Egypt to repatriate 16 artefacts recovered by authorities in the United States
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.
The repatriation of these stolen artefacts was made possible through a collaborative effort between the country’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the one hand, and the Office of the Attorney General in New York, on the other hand, after the completion of all necessary investigations.
Shaaban Abdel-Gawad, the supervisor general of the Antiquities Repatriation Department at the Supreme Council of Antiquities, broke down the identity of the artefacts to be repatriated.
First, six artefacts were seized by the Manhattan District Attorney after they were recovered from the prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) in New York City during the ongoing major investigation into the smuggling of Egyptian antiquities to the United States and France.
The six include a part of a painted coffin depicting the facial feature of a lady; limestone relief engraved with hieroglyphic text and an offering scene; five linen Fragments of a wall illustrating the biblical Book of Exodus that date back to between 250 and 450 BC; a bronze statue of a famed musician named Kemes; and a portrait depicting a Roman-era lady in Fayoum.
Second, nine of the artefacts were seized after they were found in the unlawful possession of an American businessman.
The nine include distinguished ancient Egyptian objects and a Ptolemaic-era coin.
All recovered artefacts will be handed over to the Egyptian Consulate in New York within days in order to make their way back home.
In June, New York prosecutors announced seizing five Egyptian artefacts worth more than $3 million from the Met as part of an investigation into international trafficking in Egyptian antiquities involving Jean-Luc Martinez, the former president of the Louvre museum, who was charged in May with complicity in fraud.
Decorative Heater Unearthed at 16th-Century Castle in Poland
Fragment of a cocklestove tile.
Beautiful Renaissance cockle stove tiles with the quality and style matching those from the Wawel Royal Castle in Kraków have been discovered during research in the ruins of the stronghold in Żelechów (Masovian Voivodeship).
The research was conducted in August by archaeologists and historians from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Institute of History of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
During this season, they focused on exploring the remains of the 16th-century court and the earlier, late medieval buildings located in the same place. The structures were part of a wooden castle.
Aerial view of this year’s excavations in Żelechów.
The head of research Wojciech Bis from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences told PAP – Science in Poland that excavations made it possible to determine that the wooden building used in the 16th century was destroyed by fire.
The archaeologists unearthed burnt beams and layers of burnt clay, which could have covered the walls and floor of the structure.
However, the most spectacular find – according to the researchers – turned out to be the remains of a cockle stove, which probably heated the representative room of the court.
Fragment of a cockle stove tile.
Bis said: “Among its remains, we found numerous, beautifully decorated tiles with rich geometric, plant and animal patterns. There were also images of fantastic animals, including griffin, human figures and coats of arms.”
Several hundred fragments of tiles have survived. They were mostly covered with colourful enamel: green, yellow, white and blue. According to the researchers, they probably ornamented a single cockle stove, the clay base of which has also survived.
So far, the researchers are unable to say where they originated from.
Fragment of a cocklestove tile.
However, the researchers say stoves covered with similar tiles decorated the Renaissance interiors of the Wawel Royal Castle. Some of them, especially decorative tops or tiles with rosette motifs, are almost identical stylistically to those at Wawel.
Research project participant, historian Maciej Radomski from the Institute of Archeology and Ethnology at the Polish Academy of Sciences, said: “This proves that this building served representatives of the then social elites of the Commonwealth.”
In addition to Renaissance tiles, scientists found fragments of ceramic vessels. Among them were thin-walled table dishes designed for serving meals and kitchen utensils for the preparation of dishes.
They included pots and pans on three legs. In addition, numerous post-consumption animal bones with traces of cutting and chopping were found, mainly from pigs and oxen. This is evidence of abundant feasts at the castle.
Fragment of a cocklestove tile.
Archaeologists also discovered coins. The oldest of them is the silver penny Wenceslaus IV (1378-1419), as well as several copper schillings minted during the reign of John II Casimir, called Boratyki. In addition, interesting finds from the researchers’ point of view were two spurs discovered near the 16th-century court building, probably lost in the muddy surroundings of the buildings.
