Scientists Discovered the Egyptian Secret to Moving Huge Pyramid Stones

Scientists Discovered the Egyptian Secret to Moving Huge Pyramid Stones - The question of just how an ancient civilization—without the help of modern technology—moved the 2.5 ton stones that made up their famed pyramids has long plagued Egyptologists and mechanical engineers alike. But now, a team from the University of Amsterdam believes they've figured it out, even though the solution was staring them in the face all along.

It all comes down to friction. See, the ancient Egyptians would transport their rocky cargo across the desert sands, from quarry to monument site with large sleds. Pretty basic sleds, basically just large slabs with upturned edges. Now, when you try to pull a large slab with upturned edges carrying a 2.5 ton load, it tends to dig into the sand ahead of it, building up a sand berm that must then be regularly cleared before it can become an even bigger obstacle. 

Wet sand, however, doesn't do this. In sand with just the right amount of dampness, capillary bridges—essentially microdroplets of water that bind grains of sand to one another through capillary action—form across the grains, which doubles the material's relative stiffness. This prevents the sand from berming in front of the sled and cuts the force required to drag the sled in half. In half. 

As a UvA press release explains,

The physicists placed a laboratory version of the Egyptian sledge in a tray of sand. They determined both the required pulling force and the stiffness of the sand as a function of the quantity of water in the sand. To determine the stiffness they used a rheometer, which shows how much force is needed to deform a certain volume of sand.

Experiments revealed that the required pulling force decreased proportional to the stiffness of the sand...A sledge glides far more easily over firm desert sand simply because the sand does not pile up in front of the sledge as it does in the case of dry sand.

These experiments served to confirm what the Egyptians clearly already knew, and what we probably already should have. Artwork within the tomb of Djehutihotep, which was discovered in the Victorian Era, depicts a scene of slaves hauling a colossal statue of the Middle Kingdom ruler and in it, a guy at the front of the sled is shown pouring liquid into the sand. You can see it in the image above, just to the right of the statue's foot.

We can now finally put this scientific snipe hunt to rest and focus on how the hell Stonehenge got that way. [ Gizmodo en Español ]

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Mystery behind construction of ancient pyramids

Mystery behind construction of ancient pyramids - Solved! How Ancient Egyptians Moved Massive Pyramid Stones - The ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids may have been able to move massive stone blocks across the desert by wetting the sand in front of a contraption built to pull the heavy objects, according to a new study.

Physicists at the University of Amsterdam investigated the forces needed to pull weighty objects on a giant sled over desert sand, and discovered that dampening the sand in front of the primitive device reduces friction on the sled, making it easier to operate. The findings help answer one of the most enduring historical mysteries: how the Egyptians were able to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of constructing the famous pyramids.

A man makes his camel sit at the historical site of the Giza Pyramids near Cairo, Egypt, on Friday, Dec. 13, 2013. Tourism in Egypt has dropped following unrest surrounding the July 3 popularly backed military coup that ousted President Mohammed Morsi. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)             

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A large pile of sand accumulates in front of the sled when it is pulled over dry sand (left). On the wet sand (right) this does not happen.

The ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids may have been able to move massive stone blocks across the desert by wetting the sand in front of a contraption built to pull the heavy objects, according to a new study.

Physicists at the University of Amsterdam investigated the forces needed to pull weighty objects on a giant sled over desert sand, and discovered that dampening the sand in front of the primitive device reduces friction on the sled, making it easier to operate. The findings help answer one of the most enduring historical mysteries: how the Egyptians were able to accomplish the seemingly impossible task of constructing the famous pyramids.

To make their discovery, the researchers picked up on clues from the ancient Egyptians themselves. A wall painting discovered in the ancient tomb of Djehutihotep, which dates back to about 1900 B.C., depicts 172 men hauling an immense statue using ropes attached to a sledge. In the drawing, a person can be seen standing on the front of the sledge, pouring water over the sand, said study lead author Daniel Bonn, a physics professor at the University of Amsterdam. 

"Egyptologists thought it was a purely ceremonial act," Bonn told Live Science. "The question was: Why did they do it?"

Bonn and his colleagues constructed miniature sleds and experimented with pulling heavy objects through trays of sand.

When the researchers dragged the sleds over dry sand, they noticed clumps would build up in front of the contraptions, requiring more force to pull them across.

Adding water to the sand, however, increased its stiffness, and the sleds were able to glide more easily across the surface. This is because droplets of water create bridges between the grains of sand, which helps them stick together, the scientists said. It is also the same reason why using wet sand to build a sandcastle is easier than using dry sand, Bonn said.

