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Carmichael’s work has led to him being likened to the brothers Grimm in Germany.
His volume Carmina Gadelica, published in 1900, is estimated to have included only a tenth of his original research material.
Senior researcher Dr Donald William Stewart said: “Alexander Carmichael tirelessly, even obsessively, recorded the culture, lore and beliefs of his native Scottish highlands.
Daily Monster 334: Jaculus
Region of origin: Medieval Europe
A creature from medieval bestiaries, the jaculus or javelin snake was a small, flying serpent which did not possess venom so would instead perch in trees and wait for its intended victim to pass underneath, at which point it would launch itself rigidly and strike the prey, knocking it out or fatally wounding it through impact.
A new round of excavations has begun at the ancient city of Kyzikos in the 2,500-year-old Erdek district of Balıkesir in northwest Turkey to unearth more Roman-era artifacts and the legendary Temple of Hadrian.
The longest edge of the temple, measuring some 161 meters, was unearthed in 2010, recalled Nurettin Koçhan of Ataturk University in eastern Erzurum province, the head of the excavation team.
“In the early stages, we tried to clear the surrounding area and reveal structural ruins. Currently, excavations are continuing in the western back part of the temple so that the northern part of the temple can be drilled,” he told Anadolu Agency.
“Our goals are to be able to establish the true measure of the temple and the remains of the superstructure, and to reveal the origin of the temple without excavating its higher parts. So far, we have partly learned this,” he said. Read more.
Archaeologists at the Mayan ruin site of Palenque said Monday they have discovered an underground water tunnel built under the Temple of Inscriptions, which houses the tomb of an ancient ruler named Pakal.
Archaeologist Arnoldo Gonzalez says researchers believe the tomb and pyramid were purposely built atop a spring between 683 and 702 AD. The tunnels led water from under the funeral chamber out into the broad esplanade in front of the temple, thus giving Pakal’s spirit a path to the underworld.
Attention has focused on the heavily carved stone sarcophagus in which Pakal was buried, and which some erroneously believe depict the Maya ruler seated at the controls of a spaceship.
But Gonzalez said Monday that carvings on a pair of stone ear plugs found in the grave say a god “will guide the dead toward the underworld, by submerging (them) into the water so they will be received there." Read more.
Israel’s national museum is set to display a 2,200-year-old Egyptian mummy of a man who was afflicted with some modern-day illnesses such as osteoporosis and tooth decay, the museum said on Tuesday.
The illnesses, discovered using a CT scan, indicate that during his lifetime, the man was largely sedentary, avoided manual labor in the sun and probably ate a carbohydrate-heavy diet.
The mummy is the only such relic in Israel, named the “Protective Eye of Horus,” after a pharaonic deity. It was kept for decades at a Jesuit institute in Jerusalem before it was loaned to the Israel Museum. It will be displayed in a museum setting for the first time starting Wednesday.
The research on the mummy builds on previous international studies that have shown that people in ancient Egyptian times suffered from some of the modern-day diseases. Read more.
Neanderthals once populated the entire European continent. Around 45,000 years ago, Homo neanderthalensis was the predominant human species in Europe. Archaeological findings show that there were also several settlements in Germany. However, the era of the Neanderthal came to an end quite suddenly. Based on an analysis of the known archaeological sites, Professor Jürgen Richter from Collaborative Research Center 806 – Our Way to Europe, in which the universities of Cologne, Bonn and Aachen cooperate, comes to the conclusion that Neanderthals reached their population peak right before their population rapidly declined and they eventually became extinct.
Neanderthals lived in the Middle Paleolithic, the middle period of the Old Stone Age. This period encompasses the time from roughly 200,000 to 40,000 before our times. In his article published in the Quaternary International journal, Richter comes to the conclusion that more than 50 percent of the known Neanderthal settlement sites in Germany can be dated to the Middle Paleolithic. Read more.
Fire brought warmth and comfort to early humans but may also have triggered the emergence of deadly tuberculosis, Australian researchers suggest.
