Wasous

The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemned what it said were illegal excavation works by US, French and Turkish troops as well as their local allies in areas of Syria under their control, including ancient sites at Manbij, Afrin, Idlib, Hasaka, and Raqqa.

Credit: FARS News Agency

Speaking to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), a ministry official said that there had been an increase in excavation work, looting, and theft of ancient cultural artifacts.

"These actions represent a new war crime added to the crimes committed against the Syrian people and Syrian heritage", the official said. According to Damascus, the looting of Syria's historical treasures is part of a deliberate plot by terrorist organizations and their backers to rob the Syrian people of their past and destroy the country's civilizational and cultural heritage.

The Foreign Ministry called on the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to condemn the alleged violations and expose those who stand behind them.

Syria is home to some of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world, and contains cultural artifacts from numerous ancient empires. Amid the war in Syria archeologists worldwide have looked on in horror as terrorists looted and destroyed priceless artifacts in areas under their control.

The Foreign Ministry statement follows remarks by Mahmoud Hammoud, director general of Syria's museums and antiquities, alleging that the US, France, and Kurdish militias were carrying out illegal excavations in northern Syria in areas under their control, including "archeological tombs in the eastern side of Manbij".

"We hope that the Syrian Army will return peace and security to all those areas soon because it's the only force capable of protecting our heritage", Hammoud stressed.

The Syrian government has devoted considerable resources to the search for looted artifacts, and is working with international authorities to recover treasures illegally smuggled abroad by criminal enterprises during the terrorist occupation. In late October, authorities reopened the National Museum of Damascus, touting it as a symbolic "political, cultural, and economic victory", a symbol of the return to normal life and defiance of efforts by terrorists to loot and destroy the country's treasures. In September, authorities began a major project to restore the Krak de Chevaliers, an 11th century castle in Homs.

Source: FARS News Agency [December 11, 2018]

The archaeological mission working in the archaeological site of al-Khalwa area, Fayoum, has uncovered a burial shaft, located to the east of the Prince Waji’s tomb dating back to the Middle Kingdom, Ministry of Antiquities announced on Thursday.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri said that al-Khalwa, located at southern Fayoum, contains a cemetery dating back to the Middle Kingdom era, namely Amenemhat III era (1842-1799 BC).

He added that the cemetery has the tomb of Prince Waji, the ruler of Fayoum in the Middle Kingdom, as well as the tomb of his mother "Nabat Mout", which lies to the east of it.

Meanwhile, Head of the archaeological mission Ayman Ashmawy said that the shaft contains three burial chambers, in which the mission found the upper part of a statue (40 cm height) made from sandstone of a person holding his hand on his chest along with the middle part of a basalt statue (30 cm height).

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The mission also discovered inside the three burial chambers a number of pottery vessels and three heads of Canopian vessels, but some of them were broken into pieces.

Ashmawy pointed out that these chambers were likely to have been looted in ancient times and reused for burial in later eras.

Hani Abul Azm, the head of the Central Administration for Antiquities of upper Egypt, remarked that Waji's tomb was carved in rock and was discovered by the Italian mission of the University of Pisa in 1981 through the archaeological survey project in the area.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

He added that the mission found a limestone statue inside the tomb, on which the name of the prince was written, a part of a wooden coffin and a pottery vessel. He explained that the statue is currently kept inside the museum store of Kom Oshim, Fayoum.

“The ceiling of the tomb was completely collapsed, maybe due to a massive earthquake in ancient times or the weight of the roof stones,” said Sayed Al Shoura, General Director of Antiquities Sector.

He said that Italian mission has built a new ceiling to protect the tomb’s inscriptions under the supervision of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Source: Egypt Today [December 07, 2018]

A meteor that exploded in the air near the Dead Sea 3,700 years ago may have wiped out communities, killed tens of thousands of people, and provided the kernel of truth to an old Bible story. The area is in modern-day Jordan, in a 25 km wide circular plain called Middle Ghor. Most of the evidence for this event comes from archaeological evidence excavated at the Bronze Age city of Tall el-Hammam located in that area, which some scholars say is the city of Sodom from the Bible.

