'Vampire graves' found in Poland where skeletons buried with skulls between their legs

Vampire graves in Poland

In a rare find  graves have been found in Poland where the dead had been buried with their heads between their legs.

Archaeologists believe that the practice was basically aimed at  ensuring vampire would stay dead. The skeletons are believed to date from around the 16th or 17th centuries.

It may be added that decapitating a suspected vampire was common practice in medieval times because it was thought to be the only way to ensure the dead stay dead.

The exact fate of the skeletons is yet unclear, but the archaeologists noted that, apart from being headless, there was no trace of any earthly possessions, such as jewellery, belts or buckles. 

'It's very difficult to tell when these burials were carried out,' archaeologist Dr Jacek Pierzak told the Dziennik Zachodni newspaper.

via Mail Online

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Bronze Age log boats emerge from a silted up river

Eight Bronze age log boats in near perfect condition have been found after being dug out from a silted river - some 3,500 years after they were sunk  Each of the boats was hewn from a single tree trunk, six of them oaks, one alder and one lime.

The boats, the largest of them 28 feet (8.5m) long, are thought to have been used for ferrying cargo and passengers in the Fens some 3,500 years ago.

The smallest of the eight boats is about 11.5 feet (3.5m) long and little more than a foot wide (30-40cm), while the largest is 28 feet long and about 2.5 feet (75cm) wide.

The boats are now being preserved for future study and as a tourist attraction using the same conservation techniques that saved the Mary Rose from falling apart when raised from the Solent.

The boats have now been moved to a refrigerated unit at Flag Fen, near Peterborough, where they are being sprayed with a specialized wax, polyethylene glycol, to protect the timber and where they can be viewed by the public.

Read more about it at: Mail Online
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Unsual cranial deformed skulls found in Mexico

A recent find of skeletons near the small Mexican village of Onavas shows cranial deformed skulls, believed to be 1,000 years old. The burial ground consists of 25 individuals; 13 have intentional cranial deformation and five also have dental mutilation.

Cranial deformed skulls found in Mexico [Photo credit: INAH]

At the first look, these look like to be skeletons of the aliens with elongated skulls. However scientists are of the view that these skulls have be deliberately been deformed mainly to differentiate different social classes.

The find is believed to be the first in the region showing the practice of binding a skull to change its shape.

'Cranial deformation in Mesoamerican cultures was used to differentiate one social group from another and for ritual purposes,' said archaeologist Cristina Garcia Moreno, director of the research project.

Read more about it at: Daily Mail
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Scientists find new insight into our ability to walk

Scientists have obtained a fascinating new insight into the evolution of humans and our ability to walk. It comes from the fossilized bones of a foot that were discovered in Ethiopia and dated to be 3.4 million years old.

The researchers say they do not have enough remains to identify the species of hominin, or human ancestor, from which the right foot came. But they tell Nature journal that just the shape of the bones shows the creature could walk upright at times.

The fossil haul consists of eight elements from the forefoot - bones such as metatarsals and phalanges. The specimens were pulled from clay sediments at Burtele in the central Afar region, about 520km north-east of the capital Addis Ababa.

Read more: BBC News

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Rani Kot Fort - the missed out wonder of the world

Great Wall of China (left) - Ranikot Fort Pakistan (right)

The mention of seven wonders of world abounds all search engines as these have been there for quite a long without ever being updated. But if one goes around the world, one would find amazing places obscured by the unreachable tracts or hidden in the history books, being baked under the scorching sun and withering away by the fast blowing whistling winds of the deserts. 

Almost similar to the Great Wall of China, there lies a unique fort in the desolate deserts of the Sind province of Pakistan that qualifies itself for an addition into the list of the wonders of the world.

Located out in nowhere in the Lakki mountain of the Kirthar Mountain Ranges, some 30 kilometres southwest of Sann in the Jamshoro district, there lies the Ranikot Fort. Spread over an area of 26 kilometers in circumference with fortification walls of approximately 35 kilometers in length, no one is really very sure why and how this fort was built as apparently it does not seem to be defending anything.

Read more: Jaho Jalal

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190 Million-Year-Old Dinosaur Nesting Site Found

A Canadian-led team of international researchers has unearthed the 190-million-year-old nesting site of the prosauropod dinosaur Massospondylus — predating previously known nesting grounds by 100 million years — at an excavation site in South Africa.

