10.
Mummified Fetus in King Tut’s Tomb
The discovery of King Tut’s tomb was one of the greatest finds in recent history!!
Not only was it full of unimaginable treasures but over the years even more and more discoveries
have finally been getting the attention they deserve.
You may be surprised to learn that when King Tut’s burial was discovered in 1922, two
mummified baby fetuses were found in his tomb.
They each were found in tiny little coffins, but after the tomb was opened they were put
on a shelf at a museum in England and forgotten for 100 years.
Everyone just assumed they were internal organs.
One was from around the seventh month of a pregnancy, and the other was from the fifth
month.
For nearly a century, scientists were unsure who the unborn babies were.
Some believed that they were King Tut’s stillborn children.
To find out, they performed DNA tests in 2008.
They were only able to get partial profiles, but it was enough to conclude that the fetuses
are, in fact, Tutankhamen’s daughters who sadly didn’t make it.
When their father died, they were buried with him.
The team also ran a genetic test on the remains of a woman believed to be King Tut’s half-sister
and Great Royal Wife Ankhesen-amun.
The results were also partial, but suggest that she was the mother of the two princesses.
The Egyptian pharaohs were often married to their brothers and sisters to keep their royal
bloodline pure.
We don’t know for sure who King Tut’s parents were.
It’s believed he was the son of Akhenaten and one of his queens.
There has been no archaeological evidence showing that King Tut left any children when
he died at just 19 years old.
The mummified babies were studied as part of a bigger effort to trace royal bloodlines
from Ancient Egypt.
9.
Crusader Camp
Israeli archaeologists recently revealed the first-ever discovery of a Crusader camp in
the Tzipori Springs area of Galilee.
This is a camp where actual religious crusaders and knights would come stay!
The Crusades were a series of religious wars between Muslims and Christians over a period
that lasted from the 11th to the 13th century.
Bloody conflicts erupted as the two sides fought ruthlessly for control of holy sites
that they both considered sacred.
With encouragement from the Roman Catholic Church, European powers launched numerous
military campaigns throughout the Middle East.
At one point, they seized control of Jerusalem.
Evidence from the transition to Christian rule is scarce, making the recent discovery
especially significant.
Tzipori Springs was home to numerous Christian and Muslim camps over a 125-year period.
It is here that Christian forces stayed for two months leading up to the Battle of Hattin
in 1187, when Muslim troops fighting under Sultin Saladin reconquered the area.
Archaeologist Dr. Rafael Lewis said that the team unearthed different clusters of artifacts
from the many camps that once dotted the landscape.
The findings back up the historical narrative, which describes how Christian soldiers all
served the same king but were not a centralized force.
Lewis further explained that the “material culture” of the artifacts improved as they
got closer to the springs, indicating that Crusaders of higher-ranking social status
got the best campsites near the water.
Oddly, the team found very little evidence of daily activities, like cooking pots.
They think that when the fighters left their camps, they took certain items with them back
to their permanent settlements.
The discoveries at Tzipori Springs mark a good first step toward learning more about
Crusader camps.
8.
Ice Needle Designs
Scientists have long known that thawing and freezing cycles in certain cold parts of the
world create beautiful patterns on the ground.
Rocks rearrange themselves into rings, lines, swirls, and other designs that look man-made
but are entirely natural.
Until recently, researchers struggled to understand how and why this happens.
A team of experts claims to have finally solved the mystery, which shows that when ice needles
form, rocks are pushed into concentrated areas, causing the patterns to form.
The study builds on a century’s worth of speculation that the relationship between
ice needles and rocks had something to do with the designs.
Ice needles result from an imbalance between the temperature of wet soil and the temperature
of the air, which draws moisture to the surface.
When the water molecules hit the frigid air, they freeze into needle-like shapes.
Researchers think the findings could be useful for studying a similar phenomenon on Mars.
Images captured by the Curiosity rover show patterns that look like they were created
by a subtler version of the process that happens here on Earth.
There’s not much water in the Martian atmosphere, but scientists have detected some evidence
of tiny ice crystals in the soil.
7.
The First Dinosaurs to Live in Herds
Nearly 200 million years ago, dozens of dinosaurs died together in the southern Patagonian region
of modern-day Argentina.
