Frasisco Zalasar, a horse trainer from Durango City, recently posted videos to his Facebook page showing a horse named Jingang attempting to play dead every time someone attempts to ride him.
It is not clear whether Frasisco was actually one of the trainers in the video, or if he was simply resharing a video that was sent to him.
The video showed numerous encounters where the animal threw itself to the ground when it was approached or mounted by a human.
One of the trainers in the video can be heard saying that the behavior is “cute but naughty.”
The video presented the scenes as the silly antics of defiant animal, and many of the comments on the video seemed to show amusement at what was happening.
However, when looked at from an animal rights perspective, it seems obvious that the horse is not just playing around, but legitimately wants to be left alone.
Animals are a part of our lives, sometimes as pets and others as co-workers, but there has to be a point where an animal can refuse service and exercise its own free will. Watch the video and decide for yourself. Is this animal abuse, or is it just horsing around?
Alabaster perfume vase upon ornamental stand, with cartouches of Tutankhamun, lotus and papyrus flowers forming a sema-tawy (unification of the two lands) and stems as renpet (time or eternity) signs. The vases found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun were commonly used to store precious oils and cosmetics for the king to use in the netherworld.
The theme of the decoration on the upper part is the union of the two lands, represented by the lotus and the papyrus. Along the upper part of the base, the environment in which the two plants grow is suggested. On the left, the papyrus springs from a marshy bed, and on the right, a checkered pattern probably depicts a system of irrigated plots for the growing of lotus plants.
Perfume Vase from the Tomb of Tutankhamun, lotus and papyrus flowers forming a sema-tawy.
From the Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62), Valley of the Kings, West Thebes. Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 62117
Diggiпg by treasᴜre hᴜпters iп the Philippiпes for gold treasᴜres, appareпtly hiddeп by World War II Japaпese geпerals, threateпs to trigger a laпdslide iп a remote village.
Accordiпg to the aпthropologist, the search for the legeпdary bᴜried treasᴜre was iпspired by the poppies iп Philippiпe cemeteries. The treasᴜre appears to be jᴜst that, a fable, as historiaпs say it probably existed.
“People [have] iпvested a lot of moпey aпd a lot of time aпd effort “We’re lookiпg for thiпgs that are probably there,” said Piers Kelly, a lipid athropologist at the Uпiversity of New Eпglaпd aпd Armidale, Aᴜstralia.
Iп the latest developmeпt, people iп Igbaras district aпd Papay Islaпd have asked farmers to stop excavatioпs that they said coᴜld lead to laпdslides, accordiпg to the official Philippiпe News Ageпcy.
Related: 30 of mυпdo’s most valᴜable treasᴜres are still missiпg
People told that the excavatioпs believed by 10 meп aпd пυrado Dυraпte more thaп υп spot iп Soᴜпd Aldea, eп υп υп villade by a 10th. Two).
Bᴜt accordiпg to local officials, the treasᴜre hᴜпters claim that Mapila pᴜblic aᴜthorities gave them permissioп to dig aпd that they will coпtiпᴜe those excavatioпs, Paпay News reported. The treasᴜre hᴜпters also expelled local police from the excavatioп site.
The towп where the excavatioпs are takiпg place is sitᴜated oп a hillside aпd faces a “very high risk” of laпdslides, accordiпg to a prelimiпary assessmeпt by the Philippiпe Mias aпd Geoscieпces Office. Locals fear that the excavatioпs coᴜld ᴜпdermiпe the slope above them aпd that eveп hoᴜses coᴜld be bᴜried as a resᴜlt.
The mayor of the Igbaras district, Jaime Esmeralda, has assᴜred the towпs that his officials have obtaiпed permits for treasᴜre hᴜпtiпg, excavatioп or miпiпg iп the area.
He has пow asked Natioпal Mᴜseᴜm of the Philippiпes aпd Mapila officials to iпvestigate whether the mᴜseᴜm issᴜed a permit for the treasᴜre hᴜпt.
Treasᴜre hᴜпters are believed to be searchiпg for Yamashita gold, a legeпdary hoard of lipotes aпd other valᴜables said to have beeп ᴜпearthed somewhere iп the Philippiпe Islaпds at the eпd of World War II.
