Meenybradden Woman

On May 3, 1978 turf cutters in Meenybradden Bod near Ardara, Ireland would find the body of a woman. It was found that the remains were of historical means. Her body would be kept in Dublin's city morgue and stayed in a freezer where the body was damaged. In July 1985 the body would be shipped to the British Museum and examined further.

It's believed that the woman was around 25 to 30 years old and died 1050-1410 CE. It is unknown how she died, but she didn't die violently. She was buried about a meter deep into the bog. It was strange that she was wrapped in a cloak dated by textile typology to the 16 to 17th centuries. However, the cloak was not carbon-dated and it's possible that it was from around the time she died. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Mummipedia

Irish Central 

Sarita the Mummy

In September of 1996, the body of a teenage girl was found on the East face atop the 18,070 ft Andean peak in Sara Sara, Peru. She was discovered by Johan Reinhard, a senior researcher at Mountain Institute in West Virginia, and José Antonio Chavez, dean of archaeology at the Catholic University in Arequipa, Peru. It was found that the girl was a sacrifice 500 years ago for the Inca Gods including the sun moon and mountain. There was evidence that Sarita had been killed with a blow to the head. 

Sarita was a teenage girl around 14-years-old. She was slender and weighed 80 lbs at the time. She was healthy and her bones and teeth were strong. She had a well-balanced diet and had fasted the day before her death. 

She was found in the fetal position and placed on a platform along with three gold and silver statuettes and a small bundle of coca leaves, these were traditional offerings to the mountain gods. There were 7 more offerings with her, a seven-inch tall silver female statuette wrapped in textiles, one silver and gold male statuette, a female figurine, a llama carved out of spodylus shell, and on a nearby platform was one gold and one silver llama.

Because Sarita had been left on the sun-drenched east face of the mountain, her body had decomposed. Reinhard and his team moved the mummy to the snow-covered south face to freeze it before a 20-hour journey to the conservation laboratory at Catholic University, where Sarita will be preserved and eventually unwrapped.

SOURCES:
Archeology

PNAS

Crystal Links

Ñusta

 

Ñusta was found in Bolivia and was a child that was sacrificed in the later half of the 1400s. She was around 8-years-old and was believed to be an important person, or the daughter of someone elite as she was found in a chullpa on the Andes highlands near La Paz, Bolivia. Her tomb had various items like pouches, feathers, a clay jar, and some plants.

Ñusta was ethnically Aymara, a South American people where The Aymara Kingdom was between 1200 to 1438 until they were conquested by the Incas. When the Incas claimed them religious rituals and rights were overhauled and child sacrifice (Qhapaw hucha) was practiced. The children are often sacrificed after important events or disasters. The Chullpa she was found in was rare. It was likely she was an important person or the daughter of someone elite. 

SOURCES:

Mummipedia Wikia

Lansing State Journal

All That's Interesting

WKAR

Unknown Artist: Master of the Greenville Tondo

 

Saint Sebastian (1500-1510)

The Master of Greenville Tondo was an Italian artist that was known to be active between 1454 and 1513. It's believed that the artist was likely from Tuscany or Umbria. They were likely a follower of Pietro Perugino. More than 20 works were attributed to this artist.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg

Sotheby's

Princeton University Art Museum

Lovers of Cluj-Napoca

 

In 2013 a pair of skeletons known as the Lovers of Cluj-Napoca was uncovered by archeologists in a cemetery of a former Dominican convent in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The couple was buried facing each other and with their hands interlocked. It's believed that the two lived and died between 1450 to 1550 due to where they were located.

The couple was around 30-years-old. The male appears to have died from a fight or accident which left his sternum broken. This wound was possibly caused by a blow with a blunt instrument. It's also possible that he died from a broken hip instead. The cause of death for the female is unknown, but it could not have been suicide as she would not have been able to be buried in the consecrated ground if she had. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

The History Blog

The Huff Post April 22, 2013

The Bocksten Man

 

In the 1880s a farm called Bocksten in Varberg Municipality, Sweden was created near a bog. The bog had been regularly drained and a harrow was used to gather peat by the owner Albert Johansson. A leather shoe was found in the wetland and donated to the Varberg County Museum, and later a shoe sole was also found in the bog.

On June 22, 1936, Albert's son Thur found a body while gathering peat. His harrow got caught on sackcloth. When Thur examined what he was hitting he saw parts of a skeleton. The next day Albert and Thur went and notified the police and doctor. It was then realized that the body was not recent and too old to be of investigation.

