1. Click "Select All & Copy" above 2. Open Medium → New Story 3. Paste (Ctrl+V) 4. After publishing, set canonical URL to the green URL above

Week of April 20: Osirion Megalithic Architecture Revealed, Olmec Sculptures Reinterpreted, and More

Margaret Murray’s 1902 excavation of Egypt’s Osirion at Abydos uncovered 10 monolithic rose granite columns standing 4 meters high, surrounding a subterranean moat designed to flood and recede in imitation of Osiris’s cycle of death and rebirth. Ground-penetrating scan analysis has revealed monumental chambers approximately 80 meters by 50 meters at Hawara, the pyramid complex of Amenemhat III, with giant corridors descending to depths of 40, 60, 80, and 100 meters. Scholars now suggest the controversial Olmec sculptures El Negro and Head Two depict spider monkeys and quetzal feathers rather than Africans, with visual comparisons to La Venta’s “monkey” monument supporting zoomorphic interpretations. Only three Roman face-mask helmets have ever been found in Britain, including the Ribchester helmet discovered in 1796 and the Crosby Garrett helmet found in 2010, revealing functional cavalry equipment with idealized faces and female characteristics.

New Excavations & Fieldwork

The Precinct of Mut, concealed behind the main Karnak Temple complex in South Karnak and inaccessible to regular tourists, contains one of ancient Egypt’s most striking collections of Sekhmet statues [V1]. The “Litany in Stone” features hundreds of black basalt Sekhmet statues, representing a significant portion of the broader corpus of approximately 700 such statues across Karnak. Many statues lie broken and scattered throughout the site, bearing evidence of extensive destruction including deliberate mutilation to the head and hands. Constructed primarily during the reign of Amenhotep III, the temple complex surrounds a sacred Isheru lake flanked by columns of these lion goddess statues. Beyond their religious function, the statues were considered a curated collection of sacred artefacts by Mut temple priests. Margaret Benson and Janet Gourlay conducted pioneering excavations beginning in 1895, with their findings published in 1899 [2]. Today, ARCE has undertaken significant restoration efforts, with reassembled Sekhmet statues now visible in the Mut Temple’s first court [1].

Temple of Mut exploration reveals hundreds of broken Sekhmet statues

In 1902, Sir Flinders Petrie noticed a mysterious depression behind the Temple of Seti I at Abydos and assigned Margaret Murray to investigate, beginning one of the most physically demanding excavations in Egyptian archaeology [V4]. The Osirion had been buried under approximately 40 feet of loose sand with perfectly vertical walls, remaining hidden for approximately 1,900 years since Strabo’s visit in 25 BC [V2]. The excavation uncovered 10 monolithic rose granite columns, each 4 meters high, cut from single blocks of Aswan granite, with roof lintels weighing 60 to 100 tons, and surrounding walls made of red sandstone approximately 5 meters thick with 17 small chambers carved into them [V5] [V3].

Flinders Petrie and Margaret Murray excavate Osirion in 1902, discovering massive megalithic architecture

Margaret Murray published her findings in 1904, concluding the structure was built for the worship of Osiris and celebration of the mysteries [V4]. The Osirion featured a subterranean moat surrounding a central raised platform, creating a stone island in an underground lake designed to flood and recede in imitation of Osiris’s cycle of death and rebirth [V3]. Strabo had visited in 25 BC, describing it as a “fountain at great depth” accessed by “vaulted galleries made of monoliths of surprising size and workmanship” [V2] [V5]. Swiss archaeologist Eduard Neville confirmed in 1914 that the Osirion matched Strabo’s description and recognized parallels with Khafra’s Valley Temple at Giza, speculating it could be “the most ancient structure in Egypt”—though this interpretation predates modern dating methods.

