Did You Know? Cueva de los Tayos Caves and Gold

The Cueva de los Tayos is in Ecuador.  Please explore the many links we are sharing in the text of this article. 

The library made from precious metals

It's a huge underground network full of legends about lost gold, giants who walked the earth, unusual sculptures and a library full of tablets made from precious metals. 

Tunnel walls are lined with gold

 It's also been said to be the location of Salesian priest Father Crespi's collection of gold artifacts that were given to him by the local Shuar people.

Originally thought to be small tablets that you could hold in your hand

Turned out to be huge sheets of precious metals that lined the walls of the tunnels

Father Carlos Crespi Croci was a Salesian monk who was born in Italy in 1891.  He studied anthropology at the University of Milan before becoming a priest.  

http://anynewsbd.com/father-crespi.html

In 1923, he was assigned to the small Andean city of Cuenca in Ecuador to work among the indigenous people.  He devoted the next 59 years of his life to charitable work until his death in 1982.

 Father Crespi (1891 -1982)

Father Crespi is known for his multitude of talents – he was an educator, anthropologist, botanist, artist, explorer, cinematographer, and musician.  

Father Crespi's collection

Today he is much remembered for his humanitarian efforts in Ecuador, setting up an orphanage and educational facilities, assisted the impoverished, gave food and money handouts. He cared deeply for the people and won their hearts.  

Exploring Tayos tunnels

A statue of him stands in front of the Church of Maria Auxiliadora, and local people stillshare stories about him.   The City of Cuenca has been working with the Vatican for years to have Father Crespi recognized as a Saint.

Artifacts from the tunnels

Another gold artifact from the tunnels

 Father Crespi's collection was originally thought to be missing but was actually purchased by the Central Bank of Ecuador and is being kept in safekeeping.

Artifacts from the tunnels now in safekeeping

Comparison

The caves and gold treasures gained worldwide attention in 1973 when Erich von Däniken published his bestselling controversial book, The Gold of the Gods.

Explorers in the tunnels of Tayos

An expedition in 2015 explored the Tayos caves and they found new entrances to the cave system and remnants of a lost jungle city. 

Amazing picture of an explorer's perspective of the caves

More expeditions followed with another planned in 2020.  It has been said the only access in by diving underwater and swimming to the caves. 

Showing the magnificent size! 

With more expeditions planned, we can expect to hear much more about this as new expeditions uncover more secrets of the tunnels under the Cueva de los Tayos.

Showing the size comparison

Gold inside one of Tayos' caves

Inside the caves of Tayos

You can read more about Father Crespi's story and view artifacts here: (opens in a new window)

https://hiddenincatours.com/ancient-sumerians-in-ecuador-the-father-crespi-mystery/ 

and a rare 4 minute video of Father Crespi here:

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Did You Know? Rules For Married Women

The ancient Olympic Games are said to date back to a footrace held in 776 B.C. where athletes competed in the nude.

Banned

 



Women were banned from participating in the ancient Olympics - and married women were banned from watching or even attending the games. The penalty for any married woman caught sneaking a peek was execution.




More modern Olympic games were revived in 1896 in Athens Greece -- where athletes competed with their clothes on.

You can read more interesting Olympic facts at this link:

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93632621

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Did You Know? Greek Prostitutes

Greek Prostitutes advertised their services by
 leaving messages with their sandals

The brothels of Solon provided a service which was accessible to all, regardless of income or gender. One obolus is one sixth of one drachma, the daily salary of a public servant at the end of the 5th century BC. 

By the middle of the 4th century BC, this salary was up to a drachma and a half.) In the same light, Solon used taxes he levied on brothels to build a temple to Aphrodite Pandemos (literally "Aphrodite of all the people". 

Even if the historical accuracy of these anecdotes can be doubted, it is clear that classical Athens considered prostitution to be part of its democracy.

In regards to price, there are numerous allusions to the price of one obolus for a cheap prostitute; no doubt for basic acts. It is difficult to assess whether this was the actual price or a proverbial amount designating a "good deal".

Independent prostitutes who worked the street were on the next higher level. Besides directly displaying their charms to potential clients they had recourse to publicity; sandals with marked soles have been found which left an imprint on the ground that stated ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΕΙ AKOLOUTHEI ("Follow me").

