A sarcophagus determined to belong to the Roman era has been unearthed during the excavation works of an apartment demolished within the scope of the urban transformation project in Istanbul.
The sarcophagus came to light during the foundation excavation of the demolished building in the Büyükçekmece district.
It was determined that there were bones belonging to the human body, and the tomb was made of carved stone.
Two archaeologists and an anthropologist from the Istanbul Archaeological Museums Directorate conducted an examination of the construction site where the sarcophagus was uncovered.
As a result of the three-hour examination, the human bones found in the tomb were taken out.
The expert team also determined that the tomb is nearly 2,000 years old, dating to the Roman period.
After the completion of the examinations, the sarcophagus was lifted with a crane and taken to the Istanbul Archaeological Museums Directorate.
Since Istanbul’s foundation, the city has developed under the domination of several civilizations and has been the center of various cultures.
Three of the most powerful empires in history, Rome, Byzantine and Ottoman, declared the city as their capital.
As a result, numerous temples, buildings, churches, palaces and baths from several cultures have been located in the city.
After the conquest of the city by Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, the city became the new capital of the empire. On the other hand, freedom of religion and social rights were granted to the former residents.
With the religious buildings of former residents, Turkish Art left its marks on the city, and domes and minarets dominated the city skyline.
3,000-year-old wishing well uncovered in Germany. Take a look at the items left inside
Archaeologists in Germering uncovered a wooden well with over 100 items carefully placed inside as offerings during a drought, photos show.
Whether it’s Rome’s iconic Trevi Fountain or a water feature at the nearby mall, wish-filled waterworks are common — but perhaps not a new phenomenon.
Archaeologists in Germering unearthed a 3,000-year-old wooden wishing well, the Bavarian State Office for Monument Protection said in a Dec. 20 news release. Unlike today’s coin-filled fountains, this well was filled with over 100 well-preserved artifacts.
At the bottom of the 16-foot well, archaeologists found a variety of items that appeared intentionally placed.
Considering the depth of the well, the artifacts may have been ritual offerings or religious sacrifices made during a long drought, archaeologist Marcus Guckenbiehl said in the release.
Over 70 finely crafted clay vessels were unearthed from the well, with photos showing the decorated cups, pots and bowls. Experts noted these ceramics were not everyday items.
Pottery vessels found at the bottom of the well.
The excavation also revealed 26 bronze robe pins at the bottom of the well.
Bronze needles or robe pins were found at the bottom of the well.
A bracelet, two metal spirals, and four amber beads were all recovered from the well, too.
Amber beads found in the well.
Additionally, archaeologists found a mounted animal tooth and a wooden scoop inside the well. The number and quality of items indicated the artifacts did not fall into the well accidentally, experts said.
A mounted animal tooth found in the well.
A partially-intact wooden scoop found in the well.
The wishing well is one of over 70 found at the excavation area – but the only well found with relics inside. The findings are extremely rare, archaeologist Jochen Haberstroh said in the release.
Archaeologists are excavating the site before the construction of a letter distribution center.
The wishing well and its trove of artifacts will be studied further to gain more insight into the daily life of settlers 3,000 years ago.
A view of the well as construction takes place nearby.
Germering is about 10 miles west of Munich in the southern region of Bavaria.
This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
The excavation on the Qianqiu Gate site of the ancient palace started in 2021, and the researchers later found the large-scale underground water channels beneath the gate site’s square.
So far, four water channels have been discovered, all stone culverts running side by side from southwest to northeast. The channels were confirmed to be built together and follow a unified construction planning, said Guo Xiaotao with the Institute of Archaeology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Such water conservancy facilities with large-scale layouts and delicate designs are the first to be spotted during the excavation work on the Luoyang ancient city.
The manhole covers above the channels also have square holes to facilitate rainwater collection. The water channel ruins are believed to have introduced water sources outside into the palace city and then allowed the water to flow into lakes of the Xiyou Garden in the north of the imperial palace.
