The mummy's tattoos include two seated baboons depicted between a wadjet eye (top row), a symbol of protection.A mummy from ancient Egypt was heavily tattooed with sacred symbols, which may have served to advertise and enhance the religious powers of the woman who received them more than 3,000 years ago. Continue reading
Eight years of further excavations and study at the Indonesian cave site of Liang Bua have pushed back the time of disappearance of the ‘hobbits’ of Flores (Homo floresiensis) from as recently as 12,000 years ago to about 50,000 years ago, according to new findings published today (31 March, AEDT) in Nature. Continue reading
Neanderthals, the closest known extinct relatives to humans, probably had to pick annoying bits of food out of their teeth from time to time. And now, scientists have evidence that these extinct cousins of modern humans may have done so with the help of prehistoric toothpicks.
A new discovery has revealed that the Vikings may have travelled hundreds of miles further into North America than previously thought. It's well known that they reached the tip of the continent more than 1,000 years ago, but the full extent of their exploration has remained a mystery, writes historian Dan Snow.
People have been pointing out the resemblance of this recently discovered ancient mummy’s shoes to a pair of Adidas trainers, complete with their iconic stripes. Continue reading
EVANSTON, Ill. --- A Northwestern University research team has taken CSI to a whole new level: employing sophisticated scientific tools to investigate details of the materials and methods used by Roman-Egyptian artists to paint lifelike mummy portraits more than 2,000 years ago. These visages of the dead are considered to be antecedents of Western portraiture. Continue reading
An intricate tablet (pictured), thought to be the world's oldest complaint 'letter' was written by a disappointed customer from ancient Babylonia. The story goes that a merchant named Ea-nasir journeyed to the Persian Gulf to buy copper to sell in Mesopotamia. This included ingots for Nanni, who sent his servant to pay for them.If you have ever composed a shirty email complaining about damaged goods, a mixed-up order or late delivery, you certainly weren't the first.
An intricate tablet, thought to be the world's oldest complaint 'letter' was written by a disappointed customer from ancient Babylonia, 3,766 years ago.
In it, 'Nanni' complains to a merchant about receiving the wrong grade of copper ore that's arrived late and is slightly damaged.
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Finally a decent place to eat! Archaeologists digging in southern France have found a restaurant-like structure roughly 2,100 years old, making it one of the earliest such taverns in the western Mediterranean.
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YORK, ENGLAND—An 11,000-year-old pendant has been discovered in lake-edge deposits at the Early Mesolithic site at Star Carr in North Yorkshire. It is triangular in shape, was carved from a single piece of shale, has a hole in one corner, and is engraved with a series of lines that scholars think could represent a tree, a map, a leaf, or tally marks. At first, the artifact was thought to be a natural stone, since the perforation was blocked by sediment. “It is unlike anything we have found in Britain from this period. We can only imagine who owned it, how they wore it, and what the engravings actually meant to them,” Nicky Milner of the University of York said in a press release. Shale beads, a piece of perforated amber, and two perforated animal teeth have also been recovered from the site. “The designs on our pendant are similar to those found in southern Scandinavia and other areas bordering the North Sea, showing a close cultural connection between northern European groups at this time,” added Chantal Conneller of the University of Manchester. Continue reading
Archaeologists managed to unearth a rare seal bearing the name of an "exceptional" woman who lived during Jerusalem's First Temple period about 2,500 years ago, media reports said.
To come straight to the point, the ultimate truth does not exist. So far. Because much could change if the assumptions should confirm that behind a wall in the grave chamber of the tomb KV62 in the Valley of the Kings, the tomb of Tutankhamen, another chamber could be located - a chamber that could be associated with Nefertiti. This would be the most sensational archaeological find of the century and the solution to one of the oldest puzzles in Egyptology.
The Egyptian word "Sha" means happiness - "Sha-Sha" means necklace - the auspicious and protective character of the jewellery is emphasized hereby. The high quality glass beads ("rocailles") mimic the colour scheme of Egyptian originals. Gold and red stand for the joy of life, love and creativity. Blue means inspiration, green is the colour of renewal and peace, and black is the colour of eternal life.
