Tag: Mediterranean

Isotope analysis: Prehistoric Stonehenge visitors came from the Mediterranean and the Alps

The 'Mediterranean' Boy with the Amber Necklace burial, at Boscombe Down, about 3 kilometres south-east of Stonehenge. - BGSNERC The links between the Stonehenge area and the Mediterranean have been debated for years.

Recent research suggest that some of the people buried in the area duringthe Bronze Age were not local. Rather, they came from both the snow of the Alps and the heat of the Mediterranean to visit Stonehenge.

The analysis of the teeth from two males provides new evidence that one dubbed the Boy with the Amber necklace had come from the Mediterranean area, whilst it confirms the Amesbury Archer had come from the Alps.

The Amesbury Archer was discovered around five kilometres from Stonehenge. His is the richest Copper Age (2450 2300 BC) grave found in Britain and it contained some of Britains earliest gold and copper objects a pair of gold hair clasps and three copper daggers.

The Boy with the Amber necklace, whose grave was found on Boscombe Down, about 3 kilometres south-east of Stonehenge, is from a more recent time the end of the Early Bronze Age. His skeleton has been radiocarbon dated to around 1550 BC. The teenager, aged 14 or 15 years when he died, was buried wearing a necklace of around 90 amber beads.

Amber Beads, found at the 'Boy with the Amber Necklace' burial site at Boscombe. - Image BGS (copyright) NERC “The amber may have been brought to Wessex from the Baltic, perhaps Denmark, as lumps of raw material before being turned into the tiny beads,” writes Wessex Archaeology.

Isotope analysis of tooth enamel from both these people shows that the two individuals provide a contrast in origin, which highlights the diversity of people who came to Stonehenge from across Europe, said Professor Jane Evans, Head of Archaeological Science at the British Geological Survey (BGS).

Strontium isotopes in teeth provide information on the geological setting of a persons childhood and the oxygen isotopes tell us about the climate in which they were raised (explained in this video of ‘CSIViking Dorset’). The combined techniques provide a tool to compare the information about childhood origin preserved in their teeth, with reference data for the place in which they are found.

A match between the tooth and reference data supports a local origin whereas a mismatch shows their burial area was not the same as their childhood location. The data can then be used to point to likely regions in which they were raised.

The isotope composition of the Amesbury Archers teeth shows that he was raised in a colder climate than that found in Britain.

The combination of his strontium and oxygen isotope composition suggest that the most likely childhood origin for this person was in the Alpine foothills region of Germany.

In contrast, the Boy with the Amber necklace likely spent his childhood in a warm climate typical of Iberia or the Mediterranean.

Such warm oxygen values are theoretically possible in the British Isles but are only found on the extreme west coast of SW England, western Ireland and the Outer Hebrides, said Professor Evans. These areas can be excluded as likely childhood origins of his on the basis of the strontium isotope composition of his teeth.

Other people who had visited Stonehenge from afar include individuals from a collective Bronze Age grave, theBoscombe Bowmen and a man buried beside the Amesbury Archer – called the Archers Companion.

Exodus Hydrodynamics: How the East Winds Parted the Red Sea

splitting the red sea according to hydrodynamics The biblical narrative of the crossing of the Red Sea has inspired and mystified people for millennia. So far, Archeologists and Egyptologists have found little direct evidence to substantiate many of the events described in Exodus, said to have taken place more than 3,000 years ago.

Now, a new study offers a new hydrodynamic explanation for the miracle a strong east wind, blowing overnight, could have created a land bridge (watch the video) and allowed for passage.

By pinpointing a possible site south of the Mediterranean Sea for the crossing, the study – based on a reconstruction of the likely locations and depths of Nile delta waterways, which have shifted considerably over time – could benefit experts seeking to research whether splitting of the Red Sea ever took place.

The computer model shows the winds pushing the water back at a bend where an ancient river is believed to have merged with a coastal lagoon – named the ‘Lake of Tanis’ by Herodotus – along the Mediterranean Sea. With the water pushed back into both waterways, a land bridge would have opened at the bend, enabling people to walk across exposed mud flats to safety. As soon as the wind died down, the waters would have rushed back in.

“The simulations match fairly closely with the account in Exodus,” says Carl Drews of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. “The parting of the waters can be understood through fluid dynamics. The wind moves the water in a way that’s in accordance with physical laws, creating a safe passage with water on two sides and then abruptly allowing the water to rush back in.”

