Archeology in 2013

Year in digs: How 2013 looked in archeology
It has been another bumper year for scientific research and discovery, and plenty of it occurred in the field of archeology. Here is a selection of some highlights of the archeological year.
Read more.

An unidentified royal statue head found in Luxor

An unidentified royal statue head found in Luxor

The Egyptian-Spanish archaeological mission unearthed on Thursday a large granite head of a statue of an unidentified New Kingdom king during routine excavation at King Thutmose III’s funerary temple on Luxor’s west bank. Mohamed Abdel-Maqsoud, head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Section at the Ministry of State for Antiquities (MSA), explained that the head is 29.6cm high, 24.3cm wide and 26.9cm deep. The head depicts a round face of a royal figure, not identified yet, wearing a wig, with traces of a broken nose, and two long ears that each reach 8cm. The eyes, he continued, have traces of kohl, with thick eyebrows. Read more.

Portuguese Plumbers Discover Ancient Mikvahs

Portuguese Plumbers Discover Ancient Mikvahs 

Plumbers fixing a water leak in central Portugal discovered what appears to be a cluster of 600-year-old Jewish ritual baths. The discovery was made earlier this year in the city of Coimbra as the plumbers were replacing the piping of an old building in what used to be the Jewish part of the Old City, according to a report Thursday by the Publico daily. Jorge Alarcao, an archeologist who was called upon to study the structures, told the paper: “This could be the only discovery of its kind made in Portugal.” The structures appear to be mikvahs, or ritual baths, predating the 14th century which were designed for Jewish women, according to Alarcao.  Read more.

Belize: Ancient Maya Site Teeters on the Edge of Destruction

Another retentionist government, this one with an anti-collecting MOU with the US government, fails to protect the world's cultural heritage:

Ancient Maya Site Teeters on the Edge of Destruction

The Alacranes Bajo, a low-lying, highly fertile and productive stretch of land which extends across Belize’s northwest corner and parts of Mexico and Guatemala, has been farmed intensively for centuries by the ancient Maya. Today is no different, with its modern inhabitants continuing to clear the land.
One would think that this is a good thing. After all, agricultural development feeds people and can raise many a family out of the misery of poverty. But progress, particularly in Belize and its Central American neighboring countries, often comes at a steep price, as locations and resources that represent critical cultural heritage and undiscovered history are lost to the bulldozer and other human tools for development  Read more.
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 Ancient Maya Site Teeters on the Edge of Destruction

Chasing 5th-Century Clues From a Woman’s Tombstone

The woman died more than 1,600 years ago, in what is now Jordan [...]  in the ancient city of Zoar [her] tombstone, which is made of sandstone and is roughly the size of a legal pad, became their window to an ancient world centered in Zoar. Dr. Fine said that Zoar was “a major Christian city, a biblical pilgrimage city,” but that it had a sizable Jewish population. [...] Jewish tombstones from Zoar had been discovered in the early 20th century [...] 30 to 40 had been documented. [...] “ ‘Here rests the soul of Sa’adah, daughter of something.’ We don’t know the ‘something.’ ”Going by the format of other ancient tombstones, they felt certain the missing word was the name of the woman’s father and wondered if it was Phineas, but they said they could not be sure. “We have the P,” Dr. Fine said. “We thought there was an N, but we’re stuck because whatever it is, it’s been scratched away. You get to the point where ‘I can’t know’ may be the most learned answer you can give.” 

More from New York Times. 

National Icon Saved for Nation

Today in 1912: The Star Spangled Banner accessioned into Smithsonian's permanent collection.

New York stockbroker Eben Appleton inherited the Star-Spangled Banner upon his mother's death in 1878. The publicity that it had received in the 1870s had transformed it into a national treasure, and Appleton received many requests to lend it for patriotic occasions. He permitted it to go to Baltimore for that city's sesquicentennial celebration in 1880. After that his concern for the flag's deteriorating condition led him to keep it in a safe-deposit vault in New York. In 1907 he lent the Star-Spangled Banner to the Smithsonian Institution, and in 1912 he converted the loan to a gift. Appleton donated the flag with the wish that it would always be on view to the public.

Rapa Nui “environmental suicide” Story Wrong

 

The wisdom of the ancients

 It seems that that another phoney story of the environmentalists has been debunked (New evidence challenges theories of Rapa Nui collapse):

Dr. Mara Mulrooney, assistant anthropologist at Bishop Museum in Honululu, conducted a six year study on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) concerning the island’s theoretical civilisation collapse. Her findings now challenge these previous ideas, which have claimed that the islanders “self-destructed” before Europeans first visited in 1722.  Results from her doctoral dissertation are published in the December issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science. As popularised in Jared Diamond’s 2005 book Collapse, Rapa Nui is often viewed as a prime example of what happens when people lose sight of what they are doing to their environment. According to the popular narrative, the Rapa Nui people committed “environmental suicide” by deforesting their island home. However, Dr. Mulrooney and colleagues are starting to construct a more positive scenario. Read more.

Have We Found the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island?

 

 

 

Have We Found the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island?

It’s a mystery that has intrigued Americans for centuries: What happened to the lost colonists of North Carolina’s Roanoke Island? The settlers, who arrived in 1587, disappeared in 1590, leaving behind only two clues: the words “Croatoan” carved into a fort’s gatepost and “Cro” etched into a tree. Theories about the disappearance have ranged from an annihilating disease to a violent rampage by local Native American tribes. Previous digs have turned up some information and artifacts from the original colonists but very little about what happened to them. Until now. Read more.

Ancient Stone Statues at San Agustín

  

Whose statues?

