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The Mummies of Cladh Hallan
Over the years, in the two remaining houses, more pottery was deliberately smashed, and antlers, pots and bone tools were buried. More animals were also sacrificed - a sheep and two dogs. After several more deconstruction and reconstruction episodes, the north house was finally abandoned in around 700 BC - but the middle structure continued in ritual use until around 400 BC, making it the longest used house known from British prehistory.
The range of ritual activity in the complex is among the broadest known. It raises the question of whether the site was primarily a domestic/residential one or primarily a ritual and religious one. Who were the people that lived there? Were they ordinary Bronze Age tribes-people - or were they members of some ritual elite, potentially priests or shamans? And were the people who lived in the complex part of the same ethnic/ tribal group whose ancestors had been preserved and been venerated over the centuries? Or were they new arrivals or settlers, who had displaced the original 'mummy-venerating' population and had expropriated not only their land but their ancestors as well?
Only future archaeological investigations will stand a chance of answering these tantalising questions. But, for the time being, the discovery of Britain's first mummies should start to redefine key aspects of life and death in prehistoric Britain. |
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Face to face with the past
Other evidence of human sacrifice has been found among a group of superbly preserved mummies some 3500 years old, but whilst they have Caucasian features, red-blond hair and even tartan clothing their discovery in the Takla Makan Desert in China has understandably caused consternation! Yet the presence of ancient Europeans in China must be connected with the fact that the region lay at the crossroads of ancient trade routes between China and Europe. The vast expanses of the Eurasian Steppes were also inhabited by Scythian nomads who also mummified their dead with great success to judge from mummies such as the so-called 'Ice Maiden', recently discovered in the permafrost in the Altai Mountains between Siberia and Outer Mongolia.
A Peruvian male mummy wearing a textile headband
Mummies have also been found in Alaska, southwest USA, Italy, Australia and Japan, and every one of them can reveal much about the times in which they lived. Since most of their cultures were pre-literate, their actual remains are often the only means of finding out about them, and bearing in mind that the majority of mummies recovered today are part of rescue excavations, modern examination techniques are now virtually non-destructive. From the early days of X-ray analysis, CAT-scans (computerised axial tomography), endoscopy, electron microscopy and DNA analysis for example are now used to provide valuable information regarding lifestyle, profession, relationships, health, disease, diet and even drug use of those living thousands of years ago.
Although it has been said that to look upon a mummy is to come face to face with our own past, human remains were once the very last thing archaeologists were concerned with in their haste to reach the grave goods. Yet the actual remains of those who created the civilisations in the first place are surely our most precious legacy from the ancient world, and therefore must finally be treated as such. |
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The Lost World of the Chachapoyas
Chachapoyas, which means "People of the Clouds", is the name of a civilization that fought from high forest strongholds in resistance to Inca expansion and Spanish invasion. One of the last kingdoms to succumb to the Inca, its legacy includes one of South America's archaeological wonders - the defensive fortress of Kuelap. Perched on the shoulder of a 10,000-foot mountain, this 9th Century citadel comprises an urban complex of more than 400 stone edifices - homes, palaces and temples enclosed by a 70-foot-tall stone wall. Their architecture demonstrates decidedly non-Inca features, such as protruding geometric patterns, cornices, and friezes. Kuelap's setting is unforgettably beautiful - a tropical cloud forest festooned with orchids and steeped in mystery
The Revash Tombs, the Karajia Sarcophagi and the extensive network of Chachapoya paved trails also serve as a reminder of the greatness of this vanished nation. Archaeologists just now are mapping and excavating many important Chachapoya sites.
The museum in Leymebamba, which displays 200 mummies recovered from the remote Lake of the Condors, describes the extraordinary embalming methods of the Chachapoya, their lifestyle and culture. The Museum also houses a collection of knotted Quipu, the record-keeping device of the Incas. |
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pernah tengok mummies 'live', egyptian mummies aged 2,000 - 4,000 years old. semua pendek2, lebihkurang 4 kaki camtu |
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Chinese Lady Dai leaves Egyptian mummies for dead
People all over the world think of Egypt when talking about body preservation and mummies, but how many people know that the best preserved bodies in the world are actually in China?
