£15 Early American teapot makes £460k

Last year the bidding for the sixth known surviving piece from the John Bartlam factory in Cain Hoy, South Carolina opened at £10,000. It rose quickly in increments of £5000 up to £200,000. Then bids continued in increments of £10,000.

The teapot was estimated at £10,000-20,000. It was found at a flea market.

Largest Creatures to ever walk Earth

In 2016 paleontologists in Patagonia, southern Argentina announced they unearthed a 90-million year-old fossil of what they claim is the largest dinosaur found to date. The dinosaur weighed about 80 tons, the equivalent of 14 grown elephants. The new dinosaur dwarfs even the Argentinosaurus, the previous largest contender.

A complete skeleton was found in a field discovered by a farm worker in 2014, where up to seven such complete skeletons are believed to exist.

The titanosaur lived during the Cretaceous and was a sauropod – a huge plant-eater. Vertebrae and rib bones were among the  finds  from the quarry at La Flecha ranch, Chubut Province in Argentina.

Meteorite smashed into Earth 12,800 years ago

Scientists in South Africa have discovered new evidence that the Earth was struck by a meteorite or asteroid 12,800 years ago, causing global climate change and mass extinction. Soil samples from an archaeological site called Wonderkrater outside a small town north of Pretoria found a spike in platinum levels, which they say supports the Younger Dryas Impact hypothesis. The theory assumes that a disintegrating asteroid, which is high in platinum, impacted Earth, causing an ice age. Many large species were wiped out as a result off the Earth’s rapid cooling. The impact from the asteroid or comet sent dust into the air, which might have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching Earth.

Pollen from various plants also reveal a much cooler period, which is called the Younger Dryas. Scientists believe human populations may have also have been negatively affected.

Utah Dinosaur 'death trap' reveals tove of predators

A nine-ton block of sandstone that was pulled from a Utah mountain in 2014 holds the biggest fossil trove ever found of the giant predatory dinosaur known as Utahraptor. Utahraptor was covered in feathers, with a huge sickle claw on each second toe. All the Utahraptor fossils are contained within a large block of sandstone that was once what geologists call a "dewatering feature," or quicksand. The Utahraptor was the largest of a group of lightly-built carnivores, called the dromaeosaurs ('swift lizards'). It had large eyes, long grasping hands and powerfully clawed feet.

It was carnivorous and relied on a hooked, slashing claw on each foot rather than the jaws and teeth of a typical predator. Its toe joints were specially enlarged so that its massive claw could be raised upward and backward to avoid damage while running.

The dromaeosaur group also included Velociraptor, made famous by Steven Spielberg in 'Jurassic Park'.

By chipping off smaller pieces of the block, researchers uncovered bones from a 16-foot-long adult Utahraptor, four juveniles, and a baby that would have been only about three feet long.

Other bones at the site belong to a beaked, bipedal herbivore called an iguanodont. The dinosaurs may have been what attracted the Utahraptor group to the site.

Nasa admits 'missing' rogue space rock

Known as 2019 TW1, the 52ft wide object is currently powering towards Earth at roughly 26,000 mph. First spotted 2 days ago it's estimated it will careen past this morning. TW1 will pass by at a distance of around 351,000 miles, which is nearly one and a half times the distance from Earth to the Moon. That is alarmingly close in space terms. Near Earth Objects fly past us regularly. The largest, 2019 RK, is only slightly smaller than the famous Chelyabinsk meteor that detonated over Russia in 2013.

The Phoenix

The Phoenix is found across cultures. Ancient legend paints a picture of a magical bird which lives for several hundred years before it dies, bursting into flames. It is then reborn from the ashes, to start a new life. It is an image that is still used commonly in popular culture and folklore. The legendary phoenix is associated with the rising sun and fire. It builds its own funeral pyre and ignites it with a clap of its wings. After death it rises from the ashes.

Egyptians seem to have been the first to incorporate a bird into the concepts of immortality, resurrection and rebirth. They referred to a Bennu in their mythology. Bennu was depicted as a tall bird that resembles a stork. The Book of the Dead describes Bennu as the heart and soul of Ra and the guide of the gods of the underworld. In Greek and Roman myths, the phoenix has been portrayed either as peacock-like or an eagle-like bird bearing crimson and gold feathers.

It was been chronicled as the most beautiful of birds.

The Huma is a mythical bird of Iranian legends and fables. The Huma bird is said to never come to rest, living its entire life flying invisibly high above the earth, and never alighting on the ground. In some Huma myths, the bird is said to be phoenix-like, consuming itself in fire every few hundred years years, only to rise anew from the ashes. The Huma bird is a 'bird of fortune' since its shadow (or touch) is said to be auspicious. Even catching a glimpse of it is sure to make one happy for life.

