Category Archives: ASIA

ASIA, INDIA, WORLD

Around 400-year-old Bronze idols found during house construction in India

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Around 400-year-old Bronze idols found during house construction in India

Around 400-year-old Bronze idols found during house construction in India

Three bronze idols, estimated to be about 400 years old, were unearthed during excavation for a house construction project in the Mohammadpur Baghanki village of Manesar in the northern Indian state of Haryana.

According to the statement made by the police department, the idols were taken under protection, and construction work was ordered to stop.

The archeology department will start excavations to see if there are other idols in the region.

The idols are of Hindu deities – Lord Vishnu and Mata Lakshmi. The size of the standing Lord Vishnu idol is about 1.5 feet. With a height of one foot, the Lakshmi idol is seated and somewhat smaller. Both the idols have intricate carvings and designs. The third idol depicts Vishnu and Lakshmi sitting together.

The police stated that the idols were found during the excavation for a new house foundation, and construction work was underway using a JCB machine.

The plot owner initially made an effort to hide the discovery and even offered money to the JCB driver in exchange for keeping the details secret. But after two days, the driver notified the Bilaspur police, and they sent a team to the location, according to them.

The villagers consider the discovery as a sign of divine blessing. According to the police, the villagers wanted the idols to be handed over to the panchayat as they wanted to build a temple on the plot. The Archeology Department officials, however, refused their demand.

Deputy Director of the Archeology Department Banani Bhattacharya, said, “These idols are the property of the government and no one can have personal rights on these. These will be kept in the museum of the Archeology Department after study in our laboratory.”

He added that the idols were found at a depth of around 15 feet and were made of bronze.

Speaking with the Times of India, Bhattacharya said, “The idols have been transported to our laboratory for further study.

The archaeology department plans to use scientific methods to determine the exact age of the statues.

According to a preliminary examination, they seem to be around 400 years old. It appears someone buried them long ago. The Manesar area doesn’t have any previous findings, but we will examine the matter.”

Officials stated that they would look for inscriptions or markings that could provide clues about the statues’ origins. They also issued an appeal to the public asking them to cooperate and not disturb the site or the artifacts.

It is noteworthy to mention that Haryana, a state rich in cultural and historical heritage, is a common place to find ancient idols. It is the location of several significant archaeological sites, such as the stone carvings in Aravalis, Faridabad, and the remnants of the Indus Valley Civilization at Rakhigarhi.

ASIA, JAPAN, WORLD

Japan Researchers Uncover Lost Villa Believed to Belong to First Roman Emperor

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Japan Researchers Uncover Lost Villa Believed to Belong to First Roman Emperor

Japan Researchers Uncover Lost Villa Believed to Belong to First Roman Emperor

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have discovered a nearly 2,000-year-old building at a site with ancient Roman ruins buried in volcanic ash in southern Italy.

The team believes it could have been a villa owned by the first Roman Emperor, Augustus (63 B.C.—A.D. 14).

The team, led by Mariko Muramatsu, a professor of Italian studies,  began excavating the Somma Vesuviana ruins on the northern side of Mount Vesuvius in the Campania Region in 2002.

According to accounts from antiquity, Augustus passed away at his villa northeast of Mount Vesuvius, and a memorial was subsequently built there in memory of his accomplishments. But the precise location of that villa remained a mystery.

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have uncovered part of a structure that was used as a warehouse. A wall of the building had dozens of amphora ceramic containers arranged in a row.

Additionally, they discovered the ruins of what was probably a furnace that was used to heat the bath. Part of the wall had collapsed, scattering ancient roof tiles along the floor.

The excavation site at Somma Vesuviana. Photo: Research Division for the Mediterranean Areas, Institute for Advanced Global Studies, University of Tokyo, Komaba

Carbon dating of carbon from the furnace found that most samples were from around the first century. Researchers say nothing was dating back to the following period and they believe the kiln was no longer used afterward.

The researchers say there is a possibility that the building was the emperor’s villa because it had a private bath, which was installed in the residence of an influential figure. They also say the bath was out of use around the same time when Augustus died and what appeared to be a large temple was later constructed on the site.

