EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Died 3,600 years ago: the skeleton of a young man who became a victim of a tsunami found in Turkey

Died 3,600 years ago: the skeleton of a young man who became a victim of a tsunami found in Turkey

An international team of researchers has found and excavated the remains of a young man killed approximately 3,600 years ago by a tsunami created by the eruption of Thera—a volcano located on what is now the island of Santorini.

In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the group describes how the remains were found and how they were identified as belonging to a victim of the Thera tsunami.

Prior research has shown that the eruption of Thera was a major event—so powerful that it has been blamed for the decline of the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete.

Prior research has also shown that the eruption occurred sometime during the 1500s to 1600s B.C.

Santorini is located in the eastern Mediterranean, north of Crete, between southern Greece and southern Turkey. And while evidence of the ash that fell from the skies in areas all around the eruption site has been plentiful, there has been scant evidence of the tsunami.

This is because tsunamis tend to pull debris and bodies back into the sea, rather than leave covered evidence onshore. And because of that, the remains of the victims of the Thera tsunami have never been found—not one single body—until now.

Died 3,600 years ago: the skeleton of a young man who became a victim of a tsunami found in Turkey
The excavated skeleton of a tsunami victim.

The remains of the young man were found at a dig site known as Çeşme-Bağlararası. It sits along a shoreline on Çeşme Bay in western Turkey.

The dig site has been yielding Late Bronze Age artefacts for several years but it was only recently that the digging uncovered evidence of a tsunami—layers of ash and debris that were prevented from being washed back into the sea by a retaining wall.

In addition to the remains of the young man, the researchers also found the remains of a dog.

The evidence also showed that the area had been struck by several tsunamis related to the Thera eruption. Radiocarbon dating of materials surrounding the remains showed them to be from a time no earlier than 1612 BC.

The researchers also found damaged walls, rubble, sediment and ash, all evidence of multiple tsunamis. They also found evidence of what they describe as misshapen pits—likely created by people looking for victims shortly after the tsunamis struck.

The remains of the young man were found pushed up against a retaining wall, positioned in a way familiar to those who have worked on tsunami search efforts in modern times.

ASIA, INDIA, WORLD

The real utopia: This ancient civilisation thrived without war

The real utopia: This ancient civilisation thrived without war

Many believe the idea of a utopian society is an impossible fantasy. But there may have been one mysterious, ancient group of people that was able to fulfil the dream of life without conflict or rulers.

Remains of the Indus civilisation, which flourished from 2600 to 1900 BC, show no clear signs of weapons, war or inequality. Many believe the idea of a utopian society is an impossible fantasy.

But there may have been one mysterious, ancient group of people that was able to fulfil the dream of life without conflict or rulers.

Many people believe that one mysterious, ancient society may have led a Utopian life. The Indus civilisation flourished from 2600 to 1900 BC, and it has been suggested that they lived in a real, functioning utopia

Remains of the Indus civilisation, which flourished from 2600 to 1900 BC, show no clear signs of weapons, war or inequality.

Robinson points out that archaeologists have uncovered just one depiction of humans fighting, and it is a partly mythical scene showing a female goddess with the horns of a goat and the body of a tiger.

There is also no evidence of horses – an animal that late became common in the region – suggesting they were not use to raid other towns and cities.

In the almost 100 years since the Indus civilisation was discovered, not a single royal palace or grand temple has been uncovered.

Mohenjo-daro – an archaeological site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan – is 400 metres long, and five metres tall, and would have required a huge amount of man power to build

Speaking to Robinson, Neil MacGregor, former director of the British Museum, said: ‘What’s left of these great Indus cities gives us no indication of a society engaged with, or threatened by, war.

‘Is it going too far to see these Indus cities as an early, urban Utopia?’.

While Mr MacGregor sees the utopian theory as credible, others cast doubt on the total absence of war.

Richard Meadow, Director of the Zooarchaeology Laboratory at the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, said: ‘There has never been a society without conflict of greater or lesser scale.’

He argues that until the Indus script is deciphered, we cannot really know whether they lived this idyllic life. Large societies are usually overseen by a central government, yet findings suggest otherwise for the Indus civilisation.

So far, the only sculpture that might depict a ruler is of a bearded man, dubbed the ‘priest-king’ – due to his resemblance to Buddhist monks and Hindu priests.

Many of the structures and buildings, however, would have taken the coordination of tens of thousands of men, which some argue would have required a leader of sorts.

For example, Mohenjo-Daro – an archaeological site in the province of Sindh, Pakistan – required a huge amount of manpower to build. 

