why.

5. The Black Sea

This is something that started out as a theory by two Columbia University researchers. According to them, there really was a “Mother of Floods” that occurred in the Black Sea region. They said that the Black Sea was once a freshwater lake surrounded by land until it was flooded.

The force of the water was monumental and swept everything in its path. To investigate the validity of the theory, Robert Ballard, who is well known for discovering the Titanic, decided to look for remnants of the flood. 400 ft below the surface of the Black Sea, Ballard and his team found an ancient shoreline, which proved that something did happen in the Black Sea.

After carbon dating shells that were on the shoreline, Ballard said that whatever happened in the area occurred around 5,000 BC which is believed by experts to be the time when Noah’s flood suppose to have occurred.

What do you think? Did a Great Global Flood really exist that destroyed almost all of the world? Or were there separate floods in certain civilizations that coincidentally occurred during the same period?

People Who May Have Been Saved by Ghosts

Ghosts can be terrifying, but I don’t think they’re all dangerous. Of course, there are stories of demon possessions all around the world, but I think ghosts usually want to be left alone. Some people believe ghosts will even go as far as saving people’s lives. Here are some examples of such cases.
 

1. The Gray Man

The small town of Pawleys Island in South Carolina is home to beautiful beaches, historic homes and apparently a lot of ghosts, the most famous of which is known as the gray man. For 200 years there have been numerous sightings of the mysterious grey figure typically right before a major hurricane hits the area. And seeing the grey man could not only save your life but also save your home.

Sounds like an urban legend right? Well, not according to Jim and Clara Moore who had a run in with the Grey Man two days before Hurricane Hugo struck in 1989. They told the story on one of my favorite childhood shows, mysteries. According to Jim, "We were talking a walk late in the afternoon which we usually do. You see so many people walking on the beach at this time of the day. That particular afternoon we only saw the one, and he was coming directly toward us. When I got within speaking distance, I raised my hand to say ‘Hi’ or ‘Beautiful evening’ or whatever, and he disappeared.”

Although the hurricane wreaked havoc on Jim and Clara’s neighborhood, their home was somehow the only one to escape the storm unscathed.

No one really knows who the Grey Man was, some say he was just some pirate, there are others who claim he was a young man who died in quicksand while on the way to see the woman that he loved. Not long after his death he appeared before his lover and warned her to leave the island the woman and her family did, right before a deadly hurricane struck. So I’m thinking maybe he loved the woman so much he came back to warn her but in the process was cursed to wander through eternity warning others of impending doom. So kinda like the Flying Dutchman, except the opposite.

2. The Wife with a Warning

According to the Chicago Tribune, a farmer named Charles Henry Durand was heading home late one evening when his horse stopped in the middle of the road, yea this happened back when people still rode horses, anyway, his horse stopped and would not move any further and began to tremble. Suddenly the air grew oppressive, and a faint light appeared gradually taking the shape of a woman beside Durand's wagon.

At this point, Durand wanted to run away, but he said he was scared stiff. The white figure then spoke in a whisper and said: "There is danger at home, stay away until morning." It was then Durand said he recognized the voice of his late wife. As soon as the warning was uttered, the figure disappeared.

Durand just went straight on home where he noticed that a window he had locked was now open and there were muddy footprints inside the house. As he walked inside carefully, he noticed a string which he pulled with his umbrella. Right then a gun went off, and the bullet would have hit Durand straight in the chest if he did not notice the string which was hard to see in the dark, Durand told the paper he would have died if not for the warning of his late wife.

3. The Woman Who was Dead for 56 Minutes

50-year-old Sonia Burton counts herself as a living miracle, for a good reason too because she was dead for 56 minutes following a heart attack.

Sonia’s day was just like any other as she showed up for work at a bingo hall, but as her shift started, she felt a pain in her chest and then collapsed. Paramedics were on the scene quickly and worked for the next 56 minutes to try to save Sonia as she was being transported the hospital. It was during this time that Sonia said she received a message from her late husband John who died of a heart attack in 2004

She said: "The only thing I remember is my late husband coming to me and saying 'It's not your time Sonia. Go back to the children.' Then I woke up in hospital."

4. The Mother’s Ghost

In March of 2015, emergency responders responded to a report about an overturned car in an icy river. When they arrived, they saw a woman and a baby who was strapped in a seat in the back of her mother’s car, which was hanging upside down in cold water.

Here’s where it gets creepy, when the rescuers entered the water they say they heard a voice calling for help. The 25-year-old mother was already dead, but the officers swear they heard an adult's voice calling out to them for help.