The volcanic pumice covering the ruins was found to have originated from the pyroclastic flow of lava, rocks, and hot gases from Mount Vesuvius’ eruption in 79, according to a chemical composition analysis carried out by the team. Pompeii on the mountain’s southern slope was completely destroyed by that same eruption.

Amphora ceramic containers lined along a wall of a structure at the Somma Vesuviana site. Photo: Research Division for the Mediterranean Areas, Institute for Advanced Global Studies, University of Tokyo, Komaba.

“We have finally reached this stage after 20 years,” said Masanori Aoyagi, professor emeritus of Western classical archaeology at the University of Tokyo, who was the first head of the research team that started excavating the site in 2002.

“This is a major development that will help us determine the damage caused to the northern side of Vesuvius and get a better overall idea of the eruption in 79.”

Cover Photo: The remains of what is believed to be a furnace used to heat a bath at the Somma Vesuviana site (Photo: Research Division for the Mediterranean Areas, Institute for Advanced Global Studies, University of Tokyo, Komaba)

ASIA, JAPAN, WORLD

Ancient tomb discovered under parking lot greenery in Japan

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Ancient tomb discovered under parking lot greenery in Japan

Ancient tomb discovered under parking lot greenery in Japan

Shrubbery intended to illuminate a corner of a nondescript parking lot in Japan’s Nara prefecture turned out to be hiding the tomb of an elite figure from ancient times.

Archaeologists uncovered numerous artifacts after removing centuries of soil from the stone burial chamber, including two iron swords, arrowheads, items associated with horse riding, amber jewelry, and clay pots.

According to researchers from Nara University and the Ikaruga Municipal Board of Education, the chamber, which is about 3.8 meters long, 1.6 meters wide, and 1 meter high, dates to the late sixth century.

Archaeologists have been excavating the area located near the World Heritage site encompassing Horyuji temple since spring of 2022, and the ceiling of the tomb found was missing. This prompted the team members to speculate the stones were used to build Horyuji temple, which was completed in the early seventh century.

The ancient stone burial chamber discovered at a parking lot in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture.

“It is possible the ceiling stones were removed for use in the construction of Horyuji temple and the Ikaruga palace, where Prince Shotoku (an influential political leader of the era) lived with his family,” said Naohiro Toyoshima, a professor of archaeology at Nara University and a member of the research team.

“At that point, the stone chamber could have been buried along with all those items,” Toyoshima told the Asahi Shimbun.

When archaeologists began digging, the circular site didn’t look particularly interesting.

It was about 8.5 meters in diameter and 1.5 meters high, and it was covered in shrubs. But educational board experts had long suspected that the bushes concealed an old tomb; they called it the Funazuka kofun burial mound.

Researchers’ hunch was only confirmed after the recent excavation got underway.

A clay roof tile from the Asuka Period (592-710) discovered at the Funazuka burial mound in Ikaruga, Nara Prefecture.

A kofun is a burial mound inside which an influential or important person was buried.

The tradition of burying people in Kofun started around the 3rd century and lasted about 400 years, and they were only constructed by people holding a high rank.

There are various types of burial mounds, including zenpokoenfun (keyhole-shaped mounds) and enfun (round mounds). They were constructed in many different sizes ranging from only 10 meters to as big as 400 meters.

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

A collection of 430 burial objects found in the tomb of a 3000-year-old Noblewoman in China

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A collection of 430 burial objects found in the tomb of a 3000-year-old Noblewoman in China

A collection of 430 burial objects found in the tomb of a 3000-year-old Noblewoman in China

A tomb belonging to a noblewoman dating back about 3,000 years has been unearthed in North China’s Shanxi Province.

The tomb, designated as M1033, was discovered in the Dahekou cemetery, Yicheng County. Over 600 burials and 20 chariot-and-horse pits have been discovered during the excavation of the Western Zhou Dynasty’s Dahekou Cemetery in Yicheng County, Shanxi Province, since 2007.

More importantly, the finding of the Dahekou cemetery has shed light on the existence of the Ba state, previously undocumented in the historical texts of the Western Zhou.

Bronze inscriptions found in Dahekou cemetery indicate that the state clan name was Ba 霸, with Ba Bo (the Earl of Ba) as the paramount ruler.