San Agustín in south Colombia  is very well known for its pre-Columbian archeological sites:

 the ancient stone statues at San Agustín are among the most mysterious pre-Columbian archeological artifacts. So far archeologists have discovered 40 large burial mounds containing 600 likenesses of mythical animals, gods and chieftains in what is South America’s largest complex of megalithic statues. Like other sites in the region, San Agustín has suffered plunder, both organized and freelance. Konrad Preuss, a German anthropologist who led the first European excavations there, shipped 35 statues that he found to a museum in Berlin, where they remain.  This history has made the local inhabitants, who live from tourist visits to the site, suspicious. So it proved with a plan by the national museum to take 20 of the statues to the capital, Bogotá, a ten-hour drive away, for a three-month exhibition to mark the centenary of Preuss’s discovery of the site. Read more.

Tombs Still Hidden in Valley of Kings

Mummy Mystery: Tombs Still Hidden in Valley of Kings

Multiple tombs lay hidden in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, where royalty were buried more than 3,000 years ago, awaiting discovery, say researchers working on the most extensive exploration of the area in nearly a century. The hidden treasure may include several small tombs, with the possibility of a big-time tomb holding a royal individual, the archeologists say. Egyptian archeologists excavated the valley, where royalty were buried during the New Kingdom (1550–1070 B.C.), between 2007 and 2010 and worked with the Glen Dash Foundation for Archeological Research to conduct ground- penetrating radar studies. Read more.

Rome accused of fiddling as Pompeii crumbles

Collapsing walls at the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have raised fresh concerns about Italy’s efforts to maintain one of the world’s most treasured sites, preserved for 2,000 years but now crumbling from neglect. On Monday, site officials said part of a wall had collapsed on one of Pompeii’s major streets after weeks of heavy rains and wind. Plaster had also fallen off the wall of the ornately frescoed House of the Small Fountain. A series of collapses in Pompeii over the last month led Italian media to dub it a “Black November” for the ancient city, preserved under ash from a volcanic eruption in 79 A.D. and rediscovered in the 18th century, revealing a time capsule of daily life in Roman times. Read more.

This sort of thing is a recurring occurrence in all the cultural property retentionist countries of the developing world. They cannot cope with all the objects they obsessively hoard. This is clear proof that  artifacts (particularly those of the Classical past) would be better off sent out of the country for safekeeping. Vast numbers of artifacts could be freed from dusty museum stores where they are hidden away, seen by nobody, and sold on the open market to raise funds to help protect what remains. No doubt Collectors and Museums in the United States, Europe and the Gulf States will be willing to lend their support and help.  

Saving Culture From Angry Mobs: Egypt's disappearing ancient artifacts

In Egypt, amid political turmoil, museums have become targets of vandalism and the theft of priceless pieces. (Dahlia Kholaif, "Egypt's disappearing ancient artifacts" Al Jazeera 14 October 2013).

Barbed wire and rows of army tanks have replaced the once snaking queues of tourists outside the Egyptian Museum of Cairo who were eager to witness its massive collection of ancient artifacts. The museum's deserted chambers and dusty treasures speak of the damage inflicted upon Egypt's tourism industry, as well as the country's vast archaeological prizes over the past few years of unrest. Near the capital's Tahrir Square, the museum - one of Cairo's main tourist attractions - was at the centre of massive rallies that toppled two presidents since 2011. Standing side-by-side the fire-gutted headquarters of ousted president Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party, its walls now carry paint marks covering up grafitti insults targeting his ousted successor Mohamed Morsi. While Egypt has struggled for years now to shape its future after the January 2011 revolution, its prized past has fallen victim to sporadic violence and security lapses. Inside the museum, less than a dozen tourists wander around its dim-lit corridors. A banner reading "Destroyed and Restored" leads into a room where items looted or bashed by vandals have been salvaged, including several statues of King Tutankhamen. One such relic was of the young pharaoh on a boat. According to the description, the statue was found broken on the floor inside the museum, and the figure of the king was stolen but retrieved on April 12, 2011.

The situation is deteriorating and precious cultural artefacts are still in danger in the instability caused by the military-run state's inability to combat lawlessness and wanton destructiveness of the local Moslem population:

Meanwhile, the latest museum attack occurred in August in the Egyptian city of Minya. Rioters supporting Morsi stormed the Malawi National Museum, wrecking and stealing valuable treasures. The rampage followed nationwide clashes after the dispersal of two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo, in which hundreds of people were reportedly killed. Of the total 1,089 artifacts inventoried at the museum, 1,039 were stolen, the Ministry of Antiquities told Al Jazeera. More than 600 items were reclaimed, but about 400 others are still to be found, according to the ministry.

Collectors outside foreign countries with failing state organizations and unstable leadership should be allowed to help preserve and look after the world's precious heritage, instead of leaving it to the mercies of frenzied mobs of religious fanatics intent on obliterating anything which does not reflect their false beliefs about the world and which they associate with hated ousted dictators.

US investigates ‘corrupt payments’ to Egypt’s keeper of antiquities

Corruption is probably rife in the world of archeology. Now the world’s most respected educational and scientific institutions, National Geographic may be facing an unexpected challenge to its reputation due to its involvement with archeologists:

it is under investigation in the United States over its ties to a former Egyptian official who for years held the keys to his country’s many popular antiquities.  At issue is whether the Washington-based organisation, which in recent years has rapidly extended its public reach beyond its well-known glossy magazine to a cable television channel and other enterprises, violated strict US laws on payments to officials of foreign governments in contracts starting in 2001 with Dr Zahi Hawass, who, until the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak, was the government’s sole gatekeeper to all things ancient Egypt. Read more.

 US investigates National Geographic over ‘corrupt payments’ to Egypt’s keeper of antiquities

 

Roman child's coffin found in Leicestershire

The finders

Once again, in England, amateurs make a significant find and looked after it while the professionals sleep ('Roman child's coffin' found in Leicestershire):

A child’s coffin believed to date back to the 3rd Century AD has been found beneath a Leicestershire field by metal detectorists. The Digging Up The Past club found the lead coffin and Roman coins at a farm in the west of the county. Club spokesman David Hutchings said: “I knew it was something a bit special as soon as I saw it.” Archeologists have now been appointed by the group to help remove the coffin and analyse the find. Mr Hutchings said he and a group of volunteers had been keeping a nightly vigil at the site because they were “scared of looters coming in and taking the grave away”. Read more.

