Earliest Man-Made Mirrors Discovered in Modern-Day Turkey, Estimated 8000 Years Old
Initially, people used pools of water to observe their reflections and viewed it as a magical experience. The first man-made mirrors were created from polished stones like black volcanic glass obsidian, and examples of such mirrors were discovered in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), dating back to approximately 6000 BC.
Prior to the development of glass mirrors, ancient Egyptians crafted metal mirrors using materials such as copper, bronze, silver, and tin. They flattened sheets of metal and polished them until they could be used as mirrors. These mirrors had rounded shapes, ornamentation on the backside, and handles for ease of use. Continue reading »
Rock Art Depicting Extinct Animals Is Discovered In Colombian Amazon And It’s Dated Back Around 12,000 Years
When it feels like we know the world around us all too well, and there are few things that can surprise us, the wonders of history and nature prove us wrong. Just recently, the British-Colombian team of archaeologists led by José Iriarte announced the bombshell news. Continue reading »
Huge Cat Etched Into Peruvian Hillside Believed to Be Over 2,000 Years Old
Archaeologists recently discovered a giant cat ‘geoglpyh’ etched into a hillside in Peru and experts say it dates back to 200 B.C. to 100 B.C.
The giant cat stretches roughly 40 yards (36.5 meters) and was found at the historic Nazca Lines, an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Nazca Lines are a group of very large geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. They were created between 500 BCE and 500 CE by people making depressions or shallow incisions in the desert floor, removing pebbles and leaving differently coloured dirt exposed. Continue reading »
Here’s What Nefertiti And Others Would Look Like If They Were Alive Today
Nefertiti
Becca Saladin (previously), who works as a full-time graphic designer, created the Royalty Now series as a way to bring the past into the present and to help us look at history from a new angle. Check out Becca’s newest historical reimaginings below and remember to upvote your faves. Let us know which of the artist’s pieces you enjoyed the most, too. Continue reading »
Here’s What Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Caligula And Others Would Look Like Today
Emperor Augustus (born Octavius, the great-nephew of Julius Caesar)
According to Becca Saladin: “Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated by history and archaeology. I think humans perceive the past as a series of events; something like a movie that we can’t really feel or touch. I believe the things that bring us closer to the past are those that truly humanize us – the bodies from Pompeii, the perfectly preserved Inca mummies, the personal objects of those long gone, and more. Continue reading »
Incredibly Realistic Sculptures Of People Who Lived Thousands Of Years Ago By Oscar Nilsson
Oscar Nilsson is a Swedish sculptor and archaeologist who specializes in reconstructing faces. In one of his recent projects, he used his skills to hand-sculpt the faces of a handful of people who lived hundreds, some even thousands, of years ago using their excavated bones as a reference, giving us a unique glimpse of how those people might have looked like. Continue reading »
A Soviet-Era Museum In Kyrgyzstan, Built Into The Side Of A Mountain Containing over 33,000 Archeological Artifacts
The National Historical and Archaeological Museum Complex Sulayman is a museum in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. It was established in 1949 as Osh Regional Museum. The present museum building was completed during the Soviet era in 1978 to celebrate the 3,000th anniversary of the city of Osh. It was carved inside the Sulayman Mountain, which is today the only Unesco World Heritage Site in Kyrgyzstan. The structure represents a glassed concrete arch that closes the entry to the cave. Continue reading »
