Love, Death, and Other Forgotten Traditions
What we don’t tell our children.
The science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein once wrote, “Each generation thinks it invented sex.” He was presumably referring to the pride each generation takes in defining its own sexual practices and ethics. But his comment hit the mark in another sense: Every generation has to reinvent sex because the previous generation did a lousy job of teaching it.
In the United States, the conversations we have with our children about sex are often awkward, limited, and brimming with euphemism. At school, if kids are lucky enough to live in a state that allows it, they’ll get something like 10 total hours of sex education.1 If they’re less lucky, they’ll instead experience the curious phenomenon of abstinence-only education, in which the goal is to avoid transmitting any information at all. In addition to being counterproductive—potentially leading to higher rates of teen pregnancy2 and sexually transmitted illnesses3—this practice is strange. Compare it to the practices of many small-scale societies, where children first learn about sex by observing their parents!
More...
http://nautil.us/issue/54/the-unspoken/ ... b-60760513
Articles of Interest in Anthropology
How feats of endurance cement social bonds
The links between pain, risk and togetherness
Over the next few days many Tamils will take part in the Thaipusam festival, an annual Hindu ceremony. After days of fasting and prayer the keenest participants have their faces pierced by chunky skewers. Thaipusam is only one example of collective endurance of pain and risk in the name of faith. Such practices seem to cement community bonds. Why they persist in our risk-averse age is still a mystery, writes our religious-affairs columnist
Excerpt:
The results were striking. The walkers insisted that they had felt calm when performing the feat, during which steps have to be calibrated carefully to avoid horrible burns. But in fact, their heart-rates had soared, and more interestingly, people close to them in the audience experienced a surging pulse in precise tandem. In other words, the endurance of risk creates bonds not only among the risk-takers, but also among their nearest and dearest who are willing them on. In some ways, this confirms what any observer could see. The hugs exchanged by successful walkers with their family and friends spoke for themselves.
Mr Xygalatas used different methods to reach somewhat similar conclusions about the Thaipusam rite in Mauritius. Soon after the proceedings were over, people in the vicinity were interviewed, and then rewarded for their time with the equivalent of two days’ wages. A little later they were invited to hand over part of these earnings to charity. Generosity was greatest among people who had participated in the painful bits of the ceremony, and also among those who had followed the ceremony closely, albeit without being pierced. The experience of pain, whether directly or indirectly, seems to cement community bonds and increase the likelihood of “pro-social” behaviour.
Some might retort that the bonds created by common endurance of pain and risk are so obvious, and so deep-seated in human experience, that the point is really just a matter of common sense. Since the dawn of human consciousness, groups of people, mostly male, have been going out to hunt, fight or fish in stormy seas. A deep sense of commonality among those who experience those hazards was surely both a precondition and a consequence of these activities.
There is still a mystery as to why the collective endurance of pain and risk persists in our risk-averse age. Perhaps the absence of such extremes from everyday life increases their allure. But it is not obvious why such seemingly masochistic practices are considered, in ways that people cannot quite articulate, so vitally important to the identity of communities, be they cultural or religious. Is this just a hangover from a pre-modern, even a pre-agricultural, age?
Mr Xygalatas, who elaborates these ideas in many academic articles, in a Ted talk, and in a recent piece for Aeon journal, thinks not. Even now, new communities are being created by linking pain and pro-social feelings. As an example, he cites the ice-bucket challenge that went viral in 2014. People doused themselves with freezing water as a way of raising money to combat motor-neurone (Lou Gehrig’s) disease. In the words of Mr Xygalatas, it would not have been quite the same if participants had filmed themselves drinking cocoa.
More...
https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus ... lydispatch
The links between pain, risk and togetherness
Over the next few days many Tamils will take part in the Thaipusam festival, an annual Hindu ceremony. After days of fasting and prayer the keenest participants have their faces pierced by chunky skewers. Thaipusam is only one example of collective endurance of pain and risk in the name of faith. Such practices seem to cement community bonds. Why they persist in our risk-averse age is still a mystery, writes our religious-affairs columnist
Excerpt:
The results were striking. The walkers insisted that they had felt calm when performing the feat, during which steps have to be calibrated carefully to avoid horrible burns. But in fact, their heart-rates had soared, and more interestingly, people close to them in the audience experienced a surging pulse in precise tandem. In other words, the endurance of risk creates bonds not only among the risk-takers, but also among their nearest and dearest who are willing them on. In some ways, this confirms what any observer could see. The hugs exchanged by successful walkers with their family and friends spoke for themselves.
Mr Xygalatas used different methods to reach somewhat similar conclusions about the Thaipusam rite in Mauritius. Soon after the proceedings were over, people in the vicinity were interviewed, and then rewarded for their time with the equivalent of two days’ wages. A little later they were invited to hand over part of these earnings to charity. Generosity was greatest among people who had participated in the painful bits of the ceremony, and also among those who had followed the ceremony closely, albeit without being pierced. The experience of pain, whether directly or indirectly, seems to cement community bonds and increase the likelihood of “pro-social” behaviour.
Some might retort that the bonds created by common endurance of pain and risk are so obvious, and so deep-seated in human experience, that the point is really just a matter of common sense. Since the dawn of human consciousness, groups of people, mostly male, have been going out to hunt, fight or fish in stormy seas. A deep sense of commonality among those who experience those hazards was surely both a precondition and a consequence of these activities.
There is still a mystery as to why the collective endurance of pain and risk persists in our risk-averse age. Perhaps the absence of such extremes from everyday life increases their allure. But it is not obvious why such seemingly masochistic practices are considered, in ways that people cannot quite articulate, so vitally important to the identity of communities, be they cultural or religious. Is this just a hangover from a pre-modern, even a pre-agricultural, age?
Mr Xygalatas, who elaborates these ideas in many academic articles, in a Ted talk, and in a recent piece for Aeon journal, thinks not. Even now, new communities are being created by linking pain and pro-social feelings. As an example, he cites the ice-bucket challenge that went viral in 2014. People doused themselves with freezing water as a way of raising money to combat motor-neurone (Lou Gehrig’s) disease. In the words of Mr Xygalatas, it would not have been quite the same if participants had filmed themselves drinking cocoa.
More...
https://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus ... lydispatch
Are Suicide Bombings Really Driven by Ideology?
The surprising anthropology of group identity.
Harvey Whitehouse doesn’t like how New Atheists like Richard Dawkins make religion out to be a mere “set of propositions” amounting to a “failed science.” In a 2013 YouTube video, Whitehouse—the director of the Institute of Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford—strolls through a park and says, “Clearly religion is not just that.”1
The point of religion is not to produce a rational understanding of nature, according to Whitehouse. It is “more about building cohesion and cooperation in groups, among other things,” he recently told Nautilus. He does realize that, taken literally, religious tales are implausible or just plain wrong, “and that can be irritating to people like Dawkins.” But the reason people “dig their heels in” against Dawkinsian criticism of their beliefs isn’t necessarily because they’re irrational—it’s because those beliefs help bond them with other religious people. “When you challenge those beliefs,” he said, “you’re not really getting into a debate about what’s true but are just offending people by attacking their identities.”
Dawkins and other New Atheists want to challenge religious beliefs, especially extremist ones, with a mix of rational critique and ridicule. But Whitehouse is skeptical. He suggests another strategy for undermining extremism, based on an understanding of the social cohesion that it can produce.
Nautilus caught up with Whitehouse earlier this month.
Full interview:
http://nautil.us/issue/60/searches/are- ... 3-60760513
The surprising anthropology of group identity.
Harvey Whitehouse doesn’t like how New Atheists like Richard Dawkins make religion out to be a mere “set of propositions” amounting to a “failed science.” In a 2013 YouTube video, Whitehouse—the director of the Institute of Cognitive & Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford—strolls through a park and says, “Clearly religion is not just that.”1
The point of religion is not to produce a rational understanding of nature, according to Whitehouse. It is “more about building cohesion and cooperation in groups, among other things,” he recently told Nautilus. He does realize that, taken literally, religious tales are implausible or just plain wrong, “and that can be irritating to people like Dawkins.” But the reason people “dig their heels in” against Dawkinsian criticism of their beliefs isn’t necessarily because they’re irrational—it’s because those beliefs help bond them with other religious people. “When you challenge those beliefs,” he said, “you’re not really getting into a debate about what’s true but are just offending people by attacking their identities.”
Dawkins and other New Atheists want to challenge religious beliefs, especially extremist ones, with a mix of rational critique and ridicule. But Whitehouse is skeptical. He suggests another strategy for undermining extremism, based on an understanding of the social cohesion that it can produce.
Nautilus caught up with Whitehouse earlier this month.
Full interview:
http://nautil.us/issue/60/searches/are- ... 3-60760513
The Telegraph
Whole in one: Preserved Bronze Age coffin found in golf course pond to go on show
Daniel Capurro
Thu, September 9, 2021, 11:58 AM
The coffin, which measures roughly 10ft by 3ft, was carved from a single oak log - Charlotte Graham
A 4,000-year-old log coffin found by chance beneath a golf course pond is to go on display in Lincoln.
The coffin, from the early Bronze Age, was found in July 2018 at Tetney Golf Club near Grimsby and was at risk of rapid deterioration upon being exposed to elements, only for a team of archaeologists who happened to be nearby to step in and rescue it.
Experts described the find, which also contained a well-preserved axe and male human remains, as exceptionally rare.
The wood that such coffins are made from usually rots away over the centuries. However, in this case, coastal flooding had buried it in a deep layer of silt that helped preserve it.
The local authorities were quickly alerted to its discovery and a team of archaeologists from the University of Sheffield were able to step in and preserve it.
“Once the wet wood was out of the ground, there wasn’t long to react,” said Tim Allen, an archaeologist from Historic England.
The practices involved in the burial suggest its inhabitant was of high status. The coffin, which measures roughly 10ft by 3ft, was carved from a single oak log, while the interior was padded with yew and juniper leaves. The whole ensemble was then buried under a gravel mound.
Mark Casswell, who owns the golf club, said: “My family farmed here for years before we opened the golf course and I’d never have imagined that there was a whole other world there buried under the fields. It’s certainly something to think about while you’re playing your way round the course.”
The waterlogged wood is undergoing preservation work at the York Archaeological Trust, and it will take at least two years before it is ready to exhibit
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/wh ... 35312.html
Whole in one: Preserved Bronze Age coffin found in golf course pond to go on show
Daniel Capurro
Thu, September 9, 2021, 11:58 AM
The coffin, which measures roughly 10ft by 3ft, was carved from a single oak log - Charlotte Graham
A 4,000-year-old log coffin found by chance beneath a golf course pond is to go on display in Lincoln.
The coffin, from the early Bronze Age, was found in July 2018 at Tetney Golf Club near Grimsby and was at risk of rapid deterioration upon being exposed to elements, only for a team of archaeologists who happened to be nearby to step in and rescue it.
Experts described the find, which also contained a well-preserved axe and male human remains, as exceptionally rare.
The wood that such coffins are made from usually rots away over the centuries. However, in this case, coastal flooding had buried it in a deep layer of silt that helped preserve it.
The local authorities were quickly alerted to its discovery and a team of archaeologists from the University of Sheffield were able to step in and preserve it.
“Once the wet wood was out of the ground, there wasn’t long to react,” said Tim Allen, an archaeologist from Historic England.
The practices involved in the burial suggest its inhabitant was of high status. The coffin, which measures roughly 10ft by 3ft, was carved from a single oak log, while the interior was padded with yew and juniper leaves. The whole ensemble was then buried under a gravel mound.
Mark Casswell, who owns the golf club, said: “My family farmed here for years before we opened the golf course and I’d never have imagined that there was a whole other world there buried under the fields. It’s certainly something to think about while you’re playing your way round the course.”
The waterlogged wood is undergoing preservation work at the York Archaeological Trust, and it will take at least two years before it is ready to exhibit
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/wh ... 35312.html
Oldest bone tools for clothes making found in Morocco
Archaeologists outside Morocco's Contrebandiers (Smugglers) Cave, where the oldest bone tools used to make clothing were found (AFP/FADEL SENNA)
Thu, September 23, 2021, 2:10 PM
Archaeologists in Morocco have identified clothes making tools fashioned from bone dating back 120,000 years, the oldest ever found, one of the researchers said.
"It's a major discovery because while older bone tools have been found elsewhere, it's the first time we have identified bone tools (this old) that were used to make clothing," Moroccan archaeologist Abdeljalil El Hajraoui said.
The international team discovered more than 60 tools in Contrebandiers (Smugglers) Cave, less than 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the North African country's capital.
They had been "intentionally shaped for specific tasks that included leather and fur working", the team wrote in a study published in the journal iScience.
The discovery could help answer questions on the origins of modern human behaviour, said El Hajraoui, a researcher at the National Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (INSAP).
"Sewing is a behaviour that has lasted" since prehistory, he told AFP.
"Tools like those discovered in the cave were used for 30,000 years, which proves the emergence of collective memory."
The iScience paper predicted that "given the level of specialization of the bone tool material culture at Contrebandiers Cave, it is likely that earlier examples will be found."
The team also discovered living spaces dug into the ground or built in the cave, as well as perforated seashells apparently used as ornaments.
"This was a cultural evolution that still needs study," El Hajraoui said.
Morocco has been the location of a number of significant archaeological findings, including on Wednesday when the country's culture ministry announced that researchers in a cave near Essaouira, about 400 kilometres southwest of Rabat, had discovered a collection of about 30 shaped marine snail shells dating back as much as 150,000 years.
In a statement, it said they were "the oldest ornaments ever discovered".
That followed an announcement in July when archaeologists revealed the discovery of North Africa's oldest Stone Age hand-axe manufacturing site, dating back 1.3 million years.
The find pushed back by hundreds of thousands of years the start date in North Africa of the Acheulian stone tool industry associated with a key human ancestor, Homo erectus, researchers on the team told journalists in Rabat.
In 2017, the discovery of five fossils at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, estimated at 300,000 years old, overturned evolutionary science when they were designated Homo sapiens.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ol ... 08025.html
Archaeologists outside Morocco's Contrebandiers (Smugglers) Cave, where the oldest bone tools used to make clothing were found (AFP/FADEL SENNA)
Thu, September 23, 2021, 2:10 PM
Archaeologists in Morocco have identified clothes making tools fashioned from bone dating back 120,000 years, the oldest ever found, one of the researchers said.
"It's a major discovery because while older bone tools have been found elsewhere, it's the first time we have identified bone tools (this old) that were used to make clothing," Moroccan archaeologist Abdeljalil El Hajraoui said.
The international team discovered more than 60 tools in Contrebandiers (Smugglers) Cave, less than 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the North African country's capital.
They had been "intentionally shaped for specific tasks that included leather and fur working", the team wrote in a study published in the journal iScience.
The discovery could help answer questions on the origins of modern human behaviour, said El Hajraoui, a researcher at the National Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Heritage (INSAP).
"Sewing is a behaviour that has lasted" since prehistory, he told AFP.
"Tools like those discovered in the cave were used for 30,000 years, which proves the emergence of collective memory."
The iScience paper predicted that "given the level of specialization of the bone tool material culture at Contrebandiers Cave, it is likely that earlier examples will be found."
The team also discovered living spaces dug into the ground or built in the cave, as well as perforated seashells apparently used as ornaments.
"This was a cultural evolution that still needs study," El Hajraoui said.
Morocco has been the location of a number of significant archaeological findings, including on Wednesday when the country's culture ministry announced that researchers in a cave near Essaouira, about 400 kilometres southwest of Rabat, had discovered a collection of about 30 shaped marine snail shells dating back as much as 150,000 years.
In a statement, it said they were "the oldest ornaments ever discovered".
That followed an announcement in July when archaeologists revealed the discovery of North Africa's oldest Stone Age hand-axe manufacturing site, dating back 1.3 million years.
The find pushed back by hundreds of thousands of years the start date in North Africa of the Acheulian stone tool industry associated with a key human ancestor, Homo erectus, researchers on the team told journalists in Rabat.
In 2017, the discovery of five fossils at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco, estimated at 300,000 years old, overturned evolutionary science when they were designated Homo sapiens.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ol ... 08025.html
Can Skeletons Have a Racial Identity?
A growing number of forensic researchers are questioning how the field interprets the geographic ancestry of human remains.
Forensic anthropologists have relied on features of face and skull bones, known as morphoscopic traits, such as the post-bregmatic depression — a dip on the top of the skull — to estimate ancestry.Credit...John M. Daugherty/Science Source
Racial reckonings were happening everywhere in the summer of 2020, after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis by the police. The time felt right, two forensic anthropologists reasoned, to reignite a conversation about the role of race in their own field, where specialists help solve crimes by analyzing skeletons to determine who those people were and how they died.
Dr. Elizabeth DiGangi of Binghamton University and Jonathan Bethard of the University of South Florida published a letter in The Journal of Forensic Science that questioned the longstanding practice of estimating ancestry, or a person’s geographic origin, as a proxy for estimating race. Ancestry, along with height, age at death and assigned sex, is one of the key details that many forensic anthropologists try to determine.
That fall, they published a longer paper with a more ambitious call to action: “We urge all forensic anthropologists to abolish the practice of ancestry estimation.”
In recent years, a growing number of forensic anthropologists have grown critical of ancestry estimation and want to replace it with something more nuanced.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/scie ... iversified
A growing number of forensic researchers are questioning how the field interprets the geographic ancestry of human remains.
Forensic anthropologists have relied on features of face and skull bones, known as morphoscopic traits, such as the post-bregmatic depression — a dip on the top of the skull — to estimate ancestry.Credit...John M. Daugherty/Science Source
Racial reckonings were happening everywhere in the summer of 2020, after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis by the police. The time felt right, two forensic anthropologists reasoned, to reignite a conversation about the role of race in their own field, where specialists help solve crimes by analyzing skeletons to determine who those people were and how they died.
Dr. Elizabeth DiGangi of Binghamton University and Jonathan Bethard of the University of South Florida published a letter in The Journal of Forensic Science that questioned the longstanding practice of estimating ancestry, or a person’s geographic origin, as a proxy for estimating race. Ancestry, along with height, age at death and assigned sex, is one of the key details that many forensic anthropologists try to determine.
That fall, they published a longer paper with a more ambitious call to action: “We urge all forensic anthropologists to abolish the practice of ancestry estimation.”
In recent years, a growing number of forensic anthropologists have grown critical of ancestry estimation and want to replace it with something more nuanced.
More...
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/19/scie ... iversified
BBC
Ancient wooden Mayan canoe unearthed almost intact in Mexico
Sat, October 30, 2021, 5:16 AM
Archaeologists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) observe fragments of pottery in a cave
Archaeologists also found fragments of ceramics and a ritual knife during the excavation in southern Mexico
Archaeologists have discovered a wooden Mayan canoe in southern Mexico, believed to be over 1,000 years old.
Measuring over 5ft (1.6m), it was found almost completely intact, submerged in a freshwater pool near the ruined Mayan city of Chichen Itza.
Mexico's antiquities institute (Inah) says it may have been used to extract water or deposit ritual offers.
The rare find came during construction work on a new tourist railway known as the Maya Train.
In a statement, the Inah said archaeologists had also discovered ceramics, a ritual knife and painted murals of hands on a rockface in the pool, known as a cenote.
Experts from Paris's Sorbonne University have been helping with pin-pointing the canoe's exact age and type, the statement said. A 3D model of it would also be made to allow replicas to be made, and to facilitate further study, it added.
A wooden canoe used by the ancient Maya and believed to be over a thousand years old is pictured at a fresh-water pool known as a cenote
It's believed canoe may have been used to extract water from the pool, or to make ritual offerings
The Mayan civilisation flourished before Spain conquered the region. In their time, the Mayans ruled large stretches of territory in what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.
The boat has been tentatively dated between 830-950 AD, towards the end of the Mayan civilisation's golden age.
Around this period, the Mayan civilisation suffered a major political collapse, marked by the abandonment of cities dotted around modern-day Central America - leaving ruins of towering pyramids and other stone buildings.
No single theory for this collapse has been widely accepted, but it's believed a combination of internal warfare, drought and overpopulation may have been contributing factors.
The so-called Maya Train is a multi-billion-dollar project, led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's left-wing government, which will run through five southern Mexican states.
Advocates have said the rail network will help to alleviate poverty in the region. But critics argue that it risks damaging local ecosystems and undiscovered sites of historic importance
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/an ... 08378.html
Ancient wooden Mayan canoe unearthed almost intact in Mexico
Sat, October 30, 2021, 5:16 AM
Archaeologists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) observe fragments of pottery in a cave
Archaeologists also found fragments of ceramics and a ritual knife during the excavation in southern Mexico
Archaeologists have discovered a wooden Mayan canoe in southern Mexico, believed to be over 1,000 years old.
Measuring over 5ft (1.6m), it was found almost completely intact, submerged in a freshwater pool near the ruined Mayan city of Chichen Itza.
Mexico's antiquities institute (Inah) says it may have been used to extract water or deposit ritual offers.
The rare find came during construction work on a new tourist railway known as the Maya Train.
In a statement, the Inah said archaeologists had also discovered ceramics, a ritual knife and painted murals of hands on a rockface in the pool, known as a cenote.
Experts from Paris's Sorbonne University have been helping with pin-pointing the canoe's exact age and type, the statement said. A 3D model of it would also be made to allow replicas to be made, and to facilitate further study, it added.