But, there is a delicate balance, the researchers found.

"If you use dry sand, it won't work as well, but if the sand is too wet, it won't work either," Bonn said. "There's an optimum stiffness."

The amount of water necessary depends on the type of sand, he added, but typically the optimal amount falls between 2 percent and 5 percent of the volume of sand.

"It turns out that wetting Egyptian deserts and can reduce the friction by quite a bit, which implies you need only half of the people to pull a sledge on wet sand, compared to dry sand," Bonn said.

The study, published April 29 in the journal Physical Review Letters, may explain how the ancient Egyptians constructed the pyramids, but the research also has modern-day applications, the scientists said. The findings could help researchers understand the behavior of other granular materials, such as asphalt, concrete or coal, which could lead to more efficient ways to transport these resources. ( Live Science )

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Earliest Jesus Depiction May Have Been Discovered In Ancient Egyptian Tomb

Earliest Jesus Depiction May Have Been Discovered In Ancient Egyptian Tomb - A team of Catalan archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be one of the earliest depictions of Jesus in an ancient tomb in Egypt.

The researchers uncovered an underground structure in a series of buried tombs that date to the 6th and 7th centuries. Among the Coptic, or early Christian, images painted on the walls was what lead researcher Josep Padró described as "the figure of a young man, with curly hair, dressed in a short tunic and with his hand raised as if giving a blessing."

"We could be dealing with a very early image of Jesus Christ," Padró told La Vanguardia.

Tombs in the Kidron Valley.

Synagogue excavated at Gamla.

The interior of a burial crypt at Dominus Flevit ("The Lord wept") on the Mount of Olives.

Archaeologists believe the tomb belonged to a well-known writer and a family of priests in the ancient Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, according to The Local.

The researchers removed 45 tons of rock to access the tombs, which are situated among several sites Padró has been excavating for the last 20 years. 

The drawing is under lockdown while researchers begin to translate the inscriptions surrounding it.

In 2011, archaeologists working near the Sea of Galilee discovered a 2,000-year-old booklet with what was then thought to be one of the earliest depictions of Jesus. The booklet reportedly bore the inscription ‘Saviour of Israel’ and was found in a cave in Jordan among other ancient artifacts. ( huffingtonpost.com )

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Fossil whales in desert mystery solved

Fossil whales in desert mystery solved — Scientists investigating a graveyard of marine mammal fossils near Chile's northern coast say toxins generated by algae blooms most likely poisoned the animals millions of years ago.

The study by a team of Chilean and Smithsonian Institution scientists was published Wednesday in the British journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The experts traveled to Chile's Atacama region in 2011 to unearth one of the world's best-preserved graveyards of prehistoric whales. Their findings help solve a mystery about how dozens of whales and other marine mammals congregating off South America's Pacific Coast died only to emerge again atop a desert hill over a half mile from the surf.

FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2010 FILE photo released by Chile's Paleontological Museum of Caldera, a prehistoric whale fossil lays in the Atacama desert near Copiapo, Chile. A team of Chilean and Smithsonian Institution scientists investigating the graveyard of marine mammal fossils say toxins generated by algae blooms most likely poisoned the animals millions of years ago. The study by a team of Chilean and Smithsonian Institution scientists was published Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2014 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. (AP Photo/Museo Paleontologico de Caldera, File)

"There are hundreds of whale skeletons yet to be found," said Nick Pyenson, curator of fossil marine mammals at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. "This is a site on par with Dinosaur National Monument here in the United States, a whole hillside littered with dinosaur skeletons. We seem to have the same thing except with whales here in Chile."

The remains were first found by construction workers in 2010 during the widening of the Pan American Highway, or Route 5, which is Chile's main north-south road. Other unusual creatures found at the "Cerro Ballena," or Whale Hill, site include an extinct aquatic sloth and a walrus-like toothed whale.

Scientists say the skeletons show the animals were poisoned by toxins some 5 million to 11 million years ago and "died at sea, prior to burial on a tidal flat."

"Based on the orientation of the skeletons and other information, these whales likely died from harmful algae blooms, which we know in the modern world can be a killer," Pyenson said.

Algae blooms can create poisons that can be ingested or inhaled causing organ failure in marine mammals. Blooms are common along coasts and are enriched by nutrients like iron carried by rivers into the ocean. Scientists say that for more than 20 million years, runoff from the iron-rich Andes mountains has created ideal conditions for harmful algae blooms along South America's western coast.

