Insights & More

Earliest Known Mayan Calendar Goes Beyond 2012

By Belinda McCallum
Epoch Times Staff

Ninth-century hieroglyphs painted by a Mayan scribe in Guatemala are records of lunar and perhaps planetary cycles, forming the oldest known Mayan calendar.

The city of Xultún was discovered almost a century ago in the remote rainforest of the Petén region and covers 12 square miles. It was once home to many thousands of people, and monuments were constructed from the first centuries B.C. Only 56 structures have been counted and mapped among thousands more.

Led by William Saturno from Boston University, a team of archeologists has now excavated the calendar keeper’s room, which seems to be part of a house. This is the first time that Mayan paintings have been discovered on the walls of a house.

Despite damage by looters, numerous red and black glyphs, and various human figures are visible on the three intact walls. Calculations on the east wall refer to the lunar cycle, whereas the more obscure calculations on the north wall could be linked with Mars, Mercury, or Venus.

According to the researchers, Mayan calendars aimed to harmonize sacred rituals with celestial events.

“For the first time we get to see what may be actual records kept by a scribe, whose job was to be official record keeper of a Maya community,” said Saturno in a press release.

“It’s like an episode of TV’s ‘Big Bang Theory,’ a geek math problem and they’re painting it on the wall,” he added. “They seem to be using it like a blackboard.”

However, there is no indication that our world will end in 2012; rather, it will just enter another cycle.

Read more: Earliest Known Mayan Calendar Goes Beyond 2012 | Beyond Science | Science | Epoch Times

…

Mayan Culture Holds Secrets for Today Part II

…

Russian researcher looks for answers to earth’s future

By Uliana Kim
Epoch Times Staff

Another interesting complex is Fort Tulum, on the eastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. During the time of the Mayan civilization’s decline, several tribes moved to the coast and built Fort Tulum to protect inhabitants from attacks of fellow tribes.

“All those grey stones were once colored in bright colors. Different colors symbolized different nature powers: heaven, earth, moon, sun, fire, and so on,” Novoselsky said.

In my opinion, all these prophecies are a chance to think about our behavior, the meaning of life, about how to improve yourself and other people’s life, and how to live in harmony.
—Kiril Novoselsky

Mayan Prophecies

Mayan life is described in a sacred book called “Popol Vuh.” Novoselsky said it could be compared to the Bible, “but all information is in allegoric form.” “There are some interpretations, but I think they are all far from the truth,” he said.

All commentaries were either destroyed or written with the hieroglyphic script, which is difficult to read. “Most secrets are still hidden. One of the most popular interpretations is the prophecy about the end of the days in 2012,” Novoselsky said.

As to whether he believes in this prophecy, Novoselsky said, “As a scientist, I investigated this question.”

He mentioned the well-known esoteric researcher Drunvalo Melchisedek, who had discussed this question with Guatemalan priests and found out that the predicted transformation would be a process that would happen gradually—not in two days, but during 200 years.

“In their opinion, the year 2012 is a milestone of the old epoch and the beginning of something new, maybe the beginning of a new culture. And they emphasized that this would happen slowly and gradually without cataclysms and earthquakes,” Novoselsky said. “People living in the center of the Mayan civilization haven’t any panic about this prophecy.”

He added, “In my opinion, all these prophecies are a chance to think about our behavior, the meaning of life, about how to improve yourself and other people’s life, and how to live in harmony.”

Island of Peace

Two adjacent reefs form Cozumel Island in the Caribbean Sea, making it the second-largest reef in the world, according to geologists.

“This island is also sacred,” Novoselsky said. “There was a temple of the goddess Ixchel, who is the goddess of midwifery and medicine. Even nowadays, a lot of people come here to treat infertility.”

The inhabitants of Cozumel Island have never experienced wars or battles or any significant crime.

Novoselsky, who is also a member and correspondent of the Nicolas Roerich Museum in New York, was surprised to find that people on Cozumel Island are familiar with a symbol created by the Russian artist and philosopher Nicolas Roerich.

In the island’s local museum, all the guides wear badges with Roerich’s “Banner of Peace,” which consists of a circle containing three circles, symbolizing past, present, and future united by eternity. The symbol can also be interpreted as religion, knowledge, and art within the circle of culture.

Novoselsky said that the museum’s guides didn’t know who invented it. Famous Mexican actress Alicia Rodriguez, who is involved in the movement Roerich Pact, introduced it to the locals during her visit in 2009.

“I told them that it was created by the Russian artist Nicolas Roerich, and they promised to include this information in the excursion program,” Novoselsky said.

