Tag: Ngách kho báu

In Peru, a mummy considered to be about 1,000 years old was found.

A mummy belonging to the pre-Inca Ychsma culture was found buried at the Huaca Pucllana site in Lima, Peru.

Newspaper Per 21 stated that during excavations at the Huaca Pucllana archaeological site, researchers came across a mummy that belongs to the pre-Incan Ychsma civilisation.

At the summit of the pyramid, which is situated in the center of a residential neighborhood in the Peruvian capital of Lima, the body was interred in a straightforward, circular tomb. The Huaca Pucllana is a sizable clay pyramid in the city’s Miraflores neighborhood that is more than 70 feet tall.

The Lima culture, which emerged on the central coast of Peru between A.D. 200 and 700, built the monument, which has seven staggered platforms.

The location was a significant ceremonial hub for these prehistoric people. The evidence points to the site’s primary use as a location for ceremonial events, though other activity, possibly administrative, may have taken place there.

Before Spanish colonialism, the location was occupied for three distinct time periods. Huaca Pucllana was initially inhabited by the Lima culture, a civilization that flourished between A.D. 400 and 700 and built it.

The Huari civilisation followed, occupying the location between A.D. 800 and 900.

Last but not least, Huaca Pucllana has been the site of Ychsma habitation since the beginning of the second millennium. This was the location’s final pre-Hispanic habitation.

The Huaca Pucllana pyramid in Lima, Peru, features seven staggered platforms.

Huaca Pucllana appears to have been utilized as a burial site by the Ychsma culture, which flourished in the area around A.D. 1000 before being incorporated into the Inca Empire in the 15th century.

Archaeologists last year discovered a personal tomb with human remains at the summit of the pyramid connected to the Ychsma culture as a result of investigations. The Huaca Pucllana site museum said in a statement that a portion of the building had to be dismantled in order to make room for the tomb.

The person was discovered by archaeologists inside the tomb, facing south and flexed in a sitting position.

The body was covered in a plain fabric, of which only a few fragments have survived. In addition, the cemetery contained a number of other items, such as pottery vessels, which allowed researchers to place the burial into the early Ychsma civilization.

At the Huaca Pucllana location, mummies and ancient offerings have already been discovered. However, no Ychsma burial objects previously unearthed at the location have the kind of adornment present on those in the recently discovered grave.

Mirella Ganoza, an archaeologist with the Huaca Pucllana Site Museum, told Per 21: “I find it quite interesting that right in the heart of Miraflores, in the middle of the city, surrounded by modern buildings and constructions, an important site such as the Huaca Pucllana ceremonial center is still preserved.”

The Bone-Chilling Mystery of Chauchilla Cemetery: Outdoor Mummies of Peru

Egypt is well-known for tombs holding the preserved remains of a number of its rulers, and examples of Egyptian mummies can be found around the world in various museums. But that’s not the only place where mummies have been uncovered.

There are burial sites around the world where the inhabitants have been preserved for thousands of years. Here are a few that are worth knowing about.

Chauchilla Cemetery in Peru contains pre-Hispanic (prior to Spanish conquests) remains, according to Peru Top 10. The cemetery was discovered in the 1920s, and was used for 600-700 years, ending in the 9th century.

The cemetery’s inhabitants are very well-preserved, both because of the very dry air in the Peruvian desert and the burial methods used at the time, which archaeologists believe involved hanging the bodies from posts at the nearby site of Estaqueria to begin the drying process, painting them with a resin that kept out bacteria, and placing them in specially built mud-brick tombs.

The level of preservation is such that the mummies still have hair and some soft tissue after more than 1,000 years. The cemetery had been plundered by robbers for years, but has been protected by the Peruvian government since 1997, and is now a tourist spot.

Ancient preinca nazca civilisation cemetery of Chauchilla at Nazca, Peru
The Capuchin Catacombs in Palermo, Italy, were built to be a simple burial place for the monks of the monastery, according to Palermo Catacombs. The Capuchin monks were established in Palermo in 1534 at the Church of Santa Maria della Pace. They created a cemetery for the friars to be buried by digging a mass grave that opened like a tank underneath the altar of St. Anne.

