Archaeologists have uncovered a Roman water system during excavations in Stabiae, located near Pompeii in the Province of Naples, Italy.
Stabiae was largely buried during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, which released a deadly cloud of super-heated tephra and gases to a height of 33 km (21 mi), molten rock, pumice, and hot ash at a rate of 1.5 million tons per second. The resulting pyroclastic surges and heavy ashfall enveloped Pompeii and Herculanium, with large parts of Stabiae being buried in thick tephra and ash.
The Roman author, Pliny the Elder, records that Stabiae had several miles of luxury coastal villas along the edge of the headland, with notable figures such as Julius Caesar, the emperors Augustus and Tiberius, and the statesman-philosopher Cicero all owning properties there.
Excavations in a small peristyle (colonnaded garden) at the Villa Arianna have uncovered parts of an ancient water system during archaeological cleaning, revealing a decorated lead tank which was part of a water distribution system within the villa complex. READ MORE...
ARCHAEOLOGISTS CONDUCTING A STUDY TO ESTIMATE THE MAXIMUM PRODUCTIVITY OF THE LAND AROUND PALMYRA ARE REVEALING NEW INSIGHTS THAT QUESTIONS THE HISTORICAL NARRATIVE.
Palmya is located in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date an early settlement to the Neolithic period, with the first documented mention of the city dating to the early 2nd millennium BC.
Palmyra’s wealth was generated through a system of trade networks, funding the construction of monumental projects such as the Great Colonnade, the Temple of Bel, and the distinctive tower tombs. READ MORE...
ARCHAEOLOGISTS FROM THE TORUŃ NICHOLAS COPERNICUS UNIVERSITY HAVE FOUND A GRAVE FROM THE 18TH CENTURY, CONTAINING A ‘FEMALE VAMPIRE’ BURIED WITH A SICKLE OVER THE NECK TO PREVENT HER ASCENSION TO VAMPIRISM.
The concept of a blood-sucking spirit, or demon consuming human flesh has been told in the mythology and folktales of almost every civilisation throughout the centuries.
One of the earliest vampiric depictions stems from cuneiform texts by the Akkadians, Samarians, Assyrians and Babylonians, where they referred to demonic figures such as the Lilu and Lilitu.
During the late 17th and 18th century, the folklore for vampires as we imagine became rampant in the verbal traditions and lore of many European ethnic groups.
They were described as the revenants of evil beings, suicide victims, witches, corpses possessed by a malevolent spirit or the victim of a vampiric attack.
During the 18th century, vampire sightings across Eastern Europe had reached its peak, with frequent exhumations and the practice of staking to kill potential revenants. This period was commonly referred to as the “18th-Century Vampire Controversy”.
Archaeologists found the burial near Bydgoszcz, a city in northern Poland. An anthropological study revealed that she had protruding front teeth, suggesting that her appearance may have led superstitious locals in the 17th century to brand her a witch or vampire. In fear of her ascension, a sickle was placed around her neck, while a padlock was tied to the toe on the left foot. READ MORE...
A TEAM OF RESEARCHERS FROM CARDINAL STEFAN WYSZYŃSKI UNIVERSITY IN WARSAW HAVE DOCUMENTED 1,000-YEAR-OLD PAINTINGS IN THE REMAINS OF A CHURCH, LOCATED SOUTHWEST OF THE 3RD CATARACT ON THE WEST BANK OF THE NILE IN SUDAN.
The paintings were found in 2021 by the University of Khartoum, University of the Nile Valley (NVU) and Sudanese archaeologists.
The church has a primary nave and two small side naves, constructed from dried mud brick and a lining layer of burnt bricks. Several Greek inscriptions have been identified on some of the surviving walls, while within the sanctuary several paintings have survived despite considerable damage to the structure.
At the time of the initial discovery, the team lacked the conservators and experts to preserve the paintings, so the decision was made to rebury the church ruins in order protect the paintings from the elements.
In the latest study, the researchers found that one of the better-preserved paintings on the eastern wall of the sanctuary shows the bust of Christ Emmanuel against the background of a standing figure, believed to be Icon of ‘Our Lady of the Sign’ showing the Virgin Mary. READ MORE...
