Category Archives: Ancient Civilizations

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1282238/Forget-Da-Vinci-code-Experts-Michelangelo-code-hidden-Sistine-Chapel.html

Michelangelo is recognised as one of the greatest painters and sculptors from the Italian Renaissance.

What is not so widely known is that he was an avid student of anatomy who once persuaded a Florentine prior to let him study the corpses in his church hospital. But he went on to destroy almost of all of his anatomical sketches and notes.

Now a pair of American experts in neuroanatomy believe Michelangelo DID leave some anatomical illustrations behind in one of his most famous works – the Sistine Chapel.

The Sistine Chapel was painted between 1508 and 1512 by Michelangelo. Experts now think they have found a hidden message in the furthest western panel (circled)

The artist painted the masterpiece between 1508 and 1512 in Rome and it has since been gazed upon by thousands of worshippers and tourists alike.

Ian Suk and Rafel Tamargo claim that the final panel in the awe-inspiring ceiling reveals a precise depiction of the human spinal cord and brain stem.

The scientists from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, were studying the far western panel that depicts God separating light from darkness with his hands.

They noticed that God’s throat and chest had anatomical irregularities, which were not present in any other figure in the fresco. And while the figures are illuminated diagonally from the lower left, God’s neck is illuminated straight-on. They concluded that what looks like clumsiness must have been deliberate work by the genius.

The lumpy neck in the God figure (A) of the panel matches a photograph of the human brain when seen from below (B) while (C) shows the various parts of the brain apparently hidden in the painting

Michelangelo was accused of defamation by Church conservatives after he completed The Last Judgment scene. Did he reveal his frustrations by hiding a message in this earlier panel?

The authors did not go as far as to speculate what its meaning could be, but Dr R. Douglas Fields from the University of Maryland said there could be a number of interpretations.

‘Is Separation of Light from Darkness an artistic comment on the enduring clash between science and religion?,’ he asked in a blog on the Scientific American website.

‘It is no secret that Michelangelo’s relationship with the Catholic church became strained. The artist was a simple man, but he grew to detest the opulence and corruption of the Church.’

He added: ‘Perhaps the meaning in the Sistine Chapel is not of God giving intelligence to Adam, but rather that intelligence and observation and the bodily organ that makes them possible lead without the necessity of Church directly to God.’

There is of course the possibility that the image is a ‘Rorshach test’. This is an image that reveals more about the person viewing it than the picture itself. Perhaps it is not suprising that anatomy experts would see anatomical drawings in an image.

However, the scientists are not the first to have spotted unusual shapes within the world-famous fresco.

In 1990, physician Frank Meshberger showed that the central panel of God Creating Adam was a perfect anatomical illustration of the human brain in cross section.

According to Michelangelo’s wishes the artist was not buried on the grounds of the Vatican but interred in a tomb in Florence. It is conceivable that the Sistine Chapel was another gesture of defiance that would remain long after he had gone

For more information visit the Scientific American website

http://www.history.com/topics/oil-spills

On April 20, 2010, an explosion aboard the Deepwater Horizon, a large drilling rig leased by the oil company BP, killed 11 crew members and set off a massive blaze. The burning rig sank two days later into the Gulf of Mexico, unleashing a toxic gush of oil that has continued to leak at an alarming—and perhaps unprecedented—rate. One month since the accident occurred, attempts to stem the flow have yielded limited results, and sheets of heavy crude oil have reached as far as Louisiana’s fragile coastal wetlands. On May 27, a federal team concluded that an estimated 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day are seeping into the Gulf, revising initial reports that put that figure at 5,000. This means the disaster has already substantially eclipsed the infamous Exxon Valdez incident, which released 10.8 million gallons into Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989. If efforts to cap the spewing well continue to fall short, it could even make the following list of the 10 worst oil spills in history.

1. Gulf War Oil Spill
Tons spilled: 1,360,000-1,500,000
In January 1991, Iraqi forces deliberately released more than 240 million gallons of crude oil into the Persian Gulf in an attempt to thwart an amphibious landing by the U.S. Marines. The resulting oil slick ravaged the area’s marine ecosystem, killing thousands of seabirds and endangering other wildlife. To date, it remains the worst disaster of its kind.

2. Ixtoc I
Tons spilled: 454,000-480,000
The exploratory oil well Ixtoc I exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on June 3, 1979, spewing 140 million gallons of oil into the open sea. It took control experts more than nine months to cap the spill and begin cleanup. Thousands of endangered sea turtles were airlifted to safety when the oil slick encroached upon their nesting site.

Ixtoc I Oil Well Blowout: The exploratory oil well Ixtoc I exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on June 3, 1979, spewing 140 million gallons of oil into the open sea. It took control experts more than nine months to cap the spill and begin cleanup. (Photo Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

3. The Atlantic Empress and the Aegean Captain
Tons spilled: 287,000
On July 19, 1979, two gigantic supertankers collided off the Caribbean island of Little Tobago during a tropical rainstorm. The accident killed 26 crew members and dumped millions of gallons of crude oil into the sea.