The facilities were likely part of the garden’s water diversion project inside the ancient capital city’s palace and later reused by Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534), said Liu Tao with the institute.
The discovery further explores the royal garden layout of Luoyang at that time and serves as a historical reference for modern urban water resource utilization, Liu added.
Luoyang city site, located in today’s Luoyang in Henan, has a history of over 1,500 years, while for about 600 years in its vast history, it served as the capital city for many dynasties in ancient China.
This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
This photo taken on Jan. 6, 2023 shows the ruins of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420) in Luoyang city site in Luoyang, central China’s Henan Province. The ancient capital Luoyang site in today’s Henan Province has recently discovered over 80 meters of water channels dating back to the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420). It indicates the mature techniques of building water conservancy facilities and the dynasties’ capability of water resource utilization and environmental upgrade back then.
Byzantine Woman’s Remains Found at a Castle in Turkey
Archaeological excavations in the historical Kadıkalesi Castle in the western province of Aydın have unearthed the skeleton of a woman, which is believed to date back to the 13th century.
The excavation team said that the female skeleton found in a tomb in the church section is believed to belong to the wife of a bureaucrat or someone who donated to the church.
The female skeleton was found under the water channel stones that were removed during the excavations in the monumental church in the ancient city of Kadıkalesi (Anaia), which was used as a settlement from the prehistoric period to the Ottoman Empire in the Kuşadası district.
Anthropologists think that the woman was buried in the 13th century and she was buried in the church because she made a large amount of donation to the church or because she was the wife of a bureaucrat.
In the examinations, it was determined that the woman was 34-38 years old and 1.63 meters tall.
Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Umut Tuncer, who made examinations in the area, said, “The things that turn a cultural structure into a tourist attraction are the findings there. Kadıkalesi is a very rich destination in this sense. It is full of findings that reveal new mysteries that excite us.
During the studies carried out last month, a tomb dating back to 1,300 A.D. was discovered.
The female skeleton, which we estimate to be approximately 1.63 meters tall, was found in the tomb.”
Art historian Umut Kardaşlar from the excavation team said, “We thought it might actually be a water channel. When we opened it, we realized that it was a burial of a woman.
In fact, it is not very common to put a woman’s burial inside churches. Probably, this woman must have been a woman who donated a significant amount to the church, or she must have been the wife of a bureaucrat.”
Londoner solves 20,000-year Ice Age drawings mystery
Researchers concluded 20,000-year-old markings on drawings could refer to a lunar calendar.
Ancient cave paintings, like animal figures and handprints, are generally thought to have meanings, however, the specifics of these drawings have long eluded experts. But now, British scientists have claimed to have decoded why Ice Age hunter-gatherers drew cave paintings.
Independent researcher Ben Bacon took an interest in cave art drawings. “The meaning of the markings within these drawings has always intrigued me so I set about trying to decode them,” he told the BBC.
Mr Bacon spent hours at the British library searching for photos of cave art online and collected “as much data as possible and began looking for patterns”.
He analysed 20,000-year-old markings on the drawings and concluded that they could refer to a lunar calendar.
As his research and idea progressed, Mr Bacon reached out to academics to collaborate with them. He published a study in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal along with senior academics from Durham University and University College London (UCL), which revealed that Ice Age hunter-gatherers were using markings combined with drawings of their animal prey to store and communicate “sophisticated” information about the behaviour of species crucial to their survival at least 20,000 years ago.
In the study, the researchers explained that as the marks, found in more than 600 images on cave walls and objects across Europe, record information numerically and reference a calendar rather than recording speech, they cannot be called “writing” in the sense of the pictographic and cuneiform systems of early writing that emerged in Sumer from 3,400 BC onwards.
Instead, the team refers to them as a “proto-writing system” – pre-dating other token-based systems that are thought to have emerged during the Neolithic period by at least 10,000 years.
The researchers in particular examined a ‘Y’ sign on some paintings, which they felt might be a symbol for “giving birth” as it showed one line growing out from another.