ARCHAEOLOGISTS FROM THE ISRAEL ANTIQUES AUTHORITY (IAA) HAVE UNCOVERED A LUXURY ESTATE THAT DATES FROM THE ISLAMIC PERIOD.
The team made the discovery during works to build a new neighbourhood in the city of Rahat in the Negev desert, located in Southern Israel.
The region was formerly ruled by the Al-Tayaha tribe (Al-Hezeel clan), a Negev Bedouin people that settled in the Sinai Peninsula during the early years of the Muslim conquests.
Archaeologists found a large estate with a central courtyard that sits on a vaulted complex and a three-metre-deep rock-hewn water cistern which dates to the Early Islamic period from the 8th to 9th century AD.
The estate has four wings, in which one of the wings has a hall paved with a marble and stone floor and walls decorated with frescoes using finely coloured red, yellow, blue, and black pigments.
Some of the other rooms had plaster floors and large ovens for cooking, while fragments of delicate glass serving dishes have also been uncovered.
“The luxurious estate and the impressive underground vaults are evidence of the owners’ means. Their high status and wealth allowed them to build a luxurious mansion that served as a residence and for entertaining”, said the excavation directors – Oren Shmueli, Dr. Elena Kogan-Zehavi and Dr. Noé D. Michael. READ MORE...
A STUDY BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE HAS FOUND THAT MONKS WITHIN THE CAMBRIDGE AREA WERE ‘RIDDLED WITH WORMS’ DURING THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD.
The population of medieval Cambridge consisted of residents of monasteries, friaries and nunneries of various major Christian orders, along with merchants, traders, craftsmen, labourers, farmers, and staff and students at the early university.
The study published in the International Journal of Paleopathology revealed that the monks were twice as likely as ordinary townspeople to have high levels of intestinal worms. This is despite most Augustinian monasteries having far better sanitary conditions, latrine blocks and handwashing facilities, compared to the dwellings or ordinary working people.
A possible explanation for the parasitic infection may be down to monks using their own faeces, fertilisers containing human fertiliser, or pig excrement for manuring their crops in the friary gardens.
Cambridge archaeologists investigated samples of soil taken from around the pelvises of adult remains from the former cemetery of All Saints by the Castle parish church, as well as from the grounds where the city’s Augustinian Friary once stood.
Most of the parish church burials date from the 12-14th century, and those interred within were primarily of a lower socio-economic status, mainly agricultural workers.
The Augustinian friary in Cambridge was an international study house, known as a studium generale, where clergy from across Britain and Europe would come to read manuscripts. It was founded in the 1280s and lasted until 1538 before suffering the fate of most English monasteries: closed or destroyed as part of Henry VIII’s break with the Roman Church. READ MORE...
A team of archaeologists from the Czech institute of Egyptology have unearthed a tomb in the Abusir necropolis, near to modern-day Cairo, Egypt.
The tomb belongs to an Egyptian dignitary named Wahibre-mery-Neith, who lived during the 26th or 27th Dynasty (5th century BC).
Inscriptions in the burial shaft describe him as a “Commander of Foreign Mercenaries”, suggesting that he supervised the mercenaries from the Aegean islands and Asia Minor.
The site was first excavated in 2021, where archaeologists found the largest ancient embalming cache in Egypt, containing 370 pottery storage jars that held materials used in the mummification of Wahibre-mery-Neith.
In the latest season of excavations, the team focused on the burial shaft and excavated 14 metres of material to a depth 6 metres below ground level. They found that the shaft was orientated east-west and measures approximately 6.5 by 3.3 metres.
At the bottom of the shaft the researchers found a double sarcophagus situated directly on a filling of sand, but discovered that the tomb had already been robbed in late antiquity during the 4th to 5th century AD (indicated by two early Coptic vessels found in the main shaft).
The outer sarcophagus is made of two massive blocks of white limestone that contains an inner sarcophagus made of basalt and is inscribed with the Book of the Dead, chapter 72, describing the resurrection of the deceased and his departure to the afterlife. READ MORE...
