Cavalier Zee

~  The Mystery Of The Cocaine Mummies ~

Partial Transcript Below:  In the 21st dynasty of the Pharaos, 3,000 years ago, there took place one night at a temple, the funeral of Henut Taui - the Lady of the Two lands. Compared to the great rulers of Egypt, her burial was a modest affair. But just like the Pharaos, she too was mummified, and her body placed in the depths of a desert tomb, in the belief it would give her immortality. German scientist, Dr Svetla Balabanova, made a discovery which was to baffle Egyptologists, and call into question whole areas of science and archeology to chemistry and botany. She discovered that the body of Henut Taui contained large quantities of cocaine and nicotine. The surprise was not just that the ancient Egyptians had taken drugs, but that these drugs come from tobacco and coca, plants completly unknown outside the Americas, unheard of until Sir Walter Raleigh introduced smoking from the New World, or until cocaine was imported in the Victorian era. It was seemingly impossible for the ancient Egyptians to get hold of these substances. For thousands of years people in the Andes have been chewing coca leaves, to get out the cocaine with it's stimulant, anaesthetic and euphoric properties. There are actually species of the coca family which grow in Africa, but only the South American species has ever been shown to contain the drug. DR SVETLA BALABANOVA - Institute of Forensic Medicine, Ulm:  "The cocaine of course remains an open question. It's a mystery - it's completely unclear how cocaine could get into Africa. On the other hand, we know there were trade relationships long before Columbus, and it's conceivable that the coca plant had been imported into Egypt even then." NARRATOR: Was it possible that coca - a plant from South America had been finding it's way to Egypt 3,000 years ago? If the cocaine found in mummies could not be explained by contamination, or fake mummies or by Egyptian plants containing it, there appeared to be only one remaining possibility... An international drug trade who's links extended all the way to the Americas. NARRATOR:  But on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, where the moving current of the Gulf Stream arrives in Mexico directly from the west coast of Africa, there is a professionally-employed anthropologist who does seriously beleive in such possibilities. PROF ALICE KEHOE - Anthropologist, Marquette University:  "I think there is good evidence that there was both trans-atlantic and trans-pacific travel before Columbus."  But the idea that the ability of the ancients to cross the oceans might have been underestimated continues to be quietly whispered about. Over the years evidence has grown which suggests it might be time to look again at such voyages. To imagine that the Egyptians, who apparently only sailed up and down the Nile or into the Red Sea, might get as far as the Americas perhaps sounds fantastical. But in science, what is one day thought absurd, can next day become accepted as fact. [Picture of a Norse settlement in Newfoundland] One senior academic thinks it's important to remember that before the discovery of this Norse settlement in Newfoundland in 1965 theories about Viking voyages to America were dismissed as nonsense. PROF MARTIN BERNAL - Historian, Cornell University:  "What we've seen is a shift from the idea of Viking landings in America being seen as completely fantastic or partisan, to being accepted by every scholar in the field." NARRATOR:  The fact that evidence of the Viking crossings was hidden has encouraged Martin Bernal to contemplate even earlier voyages that are likewise dismissed as impossible. PROF MARTIN BERNAL - Historian, Cornell University:  "I have no reason to doubt that there were others - but what they were, and how much influence they had on American society is open to question. But that trans-oceanic voyages are possible - or were possible - seems to me to be overwhelmingly likely." NARRATOR:  Yet discovery of minute strands of silk found in the hair of a mummy from Luxor could suggest the trade stretching from Egypt to the Pacific. For silk at this time was only known to come from China. PROF MARTIN BERNAL - Historian, Cornell University:  "We're getting more and more evidence of world trade at an earlier stage. You have the Chinese silk definitely arriving in Egypt by 1000BC. I think modern scholars have a tendency to believe rigidly in progress and the idea that you could only have a worldwide trading network from the 18th century onwards, is our temporal arrogance - that it's only modern people that can do these things." NARRATOR:  The evidence for ancient trade with America is limited, and most of it is disputed, but it can't be completely ruled out as explaining the apparent impossibility of Balabanova's results, results that at first seemed so absurd many thought they would be explained away by a simple story of a botch-up in a lab, results that still without firm explanation continue to crop up in unexpected places. For in Manchester, the mummies under the care of Rosalie David, the Egyptologist once so sure that Balabanova had made a mistake, produced some odd results of their own. ROSALIE DAVID - Keeper of Egyptology, Manchester Museum:  "We've received results back from the tests on our mummy tissue samples and two of the samples and the one hair sample both have evidence of nicotine in them. I'm really very surprised at this." DR SVETLA BALABANOVA - Institute of Forensic Medicine, Ulm:  "The results of the tests on the Manchester mummies have made me very happy after all these years of being accuesed of false results and contaminated results, so I was delighted to hear nicotine had been found in these mummies, and very, very happy to have this enormous confirmation of my work." NARRATOR:  The tale of Henut Taui shows that in science facts can be rejected if they don't fit with our beleifs while what is believed proven, may actually be uncertain. Little wonder then, that a story that began with one scientist, a few mummies and some routine tests, in no time at all could upset whole areas of knowledge we thought we could take for granted.

