para world

7/29/2019 Para World

1/12

ParaWorld

College offers

a course on

ghost hunting!

Are we close to

nding alien life?

Is the world

really going to

end in 2012?

New photo of Nessie!

$7.99 u.

Issue 3 Published Dec. 13, 2011

The oldest and strongest emotion

of mankind is fear, and the oldest

and strongest kind of fear is fear

of the unknown. H. P. LOVECRAFT


2/12

1. Cryptozoology

17. Ancient Mysteries

13. Extraterestrial

Contents

. The 8 legged monster behind Chupacabra Mystery

. Why do so many cultures have a version of bigfoot?

. New loch ness monster photo surfaces

. Paranormal power inuencing

kids to self-immolate?

. Man builds device to speak to

dead daughter

. Is anyone there?

. Scientists could nd alien

life within 40 years

. Strange tale: Ojibwa tale of a

Skyman visitor may have been alien

7. Ghosts/hauntings

. Ancient text conrms

Mayan calendar endate

. Stonehenge a monument to

unity, new theory claims


3/12

Cryptozoology

By Wynne Parry

Sightings abound of a four-legged, hairless,fanged monster that kills and sucks the blood, andsometimes milk, from livestock in the United Statesand Latin America. Its name chupacabra literallymeans goat sucker.

There is, in fact, a real monster behind thesightings, but it has eight legs, measures at most0.02 inches (0.5 millimeters) long and burrowsinto skin, rather than sucking blood. Its name:Sarcoptes scabiei, the mite that causes scabiesin humans ... and coyotes.

The chupacabras themselves are actuallycoyotes with severe infections by these mites,called sarcoptic mange, according to BarryOConnor, an evolutionary biologist at theUniversity of Michigan.

Infections in humans are usually mild, causing

patches of itchy skin. Over our long evolutionaryhistory with the mite, we have gained the abilityto ght off the infections. Domesticated dogsand other animals have less experience with themite than we do, and for them sarcoptic mangeinfections can be severe. But the prospects aremuch worse for their wild relatives who have noexperience with the disease, and it often killsthem, he said.

To me, the most interesting aspect of twhole system is the fact we are talking a human parasite that has moved from other animals, as opposed to all the thithat have gone in the other direction,OConnor told LiveScience.

Reports of chupacabras began in Puerto1995, where the creature was said to sttwo legs and have spines on its back. Sspread, with reports of the creature beielsewhere, particularly Mexico, where described as a four-legged animal, but and ugly. People began taking pictures,according to OConnor, revealed the tru

The photos clearly show coyotes or dovery severe sarcoptic mange, he said.

The mites burrow into the animals skinthem to lose their hair and provoking aresponse that causes their skin to becomthickened and ugly. Their faces swell, a

canine teeth become more prominent, fangs. Weakened by the infection, theymore prone to attack livestock, rather thusual prey, such as rabbits, he said.

There is evidence for other sources as wstrange, hairless carcass found on a golin Texas was dubbed a chupacabra. Buwildlife biologist examination revealedresemblance to a raccoon. The creatureapparently suffered from several diseascan cause hair loss.

Published October 29,2010Live Science

The 8-legged Monster BehindChupacabra Mystery

A Coyote with severe sarcopti mange. Courtsey Phylis B. Canion


4/12

By Natalie Walchover

More than a quarter of Americans believe inBigfoot, a recent poll found. They claim thislegendary bipedal ape, a "long lost relative" of

humans, evades detection in remote woodlandareas. Although it may seem strange to think a7-foot-tall land mammal could go unnoticed forso long, the notion is actually widespread.

Along with that sizable minority of Americans,an Angus Reid Public Opinion poll found that21 percent of Canadians also believe in anundiscovered hairy humanoid, which theyprefer to call Sasquatch. In Russia, belief in asimilar creature, called the Yeti, is so commonthat local branches of the Russian governmenthave funded Yeti expeditions, and the countryhas even considered founding an entire institutedevoted to the s tudy of Yetis.

The Yeti is also said to roam the Himalayas,sometimes going by the name of Meh-Teh, orthe "Abominable Snowman." Not to be outdone,Australia has the Yowie, and South America, amythical beast called Mapinguari. Malaysians,meanwhile, fear the orang minyak, or "oily man"monster. Why do so many disparate cultureshave their own version of a "wild man?"

