The news that matter in Europe
The news that matter in Europe
Swiss archaeologists conducting exploratory excavations in the Schaarenwald am Rhein nature reserve earlier this year discovered the location of an ancient Roman watchtower.
It was a site surrounded by a moat (possibly additionally reinforced with a palisade or other wooden structure),…
Desde Cleopatra hasta Razia Sultan, la historia está llena de mujeres poderosas que desafiaron las normas de su época. Pero, ¿alguna vez has oído hablar de la reina Kubaba? Gobernante de Sumer alrededor del 2500 a. C., puede ser la primera mujer gobernante registrada en la historia antigua. La reina Kubaba (Ku-Baba) es una figura fascinante en…
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A collaboration between the museum and the clinic could set a precedent for combining the study of historical artifacts with cutting-edge medical technology to better understand the past
In a meticulously planned operation that took five months to organize, two sarcophagus lids dating back…
Des scientifiques ont étudié un portrait du Fayoum d’une jeune femme datant du IIe siècle et conservé au Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ils ont remarqué une tumeur sur son cou et ont suggéré qu’il s’agissait probablement d’une représentation réaliste d’un goitre – un élargissement de la glande thyroïde. C’est…
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Se dice que es uno de los mayores archivos de conocimiento clásico del mundo antiguo, albergó los libros de todos los tiempos. Fue construido por los súbditos de habla griega de la dinastía ptolemaica de Egipto en el siglo III a. La Biblioteca de Alejandría contenía cientos de miles de papiros…
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The Qumran Scrolls contain some of the oldest versions of the Bible and are of great interest to Christians, Muslims and Jews
Scientists have applied genetic analysis to the Dead Sea Scrolls to determine whether the fragments of the ancient manuscripts fit together correctly, DPA and Reuters…
El naufragio del barco real Vasa se recuperó en 1961 y está notablemente bien conservado después de más de 300 años bajo el agua en el puerto de Estocolmo Un laboratorio militar estadounidense ayudó a los suecos a confirmar lo que se sospechaba desde hace años: una mujer estaba entre los muertos el 17 -siglo…
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Les scientifiques ont réalisé un scanner de la momie de Jed-Hor de Heidelberg, en Allemagne, qui représente un homme âgé qui vivait en Égypte, apparemment au 4ème-1er siècle avant JC. L’examen de son crâne a montré qu’il avait souffert d’une mastoïdite aiguë, qui a probablement entraîné des complications mortelles…
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In a new study, scientists found that alvaressaurs quickly shrank to the size of chickens. It turned out that it was all about their diet: at some point, dinosaurs only ate ants.
Alvaressaurs lived in many parts of the world – they inhabited China, Mongolia and South America. This dinosaur species lived in the period from the Late Jurassic to the Upper Cretaceous (from 160 to 70 million years ago). They were slender bipedal predators who spent most of their time on Earth feeding on lizards, the first mammals, and the offspring of other dinosaurs.
“Competition with other dinosaurs probably intensified in the Cretaceous. The Cretaceous period was an era of rapidly evolving ecosystems, and the biggest change was the gradual conquest of land by flowering plants. They changed the nature of the landscape and led to the active growth of various species of insects, for example, ants. Dinosaurs didn’t eat new plants, but they did eat ants, ”said Professor Michael Benton.
Initially, alvaressaurs were not small in size and were not even anteaters. Their ancestors, such as Haplocheirus, were relatively large dinosaurs, about the size of a small ostrich, with sharp teeth, flexible forelimbs, and large eyes. All of this suggests that before the dinosaurs began to consume only ants, their diet was mixed.
Scientists’ calculations have shown that the body weight of alvaressaurs has decreased from 30-40 kg to 5 kg in 95 million years. Also, due to the diet, the shape of their claws has changed.
Called the “cradle of civilizations”, Turkey is home to a diverse heritage, which has also made it a good target for smugglers for decades. Foreigners have looted everything – from precious treasures to pieces of mosque tiles – sometimes authorities have allowed thefts in the past. Nowadays, the authorities have a new policy of hunting for artifacts that adorn the collections of museums and private collectors around the world. In the last decade, Turkey has managed to return 2,712 artifacts, from small statues to sarcophagi.
Yahya Koshkun, deputy director of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s General Directorate of Cultural Property and Museums, says smuggling is as old as human history, but it increased between the 17th and 19th centuries. “In ancient times, the conquering countries allowed themselves to seize valuables in the places they conquered, as a sign of their victories. Later, this form of smuggling developed. Artifact smuggling has flourished in Anatolia since the 17th century, he told the Anatolian Agency (AA).
