Huge cemetery with at least 250 rock-cut tombs discovered in Egypt
About 250 tombs, some with fancy layouts and hieroglyphics, have been discovered cut into a hill at Al-Hamidiyah cemetery to the east of Sohag, in Egypt’s the Eastern Desert, about 240 miles (386 kilometres) southeast of Cairo, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said.
About 250 tombs have been found cut into the sides of a hill in Egypt’s the Eastern Desert. They date between roughly 4,200 and 2,100 years ago.
The tombs were constructed at different times in Egypt’s history, the archaeologists said in a statement from the ministry.
The earliest were constructed about 4,200 years ago, at a time when Egypt’s “Old Kingdom,” as modern-day Egyptologists call it, was collapsing.
At this time, the pharaohs of Egypt were losing control of the country, as a number of local governors gained power. Why these tombs were cut into the hill is not clear but it was not an uncommon practice in ancient Egypt.
The tombs in the cemetery that date to the end of the Old Kingdom tended to have a more elaborate architecture that included an entrance corridor leading down to a gallery with a burial room located in the southeast part of the structure.
The archaeologists also found pieces of limestone with hieroglyphic inscriptions in some of these tombs; they also discovered what may be the remains of plates that were placed as funerary offerings to tomb owners, the ministry said in the statement.
Animal remains, including these horns, were found inside some of the tombs.
In some of the tombs dating back 4,200 years, archaeologists found limestone pieces that have hieroglyphic writing on them. They may have been part of plates that were used as offerings to tomb owners.
The rock-cut tombs have different architectural layouts. Shown here, is the interior of one of those tombs.
Painted spherical vessels were found in some of the tombs. They may have been used to store liquids.
In one tomb that dated to the end of the Old Kingdom, archaeologists found paintings that depict the tomb owner slaughtering animal sacrifices, and people making offerings for the deceased, Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said in the statement.
The latest of the tombs found in the cemetery date to almost 2,100 years ago, the end of what modern-day scholars call the “Ptolemaic Period.”
At this time, pharaohs descended from Ptolemy I, who was one of Alexander the Great’s generals, ruled Egypt.
Roman power in the region was growing around 2,100 years ago, and in 30 B.C., after Cleopatra VII died by suicide, Egypt became a Roman province.
The team discovered numerous artefacts inside the tombs, including cups, jars and plates — some of which were full-sized examples that may have been used in daily life, and others that were miniature vessels possibly used as symbolic offerings for the deceased, the ministry said in the statement.
The tombs also contained painted spherical vessels that could have been used to store liquids. What was left of a round metal mirror was found in one tomb, and many of the tombs held both animal and human remains.
Research at the site is ongoing and more tombs may be found in the future, Waziri said.
Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Dagger Linked to Enigmatic Indian Civilization
Archaeologists working in the village of Konthagai in southern India have found a rusted iron dagger preserved in a burial urn alongside skeletal remains, the Times of India reports. The discovery is part of a major excavation effort in the state of Tamil Nadu that seeks to shine a light on the ancient Keeladi civilization.
This iron dagger’s well-preserved wooden handle may help researchers date artefacts found in Konthagai.
Though the dagger’s 16-inch steel blade was rusted and broken in half, part of its wooden handle remained intact. R. Sivanandam, director of the Tamil Nadu Department of Archaeology, tells the Hindu that this type of weapon was used by warriors during the Sangam period, which spanned roughly the third century B.C.E. through the third century C.E.
The wood’s unusual preservation may allow researchers to precisely date the artefacts found at the site. Sivanandam says a lab in the United States will attempt to date the dagger handle.
Since the start of the digging season in February, archaeologists in Konthagai have discovered 25 burial urns. Some were filled with bones, weapons and other objects. Scientists at Madurai Kamaraj University in Tamil Nadu are conducting DNA tests on human remains.
As the Times notes, the researchers think that Konthagai was a burial site for the Keeladi civilization. Teams are also excavating ancient Keeladi sites in the villages of Agaram, Manulur and Keeladi—the place that gives the civilization its name.