Archaeologists have recovered a Maya chocolate-type vessel from the Cueva de la Cruz, near the coastal resort of Playa del Carmen, in Mexico’s Yucatán.
Researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) recovered the 13cm tall vessel after being notified by the Cenotes Urbanos project.
The vessel was partially submerged and buried in soft sediment, deposited by the rainy season that tends to flood the entire cave.
“It has a reddish colour on the outside and a black slip on the inside, partially covered by calcium carbonates. The decoration seems to provide a phytomorphic image, similar to a pumpkin”, said archaeologist Antonio Reyes abounds.
The vessel dates from the Late Preclassic period (300 BC to AD 250), and although lacking a spout, archaeologists suggest that the vessel was used for drinking chocolate.
Maya chocolate was consumed as a hot liquid beverage, seasoned by mixing the roasted cacao seed paste into a drink with water, chilli peppers and cornmeal, and then transferring the mixture repeatedly between pots until the top was covered with a thick foam.
The drink was used in official ceremonies and religious rituals, as funerary offerings, as a tribute, and for medicinal purposes. READ MORE...
Extreme dry conditions contributed to the decline of the ancient South Arabian kingdom of Himyar.
Combined with political unrest and war, the droughts left behind a region in disarray, thereby creating the conditions on the Arabian peninsula that made possible the spread of the newly emerging religion of Islam.
On the plateaus of Yemen, traces of the Himyarite Kingdom can still be found today: terraced fields and dams formed part of a particularly sophisticated irrigation system, transforming the semi-desert into fertile fields. Himyar was an established part of South Arabia for several centuries.
However, despite its former strength, during the sixth century AD the kingdom entered into a period of crisis, which culminated in its conquest by the neighboring kingdom of Aksum (now Ethiopia). A previously overlooked factor, namely extreme drought, may have been decisive in contributing to the upheavals in ancient Arabia from which Islam emerged during the seventh century. These findings were recently reported by researchers led by Professor Dominik Fleitmann in the journal Science.
Petrified water acts as climate record
Fleitmann’s team analyzed the layers of a stalagmite from the Al Hoota Cave in present-day Oman. The stalagmite’s growth rate and the chemical composition of its layers (see box) are directly related to how much precipitation falls above the cave. As a result, the shape and isotopic composition of the deposited layers of a stalagmite represent a valuable record of historical climate. READ MORE...
A team of German and Kurdish archaeologists have excavated a 3400-year-old Mittani Empire-era city that has emerged in the Tigris River.
The settlement was previously submerged with the construction of the Mosul reservoir, but has since re-emerged due to lower water levels caused by extreme drought.
The city, located in present-day Kemune in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has a palace and several large buildings that could be the ancient city of Zakhiku – an important centre in the Mittani Empire (1550-1350 BC).
Bronze Age city resurfaced due to drought
Iraq can be affected by climate change, often resulting in extreme drought for months. This has caused major difficulties for the agricultural sector and the draining of large amounts of water drawn from the Mosul reservoir to support farmers crops. The lower water levels has allowed the reappearance of the Bronze Age city, which up until now has never been investigated by archaeologists.
Within a short time, archaeologists have mapped large areas of the city and documented the palace, several large buildings, a fortified wall, towers, multi-storey storage buildings and an industrial complex. READ MORE...
Image Credit : Archaeological Park of PompeiiArchaeologists conducting excavations at Pompeii’s Civita Giuliana have identified a room used by slaves.Pompeii was a Roman city, located in the modern commune of Pompeii near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum, and many villas in the surrounding area was buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.The villa of Civita Giuliana has been studied since 2017, with previous excavations unearthing several rooms, a servant’s quarters, and a ceremonial chariot and stable with harnessed horses.In the latest series of excavations by the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, alongside the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Torre Annunziata, archaeologists found a room near to where the chariot was discovered, that is believed to be the humble lodgings of the slaves who carried out the everyday work in the Roman villa, including the maintenance and preparation of the chariot. READ MORE...
