The Acámbaro FIGURES of Mexico

By Fchavez2000 - Own work, GFDL, wikimedia

In 1944, German entrepreneur Waldemar Julsrud found a clay figure near the banks of Cerro del Toro in Acámbaro, Guanjato, Mexico. No stranger to the area, Julsrud had contributed to the discovery of Chupicuaro culture in 1923. Yet as he continued to find similar figures, Julsrud began to wonder whether they corresponded to the same ancient people he helped discover more than 20 years before.

According to Julsrud, a more in-depth search revealed that similar figures were quite plentiful so he employed assistants (mostly local farmers) to help him collect the artifacts. Julsrud told him he would pay 1 peso (12 cents) for every piece found and soon gathered an impressive collection. In a short time, the entrepreneur’s rare assortment grew to an envious size—about 32-37,000 figures.

ALIEN-Like Squid Seen at Deep Drilling Site (+Videos

Kelly Hearn,
for National Geographic News
November 24, 2008

A mile and a half (two and a half kilometers) underwater, a remote control submersible's camera has captured an eerie surprise: an alien-like, long-armed, and—strangest of all -"elbowed" Magnapinna squid.

In a brief video from the dive recently obtained by National Geographic News, one of the rarely seen squid loiters above the seafloor in the Gulf of Mexico on November 11, 2007.

The clip—from a Shell oil company ROV (remotely operated vehicle)—arrived after a long, circuitous trip through oil-industry in-boxes and other email accounts.

"Perdido ROV Visitor, What Is It?" the email's subject line read—Perdido being the name of a Shell-owned drilling site. Located about 200 miles (320 kilometers) off Houston, Texas (Gulf of Mexico map), Perdido is one of the world's deepest oil and gas developments.