When they found a mysterious pyramid structure in Peru recently, archaeologists knew they had located something of incredible significance, but upon closer inspection, they came to realize that their discovery holds a dark secret that appears to point to the ancient practice of human sacrifice which was once carried out across most of South America.
“The amazing discovery was made at the Sechin Archaeological Project, in the northern province of Casma in the Ancash region. This historic site dates back over 5000 years and it is believed to have been the center of an enigmatic prehistoric society known as the Sechin culture.
“Little is known about this culture, but it constructed some of the first monumental buildings in the Americas. Many experts believe that it even may be the first known civilization in the Andes.”
A previously discovered pendant made by the Sechin culture. Right: The newly unearthed Peruvian pyramid was also made by the Sechin people. (Via the Lombard Museum & Andina)
Evidence of human sacrifices?
Once excavation of the site began, Sechin Archaeological Project researchers began noting that they had to dig some 18 feet to find the pyramid structure, and had a very unique design:
“This structure consists of a series of steps that are made out of slabs and stones and are similar to a step-pyramid. It is an estimated 10 feet (3.05 meters) high and 15 feet (4.57 meters) wide.”
The Peruvian pyramid consists of a series of steps (Via Andina)
After speculating that the massive pyramid was likely the seat of government in the Sechin culture, researchers then came to the darker use of the structure:
“Archaeologist Monica Suarez, the coordinator at the Archaeological Project, stated, ‘It served a ceremonial purpose, but we need to make further analysis.’ Many cultures in the ancient Andes used similar buildings for rites and sacrifices. Living and Traveling in Peru reports that stepped pyramids were ‘aimed at attaining higher or elevated levels of spirituality.’”
See the finds from Ancient Architects
Grisly discoveries
Near the pyramid, members of the archaeological team began finding clues that certainly seem to point toward a bloody past, including two skulls, one of which belonged to an adult and the other to a young child.
“At the side of the structure they found a skeleton that appears to have been dismembered. This is evidence that a person may have had his or her limbs cut off while still alive or post-mortem.”
Two skulls and a dismembered skeleton were found by researchers (Via Andia)
Finding the skulls and dismembered skeleton adds credence to the theories of human sacrifice, according to Andina. The possibility also exists that the sacrifices took place on the stepped structure, and it has long been known that human sacrifice was a common occurrence in the Andes before the Spanish arrived.
But there are alternate theories, too, and those point to a more practical purpose for the structure:
“Researchers at the archaeological park believe that it is also possible ‘that the stepped, pyramid-shaped structure served as a ladder to get to a higher level.’ The nature of the stepped structure and its location may mean that it was used to access the center of the ancient site. It may have allowed the inhabitants of the massive complex to approach the central building.”
Sechin carvings via YouTubeSechin carvings via YouTube
Mysteries of the Sechin
Along with the possibility of human sacrifice are hints that the people who constructed the pyramid were proud of their work, even leaving a sort of signature that can be seen by us thousands of years later:
“It appears that when the mud-bricks were still wet the workers deliberately left impressions with their fingers. These fingerprints can be viewed as workers signing their work.”
Research continues on the Peruvian pyramid structure, and all of the human remains are undergoing extensive testing. Hopefully, that will give us a greater insight into mysterious Sechin people who populated the region thousands of years ago.
This video has more on the Sechin people and their culture:
Astronomers have known for a century that the universe is expanding. We can now trace this expansion over much of its almost 14 billion year history, with important constraints going back to just one second after the Big Bang! The expansion rate today is known as the Hubble constant (H0).
Today, we marvel at creatures such as crocodiles and Komodo Dragons, but they would be even more fearsome if they had giant heads. And it turns out that giant-headed reptiles once roamed the Earth.
In the aftermath of mass extinction, apex reptilian predators with disproportionately large heads inherited dominion over the planet. This family of creatures is known as Erythrosuchids. Within this family is the clan of archosauromorphs, which includes two species of Garjainia, a reptile that walked on four legs similar to the way crocodiles and Komodo Dragons walk in the present day. The two species are known as Garjainia prima, the remains of which were found in South Africa, and Vjushkovia triplicostata, the remains of which were found in Russia.
