All posts by Archaeology World Team

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

World’s Oldest Settlement Plan Found in “Çatalhöyük”

World’s Oldest Settlement Plan Found in “Çatalhöyük”

World’s Oldest Settlement Plan Found in “Çatalhöyük”

With the beginning of the Holocene period, many lakes have dried up and have become suitable for settlement. It is one of the lake floors in the Konya Plain that dried up in the Holocene period. There have many mounds in this area.

One of the most important of these mounds is Çatalhöyük, which is undoubtedly located within the borders of Çumra province.

It probably owes its name to the fork-like shape of the two hills. Although there are two mounds, east and west, excavations continue in the west mound. Its inhabitants moved to the western mound when the river changed direction in the early chalcolithic period.

Çatalhöyük was discovered in 1958 by James Mellaart. Since 1993, excavations have been continued by Ian Hodder, a student of Mellaart, and if nowadays excavations are carried out by Assoc. Dr. Çiler Çilingiroğlu continues.

Eastern mound, BC. Eighteen layers of Neolithic settlements dating from 7400 to 6200 have been found. Layers 12 and 8 are dated to the first phase of the Early Neolithic (6500 – 6000 BC). After 6 layers it belongs to the second phase of early Neolithic.

The Chalcolithic Age layers in the western mound are dated between 6200 and 5200 BC.

Çatalhöyük

On the north and east walls of the building, a map that is thought to be the city plan of Çatalhöyük was unearthed during the 1963 excavations. This drawing, which is dated to 8200 years ago (age 6200 ± 97 BC as determined by radiocarbon dating method) is the first known map of the world.

Approximately 3 meters long and 90 cm. has a height. It is still exhibited in Ankara Anatolian Civilizations Museum.

Çatalhöyük has its own characteristics. Conservation of art, symbolism, social structure, living of too many people, bull cult, the burial of people, skulls, ancestral cult and house shapes, an egalitarian lifestyle is seen.

Interestingly, although they know of pottery making, they did not show intensive use of up to 5 layers. This is just a preference of those who live there. Probably because they had developed in woodworking, they did not want to change their traditional structure.

The residences they use are intertwined. Since no traces of war and destruction were visible, this might mean that intimacy involves an intense bond of kinship relations.

Houses were entered through roofs. Probably these roofs were used for socializing on hot days. It is thought that many jobs required for the home are here. These flat-roofed houses are now found in the South East.

Bull cult is widely seen in this mound.

The pictures made on the walls in the settlement, where the understanding of art is very developed, is remarkable. The depictions on the walls of the housing are hunting and dance scenes, human and animal paintings.

Animal pictures are animals such as vulture, leopard, various birds, deer, and lions. In addition, there are also motifs that can be called rug motifs dating back to 8800 years ago and are associated with today’s Anatolian rug motifs.

Bull horns and heads should be important to those living here. Many houses have reliefs made by plastering real bull heads with clay on the walls. The figurine finds are cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, bulls, dogs and single cattle horns.

There are Neolithic settlements older than Çatalhöyük in the Middle East. For example, Eriha is a Neolithic settlement a thousand years older than Çatalhöyük. Still, Çatalhöyük has different characteristics from older or contemporary settlements. One of the main differences is its population, which reaches ten thousand people.

According to Hodder, Çatalhöyük is “a center that carries the concept of village beyond logical dimensions”.

It was decided by UNESCO to be included in the World Heritage List in 2012.

SOURCE: Çatalhöyük Research Project, Çatalhöyük 2008 Report

YAZAR, M., 2008 “Anadolu’da Neolitik Dönem Sanatı ve Merkezleri”, Gazi Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Tarih Anabilim Dalı, Eskiçağ Tarihi Bilim Dalı Yüksek Lisans Tezi, Ankara

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Researchers identify bird species depicted in ancient, finely detailed Egyptian painting

Researchers identify bird species depicted in ancient, finely detailed Egyptian painting

Researchers identify bird species depicted in ancient, finely detailed Egyptian painting
Facsimile painting of the west wall from the “Green Room” in the North Palace at Amarna (Public Domain; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: accession no. 30.4.134).

A masterpiece of ancient Egyptian art found in a palace is so finely detailed that researchers have been able to pinpoint the bird species it depicts. These images of the natural world likely created a space for relaxation and recreation in the palace.