The Indus covered more than 1,000 settlements across at least 800,000 square kilometres of what is now Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. Its remains were only discovered in the 1920s, yet it is now regarded as the beginning of Indian civilisation
Andrew Robinson, author of several books about the Indus, believes the key in understanding this civilisation, is cracking their script
The bust of the king or priest found in Mohenjo-Daro is shown on the left. The right image shows the lower town of the Mohenjo Daro archaeological site

While the Indus might sound like they lived a utopian fantasy, the civilisation mysteriously came to an end in around 1900 BC. Robinson believes the key in understanding this civilisation, is deciphering their script.

In an article published in Nature last year, he said: ‘More than 100 attempts at decipherment have been published by professional scholars and others since the 1920s.

‘Now – as a result of increased collaboration between archaeologists, linguists and experts in the digital humanities – it looks possible that the Indus script may yield some of its secrets.’

A board game was discovered from the Indus Valley Civilisation. Along with Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, it was one of three early civilisations of the Old World
ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

2,700-year-old leather armour proves technology transfer happened in antiquity

2,700-year-old leather armor proves technology transfer happened in antiquity

Researchers at the University of Zurich have investigated a unique leather scale armour found in the tomb of a horse rider in Northwest China. Design and construction details of the armour indicate that it originated in the Neo-Assyrian Empire between the 6th and 8th centuries BCE before being brought to China.

In 2013, a nearly complete leather scale armour was found in the tomb of an approx. 30-year-old male near the modern-day city of Turfan in Northwest China.

This unprecedented find, which survived the millennia thanks to the area’s extremely arid climate, provided the international team led by Patrick Wertmann from the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies of the University of Zurich with new insights on the spread of military technology during the first millennium BCE.

2,700-year-old leather armor proves technology transfer happened in antiquity
The ancient leather shed armour could be dated to the period between 786 and 543 BC.

Scale armours protect the vital organs of fighters like an extra layer of the skin without restricting their mobility. The armours were made of small shield-shaped plates arranged in horizontal rows and sewn onto a backing.

Due to the costly materials and laborious manufacturing process, armours were very precious, and wearing them was considered a privilege of the elite. It was rare for them to be buried with the owner. However, the emergence of powerful states with large armies in the ancient world led to the development of less precious but nevertheless effective armours made of leather, bronze or iron for ordinary soldiers.

Standard military equipment for horsemen

The researchers used radiocarbon dating to determine the age of the armour to between 786 and 543 BCE.

It was originally made of about 5,444 smaller scales and 140 larger scales, which together with leather laces and lining weighed between 4 and 5kg.

The armour resembles a waistcoat that protects the front of the torso, hips, sides and the lower back of the body. It can be put on quickly without the help of another person and fits people of different statures.

“The armour was professionally produced in large numbers,” says Patrick Wertmann. With the increasing use of chariots in Middle Eastern warfare, a special armour for horsemen was developed from the 9th century BCE.

These armours later became part of the standardized equipment of military forces of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which extended from parts of present-day Iraq to Iran, Syria, Turkey and Egypt.

Two armors, distinct units

While there is no direct parallel to the 2,700-year-old armour in the whole of Northwest China, there are some stylistic and functional similarities to a second contemporary armour of unknown origin held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (the Met).

It is possible that the two armours were intended as outfits for distinct units of the same army, i.e. the Yanghai armour for cavalry and the armour in the Met for infantry.

It is unclear whether the Yanghai armour belonged to a foreign soldier working for the Assyrian forces who brought it back home with him, or whether the armour was captured from someone else who had been to the region.

“Even though we can’t trace the exact path of the scale armour from Assyria to Northwest China, the find is one of the rare actual proofs of West-East technology transfer across the Eurasian continent during the early first millennium BCE,” says Wertmann.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Egyptian pharaoh’s 3,500-year-old mummy gets unwrapped digitally for the first time

Egyptian pharaoh’s 3,500-year-old mummy gets unwrapped digitally for first time

A CT scan reveals Amenhotep I’s skull

The mummified body of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh has been studied for the first time in millennia after being digitally “unwrapped”.

The mummy of Amenhotep I, who ruled from 1525 to 1504 BC, was found at a site in Deir el-Bahari 140 years ago. But archaeologists have refrained from opening it in order to preserve the exquisite face mask and bandages.

Computed tomography (CT) scans have now revealed previously unknown information about the pharaoh and his burial.

“We got to see the face of the king that has been wrapped for more than 3,000 years,” Dr Sahar Saleem, professor of radiology at Cairo University’s Faculty of Medicine and lead author of the study published in the journal Frontiers in Medicine, told the BBC.

