treasure

Six secret locations hide a 200 megawatt treasure

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The battle for The electricity supply It has become an essential component of The hybrid war Modern, one where the line between civil infrastructure and military objective is blurred. To the Attack thermal plants Or transmission lines, Russia not only seeks to disable the network, but also sow panic, break morality and destabilize economic life. Now Ukraine has materialized an unpublished plan to combat winter in the war: a 200MEGAVATIOS hide and seek. Light as an act of resistance. Ukraine goes into his fourth winter of war after have survived to three seasons of forced blackouts For Russian bombings, with engineers repairing under -fire substations and millions of citizens supporting cold and darkness. However, this time the country is committed to An unpublished resource: A network of huge American design batteries, distributed in six secret and conceived locations to offer an energy mattress when the network is attacked. Its joint capacity of 200 megawatts It is equivalent to illuminating for two hours about six hundred thousand homes, enough to maintain urban life while the technicians restore the service. The heart of a war system. The Six battery parkslocated around kyiv and the Dnipropetrovsk region, are integrated directly into the national electrical system. They do not replace centrals, but allow to cover the sudden fall of thermal plants or substations achieved by missiles and drones. Its modularity is key: each block can be isolated and replaced without compromising the whole, which reduces vulnerability to direct attacks. Ukraine protects these enclaves with anti -aircraft defenses and the secrecy of its location, aware that a single Russian impact could cause a chain blackout. Energy storage systems in Ukraine Moscow’s offensive. From the beginning of the invasion, more than half Of the Ukrainian generating capacity it has been useless by bombing against thermal plants, coal mines and gas networks. Even nuclear energy, which previously supported most of the system, has been diminished: the largest central is under Russian control and out of operation. The Kremlin strategy seeks to bend the population leaving it without light or heating in the middle of winter. Last year failure Thanks to Technicians ingenuitybut the Mass production Shahed drones predicts attacks more intense and prolongedcapable of saturating Ukrainian defenses. Energy as a weapon. kyiv has also brought the war to the energy field. His drones have Beef Russian refineries And they left tens of thousands of citizens without supply In Belgorodas retaliation for the devastation of your electricity grid. In negotiations sponsored by Washington, he was talking about A non -aggression pact about energy infrastructure, but the ATaques have resumed As the cold approaches. In this pulse, electricity is not only a vital resource, but a strategic weapon that both sides use to erode the moral of the adversary. West as a support. The battery network is part of a 140 million dollar program funded by the Private energy DTEK and Ukrainian banks, with teams supplied by the American Fluence. Washington and Berlin reinforce in turn The air shield With patriot systems, although kyiv insists that protection remains insufficient. He Renewable development As wind and solar add resilience: its dispersion prevents a single attack from demolishing the entire generation, and batteries balance the natural intermittency of these sources. History lessons. If we expand the frame, the use of energy as a battlefield is not, much less, exclusive to Ukraine. In World War II, Allied bombings On German Ruhr hydroelectric plants, they sought to paralyze the industrial production of the third Reich, and in Iraq, both in 1991 and 2003, the coalition headed by the United States Deliberately destroyed electric plants to disorganize Sadam Husein’s forces. Even in Kosovo, in 1999, NATO used graphite bombs that disabled transmission networks without destroying the structures, a reminder that light can be extinguished for military purposes without spilling direct blood. In all cases, cutting electricity meant hitting the heart of the resistance of a country, weakening its productive capacity and, above all, its morals. In Ukraine, possibly aware of history, they prepare to resist what in other wars were decisive. Light as a symbol. If you want also, electricity in Ukraine has become a resistance metaphor. Keeping the lamps on kyiv, járkov or leopolis means demonstrating that neither missiles nor blackouts will break everyday life. In a conflict where entire cities are tried to turn off, the Ukrainians have made light an act of challenge and faith. Image | Ministry of Defense of UkraineDTEK / Facebook In Xataka | The greatest attack of Ukraine on Russian soil discovered a new threat with drones. China has just multiply it In Xataka | We had seen everything in Ukraine, but this is new. In front of the drones, Russia has taken out its “other” artillery: horses

It seems obvious, but at this time it had never been such a round business: who has gold, has a treasure

