Archaeology: Ancient necropolis found in Rome

Skull found in the necropolis, square Ostiense, Rome - Italy.

ITALY. March 5, 2012. Next to the pyramid Cestia (Pyramid of Caius Cestius or Gaius Cestius* - in Ostience Square) in Rome during the excavations for the installation of a line of urban electric trains, were found an archaeological site. Among the discoveries were found objects such as bones, skulls, pieces of amphorae and also tombs. One of the skeletons that appeared was almost intact with his arms crossed resting on a slab that was, probably, his own grave

The works were suspended and the place, isolated. The relics are being cataloged and placed in plastic boxes. According to preliminary estimates, the remains were dated between the first and second centuries AD. Archaeologists believe they have found a small cemetery.

* Gaius Cestius Epulo or Gaius Cestius Gallo lived in the first century AD. The pyramid, monument of ancient Rome, near the port of Sao Paulo, was built between 18 and 12 BC, to serve as a tomb for Gaius Cestius Epulo, Roman magistrate.

SOURCE: Crani ed anfore, a Roma spunta una necropoli
ANSA/It, published in 10/03/2012
[http://www.ansa.it/web/notizie/photostory/primopiano/2012/03/10/visualizza_new.html_130116941.html]

Rupestre Art - Aboriginal culture in Cuba

"La Solapa de Los Pintores" (something like Screen of The Painters)

CUBA, Pinar del Rio province. Cuban scientists are researching and cataloging human remains and exemplaries of objects belonged to indigenous funerary practices, pictographs and petroglyphs in the Province of Pinar del Rio. Anthropologists are examining human bones and fragments that have a reddish color - wich were found in a hill situated in the town of Minas de Matahambre, northwest of the island.

The president of the Provincial Commission of Speleology - Mr. Carmenate Hilary, explains that these skeletons - pieces of skulls and other bones painted of red - are typical of the natives who inhabited the archipelago millennia ago

According to historian Jorge Freddy Ramirez, the painted bones are considered as a kind of cult of the dead. This practice was part of a magic and religious ritual related to the way of to confront the phenomenon of death, considered by locals as a moment of transition between two stages of existence.

Previous investigations revealed the presence, in the area - of colonial period relics, but the researchers are looking for burial sites associated to communities of the arquipelago of an epoch much more ancient. A research is just beginning. The discoveries made ​​so far will undergo tests to confirm the antiquity of bones, sex, age and perhaps the cause of death of those people.

Initially, the procedure consisted of undertaker bury the body along with offerings and personal belongings of the dead, as tools and ornaments. Later, at the appropriate time, the bones were exhumed and colorful. Then, a second burial was done in a sacred place. The scholar believes that native Cubans believed that life does not end with the death of the body. (An universal belief)

These indigenous were hunters, fishermen and gatherers of natural resources. These primitive men were called Guanahatabeyes. The language that is called Arawak. Other groups from the same area were known like Taino and Ciboney. All of them inhabited a vast territory where they lived at caves, plains and coastal regions

The caves are of particular interest in this research. To care of this aspect, speleologists are performing expeditions in search of pictographs and petroglyphs that remained occult or unknown in caves and rocks have not yet explored. These records may have been produced - both by indigenous of remote times as by slaves and maroons of the colonial period.

Cueva La Iguana

Once found the exemplars will be reproduced and will be subject to a preservation work to spare them from some deterioration, erosion of rains and winds, exposure to the sun, or even by the irresponsible actions of the laity.

Still at the province Pinar del Rio, in a remote place located there 140 km from Havana (Cuba's capital), have been discovered 40 rock art sites, work of indigenous pre-Columbians. In another region, called "La Solapa de Los Pintores" (something like Screen of The Painters), in an another place known as Minas Matahambre, there are magnificent pictorial murals.

"La Cueva del Cura" is also much known. Located in Viñales, there, are various styles overlap suggesting the presence of two races, two cultures: indigenous and maroon. Some of the figures evoke representations of pilots and birds. The grotto of St. Thomas, equally famous, has one of the greatest collections of rock art of Latin America.There, exist curious signs engraved on a wall stone covered by an soot layer.

