15-years old Canadian boy discovers forgotten Mayan city

15-year old Canadian boy named William Gadoury said to have discovered an ancient Mayan city that had been forgotten in Central America. The boy who come from Quebec believes that he has found the city of Mayan by using their ancient astronomy through satellite photos. The Mayan city discovered by the Canadian teenager is located right by the star in the constellation recognized by the Mayan civilization.

William Gadoury discovered the village using satellite images and Google Maps. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1aDMxM)

From these data, then he develops the theory that the Mayan nation choose a location for the city's development depends on the location of the star. Similarly, as reported by the Metro on Tuesday, May 10, 2016.

The ancient city was named K'aak Chi or Mouth of Fire by William. The city is one of five major cities in the Maya culture. Once upon a time, the city is thought to have a 86-meter-high pyramid, and has about 30 buildings.

According to William, he was aware of the location of the forgotten city easily, by identifying the lost city of the constellation of three stars and then match it with the Canadian Space Agency satellite photos. William then compare the region by using Google Earth. Related to this, William will present his findings at the Brazil’s International Science Fair.

The square outline is believed to be man-made structures beneath vegetation. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1aDMxM)

The Canadian Space Agency spokesperson Daniel De Lisle, said overgrown vegetation in the area made it extremely hard to study on ground level. Which could be a major contributing factor to why the city has remained lost for so long. But scans of the area via satellite have revealed linear features distinctive enough to suggest it’s a manmade structure.

The findings are doubted by the experts
However, there is a problem. Some archaeologists and anthropologists questioned the claims of William Gadoury. The square seen in satellite images, they said, may not be a pyramid, but could have been an ancient corn fields. 

One expert critics is David Stuart, a professor of Mesoamerican Art and Writing at the University of Texas at Austin. "The latest news is wrong. I tried to ignore it (and questions from the media that I received), but now I feel I should say something," Stuart said in his Facebook post. 

"Ancient Mayans did not organize the construction of their cities based on the constellations. Seeing this pattern is a Rorschach process, because ancient sites anywhere, as well as a star," he continued.

"Square features found in Google Earth are man-made, but it was only an ancient corn fields, or Milpa (fields from the open forest)," explained Stuart. 

In his next posting, Stuar said, "I do not want to criticize teenage boy mentioned in the news. He was very intelligent and keen on archeology and Mayan culture. What makes me furious here is the 'expert' irresponsible want to appear in the media".

The opinion of Professor Stuart supported by Thomas Garrison, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Southern California. 

"I commend the efforts of the teenagers. However, in this case, a square shape and a secondary crop growing in it is evidence that was an ancient Milpa. I estimate that had been cultivated for 10 to 15 years. This is obviously done by people who have stayed in the Maya lowlands," Thomas told Gizmodo. 

Ivan Šprajc, a Slovenian archaeologist who once roamed the Yucatan jungle to search for the ancient Maya cities also doubted the findings. He also denied the theory that the Maya built their city in accordance with the star constellations. 

The Maya is a great astronomer, he said. However, only a few constellations that found by Mayan people. In fact, in this case, we do not know how many and which of the stars that form the constellation respectively. 

However, an expert from Canada who support the finding of William Gadoury submited a rebuttal. Dr. Armand LaRocque from Remote Sensing Laboratory at the University of New Brunswick, said that they doubted the findings of William was analyzed a different photo. William, said Armand, is not based on a set of photos analyzed by experts earlier. 

Many people would agree that the best way to prove these findings, whether the Mayan city or the cornfield is by going into the woods. However, according to Armand, it will cost a lot.. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | METRO | GIZMODO]

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Cosmic particles reveal the secrets of Egyptian pyramids

The internal structure of the ancient Egyptian pyramids revealed for the first time by a team of international researchers by using the cosmic particles. The innovative technology was applied to the 4,500 years-old Bent Pyramid that built under the Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu.

Previously, there is speculation that the remains of Pharaoh Sneferu located inside the pyramid in an undiscovered burial chamber. However, the innovative technologies, ScanPyramids, has denied this hypothesis. From the scan results, not detected no additional chamber of the same size with the upper chamber.

