2,000-Yr-Old Man-Made Cave Discovered in the Jordan Valley

A huge man-made cave was discovered in the Jordan valley of Isreal that's 2,000 years old and supposedly the largest of all at an acre (.4 hectare) in area coverage. Inside, archaeologists like Adam Zertal, have found deep etchings on walls and pillars of what used to be an underground quarry. The researchers pointed to crosses (top) and symbols that Zertal had identified as a possible zodiac symbol (above left) used in the Roman era at around 1 A.D.

The cave was found in March, 2009 when the archaeologists came to a hole in the wall of the ancient quarry. Initial forays already revealed a huge pillared chamber, discernible even with little available light. The cave is believed to have been used as a hideout of persecuted Christians and as a refuge for Roman soldiers. It's also possible that it was used as a monastery, although only the etched crosses serve as a basis for this hypothesis.

Hobbit Remains Determined to Be Related to Humans

In 2003, the remains of a small hominid, Homo floresiensis, was discovered in Indonesia in the Liang Bua cave on the island of Flores. The remains are only about a meter in height and were likened to be hobbit-like, in reference to author J.R.R. Tolkien's diminutive race of characters in the Lord of the Rings series. The remains do not really have similarities to dwarf or midget physical structures.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the Indonesian hobbit lived between 95,000 and 13,000 years ago. Arguments abounded concerning the find which includes tools said to have been used by the little hominid. Some said its brain was too small to have allowed tool-creation and use. Others said the hominid was simply a different type of modern humans, as other inhabitants of the island are also small. But recent studies of the wrist bones of the hominid reveal that it's related to modern humans, but not modern. The picture on the left compares a Homo floresiensis skull with a modern/typical sized one.

Jump to i-Mash for a video of the latest examination of the bones.

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