Although no one knows for certain how thevarious legends got started, they appear to havearisen independently in each culture rather thanbeing spread by travelers or through trade, saidBenjamin Radford, deputy editor of Skeptical

Inquirer magazine and author of three bookson myths and mysteries, including "ScienticParanormal Investigation: How to SolveUnexplained Mysteries" (Rhombus, 2010). [ The

Best Bigfoot Hunting Expeditions]

Most of the myths trace back much furtherthan the 1950s, when the explorer Eric Shiptonphotographed what he took to be "AbominableSnowman" footprints on Mount Everest. "Whilethe famous Abominable Snowman snow trackphotographs ... led to worldwide interest in thecreature, they didn't create the beast but instead

for the rst time offered tantalizing, tanevidence of a regional legend," Radfordtold Life's Little Mysteries.

But the existence of so many separate "

man" myths don't necessarily count as evidence that we really do have feral cthere in the woods. Instead, the myths from the same aspect of the human psydesire for and fascination with an "othe

Radford said, "The idea of a wild, man-creature co-existing with us but just beyunderstanding is heavily rooted in myth

Why do so many cultures have aversion of Bigfoot?

Be it Sasquatch, Yeti or Abominable Snowman, wild men m ight be part of human psych


5/12

By Alastair Dalton

A PHOTOGRAPH of a dark grey shape risingout of the water has been hailed as the clearestpicture yet of the elusive Loch Ness Monster.

Loch Ness cruise boat operator and veteranNessie hunter George Edwards yesterdaypublished his photograph, which drew praisefrom a fellow monster expert, who describedit as the best evidence that Nessie exists.

However, a rival monster hunter raised doubtsabout the shape in Mr Edwardss photographbeing Nessie, accusing him of faking aprevious picture of the monster 26 years ago.

Mr Edwards, who runs Drumnadrochit-basedLoch Ness Cruises, said he had taken the newphotograph from his boat near Urquhart Castleat 9am on 2 November last year.

He explained it had not been published before,because he had sent it for analysis to check theobject was not inanimate.

Steve Feltham, who has been searching for Nessiefor 21 years from Dores, further up the loch, said:It is the best photograph I think I have ever seen.

I think the images are fantastic thats the

animal I have been looking for all this time.I would say it doesnt prove what Nessie is, but itdoes prove what Nessie isnt a sturgeon, whichis a sh that has been put forward as one of themain explanations as to what Nessie could be, butthis hasnt got a serrated spine like the sturgeon.

However, Adrian Shine, a naturalist andleader of the Loch Ness Project, had adifferent interpretation.

He said: It looks like the object is stationaryin the water, and a matter of metres from thephotographer, who is at a higher elevation.Looking at the texture of the water, the objectis about 2ft long, but i t could be anything.

Dick Raynor, who runs the Loch Ness Investigationwebsite and used to work with Mr Edwards, hasclaimed a photograph Mr Edwards took of themonster in 1986 was a fake.

Mr Edwards said Mr Shines observations abouthis latest photograph were his opinion, and hedismissed Mr Raynors claims as just lies.

He said: I dont care. People can believe it or not.I know what I saw.

Mr Edwards, 60, whose quest began in 1986,added: It was slowly moving up the loch towardsUrquhart Castle and it was a dark grey colour.It was quite a fair way from the boat, probablyabout half a mile away.

He said he had watched the object for betweenve and ten minutes before it slowly sankbelow the surface.

He failed to trace it using the boats sonar, despitesearching for at least half an hour.

He said: I did not want to mention my sightinguntil I was sure I had not photographed a log orsomething inanimate in the water.

Does this Nessie photo show the realLoch Ness Monster?

A mysterious dark hump in the water. Picture: Cascade News

I have friends in the USA who have friends inthe military. They had my photo analysed andthey have no doubt that I photographed ananimate object in the water.

Im convinced I was seeing Nessie, as I believein these creatures.

Gary Campbell, president of the Ofcial LochNess Monster Fan Club, said the photo was asgood as the evidence gets.

Its been taken by a local man who knows allthe things that can appear in the loch that others

mistakenly think is Nessie , he said. Fit is an unknown animal in Loch Ness, means it must be Nessie.

Tourist businesses were delighted. Dava director of the Loch Ness Centre and at Drumnadrochit, said: Any publicitysightings is great a t this time of year.