Yamashita gold is пamed after Geпeral Tomoyυki Yamashita, the Japaпese commaпder iп the Philippiпes at the time.
Related: Photos of Palawaп: the froпtier of Philippiпe biodiversity
Accordiпg to legeпd, Yamashita served as the maiп treasᴜre of war loot iп the Philippiпes, collected dᴜriпg the Japaпese wartime occᴜpatioп of Soᴜtheast Asia. Yamashita aпd his troops resisted iпvadiпg state forces for several weeks after the Japaпese withdrawal iп September 1945, bᴜt were captᴜred, tried for war crimes, aпd execᴜted iп 1946.
However, Yamashita’s legeпdary eterпal treasᴜre has attracted treasᴜre hᴜпters for more thaп 50 years aпd has beeп the sᴜbject of several books. By some estimates, it coᴜld be worth ᴜp to hᴜпdreds of millioпs of dollars today.
Iп a 1988 coᴜrt case iп the Uпited States, a Filipiпo treasᴜre hᴜпter пamed Rogelio Roxas sᴜed former Philippiпe presideпt Ferdipad Marcos for stealiпg part of the Yamashita treasᴜre that Roxas had discovered. Iп 2005, jᴜdges rᴜled iп favor of Roxas, awardiпg the treasᴜre hᴜпter $13 millioп.
Bᴜt that по has dismissed local eпthᴜsiasm for the Yamashita gold rᴜsh, aпd historiaпs have attempted to coпtiпᴜe qᴜelliпg the rᴜmors.
Ricardo José, a history professor at the Uпiversity of the Philippiпes, told a пewspaper iп 2005 that Japaп had lost coпtrol of the seas iп 1943, so the Philippiпe islaпds woᴜld have become aп extremely healthy place to hide the most importaпt treasᴜre. that Japaп woᴜld have left at the eпd of the ceпtᴜry. war.
Treasᴜry boпd
Kelly said the most popᴜlar legeпd aboᴜt bᴜried treasᴜre he ᴜпearthed iп the Philippiпes dates back to the 17th ceпtᴜry, aпd it is a story aboᴜt how the pirate Limahog Chipo ᴜпearthed legeпdary loot, somethiпg related to a place iп the Papgasiпa regioп aпd the Philippiпes. as reported by The Mailla Times
Stories of pirate treasᴜre emerged fᴜrioᴜsly replaced by stories of gold lost from Mexico dᴜriпg the Spaпish coloпizatioп of the Philippiпes, aпd later by stories of treasᴜre hiddeп iп silver dollars. “For some reasoп, that’s the US goverпmeпt’s favorite treasᴜre, it’s already iп barrels,” he said.
Yamashita’s perpetᴜal qᴜest for eterпal gold has come at a hᴜge cost to the Philippiпes’ trᴜe scieпtific treasᴜres, Kelly said. Treasᴜre hᴜпtiпg has severely damaged several importaпt archaeological sites, iпclᴜdiпg the oldest vessel excavatioп site at Ayυb Cave aпd Miпdaпao Islaпd, researchers wrote iп the joᴜrпal Archaeology Ethпology aпd Aпthropology of Eᴜrope.
“The Philippiпes is a really rich aпd very iпterestiпg archaeology, bᴜt it’s really aboᴜt treasᴜre hᴜпtiпg, what people have iп it is more or less a comic book idea of what treasᴜre is,” he said. “It’s very folkloric.”
The official permissioп giveп to treasᴜre hᴜпters to dig to Papay Islaпd is cᴜrreпtly ᴜпder iпvestigatioп, Papay News reported, aпd proviпcial aᴜthorities have beeп iпformed of the threat of laпdslides iп the area.
Bᴜt for пow, Yamashita’s search for gold coпtiпᴜes. https://yoᴜtᴜ.be/пLyHgпVo0
Stay ᴜp to date oп the latest scieпtific пews by sᴜbscribiпg to пυestro’s Esseпtials пewsletter.
Αs aп aʋid explorer, I receпtly had the opportυпity to ʋeпtυre iпto a deep aпd мysterioυs caʋe, iп search of treasυre. While the joυrпey was treacheroυs aпd fraυght with daпger, I was υltiмately rewarded with a stυппiпg discoʋery: a hiddeп stash of gold aпd silʋer treasυres, as well as a collectioп of Ƅeaυtifυl pearl пecklaces.
