Clues to Mystery of Mesopotamian Clay Balls

Clues on Secrets of Mesopotamian Clay Balls

Interesting clues in deciphering the secrets of the Mesopotamian clay balls has surfaced after research was conducted in late 2013 that dates back 5,500 years ago. The study had utilised CT scanning to view within the clay balls and it was revealed that the balls could represent the very first data storage system in the world. The extent of details which the scientist had gathered from the CT scans as well as 3D modelling seemed to be extraordinary.

Woods had mentioned during his lecture that they could learn more about these artefacts by non-destructive testing instead of physically opening the envelopes. Woods would be publishing the full research results in the future and intends to put the images and 3D models online. The clay balls were located at the Choga Mish archaeological site towards western Iran during late 1960s which has baffled experts after its discovery.

Their dimensions tend to differ from the size of golf ball to baseball and till date, around 150 intact samples have been located in the region. Researchers were of the belief that they had been utilised to record economic transactions wherein this conclusion was based on an analysis of a 3,300 year old clay ball discovered at a site in Mesopotamia. These had 49 pebbles together with a cuneiform text comprising of a contract commanding a shepherd to care for 49 sheep and goats.

High Tech Equipment

But without any additional facts, this assumption seemed to remain as a possible explanation for the use and purpose. Moreover, should the assumption seem to be accurate, it seems unknown how the devices could have worked to record the exchange of commodities during the period of prehistoric times, before the development of writing. Researchers had utilised high-tech equipment together with 3D modelling in order to view the interior of the balls and discovered that they comprised of tokens in various geometric shapes. There is a possibility that the shaped bore numbers which were used in counting various kinds of products that were bartered. In such cases there could be a possibility to crack the code by uncovering how token kinds tend to gather and differ.

The CT scan strangely showed that one ball comprised of token that could have been wrapped in cloth before it had been placed in the ball and then bitumen kind of liquid could have been poured over it, which still seems to be a mystery. It is said that some of the balls had tiny criss-crossing channels that a professor at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, Christopher Woods was of the belief that it could have contained fine threads which got connected together on the outside.

Details from CT Scans/3D Modelling – Extraordinary

The threads could have had labels probably made of wax that revealed the tokens in the clay balls. The section that once had the flourishing civilization of Mesopotamia does not seem to be the only location where the clay or stone balls could have been found. Over 400 carved stone balls had been discovered in Scotland which dates back to the Neolithic period between 3000 and 2000 BC.

Thousands of baseball-sized clay balls were discovered in the ancient Neolithic city of Catalhovuk in Turkey and it could be accidental that these artefacts may have been found in several countries across the globe which belonged to the same period. The latest study could bring us close in comprehending these mysterious relics though there seems to be much to learn from it.

 The extent of details which the scientist had gathered from the CT scans as well as 3D modelling seemed to be extraordinary. Woods had mentioned during his lecture that they could learn more about these artefacts by non-destructive testing instead of physically opening the envelopes. Woods would be publishing the full research results in the future and intends to put the images and 3D models online.

The Mysterious Disappearance of Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie – English Crime Novelist/Short Story Writer/Playwright

Agatha Christie is also recognized as Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christies, Lady Mallowan, was an English crime novelist, a short story writer and playwright. She is well-known for her collections of 66 detective novels and 14 short stories which orbited around investigative work of her fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple.

She had also written the longest running play in the world which was a murder mystery. Agatha Christie had mysteriously disappeared from her home on December 3, 1926. Her car was located abandoned some miles away with a few of her clothes together with her identification around in the car.

Though no foul play was suspected, the newspapers had reported that the car had been deliberately run down Newlands corner with the brakes off. Before her disappearance, Agatha had written several baffling letters. One had been written to her brother-in-law stating that she was just going for a vacation in Yorkshire, while another to the local chief constable stating that she feared for her life.

 A lake known as Silent Pool which was a quarter-mile from where her car was found abandoned had been utilised for motivation for one of the deaths of her character. Fifteen thousand volunteers had been organised by the police to search for her in the surrounding countryside.

Mysterious Affair at Styles – First Book

Colonel Archie Christie, her husband had informed reporters that she had been suffering from nervous breakdown. Suspicions were raised that probably he had been responsible for her disappearance, like a plot in one of his wife’s mystery novels.

 This was reinforced with the rumours regarding his infidelity which instigated the police to tap his phone. For eleven days, she had disappeared with no trace regarding her whereabouts. When she was ultimately discovered at a spa in Harrogate, her husband claimed that she had been suffering from temporary amnesia.

