Over the course of human history, societal sensibilities have changed quite a bit. For example, apparently 8,000 years ago having a stake driven through your noggin was not much more than a bad case of the Mondays. Thanks to the work of archeologists, we are now discovering just how horrifying life used to be. By the end of this list, you’ll be glad you don’t live thousands of years in the past because it looks seriously messed up.
1. Babies In The Bathhouse
Researchers on a dig in Israel were combing through the structures of an Ancient Roman/Byzantine bathhouse. The building was fitted with a sewage system for drainage purposes, but what they found there was disturbing. In the pipes were the bones of hundreds of babies. Why the infants were placed there remains unknown.
2. Neandethal Cannibal Attack
Though neanderthals are separate from humans, they’re close enough to make this list. In 2010, archeologists in Spain discovered the remains of a cannibal feast. Three adult females, three adult males, three teenagers, two young children and an infant showed indications that they were the lunch of another group of neanderthals. Yikes.
3. The Headless Vikings of Dorset
Railroad workers in Dorset, England were in the midst of a regular day when they came upon a burial of sorts. The bones of a small contingent of fighting-age Scandinavian men had been placed together and each one was missing his head. Experts surmise the men may have been executed for some sort of defection.
4. The Claw of the Mount Owen Moa
In 1986, a expedition into the cave systems of Mount Owen in New Zealand came upon a well preserved limb. It was the foot of what looked like a recently deceased bird. In actuality it wasn’t very recent. This specimen was from a prehistoric creature called the Upland Moa which will now haunt my dreams for the foreseeable future.
5. Spike To The Skull
In the process of excavating a lakebed in Motala, Sweden, archeologists were surprised to find several skulls that had spikes driven through them. Others also had the pieces of other skulls placed inside them. This horriyfing scene likely occurred around 8,000 years ago.
6. The Grauballe Man
Though mummies in marshes and bogs are not entirely unique discoveries, this man’s story was special in how well it was told by the information in and around his remains. The large slash on his necks suggests his death was the result of a sacrifice – likely in the name of a healthy harvest.
7. Venetian Vampire Vs. Brick
While seemingly a silly solution when compared to a wooden stake or garlic, this method of vampire prevention wasn’t so odd hundreds of years ago. The brick and cement placed in this person’s mouth were believed to prevent its ability to rise from the dead and bite much of anything. Terrible, but effective.
8. The Oldest Leper
Lepers have never really gotten much slack throughout history, despite the disease not being very contagious. But the first known instance of its stigma comes in the form of a skeleton from about 4,000 years ago. The Indian man’s body is largely intact, despite Hindu tradition calling for cremation. This suggests he was an outcast and was not give the same sort of burial rights.
9. Burned Alaskan Child
During an excavation of a home estimated to be about 11,500 years old, researchers discovered a grisly sight. Inside the ancient hearth was the charred remains a 3-year-old child. It appeared that the home was abandoned after the cremation.
10. Chemical Warfare In Ancient Syria
About 2,000 years ago, a group of 20 or so ancient Roman soldiers were subject to a particularly gruesome demise. Whilst besieging the Syrian town of Dura, Persian soldiers began to dig tunnels in order to get past the Roman defenses. The Romans thought it smart to dig their own tunnels and try and intercept the intrusive Persians. In response to this, the Persians left a trap that was bad by any measure of wartime deaths. They left a petrochemical concoction that would have likely turned the Romans’ lungs to acid. Sounds like a bad time.
Nootrodog is a canine supplement created with organic ingredients like shiitake mushrooms and beets, that is intended to “increase a dog’s memory, promote mental clarity and strengthen overall cognitive health,” according to the company, Birdnip’s, press release. It was only launched this season and has been promoted as a nootropic, or “smart drug,” that have been widely popular among the human market for several years. And today your dog can join in on the trend.
“Cognitive clarity, focus, all the things I take certain nutritional supplements for—does that really apply for my two border terrier rescues?” Ernie Ward, a vet and specialist on pet obesity, stated over the telephone. “Do they really need to stay creative and focus for hours on end?”