Smoke-damaged lungs, as well as the closeness of humans around a campfire, could have created the ideal conditions for tuberculosis to mutate from a harmless soil bacterium into our number one bacterial killer, according to the researchers’ data model.
The model, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed controlled use of fire would have increased the likelihood of tuberculosis emerging by several orders of magnitude.
Mathematical biologist Mark Tanaka of the University of New South Wales has had a long-standing interest in the evolution of disease-causing microorganisms such as tuberculosis, but a sudden insight led him to think about the role of fire in catapulting tuberculosis into the medical limelight. Read more.
Maya Late Classic Period A.D. 700–800
Object Place: Uaxactún area, Department of El Petén, Guatemala
Two depictions of an artist grace each side of this vase, the renderings separated by a vertical line of undeciphered hieroglyphs, which also are repeated around the rim of the vase. The figures sit on a bundle-like cushion whose %-like motif (known as a cimi [pronounced kee-mee] sign) indicates an underworld location. The two seated figures are identified as artists by the paint pots on their laps and paint brushes in their raised right hands. They may represent the Maize god in his role as one of the gods of Creation, implied by the particular haircut and panache of maize foliage atop their heads.
Maya Late Classic Period A.D. 650–800
Object Place: Department of El Petén, Guatemala
The wrap-around scene on this vase depicts the presentation of gifts or tribute to a seated lord. The scene has supernatural connotations given that God N (identified by the turtle shell on his back), one of the lords of the Underworld, is present among the seated participants. The enthroned lord looks towards the six presenters, a large cylinder vessel in front of the throne perhaps containing a kakaw (chocolate-based) or fermented beverage. Six seated figures face the lord, each presenting a different gift or tribute item, including a small sculpture portraying a seated figure that may be the Maize god, a vulture head that may be a full head mask, a decorated olla (a liquid-carrying jar), a bowl containing frothy kakaw or atole (a maize-based gruel), and what appears to be a divination mirror.
The hieroglyphic text around the rim is a Primary Standard Sequence text that refers to the vessel and its contents. The shorter texts painted within the scene refer to the enthroned lord and the pictured event.
The Steppe Geoglyphs of Kazakhstan were accidentally discovered by Dmitriy Dey, an archaeology enthusiast, while he was using Google Earth to look for pyramids. The Steppe Geoglyphs consist of more than 200 rings, squares, and lines. Each measure around 1 meter (3 ft) high and 12 meters (40 ft) wide. They were built by an unknown civilization in the Turgai area of Northern Kazakhstan. Because of their massive size, the glyphs can only be fully viewed and appreciated from space. At the moment we have no idea what they were for or why they were built.
Archaeological activity in the excavation area of the ancient town of the lost city of Pteria, located near the village of Şahmuratlı in the Central Anatolian province of Yozgat, has been completed.
Significant discoveries have been made in the project carried out by a team of 45 people, led by American archeologist Scott Branting.
The site is home to many remarkable historical treasures, said Branting, who has been leading and actively participating in archeological projects at the Şahmuratlı-Kerkenes ruins for 22 years.
Brenting added that the archaeological activity in the area might have to continue for a long time due to the sheer volume of possible findings, adding that the Kerkenes area is believed to have been home to a civilization in 600 BC. Read more.
A number of cave paintings dating back some 8,000 years have been found in Baltalıın and İnkaya caves in the Marmara province of Balıkesir during a field study conducted by Associate Prof. Dr. Derya Yalçıklı from Çanakkale (18th March) University, the Arkeofili website has reported.
The paintings, which date back to the Late Neolithic era, were located in two caves five kilometers apart and were said to be 8,000 years old, marking one of the most important archaeological discoveries made in Anatolia in recent years.
When the two caves were analyzed separately, it was revealed they were used for different functions, as the paintings in one of them depicted hunting figures, while the other depicted figures of beliefs. Read more.
