A joint Japanese-Bolivian research team has completed the first stage of a three-year investigation that aims to shed light on a little-known high culture that existed in the present-day Bolivian Amazon.The investigation, named "Project Mojos," is headed by Katsuyoshi Sanematsu, a professor of anthropology at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. In an interview Wednesday, Sanematsu, 56, told Kyodo News that the team, composed of four Japanese researchers and four Bolivian researchers, succeeded in finding hundreds of archaeological artifacts during a monthlong excavation that ended earlier this month."It is very unusual for such a large number of artifacts to be foundat a single site in the region, especially in an excavation of such a short time," he said.
The
so-called ancient Mojos culture is presumed to have existed in the
Bolivian Amazon for thousands of years before the arrival of the
Spanish conquistadores.In the Llanos de Mojos, a large, seasonally flooded plain in the northeastern part of Bolivia, there remains abundant evidence of this ancient culture.
Most prominent are 20,000 man-made hills or mounds, 5,000 kilometers of straight roads, a large network of canals, and 2,000 artificial lakes.When considering the enormous scale of such earthworks, the ancient Mojos culture could rightly be called a civilization newly found that existed in the land of ancient Amazonia, he said.According to Sanematsu, the existence of the culture has been known since Swedish ethnologist Erland Nordenskiold first made some excavations in theregion in the early 20th century. However, it has been little studied up until recently, being overshadowed by the glamour of the neighboring Andean civilization.The excavation was carried out at an artificial hill (loma) called Loma Pancho Roman located about 35 km east of the city of Trinidad, capital of Beni department.It is a medium-sized loma with a height of about 9 meters and total area of about 5 hectares.During the monthlong excavation the team unearthed 12 human skeletons, 12 large funeral urns and one small funeral urn containing human remains.Also found were burial artifacts such as beads and stone ornaments, many shells, and numerous pottery and pottery artifacts. Earthenware urns are one of the identifying traits of the ancient Mojos culture.The refined burial artifacts found inside the urns indicate the high level of culture and technology which the ancient residents possessed, accordingt......
Oak Island, rumoured for two centuries as the home of hidden treasure, is being offered for sale to the Nova Scotia provincial government for $7 million. After being locked in a legal struggle for seven years, the two estranged business partners who own most of the island, located off Nova Scotia's South Shore, are giving up their hunt for the buried treasure. Dan Blankenship, 82, and David Tobias, 81, have agreed to shut down their business, Oak IslandTours Inc.
Everything from the Holy Grail to Captain Kidd's pirate treasure has been rumoured to be hidden on Oak Island, but 200 years of searching has failed to yield any treasure. Blankenship and Tobias have spent almost 40 years in their search. A court-appointed liquidator hopes to wind up the business at the end of August. At that time, the island can change hands, provided that the partners and the court approve the sale. The Oak Island Tourism Society calls this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the province to buy the island and open it up to visitors. Thegroup has the support of the newly elected member of the legislature for the area, Judy Streatch. "As I've been out on the campaign trail and speaking with people, the interest is there. It's a phenomenal piece of property," she said. Streatch said she has a call in to Tourism
It may look like a fixer-upper at first glance, but what is buried beneath scrubby little Oak Island might just make its estimated $7 million price tag worth the investment. Oak Island, in Nova Scotia, is famous for its Money Pit, a mystery that has endured two centuries, claimed six lives and swallowed up millions in life savings. The Pit was discovered in 1795 by a local boy named Daniel McGinnis who, spotting an unusual clearing in the earth under one of the island's oak trees, was prompted to start digging. Thediscovery of layered planks, mysterious stone slabs, and mats made of coconut fibers descending deep into the ground turned his casual afternoon dig into an all-out excavation.
Investors and thrill-seekers would eventually jump in and continue the work, kicking off one of the world's longest running treasure hunts. What appears to be a complex flooding trap has thwarted efforts to reach the bottom of the Money Pit ever since. Some think the pit was purposely flooded with seawater, via a series of artificial swamps and tunnels, to hide its contents. Through the murk, drill borings and shafts dug by the island's series of owners havedetected what seem to be cement vaulting, wooden chests, and scraps of parchment paper. Radiocarbon dating of these artifacts is consistent: whoever constructed the shaft likely did so sometime in the 16th Century. Speculation about the contents of Oak Island's Money Pit range from the treasure of the Knight's Templar to Shakespeare's original manuscripts.
Did Chinese sailors really discover America before Columbus? A new exhibition sets the scene, presenting new evidence that lends support to the assumptions made in "1421: The Year China Discovered America" by Gavin Menzies. "1421: The Year China Sailed the World," in Singapore in a special tent near the Esplanade (until Sept. 11), is primarily a celebration of Admiral Zheng He's seven maritime expeditions between 1405 and 1423. With a fleet of 317 ships and 28,000 men, Zheng He is generally acknowledged as one of the great naval explorers, but how far he actually wentremains a matter of dispute.
With original artifacts, videos and interactive exhibits, "1421" aims to take visitors through Zheng He's life story, setting the historical and economic context of his voyages. Against this factual background, Menzies's theories are presented, along with new evidence, mainly maps, backing his claims. The exhibition starts in Hunnan (China) in 1382, with a narrative space giving some background on Zheng He's youth. Zheng, a Chinese Muslim, was captured as a child in wartime by the Ming army and made a eunuch to serve at court. He became a scholar and a trusted adviser to the third Ming emperor, Zhu Di, who sent him on a mission to "proceed all the wayto the ends of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas." When the giant fleet returned in 1423, however, the emperor had fallen. With that change of leadership, China began a policy of isolationism that would last hundreds of years. The large ships were left to rot at their moorings, and most of the records of the great journeys were destroyed (though some argue the records still exist).
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Oak Island, rumoured for two centuries as the home of hidden treasure, is being offered for sale to the Nova Scotia provincial government for $7 million. After being locked in a legal struggle for seven years, the two estranged business partners who own most of the island, located off Nova Scotia's South Shore, are giving up their hunt for the buried treasure. Dan Blankenship, 82, and David Tobias, 81, have agreed to shut down their business, Oak IslandTours Inc. 
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Did Chinese sailors really discover America before Columbus? A new exhibition sets the scene, presenting new evidence that lends support to the assumptions made in "1421: The Year China Discovered America" by Gavin Menzies. "1421: The Year China Sailed the World," in Singapore in a special tent near the Esplanade (until Sept. 11), is primarily a celebration of Admiral Zheng He's seven maritime expeditions between 1405 and 1423. With a fleet of 317 ships and 28,000 men, Zheng He is generally acknowledged as one of the great naval explorers, but how far he actually wentremains a matter of dispute. 
