Robot discovers secret writing in Great Pyramid

by Sean McLachlan on


The Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza has always sparked the imagination. Among its many mysteries are four tiny passages running through the interior. The smallest are only eight inches square, far too small for a person to crawl through, so what were they for?

As you can see from the cutaway above, two of the tunnels angle up from the King’s Chamber to exit the pyramid. Some researchers believe these have astronomical alignments. Like with all ancient agricultural societies, observing the heavens was important to the Egyptians. The other two tunnels seem not to go anywhere. Some claim they lead to hidden chambers, or allowed the pharaoh’s soul to pass out of the tomb, but nobody really knows. Now a robot has added new pieces to the puzzle by going down one of these tunnels and filming it.

Robots in the pyramids are nothing new. Robotic exploration started in the 1990s, when remote-controlled cameras on wheels rolled up the two lower tunnels, only to find them blocked by strange stone “doors” decorated with a pair of copper pins. One of the doors had a small hole drilled in it, and a new robot with a camera on the end of a flexible cable looked on the other side.

What it found raises more questions than it answers. The secret door doesn’t seem to have any way to open, and on the other side of it are hieroglyphs. Egyptologists are hoping the hidden message will explain one of the pyramid’s greatest mysteries.

Why is there writing where nobody can read it? And why is the back of the door highly polished? There’s also a mason’s mark on the stone that the researchers are puzzling over. Egyptologists are busy trying to decipher the hieroglyphs and are planning more journeys for the intrepid robot. For more on the technology behind the discovery, check out this post on Dr. Zahi Hawass’ website.

These are good times for pyramid studies. A satellite has detected what could be seventeen lost pyramids, and last summer the pyramids of Abusir and Dahshur opened to the public.

[Image courtesy Jeff Dahl]

Blackbeard’s pirate ship gives up its anchor

by Sean McLachlan on


A pirate ship owned by the notorious Blackbeard is being investigated by archaeologists, who have just retrieved one of its anchors.

The Queen Anne’s Revenge, was grounded in 1718 while trying to enter Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. Blackbeard had just come from blockading Charleston until he received a ransom. Currently the wreck lies in only 20 feet of water, as easily accessible to archaeologists as Captain Kidd’s pirate ship, which will soon become an underwater museum.

The anchor, which is 11 feet long and weighs 2,200 lbs, is only one of thousands of artifacts recovered from the ship in recent years.

While Blackbeard transferred to another of his ships and continued pirating, he didn’t survive for long. He was hunted down and killed in a fierce fight in late 1718, shown here in a painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Blackbeard was decapitated and his head hung from the bowsprit.

Blackbeard was one of the kinder pirates. There’s no record that he hurt his captives or his crew. He could be violent when opposed, though, and in reality no pirate fit the heroic adventurer stereotype of Hollywood and Johnny Depp. That’s just a romanticism. One wonders what tales people will spin about the Somali pirates 300 years from now.

For more information about this amazing dig, check out The Queen Anne’s Revenge Shipwreck Project’s website.

2011 reportedly a banner year for whitewater rafting

by Kraig Becker on
Experts say that 2011 is shaping up to be a fantastic year for whitewater rafting and kayaking in the western United States, thanks to some of the heaviest snowfall totals in decades. As the warmer weather spreads out across the region, all of that snow is starting to runoff, creating high rivers, raging rapids, and some of the best paddling opportunities in years.

Rafting companies in states like Colorado, Idaho, and California are gearing up to take advantage of this bountiful season for water on their rivers. A number of major waterways out west are already 150% above their 30-year average and some are even approaching a 200% increases. But even at this late stage in the year, snow continues to fall at higher altitudes, which means the great whitewater is now expected to last well into July – a time when the adrenaline pumping waters have usually dissipated for the year.

Of course, all this high water brings other concerns as well. Inexperienced paddlers can quickly find themselves overwhelmed in rushing waters, which means there could potentially be more rescues and accidents throughout the 2011 rafting season. The expected high waters have also brought about closures to some sections of notoriously difficult rivers as well. For instance, there are already plans to close some portions of the Arkansas River in June, as they’ll likely be just too high to run.

But the upside to all of this spring and summer snow melt is that whitewater rafting and kayaking opportunities should abound throughout the summer months. So whether you’re an expert paddler or you’ve simply always wanted to try, it seems that this will be a great year to hit the water.

[Photo credit: Redmarkviolinist via WikiMedia]

Kenya attempts to reconcile wildlife and people

by Sean McLachlan on


Two recent articles in the Nairobi Star highlight the Kenyan government’s efforts to preserve wildlife while keeping the human population happy.

Kenya has always been a top safari destination and tourism is a major source of hard currency. Unfortunately, tensions between people and wildlife are heightening in Kenya and all over Africa due to deforestation and population pressures. Earlier this month, elephants broke out of Tsavo West National Park, destroying crops and scaring villagers.

The Star reports that 490 new rangers in the Kenya Wildlife Service will be stationed around the country, assisted by community scouts who will act as liaisons between the service and locals. The Kenya Wildlife Service has erected 1,300 km (807 miles) of electric fences to keep wildlife out of farmers’ fields.

Meanwhile, the government said it’s cracking down on the illegal wildlife trade, although the source for the article, Ministry of Wildlife official Mohamed wa-Mwacha, was a wee bit vague as to just how that’s being done. He recently ran a workshop on improving monitoring of the trade. He and his colleagues face a big task. There’s a huge demand for rare animals and animals parts, as you can see by the regular posts here on Gadling about poaching and smuggling, and an organized international network of smugglers.

Hopefully the bad guys will get locked up, the good guys can plant their crops in peace, and the Kenya’s precious (and profitable) wildlife will be allowed to thrive.

[Photo of kid riding tortoise at Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy courtesy Chuckupd via Wikimedia Commons]

Wannabe JFK airport bomber found guilty

by Sean McLachlan on


The final participant in the plot to blow up New York City’s JFK airport has been found guilty of five counts of conspiracy.

Kareem Ibrahim of Trinidad was one of four conspirators who in 2007 hoped to blow up fuel tanks and fuel lines at JFK airport, causing major loss of life. The lines also run under a nearby neighborhood and the terrorists hoped to blow that up too. Two other conspirators, Russell Defreitas and Abdul Kadir, are already serving life sentences, and Abdel Nur received fifteen years for his role in the plot.

In his defense, Ibrahim claimed he didn’t really want to blow up the airport, saying, “I just went along and hoped it would fizzle out.”

What kind of lame-ass excuse is that? Who starts something that big and doesn’t plan to finish? That would be like if I enrolled in university with the intention of dropping out my sophomore year, or had a kid with the plan to ditch him when he’s ten.

Luckily the judge didn’t buy that line either, Ibrahim will be sentenced on October 21.

[Photo courtesy USGS]