View of Tall el Hammam [Credit: Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project]

Archaeologists have been digging at the Tall el-Hamman site for 13 years, and have unearthed some pretty convincing evidence supporting the air-burst idea. The findings were presented on November 15th at the annual meeting of the American Schools of Oriental Research, by archaeologist Phillip Silvia of Trinity Southwest University. They were also published in a paper by Silvia and co-author and archaeologist Steven Collins called "The Civilization-Ending 3.7KYrBP Event: Archaeological Data, Sample Analyses, and Biblical Implications".

Tall el-Hammam was a thriving city state occupying Middle Ghor. The civilization had occupied the area for over 2,500 years. The city itself held the administrative center of the kingdom, and was protected by a perimeter wall up to 30m (100 ft) thick and up to 15m (50 ft.) high, for a linear distance of over 2.5km. The wall held multiple gates, towers, and likely other defensive features. But all that was obliterated when the meteor pierced the atmosphere and exploded over the area.

Evidence gathered at the Tall el-Hammam site tells the story of the event. When the meteor air-burst occurred, there was an intensely hot and powerful shock wave. The shock wave wiped out all settlements in the area and destroyed an area of 500 sq. km. And the area remained uninhabited for a remarkable 700 years after the event. Several lines of evidence support the likelihood of this event.

The exploding meteor destroyed the ancient city of Tall el-Hamman in Jordan. Some scholars think that it is the city called Sodom in the Bible [Credit: UN/WikiCommons]

Silvia and Collins say in their paper that the destruction and the damage on walls and other structures in the city is directional, supporting the idea of a shock wave. In the past, archaeologist have wondered if an earthquake could have caused the collapse of the region, but an earthquake would not have caused the type of directional damage that the remaining structures and fortifications display.

Archaeologists also wondered if an earthquake that caused burning petro-chemical eruptions could have caused the destruction. This burning would have explained the thick layers of ash at Tall el-Hammam, but doesn't explain the "large-scale absence of tumbled mudbrick that would be typical of earthquake damage," according to the paper. Archaeologists have been studying the area for 13 years to uncover more evidence to explain the sudden event, and according to Silvia and Collins, they found it.

A pottery shard was found in the city that had one side melted to glass. Only extreme heat can do that. Examination revealed zircon crystals inside a bubble in the glass which could only have been formed by temperatures over 4000 Celsius. Additionally, the layer of melted clay that turned to glass is only 1 mm, not the entire depth of the shard. This indicates only a short burst of intense heat, rather than long exposure from something like burning petro-chemical eruptions. The research team concluded that the shard was exposed to temperatures between 8,000°C and 12,000°C for less than a few milliseconds. That certainly supports the idea of an airburst.

Excavations at Tall el Hammam [Credit: Tall el-Hammam Excavation Project]

Researchers at the site also found what's called a "melt rock" weighing over 600 grams. It's an agglomeration of three different rocks melted together by extreme heat and covered with a layer of glass. This also contained zirconium crystals, and further analysis of the melt rock concluded that it had probably been exposed to 12,000 degree Celsius temperatures for a few seconds.

The final piece of evidence concerns what happened to the Tall el-Hammam area after the destruction. This region is considered the best-watered agricultural area in the region, yet after the Tall el-Hammam city-state was destroyed, the area remained unoccupied for about 700 years. What could have caused this, if the extreme heat from the air burst lasted only a few seconds?

The answer lies in the soil, according to the researchers. Six samples from above, through, and below the soil layer from the time of the event were analyzed geochemically. The results showed "salt and sulfate levels > 6 percent (60,000 ppm) in the ash layer and > 5 percent (50,000 ppm) in the soil layers immediately above and below the ash layer," according to the paper. The source of these contaminants had to be the Dead Sea, which borders the Middle Ghor area.