The Chinese version of the phoenix is Fèng Huáng and is a union of male and female traits. The Fèng Huáng has a head of a swallow with a rooster's beak. Its neck resembles that of a snake's, the back is that of a tortoise's and tail of a fish's. The myth says that it appears only at places which are peaceful and devoid of chaos. The phoenix is Milcham in the Jewish tradition. The legend says that after consuming the 'forbidden fruit' in the garden of Eden, Eve became envious of the other creatures who enjoyed their immortal existence. Therefore, she convinced them to eat the 'forbidden fruit' as well so that they lose their immortality and become lowly mortals. The only creature she could not persuade to do so was the phoenix, who remained immortal.

Rare Viking gold found in Northern Ireland

In 2013 a very rare piece of Viking gold was discovered by an amateur treasure hunter in Northern Ireland. The 86 per cent gold ingot was found at Brickland in Co Down, a short distance from Loughbrickland. Records say the Vikings plundered Loughbrickland in 833 AD.

The gold may be a result of contact between locals and Vikings. The ingots were used as currency. Gold is extremely rare in the Viking period, while there are vast quantities of silver. There are very, very few parallels to the clearly very valuable ingot.

This gold ring was lost by a Viking in Essex

Grave of Celtic Prince reveals gold

In June 2015 French archaeologists completed excavations of an ancient burial site revealing the decorated skeleton of a Celtic prince. The tomb dating back some 2,500 years was discovered in an industrial area of Lavau, a village near Troyes, about 150km southeast of Paris. The finding was described as "extraordinary" by experts. Buried with a two-wheeled chariot, the body is believed to be a high-ranked aristocrat from the Hallstatt culture that dominated central Europe during the Early Iron Age.

The skeleton sported ancient pieces of jewellery including a richly decorated gold torque weighing more than half a kilogram and gold bracelets. Remains of the deceased's clothes, such as shoe parts, finely worked amber beads that formed a necklace, and iron and coral hooks that attached to a piece of clothing were also found.

Ancient Mysteries

Tarim Mummies. During an excavation beneath the Tarim Basin in western China, archaeologists were surprised to discover more than 100 mummified corpses that dated back 2,000 years. Victor Mair was stupefied when he found blonde-haired and long-nosed Tarim mummies after they were dug up and put on display at a museum. In 1993 Mair returned to collect DNA samples from the mummies. Test results validated his hunch that the bodies were of European genetic stock. While ancient Chinese texts describe groups of far-East dwelling Caucasian people, there is no mention of how or why they ended up there.

The Carnac Stones. With over 3,000 standing stones, Carnac (in Brittany) is the largest megalithic site in the world. Not all of the Carnac stones were set up for the same purpose. There are stone circles, rows of stones aligned perfectly, and even mausoleums with roofs made of large stones. Stones may have been periodically placed over thousands of years, but a rough calculation for the beginning of the stone placements is 4000 BC.

Minoan Palace Ruins at Knossos

Fall of the Minoans. The Minoans were an Aegean Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from about 2600 to 1400 BC. The Minoan eruption on the island of Thera (present-day Santorini) was among the largest volcanic explosions in history. The eruption is believed to have severely affected the Minoan culture. Evidence found on Crete indicate that a massive tsunami, generated by the Theran eruption, devastated the coastal areas of Crete and destroyed many Minoan settlements.

Bog Bodies. A bog body is a human cadaver that has been naturally mummified in a peat bog. Such bodies, sometimes known as bog people, are widespread. Bog bodies have retained their skin and internal organs due to the unusual conditions of the bog. These conditions include highly acidic water, low temperature, and a lack of oxygen. The overwhelming majority of bog bodies have been found in Northern Europe, particularly Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The Helike Delta with the Gulf of Corinth at left.

Lost City of Helike Helike was situated on the northwestern part of the Peloponnesian peninsula. During its heyday, Helike was an important economic, cultural and religious centre. One night during the winter of 373 B.C., the city of Helike was obliterated. The rescue party that came in the following morning found no survivors. No trace of the legendary society existed outside of ancient Greek texts until 1861 when an archaeologist found a bronze coin with the unmistakable head of Poseidon. In 2001, a pair of archaeologists located the ruins of Helike.

Rongorongo. Rongorongo is an indecipherable hieroglyphic script used by the early inhabitants on Easter Island. While no other neighboring oceanic people possessed a written language, Rongorongo appeared mysteriously in the 1700s. The language was lost—along with the best hopes for ever deciphering it—after early European colonizers banned it.

Frozen for 40,000 years, this mammoth calf was discovered in 2007 by reindeer herders in Siberia. The remains of two Ice Age puppies were found perfectly preserved in 2015. Long extinct Siberian Cave Lion Cubs were discovered in 2014. Other long-frozen remains may emerge from shrinking ice sheets.