Even in modern times we are fascinated by crystals - from the diamonds we use as a sacred symbol of partnership, to the plethora of 'healing' gems that can be found in a New Age gift shop. So we can only imagine how ancient people viewed these transparent rocks with hidden structure.

Evidence of the esteem in which crystals were held can be found in a "remarkable set" of 'crystal weapons' found in the megalithic tombs of southwestern Spain. At the site of Valencina de la Concepci
on, archaeologists have uncovered crystal arrowheads, an exquisite dagger blade, and cores used for creating the artifacts, that date to the 3rd millennium BCE.

The Montelirio tholos, excavated between 2007 and 2010, is "a great megalithic construction...which extends over 43.75 m in total", constructed out of large slabs of slate. At least 25 individuals were interred within the structure , along with "an extraordinary set of sumptuous grave goods...the most notable of which is an unspecified number of shrouds or clothes made of tens of thousands of perforated beads and decorated with amber beads". Additionally however, a large number of crystal arrowheads were found together, which be suggestive of a ritual offering at an altar. The arrowheads have the characteristic long lateral appendices of flint arrowheads from the area - but investigators remarked that "even greater skill must have been required to produce these unique features when using rock crystal."

The manufacture of the rock crystal dagger blade must have been based on an accumulation of transmitted empirical knowledge and skill taken from the production of flint dagger blades as well from know-how of rock-crystal smaller foliaceous bifacial objects, such as Ontiveros and Montelirio arrowheads... It was obtained from a large monocrystal at least 220 mm in length and 60 mm in width. Given that these single crystals are hexagonal, they would have a similar width along all their different axes. The rock crystal source used in creating the crystal weaponry has not been pinpointed exactly at this stage, though analysis suggests two potential sources, "both located several hundred km away from Valencina".

Source : 07 May 2016

Cosmic rays allow us to slice through the structure of a pyramid, revealing the ancient and fine engineering at its heart.

You may have wondered what the inside of a pyramid looks like. Not the cavities and passages you see on The Mummy - the actual structure of the creation, how it was built to last all these years.

The pyramids of ancient Egypt are around 4,500 years-old. They've stood the test of time, great monuments on the landscape. Dusty gold and majestic.  Now, we can learn a little more about them thanks to cosmic rays. Archeologists have begun to utilise new technology to better refine our understanding of pyramids' internal make up. Cosmic rays allow us to slice through the structure of a pyramid, revealing the ancient and fine engineering at its heart.

The new Scans Pyramids project uses cosmic rays to build 'inside' maps of the Egyptian attractions. The images show the internal crooked chamber of a 4,600-year-old pyramid known as the 'Bent Pyramid'. It's a 345-foot monument 25 miles south of Cairo.

In ancient times, the pointed building was known as the Southern Shining Pyramid. It's believed to be one of Egypt's earliest designs. It looks odd, probably built in a time of transition, when engineering moved from stepped pyramids to smooth.

The cosmic rays used to unlock the secrets of the structure might be compared to X-rays. Scientists are using muon particles, which come from cosmic rays, to penetrate deep into stone.Using these, researchers can gauge how thick the stonework is, and build up a map of the internal organs of a building. It took 40 days of exposure to the particles to garner enough information. Now, there are images that capture the scale of the craftmanship involved.

And this is just the beginning. There are plenty more pyramids to look at...

© Trustees of the British Museum/Mathieu Ossendrijver  :  Ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablet text A provided essential clues to understanding four other tablets numbered text B to text E.

The earliest known examples of mathematical and geometric astronomy have been identified in a series of ancient Babylonian cuneiform tablets.

An analysis of the tablets, reported in the journal Science, reveals ancient Babylonians were able to calculate the position of Jupiter using geometric techniques previously believed to have been first used some 1,400 years later in 14th century Europe.

"These texts are the earliest evidence we have from antiquity of mathematical astronomy," said the study's author Dr Mathieu Ossendrijver, a historian on Babylonian astronomy with the Humboldt University in Berlin. "It describes Jupiter's velocity across the sky and how that changes with time."