A wooden canoe used by the ancient Maya and believed to be over a thousand years old is pictured at a fresh-water pool known as a cenote
It's believed canoe may have been used to extract water from the pool, or to make ritual offerings
The Mayan civilisation flourished before Spain conquered the region. In their time, the Mayans ruled large stretches of territory in what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.
The boat has been tentatively dated between 830-950 AD, towards the end of the Mayan civilisation's golden age.
Around this period, the Mayan civilisation suffered a major political collapse, marked by the abandonment of cities dotted around modern-day Central America - leaving ruins of towering pyramids and other stone buildings.
No single theory for this collapse has been widely accepted, but it's believed a combination of internal warfare, drought and overpopulation may have been contributing factors.
The so-called Maya Train is a multi-billion-dollar project, led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's left-wing government, which will run through five southern Mexican states.
Advocates have said the rail network will help to alleviate poverty in the region. But critics argue that it risks damaging local ecosystems and undiscovered sites of historic importance
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/an ... 08378.html
Ancient Egyptian mummies with gold tongues were discovered inside a tomb dating back 2,500 years
Alia Shoaib
Sat, December 18, 2021, 3:56 AM
Ancient Egyptian mummies buried with golden tongues in El Bahnasa, Egypt.
Archaeologists found an Ancient Egyptian mummy with a golden tongues covering still in its mouth in El Bahnasa, Egypt.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Archeologists discovered a man and woman's mummified remains in El Bahnasa, Egypt.
The mummies were buried with golden tongues to speak to the god of the underworld.
One of the tombs was completely sealed in a rare find, and the mummy was well-preserved.
Archeologists have discovered the mummified remains of a man and woman who died about 2,500 years ago in El Bahnasa, about 136 miles south of Cairo.
Three gold foil amulets in the shape of tongues were found buried with the mummies, according to Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Two of the foils were larger, and one was for a 3-year-old child. They date to the Roman period in Egypt, starting in 30BC, The National reported.
Ancient Egyptian mummies buried with golden tongues in El Bahnasa, Egypt.
Two of the foils were larger, and one was for a 3-year-old child.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Ancient Egyptians occasionally placed gold-foil tongues inside the mouths of the dead to enable them to speak to the god of the underworld, Osiris, in the afterlife.
In a rare find, one of the tombs, which dated back to the Saite dynasty, which ruled between 664–525 BC, was completely sealed.
Inside, archaeologists discovered a limestone sarcophagus containing a well-preserved male mummy with a golden tongue in its mouth. Other grave goods of the tomb included a scarab amulet, four canopic jars in which mummified organs were stored, and 400 funerary figurines made of glazed pottery.
"This is very important because it's rare to find a tomb that is totally sealed," Esther Pons Mellado, co-director of the archaeological mission from the University of Barcelona, told The National.
Mummy's tomb found in El Bahnasa, Egypt
In a rare find, of the mummy's tombs was completely sealed.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
"We are still studying the inscriptions on the vessels that, we assume, will reveal the identity of the buried person," Maite Mascort, mission co-director, told La Vanguardia.
The second tomb of the woman had been opened in ancient times and the remains were not in a poor condition, Melado told The National.
Inside the tomb were several pottery beads, a stone amulet, and a figure of the falcon-headed god Horus.
The discovery was made by a team of Spanish-led archaeologists who have been working in the area for nearly thirty years, the Egyptian ministry said in a statement.
Around 400 funerary figurines made of faience were found in the male mummy's tomb.
Around 400 funerary figurines made of faience were found in the male mummy's tomb.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Maite Mascort told La Vanguardia that papyrus had been found on top of the bandages of one of the mummies and that researchers were working to delicately unfold the pages and study them.
The Oxyrhynchus site, where the mummies were excavated, dates back to 664 BC and AD 7 and is considered one of the largest and most important archeological sites ever discovered.
Over the years, excavations in the area have uncovered a collection of papyrus texts dating back to the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt.
In February, archaeologists located another mummy with a golden foil tongue in Alexandria.
Mellado told The National that gold tongue foils have only been unearthed at archaeological sites in Alexandria and El Bahnasa.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/an ... 10870.html
Alia Shoaib
Sat, December 18, 2021, 3:56 AM
Ancient Egyptian mummies buried with golden tongues in El Bahnasa, Egypt.
Archaeologists found an Ancient Egyptian mummy with a golden tongues covering still in its mouth in El Bahnasa, Egypt.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Archeologists discovered a man and woman's mummified remains in El Bahnasa, Egypt.
The mummies were buried with golden tongues to speak to the god of the underworld.
One of the tombs was completely sealed in a rare find, and the mummy was well-preserved.
Archeologists have discovered the mummified remains of a man and woman who died about 2,500 years ago in El Bahnasa, about 136 miles south of Cairo.
Three gold foil amulets in the shape of tongues were found buried with the mummies, according to Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
Two of the foils were larger, and one was for a 3-year-old child. They date to the Roman period in Egypt, starting in 30BC, The National reported.
Ancient Egyptian mummies buried with golden tongues in El Bahnasa, Egypt.
Two of the foils were larger, and one was for a 3-year-old child.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Ancient Egyptians occasionally placed gold-foil tongues inside the mouths of the dead to enable them to speak to the god of the underworld, Osiris, in the afterlife.
In a rare find, one of the tombs, which dated back to the Saite dynasty, which ruled between 664–525 BC, was completely sealed.
Inside, archaeologists discovered a limestone sarcophagus containing a well-preserved male mummy with a golden tongue in its mouth. Other grave goods of the tomb included a scarab amulet, four canopic jars in which mummified organs were stored, and 400 funerary figurines made of glazed pottery.
"This is very important because it's rare to find a tomb that is totally sealed," Esther Pons Mellado, co-director of the archaeological mission from the University of Barcelona, told The National.
Mummy's tomb found in El Bahnasa, Egypt
In a rare find, of the mummy's tombs was completely sealed.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
"We are still studying the inscriptions on the vessels that, we assume, will reveal the identity of the buried person," Maite Mascort, mission co-director, told La Vanguardia.
The second tomb of the woman had been opened in ancient times and the remains were not in a poor condition, Melado told The National.
Inside the tomb were several pottery beads, a stone amulet, and a figure of the falcon-headed god Horus.
The discovery was made by a team of Spanish-led archaeologists who have been working in the area for nearly thirty years, the Egyptian ministry said in a statement.
Around 400 funerary figurines made of faience were found in the male mummy's tomb.
Around 400 funerary figurines made of faience were found in the male mummy's tomb.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Maite Mascort told La Vanguardia that papyrus had been found on top of the bandages of one of the mummies and that researchers were working to delicately unfold the pages and study them.
The Oxyrhynchus site, where the mummies were excavated, dates back to 664 BC and AD 7 and is considered one of the largest and most important archeological sites ever discovered.
Over the years, excavations in the area have uncovered a collection of papyrus texts dating back to the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt.
In February, archaeologists located another mummy with a golden foil tongue in Alexandria.
Mellado told The National that gold tongue foils have only been unearthed at archaeological sites in Alexandria and El Bahnasa.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/an ... 10870.html
USA TODAY
Archeologists unearth 'mammoth graveyard' alongside Neanderthal tools in Britain
Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY
Mon, December 20, 2021, 12:15 PM
Archeologists in Britain have unearthed a "mammoth graveyard," in what they are calling Britain's "most significant Ice Age discovery in recent years."
The discovery was made in the town of Swindon, over 100 miles west of London. Archeologists from the organization DigVentures found the fossils after two group members noticed a Neanderthal hand axe on the ground in 2017.
Over the course of 2019-20, DigVentures crew members excavated the site and found mammoth tusks, leg bones, ribs and vertebrae belonging to two adult, two child and one infant mammoths, all at least 200,000 years old.
Other animal fossils found include beetle wings, shells of freshwater snails, bison and brown bears, alongside plant fossils that show what the environment was like over 200,000 years ago.
Aside from the hand axe, another Neanderthal tool known as a "scraper," which was used to clean animal hides, was found.
Lisa Westcott Wilkins, co-founder of DigVentures, called the discovery "exceptional" because of how well preserved all the fossils were found. The fossils are estimated to be around 210,000-220,000 years old, when modern humans began to appear in Europe in the Ice Age.
"Words can’t quite capture the thrill of seeing a mammoth tusk still in the ground, or the feeling of standing in the middle of a site that has the potential to change how we see our closest human relatives and the Ice Age megafauna they shared their world with," Wilkins said in a statement.
After examining the mammoth fossils, archeologists say they come from a species known as the Steppe mammoth. An ancestor of the woolly mammoth, the fossils of the Steppe mammoths were smaller than previously found fossils, indicating the species may have been shrinking because of colder temperatures.
Duncan Wilson, CEO of the government-operated organization Historic England, said the discovery also provides insight on how early humans dealt with the changing climate. Currently, there is no evidence of human existence of Britain from 180,000-60,000 years ago because researchers believe Neanderthals left the area because of drops in temperature.
"This represents one of Britain’s most significant Ice Age discoveries in recent years." Wilson said. "The findings have enormous value for understanding the human occupation of Britain, and the delicate environmental evidence recovered will also help us understand it in the context of past climate change."
Archeologists are unsure of why all the fossils were found at one site, but they plan to do further research at the location to see if Neanderthals had butchered these animals for food or other uses. The findings will also be part of a BBC documentary, "Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard," set to air on Dec. 30.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Archeologists find 'mammoth graveyard,' Neanderthal tools in Britain
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ar ... 55547.html
Archeologists unearth 'mammoth graveyard' alongside Neanderthal tools in Britain
Jordan Mendoza, USA TODAY
Mon, December 20, 2021, 12:15 PM
Archeologists in Britain have unearthed a "mammoth graveyard," in what they are calling Britain's "most significant Ice Age discovery in recent years."
The discovery was made in the town of Swindon, over 100 miles west of London. Archeologists from the organization DigVentures found the fossils after two group members noticed a Neanderthal hand axe on the ground in 2017.
Over the course of 2019-20, DigVentures crew members excavated the site and found mammoth tusks, leg bones, ribs and vertebrae belonging to two adult, two child and one infant mammoths, all at least 200,000 years old.
Other animal fossils found include beetle wings, shells of freshwater snails, bison and brown bears, alongside plant fossils that show what the environment was like over 200,000 years ago.
Aside from the hand axe, another Neanderthal tool known as a "scraper," which was used to clean animal hides, was found.
Lisa Westcott Wilkins, co-founder of DigVentures, called the discovery "exceptional" because of how well preserved all the fossils were found. The fossils are estimated to be around 210,000-220,000 years old, when modern humans began to appear in Europe in the Ice Age.
"Words can’t quite capture the thrill of seeing a mammoth tusk still in the ground, or the feeling of standing in the middle of a site that has the potential to change how we see our closest human relatives and the Ice Age megafauna they shared their world with," Wilkins said in a statement.
After examining the mammoth fossils, archeologists say they come from a species known as the Steppe mammoth. An ancestor of the woolly mammoth, the fossils of the Steppe mammoths were smaller than previously found fossils, indicating the species may have been shrinking because of colder temperatures.
Duncan Wilson, CEO of the government-operated organization Historic England, said the discovery also provides insight on how early humans dealt with the changing climate. Currently, there is no evidence of human existence of Britain from 180,000-60,000 years ago because researchers believe Neanderthals left the area because of drops in temperature.
"This represents one of Britain’s most significant Ice Age discoveries in recent years." Wilson said. "The findings have enormous value for understanding the human occupation of Britain, and the delicate environmental evidence recovered will also help us understand it in the context of past climate change."
Archeologists are unsure of why all the fossils were found at one site, but they plan to do further research at the location to see if Neanderthals had butchered these animals for food or other uses. The findings will also be part of a BBC documentary, "Attenborough and the Mammoth Graveyard," set to air on Dec. 30.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Archeologists find 'mammoth graveyard,' Neanderthal tools in Britain
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ar ... 55547.html
Archeologists discover 2 giant sphinxes at the lost 'Temple of a Million Years' built by a great pharaoh in Egypt 3,300 years ago
Alia Shoaib
Sat, January 22, 2022, 3:35 AM
Two large sphinx statues were discovered during the restoration of a temple in Luxor, Egypt.
Two large sphinx statues were discovered during the restoration of a temple in Luxor, Egypt.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Archeologists found two large sphinx statues during the restoration of a temple in Luxor, Egypt.
The "Temple of Millions of Years" was a vast funerary temple of King Amenhotep III, who ruled about 3,300 years ago.
The limestone statues measured around 26 feet in length and depict the Pharoah in the form of a sphinx.
Archeologists discovered two colossal sphinx statues while restoring the ancient Egyptian funerary temple of King Amenhotep III, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
King Amenhotep III was a pharaoh who ruled Egypt around 3,300 years ago when it was rich in gold and oversaw a peaceful period of prosperity and growing international power.
The limestone statues measure around 26 feet in length and depict King Amenhotep III in the form of a sphinx – a mythological creature with a lion's body and a human head – wearing a mongoose headdress, a royal beard, and a wide necklace, the ministry said.
An Egyptian-German archeological mission found the statues half-submerged in water inside the Luxor temple, known as the "Temple of Millions of Years."
The team also found three black granite busts of the goddess Sekhmet, a goddess of war also associated with healing which is often depicted as a part lion.
Remains of the walls and columns were decorated with inscriptions of ceremonial and ritual scenes, the ministry said.
A granite bust of the goddess Sekhmet, a goddess of war also associated with healing who is often depicted as part lion.
Inscriptions on the remains of a wall or column.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Dr. Horig Sorosian, head of the Egyptian-German mission, said in a statement that the large sphinxes indicated the location of a procession road used to celebrate festivals.
After the statues underwent cleaning and restoration, archeologists found an inscription that said "the beloved of the god Amun-Re" across the sphinx's chest, referring to the sun god often depicted as a sphinx.
The vast funerary temple, built close to the Nile river by King Amenhotep III, was destroyed by an earthquake that swept Ancient Egypt.
The mortuary temple's main purpose was as a place for offerings for Amenhotep III for after his death and movement into the afterlife.
The project to restore the temple and the Colossi of Memnon, two massive stone statues of the pharaoh, began in 1998 under the supervision of the Egyptian tourism ministry, it said in a statement.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ar ... 17605.html
Alia Shoaib
Sat, January 22, 2022, 3:35 AM
Two large sphinx statues were discovered during the restoration of a temple in Luxor, Egypt.
Two large sphinx statues were discovered during the restoration of a temple in Luxor, Egypt.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Archeologists found two large sphinx statues during the restoration of a temple in Luxor, Egypt.
The "Temple of Millions of Years" was a vast funerary temple of King Amenhotep III, who ruled about 3,300 years ago.
The limestone statues measured around 26 feet in length and depict the Pharoah in the form of a sphinx.
Archeologists discovered two colossal sphinx statues while restoring the ancient Egyptian funerary temple of King Amenhotep III, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
King Amenhotep III was a pharaoh who ruled Egypt around 3,300 years ago when it was rich in gold and oversaw a peaceful period of prosperity and growing international power.
The limestone statues measure around 26 feet in length and depict King Amenhotep III in the form of a sphinx – a mythological creature with a lion's body and a human head – wearing a mongoose headdress, a royal beard, and a wide necklace, the ministry said.
An Egyptian-German archeological mission found the statues half-submerged in water inside the Luxor temple, known as the "Temple of Millions of Years."
The team also found three black granite busts of the goddess Sekhmet, a goddess of war also associated with healing which is often depicted as a part lion.
Remains of the walls and columns were decorated with inscriptions of ceremonial and ritual scenes, the ministry said.
A granite bust of the goddess Sekhmet, a goddess of war also associated with healing who is often depicted as part lion.
Inscriptions on the remains of a wall or column.Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Dr. Horig Sorosian, head of the Egyptian-German mission, said in a statement that the large sphinxes indicated the location of a procession road used to celebrate festivals.
After the statues underwent cleaning and restoration, archeologists found an inscription that said "the beloved of the god Amun-Re" across the sphinx's chest, referring to the sun god often depicted as a sphinx.
The vast funerary temple, built close to the Nile river by King Amenhotep III, was destroyed by an earthquake that swept Ancient Egypt.
The mortuary temple's main purpose was as a place for offerings for Amenhotep III for after his death and movement into the afterlife.
The project to restore the temple and the Colossi of Memnon, two massive stone statues of the pharaoh, began in 1998 under the supervision of the Egyptian tourism ministry, it said in a statement.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ar ... 17605.html
Associated Press
Hamas: Bulldozers unearth Roman-era tomb in Gaza City
WAFAA SHURAFA
Mon, January 31, 2022, 12:38 PM
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Bulldozers digging for an Egyptian-funded housing project in the Gaza Strip unearthed the ruins of a tomb dating back to the Roman era, Hamas authorities said Monday.
The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Archaeology said its crews seized objects uncovered in the tomb and asked for construction work to be stopped. An independent archaeologist said, however, that photos he saw suggest the site was a cemetery rather than a tomb.
Local media reports said people, some of them using donkey-drawn carts, have looted many artifacts from the site in northwest Gaza City. Residents in the area said archaeological objects including casket covers and inscribed bricks were found a week before the ministry’s announcement.
Gaza, a coastal enclave home to more than 2 million people, is known for its rich history stemming from its location on ancient trade routes between Egypt and the Levant. But Israeli occupation, a blockade, conflicts and rapid urban growth in the crowded, narrow territory are among the reasons most of Gaza’s archeological treasures have not been protected.
An independent archaeologist briefed on the issue said photos suggest the site was a cemetery dating back to the late Roman era to early Byzantine period 1,600 years ago.
“They indicate that a Roman temple or a Byzantine church are nearby,” said the expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment.
Last week, authorities from Hamas, the militant group that seized control of Gaza by force from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, sponsored the inauguration of a 5th-century Byzantine church that was restored by local and international non-governmental organizations as a museum.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ha ... 39696.html
Hamas: Bulldozers unearth Roman-era tomb in Gaza City
WAFAA SHURAFA
Mon, January 31, 2022, 12:38 PM
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Bulldozers digging for an Egyptian-funded housing project in the Gaza Strip unearthed the ruins of a tomb dating back to the Roman era, Hamas authorities said Monday.
The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Archaeology said its crews seized objects uncovered in the tomb and asked for construction work to be stopped. An independent archaeologist said, however, that photos he saw suggest the site was a cemetery rather than a tomb.
Local media reports said people, some of them using donkey-drawn carts, have looted many artifacts from the site in northwest Gaza City. Residents in the area said archaeological objects including casket covers and inscribed bricks were found a week before the ministry’s announcement.
Gaza, a coastal enclave home to more than 2 million people, is known for its rich history stemming from its location on ancient trade routes between Egypt and the Levant. But Israeli occupation, a blockade, conflicts and rapid urban growth in the crowded, narrow territory are among the reasons most of Gaza’s archeological treasures have not been protected.
An independent archaeologist briefed on the issue said photos suggest the site was a cemetery dating back to the late Roman era to early Byzantine period 1,600 years ago.
“They indicate that a Roman temple or a Byzantine church are nearby,” said the expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment.
Last week, authorities from Hamas, the militant group that seized control of Gaza by force from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, sponsored the inauguration of a 5th-century Byzantine church that was restored by local and international non-governmental organizations as a museum.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ha ... 39696.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
Associated Press
Archaeologists find 9,000-year-old shrine in Jordan desert
This photo provided by Jordan Tourism Ministry shows two carved standing stones at a remote Neolithic site in Jordan’s eastern desert. A team of Jordanian and French archaeologists said Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, that it had found a roughly 9,000-year-old shrine. The ritual complex was found in a Neolithic campsite near large structures known as “desert kites," or mass traps that are believed to have been used to corral wild gazelles for slaughter. (Tourism Ministry via AP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OMAR AKOUR
Tue, February 22, 2022, 1:52 PM
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A team of Jordanian and French archaeologists said Tuesday that it had found a roughly 9,000-year-old shrine at a remote Neolithic site in Jordan’s eastern desert.
The ritual complex was found in a Neolithic campsite near large structures known as “desert kites," or mass traps that are believed to have been used to corral wild gazelles for slaughter.
Such traps consist of two or more long stone walls converging toward an enclosure and are found scattered across the deserts of the Middle East.
“The site is unique, first because of its preservation state," said Jordanian archaeologist Wael Abu-Azziza, co-director of the project. “It's 9,000 years old and everything was almost intact.”
Within the shrine were two carved standing stones bearing anthropomorphic figures, one accompanied by a representation of the “desert kite,” as well as an altar, hearth, marine shells and miniature model of the gazelle trap.
The researchers said in a statement that the shrine “sheds an entire new light on the symbolism, artistic expression as well as spiritual culture of these hitherto unknown Neolithic populations.”
The proximity of the site to the traps suggests the inhabitants were specialized hunters and that the traps were “the center of their cultural, economic and even symbolic life in this marginal zone," the statement said.
The team included archaeologists from Jordan’s Al Hussein Bin Talal University and the French Institute of the Near East. The site was excavated during the most recent digging season in 2021
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ar ... 31885.html
Archaeologists find 9,000-year-old shrine in Jordan desert
This photo provided by Jordan Tourism Ministry shows two carved standing stones at a remote Neolithic site in Jordan’s eastern desert. A team of Jordanian and French archaeologists said Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022, that it had found a roughly 9,000-year-old shrine. The ritual complex was found in a Neolithic campsite near large structures known as “desert kites," or mass traps that are believed to have been used to corral wild gazelles for slaughter. (Tourism Ministry via AP)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OMAR AKOUR
Tue, February 22, 2022, 1:52 PM
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — A team of Jordanian and French archaeologists said Tuesday that it had found a roughly 9,000-year-old shrine at a remote Neolithic site in Jordan’s eastern desert.
