Biblical carving discovered near US has experts wondering about possible link to Jesus' death
Archaeologists finally broke the cipher on 255 strange symbols etched into a Canadian rock over 200 years ago — and it's the Lord's Prayer… in Swedish.
Discovered in 2018 after a tree fell near Wawa, Ontario (just a stone's throw from Michigan), the bizarre runes had stumped many — until Ryan Primrose from Ontario's archaeology squad swooped in with the scoop.
After seven years of trying to decipher what the unusual carving symbolized, Primose finally learned that the etched symbols are part of an alphabet that was used in Scandinavia.
And the symbols translated to a 1611 Swedish version of The Lord's Prayer, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
No other fancy artifacts showed up nearby, so Primrose figured the area where this carved rock lay most likely was treated as an outdoor chapel.
3 Primrose has been working on figuring out the mysterious carving since 2018.
Ryan Primrose/OCARE
The slab also apparently looks like it was deliberately buried, adding a little extra mystery to the mix.
In a recent interview with the CBC, Primose explained that the ruins were covered by inches of soil.
Henrik Williams, a retired Swedish professor emeritus from Uppsala University, also helped to crack the mystery wide open.
He explained to CBC that any 'runic inscription' is 'rare.'
Williams added, 'Someone put all this effort into this particular text and you wonder why.'
He also noted that the 'mystery does not decrease just because of its age.'
Primrose said that he initially held back on spilling the secrets until he was 100% sure the translation was legit.
3 The worn stone looks centuries old— maybe from the 1600s— but the real proof shows Swedish speakers landed here just 200 years ago.
Ryan Primrose/OCARE
'This is certainly among the least expected finds I have encountered in my career,' he shared.
The Lord's Prayer — known to Christians, Catholics and Bible readers alike — pops up twice in the New Testament: once in Matthew's Sermon on the Mount and again in Luke when a disciple asks Jesus how he is supposed to pray.
Speaking of Jesus and his crucifixion, as The Post reported in April, a bombshell NASA find could back up one of the Bible's most vivid scenes — the death and ultimate sacrifice of Christ and the ominous celestial show that followed.
NASA's star charts point to a blood-red moon over Jerusalem on April 3, 33 AD — the same date many say Christ was crucified. Sound spooky? It should.
'From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land,' reads one translation of Matthew 27:45 — the gospel verse that describes the otherworldly and eerie skies as Christ hung on the cross.
3 The Lord's Prayer — a staple for Christians, Catholics, and Bible readers — shows up twice in the New Testament: in Matthew's Sermon on the Mount and again in Luke when a disciple asks Jesus how to pray.
Ryan Primrose/OCARE
'Christian texts mention that the moon turned to blood after Jesus's crucifixion — potentially referring to a lunar eclipse, during which the moon takes on a reddish hue,' NASA wrote.
They explained that their sky-mapping tools traced the ancient eclipse that appeared over Jerusalem just after sunset.
Overall, you can call it divine timing — after 200 years, one prayer finally found its voice again.
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mysterious carving found in northern Ontario wilderness
Seven years ago, a tree fell over in the northern Ontario bush and exposed an archeological mystery that researchers are still trying to understand. Found carved into the bedrock, not far from the town of Wawa, were 255 symbols arranged in a square about 1.2 metres by 1.5 metres, and next to it, there is carved a picture of a boat with 16 people on it, as well as 14 Xs. Photos of the discovery made their way to Ryan Primrose, an archeologist based in New Liskeard and the director of the Ontario Centre for Archeological Education. "Well it's certainly among the least expected finds that I think I've encountered during my career. It's absolutely fascinating," he said. Primrose has been working on the carvings since 2018 and is now talking about it publicly for the first time. "We didn't want to release information publicly until we had done as much as we could at the time to understand exactly what it was," he said. Primrose quickly realized the 255 characters were Nordic runes, part of an alphabet known as Futhark that was used in Scandinavia in centuries past. He was worried some would jump to conclusions that these were carved by Vikings more than a millennium ago. That's why he sought the help of Henrik Williams, an emeritus professor at Uppsala University in Sweden and a leading expert in runology. He came to analyze the well-worn carvings on a drizzly cold October day several years ago. "I was under a tarpaulin for three hours with a flash light, looking at the runes and the others were sitting outside freezing," Williams said. "And I came out with this reading." He realized that the runic writing spelled out the words of The Lord's Prayer in Swedish and traced it back to a 1611 runic version of the prayer, which was republished in the 19th century. "It must have taken days and days of work. They are really deeply carved into the rock. Someone must have spent a couple of weeks carving this thing," Williams said. "And this must have been a Swede. Were there any Swedes at all here?" Primrose said subsequent research has shown that the Hudson's Bay Company did hire Swedes in the 1800s to work at trading posts in the Canadian wilderness, including the Michipicoten post, not too far from where the carving was found. He says his going theory, based on how worn the carving is, is that it was likely made in the early to mid-1800s. Williams admits to being "a little disappointed" that it's only about 200 years old, but says "the mystery around it doesn't decrease just because it's slightly younger than we hoped it was." "Anybody has to start wondering 'Why on Earth did they carve it here and why did they choose that text?' And there's no answers," he said. "But mysteries, they do tend to attract people and this one will certainly do that." Primrose speculates this carving could have been a spot for religious worship, perhaps a gathering place for Swedes who worked at the trading post, or the solitary work of one person. He says the carving was found under several inches of soil and it was likely deliberately buried, but no other artifacts were found in the area which makes it "difficult to tell what's going on." Working with the property owner, Primrose has applied for a lease hold on the land and is hoping to get funding to develop the site into a historical tourist attraction, including a structure over the carving to protect it from further wear. He hopes to have those plans formalized by the end of the summer and then give the public a chance to ponder the mysterious carving in person.