Published August 4, 2012Scotsman.com

Urquart Castle overlooking Loch Ness, a freshwater loch in Scottish Highlands, infamous for its alleged beast


6/12

Indore: A bizarre ghost story is in circulation in apart of old Indore after the parents of a 14-year-old girl, who was found with cent percent burnon Wednesday afternoon , told the police thattwo mysterious girls had asked their daughter

to pour kerosene on self. Their neighoburs arealso attesting to the ghost story and claiming thataround 20 girls died under similarly mysteriouscircumstances in the last few years.

Goma Ki Phel and Kazi Ki Chawl, the twodowntown localities in Indore, are agog withfeverish rumours of paranormal power behindthe death of Henna, who succumbed to burnsin MY hospital.

Hennas father Abdul Razzaq and brother Ferozwere shocked when the dying girl told them thattwo girls had come to her and asked her to dousewith kerosene and accompany them. However,no one saw the mysterious girls entering in orgoing out of the house before or after the incident.

They were also shocked as Henna was absolutelynormal and had meal with family before she wasfound 100% burnt.

Investigating ofcer sub-inspector Qureshi toldus the family members and neighbors stated thatHenna had told them she was under inuence ofsome paranormal power who asked her to commitsuicide and she followed the order.

The police ofcer claimed similar incidoccurred in the past too where minor gcommitted suicide by immolating insidhouses and they cited the same reason the extreme steps.

Vimla Bai, who had taken Henna to hoclaimed that she too had lost her son Din similar grotesque circumstances. Heself inside the small house, the womanalso claimed before her death Henna toabout two girls who asked her to accom

Two years ago, a minor gi rl Aatesha, daAtiq, was found with cent percent burnhouse. Atiq had then claimed that barridaughter all the other items in the housfound intact. Besides, the reason behinsuicide is unclear till date. In her dyingAatesha had also told about some parapowers inuencing her.

Raq Khan, a resident of Kazi Ki Chawthat family members do not get wind aimmolation of girls until they burn comeven in a adjacent room. A family afterschool going daughter had shifted frombefore Aateshas death.

Published by daily.bhaskar.com

Paranormal power inuencing kidto self-immolate?

Ghosts


7/12

By Taryn Plumb

On a bone-cold night, with Venus hanging inthe sky and the moon not having yet made itsappearance, a building high on a hill inGroveland sits completely dark.

Dark, but not empty.

Navigating its dusky passages, cavernous halls,and rooms cluttered with shadowy hulks offurniture, a team of investigators has come to seekout the unknown. Outtted with cameras, voicerecorders, and various types of meters, as well asmetaphysical tools, they hope to connect with thedead that are believed to haunt this 100-year-oldbuilding that serves as the centerpiece ofVeasey Memorial Park.

You have no idea what to expect, says RonKolek, executive director of the New EnglandGhost Project, before the crew heads out inpursuit of the paranormal. You just go in beingopen, and whatever happens, you react to it.

Ghost hunting - regardless of whether youre abeliever, a skeptic, or indifferent - has its ownunique methodology, requiring both sophisticatedtechnology and otherworldly tools, along withanalysis, deduction, calculations, and the abilityto discern when something is merely a uke,rather than a brush with the spirit world.

Its a practice Kolek, of Dracut, has been honingfor years, and now hes sharing his tactics inParanormal CSI - Ghost Hunting 101. Offered forthe rst time through Northern Essex CommunityColleges noncredit personal enrichment program,the six-week course begins Thursday at Veasey.Koleks recent investigation of its grounds wasmeant to acquaint himself with the former estatesunseen inhabitants.

In particular, hes curious about two women - onebig, one little - who have reportedly been seenwalking right through a wall or hoveringin the kitchen.

Then there have been less tangible specters. Whenthe parks events manager, Dorna Caskie, st ayedover one night, she and her two kids were startledawake at 3 a.m. by something absolutely electricand very profound, she says. I felt like I was in aroom full of very excited and very happy children.

The rich amount of activity seems to correspondwith the rich amount of history: Built between1909 and 1910, the building was at rst a summerhome for wealthy mill owner Arthur D. Veasey.His three-building operation, lost with time, wasthe once thriving Groveland Mills. Workers thereproduced fabric and wool, some for Henry Fordscar seats, according to Caskie.

