100 Million year-old bee discovered

Scientist have identified what is thought to be the oldest known specimen of bee.

The 100 million year-old bee has been found preserved in amber and is from a mine in the Hukawng Valley in northern Burma.

The bee, named Melittosphex burmensis appears to share features from both bees and wasps, supporting theories of bee evolution.

Giant camel found in Syrian desert

The bones of a 100,000 year old species of dromedary camel have been found by a Syrian-Swiss archaeological team north of Damascus in Syria.

The animal is being called a Giant Camel because it huge size. It’s some four metres (12 feet) tall, double the size of the modern day camel.

First traces of the animal was found in 2003, but it is only now that the remains have been identified as a new species of camel.

Another Pyramid found in Eastern Europe

Unlike the alleged Pyramids discovered in Bosnia, the discovery of the ancient pyramidal structures found in Ukraine are actually being called Pyramids as they resemble the Aztec and Mayan ziggurats in South America.

The structures predate the pyramids of Egypt by about 300 years, and appear to have been built to worship a sun god.

With this discovery and the unusual formations found in Bosnia, you have to wonder where the inspiration for the Pyramids in Egypt actually came from!

Big Dipper carving found in Inner Mongolia

A neolithic stone carving of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major) has been discovered in a remote part of Inner Mongolia, along with other “unexplained” carvings thought to be depictions of the gods.

Noah’s Ark Discovered in Iran not Turkey?

A Christian archaeology expedition claims it has discovered rock formations that resembles the fabled Ark 13,000 feet up on Mount Suleiman, in Iran’s Elburz mountain range.

The Bible Archaeology Search and Exploration Institute (BASE for short) have discovered prominent boat-shaped rocks that look uncannily like wood.

The team have taken samples of the rock, which they believe show wood cell structures. They have also uncovered evidence of an ancient shrine near he rock formation.

Bosnian Pyramids confusion

[singlepic=27,225,160,,right]A war of worlds has broken out surrounding the clams regarding the ‘alleged’ Pyramids of Bosnia.

As Cryptoworld readers will recall, Bosnian-American pyramid buff Semir “Sam” Osmanagic claims a four-sided hill in the town of Visoko is Europe’s first known pyramid, and larger than any ever built in Egypt.

Excavations carried out by Osmanagic and his team in April 2006 uncovered what they describe are large stone blocks shaped by human hands and a network of tunnels fronted by a wide, paved entranceway.

Bosnian Pyramids (Real?)

[inspic=27,right,,thumb]This week, the Egyptian geologist Dr Aly Abd Barakat visited central Bosnia, to give his views on the hills that amateur archaeologist Semir Osmanagic claims are 12,000 year old pyramids. After visiting all three sites, named by Osmanagic as the Bosnian Pyramids of Sun, Moon and Dragon, Dr Aly Abd Barakat said the hills did appear to be primitive human-made pyramids of uncertain age.

Huge stone blocks have been found at the sites and it was Dr Baraket's conclusion, that they were made manually and polished in a similar way to those of the Egyptian Pyramids. The purpose of polishing is believed to reflect sun light, making the Pyramids visible from a great distance.

Pyramid found in Bosnia?

[inspic=11,right,fullscreen,thumb]Archaeologists have begun digging for what they think might be a pyramid hidden beneath a hill in Bosnia.

Initial excavations have revealed a narrow entrance to what could be an underground network of tunnels, so this looks like it’s not a natural feature. One archaeologist says it seems to resembles pyramid sites he has studied in Latin America. So their conclusion is that it has to be man-made.

Satellite photographs and thermal imaging revealed two other, smaller pyraamid-shaped hills in the Visoko Valley, which archaeologists believe the tunnels could lead to.

Workers also discovered a paved entrance plateau and large stone blocks that could be part of a pyramid’s outer surface. If this is correct, it would mean that tis is the first pyramid to be discovered in Europe.

There is evidence of 7,000-year-old human settlements in the valley, and a recent German archaeological dig also found 24,000 Neolithic artefacts only meters below ground.

Related Links:
BBC: Dig for ancient pyramid in Bosnia
BBC: Archaeology and Ancient History

The Ark of the Covenant

Researchers clam The Ark of the Covenant is an Ancient Electrical Power Generator, and probably part of a much larger machine!

[inspic=5,right,,thumb]Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark brought the Ark of the Covenant to a mass audience, this ancient mystery was only known through the cryptic old pages of the Old Testament in the Bible. Here, the Ark is described as containing the awesome destructive powers of a jealous and vengeful God - but what was the real source of the Ark’s lethal powers, and how was it harnessed by Moses and his priests?

An article by Michael Blackburn and Mark Bennett reveal they used the bible itself as a research source to cleverly decode the design of the Ark of the Covenant, revealing that it was an ancient form of the modern electrical device called a capacitor, capable of storing vast amounts of potentially deadly electricity. This technology has been a staple of modern science since the 18th century, but the author’s analysis and explanation of this extraordinary piece of apparatus shows that knowledge of electricity was being used 3,000 years ago to create a ‘shock and awe’ style demonstration of the power of God!

[inspic=6,right,fullscreen,thumb]“Re-engineering the Ark” is the first serious documentation upon the subject and explains just how it really is possible to catch the power of God in a jar, and demonstrates how we might be able to rebuild the Ark today. The article also looks at the implications of the concept of the Ark in relation to religion and mankind’s own evolution as a species.

Articles Key Points:

• The Ark of the Covenant was made by man for a specific purpose
• It is part of a much, much larger machine
• It is part of a much, much larger machine
• It did not contain the power of God but naturally occurring electricity - It is possible to re-build the Ark using Old Testament information
• technology of the Ark is now a staple of modern electronics
• Implications of findings are more controversial than the Da Vinci Code

Reference:
Fortean Times magazine Press Release Newswire

New tomb found in Egypt

[inspic=61,right,,thumb]Archaeologists uncover new tomb in Valley of the Kings

This is the first complete tomb to be opened in the Valley of the Kings (Luxor, Egypt) since the discovery of Tutankhamun in 1922.

The tomb was discovered approximately four metres below ground level and appears to contain five complete mummies in their sarcophagi. Other items included more than 20 large storage jars bearing Pharaonic seals.

The archaeologists have not been able to identify the mummies yet, but Egypt’s chief archaeologist Zahi Hawes said they “might be royals or nobles” moved from “original graves to protect them from grave robbers”.

The tomb, the 63rd discovered since explorers first started mapping the area more than 300 years ago, is thought to date from the 18th Pharaonic Dynasty, the first dynasty of the New Kingdom which ruled between 1539BC and 1292BC and made its capital in Thebes, now Luxor.

The Valley of the Kings was used for burials for around 500 years from 1540BC onwards. The site was not properly charted until the 18th century, when the early Egyptologists confirmed the presence of 47 tombs - although many artifacts were plundered. In 1922 Howard Carter found King Tut’s tomb, the first that was still largely intact.

Useful links:
The Theban Mapping Project