Per the Tamil Nadu Department of Archaeology, carbon dating of artefacts dated some to as early as 580 B.C.E. The digs have yielded large numbers of cow, ox, buffalo and goat skeletons, suggesting agricultural activity by the ancient Keeladi people.
Archaeologists have also found structures with clay floors; brick walls; and post-holes, which may have held wooden poles used to support roofs. Artefacts recovered at the site show that members of the civilization played board games and inscribed letters on pottery using the Tamil-Brahmi script.
The Keeladi civilization may be linked to the famed Indus Valley, or Harappan, civilization.
Many discoveries made in the area date to around 500 B.C., when an agricultural surplus allowed people to build urban centres in what’s known as the subcontinent’s “second urbanization.” (The name reflects a contrast with the much earlier “first urbanization” of the Harappan, or Indus Valley, civilization, which began around 2500 B.C.E.) While scholars previously believed that the second urbanization happened mostly along the Central Ganges Plain in northern India, the new evidence suggests a similar phenomenon occurred in the south as well.
Sivanandam tells DT Next’s J. Praveen Paul Joseph that findings at the Keeladi sites show evidence of ancient industrial production sites. Archaeologists have found spinning and weaving tools, cloth dyeing operations, brick kilns, and ceramic workshops.
In 2019, M.C. Rajan of the Hindustan Times reported that discoveries at Keeladi suggest the community that lived there—also referred to as the Vaigai civilization after a nearby river—may have descended from the Harappan civilization. As it declined, its people may have travelled south to start new lives.
The findings also offer material evidence about the Sangam period, which is known mainly for its Tamil literature.
Based on the archaeological evidence, some researchers now say the Sangam period began earlier than previously thought, around 600 B.C.E.
T. Udayachandran, secretary of the state archaeological department, told the Hindustan Times that the civilization was “an Indigenous, well developed self-sustaining urban culture with an industry and script, indicating that the people of that era were highly literate.”
Mystery of a 300-year-old mummified ‘mermaid’ with ‘human face’ and tail has baffled scientists
Japanese scientists are probing a mysterious 12-inch creature, which was allegedly caught in the Pacific Ocean, off the Japanese island of Shikoku, between 1736 and 1741. The baffling mummified creature is now kept in a temple in the city of Asakuchi. Shaped like a mermaid, the creature has hair, teeth, nails, and a lower body with scales.
It’s not yet clear how or when the mummy came to the Enjuin temple in Asakuchi.
With a grimacing face, pointed teeth, two hands, and hair on its head and brow, it has an eerily human appearance – except for its fish-like lower half.
Researchers from the Kurashiki University of Science and the Arts have taken the mummy for CT scanning in a bid to unravel its secrets, as per an NYT report.
Hiroshi Kinoshita of the Okayama Folklore Society, who came up with the project, told NYT the bizarre creature could have religious significance.
“Japanese mermaids have a legend of immortality,” he added.
“It is said that if you eat the flesh of a mermaid, you will never die.”
“There is a legend in many parts of Japan that a woman accidentally ate the flesh of a mermaid and lived for 800 years.”
“This ‘Yao-Bikuni’ legend is also preserved near the temple where the mermaid mummy was found.”
“I heard that some people, believing in the legend, used to eat the scales of mermaid mummies.”
“There is also a legend that a mermaid predicted an infectious disease,” Hiroshi stated.
Also, a historic letter from 1903, apparently penned by a former owner, was stored alongside the mummy and gives a story about its provenance.
“A mermaid was caught in a fish-catching net in the sea off Kochi Prefecture,” the letter states.
“The fishermen who caught it did not know it was a mermaid, but took it to Osaka and sold it as unusual fish. My ancestors bought it and kept it as a family treasure.”
It’s not yet clear how or when the mummy came to the Enjuin temple in Asakuchi.
But chief priest, Kozen Kuida, said it was put on display in a glass case some 40 years ago and is now kept in a fireproof safe.
“We have worshipped it, hoping that it would help alleviate the coronavirus pandemic even if only slightly,” he told The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper.
Kinoshita, however, takes a more pragmatic view of the creature.
