![]() | Paleontologists announced the discovery of an "exceptionally well preserved" ancient creature near the eastern shore of Lake Simcoe in southern Ontario. It was found in a stone quarry that scientists have dubbed the "Paleo Pompeii." Named Tomlinsonus dimitrii, the specimen is part of an extinct group of arthropods known as marrellomorphs that lived approximately 450 mya, during the Ordovician period. Researchers discovered the bizarre arthropod last summer during a formal excavation of an active quarry. Similar to the Burgess Shale, the Lake Simcoe quarry was once submerged and part of a shallow ancient tropical marine sea. |
Tuesday, 26 April 2022
450 myo Tomlinsonus dimitrii
Monday, 25 April 2022
Ancient puppy in permafrost
![]() | This 18,000-year-old puppy, preserved in the Siberian permafrost, still has its whiskers. The puppy’s remains were identified by researchers at a site near Yakutsk in eastern Siberia in 2019. Researchers have determined that the animal is male, was 2 months old when he died and lived around 18,000 years ago. DNA testing could not determine if he was a dog or a wolf. Research suggests that dogs and wolves may have diverged from a common ancestor around 40,000 years ago, although some dog breeds may have bred with wolves after that point. |
Sunday, 24 April 2022
Sweden’s Sandby borg yields gold
Saturday, 23 April 2022
Infamous Titanic gold cigarette case
![]() The cigarette case made $50k. | A gold cigarette case that once belonged to a controversial wealthy couple that survived the Titanic disaster was auctioned. The artifact belonged to Sir Cosmo and Lady Duff-Gordon. The couple were accused of bribing their way off the doomed liner. Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon, his fashion designer wife, and her secretary, were among 12 who escaped the sinking ship on Titanic’s Lifeboat Number 1. The lifeboat, dubbed the 'millionaires’ boat,' had a capacity of 40. | ![]() ![]() |
![]() | Sir Cosmo Duff-Gordon gave each of the 7 crewmembers who had shared his lifeboat £5. Occupants of Lifeboat 1. Middle Row: Hendrickson, Lady Duff Gordon, Francatelli, Sir Duff Gordon, Taylor. | ![]() |
Thursday, 21 April 2022
Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru
Over 3,000 years of Peruvian civilization is on display at the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris, France. The exhibition, which runs until Sept 4, combines virtual reality and hundreds of archaeological treasures from ancient Peru. Objects on display include ceramics, textiles, jewelry, headdresses, earrings, funerary masks, imperial dresses, silver crowns, and hundreds of gold pieces. After its stopover in Paris, the exhibition “Machu Picchu and the Golden Empires of Peru” will travel to other cities around the world. |
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Wednesday, 20 April 2022
Largest Celtic stater hoard in UK
![]() | The UK's biggest hoard of Celtic gold coins, worth £800k, was unearthed by a birdwatcher in 2020. He saw a glint in a ploughed field, rubbed off the mud and found a 2,000-year-old gold stater. He fetched his metal detector and hours later had recovered 1,300 coins dating from 40-50 AD. | ![]() The coins may have been a deposit from Boudicca's war chest for her eastern campaigns. |
![]() | During the middle of the first century the Celtic warrior Boudicca was at war with the occupying Romans. | ![]() |
Saturday, 16 April 2022
2000 yo granite sarcophagus in Alexandria
![]() | In 2018 archaeologists in Egypt opened a mysterious ancient black granite sarcophagus. The massive coffin was excavated in the city of Alexandria. | ![]() Three skeletons and sewage water were found inside. |
![]() | A layer of mortar between the lid and the body of the sarcophagus indicated that it has not been opened since it was closed more than 2,000 years ago. The sarcophagus was found buried 16.4 feet below the surface. A carved alabaster head, which may depict one of the tomb’s occupants, was also discovered. The Ministry of Antiquities said one of the skeletons bore an arrow wound, evidence the men might have been soldiers. Measuring nine feet long, the black granite coffin is the largest ever to have been discovered in Alexandria. It was speculated that it might have contained the remains of Alexander the Great, who legend rumored is buried there. | ![]() |
![]() | Three drawings, incised on three sheets of gold, have been discovered in a massive black granite sarcophagus in Alexandria. Researchers also learned more about the three skeletons. One came from a woman who was between 20 and 25 years old when she died, while the other two came from men who were in their 30s or 40s. | ![]() |
![]() | The enigmatic drawings show what may be the seed pod of an opium poppy within a shrine. Opium was popular at the time. The skull of one of the men has a hole. He may have undergone "trepanation," a medical procedure often used in ancient times. | ![]() |
Friday, 15 April 2022
‘Alien boy’ found in Crimean tomb was a trainee Sarmatian fighter
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Thursday, 14 April 2022
The Avar
![]() | The Avars, mysterious horse-riding warriors who helped hasten the end of the Roman Empire, dominated the plains between Vienna and Belgrade, Serbia, for more than 2 centuries. Then they vanished without a trace. The Avars left no written records. Grave goods and historical accounts of others suggest they dominated the plains of modern-day Hungary. Elites were buried in burial mounds, surrounded by weapons and finely decorated gold and silver vessels. They were often buried with horses. The earliest stirrups in Europe are from Avar graves. The first Avar burials were a near-identical match for an individual buried just a few decades earlier in eastern Mongolia. The first Avars in Europe probably made the journey of 7000 km themselves. After their arrival on the fringes of the Roman Empire, the Avars pushed into central Europe, along the Danube River between modern-day Vienna and Belgrade. They even lay siege to Constantinople, now Istanbul, in 623 C.E. They were defeated by Charlemagne. Their genetic signature soon dwindled to almost nothing in the regions they once ruled. The Avars faded into history and left only a mystery. ![]() |
Tuesday, 12 April 2022
The rise of money
Humans have used currency as a means of exchange, a method of payment, a standard of value, a store of wealth and a unit of account for thousands of years.
Monday, 11 April 2022
500 BC Celtic tomb reveals gold
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Sunday, 10 April 2022
Gabriel's horn
![]() Archangel Gabriel is the messenger angel, acting as a messenger of God. | The mathematical name refers to the tradition identifying the Archangel Gabriel as the angel who blows the horn to announce Judgment Day. Gabriel blowing a trumpet blast to indicate God's return to Earth is popular culture though the Bible never specifies Gabriel as the trumpeter.![]() | ![]() Gabriel is one of only 3 angels named in the Bible. |
![]() | Torricelli’s Trumpet, or Gabriel’s horn, is a staple of calculus textbooks. It may also be the perfect imaginary musical instrument: an object constituted by its precise mathematical description, yet impossible – due to its infinite length – to realize in material form.
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