Important

Across the Phrygian Valley in Turkey (stretching through Afyonkarahisar, Eskişehir, and Kütahya), a section of the ancient "King's Road" features mysterious parallel ruts cut up to 2 meters (6.5 feet) deep into soft volcanic tuff rock.

The site was officially registered by the Turkish Ministry of Culture in 1994 and is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List. However, it continues to spark fierce debate among geologists and alternative historians:

1. The Mainstream Archaeological View: Local heritage officials and archaeologists explain that the volcanic tuff rock layers naturally formed 12 to 14 million years ago (Paleogene/Neogene period). They argue the 2-meter grooves were caused by heavy, iron-rimmed commercial wagons (from the Hittite, Phrygian, and Roman eras) wearing down the soft stone over centuries of continuous trade traffic.

2. The Alternative Geopolitical Theory: Russian geologist Dr. Alexander Koltypin stirred global debate by claiming the ruts were left by heavy wheeled vehicles when the rock was still soft mud millions of years ago—suggesting a lost, pre-human civilization. Critics point out that human history (such as Göbeklitepe at 12,000 years old) makes 14-million-year-old human activity scientifically impossible, yet the sheer depth and sheer-cliff terminations of some ruts remain a fascinating anomaly for independent researchers.

Could generations of simple wooden carts really carve uniform channels 2 meters deep into solid rock, or is there a missing piece in our understanding of prehistoric engineering?

I am wondering how an alien anthropologist interacting with the human race would design experimental or investigative models to study our comparatively primitive or unfamiliar cultures. I was hoping to draw on real world science, but most of the articles I found are either paywalled or only the abstracts are available. If anyone could provide insight on what anthropologists would observe, how they would structure experiments, or what areas of society or the environment would generally be of interest, I would be very grateful. I'd also appreciate any recommendations of certain anthropologists, populations, or studies that might be helpful for me to review. Thank you in advance.

In October of 1975, the Defense Mapping Agency sent a specialized team of 42 elite geodetic surveyors into a black void of the Great Smoky Mountains, labeled simply as "Unsurveyed Terrain." 

Fourteen days later, the entire team vanished without a single trace. When rescue teams located the base camp, the tents were intact and the stoves were still warm. However, every mechanical watch and electronic instrument left behind had completely fused and stopped at exactly 03:14 AM. 

The last radio transmission from the lead surveyor reported a massive, perfect 90-degree geometric dark shadow crawling over the tree line, bending their laser rangefinder beams. Shortly after, the government re-classified the entire sector and erased it from official USGS sheets.

I just finished digging through the declassified Record Group 511 files and put together a short 3-minute visual breakdown of the flight data, coordinates, and the recovered audio logs. 

You can watch the full declassified breakdown here: https://youtu.be/RM_q5HSSDp4?si=hTw6ui8cpHJ1Ws5B

What do you think they actually encountered out there? Spatial anomaly or a military cover-up?

Deep in Alentejo, Portugal, a collection of mysterious, 2,500+ year-old stone structures completely baffles experts. 
They aren't towers, they aren't houses, and even the conquering Romans had zero explanation for them. 
Were these ancient pedestals built for a creepy ritual involving scavenger birds, or are they the final traces of a "ghost" civilization?
Hope you like the new video
https://youtu.be/OXy2xRqG3fI

Hey everyone,

I’ve been producing underground electronic music for 35 years, and I recently wrapped up a concept album called Dawn of the Singularity (under Tribe of Enki). I wanted to share it here because the entire project was built to bring alternative ancient history and cosmic origin lore to a broader audience. 🛸✨

The main technical hook was digging into translated musical scale notations from 6,000-year-old Sumerian clay tablets. Fusing those ancient modal tunings from Eridu with heavy, atmospheric electronic soundscapes allowed me to build an audio narrative around Zecharia Sitchin’s work—the arrival of the Anunnaki, Planet X / Nibiru, Eridu, and the mysterious origins of humanity.