~  The Dreadnoughtus ~

A supermassive dinosaur that would have weighed as much as 60 small cars has been found in Argentina, where it likely perished in a bog some 77 million years ago, paleontologists said Thursday, September 4.

Dubbed Dreadnoughtus schrani (the 'Dreadnoughtus' part coming from "fear nothing" in old English), the long-necked lizard would have measured 26 meters (85 feet) from nose to tail and weighed some 60 tons – about as much as seven Tyrannosaurus rex put together.

And the giant wasn't even fully grown when it got bogged down in a flooded plain, where it died next to a smaller companion, researchers reported in the journal Scientific Reports.

MASSIVE ANIMAL. Rendering of the massive Dreadnoughtus schrani in life. Dreadnoughtus had a 37-foot-long neck, 30-foot tail, and weighed an estimated 65 tons, making it the most massive land animal whose size can be confidently calculated. Illustration by Jennifer Hall/Drexel University

The fossilized skeleton is the most complete yet found in the category of super-sized, plant-eating dinosaurs called Titanosaurs– which makes it the largest land animal for which a weight has been calculated with such a degree of accuracy.

The find comprised over 70% of the types of bones in the dinosaur's body – 45% of its total skeleton. There were no skull bones.

Paleontologists uncovered most of the vertebrae from the lizard's tail, a neck vertebra with a diameter of over one yard (0.9 meters), ribs, toes, a claw, a section of jaw and a tooth, and nearly all the bones from its four limbs, including a humerus (upper arm bone) and a femur (thigh bone) over six feet tall.

The femur and humerus are key to calculating the mass of extinct four-legged animals.

"Because the Dreadnoughtus type specimen includes both these bones, its weight can be estimated with confidence," said a Drexel University statement.

"It is by far the best example we have of any of the most giant creatures to ever walk the planet," added Lacovara, who discovered the skeleton in southern Patagonia in 2005 and oversaw its four-year excavation.

Dino Misfortune, Science's Luck

To sustain its massive bulk, Dreadnoughtus would have had to eat vast quantities of plants growing in the temperate forest on the continent's southern tip.

"I imagine their day consists largely of standing in one place," said Lacovara.

The dimensions of all previously discovered supermassive dinosaurs had been pieced together from relatively fragmentary fossil remains.

Prior to Dreadnoughtus, another Patagonian giant, Elaltitan, held the title for the dinosaur with the greatest calculable weight, at 43 tons.

MEGA DINO. Dreadnoughtus schrani was substantially more massive than any other supermassive dinosaur for which mass can be accurately calculated. Image courtesy Lacovara Lab/Drexel University; Size and weight comparisons citations at http://bit.ly/1oI5acS

Argentinosaurus, also from Argentina, was thought to be of a comparable or even greater mass than Dreadnoughtus, and longer, at about 37m.

But Argentinosaurus is known only from a half-dozen vertebrae in its mid-back, a shinbone and a few other fragments but no upper limb bones, said the researchers.

An adult Dreadnoughtus would likely have been too large to fear any predators, but would have made a great feast for scavengers after their death, the team added.

They discovered several teeth of small predatory and scavenging dinosaurs at the excavation site, which also included a secondDreadnoughtus skeleton, though smaller and much less complete.