But the mills were dismantled around 1930, andthe property changed hands a few times beforeit was bought by the Little Missionary Sisters ofCharity in the late 1950s. The nuns cared forwomen with special needs, many of them formerpatients at Danvers State Hospital, setting them up

Is anyone there?Ghost hunting is now among class offerings at Haverhill college

in dorm rooms on the property. Over the years,they added a church and function hall.

Finally, in 1996, the town of Groveland boughtthe 47.5-acre property.

There have been more than a few unexplainedencounters since, which is what drew Kolek andhis team on a harshly cold Saturday night inmid-January.

They show up in a convoy of cars and SUVs a li ttleafter 7 p.m., the 9,000-square-foot building a darksilhouette against the snow and crooked trees.

Moving with a rhythm of routine, the crew of ahalf-dozen hauls in black cases full of equipment,

runs long strings of electrical cords along linoleumand hardwood, positions cameras (four in all) invarious rooms, and sets up a control s tation withseveral monitors, all the while communicatingback and forth on walkie-talkies.

One team starts going room to room, scanningwith a hand-held temperature gauge and anelectromagnetic elds meter.

Elsewhere, others record different impressions.

Self-described medium Lesley Marden of Laconia,N.H., and Karin Ruck of Boxford (she claims tohave sensitivities, but doesnt call herself as amedium), feel out the different rooms.There area lot of different energies here, Marden says asshe taps her impressions on an iPad, a walkie-

talkie clipped into the back pocket of her jeans.For instance, in the great room, Marden feel sthe 1940s; in the kitchen, they both pick upsomething having to do with head trauma; inother areas, they touch the walls and get a senseof sickness. And in the basement, they describea male energy and a well-dened path from theentry door to the kitchen.

In a roomused by thelocal Veterans ofForeign Wars, Mardenstops, looking around,one hand on a hip.

Nervous energy, Ruck whispers.

I feel like I have to pace, Marden saybeginning to do so, then blurting out,

As a whole, this place has a nice enerkind of inviting, she says a few minute

Nearby, in the control room, Kolek makeverything is in place, readying meters,

walkie-talkies, checking the four-way spscreen monitor.

In the decade-plus hes done investigatof government buildings, private residelighthouses - he says hes seen and heathings he cant explain, from phantom dbooks ying off shelves.

He expects to share some of these expein his upcoming class, and hell also teparticipants how to use equipment anddifferent methods. Theyll investigate Vewrite a paper on their own conclusions

Its always different, he said of ghost and you can never, ever plan on anyth

Soon, all is prepped, and the lights go oby one.

Its 9:05 p.m.

Holding cameras, digital recorders, andelectromagnetic readers, the team startsliving room off the entry porch. Lights fequipment shine like tiny red eyes; the

Ghost hunting - regardless of whetheryoure a believer, a skeptic, or indifferent- has its own unique methodology,requiring both sophisticated technologyand otherworldly tools, along withanalysis, deduction, calculations, andthe ability to discern when something is

merely a fuke, rather than a brush withthe spirit world.


8/12

creak as they walk around like moving shadows;their voices are disembodied in the dark.

Do you feel anything? Kolek asks.

As Im sitting here, I feel dizzy, Marden replies.

Kolek gets on his walkie-talkie and reports thisbit of info to the control room; they copy back.

Denitely people were ill, Ruck agrees.

Kolek and Marden then note an energy in oneof the corners; Marden says she senses a manwith dark hair and a mustache, then announces

ash! and the room lights up for an instant asshe snaps a photo.

Investigator Jim Stonier begins to takevoice recordings.

Anyone in here who would like tocommunicate? he asks. We just want tomake contact with you; we mean you noharm. We come with the utmost respect.

Pause. What is your name?

Pause. Kolek, this time: Are you a male?

A few minutes later, they play it back; the spacesbetween questions are lled in by a deep rhythmicsound, like grinding teeth or humming machinery.

They move onIn the adjacent room, off the hall, with a tickingclock and rocking chairs, Ruck notes a headacheon the left side of her head, and Marden reportsa female energy.

They continue like this for hours, pausing ineach room from anywhere for a minute ortwo to several, taking pictures, recordingvideo and sound, then moving along.

By 12:30 a.m., they pack up.