We know a lot about Garjainia prima because scientists have conducted multiple studies focusing on it, but for some reason, they largely ignored V. triplicostata. And so, Professor Richard Butler of the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom put together a team to study the creature and made some fascinating observations. The most interesting discovery, of course, is that the species had unusually large heads that were out of proportion with the rest of their bodies.
According to the study as published by the Royal Society:
Erythrosuchids are often described as possessing disproportionately large heads (e.g. [6,8–10,18,34]), but this trait has never been explored quantitatively. In order to explore relative head size in erythrosuchids in more detail, we collected data on basal skull length (premaxilla to quadrate) and femur length across tetrapods, with a particular focus on early archosauromorphs. Femoral length was chosen as a proxy for overall body size, in line with many previous studies.
The team studied skull size in relation to femur size, which can tell us about how big or small an animal’s body was, just like how human femurs can be used to determine height.
And the big head trait seems to have been a key feature of most members of the Erythrosuchids family.
The erythrosuchids ‘V. triplicostata’, E. africanus and S. shansisuchus, the proterosuchid ‘Chasmatosaurus’ yuani, the pterosaurs Dimorphodon macronyx and Eudimorphodon macronyx, the proterochampsian Proterochampsa barrionuevoi, and the phytosaur Parasuchus hislopi all have skulls that are disproportionately elongate relative to the femur.
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The study concluded that giant heads may have developed to aid predators in catching and eating prey, especially larger prey.
These results provide support for the generalization that the heads of erythrosuchids are disproportionately large relative to other groups of archosauromorphs, but also suggest that this feature is not unique to erythrosuchids but characterizes a broader grouping of early archosauriforms, including proterosuchids. The enlarged heads of proterosuchids and erythrosuchids were acquired coincident with increases in overall body size, and anatomical features related to carnivorous adaptations such as serrated teeth. The evolution of large heads in erythrosuchids and other early archosauriforms might therefore be linked to these groups invading hypercarnivorous niches following the Permo-Triassic mass extinction, although further exploration of this hypothesis using functional morphological approaches is warranted.
Another depiction of the Garjainia featuring a disproportionately larger head. Image via Wikimedia.
However, Butler cautioned that this is only a hypothesis for the time being.
“We don’t know for sure why this was the case, but we hypothesize that it might have been linked to their role as the top predators in a number of Triassic ecosystems: having a big, powerful head and bite is likely to be useful in capturing prey,” he told Newsweek in an interview. “Hypercarnivores are animals with diets almost exclusively composed of meat. We hypothesize that large predators at the top of food chains might have proportionately larger and more powerful heads in order to help in capturing prey.”
These creatures had heads disproportionately bigger than even most dinosaurs. We all know that Tyrannosaurus rex had a large head and tiny arms, making it a weird reptile in its own right. But Garjainia prima and V. triplicostata had giant heads and smaller bodies overall.
The T-rex had a large head and disproportionately small arms. Image via Wikimedia.
“These are bizarre animals, but much about their biology remains unstudied,” Butler said. “They presumably must have had very powerful neck muscles to support such a massive head, but detailed studies of their muscles have not yet been done.”
Jawbone and teeth of the V. triplicostata. Image via Royal Society.
Indeed, one would certainly hope these creatures had the muscle to support their heads. Or else they would have been sitting ducks for other predators because their heads would have weighed them down and kept them from defending themselves, making them less of a threat and not an apex predator.
That being said, Butler and his team intend on studying the anatomy to make further hypotheses about the creature.
“We’re working on the rest of the skeleton (the postcranial skeleton) at the moment, aiming to understand its anatomy and reconstruct muscles,” he said. “Longer term we’d like to understand more about the biology of these weird animals, through using approaches like computer modeling to understand how their skulls functioned.”
Learning more about these creatures will undoubtedly help us learn much more about living reptiles and how they function. Crocodiles and Komodo Dragons are about the closest this world has to dinosaurs today unless you count birds, which are not nearly as scary looking and fearsome. We certainly don’t fear being killed and eaten by a bird, even the largest of them. But crocodiles and Komodo Dragons have attacked and even eaten humans.