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In the month of August we met A story which reflected as few the state of one of the most precious materials on the planet. It turns out that in Stilfontein, an ancient mining town in South Africa, neighbors no longer fear the void of abandoned tunnels, but to strangers who arrive in cars loaded with rifles. Yes, these armed bands arrive to take an increasingly valuable booty. A few weeks later, buying gold is again the Century business. Historical boom of the shelter. Yes, gold is going through its largest annual escalation since 1979, with a 39% jump that has taken it to historical maximums above the $ 3,649and it does not for a classical financial collapse, but by the search for coverage before a political and macroeconomic environment perceived as unstable. He told the WSJ that the best stamp Encana Kenneth Pack, a snowfall retiree who first entered April to shield in the face of the disorder associated with the new Trump administration and that, even after the stock market bourse after the confusion of the “day of liberation”, has decided Keep 17% of its portfolio in metals and linked values. In Xataka Russia and the most fearsome weapon for Ukraine: it is called orbit and does not shoot, but turns its soldiers into “invisible” A return in style. The phenomenon transcends the retail investor and is perceived from The Costco halls to shaped vaults in London, where the metal is stored and negotiated without abandoning the building, and where the dominant expectation is that the price will continue to rise. The starting point, in reality, was created almost three years ago with sustained purchases of central banks and Chinese demand, but the 2025 engine It is also western: a selective risk aversion that coexists with a Stock market (extra) euphoric for the AI, and used by gold As sure in front of a weakened dollar and economic policy decisions difficult to anticipate. Commercial policy and the dollar. Plus: the attempt to reorder global trade to tariffs Changes in a matter of hours has contaminated inflation and growth forecasts, while a federal reserve pressure campaign Question independence of a key institutional pillar. In parallel, the dollar has had its worse first semester in more than half a century according to some metrics, deterioration that Improves attractiveness of assets not called in the American currency. The lack of tangible advances to close conflicts that periodically shake the markets, such as Ukraine, adds a geopolitical layer that reinforces the perception of fragility of the economic order, and that in the mind Energy shocks And the erosion of purchasing power made gold an escape Faced with uncertainty. Investment channels. This ascent is not just a sociological story: you can actually follow the money trail. The American ETF backed by physical gold have seen their heritage grow a 43% since Januarywith monthly tickets among the largest of the last decade, while the Hedge Funds have concentrated almost half of their net exhibition to raw materials in metalamplifying short -term movements. He August message In Washington of Jerome Powell, when insinuating the start of type cuts, he acted as a double catalyst: in short, he is less expensive to maintain an asset without coupon against public debt. Halfway, yes Types are trimmed With full employment and inflation still above the objective, the risk is to sow more persistent price pressures that support the upward thesis. The sensitivity of gold to the opportunity cost It is immediatebut its vigor depends on the background narrative: if the cut of types lived with a weak dollar and tozudas inflation expectations, the marginal flow would continue to favor metal. Refuge Psychology. It is inherent to the human being. In this climate, the psychology of the shelter spreads beyond professionals. As summarized the journalin London, those private vaults report a constant drip of assets that prefer the Tangible Safety of the Lagoteto the point of planning the duplication of their box capacity, while the number of people who sell jewels upload for casting because “the value is in the material”, displacing crafts due to the weight of the metal. The narrative is also filtered by political and commercial channels, with public figures promoting conversion Gold retirement accounts, a symptom that has ceased to be an instrument of niche to consolidate as a transverse symbol of heritage protection. The significant detail is that this boom lives with maximum stock market: There is no general escape from risk, but explicit coverage against adverse scenarios that the market does not end up ruling out. {“Videid”: “X89W5U6”, “Autoplay”: False, “Title”: “The most valuable mineral and thanks to which we have mobile phones we explain everything about the coltan”, “Tag”: “Webedia-prod”, “Duration”: “298”} Risks and counterweights. This week many US media They explained That the danger that golden fever feeds is a damn word of the seventies: stagflationthat is, the mixture of high inflation and weak growth that erodes benefits and makes financing more expensive. Several analysts They warn that its probability has increased and, if materialized, would offer an optimal macro -entry for gold. The counterweight: a restoration of confidence in the growth of the United States and in the role of the dollar as a reserve could puncture The impulse, but with live commercial tensions and a foreign policy perceived as more retracted, that hypothesis points fragile. Gold no Upload in a straight line and is sensitive to changes in real types and in risk appetite, but the Current forces balance (Structural purchases of central banks, financial flows towards ETF, geopolitical coverage and doubts about price discipline) explains why this 2025 remembers, in intensity, to the Last big shake of metal In Xataka Russia has launched its Zircon hypersonic missile at NATO doors. And he has accompanied him with a video so that there is no doubt SYo and not. If you want also, the gold boom works as a kind of silent referendum about three vectors: The credibility of … Read more

The “richest treasure in America” ​​is not a pyramid, but the imposing collection of a Mixteca princess of 800 years ago