As they go, the house is dark again, holdingits secrets.

By Lee Taylor

Gary Galkas devices made forparanormal research

He records a spirits voice on TV show

Researcher thinks devices could be suspect

A father has created a ghost hunting device tocommunicate with his dead daughter.

Gary Galka, from Connecticut in the US, appearedon the TV show Ghost Adventures to demonstratehow the device can record the voice of a spirit.

Mr Galka lost his daughter, Melissa, eight yearsago in a car crash but said he constantly feels herpresence, FoxNews.com reports.

He said it was this connection that made himdesign over 30 different products for paranormalresearch, and has named them after his daughter.

Mr Galka demonstrated one of his devices on the

show by playing a recorded voice believed to be aspirit saying: Hi Daddy, I love you.

No one was making products for these people,Mr Galka said.

His devices are sold through the ProfesMeasurement website and range from about $350.

The device used to capture the voice on

Adventures is the Mel-8704- SB7-EMF which is said to detect a range of electrand temperature changes. It also has anscanner, includes glow-in-the- dark butincludes an exclusive P-SB7 Integrated

However, paranormal researcher Joe Nthe Center for Inquiry said such elect rofrequency readings are suspect.

Theyre surprised that theyre getting rean old house, when in fact there are alnon-ghost sources such as faulty wiringmicrowave towers, sunspot activity andMr Nickell told radio company NPR.

He also said the electronic equipmentbeing carried around by the TV crew ha

electromagnetic elds.Published April7, 2012haroldsun.com

Man buildsdevice to talk todead daughter


9/12

ExtraterrestrialMartin Rees, former president of the Royal Society,said evidence of whether beings exist not onlybeyond earth but beyond our solar system, couldbe found in that time, a newspaper reported.

Lord Rees said he believed that astro-physicistscould be able to view images of distant planetsoutside the solar system as soon as 2025. Thiscould potentially lead to the discovery of someform of life on them.

When asked what changes could be expected inscience in the next 40 years, he said understandingmore about the origin of life, the place whereit exists, and whether aliens exist, is going to becrucial, the Daily Mail reported.

The astronomer was speaking at the launch ofProfessor Stephen Hawkings new series GrandDesign, due to begin next Thursday on theDiscovery Channel.

Lord Rees, who has been Astronomer Royal - asenior position within the Royal Household

offering advice to the Queen on astronomatters - since 1995, said: Within 10 we will be able to image other planets earth, orbiting other stars.

That will be a really exciting subject tothere is evidence for [extra-terrestrial] l

However it was suggested earlier this yrather more earthbound concerns may such research back.

It emerged in June that astronomers scauniverse for signs of extra-terrestrial actfacing a nancial crisis that threatened 52-year search for intelligent life beyonThe respected SETI Institute in Californforced to curtail radio telescope operatsearch space for signals from other worit can plug a multi-million dollar fundin

Published Septermber 7, 2012

The Telograph

Scientists could nd alien lifewithin 40 years

The question of whether alien life exists could be answered within 40 years, according tothe Queens astronomer.

Lord Martin Rees during his opening conference address, April 7, 2011.


10/12

Strange tale: Ojibwa tale of aSkyman visitor may have been alien

By Andrew Hind

The modern Unidentied Flying Object (UFO)craze began in the late 1940s, when a wave ofpeople reported seeing strange objects in theskies above America.

Indeed, it was in 1947 the term ying saucerentered the popular consciousness after pilotKenneth Arnold witnessed several brightly-litsaucer-like objects weaving in and out ofdistant mountain peaks while he was yingin Washington State.

This wasnt the rst wave of UFO sightings,however. An earlier wave occurred in Britainin 1909, when hundreds of people describedying objects shaped like dirigibles and emittingbeams of light carrying out extremely advancedmanoeuvres overhead. A decade earlier,throughout 1896 and 97, there was a rash onsimilar sightings in the United States.

But these werent the rst accounts of alienspacecraft on record. Legends of god-like beingscoming from the heavens exist in many cultures.Throughout North America, there are numerouscaves that date back thousands of years. These

paintings gures and objects muchlike the modern imagery of aliensand ying saucers.

One intriguing legend comes from the FirstNations people of central Ontario.Their Skyman tale may in fact be one of theearliest alien encounters on record.