Artifact Discoveries

Two controversial Olmec sculptures are prompting scholars to reconsider long-standing interpretations about African contact in Mesoamerica. El Negro and Head Two from Tres Zapotes date to Epi-Olmec levels after 500 BCE, approximately 1,000 years after the height of Olmec civilization [V6]. Only one Olmec head—Head Two from Tres Zapotes—bears potential braids, but these structures emerge from the top of the helmet and visually resemble quetzal feathers rather than human hair. Scholars now suggest El Negro depicts a spider monkey rather than a human of African descent, a conclusion supported by comparisons to La Venta Monument 56 (nicknamed “the monkey”) which has similar afro-looking hair, and to spider monkey depictions in Maya and Aztec art showing diagnostic white facial coloring with black hair on top and a widow’s peak. El Negro is a tenon stone (Sterling Monument F) designed to protrude from a building facade at Tres Zapotes, currently housed at the Museo Regional Tuxteco in Santiago Tuxtla, Veracruz, Mexico. The contextual practice of Olmec art frequently transforming humans into animals provides further basis for these zoomorphic interpretations.

El Negro and head two braids likely depict quetzal feathers and spider monkeys, not Africans

Only three Roman face-mask helmets have ever been found in Britain [V7], making the discoveries of the Ribchester and Crosby Garrett helmets particularly extraordinary. The Ribchester helmet was discovered in 1796 by the son of Joseph Walton, a clogmaker, while playing behind his father’s house in Ribchester, Lancashire, while the Crosby Garrett helmet was found in 67 pieces in 2010 by a metal detectorist in a remote Cumbrian hamlet. The Ribchester helmet was buried alongside more than 30 other pieces of cavalry equipment near a Roman fort.

Roman cavalry face masks found across Britain at Tutuberg, Ribchester, and Crosby Garrett

Analysis of these artifacts reveals they were functional combat equipment rather than parade pieces, with metal quality comparable to standard military helmets [V7]. Experimental replicas demonstrate that face masks provided workable field of vision and did not restrict breathing. The masks depict idealized young faces with smooth, calm, blank expressions, with some featuring female characteristics like elaborate chain-link hairstyles and glass ring eyes. While rare in Britain, Roman face masks have been found across the former empire from Syria to Algeria to the banks of the Rhine. The markedly different discovery contexts—one found accidentally by a child in 1796, the other deliberately unearthed by a metal detectorist in 2010—may reflect different historical circumstances of deposit.

Historical photos reveal sand mound formed in 1930 from excavation debris

Remote Sensing & Technology

Ground-penetrating scan analysis has revealed monumental subterranean chambers at Hawara, the pyramid complex of Amenemhat III, measuring approximately 80 meters by 50 meters [V8] [V9]. The scan data further indicates a network of giant corridors descending to depths of 40, 60, 80, and 100 meters and beyond, with bedrock beginning roughly 18 meters below the surface. Archaeological excavations in 2008 did uncover remains of this “lost labyrinth” beneath the pyramid at Hawara [3], a site positioned south of Amenemhat III’s pyramid. The Virtual Hawara project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Supreme Council for Antiquities in Egypt, has been working to document and preserve the Hawara Labyrinth site. However, the scanning technology reportedly employed—satellite-based spectral analysis claimed to penetrate up to 6 kilometers underground—has drawn skepticism from some specialists, and the degree to which modern readings genuinely confirm ancient descriptions remains contested.

Scan reveals monumental chambers 80m by 50m at depths matching ancient accounts

Architecture & Monuments

The trilithon stones at Baalbek rank among the five largest stones ever quarried in human history, with each block weighing approximately 800-900 metric tons and measuring roughly 19m in length, 4.2m in height, and 3.6m in thickness—about 36 times heavier than the stones at Stonehenge and roughly ten times the weight of the largest blocks in the Great Pyramid of Giza [V10]. Some researchers suggest the foundation may predate the Roman construction period based on wind and sand erosion patterns visible on the trilithons but absent from the Roman masonry above.

Baalbek Trilithon Stones: 900-Ton Megaliths Transport Mystery

Machu Picchu’s construction reveals a striking “reverse evolution” in masonry quality that challenges assumptions about Inca building practices. Remote sensing and geophysical surveys have identified at least two distinct construction phases at the site, with earlier skilled polygonal masonry underlying later, cruder stonework placed on top [V11]. Both phases predate Spanish contact, definitively ruling out European influence as an explanation for this quality variation.

Machu Picchu abandoned pre-Spanish with skilled base, sloppy top

The site was abandoned around 1532 during the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire, though the precise timeline remains uncertain [4]. This abandonment occurred while the cruder construction phase was still relatively recent, suggesting the later stonework may represent hurried building or maintenance rather than any decline in Inca engineering capabilities.