“Today, the dark history of smuggling lies in the history of the world’s largest museums. We often see there a collection of artifacts smuggled from our country. “Sometimes they appear at auctions, in private collections,” he said.
“We monitor auctions around the world. “We examine all the auction catalogs to find any artifacts smuggled in from here,” Koshkun said. Every time an artifact related to Turkey appears at auction, the country’s authorities take legal action to stop the sale.
Koshkun boasts that traders are now much more cautious thanks to their efforts. “They know that Turkey will come after them and will have legal problems if they put such an artifact on sale,” he said.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism is also pursuing smuggled artifacts. Efforts are being coordinated with the Interior Ministry and Interpol. This year, the ministry has 70 cases working on the extraction of artifacts. Some of these cases involve hundreds of artifacts, from coins to figurines. Recently in March, 413 pieces were brought to Turkey from Hungary, with which the country enjoys close ties.
Authorities also recently signed a deal with the United States to return artifacts smuggled from Turkey. The agreement, which entered into force on March 24th, is expected to ensure the return of a number of artifacts originating in Turkey.
Authorities also plan to finalize a deal with Switzerland soon to return artifacts smuggled from Turkey.
Illegally exported cultural property was returned by the competent institutions in the United Kingdom to the Bulgarian side
At an official ceremony today at the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in London on the Bulgarian side, the competent institutions in the United Kingdom returned illegally exported cultural property. This was announced by the press center of the Ministry of Culture, BTA reported.
The ceremony was opened by the Ambassador of our country to the United Kingdom Marin Raykov,
in the presence of representatives of the General Directorate “Inspectorate for Preservation of Cultural Heritage” of the Ministry of Culture – Director General Alexander Traikov and Head of Department Maria Todorova, as well as representatives of the DGCOC of the Bulgarian Ministry of Interior. Representatives of the London Police, the Border Police, the Kent Police and the British Museum took part in the ceremony on behalf of the United Kingdom.
Special guests were the operational police officers, who seized the trafficked cultural property, the prosecutor working on the case, as well as the customs officers who seized the illegally imported items on the territory of the United Kingdom.
Archaeologists have discovered two lacquered objects more than 8,000 years old in the eastern Chinese province of Zhujiang, Xinhua reported. They are the earliest such objects known in China.
The lacquered items were found at the Jingtoushan site on the outskirts of Ningbo. These are some of the oldest ruins in China, dating from 7,800 to 8,300 years. In 2020, they are included in the top 10 of the most significant archaeological discoveries in China.
“Radiocarbon dating has shown that the objects found are about 8,200 years old. One may be part of a canoe or a musical instrument, while the other may have been used for weaving,” said Sun Guoping, head of the team of archaeologists involved. the excavations. According to him, the findings show that the tradition of Chinese lacquered products is at least 8,300 years old.
Excavations in Jingtoushan began in 2019.
Archaeologists in Israel says they have found evidence of an earthquake that occurred during the period of the Kingdom of Judah recorded in the Bible.
The archaeologists were excavating in the City of David National Park and found a layer of destruction, including a row of shattered bowls, lamps, cooking utensils and storage jars inside a collapsed building, Israel21 reported Aug. 8.
The destruction has been attributed to an earthquake that struck around 2,800 years ago and which is mentioned in the Book of Amos, Christian Today reported.
Excavations were conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority in the ruins of an ancient building within the City of David National Park.
They revealed a row of shattered vessels, including bowls, lamps, cooking utensils and storage jars on the earliest floor of the southernmost room.
City of David National Park, also called Jerusalem Walls National Park, is an Israeli national park located near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem
This layer of destruction had no signs of a fire, indicating that the collapse of the building’s walls was not a deliberate event Iraeli21 reported..
This could have only one explanation: the eighth century BCE earthquake mentioned in the books of Amos and Zechariah.
Excavation directors Joe Uziel and Ortal Chalaf said this was “probably one of the strongest and most damaging earthquakes in ancient times.”
They said “evidence of its occurrence has been discovered in the past in excavations conducted at a variety of sites throughout Israel, such as Hazor, Gezer, Tel Agol, and Tel es-Safi/Gath.
They said the latest excavations they conducted in the City of David indicate that the earthquake probably have hit Jerusalem as well.
EARTHQUAKE REMNANTS
Remnants of the earthquake in the eighth century BCE can also be found at Tel Megiddo in the north; on the eastern slope of the Gihon Spring, not far from the City of David in Jerusalem; and in the Dead Sea area.
