Sunday, June 30, 2013

Ancient Egyptian Statue Mysteriously Rotates - Manchester Museum

The Manchester Museum is getting a lot of press this week. It released a time-lapse footage of an ancient Egyptian statue slowly rotating in its sealed case. The statue, of an official named Neb-senu, dates back to around 1,800 BC, and was given to the museum 80 years ago. In all those decades, this is the first time that anyone has seen it spin. 

Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Mystery of the "Swiss Watch" found in a Sealed Ming Dinasty Tomb

Archaeologists are stumped after finding a 100-year-old Swiss watch in an ancient tomb that was sealed more than 400 years ago. They believed they were the first to visit the Ming dynasty grave in Shangsi, southern China, since its occupant's funeral, but inside they uncovered a miniature watch in the shape of a ring marked "Swiss" that is thought to be just a century old.


The mysterious timepiece was encrusted in mud and rock and had stopped at 10:06 am. Watches were not around at the time of the Ming Dynasty and Switzerland did not even exist as a country, an expert pointed out.

The archaeologists were filming a documentary with two journalists when they made the puzzling discovery. "When we tried to remove the soil wrapped around the coffin, suddenly a piece of rock dropped off and hit the ground with metallic sound" said Jiang Yanyu, former curator of the Guangxi Museum. "We picked up the object, and found it was a ring. After removing the covering soil and examining it further, we were shocked to see it was a watch" he added.

The Ming Dynasty or The Empire of the Great Ming was the ruling dynasty in China from 1368 to 1644.


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1096959/Mystery-century-old-Swiss-watch-discovered-ancient-tomb-sealed-400-years.html