Category: Ann - Part 20

Video of the Bluestonehenge Excavations by AHRC

The Excavations at Bluestonehenge - Aerial View The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) have today released video footage of the newest Henge discovered in Britain, at the River Avon and less than a mile away from the world most famous stone circle. Bluestonehenge (or Bluehenge as it was originally called by the press) was named after the famous Welsh blue stones that are also incorporated – or maybe even reused – in the nearby Stonehenge. Dr Josh Pollard, co-director of the research project, explained: “This is an incredible discovery. The newly-discovered circle and henge should be considered an integral part of Stonehenge rather than a separate monument. Furthermore, it offers tremendous insight into the history of its famous neighbour. Its riverside location demonstrates once again the importance of the River Avon in Neolithic funerary rites and ceremonies.”

This video was filmed in September 2009 on – AHRCfunded – dig site in Wiltshire, where Professor Mike Parker Pearson and Dr Kate Welham were interviewed. In the video we see footage of the excavations itself as well as archaeologists executing a geophysical survey.

VIDEO: BLUESTONEHENGE EXCAVATIONS

The newly discovered circle is 10m in diameter and was surrounded by a henge – a ditch with an external bank. The circle that probably consisted of 25 stones – no longer present – would have marked the end of the Avenue, a 2.8 km processional route that leads from the River Avon to Stonehenge, which was constructed at the end of the Stone Age (the Neolithic period). The outer henge around the stones was built around 2400 BC, but arrowheads found in the circle indicate the stones were erected as much as 500 years earlier. Most of the circle remains unexcavated, preserved for future research, whilst the 2009 excavation has now been filled back in, but this does not seem to stop the druids from ‘partying’ at the site.

The stones from the new-found circle were removed thousands of years ago but the sizes of the holes in which they stood indicate that this was a circle of bluestones that were brought from the Preseli mountains of Wales 150 miles away, like the inner stones at Stonehenge. When the stones from the newly-discovered circle were removed by Neolithic people, it is possible that they were dragged along the route of the Avenue to Stonehenge, to be incorporated within its major phase of rebuilding around 2500 BC; some of the bluestones that once stood at the riverside probably now stand within the centre of Stonehenge.

The builders of the stone circle used deer antlers as pickaxes. Within the next few months, radiocarbon dating of these antler picks will provide more precise dates and reveal whether the circle was built at the same time as Stonehenge itself (in the decades after 3000 BC) or at some other time.

Stonehenge and the ‘new’ Bluestonehenge are definitely not the only stone circles in Britain. Curious about the others? We’ve mapped them out for you.

Egypt Suspends Louvre Saqqara Excavations over Stolen Artefacts

Egypt has decided to suspend all archaeological cooperation with the Louvre, after the French museum refused to return fragments of a Theban Tomb. The news was confirmed today by Dr. Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s antiquities department. The artefacts were excavated in a tomb near Luxor, and according to Dr. Hawass were stolen by the French. This decision endangers planned conferences at the Louvre, as well as the French team’s current excavations at Saqqara, the ‘city of the dead’. A boycott of the Louvre‘s Egyptological activities also ensures no archeological expeditions sponsored by the French museum could go ahead in Egypt.

The decision to cut all ties with the Louvre, as well as its archaeological teams, was taken two months ago after the Louvre had repeatedly ignored requests for the return of four reliefs. Dr. Hawass says the reliefs were illegally taken from a tomb in Luxors Valley of the Kings in the 1980s.

The disputed artefacts are 5 fragments from the wall of Theban Tomb 15 (TT15), the tomb of Tetiki on the West Bank at Dra Abu’l Naga. The tomb was photographed in 1968 and shown intact. In the 1990’s the tomb was – like so many – lost, and thought to be destroyed by modern building. A team from the Heidelberg University rediscovered this tomb during excavations at Dra Abu El-Naga in 2001, but the fragments were missing.

Four fragments of TT15 were acquired by the Louvre in 2000, and a fifth one in 2003. In January 2009, the SCA presented the evidence to the Louvre; these fragments that resurfaced in the French Museum’s collection had clearly been stolen.

The Louvre has promised to return the pieces – but that it will have to wait for advice from a national body the French Museum. In September, the SCA informed the Louvre that it was suspending its excavations at Saqqara until the pieces were returned. There is a meeting of the National Scientific Commission for Museum Collections on October 9th, at which the official decision about the return of the fragments of TT15 will be made.

Dr. Hawass has made repatriating ‘stolen’ Egyptian antiquities a priority, especially those he calls ‘icons of our Egyptian identity’ – unique artefacts of Egyptian cultural patrimony. The SCAis also pressuring Berlin’s Neues Museum for the return of the Bust of Neferiti, and the British Museum for the Rosetta Stone. The antiquities chief had already been purusing the Louvre over the Dendera Zodiac, an amazing astronomical chart which was torn from the Temple of Hathor at Dendera by French general Louis Charles Antoine Desaix in 1821.

