Trash in a Cave

A spelunker found trash in a cave, but it was actually evidence of a lost civilization.

A professional cave explorer, on a mapping expedition in the Tlayococ cave in Mexico found a hidden chamber that contained evidence of an extinct civilization.

Yekaterina Katiya Pavlova went to a community in the Sierra de Guerrero to further map the Tlayococ cave. When Pavlova and her local guide reached the bottom of the cave, after exploring all that was already mapped, they opted to head into an unknown passage through a submerged entrance.

The passage led to a previously unseen room where two engraved shell bracelets sat atop stalagmites. They also found another bracelet, a giant snail shell, and pieces of black stone discs similar to pyrite mirrors. All of these things dated to more than 500 years ago.

When archaeologists later descended to the cave, they found more items; a bracelet fragment, a piece of burnt wood, and pieces of a total of eight stone discs (two of which were complete).

All of the bracelets were made from snail shells—probably a marine species—and were engraved with anthropomorphic symbols and figures. The engravings featured S-shaped symbols (known as xonecuilli), zigzagging lines, and circles to create human faces in profile. These designs could be meant to indicate deities.

The archaeologists estimate that the items were left in the cave between 950 and 1521 AD. At that time, the area was known to be populated by the now-extinct Tlacotepehaus ethnic group.

One archaeologist felt the items found could help with interpreting symbolic notions, cultural aspects, manufacturing, and trade of the pre-Hispanic societies in the Sierra de Guerrero.

The archaeologists also determined that the stalagmites were manipulated in pre-Hispanic times to give a more spherical finish, possibly to fit ritual needs. It is felt that the symbols and representations of characters on the bracelets may be related to pre-Hispanic cosmogony regarding creation and fertility. The sealed context helps them understand how the ancient inhabitants may have seen these caves—as portals to the underworld, or as sacred spaces connected to the Earth and the divine.

The black stone discs resemble others from nearby regions, such as El Infiernillo, as well as from distant cultures like Huasteca, Mayan states in east-central Mexico.

Historical reports say extreme cold forced the people living in the Sierra de Guerrero, which is located over 7,850 feet above sea level, to lower altitudes. Little is known about the Tlacotepheuas, other than some 16th-century historical mentions of their presence. The shell bracelets could help tell their story.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a-spelunker-thought-she-found-trash-in-a-cave-it-was-actually-evidence-of-a-lost-civilization/ar-AA1FF5eD?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=a1e7bc6999b149a6a70e4275bd5155de&ei=77

New Human Species

Scientists have discovered a new human species.

Only one species of hominin exists on the planet today, and that’s Homo sapiens. But throughout more geologically recent Earth history, the human family was a complex tableaux of members. Over the years, scientists have tried to get a clearer picture of that prehistoric story by excavating ancient human sites around the world.

Now anthropologists are illustrating a previously unknown chapter of that story with the introduction of a formerly uncatalogued human species, Homo juluensis.

Homo juluensis means “big head”. This species thrived in eastern Asia from about 300,000 years ago to around 50,000 years ago but then died out. According to the researchers, they likely hunted wild horses, fashioned stone tools, and processed animal hides to survive frigid winters. The breakthrough for discovering this possibly new species came when a team began devising a new system for organizing fossil evidence. They did not expect to propose a new human ancestor species and then to organize hominin fossils from Asia into different groups. But their study clarifies a hominin fossil record that has tended to include anything that could not easily be assigned to Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, or Homo sapiens.

One possible member of the Homo juluensis species isn’t exactly a newcomer. Denisovans were first identified in 2010 by way of DNA extracted from a young girl’s fingerbone found in Siberia, but have not been given a species classification. They could belong to this new species.

Homo juluensis may also solve another mystery of the Xujiayao hominin fossils. These fossils have long perplexed researchers, as the remains display a mix of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens features. These remains have been confused for a variety of taxonomic representations, but scientists note that differences in the (big) cranium, the teeth, jaws, and a few other features indicate a new species. These fossil remains include Penghu 1 (jawbone), Xiahe (mandible), Xuchang (partial crania), and a variety of Denisova fossils.

Although this is a convincing argument that these particular specimens belong to a previously unknown human species, more research is needed. But since these fossils still defy any other species classification, it may only be a matter of time before the human tribe increases by at least one species.