Egyptian pharaoh’s 3,500-year-old mummy gets unwrapped digitally for first time
Dr Saleem says the scans of the body did not show any wounds or disfigurement due to disease

She said the first thing that had struck her was how Amenhotep I‘s facial features resembled those of his father Ahmose I, the first pharaoh of ancient Egypt’s 18th Dynasty, with a narrow chin, a small narrow nose, curly hair, and mildly protruding upper teeth.

The researchers also established that Amenhotep I was approximately 169cm (5ft 6in) tall and that he was about 35 years old when he died.

Dr Saleem said the scans showed he was in the very good physical condition and in good health at the time of his death, with no signs of any wounds or disfigurement due to disease. That suggested he died as a result of an infection or a virus.

The researchers were able to gain insights about the mummification and burial of Amenhotep I, including that he was the first pharaoh to have his forearms folded across his chest and that, unusually, his brain was not removed.

They also concluded that his mummy was “lovingly repaired” by priests of the 21st Dynasty, which ruled about four centuries after this death.

Amenhotep I’s mummy was twice reburied by priests of the 21st Dynasty

The scans showed that the mummy suffered from multiple post-mortem injuries that were likely to have been inflicted by grave robbers.

They also showed that the priests fixed the detached head and neck to the body with a resin-treated linen band, covered a defect in the abdominal wall with a band and placed two amulets beneath, and wrapped the detached left arm to the body.

Dr Saleem said the 30 amulets and “unique” golden girdle with gold beads that Amenhotep I was wearing disproved theories that the priests might have removed his jewellery for use by later pharaohs.

The mummy of Amenhotep I was reburied by the priests in the Deir el-Bahari Royal Cache, a complex of tombs and temples near Luxor, to keep them safe.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Possible World War II Wreckage Uncovered in Sicily

Possible World War II Wreckage Uncovered in Sicily

An archaeological dig in Sicily has uncovered traces of a lost World War II American heavy bomber shot down in 1943, and possible human remains that could lead to the identification of five airmen whose bodies were never recovered.

Possible World War II Wreckage Uncovered in Sicily
American B-25 bombers flying over southern France in 1943

The six-week dig that ended this week was carried out by a team from the Pentagon’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which locates and identifies missing U.S. military personnel around the world.

The site near Sciacca was identified in 2017 by investigators using historical records and metal detectors.

This year’s dig uncovered wreckage “consistent only to a B-25 aircraft,” said archaeologist Clive Vella, the scientific director of the expedition, contributing to hopes that any confirmed remains would be linked to the missing crew.

“We owe (their) families accurate answers,” Vella told the Associated Press Thursday.

The North American B-25 Mitchell heavy bomber with a crew of six was one of 52 air losses with missing personnel in the area during WWII, mostly during 1943 as the Allies pushed into southeastern Sicily.

It was shot down as it targeted a camouflaged German airstrip amid olive groves and pastureland on July 10, 1943. A German military report documented the crash of a U.S. aircraft about two kilometres (just over a mile) from the Sciacca airport, Vella said.

One crew member was located immediately and buried in the town’s cemetery. The body was claimed in 1944 by U.S. military officials, but the other five airmen remained missing.

In the intervening decades, the crash site “like most others in the Mediterranean region, was scavenged for metal, the land restored to its original use,” Vella said. “The scars of a crash were mostly gone.”

The evidence, which includes possible human bones as well as potential remnants of the aircraft, has been transported to a laboratory in the U.S. for examination.

Worldwide, there are more than 81,600 missing U.S. military personnel, including 72,350 from World War II, 7,550 from the Korean War and 1,584 from the Vietnam War.

Over 41,000 of the total are presumed lost at sea.

EUROPE, WORLD

Thousands of bones discovered in Vatican crypt in search for missing teenager

Thousands of bones discovered in Vatican crypt in search for missing teenager

Bones were collected from the depths of the Vatican Saturday, the latest effort to solve the mystery of a 15-year-old girl who vanished 36 years ago. Representatives of the family of Emanuela Orlandi, who has been searching for the girl since she went missing from a street in the centre of Rome in 1983, were at the Vatican at 9 a.m. local time when the containers holding the bones were unsealed.

Emanuela’s sister, Federica, represented her family along with their lawyer, Laura Sgro, and a forensic expert, Giorgio Portera.

They remained there for six hours.

“Obviously it’s an emotional experience because I think my sister’s bones could be there, but I won’t think about it until we have the results,” Frederica Orlandi said.

Thousands of bones discovered in Vatican crypt in search for missing teenager
This handout photo made available by the Vatican Media on July 20, 2019, shows the opening of the ossuary at the Teutonic Cemetery in the Vatican.

