In March, it was revealed that underneath the Temple of Murals at Bonampak, the skeleton of a male has been located. The next step that researchers undertook was to identify the significance of the skeleton and who he may have been when alive. In this article, you will also learn about the oldest wall in world and the new location of the unique lead sarcophagus found at the ancient site of Gabii.
Skeleton of Warrior Found
The Temple of Murals has a history of wall paintings that display the torture of captive warriors. Archeologists are conducting tests to determine whether or not the man was part of the elite or if he was a warrior that lived in a different Maya community. If so, then the skeleton belonged to a man who was a captive warrior that had been sacrificed. It is even possible that he is one of the victims portrayed in the mural.
The man found buried at the site is considered special because of the location of the burial. The mural also tells a tale about the remains. When the mural was created around 790 AD, Bonampak was home to thousands. Nowadays, the region is overgrown with a tropical rain forest situated in the southern state of Chiapas.
The Temple of Murals is found along a stepped acropolis, which offers three lavishly painted rooms. The first room illustrates a young heir and the second room shows scenes of tortured warriors , located above the newly discovered tomb. The scenery depicted broken fingers, torn-out fingernails, and heads without bodies. The third room displays an elite bloodletting ritual.
Discovery of Stone Tools
Located beneath the layer of volcanic sediment, archeologists have concluded that the Indonesian island of Flores was inhabited one million years ago , which is earlier than previously thought. The maker of the tools remains a mystery since no human fossils accompanied the find. One researcher believes that ancestors of Homo floresiensis created the tools.
Other archeology news from March 2010 includes:
In Thessaly, Greece, a stone wall was discovered at the entrance to a cave in the region and is now being called the oldest in the world. Since the dating coincides with the coldest period of the most recent ice age, it has been concluded that the inhabitants of this time constructed the wall as a way to protect themselves from the cold weather.
Information hit March headlines that the domesticated dogs that we see today descended from wolves in the Middle East. Evidence has pointed towards the importance of Middle Eastern wolves has playing a significant role in genome diversity.
The unique lead sarcophagus that was discovered at the ancient site of Gabii last year had a new address when it decided to be moved to the American Academy in Rome. Further study will be conducted on the find, which dates back to the 4th and 5th centuries AD.
Using the positions of pyramids in South Saqqara, scientists went searching for the tomb of Userkare , a lesser-known second pharaoh of the sixth dynasty.
In Tanzania, a study was conducted on Laetoli footprints that date back 3.6 million years ago. Researchers were interested in proving how the human ancestor Australopithecus afarensis walked. It was the belief that it had a comfortable, upright gait when it walked. A representative from the University of Arizona revealed that the footprints were surprisingly similar to what is considered a “normal” human footprint.