What had led Agatha Christie to leave her home on that cold December night seems to be a mystery. Till date, her biographers tend to vary on what precisely could have occurred during those two weeks in December 1926.

Agatha Christie had published over ten novels and short stores, by the date of her disappearance, each more being much more successful than the other. The Mysterious Affair at Styles, her first book was eventually accepted in 1919 for publication and along with it, the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot had been introduced to the world.

1926 – Agatha Disappeared

The year 1926 had been the year where Agatha had lost her mother Clara. Thereafter she had to put up with another bit of bad news regarding her husband Archie who had informed her that their marriage of twelve year would come to an end since he had fallen in love with another woman, Nancy Neele, needed a divorce. Agatha had implored with Archie to give their marriage another chance to which he had agreed unwillingly.

On that significant day, she had been informed by Archie that he would be spending the weekend with some friends and would not be returning home. On that Friday night at 9.45, Agatha had informed her secretary that she was going out and had left in her car to Newland Downs where she had abandoned the car.

Thereafter she had walked back to town and got into a train to London where she did some shopping for winter coat. It was here that she had posted a letter to Campbell her brother-in-law, informing him that would be going to a spa in Yorkshire after which she had taken a train to Harrogate and had checked in Hydro spa under the name of Theresa Neele.

The Spinning Relic

Spinning Egyptian Statuette

The mystery has been solved of a 4,000 year old Egyptian statuette which had perplexed experts whenit creepily started rotating in a museum. Neb-Senu, the so-called 10 inch tall relic dates back to 1800 BC seemed to spin 180 degrees, mysteriously with no one going near it. Supervisors were amazed after they found it facing the wrong way and equipped up a time-lapse camera to capture its movement.

However, the camera portrayed the figure moving on its own in front of the visitors who seemed to pass by without a second glance. The relic had made headlines across the globe when footage had appeared about it spinning in a display glass case at the Manchester Museum. Clarification regarding its movement varied from mystical as well as magical ancient myths, with the influence of curses and spirits to the object.

According to the museum chiefs the statue which had been discovered in one of the mummy’s tomb could have carried the spirit of one who had died thousands of years back.There were some sensational stories on how the statue could have related to the curse of the pharaoh, which were released by Howard Carter, a hired team of experts who presumed that the outside traffic of cars together with foot traffic from visitors could have made the statute to move often.

Vibration Combination of Multiple Sources

The statute is said to be in the museum for more than 80 years. However several observers seemed to be perplexed that vibrations only could cause an ancient stone relic to spin around almost completely. The ITV’s Mystery Map which tends to examine myths together with mysterious stories had set out to locate the truth and recruited investigators who had position sensors in the display cabinet.

They observed that the statutes had stopped moving overnight when few vibrations existed. However it started spinning the next day when the vibrations seemed to increase. Steve Gosling, vibration expert commented that the vibration was a combination of multiple sources, with buses outside on the busy road, there’s footfall activity which is the combination of those things. When interrogated as to why the other displays had not rotated, he had added that this statute had a convex base.

Statuette – Alternative Vessel for Spirit

There was a lump towards the bottom which made it more susceptible to vibrations than the others which seemed to have a flat base and this was certain. A curator at the museum on Oxford Road, Campbell Price had commented that everyone wants a mystery and there is this link between Ancient Egypt and mystery with the secret which has made this story circulate all across the globe.

But in reality we may have suspected there was just a very logical explanation. Campbell Price was of the belief that there could be a spiritual explanation to the rotating statue. Egyptologist Mr Price had informed that the statuette was something that went in the tomb together with the mummy.

He was of the belief that in ancient Egypt if the mummy was destroyed, then the statuette would act as an alternative vessel for the spirit and this could have been the cause of the movement.

The Zealots of Thessalonica

Conflict Between New Regency & Kantakouzenos

Towards the beginning of the fourteenth century, the Byzantine Empire had undergone an intense weakening with major civil war in the 1320s followed by invasions from practically every side.

With the weakening of the Empire, it became poorer and the misery of the great multitudes in the countryside as well as the cities seemed to become intolerable. The wealth was in the hands of a small aristocratic class, in the country as well as in the town and in contradiction of them was the bitterness of the deprived multitudes.

John Kantakouzenos had been the head of the powerful aristocratic class after the death of Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos and was the effective regent for the latter’s infant son, John V. A group in Constantinople had been formed around the powerful megas doux Alexios Apolaukos which plotted against him and achieved to procure the assistance of dowager empress Anna of Savoy together with the Patriarch John Kalekas.

