Trudy Myers's Blog, page 6
October 19, 2024
Speedy Space Object
It’s always good toknow that our defense systems work.
On July 6th,(I believe it was in 2024, but I could be wrong), automated systems that studythe skies for potentially hazardous objects sent out a warning. Estimated atabout 164 ft (50 m) in diameter, the object was spotted hurtling towards Earth.Its path would take it uncomfortably close to the moon and our planet. However,it was not an asteroid.
As objects move throughthe sky, different observatories identify whether it’s a new object and if itmight pose a hazard to Earth. Follow-up observations determined that the objectwas actually the European Space Agency’s Juice (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer)spacecraft. The probe was flying by Earth and the moon to exploit gravity as itslingshot through space.
But the Juicespacecraft isn’t 50 meters across. Its solar panel wings measure only 27 meters(88 feet), which is quite big for a deep space probe. Because it appeared verybright, owing to its reflective solar panels, the automated system initiallyestimated the object was a larger rock.
Scanning the skies formenacing objects is important. It gives us time to prepare and evacuate acertain area, if that’s necessary. Scientists agree that we need to know what’scoming, when it’s coming, and how hard it’s going to hit.
Space rocks do veerinto our area of the solar system from time to time. But there are no knownasteroids on course to collide with Earth for at least the next 100 years.
Even relatively smallrocks are still threatening, as proven by the 56-foot (17 meters) rock thatexploded over Russia and blew out people’s windows. Every year, on average, anautomobile-sized asteroid plummets through our sky and explodes. Objects about460 ft (140 m) in diameter occur every 10,000 to 20,000 years. And a‘dinosaur-killing’ impact from a rock a half-mile across or larger happens on100-million-year timescales.
Just to ease your mind,the dinosaurs went extinct about 66 million years ago.
October 4, 2024
Mysterious Monolith
On the Mediterraneanisland of Cyprus, archaeologists have unearthed a temple believed to be 4,000years old, which features a mysterious monolith. The remains of the sacredspace were identified at the archaeological site of Erimi.
The prehistoricsettlement of Erimi is located in south-central Cyprus more than 300 feet abovesea level, on a limestone terrace. Cyprus is located in the easternMediterranean Sea, and serves as a crossroads between Europe, Africa and Asia.
Around 2000-1600 BC, inwhat’s known as the Middle Bronze Age, a community settled on the Erimi hill.In this Bronze Age community, scientists discovered a room in which they founda monolith measuring more than 7 feet in height. The monolith is completelysmooth and features a motif in the center.
The monolith, which hadstood in the center of the room, had collapsed onto the floor and destroyed alarge amphora placed at its feet. An amphora is a type of container with apointed bottom. Its characteristic form dates back to prehistoric times.
Peculiarities of thisroom indicate it is a sacred space. It is believed that the activity thatsupported the community economically also involved its members ideologicallyand symbolically. This small sacred space in Erimi is the oldest example knownon the island.
I wish the article hadincluded a rendering of the motif on the monolith. It’s always exciting to geta glimpse of what was considered important and special to people from anotherage.
September 13, 2024
Hidden Secret Temple
Since 1830,archaeologist knew about the 120 tombs on a hill side in Tuscany, Italy. Thetombs dated to the 7th to 6th centuries BC. But onlyrecently did they discover in the same area an ancient temple of a cult.
The temple was part ofthe ancient Etruscan necropolis of Sasso Pinzuto. It includes plenty ofartifacts, such as clay tablets that give details about the funerary rituals ofthe time, some of which may have lasted for centuries.
Known as an oikos—a houseof the deity—the temple provides a window into the architecture of the ritualsites of the day. It includes a transverse atrium and 3 rooms orientednorth-northeast.
Since the 1830s, researchershave found about 120 chamber tombs. Three mounds contain the bulk of theburials. North of the largest mound, they found 9 small pits dug for additionalburials. It was near these pits that the temple was discovered. Experts believethe site was for Etruscan elites.
The architecture of theburial grounds shows the style of ancient tombs, with chambers dug into rock,divided into rooms that could be used for multiple generations of the samefamily.
Archaeologists alsofound information that helps depict what happened inside the temple. Decoratedclay slabs show ceremonies chronicling everything from the use of horsemen andchariots to the purpose of dancers and musicians during banquets.
They also found theremains of clay and metal furnishings in the temple that appear to have been inuse at the time.
Now, as I remember it,the Etruscans were around before the Romans appeared. But at the time I heardabout them (many long years ago), there wasn’t much known about them, so I wasexcited to see this article.