Their study showed that the sequences record mating and birthing seasons and found a “statistically significant” correlation between the number of marks the position of the ‘Y’ sign and the months in which modern animals mate and birth respectively.
Professors Paul Pettitt of Durham University said, “This is a fascinating study that has brought together independent and professional researchers with expertise in archaeology and visual psychology, to decode information first recorded thousands of years ago.”
“The result show that Ice Age hunter-gatherers were the first to use a systematic calendar and marks to record information about major ecological events within that calendar. In turn, we’re able to show that these people – who left a legacy of spectacular art in the caves of Lascaux and Altamira – also left a record of early timekeeping that would eventually become commonplace among our species,” Mr Pettitt added.
Post a commentIn the study, the researchers showed that despite the difficulties, researchers can crack the meaning of at least some of the symbols. For Bacon, the findings had even more significance. “As we probe deeper into their world, what we are discovering is that these ancient ancestors are a lot more like us than we had previously thought,” he said. “These people, separated from us by many millennia, are suddenly a lot closer,” Mr Bacon added.
Digital Reconstruction Depicts Face of “Jericho Skull”
The latest research gives a new face to the most famous of the plaster-covered skulls discovered near Jericho in 1953, showing a man who died about 9,500 years ago.
A famous, 9,000-year-old human skull discovered near the biblical city of Jericho now has a new face, thanks to efforts by a multi-national team of researchers.
The so-called Jericho Skull — one of seven unearthed by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon in 1953 and currently housed in the British Museum in London — was found covered in plaster and with shells for eyes, apparently in an attempt to make it look more lifelike.
This prehistoric design was “the first facial reconstruction in the world,” Brazilian graphics expert Cícero Moraes, the leader of the project, told Live Science in an email.
In 2016, the British Museum released precise measurements of the Jericho Skull, based on a micro-computed tomography, or micro-CT — effectively a very detailed X-ray scan. The measurements were then used to create a virtual 3D model of the skull, and the model was used to make an initial facial approximation.
But the new approximation, published online on Dec. 22 in the journal OrtogOnline, uses different techniques to determine how the face may have looked, and goes further by artistically adding head and facial hair.
Although the skull was initially thought to be female, later observations determined it belonged to a male individual, Moraes said, so the new approximation shows the face of a dark-haired man in his 30s or 40s. (Based on how a lesion on the skull has healed, archaeologists suggest he was “middle-aged” by today’s standards when he died.)
An initial facial reconstruction was made from the anatomy of the skull in 2016, but the new reconstruction uses advanced digital techniques.
An unusual feature of the British Museum’s Jericho Skull is that the cranium, or upper skull, is significantly larger than average, Moraes said.
In addition, the skull seems to have been artificially elongated when the man was very young, probably by tightly binding it; some of the other plastered skulls found by Kenyon also show signs of this, but the reason isn’t known.
Jericho skulls
Jericho, now a Palestinian city in the West Bank, is thought to be one of the oldest settlements in the world.
It appears in the biblical Book of Joshua as the first Canaanite city attacked by the Israelites after they crossed the Jordan River in about 1400 B.C. According to the biblical story, Jericho’s walls collapsed after Joshua ordered the Israelites to circle the city for seven days while carrying the Ark of the Covenant, and then to blow their trumpets and shout.
But archaeological research has failed to find any evidence of this event, and it’s now thought to be Judean propaganda, according to historians writing in Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (Eerdmans, 2000).
The new facial reconstruction used new techniques developed by the researchers and derived from new anatomical studies and statistical projections from 3D X-ray scans of living people.
Archaeologists have determined, however, that Jericho has been continually inhabited for about 11,000 years; and in 1953 Kenyon excavated seven skulls at a site near the ancient city.
Each had been encased in plaster, and the spaces inside the skulls were packed with earth. They also had cowrie seashells placed over their eye sockets, and some had traces of brown paint.
