The picture shows the site that leads to what archeologists describe as a mysterious, 100-meter, 100 yard, tunnel found in Teotihuacan, Mexico, Tuesday, Aug. 3, 2010. Archeologists say the tunnel was probably closed intentionally about 200 A.D. and it may well hold chambers with tombs of the rulers of the city founded 2,500 year ago, where the Teotihuacan culture blossomed starting around 100 B.C. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

Mexico City

After eight months of excavation, archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have located, 12 meters below, the entrance to the tunnel leading to a series of galleries beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, in the Archaeologcial Area of Teotihuacan, where the remains of rulers of the ancient city could have been deposited.

In a tour made by to site today with the media, archaeologist Sergio Chavez Gomez, director of the Tlalocan Project went below the ground and announced the advances in the systematic exploration undertaken by the INAH of the underground conduit, which was closed for about 1,800 years by the inhabitants of Teotihuacan themselves and where no one has gone in since then.

INAH specialists hope to enter the tunnel in a couple of months and will be the first to enter after hundreds of years since it was closed. This excavation, which represents the most profound that has been done in the pre-Hispanic site, is part of the commemorations for the first 100 years of uninterrupted archaeological explorations (made in 1910) also called the City of Gods. Gómez Chávez explained that the tunnel passes under the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, the most important building of the Citadel, "and the entry was located a few meters from the pyramid.

Access is by a vertical shaft of about five meters per side down to a depth of 14 meters from the surface, the entrance leads into a long corridor with an estimated length of 100 meters which ends in a series of underground chambers excavated in the rock.

The tunnel was discovered in late 2003 by Sergio Gomez and Julie Gazzola, but its exploration has required several years of planning and managing the financial resources necessary to carry out research at the highest scientific level. The team is composed of more than 30 people and has advisors renowned nationally and internationally.

Before starting the excavations, the archaeologists from INAH had the collaboration of Dr. Victor Manuel Velasco, from the Institute of Geophysics of the UNAM, through a the use of a GPR it was determined that the tunnel has a length of about 100 meters, and has large chambers inside

Another of the technologies used in the exploration has been the laser scanner, a sophisticated device with high resolution, facilitated by the National Coordination of Historical Monuments (CNMH). INAH made the three-dimensional record of the archaeological finds.

Contextual image of the tunnel found in front of the Temple of the Feathered Serpent. Photo: CNMH INAH

Just a couple of weeks ago, archaeologists corroborated that the tunnel entrance was located in the place they had anticipated, then opened a small hollow hole at the top of the access, and using the scanner took the first images from inside the tunnel to a length of 37 meters, of the 100 it is estimated to have in length.

"Although we need to excavate two more meters to reach the floor of the tunnel, having the first images of the inside will allow us to better plan how to enter. Even so, we will have to withdraw a large amount of soil and a heavy block of stone that blocks the access. The whole process could take two more months of work, as we continue with the same systematic exploration that we have done from the start to avoid losing important information that lets us know what activities the citizens of Teotihuacan performed thousands of years ago and why they decided to close it," said archaeologist Sergio Gomez.

So far, 200 tons of earth have been withdrawn, he said, while doing this we have found about 60,000 pieces of artifacts and pottery.

Angel Mora, who belongs to the Technology Support Unit of the CNMH, and engineer Juan Carlos Garcia, who operates the scanner, said that by introducing the laser, which has a range of 300 meters, through the small hollow opening the archaeologists made, there was only a length of 37 meters. Mora noted that this reading is because the laser beam "runs into something, maybe with some collapsed stones or because the tunnel has a gap."

Sergio Gomez reported that it has not yet been precisely determined the time of construction of the tunnel, however it he has a better idea of when it was closed by the people from Teotihuacan. "Several indications suggest that access to the underground passage was closed between 200 and 250 AD, probably after depositing something inside. One of the hypotheses postulate that, within the large chamber detected by the GPR, we could locate the remains of important people in the city."