Splitting the Red Sea? Map with Lake Tanis

The computer simulations by Carl Drews and University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) oceanographer Weiqing Han are intended to present a possible scenario of events.

The book of Exocus describes Moses and the fleeing Israelites trapped between the Pharaoh’s advancing chariots and a body of water that has been variously translated as the Red Sea or the Sea of Reeds. Although the biblical account attributes the splitting of the waters to the Lord’s power, it includes an east wind as natural component in the chain of events.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

James Rennell's reconstruction of the Nile delta according to Herodotus

This enables the Israelites to flee to the other shore. When when the Pharaoh’s army attempts to pursue them in the morning, the waters rush back and drown the soldiers.

Reconstructing ancient topography

Studying maps of the ancient topography of the Nile delta, the researchers found an alternative site for the crossing about 75 miles north of the Suez reef and just south of the Mediterranean Sea.

Although there are uncertainties about the waterways of the time, some oceanographers believe that an ancient branch of the Nile River flowed into a coastal lagoon then known as the Lake of Tanis.

The two waterways would have come together to form a U-shaped curve.

Analysis of archeological records, satellite measurements, and current-day maps enabled the research team to estimate the water flow and depth that may have existed 3,000 years ago.

Using an ocean computer model to simulate the impact of an overnight wind at that site, the researchers found that a wind of 63 miles an hour, lasting for 12 hours, would have pushed back waters estimated to be six feet deep. This would have exposed mud flats for four hours, creating a dry passage about 2 to 2.5 miles long and 3 miles wide. The water would be pushed back into both the lake and the channel of the river, creating barriers of water on both sides of newly exposed mud flats.

As soon as the winds stopped, the waters would come rushing back, much like a tidal bore. Anyone still on the mud flats would be at risk of drowning.

Video: The Physics of a Land Bridge

Sustained winds can cause an event known as a wind setdown, in which water levels are temporarily lowered. This computer animation (by Tim Scheitlin and Ryan McVeigh, NCAR) shows how a strong east wind over the Nile Delta could have pushed water back into ancient waterways after blowing for about nine hours, exposing mud flats and possibly providing an overland escape route similar to the biblical account of the Red Sea parting.

The set of 14 computer model simulations also showed that dry land could have been exposed in two nearby sites during a windstorm from the east.

However, those sites contained only a single body of water and the wind would have pushed the water to one side rather than creating a dry passage through two areas of water.

“People have always been fascinated by this Exodus story, wondering if it comes from historical facts,” Drews says. “What this study shows is that the description of the waters parting indeed has a basis in physical laws.”

Alternative Theories for the Red Sea Escape Route

Scientists from time to time have tried to study whether the parting of the waters, can also be understood through natural processes.

Tsunami

Some have speculated about a tsunami, which would have caused waters to retreat and advance rapidly. Such an event would not have caused the gradual overnight divide of the waters as described in the Bible, nor would it necessarily have been associated with winds.

Wind Setdown & Underwater Reef

Other researchers have focused on a phenomenon known as “wind setdown,” in which a particularly strong and persistent wind can lower water levels in one area while piling up water downwind. Wind setdowns, which are the opposite of storm surges, have been widely documented, including an event in the Nile delta in the 19th century when a powerful wind pushed away about five feet of water and exposed dry land.

A previous computer modeling study into the Red Sea crossing by a pair of Russian researchers, Naum Voltzinger and Alexei Androsov, found that winds blowing from the northwest at minimal hurricane force (74 miles per hour) could, in theory, have exposed an underwater reef near the modern-day Suez Canal. This would have enabled people to walk across.

But according to Drews and Han, the ‘reef scenario’ is unlikely. The reef would have had to be entirely flat for the water to drain off in 12 hours. A more realistic reef with lower and deeper sections would have retained channels that would have been difficult to wade through. In addition, the scientists are skeptical if refugees could have crossed during nearly hurricane-force winds.

The study (published in the online journal PLoS ONE as ‘Dynamics of Wind Setdown at Suez and the Eastern Nile Delta‘) is part of a larger research project by Drews into the impacts of winds on water depths, including the extent to which Pacific Ocean typhoons can drive storm surges.

Marina El-Alamein Archaeological Site Opens for Visits mid-September

Roman Tombs at the Marina el-Alamain archaeological site - soon open to the public. - Image courtesy the SCA Following years of restoration and development, the Marina el-Alamein archaeological site on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast will open to tourists mid-September.