This photo shows trees felled from a powerful aerial meteorite explosion. It was taken during Leonid Kulik’s 1929 expedition to the Tunguska impact event in Siberia in 1908. The Tunguska site, the Chelyabinsk site, and the Tall el Hammam site all show the same evidence of a meteor air burst [Credit: Kulik Expedition]

The two scientists say that the massive shockwave and heat wave not only destroyed the settlements, but the shock wave deposited a layer of salts onto the top soil, destroying it and making it unable to support agriculture for hundreds of years. It only takes a salt content of 12,800 ppm to prevent wheat from germinating, and a salt content of 17,900 ppm to prevent barley from growing. Those thresholds were easily exceeded.

There is other evidence that supports the air burst theory behind Tall el-Hammam. Meteor air burst sites like Chelyabinsk and Tunguska have the same signatures of meteor air burst that Tall el-Hammam has. These include high levels of platinum, a high incidence of magnetic spherules, and also a high incidence of what are known as scoria-like objects (SLOs).

The researchers concluded that an airburst with a yield equivalent to a 10 mt nuclear warhead occurred about 1 km above northeast corner of the Dead Sea. They say this adequately explains all of the evidence gathered at Tall el-Hammam.

The painting “Lot and his Daughters” by Lucan van Leyden (1520) shows the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed in the background [Credit: Lucas van Leyden – Web Gallery of Art/WikiCommons]

"Then the Lord rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the Lord out of the heavens. 25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, destroying all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land." – Genesis 19:24-25

Some scholars think that Tall el-Hamman is the city of Sodom from the Bible. That idea has been around for a long time. It's in the right place, and a meteor air burst would certainly explain the Genesis quote. It's interesting that the Genesis quote mentions sulfur specifically, since a layer of sulfates and salt was deposited on the area by the event, destroying "the vegetation in the land." But not all agree.

Some scholars think that the geography is not correct. Others think the timeline is wrong. But with this new study, both sides will have to reconsider the whole issue.

The Bible is interesting from a historical perspective, because it sometimes interweaves actual events from history with the Christian mythology. Now that it seems reasonable that a meteor airburst did destroy the area that may have contained Sodom, we can lay to rest the idea that the Christian God sent down fireballs to punish homosexuality. It looks like once again, it was a perfectly natural event that led to an apocalyptic, mythological story, and that what people once attributed to Gods and Goddesses is just nature.

Author: Evan Gough | Source: Universe Today [December 05, 2018]

When Augustus Caesar rose to become the first Roman emperor, in 27 BC, the seeds recently unearthed by Turkish archeologists were already 2,000 years old.

Some of the recently found olive seeds [Credit: Gaziantep University]

Those same seeds, found during excavations in Kilis, along the Turkish-Syrian border, have a vintage dating back four millennia -- around the time the Great Pyramids of Egypt were built.

“We’ve discovered dozens of olive seeds inside layers dating back 4,000 years, and various basaltic grinding stones that we think were used to produce olive oil,” Atilla Engin, an archaeology professor at Gaziantep University, told Anadolu Agency.

The seeds were found in a historic tumulus in southeastern Turkey called Oylum, one of the biggest of its kind in the region.

View of Oylum tumulus in southeastern Turkey [Credit: AA]

Explaining how the eastern Mediterranean is known as the “Motherland of Olives,” Engin said olives and olive oil were not just used for food, but also had numerous uses in textiles, medicine, and mining.

Olive oil was a pricey and valued commodity in ancient times, he said.

“It was twice as expensive as sesame oil, which is harder to produce than olive oil, and it was 10 times more expensive than wine,” he explained.

Author: Izzet Mazi | Source: Anadolu Agency [December 04, 2018]

Rare gold coins and a golden earring have been discovered in the ancient Mediterranean port of Caesarea in northern Israel—possibly left and never recovered as Crusaders conquered the area 900 years ago.

The cache [Credit: Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority]

The Israel Antiquities Authority announced the find on Monday of a small bronze pot holding 24 gold coins and the earring.