Kenyon speculated that the skulls might be portraits of some of Jericho’s earliest inhabitants; but more than 50 plastered skulls from about the same period have since been found throughout the region, and it’s now thought they are relics of a funerary practice, according to a study by Denise Schmandt-Besserat, a professor emerita of Art and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
The skull is one of seven discovered by the British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon near the ancient city of Jericho in 1953. It’s now thought to be a relic of a common funerary practice at the time it was made, about 9,500 years ago
The skull is now held by the British Museum in London, and the latest facial reconstruction is based on precise photographs of it published in 2016.
The techniques used by the researchers are also used to plan plastic surgeries and manufacture artificial body parts.
New approximation
Moraes said he’s been unable to find many details of the 2016 facial approximation, but it seems to have used what’s known as the Manchester method, which has been developed since 1977 and is based on forensic analyses.
It is now widely used for facial approximations, especially of the victims of crimes.
The latest approximation, however, used a different approach, which is based on anatomical deformation and statistical projections derived from computed tomography (CT) scans— thousands of X-ray scans knitted together to create a 3D image — of living people, he said.
The techniques are also used to plan plastic surgeries and in the manufacturing of prostheses (artificial body parts), but neither were used in the 2016 study, he said.
“I wouldn’t say ours is an update, it’s just a different approach,” he said. But “there is greater structural, anatomical and statistical coherence.”
Moraes hopes to carry out digital approximations of other plastered skulls from the region, but so far only the precise measurements of the Jericho Skull in the British Museum have been published. “There is a lot of mystery around this material,” Moraes said. “Thanks to new technologies we are discovering new things about the pieces, but there is still a lot to be studied.”
Fragments of Crocodile Skulls Found in Ancient Egyptian Tombs
Polish archaeologists working in the North Asasif necropolis (West Thebes) near the Temple of Hatshepsut discovered 9 crocodile heads deposited in two elite tombs.
“This is a unique discovery, because until now no graves containing crocodiles were known in Egypt. Mummies of these dangerous reptiles have so far been discovered in temples,” Dr. Patryk Chudzik, head of the research project from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw told PAP.
The finds come from two tombs: of Cheti, one of the most important officials during the reign of pharaoh Mentuhotep II (reign: 2055-2002 BC), and in another anonymous tomb, probably of a vizier at the court of the same ruler.
Egyptologists compare the position to today’s prime minister. The tombs are located in the North Asasif necropolis near the Temple of Hatshepsut. They have been the target of research by Polish archaeologists since 2013.
The archaeologist emphasised that the crocodile heads discovered by his team had not been mummified, only wrapped in a fabric. They had not been subjected to any additional treatment.
He said: “Our discoveries show that the remains of crocodiles were part of funerary equipment, and therefore had a magical meaning.”
He added that they were supposed to assist the deceased on his journey in the afterlife.
Crocodiles lived in Egypt until around the middle of the 20th century, when the Great Aswan Dam was built in the south of the country. In ancient Egypt they were worshipped and feared, because they liked to bask on the sandy banks of the Nile. They also preyed on victims in the Nile canals.
The ancient Egyptian deity Sobek was depicted as a crocodile or a man with a crocodile head. He gained a high rank in the pantheon thanks to Egyptian syncretism. He was sometimes called Sobek-Ra, which made him a solar deity. Ra was one of the most important Egyptian gods.
Referring to the ancient spells recorded in the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts – a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells from the times of the Old and Middle Kingdom, Dr. Chudzik said: “The soul of the deceased whose tomb contained crocodile heads was protected by Sobek and the fusion form Sobek-Ra. It could take the form of a god, and thus take over his powers, which also protected her from the dangers of the afterlife.”
Chudzik’s team found crocodile skulls not in tombs, but in heaps left by their first explorer, Herbert Winlock from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the US, who worked there 100 years ago.
Researchers at the time paid little attention to animal remains. They focused on acquiring artefacts they considered valuable: jewellery, sculptures and everyday objects. The rest, like in this case, would end up on a heap.
According to Dr. Chudzik, the practice of placing crocodile heads in ancient Egyptian tombs certainly was no exception. Earlier researchers simply got rid of such finds, unattractive from the antiquarian point of view.