The Marina el-Alamein archaeological site a Hellenistic-Roman town is locatedabout 5km east of el-Alamein.

The ancient city was accidentally discovered in 1986, when construction started on the Marina El-Alamein resort. The archaeological area spans a section that is more than 1km long and about 0.5km wide and is the largest archaeological site on Egypt’s north coast.

Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni, announced that the site will be opened to tourists mid-September complete with a high-tech lighting system throughout the entire site, which will permit visitors to enjoy el-Alamein day and night.

In a bid to encourage local tourism, the entrance fee for the site will be 5LE for Egyptians and 2,50LE for Egyptian students.

It got this name because of the softness and the white colour of its sand

The ancient town of el-Alamein had a harbour with commercial quarter and south of that, the city centre which included baths, markets and a civic basilica.

Over the last ten years, the Polish Archaeological Institute in Cairo and the American Research Center in Egypt have unearthed remains of more than 50 different structures in the town and necropolis.

The earliest archaeological remains dated to the mid 2nd century BC were found in the town’s necropolis. It is thought the town was occupied until the 7th century AD.

Dr Zahi Hawass, antiquities tsar, said that the site of el-Alamein was the an important and well-known port during Egypt’s Hellenistic-Roman era.

He also pointed out that it is the first archaeological site on the Mediterranean coast to be developed as a tourist friendly site.

The Graeco-Roman name for el-Alamein was ‘Locassis’, which means ‘the white shell’. It got this name because of the softness and the white colour of its sand, explains Dr Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud.

The goddess of love, Aphrodite, was worshipped there and the statues found of her on the site show her emerging from a white shell, in reference to its name.

Roman Ships and Amphorae Found off Sardinia and Panarea

Roman ship-discovery season is in full flow, with several finds and explorations announced in the past week.

Yesterday Ansa ran a story about the discovery of a 25-metre merchant ship from the first century AD with its cargo of 500 amphorae containing fruit and vegetables still on board. The ship is said to be in perfect condition and was found south of Panarea, in the group of Aeolian/Lipari islands north of Sicily. The news agency reported that Italy’s Maritime Superintendency and the Aurora Trust, an American foundation, were responsible for the find.

Aurora Trust found five wrecks off the Italian island of Ventotene last year, and in fact finding Roman shipwrecks in the Mediterranean is not a rare occurrence. Several discoveries from 2009, at Ventotene and Cyprus, were reported on Heritage Key, while another company searching off the coast of Campania (Capo Palinuro) earlier this year also found a Roman ship carrying amphorae.

Last week two discoveries were announced off the coast of Sardinia. A Roman merchant ship, dating from around 100 BC, was found off the coast of La Maddalena, an island off the north-eastern coast of Sardinia, while another wreck site has been detected off the north-western coast, near Costa Paradiso.

Fragments of amphorae and bronze nails have been found on the surface and it is archaeologically interesting. However, it’s a very well documented type of archaeological discovery

According to a local newspaper, La Nuova Sardegna, the ships are from between the second century BC and the first century AD.

However, the ‘normality’ of coming across a 2,000-year-old ship in the Med is reiterated by Dr Rubens D’Oriano, an expert in under water archaeology at the Superintendency for Archaeological Heritage for the provinces of Sassari and Nuoro, in Sardinia.

Speaking earlier this week about the discovery of the ancient shipwreck near La Maddalena, he said: Traces of a Roman sailing vessel have been found, which is to say that there are traces on the surface of the sea bed, showing that part of a Roman ship is buried under the sand.

Dr D’Oriano added: Fragments of amphorae and bronze nails have been found on the surface and it is archaeologically interesting. However, it’s a very well documented type of archaeological discovery. He emphasises that the discovery off La Maddalena is nothing out of the ordinary and describes it as completely normal.

When asked if the site may be investigated further or excavated, he is highly sceptical, noting that there is absolutely no funding at all from the Italian state for this type of archaeological site in Sardinia.

The sites were first noticed by amateur divers and were then investigated by archaeologists accompanied by a team of underwater experts from the Carabinieri’s cultural heritage guards in the province of Sassari.

The site off Costa Paradiso is near the town of Trinit d’Agultu e Vignola. Large Roman ceramic vases, known as dolia, from the first century AD have been found at a depth of 50 metres.