Probably archeologists disgruntled about being caught napping and beaten to the find by amateurs.

Portland Art Museum Sculpture First Online for Scrutiny - Still There .

Bihar or Bengal, India, or Bangladesh (Indian),
Ganesha, Lord of Obstacles, 11th century,
gray schist, , shows him in seated in Rajalilasana
(royal ease). Museum Purchase: Funds
provided by Mr. and Mrs. Hugh McCall
through exchange, 2008.66

In September 2009, the Portland Art Museum acquired a 36-inch-tall stone sculpture of Ganesha from Christie's auction house for $50,000 to $100,000. Like many similar antiquities, the museum doesn't know the ownership history for the work,

But Thursday evening, the museum decided to go even more public with the enigmatic idol when it offered the work for international scrutiny by placing it on the Web site of the Association of Art Museum Directors. The membership organization for major museum directors sets operational and conduct standards. In the days and weeks to follow, anyone -- though most likely it will be South or Southeast Asian cultural organizations or governments -- can examine the work and its history online and then make a claim for ownership. If they can prove the work was stolen from them or illegally exported out of their country, the Portland museum would have to return it. 

The directors association decided in June 2009 to revise the guidelines for sacred objects, requiring museums to be able to trace a work's provenance to November 1970 (that date refers to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Convention of 1970, when countries of origin were granted rights and protection for stolen or illegally exported artworks).

But the directors association added one major caveat regarding those works whose provenance could not meet the 1970 threshold: Museums must register the work at the association's Web site so the international community can scrutinize its history and make a possible claim. The Portland museum is the first to have posted an object online since the June revisions.

That was five years ago. The likelihood of a claim for the Ganesha is slim. In the context of the international art world, Portland's Ganesha isn't rare enough or financially valuable enough to cause a cultural firestorm. Above all, the museum's transparency and the museum's educational and historical mission would persuade any claimant to allow the Portland museum to keep the object. Founded in 1892 and oldest on the West Coast of USA, the Portland Art Museum is internationally recognized for its permanent collection of about 42, 000 objects and the world's finest public and private collections. It receives around 350,000 visitors annually.

D.K. Row, 'Portland Art Museum puts sculpture online for scrutiny', The Oregonian November 02, 2008.

World’s only surviving Bronze Age Metropolis Faces Ruin in Pakistan

World’s only surviving Bronze Age metropolis in Pakistan faces ruin

When archeologists first uncovered the 5,000-year-old ruins of Mohenjodaro, they made one of the greatest discoveries of the 20th century: the world’s only surviving Bronze Age metropolis. That was in colonial India in 1924. Today, the most important site of the Indus civilisation lies in Pakistan.  Now the once lost city is in danger of disappearing again as its clay wall houses, grid system roads, great granaries, baths and drainage systems crumble to dust, a victim of government neglect, public indifference and tourists’ fears of terrorism.  Archeologists have told The Sunday Telegraph that the world’s oldest planned urban landscape is being corroded by salt and could disappear within 20 years without an urgent rescue plan. Read more.

The Pakistani government is unable to look after the culture it has on its soil, yet - like all cultural property retentionist governments of the developing world - insists on retaining all of it hidden away in the deepest basements of their dusty museums rather than letting collectors preserve and display them. It is up to us to talk reason to these people and encourage them, by whatever means at our disposal, to adopt a more sensible and equitable cultural property policy, and we should make that a primary consideration in any future talks with Pakistan.

US Museums Losing Fine Art to Blackmail

Museums say their mission to display global art treasures is under siege from underhand tactics by foreign governemts. A prime example is Turkey (Dan Bilefsky, 'Seeking Return of Art, Turkey Jolts Museums' NY Times Sept. 30, 2012). Turkey’s culture minister, Ertugrul Gunay is citing a 1906 Ottoman-era law — one that banned the export of artifacts — to claim any object removed after that date as "stolen Turkish property". In September 2011, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, returned the top half of an 1,800-year-old statue, “Weary Herakles,” which the Turkish prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, triumphantly took home on his government jet.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The top half of the “Weary Herakles” statue recently taken from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by Turkey. Stuck in some dusty foreign museum basement, who will see it there?

Cerámica de los Ancestros: Central America’s Past Revealed

Important exhibition: "Cerámica de los Ancestros: Central America’s Past Revealed", March 29, 2013–February 01, 2015 Washington, DC 

This bilingual (English/Spanish) exhibition illuminates Central America’s diverse and dynamic ancestral heritage with a selection of more than 160 objects. For thousands of years, Central America has been home to vibrant civilizations, each with unique, sophisticated ways of life, value systems, and arts. The ceramics these peoples left behind, combined with recent archaeological discoveries, help tell the stories of these dynamic cultures and their achievements. Cerámica de los Ancestros examines seven regions representing distinct Central American cultural areas that are today part of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Spanning the period from 1000 BC to the present, the ceramics featured, selected from the museum’s collection of more than 12,000 pieces from the region, are augmented with significant examples of work in gold, jade, shell, and stone. 

The exhibition examines seven regions representing distinct Central American cultural areas that are today part of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.