Officer Jared Warner of the Spanish Fork Police Department was one of the first to reach the vehicle; he told the Desert News that “We’ve gotten together and to just talk about it and all four of us swear that we heard somebody inside the car saying, ‘Help,’”

Officer Bryan Dewitt who was also on the scene said “The only people in there were the deceased mother and the child.” Officer Tyler Beddoes another responder said they couldn't explain it, but have no doubt they heard it.

"It wasn't just something that was just in our heads. To me it was plain as day cause I remember hearing a voice," Beddoes told the Deseret News. "I think it was Dewitt who said, 'We're trying. We're trying our best to get in there.' How do you explain that? I don't know,"

Also, it was a miracle that little Lily survived, as she was hanging upside down for almost 14 hours in her car seat with no food or water with the icy river flowing right below her head and temperatures dropping to near freezing throughout the night.

Strange 518-Million-Year-Old 'Mythical Beast' Sea Creature Fossil Discovered

An artistic rendition shows the rare creature had a long worm-like body, a shell over its head like a bike helmet and lengthy scary spikes poking out from either side of its body.

Experts find rare ancient fossilized sea creature that's 'strange beyond measure'

• The second one of its kind ever found
• 518 million years old from Cambrian Period
• Likely lived in shallow waters less than 100 meters deep
   

This bizarre prehistoric sea creature looks like an armored spikey caterpillar from outer space! It was found by archaeologists at southern China's famous fossil site of Yunnan Province where a treasure trove of ancient history lies hidden beneath the earth dating back to the Cambrian Period 541 to 485.4 million years ago. 

Its official name is orthrozanclus elongata, after its long body and despite the tens of thousands of fossils in the area, only 2 of these have ever been found so far. 

1. The first one was dug up in 2015 in Chengjiang fossil site by Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology's researchers. 
2. The second was discovered in 2016 in Kunming by a fossil lover who gave it to Mr. Zhao, who learned it was the same as species. 

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Zhao Fangchen holds one of the two fossils of the ancient species that have been discovered in Yunnan Province, China.

“The two specimens could shed light on the diversity of extinct creatures as well as their connection with animals in modern times.”

— Zhao Fangchen, researcher

Zhao Fangchen knew as soon as he saw the fossil it was different from others 'even if it was very small' because of its extremely long spikes and unsegmented body. These made it difficult to categorize.

"The creature was about 1.5cm long and 3mm wide, but its spikes were about 6mm long. It just looked so different," said Mr. Zhao.

Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology. Shell-armoured creatures, sclerite-covered taxa, discovered in Chengjiang, Yunnan fossil site. A, b, f, and g are the two new specimens.

Ancient Mythical Beasts

With an armored body and long spikes all around Dr. Smith said "the creature is like a mythical beast." He added that "we don't know much about the animal underneath these mineralized plates - whether it had legs or a slug-like foot, whether it had teeth or tentacles." 

Mr. Zhao Fangchen believes this strange appearance is more than just some ornate decoration to attract mates but that it evolved to protect itself from enemies. The armor is a strong defense and the spikes are even better, acting as feelers through the water as well as an offensive defense to keep predators at a distance. 

Mr. Zhao and other researchers think these fossils backup the Cambrian Explosion theory that claims a huge variety of creatures emerged about 541 million years ago due to a dramatic increase in oxygen. Before that time, there were mostly simple organisms that didn't change much for a long time. This diversification explosion ended during an extinction even about 488 million years ago. 

A tiny but significant discovery.

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Sources:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5132611/518-million-year-old-creature-strange-measure.html

https://www.livescience.com/61021-bizarre-cambrian-worm-discovered.html

China's Dark Matter 'Monkey King' Satellite Detects Evidence of Dark Matter Particles

The Dark Matter Particle Explorer (DAMPE) satellite China launched 310 miles in space in 2015 to collect cosmic ray data just picked up something extraordinary. 

While hunting for traces of dark matter in the universe, the satellite nicknamed "Wukong" or "Monkey King," detected a huge spike of unknown matter. 

Fan Yizhong, deputy chief designer of DAMPE's scientific application system, added that the spike was highly unusual. “The signals might have originated from either dark matter or pulsars,” he said.

Chinese Academy of Sciences' scientists have been recording the DAMPE satellite's findings for two years now and have measured over 3,500,000,000 high energy particles. This is the first anomaly in their electron and positron data spectrum. They are very excited but careful to not overreact to their discovery, waiting for higher probability scores from further analysis to confirm their expectations.

Why is this Important?

