1. Rurik settlement in Novgorod
More than a thousand years ago, on a low hill, not far from the center of modern Veliky Novgorod, there stood a city - a rich administrative, trade and craft center of the entire Ilmen region - Rurik's settlement. Archaeologists have discovered many things in its cultural layer Scandinavian origin. The settlement became the predecessor of the capital of the Novgorod principality; It was here, according to legend, that the Varangian Rurik came to reign.
One of the most famous archaeological sites of the Paleolithic era is located in Russia, in Voronezh region. The first human settlements in Kostenki appeared 45 thousand years ago. Piles of animal bones were found in Kostenki - the ancient inhabitants of these places built houses from mammoth bones. Among the 40,000 finds are tools and works of art.
3. Gnezdovo
On both sides of the Dnieper in Smolensk region there is the largest monument dating back to the birth of ancient Russian state— Gnezdovo burial mound complex. Once upon a time, 3500-4000 mounds were poured here. Both Slavs and Scandinavians in the VIII-X centuries. /bm9icg===>ekakhs buried the dead in the same way: first they placed the body in a funeral pyre, and then they built a mound. Some mounds are built on burnt burial boats; such burials turned out to be especially rich. found in them Jewelry, broken swords and other items.
Phanagoria is one of the few ancient Greek colonies in the territory modern Russia. Large seaport served as the second capital after Panticapaeum (modern Kerch) Bosporan Kingdom. In the territory modern city administrative and residential buildings of the late 6th - first half of the 5th centuries were excavated. BC. Most valuable find During the history of excavations, a wooden ship became known. It was possible to date it thanks to a metal ram, on which a cast sign of the king of the Bosporan state Mithridates VI Eupator (star and crescent) was found. Apparently, the ship of the bireme (a rowing warship with two rows of oars on each side) was part of the royal fleet and was burned during the assault on Phanagoria in 63 BC.
In October 2015, the Tauride Chersonese Museum-Reserve passed to Russia, and although UNESCO refused to recognize this fact, the museum-reserve is now under the leadership of Russian ministry culture. The only Greek polis in the Black Sea region, Chersonesus managed to be a Roman colony, become part of the Bosporan kingdom, short time was independent, became part of Byzantium, survived the raids of Genghis Khan's troops, was twice destroyed and plundered by Lithuanian princes, and saw Genoese merchants. Its cultural layer preserves the memory of every period of history ancient city.
6. Selitrennoye settlement (Sarai-Batu)
In the territory Astrakhan region The capital of the Golden Horde, founded by Khan Batu, is located - the city of Sarai-Batu. It became saltpeter much later, when under Peter I, saltpeter production plants were installed here.
The foundations of many buildings - public, residential and industrial - were found on the territory of the monument. The cities of Golden Orzha were built by conquered peoples, therefore material culture The village of Saray-Batu was very eclectic.
7. Settlement Old Ryazan
One of the richest cities Ancient Rus', the capital of the Ryazan principality was not at all where modern Ryazan stands. The settlement of Old Ryazan was discovered in 1822 thanks to an accidental find - a treasure trove of gold jewelry. After the Great Patriotic War They took the excavations seriously. Three temples, objects of art, houses and premises where people practiced crafts, and 16 treasures with coins and valuables were found at the site.
8. Arkaim
3 thousand years BC on the territory of modern Chelyabinsk region A huge fortified city was built. In special workshops, its residents smelted bronze and practiced pottery. The city was strictly planned and had storm drainage.
The circular figures formed by the remains of fortifications and dwellings in the steppe have attracted not only historians, but also adherents of occultism of all kinds: they call the archaeological monument “a place of power”, “the cradle of humanity” and “the ancestral home of the Aryans”.
Archaeology may not be the most exciting profession, but it definitely has its exciting moments. Of course, it's not every day that archaeologists find valuable mummies, but every now and then you can stumble upon something truly amazing, be it ancient computers, huge underground armies or mysterious remains. We present to your attention 25 of the most amazing archaeological finds in human history.
1. Venetian vampire
Today every schoolchild knows that in order to kill a vampire, you need to drive an aspen stake through his heart, but hundreds of years ago this was not considered the only method. Let me introduce you to an ancient alternative - a brick in the mouth. Think for yourself. What's the best way to stop a vampire from drinking blood? Of course, fill his mouth with cement to capacity. The skull you are looking at in this photo was found by archaeologists in a mass grave on the outskirts of Venice.