Komodo Dragons have sharp teeth and a poisonous bite that can kill a human in hours. These attacks are rare. The reptile weighs in at 150 pounds and can grow to 10 feet in length. They ambush and bite their prey, and then proceed to stalk it until it dies before feasting.
The Komodo Dragon is one of the largest lizards walking the Earth today and is similar to the Garjainia giant-headed lizards of the Triassic. Image via Wikimedia.
Crocodiles are also ambushing predators, but while Komodo Dragons are proficient hunters on land, crocodiles operate in the water, waiting for prey to come to the water’s edge before leaping out and pulling their prey under the surface, which they can easily do because they have the strongest bite on the planet.
The crocodile is also somewhat similar to the Garjainia species. Image via Wikimedia.
Clearly, the ancient Triassic reptiles were more like Komodo Dragons because they hunted on lands, but they may have likely exhibited the bite strength of a crocodile, allowing them to crush and hold on to their prey, giving the creature the best traits of both.
Perhaps genetic studies can further connect the Garjainia prima and V. triplicostata to crocodiles and Komodo Dragons by revealing even more similarities and differences. But one thing is for certain. It’s a good thing giant-headed reptiles are not roaming around today because that would be terrifying.
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A huge Stone Age monument has been discovered in Poland, and researchers report the site is 360 feet in diameter, making it three times larger than Stonehenge. It is believed the site was used by Neolithic people for at least 250 years, with new features added to it along the way.
“The site was first spotted by a paraglider, in 2015, at Nowe Objezierze near Cedynia, which is in northwest Poland, not far from the German border. In 2016 the archaeologist Marcin Dziewanowski, while investigating satellite images on Google Maps, confirmed that there was an ancient enclosure at the location. According to The First News website, ‘the contours of the enclosure were so clear that they looked like the crop circles made by aliens in science fiction movies.’”
The massive site was first spotted by a paraglider in 2015. (Via YouTube)
Now, almost three years since the site was first located, experts from the Universities of Gdańsk, Szczecin, Warsaw, and Poznań are gaining new insights into the deeper meaning of the structure by using non-invasive techniques and excavating small areas around the south and west of the site.
A ‘Roundel’
Due to its circular shape, the site has been dubbed a “roundel.” At least 130 roundels have been discovered in Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. The purpose of roundels is believed to have been ritualistic and may also have served as some sort of astronomical calendar.
The Polish roundel is one of the most impressive ever found anywhere in the world, Newsweek notes:
“It consists of a central area surrounded by three gates that lead to the interior. It then has four ditches circling it. Each ditch is larger and deeper than the last, and it appears they were dug at relatively regular intervals.”
Excavations at the ritual site in Poland (Via YouTube)
‘Quite sensational’
Project leader Lech Czerniak, from the University of Gdańsk, said discovering the roundel in Poland is significant from a historical and archaeological perspective:
“This is quite sensational, given the fact that it coincides with the dating of structures located on the Danube, considered the oldest. It seems equally important that the four ditches surrounding the central area of the structure probably did not function simultaneously, but every few dozen years, a new ditch with an ever larger diameter was dug.”
And the project itself is meant to help researchers better understand roundels, Czerniak added:
“The primary focus of the project are questions about the social aspects of the functioning operation of roundels, including what prompted the inhabitants of a given region to make a huge effort in building and maintaining the roundel, where the idea and knowledge necessary to build this object came from, and how often and for how long the object was used.”
Avebury Stone Circle in Great Britain is an example of a roundel ritual site (Via Wikimedia Commons)
Deeper insights
More research into the Polish roundel is needed, according to experts:
“In particular, the researchers want to understand what were the beliefs that motivated prehistoric people to build such a massive structure and what was its role was in their society. Paleoenvironmental research will also be a focus of the archaeologists, as it will allow them to understand the communities’ impact on the local environment which in turn can provide a window into the Neolithic past.”
“What the roundel may have looked like in its prime” via The First News Anna Cebula/Facebook
For some spectacular aerial views of the roundel in Poland, watch this video:
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