In October of 2000 Pakistani authorities heard that a Karachi resident was trying to sell a mummy on the black market for $11 million. When the police interrogated the seller he told them he got the mummy from an Iranian… Read More ›
Archaeology
Stylish deformities – Dental edition
The dental aesthetic of symmetrical white teeth is a modern European standard, but for many people the dental ideal involves carved, stained and/or bejeweled teeth. This is because artificially modified front teeth can communicate cultural affiliation, determine physical attractiveness, and… Read More ›
How the neolithic people of Jericho reconstructed the faces of the dead
Jericho was founded around 9600 BCE and developed into a large settlement with a population of two thousand by about 7000 BCE. During the Neolithic period (abt 10000 BCE to 4500 BCE), the people of Jericho had a mortuary practice of… Read More ›
Archaeology, folklore, and the skeletal remains of a hellhound
Last year DigVentures, a London-based archaeology group, unearthed the bones of a gigantic dog from a shallow grave, about 20 inches deep, in the ruins of Leiston Abbey, Suffolk. Archaeologists estimate that the canine stood more than 7ft tall on its hind… Read More ›
The game of thrones written in bone, conquistador edition
The bones of infamous conquistador Don Francisco Pizarro (ca. 1476 – June 26th, 1541) rest in an ornate glass, marble, and bronze sarcophagus in a chapel in the Cathedral of Lima in Peru. Though Pizarro’s bones are now in a position of… Read More ›
Black Death skeletons unearthed by Crossrail project
Black Death skeletons unearthed by Crossrail project By James Morgan Science reporter, BBC News Between 1347 and 1351 the “Great Pestilence” swept westward across Europe killing millions of people. It later became known as the Black Death. It arrived on… Read More ›
The Crystal Maiden and the Cave of the Crystal Sepulcher
In 1989 archaeologist Thomas Miller discovered a remote jungle cave known as Actun Tunichil Muknal (or ATM), in the Tapir Mountain Nature Reserve in Belize. Excavations at ATM over the next decade revealed an extraordinary Mayan archaeological site that includes… Read More ›
Four deathhacks for an Egyptian mummy
A deathhack is a technique employed to make efficient or functional use of human remains. Since people frequently discover human bones, heads, and mummies at garage sales, in luggage, or in the forgotten corner of an attic, it’s important to… Read More ›
The resurrection of a mortsafe
The theft of dead bodies in England was a common occurrence in the early 19th century because medical schools could only dissect the bodies of executed criminals, which were in short supply. As medical schools expanded in the 18th and… Read More ›
Soap on a bone
From 1786-1787 the graves in Paris’ Cemetery of Innocents (Cimetière des Saints-Innocents) were dug up to move the bones to the abandoned mines beneath the City of Lights, what would become the famous Paris Catacombs. Fourcroy and Thouret, French scientists… Read More ›
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