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Archaeology [Sticky] Archaeology by Prau123

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Must not eat the forbidden Earth candy. - Image credit: Lucas Fassari via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) © IFL Science

See that strange rock up there? It’s a nifty trick of geology that’s captured three phases of matter, with a solid exterior, liquid middle, and even a gas bubble to boot, all contained within rock crystal quartz. Liquid-filled rocks form when minerals trap fluids, but depending on their composition they can either be classed as enhydros, enhydro agates, or fluid inclusions.

Enhydros

An enhydro is a hollow nodule that contains water, most often made up of chalcedony – a form of silica that consists of hundreds of thousands of tiny quartz crystals. They develop when groundwater rich in silica flows through rock and begins building up layers of quartz. If the developing nodule has a hole in it, it becomes one of those sparkly geodes we humans love so much, but when water gets trapped in the process we get enhydros.

“Everyone is familiar with geodes and we all know that the crystal-lined voids in the center can be several inches in diameter – they could hold a lot of water!” explains Julian Gray of The Georgia Mineral Society. “Mineral dealers who sell true enhydros cut the water-containing geode so that they miss the center of the geode, which would release the water. If you see an [enhydro] it will look like a chalcedony nodule, but if you shake the [enhydro] the water will move around.”

These nodules are porous, meaning water can leak out and leach in, so even if the rock started developing thousands, or even millions of years ago, the water trapped inside might not be so old.

Enhydro agates

Enhydro agates form in a similar way, but the end result is specifically trapped inside agate, which is a variety of chalcedony. It’s somewhat porous and often forms in spaces that were once bubbles in volcanic rock. They can be incredibly old, with some notable examples from Rio Grande do Sol, Brazil, dating back to around 60 to 40 million years ago.

A group of scientists working with the enhydro agates found in Brazil wanted to test if they could contain microorganisms, as the kind of groundwater that gets trapped in these geodes typically has tiny lifeforms in it. They took a powerful drill to the agates until they could tap the fluid inside and test it.

Looking at the ancient water samples beneath a microscope revealed cell-like shapes including diplococcoid, coccobacillus, and bacillus forms, which displayed erratic movement consistent with bacterial motility, rather than being the result of Brownian movement (the random movement of small particles suspended in a fluid).

Fluid inclusions

When crystals grow, they can develop small pits that fill with liquid before getting sealed by a fresh layer of mineral. The liquid may have filled the cavity while it was warmer, but as the crystal cools the liquid can contract, leaving behind a bubble that moves if you tip the crystal in your hands.

 

The result is a fluid inclusion: a kind of rock-solid coconut inside which there is a juicy center made up of water that can be millions of years old by the time we humans get our hands on it.

“The water in the fluid inclusion is commonly the water that was trapped when the crystal grew,” said Gray. “Some scientists have examples of fluid inclusion dating the early Precambrian. That’s amazing. These Precambrian fluid inclusions may hold water that is over three billion years old!”

It’s perhaps unsurprising, then, that these geochemical time capsules are considered a very useful research tool, even if they aren’t all that uncommon. And if ancient water is your thing, find out what happened when a geologist tasted the oldest water on Earth.

 

 

 

 

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Enhydros, Agates, And Fluid Inclusions: The Ancient Rocks With A Juicy Center

 

 

 

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The Theodosian walls of Constantinople

 

 

 

 

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Colonial Life in America (1442-1776): Baltasar de la Casa's Historical Journey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ancient secret labyrinth — thousands of feet long — uncovered under Peru city.

 

See it By Irene Wright

 

January 14, 2025 5:57 PM|

 

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Under the city of Cuzco, Peru, a secret labyrinth built by the Incas has been discovered. Irene Wright McClatchy News

 

High in the Andes mountains of Peru, the city of Cuzco once served as the center of Incan power.

Cuzco, also spelled Cusco and named after the Quechua word for “naval or “center,” was built between the 11th and 12th centuries and became the capital of the Inca empire, according to Britannica. 

There may have been as many as 200,000 people living in the city when the Spanish conquest arrived, but there was one major secret hidden below the cobbled streets.

For the first time, researchers have discovered a hidden labyrinth of tunnels under Cuzco thanks to ground-penetrating radar, archaeologists and directors of the Chincana – Sacsahuaman Project announced in a news conference earlier in January, Lima Gris reported.

The report was shared Jan. 7 by the Association of Archaeologists of Peru.

 

 

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Now evidence of trip is found An unknown Jesuit wrote about the Chincana, or Incan tunnels, in 1594 when the Jesuits were building the temple of the Society of Jesus, the archaeologists said.

The Jesuit noted that the tunnels had not been damaged during the construction, and that some tunnels ran through bishop houses, indicating a possible layout.

But the physical tunnels stayed secret for another nearly 500 years until researchers analyzed more documents from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries that provided a possible entry point, archaeologists said.

Other written works said the tunnels ran straight through the city, from the Temple of the Sun to a citadel on the northern side, according to the report.

Researchers used these landmarks to direct their ground-penetrating radar and discovered one central tunnel with three branches, archaeologists said.

The main branch is more than 5,700 feet long, according to the report, and was made by digging a trench underground and then lining it with stone walls and propping up the ceiling with carved beams.

The tunnels were built before the roads, streets or platforms were built on top of them, researchers said.

 

 

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The tunnels pass through the Sacsahuaman esplanade, or level patch, next to a pre-Hispanic road, then take a turn toward the Choquechaca River, according to the report.

Now that the tunnels have been found, targeted excavation can begin, researchers said. All of the tunnels are located under existing platforms and streets, particularly the main streets cutting through the city.

Many Incan structures still survive in Cuzco today, following the Spanish occupation in 1533, according to Britannica. The city acted as the capital of Spanish-occupied Peru until it was moved to Lima in 1535.

A major earthquake in 1650 caused significant damage to the city, and the rebuilding era brought a new style of architecture heavily influenced by Baroque and Roman Catholic work. The city was hit again by a major earthquake in 1950, starting the rebuilding process again.

It is not known how and if the seismic activity of the region impacted the tunnels below. The city itself is said to be designed by the Inca in the shape of a puma with the Sacsahuaman site forming the animal’s head.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article298540598.html#storylink=cpy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Secret Inca tunnels discovered under Peruvian city. See them | Miami Herald

 

 

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Was Knossos Plumbing The Real Minotaur's Maze?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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How Minoans Solved Sanitation 3500 Years Before Europe?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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