Clipmarks | invictus's Archaeology collection

Afghanistan’s Secret Treasure

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:36:14 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Afghanistan has probably one of the richest cultural and historical heritage, dating back to the third millennium BCE and the land had been a melting pot of Mesopotamian, Harappan, Greek and Chinese civilizations. Unfortunately, the wars and oppressive/dogmatic regimes tried their best to destroy the traces of this brilliant cultural background. Archaeology Magazine's latest issue tells the story of an amazing treasure of ancient artifacts, 95 percent of which was luckily recovered and brought to museums worldwide to be exhibited.

Clip Source: www.archaeology.org

For 20 years the archaeological community believed the artifacts had been destroyed or had disappeared into the antiquities market as a succession of mujahideen warlords won and lost control of Kabul. Finally the Taliban came, and smashed any artifact that seemed vaguely like a religious idol. With the museum collections destroyed or in hiding and the Afghan people struggling to survive, a two-decade rift has opened between the Afghans and the history that defines their nation. An entire generation now entering adulthood has grown up knowing almost nothing about Afghanistan’s place as a melting pot of civilizations from Greece to China.

Tags: archaeology, afghanistan, artifacts, kabul museum

Is Phaistos Disc a forgery?

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:52:04 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: If Dr. Jerome Eisenberg's claims are true, then it means the Phaistos Disc discovery of 1908 deserves to be recorded as "the biggest archaeological hoax of the century". Could it be possible? Could all the archaeologists and experts of the past 100 years who curiously examined the disc, fail to spot a professionally done forgery? I doubt it but we'll learn the truth soon.

Clip Source: entertainment.timesonline.co.uk

Some say that its 45 mysterious symbols are the words of a 4,000-year-old poem, or perhaps a sacred text. Others contest that they are a magical inscription, a piece of ancient music or the world's oldest example of punctuation.

But now an American scholar believes that the markings on the Phaistos Disc, one of archaeology's most famous unsolved mysteries, mean nothing at all — because the disc is a hoax.

Jerome Eisenberg, a specialist in faked ancient art, is claiming that the disc and its indecipherable text is not a relic dating from 1,700BC, but a forgery that has duped scholars since Luigi Pernier, an Italian archaeologist, “discovered” it in 1908 in the Minoan palace of Phaistos on Crete.

Tags: phaistos disc, archaeology, forgery, hoax, minos, undeciphered scripts

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

5000-year-old site discovered in Iran

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:33:25 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.tehrantimes.com

TEHRAN -- A broad site dating back to the third millennium BC was discovered during the latest excavations in Bampur region in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, southeastern Iran.

“In the Bampur valley, there is an ancient site covered with sand mounds, which is as large as the Burnt City and may belong to a civilization as great as the civilization of that the city,” Mehdi Mortazavi, an archaeologist of the University of Sistan-Baluchestan, told the Persian service of CHN on Saturday.

According to Mortazavi, the site measures 1x1.5 kilometer.

“I feel sure that there are a large number of sites like this here. Such sites may even exist in nearby regions like Saravan,” he stated.

Twenty sites -- mostly prehistoric -- have been discovered by the archaeologists of the University of Sistan-Baluchestan over the past few years.

Tags: archaeology, iran, prehistory, burnt city

Mesopotamian Mystery: Who Were The Hurrians?

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:23:25 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Abstract from a very interesting article that appears on Archaeology magazine's latest (July/August) issue.

Clip Source: www.archaeology.org

Scholars long assumed that the Hurrians arrived in the middle of the third millennium B.C., and eventually settled down and adopted cuneiform as a script and built their own cities. That theory is based on linguistic associations with Caucasus' languages and the fact that Hurrian names are absent from the historical record until Akkadian times.

But Piotr Michaelowski, an Assyriologist at the University of Michigan, notes that Hurrian, like Sumerian, is a language unrelated to Semitic or Indo-European tongues that dominated the region during and after the third millennium B.C. Perhaps, he suggests, the Hurrians were earlier inhabitants of the region, who, like the Sumerians, had to make room for the Semitic-speaking people who created the world's first empire based at Akkad in central Mesopotamia around 2350 B.C.

Tags: archaeology, mesopotamia, hurrians, syria, akkad, sumer, bronze age

Ancient cave found under church

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:37:13 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Half a dozen sources (including Fox News) used this news story with the headline "First Church In The World". Of course, they also omitted archaeologist Thomas Parker's words:

"It's quite possible that there was a cave with earlier occupation which was later converted to Christian use. But to make the jump that this was actually used by Christians fleeing Jerusalem in the 1st century A.D. seems like a stretch to me."

