Darwinius masillae - the missing link

SCIENTISTS in New York today unveiled the skeleton of what they said could be the common ancestor to humans, apes and other primates. The tiny creature, officially known as Darwinius masillae, but dubbed Ida, lived 47 million years ago and is unusually well preserved, missing only part of a leg, or five per cent of the skeleton.

The finding, described today in the PloS ONE scientific journal, was displayed at New York's Natural History Museum, and is due to be the subject of a documentary on the History Channel, BBC and other broadcasters.

Organisers said that scientists led by Norway's fossil expert, professor Jorn Hurum, worked for two years on Ida, first discovered in 1983 by private collectors who failed to understand her importance - and split the bones into two lots.

The monkey-like creature was preserved through the ages in Germany's Messel Pit, a crater rich in Eocene Epoch fossils.

Although bearing a long tail, she had several human characteristics, including an opposable thumb, short arms and legs, and forward facing eyes. She also lacked two key elements of modern lemurs: a grooming claw and a row of lower teeth known as the toothcomb.

"This is the first link to all humans - truly a fossil that links world heritage," Prof Hurum said.

David Attenborough, the renowned British naturalist and broadcaster, said the "little creature is going to show us our connection with all the rest of the mammals".

"The link they would have said until now is missing... it is no longer missing," he said.

Ida gives a glimpse into a time when the world was just taking its present shape. Dinosaurs were extinct, the Himalayas were forming and a huge range of mammals thrived in vast jungles.

According to the international team, Ida had suffered a badly broken wrist and this might have been her undoing. The theory is that while drinking from the Messel lake she was overcome by carbon dioxide fumes and fell in.

"Ida slipped into unconsciousness, was washed into the lake, and sank to the bottom, where the unique conditions preserved her for 47 million years," organisers said.

Her last meal shows she was a herbivore. Gut contents revealed remains of fruits, seeds and leaves.

"This fossil is so complete. Everything's there. It's unheard of in the primate record at all. You have to get to human burial to see something that's this complete," Prof Hurum said.

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Montauk Monster

An odd creature has apparently washed up on New York's coast, sparking claims that it may be another so-called "Montauk Monster."

A similar carcass sparked an online and media frenzy last July after appearing at a popular surfing spot near Montauk, N.Y.

Nicky Papers, who runs a Web site dedicated to the mystery, says he was contacted by a couple on May 5 who "think they’ve found what appears to be the Montauk Monster" on the North Fork of Long Island.

Papers wrote that he traveled to Southold, N.Y., to view the remains.

"The beast smelled like a mix of low-tide and rotten garbage," Papers wrote. "It really smelled horrific. I couldn’t help but take numerous pictures of it and video clips."

He said the carcass was being kept in a "cooler full of ice."

'Race against the clock'Papers suggested there might be a link between the creature and the nearby Plum Island Animal Disease Center.

"If this is a genetic mishap from Plum Island, we’d like to sell the remains to an independent lab for study," he wrote on www.montauk-monster.com. "It has become a race against the clock as the couple who originally found 'Beastie' are diligently putting more ice into the cooler to keep the carcass fresh."

Papers says he's "dedicated quite a bit of time to debunking all theories presented regarding the Montauk Monster" since establishing his Web site last summer.

"I haven't ruled out biological warfare on this yet," Papers added. "A diseased carcass floating in waterways around Long Island could be infecting the water."

Some bloggers speculated that the original "Montauk Monster" may have been a viral marketing ploy for an indie movie while others suggested it may actually be a decomposing dog, pig or raccoon.

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The Mystic Lamb

The Ghent Altarpiece, also known as the Mystic Lamb, was completed in 1432 by Flemish Primitive Jan Van Eyck. The painting is surrounded by mysteries concerning, possibly, the Holy Blood(line) of Christ... This also is the reason why the panel of the Just Judges got stolen, the thiefs got killed and the Nazi's were very interested in the mystic masterpiece...

The Ghent Altarpiece, also known as the Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, completed in 1432 by the Van Eyck Brothers (Hubert & Jan), is a large and complex polyptych, originally made for the Joost Vyd Chapel in Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium. In the eighties, for security reasons, it was removed to another chapel in the cathedral. The Mystic Lamb is regarded as a true artistic highlight of Christianity and of Western civilisation. It is said - but it's not sure - that Hubert Van Eyck started the work and his brother Jan, the famous Flemish Primitive who was attached to the court of the Duke of Burgundy, finished it.

A Masterwork of Mystery

The Ghent Altarpiece consists of a complex series of 24 scenes, with two doors and a central piece which is showing some saints and apostles adoring the Mystic Lamb, or the symbol of Jesus Christ. From the panels to the left and to the right, pious hermits and pilgrims, Just Judges and Knights of Christ are approaching the ceremony in the middle. The upper register shows Christ as a King, between the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist, Adam and Eve. Inside, there are angels singing and making music.

