Egypt recovered on Sunday two ancient Egyptian statues that were smuggled to Belgium, as the country continues intensive efforts to retrieve thousands of artefacts found in the unlawful possession of museums and individuals around the world.
Assistant Foreign Minister for Cultural Relations Omar Selim (L) and General Supervisor of the Repatriation Antiquities Department Shaaban Abdel-Gawad during the hand-over of two ancient statues retrieved from Belgium.
The two pieces are a wooden, painted figurine statue of a standing man resting on a pedestal and a wooden ushabti figurine.
The first piece dates back to the Old Kingdom (2686-2181 BC), the other to the Late Period (664-332 BC), a statement by the ministry read.
In 2016, the two pieces were seized by the Belgian authorities at an exhibition for selling antiquities after investigations concluded the exhibition owner did not possess their ownership documents, the statement added.
The two pieces were handed over by Assistant Foreign Minister for Cultural Relations Omar Selim to the Repatriation Antiquities Department (RAD) at the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in the presence of General Supervisor of the RAD Shaaban Abdel-Gawad and a representative of the Ministry of Interior.
Egypt is set to repatriate 16 artefacts that were stolen and smuggled out of the country after they were recovered by the authorities in the United States as part of their investigations into a major case of international trafficking in Egyptian antiquities.
In June, New York prosecutors announced seizing five Egyptian artefacts worth more than $3 million from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of an investigation into international trafficking in Egyptian antiquities involving Jean-Luc Martinez, the former president of the Louvre, who was charged in May with complicity in fraud.
In recent years, Egypt toughened penalties for unlawful possession or smuggling of artefacts.
Last year, parliament amended the law on protecting antiquities to stipulate that those illegally possessing or selling antiquities face imprisonment and a fine of EGP 1 million to EGP 10 million.
Egypt has succeeded in recovering 5,000 artefacts from the US, 115 from France, and 36 from Spain in recent years.
Archaeologists uncover 2,600-year-old blocks of white cheese in Egypt
Archaeologists in Egypt made an unexpected discovery on Saturday, opening a set of ancient pots to discover a block of halloumi inside, preserved for 2,600 years.
Yep, we’re serious—it was halloumi.
The ancient Egyptians ate a cheese they called haram (no, it wasn’t haram), which eventually evolved into the word halloum—aka halloumi.
The world’s squeakiest cheese, which tastes at its rawest like new sneakers on a hospital floor in the best possible way, was found as part of the Egyptian archaeological mission working in Giza in the Saqqara antiquities area. Yep, the same place as Secrets of the Saqqara Tomb was set.
No word yet on whether it is edible, but perhaps they’re taking volunteers?
While some scientists point to Cyprus as the originate of the cheese during the Byzantine period, others dispute this, and claim it was previously known as haram in ancient Egypt.
The archaeologists found a number of clay pots that contained the cheese, which was inscribed in Demotic script, a type of writing that was discovered on the Rosetta Stone.
The archaeologists on saturday discovering the halloumi.
They found a large number of containers, the rest of which are planned to be open in the coming days. No speculation on whether they all contain halloumi or whether there are other cheeses—or non-cheese substances of some kind—within the pots.
The Saqqara area has been a hugely fruitful area for relics in recent years, with more than 100 sarcophagi discovered, which was turned into the 2020 Netflix documentary.
Archaeologists have more planned excavations for the area too. The Egyptian Antiquities Mission has been working on the site since 2018, and through the past five excavations seasons, it had highlights including the discovery of the unique tomb of the priest of the Fifth Dynasty “Wahi”, in addition to 7 rock tombs, including three tombs from the New Kingdom and four tombs from the Old Kingdom, and the facade of a tomb from the ancient state, in addition to the discovery of more than a thousand amulet of faience, dozens of wooden cat statues, cat mummies, wooden statues and animal mummies.
None, of course, is as delicious as halloumi.
Archaeologists in Egypt still a huge hit for Netflix
Netflix’s feature-length documentary Secret of the Saqqara Tomb, released in October 2020, was viewed by 22 million households around the world in its first four weeks, according to the streamer.
That amount puts the documentary in the top five documentary films in Netflix history, says the film’s director, James Tovell.
Netflix doesn’t often release numbers, so the figures and rankings are an interesting insight into how popular documentaries are on the platform. Extraction, the Chris Hemsworth action film released last year, was viewed by 99 million homes in its first four weeks, for comparison.
“All of these experiences and the amazing discoveries that were made have of course become all the more rewarding now that so many Netflix members have come along with us on this journey.
