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Week of March 30: 12th-Century Sword in Tuscan Stone Verified Genuine, Second Sphinx Detected at Giza, and More

Material analysis has confirmed that a sword embedded in stone at Monteppi Chapel dates to the late 12th century, with ground-penetrating radar revealing an unexpected cavity beneath the stone that may contain human remains or grave goods. Italian researchers using satellite-based synthetic aperture radar have detected what appears to be a second Sphinx hidden beneath a sand mound near the Great Pyramid at Giza, though archaeologists remain skeptical without peer review or excavation verification. Meanwhile, a new fossil discovery in Egypt suggests early ape evolution may have begun in northeastern Africa rather than the traditionally assumed East African cradle, challenging decades of research bias in the field.

Artifact Discoveries

Material analysis has confirmed that the sword embedded in stone at Monteppi Chapel is consistent with a late 12th-century weapon, with no traces of modern alloys detected [3]. A drilling investigation conducted by a researcher from the University of Pavia established that the exposed portion of the blade connects physically with the hidden section embedded in the rock, confirming this is a single, continuous weapon rather than separate components [2]. The late 12th-century dating relies on stylistic and material analysis rather than direct dating methods, though the absence of modern materials aligns with expectations for a medieval blade [3].

12th century sword embedded in Tuscan stone verified genuine by material analysis

Equally intriguing, ground-penetrating radar has revealed an unexpected cavity beneath the stone—a hidden space measuring approximately two meters by one meter that may contain human remains or associated grave goods, though excavation has not yet been undertaken to confirm its contents [3]. Documentary and pictorial records indicate the sword has rested in the stone since at least 1270 CE, providing at least eight centuries of documented presence at the site [1]. The knight traditionally associated with the sword—identified in local tradition as Galano Giati (1148–1181)—remains unattested in independent 12th-century sources, leaving open questions about the historical identity behind this enigmatic weapon [3].

Second sphinx discovered beneath Giza Plateau using ground-penetrating radar

Similar remote-sensing techniques have been applied elsewhere in the Mediterranean, with equally provocative results.

Remote Sensing & Technology

Ground-penetrating radar scans conducted by Italian researcher Filippo Biondi have detected a subsurface structure that appears to mirror the Great Sphinx, positioned within a sand mound near the original monument. The survey employed Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging combined with a novel Doppler tomography technique, technology previously used in pyramid research [4]. The detected anomaly has been interpreted by Biondi as potentially representing a second, hidden sphinx, which would fundamentally reshape understanding of the Giza Plateau’s layout.

SAR scan technology methodology and need for independent verification

However, the archaeological community has responded with significant skepticism to these claims. No peer-reviewed study has been published supporting the existence of a second Sphinx, and no excavation has taken place to verify the radar data [5]. Critics note that the researcher lacks identified institutional affiliation or university backing, raising questions about the methodology and interpretation of the findings [9]. Furthermore, the detected anomaly could represent a range of subsurface features—including foundations, natural formations, or earlier structures—rather than a second sphinx. While the radar technology employed is legitimate, experts emphasize that without independent verification and physical confirmation through excavation, the existence of a hidden sphinx remains unproven [6].

The SAR technology at the center of this debate has been employed across multiple contexts, including recent investigations into Egyptian pyramids. Satellites orbiting approximately 400 miles above Earth employ Synthetic Aperture Radar to send electromagnetic pulses toward the ground and record their reflections, a technique documented extensively in NASA and peer-reviewed literature [7, 4]. Filippo Biondi and his research team developed specialized SAR-based detection technology over years of studying underground bridges and structures in Italy before applying it to the Giza Plateau at the persuasion of Armando Mei [12]. Their scans of the Khafre Pyramid revealed what researchers describe as massive underground structures, potentially indicating a mechanical or functional system [5, 2]. While SAR tomographic Doppler imaging for subsurface analysis has been validated in academic literature [13], the specific claim that the methodology exploits differential frequency response when signals encounter solid rock versus cavities remains contested—one specialist notes this conflates acoustic principles with electromagnetic ones, as standard SAR operates on electromagnetic reflection rather than frequency shifts [12]. Independent verification efforts are reportedly underway, with Stanford Research Institute and an Italian university seeking authorization from Egyptian authorities to conduct their own remote sensing work [12]. However, no external replication has been published, and the research team reports significant resistance to peer-reviewed publication of their findings, leaving fundamental questions unresolved: whether satellite-based SAR can detect voids at the depths relevant to Egyptian pyramids, whether the detected features represent archaeological constructions or natural geological formations, and whether the “mechanical or functional” interpretation rests on any technical specification [12].