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_ancient_Greece#Pornai

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A Most Unique Castle

 At first glance, this most unique castle looks like it was built into the side of a mountain. But it wasn't. It was built into the opening of a cave. 

Predjama Castle, Slovenia dates back to 1274 AD

Located in Slovenia, Predjama Castle dates back to 1570 AD, but it wasn't the first castle built there. It's the second. The first was built in 1274 AD.  

According to their website, the castle is set 123 meters high and was built into the side of Postojna Cave because it provided the castle with some protection, even though one would think that it is highly unlikely that the castle would ever be attacked.  But it was, in fact, multiple times.

Bats make their home in the cave and in the tunnels that run behind and underneath the castle.  They were used by knights to go on expeditions and to take refuge during attacks.  

The castle has had a few owners in its history including knights who were robber barons.   The castle was refurbished after years of laying in ruins. Today it has been used in movies, TV shows, and music videos.  It also plays host to couples for their weddings. 

The website pictures of Predjama Castle are awesome and you can see them here.

The Postojna cave pictures are just as spectacular and offers a train ride that looks thrilling.  

Giant Armored Dinosaur Found In China

Skeleton of an Ankylosaurus, an armored dinosaur

In August 2014 during an excavation in Liaoning Province in northeastern China, farmers found the skeleton of a juvenile armored dinosaur in a quarry. The dinosaur was almost completely intact. This area is also where the remains of feathered dinosaurs were found in 2004.  It is one of the largest Ankylosaurus to have grown huge early in their lives which was during the Cretaceous Period when millions of dinosaurs roamed the earth in vast numbers.  

Various Ankylosaurus species

This new Ankylosaurus is named Chuanqilong (in Chinese, it means legendary dragon) Chaoyangensis (the area where it was found). As plant eating dinosaurs, the Ankylosaurus is covered in heavy armor and some had a bony club at the end of their tails.  Archaeological digs have unearthed this species of dinosaur on all continents with the exception of Africa. 




This fossil was about 14.7 feet long, and researchers say when compared to others they have found, that this one was only moderate in size, however, this one wasn't fully grown. The adults (called Cedarpelta) could grow to be 26 feet long. 



Source: LiveScience.com

 

Ball's Pyramid - Australia's Natural Wonder

Ball's Pyramid, home to giant insects, is in New South Wales

Ball's Pyramid is an incredible piece of New South Wales geology that many Australians have never heard of. 

Ball’s Pyramid is about 23km east of Lord Howe Island.

 

 More than a kilometer long and200m wide, Ball's Pyramid is 0.5% in size
of the once mammoth volcano that stood here 7 million years ago  

Another view showing how vast it is.

In 1964, climber David Roots photographed a dead "stick insect" on the Pyramid. Roots was part of a group led by Dick Smith who were attempting to become the first to climb the island. 


Dick Smith’s group didn’t quite make it to the top after being forced to turn around because of bad weather, but a year later a number of climbers from Sydney University successfully made it all the way.


Determined to reach the summit, Smith returned in 1980 and made it to the top where he erected a flag given to him by then premier Neville Wran.

The ‘tree lobster’ insect, which is as large as a human hand, 
had somehow survived despite the lack of food 
and the harsh conditions

It was determined that the creature was an extinct plasmid that had been driven from Lord Howe Island by a rat infestation in the 1930's.




Smith’s love of Ball's Pyramid saw him gladly pay for the construction of a detailed scale model of the island in 2017 which marked the 50th anniversary of that first attempted climb.



Almost 40 years later, a group from the National Parks and Wildlife Service made the startling discovery that the insects were still living on Ball's Pyramid.  Most of them were collected and taken to Melbourne Zoo in 2001 to become part of a breeding program.

You can read more about Ball's Pyramid here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2108736/Extinct-tree-lobster-alive-clinging-Pacific-rock-taller-Empire-State-Building.html

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Is This What King Tut Really Looked Like?

King Tut

King Tutankhamun - King Tut - was born in 1341 BC during the New Empire Period and died in 1323 BC (in that era, the years go backward).  He was born with some physical deformities that hindered his ability to walk as he got older, forcing him to use a cane or be seated at most functions. He reigned as Pharaoh for about ten years and died when he was 17. 

His tomb laid relatively undisturbed for over 3,000 years until 1922 when British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered it while on a funded expedition. To his surprise, the tomb was almost completely intact.  

