Easter Island is famous for its 887 giant statues, also called mo‘ai. But how did ancient people move these multi-ton sculptures from where they were built to their present locations? Well, according to legend, they didn’t do anything. Instead, the statues “walked.” Background on Easter Island’s Moai The heaviest statue on Easter Island weighs 86 tons. It…
The Great Wall of China isn’t really a single wall. Instead, it’s a catchall term to describe the many fortifications built in China over the last ~2,700 years. Recently, archaeologists finished a 5-year project to map these structures. What are the Forgotten Great Walls of China? The Forgotten Great Walls of China? China’s first walls…
A few weeks ago, surveyors were examining the Mediterranean Sea in preparation for a new gas pipeline. In the process, they discovered two ancient shipwrecks in deep waters. Did ancient sailors risk the open seas? Ancient Roman Shipwrecks? We talk a lot about pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact here at Guerrilla Explorer. Over the years, scholars have speculated…
By the 4th century BC, the ancient Greeks had conquered much of Egypt, Persia, and Babylonia. This opened the door for ancient travel writers to record the most amazing structures in the so-called “known world.” What were the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? What were the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? Multiple versions…
With Facebook’s public offering now a thing of the past, it seems like a good time to look at a much older version of social networking…petroglyphs. What was the Bronze Age Facebook? Ancient Petroglyphs = An Ancient Facebook? Starting around 4000 BC, semi-nomadic people began to carve petroglyphs on granite rocks in western Russia and…
On December 21, 2012, the Mayan Long Count calendar will reach the end of a 5,126 year cycle. Is this the 2012 doomsday? Or just another day? The 2012 Doomsday Phenomenon The 2012 Doomsday phenomenon has reached almost epic proportions. It’s been featured in numerous documentaries on the History Channel and the Discovery Channel. It…
Algol, also known as the Demon Star, is a binary system, meaning it contains two stars rotating around each other. Until recently, it was believed this unique feature was discovered by John Goodricke in 1783. Now, we have reason to believe it was detected thousands of years earlier. Did ancient Egyptian astronomers discover and understand…
Around 1480, Topa Inca Yupanqui embarked on a mysterious voyage. Did the Incas travel clear across the Pacific Ocean…prior to the Europeans? Pre-Columbian Mystery: Did the Incas visit the Old World? In 1572, Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa wrote a famous book entitled, The History of the Incas. He wrote it while in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire,…