The artwork was discovered at Amarna, the location of the capital city of Pharaoh Akhenaten (1347–1332 BC). Excavations in 1924 uncovered a palace belonging to Meritaten, daughter of the pharaoh and Nefertiti, with several lavishly decorated rooms.

One of these, the so-called Green Room, has a rare depiction of birds in a wild papyrus marsh with no signs of human activity.

“They have since come to be regarded as masterpieces of ancient Egyptian art,” said Dr. Christopher Stimpson and Professor Barry Kemp, “Featured in these paintings are some of the most skilfully rendered and naturalistic images of birds known from Dynastic Egypt.”

Despite the quality of these images, they have received relatively little attention. As such, not all the bird species in the art had been identified in the nearly 100 years since it was found.

“The art of the Green Room has not received as much attention as you would perhaps expect. This may have been because the original plaster panels did not survive well,” said Dr. Stimpson, an honorary associate of Oxford University Museum of Natural History.

Attempts at conserving the painting in 1926 accidentally damaged and discolored the artwork.

So Dr. Stimpson and Professor Kemp set out to identify the birds of the Green Room.

The pair consulted modern ornithological data and a high-quality copy of the artwork made in 1924 by Nina de Garis Davies to identify the birds. Their work is published in Antiquity.

The researchers were ultimately able to identify several species, including shrikes and wagtails. These join the kingfishers and pigeons identified by previous work.

They also found that the artists may have included hints for ancient birdwatchers: Migrant birds are annotated with a triangle, perhaps indicating a seasonal element in the art.

The artwork also may show an ancient Egyptian pigeon problem. Rock pigeons are depicted but are not native to the papyrus marshes, instead being associated with nearby desert cliffs.

Perhaps, like in modern cities, pigeons were attracted to the area by human activity.

While the researchers cannot rule this out, they think the artists instead may have included these birds to make the scene seem wilder and untamed—an atmosphere the realistic artwork appears designed to create.

The team suggests these images of the natural world have made the Green Room a relaxing place.

“No one knows for sure, although the Green Room was most likely a place of rest and relaxation. Illustrations in rock tombs at Amarna possibly show similar settings where women relax, socialize and play music,” said Dr. Stimpson, “In the Green Room, the atmosphere was likely enhanced by the visions of nature.

The calming effects of the natural world were as important then, as they are (more than ever) today.”

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Remains of a 3,700-year-old domed oven were discovered in the ancient city of Troy

Remains of a 3,700-year-old domed oven were discovered in the ancient city of Troy

Remains of a 3,700-year-old domed oven were found in the ancient city of Troy, located in the Tevfikiye district of Çanakkale province, located in the northwestern part of Turkey.

Professor Rüstem Aslan, the head of the excavation, who unearthed the 5,500-year-old remains of the city, said it was the first time they had come across the remains of such a large domed oven during excavations this year.

The discovered domed oven bears traces of Anatolian culture. Troy’s connection with Anatolia was partly established by the findings of the German archaeologist Manfred Osman Korfmann, who led the excavations from 1988 to the early 2000s.

“The description that Korfmann made during his excavations that ‘Troy is Anatolia,’ was a major focus of the next 20 years of digging. Troy is an Anatolian culture,” said Professor Rüstem Aslan.

Remains of a 3,700-year-old domed oven were discovered in the ancient city of Troy
The area of the domed oven in Troy, Çanakkale, northwestern Türkiye.

Aslan told Anadolu Agency (AA) that further excavations would be conducted to uncover the architectural dimensions of Troy, emphasizing that it was “shaped by the Anatolian culture in and after the Bronze Age.”

The oldest domed ovens so far found in Troy date back to 2000 B.C., about 300 years earlier than Aslan and his team’s latest discovery.

Aslan said architectural developments in Troy, where archeological excavations have been going on for 150 years, pointed to changes in the city’s culinary tradition during the period identified with Anatolian culture.

Troy was the first site where prehistoric period excavations were conducted and turned into a science. Troia and its environs were designated a National Historical Park by the Turkish government on September 30, 1996, and were added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1998. Between the years 3.000 BC and 500 AD, the ancient city of Troy was continuously inhabited due to its strategic geographic location.

The area of the domed oven in Troy, Çanakkale, northwestern Türkiye.

