Seven Archaeological Wonders

Alexander the Great:  His family's royal tombs and treasures

Anglo-Saxon Burial Ships: Take a virtual field trip to Sutton Hoo to see the famous Anglo-Saxon burial ship. Placed into the ground sometime around 625 AD, the ship was rediscovered in 1939. Examine pictures of the gold artifacts which were found with the ship.

Dinosaurs: The most complete dinosaur fossil discovered to date is that of a T. Rex named Sue. Meet Sue, whose home today is Chicago's Field Museum.

King Tut: King Tut died more than 3,300 years ago. Scholars, examining his mummified remains, are now convinced he was not murdered. Instead, he may have died from an infection - secondary to a fractured leg. See photographs of his mummy and the stunning artifacts which were discovered in his tomb.

Mummies of Egyptian Pharaohs: Grave robbers, over the centuries, often removed treasures from the tombs of Pharaohs. Even so, the mummies of famous rulers survived. See some of them in this chapter.

Terra Cotta Soldiers: An army, buried with the First Emperor of China, uncovered after 2,000 years

Viking Ships and Settlements: Norsemen invented the longship which they occasionally used for burials. Some Norsemen - vikingur (meaning "hit and run raider") - sailed their ships to other lands where they terrified local people and stole their treasures. Linked in this story are video clips about Viking exploits and an explanatory animation with which you can virtually build a Viking ship.

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Aliens And Mayans Ufo 2012 Evidence Presented By Scientists

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The lost Lemuria continent-under water archaeology

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New Theory Explains Stonehenge Mystery

After 10 years of archaeological investigations, researchers from the Stonehenge Riverside Project (SRP) have concluded that Stonehenge was built as a monument to unify the peoples of Britain, after a long period of conflict and regional difference between eastern and western Britain.
Its stones are thought to have symbolized the ancestors of different groups of earliest farming communities in Britain, with some stones coming from southern England and others from west Wales.
The SRP team explored not just Stonehenge and its landscape but also the wider social and economic context of the monument’s main stages of construction around 3,000 BC and 2,500 BC.
“When Stonehenge was built”, said Prof Mike Parker Pearson of the University of Sheffield, “there was a growing island-wide culture – the same styles of houses, pottery and other material forms were used from Orkney to the south coast. This was very different to the regionalism of previous centuries. Stonehenge itself was a massive undertaking, requiring the labour of thousands to move stones from as far away as west Wales, shaping them and erecting them. Just the work itself, requiring everyone literally to pull together, would have been an act of unification.”
Stonehenge may have been built in a place that already had special significance for prehistoric Britons. The team has found that its solstice-aligned avenue sits upon a series of natural landforms that, by chance, form an axis between the directions of midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset.
“When we stumbled across this extraordinary natural arrangement of the sun’s path being marked in the land, we realized that prehistoric people selected this place to build Stonehenge because of its pre-ordained significance. This might explain why there are eight monuments in the Stonehenge area with solstitial alignments, a number unmatched anywhere else. Perhaps they saw this place as the centre of the world,” Prof Parker Pearson said.
Although many people flocked to Stonehenge yesterday for the summer solstice, it seems that the winter solstice was the more significant time of the year when Stonehenge was built 5,000-4,500 years ago.
“We can tell from ageing of the pig teeth that higher quantities of pork were eaten during midwinter at the nearby settlement of Durrington Walls, and most of the monuments in the Stonehenge area are aligned on sunrise and sunset at midwinter rather than midsummer. At Stonehenge itself, the principal axis appears to be in the opposite direction to midsummer sunrise, towards midsummer sunset, framed by the monument’s largest stone setting, the great trilithon.”
Prof Parker Pearson and the SRP team firmly reject ideas that Stonehenge was inspired by ancient Egyptians or extra-terrestrials.
“All the architectural influences for Stonehenge can be found in previous monuments and buildings within Britain, with origins in Wales and Scotland. In fact, Britain’s Neolithic people were isolated from the rest of Europe for centuries,” the archaeologist explained. “Britain may have become unified but there was no interest in interacting with people across the Channel. Stonehenge appears to have been the last gasp of this Stone Age culture, which was isolated from Europe and from the new technologies of metal tools and the wheel.”
Previous theories have suggested the great stone circle was used as a prehistoric observatory, a sun temple, a place of healing, and a temple of the ancient druids. The Stonehenge Riverside Project’s researchers have rejected all these possibilities after the largest programme of archaeological research ever mounted on this iconic monument. As well as finding houses and a large village near Stonehenge at Durrington Walls, they have also discovered the site of a former stone circle – Bluestonehenge – and revised the dating of Stonehenge itself.
All these discoveries are now presented in Prof Parker Pearson’s new book “Stonehenge: exploring the greatest Stone Age mystery”.