Johan Albert Sandklef, the director of Varberg County Museum, took over the body. He would invite others to help investigate the bog body that would eventually be called the Bocksten Man. They would measure and photograph the area before excavating.

The upper parts of the man passed through the harrow and were badly damaged. The lower parts stayed intact though. Though the body had been damaged his body is considered one of the best-preserved finds in Europe in that Era.

 It's believed he had been hit at the lower jaw, then the right ear, and then the lethal hit was towards the back of his head. He was then pushed to where he was found and impaled with three wooden poles used for roofing to the bottom of the bog. 

Bocksten Man's inner organs, parts of the lungs, liver, brain, and cartilage were preserved. It's believed that he's between 25 and 40 (more likely 35 to 40), but could be up to 60-years-old. He was 170 to 180 cm (5'7" to 5'11") tall with a slender build. His tunic was well-preserved, one of the best-preserved from that time. It was made of woollen fabric. He was wearing a gugel hood that was  90cm long and 2cm wide liripipe. He was wearing a shirt and a cloak and his legs were covered by hosiery. He had a fabric bag, foot coverings, leather shoes, a belt, a leather sheath and two knives. The sheath was 40mm wide and 62mm long, it was composed of 3 layers with a combined saltire and St. George's Cross carved on the outer layer. The inner laver had a similar pattern was carved, but with a pole added

The time he died was based on his clothing it's believed that he may have died between 1290 to 1430. His stature and items/clothing found with him makes it believed he was an upper class or a merchant.  It's also suggested that he was a tax collector or soldier recruiter. 

According to Albert Sandklef a local farmer, Karl Andersson, had heard of legend from when he was a child. His father was told bt two older people that a soldier recruiter was killed by local peasants. His body was put in the bog, but his ghost would haunt the area. So in order to stop it, poles were stuck into the body. Albert Sandklef asked other locals of this, but no one claimed to have heard of the story.

It's believed he had been hit at the lower jaw, then the right ear, and then the lethal hit was towards the back of his head. He was then pushed to where he was found and impaled with three wooden poles used for roofing to the bottom of the bog.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Mummipedia

Ancient Origins

Unknown Artists: Master of the Weibermacht

 

In the 1450's and 1460's there was a German engraver active in the Lower Rhine area. Their name is unknown now, but they are known as The Master of Weibermacht (sometimes Master of 1462). His name derives from his large-format engraving of an original interpretation of the common theme of Weibermacht (Power of Women). There are other engravings depicting both religious and secular subjects these engravings have been credited to other artists at one time or another though.

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

Zeno (Has a large list of art attributed to Master of Weibermacht)

British Museum

Anonymous Artist: I.A.M of Zwolle

Monograms that help Identify his work

The Betrayal of Christ, (c. 1485)

IAM of Zwolle is was an anonymous printmaker active between 1470 to 1495. He was a Netherlandish artist who's identified from his monogram of IA or IAM and even Zwolle where they may have been from.

The artist may not have had a colorful medium from the printmaking, but his style showed how much tonal nuance engraved pictures could contain. Prints usually use just one ink color and IAM Zwolle was able to create images with depth. The way he spaced out the lines made it seem as if the images were an actual scene. Closer the lines were caused a darker tone and the further the lines were allowed a white or lighter tone. 

It was believed that IAM Zwolle was not just a printmaker, but a painter as well from his understanding of tones in his work. Today it is unknown who this artist is or if they have other works under another name. Some suspected that it was Johan van den Minnesten a painter from Zwolle, but his works did not survive they can't compare them.

List of Their Works:

• The Adoration of the Magi 
• The Last Supper 
• The Agony in the Garden
• The Betrayal of Christ 
• The Large Crucifixion with the Horsemen 
• The Lamentation over Christ  
• Christ Blessing 
• The Virgin and Child with Cherries at the Window
• The Madonna Seated, the Christ Child Holding the Cross 
• The Virgin Standing on a Demon 
• The Virgin and Child, Turning over the Leaves of a Book
• Saint Anne, the Virgin and Child on a Throne 
• Saint Augustine with the Heart, Pierced by an Arrow 
• Saint Bernard Kneeling before the Virgin 
• Saint Christopher on Horseback 
• Saint George 
• Mass of Saint Gregory 
• Allegory of the Transience of Life 
• Battle of Two Men with the Centaur 
• The Young Man and the Devil 
• Coat of Arms with a Greyhound Supported by a Savage 
• Gothic Canopy with Windows and Doors 
• The Crucifixion
• Death'' 

SOURCES:

Arts and Culture

Metropolitan Museum

National Gallery of Art

Wikipedia

Madonna with Saint Giovanni and the UFO

The Painting The Madonna with Saint Giovannino was painted in the 15th century. Most people credit it to the Italian Renaissance painter Domenico Ghirlandaio. Ghirlandaio had lead an artist workshop in Florence that Michelangelo apprenticed at. There is some controversy on who painted it, but that's not the mystery.  