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Mexico is an inexhaustible source of pre -Hispanic treasures findings. We continue discovering vestiges of the past practically every week and it is something that He has shot with the Mayan train project and with the latest technology tools. Thanks to the latter, we have been able to find hidden pyramids, Underground areas And it is something that can give a push in the Study of old structures. However, there are pieces that, although we discover a few years ago, are still of great value. An example is the treasure of the tomb 7 of Monte Albán, which some continue to consider “the richest treasure in America.” Not only are hundred pieces, but they have a really enviable state of conservation. The Mixteca Treasure of Tomb 7 In January 1932, Dr. Alfonso Caso discovered at the archaeological site of Tomb 7 of Monte Albán one of the biggest pre -Hispanic treasures in history. At the time of its finding, a first restoration was carried out, but care was also carried out both in 1944 and a few years ago, with the objective not only of studying the pieces, but of restoring those that were precise and carrying out an adequate conservation process. In total, it is a set of more than 230 pieces made with sacred materials in the pre -Hispanic era, such as gold, silver, rock glass and precious stones such as turquoise, obsidian and green stone. The state of conservation of many of these objects is imposing. There are also less striking objects such as those made from bone or an alabaster pot. But … Where do these luxury objects come from? INAH researchers They offered context to the pieces, affirming that their origins date from the union of a lord of the dynasty of Zaachila and a Mixtec lady at some point between the 1,200 and 1,400 after Christ. Skull decorated with turquoise mosaics and shells Rock glass glass Locked bone with turquoise embedding Specifically, from the National Institute of Anthropology and History they comment that it was a union between “Mr. 5 Flor, of the Zaachila dynasty, with the princess of the Mixteco kingdom of Teoxacualco, Mrs. 4 Rabbit ‘Quetzal’”. The princess would have used the tomb 7 as a sanctuary to deposit the Tnaniwrappers in which the relics of the ancestors such as effigies of great value and other luxurious objects were kept. And, judging by the photos of the articles, the princess’s treasure was not small, precisely. Now, when these articles were found, they did not look as well as in the photographs that accompany these lines. According to INAH, it was necessary and meticulous restoration process so that we can admire the details of each of these pieces. Mask that represents the god Xipe Totec made in molten and soldier gold A pot with support manufactured in alabaster Bezote that represents the head of a jade stone foisan. The posterior plug is gold sheet This includes the recovery of the properties of its color, the polished finish of some objects and the reflective power of others. In whatever it may be, work was worth work, since the collection has an imposing presence and, beyond the photographs that INAH himself Share On its website (where we can see descriptions of each object), you can see live in room III of the Museum of Cultures of Oaxaca. And, in addition to admiring the goldsmithing of each piece, it is interesting to note that this treasure is important because it demonstrates not only how certain materials already worked on what they gave importance, but some of them were achieved thanks to the exchange and trade networks between different Mesoamerican sites. This is something extremely significant that, little by little, we are knowing and that tells us about the cultural wealth of some sites. A recent example is the study of Channels from Mexico City That, precisely, it was an imposing cultural center thanks to those commercial activities. Images | INAH In Xataka | The Maya played football. And now we know that under the courts they buried a hallucinogenic surprise *An earlier version of this article was published in August 2024

The Spanish Galeon San José was sunk transporting 20,000 million dollars. Mexico and Colombia are going to bring that treasure to light

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The history of San José Galeon It is very particular. The ship left the shipyards of Guipúzcoa in 1706 to the sea of ​​the Caribem, and there it was loaded to the flag with gold, gems and jewels from Peruvian, Bolivian and Mexican mines. It was a Awesome boat With 40 meters of length, 64 cannons and a crew of 600 people, but was sunk after an attack of British privateers in 1708, leaving only 10 survivors and that juicy treasure in the depths of the sea off the coast of Cartagena. It is one of the More than 1,500 Spanish Spanish ships Through the world and Mexico and Colombia are collaborating to ‘rescue’ those treasures that have been in the back of the ocean for more than 300 years. It has a value My dear of 20,000 million dollars and is the protagonist of an authentic soap opera. A soap opera. The history of San José did not end when the ship touched background. In fact, I may only start. In 1981, the Search Armed Exploration Company claimed to have located the Spanish wreck and delivered the coordinates Not Spain, but Colombia. The treatment? Supposedly, access to half of the treasure. However, in 2015, the Colombian government said they found the remains in a place different from that indicated above. That enraged the company Cazatesoros, who claimed that it was a strategy so that Colombia did not have to share the treasure. Neither short nor lazy, former president Juan Manuel Santos proudly said it was one of the most important treasures in Colombiaand everything pointed out that Search Armada would not see a cent. Meanwhile, Spain was not with crossed arms and appealed to his sovereignty about Galeon. Investigating. In 2024, with the wreck even in dispute, the Commission for the Investigation and Accusation of the House of Representatives of Colombia opened an investigation against former president Santos. The reason? “Intrusion and looting” of the Spanish Galeon. “It’s not a treasure”. The current Colombian government has another point of view and, in May last year, declared as the protected archaeological area the pungent area. The Minister of Cultures of Colombia, Juan David Correa, said that it was “the first time that an archaeological heritage area submerged at such depth is declared, it is historical for Latin America. We already have a special plan of underwater archaeological management.” Protection. The objective, then, is to guarantee the protection and conservation of the Galeon, as Alhena Caicedo, director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History, and said history, and The doors were not closed to treat the wreck as shared heritage. The objective now is to see what the ship was transporting and catalog it. It seems that it is not a treasure rescue mission, such as Correa itself: “It is not an extraction mission for economic value. What we want is to leave Colombia the possibility of a scientific-cultural mission that will have several stages and that starts today.” Mosaic rebuilt from photogrammetry files Mexico + Colombia. And that is where the National Institute of Anthropology and History -INAH- of Mexico comes into play. In an initiative called “Towards the heart of the San José Galeon”, Colombian and Mexican researchers are collaborating to be able to carry out this ‘recovery’ process. Mexico has a great experience when making archaeological expeditions (with recent examples such as the entire Mayan train networkthe application of New techniques to explore the interior of pyramids and the Underground stay mapping). A underwater expedition is different, but there they also have something to say. Colombian researchers asked INAH members about their experience in the project of Our Lady of Juncala ship that shipwrecked in 1613 in the Gulf of Mexico and with which there are parallels in the case of the San José expedition. In addition, between Colombia and Mexico there are archaeologists support programs that are formed in a cross way in both countries, as if it were an Erasmus of archeology. Digitize everything. Therefore, Mexico is advising Colombia, but it is these who, using submarine robots, are exploring San José and its surroundings in a program consisting of four phases: First phase (it began in May 2024): an underwater research ship comes into play with dynamic and acoustic positioning technologies, as well as a remote operating vehicle with sensors that has the mission of reaching the site. Second phase: generation of images of the site with which to prepare a record of the archaeological evidence for the classification of materials and their origin. THIRD PHASE: prediagnosis of conservation to establish starting points on the level of deterioration of the elements. Fourth phase: Digital documenting the archaeological context through photogrammetry techniques for informative purposes. It seems that Colombia’s plans are clear and, according to the details of the different phases, it does not seem that the goal is to get everything they find out of the water, but to catalog it so that we can see the state of the ship and its shipment 300 years later (in addition to the wealth it carried when it was sunk). Next steps. These last weeks, however, There have been important findings. The ICANH confirmed new “areas of interest” on the site, with Chinese porcelain, ingots, weapons and currencies that allow us to know more about the context of the sunken galleon. In addition, both INAH and the Ministry of Culture of Colombia have set October 2025 and the date on which they will detail the next steps of the mission. The idea is to profile that strategy of ‘towards the heart of the Galeon’ in order to exhibit tangible results before the end of the current presidential mandate in 2026. And, surely, it will be then when the controversy between Spain, Colombia, the indigenous community Qhara Qhara that demands Rights on the Treasury and the company that claims to have discovered the wreck to a new level. Images INAH, Wikipedia, ICANH In Xataka | Sunk ships … Read more

