Month: December 2016
Egypt Independent that the stone wall was dated using the pottery fragments that were embedded in the mortar used to build the wall. Among the fragments were pieces of carinated bowls, fashioned in a style that was typical of the Sixth Dynasty (2278-2184 BCE) reign of King Pepi II. The Old Kingdom is generally regarded as the time period between the Third Dynasty and Sixth Dynasty (2686–2181 BCE) in the third millennium BCE, when Egypt achieved its first ongoing peak of civilization. The three ostensible “Kingdom” periods: the Old, the Middle, and the New Kingdoms, indicate the peaks of civilization within the lower Nile Valley. The Old Kingdom is notable for being a dynamic time for Egyptian art. During this period, sculptors created the earliest known individual portraits as well as the first life-size statues in copper, wood, and stone. Masons and architects mastered the building techniques that were necessary in the construction of monumental stone structures. Additionally, the art of carving precisely detailed reliefs was perfected. Egypt’s Middle Kingdom (also referred to as The Period of Reunification) is the time period between 2050 BCE and 1800 BCE, covering the twelfth and thirteenth dynasties. The New Kingdom, also known as the Egyptian Empire, between the sixteenth century BCE and the eleventh century BCE, covers the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth dynasties. Qubbet el-Hawa is the site of a cemetery containing Rock-cut tombs, located on the west bank of the Nile river, across from the Egyptian city of Aswan. The elite tombs discovered there date primarily to the Old Kingdom and include the well-known tomb of Harkhuf. A member of the research team, Carl Graves is quoted by the Egypt Independent as saying: “The findings are dramatically altering our understanding of the funerary landscape in this area during the Old Kingdom and First Intermediate Period in 2278-2184BC. I don’t think anyone yet knows who the tombs might have belonged to.” The discovery was made as part of the project’s first field season. ]]>
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Haaretz. In 1947, a shepherd tossed a stone into a cave in Israel’s West Bank and heard the sound of earthenware cracking, leading to the the twentieth century’s biggest archaeological discovery: the Dead Sea Scrolls. Named for the seven human skulls along with other skeletal remains found there, The Cave of the Skulls was discovered in 1960 by Professor Yohanan Aharoni. Part of a series of naturally formed spaces on top of a steep cliff known as the Large Cave Complex, the Cave of Skulls is located in one of the starkest regions of the Judean Desert. The complex is also home to the Cave of the Arrows, where the extremely arid conditions helped preserve a dozen reed arrow shafts (30 inches long) for around 1,800 years. The latest discovery, two papyrus fragments each measuring approximately two centimeters squared, along with several pieces with no discernible writing, was made during a joint salvage excavation conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Antiquities Authority. Along with the papyri artifacts, dozens of stone vessels, pottery fragments and flint items were discovered within the cave. Several different metal objects were also found, including needles, cosmetic tools, and hobnails with hollow heads which were used to make sandals. Another interesting find was a bundle, a textile wrapping around a collection of beads, which was found inside a natural crevice in the west wing of the cave. This bundle has not yet been opened, but its contents have been identified through X-rays. It joins two other bundles previously discovered by Aharoni, making up the largest bead collection ever found from the time period known as the Chalcolithic, an ancient period that predates the Copper Age. What these caves were used for in early Chalcolithic times is unknown. Suggestions vary from seasonal habitats for traders or herders, to hiding places during times of social tensions within the settlements located on that side of the Judean Desert. “These caves are very difficult to access, and they were used in their natural forms without changes or modifications that would make them more convenient for prolonged occupation,” Davidovich said in the Haaretz article. “This does not make sense when you think of ephemeral stays by shepherds or the like, but is much more plausible when you consider that they served as temporary refuge places.” ]]>