Bluehenge – Mini Stonehenge Discovered on the River Avon

Prof. Andrew Chamberlain (University of Sheffield) uses a laser scanner to record a stonehole. Aerial-Cam About a mile away from Stonehenge, at the end of the ‘Avenue’ that connects it to the River Avon, archaeologists have discovered a smaller prehistoric site, named – appropriately, after the colour of the 27 Welsh stones it was made of – Bluehenge. The newly discovered stone circle is thought to have been put up 5,000 years ago – which is around the same time work on Stonehenge began – and appears to be a miniature version of it. The two circles stood together for hundreds of years before Bluehenge was dismantled. Researchers believe its stones were used to enlarge Stonehenge during one of a number of redevelopments.

The new circle, unearthed over the summer by researchers from Sheffield University, represents an important find, researchers said Saturday. Although Bluehenge’s monoliths have disappeared, the circle of holes remains. It’s about 60 foot wide, has 27 holes, and the chips of blue stone found in the holes appear to be identical to the blue stones used in Stonehenge.

This henge is very important because it forms part of the picture of ceremonial monuments in the area and puts Stonehenge into context. – Geoffrey Wainwright

This new find might just change our view on Stonehenge’s history; it suggests that the creators of Stonehenge originally built two prehistoric stone circles – one with 56 stones at Stonehenge, and another with 27 at Bluehenge. The stones of the smaller circle were eventually worked into the bigger one.

Professor Geoffrey Wainwright, who found the source of the Stonehenge stones in Wales with Professor Darvill, told the DailyMail: ‘This henge is very important because it forms part of the picture of ceremonial monuments in the area and puts Stonehenge into context.” The area surrounding Stonehenge is sometimes dubbed a ‘ritual landscape’ which would include the Durrington Walls Henge (a place for the living), Stonehenge (a place for the dead) and their respective avenues. But no need to say many think that as Stonehenge evolved over thousands of years, it must have had different destinations of use during those differen eras (sometimes known as the three phases of Stonehenge) and that the storyline is more complicated than just a life/death juxtaposition.

More information about the newly discovered Bluehenge should be published in February 2010. And err.. I guess Wessex Archaeology will need to adjust their superb Stonehenge Landscape 3D now?

Awful Egyptians – The Mummy Song from the BBC’s Horrible Histories

The Awful Egyptians from the Horrible Histories series Horrible Histories is a fascinating series of books for children, covering all such niceties as the Rotten Romans, the Savage Stone Age, and of course the err… Awful Egyptians. With over 20 million copies sold, the series was that much a success, that the CBBCturned it into into a series, which might just be even more horribly original than the books. The Tudors and Victorians were that popular they got their own theatre show and the Ruthless Romans made it into a computer game, available for PC, Wii and Nintendo. And then there’s the Terrible Treasures game online, which enlightens us by teaching us some facts of great importance:the Romans used a sponge as toilet paper, a bad hair day is solved by fresh gladiator’s blood and mashed mouse brains make excellent toothpaste. And it’s all really true (says the talking rat).

But one of their best creations must be ‘The Awful Egyptians’ – a horribly entertaining mummy-song. Where Dr. Zahi Hawass chose a more conservative, scientific way to explain all about the recepy for making a mummy, ‘Horrible Histories’ decided to go with a different tone.

Other sublime ancient history parody songs to check out on the BBC’s Horrible Histories website are Caveman Love and – my personal favourite – Aristotle and Archimedes performing ‘I am Greek’. All hum along: “Was their ever, ever, ever, such a bunch of chaps so clever.. if you want to know the answer? Ask a Greek!“

Catch some great edutainment with the ancient ‘Horrible Histories’ episodes on CCBCOctober 4th, 10.30AMwhen the Romans will be hosting their own cookery show and October 8th at 8AM to see a Stone Age doctor treating a modern patient and the invention of the pyramid.

PS. I finished the Rotten Roman game, collected the six pieced of the map – that wannabe gladiator is highly annoying – and claimed my treasure, which is now in the office fridge, if anybody fancies a bite tomorrow. Yet err… my ‘certificate’ would not print. That whilst it would have looked so horribly well on the office wall! ;(

Turkey a Base for Antiquities Smugglers? Shocking Numbers on Illegal Trade

While Turkey has managed to reclaim some major historical artifacts smuggled from Turkey to the US and the UK, it is still unable to implement effective measures against the smuggling of new ones. According to the “Cultural and Natural Assets Smuggling Report” prepared by the Culture and Tourism Ministry based on figures provided by the KOM – the Anti-smuggling and Organized Crime Bureau of the police department – Turkey sees higher statistics related to the smuggling of historical artefacts every year; in 2008, when authorities seized 42,073 historical artefacts and detained 4,077 suspects in 1,576 operations. In 2003 security authorities seized 3,255 historical artefacts that smugglers were attempting to take abroad. With a steady rise over years, this figure rose to 17,936 in 2007. As only the amount of seized items can be measured, there is no reliable, if any, information about the number of historical and cultural artefacts illegally taken outside the country.

Of course the smuggling of historical artefacts happens most often in conflict zones – like Iraq and Afghanistan – where the ongoing wars allow smugglers to operate freely. But Turkey is surely not a conflict zone? That is true, but still the majority of historical artefacts smuggled out of these conflict zones are shipped to Western countries via Turkey, to eventually end up in collections in the US, the UK, Switzerland and Japan. Antique coins make this trip most often; small and thus relatively easy to take abroad without detection – you can even smuggle one out in your wallet – they are the smuggler’s ‘favourite’ objects.