The Eye of Horus is the magic symbol of protection of the Egyptians and a popular charm which grants eternal life and protection of the wearer. The goddess Bastet in shape of a cat is the Egyptian deity of love and joy, of music and feasts. Nefertiti was the beautiful wife of Akhenaten and a woman with considerable power and political influence. The cartouche of Nefertiti reads "Beautiful are the beauties of the Aten, Nefertiti". The hippopotamus was the ancient Egyptians' mighty symbol for fertility and regenerative powers. Theb lotus flower was equally close to the chaotic darkness and divine light and was believed to be a symbol of life after death. The hieroglyph "Ankh" means "life". As a symbol it is the emblem of vthe divine, of eternal life. In Ancient Egypt an unscathed mummified body guarantees a life in the hereafter.
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Gemstones were selected primarily because of their colour. Environment and faith determined the colour scheme of the Ancient Egyptians. Hedj denominates the sunlight, everything glossy and the reflections of light. All yellow and red stones are associated with earthly life, strength, and with the sun as the giver of life. Opposed to this term is kek, the darkness, the night, and the extinction of all colors. Dark blue and black stones are assigned to eternal life. Kem includes the hues of the fertile land (kemet), the various colorations of the soil down to the black mud of the Nile, which with its annual floods provides for the fertility of the land. Wadj denominates the various shades of blue and green of the water and is the ancient Egyptian word for sea. Desher stands for desert. Therefore this term stands for the different colour hues of the sand during the course of the day (pink, yellow to red colours).
In the world of the ancient Egyptians day and night, light and darkness, stand for the daily struggle for the maintenance of order over chaos by the power of the gods. The stones with their different colours draw their individual characteristics and effects from this area of tension - down to the present day.
Magic and healing powers were attributed to the individual types of stones and were used in medicine. In the ancient civilizations and in the European Middle Ages this tradition has developed further and even today characteristic features are assigned to the various types of stones as well as the respective months of year. The ancient Egyptians and the Babylonians allocated gemstones to the twelve signs of the zodiac, which served as a good luck charm to the one who was born under this sign.
Gemstones of the Zodiac Signs
Aries: Amethyst, Hematite, Carnelian, Jasper
Taurus : Agate, Carnelian, Obsidian, Rose quartz, Rhodonite
Twins: Agate, Rock crystal, Onyx, Tiger's eye, Carnelian
Cancer: Aventurine , Carnelian, Opal , Sodalite
Leo: Rock crystal, Jasper, Tiger's eye, Onyx,
Virgo: Jasper, Hematite, Opal, Sodalite, Tiger's eye
Libra: Carnelian, Obsidian, Opal, Jasper, Rose quartz
Scorpio: Hematite, Rose quartz, Obsidian, Agate
Sagittarius: Amethyst, Aventurine, Jasper, Opal, Sodalite
Capricorn: Rock crystal, Jasper, Tiger's eye, Obsidian, Agate
Aquarius: Aventurine, Rock crystal, Tiger's eye, Opal, Onyx
Fish: Amethyst, Hematite, Carnelian, Rose quartz, Sodalite, Opal
Cooking experiments suggest that Mycenaean souvlaki trays would have been portable.The ancient Mycenaeans have a reputation as palace-builders and warriors, but they were also quite sophisticated cooks. More than 3,000 years ago, they used portable grill pits to make souvlaki and non-stick pans to make bread, new cooking experiments suggest.
The Mycenaean civilization, which was the backdrop for Homer's "Odyssey" and "Iliad," thrived in Greece during the late Bronze Age from around 1700 B.C. until the society mysteriously collapsed around 1200 B.C. The Mycenaeans left behind amazing palaces and gold-littered tombs at sites like Pylos and Mycenae, but in these places, archaeologists also have found less glamorous artifacts, such as souvlaki trays and griddles made from gritty clays.
It wasn't clear how these two types of pans were used, said Julie Hruby of Dartmouth College, presenting her research at the Archaeological Institute of America's annual meeting here on Saturday (Jan. 4).