The oil painting offers intricate details and composition, unrivaled realism, mystical meaning and a translucent use of colour which is responsible for the beautiful light. Over the centuries, the masterpieces has retained its luminous colours.

The polyptych, surrounded by mystery, has always been the main attraction of the impressive cathedral of Saint Bavo. After being kidnapped by the French revolutionary forces, some panels of the Mystic Lamb returned to Ghent. In 1816 however, the panels were sold for 100.000 guilders to an antiquary, while the bishopric knew they had a value of at least four times this sum... and indeed, the panels were sold very soon to a museum in Berlin for 400.000 guilders. At the end of the 19th century, these panels were cut lengthwise. In 1919, thanks to the Treaty of Versailles, they returned to Belgium again. Oh yeah, and what are the Knights Templar doing on this very catholic piece of art?

Maybe the greatest mystery of the many mysteries surrounding the Mystic Lamb, was caused by the lower left panel, called the Just Judges. The original panel got stolen in 1934, has never been found and was replaced by a copy. It's Belgium's most famous unsolved mystery. Countless amateur and professional sleuths are still tracking clues. In a BBC interview with crime writer Minette Walters, Ghent's former police chief Karel Mortier referred to the theft as "the art crime of the century".

The Theft of the Just Judges

In the night of April 10, 1934, two panels - the Just Judges and St. John the Baptist - measuring 1.49 x 55.5 centimeter, were stolen from the cathedral. On May 1, the bishop of Ghent received a letter, which said that the sender possessed both panels. The letter was signed "D.U.A.". Provided he would receive 1 million francs for the Judges, he would return St. John without any charge. DUA asked the bishop to answer him through an advertisement in a newspaper, and St. John was delivered at the railroad station Brussels-North. But instead of the requested sum, the authorities only wanted to pay 25.000 francs... and the Just Judges did not return home.

November 25... Arsène Goedertier, aged 57, a broker who lived and worked in the small town of Wetteren, aged 57, collapsed after a speech at a political rally. On his death bed, he informed his friend Georges de Vos in private that he had a file on the crime at his home. Goedertier tried to say more... but finally took the secret in his grave. Later, the police found in his home carbon copies of the messages which had been sent to the bishop by DUA. Only one single cryptic line spoke of the possible whereabouts of the Judges: the panel was "in a place where neither I nor anyone else" could recover it drawing attention.
The wife of Arsène Goedertier revealed that her late husband was an avid reader of detective novels and a true fan of Arsène Lupin, the hero in some of Maurice Leblanc's mystery novels. Arsène, of course, was also Goedertier's first name, and Lupin was a "gentlemen thief". Goedertier had read The Hollow Needle (L'aiguille creuse) several times. The theme of the novel was "art thefts". Arsène Goedertier undoubtedly felt inspired by Arsène Lupin, who always left a trail of coded messages after his thefts. Goedertier used a similar code in his ransom notes.

Arsène Goedertier was an eccentric, but although he might have typed and mailed the ransom notes, I doubt he was the original thief... and he sure didn't act alone. The broker from Wetteren was in a very healthy financial situation. Maybe he chased some sort of a symbolic revenge. Indeed, Goedertier is said to have been "angry" at the Catholic Church.

Since 1956, former police chief Karel Mortier has dedicated himself to the search for the Lost Judges. Mortier beliefs the panel was hidden somewhere in Saint Bavo Cathedral. X-ray investigations however were fruitless. Another policeman, Chris Noppe, is convinced that the Judges are hiding in the coffin of King Albert I. A few months before the theft, the Belgian King - the hero of the Great War - died in a climbing accident, which was possibly a set up for murder. The body of King Albert I now lies in the crypt of the royal family in the palace of Laeken, near Brussels. Belgium's own Miss Marple, Maria De Roo, is defending a conspiracy theory, claiming the authorities retrieved the panel. And I think Goedertier and two accomplices worked for Himmler's SS and were murdered when they double-crossed a nazi agent.

Van Eyck, neo-Templar and alchemist

I do believe Van Eyck's painting held a "Da Vinci Code", containing information the true whereabouts of the Holy Grail, also known as the Holy Blood(line) of Christ. In the 16th century, Jan Van Eyck already was described by art historian Giorgi Vasari as an alchemist, suggesting he was a member of a secret brotherhood. In his article 666 = Satan's Song? - Part 2: The Just Judges and Otto Rahn, Philip Coppens says that modern freemasons have noted how Van Eyck depicted a working lodge in a drawing of Saint Barbara.

