In a recently conducted study, a multidisciplinary French-American research team with expertise in archaeology, past climates, and ecology reported that Neanderthal extinction was principally a result of competition with Cro-Magnon populations, rather than the consequences of climate change.
The study, reported in the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE on December 24, figures in the ongoing debate on the reasons behind the eventual disappearance of Neanderthal populations, which occupied Europe prior to the arrival of human populations like us around 40,000 years ago. Led by Dr William E. Banks, the authors, who belong to the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, l'Ecole Pratique d'Hautes Etudes, and the University of Kansas, reached their conclusion by reconstructing climatic conditions during this period and analyzing the distribution of archaeological sites associated with the last Neanderthals and the first modern human populations with an approach typically used to study the impact of climate change on biodiversity.
This method uses geographic locations of archaeological sites dated by radiocarbon, in conjunction with high-resolution simulations of past climates for specific periods, and employs an algorithm to analyze relationships between the two datasets to reconstruct potential areas occupied by each human population and to determine if and how climatic conditions played a role in shaping these areas. In other words, by integrating archaeological and paleoenvironmental datasets, this predictive method can reconstruct the regions that a past population could potentially have occupied. By repeating the modeling process hundreds of times and evaluating where the errors occur, this machine-learning algorithm is able to provide robust predictions of regions that could have been occupied by specific human cultures.
This modeling approach also allows the projection of the ecological footprint of one culture onto the environmental conditions of a later climatic phase―by comparing this projected prediction to the known archaeological sites dated to this later period, it is possible to determine if the ecological niche exploited by this human population remained the same, or if it contracted or expanded during that period of time.
Comparing these reconstructed areas for Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans during each of the climatic phases concerned, and by projecting each niche onto the subsequent climatic phases, Banks and colleagues determined that Neanderthals had the possibility to maintain their range across Europe during a period of less severe climatic conditions called Greenland Interstadial 8 (GI8).
However, the archaeological record shows that this did not occur, and Neanderthal disappearance occurs at a point when we see the geographic expansion of the ecological niche occupied by modern humans during GI8. The researchers' models predict the southern limit of the modern human territory to be near the Ebro River Valley in northern Spain during the preceding cold period called Heinrich Event 4 (H4), and that this southern boundary moved to the south during the more temperate phase GI8.
The researchers conclude that the Neanderthal populations that occupied what is now southern Spain were the last to survive because they were able to avoid direct competition with modern humans since the two populations exploited distinct territories during the cold climatic conditions of H4. They also point out that during this population event contact between Neanderthals and modern humans may have permitted cultural and genetic exchanges.
Informazioni e aggiornamenti sul percorso di studi e ricerche di Armando Mei sui misteri della Civiltà delle Piramidi
29 dicembre 2008
27 dicembre 2008
Christmas Star Mystery Continues
Andrew Fazekas
In the Bible, a celestial beacon now known as the Star of Bethlehem led the Magi, or wise men, to Jesus's manger.
Astronomers have been debating for centuries whether the star existed and, if so, what it might have been. Comets, meteor showers, and supernovae have all been proposed, but in recent years two main theories have come to dominate the discussion.
The first relates to a singular planetary gathering, or conjunction, of the bright planets Venus and Jupiter. A particularly striking conjunction occurred in June 17, 2 B.C.
It makes for a probable Christmas star, some astronomers say, because the two bright planets appeared so close in the evening sky that they would have seemed to merge.
"There is no doubt that for skywatchers at the time it looked like a massive, single starlike object in the western evening sky," said Ed Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California. (Venus and Jupiter were also in conjunction this December.)
But serious questions linger as to whether this date could really signify Jesus's birth.
"There is considerable ambiguity about the exact date of birth of Christ. There is no authoritative record to establish that," said Marvin Bolt, director of the History of Astronomy Department at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.
A Celestial Series
But those who study the historical and theological aspects of astronomy see the Christmas Star story as a much more elaborate event.
"Astronomers today are looking for a spectacular event in the sky that modern tools and technologies are able to pinpoint, but they are completely missing the cultural impact and importance of the story itself," said Bolt.
Bolt supports an alternative theory that a complex series of celestial alignments between the Moon, Jupiter, and a particular group of stars—all of which had deep meaning to astrologer-astronomers at the time—added up to create the legend.
The sequence of celestial events began in April of 6 B.C., starting with Jupiter positioning itself in the constellation Aries. Over the following months, Jupiter was also twice in close conjunction with Earth's moon, and paired up with Saturn.
Aries was considered the sign of the Jews, and Jupiter's movements in the sequence carried the meaning of conferring kingship.
Planetariums Align
The conjunction theory is strictly astronomical in nature, while the more nuanced approach attempts to peer into the minds of ancient skywatchers.
"It's not a matter of looking at astronomical events we today would find striking. You have to look at what people 2,000 years ago might have thought was significant to their lives," Bolt said.
While the newer theory is more plausible, said the Griffith Observatory's Krupp, it will take some time for it to take hold in the astronomical community.
But some planetariums have been changing their traditional "Star of the Magi" shows to incorporate this alternate historical interpretation of the nativity story.
"Many planetariums have even scrapped their old shows entirely and are putting forward an account that is based on this new theory," Bolt said.
Krupp said profound developments are unlikely unless new data come to light.
"At this point if we want to find out what really happened 2,000 years ago, we need to have ... confirmation that refers to the birth of Christ—something that clearly demonstrates that this person was born at a particular date and time," he said
In the Bible, a celestial beacon now known as the Star of Bethlehem led the Magi, or wise men, to Jesus's manger.
Astronomers have been debating for centuries whether the star existed and, if so, what it might have been. Comets, meteor showers, and supernovae have all been proposed, but in recent years two main theories have come to dominate the discussion.
The first relates to a singular planetary gathering, or conjunction, of the bright planets Venus and Jupiter. A particularly striking conjunction occurred in June 17, 2 B.C.
It makes for a probable Christmas star, some astronomers say, because the two bright planets appeared so close in the evening sky that they would have seemed to merge.
"There is no doubt that for skywatchers at the time it looked like a massive, single starlike object in the western evening sky," said Ed Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California. (Venus and Jupiter were also in conjunction this December.)
But serious questions linger as to whether this date could really signify Jesus's birth.
"There is considerable ambiguity about the exact date of birth of Christ. There is no authoritative record to establish that," said Marvin Bolt, director of the History of Astronomy Department at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.
A Celestial Series
But those who study the historical and theological aspects of astronomy see the Christmas Star story as a much more elaborate event.
"Astronomers today are looking for a spectacular event in the sky that modern tools and technologies are able to pinpoint, but they are completely missing the cultural impact and importance of the story itself," said Bolt.
Bolt supports an alternative theory that a complex series of celestial alignments between the Moon, Jupiter, and a particular group of stars—all of which had deep meaning to astrologer-astronomers at the time—added up to create the legend.
The sequence of celestial events began in April of 6 B.C., starting with Jupiter positioning itself in the constellation Aries. Over the following months, Jupiter was also twice in close conjunction with Earth's moon, and paired up with Saturn.
Aries was considered the sign of the Jews, and Jupiter's movements in the sequence carried the meaning of conferring kingship.
Planetariums Align
The conjunction theory is strictly astronomical in nature, while the more nuanced approach attempts to peer into the minds of ancient skywatchers.
"It's not a matter of looking at astronomical events we today would find striking. You have to look at what people 2,000 years ago might have thought was significant to their lives," Bolt said.
While the newer theory is more plausible, said the Griffith Observatory's Krupp, it will take some time for it to take hold in the astronomical community.
But some planetariums have been changing their traditional "Star of the Magi" shows to incorporate this alternate historical interpretation of the nativity story.
"Many planetariums have even scrapped their old shows entirely and are putting forward an account that is based on this new theory," Bolt said.
Krupp said profound developments are unlikely unless new data come to light.
"At this point if we want to find out what really happened 2,000 years ago, we need to have ... confirmation that refers to the birth of Christ—something that clearly demonstrates that this person was born at a particular date and time," he said
25 dicembre 2008
23 dicembre 2008
Males dominated 'out-of-Africa' migration 60,000 years ago
A replica of Homo sapiens idaltu, which dates from 160,000 years ago and was discovered in the Afar Region of Ethiopea, displayed at the Africa Pavilion at the 2005 World Exposition in Nagakute, Japan, April 2005. Men significantly outnumbered women in the "out-of-Africa" migration some 60,000 years ago that eventually populated the rest of the world, according to a new study.
Africa is known to be the cradle of human evolution, and recent studies show that the peoples today inhabiting other continents originate from a relatively small band of Homo sapiens sapiens who moved through the Near East, into Europe and beyond some 50,000 and 70,000 years ago.
But until now no one had figured out a way to determine what the sex-ratio of this so-called founding population might have been.
A quartet of researchers led by Alon Keinan at the Harvard Medical School thought that the secret might be locked inside differences in genetic code across distinct geographic regions.
They knew that the percentage of X chromosomes in a given population varies depending on the proportion of men.
The "X" and "Y" chromosomes determine sex -- men have one of each, while women have two X chromosomes. The other 22 chromosome pairings in the human genome are all the same.
It was also known that this ratio affects the rate at which mutations randomly spread through the X chromosome over dozens or hundreds of generations as compared to the mutation rate in other, non-sex, chromosomes.
Keinan and colleagues reasoned that if X-chromosomes changed more quickly than expected, then it almost certainly meant that our common ancestors who wandered out of Africa were predominantly male.
To test their theory, they compared the genetic makeup of Africans first with northern Europeans, and then again with Asians.
"The results point to a period of accelerated drift on chromosome X that largely occurred after the split of West Africa and non-Africans, but before the separation of North Europeans and East Asian," the conclude.
Genetic drift is a term that refers to random mutations in genes, as opposed to changes that occur through natural selection.
Keinan acknowledged that if a small fraction of the women in the migratory exodus from Africa had given birth to all of the children, there might still have been parity in the number of males and females.
But this seemed highly unlikely, he said, adding that his findings were "in line with what anthropologists have taught us about hunter-gatherer populations in which short distance migration is primarily by women and long distance migration primarily by men."
The study was published in Nature Publishing Group's journal Nature Genetics.
© 2008 AFP
Africa is known to be the cradle of human evolution, and recent studies show that the peoples today inhabiting other continents originate from a relatively small band of Homo sapiens sapiens who moved through the Near East, into Europe and beyond some 50,000 and 70,000 years ago.
But until now no one had figured out a way to determine what the sex-ratio of this so-called founding population might have been.
A quartet of researchers led by Alon Keinan at the Harvard Medical School thought that the secret might be locked inside differences in genetic code across distinct geographic regions.
They knew that the percentage of X chromosomes in a given population varies depending on the proportion of men.
The "X" and "Y" chromosomes determine sex -- men have one of each, while women have two X chromosomes. The other 22 chromosome pairings in the human genome are all the same.
It was also known that this ratio affects the rate at which mutations randomly spread through the X chromosome over dozens or hundreds of generations as compared to the mutation rate in other, non-sex, chromosomes.
Keinan and colleagues reasoned that if X-chromosomes changed more quickly than expected, then it almost certainly meant that our common ancestors who wandered out of Africa were predominantly male.
To test their theory, they compared the genetic makeup of Africans first with northern Europeans, and then again with Asians.
"The results point to a period of accelerated drift on chromosome X that largely occurred after the split of West Africa and non-Africans, but before the separation of North Europeans and East Asian," the conclude.
Genetic drift is a term that refers to random mutations in genes, as opposed to changes that occur through natural selection.
Keinan acknowledged that if a small fraction of the women in the migratory exodus from Africa had given birth to all of the children, there might still have been parity in the number of males and females.
But this seemed highly unlikely, he said, adding that his findings were "in line with what anthropologists have taught us about hunter-gatherer populations in which short distance migration is primarily by women and long distance migration primarily by men."
The study was published in Nature Publishing Group's journal Nature Genetics.
© 2008 AFP
22 dicembre 2008
Egitto: Scoperte due tombe a Saqqara
A 400 metri dalla piramide a gradoni di Zoser
(ANSA) - IL CAIRO, 21 DIC -La missione archeologica egiziana diretta da Zahi Hawas, ha scoperto 2 nuove tomba a Saqqara,nota per la 'piramide a gradoni' di Zoser. 'Le due tombe in pietra calcarea e scolpite nella roccia sono a 400 m a sudovest della piramide a gradoni',si precisa in un comunicato, aggiungendo che la prima appartiene a 'Aie Maat' supervisore delle missioni di re Unas,l'ultimo faraone della V dinastia dell'Antico Impero.La seconda tomba appartiene ad una cantante che si chiamava Thenh.
(ANSA) - IL CAIRO, 21 DIC -La missione archeologica egiziana diretta da Zahi Hawas, ha scoperto 2 nuove tomba a Saqqara,nota per la 'piramide a gradoni' di Zoser. 'Le due tombe in pietra calcarea e scolpite nella roccia sono a 400 m a sudovest della piramide a gradoni',si precisa in un comunicato, aggiungendo che la prima appartiene a 'Aie Maat' supervisore delle missioni di re Unas,l'ultimo faraone della V dinastia dell'Antico Impero.La seconda tomba appartiene ad una cantante che si chiamava Thenh.
21 dicembre 2008
Passage graves from an astronomical perspective
Passage graves are mysterious barrows from the Stone Age. New research from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen indicates that the Stone Age graves' orientation in the landscape could have an astronomical explanation. The Danish passage graves are most likely oriented according to the path of the full moon, perhaps even according to the full moon immediately before a lunar eclipse. The results are published in the scientific journal Acta Archaeologica
There are many Stone Age graves in Denmark, where archaeologists estimate that around 40.000 large stone graves were built from around 3500 to 3000 BC. Only about 500 of the large passage graves, called giant tombs (in Danish Jaettestuer) are preserved today, but one of the great mysteries is their orientation in the landscape.
With the help of GPS, a compass and a surveying instrument Claus Clausen measured the orientation of entrance tunnels of approximately 100 passage graves. It turned out that there was a remarkable concentration of certain orientations. Claus Clausen had a theory that it could be a calendar system, but the theory did not hold up. Astronomer and supervisor of the special project, Per Kjærgaard Rasmussen suggested that he look at the connection between the sun and the moon and especially lunar eclipses, because there were two orientations that occurred frequently and that could suggest something with specific full moons.
Ancient Almanac
Astronomer Ole Einicke, who for many years has calculated data for the Danish Almanac, had made a computer program that could calculate the position of the planets for the next year. The program was now used to calculate back in time. Directions to the rise of the Sun are easy to calculate. The orientation of the rise of full moon and the timing of lunar eclipses are more difficult to calculate due to the sun's disturping influence on the moon's orbit around the earth, that results in the orbit of the moon rotates in a period of 18.6 years. But the biggest complication is that the earth's rotation has changed through time so that it now rotates slower than before so it required special calculations and corrections to calculate more than 5.500 years into the past and see whether the lunar eclipses could be seen from Denmark.
Patterns in the sun and moon
There is a significant concentration of orientations towards east/southeast as seen from within the passage grave. It can be interpreted that the passage graves are oriented according to the winter sunrise. But researchers think it more likely that they are positioned according to the rise of the full moon, for example, the first full moon after the spring equinox.
The calculations show, that in the period from 3.300 to 3.100 BC there was an over frequency of 50 percent in the number of lunar eclipses that could be seen in Denmark. And the exciting thing was that the pattern indicated that it could fit with the rise of the full moon immediately before a lunar eclipse.
How the Stone Age people had known that a lunar eclipse would come after a full moon is unknown, but astronomer Per Kjærgaard Rasmussen explains, that if one had observed a lunar eclipse there is a very strong likelihood that another lunar eclipse would come either 12 months or 18.6 years later.