Maya Late Classic Period dated October 7, 691
Object Place: Lake Yaxhá-Tikal area, Department of El Petén, Guatemala
This vase records, both pictorially and in hieroglyphic texts, the presentation of tribute or a diplomatic gift by K’ak’ Hiix, an emissary of Yich’aak K’ak’ the ruler of Calakmul (located in Campeche, Mexico) to Ch’ok Wayis. The identity of this regal person has been in question, but this vase helps to confirm that the nominal is likely be an alternative name of the Tikal ruler Hasaw Chan K’awiil. The rendered event took place at the site of Topoxte’, an island center in Lake Petén-Itzá and aligned with the large and important site of Yaxhá located across the shallow lake from the island. The presentation took place on 9.12.19.10.0 4-Ajaw 13-Keh, or October 7, 691, as recorded in the hieroglyphic text. The gift/tribute includes a bundle sitting in front of the bench throne that contains 12,000 kakaw beans (3-piI) and a stack of cloth and quetzal feathers set behind the enthroned lord Ch’ok Wayis.
The hieroglyphic text around the vase’s rim confirms its being a kakaw-drinking vase of Lord Ch’ok Wayis, and the smaller texts within the scene record the diplomatic meeting and gift presentation, naming the portrayed emissary figures.
K’ak’ Hiix, an emissary of the Calakmul (Mexico) ruler Yich’aak K’ak’, presents tribute-12,000 cacao beans and a stack of cloth and quetzal feathers-to his enemy Ch’ok Wayis (Hasaw Chan K’awiil), the ruler of Tikal. The text states that the event took place at the Lake Yaxhá island town Topoxté on 9.12.19.10.0 4-Ajaw 13-Keh (October 7, 691). The tribute may have resulted from a skirmish or may have been a diplomatic entreaty to avert hostility; Tikal won a major battle against Calakmul four years later.
Maya Late Classic Period A.D. 650–750
Object Place: Department of El Petén, central Petén lowlands, Guatemala
The scene depicts a vision quest rite with six human participants who hold small drinking cups. One of the figures is dancing and smokes a cigarette. The taking of a ritual enema is implied by an enema bag floating between the two main figures and one held by the seated figure who faces the dancer. A large jar containing a frothy liquid sits atop a turtle carapace out of whose ends emerges a possum-like animal. Flanking the water jar is a cormorant and an armadillo.
An ancient potters’ workshop dating back to Roman times has been discovered in Galilee, in northern Israel.
The Israel Antiquities Authority announced that excavations in Shlomi, a town near the Lebanon border, have revealed a ceramic factory where storage jars and vessels for wine and oil would have been made 1,600 years ago. Archaeologists working at the site said this workshop is notable for its carefully constructed rock-cut kiln.
“What makes the pottery works so special is its unique kiln, which was hewn in bedrock and is unlike most of the kilns known to us that were built of stone, earth and mud,” Joppe Gosker, the excavation director, said in a statement. Read more.
Pachacamac is located on the coast of Peru and 32 km south of Lima. It was an important sacred site, with an oracle, and burial sites, which was visited by pilgrims of many ancient Andean cultures for over 2,000 years. Pachacamac was sacred up through Incan Empire in the 1400s, and stopped being a site of pilgrimage only with the coming of the Spanish and their alien religion. The site was named after the god of the same name (Pacha Kamaq) who was considered the ‘Maker of the Earth’ by coastal peoples. The god’s sacred wooden statue was worshiped at the site, situated inside a large temple complex built on a stepped earthen platform. There was also likely an oracle on the site in the 1st millennium BCE.
In the fossil-rich region of South Africa known as the Cradle of Humankind, scientists have discovered the earliest known case of one of the world’s most deadly diseases.
Using 3-D imaging, the researchers have diagnosed an aggressive type of cancer called osteosarcoma in a foot bone belonging to a human relative who died in Swartkrans Cave between 1.6 and 1.8 million years ago.
The discovery—which has just been published in the South African Journal of Science—suggests that, while modern lifestyles have increased the incidences of cancer, especially in industrialized countries, the triggers for the disease are embedded deep within the human evolutionary past.
“You can opt for the paleo diet, you can have as clean a living environment as you want, but the capacity for these diseases is ancient, and it’s within us regardless of what you do to yourselves,” says study co-author Edward Odes of the University of the Witwatersrand. Read more.
