M.J. Rose

Here is yet another discovery that boggles the minds of archeologists – a giant stone structure sitting on the floor of the sea of Galilee – a structure that was likely built on land and then submerged under the water as the sea level rose. No one knows how old it is, but our guess is that its age, once discovered, will shock the scientific community yet again. Is the cradle of civilization older than we think?

Stone Mystery in Sea of Galilee

BY OWEN JARUS, LIVESCIENCE (Discovery.com)

“A giant “monumental” stone structure discovered beneath the waters of the Sea of Galilee in Israel has archaeologists puzzled as to its purpose and even how long ago it was built.

The mysterious structure is cone shaped, made of “unhewn basalt cobbles and boulders,” and weighs an estimated 60,000 tons the researchers said. That makes it heavier than most modern-day warships.

Rising nearly 32 feet (10 meters) high, it has a diameter of about 230 feet (70 meters). To put that in perspective, the outer stone circle of Stonehenge has a diameter just half that with its tallest stones not reaching that height. (See Photos of the Mysterious Sea of Galilee Structure”)…

For the complete article click here.

A lightbulb that has been burning for 110 years? This is, indeed, a mystery!

Livermore’s mysterious lightbulb burns 110 years

by Carolyn Jones, Chronicle Staff Writer

Read more here.

Now human were the neanderthals? Were they stocky brutes with human minds, or just brutes? Does new evidence of possible neanderthal “culture” provide an answer to this question?

The Neanderthal mind

Troglodytes who couldn’t compete, or humans with complex culture? The mystery of our nearest relatives deepens

by Marek Kohn (aeonmagazine.com)

“Among the oldest human objects that unequivocally defy practical explanations are shells punctured with holes. Try as you might, it’s hard to see them as anything other than beads or pendants. Traces of ochre at sites occupied by ancient humans offer earlier hints of adornment, perhaps even of symbolism, but sceptics argue that the pigment might have been used for some practical purpose: tanning hides, for instance. In perforated seashells, however, we find the first truly compelling tokens of expressive humanity.

Early humans must have reached beyond their immediate concerns in many ways that have left no traces. But they did reach for shells very early. Some 75,000 years ago in southern Africa, they gathered and pierced them, perhaps to make bracelets or necklaces. Twenty-five thousand years later and nearly 10,000km away, in what is now southern Spain, others collected naturally perforated shells. Independently and far removed from each other, humans took similar paths into expressive culture. What does that tell us about the human mind?…”

Click here for the rest.