The investigations have led to know with certainty that this tunnel was made prior to the construction of the Temple of the Feathered Serpent and the Citadel. The tunnel is contemporary with a large architectural structure, which could be a ball game court, according to theform of the ground, said the archaeologist.

"Unfortunately..., the INAH researcher said, ..when the tunnel was closed, large stones were thrown which blocked access, and the court was also destroyed and razed by the people of Teotihuacan, only small remnants remain. Locating the entrance to the tunnel fulfills one of the most important objectives of the Project Tlalocan, to precisely confirm that the main entrance was located in the exact spot where the excavation is planned. We must continue the excavation of the vertical shaft until it reaches the floor level to thereby start scanning the tunnel towards the East."

According to the hypothesis about the meaning and symbolism of the tunnel, archaeologist Sergio Gomez, said the tunnel had to be linked to concepts related to the underworld, hence it is possible that in this place were carried out initiation rituals and the divine investiture of Teotihuacan rulers, since the power was acquired in these sacred spaces.

Also, it is known that rulers were buried in the holiest places. "For a long time local and foreign archaeologists have attempted to locate the graves of the rulers of the ancient city, but the search has been fruitless.

"That's why every day our expectations are increasing, as there are many chances that they are sitting inside a large tomb or offering. However, it is not something we are obsessed with, the discovery and systematic exploration of the tunnel is something of great significance for archaeological research and a unique opportunity to approach the cosmogonic and religious thought of ancient Teotihuacan."

National Institute of Anthropology and History | Mexico | Archaeologcial Area of Teotihuacan | Sergio Chavez Gomez |

Archaeologists from Zadar University have discovered a 15,000 year old flint pebble with precise vertical and horizontal lines, making it the oldest drawing ever found in Croatia. The etching was found in the Vlakno cave on Dalmatian island of Dugi Otok. Similar drawings, which belong to the Palaeolithic period, have been found in Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but this is the first find in Croatia.

The drawing, the authenticity of which was confirmed by radiocarbon analysis, shows that instead of fish and other seafood, the Dalmatians ate cattle that roamed the valleys and shared their caves with dogs.

CROATIAN TIMES - CROPIX: Vladimir Ivanov - VL

Coliboaia Cave, Romania (Photo: S. Kotarba)

The oldest cave paintings in Central Europe, estimated at between 23,000 and 35,000 years, have been discovered by a team of Romanians spelaeologists at the Coliboaia Cave, Campani, Bihor County, western Romania, and certified by French paleontologists.

The chairman of the Federation of Romanian Spelaeologists says it is for the first time that Paleolithic paintings so old are certified in Central Europe. Judged by their composition, they could be rated as Gravettian or Aurignacian. Those who discovered the paintings nearly three months ago are spelaeologists Tudor Rus (the Spedova Stei cave exploration club), Mihai Besesek, Valentin Alexandru Radu and Roxana Laura Toiciu (the Seowest of Arad cave exploration association), Marius Kenesz (Speo Club of Zarand), who explored that Dealul Secaturii – Coliboaia Cave on the Sighistel Valley, the village of Campani.

After the discovery, protection was secured for the paintings while French specialists, who arrived in Romania on May 16, conducted further research for certification. The Coliboaia Cave is crossed by an underground river that branches off in several sumps, which makes cave exploration even more difficult. The paintings were conserved in a high gallery. Other paintings were probably destroyed by water.

The black cave paintings depict animals, including a bison, a horse and possibly a feline; one or two bear heads and two rhinoceros. Some engravings were also discovered at the same place, which floor is scattered with bear bones. During their stay in the cave, the bears are said to have scratched the cave walls luster.

A French teams composed of spelaeologists Marcel Meyssonnier and Valerie Plichon; Michel Philippe, a paleontologist specialising in cave bears; historian Francoise Prudhomme and cave art specialists Jean Clottes and Bernard Gely has attested to the authenticity of the paintings. Clottes is also an honorary General Heritage Conservationist and cave art expert for ICOMOS and UNESCO.

The cave has been placed under conservation care of the Federation of Romanian Spelaeologists and the Apuseni Natural Park Administration, under the archeological authority of the Cris Lands Museum of Oradea and the Bihor County Council.