The wetland, swampy area promotes the preservation of many artefacts, including wooden structures. Many of them have survived to this day, which is not a common phenomenon among the remains of buildings from hundreds of years ago, the researchers emphasise.
The search for the Żelechów castle took several years. Historians knew from a few mentions that there was a stronghold in this town in the Middle Ages. Its relics were located a few years ago with ALS and other methods that do not even require driving a shovel into the ground. It is located northwest of the Żelechów market, near fish ponds.
The excavations started in 2017. In subsequent seasons of excavations, the researchers managed to unearth well-preserved wooden fragments of the medieval castle. It was previously thought that underground there were massive brick or stone remains of the foundation of the structure.
Archaeological excavation in Żelechów.
The castle was not lucky. It was probably built in the mid-15th century and most likely abandoned by the Ciołek family at the beginning of the 16th century. According to the researcher, disagreements between magnates contributed to this. The seat of the Ciołek family was temporarily taken over by Feliks of Zielanka.
Before the middle of the 16th century, the castle probably returned to the hands of previous owners, but soon a significant part of the buildings was consumed by fire. It continued to function in some form and operated until the mid-17th century, as evidenced by coins from the later period discovered during excavations, the researchers believe.
Numerous volunteers, members of the Żelechów Historical Society, the Municipal Engineering Department in Żelechów and the Volunteer Fire Brigade in Żelechów were involved in this year’s research. The implementation of research was financially and organizationally supported by the Żelechów municipality. Excavations were conducted courtesy of the plot owner, Stanisław Kawka.
1.8-Million-Year-Old Tooth Found in the South Caucasus
The 1.8m-year-old tooth was found near Orozmani, Georgia.
Archaeologists in Georgia have found a 1.8m-year-old tooth belonging to an early species of human that they say cements the region as the home of one of the earliest prehistoric human settlements in Europe, and possibly anywhere outside Africa.
The tooth was discovered near the village of Orozmani, which lies about 60 miles south-west of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and is near Dmanisi, where human skulls dated to 1.8m years old were found in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The Dmanisi finds were the oldest such discovery anywhere in the world outside Africa, and changed scientists’ understanding of early human evolution and migration patterns.
The latest discovery at a site about 12 miles away provides yet more evidence that the mountainous south Caucasus area was probably one of the first places early humans settled after migrating out of Africa, experts said.
“Orozmani, together with Dmanisi, represents the centre of the oldest distribution of old humans – or early Homo – in the world outside Africa,” the National Research Centre of Archaeology and Prehistory of Georgia said.
The dig site near Orozmani.
Giorgi Bidzinashvili, the scientific leader of the dig team, said he thought the tooth belonged to a “cousin” of Zezva and Mzia, the names given to the people whose near-complete 1.8m-year-old fossilised skulls were found at Dmanisi.
Jack Peart, a British archaeology student who found the tooth at Orozmani, said: “The implications not just for this site but for Georgia and the story of humans leaving Africa 1.8m years ago are enormous.
It solidifies Georgia as a really important place for paleoanthropology and the human story in general.”
The oldest Homo fossils anywhere in the world date to about 2.8m years ago – a partial jaw discovered in modern-day Ethiopia.
Scientists believe early humans, a hunter-gatherer species named Homo erectus, probably started migrating out of Africa about 2m years ago.
Ancient tools dated to about 2.1m years have been discovered in modern-day China, but the Georgian sites are home to the oldest remains of early humans yet recovered outside Africa.
Remains of up to 100 children were found during a dig at a holy site in Wales
The remains were found in a long-lost holy site in Pembrokeshire.
The bodies of 100 children have been discovered in what is believed to be an ancient burial ground.
Archaeologists in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, made the grim discovery.
They had been excavating an area surrounding the mysterious St Saviours, a suspected friary which dates back more than 600 years.
Archaeologists found hundreds of skeletons at the historic site. Experts explained that ‘extraordinarily, one-third of these remains are infants under the age of four.’
A strange puncture wound was even found in one of the skulls excavated, the Western Telegraph reported.
