1
Ancient animal traps
Low stone walls crisscrossing the deserts
of Israel
Egypt and Jordan have puzzled archaeologists
since their discovery by pilots in the early
20th century
The chain of lines some up to (64 kilometers)
long and
nicknamed "kites" by scientists for their
appearance
from the air date to 300 B.C., but were abandoned
long ago
The mystery might be somewhat clearer thanks
to a recent study
claiming that the purpose of the kites was
to funnel wild animals
toward a small pit, where they could easily
be killed in large numbers
This efficient system suggests that local
hunters knew more
about the behavior of local fauna than previously
thought
"The research shows that the construction
of the kite
was actually more sophisticated than it seemed
before
their use was more diverse than we thought
and the ancients' knowledge of animal ethology
was deeper
and more intimate than one would think," said
Uzi Avner of Ben-Gurion University-Eilat,
in Israel
2,,
Nazca Lines
The Nazca Lines are a series of large ancient
geoglyphs in the Nazca Desert
in southern Peru
The largest figures are up to 370 m (1,200
ft) long
They were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage
Site in 1994
The high, arid plateau stretches more than
80 km (50 mi) between
the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas
de Jumana
about 400 km (250 mi) south of Lima
mystery of nazca lines,
The geoglyphs, known as Nazca Lines, were
spotted from the air in 1939
Some 700 geoglyphs are thought to have been
drawn,,
by the ancient Nazca people between the first
and sixth centuries,,,
The new lines were revealed following gales
and sandstorms in Peru,,
Experts believe one of the geoglyphs shows,,
a 196ft-long (60 metre) snake,,
Another appears to show a camelid,,,
zig-zag lines and an unidentified bird,,
Archaeologists agree the enormous shapes,,
there are hundreds of them, ranging from geometric
lines,,,
to complicated depictions of animals, plants
and imaginary ,,
figures were made over 2,000 years ago by
people of the pre-Inca Nazca culture,,,,
who simply removed the red surface pebbles,,
to reveal the lighter earth below in designs
of their choice,,
3,,,
Great Pyramid of Giza,,
The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the
Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops),,
is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids
in the Giza pyramid ,,,
complex bordering what is now El Giza,,
Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders
of the Ancient World,,,,
and the only one to remain largely intact.,,,
Based on a mark in an interior chamber naming
the work gang ,,
and a reference to fourth dynasty Egyptian
Pharaoh Khufu,,,
Egyptologists believe that the pyramid was
built as a tomb,,,
over a 10 to 20-year period concluding around
2560 BC,,,
Initially at 146.5 metres (481 feet), the
Great Pyramid was the tallest,,,
man-made structure in the world for more than
3,800 years,,,
Originally, the Great Pyramid was covered
by casing stones,,
that formed a smooth outer surface,,,
The Great Pyramid consists of an estimated
2.3 million blocks,,,
which most believe to have been transported
from nearby quarries,,,
The Tura limestone used for the casing was
quarried across the river,,
The largest granite stones in the pyramid,
found in the "King's" chamber,,,
weigh 25 to 80 tonnes and were transported
from Aswan, more than 800 km (500 mi) away.,,
4,,,,
Shroud of Turin,,,
The Shroud of Turin or Turin Shroud is a length
of linen cloth bearing the image,,,
of a man who is alleged to be Jesus of Nazareth,,
The cloth itself is believed by some to be
the burial shroud,,
he was wrapped in when he was buried after
crucifixion ,,
although three radiocarbon dating tests in
1988 dated,,
a sample of the cloth to the Middle Ages,,
The Catholic Church officially recorded the
existence of the shroud in A.D. 1353,,
, which is when the cloth showed up in a church
in Lirey, France.,,
But the legend of the shroud dates back to
A.D. 30 or 33.,,,
According to that legend, the shroud was transported
from Judea (now southern Palestine) to Edessa,
Turkey,,,
and later to Constantinople (now called Istanbul),,,
When crusaders sacked Constantinople in A.D.
1204, ,,
the cloth was moved to Athens, Greece, where
it was allegedly held until A.D. 1225.
It wasn't until the 1980s that researchers
got their hands ,,
on the cloth to try to determine its true
age using radiocarbon dating,,
They determined that the alleged burial cloth
of ,,,
Jesus was actually created between A.D. 1260
and A.D. 1390,,
In other words, the scientists determined
that the cloth is most likely a medieval forgery,,
However, critics of this research argue that
the scientists may have dated newer portions
,,,
of the shroud that were stitched together
centuries after Jesus' death,,,,
which would explain why the shroud seems "newer"
than it really is.
5,,,,
G�bekli Tepe,,
it is an archaeological site in the Southeastern
Anatolia Region of Turkey,,,
approximately 12 km (7 mi) northeast of the
city of Sanliurfa,,,
The tell has a height of 15 m (49 ft) and
is about 300 m (980 ft),,,
in diameter. It is approximately 760 m (2,490
ft) above sea level,,,
An amazing archaeological discovery made in
1994 at Gobekli Tepe,,,
, a rural area of Turkey,,,,
has blown that hypothesis apart, prompting
new questions about the evolution of civilization,,
Containing multiple rings of huge stone pillars
carved,,,,
with scenes of animals and dating to the 10th
millennium B.C.,,,,,
Gobekli Tepe is considered the world's oldest
place of worship,,,
Yet evidence also suggests the people who
built it were semi-nomadic hunters,,,,
likely unaware of agriculture, which followed
in the area only five centuries later,,,
Because of Gobekli Tepe, archaeologists now
have to ask which came first,,,,,
. Did building projects like this lead to
settlement, and not vice-versa, as always
thought?