The passage graves had been used for burials and the orientation of the entrance is concentrated towards the full moon points to a ritual practice that involved the moon.
There are many Stone Age graves in Denmark, where archaeologists estimate that around 40.000 large stone graves were built from around 3500 to 3000 BC. Only about 500 of the large passage graves, called giant tombs (in Danish Jaettestuer) are preserved today, but one of the great mysteries is their orientation in the landscape.
With the help of GPS, a compass and a surveying instrument Claus Clausen measured the orientation of entrance tunnels of approximately 100 passage graves. It turned out that there was a remarkable concentration of certain orientations. Claus Clausen had a theory that it could be a calendar system, but the theory did not hold up. Astronomer and supervisor of the special project, Per Kjærgaard Rasmussen suggested that he look at the connection between the sun and the moon and especially lunar eclipses, because there were two orientations that occurred frequently and that could suggest something with specific full moons.
Ancient Almanac
Astronomer Ole Einicke, who for many years has calculated data for the Danish Almanac, had made a computer program that could calculate the position of the planets for the next year. The program was now used to calculate back in time. Directions to the rise of the Sun are easy to calculate. The orientation of the rise of full moon and the timing of lunar eclipses are more difficult to calculate due to the sun's disturping influence on the moon's orbit around the earth, that results in the orbit of the moon rotates in a period of 18.6 years. But the biggest complication is that the earth's rotation has changed through time so that it now rotates slower than before so it required special calculations and corrections to calculate more than 5.500 years into the past and see whether the lunar eclipses could be seen from Denmark.
Patterns in the sun and moon
There is a significant concentration of orientations towards east/southeast as seen from within the passage grave. It can be interpreted that the passage graves are oriented according to the winter sunrise. But researchers think it more likely that they are positioned according to the rise of the full moon, for example, the first full moon after the spring equinox.
The calculations show, that in the period from 3.300 to 3.100 BC there was an over frequency of 50 percent in the number of lunar eclipses that could be seen in Denmark. And the exciting thing was that the pattern indicated that it could fit with the rise of the full moon immediately before a lunar eclipse.
How the Stone Age people had known that a lunar eclipse would come after a full moon is unknown, but astronomer Per Kjærgaard Rasmussen explains, that if one had observed a lunar eclipse there is a very strong likelihood that another lunar eclipse would come either 12 months or 18.6 years later.
The passage graves had been used for burials and the orientation of the entrance is concentrated towards the full moon points to a ritual practice that involved the moon.
20 dicembre 2008
'Hobbit' Fossils Represent A New Species, Concludes Anthropologist
University of Minnesota anthropology professor Kieran McNulty (along with colleague Karen Baab of Stony Brook University in New York) has made an important contribution toward solving one of the greatest paleoanthropological mysteries in recent history - that fossilized skeletons resembling a mythical "hobbit" creature represent an entirely new species in humanity's evolutionary chain.
Discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, controversy has surrounded the fossilized hominid skeletons of the so-called "hobbit people," or Homo floresiensis ever since. Experts are still debating whether the 18,000-year-old remains merely belong to a diminutive population of modern-day humans (with one individual exhibiting "microcephaly," an abnormally small head) or represent a previously unrecognized branch in humanity's family tree.
Using 3D modeling methods, McNulty and his fellow researchers compared the cranial features of this real-life "hobbit" to those of a simulated fossil human (of similar stature) to determine whether or not such a species was distinct from modern humans.
"[Homo floresiensis] is the most exciting discovery in probably the last 50 years," said McNulty. "The specimens have skulls that resemble something that died a million years earlier, and other body parts reminiscent of our three-million-year-old human ancestors, yet they lived until very recently - contemporaries with modern humans."
Comparing the simulation to the original Flores skull discovered in 2003, McNulty and Baab were able to demonstrate conclusively that the original "hobbit" skull fits the expectations for a small fossil hominin species and not a modern human. Their study was published online this month in the Journal of Human Evolution.
The cranial structure of the fossilized skull, says the study, clearly places it in humanity's genus Homo, even though it would be smaller in both body and brain size than any other member. The results of the study suggest that the theorized "hobbit" species may have undergone a process of size reduction after branching off from Homo erectus (one of modern day humanity's distant ancestors) or even something more primitive.
"We have shown with this study that the process of size reduction applied to fossil hominins accounts for many features seen in the fossil skull from Flores," McNulty said. "It becomes much more difficult, therefore, to defend the hypothesis that the preserved skull is a modern human who simply suffered from an extremely rare disorder.
Public interest in the discovery, analysis and implications of Flores "hobbits" has been high ever since 2003, inspiring several television specials (including a recent episode of "NOVA" entitled "Alien From Earth") and other media attention.
While the debate over Homo floresiensis will continue, McNulty believes this comprehensive analysis of the relationship between size and shape in human evolution is a critical step toward eventually understanding the place of the Flores "hobbits" in human evolutionary history.
"I think the majority of researchers favor recognizing this as a new species," McNulty said about the categorization of Homo floresiensis. "The evidence is becoming overwhelming, and this study helps confirm that view."
Discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, controversy has surrounded the fossilized hominid skeletons of the so-called "hobbit people," or Homo floresiensis ever since. Experts are still debating whether the 18,000-year-old remains merely belong to a diminutive population of modern-day humans (with one individual exhibiting "microcephaly," an abnormally small head) or represent a previously unrecognized branch in humanity's family tree.
Using 3D modeling methods, McNulty and his fellow researchers compared the cranial features of this real-life "hobbit" to those of a simulated fossil human (of similar stature) to determine whether or not such a species was distinct from modern humans.
"[Homo floresiensis] is the most exciting discovery in probably the last 50 years," said McNulty. "The specimens have skulls that resemble something that died a million years earlier, and other body parts reminiscent of our three-million-year-old human ancestors, yet they lived until very recently - contemporaries with modern humans."
Comparing the simulation to the original Flores skull discovered in 2003, McNulty and Baab were able to demonstrate conclusively that the original "hobbit" skull fits the expectations for a small fossil hominin species and not a modern human. Their study was published online this month in the Journal of Human Evolution.
The cranial structure of the fossilized skull, says the study, clearly places it in humanity's genus Homo, even though it would be smaller in both body and brain size than any other member. The results of the study suggest that the theorized "hobbit" species may have undergone a process of size reduction after branching off from Homo erectus (one of modern day humanity's distant ancestors) or even something more primitive.
"We have shown with this study that the process of size reduction applied to fossil hominins accounts for many features seen in the fossil skull from Flores," McNulty said. "It becomes much more difficult, therefore, to defend the hypothesis that the preserved skull is a modern human who simply suffered from an extremely rare disorder.
Public interest in the discovery, analysis and implications of Flores "hobbits" has been high ever since 2003, inspiring several television specials (including a recent episode of "NOVA" entitled "Alien From Earth") and other media attention.
While the debate over Homo floresiensis will continue, McNulty believes this comprehensive analysis of the relationship between size and shape in human evolution is a critical step toward eventually understanding the place of the Flores "hobbits" in human evolutionary history.
"I think the majority of researchers favor recognizing this as a new species," McNulty said about the categorization of Homo floresiensis. "The evidence is becoming overwhelming, and this study helps confirm that view."
19 dicembre 2008
Scientists find 2,000-year-old brain in Britain
By RAPHAEL G. SATTER , Associated Press Writer
An image issued by the York Archaeological Trust on Friday Dec. 12, 2008 shows brain material as dark folded matter at the top of the head in this computer-generated view into the skull. British archaeologists working at a university campus have unearthed an ancient skull carrying a startling surprise _ an unusually well-preserved brain still inside. Scientists said Friday that the more than 2,000-year-old mass of gray matter was the oldest ever discovered in Britain. One expert unconnected with the find called it "a real freak of preservation." The skull -- which was severed from its corpse sometime before the Roman invasion of Britain _ was found in a muddy pit during a dig at the University of York in northern England in the fall of this year, according to Richard Hall, a director of York Archaeological Trust.
An image issued by the York Archaeological Trust on Friday Dec. 12, 2008 shows brain material as dark folded matter at the top of the head in this computer-generated view into the skull. British archaeologists working at a university campus have unearthed an ancient skull carrying a startling surprise _ an unusually well-preserved brain still inside. Scientists said Friday that the more than 2,000-year-old mass of gray matter was the oldest ever discovered in Britain. One expert unconnected with the find called it "a real freak of preservation." The skull -- which was severed from its corpse sometime before the Roman invasion of Britain _ was found in a muddy pit during a dig at the University of York in northern England in the fall of this year, according to Richard Hall, a director of York Archaeological Trust.
17 dicembre 2008
Ancient tongue inscribed on Sudan statues
Finds could help archaeologists decipher one of Africa’s oldest languages
By Andrew Heavens (REUTERS)
KHARTOUM - Archaeologists said on Tuesday they had discovered three ancient statues in Sudan with inscriptions that could bring them closer to deciphering one of Africa's oldest languages.
The stone rams, representing the god Amun, were carved during the Meroe empire, a period of kingly rule that lasted from about 300 BC to AD 450 and left hundreds of remains along the River Nile north of Khartoum.
Vincent Rondot, director of the dig carried out by the French Section of Sudan's Directorate of Antiquities, said each statue displayed an inscription written in Meroitic script, the oldest written language in sub-Saharan Africa.
"It is one of the last antique languages that we still don't understand ... we can read it. We have no problem pronouncing the letters. But we can't understand it, apart from a few long words and the names of people," he told reporters in Khartoum.
Sudan has more pyramids than neighboring Egypt, but few people visit its remote sites, and repeated internal conflicts have made excavation difficult.
Rondot said the dig at el-Hassa, the site of a Meroitic town, had uncovered the first complete version of a royal dedication, previously found only on fragments of carvings from the same period.
He said experts were still trying to work out the meaning of the words by comparing them with broken remnants of similar royal dedications in the same script.
"It's an important discovery ... quite an achievement," Rondot said.
The statues were found three weeks ago under a sand dune at the site of a temple to the god Amun, an all-powerful deity represented by the ram in Sudan.
The site is close to Sudan's Meroe pyramids, a cluster of more than 50 granite tombs 200 kms (120 miles) north of the capital that are one of the main attractions for Sudan's few tourists.
By Andrew Heavens (REUTERS)
KHARTOUM - Archaeologists said on Tuesday they had discovered three ancient statues in Sudan with inscriptions that could bring them closer to deciphering one of Africa's oldest languages.
The stone rams, representing the god Amun, were carved during the Meroe empire, a period of kingly rule that lasted from about 300 BC to AD 450 and left hundreds of remains along the River Nile north of Khartoum.
Vincent Rondot, director of the dig carried out by the French Section of Sudan's Directorate of Antiquities, said each statue displayed an inscription written in Meroitic script, the oldest written language in sub-Saharan Africa.
"It is one of the last antique languages that we still don't understand ... we can read it. We have no problem pronouncing the letters. But we can't understand it, apart from a few long words and the names of people," he told reporters in Khartoum.
Sudan has more pyramids than neighboring Egypt, but few people visit its remote sites, and repeated internal conflicts have made excavation difficult.
Rondot said the dig at el-Hassa, the site of a Meroitic town, had uncovered the first complete version of a royal dedication, previously found only on fragments of carvings from the same period.
He said experts were still trying to work out the meaning of the words by comparing them with broken remnants of similar royal dedications in the same script.
"It's an important discovery ... quite an achievement," Rondot said.
The statues were found three weeks ago under a sand dune at the site of a temple to the god Amun, an all-powerful deity represented by the ram in Sudan.
The site is close to Sudan's Meroe pyramids, a cluster of more than 50 granite tombs 200 kms (120 miles) north of the capital that are one of the main attractions for Sudan's few tourists.
16 dicembre 2008
Pompeii Family's Final Hours Reconstructed
Rossella Lorenzi,
Dec. 11, 2008 -- Italian researchers have reconstructed the last hours in Pompeii of a dozen people who managed to survive Mount Vesuvius' devastating eruption for more than 19 hours.
Volcanologist Claudio Scarpati, and colleagues Giuseppe Luongo and Annamaria Perrotta of the University of Naples Federico II in Italy, analyzed layers of volcanic deposits in a Pompeian house and examined 13 skeletons found there on a carpet of pumice to reconstruct the events that occurred when the eruption was in progress. The team reported their findings at a recent international conference on ancient DNA in Naples.
Located in Pompeii's main street, Via dell'Abbondanza, the home of Iulius Polybius is one of the most studied in the ancient Roman town.
"This house has yielded rich and diverse archaeological findings. Moreover, it features the most complete stratified sections of Pompeii's volcanic deposit," Scarpati told Discovery News.
At around 1:00 p.m. on Aug. 24, 79 A.D., Pompeii residents saw a pine tree-shaped column of smoke bursting from Vesuvius. Reaching nine miles into the sky, the column began spewing a thick pumice rain. Many residents rushed in the streets, trying to leave the city.
"At that moment, Polybius' house was inhabited by 12 people, including a young woman in advanced pregnancy. They decided to remain in the house, most likely because it was safer for the pregnant woman. Given the circumstances, it was the right strategy," Scarpati said.
Once considered relatively innocuous by volcanologists, this first phase of the eruption in fact produced 38 percent of the deaths.
"Contrary to what was previously believed, a large number of deaths occurred in the first hours of the eruption. Many skeletons of those who tried to escape show fractured skulls, meaning that they died from collapsing roofs or large fragments falling from the eruptive column," Scarpati said.
By examining the density of volcanic deposits in relation to an accumulation rate of six inches per hour, the researchers concluded that it took up to six hours for the roofs of Polybius' house to collapse.
At around 7:00 p.m., by which time the front part the house had collapsed, the inhabitants took shelter in the rear rooms, whose steeper roofs had not been damaged by the falling material.
"There were three adult males, three adult females of various ages, four boys, one girl, one child and one fetus in the last month of intrauterine life. The fetus was associated with the skeleton of a young (16 to 18-year-old) female," Scarpati said.
Analysis of mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down through the maternal line, revealed that six individuals belonged to the same family.
"The age of five out of six individuals suggests that they were siblings. Another subject, about 25 to 30 years old, might have been a cousin. The three adult women were unrelated," molecular biologist Marilena Cipollaro, of the Second University of Naples, told Discovery News.
Cipollaro's analysis also revealed that two related subjects suffered from spina bifida, a birth defect resulting in an incomplete closure of the spinal column.
Most likely, the group of people in Polybius' house included the parents, their children, a cousin and his young, pregnant wife, plus a pair of servants.
They all witnessed the terrible evolution of the eruption. In the early hours of Aug. 25, a nearly 10-foot-thick carpet of pumice had already covered the streets and bottoms of buildings.
Polybius' family perished in their home's back rooms.
"The position of some skeletons on the volcanic deposit indicates that some individuals were lying on beds at the moment of death," Scarpati said.
When the first phase of the eruption ended, the eruptive column collapsed, producing a series of pyroclastic currents. These are fast-moving flows of hot gas and rock at temperatures ranging from 392 to 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit.
"The first pyroclastic currents arrived from the north and overtopped the rear part of the house. The currents moved into the garden and advanced toward the front of the house. No escape was possible for the people there. The ash reached every corner in the house and suffocated its inhabitants," Scarpati said.
Ash layers revealed that not all Pompeii residents were killed by the devastating wave of gas and rock.
"We found victims several centimeters above the basal ash layers related to this current. Some residents walked outdoors and survived until the second pyroclastic current," Scarpati said.
Between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., a final phase, punctuated by more pumice rain, buried Pompeii.
The solid roofs of Polybius' house collapsed. What followed was a long, deathly silence."It was impossible to survive that eruption. Even though we calculated that 75 to 92 percent of the residents escaped the town at the first signs of the crisis, it is not possible to know how successful those fugitives were. Hundreds of victims were recovered from the relatively small excavations outside the city walls," Scarpati said.
