Tagged: archaeological

Sacred Valley of the Incas: Salt, Stones & Secrets [42 PICS]

March 20th, 2014 Permalink

When you think about the Incas, does Machu Picchu come to mind? While that might be where your destination starts or ends in Peru, there is so much more to see in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, or El Valle Sagrado de los Incas. Look up along the Urubamba River and Valley to see Andes Mountain peaks stretching to a height of 20,000 feet. It is over these steep hillsides that the Incas managed to move massive stones without the help of the wheel. They had no iron tools to cut the stones, but still the pieces fit together so tightly that not even a knife blade can slide between them. The “how’s” are part of the secrets to which we might never know the answers. Huge circular terraces at Moray were thought to be where Incas conducted experimental agriculture. Carved into the mountains are also thousands of small salt ponds, Salineras de Maras, or Inca salt pans. All of this is located in the Peruvian Andes, with Cusco on one end and Machu Picchu on the other; this is the heartland of the Inca Empire. This is the Sacred Valley of the Incas. [42 PICS]

Las Salineras, Inca salt ponds

Inca salt ponds, Sacred Valley in Peru. The photographer wrote, “Indians mined salt slopes of the valley from pre-Inca times. Today, 700 to 800 families owning some 3600 basins are organized as a cooperative. The total annual production varies between 160 and 200 tons.” Photo #1 by David (Wanaku)

More Photos

Holy Land: Christian Tour of Israel [49 Divine Pics]

March 8th, 2013 Permalink

It is the desire of many people to visit the Holy Land, but different people want to see different things, different sacred places. Many Christians would like to visit places featured in the Bible, and many others would like to walk where Jesus walked, taught, preformed miracles, was born, was crucified, temporarily entombed, and rose again. Google Street View lets you tour parts of Israel, but for those of you who can’t currently afford a trip to see more sacred destinations, here are 49 divine pictures to make up a virtual tour of the Holy Land. [49 Photos]

Mount of Beatitudes view at the Sea of Galilee with the Golan heights at the background

Mount of Beatitudes view at the Sea of Galilee with the Golan heights at the background. The Mount of Beatitudes refers to the hill in northern Israel where Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes.”Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Photo #1 by gugganij

More Photos

Laura Croft’s Tomb Raider & Indiana Jones’ Temple of Doom: Ancient Angkor [PICS]

November 15th, 2012 Permalink

Once upon a time, or around 1580, while cutting a path through the thick Cambodian jungle, Portuguese missionaries came upon huge towers carved into rocks that were in ruins and covered in roots and vines. Continuing on, they discovered an ancient lost city that was twice as large as Manhattan and that nature was trying to swallow. The missionaries had discovered abandoned Angkor Wat—the 500-acre site is one of the world’s largest religious monuments and the most elaborate of the Angkor’s temples. There are more than 1,000 Temples of Angkor which were built from the 9th to 13th centuries during a time when the Kingdom of Cambodia was one of the most powerful civilizations on the planet. There were rarely any inscriptions found in later centuries after 1431, when Angkor was seized by the Thai army. During its prime, as many as 750,000 – one million people lived in Angkor, making it one of the greatest vanishing acts of all time. Archaeologists now know that Angkor Wat and many of its surrounding structures were built to appease “devas” and “asuras” which are angelic demi-Gods of the Hindu religion. Thousands upon thousands of these demi-god beings are carved into every single rock temple at the site. Both Tomb Raider and Indiana Jones Temple of Doom were filmed here. Angkor Archaeological Park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1992. New research claims to have solved the mystery of how the huge stones of Angkor Wats were moved. “The massive sandstone bricks used to construct the 12th-century temple of Angkor Wat were brought to the site via a network of hundreds of canals. The findings shed light on how the site’s 5 million to 10 million bricks, some weighing up to 3,300 pounds, made it to the temple from quarries at the base of a nearby mountain.” The mystique of Angkor may cry out to the adventurer in us all, but the roots and trees are now being cut back as Angkor is being restored. So many people come here, about 2 – 3 million a year; all that walking and climbing on the (mostly) sandstone monuments caused additional damage to the archaeological sites at Angkor. These photos hearken to ancient Angkor as the Temples of Doom for a Tomb Raider to explore. [41 Photos, 4 Videos]

Echoes of Silence; the beauty and mystical ambiance of Ta Prohm. Angkor, Cambodia

“Echoes of Silence; the beauty and mystical ambiance of Ta Prohm. Angkor, Cambodia,” the photographer wrote. This scene may appeal to the Indiana Jones in all of us. Photo #1 by Peter Nijenhuis

More Photos

Dry Tortugas: Coastal Fortress, Coral Reefs, Marine Life, Shipwrecks & Sunken Treasure

August 3rd, 2012 Permalink

About 70 miles west of Key West, Florida, lies Dry Tortugas National Park which is world-renowned for picturesque blue sea waters, white sands, brightly colorful coral reefs, abundant marine life, and legends of shipwrecks and sunken treasures. There are seven small islands in the 100-square mile park, but it is mostly open water that is accessible only by boat or seaplane. Dry Tortugas is also famous as the home of magnificent and historic Fort Jefferson, the largest masonry building in the Western Hemisphere. Though it was not finished, the fort has more than 16 million bricks that make up the massive 45-foot-high, three-level hexagon, coastal fortress that has 2,000 architecturally beautiful arches. [44 Fabulous Photos]