"The key for us was its repetitive nature at Cerro Ballena," Pyenson said. "No other plausible explanation in the modern world would be recurring, except for toxic algae, which can recur if the conditions are right."

With funding from the National Geographic Society, the Smithsonian team used sophisticated photography and laser scanners to create an online archive of 3-D images of the whales and they made life-size models before the site was covered by the highway. The fossils themselves were put in museums in Santiago and the northern Chilean city of Caldera. ( Associated Press )

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Fossil of Long-Extinct Whale Found on Seafloor

Fossil of Long-Extinct Whale Found on Seafloor - Researchers diving off the coast of Georgia may have found the remains of an Atlantic gray whale, a relic of a population that was hunted to extinction by the 18th century.

But this particular specimen died long before whalers became a threat. Carbon dating showed that the fossil, a left jawbone, is about 36,000 years old.

The big bone was first discovered along with two badly eroded vertebrae near Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary about 20 miles (32 kilometers) off southeast Georgia in 2008. It took the researchers two years to pull out all of the pieces of the fossil, which was embedded in layers of shell and sand 70 feet (21 meters) below the surface. The jawbone was recovered in sections and measures 5 feet (1.5 m) in length.

Scientists from UGA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration discovered and fully recovered a large fossilized whalebone near Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary approximately 20 miles off the Georgia coast in 2008

The researchers say the bone is clearly from a baleen whale — or whales that use baleen plates in their mouths to filter meals of tiny organisms out of seawater — and looks very similar to that of the gray whale, Eschrichtius robustus. This species is only locally extinct. Gray whales can be found today in quite strong numbers, but only in the Pacific Ocean, and even these had once teetered on the brink of extinction during eras when the whaling industry reigned.

Scientists previously believed that the Atlantic gray whale had been a distinct species. But recent research has shown these vanished whales and the living ones in the Pacific are actually one in the same.

"The California grays looked exactly like the bones that were dug up in Scandinavia back in the 19th century," Ervan Garrison, a geoarchaeology professor at the University of Georgia, said in a statement, describing it as "one of the first instances where a living species was named based on the fossil evidence."

The new specimen's age of approximately 36,570 years old makes it one of the oldest fossil finds in the western Atlantic basin, the researchers say. And if the find indeed represents a Pleistocene-age gray whale, its oldest counterpart is a specimen found on the southern North Sea dating to 42,800 years ago. ( LiveScience.com )

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Brain-Removal Tool Left in Mummy's Skull

Brain-Removal Tool Left in Mummy's Skull - A brain-removal tool used by ancient Egyptian embalmers has been discovered lodged in the skull of a female mummy that dates back around 2,400 years.

Removal of the brain was an Egyptian mummification procedure that became popular around 3,500 years ago and remained in use in later periods.

Identifying the ancient tools embalmers used for brain removal is difficult, and researchers note this is only the second time that such a tool has been reported within a mummy's skull.

 

CT scans of a 2,400-year-old female mummy revealed a tubular object embedded in its skull between the brain's left parietal bone and the resin filled back of the skull. It would turn out to be a tool

The discovery

Located between the left parietal bone and the back of the skull, which had been filled with resin, the object was discovered in 2008 through a series of CT scans. Researchers then inserted an endoscope (a thin tube often used for noninvasive medical procedures) into the mummy to get a closer look and ultimately detach it from resin to which it had gotten stuck.

"We cut it with a clamp through the endoscope and then removed it from the skull," said lead researcher Dr. Mislav ?avka, of the University Hospital Dubrava in Zagreb Croatia, in an interview with LiveScience.

They found themselves peering at an object more than 3 inches (8 centimeters) long that would have been used for liquefying and removing the brain. "It almost definitely would have been used in excerebration [brain removal] of the mummy," ?avka said.

The instrument would have been inserted through a hole punched into the ethmoid bone near the nose. "Some parts [of the brain] would be wrapped around this stick and pulled out, and the other parts would be liquefied," ?avka said.

The Egyptian mummy could then be put on its abdomen and the liquid drained through the nose hole. "It is an error that [the] embalmers left this stick in the skull," said ?avka, adding the tool may have broken apart during the procedure.

This embalming accident, unfortunate for the ancient mummy, has provided researchers with a very rare artifact. ?avka's team point out in a paper they published recently in the journal RSNA RadioGraphics the only other brain-removal stick found inside a mummy's skull dates back 2,200 years.