According to the authority, it was found between two stones in the side of a well in a house in a neighbourhood that dates back some 900 years, during the Abbasid and Fatimid periods.

The directors of the excavation, the IAA's Peter Gendelman and Mohammed Hatar, said the coins in the cache date to the end of the 11th century.

Convex-shaped gold coin ‘nomisma histamenon’ of the Byzantine Greek emperor Michael VII  Doukas (1071 – 1079 CE) [Credit: Yaniv Berman/Caesarea Development Corporation]

That makes it possible "to link the treasure to the Crusader conquest of the city in the year 1101, one of the most dramatic events in the medieval history of the city", an IAA statement said.

"According to contemporary written sources, most of the inhabitants of Caesarea were massacred by the army of Baldwin I (1100–1118), king of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem," it added.

"It is reasonable to assume that the treasure's owner and his family perished in the massacre or were sold into slavery, and therefore were not able to retrieve their gold."


IAA coin expert Robert Kool said "one or two of these gold coins were the equivalent of the annual salary of a simple farmer, so it seems that whoever deposited the cache was at least well-to-do or involved in commerce".

Caesarea was constructed in the first century BC by King Herod at a time that Judea was part of the Roman empire.

Source: AFP [December 03, 2018]

The Charter for the Protection of the Byzantine Heritage Monuments was uninanimously ratified after a three-day debate held in Thessaloniki over the weekend. The officials agreed on a framework of commonly accepted principles for the protection of the Byzantine heritage monuments for all states which own and manage monuments of the former Byzantine Empire, which spanned 11 centuries and three continents and whose monuments are now spread out among 23 countries with different cultures, languages and religions.

Ceiling mosaics from the baptistery of San Giovanni in Naples, Italy [Credit: Cambridge University Press]

The voting of the Charter was the culmination of a lengthy process conducted over four meetings held in 2001, 2003, 2006 and this year, organised by the European Centre of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments.

It is a charter of principles that aims to be a useful scientific tool to the countries that have Byzantine-era monuments in their territories. The principles encourage the inclusion into countries' national law of measures to protect, study, record and incorporate the monuments into modern societies, in order to tell their story to citizens and visitors.

Representatives from Egypt, Albania, Algeria, Armenia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Jordan, Spain, Israel, Italy, Croatia, Cyprus, Lebanon, Palestine, Romania, Serbia, Syria, Bahrain and Morocco participated in Thessaloniki meeting, which was concluded on Sunday. The participation of Tunisia and FYROM, which was initially scheduled, was cancelled.

The Charter will be submitted to UNESCO for ratification and will remain open for other countries with Byzantine monuments in their territory to join.

Source: ANA-MPA [December 03, 2018]

Archaeological research by the University of Bern in Sirkeli Höyük, Turkey, has led to the discovery of a Bronze Age and Iron Age city complex. With over 80 hectares, it is one of the largest known settlements of this period in Turkey. Remarkable finds underline the importance of the ancient city, which could even be Kummanni, known as a place of worship.

Panoramic view from north to the ruins of Sirkeli Höyük with citadel, lower town, upper town and suburb [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

Sirkeli Höyük is a Bronze Age and Iron Age site 40 kilometres east of Adana in ancient Cilicia. The Swiss-Turkish expedition to Sirkeli Höyük is led by the University of Berne and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Turkish Ministry of Culture.

Even before the Swiss-Turkish excavations began, Sirkeli Höyük was regarded as one of the largest Bronze Age and Iron Age sites in Cilicia, an immensely important region in terms of cultural history at the interface between the Levant (Syro-Mesopotamia), Cyprus and Anatolia.

View from the west to the citadel hill with two excavation areas, on the left the medieval castle Yılan KalePanoramic view from north to the ruins of Sirkeli Höyük with citadel, lower town, upper town and suburb [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

Recent excavations have now produced spectacular results: the project team used geophysical surveys and surface inspections to discover an extensive lower town with dense residential development and an upper town on two ridges with a necropolis and chamber tombs at its centre.