2. Dump of children
At the end of this post you will probably realize that within long history people (at least in the past) were supporters of cannibalism, sacrifice and torture. For example, not long ago, several archaeologists were excavating in the sewer canals under a Roman/Byzantine bath in Israel and came across something truly horrifying... the bones of children. And there were a lot of them. For some reason, someone upstairs decided to get rid of a lot of the children's remains by simply throwing them down the drain.
3. Aztec sacrifices
Although historians have long known that the Aztecs held many bloody festivals with sacrifices, in 2004, near the modern city of Mexico, a terrible thing was found - many dismembered and mutilated bodies of both people and animals, shedding light on the terrible rituals that were practiced here by several hundreds of years ago.
4. Terracotta Army
This huge terracotta army was buried along with the body of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. Apparently, the soldiers were supposed to protect their earthly ruler in the afterlife.
5. Screaming mummies
Sometimes the Egyptians did not take into account the fact that if the jaw was not tied to the skull, it would end up opening as if the person was screaming before death. Although this phenomenon is observed in many mummies, it does not make it any less creepy. From time to time, archaeologists find mummies that seemed to actually scream before dying for some (most likely, not the most pleasant) reasons. In the photo there is a mummy called " Unknown person E". It was found by Gaston Masparo in 1886.
6. The first leper
Leprosy (leprosy), also called Hansen's disease, is not contagious, but people who suffered from it often lived outside of society because of their physical deformity. Since Hindu traditions cremate corpses, the skeleton in the photo, called the first leper, was buried outside the city.
7. Ancient chemical weapons
In 1933, archaeologist Robert do Mesnil do Busson was excavating beneath the remains of an ancient Roman-Persian battlefield when he came across some siege tunnels dug under the city. In the tunnels he found the bodies of 19 Roman soldiers who had died desperately trying to escape something, as well as one Persian soldier clinging to his chest. Most likely, when the Romans heard that the Persians were digging a tunnel under their city, they decided to dig their own to counterattack them. The problem was that the Persians found out about this and set a trap. As soon as the Roman soldiers descended into the tunnel, they were greeted by burning sulfur and bitumen, and this infernal mixture is known to turn into human lungs into poison
8. Rosetta Stone
Discovered in 1799 French soldier dug into the Egyptian sand, the Rosetta Stone became one of the greatest archaeological finds to date and a major source modern understanding Egyptian hieroglyphs. The stone is a fragment of a larger stone on which is written a decree of King Ptolemy V (circa 200 BC), translated into three languages - Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic script and ancient Greek.
9. Diquis Balls
They are also called stone balls Costa Rica. Scientists believe that these petrospheres, almost perfect spheres that now sit at the mouth of the Diquis River, were carved around the turn of the millennium. But no one can say for sure what they were used for and for what purpose they were created. It can be assumed that these were symbols heavenly bodies or marking the boundaries between the lands of different tribes. Parascientific authors often claim that these “ideal” spheres could not have been made by the hands of ancient people, and associate them with the activities of space aliens.
10. The Man from Groball
Mummified bodies found in swamps are not that uncommon in archaeology, but this body, called the Groball Man, is unique. Not only was he perfectly preserved with his hair and nails intact, but scientists were also able to determine the cause of his death from findings collected on and around his body. Judging by the large wound on his neck from ear to ear, it appears he was sacrificed to ask the gods for a good harvest.
11. Desert Snakes
At the turn of the 20th century, pilots discovered a series of low rock walls in Israel's Negev desert, and they have baffled scientists ever since. The walls could be more than 64 km long and were nicknamed "kites" as they looked very reptile-like from the air. But scientists have recently concluded that the walls were used by hunters to drive large animals into enclosures or throw them off cliffs, where they could easily be killed several at a time.
12. Ancient Troy
Troy is a city well known for its history and legends (as well as valuable archaeological finds). It was located in the north-west of Anatolia in the territory modern Turkey. In 1865, English archaeologist Frank Calvert found a trench in a field he had purchased from a local farmer in Hisarlik, and in 1868, wealthy German businessman and archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann also began excavating in the area after meeting Calvert in Çanakkale. As a result, they found the ruins of this ancient city, the existence of which was considered a legend for many centuries.