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7 facts about the 7 Wonders of the World

1.The Colossus of Rhodes

Built inc.290 BC, overlooking the harbour on the Greek island of Rhodes, this enormous statue was more than 30m tall but stood for just 56 years before it was toppled in an earthquake.
Did you know?
Although the ancient statue depicted the titan Helios, male personification of the sun, it has a rather more fbinine descendant: the Statue of Liberty in New York, which is based on 19th-century ideas of what the Colossus looked like.
2. The Great Pyramid at Giza

Built inc.2560 BC by the Old Kingdom pharaoh Khufu, this is the oldest and largest of the pyramids that make up the ancient Egyptiannecropolis at Giza, just outside Cairo now a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site.
Did you know?
The Great Pyramid was the tallest man-made construction in the world for almost 4,000 years, until Lincoln cathedral with its 160m spire was built in AD1311.
3. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus

The final resting place of Mausolos of Caria, a 4th-century BCsatrap(regional governor) of thePersian bpire, and his sister/wife Artbisia. It is said to have been some 45m tall, its walls decorated with sculpted reliefs, and its pyramidal roof crowned with a hugequadriga- a statue of four horses pulling a chariot.
Did you know?
We know very little about Mausolus life but his fame has endured through the centuries. His burial place was so magnificent that we now use his name to describe any grand tomb: a mausoleum.
4. The Lighthouse of Alexandria

Built on the island of Pharos between 280 and 247BC, it stood between120m and 140m tall and was commissioned by Ptolby I, one of the Macedonian successors ofAlexander the Great, to help guide sailors into Alexandria's harbour.
Did you know?
This wonder was so celebrated in the ancient world thatpharosbecame the Greek word for lighthouse as well as in many other languages including French (phare), Italian and Spanish (faro), Portuguese(farol) and even Swedish (fyr) and Bulgarian(far).
5. The Tbple of Artbis at Ephesus

The original tbple was destroyed in a flood in the 7th century BC and its reconstruction burned downby the fame-hungry Herostratus (from whom we get herostratic fame seeking notoriety for its own sake) inc.356 BC. The third and largest phase, begun in 323 BC, created a tbple450ft long by 225ft wide and 60 ft high, with more than 127 columns. It met its final end amidst Gothic raids in AD 268.
Did you know?
This was Antipater of Sidon's favourite ancient wonder. He wrote When I saw the house of Artbis that mounted to the clouds, [the] other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on anything so grand
6. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

According to Classical sources, the gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar II (r.605-562 BC) to comfort his homesick wife, Amytis, who missed the plants of her homeland, Media.
Did you know?
This is the only one of the Seven Wonders that is likely to have been purely legendary while the gardens were mentioned by both the Greeks and the Romans including Strabo and Diodorus Siculus there are no contbporary references in any of the known cuneiform tablets.
7. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia

Created inc.432 BC, this enormous chryselephantine (ivory and gold-plated bronze) statue of the seated god housed in the tbple at his sanctuary at Olympia was some 12m tall.
Did you know?
According to Suetonius, the eccentric Roman bperor Caligula wanted to have the statue brought to Rome so he could replace the god’s head with a sculpture of his own. When his men went to carry out this task, the statue laughed so loudly that their scaffolding collapsed and the workers fled.

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Top 10 Rare U.S. Coins

1933 Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle


In 1933, with the Depression in full swing, President Roosevelt took the country off the gold standard and recalled all gold coins for melting. About a dozen never made it back to the mint or were smuggled out again by enterprising employees, including this one, which resurfaced in 1992 and was confiscated by the Secret Service. In 1933 it had a face value of $20; in 2002, it was sold at auction for over 7 million dollars.