According to the story recorded in 1917 byethnologist Colonel G.E. Laidlaw, 500 years agothere was a large Ojibwa village about 550 nativepeople living somewhere in our region. One day,a pair of them stumbled upon a stranger sitting onthe grass in a eld. This gure, a male, was notablyclean and shining bright.

Arrow Maker an Ojibwa brave 1903 Native American

The natives approached the stranger and askedwho he was and how he came to be in the eld.

I am not one of you. I do not belong tothis land. I dropped down from above, the

stranger explained.Showing unusual hospitality, the Ojibwa invitedhim back to their village. The stranger agreed, buton one condition: Go home and clean the placewhere I will stay, and when you come back for me,I will go with you for a few days.

Agreeing, the Ojibwa men went back to theircommunity, told their fellow villagers about theirexperience, and cleaned the hut where they wouldhouse the Skyman.

The stranger did in fact accompany them to theirvillage, but he was clearly restless. He watchedthe skies often and told people that in two dayssomething would come and get him to take himback up to the sky.

One afternoon, Skyman looked up and said, Itis coming. The villagers craned their necks andturned their eyes above and saw something thatlooked like a bright shining star streak down fromthe heavens and hover near the ground.

This was the most beautiful thing any of them hadever seen. Skyman entered the shining star and

disappeared from view. The shining staback into the sky and faded away.

This tale seems to be a description of anwith an ancient astronaut, as seen in m

cultures and popularized by Swiss theovon Daniken of Chariots of the Gods fa

Many modern UFO theorists believe Skwas a marooned extraterrestrial astronaown craft was somehow damaged or dThey point to the fact Skyman clearly eglowing star as proof the object was a sof some sort. Was he clean and shiningbecause he wore a silvery pressure suitrequest his hosts clean his quarters out contracting human viruses against whicno immunity?

Many researchers believe Skyman was mythological tale, but rather an actual of the rst kind between an ancient alieentire Ojibwa community. And it was soccurred somewhere nearby. Maybe wbe craning our necks and scanning the

5000 BC, Ancient Aliens, CavePaintings. Photo by subharanjangupta


11/12

Ancient Mysteries By Stephanie PappasA newly discovered Mayan text reveals the enddate for the Mayan calendar, becoming only thesecond known document to do so. But unlikesome modern people, ancient Maya did not expectthe world to end on that date, researchers said.

This text talks about ancient political historyrather than prophecy, Marcello Canuto, thedirector of Tulane University Middle AmericaResearch Institute, said in a statement. This newevidence suggests that the 13 baktun date wasan important calendrical event that would havebeen celebrated by the ancient Maya; however,they make no apocalyptic prophecies whatsoeverregarding the date.

The Mayan Long Count calendar is divided intobaktuns, or 144,000-day cycles that begin atthe Maya creation date. The winter solstice of2012 (Dec. 21) is the las t day of the 13th baktun,marking what the Maya people would have seenas a full cycle of creation.

New Age believers and doomsday types haveattributed great meaning to the Dec. 21, 2012date, with some predicting an apocalypse andothers some sort of profound global spiritualevent. But only one archaeological reference tothe 2012 date had ever been found, as aninscription on a monument dating back toaround A.D. 669 in Tortuguero, Mexico. [End ofthe World? Top Doomsday Fears]

Now, researchers exploring the Mayan ruinsof La Corona in Guatemala have unearthed asecond reference. On a stairway block carvedwith hieroglyphs, archaeologists found acommemoration of a visit by Yuknoom YichaakKahk of Calakmul, the most powerful Mayanruler in his day. The king, also known as Jaguar

Paw, suffered a terrible defeat in battle by theKingdom of Tikal in 695.

Historians have long assumed that Jaguar Pawdied or was captured in this battle. But thecarvings proved them wrong. In fact, the kingvisited La Corona in A.D. 696, probably trying toshore up loyalty among his subjects in the wakeof his defeat four years earlier.

As part of this publicity tour, the king whimself the 13 katun lord, the carvinKatuns are another unit of the Maya cacorresponding to 7,200 days or nearly 2Jaguar Paw had presided over the endi13th of these katuns in A.D. 692.

Thats where the 2012 calendar end dain. In an effort to tie himself and his reifuture, the king linked his reign with ancycle the 13th baktun of Dec. 21, 2

What this text shows us is that in times the ancient Maya used their calendar tocontinuity and stability rather than predapocalypse, Canuto said.