Exhibition Video
Flickr Photoset

VISIT THE EXHIBITION WEBSITE

Turkey Battles Museums for Return of Antiquities

Orpheus mosaic from the 2nd Century AD repatriated
by the Dallas Museum of Art to Turkey

Since the Arab Spring the new Turkish government is taking aggressive measures against American and European museums by demanding the return of antiquities. In the renewed search for a national identity, Turkey is embarking on what some museums are calling “cultural blackmail.” Under the leadership of Cultural Minister Ertugrul Gunay, Turkey is refusing to lend objects for exhibitions unless antiquities with a unknown provenance are returned to the country, delaying all licenses for archeological excavations, and publicly denouncing museums as enablers of illicit looting" (Mary Elizabeth Williams, "Turkey Battles Museums for Return of Antiquities Following Arab Spring" Center for Art Law December 10, 2012)

This affects US museums too. In December 2012,

the Dallas Museum of Art agreed to return the 2nd AD Orpheus Mosaic to Turkey. They purchased the mosaic in 1999 from Christie’s for US$85,000. Upon discovering that the mosaic was looted, Maxwell Anderson, the museum’s director, notified the Turkish government and negotiated an exchange: the mosaic will be returned to Turkey as long as they agree to loan objects to the Dallas Museum for temporary exhibitions. This is the first pre-emptive move by an American museum, and provides the Dallas Museum with a monopoly on Turkish objects allowed for temporary display in the United States.

Turkey’s aggressive retentionist policies and the consequent measures taken against large international museums has raised controversy in the art world. It has returned the focus of repatriation again to the question: Who Owns Antiquity?

Turkey Engages in Cultural Blackmail

Dan Bilefsky, 'Seeking Return of Art, Turkey Jolts Museums' September 30 2012

An aggressive campaign by Turkey to reclaim antiquities it says were looted has [...] drawn condemnation from some of the world’s largest museums, which call the campaign cultural blackmail. In their latest salvo, Turkish officials this summer filed a criminal complaint in the Turkish court system seeking an investigation into what they say was the illegal excavation of 18 objects that are now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Norbert Schimmel collection.[...] Turkey’s efforts have spurred an international debate about who owns antiquities after centuries of shifting borders. Museums like the Met, the Getty, the Louvre and the Pergamon in Berlin say their mission to display global art treasures is under siege from Turkey’s tactics. Museum directors say the repatriation drive seeks to alter accepted practices, like a widely embraced Unesco convention that lets museums acquire objects that were outside their countries of origin before 1970. Although Turkey ratified the convention in 1981, it is now citing a 1906 Ottoman-era law — one that banned the export of artifacts — to claim any object removed after that date as its own.[...] Turkey’s aggressive tactics, which come as the country has been asserting itself politically in the Middle East in the wake of the Arab Spring, have particularly alarmed museums. Officials here are refusing to lend treasures, delaying the licensing of archaeological excavations and publicly shaming museums. “The Turks are engaging in polemics and nasty politics,” said Hermann Parzinger, president of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which oversees the Pergamon. “They should be careful about making moral claims when their museums are full of looted treasures” acquired, he said, by the Ottomans in their centuries ruling parts of the Middle East and southeast Europe.

The article goes on to give some examples of this.

Mr. Parzinger said Turkey had no legal claim to the contested objects it says his museum has illegally, and that treating Germany like a petty thief puts more than a century of archaeological cooperation at risk and harms relations between the countries as Turkey seeks to join the European Union. He pointed out that Westerners had been at the forefront of safeguarding Turkey’s rich history. “If all Westerners are just thieves and robbers,” he asked, “then who has been restoring their cultural heritage?”

A Resolution on Collectors Rights

COLLECTORS RIGHTS RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, we believe that the U.S. Constitution, not the United Nations should be, where appropriate, the guide for the regulation of business and trade;

WHEREAS, we also believe that a government that wishes to regulate the collecting hobbies of private citizens on behalf of foreign powers, especially if it involves the seizure or reclamation of property purchased in good faith has overstepped both the spirit and letter of the 4th, 5th and 11th Amendments of the Constitution;

RECOGNIZING that the numismatic trade provides many fine families with their means of income, and also creates numerous jobs in support industries, key to states such as Wisconsin where companies publish books, manufacture coin and stamp holders, binders, software and other supplies that support the collectibles hobby;

WHEREAS, we believe that import restrictions and cultural property laws may have the unintended consequences of driving hundreds of family businesses into ruin and also criminalize the hobbies and educational activities of numerous law abiding citizens;

WHEREAS, we support reasonable efforts to protect archaeological sites and public and private collections, we oppose the claims of those who say: (a) Anything “old” should be considered state property; (b) Anything without a detailed ownership history should be deemed stolen; and (c) Only foreign states and their favored academics should have the right to preserve, protect and study the past.

THEREFORE we reject recent efforts to restrict the collecting of art, books, coins, pottery, stamps, weapons and other common antique collectibles over 100 years old;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Wisconsin, in convention assembled, asks lawmakers to oppose any import restrictions or other constraints on the collecting of art, books, coins, militaria, pottery, stamps, weapons and other common antique collectibles as a waste of valuable government resources.

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Wisconsin, in convention assembled, asks lawmakers to pass a bill exempting art, books, coins, militaria, pottery, stamps, weapons and other common antique collectibles for consideration from future import restriction and cultural property laws and treaties.

Genetic link shown between Indian subcontinent and Mesopotamia

The continuing debate regarding the origins of people inhabiting ancient Mesopotamia during the region’s long history led the authors of a new report published in the Open Access journal PLoS ONE to attempt an isolation and analysis of mtDNA sequences from the area. [...] The obtained data has enriched the modest database of Mesopotamian ancient DNA and suggests a possible genetic link of the region with the Indian subcontinent in the past.

"The studied individuals carried mtDNA haplotypes corresponding to the M4b1, M49 and/or M61 haplogroups, which are believed to have arisen in the area of the Indian subcontinent during the Upper Palaeolithic and are absent in people living today in Syria. However, these same haplogroups are present in people inhabiting today’s Tibet, Himalayas, India and Pakistan. The suggestion is that these analysed remains from Mesopotamia belonged to people with a genetic affinity to the Indian subcontinent as the distribution of identified ancient haplotypes indicates a solid link with populations from the region of South Asia-Tibet (Trans-Himalaya).

Read more.

