Clipmarks | willhelm's Archeology collection

Roman temple found under church

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:25:40 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Israeli archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a Roman temple beneath the foundations of a church.

The building, which dates to the second century AD, was found during an excavation at Zippori, the capital of Galilee during the Roman period.

Coins depict a temple to Roman gods Zeus and Tyche

The columns of one building were probably destroyed in a quake

The first archaeological digs there were begun by an American team in 1930.

The site is one of the most important for mosaics in the eastern Roman empire. More than 40 mosaics have been found dating from the 3rd to 5th Centuries AD.

Dead-Sea Tablet Found that Prophesies Jesus

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:21:09 GMT

clipped by: readmore

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.

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.

It is written, not engraved, across two neat columns, similar to columns in a Torah. But the stone is broken, and some of the text is faded, meaning that much of what it says is open to debate.

"Some Christians will find it shocking — a challenge to the uniqueness of their theology — while others will be comforted by the idea of it being a traditional part of Judaism," Boyarin said.

Tags: jesus, bible, prophecy

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

Afghan oil paintings worlds oldest

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 08:44:47 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Jon Hemming

Artists in Afghanistan were painting using oils as far back as the 7th century, research shows, hundreds of years before oil paint was used in Europe.

This 7th century mural was probably painted by artists travelling along the Silk Road from China, via Afghanistan, to the West

The world's first oil paintings were in caves near two destroyed giant statues of Buddha at Bamiyan.

Researchers examining oil-painted murals on the walls of a cave in Afghanistan

Paint sample from the world's oldest oil painting, showing multiple layers. Apart from oils, the artists used layers of natural resins, proteins and gums to paint murals

Samples from paintings, dating from the 7th century, were taken from caves behind two statues of Buddha that were blown up as un-Islamic by Afghanistan's hardline Taliban in 2001.

The paintings in 12 of the 50 caves were created using oil paints, possibly from walnut or poppy, according to scientists at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in France.

2300 Year Old Model Airplane

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 03:03:50 GMT

clipped by: Rustee
clipper's remarks:

Did anyone actually build a large version of this thing? Well, no one could have come this close to the real shape of flight without working on a larger scale. This little wooden model could hardly exist unless someone had worked with large, light models, or even with man-carrying versions.

Archaeologists have looked in vain for a prototype. A large model light enough to fly would be too delicate to stand the ravages of 2300 years. The original -- if it ever was -- has long since joined the desert dust. Whatever form this Egyptian airplane might have taken, it has long since returned to the world of dreams and imagination from which it first came.

Clip Source: www.uh.edu

The ancient bird models in the Cairo Museum were all pretty similar. Only one in the set was wrong.

In 1969 Khalil Messiha, an Egyptian doctor and amateur student of bird models, noticed it.

This wasn't a bird at all. It was a model airplane, and that wasn't possible.

The other birds had legs. This had none. The other birds had painted feathers. This had none. The other birds had horizontal tail feathers like a real bird.

This strange wooden model tapered into a vertical rudder.

It was all aerodynamically correct. Too much about the model was beyond coincidence.

The model was dug up in Sakkara a hundred years ago. Sakkara is a site of ancient ruins, but this model is more recent. It's from the 3rd century BC, from an age of invention that followed the death of Alexander the Great. That so-called Hellenistic period gave us gears, screws, plumbing, control valves, Euclidian geometry, Archimedes, and Ptolemy's astronomy.

And so, it seems, it also produced a modern concept of flight.

Tags: history, egypt

'Breakthrough' at Stonehenge dig

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:03:32 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: There are 2 videos at the source site.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Archaeologists carrying out an excavation at Stonehenge say they have broken through to a layer that may finally explain why the site was built.

The team has reached sockets that once held bluestones - smaller stones, most now missing or uprooted, which formed the site's original structure.

The researchers believe that the bluestones could reveal that Stonehenge was once a place of healing.

The dig is the first to take place at Stonehenge for more than 40 years.

The team now needs to extract organic material from these holes to date when the stones first arrived.

They believe that the bluestones, which were transported 250km from the Preseli Hills in Wales to the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, were brought to the site because the ancient people believed they had healing properties.

Tags: stonehenge, megaliths, england, archaeology, science

Archaeologists unveil new finds at digs for subway in downtown Rome

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:23:12 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.iht.com

ROME: A sixth-century copper factory, medieval kitchens still stocked with pots and pans and remains of Renaissance palaces are among the finds unveiled Friday by archaeologists digging up Rome in preparation for a new subway line.

Archaeologists have been probing the depths of the Eternal City at 38 digs often set up near famous monuments or on key thoroughfares.

Over the last nine months, remains including Roman taverns and 16th-century palace foundations have turned up at the central Piazza Venezia and near the ancient Forum where works are paving the way for one of the 30 stations of Rome's third subway line.

"The medieval and Renaissance finds that were brought to light in Piazza Venezia are extremely important for their rarity," said archaeologist Mirella Serlorenzi, who is working on the site.

Serlorenzi said that among the most significant discoveries in a ninth-century kitchen were three pots that were used to heat sauce. Only two others had been found previously in Italy.

Tags: archaeology, rome

10 most overlooked mysteries...

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:24:43 GMT

clipped by: hitchhiker08

Clip Source: www.tutztutz.com

Top 10 Most Overlooked Mysteries in History

1. Disappearance of the Indus Valley Civilization

The ancient Indus Valley people, India’s oldest known civilization had a culture that stretched from Western India to Afghanistan

2. The Tarim Mummies

An amazing discovery of 2,000 year old mummies in the Tarim basin of Western China occurred in the early 90s.

3. The Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich Manuscript is a medieval document written in an unknown script and in an unknown language.

4. The Lost Roman Legion

After the Parthians defeated underachieving Roman General Crassus’ army, legend has it that a small band of the POWs w

5. Who Was Robin Hood ?

The historical search for the legendary thief Robin Hood has turned up masses of possible names.

6. The Carnac Stones

Everyone has heard of Stonehenge, but few know the Carnac Stones.

7. Fall of the Minoans

8. The Bog Bodies

9. Lost City of Helike

10. Rongorongo

Tags: bizarre, mysteries, civilization, history