15 JUILLET 2023 NEWS
INSTITUT SUPERIEUR D'ANTHROPOLOGIE
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GALLES – 
Vale of Glamorgan - Bronze Age and Roman treasure has been found in Wales alongside human remains inside burial pits by a group of archaeologists. Red River Archeology Group found the treasure at the site of a planned road improvement project at Five Mile Lane beside the A4226 in the Vale of Glamorgan in 2017. The delay in reporting the artefacts as treasure is due to the length of time it has taken for the treasure to be legally announced by a coroner. One of the grave groups comprising a small gold penannular ring and fragments of a burnt wooden comb were found accompanying human remains in a small burial pit at the site near Bonvilston. The gold ring, just 1.1cm in diameter, is expertly made and decorated with a finely worked chevron pattern. It is thought that it may have been used to decorate the hair at the time. The wooden comb has eight narrow and parallel teeth surviving and is now in a highly fragile state - its survival in the soil being helped by its burnt charcoal exterior. Both artefacts date to the Middle Bronze Age between 1300 and 1150 BC, and were typically used by mourners to accompany the dead in the afterlife. Also found by the team in April 2017 at the site was a Roman burial containing a silver crossbow brooch, the remains of an iron sword, and hobnails from a pair of shoes. According to Amgueddfa Cymru/Museum Wales the sword is an example of those used by the Roman army in the third and fourth centuries AD Evan Chapman, Senior Curator for Archaeology at Amgueddfa Cymru/Museum Wales, said: “As far as I am aware this is the first example of a Roman silver crossbow brooch to be found in Wales. Crossbow brooches appear to have been associated with the late Roman army and civil service, possibly originally being a badge of office, although it has been suggested that elements of military dress, including crossbow brooches, were embraced by the elite more widely. The presence of the sword would support the military connection in this instance. Whether directly connected to the Roman army, or not, the brooch being of silver certainly suggests an individual of elite status.” Rachel Morgan, Project Archaeologist for Rubicon Heritage Services, said the discovery was "unexpected". “The inhumation of a young man in military regalia was an unexpected discovery within a Roman field system," she explained. "The silver crossbow brooch with which the individual was buried indicated his important status within the military or wider society. He died sometime between the mid-third to late fourth century, at which time this style of brooch had become a symbol of imperial administrators, so he was unlikely to have been an ordinary soldier and was evidently of some wealth. Isotope analysis also revealed that he was not born locally but likely grew up further east, possibly from the Welsh borders or beyond, so what was this rich man doing on a farm in south Wales when he died?”
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/treasure-human-remains-found-near-27302982
ANGLETERRE – 
Valley of Stones - At first glance it looked like nothing more than a rugged boulder jumbled among many others on the floor of a valley in the West Country. But a smooth, glossy dip in the stone indicated that it was something very special – a vanishingly rare “polissoir”, or polishing stone, used 5,000 years ago by Neolithic people to hone tools such as axes. Discovered in the Valley of Stones national nature reserve in Dorset, it is only the second polissoir found “earthfast” – stuck firmly into the earth in its original position – in England.
ISRAEL - 
Jerusalem - An archaeologist claims the ruins of five fortified cities outside of Jerusalem belonged to the same kingdom ruled by the Biblical figure King David Yosef Garfinkle with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem believes the cities date to the early 10th century BC, some 200 years than previously thought, placing their construction in the time of David. Garfinkel's study, published in June, describes the cities all featuring two parallel walls in the center and organized roads, suggesting the network was connected to one kingdom. While the cities were discovered separately, the archaeologist claims he is the first to connect the dots - determining they are an organized urban network built around 1000 BC. And King David ruled from 1104 to 960 BC during the Iron Age. David is said to have been a shepherd boy who became Israel's third and most crucial king around 1000 BC when he united all the tribes of Israel under a single monarch - but the story has been disputed due to a lack of evidence. The ruins sites are in Khirbet Qeiyafa, Tell en-Naṣbeh, Khirbet ed-Dawwara, Lachish and Beth Shemesh, north and west of Jerusalem.