Kerpiç (sun-dried bricks) was used during the construction of the walls of houses in the settlements. Therefore after a long chain of settlements, an artificial hill was composed containing the different layers of the city.

After the excavations were carried out 10 different city layers and more than 50 building phases were identified.

These cities in short: Troia I – III (Littoral Troia Culture): This name was especially given due to the distribution of settlements in the Mediterranean region. This period starts nearly 3000 BC and ends in 2500 BC. Troia IV – V: Anatolian Characterized Troia Culture: It begins in 2100 BC and continues until the 1700’s BC. Troia VI-VII (From 1700 BC to 1100 BC) was defined as High Troia Troia Culture by archaeologists.

After a gap of several centuries, the settlement of Greeks in Troy VIII continued from 700’s BC to approximately 85 BC. In Troia IX, there was a Roman settlement from 85 BC to 500’s AC.

In Troy X the Byzantine settlement which started in the 12th century continued to the 13th century. After this time, due to great political changes in that period, Troia lost its importance in cultural life.

Especially European intellectuals’ growing interest in Troia after the 17th century, culminated with Heinrich Schliemann and this importance has continued to the present day.

EUROPE, UKRAINE, WORLD

A cave complex with hieroglyphs and Varangian symbols discovered in center of Ukraine

A cave complex with hieroglyphs and Varangian symbols discovered in center of Ukraine

An ancient cave complex thought to date from Kievan Rus’ has been discovered in central Kyiv at Voznesensky Uzvoz.

Dmytro Perov, a conservationist at Kyiv’s Center for Urban Development, told Radio Kultura that the caves were discovered next to a demolished house that Kyiv housing authorities had deemed unsafe for habitation.

Actually, Dmytro Perov followed his grandmother’s clues.  Perov’s grandmother used to talk about a large stone house next to an old cave, but no one knew its location of it.

According to Perov, who had previously examined the area several times, only the front facia of the house remained, concealed by bushes.

The conservationist told reporters that he and his friends decided to go to the old house “on a small expedition to look for caves,” and they discovered an entrance.

The first archaeological explorations in the Voznesensky Caves were carried out by Perov and a group of researchers from the Institute of Archaeology last Saturday.

Timur Bobrovskyi, an archaeology professor at the Sofia Kyivska reserve, said he was “amazed that such a treasure was found in the center of Kyiv” after spending three hours exploring the cave.

A unique discovery in the center of Kyiv.

The team discovered pottery fragments from the Late Kyivan Rus’ era, an Eastern and Northern European state that existed from the late ninth to the middle of the thirteenth century, in the cave’s northern section.

Perov wrote on Facebook that the team scoured around 40 meters (131 feet) of caves, including the lower cave complex, which he claims is twice as long as the upper passage and has a series of “radial branches.”

The most significant discovery, according to Petrov, was “a set of Kyivan Rus hieroglyphs and Varangian symbols from the Early Rus period,” when the region was under the control of Varangian rulers.

While more investigation is required to confirm it, according to Dmytro Perov, they think that some of the carved symbols may date all the way back to the fifth or sixth centuries BC. He says that “animistic images of animals and graffiti” from the Varyaz period, including the rune Algiz (“chicken’s foot”), were also discovered on the walls. This was an ancient Varangian charm, a symbol of safety and longevity.

Several Hellenic Greek colonies were established on the northern coast of the Black Sea, on the Crimean Peninsula, and along the Sea of Azov between the 7th and 6th centuries BC.

The steppe hinterland was occupied by the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians who traded with the Greek/Roman colonies after a period of control by the Roman empire during the first millennium BC.

Rurik, a Varangian or Viking prince, established the Kyivan state in the latter part of the ninth century.

Up until the 13th century, his descendants established and controlled a global trade route to the west. However, the Kyivan state was made up of East Slavic, Norse, and Finnic peoples, making it difficult to determine who left the carved symbols on the cave walls.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Rare Elizabethan ship discovered at quarry 300 metres from the coast

A rare Elizabethan ship discovered at quarry 300 meters from the coast

In April 2022, a team from CEMEX unexpectedly uncovered the remains of a rare Elizabethan-era ship, while dredging for aggregates at a quarry on the Dungeness headland, in Kent.

Found some 300 metres from the coast, the discovery stumped the quarry team, who contacted our experts to study the remains. Recognising the significance of this extraordinary discovery, Kent County Council enlisted specialist support and emergency funding from Historic England.  