The new findings update what was previously the earliest destruction layer of Jerusalem – from the Babylonian conquest of 586 BCE.
“When we excavated the structure and uncovered an 8th century BCE layer of destruction, we were very surprised, because we know that Jerusalem continued to exist in succession until the Babylonian destruction, which occurred about 200 years later,” they said according to Christian Today.
“We asked ourselves what could have caused that dramatic layer of destruction we uncovered. Examining the excavation findings, we tried to check if there is a reference to it in the biblical text.
“Interestingly, the earthquake that appears in the Bible in the books of Amos and Zechariah, occurred at the time when the building we excavated in the City of David collapsed,” said the excavators.
They said that the combination of the finds in the field together with the biblical description, led them conclude that the earthquake that struck the land of Israel during the reign of Uzziah king of Judah, “also hit the capital of the kingdom – Jerusalem.”
Archaeologists from Japan and Egypt have unearthed a second burial ship (solar boat) at the foot of the Cheops pyramid, Tengrinews.kz reports with reference to Ahram Online.
In total, 1700 wooden parts were removed to the surface, after which they were subjected to initial restoration. Most of them were transferred to the Great Egyptian Museum, where, after continuing restoration work and research, they will be collected together and put on display by the public.
In total, two boats are known to be placed in sealed pits at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza (Pyramid of Cheops). The first pit was discovered in 1954 and 1,224 parts from the dismantled ship were brought to the surface.
The second pit with a boat was also found in the 1950s, but the chamber was not opened immediately. Until 2006, scientists conducted research work. Egypt excavated with soft loans from Japan.
The solar boats had a symbolic meaning. It was believed that on them the pharaoh would move in the underworld along the heavenly surface together with the sun god Ra.
In the UK, archaeologists have reported the discovery of a previously unknown settlement in the Shetland Islands. Scientists believe that this may be the legendary capital of the Vikings, which has been repeatedly mentioned in the ancient sagas.
A report on the current results of the excavation was published by archaeologists from the Skailway research mission, and Ancient Origins briefly tells about it. For the first time about the “extremely important discovery” back in March this year, the local edition of Shetland News reported.
Then in the Shetland Islands of Scotland, objects about 1000 years old were excavated. The find indicated that a settlement could have been located in this area in antiquity. The intrigue was added by the fact that the sagas mention the Viking capital of Skilvoigand, which was located, judging by the indications, on the Shetland Islands.
Ukrainian archaeologists have probably made a sensational discovery.
In ancient Subotov, Cherkasy region, a crypt that belonged to hetman Bohdan Khmelnitsky was excavated under the Ilyinsky church, archaeological excavations are still continuing.
The organization “Great Lloh”, which initiated the search work, announced this on its website.
Members of the expedition, with the blessing of the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Epiphanius, work in the family St. Elias Church-tomb, where in August 1657 the Cossack foreman buried the outstanding commander.
Candidate of Geological Sciences, Senior Researcher, Research Laboratory of Theoretical and Applied Geophysics, Institute of Geology, Kiev National University. Tarasa Shevchenko Ksenia Bondar noted that during the exploration in the Elias Church they used one of the most widespread and proven geophysical methods in world practice – the method of high-frequency electromagnetic sounding (GPR method).
So geophysicists at a depth of three meters found a three-dimensional image of an object similar to a crypt under the temple. If the assumption of scientists about the sensational find is confirmed, the secret of the burial of Bohdan Khmelnytsky, over which historians and archaeologists have been fighting for almost three hundred years, will be revealed.
By the way, in the metric it is written that to the right of the church near the middle column, closer to sunset, there is a crypt of Zinovy Bogdan Khmelnitsky and his son Timosh, littered with construction waste during the rebuilding of the church.
As the scientist notes, back in 1970, this very central part of the church was investigated by the famous Ukrainian archaeologist Roman Yura. In his diary, he noted the displacement of the foundation slab of one of the columns to the north. However, his expedition did not have enough literally a meter to reach the object, since at that time it was not possible to explore the underground space in such depth without destroying it.
Note that Bohdan Khmelnitsky died on July 27 (August 6, new style) in 1657 in Chigirin and on August 25 was buried on Saturday, in the Elias Church, which he himself built.
The exact burial site is unknown. According to one version, the hetman’s body was mutilated and destroyed after the capture of Subbotov in 1664 by the troops of the Polish gentry.
According to another version, he was transported not far from Subotov by Khmelnitsky’s comrade Lavrenty Kapusta.
It took months to digitally reconstruct his face.