To counteract the increasing cases of smuggling of historical artefacts, security authorities asked for measures to be taken. There should be better security in museums to prevent theft, a sufficient and clear inventory of historical artifacts in the country should be composed and a bill to limit and inspect the use and sale of metal detectors should be passed. The Culture Ministry is likely to convey this proposal to the government in the coming days.

Probably the most significant item that was taken outside of Turkey is the Bergama Zeus-Athena Altar; however, this altar cannot be reclaimed as it was sold by an order from the Ottoman sultan of the time (sounds familiar?) at a very low price to Germany. The South Agora Portal of Miletos, too, had been taken out of the country in the same manner.

But for other artefacts, there’s still hope for return; there does exist a minor list of ‘artefacts abroad’ and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has already spent $17 million on reclaiming these artifacts and continius its efforts to repatriate more. According to todayszaman.com these artefacts were illegally taken out of Turkey and were – or were not yet – returned:

Germany – The Aphrodisias Old Fisherman Statue, the mihrab (niche) of Konya’s Beyhekim Mosque, the Hac Bayram Veli tomb and Troy artifacts. (Returned: Boazky tablets and Sphinxes, an Antiochos head fragment, artifacts from the Henkel collection, a terracotta statue, a marble bas-relief tablet and artifacts seized in Bremen and Tutlingen were returned to Turkey.)
United Kingdom – (Returned: The Ottoman tombac, the pulpit door stolen from zmir’s Birgi Aydnolu Mehmet Bey Mosque, artifacts from a sunken ship in the English Channel, artifacts seized at Heathrow Airport and a bronze Dionysus statue were returned to Turkey.)
Russia – Troy artifacts.
Austria – The artifacts seized at the Suben border crossing and triple Hekate statue still have not been returned. (Returned: The marble head of a woman was able to be reclaimed.)
The US – The Heracles statue, the Kumluca artifacts. (Returned: A 93-piece collection of Ottoman apparel, a seaman’s lantern, the Meleager head from the historical site of Aphrodisias, a lead seal, Atatrk’s silver cigarette case, a Quran stolen from the Nuruosmaniye Library and 1,676 Elmali coins were returned to Turkey.)
Denmark – (Returned: The Sphinx figure from the Diyarbakr Museum, the sarcophagus (sanduka) from the Akehir Seydi Mahmut Hayrani tomb, the Cizre Ulu Mosque doorknob, several Quran pages from the Nuruosmaniye Library and the screens of the portal of Konya’s Beyehir Erefolu Mosque were returned to Turkey.)
Italy – The process of the reclamation of an ancient inscription tablet seized by the Italian Interpol is under way. (Returned: a bronze vase was returned.)
Switzerland – (Returned: The Elmal coins, the statue of a woman stolen from the courtyard of the zmir Museum Directorate and some artefacts from the Roman era seized in Zrich were returned to Turkey.)
France – Many Lydian artefacts are still in this country.

‘Achievements and Problems of Modern Egyptology’ International Conference in Moscow

This week the ‘Achievements and Problems of Modern Egyptology’ conference takes place in Moscow, Russia. The colloquium – organized by the Centre for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences – is the first international Egyptological conference ever held in Russia, organized by the Centre for Egyptological Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences. It is organized to celebrate the centenary of acquiring the Egyptian collection of the famous Russian Egyptologist Vladimir Golenischev by the State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and spans all ranges of Egyptology but also has a clear focus on new methods and technologies in archaeological research. And… we’re very proud to say, Darya ‘Dasha‘ Kazanskaya will be reporting on the conference for Heritage Key, so in the next few days definitely keep an eye on her Heritage Key blog as well as her Flickr stream.

Conference Highlights (according to Heritage Key*)

There’s a long list of presentations and activities going on at the ‘Achievements and Problems of Modern Egyptology’ conference, that many it’s almost impossible to attend all. Here at Heritage Key we’re definitely looking forward to (and focussing on) hearing more from Marlina Betro – through Dasha – on the 3D laser scanning of the Ramesside Theban Tomb 14 and it’s interactive environment build by the University of Pisa, as well as learn about data management for archaeology through Kirill Kolosov’s practical example of their new CESRAS relational database. Caroline Wilkinson, Chris Rynn and Fabian Kanz are going to talk about how they created the facial reconstruction of Cleopatra’s younger sister Arsinoe, murdered in 41 BC on the order of Marc Antony and there is Eleonora Kormysheva who’s going to present the latest discoveries – some new tombs and some ‘rediscoveries’ – from the Russian Archaeological Mission in Giza.

Who is Dasha?
When asked to introduce herself, Darya describes Dasha as “a weird person who studied programming and mathematics and is interested in foreign languages, ancient worlds, music and literature.” She really enjoys learning new things and travelling to new places and once in a while she enjoys writing short stories, mostly sci-fi or fantasy.

