This is the story of artist and archeologist Howard Carter, and his quest to discover the lost tomb of King Tut.

Howard Carter was born on May 9th, 1874 in Kensington, England. He was the youngest child to Samuel John Carter and Martha Joyce Carter. He had eleven older siblings! 

His father, Samuel, was an artist and illustrator who shared his drawing skills with Howard and the other children. With lots of practice, Howard proved to be a talented artist! One day he visited the huge mansion of a nearby family named the Amherst. As he toured the mansion, he walked into one of the halls to find a huge collection of Egyptian antiques. Antiques are objects from history. Howard was fascinated by the objects of this ancient civilization: statues, jewelry, and mummies. He wondered what it would be like to visit Egypt himself and learn more about this fascinating culture and civilization. Lady Amherst, who lived in the mansion and owned the antiques, noticed Howard’s interest. She also heard that he was an excellent artist. Lady Amherst asked Howard if he’d like to help draw antiques in Egypt. Of course, Howard was ecstatic and a few years later in 1891, when he was seventeen, Howard traveled to Egypt with a crew of archeologists. They were taking notes and making drawings of antiques from the Middle Kingdom at Beni Hasan. The team also explored Amenhotep’s city of Amarna, which we learned about in the last episode. Howard’s job was to draw the antiques and ancient ruins which could be studied by archeologists and Egyptian historians. An archeologist is someone who digs for and studies ancient people. Howard also sold some of his artwork to tourists. He lived in Egypt for seventeen years drawing artifacts! As you can imagine, he got very good and learned a lot about Egyptian culture. 

While in Egypt, Howard was fascinated by the pyramids and tombs. He hoped he’d find a tomb that hadn’t been looted by grave robbers yet. Sadly, most of them already had been. Even tourists were part of the grave robbing. They’d climb into tombs without permission and take objects and sometimes sell what they’d found including the mummies. Howard believed there had to be tombs that were still untouched by human hands and hoped he might find one. 

Howard and other archeologists knew there had been a king named Tutankhamen – but they didn’t know whether his tomb had been discovered yet. They had found small items, cups, a jar, a piece of cloth with his name on it, but that was all. An area of Egypt called The Valley of the Kings is where they believed he would have been buried, but most people thought that all of the tombs had been discovered there or been robbed. 

In 1917, Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon decided to search The Valley of the Kings for Tut’s tomb. Lord Carnarvon was wealthy and British and was interested in Egyptian archeology just like Howard. He also had money to hire people to do the digging that was required to find a tomb. They started digging all over in the sand in the Valley of the Kings. They did this for many years with no discovery. Lord Carnarvon was ready to give up, but Howard asked for just a few more months. Three days into the search they dug into something that looked like a step. They kept digging and uncovering the steps and the sand around them until they found more steps leading down into the earth. After much more digging, they found a doorway with … the words Tutankhamun printed above it! They had found the lost tomb of King Tut!

When Howard crawled inside the tomb, using a candle to light the way, he was surprised to find a small room full of all of King Tut’s artifacts that had been sent with him to his burial for his afterlife – a couch, a bed, a chariot, games, a throne, statues, and the glinting of light, the reflection from many gold objects. All of these antiques were more than 3,000 years old!

Howard and the team spent the next several months removing the items and taking note of them. They realized that grave robbers had found the tomb many years ago but someone must have stopped them because all of the items had been placed back in the tomb and sealed up.

Of all of the discoveries, the greatest was the burial chamber. Inside the room was a large golden box that took up almost all of the space. Inside it was a stone sarcophagus, three other shrines, three golden coffins, and finally the body of Pharoah Tutankhamun, the mummy of King Tut. 

The team found two more rooms, one full of treasures and an annex that was filled with 2,000 items. For the next 10 years, the team continued to remove and made note of all of the items, which helped them learn much about Egypt and the life of King Tut. 

One reason King Tut’s tomb has become so popular is that it was the most preserved tomb ever found. This means it looked much like it did 3,000 years ago and most of the items were safe and hadn’t been stolen or damaged. 

After the items were removed, many of them were moved to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Later, some of the most beautiful items, including King Tut’s golden mask were put on a tour around the world for millions of people to see. Visitors looked through the glass cases in awe at the gold antiques and the beautiful mask of the boy king. When the treasures toured the United States in the 1920s, popular songs were written about Tutankhamun, and President Herbert Hoover even named his dog “King Tut” after the world-famous pharaoh. 

Today Tutankhamun’s body and many gold treasures rest in the Great Egyptian Museum in Cario. Would you like to see them someday? I know, I would! If you’d like to learn more about King Tut be sure to look up some videos about his life and his discovery by Howard Carter. We also did an episode about pyramids you’ll also have to check it out.        

Thanks to Howard’s curiosity, we are now able to appreciate the treasures of King Tut. Think about the importance of being curious and persevering. Perseverance means sticking with something even when it’s tough. Think about what would have happened if they had given up instead of trying just a few more months. Think about how you can stick with hard things in your own life just like Howard!

The post Howard Carter and the Discovery of King Tut for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Our story begins in the ancient land of Egypt, one of the earliest civilizations in world history. Egypt was located in the deserts of Africa and its cities flourished around the longest river in the world, The Nile, which stretched 4,000 miles long. The Nile was used to give life to the farmlands and drinking water for the people who lived there. Egypt started as small bands of tribes who eventually farmed together and then were ruled by powerful leaders, who helped organize the workers and farm the Nile Delta. When the Nile flooded every year it made the farmland rich in soil where the people planted vegetables and wheat. They also fished and ate birds that lived in and around the beautiful Nile. The people also domesticated sheep, pigs, goats, and other animals. Domesticated means they created fenced-off areas and used them for milk and meat and other materials that helped keep the Egyptians alive.

The Nile River was also used as transportation to move supplies and people up and down the river. Clay from the river was used to build homes, and the river was also used to transport stones to construct the huge temples, pyramids, and other buildings that made up Egypt’s growing empire. Cities such as Memphis and Thebes became huge metropolises and were home to millions of people. Egypt traded its many goods with nearby empires and was ruled by a pharaoh, which was their name for a king. The pharaoh was also a religious priest and the Egyptians worshipped him as a “god,” who joined the other gods after their death. 

Tutankhamun was born in 1343 B.C. but no one is sure of the exact day. Most think that his father was the powerful Pharaoh Amenhotep and his mother was one of his wives, Nefertiti. Tutankhamun, or we’ll call him Tut for short, grew up in the city of Amarna. His father had moved the family from Thebes to Amarna, so this is where he spent his childhood. There, he learned the new religion of his father, who had changed Egypt’s religion from believing in many gods to making the sun God, Amun-Ra, the one and only god. All of the new temples were made in honor of Amun-Ra and all were commanded to worship the sun god alone.

Tut spent most of his time in a palace designed for the pharaoh and his family in Amarna. The palace was made of solid brick and white plaster and decorated with colorful paints. Within the palace walls, servants took care of Tut and his family, bathing him and his siblings, and serving them meat, vegetables, and other luxury foods such as figs, dates, and pomegranates. His hair was cut in the traditional style which meant it was shaved with a braid on the side. Guards surrounded the palace and servants were always waiting and at ready to do whatever Tut and the royal family asked of them. 

Tut likely learned to read and write when he was young like other educated members of the upper class and royal family. He used a reed to write on papyrus, which was their version of a paper made of reeds from the Nile River. The writing was done not using an alphabet but hieroglyphs which were pictures instead of letters, and there were around 1,000 thousand of them to learn. Learning all of them would have a lot of memorization!

For entertainment, Tut and his family took boat rides on the Nile, went swimming, or chariot rides into the desert. They hunted wild animals and likely played a popular Egyptian board game called Senet. He and others likely learned musical instruments which were later found in his tomb.