Basically, out of the 100% of the matter in the universe, we can only actually see ~5% of it. Then ~27% is "dark matter" that we cannot see but know exists because we can measure its gravitational influence. The last ~68% is the mysterious "dark energy" supposedly expanding everything in the universe. 

A main dark matter theory is that whatever it is can decay into some matter we can see: electrons, positrons, photos, etc. So this is what China's "Monkey King" DAMPE satellite has been scanning for. 

Since scientists have painstakingly searched for hard proof of dark matter for decades with only failure after failure, you can see why this long-awaited little "blip" in the data is actually a huge deal.

The latest findings were published in Nature and show the spectral break at 0.9 TeV (tera-electron-volts) and a potential spike at 1.4 TeV. This discovery helps fine-tune the parameters for future models of cosmic phenomena like pulsars, supernovas, and dark matter. 

In other words, they found visible particles of an invisible needle in the universal haystack and using those to help find evidence of more invisible needles. 

 "Together with data from the cosmic microwave background experiments, high energy gamma-ray measurements, and other astronomical telescopes, the DAMPE data may help to ultimately clarify the connection between the positron anomaly and the annihilation or decay of particle dark matter," Fan Yizhong, said in a statement.

"DAMPE has opened a new window for observing the high-energy universe, unveiling new physical phenomena beyond our current understanding," Chang Jin, chief scientist of DAMPE, told Xinhua. "Our data may inspire some new ideas in particle physics and astrophysics. We never expected such signals.”

So this could propel scientists beyond the bounds of previous limitations. They could have the means to find and interact with the invisible matter of our universe. The potential implications and opportunities are indeed intriguing. 

Chang continued: “The spike might indicate that there exists a kind of unknown particle with a mass of about 1.4 TeV. All the 61 elementary particles predicted by the standard model of particle physics have been found. Dark matter particles are beyond the list. So if we find a new elementary particle, it will be a breakthrough in physics. Even if they were from pulsars, it would be quite a strange astrophysical phenomenon that nobody had known before.”

But for now, the team will just keep logging cosmic ray data to increase their accuracy.

“So far, we are 99.99 percent sure this spike is real, but we need to collect more data. If the statistical probability exceeds 99.99994 percent, it will be a groundbreaking discovery in particle physics and astrophysics,” Chang said.

Even if this new data doesn't solve the dark matter question, astrophysicist at Princeton University David Spergel says, "These measurements will inform our understanding of cosmic ray acceleration [and] will tell us about the physical processes in shocks around supernova and the physics of pulsars."

And then what? I can't wait for someone will invent a device that can see dark matter and reflect that onto a human's brain so we can "see" the rest of the universe. Well, until then keep exploring outside the box.

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Sources:

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/china-detects-weird-space-signals-135544032.html

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/11/china-s-dark-matter-space-probe-detects-tantalizing-signal

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-11/30/c_136788775.htm

Scientists Bring Viking King "Back from the Dead" with 3D Printer

Computer model of dead Viking King's skeleton rebuilt with 3D printer.

Danish Viking king, Gorm the Old, is the son of semi-legendary Danish King Harthacnut, originally from Northmannia, who took power in the early 10th century deposing young king Sigtrygg Gnupasson and reigning over Western Denmark. When Harthacnut died, Gorm ascended the throne and ruled into his old age until he died in 958 AD. 

Scientists at the National Museum of Denmark made computer tomography (CT) scans of Gorm the Old's remains before reburying them in 2000. However, these early low-resolution scans were not good enough to learn many aspects about the man himself. For example, they could only guesstimate his age was between 35 to 50.

In the computer, they repaired the 3D model of his bones to compensate for damages of time. Marie Louise Jørkov of the University of Copenhagen said “you can print the bones one to one in 3D, which makes it possible to display the bones. We can then re-analyse the skeleton and study the bones to look for any signs of disease, which can’t be seen at the surface.”

They found a bump on the back of the skull that “can best be compared to a bunion,” concluded Carsten Reidies Bjarkam of Aarhus University. This is larger than normal but not a big deal, besides it probably being painful to lay down on. There's plenty of room for speculation as to what pressure could have caused such a protrusion, among the most likely may be a battle injury or the heavy burden of the king's crown. 

Despite not being able to gather DNA evidence of this body's actual identity, the museum feels it's best to leave the bones to rest since they've already been excavating and reburied several times. It's also an issue for the church and the royal family to decide. 

“He’s been in the grave for 800 years, which for much of that time was under water, and his bones are very damaged. I doubt that it’s possible to extract DNA or strontium [a trace element that can say something about where a person was born and lived]. Moreover, he’s been disinterred three times now, so it’s also a question of allowing him to rest in peace,” he says.