Personally, I definitely want to read on Heritage Key about – besides the virtual reconstructions and database management, of course – ‘the power of image’ and the use of ‘Visual Images’ in the ancient royal ideological program, which will be presented by the University of Heidelberg’s Diana Liesegang. I must also admit that Maryum Jordan’s ‘Conceptualising Incest: The Social Effects of Interbred Marriages during Graeco-Roman Egypt’ sounds fascinating, especially as – opposed to incestuous behaviour at the European Courts during the Middle Ages that limited itself to the royal families – this practice became popularized in common Egyptian Households; a third of non-royal Egyptian marriage were incestuous during the Graeco-Roman period!

And of course, there’s the opening lecture by Dr. Zahi Hawass. But that’s far from all lectures on the conference’s schedule. Here’s a quick overview, to which we will add information as the conference progresses:

“Achievements and Problems of Modern Egyptology” – Program of Lectures

Tuesday September 29th (day 1)

Opening Ceremony with Welcoming speeches of Academician Yury S. Osipov, President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and H.E. Ezzat Saad El Sayed, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt in the
Russian Federation
Opening Lecture by Dr. Zahi Hawass – Recent Discoveries in Egypt

Chairmen Dr. Ian Shaw, Dr. Erhart Graefe

Gueter Dreyer – Dynasty 0 and the Origin of Horusname
Diana Liesegang – The Power of Image
Ann Macy Roth – Old Kingdom Cemeteries and Settlements: Parallels and Contrasts
Olga Pyanichuck – Magical World View of Ancient Egyptians of the Period of Middle Kingdom
Mu-chou Poo – Wisdom Literature in Comparison: Ancient Egypt and China
Amanda-Alice Maravelia – lments astronomiques et cosmographiques dans le Conte du Nafrag
Yekaterina Barbash – Books of the Dead on Linen: Inscribed and Decorated Mummybandages
Gloria Rosati – Joining Papyri: The Book of the Dead Fragments in Cortona
Victor Solkin – Papyrus Denon and Other Ancient Egyptian Papyri from the Collection of the Russian National Library (St. Petersburg)
Elena Tolmacheva – Images of the Benu-Bird on the Coffins of the 21st Dynasty
Kerry Muhlestein – The Use of Biblical Figures in Egyptian Religion, a Survey
Alla Davydova – Main Pecularities of Sarapis Temples in Egypt and Their Social and Cultural Aspects

Wednesday September 30th (day 2)

Chairmen Dr. Guenter Dreyer, Dr. Nigel Strudwick

Irene Forstner-Mueler – The City of Avaris Excavating an Urban Site
Dieter Eigner – Report on the Work of the Joint NetherlandsRussian Mission at Tell Ibrahim Awad
Eleonora Kormysheva – Russian Archaeological Mission in Giza: New Discoveries
Galina Belova – Kom Tuman-2009
Rosario Pintaudi – News from Antinoupolis
Esther Pons Mellado – Archaeological Site of Oxyrhynchus (el Bahnasa), Egypt: Ptolemaic Tomb No 19
Sameh Iskander – The Epigraphic Documentation of the Temple of Ramesses II at Abydos
Laure Pantalacci – Streets and Doors: Recent Archaeological Work in Qift-Coptos, Upper Egypt
Cornelius von Pilgrim – Urban Archaeology at the First Cataract: Elephantine – Aswan – Senmet
Wolfgang Mueler Aswan/Syene: The Development of the Town from the Late Period to Modern Times
David Fabre, Alexander Belov – The Shipwreck of Heracleion-Thonis (Egypt): An Introduction

Thursday October 1th (day 3)

Chairmen Dr. Laure Pantalacci, Dr. Cornelius von Pilgrim

Nigel Strudwick – Thebes: Balancing Research Perspectives with Modern Egypt
Erhart Graefe – Report on the Work of the German-Russian Mission to TT 320, the Royal Cache, 1998-2006
Laurent Bavay – Rediscovery of Theban Lost Tomb C.3
Marilina Betro -Virtual Environments and Web Community in Archaeology: Theban Tomb 14 as Case Study
Sergej Ivanov – Tomb of Thay (TT 23): Seasons 2006-2008
Kerstin Leterme – Pictorial Practices in Ancient Theban Tomb Paintings: Methodological Approach and Comparative Study of Five Eighteenth Dynasty Private Tombs
Edwin Brock – Reversing Chaos. The Restoration of the Sarcophagus of Ramesses VI
Edward Loring – They Were Not Yellow. 21st Dynasty Coffins in the Egyptian National Museum in Cairo
David Lorand – Membra disjecta. About Two Colossi of Senwosret I Found in Tanis
Alexander Gormatyuk – Preserving Egyptian Heritage: Conservators View

Paul Nicholson – The Trade and Control of Glass between New Kingdom Egypt and Her Neighbours
Svetlana Malykh – The Ceramic Material of Giza Necropolis: the Commercial Relations of Ancient Egyptians
Sara Caramello – Physicians as Luxury Goods – The Role of Medicine in LBA International Relations
Emanuele Ciampini – Persian Culture and Pharaonic Egypt: the Inscriptions on the Statue of Darius Ist from Susa
Simone Petacchi – Steatopygia in Ancient Egyptian and Nubian Art. An Ethnical Countermark or a Primitive Revival? The Case of Kushite Iconography and Style
Sergey Yartsev – Egyptian Cult of Isis among the barbarians in the Northern Azov region and Crimea in Classical
Antiquity
Vladimir Tolstikov – The Latest Archaeological Finds of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Panticapaeum – the Capital of Bosporus