Tut’s father, Amenhotep died when Tutenkhamen was only 10, so he became king of Egypt at a very young age. At this age, he wore the signature crown of a pharaoh, a decorative beard, and held a crook and a flail which represented his power as ruler of Egypt. Even though Tut was the ruler by name, he was too young to take full control, so his father’s Chief Minister, called a vizier, and his top general helped run the empire. We don’t know all of the details, but because Amenhotep had made many radical changes to Egypt’s religion by worshipping only one god, some historians believe that the other rulers of Egypt, such as his Chief Minister, weren’t happy with those changes and wanted to go back to the old way of worshipping many gods. 

Some suspect there was a plot to end King Tut’s rule early, so they could change the religion back to the old ways. We’ll never know for sure what happened but it is very suspicious that Tut died in his teenage years. Were the Chief Minister and the General behind his early death? Truly, it’s become one of the great mysteries of world history.

After Tut’s death, his body was prepared for burial, which was mummification for the pharoahs of Egypt. If you want to learn more about mummification, it’s interesting but also probably not the best for bedtime! After mummification, he was placed in a coffin and a group of family members and servants followed the procession, like a parade, to The Nile River. The parade of servants carried food, furniture, toys, and all of the other items that would be buried in Tut’s tomb to the river as well. At The Nile, Tut, the family, servants, and all of the items were moved onto a boat and floated down the river to the grand pyramids. There, he would lay to rest with the long line of pharaohs like his father who came before him. Interestingly, most of the biggest pyramids had been built 1,000 years before King Tut. This shows just how old the empire was. Egypt was powerful for a very long time. King Tut’s tomb was sealed to keep out robbers. Many of the pyramids even had traps built into them to keep out grave robbers. Yes, when you see traps in adventure movies, they actually existed in the pyramids of Egypt. 

So what did the Egyptians believe about life after death for the pharaohs such as King Tut? They believed after death, King Tut would go on a journey through the underworld, the land of the dead. During Tut’s lifetime, he was taught many spells from The Book of the Dead which would help him find his way to a better place in the afterlife. Egyptians believed the afterlife was much like this life but even better if they completed the journey safely and used all of the correct spells. There they would continue to eat, drink, play, and hunt. But, if they wanted nice things in the afterlife the catch was they had to bring them along… Which usually meant the simple people didn’t have as much nice stuff as King Tut and the other pharaohs. They believed that by placing objects in their tomb such as furniture, bowls, cups, gold, jewelry, bows and arrows, chariots, and other tools, those objects would continue with them in the afterlife. That’s why when they found King Tut’s tomb it was loaded with all kinds of great stuff. His favorite toys, clothes, hunting tools, and other things he would want to take with him and make the afterlife very fun and comfortable. Food was even found in the tomb for him to snack on in the next life. Very interesting, right?

As you can imagine, finding this tomb with so many ancient treasures in it would be quite the find for a modern-day archeologist! We hope you enjoyed learning about Egypt and King Tut. In next week’s episode, we’re going to learn all about the archeologist Howard Carter and his quest to find King Tut’s Tomb!

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The first thing you’ll notice is the massive stone walls that seem to blend perfectly with the natural landscape. Once you step inside the walls of the palace, you find yourself in a place that feels both ancient and mysterious. The city is made up of stone buildings and terraces that are carefully arranged in a way that makes you wonder how they were built without modern tools. The buildings have no roofs, which means you can look up and see the drizzly sky above you.

Everywhere you turn, there are stunning views. Lush mountains stretch as far as the eye can see, and you see the winding Urubamba River far down below. Next, you spot one of the most fascinating parts of Machu Picchu, the Intihuatana Stone, which is like a giant sundial. On one of the terraces you also see a pack of llamas. These adorable animals turn and look at you in a friendly, curious way. 

Truly, visiting Machu Picchu is like entering a real-life fairy tale. It’s a place that sparks your imagination and fills you with a sense of awe. The history, the stunning views, and the unique atmosphere have made it a truly unforgettable experience. 

If you listened to our episode last week, we learned all about the rise of the Inca Empire and the construction of Machu Picchu. Now let’s dive into how it was discovered and became the treasured tourist destination that it is today.

In 1831, a child named Hiram Bingham III was born to Clara Brewster and Hiram Bingham II in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Binghams were the children of Protestant missionaries who had journeyed to the islands to teach the native people their religion. Growing up, Hirma’s parents were very strict. He really struggled with this because his favorite stories were of adventure and troublesome kids like Huckleberry Finn. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain was one of his favorite books and wished for a life of adventure like one of his heroes. He wanted to explore the world but felt like he was stuck on the island and with parents who wanted him to live a very traditional life and get a very traditional education.

When he was 12, Hiram and a friend hatched a plan to leave home and travel to Africa. He took $250 of his savings out of the bank and headed to the port to set sail to the United States. From there he’d travel to New York and then Africa! Unfortunately, the boat didn’t leave on time and Hiram’s father found out about the plan. As you can imagine, he was not happy! Hiram stayed in Hawaii until he was 16 until he got his chance to leave and study at Yale University and later Harvard. He eventually became a professor in Latin History and later married and continued to teach. But something inside Hiram still longed for the life of adventure he dreamed of as a child reading about his hero, Huck Finn. 

In 1908, Hiram Bingham traveled to Peru, South America to meet with other professors for work. There, someone told him a story about a lost Incan. Hiram was intrigued! He wondered if the story was about the lost city of Vilcambamba. During his trip, he did some exploring and took pictures of ruins, and started writing about his time in Peru, hoping that someday he could return and find this lost, mysterious city from the stories. 

By 1911, a few years later, Hiram Bingham had assembled a team of experts and enough money to make the return trip to Peru to find the lost city of Vilcambamba. He made great sacrifices, such as selling family property in Hawaii, to pay the $12,000 dollars for the trip, and leaving his family at a difficult time. But he was determined to make a great discovery that would put his name in the history books! 

Hiram and his crew sailed from New York to Lima, Peru, and got to work trying to figure out the location of the lost city. He interviewed people and studied maps and journals of Spanish priests and others who might have clues about the location of the city. From Lima, they traveled to the city of Cuzco, where in the last episode we learned about Pachacuti, the great king who once ruled the Inca Empire. In Cuzco, Hiram met a man named Melchor Arteaga, who said he knew the location of the lost city and could take Hiram and his team there. 

After a five-day journey through the jungle, Hiram, Melchor and his team arrived at a village at the base of the mountain. The weather was bad, making the mountain wet and slippery, but Hiram paid Melchor enough to convince him to take him up the mountain. They climbed up through the rain and mists and mud, sometimes on their hands and knees, and soon reached the mountaintop. The ruins were in view! There was something to the stories about this city. They found a family who were living and farming the terraces of the mountaintop. The family gave them water to drink before Hiram set about exploring the area further. Hiram hiked around and found more walls and more elaborate stone architecture. A temple, a palace, and aqueducts. Hiram didn’t know it yet but this was Machu Picchu, the ruins of Pichacuti’s mountaintop palace! He took pictures of the ruins and notes of everything he observed before climbing back down the mountain to his awaiting team. 

Hiram, still wanting to find the lost city of Vilcambamba, continued to explore the area – and did find a city of ruins overgrowing with vines and plants. He didn’t realize it at the time but it was Vilcambamba, but Machu Picchu was even more amazing and he was very excited to share his discoveries with the world! 

After returning home, Hiram wrote about his adventures in Peru. He quickly became known around the world for his discoveries and returned again the next year to explore the area deeper and take more pictures. The team also began to uncover more of the buildings. They dug and found pots and jewelry and gold and skeletons, which helped them better understand the life of Pachacuti and the Incas. Many of these artifacts were removed from Machu Picchu and taken to Bingham’s university to be put on display. One hundred years later, these artifacts were rightfully returned to Peru for its people to appreciate.

After Hiram’s later visits, National Geographic printed pictures of the Machu Picchu and people all across the world were able to appreciate the magnificent mountaintop palace. Since that time, Machu Picchu has become one of the most famous archeological sites in the world. In 1948, Peru built a road leading closer to the ruins and also made it a national park. This has helped it to become one of the most visited locations in the world. Since Hiram’s time, more archeologists and scientists have visited the mountaintop palace to learn about the people who lived there. And currently, around 2,000 tourists visit Machu Picchu every day!

