Before the discovery of the Russian tool kit, it was thought that the remaining Neanderthals were located on the Iberian Peninsula where Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar are now located. However, evidence now exists that suggests that may not have been the case. It is not surprising that the tools were still found on the outskirts of their former range as these were the areas that had Neanderthals living with the least amount of interference by Homo sapiens.

Evidence at the Ural mountain site included hundreds of stone tools, butchered mammoth bones and sand grains. They all show evidence that the site was in use approximately 33,000 years ago. The items were dated using luminescence and radiocarbon techniques. Luminescence dating is a technique that shows how long ago an item was exposed to sunlight. Scientists had believed that Neanderthals were no longer in existence 33,000 years ago.

Unlike other sites, there were no human remains found at the site, which was located at Byzovaya. This makes it difficult to prove that the site was inhabited by Neanderthals. However, the style of the tools is distinctly Neanderthal. In the past, the only sites that had these items were those that were inhabited by Neanderthals.

What has also surprised archaeologists is the fact that the site is located much further north than the range that was previously determined for Neanderthals. The site is located at the same latitude as Iceland. The weather there is brutally cold and it would have been necessary for Neanderthals to learn how to survive and flourish in an extreme climate.

Scientists have found that some humanoids exhibited Neanderthal traits as much as 600,000 years ago. Neanderthals were believed to be comparable to that of modern humans although their bone structure was much more robust than that of Homo sapiens. Neanderthals were also much stronger than modern humans and they had brains that were similar in size, if not larger, than the brain capacity of modern humans.

Previously, it was believed that Neanderthals were strict carnivores although recent evidence of cooked plant matter in the teeth of a Neanderthal skull has caused scientists to reevaluate this view. Neanderthal bones were first discovered in Engis, Belgium in 1829 CE and in Gibraltar in 1848. It is believed that they were alive and active for approximately 100,000 years. Their remains have not been found in Africa.

There have been several theories as to why the Neanderthals became extinct. One theory simply states that modern humans moved into their habitat approximately 80,000 years ago. There may have been violent conflict between Neanderthals and modern humans that eventually led to the Neanderthals being displaced. Another theory states that they interbred with modern humans and simply ceased to exist as a separate species. A final theory states that there may have been a volcanic super-eruption approximately 40,000 years ago that may have led to the demise of Neanderthals.

When his lungs were examined, it was found that they were blackened. Scientists surmised that this was because he had breathed the smoke from campfires. His skin was preserved well enough that the scientists studying the body were able to locate and document tattoos. In this case, they were found on his lumbar spine, behind his right knee and around his ankles. It was believed that they may have been related to acupuncture treatments that were intended to relieve or reduce pain. The earliest confirmed accounts of acupuncture and acupressure in China were from 2000 years later than the time when the iceman walked the earth.

A lot of information was found regarding the iceman’s health. It is known that he suffered from a parasite known as whipworm and that he had been sick approximately three times in the six months that preceded his death. He also suffered from a number of cavities that had deteriorated his teeth prior to his death.

One of the most interesting pieces of information that scientists were able to learn from the Iceman’s body was what his last meal or meals were. Scientists were able to analyze the contents of his lower intestine and had found that he had eaten a meal that consisted of grains and possibly the meat of red deer and goats. They had been unable to use an endoscope to view the contents of his stomach and were unable to tell what his last meal would have been.

Now scientists have been able to study Ӧtzi’s stomach contents. Scanning the body with computer assisted tomography (CAT scanning) showed that the stomach had shifted into the space that would normally be occupied by the lower part of his lungs. Scientists are unsure of exactly why the stomach shifted but were able to locate it and get a sample of its contents.

It is now known that the stomach contained traces of meat and grains. The volume of the stomach contents was fairly substantial which told scientists that Ӧtzi had eaten a large meal approximately two hours before his death. They were able to separate out some larger pieces of meat and grain from the other stomach contents. Scientists are unsure of whether the meat was cooked. There was evidence of animal hairs and fly parts which suggested that the meat may not have been thoroughly cleaned before it was eaten.