Burial objects recovered from the Dahekou Cemetery of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Yicheng County of Linfen City, Shanxi province.

Given that most of the province was under Jin state control during this time, it is extremely valuable for research on the feudal states in Shanxi’s southern region during the Western Zhou period and their interactions with the Jin state.

The discovery was announced by the Shanxi Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology. A pit in the middle holds the remains of a sacrificed animal, and the tomb itself is medium-sized, according to Xie Yaoting, the leader of the archaeological team.

Burial objects recovered from the Dahekou Cemetery of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Yicheng County of Linfen City, Shanxi province.

The tomb’s owner was a female between 31 and 34 years old who was buried in a supine posture with straight limbs.

Archaeologists believe that the tomb’s owner was likely a middle-ranking noblewoman from the mid-Western Zhou (1046BC-771BC) period.

Burial objects recovered from the Dahekou Cemetery of the Western Zhou Dynasty in Yicheng County of Linfen City, Shanxi province.

The tomb yielded a collection of 430 burial objects divided into 93 groups, including bronze wares, pottery, jade artifacts, and shellfish containers.

ASIA, THAILAND, WORLD

490-Million-Year-Old Trilobites Could Solve Ancient Geography Puzzle

490-Million-Year-Old Trilobites Could Solve Ancient Geography Puzzle

490-Million-Year-Old Trilobites Could Solve Ancient Geography Puzzle

The humble trilobites may be extinct, but even as fossils, they can teach us much about our planet’s history. Indeed, ancient arthropods from nearly half a billion years ago, including ten newly discovered species,  may be key to understanding Thailand’s place on the former supercontinent Gondwana.

Trilobites are extinct sea creatures with half-moon-shaped heads that breathed through their legs. A 100-page monograph in the British journal offers great detail about the new species, including one named in honor of Thai Royal Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

The trilobite fossils were trapped between layers of petrified ash in sandstone, the product of old volcanic eruptions that settled on the sea floor and formed a green layer called a tuff. Unlike some other kinds of rocks or sediment, tuffs contain crystals of zircon — a mineral that formed during an eruption and are, as the name of the rock layer containing them suggests, tough.

Zircon is chemically stable as well as heat and weather resistant. It is hard as steel and persists when minerals in other kinds of rocks erode. Inside these resilient zircon crystals, individual atoms of uranium gradually decay and transform into atoms of lead.

“We can use radio isotope techniques to date when the zircon formed and thus find the age of the eruption, as well as the fossil,” said Nigel Hughes, monograph co-author and UC Riverside geology professor.

It is rare to find tuffs from this particular period of time, the late Cambrian period, between 497 and 485 million years ago. “Not many places around the world have this. It is one of the worst dated intervals of time in Earth’s history,” Hughes said.

Artist’s rendering of a trilobite based on preserved soft body parts.

“The tuffs will allow us to not only determine the age of the fossils we found in Thailand, but to better understand parts of the world like China, Australia, and even North America where similar fossils have been found in rocks that cannot be dated,” said Shelly Wernette, former Hughes lab geologist now at Texas State University, and first author of the monograph.

The fossils were uncovered on the coast of an island called Ko Tarutao. It is about 40 minutes southwest from the mainland via high-speed boat and is part of a UNESCO geopark site that has encouraged international teams of scientists to work in this area.

For Wernette, the most interesting discovery was 12 types of trilobites that have been seen in other parts of the world, but never in Thailand before. “We can now connect Thailand to parts of Australia, a really exciting discovery.”

During the trilobites’ lifetime, this region was on the outer margins of Gondwanaland, an ancient supercontinent that included Africa, India, Australia, South America, and Antarctica.

“Because continents shift over time, part of our job has been to work out where this region of Thailand was in relation to the rest of Gondwanaland,” Hughes said. “It’s a moving, shape shifting, 3D jigsaw puzzle we’re trying to put together. This discovery will help us do that.”

Location of the fossil discoveries.

For example, take the species named for Royal Princess Sirindhorn. The species was named in tribute to the princess for her steadfast dedication to developing the sciences in Thailand. “I also thought this species had a regal quality. It has a broad headdress and clean sweeping lines,” Wernette said.