Dec. 11, 2008 -- Italian researchers have reconstructed the last hours in Pompeii of a dozen people who managed to survive Mount Vesuvius' devastating eruption for more than 19 hours.
Volcanologist Claudio Scarpati, and colleagues Giuseppe Luongo and Annamaria Perrotta of the University of Naples Federico II in Italy, analyzed layers of volcanic deposits in a Pompeian house and examined 13 skeletons found there on a carpet of pumice to reconstruct the events that occurred when the eruption was in progress. The team reported their findings at a recent international conference on ancient DNA in Naples.
Located in Pompeii's main street, Via dell'Abbondanza, the home of Iulius Polybius is one of the most studied in the ancient Roman town.
"This house has yielded rich and diverse archaeological findings. Moreover, it features the most complete stratified sections of Pompeii's volcanic deposit," Scarpati told Discovery News.
At around 1:00 p.m. on Aug. 24, 79 A.D., Pompeii residents saw a pine tree-shaped column of smoke bursting from Vesuvius. Reaching nine miles into the sky, the column began spewing a thick pumice rain. Many residents rushed in the streets, trying to leave the city.
"At that moment, Polybius' house was inhabited by 12 people, including a young woman in advanced pregnancy. They decided to remain in the house, most likely because it was safer for the pregnant woman. Given the circumstances, it was the right strategy," Scarpati said.
Once considered relatively innocuous by volcanologists, this first phase of the eruption in fact produced 38 percent of the deaths.
"Contrary to what was previously believed, a large number of deaths occurred in the first hours of the eruption. Many skeletons of those who tried to escape show fractured skulls, meaning that they died from collapsing roofs or large fragments falling from the eruptive column," Scarpati said.
By examining the density of volcanic deposits in relation to an accumulation rate of six inches per hour, the researchers concluded that it took up to six hours for the roofs of Polybius' house to collapse.
At around 7:00 p.m., by which time the front part the house had collapsed, the inhabitants took shelter in the rear rooms, whose steeper roofs had not been damaged by the falling material.
"There were three adult males, three adult females of various ages, four boys, one girl, one child and one fetus in the last month of intrauterine life. The fetus was associated with the skeleton of a young (16 to 18-year-old) female," Scarpati said.
Analysis of mitochondrial DNA, which is passed down through the maternal line, revealed that six individuals belonged to the same family.
"The age of five out of six individuals suggests that they were siblings. Another subject, about 25 to 30 years old, might have been a cousin. The three adult women were unrelated," molecular biologist Marilena Cipollaro, of the Second University of Naples, told Discovery News.
Cipollaro's analysis also revealed that two related subjects suffered from spina bifida, a birth defect resulting in an incomplete closure of the spinal column.
Most likely, the group of people in Polybius' house included the parents, their children, a cousin and his young, pregnant wife, plus a pair of servants.
They all witnessed the terrible evolution of the eruption. In the early hours of Aug. 25, a nearly 10-foot-thick carpet of pumice had already covered the streets and bottoms of buildings.
Polybius' family perished in their home's back rooms.
"The position of some skeletons on the volcanic deposit indicates that some individuals were lying on beds at the moment of death," Scarpati said.
When the first phase of the eruption ended, the eruptive column collapsed, producing a series of pyroclastic currents. These are fast-moving flows of hot gas and rock at temperatures ranging from 392 to 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit.
"The first pyroclastic currents arrived from the north and overtopped the rear part of the house. The currents moved into the garden and advanced toward the front of the house. No escape was possible for the people there. The ash reached every corner in the house and suffocated its inhabitants," Scarpati said.
Ash layers revealed that not all Pompeii residents were killed by the devastating wave of gas and rock.
"We found victims several centimeters above the basal ash layers related to this current. Some residents walked outdoors and survived until the second pyroclastic current," Scarpati said.
Between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m., a final phase, punctuated by more pumice rain, buried Pompeii.
The solid roofs of Polybius' house collapsed. What followed was a long, deathly silence."It was impossible to survive that eruption. Even though we calculated that 75 to 92 percent of the residents escaped the town at the first signs of the crisis, it is not possible to know how successful those fugitives were. Hundreds of victims were recovered from the relatively small excavations outside the city walls," Scarpati said.
15 dicembre 2008
Tools with handles even more ancient
New finds move back the origins of Stone Age tools that were attached to handles with adhesive material
By Bruce Bower
In a gripping instance of Stone Age survival, Neandertals used a tarlike substance to fasten sharpened stones to handles as early as 70,000 years ago, a new study suggests.
Stone points and sharpened flakes unearthed in Syria since 2000 contain the residue of bitumen — a natural, adhesive substance — on spots where the implements would have been secured to handles of some type, according to a team led by archaeologist Eric Boëda of University of Paris X, Nanterre. The process of attaching a tool to a handle is known as hafting. The Neandertals likely found the bitumen in nearby tar sands, the team reports.
Stone tools of the type found at the Syrian site are typically attributed to Neandertals. These evolutionary cousins of modern humans frequently used bitumen and other tars as an adhesive for hafting and perhaps sometimes as a sleeve to protect a tool user’s hand, the researchers propose in the December Antiquity.
The new age of 70,000 years ago places the practice earlier than a previous finding in 1996 by Boëda’s team of 40,000-year-old stone artifacts unearthed at the same location, Umm el Tlel. Those artifacts also contained remnants of bitumen (SN: 4/13/96, p. 235).
“The surprising thing, to me, is that we do not find more such evidence for hafting by Neandertals,” remarks archaeologist John Shea of Stony Brook University in New York. Hafting may have been too time-consuming for Neandertals in some resource-poor locales, Shea hypothesizes, because their large bodies dictated that they forage constantly for food. Neandertals living at Umm el Tlel 70,000 years ago apparently had time for hafting, using bitumen to construct hunting spears, in his view.
Neandertals and modern humans inherited the intellectual abilities needed for hafting from a common ancestor that lived more than 200,000 years ago, Shea speculates.
Following an analysis of microscopic wear on 90,000-year-old stone artifacts from an early Homo sapiens site in Israel, Shea reported in 2007 that some stone points had probably been attached to hand-cast spears with an unidentified adhesive. Also in 2007, archaeologist Marlize Lombard of Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, reported that modern humans living in southern Africa around 60,000 years ago hafted stone points using an adhesive made from a mix of resin and ground pigment.
In 2006, Italian researchers found two sharpened stones, dating to more than 100,000 years ago, that Neandertals had apparently attached to handles using birch-bark tar. The tar-stained stones lay among the bones of an animal that belonged to a now-extinct elephant species.
In the new study, Boëda’s team identified black stains on 200 out of more than 1,000 stone implements excavated from several related sediment layers at Umm el Tlel. Seven pieces of burned flint found in those newly excavated layers were dated to 70,000 years ago using a method that measured the radiation dose that had accumulated since the artifacts had been heated.
Black residue on stone tools clung to areas that had been grasped by hand or attached to handles, the researchers note. Geochemical analyses revealed a close correspondence between bits of residue extracted from three artifacts and bitumen collected from tar sands located 40 kilometers from the Syrian site.
A closer investigation showed that the ancient residue and modern bitumen shared nearly identical chemical compositions.The researchers then made an adhesive out of bitumen mixed with quartz and gypsum and applied it in various amounts to 10 experimentally produced stone implements. After drying, the mixture displayed microscopic features much like those of residue on the Umm el Tlel artifacts, the scientists say.
By Bruce Bower
In a gripping instance of Stone Age survival, Neandertals used a tarlike substance to fasten sharpened stones to handles as early as 70,000 years ago, a new study suggests.
Stone points and sharpened flakes unearthed in Syria since 2000 contain the residue of bitumen — a natural, adhesive substance — on spots where the implements would have been secured to handles of some type, according to a team led by archaeologist Eric Boëda of University of Paris X, Nanterre. The process of attaching a tool to a handle is known as hafting. The Neandertals likely found the bitumen in nearby tar sands, the team reports.
Stone tools of the type found at the Syrian site are typically attributed to Neandertals. These evolutionary cousins of modern humans frequently used bitumen and other tars as an adhesive for hafting and perhaps sometimes as a sleeve to protect a tool user’s hand, the researchers propose in the December Antiquity.
The new age of 70,000 years ago places the practice earlier than a previous finding in 1996 by Boëda’s team of 40,000-year-old stone artifacts unearthed at the same location, Umm el Tlel. Those artifacts also contained remnants of bitumen (SN: 4/13/96, p. 235).
“The surprising thing, to me, is that we do not find more such evidence for hafting by Neandertals,” remarks archaeologist John Shea of Stony Brook University in New York. Hafting may have been too time-consuming for Neandertals in some resource-poor locales, Shea hypothesizes, because their large bodies dictated that they forage constantly for food. Neandertals living at Umm el Tlel 70,000 years ago apparently had time for hafting, using bitumen to construct hunting spears, in his view.
Neandertals and modern humans inherited the intellectual abilities needed for hafting from a common ancestor that lived more than 200,000 years ago, Shea speculates.
Following an analysis of microscopic wear on 90,000-year-old stone artifacts from an early Homo sapiens site in Israel, Shea reported in 2007 that some stone points had probably been attached to hand-cast spears with an unidentified adhesive. Also in 2007, archaeologist Marlize Lombard of Natal Museum in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, reported that modern humans living in southern Africa around 60,000 years ago hafted stone points using an adhesive made from a mix of resin and ground pigment.
In 2006, Italian researchers found two sharpened stones, dating to more than 100,000 years ago, that Neandertals had apparently attached to handles using birch-bark tar. The tar-stained stones lay among the bones of an animal that belonged to a now-extinct elephant species.
In the new study, Boëda’s team identified black stains on 200 out of more than 1,000 stone implements excavated from several related sediment layers at Umm el Tlel. Seven pieces of burned flint found in those newly excavated layers were dated to 70,000 years ago using a method that measured the radiation dose that had accumulated since the artifacts had been heated.
Black residue on stone tools clung to areas that had been grasped by hand or attached to handles, the researchers note. Geochemical analyses revealed a close correspondence between bits of residue extracted from three artifacts and bitumen collected from tar sands located 40 kilometers from the Syrian site.
A closer investigation showed that the ancient residue and modern bitumen shared nearly identical chemical compositions.The researchers then made an adhesive out of bitumen mixed with quartz and gypsum and applied it in various amounts to 10 experimentally produced stone implements. After drying, the mixture displayed microscopic features much like those of residue on the Umm el Tlel artifacts, the scientists say.
14 dicembre 2008
Discovered the oldest Hebrew inscription
By Matti Friedman
HIRBET QEIYAFA, Israel - An Israeli archaeologist digging at a hilltop south of Jerusalem believes a ceramic shard found in the ruins of an ancient town bears the oldest Hebrew inscription ever discovered, a find that could provide an important glimpse into the culture and language of the Holy Land at the time of the Bible.
The five lines of faded characters written 3,000 years ago, and the ruins of the fortified settlement where they were found, are indications that a powerful Israelite kingdom existed at the time of the Old Testament's King David, says Yossi Garfinkel, the Hebrew University archaeologist in charge of the new dig at Hirbet Qeiyafa.
Other scholars are hesitant to embrace Garfinkel's interpretation of the finds, made public on Thursday. The discoveries are already being wielded in a vigorous and ongoing argument over whether the Bible's account of events and geography is meant to be taken literally.
Site Overlooks Elah Valley
Hirbet Qeiyafa sits near the modern Israeli city of Beit Shemesh in the Judean foothills, an area that was once the frontier between the hill-dwelling Israelites and their enemies, the coastal Philistines. The site overlooks the Elah Valley, said to be the scene of the slingshot showdown between David and the Philistine giant Goliath, and lies near the ruins of Goliath's hometown in the Philistine metropolis of Gath.
A teenage volunteer found the curved pottery shard, 6 inches by 6 inches, in July near the stairs and stone washtub of an excavated home. It was later discovered to bear five lines of characters known as proto-Canaanite, a precursor of the Hebrew alphabet.
Carbon-14 analysis of burnt olive pits found in the same layer of the site dated them to between 1,000 and 975 B.C., the same time as the Biblical golden age of David's rule in Jerusalem.
Scholars have identified other, smaller Hebrew fragments from the 10th century B.C., but the script, which Garfinkel suggests might be part of a letter, predates the next significant Hebrew inscription by between 100 and 200 years. History's best-known Hebrew texts, the Dead Sea scrolls, were penned on parchment beginning 850 years later.
The shard is now kept in a university safe while philologists translate it, a task expected to take months. But several words have already been tentatively identified, including ones meaning "judge," "slave" and "king."
Not 100 percent certain
The Israelites were not the only ones using proto-Canaanite characters, and other scholars suggest it is difficult — perhaps impossible — to conclude the text is Hebrew and not a related tongue spoken in the area at the time. Garfinkel bases his identification on a three-letter verb from the inscription meaning "to do," a word he said existed only in Hebrew.
"That leads us to believe that this is Hebrew, and that this is the oldest Hebrew inscription that has been found," he said.
Other prominent Biblical archaeologists warned against jumping to conclusions.
Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar said the inscription was "very important," as it is the longest proto-Canaanite text ever found. But he suggested that calling the text Hebrew might be going too far.
"It's proto-Canaanite," he said. "The differentiation between the scripts, and between the languages themselves in that period, remains unclear."
Some scholars and archeologists argue that the Bible's account of David's time inflates his importance and that of his kingdom, and is essentially myth, perhaps rooted in a shred of fact.
HIRBET QEIYAFA, Israel - An Israeli archaeologist digging at a hilltop south of Jerusalem believes a ceramic shard found in the ruins of an ancient town bears the oldest Hebrew inscription ever discovered, a find that could provide an important glimpse into the culture and language of the Holy Land at the time of the Bible.
The five lines of faded characters written 3,000 years ago, and the ruins of the fortified settlement where they were found, are indications that a powerful Israelite kingdom existed at the time of the Old Testament's King David, says Yossi Garfinkel, the Hebrew University archaeologist in charge of the new dig at Hirbet Qeiyafa.
Other scholars are hesitant to embrace Garfinkel's interpretation of the finds, made public on Thursday. The discoveries are already being wielded in a vigorous and ongoing argument over whether the Bible's account of events and geography is meant to be taken literally.
Site Overlooks Elah Valley
Hirbet Qeiyafa sits near the modern Israeli city of Beit Shemesh in the Judean foothills, an area that was once the frontier between the hill-dwelling Israelites and their enemies, the coastal Philistines. The site overlooks the Elah Valley, said to be the scene of the slingshot showdown between David and the Philistine giant Goliath, and lies near the ruins of Goliath's hometown in the Philistine metropolis of Gath.
A teenage volunteer found the curved pottery shard, 6 inches by 6 inches, in July near the stairs and stone washtub of an excavated home. It was later discovered to bear five lines of characters known as proto-Canaanite, a precursor of the Hebrew alphabet.
Carbon-14 analysis of burnt olive pits found in the same layer of the site dated them to between 1,000 and 975 B.C., the same time as the Biblical golden age of David's rule in Jerusalem.
Scholars have identified other, smaller Hebrew fragments from the 10th century B.C., but the script, which Garfinkel suggests might be part of a letter, predates the next significant Hebrew inscription by between 100 and 200 years. History's best-known Hebrew texts, the Dead Sea scrolls, were penned on parchment beginning 850 years later.
The shard is now kept in a university safe while philologists translate it, a task expected to take months. But several words have already been tentatively identified, including ones meaning "judge," "slave" and "king."
Not 100 percent certain
The Israelites were not the only ones using proto-Canaanite characters, and other scholars suggest it is difficult — perhaps impossible — to conclude the text is Hebrew and not a related tongue spoken in the area at the time. Garfinkel bases his identification on a three-letter verb from the inscription meaning "to do," a word he said existed only in Hebrew.