4. Fergana Valley
Tons spilled: 285,000
In March 1992, 88 million gallons of oil spilled from a well in Fergana Valley, a densely populated industrial and agricultural zone in Uzbekistan. It remains the largest inland oil spill in history.

5. Nowruz Oil Field
Tons spilled: 260,000
On February 10, 1983, at the height of the Iran-Iraq War, an oil tanker collided with the Nowruz platform in the Persian Gulf. The slick caught fire when Iraqi planes attacked, and it took Iranian workers more than six months to cap the well. Eleven people died in the process.

6. ABT Summer
Tons spilled: 260,000
The Liberian supertanker ABT Summer exploded off the coast of Angola on May 28, 1991, killing five crew members. Millions of gallons of oil leaked into the Atlantic Ocean.

7. Castillo de Bellver
Tons spilled: 252,000
On August 6, 1983, a fire broke out aboard the Spanish tanker Castillo de Bellver, causing a massive explosion that spilled 78 million gallons of oil off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa. A shift in winds pushed the oil offshore, minimizing the disaster’s environmental effects.

Oil-Covered Beach in Galicia: The Greek-operated oil tanker Prestige sank off the Galician coast in 2002, polluting more than one thousand beaches. (Photo Credit: Cover/Getty Images)

8. Amoco Cadiz
Tons spilled: 223,000
On March 16, 1978, the Amoco Cadiz supertanker wrecked off the coast of Portsall, France. Ultimately, 240 miles of France’s Brittany coast suffered oil damage, with millions of dead mollusks and sea urchins washing ashore. This was the first time images of oil-coated sea birds were seen by the world.

Sinking of the Amoco Cadiz: On March 16, 1978, the Amoco Cadiz supertanker wrecked off the coast of Portsall, France, spilling 223,000 tons of oil into the sea. (Photo Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

9. M/T Haven
Tons spilled: 144,000
The M/T Haven, a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC), suffered a huge explosion off the coast of Genoa, Italy, on April 11, 1991. Six crew members were killed, and the Mediterranean coasts of Italy and France remained polluted for the next 12 years.

10. Odyssey
Tons spilled: 132,000
In November 1988, the American-owned Odyssey drilling rig burst into flames and split in two off the coast of Novia Scotia. The accident killed one person and poured 43 million gallons of oil into the sea.

AND …….

BP Disaster Worst Spill in US History

Some scientists estimate that the spill has already released 2.5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, ten times more than that released by the Exxon Valdez in 1989. Global Research

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1281996/Meet-oldest-human-ancestor—cannibal-How-earliest-species-toothy-little-devil.html

Many people will admit to having the odd rogue ancestor.

But now scientists believe we may all be related to cannibals.

The claim comes after the discovery of what is thought to be the oldest human species: a toothy tree swinger named Homo gautengensis.

The new species emerged more than two million years ago and died out approximately 600,000 years ago, according to Dr Darren Curnoe, the anthropologist who identified him

Swinger: The oldest human species emerged more than two million years ago and died out 600,000 years ago, according to scientists

It is based on two million- to 800,000-year-old fossil-skull pieces, jaws, teeth, and other bones found at the Sterkfontein caves complex in South Africa’s Gauteng Province.

Dr Curnoe, of the University of New South Wales in Australia, believes the earliest known man may have been cannibal due to wounds discovered.

The marks on the Stw 53 skull show ‘that it was de-fleshed, either for ritual burial or cannibalistic consumption,’ he said.

Along with burned bones, the marks suggest that man ‘was certainly on the menu of Homo gautengensis,’ Dr Curnoe added.

But Homo gautengensis, who thought to measure 3ft 6in high and weighed just over seven stone, wasn’t exclusively carnivorous.

The new species had teeth apparently adapted for eating plant material that looks to have required plenty of chewing, according to the study, soon to be published in the human-biology journal Homo.

Researchers believe the earliest known man may have been cannibal, due to the nature of wounds discovered (file picuture)

Compared with modern humans, the new species had proportionally long arms, a projecting face somewhat like a chimp’s, larger teeth, and a smaller brain—though not too small for verbal communication.

‘While it seems possible that Homo gautengensis had language,’ Curnoe said told National Geographic magazine, ‘It would have been much more rudimentary than ours, lacking the complex tones and lacking a grammar, as all human languages have.’

Due to these missing abilities, its anatomy and geological age, the researchers think that it was a close relative of us, but not necessarily our direct ancestor.

The discovery of this new human not only adds to our overall family tree, but it may also lead to a big shake-up.

For decades, scientists have been searching for the species that eventually evolved into the first Homo genus member.

Earlier this year, it was announced that this ‘missing link’ human may have been unearthed — in the form of Australopithecus sediba.