By 1597, space had become an issue, and the friars were forced to expand their cemetery behind the main altar, using natural caves. When the new spot was ready, the friars decided to move those who had already been interred in the old site to the new catacomb.

An excavated grave of the old Nazca people, Southwest Peru, including a skull, with hair, and femurs of several people, as well as some other bones. These bodies are estimated to be 1,500 years old but are remarkably well preserved by the arid climate here.
When they exhumed the corpses to move them, they discovered that 45 friars had been naturally mummified and were very well-preserved. The monks thought it was a miracle granted by God and treated the mummies as holy relics, displaying them in the first corridor of their new catacomb.

The monks learned their own techniques to maximize preservation, and, over the years, increasingly began to let citizens who were not part of the monastery also inter their deceased loved ones in the catacombs. The cemetery stopped receiving new bodies in 1880, although there were two exceptions in the 20th century.

One, in 1911, was Giovanni Paterniti, who was the Vice-Consul to the United States. The other, in 1920, was 2-year-old Rosalia Lombardo. There is some question as to exactly who Rosalia Lombardo’s father was, perhaps a general in the Italian army; however, Rosalia herself is known, among other titles, as the “world’s most beautiful mummy.”

Bog bodies are also periodically found in the peat bogs of Northwestern Europe, especially in England, Ireland, the Netherlands, northern Germany, and Denmark, according to Archaeology. Over the centuries hundreds of men, women, and children have been unearthed, usually during peat-cutting activities.

The bodies vary in quality of preservation, and some date as far back as 8000 B.C., or from as recently as the early medieval period. According to a discussion of Celtic Studies resources, peat bogs are bogs full of sphagnum moss.

As old moss dies, and new moss grows, the old growth turns into peat. The bog water interacts chemically with the peat, and produces tannins and other compounds that preserve the bodies in the low-oxygen environment of the bogs. Bog bodies look substantially different from other sorts of mummies, because they haven’t been dried.

Examples have been found where the bodies still have not only hair, but whiskers, fingerprints, and wrinkles. Many such bodies apparently died violent deaths, and many scholars believe they were offered as sacrifices to the gods.

The mummy dubbed the Younger Lady was found with two other mummies in side chamber Jc of KV35. This again was a cache of looted New Kingdom mummies placed there by priests from the Third Intermediate Period. The Elder Lady and the mummy of a young boy were found next to her. The Elder Lady has now been identified as Queen Tiye, wife of AmenH๏τep III, and the young boy is suspected to either be Prince Tuthmose or Webensenu.

 wrappings or coffins. Other mummies in this cache were found in labeled coffins or were given linen dockets to identify them. This of course adds to the mystery of why these three mummies were treated so differently from those in the rest of the cache. The Younger Lady is also called KV35YL or 61072, the latter of which is her accession number at the Cairo Museum.

The mummy of the Younger Lady was originally determined to be of a man by Loret, the archaeologist who discovered the tomb. This mistake was probably made because of the mummy’s shaved head, which was typical of male Egyptians. When G. Elliot Smith later examined the mummy, he determined that it was of a female.

She was anywhere from 25 to 35 years old when she died. She was 5 foot 2 inches tall and quite thin. The mummy is in very bad condition, though only some of the wounds were postmortem.

The only perimortem (before death) injuries are those found on the face. The Younger Lady has a gaping wound on the left side of her mouth and cheek. Some fractured facial bones are missing and a roll of resin-soaked linen was placed in the wound by the embalmers. Scholars have determined that this wound would have likely been fatal, but they have not determined how this injury occurred. It could have been the result of a heavy object hitting her face, the Younger Lady getting kicked in the face by an animal like a horse, or a chariot accident. There are also theories of deliberate violence like her being hit with an ax.

The other injuries can be attributed to the looters. She has a small oval-shaped hole in the front of her skull and bone fragments were found within the cavity. Apparently, there was no attempt to embalm or remove her brain as it is found shrunken in her skull. The front wall of her chest is also almost entirely missing. Her heart was left in place and remains visible in her chest cavity. The diaphragm had two holes where the lungs were removed in the embalming process. In addition, her torso was packed with linen.