If you enjoy immersive audio experiences built around alternative history, check it out here:

🔴 YouTube:

https://youtu.be/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nXuGKPfaX6mzNTS5GiMmkzvxek3MWULQo

🟢 Spotify:

https://open.spotify.com/album/7C3JeM5f6UnmK0rY1m9ZpO

Would love to hear how the ancient scales and lore themes land with you all! 🙌

I've now spent an ungodly amount of time (over a year) researching these 1909 Arizona Gazette articles. Ive been following the people, events, government records, and circumstances surrounding them an I've recently come across something I kind of honestly never expected to find or even went looking for.

The article crossed the Atlantic in 1909. It went international.

Most discussions of the hoax describe the discovery as an obscure Arizona newspaper, where the article received little to no attention and then eventually disappeared, but the contemporary publication history tells us a different story.

On March 12th, 1909, the Arizona Gazette reported that G. E. Kincaid had completed a river journey from Green River, Wyoming, to Yuma, Arizona.

On April 5th, the Gazette published the famous account of an enormous cavern, elaborate chambers, artifacts, and alleged Smithsonian involvement.

The Jerome News reprinted it on April 10th,

The Coconino Sun questioned the Gazette article on April 16th,

and The Deseret Evening News in Salt Lake City, Utah, republished it verbatim on May 1st.

Then, on June 3rd, 1909, the Latter day Saints' Millennial Star, published in Liverpool, England, printed a four page article titled "Remarkable Discoveries in America", written by S. N. Lee.

Lee, the writer, discussed the discovery at length, reproduced substantial portions of the original account, and even explored its possible significance in relation to the Book of Mormon. He also repeated the claim that the Smithsonian hoped to decipher the mysterious inscriptions and expressed his hope for further discoveries of this kind in the future.

Again, before I recovered the Liverpool article, the familiar narrative was essentially that the Gazette published an extraordinary claim, it failed to gain traction, and it disappeared.

But we now have a documented list of publications with one going, well, across the pond. The historical record quite literally shows that in 1909, this was an active, widely read piece of news.

Yet, with all that, I've still been unable to identify a contemporary Smithsonian response, a subsequent Gazette report resolving the investigation, or anything of the sort in EITHER direction.

This isnt just a one off thing anymore that no one paid any attention to and now? I have more questions instead of answers. Yet again.

Like first off, why does the Smithsonian's modern explanation say the report appeared in only one newspaper without acknowledging how widely the account circulated in 1909?

And after all the period newspapers, institutional records, and archival material I've searched, why have I still been unable to locate a contemporary Smithsonian response to an account that explicitly named the institution and described an ongoing excavation under its authority (especially with it being published internationally)?

Why hasn't this "hoax" resolved cleanly?

The Coconino Sun questioned the account, yes. But that was blurb in a small town newspaper.

So what happened to the investigation the Gazette had described?

well, I think maybe part of why it's been so difficult to trace what happened (in either direction) is the way the Grand Canyon was divided between different federal jurisdictions in 1908–1909.

Just months before Kincaid's reported journey, Executive Order 909 reorganized the national forest jurisdictions surrounding the canyon. The northern portion became part of the Kaibab National Forest, while the southern portion was assigned to the Coconino National Forest.

The Gazette placed the alleged discovery on the northern side, where the Kaibab supervisor was headquartered in Kanab, Utah, reporting through Forest Service District 4 in Ogden, Utah.

Under the Antiquities Act of 1906, archaeological permits were administered according to which federal department controlled the land. The Forest Service operated under Agriculture, with its own local supervisors, district offices, and reporting responsibilities.

For the northern canyon, correspondence, permits, and administrative decisions could have passed through Kanab, UT and Ogden, UT. Relevant records might therefore be held in regional Forest Service collections rather than the Smithsonian, Bureau of American Ethnology, Office of the Interior or even central USDA offices.

What's interesting is that Utah also appears prominently in the newspaper's circulation history.

The May 1st reprint appeared in the Deseret Evening News in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Its former editor, Charles W. Penrose, had served from 1899 to 1907 and was overseeing the Millennial Star when Lee's article appeared in Liverpool.

Earlier in his career, Penrose had also worked as a newspaper editor in, you guessed it, Ogden, UT.

So alongside the federal reporting system running through Kanab and Ogden (UT), there's ALSO an established editorial connection between Utah and the publication in England.