The injury could have been caused by ‘projectile fired’ which could indicate ‘the first suggestion of medieval warfare in the town’.
St Saviours itself was stumbled upon by builders digging foundations for a new bar in Haverfordwest.
Archaeologists made the gruesome discovery
Head of the Dyfed Archaeological Trust, Fran Murphy, says financial transactions recorded by a local church indicate the existence of the friary.
There could be around 300 corpses at the ancient burial ground, but the Trust is hesitant on putting an exact finger on the total just yet.
‘We know it’s there because of a series of monastic references, mainly records about money,’ said Miss Murphy.
‘At its height, there were apparently eight friars who were part of the friary before it was dissolved and passed into private hands.
‘It was dissolved in the 1530s with one of the friars scrubbing his name from the list of friars at the priory which is peculiar and might have been a protest to its closing.’
The medieval friary is thought to date back more than 600 years
The friary of the Dominican Order is believed to have stood in Haverfordwest for about three centuries.
The Dominicans, or Black Friars, had a different agenda than most monastic orders in that they went amongst the population, preaching, praying and teaching.
DAT Archaeological Services started work at the site known as Ocky Whites in February and is scheduled to be at the site until next January.
The old Ocky Whites building is currently being redeveloped into a three-storey local food and beverage emporium with a bar and rooftop terrace.
Ancient statue unearthed at Cambodia’s Angkor temple complex
A team of archaeologists has uncovered a large ancient statue that is thought to have once stood as a guard over an ancient hospital to the north of Cambodia’s Angkor Thom city complex.
Impressive Ancient Statue Unearthed in Angkor Thom Complex
The almost two-meters tall statue, which is believed to be from the late 12th to the early 13th century, was spotted during a dig in Siem Reap province last Saturday, as I’m Sokrithy, an archaeologist with the Apsara Authority, the government organization managing Angkor Park, and the dig’s scientific supervisor stated.
“We were very surprised to find this,” he told Cambodia Daily, and added that the sandstone statue is missing its feet and parts of its legs, otherwise it would have stood at least 2.1 meters (in its original form) and weighed in at 200kg (440 pounds).
Archaeologists made a grid to draw the statue which is in the form of a guard, before moving it
The Angkor Archaeological Park is Cambodia’s most popular tourist attraction and a world heritage site due to the many remains it boasts from the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, dating from the 9th to the 15th centuries.
During the peak of its power, the city hosted hundreds of temples and more than a million citizens, making it one of the planet’s most populous pre-industrial cities.
The statue was found next to one of four hospitals which were discovered in Angkor Thon a century ago. It is one of 102 that King Jayavarman VII had constructed in the Angkor empire.
“Jayavarman VII’s reign was truly remarkable in terms of social programs,” he said. “The hospital consisted of wooden buildings and a chapel erected in stones. What is left is the chapel…as wooden structures have long disappeared,” explained Tan Boun Suy, deputy director-general for the Apsara Authority as reported by Cambodia Daily.
The Great Sacred City of Angkor Thom
Angkor Thom (which means ‘Great City’) was the last capital of the mighty Khmer Empire, which was based in modern-day Cambodia. As previously reported in another Ancient Origins article, this typically intricately decorated Khmer city, which is located in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province, was fortified by massive walls, which in turn surrounded a great moat.
In order to enter this protected city, one had to cross one of Angkor Thom’s enormous causeways. As a capital city, Angkor Thom contained numerous important structures, including temples, royal residences, and administrative buildings. Today, Angkor Thom is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Angkor, which also includes the famous Temple of Angkor Wat.
The archaeology team respectfully ask the spirit protecting the site permission to move the statue they unearthed the previous day to the Preah Sihanouk Museum in Siem Reap province.
Angkor Thom was founded around the later part of the 12 th century AD, during the reign of Jayavarman VII, who is often regarded as the greatest king of the Khmer Empire. This city was established following the sacking of the previous capital, Angkor, by the Chams during the reign of Jayavarman’s predecessor.
The layout of Jayavarman’s new capital was in the shape of an almost perfect square, which was separated from the surrounding areas by a circuit of huge walls, and a moat reported to have contained crocodiles.