The newly identified human, however, throws a wrench into that theory, because the former was ‘much more primitive than Homo gautengensis, and lived at the same time and in the same place,’ according to Dr Curnoe.

As a result, ‘Homo gautengensis makes Australopithecus sediba look even less likely to be the ancestor of humans.’

Dr Curnoe instead proposes that Australopithecus garhi, found in Ethiopia and dating to about 2.5 million years ago, is a better possibility for the earliest non-Homo direct ancestor in the human evolutionary line.

He still regards East Africa as being the cradle of humans, ‘because it has the oldest fossil record, going back to about  seven million years, but we are clearly learning now that there was much greater diversity in our evolutionary tree than we realised for a long time.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1281419/Sunken-treasure–divers-recover-stunning-artefacts-Cleopatras-palace.html

Divers in the waters off Alexandria today recovered stunning artefacts from the submerged ruins of a palace and temple complex belonging to Egyptian queen Cleopatra.

The international team is painstakingly excavating one of the richest underwater archaeological sites in the world, and retrieving amazing riches from the last dynasty to rule over ancient Egypt before the Roman Empire annexed it in 30BC.

Colossal discovery: This quartzite block has an engraving of a pharaoh, indicated by hieroglyphic inscriptions on the stone as Seti I, father of Ramses II

2,500 years old: A statuette of a boy pharaoh dating from the 5th century BC lies among other artefacts brought to the surface from an underwater excavation of a palace and temples of Cleopatra

Using advanced technology, the team is surveying ancient Alexandria’s Royal Quarters, encased deep below the harbour sediment, and confirming the accuracy of descriptions of the city left by Greek geographers and historians more than 2,000 years ago.

Since the early Nineties the topographical surveys have allowed the team, led by French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio, to conquer the harbour’s extremely poor visibility and excavate below the seabed.

They are discovering everything from coins and everyday objects to colossal granite statues of Egypt’s rulers and sunken temples dedicated to their gods.

‘It’s a unique site in the world,’ said Mr Goddio, who has spent two decades searching for shipwrecks and lost cities below the seas.

The finds from along the Egyptian coast will go on display at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute from June 5 to January 2 – in an exhibition titled Cleopatra: The Search For The Last Queen of Egypt.

Stunning find: Recently excavated artefacts are shown aboard the Princess Duda research boat, anchored in the harbour off Alexandria, Egypt. A team of divers using advanced technology is exploring the ruins

Many archaeological sites have been destroyed by man, with statues cut or smashed to pieces.

Alexandria’s Royal Quarters – ports, a cape and islands full of temples, palaces and military outposts – simply slid into the sea after cataclysmic earthquakes in the fourth and eighth centuries.

Mr Goddio’s team found it in 1996. Many of its treasures are completely intact, wrapped in sediment protecting them from the salt water.

Under the sea: A diver inspects limestone blocks that form part of the ruins of the Temple of Isis on the royal island of Antirhodos. The structure slid under the sea as a result of a earthquake more than 1,000 years ago

It’s as it was when it sank,’ said Ashraf Abdel-Raouf of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, who is part of the team.

Today’s dive explored the sprawling palace and temple complex where Cleopatra, the last of Egypt’s Greek-speaking Ptolemaic rulers, seduced the Roman general Mark Antony before they committed suicide upon their defeat by Octavian, the future Roman Emperor Augustus.

Dives have taken Mr Goddio and his team to some of the key scenes in the dramatic lives of the couple – including the Timonium, commissioned by Antony after his defeat as a place where he could retreat from the world, though he killed himself before it was completed.

They also found a colossal stone head believed to be of Caesarion, son of Cleopatra and previous lover Julius Caesar, and two sphinxes – one of them probably representing Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy XII.

Divers photographed a section of the seabed cleared of sediment, their flashlights glowing in the green murk, the divers photographed ruins from a temple to Isis near Cleopatra’s palace on the submerged island of Antirhodos.

Among the massive limestone blocks toppled in the fourth century was a huge quartzite block with an engraving of a pharaoh. An inscription indicates it depicts Seti I, father of Ramses II.

‘We’ve found many pharaonic objects that were brought from Heliopolis, in what is now Cairo,’ said Mr Abdel-Raouf.

‘So, the Ptolemaic rulers re-used pharaonic objects to construct their buildings.’

On the boat’s deck, researchers displayed some small recent finds: imported ceramics and local copies, a statuette of a pharaoh, bronze ritual vessels, amulets barely bigger than a fingernail, and small lead vessels tossed by the poor into the water or buried in the ground as devotions to gods.

Alexandria’s eastern harbour was abandoned after another earthquake, in the eighth century, and was left untouched as an open bay – apart from two 20th century breakwaters – while modern port construction went ahead in the western harbour. That has left the ancient Portus Magnus undisturbed below.

‘We have this as an open field for archaeology,’ Mr Goddio said.

Proud relic hunter: French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio shows a recently excavated bronze cult statue found in the Temple of Isis