Clip Source: www.msnbc.msn.com

AMMAN, Jordan - Archaeologists in Jordan said Monday they have discovered a cave underneath one of the world's oldest churches that may have once been an even more ancient site of Christian worship.

Archaeologist Abdel-Qader Hussein, head of the Rihab Center for Archaeological Studies, says the cave was unearthed in the northern Jordanian city of Rihab after three months of excavation and shows evidence of early Christian rituals.

Thomas Parker, a historian at the University of North Carolina-Raleigh, who led the discovery of the church in Aqaba, said that while he hadn't seen the Rihab site, any such claim should be taken with a degree of caution.

"An extraordinary claim like this requires extraordinary evidence," he said. "We need to see the artifacts and dating evidence to suggest such an occupation in the 1st century A.D."

Parker asked how archeologists could be certain whether the "cave was actually a center of Christian worship."

Tags: archaeology, jordan, amman, christianity, rihab

Montezuma's Palace was discovered in Mexico

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:25:14 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

The remains of an Aztec palace once inhabited by the emperor Montezuma have been discovered in the heart of downtown Mexico City, archaeologists said today.

During a routine renovation project on a colonial-era building, experts uncovered pieces of a wall as well as a basalt floor believed to have been part of a dark room where Montezuma meditated, team leader Elsa Hernandez said.

Montezuma was the Aztec emperor when Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés marched into the Mexico Valley in 1519. He died after being taken hostage by the Spaniards, while the city and the Aztec empire fell in 1521.

His palace complex, known as the Casas Nuevas, or New Houses, to distinguish them from his predecessors' palaces, is thought to have comprised five interconnected buildings containing the emperor's office, chambers for children and several wives and even a zoo.

The Aztec constructions were razed by the Spanish, who built what is now Mexico City atop their ruins.

Tags: archaeology, aztec, mexico, montezuma

Little arrow that rewrites history books

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 18:25:15 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.pretorianews.co.za

Two researchers from Wits University believe that what they have discovered is a 60 000-year-old arrow that was fired from the earliest known bow. Their discovery has pushed back the origins of bow-and-arrow technology by 20 000 years.

The bow, probably made of wood and long since decayed, was used at a time when Neanderthals in Europe were using large spears in duels with woolly mammoths and other large prehistoric game.

The bone arrow, just 5cm long, was excavated by Wadley at the Sibudu cave, near the coastal town of Ballito in KwaZulu Natal, two years ago.

It's mystery who the people were who fashioned the arrow.

Also at this time, humankind was leaving an ever-increasing archaeological record of the first inklings of modern human behaviour. They were burying the dead, using coloured pigments and wearing jewellery.

"This at a time a few thousand years before they walked out of Africa, to become the ancestors of all humans," said Backwell.

Tags: archaeology, anthropology, south africa, prehistory, arrow, science

Who found Machu Picchu?

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:30:27 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: An interesting "archaeology story" - reminded me C. W. Ceram's "Gods, Tombs and Scholars".

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

When Peruvian locals led Hiram Bingham to Machu Picchu in 1911, it was a discovery which would make the Yale professor famous, highly respected and richer.

Bingham went on to become a governor of Connecticut and member of the US senate, and his book on Machu Picchu became a bestseller. Such was his prominence in early 20th century archaeology, that some have speculated that Bingham was the inspiration for the character of Indiana Jones.

But Bingham's claim to be the first to discover Peru's lost city of the Incas is looking more than a little doubtful. Detailed investigations by a US historian have revealed that Machu Picchu was, in fact, discovered over 40 years earlier by a German businessman.

Tags: archaeology, peru, inca, machu picchu, south america, hiram bingham, augusto berns

Mystery Object - The Standard of Ur

Sat, 31 May 2008 16:20:48 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.mesopotamia.co.uk

Leonard Woolley made many exciting discoveries while excavating the 'Royal tombs' at Ur. He learnt a great deal about how people lived and what they believed by studying the burials.

Clip Source: www.mesopotamia.co.uk

Explore the plan below and discover the 'Standard of Ur'.