1804 Draped Bust Dollar

When the Jackson administration, in 1834, wanted to dole out coin sets to foreign dignitaries, there was a problem - silver dollars hadn't been pressed for thirty years, to combat a rash of counterfeit schemes. The mint was ordered to press eight silver dollars for the occasion and they were dated 1804, the only dollar coins that would ever bear that year. Today, each has a value of over one million dollars.
The Brasher Doubloon


Before New York adopted the new constitution in 1789 it, like other states, had the right to issue its own state coinage. Goldsmith Ephraim Brasher got one of those contracts, to mint copper coins, but it appears he largely ignored that material and went on to produce several very artistic gold specimens for reasons unknown. Just seven of these unique coins are known to exist.
1861 Confederate States Half-Dollar



The New Orleans Mint came under the control of the Confederate States in 1861, but without a reserve of precious metals, the South chose paper money instead of coinage to support their war efforts. The few Confederate cents and half-dollars that were struck were virtually unknown until they began popping up in private collections after the Civil War.
1974 Aluminum Penny


With the rising price of copper, in the early 1970s it almost cost as much to make a cent as the penny was worth. The US Mint tested alternatives, like this aluminum penny that was sent out to VIPs as a sample, and then never recouped.
1913 Liberty Head Nickel


This five-cent piece is a numismatic legend. Despite being retired in 1912, five nickels with the "Liberty Head" design were struck in 1913 and came into the possession of one man. The collector started a rumor about their existence, driving up the value of the nickel if one was ever found but neglecting to mention he had all five. They were sold a few years later and, in a recent change of hands, one was valued at 3 million dollars.
Almost anything from 1870


Three of the most coveted collector coins - the 1870-S Half-Dime, 1870-S Silver Dollar and 1870-S Gold $3 coin (the S stands for the mint city) - come from the year when construction began on a new mint in San Fran. Just a few coins in those denominations were produced that year, most of which were destined to be embedded in the foundation's cornerstone.
1866


This famous silver coin, owned by the DuPont family, was the target of a heist in 1967 and only recovered just a few years ago. Just a few denominations, and probably only the one duPont dollar, were produced without the classic "In God We Trust" motto in 1866. According to some sources, it was upon special request from a collector and friend of mint executives, a pharmacist who provided opium to the workers in return.
1776 Silver Continental Dollar


Not long after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the new United States Congress decided to assert its freedom by striking the first true American currency. The design, usually attributed to Benjamin Franklin, is a whimsical motif including the words "fugio" (time flies) and "mind your business," along with thirteen interlocking rings representing the colonies. Many were struck in pewter and a few dozen remain, but the silver version is very rare.
1943 Copper Penny


The Second World War meant big rationing on copper, and the US Mint was no exception. Most wartime pennies were instead made of a brass-steel alloy, except for a few struck from the outlawed bronze (a copper alloy). If you find one of these anomalies (the common brass version will stick to a magnet, while the bronze won't) it could be worth big bucks.

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Best Archaeology Movies

The Indiana Jones Adventures (1981-2008)

Even if film critics will not, the most impassioned pre-historian may be able to forgiven an alien inclusion in the lastinstalment of this chronicled saga.  If there are any Martians reading, the star of these successful movies is Dr Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones Jr. (Harrison Ford), a leather clad fedora-wearing academic, and adventure archaeologist who cracks quips almost as much as his trusty whip.  An apt place for a discussion of archaeological movie gems to start is, inevitably, at the beginning.  Set in the 1930s Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) pits Indy in a race against the Nazis for the sacred Ark of the Covenant – which is believed to contain the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments.  The film highlights exactly what the franchise does best, by basing a fantastic adventure around initial fact and the unknown whereabouts of the artefact in question.  It’s poetic irony that, in the 1989 instalment IndianaJones and the Last Crusade, one of the most glorified film icons of archaeology puts it to his class that notions of lost cities and digging up the world are greatly exaggerated because “seventy percent of archaeology is done in the library.” It’s a Cadmean Victory for Indy at number one spot, because there’ll also be many archaeologists out there that resent his adventure politics.
The Mummy (1932)

Ask anyone to describe a popular face of ancient Egypt and it’ll inevitably be the mask of King Tutankhamen.  Said to be inspired by the 1922 excavation of Tutankhamen’s intact tomb, in which members of Howard Carter’s team subsequently died after entering, this 1932 cinema classic threatens to chill the bones of all excavators.  The original story focuses on an ancient Egyptian priest called Imhotep (Boris Karloff), who was embalmed alive for attempting to resurrect his loved one.  After being revived by a team of archaeologists Imhotep embarks on a haunting journey for his lover throughout Cairo.  The story of the cursed 3700 year old mummy is one which continues to provide archaeological mystique but also inspiration for more modern cinema.  There have been arguably more entertaining recreations of this now archetypal tale, with four sequels after the original; with Peter Cushing rudely awakening Christopher Lee in 1959 with little thought for the consequences, and through to contemporary adventures with Brendan Fraser beginning in The Mummy (1999).  The greatest achievement of this film today is in comparing the archaeological plundering days of Carter against what we now see as the singular search for truth through science and technology.
The Omen (1976)