Friday October 2 (day 4)

Chairmen Dr. Wlodzimierz Godlewski, Dr. Irene Forstner-Mueler

Ian Shaw – New Fieldwork at the Medinet el-Gurob Harim Palace Town
Wlodzimierz Godlewski – The Christian Cemeteries at Naqlun
Alexei Krol – Joint Russian-American Mission at Deir el-Banat (Fayoum): Results of Seven Seasons of Archaeological and Anthropological Works at the Site
Anthon Voytenko – Preliminary Report on Coptic Burial Custom at the Necropolis of Deir el-Banat
Natalia Sinitsyna – Archaeological Textile Conservation: Methods and Results of the Textile Treatment at the Site Deir el-Banat (Fayoum, Egypt)
Joanne Rowland, Kristian Strutt – Geophysical Survey and Sub-Surface Investigations at Quesna and Kom el Ahmar (Minuf), Governate of Minufiyeh: An Integrated Strategy for Mapping and Understanding Sub-Surface Remains of Mortuary, Sacred and Domestic Contexts
Agnese Kukela, Valdis Seglins – Artefacts and Geo-Environmental Data Inventory in the Step Pyramid and Its
Management through Geographical Information System (GIS)
Caroline Wilkinson, Christopher Rynn, Fabian Kanz – Facial Reconstruction of Cleopatras Sister, Arsinoe
Kirill Kolosov – To the Way to Provide the Uniform Search of Archeological Data. Some Basic Aspects in the Creation of the Archeological Database in CESRAS

Chairmen Dr. Marvin Meyer, Dr. Anthon Voytenko

Maryum Jordan – Conceptualizing Incest: The Social Effects of Interbred Marriages during Graeco-Roman Egypt
Lorenzo Fati – Patrons Papers: Which Route to the Fayum?
Marvin Meyer – Judas: Where We Stand with the Text and Interpretation of the Coptic Gospel of Judas
Boris Koptelov – Alexandrine Church and the Roman Emperors in the 4th Century
Dmitriy Romashov – Alexandrian Medicine in Jewish Palestinian Law
Michail Wogman – Alexandrian Jewry between Fiction and Exegesis: Moses Ethiopian Campaign Reconsidered
Christine Chaillot – Monastic Life of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt in Contemporary Times
Sherin Sadek El-Gendi – The Ancient and Contemporary Arts Influences in Coptic Art

The ‘Achievements and Problems of Modern Egyptology’ International Conference takes place in Moscow, September 29th to October 2th 2009. The official website is www.conference.cesras.ru.

Visualizing the Aztecs – Digital model used in British Museum exhibition ‘Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler’

The Aztec Templo Mayor Precinct, reconstruction by Antonio Serrato-Combe - Image courtesy the University of Utah Anyone who has visited the ancient ruins of great civilizations can appreciate the difficulty of visualizing the buildings at their peak. Today’s visitor to the British Museum can see structures of the Aztecs, thanks to one professor’s research into the ancient architecture that served as the center stage of Aztec ceremonial life, combined with an ultra-modern electronic digital modeling process.

Antonio Serrato-Combe, professor of architecture at the University of Utah, has spent decades bringing the ancient structures of the Aztecs into focus. His work is now the basis for a new British Museum exhibition ‘Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler,’ exploring the power and empire of the last elected Aztec Emperor, Moctezuma II.

Moctezuma – who reigned from 1502 to 1520 – was a ruler of semi-mythical status. He inherited and then consolidated Aztec control over a politically complex empire that by the early 16th century stretched from the shores of Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. His major accomplishment was the construction of the Templo Mayor Precinct in Tenochtitlan, Mexico. The temple was called the huey teocalli in the Nahuatl language and dedicated simultaneously to two gods, Huitzilopochtli, god of war and Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture. The Templo Mayor complex was the epicenter for Aztec ceremonial life and served as the setting for colorful displays of highly energized rituals depicting the relationships between social groups and humans and their gods.

The Aztecs did not compartmentalize the arts. The final result was a unique combination of architecture, sculpture, painting, costume, wall and sand painting, pottery, masks, amulets, all into one expression. I envy those individuals who had the opportunity to experience those environments.

On 14 November 1521, Cortes seized the emperor Moctezuma II and ordered the destruction of all the religious relics of the Aztecs. He ordered a Catholic cross placed on top of the Templo Mayor. Desecration of the Temple did not stop there. The conquistador Pedro de Alvarado then launched an attack against the Aztecs in the Sacred Templo Mayor Precinct while they celebrated a religious festival. Unarmed and trapped within the walls of the complex, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Aztec nobles were killed. The Aztecs in took their revenge, slaughtering 68 conquistadors in the Templo Mayor; the sacrificed Spaniards were flayed and their faces – with beards attached – were tanned and sent to allied towns, both to solicit assistance and to warn against betraying the alliance.