Her pelvis was fractured, her legs damaged, and the front half of both of her feet are missing. She also had a double piercing on her left earlobe. Finally, her right arm is missing. Two severed arms were found in KV35 and compared with the body. One was bent at the elbow and would have laid over her chest, while the other was straight. At first, the bent arm was believed to be hers, but it was proven to be too long in relation to the attached arm. So, it is believed that the other straight arm which is of equal size is the matching arm.

There have been multiple theories about the idenтιтy of this mummy. G. Elliot Smith believed that she lived during the reign of AmenH๏τep II, but many of the more recent theories push this toward the reign of AmenH๏τep III and his son.

Marianne Luban proposed that the Younger Lady was Queen Neferтιтi in 1999, a theory that has taken a life of its own. She based this mostly on the measurements between the mummy and the statue of Neferтιтi, which were very close in size. She also pointed out the shaved head, the impression of a headband on her forehead, and the double ear piercing, all of which could point to a royal mummy.

Joanne Fletcher supported this claim in 2003 pointing out all the same evidence that Luban did. She was actually allowed to examine the Younger Lady, which is when they found one of the detached arms wrapped in the bandages by her legs. But this was the flexed arm, which as I mentioned most likely does not belong to the Younger Lady. Fletcher used this as evidence that the mummy was royal because female royal mummies have one arm down and one arm flexed over the chest. But this is not a definitive factor as there are royal female mummies who have both arms down.

Dennis Forbes proposed that the mummy is Sitamun, a daughter of AmenH๏τep III and Tiye. This theory was based on the two other mummies found with the Younger Lady, the Elder Lady, and the young boy. Again the Elder Lady has been identified as Tiye, Sitamun’s mother, and one of the main theories for the idenтιтy of the mummy of the young boy is Prince Tuthmose, Sitamun’s brother.

The other theories are mostly based on DNA tests were conducted on the mummy. These were conducted between 2007 and 2009 for the Cairo Museum’s Family of King Tutankhamun Project. These results told us that this woman was the daughter of AmenH๏τep III and Tiye, the full sister of the mummy found in KV55, who is presumably Akhenaten, and the mother of King Tutankhamun!!

Based on the DNA results (which you can read more about here), most scholars believe that the mummy is not Neferтιтi or Kiya, another wife of Akhenaten who had been considered Tutankhamun’s mother. This is because neither woman was ever referred to as the King’s Sister or King’s Daughter. These тιтles would have been used throughout their life, even after they married. So because Neferтιтi and Kiya are never shown with these тιтles, they have been excluded as possible daughters of AmenH๏τep III and Tiye.

Sitamun, Isis, and Hennuttaneb are three daughters of AmenH๏τep III that have been considered but also excluded based on тιтles. These three daughters were married to their father at the end of his reign. And because of that prestigious тιтle, they would have become Akhenaten’s principal wife if he wanted to marry them. Meaning they would have taken precedent over Neferтιтi, who was a non-royal, which we know didn’t happen. Nebptah and Beketaten are two other daughters of AmenH๏τep III who were not known to have married their father, so they are likely candidates.

Nonetheless, even though she was the daughter, sister, married to, and mother of a king, she does not seem to be a prominent figure in her lifetime. No inscriptions, reliefs, or statues have even been found of her. Nothing in King Tutankhamun’s vast tomb even references her. All evidence points to his mother dying before he rose to the throne and that she was a minor wife of Akhenaten. There is also a slim possibility that this woman was not married to Akhenaten, but part of his harem.

Facial Reconstruction and Controversy
In 2018, the mummy of the Younger Lady was featured on the seventh episode of the fifth season of Expedition Unknown, enтιтled “Great Women of Ancient Egypt.” Josh Gates the host and his guests were all under the presumption that the Younger Lady is the mummy of Neferтιтi, which is a belief some scholars still hold. They used the preserved remains, modern technology, and artistry to present a reconstruction of what the Younger Lady looked like. The bust was created by French paleo-artists Elisabeth Daynes.