Boudicca Cruise Ship hit by Norovirus and title of ‘Worst Ship Name Ever’?

The warrioress, not the ship.

Boudicca is a stupid name for a ship. Naming a Liverpool-based cruiseliner after one someone who murdered around 80,000 Romans in antiquity is hardly a great idea, especially when said ship is supposed to be travelling round the Mediterranean – you know, the sea that’s right next to Italy.

The Boudicca’s management are in hot water today, but not the balmy waters of the Med. Rather the ship has had to return to Liverpool early after passengers were struck with the nasty norovirus, an intestinal problem which causes vomiting, nausea and diarrhea, for the sixth time in as many months. Maybe they should get the message and change the ship’s name: you can hardly imagine a Mongolian cruiser being named the Genghis Khan, or a German vessel called the Hitler floating round the Black Sea. At least they spelt Boudicca’s name properly.

Boudicca was a bloodthirsty Celtic battle-axe who rebelled against Rome destroying London (watch a Roman London video), Colchester (watch the video) and St Albans. Her bloody rampage tore a hole in Roman Britannia, but she was soon defeated at the Battle of Watling Street and order was restored. Her current whereabouts is packed with ephemera, though some people think she’s buried under King’s Cross Station. Watch our special Ancient World in London video below to get a taste of the woman behind the many myths.

HD Video: Episode 6 – Boudicca, Warrior Queen

(Transcription of this video.)

It’s not the first time a British ship has been named after a famous ancient figure: interestingly London’s Cleopatra’s Needle has nothing to do with the legendary queen. Instead the obelisk was named after its cigar-shaped container vessel, which arrived from Egypt in 1878.

Interview: Simon Keay Explains why Portus is as Important as Stonehenge

The discovery of a unique amphitheatre and other structures at Rome’s ancient maritime port is putting the archaeological site of Portus on the map. For decades it’s been a much over-looked site next to Fiumicino’s international runway and scholarly attention has focused on neighbouring Ostia Antica, but experts now believe it is a unique site that should rank alongside monuments such as Stonehenge or Angkor Wat. I spoke to Professor Simon Keay, director of the Portus Project and leading expert in Roman archaeology at the University of Southampton and the British School at Rome about the findings of the excavation, and why he describes the amphitheatre of Portus as “a very enigmatic structure… almost like a new architectural type”.

HK: You’ve just announced these discoveries but over what period of time did they come to light?

SK: We’ve been working on the site for three years now and we first discovered some of the concentric walls that belong to the amphitheatre during the first two years of the project. But it’s a big building and before we could be certain it was an amphitheatre we needed to excavate another part of the site to complete the plan. We’ve now done that and we can confirm that it is an amphitheatre in shape. We’ve got a good fix on its chronology and we’re getting some important clues as to how it might have been used. So it’s been quite a slow process and as with all research it takes a bit of time to be sure about one’s findings.

HK: What do you know so far about the use of the amphitheatre?

SK: I’ll give you a bit of background first because that’s really relevant. The amphitheatre is located adjacent to a very important building known as the ‘palazzo imperiale’ or ‘imperial palace’. This building was built by the emperor Trajan as part of his enlargement of the port of imperial Rome, Portus, he also added a new hexagonal basin, some 32 hectares in size, to the suite of basins that comprised the port. The palazzo imperiale lies between the two big basins of the port. It was a very well-appointed building and probably the head quarters of a major official who managed many of the activities in the port for much of the second century. The palace was probably finished in around 116-117 AD. For about a hundred years it was the centre of life in the port and then about 100 years after its construction, in the early third century, there was a major reform of the palace and the palace structure and we see this very large amphitheatre being built on the eastern side of the palace complex. It’s 42m by 38m, so it’s not massive and the other thing about it is that, unlike many other amphitheatres, it’s not built to be seen from a distance. It’s actually quite a discrete building and nestles between the imperial palace and two other buildings that flank the palace close to the harbour’s edge (one warehouse-type building and a cistern block). The amphitheatre is at the heart of this palace complex and was probably associated with a public official who took over at the palace in the early third century a man known as the ‘procurator of both basins’ (procurator Portus Utriusque).

It’s almost like a new architectural type: an amphitheatre, in a harbour context, adjacent to a palace complex, in this situation, is really quite new.