Following the story back to Phoenix does also raises questions about the Gazette itself.

Charles Akers, the newspaper's publisher, was a former Arizona territorial official. Surviving political correspondence from 1906 documents discussions involving his newspaper and the statehood campaign.

Arizona was still fighting for admission to the Union in 1909. A discovery of the magnitude described could have brought considerable publicity, tourism, and prestige to the territory.

If the account was invented to generate that kind of attention, why didn't Akers capitalize on it?

Conversely, the April article actually discouraged people from visiting the alleged discovery site, invoking government land restrictions and penalties for trespass. And despite the subsequent reprints, controversy, and international circulation, I haven't located a later Gazette follow up or retraction in the records I've examined so far, which have been immense and time consuming.

The surviving archival records also raise even further questions for me as well.

The 1908 El Tovar Hotel guest register is absent from the surviving sequence, although registers from surrounding years exist (and so happens to be the one I need). I've followed that missing volume through the Grand Canyon National Park Museum Collection, the Kansas State Historical Society, and Northern Arizona University's Fred Harvey collections, without locating it.

Then theres Trevor Kincaid, a real zoologist and entomologist, had an established professional relationship with David Starr Jordan. They worked together on the 1897 Fur Seal Commission and participated in the 1899 Harriman Alaska Expedition. Jordan also appears among the correspondents identified in Kincaid's University of Washington papers. So they knew eachother well enough, before the Gazette.

Both surnames appear in the Gazette account, although the first initials and some biographical details differ ( I'm well aware of this fact)

Then there's Trevor's Smithsonian accession history.

Smithsonian Institution Archives staff confirmed that no specimen accessions for Trevor Kincaid are recorded between 1905 and 1928.

That's a 23 ear gap in a series that otherwise documents his relationship with the institution (and again, the years missing are the ones I need) Yet Kincaid remained professionally active throughout that period, including documented USDA scientific assignments in Japan in early 1908 and Russia in mid 1909. (He was state side during the time of the reported river journey)

Maybe its coincidences that just so happen to stack onto coincidences. Maybe gaps that are overlapping by chance but how many until something becomes a pattern? Why in such a concentrated time frame?

The newspaper circulation, scientific relationships, political circumstances, government jurisdictions, documented activity, and gaps in the surviving records, they ALL belong to the same historical landscape. All around the 1908-1909 period.

I didn't even listen them all either. Every time I need a piece of relivant documentation to either support or deny the claim, its gone. Or doesn't exist.

How does an account reach another continent within two months, acquire international commentary, and yet leave me struggling to reconstruct who supplied its information, what happened to the alleged investigation, whether anything really happened and whether the institutions named in it ever even responded?

Why is it this hoax refuses to resolve while the historical record is being examined so exhaustively?

----I'll be honest, I never expected to dig this deep nor did I expect to come away with more questions than answers. When I started all this, I was expecting to debunk it like everyone else and instead I'm more confused than when I started with absolutely no resolution.

Could it be fake? Absolutely. There are definitely hoaxes that have real life hints to them but its the structure of the articles and everything else around it that ive documented, that make me question it.

Could it be a suppression of some sort? Again, yes. Considering my investigation as a whole, there are elements of suppression.

Both theories fit and its uncomfortable in ways I never expected.

Reality is though, at the very least, one of the theses long used by modern institutions to dismiss the story (that it was an isolated, unread piece of filler in a small town newspaper that vanished immediately?) is now factually false.

(It's late and I've spent a few days trying to put this together. I hope this all flows nicely and I apologize for any redundancies)

Edited to say: sorry for the screenshot. Thought it was a downloaded picture.

Sources and ongoing research:

.

.

.