Mesoamerican Artifacts Rarely Seen

Rarely Seen Mesoamerican Artifacts Revealed

Few people know that the Smithsonian Institution curates one of the largest single collections of whole Mesoamerican ceramic artifacts in the world — more than 12,000, to be specific. But most of these objects are tucked away unseen by most people within the storage “vaults” that house all of the other massive museum collections, the largest in the world.  [...] The objects represent a rich variety of Central American cultures spanning the period from 1000 B.C. to the present.
Read more.

Surely these objects should be released on the market to be preserved, cared for and displayed by collectors, instead of mouldering away in some museum basement
.

Biblical-Era Town Discovered Along Sea of Galilee

 

Biblical-Era Town Discovered Along Sea of Galilee

A town dating back more than 2,000 years has been discovered on the northwest coast of the Sea of Galilee, in Israel’s Ginosar valley. The ancient town may be Dalmanutha (also spelled Dalmanoutha), described in the Gospel of Mark as the place Jesus sailed to after miraculously feeding 4,000 people by multiplying a few fish and loaves of bread, said Ken Dark, of the University of Reading in the U.K., whose team discovered the town during a field survey.   Read more.

Beginning of the End of Ancient Culture of Cahokia

Epic Fire Marked ‘Beginning of the End’ for Ancient Culture of Cahokia, New Digs Suggest

Excavations in the Midwest have turned up evidence of a massive ancient fire that likely marked “the beginning of the end” for what was once ancient America’s largest city, archeologists say.  The digs took place in southern Illinois, just meters away from the interstate highways that carve their way through and around modern-day St. Louis. But 900 years ago, this was the heart of Greater Cahokia, a civilization whose trade routes and religious influence stretched from the Great Lakes to the Deep South, and whose culture shaped the lifeways of the Plains and Southern Indians.  Here, researchers with the Illinois State Archeological Survey have discovered a widespread layer of charcoal and burned artifacts among the foundations of ancient structures — Read more.

Ethnic Differences across pre-Columbian Mexico

A new analysis of the skulls of prehistoric peoples in Mexico reveals significant regional variation in the facial characteristics of indigenous populations – indicating that there were notable physical differences between geographically separate groups before the arrival of Europeans. "There has long been a school of thought that there was little physical variation prior to European contact," says Ann Ross, a forensic anthropologist at NC State who co-authored a paper on the work. "But we’ve found that there were clear differences between indigenous peoples before Europeans or Africans arrived in what is now Mexico." Read more.

Viking Ring found in Ireland

Those Vikings got everywhere:

A man who found a dirty piece of metal in a field has discovered he is actually the lucky owner of a silver Viking ring. David Taylor, from County Down, Northern Ireland, discovered a bracelet-shaped object while helping lift stones from a field. His wife thought it was a bull ring and told him to throw it out. A coroner’s court has now found the ring to be treasure trove. Almost 18 months ago, Mr Taylor noticed the strangely-shaped object lying on a stone in his brother-in-law’s freshly ploughed field near Kircubbin on the Ards peninsula.
Read more.

New tunnels found under Hadrian’s Tivoli villa

The History Blog

New tunnels found under Hadrian’s Tivoli villa

Amateur archeologists and speleologists from Roma Sotterranea, an organization dedicated to the exploration and documentation of Rome’s many subterranean layers, have discovered previously unknown tunnels underneath Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli. Archeologists have long known that there was an elaborate tunnel network under the palace complex, but the passageways which once bustled with the activities of slaves, merchants and ox carts had been filled with soil for years. This is the first time cavers were deployed in an attempt to explore these spaces. The spelunking experts rappelled into the tunnels through light shafts. They had to clear bucket after bucket of dirt out of passageways, many of which were so narrow they barely had the space for a grown human to squeeze through. After clearing some of the access tunnels, the team found a new passageway leading from a remote area of the villa known as the Academy to a major underground tunnel 2.5 miles long called the Grande Trapezio. The newly discovered tunnel is seven feet wide and a half mile long. It runs north-east and then turns south, ending in a roundabout about 766 yards long which may have been used to turn around ox carts. More here....

The Globalization of Food & Plants

The Globalization of Food & Plants 

Most of the foods that we commonly eat today are the product of globalization. And often a globalization that began centuries before the term came into use. Next time you eat one of the foods highlighted in the following articles imagine what life would be like if that food had never left its home country.

Ancient Golden Treasure Found Near Jerusalem Temple Mount

Ancient Golden Treasure Found Near Jerusalem Temple Mount

An ancient cache of 36 gold coins, gold and silver jewelry and a gold medallion etched with Jewish symbols have been uncovered in excavations at the foot of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.
The find, which is estimated to be about 1,400 years old, is a “once-in-a lifetime discovery,” according to Eilat Mazar, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem archeologist who directed the excavation. Etched into the medallion is a menorah, the 7-branched candelabrum used in the ancient Temple, a ram’s horn, and a Torah scroll.  The position of the items as they were discovered indicates that one bundle was carefully hidden underground, while the second bundle appeared to be abandoned in haste and scattered across the floor, according to an e-mailed statement from Hebrew University. Read more.

Treasure Hunters Hit it Big with Sunken Spanish Gold

 

A family of life-long treasure hunters has just made their largest discovery, long lost Spanish gold. Rick Schmitt and his family have been active treasure hunters for decades, with their largest bounty valued at $25,000 found back in 2002. This time they found three pounds of gold chains, five gold coins and a gold ring estimated to be worth $300,000.  The bounty was found 15 feet under water near the coast of Fort Pierce, Florida while they were aboard their “AARRR Booty” boat. It is believed the gold treasure is some 300 years old and came from one of the 11 Spanish galleon ships that went down during hurricane season back in July, 1715. Read more.  Treasure Hunting Family Hits it Big with Sunken Spanish Gold, Lost 300 Yrs Ago

UK treasure hunters make archeologists see red

With a metal detector and some luck, hobbyist treasure hunters in the UK can end up owning highly valuable artifacts. But archeologists are speaking out against treasure hunting, saying it damages key historical traces. Hobbyists scavenging for ancient jewelry or a cache of Roman coins are an increasingly common sight in the UK’s countryside. With some enthusiasts having unearthed thousands of pounds worth of treasure, the lure of heading out with a metal detector can be potent. Historical artifacts, including coins, old tools and weaponry, turn up with some regularity among the thousands of objects dug up each year. But hobbyists have been so successful that some archeologists are accusing them of looting Britain’s heritage. Some even want the practice banned. Read more.