Last week, following an anonymous tip to look for Emanuela’s remains under the statue of an angel pointing to a grave in the tiny Teutonic cemetery inside the Vatican walls, authorities pried open the tombs to two 19th German princesses but found them mysteriously empty of any human remains.

After further research, Vatican officials realized that structural work had been carried out on the cemetery and the adjacent college in the 1960s and 1970s, which must have resulted in the princesses bones being moved.

This led them to the discovery of containers of bones under a stone slab beneath the college, which was opened Saturday. Emanuela’s brother, Pietro, who was not at the Vatican Saturday, told ABC News officials had dug up a “large number of diverse bones.” He added that it could take weeks to identify and sort them all.

Portera, the family’s forensic expert, said “thousands of bones have been found.”

“I can’t say if it’s 1,000 or 2,000, but there are really very many, and so we assume the presence of the remains of a few dozen people,” Portera said. “There are long bones, small bones, many are fragmented.”

Portera added that the bones were found mixed together and not sorted.

“They were all piled up inside a cavity,” he added.

Thousands of bones were found in two ossauries discovered at the Teutonic Cemetery in Vatican City.

The Vatican spokesman, Alessandro Gisotti, released a statement Saturday that said a team including Portera and Vatican staff, including its own forensic expert, Giovanni Arcudi, gave the bones a first examination that followed “international protocols.”

Further evaluations of the remains would be carried out next week with “an in-depth morphological analysis,’’ Gisotti said, citing the Vatican’s promoter of justice.

It is not clear how long those tests will take.

Theories, anonymous tips and fake leads have circulated for decades in Italy about Emanuela’s disappearance but no concrete clues have been found to establish what happened to her. Conspiracy theories have linked her case to the plot to kill St. John Paul II, Vatican bank scandals and organized crime clan members in Rome.

The Vatican has always denied that it has information on Emanuela’s disappearance and has said it has given support to the family over these years. It says the decision to follow the latest tip received by the family shows their willingness to help the family.

READ ALSO: UNLOCKING 2,000-YEAR-OLD HERCULANEUM SCROLLS WERE BURIED WHEN MOUNT VESUVIUS ERUPTED.

Meanwhile, the sweltering July heat didn’t deter supporters of the girl’s family — wearing T-shirts and holding posters with her photo — from lining the fence of one of the Vatican gates.

“The truth sets you free,” one read.

“She is alive because we continue to love her,” read another.

Sandro Masetti Zannini, who was 17 years old when Emanuela went missing, told ABC NEWS he wants ‘’truth and justice’’ and wants the girl to have a proper funeral.

And Cinzia di Florio said the Vatican, despite its claims otherwise, is not doing enough to solve the mystery.

“There is always a mystery behind a missing person,” di Florio told ABC News, “but here we have the Vatican behind this mystery and that is a bit more significant.”

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

Archaeology breakthrough after human remains found in the 2,000-year-old Aztec pyramid

Archaeology breakthrough after human remains found in 2,000-year-old Aztec pyramid

The ancient Aztec civilisation has captured the imagination and intrigue of millions of people across the world. At one point, they were among the most advanced humans on the planet, leading the way in both fields of science and medicine.

Temple of the Feathered Serpent: Some of the detailing on the pyramid’s exterior

They built great cities for hundreds of thousands of people, creating complex irrigation systems not seen for hundreds of years. But, in the early 16th century, after Spanish invaders reached Central American shores, the once-great civilisation fell to its knees and was lost forever.

The ancient city of Teotihuacan has since been excavated and studied by archaeologists, many travelling from the US and around the world to learn about how the Aztecs once lived and ruled.

One surprising discovery made beneath the largest pyramid in the city, the Pyramid of the Sun, was explored during Discovery’s short documentary, ‘Shocking Artefacts And Human Remain Found In 2000-Year-Old Pyramid’.

Here, archaeologists unearthed a tunnel in the bedrock, at first believing that it was a natural cave. However, on further investigation, they hit a carved out chamber, and beyond it, the remnants of 17 thick man-made walls, built to block access to the tunnel.

At the very end of the tunnel, they fund an elaborate chamber carved in the shape of a clover. Now, the tunnel lies empty, likely stripped of its contents by robbers over the centuries.

But, the discovery under the Sun pyramid was just the beginning: in 2003, a tunnel was discovered beneath the Feathered Serpent pyramid. Then, in 2017, Mexican archaeologist Sergio Gómez uncovered another secret tunnel under the Feathered Serpent pyramid.