"Probably in museums in Egypt there are many other evidences, but they were not found inside the skull," making it tricky to identify such artifacts as brain-removal tools, said ?avka.

The mummy is currently in the Archaeological Museum in Zagreb Croatia and is that of a woman who died around the age of 40. Brought to Croatia in the 19th century without a coffin, it's not known where she was found in Egypt. Radiocarbon dating and CT scans of the mummy determined its date to be around 2,400 years. Her cause of death is unknown.

New insights

The stick is quite brittle and the team could not do as thorough of an analysis as they'd hoped. Looking at it under a microscope, botanical experts determined the tool is made from plants in the group Monocotyledon, which includes forms of palm and bamboo.

The most curious find came when the researchers compared their discovery with an ancient account of brain removal made by the Greek writer Herodotus in the fifth century B.C. A visitor to Egypt, he had this to say about how Egyptian brain removal worked (as translated by A. D. Godley, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1920, through Perseus Digital Library):

"Having agreed on a price, the bearers go away, and the workmen, left alone in their place, embalm the body. If they do this in the most perfect way, they first draw out part of the brain through the nostrils with an iron hook, and inject certain drugs into the rest."

The recent discovery suggests an organic stick, not an "iron hook," was used in at least some of these procedures, possibly for economic reasons. Researchers note that the tool found in the skull of the other mummy, dating from 2,200 years ago, was also made of an organic material.

"It is known that mummification was widely practiced throughout ancient Egyptian civilization, but it was a time-consuming and costly practice. Thus, not every­one could afford to perform the same mummifi­cation procedure," write the researchers in their journal article. ( LiveScience.com )

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Thracian Golden Jewelry

Ancient Thracian gold hoard unearthed in Bulgaria - Bulgarian archaeologists unearthed ancient golden artefacts, including bracelets with snake heads, a tiara with animal motifs and a horse head piece during excavation works at a Thracian tomb in northern Bulgaria, they said on Thursday.

The new golden artefacts are dated back to the end of the fourth or the beginning of the third century BC and were found in the biggest of 150 ancient tombs of a Thracian tribe, the Getae, that was in contact with the Hellenistic world.

The findings also included a golden ring, 44 applications of female figures as well as 100 golden buttons.

"These are amazing findings from the apogee of the rule of the Getae," said Diana Gergova, head of the archaeologist team at the site of the ancient Getic burial complex situated near the village of Sveshtari, some 400 km northeast from Sofia.

"From what we see up to now, the tomb may be linked with the first known Getic ruler Cothelas," said Gergova, a renown researcher of Thracian culture with the Sofia-based National Archaeology Institute.

One of the tombs there, known as the Tomb of Sveshtari, is included in the World Heritage List of U.N. education and culture agency, UNESCO, for its unique architectural decor with half-human, half-plant female figures and painted murals.

The Thracians, ruled by a powerful warrior aristocracy rich in gold treasures, inhabited an area extending over modern Romania and Bulgaria, northern Greece and the European part of Turkey from as early as 4,000 BC.

They lived on the fringes of the Greek and Roman civilizations, often intermingling and clashing with the more advanced cultures until they were absorbed into the Roman Empire around 45 AD.

Archaeologists have discovered a large number of artefacts in Bulgaria's Thracian tombs in recent decades, providing most of what is known of their culture, as they had no written language and left no enduring records. ( Reuters )

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A Swedish Stonehenge? Stone Age Tomb May Predate English Site

A Swedish Stonehenge? Stone Age Tomb May Predate English Site - A 5,500-year-old tomb possibly belonging to a Stone Age chieftain has been unearthed at a megalithic monument in the shape of a ship called the Ale's Stenar (Ale's Stones). The tomb, in Sweden, was likely robbed of stones to build the Viking-era ship monument.

"We found traces — mostly imprints — of large boulders," said lead archaeologist Bengst Söderberg of the Swedish National Heritage Board. "So my conviction is that some of the stones at least, they are standing on the ship setting."

Perched on a seaside cliff in the village of Kåseberga stands the Ales Stenar, also called Ale's Stones, 59 massive boulders arranged in the 220-foot (67-meter)-long outline of a ship. Most researchers believe the 1,400-year-old ship structure is a burial monument built toward the end of Sweden's Iron Age. Local legend has it that the mythic King Ale lies beneath the site.

The Ales Stenar megaliths, some of which weigh as much as 4,000 pounds (1,800 kilograms), have distinctive cut marks similar to ones found at Stone Age sites. So researchers wondered whether the stones were stolen from an even older monument, Söderberg told LiveScience.