Source: FINANCIARU.RO

The Day Pictures Were Born (Part 4 includes footage at Goebekli Tepe)

Source: How Art Made The World

The oldest stone wall in Greece, which has stood at the entrance of a cave in Thessaly for the last 23,000 years, has been discovered by palaeontologists, the ministry of culture said Monday. The age of the find, determined by an optical dating test, singles it out as "probably one of the oldest in the world", according to a ministry press release.

"The dating matches the coldest period of the most recent ice age, suggesting that the cavern's paleolithic inhabitants built it to protect themselves from the cold", said the ministry.

The wall blocked two-thirds of the entrance to the cave, located close to Kalambaka, itself near the popular tourist area and monastic centre of Meteora in central Greece. Greek palaeontologists have been excavating the site for the last 25 years.

Photo: The monastery of Agia Triada (Holy Trinity), Greece

Agia Triada is only 1,5 kilometres from Phaistos. An ancient city with the ruins of a Minoan "Condo", but with a name from the Byzantium era. Agia Triada is the name of the church which was built there on the ancient grounds. Near Agia Triada is where the Phaistos Disk was found on the June 3rd, 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier. It is kept and maintained at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Phaistos was the capital of Southern Crete during the Minoan Empire. Its king was the brother of the King Minoa of Knossos, Rodamanthi. Excavations are still being carried out today, though the palace is open to the public.

2010 AFP

A handout image released in London and made available by University College Cork in Ireland, shows the 5,500-year-old leather moccasin.

The effort that resulted in the find dates to 2005, when Pinhasi and his team first entered the cave about an hour south-east of the capital city of Yerevan, in Vayotz Dzor province on the border with Iran and Turkey. They excavated in a house that had been constructed inside the cave and found a pit covered with sheep or goat dung. Below the dung, they found broken pottery and goat horns covering the shoe.

The shoe probably belonged to a women (European size 37) and  before being displayed at a museum in Yerevan will be send to Switzerland or Germany for further analysis.

The fact that the cave were the leather shoe was found remained untouched for so many millennia caught experts by surprise. The team also declared it has found evidence of what may be history's oldest winemaking operation.

An archaeologist of the expedition told that when the shoe was unearthed it was absolutely soft, but now it is hard as a rock.

"We thought initially that the shoe and other objects were about 600-700 years old because they were in such good condition," declared archaeologist Ron Pinhasi who led the research.

More: Cosmos The Science of Everything

In a visit that could change the writing of Turkish and Chinese history, a Turkish researcher has entered the legendary "Chinese Pyramids," located roughly 100 kilometers from Xi’an, for the first time.

Speaking to Anatolia news agency last week, Oktan Keleş, a Turkish researcher who has been researching the pyramids for many years, said the ancient mausoleums were of great importance for Turkish history and could change established approaches to history.

"Once the material inside the pyramids is examined by experts, history could be re-written," Keleş said.

The scattered pyramids have also been termed the "Turkish Pyramids" or "The Great White Pyramid."

Other researchers have gone to the region in the past but were not given permission to take photos, Keleş said, adding that research conducted by German scientists had been instrumental in furthering knowledge of the area, but could not be proven given a lack of photographs.

Despite previous prohibitions against taking photographs inside the pyramids, Keleş was able to photograph some of the interior of the structure. "As far as we know, our shots are the most comprehensive ones."

Several symbols, statues and tablets inside the pyramids might belong to ancient Turks, he said, adding that Chinese officials told him the symbols and signs were from Uyghurs, who served as hired soldiers instead of the Chinese in early periods.

"This, however, is the [Chinese] claim," Keleş said.

Inside the pyramid

Relating his first tour of the pyramid, Keleş said he and some others, along with a local Chinese guide, walked 40 to 50 meters in the dark in a natural cave. "We reached a three-channeled entrance in that cave. Later we came to a large area and the Chinese guide told us that we were inside the pyramid."