The Bent pyramid was built under the Old Kingdom Pharaoh Sneferu (about  2600 BC), located at the royal necropolis of Dahshur, about 25 miles south of Cairo. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZuSXz)

According to the researchers, who presented the results at Cairo to the Minister of Antiquities, Khaled El-Enany, and former minister Mamdouh El-Damaty, showed very good results because it shows the inside of monuments such as the use of X-rays.

A 3-D cutaway shows the interior of the Bent Pyramid. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZuSXz)

The Bent Pyramid is the first pyramid was investigated by using the ScanPyramids. The technology created a team from Cairo University and a Paris-based non-profit organization, named Heritage, Innovation and Preservation (HIP Institute).

As quoted by Discovery News on Thursday, April 28, 2016, the technology combines a wide range of innovative things, such as infrared, muon radiography and 3D reconstruction. The innovative technology was highly dependent on the muon, the cosmic particles that permanently and naturally bombard the Earth, which can penetrate the material is very deep.

Illustration of the Bent Pyramid internal structure. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZuSFv)

Muons coming from the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, where they were created from collisions between cosmic rays and atomic nuclei in the atmosphere.

"This is a scientific breakthrough because it uses the principle applied muography Egyptian pyramids. It paved the way for a new investigation," said deputy director of ScanPyramids, Mehid Tayoubi.

40 muon detectors installed in the basement of Bent Pyramid. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZuSFv)

These results appeared four months after a team led by Kunihiro Morishima of the Institute for Advanced Research of Nagoya University, Japan, installing 40 units slab of muon detectors in the basement of the Bent Pyramid.

"From this slab, more than 10 million muon traces were analyzed. We calculate the muon and according to their angular distribution, so we were able to reconstruct the images," said Tayoubi.

"For the first time, the structure of the pyramid has been revealed by the muon particles. The figure shows that the second chamber in the pyramid is located approximately above the lower floor where the emulsion plates installed," he added. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | DISCOVERY NEWS]

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Found, a 1,500 year-old mummy wore 'Adidas' shoes

Archaeologists from Khovd Museum in Mongolia have discovered a unique mummy makes many netizens astonished. What was the reason? When it found, the mummy wearing 'Adidas' shoes.

The mummified remains were found at the height of 2,803 meters (9,196 feet) up in Mongolia’s Altai Mountains. The mummy, thought to be a native Turkic female, is estimated to be over 1,500 years old. Its discovery was prompted after local herdsmen stumbled across the grave and alerted the Khovd Museum.

"Style is eternal," they say. In light of that wisdom, people have been pointing out the resemblance of this recently discovered ancient mummy’s shoes to a pair of Adidas trainers, complete with their iconic stripes. Yes, it's even prompted numerous jokes of "time travel." (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZYpFO)

From the tomb as deep as 3 meters where the mummy is residing, were also found to saddle, bridle, clay vases, wooden bowls, iron teapots, and the bones of a horse. The most interesting was a pair of shoes that wore by the mummy. At a glance, the shoes shown the 'three stripes' of the iconic brand of the German's shoe manufacturer Adidas, and instantly make the archaeologists astonished.

A female mummified hand of the ancient Turkic tribe at the Khovd Museum, Mongolia. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZYpDz)

Many netizens who are shared the photo of the mummy leg on the Internet, and many of them speculate or wondered if the mummy in her lifetime was a woman who came from the future and travelled into the past or known as the time traveller. How could it be? What do you think?

Goods that were buried along with the mummy. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZYpDz)

Apart from the 'conspiracy theory' of the Adidas shoes, and that surely the mummy is the discovery of the first tomb of the ancient Turkic nations in Central Asia. This tribe is known lived in the area that is now called the Mongolia since 600 years before Christ.

Archaeologists hope, they could study the beliefs and burial rituals of the ancient Turkic culture in the past. Especially about the sacrifices are being included in burial rituals, such as the horse that buried along with the woman who wore the Adidas shoes. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | IFLSCIENCE]

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Thousands of mysterious jars holds human remains found in Laos

Researchers have recently discovered a thousands of jars made of quartz stone and contains the human remains in an archaeological area named Plain of Jars in the central Laos. One of the findings is an odd-shaped quartz stones that covered the face of one human skeleton. Findings thousands of jars is expected to help researchers reveal secrets of the spread of this kind of stones across the country.