One claim of the origins is that it might be a hoax and the creature may be an article of the show meant to be exported to Europe, according to another report.
The findings of the scientists are expected to be published later in 2022.
A 5,000-year-old wooden boat used by the pharaohs is discovered by French archaeologists
French archaeologists have discovered a 5,000-year-old wooden boat in an expedition in Egypt, it has emerged. The significant discovery was made in Abu Rawash, west of Cairo, the antiquities ministry in Egypt said.
Mohammed Ibrahim, the antiquities minister, said: ‘It goes back to the era of Pharaoh Den, one of the First Dynasty kings’.
The six-metre long and 1.5-metre wide pharaonic solar boat ‘is in good condition,’ he added.
Discovery: French archaeologists have discovered a 5,000-year-old pharaonic solar boat in an expedition in Egypt, it has emerged
Its planks are now undergoing renovation before it is put on display in a museum.
The pharaohs believed that solar boats, buried close to them at death, would transport them in the afterlife.
According to Middle East Online, the boat’s wooden sheets were transported to the planned National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation where they will be restored.
Once the museum is finished, it is expected they will be put on display at some point next year.
The group of French archaeologists were working for the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (IFAO).
Significant: The discovery was made in Abu Rawash, west of Cairo
Stunning: An archaeologist is seen working on the skeleton of the newly discovered wooden boat. The pharaohs believed that solar boats, buried close to them at death, would transport them to the afterlife
The group first started its excavation work in Abu Rawash in the early 1900s.
In 1954 an Egyptian archaeologist discovered what may be the Pharaoh Khufu’s 43-metre solar ship, made of cedar, in a Giza pyramid.
The 4,500-year-old intact vessel is on display near the pyramid.
It is one of the oldest, largest, and best-preserved vessels from antiquity and has been identified as the world’s oldest intact ship.
It is known as a ‘solar barge’, a ritual vessel to carry the resurrected king with the sun god Ra across the heavens.
These Ancient Greek Helmets Tell of a Naval Battle 2,500 Years Ago
Archaeologists in southern Italy announced last week that they unearthed two helmets, fragments of weapons and armour, bits of pottery and the remains of a possible temple to Athena at an archaeological excavation of the ancient Greek city of Velia, reports Frances D’Emilio for the Associated Press (AP).
Chalcidian helmets such as this one were often worn by ancient Greek warriors.
Researchers, who have been working the site since last July, announced in a translated statement that they believe that these artefacts are linked to a major maritime battle that changed the balance of power in the Mediterranean nearly 2,500 years ago.
Ancient Greeks may have left the items behind after the Battle of Alalia. Between 541 and 535 BCE, a fleet of Phocaean ships—who had set up a colony, Alalia, on the island of Corsica—set sail on the nearby Tyrrhenian Sea to fend off attacks from neighbouring Etruscan and Carthaginian forces, per the statement.
An archaeologist works to free one of the helmets from the dig site.
Though the Greeks emerged victoriously, the costly sea battle ultimately spurred the Phocaean colonists to leave Alalia and establish a colony closer to other Greek settlements along the southern coast of Italy.
Settlers from Phocaea sailed for the mainland and purchased a plot of land that would eventually become Velia, according to the Guardian.
Initial studies of the helmets reveal that one was designed in the Greek Chalcidian style, while the other helmet resembles the Negua headpieces typically worn by Etruscan warriors, per ANSA.
The archaeologists suggest Greek soldiers might have stolen these helmets from conquered Etruscan troops during the Battle of Alalia, per the statement.
An aerial view of the dig site at the acropolis of Velia, an ancient Greek colony in present-day southern Italy that was founded shortly after the Battle of Alalia.
In another major find, researchers also unearthed several brick walls that date to Velia’s founding in 540 B.C.E. and may have once formed a temple to the mythical Greek goddess of war and wisdom, Athena, as Angela Giuffrida reports for the Guardian.
Measuring about 60 feet long by 23 feet wide, the walls were likely constructed in the years just following the Battle of Alalia, says Massimo Osanna, the archaeological park director and head of Italian state museums, per Italian news agency ANSA.
