Jens Notroff Profile picture
Sep 5, 2021 15 tweets 12 min read Read on X
Movie buffs would probably agree that “#KingdomOfTheCrystal” skull wasn't exactly the most exciting #IndianaJones instalment.

But did you know, there’s a real story behind the plot around the 'lost city' of #Akator and the #Ugha tribe - and that it is no less movie material?
Okay, 'real story’ may be a bit of a stretch in this case, admittedly.

It's more 'story' than real, to be honest - but still, let's take a closer look ...
That story starts with a mysterious 'Indian' all of a sudden appearing in Brazil from the depths of the jungle in the summer of 1972 - introducing himself as #TatuncaNara ("big water snake"), chieftain of the #UghaMongulala (yes, you read this correct) tribe …
The fact that this mysterious white 'Indian' (you guess where the story’s going, don’t you?) barely spoke Portuguese, but fluently German was … remarkable (and still will play a role in this story).

The more remarkable was the tale he kept telling everyone who would listen.
#KarlBrugger, a German author and foreign correspondent was one of those who would listen to #Tatunca’s tale, apparently believing enough of it (or it's potential) to publish this "#ChronicleOfAkakor" in 1976 (preface contribution of English edition depicted here major spoiler).
Ah, #Akakor - an alleged ancient underground city deep in the jungle somewhere between Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru which, according #Tatunca's story, has it all: lost pyramids, occult wisdom, and divine (a.k.a. 🙌 #AncientAliens 🙌) technology …
That #TatuncaNara spun a colorful story and history of this powerful ancient empire, not just one #LostCity™ but several of those, mandatory treasure included.

Sounds more like a pulp novel you say? Well, you’re probably right …
While #Brugger seemed convinced by the #Akakor story (at least enough to find a publisher for it), it had one big flaw. There was only one single source for this fantastic tale: #TatuncaNara.

And of course, if a story sounds to good to be true - it usually is …
In 1990 German confectioner-turned-adventurer and activist #RüdigerNehberg dug deeper. Together with film maker #WolfgangBrög they convinced #Tatunca into taking them on an expedition and - exposed the #hoax.

irisfilm.de/iris2-4.htm
The self-proclaimed Indian #TatuncaNara was ... a German citizen: #HansGüntherHauck, born in 1941 in Coburg – who had been 'disappeared' in the 1960s (due to financial difficulties, apparently).
Ok, so what? A roguish prank, a fooled a journalist and his readers. An old story of lost cities and treasure in yet another variation ...

No harm done? Not quite.
For one, #Tatunca/Hauck turned his fame into a business, guiding tourists into the jungle - a prospect of #Akakor included assumedly.

After some of his clients went missing under unclear circumstances (at least one found dead), questions were raised:

latimes.com/archives/la-xp…
Additionally, the whole #Akakor story's still out there. Despite having been debunked long ago, it’s a still often cited trope fuelling #pseudoarchaeology narratives about ancient civilisations, incl. the racist deprivation of ancient and #Indigenous people's culture and history.
It gets worse: According #Brugger’s record of #Tatunca’s story 2,000 Nazi soldiers made it to Brazil in WWII, teaming up with the #Ugha. Their (white) descendants still living in the underground cities to this day, the rightful heirs to all this ancient super technology etc. pp.
TL;DR: If you thought "#IndianaJones and the #KingdomOfTheCrystalSkull" was not the most creative movie ever written, brace yourself to find the background story of its plot even more outlandish.

spiegel.de/international/…

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More from @jens2go

Aug 5
Buried with an aurochs and, among other animals, canid and marten bones - the fascinating case of a 12,000 y/o early #Neolithic burial reported from #ÇemkaHöyük in Türkiye's 🇹🇷 Upper Tigris Basin - interpreted as possible "#shaman":

via @Newsweeknewsweek.com/prehistoric-sk…
Original study:

E. Kodaş et al., A “shaman” burial from the PPNA settlement of Çemka Höyük, Upper Tigris Basin, Turkiye, L'Anthropologie in press (corrected proof 9 July 2024). 🔐