The Story of Machi Picchu is one of the skilled, hardworking, and ingenious people who were able to engineer and construct such a magnificent site. Also, it’s a story of an intrepid professor, much like one of my favorite movie characters, Indiana Jones, who followed his childhood dreams and discovered an ancient city for the world to enjoy!

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During the 1400s the people of this area were under the threat of nearby tribes. The kind at the time decided to turn and run, but fortunately one of his sons, a bold leader, decided to face the enemy instead. His name was Pachacuti (Patch-a–KOO-tee) and he quickly went to work uniting the nearby tribes in a large army to face the invaders. Pachacuti led the Incas into battle and after fierce hand-to-hand combat, they won! After becoming king and providing safety for his people, Pachacuti went to work on the new kingdom of united tribes. He organized the building of roads and city centers to improve the economy, temples to worship their gods, and stone walls and buildings to keep the people safe. And instead of being on the defense, he instead attacked nearby tribes who he worried might threaten their safety. After defeating other tribes, he added their soldiers to his army, and their people to his growing empire. They helped build new roads and cities, temples, and defenses. But if he could avoid battle, he would do just that and instead offer them gifts, so they would join his empire instead. The conquered tribes then paid taxes and little by little the Inca Empire grew. Eventually, Pachacuti’s empire spread into six countries that we know today as Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Colombia, Chile, and Argentina. 

At the center of the empire was the capital city of Cuzco, in what is now known as Peru, with around 40,000 citizens and another 200,000 in surrounding areas at the time. The city was located high in the Andes Mountains and had a ruling class led by Pachacuti and a priestly class who organized the worship of their gods. The Incas were skilled farmers and artisans who mined gold, silver, copper, bronze, and other precious metals and used them to craft beautiful jewelry and bowls, and other tools. They also used these metals to decorate their buildings, many of which were covered in gold. They were also very advanced at designing fabrics and used them to make strong and colorful clothing. 

Skilled Inca engineers used advanced engineering to design their buildings. They were made of stone blocks and were often so perfectly measured that they didn’t need any kind of cement to keep them together. The rulers and priestly class used advanced math to keep track of the stars and other planetary bodies. They used astronomy to design their buildings, which meant different windows and features faced planets and stars according to the time of the year. The Incas worshipped the sun and build stone temples and in honor of the sun god, decorated their buildings with gold.

As Pachacuti conquered new tribes across South America, he got to work building palaces in all of the new lands. One of these new territories was high in the Andes Mountains and overlooking the Urubamba River Valley. Pachacuti decided this mountaintop would be the perfect place to build a palace for his family, so he could retreat there and enjoy some quiet away from busy cities like Cuzco. Basically, like a vacation home for a celebrity or the President in our day and age. From the top of the mountain, Pachacuti would also be able to view his empire in all directions and the tall peaks would keep him safe from his enemies. This is the palace that later became known as Machu Picchu which means “old peak.” 

Together with his engineers, Pachacuti figured out how to build a home in this very high, very steep place. Workers dug into the sides of the mountain and flattened it out into a series of large steps, known as terraces, where they could plant crops and build buildings. Peasants worked hard to clear and farm these terraces and planted maize (what we know as corn), beans, potatoes, and other crops on these wide steps or terraces. They also worked tirelessly to haul huge stones up the mountain to build walls and the palace itself. 

Of course, without water, the visitors to the palace wouldn’t survive, so the brilliant Inca engineers found a spring and designed aqueducts to move the water around the mountaintop and into fountains which the king, his family, and servants could use to drink and cook and bathe.

Once the construction project of Machu Picchu was complete, the king and his royal family often made the long trek from Cuzco to vacation there. Sometimes he had up to 100 family members and 500 servants living at the palace!

King Pachacuti loved nature and the stars, so when he designed Machu Picchu with his engineers, they included many works of art that reflected the beauty of the local nature and the animals of this region. They also designed a temple on the mountain and many of the buildings with the stars in mind, meaning certain windows faced certain stars or the sun and moon at different times of the year. Beautiful flowers and other plants were also cultivated on Machu Picchu to celebrate Pachacuti’s love of nature. 

During their time at the palace, the king and his family also spent time capturing and hunting animals. Some of these included deer, alpacas, and llamas. If you’ve ever seen a llama or alpaca they are a very funny-looking creature with a wooly body, long neck, and tall ears. They live and are able to climb and survive high in the mountains of Peru. The royal family feasted on the meat of deer and used the wool of llamas and alpacas for their beautiful clothing. But of course, Pachacuti wasn’t always at Machu Picchu. It was one of his many palaces and often he lived at Cuzco, the capital from which he ruled his growing empire.

As I mentioned earlier, people native to the Americas lived in North and South America for a VERY long time without anyone in the rest of the world, Europe or Asia, and beyond, even knowing they existed. This is what we sometimes call the New World, which the Old World didn’t know about. It wasn’t until Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492 that the knowledge of this new continent became really well known to Europeans. This was a time when the Incan Empire was thriving alongside major European empires like Spain, France, and England. 

After Columbus’s voyage, powerful empires like Spain decided they wanted in on the New World, too, so they immediately sent explorers to find out how to better their own situation. This era was called The Age of Discovery. The Spanish explorers who journeyed to the New World were called conquistadors and traveled there in search of new land, gold for their empires, and people with which to share their religion. 

The Conquistadors had heard about the Inca Empire and knew they had access to many mines. Especially mines containing their favorite precious metal, gold! They heard that the Incas had so much gold that they used it to decorate their temples, and other buildings, and to make beautiful jewelry. 

Francisco Pizzaro was one of the first conquistadors who wanted some of this gold to enrich himself and his beloved country of Spain. Upon landing, he declared the land of South America the property of Spain with no consideration for the people who already lived there – such as the Incas. And as you can imagine, the Inca Empire and its hoards of gold were immediately in his sights. 

At this time, Pachacuti was no longer the king of the Incas. Instead, they were ruled by a king named Atahuallpa (ah-ta-HUAL-pa), who had weakened the Incan Empire during a war with his brother. But Atahuallpa still had a very large army and seeing that Pizarro’s was very small, he assumed to defeat them very easily. He brought a small part of his army, 5,000, to the fight and didn’t even arm them. But what he didn’t know is that numbers aren’t the only important part of a battle. Technology made all the difference in this age, and he wasn’t prepared for Pizzaro’s more advanced weapons of war, such as guns, armor, and horses. 

Atahuallpa and the Inca soldiers had never seen a gun before. How did a device like this hurt someone from a distance? Why did it make such a loud, booming noise, and fire smoke and fire? For centuries, they’d only used spears and swords in battle. Needless to say, they were very unprepared to take on Pizzaro and his better-armed soldiers. When the Conquistadors started firing their weapons, the Incas were frightened and many were injured or died. Very quickly the battle was over and Atahuallpa had been taken captive by Francisco Pizzaro and the other conquistador soldiers. 

With Atahuallpa as his captive, Pizarro forced the Incas to bring him gold and they did for a very long time. The Spanish melted the beautiful gold jewelry and cups and bowls and other fine materials down into gold bars, which they sent back to Spain as a tribute to their own king. Pizarro took over the government in Peru and set up his own king, who followed his orders. Over time, the Incan Empire faded in power and glory. But back to the grand palace of Machu Picchu. By this time, the mountaintop vacation home had already started to lose its magnificence since no kings after Pachacuti lived there or took care of it as its creator did. Vines and moss grew over the stone walls, no one cultivated the terrace farms, and the beautiful buildings fell into disrepair and began to crumble with weather and age. Most Incas forgot it even existed, although the tales of this glorious mountaintop palace were still passed on, perhaps even treated as legend.