Noting that the pyramid was established on a natural formation, Keleş said they entered a crypt and saw "wolf head" figures on a rock, as well as a three-meter statue made of granite which had "crescent and star" carvings.

"The Chinese guide told me that the statue represented ancient Turkish leader Oğuz Kağan," Keleş said.

Later, the researcher said the guide pointed out a mummy belonging to a man. "His face was clearer 30 years ago. We stayed there for about seven-eight minutes but then the guide told us to leave immediately. We wanted to examine the area a bit more but he refused. We saw stairs going down and wanted to go there but he said that it would be very difficult to go down and repeated that we had to leave there. We could not go down but we saw that there were written tablets on the walls."

According to information provided by the guide, Keleş said, there was another mummy in the bottom section of the pyramid that had not been distorted.

URUMQI, China — An exhibit on the first floor of the museum here gives  an unambiguous take on the history of this border region:

Photo: The Loulan Beauty lies on her back with her shoulder-length hair matted down, her lips pursed in death, her high cheekbones and long nose the most obvious signs that she is not what one thinks of as Chinese. The Loulan Beauty is one of more than 200 remarkably well-preserved mummies discovered in the western deserts here over the last few decades. The ancient bodies have become protagonists in a very contemporary political dispute over who should control the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. (Poto credits:NY Times Nov. 19, 2008)

Chinese Pyramids

The "Chinese Pyramids," located to the northwest of Xi'an on the Qin Chuan Plains in Shaanxi Province, are ancient mausoleums and burial mounds.

Believed to be the burial places of various emperors and generals, the pyramids range in size from relatively small to others that rival the Great pyramid of Giza, sources say.

Interest in Chinese pyramids was greatly increased by the 1994 publication of German author Hartwig Hausdorf's book "Die Weisse Pyramide", later translated into English under the revised title "The Chinese Roswell," in which he describes his travels through China in search of the legendary great white pyramid of China.

Source: DAILY NEWS ANKARA

by Alex Leff

Tico times

Costa Rica has presented a bid for its pre-Columbian stone spheres to be inducted into the exclusive World Heritage list by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Cultural or natural sites or monuments can make the list if UNESCO deems them to have “outstanding universal value,” according to the international Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

Experts in archaeology, art and other fields visited several sites in the Southern Zone last week, where many of the spheres, of varying sizes, have been discovered.

Photo: this sphere sits right in a stream in the region of Bolas, in the Southern Zone [ Credits: Ifigenia Quintanilla ] - TICO TIMES PHOTO REPORT

Regarded as indigenous treasures, hundreds of the almost perfectly round monoliths have been spotted in different parts of the country since the 1940s. Today they can be seen in gardens of government buildings and private homes. Many are no larger than a bowling ball. Some are larger than life, such as 15-ton boulders. They're usually made of granodiorite, a hard, igneous stone similar to granite. Archaeologists believe native inhabitants chiseled, pecked and ground granodiorite boulders using rocks of the same material to create the spheres.

Archaeologist Francisco Corrales said the carved stones reveal much about the Costa Ricans' pre-Columbian ancestors.

“The finding leads us to believe that these spheres were symbols of social prestige and hierarchical positions” during the Chiriquí period from 800 to 1500 AD, Corrales told The Tico Times. The Chiriquí were ancestors of the Brunca, one of Costa Rica's eight indigenous groups.

“This is important because it reinforces the fact that they (the spheres) were created by indigenous people who had a complex society, capable of constructing such things. (The Chiriquí) were experts with stone,” he said.

Freddy Montero, cultural program officer for UNESCO's San José office, said the recent visit is the start of a long and important process.

"It's not as though UNESCO arrives, declares world heritage and leaves," said Montero. He explained that the greatest value of this first step is it should encourage a process on a national and local level to work to improve research and preserve the spheres.

UNESCO representatives seem interested in the uniqueness of spheres. Nuria Sanz, who visited from UNESCO's World Heritage Center in Paris, France, told the newswire EFE that she's aware of cultures that also work with this form but "not in the same context or crafted in the same way" as the Costa Rican spheres.