Project manager Mirko Novák from the Institute of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Bern explains: "Together with extramural workshop areas and a suburb on the opposite side of the Ceyhan (Pyramos), these urban areas form an 80 hectare urban landscape that is uniquely complex for Cilicia, for the North Levant and for South Anatolia, and structurally reminiscent of the Hittite capital Ḫattuša".

Stamp seal with inscriptions [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

As Mirko Novák says, both the lower and upper towns were surrounded by a double ring of city walls and a moat, which also enclosed the citadel - a small self-contained fortress on the actual hill, which had been known for a long time.

Excavations are currently taking place in various parts of the city. In the Lower Town, the elaborate walls of the city fortifications made of large stone blocks and the East Gate from the early 1st millennium paved with stone slabs were investigated. On the outer façade of the gate there were traces of a siege, which was probably carried out by the Assyrian King Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) and thus date back to the year 835 BC.

Face depiction of a composite figure [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

A stamp seal was also found in an adjacent building, which is inscribed equally with Luwian, i.e. Old Anatolian hieroglyphics and Babylonian cuneiform characters. "The parallel use of these two writing systems on a seal is extremely unusual for the 1st millennium BC," says Novák.

In the northeast of the citadel there are two rock reliefs - one shows the Hittite king Muwattalli II (1290-1272 BC). Above the reliefs there is a building that obviously served ancestor worship and in which the unrolling of seals with luwian hieroglyphics from the late 2nd millennium was found. In another stone building in the northwest of the citadel hill, the face of a man-shaped composite figure made of stone came to light.

Ceramic vessels grouped around three sheep skeletons [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

Ceramic vessel placed on the sheep skeletons [Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

The most remarkable discovery, however, took place in another structure investigated at the highest point of the citadel: In a relatively small room, the skeletons of at least three sheep lay next to a pedestal. Several complete, partly painted ceramic vessels were deposited on and next to the animals. Obviously, this find is the remains of a ritual act.

"All these findings support the assumption that the ancient city could be Kummanni, known as a place of worship," says Novák.

[Credit: © Institute for Archaeological Sciences of the University of Bern, Sirkeli Höyük Project]

The latest research results are now published in Schriften zur Vorderasiatischen Archäologie.

For more information: www.sirkeli.ch

Source: Universität Bern [December 02, 2018]

Twelve pieces of ancient mosaics in Bowling Green State University’s art collection are being packed for their return to the Republic of Turkey. Representatives of BGSU and the Turkish government marked the return of the artifacts at a news conference Nov. 20 in the University’s Wolfe Center for the Arts, where the mosaics have been on display.

Bacchanante cut from same floor with cleaned up edges [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

BGSU and the Directorate General for Cultural Heritage and Museums of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey reached an agreement for the return of the mosaics last May.

Acquired by the University in 1965, the mosaics had long been thought to have originated in the ancient city of Antioch, in modern-day Turkey. In 2012, research by then-BGSU faculty member Dr. Stephanie Langin-Hooper and Dr. Rebecca Molholt of Brown University suggested that the mosaics did not come from Antioch, but instead were from the ancient city of Zeugma, also in Turkey.

Mosaic of Pan [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

Mask Mosaic [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

That new research raised questions about both the origin of the mosaics and the circumstance of their excavation prior to BGSU’s acquisition, as some mosaics from Zeugma were removed through unauthorized excavation and put into the international art market. Additional research and consultation with scholars, art experts and representatives from the Republic of Turkey have confirmed that the mosaics are very likely from Zeugma and that the provenance of the pieces prior to BGSU’s acquisition will likely never be known.

Under the agreement, the mosaics will be returned to the Republic of Turkey to be exhibited at the world-renowned Zeugma Mosaic Museum in the city of Gaziantep. This will allow the historic artifacts to be appreciated and studied where they originated and be enjoyed by a much wider audience. According to BGSU President Rodney Rogers, this was a key consideration for the University.