If researchers can get a date from the tuffs containing her namesake species, Tsinania sirindhornae, and determine when they lived, they will be able to say that closely related species of Tsinania found in northern and southern China are roughly the same age.

Ultimately, the researchers feel that the pictures of the ancient world hidden in the fossils they found contain invaluable information for the present day.

“What we have here is a chronicle of evolutionary change accompanied by extinctions. The Earth has written this record for us, and we’re fortunate to have it,” Hughes said. “The more we learn from it the better prepared we are for the challenges we’re engineering on the planet for ourselves today.”

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

A rare 6,000-year-old elephant ivory vessel was unearthed near Beersheba

A rare 6,000-year-old elephant ivory vessel was unearthed near Beersheba

A rare 6,000-year-old elephant ivory vessel was unearthed near Beersheba

A recent excavation near Beersheba in southern Israel uncovered an ivory vessel crafted of elephant tusks dating to the Chalcolithic period (around 4,000 BC). The find is the first Chalcolithic ivory vessel discovered in Israel.

Although the ship was originally disassembled, careful restoration work at the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) laboratories has brought it back to its former glory.

The vessel is of a type known to researchers as an amphoriskos, a small jar. This rare find sheds light on ancient trade connections between the Holy Land and Egypt some six millennia ago

The diameter of the ivory container is approximately 8 inches. Its exquisitely designed and skillfully crafted small matching handles are arranged symmetrically around its lower body and neck.

The find is the first Chalcolithic ivory vessel discovered in Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said and was likely either imported from Egypt or carved locally from ivory imported from there.

The broken ivory vessel deposited within the large basalt bowls.

The rare item was discovered in 2020 at Horvat Raqiq, an archaeological site near Beersheba in southern Israel, during infrastructure work to lay a water pipe, the IAA told The Times of Israel.

More than just artifacts were discovered during the excavation at Horbat Raqiq; it also uncovered an old settlement with underground buildings etched into the Loess ground. Emil Aladjem discovered the edge of a basalt vessel during the last stages of the dig, which prompted additional investigation.

Three imposing vessels were found within the excavation site after an extended search. Among them, nestled within layers of soil, lay the shattered remnants of the ivory vessel, carefully interred in antiquity – a testament to its significance.

“This find deepens our understanding of the Chalcolithic period and of the cultural exchange ties of our region with both neighboring and distant cultures,” the researchers said.

“The vessel is well-made and makes maximum use of the original tusk – which was a most precious material. If it was manufactured here, it reveals the high standard of craftspeople who dwelt here, who knew how to treat ivory, and also knew elephant anatomy.”

IAA researchers, specialists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and ivory conservationist Olga Negnevitsky collaborated to analyze and restore the ivory vessel, which was a difficult and drawn-out process.

The vessel is to be presented to the public on Thursday in Jerusalem at the annual Israel Prehistoric Society conference, along with other recent prehistoric discoveries.

ASIA, IRAN, WORLD

Name of Iranian city identified on 1800-year-old Sassanid clay seal

Name of Iranian city identified on 1800-year-old Sassanid clay seal

Name of Iranian city identified on 1800-year-old Sassanid clay seal

In a stunning archaeological find, the name “Shiraz” was identified on a clay sealing from the Sassanid era written in Pahlavi script.

The Sassanid Empire‘s (224-651CE) territory encompassed all of what is now Iran, Iraq, Armenia, Afghanistan, eastern parts of Turkey, and parts of Syria, Pakistan, Caucasia, Central Asia, and Arabia.

The Sassanids called their empire Eranshahr “Empire of the Aryans (Persians)”. Ardashir I established the Sassanid Empire or Sassanian Dynasty following his victory over Artabanus IV Ardavan, the final Parthian (Arsacid) monarch. It came to an end when Yazdegerd III (632–651), the final Sassanid Shahanshah (King of Kings), lost his 14-year struggle to expel the growing Islamic empires.

The Sassanid era is regarded as one of Iran’s most significant and influential historical periods. Persia had a significant impact on Roman civilization during the Sassanid era, and the Romans only granted equal status to the Sassanid Persians.

The finding is important due to cementing the history of Shiraz, which is situated some 60 km south of Persepolis, once the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC).

