Clipmarks | invictus's Archaeology collection

World's oldest wall painting unearthed in Syria

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 01:47:43 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: French archaeologists have discovered an 11,000-year-old wall painting underground in northern Syria which they believe is the oldest in the world.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

A view of a painting uncovered at Djade al-Mughara Neolihic site, northeast of the Syrian city of Aleppo, in this September 2007 handout photo. The painting was discovered by a team of French archaeologists, who described the painting as the oldest in the world. (Handout/Reuters)

Tags: archaeology, syria, art, rock art, prehistory

Caral: The first city in the New World

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:25:35 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: A brief article on a stunning archaeological discovery in South America. About six years ago, Peruvian/American archaeologist Ruth Shady, introduced the "oldest city in America" to the world. It was Caral; an ancient city on the Pacific coast of Peru, with trade centers, temples and a pyramid complex not less impressive than its counterparts in Mexico and Guatemala. The most exciting thing about Caral was its age: The city was carbon dated to ca. 3000 BCE, which strongly suggested a radical change in history textbooks. All evidence show Caral was not an exception in the region and there are many more ancient towns, waiting to be discovered. Another interesting thing about Caral is, its surprisingly peaceful social order. Archaeologists found no city walls, no forts, no signs of an army and even not a single weapon in Caral. Once again, thanks to Ruth Shady for this fantastic discovery.

Clip Source: www.helium.com

For years it was believed that the first city built in the Americas was in the Andes of South America. More recently, however, archaeologists are excavating a site over a thousand years older than anything previously discovered in an unlikely place: the desert plains of the Supe Valley in Peru

Situated near a river, this site known as Caral has been dated to approximately 2627 B.C. This would mean that the city, which has an extensive complex of pyramids and public buildings, predates even the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt.

Caral was occupied roughly from 3000 BC to 2000 BC, when for some reason the city was abandoned.

One singularly unique thing about Caral is the lack of signs of conflict.

The city had no walls, no fortifications, no signs of any military whatsoever. Even more significant, they found no weapons anywhere.

Carbon dating of sites near Caral have revealed dates as old as 2950 BC, indicating that Caral might have been the culmination of hundreds of years of complex building

Tags: archaeology, peru, caral, ruth shady, south america

A "Second Sphinx" at Giza?

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:03:34 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: omega.wordpress.com

After analyzing the elements of the Ancient Egyptian belief system, Egyptologist Bassam El Shammaa comes up with a very unorthodox view that would shake the established Egyptology and most likely, trigger a swarm of fresh debates on the origins of the monuments at Giza. Pointing out the dualist essence of the Ancient Egyptian cosmology, El Shammaa argues the very likely existence of a “Second Sphinx” on the Giza plateau, next to the one we know as The Great Sphinx.

“Whenever we have to deal with the solar cult, we should speak of one lion and one lioness facing each other, posing parallel to each other or sitting in a back-to-back position,” says El Shammaa. He draws our attention to the Egyptian creation myth, where the almighty Atum gives birth to his son Shu and his daughter Tefnut, in the form of a lion and lioness. He also points out that the Dream Stela carved by Thutmosis IV and found between the paws of the giant statue, clearly depicted two sphinxes.

Tags: archaeology, egypt, giza, sphinx

Skeleton Shows Ancient Brain Surgery

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 00:12:55 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Archaeologists have unearthed the skull of a young woman in northern Greece who is believed to have undergone head surgery in the third century, Greek news media reported Wednesday.

A Greek team discovered the skeleton at an ancient cemetery in Veria, with the skull including an injury that led them to conclude the surgery had been performed.

"We think that there was a complex surgical intervention that only an experienced doctor could have performed," said Ioannis Graikos, the head of the archaeological dig.

"Medical treatment on the human body in the Roman Veria is part of a long tradition that began with Hippocrates up to Roman doctor Celsus and Galen," he said, cited in the Ta Nea newspaper.

Hippocrates is believed to have lived in the fifth century BC, Celsus between 25 BC to 50 AD, and Galen from 131 to 201.

Tags: archaeology, greece, brain surgery, ancient science, medicine, science

"Zeus Altar" is older than Zeus

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 21:10:23 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

“On the highest point of the mountain is a mound of earth, forming an altar of Zeus Lykaios, and from it most of the Peloponnesos can be seen,” wrote Pausanias, in his famous, well-respected multi-volume Description of Greece. “Before the altar on the east stand two pillars, on which there were of old gilded eagles. On this altar they sacrifice in secret to Lykaion Zeus. I was reluctant to pry into the details of the sacrifice; let them be as they are and were from the beginning.”