Again, because they presumed that the mummy was of Neferтιтi, the reconstruction wore Neferтιтi’s iconic crown and broad collar. Putting aside the controversial choice to depict the mummy as Neferтιтi after the DNA tests had most likely ruled her out, the reconstruction received a lot of controversies.

Many people were upset with the color of her skin tone, mainly it being too light. The artists said that it was compared to the skin ton of modern Egyptians, but many were concerned that she was being white-washed. Some scholars agreed, but other scholars pointed out that there would have been a great mixture of races in the royal harems, including Caucasians. But the Younger Lady would have most certainly been more brown.

Aside from the royal regalia and the color of her skin, the face is claimed to be forensically accurate to the face of the Younger Lady.

Meet the ‘Gold Dust Infant,’ an extraordinary find from the Roman period, believed to be an 8-month-old girl. This unique mummy, originally coated in shimmering gold dust, harbors a distinctive history of preservation and intriguing postmortem anomalies.

What sets this mummy apart is the unconventional approach taken during excerebration, a process typically associated with the transnasal or foramen magnum routes. In this case, an artificial aperture was meticulously crafted in the skull, situated just behind the left ear and near the pars petrosum of the temporal bone. Notably, this cranial defect shows no signs of postmortem healing, indicating its posthumous origin.

Upon unwrapping, remnants of the original wrapping material were discovered, with intriguing questions about when and why this elaborate burial was disturbed. Further examination revealed a missing third rib on the right side, with the sixth and seventh ribs oddly positioned, likely repositioned during the embalming process. The repositioned rib serves as a captivating piece of the puzzle, as it prevented the thorax from collapsing, in contrast to the abdomen.

Adding to the mystery, the ‘Gold Dust Infant’ boasted naturally light-colored hair, possibly enhanced with henna. This captivating find not only offers a glimpse into ancient Egyptian burial practices but also raises tantalizing questions about the circumstances and rituals surrounding this young girl’s preservation and unwrapping.”

Mummies often evoke thoughts of the ancient Egyptians and their sophisticated mummification rituals. These practices aimed to create a seamless transition between life and death and led to remarkable body preservation that is renowned to this day. While most mummies discovered today are a product of this complex process, natural mummification has occurred in rare instances. The Taizhou mummy is an extraordinary example of this, distinguished by its exceptional state of preservation and enigmatic backstory.

Road workers unexpectedly discovered the tomb of a woman, now known as the Taizhou mummy, who was buried during the time of the Ming Dynasty in China. (GU XIANGZHONG, XINHUA)

Taizhou Mummy Unearthed During Routine Road Works in Eastern China


Chinese road workers stumbled upon an astonishing find in 2011 – the remarkably intact remains of a woman from the Ming Dynasty , dating back 700 years. The discovery shed light on the daily life of the people of that era, while also raising questions about the woman’s identity and the secret behind her remarkable preservation. Who was she? And how did her body remain so well-preserved over the centuries?

The discovery of the Taizhou mummy was quite shocking. Road workers in Taizhou, located in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province, were tasked with widening a road. During the excavation process, they dug several feet into the ground and unexpectedly hit a large, solid object about six feet below the surface.

Recognizing the potential significance of their discovery, the workers promptly contacted a team of archaeologists from the Taizhou Museum to excavate the area. Subsequent investigations revealed that the object found in Taizhou was, in fact, a Chinese tomb , containing a three-layered coffin within its walls.

The Taizhou mummy was discovered immersed in a mysterious brown liquid. (GU XIANGZHONG, XINHUA)

Mysterious Brown Liquid: The Enigmatic Preservation of the Taizhou Mummy

As the archaeologists opened the main coffin, they were greeted by layers of silk and linens, all covered in a mysterious brown liquid. Upon further inspection, they uncovered the astonishingly well-preserved remains of a woman, complete with her body, hair, skin, clothing, and jewelry. Even her eyebrows and eyelashes were impeccably preserved, revealing remarkable details about her appearance from centuries ago. Since the discovery, she has come to be known as the Taizhou mummy or the accidental mummy.

Researchers have been unable to definitively determine the age of the woman’s body. However, based on the artifacts and clothing found with the Taizhou mummy, it is believed that she lived during the Ming Dynasty , which spanned from 1368 through 1644. This means that the woman’s body could potentially be up to 700 years old.