SOURCES
HERNÁNDEZ PÉREZ. Pedro Luiz and JIMÉNEZ NUÑES, Antonio. Los petroglifos de la Cueva de La Iguana.
EL Explorador, published in 20/04/2007.
Accessed in 06/02/2012 [http://www.geda.pinarte.cult.cu/el_explorador/especial_nunez/el_explorador_especial4.htm]
MIRELES PILAR, Adalys. Develan huellas de cultura aborigen en Cuba.
Cuba Arqueológica/Prensa Latina, published in 03/03/3012
[http://cubaarqueologica.org/index.php?q=node/329]

Discovered - North-american rare coin found in a brazilian collection

BRAZIL, Piaui's state. February, 02 of march. That day, a Friday, the photographer and businessman piauiense (born in the state of Piaui; in this case, also resident at the same state) Irineu Fernandes, examining your coin collection - which features more than 300 pieces, discovered a rare coin, valued at 13 million reais (about seven and a half million dollars).

The exemplar, of which - it is estimated - there are only 13 others worldwide is known as "Double Eagle". One of those "Double Eagle" currently is on display at Golsmith's Hall in London.

The Double Eagles were first minted in 1850. They are made of California gold. In 1907, the coins received a new design. They stopped being produced em 1933, when President Franklin Roosevelt resolved to abolish at the country the "gold standard" - to save the economy during the Great Repression, 1929. Most of the gold coins of the epoch - then - were melted in order to stem the financial crisis.

SOURCE: Piauiense descobre que moeda de sua coleção vale R$ 13 milhões.
180°, published in 04/03/2011
[http://180graus.com/geral/piauiense-
descobre-que-moeda-de-sua-colecao-vale-r-13-milhoes-501964.html]

New archaeological site discovered at the coast of Brazil

BRAZIL, Sao Paulo's state. At "Ilhabela", (Beautiful Island) - an archipelago and city situated 4 miles off the coast of São Paulo state in Brazil, the coodinator of the Projeto de Gestão e Diagnóstico do Patrimônio Arqueológico de Ilhabela (Project Management and Diagnosis of the Archaeological Heritage of Ilhabela - GEDAI), maintained by the Instituto Histórico, Geográfico e Arqueológico da the Secretaria Municipal de Cultura (History, Geography and Archaeology Institute of the Municipal Culture), the archaeologist Mrs. Cintia Bendazzoli discovered an impotant mortuary archaeological site. The excavation was done on an emergency basis because of the imminent destruction of the material.

The place that was named "Toca da Caveira" (something like Hole of Skull or "Skull Burrow") had human skeletal remains, and funerary accompaniments like clay pot and stone tool, revealing a complex Indigenous funerary ritual. At the same time another two more sites were identified how belonging to the pré-colonizations epoch, but these - still have not been subjected to more detailed research

According Mrs. Bendazolli, the laboratory work performed with the findings revealed that the discover is a collective tomb. There were found remains of at least five different individuals, four adults and a child, this should be about five years of age in the occasion of its death.

None of the skeletons was complete, and according to the research, the absence of many bone units can be resulted of previous interference or violation that can have occurred on the site or - even - something tipical of the funerary ritual practiced by natives.

What caught the attention of the archaeologist was that the collective burial does not appear to be related to the known occupation of the sambaquis indigenous (builders middens or "shell-mountains" builders) - what occurred in Ilhabela occurred around 2000 years ago.

Early research showed that the ritual took place at Skull Burrow was prepared by a potter of the indigenous tribe named Macro-Ge - in more recent times, but before contact with the colonizer.

The presence of ceramic Ge as part of funerary objects placed next to the skeletons, as well the evidences in the bones and teeth indicates that these people was - mainly potters and not fishers and collectors like were the sambaquis. The next step of the investigation will be to conduct carbon-14 dating, which can help elucidate the issues raised by the laboratory studies.

If after the studies if conclude that the founds are, in fact, of a more recent population of potters, this site may be considered a great find, not only for the city, but for the coast of São Paulo as a whole, since it did not exist, until then, evidences that the Macro-Ge indigenous nation, one time, occupied this area of the coast, and were able to practice techniques of navigation and that they arrived to such distances from the coast of São Paulo, says archaeologist.

Anyway, this new archaeological discovery comes to show that the island of Ilhabela was far from a land uninhabited before the conquest of the Portugueses. The large number of archaeological sites recorded by the GEDAI Project and the numerous studies that have following these findings point to an intense settlement of this region and the increasing need to protect this heritage.