The ritual complex was found in a Neolithic campsite near large structures known as “desert kites," or mass traps that are believed to have been used to corral wild gazelles for slaughter.
Such traps consist of two or more long stone walls converging toward an enclosure and are found scattered across the deserts of the Middle East.
“The site is unique, first because of its preservation state," said Jordanian archaeologist Wael Abu-Azziza, co-director of the project. “It's 9,000 years old and everything was almost intact.”
Within the shrine were two carved standing stones bearing anthropomorphic figures, one accompanied by a representation of the “desert kite,” as well as an altar, hearth, marine shells and miniature model of the gazelle trap.
The researchers said in a statement that the shrine “sheds an entire new light on the symbolism, artistic expression as well as spiritual culture of these hitherto unknown Neolithic populations.”
The proximity of the site to the traps suggests the inhabitants were specialized hunters and that the traps were “the center of their cultural, economic and even symbolic life in this marginal zone," the statement said.
The team included archaeologists from Jordan’s Al Hussein Bin Talal University and the French Institute of the Near East. The site was excavated during the most recent digging season in 2021
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ar ... 31885.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
BBC
Assam: 'Mysterious' giant stone jars found in India
Thu, March 31, 2022, 1:08 AM
Jars at the Assam site
The 65 sandstone jars were found scattered over four sites in the north-eastern state of Assam
Researchers have uncovered giant "mysterious" jars in India that may have been used for ancient human burial practices.
The 65 sandstone jars were found scattered over four sites in the north-eastern state of Assam.
They vary in shape and size. Some of the jars are tall and cylindrical, while the others are partly or fully buried in the ground.
Similar stone vessels have previously been found in Laos and Indonesia.
The details of the discovery - which involved researchers from three universities in India and Australia - were published in the Journal of Asian Archaeology journal this week. The research was led by Tilok Thakuria from North-Eastern Hill University and Uttam Bathari from Gauhati University.
"We still don't know who made the giant jars or where they lived. It's all a bit of a mystery", said Nicholas Skopal, a researcher at the Australian National University who was part of the research team.
Although it is still not clear what the giant jars were used for, the researchers believe they were "likely associated with mortuary practices".
"There are stories from the Naga people (an ethnic group in north-eastern India) of finding the Assam jars filled with cremated remains, beads and other material artefacts," Mr Skopal said.
Dr Thakuria told the BBC that "presently the jars are empty", and they were once possibly covered with lids.
The jars
The jars have cavities and are hollow inside
"The next step in this project is to excavate and extensively document features of these jars," Dr Thakuria said.
Similar sites were discovered in Assam and neighbouring Meghalaya state in the past, researchers said.
Some 10 sites containing more than 700 jars have been uncovered in Assam so far, Dr Thakuria said. They believe these jars date back to before 400 BC.
The researchers said they had searched a very limited area in Assam and that there "are likely to be a lot more [such sites] out there. We just don't yet know where they are".
"The longer we take to find them, the greater chance that they will be destroyed, as more crops are planted in these areas and the forests are cut down," Mr Skopal said.
The jars in Laos which were uncovered in 2016 were believed to have been placed in Xieng Khouang province at least 2,000 years ago.
Researchers had then discovered three different types of burials: bones placed in pits with a large limestone block on top, bones buried in ceramic vessels, and a single body in a grave.
"The size and structure of the jars found in Assam and Laos are very similar. There's some variation in shape and size though. The ones in Assam are more bulbous, whereas the ones in Laos are more cylindrical," Mr Skopal said.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/as ... 36663.html
Assam: 'Mysterious' giant stone jars found in India
Thu, March 31, 2022, 1:08 AM
Jars at the Assam site
The 65 sandstone jars were found scattered over four sites in the north-eastern state of Assam
Researchers have uncovered giant "mysterious" jars in India that may have been used for ancient human burial practices.
The 65 sandstone jars were found scattered over four sites in the north-eastern state of Assam.
They vary in shape and size. Some of the jars are tall and cylindrical, while the others are partly or fully buried in the ground.
Similar stone vessels have previously been found in Laos and Indonesia.
The details of the discovery - which involved researchers from three universities in India and Australia - were published in the Journal of Asian Archaeology journal this week. The research was led by Tilok Thakuria from North-Eastern Hill University and Uttam Bathari from Gauhati University.
"We still don't know who made the giant jars or where they lived. It's all a bit of a mystery", said Nicholas Skopal, a researcher at the Australian National University who was part of the research team.
Although it is still not clear what the giant jars were used for, the researchers believe they were "likely associated with mortuary practices".
"There are stories from the Naga people (an ethnic group in north-eastern India) of finding the Assam jars filled with cremated remains, beads and other material artefacts," Mr Skopal said.
Dr Thakuria told the BBC that "presently the jars are empty", and they were once possibly covered with lids.
The jars
The jars have cavities and are hollow inside
"The next step in this project is to excavate and extensively document features of these jars," Dr Thakuria said.
Similar sites were discovered in Assam and neighbouring Meghalaya state in the past, researchers said.
Some 10 sites containing more than 700 jars have been uncovered in Assam so far, Dr Thakuria said. They believe these jars date back to before 400 BC.
The researchers said they had searched a very limited area in Assam and that there "are likely to be a lot more [such sites] out there. We just don't yet know where they are".
"The longer we take to find them, the greater chance that they will be destroyed, as more crops are planted in these areas and the forests are cut down," Mr Skopal said.
The jars in Laos which were uncovered in 2016 were believed to have been placed in Xieng Khouang province at least 2,000 years ago.
Researchers had then discovered three different types of burials: bones placed in pits with a large limestone block on top, bones buried in ceramic vessels, and a single body in a grave.
"The size and structure of the jars found in Assam and Laos are very similar. There's some variation in shape and size though. The ones in Assam are more bulbous, whereas the ones in Laos are more cylindrical," Mr Skopal said.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/as ... 36663.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
Business Insider
1,000 year-old Native American carvings of mysterious giant humanoids discovered on the ceiling of an Alabama cave
Marianne Guenot
Sun, May 8, 2022, 4:09 AM
A collage shows the etching in the ceiling and an illustration highlighting the glyph made by the etching.
A study uncovered massive human-like figures etched in the ceiling by Native Americans more than a 1000 years ago.Stephen Alvarez / Jan F. Simek
A study found large humanoid figures carved on the ceiling of an Alabama cave more than 1000 years ago.
The figures could represent beings of the supernatural world whose names have been lost.
Hi-tech technology was needed to see them in the low ceiling cave.
A scientific study has uncovered massive, ghostly figures carved into the ceiling of an Alabama cave more than 1,000-years ago.
The figures, three of which were humanoid in shape, are among the biggest ever uncovered in the Northern Americas. Some are more than 6ft long per a study presenting the findings published in the peer-reviewed journal Antiquity on Tuesday.
Known as glyphs, the unique carvings sculpted in the soft mud on the cave's ceiling could provide clues into the traditions of Native American peoples of this southeastern US, say the study's authors.
"We know that Native Americans over a very wide area have certain ideas in their religious concepts that they share. They believe in a tiered universe," said archeologist Jan Simek.
"They believed that there were these spirit worlds all around them that permeate the natural world, even though you couldn't see them," he said.
This anthropomorph in regalia (5.9 ft tall) looks like he's holding rattles in his hands.
This anthropomorph in regalia (5.9 ft tall) looks like he's holding rattles in his hands.Stephen Alvarez/J. Simek
Invisible figures revealed by months of tenuous work
The project was decades in the making for the paper's authors — archeologist Jan Simek and photographers Alvarez and Alan Cressler.
Despite this, they could not document the artwork because of a simple, technically challenging barrier: The cave ceiling is so close to the floor that it was impossible to take good pictures of the carvings.
Alvarez first tried to document the glyphs as a photographer on a National Geographic assignment in 1999. "The images were so faint!" he told Insider.
"I feel like there are stories that get entrusted to me," said Alvarez. "That was the motivation behind doing all the work."
Alvarez stands in the unnamed cave 19 room.
A picture shows one of the study authors in the caveAlan Cressler/Stephen Alvarez/Jan Simek
Finally, hi-tech 3D photogrammetry would be the key to capturing the glyphs. It can read the minute variation in light between two images taken a few inches apart to draw precise 3D models of objects.
It was still a grueling, month-long task to capture more than 16,000 pictures that very slightly overlap to map out the entire cave ceiling.
"It took like years for my knees to recover. It's just kneeling and stooping for hours and hours and hours in days and days and days on end," Alvarez said.
Finally able to digitally lower the cave floor they first glimpsed the enormous humanoid glyphs.
Deciphering an ancient story for the first time in millennia
The glyphs portray what archeologists call anthropomorphs, figures that could either represent humans in costumes and masks or humanoid spirits, Simek said.
These characters were probably deeply ingrained in the culture of the people living near the cave so that they could understand who they were from seeing only a part of them, Simek said.
Anthropomorph in regalia (6.8 ft tall) from 19th Unnamed Cave, Alabama (photograph by S. Alvarez; illustration by J. Simek).
Anthropomorph in regalia (6.8 ft tall) from 19th Unnamed Cave, Alabama.Stephen Alvarez/J. Simek
The style of the drawings in the Alabama cave is reminiscent of figures seen in the midwest and the western US. They are very large with square shoulders, ghost-like, with headgear and elaborate clothing, and directly face the viewer. That suggests that these figures represented inhabitants of the supernatural world, per the study.
One example of similar anthropomorphs can be seen in the Barrier Canyon in Utah.
Utah, Canyonlands National Park, Horseshoe Canyon Unit, The Great Gallery, Barrier Canyon style rock art
Utah, Canyonlands National Park, Horseshoe Canyon Unit, The Great Gallery, Barrier Canyon style rock artJohn Elk III/Getty Images
However, the study authors have not been able to link the Alabama figures to recognizable characters recorded in southeast Native American stories.
"They clearly represent a character or a set of characters that we've never seen before," said Simek.
Philip Carr, a professor of Native American Studies and Anthropology at the University of South Alabama who was not involved in the study, was complimentary of the work.
"It is the work of archaeological teams such as this one that provide those rare glimpses into past ideologies that leave us wanting to know even more," he told Insider.
"Are these figures related to the underworld? If so, what was the relationship of the people who drew them to those beings of the underworld?"
An undefined figure made of swirling lines, with a round head at one end and a possible rattlesnake tail at the other (7 ft wide)
An undefined figure made of swirling lines, with a round head at one end and a possible rattlesnake tail at the other (7 ft wide)Steven Alvarez, Jan Simek
Rediscovering the old to inform the new
We know little about the people that would have lived around that cave 1,000 and 1,500 years ago, what is called the Middle Woodland phase.
"We don't have the kind of documentation about artwork that we have for later time periods," said Simek. "We know the archeological context, but even that is relatively hard to find that at this date," he said.
These findings are relevant to present-day Native American communities, which see these traditions as part of their heritage, Simek said.
Serpent figure with a round head and diamond-shaped body markings from 19th Unnamed Cave, Alabama. Note that the base of the engraved glyph joins a natural fissure in the ceiling limestone (3.3m long)
A serpent figure.Steven Alvarez, Jan Simek
"Their descendants are the native people of the southeast that were in the region when Europeans arrived: The Cherokees, the Creeks, Muscogee people, Choctaw, Chickasaw," he said.
"These people and their culture are vibrant and alive. Europeans moved them out of the Southeast forcibly, to Oklahoma, to reservations that were not their homeland. But they still maintain their connectivity," he said.
"Archeology is not always about the dead," Simek said.
Read the original article on Business Insider
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1,000 year-old Native American carvings of mysterious giant humanoids discovered on the ceiling of an Alabama cave
Marianne Guenot
Sun, May 8, 2022, 4:09 AM
A collage shows the etching in the ceiling and an illustration highlighting the glyph made by the etching.
A study uncovered massive human-like figures etched in the ceiling by Native Americans more than a 1000 years ago.Stephen Alvarez / Jan F. Simek
A study found large humanoid figures carved on the ceiling of an Alabama cave more than 1000 years ago.
The figures could represent beings of the supernatural world whose names have been lost.
Hi-tech technology was needed to see them in the low ceiling cave.
A scientific study has uncovered massive, ghostly figures carved into the ceiling of an Alabama cave more than 1,000-years ago.
The figures, three of which were humanoid in shape, are among the biggest ever uncovered in the Northern Americas. Some are more than 6ft long per a study presenting the findings published in the peer-reviewed journal Antiquity on Tuesday.
Known as glyphs, the unique carvings sculpted in the soft mud on the cave's ceiling could provide clues into the traditions of Native American peoples of this southeastern US, say the study's authors.
"We know that Native Americans over a very wide area have certain ideas in their religious concepts that they share. They believe in a tiered universe," said archeologist Jan Simek.
"They believed that there were these spirit worlds all around them that permeate the natural world, even though you couldn't see them," he said.
This anthropomorph in regalia (5.9 ft tall) looks like he's holding rattles in his hands.
This anthropomorph in regalia (5.9 ft tall) looks like he's holding rattles in his hands.Stephen Alvarez/J. Simek
Invisible figures revealed by months of tenuous work
The project was decades in the making for the paper's authors — archeologist Jan Simek and photographers Alvarez and Alan Cressler.
Despite this, they could not document the artwork because of a simple, technically challenging barrier: The cave ceiling is so close to the floor that it was impossible to take good pictures of the carvings.
Alvarez first tried to document the glyphs as a photographer on a National Geographic assignment in 1999. "The images were so faint!" he told Insider.
"I feel like there are stories that get entrusted to me," said Alvarez. "That was the motivation behind doing all the work."
Alvarez stands in the unnamed cave 19 room.
A picture shows one of the study authors in the caveAlan Cressler/Stephen Alvarez/Jan Simek
Finally, hi-tech 3D photogrammetry would be the key to capturing the glyphs. It can read the minute variation in light between two images taken a few inches apart to draw precise 3D models of objects.
It was still a grueling, month-long task to capture more than 16,000 pictures that very slightly overlap to map out the entire cave ceiling.
"It took like years for my knees to recover. It's just kneeling and stooping for hours and hours and hours in days and days and days on end," Alvarez said.
Finally able to digitally lower the cave floor they first glimpsed the enormous humanoid glyphs.
Deciphering an ancient story for the first time in millennia
The glyphs portray what archeologists call anthropomorphs, figures that could either represent humans in costumes and masks or humanoid spirits, Simek said.
These characters were probably deeply ingrained in the culture of the people living near the cave so that they could understand who they were from seeing only a part of them, Simek said.
Anthropomorph in regalia (6.8 ft tall) from 19th Unnamed Cave, Alabama (photograph by S. Alvarez; illustration by J. Simek).
Anthropomorph in regalia (6.8 ft tall) from 19th Unnamed Cave, Alabama.Stephen Alvarez/J. Simek
The style of the drawings in the Alabama cave is reminiscent of figures seen in the midwest and the western US. They are very large with square shoulders, ghost-like, with headgear and elaborate clothing, and directly face the viewer. That suggests that these figures represented inhabitants of the supernatural world, per the study.
One example of similar anthropomorphs can be seen in the Barrier Canyon in Utah.
Utah, Canyonlands National Park, Horseshoe Canyon Unit, The Great Gallery, Barrier Canyon style rock art
Utah, Canyonlands National Park, Horseshoe Canyon Unit, The Great Gallery, Barrier Canyon style rock artJohn Elk III/Getty Images
However, the study authors have not been able to link the Alabama figures to recognizable characters recorded in southeast Native American stories.
"They clearly represent a character or a set of characters that we've never seen before," said Simek.
Philip Carr, a professor of Native American Studies and Anthropology at the University of South Alabama who was not involved in the study, was complimentary of the work.
"It is the work of archaeological teams such as this one that provide those rare glimpses into past ideologies that leave us wanting to know even more," he told Insider.
"Are these figures related to the underworld? If so, what was the relationship of the people who drew them to those beings of the underworld?"
An undefined figure made of swirling lines, with a round head at one end and a possible rattlesnake tail at the other (7 ft wide)
An undefined figure made of swirling lines, with a round head at one end and a possible rattlesnake tail at the other (7 ft wide)Steven Alvarez, Jan Simek
Rediscovering the old to inform the new
We know little about the people that would have lived around that cave 1,000 and 1,500 years ago, what is called the Middle Woodland phase.
"We don't have the kind of documentation about artwork that we have for later time periods," said Simek. "We know the archeological context, but even that is relatively hard to find that at this date," he said.
These findings are relevant to present-day Native American communities, which see these traditions as part of their heritage, Simek said.
Serpent figure with a round head and diamond-shaped body markings from 19th Unnamed Cave, Alabama. Note that the base of the engraved glyph joins a natural fissure in the ceiling limestone (3.3m long)
A serpent figure.Steven Alvarez, Jan Simek
"Their descendants are the native people of the southeast that were in the region when Europeans arrived: The Cherokees, the Creeks, Muscogee people, Choctaw, Chickasaw," he said.
"These people and their culture are vibrant and alive. Europeans moved them out of the Southeast forcibly, to Oklahoma, to reservations that were not their homeland. But they still maintain their connectivity," he said.
"Archeology is not always about the dead," Simek said.
Read the original article on Business Insider
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/1- ... 12252.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
The Underwater 'Lost City of Zakhiku' Resurfaces 3,400 Years Later On Tigris River
Amara Amaryah
Wed, June 1, 2022, 2:07 PM
A 3,400 year-old city emerged from the Tigris River in Iraq due to a drought, revealing the hidden civilization. A team of archaeologists rushed to the Mosul reservoir, located in northern Iraq and includes the Mosul Dam (once known as Saddam Dam) to investigate the old city. Archaeologists say that the lost city is the ancient city of ‘Zakhiku’.
The lost city actually emerged earlier this year, after a long period of extreme drought in the country led to large amounts of water being drawn from the reservoir to irrigate crops. This all caused water levels to fall.
Amidst all of the excavated findings were ‘several large buildings, a huge fortification and an extensive city’.
The Universities of Freiburg and Tubingen were fast reacting as the reservoir on the Tigris River dried up, revealing the historical wonder. They had to rush to investigate before the site was submerged again. The excavation was led by Chairman of the Kurdistan Archaeology Organization, Dr. Hasan Ahmed Qasim, Dr. Ivana Puljiz from the University of Freiburg, and Dr. Peter Pfälzner from the University of Tübingen.
In 2018 archaeologists partially discovered the site. This time was the first time a team of archaeologists thoroughly excavated the site.
Tigris River reveals Iraq is home to submerged Bronze Age ancient city
The university explained that Iraq is “one of the countries in the world most affected by climate change” and that “to prevent crops from drying out, large amounts of water have been drawn down from the Mosul reservoir – Iraq’s most important water storage – since December.”
The university added: “The extensive city with a palace and several large buildings could be ancient Zakhiku – believed to have been an important center in the Mittani Empire (ca. 1550-1350 BC).”
A team was hastily formed in days to explore this Bronze Age ancient city. Funding was also quickly secured from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation through the University of Freiburg.
The university added: “The German-Kurdish archaeological team was under immense time pressure because it was not clear when the water in the reservoir would rise again.”
Reports reveal that researchers covered the excavated buildings with tight-fitting plastic sheets and gravel to avoid damage when underwater. The university confirmed that the site is now once more entirely submerged.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/un ... 54367.html
Amara Amaryah
Wed, June 1, 2022, 2:07 PM
A 3,400 year-old city emerged from the Tigris River in Iraq due to a drought, revealing the hidden civilization. A team of archaeologists rushed to the Mosul reservoir, located in northern Iraq and includes the Mosul Dam (once known as Saddam Dam) to investigate the old city. Archaeologists say that the lost city is the ancient city of ‘Zakhiku’.
The lost city actually emerged earlier this year, after a long period of extreme drought in the country led to large amounts of water being drawn from the reservoir to irrigate crops. This all caused water levels to fall.
Amidst all of the excavated findings were ‘several large buildings, a huge fortification and an extensive city’.
The Universities of Freiburg and Tubingen were fast reacting as the reservoir on the Tigris River dried up, revealing the historical wonder. They had to rush to investigate before the site was submerged again. The excavation was led by Chairman of the Kurdistan Archaeology Organization, Dr. Hasan Ahmed Qasim, Dr. Ivana Puljiz from the University of Freiburg, and Dr. Peter Pfälzner from the University of Tübingen.
In 2018 archaeologists partially discovered the site. This time was the first time a team of archaeologists thoroughly excavated the site.
Tigris River reveals Iraq is home to submerged Bronze Age ancient city
The university explained that Iraq is “one of the countries in the world most affected by climate change” and that “to prevent crops from drying out, large amounts of water have been drawn down from the Mosul reservoir – Iraq’s most important water storage – since December.”
The university added: “The extensive city with a palace and several large buildings could be ancient Zakhiku – believed to have been an important center in the Mittani Empire (ca. 1550-1350 BC).”
A team was hastily formed in days to explore this Bronze Age ancient city. Funding was also quickly secured from the Fritz Thyssen Foundation through the University of Freiburg.
The university added: “The German-Kurdish archaeological team was under immense time pressure because it was not clear when the water in the reservoir would rise again.”