The finding was published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The discovery provides important clues about how the complicated reproductive behaviour of early dinosaurs evolved, said co-author David Evans of the Royal Ontario Museum.

“This amazing series of 190-million-year-old nests gives us the first detailed look at dinosaur reproduction early in their evolutionary history and documents the antiquity of nesting strategies that are only known much later in the dinosaur record.”

Read more: Huffington Post

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Roman Ruins In England Found with Mysterious 'Winged' Structure

A recently discovered mysterious "winged" structure in England, which in the Roman period may have been used as a temple, presents a puzzle for archaeologists, who say the building has no known parallels.

Built around 1,800 years ago, the structure was discovered in Norfolk, in eastern England, just to the south of the ancient town of Venta Icenorum. The structure has two wings radiating out from a rectangular room that in turn leads to a central room.

Read more: Huffington Post

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Stunned Scottish couple unearth '800-year-old' stone head of "McSimpson" in their garden

[ via Mail Online ] 22 Dec

Whoever carved the statue would not have had TV's favourite cartoon anti-hero in mind - but there is no doubting the resemblance of this stone head to Homer Simpson.

Statue (L - Photo: CSNA) - Simspons (R - Photo: AP)

It was found by Rosalind and Donald McIntyre when they were clearing the bottom of their garden at their home in Fife, Scotland, earlier this year. The couple were working in their garden when Mrs McIntyre picked up the head.

She took it to St Andrews Museum, and the discovery has been referred to the National Committee for Carved Stones of Scotland.

Read more: Mail Online

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1,400 years old Bronze Buckle found in Alaska

Full Story: Mail Online 17 Nov

Archaeologists working on a site in Alaska were dumbfounded to find a "Bronze Buckle" that they believe is some 1,400 years old.

Bronze Buckle found in Alaska (Photo AP)

The "artifact" was found in sediment as they dug on a site where a 1,000-year-old Inupiat home was built. The two inch by one inch object - which seems to have been molded - appears to have been part of a harness. "The object appears to be older than the house we were excavating by at least a few hundred years," research assistant John Hoffecker said.

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People lived in Europe more than 40,000 years ago

Full Story / Photo: CNN 2 November 2011

This baby tooth appears to have come from a human who lived more than 40,000 years ago.

A child's tooth wonders scientists as he may have lived 40,000 years ago. This discovery nullifies earlier revaluations, as none could predict human presence in Europe 40,000 years or even beyond.

One of the scientist Thomas Higham of the University of Oxford involved in the discover/research says:

"These humans may have had darker skin than modern Europeans, more like today's Africans, and perhaps more robust facial characteristics, but were otherwise quite physically similar."

Read ful story for details 

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Shipwreck Found off Japan May Belongs to Kublai Khan’s “Lost Fleet”

Full Story / Photo: The Telegraph

Ship wreck beneath the seabed off Coast of Nagasaki, Japan

The recent discovery of a ship wreckage off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan has triggered a debate over its ownership and time period. Some marine archaeologists are of the view that the wreckage may belong to the "Lost Fleet" of the famous Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, dating back to the 1281. The Lost Fleet is said to have consisted some 4,400 vessels. 

The wreck includes an intact 12-meter long keel of supposedly 20 feet long vessel. The warship was located with ultrasonic equipment about 3 feet beneath the seabed at a depth of 75 feet.

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First ever 1,000 years old boat found on mainland UK

Full Story: Mail Online

Laid to rest in a 17ft boat with his sword, axe and bronze drinking horn, the powerful Norseman’s burial site has been discovered by archaeologists in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands.  The grave, unearthed in Ardnamurchan, is the first of its kind to be found intact on the British mainland and is thought to date from 1,000AD – the height of the ‘Second Viking Age’.

Read full story for details...

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100,000 years old "paint factory" discovered

Full Story: BBC by Jonathan Amos

Tools found at the archaeological site

The remains of material found at the famous archaeological site of Blombos Cave, located on the southern Cape Coast, 300km east of Cape Town - South Africa,  show that humans painted just like painters do today. The assertion is based on the material like red and yellow pigments, shell containers, and the grinding cobbles and bone spatulas to work up a paste - everything an ancient artist might need in his workshop, some 100,000 years ago. "This is significant because it is pushing back the boundaries of our understanding of when Homo sapiens - people like us - first became modern," said Prof Christopher Henshilwood from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Read full story for more amazing finds on this interesting discovery.

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