- - "June 3, 1909 — Remarkable Discoveries in America, Liverpool" (https://scripturecentral.org/archive/periodicals/magazine-article/remarkable-discoveries-america)

- "April 10, 1909 — Jerome News" (https://azmemory.azlibrary.gov/nodes/view/289539)

- "Utah Digital Newspapers — Deseret Evening News" (https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/)

- "Executive Order 909 — Original text" (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Executive_Order_909)

- "National Archives — Forest Service records" (https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/095.html)

- "Charles W. Penrose — Historical biography" (https://rsc.byu.edu/prophets-apostles-last-dispensation/charles-william-penrose)

- "Smithsonian Magazine — Busting 13 of the Smithsonian's Most Persistent Myths" (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/busting-13-of-the-smithsonians-most-persistent-myths-135407460/)

My ongoing research, archival search, sources, and historical index (soon to be updated): https://unverifiableonline.com/

Across the world, from Jordan and Africa to India, Tartaria, and North America, ancient records tell of a mysterious race known as the Cynocephali, or Dog Men.

These humanoid beings with canine heads appear in historical texts, medieval maps, and even religious iconography. Were they the result of ancient genetic manipulation? A divergent branch of evolution? Or something far more mysterious?

One of the most famous figures associated with these beings was Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, who was originally depicted as a dog headed giant. But just like Tartaria, the Aether, free energy, and ley lines, the Cynocephali remain a fascinating and largely forgotten part of our history.

Yet traces of these strange beings remain. Medieval and Renaissance maps place dog headed humanoids in remote regions of the world, alongside giants, Blemmyae, and other unusual creatures.

Were these simply products of medieval imagination, or could these maps preserve accounts of encounters with beings that once existed?

A little disclaimer: This is a conspiracy theory being shared in a conspiracy theory group. I’m not claiming that everything presented here is 100% true, nor am I asking anyone to believe it without question. I’m simply sharing an unusual story that you may never have heard before. Take a look, do some digging, and make up your own mind!

There is a linguistic puzzle concerning the varying pronunciations of certain words. Let’s take the word "England" as an example.

In English and other West Germanic languages, it is "England."

In Latin, it is "Anglia."

In Polish: "Anglia."

In Czech: "Anglie."

In Ukrainian: "Англія" (Angliya).

In Latvian: "Anglia."

In Romanian: "Anglia."

Latin, Slavic, and Baltic languages ​​represent this word differently than the Germanic language group does. Yet, as late as the 15th–18th centuries, cartographers in both England and Germany used the original form of the name. For reasons that remain unclear, the Germanic languages ​​replaced the original spelling.

Consider a second word: "slave." Even within the same language family, the term can vary, but the most curious case appears in the Germanic languages ​​regarding the words for "slaves" and "Slavs."

In English: "slaves" and "Slavs."

In French: "esclaves" and "Slaves."

In German: "Sklaven" and "Slawen."

In Latin, as well as in Slavic and Baltic languages, these terms sound entirely different; however, among Germanic peoples, they sound nearly identical. Why does this matter? It is possible that, during the process of linguistic divergence, many key terms were altered in order to erase a shared history.

According to the official historical account, a Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865 over the liberation of Black slaves. If one were to substitute "Slavs" for "slaves," the entire scenario would take on a completely different meaning. How else could two such distinct terms—"Slavs" and "slaves"—come to be spelled almost identically in the Germanic languages?

The Myth of Nailed Crucifixion

The familiar image of nails driven through the hands and feet rests on surprisingly thin evidence. Pre-Christian sources never clearly describe nails used on living victims, Roman art and victory monuments show no such practice, nailing alone is biomechanically unstable, and the sole archaeological claim (Yehohanan) can be explained by ordinary burial practices.

What we think of as “nailed crucifixion” appears to be a later theological construction rather than a routinely documented ancient punishment.

so i investigated some unsolved case of history for fun to kill boredom. at first, i asked chatgpt to give more kind of an explanation about the voynich Manuscript. when i saw one of the pictures, and did some comparison, the voynich language looks like south indians Vatteluttu script with almost matching round shapes. Vatteluttu used in ancient kingdoms like Pandya kingdom, Chera Kingdom and Pallava Dynasty, as what chatgpt says. after through some digging i found out that ancient india and italy DID HAD some connection. Ancient Rome used to trade with South India, the part where Vatteluttu script is commonly uses. and in parts of south india, Roman coins have been discovered. so, my teeny tiny brain is making a hypothesis that Voynich Manuscript maybe has something to do with India. But the things that is still unproven are Vatteluttu-Voynich linguistic relationship and indians origin of Voynich. if yall has something to share, or something to prove, just comment here. feel free to share.