Rest in peace Viking King.

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Sources:

http://sciencenordic.com/denmark%E2%80%99s-first-viking-king-printed-3d

https://www.archaeology.org/news/6114-171121-gorm-the-old

500 Million-Year-Old Human Footprint Fossil Baffles Scientists

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An ancient trilobite was stepped on by a someone wearing shoes hundreds of millions of years ago.

In the summer of 1968, an amateur fossil collector, William J. Meister, made the discovery of a lifetime 43 miles west of Delta, Utah. To his surprise he found a fossilized human footprint about the size of a US 13 shoe (3.5"W x 10.25"L) stepping on a trilobite. Now, trilobites only existed between 260 to 600 million years ago, so this makes it the oldest human fossil footprint ever discovered! 

Trilobites were small marine invertebrates related to crabs and shrimps. Scientists currently think humans emerged 1 or 2 million years ago and only began wearing such shoes a few thousand years ago. 

This archaeological discovery could be sufficient to overturn all conventionally accepted ideas of human and geological evolution. According to science's currently accepted timeline of human existence on this planet, humans advanced enough to wear shoes would not have existed hundreds of millions of years ago. As one might expect, this sent shockwaves throughout the scientific communities with excitement for a new paradigm shift as well as skeptical denial.

Meister took the rock to a professor of metallurgy at the University of Utah, Melvin Cook, who suggested he show it to the university's geologists. But none of the geologists were willing to examine it, so Meister took it to a local newspaper called The Deseret News and quickly became very well-known around the country.

This amazing find was presented on March 1, 1973 in a creation-evolution debate at California State University in Sacramento. The creationist team included Dr. Duane Gish of the Institute for Creation Research and Reverend Boswell of a local Sacramento church. The scientific team consisted of Dr. Richard Lemmon of the University of California at Berkeley and Dr. G. Ledyard Stebbins of the University of California at Davis. Reverend Boswell said:

I have here something that pretty much destroys the entire geological column. It has been studied by three laboratories around the world and it's been tested and found valid. It represents a footprint that was found at Antelope Springs, Utah, while digging for trilobites.

The man was digging for trilobites, and these are trilobites here and here embedded [pointing to photo]. This is a brick mold of a trilobite footprint [laughter] of a human footprint with a trilobite in it. The man stepped on a living trilobite, [thus burying] him in the mud. This particular strata is dated Cambrian, supposedly 500 million years extinct before man arrived on the face of the earth. The interesting thing about this photograph is that there is also heel marks, which would indicate that they were made by modern man.

In a news conference, the skeptical curator of the Museum of Earth Science at the University of Utah, James Madsen, dismissively said: "There were no men 600 million years ago. Neither were there monkeys or bears or ground sloths to make pseudo-human tracks. What man-thing could possibly have been walking about on this planet before vertebrates even evolved?" 

Another astonishing trilobite fossil discovery was made in Antelope Spring, Arizona on July 20, 1968 by Dr. Clifford Burdick, a consulting geologist from Tucson, Arizona. He found an impression of a child's foot in a bed of shale.

'The impression was about six inches in length, with the toes spreading as if the child had never yet worn shoes, which compress the toes. There does not appear to be much of an arch, and the big toe is not prominent.'

This was shown to two geologists and a paleontologist. One geologist agreed it seemed to belong to a human being, but the paleontologist's opinion was that no biological agent had been involved. Dr.Burdick affirmed:

The rock chanced to fracture along the front of the toes before the fossil footprint was found. On cross section the fabric of the rock stands out in fine laminations, or bedding planes. Where the toes pressed into the soft material, the laminations were bowed downward from the horizontal, indicating a weight that had been pressed into the mud.

Mr. Meister claimed that when he had a geologist examine the print, the geologist offered him $250,000 for the print. Meister asked him, “What are you going to do with it if I sell it to you?” The geologist replied, “I’m going to destroy it, it destroys my entire life work as a geologist.”

It's disappointing to think that some people would be willing to destroy such a monumental artifact that can reveal such a new perspective on our human heritage and origins. 

Respected archaeological researcher, Michael Cremo, has written books on the subject of such examples of ancient artifacts and he has learned that certain scientific institutions, like the Smithsonian Institution, make great efforts to maintain the concept of recent human evolution. He has documented several instances where they deny, defame, and even exile archeologists for publishing their findings for peer review. 