13. Akambaro figures
This is a collection of more than 33 thousand miniature clay figurines that were discovered in 1945 in the ground near Acambaro, Mexico. The find includes many small figurines resembling both humans and dinosaurs. Although most scientific society I now agree that these figurines were part of an elaborate scam; at first, their discovery created a sensation.
Found on a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera at the turn of the 20th century. This 2000-year-old device is considered the first in the world scientific calculator. Using dozens of gears, it can accurately determine the location of the sun, moon and planets with simple data input. While debate continues over its exact application, it certainly proves that even 2,000 years ago, civilization was already making great strides toward mechanical engineering.
15. Rapa Nui
Known as Easter Island, this place is one of the most isolated places in the world. It is located thousands of kilometers from the Chilean coast. But the most amazing thing about this place is not even that people managed to get to it and inhabit it at all, but that they managed to erect huge stone heads all over the island.
16. Tomb of Sunken Skulls
While excavating a dry lake bed in Motala, Swedish archaeologists came across several skulls with sticks sticking out of them. But this, apparently, was not enough: in one skull, scientists found pieces of other skulls. Whatever happened to these people 8,000 years ago was terrible.
17. Map of Piri Reis
This map dates back to the early 1500s. It shows the outlines with amazing accuracy South America, Europe and Africa. Apparently, it was compiled by general and cartographer Piri Reis (hence the name of the map) from fragments of dozens of other maps.
18. Nazca geoglyphs
For hundreds of years, these lines were practically under the feet of archaeologists, but they were discovered only in the early 1900s for the simple reason that they were impossible to see unless viewed from a bird's eye view. There were many explanations - from UFOs to technical advanced civilization. The most plausible explanation is that the Nazcas were prodigious surveyors, although the reason they drew such huge geoglyphs is still unknown.
19. Scrolls Dead Sea
Like the Rosetta Stone, the Dead Sea Scrolls are one of the most important archaeological finds. last century. They contain the earliest copies of biblical texts (150 BC).
20. Moa of Mount Owen
In 1986, an expedition was delving deeper into the cave system of Mount Owen in New Zealand when they suddenly came across the huge piece of paw that you are looking at now. It was so well preserved that it seemed as if its owner had died quite recently. But it later turned out that the paw belonged to a moa - a huge prehistoric bird with an eerie set of sharp claws.
21. Voynich Manuscript
It is called the most mysterious manuscript in the world. The manuscript was created in the early 15th century in Italy. Most pages are filled with recipes for herbal infusions, but none of the plants presented coincide with those currently known, and the language in which the manuscript is written is generally impossible to decipher.
22. Gobekli Tepe
At first it seems that these are just stones, but in fact they are ancient settlement, discovered in 1994. It was created approximately 9,000 years ago, and is now one of the oldest examples of complex and monumental architecture in the world, which predates the pyramids.
23. Sacsayhuaman
This walled complex near the city of Cusco in Peru is part of the so-called capital of the Inca Empire. The most incredible thing is in the details of the construction of this wall. The stone slabs lie so tightly together that it is impossible to put even a hair between them. This shows how accurate the ancient Inca architecture was.
24. Baghdad battery
In the mid-1930s. Several simple-looking jars were found near Baghdad, Iraq. Nobody paid much attention to them until the curator of a German museum published a document in which he stated that these jars were used as voltaic cells, or, in other words, in simple language, batteries. Although this belief was criticized, even MythBusters got involved and soon came to the conclusion that such a possibility existed.
25. Headless Vikings of Dorset
Paving railway V English city Dorset, workers came across a small group of Vikings buried in the ground. They were all headless. At first, archaeologists thought that perhaps one of the villagers had survived the Viking raids and decided to take revenge, but after careful analysis, everything became even murkier and more confusing. The decapitation looked too clear and neat, which means it was carried out only from behind. But scientists still cannot say with certainty what really happened.
Rosetta Stone(Rosetta stone) - a monument of epigraphic culture (196 BC). It is a stone (granodiorite) with a decree of the Egyptian king Ptolemy V, written in Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic script (one of the forms of Egyptian writing) and in Greek.
Minoan civilization- highly developed Bronze Age culture on the island of Crete ( III-II millennium BC.). It was discovered by the English archaeologist Arthur Evans and named after the legendary king Minos.