The hand of the Ming Dynasty Taizhou mummy, wearing a striking green ring. (GU XIANGZHONG, XINHUA)

The woman was found dressed in traditional clothing from the Ming Dynasty and adorned with several pieces of jewelry, including a striking green ring. Based on the quality of her jewelry and the fine silks she was wrapped in, it is believed that she was a high-ranking civilian. The discovery of her well-preserved remains has provided valuable insights into the daily life and social hierarchy of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition to the stunningly preserved remains of the woman, the coffin also contained bones, ceramics, ancient writings and other relics. The archaeologists who excavated the coffin were unable to determine whether the mysterious brown liquid inside the coffin was used intentionally to preserve the body or if it was simply groundwater that had seeped in over time.

Some researchers, however, have suggested that the woman’s body may have been preserved due to the specific environment in which she was buried. If the temperature and oxygen levels in the water surrounding her were just right, bacteria would have been unable to grow, effectively slowing or halting the process of decomposition. This unexpected discovery left archaeologists and scientists alike eager to learn more about the unique circumstances that led to the Taizhou mummy’s remarkable preservation.

The Taizhou Mummy Raises More Questions Than Answers

This discovery provides researchers with an intimate look into the customs of the Ming Dynasty. They have a very clear view of the clothing and jewelry people wore, and some of the relics that were used during the time. This can answer many questions about the lifestyle, traditions, and daily activities of the people from that time.

The discovery of the Taizhou mummy raised numerous questions about the circumstances that led to the exceptional preservation of her body for centuries. Archaeologists are still trying to determine the identity and social status of the woman, as well as the cause of her death and whether her preservation was intentional.

Unfortunately, the secluded location of the discovery and the absence of additional remains may make it difficult to find definitive answers. However, if similar discoveries are made in the future, they may provide the information needed to answer these, and other questions about the so-called accidental mummy.

A mummy has recently been discovered by archeologists in Peru, estimated to be 800-1,200 years old, and was unearthed in Cajamarquilla, near the capital city of Lima. National University of San Marcos researchers unearthed the preserved rope-bound body on an archaeological site, underground in the middle of the town square, roughly 25 kilometers from Lima.

Understanding Mummification

Mummification, according to LiveScience, is the process of preserving the dead and was a widespread practice in many ancient societies. The honored tradition imbued with deep religious significance in the ancient world was often performed by skilled specialists. It was done to venerate the dead and express the significance of religious belief, especially of an afterlife.

Although many cultures performed mummification of their dead during those times, the Ancient Egyptians’ most infamous to date. However, ancient Chinese people of the Canary Islands, many pre-Columbian societies, the Incas, and Guanches performed mummification.

In mummification, specialists preserved the bodies of the dead by drying or embalming the flesh. The moisture of the body is removed via chemicals or natural preservatives like resin. On the other hand, it can also be done unintentionally in a process known as natural mummification when deceased bodies are exposed to extreme conditions and other environmental factors that may mitigate against the body’s decay.

800-Year-Old Rope-bound Peruvian Mummy Unearthed
The 800-year-old mummy was discovered to be tied with ropes with its hands covering its face. Researchers explained that it is a southern Peruvian funeral custom. The mummy’s age places it back to pre-Hispanic times preceding even the Inca civilization known for establishing the well-known citadel of Peru–Machu Picchu in the 15th century, reports CNN.

Pieter Van Delan Luna, one of the leading archeologists of the excavation, says that the mummy’s discovery sheds new light on the relationships and interactions in pre-Hispanic times. He tells CNN that the mummy is likely to be a young man aged 25-30 years old who traveled to the mountains of Cahamarquilly, which was a bustling commercial center during the pre-Columbian era.

The team’s excavation work began in October with a team of 40 led by Luna and fellow archeologists Yomira Huaman Santillan. The discovery came as a surprise since the team did not set out in search of preserved mummies.

Likewise, the team stumbled upon another unexpected discovery where several marine mollusks were found outside the mummy’s tomb, which is unusual since the site is 25 kilometers from the nearest coast, reports IndiaToday.