Montero, who is liaising between the Paris office and the National Museum in San José, said the experts are drawing up recommendations for a work plan that would carry the Costa Rican spheres onto the coveted heritage list. For Costa Rica, he believes this process will prove even more important than the world heritage declaration itself.

No timeline has been set yet, but Montero acknowledged that in the past UNESCO has committed up to 10 years to working with national governments and local authorities to meet standards of preservation and research. The time it takes depends on how well a country has prepared before presenting its bid to the World Heritage Center. In Montero's eyes, Costa Rica has invested much in researching its spheres but "there's still a lot of work to be done."

UNESCO's Tentative List

Plenitude under the sky. Park of Pre-Colombian Stone Spheres

Description: The present proposal is oriented towards the development of a museum on the spot where the starting point would be the reconstruction of the sphere groups documented by archaeologists such as Samuel Lothrop and Doris Stone, who were able to observe the sphere groups in their original site to arranging the return of the spheres to their original site where they made seeks to arouse awareness about the importance, protection and preservation of the ones still "in situ". It is believed that the reconstruction of such groups to offering an attractive visiting place could enable their study in relation to possible associations with astronomic phenomena.

UNESCO.ORG

An almost perfect stone sphere in Zavidovici, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Moderator's note: And what about Bosnian stone spheres?

Bosnian Stone Spheres: GALLERY 1 - GALLERY 2

Credits: Artematica.tvINCA: ORIGIN AND MYSTERIES OF OF THE GOLDEN CIVILIZATION

 A 3000 Year Journey... 

..through the mysteries of the civilizations which followed one another in Peru from the XV Century B.C. to the well-known Inca people. An emotional exhibition with the typical sounds and music characterising those people. More than 250 finds, a total immersion in the magic still shrouding ancient pre-Columbian civilizations.  

INCA - 'Origin and Mysteries of the Golden Civilization' is promoted by Brescia Municipality, Artematica, Lombardy Region, Brescia Musei Foundation and it is supported by the Presidency of the Italian Republic, Department for Cultural Activities, Department for Education and Skills and by the Embassy of Peru, the Civiltà Bresciana Foundation and CAB Foundation. The exhibition will present more than 200 art works coming from the most important Peruvian museums like the Peruvian Gold Museum, the Nacional Sicán Museum, the Nacional Museum de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Peru, and many other museums able to go back over the entire golden cultures history. The exhibition is organized with the partnership of the Peruvian Government that has granted a lot of treasures for the first time exhibited outside the national frontiers.

The exhibition is supported by Peruvian Political Institutions on the Italian territory. The project is cured by Paloma Carcedo Muro de Mufarech, a pre-Colombian art researcher in Pontificia Universidad Católica of Peru in Lima, with the assistance of the scientific committee composed by Walter Alva Alva, the manager of Tumbas Reales de Sipán Museum in Lambayeque, Antonio Aimi, lecturer of Hispanic - American Literatures at Milan University, Andrés Alvarez Calderón Larco, the manager of Larco Museum in Lima, Carmen Arellano Hoffmann, the manager of Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia of Peru Museum, Claudio Cavatrunci, archaeologist and responsible of the “America” Museo Nazionale Preistorico ed Etnografico “L.Pigorini” in Rome, Carlos G. Elera Arévalo, director of the Museo Nacional Sicán di Lambayeque, Heidi King, researcher at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Francesca Morandini, conservation specialist and archaeologist at Civici Musei di Arte e Storia di Brescia, Victoria Mujica Diez-Canseco, director of the Museo Oro del Perú di Lima, Giuseppe Orefici, director of the Centro Studi e Ricerche Archeologiche Precolombiane in Brescia, Fernando Rosas Moscoso, academic at Universidad Ricardo Palma e Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and Carlos Wester La Torre, director of the Museo Arqueológico Nacional Brüning di Lambayeque.

From December 4th, 2009 till June, 27th 2010

Museum Santa Giulia - Via Musei 81/b 25121 - Brescia (BS) ITALY

info@incabrescia.it

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CREDITS: Inca Brescia - Homepage - Inca Brescia Facebook