SOURCE: Ilhabela: Arqueólogos encontram novo sítio na Ilha dos Búzios com inédita presença indígena
Agora Vale, published in 29/02/2012
[http://www.agoravale.com.br/agoravale/noticias.asp?id=35629&cod=1]

AMAZONAS 🌳🌳🌳 In danger of disappear: The rock engravings of the Madeira River

BRAZIL. At brazilian amazonian, when the level of waters the Madeira River low - in the dry season, is possible to see ancient drawings engraved in stone. The forms reveal geometric shapes or animals. These pictures may have been made for thousands of years by people who lived in the Amazon and of who little is known about their habits and lifestyle.

Photos: Michelle M. Tizuka/Santo Antonio Energia

There are five areas with extensive rock formations where these rock carvings appear. In the rainy season. near the city of Porto Velho (capital of Rondonia' state) the river hide the images. 

 Now, scholars of history, archaelogists and anthropologists are faced a serious problem: with the project of a dam on the river, the hydroelectric power plant of Santo Antonio, this important trace of human presence will be permanently submerged.

Thinking in this problem, the Santo Antonio Energy, responsible for the build of the plant, hired two companies specializing in archeology to preserve the memory these drawings. 

The companies are using 3D technology to scan the prints. The equipment that can record drawings with high precision and quality. In total, more than 2000 images were collected.

After make the digital record, the researchers will reconstruct the rock extensions on virtual models, so that the stones. By this way, the images will be studied in laboratory and associated with occupations of the archaeological sites located on the river region. 

With work, scientists will have conditions understand how these people lived and determine the age of the drawings. Some of them date back over 7000 years, according scholars.

The archaeological rescue is one of the constraints imposed by IBAMA (Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente - Brazilian Institute of Enviroment) for the build of the energy plant and to the begin of the operations. Meanwhile, the works for the preservation the archaeological patrimony is in course.

However, the project has received many critics. Santo Antonio, as well as the Jirau energy plant - also located on the Madeira River, are facing the charge that these kind of iniciative is one more factor that increase the deforestation of the Amazon. 

The government is also criticized for the lack of policies of population control,a problem that will results of the instalation of the new plants that, certainly, will generate serious social questions in the city of Porto Velho. Because, as we know, governments are always late. Let's meditate.

SOURCES

CALIXTO, Bruno. 

Pesquisadores registram gravuras rupestres do Rio Madeira.

Época, published in 29/02/2011
http://colunas.revistaepoca.globo.com/planeta/2012/02/29/pesquisadores-registram-gravuras-rupestres-do-rio-madeira/

The remains of a spanish ship: The most ancient shipwreck of Brazil

The stone plate found on the ship refers to the period in which Spain and Portugal formed one kingdom.
IMAGE: O Dia
[http://odia.ig.com.br/portal/brasil/naufr%C3%A1gio-de-navio-espanhol-em-santa-catarina-%C3%A9-o-mais-antigo-do-brasil-1.413711]

BRAZIL. Archaeologists and divers who discovered - in the coast of the state of Santa Catarina - fragments that were identified like part of a Spanish ship. The remains that are of a shipwreck occurred in 1583 are the oldest ever heard in Brazil. The first object was found - only recently, in 2005 when finally was possible to rescue some pieces to the surface.

After a new historical research, was proved that the ship is Spanish and was sunk in the 16th century, according sources of Efe press agency and the NGO Projeto Barra Sul and the University of Southern Santa Catarina (Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina - Unisul), responsible for the discovery.

The research revealed that parts of the ship obtained by the operation belonged to a fleet that sailed from Spain in 1581 with the aim to build two forts on the Straits of Magellan (Magalhaes strait) - natural passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans - to contain the spread of pirates British territories that threatened the possession of America. Historical documents allowed to determine the epoch of the accident on January 7, 1583.

Researchers said that even in April will be possible to remove all material deposited in a shoal - wich has of three meters in length and find the rest of the nave. Divers of the Projeto Barra Sul (Bar South Project), that work the coast of Santa Catarina - they discovered - so far, three another shipwrecks and all of them ocurred in the 16th century.

The first part rescued from of the ship is a stone plate that depicts the design of two lions and two castles and a portuguese symbol in the middle of the composition. This shield refers to the kingdoms of Castilla y Leon (Leão & Castela). It is a reference to the period of Iberian Union, when the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal were united between 1580 and 1640. For the archaeologists, the stone should have to be made to be placed at the entrance of a fortress.

