M.J. Rose

It’s an exciting time for those of us that are obsessed with the Giza Plateau!

We were just finished reading a piece from Disclose.TV about the “lost labyrinth of Egypt” —  a “mysterious underground complex of caverns and chambers” that is “believed to hold the secrets to mankind’s origin” (read more on that here), when up popped a piece from IFLS on new data suggesting there may be hidden spaces within the great pyramid itself. (We here at the Museum cannot help but ask ourselves, could there be a connection between the anomalies and the lost labyrinth?)

What’s your theory on the newly discovered anomalies?

From IFLS,

Scientists Have Found Something Very Mysterious In The Great Pyramid Of Giza
by Tom Hale

“The pyramids of Giza have left us gazing in astonishment and curiosity for four thousand years. Even after hundreds of years of archeological and scientific exploration, they’re continuing to surprise us. A recent project has found striking “thermal anomalies” in the eastern side of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

The discovery was part of the Operation Scan Pyramid, a recent project that has already used “cosmic rays” and drones to analyze the pyramids by a group of scientists from Egypt, France, Canada and Japan, under authority from the Egyptian Antiquities Ministry.

With the ongoing plan to discover new tombs and hidden burial chambers, the project used thermal imaging technology on the pyramid, which found mysterious heat spots on the monuments. At the lower level of the Cheops, or Great Pyramid, they found an area of neighboring blocks that had a temperature gap far greater than would normally be expected for adjacent stones made with different qualities of limestone.

Since air gaps don’t hold heat as well as rock or sand, a difference in temperature could reveal information about the pyramid’s structure hidden beneath the surface. However, the team still aren’t certain what exactly it is. It could be a tomb, a cavity, a passage or even just a crack in the rock.

In a statement, the Egyptian antiquities ministry said the scientists had “concluded the existence of several thermal anomalies that were observed on all monuments during the heating-up or the cooling-down phases,” referring to surveys taken during sunrise, when the structures warm up from the Sun, and sunset, when they lose heat.

“To explain such anomalies, a lot of hypotheses and possibilities could be drawn up; presence of voids behind the surface, internal air currents,” it added…”

For the rest, click here.

Oh, what lurks below…

“Human remains and gravestones periodically turn up around New York, and some estimate there are thousands of dead beneath the city. Bryant Park was similarly used as a potter’s field in the 19th century.”

Two centuries-old tombs unearthed beneath historic New York City park

(The Guardian)
The tombs, which city archaeologists knew existed but were unsure exactly where, were discovered during a water main dig and are about two centuries old

“City workers have discovered two burial vaults underneath Washington Square Park in New York City, uncovering the remains of at least a dozen people interred around two centuries ago.

Contractors for the city department of design and construction (DDC) uncovered the first vault on Tuesday, during excavations to replace a century-old water main on the east side of the park, in the heart of bustling Greenwich Village. The workers called an archaeologist contracted by the city, who opened a way into the chamber only 3.5ft beneath the sidewalk.

Inside they found an arched brick chamber with skulls, femurs and other bones littered on the dirt floor.

The first vault was actually a rediscovery: power company ConEdison first uncovered the vault in 1965, finding 25 skeletons inside. Before this week’s excavation archaeologists knew the tomb existed, but were not sure where thanks to the company’s poor record-keeping….”

For the rest, click here.

This is a wonderful treasure trove and project.

“You can browse through the Library’s complete database of silent films, which details the 11,000 films made between 1912 and 1929, including the 3,300 that are known to exist”

Silent film star Dorothy Kelly pictured in the Day Book, 1916. Library of Congress

The Forgotten Stars of Silent Film

(The Atlantic)

The Library of Congress wants film buffs to shout out who—and what—they know during a series of special screenings.

“The majority of silent films are long gone.

Some 70 percent of the movies made in the United States between 1912 and 1929—nearly 8,000 titles—are lost to history, according to a study last year by the Library of Congress. Even many of the existing films from the pre-talkie era are mysteries to today’s scholars.

Once-famous starlets are no longer widely recognizable. Films that wowed audiences a century ago have been all but erased from collective memory. And so, for the third year, the Library of Congress is calling on film buffs, historians, and members of the public to help search for clues in old reels. The smallest fragment of a detail—like the furniture used in a film’s set design—may be the key to unraveling a forgotten work’s origins.

Over the course of a weekend-long series of screenings at the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center in Culpeper, Virginia, next month, attendees will be asked to shout out potentially meaningful details in film as the watch—names of actors, locations, car models, and other clues that might help reveal a film’s origins. Film conservationists already know this approach works. After 204 such screenings so far, more than 100 films have been identified….”

For the complete piece, click here.