Fort Jefferson aerial looking east

Aerial of Fort Jefferson on Garden Key, part of Dry Tortugas National Park. The park is located at the farthest end of the Florida Keys, closer to Cuba than to the USA mainland. NPS says, “To reach this remote ocean wilderness one must travel by boat or plane over 68 nautical miles of open sea.” Garden Key is the second largest island in this chain. Photo #1 by National Park Service

More Photos

Lost Underwater Lion City: Rediscovery of China’s ‘Atlantis’

June 1st, 2012 Permalink

Once upon a time, an ancient city in China was named Lion City because Five Lion Mountain loomed large behind it. The city, also known as Shi Cheng, has been buried beneath the water for 53 years. Like the lost Incan City of Machu Picchu was ‘rediscovered,’ so was this lost underwater city that had been founded about 1,300 years ago. Lion City is now located about 85 – 131 feet (26-40 meters) beneath the gorgeous Thousand Island Lake (Qiandao Lake). This valley was submerged when a dam was constructed and a lake was needed. The lake and thousands of islands were man-made. Shi Cheng ‘defied’ the Chinese norm since 5 gates and 5 towers were built into the city instead of 4. Lion City is about the size of 62 football fields. International archaeologists and a film crew recorded the amazing perservation of the lost ‘ruins.’ [23 Photos, 2 Videos]

Lion City, lost underwater Shi Cheng, dubbed China's Atlantis rediscovered

More than half a century ago, the Chinese flooded Lion City, also called Shi Cheng. Recently Shi Cheng was explored by archaeologists who dubbed ‘Lion City’ as China’s ‘Atlantis rediscovered.’ Photo #1 by Chinese National Geography via Cheer All

More Photos

Infamous Mount Vesuvius: One of the World’s Most Dangerous Volcanoes (41 PICS)

October 22nd, 2011 Permalink

East of Naples, Italy, looms the volcano Mount Vesuvius with an elevation of 4,203 feet (1,281 meters). It is a finalist in the New 7 Wonders of Nature competition; voting trends show it becoming more popular and perhaps one of the winners from the 28 natural wonders. Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in 79 AD that led to the destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. It has erupted many times since and is today regarded as one of the most dangerous and infamous volcanoes in the world. [41 Photos]

Ancient Ruins of Pompeii

Mount Vesuvius looms in the distance from the ancient ruins of Pompeii. This volcano is best known for its eruption in 79 AD that buried and destroyed the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. The towns were forgotten until their accidental rediscovery in the 18th century. Photo #1 by Glen Scarborough

More Photos

Lost Incan City of Machu Picchu: 100 Years after Discovery by ‘Indiana Jones’

July 8th, 2011 Permalink

Peru is celebrating 100 years since the rediscovery of Machu Picchu by Yale professor Hiram Bingham III. On July 24, 1911, the American, who some believe was later the “model” for Indiana Jones, stumbled upon jungle-and-vine-coated ruins during an expedition to find an ancient Inca Empire in the Andes mountains. Machu Picchu was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983. In 2007, it was crowned as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World via a worldwide Internet vote. To mark the Machu Picchu centennial celebration, here is a collection of pictures from the “Lost City of the Incas.”
[46 Photos]

Early morning in wonderful Machu Picchu

Early morning in wonderful Machu Picchu, a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located 2,430 meters (7,970 ft) above sea level. Most archaeologists think Machu Picchu was built around AD 1400 as “an estate for the Inca emperor Pachacuti” and is often referred to as the “Lost City of the Incas.” It is probably the most familiar icon of the Inca World. Around the time of the Spanish Conquest in 1572, the Incas abandoned their empire and the Peruvian jungle swallowed Machu Picchu. It wasn’t rediscovered until 1911 by American historian and explorer Hiram Bingham. There are about 140 structures or features, ranging from temples, to sanctuaries, parks, and residences, with more than 100 flights of stone steps carved from a single block of granite. Photo #1 by Pedro Szekely

More Photos

Easter Island: Mysterious & Hauntingly Beautiful (25 pics)

March 8th, 2011 Permalink

Easter Island, (Rapa Nui) Chile, is an extremely remote island and one of the world’s most famous yet least visited archaeological sites. It has perhaps more mystery and speculation in proportion to its size than any other prehistoric place on Earth — since about half of the 887 massive stone monuments remain unfinished in its main quarry. People have wondered why so many statues were left unfinished, when was the last one carved, and how were they transported in as early as 500 AD? The Rano Raraku quarry at Easter Island is where the incredible ancient relics called moai were cut out of volcanic rock and sculpted prior to transport to various sites on the island. At least 288 of the monumentally massive moai once stood upon massive stone platforms called ahu. The moai dotted Easter Island, the paradise turned wasteland which serves as a cautionary tale and poster child for ecological disaster. [25 Photos]

Chile, Easter Island

In Chile, the Polynesian name for this island is Rapa Nui, but many people call it Easter Island since a Dutch explorer found it on Easter Sunday. Here the horses are nibbling away apparently unimpressed by moai archaeological treasures at the Rano Raraku quarry. Photo #1 by Lieutenant Elizabeth Crapo, NOAA Corps & NOAA

More Photos