425+ Neolithic carved stone balls found across Scotland; purpose still unknown

Inscriptions & Texts

The Greek Dark Age, spanning approximately 1200 to 800 BCE, represents a dramatic rupture in Aegean civilization following the catastrophic collapse of the Mycenaean palace world around 1200 BCE [V12]. This collapse was rapid and systemic, with archaeological evidence showing sites affected by widespread destruction and abandonment, populations severely diminished, and long-distance trade networks collapsing entirely [6]. The Linear B writing system vanished along with the palace bureaucracies that had sustained it. Some researchers suggest natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions may have contributed to the broader collapse [5]. The loss of writing left scholars with little direct evidence from the period itself, making the Dark Age one of the most opaque chapters in Greek history. Not until around 800 BCE did Greeks begin adopting the Phoenician alphabet, marking the end of the Dark Age and the beginning of the Archaic period. It was during this subsequent era that epic traditions preserved orally through centuries of darkness were finally committed to writing.

Greek Dark Age 1200-800 BC saw loss of Linear B after Bronze Age collapse

In Brief

King Cheops’ mummified remains have never been discovered, and the sarcophagus within his pyramid’s King Chamber sits conspicuously empty [7]. The discovery of the Big Void—a chamber approximately 30 meters long detected within Khufu’s Great Pyramid in 2017 using muon tomography—has revived speculation about whether the pharaoh’s body might still lie hidden somewhere within the structure. However, the pyramid was likely entered multiple times over 3,000 years before Caliph al-Ma’mun’s forced entry in the ninth century AD, and evidence suggests it was open to visitors after Khufu’s death under court supervision, with the sarcophagus possibly serving as a temporary resting place for public viewing before the body was moved elsewhere [V13]. The pharaoh’s mummy remains one of Egyptology’s enduring mysteries, with recent thinking favoring removal or destruction during the pyramid’s long period of accessible antiquity rather than concealment within the Big Void. Beneath the pyramid, a ritual tunnel was sealed for approximately 1,800 years before archaeologists reopened it in the early 2000s [V14]. The tunnel extends in a straight path from the Ciudadela plaza directly toward the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent at the city’s center [8]. A remote vehicle named Tláloc II-TC was used to explore the passage, forging approximately 65 meters into the system [V14]. Approximately 50,000 artifacts have been recovered, including jade figurines, carved shells, and pyrite spheres. A nearly three-foot-wide sinkhole opened at the base of a large pyramid in Teotihuacan’s southeast quadrant, revealing additional subsurface features.

Drumlins documented in northern Canada and British Columbia provide critical evidence of catastrophic subglacial flooding across North America. These streamlined hills serve as paleocurrent indicators, with their blunt upstream ends and tapered downstream sides revealing ancient flood dynamics. Researchers uncovered drumlin fields spanning wide geographic areas, with their synchronized formation and distinctive shapes offering critical insights into past catastrophic water release events. Scholars like John Shaw proposed that pressurized floods beneath ice sheets thousands of feet thick sculpted these landforms. Massive outbursts, such as the Livingston Lake event that released approximately 84,000 cubic kilometers of water, dramatically reshaped North American landscapes. Catastrophic floods triggered by decaying permafrost and tunnel channel meltwater release left enduring geological imprints documented in these drumlin fields.

Over 425 carved stone balls have been discovered across Scotland and neighboring regions, with the vast majority found in Aberdeenshire, though specimens have also surfaced in Ireland, England, and notably one in a Norwegian medieval cairn [V16]. Dating to the Late Neolithic period around 3000-2500 BCE, these artifacts—typically the size of a tennis ball with 3 to 160 protruding knobs—were crafted from greenstone and other hard igneous rocks. Their most striking feature may be the remarkable uniformity in size, with many balls’ diameters differing by only a single millimeter, suggesting deliberate standardization was culturally significant. The Towie ball specimen, measuring 73mm in diameter and weighing just over 500g, exemplifies this precision. Despite their prevalence as ceremonial objects and status symbols in northeastern Scotland around 2500 BC, the balls’ original purpose remains elusive [V16]. Three principal theories persist: ritual or oracle use, functional weapons such as slingshots or bolas, or mechanical ball bearings for transporting megalithic stones. Experimental archaeology has validated the ball bearing concept using wooden replicas, confirming the mechanism works mechanically. However, the extensive ornamentation carved into these objects creates interpretive tension, since such detailed work would significantly weaken structural integrity—raising questions about whether purely functional explanations capture their true significance. The considerable variation in knob count, spanning from 3 to 160, hints that multiple typological categories may exist, yet no systematic classification framework has been established to organize these distinctions.

