Mystique Earth: June 2015

ANCIENT CHURCH DISCOVERED AMIDST HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION PROJECT IN ISRAEL

An ancient road station and church was uncovered during a highway construction project which is next to a spring called “Ain Naqa’a”, at the outskirts of Moshav Bet Neqofa, which is a settlement in Jerusalem. Archaeologists announced that the church believed to be 1500 years old discovered at a Byzantine period rest stop on the road that connects to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Prior to this finding, there have been discoveries of other settlements and road stations which served as a travelling route during ancient times likely paved during the Roman period, claims Annette Nagar, the excavation director on behalf of IAA (Israel Antiques Authority). However, by the end of the Byzantine period, this road was no longer used but the road built beside was renewed and continued to be used until today.

The feature of this 1500 year old uncovered Church

The church has a 52 feet white mosaic floor

Side chapel: 21 x 11 feet

Baptismal font in the shape of a four-leaf clover (fixture for holding water for baptism): Located at Church’s north-east corner. (Image below)

Fragments of red colored plaster found mixed in the rubble all over the building indicating that the church could have been decorated with frescoes.

Rooms: Located at west side possible for housing and storage. There were also pottery tiles in one room.

Artifacts found: Oil lamps, special glass, coins, mother of pearl shells and marble fragments suggests that the place could have been actively used.

This is not the first discovery…

Pablo Betzer, the Israel Antiquities Authority’s district archaeologist for Judah the findings of this site have been documented and will proceed with further studies. He says that when it comes to archaeology, Israel is archaeologically rich region. He also claims that this is not the first such discovery made here and points out four other discoveries made earlier as a result of construction project activities:

A 10 000 year old house was discovered during road widening project at Highway 38 point. It is considered one of the oldest dwellings. (Image below)

A Byzantine monastery near Bedouin village of Hura, Northern Negev Desert was discovered during a salvage excavation last year before the construction of an interchange on Southern Israel’s Highway 31. (Image below)

A 900 year old wealthy estate which came complete with a garden and mosaic fountain discovered during excavation ahead of the bridge construction along Israel’s Highway 44.

A Stone Age carving of a phallus (below) discovered during an expansion project at Highway 1, Israel

As for the fate of the discovered church, Betzer assured that a joint decision had been made with the National Roads Company to cover over the site and preserve it for future generation. The best part is that the National Roads Company took up the social responsibility to initiate and fund the excavation. Something you cannot expect from the IS terrorists.

CONTRIBUTION:

Livescience.com

Assaf Preretz

Ya’akov Vardi

The Miracle of Lanciano

Image: The relic at display

Image: Relic close-up

Image 2: Relic close up

The flesh and blood of Christ is still being preserved in the church of San Francesco in Piazza Plebiscito at Lanciano, Italy. It all started in 750 AD, when a Basilian monk while celebrating the holy mass at St. Legontian Church at Lanciano. The monk started to have doubts on the real presence of Jesus Christ in the consecrated holy species. As soon as he pronounced the words of “consecration” (this is my body, this is my blood), the monk witnessed the host changed into a living piece of flesh and the wine turn into real blood.

Image: Church of San Francesco in Piazza Plebiscito

Analysis of the specimen – by Dr. Edoardo Linoli

A brief biography of Dr. Edoardo Linoli

Dr. Edoardo Linoli is a professor of anatomy and pathological histology, chemical & clinical microscopy, and former head of the Laboratory of Pathological Anatomy at the Hospital of Arezzo. He was the only doctor who analyzed the relics from the miracle of Lanciano.

Authorization from church officials to have the relics examined scientifically

In November 1970, the archbishop of Pacifico Perantoni of Lanciano, the provincial minister of the Franciscan Conventuals of Abruzzo with the authorization of Rome mooted an initiative to have the relics examined scientifically.

Linoli and his assistant analyzed and concluded their findings.

Linoli was assisted by Dr. Rugerro Bertelli, also a retired professor of human anatomy at the University of Sienna. The analysis work covered on the relic, the miraculous flesh and blood were extracted with great care by Linoli and made the analysis. He presented his findings on March 4, 1971.