MEXIQUE – 
Balamakú - The jungles of the Balamakú ecological reserve on the Yucatan Peninsula recently offered up a remarkable look at an ancient Maya city, one likely to be rather regionally prominent. Though it is over 1,000 years old, this city wasn’t known to the modern age. Its re-discovery comes thanks to airborne laser scanning (LiDAR) and subsequent on-the-ground archeology. Tucked some 37 miles deep in the jungle, a research team—led by Ivan Ṡprajc, a professor of archaeology from Slovenia who has directed work on the Yucatan Peninsula since 1996—took info from the airborne scan to discover the true location of a 1,000-year-old Maya city complete with complex buildings, plazas, and even a ball game site. Highlighted by several pyramidal structures over 50 feet tall, the city is perched on a peninsula of high ground surrounded by extensive wetlands. The 123-acre site includes three plazas featuring “imposing buildings and surrounded by several patio groups,” according to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), the group working to explore the densely vegetated reserve in the state of Campeche. “Between the two main plazas there is a complex made up of various low and elongated structures, arranged almost in concentric circles” Ṡprajc says in a statement translated from Spanish. “A ball game is also included.” A causeway connects the southeastern complex with the northwest portion, where most of the construction rests. It is highlighted by a pyramid rising 82 feet above the natural terrain. Researchers named the newly discovered city Ocomtún, “stone column” in Yucatec Maya. The multiple cylindrical columns discovered likely serving as entrances to upper rooms of buildings. As the team searched the site, they continued to locate structures leading toward the La Rigueña River that included stairways, monolithic columns, and central altars. The team also discovered an area for a ball field and the possibility of either markets or space for community rituals. “The site served as an important center at the regional level,” Ṡprajc says, “probably during the Classic period (250-1000 AD). The most common ceramic types that we collected on the surface and in some test pits are from the Late Classic (600-800 AD); however, the analysis of samples of this material will offer us more reliable data on the sequences of occupation.”
PEROU – 
Chavin de Huantar - Archaeologists working in Peru have uncovered a 3,000-year-old sealed corridor dubbed "the condor's passageway" that likely leads to other chambers inside what was once a massive temple complex pertaining to the ancient Chavin culture. Located around 190 miles (306km) northeast of Lima, the Chavin de Huantar archeological site is among the culture's most important centres, thriving from around 1,500-550 B.C. The Chavin are well-known for their advanced art, often featuring depictions of birds and felines. They date back to the first sedentary farming communities in the northern highlands of the Peruvian Andes, more than 2,000 years before the Inca Empire rose to power. The latest Chavin discoveries focus on a hallway inside a southern portion of the temple that was sealed due to what archaeologists believe was its structural weakness, but that now offers a glimpse into the earliest days of the Chavin. "What we have here has been frozen in time," lead archeologist John Rick told Reuters. A large ceramic piece weighing some 37 pounds (17kg) decorated with what appears to be a condor's head and wings has been found in the passageway, along with a ceramic bowl, both unearthed in May 2022 when the entrance was uncovered.The condor, one of the largest birds in the world, was associated with power and prosperity in ancient Andean cultures.The temple complex features terraces as well as a network of passageways, which have only recently been discovered. Rick, a Stanford University archeologist, has said much of the temple complex remains to be excavated.The entrance to the "condor's passageway" was first explored by Rick's team using cameras mounted on robots, seeking to negotiate the debris that once filled it as well as avoiding the risk of further collapse of the ancient architecture. The United Nations' educational, scientific and cultural arm Unesco declared Chavin de Huantar a world heritage site in 1985.
BRESIL – 
Santa Elina rock shelter - New research suggests humans lived in South America at the same time as now extinct giant sloths, bolstering evidence that people arrived in the Americas earlier than once thought. Scientists analyzed triangular and teardrop-shaped pendants made of bony material from the sloths. They concluded that the carved and polished shapes and drilled holes were the work of deliberate craftsmanship. Dating of the ornaments and sediment at the Brazil site where they were found point to an age of 25,000 to 27,000 years ago, the researchers reported. That’s several thousand years before some earlier theories had suggested the first people arrived in the Americas, after migrating out from Africa and then Eurasia. “We now have good evidence — together with other sites from South and North America — that we have to rethink our ideas about the migration of humans to the Americas,” said Mirian Liza Alves Forancelli Pacheco, a study co-author and archaeologist at the Federal University of Sao Carlos in Brazil.
