Many of us have a fascination with ancient things. It’s probably about the same amount of people who are interested in space, but I may be wrong about this. I do know there are many people who like to read about recent ancient discoveries and I am one of them. Sometimes some of the discoveries surprise us, because they concern things which are more advanced than we ever imagined they could be in ancient times. Some of these things are so advanced there are those who claim the objects weren’t made by humans, because they just didn’t have the technology at the time they were made. To these people I have to say there has been so much advanced technology lost it would shock us to our very core if it was ever found and exposed. When we find objects which prove ancient Romans were working with nano technology how can we explain this?

We know the Lycurgus Cup was created by romans in the 4th century. The cup changes colors as light passes through it and has puzzled scientists for centuries. We have found the reason for this, nono sized pieces of gold added to the glass, but so far no one can figure out how this was done. Think about it, the pieces of gold were so small that individually the grains probably could not be seen by a human eye much less created at that size. Gold was not the only metal put into the glass, it also had nano sized grains of silver. It has been determined the mix was about 330 parts per million of silver and 40 parts per million of gold. You would think a powerful machine would have been needed to create these tiny pieces and a powerful microscope used, but we don’t believe the Romans had these things. Indeed the Romans were very good at using common things to accomplish extraordinary tasks. As far as the cup goes the color depends on what angle the light is shining through it. If it hits the silver bits you get one color, the gold another. The cup goes from green to red. Kudos to those extraordinary Roman workmen.

The world’s oldest surviving dress has been found. Aside from the fact it could use a good ironing, this is a little humor,  it is in good condition for something made in 3,482 B.C. It is the oldest piece of woven garment found in the world and the oldest garment found in Egypt. It was incredibly nice when it was made and was said to have been woven from linen. I am not a fashion expert, but here is how it was described. It has knife-pleated sleeves and a nice pale grey striped design. If we take the advanced design of the dress into account, I believe we have to determine weaved clothing dates back a lot further, but due to the delicate nature of clothing we probably won’t find anything older, unless nature has found a way to preserve a piece of cloth.

Scientists love it when they find ancient scrolls. When the Dead Sea scrolls were found they not only excited the religious among us, but also the scientific community. We are always looking to learn a lot more about those who have gone before us. You can imagine how disappointed scientists were when they found scrolls from 79 AD which had been buried in hot lava. The scrolls come from Herculaneum the Roman city which along with Pompeii was buried by a volcanic eruption. Somehow even though the scrolls were damaged they were not completely burned. Scientists think they can read the scrolls today, because the Romans used metallic ink, which scientists didn’t believe existed at the time. The ink contained sizeable amounts of lead. Because the ink is metallic it contrasts with the papyrus and it is believed if the scrolls can be hit with a strong enough X-ray beam scientists will be able to read at least some of the writing. In Herculaneum an arched vault was found where over 300 people had huddled to escape the eruption. They all died. What will we find in the scrolls, will it possibly be information which we never knew or just the accounts of some merchants? Time will tell.

I think by now anyone interested in ancient Egypt or archaeology has heard archaeologists think they have found another chamber behind a wall in King Tut’s tomb. There has been much speculation on what could be in there and some people think it could be the tomb of Queen Nefertiti who was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten, father of Tut. One of the reasons for this is the fact her body has never been found. It is believed Akhenaten was buried in the Valley of the Kings and this was backed up by DNA tests, so it does make one wonder why Nefertiti would be in Tut’s tomb. Some experts believe Tut was put into Nefertiti’s tomb when he died, because he died suddenly and there was no time to construct a tomb for him. If it turns out there is something behind the walls, then I would think the other tombs which have already been constructed should also be checked for false walls and such. Not only did radar detect a chamber behind the walls, but metals and organic materials have been detected using devices.

We know Neanderthals had been around far longer than humans and a new discovery in Spain shows they were there at least 400,000 years ago and perhaps as far back as 500,000 years ago. It does make one wonder how a race could exist that long and not progress in technology in any meaningful way. It does prove a point however and the point is just because a race is ancient doesn’t mean it has advanced. The reason I mention this is alien hunters always say if we find older races they will be more advanced than us. I think Neanderthals have proven this is not always the case. Non-African humans are said to have about 2% Neanderthal DNA in their bodies and sub-Saharan Africans who never had ancestors who went to Europe have 0% Neanderthal DNA.

A very ancient race known as the Vinca existed in Serbia. They date back about 7,000 years and created what some believe are statues of aliens who they worshiped as gods. Not everyone believes this of course and many in the scientific community laugh at this idea. It is an idea which is held by many for other ancient races. Many of the statues seem to be almost exact copies of each other and while they may be statues of their gods, it doesn’t mean they were copies of extraterrestrials they had seen. I think one of the reasons for this belief is the eyes on the statues look very much like those on depictions of Grays. In any case, every once in a while you will see one of these statues come up for auction on Ebay.