Did you ever wonder if anything has been discovered in the field of archaeology that you haven't heard about? The answer to this is probably. There is so much going on that never makes the main stream news papers, that the ordinary person just wouldn't hear about it. For some reason the newspapers don't feel that archeological discoveries are worthy of their headlines. They feel that they don't generate enough interest. I think that they might be wrong, that there are a lot more people interested in archeological discoveries than they suspect, so here are some of the important things that happened in archaeology in 2007.

The Discovery Channel's website ran a story in March of 2007, that stated that the great pyramid in Egypt contained another mystery that was just found .It is tough to believe that something that has been studied incessantly for hundreds of years could contain any new secrets, but there it was. Dr Zehi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities released the fact himself. What better source could one have? The pyramid's secret that was just discovered was that there were doors inside the 4,500-year-old pharomic mausoleum and that he was going to show the world what was behind these doors before the end of the year. "Finally, people all over the world will know what is behind the second door in the southern shaft and the third door in the northern shaft," Hawass said. It turns out that there are three of these doors.When one of the doors was opened it turned out to have a hallway behind it that just continued through the pyramid. That door was known as Gantenbrink's door. Seeing the hallway behind a door and not finding any more tombs was a big disappointment to many Egyptologists who had visions of all sorts of archaeological treasures. Some people believe that the great pyramid contains Khufu's tomb and we just haven't found it yet. There is no doubt that since the great pyramid is so large, that it still could contain objects that we were not able to find yet. What will be behind the other two doors? I guess we will just have to wait and see since opening them is behind schedule, or will we? A small robot with cameras has shown that the Queen's chamber lies beyond one door. It crawled through a shift to get the view.

An discovery has been made that I am sure you ladies out there that will be interested in. It was found on the island of Cyprus and dates back to about 3,000 B.C.. It is the world's oldest known perfume factory .Its location had been written about on an ancient papyrus which was found by a research team in 1998. An Italian excavation team used the papyrus to locate the factory and found it .It is now on exhibition in a museum.

What country do you think of when you hear that mummies were discovered? I bet it's probably Egypt isn't it, or maybe even somewhere in South America? Now let me ask you this question, where is the last place you would expect to find a mummy? If you said Scotland you would be correct. Two mummies that date back to about 1,500 B.C. were found on the Scottish island of South Uist. The island is very remote and is one of those places where the wind is always blowing and the waves are always crashing. No one would ever think that this would be a place where humans would want to go on purpose. Maybe it was felt by our ancestors that this was a place of natural power, because of all the constant battering? It turns out that the tribes of prehistoric Europe developed the process of mummification independently. It had absolutely nothing to do with the ancient Egyptians. It sort of makes you wonder why so many ancient peoples decided to mummify their dead? We know that the ancient Egyptians did this to prepare their dead for the afterlife, because they felt they would need their bodies, but why did these other people do this, was it for the same reason? Along with the mummies, a house was found that dates back over 3, 000 years.

Ruins in Angkar
Photo Source: GNU Free Documentation License,

A huge city existed in Cambodia between the 9th and 15th centuries, it was called Angkor. Its existence was known about for quite some time, but recently archaeologists found a map of the city and did a computer reconstruction. It turns out that the city was the biggest thing ever known up to that time encompassing 1100 square miles and was heavily populated. It contained an elaborate irrigation system. It was so large that satellites have shown the ruins to extend far beyond what was thought to be the city limits. The mystery here is what happened to all the people who suddenly vanished? We have seen examples of vanishing races before, throughout history but this would have been the largest by far. When we compare the size of this ancient city at 1100 square miles to modern cities, we can really appreciate how big it was. For example Chicago is 234 square miles, only about one fourth the size of the ancient city. If we compare this ancient city to New York City it is still almost 4 times as big. How do people just disappear from a city this large? Another relevant question is, why would they want to go?

A new discovery has been made that is again shaking up theories of evolution somewhat .It was believed that Homo habillis was a direct ancestor of Homo erectus, the species that we are said to come from, but a new discovery puts all of this into question. Archaeologists have found bones from Homo erectus that are older lthan the bones previously found from Homo habillis. According to the prior theory of evolution this was an impossible find, because the species of Homo erectus was supposedly descended from Homo habillis. It is now believed that the two species both lived about the same time. This is a similar situation to modern man living at the same time as the Neanderthals. Some scientists now believe that both species evolved from a common ancestor. Sometimes I have to wonder if these guys will ever learn? As soon as one of their theories is proven wrong they dart off in another direction.

An incredible mural has been found in Syria. The mural is over 11,000 years old and contains geometric shapes that are painted in red, black and white and it is said to resemble works of modernistic painters today. The size of the mural is about 6' x 3.5'. A wall was also discovered that contained a similar painting. These paintings decorated the walls of a round communal building that was about 25 feet wide and was believed to serve some ritual purpose. Figurines were also discovered that were made of gypsum and chalk.

A new theory has been introduced about the great pyramid and how it was built. There have been many theories that have stated that a ramp was used in its construction so that the heavy blocks could be moved higher as the pyramid became taller. What makes this theory so different is that not only does it state that a ramp was used that wound itself around the pyramid, but that ramp is now inside the pyramid and still exists. There are a lot of different theories on who built it, but records seem to indicate that Khufu who ruled Egypt about 2,547 to 2, 524 B.C. built it and his brother Hemienu supervised its construction. One thing that the Egyptians did very well, besides building, was keeping meticulous records of everything.

Lately we have been finding out that a lot more ancient people came to North and South America than we had suspected. A discovery in 2007 gives more support to this fact. Chicken bones from ancient Polynesian sites matched the DNA in chicken bones from Samoa and Chile. The DNA is identical. It is known that these chickens were domesticated in Southeast Asian, so how did they get to South America, before any Europeans arrived there? Well it seems that there can only be one way, either the Polynesians came to South America or the South American Indians went to Polynesia. It seems that the ancient people were getting around a lot more than we ever suspected.

It looks like nothing has changed in the Middle East. In modern times this region has seen constant mass murders. A 5, 800 year-old grave has been discovered that contains the bones of people that were murdered. The grave is 12 square yards and so far 79 bodies have been removed from it. It has the dubious honor of being the oldest known evidence of mass violence.

Roman Army
Photo Source: Public Domain

A startling discovery was made that reaffirms ancient writings that talked about Roman standards. An ancient box was found while digging in an underground chamber on the northeast slope of the Palentine Hill. .Archaeologists were amazed when they opened the box and saw its contents. Inside the box was the Roman signa, which is what we call the regimental colors and the septa of a Roman emperor. This is the first time that a set of Roman signa was ever found intact. No septa had ever been found before. .The contents of the box were incredibly preserved and included globes made of gold, green glass and blue chalcedony.