Viking Skeletons

Viking skeletons over 1,000 years old buried with a crystal and other treasures.

Archaeologists found Viking skeletons over 1,000 years old buried with a crystal and other treasures.

Near the village of Asum in Denmark, people had no idea they were standing on the well-preserved graves of 50 Viking-era skeletons. Archaeologists happened upon the graves during a routine survey in preparation for a construction project.

Normally, they would be lucky to find a few teeth in the graves, but here they had entire skeletons. They dated the burial site to the 9^th or 10th centuries, more than 1,000 years ago.

In addition to the skeletons, they uncovered rare trinkets and treasures buried with the bodies. For example, sone of the jewelry did not originate in Denmark. As the scientists suspected, the graves told them story of people connected to international trade routes.

These routes provided avenues to exchanging goods, allowing the wealthy to acquire rare and prized items from distant lands. They also helped establish nearby Odense, the third largest city in Denmark.

Some days I regret that I never had the chance to dig in the dirt and happen across such grisly remains.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/archaeologists-found-viking-skeletons-over-1-000-years-old-buried-with-a-crystal-and-other-treasures-they-re-improving-our-understanding-of-how-wealthy-vikings-once-lived/ss-AA1snO4V?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=ed46623d933043f19069e3bf9a8f9350&ei=38

Message from Mars

Father and daughter decipher message coming from Mars.

Ken and Keli Chaffin, a father/daughter team from the US, have deciphered a simulated “extraterrestrial” message that was transmitted in May 2023 via a radio signal sent by the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter. The message was intercepted by three observatories on Earth. It was part of a project which aimed to engage citizen scientists in decoding an alien message.

The Chaffins realized that the message contained a diagram that represented the structures of five amino acids, the fundamental building blocks of life. According to specialists, the Chaffins conducted hours-long simulations every day and ultimately organized the bits into coherent structures using computer simulations and reversible cellular automata.

The simulated signal was received on Earth 16 minutes after it was sent. A worldwide community of over 5,000 citizen scientists went to work on the raw data and managed to extract the signal within ten days. This extraction of the encrypted message from the raw radio signal showcases the potential of global collaboration

The project, called “A Sign in Space”, was initiated by artist Daniela de Paulis in collaboration with the European Space Agency, the SETI Institute, the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics. It was conceived to test which methods might be useful for decoding transmissions from extraterrestrial civilizations.

According to the European Space Agency, the results of the project showed that if humanity ever receives a signal from real extraterrestrials, citizen scientists could play a crucial role in deciphering it. The involvement of so many amateur scientists and the success of the Chaffins demonstrate the power of collaborative efforts and diverse approaches.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/father-daughter-duo-decipher-message-coming-from-mars/ar-AA1tpWJl?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=6fc7dd98f17b42d8852b3bbcb7f5d7c6&ei=69