We’re extremely grateful to all those who have watched the film, and thrilled that so many people have found something to enjoy, from those learning about ancient Egypt for the first time to those familiar with this world who were able to learn or experience something new,” says Tovell.
An ancient human skeleton dating back about 2,300 years has been discovered at the Giong Ca Vo archaeological site in Ho Chi Minh City’s Can Gio district.
A 2,300-year-old human skeleton is unearthed in HCM City’s Can Gio district.
According to specialists, the skeleton belongs to a 1.65m-tall man with a high social ranking due to two animal fangs found on his neck.
The Giong Ca Vo archaeological site was discovered in 1993 and first excavated in 1994.
The total area of the site is 29,000sq.m, the centre of which is located on a red soil mound, about 1.5m higher than the surrounding area and covers an area of 7,000sq.m.
Prior to the discovery of the ancient skeleton, archaeologists excavated 185 burial jars and 13 earthen tombs, along with hundreds of precious relics made of various materials like precious stones, glass, and mollusks, at Giong Ca Vo archaeological site.
Some relics have been discovered for the first time at the site, such as animal-shaped earrings, three-pointed earrings or gold leaves, which contain historical, cultural values and especially the history of formation and development of this land over 2,000 years ago.
The archaeologists have determined that the age of the archaeological site is from 2,500BC to the early AD years.
Excavation results also show that the central area of Giong Ca Vo is divided into three phases: residence, burial and modern farming.
Based on the study of anthropological characteristics of the artefacts, Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Lan Cuong, General Secretary of the Vietnam Archaeological Association (VNAA), said that the area used to be occupied with indigenous groups, mainly natives of Dong Nai culture, who had cultural exchanges with the outside world.
Meanwhile, Assoc. Prof. Tong Trung Tin, Chairman of the VNAA, noted that this is the first time Vietnamese archaeologists have discovered such a density of burial jars at a relic site and the stratigraphic column is clarified with the continuous development from residence relics to burial relics.
He therefore requested HCM City and specialists to compile a dossier to submit to the Government to recognise Giong Ca Vo as a special national relic.
According to Dr Hsiao Chung Hung, an archaeology expert from the Australian National University, the Giong Ca Vo archaeological site is an important prehistoric archaeological site not only in Vietnam but also in Southeast Asia and Asia.
Located at the central point connecting the east and west, north and south regions, this site might have been a busy port and home to a large number of craftsmen and artisans about 2,500 years ago, as it is implied by the excavated items.
It was recognised as a national archaeological relic that needs to be protected in 2000 by the then Ministry of Culture and Information.
Currently, the artefacts excavated at the Giong Ca Vo archaeological site are displayed in a number of museums such as the National Museum of History in Hanoi, the Museum of Vietnamese History in HCM City and the Museum of Southern History and Culture.
The 2,000-Year-Old ‘Book Of Giants’ Describes How The Nephilim Were Destroyed
Over 50 years ago, researchers came across one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the century when they discovered thousands of ancient scrolls. Among them, they found The Book of Giants which speaks of the Nephilim and their destruction. One of the most important archaeological discoveries was made at the Qumran Caves over half a century ago.
Among the artefacts discovered were thousands of antique scrolls that offered extremely important insight into our past. Many of these scrolls helped complete a lost fragment in Earth’s history. But in addition to the numerous scrolls, archaeologists were surprised when they stumbled across a rare and unusual text: an ancient scroll that describes the demise of the ancient Nephilim. Called the Book of Giants, it speaks about the creatures that inhabited our planet in the distant past and how they were destroyed.
A small piece of the Book of Giants and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
But what are the Nephilim? According to mainstream historians, these beings are mythical creatures that didn’t actually exist on our planet. However, the truth behind the Nephilim might be more mysterious than any of us imagined. Starting from the beginning, we must understand that even today in the 21st century, the word ‘Nephilim‘ is not fully understood.
Throughout the years, scholars have proposed a number of etymologies, among them: ‘The Fallen, ‘Apostates’, and even ‘those that cause others to fall.’
But regardless of their name and the meaning, the enigmatic Nephilim have long been considered the giant beings that inhabited our planet in the distant past. There are several ancient texts that make reference to the Nephilim. One of those texts is the Book of Genesis, which undoubtedly describes these mysterious beings. Most of the information gathered today comes from the apocryphal Book of Enoch. This ancient work is historically attributed to Noah’s great-grandfather.
Enoch plays a very important role in history and curiously, is one of the most mysterious characters in the Book of Genesis. According to the Book of Genesis, Enoch lived for a staggering 265 years. He was taken before God and: “he walked with God: and he was no more; for God took him.”