In order to enter Angkor Thom, a visitor would need to pass through one of the five monumental gates that are found along the city walls. The northern, southern and western walls each have a gate, whilst the eastern one has two.
Additionally, these gates are reached via causeways that cross the moat. These causeways are flanked by 54 statues on each side, demons on the right, and gods on the left.
The demons may be identified by their fearsome facial expressions and military headdresses, whilst the gods look calm and are wearing conical headdresses. At the beginning of each causeway is the statue of a nine-headed serpent, whose body is held by the gods and demons. This arrangement depicts the famous Hindu myth known as the ‘Churning of the Ocean’.
Statues at the South Gate of Angkor Thom in Cambodia, with gods holding the 9-headed serpent.
Angkor Thom Today and the Importance of Recent Find
In recent years, vast parts of the park have been excavated, creating a marvellous archaeological walking path that attracts more than two million visitors a year. However, the famed complex of the historic city still remains a mystery that hasn’t been fully explored.
The recent finding is clear proof of this. Maybe that’s why when the Cambodian archaeologists from Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies found the beautiful statue buried only 40 centimetres under the ground of the Angkor-era hospital, they couldn’t believe their eyes. As Cambodia Daily reports, archaeologists now suggest that the statue most likely served as a symbolic guardian of the hospital and hope that the excavation will unearth more objects from that era, which could shed light on the daily life and activities in those hospitals and also the lives of ordinary people of the era.
The excavation is conducted by the Apsara Authority in cooperation with the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies’ Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. As part of a training program, ten students from Asian countries, the U.S. and Australia are taking part in the excavation.
Archaeologists in Prague uncover the ancient 7000-year-old neolithic structure
Archaeologists in Prague are currently uncovering a monumental building from the Stone Age. The so-called roundel, built around 7,000 years ago, is located in the district of Vinoř on the outskirts of the city.
Experts are hoping that the research will reveal more information about these mysterious ancient structures.
Roundels are large circular structures from the Neolithic period, that were constructed between 4600–4900 BC. That makes them the oldest monumental buildings in Europe, far older than the Egyptian pyramids or England’s Stonehenge.
One such roundel is currently being examined in Prague’s district of Vinoř. So far, research has shown that the structure is exceptionally well-preserved. Archaeologists were surprised to discover intact remains of the palisade troughs into which the central wooden structure was originally embedded.
Despite these findings, it is still unclear what purpose these structures have served, says Miroslav Kraus, who is in charge of the research:
“One such theory is that it could have been used as an economic centre, a centre of trade. It could also have been a centre of some religious cult, where rites of passage or rituals connected to the time of year were performed.
“Roundels were built during the Stone Age when people had not yet discovered iron. The only tools they could use were made of stone and animal bones.”
To date, around 200 roundels have been found all over central Europe, with 35 of them located on the territory of the Czech Republic. The roundel in Vinoř, which measures 55 metres in diameter, has an unusual floor plan with three separate entrances.
What makes its research unique is that archaeologists have uncovered the structure almost in its entirety, says Mr. Kraus:
“We have the opportunity to uncover nearly the whole structure, or rather what remained of it. At the same time, I should note that part of the structure was revealed back in the 1980s, during the laying of gas and water pipelines.”
The so-called roundel, built around 7,000 years ago, is located in the district of Vinoř on the outskirts of Prague.
Thanks to the extent of the research, archaeologists will be able to take samples for dating and analyses from various parts of the original structure, says Mr. Kraus.
The so-called roundel, built around 7,000 years ago, is located in the district of Vinoř on the outskirts of Prague|Photo: Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Sciences
“It would be great to discover something that would indicate the actual function of the building. However, it is very unlikely, since none of the previously researched roundels had revealed such information.
“It would also be great to find something that would suggest its real age. So far, radiocarbon dating of samples collected from roundels has put their age somewhere between 4900 years to 4600 BC. That is a pretty wide time span.”
