In 2004, agroup of 80 individuals were discovered at Driffield Terrace, in York. They were buried between the late 1st and early 4th centuries AD, on a large cemetery on the outskirts of Eboracum, the Roman town of York. They are unusual because they are all believed to be male,most are adults and more than half had been decapitated. When these 30 bodies were buried some got their heads in the right place on their shoulders. Others saw their heads placed between their knees, on their chests or down by their feet. In one double burial the two bodies even…
-
-
After more than ten years of excavation and restoration, the ancient well-house at the Royal Palace of Qatna, Syria, has been officially opened to the public. It is the first phase of an ambitious project that will see the entire palace site opened for international tourism. The ancient city of Qatna is located at Mishrifeh in western Syria, about 18 km north-east of the city of Homs and 200km from the modern-day Syrian capital Damascus. Bronze Age Qatna was strategically located at a the now vanished lake of Mishrifeh. In the 2nd millennium BC, itbecame the capital city of the…
-
The pre-Columbian Indian societies that once lived in the Amazon rainforests may have been much larger than researchers previously realized. Archaeologists have located the remains of about 90 settlements in an area south of the city of Santarm, Brazil. Traditionally archaeologists have thought that these inland areas in northern Brazil were sparsely populated before the arrival of the Europeans in the 16th and 17th centuries. One reason for this assumption is that the soil found in the Santarm area is generally quite infertile; another reason is that far away from all the major watercourses, the access to water in the…
-
Archaeologists from the Northern Ireland Environment started excavating the 5,000-year-old Tirnony portal tomb near Maghera – an extraordinary ‘archaeological treat’ – and the public is invited to drop by, with an ‘open dig’ every Friday. Quick update: Neolithic knife find hints at undisturbed burial The Tirnony Portal Tomb, also known as the Tirnony Dolmen, is a single-chamber megalithic tomb, estimated to be about 5,000 to 6,000 years old. The capstone is – or rather, was – supported by three of six upright stones, two of which form the portal. In April this year, the burial tomb’s massive capstone fell off, severely damaging one…
-
Submissions from the public have helped Oxford University academics put together a hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasures. Yet, there is no need to get your metal detectors out. The hoard in question is the worlds largest online archive of material concerning the Anglo-Saxons. The virtual treasure consists of digital objects related to the teaching, study, or research of Old English and the Anglo-Saxon period of history, which will be made available online for free. Project Woruldhord (Old English for world hoard), which called on the public to submit Anglo-Saxon teaching material after being inspired by the level of interest surrounding the…
-
A team of researchers – excavating a 2,700 year old temple at the ancient city of Tayinat in southeastern Turkey – have discovered evidence that its inhabitants prominently displayed a tablet which bore a pledge of loyalty to the heir of an Assyrian king. At their height the Assyrians controlled an empire that stretched from southern Iraq to the Mediterranean coast. In their art and writing, “the Assyrian king was portrayed as supreme ruler of the known world and viewed with absolute authority as the earthly representative and human embodiment of (the Assyrian god) Ashur,” said Professor Tim Harrison of…
-
The word “Aryan” has become inseparably associated with the racialist world-view of the Nazis, despite the fact that – far from specifying a blonde-haired, blue-eyed “master race” – it was originally a perfectly innocent self-designator for a tribe of ancient nomadic Indo-Iranians who lived in the region of modern Iran, Afghanistan and India from around 2700 to 350 BC (more about “Aryan’s” passage from a simple piece of linguistic terminology to a racialist rationale for megalomaniacal world domination here). Saturated as they are in misconception, mirth, myth, and wild fantasy, the “Aryans” have become something of a lightning-rod for weird…
-
New research by archaeologists at the University of York suggests that it is beyond reasonable doubt Neanderthals often misrepresented as furry, primitive caveman hobbling about had a deep seated sense of compassion. Dr Penny Spikins, Andy Needham and Holly Rutherford from the universitys Department of Archaeology examined the archaeological record in search for evidence for compassionate acts in early humans. These illustrate the way emotions began to emerge in our ancestors six million years ago,which developed into the idea of ‘compassion’ we know today. We have traditionally paid a lot of attention to how early humans thought about each other,…
-
German archaeologists have made new discoveries at modern day Hisarlik, northwest Turkey ancient Troy. The finds further confirm the area occupied duringthe Bronze Age was not limited to the citadel; Troy VI and VIIwere muchlarger than originally thought. The three year research project at Troy lead by Prof. Ernst Pernicka, from the University of Tubingen‘s Institute of Pre- and Early History sees scholars focus on the analysis and publication of materials found since the university started excavations at the site in 1988. But to investigate and resolve outstanding issues, Project Troia does undertake some smaller excavations. These digs, in combination…
-
Bad news today for ancient history fans in Western Canada. The Terracotta Warriors show now on at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) will not be coming to Victoria and Calgary. It had previously been announced that the Terracotta Warriors would visit the RoyalBC and Glenbow Museums, respectively,in 2011/2012. The ROM is the lead partner in organizing the exhibit. A release says that out-of-country loan of Terracotta artefacts from China is unable to be extended beyond one year to Canada. As a result, the museums that planned to exhibit the artifacts during the second year of the tour, Calgary’s Glenbow Museum…