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The day slowly dawns and a thick mist covers a canopy of leafy trees.  The temperature is mild as animals, beasts, and birds shake off slumber and survey their surroundings.  Rays of sunlight poke through the mist, indicating a hot day ahead on the grassy plains of Wyoming.  Big Al, a teenage Allosaurus, tips his head back and then shakes it vigorously side-to-side.  He twitches his three claws on his small arms and takes a few steps on his mighty legs.  His long, thick tail sweeps the grass below him, scattering twigs in all directions.  He lets out a mighty roar – one of hunger and warning.  He is ready to run and eat and fill his growling belly.  

Big Al is the largest predator on these plains.  He is a meat eater and one with the strength, speed, teeth, and claws to take down many of the creatures that roam the plains around him – the spiky stegosaurus or the plant-eating sauropods with their long tasty necks and thick bellies.  He knows he can outrun them, but he also knows that he has to be careful.  The stegosaurus is a cranky beast.  His ferocious spikes and barbed tail are mighty weapons.  The sauropods are less aggressive but much bigger.  He must watch out for their massive tails and thundering feet.  He knows his best chance of finding a meal is to target the younger dinosaurs, the babies, and the juveniles.  Or he can hunt for a new carcass with scraps left over from a kill.  Big Al is big, but he is still a teenager.  He measures 26 feet long but can grow up to 40 feet, as long as a T-Rex.  His muscular legs are strong and fast.  His three claws twitch anxiously.

Slowly, he lumbers forward, his three clawed toes digging into the muddy earth.  His fourth claw, slightly higher on the back of his foot, isn’t needed now – but it will be shortly.  He picks up speed, from a slow trot to a thundering run, reaching a speed of 21 miles an hour, crashing through bushes and swaying ferns.  His head is pushed forward, almost horizontal with his body like a rugby player dashing into a scrimmage, his massive tail straight behind him.  He swings his head quickly from side to side, his large eyes under two horned brows searching for any movement, his nose sniffing the morning air.

Suddenly he hears the loud bellow of a plant eater ahead.  She has heard his crashing and is emitting a warning call.  Big Al leaps out of the brush and races onto the plain.  Ahead of him, he sees a group of sauropods thundering away.  Their gigantic feet pound the earth, sending shockwaves through the ground.  They bellow and screech, their young racing beside them.  Big Al slows his pace and stops.  There is no way he can take down one of these beasts.  There are too many of them and he does not have the element of surprise.  He must find a different meal.

Big Al turns and wanders along the edge of the tree line.  In the sky, Pterodactyls screech and soar, diving and swooping among far-off mountain ridges.  Big Al plods along, his stomach grumbling, his scaly body registering the rising heat.  He must find a meal before the heat and bugs become unbearable.  

About an hour later, he hears some crunching and rustling in a thicket of trees.  He steps forward slowly, his eyes and ears trained toward the sound.  He must be very quiet and stealthy.  Then he sees it.  A Stegosaurus – a young one.  Big Al’s mouth starts to water and his senses tingle.  The fight is near.  He must win and he must eat.  He ducks his head lower and steps forward slowly, step by step.  The Stegosaurus is so busy eating and crunching and grunting that he doesn’t hear Big Al approaching.  Suddenly, Big Al lunges out of the bushes and attacks the Stegosaurus, his massive jaws opening 92 degrees, much wider than a T-Rex.  He clamps down on the Stegosaurus’ neck with all his might, his sharp teeth slashing the leathery flesh.  His eight-inch claws dig into the beast’s sides, scraping and making long, nasty gouges.  The beast roars in surprise and fury.  He flings himself to one side, causing some of his flesh to rip off in Big Al’s jaws.  He swings his mighty tail and impales a spike into Big Al’s leg.  Big Al roars in pain and tries to attack once more.  The stegosaurus twists his body and swings his tail again, but misses.  Big Al dodges left and right, trying to place another attack on the beast’s neck, while trying to dodge the mighty tail.  He needs to weaken the beast by inflicting as much damage as possible.  But it is proving difficult.  

The stegosaurus charges and rams Big Al with his spiky head.  Big Al jumps and gouges the beast with his clawed feet.  He loses his balance and topples to one side.  The Stegosaurus charges, ramming his leg again.  Big Al roars and slashes with his claws while getting to his feet.  His leg and feet are injured, but the beast is also tiring.  Big Al lunges once again and chomps onto the beast’s neck as it tries to flee.  He clamps down hard and holds on with 70 razor-sharp teeth, avoiding the Stegosaurus’ tail and spiky spine.  The battle rages on for 10 more minutes.  Big Al holds on with all his might as the beast slows and tires.  Soon it is over.  The Stegosaurus crumbles to the ground and dies.  Big Al has won.  Or so it seems.

Big Al must eat quickly before the other predators arrive – like adult Allosauruses.  They have heard the crashing and roaring and can smell the kill.  Big Al takes a large bite and rips the flesh away with a backward yank of his neck, like a mighty raptor, rather than side-to-side like other meat eaters.  His claws clutch the skin.  He takes a few more bites and then hears it – the crash of thundering legs through the brush.  The predators are here!  Two large Allosauruses break through the foliage and roar with excitement – and warning.  Their message is clear: Leave now or you will be next!  They don’t care if he is one of them.  He is smaller and they will eat him just as easily as any other prey.  Big Al roars and backs away, making sure to keep his eyes on the adults.  His leg and feet are hurting, but he must not show it or they will consider him fair game for feasting.  

Big Al turns and dashes into the trees, trotting as fast as his legs will take him to the safety of home – a ridge of boulders in the near distance.  He reaches the rocky outcropping and stops to rest.  His heart is beating furiously in his chest and his strength is waning.  The running and the fighting have taken a toll on him even though he has fresh meat in his belly.  He settles down to rest, his leg and feet throbbing.  They feel worse than normal; he is more injured than he thought.  With every passing hour, the pain and swelling increase.  When he tries to stand, he can’t.  His skin is hot and burning below his scales and blood seeps out of his wounds.  Soon the insects descend and start to feast.  Big Al tries to rest but the heat and insects smother him.  Hour after hour, Big Al holds on.  Slowly the sun sets and the insects retreat.  Big Al is weak and tired and hurting.  He finally drifts off to sleep.  In the morning, he cannot rise.  Fever and pain rack his body.  He rests all day and another night.  This goes on for 5 more days and nights, with Big Al slowly fading away, unable to rise or eat or drink.  On the sixth day, Big Al does not wake.  He is gone and soon he will be a meal for another Allosaurus.  That is the circle of life on the Jurassic Plains.

Big Al’s bones lay on the plain for millions of years as dust and wind slowly bury him.  Then one day, millions of years later, in 1991, a group of archeologists start digging above his grave.  They dig and scrape away at the sand until one of them shouts.  They’ve found something!  They brush away the dirt and find a bone.  Big Al’s bone.  They continue to dig and scrape and brush until they uncover all of Big Al.  Once more, he is in the sun.  The scientists collect his bones and take him back to their laboratory.  They examine his wounds and take measurements.  They realize that the wound in his leg bone is the same size and shape as a Stegosaurus barb.  Then other scientists report they have found the remains of a stegosaurus nearby.  These second scientists measure the wounds on the stegosaurus’s neck bones and they match the size and width of Allosaurus teeth!  The connection is made and they realize there was a fierce battle between the two.  The stegosaurus bones show many bite marks, indicating it was a hearty meal for several predators.

The first scientists continue to study Big Al.  They determine he was a juvenile by his size at 26 feet long.  Adult Allosauruses can reach 40 feet long, as long as the T-Rex that will come along millions of years later.  They find that Big Al suffered injuries to his leg and feet bones, plus a painful infection from wounds, thus causing his death.  

They determine he is an Allosaurus, meaning “Different Lizard” or “Strange Reptile” in Latin because their small backbones are shaped like hourglasses, unlike other dinosaurs.  They are part of the theropod family, dinosaurs who run on two legs.  The scientists decide to call him Big Al.  They assemble his bones and put him on display in a museum.  