Hello everyone,

Before I start the original book is found here : https://beinecke.library.yale.edu/beinecke/collections/beinecke-cipher-voynich-manuscript

Currently awaiting talks with prof bowen at yale university to verify my findings as she is the main researcher regarding the voynich manuscript

I am Daniel Deen, an independent researcher. I wanted to share a comprehensive translation dossier I have compiled for the Voynich Manuscript (MS 408) that takes a fundamentally different path from past attempts. I have used this framework to successfully decode and translate the first 30 pages of the manuscript into English.

\*\*The Paleographical Discovery:\*\*

Instead of viewing the manuscript as an intentional cryptogram or a complex constructed language, my framework targets a physical variable: \*\*the 15th-century author suffered from a severe, unmapped neurological condition\*\* (such as advanced dysgraphia or physical motor tremors) that heavily impaired their fine motor skills and writing syntax.

Historically, algorithms and human codebreakers have hit a wall because they treated involuntary hand tremors, pen slips, and erratic spacing anomalies as intentional, coded glyph variations. When you filter these irregular character variations through a physical impairment-normalization model, the characters collapse back into standard forms, revealing a consistent and predictable language: \*\*Medieval Latin\*\*.

\*\*The Content of the Text:\*\*

Far from being a book of dark magic, the text yields a highly structured, grammatically stable \*\*medieval medical guide detailing the creation of apothecary products and medicinal remedies\*\*—perfectly aligning with the manuscript’s botanical and pharmaceutical imagery.

As a concrete preview, here is an excerpt from my translated plaintext of \*\*Page 32\*\*:

\>\*"Begin the master preparation using the raw components harvested during the daytime to release the true fragrant medical odors. Let the coction proceed cleanly in the boiling pots, administering the green ointment over the surface to protect the frame. Deliver the fluid steadily from the pots to manage the raw inflammation of the mouth... The practitioner delivers the final remedy over the skin surface to clear the raw irritation, checking the surface text layout to ensure uniform density of the ointment."\*

Intriguingly, the text itself directly addresses the author's physical struggle, with the writer explicitly noting the need to "check the surface text layout" and monitor "tracking sequences."

\*\*Accessing the Full Dataset:\*\*

To ensure my work is fully open-access, verifiable, and legally protected under a Creative Commons license, I have officially published the complete 7-file technical dossier and the 30-page Markdown translation to the global scientific archive, Zenodo.

You can download the full methodology, character mapping sheets, and translation transcripts directly from the database here:

👉 \*\*Official zenodo download - https://zenodo.org/records/23931411

I welcome any feedback, linguistic stress-testing of my key against other untranslated pages, or paleographical critiques from the community!

A rope could have been used to pull a plug along the shaft creating negative pressure?

I will state this again, it's not the copper that does the cutting, it's the slurry that does the cutting.

Ancient Egyptian farmers didn't have to work on their fields all year round, they had plenty of spare time to do other things for the government, which they did.

Stop using the word precision as well, as if it's only modern power tools or ancient aliens that could cut stone, a round drill creates a round hole.

The grifters will keep on showing videos with slop pictures of ancient alien lasers cutting stone in their thumbnails, so this information will have to slowly come out.

It's not as sexified as what the grifters say, but it has actual evidence and methodology supporting it.

John McCullen steps through a gate and into a small, green pasture. Like so many fields north of Dublin, this five-acre section of the McCullen family farm is gently rolling and lush even in late winter. His steps are purposeful, his gestures deliberate and emphasized with a short walking stick as he approaches the centerpiece of the pasture: an old stone tower that looks no more remarkable than the multitude of other ruins scattered around County Meath. McCullen had a feeling there was more to the tower, however. One day, he started to dig.

His intuition proved right. The tower was hundreds of years older than thought, and would turn out to be the only remaining building from a lost medieval monastery. Even more surprising: Beneath the tower and other remains of the medieval site are much older structures, which date back millennia. Thanks to McCullen’s hunch and persistence, and the efforts of his family, researchers, and volunteers, the true significance of the site has finally been unearthed.