In 2006, archaeologists used magnetic sensors and radar to map the area's underground terrain and found a larger circular structure about 541 feet (165 m) in diameter, with a 65-foot by 25-foot rectangle at its heart.

Last week, the team finally dug a small trench through the center of the circle and unearthed the imprints of giant boulders that had been removed long ago. Though the team didn't find a skeleton, the imprints suggested the site was a Neolithic burial chamber called a dolmen — several upright stones with a horizontal boulder on top in which a body would be placed.

"All of the stones had been taken away. And I would say, most probably they are standing 40 meters away from the dolmen where the ship setting is situated," Söderberg said.

Based on the layout, the dolmen may be up to 5,500 years old — possibly older than Stonehenge. The large burial chamber likely belonged to a local chieftain or the head of a clan during the Neolithic Era, he said. Because there was very little evidence from the outer ring, the researchers aren’t yet sure what it was used for or whether it’s as old as the dolmen.

Thousands of dolmen sites are scattered throughout Scandinavia, though later civilizations stole many of the boulders to build churches and other structures, he said.

The giant rock monuments suggest that even our Stone Age ancestors had a sense of posterity and permanence, said Magnus Andersson of the Swedish National Heritage Board in an email.

The new tomb also shows that this particular spot, with its dramatic cliffs overlooking the Baltic Sea, has inspired people in many different ages, he said.

"The scenic place on the ridge must have attracted people in all times," he said. "It shows that people over a long period build their monuments and perform their ceremonies on the same sites.” ( LiveScience.com )

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First-Time Treasure Hunter Discovers Trove of Roman-Era Gold Coins

First-Time Treasure Hunter Discovers Trove of Roman-Era Gold Coins - Armed with a basic metal detector, a first-time treasure hunter in Britain reportedly has uncovered a trove of Roman-era gold coins that experts believe represents one of the largest such finds in England's history.

The cache of coins - Roman solidi dating back to the 4 th century - is estimated to be worth £100,000, or about $160,000 in U.S. dollars.

According to the Helmel Gazette newspaper, the man - whose name has not been made public - reportedly bought a beginner's metal detector from a shop in the Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, area. A few weeks later, the man returned to the shop, showed the shopkeepers 40 gold coins, and asked them: "What do I do with this?"

The shop's owners, David Sewell and Mark Becher, were stunned. They told the novice treasure hunter to notify authorities of his discovery, the paper added. When he obtained the required permits, Sewell, Becher and others returned with the man to the discovery site.

"We went with them and took with us a couple of slightly more potent machines and we pulled 119 more coins out of the ground," Sewell told the Daily Mail newspaper. "These are 22 carat gold, they haven't got any damage and they came out of the ground looking like the day they were made."

He added: "I've found bits and pieces but nothing like this. I've got immense satisfaction that the guy came to us and bought the machine from us, but I would be lying if I said I didn't wish it had been me."

The solidus coin dates to the closing years of the fourth century. They typically were buried as a sacrifice to gods when the owner was going on a journey or in times of war, said David Thorold, a curator at the St. Albans' Verulamium Museum, the Associated Press reported.

The local government said the coins were found on private land. Experts at the British Museum will examine the haul to determine its final value. Depending on their opinion, the amateur treasure hunter could get at least a share of the proceeds, reports said. ( ABC News Blogs )

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Wow... As location of Atlantis, Indonesia important for humanity!

Wow... As location of Atlantis, Indonesia important for humanity! - If you fancy ancient history, well you must pay more attention to Indonesia. A US researcher of ancient mysteries Frank Joseph Hoff has said that recent views regarding Indonesia and surrounding areas being the location for the lost continent of Atlantis are important for humanity.

Atlantis, dating back thousands of years, was the "soul of the world," the original cradle of civilization, and the source for most races, religions and science, according to Hoff, who is currently the president of Atlantis Publications, in Jakarta earlier this month.

 

Brazilian Professor Arysio Nunes dos Santos in his book determines that Atlantis and earlier Lemuria, are located in the South China Sea, at the farthest ends of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. While a US researcher of ancient mysteries Frank Joseph Hoff notes that Indonesia is the only part of that continent that remains visible. (Map of the South Shina Sea)

He referred to the work of Brazilian Professor Arysio Nunes dos Santos on the location of Atlantis. Santos in his book titled `Atlantis - The Lost Continent Finally Found’ determined that Atlantis and earlier Lemuria, were located in the South China Sea, at the farthest ends of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

Larger than an island, Atlantis was a continent comparable in size to the United States, which did not sink but went underwater when sea levels rose around 11,600 years ago, Hoff noted. He then added that Indonesia was the only part of that continent that remains visible. Backing his claims he added that sources like NOAA satellite data also show that the continent was in the location.