With the help of digital reconstruction, scientists have restored the face of the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, who most likely was the father of Tutankhamun, writes “Around the world. Ukraine”.
The remains of the pharaoh were found in 1907 in the Egyptian Valley of the Kings in Tomb KV 55, just a few meters from the tomb of Tutankhamun.
More than a century after the discovery of the tomb, genetic analysis showed that the skeleton found belonged to the biological father of Tutankhamun, and other finds in the tomb indicate that this person was Akhenaten, who ruled from 1353 to 1335 BC. e. and was the first king to introduce monotheism in Egypt.
The reconstruction, which took months to develop, was created by scientists at the Forensic Anthropology, Paleopathology and Bioarcheology Research Center (FAPAB) in Sicily. They worked closely with Cicero Morais, a Brazilian 3D forensic scientist known for his work on face reconstruction from the distant past. “During the reconstruction, the scientists used the so-called Manchester method, during which the facial muscles and ligaments are modeled on a skull model in accordance with the rules of anatomy. The skin is placed on top, and the thickness of the fabrics is averages that have been determined using scientific methods, ”said Francesco Galassi, director and co-founder of FAPAB. In creating the reconstruction, the researchers cited a wealth of data on KV 55, including records of previous physical examinations of the skull, detailed measurements, scaled photographs, and skeletal x-rays.
Akhenaten ascended the throne, adopting the new name Amenhotep IV, meaning “Servant of Aton” (Anton is the Egyptian sun god). Then, in order to establish monotheistic worship of Aton, he set about eliminating the clergy that served the Egyptian pantheon of gods.
Archaeologists have found the skeleton in an unadorned tomb, the bricks of which were engraved with magical spells bearing the name of Akhenaten. Another coffin and canopic vessels, vessels for storing mummified organs, contained the remains of a woman named Kiya, who was identified as Akhenaten’s concubine.
The body found by archaeologists was mummified, but the surviving flesh disintegrated when lifted by an excavator, leaving behind only a skeleton. Based on the items in the tomb and the floor of the skeleton, some archaeologists have concluded that it must belong to Akhenaten. However, the analysis of the teeth and bones showed that the man was younger than experts believed.
When he died, Galassi said he was about 26 years old, and perhaps only 19 to 22 years old, while records show that Akhenaten ruled for 17 years and had a daughter during his first year. “Some archaeologists believe that he began his reign not in childhood, but in his youth. Others suggest that the skeleton may not have belonged to him at all, but to his younger brother Smenkhkare. However, we have no evidence that this brother existed at all, ”Galassi notes.
Today, Smenkhkara is most often considered not a real person, but the fictional personality of Queen Nefertiti, who may have adopted this name when she ascended the throne after Akhenaten’s death.
According to a study published in the journal JAMA, genetic analysis showed that the skeleton belonged to the son of Amenhotep III, the father of Tutankhamun, giving more evidence that it belonged to Akhenaten. However, this conclusion is also not without controversy, as the genetic data for Egyptian mummies may be “complicated” by the fact that incest between siblings was a common practice in royal dynasties at the time.
The cathedral was probably the seat of the archbishop.
Polish archaeologists working in Dongol, Sudan have discovered the ruins of the largest medieval church in Nubia. According to researchers, this building could have been the residence of the archbishop, who ruled about a thousand kilometers along the Nile, between the first and fifth rapids, according to zn.ua.
Dongola was the capital of Macuria, one of the three Christian Nubian kingdoms. The Archbishop of Dongola led the bishop of Faras. Polish archaeologists have been working here since 1964.
According to the researchers, the new discovery is changing the perception of the city. In 2021, they managed to clear the apse wall along with the adjoining wall and the nearby dome of a large tomb. The walls of the apse were decorated with murals depicting two monumental figures, the largest of its kind found in Nubia. Its diameter is six meters.
“If our estimates, based on known dimensions, are confirmed, this is the largest church discovered so far in Nubia. Size is important, but so is the location of the building in the heart of the city. A large domed building was added to the east of the apse. We have a great analogy for such an architectural complex: Faras. There, the cathedral also stood in the center of the citadel, and to the east of it was the domed tomb of John, Bishop Faras, “said the head of the research team, Artur Oblusky.
Scholars believe that the large church in Dongol served as a cathedral, next to which a tomb was erected, probably a bishop. The building itself has influenced the religious architecture of Nubia for several centuries.
The newly discovered building stands in the center of the citadel, surrounded by a wall about 10 meters high and 5 meters thick. Excavations showed that it was the heart of the entire kingdom, since all the structures discovered there were of a monumental character: churches, a palace and large villas belonging to the church and state elite.