Virtual reconstruction of the Great Aztec Temple build by Moctezuma

Professor Serrato-Combe’s digital model of the ‘Great Temple’ complex, dedicated simultaneously to two gods, Huitzilopochtli, god of war and Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture.
(Images courtesy the University of Utah)

The question of what the Aztec Templo Mayor Precinct looked like has piqued the curiosity of many, including Professor Serrato-Combe. For more than two decades, he has been trying to solve the mystery on how the capital of the Aztecs looked by using the technology and tools of architecture. His book, The Aztec Templo Mayor: A Visualization was published in 2002 by the University of Utah Press.

“The Aztec capital was a thriving metropolis planned and built according to principles that not only understood and applied critical environmental issues, but added holistic concepts as well,” explains Serrato-Combe. “The Aztecs did not compartmentalize the arts. The final result was a unique combination of architecture, sculpture, painting, costume, wall and sand painting, pottery, masks, amulets, all into one expression. I envy those individuals who had the opportunity to experience those environments.”

Combe’s research and visualizations are centered on historic and archaeological studies conducted on-site in Mexico City, in conjunction with extensive research on Mesoamerican Manuscripts. The research itself took more than two decades, due to the complexity and diverse nature of the historic and archaeological record.

More involved than the research however, was the question of how to visualize the discoveries. A self-proclaimed computer geek, it was at the suggestion of a student that Combe combined his two passions of research and computer graphics into an illustrated book. He said, “One day, after one of my history classes here at the University of Utah, one of my students remarked, ‘since you know so much about Pre-Columbian architecture and you also seem to be a computer geek, why don’t you combine both disciplines and come up with a book that uses digital tools to illustrate the past?” The rest is history.

Virtual reconstruction of the Templo Mayor complex Through his project, Combe has become the authority at the University of Utah on digital visualization techniques and now teaches architecture students the basics of an integral tool in architecture. “Digital tools in architecture are unique in that they provide a communication channel where a student does or proposes something and the computer responds,” he says. “The conversation between student and machine triggers a variety of actions that eventually make the academic experience more exciting and fruitful.”

The digital modeling process for the exhibit this month began by simulating structures based on historical accounts and current archaeological data including satellite imagery. Once a highly complex drawing-layer system was set, a solid model was constructed that determined the overall dimensions for the most important structures that archaeologists have been able to uncover to date. Some sections, including the base of the largest temple within the precinct, are still visible today.

Archaeologists Find Bronze Age Crypt Under the Royal Palace of Qatna in Syria

Royal Palace Qatna - Skull The archaeological excavations at the royal palace in the ancient city of Qatna, north east of the Syrian city of Homs, have once again unfolded a remarkable archaeological discovery. The summer excavations, due to end on the 25th September 2009, located a rock tomb-cellar underneath the palace containing hundreds of artefacts as well as human bones from the period 1600-1400 BC.

Qatna was one of the most important kingships during Syria’s Bronze Age. It reached the height of its prosperity between 1800 and 1600 BC (Middle Bronze Age) and was then among one of the most powerful states in the Orient. Its royal dynasty continued until its destruction by the Hittites in 1340 BC.

The recent excavations – led by the German-Syrian team of Dr. Michel al-Maqdissi, Director of Excavations at the Directorate General of Antiquities in Damascus, and Professor Dr. Peter Pflzner from the University of Tbingen – give us a wealth of new information about the death cult of the kingship of Qatna, its artistic excellence and its relationships to other Old Orient powers 3500 years ago, by brining to light the existence of an unexpected second underground tomb-cellar.

Qatna - Monkey with a holder for royal facial paint

The Bronze Age Royal Crypt

The discovery of the rock-cut tomb was made during excavations of the north-west wing of the the Royal Palace at Qatna. They German-Syrian archaeologists located a “slope basement” below ground floor level, its walls almost completely intact. A chamber bearing a collapsed timber roof, acting as an antechamber to the tomb-cellar, exists beneath the basement. A stone rock-cut leads from here into the spacious cellar itself. It is 4.90 by 6.30 metres large and is divided into two chambers by a wall hollowed out of the rock. The cellar is accessible from the palace and is integrated architecturally into its whole structure. Its use can be verified back to the later period of the palace in 1400 BC.

Ancient Sticks &Bones

A huge number of clearly visible human bones has been found in the tomb-cellar. The discovery of 30 skulls suggests at least the same amount of burials. The fact that the bones are stacked in groups rather than lying in anatomical formation is significant here. Particles of wood found suggest that at least some of them were placed in wooden crates or coffins indicating a secondary burial.

The amount of bones – in good condition under the circumstances – found is immense and significantly surpasses previous findings. Anthropologists Dr. Carsten Witzel and Dr. Stefan Flohr from the University of Hildesheim are carrying out an intricate examination of these human remains on site.

Artifacts imported from the Old Kingdom Egypt

Numerous vessels of ceramic and granite have been found. The latter are Egyptian imports whose production in the Old Egyptian Kingdom dates to a period 1000 years prior to the existence of the rock-cut tomb. Furthermore, the archaeologists discovered alabaster vessels which might also stem from Egypt. In one of these a collection of gold jewellery was found consisting of rings, rosettes and gold foils. In other parts of the tomb, chased gold foils possibly used for textile or furniture decorative purposes have been uncovered.