"That leads us to believe that this is Hebrew, and that this is the oldest Hebrew inscription that has been found," he said.
Other prominent Biblical archaeologists warned against jumping to conclusions.
Hebrew University archaeologist Amihai Mazar said the inscription was "very important," as it is the longest proto-Canaanite text ever found. But he suggested that calling the text Hebrew might be going too far.
"It's proto-Canaanite," he said. "The differentiation between the scripts, and between the languages themselves in that period, remains unclear."
Some scholars and archeologists argue that the Bible's account of David's time inflates his importance and that of his kingdom, and is essentially myth, perhaps rooted in a shred of fact.
13 dicembre 2008
Ancient Roman Oil Lamp 'Factory Town' Found
Rossella Lorenzi
Dec. 5, 2008 -- Italian researchers have discovered the pottery center where the oil lamps that lighted the ancient Roman empire were made.
Evidence of the pottery workshops emerged in Modena, in central-northern Italy, during construction work to build a residential complex near the ancient walls of the city.
"We found a large ancient Roman dumping filled with pottery scraps. There were vases, bottles, bricks, but most of all, hundreds of oil lamps, each bearing their maker's name," Donato Labate, the archaeologist in charge of the dig, told Discovery News.
Firmalampen, or "factory lamps," were one of the first mass-produced goods in Roman times and they carried brand names clearly stamped on their clay bottoms.
The ancient dumping in Modena contained lamps by the most famous brands of the time: Strobili, Communis, Phoetaspi, Eucarpi and Fortis.
All these manufacturers had their products sold on the markets of three continents. Fortis was the trendiest of all pottery brands and its products were used up to the end of the second century A.D.
Dec. 5, 2008 -- Italian researchers have discovered the pottery center where the oil lamps that lighted the ancient Roman empire were made.
Evidence of the pottery workshops emerged in Modena, in central-northern Italy, during construction work to build a residential complex near the ancient walls of the city.
"We found a large ancient Roman dumping filled with pottery scraps. There were vases, bottles, bricks, but most of all, hundreds of oil lamps, each bearing their maker's name," Donato Labate, the archaeologist in charge of the dig, told Discovery News.
Firmalampen, or "factory lamps," were one of the first mass-produced goods in Roman times and they carried brand names clearly stamped on their clay bottoms.
The ancient dumping in Modena contained lamps by the most famous brands of the time: Strobili, Communis, Phoetaspi, Eucarpi and Fortis.
All these manufacturers had their products sold on the markets of three continents. Fortis was the trendiest of all pottery brands and its products were used up to the end of the second century A.D.
12 dicembre 2008
Late Neanderthals and modern human contact in southeastern Iberia
(PhysOrg.com)
It is widely accepted that Upper Paleolithic early modern humans spread westward across Europe about 42,000 years ago, displacing and absorbing Neanderthal populations in the process. However, Middle Paleolithic assemblages persisted for another 8,000 years in Iberia, presumably made by Neanderthals. It has been unclear whether these late Middle Paleolithic Iberian assemblages were made by Neanderthals, and what the nature of those humans might have been.
New research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is now shedding some light on what were probably the last Neanderthals. The research is based on a study of human fossils found during the past decade at the Sima de la Palomas, Murcia, Spain by Michael Walker, professor at Universidad de Murcia, and colleagues, and published by Michael Walker, João Zilhão and Alistair Pike, from the University of Bristol, and colleagues. The human fossils from the upper levels of the Sima de las Palomas are anatomically clearly Neanderthals, and they are now securely dated to 40,000 years ago. They therefore establish the late persistence of Neanderthals in this southwestern cul-de-sac of Europe. This reinforces the conclusion that the Neanderthals were not merely swept away by advancing modern humans. The behavioral differences between these human groups must have been more subtle than the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic technological contrasts might imply. In addition, the Palomas Neanderthals variably exhibit a series of modern human features rare or absent in earlier Neanderthals. Either they were evolving on their own towards the modern human pattern, or more likely, they had contact with early modern humans around the Pyrenees. If the latter, it implies that the persistence of the Middle Paleolithic in Iberia was a matter of choice, and not cultural retardation. From the Sima de las Palomas, other late Neanderthal sites, and recent discoveries of the earliest modern humans across Europe, a complex picture is emerging of shifting contact between behaviorally similar, if culturally and biologically different, human populations. We are coming to see them all more as people, flexibly making a living through the changing human and natural landscapes of the Late Pleistocene.
Paper: Late Neanderthals in Southeastern Iberia: Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Murcia, Spain Michael J. Walker, Josep Gibert, Mariano V. López, A. Vincent Lombardi, Alejandro Pérez-Pérez, Josefina Zapata, Jon Ortega, Thomas Higham, Alistair Pike, Jean-Luc Schwenninger, João Zilhão, Erik Trinkaus PNAS (http://www.pnas.org/)
Provided by University of Bristol
11 dicembre 2008
Expedition uncovers ancient citadel in Peruvian jungle
(Physorg.com)
A team of archaeologists on Tuesday announced they had discovered a fortified citadel in the remote Amazonian rainforest of northeast Peru that appears to be from the pre-Inca era.
A team of archaeologists on Tuesday announced they had discovered a fortified citadel in the remote Amazonian rainforest of northeast Peru that appears to be from the pre-Inca era.
The main encampment comprises circular stone houses overgrown by lush jungle over an area of five hectares (12 acres), said archaeologist Benedict Goicochea Perez, quoted by the official Andina news agency.
The citadel sits atop a chasm that the former inhabitants may have used as a lookout to spy on approaching enemies, said Goicochea Perez. Rock paintings cover some of the fortifications, and next to the dwellings are large platforms believed to have been used to grind seeds and wild plants for food and medicine, he said. The citadel is tucked away in the remote Jamalca district of Utcubamba province, part of the northern Amazonas department, said Jamalca Mayor Ricardo Cabrera Bravo, who had joined the expedition. The area, about 800 kilometers (497 miles) northeast of Lima, is famed for its vast, isolated natural beauty, surrounded by verdant foliage and soaring waterfalls, said Cabrera Bravo. The citadel likely belonged to the Chachapoyas civilization -- an ancient people whose glory days over a thousand years ago pre-date the hegemony of the powerful Incas. The Chachapoyas culture (known as the Cloud Forest people) also built the imposing Kuelap fortress atop a mountain in Utcubamba, which can only be compared in scale to the Inca's Machu Picchu retreat, built hundreds of years later.
A team of archaeologists on Tuesday announced they had discovered a fortified citadel in the remote Amazonian rainforest of northeast Peru that appears to be from the pre-Inca era.
A team of archaeologists on Tuesday announced they had discovered a fortified citadel in the remote Amazonian rainforest of northeast Peru that appears to be from the pre-Inca era.
The main encampment comprises circular stone houses overgrown by lush jungle over an area of five hectares (12 acres), said archaeologist Benedict Goicochea Perez, quoted by the official Andina news agency.
The citadel sits atop a chasm that the former inhabitants may have used as a lookout to spy on approaching enemies, said Goicochea Perez. Rock paintings cover some of the fortifications, and next to the dwellings are large platforms believed to have been used to grind seeds and wild plants for food and medicine, he said. The citadel is tucked away in the remote Jamalca district of Utcubamba province, part of the northern Amazonas department, said Jamalca Mayor Ricardo Cabrera Bravo, who had joined the expedition. The area, about 800 kilometers (497 miles) northeast of Lima, is famed for its vast, isolated natural beauty, surrounded by verdant foliage and soaring waterfalls, said Cabrera Bravo. The citadel likely belonged to the Chachapoyas civilization -- an ancient people whose glory days over a thousand years ago pre-date the hegemony of the powerful Incas. The Chachapoyas culture (known as the Cloud Forest people) also built the imposing Kuelap fortress atop a mountain in Utcubamba, which can only be compared in scale to the Inca's Machu Picchu retreat, built hundreds of years later.
10 dicembre 2008
Humans 80,000 Years Older Than Previously Thought?
Kate Ravilious for National Geographic News
Modern humans may have evolved more than 80,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to a new study of sophisticated stone tools found in Ethiopia.
The tools were uncovered in the 1970s at the archaeological site of Gademotta, in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. But it was not until this year that new dating techniques revealed the tools to be far older than the oldest known Homo sapien bones, which are around 195,000 years old.
Using argon-argon dating—a technique that compares different isotopes of the element argon—researchers determined that the volcanic ash layers entombing the tools at Gademotta date back at least 276,000 years.
Many of the tools found are small blades, made using a technique that is thought to require complex cognitive abilities and nimble fingers, according to study co-author and Berkeley Geochronology Center director Paul Renne.
Some archaeologists believe that these tools and similar ones found elsewhere are associated with the emergence of the modern human species, Homo sapiens.
"It seems that we were technologically more advanced at an earlier time that we had previously thought," said study co-author Leah Morgan, from the University of California, Berkeley.
The findings are published in the December issue of the journal Geology.
Desirable Location
Gademotta was an attractive place for people to settle, due to its close proximity to fresh water in Lake Ziway and access to a source of hard, black volcanic glass, known as obsidian.
"Due to its lack of crystalline structure, obsidian glass is one of the best raw materials to use for making tools," Morgan explained.
In many parts of the world, archaeologists see a leap around 300,000 years ago in Stone Age technology from the large and crude hand-axes and picks of the so-called Acheulean period to the more delicate and diverse points and blades of the Middle Stone Age.
At other sites in Ethiopia, such as Herto in the Afar region northeast of Gademotta, the transition does not occur until much later, around 160,000 years ago, according to argon dating. This variety in dates supports the idea of a gradual transition in technology.
"A modern analogy might be the transition from ox-carts to automobiles, which is virtually complete in North America and northern Europe, but is still underway in the developing world," said study co-author Renne, who received funding for the Gadmotta analysis from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)
Morgan, of UC Berkeley, speculates that the readily available obsidian at Gademotta may explain why the technological revolution occurred so early there.
Complicated family tree
The lack of bones at Gademotta makes it difficult to determine who made these specialist tools. Some archaeologists believe it had to be Homo sapiens, while other experts think that other human species may have had the required mental capability and manual dexterity.
Regardless of who made the tools, the dates help to fill a key gap in the archaeological record, according to some experts.
"The new dates from Gademotta help us to understand the timing of an important behavioral change in human evolution," said Christian Tryon, a professor of anthropology from New York University, who wasn't involved in the study.
If anything, the story has now become more complex, added Laura Basell, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford in the U.K.
"The new date for Gademotta changes how we think about human evolution, because it shows how much more complicated the situation is than we previously thought," Basell said.
Modern humans may have evolved more than 80,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to a new study of sophisticated stone tools found in Ethiopia.
The tools were uncovered in the 1970s at the archaeological site of Gademotta, in the Ethiopian Rift Valley. But it was not until this year that new dating techniques revealed the tools to be far older than the oldest known Homo sapien bones, which are around 195,000 years old.
Using argon-argon dating—a technique that compares different isotopes of the element argon—researchers determined that the volcanic ash layers entombing the tools at Gademotta date back at least 276,000 years.
Many of the tools found are small blades, made using a technique that is thought to require complex cognitive abilities and nimble fingers, according to study co-author and Berkeley Geochronology Center director Paul Renne.
Some archaeologists believe that these tools and similar ones found elsewhere are associated with the emergence of the modern human species, Homo sapiens.
"It seems that we were technologically more advanced at an earlier time that we had previously thought," said study co-author Leah Morgan, from the University of California, Berkeley.
The findings are published in the December issue of the journal Geology.
Desirable Location
Gademotta was an attractive place for people to settle, due to its close proximity to fresh water in Lake Ziway and access to a source of hard, black volcanic glass, known as obsidian.
"Due to its lack of crystalline structure, obsidian glass is one of the best raw materials to use for making tools," Morgan explained.
In many parts of the world, archaeologists see a leap around 300,000 years ago in Stone Age technology from the large and crude hand-axes and picks of the so-called Acheulean period to the more delicate and diverse points and blades of the Middle Stone Age.
At other sites in Ethiopia, such as Herto in the Afar region northeast of Gademotta, the transition does not occur until much later, around 160,000 years ago, according to argon dating. This variety in dates supports the idea of a gradual transition in technology.
"A modern analogy might be the transition from ox-carts to automobiles, which is virtually complete in North America and northern Europe, but is still underway in the developing world," said study co-author Renne, who received funding for the Gadmotta analysis from the National Geographic Society's Committee for Research and Exploration. (The National Geographic Society owns National Geographic News.)
Morgan, of UC Berkeley, speculates that the readily available obsidian at Gademotta may explain why the technological revolution occurred so early there.
Complicated family tree
The lack of bones at Gademotta makes it difficult to determine who made these specialist tools. Some archaeologists believe it had to be Homo sapiens, while other experts think that other human species may have had the required mental capability and manual dexterity.
Regardless of who made the tools, the dates help to fill a key gap in the archaeological record, according to some experts.
"The new dates from Gademotta help us to understand the timing of an important behavioral change in human evolution," said Christian Tryon, a professor of anthropology from New York University, who wasn't involved in the study.
If anything, the story has now become more complex, added Laura Basell, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford in the U.K.
"The new date for Gademotta changes how we think about human evolution, because it shows how much more complicated the situation is than we previously thought," Basell said.
9 dicembre 2008
Mystery Pyramid Built by Newfound Ancient Culture?
Alexis Okeowo in México City for National Geographic News
December 8, 2008
Several stone sculptures recently found in central Mexico point to a previously unknown culture that likely built a mysterious pyramid in the region, archaeologists say. Archaeologists first found the objects about 15 years ago in the valley of Tulancingo, a major canyon that drops off into Mexico's Gulf Coast.
Most of the 41 artifacts "do not fit into any of the known cultures of the Valley of Tulancingo, or the highlands of central Mexico," said Carlos Hernández, an archaeologist at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History in the central state of Hidalgo. Many of the figures are depicted in a sitting position, with their hands placed on their knees. Some have headdresses or conical hats with snakes at the base, which could represent Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl, the Aztec god of the wind. One figure shows a man emerging from the jaws of a jaguar.
The sculptures are also made of flat stucco — a combination of fine sand, lime, and water — and painted blue or green to the give the appearance of jade. All of the artifacts date to the Epiclassic period between A.D. 600 to 900.
Some Mexican and foreign archaeologists have said the sculptures weren't ancient and thus false, Hernández said.
"But by linking all the characteristics that make them different, [such as their location in Tulancingo and time period], allows us to say that they should be considered as a product of a different culture [called Huajomulco]."
The culture is named after an area in Hidalgo.
Baffling Pyramid
Some of the artifacts were also found near the mysterious Huapalcalco pyramid in Hidalgo, whose origin has been a source of debate among archaeologists. The pyramid's proportions, along with smaller structures that were painted black and white, do not correspond to the Toltec or Teotihuacan cultures of the same area and time period. The Teotihuacan people, who lived from 400 B.C. to A.D. 700, constructed one of the largest pyramid complexes in the pre-hispanic Americas, which refers to cultures that lived on the continent before the Spanish conquest of the Western Hemipshere.
The Toltecs, who came afterward, were made up of several groups of South Americans that together formed an empire famous for its artists and builders in the Teotihuacan capital of Tula from A.D. 900 until the 1100s.
The pottery found at the site — rough, cylindrical vessels that are gray and reddish-brown in color — is also not familiar to experts. Based on the artifacts' discovery near the pyramid,"it is likely that the Huapalcalco pyramid has been built by people from this new culture," Hernández said.
Thomas Charlton, an archaeologist at University of Iowa, has worked in the state of Hidalgo. He said that ample evidence — including the new artifacts — links a new pre-hispanic culture to the Huapalcalco pyramid.