Speaking of curses, it’s hard to find a more unfortunate set of events affecting a film’s overall production andsubsequent release than in The Omen.  This is the ultimate archaeologist chiller.  The Exorcist (1973) may have its fair share of publicity too, and narrative nodes hitting similar archaeological discoveries, but with a sheer number of facts relating to hexes and grizzly crew-deaths this is enough to make anyone think twice before digging up the past.  Of course for those in the know this film works as sensationalised science and tabloid Christianity but its sheer appeal and power manage to overcome the knowledge that it’s thriving on embellishment.  Not strictly an archaeological movie but, considering the film’s portrayal of a six-year-old boy as the antichrist is entwined with many paleological motifs, it touches base with an inherent fear/fascination/excitement of the unknown.  Its carefully selected settings testify to that fact.  From the opening excavation in Cerveteri, near the medieval town of Tarquinia, where thousands of 9BCE eerily circular tombs reside, to modern Israel and Megiddo and learning from the New Testament that derivative of the place itself is the word Armageddon.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)

It doesn’t seem fair to include the most outlandish impression of an archaeologist Hollywood has to offer without at least mentioning the Yin to his Yang in Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie).  A more modern-day heroine, appearing originally as a 1996 video game character gives a reasonable indication of her sleek, technological savvy compared with the trusty whip and booby-traps smarts of Indy.  Whilst the second instalment Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) may be far more archaeological in premise, with Thera and the lost under-water temple of Alexander the Great, her debut on the big screen may well have been a mass recruiting drive for many archaeologists about to graduate out there.  Not least a feminist critique would be happy for a counterbalance to the pulling power of masculinity manifested in the rugged and rapidly aging ex-carpenter Harrison Ford.  Where portrayals of actual archaeologists are concerned, Indiana Jones is more myth than man.  And whilst a latex-clad, gun-totting, pony-tailed jet setter might be the preserve of military historians, Lara is a far more modern incarnate of archaeological cool.
The Fifth Element (1997)

We are only what we know, and sometimes having a fictional answer to the greatest of questions is as good as any real one that we may never find.  Fanciful, fantastical and fabulously dressed in Jean Paul Gautier is not normally the sort of statement you’d associate with archaeological science.  But if we discount science fiction from the list then we may ignore the wonderful finds or notions of finds that inspire those SF imaginations in the first place.  Conceptions of Good Versus Evil are as old as recorded time itself, and if anyone should be chosen to kick some ass then why not Bruce Willis? Many films could have filled this slot, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Stargate (1994), or evenJurassic Park (1993).  More SF flush than all of those, this Luc Besson story shares a 20th Century archaeological prelude with2001 and Stargate and then strides forward to paint a fictional picture of the future that is as bizarre and entertaining as it is strangely satisfying. Whereas an air of mystery and inexplicability is why The Omen has its place on the list, it’s a closing down of mystery and meaning to an artist’s vision of the past, present and future that assures The Fifth Element its rightful place here.  

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Archaeological Evidence of Cannibalism