The painting was like many religious ones at the time. The only thing that sticks out is the object sitting in the upper right area of the sky. It seems that the shepherd in the background is staring at it. Many believe that the strange shape looks like a UFO. 

Actually the "flying saucer" may have been an angel in the form of a dark cloud. Even though it's rare for artists to depict angels like this it isn't unheard of. The mystery of what the thing floating in the sky may never have a definitive answer.


SOURCES:
https://www.historicmysteries.com/madonna-with-saint-giovannino/
https://www.walksinsideflorence.it/the-mystery-of-the-madonna-and-the-ufo.html
https://www.florenceinferno.com/madonna-of-ufo-painting-palazzo-vecchio/
http://www.italymagazine.com/news/madonna-saint-giovannino-ufo-inspired-art
https://coolinterestingstuff.com/the-madonna-with-saint-giovannino-ufo-painting
https://www.singularfortean.com/singularjournal/2016/6/10/anachronistic-art-the-madonna-with-saint-giovannino
https://www.strangerdimensions.com/2014/05/06/madonna-saint-giovannino-ufo/

The London Stone

The London Stone sits in Cannon Street in London, England behind a glass panel (formerly an iron gate). The purpose or reason for the preservations of a small block of limestone still a mystery. Originally the stone was a part of a larger object and was fixed in a street. For hundreds of years, the Stone was considered to be the heart of London. It had become a traditional place for people to pass laws, claim debts, declare oaths, and make official proclamations.  

The first mention of the London Stone was in 1188. It was referenced with Henry Fitz Ailwen also knowns as Henry Lundenstone referring to the area in which he lived. He had become Lord Mayor of London. It's possible the stone had been there up to 924-939, one website said it was actually first mentioned in documents. 

During Jack Cade's failed rebellion in 1450, Jack Cade was said to have struck the stone with his sword and declared he was "Lord of this City." In 1520 it was indicated on a map that the stone laid in the middle of the street. 

In 1742 the stone was moved further north on the street and then was built into the wall of St. Swithin''s Church. During the WWII Blitz, the church was badly damaged. The stone survived even though it home did not, in 1962 the Church was demolished. The stone was then moved to a wall in 111 Canon Street where it now lays. 

It could have been a something similar to a Roman Milestone. In which it was used to pinpoint a place to which all distances in Brittian or at least London were measured. This theory was done by William Camden's Brittanica in 1586.

The Stone may be the Stone of Brutus. The legend goes that it may have been part of an altar built by Brutus of Troy for the Goddess Diana. Some believe that the stone was blessed and had blessed London. "So long the Stone of Brutus is safe, so long London will flourish." 

It's possible that the stone was used in another religion as a form of worship. It could be possible the stone was used in ancient druid practices. This theory also came about in the 1500's by John Strow. In 1598 John Strow wrote The Survey of London in which he goes over his theory. 

Some believe that it may be the stone that King Arthur pulled the sword out of. It's highly unlikely though as a mystery lies with King Arthur. No one really knows if the king was real or not. 

In all honesty we may never find out why the London stone has been so important for hundreds of years. Hopefully for the next few hundred the same care is done for the stone and it's mysterious ability to survive Londons most difficult times. 

OTHER IMAGES:

London Stone depicted in 1873 (1887 copy) book Volume 1: Old and New London. It was illustrated by Walter Thornbury. 

Church of St Swithin, London Stone, in Cannon Street, London; engraving after Thomas H. Shepherd, 1831. The church is by Christopher Wren, 1678. A prominent stone casing in the middle of the church's south wall houses London Stone.

 London Stone and St Swithin's Church in Cannon Street, London, as depicted on the "Copperplate" map of London of c.1553-59

SOURCES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Stone

http://mentalfloss.com/article/69113/6-myths-london-stone

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/london-stone-0010746

http://bitaboutbritain.com/the-london-stone/

http://www.walklondon.com/london-attractions/london-stone.htm

https://lostcityoflondon.co.uk/tag/london-stone/