La Corona was the site of much lootingonly been explored by modern archaeoabout 15 years. Canuto and his dig co-dTomas Barrientos Q. of the Universidadde Guatemala announced the discovernew calendar text Thursday (June 28) atNational Palace in Guatemala.

The researchers rst uncovered the carvsteps in 2010 near a building heavily dlooters. The robbers had missed this sethowever, providing a rare example of stheir original places. The researchers fo10 stones from the staircase that had bebut then discarded by looters. In total, tstones boast 264 hieroglyphs tracing thhistory of La Corona, making them the known ancient Maya text in Guatemala

Published June 28, 2012livescience.com

Ancient text conrms Mayancalendar end date


12/12

By Stephanie Pappas

The mysterious structure of Stonehenge mayhave been built as a symbol of peace and unity,according to a new theory by British researchers.

During the monuments construction around 3000B.C. to 2500 B.C., Britains Neolithic people werebecoming increasingly unied, said study leaderMike Parker Pearson of the University of Shefeld.

There was a growing islandwide culture -- thesame styles of houses, pottery and other materialforms were used from Orkney to the south coast,Parker Pearson said in a sta tement, referring tothe Orkney Islands of northern Scotland.This was very different to the regionalism ofprevious centuries.

By denition, Stonehenge would have requiredcooperation, Parker Pearson added.

Stonehenge itself was a massive undertaking,requiring the labor of thousands to move stonesfrom as far away as west Wales, shaping themand erecting them. Just the work itself, requiringeverything literally to pull together, would have

been an actof unication, he said. [Photos: AWalk Through Stonehenge]

The new theory, detailed in a new book by ParkerPearson, Stonehenge: Exploring the GreatestStone Age Mystery (Simon & Schuster, 2012),is one of many hypotheses about the mysteriousmonument. Theories range from completely far-fetched (space aliens or the wizard Merlin built it!)to far more evidence-based (the monument mayhave been an astronomical calendar, a burialsite, or both).

The Culture of Stonehenge

Along with fellow researchers on the Stonehengeriverside Project, Parker Pearson worked to putStonehenge in context, studying not just themonument but also the culture that created it.

What they found was evidence of a civilizationtransitioning from regionalism to a more integratedculture. Nevertheless, Britains Stone Age peoplewere isolated from the rest of Europe and didntinteract with anyone across the English Channel,Parker Pearson said.

Stonehenge, a monument to unity Stonehenge appears to have been the last gaspof this Stone Age culture, which was isolatedfrom Europe and from the new technologies of

metal tools and the wheel, Parker Pearson said.Stonehenges site may have been chosen becauseit was already signicant to Stone-Age Britons, theresearchers suggest. The natural land undulationsat the site seem to form a line between the placewhere the sun rises on the summer solstice andwhere it sets in midwinter, they found. Neolithicpeople may have seen this as more than acoincidence, Parker Pearson said.

This might explain why there are eightmonuments in the Stonehenge area with solstitialalignments, a number unmatched anywhere else,he said. Perhaps they saw this place as the centerof the world.

Theories and mysteryThese days, Stonehenge is nothing if not the centerof speculation and mystery. The monument hasinspired its fair share of myths, including that thewizard Merlin transported the stones from Irelandand that UFOs use the circle as a landing site.

Archaeologists have built some theories on rmerground. Stonehenges astronomical alignments

suggest that it may have been a place foworship, or an ancient calendar. A neasettlement, Durrington Walls, shows ev

more pork consumption during the midsuggesting that perhaps ancient peoplepilgrimages to Stonehenge for the winteParker Pearson and his colleagues have

Stonehenge may have also been a buriaor a place of healing. Tombs and burialthe site, and some skeletons found neafrom distant lands. For example, archaereported in 2010 that theyd found the of a teenage boy wearing an amber necnear Stonehenge. The boy died around An analysis of his teeth suggest he camMediterranean. Its possible that ill or wpeople traveled to Stonehenge in earchsome archaeologists believe.

Other researchers have focused on the Stonehenge. The place seems to have acoustics, according to research releaseOne archaeologist even suggests that ththe stones was inspired by an acousticawhich two sounds from different sourcecancel each other out.

Published June 22, 2012LiveScience.com

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