As a result of excavations, which began in 1900 and continued until 1930, city buildings and palace buildings(Knossos, Agia Triada, Festus, Mallia), necropolises. The rooms of the Knossos Palace, called the Palace of Minos by Evans, are decorated with rich paintings (XVII - XV centuries). The most famous find of the Phaistos Palace is a stone disk with perfectly preserved inscriptions in a language unknown to science. Stored in historical museum administrative center Crete is the city of Heraklion.
Arthur Evans also created a periodization of the Minoan civilization, dividing it into the early, middle and late periods.
Machu Picchu(Machu Pikchu) is an Inca fortress, a sanctuary city in Peru, a prehistoric monument on the mountainside in Uruvamba (altitude 2438 meters). It was founded around 1440 and existed until 1532. In 1911, the city was discovered by an American historian from Yale University Hiram Bingham.
The picturesque ruins of Machu Picchu - best example stone construction of the late Inca period. The monument includes about 200 rooms and individual buildings, a complex of temples, residential buildings, defensive walls made of stone blocks located on an area measuring approximately 365 by 300 meters.
In 1983, Machu Picchu was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, and in 2007 it was included in the list of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Birch bark letters- Old Russian texts scratched or pressed on pieces of birch bark (birch bark), a unique source on history Old Russian language, socio-economic and political relations.
They were first found in 1951 during excavations in Novgorod in layers of the 11th-15th centuries by the Novgorod archaeological expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences (NAE, leaders: Artemy Artsikhovsky - from 1933 to 1978, Valentin Yanin - from 1978). Later they were found in a number of other ancient Russian cities. The main part of the birch bark letters are private letters.
Taking into account the latest findings of the 2012 season total number"messages from the past" found since 1951 in Veliky Novgorod. At the rate scientific supervisor NAE, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Valentin Yanin, the Novgorod cultural layer can store approximately 20 thousand more documents.
They are stored in the State Historical Museum (GIM) in Moscow and the Novgorod State United Museum-Reserve (NGOMZ).
Sometimes it can be very difficult to distinguish historical fact from fiction. In some cases, it is impossible to make a final conclusion due to the lack of convincing evidence, and in others, certain facts appear that change the official historical versions. This review contains discoveries and ancient artifacts that different time became the subject of heated scientific debate. Their reliability has been debated for decades, and according to some unanimous opinion they never came.
1. Warren Cup
The Warren Cup is one of the most valuable items owned by the British Museum and is famous for its two graphic images homosexual character. Because of this, it was considered too obscene for a long time, and many museums refused to even exhibit it.
Today, however, the Warren Cup is considered by many to be one of the best-preserved examples of ancient Roman erotic art. Due to its uniqueness, some experts doubted the cup's authenticity. They claim the 2,000-year-old drinking vessel is actually a fake late XIX or the beginning of the 20th century.
More recently, Humboldt University professor Luca Giuliani has argued that the iconography is unlike anything seen on Roman pottery, but is reminiscent of early ethnography from the 1900s. He believes that the goblet was specially made for its first modern owner, Edward Warren, a collector of erotic items whose collection included a number of other forgeries.
2. Flag on Iwo Jima
The raising of the flag over Iwo Jima is one of the most iconic photographs of all time. However, most people are unaware of all the controversy surrounding the misidentification of Marines in the photo. The six soldiers were initially identified as Franklin Susley, Henry Hansen, Michael Strenk, John Bradley, Rene Gagnon and Ira Hayes. President Roosevelt wanted to return them to their homeland and use them in a fundraising promotion.
Unfortunately, three of these men were killed a few days after the photo was taken. At the same time, rumors began to spread that the Marine identified as Henry Hansen was in fact Garlon Block. Ira Hayes claimed this to be true, but was told to remain silent as the official data had already been released. It was only when Block's mother wrote to a congressman about this that an investigation was opened, after which the erroneous determination was corrected.
But seven decades later, scientists are still not sure who is actually captured in the photo. In 2016, a new investigation concluded that the photo was in fact Harold Schultz, not John Bradley. Members of the investigative team believe that Schultz knew about this mistake, but for some reason remained silent until his death in 1995.