Researchers also rescued a triangular plate, dated 1582, named after the then king of Spain, Felipe II. According to experts, the object would be an official symbol that the navigators and explorers did put in the new lands as a mark of the propriety in the territories. This served to say for possible invaders what european nation had been the first to arrive at the region and - for this, owner kingdom of the place according the laws.

In March, in new underwater expeditions, divers will attempt to retrieve a cannon, ceramics, stones ballast and bullets of different calibers. In the 16th century, the coast of Santa Catarina had not yet been colonized by Portugal and, really, was a different route from the Spanish expeditions conducted in 1525 by Rodrigo de Acuña, who left 17 of her crew on the island of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis (today, the capital of the state) a village that was founded later at the place.

The director of the project, Gabriel Correa said: This place was strategic but was also a critical, dangerous point. Here was located last port for the arrive to European navigators bound for Rio de la Plata and Strait of Magellan. However, was need much care to navigate on this waters because the seabed is rough, treacherous and full of banks shifting sands.

SOURCE: Naufrágio de navio espanhol em SC é o mais antigo do Brasil
Terra, published in 29/02/2012

[http://noticias.terra.com.br/ciencia/noticias/0,,OI5639092-EI8147,00 Naufragio+de+navio+espanhol+em+SC+e+o+mais+antigo+do+Brasil.html]

The oldest engraving on rock of the Americas is discovered in Brazil

Photo: Neves WA, Araujo AGM, Bernardo DV, Kipnis R, Feathers JK

BRAZIL. Researchers at the University of Sao Paulo found a drawing of an anthropomorphic figure dating from 9000 to 12,000 years, and would therefore, according to scientists, this prehistoric figure is the oldest ever discovered in the Americas.

The study authors, led by researcher Walter Neves, said the discovery suggests that - at that time, the presence and development of man in South America was very different - not only restricted to people who made stone tools for subsistence, not only the neolithic tribes but also persons able to formulate symbolic thoughts.

The figure, which measures about fifteen inches wide by twenty long, was found in Lapa do Santo in the region of Lagoa Santa, state of Minas Gerais, southeast region of Brazil.

* Researchers identified the drawing like an anthropomorphic creature but - this does not mean that is a man. The traces resemble a somewhat animalistic creature, something like a reptile, for example.

SOURCE: Desenho rupestre mais antigo das Américas é descoberto no Brasil.
Ultimo segundo/IG, published in 22/02/2012
[http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/ciencia/desenho-rupestre-mais-antigo-das-americas-e-descoberto-no-brasil/n1597648406315.html]

The Tomb of St. Philip

Tomb of the Christian apostle St. Philip, erected in Hierapolis,
Turkey's interior. The construction is located in a Byzantine church.

TURKEY | ITALY. Lecce (province and city). For more than two thousand years, the location of the tomb of the apostle Philip in Turkey was only a legendary tradition. Now, it is a fact proven by archaeologists from the University of Salento. The finding is the result of a long process of historical research. In the Turkish city of Hierapolis, on the slopes of the mountains that rise up near the village of Pamukkale - Turkey the tomb of Philip, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, martyred in 80 AD was found.

The archaeological expedition led by Professor Francesco D'Andria confirmed the authenticity of the monument located in the ruins of a fifth century Byzantine church that was built to house the tomb. The excavations were conducted by an international team formed by Italians, Germans, French and Norwegian. The same location, was scenery of the apostle's death.

According the director of graduate studies in archeology at the University of Salento (Ateneo Salentino) geophysical technologies were used to identify certain cavities in the structure of the church. It was found that a second and unknown church, had been built around a Roman tomb of the first century. Several factors allowed us to identify this second church that - by the traditional knowledge, housed the tomb of the apostle. [trans. Lygia Cabus]

SOURCE: Spedizione archeologica, i leccesi confermano: "la tomba è dell'apostolo"
lecce Prima, published IN 06/02/2012
[http://www.lecceprima.it/cronaca/tomba-san-filippo-turchia-6-febbraio-2012.html]

Amazonian Stonehenge

BRAZIL. Amapa state. In Calcolene, a small city located to 390 km of Macapa, capital of the Amapa state - north region of Brazil, on the banks of the igarapé* Rego Grande, a set of strange stones, with no doubt work of human hands is considered the amazonian Stonehenge. The archaeological site has been studied since 2005. The structure that resemble the british cycle is composed by large pieces of worked granite and has around 30 meters of diameter.