Reports reveal that researchers covered the excavated buildings with tight-fitting plastic sheets and gravel to avoid damage when underwater. The university confirmed that the site is now once more entirely submerged.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/un ... 54367.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
NBC News
Newly found Chinese artifacts illuminate mysterious ancient kingdom
Patrick Smith and Meredith Chen
Wed, June 15, 2022, 8:06 AM
A bronze altar and a dragon with a pig's nose are among a trove of items discovered in sacrificial pits that shed new light on the buried secrets of an ancient Chinese civilization.
Archaeologists on Monday announced the "significant" series of finds at the Sanxingdui ruins in China's southwestern Sichuan province, according to the team behind the dig and the state-run Xinhua news agency.
A team including academics from Peking University and Sichuan University found thousands of items including intricate bronze, gold and jade items, and what it called the unprecedented discovery of 10 bronzes. Experts say the finds date back 3,000 to 4,500 years.
Discovered in the late 1920s, Sanxingdui is one of the key Chinese archaeological sites. Experts think its treasures once belonged to the ancient Shu kingdom, which dates back 4,800 years and lasted 2,000 years.
The new finds mostly come from what archaeologists call sacrificial pits 7 and 8, the highlight being a bronze box with a tortoise-shaped lid containing jade artifacts, including dragon heads. Traces of silk fabric were found surrounding the box.
China Sichuan Sanxingdui Ruins Discoveries - 01 Jun 2022 (Chine Nouvelle / SIPA / Shutterstock)
China Sichuan Sanxingdui Ruins Discoveries - 01 Jun 2022 (Chine Nouvelle / SIPA / Shutterstock)
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that the vessel is one of its kind, given its distinctive shape, fine craftsmanship and ingenious design. Although we do not know what this vessel was used for, we can assume that ancient people treasured it,” said Li Haichao, a professor at Sichuan University who is in charge of the excavation at pit 7, according to Xinhua.
The role of the pits and their use is contested. One academic, Chen Shen, argued in a 2002 book: “Some believe the pits to be a kind of burial, but without human skeletons; the body might have been reduced to ash as a result of a ritual burning ceremony.”
Burned fragments of ivory were found in one pit and the presence of ash, possibly the remnants of tree and plant matter used as fuel, has led archaeologists to speculate that boxes were placed in the pits to be burned.
In pit 8, archaeologists found yet more elaborate bronze work, including heads with gold masks, an altar and a dragon with a pig's nose.
A curious three-part sculpture features a snake with a human head with protruding eyes, tusks and horns. The top part of the head resembles an ancient trumpet-shaped wine vessel.
Ran Honglin, from the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, said some elements of the sculpture were typical of the Shu kingdom, while others were seen in items from the Zhou dynasty.
“These three factors are now blended into one artifact, which demonstrates that Sanxingdui is an important part of Chinese civilization,” he told Xinhua.
“More cultural relics unearthed at Sanxingdui have also been seen in other locales in China, giving evidence of the early exchange and integration of Chinese civilization,” Honglin added.
CHINA-SICHUAN-SANXINGDUI RUINS-DISCOVERIES (CN) (Xinhua News Agency / via Getty Images)
CHINA-SICHUAN-SANXINGDUI RUINS-DISCOVERIES (CN) (Xinhua News Agency / via Getty Images)
“The sculptures are very complex and imaginative, reflecting the fairy world imagined by people at that time, and they demonstrate the diversity and richness of Chinese civilization,” Zhao Hao, an associate professor at Peking University who led the excavation of pit 8, told Xinhua.
The institute said some 13,000 items have already been found at Sanxingdui since excavations began in the 1980s.
The 12-square-mile site was accidentally discovered in the late 1920s by a farmer in Sichuan province who was repairing a sewage ditch. It is considered one the most important Chinese archaeological finds and one of the world’s greatest discoveries of the 20th century.
The finds paint a vivid picture of life in ancient China. Small sacrificial pits and the sacrificed remains of cattle and boars were found alongside reeds, bamboo and soy beans.
Most historians and archaeologists previously thought the birthplace of Chinese civilization was the Yellow River Basin in China’s north. But Sanxingdui's discovery, and its excavation in the 1980s, challenged those assumptions.
The new finds are expected to be displayed at an exhibition at Sanxingdui Museum, near the city of Guanghan, in 2023.
Mystery has surrounded the fate of the societies that created the artifacts found at Sanxingdui. Evidence shows that at some point, they left the area and moved to the ancient city of Jinsha, near the modern city of Chengdu.
Some scholars believe the move was caused by an earthquake 3,000 years ago.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ne ... 45763.html
Newly found Chinese artifacts illuminate mysterious ancient kingdom
Patrick Smith and Meredith Chen
Wed, June 15, 2022, 8:06 AM
A bronze altar and a dragon with a pig's nose are among a trove of items discovered in sacrificial pits that shed new light on the buried secrets of an ancient Chinese civilization.
Archaeologists on Monday announced the "significant" series of finds at the Sanxingdui ruins in China's southwestern Sichuan province, according to the team behind the dig and the state-run Xinhua news agency.
A team including academics from Peking University and Sichuan University found thousands of items including intricate bronze, gold and jade items, and what it called the unprecedented discovery of 10 bronzes. Experts say the finds date back 3,000 to 4,500 years.
Discovered in the late 1920s, Sanxingdui is one of the key Chinese archaeological sites. Experts think its treasures once belonged to the ancient Shu kingdom, which dates back 4,800 years and lasted 2,000 years.
The new finds mostly come from what archaeologists call sacrificial pits 7 and 8, the highlight being a bronze box with a tortoise-shaped lid containing jade artifacts, including dragon heads. Traces of silk fabric were found surrounding the box.
China Sichuan Sanxingdui Ruins Discoveries - 01 Jun 2022 (Chine Nouvelle / SIPA / Shutterstock)
China Sichuan Sanxingdui Ruins Discoveries - 01 Jun 2022 (Chine Nouvelle / SIPA / Shutterstock)
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that the vessel is one of its kind, given its distinctive shape, fine craftsmanship and ingenious design. Although we do not know what this vessel was used for, we can assume that ancient people treasured it,” said Li Haichao, a professor at Sichuan University who is in charge of the excavation at pit 7, according to Xinhua.
The role of the pits and their use is contested. One academic, Chen Shen, argued in a 2002 book: “Some believe the pits to be a kind of burial, but without human skeletons; the body might have been reduced to ash as a result of a ritual burning ceremony.”
Burned fragments of ivory were found in one pit and the presence of ash, possibly the remnants of tree and plant matter used as fuel, has led archaeologists to speculate that boxes were placed in the pits to be burned.
In pit 8, archaeologists found yet more elaborate bronze work, including heads with gold masks, an altar and a dragon with a pig's nose.
A curious three-part sculpture features a snake with a human head with protruding eyes, tusks and horns. The top part of the head resembles an ancient trumpet-shaped wine vessel.
Ran Honglin, from the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, said some elements of the sculpture were typical of the Shu kingdom, while others were seen in items from the Zhou dynasty.
“These three factors are now blended into one artifact, which demonstrates that Sanxingdui is an important part of Chinese civilization,” he told Xinhua.
“More cultural relics unearthed at Sanxingdui have also been seen in other locales in China, giving evidence of the early exchange and integration of Chinese civilization,” Honglin added.
CHINA-SICHUAN-SANXINGDUI RUINS-DISCOVERIES (CN) (Xinhua News Agency / via Getty Images)
CHINA-SICHUAN-SANXINGDUI RUINS-DISCOVERIES (CN) (Xinhua News Agency / via Getty Images)
“The sculptures are very complex and imaginative, reflecting the fairy world imagined by people at that time, and they demonstrate the diversity and richness of Chinese civilization,” Zhao Hao, an associate professor at Peking University who led the excavation of pit 8, told Xinhua.
The institute said some 13,000 items have already been found at Sanxingdui since excavations began in the 1980s.
The 12-square-mile site was accidentally discovered in the late 1920s by a farmer in Sichuan province who was repairing a sewage ditch. It is considered one the most important Chinese archaeological finds and one of the world’s greatest discoveries of the 20th century.
The finds paint a vivid picture of life in ancient China. Small sacrificial pits and the sacrificed remains of cattle and boars were found alongside reeds, bamboo and soy beans.
Most historians and archaeologists previously thought the birthplace of Chinese civilization was the Yellow River Basin in China’s north. But Sanxingdui's discovery, and its excavation in the 1980s, challenged those assumptions.
The new finds are expected to be displayed at an exhibition at Sanxingdui Museum, near the city of Guanghan, in 2023.
Mystery has surrounded the fate of the societies that created the artifacts found at Sanxingdui. Evidence shows that at some point, they left the area and moved to the ancient city of Jinsha, near the modern city of Chengdu.
Some scholars believe the move was caused by an earthquake 3,000 years ago.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ne ... 45763.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
BBC
Maharashtra: Ancient stone age tools found in India cave
Fri, September 16, 2022 at 2:01 AM
Over the years rock carvings of a previously unknown civilization have been found in India's western state of Maharashtra. Now, a cave in the same region is promising to shed more light on the creators of these prehistoric artworks and their lives. The BBC Marathi's Mayuresh Konnur reports.
The cave, located around 10km (six miles) away from Koloshi village in the Konkan region of western Maharashtra, was discovered by a group of researchers last year. Excavations earlier this year revealed several stone tools in the cave that date back tens of thousands of years.
"Nowhere in the world can we find rock art of this kind," says Dr Tejas Garge, who heads Maharashtra's archaeology department. Archaeologists believe these artefacts can help us find out more about the way our ancestors lived.
Rock carvings
Two rounds of excavations were conducted in the cave
The cave, which is situated in a secluded forest in Sindhudurg, was discovered by researchers who were studying rock carvings in nearby areas. Excavation work was conducted in two rounds, during which archaeologists dug two trenches inside the cave. Several big and small stone tools dating back to the Mesolithic period - also called the middle stone age - have been found.
"The microliths, or the small stone tools, date back to around 10,000 years, whereas the larger tools could be around 20,000 years old," says Rutivij Apte, who has been researching the Konkan petroglyphs and was part of the excavation team.
Dr Parth Chauhan, an archaeologist, says chemical processes are used to analyse any residue that might be present on the edges of the artefacts. This can help determine what the object was used for.
"It will take a couple of months to find out the exact time period these stone tools belong to. But right now, we can say that these artefacts are between 10,000 to 48,000 years old."
Maharashtra's laterite-rich Konkan plateau where this cave was discovered is also a treasure trove of prehistoric art. In the past explorers have discovered rock carvings of animals, birds, human figures and geometrical designs hidden under layers of soil in several villages here.
So far, 1700 petroglyphs - or rock carvings - have been found at 132 locations in 76 villages in Sindhudurg and nearby Ratnagiri district.
Saili Palande Datar, a Pune-based art historian and writer, says these carvings offer great insights into the life and habits of prehistoric man.
She gives the example of an iconic rock carving of a human-figure found near Barsu village in Ratnagiri district.
Rock carvings
Several petroglyphs - rock carvings - have been found in Maharashtra's Konkan region
The carving is embossed on a rock and seems to be of a male figure who is holding what appears to be tigers and other wild animals in both hands.
"There is an amazing sense of symmetry in this carving, which points to a high level of skill. The picture also depicts the relationship man shared with animals," Ms Datar says.
He says that seals of the Harappan civilisation - one of the oldest civilisations in human history that flourished in the Indian subcontinent - also depict the close relationship man shared with animals.
"The seals have images of large animals like tigers and buffaloes and of man hunting animals," she says.
Experts say that mysteries around these prehistoric rock carvings are far from being solved, but a Unesco tag - natural and cultural landmarks from around the world are singled out for their "outstanding universal value" to humanity - can help preserve them for generations.
Eight rock carving sites in the Konkan region are already a part of Unesco's tentative list of World Heritage sites, which is the first step towards getting the tag for any culturally-significant site.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ma ... 22774.html
Maharashtra: Ancient stone age tools found in India cave
Fri, September 16, 2022 at 2:01 AM
Over the years rock carvings of a previously unknown civilization have been found in India's western state of Maharashtra. Now, a cave in the same region is promising to shed more light on the creators of these prehistoric artworks and their lives. The BBC Marathi's Mayuresh Konnur reports.
The cave, located around 10km (six miles) away from Koloshi village in the Konkan region of western Maharashtra, was discovered by a group of researchers last year. Excavations earlier this year revealed several stone tools in the cave that date back tens of thousands of years.
"Nowhere in the world can we find rock art of this kind," says Dr Tejas Garge, who heads Maharashtra's archaeology department. Archaeologists believe these artefacts can help us find out more about the way our ancestors lived.
Rock carvings
Two rounds of excavations were conducted in the cave
The cave, which is situated in a secluded forest in Sindhudurg, was discovered by researchers who were studying rock carvings in nearby areas. Excavation work was conducted in two rounds, during which archaeologists dug two trenches inside the cave. Several big and small stone tools dating back to the Mesolithic period - also called the middle stone age - have been found.
"The microliths, or the small stone tools, date back to around 10,000 years, whereas the larger tools could be around 20,000 years old," says Rutivij Apte, who has been researching the Konkan petroglyphs and was part of the excavation team.
Dr Parth Chauhan, an archaeologist, says chemical processes are used to analyse any residue that might be present on the edges of the artefacts. This can help determine what the object was used for.
"It will take a couple of months to find out the exact time period these stone tools belong to. But right now, we can say that these artefacts are between 10,000 to 48,000 years old."
Maharashtra's laterite-rich Konkan plateau where this cave was discovered is also a treasure trove of prehistoric art. In the past explorers have discovered rock carvings of animals, birds, human figures and geometrical designs hidden under layers of soil in several villages here.
So far, 1700 petroglyphs - or rock carvings - have been found at 132 locations in 76 villages in Sindhudurg and nearby Ratnagiri district.
Saili Palande Datar, a Pune-based art historian and writer, says these carvings offer great insights into the life and habits of prehistoric man.
She gives the example of an iconic rock carving of a human-figure found near Barsu village in Ratnagiri district.
Rock carvings
Several petroglyphs - rock carvings - have been found in Maharashtra's Konkan region
The carving is embossed on a rock and seems to be of a male figure who is holding what appears to be tigers and other wild animals in both hands.
"There is an amazing sense of symmetry in this carving, which points to a high level of skill. The picture also depicts the relationship man shared with animals," Ms Datar says.
He says that seals of the Harappan civilisation - one of the oldest civilisations in human history that flourished in the Indian subcontinent - also depict the close relationship man shared with animals.
"The seals have images of large animals like tigers and buffaloes and of man hunting animals," she says.
Experts say that mysteries around these prehistoric rock carvings are far from being solved, but a Unesco tag - natural and cultural landmarks from around the world are singled out for their "outstanding universal value" to humanity - can help preserve them for generations.
Eight rock carving sites in the Konkan region are already a part of Unesco's tentative list of World Heritage sites, which is the first step towards getting the tag for any culturally-significant site.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ma ... 22774.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
NBC News
Gold coins found hidden in wall shed light on Byzantine Empire
Patrick Smith
Tue, October 4, 2022 at 10:58 AM
When someone stashed 44 gold coins into a wall in the seventh century, they may have hoped to one day return and find their treasure again. Instead, almost 1,400 years on, the coins have been found by Israeli archaeologists, who hailed the discovery as a rare glimpse into an ancient past at a tense time of violent conquest.
The Israeli Antiquities Authority said Monday that it found the hoard at Banias, once known as Panaeas, an important spiritual site to successive cultures through history.
The pure gold coins, weighing about 170 grams (6 ounces), feature the effigies of emperors Phocas (602-610 A.D.) and Heraclius (610-644 A.D.), leading experts to believe they were hidden during the Muslim conquest of the area in around 635.
"The discovery reflects a specific moment in time, when we can imagine the owner concealing his fortune in the threat of war, hoping to return one day to retrieve his property," Yoav Lerer, the director of the excavation, said in a statement.
"In retrospect, we know that he was less fortunate."
The coins also reveal new details about the economy of the last 40 years of Byzantine rule in the area.
The Byzantine Empire, centered in what is now Istanbul, was a continuation of the Roman Empire after its collapse in the West following the sack of Rome by barbarian tribes in 410 A.D. The eastern empire would last another 1,000 years, but it lost several of its provinces to Muslim conquests of the seventh century — around the time the coins were stashed in the wall.
“Most of the coins are of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius,” Gabriela Bijovsky, an expert on ancient coins who examined the hoard, said in a news release.
"What is particularly interesting is that in his early years as emperor, only his portrait was depicted on the coin, whereas after a short time, the images of his sons also appear,” Bijovsky said.
"One can actually follow his sons growing up — from childhood until their image appears the same size as their father, who is depicted with a long beard."
Remnants of pottery kilns, buildings, water channels and other coins were also found.
Now in a national park, Banias has played an important spiritual role in several cultures. First a Canaanite shrine to the god Baal, it was renamed in the Hellenistic era after Pan, the half-man, half-goat god of shepherds and fertility.
The site grew to its peak in the early Roman era under Herod and his son Philip II, who renamed it Caesarea in honor of the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus.
In Christian tradition it is where St. Peter declared Jesus to be the son of God before he received the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Banias is in the area known as the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and annexed later, promoting settlements and a thriving tourism industry. Former President Donald Trump recognized Israel's sovereignty over the area in 2019, prompting strong protests from Damascus, but the rest of the international community regards the territory as Israeli-occupied.
Experts estimate that the coins were hidden during the Muslim conquest of the region in 635. (Israel Antiquities Authority)
Experts estimate that the coins were hidden during the Muslim conquest of the region in 635. (Israel Antiquities Authority)
The Banias excavation was funded by the Israel Electric Corp., which is working to connect the nearby Druze holy site of Nabi Khadr to the national electricity grid.
The discovery is being hailed as important as the uncovering this year of a church that archaeologists claimed was the birthplace of St. Peter.
"The gold coin hoard is on a par with the Byzantine Church, possibly the Church of Saint Peter, that was recently discovered," Raya Shurky, director of the National Parks Authority, said in a news release.
"The finds include the remains of a mosaic floor and a stone engraved with many crosses, indicating that Banias became a Christian pilgrim site."
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/go ... 37941.html
Gold coins found hidden in wall shed light on Byzantine Empire
Patrick Smith
Tue, October 4, 2022 at 10:58 AM
When someone stashed 44 gold coins into a wall in the seventh century, they may have hoped to one day return and find their treasure again. Instead, almost 1,400 years on, the coins have been found by Israeli archaeologists, who hailed the discovery as a rare glimpse into an ancient past at a tense time of violent conquest.
The Israeli Antiquities Authority said Monday that it found the hoard at Banias, once known as Panaeas, an important spiritual site to successive cultures through history.
The pure gold coins, weighing about 170 grams (6 ounces), feature the effigies of emperors Phocas (602-610 A.D.) and Heraclius (610-644 A.D.), leading experts to believe they were hidden during the Muslim conquest of the area in around 635.
"The discovery reflects a specific moment in time, when we can imagine the owner concealing his fortune in the threat of war, hoping to return one day to retrieve his property," Yoav Lerer, the director of the excavation, said in a statement.
"In retrospect, we know that he was less fortunate."
The coins also reveal new details about the economy of the last 40 years of Byzantine rule in the area.
The Byzantine Empire, centered in what is now Istanbul, was a continuation of the Roman Empire after its collapse in the West following the sack of Rome by barbarian tribes in 410 A.D. The eastern empire would last another 1,000 years, but it lost several of its provinces to Muslim conquests of the seventh century — around the time the coins were stashed in the wall.
“Most of the coins are of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius,” Gabriela Bijovsky, an expert on ancient coins who examined the hoard, said in a news release.
"What is particularly interesting is that in his early years as emperor, only his portrait was depicted on the coin, whereas after a short time, the images of his sons also appear,” Bijovsky said.
"One can actually follow his sons growing up — from childhood until their image appears the same size as their father, who is depicted with a long beard."
Remnants of pottery kilns, buildings, water channels and other coins were also found.
Now in a national park, Banias has played an important spiritual role in several cultures. First a Canaanite shrine to the god Baal, it was renamed in the Hellenistic era after Pan, the half-man, half-goat god of shepherds and fertility.
The site grew to its peak in the early Roman era under Herod and his son Philip II, who renamed it Caesarea in honor of the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus.
In Christian tradition it is where St. Peter declared Jesus to be the son of God before he received the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
Banias is in the area known as the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and annexed later, promoting settlements and a thriving tourism industry. Former President Donald Trump recognized Israel's sovereignty over the area in 2019, prompting strong protests from Damascus, but the rest of the international community regards the territory as Israeli-occupied.
Experts estimate that the coins were hidden during the Muslim conquest of the region in 635. (Israel Antiquities Authority)
Experts estimate that the coins were hidden during the Muslim conquest of the region in 635. (Israel Antiquities Authority)
The Banias excavation was funded by the Israel Electric Corp., which is working to connect the nearby Druze holy site of Nabi Khadr to the national electricity grid.
The discovery is being hailed as important as the uncovering this year of a church that archaeologists claimed was the birthplace of St. Peter.
"The gold coin hoard is on a par with the Byzantine Church, possibly the Church of Saint Peter, that was recently discovered," Raya Shurky, director of the National Parks Authority, said in a news release.
"The finds include the remains of a mosaic floor and a stone engraved with many crosses, indicating that Banias became a Christian pilgrim site."