The research of the Vinoř roundel is due to carry on until the end of September. Archaeologists have previously discovered a Neolithic settlement northeast of the roundel that had been used for 300 to 400 years.
The so-called roundel, built around 7,000 years ago, is located in the district of Vinoř on the outskirts of Prague.
South American Mummies Were Brutally Murdered, CT Scans Reveal
One of the mummified skulls was analyzed in the study.
One secret of the past that can be revealed through the study of skulls and skeletons is how frequent violence was amongst our ancestors. However, with their preserved soft tissues, mummified remains can be an even more telling indicator than bones alone.
That brings us to a new analysis of three pre-Columbian South American mummies, carried out with 3D computed tomography (3D CT) scans that use X-rays to view the internal state of the remains without having to open them up.
The research reveals that two out of these three people were brutally killed.
The Marburg male mummy. (A-M Begerock, R Loynes, OK Peschel, J Verano, R Bianucci, I Martinez Armijo, M González, AG Nerlich)
These are naturally mummified bodies, created in dry environments when fluid is soaked up by the surroundings of a body faster than the rate of decay. These conditions are common in the southern part of South America.
“Here we show lethal trauma in two out of three South American mummies that we investigated with 3D CT,” says pathologist Andreas Nerlich, from the Munich Clinic Bogenhausen in Germany.
“The types of trauma we found would not have been detectable if these human remains had been mere skeletons.”
The male mummy from the Philipps University Marburg, Germany originally belonged to the Arica culture in what is today northern Chile.
He most likely lived in a fishing community and showed signs of severe tuberculosis on his lungs. Aged between 20 and 25 years, radiocarbon dating suggests that this man died between 996 and 1147 CE.
As for the male and female mummies from the Art and History Museum of Delémont in Switzerland, they probably came from the region of Arequipa in what is today southwestern Peru. The man is thought to have died between 902 and 994 CE, and the woman between 1224 and 1282 CE.
Signs of “interpersonal violence” were identified by the researchers in the two male mummies, violence that would have killed them on the spot.
It would seem that the Marburg mummy died from a heavy blow to the head and a stab to the back, which may have come from one or two attackers.
As for the male Delémont mummy, the study notes “massive trauma against the cervical spine which represents most likely the cause of death” – so a hard blow to the back of the neck most likely caused him to meet his end.
Though the female Delémont mummy also had damage to the skeleton, it’s thought this came after death, probably during the burial.
“The availability of modern CT scans with the opportunity for 3D reconstructions offers unique insight into bodies that would otherwise not have been detected,” says Nerlich.
“Previous studies would have either destroyed the mummy, while x-rays or older CT scans without three-dimensional reconstruction functions could not have detected the diagnostic key features we found here.”
The Delémont mummies. (A-M Begerock, R Loynes, OK Peschel, J Verano, R Bianucci, I Martinez Armijo, M González, AG Nerlich)
As chilling as the findings of the study might be, learning about these deaths and these types of violence is incredibly useful in getting a better picture of how these ancient civilizations lived and got along – or didn’t get along.
While mummified remains are nowhere near as common as skeletons, there are still plenty that have been recovered and preserved in museums, and which can be given the same kind of scientific detective treatment.
“Importantly, the study of human mummified material can reveal a much higher rate of trauma, especially intentional trauma, than the study of skeletons.”
“There are dozens of South American mummies which might profit from a similar investigation as we did here,” says Nerlich.
The research has been published in Frontiers in Medicine.
Record rains in Pakistan damage Mohenjo Daro archaeological site
The devastating floods in Pakistan have caused significant damage to Mohenjo Daro, a famous 4,500-year-old archaeological site in the southeastern Sindh province which UNESCO has declared a World Heritage site.
The area in Sindh’s Larkana district received more than 1,400mm of rain in the second week of August, damaging the protective outer covering on the historic structures, Abdul Fatah Shaikh, the director of archaeology and museum for the provincial government, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday.
That amount of rain, Shaikh said, has not been recorded on the 250 hectares (650 acres) since the ruins were discovered 100 years ago in 1922.