During this time, our planet is said to have been inhabited by ‘Angels’ who interacted for years with mortal people, eventually interbreeding with the “daughters of men” which lead to the creation of a race of beings describes as being unnaturally strong, referred to as giant hybrids, or the Nephilim.
But the stories about the Nephilim differ in the Book of Genesis and the ancient scrolls found in the Qumran Caves. The Book of Giants – which by the way is incomplete — offers a different perspective about the Nephilim. According to the ancient text, the Giants — The Nephilim — became aware that due to their violent ways, they face imminent destruction. They asked Enoch to speak on their behalf to God.
The ancient texts detail how the Nephilim lived on Earth and created chaos and destruction. At one point in history, they began having prophetic dreams of Armageddon, as fear swept through their hearts.
According to the texts, the first of the Nephilim to have such prophetic dreams was Mahway, the Titan son of the angel Barakel. According to his dream, a huge tablet was submerged under water, as the tablet surfaces only three names are left. This is believed to symbolize the Great Flood and the eventual distribution of all but Noah’s sons.
The Nephilim were unsure about the meanings of their dreams, and they spent time debating what Mahway had dreamed. However, they were unsuccessful in interpreting the meaning. Not long passed and two more Giants Ohya and Hahya, the sons of the fallen angel Shemyaza began having similar dreams: Ohya and Hahya dreamed a tree being uprooted all except three of its root.
However, Enoch wasn’t on Earth anymore, so the Nephilim sent out one of them on a cosmic journey. After the cosmic journey, Mahway comes to Enoch and makes his request.
If we analyze the above text carefully, a peculiar interpretation can be derived from it: „…He mounted up in the air… with his hands like eagles… he left behind the inhabited world and passed over Desolation…“
Interestingly, many people would agree that described in this ancient text is a journey that leads towards space, leaving the planet behind… describing the rest of the planet as the traveler was leaving Earth’s atmosphere.
It can all be resumed to our personal interpretation, which eventually depends on of our beliefs.
Returning to the Book of Giants, we find that Enoch sends Mahway back to Earth, promising only that he shall speak to God on behalf of the Nephilim.
However, the tablets Enoch Sent as a response did not bring good news for the Giants:
Archaeologists find remains of a man and his slave killed in the Pompeii eruption
The men may have escaped the first volcanic eruption that destroyed the city but died in the blast the next day.
Here are the plaster casts of what archaeologists believe was a wealthy man and his male slave fleeing the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago.
The deadly eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii happened nearly 2,000 years ago, but more evidence from that horrifying event continues to reveal itself even now.
Partial male skeletons from that time period have been unearthed, officials at Italy’s Pompeii archaeological park said on Saturday.
During an excavation of ruins about 700 meters (about 2,300 feet) northwest of Pompeii, two skeletons were found lying next to each other in a layer of grey ash at least 6.5 feet (2 meters) deep.
Archaeologists poured plaster into the empty spaces left by the decaying bodies in the ash.
This technique, pioneered in the 1800s, better shows the victims’ bodies but also makes the remains “seem like statues,” Massimo Osanna, an archaeologist who is director of the archaeological park operated under the jurisdiction of the Italian Culture Ministry, explained to AP News.
The skeletons were found in a side room of a suburban villa along an underground corridor called a cryptoporticus.
“The victims were probably looking for shelter in the cryptoporticus, in this underground space, where they thought they were better protected,” Osanna said.
Studying the skulls and teeth, archaeologists have determined one of the men was between the ages of 18 and 25.
The young man also had a spinal column with compressed discs, which led archaeologists to hypothesize he may have done manual labour as a slave.
Here’s a glimpse of one of the male skeletons found at the dig in Pompeii.
The impression of fabric folds left in the ash layer also shows the younger man may have been wearing a short, pleated wool tunic.
The other male skeleton had a strong bone structure, especially in his chest area.
He was estimated to have been between the ages of 30 and 40. He may have been wearing a tunic as well as a mantle over his left shoulder.
Archaeologists believe these two men died suddenly, according to a statement, not during the first eruption but instead during the second pyroclastic flow, a violent, energetic flow that struck Pompeii and the surrounding area in the early hours of Oct. 25, leading to the death of the survivors who were still present in the city and countryside.
Archaeologists discover a 1,200-yr-old luxurious mansion in southern Israel
ARCHAEOLOGISTS FROM THE ISRAEL ANTIQUES AUTHORITY (IAA) HAVE UNCOVERED A LUXURY ESTATE THAT DATES FROM THE ISLAMIC PERIOD.