The story of this rare Elizabethan ship will feature on Digging for Britain on BBC2 at 8pm on 1 January 2023. 

Above: Wessex Archaeology Marine Archaeologist, Andrea Hamel, in the Digging for Britain studio with Alice Roberts.

Very few English-built 16th-century vessels survive, making this a rare discovery from what was a fascinating period in the history of seafaring.

The late 16th-century was a period of great expansion of trade, with the English Channel serving as a major route on Europe’s Atlantic seaboard.

Although the ship remains unidentified, it represents an era when English vessels and ports played an important role in this busy traffic.   

A rare Elizabethan ship discovered at quarry 300 meters from the coast

Above: Archaeologist records the ship’s remains on-site (Left). The hull of the 16th-century ship remains at the quarry (Right).

Over 100 timbers from the ship’s hull were recovered, with dendrochronological analysis, funded by Historic England, dating the timbers that built the ship to between 1558 and 1580 and confirming it was made of English oak.

This places the ship at a transitional period in Northern European ship construction. When ships are believed to have moved from a traditional clinker construction (as seen in Viking vessels) to frame-first-built ships (as recorded here), where the internal framing is built first and flush-laid planking is later added to the frames to create a smooth outer hull.

This technique is similar to what was used on the Mary Rose, built between 1509 and 1511, and the ships that would explore and settle along the Atlantic coastlines of the New World.  

Above: Archaeologist records the ship’s remains on-site.

Andrea Hamel, Marine Archaeologist at Wessex Archaeology, said: “To find a late 16th-century ship preserved in the sediment of a quarry was an unexpected but very welcome find indeed.

The ship has the potential to tell us so much about a period where we have little surviving evidence of shipbuilding but yet was such a great period of change in ship construction and seafaring.” 

Although uncovered 300 metres from the sea in what is today a quarry, experts believe the site would have once been on the coastline, and that the ship either wrecked on the shingle headland or was discarded at the end of its useful life. Its discovery presents a fascinating opportunity to understand the development of the coast, ports and shipping of this stretch of the Kent coast. 

Antony Firth, Head of Marine Heritage Strategy at Historic England, said: “The remains of this ship are really significant, helping us to understand not only the vessel itself but the wider landscape of shipbuilding and trade in this dynamic period.

CEMEX staff deserve our thanks for recognising that this unexpected discovery is something special and for seeking archaeological assistance.

Historic England has been very pleased to support the emergency work by Kent County Council and Wessex Archaeology, and to see the results shared in the new season of Digging for Britain.” 

Our archaeologists have recorded the ship using laser scanning and digital photography. Once our work is complete the timbers will be reburied in the quarry lake where they were uncovered so that the silt can continue to preserve the remains. 

ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, WORLD

Neolithic axe grinding site uncovered

Neolithic axe grinding site uncovered

About 4,500 years ago, Neolithic toolmakers used this site like a giant whetstone to polish axes. The large sandstone was discovered by archaeologists and volunteers who examined an area close to Balfron, near Stirling, Scotland.

Neolithic axe grinding site uncovered
A site where Neolithic toolmakers sharpened stone axes has been uncovered near Balfron.

There are many magnificent ancient monuments and sites in Scotland. “The merging of the Neolithic Age into the Bronze Age also sawthe flowering of an extraordinary architectural phenomenon – the erection of stone circles and standing stones.” 1 The sacred Callanish stone complex on the Isle of Lewis and the intriguing Neolithic Skara Brae village are just a few examples one can mention.

“Over 5000 years of human history can be traced across the Kilmartin valley. Kilmartin Glen is considered to have one of the most important concentrations of Neolithic and Bronze Age remains in Scotland.

There are at least 350 ancient monuments, of which 150 are prehistoric. Of particular interest are chambered cairns, round cairns, cists, standing stones and rock carvings.

These Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments, together with the stone circle at Temple Wood and the standing stones at Ballymeanoch are all part of the ritual landscape of Kilmartin Glen.” 2

“The Neolithic period (or New Stone Age) began approximately 6,100 years ago and ended around 4,500 years ago (4,100 BC to 2,500 BC), which begins with the earliest evidence of a farming way of life and ends when copper tools are first used.