The archaeologists say the Phocaeans may have offered the enemy armour as a tribute to the goddess.
Archaeologists unearthed two helmets including one, pictured here, that appears to be created in the Etruscan “Negua” style. Experts suggest that Greek soldiers might have stolen this piece of armour from Etruscan forces during the Battle of Alalia.
“It is, therefore, possible that the [Phocaeans] fleeing from Alalia raised [the temple] immediately after their arrival, as was their custom, after purchasing from the locals the land necessary to settle and resume the flourishing trade for which they were famous,” says Osanna in the translated statement. “And to the relics offered to their goddess to propitiate her benevolence, they added the weapons snatched from the enemies in that epic battle at sea.”
Located near the structure, the team found fragments of pottery inscribed with the Greek word for “sacred,” several pieces of bronze and metal weapons and bits of what appears to be a large, decorated shield.
Researchers plan to clean and analyze the artefacts in a laboratory for further study, where the director says they hope to find more information, particularly on the helmets.
She says in that statement that there may be inscriptions inside of them, something common in ancient armour, that could help trace the armour’s history, such as the identity of the warriors who wore them.
1,500-year-old bakery structure found in Turkey’s Perre
In the ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Perre, located in the southeastern province of Adıyaman, archaeologists found a 1500-year-old bakery structure on Monday.
Starting in 2001, the excavations have been carried out at intervals in the ancient city of Perre.
A historical Roman fountain, large block stones, water channels and various architectural structures were unearthed in this year’s work.
A view from the bakery structure in the ancient city of Perre, Adıyaman, southeastern Turkey, Nov. 22, 2021. (AA)
The latest discoveries by the archaeologists in the ancient city are wine workshop areas and a bakery structure created to meet the needs of the people of that period, along with nails belonging to the structure.
Mehmet Alkan, the head of the museum, told Anadolu Agency (AA) that the wine workshop areas and bakery were discovered near the necropolis of the city.
Noting that they found hundreds of nails in the bakery structure, Alkan continued: “These nails were used both to connect the door and as decoration.”
A tandoor was also unearthed in the northeastern part of the bakery structure.
Perre was one of the biggest cities of the Kingdom of Commagene. It was an important city in terms of religious and geopolitical aspects.
The beauty of the city’s water was mentioned in ancient Roman sources.
The ancient city lost its importance after the Byzantine Period and never regained its former glory.
The rock tombs, the main attractions of Perre, were carved into the rocks and have a wonderful appearance.
Also, the large mosaics found in the city bear fascinating heart motifs, three-dimensional globe figures and octagonal geometric modules that arouse interest.
Experts claim material from Tutankhamun’s dagger may have come from outer space
A gold-hilted dagger found in the tomb of King Tut surprised archaeologists when they discovered that it was made of a material forged in outer space. Now, two new studies are painting conflicting pictures of the origins of the mysterious weapon, which may have been wielded by arguably the most famous ancient Egyptian pharaoh.
A dagger made from meteors was found in the tomb of King Tut.
One of those studies on the dagger, made of iron from meteors, suggests it was manufactured in Anatolia (modern-day Turkey), while the other study indicates its Earthly origins are still a mystery.
At the time King Tutankhamun reigned (1333 B.C. to 1323 B.C.), iron smelting had not been invented yet, meaning the metal was a rare and precious commodity that often came from meteors.
In one of the new studies, published Feb. 11 in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, researchers describe how an adhesive used on the dagger’s gold hilt was likely made of lime plaster, a material that was used in Anatolia at the time Tutankhamun reigned. This lime plaster, however, was not widely used in Egypt at that time, the researchers wrote.
Additionally, historical records found at the site of Amarna, in Egypt, show that Tushratta, the king of Mitanni in Anatolia, gifted at least one iron dagger to Amenhotep III (who reigned from about 1390 B.C. to 1352 B.C.), the grandfather of Tutankhamun, the researchers noted.
The team also found that the “iron blade was made by low-temperature heat forging at less than 950 °C [1,742 degrees Fahrenheit],” since a mineral called troilite and formations of iron-nickel crystals known as “widmanstätten patterns” could be seen on the dagger, the researchers wrote in the journal article.