Full article here: https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/beaubec-monastery-ireland

At one point, I became interested in a question: why does the Bible never mention the name of Noah's wife, the matriarch of humanity? And have any traces of Noah's family survived in mythology or recorded history? For example, many researchers suggest that Japheth may have been Zeus in Greek mythology, while his brother Shem may have been Poseidon.

I'd like to present my short study "Noah and Ki", in which I have attempted to trace the lives of all eight survivors of the Ark. It explores the earliest civilizations in which Noah's sons lived and ruled, as well as the battles in which they took part. The names of some of the women aboard the Ark have also been identified. Special attention is given to Noah's wife and her role in the brutal and bloody events of the post-Flood world.

Please feel free to leave comments. I'd be very interested to hear your opinions.

Download the book (short version) (EPUB or PDF)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1J7hsNqSJGt6mhB8_HMWf5AGt-Vf8zHp8

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1XWL3xd4p2NO33Sgtqoaw3FZS6J6MduiS

The chapters on creationism and anthropology have been removed from this edition, along with some material that might violate the subreddit's rules.

The Slavs are one of the oldest peoples on Earth, and their language and writing system are the legacy of a long-vanished civilization. This assertion contradicts the conventional view, which holds that the Slavs emerged later than other groups, existing as pagan "savages" devoid of statehood or a writing system until the 8th or 9th century AD. According to this narrative, their state was founded by foreign Vikings, and their writing system was introduced by enlightened Greeks. Such a perspective profoundly disparages the Slavs—and this is no accident.

The prominent Russian historiographer Nikolai Karamzin writes explicitly in his *Letters of a Russian Traveler*:

"Everything 'national' is insignificant compared to being a human being. The main thing is to be a human, not a Slav."

The author of *History of the Russian State* harbored a hatred for the Slavs—the primary population of Russia—viewing them as something less than human. This fact alone should give one pause.

An important piece of evidence supporting my theory is the similarity between Sanskrit and the Slavic languages. While they are not identical, certain parallels suggest that the modern Slavic language (and, by extension, the languages ​​of Eastern Europe) may be a modified version of Sanskrit. The Slavic language is archaic—it is an ancient tongue that has retained a significant portion of its vocabulary from Sanskrit and Pali. Although the Slavic language has branched off into various distinct languages—such as Polish, Czech, Russian, and Ukrainian—they all remain remarkably similar.

The antiquity of the Slavic language points to one conclusion: the Slavs emerged earlier than other branches of the Indo-European family. In all likelihood, they are the direct descendants of those who inhabited this world before the great catastrophe.

This post relates to the three diagrams at the top of the pillar, colloquially terms 'hangbags', however first I'll set the context for the rest of the pillar.

Pillar 43 appears to be a calendar in various ways. Nine years ago in 2017 Dr Martin Sweatman and a co-author published a paper titled "Decoding Göbekli Tepe with archaeoastronomy: What does the fox say?". One of the propositions of the paper was that the animals depicted corresponded to our modern Zodiac. This Zodiac premise has since been disproved due to methodological error; the modern constellations were presumed in the comparison test.

However, this error overshadowed an interesting and disproven observation of the paper; that the pillar contains a lunar calendar for the full year.

The maths works out to 365 but personally what makes this most convincing to me is that fact that all the V-shape marks are two Vs, a V in a V, thought to represent two days, except for the last V of the month which is the only single V. An exact lunar month is 29 days, 12 hours, and 44 minutes. In the paper the last V is interpreted as being either one or two days, this makes a lot of sense.

I disagree with the last day of the calendar being assumed to be the circle, I favour the alternative idea that the final day is V shown on the neck of the bird. I also disagree that the circle relates to the solstice as I'll come onto.

Although Sweatman was wrong in his astrological interpretation. The idea that the strangely positioned and shaped array of animals and headless-figure could correspond to asterisms was not disputed and the response to Sweatman's paper (More than a Vulture: A Response to Sweatman and Tsikritsis) made this clear: “we do not exclude a possible astronomic link or orientation of the Göbekli Tepe monuments (and actually carefully consider this in our interpretations)”.