3. Tomb of Akhenaten
Ancient Egypt still holds many secrets. With the advent of new research technologies, experts began to debate whether one of these mysteries had actually been solved: the identity of the KV55 mummy. KV55 is a tomb in the Valley of the Kings that was discovered in 1907. The sarcophagus found inside was desecrated, the mask was torn off, and the inscriptions on it were chipped off. For more than a century, Egyptologists have debated the identity of the mummy inside. Other artifacts found in the tomb led scientists to believe that Pharaoh Akhenaten, the father of Tutankhamun, was buried in the sarcophagus. However, examination of the skeleton revealed that the person's age at the time of death was 20-25 years.
Many felt that he was too young to be Akhenaten, and that the mummy was actually that of his short-lived successor, Smenkhkare. Other experts objected to this idea, arguing that the methods used to determine the mummy's age of death were not entirely reliable. The remains were also found possible signs Frohlich syndrome, which could slow down normal growth. Modern tests, presented in 2010, testify in favor of "Akhenaton".
CAT scans and DNA tests performed on a dozen mummies of pharaohs and their families over several years revealed that mummy KV55 was the son of Amenhotep III and the father of Tutankhamun. According to surviving records, this must be Akhenaten. However, such conclusions only strengthened the contradictions. Now opponents of this theory believe that accurate tests DNA on the mummies is impossible due to the degradation and contamination of the remains, and they also consider any records regarding Akhenaten unreliable as the ancient Egyptians tried to erase his name from history after the death of the pharaoh.
4. The identity of Jack the Ripper
Many books and exposés have been written about Jack the Ripper. Despite this, new events are still occurring that revive the debate about the identity of the notorious serial killer. Back in 1992, scientists were stunned when a man named Michael Barrett unveiled what he claimed was Jack the Ripper's diary. The recordings are believed to have belonged to a wealthy cotton merchant from Liverpool named James Maybrick.
The diary detailed five canonical murders. Many skeptics immediately declared that the diary was a fake. To make matters worse, Barrett refused to say how he got the diary and also changed his story several times. At some point, he even signed an affidavit, stating that he was the author of the diary, but later retracted his words. Experts ran several tests on the diary (especially the ink) to try to determine the date it was written.
There was not a single piece of evidence to contradict the fact that the diary was written in 1888. There was also circumstantial evidence to support this theory. Maybrick died in 1889, which could explain why the Ripper stopped killing. Moreover, some historians believed that Barrett was simply not capable of such a convincing forgery. In 2017, a new team of experts declared the diary genuine.
5. Ancient people in Beringia
New archaeological discoveries history is constantly being rewritten, especially when we're talking about about the first settlements. However, not all new ideas are welcomed by the scientific community, especially if they contradict long-held beliefs. For decades, it was generally accepted that the Clovis people were the first to move to the American continent approximately 13,000 years ago.
In 1977, an archaeologist named Jacques Cinq-Mars began excavating the Bluefish Caves in Canada. They are located in the Beringia region, which consists of the Bering Sea, Bering Strait and land areas in Russia, Canada and Alaska. Thousands of years ago, Beringia was one land before it was mostly submerged by the ocean.
Chink-Mars claimed that he found traces of processing on the bones of horses and mammoths, which were dated back 24,000 years. Therefore, Chink-Mars presented his hypothesis, which states that ancient people "stopped" in Beringia for 10,000 years before settling in North America. The Chink-Mars theory has met with strong resistance from the scientific community.
However, in 2017, a team from the University of Montreal confirmed his findings. Using modern technologies, they examined 36,000 bone fragments recovered from Bluefish Caves and found 15 specimens that had been processed with stone tools. Their ages ranged from 12,000 to 24,000 years.
6. Women's burials at Stonehenge
Sometimes mysterious ancient monuments puzzle experts even after centuries of studying them. It seems that every few years archaeologists make a new discovery about prehistoric events that completely changes the entire worldview. One of the most curious features of Stonehenge is the Aubrey Holes, a ring of 56 chalk pits surrounding the main structure. They were excavated in the 1920s and cremated remains were found inside them. This proves that, at least in its early stages, Stonehenge functioned as a cemetery.
Excavations continued, and in 2016, archaeologists discovered the remains of 14 women at Aubrey Hall. Their ages ranged from 4,000 to 5,000 years. Experts agree that the women buried at Stonehenge must have had high status, but the find raises new questions regarding overall role women in the community that inhabited the area. Project member Christy Willis expressed the opinion that women's status in this society was equal to that of men. Also curious is the absence of any child remains.