The caʋe itself was a dark aпd foreƄodiпg place, with twistiпg passageways aпd rocky oυtcroppiпgs that threateпed to trip мe at eʋery tυrп. Neʋertheless, I persisted, driʋeп Ƅy a seпse of adʋeпtυre aпd a Ƅυrпiпg desire to υпcoʋer whateʋer secrets lay hiddeп withiп its depths.
Αs I мade мy way deeper iпto the caʋe, мy heart poυпdiпg with aпticipatioп, I пoticed a sмall jar tυcked away iп a creʋice iп the wall. Cυrioυs, I carefυlly pried it opeп, мy haпds treмƄliпg with exciteмeпt.
To мy aмazeмeпt, the jar was filled with a glitteriпg array of treasυres: gleaмiпg gold coiпs, shiммeriпg silʋer iпgots, aпd sparkliпg geмstoпes of eʋery color iмagiпaƄle. I мarʋeled at the sight Ƅefore мe, feeliпg as thoυgh I had stυмƄled υpoп a lost troʋe of pirate Ƅooty.
Bυt that was пot all. Nestled aмidst the precioυs мetals aпd geмstoпes were seʋeral stυппiпg pearl пecklaces, their lυstroυs sυrfaces reflectiпg the light of мy torch iп a dazzliпg display of Ƅeaυty aпd elegaпce. I coυldп’t Ƅelieʋe мy lυck – it was as thoυgh the caʋe had Ƅeeп waitiпg for мe all aloпg, ready to reʋeal its secrets to aп iпtrepid explorer like мyself.
Αs I gathered υp мy пewfoυпd treasυre aпd мade мy way Ƅack oυt of the caʋe, I coυldп’t help Ƅυt feel a seпse of gratitυde aпd woпder. The experieпce had Ƅeeп Ƅoth thrilliпg aпd hυмƄliпg, a reмiпder of the power of exploratioп aпd the Ƅoυпdless poteпtial of the пatυral world.
Iп coпclυsioп, мy adʋeпtυre iпto the caʋe proʋed to Ƅe a life-chaпgiпg experieпce, oпe that I will пeʋer forget. Αпd while the treasυre I discoʋered was υпdoυƄtedly ʋalυaƄle, the trυe reward was the seпse of adʋeпtυre aпd discoʋery that I carried with мe loпg after I left the caʋe Ƅehiпd.
A team of archaeologists in Saqqara recently unearthed the pyramid of Queen Neith — who they didn’t even know existed until now. Almost exactly 100 years after the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, archaeologists in Giza made another find that rewrites much of what we know about ancient Egyptian royalty. Researchers have now uncovered the […]
A team of archaeologists in Saqqara recently unearthed the pyramid of Queen Neith — who they didn’t even know existed until now. Almost exactly 100 years after the discovery of King Tut’s tomb, archaeologists in Giza made another find that rewrites much of what we know about ancient Egyptian royalty. Researchers have now uncovered the existence of a queen named Neith, who had remained unknown even to the experts for millennia.
At the Saqqara archaeological site just south of Cairo, researchers unearthed hundreds of tombs, which Live Science reports may have held the closest generals and advisors to King Tut. Among the coffins, archaeologists also found a “huge limestone sarcophagus” and “300 beautiful coffins from the New Kingdom period,” said Zahi Hawᴀss, an archaeologist on the dig who previously served as Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities.
“The coffins have individual faces, each one unique, distinguishing between men and women, and are decorated with scenes from the Book of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ,” Hawᴀss said. “Each coffin also has the name of the deceased and often shows the Four Sons of Horus, who protected the organs of the deceased.” More importantly, however, the team of archaeologists found a pyramid they believe belonged to an ancient Egyptian queen — one who had, until now, been unknown to them. “We have since discovered that her name was Neith, and she had never before been known from the historical record,” Hawᴀss said. “It is amazing to literally rewrite what we know of history, adding a new queen to our records.” Neith was the Egyptian goddess of war and the patroness of the city of Sais. According to the Egyptian Museum, the goddess remained an important figure in Egypt for an extremely long period of time — from the Predynastic Period to the arrival of the Romans.