Excavations at the Royal Palace at Qatna Syria

Egyptian influence at Qatna was already agreed upon earlier, as in previous excavations a 12th Dynasty Egyptian sphinx belonging to Princess Ita, daughter of Amenemhat II was found within the debris of Late Bronze Age Royal Palace.

Notable among the bronze artefacts found by the German-Syrian team is a heavy spearhead and a dress pin. A further finely crafted dress pin made from gold, a cylinder seal made from lapis lazuli as well as a seal in the shape of a scarab complement the inventory of artefacts found.

Of particular interest due to its fine craftsmanship and beauty is a stone sculpture of a monkey holding a vessel used to hold facial paint. Of great interest from the perspective of art history is the discovery of an ivory human statuette with a very finely carved face.

The identification of those buried in the tomb-cellar is now the task facing researchers, but the lack of inscriptions makes this difficult. Most probably the remains stem from members of the royal family or royal household of Qatna. However it is also possible that the remains originate from earlier royal burials placed in the cellar at a later point of time.

An exhibition entitled “Treasures of Ancient Syria – The Discovery of the Kingdom of Qatna” will be hosted from 17th October 2009 until 14th March 2010 in the Landesmuseum Wrttemberg in Stuttgart, Germany.

Rediscovering Ur’s Royal Cemetery and Iraq’s Ancient Past at the Penn Museum

Excavations at Ur - Photo courtesy Penn Museum Penn Museums world-renowned Mesopotamian Collection from Ur is the centrepiece of a new long-term exhibition exploring Iraqs Ancient Cultural Heritage that opens October 25th.The exhibition will contain field notes of previous expeditions to the region, photographs, archival documents as well as more than 220 extraordinary ancient artefacts unearthed at the excavation. Famous artefacts such as the Ram-Caught-in-the-Thicket, the Great Lyre with a gold and lapis lazuli bull’s head, and Queen Puabi’s jewelry, as well as her headdress and other treasures, will be on display at ‘Iraq’s Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur’s Royal Cemetery‘.

In 1922 – the same year that Howard Carter made headlines with the discovery of Tutankhamun‘s tomb in the Valley of the Kings – the Penn Museum and the British Museum embarked upon a joint expedition to the ancient site of Ur in southern Iraq.

Led by British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley, this expedition astonished the world by uncovering an extraordinary 4,500 year-old royal cemetery with more than 2,000 burials that detailed a remarkable ancient Mesopotamian civilization at the height of its glory.

Iraq’s Ancient Past:Rediscovering Ur’s Royal Cemetery

Sunday 25 October 2009, the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology will open a new long-term exhibition, Iraq’s Ancient Past – which will bring many details of that famous expedition vividly to life through field notes, photographs and archival documents, and more than 220 extraordinary ancient artefacts unearthed at the excavation. The exhibition looks at the present and to the future as well, exploring the ongoing story of scientific inquiry, research and discovery made possible by those excavations, and the pressing issues around the preservation of Iraq’s cultural heritage today.

Centrepiece of the exhibition will be the collection of famous ancient artifacts uncovered and, in some cases, painstakingly conserved, including five objects that art critic and former Metropolitan Museum of Art Director Thomas Hoving has called “the finest, most resplendent and magical works of art in all of America”: the Ram-Caught-in-the-Thicket (visiting from London), the Great Lyre with a gold and lapis lazuli bull’s head, Queen Puabi’s jewellery, an electrum drinking tumbler, and a gold ostrich egg – as well as the royal’s headdress and other treasures, large and small.

Leonard and Katherine Woolley working side by side - Photo courtesy the Penn Museum

The Excavations at Ur

Iraq’s Ancient Past recounts the formation of the joint Penn Museum/British Museum expedition to Ur, setting up the “expedition house” for the excavation team, and the many excavation challenges that Woolley’s team faced.

Known today as “Tell al Muquayyar,” or “mound of pitch (tar),” the site of Ur, near present-day Nasiriyah, was thought to be “Ur of the Chaldees”- the birthplace of the biblical patriarch Abraham. During these excavations, Woolley hoped to uncover Abraham’s home and other biblical evidence. In 1929, he interpreted a deep layer of river clay he uncovered to be the remains of a “great flood” from the biblical story of Noah. Like so much discovered at Ur, his sensational story made international headlines.

His major discovery, however, was the site of Ur’s royal cemetery. The Royal Cemetery of Ur excavations became one of the great technical achievements of Middle Eastern archaeology and now represents one of the most spectacular discoveries in ancient Mesopotamia.

With a crew of hundreds, Sir Woolley began this massive excavation in 1926, eventually uncovering nearly 2,000 burials. Sixteen of these he named “royal tombs” based on their style of construction, evidence of royal attendants who were interred at the same time, and the sheer wealth of the graves’ contents. The three most celebrated tombs were PG789, the looted tomb of a king, PG800 and the remarkably preserved tomb of Queen Puabi, and PG1237, which he dubbed “the Great Death Pit” since it contained 74 carefully laid out and richly adorned bodies, all but six female.