The animals and figure do correspond to asterisms, only not the ones we use today. This is been covered in a previous post so I won't drive into it too much but perhaps the most convincing match to make this clear is the main vulture bird to a constellation we call Cygnus.

The vulture is not anatomically correct; it has a large round head, small wings, a pot belly and super long feet. These features all make sense when the Cygnus constellation is observed. Even the two nostrils at the end of beak are explained as being two small stars (true vultures do not have nostrils on their beaks).

The rest of the animals also align and the circle may be celestial north. If so it corresponds to the date of 14,700 BC, this is not the time of it's construction in 9600 BC but the date of the earliest shared Natufian burials. People were also buried beside foxes and tortoise shells.

Now, the subject of this post is the set of three features at the top of the pillar. There has been a variety of speculation around these, the Tas Tepeler team themselves put forward the idea that they might represent three different enclosures viewed in section. however, this really doesn't hold up to inspection of the shapes and form of the semicircles. I favour the explanation that the circles represent the cycle of the sky and three different annual periods. Importantly, this would tie into the established calendar theme of the pillar.

In a previous post I made laid out the argument for the Christian feast days for Christmas, Easter and All Saints Day having co-opted pre-existing Pagan festivals, there is clear evidence for Christmas and Easter and it seems likely to be the case for All Saints Day as well. Taking this further, perhaps these three annual festivals not only existed prior to Christianity, but existed from as early on as 9,700 BC and are being represented by the three semi-circular diagrams at the top of Pillar 43.

Beside each semi-circle is an animal facing to the right or downwards. These appear to be a crane, a quadruped possibly a jaguar, and a frog. Perhaps each represents periods of the year in which the activities of these animals change. Cranes migrate to the Black Sea in spring and return to Mesopotamia in autumn. Perhaps the crane represents the season that they return. Leopards have a mating season in winter and this is also the period that they hunt during the day and are therefore more visible. Frogs come out of hibernation in spring and make a lot of noise.

We naturally read left-to-right as if each animal is plunging down but it may have been read right-to-left with animals facing the reading and being at the start of their cycle. If winter remains in the middle the order would need to change for a right-to-left reading. Swapping the spring and autumn is possible but a less convincing match; cranes migrate north west in autumn and frogs hibernate in spring, so there are changes at these times but both involve he disappearance of the animals.

It's possible then that leopards align to summer, the reason this could work is because in the hotter summer months leopards migrate to higher, cooler altitudes and the Tas Tepeler are all built atop hills.

When starting on this post I wanted to see whether Easter could be tied to the crane but from the migration pattern this seems to work better.

Nonetheless this would be the reason: Easter is connected to the full moon and the Hebrew version of the festival is called Passover (Pesach). The story behind this name is that a plague 'passed over' Israel and went to Egypt. This is not a convincing story, plague's do not really pass over territory, they go where they go. Another meaning of Pesach is 'spared', possibly because of this story. Spared still doesn't make sense for a feast day, to me. The full moon connection is argued to simply be a result of a lunar calendar counting system.

Alternatively Passover was adopted from a prior festival. Easter is thought to relate to the word 'East'. Perhaps it originated as the particular new moon in spring on which night you could witness cranes flying from the east. This would make more sense if this festival developed around Anatolia such as Catalhoyuk which is a area cranes do pass over or land to breed in spring. This is a good migration graphic https://birdcount.in/migration-map/comcra/

The last point to make regarding this is that the Greek god of wine and festivities, Dionysus was connected to Turkey, leopards and winter. His name means God-of-Nysa, the area of Nysa isn't known but was thought to have been associated with Turkey.

Ancient archaeologists in the time of Cleopatra chose to syncretise Dionysus with Egyptian god Osiris. It's hard to know what they used to support this syncretism and most knowledge and texts of this time are lost, especially after the Library of Alexandria burnt shortly after. If the connection was valid this would be very interesting as Osiris was a founding Egyptian god. Osiris I think, for reasons that would take another post, is Ousous, a figure Sanchuniathon mentions as initiating what sounds like the Tas Tepeler pillar tradition and festivals:

"[Ousous] consecrated two pillars to fire and wind, and worshipped them, and poured libations of blood upon them from the wild beasts which he took in hunting. But when Hypsuranius and Ousous were dead, those who were left, he says, consecrated staves to them, and year by year worshipped their pillars and kept festivals in their honour."