Scientists are unsure of why Ӧtzi was killed. They do suspect that his death may not have been from natural causes. An arrowhead had been found lodged in his left shoulder. It was believed that he may have been killed as a ritual sacrifice. The shaft of the arrowhead had been snapped off and evidence of defensive wounds and a blow to the head were also detected.

The Picts had their own unique language which is no longer spoken today. Scientists and anthropologists believe that the language may have been related to the Brythonic languages which were spoken by Britons who were living in the southern areas of the British Isles. The Picts were mentioned in the Roman conquest of Britain but disappeared from any historical accounts around the 10^th century. It was believed that at that time, the Picts merged with the Gaels and that their distinct culture ceased to exist.

Scientists have been unable to determine the reason why the Picts may have decorated the large stone slabs. The markings on the stones are not well understood. It is thought that some may have been personal memorials while others may have been decorated with clan markings, or symbols that showed what a person’s lineage may have been. While some acted as personal memorials they are rare.

It is believed that between thirty and sixty separate symbols were used on Pictish stones. Some were quite intricate and complicated. Some stones are decorated with images that represented animals such as salmon, wolves, stags, eagles and adders. Some Pictish stones were decorated with a creature known as the Pictish Beast. The Pictish Beast is a mythological animal that resembles a seahorse. Scientists are not sure what the beast is supposed to represent. Some stones are decorated with images of common, everyday objects that were used by high status individuals.

There are three different classes of Pictish stones. The first, class 1, are made of rough, unworked stone. These tend to be the earliest stones and date from between the 6^th and 8^th centuries. These stones do not have a cross on them but do have other symbols carved into the surface of the stone.

Class 2 stones are somewhat more complex. They often have crosses or other Christian motifs on them. They tend to be more rectangular and may be decorated on both sides. They tend to date from the 8^th and 9^th centuries. This is the beginning of the period when the Picts were becoming Christianized.

The last category of stones dates from the 8^th and 9^th centuries. Unlike the other stones the latest versions are not marked with symbols that are uniquely Pictish. They often have crosses on them and have many different uses and forms.

Individuals who want to see the Pictish standing stones will usually have to go to a museum or other facility in order to see them. The majority have been moved from their original locations although a few still stand at the sites where they were originally placed.

When researchers entered the cave, they were searching for items such as bones, tools and other artifacts as well as stones that may have been used by early residents of the cave. What they found was far more valuable. Even though the cave had been examined many times over the years, the cave art that decorated the walls had never been spotted. Researchers did not even notice the drawings until they were on their way out of the cave.

It was then that the images of handprints and horses were spotted. The drawings have been dated and are believed to have been created approximately 25,000 years ago. The drawings included a red horse with a profile that resembled a duck bill. This was a feature that is fairly common to other European cave art examples.

Other caves in northern Spain have been decorated with Paleolithic cave art. The most famous is likely Altamira. In 1879, scientists discovered that the 270 meter long cave was full of artifacts that ranged in age from 18,500 years ago to 16,500 years ago. The cave was also home to drawings that had been created using ochre, hematite and charcoal. Further variations in color were developed by diluting these three main colors and the end result was a three dimensional image.

Animals tend to be used a lot in Paleolithic cave art. Often, these were animals that were hunted and consumed although not all were. Some of the most common animals that are found in cave art from this era include horses, bison and red deer (also known as hinds). Scientists have theorized that the differences in which animals were most common tended to be more of a regional or artistic difference.

The Basque culture has several legends about the Askondo cave. One legend is that the cave is the home to a mythological beast known as a lamia. This was a half woman-half duck that attacked a young boy and dragged him into the cave. According to legend, he was not seen from again. Other legends state that the cave was used as a meeting place for witches.

Scientists are examining the Askondo cave more extensively now that the cave paintings have been discovered. They plan to excavate the area in order to tell whether there were signs of people living in the cave at the time that the art was completed. Another plan is to restore the paintings that have sustained the most damage or which have faded more extensively than others. The researchers who are examining the cave say that they are excited due to the fact that it is possible to enter the cave using the original entrance, something which is not possible with many of the other caves where this type of artwork has been discovered.