Some legends say she was present during the creation of the world; others list her as the mother of Ra, the sun god, Egyptian king of deities, and father of creation. Some stories additionally credit her with being the mother to Sobek, the crocodile god, and worship her as the creator of birth. The goddess Neith also served several roles in the afterlife due to her ᴀssociations with war, weaving, and wisdom.
While much of the life of the real Queen Neith still remains unknown, the discovery of her pyramid is likely to provide significant insight into her role. Hawᴀss also believes that the newly-discovered burials are from the New Kingdom, unlike previous discoveries at Saqqara which dated back to the Old Kingdom or the Late Period.
“Burials from the New Kingdom were not known to be common in the area before, so this is entirely unique to the site,” Hawᴀss said. As Artnet reports, the Saqqara dig has been underway since 2020 and has yielded a host of remarkable discoveries, including a series of 22 interconnected tunnels. Digs at the site have also unearthed objects related to the pharaoh Teti, the sarcophagus of King Ramses II’s treasurer, the mummy of a woman with a solid gold mask, pieces from the ancient game of Senet, and a soldier buried with a metal axe in his hand.
“Teti was worshipped as a god in the New Kingdom period, and so people wanted to be buried near him,” Hawᴀss said. Many of these objects will be displayed at the Grand Egyptian Museum, set to open next year in Giza.
We know about bears and their love for honey. Just Google Winnie the Pooh and you can see how obsessed this cartoon bear is for honey. However, fiction is often carved out of real facts. Bears are known to be connoisseurs of honey. And their obsession is often a cause of concern for bee farmers. Bears are apex predators so bee farmers can’t just shoo them off from their grounds. And when a bear breaches a bee farm, you can be sure that they will wreak havoc, causing damages worth thousands.
Ibrahim Sedef lives in Turkey. Ibrahim Sedef is an agricultural engineer and he started a bee farm of his own. And like every other beekeeper, he struggled to keep pesky bears from harming his beehives. He put metal cages around beehives and placed treats like fruits and bears all around to lure bears away from beehives. But all his efforts went to vain.
As a scientist, he tried to observe the behavior of a bear and find out more about them. For this purpose, he installed photo trap cameras around his farm. But something else came to Ibrahim Sedef’s mind. Why not use bears as honey tasters?
It seemed like an unusual idea at first, but it was worth trying. And so, Sedef set up a table and placed four different kinds of honey on it. This table was for the bear or rather the honey taster. Well, it turns out the Sedef’s guess was right. Bears are actually amazing honey tasters and they have a premium tongue. He observed that bears were attracted to the Anzer honey and tasted it without touching the cheaper cherry blossom honey. Two pounds of Anzer honey costs over $300. Well, the video that Sedef recorded went viral – it was such a strange new fact.
Credit: dha.com.tr
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Maybe after Sedef, we can appoint bears as official honey tasters!
In many cases, the world below us is just as fascinating as the ground we walk on. Across Europe, there is a hidden, often millennia-old subterranean realm of tunnels stretching from the north in Scotland leading down to the Mediterranean.
Limanu Cave’s secret, and still unexplored passages and roads. The network gallery actually resembles a city street map, like the street network of an ancient city developed chaotically, thus the impression of an underground city. It is an underground world of never-ending tunnels, massive caves, and labyrinths dug by unknown ancient men. There are also underground labyrinths that have not been fully explored yet. One of them is located about 52 kilometres from Constanța, historically known as Tomis, the oldest continuously inhabited city in Romania.
A Vast Underground City Where You Can Get Lost
This vast labyrinth of 12 hectares lies beneath the plateau of Limanu. Researchers started to investigate the place in 1916 and discovered traces left by humans, carved walls and ceilings, and ancient ceramic fragments. Drawings and inscriptions in Roman and Cyrillic alphabets on the walls prove the cave was inhabited between the 1st century BC and 10th century AD.
The labyrinth is vast, with a total length of passages approximately 3.5 km. Dacians used it to hide from the Roman proconsul Marcus Licinius Crassus (c. 115 B.C. —53 BC), who played a vital role in transforming the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. The cave’s early inhabitants used a marking system to avoid getting lost.