Scientists just announced their discovery of the site, which ultimately yielded over
100 fossilized dinosaur eggs and the remains of around 80 juvenile and adult Muss-aurus
dinosaurs.
Equipped with a long neck and tail and a small head, Mussaurus grew up to 20 feet (6 meters)
long and weighed as much as one-and-a-half tons (1.4 metric tons).
Newborns walked on four legs, but became bipedal by the time they reached adulthood.
Mussaurus was one of the larger species that existed during the Jurassic period, which
came before the era of the really gigantic dinos known as titanosaurs.
These ancient Jurassic plant-eaters died all together for reasons that are unclear.
A recent study of the fossils theorizes that the reptiles may have died as the result of
drought and were buried by wind-blown dust.
Describing the discovery as “one of a kind,” paleontologist Diego Pol said that the site
contains clear evidence that early long-necked dinosaurs were social animals who lived in
herds.
In a phenomenon known as “age segregation,” the fossils were grouped by age – hatchlings
and eggs were in one area while juveniles were in another, and adults were alone or
in pairs.
This shows that Mussaurus had a complex social structure with adults that played different
roles, including looking after young and foraging for food.
Until now, the oldest evidence of dinosaur herding behavior dated back to 150 million
years ago, making Mussaurus, by far, the earliest known dinosaur to live in groups.
6.
Skeletons Beneath Pub
While demolishing a former pub in the Irish city of Cork recently, workers found a partial
human skeleton.
The local police, coroner, and city archaeologist Ciara Bret were called to the scene, where
they determined that the bones were historic in nature, not the result of a recent crime,
and turned the job over to archaeologists.
Over the following weeks, the team dug up the fragmented remains of five more people.
In an interview with RTE Radio’s “Morning Ireland” show, Bret said that the skeletons
predate the 19th century building at the site, and that she thinks they’re from the 18th
century or earlier.
The only way to know for sure is to radiocarbon date the bones, which is in the works but
could take months to complete.
An archaeologist who specializes in bones will also examine the skeletons.
It’s one of those situations where only time will tell if there’s a fascinating
story attached to the individuals who were found beneath the pub, or if they were ordinary
people whose remains can help paint a more detailed picture of what day-to-today life
was like during their time.
5.
Banana-Colored Catfish
Martin Glatz is an experienced angler who’s caught many catfish throughout his lifetime.
But even this seasoned pro was surprised when he caught an enormous, bright yellow wels
catfish while fishing in the Netherlands.
Something began tugging on the man’s fishing line, and he could tell that he was in for
a fight with whatever it was.
Once Glatz got a glimpse of the creature’s vivid coloring, he realized that the fish
he was reeling in wasn’t just big, it was exceptionally rare.
Wels catfish are typically greenish-brown to black in color, depending on the type of
water they’re in.
The specimen that Glatz captured likely has a genetic disorder called leucism, which causes
reduced skin and hair pigment.
It’s been observed among plenty of different animals, but is not common – after all,
Glatz has been fishing for most of his life, and this was the first time he ever saw a
leucistic fish.
He took a few photos with the catch and released it back into the water, where it will hopefully
thrive despite being at a disadvantage among other creatures due to its bright hue.
Have you ever seen a creature with leucism?
Let me know in the comments below!
4.
A “Really Weird” Prehistoric Animal
Last year, news headlines around the world reported the discovery of a hummingbird-sized
prehistoric creature encased in a hunk of amber.
The animal died 99 million years ago in what is now Myanmar.
It resembles a bizarre cross between a bird and a dinosaur, and at first, scientists thought
it was a dinosaur – perhaps the smallest one in the world.
But many experts were skeptical of this assumption, and a study identifying the creature as a
dinosaur was retracted late last year when researchers began to suspect that maybe they
had gotten it wrong.
New research found that the animal is a prehistoric lizard, but not a dinosaur.
Scientists discovered a new fossil of the same species and noticed that its beak was
less bird-like than the subject of the first study.
As it turned out, the original specimen’s snout had been disfigured as the amber around
it hardened, giving it a more bird-like appearance than it naturally had.