They should be grateful to these people for finding them new sites to work on at tax-payers' expense.
 

Lycurgus Cup inspires cool new sensor technology

Inspired by a marvel of ancient Roman art glass, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have designed a device that uses inexpensive light-sensitive plastics to do DNA, drug and protein analysis. The British Museum’s Lycurgus Cup is made out of dichroic glass, glass with added nanoparticles of gold and silver which alter the color of the glass depending on how the light hits it and where the observer stands. The cup looks green in reflected light (light shone directly on it) and red in transmitted light (light shone behind and through it).

Read more....

Researcher offers fresh insights into the Dead Sea Scrolls

 

New research conducted by a Trinity College academic in Jerusalem offers new insights into one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is concerned with the mystery of existence. Dr Benjamin Wold, Assistant Professor in New Testament at the Department of Religions and Theology, has been conducting research on the Dead Sea Scrolls known as “4QInstruction” which is believed to have been composed around the mid-2nd century BC. Despite considerable efforts to reconstruct this scroll from multiple copies, experts believe that only about 30 per cent of the document remains. Found in the remaining passages are frequent admonitions to understand the “mystery of existence.” Research conducted at the Israel Museum consulting individual fragments of the document has allowed Dr Wold to offer several new reconstructions of the document and confirm others.
 Read more.Researcher offers fresh insights into the Dead Sea Scrolls

One Mummy Many Coffins

According to Anders Bettum, Egyptologist at the Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo (his PhD thesis, “Faces within Faces – The Symbolic Function of Nested Yellow Coffins in Ancient Egypt”), nested coffins were not only a status symbol for the Egyptian elite. “They also played a key role in the process that would link the deceased to their ancestors: to Osiris, the god of the afterlife, and to Amun-Ra, the sun- and creator god”.

The rituals and the myths that were reiterated during the seventy days that a funeral lasted are symbolically rendered on the coffins. The components of each nest, including the mummy-cover, the inner and outer coffins – reflect the Egyptians’ view of the world.

“The decorations, the forms and the choice of materials signify a unification of the two myths about Osiris and Amun-Ra respectively. On the outer coffin, the deceased is portrayed as Osiris, with a mummified body, a blue-striped wig and a pale, solemn face. The coffin is painted yellow and varnished, and must have shone like gold. The very richest Egyptians did in fact use gold leaf on their coffins. The choice of color is not coincidental: it represents the light and its origin in the sun. That the figure of Osiris is being bathed in sunlight can, in my mind, only mean one thing. The decoration invokes a well known mythical image: when the sun god arrives in the throne hall of Osiris in the 6th hour of the night and the two deities join in mystical union. According to the Egyptians, this union was the source of all regeneration in nature, and it was here, at the center of this ‘catalyst of life’ that the deceased wanted to be placed for all eternity.” 

 Another key finding, Bettum explains, is that the innermost layers of the coffin nests dating from the 19th dynasty (approximately 1292-1191 BCE) were fashioned as living humans in their best outfits. The innermost layer was the most important one, since it shows the objective of the afterlife transformation: the “state of paradise” to which these people aspired involved not only a mystical union with the gods; but more importantly a return to their old “self”.

Even though complete Egyptian coffin nests still can be found intact in some places, most have been disassembled and are today scattered in museums all over the world. As a researcher, Bettum would like to see more international cooperation to reassemble the coffin ensembles in the same location. He also believes that such projects would be fascinating to the public and rekindle interest in some of the world’s largest and most enigmatic cultural treasures. “So far, national legislation and interests have unfortunately served as barriers to such cooperation,” he concludes.
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Oregon Trail section damaged by Idaho artifact-seekers

Relic hunters under pressure in Idaho. The Oregon Trail generally followed the level ground along the Snake River before entering northeastern Oregon, where immigrants crossed the Blue Mountains.: 

A portion of the Oregon Trail in south-central Idaho near Burley has been damaged by people using metal detectors and shovels to illegally search for artifacts, federal officials said. Bureau of Land Management officials said they recently found about 400 holes over several miles of the trail, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and protected under the Archaeological Resource Protection Act of 1979. The holes are along wagon ruts made in the 1800s through the dirt and sagebrush by thousands of immigrants heading to Oregon, officials said. "It is the BLM's responsibility to protect and preserve any sections of the Oregon National Historic Trail under its jurisdiction," said BLM Burley Field Office Archaeologist Suzann Henrikson.

BLM seem to take this very seriously:

"The recent damage to the trail near Burley has resulted in a significant loss of history for the American public." The BLM is seeking information on who did the digging. "Although owning a metal detector is not illegal, be aware that using this device on lands under federal management may result in a crime," Henrikson said. "If you sink a shovel in an archaeological site on public land, you could be convicted of a felony."

One wonders what "precious" relics these people found along the trail.

The Associated Press, 'Oregon Trail section damaged by Idaho artifact-seekers', Oregon Live August 24, 2013

Ancient Libyan necropolis threatened by real estate speculators.