From the preservation of the skeletons, the team concluded theDreadnoughtus pair was buried soon after death, but not before their carnivore cousins took a few bites.

"These two animals were buried quickly after a river flooded and broke through its natural levee, turning the ground into something like quicksand," said Lacovara.

"The rapid and deep burial of the Dreadnoughtus type specimen accounts for its extraordinary completeness.

"It's misfortune was our luck."

Source: Rappler

~ The Dark Lords Of Hattusha ~ More than 3,000 years ago a mysterious and ruthless civilization rose from nothing, created a brutal and unstoppable army and built an empire that rivalled Egypt and Babylon. Yet, just as it was at the height of its powers, the great empire suddenly vanished from history. This is the story of the formidable Hittites, a civilisation bent on world domination. Their long-lost capital, Hattusha, which disappeared thousands of years ago, was recently rediscovered,

~ Ozymandias ~ I am great OZYMANDIAS, saith the stone, The King of Kings; this mighty City shows The wonders of my hand. (Percy Bysshe Shelley) 1) Abu Simbel By Lashington 2) Abu Simbel 3) Karnak 4) Hatshepsut Temple By Scryc 5) Hatshepsut By Parallel-Pam 6) The Pyramids Wallpaper 7) The Sphinx

~ Eternal Embrace ~ It could be humanity's oldest story of doomed love. Archaeologists have unearthed two skeletons from the Neolithic period locked in an eternal embrace and buried outside Mantua, Italy, just 25 miles south of Verona, the city where Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale of Romeo and Juliet. After being found at the site where a factory is planned, people worldwide have speculated on the circumstances surrounding the couple's deaths. They are thought to have died young because they both had all their teeth intact. But beyond that, the skeletons are a mystery. Archaeologists announced Monday that they will move the entire block of earth the skeletons are resting in for further study and eventual display in a museum. Photo by: NewsCom/Gamma Presse February 12, 2007 3:14 PM PST Via: C|net

~ The Lovers ~ Hasanlu is an archaeological excavation site in Iran, Western Azerbaijan, Solduz Valley. Theses skeletons were found in a Bin with no objects. The only feature is a stone slab under the head of the skeleton on the left hand side. From 1972 season at Hasanlu Via: Penn State University Museum

Courtesy Of "National Geographic's Expedition Week"

The ancient city of Qatna once challenged Egypt’s dominance but was wiped off the face of the earth as it grew too powerful. In 2009, archaeologists revealed their ground breaking discoveries of this lost city.

Egypt’s Lost Rival is the story of Qatna, a city that challenged Egypt’s dominance in the ancient Middle East. Located between the warrior kingdom of the Hittites and the powerful empire of Egypt, this ancient city was wiped off the face of the earth as it grew too powerful - its role in the rise of the Egyptian empire forever lost in desert sands. Like the proverbial “Lost City of Atlantis”, Qatna and its many treasures lay hidden from humanity. Hidden, until now. In ten years of archaeological digs in the Syrian Desert, the lost city of Qatna has been rediscovered and a team of international scientists has excavated its long held secrets. Culminating with a return to Qatna in 2009, Egypt’s Lost Rival chronicles ground breaking archaeological discoveries hidden from the world for millennia.

The ancient city of Qatna once challenged Egypt’s dominance but was wiped off the face of the earth as it grew too powerful. In 2009, archaeologists revealed their ground breaking discoveries of this lost city.

Above info via: NatGeoTV

Qatna (Arabic قطنا, modern Tell el-Mishrife, Arabic المشرفة) is an archaeological site in the Wadi il-Aswad, a tributary of the Orontes, 18 km northeast of Homs, Syria. It consists in a tell occupying 1 km², which makes it one of the largest Bronze Age towns in western Syria. The tell is located at the edge of the limestone-plateau of the Syrian desert towards the fertile Homs-Bassin.

The first finds at Qatna date to the mid- to late 3rd millennium BC, although this early period is not well represented.

The find of a 12th Dynasty Egyptian sphinx belonging to Princess Ita, daughter of Amenemhat II (1875–1840 BC) shows early Egyptian influence, although it is not clear at what time the sphinx got to Qatna (the sphinx was found within the debris of the Late Bronze Age palace).