Russian Decipherment

Yuriy Knorozov (1922–1999) is one of the few scientists who were able to contribute significantly to the decipherment of ancient Mayan script. Without visiting Mexico, just by using pictures, books, and articles of other authors, he was able to create a method that helped researchers read many Mayan inscriptions.

Near the end of his life, after perestroika, when Soviet citizens were allowed to go abroad, he finally visited Mexico. “He was received with full honors because people knew about his works. Many American and Mexican scientists who researched Mayan [civilization] made references to Knorozov’s works,” Novoselsky said.

A research center, with his students living there, is in contact with local inhabitants and continues to work on the decipherment of the Mayan hieroglyphic script to further discover Mayan secrets. “Maybe we’ll find their answers about the earth’s future,” he said.

This is the second of a two-part series. Find here part I.

via Mayan Culture Holds Secrets for Today Part II | Literary & Visual Arts | Arts & Entertainment | Epoch Times

Related Articles:

• Mayan Culture Holds Secrets for Today (Part I)
• The Living Maya: Chiapas, Mexico
• New 2012 Reference Revealed on Mayan Brick

…

Hominids Used Fire One Million Years Ago

By Belinda McCallum
Epoch Times Staff

Evidence that people used fire one million years ago during the Stone Age has been uncovered in South Africa by a multinational team of scientists.

Microscopic remains of wood ash were found next to stone tools and burned bones in sediment from Wonderwerk cave, close to the Kalahari Desert.

“Wonderwerk” means “miracle” in Afrikaans, and the cavern is massive, extending 456 feet (139 meters) inwards. It is believed to be one of the longest inhabited caves in the world with evidence of occupation stretching back two million years.

Previous excavations at Wonderwerk have revealed a wealth of information about the people who lived there.

But this new discovery pushes back the timing for use of fire by 300,000 years, according to anthropologist Michael Chazan at the Canada’s University of Toronto.

Both the scorched materials seem to have been burned locally, and not transported into the cave by wind or water. There is also surface discoloration on the cave floor which indicates burning activity.

“The impact of cooking food is well documented, but the impact of control over fire would have touched all elements of human society,” Chazan said in a press release.

via Hominids Used Fire One Million Years Ago | Beyond Science | Science | Epoch Times

Related Articles: Sophisticated Blades Mass-Produced Up to 400,000 Years Ago

…

100,000-Year-Old Art Studio Found in Africa

…

By Arshdeep Sarao
Epoch Times Staff

A prehistoric ochre-processing workshop with two in situ toolkits has been discovered at Blombos Cave, situated on the southern Cape Coast in South Africa.

A prehistoric ochre-processing workshop with two in situ toolkits has been discovered at Blombos Cave, situated on the southern Cape Coast in South Africa.

This is the world’s oldest known art studio, and was probably used to produce liquefied ochre for painting, decoration, and skin protection.

The toolkits were formed from abalone shells (Haliotis midae), one with a tight-fitting quartzite cobble on top. They included an ochre-rich mixture, as well as charcoal, grindstones, and hammerstones. The cobble has use-wear marks, red ochre stains, and is encrusted with bone fragments.

The ancient workshop was unearthed in 2008 by an international team, under the guidance of Christopher Henshilwood, a research professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and the director of the Blombos Cave Project.

“Ochre may have been applied with symbolic intent as decoration on bodies and clothing during the Middle Stone Age,” said Henshilwood in a press release.

The ancient workshop was used for grinding, scraping, and storing red ochre dust, which is thought to have been common practice in Africa and the Near East from 100,000 years ago.

“We believe that the manufacturing process involved the rubbing of pieces of ochre on quartzite slabs to produce a fine red powder,” Henshilwood explained.

“Ochre chips were crushed with quartz, quartzite and silcrete hammerstones/ grinders and combined with heated crushed, mammal-bone, charcoal, stone chips and a liquid, which was then introduced to the abalone shells and gently stirred.

“A bone was probably used to stir the mixture and to transfer some of the mixture out of the shell.”

The bone, identified as a seal’s scapula or shoulderbone, was probably used to extract fat and marrow for mixing with the pigment as a binder.

Henshilwood said the discovery provides evidence for the “knowledge of chemistry and the ability for long-term planning” in the humans who used this site 100,000 years ago.

The toolkits will be displayed in an exhibition at the Iziko Museum in Cape Town.

The findings were published online in the journal Science on Oct. 14.

via 100,000-Year-Old Art Studio Found in Africa | Science | Epoch Times

Related Articles:

• Most Ancient Stone Axes Found in Kenya
• 400,000-Year-Old Human Remains Found in Israel

Mesolithic Discovery Could Alter Our Understanding of Stonehenge

…
..