Inside the tomb, Carter found many expensive artifacts and treasures had been entombed with King Tut, meant for him to enjoy in his afterlife, as per the custom.  

When we think of King Tut, we picture the mask image as seen in the above picture. For years, scientists and archaeologists have wondered what the boy king really looked like because artistic renderings were very different from each other, with no two being the same.  

What King Tut looked like physically was directly related to his lifestyle and the massive amount of inbreeding that was acceptable between first and second generational family members.  His whole life, he suffered from illnesses that scientists believe were directly related to inbreeding.

Tut's Parentage
Akhenaten, Tut's father, married a woman who, for centuries, was believed to be Tut's mother.  But findings from a DNA study say that it isn't true and that Tut's mother was likely one of Akhenaten's long line of consorts, five of whom were his own sisters.  Her real name is not known. She is referred to as "The Younger Lady" in Egyptian documents.


Tut's Wife's Parentage
A 2010 study revealed the parentage of King Tut's wife, Ankhesenpaaten. Her father was Tut's own father and her mother was one of his consorts named Nefertiti. This means that King Tut married his half-sister. 

When she married King Tut, she changed her name to Ankhesenamun. They had two daughters, but both died in infancy.

Controversy has long surrounded King Tut's cause of death.  Egyptian experts claim King Tut was aware that he was surrounded by bad actors among his advisors, and that he always had to be on guard for assassination attempts.  Since Tut had no heirs waiting in the wings, the family line would come to an end with his death, and any number of advisors thought they could step into the job.

Not so fast.  For King Tut's wife to keep the queenly status she had become accustomed to as the wife of Pharaoh, her only option was to marry again. Then that man could take over as Pharaoh, which is exactly what happened.

In 2008, scientists studied the DNA of Tut's mummy to learn more about Tut's life, health, and possibly shed more light on his cause of death. 

The scientists discovered that, for a young man, he had quite a few health problems, and they felt that some of them may have contributed to his death.  


Tut was about 5 foot 6 inches tall, which is considered average height for a young teen who was probably still in his growing phase. However, his growth could have been stunted by reoccurring malaria which he suffered with for most of his life. Malaria would have also hindered his immune system's ability to heal from infections and broken bones. 

In 2011, another study revealed that Tut was most likely physically challenged so that he had to walk with a cane when he was able to walk.  

Tut had Kohler's Disease which is a fragile bone disorder that causes infections to heal slowly. Comfort comes with avoiding weight-bearing activities which probably accounts for why there are so many images of Tut in a seated position, whether he was practicing archery, attending festivals and military campaigns, supervising the building of temples and his tomb.  

At the time of his death, King Tut had a broken thighbone and was in the throes of a bout of malaria.  Scientists say there was evidence he had a club foot, a trait that is typical of inbreeding between first and second generation family members. 


The 2011 study revealed that one of Tut's daughter was born prematurely at around six months of pregnancy. The other daughter was full-term pregnancy but she had scoliosis like her father, as well as spina bifida and Sprengel's deformity.

Scientists say this is what King Tut looked like

 Nefertiti and her husband the Pharaoh Akhenaten were known for the religious revolution in Egypt, worshipping just one god named Aten, who was a sun disc. 

Bust of Nefertiti

Based on the sculpture, Nefertiti was considered beautiful with her defined facial features. With 3D imaging technology, experts were able to determine what they think Nefertiti may have looked like.

This is what scientists say
Nefertiti looked like in life

First, the mummy’s face was scanned, then paleoartist Elisabeth Daynes took about 500 hours to recreate the face on the bust.   This project seems to prove that “The Younger Lady” was indeed Nefertiti. Upon its release, the image caused much controversy over the supposed color of Nefertiti’s skin.

So what do you think? Your comments are welcomed.


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Oldest Monks In The United Kingdom

In the 1880s, in Somerset, United Kingdom, a group of archaeologists unearthed the ruins of a cemetery attached to Beckery Chapel, which was a medieval monastery from the Middle Ages.  Since its finding, the cemetery has been hailed as the oldest monk cemetery in the UK. 

The dig site at Beckery Chapel

 


About two hundred years later, during an excavation in the 1960s, archaeologists found around 60 bodies in the ruins. Only one was a woman, which supports the claim that this was indeed a monastic cemetery. 