"It's a reasonable hypothesis [that] near the Valley of Tulancingo, there is a site that looks like it existed between the fall of the Teotihuacan and the beginning of the Tula [Toltec]," Charlton added.
"We know that there's an occupation [from this time] near Tulancingo.
"After the Teotihuacan, there were all sorts of smaller states throughout Mexico. It's part of the cycle after the fall of an empire."
Creative Era
Michael Smith, an archaeologist at Arizona State University, agreed. "The notion that there would be an independent culture in [the Epiclassic] period is not surprising at all," he said.
"It was a very creative period, with rich development."
Future excavations of Huapalcalco should solidify the link to a new pre-hispanic culture, and help archaeologists glean clues about this lost time, Hernández said. "The [Epiclassic] period is considered a time of dynamic development—new trade, cities, and development," said Arizona State's Smith, "but one we don't know much about."
December 8, 2008
Several stone sculptures recently found in central Mexico point to a previously unknown culture that likely built a mysterious pyramid in the region, archaeologists say. Archaeologists first found the objects about 15 years ago in the valley of Tulancingo, a major canyon that drops off into Mexico's Gulf Coast.
Most of the 41 artifacts "do not fit into any of the known cultures of the Valley of Tulancingo, or the highlands of central Mexico," said Carlos Hernández, an archaeologist at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History in the central state of Hidalgo. Many of the figures are depicted in a sitting position, with their hands placed on their knees. Some have headdresses or conical hats with snakes at the base, which could represent Ehécatl-Quetzalcóatl, the Aztec god of the wind. One figure shows a man emerging from the jaws of a jaguar.
The sculptures are also made of flat stucco — a combination of fine sand, lime, and water — and painted blue or green to the give the appearance of jade. All of the artifacts date to the Epiclassic period between A.D. 600 to 900.
Some Mexican and foreign archaeologists have said the sculptures weren't ancient and thus false, Hernández said.
"But by linking all the characteristics that make them different, [such as their location in Tulancingo and time period], allows us to say that they should be considered as a product of a different culture [called Huajomulco]."
The culture is named after an area in Hidalgo.
Baffling Pyramid
Some of the artifacts were also found near the mysterious Huapalcalco pyramid in Hidalgo, whose origin has been a source of debate among archaeologists. The pyramid's proportions, along with smaller structures that were painted black and white, do not correspond to the Toltec or Teotihuacan cultures of the same area and time period. The Teotihuacan people, who lived from 400 B.C. to A.D. 700, constructed one of the largest pyramid complexes in the pre-hispanic Americas, which refers to cultures that lived on the continent before the Spanish conquest of the Western Hemipshere.
The Toltecs, who came afterward, were made up of several groups of South Americans that together formed an empire famous for its artists and builders in the Teotihuacan capital of Tula from A.D. 900 until the 1100s.
The pottery found at the site — rough, cylindrical vessels that are gray and reddish-brown in color — is also not familiar to experts. Based on the artifacts' discovery near the pyramid,"it is likely that the Huapalcalco pyramid has been built by people from this new culture," Hernández said.
Thomas Charlton, an archaeologist at University of Iowa, has worked in the state of Hidalgo. He said that ample evidence — including the new artifacts — links a new pre-hispanic culture to the Huapalcalco pyramid.
"It's a reasonable hypothesis [that] near the Valley of Tulancingo, there is a site that looks like it existed between the fall of the Teotihuacan and the beginning of the Tula [Toltec]," Charlton added.
"We know that there's an occupation [from this time] near Tulancingo.
"After the Teotihuacan, there were all sorts of smaller states throughout Mexico. It's part of the cycle after the fall of an empire."
Creative Era
Michael Smith, an archaeologist at Arizona State University, agreed. "The notion that there would be an independent culture in [the Epiclassic] period is not surprising at all," he said.
"It was a very creative period, with rich development."
Future excavations of Huapalcalco should solidify the link to a new pre-hispanic culture, and help archaeologists glean clues about this lost time, Hernández said. "The [Epiclassic] period is considered a time of dynamic development—new trade, cities, and development," said Arizona State's Smith, "but one we don't know much about."
8 dicembre 2008
UNEARTHING EUROPE'S OLDEST PYRAMID COMPLEX (6)
Philip Coppens
New dimensions and developments
So, all false perceptions and ego-trips aside, it is clear that the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids has much validity and will rock the old pyramid paradigm in years to come. But the research project will continue to be controversial for some time longer. What the Foundation needs is more time-just as it took Howard Carter several years before he located Tutankhamen's tomb. Progress is slow, but obvious. In time, the Bosnian pyramids will not only be added to the new paradigm of pyramid structures that appear across the world, but they will also reveal a new dimension to the Vinca culture and show that the pyramids are European, rather than Egyptian, in nature. Either way, a new page is being added in the development of civilisation. That the pyramids might provide a new dimension to the Vinca culture is a "cautious" approach. In fact, at ICBP 2008, British archaeologist Andrew Lawler and Polish phy sicist Dr Anna Pazdur presented their results from a radiocarbon-dating analysis done on a piece of wood recovered from the Ravne tunnels. Though they noted that it is a unique artefact (radiocarbon dating is preferentially done on several artefacts, not just one, so that a range of dates can be arrived at), they concluded that the piece of wood is 34,000 years old-which, in theory, could be the date when these pyramids were created. If true (and only further digging will tell), then the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids will not merely change an outmoded paradigm but completely shatter it. Meanwhile, some are fighting to maintain the old paradigm, which is already a lost cause. The pyramid landscape has changed, and walking through Visoko one can see a glimpse of the future as well as a remnant of the ancient past.
New dimensions and developments
So, all false perceptions and ego-trips aside, it is clear that the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids has much validity and will rock the old pyramid paradigm in years to come. But the research project will continue to be controversial for some time longer. What the Foundation needs is more time-just as it took Howard Carter several years before he located Tutankhamen's tomb. Progress is slow, but obvious. In time, the Bosnian pyramids will not only be added to the new paradigm of pyramid structures that appear across the world, but they will also reveal a new dimension to the Vinca culture and show that the pyramids are European, rather than Egyptian, in nature. Either way, a new page is being added in the development of civilisation. That the pyramids might provide a new dimension to the Vinca culture is a "cautious" approach. In fact, at ICBP 2008, British archaeologist Andrew Lawler and Polish phy sicist Dr Anna Pazdur presented their results from a radiocarbon-dating analysis done on a piece of wood recovered from the Ravne tunnels. Though they noted that it is a unique artefact (radiocarbon dating is preferentially done on several artefacts, not just one, so that a range of dates can be arrived at), they concluded that the piece of wood is 34,000 years old-which, in theory, could be the date when these pyramids were created. If true (and only further digging will tell), then the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids will not merely change an outmoded paradigm but completely shatter it. Meanwhile, some are fighting to maintain the old paradigm, which is already a lost cause. The pyramid landscape has changed, and walking through Visoko one can see a glimpse of the future as well as a remnant of the ancient past.
7 dicembre 2008
UNEARTHING EUROPE'S OLDEST PYRAMID COMPLEX (5)
Philip Coppens
Not just pyramids and tunnels
In the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids, the tunnels so far have shown that humans were definitely doing something, and logic dictates that this work was connected with the pyramids. As such, the critics hardly ever focus on the tunnels; but when they do, it is with sweeping statements that try to mystify what is at heart not a complex issue at all.
Meanwhile, in September 2007, a team from the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina excavated the nearby site of Okoliste and concluded that, circa 4700-4500 BCE, around 3,000 people lived in the settlement-one of the largest ever found in Bosnia. This shouldn't be surprising, seeing that Visoko is known to have been one of Bosnia's most fertile lands and hence a cherished location for settlers. From the development of civilisations elsewhere, we know that such settlements often had a surplus workforce, which, like elsewhere, might easily have been used to start a building project-the Bosnian pyramids, perhaps?
There is therefore a substantial pool of evidence from which one can conclude that these hills have been artificially enhanced, and that there were "civilised people" present at the right time, in the right place, to have created these pyramids. However, it is equally clear that a smoking gun, which would convince anyone, remains to be found-but, equally, it might be just a spade's turn away.In 2008, preliminary research at the neighbouring village of Ginje brought about some further, very interesting, discoveries. Near the village is a large hill, and next to it, in the valley below, a small tumulus. On both the top of the hill and the tumulus, perfectly rectangular stone slabs have been found that are on a par with similar slabs found on and near the pyramids.
Independent researcher Nenad Djurdjevic has noted in a report, available on the Pyramid Foundation's website: "A few years after World War II, from the roadside many of the megalithic blocks were still visible lying on the top of the hill and its flanks, but...a great number of them was gradually removed by villagers during later decades and used for the construction of foundations, walls and houses."
The remaining conglomerate blocks are of enormous size (approximately 2 m x 1 m x 1 m) and weigh about four tonnes. On the hill itself, it seems clear that these blocks once belonged to a stone structure on its summit. The tumulus in the valley below has two stone slabs lying next to each other; one is sandstone, the other conglomerate. The obvious conclusion is that people moved these two stone blocks next to one other.
In Donje Mostre, a number of rectangular stone blocks have also been found lining the road, and some are without any doubt man-made. On 23 September 2008, a team from the University of Kiel, Germany, found nearby a Neolithic artefact that has been dated to 6000-3000 BCE. The discovery was announced by Zilka Kujundzic, from the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is actually one of the main opponents of the pyramids project and has filed numerous petitions for the Foundation's work to be stopped, claiming that the entire project is a hoax. The small ceramic pyramid-in some reports also referred to as a "Benben stone" because of the apparent visual similarities with such stones in Egypt-is a major discovery, showing that local people, millennia ago, created ceramic objects in the shape of a pyramid.
Furthermore, pyramid-like objects have been found within Old Europe. Dr Gimbutas wrote in The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe (1974) about how the "...richly incised decoration on the Tisza altar from Kökénydomd [in southeastern Hungary] may relate to cosmogonical myths. Its triangular front is covered by meanders and divided into two levels by a horizontal band of meandering lines. In the centre of the lower register two eyes and a nose are set in a triangle... Groups of parallel lines, arranged in three, form panels along each side of the altar. The decorative organisation suggests several levels of cosmic waters..." In Egypt, for example, the Giza Plateau has been portrayed symbolically as the primeval hill which rose from the Waters of Chaos. Considering that the Tisza altar displays triangles (the two-dimensional rendering of the three-dimensional pyramid), this at the very least shows that Old Europe worked with the same cosmogonical material in its myths as the other pyramid-building cultures.
Finally, dowsing expert Adrian Incledon-Webber, of the British Society of Dowsers, has mapped the area and has drawn preliminary conclusions-namely, that the pyramids sit on top of important underground waterways, with three streams meeting under the apex of the Pyramid of the Sun. He stated in email correspondence with me: "All holy places attract water and then some are further enhanced by human intervention, i.e., encouraging further water to cross at specific points. The centres of stone circles, for instance, often have three streams crossing at their centre, too." As elsewhere, so in Bosnia it seems.
A sacred landscape
From Ginje, there is a clear line of sight to the Pyramid of the Sun, which appears on the northern horizon. North has been linked to the World of the Dead, and in some cultures the sacred mountain to the north was sometimes called the Storehouse of the Dead.
Paul Devereux carried out detailed research into sacred landscapes for his book Symbolic Landscapes (1992). He relates how mythology and the landscape interact, and he gives the example of the so-called "song lines" of the Australian Aborigines. Devereux repeats what Yale University architectural historian Vincent Scully observed in The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods (1979): that there was an interaction between the temple and the surrounding landscape-something he noted in Crete as well as in Greece. To quote Devereux on Scully: "He felt that the ancient Greeks had 'developed an eye' for 'specific combinations of landscape features as expressive of particular holiness'."
On the Greek mainland, Mount Zara and the site of Mycenae form one of ancient Greece's most important citadels. As Devereux describes it, Mount Zara "appears in almost pyramidal form from the palace on the summit of the citadel". As with Mount Zara, so with Visocica.
That the sight line from the structures in Ginje towards the Pyramid of the Sun is not accidental is underlined by research carried out by Nenad Djurdjevic. He highlights that only from the top of the tumulus, which is only a few metres high, can the profile of the Pyramid of the Sun be seen. When one stands in front of the base of the tumulus, the pyramid is not visible. This suggests that the tumulus was specifically constructed here and raised to such height as to create a line of sight to the Pyramid of the Sun.
Within the context of sacred landscapes, the complex at Ginje revealed, during initial analysis, several key components that strongly suggest that the site is part of a sacred ancient landscape focusing on the Pyramid of the Sun. It means that the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids is therefore not only more extensive than previously thought, but equally it is more than likely a carefully constructed landscape, as initial observations (e.g., on the equidistance between the pyramids of the Sun, Moon and Dragon) have already indicated.
Not just pyramids and tunnels
In the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids, the tunnels so far have shown that humans were definitely doing something, and logic dictates that this work was connected with the pyramids. As such, the critics hardly ever focus on the tunnels; but when they do, it is with sweeping statements that try to mystify what is at heart not a complex issue at all.
Meanwhile, in September 2007, a team from the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina excavated the nearby site of Okoliste and concluded that, circa 4700-4500 BCE, around 3,000 people lived in the settlement-one of the largest ever found in Bosnia. This shouldn't be surprising, seeing that Visoko is known to have been one of Bosnia's most fertile lands and hence a cherished location for settlers. From the development of civilisations elsewhere, we know that such settlements often had a surplus workforce, which, like elsewhere, might easily have been used to start a building project-the Bosnian pyramids, perhaps?
There is therefore a substantial pool of evidence from which one can conclude that these hills have been artificially enhanced, and that there were "civilised people" present at the right time, in the right place, to have created these pyramids. However, it is equally clear that a smoking gun, which would convince anyone, remains to be found-but, equally, it might be just a spade's turn away.In 2008, preliminary research at the neighbouring village of Ginje brought about some further, very interesting, discoveries. Near the village is a large hill, and next to it, in the valley below, a small tumulus. On both the top of the hill and the tumulus, perfectly rectangular stone slabs have been found that are on a par with similar slabs found on and near the pyramids.
Independent researcher Nenad Djurdjevic has noted in a report, available on the Pyramid Foundation's website: "A few years after World War II, from the roadside many of the megalithic blocks were still visible lying on the top of the hill and its flanks, but...a great number of them was gradually removed by villagers during later decades and used for the construction of foundations, walls and houses."
The remaining conglomerate blocks are of enormous size (approximately 2 m x 1 m x 1 m) and weigh about four tonnes. On the hill itself, it seems clear that these blocks once belonged to a stone structure on its summit. The tumulus in the valley below has two stone slabs lying next to each other; one is sandstone, the other conglomerate. The obvious conclusion is that people moved these two stone blocks next to one other.
In Donje Mostre, a number of rectangular stone blocks have also been found lining the road, and some are without any doubt man-made. On 23 September 2008, a team from the University of Kiel, Germany, found nearby a Neolithic artefact that has been dated to 6000-3000 BCE. The discovery was announced by Zilka Kujundzic, from the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is actually one of the main opponents of the pyramids project and has filed numerous petitions for the Foundation's work to be stopped, claiming that the entire project is a hoax. The small ceramic pyramid-in some reports also referred to as a "Benben stone" because of the apparent visual similarities with such stones in Egypt-is a major discovery, showing that local people, millennia ago, created ceramic objects in the shape of a pyramid.