The sealing is being kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. These sealings were unearthed during three seasons of archaeological excavations by experts from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, conducted from 1932 to 1935.

According to the Met Museum, this sealing was impressed with four seals of varying sizes. The imagery on the seals depicts a lion walking right, a monogram, an inscription, and a horned quadruped.

This sealing was one of more than five hundred that were unearthed from the Sasanian stronghold located at Qasr-e Abu Nasr. The building burned, baking the clay and preserving the seal impressions, which is how the cache survived.

Iranian archaeologist Mohammadreza Nasab-Abdollahi said that based on the research he has done, he has identified the name of Shiraz in the Pahlavi script (Middle Persian) on the “Sasanian clay seal”, which were obtained nearly a century ago from the archaeological excavations in the “Qasr-e Abu Nasr” in the east of Shiraz.

On 6 April, Iranian archaeologist Mohammadreza Nasab-Abdollahi affirmed to ISNA news agency that the inscription “Mugh-e Shiraz” has been deciphered on these Sassanid clay sealings.

Name of Iranian city identified on 1800-year-old Sassanid clay seal

According to Nasab-Abdollahi, archaeological investigations indicate that Qasr-e Abu Nasr in Shiraz exhibits a cultural sequence from the Achaemenid to the Abbasid period, with its primary settlement dating back to the Sassanid era.

“The archaeological findings from Qasr-e Abu Nasr reveal a wide spectrum of administrative systems, techniques, and defensive structures,” the archaeologist remarked.

Furthermore, he emphasized that archaeological evidence from the Sassanid period, including such clay sealings, as well as artifacts from the Achaemenid era such as inscribed bricks from Persepolis, corroborates that the city known today as Shiraz bore the same name in antiquity and was among the significant cities of ancient Iran.

ASIA, OMAN, WORLD

A 4000-Year-Old Seal Found in the prehistoric coastal site of Kalba on the Gulf of Oman

A 4000-Year-Old Seal Found in the prehistoric coastal site of Kalba on the Gulf of Oman

A 4000-Year-Old Seal Found in the prehistoric coastal site of Kalba on the Gulf of Oman

Archaeologists discovered a Gulf-type seal made of soft stone dating to the end of the third millennium BC at Kalba, a prehistoric coastal site in the Gulf of Oman.

Since 2019, excavations have been carried out on the south-eastern Arabian Peninsula by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OeAW) to investigate.

As a result of this research, researchers can be detected for the first time the extensive trade networks extending from the Indus region to the Aegean Sea about 4500 years ago. According to researchers, presumably, the Gulf region already served as a nexus between East and West about 4500 years ago.

Kalba is a multi-period site situated in the Emirate of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, on the Gulf of Oman, and it is one of the sites under investigation as a hub for these early commercial networks in the southeastern Arabian Peninsula.

Kalba was continuously inhabited from the Early Bronze Age to the Iron Age (c. 2500–600 BC), despite environmental changes that made the area more arid.

In addition to providing favorable weather, Kalba’s strategic location made it an excellent entry point for caravan routes connecting land and sea. The Hajar Mountains can still be crossed via this route, which also makes it possible to trade goods with the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula.

However, the researchers emphasize the importance of considering the question of what objects or raw materials were brought to Kalba, produced and used at the site, and which presumably served as trade goods.  All indications point to a special relevance of mineral resources.

The research findings show that a multi-crafting coastal community not only occupies a favorable ecological niche but also employs sophisticated and adaptable raw-material procurement strategies. Moreover, a “Gulf-type” seal attests to Kalba’s involvement in extensive networks of trade and exchange.

According to archaeologists, this type of seal, originally produced in the Dilmun region, can be dated to the late third millennium BCE. The seal depicts a bull and possibly a lion in an attacking posture.

The bull motif, widely recognized in similar seals, is influenced by the iconography of the Indus Valley seals.

The lion, however, is intriguing, as it is not represented in Indus seals, but is rather known as a motif in the cylinder seals of the westernmost Mesopotamian region.

The motifs on the “Gulf-type” seal from Kalba, they conclude, seem to represent a potential synthesis of Eastern and Western motif traditions within a distinct local seal type in the southeastern Arabian Peninsula, emphasizing the cohesive nature of this coastal trading hub.