Early ape evolution research biased toward East Africa due to fossil sampling

Research methodologies shape interpretations across archaeological domains. For instance, the concentration of early ape evolution studies in East Africa reflects the fossil record’s geographic distribution, yet this focus may have influenced broader conclusions about hominid origins.

Architecture & Monuments

Among the dolman monuments of the Caucasus, Vulcansky Dolman stands apart as a singular achievement of prehistoric engineering. Unlike its counterparts across the region, which were constructed from assembled stone slabs, this monument was carved from a single massive block of sandstone, with its interior chamber—roughly 1.5 meters in height—and perfectly circular entrance hollowed out of one solid rock mass (Button, 2024). The deliberate choice of monolithic construction, when simpler slab-building techniques already existed locally, suggests this site represented an exceptional investment of time, coordination, and labor. Most archaeologists assign the monument to the 3rd or 2nd millennium BCE, positioning it within the late Neolithic to Bronze Age, though this dating remains tentative given the absence of published excavation reports or radiometric assays.

Vulcansky Dolman: unique monolithic chamber carved from single sandstone block in Caucasus

The monument’s purpose remains equally puzzling. Unlike other Caucasian dolmans, which frequently contain human remains and show evidence of secondary burial practices, this chamber contains none of these features, raising fundamental questions about its original function. The absence of skeletal material and the monumental effort invested in its carving invite speculation about ritual uses far removed from mortuary contexts, though concrete answers remain elusive. It should be noted that all current information about this site derives from a single secondary source; no peer-reviewed literature, excavation reports, or stratigraphic studies have been published, making independent verification of these claims currently impossible.

In Brief

At Python Cave in Botswana’s Tsodilo Hills, archaeologist Sheila Coulson of the University of Oslo uncovered what she interpreted as evidence of a 70,000-year-old ritual site centered on a six-meter quartzite rock deliberately carved to resemble a python [21][22]. The excavations yielded approximately 13,000 man-made artifacts, including multicolored spearheads crafted from stone transported hundreds of kilometers to the site, with 22 red stone spearheads showing signs of purposeful burning and damage suggesting ritual destruction rather than utilitarian discard [23][24]. Tsodilo Hills—rising dramatically from the surrounding Kalahari as the only significant rock outcrop for over 100 kilometers—contains freshwater springs and remains sacred to local San people, whose oral traditions reference a giant horned snake at the site [23][25].

Python Cave Discovery: 70,000-Year-Old Snake Rock and Ritual Artifacts

Subsequent analysis significantly complicated Coulson’s initial claims. Radiocarbon dating of organic material from the cave returned ages of approximately 15,000 years, substantially younger than the originally reported 70,000-year figure, and Coulson herself dropped the controversial age claim in her 2011 revised publication, adopting more conservative conclusions dating cave occupation to before 25,000 years ago [23][28]. Archaeologist Lawrence Robbins, who had documented the site in 1995–1996, published a response challenging whether the rock represents deliberate human carving or a geological formation that coincidentally resembles a serpent [28]. Some indentations on the rock remain fresh while others are covered by flowstone, making single-period attribution impossible [28]. The cave also contains paintings—including a rhino image that Coulson initially identified as an elephant—that went unmentioned in her publications, raising questions about the chronological relationship between the carved rock, the paintings, and the artifacts [28].

Archaeological evidence documents red ochre burial practices spanning an expansive North American geography from Kentucky and Tennessee through the northern Great Plains to California, with shell mounds composed primarily of mollusks concentrated in Kentucky, Tennessee, and northern Alabama [29]. The Red Ocher people, indigenous to the Upper Great Lakes and Greater Illinois River regions, represent one cultural complex associated with these mortuary traditions [30]. Red ochre burials in the Canadian Maritimes and New England continued from approximately 3500 BCE to 1000 BCE, while specialized dog burials with red ochre appear concentrated around Pensacola, Florida and throughout the Gulf Coast region [29]. Trade routes connecting Old Copper Complex territories with shell mound Archaic populations suggest broader network integration across regional groups [29].