September 8, 2024
Atlantis?
Some scientists havefound some ancient islands deep underwater in the Atlantic Ocean. Some expertsbelieve the drowned landmasses may be the potential inspiration for thewell-known myth of Atlantis. They have even gone so far as to call the find “LostAtlantes”, after the fabled civilization that the gods drowned.
Some of these islandsstill have their beaches intact. They are located on an underwater mountainlocated around 1.4 miles (2.3 km) underwater off the coast of Lanzarote in theCanary Islands.
Researchers say that 56to 34 million years ago, Los Atlantes was a series of islands topped by 3 nowinactive volcanoes. When the volcanoes stopped erupting, the lava solidifiedand became denser, causing the islands to sink into the sea.
Despite the passing ofmillions of years, the islands have retained distinctive features, such asbeaches, cliffs and sand dunes at the flat summit of the mountain. The sandwhich now covered the volcanic rock would have been deposited as the islandsdescended into the water.
Some of the beaches lieonly 200 ft (60 meters) below the oceans’ surface. During the last ice age,when sea levels were far lower than today, the inactive volcanoes would havebecome islands again. These islands could have been colonized by wildlife, oreven early people. When the ice age ended and sea levels rose, the islands sankagain.
In my opinion, if therewere people living on these islands during the last ice age, and at least someof them escaped when the sea levels rose, I’m sure they couldn’t resist tellinganybody they met about their escape. Such a tale, handed down from generationto generation, could have easily become the myth we still know today.
August 31, 2024
American Stonehenge
Stonehenge remains agreat mystery, with experts divided over why the prehistoric monument wasbuilt. Somehow, prehistoric mankind managed to create this structure, whichseems to defy the engineering capabilities of the time.
It has been discoveredthat a similar enigmatic stone structure exists beneath the waters of LakeMichigan in the US. Furthermore, this underwater creation is believed to be5,000 years older than its British counterpart.
The site was discoveredin 2007 by a team of archaeologists conducting a survey of the lakebed. Justoff the coast of Traverse City, MI, they chanced upon a series of large stonesarranged in a circular pattern. At a depth of about 40 feet (12.1 m), the teamwas initially unsure what they’d found.
The pattern is of 2circles, one inside the other, with the inner circle 20 feet in diameter andthe outer circle 40 feet. Some of the stones weigh up to 3,000 lbs (1,360 kg),but analysis suggests that the stones had been deliberately arranged by humans.
The stones are allgranite, which is found in the area. The formation is estimated to be around10,000 years old, one of the oldest formations ever discovered in NorthAmerica.
While the Lake Michiganstones are similar in size and shape to the monoliths of Stonehenge, they aren’tstacked or connected in the same way.
There is evidence thatprehistoric tribes roamed the Great Lake area for thousands of years, verylittle is known about them.
The Anishinaabe wereamong the first to inhabit the region. This tribe’s prehistoric,hunter-gatherer forefathers settled in the area following the last Ice Age, andtheir descendants believe they placed the stones there for a sacred purpose.
The area was notunderwater 10,000 years ago, and people had settled on the exact spot where thestones were laid. However, 5,000 years later, the water levels rose, floodingthe Lake Michigan basin.
Thanks to advancedtechnology, scientists were able to stitch together photographs of the rocks tocreate accurate 3D pictures, which they could then analyze in detail. Thisrevealed carvings and engravings on some stones, including an image of aMastodon.
Mastodons wereancestors to elephants and woolly mammoths. They were up to 10 feet tall (3.1m), weighed upwards of six tons (5,440 kg), and lived from about 2.6 million to11,700 years ago. The carvings suggest that the humans at this site had someknowledge of these mammals, possibly even hunted them.
The formation’sconfiguration–which includes a long line of rocks leading directly toit–suggests it could have been an ancient hunting structure known as a drivelane. Humans have used drive lanes for thousands of years to herd groups ofanimals along a path toward a kill zone, where hunters lie in wait. In thiscase, the site challenges the belief that early humans weren’t capable ofcreating such sophisticated structures.
Nevertheless, theprecise purpose of the structure and the identity of its architects remain amystery. Like its younger cousin over in Salisbury.
August 16, 2024
Homestead on the Moon
Hooray! There are homesfor the taking on the moon!
Don’t start packing. They aren’t exactly built yet. It’s more like they’ve found empty lotswhere homes could be built. If you like living in caves.