The San José Galeon sank in 1708 with a treasure of 20,000 million. A handful of coins has revealed its destiny

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Throughout the planet it is estimated that there are close to three million Of pecios, vessels that caught in their day and now rest at the bottom of the oceans, turned into sentences of marine life. This list is included from transatlantic as The Titanic to destroyers of World War II, abandoned boats or colonial caravels. Few arouse the interest of San Joséthe galleon sunk in 1708 off the coast of Colombia with the wineries full of gold, silver and gems, a treasure that some value in almost 20,000 million of dollars. His exact whereabouts was a mystery for centuries. Now Colombian archaeologists believe Having located it without a doubt thanks to a track that confirms the opulence of his treasure: the gold coins that he transported on board. A Milmillonario Treasury. In his day the San José was an imposing galeon, a large ship of 40 meters of length12 of manga, three masts and 64 cannons built in Guipúzcoa commissioned by King Carlos II. Your mission: work on the Indian fleet. Neither its power nor its dimension avoided however that the history of San José was brief. The ship ended up sinking from the coast of Colombia in June 1708, only a few years after its launch, beaten by the cannons of a squad of British privateers during the Battle of Barúin full war of Spanish succession. The most curious thing is that the legend of San José began just then, after its shipwreck. And the reason is simple: in addition to a crew formed by hundreds of sailors, the galleon loaded with gold, silver and gems, among other treasures. There is talk of a loot of 200 tons that today would reach a value of billions of dollars. Some estimates place it in 17,000 millionothers in more than 20,000. There are also those that reduce that calculation, but without leaving the land of the thousands of millionsan imposing treasure. And where is the San José? For centuries that was the great unknown. It was known that the wreck was In the Colombian Caribbeanbut … where exactly? What were your coordinates? In 1981 A company announced to hype and saucer having found the Galeon and allegedly delivered the information to the government in exchange for keeping a part of the treasure, but the story soon complicated. In 2015 The country’s authorities claimed to have located the remains of the Spanish ship in a different place, which tightened the disputes about who has the merit of the finding and (more importantly) the rights over the treasure. The big clue: the coins. Historical discoveries often depend on small details. And underwater archeology is no exception. Although experts have been convinced that the vestiges resting in front of the Colombian coast are the remains of San José, a New research published in Antiquity He has just reaffirmed the identity of the wreck. And in a fairly peculiar way: analyzing the gold coins located in the underwater deposit, at approximately 600 meters deep To get it a Colombian team undertook Between 2022 and 2024 Several expeditions focused on the remains of the wreck. He did it With the help of a rova non -manned submarine vehicle that allowed experts to obtain high resolution photos of the coins that rest on the site. Thanks to techniques such as The photogrammetry They were also able to draw a three -dimensional reconstruction of the wreck and several models and digital replicas of the environment. And what did they discover? They found Macuquinashand coined coins and that were used for more than two centuries in the trade of the Americas. With the help of high resolution photos taken in situ – the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History assures That no object object was extracted – experts discovered that the pieces have an average diameter of 32.5 mm, weigh 27 grams and are coined with revealing designs. On the obverse, the coins show a variant of The Jerusalem Cross (A large cross with four smaller) next to a shield with castles and lions, symbol of Castilla y León. On the back they carry the Hercules crowned columns On waves, which relates the pieces to the Lima Mint. Squeezing clues. They are not the only clues identified by archaeologists, who have identified a “L” that seems to refer to Lima, an “8” that shows the value of the currency and an “H” related to the brand of Francisco de Hurtadohe Major trial of Indies in 1707. In the central part of the coins the legend “PVA”, “Plus Ultra” is also appreciated, a wink to the maritime expansion of the Spanish monarchy. The information is completed with three digits (707) located at the bottom of the pillars, a reference to the year in which the coins were coined: 1707, just before the San José sink into the Caribbean. Why is it important? Because all these data are clues that help to better understand the site and the circumstances in which the galleon that rests there. “Unraveling the characteristics of the currencies helps to determine the age and origin of the wreck”, collect the article. “First, it establishes a temporal frame: the sinking had to occur after 1707. This, along with other tests, such as the presence of Chinese porcelain Kangxi And inscriptions in the cannons dating from 1665, suggests that the ship sank at the beginning of the XVIII. “ “Corroborate identification”. The coins also give clues on the route that must have followed the sunken galleon. “In the Viceroyalty of Peru, several gold mines were registered, mainly in Puno and Huamanga. It is likely that the material to coined the coins would be obtained from these mines and processed in the house of La Moneda de Lima, which resumed operations in 1683 and began to coined gold in 1696,” Experts reveal In your study. All those evidence, added to what historians already know about colonial history, leads them to A resounding conclusion: “The set of tests corroborates … Read more