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
Which adds nicely to the few other rather similar "#ShamanBurials" known, like e.g. the #Natufian one from #HilazonTachtit in a small cave in northern Israel, about the same age:

pnas.org/doi/full/10.10…
Image
Read 11 tweets
Dec 9, 2022
Genuinely digging the idea of #GraphicAbstracts, I was totally game than @lauradietrich_ asked if I could help with a visualisation of her latest #research concerning #Neolithic #querns and #FoodProcessing

So, here we go: "Reading Saddle Querns", a short introduction. Infographic illustrating, in the form of a flowchart beginni
Now you're curious about what this research is about, aren't you? 😉

Here's a joint article with some insight into what the #querns from early #Neolithic #GobekliTepe can tell us:

journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…
Still want to read more?

Well, good news: @lauradietrich_ has published a whole book on "#PlantFood Processing Tools at Early Neolithic #GöbekliTepe" in the meantime.

Available online and #OpenAccess via @Archaeopress here: archaeopress.com Book cover of Laura Dietrich's "Plant Food Processing T
Read 4 tweets
Dec 9, 2022
Also this! I mean, seriously: What's going on here at #Lascaux? #BirdOnAStick 😉
(Forgot to alt-text the image, so here we go: Photo of the so-called shaft scene in Lascaux Cave showing a bison, a man lying in front of it, and a a bird-figure on a stick underneath. There's an additional line at the man's feet and another one crossing the bison's back.)
For those interested: The "bird on a stick" has been discussed as possibly representing a #SpearThrower. Drawing of a man throwing a spear with the help of a spear-t
Read 4 tweets
Dec 8, 2022
How ongoing research is increasing the available corpus (and our understanding) of Pre-Pottery #Neolithic #iconography.

Just a little #archaeology 🧵 on why this is really fascinating. 😉

@DrKillgrove reporting on new finds from #Sayburc in SE Turkey for @LiveScience: Screenshot of a Live Scienc...
Original report ("The #Sayburç reliefs: a narrative scene from the #Neolithic") by E. Özdoğan in @AntiquityJ 96(390), 2022:

cambridge.org/core/journals/…
Of course, the phallus-flashing guy gets all the headlines.

Well, it *is* quite a picturesque scene - one fitting #Neolithic iconographic conventions in the region & an apparently strong focus on male depictions (here's e.g. a comparable image from contemporary #GobekliTepe). Drawing of a 40 cm high scu...
Read 25 tweets
Nov 23, 2022
Maybe fuelled by recent claims that #Neolithic hunters were too "simple" and thus not capable of cultural achievements, there seems to be a misunderstanding about the "#pottery" part in #PrePotteryNeolithic (PPN).

They actually *did* use vessels. Just other vessels.

A short 🧵: Illustration of a Neolithic house with a woman sitting on th
Well known and clearly associated with #PrePotteryNeolithic contexts are e.g. #StoneVessels from different places like #KörtikTepe in Turkey or #JerfElAhmar and #TellAbr in Syria as well as (often fragmented though) many more related sites (including Göbekli Tepe by the way). Photo of two stone vessels, bowl-like with perforations at t
Bringing up the #GöbekliTepe fragments since they illustrate why finding complete vessels is comparably rare: the material was too valuable to not re-use it.

@lauradietrich_, @odietrich_, & myself discussed the "afterlife" of such #StoneVessels here:

jensnotroff.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/ii.20_… Plate with drawings of three stone vessel fragments, apparen
Read 15 tweets
Jul 10, 2022
"Look Klaus Bey, that stone's got ears!"

Sometimes, starting excavations in a new area, you only got a vague idea about what's really waiting below topsoil.

This is how innocent the now famous so-called #TotemPole from #GöbekliTepe peeked out upon its very first appearance.
Oliver put together a nice little thread here telling how the story of this discovery continued on after that first glimpse:
This find (calling it a #CompositeSculpture may be the more appropriate archaeological terminology) is of special interest since it represents a special type of early #Neolithic sculpture in the region also known from other sites:
Read 5 tweets

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