Category Archives: WORLD

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

1,600-Year-Old Flute and Key Unearthed in Turkey

1,600-Year-Old Flute and Key Unearthed in Turkey

A 1,600-year-old flute and bronze ring with a key have been unearthed during excavations in the 3,000-year-old Zerzevan Castle, located in the Çınar district of Diyarbakır and which served as the last garrison of the Roman Empire in the east. The castle is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

Associate Professor Aytaç Coşkun, the head of the excavations, said the flute was important as it showed that the people living in the castle, which was a military settlement, had an interest in art and music.

The historical castle, which is home to the Mithras Temple, is located in an area of 60,000 square meters.

The historical castle has 12-15-meter-high and 1200-meter-long wall ruins, a 21-meter-high watchtower and defence tower, church, administration building, residences, grain and weapon warehouses, underground sanctuary, shelters, rock tombs, water channels and 54 water cisterns. Its 1,800-year-old entrance has been unearthed, too.

Coşkun said they uncovered very important structures and artefacts during the excavations that have continued since 2014.

Stating that the flute, which was identified to be 1,600 years old, and a ring with a special key were also unearthed during the latest excavations, Coçkun said that the flute, produced by making round holes in the bones of small cattle, is important as it reveals that the people living in the castle have an interest in art and music.

“The flute with six holes, one of which is broken, is dated to the 4th and 5th centuries A.D., that is, 1,600 years old. The ring with key, which was used to open a chest keeping very special items, is also dated to the 4th and 5th centuries A.D.

These artefacts are rarely found during excavations and are seen for the first time in the region. The number of visitors to the castle is increasing day by day,” he said.

Coşkun noted that Zerzevan Castle was the military settlement of the Roman Empire and one of the best-preserved garrisons in the world.

“We initiated the excavation works in the castle in 2014 and we took a break in the 2021 season. As of March, we started the excavation works again and the work will continue uninterruptedly until the end of December. Already, Zerzevan Castle is an excavation area and an important project that has been carried out for 12 months.

We have achieved many results in a short time. In fact, the works here are very important both for illuminating the history of the region and for the tourism of the region.

Many structures were unearthed, such as residences for soldiers and civilians, underground passages, water channels, and cisterns, and one of the most important structures was the Temple of Mithras, namely Mitraem,” Coşkun said.

He added that the excavations at the Mithras Temple, which started in 2017, will continue, too.

“We uncovered the underground church, the great church, the south tower, the walls, the main entrance in the walls. We will also carry out works on the wall line.

When we look at the walls, we see that they are protected up to eight-nine meters. And in the underground city of Zerzevan Castle, there is a filling between four and eight meters. There is also a large underground city.

One of the new works of this year will be in the administrative centre.

For the first time, we will start the work on a large complex structure located at the high point of Zerzevan Castle, where the city was managed and the administrators lived. We plan to make an important step in these excavations by the end of the year. We are even planning to open a large part of the structure,” he said.

EUROPE, NORWAY, WORLD

Viking Longhouses Detected Near Norway’s Gjellestad Ship

Viking Longhouses Detected Near Norway’s Gjellestad Ship

Norwegian archaeologists said Monday they have found a cluster of longhouses, including one of the largest in Scandinavia, using ground-penetrating radar in the southeastern part of the country — in an area that researchers believe was a central place in the late Nordic Iron Age.

The longhouses — long and narrow, single-room buildings — were found in Gjellestad, 86 kilometres (53 miles) southeast of Oslo near where a Viking-era ship was found in 2018 close to the Swedish border.

“We have found several buildings, all typical Iron Age longhouses, north of the Gjellestad ship.

Viking Longhouses Detected Near Norway’s Gjellestad Ship

The most striking discovery is a 60-meter (197-foot) long and 15-meter (49-foot) wide longhouse, a size that makes it one of the largest we know of in Scandinavia,” archaeologist Lars Gustavsen at Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research said in a statement.

The importance of Gjellestad during that time period wasn’t immediately known. But the body, known by its Norwegian acronym NIKU, said it was working on finding that out.

This autumn, archaeologists covered 40 hectares (about 100 acres) south, east and north of where the Gjellestad ship was found with the radar system, and one of the next steps are archaeological excavations, NIKU said.

The surveys are the first part of a research project called “Viking Nativity: Gjellestad Across Borders” where archaeologists, historians and Viking age specialists have examined the development of the area during the Nordic Iron Age that began at around 500 B.C. and lasted until approximately A.D. 800 and the beginning of the Viking Age.

“We do not know how old the houses are or what function they had. Archaeological excavations and dating will help us get an answer to this,” said Sigrid Mannsaaker Gundersen, another archaeologist.