JUST IN: Scientists stunned at ‘perfect’ Ice Age discovery: ‘Could have died…

Ancient tunnel: Archaeologist Sergio Gómez uncovered a new, untouched tunnel beneath the pyramid

This tunnel appeared untouched by thieves as Sergio and his team discovered more than 100,000 different objects.

He said: “Extraordinary objects, some of them never seen before in any Mexican archaeological exploration.”

Undisturbed for 1,800 years, the objects were found lying exactly where they had first been placed as ritual offerings to the gods. Some of the pieces unearthed included greenstone crocodile teeth, crystals shaped into eyes, and sculptures of jaguars ready to pounce.

Ancient artefacts: The team found over 100,000 different objects in the tunnel
Archaeology breakthrough after human remains found in 2,000-year-old Aztec pyramid
Human remains: A chamber was found filled with human remains laid out in a ‘symbolic’ pattern

Above the intricate system of tunnels, at the heart of the pyramid, excavations revealed a darker secret: the remains of countless humans. Anthropologist Saburo Sugiyama examined the myriad bones unearthed from the ancient city of Teotihuacan.

He said: “Human bones tell us a lot of things: male, female, how many years they had when they died, how they lived, how they died.”

He believes the bones found may be evidence of gruesome human sacrifice, with the biggest clue coming from the way in which the bones were found. Archaeologists stumbled across them while tunnelling deep inside the body of the pyramid.

Inside the Feathered Serpent’s pyramid, at its centre, is a “dark secret”: 20 skeletons, almost completely intact, carefully arranged in what looks like a “symbolic pattern”.

They were not alone, as, in total, over 260 bodies were found to be built unto the fabric and foundation of the building.

The narrator noted: “The pyramid is a mass grave.”

Human bones: Just one of a number of bones found at the site

The dead, and the way in which they were killed, can now yield crucial clues about the civilisation and how they lived.

READ ALSO: RESEARCHERS CONFIRM: THE LARGEST PYRAMID IN MEXICO HAS BEEN FOUND

These will add to the already far-ranging finds made at Teotihuacan, including the existence of a playing court near the plaza, where residents would have played the Mesoamerican equivalent of racquetball.

And, in another pyramid, copious remains of animal sacrifices have been discovered, including wolves, rattlesnakes, golden eagles and pumas.

EUROPE, GREECE, WORLD

Archaeology breakthrough: 3,600-year-old ‘time capsule’ exposes ancient disaster

Archaeology breakthrough: 3,600-year-old ‘time capsule’ exposes ancient disaster

The time capsule was preserved by the volcanic eruption of Santorini that rocked the Mediterranean and changed the course of history. It now may be the first instance of physical remains unearthed from among one of the tens of thousands of people who likely perished.

The international team of researchers published their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In it, they presented evidence of a catastrophic tsunami that followed the eruption of Thera, in modern Santorini, a volcanic island in the Aegean Sea, some 3,600 years ago.

The volcanic eruption of Santorini is still regarded as one of the most devastating eruptions in human history.

It was rated at a seven or an eight on the volcanic explosivity index, which marks it as a “super-colossal” explosion that only occurs once in thousands of years.

Archaeology breakthrough: 3,600-year-old ‘time capsule’ exposes ancient disaster
Archaeology breakthrough: 3,600-year-old ‘time capsule’ exposes ancient disaster
Santorini is essentially what remains after an enormous volcanic explosion that destroyed the earlie

Volcanoes of this size have smoke plums to reach 25 kilometres in height and spread over hundreds of kilometres.

Some researchers have compared the volcano to the detonation of millions of Hiroshima-type atomic bombs.

Scholars also believe that the traumatic memory caused by this eruption may also be responsible for many of humanities’ myths and legends.

They believe that the Bronze age ever, occurring in 1600 BC, could be seen in Plato’s allegory of the sunken city of Atlantis, which was composed more than a thousand years later.

Illustration of the Santorini group in the Aegean Sea

The devastation of the event has also been linked to the biblical Ten Plagues, as volcanic eruptions frequently cause hailstorms, unending darkness, and moist atmospheres well suited for locusts.

The researchers have been excavating at the archaeological site of Çesme-Bağlararası, which is located in the popular resort town of Çesme on Turkey’s Aegean coast and more than 100 miles north-northeast of Santorini.

Archaeologists have been digging in the area since 2009 at a site that appeared to be a thriving coastal settlement that occupied almost continuously from the mid-third millennium to the 13th century BC.

Aside from some well-preserved buildings and roads that were previously uncovered, the researchers found a lot of artefacts that were in a pretty damaged shape.

All In One Magazine