"We don't have any recipes," Hruby told LiveScience. "What we do have are tablets that talk about provisions for feasts, so we have some idea of what the ingredients might have been, but in terms of understanding how people cooked, the cooking pots are really our best bet."
The souvlaki trays were rectangular ceramic pans that sat underneath skewers of meat. Scientists weren't sure whether these trays would have been placed directly over a fire, catching fat drippings from the meat, or if the pans would have held hot coals like a portable barbeque pit. The round griddles, meanwhile, had one smooth side and one side covered with tiny holes, and archaeologists have debated which side would have been facing up during cooking.
To solve these culinary mysteries, Hruby and ceramicist Connie Podleski, of the Oregon College of Art and Craft, mixed American clays to mimic Mycenaean clay and created two griddles and two souvlaki trays in the ancient style. With their replica coarsewares, they tried to cook meat and bread.
Hruby and Podleski found that the souvlaki trays were too thick to transfer heat when placed over a fire pit, resulting in a pretty raw meal; placing the coals inside the tray was a much more effective cooking method.
"We should probably envision these as portable cooking devices — perhaps used during Mycenaean picnics," Hruby said.
As for the griddles, bread was more likely to stick when it was cooked on the smooth side of the pan. The holes, however, seemed to be an ancient non-sticking technology, ensuring that oil spread quite evenly over the griddle.
Lowly cooking pots were often overlooked, or even thrown out, during early excavations at Mycenaean sites in the 20th century, but researchers are starting to pay more attention to these vessels to glean a full picture of ancient lifestyles.
As for who was using the souvlaki trays and griddles, Hruby says it was likely chefs cooking for the Mycenaean ruling class.
By Megan Gannon, Live Science News Editor
Original article on LiveScience.
New axhibition at the Bundeskunsthalle (Bonn, Germany). 30 April to 10 August 2014.
In 1899 the diplomat and archaeological explorer Baron Max von Oppenheim (1860–1946), a scion of the Cologne banking family, discovered the residence of an Aramaean ruler at Tell Halaf. Dating to the early 1st millennium BC, it was the site that first brought the Khabur headwaters region on the modern border between Syria and Turkey to the attention of archaeologists worldwide. Presenting a selection of outstanding archaeological finds that caused a sensation when they were shown in Berlin in 2011, the exhibition brings to life the long-lost world of the Aramaeans. Monumental stone sculptures, fantastical reliefs and precious funerary goods testify to the wealth of the palace at Tell Halaf and other Aramaean residences. Visitors will be able to see the first ever recreation of the famous entrance façade of the Western Palace with the original sculptures. This is complemented by a virtual reconstruction of the entire ancient settlement. Today a replica of von Oppenheim’s iconic façade reconstruction of the 1930s frames the main entrance to the National Museum of Aleppo in Syria.
The exhibition traces Max von Oppenheim’s biography and his lifelong love for the East which sings from each and every one of the lavish oriental costumes and accessories he amassed in his private collection. The exhibition in Bonn is the first to present a sumptuous selection of these collector’s items alongside the spectacular archaeological discoveries. The Tell Halaf finds – destroyed during a night-time bombing raid on Berlin in 1943 and painstakingly restored some sixty years later – tell the story of a 3000-year-old civilisation, but they have also become a poignant reminder of Germany’s recent history.
Already 900 years ago, people had a thing for sending each other romantic messages. At least, that’s according to runologist Jonas Nordby, who has decoded a 900-year-old viking message; “Kiss me.”
Eleventh- and twelfth-century Vikings had a habit of encoding their messages. Nordby, who has discovered a key to decoding this message, was then able to decode the fragment of wood with the romantic message. This particular piece of wood was encoded with the “jötunvillur” code, but there were many different variants as well.
The reason why the Vikings encoded their messages is not yet entirely certain, but scientists have different theories. Some speculate that the rune codes may have been used as a means of education. In the jötunvillur code, for example, the last letter of the name of a rune became that letter’s character – writing the “F” rune, which is pronounced “Fe,” would yield “E,” while “K,” pronounced “Kaun,” would yield “N.”
