Archaeological News

[Ivanhoe]

The People's Judean Front could not be reached for comment;

 

[X-Files]

British Archaeology #131 (July/August) has a feature by Pippa Bradley that caught my interest. It’s about a Wessex Archaeology dig in 2004-05 at Cliffs End farm in Thanet, a piece of north-east Kent that was an island up until the 16th century when silting finished connecting it to mainland England. What we’re dealing here is ritual murder, some pretty amazingly strange disposal of the dead and ancient Scandinavian migrants.

http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2013/06/10/900-years-of-human-sacrifice-in-kent/

[Ivanhoe]

http://www.jdnews.com/news/local/cannons-recovered-from-qar-site-1.161232

Two cannons were raised from the Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck site in Beaufort Inlet after a frustrating several weeks for the QAR team, which has been hampered by bad weather and sea conditions during this month’s dive expedition at the site.

 

They started with a goal of bringing up as many as eight cannons but had none up until seas turned in their favor on Thursday.

 

There was redemption as two cannons broke through the water’s surface after nearly 300 years on the sea floor with the wreckage of the flagship of the renowned pirate Blackbeard.

Researchers have identified 27 known cannons at the site, with 26 made of cast iron and one of bronze. Counting the two raised Thursday, 15 cannon have been recovered.

 

The two 6-pounders that are the latest recovered are about 8-feet long and with the concretions covering them after hundreds of years under water, they weigh about 2,500 pounds each.

 

They will now be transported to the QAR conservation lab in Greenville.

 

Conservator Sarah Watkins-Kenney said each cannon is a new piece of the story that is the Queen Anne’s Revenge.

 

“Each one is unique,” she said.

 

Of the ones that have already been recovered, markings have shown that some were English made and others were Swedish made. There have also been some that were loaded when the ship sank.

 

 

 

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/06/2-cannons-raised-blackbeards-ship-nc

 

Blackbeard captured a French slave ship and renamed it Queen Anne's Revenge in 1717. Volunteers with the Royal Navy killed Blackbeard in Ocracoke Inlet the following year, five months after the ship sank.

 

 

Okracoke isn't far from Cape Hatteras, NC.

[JWB]

Ancient Carving Of Roman God's Head Discovered In English Garbage Dump

 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/05/ancient-carving-roman-gods-head-discovered-english-garbage_n_3546365.html?ncid=webmail23#slide=1721071

[Ivanhoe]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/poland/10174137/Polish-archaeologists-unearth-vampire-grave.html

 

Polish archaeologists unearth 'vampire grave'
Archaeologists in Poland believe they have found a vampire grave on a construction site in the south of the country.

 

By Matthew Day, Warsaw
4:06PM BST 11 Jul 2013

 

Skeletons were found with their heads removed and placed on their legs indicating they had been subjected to an execution ritual designed to ensure the dead stayed dead.

...

The remains were found on the construction site of a ring road near the town of Gliwice, and came as a surprise to archaeologists more accustomed to finding the human detritus of the bloody fighting of the Second World War.

 

[X-Files]

Yaargh.

http://wtkr.com/2013/07/14/gold-treasure-hunters-find-250000-in-centuries-old-coins/

[X-Files]

"Walrus". Coo Coo ca-choo.

 

During a recent excavation beneath the streets of London, archaeologists found a total of 1,500 human bodies, many buried hastily in a wave of epidemics that struck the quickly expanding city more than 150 years ago.

In one coffin, archaeologists came across a grisly mix of bones from at least eight human bodies, many of them cut up and showing evidence of autopsy. But nine of the bone fragments were decidedly not human. They were walrus.

 

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/excavation-old-london-cemetery-turns-walrus-bones-8C10751490

[DB]

Archaeology, just a bit more recent.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-23481422

[MiloMorai]

Food and sex reasons for demise of Spanish forts.

 

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112905408/archaeologists-find-european-fort-in-the-appalachians-072413/

[X-Files]

For the past 50 years—since the discovery of a thousand-year-old Viking way station in Newfoundland—archaeologists and amateur historians have combed North America's east coast searching for traces of Viking visitors.

It has been a long, fruitless quest, littered with bizarre claims and embarrassing failures. But at a conference in Canada earlier this month, archaeologist Patricia Sutherland announced new evidence that points strongly to the discovery of the second Viking outpost ever discovered in the Americas.

 

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/10/121019-viking-outpost-second-new-canada-science-sutherland/?fb_action_ids=393207920791290&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=timeline_og&action_object_map={%22393207920791290%22%3A218064168323955}&action_type_map={%22393207920791290%22%3A%22og.likes%22}&action_ref_map=[]

 

 

 

The mummified remains of a body found in a Laois bog two years ago have been found to date back to 2,000BC, making it the oldest “bog body” discovered anywhere in the world.

The 4,000-year-old remains, which predate the famed Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun by nearly 700 years, are those of a young adult male.

He is believed to have met a violent death in some sort of ritual sacrifice.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/laois-bog-body-said-to-be-world-s-oldest-1.1483171?1

[Mike Steele]

Let the Badgers do it....