* IGARAPÉ: 'arm' ou course of water originated from a river which extends into the earth, like a creek.

According researchers, the place was used by indigenous populations that inhabited the region by 1,100 years ago for the realization of rituals . Some of this cerimonies - were performed in the epoch of the summer solstice, when the position of the stones blocks allowed the observation the course of the sun..

The researcher of the Instituto de Pesquisas Cientificas e Tecnológicas do Amapá (Iepa - Institute of Scientific and Technological Searches), João Saldanha that date was special for natives. He explains: It is a period marked by the rains, changing completely the landscape providing the harvest and collect food in abundance. Saldanha still tells that the place was used like a cemitery too, the last rest for important personalities of the tribes. Other minor monuments that were found there - are tombs of other persons, being these - less importants.

The place stood forgotten for many years. Only in 2005 it returned to attract the interest of the government. Since then, numerous pottery objects - were discovered. Similar objects were found in other nearby places like at the Amapa state (Brazil) and Guiana Francesa (French Guyana). The theory of researchers is that the violence of the European invaders, in century 16, provoked the exit of these tribes in search of refuge in other areas, less accessible to the invaders.

SOURCE: Sítio arqueológico “Stonehenge amazônica” é estudado no Amapá
Portal Amazônia, published in 31/12/2011
[http://www.portalamazonia.com.br/editoria/ciencia-e-tecnologia/sitio-arqueologico-%E2%80%9Cstonehenge-amazonica%E2%80%9D-e-estudado-no-amapa/]

St John Marcos park – Rescue of the ruins of a time and place

The coordinator of the Park, Luiz Felipe Younes, says that there are legends associated with the destruction of the ancient city: The man who imploded the main church stood hump.The people say that after the city submerged, appeared certain trees in the city that are known as mulungus and give red flowers. Local people believe that is the blood of residents unhappy with the end of the place. Photo: Ruins of the church.

RIO DE JANEIRO state/BRAZIL – At the Parnaiba river valley region, Rio de Janeiro state, the colonial ghost city of São João Marcos that, for 70 years, has been half submerged, since the build of a dam, and half in ruins covered by atlantic forest is being brought back to life through the action of SPHAN (Serviço de Patrimônio Histórico e Artístico Nacional - National Service of Artistic and Historical Patrimony), that created in the local the first Urban-park-Archaeological and Enviromental of Brazil.

Today, the new Park area belongs to the city of Rio Claro (RJ). In the past, it was the city of São João Marcos. Founded by colonial explorers, the called "bandeirantes" (flaggers) in 1733, the place developed quickly. It was a center of coffee agriculture. Reached to produce two million kilos per year. It was the richest town in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In the eighteenth century it had theater, school, police, roads. Slaves and Barons and had their own churches. Artists and actors and singers of artistics companies visited St João Marcos.

In the nineteenth century was the most populous county in the state. It was the first architectural ensemble of the country listed by the Instituto Estadual do Patrimônio Cultural (State Institute of Cultural Patrimony, Inepac) in 1990. Still, in 1940, under the government of President Getúlio Vargas, the city was doomed to be swallowed by the waters in the name of progress: the expansion work of the dam of Lajes. Because the state needed more energy to grow

More than 70 farms were submerged. What escaped of the flood was quickly demolished by the authorities. The initiative to create the park was of the same company that was, a once, responsible for building the dam that destroyed the place. The Light, which invested 5 million and 800 thousand of reais in the recovery of the ruins

During four years, the work of archaeologists, historians, museum curators, architects, landscapers recovered, in 930 thousand square meters, buildings and structures, as the ossuary's Church, the base theater Tibiriça, stretches of the old Imperial Road, stone bridges in addition to about two thousand pieces discovered in excavations such as potteries, coins, personal objects, porcelains and more.

The Park's facilities also include forest area, water mirror, a Memory Center, an exhibition of historical and archaeological pieces, a model, miniature of the original city, a permanent display of historical and cultural elements, portraits of epoch, an amphitheater and a cafeteria.