New York Post
7 hours ago
- New York Post
Biblical carving discovered near US has experts wondering about possible link to Jesus' death
Archaeologists finally broke the cipher on 255 strange symbols etched into a Canadian rock over 200 years ago — and it's the Lord's Prayer… in Swedish. Discovered in 2018 after a tree fell near Wawa, Ontario (just a stone's throw from Michigan), the bizarre runes had stumped many — until Ryan Primrose from Ontario's archaeology squad swooped in with the scoop. After seven years of trying to decipher what the unusual carving symbolized, Primose finally learned that the etched symbols are part of an alphabet that was used in Scandinavia. And the symbols translated to a 1611 Swedish version of The Lord's Prayer, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. No other fancy artifacts showed up nearby, so Primrose figured the area where this carved rock lay most likely was treated as an outdoor chapel. 3 Primrose has been working on figuring out the mysterious carving since 2018. Ryan Primrose/OCARE The slab also apparently looks like it was deliberately buried, adding a little extra mystery to the mix. In a recent interview with the CBC, Primose explained that the ruins were covered by inches of soil. Henrik Williams, a retired Swedish professor emeritus from Uppsala University, also helped to crack the mystery wide open. He explained to CBC that any 'runic inscription' is 'rare.' Williams added, 'Someone put all this effort into this particular text and you wonder why.' He also noted that the 'mystery does not decrease just because of its age.' Primrose said that he initially held back on spilling the secrets until he was 100% sure the translation was legit. 3 The worn stone looks centuries old— maybe from the 1600s— but the real proof shows Swedish speakers landed here just 200 years ago. Ryan Primrose/OCARE 'This is certainly among the least expected finds I have encountered in my career,' he shared. The Lord's Prayer — known to Christians, Catholics and Bible readers alike — pops up twice in the New Testament: once in Matthew's Sermon on the Mount and again in Luke when a disciple asks Jesus how he is supposed to pray. Speaking of Jesus and his crucifixion, as The Post reported in April, a bombshell NASA find could back up one of the Bible's most vivid scenes — the death and ultimate sacrifice of Christ and the ominous celestial show that followed. NASA's star charts point to a blood-red moon over Jerusalem on April 3, 33 AD — the same date many say Christ was crucified. Sound spooky? It should. 'From noon until three in the afternoon darkness came over all the land,' reads one translation of Matthew 27:45 — the gospel verse that describes the otherworldly and eerie skies as Christ hung on the cross. 3 The Lord's Prayer — a staple for Christians, Catholics, and Bible readers — shows up twice in the New Testament: in Matthew's Sermon on the Mount and again in Luke when a disciple asks Jesus how to pray. Ryan Primrose/OCARE 'Christian texts mention that the moon turned to blood after Jesus's crucifixion — potentially referring to a lunar eclipse, during which the moon takes on a reddish hue,' NASA wrote. They explained that their sky-mapping tools traced the ancient eclipse that appeared over Jerusalem just after sunset. Overall, you can call it divine timing — after 200 years, one prayer finally found its voice again.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Feeding every child at school isn't impossible, we do it every single day in Sweden
The UK government announced recently it will extend free school meals to include the children of all families who claim universal credit. It will save parents of 500,000 children around £500 every year and, the government says, lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty. But some think the government should go even further. The National Education Union's 'Free School Meals For All' campaign points out that Wales and London already provide free food to all primary school children while Scotland has rolled it out for pupils up to age 10. However, none of these places has gone as far as Sweden. For the past three decades, the Scandinavian country has given every school student up to the age of 16 the right to a free lunch and snack as part of its world-renowned approach - with remarkable results that has seen children actually grow taller as a result. Yahoo News spoke with Yvonne Andersson, a retired headteacher who worked for 43 years in the Swedish school system, to get a first-hand take on the benefits of the country's approach. Andersson worked as a teacher, deputy principal, and then principal in Veberöd, a small town of 6,000 people which is part of the Lund municipality in southern Sweden, taking charge of the local pre-schools and primary schools. She says Sweden's free school meals system gets so much international attention that officials and educators from countries including Tanzania and England have visited to see mealtimes in action. Andersson is a firm proponent of the country's free school meals system — and thinks other countries could learn from Sweden's example. "Not many people have the system that we have in Sweden," Andersson said. "Many educators who have visited our school have been deeply impressed. After visiting many other schools around the world myself and looking at their school meals, I understand - our system is incomparable." Origins of Sweden's free school meals system can be traced back to the 19th century when children living in poverty in certain areas received a free