“The original structure is safe by and large, including the stupa at the site. However, the protective layer, also called mud slurry, that we deployed suffered a lot of damage, causing exposure of the original walls,” Shaikh said over the telephone from Karachi city. Shaikh said the damage was caused mainly due to heavy rains and that there was no flooding, but added that urgent remedial work is required.
INTERACTIVE_MOENJADARO THREATENED BY RAINS
“The original structure is now exposed to the vagaries of nature and if immediate conservation work is not started, it can cause irreparable damage,” he warned.
Mohenjo Daro (‘Mound of the Dead’ in Sindhi language) – considered the best preserved urban settlement in South Asia – is situated on the bank of the Indus River, with Larkana being the nearest major city 30km (18 miles) away.
The ruins were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1980.
Repair work underway
Shaikh rejected media reports that claimed the site could be removed from the heritage list after the rains damaged it, saying there was no such immediate risk.
“If a site is not conserved or protected properly, they are given suggestions to improve. If the (UNESCO) committee is not satisfied, a warning is issued to the host country. Often, these warnings are repeated for multiple years before a site is moved to a ‘danger list,” Shaikh said.
He said there are currently 52 World Heritage sites across the globe on the danger list, but none of them is in Pakistan.
“But this does not mean that we become complacent and fall asleep,” Shaikh said, adding that dozens of workers have begun the repair work.
Repair work being carried out at Mohenjo Daro [Courtesy of Sindh government, Pakistan]
“Many parts of the site are now exposed to nature and we must work extremely hard and very urgently for conservation within the next six months. It cannot be ruled out that if we fail to deliver, the site could be added to the danger list,” he added. Mohenjo Daro, one of the prominent cities of the Indus Valley Civilisation, is known for its elaborate drainage and water management systems. This, Shaikh said, played a role in ensuring there was very little standing water as floods hit the region.
“The city of Larkana had four feet of standing water whereas, at Mohenjo Daro, there was less than a foot of it. It proved that the original drainage system worked even 5,000 years after it was built,” he said.
The rains now threaten the famed archaeological site dating back 4,500 years
Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to land in Pakistan later on Thursday “to appeal for the massive support of the international community to the Pakistanis, in this hour of need after the devastating floods that we are witnessing”.
“Today it is Pakistan. Tomorrow it can be anywhere else,” he said before flying, referring to the global threats caused by the climate crisis.
The Pakistani foreign ministry issued a statement on Thursday, confirming the arrival of Guterres.
“The Secretary-General will travel to areas most impacted by the climate catastrophe. He will interact with displaced families and first responders in the field, and oversee UN’s humanitarian response work,” the statement said.
Shaikh said the Pakistani government could use the UN chief’s visit to pitch for a global campaign to raise funds for Mohenjo Daro as well.
“We are also going to host a centenary function to celebrate 100 years of discovery of Mohenjo Daro in Paris this November as part of our Save Mohenjo Daro campaign,” he said.
UNESCO said it will help Pakistan in repairing Mohenjo Daro damages
In a news statement shared with Al Jazeera, UNESCO confirmed the agency will be providing $350,000 to Pakistan to “help recover flood-damaged cultural heritage sites” including Mohenjo Daro. Meanwhile, authorities in Pakistan said some cities in Sindh are still in danger of flooding after breaches were made in Manchar Lake, Pakistan’s largest freshwater lake, to save major urban settlements.
Mahesh Kumar, a government engineer in Sindh, told Al Jazeera the cuts in the lake have reduced the water level to below the danger mark. However, the breaches forced the evacuation of at least 100,000 people from the adjoining areas. Overnight, 12 more people died due to the floods, bringing the total death toll to 1,355 since June, 481 of them children, the National Disaster Management Authority said. At its peak, the record floods had submerged one-third of Pakistan.
Officials now fear the spread of water-borne diseases and other ailments in the affected areas as people lack access to clean water or medicines. The UN in a statement last week said up to 73,000 pregnant women are expected to deliver next month. Officials and climate activists say Pakistan is a victim of climate change since it contributes less than one per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions but is among the top 10 countries most vulnerable to extreme weather.