Scientists have convincingevidence of a cave where astronauts could work and live in relative comfort.They suspect there may be hundreds of caves on the moon and want to use radarto find others.
Plans to build apermanent lunar base have been stymied over the conditions found on the moon’ssurface. During the moon’s day, the temperature can reach 250 degrees F, andduring the night, it dips to -200 degrees F. Solar and cosmic radiation is alsoa hazard that must be prepared for. Some plans for a lunar base called for thebase to be built, and then buried in at least 2.5 feet of moon dirt.
But caves can mean lesswork to build a lunar base, because you wouldn’t need to move all that moondirt around.
The data about thisfirst cave discovered indicates the cave is approximately 150 feet wide andpossibly 260 feet long, slightly smaller than an American football field. Thiscave sits in a deep pit which likely formed when a lava tube collapsed. Thereare no active volcanoes on the moon now, but billions of years ago, lava flowedthrough valleys, creating tubes across the lunar surface.
Over the ages, some ofthose tubes collapsed, creating pits. The scientists don’t have a clear ideawhat the cave looks like inside, but lava tubes like those in Hawaii have beenstudied. NASA has identified over 200 of these pits on the moon, suggesting thepresence of hundreds of caves also.
The cave’s thick rockceiling is ideal to protect people and infrastructure from the extreme hazardsof the moon’s surface. In a cave such as this, computer simulations suggestthat the cave’s temperature would remain at around 63 degrees F. Sounds likethe place to build, right?
However, reaching thesecaves could be another matter. The Mare Tranquilitatis cave is located over 400feet from the surface, near the bottom of a steep slope of loose debris.Traversing that slope would require technological ingenuity. That could be jetpacks to fly people in and out, a lunar elevator, or something else.
There’s also a chancethat moon cave could harbor water, in the form of ice. It’s long been knownthat there’s frozen water on the moon, particularly in its permanently shadowedcraters. Since caves are shielded from the merciless radiation of the sun, theyalso could have ice.
Such water would be acrucial resource for any future moon bases. It wouldn’t just be a beverage, itcould also be broken down to its elements–oxygen for breathing and hydrogen forrocket fuel. Thus an abundance of water on the moon could help launch astronautsto Mars.
But in the meantime,let’s all put on our thinking caps and start designing lunar cave bungalows,shall we?
August 1, 2024
Prehistoric Human Brains Baffle Scientists
The most delicate organin the human body is the brain, which is why it’s protected by a thick-bonedskull. What’s baffling is that this squishy mass, out of all the organs, cansurvive the most time without decay.
Researchers havecataloged over 4,000 naturally preserved human brains, some as old as 12,000years. This archive includes Inca sacrificial victims, prehistoric people, andNorth Pole explorers. And yet, the discovery of a preserved brain is perceivedto be a very rare incident.
Human soft tissue,including the brain, can be preserved by some well-understood processes such asdehydration, freezing, and tanning. These methods can be the result of humanactions or natural factors. It’s not unusual for brains to survive when other internalorgans are well-preserved, such as in dried-out remains of desert burials,frozen bodies from mountain passes, and tanned bodies from bogs.
However, preservedbrains have been found without other soft tissues, such as floating alongsidebones in sunken shipwrecks, or sitting alongside ancient bones from a swampypond.
Until now, there hasbeen no systemic study to determine why brains last longer than other softtissues.
This new archiveallowed researchers to determine the prevalence of intact brains, to study howthey persisted, and the diversity of their preservation conditions. They alsomapped their distribution worldwide across time. Finally, the researchersstudied the brains to understand ancient diseases and genetics.
About a quarter of thebrains were discovered in bodies lacking any other preserved soft tissue. Knownprocesses that preserve all types of tissue can’t explain why these brainsendured.
The reason why thesebrains were preserved is a mystery, but it might be because of the brain’schemical composition. The brain has a 1-to-1 ratio of proteins to lipids, whileother soft tissues have different ratios. This ratio could mean that if metalslike iron are introduced, it could cause the proteins and lipids to bindtogether and last longer. Many preserved brains were found to contain ironoxide (rust).
The team is employingnew techniques to study the molecular interactions leading to the preservationof brains. The brains could also offer an opportunity to study neurologicaldiseases in ancient humans.
July 25, 2024
Strange Metal Relic
An awe-inspiring metal column has perplexed experts forover a century.
The 1,600-year-old pillar stands amid the ruins of a worldheritage-listed temple in Delhi. It’s made of iron, but it never rusts.Normally, iron is very susceptible to the elements and develops a coat ofreddish-brown rust at the hint of water.