Source www.forskning.no
Via: Discovery News
This photo released on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014 by Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, shows a preserved wooden sarcophagus that dates back to 1600 BC, when the Pharaonic 17th Dynasty reigned, in Egypt (Photo: Egypt's Supreme Council Of Antiquities)A Spanish-Egyptian archeological team working on Luxor's west bank has discovered a rare wooden human-shaped sarcophagus from the 17th dynasty.
The find came during routine excavation work at the tomb of Djehuty, treasure holder for Queen Hatshepsut, at Dra Abul-Naga necropolis.
The sarcophagus is important for the detailed depictions of bird feather shapes and sizes painted on its lid, motifs that have earned it the title of Feathers Sarcophagi, according to Egypt's antiquities minister Mohamed Ibrahim. The 2 metre long, 42 cm tall sarcophagus is in very good condition, Ibrahim said, and also engraved with titles of the deceased, which archeologists have not yet been able to identify.
Studies reveal that the sarcophagus belongs to a top governmental official from the 17th dynasty, whose mummy was enclosed inside, said Ibrahim.
Photo: Egypt's Supreme Council Of AntiquitiesThe archeological team found two other burials at the site, which were both empty. It is believed that they were robbed in antiquity. The Spanish mission began excavation work at Djehuty's tomb 13 years ago, when many artefacts from New Kingdom dynasties were found.
Last year the team unearthed a sarcophagus of a 17th dynasty child, along with a number of clay pots and ushabti figurines wrapped in linen. Excavation at the site remains in full swing, said José Galan, head of the Spanish team.
Original article: www.ahram.org.eg
On 22 February, Medelhavsmuseet - the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities - will be opening its major permanent exhibition, offering a tour through 7,000 years of Egyptian history. The exhibition depicts the environment in which the objects once belonged, featuring the voices and thoughts of the people who created them and used them. More than 1,600 objects are being exhibited, many of which were not on display before. Together with new films and the very latest research and 3D technology, it will help to shed new light on ancient Egypt.
The exhibition emphasises the continuity in the history of Egypt. The main focus is on the long and well-known pharaonic period. But Egypt did not cease to be Egypt after the last pharaohs. Mediaeval objects that were previously classed as "Islamic art" now lead the visitor onwards from Late Antiquity through medieval Egypt, where Judaism, Christianity and Islam co-existed side-by-side.
This blog is about all things related to the product assortment of archaeform; today it’s all about cats in Ancient Egypt.
A bronze statue of the cat goddess BastetCats are special beings and enchant us with their beauty, their independence of mind and their intelligence. With 600 million animals sharing our households with us worldwide they are the most popular pet. According to latest genetic and archaeological research all domesticated cats descend from the African wild cat. Domestication began 10.000 years ago in the Near East, the same region where sedentarism and agriculture had their origins. The cat took a very important role in Ancient Egypt. There they were extremely popular as hunters of rodents such as rats and mice, but also of snakes in living quarters and storage spaces, they were also utilised in bird hunting. House cats are attested since the Middle Kingdom (c. 2nd century BC). Next to the domestic cat in Egypt lived the aggressive wild cat.
A mummified catBoth characters are found in Egyptian mythology: on the one hand the peaceable cat goddess Bastet, responsible for love, happiness and feasts; on the other hand the destructive and raging goddess Sakhmet. These opposites which can be found in the cat goddesses are mirrored in the daily fight for the maintenance of order against chaos – an ever-present motif in the Ancient Egyptian mindscape. Cats were sacred animals, they got sacrificed and mummified. The town of Bubastis in the Nile delta was her main cultic site. Here there are temples of Bastet where she is depicted either as cat or as human being with lion or cat head.
A bronze statue of a domesticated cat and her kittenWelcome to the new website of archaeform! Enjoy browsing and discovering our exciting products!
"Professor Henry Jones, Jr., perhaps the most influential archaeologist of our time, warned us: „We cannot afford to take mythology at face value.“ " *
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