Red ochre burials and shell trade networks span North America from 4500-1000 BCE

Remarkable shell artifacts recovered far from their ocean sources attest to extensive exchange systems during this period. Conch shells originating from the West Indies have been documented in burials as far north as New York’s Finger Lakes region, while abalone shells from Southern California and the Pacific coast circulated through interior trade networks [29]. However, significant gaps remain in the evidence. The chronological span of 4500–1000 BCE proposed in the research question cannot be fully verified—sources confirm only the 3500–1000 BCE window for northeastern contexts. Additionally, no geochemical provenancing data has been presented to confirm the asserted Caribbean and Pacific origins of these shells, and the specific mechanisms, intermediaries, and quantities involved in these transcontinental exchanges remain undocumented [29].

For decades, early ape evolution research has been anchored in East Africa due to the richest fossil record found at sites in Kenya and Uganda, spanning approximately 22–17 million years ago with diverse taxonomic assemblages including Limnopithecus, Dendropithecus, and Micropithecus [34][35]. However, researchers argue that this geographic focus may have shaped opinions about where early hominid evolution occurred, suggesting that sample bias may have compounded over time [34]. A new fossil discovery from Egypt—Mosropythecus—challenges this East Africa-centric view, with evidence suggesting that crown Hominoidea might have originated during the Early Miocene in the underexplored northeastern part of Africa rather than East Africa [34][32][31]. Northern Africa functioned as a biogeographic crossroads gateway between Africa and Eurasia during this period, potentially making it a critical region for understanding hominoid origins and dispersals [34]. If confirmed, the Egyptian fossil could represent the launch point for subsequent ape dispersals into Eurasia and back into Africa [34].

DNA evidence confirms pre-Columbian contact between South America and Polynesia

Genetic research has established that Polynesians and Native Americans engaged in contact around AD 1200, leaving measurable traces in modern populations. A 2020 study published in Nature confirmed that Native American gene flow into Polynesia predates European contact, with genetic evidence pointing to a single contact event occurring in eastern Polynesia before the settlement of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) [50]. The South Marquesas Islands, particularly Fatu Hiva, appear to be the most likely location where this encounter took place [40]. This genetic signature—specifically a Native American component in Polynesian genomes—has been documented across multiple island populations, demonstrating that the exchange was significant enough to leave lasting biological evidence [43]. Interestingly, ancient genomes from Rapa Nui reveal that pre-contact Rapanui were genetically Polynesian and most closely related to present-day inhabitants of the island, suggesting that subsequent genetic contributions from South America did not replace the indigenous Polynesian population but rather admixed with it [48].

Baltray standing stones discovered with winter solstice alignment to Rockabill Island in 1999

The archaeological record, however, reveals important nuances about interpreting this genetic evidence. The celebrated Arenal 1 site in Chile—once considered proof of Polynesian presence in South America based on chicken DNA—yielded no evidence of Polynesian contact upon re-excavation, illustrating how genetic findings must be corroborated with material and contextual evidence [45]. A significant gap in the record concerns the directionality of contact: while DNA confirms that Native American genetic material entered Polynesian populations, evidence for Polynesian DNA in South American populations remains limited, raising questions about whether Polynesians traveled to South America, South Americans traveled to Polynesia, or both [50]. The sweet potato, a South American domesticate found throughout the Pacific, provides independent botanical evidence for transoceanic contact, though whether this reflects human-mediated transport in one or both directions remains debated among researchers [47].

The widespread scholarly assumption that Europe’s rock-cut graves represent an example of cultural convergence—a phenomenon in which similar solutions emerge independently across unconnected societies—faces a fundamental problem. Unlike documented convergent traits that appear repeatedly across geographically separate regions worldwide, these carved burial sites are documented only across Europe and the Mediterranean, from Portugal through Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, France, England, the Iberian Peninsula, Thracia, Macedonia, Armenia, and Morocco [51]. True convergent features depend on independent emergence in multiple unconnected contexts; the very definition of convergence requires widespread global appearance. Rock-cut graves demonstrate no such pattern, raising the question of whether an alternative explanation involving cultural transmission or regional tradition better accounts for their restricted European distribution.