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/go ... 37941.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
Live Science
1,600-year-old mosaic of Hercules and Neptune's 40 mistresses unearthed in war-torn Syria
Laura Geggel
Mon, October 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM
Artisans used colorful, small stones to craft the fourth century A.D. mosaic found in Syria. Photographed on Oct. 12, 2022.
Artisans used colorful, small stones to craft the fourth century A.D. mosaic found in Syria. Photographed on Oct. 12, 2022.
Archaeologists in war-torn Syria have unearthed a stunning mosaic from the Roman era that features events from the Trojan War, the chiseled muscles of the Roman demigod Hercules and the powerful ancient Roman god Neptune alongside 40 of his mistresses.
The General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums, a Syrian government agency, discovered the 65.5-foot-long by 20-foot-wide (20 by 6 meters) mural in Rastan, a town in central Syria near Homs, a key battleground during the Syrian revolution, agency representatives announced on Wednesday (Oct. 12), according to the Associated Press (AP).
The agency uncovered the well-preserved mural — painstakingly made in ancient times with colorful stones that each measured just 0.5 by 0.5 inches (1.2 by 1.2 centimeters) across — in a building that was held by civil war rebels until 2018, when Syrian government forces took the town, according to the BBC. The ancient ruins under the building are still undergoing excavation.
"We can't identify the type of the building, whether it's a public bathhouse or something else, because we have not finished excavating yet," Humam Saad, the associate director of excavation and archaeological research at the directorate, told the AP.
The mural is a rare find that is "rich in details," and is easily the most important archaeological find in the country since the civil war started in 2011 during the Arab Spring, Saad added.
The mural dates to the fourth century A.D., after the Western Roman Empire split from the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire). Businessmen from Lebanon's Nabu Museum had originally purchased the building, and then donated it to the Syrian state, the AP reported.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty ... 00457.html
1,600-year-old mosaic of Hercules and Neptune's 40 mistresses unearthed in war-torn Syria
Laura Geggel
Mon, October 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM
Artisans used colorful, small stones to craft the fourth century A.D. mosaic found in Syria. Photographed on Oct. 12, 2022.
Artisans used colorful, small stones to craft the fourth century A.D. mosaic found in Syria. Photographed on Oct. 12, 2022.
Archaeologists in war-torn Syria have unearthed a stunning mosaic from the Roman era that features events from the Trojan War, the chiseled muscles of the Roman demigod Hercules and the powerful ancient Roman god Neptune alongside 40 of his mistresses.
The General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums, a Syrian government agency, discovered the 65.5-foot-long by 20-foot-wide (20 by 6 meters) mural in Rastan, a town in central Syria near Homs, a key battleground during the Syrian revolution, agency representatives announced on Wednesday (Oct. 12), according to the Associated Press (AP).
The agency uncovered the well-preserved mural — painstakingly made in ancient times with colorful stones that each measured just 0.5 by 0.5 inches (1.2 by 1.2 centimeters) across — in a building that was held by civil war rebels until 2018, when Syrian government forces took the town, according to the BBC. The ancient ruins under the building are still undergoing excavation.
"We can't identify the type of the building, whether it's a public bathhouse or something else, because we have not finished excavating yet," Humam Saad, the associate director of excavation and archaeological research at the directorate, told the AP.
The mural is a rare find that is "rich in details," and is easily the most important archaeological find in the country since the civil war started in 2011 during the Arab Spring, Saad added.
The mural dates to the fourth century A.D., after the Western Roman Empire split from the Eastern Roman Empire (also known as the Byzantine Empire). Businessmen from Lebanon's Nabu Museum had originally purchased the building, and then donated it to the Syrian state, the AP reported.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty ... 00457.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
NBC News
100 years after Tutankhamun discovery new finds reveal more of ancient Egypt's secrets
Kelly Cobiella and Laura Saravia and Leila Sackur
Sat, November 5, 2022 at 12:08 PM
GIZA, Egypt — A century after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb made headlines around the world, in the sweltering desert heat just outside Cairo, a small team is still making new finds in ancient Egypt.
Digging layer by layer at the Saqqara site in Giza, moving earth one bucket at a time, archaeologists have found a giant trove of ancient coffins and mummies, along with ceramic amulets believed to have been used in burial rituals, and thick papyrus documents.
Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former state minister for antiquities, told NBC News Wednesday that the site contained countless other artifacts relating to another pharaoh, King Teti, and his followers who worshipped him as a god for 1,000 years after his death.
A century after the tomb of King Tutankhamun was discovered, archaeologists continue to unlock ancient Egypt's mysteries. (TODAY)
A century after the tomb of King Tutankhamun was discovered, archaeologists continue to unlock ancient Egypt's mysteries. (TODAY)
The remains of King Tutankhamun's closest generals and advisers were also at the site, which sits about 20 miles south of the North African nation's capital, he said.
“I really believe that this year and next year, this site is going to be the most important site in Egypt,” said Hawass, referring to a network of underground rooms hidden 65 feet beneath the oldest pyramids in Egypt.
“I always say that we found until now only 30% of our monuments are still there, 70% are buried underneath the ground,” he said.
The discovery of so many new coffins in the region could be because “Teti was worshipped as a god in the New Kingdom, and everyone wanted to be buried alongside him,” Hawass said, adding that his team had found close to 300 coffins in the vicinity of his pyramid this year, most of them in good condition..
Although Teti’s sarcophagus is 4,300 years old, people continued to be buried near him for more than 1,000 years later, because they wanted his protection, Hawass said.
After the mummies are exhumed from the site, archaeologists X-ray them to determine their ages at death, any diseases they might have carried in their lifetime, and what might have killed them. Teams then carry out a process of careful conservation and begin to record and archive newly uncovered antiquities.
Hawass said the coffins and antiquities found at the site would likely be displayed in the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, which is scheduled to open next year, although the project has stalled numerous times because of political instability and lack of government funding, according to the museum’s website.
Numerous objects associated with Tutankhamun are also set be displayed there, although the boy king’s famous death mask and sarcophagus are still on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, in the interests of preserving tourism, Hawass said.
Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered in 1922 nearly 400 miles south of the site in Giza in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, by British archaeologist Howard Carter.
Believed to have become pharaoh when he was 8 or 9 years old, in around 1334 B.C., Tutankhamun ruled until his death 10 years later, and is believed to have suffered from numerous illnesses and disabilities, including a flat foot, circulatory problems and malaria.
Undisturbed by grave robbers, the tomb was almost completely intact when Carter discovered it. “Inside, he found that there were four big shrines and he took them out by ropes,” Hawass said.
“And under the shrines, he found the golden coffins, three coffins,” he said, adding that among the 5,000 artifacts found in the burial chambers was a golden dagger to protect Tutankhamun in the afterlife, an ornate throne engraved with the love story of his mother and father, and containers of beer and wine.
“In ancient Egypt, gold was like dust” said Hawass, who could not quantify how much this heritage was worth to modern Egyptians.
“As an archaeologist, if you gave me the whole money of the United States and England, I would say no,” he said. “This heritage belongs to everyone.”
Kelly Cobiella and Laura Saravia reported from Giza. Leila Sackur reported from London.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/enterta ... -232440619.
100 years after Tutankhamun discovery new finds reveal more of ancient Egypt's secrets
Kelly Cobiella and Laura Saravia and Leila Sackur
Sat, November 5, 2022 at 12:08 PM
GIZA, Egypt — A century after the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb made headlines around the world, in the sweltering desert heat just outside Cairo, a small team is still making new finds in ancient Egypt.
Digging layer by layer at the Saqqara site in Giza, moving earth one bucket at a time, archaeologists have found a giant trove of ancient coffins and mummies, along with ceramic amulets believed to have been used in burial rituals, and thick papyrus documents.
Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, Egypt's former state minister for antiquities, told NBC News Wednesday that the site contained countless other artifacts relating to another pharaoh, King Teti, and his followers who worshipped him as a god for 1,000 years after his death.
A century after the tomb of King Tutankhamun was discovered, archaeologists continue to unlock ancient Egypt's mysteries. (TODAY)
A century after the tomb of King Tutankhamun was discovered, archaeologists continue to unlock ancient Egypt's mysteries. (TODAY)
The remains of King Tutankhamun's closest generals and advisers were also at the site, which sits about 20 miles south of the North African nation's capital, he said.
“I really believe that this year and next year, this site is going to be the most important site in Egypt,” said Hawass, referring to a network of underground rooms hidden 65 feet beneath the oldest pyramids in Egypt.
“I always say that we found until now only 30% of our monuments are still there, 70% are buried underneath the ground,” he said.
The discovery of so many new coffins in the region could be because “Teti was worshipped as a god in the New Kingdom, and everyone wanted to be buried alongside him,” Hawass said, adding that his team had found close to 300 coffins in the vicinity of his pyramid this year, most of them in good condition..
Although Teti’s sarcophagus is 4,300 years old, people continued to be buried near him for more than 1,000 years later, because they wanted his protection, Hawass said.
After the mummies are exhumed from the site, archaeologists X-ray them to determine their ages at death, any diseases they might have carried in their lifetime, and what might have killed them. Teams then carry out a process of careful conservation and begin to record and archive newly uncovered antiquities.
Hawass said the coffins and antiquities found at the site would likely be displayed in the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, which is scheduled to open next year, although the project has stalled numerous times because of political instability and lack of government funding, according to the museum’s website.
Numerous objects associated with Tutankhamun are also set be displayed there, although the boy king’s famous death mask and sarcophagus are still on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, in the interests of preserving tourism, Hawass said.
Tutankhamun's tomb was discovered in 1922 nearly 400 miles south of the site in Giza in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, by British archaeologist Howard Carter.
Believed to have become pharaoh when he was 8 or 9 years old, in around 1334 B.C., Tutankhamun ruled until his death 10 years later, and is believed to have suffered from numerous illnesses and disabilities, including a flat foot, circulatory problems and malaria.
Undisturbed by grave robbers, the tomb was almost completely intact when Carter discovered it. “Inside, he found that there were four big shrines and he took them out by ropes,” Hawass said.
“And under the shrines, he found the golden coffins, three coffins,” he said, adding that among the 5,000 artifacts found in the burial chambers was a golden dagger to protect Tutankhamun in the afterlife, an ornate throne engraved with the love story of his mother and father, and containers of beer and wine.
“In ancient Egypt, gold was like dust” said Hawass, who could not quantify how much this heritage was worth to modern Egyptians.
“As an archaeologist, if you gave me the whole money of the United States and England, I would say no,” he said. “This heritage belongs to everyone.”
Kelly Cobiella and Laura Saravia reported from Giza. Leila Sackur reported from London.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/enterta ... -232440619.
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
Travel Noire
Archaeologists Discover Tunnel Beneath An Egyptian Temple That May Lead To Cleopatra’s Lost Tomb
Brunno Braga
Fri, November 11, 2022 at 5:41 PM
Good news for egyptologists and those who love Ancient Egypt History. As CNN reported this Tuesday, a team of archaeologists may be very close to discovering the lost tomb of Cleopatra, the most famous female Pharoh in History. After successfully petitioning the Egyptian government to conduct research in the area, she and her team began digging the site, in the area of the Temple of Taposiris Magna, Alexandria. over the past 20 years.
Born in 70 BCE, Cleopatra was an Egyptian queen, famous in history and drama as the lover of Julius Caesar and later as the wife of Mark Antony. She was the last queen of the Macedonian dynasty that ruled Egypt between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE and its annexation by Rome in 30 BCE. She became queen on the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, in 51 BC and ruled successively with her two brothers Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV and her son Ptolemy XV Caesar.
Cleopatra committed suicide after her husband, the Roman general Mark Antony, died in her arms in 30 BCE. The means of her death is uncertain, though popular belief suggests that she had killed herself using an asp, a symbol of divine royalty. She was 39 and had been a queen for 22 years.
Led by Kathleen Martinez, an archaeologist at the University of Santo Domingo, the team of archaeologists has dug a 1,305-meter (4,281-foot) tunnel, located 13 meters (43 feet) underground.
The Egyptian Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities considered the discovery an “engineering miracle” made by the archaeological team.
“The excavation revealed a huge religious center with three sanctuaries, a sacred lake, more than 1,500 objects, busts, statues, golden pieces, a huge collection of coins portraying Alexander the Great, Queen Cleopatra and the Ptolemies,” Martinez told CNN.
A student, a linguist, a mother and a philosopher
Martinez said that the most interesting discovery is the complex of tunnels leading to the Mediterranean Sea and sunken structures.
Now, exploring these underwater structures will be the next stage of her search for the Egyptian queen’s lost tomb.
“My perseverance cannot be confused with obsession. I admire Cleopatra as a historical character. She was a victim of propaganda by the Romans, aiming to distort her image,” Martinez said.
“She was an educated woman, probably the first one who studied formally at the Museum in Alexandria, the center of culture in her time,” according to the archaeologist.
She added that her admiration for Cleopatra is because she distinguished herself as a student, a linguist, a mother and a philosopher.
The most important discovery of the century
Martinez told CNN that Cleopatra was considered in her time to be “the human incarnation of the goddess Isis,” as Antony was considered to be that of the god Osiris, Isis’ husband.
Some historic indications are making Martinez believe Cleopatra’s tomb might be located in the Temple of Osiris in the ruined city of Taposiris Magna, on Egypt’s northern coast.”No other place, structure or temple combines so many conditions as the temple of Taposiris Magna.”
Now, Martinez said, she is at “the beginning of a new journey” — underwater excavations. The archaeologist said she is hopeful.” If the tunnels lead to Cleopatra it will be the most important discovery of the century,” she told CNN.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ar ... 24757.html
Archaeologists Discover Tunnel Beneath An Egyptian Temple That May Lead To Cleopatra’s Lost Tomb
Brunno Braga
Fri, November 11, 2022 at 5:41 PM
Good news for egyptologists and those who love Ancient Egypt History. As CNN reported this Tuesday, a team of archaeologists may be very close to discovering the lost tomb of Cleopatra, the most famous female Pharoh in History. After successfully petitioning the Egyptian government to conduct research in the area, she and her team began digging the site, in the area of the Temple of Taposiris Magna, Alexandria. over the past 20 years.
Born in 70 BCE, Cleopatra was an Egyptian queen, famous in history and drama as the lover of Julius Caesar and later as the wife of Mark Antony. She was the last queen of the Macedonian dynasty that ruled Egypt between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE and its annexation by Rome in 30 BCE. She became queen on the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, in 51 BC and ruled successively with her two brothers Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV and her son Ptolemy XV Caesar.
Cleopatra committed suicide after her husband, the Roman general Mark Antony, died in her arms in 30 BCE. The means of her death is uncertain, though popular belief suggests that she had killed herself using an asp, a symbol of divine royalty. She was 39 and had been a queen for 22 years.
Led by Kathleen Martinez, an archaeologist at the University of Santo Domingo, the team of archaeologists has dug a 1,305-meter (4,281-foot) tunnel, located 13 meters (43 feet) underground.
The Egyptian Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities considered the discovery an “engineering miracle” made by the archaeological team.
“The excavation revealed a huge religious center with three sanctuaries, a sacred lake, more than 1,500 objects, busts, statues, golden pieces, a huge collection of coins portraying Alexander the Great, Queen Cleopatra and the Ptolemies,” Martinez told CNN.
A student, a linguist, a mother and a philosopher
Martinez said that the most interesting discovery is the complex of tunnels leading to the Mediterranean Sea and sunken structures.
Now, exploring these underwater structures will be the next stage of her search for the Egyptian queen’s lost tomb.
“My perseverance cannot be confused with obsession. I admire Cleopatra as a historical character. She was a victim of propaganda by the Romans, aiming to distort her image,” Martinez said.
“She was an educated woman, probably the first one who studied formally at the Museum in Alexandria, the center of culture in her time,” according to the archaeologist.
She added that her admiration for Cleopatra is because she distinguished herself as a student, a linguist, a mother and a philosopher.
The most important discovery of the century
Martinez told CNN that Cleopatra was considered in her time to be “the human incarnation of the goddess Isis,” as Antony was considered to be that of the god Osiris, Isis’ husband.
Some historic indications are making Martinez believe Cleopatra’s tomb might be located in the Temple of Osiris in the ruined city of Taposiris Magna, on Egypt’s northern coast.”No other place, structure or temple combines so many conditions as the temple of Taposiris Magna.”
Now, Martinez said, she is at “the beginning of a new journey” — underwater excavations. The archaeologist said she is hopeful.” If the tunnels lead to Cleopatra it will be the most important discovery of the century,” she told CNN.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/ar ... 24757.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
Miami Herald
1.2 million-year-old ‘stone-tool workshop’ uncovered in Ethiopia is oldest ever found
Aspen Pflughoeft
Wed, February 1, 2023 at 6:00 AM CST
A tan cliff stretching through a valley in Ethiopia contained a collection of black stones that were much more than just rocks, researchers found.
Archaeologists noticed a large deposit of obsidian stones while studying the Melka Kunture archaeological site, according to a study published Jan. 19 in the journal Nature. Looking closer, they noticed the obsidian pieces had been shaped into handaxes.
Researchers uncovered nearly 600 stone tools, almost exclusively made of obsidian, in one section of the cliff side. The artifacts were over 1.2 million years old, the study said. Based on the weathering patterns, the tools were likely found near where they were initially buried.
Analyzing the handaxes, archaeologists found a “remarkable” amount of “standardization,” the study said. Notably, the handaxes were made of obsidian, a fragile black volcanic rock that is difficult to carve.
“This was a focused activity” for the hominin crafters, researchers said. “The sheer amount of handaxes and debris that had accumulated … suggest that this was an often repeated activity and even a routine one.” The tools provided evidence of “the repetitive use of fully mastered skills” by hominins, the early family of modern humans.
Archaeologists concluded they uncovered a “stone-tool workshop” — the oldest ever known, according to the study.
Although tool-crafting dates back 3.3 million years, researchers believed “the use of dedicated ‘workshops’ for tool-crafting” came millennia-later, Vice reported. The finds at Melka Kunture have challenged that timeline.
At Melka Kunture, “hominins were doing much more than simply reacting to environmental changes;” the study authors wrote. “They were taking advantage of new opportunities, and developing new techniques and new skills.”
Excavations at the archaeological site are ongoing and led by a team of Italian and Spanish researchers, according to a Facebook page dedicated to the project.
The Melka Kunture site is about 30 miles southwest of Addis Ababa.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/1- ... 00571.html
1.2 million-year-old ‘stone-tool workshop’ uncovered in Ethiopia is oldest ever found
Aspen Pflughoeft
Wed, February 1, 2023 at 6:00 AM CST
A tan cliff stretching through a valley in Ethiopia contained a collection of black stones that were much more than just rocks, researchers found.
Archaeologists noticed a large deposit of obsidian stones while studying the Melka Kunture archaeological site, according to a study published Jan. 19 in the journal Nature. Looking closer, they noticed the obsidian pieces had been shaped into handaxes.
Researchers uncovered nearly 600 stone tools, almost exclusively made of obsidian, in one section of the cliff side. The artifacts were over 1.2 million years old, the study said. Based on the weathering patterns, the tools were likely found near where they were initially buried.
Analyzing the handaxes, archaeologists found a “remarkable” amount of “standardization,” the study said. Notably, the handaxes were made of obsidian, a fragile black volcanic rock that is difficult to carve.
“This was a focused activity” for the hominin crafters, researchers said. “The sheer amount of handaxes and debris that had accumulated … suggest that this was an often repeated activity and even a routine one.” The tools provided evidence of “the repetitive use of fully mastered skills” by hominins, the early family of modern humans.
Archaeologists concluded they uncovered a “stone-tool workshop” — the oldest ever known, according to the study.
Although tool-crafting dates back 3.3 million years, researchers believed “the use of dedicated ‘workshops’ for tool-crafting” came millennia-later, Vice reported. The finds at Melka Kunture have challenged that timeline.
At Melka Kunture, “hominins were doing much more than simply reacting to environmental changes;” the study authors wrote. “They were taking advantage of new opportunities, and developing new techniques and new skills.”
Excavations at the archaeological site are ongoing and led by a team of Italian and Spanish researchers, according to a Facebook page dedicated to the project.
The Melka Kunture site is about 30 miles southwest of Addis Ababa.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/1- ... 00571.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
The Telegraph
Lost 4,500-year-old palace of mythical Sumerian king unearthed
Craig Simpson
Fri, February 17, 2023 at 1:25 PM CST
British Museum Sumerian king temple discovery 4,500 year old Iraq archaeology - British Museum/The Girsu Project
For millennia, it was little more than a myth. Then it remained an archaeological mystery. But now, a British Museum project has finally unearthed a lost wonder which could shed new light on the birth of civilization.
Archaeologists working in southern Iraq have discovered the 4,500-year-old palace associated with a mythical king, whose buried library of clay tablets might fill the gaps in an ancient epic poem which inspired parts of the Bible.
Experts with the British Museum also found a lost “holy of holies” at the ancient city of Girsu, ending a 150-year search which began when a 19th-century archaeologist first discovered the site, and the Sumerian culture which built it.
Dr Sebastien Rey, the project’s leader, said that beneath the desert sand and detritus from old digs lie “important texts” and “ancient fragments” which may “change the way we think” about the world’s very first civilization.
The Sumerian civilisation, which endured from 4500 to 1900 BC, was the first urban culture encompassing cities, a numbering system and a system of writing – cuneiform.