The tablets, which are housed at the British Museum, are believed to have been unearthed from an archaeological dig in what is now modern day Iraq sometime in the 1800s. The almost completely intact tablets are thought to have been written in Babylon between 350 and 50 BCE.
The tablets are part of a larger collection of 450 astronomy tablets from Babylon and Uruk containing celestial data arranged in rows and columns, together with instructions.

The rest of this article can be found here.

© www.wakingtimes.com
In one of the great tragedies of our age, indigenous traditions, stories, cultures and knowledge are winking out across the world.  Whole languages and mythologies are vanishing, and in some cases even entire indigenous groups are falling into extinction.

This is what makes the news that a tribe in the Amazon—the Matsés peoples of Brazil and Peru—have created a 500-page encyclopedia of their traditional medicine all the more remarkable. The encyclopedia, compiled by five shamans with assistance from conservation group Acaté, details every plant used by Matsés medicine to cure a massive variety of ailments.  "The [Matsés Traditional Medicine Encyclopedia] marks the first time shamans of an Amazonian tribe have created a full and complete transcription of their medicinal knowledge written in their own language and words," Christopher Herndon, president and co-founder of Acaté, told Mongabay in an interview .

The Matsés have only printed their encyclopedia in their native language to ensure that the medicinal knowledge is not stolen by corporations or researchers as has happened in the past. Instead, the encyclopedia is meant as a guide for training new, young shamans in the tradition and recording the living shamans' knowledge before they pass. "One of the most renowned elder Matsés healers died before his knowledge could be passed on so the time was now. Acaté and the Matsés leadership decided to prioritize the Encyclopedia before more of the elders were lost and their ancestral knowledge taken with them," said Herndon.

Acaté has also started a program connecting the remaining Matsés shamans with young students. Through this mentorship program, the indigenous people hope to preserve their way of life as they have for centuries past.

"With the medicinal plant knowledge disappearing fast among most indigenous groups and no one to write it down, the true losers in the end are tragically the indigenous stakeholders themselves," said Herndon. "The methodology developed by the Matsés and Acaté can be a template for other indigenous cultures to safeguard their ancestral knowledge."

A 90-percent intact steppe mammoth skeleton dating back 126,000 years has been discovered in northern Russia. The find could mean the species existed for much longer than previously thought. It is the first steppe mammoth to be found in Yakutia in Northern Russia. It's in better condition than the five other skeletons discovered in other parts of Russia. Although scientists estimated the animal's height as a little below average at just over 3 meters, the male specimen had giant tusks - each 2.5 meters long and weighing 75 kilos.

"The skeleton was discovered in an anatomical position and was extracted mostly intact. Even the smaller bones of the feet were complete. It lacked the right hind leg. Evidently it had been torn off during the mammoth's lifetime," says Yevgeny Mashchenko, senior research scientist at the Paleontological Institute in Moscow. Locals found the remains of the animal on the bank of the river Suola in the Sakha Republic, Russia's coldest region. As the bank thaws it erodes and yields a mix of sand and ice, where many specimens have been discovered over the years. This find is unique, however.

It is believed that steppe mammoths lived in Siberia during the Pleistocene era some 600,000-370,000 years ago and were ancestors of the more commonly found woolly mammoths. But this skeleton appears much newer at about 126,000 years old. 
"It is thought that during the mid-Pleistocene period, the climate in Yakutia was relatively warm. However this skeleton was buried during permafrost. Apart from that, we discovered traces of animals near the skeleton that were previously thought to have lived in the area much later. How does that go together with a warm climate?" asks Albert Protopopov from the Sakha Academy of Science. "Next year we plan to start larger scale research in the area," he said.

In comparison to the more common woolly mammoth, the steppe mammoth was taller and the length of its body shorter. On average they were 4 meters tall and weighed up to 10 tons. Earlier this year scientists found the remains of a steppe mammoth in the Perm region. They have only managed to pull out 50 bones so far due to difficult conditions on the site. The team hopes to resume the dig next summer. Other cases of steppe mammoth skeletons discovered in good condition include one in Serbia, where a female specimen was found with 90 percent of its bones, and in England, where an 85-percent complete male mammoth skeleton was found.