Clipmarks | invictus's 'archaeology' clips

5000-year-old site discovered in Iran

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:33:25 GMT

clipped by: invictus

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

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

Archaeologist claims discovery of Cleopatra's tomb

Mon, 26 May 2008 22:05:55 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Probably a new Zahi Hawass media show. Let's wait and see.

Clip Source: www.dailyindia.com

London, May 25: A flamboyant archeologist claims to have identified the final resting place of Cleopatra, the Hellenistic ruler of Egypt, who originally shared power with her father Ptolemy XII and eventually gained sole rule of Egypt.

Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities along with a team of 12 archaeologists and 70 excavators, has started searching for the entrance to her tomb.

And after a breakthrough two weeks ago, he suspects Cleopatra is buried with her Roman lover Mark Antony at a temple 30km from Alexandra called Tabusiris Magna.

Hawass has found a 400ft tunnel beneath the temple containing clues that the supposedly beautiful queen may lie beneath.

"Our theory is that both Cleopatra and Mark Antony are buried here," said Hawass.

Tags: archaeology, egyptology, cleopatra, zahi hawass

Solving the mystery of Nazca Lines

Mon, 26 May 2008 22:00:10 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.dailyindia.com

Washington, May 23: Two British archaeologists are trying to solve the mystery of the Nazca Lines in Peru by locating and measuring the lines with high-precision GPS, photographing the distribution of 1,500-year old pottery, and working out the chronological sequence of overlying lines and designs.

Funded by the Anglo-Peruvian Cultural Association in Lima, their research hopes to unlock the purpose of the dazzling but confusing array of desert drawings.

Professor Ruggles and Dr Saunders agree with other experts that some lines were pathways across the desert, others had a more religious significance, while some appear associated with desert scars caused by flash-floods, and are probably linked to the veneration of water.

According to Dr Saunders, "Identifying which lines came first, whether they were spiritual or functional, and exactly how they were used during a thousand years of prehistory is a great challenge."

Tags: archaeology, south america, peru, nazca, mystery

Past Horizons: A new online archaeology magazine

Sat, 17 May 2008 16:03:02 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: The second issue is online. Past Horizons uses the new Digipage, with "page turning" look and feel, easy to browse, look and read.

Clip Source: www.pasthorizons.com

Past • Horizons

A Magazine for everyone

Issue 2: May 2008 ( best viewed at 1024 resolution - ensure you have flash installed.)

Capturing the Moment: Culloden - Jordan: Ancient Images - Digging for Trouble - Mysterious Animal Pits - History in your Hands - Food for Thought - Digging the Past

In addition we have our regulars: Editorial ~ News ~ Viewpoint ~ Dig in ~ Dig Cook ~ Proﬁle ~ Funpage

Please do get in touch with us, with criticism or compliments. editor@pasthorizons.com

Tags: archaeology, magazines, free, media, science

Puzzling pagan burials at the famous Christian catacomb

Sat, 17 May 2008 15:47:16 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: A very interesting article on the new discoveries at one of Rome's biggest catacomb complex, which was thought to be a Christian site for years. The latest foundings revealed the skeletons of more than 100 humans which predate Christianity and possibly "pagan burials". Puzzled scientists are working at the site for further details and clues. From the Archaeology Magazine.

Clip Source: www.archaeology.org

When a sinkhole opened up after a pipe broke underneath the convent and school of the Instituto Sacra Famiglia on Rome's Via Casilina, the sisters there received a surprise--about 1,200 surprises, in fact. The partial collapse of the building's foundation revealed five large chambers in which the remains of more than a thousand individuals had been interred almost simultaneously sometime at the beginning of the third century A.D.

Perhaps equally surprising is the location in which they were found. The convent under which the burial chambers are located sits atop the vast catacomb complex of San Pietro and Marcellinus. With three distinct gallery levels, the deepest of which is 36 feet (11m) below the surface, it is one of the largest such burial complexes in the city.

"there is at the moment no conclusive proof that can exclude the possibility that these may in fact be pagan burials." Which begs the question: What would pagan burials be doing in the middle of a Christian catacomb?

Tags: archaeology, ancient rome, christianity, via casilina, san pietro, marcellinus, pre-christian, pagan, roman empire, science