They have also found several ploughed-out burial mounds in nearby fields.

“We are not surprised to have found these burial mounds, as we already know there are several others in the surrounding area,” Gustavsen said. “ Still, these are important to know about to get a more complete picture of Gjellestad and its surroundings.”

The text in this video is in Norwegian, but the images give an idea of the georadar examinations as well as the findings.
AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Human remains with golden tongues found in Egypt

Human remains with golden tongues found in Egypt

Two golden tongues were found still inside the mouths of an ancient Egyptian man and woman who died over 2,500 years ago, the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities announced on Sunday.

A golden tongue was found inside the skull of an ancient mummy in Egypt, December 2021.

The identities of those interred are unknown, but the stone sarcophaguses were placed alongside each other.

A University of Barcelona archaeological mission discovered the pair of tombs containing the golden prosthetics at Oxyrhynchus, modern-day El Bahnasa, which is located some 220 kilometres south of Cairo.

The tombs are believed to be from the Saite dynasty, a late period of ancient Egypt that ended in 525 BC.

According to the ministry, golden tongues were placed inside the mouths of the dead to enable them to speak with Osiris, the ancient Egyptian god of the underworld, who judged those on their way to the afterlife.

The male’s tomb was still sealed, an unusual find, keeping the mummy inside in a good state of preservation, according to Esther Pons Melado, co-director of the archaeological mission of Oxyrhynchus

“This is very important because it’s rare to find a tomb that is totally sealed,” she told the National News in a Monday report on the discovery.

During excavation work carried out by a Spanish archaeological mission from Barcelona University and IPOA, at El-Bahnasa archaeological site in Meniya, has uncovered two Saite tombs with human remains with golden tongues.

Along with the mummy, there were four canopic jars that were used to preserve the internal organs of the deceased. In addition, archaeologists found a scarab, other amulets, and about 400 funerary figurines made of faience, a tin-glazed earthenware.

The woman’s tomb appeared to have been opened in the past and the contents were not in a good condition, Melardo said.

An additional three golden tongues were also found outside the tombs, according to the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry. They were dated to the Roman period in Egypt that began in 30 BC.

The excavation team of 14 included members from Spain, Italy, France, the US and Egypt.

In February, archaeologists at the ancient Egyptian site of Taposiris Magna found over a dozen tombs, one of which contained a mummy with a similar golden tongue in the skull.

AFRICA, WORLD

A 4.6-billion-year-old meteorite is the oldest volcanic rock ever found

A 4.6-billion-year-old meteorite is the oldest volcanic rock ever found

A lonely meteorite that landed in the Sahara Desert in 2020 is older than Earth. The primaeval space rock is about 4.6 billion years old and is the oldest known example of magma from space.

A 4.6-billion-year-old meteorite is the oldest volcanic rock ever found
The EC 002 meteorite is “relatively coarse-grained, tan and beige,” with crystals that are green, yellow-green and yellow-brown.

Its age and mineral content hint that the rock originated in our early solar system from the crust of a protoplanet — a large, rocky body in the process of developing into a planet, according to a new study. 

The meteorite, called Erg Chech 002 (EC 002), is likely a rare surviving chunk of a lost baby planet that was destroyed or absorbed by bigger rocky planets during our solar system’s formation. 

Pieces of EC 002 were found in Adrar, Algeria, in May 2020, and the fragments were “relatively coarse-grained, tan and beige,” sporadically studded with crystals that were “larger green, yellow-green and less commonly yellow-brown,” according to a description by the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI). 

EC 002 is an achondrite, a type of meteorite that comes from a parent body with a distinct crust and core, and lacks round mineral grains called chondrules, according to the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University.

Approximately 3,100 known meteorites originated in crust and mantle layers of rocky asteroids, but they reveal little about protoplanet diversity when our solar system was young. About 95% come from just two parent bodies, and around 75% of those originated from one source — possibly the asteroid 4 Vesta, one of the largest objects in the asteroid belt, the researchers reported.

Two views of a piece of EC 002. The main mass of the meteorite resides at the Maine Mineral and Gem Museum.

A meteoritic rarity

Among the thousands of rocky meteorites, EC 002 stood out. Radioactive versions, or isotopes, of aluminium and magnesium, indicated that the meteorite’s parent was an ancient body dating to 4.566 billion years ago, and EC 002’s chemical composition revealed that it emerged from a partly-melted magma reservoir in the parent body’s crust.

Most rocky meteorites come from sources with basaltic crusts — rapidly cooled lava that is rich in iron and magnesium — but EC 002’s composition showed that its parent’s crust was made of andesite, which is rich in silica. 