Unfortunately, Allosauruses have been relegated to obscurity with the arrival of T-Rex – the “Tyrant Lizard”- in our museums, books, and films.  The Allosaurus reigned during the Jurassic period and the T-Rex roamed during the Cretaceous period much later.  Although very similar, the Allosaurus is slightly smaller, with longer arms than the T-Rex.  Allosauruses weighed anywhere from 1.7-2.7 tons, whereas T-Rex was larger and heavier – weighing up to 8 tons.  The Allosaurus ripped his food up and backward with his jaws like raptors whereas T-Rex possibly yanked off flesh in a side-to-side fashion like crocodiles. 

The Allosaurus enjoyed a quick flash of celebrity in the 1925 film, “The Lost World.”  But they were pushed off their throne by T-Rex in the 1933 blockbuster “King Kong” and later “Jurassic Park” (which was actually the wrong period for the T-Rex). The poor Allosaurus once again played second fiddle to his larger, flashier successor.  Where once he reigned supreme throughout Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Oklahoma, and South Dakota in the US, plus Tanzania, Portugal, and Germany, now he resides in museums fighting for recognition among the towering T-Rexes.

So, what do you think of the Allosaurus?  Have you ever heard of them or seen them in a museum?  What is your favorite dinosaur?  Share your thoughts here.

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When I was a little kid, I took art class in school and one of my projects was to draw a picture of my family.  I was not a great artist so I did the basics: a square house and little stick figures for people. Perhaps you’ve done the same.  Well, imagine if your teacher put a rock on your desk and said, “Carve a picture of your mother out of this rock.”  That would seem impossible!

First of all, to carve a face out of stone, you need special tools, like chisels and hammers.  And you need to know how to carve the stone in the right places to make a nose, eyes, and lips.  It takes a lot of time and practice to get it right – and some really big rocks!  

Well, today, we’re going to talk about some gigantic rock portraits.  You might know some already, like Mt. Rushmore in the United States, The David statue in Italy, or the Terracotta Army in China.  Today we’re going to discover some other rock portraits – faces that look like a surprised Santa, a majestic lion, or a wailing devil!

The Great Sphinx of Giza

One of my favorite stone portraits is the Great Sphinx of Giza, near Cairo, Egypt.  It is a statue of a large, reclining lion with a human head.  It measures 240 feet (73 metres) long and 66 feet (20 metres) high and was carved around 2465 B.C.E.!  And to make it even more amazing, it was carved out of one mammoth piece of limestone!  Scientists estimate it took three years and 100 workers to carve this statue – and then they painted it! Eventually the paint chipped off from sun and heat exposure but it must have looked amazing when it was finished.

And whose face is on the Sphinx?  Well, they’re not sure.  It could be the ancient Pharaoh Khafre.  Others state that Khafre’s older brother had it built to honor their father, Pharoah Khufu.  Whoever it was built for, he must have been amazing.  Unfortunately, it has decayed over time and is now missing its nose.  One legend states that Napoleon ordered the nose blown off with a canon while battling there, but that’s not true – the nose came off long before then.  Others state that the nose was cut off in the 1300’s in protest to idolatry – meaning the worship of false Gods or famous people.  Whatever the truth may be, it is an amazing piece of artwork – and history – and I hope it will remain with us for centuries to come.

Olmec Heads in Mexico

Speaking of kingly faces, I think the Olmec Heads in Mexico are fascinating.  These heads are short and round and depict ancient Olmec rulers.  The smooth faces feature almond-shaped eyes, round noses, and full lips.  On their heads are small caps with simple designs.  These faces were carved out of volcanic rock around 1200-800 B.C., and range in height from 5 to 11 feet.  They weigh a whopping 20 tons.  Unfortunately, the Olmec people vanished from the Earth around 300 B.C. for unknown reasons – maybe war or disease – but these stone statues are a reminder that they were here and were memorialized – or honored – by their talented artists. 

 Nemrut Dag, Turkey

From 700-38 B.C., a king named Antiochus the First ruled in Turkey.  He ordered a sculptor to carve his statue high in the barren Taurus Mountains.  The sculptor carved the king sitting on a throne wearing a stern, majestic face and a tall headdress.  He then carved lions, falcons, and gods seated on either side of the king, protecting him from all enemies – mortal and spiritual.  These magnificent stone gods were depicted as three men and one woman on large thrones wearing pointed hats. A large burial site was built around these statues and contains other stone ancestors and treasures.  This site has decayed over time – possibly due to earthquakes, mudslides, and other weather – but was rediscovered in 1881 and turned into a protected historic site.  

Bayon Temple, Cambodia    

In Cambodia is an amazing Hindu and Buddhist temple called the Bayon Temple that displays over 200 carved faces!  This jaw-dropping temple – more like a vast, stone city – was built around the time of King Jayavarman VII’s reign from 1181 to 1218 and shows buildings with spiked towers, tall pillars and massive stone staircases leading into cavernous rooms.  Outside the temple, a large, smiling face is carved into a stone tower, supposedly of the king.  This king looks incredibly friendly, with full lips curved into a big smile and eyes looking downward, as if he is daydreaming.  His nose has fallen off, but he still wears a tall, royal headdress with a creature or bird on top.  To his left is another rock tower with four smiling king faces looking North, South, East, and West.  

Also in this temple are 200 additional faces, as well as scenes showing Cambodian life.  Statues of large Hindu gods sit on thrones lining the paths to the temple, looking mean and menacing, unlike the smiling king.  This site is truly fascinating – like something out of an Indiana Jones movie – and I would love to explore it one day.  What about you?

The Moai Heads of Easter Island

You may have seen the Moai Heads of Easter Island in the movie, “Night at the Museum.”  They were the large rock heads munching on gum and chanting “Yum, yum.”  The actual heads were discovered on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean near Chile around 1722.  Carved out of volcanic rock around 1250-1500 A.D., they measure anywhere from 13 feet to 40 feet and weigh 14 tons each.  These massive heads have big brows, long noses, and deep eye sockets that may have had coral for eyes.  Their mouths are carved in a straight line.  Through the years, many of these statues have toppled over – although we don’t know why.  Some say it happened due to earthquakes, others say they were pushed over during tribal battles, and some say that a woman on the island with magical powers struck them down in anger.  

And you may be wondering how 800 massive stone heads were moved across the island.  Archeologists believe this was done by loading the rocks on wooden sleds and rolling the sleds over large logs.  It is thought that the island was once covered with forest, but the trees were cut down to move the stones, which led to the destruction of the island.  The people were no longer able to build houses or make fires and many moved away. 

So, what do these heads mean?  Well, some think they are carvings of ancestors or gods, and have spiritual powers.  Some think they are protectors of the island because they face inland.  Seven are pointed out to sea, maybe to watch for invaders.

You and I may never get to Easter Island to see these amazing statues, but we can view them in museums around the world, including London; Washington, DC; France; New Zealand; Chile; and Belgium.  I would love to see them, but I think I would have a heart attack if they started chanting and chewing bubblegum!

The Devil Heads, Czech Republic 

In the lush green forests of the Czech Republic two ghoulish heads are carved into the side of a mountain, sometimes called the “Czech Mount Rushmore.”  But while Mount Rushmore shows four stately presidents, the Devil Heads show two freaky faces.  One looks like a surprised Santa with bushy eyebrows, a long flowing beard, and an open mouth.  Beside it is another head with a wailing face, furrowed brows, and crooked teeth in a gaping mouth.  It looks like a creature or devil howling in pain.  These faces were carved between 1841 and 1846 by a man who was working as a cook in a nearby castle.  Later, he carved other faces and creatures into nearby rocks, depicting characters from Czech fairytales. Well, even if these heads are a little scary, I think they are fascinating and very creative.  