The sand mound visible at the base of the Great Pyramid of Giza today formed between 1929 and 1930, according to claims made in a YouTube video citing historical aerial photographs [V17]. A 1929 aerial photograph reportedly shows the pyramid complex without the mound, while the feature appears in a 1930 photograph and has remained in place since that time. While large volumes of material have been dumped at Giza in modern times—requiring clearing of overburden before archaeological work can proceed—the specific claim about the mound’s formation in 1929-30 derives from a single YouTube source (Bright Insight) that presents an advocacy perspective on new scanning technologies and buried structures at Giza, warranting cautious interpretation of this particular claim in the absence of corroborating academic or archival photographic evidence. At Phnom Kulen, the plateau historically known as Mount Mahendraparvata and identified as the origin site of the Khmer Empire, the archaeological site of Kbal Spean—designated the “River of a Thousand Lingas”—features approximately 1,000 lingams carved directly into sandstone formations within the riverbed and along its banks. These sacred carvings, attributed to the eleventh century and specifically to a minister of Suryavarman I (1006–1050), are understood within mainstream scholarship as deliberate sacred demarcation and religious-political symbolism employed by Khmer rulers rather than mere decorative embellishment. The site’s significance extends to its documented 9th-century archaeological context, establishing Phnom Kulen as a foundational location in Khmer imperial history [12]. The Great British Dragon Line, a ley line phenomenon rediscovered by John Michell in the 1960s, is described as a Mayday sunrise axis determined by the positions of sun and earth, running through the ancient stone circle at Avebury [V18]. This alignment system intersects with the much longer European St. Michael/Apollo alignment at Ogbourne St. George near Avebury, which stretches approximately 2,500 miles and follows a winter solstice sunrise axis. The Dragon Line passes through sites dedicated to St. Michael and St. George.

Sources

Videos

V1. Earth Explorer — “The Flower of Life at Karnak | 700 Sekhmet Statues” V2. Luke Caverns — “The First Explorers of Egypt’s Osirion: Megaliths Buried in the Sand” V3. Luke Caverns — “The First Explorers of Egypt’s Osirion: Megaliths Buried in the Sand” V4. Luke Caverns — “The First Explorers of Egypt’s Osirion: Megaliths Buried in the Sand” V5. Luke Caverns — “The First Explorers of Egypt’s Osirion: Megaliths Buried in the Sand” V6. Archaeologist Ed Barnhart — “New Olmec Theories ?” V7. Dark5 Ancient Mysteries — “5 Ancient Masks That Can’t Be Explained” V8. The Cosmic Summit — “The Ancient Authors Described Giant Halls and 90 Steps Between Levels. The Scans Match.” V9. The Cosmic Summit — “The Ancient Authors Described Giant Halls and 90 Steps Between Levels. The Scans Match.” V10. Universe Inside You — “Gigantic Ancient Structure our Technology Can’t Replicate: Baalbek” V11. One-eyed giant building walls — “There’s Proof the Old Stonework is Older - in Peru 👁️🤯” V12. Timeless with Fred Snyder — “this scene in the Iliad helps the case for “European Proto-Writing”“ V13. Ancient Architects — “NEW | 5 Things We Could Find in the Great Pyramid BIG VOID” V14. Michael Button — “Nobody Knows Who Built This Pyramid” V15. The Cosmic Summit — “Thousands of Drumlins Across North America Are Proof of a Flood That Defies All Known Science” V16. Inside Archaeology — “6 #Ancient #Artifacts That #Archaeology Can’t Explain” V17. Bright Insight — “New Scan Finds SECOND SPHINX BURIED at Giza Pyramids!” V18. MegalithomaniaUK — “Paul Broadhurst | St. George and the Dragon Power | Megalithomania 2007 | AUDIO”

Originally published on Ancient Nerds — explore 750,000+ archaeological sites on our interactive 3D globe.

Copy for Medium