The statuette, carved by Neanderthals, is the oldest piece of abstract art known to date.
In the Saxon Eichornhele cave, archaeologists have found so far the oldest example of Neanderthal abstract art – a 51,000-year-old deer bone statuette. It is reported by Nature Ecology & Evolution.
A figurine carved from a phalanx of a large-horned deer, an extremely rare animal for northern Germany during the Middle Paleolithic, was found next to the shoulder blades of a deer and the skull of a cave bear, which, according to scientists, may indicate some kind of ritual.
“This deer bone is covered with a complex geometric pattern consisting of two sets of parallel lines. Our find is evidence that the Neanderthals possessed the rudiments of abstract thinking and were able to create works of art that have symbolic meaning, long before the arrival of Cro-Magnons in Central Europe,” the researchers write. …
Until recently, scientists believed that abstract art, religion and various ideas about the other world appeared relatively recently, after our ancestors switched to a sedentary lifestyle. In recent years, these beliefs have begun to be questioned by several finds in Europe and Asia.
So, scientists found that the tribes inhabiting Southeast Asia mastered abstract art 44 thousand years ago, and their contemporaries from Europe already at that time began to perform rituals similar to religious rituals.
And this was inherent not only to the Cro-Magnons, but also to their predecessors – the Neanderthals.
Scientists who conducted the study under the direction of Thomas Terberger, professor at the University of Göttingen, believe that a carved deer bone found in the famous Unicorn Cave in northern Germany is further evidence that Neanderthals thought abstractly. And also radiocarbon analysis showed exactly when the statuette was produced – 51 thousand years ago. So now the carved deer bone from the Unicorn Cave can officially be considered the most ancient work of art in the world.
The Unicorn’s Cave has attracted treasure hunters for a long time. Locals dug up the remains of prehistoric animals, which were abundant here, and sold them as amulets and potions under the guise of the bones of mythical unicorns. This continued until 1872, when the famous German anthropologist Rudolf Virhof conducted research and discovered a mass of bones of prehistoric animals: mammoths, cave bears and lions, as well as wolves.
Most of the finds made by Virhof are still on display in the museum located near the cave.
Gareth Owens, linguist, archaeologist and Erasmus Program Coordinator at the Cretan Institute of Technology, has unveiled a new study that he estimates solves 99 percent of the mystery of the ancient Greek Phaistos disc.
The Greek Reporter briefly talks about the opening. It is reported that Gareth Owens has devoted 30 years to trying to unravel the mystery of one of the most mysterious artifacts in history.
This is the Phaistos disc, which was found in the ruins of the Minoan palace of Phaestos on the island of Crete. Now it is kept in the local archaeological museum and is one of its main exhibits. The artifact is made of clay. So far, it has only been possible to date it approximately. Experts believe that it was made in the second millennium BC.
Scientists call the Phaistos disc one of the greatest mysteries of archeology. The overwhelming majority of scientists consider it to be authentic, but there are those who doubt it. The diameter of the disc is about 15 centimeters, on both sides it is covered with mysterious symbols applied to the surface in a spiral.
For many years of research, scientists have not been able to decipher the language in which the mysterious inscriptions were executed. So far, it has only been established that its symbols are not part of any known alphabet, ancient or modern.
And now Gareth Owens announced that he was able to decipher the mysterious symbols. To do this, he and his team used the method of comparative linguistics, that is, they compared incomprehensible symbols with “related” languages from the Indo-European language family. As a result, scientists came to the conclusion that the disc contains a religious text dedicated to a certain “pregnant goddess” and goddess of love Astarte.
“This is undoubtedly a religious text,” says Owens. “This became clear after comparing it with other religious words from other inscriptions found in the sacred mountains of Crete. We found exactly the same words.”
Owens also suggests that the Phaistos disc is a hymn to Astarte, the goddess of love. Words similar to those found on the disc have previously been found on Minoan ritual objects that were used as offerings to the gods.
In addition, according to the archaeologist-linguist, the inscriptions on different sides of the disc are not a single whole. He suggests that a hymn to the Minoan goddess Astarte was written on one side, and a dedication to the pregnant mother goddess on the other.
Talking about the importance of the text, Owens reminds us that Astarte was not only the goddess of love. She was also revered as the goddess of war and mountains. It is interesting that she was “born” in the East. It is believed that her cult to Crete was brought from ancient Mesopotamia. Then Astarte went to Cyprus, where she gradually became Venus.