The following are his findings:

The flesh is real flesh, the blood is real blood. The flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the heart (myocardium). The flesh belongs to the human species. The flesh and blood have the same blood type which is AB. In the blood, there were traces of proteins in the same normal proportions as found in the sero-proteic make up of flesh and normal blood. There were also traces of minerals found in this blood such as Chlorides, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Potassium, Sodium and Calcium.

The relic sample matches with the man from the Holy Shroud of Turin

In the interview with Zenit, Linoli further explained,”as regards to the flesh, I had in my hand the endocardium. Therefore, there is no doubt at all that it is cardiac tissue.” In regards to the blood, “the blood group is the same as that of the man of the Holy Shroud of Turin, and it is particular because it has the characteristics of a man who was born and lived in the Middle East regions. The AB blood group of the inhabitants of the area in fact has a percentage that extends from 0.5-1.0% while in Palestine and the region of the Middle East; it is 14-15%”

He says, “Though it is alien to my task, strictly speaking, I feel that I should insert the following reflection into the study just completed: the classification which comes through in these studies, of the nature of flesh gives little support to the hypothesis of a “fraud” perpetrated centuries ago. As a matter of fact, supposing that heart may have been taken from a cadaver, I maintain that only a hand experienced in anatomic dissection would have been able to obtain from a hollow internal organ such a uniform cut as can still be glimpsed in the flesh.

Another characteristic property of the blood sample was that when liquefied, it has retained the chemical properties of freshly shed blood. Usually, when we cut ourselves and stain our clothes with blood, the chemical properties of our blood is gone within 20 to 30 minutes. If blood is not refrigerated within an hour, the composition will rapidly break down. If blood was taken from a dead body, it will lose its qualities quickly through decay. The blood sample analyzed by Dr. Linoli is believed to be over 12 000 yrs old. It still contains all its properties, chemicals and proteins of freshly shed blood. It was further testified that were no preservatives found in the blood.

World Health Organisation appoints commission to verify Linoli’s claims

In 1971, his report was published in "Quaderni Sclavo di Diagnostica Clinica e di Laboratori". Following this, in 1973, World Health Organisation appointed a scientific commission to verify Linoli’s report. The task consisted of 500 types of examination which took 1 year 3 months to complete. The conclusion of these tests does not vary with Linoli’s findings. As a result, in 1976, the extract of scientific research of WHO’s medical commission was published in New York and Geneva that confirmed that science was unable to explain this phenomenon.

CONTRIBUTION:

Zenit.org

The Largest Tulip Garden in the world - the Keukenhof Garden

A brief description about Keukenhof Garden:

Place: Keukenhof Garden, Amsterdam.

Quantity of Flowers: 7 million bulbs of flowers

Varieties of Tulips: 800

Size: 32 hectares

Historical aspect:

Image: Carolus Clusius

Perhaps, one cannot leave out the pioneering botanist, Carolus Clusius (Feb 19, 1526 – April 4, 1609) when speaking of the history of Tulips. It was due to him that Netherlands had earned the name as icon of tulips. He was a man who studied medicine but never practiced it for his heart was all the more at the field of botany.

1573: Appointed as prefect of the imperial medical garden in Vienna; Gentleman of the Imperial Chamber

1593: Appointed as the Professor

Achievements:

1. Created one of the earliest formal botanical gardens and currently the oldest in the world, the Hortus Academicus in Leyden, Europe that contained 1000 types of plants over a site about 35 – 40 metres wide.

Image: Hortus Academicus in Leyden, Europe had 1000 types of plants

2. He is also remembered for his observations on the “Tulip breaking”. This phenomenon was discovered in 19^th Century to be attributed to a virus which causes many different flamed & feathered varieties which led to the speculative tulip mania in the 1630’s. Clusius laid the foundations of Dutch tulip breeding and the bulb industry today.

3. He has published 2 books, in 1576 about Spanish flora & in 1583 book on Austrian and Hungarian alpine flora.

4. His contributions to the study of plants had led to many plants named in his honour such as Potentilla clusiana, Primula clusiana, Gentiana clusii.

Here are more photos of the tulips. Enjoy the beauty!!