Chudzik believes that crocodile heads were placed in at least some of the richest tombs, but it was not a rule. This is confirmed by the latest discoveries in the North Asasif necropolis, where more remains of these Nile reptiles were found in a third tomb.
The skulls from the tombs studied by Polish archaeologists belonged to young and adult individuals. Their average length was from 2 to 3-4 m. Only fragments of skulls and mandibles have survived so experts are unable to say how the decapitation was done.
Lasers reveal sites used as the Americas’ oldest known star calendars
This laser-mapped, eastward-looking view of the Maya site Aguada Fénix includes a rectangular ceremonial center (top center) oriented toward sunrise at a particular time of year.
Olmec and Maya people living along Mexico’s Gulf Coast as early as 3,100 years ago built star-aligned ceremonial centers to track important days of a 260-day calendar, a new study finds.
The oldest written evidence of this calendar, found on painted plaster mural fragments from a Maya site in Guatemala, dates to between 300 and 200 B.C., nearly a millennium later (SN: 4/13/22). But researchers have long suspected that a 260-day calendar developed hundreds of years earlier among Gulf Coast Olmec groups.
Now, an airborne laser-mapping technique called light detection and ranging, or lidar, has revealed astronomical orientations of 415 ceremonial complexes dating to between about 1100 B.C. and A.D. 250, say archaeologist Ivan Šprajc and colleagues.
Most ritual centers were aligned on an east-to-west axis, corresponding to sunrises or other celestial events on specific days of a 260-day year, the scientists report January 6 in Science Advances.
The finding points to the earliest evidence in the Americas of a formal calendar system that combined astronomical knowledge with earthly constructions. This system used celestial events to identify important dates during a 260-day portion of a full year.
“The 260-day cycle materialized in Mesoamerica’s earliest known monumental complexes [and was used] for scheduling seasonal, subsistence-related ceremonies,” says Šprajc, of the Research Center of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Ljubljana. “We cannot be certain exactly when and where it was invented.”
Some of the oldest ceremonial centers identified by lidar clearly belong to the Olmec culture, but others are hard to classify, says archaeologist Stephen Houston of Brown University in Providence, R.I., who did not participate in the new study.
Olmec society dates from around 3,500 to 2,400 years ago. Links between the Olmec and later Maya culture, known best for Classic-era cities and kingdoms that flourished between roughly 1,750 and 1,100 years ago, are unclear. But Classic Maya inscriptions and documents also reference the 260-day calendar.
Mobile groups in Mesoamerica, an ancient cultural region that extended from central Mexico to Central America, may have scheduled large, seasonal gatherings using the 260-day calendar long before it gained favor among Classic Maya kings, Šprajc and colleagues suggest.
The same calendar may also have marked days of important agricultural activities or rituals as maize cultivation spread in Mesoamerica starting around 3,000 years ago, they add. Some Maya communities still use a 260-day calendar to organize maize cultivation and schedule agricultural rituals.
The most common architectural alignment detected in the new study corresponded to the position of sunrises on February 11 and October 29 when complexes were in use, separated by 260 days. These complexes faced east toward a point on the horizon where the sun rose on those two days.
Another frequent orientation matched sunrises separated by 130 days, or half of the 260-day count.
A minority of ceremonial complexes were aligned with dates of solstices (longest and shortest days of the year), quarter days (the midpoint of each half of the year) or lunar cycles in the 260-day year. Other centers tracked the position of Venus, a star associated with the rainy season and maize farming.
Sunrises or sunsets recorded at ceremonial centers were typically separated by multiples of 13 or 20 days. Aside from representing basic mathematical units of a 260-day year, the numbers 13 and 20 have long been associated with various gods and sacred concepts among Maya people and other Mesoamerican groups, Šprajc says.
Future excavations at lidar-detected ceremonial complexes can investigate whether ancient groups formally dedicated certain structures to specific days in the 260-day year, Houston says.
