Strange Metal Relic

An awe-inspiring metal column has perplexed experts for over a century.

The 1,600-year-old pillar stands amid the ruins of a world heritage-listed temple in Delhi. It’s made of iron, but it never rusts. Normally, iron is very susceptible to the elements and develops a coat of reddish-brown rust at the hint of water.

The pillar’s resistance to erosion has invited several theories over the years, but none of them could be proven. Only recently has it been discovered that the structure’s power is due to ancient Indians’ skills. Researchers have analyzed the pillar to work out its complex chemistry.

The towering column stands almost 24 feet tall. The base is around 16.4 inches in diameter and tapers to around 12 inches at the top, where an ornamental structure sits.

Despite being made of 6.5 tons of solid wrought iron, it was dragged across India several times over the centuries as spoils of battle.

Around 1333 AD, a Moroccan explorer was told the pillar was made of seven metals, but that no one knew what those seven metals were.

It has several inscriptions etched on its surface, the oldest of which is written in the ancient Indian language Brahmi and names a king called Chandra. Researchers say the style and form of the Sanskrit text suggest it was inscribed during the reign of King Chandragupta II Vikramaditya, who ruled the Gupta empire between 375 and 415 AD.

But what made the pillar so resistant?

Experts wrote that the pillar is a monument demonstrating the metallurgical and engineering skills of the ancient Indians, who purified their ironwork to a remarkable 98%. However, how they managed this was a closely guarded secret handed down through a family from generation to generation.

The heat used during these processes was not sufficient to melt the metal, so it was extracted as a soft spongy mass which was then hammered into the desired shape. Lumps of this spongy iron were laid out and repeatedly hammered to separate the mineral impurities, forming it into a sequence of ‘pancakes’. The heated iron pancakes were joined by hammering.

Microstructual analysis of this structure revealed a convergence of properties that resulted in the metal’s resistance to corrosion. It turns out the hammering did not remove the impurities evenly. It left a patchwork of tiny phosphorus-rich particles in the iron. This created a network of electrical conductors, which triggered certain chemical reactions.

The phosphorus present in the impurities are oxidized to phosphate. This acts as an inhibitor and promotes the formation of protective oxide films for preventing corrosion.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/strange-metal-structure-that-defies-rules-of-science-found-in-ancient-ruins/ar-BB1mPsTK?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=fb3adb6d319746fe9adf1517855cbfd9&ei=46 

New Ancient Temple Found in Peru

In Peru, archaeologists have unearthed what they believe are a 4,000-year-old temple and theater, shining some light on the origins of complex religions in the region.

Last year, the local government of La Otra Banda, Cerro Las Animas, alerted scientists that looting had taken place near the northern Peruvian town of Zana. A team began studying the new site in June.

The team excavated a plot roughly 33 feet by 33 feet and found ancient walls made of mud and clay at just 6 feet deep. Surprised to find ancient structures so close to the modern surface, they dug deeper. They found a section of a large temple. But the most exciting find was a small theater with a backstage area and stairs that led to the stage. They postulate the stage could have been used to perform ritual performances.

One staircase was flanked by mud panels with an elaborately carved design of a mythological bird. The figure resembled other images dating to the Initial Period, around 2,000 to 900 BC, which gave clues about when the temple was built.

The Initial Period is when scientists have evidence of institutionalized religion in Peru. They still know little about how complex belief systems emerged in the Andes, but now they have evidence about some of the earliest religious spaces that were created in this part of the world.

Peru’s best-known archaeological site, Machu Picchu, was built by the Inca Empire in the 15^th century. This new site is 3,500 years older, and also predates the pre-Inca cultures of Moche and Nazca.

Scientists don’t yet have a name for these people. All they know at this point is from their houses, temples and funerary goods. It is believed their complex religious system was an important aspect of political authority.

The archaeologists also found several large murals painted on the walls. They collected paint samples to analyze in a lab, as well as for carbon dating to confirm the site’s age.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ancient-temple-and-theater-3-500-years-older-than-machu-picchu-discovered-in-peru/ar-BB1pO4fA?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=0fae904fd9754a41a8dbe596dac78bfb&ei=26

Found: Ancient South American Culture

Archaeologists have discovered evidence of a previously unknown ancient culture in Venezuela’s Canaima National Park, where they discovered 30 rock art sites dating back thousands of years.

Canaima National Park is huge, about the size of Belgium. It is made up of forests and mountainous terrain. The most famous feature is Angel Falls, the tallest waterfall in the world.

The park may have been where this culture first developed. Later, it may have moved on to the Amazon river, the Guianas and even southern Colombia, for all of these places house similar artwork to the newly found example in Venezuela. Similar artwork in Brazil has been dated to 4,000 years ago, but the newly discovered artwork may be even older.

The newly discovered pictograms and petroglyphs include depictions of leaves and stick figure drawings of people, star-shaped patterns and other geometric designs. It is thought that the images had a ritual meaning, and may have been related to birth, diseases, or prosperous hunting.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/archaeologists-unearth-4-000-year-old-art-from-never-before-seen-culture/ar-BB1pke44?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=d05b9dc9a1fc4eea81888fcb280ddf9a&ei=40

Finding the Americas

There have been several theories about how mankind found their way to the Americas. I’m not going to go through all of them in this blog post. But a couple theories keep getting tweaked as scientists find new evidence.

 

Two theories postulate that mankind made its way to Alaska by way of following a land bridge from Siberia into Alaska. The land bridge existed due to a much lower sea level during the last ice age. There are two theories because some scientists believe the people followed the edge of the land bridge by boat, keeping the land in their sight all along the way. Another group of scientists believe the people followed game animals as they walked across the land bridge. Which group reached Alaska first? I don’t think anybody knows.

 

According to data gleaned from sediment and fossilized marine life, the first Siberians might have traveled to the New World more than 10,000 years before the First Nations people are thought to have arrived. Such an early migration would have been a lot easier because of sea ice. It’s been suggested that expanses of winter ice may have facilitated travel by foot when passage by boat would have been treacherous.

 

For about five decades, archaeologists thought the Clovis people as the original pioneers of the North American continent. This theory stated that families trekked across the land bridge around 13,000 years ago.

 

Yet recent discoveries have pushed back the arrival of humans in the Americas to more than 25,000 years ago.

 

But could they really have walked all that way? The sea level was probably low enough to expose a solid bridge as far back as 36,000 years ago. However, the rugged cap of snow and glacier covering the bridge might not have been traversable.

 

However, once glaciers began to retreat, a thin strip of coastal ecosystems could have provided resources for traveling by boat. A 14,000-year-old settlement on Canada’s western coast implies that pre-Clovis people were inching their way along the water’s edge.

 

However, windows of opportunity may have closed during warm periods, when melting snow and ice would have sent currents swirling in the wrong direction for migrating paddlers. An analysis of climate models says high winds and lower sea levels would have made ocean currents 20,000 years ago twice as strong as they are today.

 

Records also suggest that winter sea ice would have been present until 15,000 years ago, which migrants could have walked across, or even sledded. Researchers identified 24.5 to 22 thousand years ago and 16.4 to 14.8 thousand years ago as the most likely periods for early migration along the Alaskan coast, possibly aided by a “Sea-ice Highway.”

 

Emerging signs that humans ventured as far south as New Mexico more than 20,000 years ago imply there may have been a relatively safe and open path for them to get there.

 

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/scientists-may-have-found-an-ancient-path-into-america-24-000-years-ago/ar-AA1lV4H4?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=59a8d49a00384382a6fcf88ce2c5200b&ei=76