What would surprise Pausanias—as it is surprising archaeologists—is how early that “beginning” actually may be. New pottery evidence from excavations by the Greek-American, interdisciplinary team of the Mt. Lykaion Excavation and Survey Project indicates that the ash altar—a cone of earth located atop the southern peak of Mt Lykaion where dedications were made in antiquity— was in use as early as 5,000 years ago—at least 1,000 years before the early Greeks began to worship the god Zeus.

Tags: archaeology, greece, zeus, minos

Lost land discovered below the North Sea

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:59:17 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Maybe another Atlantis candidate?

Clip Source: www.stonepages.com

Prehistoric landscape found below the North Sea waves

A lost landscape where early humans roamed more than 8,000 years ago has been discovered beneath the British North Sea. A map of the underwater world reveals criss-crossing rivers, giant lakes and gentle hills around which hunter-gatherers made their homes toward the end of the last ice age.

The region was inundated between 18,000 and 6000 BCE, when the warming climate melted the thick glaciers that pressed down from the north. As the water rose, the great plain vanished, and slowly the contours of the British Isles and the north-west European coastline were established. Now the primitive landscape is submerged and preserved, tens of metres beneath one of the busiest seas in the world.

Tags: archaeology, prehistory, undersea, lost land, england

Rosslyn Chapel's "secret code" cracked

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 16:39:49 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Team cracks chapel's music 'code'

Rosslyn Chapel was built in the 15th Century

A father and son team from Edinburgh think they have found a secret piece of music hidden in carvings at a famous medieval chapel in Midlothian.

Stuart Mitchell, 41 and his father Tommy, 75, said they had deciphered a musical code locked in the stones of Rosslyn Chapel for more than 500 years.

They will perform the music in May at a concert in the 15th Century chapel.

Visitor numbers to the chapel have increased rapidly since it featured in Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code.

Stuart Mitchell discovered a series of figures which he calls an "orchestra of angels" at the base of elaborate arches round the altar, with each angel holding a musical instrument.

He worked with his father to decipher the patterns on cubes which jut out from the arches.

Tommy Mitchell said the markings concealed a tune which they were determined to crack.

Tags: rosslyn chapel, edinburgh, music, secret code, archaeology

"The most ancient star map ever found"

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:32:41 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Pleiades depiction from prehistoric Italy.

Clip Source: www.stonepages.com

Two groups of man-made cup markings carved on a pair of boulders found in the Italian Alps may represent the Pleiades star cluster, according to the archaeo-astronomer Guido Cossard. The carvings have been found near the Plan des Sorcières - literally 'The witches' plateau' - at Lillianes, in Val d'Aosta (Italy). According to Mr Cossard, who made the discovery, the series of cup markings have the same shape as the famous star cluster, and it may represent 'the most ancient star map ever found'. "Even the archaeo-astronomical orientation of the site is a confirmation, because it's clearly aligned to the rising point of the Pleiades," added Cossard.

Although the Pleiades are popularly termed the Seven Sisters, only six stars are easily visible to the naked eye, and a considerable mythology has grown up to account for the 'missing' Pleiad, since the times of Eratosthenes (276 BCE - 194 BCE). Additional details of the discovery will be presented in Lillianes City Council on January 17th

Tags: archaeology, archaeoastronomy, pleiades, star charts, prehistory, science

Exploring the "lost city" of Mycenaeans

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:30:58 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Professor Daniel J. Pullen is unearthing a 3600-year-old "lost city" in Aegean coast.

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Along an isolated, rocky stretch of Greek shoreline, a Florida State University researcher and his students are unlocking the secrets of a partially submerged, “lost” harbor town believed to have been built by the ancient Mycenaeans nearly 3,500 years ago.

“This is really a remarkable find,” said Professor Daniel J. Pullen, chairman of FSU’s Department of Classics. “It is rare indeed to locate an entire town built during the Late Bronze Age that shows this level of preservation.”

The settlement, referred to as Korphos-Kalamianos by Pullen and Tartaron, rests on the shores of the Saronic Gulf in the western Aegean Sea about 60 miles to the southwest of the Greek capital, Athens.

Tags: archaeology, aegean, mycenaean, lost city, science

Ancient Underwater City Found in Egypt

Fri, 27 Jul 2007 18:05:14 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: A Smithsonian team discovered an urban settlement below Alexandria harbor, that dated to 11th century BCE.