According to some scientists, what the ancient Chinese were able to achieve in body preservation leaves the Egyptians in their dust. The body of Lady Dai of the Western Han Dynasty, housed in the state of the art Hunan Museum, attracts flocks of visitors every day. When people gaze at the body, they cannot help but wonder, how did they do it?
[...] In 1971, at the height of the cold war, workers digging an air raid shelter near the city of Changsha uncovered an enormous Han Dynasty-era tomb. Inside it they found over 1,000 perfectly preserved artefacts, as well as what some claim is the most perfectly preserved corpse ever found.
The tomb belonged to Xin Zhui, the wife of the ruler of the Han imperial fiefdom of Dai. Xin Zhui, the Lady of Dai, died between 178 and 145 BC, at around 50 years of age. The objects inside her tomb indicted a woman of wealth and importance, and one who enjoyed the good things in life.
But it was not the exquisite lacquer dinnerware, the exotic foods or the fine fabrics that have paved her way to the immortality that is bought by fame, but the extraordinarily well-preserved state of her remains. Lady Dai is a mummy more famous than all other mummies as the legend and mystery of how ancient Chinese morticians preserved her remains for so long has baffled and amazed scientists for many years."
The body is so well preserved that it can be autopsied by pathologists as if it were only recently dead.
When Lady Dai was found her skin was supple and her limbs could be manipulated; her hair was intact; her type A blood still ran red in her veins, and her internal organs were all intact.
The mystery of Lady of Dai has not yet been solved. Archaeologists and pathologists are still pondering the possible reasons behind her state of preservation. Was it the elaborate tomb construction that protected the body? Or, more controversially, it could have been the mysterious liquid that the body was immersed in. Is this strange substance an elixir of immortality? |
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[quote]Originally posted by sephia_liza at 15-4-2006 09:54 AM
In 1599, Capuchin monks made a shocking discovery while exhuming bodies from the catacombs of their monastery |
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Originally posted by DanaScully at 14-5-2006 03:11 PM
Best!
Aku tercari2 pasal info ni ever since aku tengok pasal monastery ni dlm program Lonely Planet kat Discovery Travel & Adventures.
gambar2 dlm monastery tersebut -----> http://me ...
good information....kalu awk diberi peluang melawat muzium tu...awk nak x...free je..x yah bayar |
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best nyer tgk mcm2 pic mummies neh... |
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Old Mummies shed light on the New World
Some Researchers contend that the New World of the Americas was actually 'colonized' by Asians well before the discovery made by Christopher Columbus.
By tracing the introduction of corn, or maize as it is properly termed - and an exclusively Mesoamerican plant - across different ancient civilizations, researchers are confident that a small trade route had existed before the Europeans moved across the Atlantic.
Upon evaluating symbols of deities in India, archeologists have seen the image of maize throughout many representations.
For some more concrete proof, there have been evaluations performed on Egyptian mummies, which showed traces of tobacco (again a native plant to Mesoamerica) and cocaine, thought only to have originated in the Americas.
By examining DNA and other cultural clues, some archeologists might be inclined to rewrite some of the pages of history. These researchers suggest that it is not impossible to theorize that the Bering Strait was a small obstacle for people moving from Asia to America, possibly well before the Europeans. |
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53# deaf4ever
eeee menariknya!!!!  cecco memang suka benda2 ancient gini.. dulu ada pameran pasal torture from the past kat shah alam tu pun cecco pegi.. tapi ni kat singapore plak.. bile plak aku nak gi.. wuwuwuwuw....... |
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pernah tengok live egyptian mummies ni masa exhibition. tapi semuanya macam 4 kaki lebih je panjangnya. memang orang mesir purba ni pendek2 ke? |
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Author
Post time 8-5-2006 01:15 AM