Friday’s status as an unlucky day was mentioned in The Canterbury Tales. These were a collection of stories that were written near the end of the fourteenth century. Their author, Geoffrey Chaucer, wrote the work as a collection of poems and stories. They describe the journey of a group of pilgrims as they travel from Southwark to Canterbury. It was believed that beginning a project or starting a journey on a Friday was unwise. It is unknown why this is although one tradition states that Jesus was crucified on a Friday.

For the Knights Templar, Friday the 13^th was truly unlucky. The order was both monastic and militant in nature. They were formed to protect the pilgrims who were traveling from Europe to Jerusalem. The Crusades were in full swing during this time and the road that pilgrims would travel was, at times, quite perilous. If the Templars had only stuck to physical protection, they likely would not have had any problems. Unfortunately, the order felt that protecting the money belonging to the pilgrims was also important.

The banking system that the order created helped make the Knights Templar wealthy. They used this money in order to fund the purchase of various holdings throughout Europe. The holdings included wineries, homes, mills and castles. The Templars also lent money to a number of individuals including King Philip IV of France. He had been involved in a war with England that had cost him most of his money. Once that was gone, he had then gone deeply into debt by borrowing from the Templars. Instead of paying the money back, Philip had different ideas.

He accused the Templars of many different crimes. Among the charges were that the order spat on the cross, that the order engaged in homosexual acts, and that they practiced heresy. The charges were backed by Pope Clement V and other Vatican officials. The King sent secret orders to the King’s Men and other Bailiffs. They were to be opened at the same time and acted on immediately.

On Friday October 13^th, 1307 the orders were opened and put into action. Every Knight Templar in France was arrested. Their properties were seized in the name of the king and the knights themselves were tortured until they confessed to the charges that had been brought against them. Their leader, the Templar Grand Master Jacques De Molay was ordered to publicly admit his guilt. Instead of doing so, he publicly recanted his confessions and apologized for the weakness that he had shown.

This enraged King Philip and he had De Molay burned at the stake. While he burned, De Molay cursed both the king and the pope, saying they would die before the year ended. This ultimately came true, which has only added to the evil reputation that this day possesses.

According to religious lore, the site (which is known as Saint Patrick’s Purgatory) was shown to Saint Patrick in the fifth century. Christ allegedly revealed the site to Saint Patrick and informed him that it was a literal entrance to hell. It was believed that the site was a cave or pit although some individuals believe that it may actually have been the remnants of a much older structure such as a sweat lodge. According to religious history, the site was referred to as Purgatory by God when the site was being revealed to the saint. It was believed that by showing individuals that Purgatory was real that it would be easier to make the people of Ireland find faith and be converted to the Christian faith.

Saint Patrick lived from 387 CE to 493 CE and was a Briton of Roman descent. He had originally lived in Scotland but was captured by raiders and taken to Ireland when he was approximately sixteen years of age. He lived there as a slave for six years after which he was able to escape and return to Scotland. He was ordained as a bishop after entering the Church and, as a result, was sent to serve in northwest Ireland.

Early Christian converts were full of doubt and, after a while, Saint Patrick began to become discouraged by their constant demands for proof of God. Patrick prayed for God to send him the proof that the people were demanding and, after that, the site on Station Island was revealed to him.

The site originally consisted of a cave but after 1632 pilgrims could no longer access it directly. The site had a narrow entrance which led into a small cave that was divided into two niches. Both were extremely small and only had enough room to kneel and pray in.

While it was widely viewed as an entrance to Hell, some historians and archaeologists have taken a different view of the site. Originally, a “purgatorium” was not somewhere that punishment took place. Instead, it had a more positive reputation. Individuals would often journey to a purgatorium in order to be cleansed and then healed either physically or spiritually.