The first king of Qatna (Qatanum) known by name from the Mari archives is Ishi-Adad ("Haddad" or "Adad is my help"), an Amurru or "Amorite". He was a confederate of Shamshi-Adad of upper Mesopotamia. He was succeeded by his son Amut-pî-el who had been governor of Nazala as crown prince. This was in the time of Hammurabi of Babylon (1792–1750 BC). Beltum, the sister of Amut-pî-el was married to Jasmah-Addu of Mari. Contracts between Mari and Qatna define her as the principal wife of Jasmah-Addu. Her mother might have been Lammassi-Ashur from Assur or Ekallatum. Zimrilim of Mari was married to another princess from Qatna, Dam-hurasim. After the destruction of Mari by Hammurapi, the written sources become sparse. Aleppo (Yamkhad) now became Qatna's most powerful neighbour, during the reign of Jarim–Lim III. Qatna was temporarily dominated by Aleppo.

With the development of the Mitanni empire in upper Mesopotamia, Qatna was incorporated but was located in disputed territory between the Mitanni and Egypt. The inscriptions of the so-called Nin-Egal temple (part of the Royal palace, room C) show that Mittanni were resident in Qatna. The campaigns of Pharaohs Amenhotep I (1515–1494 BC) and Thutmose I (1494–1482 BC) in Syria might have reached Qatna, but there is no conclusive evidence. On the 7th Pylon of the temple of Amun in Karnak, Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC) mentions that he stayed in the land of Qatna in the 33rd year of his reign.[citation needed] Amenhotep II (1427–1401 BC) was attacked by the host of Qatna[citation needed]while crossing the Orontes, but of course he remained victorious and acquired booty, among which the equipment of a Mitanni charioteer is mentioned. Qatna is mentioned[citation needed] in Egyptian topographic lists till the time of Ramesses III (1180 BC). Cuneiform tablets discovered under the Royal palace in Qatna mention a previously unknown king Idanda who ruled ca. 1400 BC.

During the Syrian campaign of the Hittite king Suppiluliuma I (1380–1340 BC), Prince Akizzi of Qatna asked for the help of Akhenaten/Amenhotep IV[citation needed], but as he was only concerned with his monotheistic reform symbolized by his own throne name Akhnaton and his new capital Amarna (abandoned after his death as all reforms were reversed), the town was among several Syrian city-states captured and plundered by the Hittites, the inhabitants deported to Hatti. During this same Amarna letters period, Prince Akizzi wrote 5 letters to Akhenaten. Texts from Emar describe how Qatna was attacked by Aramaic tribes in the late Bronze Age, so the town must still have been in existence.

The tell was settled in Neo-Babylonian times as well (a hilani has been excavated), but the town remained insignificant as nearby Emesa had taken over its position on the trade routes.

Above info via: Wikipedia

~ Egyptian Priest and Scribe ~ By Emile Louis Picault Bronze Statue 1) Egyptian Priest Via: Collectors Quest 2) Egyptian Scribe Via: Collectors Quest

~ Nasca Line ~ In the coastal desert of southern Peru, sprawling figures etched on the land—a spider, a monkey, a strange flying animal, and more—have inspired wonder in air travelers since first spotted in the 1920s. Now scientists believe they know why ancient people created the designs, beginning more than 2,000 years ago. By Robert Clark Location: Peru Via: National Geographic

~ 100 Million Year Old Fossil Of A Spider Attack On A Wasp ~ Researchers from Oregon State University have found the amazing fossil of a spider attack on a wasp caught in its web. This is the only known fossil like this that has ever been found. The fossil is estimated to be about 100 million years old. The spider attack took place during the Early Cretaceous when dinosaurs were walking the Earth. George Poinar, Jr., a professor emeritus of zoology at Oregon State University and an expert on insects preserved in amber, said in a release: "This juvenile spider was going to make a meal out of a tiny parasitic wasp but never quite got to it. This was a male wasp that suddenly found itself trapped in a spider web. This was the wasp’s worst nightmare, and it never ended. The wasp was watching the spider just as it was about to be attacked, when tree resin flowed over and captured both of them." Via: Science - Space - Robots