"Millions of citizens of Atlantis were killed in the deluge/tsunami that followed a massive earthquake, but some fled to the Indus Valley area in India and Pakistan and other locations," Hoff said.

Greek philosopher Plato had first mentioned Atlantis some two and a half millennia ago. Professor Santos has studied and researched for 30 years to determine the location of Atlantis. Based on the studies and research, he had determined that Atlantis was located in Indonesia and surrounding areas.

"Our theory proposes the dramatic cataclysmic explosion of the Krakatoa volcano, which opened the Sunda Strait separating the islands of Java and Sumatra and caused the destruction of Atlantis. We also propose that it was the mechanism involved in ending the Pleistocene Ice Age some 11, 600 years ago. Some 70 percent of the former species of great mammals which existed in this former era became extinct, as a result," said Hoff, who also assisted Professor Santos for about eight years.

Arysio Santos was a nuclear physicist, geologist and climatologist, and died in 2005, two months after the publication of his book. Hoff believes that close cooperation between several parties, particularly businessmen, researchers and government officials, is necessary to promote Indonesia as the location of the lost continent.

"The finding of Atlantis could help boost tourism in Indonesia tremendously. With the Arab Spring, Indonesia has huge potential to attract millions of tourists. My only concern here is traffic jams which could be bad for tourists," said Hoff.

Hoff has visited Indonesia twice. His first visit was in October 2010, when he spoke in an international conference on nature, philosophy and the culture of the ancient Sunda civilization, in Bogor, West Java. ( republika.co.id )

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Mayan ball court was celestial 'marker'

Mayan ball court was celestial 'marker' — Mexican archaeologists say they have determined that the ancient Mayas built watchtower-style structures atop the ceremonial ball court at the temples of Chichen Itza to observe the equinoxes and solstices, and they said Friday that the discovery adds to understanding of the many layers of ritual significance that the ball game had for the culture.

The structures sit atop the low walls of the court, where the Mayas played a game that consisted, as far as experts can tell, of knocking a heavy, latex ball with their elbows, knees or hips, through a stone ring set in the walls.

 

Associated Press/INAH - In this undated image released by Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History on Oct. 5, 2012, shows a section of a ceremonial ball court at the temples of Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Mexican archaeologists say they have determined that the ancient Mayas built watchtower-style structures atop the ceremonial ball court to observe the equinoxes and solstices, and they said that the discovery adds to understanding of the many layers of ritual significance that the ball game had for the culture. (AP Photo/INAH)

The bases of the structures — essentially, look-out boxes set atop the walls, each one with a small slit running through it —had been detected before, but archaeologist hadn't been sure what they were used for. Since the ball court was built around 864 A.D., the boxes and the stairs leading to them had crumbled.

The government's National Institute of Anthropology and History announced Thursday that the boxes had been 90-percent reconstructed, based on the stone footings that remained. Late last year and early this year, a team led by archaeologist Jose Huchim confirmed that the sun shone through the slit-like openings when the setting sun touches the horizon at the winter solstice.

The sun's rays also formed a diagonal pattern at the equinox in the slit-like openings, which are about tall enough to stand up in.

Huchim said he knew of no similar structures at other Mayan ball courts. "This is the place where we're finding this type of pasaje (structure)," Huchim said. He said a stone structure atop a ball court at the nearby ruin site of Uxmal appeared to have been used as a sort of spectators' stand for elite audiences.

Huchim said the slits may have been used to determine when ball matches were played, given that the ball itself, as it was knocked through the air by the players, may have been seen as imitating the sun's arc as it passed through the sky.

It may have also been used "like a calendar, to mark important periods for agriculture," like planting the core crop of corn.

Finally, Huchim noted that old descriptions of the ball courts sometimes depicted people atop the walls, and that they may have been acting as umpires in the game.

Huchim said Thursday that stairways to the structures are being restored so visitors can observe the phenomenon.

Boston University archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli, who was not involved in the project, said the solar sighting lines were part of "part of Maya architecture and cosmology."

"The fact that the sun rise can be observed behind a structure should be understood in that sense, as reverence to the sun or other star, not necessarily as an observatory in the technical sense," Estrada-Belli said. The orientation of the structures "emphasized the sacrality of the ritual space." ( Associated Press )

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