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EGYPTE - Deir el-Bahari - Archaeologists have discovered a nearly 3,500-year-old chest under a rock debris near the famed temple of woman Pharaoh Hatshepsut, Egypt. the archaeologists were exploring a debris-filled gap in the vicinity of the Hatshepsut Temple in Deir el-Bahari, Egypt, as they stumbled upon a stone chest and a bundle both placed inside a cavity in a rock. “The chest itself is about 40 cm long and just a little shorter than that. It was perfectly hidden looking like an ordinary stone block. Only after closer scrutiny, it turned out that it was in fact a chest,” recounted Professor Niwiński. A couple of linen-wrapped items were found inside the stone receptacle. The first bundle contained a skeleton of a goose, which had been sacrificed, while the second concealed a goose egg. The third bundle held a wooden casket that in turn contained a canvas-wrapped egg, most probably of an ibis. Next to the stone chest yet another bundle was discovered. This time the package concealed a small wooden box that also contained another bundle. Within it, a shrine-shaped faience box with the name of Pharaoh Thutmose II written on it in hieroglyphs. According to Professor Niwiński, the objects put inside the box were an allusion to Thutmose II’s titles and names. The archaeologist said that Thutmose II was a husband to the famous Queen Hatshepsut, was enthroned at the age of 13 and reigned for three years until his death. Professor Niwiński has high hopes for finding the Pharaoh's tomb in proximity to the spot where the chest was discovered. “The royal deposit implies that a temple or a tomb was erected for the king here. And because we are in the middle of a royal cemetery, there is no doubt that it must be a tomb. The discovery of this deposit suggests that we are in the process of finding a tomb,” the archaeologist posited.
VIDEO = https://polandin.com/47053662/3500yearold-box-with-pharaoh-name-on-it-found-in-egypt
CHINE – Shangguo - The Archaeological Research Institute of Shanxi recently announced the latest discovery of a giant tomb, estimated to be over 2,400 years old, in Shangguo Ruins and Qiujiazhuang Cemetery, north China's Shanxi Province. The tomb, 14.3 meters long and 13.5 meters wide, can be traced back to the early Warring States period (475-221 B.C.) on the basis of its shape and the uncovered artifacts in it. It is the largest tomb of the Eastern Zhou (770-256 B.C.) excavated in the province so far, said Tian Jianwen, a researcher with the Archaeological Research Institute of Shanxi. Based on the structure and features of the tomb, archaeologists concluded that it belongs to a queen from the later years of the State of Jin (1100-376 B.C.), one of the major states during the Zhou Dynasty, which was split into three successor states in 453 B.C. Over 1,700 relics have been unearthed, including small utensils and tools made of various materials, such as pottery, copper, iron, gold, jade, stone, shellfish and bone, featuring the culture of the late State of Jin. At least five large-scale tombs were found in Qiujiazhuang Cemetery, located at the central area of Quwo, one of the capitals of the State of Jin, during excavation projects conducted between August 2018 and June 2019. According to Tian, the five tombs discovered so far are likely to be of the Jin monarchs, which could be significant in the study of the history and culture of the State of Jin.
https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-03-10/Ancient-empress-tomb-with-1-700-relics-unearthed-in-Shanxi-N-China-OKIczOWK1q/index.html
ROYAUME UNI – Llanwern - A complex of Roman buildings has been uncovered on a slope overlooking the Gwent Levels at Llanwern, near Newport in South Wales. Excavations by Cotswold Archaeology, working on behalf of Redrow, identified evidence of occupation on the site that appears to date from the 2nd to the 4th centuries AD, although small quantities of pottery have been recovered which may predate the Roman conquest of the area. The complex comprised four structures with stone foundations – an apsed building, a larger rectangular building, and two circular buildings – all terraced slightly into the slope. Excavations also revealed the presence of at least three further post-built structures, two apparently housing a drying kiln, and an area of potential metal-working. The function of the apsed building is unclear, although a single inhumation burial and a single cremation burial appear to have been made within it, suggesting that it may have functioned as a mausoleum. Two other cremation burials were also found elsewhere on the site. The rectangular structure appears to contain three rooms, accessed by a long corridor. The stone walls excavated were unmortared, suggesting that these may have been built to support a half-timbered superstructure. The presence of a small number of ceramic tile fragments indicate that it may have had a tiled roof. Interestingly, at least one of the tile fragments recovered bears the stamp of Legio II Augusta, which was stationed for a while at nearby Caerleon, suggesting a possible connection between the sites. The western room of the rectangular building contained the remains of a mosaic floor, dated on stylistic grounds to the 4th century AD, though unfortunately, only elements of the plain tessellated surround and fragments of the polychrome border survived in situ. A well-made Roman road leads up the slope from the valley floor to the largest building, and a number of spring heads were recorded on the site, many of which fed a complex water-management system of stone-lined culverts, which took water downslope, through the main building and beyond. Several metalwork items were also recovered from the site, predominantly coins and brooches, including a few items which may have been votive objects, raising the possibility that the springs may have been the focus of some ritual or religious activity.
https://www.archaeology.co.uk/articles/roman-discoveries-in-llanwern.htm
USA – Mohawk Valley - New research is producing a more accurate historical timeline for the occupation of Native American sites in upstate New York, based on radiocarbon dating of organic materials and statistical modeling. The results from the study of a dozen sites in the Mohawk Valley were recently published in the online journal PLoS ONE The findings, Manning said, are helping to refine our understanding of the social, political and economic history of the Mohawk Valley region at the time of early European intervention. Using similar radiocarbon dating and statistical analysis methods, the 2018 findings also impacted timelines of Iroquoian history and European contact.“The Mohawk case was chosen because it is an iconic series of indigenous sites and was subject to one of the first big dating efforts in the 1990s,” said Manning, who also directs the Cornell Tree-Ring Laboratory. “We have now examined a southern Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) case as well as a northern Iroquois (Wendat) case, and we again find that the previous dating scheme is flawed and needs revision.” The Mohawk and Hudson river valleys were key inland routes for Europeans entering the region from the coast in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Colonization of the new world enriched Europe – Manning has described this period as “the beginning of the globalized world” – but brought disease and genocide to indigenous peoples, and their history during this time is often viewed in terms of trade and migration. The standard timeline created for historical narratives of indigenous settlement, Manning noted, has largely been based on the presence or absence of types of European trade goods – e.g., metal items or glass beads. Belying this Eurocentric colonial lens, trade practices differed from one native community to another, and not all of them accepted contact with, or goods from, European settlers. To clarify the origins of metal goods found in the upstate New York settlements, the team used portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis to determine whether copper artifacts were of native or European origin. They then also re-assessed the dates of the sites using radiocarbon dating coupled with Bayesian statistical analysis. The results “add to a growing appreciation of the interregional variations in the circulation and adoption patterns of European goods in northeastern North America in the 16th to earlier 17th centuries,” Manning said. In previous indigenous site studies, where artifacts indicated trade interactions, researchers might assume “that trade goods were equally available, and wanted, all over the region,” and that different indigenous groups shared common trade practices, he said.
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2020/03/maize-not-metal-key-native-settlements-history-ny