While its innovations filtered into later eras, knowledge of the Sumerians themselves was lost until a French team led by Ernest de Sarzec unearthed Girsu in 1877, a discovery which sparked a scramble for artefacts from this mysterious culture.
British Museum Sumerian king temple discovery 4,500 year old Iraq archaeology - British Museum/The Girsu Project
The ancient city was explored and then lay abandoned for more than a century. That was until 2015, when a British Museum-led team began sifting through the debris and the “cigarette packs of the French guys” who had previously excavated it, according to Dr Rey.
His team were in search of the temple of the deity Ningirsu, which previously unearthed texts said should be there. They finally discovered the “holy of holies”, which would, “like the Kaaba” in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, have drawn pilgrims on annual journeys to the site.
The team working with Iraqi authorities also sought out the palace of Gudea, the semi-mythical Sumerian king, which ancient texts said should also be in Girsu.
The palace could hold cuneiform texts detailing the daily life of the city, and potentially include lost tablets from the Epic of Gilgamesh, a 4,000-year-old poem whose myths were used in the Bible, “principally the flood narrative”.
The Epic of Gilgamesh recounts the tale of the eponymous warrior king, who slays demons with his companion, until his friend’s death prompts him to seek a source of immortal life. On his journey, he encounters Utnapishtim, a man who was chosen by the gods to build a boat to survive a flood sent to wipe out mankind.
Dr Rey believes there is a shrine to Gilgamesh at Girsu which may, with the help of texts, offer insights into this myth.
Dr Hartwig Fischer, the director of the British Museum, said: “The discovery of the lost palace and temple hold enormous potential for our understanding of this important civilization, shedding light on the past and informing the future.”
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/lo ... 29329.html
Lost 4,500-year-old palace of mythical Sumerian king unearthed
Craig Simpson
Fri, February 17, 2023 at 1:25 PM CST
British Museum Sumerian king temple discovery 4,500 year old Iraq archaeology - British Museum/The Girsu Project
For millennia, it was little more than a myth. Then it remained an archaeological mystery. But now, a British Museum project has finally unearthed a lost wonder which could shed new light on the birth of civilization.
Archaeologists working in southern Iraq have discovered the 4,500-year-old palace associated with a mythical king, whose buried library of clay tablets might fill the gaps in an ancient epic poem which inspired parts of the Bible.
Experts with the British Museum also found a lost “holy of holies” at the ancient city of Girsu, ending a 150-year search which began when a 19th-century archaeologist first discovered the site, and the Sumerian culture which built it.
Dr Sebastien Rey, the project’s leader, said that beneath the desert sand and detritus from old digs lie “important texts” and “ancient fragments” which may “change the way we think” about the world’s very first civilization.
The Sumerian civilisation, which endured from 4500 to 1900 BC, was the first urban culture encompassing cities, a numbering system and a system of writing – cuneiform.
While its innovations filtered into later eras, knowledge of the Sumerians themselves was lost until a French team led by Ernest de Sarzec unearthed Girsu in 1877, a discovery which sparked a scramble for artefacts from this mysterious culture.
British Museum Sumerian king temple discovery 4,500 year old Iraq archaeology - British Museum/The Girsu Project
The ancient city was explored and then lay abandoned for more than a century. That was until 2015, when a British Museum-led team began sifting through the debris and the “cigarette packs of the French guys” who had previously excavated it, according to Dr Rey.
His team were in search of the temple of the deity Ningirsu, which previously unearthed texts said should be there. They finally discovered the “holy of holies”, which would, “like the Kaaba” in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, have drawn pilgrims on annual journeys to the site.
The team working with Iraqi authorities also sought out the palace of Gudea, the semi-mythical Sumerian king, which ancient texts said should also be in Girsu.
The palace could hold cuneiform texts detailing the daily life of the city, and potentially include lost tablets from the Epic of Gilgamesh, a 4,000-year-old poem whose myths were used in the Bible, “principally the flood narrative”.
The Epic of Gilgamesh recounts the tale of the eponymous warrior king, who slays demons with his companion, until his friend’s death prompts him to seek a source of immortal life. On his journey, he encounters Utnapishtim, a man who was chosen by the gods to build a boat to survive a flood sent to wipe out mankind.
Dr Rey believes there is a shrine to Gilgamesh at Girsu which may, with the help of texts, offer insights into this myth.
Dr Hartwig Fischer, the director of the British Museum, said: “The discovery of the lost palace and temple hold enormous potential for our understanding of this important civilization, shedding light on the past and informing the future.”
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/lo ... 29329.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
How did humans first reach the Americas?
Joshua A. Krisch
Sat, February 18, 2023 at 4:00 AM CST
Humans first arrived in North America at least 15,500 years ago. Exactly how they got there, however, constitutes one of the longest-standing debates in archaeology.
For decades, scientists assumed that people first arrived in the Americas by walking south from the now-flooded land bridge in the Bering Strait that once connected Russia to Alaska when sea levels were lower during the last ice age. But recent evidence suggests that these people were not the first to set foot on the continent.
According to the now-dominant "coastal route theory," that distinction belongs to humans who boated down the Pacific coast several millennia earlier. A 2023 study, for instance, found that coastal conditions were favorable during two time windows: from 24,500 to 22,000 years ago, and from 16,400 to 14,800 years ago. And while the science is far from settled, the evidence increasingly points to the first Americans arriving by sea or land along the coast.
"The pendulum is swinging in support of the coastal corridor being the route taken by the first Americans," Michael Waters, director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University, told Live Science in an email. "But we still need the smoking gun: an early site along the coast."
Until 20 years ago, the best available archaeological evidence suggested that humans first arrived in North America about 13,000 years ago. The rise of the Clovis people — whose 13,400-year-old remains were discovered in Clovis, New Mexico, in the early 1900s — coincided perfectly with the formation of an ice-free corridor along the Rocky Mountains.
Scientists assumed that these humans crossed the Bering Land Bridge into what is now Alaska, and then turned south to march onward to New Mexico through that convenient corridor. This remains the prevailing theory as to how the Clovis people made it to the Americas. "It seems very likely that people did arrive from northeast Asia via the ice free corridor once this route was open and viable," Todd Braje, chair of anthropology at San Diego State University, told Live Science in an email.
But recent excavations suggest that the Clovis were not the first Americans. A 2011 paper in the journal Science presented evidence of tools crafted by humans in Texas from up to 15,500 years ago, and a 2021 paper in Science described 23,000-year-old footprints in New Mexico. (However, the footprint date is disputed by a 2022 study in the journal Quaternary Research, which posits that the plant seeds the original team used to radiocarbon-date the footprint layer are problematic.)
These "pre-Clovis people" would have had to migrate to America long before the ice-free corridor opened up. "The earliest the inland corridor was open is 14,300 years ago," Waters said. "It is impossible to have people in Texas and Idaho at 16,000 years ago, and Florida at 14,600 years ago, come through the corridor. They must have come a different way."
How the pre-Clovis people got to America without an inland corridor to take them south from the Bering Strait remains an open question. "With the breaking of the Clovis barrier in the 1990s, we know people were in the Americas prior to at least 14,000 years ago, but when people first arrived and by what route or routes remains unknown," Braje said. "There are now lively debates on the topic but the bottom line is that no one knows definitely."
The prevailing theory is that the pre-Clovis people arrived by watercraft. "The route taken by the initial migrants was almost certainly along the coast," said Matthew Des Lauriers, director of the Applied Archaeology Program at California State University, San Bernardino.
Des Lauriers described the pre-Clovis as sophisticated maritime hunter-gatherers, who would have cast off south from the Bering Land Bridge and subsided on fish and game as they voyaged down the Pacific coast. Ultimately, Des Lauriers said, these intrepid seafarers parted ways. Some pre-Clovis people followed rivers inland, while others continued south as far as Chile.
"The ocean would always have provided resources for skilled fishermen and hunters," Des Lauriers told Live Science in an email. "The most likely scenario is one of coastal fisher-hunter-gatherers moving along the North Pacific Coast."
Recent work from geologists has lent support to the theory that the Clovis people arrived via an inland corridor, while the pre-Clovis people took a coastal route. Beryllium-10 dating of glacial boulders along the ice-free corridor suggests that the corridor opened about 13,800 years ago. And studies suggest that a strip of unglaciated land should have existed along the Pacific coast of Alaska and British Columbia 16,000 years ago — prime real estate for a coastal corridor.
As the field of ancient genetics has blossomed, multiple studies have provided additional evidence that the first Americans arrived between 15,000 and 17,000 years ago.
"It is gratifying to see the archaeological and genetic evidence converging to tell the same story," Waters said. "Finally, we have a much better understanding of the chronology of the opening of the two corridors, and the evidence now supports a coastal migration route."
Nonetheless, physical evidence for both corridors is still lacking. Significant archaeological, genetic and geologic legwork will be necessary before we can firmly point to the lives and times of the first Americans and begin to describe, with confidence, how they arrived in America.
"There are very few sites along the Pacific Coast that are pre-Clovis in age, and much work needs to be accomplished to find potential early coastal sites," Braje said. "We have no definitive answers about when and how people first arrived in the Americas."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty ... 00796.html
Joshua A. Krisch
Sat, February 18, 2023 at 4:00 AM CST
Humans first arrived in North America at least 15,500 years ago. Exactly how they got there, however, constitutes one of the longest-standing debates in archaeology.
For decades, scientists assumed that people first arrived in the Americas by walking south from the now-flooded land bridge in the Bering Strait that once connected Russia to Alaska when sea levels were lower during the last ice age. But recent evidence suggests that these people were not the first to set foot on the continent.
According to the now-dominant "coastal route theory," that distinction belongs to humans who boated down the Pacific coast several millennia earlier. A 2023 study, for instance, found that coastal conditions were favorable during two time windows: from 24,500 to 22,000 years ago, and from 16,400 to 14,800 years ago. And while the science is far from settled, the evidence increasingly points to the first Americans arriving by sea or land along the coast.
"The pendulum is swinging in support of the coastal corridor being the route taken by the first Americans," Michael Waters, director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University, told Live Science in an email. "But we still need the smoking gun: an early site along the coast."
Until 20 years ago, the best available archaeological evidence suggested that humans first arrived in North America about 13,000 years ago. The rise of the Clovis people — whose 13,400-year-old remains were discovered in Clovis, New Mexico, in the early 1900s — coincided perfectly with the formation of an ice-free corridor along the Rocky Mountains.
Scientists assumed that these humans crossed the Bering Land Bridge into what is now Alaska, and then turned south to march onward to New Mexico through that convenient corridor. This remains the prevailing theory as to how the Clovis people made it to the Americas. "It seems very likely that people did arrive from northeast Asia via the ice free corridor once this route was open and viable," Todd Braje, chair of anthropology at San Diego State University, told Live Science in an email.
But recent excavations suggest that the Clovis were not the first Americans. A 2011 paper in the journal Science presented evidence of tools crafted by humans in Texas from up to 15,500 years ago, and a 2021 paper in Science described 23,000-year-old footprints in New Mexico. (However, the footprint date is disputed by a 2022 study in the journal Quaternary Research, which posits that the plant seeds the original team used to radiocarbon-date the footprint layer are problematic.)
These "pre-Clovis people" would have had to migrate to America long before the ice-free corridor opened up. "The earliest the inland corridor was open is 14,300 years ago," Waters said. "It is impossible to have people in Texas and Idaho at 16,000 years ago, and Florida at 14,600 years ago, come through the corridor. They must have come a different way."
How the pre-Clovis people got to America without an inland corridor to take them south from the Bering Strait remains an open question. "With the breaking of the Clovis barrier in the 1990s, we know people were in the Americas prior to at least 14,000 years ago, but when people first arrived and by what route or routes remains unknown," Braje said. "There are now lively debates on the topic but the bottom line is that no one knows definitely."
The prevailing theory is that the pre-Clovis people arrived by watercraft. "The route taken by the initial migrants was almost certainly along the coast," said Matthew Des Lauriers, director of the Applied Archaeology Program at California State University, San Bernardino.
Des Lauriers described the pre-Clovis as sophisticated maritime hunter-gatherers, who would have cast off south from the Bering Land Bridge and subsided on fish and game as they voyaged down the Pacific coast. Ultimately, Des Lauriers said, these intrepid seafarers parted ways. Some pre-Clovis people followed rivers inland, while others continued south as far as Chile.
"The ocean would always have provided resources for skilled fishermen and hunters," Des Lauriers told Live Science in an email. "The most likely scenario is one of coastal fisher-hunter-gatherers moving along the North Pacific Coast."
Recent work from geologists has lent support to the theory that the Clovis people arrived via an inland corridor, while the pre-Clovis people took a coastal route. Beryllium-10 dating of glacial boulders along the ice-free corridor suggests that the corridor opened about 13,800 years ago. And studies suggest that a strip of unglaciated land should have existed along the Pacific coast of Alaska and British Columbia 16,000 years ago — prime real estate for a coastal corridor.
As the field of ancient genetics has blossomed, multiple studies have provided additional evidence that the first Americans arrived between 15,000 and 17,000 years ago.
"It is gratifying to see the archaeological and genetic evidence converging to tell the same story," Waters said. "Finally, we have a much better understanding of the chronology of the opening of the two corridors, and the evidence now supports a coastal migration route."
Nonetheless, physical evidence for both corridors is still lacking. Significant archaeological, genetic and geologic legwork will be necessary before we can firmly point to the lives and times of the first Americans and begin to describe, with confidence, how they arrived in America.
"There are very few sites along the Pacific Coast that are pre-Clovis in age, and much work needs to be accomplished to find potential early coastal sites," Braje said. "We have no definitive answers about when and how people first arrived in the Americas."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty ... 00796.html
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Ancient Egyptian pharaoh-sphinx statues unearthed at sun temple
Owen Jarus
Thu, March 23, 2023 at 1:33 PM CDT
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered broken statues of ancient royalty at a sun temple in Heliopolis, an archaeological site that was once a major city near what is now Cairo.
The stone-carved fragments include depictions of Ramesses II (reign circa 1279 B.C. to 1213 B.C.), Ramesses IX (reign circa 1126 B.C. to 1108 B.C), Horemheb (reign circa 1323 B.C. to 1295 B.C.) and Psamtik II (reign 595 B.C. to 589 B.C.), the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement released March 20.
Sun temples are found at a number of sites in Egypt and are dedicated to Ra, the ancient Egyptian sun god, but the sun temple at Heliopolis was of particular importance. (Heliopolis is a Greek name; the Egyptian name was Iunu.)
According to ancient Egyptian belief, Heliopolis is where "the world was created, with the first sunrise," excavation dig leader Dietrich Raue, the director of the Cairo department of the German Archaeological Institute, told Live Science in an email. "Here the connection of kingship to the creator and sun god was celebrated," Raue said, noting that pharaohs constructed statues, obelisks and other structures at Heliopolis to legitimize their rule and honor the sun god."
The newly discovered statue fragments, which show the heads of the pharaohs on sphinxes, would have been placed in front of gates or beside obelisks at the sun temple, Raue said. At some point in antiquity, the statues were destroyed and reused as building materials, he added.
Live Science contacted scholars not involved with the excavation to get their thoughts. "The abundant statuary material found by the mission testify of the long-lasting importance of the site in pharaonic [times]," Massimiliano Nuzzolo, an Egyptologist with the Polish Academy of Sciences who is studying a sun temple at Abu Ghurab in Egypt, told Live Science in an email. The pharaoh-sphinx findings also reveal "the wish of the kings of the second and first millennium [B.C.] to leave a tangible sign of their worship for the sun god Ra in one of the main places of Egyptian civilization," Nuzzolo added.
Peter Brand, a history professor who specializes in Egyptology at the University of Memphis, said that there is much we still don't know about Heliopolis. For instance, while Ramesses II was a prominent pharaoh who expanded Egypt's empire, it's not clear if he rebuilt parts of this sun temple or continued using an older one.
"Archeologists have only scratched the surface of this area," Brand told Live Science in an email. "Much of its rich and complex history over the course of three millennia of pharaonic history patiently await[s] discovery beneath the desert sands."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty ... 58807.html
Ancient Egyptian pharaoh-sphinx statues unearthed at sun temple
Owen Jarus
Thu, March 23, 2023 at 1:33 PM CDT
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered broken statues of ancient royalty at a sun temple in Heliopolis, an archaeological site that was once a major city near what is now Cairo.
The stone-carved fragments include depictions of Ramesses II (reign circa 1279 B.C. to 1213 B.C.), Ramesses IX (reign circa 1126 B.C. to 1108 B.C), Horemheb (reign circa 1323 B.C. to 1295 B.C.) and Psamtik II (reign 595 B.C. to 589 B.C.), the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a statement released March 20.
Sun temples are found at a number of sites in Egypt and are dedicated to Ra, the ancient Egyptian sun god, but the sun temple at Heliopolis was of particular importance. (Heliopolis is a Greek name; the Egyptian name was Iunu.)
According to ancient Egyptian belief, Heliopolis is where "the world was created, with the first sunrise," excavation dig leader Dietrich Raue, the director of the Cairo department of the German Archaeological Institute, told Live Science in an email. "Here the connection of kingship to the creator and sun god was celebrated," Raue said, noting that pharaohs constructed statues, obelisks and other structures at Heliopolis to legitimize their rule and honor the sun god."
The newly discovered statue fragments, which show the heads of the pharaohs on sphinxes, would have been placed in front of gates or beside obelisks at the sun temple, Raue said. At some point in antiquity, the statues were destroyed and reused as building materials, he added.
Live Science contacted scholars not involved with the excavation to get their thoughts. "The abundant statuary material found by the mission testify of the long-lasting importance of the site in pharaonic [times]," Massimiliano Nuzzolo, an Egyptologist with the Polish Academy of Sciences who is studying a sun temple at Abu Ghurab in Egypt, told Live Science in an email. The pharaoh-sphinx findings also reveal "the wish of the kings of the second and first millennium [B.C.] to leave a tangible sign of their worship for the sun god Ra in one of the main places of Egyptian civilization," Nuzzolo added.
Peter Brand, a history professor who specializes in Egyptology at the University of Memphis, said that there is much we still don't know about Heliopolis. For instance, while Ramesses II was a prominent pharaoh who expanded Egypt's empire, it's not clear if he rebuilt parts of this sun temple or continued using an older one.
"Archeologists have only scratched the surface of this area," Brand told Live Science in an email. "Much of its rich and complex history over the course of three millennia of pharaonic history patiently await[s] discovery beneath the desert sands."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty ... 58807.html
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3,300-year-old ancient Egyptian tombs and chapel with 'amazing' decorations unearthed at Saqqara
Owen Jarus
Sun, April 23, 2023 at 5:00 AM CDT
This is the largest relief found at the tomb of Panehsy in Saqqara.
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered several tombs and chapels dating back around 3,300 years in an ancient cemetery at the site of Saqqara.
The biggest tomb belonged to a man named "Panehsy" who was the "overseer of the temple of Amun," Lara Weiss, a curator of the Egyptian and Nubian collection at the Netherlands' National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and author of the book "The Walking Dead at Saqqara" (De Gruyter 2022), who is one of the excavation leaders, told Live Science in an email.
Weiss noted that Panehsy "had a very nice tomb with wonderful reliefs which show large traces of colour." Inscriptions indicate that he didn't have any children, and that an employee arranged for offerings to be brought to the tomb. Human remains were found in Panehsy's tomb, but they seem to be from people buried at a later time and will be studied in detail in 2024, Weiss said.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty ... 00200.html
3,300-year-old ancient Egyptian tombs and chapel with 'amazing' decorations unearthed at Saqqara
Owen Jarus
Sun, April 23, 2023 at 5:00 AM CDT
This is the largest relief found at the tomb of Panehsy in Saqqara.
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered several tombs and chapels dating back around 3,300 years in an ancient cemetery at the site of Saqqara.
The biggest tomb belonged to a man named "Panehsy" who was the "overseer of the temple of Amun," Lara Weiss, a curator of the Egyptian and Nubian collection at the Netherlands' National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden and author of the book "The Walking Dead at Saqqara" (De Gruyter 2022), who is one of the excavation leaders, told Live Science in an email.
Weiss noted that Panehsy "had a very nice tomb with wonderful reliefs which show large traces of colour." Inscriptions indicate that he didn't have any children, and that an employee arranged for offerings to be brought to the tomb. Human remains were found in Panehsy's tomb, but they seem to be from people buried at a later time and will be studied in detail in 2024, Weiss said.
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty ... 00200.html
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What was the longest-lasting civilization?
Tom Metcalfe
Sun, May 28, 2023 at 4:00 AM CDT
Ancient Egypt, China and Mesopotamia are all frequently cited as long-lasting civilizations, enduring for thousands of years. But which of these societies lasted the longest?
It turns out, that's not a straightforward question, for a few reasons. First, modern historians and archaeologists don't agree on a single definition of a civilization, including when one begins and when one ends, and many experts are doubtful whether civilizations can be measured in this way.
Second, all great civilizations had periods when they were ruled by "foreigners" — the Hyksos in Egypt, for example — which complicates whether they should be considered continuous civilizations.
Third, the culture near the beginning of a civilization might have been different from the culture near its end. As a result, many modern historians and archaeologists do not consider the idea of "civilization" useful; instead, they talk of "cultures" and "traditions."
Related: What's the world's oldest civilization?