Decebalus Rex, Romania

And finally, we head to Romania for a stone portrait started in 1993.  Created in honor of King Decebalus who lived around 105 A.D., this carving shows the elderly king’s face jutting out of a grey stone cliff on a wooded mountain.  He wears a bushy beard and mustache, and his mouth is set in a firm, straight line.   On top of his head are the jagged peaks of the mountain, looking like a tall Santa’s hat.  And while the faces on Mount Rushmore in the United States are an impressive 60 feet high, this king’s face is three times that large, or 180 feet, with a 23-foot nose and 14-foot eyes!  King Decebalus was said to have battled a great Roman emperor on this site many centuries ago and was ultimately defeated.  To honor the king’s courage, an Italian sculptor was hired to carve this special memorial.

So, what do you think of all these rocky portraits?  Have you seen any of them?  Some are so old it’s hard to imagine how they were created or how the artists knew how to carve faces on such a large scale.  It just shows that every civilization had its amazing architects, engineers, and artists!  If you could carve anyone to be remembered hundreds of years from now, who would it be?

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The first group of people believed to live in the Caribbean islands was the Ciboneys, who came there nearly 4 or 5 thousand years ago. 

Later, the Tainos and the Caribs were two groups of people who lived on the islands. They had come from the Americas thousands of years before. The Caribs were a warrior tribe and wore their hair black and long. They dressed in feathers and necklaces made of their victim’s teeth and painted their bodies red. They fished and hunted to eat and lived in thatched shelters. At one point the Caribs began forcing the Tainos off of the islands.

The Carib people were generally more peaceful and were farmers who cultivated “yucca” and sweet potatoes. They were also excellent hunters using bows and arrows to shoot their prey. 

The Caribbean was discovered by Europeans when Christopher Columbus was in 1492 in search of a new trade route to the east. He landed in the Bahamas and named the island San Salvador. He thought he had found the spice islands of the West Indies and because of his mistake Spain named them as such and they have the same name today. 

When Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas the people living there, also called indigenous peoples, he called “Indians.” They were made up of the Caribs and the Tainos (or Arawaks). Queen Isabella of Spain did not allow the enslavement of these some of these people, but it happened anyway. 

The first settlement by Spain was in Hispaniola in 1493. Their main interest in the islands was gold and mining other precious metals, and here the Spanish built fortresses to protect what they considered to be their property. For this reason, other European countries were not able to settle in these areas, but instead took some of the settlements where the Spanish weren’t as strong. For example, the British colonized Barbados and the French took Martinique and Guadeloupe, and the Dutch controlled Aruban, St. Maarten, and a few other islands in the 1600s. Sadly, most of the native people living on these islands were forced into slavery to work for the settlers and eventually died off because of diseases and how they were treated.

Soon it was found that the Caribbean islands were perfect for farming sugar, so sugar plantations began to be very popular. But because the native people had died off, there were no longer slaves to farm the land. For this reason, slavers moved to Africa and started kidnapping the people there and forcing them into slavery in the Caribbean. Over 10 million African slaves were taken by boat to the Caribbean to be slaves on the sugar plantations! They were packed so tightly into the ships often 12 percent of them died along the way. Once arriving on the islands they were auctioned off and traded. Because of how cruelly they were treated, many of these slaves escaped or led revolts and started their own communities away from the plantations. To this day many of the people living on the islands are descendants of these slaves. In the 1800s slavery was also outlawed by the British and eventually the French and Dutch and Spanish. The cost of producing sugar also grew, so there was a decline in production at this time.

In 1789 slaves led by Toussaint Louverture revolted and took control of their own country of Haiti which later became independent of France in 1804. After Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba also became independent along with Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. 

The Caribbean is also known for its history of pirates. In the early 1600s pirates made their homes on many of the islands. Many of them raised cattle and traded them, which is where the name “buccaneers” comes from because they cured the meat in ovens called “boucans.” They lived in small clans and were made up of many different backgrounds. Many found their home base in Tortuga, off the coast of Haiti. From here they ventured out and attacked ships to steal their goods. 

Today, the Caribbean is more civilized and has become a tourist destination for people all over the world. It has large hotels and caters to visitors who want to come to spend time on the beaches, enjoy the warm, crystal blue water, and do other water activities such as snorkeling and scuba diving. The Caribbean is also known as a prime destination for cruise ships that are constantly docking to unload tourists to enjoy the beautiful tropical weather and scenery of the islands.

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Have you ever come across something odd, and wondered what it was supposed to do? Did you wish you could open it up and find out what was inside? 

In 1900, a team of divers went looking for sponges off the coast of Greece. But what they found proved to be much, much more interesting. Wearing a waterproof canvas suit and a helmet with an air hose, the first diver was lowered into the water. When he reached the bottom of the Mediterranean sea, something strange caught his eye. It looked like a human arm. Looking around, he noticed more body parts, but fortunately, he realized quickly that these weren’t from real people. It was actually something very exciting: sunken treasure! He had found pieces of bronze sculptures from an ancient shipwreck! Soon, the Greek government organized an expedition to pull up the trove of artifacts.

Ships of Long Ago

The Mediterranean Sea is dotted with hundreds of shipwrecks from the ancient Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and other civilizations that ringed the sea thousands of years ago. Most ships weren’t carrying anything very interesting: containers of olive oil or wine, unsculpted marble, or other stone. But this shipwreck was different. It sank in bad weather around 60 BCE, taking with it a cargo of beautiful bronze and marble sculptures, jewelry, and colorful glassware. 

It also had one other thing: an object that looked like little more than a slab of corroded metal with some obscure Greek lettering on it. About the size of a shoebox and not obviously anything, workers almost threw it back in the water. But fortunately, one of the expedition’s organizers stopped them. It’s a good thing he did, because that hunk of corroded metal turned out to be the most important treasure pulled up from the wreck.

One of those things you wish you could break open and look inside. A two thousand-year-old device that no one thought possible before. 

It became known as the Antikythera mechanism after an island near the shipwreck. Dozens of historians and scientists would work for over a century to find out exactly what it was and how it worked.  

Corroded Antikythera Mechanism

The mechanism was in bad shape when it was pulled out of the water. Originally made of bronze, it was severely corroded. Corrosion is when metal changes into other minerals when it interacts with other substances around it. Rust is a type of corrosion that happens when metals with iron in them react with oxygen in air and water. The mechanism had so much corrosion that it had clearly been in the water a long time. Workers found one big piece and many smaller pieces of the device. To make matters worse, the big piece broke into three soon after it was pulled from the water. All of the pieces were taken to the National Archeological Museum in Athens, Greece. 

What Was It?

At first, no one really knew what to make of the device. Because of how delicate and damaged it was, researchers definitely couldn’t just open it up and look inside. You could see gears from the outside, but there was clearly an inside of the device that researchers couldn’t see. The Greek writing on the outside was very hard to read. Scholars managed to read only a few words: the names of months and planets, and numbers that seemed to relate to the phases of the moon. 

A few scholars proposed that the object was some sort of navigational device or a planetarium that showed the rotations of the moon, sun, and planets. But these scholars didn’t do much to try to figure out exactly how the device worked. They didn’t have much opportunity to either, since, in the early 1900s, they had no way of seeing inside the object without destroying it. 

Within a few years, interest in the Antikythera mechanism died down. For decades, not many people bothered to pull it out of the museum’s storage boxes and study it in more detail. Finally, in the early 1950s, someone took notice. Derek de Solla Price, a historian of science, had always been interested in things driven by systems of gears and clockwork. He had already studied other ancient devices used to help calculate the positions of the sun, moon, and planets. The Antikythera mechanism was older and looked more complex than any similar device. Price thought he could unravel its mysteries.

In 1958, Price got the chance to visit Athens and study the device in person. The National Museum would let him examine the pieces, and hold them in his own hands. Price set about taking the most careful measurements of the fragments that anyone had attempted so far. It was hard, detailed work, measuring gears that were half corroded, counting the tiny teeth. He drew detailed pictures and carefully pieced the fragments together like a jigsaw puzzle. He was convinced that the mechanism was an ancient astronomical computer that could not only show the rotation of the planets, moon, and sun but also predict precisely where they would be on a given date.