This image shows results from the chemical analysis of both sides of the dagger’s blade.
A different viewpoint
However, in another study, published in the book “Iron from Tutankhamun’s Tomb” (American University in Cairo Press, 2022), researchers found that “it is currently impossible to arrive at a reliable conclusion as to the origin of Tutankhamun’s iron objects or the craftsmen and materials involved,” the research team wrote.
Those study authors noted that the “rock crystal” of the blade’s pommel is similar to artefacts widely used in the Aegean area, while the pommel’s “typically Egyptian shape suggests either manufacture in Egypt or foreign production for an Egyptian market,” the research team wrote. “As a result, no clear overall picture on the origin of the dagger’s handle and blade” can be made.
Scholars react
Live Science contacted several scholars not affiliated with either study to get their reactions.
Albert Jambon, a researcher at Sorbonne University in France who has conducted extensive research on artefacts made of meteor iron, was unconvinced by the findings that placed the manufacture of the dagger in Anatolia.
Jambon disputed the claim that the lime plaster was used as an adhesive. He noted that in the 1920s, limestone powder was used for the cleaning of some Tutankhamun artefacts and that the chemical tests used in the study detected this cleaning solution, not an adhesive.
Additionally, “the hilt and the blade are two separate parts” and could have been manufactured in different places, Jambon said in an email.
Marian Feldman, W.H. Collins Vickers chair in archaeology at Johns Hopkins University, said that if the team’s findings that the dagger was manufactured in Anatolia are correct, it “would be important confirmation that some of the luxurious objects found in Tutankhamen’s tomb were diplomatic gifts from abroad,” Feldman wrote in an email. More research is needed to confirm those findings, Feldman added.
Archaeologists Find Evidence for 40,000-year-old Modern Culture in China
Scientists discovered remnants of an Old Stone Age culture, less than 100 miles (160 kilometres) west of Beijing, where ancient hominins used a reddish pigment called ochre and crafted tiny, blade-like tools from stone. The archaeological site, called Xiamabei, offers a rare glimpse into the life of Homo sapiens and now-extinct human relatives who inhabited the region some 40,000 years ago.
The newly excavated site lies within the Nihewan Basin, a depression in a mountainous region of northern China. The excavation team found evidence of the culture about 8 feet (2.5 meters) underground, when they spotted a layer of dark, silty sediment that dated to between 41,000 and 39,000 years ago, based on radiocarbon dating and other analyses. This Stone Age sediment contained a treasure trove of artefacts and animal remains, including more than 430 mammal bones; a hearth; physical evidence of ochre use and processing; a tool made of bone; and more than 380 miniaturized lithics, or small tools and artefacts made of chipped or ground stone.
“The remains seemed to be in their original spots after the site was abandoned by the residents,” co-first author Shixia Yang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, told Live Science in an email. “Based on this, we can reveal a vivid picture of how people lived 40,000 years ago in Eastern Asia.”
This well-preserved, bladelet-like lithic found at Xiamabei bears microscopic evidence of having been attached to a bone handle with plant fibres.
Identifying a 40,000-year-old sediment layer strewn with such artefacts was “a surprise,” co-senior author Francesco d’Errico, a CNRS Director of Research at the Bordeaux University and professor at the University of Bergen, told Live Science in an email. Notably, “this is the earliest-known ochre workshop for East Asia,” and the collection of tiny stone tools suggests that the makers likely produced and used specialized tool kits, he said.
Yang, d’Errico and their colleagues published a report about the site and artefacts on Wednesday (March 2) in the journal .
The evidence of ochre processing at Xiamabei includes two pieces of ochre with slightly different mineral compositions, as well as an elongated limestone slab with smoothed areas stained with crimson pigment. The team found these artefacts in close proximity to one another, laying atop an area of reddened sediment.
“I do not think that anyone should find it shocking that the inhabitants of what is now northern China [40,000 years ago] were collecting and using ochre,” as in general, humans and their relatives had been using the pigment for many years at that point, said Andrew M. Zipkin, an adjunct professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University and an associate scientist at Eurofins EAG Laboratories, who was not involved in the study.