school meal of porridge and milk. By the late 1930s, around 13% of children had access to a free school meal as the state began to provide subsidies. From 1997, this was extended and all Swedish municipalities were obliged by law to serve free school meals to every pupil in compulsory school from the ages of six to 15 or 16. "I was born in 1946. In Malmö, where I was born, free school meals were introduced after the war. So I have always eaten free hot food for lunch at school. For me, it has always been so natural that we didn't think about it," Andersson said. In Andersson's former schools, a free breakfast is served at 7am to preschool children and those who go to after-school care centres. "Each class goes with its class teacher to the dining room and stands in line for the buffet," Andersson says. "They also get fika — a snack and drink break — at 2pm every day. And even when they're taking a break, they are still learning. "Their teachers sit at the tables and talk to them and teach them," Andersson said. "All schools must have restaurants for the students and staff. The staff who eat with the children 'eat educationally' and do not have to pay. 'The after-school care centre children eat in the dining room, and the others in their year groups.' In Andersson's experience, a hot lunch is served at 11am for the youngest children. Then it's the turn of middle school students, and finally the older ones from high school. The buffet approach means pupils have at least four options. "There are two dishes to choose from, one is vegetarian. There is also a special diet for those who do not eat regular food - for example if you are a coeliac or vegan or have a certificate that you cannot eat the food that is served." Any food that is spared doesn't go to waste. "At my school, empty food is served to the village pensioners who are on a tight budget," Andersson said. "They pay 90 krona now (around £6.90 a portion), up from - 70:- (£5.38) a month ago." Petter Lundborg, a professor at the Department of Economics at Lund University, has studied the benefits of free school meals and found that free access in primary school had long-term benefits. Not only did children grow taller, they were more likely to attend university, and also earned more over the course of their lives. In addition, pupils who received school meals during the entire nine years of compulsory school became almost 1cm taller and went to university more often compared with pupils without access to the program. 'Children exposed to the reform earned about 3% more over their lifetime,' Lundborg told Yahoo News. 'The effects were strongest among children from lower-income households, who saw gains of around 6%. We also saw small but meaningful increases in height and educational attainment. 'These results suggest that better nutrition in childhood can support both physical development and academic success, which over time translates into better economic outcomes,' he added. Lundborg also believes that by making meals available to all pupils, it has benefitted lower-income pupils even more. 'One of our most striking findings is that universal access matters. While children from poor backgrounds gained the most, meaning that economic inequality was reduced to some extent, all children benefitted to some extent. 'By making it universal, the school lunch reform raised the floor for everyone and did not involve any stigma,' he added. However, the researchers found no long-term effects on mortality, morbidity or sick leave, nor did it lead to any changes in school attendance, which was high even before school meals were introduced. The program did not affect body size, implying that schools did not provide an unhealthy excess of calories. Public school funding comes out of Sweden's local tax revenue, which varies from municipality to municipality just like it does in the UK's local authority system. While the Swedish national government sets regulations — such as the requirement that school lunches must be nutritious and free of charge for all students — funding does not come directly from the central government but from municipal budgets. "In Lund we pay 21.24 kronor (£1.63) to the municipality for every 100 kronor (£7.68) earned," Andersson explained. "In regional tax we pay 32.42 kronor (£2.50). "The school money is distributed to all children in the municipality, and differs slightly depending on the school's size." Nonetheless, Andersson says the system works because it "makes no difference between the poor and rich." "It has also meant that all parents who wish can work. Even though we were well off and my mother was a housewife at the time, it has also benefited me. Everyone is equal and has the same rights and obligations. It's very positive that everyone can eat their fill." For some pupils, the scheme can also extend to cover their breakfast too. Over her decades years teaching, Andersson is pleased that she witnessed the benefits of the system first-hand. She said: "I have even forced a family with three children to put them in after-school care when their parents could not cope with them and did not get any food at home in the morning. "The mother was sleeping and the children had to go to school hungry. Now they could have a hearty breakfast in the morning, a hot meal for lunch and an afternoon snack before going home from after-school care in the afternoons. I have never seen three such small children eat so much. "I am only positive about our system. It benefits everyone — even the spoiled children who venture out at lunch..." she added.
