10 Mysterious Images That Appear Across The Ancient World

10 Mysterious Images That Appear Across The Ancient World - Listverse

Mysteries The ancient world remains shrouded in mystery, with records and artifacts shining a limited light on our ancestors. Oddly, certain motifs seem popular in many ancient societies. However, no one can say for sure how they spread or what exactly they mean.

Big-Toothed Fossil May Be Primitive New Human

Penghu 1 mandible. Its morphology suggests the presence of a robust, primitive type of hominin so far unrecognised in the Pleistocene Asian fossil record (Y Kaifu)

Photos: Faces of Our Ancestors

The first known prehistoric human from Taiwan has been identified and may represent an entirely new species that lived as recently as 10,000 years ago, according to a new study.

The newly discovered big-toothed human, "Penghu 1," strengthens the growing body of evidence that Homo sapiens was not the only species from our genus living in Europe and Asia between 200,000 and 10,000 years ago.

Anthropologists have learned that Neanderthals, Denisovans and Homo floresiensis (a.k.a. the "Hobbit Human") lived in Europe and Asia within that time frame. Penghu 1, which is described in the latest issue of Nature Communications, adds to that already impressive list and might have co-existed -- and even interbred -- with our species.

"The available evidence at least does not exclude the possibility that they survived until the appearance of Homo sapiens in the region, and it is tempting to speculate about their possible contact," co-author Yousuke Kaifu, who is an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at The University of Tokyo, told Discovery News.

Kaifu, lead author Chun-Hsiang Chang, and their team studied the remains of the new human, which is represented by a jawbone with big teeth still in it. Chang explained that fishermen dredged up the jawbone off the coast of Taiwan in Penghu Channel. The fishermen sold it to a local antique shop, where collector Kun-Yu Tsai purchased it. Tsai donated his collection to the National Museum of Natural Science in Taiwan, where Chang works in the Department of Geology.

Chang and his team recognized the importance of Penghu 1, which they theorize could represent a new human species or a regional group of Homo erectus, a.k.a. "Upright Man."

"Penghu 1 is a national treasure in Taiwan and is well preserved at my museum with high security," Chang said.

He and his colleagues believe that, due to its size, the jawbone came from an adult individual and possibly a senior, "because its teeth are worn severely," Chang said.

The jawbone's size further reveals that Penghu 1 was not a dwarf, unlike tiny Homo floresiensis, which lived on the island of Flores, Indonesia, where other animals were also smaller than usual.
Penghu 1 instead lived on what was then mainland Asia in an ecosystem that included many other animals.

Ancient 'Lord of the Rings-style' forest discovered under sea off Norfolk coast

 

An ancient "Tolkien-style" forest like those imagined in Lord of the Rings has been discovered by an amateur diver just 300m off the Norfolk coast.

Dawn Watson, 45, found oak trees from a prehistoric forest dating back 10,000 years in the North Sea.

According to experts, the wood could have been hidden since the last Ice Age and was possibly part of a massive forest stretching for hundreds of miles.

"The sea was quite rough by the shore, so I decided to dive slightly further out and after swimming over 300m of sand I found a long blackened ridge," Watson told the Eastern Daily Press.

"When I looked more closely I realised it was wood and when I swam further along I started finding whole tree trunks with branches on top, which looked like they had been felled. It was amazing to find and to think the trees had been lying there completely undiscovered for thousands of years. You certainly don't expect to go out for a quick dive and find a forest."
Watson's partner Rob Spray said: "At one time it would have been a full-blown Tolkien-style forest, stretching for hundreds of miles.

"It would have grown and grown and in those days there would have been no one to fell it, so the forest would have been massive.

"It would have looked like a scene from The Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings, which is something we don't get in this country anymore. Geologists are very excited about it. It was a really miraculous find."

Watson and Spray run the Marine Conversation Society's survey project in East Anglia and hope to find out exactly how long the forest has been there.

The forest was part of a land mass known as Doggerland, which once connected the UK to the rest of Europe.

However, the low-lying land was wiped out about 8,200 years ago by a huge tsunami that created a "North Sea Atlantis".

The Storegga Slide generated huge waves and, coupled with rising sea levels from the time, left Doggerland (which was just 5m above sea level) completely submerged.

Weather at Tolkien's Middle Earth mapped

Alyssa Danigelis
Discovery News

 J.R.R. Tolkien created a masterfully detailed world in his classic Lord of the Rings trilogy, right down to the topography and languages.