Mask Mosaic [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

Bird panel with geometric and floral fragment [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

“As a public university, we have a special obligation to contribute to the public good. That obligation extends to the global community,” Rogers said. “The preservation and care of the mosaics has been a priority for BGSU for the last 53 years. We have relied upon the expertise of scholars to guide us, both when we acquired the pieces and now. Thanks to the work of Dr. Langin-Hooper and others, it is clear today that the best place for these precious artifacts is back in the Republic of Turkey at the Zeugma Mosaic Museum. We greatly appreciate the collegiality of the Turkish Ministry of Culture in working with us through this process.”

The Directorate is paying for the costs of the transfer and BGSU will be receiving high-quality replicas of the mosaics.

Owl Mosaic [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

Bird Mosaic [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

The University acquired the mosaics for about $35,000 under the direction of then-BGSU President William Jerome and faculty in the BGSU School of Art. The limited records available show that the University purchased the artwork from Peter Marks, of the New York gallery Peter Marks Works of Art. The University acquired the mosaics in compliance with the law at the time and it made the purchase in good faith.

Since acquiring the mosaics, the University has had them restored and constructed a permanent display for them in The Wolfe Center for the Arts.

Zeugma mosaics installed at BGSU's Wolfe Center for the Arts [Credit: Bowling Green State University]

Dr. Langin-Hooper is currently an assistant professor and Karl Kilinski II Endowed Chair of Hellenic Visual Culture in the Department of Art History at Southern Methodist University. Dr. Molholt passed away in 2014.

Source: Bowling Green State University [December 02, 2018]

Israeli researchers say an inscription on an ancient ring discovered near Jerusalem may include the name of Pontius Pilate, the Roman official who Biblical accounts say sentenced Jesus to death.

The ring bearing the name of Pontius Pilate was found at Herodium, an archaeological site near Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank [Credit: Menahem Kahana/AFP]

It would be a rare example still in existence of an inscription with the name of the man believed to have sent Jesus to his crucifixion.

The researchers recently announced their analysis of the inscription on the ring -- which was actually found some 50 years ago -- in Israel Exploration Journal. The journal is published by the Israel Exploration Society and the Institute of Archaeology at Jerusalem's Hebrew University.

They say the copper-alloy ring, dated to around 2,000 years ago and used to apply a seal, was found at Herodium, an ancient palace built by King Herod near Jerusalem and Bethlehem, today located in the occupied West Bank.

The palace later became a fortress for Jewish rebels fighting the Romans.

An inscription in Greek letters reads "of Pilatus", while the ring also depicts a wine vessel known as a krater.

Views and cross-section of finger ring that may have belonged to Pontius Pilate [Credit: drawing: J. Rodman; photo: C. Amit, IAA Photographic Department, via Hebrew University]

The researchers say it is unlikely that the ring belonged to Pilate himself, though possibly to a member of his administration or someone else entirely.

"Since the inscription on the ring reads ‘of Pilatus’, the first association that comes to mind is Pontius Pilatus, the prefect of the Roman province of Judaea 26–36 CE, under Emperor Tiberius Caesar," they write.

It adds however: "Since the name Pilatus is rare, it is not inconceivable that this ring belonged to Pontius Pilatus himself. However, we think it implausible that a prefect would have used a simple, all-metal, copper-alloy personal sealing ring with a motif that was already a well-known Jewish motif in Judaea before and during his rule."

The Israel Museum says the only other object from Pilate's time bearing his name is a stone with an inscription found in Caesarea, today located in Israel along the Mediterranean coast.

The stone is part of the museum's collection.

Source: AFP [December 02, 2018]

Contrary to most of Jordan’s historical sites dating back to the medieval period, the recent discovery by one Jordanian farmer in Shobak, south of Jordan, is actually not a medieval military building.

The discovered building’s courtyard [Credit: Al Rai]

Most of the uncovered historical sites from that period are castles, barracks and forts, but this exception stands out as an oddity among a handful of buildings constructed in Jordan during that era.

