Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries by Brian Haughton (beginner reading books for adults txt) 📕

In early 2005, an independent team of international experts led by Dr. Dean Falk from Florida State University examined the skull of LB1. They published their results in the journal Science in March 2005. The team compared a three-dimensional image of the brain of LB I with those from a number of different species: a chimpanzee, a modern human (including a modern pygmy), a microcephalic, and Homo erectus. There were further comparisons with primitive human-like creatures Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus aethiopicus, and also with modern gorillas. Their conclusion was that the LB1 brain was completely unlike that of a pygmy or a microcephalic, and most like that of Homo erectus, and that it is "indeed a new species of human being." But these results didn't silence the critics, who claimed that Dr. Falk and her team didn't use a skull with the correct example of microcephaly. And so the controversy continues.

There is a strong possibility that the question of the true origins and identity of the Floresians might be cleared up by using DNA analysis. The comparatively recent age of the skeletal material and the fact that it is not fos

silized suggest that this could indeed be done. However, as high temperatures degrade DNA, the tropical climate of Indonesia significantly diminishes the chance of success with this method. Perhaps additional finds of more complete skeletal materials from Liang Bua may allow DNA testing, though only time will tell if it can be ever be successfully extracted from LB1. Nevertheless, the fascinating possibility remains. If DNA could ever be extracted from Homo floresiensis, it could provide an entirely new perception of the evolution of the human lineage.

As far as the fate of the tiny island people is concerned, an eruption in the vicinity of the Liang Bua cave from one of the island's numerous volcanoes (about 12,000 years ago) appears to have wiped out the local Homo floresiensis population as well as much of Flores's unique wildlife. However, some of the Homo floresiensis population may have survived much later in other parts of the island. Interestingly, the modern inhabitants of Flores have detailed legends about the existence of little hairy people on the island, known as Ebu Gogo, roughly translated as grandmother who eats anything. Some of the features of these Ebu Gogo include a height of about 3 feet and longish arms and fingers, which are also characteristic of Homo floresiensis. The Ebu Gogo were also able to murmur to each other in some kind of primitive language, and could repeat what villagers said to them in a parrot-like fashion.

Apparently the Ebu Gogo were last sighted just before Dutch colonists settled in Flores in the 19th century. There is also an interesting link between the Floresians and the island of Sumatra, where there have been reports of another 3-foot tall humanoid, known as the Orang Pendek. Zoologists have been cataloguing sightings of a mysterious ape in the Kerinci Seblat park area of western Sumatra for more than 150 years, and both footprints and hairs have been recovered that may belong to the creature. Researchers working on the Floresian finds have postulated that the Orang Pendek could be surviving examples of Homo floresiensis still living on Sumatra. Henry Gee, senior editor at Nature magazine, agrees, and goes even further, saying that the discovery of Homo floresiensis surviving until such recent times (geologically speaking) "makes it more likely that stories of other mythical, human-like creatures such as Yetis are founded on grains of truth .... Now, cryptozoology, the study of such fabulous creatures, can come in from the cold."

Researchers insist that the possibility of finding a living example of

Homo floresiensis or Ebu Gogo should not be dismissed out of hand, particularly as Southeast Asia is a relatively rich area for finds of mammals unknown to science. Examples include an antelope, Pseudoryx nghetinhensis (described from the Lao-Vietnamese border as recently as 1993) and the kouprey, an ox-like creature (known to Western science only since 1937). Bert Roberts and Michael Morwood are convinced that exploration of the remaining rainforest on Flores and caves associated with the Ebu Gogo stories could provide them with vital samples of hair or other material, perhaps even living specimens. They also think it probable that the skeletal remains of other, equally divergent Homo species, await discovery in other isolated corners of Southeast Asia. Indeed, the fact that a lost Homo species such as floresiensis, which had lived so recently, yet remained unknown until 2003, strongly suggests there are more significant gaps in our understanding of the history of humanity than we could ever have imagined.

the Magi and the SI.ar of Bethlehem

The Three Wise Men, named Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar, from a late 6th century mosaic at the Basilica of San Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy.

The Magi are familiar to most people as the Wise Men from the East in the Bible. The Gospel of Matthew describes them following the Star of Bethlehem to find the savior and offering him their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. But did these mysterious wise men bearing exotic gifts really exist outside of this biblical story? And if so, what was the Star of Bethlehem?

The word Magi (the plural of the term Magus), comes from Latin via the Greek word Magoi, itself borrowed from Old Persian Magus. The Old English word is Mage, and it is from this

that we get our word magic. One of the earliest mentions of the Magi is by the Greek historian Herodotus (c. 484 B.C.- c. 425 B.C.) who states that they were a sacred class of priests living in Media (roughly the northwestern part of Iran and the area of Kurdistan), and one of the six tribes that composed the original Medes. However, as the Persian Empire expanded into their area in the sixth century B.C., the priests of the old Median religion, which was possibly of Mesopotamian origin, found it necessary to adapt their practices to the monotheistic