Now a British climate researcher has plugged Tolkien's maps into a supercomputer and predicted weather patterns for Middle Earth.

Dan Lunt, a scientist at the University of Bristol who specialises in climate modelling research, decided to put the Advanced Computing Research Center's supercomputer to a dorktastic test.
Lunt took Tolkien's detailed maps of Middle Earth showing continents and mountains, and essentially "scanned" them into the supercomputer, the Guardian reported. Then he ran the numbers to get a 70-year model.

In a mock research paper published under the name Radagast the Brown, Lunt details climate details and weather predictions for Tolkien's fictional world. He compared the climate surrounding Mount Doom in the heart of Mordor to that of Los Angeles and western Texas. He argues that those areas have dry, hot climates with little vegetation and therefore match the conditions in fictional Mordor.

Lunt also concludes that the Shire's climate would have been close to that of real UK "shires" Lincolnshire or Leicestershire. Other insights include: "The climate of Middle Earth has a similar distribution to that of Western Europe and North Africa" and "Ships sailing for the Undying Lands in the West set off from the Grey Havens due to the prevailing winds in that region."

Dwarfs and elves can read the mock paper, too.

Lunt told the Guardian that the exercise does have a serious side. Our climate models have become incredibly powerful, bringing together our understanding of science, fluid mechanics, cloud convection, sun radiation, biology and other factors.

"And because of that, they're not just tuned for the modern Earth, they can simulate any climate," Lunt said. Including ones that only exist in the future.

Tir-na-nog

In Irish manuscripts, the Otherworld beyond the Ocean bears many names. It is Tir-na-nog, 'The Land of Youth'; Tir-Innambéo, 'The Land of the Living'; Tir Tairngire, 'The Land of Promise'; Tir N-aill, 'The Other Land (or World)'; Mag Mar, 'The Great Plain'; and also Mag Mell, 'The Plain Agreeable (or Happy).'

But this western Otherworld, if it is what we believe it to be--a poetical picture of the great subjective world--cannot be the realm of any one race of invisible beings to the exclusion of another. In it all alike--gods, Tuatha De Danann, fairies, demons, shades, and every sort of disembodied spirits--find their appropriate abode; for though it seems to surround and interpenetrate this planet even as the X-rays interpenetrate matter, it can have no other limits than those of the Universe itself. And that it is not an exclusive realm is certain from what our old Irish manuscripts record concerning the Fomorian races. These, when they met defeat on the battle-field of Moytura at the hands of the Tuatha De Danann, retired altogether from Ireland, their overthrow being final, and returned to their own invisible country--a mysterious land beyond the Ocean, where the dead find a new existence, and where their god-king Tethra ruled, as he formerly ruled in this world. And the fairy women of Tethra's kingdom, even like those who came from the Tuatha De Danann of Erin, or those of Manannan's ocean-world, enticed mortals to go with them to be heroes under their king, and to behold there the assemblies of ancestors. It was one of them who came to Connla, son of Conn, supreme king of Ireland; and this was her message to him:--'The immortals invite you. You are going to be one of the heroes of the people of Tethra. You will always be seen there, in the assemblies of your ancestors, in the midst of those who know and love you.' And with the fairy spell upon him the young prince entered the glass boat of the fairy woman, and his father the king, in great tribulation and wonder, beheld them disappear across the waters never to return.

THE SILVER BRANCH AND THE GOLDEN BOUGH 

To enter the Otherworld before the appointed hour marked by death, a passport was often necessary, and this was usually a silver branch of the sacred apple-tree bearing blossoms, or fruit, which the queen of the Land of the Ever-Living and Ever-Young gives to those mortals whom she wishes for as companions; though sometimes, as we shall see, it was a single apple without its branch. The queen's gifts serve not only as passports, but also as food and drink for mortals who go with her. Often the apple-branch produces music so soothing that mortals who hear it forget all troubles and even cease to grieve for those whom the fairy women take. For us there are no episodes more important than those in the ancient epics concerning these apple-tree talismans, because in them we find a certain key which unlocks the secret of that world from which such talismans are brought, and proves it to be the same sort of a place as the Otherworld of the Greeks and Romans. Let us then use the key and make a few comparisons between the Silver Branch of the Celts and the Golden Bough of the Ancients, expecting the two symbols naturally to differ in their functions, though not fundamentally.