New York Post, University of Cambridge professor Mary Beard discovered the tapestry at the Persian Gallery in the midst of her research into images of Julius Caesar. The composition of the tapestry, which features images of the Roman Emperor, matches those that would have been commissioned by the Tudor king during the later years of his reign in the 1500s. Henry VIII commissioned a set of ten of these tapestries, each nine feet tall and depicting the life of the ancient Roman ruler, ostensibly to connect his reign to that of Caesar’s – though seemingly without spending much time thinking of how the emperor came to such a grisly and violent end. Beard says that at the time they were made the tapestries were of immense value to the royal household and would have been its most prized possessions. In fact, in the wake of the execution of Charles I, the tapestries were listed as the second most valuable objects in the entire royal collection during an inventory of the beheaded royal’s property. The original tapestries have long vanished – and the one found in the Manhattan gallery is not one of these originals, the professor remarked. However, the designs used to create the originals were used to reconstruct these tapestries in the late sixteenth century. Many of these tapestries, like the one found in the Persian Gallery, are valued at $50,000 or more based on their age, their condition, and the royal design from which they are copied. If one of the original ten royal tapestries were ever recovered, its value would likely be even more immense, if not incalculable. Beard commented that the designs of these tapestries are intriguing. Pulled from Suetonius’ “Life of Caesar”, the images showcase both the rise and fall of the ruler, up to and including his death at the hands of his assassins in the Senate. The university professor remarked that the idea that the walls of the Tudor king’s palace were adorned with one of the most obvious critiques of autocratic power during the classical period might be high irony indeed, considering the rule of Henry VIII was rife with behavior such as splitting with the Roman Catholic Church in order to create his own, all to facilitate his constant marriages and annulments in search of a bride who would provide him a male heir. The particular tapestry spotted by Beard is 14-foot by 15-foot, created from wool and inlaid with silk, depicting Caesar crossing the Rubicon River, the famous act that marked the point of no return in his successful attempt to seize control from his rivals Pompey and Crassus, the other members of the First Triumvirate. The term “crossing the Rubicon” has since passed into modern parlance, indicating when someone has taken an irrevocable step forward in a serious matter. More information about the discovery, as well as images of the tapestry, can be found on Prof. Beard’s blog: A Don’s Life]]>
Current Biology, could explain why birds have beaks but not teeth. Limusaurus inextricabilis, the species in question, was a beaked therapod which lived in Western China during the Jurassic period – between 201.3 million years ago and 145 million years ago. Limusaurus inextricabilis is the only member of the Limusaurus genus. The research team from George Washington University in Washington D.C., USA, and the Capital Normal University in Beijing, China, analysed nineteen Limusaurus skeletons discovered in Xinjiang Province, China. The remains were unearthed from ‘death traps’ where the creatures had become fatally trapped and buried in mud. Ranging in age from babies to adults, the unfortunate victims of the muddy death traps provided the researchers with a pattern for Limusaurus‘ tooth development and loss over time. While the baby skeletons had small, sharp teeth, the adults were consistently toothless. “This discovery is important for two reasons,” said James Clark, a co-author on the paper and the Ronald Weintraub Professor of Biology at the George Washington University’s Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, in a press release. “First, it’s very rare to find a growth series from baby to adult dinosaurs. Second, this unusually dramatic change in anatomy suggests there was a big shift in Limusaurus’ diet from adolescence to adulthood.” Limusaurus is part of the theropod group of dinosaurs which are considered evolutionary ancestors of birds. Interestingly, theropods were ancestrally carnivorous but a number of species in the group were herbivorous or omnivorous. The team’s findings could point to an unusual change in diet for Limusaurus as they grew older. The babies of the species could have been meat eaters, while the adults were herbivores. The sharp teeth would have been needed to chew meat, but not plants. Chemical analysis of the Limusaurus bones supports this theory of a changing diet. It is hoped that further analysis of the Limusaurus fossils could provide an insight into how the descendants of theropods, such as birds, evolved with no teeth. It is possible that the origins of this trait can be found in the changes Limusaurus experienced in their development from childhood to adulthood. “For most dinosaur species we have few specimens and a very incomplete understanding of their developmental biology,” said Josef Stiegler, a graduate student at George Washington University and study co-author. “The large sample size of Limusaurus allowed us to use several lines of evidence including the morphology, microstructure and stable isotopic composition of the fossil bones to understand developmental and dietary changes in this animal.”]]>
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Herod: City Builder and Child Killer
