Amaro Pargo: The Canary Island Corsair Behind the Treasure Stories
Shipping records, an inheritance dispute and a library of navigation books reveal how Amaro Pargo built the fortune that later fed his legend.
Independent reporting on space, archaeology and ancient worlds
Browse Curiosmos
Shipping records, an inheritance dispute and a library of navigation books reveal how Amaro Pargo built the fortune that later fed his legend.
Three tiny crosses, a zinc-rich stain and traces of plaster offer a closer look at Scotland’s coronation stone—and leave some questions open.
Abaris carried Apollo’s arrow in Herodotus and rode it in Iamblichus. Comparing the ancient texts reveals different versions of the Hyperborean traveller.
The Bentresh stela tells of Khonsu healing a foreign princess. Its divine journey, uncertain date and museum objects reveal a complex Egyptian religious story.
Miami gardeners preserved Gete Okosomin through cultivation and controlled pollination. Interviews trace its travels and distinguish it from seeds said to have come from a cave.
Malta’s cart ruts may record wheeled transport or deliberately cut field furrows. Compare the published models, limestone weathering and unresolved dating.
Were hussar wings battlefield equipment or parade dress? Polish museum records reveal different attachments, changing fashions and gaps in the evidence.
Egyptian heart scarabs carried spells for the final judgment. Four museum objects reveal their inscriptions, personal names and differences from ordinary scarabs.
Caral’s shicras were stone-filled fibre bags. Explore their construction role, a 2013 shaking-table study and the questions it leaves for archaeology.
Could volcanoes have shaped Polyphemus’s story? Compare the Odyssey, later Sicilian accounts and the volcanic history of the Cyclops Islands.
Explore Walpurgis Night through Harz witch traditions, Swedish bonfires, museum records and the real shadow phenomenon called the Brocken spectre.
An inscribed Danish pendant names itself as a hammer. Comparing it with Swedish graves, a settlement ring and a casting mould reveals several uses of Thor’s symbol.
Brigid’s crosses appear in folklore accounts and museum collections. Explore household protection, regional designs and the influence of television.
Why is a Shiva statue at CERN? Explore the documented Indian gift, Nataraja’s symbols and Fritjof Capra’s comparison with particle physics.
Sky Woman and Turtle Island take shape through animals, soil and family relationships. Named Oneida tellings reveal details often lost in a single summary.
Follow Yatagarasu from Japan’s guiding-bird legend to shrine talismans and football, including when the three-legged image entered the tradition.
Thoth appeared as an ibis and a baboon. Museum objects reveal their shared roles, lunar attributes and the details that complicate simple explanations.
Osun-Osogbo brings Yoruba worship, a protected forest and monumental modern art together. Its makers and conservation records reveal a living sacred place.
Trace Krampus through Alpine winter customs, museum objects and historical records, and explore why the horned figure keeps changing while retaining his appeal.
Cosmic strings feature in a mathematical time-travel proposal. Explore Gott’s solution, its physical obstacles and the gravitational-wave searches for the strings themselves.
The Fountain of Youth became attached to Ponce de León in accounts printed after his death. Oviedo’s own passages reveal the chronicler’s hostile portrayal.
Explore Ogopogo sightings, the Syilx water spirit nx̌aʔx̌ʔitkʷ, and the observations that could help investigate an unexplained shape on Okanagan Lake.
Ancient accounts connect the Golden Fleece with gold caught in sheepskins. We examine Strabo, the river-mining mechanism and the original geological study.
A 2026 proposal asks whether fragments of distant technology could survive in lunar soil. Finding them would require far more than an unusual grain.