A roundup of Secrets in the News for May 2020.
Were Vikings in South America over 400 years before Columbus?
Ancient Origins: Academic historians generally do not admit the presence of European visitors to South America until after the arrival of Christopher Columbus. Therefore for them, all talk of Vikings travelling anywhere south of Nova Scotia before 1492 AD is not even hypothetical but pure fiction. In order to maintain this pretense, historians have found it necessary to discard what might be to others common sense and replace it with a preposterous theory… [read more]
Were #Vikings in South America over 400 years before #Columbus? Probably they arrived in Brazil & proceeded inland to Paraguay in the mid-11th century. Although further investigation is needed to enable verification, this story provides food for thought ?https://t.co/Ia4J4nTrBk pic.twitter.com/IrlP0MK536
— MyTrueAncestry (@AncestryTrue) May 12, 2020
Historic monastery surveyed in Czech Republic
Archaeology Magazine: Radio Prague International reports that archaeologists found a secret corridor while creating a 3-D scan of the Premonstratensian Monastery in the town of Milevsko. “We squeezed through the corridor with speleologists and at the end we found a sort of extended space,” said researcher Jiři Šindelář. “When we put all the facts together, the only explanation is that it is a corridor with a safe… [read more]
Archaeologists have found a secret corridor while creating a 3-D scan of the Premonstratensian Monastery in the Czech town of Milevsko, which was first constructed in the 12th century and burned down in the early 15th century during the Hussite Wars. https://t.co/cS3DaoJdkN pic.twitter.com/Bkg0lI4MG6
— Archaeology Magazine (@archaeologymag) May 12, 2020
Four Ancient Egyptian sphinxes sacrificed in political chess match
Ancient Origins: Four ancient Egyptian sphinxes are controversially being reallocated to a busy roundabout in Cairo and Egyptologists are warning they will be exposed to air pollution, which will cause irreversible damage. The four ancient ram-headed sphinxes, according to Egyptologists speaking with reporters at The Guardian , are being relocated to “obscure Egypt’s recent protest history,” with two of them formerly having guarded the entrance of the famous Temple of Karnak in Luxor. The transfer of these four sandstone statues to Tahrir Square in Cairo means they are now exposed to “intense heat and air pollution” and academics and Egyptologists are saying the move “amounts to an attempt to erase Egypt’s recent history.” [read more]
Four #ancient sphinxes are controversially being reallocated from the Karnak Temple to a busy roundabout in #Cairo, to “obscure Egypt’s recent protest history.” https://t.co/EVWsj83J4r pic.twitter.com/6ZTq67RVzu
— Ancient Origins (@ancientorigins) May 13, 2020
Two ‘warrior women’ from ancient Mongolia may have helped inspire the Ballad of Mulan
Live Science reports: Archaeologists in Mongolia have found the remains of two ancient women warriors, whose skeletal remains indicate that they were well practiced in archery and horseback riding. These two women lived during the Xianbei period (A.D. 147 to 552), a period of political fragmentation and unrest that gave rise to the Ballad of Mulan, the researchers said… [read more]
Two ‘warrior women’ from ancient Mongolia may have helped inspire the Ballad of Mulan https://t.co/WpUv7djr1o pic.twitter.com/kFljUNBnGC
— Live Science (@LiveScience) May 8, 2020