Harvard bought a cheap copy of the Magna Carta in 1946. They just discovered that they had a treasure that is worth a fortune

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Year 1946. Someone buys a cheap and no apparent copy of The Magna Carta After ending World War II. The article, dated in 1327, passes without penalty or glory for decades in some trunk of the Harvard Law School. Today, eighty years later, to the surprise of the entire world it has been discovered that it was actually one of The original writings. A medieval jewel. In other words: for eight decades, a very valuable original of the 1300 Magna Cart bad of 1327. acquired at the time for just $ 27.50 In 46, the document was bought from a London bookseller and, since then, lay in oblivion. It was not until December 2023 when David Carpenter, professor of medieval history at the King’s College in London, He identified it while sailing through the Harvard digital library. When observing the sheep skin scroll (labeled as HLS MS 172) it was dumbfounded: design, calligraphy, Latin use and the capital “E” characteristic of Edwardus coincided with The original specimens known He immediately alerted his colleague Nicholas Vincent, a professor at the University of East Anglia, who confirmed authenticity of the finding. With the discovery, they ascend to 24 The original specimens Known of the edition, the last officially issued by the Royal Foreign Ministry during the reign of Eduardo I. A 725 -year -old relic. The document, in remarkable state of conservation, was produced in the year 28 of the reign of Eduardo I and represents the culmination of a series of reference to the Carta Magna since their original conception in 1215, when the English barons, in open rebellion, forced the king to accept that even the monarchy had to submit to the law. The text was reissued several times for its successors and ended up consolidating as one of the pillars of the Western constitutional thinking. The authenticity of the Harvard specimen already It has been validated with spectral and ultraviolet image techniques (image below), which allowed to compare the text and paleographic marks with other authentic specimens. In contrast to the deteriorated document found in 2014 In Sandwich, England (which was incomplete, without seal and partially illegible), Harvard’s piece retains its integrity and clarity. The thoroughly examined letter Historical Genealogy. Harvard experts tell that the documentary trail suggests that the copy could be the Magna Carta originally sent to the municipality of Appleby-in-Westmorland, in northern England. It is presumed that it was delivered by Lord Lord William Lowther to the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, one of the most influential figures in the eradication of British slave trafficking. Clarkson, author of The History of the Abolition of the African Slave-Tradehe retired to the area, and his family archive was subsequently inherited by the aviator and war hero Forster Maynard. In fact, it was he who He auctioned in 1945 Through Sotheby’s, where Harvard acquired it without noticing his true importance. Although there is still a conclusive evidence that confirms such documentary genealogy, the chain of custody is more than solid and plausible. Symbol I live in times of tension. The American media counted this morning that the rediscovery of the document also arrives at one time politically loaded: Harvard University faces direct pressures from the Trump government, which recently announced the Cancellation of 450 million dollars in federal financing after disputes over student protests related to war in Gaza and university autonomy. For Carpenterthe appearance of this founding letter in the midst of that conflict is not mere coincidence, but almost “providential”: a tangible reminder of the essential principle that power, even in its highest form, is subject to the law. “The Magna Carta says that the ruler cannot simply order your execution or appropriate your land: it must respect the law,” He pointed out. Constitutional inspiration. Finally, the relevance of the finding is not limited to its estimated historical value (there is talk of More than 20 million of dollars, considering that a 1297 version was sold in 2007 for 21.3 million), but also to its pedagogical and symbolic potential. In words From Amanda Watsonassociated dean of the Harvard Legal Library, the document offers a unique opportunity for future generations to understand the foundations of democracy, individual freedom and limited government. If you also want, that a medieval relic of this caliber emerges from the shelves of an American university In full struggle to preserve its academic autonomy against the impositions of state power, it gives an extra intangible to the finding, a weight that transcends the historical: a living lesson, written more than seven centuries ago, but more in force than ever. Image | Harvard Law School In Xataka | Abortion, a constitutional right: France opens the way to protect it in the Magna Carta In Xataka | Water is a very healthy drink. Harvard researchers have found another healthy equally: coffee