The team made the discovery during works to build a new neighbourhood in the city of Rahat in the Negev desert, located in Southern Israel.
The region was formerly ruled by the Al-Tayaha tribe (Al-Hezeel clan), a Negev Bedouin people that settled in the Sinai Peninsula during the early years of the Muslim conquests.
Archaeologists found a large estate with a central courtyard that sits on a vaulted complex and a three-metre-deep rock-hewn water cistern which dates to the Early Islamic period from the 8th to 9th century AD.
The estate has four wings, in which one of the wings has a hall paved with a marble and stone floor and walls decorated with frescoes using finely coloured red, yellow, blue, and black pigments.
Some of the other rooms had plaster floors and large ovens for cooking, while fragments of delicate glass serving dishes have also been uncovered.
“The luxurious estate and the impressive underground vaults are evidence of the owners’ means.
Their high status and wealth allowed them to build a luxurious mansion that served as a residence and for entertaining”, said the excavation directors – Oren Shmueli, Dr. Elena Kogan-Zehavi and Dr. Noé D. Michael.
Eli Eskosido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority said: “The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Authority for the Development and Settlement of the Bedouin are planning together to conserve and exhibit the finds to the general public.”
St. Peter’s Birthplace Possibly Discovered By Archaeologists
In a stunning claim, archaeologists believe they have discovered the home of Peter and Andrew, principal followers of Jesus Christ.
A team led by archaeologists Mordechai Aviam and Steven Notley brought to light a large Greek inscription at a basilica of the Byzantine era of 1,200 years ago. The inscription refers to the donor “Constantine, the servant of Christ,” as well as an intercession naming St. Peter “chief and commander of the heavenly apostles.”
Constantine was emperor of Rome (306-337 AD) and was the first Christian ruler of the empire. The inscription is framed by a round medallion that is part of a larger mosaic floor consisting of tiles called “tesserae” that once graced the sacristy of the church. The floor also features swirling patterns of flowers.
A 1,500-year-old mosaic believed to be above Peter and Andrew’s home, in Galilee, Israel, in October 2021. Archaeologists had uncovered for the first time mosaic floors from a lost, legendary basilica reportedly built over the house of Jesus’ apostles Peter and Andrew in biblical Bethsaida.
As used by Christian writers of the Byzantine, or Roman Empire of the East, the title “chief and commander of the apostles” refers to Apostle Peter.
“This discovery is our strongest indicator that Peter had a special association with the basilica, and it was likely dedicated to him. Since Byzantine Christian tradition routinely identified Peter’s home in Bethsaida, and not in Capernaum as is often thought today, it seems likely that the basilica commemorates his house,” said Notley of Nyack College in New York City.
Archaeologist Mordechai Aviam cleans the inscription in Galilee, Israel, in August 2022. Archaeologists from Kinneret College in Israel and Nyack College in New York uncovered a large Greek inscription during excavations of what is being called the “Church of the Apostles,” a Byzantine period basilica at el Araj/Beit haBek believed to be built over the apostle’s Peter’s and Andrew’s home.
The archaeologists have dubbed the site the “Church of the Apostles.” The excavation took place in the Betiha nature preserve in Israel, undertaken by Nyack College and Kinneret College of Israel, and was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Ancient Judaism and Christian Origins, the Museum of the Bible, the Lanier Theological Library Foundation, and HaDavar Yeshiva.
It is part of efforts to seek the biblical Jewish village of Bethsaida, and its connections to the modern Beit HaBek (al-A’raj) area.
“One of the goals of this dig was to check whether we have at the site a layer from the 1st century, which will allow us to suggest a better candidate for the identification of Biblical Bethsaida. Not only did we find significant remains from this period, but we also found this important church and the monastery around it,” said Mordechai Aviam of Israel who directed the dig.
According to the team, the uncovering of the ancient inscription underscores the belief that the basilica is the same one described by Bishop Willibald of Eichstätt, an 8th century A.D. Catholic churchman who wrote that the church was built over the house of Peter and Andrew.
While Willibald was travelling from Capernaum on the shore of the Sea of Galilee to the village of Kursi, he overnighted at a place he was told “is Bethsaida from which came Peter and Andrew. There is now a church where previously was their house.”
Roman artefacts found at the site appear to support the witness of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who wrote his seminal work “Jewish Antiquities” during the First Century of the Christian era that the village of Bethsaida became a Roman polis or town bearing the name Julias.