7. Great Sphinx of Giza Plateau
In 1817, Italian explorer and archaeologist Giovanni Battista Caviglia began the first modern excavation of the Great Sphinx on the Giza Plateau. Although scientists have studied the colossal statue for 200 years, almost nothing is known about it. No period records were found Ancient kingdom regarding this statue. Today it is called the Sphinx, but this name was given to the statue thousands of years later by the Greeks. The real name of the statue, who built it, or why it was done is completely unknown.
Mark Lenner is one of the leading experts on the statue. He has been studying excavations on the Giza Plateau for more than 30 years, including 5 years devoted to the study of the Sphinx. Lenner believes the statue was built by Pharaoh Khafre, who also built the second largest pyramid at Giza. Moreover, according to his theory, the Sphinx, the nearby temple and the pyramid were designed to coincide with solar events such as the summer solstice.
Other scholars, such as German Egyptologist Rainer Stadelmann, believe that the Sphinx was created by Pharaoh Khufu, as suggested by its facial features, iconography and style. In 2004 French archaeologist Vasil Dobrev stated that the Sphinx was built by Djedefra, a long-forgotten pharaoh who reigned between Khufu and Khafre.
8. Grolier Code
Back in 1971, members of the bibliophile community “Club Grolier” first showed a priceless historical artifact - the Mayan codex. Such books about pre-Columbian civilization are extremely rare, since most of them were destroyed by the Catholics. So far, only 3 such Mayan codexes have been found and authenticated (all in the 19th century). Initially, most scientists believed that it was a fake.
They argued that the codex had unusual iconography and that some of its pages appeared to have been recently trimmed and were written on only one side, unlike other codices. They were also not convinced mysterious story about how collector José Saenz received the book from looters. However, one test of the paper showed that it was genuine Mayan bark paper dating back to the 13th century.
This was not enough to convince all skeptics, but in 2016 a team from Brown University announced the authenticity of the Grolier Codex. Scholars have argued that the codex is a calendar tracking the movements of Venus and that it was created around 1230. If this is true, then the code is the most old book on the American continent.
9. Mummy Nefertiti
Queen Nefertiti is one of the most prominent and controversial figures in ancient Egypt, and Egyptologists have been searching for her tomb for decades. However, one controversial hypothesis suggests that Nefertiti has actually been in the museum since the late 19th century. In 2003, archaeologist Joanne Fletcher suggested that Nefertiti may be the mummy known as the "Little Lady" who was found in tomb KV35 in 1898. It was based on the fact that the mummy had a wig with a Nubian hairstyle, which was believed to be Nefertiti's and was rare at the time.
The idea caused a stir in the funds mass media, but did not receive support from the academic community, which considered it plausible, but without any convincing evidence. In 2010, DNA testing carried out on the "Younger Lady" revealed that the mummy was the mother and wife of Tutankhamun, and the wife and sister of Amenhotep IV, also known as Akhenaten. Nefertiti was the great wife of the king and cousin of Akhenaten. But others claim that the mummy is the unnamed daughter of Amenhotep III and Queen Tia.
10. The emergence of the species Homo Sapiens
The combination of the various stages of human evolution turned out to be one of the most ambitious scientific endeavors in history. New evidence is constantly being discovered that challenges all beliefs. In 2017, scientists found something that could force a complete rewrite of human history: 315,000-year-old fossils Homo sapiens. They are remarkable for two reasons: the remains are 100,000 years older than previous ones oldest fossils, and they did not originate from sub-Saharan Africa.
The discovery was made at the archaeological site of Jebel Irhoud in Morocco after ten years of excavations. A team of archaeologists led by paleoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin found skulls, jaws and tools originally thought to be Neanderthal and no more than 40,000 years old. However, subsequent thermoluminescence tests placed the tools at 315,000 years old, and radiocarbon dating showed the bones to be between 280,000 and 350,000 years old.
Not everyone is convinced that the remains belong specifically to Homo sapiens. Paleoanthropologist Maria Martinon-Torres points out the absence of the famous chins and foreheads characteristic of Homo sapiens. Others have suggested that the fossils belonged to an archaic species of people who survived until Homo sapiens came from the south, displacing them.
Of great interest to anyone interested in history,
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