“This meteorite is the oldest magmatic rock analyzed to date and sheds light on the formation of the primordial crusts that covered the oldest protoplanets,” the study authors reported.

While EC 002 is highly unusual, other studies have found that such silica-infused andesite crusts were likely common during our solar system’s protoplanet-forming stage, “contrary to what the meteorite record suggests,” the researchers wrote.

“It is reasonable to assume that many similar chondritic bodies accreted at the same time and were capped by the same type of primordial crust,” the study authors said. Yet, when the scientists peered at distant cosmic objects’ spectral “fingerprints” — wavelength patterns in the light they emit or reflect — and compared them to EC 002, they found no matches.

Even after comparison with 10,000 objects in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey database, EC 002 was “clearly distinguishable from all asteroid groups,” the scientists reported. “No object with spectral characteristics similar to EC 002 has been identified to date.”

Where are all the protoplanets with andesite crusts today? During our solar system’s volatile period of planetary birth, most of these protoplanets likely didn’t make it past infancy, according to the study.

Either they were smashed to bits in collisions with other rocky bodies, or they were absorbed by bigger and more successful rocky planets, such as Earth, Mars, Venus and Mercury, leaving few traces behind to spawn meteorites such as EC 002. 

“Remains of primordial andesitic crust are therefore not only rare in the meteorite record, but they are also rare today in the asteroid belt,” the scientists wrote. 

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Researchers in Israel have discovered an intact chicken egg laid about 1,000 years ago—though the delicate object cracked in the lab

Researchers in Israel have discovered an intact chicken egg laid about 1,000 years ago—though the delicate object cracked in the lab

Researchers in Israel have discovered an intact chicken egg laid about 1,000 years ago—though the delicate object cracked in the lab.

“We were astonished to find it,” Alla Nagorsky, an archaeologist with the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), tells Haaretz’s, Ruth Schuster. “From time to time we find fragments of eggshells, but a whole egg is extraordinary.”

The team discovered the egg in a cesspit in the industrial zone of the ancient city of Yavneh. As Amy Spiro reports for the Times of Israel, the egg remained unbroken for so long because it was pillowed in soft human waste, which created anaerobic, or oxygen-free, conditions and prevented its decay.

“Even today, eggs rarely survive for long in supermarket cartons,” says Nagorsky in a statement. “It’s amazing to think this is a 1,000-year-old find!”

Per the statement, the shell cracked despite staff taking “extreme caution” when removing it from the cesspit under the supervision of an experienced conservationist. Luckily, Ilan Naor, director of the IAA’s Organic Materials Conservation Laboratory, was able to repair the crack. While much of the egg’s contents leaked out, some of the yolks remained, and the researchers preserved it for future DNA analysis.

Alla Nagorsky and her colleagues examined the ancient egg.

The discovery was part of an excavation conducted ahead of the development of a new neighbourhood in the Israeli city. The cesspit also contained three dolls made out of bone—toys typical of the period—and an oil lamp.

Nagorsky tells Haaretz that the team was able to date the finds using the lamp, which was of a type only made in the late Abbasid period.

The Abbasid caliphate ruled much of the Middle East from 750 until the Mongol invasion of 1258. It lost control of Jerusalem when Europeans captured the city during the First Crusade in 1099.

Lee Perry Gal, an IAA archaeologist and expert on poultry in the ancient world, tells the Jerusalem Post’s Rossella Tercatin that broken eggshells are relatively common finds during excavations of ancient sites—but discovering a complete egg is extremely unusual.

“Chickens were domesticated in southeast Asia relatively recently, around 6,000 years ago, but it took time for them to enter the human diet,” she says. “They were used for other purposes, such as cockfighting, and they were considered beautiful animals, exhibited in ancient zoos and given as presents to kings.”

Perry Gal adds that one of the earliest known sites with evidence of chicken farming is also located in Israel. People living in Maresha appear to have raised the fowl 2,300 years ago, after Alexander the Great conquered Jerusalem.

In other ancient chicken news, Allison Robicelli of the Takeout reports that researchers examining 3,000-year-old bird bones found in Britain learned that domestic fowl of that time lived, on average, for 2 to 4 years. That’s much longer than the 33- to the 81-day lifespan of chickens in modern industrial farming systems. Writing in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, the researchers posit that the chickens were used in ritual sacrifices or cockfighting.

“Domestic fowl were introduced in the Iron Age and likely held a special status, where they were viewed as sacred rather than as food,” says lead author Sean Doherty, an archaeologist at the University of Exeter, in a statement. “Most chicken bones show no evidence for butchery, and were buried as complete skeletons rather than with other food waste.”

