The Daily Galaxy: Great Discoveries Channel

3000-Year Old Aztec Source of Chocolate Discovered

The chocolate we love today evolved from an accidental byproduct of ancient breweries, claim researchers. Over 3,100 years ago in Central America the cacao plant was used to make a celebratory beer-like beverage, prized as a status symbol scientists revealed earlier this week.

Ancient Temple Built 2000 Years Before Christ Discovered in Peru

A 4,000-year-old temple filled with murals has been unearthed in the Lambayeque valley, near the ancient Sipan complex on the northern coast of Peru, making it one of the oldest finds in the Americas, a leading archaeologist said on Saturday. Discoveries at Sipan, an administrative and religious center of the Moche culture, have included a gold-filled tomb built 1,700 years ago for a pre-Incan king.
               

Tutankhamen's Face Revealed For 1st Time in History

He is described as beautiful and handsome—a face fitting for a prince. The true face of ancient Egypt's boy king was revealed to the public for the first time in over 3000 years. Young Tutankhamun ruled Egypt from 1333-1324 BC. The boy was made pharaoh at the age of nine. He died at the age of just 19, possibly of a leg wound that became infected. After recent restoration efforts, Tutankhamen's body is resting peacefully again, his body wrapped in strips of white linen. Until now only a few living archeologists and scientists had seen his actual face, but this weekend his ancient body was open for a public viewing.

10 Discoveries that Rewrote History

Stanford's renowned classical scholar and archaeologist, Patrick Hunt has just published a brilliant book -Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History  (ranging from the mystery of how Hannibal crossed th Alps in 218 BCE with an army accompanied by 25,000 men and 37 elephants to the Dead Sea Scrolls to Machu Picchu).

The Great Pyramid of… Germany -A New World Architectural Icon?

The Giza Necropolis is home to the largest of the great pyramids of Egypt, inspirationally entitled the Great Pyramid, and eternal home to the body of the Fourth dynasty Pharaoh Khufu. Constructed over a period of 20 years, ending in what is believed to be around 2560BC, it is, thankfully, occasionally referred to as Khufu’s Pyramid.

However, it may soon lose its title as world’s largest pyramid if a group in Dessau, Germany has their way. Having recently received funding, as well as the services of famed architect Rem Koolhaas being hired as an adviser, the group intend to build the world’s largest pyramid, which will measure in at 578 meters tall, and be some 10 times larger than the original Great Pyramid.

Origins of Ancient Cities -A New Theory

Ancient cities arose not by decree from a centralized political power, as was previously widely believed, but as the outgrowth of decisions made by smaller groups or individuals at Tell Brak, located in northern Mesopotamia, in what is today northern Iraq and northeastern Syria, according to a new study from researchers at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Edinburgh.

“The results of our work show that the existing models for the origins of ancient cities may in fact be flawed,” says Jason Ur, assistant professor of anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, “Urbanism does not appear to have originated with a single, powerful ruler or political entity. Instead, it was the organic outgrowth of many groups coming together.”

Archeologists: Great Wall of China Could be Gone in 20 Yrs

In a recent online poll that received some 100 million votes, the Great Wall of China was named as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Visible from space, the world’s longest human-made structure and largest human-made structure in terms of surface area and mass, the Great Wall is a series of stone and earthen fortifications built during the 5^th and 16^th centuries.

12th-century Buddhist Sculptures Found in Indonesian cave

A remote Indonesian cave has been found to contain previously undiscovered sculptures depicting the spiritual journey of Buddha.

The sprawling cave is a reminder of the rich Buddhist past in what is now the world's most populous Muslim nation.

The cave appears to have been a place of meditation for Buddhist monks. It was discovered more than two decades ago near Jireg village in East Java province, but had never been thoroughly explored because of its remote and difficult-to-reach location, said Dhamma Subho Mahathera of Shangha Theravada Indonesia.

The Sandal & the Fall of Rome

Archaeologists have discovered a footprint made by the sandal -a hobnailed sandal called caliga- of a Roman soldier in a wall surrounding the Hellenistic-Roman city of Hippos, east of the Sea of Galilee.

The ancient city of Hippos (Sussita), at 350 meters above sea level, overlooks the Sea of Galilee. The city was established during the period of Seleucid rule. It flourished during the Roman and Byzantine periods until it was destroyed by an earthquake in the year 749. Hippos, together with Beit Shean and other cities east of the Jordan River, formed the "Decapolis", the area in which Jesus performed most of the miracles described in the New Testament.

Oldest Human Footprint in History Discovered in Egypt

There is something ghostly and almost touchingly poetic about an ancient prehistoric footprint of one of our human ancestors -a shadowy reminder of the billions of our predecessors who lived, loved, explored, and suffered and gloried at the mystery of life and the cosmos during their short lives on the blue planet.

Egyptian archaeologists have found what they said could be the oldest human footprint in history in the country's western desert, the Arab country's antiquities' chief, Ahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said on Monday.