The structure as we have it consists on the side closest to the palace of a semicircular wall, which would have supported a massive colonnade, part of the palace wall. Part of the amphitheatre fitted neatly into that wall and the rest of it extended out away from the palace.

Most of what survives from the amphitheatre consists of concrete foundations sunk into the sand at a depth of about 2m, and there’s very little of it actually above ground, which means it’s quite difficult for us to calculate the number of seats it would have held and the number of people that would have used it. Nevertheless, I think in terms of hundreds of people using it. And probably in terms of what actually went on there, we think that probably this was a place where the procurator, the public official of the third century, would have addressed the people who worked in the palace or people who worked in the port as a whole or a place for them to communicate verbally, which was very important.

Another possibility is that this was a place where there were gladiatorial combats of some kind or wild beast baiting. Yet another possibility given that there are fresh water cisterns nearby, is that mock sea battles with small boats (naumachia) would have been held here. We don’t have any real evidence for any of these yet, but we’re certainly convinced by looking very closely at what we’ve found and by creating 3D computer reconstructions (more detailed than the ones we’ve done so far), that we will eventually crack the interpretation and understand what the amphitheatre was used for.

BK: Since the amphitheatre was within the ‘imperial palace’ complex, was its use private or public?

SK:It’s a difficult question. It’s clearly a public building by definition an amphitheatre is a place where people come together to observe spectacles. But it’s not an amphitheatre that would have served the general public of Portus, Ostia and the surrounding countryside in the way that the amphitheatres in Rome itself or El Djem in Africa would have done. So I think in a sense it was a semi-public building, part of a major palace complex, which would have drawn some people from the port. The point about it is that it was not not very visible. It’s actually a very enigmatic structure, which is so much more exciting it’s almost like a new architectural type: an amphitheatre, in a harbour context, adjacent to a palace complex, in this situation, is really quite new. I think it has a lot to teach us about the cultural aspirations of officials in the second and third centuries AD in the Roman empire.

BK: How closely associated would the imperial palace and the amphitheatre have been with any of the Roman emperors such as Trajan or Hadrian?

SK: The palace itself was primarily an administrative building, built initially by Trajan. However, Portus was the principal maritime port of Rome and was the main point of contact between Rome and the Mediterranean. We know that emperors such as Hadrian travelled around the empire a lot, so it’s very possible that they would have passed through Portus to get on a ship and travel. If they did that, then it’s possible that our imperial palace could have served temporarily as an imperial residence. That’s not impossible but its primary purpose was administrative.

BK: Why do you think the site of Portus hasn’t been fully excavated until now?

SK: A lot of scholarly attention has always been captured by Ostia, the river-port of Rome, which is a very short distance from here. Ostia, in many ways, tells us so much in terms of the port of Rome, the officials that congregated there, the families that lived there, houses, places where merchants struck up contracts and that in a sense has often been enough to answer many scholarly questions. But it seems to me that Portus offers more it’s the place where the big cargo ships came in, where imports were stored, before they were transported to Rome. It just hadn’t been much in vogue, but I think our work, along with that of our Italian colleagues at other parts of Portus, shows that, when we look at Portus together with Ostia, we finally start to get an idea of the scale and complexity of Rome’s trade with the Mediterranean.

BK: Are more discoveries at the site likely?

SK: We’ve been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council for a three-year period. Our phase of work at this stage is finished, but we very much hope that our Italian colleagues like our work and that we’ll be able to come back and continue it at a subsequent date, hopefully not too far in the distant future, provided we can win more funds.

BK: You mentioned in a press release that this site is as important as Stonehenge or Angkor Wat why is that?

SK: There was only one imperial Rome and imperial Rome only had one maritime port. Also because Portus can tell us so much about the development of Rome as an imperial capital, in terms of its decoration, its population, the food that was consumed, the architecture and so on. So much of that can be explained by the existence of Portus, so clearly, understanding more about it means we can understand Rome better. Therefore it must be important – it must rank highly because it’s unique. There’s nowhere else like Stonehenge. There’s nowhere else like Angkor Wat. There’s nowhere else like Portus!

The Portus Project was carried out by the University of Southampton, the British School at Rome, Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici di Ostia, and Cambridge University.

Professor Simon Keay will present a lecture The Re-Discovery of the Imperial Palace at Portus, the port of Ancient Rome at the Turner Sims Concert Hall, Highfield Campus, University of Southampton at 6pm, 21 October 2009.