The findings build on previous evidence suggesting that early cultivation of animals often took place for reasons other than consumption, reported Rory Sullivan for CNN last year.

As Julius Caesar wrote in Commentarii de Bello Gallico, “The Britons consider it contrary to divine law to eat the hare, the chicken or the goose. They raise these, however, for their own amusement or pleasure.”

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Princely tomb of Iron Age mystery man discovered in Italy. And there’s a chariot inside

Princely tomb of Iron Age mystery man discovered in Italy. And there’s a chariot inside.

A lavish ‘Princely tomb’ belonging to an Iron Age man was found in Italy full of treasures including a bronze helmet, weapons and a whole chariot. The tomb of a pre-Roman prince has been saved from ‘imminent’ destruction after aerial photos revealed the ancient treasure trove before it could be built over.  

The body of the unidentified prince has not been found and no mound remains to mark his resting place – it may have been lost while the site was used for farming. The hoard, found in Corinaldo, Italy, was on the site of a future sports complex and wasn’t spotted until a survey of the land was carried out before the building started. 

The value of the discovery and the site is now being assessed before any decision over whether to move the tomb or move the sports complex is made. 

Inside the tomb archaeologists found the remains of a complete chariot, it’s chassis can be seen on the outer edge of this block, as well as weapons and armour
Princely tomb of Iron Age mystery man discovered in Italy. And there's a chariot inside.
The full study of the pottery and other finds within the tomb, including the chassis of what was likely a chariot (seen here) will likely prompt entirely new insights into the cultural, trading and gift-exchange relationships of the aristocracy in the area
‘Aerial photography led to the first identification of the site,’ said Professor Boschi. The grey area in this photo highlights where the tomb was found

The tomb is believed to date back to the seventh century BC when it was constructed for a prince of the largely-unknown Piceni people, whose land was eventually annexed by Rome in 268 BC. 

‘We identified circular crop marks, comparable to large funerary ring ditches,’ said Federica Boschi, an archaeologist at the University of Bologna. 

‘A large and slightly off-centre pit contained an extraordinary collection of cultural material.’

It is the only discovery of its kind in the region, the archaeologist confirmed.

 ‘As the first such monument identified and excavated in northern Marche this has provided an extraordinary opportunity to investigate a site of the Piceni culture,’ said Professor Boschi. 

‘Until now, this culture has been poorly documented and little understood despite its undoubted importance in the pre-Roman development of the area.’ 

She added: ‘The recovery from complete obscurity and imminent danger of archaeological material of this scale and importance is a rare event within contemporary European archaeology.’ 

The body of the unidentified prince has not been found and no mound remains to mark his resting place – possibly both were destroyed during the land’s long history of agricultural use. 

Nonetheless, Professor Boschi believes that the lavish tomb is evidenced enough of his status. 

She said: ‘The extraordinarily rich funerary deposit testifies to a high-status tomb dedicated to a princely leader within the early Iron Age society of the region.

‘One outstanding find among the hundred or more ceramic vessels recovered from the pit was an olla imported from ancient Daunia. 

‘This undoubtedly symbolises the commemorated leader’s significant political, military and economic power. 

‘The full study of the pottery and other finds will undoubtedly prompt entirely new insights into the cultural, trading and gift-exchange relationships of the aristocracy in the area.’ 

After seeing aerial photos of the tomb site, archaeologists initially performed a resistivity survey, where electrical currents are run through the ground to see if anything metallic is buried there. 

‘Aerial photography led to the first identification of the site,’ said Professor Boschi. 

‘A resistivity survey then provided an initial understanding of the extent and internal articulation of the funerary area, including a third ring-ditch not revealed by the aerial photographs. 

‘A targeted geomagnetic survey then produced significant information about the survival of the underground deposits, providing supporting secure evidence for a massive deposit of ironwork.’

It’s not entirely clear what will happen to the site next, whether the tomb and its contents will be moved or whether a new home will be found for the sports centre. The findings have to be properly valued, both for their financial worth and their cultural worth, before anything can happen.

‘The next steps are going to move toward the valorization and public fruition of the site within and in agreement with the project of the new sports complex,’ said Professor Boschi.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Mysterious Papyrus found Indside a Hidden “Crypt in Agia Sophia: What do they say?

Mysterious Papyrus found Indside a Hidden “Crypt in Agia Sophia: What do they say?

The reason for identifying this special find was the observation of a Muslim believer who went to Hagia Sophia to pray (UNESCO condemned Turkey’s court decision to turn Hagia Sophia into a mosque).