~ Saber Tooth ~ This is Smilodon fatals Commonly called a Saber Tooth Tiger. Sadly, this is a very common misconception. There is actually no such thing as a Saber Tooth Tiger. In order to call something a tiger, the remains must be found in Asia. Along with other skeletal characteristics. In fact, a s. fatals looks more like a lion or house cat when you examine its skeleton, more so than any tiger! This skull is HUGE! I am holding it as you can se, and my thumb is about 2.5 inches long. It is a casting from a real s. fatals skull. The teeth are heterodont. Meaning they are different in shape and function according to the position in the mouth. The purpose of those infamous sabers was clearly for hunting, but the method of hunting is still being debated. Originally it was assumed they would go for the belly and eviscerate their prey. But new research has shown this would have been extremely ineffective. By using a metal casting of a saber tooth's skull, and a nice cow cadaver, it was determined the wound inflicted on the stomach would have only been superficial. The jaws did not open wide enough to create a deep puncture. Don't be deceived though, those jaws open almost 90 degrees, or straight down! Using the same cow and skull cast, the next test went for the front of the neck, where all the soft tissue is. When this was done it was shown that the sabers not only cut through the neck completely, but went behind the windpipe and cut that and all the arteries along with it. When looking at modern lions, they do almost the same thing. The problem is, this takes along time for them to do, as they crush the windpipe, not cut it. This attracts alot of attention. By completely severing the windpipe and arteries, the job is finished much quicker, and does not attract as much attention...say from an giant short faced bear. Photo-1, By PaleoClipper Via: Deviant Art

Photo-2, By BunnyPunk

Via: Deviant Art

A new, tiny dinosaur with vampire-like fangs devoured ... plants?

So says a new study of Pegomastax africanus, a 2-foot-long (0.6-meter-long) heterodontosaur that lived about 200 million years ago. (Test your dinosaur IQ.)

P. africanus small, fanged dinosaur species that were "scampering around between the toes of other dinosaurs at the dawn of the dinosaur era," said study author Paul Sereno, a National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence. (National Geographic News is a division of the Society.)

Covered in porcupine-like quills and sporting a blunt, parrot-like beak, P. africanus would've looked like a "strange little bird," said Sereno, a paleontologist with the University of Chicago.

But its fangs, Sereno argues, were more like those of the piglike peccary (picture) or fanged deer, or water chevrotain (video)—modern-day, plant-eating mammals that use their teeth for self-defense and foraging.

The species, he added, would have lived along forested rivers in southern Africa around the time the supercontinent Pangaea had just begun to split into the northern and southern landmasses.

(Watch video: "'Nasty' Little Dinosaur Discovered.")

Reconstructing The Oddball

While preparing a comprehensive analysis of the little-known heterodontosaurs, Sereno identified P. africanus from fossils at Harvard University, which had been collected in South Africa in the 1960s.

To find out what the newfound dinosaur did with its sharp fangs, Sereno then reassembled P. africanus' jaw and teeth. He compared the reconstruction to jaws and teeth of both meat-eating dinosaurs and modern plant-eating mammals with fangs.

Sereno discovered that P. africanus' fangs were very similar to those of fanged deer and peccaries, which use their fangs in self-defense and competition for mates, he said.

Supporting this theory, microscopic analysis of P. africanus' fang enamel revealed wear and breakage consistent with sparring.

The researcher suggested too that the cheek teeth in P. africanus' upper and lower jaws worked like self-sharpening scissors for shearing plant parts, as detailed in the study, published online Wednesday in the journal ZooKeys.

Tiny Dinosaur Ahead Of Its Time

Finding a new species of heterodontosaur is not "all that noteworthy," Hans-Dieter Sues, a vertebrate paleontologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., said by email.

"But [Sereno's] comprehensive review of the entire group of these odd little dinosaurs is a landmark contribution," said Sues, who wasn't involved in the study. (Read about bizarre dinosaurs in National Geographic magazine.)

In particular, Sues is impressed that Sereno "worked out how these dinosaurs chewed their food, which helps understand their peculiar, molar-like teeth."

What's more, the study revealed that P. africanus' sophisticated jaw structure was ahead of its time, Sereno noted. Such structures evolved again millions of years later in mammals.

If the housecat-size dinosaur lived today, he quipped, "it would be a nice pet—if you could train it not to nip you."

Via: National Geographic