A 430,000-year-old whodunit

Plus: The Ark of the Covenant, early humans, and other mysteries. [ ] [VINTAGE SURREALISM]( [VIEW ONLINE]( [VINTAGE SURREALISM]( [National Geographic]( Your Weekly Escape In honor of the publication last week of our extraordinary feature on [the centuries-old mystery of Stonehenge]( we dug into our archives to bring you a special edition of Your Weekly Escape: more fascinating unsolved mysteries and burning questions to sink your teeth into. JAVIER TRUEBA/MADRID SCIENTIFIC FILMS [The world's first known murder happened 430,000 years ago]( The first known murder was just as brutal as any other. The attacker smashed the victim twice in the head, leaving matching holes above the victim's left eyebrow. The dead body was then dropped down a 43-foot shaft into a cave—Spain's infamous "Pit of Bones"—where it lay for nearly half a million years. [WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE VICTIM]( PHOTOGRAPH BY HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES [The Ark of the Covenant is an enduring mystery. Is it even real?]( This legendary artifact is the ornate, gilded case said to have been built some 3,000 years ago by the Israelites to house the stone tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written. Biblical accounts describe in detail what it looked like, and it's been linked to several miracles. What do archaeologists say? [MYTH VS. REALITY]( PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK THIESSEN [Even T. rex would have feared Zuul, the 'destroyer of shins']( Zuul crurivastator, a recently discovered species of ankylosaurid, was a 20-foot-long living tank bristling with armor. In death, this hulking fossil is amazingly well-preserved from its snout to its sledgehammer-like tail—the perfect weapon for delivering bone-shattering damage. [THE 'GHOSTBUSTERS' DINO]( PHOTOGRAPH BY NASA [Jupiter is so much weirder than we thought]( Scientific findings from the Juno spacecraft have shown a world of intricate clouds and intense magnetism—and also painted a picture of a planet that doesn't work the way scientists thought it would, from the tops of its clouds to a potentially oversized, eroding core. [SEE THE SURREAL PHOTOS]( PHOTOGRAPH BY JEAN PAINLEVÉ [In the 1920s, a visionary photographer mixed surrealism with science]( From the ethereal mating dance of seahorses to octopus tentacles emerging from a watery fog, Jean Painlevé presented common sea creatures as both scientific specimens and as works of art. [SEE VINTAGE PICTURES]( [Sign up here]( to receive Your Weekly Escape and/or our daily newsletters—covering History, Environment, Science, Animals, Travel, and Photography news. [NGM]( [NGM]( [SHOP]( [DONATE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [TRAVEL]( [READ OUR LATEST STORIES]( [SHOP]( [DONATE]( [SUBSCRIBE]( [TRAVEL]( [FB]( [Twitter]( [IG]( Clicking on the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and National Geographic Channel links will take you away from our National Geographic Partners site where different terms of use and privacy policy apply. This email was sent to: {EMAIL}. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored. This email contains an advertisement from: National Geographic | 1145 17th Street, N.W. | Washington, D.C. 20036 [Stop all types of future commercial email]( from National Geographic regarding its products, services, or experiences. [Manage all email preferences]( with the Walt Disney Family of Companies. © 2022 National Geographic Partners, LLC, All rights reserved.