But despite his careful measurements and calculations, Price still wasn’t sure exactly how all the gears worked together. What no one knew was that there were still more tiny gears inside, waiting to be discovered. But you don’t just break an ancient artifact like this open, even to learn more about it. Price would need to find a way to look inside, see through the outer layers to the inner workings.

Breakthroughs in X-ray Technology

Price returned home and for many years didn’t continue his work on the device. But in 1971, he learned about a new x-ray technology that would take images through metal objects. As soon as the museum agreed, Price was back in Athens, where he and an assistant took the images. These images showed a jumble of overlapping gears and teeth that would take some time to decipher, but they were the first peek inside the mechanism. Price counted over 30 gears in total, including 6 that couldn’t be seen at all from the outside. He was able to count the teeth on the gears. And the best part? He was able to use this information to build a working model of the device. By this time, Price thought the device probably only showed the workings of the sun and moon, not the planets. His model didn’t work perfectly, but it was progressing. The mechanism still held secrets, and it would take better technology to reveal them

Studying the Antikythera Mechanism

It would be almost another 20 years before those new technologies would come along, and 30 before the device would be fully understood. The new efforts kicked off in 1988, with the team of Michael T. Wright and Allan Bromley.  Wright and Bromley took new x-ray images using more advanced techniques. The images allowed them to make better measurements and see more clearly how things fit together when the device was new. Wright was convinced that the device also tracked the planets. The gears that still sat in the mechanism all seemed to help show the motions of the moon and sun. But Wright thought that the broken-off parts looked like they might have connected to another system of gears, and maybe these gears helped show the motions of the planets. Wright constructed a model of the mechanism based on his investigations, making intelligent guesses about the gears that seemed to be missing. 

In 2005, another team came together to study the mechanism. The team included mathematicians, physicists, historians, and experts on ancient Greek artifacts and science. X-ray technology had improved even more, and they thought they could get even better images of the inside of the device. They were also able to take much better photographs of the outside of the object. They found that Wright was correct in most of his observations, and he updated his model based on the new information.

So…how DID the Antikythera mechanism work? 

A dial on the front of the device showed the months of the solar year and the constellations of the zodiac. The solar year is based on the cycles of the sun. The calendar that most of the world uses now is based on the solar year, and so were the ancient Egyptian and Roman calendars. You would turn a knob on the outside to operate the machine. This turn of the knob would set in motion dozens of hidden gears inside the box. Seven pointers on the face spun around to show where the sun, moon, and five planets were relative to the constellations of the zodiac for any date you chose. The Greeks only knew about five planets, and the system reflected their belief that the Earth was at the center of the solar system, instead of the sun. Each full turn of the sun pointer equaled one solar year.  

On the back were two more sets of dials, operated using the same knob. The upper dial showed lunar months–from full moon to full moon. This dial would allow you to see how days in the lunar calendar lined up with days in the solar calendar. A small dial inside this one showed when athletic games, like the Olympics, would happen. Finally, the second large dial on the back showed when solar and lunar eclipses would occur.

The Antikythera device is the most complicated machine we have from the ancient world. As far as we know, nothing else so complex was built until the middle ages. 

As far as we know. 

Writers in the ancient Greek and Roman world did describe complicated “planetariums” –devices that showed how the planets, sun, and moon moved through the sky. So maybe similar devices were constructed. Maybe the Antikythera mechanism was just one example. Maybe others were lost and buried, or their bronze pieces melted down to make new things. We may never know, but it’s exciting to think about the possibilities!  Maybe someday, you’ll discover a mystery. If that happens, I hope you’ll ask questions, examine it from all angles, and learn from it. And maybe, you’ll solve it! 

Sources

https://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/2019-03/attachments/Jones.pdf

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Antikythera-mechanism

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84310-w

https://www.nature.com/articles/444534a

https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05357

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-astronomical-calculator-even-older-we-thought-180953472/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-ancient-greek-astronomical-calculation-machine-reveals-new-secrets/

Jones, Alexander (2017) A Portable Cosmos: Revealing the Antikythera Mechanism, Scientific Wonder of the Ancient World. Oxford University Press, New York.

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Close your eyes and imagine you are hiking through a thick jungle. You use a sharp machete to cut away the vines and leaves blocking your path. You step through deep mud and cross a busy stream, then cut through another wall of trees until you reach the clearing and see it — the tallest stone pyramid you’ve ever seen. You gaze and wonder at its size and move toward it touching the intricate carvings in the stone. From the symbols, you know you’ve discovered a temple of one of the great civilizations of the ancient world, the Mayas…

Who were these ingenious people? How did they build these gigantic pyramids? And what caused their advanced civilization to suddenly disappear? Where did the Mayas go?

The earliest Mayan villages started in 1,800 B.C., almost 4 thousand years ago! They lived in what is now the region of Mexico and Central America, which includes countries like Guatemala and Belize — also called Mesoamerica. The climate there is tropical, which means it’s filled with dense jungles and is very wet like a rainforest. The Mayas were very skilled farmers and grew corn, beans, and squash. This allowed their communities to grow larger. Over the next 2000 years, the Maya civilization slowly began to grow further into the highlands of Mesoamerica.

From 250 A.D. to 900 A.D. the Maya civilization was at its strongest also called the Classic Period. This was their Golden Age, their best years as they grew and expanded and became more advanced. During this time the Maya civilization included over 40 cities, and each city included anywhere from 5,000 to 50,000 people, totaling over 2 million — which is huge for a civilization at that time! 

Each city-state was independent of the other, had its own kings, priests, and other rulers, but was very similar in other ways. They had the same language, religion, and culture. Usually, these different Maya cities got along and traded and worked together but sometimes they went to battle over different problems.

In order for civilizations to thrive, they have to be able to share resources with each other. Resources are things like food, building materials, and other items people want and need to buy. Sometimes they are crafted goods like jewelry or nice clothing. The Mayas made trade easier by building roads between each of the cities. These highways were called “white ways” because they were covered in stucco or plaster that made them easier to travel on. With better trade routes, cities moved goods faster and were able to prosper as they worked together. 

One of the cities that did the most trading is one we now call Tulum. It was built on cliffs along the Caribbean Sea and protected by huge walls. The walls are 16-24 feet thick in some places to keep out invaders. Long ago, Mayas from all over Mesoamerica came to Tulum by land, river, and sea to trade with each other. We know this because of all of the artifacts which have been found there that come from a very distance. These artifacts include gold, feathers, and copper items. The ancient people called this beautiful city “Zama” which means “Dawn” because it faces the sunrise. The city leaders lived inside the walled city, while the peasants and other citizens lived and worked outside the city. In the center of Tulum is a pyramid called El Castillo which served as a temple for the city’s priests. Tulum was one of the last cities to be lived in by Mayas who were there even when Spanish explorers arrived in the 1500s.     

In their largest cities like Tikal, the Mayans built gigantic buildings of stone. Some of these were temples, others were palaces and plazas where the city people met together to buy and sell and hold sporting events. Their favorite sport was a game called ulama, where the players bounced a rubber ball back and forth across the court. Ulama was very tricky because players weren’t allowed to use their hands or feet, but instead used their knee and hip, and other body parts to hit the ball.

The step pyramid-shaped temples that towered over the city were magnificent and many of them can be visited today. Chichen Itza includes one of the largest of the pyramids in Mexico. Copan and Palenque, along with Tulum, are among the most visited ruins today. 

Anciently, the Mayas used these temples to worship their gods. Some of these gods were  Kukulcan, the Feathered Serpent God, who ruled the winds and water and who they believed created humans and taught them the rules of law, literacy, medicine, architecture, farming, and how to run a civilization. Then there was Itzamna, God of the Sky, the founder of Maya culture and protector of the sciences, such as astrology and writing. Ix Chel was the Mayan Moon Goddess who represented love and marriage. The Maya priests made offerings to these gods of food and other objects to stay in their good favor.  

