Archeologists Puzzled by Hundreds of Egyptian Tombs from Pre-Dynastic Era
A new discovery from ancient Egypt has been made, with more than 100 tombs found from a pre-pharaonic era.
Egyptian archeologists have unearthed more than 100 burial tombs at an ancient site in a Nile Delta province. This new find includes 68 tombs dating to the pre-dynastic period from 6,000-3,150 B.C., as well as five oval-shaped tombs from the Naqada III period that spanned from around 3,200-3,000 B.C., and 37 rectangular graves from the second intermediate period when the Hyksos people ruled ancient Egypt.
Archeologists also found human remains of adults and children and pottery in the graves, but as archeologists make significant findings like this around the world, what makes this one stand out?
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The London Hammer: Is It An Out of Place Artifact?
What could be so unusual or controversial about the discovery of an iron hammer encased in ancient rock? After all, archaeologists have discovered historical artifacts for as long as humans have been searching for their ancient roots. But what happens when an object defies historical study and appears to exist as a kind of time traveler in the mysterious realms between worlds? For what is known as the “London Hammer,” the world has been wrangling with a seemingly ordinary household tool steeped in mystery, archaeological wonder, and with many unanswered questions.
Alleged to date back more than 400 million years, the London Hammer, or as it is also called the London Artifact, can be looked at as a study of how the modern and ancient worlds can connect and collide. How else can we explain that an obviously human-made instrument linked to the late 1800s that never rusted despite the wood transforming into coal?
How could the London Hammer withstand typical aging impacts like oxidation, and what explanations exist for its discovery in a rock formation predating human existence? Perhaps it’s best to begin with its claimed discovery location – the small town of London, Texas.
London Hammer —  From Texas to the World Stage
For Max and Emma Hahn, it was a summer day like many others. In 1936, the Texas couple took a hike along Red Creek near London, Texas, a tiny community located in the center of the Lone Star State. But the hike turned out to be like no other the Hahns had ever experienced. Not because of the weather or the beauty of the landscape but because they discovered a strange piece of wood encased in what seemed to be an unusual formation of rock.