Cannibalism refers to a range of behaviors in which one human consumes another or parts of another for survival, dietary, ritual and/or pathological reasons. One of the most forbidden behaviors of modern society, cannibalism is also one of the earliest cultural practices of human beings. Recent biological evidence seems to suggest that cannibalism was not only not rare in ancient history, it was so common that most of us carry around genetic evidence of our bloodthirsty past.
Cannibalism: The Archaeological Evidence
Recent molecular studies have suggested that the genetic propensity that makes a person resistant to prion diseases (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, kuru, and scrapie)--a propensity that most humans have--may have resulted from ancient human consumption of human brains. This in turn makes it likely that cannibalism was once a very widespread human practice indeed.
More recent identification of cannibalism is based primarily on the recognition of butchering marks on human bones, the same kinds of butchering marks--long bone breakage for marrow extraction, cutmarks and chopmarks resulting from skinning, defleshing and evisceration--as that seen on animals prepared for meals. Evidence of cooking and the presence of human bone in cropolites (fossilized feces) have also been used to support a cannibalism hypothesis.
Cannibalism through Human History
The earliest evidence for human cannibalism to date has been discovered at the lower paleolithic site of Gran Dolina (Spain), where about 780,000 years ago, six individuals of Homo antecessor were butchered. Other important sites include the Neanderthal site of Moula-Guercy France (100,000 years ago), the Middle Paleolithic Klasies River Caves (80,000 years ago in South Africa), Neolithic Fontbrégoua (4300-3700 BC, France), Anasazi site Cowboy Wash (United States, ca 1100 AD), Aztecs of 15th century AD Mexico, the Donner Party (19th century USA), and the Fore of Papua New Guinea (who stopped cannibalism as a mortuary ritual in 1959).
One interesting sociological feature of cannibalism may be why if it was so widespread in our past it hasn't been recognized that commonly. Chances are that our own squeamishness may have led us to ignore data unless it was blindingly obvious. The report of cannibalism at any given site is still controversial, and in the 1990s identification of cannibalism at Anasazi sites such as Cowboy Wash and Manco was greeted with considerable skepticism.

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Archaeology Proof of Giants

These astounding photos are from a recent archaeological discovery in Greece; this totally unexpected find furnishes proof of the existence of “Nephilim”. Nephilim is the word used to describe the giants spoken of in biblical times by Enoch as well as the giant David fought against (Goliath). It is generally believed that most of these Giants came about when the fallen angels had union with earthly woman. Note the incredible size of the skull Gen 6:4 (bene elohim-fallen angels) There were giants on earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bear children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.

 Num 13:33 and there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
There is a good reason we haven’t heard about this epic discovery in the New York Times, Scientific American, or any other legitimate publication, and that is that these photos, like the one circulating since 2004 purporting to show a giant skeleton found in the Middle East, are fakes.
As if it weren’t preposterous enough to claim that one 15-foot-tall fossilized human skeleton had turned up without media fanfare, we’re asked to believe that archaeologists recently dug up four of them in a single location (Greece). In point of fact, each of the photos appears to have been taken at a different time and place.

1. It was created by inserting an outsized human skull into a photo of a 1993 University of Chicago dinosaur dig in Niger, Africa (see the original here). Moreover, if you look at a blow-up of the doctored image, the skull appears flattened and unnatural.
2. Then it is a blow-up with brightness and contrast enhanced reveals unnaturally dark “shadows” around the skull. The skull in this is marked by incongruously bright highlights on the teeth and around the edges of the gaping temple wound. And in image #5 the shadows coming off the skeleton fall more or less toward the camera, while the worker’s shadow falls due left, suggesting that elements of two different photos were combined.

3. Despite frequent references to “giants” in ancient mythology and English translations of the Bible, there is no generally accepted scientific or historical evidence that such beings ever actually existed

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Ancient Jerusalem Wall Provides Proof For Bible Stories

JERUSALEM — An Israeli archaeologist said Monday that ancient fortifications recently excavated in Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon and support the biblical narrative about the era.

If the age of the wall is correct, the finding would be an indication that Jerusalem was home to a strong central government that had the resources and manpower needed to build massive fortifications in the 10th century B.C.

That's a key point of dispute among scholars, because it would match the Bible's account that the Hebrew kings David and Solomon ruled from Jerusalem around that time.

While some Holy Land archaeologists support that version of history – including the archaeologist behind the dig, Eilat Mazar – others posit that David's monarchy was largely mythical and that there was no strong government to speak of in that era.

Speaking to reporters at the site Monday, Mazar, from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, called her find "the most significant construction we have from First Temple days in Israel."

"It means that at that time, the 10th century, in Jerusalem there was a regime capable of carrying out such construction," she said.

Based on what she believes to be the age of the fortifications and their location, she suggested it was built by Solomon, David's son, and mentioned in the Book of Kings.

The fortifications, including a monumental gatehouse and a 77-yard (70-meter) long section of an ancient wall, are located just outside the present-day walls of Jerusalem's Old City, next to the holy compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. According to the Old Testament, it was Solomon who built the first Jewish Temple on the site.

That temple was destroyed by Babylonians, rebuilt, renovated by King Herod 2,000 years ago and then destroyed again by Roman legions in 70 A.D. The compound now houses two important Islamic buildings, the golden-capped Dome of the Rock and the Al-Aqsa mosque.