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Hidden Underwater City Wows Experts

July 26, 2007 — Alexander the Great founded Alexandria to immortalize his name on his way to conquer the world, but his may not have been the first city on the famed site on Egypt's Mediterranean coast. A Smithsonian team has now uncovered first underwater evidence pointing to an urban settlement dating back seven centuries before Alexander showed up in 331 B.C.

The city he founded, Alexandria, has long been a source of intrigue and wonder, renowned for its library, once the largest in the world, and the 396-foot lighthouse at the island of Pharos, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. But little was known about the site in pre-Alexander times, other than that a fishing village by the name of Rhakotis was located there.

Coastal geoarchaeologist Jean-Daniel Stanley of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History said the work by him and his colleagues suggested there had been a much larger community than had previously been believed.

Tags: archaeology, egypt, alexandria, lost city

Ancient Egyptian temple discovered beneath the Nile

Thu, 29 May 2008 14:54:19 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Archaeologists have discovered a portico, or covered entryway, of an ancient Egyptian temple beneath the surface of the Nile River.

The entryway once led to the temple of the ram-headed fertility god Khnum, experts say.

A team of Egyptian archaeologist-divers found the portico in Aswan while conducting the first-ever underwater surveys of the Nile, which began earlier this year.

Today's Nile obscures many objects from ancient times, and archaeologists believe the underwater excavations will reveal other significant artifacts.

Tags: archaeology, egyptology, aswan, nile, temple, science

New "Great Wall" section discovered

Thu, 10 May 2007 14:07:58 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Section of China's Great Wall discovered

BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese archaeologists have discovered a section of the Great Wall straddling the Mongolian border that is the northernmost remnant of the landmark yet found, state media reported Wednesday.

The remnants of the wall, found in the Bayannur district of China's Inner Mongolia region, measures 2.3 metres (7.5 feet) wide and about 1.15 metres high, the Beijing News reported.

Built 2,100 years ago during the Han dynasty, the section also would likely be one of the oldest sections of the wall, which was begun in the reign of the emperor Qin Shi Huang, which began in 221 B.C.

The wall, constructed of stones, was found by a joint team headed by the People's University's School of History, the paper said. No other details were provided.

Tags: archaeology, china, great wall

Tablet ignites debate on messiah and resurrection

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 22:46:05 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks:

"This should shake our basic view of Christianity," he [Israel Knohl] said as he sat in his office of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem where he is a senior fellow in addition to being the Yehezkel Kaufman Professor of Biblical Studies at Hebrew University. "Resurrection after three days becomes a motif developed before Jesus, which runs contrary to nearly all scholarship. What happens in the New Testament was adopted by Jesus and his followers based on an earlier messiah story."

Clip Source: www.iht.com

JERUSALEM: A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.

If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.

The tablet, probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan according to some scholars who have studied it, is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era — in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone.

Tags: religion, christianity, messiah, israel, judaism, resurrection, dead sea scrolls

Top 10 Archaeological Discoveries of 2007

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 04:31:47 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: This is Archaeology Magazine's Top 10 list - mine would be a little different. If you visit source site, there are more discoveries of 2007 which didn't make it into the magazine's list but proposed by scholars.

Clip Source: www.archaeology.org

Solar Observatory at Chankillo, Peru

Nebo-Sarsekim Cuneiform Tablet

New Dates for Clovis Sites

Early Squash Seeds, Peru

Ancient Chimpanzee Tool Use

Urbanization at Tell Brak, Syria

Lismullin Henge, Tara, Ireland

Polynesian Chickens in Chile

Homo habilis & Homo erectus

Greater Angkor, Cambodia

5000 years old "Mini Stonehenge" discovered in Manchester

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:32:08 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.andhranews.net

Archaeologists have unearthed a "mini-Stonehenge" in Greater Manchester, England, which dates back to about 5,000 years.

Archaeologist Stuart Mendelsohn spotted two sites near the moors of Rochdale, believed to be ancient burial sites, during a walk on the hills in December.

English Heritage claimed that both sites were "possible of Bronze age date", suggesting that they could date back to 3,000 BC.

However, unlike the famous monument at Stonehenge, local materials are believed to have been used at the newly discovered sites.

The first site, made up of fallen stones, is 10.2m in overall diameter. The second, which includes the circle, is on the western slope.

The entire site covers an acre, according to an English Heritage report.

Tags: archaeology, england, megaliths, stonehenge, manchester, bronze age, science