The Muslim saw that a stone about 10 cm long and 30 cm wide had come off a wall and notified the authorities.

Surprised, the police could not believe their eyes when they rushed to the spot, discovering five parchments with Hebrew writing (as they first estimated) hidden in a bag.

The first estimates for the parchments found in a crypt in Hagia Sophia were made by art historian Selçuk Eracun.

“The parchments are not written in Hebrew as originally written,” Selçuk Eracun told CNN Turk, adding that “one is written in Romanian and one in runic writing.”

“Some parchments contain wishes. The person who wrote the parchment in Romanian wishes good luck to his family. He also writes about his dream of living in America. “There are also the names of the children of his family,” he said.

He continued: “The other parchment contains writing similar to the runic alphabet used in Scandinavia.”

“As we can see, the parchments are not very old. Those who go to Hagia Sophia to pray, write wishes and leave them. It’s a tradition,” said the art historian.

“It is not uncommon to find parchments in crypts on the walls, as marble often falls,” he concluded.

CYPRUS, EUROPE, WORLD

3000-Year-Old Gold Jewellery Found Inside Bronze Age Tombs in Cyprus

3000-Year-Old Gold Jewellery Found Inside Bronze Age Tombs in Cyprus

Since 2010, the New Swedish Cyprus Expedition (The Söderberg Expedition) has had several rounds of excavations in Cyprus. In 2018, archaeologists discovered two tombs in the form of underground chambers, with a large number of human skeletons.

Managing the finds required very delicate work over four years since the bones were extremely fragile after more than 3,000 years in the salty soil.

In addition to the skeletons of 155 individuals, the team also found 500 objects. The skeletons and ritual funeral objects were in layers on top of each other, showing that the tombs were used for several generations.

The same five-year-old also had this necklace.

“The finds indicate that these are family tombs for the ruling elite in the city. For example, we found the skeleton of a five-year-old with a gold necklace, gold earrings and a gold tiara.

This was probably a child of a powerful and wealthy family,” says Professor Peter Fischer, the leader of the excavations.

3000-Year-Old Gold Jewellery Found Inside Bronze Age Tombs in Cyprus
One of the skeletons belonged to a five-year-old buried with lots of gold jewellery, including this tiara.

The finds include jewellery and other objects made of gold, silver, bronze, ivory and gemstones and richly decorated vessels from many cultures.

Large vessel with war chariots from Greece (ca. 1350 BCE). The ceramic vessels, particularly those imported from Greece and Crete, are decorated with painted scenes of horse-drawn chariots, individuals carrying swords, animals and flowers.

“We also found a ceramic bull. The body of this hollow bull has two openings: one on the back to fill it with a liquid, likely wine, and one at the nose to drink from. Apparently, they had feasts in the chamber to honour their dead.”

A message thousands of years old

One particularly important find is a cylinder-shaped seal made from the mineral hematite, with a cuneiform inscription from Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), which the archaeologists were able to decipher.

“The text consists of three lines and mentions three names. One is Amurru, a god worshipped in Mesopotamia.

The other two are historical kings, father and son, who we recently succeeded in tracking down in other texts on clay tablets from the same period, i.e., the 18th century BC.

We are currently trying to determine why the seal ended up in Cyprus more than 1000 kilometres from where it was made.”

Among the finds is the red gemstone carnelian from India, the blue gemstone lapis lazuli from Afghanistan and amber from around the Baltic Sea, which shows that the city had a central role in trade during the Bronze Age.

The gold jewellery, along with scarabs (beetle-shaped amulets with hieroglyphs) and the remains of fish imported from the Nile Valley, tells the story of intensive trade with Egypt.

Wide-ranging trading network

By comparing with similar finds from Egypt, the archaeologists were also able to date the jewellery.

“The comparisons show that most of the objects are from the time of Nefertiti and her husband Echnaton around 1350 BCE. Like a gold pendant, we found: a lotus flower with inlaid gemstones. Nefertiti wore similar jewellery.”

Egyptian lotus jewellery with inlaid stones (ca. 1350 BCE).

The ceramic finds are also important.

“The way that the ceramics changed in appearance and material over time allows us to date them and study the connections these people had with the surrounding world. What fascinates me most is the wide-ranging network of contacts they had 3,400 years ago.”

The next step will be DNA analysis of the skeletons.

“This will reveal how the different individuals are related with each other and if there are immigrants from other cultures, which isn’t unlikely considering the vast trade networks,” says Peter Fischer.

In the tombs, the archaeologists found figurines of goddesses with bird faces. This is likely a goddess with a bird’s head holding a child that is half bird and half-human.