To properly date the skeletons, they knew they would have to wait for technology to advance a little more, so the age of the remains was guestimated.  

In 2016, the remains were finally carbon dated and they were from medieval times around 406 AD to 544 AD. 

Archaeologists had expected the graveyard to be as old as the chapel but further excavation showed that the chapel was far older than the skeletons and much older than the dates that had been in place since the 1880s. 


The finding of the monk skeletons made them among the oldest monks in the United Kingdom. The graveyard also showed signs that the monastery was in use for quite some time. 


From the 7th to the 9th centuries, the public was allowed to be buried in the cemetery. Then at the end of the 9th century, the Vikings overran Somerset making Beckery Chapel unusable.  This explains why there were no more monks after 544 AD.


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Is The Shroud of Turin Authentic?

The Shroud of Turin is believed by many religions to be the burial cloth of Jesus. 

The Shroud of Turin

At this time, the shroud is at the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Italy.  it's a good size shroud - 14 feet by 4 feet - and there is no mistaking that there is an image of on it of a man with crucifixion wounds.


In 1988 scientists carbon dated the shroud and determined that it was actually created between 1260 and 1390 AD, but most people just refused to admit that the relic was a hoax.



In 2018, forensic teams tested the bloodstain patterns. Only one wound was considered to be "real" - the spear wound on the chest.  


The rest of the wounds were inconsistent and none matched the patterns one would expect to see from someone who had been hanging on a cross for hours and hours before being placed in a grave. 


The blood droplets on the right hand could only happen if the person's arm were at a 45-degree angle. The forearm stains show vertical arm positions. For someone to hold their arms in the same position at the same time is physically impossible.


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Miners Transportation System

Miners Transportation System
Young employees taking a joy ride

Kimberly Diamond Mine in the Northern Province of South Africa was the diamond epicenter back in 1869 until it finally shut down in 1914. Workers devised this system to transport workers to the dig site.

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Teotihuacán Pyramids

Did you know that Teotihuacán is the most visited active archaeological site in Mexico? There were 4,185,107 visitors in 2017. In the first half of the 1st millennium CE, Teotihuacán was the largest city in the pre-Columbian Americas, with a population estimated at 125,000 or more. 

The pyramids all meet in the center on a road
called the Avenue of the Dead

Click on pictures to enlarge

Another view of the pyramid

In 2004, the governor of Mexico state, Arturo Montiel, gave permission for Wal-Mart to build a large store in the third archaeological zone of the park. However, fragments of ancient pottery were found where the trucks dumped soil taken from the Teotihuacán site.  


A light and sound show was installed recently. Critics say a large number of perforations have caused fractures in the stones and the damage is irreversible. 



You can read more here:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/archaeology-and-history/archaeology/teotihuacan/





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Oldest Stone Tools Discovered in Kenya

Long before humans walked the Earth, someone began chipping away at a rock by the side of a river. Eventually, this chipping formed the rock into a tool which was used to prepare meat and other foods. 

3.3 million-year-old artifacts predate human genus

An analysis of the finding was published in the May 2015 edition of Nature Magazine and it said that 3.3 million years ago, before humans were on Earth, someone made a variety of tools by chipping away at a rock to form a sharp edge and used them as hammers and cutting instruments, as knives and spears to perform daily tasks and to prepare food. 


It is the oldest set of stone tools ever discovered.  Though it is unknown who made the tools, this archaeological find is the latest and most convincing evidence that toolmaking began before any humans ever walked the Earth.




Before this find, the earliest evidence of stone tools came from a 2.6-million-year-old site in Ethiopia. Evidence suggests that an early human ancestor called Homo habilis likely created the tools.   




The common assumption has always been that as Africa’s climate changed around 2.8 million years ago, that early hominins became diversified and the Homo genus emerged —that is the species that would eventually produce modern humans.   




As new environments developed, new food sources were found and there was a need to create tools to process those foods.  

Excavations at the Lomekwi 3 site in 2012

 149 artifacts that were eventually excavated from the site showed magnetic minerals and volcanic ash tufts embedded in the local rocks which dates the age of the stones at 3.3 million years.


Source: Smithsonianmag.com



Click the link below if you are interested in more history about this set of stone tools.


https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/oldest-known-stone-tools-unearthed-kenya-180955341/

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