Jan Van Eyck entered the service of Philip the Good in 1425. The Duke of Burgundy was moving his court between his palaces in Brussels, Lille and Bruges. Van Eyck resided in Lille and mostly in Bruges, where he died in 1440. He performed certain missions for the Duke, but the exact nature of these missions has remained unknown. Both men were very close, the Duke served as godfather to one of Jan's children.

While working on his masterpiece, Jan's patron established the Order of the Golden Fleece. The name has never been fully explained, but it is no secret that Philip was very interested in alchemy. In his palace in Brussels for example, he installed a real "alchemical room". Though Van Eyck was employed by Philip the Good, he took the commission for the Vyd family. He knew he would have to spend a great amount of time on this Ghent Altarpiece. So, even if Jan only completed what Hubert had begun, he needed the consent of his patron. But that seemed to be no problem at all.

The Mystic Lamb clearly depicts Jesus as a King. This was very uncommon in medievalor Gothic paintings. It was also very uncommon in 1432, and even dangerous, to depict a bunch of arch-heretics on your piece of art. Under pressure of King Philip of France, in 1307 many of the Knights Templar were arrested, tortured - so they would give false confessions - and burned at the stake. The Order was disbanded by Pope Clement V in 1312 on the charge of religious heresy and sexual misconduct.

So, here is one of the great Mysteries of the Lamb of God: what are the Templars doing on this "true" catholic masterpiece? The title of the panel is "Milites Christi", Soldiers of Christ, the official name of the Knights Templar. Moreover, they don't look like sinners who are seeking forgiveness, do they? No, this one knight in his shining armour rides with great kings and noblemen, bearing the shield and the banner of the Temple!

On the Ghent Altarpiece, the Mystic Lamb is spilling his blood in the Cup of the Last Supper. This bleeding lamb is common christian iconography, but the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) and the Chalice usually doesn't show up together with the Templars, who were regarded as the keepers of the Holy Grail... or the secret of the Holy Blood(line) of Christ.

The Nazi Plot Theory

I have developed the "Nazi Plot Theory" for the first time in a book called Mysteries of the Mystic Lamb (Mysteries van het Lam Gods, 1991). Adolf Hitler came into power in 1933, just a year before the Judges got stolen. I do think the Nazi's commissioned the theft, because of the mystic and heretic connotations of Ghent Altarpiece. Hitler wanted to seize the iconography of the Mystic Lamb and incorporate it into the Holy Canon of his own "Arian" religion, that had to compete with Christianity.

The Mystic Lamb should be read as a code and some of the panels could be incorporating documents or a map, concerning the Holy Blood brought by the Knights Templar and Thierry of Alsace, Count of Flanders, to Bruges. The first Grail story was commissioned by his son, Philip of Alsace. In the late 19th century the chaplain of the Holy Blood Chapel in Bruges seems to have turned into a satanist. His tale was told by Joris-Karl Huysmans in his book Down There (Là-Bas) and preceded that other story of a satanist priest, who found a treasure and/or a secret concerning the Templars, the Grail and the Holy Blood(line) of Christ. In other words, is the story of Bérenger Saunière, the parish priest of Rennes-le-Château, nothing else than an echo, a hoax, part of a disinformation project designed to turn the eyes of the world to southern France, so that the true secret could remain a secret?

The obsession of the top Nazi's for the Ghent Altarpiece is a matter of record. During World War II, the Ghent Altarpiece was stolen by the SS and hidden in a salt mine near Salzburg. A special agent was sent to Belgium with only one task: finding the Judges! It was to SS-officer Henry Koehn that Goedertier's widow spoke of her husband's fascination for The Hollow Needle. Interestingly, Leblanc's stories of Lupin, a character he created in 1905, showed a great number of indirect references to the mysteries of Rennes-le-Château...

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Cleopartras Tomb

CAIRO – Archaeologists will begin excavating sites in Egypt next week in an attempt to solve a mystery that has stymied historians for hundreds of years: Where is the final resting place of doomed lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony?

Archaeologists looking for the tombs of the celebrated queen of Egypt and the Roman general will begin excavating three sites at a temple where tombs may be located, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said in a statement Wednesday.

Cleopatra and Mark Antony, whose relationship was later immortalized by William Shakespeare and then in a movie with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, could have been buried in a deep shaft in a temple near the Mediterranean Sea, the council said.

Archaeologists last year unearthed the alabaster head of a Cleopatra statue, 22 coins bearing Cleopatra's image and a mask believed to belong to Mark Antony at the temple.

The three sites were identified last month during a radar survey of the temple of Taposiris Magna, the council's statement said. The temple is located near the northern coastal city of Alexandria and was built during the reign of King Ptolemy II (282-246 B.C.)