Archaeologists have excavated the fortifications in the past, first in the 1860s and most recently in the 1980s. But Mazar claimed her dig was the first complete excavation and the first to turn up strong evidence for the wall's age: a large number of pottery shards, which archaeologists often use to figure out the age of findings.

Aren Maeir, an archaeology professor at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv, said he has yet to see evidence that the fortifications are as old as Mazar claims. There are remains from the 10th century in Jerusalem, he said, but proof of a strong, centralized kingdom at that time remains "tenuous."

While some see the biblical account of the kingdom of David and Solomon as accurate and others reject it entirely, Maeir said the truth was likely somewhere in the middle.

"There's a kernel of historicity in the story of the kingdom of David," he said.

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Polar Lights-Aurora Facts

What is the Aurora?
On our earth, the aurora phenomenon occurs at the north and south poles.  In the northern hemisphere the aurora borealis is commonly known as the “northern lights”.  In the southern hemisphere the aurora australis is also know as the “southern lights”. This phenomenon occurs when particles in solar winds are pulled into the atmosphere by the earth’s magnetic force.  The aurora is said to be continuously occurring between 100km and 500km above the earth’s surface.
Where is the best place to observe the Aurora?
Located around both magnetic poles of the earth is a halo like ring called an aurora oval. The area directly beneath each aurora oval is the best place to see the aurora most often.  The cities located under the northern oval include Yellowknife, Canada; Fairbanks, Alaska and Lapland, Norway.  Among these places, Yellowknife has the least geographical obstructions, such as mountains, to provide a high percentage of clear weather in the winter which results in a high viewing probability.
When is the best time to see the aurora?
The aurora occurs all year round. The image of winter and aurora is strong, but you can actually view the aurora during the summer.  However, for some of the summer months in Yellowknife and other locations with high latitude, the sun only goes down for a short while.  Since it is still bright in the middle of the night it is not possible to see the aurora.  Furthermore, during the autumn and spring, the weather is rather unstable and has a lower percentage of clear skies.  Therefore, we have determined the best viewing seasons to be from mid-August to the end of September and from mid-November to mid-April. In Yellowknife, it is possible to see the aurora approximately 240 days of the year and when there are no obstructions such as heavy clouds, they almost always appear.  Aurora Village has calculated that each season, customers who participate in 3 consecutive days of aurora viewing have over a 95% chance of seeing the aurora.
While some people may be concerned that a full moon is a problem,  only weak aurora may be obstructed by the light of the moon, but in Yellowknife the aurora is frequently strong enough that aurora viewing is still possible on a moonlit night.  As far as aurora photography goes, the aurora above a moonlit landscape actually tends to have a pleasing effect.  On the whole, when participating in an aurora tour, one doesn’t need to be worried about the moon.
What types are there? 
The colours of the aurora range from the most common whitish-greens, to pinks, then to the rarer reds, blues and so on.  Red is difficult to recognize with the naked eye, and a deep red colour is so unusual that many people who live in the north have never seen it.  It comes in a variety of shapes: curtains, ruffles, bow, band, whirlpool, corona, but there are never two auroras of the same colour and shape. Finally, there is the aurora break-up comes with amazing speed and makes the night sky dance with awesome beauty. However, fast moving, colourful aurora can often last only a short time of around 10 minutes.  At Aurora Village, all of the staff are equipped with short-wave wireless radios in order to continually monitor and communicate the condition of the aurora so that the guests will not miss an aurora display.

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Interesting Facts about India

1. The famous board game, called Chess, was invented in India.
2. In India's 100,000 years of history, it has never invaded any other country.
3. India is the 7th largest country in the world, the largest democracy and one of the oldest civilizations.
4. India was one of the richest countries in the world before the British invasion in 17th century.
5. The value of "pi" used in mathematics was first calculated by the Indian mathematician Budhayana in 6th century.
6. India is one of the largest exporter of computer software products. It exports software to over 90 countries.
7. India is home to the world's largest pilgrimage destination called the Vishnu Temple. The temple is located in the city of Tirupati. About an average of 30,000 people visit this temple donating about $6 million US dollars, everyday.
8. India originated Yoga about 5,000 years ago.
9. India has the most number of mosques. It has 300,000 mosques which is much more than the Muslim world.
10. Christians and Jews have been living in India since 52 A.D. and 200 B.C. respectively.
11. India has the highest bridge in the world . It is called Bailey Bridge and is located in Ladakh between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayas.
12. Before 1986, India was the only place in the world where Diamonds could be found.
13. The world's first University was established in India . The University was established in 700 B.C. at the place of Taxila.
14. The biggest and the largest employer in the world is Indian Railways which employs over a million people.
15. India has the highest cricket ground in the world. It is located in the northern state of India called Himachal Pradesh. The cricket ground is 2444 meters above the sea level and was built in 1893.
16. Most important studies of Mathematics like calculus, trigonometry and algebra were originated in India.
17. Taj Mahal which is among the seven wonders of the world is in India. Taj Mahal was built over a long period of 11 years.
18. India has the most number of post offices in the world.