3000-Year Old Aztec Source of Chocolate Discovered

The chocolate we love today evolved from an accidental byproduct of ancient breweries, claim researchers. Over 3,100 years ago in Central America the cacao plant was used to make a celebratory beer-like beverage, prized as a status symbol scientists revealed earlier this week.

Ancient Temple Built 2000 Years Before Christ Discovered in Peru

A 4,000-year-old temple filled with murals has been unearthed in the Lambayeque valley, near the ancient Sipan complex on the northern coast of Peru, making it one of the oldest finds in the Americas, a leading archaeologist said on Saturday. Discoveries at Sipan, an administrative and religious center of the Moche culture, have included a gold-filled tomb built 1,700 years ago for a pre-Incan king.
               

Tutankhamen's Face Revealed For 1st Time in History

He is described as beautiful and handsome—a face fitting for a prince. The true face of ancient Egypt's boy king was revealed to the public for the first time in over 3000 years. Young Tutankhamun ruled Egypt from 1333-1324 BC. The boy was made pharaoh at the age of nine. He died at the age of just 19, possibly of a leg wound that became infected. After recent restoration efforts, Tutankhamen's body is resting peacefully again, his body wrapped in strips of white linen. Until now only a few living archeologists and scientists had seen his actual face, but this weekend his ancient body was open for a public viewing.

10 Discoveries that Rewrote History

Stanford's renowned classical scholar and archaeologist, Patrick Hunt has just published a brilliant book -Ten Discoveries That Rewrote History  (ranging from the mystery of how Hannibal crossed th Alps in 218 BCE with an army accompanied by 25,000 men and 37 elephants to the Dead Sea Scrolls to Machu Picchu).

The Great Pyramid of… Germany -A New World Architectural Icon?

The Giza Necropolis is home to the largest of the great pyramids of Egypt, inspirationally entitled the Great Pyramid, and eternal home to the body of the Fourth dynasty Pharaoh Khufu. Constructed over a period of 20 years, ending in what is believed to be around 2560BC, it is, thankfully, occasionally referred to as Khufu’s Pyramid.

However, it may soon lose its title as world’s largest pyramid if a group in Dessau, Germany has their way. Having recently received funding, as well as the services of famed architect Rem Koolhaas being hired as an adviser, the group intend to build the world’s largest pyramid, which will measure in at 578 meters tall, and be some 10 times larger than the original Great Pyramid.

Origins of Ancient Cities -A New Theory

Ancient cities arose not by decree from a centralized political power, as was previously widely believed, but as the outgrowth of decisions made by smaller groups or individuals at Tell Brak, located in northern Mesopotamia, in what is today northern Iraq and northeastern Syria, according to a new study from researchers at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Edinburgh.

“The results of our work show that the existing models for the origins of ancient cities may in fact be flawed,” says Jason Ur, assistant professor of anthropology in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University, “Urbanism does not appear to have originated with a single, powerful ruler or political entity. Instead, it was the organic outgrowth of many groups coming together.”

Archeologists: Great Wall of China Could be Gone in 20 Yrs

In a recent online poll that received some 100 million votes, the Great Wall of China was named as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World. Visible from space, the world’s longest human-made structure and largest human-made structure in terms of surface area and mass, the Great Wall is a series of stone and earthen fortifications built during the 5^th and 16^th centuries.

12th-century Buddhist Sculptures Found in Indonesian cave

A remote Indonesian cave has been found to contain previously undiscovered sculptures depicting the spiritual journey of Buddha.

The sprawling cave is a reminder of the rich Buddhist past in what is now the world's most populous Muslim nation.

The cave appears to have been a place of meditation for Buddhist monks. It was discovered more than two decades ago near Jireg village in East Java province, but had never been thoroughly explored because of its remote and difficult-to-reach location, said Dhamma Subho Mahathera of Shangha Theravada Indonesia.

The Sandal & the Fall of Rome

Archaeologists have discovered a footprint made by the sandal -a hobnailed sandal called caliga- of a Roman soldier in a wall surrounding the Hellenistic-Roman city of Hippos, east of the Sea of Galilee.

The ancient city of Hippos (Sussita), at 350 meters above sea level, overlooks the Sea of Galilee. The city was established during the period of Seleucid rule. It flourished during the Roman and Byzantine periods until it was destroyed by an earthquake in the year 749. Hippos, together with Beit Shean and other cities east of the Jordan River, formed the "Decapolis", the area in which Jesus performed most of the miracles described in the New Testament.

Oldest Human Footprint in History Discovered in Egypt

There is something ghostly and almost touchingly poetic about an ancient prehistoric footprint of one of our human ancestors -a shadowy reminder of the billions of our predecessors who lived, loved, explored, and suffered and gloried at the mystery of life and the cosmos during their short lives on the blue planet.

Egyptian archaeologists have found what they said could be the oldest human footprint in history in the country's western desert, the Arab country's antiquities' chief, Ahi Hawass, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said on Monday.