It is evident at the outset that the Golden Bough was as much the property of the queen of that underworld called Hades as the Silver Branch was the gift of the Celtic fairy queen, and like the Silver Bough it seems to have been the symbolic bond between that world and this, offered as a tribute to Proserpine by all initiates, who made the mystic voyage in full human consciousness. And, as we suspect, there may be even in the ancient Celtic legends of mortals who make that strange voyage to the Western Otherworld and return to this world again, an echo of initiatory rites--perhaps druidic--similar to those of Proserpine as shown in the journey of Aeneas, which, as Virgil records it, is undoubtedly a poetical rendering of an actual psychic experience of a great initiate.

Arda - a Beginning of Creation

Then Ilúvatar spoke, and he said: 'Mighty are the Ainur, and mightiest among them is Melkor; but that he may know, and all the Ainur, that I am Ilúvatar, those things that ye have sung, I will show them forth, that ye may see what ye have done. And thou, Melkor, shalt see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite. For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.'

Then the Ainur were afraid, and they did not yet comprehend the words that were said to them; and Melkor was filled with shame, of which came secret anger. But Ilúvatar arose in splendour, and he went forth from the fair regions that he had made for the Ainur; and the Ainur followed him. 

But when they were come into the Void, Ilúvatar said to them: 'Behold your Music!' And he showed to them a vision, giving to them sight where before was only hearing; arid they saw a new World made visible before them, and it was globed amid the Void, and it was sustained therein, but was not of it. And as they looked and wondered this World began to unfold its history, and it seemed to them that it lived and grew. And when the Ainur had gazed for a while and were silent, Ilúvatar said again: 'Behold your Music! This is your minstrelsy; and each of you shall find contained herein, amid the design that I set before you, all those things which it may seem that he himself devised or added. And thou, Melkor, wilt discover all the secret thoughts of thy mind, and wilt perceive that they are but a part of the whole and tributary to its glory.' 

And many other things Ilúvatar spoke to the Ainur at that time, and because of their memory of his words, and the knowledge that each has of the music that he himself made, the Ainur know much of what was, and is, and is to come, and few things are unseen by them. Yet some things there are that they cannot see, neither alone nor taking counsel together; for to none but himself has Ilúvatar revealed all that he has in store, and in every age there come forth things that are new and have no foretelling, for they do not proceed from the past. And so it was that as this vision of the World was played before them, the Ainur saw that it contained things which they had not thought. And they saw with amazement the coming of the Children of Ilúvatar, and the habitation that was prepared for them; and they perceived that they themselves in the labour of their music had been busy with the preparation of this dwelling, and yet knew not that it had any purpose beyond its own beauty. For the Children of Ilúvatar were conceived by him alone; and they came with the third theme, and were not in the theme which Ilúvatar propounded at the beginning, and none of the Ainur had part in their making. Therefore when they beheld them, the more did they love them, being things other than themselves, strange and free, wherein they saw the mind of Ilúvatar reflected anew, and learned yet a little more of his wisdom, which otherwise had been hidden even from the Ainur.

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Arda was part of Eä, the universe of all which exists. Arda was created, together with the rest of Eä, through the Music of the Ainur for the Children of Ilúvatar (that is, Elves and Men). Arda was considered earth itself.

Because the Sun, Moon, stars, and other objects orbited the planet in the cosmology of Middle-earth they were considered part of Arda, leading to Arda sometimes being called the 'Solar System' of Middle-earth. The term for the Earth itself, excluding these celestial bodies, was Ambar or Imbar.
Originally the Earth (Arda) was flat, the continents were surrounded by a mighty ocean (or perhaps by space), Ekkaia or Vaiya, the Encircling Sea, and separated by Belegaer, called the Great Sea and the Sundering Seas. In the First Age, the area in the northwest of Middle-earth was occupied by the country of Beleriand, but this was destroyed during the War of Wrath.