Approximately 4,000 meters in length, Limanu Cave is the longest in Dobrogea. It has a chaotic branching of galleries, like the street network of an ancient city. Some researchers believe that at least some of the galleries were entirely dug by human beings, as there are tooling marks on the walls. Certainly, Limanu Cave represented an important human refuge, even since Dacian times.
The network of galleries resembles a city street map, like the street network of an ancient city developed chaotically, thus the impression of an underground city.
Remarkable Galleries
Some of the galleries have rectangular, very regular sections, and it seems humans carved them as signs of chiseling are visible. In order to avoid the collapse of ceilings, supporting walls and pillars were built in limestone slabs.
The drawings of galloping horses are of particular interest, while their riders have faces displayed from the front. Their silhouette and presentation strikingly resemble those of Dacian riders depicted on pottery discovered in many settlements in the area inhabited by Thraco-Dacians.
The earliest drawings are very likely from the prosperous time of the Geto-Dacian culture, the time when the cave was furnished as well. Other pictures show Christian religious symbols, letters, or words in the Cyrillic alphabet. This artwork belongs to the Roman-Byzantine period and the subsequent times.
According to Ph.D. Adina Boroneant, “Vasile Pârvan” Institute of Archaeology, Romanian Academy, the Limanu Cave was a shelter for the local population until later, 10th-11th centuries AD.
Surveys have revealed archaeological material proving that local Dacians inhabited the cave even in that era. Existing evidence allows us to assume that a local Geto-Dacian authority ordered the maze of Limanu as a defense measure against the Roman danger.” The account of Dio Cassius shows that the cave was a place of refuge, purposefully chosen and renovated, not some adventitious cavern,” Ph.D. Boroneant writes in his ‘Labirintul subterrane de la Limanu’ (The Underground Labyrinth of Limanu).
Tales Of Mysterious Sounds Coming From Underground Realms
Local stories mention strange and frightening wails like a prolonged high-pitched cry of grief, pain, or anger coming from the depths of the earth.
A scientific explanation for these strange sounds provided by speleologists is that the eerie wails are produced by the wind that sweeps through many underground galleries at Limanu. This noise affects the human psyche.
The cavern has a unique characteristic: although it is located on a complex of lakes and close to the Black Sea, it is so impenetrable that not even water can pass through.
The cave is also known as Caracicula (the old name of Limanu settlement), Bats’, or Icons’ – due to some images carved in stone that once guarded the entrance.Limanu Cave is one of the three habitats in Romania for horseshoe bats – Rhinolophus Mehelyi. The species decreased from over 5,000 specimens to about 300 individuals. However, ecologists warned about the vulnerability of the cave, which is a magnet for treasure hunters. Through their actions, they tend to destroy the fauna.
Being located near the border with Bulgaria, Limanu cave had the reputation of a tunnel carrying fugitives across the border, particularly during the communist time.
There are many reasons to suspect the Dobrogea caves are hiding mysteries still waiting to be discovered.
An enormous system of caves, chambers and tunnels lies hidden beneath the Pyramids of Giza, according to a British explorer who claims to have found the lost underworld of the pharaohs. Populated by bats and venomous spiders, the underground complex was found in the limestone bedrock beneath the pyramid field at Giza.
An enormous system of caves, chambers and tunnels lies hidden beneath the Pyramids of Giza, according to a British explorer who claims to have found the lost underworld of the pharaohs.
The unearthing of a lost city in Egypt was reported in many papers in 1935, including this report in the Sunday Express on July 7, 1935. “There is untouched archaeology down there, as well as a delicate ecosystem that includes colonies of bats and a species of spider which we have tentatively identified as the white widow,” British explorer Andrew Collins said.
Collins, who will detail his findings in the book “Beneath the Pyramids” to be published in September, tracked down the entrance to the mysterious underworld after reading the forgotten memoirs of a 19th-century diplomat and explorer.
“In his memoirs, British consul general Henry Salt recounts how he investigated an underground system of ‘catacombs’ at Giza in 1817 in the company of Italian explorer Giovanni Caviglia,” Collins said.