While Fayez Rawashdeh was cultivating his land near the Shobak Castle, 220 kilometres south of Amman, parts of the building were accidentally  unearthed.

“I was ploughing the land when I began uncovering parts of what I thought was a building... it turns out it was a building,” the local farmer told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

“When I started uncovering arches and walls, I stopped and decided to inform the authorities,” he said.

“As we speak, works are under way,” he said, in reference to the excavations initiated by the Department of Antiquities, in cooperation with an Italian team of archaeologists from the University of Florence.

“It is a civilian building, dating back to the Ayyubid-Malmuk era (1170-1516 AD), which makes the discovery even more interesting,” Director of the Maan Antiquities Department Ashraf Rawashed said. “And it is exceptionally well-preserved; it is unique.”

The building features a number of arches, a courtyard with a fountain in the centre, a mosaic-adorned floor, a bath and pottery pipes, Rawashdeh elaborated.

The farmer’s 2-dunum plot of land will be acquired by the government to ensure protection of the discovery, as it will be added to Jordan’s list of archaeological sites, Director Rawashdeh said.

In the meantime, excavations paused until the owner and the government work out a price for the land, which the farmer argues should not be less than JD80,000.

However, Director Rawashdeh said that the government will seize the land by authority of a “defence order” issued by the prime minister, if necessary.

“The government usually pays the highest assessment price for any acquired land,” he added.

“The value of my land has increased with the discovery, and I will not sell it for the prices they offered me; I make around JD7,000 a year from working the land,” the farmer contended.

“It is worth much more than they initially offered me, both in terms of revenue from cultivation and the value of the discovery in and of itself.”

Author: Ahmed Bani Mustafa | Source: The Jordan Times [December 01, 2018]

Egyptologists and archaeologists specialising in Egypt do not often talk about the clothes worn by ancient Egyptians. This topic is still poorly researched - scientists have long neglected it and focused on other aspects of this civilization, despite the fact that a lot of fabrics have survived to our times.

Credit: Dr. Aleksandra Hallmann

Egyptologist Dr. Aleksandra Hallmann from the Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Oriental Institute in Chicago decided to explore this topic. In February this year the researcher organized an international conference in Chicago on the subject of clothing in various ancient civilizations. As for the clothes of the ancient Egyptians, she has important findings.

"Egyptians most often used rectangular fabrics of various lengths and widths, which they wrapped in many ways around their bodies" - says Hallmann. But the known items also include socks, gloves, loincloths and even underwear - a triangular piece of fabric girded around the waist.

The most popular clothing fabric was linen. But it was also used for other purposes: for wrapping statues for ritual purposes (for example the jackal in the tomb of Tutankhamun was wrapped in a linen tunic) and various ritual objects. Linen was also an expensive product in barter transactions. "Linen was present in almost all areas of life of the ancient Egyptians" - the expert says.

The ancient Egyptians also used wool. Archaeologists sometimes find it during excavations within the ancient Egyptian settlements. Unfortunately, it is difficult to distinguish between the types of fabric on bas-reliefs. Because of the popularity of linen, scientists often assume that Egyptians were depicted in robes made of this fabric.

"Linen cloth was used to wrap mummies. Egyptians used both long bandages made especially for the needs of a given burial, as well as bandages made of old fabrics that had been used as clothing. Some of them even showing traces of mending!" - says Hallmann. It was the consequence of the fact that fabrics were very expensive in ancient Egypt, so they were reused for various purposes, including wrapping mummified corpses. But there are cases when folded clothes were placed in boxes that served as wardrobes in the tombs of wealthy Egyptians.

According to Hallmann, Egyptian clothing can be divided into two categories - wrapped and sewn clothes. The former were much more common. Egyptians knew tailored and sewn clothes, such as tunics, but most clothes were created by wrapping or draping of a rectangular piece of material.