In defense of the dates obtained by the geologists, Virginia Steen-McIntyre wrote in a letter (March 30, 1981) to Estella Leopold, associate editor of Quaternary Research: "The problem as I see it is much bigger than Hueyatlaco. It concerns the manipulation of scientific thought through the suppression of 'Enigmatic Data,' data that challenges the prevailing mode of thinking."

Can you imagine the implications of mankind around the world learning or realizing we are hundreds of millions of years older than we thought and that we have been far more advanced than even we are today? The questions and answers beyond this metaphoric opened doorway could cause a rippling paradigm shift worldwide. 

During one interview, Michael Cremo said:

"The reactions in your question are typical of a group that I call the fundamentalist Darwinists. They support the theory of evolution not for purely scientific reasons, but because it confirms their prior commitments to a strict materialism. They do not want to hear me, and they do not want anyone else to hear me, so they say those kinds of things. Sometimes they try to stop me from lecturing at universities."

Those really seeking the truth are open to new information to learn from and examine the scientific findings rationally without bias. We may have to dig deep within ourselves to find the answers to the questions: Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here?

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Sources:

http://www.footprintsinstone.com/the-footprints/meister-print/

https://ncse.com/cej/2/4/tripping-over-trilobite-study-meister-tracks

http://mcremo.com/

800-Year-Old Tombs of Lord Hu Hong Discovered in China

Here, the rear wall of the coffin chamber in Née Wu's tomb.

Ancient tombs discovered in a Chinese construction site.

After being buried for 800 years, the tombs of Lord Hu Hong and his wife Née Wu were found in Qingyuan County, Zhejiang province, China. There's an inscription that translates to "Grand Master for Thorough Counsel." 

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According to researchers, Hu Hong served the southern Song Dynasty during a time when China was split between two dynasties. There's a long inscription inside Hu Hong's tomb that tells the story of his life. In part, it reads "has been inscribed on this stone to be treasured here, in the hope it will last as long as heaven and earth!"

In 1195 the Chinese government held a massive crackdown on the Tao-hsueh practitioners, a religious group that called out senior officials in the government and even emperors for drinking alcohol, having concubines, and multiple wives. It turns out, Hu Hong was the "Investigating Censor prosecuting the treacherous and the heretical, with awe-inspiring justice." It seems he arrested, or worse, members of this group for publicly criticizing the government. Perhaps the many people he angered in his prosecution took revenge and robbed his tomb. 

Missing Artifacts & Erased Inscriptions

Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology's main researcher, Jianming Zheng, led a team of archaeologists to excavate these tombs. According to them, Lord Hu Hong's tomb was already robbed but his wife's tomb was left intact. Some may suspect foul play due to the political sensitivity and, interestingly, the inscriptions in Née Wu's tomb were not readable, supposedly.

Now, the bodies themselves were extremely decayed despite the large amount of mercury archaeologists found and believe was used in attempts to preserve their bodies. Besides this, the only remaining artifacts were gold jewelry, gold and silver alloy hairpins, elephant patterned porcelain jars, and an interesting crystal disc. 

The Story of Lord Hu Hong

According to researchers and his tomb inscription, Hu Hong was born in April 1147 to a poor family. His father taught Confucianism to the public and, during China's 10th century civil war, his ancestors were refugees moving to Longquan County, near Qingyuan County.

"Hu Hong loved learning, but his family was poor and had no money to buy books. When there were book peddlers passing by, he would borrow the books, read them overnight and return them the next day," the "Gazetteer of Chuzhou Prefecture," which was a text published in 1486, reads in translation.

He was a student of "outstanding talent" and passed government exams amidst peer competition, according to the inscription. Making his way through government ranking over the years, he became the "best county magistrate of the year" in 1193 while serving on the northern borders of the southern Song Dynasty territory. In 1200, "at the time, the Yao tribes were rebellious, and he stamped the rebels out," the inscription reads. 

He seems quite the accomplished official. Yet, towards the end of his career, Hu Hong experienced enough to become critical of the government himself. 

"He knew that he was beyond his prime and insisted on retiring. Had he kept being outspoken, he would have been pushed out. Although worried about current affairs and concerned with the moral decline of the time, and though he could not easily let go, he no longer had the energy to fight and serve," the inscription says.

Finally, Hu Hong died in 1203 with his wife following shortly afterward in 1206 and entombed side by side. After just over 800 years, in March 2014, the tombs were discovered and published in the Chinese journal Wenwu in 2015.

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Sources

https://www.livescience.com/60979-ancient-tombs-chinese-couple.html

https://www.archaeology.org/news/6111-171120-china-hu-hong