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Week of July 13: Sanctuary of Odysseus Identified on Ithaca, Oldest Known Bedding, and More

Archaeologists identified a Hellenistic sanctuary of Odysseus on Ithaca through inscribed dedications and tile stamps from the School of Homer site. The earliest known constructed bedding, made from grasses approximately 23,000 years ago, was documented at Ohalo II on the shore of the paleo-Sea of Galilee. Separately, David Stewart deciphered the name of Sak Tahn Waax at Xultun, the first named Maya astronomer, while Phnom Kulen yielded unique Yali carvings depicting the hybrid creature alongside its elephant and tiger parents.

New Excavations & Fieldwork

In 2025, archaeologists from the University of Ioannina reassessing finds from the School of Homer (Agios Athanasios) site in northern Ithaca identified the location as a sanctuary of Odysseus, described as a Hellenistic monumental complex [V1]. The identification rests primarily on a set of inscribed objects: an incised dedication reading “To Odysseus” and two roof tile stamps reading “Of Odysseus,” both dating to the late Hellenistic period (2nd–1st century BCE). A small bronze bust identified as Odysseus was also recovered, though sources disagree on its absolute date, with some placing it in the Roman period and others noting its resemblance to 4th–3rd century BCE coin portraits.

2025 identification of Odysseus sanctuary on Ithaca

Researchers have concluded that the complex functioned as a hero cult shrine, sometimes referred to as the “Odysseum,” attracting both locals and Mediterranean pilgrims [V1]. Notably, earlier 20th-century excavations in a separate seaside cavern on northwest Ithaca recovered 9th or 8th century BCE bronze cauldrons evocative of gifts described in Odyssey Book 8, alongside a roughly 100 BCE clay mask inscribed “a vow to Odysseus”, suggesting a hero cult at that separate locus antedating the formal Hellenistic sanctuary at the School of Homer.

CIA Robertson Panel of January 1953 recommended Project Blue Book as cover

Architecture & Monuments

The earliest known constructed bedding in the archaeological record was discovered at Ohalo II, where three brush hut floors preserved grass bedding made from weed species, dating to approximately 23,000 years ago [V2] [1]. Six oval hut floors were identified at the submerged site on the shore of the paleo-Sea of Galilee, measuring 2–5 m long (with some summaries citing a maximum of 4.5 m) and encompassing floor areas between 5 and 13 square meters. The broader camp exceeds 2,000 m² and includes open-air hearths, a grave, a midden, and small installations. Submergence under rising lake waters produced exceptional preservation of organic materials, and the site is globally significant as one of the oldest known brush-dwelling sites with the earliest small-scale evidence of plant cultivation [3] [2].

World's oldest brush dwellings found at Ohalo II with grass bedding

Inscriptions & Texts

The first named Maya astronomer has been identified at the ancient site of Xultun in Guatemala — a man called Sak Tahn Waax, or “White-Breasted Fox,” whose name was deciphered by David Stewart at the end of a tiny painted text known as Text 19 [V3] [7]. This identification represents the first named Maya astronomer/mathematician known in the archaeological and epigraphic record [5] [6] [4]. Franco Rossi of MIT used spectral scanning methods to read previously illegible glyphs on the walls of Xultun, recovering this author attribution. Text 19 is one of approximately 52 individual calculation texts crowded onto a single wall, measuring only 20 cm tall by 2 cm wide and containing just 11 painted glyphs.

First named Maya astronomer identified at Xultun

Despite its modest size, Text 19 encodes sophisticated astronomical knowledge through four distance numbers — 20 days, 260 days, 1,560 days, and 1,080 days — that together total 2,920 days. This figure reveals a 5:8 ratio between the Venus cycle (584 × 5) and the solar cycle (365 × 8), a synchronicity otherwise documented only in Babylonian astronomy. Rossi has called the text “unique in the entire known record of Maya writing.” The painted room dates to the early 9th century CE, placing Sak Tahn Waax approximately 1,200–1,250 years ago. The Xultun discoveries sit within a broader ancient Maya landscape documented by an aerial lidar survey covering 2,144 square kilometers of northern Guatemala, while Rossi continues ACLS-funded research on Classic period Maya visual media.

Xultun Text A contains Maya super number of 1,195,740 days predicted years earlier

Ancient Art

At a site identified as Mahendra Parvata on Phnom Kulen, archaeologists have documented an unusual sculptural program featuring Yali figures taller than an average human [V4]. What sets this location apart from other Yali-bearing monuments is a step-by-step visual explanation of the creature’s mythological genesis: an elephant and a tiger are carved alongside the hybrid Yali offspring, functioning as a built-in illustration of how the composite beast came into being. This didactic pairing is, according to available documentation, unique among known Yali sites.

Unique Yali carvings show elephant and tiger parents alongside hybrid creature

The Yali itself is a composite creature whose name reflects its hybrid origins, derived from the first syllable of the ancient Tamil word for elephant (yani) and the last syllable of the word for tiger (puli). The earliest known examples date to the 7th–8th centuries CE under the Pallava Dynasty in present-day northern Tamil Nadu [8] [9], with the form gaining broader artistic prominence during the Chola–Pallava era. Literary attestation reaches even further back, as Yali appears in Tamil texts from the Sangam period, though its sculptural heyday came in the 16th century. It should be noted that the specific identification of this site with Mahendra Parvata derives from contextual framing rather than explicit reference in the source snippet itself [V4].