LINK – Parque Arqueológico e Ambiental de São João Marcos WEBSITE

SOURCES:
Estado do Rio ganha o primeiro sítio arqueológico do país.
IN Jornal do Brasil, published in 08/06/2011
[http://www.jb.com.br/ciencia-e-tecnologia/noticias/2011/06/08/estado-do-rio-ganha-o-primeiro-sitio-arqueologico-do-pais/]
SALME, Flavia. Submersa há 70 anos, cidade histórica do Rio volta à tona.
IN Último Segundo, published in 08/06/2011
[http://ultimosegundo.ig.com.br/brasil/rj/submersa+ha+70+anos+cidade+historica+do+rio+volta+a+tona/n1597016160036.html]

The buccaneers of Ilhabela

SÃO PAULO state – At Ilhabela, the unique archipelago-town of the brazilian shore, located at the littoral of São Paulo state, dwellers of a traditional community of fishers called "Caiçara dos Castelhanos, on the beach 'Canto da Lagoa", in the last Easter holiday (2011), found the remains of an ancient wrecked vessel.

The relic was uncovered after the heavy rains fell in the region by increasing the volume and velocity of waters from a stream that disembogue along that stretch of beach.

The vessel, ancient, appears and disappears beneath the sands. Sometimes years pass without giving any signal. Then, It is Forgotten. Most of the piece is buried. Apparently, the structure is in good condition although it is not possible to determine whether the ship is full or not. Is possible to see the large beams of pine riga, a very tough wood used in building ships, galleons and caravels.

Ilhabela is well known for tales of pirates. The Bay of Castilians became famous for having been refuge of pirates and strategic point of slave ships that still were practicing trafficking even after the abolition of slavery.

SOURCE: ALMEIDA, Saulo. Ilhabela - Forte chuva revela embarcação antiga na areia da Praia dos Castelhanos.
IN O Noticiado, published in 24/05/2011
[http://www.onoticiado.com.br/noticias-de-sao-sebastiao-e-ilhabela/noticias-de-ilhabela/8568-ilhabela-forte-chuva-revela-embarcacao-antiga-na-areia-da-praia-dos-castelhanos.html]

Others News About Warriors women of South America – Lesbians & Samurais

The indigenous samurai women of South America

Others notes of travelers, chroniclers of the time, also registered unusual situations that may have given rise to the myth of the "Amazonas" of South America.

Friar Gaspar de Carvajal (1504-1584), the author of, possibly, first relate of a trip to the New World which mentions the "Amazons", despite this reference to a particular meet with a horde of warrior women, in another part of the same text, observes another type of warriors women. Acordding studies of the researcher Hiram Reis e Silva:

The most formidable ethnicity that has existed in the Middle and Upper Amazon river was, without doubt, of the braves Mundurucus, the Lords of War. 

These true "samurai" south-Americans trained their offspring from childhood in a rigid military discipline. For the mundurucus, the combat was life's most noble and rewarding activity. In combat, the Mundurucus were accompanied by women who carried their arrows but according ancient reports, these women were able to catch enemy arrows when were still on the air.

The indigenous lesbians of South America

To conclude this short series on the history and anthropology of the myth of the Amazons, it remains to examine the sociological/sexual phenomenon registered by another chronicler of the time and place. The portuguese historian Pero de Magalhães Gandavo(1540-1580), who lived in Brazil in 1570, writes:

Among indigenous women (South american natives) there are those that determine, themselves, maintain chastity (in relation to men). 

These women don't have contact with men (in biblical sense).They do not allow harassment, heterosexuality and refuse relations with men even that they be needed resist, killing or dying. 

These ... imitate men and follow their offices as if they were, realy, men, bring the hair cut the same way that males do, and go to war with their bows and arrows and hunting ... each has a woman with who says is married, and so communicate the couple and they talk about themselves as husband and wife.

SOURCES:
ICAMIABAS.
IN [http://lendasemisteriosdomundo.blogspot.com/2010/06/as-amazonas-icamiabas.html]
REIS E SILVA, Hiram. As Amazonas.
IN Pantanal News, 02/11/2011.
[http://www.pantanalnews.com.br/contents.php?CID=66202]

"The Amazons": Some facts, some legends

Women indigenous. South-americans female, women warriors, "Amazons" in South America! The historical chronicles about "The Amazons" of the "New World" is often slighted by scholars, because the narratives of travel, many times, seem to be exaggerated or much fanciful.