This conflict broke out openly in October 1341 between the new regency and Kantakouzenos. The political and dynastic quarrel rapidly changed into a class-based, social conflict when the aristocratic land-holders of Macedonia and Thrace together with the propertied classes supporting the Regency.

Zealots – An Anti-Aristocratic Governmental Group

Besides this, the existing Byzantine society had also been divided on religious disputes among the mysticist Hesychasts or Palamites together with the intellectuals or Barlaamites. They were the ones who had favoured to trail the study of philosophy and cherish the inheritance of Ancient Greece.

The Zealots had been an anti-aristocratic governmental group having social demands which had controlled the political developments in Thessalonica from 1342 till 1350.The existing sources particularly anti-Zealot in consideration had provided little details regarding the government of Zealots of Thessalonica.

 The Zealots had accomplished in forming operative civic self-government for eight years and had seized property of the aristocracy, redistributing their wealth. But it is difficult to know if the Zealots really had a program for social reform. One likely justification could be that since the city had been in a continuous state of siege, to some extent, a democratic society could have taken shape.

Reactionary Movement

The Zealot council had controlled Thessalonica during the period of the civil war and for some time, they insisted allegiance to Megaduke Apokaukos. However, they were hostile to the aristocracy and ultimately declared their independence after slaying his son.

The revolt had only been put down after John Kantakouzenos had become the emperor. The Serbian king Stefan Dusan had been invited by some of the Zealots to take the city though there were others who found this unpatriotic and a combat took place.

The city was overtaken with ease by Kantakouzenous and had executed the leading Zealots. The Zealots mainly clashed with the concentration of wealth in the hands of the landed oligarchs and more usually that landed wealth had been the same with power.

The new westernized state was rejected by them and hence they had demanded decentralized, medieval style of rule which became a `reactionary’ movement similar to the all peasant movement. But further than these general principles, the usual routine of the Republic of Thessalonian is not known to historians.

Mysterious Dark Shape Appeared Over Peru

Footage of Dark Object among Clouds – Resemblance to Star Wars Space Craft

A spaceship image has been capturedby a cameraman while he filmed a time-lapse video of the sky in Peru and the footage of the dark object seems to be among the clouds which had been uploaded to YouTube by the Mexican group Misterio Canal, which was translated to Mysterious Channel.Misterio Canal has described themselves as a group from Mexico who seem to love mystery and collect videos.

The groups’ description mentions `that we must elucidate that not all that we publish what we take for granted and not take so much for false, only publish what we find interesting and that you have the last word and that we love the debates, let us open our minds together’.

A large outline with a striking resemblance to a Star Wars space craft had been seen moving in the sky though users rapidly shot down the video stating that it had been a cloud. But the majority of the people are doubtful of it being Star Wars brought to life recommending it was either a bogus video or just a dark cloud. Misterio Canal had inscribed that `Shocking if true would confirm that we are guarded by extra-terrestrial intelligence or existing experiments related to this type of technology on our planet.

Alien Activity Caught on Tape

A cameraman had left his video equipment recording the sky to generate a power time-lapse effect. According to the UFO fans, the footage which seems to show a cloudy sky was in fact portraying an enormous airborne machine. Marked above the town of Frayser, Tennesse, USA, was the clip actually portraying a jaw dropping large craft which looks out fleetingly from behind the cover of the cloud.

An expert from Secure Team 10, on showing the clip for the first time had questioned his audience saying `so did you see it?’ Mr Schneider had recorded the footage near his house and had sent it to the American based group of experts. They have commented that `they are your cause for the best in new UFO detection videos, data on the government cover-up and alien activity caught on tape’.

Talking regarding the footage of Mr Schneider, he had commented that the source had stated that for days straight he had been hearing some very peculiar sounds, loud growing sounds in the sky that had no description. He had been looking around in the sky and searching on the internet on several occasions and was unable to see or find anything.

Spectators Influenced – Proof of Extra-terrestrial Activity

He further added that when he had first looked at it, he did not see a thing. He could only see clouds, trees blowing and was looking really hard but could not see a thing. However after viewing the still images and getting it pointed out, he was amazed as he spotted the craft.

He commented that on closer view, he saw momentarily what seemed to be a huge machine like structure moving in the sky, which only for a moment broke through the clouds. In spite of scientific explanation of the weather phenomenon, several of the spectators seem to be influenced that it was proof of extra-terrestrial activity.