Teams from Egypt and the Dominican Republic have been excavating the temple for the last three years. They found a number of deep shafts inside the temple, three of which were possibly used for burials. The lovers could be buried in a similar shaft, the statement said.

The lovers committed suicide in 30 B.C. after being defeated in the battle of Actium. Mark Antony is said to have killed himself with his sword, while Cleopatra is believed to have clutched a poisonous asp to her chest.

However, John Baines, an Egyptologist with Oxford University in England questioned why Augustus, who defeated Antony, would have chosen such a distinguished burial place.

"I don't really see why there should be a particular connection between that site and Antony and Cleopatra," Baines said.

Zahi Hawass, Egypt's top archaeologist, said the Cleopatra statue and coins — which show an attractive face — debunk a recent theory that the queen was "quite ugly."

"The finds from Taposiris reflect a charm ... and indicate that Cleopatra was in no way unattractive," said Hawass, according to the statement.

Academics at Britain's University of Newcastle concluded in 2007 that the queen was not especially attractive. Their conclusion was based on Cleopatra's depiction on a Roman coin that shows her as a sharp-nosed, thin-lipped woman with a protruding chin.

Excavators at the site near Alexandria have already discovered a large previously unknown cemetery outside the temple enclosure. They have also discovered 27 tombs — including a total of 10 mummies.

According to the statement, the style of the tombs indicates they were built during the Greco-Roman period. The presence of the cemetery also indicates that an important person — possibly royalty — could be buried inside the temple.

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Amazing Discoveries in Egypt

King Tut Red

The discovery of jars of wine in King Tuts tomb prompted a team of Spanish scientists to try and determine if the boy king preferred red or white wine. An analysis of residues in 2005 revealed that the jars contained syringic acid, which implied that the wine was made with red grapes.
Big Toe
Archeologists explored a tomb near Thebes in 2005 and discovered an artificial big toe attached to the foot of a mummy. The fake body part could prove to be the earliest working prosthetic body part to date.
Child Mummy
The mummified remains of an Egyptian 6-year-old sat in the attic of its owners before being donated to the St. Louis Science Center in 1985. Researchers at the center have used CT scan technology to help unravel the mystery of its origins.

Queen Mummy

Authorities in Cairo announced in July of 2007 that the remains of a mummy discovered in the Valley of the Kings, was that of Queen Hatshpsut, a female pharaoh that ruled in the 15th century. DNA analysis was used to identify the first royal Egyptian mummy since King Tut in 1922.

Dwarf Statue

This statue was erected in honor of Seneb, an Egyptian dwarf who served under King Pepi II during the 6th Dynasty. A study published in December of 2005 concluded that dwarves, such as Seneb, were respected and even attained high positions in society

Preserved Ship

Archeologists announced in March of 2006 that an excavation near the Red Sea had unearthed a shipyard containing the world’s oldest sea-faring ships. The artifacts, such as wooden planks and cargo boxes, suggest that Egyptians had set sail 4,000 years ago.
Lost City

Satellites have located and zoomed in on a 1,600-year-old Egyptian city. Snapshots of the site taken from space as part of a project to map as much of ancient Egypt’s archaeological sites, or “tells,” as possible were released in July of 2007.
Sand Sea

The Great Sand Sea in the Eastern Sahara is currently nothing more than 45,000 square miles of desert land. But a climate study published in July of 2006, suggests that monsoon rains that occurred around over 10 millennia ago made it very hospitable for humans and wildlife

Ancient Frolicking

Ancient artistic depictions of swimming activities discovered inside a cave is evidence that people living in southwest Egypt once frolicked in rain pools 8,000 years ago. This was before monsoon rains ended and left the Sahara uninhabitable.

Best Mummies?

Archeologists exploring a 2,500 year old Egyptian tomb in 2005 found three intricate coffins, with one containing an amazingly well-preserved mummy. One of the archeologists called it perhaps “one of the best mummies ever preserved.”

Gimme!

Claiming that many of their artifacts were taken from Egypt illegally, Egyptian officials announced in April of 2007 that it would ask museums abroad to temporarily send back some of its most precious artifacts including the Rosetta Stone and bust of Nefertiti.

Pyramid Secrets Revealed

Evidence has been offered to suggest that some of the stone blocks used to construct the Great Pyramids of Giza were cast—not carved and then quarried, as some had thought. An examination of the stones revealed that the outer and inner casing stones were unlikely to have been chiseled from natural limestone.

King Tut

Forensic scientists and artists completed in 2005 the first ever facial reconstructions of King Tut using CT scans of his mummified remains. The pharaoh’s reconstructed facial composition turned out to be strikingly similar to ancient portraits of Tut.

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