The uncovered inscription from the Church of the Apostles, in Galilee, Israel, in August 2022. Archaeologists from Kinneret College in Israel and Nyack College in New York uncovered a large Greek inscription during excavations of what is being called the Church of the Apostles, a Byzantine period basilica at el Araj/Beit haBek believed to be built over the apostles Peter’s and Andrew’s home.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, Peter was the first to declare the messiahship of Jesus and was thus considered the chief of the apostles.
The Catholic Church considers St. Peter the first of a line of popes extant until the present day. The prominence of St. Peter is demonstrated by the Basilica of St. Peter on Vatican Hill in Rome, over the place where he was crucified.
According to the excavators at what they believe is the Church of the Apostles, “It seems his home was likewise commemorated in Bethsaida.”
The archaeologists are cleaning up the site and hope to find further inscriptions confirming it as a shrine to the first pope, as well as its connections to ancient Israel.
Archaeologists unearth a 1,000-year-old Maya settlement in central Belize
A site first highlighted by a farming community in Belize is enabling archaeologists to piece together what life was like for Mayans living centuries ago.
Anthropology graduate students Rachel Gill and Yifan Wang study the remains of an ancient Maya neighbourhood in central Belize. This is an aerial photo of the archaeological site facing east. The white smudges are ancestral Maya mounds.
Modern archaeology is less often about finding big monuments and more about understanding how people lived. For anthropology graduate students Rachel Gill and Yifan Wang, that’s exactly what this site means.
“We stand in the open fields of Spanish Lookout, a modernized Mennonite farming community in Central Belize, looking at what remains of ancestral Maya homes after years of ploughing,” the two archaeologists write for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
“White mounds, the remnants of these houses, pock the landscape as far as the eye can see, a stark reminder of what existed more than 1,000 years ago. The collapsed buildings look like smudges on an aerial photograph, but as archaeologists, we get to see them up close. With enough excavation and interpretation, we can eventually make sense of how these dwellings functioned in the deep human past,” they add.
Of course, analyzing an archaeological site first starts with finding it. These days, this is rarely done by going out and digging and hoping for the best — archaeologists have an array of remote sensing tools at their disposal that allow them to peer through the thick jungle and sometimes, even catch a glimpse of what might lie underneath the surface.
But when you have the site in your sights, you still have to analyze it, and this is what Gill and Wang are working on.
Oftentimes, us laypeople at least, focus too much on the imposing structures and cool artefacts found at archaeological sites. But if you want to truly understand a culture like the Maya, you have to look deeper.
Incised ceramic sherds were excavated from an ancestral Maya building.
The mundane realities of many Mayans aren’t captured in the imposing Maya pyramids or their worshipping complex, but they can be captured in things like pots and tools.
At the Maya site, the two archaeologists are looking at a collection of domestic vessels found for cooking, serving, and storage. The shapes and styles of this pottery enable the archaeologists to date it — one particular neighbourhood was dated to 250-600 AD. In addition, they found several agricultural tools made from chert — an uncrystallized rock with similar chemistry to quartz.
The houses in this neighbourhood would have had walls and plastered floors, as well as several vessels they would have used regularly. Regular Mayans would have used the chert tools to grind maize into flour. They complimented their diets by hunting animals in the forest.
Grinding tools typical of ancestral Maya farmsteads include, from left, a metate fragment, a round stone and a mano fragment. Metates and manos were used to grind maize.
But not everything is clear. For instance, one Maya building uses uniform stones and a different type of plaster than the others, and it’s not exactly clear why.
This building also has fewer artefacts and seems to be “cleaner” than the others. This suggests it would have been not a residential, but a community building. What type of community building, however, is not clear. It could have been a meeting place, a ritual site, or maybe even a recreation centre, but it’s not clear yet.
“We also partially exposed a substantial platform mound that had four structures at its summit. The structures surrounded a plaza or courtyard. It is clear that an elite family lived here. This mound would have been secluded, sectioned off from the rest of the neighbourhood, like the large house at the end of a cul-de-sac where, if you were lucky, you got invited for a pool party, much different from the community building,” the archaeologists explain.
Unfortunately, agriculture is also affecting some of the findings. As local farmers worked the land generation after generation, they dislodged and damaged some of the artefacts and structures. But nevertheless, the signs of the local community are still there. After over a thousand years, their houses, their streets, and the places where they would gather can still tell us stories if we know how to read them.
“The ghosts of those who lived on the land before walk between us, using what remains of their homes to whisper, ‘Remember me.’,” the archaeologists concluded.