The Mayas were also very gifted artists. They decorated their pyramids and other stone buildings with beautiful pictures and hieroglyphics. Hieroglyphics are symbols that represent words and their ruins which you can still see today are covered in them. They made beautiful jewelry using shells from the ocean, bright green feathers from the quetzal bird, and precious stones like gold and jade. The Mayas were also very skilled at math, which they used to build their magnificent temples. From the temples, their priests watched the sun, moon, and stars, so were advanced astronomers. Their buildings were often designed with their understanding of astronomy in mind. For example, the Pyramid of El Castillo has 365 steps to represent the different days of the year. The Maya calendar is still known today for its accuracy.

By the end of the Classic Period, something began to change in the Maya Civilization that slowly caused their power and influence to slow down. Over the next few hundred years, their cities became smaller and there were fewer people, the population declined. No one knows for sure what happened to the Mayan Empire, but some archeologists think it was because they had used up all of the land and other precious resources. Others also think there may have been a drought, which means not enough water, which people needed to survive. There may also have been fighting between the different cities and its powerful families which caused the downfall of the Maya Civilization. But even though the cities were empty, the Maya people spread throughout Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and the surrounding area, turning to other ways of life like farming and fishing and living in smaller villages instead. 

In 1839, an American traveler and writer named John Lloyd Stephens visited some of the Maya sites with a friend. Together, they wrote and sketched the amazing cities and ruins and sparked interest in the ancient Mayan people and their civilization. Archeologists visited to research the sites and try to better understand who the Maya were. Others deciphered the hieroglyphics to understand their history. People all over the world finally learned about this advanced civilization that once ruled Mesoamerica. 

Today, the descendants of the Maya still live in Central America, which includes parts of Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador. 

If you get the chance, be sure to look up documentaries about the Maya or books at your local library. You can also find many amazing photos of their cities and buildings which still stand today.

The post History of Maya Civilization for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Close your eyes and imagine you are walking through the forest. You hear birds whistling in the air and watch a squirrel scurry up a tree trunk. You look down at your feet. They are bare! And your clothes are rough and made out of deer skin. You move around the forest looking for berries and nuts. You suddenly see some and shout for joy. You pick as many as you can, place them in a leather sack, and then run along a path out into an open meadow. In the meadow are brown huts made out of sticks and mud and clay. Smoke from campfires rise above the meadow and the people of your tribe are busy roasting fish and nuts. You find your family and show them your find of berries and nuts. Your mother and father are very happy and gets to work smashing them up for dinner. This is what it may have been like to live as a child during the Stone Age.

Like this child, if you had been born 10,000 or more years ago your life would have been very different! Would you like to live during this time? Or not? 

In our last episode, we learned all about the first human cities. We talked a little about what life was life was like before cities. Most humans lived in small tribes and wandered for their food. And groups of humans lived like this for a very, very long time. This was a time known as the Stone Age because the best tools people had were made out of stone. The Stone Age was divided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic Age. During much of this time, the earth was very cold during what was known as the Ice Age.  

As you can imagine, during this time the main purpose of these early humans was to just survive. This means finding food to eat and staying safe. Their world was very dangerous. They had to worry about staying warm, keeping the bad weather off, and avoiding dangerous animals. And getting enough to eat, of course. So they spent most of their time looking for food and trying to stay safe. Stone Age humans found food in many different ways. One of those ways was by gathering it. They looked high and low for berries to eat, roots, mushrooms, seeds, edible plants, nuts, grasses, and really anything that would give their body nutrition. The children probably spent most of the time just trying to gather anything their tribe could eat. They used their stone tools to smash whatever they gathered in stone bowls until it was easier to eat or cooked it into soups. They also ate meat. If they lived near a river they speared fish or at certain times of the year they hunted larger animals. When they did kill animals to eat, they often had big feasts and ate as much as they could because they weren’t sure when it would be until they could find meat again. And they didn’t only eat the meat, but used every part of the animal possible to stay alive. For example, when they killed a mammoth they used the hides for clothing and for their homes and the tusks for tools. Through the Ice Age humans relied on the big mammoths. If you haven’t seen a picture of a wooly mammoth before, they are similar to elepaphants but are hairier with longer tusks. 

They also hunted deer, bison, pig, and any other type of animal that would give them meat. A very long time ago, huge animals such as the wooly mammoth roamed the earth. The other big animals were saber tooth tigers which were like modern day tigers, but bigger and had had huge curved teeth. 

Stone Age humans were able to survive because they had found ways to sharpen stone tools and use very strong stones such as flint. Flint tools allowed them to chop meat and cut hides into clothing. They made arrowheads and spears out of flint, which gave them an advantage over animals. Eventually they developed hunting tools like a slingshot and bow and arrow. They also made harpoons for fishing out of ivory, which was the tusks of mammoths and hammers out of the hard stones they found.

Eventually, after the Ice Age, humans also found ways to start some basic farming, by planting their own seeds, and by domesticating animals. This means keeping animals in a fenced area and using them to make more animals. They domesticated goats, pigs, chickens, and other animals. 

Through the Ice Age humans were only able to survive becaus they used animal skins and furs to keep themselves warm and build shelters. Their shelters were like tents when they needed to be on the move or were huts made out of strong sticks and mud and clay with straw roofs. Often they also found deep caves that kept them warm. They had also learned how to start fires by striking flint in order to create a spark. This spark was struck into kindling, which was then used to build a fire. Fire kept humans warm through the winter and was also used to cook and preserve meat. It was also used in other ways to make food. With all of these special skills, many tribes of humans were able to survive the long Ice Age until the earth warmed. Once the earth warmed humans were able to grow faster and settle in places like rivers. This is around the same time the megafauna like the Wooly Mammoth died out. We aren’t sure whether this happened because of the change in the weather or because they were hunted to extinction by humans. But with the good weather, humans moved into the period called the Neolithic where they farmed more, domesticated more animals, and didn’t have to move so much like their ancestors. 

Stone Age humans spent most of their time eating and staying safe, but they also spent some time creating the first art. Paintings can be found in caves and on rock from thousands of years ago. Rock drawings are called petroglyphs. They carved pictures of the animals around them and human shapes that look like some of the stick figures you or your brothers or sisters might draw. Very ancient cave paintings were found in a cave in France near a town called Altimira nearly 14,000 years ago. These people also found ways to play music using very early flutes and drums. Our Stone Age ancestors were creative we are today. They probably sang and danced and told stories around the fire at night. Because they hadn’t figured out how to write stories down, the people who told stories had to memorize them or make them up. Then these stories were passed down. This is also called an oral tradition. The stories were about their lives, their hunts, or the gods they believed in that caused mysterious things to happen like the change in weather. They didn’t understand why things happened, so they made up stories to explain them. This is called mythology and each group probably had different gods and explanations for why things happened. 

Often large groups of tribes had the same beliefs and constructed the first basic temples to their gods. In some sites, large stones have been found standing in a circle. It must have taken many humans pulling on ropes to make these hugs rocks called megoliths to stand upright. It was here that together they worshiped their gods. When their loved ones died, they created grave sites and buried them with their things. They found way to memorialize, or remember them, after they passed away.

Over time, humans began to gather into communities and then into towns and eventually large cities. Be sure to check out our episode about The First Cities to learn more about Bronze Age humans. But even though many people turned into city-dwellers, many other humans lived like Stone Age humans for a long time after this. Even today there are small tribes that live deep in the jungles of places like the Amazon and still use stone tools and hunting and gathering to survive. Isn’t that wild!? 

Would you like to live like our Stone Age ancestors, or do you like living like we do today? If so, why? Are there things better about their lives in some ways? And in what ways is your life better? Think about some of the things you have to be grateful for that they didn’t have. We usually have more food to eat and are safer than they were. We have many modern conveniences to be grateful for. When I asked my kids, they said some things about Stone Age life sounded fun. Like being able to be outside and roam around in nature all day. Like many things are ups and downs to all ways of life. Spend some time thinking about what it would be like if you lived during their day.

Thanks for listening to this episode about the Stone Age and be sure to tune in next Monday for a brand, new episode!

The post The Stone Age for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.