Luna explains that after the body was laid to rest, evidence suggests that its descendants kept coming back throughout the years, placing offerings and food, including mollusks, around the tomb. The circumstances of the archeologist’s recent discovery led the team to conclude that the 800-year-old mummy may not have been an ordinary citizen, more likely being an important person in their contemporary society. Stating that the characteristics of the mummy and its burial imply that it is of high status.

When construction workers unexpectedly unearthed the mummified body of a young African-American woman in the New York City borough of Queens in 2011, police thought the corpse belonged to a victim of a recent homicide. But closer examination soon revealed that her story was much stranger — and much older — than first suspected.

Broken metal fragments scattered near the construction equipment were later identified as pieces of an ornate and expensive form-fitting iron coffin; its sealed environment had preserved the woman’s remains in remarkable detail, which is why officials initially mistook her for recently deceased.

Iron coffins were only produced for a brief period during the middle of the 19th century, so the casket — along with the style of the woman’s burial clothing — helped experts to date her body to the mid-1800s. But who was she, and how did she come to be buried in such an unusual container? The mystery woman’s peculiar tale comes to light in a new documentary, “The Woman in the Iron Coffin,” airing on PBS tonight (Oct. 3) at 10 p.m. local time. [Photos: The Amazing Mummies of Peru and Egypt]

Scott Warnasch, then a forensic archaeologist with the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner, was called to the location with a team to document and recover the partly buried remains. And he immediately recognized the iron bits as coffin fragments, because he’d come across similar iron coffins years earlier during an excavation in New Jersey, he told Live Science.

“I’ve been obsessed with these iron coffins since 2005, when two were found under the Prudential Center in Newark,” Warnasch said. “I told the crew, ‘This is historical, this isn’t a crime scene.’”

After a backhoe broke open the coffin, it dragged the body and dumped it under a load of dirt. As Warnasch and others brushed the dirt away, they noted that the body belonged to an African-American female dressed in a garment that looked like a 19th-century nightgown, along with a knit cap and thick knee socks.

Something else about the remains caught the investigators’ attention. Her skin was so well preserved that they could spot what looked like lesions from smallpox on her forehead and chest. Work on the corpse was temporarily suspended, until representatives of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that the virus was no longer active, Warnasch said. [Photos: The Reconstruction of Teen Who Lived 9,000 Years Ago]

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed X-ray tomography (CT) scans allowed the scientists to examine the body noninvasively and create a biological profile of the woman: They determined she was 5 feet, 2 inches tall (1.6 meters), African-American and about 25 to 30 years old, Warnasch explained.

The site where she was discovered was formerly an African-American church and cemetery; the church was founded in 1828 by the region’s first generation of free black people, but there are newspaper accounts of an African-American cemetery on that land dating to a decade earlier, according to Warnasch.

A deep dive into local census records from 1850 provided the investigators with the final missing puzzle pieces about the woman’s identity. They discovered that the remains likely belonged to Martha Peterson, a resident of New York City and the daughter of John and Jane Peterson. She died when she was 26 years old, and she was meticulously prepared for burial by caring hands — something that revealed a glimpse of the close-knit, emancipated African-American community to which she belonged, Warnasch said.

“Despite the fact that she was contagious with smallpox, they still cleaned her body, dressed it, did her hair — even though this was a potentially life-threatening disease,” he said.

Sealed in iron

Iron coffins were manufactured for less than a decade, but during the brief time when they were available, they made quite an impression. A stove maker named Almond Dunbar Fisk designed and patented them in 1848, and they were molded to be formfitting and airtight, locking out air and preventing decay. This made them ideal for transporting bodies over long distances by train, and the coffins quickly gained popularity with political elites in Washington, D.C., Warnasch said.

“In 1849, Dolley Madison — the former first lady — used one of these for her funeral, and that put Fisk on the map,” he said.

So, how did a young African-American woman from New York City end up in one of Fisk’s famous coffins? Another advantage of the airtight caskets was their ability to quarantine a body that might be riddled with a contagious disease, Warnasch explained. If someone died of an infectious disease — such as smallpox — an iron coffin would allow the remains to be safely displayed and buried, he said.