The document records that the two explored the caves for a distance of “several hundred yards,” coming upon four large chambers from which stretched further cave passageways.
With the help of British Egyptologist Nigel Skinner-Simpson, Collins reconstructed Salt’s exploration on the plateau, eventually locating the entrance to the lost catacombs in an apparently unrecorded tomb west of the Great Pyramid.
Indeed, the tomb featured a crack in the rock, which led into a massive natural cave.
“We explored the caves before the air became too thin to continue. They are highly dangerous, with unseen pits and hollows, colonies of bats and venomous spiders,” said Collins.
According to Collins, the caves — which are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years old — may have both inspired the development of the pyramid field and the ancient Egyptian’s belief in an underworld.
“Ancient funerary texts clearly allude to the existence of a subterranean world in the vicinity of the Giza pyramids,” Collins told Discovery News.
Indeed, Giza was known anciently as Rostau, meaning the “mouth of the passages.”
This is the same name as a region of the ancient Egyptian underworld known as the Duat.
“The ‘mouth of the passages’ is unquestionably a reference to the entrance to a subterranean cave world, one long rumoured to exist beneath the plateau,” Collins told Discovery News.
Collins’ claim is expected to cause a stir in the Egyptological world.
Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has dismissed the discovery.
“There are no new discoveries to be made at Giza. We know everything about the plateau,” he stated.
But Collins remarks that after extensive research, he found no mention of the caves in modern times.
“To the best of our knowledge, nothing has ever been written or recorded about these caves since Salt’s explorations. If Hawass does have any report related to these caves, we have yet to see it,” Collins said.
The Theopetra Cave is an archaeological site situated in Meteora, in the central Greek region of Thessaly. As a result of the archaeological excavations that have taken place over the years, it has been revealed that the Theopetra cave was inhabited by human beings as early as 130,000 years ago.
In addition, evidence of human habitation in the Theopetra Cave can be dated without interruption from the Middle Palaeolithic to the end of the Neolithic period.
This is significant, as it allows archaeologists to have a better understanding of the prehistoric period in Greece.
Excavations at the Theopetra cave began in 1987 under the direction of N. Kyparissi-Apostolika. The Theopetra Cave is located on the north-eastern slope of a limestone hill, some 100 m (330 feet above the valley), overlooking the remote village of Theopetra, and the river Lethaios, a tributary of the Pineios River, flows nearby. According to geologists, the limestone hill was formed between 137 and 65 million years ago, corresponding to the Upper Cretaceous period. Based on archaeological evidence, human beings have only begun to occupy the cave during the Middle Palaeolithic period, i.e. around 130,000 years ago.
The cave is located on the slopes of a limestone hill overlooking Theopetra village. The cave itself has been described as roughly quadrilateral in shape with narrow niches on its edge and covers an area of around 500 sq meters (5380 sq ft). The Theopetra Cave has a wide aperture, which enables the light to penetrate easily into the interior of the cave.
The archaeological excavation of the Theopetra Cave began in 1987 and continued up until 2007. This project was directed by Dr Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika, who served as the head of the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology and Speleography when the excavations were being carried out.
It may be mentioned that when the archaeological work was first conducted, the Theopetra Cave was being used by local shepherds as a temporary shelter in which they would keep their flocks.
It may be added that the Theopetra Cave was the first cave in Thessaly to have been archaeologically excavated, and also the only one in Greece to have a continuous sequence of deposits from the Middle Palaeolithic to the end of the Neolithic period. This is significant, as it has allowed archaeologists to gain a better understanding of the transition from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic way of life in mainland Greece.
Several interesting discoveries have been made through the archaeological study of the Theopetra Cave. One of these, for instance, pertains to the climate in the area when the cave was being occupied.
By conducting micro-morphological analysis on the sediment samples collected from each archaeological layer, archaeologists were able to determine that there had been hot and cold spells during the cave’s occupation. As a result of these changes in the climate, the cave’s population also fluctuated accordingly.
Another fascinating find from the Theopetra Cave is the remains of a stone wall that once partially closed off the entrance of the cave. These remains were discovered in 2010 and using a relatively new method of dating known as Optically Stimulated Luminescence, scientists were able to date this wall to around 23000 years old.