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

'Peace' panel

Clip Source: www.britishmuseum.org

'War' panel

Clip Source: mosaicartsource.wordpress.com

function is not yet understood

the excavator at Ur, imagined that it was carried on a pole as a standard, hence its common name. Another theory suggests that it formed the soundbox of a musical instrument

The main panels are known as ‘War’ and ‘Peace’. ‘War’ shows one of the earliest representations of a Sumerian army. Chariots, each pulled by four donkeys, trample enemies; infantry with cloaks carry spears; enemy soldiers are killed with axes, others are paraded naked and presented to the king who holds a spear.

mosaic of shell, red limestone and lapis lazuli

The ‘Peace’ panel

a banquet

wearing woollen fleeces or fringed skirts, drink to the accompaniment of a musician playing a lyre

Clip Source: en.wikipedia.org

Iraq's cuneiform tablets getting "virtual life"

Fri, 30 May 2008 14:20:38 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

May 29, 2008 -- A technology normally used in reconstructive surgery to create prosthetic limbs is now being applied to create reproductions of Iraq's precious and fragile cuneiform clay tablets, according to an Italian team of researchers.

Thousands and thousands of artifacts were stolen and broken at Bagdad's museums following the invasion of Iraq in 2003, in what has been called the most catastrophic theft of antiquities since World War II.

Called "Duplication and Rebirth," the project consist of an electronic catalogue with bibliographical references, photographs, and when possible, 3D images of the tablets. These three-dimensional models can then produce exact replicas of the original relics.

While scholars estimate that roughly five million of the tablets are still buried in the mounds of Iraq, some 500,000 are kept in museum and private collections worldwide.

Tags: archaeology, iraq, mesopotamia, writing, cuneiform, technology, science

Pharaonic Army HQ found in Egypt

Thu, 29 May 2008 15:03:25 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Another news story on the recent Sinai findings.

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian archaeologists have discovered what they say was the ancient headquarters of the Pharaonic army guarding the northeastern borders of Egypt for more than 1,500 years, the government said on Wednesday.

The fortress and adjoining town, which they identify with the ancient place name Tharu, lies in the Sinai peninsula about 3 km (2 miles) northeast of the modern town of Qantara, Egyptian archaeologist Mohamed Abdel Maksoud told Reuters.

The archaeologists, led by Abdel Maksoud, have been working on forts along the road since 1986 but it was inscriptions found this year which clinched the identification, he said.

The inscriptions mention three Pharaohs -- Tuthmosis II, who ruled from about 1512 BC and who built one of the military installations along the route, Seti I and Ramses II, who between them ruled Egypt from 1318 to 1237 BC, it added.

Tags: archaeology, egypt, sinai, tharu, egyptology

5500 year old plaza found in Peru

Thu, 29 May 2008 14:58:22 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Ground breaking discoveries began to come one after another in Peru. History textbooks need to be changed.

Clip Source: www.pretorianews.co.za

Lima - A ceremonial plaza built 5 500 years ago has been discovered in Peru, and archaeologists involved in the dig said on Monday carbon dating shows it is one of the oldest structures ever found in the Americas.

A team of Peruvian and German archaeologists uncovered the circular plaza, which was hidden beneath another piece of architecture at the ruins known as Sechin Bajo, in Casma, 229 miles north of Lima, the capital. Friezes depicting a warrior with a knife and trophies were found near the plaza.

"It's an impressive find; the scientific and archaeology communities are very happy," said Cesar Perez, the scientist at Peru's National Institute of Culture who supervised the project. "This could redesign the history of the country."

Prior to the discovery at Sechin Bajo, archaeologists considered the ancient Peruvian citadel of Caral to be one of the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, at about 5 000 years.

Tags: archaeology, south america, peru, sechin bajo, science

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

Ancient Egyptian city unearthed in Sinai

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:02:21 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Another "Breaking News" story from Zahi Hawass... Hmm...

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

CAIRO, Egypt - Archaeologists exploring an old military road in the Sinai have unearthed 3,000-year-old remains from an ancient fortified city, the largest yet found in Egypt, antiquities authorities announced Wednesday.

Among the discoveries at the site was a relief of King Thutmose II (1516-1504 B.C.), thought to be the first such royal monument discovered in Sinai, said Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities. It indicates that Thutmose II may have built a fort near the ancient city, located about two miles northeast of present day Qantara and known historically as Tharu.

A 550-by-275-yard mud brick fort with several 13-foot-high towers dating to King Ramses II (1304-1237 B.C.) was unearthed in the same area, he said.

The ancient military road, known as "Way of Horus," once connected Egypt to Palestine and is close to present-day Rafah, which borders the Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Tags: egypt, archaeology, sinai, new kingdom, zahi hawass