During this time, farmers arrived from what is now mainland Europe – and since people were now staying in one place for longer periods of time (rather than having to roam around for food), they also started building permanent structures such as stone dwellings and tombs.

This means that there are a lot more clues for archaeologists compared to the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic periods.” 3

Archaeologists have previously found many polished stone tools (axeheads), but now scientists get a better understanding of how these Neolithic tools were kept in working condition.

The site represents Scotland’s largest concentration of Neolithic axe grind points.

The recently unearthed axe grinding site represents Scotland’s largest concentration of Neolithic axe grind points and one of only two known Scottish polissoir sites.

“Experts believe people may have traveled for miles to smooth or sharpen axes at the sites.

Scotland’s Rock Art Project volunteer Nick Parish and Stirling Council archaeologist Dr Murray Cook were among those who stripped turf from the sandstone and recorded the polissoirs at Balfron,” BBC reports.

The finds have been listed among archaeological highlights from this year by the Dig It! project, external.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

2,000-year-old Roman road discovered in England, archaeologists believe

2,000-year-old Roman road discovered in England, archaeologists believe

2,000-year-old Roman road discovered in England, archaeologists believe
Hidden Roman road dating back 2,000 years uncovered in Worcestershire

A potentially 2,000-year-old Roman road was uncovered in Worcestershire, England a few weeks ago during routine waterworks, Metro reported on Tuesday.

The stretch of road that was uncovered is 10 meters long and 2.9 meters wide.

Although the exact dating of the road is unclear, it was constructed with large stones that were a typical design used by the Romans, and similar roads have only been discovered in Rome and Pompeii.

The exact location of the road has not been publicized, but Metro reported that it was found in a field near a river where a Roman-era villa complex was found four years ago.

What kind of testing is being done on the road?

Further investigation is underway to try and discover the exact origin of the road and when it dates back to.

The reverse side of the 1,850-year-old bronze Roman coin. It depicts Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius.

Archaeologist Aidan Smyth told Metro that all the evidence seems to point to the road being Roman, but that investigators are keeping their minds open.

“If it turns out to be medieval then it could still be considered to be nationally significant as nothing similar has been found in Britain to date,” he said.

“If it is a first-century Roman feature, it is the only one of its kind to be found in Britain to date. There’s not really anything like this medieval either.”

Aidan Smyth

Part of the road was dug up and sent to be tested by optically stimulated luminescence testing which will tell researchers when the sediments were last exposed to sunlight.

The area where the road was found is believed to be near what was the Roman city of Vertis, and the area has produced a lot of Roman archaeology over the years.

EUROPE, WORLD

Historic! 1.8 million years old human tooth discovered in Georgia.

Historic! 1.8 million years old human tooth discovered in Georgia.

Georgia became the site of new historical development as archaeologists found a 1.8 million years old human tooth.

The discovery was made near the Orozmani village located close to Dmanisi. Interestingly, Dmanisi is also the location where archaeologists had previously discovered human skulls belonging to the same era as the tooth.

The skulls, however, were found during the 1990s and the 2000s. The skulls were the oldest human remains not found in Africa during that time.

The discovery of the skulls made archaeologists believe that after leaving Africa, ancient humans moved to the south of the Caucasus area and settled down.

The discovery of the tooth is further evidence that bolstered this belief.

National Research Center of Archaeology and Prehistory of Georgia announced the discovery of the tooth.

The Center stated that Orozmani and Dmanisi could be the centres where the oldest humans or early Homo Sapiens settled after they left Africa.

A British archaeology student, Jack Peart, made the tooth discovery. He described his discovery as having an enormous impact on archaeological beliefs worldwide.

He stated that with this discovery, Georgia had become an important place for palaeoanthropology and the human evolution story.

Another archaeologist, Giorgi Kopaliani, with the Georgian National Museum, said that Peart discovered the tooth and showed it to his team that led the excavation.

After that, the Museum contacted their paleontologist, who confirmed the tooth belonged to a human.

The team of the Georgian National Museum started digging at the site in 2019. However, due to the pandemic, the digging stopped. It resumed last year, after which the team discovered pre-historic tools and ancient animal relics.

According to scientists, ancient humans started their migration journey from Africa around 2 million years ago.

One of the oldest human fossils, a partial jaw, was discovered in Ethiopia. The fossil dates back to 2.8 million years ago.