Local residents recently destroyed part of the Cyrene necropolis, an ancient Greek city in north-eastern Libya, to make way for houses and shops. Our Observer, an archeology professor, laments the authorities’ unwillingness to act to prevent the destruction of this invaluable archaological heritage. Cyrene dates back to about 700 B.C. and was the oldest and largest Greek colony in eastern Libya, a region now known as Cyrenaica. Of the city’s former glory remains an enormous necropolis — nearly 10 square kilometers in size — used between 600 and 400 B.C. The necropolis includes 1,200 burial vaults dug into the bedrock and thousands of individual sarcophagi that lie on the ground. Even though the city is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, local farmers have laid claim to certain parts of the necropolis and recently destroyed a section with the help of excavators in order to make way for new houses. Read more.

and US archeologists want to repatriate stuff to these Ay-rab Islamist hooligans that don't know how to look after it. They need to think again. 

Hoard of 1,500-Year-Old Coins Found in Ancient Garbage Dump

The archeologists campaigning against collectors will not admit to one simple truth. Not all coin finds are made on archeological sites: Hoard of 1,500-Year-Old Coins Found in Ancient Garbage Dump: 

Archeologists and researchers are trying to figure out why a recently found treasure of 1,500-year-old coins and other artifacts was buried in Byzantine era refuse pits. The excavations, on behalf of the Tel Aviv University and the Israel Antiquities Authority, are being carried out prior to expanding the city of Herzliya, immediately north of Tel Aviv. Numerous finds dating to the Late Byzantine period of the 5th-7th centuries were among the antiquities discovered in excavations conducted in the agricultural hinterland of the ancient city of Apollonia-Arsuf, located east of the site. Read more.

Send Our Ka-Nefernefer Mask to Egypt?

The US government, attempting to curry favour with the Egyptian state, has been trying now for some time to get the 19th dynasty Ka-Nefernefer mask out of the St Louis Art Museum. the latter has opposed the move, showing that the object is legally owned by them.  Meanwhile events in Egypt have taken a turn for the worse, and at the time of writing, the country seems to be on the brink of civil war. In which case, it would be very unwise of our government to entrust the safety of this magnificent piece of world cultural heritage to the tender mercies of a country falling apart. Just saying.

Monash University Academic Saves Ancient Tabletu

Monash University, Ancient artifact gets a good bake Aug 15, 2013:

An information technology academic’s love of ancient languages and cultures has resulted in the preservation of a 4000 year-old artifact. Dr Larry Stillman, from the Caulfield School of Information Technology at Monash University, usually spends his time researching the social effects of IT in community organizations. His passion and original training however, is for the languages and cultures of ancient Mesopotamia which he studied for many years in Jerusalem and at Harvard University. Through his work in this area, Dr Stillman has come to own a tablet written in the ancient Sumerian language in cuneiform, a wedge shaped writing that was done with a stylus on soft clay. "I have deciphered the tablet, and it is one of the tens of thousands of receipts that were produced for the issue and delivery of goods to the great temples of what is known as the Third Dynasty of Ur," Dr Stillman said. Unfortunately the tablet is too fragmentary to know what the delivery was for, but the names of the people involved are on the tablet. It was most likely for goods such as reeds." Dr Stillman's tablet was not left in the sun to dry, as was often the case, and had become very fragile over the years. "The only way to preserve it was to bake it. And to do this I enlisted the help of Brent King, from the Monash Caulfield glass workshop," Dr Stillman said. With instructions from the British Museum, which has the world's largest collection of tablets, Mr King put the tablet through its paces in the glass workshop kiln over several days. "It was a successful bake, and while the tablet is still delicate, it is now likely to last another 4000 years," Dr Stillman said. "It's certainly the oldest thing Mr King has ever handled, and is quite possibly the oldest document to ever grace the Caulfield campus." Dr Stillman is currently involved in work with a colleague at Hebrew University on cataloging all the tablets in Australia and New Zealand. Dr Stillman would be very interested to hear from members of the community who might know of tablets in private or other collections which could become part of a scholarly contribution to knowledge about ancient Mesopotamia.

Tomb of a Powerful Moche Priestess-Queen Found in Peru

Some 1,200 years ago, a prominent Moche woman was laid to rest with great pomp and ceremony. Now archeologists have uncovered her tomb along with clues that testify to her privileged status and the power she once wielded ("Tomb of a Powerful Moche Priestess-Queen Found in Peru").The discovery—made over the last couple of weeks at the site of San José de Moro in the Jequetepeque River valley of northern Peru—is one of several that have revolutionized ideas about the roles women played in Moche society. In about A.D. 750 this revered woman was buried in a large chamber some 20 feet (6 meters) beneath the ground. The earthen walls of her tomb were painted red, and large niches held offerings of ceramic vessels. Two adults, presumably sacrificed female attendants, were buried with her along with five children. Read more.

Looters Miss Giant Frieze

Giant Maya Frieze Found in Guatemala

 

Archeologist Anya Shetler cleans an inscription below an ancient stucco frieze recently unearthed in the buried Maya city of Holmul in the Peten region of Guatemala. Sunlight from a tunnel entrance highlights the carved legs of a ruler sitting atop the head of a Maya mountain spirit. The enormous frieze - which measures 26 feet by nearly 7 feet (8 meters by 2 meters) - depicts human figures in a mythological setting, suggesting these may be deified rulers. It was discovered in July in the buried foundations of a rectangular pyramid in Holmul. Maya archeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli and his team were excavating a tunnel left open by looters when they happened upon the frieze. “The looters had come close to it, but they hadn’t seen it,” Estrada-Belli said. Read more.

Florida says: "No More Hunting for Spanish Treasures"

Florida should be a treasure hunter’s dream come true. Except it’s not.  Its sand and sea hide riches of the past, thanks to the state’s Spanish colonizers of the 1500s and treasure-laden ships that sank off shores. Until recently, you didn’t have needed to dig very deep to find valuable booty. With a metal detector, you easily could unearthed treasures left behind by forgetful beachgoers. A Tiffany and Co. platinum wedding band worth more than $2,000, a 3/4-carat diamond ring, a 2-carat ruby ring and a mint-condition Rolex Submariner watch are just a few of the riches Gary Drayton recovered during his metal-hunting days. His best find was a 9-carat Spanish-era emerald ring. But that may be the end of it for Drayton and his treasure-seeking ilk (No More Hunting for Spanish Treasures Says Florida).