In 2023 some explorers entered a remote cave in Mexico. They found the last archaeological treasure of the country

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The initial idea of ​​Adrián Beltrán and Yekaretina Katiya Pavlova, Mexican guide the first, Russian speleologist the second, had little to do with archeology. In September 2023, both professionals decided to take their bártulos behind their backs and enter the Tlagoococ cavelocated in the middle of Sierra de Guerrero (Mexico), to map their galleries. Once there they discovered, however, something that made this goal happen to the background: after traveling 150 meters to the bottom of the cave and entering a submerged passage, the couple met with An archaeological treasure hidden for several centuries. The legacy of an ethnicity already extinct, The tlacotepehuas. In a remote cave in Mexico … The Cave of Tlayócoc, in the Sierra de Warrioris well known in the area for its natural resources. It provides water. And a guano that farmers usually resort to pay their orchards. What was not known until Beltrán and Pavlova entered the cave in September 2023 It is also hiding a valuable archaeological treasure that will allow historians to expand their knowledge of pre -Hispanic cultures. To get to him the guide and the speleologist entered 150 m in the cave, submerged to move towards the grotto and reached a camera. What did they find there? Two bracelets made with shells arranged in stalagmites. The image was so shocking that, as I would report later Pavlova to the National Institute of Anthropology and History of Mexico (INAH), the first thing that came to mind was that it was garbage. Maybe plastics. When he approached and looked at those more close pieces, he realized that he was facing something different. “It was very exciting! An experience similar to discovering a well of more than 300 m inside the cave. Here we were lucky,” Recognize The Russian cartographer. Was that all? No. In the area there were more pieces, including another bracelet, a large shell and fragments of black discs, similar to pyrite mirrors. Pavlova took photos and raised some theories about the possible origin of all that, but decided to leave the discovery in the hands of experts. He notified the discovery and the ejido authorities and the Carrizal de Bravo Surveillance Committee were responsible for ensuring that the site was not looted. Recently local authorities decided to go further They asked the INAH Let the cave register again. The area is not easily accessible, it is located at an altitude of 2,387 meters and to get to it you have to cross ravines, a river and a road where travelers risk finding snakes or pumas, but in March a team of experts registered the site. Thanks to this work today we have a more precise idea of ​​the archaeological treasure of the Tlayócoc cave: 14 pre -Hispanic objects Among which include bracelets and stone discs similar to pyrite mirrors. Clearing unknowns. Archaeologists recorded in total three shell bracelets, a fragment of bracelet of also malacological origin, the shell of a giant snail (experts believe that of the species Strombus sp.) perforated and with decorations, a fragment of carbonized wood and remains of stone discs, but also fixed in the environment. In the camera they observed, for example, the stalagmites had been retouched during rounding their shape. When examining in detail the bracelets also verified that they were made from shells (TRIPLOFUSUS Giganteus) that someone had dedicated themselves to decorating with engravings of symbols and anthropomorphic figures, including faces, brands in the form of “s” and lines in Zigzag. The brands, the position of the bracelets and the shape of the stalagmites suggested a theory to the experts: the cave was a ritual place. “Possibly the symbols and representations of characters in the bracelets are related to pre -Hispanic cosmogony regarding creation and fertility,” Comment Cuauhtémoc Reyes, of the INAH Guerrero Center. Why is it important? Clarified what and where was another pending question: when. Archaeologists concluded that the pieces are from the post -classic period and were probably placed in the cave between the years 950 and 1521 AD, which leads them to think that they are related to the Tlacotepehua culture, which inhabited that region several centuries ago. “It was a branch of the Tepuztecas, an ancient group that lived in the mountains and was dedicated to working the metals, hence its name,” adds archaeologist Pérez Negrete in A statement of INAH. There are also bracelets that remind other pieces located in guerrenses deposits and farthest areas. “Find of great relevance.” The phrase is again from Pérez Negrete, who insists on the scope of the discovery. “With the study of the contextual relationship of the pieces of the cave, we can interpret symbolic notions, cultural, manufacturing and even commerce aspects, to characterize pre -Hispanic societies settled in the Sierre de Guerrero,” claims. Experts also handle very little information about the Tlacotepehua culture, which It ended up extinguishing at the beginning of the viceregal era. As if that was not enough, the INAH remembers that it is the first time that its experts go to the community of Carrizal de Bravo, which marks “the beginning of a campaign” to promote the awareness and preservation of heritage. Images | Cinah Guerrero and INAH (Katiya Pavlova) In Xataka | We have found remains of an unknown civilization in Mexico: the closest thing is an artistic style of Bolivia and Peru