Furthermore, pyramid-like objects have been found within Old Europe. Dr Gimbutas wrote in The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe (1974) about how the "...richly incised decoration on the Tisza altar from Kökénydomd [in southeastern Hungary] may relate to cosmogonical myths. Its triangular front is covered by meanders and divided into two levels by a horizontal band of meandering lines. In the centre of the lower register two eyes and a nose are set in a triangle... Groups of parallel lines, arranged in three, form panels along each side of the altar. The decorative organisation suggests several levels of cosmic waters..." In Egypt, for example, the Giza Plateau has been portrayed symbolically as the primeval hill which rose from the Waters of Chaos. Considering that the Tisza altar displays triangles (the two-dimensional rendering of the three-dimensional pyramid), this at the very least shows that Old Europe worked with the same cosmogonical material in its myths as the other pyramid-building cultures.
Finally, dowsing expert Adrian Incledon-Webber, of the British Society of Dowsers, has mapped the area and has drawn preliminary conclusions-namely, that the pyramids sit on top of important underground waterways, with three streams meeting under the apex of the Pyramid of the Sun. He stated in email correspondence with me: "All holy places attract water and then some are further enhanced by human intervention, i.e., encouraging further water to cross at specific points. The centres of stone circles, for instance, often have three streams crossing at their centre, too." As elsewhere, so in Bosnia it seems.
A sacred landscape
From Ginje, there is a clear line of sight to the Pyramid of the Sun, which appears on the northern horizon. North has been linked to the World of the Dead, and in some cultures the sacred mountain to the north was sometimes called the Storehouse of the Dead.
Paul Devereux carried out detailed research into sacred landscapes for his book Symbolic Landscapes (1992). He relates how mythology and the landscape interact, and he gives the example of the so-called "song lines" of the Australian Aborigines. Devereux repeats what Yale University architectural historian Vincent Scully observed in The Earth, the Temple, and the Gods (1979): that there was an interaction between the temple and the surrounding landscape-something he noted in Crete as well as in Greece. To quote Devereux on Scully: "He felt that the ancient Greeks had 'developed an eye' for 'specific combinations of landscape features as expressive of particular holiness'."
On the Greek mainland, Mount Zara and the site of Mycenae form one of ancient Greece's most important citadels. As Devereux describes it, Mount Zara "appears in almost pyramidal form from the palace on the summit of the citadel". As with Mount Zara, so with Visocica.
That the sight line from the structures in Ginje towards the Pyramid of the Sun is not accidental is underlined by research carried out by Nenad Djurdjevic. He highlights that only from the top of the tumulus, which is only a few metres high, can the profile of the Pyramid of the Sun be seen. When one stands in front of the base of the tumulus, the pyramid is not visible. This suggests that the tumulus was specifically constructed here and raised to such height as to create a line of sight to the Pyramid of the Sun.
Within the context of sacred landscapes, the complex at Ginje revealed, during initial analysis, several key components that strongly suggest that the site is part of a sacred ancient landscape focusing on the Pyramid of the Sun. It means that the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids is therefore not only more extensive than previously thought, but equally it is more than likely a carefully constructed landscape, as initial observations (e.g., on the equidistance between the pyramids of the Sun, Moon and Dragon) have already indicated.
6 dicembre 2008
UNEARTHING EUROPE'S OLDEST PYRAMID COMPLEX (4)
Philip Coppens
Exploring the tunnels
Such doubt, however, does not exist for the nearby tunnels. The town elders tell everyone who wants to hear that they used to enter various tunnels in and around Visoko as kids, walking through them from one side of the town to the other. When a factory was constructed near the river, large cavities had to be filled in with cement so that the premises could be built.
Another known tunnel is the Topuzovo Polje tunnel, which starts near the River Bosna but has been filled in with debris. But, according to historical accounts, this tunnel once led to the Pyramid of the Sun.
To date, two tunnel complexes have been properly explored. About two kilometres from the Pyramid of the Sun is Ravne, a tunnel system that so far has been mapped to a length of 300 metres. Here, the main tunnel has various offshoots, running at 45- or 90-degree angles. In the past, these side tunnels were blocked off with carefully positioned dry stone walls. Along the main passageway, several large, enigmatic stones have been discovered; their purpose remains a mystery. These stones contain a number of inscriptions suggestive of a language.
One side tunnel has stalactites. Italian geologists Dr Dario Andretti and Dr Luciano Leoni have been able to conclude that these would have taken 2,600 to 2,900 years to form, which means the tunnel can be dated to at least 1000 BCE-and most likely is older. This date is of interest, for Dr Barakat's research indicates that approximately 3,000 years ago an earthquake damaged at least one face of the Pyramid of the Sun. Further evidence of such an earthquake is visible on the Pyramid of the Moon, where the stone "pavement" on the top shows obvious signs of folding. It is clear that, circa 1000 BCE, something happened that partially destroyed these structures, and this may explain why the Ravne tunnel complex has been filled in with sand and why other tunnels have collapsed.
So far, excavations of the Ravne complex have brought some remarkable results. In May 2007, a stone mould for cast metal tools was found in the tunnels. Indeed, the Ravne complex shares several characteristics with prehistoric mines elsewhere, such as at Llandudno, Wales. There, too, side tunnels were blocked off by dry stone walls, and "enigmatic" stones sit along the length of these tunnels but, in this case, they were used in the mining process.
If the Ravne tunnel complex had indeed been a mine, then it is likely that its materials were used to create the cement coating of the Pyramid of the Sun. Even sceptic Katherine Reece has argued on the Internet that these tunnels are man-made-"ancient mining tunnels dating from as long ago as 3500 BC when the area was being mined for copper". It underlines that she accepts that there was human activity here at that time, though she is totally unwilling to entertain the notion that there is a pyramid nearby. However, mining experts from Zenica, Banovici and Kakanj have shown that there are no traces of minerals in these tunnels and that, hence, the tunnels could never have been copper mines.
Another opponent who has come around on the tunnels issue is historian and archaeology professor Dr Enver Imamovic, from the University of Sarajevo, who at first claimed that the tunnels are natural caves, even denying that there are side tunnels at 45 degrees, but he also stated that he had not visited them. In short, he was accusing someone of lying, though he himself could not verify anything whatsoever! Recently, though, he has accepted that these tunnels are not natural caves.
A tunnel of a different nature is the one that sits near the town's two rivers, below the grounds of the KTK factory. Here, the walls and ceilings are much more impressive and the layout itself more interesting. These tunnels are unfortunately highly unstable and prone to collapse and flooding, so little exploration has been carried out. But what is known is that the tunnel runs in the direction of the Pyramid of the Sun, dipping under the River Bosna in the very heart of the town. This, of course, suggests careful planning, but in ancient times such a construction was also an excellent means for preserving and safeguarding the underground complex from looters-so much so that, even today, exploring these tunnels remains more than perilous.
Exploring the tunnels
Such doubt, however, does not exist for the nearby tunnels. The town elders tell everyone who wants to hear that they used to enter various tunnels in and around Visoko as kids, walking through them from one side of the town to the other. When a factory was constructed near the river, large cavities had to be filled in with cement so that the premises could be built.
Another known tunnel is the Topuzovo Polje tunnel, which starts near the River Bosna but has been filled in with debris. But, according to historical accounts, this tunnel once led to the Pyramid of the Sun.
To date, two tunnel complexes have been properly explored. About two kilometres from the Pyramid of the Sun is Ravne, a tunnel system that so far has been mapped to a length of 300 metres. Here, the main tunnel has various offshoots, running at 45- or 90-degree angles. In the past, these side tunnels were blocked off with carefully positioned dry stone walls. Along the main passageway, several large, enigmatic stones have been discovered; their purpose remains a mystery. These stones contain a number of inscriptions suggestive of a language.
One side tunnel has stalactites. Italian geologists Dr Dario Andretti and Dr Luciano Leoni have been able to conclude that these would have taken 2,600 to 2,900 years to form, which means the tunnel can be dated to at least 1000 BCE-and most likely is older. This date is of interest, for Dr Barakat's research indicates that approximately 3,000 years ago an earthquake damaged at least one face of the Pyramid of the Sun. Further evidence of such an earthquake is visible on the Pyramid of the Moon, where the stone "pavement" on the top shows obvious signs of folding. It is clear that, circa 1000 BCE, something happened that partially destroyed these structures, and this may explain why the Ravne tunnel complex has been filled in with sand and why other tunnels have collapsed.
So far, excavations of the Ravne complex have brought some remarkable results. In May 2007, a stone mould for cast metal tools was found in the tunnels. Indeed, the Ravne complex shares several characteristics with prehistoric mines elsewhere, such as at Llandudno, Wales. There, too, side tunnels were blocked off by dry stone walls, and "enigmatic" stones sit along the length of these tunnels but, in this case, they were used in the mining process.
If the Ravne tunnel complex had indeed been a mine, then it is likely that its materials were used to create the cement coating of the Pyramid of the Sun. Even sceptic Katherine Reece has argued on the Internet that these tunnels are man-made-"ancient mining tunnels dating from as long ago as 3500 BC when the area was being mined for copper". It underlines that she accepts that there was human activity here at that time, though she is totally unwilling to entertain the notion that there is a pyramid nearby. However, mining experts from Zenica, Banovici and Kakanj have shown that there are no traces of minerals in these tunnels and that, hence, the tunnels could never have been copper mines.
Another opponent who has come around on the tunnels issue is historian and archaeology professor Dr Enver Imamovic, from the University of Sarajevo, who at first claimed that the tunnels are natural caves, even denying that there are side tunnels at 45 degrees, but he also stated that he had not visited them. In short, he was accusing someone of lying, though he himself could not verify anything whatsoever! Recently, though, he has accepted that these tunnels are not natural caves.
A tunnel of a different nature is the one that sits near the town's two rivers, below the grounds of the KTK factory. Here, the walls and ceilings are much more impressive and the layout itself more interesting. These tunnels are unfortunately highly unstable and prone to collapse and flooding, so little exploration has been carried out. But what is known is that the tunnel runs in the direction of the Pyramid of the Sun, dipping under the River Bosna in the very heart of the town. This, of course, suggests careful planning, but in ancient times such a construction was also an excellent means for preserving and safeguarding the underground complex from looters-so much so that, even today, exploring these tunnels remains more than perilous.
5 dicembre 2008
UNEARTHING EUROPE'S OLDEST PYRAMID COMPLEX (3)
Philip Coppens
Investigating the pyramids' construction
So, what is the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids? The Pyramid of the Sun, which dominates the skyline over Visoko, has been the main focus of investigations. The structure does not merely look man-made, but with a height of 220 metres it is much higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza and thus would be the tallest pyramid in the world.
As is the case with the Great Pyramid, each side of the Visocica Pyramid of the Sun is perfectly aligned with the cardinal points. Indeed, as one approaches Visoko, it is hard to believe that it took until 2005 before someone seriously pondered the notion that the hill could be a pyramid. In fact, in 1984, one local author, Pavao Andelic, referred to Visocica as a "town pyramid", but nothing further was done to investigate the claim.
The bottom of the Visocica Pyramid has been built upon, and the streets of Visoko are extremely steep. Most interestingly, Osmanagic was told early on in his research that several home-owners in Visoko had wanted to build cellars but could not because of a cement-like layer hidden approximately one metre below the surface. During the civil war of the 1990s, it was reported that the hill resonated when hit by artillery fire: whereas artillery impact normally produced a sound that lasted one to two seconds, when it hit the hill it created a type of echo that lasted five to six seconds. It was clear that the hill had something unusual about it.
The most visited excavation site, about one-third of the way up the hill, has revealed the presence of large blocks of conglomerate between 50 and 100 centimetres below the surface. Similar excavations have been conducted on the other sides of the pyramid; in each case, a layer of this conglomerate has been found just below the surface. It has been suggested that the entire hill once had a six-metre-thick covering of conglomerate.
Just next to the main "tourist" site, however, the surface layer, comprising approximately 40-80 cm of sand, has been removed over a much bigger area to reveal a uniform, cement-like (conglomerate) coating. This coating leaves little doubt in the eyes of the visitor that it is indeed man-made. However, none of the sceptics has ever referred to this section; instead, they've focused on the much smaller and less interesting site nearby.
As mentioned, Egyptian geologist Dr Ali Barakat has concluded that these blocks are man-made. Moreover, laboratory analysis results from the Civil Engineering Institute of Tuzla, made public by geophysicist Dr Enes Ramovic in September 2006, have determined that the cement comprising these blocks had been poured in situ. In addition, a biology expert has maintained that the experiment of planting trees on the hill 40 years ago should be deemed a failure, as the tree roots have not been able to penetrate the conglomerate (cement) layer. He argued that this suggests the layer is man-made, as tree roots normally have no problem penetrating natural rock.
Furthermore, with renewed interest in Visocica, the ancient Bosnian city on its summit has recently been excavated. Here, it is clear that the layer of conglomerate (cement) found lower down the slope goes all the way to the top. Inside the structure, holes had been dug so that posts could be erected, either for roofs or for a mezzanine type of floor.
The western side of the pyramid was partially excavated by the Pyramid Foundation in 2006. Here, too, the team found large rectangular slabs just under the surface, as well as clearly man-made stone structures on the slope of the plateau. The overall impression is of a paved access plateau to the pyramid-a plateau which measures no less than 420 metres in length.
Work of a different nature on Visocica has been carried out by Russian scientist Oleg Khavroshkin, of the Schmidt Institute of Earth Physics at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. He performed a geophysical analysis between 20 July and 4 August 2007. These scans suggested "...the existence of hollow cavities below the ground.. These inhomogeneities were registered at Vratnice, Pljesivica [Pyramid of the Moon] and the tunnels. In the vicinity of the well shaft at the Pyramid of the Moon, clusters of frequencies were observed, resulting probably from such nonhomogenous cavities." In short, potential chambers.Dr Muris Osmanagic, one of Bosnia's most eminent mining engineers and professors (as well as the father of Sam Osmanagic), has concluded in his book, About the Cultural Layer of the Bosnian Pyramid Builders, that "...the only possible and rational solution is that the great Pyramid of the Sun was a natural hill (composed of clay marl), modified into a pyramid. In such a case, the coating layer of concrete blocks make[s] up 6.28 per cent of the body of the pyramid, composed of clay marl, or 2,6 mln m3 [2.6 million cubic metres], [on a par with] the volume of the Khufu Pyramid stone blocks. This was already within the realm of the possible for this then highly developed civilisation."
Finally, a bit of theatre was produced when historian Dubravko Lovrenovic, who heads the Bosnia- Herzegovina Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments, stated on federal public television that he would burn himself alive on top of Visocica if it turned out to be a pyramid! Later, he denied he'd ever said this, but with the help of Gavrilo Grahovac, the Federal Minister of Culture and Sports, he stopped all excavation on the Pyramid of the Sun-perhaps to make sure he didn't have to commit suicide in such a public manner?
More pyramid discoveries
Indeed, there is more than one pyramid here. So far, possibly seven pyramids have been identified, though only two have been archaeologically explored. "Only" 190 metres high and situated lower in the valley is the Pyramid of the Moon. The foot of this pyramid has become a second showcase of the Pyramid Foundation's work. Here, excavations show a type of "floor" lying on sandstone, followed by a second layer in approximately one-metre-high steps. Nearby, the team probed the location where two faces of the pyramid meet and found a free-standing stone structure. It is but one fortuitous discovery in a series of enigmatic findings.
Extensive excavations on the top of the Pyramid of the Moon have revealed the same type of "flooring". Archaeologists uncovered a layer of topsoil with natural layers of sandstone below, but separating both is a thin layer of rectangular stone blocks that look similar in size to modern paving slabs. In substance, they look as if they were poured and laid side by side. Interestingly, some are broken, but these fractures are always random; their "original shape" is always rectangular. Whether they are natural or man-made remains a subject of intense debate, but, if natural, it is clear that this is one of the oddest geological formations on Earth, say leading geologists.
Austrian researcher Gabriele Lukacs has found that next to the Pyramid of the Moon, right on a bank of the Fojnica River, there is a quarry with an excellent example of perfectly cut sandstone blocks still sticking out of the quarry wall. That the sandstone blocks used in the pyramids were therefore cut by humans is the likeliest explanation.