Study co-author Juan Diego Daza said in a press release that the “really weird animal,”
as he described it, is unlike any modern lizard.
He further explained that many lizards emerged into existence during the time period, but
they hadn’t evolved to look like the lizards we’re familiar with today.
This actually helps to explain why scientists mistook the creature for a dinosaur.
Early lizards had a mixture of characteristics that we tend to associate with other groups
of animals, making it difficult even for the experts to identify them properly.
3.
The Earth Has Slowed Down
The average earth day is 86,400 seconds long.
But the speed at which the world spins isn’t as consistent as people tend to think.
Numerous factors affect the planet’s rotation, including the oceans, atmosphere, and activity
in the core.
The international standard for measuring time is known as Universal Coordinated Time (UTC).
It’s based on atomic clocks – which, unlike the Earth’s spin, are precise and unchanging.
Astronomical time, on the other hand, is based on the planet’s rotation.
So when the world slows down or speeds up, astronomical time can become inconsistent
with Universal Coordinated Time.
Scientists resolve these discrepancies by adjusting UTC in units called “leap seconds.”
The last time they did this was at the very end of New Year’s Eve in 2016, when they
added one second onto the year.
This isn’t really a big deal.
In fact, since 1972, scientists have added a leap second to UTC once every 18 months
on average.
But they’ve never added what’s known as a negative leap second, which is what it sounds
like – a reduction of time.
Well, as they say, there’s a first time for everything, and that time may come relatively
soon.
In 2020, the world sped up, breaking the record for the planet’s shortest day 28 times.
The shortest day last year was 1.46 milliseconds less than the average of 86,400 seconds.
The planet has slowed down this year, but it’s still spinning faster than average,
and if it continues spinning at its current speed, a negative leap second could be required
in about a decade.
But there’s no telling what the world might do.
It could slow down to the point where another regular leap second is required.
I guess all we can do is wait and see!
2.
Mummified Cake
Seventy-nine years ago, someone baked a hazelnut-and-almond cake at their home in the German town of Lübeck.
Before the person got a chance to eat their creation, the British Royal Air Force bombed
the town.
The baker’s apartment building was hit and collapsed into its cellar.
The cake somehow avoided being crushed and was preserved by the intense heat of the blast,
which carbonized the dessert.
It was discovered in its bizarrely intact state by workers earlier this year.
You heard correctly: A mummified cake.
After the air raid, people in Lübeck didn’t bother to dig up their buried cellars.
Instead, they built new houses over the destroyed ones.
While the decades-old cake is no longer edible, it makes for a fascinating artifact.
Experts have cleaned it up and are working to identify any dangerous substances on the
blackened baked good that could react badly to chemicals they plan to use to preserve
it.
1.
Sacrificial Site in Peru
https://www.realmofhistory.com/2018/05/02/las-llamas-largest-child-sacrifice-peru/ Finding one set of skeletal remains is fascinating
for archaeologists.
But to find the remains of 140 children between the ages of five and 14 was a stunning discovery
made in Peru.
The pre-Columbian burial site located near the city of Trujillo dates back more than
550 years.
Believed to be one of the largest child sacrifices in history, the bodies were found at a site
known as Las Llamas.
All of the bodies had lesions on their sternums which experts believe came from a ceremonial
knife.
Found at the site with the bodies were over 200 juvenile llamas, adding further evidence
to the idea that they held ritualistic significance and that they were sacrificed on the same
day as the children.
Red pigment was also found on the faces of many of the children.
Those who had the wounds on their bones suffered the pain of having their rib cages dislocated,
leading researchers to believe it was done to extract their hearts as a symbol of sacrifice.
The children were healthy, proving they were well-nourished when they died.
Even more chilling was the discovery of 550-year-old small footprints that indicate the children
were marched to the site.
Dating back to the ancient Chimu people, the sacrifices are believed to have been performed
to appease the gods after El Nino caused massive floods in the area.
Sacrifices of this kind weren’t uncommon.
Similar to the site in Peru, the bodies of 42 sacrificed children were found at the Aztec’s
Templo Mayor.
But this discovery, although macabre, is one of history’s largest human sacrifices.
That’s all for today – thanks for watching!
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