We have just found a 1,700 -year -old Mayan treasure. The problem is that it should be 1,000 kilometers from there

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July 2024. A group of archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology (INHA) announced One of those findings that change history books. With the help of Lidar they had found an amazing treasure. Everyone knows Teotihuacán, but it turns out that in another inhospitable area of ​​Mexico There were hidden pyramids. Now, in a twist that few could expect, they have found another relic of Teotihuacan … 1,000 kilometers where it should. An painted altar that changes everything. A limestone altar found in the center of an old Mayan residence in Tikal (Guatemala) has revealed an unexpected presence of Mesoamerican history: direct influences of The city of Teotihuacanlocated more than 1,000 kilometers away. Datted towards the end of the fourth century DC, the altar presents murals in red, yellow and black that represent a figure associated with the “god of the storm”, a characteristic of the Teotihuacan art. Its location, style and function (a domestic altar dedicated to deities, instead of rulers, as was a Mayan custom) indicate that it was the work of an artist formed in the tradition of Teotihuacan, and not of a place. The finding was made in The 6D-XV groupa residential area that, According to archaeologists, It was inhabited by individuals from Teotihuacan or closely linked to that culture, who led not only their architectural and funeral practices, but also the freedom to express their cultural identity in Mayan territory. A foreign elite. Tikalfounded in the year 850 BC, became a great dynasty towards 100 AD and established links with other Mesoamerican cities, including Teotihuacanwhich for the year 100 AD was already one of the largest cities on the planet. Relationships between both cities would have begun as commercial exchanges, but According to the researchersover time they became more complex and possibly conflicting. Assumptions. The found altar is part of an architectural sequence that includes a first constructive phase between LOS YEARS 300 AND 400 DCfollowed by an expansion of the sanctuary between 400 and 450 DCreflecting a prolonged and organized presence. The anthropomorphic figures found in the residence, adorned with those reddish tassels, reinforce the Mexican cultural imprint in this portion of the city. No doubt, the finding allows us to assume that rich and powerful Teotihuacan leaders They once resided In Tikal and imposed their own ritual structures, perhaps as part of a control or direct influence strategy on local power. Cultural tensions and buried memory. Although Tikal was a city built on a constant renewal logic (burying structures and building on top), what happened with this complex was different. At some point after the year 450 AD, the altar and its buildings were deliberately covered with land and debris, without reusing the space. Archaeologists interpret this as a symbolic gesture: a rejection or distancing of what happened there, probably linked to the decline of the Teotihuacan power already ambivalent feelings of the Maya towards that stage of foreign domain. Far from being a simple military occupation, the presence of Teotihuacan in Tikal seems to be deep, structured and, in the end, object of ritual oblivion. The altar Closing. As The researchers explain From Brown University that led the study, the site was treated almost as a “radioactive zone”, a place that should be completely closed, perhaps to exorcise an influence that was once dominant but that over time became uncomfortable and politically toxic to Mayan identity. Foreign power According to inscriptions found decades ago, in 378 AD a foreign military intervention in Tikal known as the entrance displaced the local monarch and replaced it with a ruler linked to Teotihuacan. From that moment, the material traces of the Mexican presence multiplied: from real and ceramic burials to hybrid architectural sets. The altar discovered was recently installed shortly after this blow, and the space that housed it worked as family ritual patiosimilar to those found in Teotihuacan. There were burials such as an adult in a tomb and that of a seated child, a more common custom in central Mexico than in the Mayan area. Foreign ritual. The construction of the wine accompanied by a series of extremely symbolic mortuary rituals: Three babies were buried Under the corners of the altar, with offerings instead of the fourth body, a pattern identical to the documented in Teotihuacan residential complexes. The altar, in addition, not only had a devotional, but also political function: it was the material expression of the Teotihuacano installed In the conquered city. Its proximity with a local replica of the Temple of the feathered snake (One of the architectural icons of classic Mexico) reinforces the idea that Tikal housed an entire neighborhood dedicated to replicating the ceremonial structures of the foreign empire. Image | TG Garrison / H. Hurst In Xataka | A public database reveals a lost Mayan city full of pyramids and squares. I was hidden with the naked eye under a jungle in Mexico In Xataka | How to make an appointment at the IMSS online in Mexico

Mining companies believed to have found a treasure in Ciudad Real. Until the Iberian lynx appeared