The situation was different 100 years ago, when historians and archaeologists were happy to label some cultures as "civilizations." In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was "a complicated acceptance of a hierarchy of human societies," in part to justify European colonial empires, Rowan Flad, an archaeologist at Harvard University, told Live Science.
"There was no difficulty for people who were coming from a European or American standpoint to identify certain traditions and certain cultures as being civilized, and others not," he said.
Is China the longest-lasting civilization?
By most measures — the use of writing, the establishment of cities (what "civilization" originally meant) or continuous traditions — it seems the Chinese civilization may be the longest-lasting. How it should be measured, however, is disputed.
"It depends on how you define civilization and how you define Chinese, because I think there are reasonable multiple ways you can define both of those concepts," said Flad, an expert in the emergence of complex societies in China.
As an example, he highlighted Chinese writing; forms of the same symbols are used today and on the 3,200-year-old Oracle Bones, the earliest examples of writing in China.
"When you think about the [Chinese] written language, there's absolutely no controversy that there's continuity from 3,250 years ago or so to the present," he said.
But the same criterion can't be used elsewhere, Flad said. For example, the earliest writing in the Americas is attributed to the Olmecs in about 900 B.C. Writing was also known to the Maya after about 250 B.C. But the Incas, who ruled parts of South America for about 400 years until the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, seem to have had no writing (although they used knotted cords called quipu or khipu to encode information.)
Ancient and modern China
"I don't think that what is happening today in China is closely related to things that happened, say, before 1949 [China's revolution under Mao Zedong] or 1911 [the Xinhai revolution that ended China's last imperial dynasty]," Julia Schneider, a conceptual historian at University College Cork in Ireland, told Live Science.
Schneider, an expert in China's history, noted that pro-Chinese politicians and historians sometimes claim China's civilization is the world's longest-lasting, as "a point of legitimacy." But "what was Chinese? — that is the problem." The region encompassed a vast area and many different ethnicities at different times, and what happened in the Chinese heartlands could be "culturally very far away" than what happened elsewhere, she said.
Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Next to China, ancient Egypt and then Mesopotamia are usually considered the longest-lasting civilizations. By one estimate, measuring from the time of the first pharaohs and the use of hieroglyphic writing until its native religion was replaced by Christianity, the ancient Egyptian civilization endured for about 3,500 years.
But Egypt was sometimes ruled by foreign dynasties, and both hieroglyphics and the Egyptian religion had different forms at certain times.
In Mesopotamia, Sumerian writing began in about 3200 B.C., and worship of Mesopotamian gods probably lasted until the third century A.D., Philip Jones, associate curator and keeper of collections at the Babylonian section of Philadelphia's Penn Museum, told Live Science. By that count, Mesopotamia might be seen as lasting as long as the Egyptian civilization.
"What most people mean by 'civilization' has to be understood as a high-level extrapolation that tends to lose focus when you look more closely," Jones said. "But, that said, unless history is to be seen as an almost infinite set of micro-events, people have a right to expect historians to attempt to divide history into more manageable chunks."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty ... 00102.html
What was the longest-lasting civilization?
Tom Metcalfe
Sun, May 28, 2023 at 4:00 AM CDT
Ancient Egypt, China and Mesopotamia are all frequently cited as long-lasting civilizations, enduring for thousands of years. But which of these societies lasted the longest?
It turns out, that's not a straightforward question, for a few reasons. First, modern historians and archaeologists don't agree on a single definition of a civilization, including when one begins and when one ends, and many experts are doubtful whether civilizations can be measured in this way.
Second, all great civilizations had periods when they were ruled by "foreigners" — the Hyksos in Egypt, for example — which complicates whether they should be considered continuous civilizations.
Third, the culture near the beginning of a civilization might have been different from the culture near its end. As a result, many modern historians and archaeologists do not consider the idea of "civilization" useful; instead, they talk of "cultures" and "traditions."
Related: What's the world's oldest civilization?
The situation was different 100 years ago, when historians and archaeologists were happy to label some cultures as "civilizations." In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was "a complicated acceptance of a hierarchy of human societies," in part to justify European colonial empires, Rowan Flad, an archaeologist at Harvard University, told Live Science.
"There was no difficulty for people who were coming from a European or American standpoint to identify certain traditions and certain cultures as being civilized, and others not," he said.
Is China the longest-lasting civilization?
By most measures — the use of writing, the establishment of cities (what "civilization" originally meant) or continuous traditions — it seems the Chinese civilization may be the longest-lasting. How it should be measured, however, is disputed.
"It depends on how you define civilization and how you define Chinese, because I think there are reasonable multiple ways you can define both of those concepts," said Flad, an expert in the emergence of complex societies in China.
As an example, he highlighted Chinese writing; forms of the same symbols are used today and on the 3,200-year-old Oracle Bones, the earliest examples of writing in China.
"When you think about the [Chinese] written language, there's absolutely no controversy that there's continuity from 3,250 years ago or so to the present," he said.
But the same criterion can't be used elsewhere, Flad said. For example, the earliest writing in the Americas is attributed to the Olmecs in about 900 B.C. Writing was also known to the Maya after about 250 B.C. But the Incas, who ruled parts of South America for about 400 years until the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, seem to have had no writing (although they used knotted cords called quipu or khipu to encode information.)
Ancient and modern China
"I don't think that what is happening today in China is closely related to things that happened, say, before 1949 [China's revolution under Mao Zedong] or 1911 [the Xinhai revolution that ended China's last imperial dynasty]," Julia Schneider, a conceptual historian at University College Cork in Ireland, told Live Science.
Schneider, an expert in China's history, noted that pro-Chinese politicians and historians sometimes claim China's civilization is the world's longest-lasting, as "a point of legitimacy." But "what was Chinese? — that is the problem." The region encompassed a vast area and many different ethnicities at different times, and what happened in the Chinese heartlands could be "culturally very far away" than what happened elsewhere, she said.
Egypt and Mesopotamia.
Next to China, ancient Egypt and then Mesopotamia are usually considered the longest-lasting civilizations. By one estimate, measuring from the time of the first pharaohs and the use of hieroglyphic writing until its native religion was replaced by Christianity, the ancient Egyptian civilization endured for about 3,500 years.
But Egypt was sometimes ruled by foreign dynasties, and both hieroglyphics and the Egyptian religion had different forms at certain times.
In Mesopotamia, Sumerian writing began in about 3200 B.C., and worship of Mesopotamian gods probably lasted until the third century A.D., Philip Jones, associate curator and keeper of collections at the Babylonian section of Philadelphia's Penn Museum, told Live Science. By that count, Mesopotamia might be seen as lasting as long as the Egyptian civilization.
"What most people mean by 'civilization' has to be understood as a high-level extrapolation that tends to lose focus when you look more closely," Jones said. "But, that said, unless history is to be seen as an almost infinite set of micro-events, people have a right to expect historians to attempt to divide history into more manageable chunks."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/lifesty ... 00102.html
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2,000-year-old human skulls, oil lamps, and bronze daggers reveal possible necromancer's portal to the underworld in Jerusalem
Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert
Sun, July 16, 2023 at 1:37 AM CDT
JUDEAN HILLS, ISRAEL - SEPTEMBER 9: This handout file photo provided on September 9, 2009 by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem shows Israeli cave researcher Boaz Langford inspecting a cave August 2, 2009 in the Judean Hills, Israel, where 120 gold, silver and bronze coins were just found. The coins and other artifacts found in the almost inaccessible cave provide evidence on how the ancient Jews found refuge in the Judean Hills during the Bar Kokhba rebellion against the Romans in 132-35 AD. (Photo by Boaz Zissu/The Hebrew University via Getty Images)
Israeli cave researcher Boaz Langford inspecting a cave August 2, 2009 in the Judean Hills, Israel, where 120 gold, silver and bronze coins were found.Boaz Zissu/The Hebrew University via Getty Images
Israeli researchers discovered possible evidence of "ritual magic" in a deep cave in the Judaean hills.
Human skulls were arranged in patterns near oil lamps, with daggers and axe heads nearby.
The artifacts are thought to be necromancer tools, as caves were considered portals to the underworld.
Hidden deep in Te'omim Cave in Jerusalem, researchers have discovered evidence of ritual magic practices dating back to antiquity — with human skulls and daggers pointing to dark ceremonies where necromancers may have attempted to conjure the spirits of the dead.
In a new study for Harvard Theological Review published by Cambridge University Press, researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Bar-Ilan University detailed the results of over a decade of study on 120 oil lamps that were found in the cave within the Judaean hills, which date back to the late Roman to early Byzantine period, or late second to fourth centuries CE.
"All of these lamps had been deliberately inserted in narrow, deep crevices in the main chamber walls or beneath the rubble," authors Eitan Klein and Boaz Zissu wrote in the study. "Some crevices contained groups of oil lamps mixed with weapons and pottery vessels from earlier periods or placed with human skulls."
The fact that the lamps were inserted so deeply into the hidden, hard-to-reach crevices "suggests that illuminating the dark cave was not their sole purpose," the academics theorized.
Klein and Zissu did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
In addition to the oil lamps, weapons including daggers and axe heads were located along with three human skulls. No additional human bones were found with the skulls.
These artifacts were likely used as part of necromancy ceremonies in the cave during the Late Roman period, the authors concluded after reviewing their discoveries and a library of ancient papyrus scrolls from the era, which detailed spells and customs honoring the cave.
"One spell explains how to restrain and seal the mouths of skulls so that they won't say or do anything. Another shows how to raise the spirit of the dead with a disinterred skull: a spell is written in black ink on a flax leaf, which is then placed on the skull," the research reads, indicating evidence of such rituals was found in the Te'omim Cave. "The purpose of another spell is to obtain assistance and protection from spirits by using the skull of Typhon (probably a donkey) on which a spell is written in the blood of a black dog."
At the time, the cave, with its deep pit and interior spring, was seen as a potential portal to the underworld, an oracle, and a physical representation of a Chthonic deity — to which witches dedicated their ritual magic. Oil lamps in particular, such as the 120 found within the cave's crevices, were used to lure spirits to the realm of the living.
One specific incantation, which calls upon the god Besas to reveal the future, contains the following chant to be said to an oil lamp, allowing the god to rise through the flame: "I call upon you, the headless god, the one who has his face upon his feet; you are the one who hurls lightning, who thunders, you are [the one whose] mouth continually pours on himself."
Rather than evidence of live sacrifices, the daggers and other weaponry found in the cave likely served as talismans to protect against the spirits, which were said to have feared metal — specifically bronze and iron.
Human sacrifice was outlawed in 97 BCE by the Roman Senate. By 357 CE, the researchers note, necromancy was outlawed by the emperor Constantius II, who, due to his fear of sorcery being used against him, prohibited "all forms of divination, communication with demons, disturbance of the spirits of the dead, and nocturnal sacrifices."
The punishment for violating the emperor's rule was certain death.
While specifics of the lives of those who practiced necromancy in the Te'omim Cave remain unclear — and will perhaps remain unknowable forever — the artifacts they left behind reveal clues about how they secretly used ritual magic to predict the future and conjure up the spirits of the dead.
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2,000-year-old human skulls, oil lamps, and bronze daggers reveal possible necromancer's portal to the underworld in Jerusalem
Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert
Sun, July 16, 2023 at 1:37 AM CDT
JUDEAN HILLS, ISRAEL - SEPTEMBER 9: This handout file photo provided on September 9, 2009 by The Hebrew University of Jerusalem shows Israeli cave researcher Boaz Langford inspecting a cave August 2, 2009 in the Judean Hills, Israel, where 120 gold, silver and bronze coins were just found. The coins and other artifacts found in the almost inaccessible cave provide evidence on how the ancient Jews found refuge in the Judean Hills during the Bar Kokhba rebellion against the Romans in 132-35 AD. (Photo by Boaz Zissu/The Hebrew University via Getty Images)
Israeli cave researcher Boaz Langford inspecting a cave August 2, 2009 in the Judean Hills, Israel, where 120 gold, silver and bronze coins were found.Boaz Zissu/The Hebrew University via Getty Images
Israeli researchers discovered possible evidence of "ritual magic" in a deep cave in the Judaean hills.
Human skulls were arranged in patterns near oil lamps, with daggers and axe heads nearby.
The artifacts are thought to be necromancer tools, as caves were considered portals to the underworld.
Hidden deep in Te'omim Cave in Jerusalem, researchers have discovered evidence of ritual magic practices dating back to antiquity — with human skulls and daggers pointing to dark ceremonies where necromancers may have attempted to conjure the spirits of the dead.
In a new study for Harvard Theological Review published by Cambridge University Press, researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Bar-Ilan University detailed the results of over a decade of study on 120 oil lamps that were found in the cave within the Judaean hills, which date back to the late Roman to early Byzantine period, or late second to fourth centuries CE.
"All of these lamps had been deliberately inserted in narrow, deep crevices in the main chamber walls or beneath the rubble," authors Eitan Klein and Boaz Zissu wrote in the study. "Some crevices contained groups of oil lamps mixed with weapons and pottery vessels from earlier periods or placed with human skulls."
The fact that the lamps were inserted so deeply into the hidden, hard-to-reach crevices "suggests that illuminating the dark cave was not their sole purpose," the academics theorized.
Klein and Zissu did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
In addition to the oil lamps, weapons including daggers and axe heads were located along with three human skulls. No additional human bones were found with the skulls.
These artifacts were likely used as part of necromancy ceremonies in the cave during the Late Roman period, the authors concluded after reviewing their discoveries and a library of ancient papyrus scrolls from the era, which detailed spells and customs honoring the cave.
"One spell explains how to restrain and seal the mouths of skulls so that they won't say or do anything. Another shows how to raise the spirit of the dead with a disinterred skull: a spell is written in black ink on a flax leaf, which is then placed on the skull," the research reads, indicating evidence of such rituals was found in the Te'omim Cave. "The purpose of another spell is to obtain assistance and protection from spirits by using the skull of Typhon (probably a donkey) on which a spell is written in the blood of a black dog."
At the time, the cave, with its deep pit and interior spring, was seen as a potential portal to the underworld, an oracle, and a physical representation of a Chthonic deity — to which witches dedicated their ritual magic. Oil lamps in particular, such as the 120 found within the cave's crevices, were used to lure spirits to the realm of the living.
One specific incantation, which calls upon the god Besas to reveal the future, contains the following chant to be said to an oil lamp, allowing the god to rise through the flame: "I call upon you, the headless god, the one who has his face upon his feet; you are the one who hurls lightning, who thunders, you are [the one whose] mouth continually pours on himself."
Rather than evidence of live sacrifices, the daggers and other weaponry found in the cave likely served as talismans to protect against the spirits, which were said to have feared metal — specifically bronze and iron.
Human sacrifice was outlawed in 97 BCE by the Roman Senate. By 357 CE, the researchers note, necromancy was outlawed by the emperor Constantius II, who, due to his fear of sorcery being used against him, prohibited "all forms of divination, communication with demons, disturbance of the spirits of the dead, and nocturnal sacrifices."
The punishment for violating the emperor's rule was certain death.
While specifics of the lives of those who practiced necromancy in the Te'omim Cave remain unclear — and will perhaps remain unknowable forever — the artifacts they left behind reveal clues about how they secretly used ritual magic to predict the future and conjure up the spirits of the dead.
Read the original article on Business Insider
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/2- ... 37438.html
Re: Articles of Interest in Anthropology
Futurism
Scientists Say Textbooks Are Wrong About the Origin of Life
Maggie Harrison
Thu, July 27, 2023 at 3:56 PM CDT
Reprint Eastwood
Turns out we might be very wrong about the origin of life on Earth.
For decades now, the prevailing scientific theory explaining the Precambrian Avalon explosion — in short, the era dating back to about 685 to 800 million years ago in which multicellular organisms began to proliferate in Earth's oceans — has, put simply, been that an influx of oxygen into Earth's oceans accelerated the evolution of more complex life, ultimately paving the way for our planet's biosphere as we know it.
But as an international team of scientists suggests in a recently-published study, ancient rock samples show that this widely-accepted theory likely isn't true — meaning that we might just need to rewrite students' science textbooks.
"The fact that we now know, with a high degree of certainty, that oxygen didn't control the development of life on Earth provides us with an entirely new story about how life arose and what factors controlled this success," said Christian Bjerrum, an associate professor of geosciences and natural resource management at the University of Copenhagen and a co-author of the study published in the journal GeoBiology, in a statement.
"Specifically," he added, "it means that we need to rethink a lot of the things that we believed to be true from our childhood learning. And textbooks need to be revised and rewritten."
Less Is More
Per the study, the scientists meticulously mapped the geochemical makeup of ancient rock samples from the Omani mountain range in the Arabian peninsula. By examining the compositions of the samples, they determined that there likely wasn't any major flood of oxygenation after all — and actually, there was probably less oxygen in Earth's oceans at the time of the explosion than in years prior.
"Our measurements provide a good picture of what average oxygen concentrations were in the world's oceans at the time," said Bjerrum. "And it's apparent to us that there was no major increase in the amount of oxygen when more advanced fauna began to evolve and dominate Earth."
"In fact," he added, "there was somewhat of a slight decrease."
That said, the researchers still think that oxygen levels still played a central role in the proliferation of ancient multicellular species — and interestingly enough, they say that the decrease in oceanic oxygen may have ultimately been the culprit.
"It's interesting that the explosion of multicellular organisms occurs at a time with low concentrations of atmospheric and oceanic oxygen," said Bjerrum. "That indicates that organisms benefited from lower levels of oxygen and were able to develop in peace, as the water chemistry protected their stem cells naturally."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/sc ... 22856.html
Scientists Say Textbooks Are Wrong About the Origin of Life
Maggie Harrison
Thu, July 27, 2023 at 3:56 PM CDT
Reprint Eastwood
Turns out we might be very wrong about the origin of life on Earth.
For decades now, the prevailing scientific theory explaining the Precambrian Avalon explosion — in short, the era dating back to about 685 to 800 million years ago in which multicellular organisms began to proliferate in Earth's oceans — has, put simply, been that an influx of oxygen into Earth's oceans accelerated the evolution of more complex life, ultimately paving the way for our planet's biosphere as we know it.
But as an international team of scientists suggests in a recently-published study, ancient rock samples show that this widely-accepted theory likely isn't true — meaning that we might just need to rewrite students' science textbooks.
"The fact that we now know, with a high degree of certainty, that oxygen didn't control the development of life on Earth provides us with an entirely new story about how life arose and what factors controlled this success," said Christian Bjerrum, an associate professor of geosciences and natural resource management at the University of Copenhagen and a co-author of the study published in the journal GeoBiology, in a statement.
"Specifically," he added, "it means that we need to rethink a lot of the things that we believed to be true from our childhood learning. And textbooks need to be revised and rewritten."
Less Is More
Per the study, the scientists meticulously mapped the geochemical makeup of ancient rock samples from the Omani mountain range in the Arabian peninsula. By examining the compositions of the samples, they determined that there likely wasn't any major flood of oxygenation after all — and actually, there was probably less oxygen in Earth's oceans at the time of the explosion than in years prior.
"Our measurements provide a good picture of what average oxygen concentrations were in the world's oceans at the time," said Bjerrum. "And it's apparent to us that there was no major increase in the amount of oxygen when more advanced fauna began to evolve and dominate Earth."
"In fact," he added, "there was somewhat of a slight decrease."
That said, the researchers still think that oxygen levels still played a central role in the proliferation of ancient multicellular species — and interestingly enough, they say that the decrease in oceanic oxygen may have ultimately been the culprit.
"It's interesting that the explosion of multicellular organisms occurs at a time with low concentrations of atmospheric and oceanic oxygen," said Bjerrum. "That indicates that organisms benefited from lower levels of oxygen and were able to develop in peace, as the water chemistry protected their stem cells naturally."
https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/sc ... 22856.html
A Solar Eclipse Shines Light on Traditions That Still Matter Today
Among Indigenous peoples of the Americas, from Navajo Nation down to the rainforests of Brazil, events like the annular eclipse on Saturday have important and distinctive cultural meanings.
“When an eclipse begins, Navajo elders strongly instruct their community to go inside the hogan, a traditional dwelling, to ensure they don’t look up at the sun,” Dr. Nancy Maryboy of the Indigenous Education Institute said.Credit...Richard Maschmeyer/Alamy
On Oct. 14, an annular eclipse will make its way across the Western Hemisphere. The moon, farther from Earth than during a total eclipse, will block much of our view of the sun, leaving only a fiery halo of light in a darkened sky.
In the United States, the show begins in Oregon, then cuts through the Southwest before exiting through the Texas coastline. It will then cut across the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico and through Central America, before dipping down into Colombia, passing through the Amazon basin and concluding along Brazil’s eastern coast.
Thousands of tourists are flocking to the path of annularity to catch this astronomical marvel, which will last about four minutes at any given point along the path. Many describe eclipses as spiritual experiences.
But there’s at least one place where people can’t venture to watch: the sprawling desert lands of Navajo Nation, whose tribal parks in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah might have made a beautiful backdrop for the public to view a celestial “ring of fire.” On Sept. 15, Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation announced that all parks would be closed during the eclipse to accommodate traditional beliefs.
“Navajo look at the universe as holistic,” said David Begay, a cultural astronomer and vice president of the Indigenous Education Institute. The alignment of the planet, moon and sun during eclipses is understood as one cycle within an interconnected cosmic order, said Dr. Begay, who is Diné (which Navajo people call themselves).