The Treasures Found in Queen Puabi’s Tomb

The tomb of a royal woman named Pu-abi was intact and its contents typical of the wealth found throughout the cemetery. Pu-abi’s body – identified by an inscribed cylinder seal found at her breast – lay on a wooden bier in the chamber.

Queen Pu-abi wore an elaborate headdress consisting of gold leaves, gold ribbons, strands of lapis lazuli and carnelian beads and a tall comb, along with chokers, necklaces, and large lunate-shaped earrings.

Pu-abi’s upper body was covered by strands of beads made of precious metals and semiprecious stones that stretched from her shoulders to her belt and ten rings decorated her fingers. A diadem or fillet made up of thousands of small lapis lazuli beads with gold pendants depicting plants and animals was apparently on a table near her head.

Two servants were found in the chamber with the Queen, one crouched near her head, the other at her feet.

As provided by Iraq’s first Antiquities Law, established in 1922, the artifacts were divided between the excavators and the host country. The artefacts currently housed in the British Museum, the Penn Museum, and the Iraq Museum in Baghdad.

The famous excavations attracted the attention and involvement of a number of interesting personalities whom the exhibition also highlights. For example, Thomas Edward Lawrence – the ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ – was instrumental in securing the excavation and Woolley’s participation, while Agatha Christie wrote Murder in Mesopotamia to mark her experience on the dig site.

The Great Death Pit at Ur - Photo courtesy the Penn Museum

New Discoveries

Since the excavations came to a close in 1934, scholars have continued to study the Penn Museum’s Ur collection, incorporating new evidence from other ancient sites and using improved conservation practices and new scientific techniques to further investigate the material.

For example, because almost nothing excavated from the royal tombs could have been created from locally available materials, the exhibition details how scholars are rebuilding the story of 4,500-year-old trade networks across the Near and Middle East.

Similarly, conservation and research on individual artifacts has yielded new information about life at Ur – sometimes directly contradicting Woolley. When he found the bodies of dozens of funeral attendants in the Great Death Pit, each with a cup nearby, he proclaimed they had willingly imbibed poison to join their Queen in the afterlife!

New evidence from CT scans performed at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania reveal another story.

Iraq’s Ancient Cultural Heritage at Risk

The exhibition concludes with a look at the situation in Iraq today, where looting in the Iraq National Museum (opened in 1924 with objects from the Ur excavations) and at archaeological sites throughout the country has destroyed much evidence about the past. More than 30 years ago, then-president Saddam Hussein built the Iraqi airbase of Tallil next to Ur. To date, the Ur excavation site has been largely preserved, having been contained within the boundaries of air base and under the control of allied forces until May 2009 when the site was officially returned to Iraq’s State Board of Antiquities in a grand ceremony staged at the footstep of Urs most famous monument, the partially restored 4,100 year old Ziggurat.

‘Iraq’s Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur’s Royal Cemetery’ opens October 25th, 2009 at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia, PA 19104.

Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10am to 4:30pm, Sunday 1pm to 5pm. Closed Mondays and holidays. Admission donation is $10 for adults; $7 for senior citizens (65 and above); $6 children (6 to 17) and full-time students with ID; free to Members, Penncard holders, and children five and younger; “pay-what-you-want” after 3:30pm daily. Penn Museum can be found on the web at www.penn.museum.

All Images Courtesy the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Beneath the Pyramids: Exploring Egypt’s Underground for the First Time

BRITISH WRITER DISCOVERS THE PHARAOHS LOST UNDERGROUND
Wednesday, 16 September 2009

A British writer has staked claim to finally finding the lost underground of the Pharaohs which has been rumoured to exist since the construction of the Great Pyramid nearly 5,000 years ago, creating a stir that is set to rock the Egyptological world.

Armed only with the forgotten memoirs of a nineteenth century British engineer, history and science writer Andre Coolings, tracked down the entrance to this forgotten tunnel system and was the first to explore it in modern times.

Is it possible that Coolings has beaten the Egyptologists at their own game by finding the entrance to Gizas lost underground?

Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypts Supreme Council of Antiquities has been quick to dismiss the discovery: There are no new discoveries to be made at Giza, he stated. We know everything about the platform – amateurs cannot find anything new. Yet Coolings is confident that his discovery is genuine: We have consulted the TFL in London, the MTA New York, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and have found no mention of the tube in modern times.”

Coolings says that since the tunnels are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years old, they may have influenced the development not only of the famous pyramid field but also ancient Egyptian beliefs in an underground where the soul achieves resurrection before ascending to the stars. Ancient funerary texts clearly allude to the existence of a subterranean world in the vicinity of the Giza pyramids, calling it variously the Underground of the Soul and the Subway. He said. Hopefully, the existence of the caves will help us understand the earliest human activity on the platform.

The full story of the discovery of Egypts lost underground is revealed in Coolingss new book Beneath the Pyramids.

From the same ‘Egypt’s Greatest Secret Uncovered’ series:”How to Construct Your Very Own Pyramidiot Theory” and “RoboScarab: The Next Generation of Robot Pyramid Explorers“.