Human remains, estimated to be about 2,500 years old, were unearthed at the Plain of Jars site in Laos. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZLgY6)

When found, the skull under the cover of quartz as if peering through a huge hole in the middle of the stone, said Dougald O'Reilly, an archaeologist from the Australian National University (ANU). As quoted from Live Science on Monday, April 11, 2016, the archaeologist who led a team of scientists of Laos and Australia to examine the Plain of Jars in February, 2016.

"When we dug, the skull was being see through an opening. It is quite interesting, but it is not clear whether it was intentional," said O'Reilly as told to Live Science.

Ancient burial sites

The alleged burial site was 2,500 years old and was discovered by researchers from ANU, Monash University of Australia and the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Laos. They need approximately 4 weeks to do the mapping and excavation around a collection of carved stone jars scattered in the area.

Location of the Plain of Jars of central Laos. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZLgxs)

In the central Laos, there are more than 90 jar sites, some of them even have up to 400 stone jars with a size of up to 3 meters. These sites were scattered in the foothills, forests, and valleys in the highlands.

The members of this joint research team has been started at the most affordable place, known as the Jar Site 1, which is located a few kilometers away from the town of Phonsavan in the Xiang Khoang province, central Laos. They planned to examine the site next year.

The Laos government hopes to develop the Jar Site 1 as the archaeological center and UNESCO World Cultural Heritage in order to protect the area and stimulate the advancement of science and cultural tourism.

Mysterious Jars 

O'Reilly said that this expedition is the first major effort undertaken by archaeologists since its discovery in 1930 and intends to understand the usefulness of the jars and identify the maker. Since then, a number of archaeologists have done substantial work on their own about the Plain of Jars.

An aerial drone photograph of "Jar Site 1" in the Plain of Jars, located near Phonsavan in central Laos. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZLgY6)

The latest team consisted of 11 researchers who working to develop the first site's complete scientific study, including a map of the Geographic Information System (GIS) based on the location appropriate to the jars, discs stones and quartz stone markers scattered in the site. The most large jar has a weighs more than 9,000 kg. Somehow could be there. 

"There are a number of quarry are known to be the origin place of jars and should had to be carried across a distance of about 8 to 10 km to the jar site," said O'Reilly.

Archaeologists spent four weeks mapping and excavating the ground around a group of the massive carved stone jars that dot the landscape. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZLgY6)

"So there is a great effort involved when moving the stones. It could be the elephants certainly involved, considering the weight of the jars."

To carving the jar is also certainly not easy for primitive humans who have no iron tools, he said again.

"Some of the jars have a height of more than 2 meters or 3 meters with a circumference that can not be hugged by our arms," said O'Reilly.

"And there are some variations in the design of the jars. There are some that have openings that are smaller or larger, there is a rectangular, circular or oval. Curious how they sculpt these objects."

For many years, the mystery of the diversity of size and shape of the jars are inviting a number of researchers to issue a number of theories about its usefulness.

"It may act as a kind of warning, and the diversity of sizes may indicate a difference in status and even there is a hierarchy in the jars creator society. And it take a lot of time to create a theory."

Revealed a number of new mysteries

The burial place has odd-shaped quartz stones is one of three distinctive types of burial sites are found in the Jar Site 1, the researchers said.

"This is the first time a type of burial was found in the Plain of Jars, but if you have found one, then there may be more to the other," says O'Reilly.

Archaeologists also found an oddly shaped quartz stone covering the face of one of the newly uncovered human skeletons. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZLgY6)

"The cemetery is also quite interesting because it provides the skeleton not just one person, but two. The bones of the skull are thought to have come from an 8 year old child was also found in the grave, in addition to the adult skeleton."

This expedition also found 11 ceramic jars, which allegedly contained the "secondary"  funeral of number of human bones that flesh had decomposed. Found also an excavation contain the bones of secondary graves covered by a lump of large limestone. Marker stones and stone discs on the ground surface around jars stones seem to relate to a secondary burial site, said O'Reilly.

The scientific research to the examples and relics from the Plain of Jars will be continued in the laboratory. O'Reilly said that this expedition has found some human teeth that could provide DNA for testing as well as clues about the origins of the ancient people who were buried there.