The pillar’s resistance to erosion has invited severaltheories over the years, but none of them could be proven. Only recently has itbeen discovered that the structure’s power is due to ancient Indians’ skills.Researchers have analyzed the pillar to work out its complex chemistry.
The towering column stands almost 24 feet tall. The base isaround 16.4 inches in diameter and tapers to around 12 inches at the top, wherean ornamental structure sits.
Despite being made of 6.5 tons of solid wrought iron, itwas dragged across India several times over the centuries as spoils of battle.
Around 1333 AD, a Moroccan explorer was told the pillar wasmade of seven metals, but that no one knew what those seven metals were.
It has several inscriptions etched on its surface, theoldest of which is written in the ancient Indian language Brahmi and names aking called Chandra. Researchers say the style and form of the Sanskrit textsuggest it was inscribed during the reign of King Chandragupta II Vikramaditya,who ruled the Gupta empire between 375 and 415 AD.
But what made the pillar so resistant?
Experts wrote that the pillar is a monument demonstratingthe metallurgical and engineering skills of the ancient Indians, who purifiedtheir ironwork to a remarkable 98%. However, how they managed this was aclosely guarded secret handed down through a family from generation togeneration.
The heat used during these processes was not sufficient tomelt the metal, so it was extracted as a soft spongy mass which was thenhammered into the desired shape. Lumps of this spongy iron were laid out andrepeatedly hammered to separate the mineral impurities, forming it into asequence of ‘pancakes’. The heated iron pancakes were joined by hammering.
Microstructual analysis of this structure revealed aconvergence of properties that resulted in the metal’s resistance to corrosion.It turns out the hammering did not remove the impurities evenly. It left apatchwork of tiny phosphorus-rich particles in the iron. This created a networkof electrical conductors, which triggered certain chemical reactions.
The phosphorus present in the impurities are oxidized tophosphate. This acts as an inhibitor and promotes the formation of protectiveoxide films for preventing corrosion.
July 19, 2024
New Ancient Temple Found in Peru
In Peru, archaeologistshave unearthed what they believe are a 4,000-year-old temple and theater,shining some light on the origins of complex religions in the region.
Last year, the localgovernment of La Otra Banda, Cerro Las Animas, alerted scientists that lootinghad taken place near the northern Peruvian town of Zana. A team began studyingthe new site in June.
The team excavated aplot roughly 33 feet by 33 feet and found ancient walls made of mud and clay atjust 6 feet deep. Surprised to find ancient structures so close to the modernsurface, they dug deeper. They found a section of a large temple. But the mostexciting find was a small theater with a backstage area and stairs that led tothe stage. They postulate the stage could have been used to perform ritualperformances.
One staircase wasflanked by mud panels with an elaborately carved design of a mythological bird.The figure resembled other images dating to the Initial Period, around 2,000 to900 BC, which gave clues about when the temple was built.
The Initial Period iswhen scientists have evidence of institutionalized religion in Peru. They stillknow little about how complex belief systems emerged in the Andes, but now theyhave evidence about some of the earliest religious spaces that were created inthis part of the world.
Peru’s best-knownarchaeological site, Machu Picchu, was built by the Inca Empire in the 15thcentury. This new site is 3,500 years older, and also predates the pre-Incacultures of Moche and Nazca.
Scientists don’t yethave a name for these people. All they know at this point is from their houses,temples and funerary goods. It is believed their complex religious system wasan important aspect of political authority.
The archaeologists alsofound several large murals painted on the walls. They collected paint samplesto analyze in a lab, as well as for carbon dating to confirm the site’s age.
July 13, 2024
Found: Ancient South American Culture
Archaeologists havediscovered evidence of a previously unknown ancient culture in Venezuela’sCanaima National Park, where they discovered 30 rock art sites dating backthousands of years.
Canaima National Parkis huge, about the size of Belgium. It is made up of forests and mountainousterrain. The most famous feature is Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall in theworld.
The park may have beenwhere this culture first developed. Later, it may have moved on to the Amazonriver, the Guianas and even southern Colombia, for all of these places housesimilar artwork to the newly found example in Venezuela. Similar artwork in Brazilhas been dated to 4,000 years ago, but the newly discovered artwork may be evenolder.
The newly discoveredpictograms and petroglyphs include depictions of leaves and stick figuredrawings of people, star-shaped patterns and other geometric designs. It isthought that the images had a ritual meaning, and may have been related tobirth, diseases, or prosperous hunting.