"Amazons", a tribe, a nation in the tropical jungle, in the equatorial rain florest is an absurd! It known that the myth of "The Amazons" belongs, mainly, to a most ancient mythology: "The Amazons", the tribe of Asia Minor of warriors women was transmited for the Ocident trough by the classical greek mythology. The word "amazon" has greek origin! And returning in timeline even more, a more old origin appears, persian (or "parse") and Shythian (map above) orign: the expression ha-mazan (means warriors women).

Ykanmyabas: Women without husbands

Ludwig Schewennhagen claims that the designation "The Amazons" was used by the "Amerabas" when the historic meeting took place with the fleet of Orellana. He writes: The name "Amazon" refering to the lower basin of the great river, the region between the mouth of the Xingu River and the mouth of the river Parentins is antiga. At the epoch of the arrive of european navigators, the tribe of the Tupinambás already used to call "Amazonas", the region of the lower course of this river... (SCHWENNHAGEN, 1986 - p 37)

Nevertheless, nor the more dazzled or perplex among the cronists that faced the astonishing exuberance of the Amazon rainforest, suggested that the native used the term "Amazonas" to talk about the tribe of women warriors. For the natives of that jungle, these women were "The Ykamyabas" (Icamiabas, that means "women withou husbands"), among other indigenous terms like "coniupuiaras" (konyu-pupyaras, Great Ladies).

Muiraquitã. Theodoro Sampaio, 1920.

Resistance of the Matriarchy

Leaving by side the sphere of the mythology, considering the traditional knowledge of cultural anthropology, is possible to understand the tribes of warriors women, in different parts of the world like the remaining reality of the archaic matriarchal societies.

In the case of brazilian indigenous nations, oral culture of the people confirms that in a remote past, the tribes were under the matriarchal power. Anthropologists, like Claude Levi Strauss for example, have colected numerous legends that preserve the history of how the men, after a long time beeing dominated by the women, conspired and took political and economic power reversing the social roles. Much possibly, many women don't accepted the new conditions. These, can have created a dissidence in the form of closed female societies .

In "Relation abrégée d'un voyage fait dans l'intérieur de l'Amérique méridionale depuis la côte de la mer du Sud jusqu'aux côtes du Brésil et de la Guyane, en descendant la rivière des Amazones" (1745. Something like: Brief account of a journey to the interior of Brazil from the coast south towards the Guyana, sailing down the Amazon river), Charles-Marie de La Condamine (1701-1774), french scientist and explorer, exposes his theorie about the warriors women of South America. He doesn't need of Atlanteans or Phoenicians to explain which he understand like a natural social phenomenon. La Condamine writes:

...if, in some historic time, could has existed Amazons in the world, this was at America, where wandering life of the wives, coerced to accompany their husbands, often engaged in making war, could make awake the ideia of flee, of to rebel, searching the stability and independence. To flee to the slave condition and beast of cargo. A resolution like this nothing has of extraordinary.

More natural would still be an elite matriarchal refuse submit themself under command of his former lieutenants. Let's meditate...

Sources:
ICAMIABAS.
IN [http://lendasemisteriosdomundo.blogspot.com/2010/06/as-amazonas-icamiabas.html]
REIS E SILVA, Iran. As Amazonas. IN Pantanal News, 02/11/2011.>/br> [http://www.pantanalnews.com.br/contents.php?CID=66202]
SCHWENNHAGEN, Ludwig. Fenícios no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Cátedra, 1986.
IN [http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/6585607/719953186/name/7389093-Fenicios-No-Brasil-Ludwig-Schwennhagen-PDF.pdf]

Amazons, Phoenicians and Atlantis

As Amazonas, Ulrico Schmidt

The major of historians consider the woman warrior in South America only like a legend, less than a myth or even like mere fantasy of the cronists.

However, some little things in the notes of the explorers make belive that there is a background of strange true behind the legend. The chronicle of Friar Gaspar de Carvajal contains at least two visions of "Amazonas". The witness, source of information of the writer, talks about the clohthes of the women: if in the battle they were naked or almost, in their cities they use tunics of fine wool.

But, what wool is this? The brazilian indigenous, those called "Amerabas", lived naked, or almost, ever. They also did not knowledge the herding. It seems clear that the warrior women of South America don't belonged to same ethnical groups of the others natives of the region. In fact, the witness doesn't could be more clear:

They wear fine clothes made with the wool of the "Peruvian sheep" (alpacas): "Their clothes are like tunics tight down the breasts. On their shoulders and thet they use cloaks that are with cords.