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Ten Cool Archaeological Sites

Angkor Wat, Cambodia
A temple built in the 12th century, Angkor Wat (meaning “capital monastery”) was a temple in the ancient Khmer capital city of Angkor. It is Cambodia’s best-known tourist attraction and appears on the country’s flag. The temple is known for its beautiful architecture and reliefs.
King Tutankhamun’s Tomb, Egypt
Tutankhamun was one of ancient Egypt’s minor kings, but his tomb is very famous. When Howard Carter discovered the tomb in 1922, it was almost completely undisturbed—and filled with treasure!
Machu Picchu, Peru
Machu Picchu was built high in the Andes mountains by the Inca in the 15th century. Its exact purpose is unknown. It has been designated one of the New Seven Wonders of the World and is threatened by over-tourism.
Stonehenge, England
The entire Stonehenge site was constructed over thousands of years. The reason for building the monument and the construction techniques are still a mystery.
Terra-cotta Warriors, China
The famous army of terra-cotta soldiers were created to protect Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, in the third century B.C. The statues are life-size and were even given individual features.
Pompeii, Italy
When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D., Pompeii was buried under many layers of ash, preserving the city exactly as it was when the volcano erupted. Because so many objects were preserved, archaeologists are able to better understand daily life in the ancient Roman Empire.M
Teotihuacan, Mexico
The mysterious city of Teotihuacan, laid out in a grid, had been built and abandoned before the Aztec settled in central Mexico. The Aztec named the site and guessed about the purposes of the buildings, but archaeologists are only now beginning to understand the importance of the temples here.
Petra, Jordan
Unknown to Westerners until its discovery by Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812, Petra was a caravan crossroads and the capital of the Nabataean kingdom 2000 years ago. Today, more tourists are visiting the site, making preservation more important.
Moai Statues of Easter Island, Chile
The massive statues of Easter Island, called moai, were carved between 1400 and 1600 A.D. out of compressed volcanic ash. Many of these statues are still standing at different sites around the island.
Nazca Lines, Peru
The Nazca lines are giant drawings in Peru’s Nazca Desert. The drawings can be seen clearly from the sky, but not from the ground. The lines may have religious significance according to some theories. The drawings depict many different things such as humans and different kinds of animals.

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7 Classical Oldest Language Of The World

Language a medium of communication come to form well back 1,00,000 years.The first spoken form of language still not accounted and don't exist in the world,since ancient language don't have written script.Justifying first language of the earth mere impossible.Even accounting first language is difficult,but we find some of the treasure language of the earth.Civilization developed along this classical language of the world.

Greek
Specialty: Greek is the language of the scientific vocabulary and over 10, 00,000 words are loaned to English language.
History: Proto-Greek has origin well over 2nd millennium BC, Since Greek evolved along with Greek civilization its more orientated towards culture and tradition .Greek accounts for some of valuable treasured literacy like Odyssey, lliad, Aristotle philosophy Plato, Greek New testament etc

Latin

Specialty: Latin is the language of scientific invention and most of biological terms arrived from Latin. About 70% of the incunabula are in Latin.
History: Latin language evolved around the Roman Empire. Latin one of the factor behind spread of Christianity. Since many scientific finding took place in and around Roman Empire, So Latin places a vital role in science forum. Latin is always confined within the lower half of the Mediterranean Sea.

Hebrew

Specialty: Holy Language of Jewish and Hebrew's. Since Bible first written in this language only. Most Jewish and Christian History in Hebrew language.
History: Hebrew saw many periods from monarchic Period to Arabic period. Old Testament is fully written in Hebrew

Persian

Specialty: Persian language inspired Many Indo-Aryan Language. Persian Is the mother language of Urdu.
History: Persian was first originated along the Iraq and Iran. Persian Spread across the South Asia by Mughal Colonization. Persian as significant presence in Muslim community. Persian and Arabic both confined within Muslim Religion.