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In a video that is has viralized By networks you can see how two lynxes are disputing the territory to headers, a habitual practice between these felines. He Reelrecorded in Ciudad Real, shows how felines are returning to their natural habitat. In a turn of events, these animals have managed to stop attempts to extraction a company: giving them a legal header. The exploitation. The “Neodimio Project” is an initiative of the Quantum mining company that seeks gray monacita in the province of Ciudad Real. From this rare land the neodymium is extracted, used in magnets of electric cars and wind turbines. The mining company has shown interest in exploring areas near Valdepeñas, Santa Cruz de Mudela and Torrenueva, areas to overcome the cat, According to the avant -garde. Maybe there are no lynx … But there are people living in those areas that oppose mining. The “yes to the living land” platform has asked the president of Castilla-La Mancha, Emiliano García-Page, to oppose the Rare Earth’s mining project, According to Cadena Ser. From the organization they have explained that it could have a devastating impact on local biodiversity and endanger the ecological corridors that the lynxs have begun to recover. They do not stop in your search. Quantum’s story with Ciudad Real It has been more than a decade. After the failure of the “Matamulas” project, the company tries to return to the load. But time does not play in its favor: the citizen opposition has grown, water resources are increasingly scarce and the rural economic model (based on wine, oil and tourism) fears are affected. The controversy has also intensified for a complaint of the Seprona, which accuses the company of having done work without permission on a plot of Torrenueva, According to Castilla-La Mancha Media. Legal header The Iberian lynx, in its reintroduction process in the region, has played a decisive role in this conflict. Although rare earth mining is seen as an economic opportunity in the context of the energy transition, efforts to preserve fauna and biodiversity have led to stop these projects. As have explained at the vanguardthe lynx is no longer just a conservation symbol, but an argument of weight in legal reports and protests. Its presence in areas such as the Montiel field has become an obstacle to mining companies that seek to exploit these natural resources. It is not the only place. Although Ciudad Real is emerging as the area with the most potential for rare earths in Spain, it is not the only one. In different areas of the country we can find, as Galicia, Gran Canaria, Almería, Estremaduraamong other places. The fan that has been opened is very wide, but these deposits have in common not only the element, but their extraction seems to be complex. For its part, the European Commission has not included the Quantum project in your list of strategic initiativeswhich means that it does not have the support of Brussels to continue its development. Recovering spaces. The lynx has become a defender of its territory, interfering with projects that threaten their home. The struggle for the future of Ciudad Real is between the protection of biodiversity and the progress of mining, a dispute that reflects the dilemma between the need for natural resources and the conservation of ecosystems. Image | Pexels and Diego Delso Xataka | The rare earth war has arrived in Spain. And it is in Ciudad Real where mining and ecology are confronted

Extremadura has decided to explore an energy “treasure” under his feet: rare earth deposits

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In recent days, we have heard a lot about “rare earths.” This last obsession of the US president, Donald Trump, has infected everyone and We have followed closely your insatiable search by different parts of the world as Greenland either Ukraine. However, this desire for the dominance of this element is due, among things, that China is the giant that It dominates it. However, to the surprise of many, Extremadura handles the hypothesis that houses a potential of four deposits of rare earths. Short. The Board of Extremadura granted a license In August 2024 to explore an area of ​​49,500 hectares, which will cover 20 municipalities of the Cáceres de los Ibores and scratch field. For its part, indications of the presence of rare earths have also been confirmed in the Badajoz area. An opening for Europe. This new finding marks a new path to Europe, since it needs its own reservations to reduce its dependence on third countries. Francisco Fernández, delegate of the College of Geologists of Extremadura (ICOG), He explained: “The geological characteristics of Extremadura are favorable to house rare earth deposits”, although it is still in a preliminary phase. However, it has not ruled out the possibility that in deposits already exploited from metals I can host these elements. In addition, more than five years ago there were previous work where there had been search for mining resources in the area. The work, entitled “Mining Resources of Extremadura, Rocks and Industrial Minerals”was commissioned by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition, and placed the deposits in the Pacenses localities of Bartrota and Burguillos del Cerro, and in a cacereña, Alía. Spain has potential. The deposits are not reduced only to Extremadura. Spain has a wide variety of elements to extract and different areas for it. In particular, rare earths can find them in Galicia, Gran Canaria, Almería, Ciudad Realamong other places. The fan that has been opened is very wide, but these deposits have in common not only the element, but their extraction seems to be complex. However, another thing that does not remain and we can affirm that we have is ingenuity. In Spain, the formula has been found to stop depending on other countries to obtain rare earths, and It is by recycling. From a recycling plant, valuable elements are recovered through a process of merger at high temperatures. Other critical minerals. Ester Boixereu, an expert in Mineral and Vocal Resources of ICOG, in an interview for Radio 5, has detailed That rare earths are a critical mineral, but that the list of critical minerals in turn is a “very long list of elements.” In addition, he added that rare earth minerals have a peculiarity, and are not difficult names, but do not form their own minerals. In other words, it is difficult to find a high concentration of these elements, since they are all together in a series of minerals. On the other hand, Extremadura has a lot to offer, as it has great potential for minerals and is also in plans to carry out a Great Lithium Mine. However, making a more general photograph, Spain He is highlighting In the EU as a power in other productions such as copper, wolframium, graphite, vanadium and cobalt, among others. A long road. Despite the potential, rare earth mining is not immediate or simple. Despite the advance in extraction technologies to significantly reduce the environmental impact, there are still concerns about past cases such as that of Aznalcóllar. For this reason, Spanish legislation requires rigorous environmental controls before authorizing any mining exploitation to ensure care of the environment. Image | Pexels Xataka | Europe has been trapped between two powers: US and Russia already discuss the controversial Nord Stream 2 on their own

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