Mainstream convergence theory fails; rock-cut graves are rare and Europe-specific

Perhaps more critically, these graves exhibit functional deficiencies that further undermine convergence explanations. The graves were carved shallow—less than a foot deep—leaving them susceptible to rain infiltration and requiring additional labor for lids to contain decomposition odors [52]. No intact, sealed, or signed burial has ever been documented in these sites; most are found empty, cleansed, and unmarked [52]. The convergence model assumes successful adaptations that spread naturally; rock-cut graves represent neither a successful solution nor one that achieved the widespread independent emergence characteristic of true convergent phenomena [52]. The Iberian Peninsula contains the largest and most impressive collection of these graves, though dating remains complicated by palimpsest reuse of older tombs [51]. The fundamental question becomes: if this was not a convergent solution, what cultural, symbolic, or social factors outweighed the practical concerns to maintain such an impractical burial method across European regions?

Two standing stones near the Boyne estuary in County Louth became the focus of archaeoastronomical attention when Michael Byrne first noticed their alignment with Rockabill Island in summer 1999, subsequently confirmed by Richard Moore and Michael Byrne in December of that year [53][56][59]. The larger stone, observed through binoculars from the stone’s own edge, marks the precise point where the winter solstice sunrise emerges over Rockabill—the twin islands lying off the coast of Skerries, County Dublin [57][58]. This discovery added a significant new site to Ireland’s corpus of prehistoric solar alignments.

The Baltray alignment is particularly striking because it shares the same winter solstice sunrise orientation as the famous passage tomb at Newgrange, located further up the Boyne Valley [53]. However, researchers debate whether these stones date to the Neolithic period, as some suggest, or to the Bronze Age, which represents the conventional dating for Irish standing stones more broadly [56]. Without physical dating evidence such as radiocarbon or thermoluminescence analysis, the stones’ true age remains uncertain [53][55]. Whether the solstice alignment reflects deliberate engineering or coincidental positioning also awaits further investigation.

Around 1450 BC, every major Minoan palace on Crete was destroyed in a synchronous burning event that has puzzled archaeologists for decades, occurring approximately 150 years after the catastrophic Thera eruption [61]. This simultaneous destruction marks the end of the Minoan Linear A script, which had been in use since 1800 BC, with the language and writing system disappearing alongside the palace culture [62]. The burning affected Knossos along with all other major palace centers, yet the precise cause remains contested—while Britannica attributes the destruction to mainland Mycenaean conquerors establishing a new order, other sources note seismic activity including earthquakes in 1450 BC as a contributing factor [60][63].

Minoan palaces on Crete burned around 1450 BC, 150 years after the eruption

By 1400 BC, only Knossos palace had been rebuilt, now under Mycenaean administration and employing Linear B script instead of the indigenous Minoan Linear A [61][62]. The replacement of Linear A with the Mycenaean Greek script represents a significant linguistic and cultural shift, though whether this reflected military conquest, gradual migration, or local adoption remains debated [60][64]. Archaeological evidence shows that alongside Knossos, only the palace at Arkhanes was reoccupied following the widespread destructions of 1450 BC, suggesting a dramatic contraction of settlement on the island [63]. The Khan Academy notes the widespread abandonment that accompanied these destructions, yet the relationship between Knossos under Mycenaean control and other Cretan sites during this transitional period remains poorly understood [64].

Medieval Arab scholars designated Karnak as “Korn,” interpreting the name to signify a “place of kings and giants,” a nomenclature that persisted through the centuries of Islamic Egypt [65]. Unlike numerous ancient monuments that faded from collective memory, Karnak maintained a continuous presence in local awareness, never becoming entirely lost to subsequent populations who passed down knowledge of the ruins’ location across generations. Sixteenth and seventeenth century European travelers, upon encountering the site, described it as the largest ruin structure they had ever witnessed, their astonishment recorded in accounts that would later fuel growing antiquarian interest in Egypt’s pharaonic past [65].

Karnak Temple Called 'Place of Kings and Giants' by Medieval Arabs

The temple complex underwent significant transformation through both human agency and natural forces. During antiquity, systematic dismantling repurposed portions of Karnak as building material throughout the Nile Valley, while earthquakes and other natural phenomena caused catastrophic structural collapses, toppling columns across the site [65]. Contemporary reconstruction efforts strive to return original stone to its intended position, though vast sections remain permanently absent from their ancient configurations. The survival of Karnak’s memory in local tradition, even as the physical monument suffered centuries of attrition, underscores the site’s singular position among Egypt’s ancient wonders—simultaneously a ruin in continuous decay and a landmark that never entirely vanished from human consciousness.

Sources

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

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