The Pyramid Foundation team has identified other potential sites of interest in the valley. One is the Pyramid of the Dragon, which together with the pyramids of the Moon and the Sun makes a perfect equilateral triangle when lines are drawn connecting the apex of each pyramid, each side having a length of 2,173 metres. No work has been carried out on this third potential pyramid due to the presence of land mines on its slope, but it is clear that nature rarely creates such perfect triangles-especially not when the structures consist of three-dimensional triangles: pyramids.
Furthermore, observations by engineer Goran Cakic have revealed that there is also a "solar show" occurring between the pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. On 21 June 2008, he observed that the shadow of the Pyramid of the Sun at noon formed a "parallel pyramid" of the same height next to the Pyramid of the Moon. Even more interesting is that on 20 August, between 18:30 and 19:30, the Pyramid of the Sun's shadow touched the entire Pyramid of the Moon. Coincidence, perhaps, but more likely design-perhaps part of a sacred light show that typifies many ancient cultures. Opinions vary as to whether or not these hills are "pyramid hills" or natural, but, as previously mentioned, a substantial body of scientists now agrees that they have been artificially enhanced.
Investigating the pyramids' construction
So, what is the Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids? The Pyramid of the Sun, which dominates the skyline over Visoko, has been the main focus of investigations. The structure does not merely look man-made, but with a height of 220 metres it is much higher than the Great Pyramid of Giza and thus would be the tallest pyramid in the world.
As is the case with the Great Pyramid, each side of the Visocica Pyramid of the Sun is perfectly aligned with the cardinal points. Indeed, as one approaches Visoko, it is hard to believe that it took until 2005 before someone seriously pondered the notion that the hill could be a pyramid. In fact, in 1984, one local author, Pavao Andelic, referred to Visocica as a "town pyramid", but nothing further was done to investigate the claim.
The bottom of the Visocica Pyramid has been built upon, and the streets of Visoko are extremely steep. Most interestingly, Osmanagic was told early on in his research that several home-owners in Visoko had wanted to build cellars but could not because of a cement-like layer hidden approximately one metre below the surface. During the civil war of the 1990s, it was reported that the hill resonated when hit by artillery fire: whereas artillery impact normally produced a sound that lasted one to two seconds, when it hit the hill it created a type of echo that lasted five to six seconds. It was clear that the hill had something unusual about it.
The most visited excavation site, about one-third of the way up the hill, has revealed the presence of large blocks of conglomerate between 50 and 100 centimetres below the surface. Similar excavations have been conducted on the other sides of the pyramid; in each case, a layer of this conglomerate has been found just below the surface. It has been suggested that the entire hill once had a six-metre-thick covering of conglomerate.
Just next to the main "tourist" site, however, the surface layer, comprising approximately 40-80 cm of sand, has been removed over a much bigger area to reveal a uniform, cement-like (conglomerate) coating. This coating leaves little doubt in the eyes of the visitor that it is indeed man-made. However, none of the sceptics has ever referred to this section; instead, they've focused on the much smaller and less interesting site nearby.
As mentioned, Egyptian geologist Dr Ali Barakat has concluded that these blocks are man-made. Moreover, laboratory analysis results from the Civil Engineering Institute of Tuzla, made public by geophysicist Dr Enes Ramovic in September 2006, have determined that the cement comprising these blocks had been poured in situ. In addition, a biology expert has maintained that the experiment of planting trees on the hill 40 years ago should be deemed a failure, as the tree roots have not been able to penetrate the conglomerate (cement) layer. He argued that this suggests the layer is man-made, as tree roots normally have no problem penetrating natural rock.
Furthermore, with renewed interest in Visocica, the ancient Bosnian city on its summit has recently been excavated. Here, it is clear that the layer of conglomerate (cement) found lower down the slope goes all the way to the top. Inside the structure, holes had been dug so that posts could be erected, either for roofs or for a mezzanine type of floor.
The western side of the pyramid was partially excavated by the Pyramid Foundation in 2006. Here, too, the team found large rectangular slabs just under the surface, as well as clearly man-made stone structures on the slope of the plateau. The overall impression is of a paved access plateau to the pyramid-a plateau which measures no less than 420 metres in length.
Work of a different nature on Visocica has been carried out by Russian scientist Oleg Khavroshkin, of the Schmidt Institute of Earth Physics at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow. He performed a geophysical analysis between 20 July and 4 August 2007. These scans suggested "...the existence of hollow cavities below the ground.. These inhomogeneities were registered at Vratnice, Pljesivica [Pyramid of the Moon] and the tunnels. In the vicinity of the well shaft at the Pyramid of the Moon, clusters of frequencies were observed, resulting probably from such nonhomogenous cavities." In short, potential chambers.Dr Muris Osmanagic, one of Bosnia's most eminent mining engineers and professors (as well as the father of Sam Osmanagic), has concluded in his book, About the Cultural Layer of the Bosnian Pyramid Builders, that "...the only possible and rational solution is that the great Pyramid of the Sun was a natural hill (composed of clay marl), modified into a pyramid. In such a case, the coating layer of concrete blocks make[s] up 6.28 per cent of the body of the pyramid, composed of clay marl, or 2,6 mln m3 [2.6 million cubic metres], [on a par with] the volume of the Khufu Pyramid stone blocks. This was already within the realm of the possible for this then highly developed civilisation."
Finally, a bit of theatre was produced when historian Dubravko Lovrenovic, who heads the Bosnia- Herzegovina Commission for the Preservation of National Monuments, stated on federal public television that he would burn himself alive on top of Visocica if it turned out to be a pyramid! Later, he denied he'd ever said this, but with the help of Gavrilo Grahovac, the Federal Minister of Culture and Sports, he stopped all excavation on the Pyramid of the Sun-perhaps to make sure he didn't have to commit suicide in such a public manner?
More pyramid discoveries
Indeed, there is more than one pyramid here. So far, possibly seven pyramids have been identified, though only two have been archaeologically explored. "Only" 190 metres high and situated lower in the valley is the Pyramid of the Moon. The foot of this pyramid has become a second showcase of the Pyramid Foundation's work. Here, excavations show a type of "floor" lying on sandstone, followed by a second layer in approximately one-metre-high steps. Nearby, the team probed the location where two faces of the pyramid meet and found a free-standing stone structure. It is but one fortuitous discovery in a series of enigmatic findings.
Extensive excavations on the top of the Pyramid of the Moon have revealed the same type of "flooring". Archaeologists uncovered a layer of topsoil with natural layers of sandstone below, but separating both is a thin layer of rectangular stone blocks that look similar in size to modern paving slabs. In substance, they look as if they were poured and laid side by side. Interestingly, some are broken, but these fractures are always random; their "original shape" is always rectangular. Whether they are natural or man-made remains a subject of intense debate, but, if natural, it is clear that this is one of the oddest geological formations on Earth, say leading geologists.
Austrian researcher Gabriele Lukacs has found that next to the Pyramid of the Moon, right on a bank of the Fojnica River, there is a quarry with an excellent example of perfectly cut sandstone blocks still sticking out of the quarry wall. That the sandstone blocks used in the pyramids were therefore cut by humans is the likeliest explanation.
The Pyramid Foundation team has identified other potential sites of interest in the valley. One is the Pyramid of the Dragon, which together with the pyramids of the Moon and the Sun makes a perfect equilateral triangle when lines are drawn connecting the apex of each pyramid, each side having a length of 2,173 metres. No work has been carried out on this third potential pyramid due to the presence of land mines on its slope, but it is clear that nature rarely creates such perfect triangles-especially not when the structures consist of three-dimensional triangles: pyramids.
Furthermore, observations by engineer Goran Cakic have revealed that there is also a "solar show" occurring between the pyramids of the Sun and the Moon. On 21 June 2008, he observed that the shadow of the Pyramid of the Sun at noon formed a "parallel pyramid" of the same height next to the Pyramid of the Moon. Even more interesting is that on 20 August, between 18:30 and 19:30, the Pyramid of the Sun's shadow touched the entire Pyramid of the Moon. Coincidence, perhaps, but more likely design-perhaps part of a sacred light show that typifies many ancient cultures. Opinions vary as to whether or not these hills are "pyramid hills" or natural, but, as previously mentioned, a substantial body of scientists now agrees that they have been artificially enhanced.
4 dicembre 2008
UNEARTHING EUROPE'S OLDEST PYRAMID COMPLEX (2)
Philip Coppens
A scientific crusade
The most avowed critic of the Bosnian pyramids in the western world is archaeology professor Anthony Harding, of the University of Exeter, UK. He voiced his opinion on the matter as early as April 2006, and drove around the town of Visoko for a few minutes in June that year, afterwards labelling the Visocica pyramid a natural formation. One might therefore think that the good professor had then moved on to other fields, but no.
Immediately after the ICBP in August 2008, Professor Harding approached some of those who made the official conclusion/recommendation (which is that the site requires and warrants continued excavation), stating that the archaeological establishment has "condemned" the Bosnian pyramids as "a fraud". Harding has never put any hard scientific facts on any table to support such a serious allegation. In the program for the European Association of Archaeologists September 2008 Malta conference, he summed up the discovery as the "Bosnian pyramid fiasco", which "has drawn attention to the way in which the creation of fictitious pasts can be used for political and nationalist ends". Still, if Harding is so convinced that the pyramids are fraudulent, then why waste time pursuing the story let alone approaching some of the attendees?
For this article, we contacted Professor Harding for comments but he did not reply. In previous interviews, however, he made it clear that he had an "opinion" about these pyramids before going to Visoko.
It is also clear that Harding, as the president of the European Association of Archaeologists, sees himself as the leader of a scientific crusade against so-called "pseudo-archaeology"-the Bosnian pyramids project being one of the few crusades he is able to wage, with Osmanagic as the sinner who goes against God's commands.
So why all of this controversy? As with any discovery, and especially the resultant publicity, exaggerated claims are made-or fabricated-by the media. Indeed, in this case, early media reports claimed that the structures are 12,000 years old, whereupon the sceptics immediately tried to argue that this claim had been made by Osmanagic himself. Some observers even argued that the pyramids are extraterrestrial in origin. Such statements seem to have shocked Professor Harding the most, and he holds Osmanagic responsible for them all.
Further insights into the controversy came from American historian Merima Bojic, who at first extensively interviewed leading protagonists on both sides of the debate and later offered her full support for Osmanagic's Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Foundation. In a blog of 23 April 2008, titled "Aliens to Science", she wrote especially in regard to the western scientific media's handling of the pyramids issue:
"Now, American journalists such as Colin Woodard and John Bohannon have also joined this opposition and published false articles about Mr Osmanagic. Woodard referred to Visoko as a nationalistic enclave of the Bosnian Muslims and seemingly tried to connect Mr Osmanagic to such a nationalistic movement as well. He falsely claimed that Dr Barakat and Dr Schoch measured the pyramids and concluded that they fail to perfectly align with the cardinal points. The truth is that the Geodetic Institute of Bosnia-Herzegovina conducted its own analysis and found that they did in fact align with the cardinal points. Woodard himself also attempted to intimidate Dr Swelim and had the audacity to email the definition of 'pyramid'. Bohannon, who writes for the prominent Science magazine, was also an author of false articles that were so bizarre they do not even merit mention. How, it may occur to one, does Bohannon come to write for such a well-respected and prominent magazine devoted to scientific fact while all information he gathers comes directly from the gossip journalist [Vuc] Bacanovic? Not surprisingly, Woodard does the same."
Vuc Bacanovic, in the gossip magazine Dani, called Dr Swelim "senile" and "a fool"-terms which are seldom used in scientific debates.
In short, one group of people has decided to quickly rule out the possibility that these structures are man-made. These people now go to extremes in trying to preserve their names, reputations and beliefs. They pretend this is not happening and they hope it will go away. Alas for them, but fortunately for everyone else, that is unlikely to be the case.
A forgotten civilisation
Visoko is within the catchment area of what Lithuanian-American archaeologist Dr Marija Gimbutas (1921-94) labelled "Old Europe", a civilisation also known as the Vinca culture. This culture is dated to roughly 6000-3000 BCE, and many believe that it inspired other cultures, including the Sumerian Ubaid period. Examples of Vinca statues have been found as far west as southern France. As recently as November 2007, archaeologists excavating a settlement in southern Serbia, believed to be at least 7,000 years old, announced that this civilisation had great expertise in creating bronze artefacts-a discovery that requires a radical re-dating of the Bronze Age. Still, few have heard of the Vinca culture, and here, too, western bias might well come into play. Indeed, the old pyramid paradigm is not merely being held in place with sticky tape, but the notion that Sumer and Egypt were the cradles of civilisation is one that should have been thrown out of the history books many generations ago. In this instance, the personal crusade of Australian-born archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe (1892-1957) forced the Vinca culture to be seen as an outlying cultural entity influenced by more "civilised" forces. Childe's dogmatic stance and clout meant that the Vinca culture received only scant attention and today remains largely unknown.
Of direct relevance is the fact that Vinca artefacts have been found in the town of Visoko, and it is therefore a strong possibility that Old Europe may also have been a pyramid-building culture. This conclusion might seem surprising and novel, but in essence it shouldn't be controversial.
A scientific crusade
The most avowed critic of the Bosnian pyramids in the western world is archaeology professor Anthony Harding, of the University of Exeter, UK. He voiced his opinion on the matter as early as April 2006, and drove around the town of Visoko for a few minutes in June that year, afterwards labelling the Visocica pyramid a natural formation. One might therefore think that the good professor had then moved on to other fields, but no.
Immediately after the ICBP in August 2008, Professor Harding approached some of those who made the official conclusion/recommendation (which is that the site requires and warrants continued excavation), stating that the archaeological establishment has "condemned" the Bosnian pyramids as "a fraud". Harding has never put any hard scientific facts on any table to support such a serious allegation. In the program for the European Association of Archaeologists September 2008 Malta conference, he summed up the discovery as the "Bosnian pyramid fiasco", which "has drawn attention to the way in which the creation of fictitious pasts can be used for political and nationalist ends". Still, if Harding is so convinced that the pyramids are fraudulent, then why waste time pursuing the story let alone approaching some of the attendees?
For this article, we contacted Professor Harding for comments but he did not reply. In previous interviews, however, he made it clear that he had an "opinion" about these pyramids before going to Visoko.
It is also clear that Harding, as the president of the European Association of Archaeologists, sees himself as the leader of a scientific crusade against so-called "pseudo-archaeology"-the Bosnian pyramids project being one of the few crusades he is able to wage, with Osmanagic as the sinner who goes against God's commands.
So why all of this controversy? As with any discovery, and especially the resultant publicity, exaggerated claims are made-or fabricated-by the media. Indeed, in this case, early media reports claimed that the structures are 12,000 years old, whereupon the sceptics immediately tried to argue that this claim had been made by Osmanagic himself. Some observers even argued that the pyramids are extraterrestrial in origin. Such statements seem to have shocked Professor Harding the most, and he holds Osmanagic responsible for them all.
Further insights into the controversy came from American historian Merima Bojic, who at first extensively interviewed leading protagonists on both sides of the debate and later offered her full support for Osmanagic's Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Foundation. In a blog of 23 April 2008, titled "Aliens to Science", she wrote especially in regard to the western scientific media's handling of the pyramids issue:
"Now, American journalists such as Colin Woodard and John Bohannon have also joined this opposition and published false articles about Mr Osmanagic. Woodard referred to Visoko as a nationalistic enclave of the Bosnian Muslims and seemingly tried to connect Mr Osmanagic to such a nationalistic movement as well. He falsely claimed that Dr Barakat and Dr Schoch measured the pyramids and concluded that they fail to perfectly align with the cardinal points. The truth is that the Geodetic Institute of Bosnia-Herzegovina conducted its own analysis and found that they did in fact align with the cardinal points. Woodard himself also attempted to intimidate Dr Swelim and had the audacity to email the definition of 'pyramid'. Bohannon, who writes for the prominent Science magazine, was also an author of false articles that were so bizarre they do not even merit mention. How, it may occur to one, does Bohannon come to write for such a well-respected and prominent magazine devoted to scientific fact while all information he gathers comes directly from the gossip journalist [Vuc] Bacanovic? Not surprisingly, Woodard does the same."