The park closures are a reminder that for Indigenous peoples across the Americas, eclipses and other astronomical phenomena have been experienced for millenniums and have played important roles in different cultures. Traditions like those in Navajo Nation represent a call for non-Native tourists to be respectful when visiting sacred Indigenous lands and sites.
And those encountering the eclipse in other parts of the Americas may also pause and consider peoples who made their homes among the canyons of the Southwest, around the pyramids of Mexico and Central America and in the rainforests of Brazil; and how the stars, planets and other heavenly bodies manifest in the lives of Indigenous communities.
Walking in Two Worlds
Image
Two pieces of artistic basket designs, with a circular basket showing a dark eclipse surrounded by the fringes of the sun and the second an oval-shape depiction of the moon wearing what looks like a blue, purple and white head garment and a blue and red necklace.
Baskets featuring an eclipse and the moon by the Navajo artist Elsie Holiday.Credit...Raven Makes Gallery
In 2017 when a total solar eclipse traveled across the United States, an estimated 88 percent of American adults observed the event in some way.
The experience differed in Navajo Nation. Schools closed, employees were granted administrative leave, and people were encouraged to maintain “stillness in their homes, and not partake of food and water,” according to a memo from tribal leaders.
Dr. Begay has a distinct memory of driving down a road on the border of Navajo Nation in the hours leading up to an annular eclipse in 2012. Crowds of people were setting up telescopes along the highway.
“It was like that all the way up to the reservation border,” he said.
But once he crossed the line, the land was devoid of people until he made it to the other side hours later. Rather than a spectacle, many on the reservation saw the eclipse as a time for reverence and reflection.
Semira Crank, a Diné program director at the Bears Ears Partnership in southeast Utah, was taught during her upbringing to not look at an eclipse for two reasons. The first is practical: Looking at the sun can damage your eyes. But the other reason, she said, is that doing so can disrupt a person’s Hózhó, or spiritual harmony.
“It goes back to our origin stories,” Ms. Crank said. But she doesn’t want to share too much. “We keep these practices and our traditions, our culture and our language close to us,” she said of her family, acknowledging that other members of the Navajo community may feel differently.
“My ancestors kept it close to their hearts because they wanted to keep their identity intact while going through hard times,” Ms. Crank added. Those include the cultural repression of Native Americans — who were not granted U.S. citizenship until 1924 — through religious boarding schools, as well as more modern systemic injustices.
But Navajo Nation isn’t the only tribe in the Southwest to experience the eclipse next weekend. Just north of the reservation is Bears Ears, a million-acre national monument with hundreds of thousands of cultural sites, including ancient rock carvings, cliff dwellings and giant rust-colored monoliths. More than 10 Indigenous communities, including the Hopi and Ute Indian Tribes, consider Bears Ears to be their ancestral homeland.
Image
The moon, with a reddish hue, rises over a rocky landscape.
Moonrise over the Valley of the Gods near Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah.Credit...Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA, via Shutterstock
According to Ms. Crank, up to 20,000 people are expected to travel to see the eclipse around Bears Ears this weekend.
At Bears Ears Partnership, Ms. Crank and her colleagues have been preparing for this influx for months. She runs a campaign called Visit With Respect, which educates the public on how to visit the site responsibly in order to prevent land degradation, raise cultural awareness and help people stay safe. Some of the guidelines include not touching artifacts; removing digital location tags when posting pictures and videos online; and staying on designated trails.
On the weekend of the eclipse, ambassadors will be stationed through the region to remind people to follow this advice. Bears Ears Partnership has also curated a webpage for visitors to learn about Indigenous sensitivities before their arrival. One notable tip is to add a warning when sharing photos or videos of the eclipse on social media — or to avoid doing so altogether — in order to respect those who abstain from viewing the event.
Though tribes in the region are united in protecting the land, many emphasize that every community has its own beliefs regarding the eclipse.
“Some will see it as a rebirth, a rebalancing,” said Nancy Maryboy, a Cherokee and Navajo cultural astronomer who is the president of the Indigenous Education Institute. But other tribes consider an eclipse a bad omen, she said. Traditional Cherokee beliefs, Dr. Maryboy noted, view it as a giant frog trying to swallow the sun.
Even within tribes, people have varying practices. Dr. Maryboy expects that some Navajo Nation residents will practice mindfulness in their homes during the eclipse, while other people will be outside, eclipse glasses in hand. A few tribal park officials will work during the eclipse to help enforce road closures. In 2017, Diné College, a tribal college in Tsaile, Ariz., stayed open to teach Navajo youth about the cultural significance of the solar eclipse.
“It’s really up to the individual,” Dr. Maryboy said. “There’s no right way.”
On Oct. 14, she and Dr. Begay are partnering with the San Francisco Exploratorium to host an event in Bears Ears’ Valley of the Gods, Utahn backcountry decorated with colossal red rock monuments. Navajo legend says these structures were once ancient warriors, frozen in time.
Image
Dr. Nancy Maryboy, left, and Dr. David Begay are seated in folding chairs in Valley of the Gods, Utah.
Dr. Nancy Maryboy, left, and Dr. David Begay of the Indigenous Education Institute.Credit...Exploratorium
The event, which will be streamed on the Exploratorium’s website, will explore the science behind the eclipse, couched “within the cultural protocols and perspectives of the place,” Isabel Hawkins, an astrophysicist at the Exploratorium, said.
Both Dr. Maryboy and Dr. Begay were raised in traditional families. “So we have to walk in both worlds during this eclipse,” Dr. Maryboy said.
In the time leading up to annularity, the two astronomers plan to share Navajo knowledge of the cosmos with the broader public, including how the land relates to the sky and how to understand the movement of the stars.
But before the moon engulfs the sun, Dr. Maryboy said, she and Dr. Begay will duck into a hogan, or a traditional Navajo dwelling, to honor the eclipse their own way.
Cycles and Omens
As the eclipse travels farther south, it will meet the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The region is home to the Indigenous Maya people, whose culture stretches into other parts of Mexico and several Central American countries that will also experience the eclipse. The Maya have a well-established astronomical tradition, and for centuries they have predicted the cycles that result in solar eclipses.
They and other Indigenous peoples in Mexico and Central America have historically had an adverse view of eclipses.
“Nowadays it is a spectacle of nature, but in the past it was interpreted both in the Maya region and in the rest of Mesoamerica as an omen of something,” said Jesús Galindo Trejo, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico who has studied how the Maya people tracked the cosmos.
For Maya of the Yucatán Peninsula, as well as the Lacandón Maya in what is now Chiapas, eclipses were associated with destruction.
That could come in the form of drought or disease and also have harmful effects on individuals. Dr. Galindo Trejo said that some pregnant women avoided viewing an eclipse, believing it would be especially precarious for their unborn babies.
Many places in the Yucatán Peninsula this week, nonetheless, are preparing for a more festive experience.
Officials from the Institute of Art and Culture of Campeche in August hosted a news briefing inviting people from Mexico and other countries to witness the eclipse in Edzná, one of the Mexican state’s most popular Maya archaeological sites. Officials noted that many hotels had already closed reservations, and that officials had planned to set up alternative viewing sites because of the number of tourists expected.
Image
Two Maya texts, one using the Mayan glyphs and numbers and the other using the Roman alphabet with two drawings of the sun, the moon and the Earth.
Left, a page from the Dresden Codex, a Maya text showing the solar disk, obscured, appearing to hang from a celestial band and about to be devoured by a monster. Right, a page from the Chilam Balam of Chumayel from 1775, explaining that an eclipse does not mean that the sun is bitten, but is caused by the moon’s movements around the Earth.Credit...via Jesús Galindo Trejo
Organizers will also host a “festival of the sun” in Campeche to celebrate both science and the music of the local community.
“The old tradition is being lost,” Dr. Galindo Trejo said.
But he noted that throughout Mexico, including in the Yucatán Peninsula, there is an effort to make sure people experiencing the eclipse remember Maya heritage. Local authorities have created and are distributing materials that examine different myths and truths about the Maya people’s history with eclipses.
For all the past negative associations around eclipses, Dr. Galindo Trejo said, “it is a wonderful sight worth watching.”
A Big Screen in the Sky
Among Indigenous peoples in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, astronomy guides daily life. Constellations are named after plants and animals, while moon phases may dictate the right moment to harvest, go fishing or birth children.
“Before going to sleep, at sunset, I would hear my father pointing at the universe, talking about the constellations, what phase we were in,” Jaime Diakara, an anthropologist, said. He is a member of the Desana people, one of at least 22 Indigenous groups living in the Rio Negro basin, a region deep in the Brazilian Amazon where the annular eclipse will pass over.
“It became this big-screen television for us, showing all these images of ancestral mythology,” he added.
When the moon begins to eclipse the sun, the Desana may grow uneasy.
“The white man thinks an eclipse is something beautiful,” said Durvalino Kisibi, a Desana leader and healer whose village, Wãhtī Peayeri Buri, is a three-day journey by boat from the region’s biggest town. “But for us, it’s bad news.”
In Desana communities, those who are fishing or hunting may scurry back to their villages. Children are ushered home and told to latch the doors. Elders circle the long house, known as a maloca, linking hands in prayer. As they sway and chant, a village healer burns sacred herbs to chase away spirits carrying misfortune.
“Our rituals are like a vaccine that protects us,” Mr. Diakara said.
Different communities have varying explanations for what causes an eclipse.
For some Guarani people, eclipses are seen as caused by an evil spirit that is embodied by a jaguar constellation. When the sky darkens, the Guaranis shout and clamor in a bid to scare away the jaguar, believing that the end of the world will occur when the constellation devours the moon, the sun and other stars.
While these traditions are not always valued by the scientific community, these two worlds could coexist, said Yuri Berri Afonso, whose father, the Guarani astronomer Germano Bruno Afonso, developed an Indigenous solar observatory tool.
“Science looks at these explanations and often ridicules them,” said Mr. Berri, who helped digitize the tool before his father’s death in 2021. But the ancestral knowledge of Indigenous people “is what has helped them survive. And one view of the universe doesn’t have to cancel out the other.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/scie ... 778d3e6de3
“When an eclipse begins, Navajo elders strongly instruct their community to go inside the hogan, a traditional dwelling, to ensure they don’t look up at the sun,” Dr. Nancy Maryboy of the Indigenous Education Institute said.Credit...Richard Maschmeyer/Alamy
On Oct. 14, an annular eclipse will make its way across the Western Hemisphere. The moon, farther from Earth than during a total eclipse, will block much of our view of the sun, leaving only a fiery halo of light in a darkened sky.
In the United States, the show begins in Oregon, then cuts through the Southwest before exiting through the Texas coastline. It will then cut across the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico and through Central America, before dipping down into Colombia, passing through the Amazon basin and concluding along Brazil’s eastern coast.
Thousands of tourists are flocking to the path of annularity to catch this astronomical marvel, which will last about four minutes at any given point along the path. Many describe eclipses as spiritual experiences.
But there’s at least one place where people can’t venture to watch: the sprawling desert lands of Navajo Nation, whose tribal parks in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah might have made a beautiful backdrop for the public to view a celestial “ring of fire.” On Sept. 15, Navajo Nation Parks & Recreation announced that all parks would be closed during the eclipse to accommodate traditional beliefs.
“Navajo look at the universe as holistic,” said David Begay, a cultural astronomer and vice president of the Indigenous Education Institute. The alignment of the planet, moon and sun during eclipses is understood as one cycle within an interconnected cosmic order, said Dr. Begay, who is Diné (which Navajo people call themselves).
The park closures are a reminder that for Indigenous peoples across the Americas, eclipses and other astronomical phenomena have been experienced for millenniums and have played important roles in different cultures. Traditions like those in Navajo Nation represent a call for non-Native tourists to be respectful when visiting sacred Indigenous lands and sites.
And those encountering the eclipse in other parts of the Americas may also pause and consider peoples who made their homes among the canyons of the Southwest, around the pyramids of Mexico and Central America and in the rainforests of Brazil; and how the stars, planets and other heavenly bodies manifest in the lives of Indigenous communities.
Walking in Two Worlds
Image
Two pieces of artistic basket designs, with a circular basket showing a dark eclipse surrounded by the fringes of the sun and the second an oval-shape depiction of the moon wearing what looks like a blue, purple and white head garment and a blue and red necklace.
Baskets featuring an eclipse and the moon by the Navajo artist Elsie Holiday.Credit...Raven Makes Gallery
In 2017 when a total solar eclipse traveled across the United States, an estimated 88 percent of American adults observed the event in some way.
The experience differed in Navajo Nation. Schools closed, employees were granted administrative leave, and people were encouraged to maintain “stillness in their homes, and not partake of food and water,” according to a memo from tribal leaders.
Dr. Begay has a distinct memory of driving down a road on the border of Navajo Nation in the hours leading up to an annular eclipse in 2012. Crowds of people were setting up telescopes along the highway.
“It was like that all the way up to the reservation border,” he said.
But once he crossed the line, the land was devoid of people until he made it to the other side hours later. Rather than a spectacle, many on the reservation saw the eclipse as a time for reverence and reflection.
Semira Crank, a Diné program director at the Bears Ears Partnership in southeast Utah, was taught during her upbringing to not look at an eclipse for two reasons. The first is practical: Looking at the sun can damage your eyes. But the other reason, she said, is that doing so can disrupt a person’s Hózhó, or spiritual harmony.
“It goes back to our origin stories,” Ms. Crank said. But she doesn’t want to share too much. “We keep these practices and our traditions, our culture and our language close to us,” she said of her family, acknowledging that other members of the Navajo community may feel differently.
“My ancestors kept it close to their hearts because they wanted to keep their identity intact while going through hard times,” Ms. Crank added. Those include the cultural repression of Native Americans — who were not granted U.S. citizenship until 1924 — through religious boarding schools, as well as more modern systemic injustices.
But Navajo Nation isn’t the only tribe in the Southwest to experience the eclipse next weekend. Just north of the reservation is Bears Ears, a million-acre national monument with hundreds of thousands of cultural sites, including ancient rock carvings, cliff dwellings and giant rust-colored monoliths. More than 10 Indigenous communities, including the Hopi and Ute Indian Tribes, consider Bears Ears to be their ancestral homeland.
Image
The moon, with a reddish hue, rises over a rocky landscape.
Moonrise over the Valley of the Gods near Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah.Credit...Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA, via Shutterstock
According to Ms. Crank, up to 20,000 people are expected to travel to see the eclipse around Bears Ears this weekend.
At Bears Ears Partnership, Ms. Crank and her colleagues have been preparing for this influx for months. She runs a campaign called Visit With Respect, which educates the public on how to visit the site responsibly in order to prevent land degradation, raise cultural awareness and help people stay safe. Some of the guidelines include not touching artifacts; removing digital location tags when posting pictures and videos online; and staying on designated trails.
On the weekend of the eclipse, ambassadors will be stationed through the region to remind people to follow this advice. Bears Ears Partnership has also curated a webpage for visitors to learn about Indigenous sensitivities before their arrival. One notable tip is to add a warning when sharing photos or videos of the eclipse on social media — or to avoid doing so altogether — in order to respect those who abstain from viewing the event.
Though tribes in the region are united in protecting the land, many emphasize that every community has its own beliefs regarding the eclipse.
“Some will see it as a rebirth, a rebalancing,” said Nancy Maryboy, a Cherokee and Navajo cultural astronomer who is the president of the Indigenous Education Institute. But other tribes consider an eclipse a bad omen, she said. Traditional Cherokee beliefs, Dr. Maryboy noted, view it as a giant frog trying to swallow the sun.
Even within tribes, people have varying practices. Dr. Maryboy expects that some Navajo Nation residents will practice mindfulness in their homes during the eclipse, while other people will be outside, eclipse glasses in hand. A few tribal park officials will work during the eclipse to help enforce road closures. In 2017, Diné College, a tribal college in Tsaile, Ariz., stayed open to teach Navajo youth about the cultural significance of the solar eclipse.
“It’s really up to the individual,” Dr. Maryboy said. “There’s no right way.”
On Oct. 14, she and Dr. Begay are partnering with the San Francisco Exploratorium to host an event in Bears Ears’ Valley of the Gods, Utahn backcountry decorated with colossal red rock monuments. Navajo legend says these structures were once ancient warriors, frozen in time.
Image
Dr. Nancy Maryboy, left, and Dr. David Begay are seated in folding chairs in Valley of the Gods, Utah.
Dr. Nancy Maryboy, left, and Dr. David Begay of the Indigenous Education Institute.Credit...Exploratorium
The event, which will be streamed on the Exploratorium’s website, will explore the science behind the eclipse, couched “within the cultural protocols and perspectives of the place,” Isabel Hawkins, an astrophysicist at the Exploratorium, said.
Both Dr. Maryboy and Dr. Begay were raised in traditional families. “So we have to walk in both worlds during this eclipse,” Dr. Maryboy said.
In the time leading up to annularity, the two astronomers plan to share Navajo knowledge of the cosmos with the broader public, including how the land relates to the sky and how to understand the movement of the stars.
But before the moon engulfs the sun, Dr. Maryboy said, she and Dr. Begay will duck into a hogan, or a traditional Navajo dwelling, to honor the eclipse their own way.
Cycles and Omens
As the eclipse travels farther south, it will meet the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. The region is home to the Indigenous Maya people, whose culture stretches into other parts of Mexico and several Central American countries that will also experience the eclipse. The Maya have a well-established astronomical tradition, and for centuries they have predicted the cycles that result in solar eclipses.
They and other Indigenous peoples in Mexico and Central America have historically had an adverse view of eclipses.
“Nowadays it is a spectacle of nature, but in the past it was interpreted both in the Maya region and in the rest of Mesoamerica as an omen of something,” said Jesús Galindo Trejo, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico who has studied how the Maya people tracked the cosmos.
For Maya of the Yucatán Peninsula, as well as the Lacandón Maya in what is now Chiapas, eclipses were associated with destruction.
That could come in the form of drought or disease and also have harmful effects on individuals. Dr. Galindo Trejo said that some pregnant women avoided viewing an eclipse, believing it would be especially precarious for their unborn babies.
Many places in the Yucatán Peninsula this week, nonetheless, are preparing for a more festive experience.
Officials from the Institute of Art and Culture of Campeche in August hosted a news briefing inviting people from Mexico and other countries to witness the eclipse in Edzná, one of the Mexican state’s most popular Maya archaeological sites. Officials noted that many hotels had already closed reservations, and that officials had planned to set up alternative viewing sites because of the number of tourists expected.
Image
Two Maya texts, one using the Mayan glyphs and numbers and the other using the Roman alphabet with two drawings of the sun, the moon and the Earth.
Left, a page from the Dresden Codex, a Maya text showing the solar disk, obscured, appearing to hang from a celestial band and about to be devoured by a monster. Right, a page from the Chilam Balam of Chumayel from 1775, explaining that an eclipse does not mean that the sun is bitten, but is caused by the moon’s movements around the Earth.Credit...via Jesús Galindo Trejo
Organizers will also host a “festival of the sun” in Campeche to celebrate both science and the music of the local community.
“The old tradition is being lost,” Dr. Galindo Trejo said.
But he noted that throughout Mexico, including in the Yucatán Peninsula, there is an effort to make sure people experiencing the eclipse remember Maya heritage. Local authorities have created and are distributing materials that examine different myths and truths about the Maya people’s history with eclipses.
For all the past negative associations around eclipses, Dr. Galindo Trejo said, “it is a wonderful sight worth watching.”
A Big Screen in the Sky
Among Indigenous peoples in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, astronomy guides daily life. Constellations are named after plants and animals, while moon phases may dictate the right moment to harvest, go fishing or birth children.
“Before going to sleep, at sunset, I would hear my father pointing at the universe, talking about the constellations, what phase we were in,” Jaime Diakara, an anthropologist, said. He is a member of the Desana people, one of at least 22 Indigenous groups living in the Rio Negro basin, a region deep in the Brazilian Amazon where the annular eclipse will pass over.
“It became this big-screen television for us, showing all these images of ancestral mythology,” he added.
When the moon begins to eclipse the sun, the Desana may grow uneasy.
“The white man thinks an eclipse is something beautiful,” said Durvalino Kisibi, a Desana leader and healer whose village, Wãhtī Peayeri Buri, is a three-day journey by boat from the region’s biggest town. “But for us, it’s bad news.”
In Desana communities, those who are fishing or hunting may scurry back to their villages. Children are ushered home and told to latch the doors. Elders circle the long house, known as a maloca, linking hands in prayer. As they sway and chant, a village healer burns sacred herbs to chase away spirits carrying misfortune.
“Our rituals are like a vaccine that protects us,” Mr. Diakara said.
Different communities have varying explanations for what causes an eclipse.
For some Guarani people, eclipses are seen as caused by an evil spirit that is embodied by a jaguar constellation. When the sky darkens, the Guaranis shout and clamor in a bid to scare away the jaguar, believing that the end of the world will occur when the constellation devours the moon, the sun and other stars.
While these traditions are not always valued by the scientific community, these two worlds could coexist, said Yuri Berri Afonso, whose father, the Guarani astronomer Germano Bruno Afonso, developed an Indigenous solar observatory tool.
“Science looks at these explanations and often ridicules them,” said Mr. Berri, who helped digitize the tool before his father’s death in 2021. But the ancestral knowledge of Indigenous people “is what has helped them survive. And one view of the universe doesn’t have to cancel out the other.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/10/scie ... 778d3e6de3