But Michael Galvez, one of the creators of Birdnip, assures it is a real product. He told that owners may expect to see “a smarter, more alert and emotionally connected furry friend,” should they give Nootrodogs to their canine companion.
“Look, I totally get the skepticism about a popular Silicon Valley smart drug being reworked for dogs. This is 100 percent a real business,” Galvez wrote in an email.
Ward did note there was a business that may potential gain from more study into whether or not these sorts of nutritional supplements are helpful: working dogs, such as bomb-sniffing puppies and police K9 units. He also said there may be a possibility of preventing or slowing cognitive decline in elderly dogs.
“Cognitive decline is why [many] older dogs are euthanized, because they forget to go outside to go to the bathroom or they walk into the door and injure themselves,” Ward said. “But it’s hard to measure. How would you measure clarity of thought for a dog?”
As for Nootrodog itself, Ward stated the components listed are harmless, even though it’s always important to take into consideration where items are sourced and processed prior to giving anything to your pet. As for if it works? Though there are studies demonstrating a few advantages for people of those ingredients (which Birdnip highlights on its own website), there’s not actually much evidence that reveals giving a boost of beets for a dog will make him the next grand chess master.
Several species of predatory flatworm have set up home in France.
Scientists have warned that huge worms up to 40cm long have been silently invading French gardens.
The exotic predatory invertebrates, which have managed to go almost completely undetected for years, are thought to have originated from populations transported from Asia in tropical plants.
One of the earliest pieces of evidence was a photograph of a flatworm taken by naturalist Pierre Gros.
“This photograph was sent from email to email to email and finally it came to me,” said zoologist Professor Jean-Lou Justine from the French National Museum of Natural History.
“I looked at it and said ‘Well, this is not possible – we don’t have this kind of animal in France’.”
Initially dismissing the image as a prank, he was startled to receive photographs of several other flatworm species all discovered within the same small garden.
“What we know now is that there are invasive flatworms almost everywhere in metropolitan France,” he said. “I am still amazed – I don’t understand how this is possible in a developed country.”
A Man Built A Gold Pyramid Home, A Replica Of The Great Pyramid & Found Mysterious Energy
Jim Onan was a man who always interested in the Egyptian culture and stumbled upon a university study one day suggesting that pyramids at Giza generated energy. Jim came from humble beginnings, He had 5 children with his wife Linda and he was a hardworking man who built his own concrete business from the ground up.
In the 70’s Pyramid’s became more popular because of the mysteries coming forth. His curiosity led him to build small pyramids around his home and people realized that when they put their hands above this small pyramid they felt a weird sensation, a vortex of energy coming from the top of the Pyramid.
He kept building small pyramids and then decided to build a little bigger one, a 13-foot pyramid in his backyard to experiment on a larger scale. One of the Onan sons was a botanist and the university he attended suggest that they grow inside the Pyramid. What they found was astonishing, they found that plants grew three times as fast in the pyramid than outside it.
Onan was astonished at the power these structures seemed to unleash and decided to take the bold step of redesigning his family house in the shape of a pyramid. The house was built from scratch and designed to perfectly mirror the design of the Great Pyramid of Giza scaled down to a ninth of the size of the original.
When construction was underway another extraordinary thing happened. The middle of the floor inside the house began to make way for a bubble of constantly flowing spring water. This was particularly surprising as there had been no indication by the planners that such a thing could happen leading Onan to suspect that it was the very structure of the pyramid itself that caused the water to materialize.
Perhaps even more bizarrely, one of the construction workers on the site took it upon himself to collect some of the mysteriously appearing spring water and drink it. He claimed that whenever he drank the water, he found that his blood pressure was significantly lowered. Onan thought that this was worth some investigation and invited other people to collect and drink from the spring. To his amazement, they returned claiming to have been cured of a myriad of different ailments.