“The ochre artefacts in this study are pretty limited in number, but I would be excited [to] see follow-up work on them that seeks to identify where the ochre was collected,” Zipkin told Live Science in an email. Regarding the new study, “for me, the important bit here is not the ochre in its own right, but its presence as part of a suite of technologies and behaviours,” he said.
The first ochre piece found at the site bore signs of having been “repeatedly abraded to produce a bright dark red ochre powder,” the authors reported; the second, smaller piece of ochre had a more crumbly texture, by comparison, and likely originated from a larger ochre piece that had been crushed. An analysis led by d’Errico revealed that the different types of ochre had been pounded and scraped into powders of varying consistency.
Ochre pieces and processing equipment found at the site were discovered on a red-stained patch of sediment.
Another analysis showed that the reddish sediment found near the ochre contained rocky fragments rich in hematite, a mineral that contains oxidized iron and gives red ochre its distinct hue. (Other types of ochre, including yellow ochre and so-called specularite, a sparkly, reddish-purple pigment, have slightly different mineral compositions, according to Discover.)
Based on the available evidence, however, they could not determine exactly how the pigment was used. Ochre can be used in adhesives, for example, or in “symbolic applications” such as rock art paint or paint that’s applied to the body as both cosmetic decoration and sunscreen, Zipkin said. “Distinguishing between symbolic and functional uses of ochre in the material culture record is an ongoing challenge for prehistoric archaeologists,” he noted.
Traces of ochre did crop up on several stone tools at the site, and the nature of these tools hinted that the pigment may have been used as an additive used in hide processing and as an ingredient in a hafting adhesive — meaning a sticky substance used to affix handles to stone tools. This evidence does not negate the possibility that the pigment may have also been used symbolically, Zipkin said.
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of ochre processing in Africa and Europe, to a lesser extent, dating back to about 300,000 years ago, and there’s evidence of ochre use in Australia starting about 50,000 years ago, d’Errico told Live Science. But prior to the excavation of Xiamabei, “the evidence for ochre use in Asia before [28,000 years ago] was, however, very scant,” he said.
Based on patterns of wear and lingering residues on hafted lithics found at the site, the team determined that these artifacts were likely used for multiple purposes, including boring through materials, hide scraping, whittling plant material and cutting soft animal matter. Likewise, the unhafted lithics were likely for several purposes, such as boring hard materials and cutting softer materials.
“We are therefore facing a complex technical system exploiting different raw materials to create highly effective, portable tools, used in a variety of activities,” d’Errico said.
Small stone blades known as microblades, or bladelets, became widely used in northeastern Asia by the end of the Pleistocene era (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago), Yang said; specifically, the technology began to spread throughout the region about 29,000 years ago, the authors noted in their report. The lithics at Xiambei are not microblades but show similar features to the small stone tools, which lead Yang to wonder whether these objects represent the “root” of later microblade technology, she said.
The study raises another big question: Which archaic hominins actually occupied Xiamabei 40,000 years ago? Some clues point to modern humans, but the authors cannot be sure that human relatives — namely Neanderthals and Denisovans — weren’t present at the site.
“We cannot be certain that Homo sapiens occupied Xiamabei, owing to the lack of human fossils on site,” Yang told Live Science. That said, modern human fossils have been found at a younger site called Tianyuandong, which lies about 68 miles (110 km) away, as well as another site in the region called the Zhoukoudian Upper Cave, she said. These nearby fossils hint that the ochre-processing, tool-crafting hominins that visited Xiamabei may have also been H. sapiens.
“We cannot, however, entirely disregard the possibility that other closely-related human ancestors were not still present in the vast landscapes of northern Asia, as it’s clear that earlier groups of Homo sapiens were mating and mixing with Neanderthals and Denisovans,” Yang said. In addition, since Neanderthals also used ochre, the evidence of ochre use doesn’t offer any clues as to which hominins were present at the site, Zipkin said.
“Further planned excavations at Xiamabei will help us to better understand our evolutionary story,” Yang said.