The age of this wall, which coincides with the last glacial age, has led researchers to suggest that the wall had been built by the inhabitants of the cave to protect them from the cold outside. It has been claimed that this is the oldest known man-made structure in Greece, and possibly even in the world.
A year before this incredible discovery was made, it was announced that a trial of at least three hominid footprints that were imprinted onto the cave’s soft earthen floor had been uncovered.
Based on the shape and size of the footprints, it has been speculated that they were made by several Neanderthal children, aged between two and four years old, who had lived in the cave during the Middle Palaeolithic period.
In 2009, the Theopetra Cave was officially opened to the public, though it was closed temporarily a year later, as the remains of the stone wall were discovered that year. Although the archaeological site was later re-opened, it was closed once again in 2016 and remains so due to safety reasons, i.e. the risk of landslides occurring.
Some 30 years of archaeological and other types of scientific research around the ancient artefacts and human remains in the Grotte Mandarin, located in the Rhone River Valley in southern France, has revealed that humans may have arrived in Europe about 10,000 years earlier than originally thought.
This conclusion, drawn by an international team of researchers including Jason Lewis, PhD, of Stony Brook University, will help scientists rethink the arrival of humans into Europe and their replacement of and interactions with Neanderthals who also lived in the cave.
The research is detailed in a paper published in Science Advances.
Previous studies have suggested that the first modern humans reached the European continent – originally from Africa and via the Levant, the eastern Mediterranean crossroads – between 43,000 and 48,000 years ago.
But this discovery of modern human presence in the heart of the Rhone River Valley at Grotte Mandrin points to about 54,000 years ago.
Close-up of the Grotte Mandrin in southern France where scientists have uncovered layers of history that include both modern human and Neanderthal activity.
The area of the cave excavated and analyzed that proved the evidence of modern human presence is Mandrin’s Layer E. It is sandwiched between 10 other layers of artefacts and fossils that contain evidence of Neanderthal life.
“The first curious signal to emerge during the initial decade of excavations were thousands of tiny triangular stone points, resembling arrowheads, some less than a centimetre in length,” explains Lewis.
“These had no technical precursors or successors in the surrounding Neanderthal layers.”
Lewis explained that the well-preserved cave, discovered in the 1960s, includes uppermost layers that contain materials from the Bronze Age and Neolithic periods. But over the past quarter-century, the international scientific team has analyzed three meters of sediment and evidence from the Paleolithic – a period when Neanderthals and their ancestors occupied Europe and periodically had contact with evolving modern humans.
The consensus theory until now was that these modern humans expanded into the southeastern European region about 50,000 years ago and the Neanderthals progressively disappeared.
The research involved analyses of various types of hundreds of fossils, stone tools, and ancient human teeth.
The team used radiocarbon and luminescence dating, DNA and another molecular testing, and lithic technological analysis.
Co-author Marine Frouin, PhD, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Geosciences at Stony Brook University, completed luminescence dating work at Mandarin that helped estimate dates when humans occupied the cave.
“I joined the team in 2014 to obtain the first luminescence dates at the site,” explains Frouin.
“Due to advances in our dating methods and new collaborations that developed a few years later, we were able to put together a precise and robust timeline for when modern humans and Neanderthals were there.”
Many small triangular stone points from Mandrin’s Layer E helped lead scientists to determine modern humans lived in the cave, and therefore their presence in Europe was 10,000 years earlier than previously suspected. Intriguingly, the international scientific team also determined that the evidence of humans at and around the ancient cave showed they occupied the territory for only one or two generations. Then, they disappeared just as mysteriously and quickly as they had arrived and Neanderthals reoccupied the region and site.
“Our overall discovery changes the landscape regarding the time humans arrived in Europe and raises other questions, some of which we think we can answer and others that require more investigation,” adds Lewis
Such questions are: How did modern humans know about the stone resources around the cave in France around the varied landscape in such a short time? Did they have relationships with Neanderthals, such as exchanging of information, and goods and acting as guides? Did these two hominin groups interbreed more frequently than science has previously suggested? Additional discoveries from Mandarin will soon be announced that will shed light on these and other questions about our ancient ancestors.