Their long hairs, touch the floor and they have gold crowns on their head, the width of two fingers. Their land is populated by camels (llamas) serving as pack animals. There, exist two saltwater lakes.

Between Bolivia and Peru are notable saltwater lakes as Titicaca, the second largest saltwater lake in the world, located at 3.810 meters of altitude - and the "Poopo" lake.

Amazons of Andes

Researchers from different times have sought to explain the origins of this strange nation of women in South America In 1555, the Franciscan priest and cosmographer, André Thevet (1502-1580, french), published a compilation of texts of various explorers.

About the tribe of "Amazonas", Thevet concluded that possibly were descendants of Amazons Greek that after the Trojan War, had been dispersed around the world. Arriving to South America via North America and Central America, settled themselves in insular territories, in small islands, where they built their cities and underground chambers.

Atlanteans and Phoenicians

Some researchers have supported a history even more old for the great nation of the "Amazons". More ancient that Troy war. Some scholars belive that these women warriors are survivors of a community of the Atlantean civilization that was in a colapse process, and after, much later more, in association with the phoenicians, the women crossed the ocean even reaching the America continent.

Among these scholars figured the austrian professor Ludwig Schewennhagen, whose book "Phoenicians in Brazil: Ancient History of Brazil" is much quoted. Schewennhagen says the arrival of the "Amazonas" at Brazil coincides with the epoch of the Phoenicians arrival, between 1000 and 1200 BC. He also advocates that the name of the great Amazonas river has its origin in this remote time (contradicting the version of spanishes).

The warriors women of Dahomey, between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries

The oldest ancestors of women warriors were a nation, member of the immense empire of Humanity and civilization of the Atlanteans. Possibly, the Amazons could had been the last matriarchal society in the context of an advanced culture. Their tribes were scattered across almost the entire known world. Asia Minor, yes, but also in Africa where were known as the warriors women of Dahomey. They were Amazons, because they dominated the riding, they were knights women, and warriors because they had the knowledge the art of war and weapons.

SOURCES:
SCHWENNHAGEN, Ludwig. Fenícios no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Cátedra, 1986.
IN [http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/6585607/719953186/name/7389093-Fenicios-No-Brasil-Ludwig-Schwennhagen-PDF.pdf]
ICAMIABAS
IN [http://lendasemisteriosdomundo.blogspot.com/2010/06/as-amazonas-icamiabas.html]

The Olmec Dragon

Icon. Drawing Olmec: dragon carved in stone found in Chalcatzingo (Photo: INAH)

MEXICO – In Vera Cruz, Guerrero and Morelos (states of Mexico), archaeologists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) found representations of mythical beings who were believed, until then, were ignored by the ancient dwellers of the region: dragons.

Images carved in stone, clay sculptures and paintings dating between the years 1200 and 400 BC indicate the practice of a cult of worship to this fantastic animal: the dragon Olmec. There is no mistake. This is not the plumed serpent known and called Quetzalcoatl or Kukulkan. It is another more ancient creature.

The olmec dragon is depicted as a chimera, mixing physical features of snake, bird and jaguar. It also appears like an anthropomorphic being, a dragon-man.

The images have peculiar traits of the Olmec culture: the flame-shaped eyebrows and a cross, of the type called cross of St. Andrew, located between the eyes or on the back. The chief of excavations at Chalcatzingo, in Morelos, Carolina Meza Rodriguez adds: Another interesting aspect of Olmec dragon is that his mouth emits signs that seem like combinations of commas. It is not known whether the signals represent mere fumes or they are words, names, belonging to an unknown language or writing.

The olmec dragons are always related to the cave entrances. It is speculated that they are the symbol of power of an ancient lineage of leaders who ruled the Olmec people between the years 800 and 500 BC. In some cases, the iconographic elements associated with the dragon are found in different parts of a cave. Thereby, the entire chamber becomes a dragon. The Olmec people is the oldest sedentary culture today known at Mesoamerica

SOURCE: CRUZ, Antimio. Los Olmecas también imaginaron dragones.

IN El Universal/Mexico, published in 03/27/2011

[http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/cultura/65110.html]