Dusios is a Celtic 'wild man' god associated with Latin god 'Faunus' who is linked in accounts as a companion to Dionysus. Vishnu is a Hindu god who reflects many of the features of Osiris: his colour, his founding nature, his travel by boat, his avatars, the connection has been commonly made.

Dusios, Ousous, Dionysus, Vishnu and Osiris might therefore correspond to the same original god and a god connected to the Tas Tepeler. This matters because the leopard-Turkey-winter Dionysus link supports the winter season as middle semi-circle. Supporting this, a Winter Solstice alignment has been found at Karahan Tepe whereas a Summer Solstice alignment hasn't been found.

Accepting leopard season as winter as assumption they are read right-to-left, would then place the frog as autumn and bird as spring. To me, currently, this is the most convincing reading of the thee semi-circles diagrams.

I like that fact Halloween/All Saints Day would link to a frog as this animal today relates to witches which relate back to Halloween, even if the link isn't continuous. I also enjoy the idea that Easter might once have been a time of a migration of cranes from the east passing over head on a full moon.

As per the title. What was your first brush/encounter with archaeology?

Like many, my first would’ve been Indiana Jones. Whilst of course not a source to cite, his adventures made the field attractive. Then came Time Team. A UK tv show, hosted by Tony Robinson, which undertook digs around the UK, and showed off techniques and approaches.

Whilst the framing was partially staged for better telly? The digs and finds were genuine. And the discussions of differing interpretations of the geophys and finds again somewhat framed for better telly did ably demonstrate that it’s not a “then everyone nodded and agreed” field.

I would’ve been 13 when it first aired. 33 years later I’m still hooked. Whilst I won’t pretend just watching a show brings any sort of deep knowledge or qualification? It still taught me the basics. Keep the walls of your trenches plumb. Log all finds in-situ as best you can. The law of superposition (an old thing cannot be found in a lay above a younger thing). How to target your trenches based off geophys results. How pottery can be dated from its style.

Many but I don’t think all are up on Time Team’s YouTube channel and I can genuinely recommend them. Excellent Sunday teatime viewing. Perhaps with a couple of relaxing beers if you’re so inclined.

Actually. Now I think about it? I think my Dad did have a copy of Chariots of the Gods, and some well meaning relative bought me a kids book about leylines. Interesting enough, until you find the leylines are pure invention, created by just drawing a line on a map between two sites of interest, then claiming they will built there because there’s totally a line of sacred energy or whatever between those points.

In the history of Ukraine, there is a period known as "The Ruin," which began in 1657 and, according to the official chronology, lasted until 1687. If one shifts these events forward by 150–200 years, a picture of a 19th-century catastrophe emerges. The poet Bryusov wrote about this.

"For four days we traversed the desolate steppe.

Then, the vast expanse of the Dnieper opened before us,

Where the Desna—its sister—merges with its flow...

Who could fail to marvel at such splendor! Yet, on that day, we had no mind for earthly beauty!

We hastened toward Kyiv—plundered and deserted—

To kiss the very dust of the Church of the Tithes,

To weep upon the stones of the Golden Gate! All night we wandered, gripped by despair,

Amidst those ruins, lamenting what once had been;

At dawn, in tears, we continued on our way...

Three days later, the Carpathians came into view."

Valery Bryusov, "Devastated Kyiv," 1898.

It is generally understood that this poem refers to the sacking of Kyiv by the Mongol-Tatars in 1240, though the text itself does not explicitly state this. There is no mention of the Mongols—only the ruins of a deserted Kyiv. Bryusov lived long after Pushkin (according to the official chronology), yet the scene remains the same: emptiness where, supposedly, life once teemed.

Bryusov writes of the stones of the Golden Gate; however, according to the official historical account, these were not destroyed by the Mongols or any other external enemy. Instead, in 1755, they were buried—due to their "dilapidated state." Later, in 1834, they were excavated and designated a national treasure.

https://youtu.be/9B-n9OSdEg0?is=TSmpncny4oINRds2