Regardless of what the original use for the cave was, it is now a place that is visited by people of all faiths and is now used as a place of prayer, meditation and contemplation. They journey to the island by boat and spend three days with very little food. The pilgrimage involves moving around the island barefoot while a number of prayers and liturgies are recited. This ritual has been taking place for more than 1500 years and shows no sign of slowing down today.

Archaeologists have discovered a pit near the town of Weymouth. The remains of 51 skeletons were found in the pit. They had all been decapitated before being placed in the pit and the heads had been stacked to the side. Although the remains had been discovered in 2009, it took several years to determine that they were, in fact, Vikings and not the remains of the ancient Anglo-Saxons who had lived in the area at the time.

Living in ancient Britain had its challenges. The weather in some areas was somewhat inhospitable. Living near rivers was thought to be a good idea up until the Vikings began moving away from the coast in order to attack more inland settlements. They were able to sail up many of the rivers and were quite willing to walk to others in order to raid them for food and other valuables. Often the sheer numbers of Vikings made them an unbeatable force. It became common knowledge that living anywhere within 20 miles (32 km) of the English coast meant that you were susceptible to Viking raids and attacks.

The remains that were found in the Weymouth pit seem to have met a painful and thoroughly unpleasant end. Many of the skeletons have marks on them that showed they were struck repeatedly with axes and other weapons. Several of the skeletons show defensive wounds and one had several fingers on one hand sliced through. The skeletons also bear marks that showed their heads were hacked off rather than removed cleanly.

There were many signs that the individuals in the pit were not well-liked. The first is that they had their heads piled to one side. This may have been a form of display that celebrated a victory over the Viking invaders. Another sign was that they were buried on a hilltop. The pit was located near the main road to Weymouth. Victims of the Vikings were usually left where they fell and were often located in villages or on the beaches where the Vikings landed.

The victims were also buried naked which was unusual. This made it difficult for scientists to determine whether the victims were Vikings or were Anglo- Saxons. Archaeologists often use items such as clothes, weapons and other items in order to tell where a victim may have been from. The lack of any clues made it difficult to tell whether the bodies were Vikings or not.

Recently, scientists were able to test the teeth from the skulls found in the pit. This gave them a large amount of information about the individuals buried there. Tests showed that the skulls belonged to individuals who lived in climates that were much cooler than those in ancient Britain. They also showed clues about the diet that sustained the men in the pit which was also different than that of the Anglo-Saxons living in Britain at the time.

It was believed that the former owner of the brain, a man from the Iron Age, had been the victim of ritual decapitation. Bone fractures and marks on the skull indicate that the body was hanged and then decapitated. It was believed that the cut marks show that after hanging, a knife or other sharpened implement was used to sever the head from the body. While the body was ritually decapitated, it is unknown why the man was hanged in the first place.

The head was thrown into a clay pit. This is what ultimately led to the preservation of the brain. The man’s body, however, has never been located. The thick, wet clay that filled the pit helped to stave off decomposition. The brain did not escape totally unscathed however. It showed signs of dehydration and the loss of water meant that the brain was much smaller than it would have been in real life.

There were several factors that lead to the brain’s preservation. The first is that the clay was very low in oxygen. Oxygen feeds the microbes that dissolve dead tissue and so a low supply of oxygen meant that the work of the microbes was slowed down significantly. The second factor that led to the brain’s preservation was the fact that the temperature in the clay pit was quite cool. When temperatures are fairly low it means that the enzymes which also would have broken down soft tissue could not work as quickly as they would under warmer, more favorable conditions.

Scientists also believe that the brain’s preserved state could have been aided by the fact that the head had been removed from the body. Many of the bacteria that break down a human body actually come from within that body itself. All humans carry bacteria in their gut and these continue to work even after death. This means that a human body tends to decompose from the inside out. Because these bacteria were not present, the body did not break down and the brain may have been decomposed as a result.

Other ancient brains have been discovered but for the most part they are extremely rare and any ancient brains tended to be fossilized. One prime example is a fossilized brain found in an iniopterygian, which was an ancient ancestor of the modern-day ratfish. The brain that was discovered was about the size of a pea.