https://apnews.com/article/giant-sloths-early-people-americas-4c28e6d96f8bd58ede8ac48e0c39b533
TURQUIE 
Keşiş - Keşiş Lake in Van, in eastern Turkey, which was built by the Urartu King Rusa 2,800 years ago, was negatively affected by drought. High temperatures caused the water level of the lake to decrease and a large part of it to dry up. Keşiş Gölü is an artificially-created lake located 23 km east of Van, in the Varak Dağı massif. The lake was made by the Urartian king Rusa, son of Erimena, to ensure a constant water supply for the capital Tušpa. Its height from the sea is 2,550 m and its area is 4–7 km2 depending on the rainfall. The lake, where 20 million m3 of water can be stored, has a water collection basin of 100 km2. The lake is located on a plateau with cold spring waters. During the reign of Urartu King Rusa II. (685-645 BC), a small river was blocked by two dams to create a reservoir lake. This lake, which was an engineering masterpiece of its time, has been operating as an irrigation system for 2800 years. Four Urartian inscriptions, including a rock relief, were discovered in its vicinity. The upper part of a stele, the so-called Keşiş Göl stele, records the creation of Rusai Sue (Lake Rusa).
USA – 
Rimrock Draw Rockshelter - In 2021, the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania was identified as the oldest human occupational site in North America, dating to at least 16,000 years old. In 2022, it was Cooper’s Ferry in Idaho, which was also dated to 16,000 years old. Now, Rimrock Draw Rockshelter, which is displaying occupation evidence dating back at least 18,000 years, may unseat that title! University of Oregon’s Museum of Natural and Cultural History Archaeological Field School, led by archaeologist Patrick O’Grady, has been excavating at the Rimrock Draw Rockshelter. Archaeologists in Oregon discovered an animal tooth at a rock shelter that was over 18,000 years old. If their interpretation of the artifact and other relics at the site is on point, this could indicate the shallow cave is one of the oldest sites of human occupation in North America. In 2012, the team identified camel teeth fragments under a layer of volcanic ash from an eruption of Mount St Helens that was dated over 15,000 years ago. They also found two finely crafted scrapers made from orange agate, one covered in preserved bison blood residue and another buried in volcanic ash. Now, radiocarbon dating of the camel tooth enamel has revealed a more precise date: 18,250 years before the present. “The identification of 15,000-years-old volcanic ash was a shock, then [the] 18,000-year old dates on the enamel, with stone tools and flakes below, were even more startling,” archaeologist Patrick O’Grady, who led the excavation, said in a statement. Since the tools were discovered further down in the ash, the layering of the sediments indicates that they predate both the volcanic eruption and the camel teeth. This means Rimrock Draw Rockshelter could be one of the oldest human occupation sites in North America. The however important question is whether the animal tooth fragment from 18,000 years ago can categorically prove human occupation at the site. The presence of crafted stone tools suggests so, but the interpretation might not necessarily convince everyone. “To me, it’s just a wonderful hunt,” Stafford said. “Now we’re down to real excavations that are very controlled and good chemistry and good radiocarbon data. We’re accumulating enough sites with good information that we can really say, ah, okay, it’s a little bit older. It’s a lot older.”
https://arkeonews.net/oregon-may-be-home-to-oldest-human-occupied-site-in-north-america/
EGYPTE – 
Quweisna - Archeologists have discovered several ancient mummies in Egypt with gold chips in their mouths where the tongues should be. The new finding was made at a site named Quweisna (sometimes spelled Quesna) necropolis in the central Nile Delta. The Qwaisana Archaeological Compound, an extension of the archeological compound, was originally discovered by archeologists in 1989. Their theory was that it had been occupied during the Ptolemaic and Roman periods, which stretched from about 300 BC to 640 AD. At the Qwaisana Archaeological Compound, three different levels show differing burial rituals. In addition, numerous other bodies were interred across three different time periods in ancient Egypt, which likely explained the difference in the tombs. Besides the mummies with the golden tongues, some were found that had their bones glazed in thin sheets of gold under the linen wrap. Others had simply been buried near gold-shaped scarabs and small gold lotus flowers. Evidently, the flowers are said to have symbolized creation and rebirth in ancient Egypt, while the scarabs could probably ensure elements in a mummy were consumed to be then reborn.The mouth of the deceased was opened in preparation for the afterlife during embalming, the tongue being removed and replaced with the golden ornament. This was a common practice, and it is believed that the gold tongue was for the dead to ask Osiris to show mercy on their souls, and, therefore, no music or sound was made. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities suspected that the gold had been placed there long ago by embalmers to ensure the dead could navigate the afterlife. In contrast, archeological researchers believe that the tongues, flowers, and scarabs meant the soul’s transformation after it successfully negotiated a stay in the afterlife with the lord and judge Osiris.
https://greekreporter.com/2023/07/14/mummies-gold-tongue-mouth-egypt/