There was also a separate continent south and east of Middle-earth called the Dark Land. Another separate continent to the east of Middle-earth was the relatively small Land of the Sun, so called because when the world was flat the Gates of the Sun were near there, and it would be scorched.
Information regarding both was vague. To the south were the Hither Lands including Harad, though "Harad" means "South" and while properly used for the region immediately south of Gondor and Mordor was often loosely used to refer to every land to the south. There were many stretches of sun-scorched desert in Near Harad, but there was supposedly a jungle beyond it which few had ever ventured to, from which the great Oliphaunts were found. Men of Far Harad are also described as being black skinned. The vast lands of the East were collectively referred to as Rhûn, though this may have only referred to those immediately east of the Sea of Rhûn and River Running. The Easterlings, like the Haradrim, were a diverse collection of many races. There was even less knowledge of the extreme eastern end of Middle-earth, where the land was supposed to stop at another sea. It is known that in ancient times the great chain of the Red Mountains ran north to south near here, and was roughly analogous to the Blue Mountains of the west (the world was once symmetrical at the dawn of time). The race of Elves first originated near here, though their original home of Cuiviénen no longer existed by the Third Age. It is not known if the Red Mountains survived into the Third Age, either intact or in some reduced form (like the Blue Mountains). It is said that the Blue Wizards went far into the east of Rhûn and beyond to stir up rebellions against Sauron in the lands he held sway over, though the tales of these struggles never reached the west in detail.

In the Second Age, Númenor was raised in the Great Sea for the Edain. This island existed through most of the Second Age, but was destroyed as a result of the pride of the Númenórean people in defying the Ban of the Valar and sailing to Aman in the west.

After the destruction of Númenor, Arda was made round. Aman was taken out of the world, and could only be reached by the Elves, following the straight road that was granted to them. As Aman was taken away from Arda, new lands and continents were created east and west of Middle-earth.

Source: Wikipedia

Ancient cave art could be Neanderthal's

Could these be stencils of Neanderthal hands? (Source: Pedro Saura)

Anna Salleh
ABC

 Researchers have found cave paintings in Spain that are up to 40,000 years old, suggesting they might have been created by Neanderthals.

Dr Alistair Pike, of the University of Bristol, and colleagues, publish their research in the journal Science.

The practice of art is considered an important stage in the development of human cognition, along with the use of symbols, and possibly language.

But determining the age of cave art has often been difficult, especially using radiocarbon dating.
Pike and colleagues instead used a technique called uranium-thorium dating to find out the minimum age of calcite deposits overlying art in 11 different caves in northern Spain.

Among the 50 paintings studied, the researchers found a 40,800-year-old disc, a 37,000-year-old hand stencil and a 35,600-year-old club-shaped symbol.

As well as giving insight into how painting styles changed over time, the findings suggest cave painting in Europe started 5000 to 10,000 years earlier than previously thought.

This is at the same time that modern humans were arriving in Europe and Neanderthals were dying out.

Pike says either modern humans arrived already painting or they developed the skill once they arrived - as part of cultural innovation triggered by competition with Neanderthals.

"Alternatively, cave painting started before the arrival of modern humans, and was done by Neanderthals," says Pike.

"That would be a fantastic find as it would mean the hand stencils on the walls of the caves are outlines of Neanderthals' hands, but we will need to date more examples to see if this is the case."

The artwork was found in an area that includes the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Altamira, El Castillo and Tito Bustillo.

"Useful contribution"

Australian archaeologist Dr Iain Davidson who has also dated cave art in Spain welcomes the new research.

"It's a really useful contribution," says Davidson, an emeritus professor at the University of New England.

He points to two other findings since this paper was accepted for publication that push back the date for art in caves in Europe.

Earlier this year publications reported the engraving of female genitalia dated at around 37,000 years and the discovery of flutes made from bone and ivory dated at around 40,000 years.

"We now have dates of around 40,000 in three parts of Europe for things that would be called 'art' in general," says Davidson.

He says the lack of good skeletal remains from around that time in Europe mean it is difficult to know who is actually responsible for the artwork found there.

But, Davidson says the latest evidence calls for a rethink of the traditional view that Neanderthals could not possibly have had the cognitive abilities of modern humans - a view that he himself has held for a long time.

"I think I was wrong," says Davidson.

"There does seem to be tenuous evidence that Neanderthals were experimenting with pigment. There is slightly plausible evidence that they were creating objects out of bone. All of this suggests they had something like the abilities that modern humans have."

Davidson says the question of whether Neanderthals had similar cognitive abilities raises the difficult question of how that came about.

Genetic evidence suggests the ancestors of modern humans and Neanderthals diverged 400,000 years ago and didn't interbreed, he says.

So, how would Neanderthals and modern humans both have developed the same cognitive abilities?

Either they evolved independently the same abilities under different selective pressures, says Davidson, or they did in fact interbred with each other to transfer genetically-determined traits.