Forensic specialists initially thought that Peterson might have been buried in the iron coffin because her loved ones feared the spread of disease. However, further analysis led the investigators toward a different explanation, Warnasch said, adding, “but I don’t want to give too much away.”

Regardless of why she was placed in an iron coffin, its airtight properties certainly stood the test of time, Warnasch said.

“She looked like she had been dead for a week, but it was 160 years,” he said.

Perhaps in the end, what is most fascinating about this woman is how ordinary she was, Warnasch told Live Science. She wasn’t well-known, wealthy or privileged, and because she was just “a regular person,” the details of her burial can therefore tell us a great deal about the daily lives — and deaths — of African-Americans in New York at that moment in history, he said.

“The Woman in the Iron Coffin” is available to stream on the PBS website and app beginning Oct. 4.

The hair of the dog couldn’t save this kid.

Buried beneath a gravel road in a Finnish forest, archaeologists have discovered tooth fragments belonging to a child that lived some 6,000 years ago in the Mesolithic period. And while none of the youngster’s bones survived the intervening millennia, a few animal furs and bird feathers were retrieved from the grave, providing some fascinating insights into the funerary customs of ancient Nordic communities.

Researchers were first alerted to the existence of the grave after noticing a patch of red ochre on the ground. Commonly found in ancient burial sites and rock art worldwide, red ochre is an iron-rich clay soil that has played a role in ceremonial activities throughout human history.

Unfortunately, however, human remains rarely survive for long in Finland’s highly acidic soil, which makes it very difficult to study funerary deposits. With no expectations of finding a skeleton, therefore, the team searched the grave for microparticles and were pleasantly surprised with what they found.

Regarding the pit’s primary inhabitant, the study authors explain that “only some unburned human enamel fragments remained of the deceased. Based on these teeth, the deceased was a child, less than 10.5 years old.”

And while it was not possible to perform radiocarbon dating on the leftover dentures, the researchers were able to hypothesize the age of the grave based on the stone artifacts that were buried alongside the child. Specifically, they found two quartz arrowheads that were consistent with the material culture of the Mesolithic.

The burial site, known as Majoonsuo, also contained microscopic fragments of bird feathers. Seven of these feathers were identified as the down of a waterfowl, suggesting that the child may have worn a down coat or been buried on a down bed.

A single falcon feather barbule was also retrieved, most likely originating from the fletching attached to the quartz arrowheads. Alternatively, falcon feathers may have been used to decorate the grave or the deceased child’s clothing.

Finally, the researchers report the discovery of three canine hairs, though they are unable to say whether these came from a dog or a wolf.

“The discovery in Majoonsuo is sensational, even though there is nothing but hairs left of the animal or animals – not even teeth. We don’t even know whether it’s a dog or a wolf,” said study author Kristiina Mannermaa in a statement. “Dogs buried with the deceased have been found in, for example, Skateholm, a famous burial site in southern Sweden dating back some 7,000 years.”

However, the fact that no canid teeth were found at Majoonsuo suggests that the child was probably buried with just furs rather than a whole animal. These furs may have been used as clothing or grave goods.

Summing up the significance of these findings, Mannermaa explained that “this all gives us a very valuable insight about burial habits in the Stone Age, indicating how people had prepared the child for the journey after death.”

The study has been published in the journal PLOS ONE.

The story of Kap Dwa, which literally means “two-headed,” appears in British records in the early 20th century, as well as various voyage records between the 17th and 19th centuries. The legend says that Kap Dwa was a two-headed Patagonian giant, with a height of 12 feet or 3.66 meters, who once lived in the jungles of Argentina, South America.

According to the legend, in 1673, Spanish sailors captured the giant, who was over 12 feet tall with two heads, and kept him captive on their ship. Despite being lashed to the mainmast, Kap Dwa managed to break free during a battle, but was fatally injured. The Spaniards eventually killed him by piercing his heart with a spear. Before his demise, Kap Dwa had allegedly claimed the lives of four Spanish soldiers.