However, DNA tends badly damaged in the climatic conditions in Southeast Asia so that it is possible telaahannya not appropriate, he added. The contents of ceramic jars excavated from this site will also be examined to ascertain whether it contains the remains of a human body as alleged by the researchers.

The contents of the ceramic jars excavated from the site will also be carefully examined to confirm if, as the researchers suspect, they hold human remains. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZLgY6)

But not everything is revealed in the Plain of Jars. Some archaeologists proposed the stone jars alleged was used in order to remove the bodies before the bones are cleaned to a secondary burial. It is not possible known.

"This case is something that is found in some religious practices in other parts of the world, but still needs to be investigated a bit further on the Plain of Jars," said O'Reilly.

One of the biggest problems at the site is that the jars are already exposed to the harsh climate of Southeast Asia for more than 2,000 years so it is very difficult for the researchers to learn and perform a series of tests on artifacts.

"Probably we could try taking a fatty substance (lipid) on the stone jars to see if there is evidence of decay (decomposition) of the human body, but the jars had been exposed for so long, so this is a bit too hopeful," he said.

"So I am worried we will probably never know the main purpose of these large stone jars." *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | LIVESCIENCE]

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It turned out that the Flores man extinct faster than expected

Ancient dwarf human species found in Indonesia might become extinct faster than previously expected. This was revealed by an international team of scientists investigating the origins of the discovery in the journal Nature.

Flores man, or Homo floresiensis lived on the island of Flores. The human brain is the size of a pygmy chimpanzee brain, but the shape of the skull resembles Homo erectus, which lived in Africa and Asia. They also have long arms and short legs.

The face reconstruction images of the female dwarf of Flores (Homo floresiensis). (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1Z0AHa)

The team of scientists correcting earlier reports stating that the inhabitants of the island of Flores in the past that coexisted with modern humans for tens of thousands of years. They found that the youngest age for the species Homo floresiensis, nicknamed Hobbit Man was about 50,000 years ago, not 13,000 and 11,000 years as the initial claims.

The study was led by scientists from the Indonesian National Archaeology Center (Pusat Arkeologi Nasional/Arkenas) involving researchers from the Research Centre of Human Evolution (RCHE) Griffith University, Australia. The researchers found a problem with the efforts of the previous calendar in the Liang Bua cave site.

The Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1Z0AkM)

"Even seemingly Homo floresiensis seems to have disappeared shortly after our species reached Flores. It shows that 'kita' the one who delivers them to extinction, "said the expert geochronology and archaeologist in RCHE, Maxime Aubert. He shared RCHE Director, Professor Rainer measure the amount of uranium and thorium contained in H. floresiensis fossils to test their age.

"The skeletal remains of the youngest Hobbit comes from 60,000 a year ago, but the evidence for their simple stone tools continued until 50,000 years ago. After that, there was no trace of this hominin species, "said Aubert.

The Flores man discovery began when archaeologists dig at Liang Bua limestone cave in 2003, they found the bones of a human dwarf that is different from the human species today.

It is not clear their position in the human family tree. They may be descended from ancestors that normal height, which is undergoing a process of evolution shrinking her height being isolated on the island. Hobbit making stone tools, were found along with the remains of the skeletons in the cave of Liang Bua, Flores.

But the excavation covers only a small portion of the area of ​​the cave is a vast and complex. Further excavations over the years eventually led investigators on a clearer understanding of the sequence of archaeological layers.

Now it is clear that when the previous team collected samples for dating main layers containing the Hobbit fossils, they mistakenly take it from the layers above it which same, has similar composition, but much younger.

"This problem has been corrected and a new calendar published giving a more reasonable estimate of the antiquity of this species," said Aubert.

But, what happens to the Flores man still remains a mystery.

Adam Brumm, an archaeologist of RCHE who also participated in the study said Hobbit tend to have inhabited other caves on Flores that can generate new signs of their existence. He believes H. floresiensis may suffer the same fate as Neanderthals in Europe. Both species are unable to compete with our species, and is replaced in just a few thousand years.

"They may be pushed down to the remote island of Flores, but it's a small place and they can not forever avoid our species," said Aubert. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | NATIONAL GEOGRAHIC]

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