In Brief

Xultun Text A records a remarkable super number of 1,195,740 days—the only one of the four numbers at Xultun evenly divisible by 819, the base unit of the 819-day cycle [10] [V5].

The 819-day cycle itself was a Late Classic Maya invention created at Palenque in the late 600s CE during the reign of K’inich Kan Bahlam, first showcased in the Cross Group inscriptions. Within roughly 20 years, the cycle spread to Copán in Honduras, and it later appears in the Dresden Codex some 700 years after its invention. The Xultun wall inscriptions bear a contemporary date of 781 CE, placing the Text A formulation roughly a century after the cycle’s creation at Palenque. Notably, the author of these astronomical inscriptions has been identified as Sak Tahn Waax (“White-chested Fox”), associated with the Ik’ kingdom—the first known named Classic Maya mathematician-astronomer to sign his work.

In late 2003, archaeologist Sergio Gómez Chávez and Julie Gazzola discovered a tunnel beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Teotihuacan when heavy rains opened a sinkhole near the Ciudadela complex [12]. The passage extends roughly 330 to 340 feet in a straight line from the pyramid’s base to a chamber directly beneath the temple’s center [V6] [11], and had been intentionally sealed with massive boulders and fill for approximately 1,800 years. Rather than a single sealing event, the tunnel underwent multiple closure phases, each accompanied by structured deposits of offerings and ritual refuse along its length. AMS radiocarbon dating places active ceremonial deposition in the main passage between approximately 125 CE and 240 CE, with material from the terminal chamber dating to 400–534 CE, all falling within Teotihuacan’s broader occupation.

Sealed Teotihuacan tunnel held over 100000 ceremonial offerings for 1800 years

Itsukushima — literally “island dedicated to the gods” and affectionately known as Miyajima or “Shrine Island” — has functioned as a sacred space since 593 CE, when the shrine complex was traditionally established [V7]. What distinguishes Itsukushima from most other Shinto sites is that the entire island, not just the shrine buildings, is treated as a deity and a locus of worship.

Itsukushima (Miyajima) island considered divine ground since 593 AD

Architecturally, the shrine owes much of its present form to the warrior-courtier Taira no Kiyomori, who rebuilt it in 1168 CE, and to Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who erected the Senjō-kaku hall on a hill above in the 16th century. Its famous “floating” torii gate, built over the water, became a defining image celebrated since the Edo period, when Itsukushima was also named one of Japan’s three most celebrated views. Today a UNESCO World Heritage Site and national treasure, the island draws over 3.5 million visitors annually, raising ongoing questions about balancing sacred geography with modern land use.

Catastrophism holds that the Earth has largely been shaped by sudden, short-lived, violent events—possibly worldwide in scope—such as floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and impacts [14]. Together, the two constitute opposing schools of thought in the earth sciences that attempted to account for the major features of the planet’s surface and the history of life [13].

Georges Cuvier was the principal scientific proponent of catastrophism in the early 19th century, formulating his theory in direct opposition to Hutton’s framework [15]. In the introduction to his Researches on Fossil Bones, and later in his Essay on the Theory of the Earth (1813), Cuvier proposed that now-extinct species had been wiped out by periodic catastrophic flooding events. Although uniformitarianism had been formally articulated first, catastrophism took shape as a competing vision in which Earth history is punctuated by violent upheavals that function as catalysts for renewal and transformation after destruction. Notably, the theory has dual roots—one in ancient myths and the other in modern scientific inquiry—giving it a heritage that bridges folklore and empirical geology.

In January 1953, the CIA’s Office of Scientific Intelligence (OSI) convened a panel chaired by physicist H.P. Robertson to assess the UFO phenomenon [V8]. Its recommendation was that US authorities launch a public education campaign to dampen popular interest in UFOs and minimise associated risks.

Acting on those recommendations, OSI persuaded the US Air Force to repurpose Project Blue Book — the Air Force’s ongoing UFO study — as a vehicle to publicly debunk UFO reports, a mission later characterized as one to ‘denounce the UFOs, dismiss the UFOs, debunk the UFOs and anybody who believes in them’ [V8]. A CIA memorandum dated 16 February 1953 expressed a preference for publicly abandoning UFO investigation while secretly continuing data collection. By September 1953, Project Blue Book had been reduced to virtually inactive status, staffed by only one airman, with UFO investigation transferred to the 4602nd Air Intelligence Service Squadron reporting to Air Defense Command and USAF Intelligence. General Charles P. Cabell had ordered a new UFO project in 1952, and Blue Book became the major Air Force effort to study UFOs throughout the 1950s [17], running from approximately 1952 until its closure in 1969 [16].

Sources

Videos

V1. Inside Archaeology — “Do These 10 #Artifacts Transform The Trojan War from Myth into Reality?” V2. Ancient Architects — “23,000-Year-Old Settlement & Earliest Cultivation: Ohalo II | Ancient Architects” V3. Archaeologist Ed Barnhart — “Ancient Maya Scientist discovered” V4. PraveenMohan — “Giant Spiders Guarding Shiva Temple?!” V5. Archaeologist Ed Barnhart — “Ancient Maya Scientist discovered” V6. Universe Inside You — “9 Ancient Sites Permanently SEALED or Unexcavated” V7. Wandering Wolf — “Japan’s Hidden History & the Ancient Philosophy That Explains It All” V8. Viking Superpowers — “THE SAUCERS ARE REAL!”

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

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