Because they still do not understand how the human brain was so well preserved they are continuing to experiment in an attempt to recreate the process. A number of pigs’ heads have been buried around the site which predated the Roman presence in Britain.

In its early days, the tower was actually used as a royal residence and was called The White Tower instead. The English really did not like the fact that the Normans had conquered England and saw the Tower of London as a symbol of that oppression. It was a beautiful residence and was actually a complex of several buildings inside a wall and moat rather than a single tower. Later rulers such as Richard the Lionheart, Edward I and Henry III expanded on the complex.

Although most people think of the beheadings that were held there, the tower was actually used on joyous occasions as well. Monarchs would stay overnight at the tower and then travel from the tower to Westminster Abbey where they were crowned. During the Tudor period, it was used as a royal residence less and less and as a prison on an increasingly regular basis.

The tower gained attention due to some of the prisoners that were kept there. It was usually a place for prisoners who were royalty or who were politically important. Sir Thomas Moore was one of the most famous prisoners. He was sent to the tower after publicly disagreeing with King Henry VIII over his marriage to Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn herself was kept at the tower prior to her beheading in 1536. Executions were held on the Tower Green and a total of 112 prisoners were executed there during the tower’s use as a prison.

Some of the most famous residents of the tower are not even human. A group of common ravens have lived at the tower for hundreds of years. The ravens living at the tower are connected to a popular legend. It is said that if the ravens leave the tower that the tower will fall. If that happens, it is said that the monarchy will come to an end. The ravens that live at the tower are fed well and tended by the tower guards. Their wings are now clipped so that they cannot fly away. They strut around the grounds and are a popular site with the tourists who visit the tower.

Tower guards take place in a ceremony called the Ceremony of the Keys. This has taken place every night since the 14^th century. The ceremony starts with the locking of the tower gate with keys that are held by the Chief Warder of the tower. They are then carried to a building known as the Queen’s House and the last post is played on a trumpet.

For someone infected with the plague, the suffering was horrible. It usually began with a headache. The infected person was usually exhausted and unable to move around much. Often, their back would hurt and they vomited. Their arms and legs would ache. Then, they would develop red spots and swellings on their body. The swellings, called buboses, would turn black and split open and the victim would begin to experience internal bleeding. The plague was easy to spread and entire families would become infected in a very short period of time.

Other forms of the plague accompanied the bubonic plague. Some people suffered from the pneumonic plague which was spread via coughing or sneezing. They had different symptoms but the outcome was the same: almost inevitable death.

By today’s standards, a disease (especially an incredibly contagious one like the plague) can spread internationally in only a few hours. Now, one infected person can simply hop on a plane and hop from country to country bringing illness and even death with them in a relatively short time. This was simply not the case back in the 1300’s. That being said, although it was incredibly easy to contract the plague, the speed at which it spread was terrifying. After all, in the 1300’s, travel took an exceedingly long time.

In the 1300s, trade was conducted between Asia and Europe along what is known as the Silk Road. This was a combination of roads and sea routes that made it easy to transport goods such as silk and spices from producers in Asia to the eager markets in Europe. Accompanying the goods along their journey were rats. Rats have fleas and it was these fleas that helped spread the plague from victim to victim.

In 1347, the siege of Caffa took place. This was a trading post manned by Genoese merchants by Turkish soldiers. The Turks were suffering from the plague and took advantage of a unique and devastating weapon. Using siege machines, they flung bodies of individuals who had succumbed to the plague over the walls. This broke the siege. The Genoese fled, but took the plague with them back to Europe.

There, the effect was devastating. People were falling ill and dying at an alarming rate. Their bodies and the bodies of those who were not yet dead were flung into open pits instead of being buried properly. Houses were boarded up and burned with individuals still inside. Everywhere, people prayed to God to save them. Slowly, Europe and Asia recover even though it claimed a third to a half of Europe’s population before it was through.