But that may be the end of it for Drayton and his treasure-seeking ilk. While it’s legal to use metal detectors at Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf Coast state parks, Drayton told Florida Watchdog, treasure hunters have to get permission from the park manager and hunt only on the dry, sandy beach between the high water line and the sand dune. The Florida Division of Recreation & Parks Department of Environmental Protection says the restriction is to ensure the “preservation and protection of archaeological resources.”
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Old Shipwreck Yields "Most Silver Ever"

An oceanic exploration company has recovered 122,000 pounds of silver from a shipwreck 300 miles off the coast of Galway, Ireland—the heaviest amount of precious metal ever retrieved from a shipwreck ('Shipwreck Yields Most Silver Ever').

In February 1941, the S.S. Gairsoppa, a 412-foot steel-hulled British cargo ship with stockpiles of tea, iron, and silver, was weathering a storm when it was struck by a Nazi torpedo. The ship sank within 20 minutes; only one person survived.  At the time, the silver that ended up on the seafloor was insured at $1.3 million. Today it’s worth about $75 million. The silver was retrieved about two weeks ago by Odyssey Marine Exploration, which used a remotely operated vehicle to access the shipwreck. The vehicle descended about three miles and explored several rooms in the ship until it found the silver in two locations. Read more.

Rare 3,000-year-old golden torc unveiled to the public in Belfast

Rare 3,000-year-old golden torc unveiled to the public in Belfast... by David Young 

The golden torc was dug up in Co Fermanagh four years ago by a local man who at first thought it was a spring from a car engine. It was another two years before Ronnie Johnston figured it was rather more significant after noticing something similar in a treasure hunters’ magazine.  The item was subsequently declared a valuable artifact at a special treasure inquest at Northern Ireland Coroner’s Court and ultimately purchased by Stormont’s Department of Culture, Arts, and Leisure.

http://fb.me/1SolnI6iu

Schindler's List Up for Grabs on eBay

The iconic document used by German industrialist Oskar Schindler to safeguard the lives of over 1,000 Jews during World War II, is being sold to the highest bidder on eBay: 

"Don't miss your chance to own a piece of history that has inspired many on the difference one person can make in the face of great danger," reads the description on the item's eBay page. California collectors Gary Zimet and Eric Gazin, who own one of the four known copies of the "Schindlerjuden" roll call, have set an initial asking price of $3 million, but hope to bring in more than five when the auction ends in nine days. "We decided to sell the list on eBay because it has over 100 million worldwide members, and this is a global story," Gazin said when asked by the New York Post why eBay. "There are billionaires using the site, wealthy celebrities."  For the record, the other three copies of the list are located in museums: Two in Israel's Yad Vashem, and another in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum near the National Mall.

Schindler's List Up for Grabs on eBay
 

King David’s Palace Uncovered in the Judean Shephelah

King David's palace Uncovered in the Judean Shephelah ? The IAA press release here

"Two royal public buildings, the likes of which have not previously been found in the Kingdom of Judah of the tenth century BCE, were uncovered this past year by researchers of the Hebrew University and the Israel Antiquities Authority at Khirbet Qeiyafa – a fortified city in Judah dating to the time of King David and identified with the biblical city of Shaarayim".

Smithsonian, World's Largest Museum Complex

The Smithsonian, the world's largest museum complex, struggles to protect the 137 million objects in its collection. I wonder how many of the 137 million are on display and how many are locked away never to see the light of day?

Art Loss Register Boss Proposes Levy on Antiquities Sales to Raise Funds for Source Countries

Riah Pryor, "Call for levy on sales of antiquities" The Art Newspaper, 10 July 2013.

A proposed levy on sales of antiquities to raise funds for source countries to help them better protect their heritage has been proposed at an academic conference. Julian Radcliffe, the chairman of the Art Loss Register, made the proposal. “My idea is to make it very modest, say 1%, and only apply it to items worth more than £10,000, so that no one can claim that it is inhibiting trade or is worth trying to avoid, for example by swops, " he says. Conference participants also debated the merits of reviving the partage system, which in the past meant that excavated artifacts were shared between the host country and foreign archeologists and their sponsors through a licensing system.

Peter Lacovara comments: "Brilliant idea! Since the partage system ended, stuff just gets piled up in storerooms to deteriorate, be forgotten and stolen. A legitimate sharing of antiquities with responsible museums would make them available to everyone and the proceeds could help maintain what has been neglected in their countries of origin". 

"Top Macedonian Archeologist Held Over Artifacts Smuggling"

Sinisa Jakov Marusic and Sase Dimovski, "Top Macedonian Archeologist Held Over Artifacts Smuggling" Balkan Insight 15th July 2013

It is being reported today that Macedonia’s chief archeologist Pasko Kuzman, has been arrested in connection with an investigation into the smuggling of antiquities out of the country.  It seems that Kuzman is being questioned for his alleged involvement in an ongoing investigation into the smuggling of valuable icons and archeological artifacts. In fact: 

Several archeologists, employees of the culture ministry and illegal excavators have already been charged with involvement in the case. The archeologists are accused of helping the illegal excavators to determine the price of their artifacts and to find buyers abroad. Around midday on Monday, Kuzman was brought in handcuffs to the investigative judge at Skopje criminal court for questioning.

As head of the Cultural Heritage Protection Office, over the past few years Kuzman oversaw the main archeological digs across the country. If these allegations are true, it would seem that once again it turns out that the archeologists who criticize collectors are far from having their hands clean. Macedonia is notorious as a country which has arrested several American citizens (including two there on humanitarian missions) for possession of ancient artifacts, relatively minor infringements compared with this case.  Now perhaps we see the wider context of the victimization of American travelers. I wonder whether the anti-collecting archeologists will honestly be discussing the Kuzman case on their websites.