The fate of Kap Dwa after his death remains unclear. However, it is said that his naturally mummified body was displayed in various places and sideshows. In 1900, the mummy of Kap Dwa entered the Edwardian Horror Circuit and changed hands between showmen until it ended up at Weston’s Birnbeck Pier in 1914.

For the next 45 years, Kap Dwa’s mummy was on display in north Somerset, England. In 1959, it was purchased by “Lord” Thomas Howard and passed through several more owners until it found its way to Baltimore, Maryland. Today, the mummified remains of Kap Dwa reside in Bob’s Side Show at The Antique Man Ltd in Baltimore, owned by Robert Gerber and his wife. While there are claims that the mummy is a fabricated hoax, the truth behind it remains a mystery.

The legend of the Patagonian giants, to which Kap Dwa is associated, dates back to the early European accounts of the region. Portuguese sailor Ferdinand Magellan and his crew, during their circumnavigation of the world in the 1520s, claimed to have encountered natives of extraordinary height while exploring the South American coastline. These encounters were also described by Antonio Pigafetta, a survivor and chronicler of Magellan’s expedition.

Another account of giant encounters came from Sebalt de Weert, a Dutch captain who explored the coasts of South America and the Falkland Islands in 1600. De Weert and his crew reported seeing a “race of giants” in the Magellan Strait, characterized by long hair, reddish-brown skin, and aggressive behavior towards the crew.

The authenticity of Kap Dwa is a subject of debate. Supporters argue that there is no obvious evidence of taxidermy, with claims of inspections and examinations by doctors and radiologists in the past. However, skeptics question the conflicting origin stories and the fact that Kap Dwa was exhibited as a sideshow attraction, which raises doubts about its credibility. They argue that if Kap Dwa’s mummy were genuine, it would be displayed in a reputable museum and subjected to thorough analysis by mainstream scientists. As of now, there is no conclusive DnA analysis conducted on the mummy, leaving the mystery of Kap Dwa unresolved.

A silk-covered body inside a coffin and a silver bowl depicting Greek goddesses are among the discoveries at a 1,500-year-old cemetery in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in China.

The findings demonstrate the riches that were being traded at the time along so-called “silk roads,” or trade routes that crisscrossed Asia and Europe, said the archaeologists involved in a series of digs excavating the cemetery between 2012 and 2014.

The archaeologists, who described their findings in the current issue of the journal Silk Road, said they suspect the cemetery belonged to a family of aristocrats, possibly the tribal chief of the Gaoche people, who, historical records say, fell under control of the Northern Wei dynasty.

This dynasty, which reigned from A.D. 386 to 534, controlled much of northern China and Mongolia, giving the dynasty control over some of the silk roads.

Greek deities
The silver bowl found at the site has four projecting bosses (protrusions) at the bottom that “depict characters from Greek mythology: Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite and Athena,” wrote Chen Yongzhi, director of the Inner Mongolia Museum; Song Guodong, an archaeologist at the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology; and Ma Yan, a lecturer at Inner Mongolia University, in the journal article.

The bowl was likely imported from central or west Asia, the authors noted.

In ancient Greek mythology, Zeus is king of the gods, while his wife Hera is the goddess of women and marriage. Athena is the goddess of war and is often shown wearing a helmet, while Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty.

Covered in silk
The archaeologists discovered six tombs at the cemetery, five of which date to the Northern Wei dynasty. (The other tomb is around 1,000 years old, dating back to the Liao Dynasty.)

Inside one of the Northern Wei tombs, the archaeologists discovered a silk-covered body. They have not yet removed the silk from the body and, as such, haven’t been able to study the remains.

“The tomb occupant is wrapped in yellow silk and wears a gold headband, a gold necklace,” as well as a gold belt, gold finger-rings and leather boots, the archaeologists wrote.

A painting on the outside of the coffin depicts a blue-roofed house held up with red pillars. “In the center of the house is seated the occupant surrounded by his many white-faced attendants, who are standing or sitting and wearing round hoods,” the archaeologists wrote. “The exaggerated face and body proportions of the main occupant distinguish him sharply from the attendants.”

The cemetery, the archaeologists said, has been repeatedly looted