 

http://news.yahoo.com/dig-badger-unearths-medieval-treasure-113529491.html

[Max H]

 

Thousands of bodies under Bath Abbey threaten its stability (BBC)

 

[MiloMorai]

Under floor heating in an Abbey? Erm, why?

To remind them that Hell is not to far away.

[X-Files]

Short fuze, but nothing ventured nothing gained.

http://www.academia.edu/4056456/Monstrous_Antiquities_Conference_at_UCL_

[sunday]

On the role of milk in civilization.

 

http://www.nature.com/news/archaeology-the-milk-revolution-1.13471

[JWB]

10,000-year-old remains of settlements are unearthed in Bolivia - making it the oldest archaeological site in the Amazon

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2404383/10-000-year-old-remains-settlements-unearthed-Bolivia--making-oldest-archaeological-site-Amazon.html#ixzz2diaHJz49

[X-Files]

Declassified spy photography has uncovered a lost Roman Eastern frontier, dating from the second century AD.

Research by archaeologists at the Universities of Glasgow and Exeter has identified a long wall that ran 60 kilometers from the Danube to the Black Sea over what is modern Romania. It is considered the most easterly example of a man-made frontier barrier system in the Roman Empire.

 

http://www.gla.ac.uk/news/headline_288725_en.html

 

See also

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/04/spy-photographs-roman-walls-photo_n_3865466.html?icid=maing-grid7|aim|dl28|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D369619

[DADI]

Recent finding in the Holy Land..

 

A short video in Hebrew describing the new find - from today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50yQwAtBNz4&feature=youtu.be

 

It seems that Michael Eastes and Co. have been walking on nothing less than treasure:

 

A Gold Torah decoration hidden in a bag, dated Byzantine era aprox' 7th century AC..

Including a Menorah, a small Shofar and a very rare decoration of a small Torah..

 

The decoration found hidden in the ground, in the Ophel garden, just south of the Temple mount:

 

The complete decoration bag was under another harmed bag that had some 36 gold coins

 

 

Coin dates spread along some about 250 years, from the days of Emperor Constantine II in the middle of the fourth century, to the days of the Emperor Mauritius who ruled until 602 AD.

Researchers believe that the treasure was brought to Jerusalem by Jewish community representatives, probably from abroad, who came to the city after it was conquered by the Persians in 614 AD. Persians promised the Jews that they could return to rebuild Jerusalem As a Jewish city and therefore aroused great expectations, especially after hundreds of years that Jews were forbidden to settle in the city.

Shortly after, the persians weakened, and broke the promise by allowing the Christians to persecute and expel the Jews from the city.

The treasure was abandoned by those Jews who were surprised by the Persian betrayal and had to flee the city.

Edited September 9, 2013 by DADI

[DADI]

A First Temple era (1200 - 586 BC) water depot found under the Robinson arch, along the Western Wall (built centuries later(...

 

Able to contain some 250qm, it is a engineering wonder.

 

 

[DADI]

A fortified city, mentioned in the Bible as Sha'araim.

Dates - Kingdome of David, 10th century BC.

 

Over looking Elah vally

 

 

Some findings from the city:

 

 

 

Excavations lasted seven years.

Found in the city - a spacious palace , in an area of ​​about 1,000 square meters. Bracket wall length is about 30 meters with an impressive opening , which decreased the southern gate of the city , across the Valley of Elah .

around the palace there were rooms , including various facilities - evidence for metal , pottery and fragments special alabaster stone imported from Egypt . The palace is located in the center of the site, and controls all houses from lower city . Hence there is a large observation spaces , from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the east of Hebron and Jerusalem . This is an ideal location for transmitting messages by burning torches .

"Unfortunately " , add excavators , " Much of this palace was destroyed 1,400 years later, when the place was built in the Byzantine period fortified farmhouse ."

In the north of the city they exposed a pillar house length 15 m long and 6 m , which was an administrative structure used as a storage. According to the researchers , the Monarchy used it to store agricultural taxes , collected from residents of various villages in the lowlands of Judah.

Hundreds of large storage jars were found with marked handles, typical in the Judean Kingdome.

The palace and the warehouses are evidence of state building and administrative organization during King David.

Horvat Kiefe - Sha'araim, probably destroyed in battle against the Philistines held next year 980 BC. Palace was now exposed and uncovered fortified city in recent years are another step in understanding the origins of the kingdom of Judea.

 

[Colin]

During an excavation of a Roman-Germanic battlefield at the Harzhorn in Lower Saxony, a team of archaeologists from Freie Universität Berlin made an amazing discovery.

In the Northeim district north of Göttingen near Kalefeld, the research team led by Prof. Dr. Michael Meyer discovered the chain mail of a Roman soldier from the Third Century AD. This discovery represents the first time such a well preserved piece of body armor was excavated on a Roman-Germanic battlefield.

Meyer, a professor of prehistoric archaeology at Freie Universität Berlin, said that this piece of equipment, worn on the body, made it possible to reconstruct an individual story in the battle, a close-up image of the war.

