Submitted by Garry Shaw on Tue, 12/08/2009 - 15:53
Although there is copious evidence for the Egyptian kings – statues, huge depictions on temple walls, stelae – the actual reality of the day-to-day work and personal authority of these individuals is often ignored in favour of discussions of divinity, art and ideology. There is good reason for this. Despite the extensive amount of evidence available to scholars, everything is shrouded in a thick layer of ideological presentation that masks the reality of the situation. This makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction: what are we to envision the king did every day?
The Roman army had a fort and garrison at Vindolanda from 85 AD – its foundation came after Agricola defeated Britannia's northern tribes at the battle of Mons Graupius. The fort defended the central section of a supply route that ran from east to west of northern Britannia. Hadrian's Wall was built some 40 years later in the 120s AD.
The buildings of the early fort were made of timber, much of which survives up to six metres below ground level. The Vindolanda site museum displays a vast range of bronze, wood, iron, leather and textile objects found at the site. The Vindolanda tablets – correspondence, accounts and other documents written on wooden sheets – are the most important discovery to have been made at the site. They are the earliest archive of written material in British history, dating from the year before Hadrian's Wall was built.
The site was inhabited continuously until the end of Roman rule at the beginning of the fifth century AD, and even after that there are signs of occupation for another two centuries. The site is now managed by the Vindolanda Trust, who estimates that it will take at least another 150 years to thoroughly excavate the site, such is the complexity of the different archaeological layers.
After 4 years of research - at a quite 'sensitive' and not-so-safe area, I must admit - UNESCO finally released it's Final Report on Damage Assesment in Babylon by the International Coordination Committee for the Saveguarding of the Cultural Heritage of Iraq. Be the report not that world-shocking, we all know by now that both Saddam Hussein as well as the Coalition Forces are to blame, the report does clearly devide which damage was inflicted upon the Babylon archaeological area before the start of the Iraq war, and which was brought upon 'Camp Alpha' post-2003.
Damage to the archaeological site that occurred before 2003
Qumran excavator Yuval Peleg (YP) was in Toronto last Thursday to lecture about his recent Qumran findings. Although he had to give two back to back lectures (on the same night) he generously made some time to talk with Heritage Key.
I asked him about his theory that Qumran started off as a military site. I also questioned him on his idea that the Dead Sea Scrolls were deposited in the Qumran caves by refugees who were fleeing the Roman army after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
Here's a transcript of our interview:
OJ: One thing I found intriguing is that the Hasmoneans used it as a military site but it’s not a full scale fortress it seems.
Although there is copious evidence for the Egyptian kings – statues, huge depictions on temple walls, stelae – the actual reality of the day-to-day work and personal authority of these individuals is often ignored in favour of discussions of divinity, art and ideology. There is good reason for this. Despite the extensive amount of evidence available to scholars, everything is shrouded in a thick layer of ideological presentation that masks the reality of the situation. This makes it difficult to separate fact from fiction: what are we to envision the king did every day?
had to give two back to back lectures (on the same night) he generously made some time to talk with Heritage Key.