Epoch Times Staff

A pair of carved stone ducks unearthed at Vespasian’s Camp near Stonehenge are believed to be the oldest known figurines found in the UK, and are amongst other findings that suggest the sacred site was in use several thousand years before the megalith itself was constructed.

A pair of carved stone ducks unearthed at Vespasian’s Camp near Stonehenge are believed to be the oldest known figurines found in the UK, and are amongst other findings that suggest the sacred site was in use several thousand years before the megalith itself was constructed.

Led by archeologist David Jacques at The Open University, several students uncovered a hoard of artifacts from the mid-Stone Age, including a ceremonial dagger, the remains of an aurochs feast, and more than 5,000 flints and tools.

“We thought it was probably a mixed cache of early prehistoric tools, and assumed some were contemporary with Stonehenge,” Jacques said in a press release.

“When we took them back to Cambridge and a number of experts suggested they were all Mesolithic, we started to get very excited.”

The team found evidence of a fire with over 200 cooked animal bones from at least one aurochs, which were radiocarbon dated back to about 6,250 BC, more than 3,000 years before the giant stone circle was erected.

“Mesolithic people were nomadic hunter-gatherers who would have had temporary settlements,” Jacques explained.

“Salisbury Plain would have been something like the Serengeti with herds of animals roaming across it, and people could have used the hills that sort of create a basin around it as vantage points from which to see the movement of animals.”

Now extinct, aurochs were a type of large cattle that once roamed Eurasia and North Africa, reaching almost two meters in height.

“An aurochs was something like a large minivan in size,” Jacques said. “To catch an animal this big would have been a major feat.”

“It would have fed a lot of people. It’s likely there was a large gathering, possibly as many as 100 people, who cooked and feasted on the aurochs.”

Meanwhile, the ducks were dated back to 700 BC, and the dagger to around 1,400 BC. The figurines are believed to be part of a Bronze Age tradition based on casting sacrificial offerings into water.

Only a few other Mesolithic artifacts have previously been found in the area. Field archeologist Tom Lyons at Oxford Archaeology East said in the release that the discovery is highly significant.

“It’s really exciting to get such a cache of material,” he said. “This certainly makes this find nationally important, if not internationally important.”

via Mesolithic Discovery Could Alter Our Understanding of Stonehenge | Science | Epoch Times

Related Articles:
Stonehenge Architect Linked With Welsh Burial Cairn?

9,000-Year-Old Advanced Civilization Found in Saudi Arabia

Epoch Times Staff

Archeological evidence that an ancient society was domesticating animals including horses 9,000 years ago, 4,000 years earlier than previously thought, has been unearthed at Al-Maqar in central Saudi Arabia.

Named the Al-Maqar civilization, around 80 artifacts have been collected from the site, including mummified skeletons, spinning and weaving tools, and statues of animals such as ostriches, falcons, and a one-meter-tall bust of a horse. A horse burial has also been discovered.

Ali al-Ghabban, vice president of Antiquities and Museums at the Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities (SCTA), said these findings challenge the theory that animal domestication took place 5,500 years ago, which is based on previous excavations in Central Asia.

“A statue of an animal of this dimension, dating back to that time, has never been found anywhere in the world,” Ghabban said, according to the Saudi Gazette.

Read more: 9,000-Year-Old Advanced Civilization Found in Saudi Arabia | Science | Epoch Times
…

…

Fossil ‘Apes’ Not Necessarily Human Ancestors, Say Anthropologists

By Kat Piper
Epoch Times Staff

Several prominent fossil discoveries made in the last 10 years have been claimed to be the ancestors of modern humans. In a new paper in the journal Nature, two American biological anthropologists question the simplicity of the claims, saying instead that the fossils are more likely great apes.

“Don’t get me wrong, these are all important finds,” said co-author Bernard Wood in a press release. “But to simply assume that anything found in that time range has to be a human ancestor is naïve.” Wood is a professor of human origins at George Washington University and director of its Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology.

Their paper looks at three fossils: the 6-million-year-old Orrorin, discovered in Kenya; Sahelanthropus, a partial skull unearthed in Chad and dated to 7 million years old; and Ardipithecus, or “Ardi” for short, discovered in Ethiopia and thought to have lived around 4 million years ago. Although Ardi was very different from what paleontologists had expected a human ancestor to look like, it was nonetheless claimed to be one.

The status of these fossils “has been presumed rather than adequately demonstrated,” said co-author Terry Harrison, a professor in the Department of Anthropology at New York University and director of its Center for the Study of Human Origins.

“There are a number of alternative interpretations that are possible. We believe that it is just as likely or more likely that they are fossil apes.”

Read more: Fossil ‘Apes’ Not Necessarily Human Ancestors, Say Anthropologists | Science | Epoch Times