Found in several fragments, the chain mail is made of thousands of small chain links with a diameter of about one-quarter inch. The researchers found that the iron in the rings is largely decomposed. Roman soldiers of various ranks wore chain mail in battle, while Germanic warriors normally bypassed this protection. In Germanic burial grounds, however the remains of such laboriously produced armor has been found.

The current find was unusual, not only because of the object found, but the position in which it was found. The chain mail remnants were found directly on the edge of the battlefield where the most intense combat action most likely took place on the Harzhorn hill.

“This discovery represents something fundamentally new for the Battle at the Harzhorn,” said Meyer. “This is the first time that an almost complete part of personal armor was found.” It is possible this chain mail was stripped from a wounded Roman soldier, Meyers said, in order to allow his comrades to dress his wounds and carry him away from battle. They might have left it behind. Meyer also says it is conceivable that the chain mail was laid down in a certain place by Germanic soldiers after the fighting was over, as an indication that this location played a special role in the fighting.

The archaeologists focused their excavations this year on the edges of the main battle zones to ascertain how far the battles extended and whether different fighting locations could be identified that belong together or whether they were all isolated clashes. This particular battlefield is one of the best preserved sites of the Roman-Germanic conflict.

In 2008, the discovery of this site caused a sensation because, until then, it had been assumed there was no further Roman military presence in Germania after the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest (Varusschlacht in German) in 9 AD. This Third Century battle site has been studied since 2008 by Meyer and his team in cooperation with the state Department of Archaeology in Lower Saxony (Niedersächsischer Denkmalpflege) and the archaeologists of the district of Northeim.

The chain mail is currently on exhibit in a Lower Saxon state exhibit, “Rome’s Forgotten Campaign: The Battle of the Harzhorn,” at the State Museum in Braunschweig where it will remain until January 19, 2014. The exhibition also includes a comprehensive selection of the 2,700 objects found during five years of excavation.

 

picture on link (get it links, ha, ha)

 

http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1112944800/chain-mail-well-preserved-ancient-battlefield-091113/

[mnm]

Mr Yahweh used to have a Mrs. Yahweh.

 

 

Another inscription, found at the site of Kuntillet Arjud, is dedicated to, ““YHWH and his ASHERA”. Such practices continued into the late Iron Age of the Land of Israel (10th–6th centuries BC), according to Fridman.

Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou of the University of Exeter said, “There is increasing evidence that the ancient Israelites worshipped a number of gods alongside their ‘national’ patron deity, Yahweh. The goddess Asherah was among these deities.

[sunday]

 

Mr Yahweh used to have a Mrs. Yahweh.

 

 

Another inscription, found at the site of Kuntillet Arjud, is dedicated to, ““YHWH and his ASHERA”. Such practices continued into the late Iron Age of the Land of Israel (10th–6th centuries BC), according to Fridman.

 

Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou of the University of Exeter said, “There is increasing evidence that the ancient Israelites worshipped a number of gods alongside their ‘national’ patron deity, Yahweh. The goddess Asherah was among these deities.

 

 

Well, perhaps that was territory of the kingdom of Israel, and not of the kingdom of Judah.

[X-Files]

Archeologists from Germany’s University of Leipzig have discovered an ancient city called Idu hidden beneath a mound in northern Iraq.

According to the archeological findings, Idu was under the control of the Assyrian Empire about 3,300 years ago, then later gained its independence as the empire declined. The Assyrians reconquered the city roughly 140 years later. Researchers have found artwork, including a bearded sphinx with a human head and the body of a winged lion, and a cylinder seal dating back roughly 2,600 years depicting a man crouching before a griffon, according to NBC News.

 

Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/10/02/ancient-city-discovered-beneath-mound-in-northern-iraq/#ixzz2glArz5b8

German dig in the Mid East? I think we know how this is going to end.

[Michael Eastes]

 

Recent finding in the Holy Land..

 

A short video in Hebrew describing the new find - from today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50yQwAtBNz4&feature=youtu.be

 

It seems that Michael Eastes and Co. have been walking on nothing less than treasure:

 

A Gold Torah decoration hidden in a bag, dated Byzantine era aprox' 7th century AC..

Including a Menorah, a small Shofar and a very rare decoration of a small Torah..

 

The decoration found hidden in the ground, in the Ophel garden, just south of the Temple mount:

 

The complete decoration bag was under another harmed bag that had some 36 gold coins

 

 

Coin dates spread along some about 250 years, from the days of Emperor Constantine II in the middle of the fourth century, to the days of the Emperor Mauritius who ruled until 602 AD.

Researchers believe that the treasure was brought to Jerusalem by Jewish community representatives, probably from abroad, who came to the city after it was conquered by the Persians in 614 AD. Persians promised the Jews that they could return to rebuild Jerusalem As a Jewish city and therefore aroused great expectations, especially after hundreds of years that Jews were forbidden to settle in the city.

Shortly after, the persians weakened, and broke the promise by allowing the Christians to persecute and expel the Jews from the city.

The treasure was abandoned by those Jews who were surprised by the Persian betrayal and had to flee the city.

 

Where is that in relation to the City of David dig that we participated in ( briefly ) in 2011?