Chinese

Specialty: Chinese is the only language which as to read top to bottom. Chinese share largest culture share across the world.
History: Xia-Dynasty was official Empire which spread Chinese across the globe. Chinese language is believed to more than 10,000 years old. It has literature, Culture and tradition. Chinese Culture one of the few culture existing in the world.

Sanskrit

Specialty: Sanskrit is the mother of all European Language.
History: Sanskrit Script early found in Rig Veda. Its Hindu Veda believed to sacred. Sanskrit always been language of priest and Bhramin, So Sanskrit came to extinct. Sanskrit is always not a language of common man.

Tamil

Specialty: 55% of the epigraphically Inscription found in India are in Tamil. Tamil-Brahmi Script inscription are found in Egypt, Thailand, Srilanka, Which is about 2000 years old. Tamil is the only surviving classical language of the world.
History: Tamil-Brahmi Script is first written form of Tamil. Tamil Language had well defined written grammar even 2500 years ago (Tholkkapium).So many believe that Tamil also one of the Language evolved during origin of Communication. Thirukurral One of the Greatest Literature of the world.

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7 revolutionary writings

1.The Rosetta Stone, Egypt

Arguably one of the most important inscriptions ever discovered, the trilingual Rosetta Stone was discovered by soldiers from Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt. Bearing text in hieroglyphs (the writing of priests), demotic (the writing of everyday ancient Egyptians) and Greek (the language of the Ptolemaic ruling class), it provided the key to deciphering hieroglyphs, a skill lost since the 4th century AD, and made the study of Egyptology possible.
2. The Linear B tablets, Crete

When Arthur Evans excavated at Knossos in the early 20th century he found thousands of baked clay tablets inscribed with mysterious symbols, representing a Bronze Age language that had never been seen before. Dubbed ‘Linear B’, this Mycenaean writing system defied linguists for 50 years until Michael Ventris finally cracked the ancient code in 1952, making Linear B the oldest deciphered language in Europe.
3. Crusader inscription, Jaffa, Israel

Once built into the city wall at Jaffa, this marble slab bears the only Crusader-period Christian inscription known to be written in Arabic. It is attributed to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederic II who secured Jaffa for the Crusader kingdom during his Sixth Crusade of 1228-1229, and was accompanied by another inscription in Latin, which together would have proclaimed Frederic II’s achievements to both the native population and Christian newcomers.
4. Oldest Hebrew text, Khirbet Qeiyafa, Israel
Five lines of faded characters written in ink on a scrap of pottery are thought to represent the earliest example of Hebrew text yet found. The sherd was found in a water conduit at Khirbet Qeiyafa, 20 miles outside, and is thought to date to around 975 BC. The writing is in a proto-Canaanite script and has not been fully deciphered, but the words for ‘king’, ‘judge’, and ‘slave’ have been recognised.
5. The papyri of Oxyrhynchus, Egypt
A bit of a cheat, as this is not one document but a huge body of writings – half a million fragments of papyri uncovered at the start of the 20th century. From early Christian texts and writings that illuminate the Classical histories to literature and all kinds of public and private documents, these fragile sources are written in a wide range of languages: Greek, Egyptian (hieroglyphic, hieratic, demotic, mostly Coptic), Latin, Arabic, Hebrew, Aramaic and others.
6. The Dead Sea Scrolls, N. coast of the Dead Sea
Discovered accidentally by Bedouin shepherds in 1947, with more uncovered by archaeologists in the 1950s, these 800 documents represent the the monastic library of a radical Jewish missionary sect called the Essenes and include the earliest known version of the Hebrew Bible. Dating from Hellenistic times (c.250 BC) to the time of the First Jewish Revolt (c.AD 68), they are mostly written in Hebrew, with some in Aramaic or Greek.
7. The Cascajal Block, Veracruz, Mexico

Found in a gravel pit by road builders in the late 1990s, this slab is inscribed with 62 distinct symbols, some of which are repeated, and is thought to date to around 900 BC, making it the earliest-known writings from the Americas. Some of the glyphs are known from Olmec art, including depictions of an insect, maize, corn plants, a table-top altar, and the four points of the compass, but most have never been seen before.

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