Vuc Bacanovic, in the gossip magazine Dani, called Dr Swelim "senile" and "a fool"-terms which are seldom used in scientific debates.
In short, one group of people has decided to quickly rule out the possibility that these structures are man-made. These people now go to extremes in trying to preserve their names, reputations and beliefs. They pretend this is not happening and they hope it will go away. Alas for them, but fortunately for everyone else, that is unlikely to be the case.
A forgotten civilisation
Visoko is within the catchment area of what Lithuanian-American archaeologist Dr Marija Gimbutas (1921-94) labelled "Old Europe", a civilisation also known as the Vinca culture. This culture is dated to roughly 6000-3000 BCE, and many believe that it inspired other cultures, including the Sumerian Ubaid period. Examples of Vinca statues have been found as far west as southern France. As recently as November 2007, archaeologists excavating a settlement in southern Serbia, believed to be at least 7,000 years old, announced that this civilisation had great expertise in creating bronze artefacts-a discovery that requires a radical re-dating of the Bronze Age. Still, few have heard of the Vinca culture, and here, too, western bias might well come into play. Indeed, the old pyramid paradigm is not merely being held in place with sticky tape, but the notion that Sumer and Egypt were the cradles of civilisation is one that should have been thrown out of the history books many generations ago. In this instance, the personal crusade of Australian-born archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe (1892-1957) forced the Vinca culture to be seen as an outlying cultural entity influenced by more "civilised" forces. Childe's dogmatic stance and clout meant that the Vinca culture received only scant attention and today remains largely unknown.
Of direct relevance is the fact that Vinca artefacts have been found in the town of Visoko, and it is therefore a strong possibility that Old Europe may also have been a pyramid-building culture. This conclusion might seem surprising and novel, but in essence it shouldn't be controversial.
3 dicembre 2008
UNEARTHING EUROPE'S OLDEST PYRAMID COMPLEX (1)
In the past two years we have seen the pages of history slowly being rewritten, and Bosnia may soon lay claim to having the world's oldest pyramids-which shouldn't come as a surprise, seeing the area has the oldest European civilisation as well.Philip Coppens
A new pyramid paradigm
Over the past 10 years, the old paradigm that pyramids could only be found in Egypt and Central America has been substituted by a new perspective, which is that pyramids are a global phenomenon and have been built by numerous civilisations in several ages. The Pyramid of Cholula in Mexico is now regarded as the largest, though not the tallest, and the pyramid complex at Caral in Peru is the oldest, conservatively dated to 3100 BCE. Most of these findings have received little to no media attention, and even many historians are unaware of these new facts. But one new pyramid complex has been in many headlines, even making appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: the Bosnian pyramids.
What was described by Stewart as the best thing to happen to Bosnia "since...ever" began in 2005, when Bosnian-born entrepreneur Semir "Sam" Osmanagic was shown the enigmatic Visocica hill that rises above the town of Visoko, near the capital Sarajevo. Could this be a pyramid? Osmanagic decided to invest in a preliminary geological survey, which concluded that further exploration of the structure was recommended. Furthermore, when his own book on the Mayan pyramids fell open on a page showing a photograph of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacán, Mexico, Osmanagic thought the resemblance to be so similar that he decided to call Visocica "Pyramid of the Sun", too, and the name has stuck. With this, the otherwise tranquil Visoko has become one of the most controversial archaeological sites in the world-controversial because just about everyone involved in pyramid research has given an opinion on the subject.
Geologist Dr Robert Schoch, who adheres to the theory that the Sphinx is thousands of years older than accepted, said he believes the structures to be natural formations. Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, had to give his opinion as well, committing a number of faux pas along the way. For example, when Dr Hawass was asked by Osmanagic to provide the name of an expert, he offered Dr Ali Barakat. A geologist, Dr Barakat meticulously investigated the structures for 42 days in 2006 and concludes that they are man-made. However, Dr Hawass pretended afterwards that he'd had nothing to do with the Bosnian saga!
Dr Barakat is not alone in speaking in favour of the man-made nature of Visocica and other apparent pyramids nearby. Archaeologist Dr Nabil Mohamed Swelim, holder of three PhDs and the discoverer of four pyramids in Egypt, visited the structures in September 2007 and he, too, concludes that they are man-made "pyramid hills", as distinct from pyramids. A pyramid hill is a natural hill that is artificially enhanced to conform to the pyramid structure, whereas a pyramid is built from the bottom up.
There is also a growing and impressive list of scientists-mostly from Egypt, Eastern Europe and Russia-who conclude that these structures are man-made. But their voices, specifically in the western media, have gone unheard. Indeed, the First International Scientific Conference, Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids (ICBP), held on 25-30 August 2008, received minimal exposure despite the participation of the likes of Dr Alaa Shaheen, archaeologist and Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology at Cairo University, Dr Hassan El-Saady, historian and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Alexandria University, Dr Mostafa El-Abbadi, founder of the modern library in Alexandria (the Bibliotheca Alexandrina) and Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Aly, Egyptologist and archaeologist in the Faculty of Arts at Ein-Shams University, Cairo.. Instead, the few reports in the western media focused on the critics, who labelled the conference "pseudo-scientific". What equally was not reported is that invitations from Dr Swelim to the critics to attend were ignored by those critics.
A new pyramid paradigm
Over the past 10 years, the old paradigm that pyramids could only be found in Egypt and Central America has been substituted by a new perspective, which is that pyramids are a global phenomenon and have been built by numerous civilisations in several ages. The Pyramid of Cholula in Mexico is now regarded as the largest, though not the tallest, and the pyramid complex at Caral in Peru is the oldest, conservatively dated to 3100 BCE. Most of these findings have received little to no media attention, and even many historians are unaware of these new facts. But one new pyramid complex has been in many headlines, even making appearances on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: the Bosnian pyramids.
What was described by Stewart as the best thing to happen to Bosnia "since...ever" began in 2005, when Bosnian-born entrepreneur Semir "Sam" Osmanagic was shown the enigmatic Visocica hill that rises above the town of Visoko, near the capital Sarajevo. Could this be a pyramid? Osmanagic decided to invest in a preliminary geological survey, which concluded that further exploration of the structure was recommended. Furthermore, when his own book on the Mayan pyramids fell open on a page showing a photograph of the Pyramid of the Sun in Teotihuacán, Mexico, Osmanagic thought the resemblance to be so similar that he decided to call Visocica "Pyramid of the Sun", too, and the name has stuck. With this, the otherwise tranquil Visoko has become one of the most controversial archaeological sites in the world-controversial because just about everyone involved in pyramid research has given an opinion on the subject.
Geologist Dr Robert Schoch, who adheres to the theory that the Sphinx is thousands of years older than accepted, said he believes the structures to be natural formations. Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, had to give his opinion as well, committing a number of faux pas along the way. For example, when Dr Hawass was asked by Osmanagic to provide the name of an expert, he offered Dr Ali Barakat. A geologist, Dr Barakat meticulously investigated the structures for 42 days in 2006 and concludes that they are man-made. However, Dr Hawass pretended afterwards that he'd had nothing to do with the Bosnian saga!
Dr Barakat is not alone in speaking in favour of the man-made nature of Visocica and other apparent pyramids nearby. Archaeologist Dr Nabil Mohamed Swelim, holder of three PhDs and the discoverer of four pyramids in Egypt, visited the structures in September 2007 and he, too, concludes that they are man-made "pyramid hills", as distinct from pyramids. A pyramid hill is a natural hill that is artificially enhanced to conform to the pyramid structure, whereas a pyramid is built from the bottom up.
There is also a growing and impressive list of scientists-mostly from Egypt, Eastern Europe and Russia-who conclude that these structures are man-made. But their voices, specifically in the western media, have gone unheard. Indeed, the First International Scientific Conference, Bosnian Valley of the Pyramids (ICBP), held on 25-30 August 2008, received minimal exposure despite the participation of the likes of Dr Alaa Shaheen, archaeologist and Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology at Cairo University, Dr Hassan El-Saady, historian and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Alexandria University, Dr Mostafa El-Abbadi, founder of the modern library in Alexandria (the Bibliotheca Alexandrina) and Dr Mohamed Ibrahim Aly, Egyptologist and archaeologist in the Faculty of Arts at Ein-Shams University, Cairo.. Instead, the few reports in the western media focused on the critics, who labelled the conference "pseudo-scientific". What equally was not reported is that invitations from Dr Swelim to the critics to attend were ignored by those critics.
2 dicembre 2008
Greek archaeologists find 6,500-year-old fishing village
Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a 6,500-year-old farming settlement in central Greece. (Telegraph.co.uk)
15 graves of bodies of the Hellenistic Period where found on the upper ground that covered the Neolithic era settlement for thousands of years Photo: EPA
More than 4,000 years after the settlement was eventually abandoned, researchers have unearthed the remains of houses built of wood and unbaked clay, together with pottery vases, ovens and stone tools, the Culture Ministry announced Thursday.
The Neolithic-era finds were discovered during work to lay a gas pipe near the village of Vassili in Thessaly, 170 miles north of Athens.
Thessaly's fertile plains attracted some of Greece's first farmers, and the ruins of more than 300 settlements - including what at the time would have been major towns - have been discovered in the area.
"Thessaly had a very dense pattern of settlement during Neolithic times," said Giorgos Toufexis, the archaeologist who headed the excavation at Vassili.
He said the settlement was destroyed by fire, which baked and hardened the clay parts of the houses and preserved imprints of their wooden sections.
The buildings had walls made of branches covered with clay, supported by strong wooden posts and clay-covered roofs.
Among the ruins, archaeologists found large quantities of pottery, including painted vases, stone axes and scrapers, bone tools and a small number of terracotta figurines.
"The economy was based on agriculture and animal farming," Mr Toufexis said. "We can't provide an estimate yet on the settlement's size, but it doesn't seem to be very big. These settlements usually have a diameter of around 150 yards."
Mr Toufexis said his team has only excavated a very small section of the site, through which the gas pipe will pass. It is unclear whether the dig will expand further, as neighbouring plots are privately owned.
The low mound that covered the settlement for thousands of years was used as a small cemetery, where 15 graves dating from the fourth to the first centuries BC were excavated.
Last month, archaeologists in northern Greece unearthed a 6,000 year-old set of crockery and two wood-fired ovens in the buried ruins of a Neolithic farmhouse.
15 graves of bodies of the Hellenistic Period where found on the upper ground that covered the Neolithic era settlement for thousands of years Photo: EPA
More than 4,000 years after the settlement was eventually abandoned, researchers have unearthed the remains of houses built of wood and unbaked clay, together with pottery vases, ovens and stone tools, the Culture Ministry announced Thursday.
The Neolithic-era finds were discovered during work to lay a gas pipe near the village of Vassili in Thessaly, 170 miles north of Athens.
Thessaly's fertile plains attracted some of Greece's first farmers, and the ruins of more than 300 settlements - including what at the time would have been major towns - have been discovered in the area.
"Thessaly had a very dense pattern of settlement during Neolithic times," said Giorgos Toufexis, the archaeologist who headed the excavation at Vassili.
He said the settlement was destroyed by fire, which baked and hardened the clay parts of the houses and preserved imprints of their wooden sections.
The buildings had walls made of branches covered with clay, supported by strong wooden posts and clay-covered roofs.
Among the ruins, archaeologists found large quantities of pottery, including painted vases, stone axes and scrapers, bone tools and a small number of terracotta figurines.
"The economy was based on agriculture and animal farming," Mr Toufexis said. "We can't provide an estimate yet on the settlement's size, but it doesn't seem to be very big. These settlements usually have a diameter of around 150 yards."
Mr Toufexis said his team has only excavated a very small section of the site, through which the gas pipe will pass. It is unclear whether the dig will expand further, as neighbouring plots are privately owned.
The low mound that covered the settlement for thousands of years was used as a small cemetery, where 15 graves dating from the fourth to the first centuries BC were excavated.
Last month, archaeologists in northern Greece unearthed a 6,000 year-old set of crockery and two wood-fired ovens in the buried ruins of a Neolithic farmhouse.
1 dicembre 2008
Primary Sources of the Old Kingdom (1)
By Jaromir Malek
The Egyptian Old Kingdom ended over 4,000 years ago, but amazingly we still have access to a number of primary sources dating from the era. Jaromir Malek uncovers the evidence.
Preoccupation with death
The historical period that we call the Old Kingdom (2686-2160 BC) was immensely long, lasting as it did for over 500 years. When it began, the unified Egyptian state was only about 300 years old and when it came to an end, the state still had nearly 2,000 years left ahead of it. Remoteness in time is one of the main difficulties we encounter when we look for sources of information about the Old Kingdom. Many simply have not survived.
'We know infinitely more about the wealthy people of Egypt than we do about the ordinary people...'
We know infinitely more about the wealthy people of Egypt than we do about the ordinary people, as almost all the monuments were made for the rich and influential. Houses in which ordinary Egyptians lived have not been preserved, and when most people died they were buried in simple graves with few funerary goods.
The Old Kingdom pyramids at Giza
Most of our traditional sources of information about the Old Kingdom are those concerned with death and the rituals surrounding death: these include pyramids, tombs and graves, but also statues, reliefs and paintings. Even papyri come mainly from pyramid temples. But this does not mean that death was the Egyptians' only preoccupation.
There are other reasons why so much of our evidence is based on funeral rites. Egyptian towns and villages were situated in the Nile valley, where old houses were pulled down and new ones built on the same spot, because space was valuable - so little remains of the older buildings. Pyramids and tombs, by contrast, were built on desert margins, where the space was not needed for other buildings, so were left to tell their tale centuries after they were built. Also, while domestic housing was made of sun-dried bricks, pyramids and tombs were built of stone - so their chances of survival were infinitely better.
The Egyptian Old Kingdom ended over 4,000 years ago, but amazingly we still have access to a number of primary sources dating from the era. Jaromir Malek uncovers the evidence.
Preoccupation with death
The historical period that we call the Old Kingdom (2686-2160 BC) was immensely long, lasting as it did for over 500 years. When it began, the unified Egyptian state was only about 300 years old and when it came to an end, the state still had nearly 2,000 years left ahead of it. Remoteness in time is one of the main difficulties we encounter when we look for sources of information about the Old Kingdom. Many simply have not survived.
'We know infinitely more about the wealthy people of Egypt than we do about the ordinary people...'
We know infinitely more about the wealthy people of Egypt than we do about the ordinary people, as almost all the monuments were made for the rich and influential. Houses in which ordinary Egyptians lived have not been preserved, and when most people died they were buried in simple graves with few funerary goods.
The Old Kingdom pyramids at Giza
Most of our traditional sources of information about the Old Kingdom are those concerned with death and the rituals surrounding death: these include pyramids, tombs and graves, but also statues, reliefs and paintings. Even papyri come mainly from pyramid temples. But this does not mean that death was the Egyptians' only preoccupation.
There are other reasons why so much of our evidence is based on funeral rites. Egyptian towns and villages were situated in the Nile valley, where old houses were pulled down and new ones built on the same spot, because space was valuable - so little remains of the older buildings. Pyramids and tombs, by contrast, were built on desert margins, where the space was not needed for other buildings, so were left to tell their tale centuries after they were built. Also, while domestic housing was made of sun-dried bricks, pyramids and tombs were built of stone - so their chances of survival were infinitely better.
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