The history of the world is often based on coincidences, but sometimes human beings have a hand in them, and this is specifically true at sea.
Survival of the fittest at sea
Wandering in hidden places
In the middle of August last year, I stood in a grotto whose walls were grey with wetness and covered in stalactites. The light from the headlamps flickered eerily and my shoes slipped on the ancient steps of a sunken amphitheatre that the tuff had enclosed as tightly as hard stone. At one place a... Continue Reading →
What if, for once, a pandemic would make us happier?
The Corona pandemic might not have only negative effects. It taught us to better telework, and might improve our lifebalance and the wellbeing of our world.
The haunted lion of Venice
The story of a mysterious haunted lion statue in Venice leads to the traces of a peculiar theft of art.
The first European settlement on the American continent is threatened by deterioration – La Isabela
La Isabela, the first European settlement in the Americas, is threatened by erosion and decay.
The bizarre tradition of the deformed skulls
A particularly severe intervention was the deformation of the head of newborn babies. Despite its bizarre cruelty, it seems to have been a surprisingly widespread tradition.
El Dorado lies under water
In their quest for wealth, the European conquerors met with legends that made them penetrate ever further into the interior of the American continent. One of these legends was that of El Dorado, 'the Golden one'. While various cartoons and films today portray El Dorado as a mythical city, it was more likely a human being.
The pillaging of ancient shipwrecks does great damage
Pillaging of cultural artifacts from ancient shipwrecks causes enormous damage.
They cooked the emperor (really!)
In times of the crusade the dead kings that died in the Holy Land where often cooked, in order to be able to bring their bones back home.
Ritual Cannibalism in Europe – A female goddess of death might hide in German fairy tales
Fascinating finds were made in a mysterious cave on Kyffhäuser Mountain in Germany. They seem to contain sacrificial human offerings, victims of cannibalism, which were offered to an ancient goddess. Perhaps they are the starting point of the legend of someone lying asleep in the mountain and of today’s famous fairy-tales....
Archaeology Mysteries 