Credit: Dr. Aleksandra Hallmann

"Bas-reliefs depict women in dresses, but not a single sewn-up dress has been found during excavations. They were appropriately arranged and draped rectangular pieces of fabric, and not specially sewn clothes" - says the Egyptologist.

An example of sewn clothes are simple tunics, worn by the Egyptians with varying frequency, depending on the era. These were rectangular fabric stripes folded along the short edge, stitched to the side. In addition, a hole for the head and a neckline was made. Sometimes separately sewn sleeves were attached.

"Women, men and children wore such tunics. Their length and width, as well as their popularity, varied throughout the history of ancient Egypt" - Hallmann said.

In turn, it was very characteristic for men to wear linen loincloths, called kilts or skirts in the professional literature due to the lack of the original Egyptian name. They belong to the same category of wrapped clothes as women`s dresses. They were draped from a rectangular piece of linen around the hips - reliefs and statues depict pharaohs, but also by farmers dressed in them. Their length changed over time - some were very short, covering half of the thigh, and some reached to the ankles. Kilts were often worn one over another, or together with a tunic.

"Of course, fabrics had different quality and finishes, which also influenced their prices. Royal garments were more colourful and had more decorative elements, such as tassels or decorative hem" - says Hallmann.

Due to the wrapped style of many Egyptian clothes, reliefs from tombs are very helpful in ancient Egyptian clothing studies, because they show finishing of clothes that is rarely preserved in the case of fabrics. Unfortunately, scientists sometimes encounter a problem, because decorative elements are often painted, not etched, so they fade over time.

Hallmann believes that many elements of the ancient Egyptian culture have survived to this day. For example, the tunic is very similar to today`s jellabiya, a wide garment reminiscent of a nightgown, very popular especially in the rural Egypt.

Author: Szymon Zdziebłowski | Source: PAP - Science in Poland [December 01, 2018]

A sarcophagus belonging to the Late Roman period was found after a flood in what is today Turkey's Bodrum district of Muğla.

Credit: AA

Experts from the Museums Directorate and the municipality have started working in the area to date the sarcophagus and gather more details.

The sarcophagus and its contents were taken under protection by the Directorate of Museum Directors.

Credit: AA

Editor's Note

Before 1923 some 3000 Greeks were living in the small city of Muğla (Mogolla) which then belonged to the district of Smyrna. Today, it is the centre of the district of the same name, as well as of Muğla Province, which stretches along Turkey's southwestern coast.

Bodrum Castle, constructed on the site of much earlier ancient fortifications, was built by the Knights of St. John in the 15th century and derives its name from the medieval Greek Petronion. In classical antiquity Bodrum was known as Halikarnassos.

Source: Anadolu Agency [November 30, 2018]

The Syrian authorities recovered several artefacts that were stolen inside the Daraa province over the last six years, state-owned news reported this morning.

Credit: SANA

According to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the local authorities in Daraa confiscated 103 stolen archaeological pieces from a home in the Daraa Governorate town of Al-Jiza on Monday.

Credit: SANA

The SANA report said that the thief was preparing to smuggle these artefacts outside of Syria before he was apprehended by the Syrian authorities.

Credit: SANA

The SANA reporter added that the confiscated archaeological pieces included 75 basalt and marble stones, and 28 pottery pieces; all of them date back to the Roman era.

Credit: SANA

The confiscated archaeological pieces are believed to have been stolen from the Basra Archaeological Museum, when the rebel groups were controlling the town.

Author: Leith Aboufadel | Source: AMN [November 29, 2018]

A rare 9,000-year-old stone mask was recently unveiled by the Israel Antiquities Authority. This fascinating and rare stone mask, which dates to the Neolithic period, was discovered several months ago and is currently being studied by experts of the IAA and the Geological Survey of Israel.

The 9,000-year-old stone mask discovered in the southern Hebron Hills area of the West Bank in early 2018  [Credit: Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit/Israel Antiquities Authority]

Information received at the IAA’s Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit at the beginning of 2018 led to the recovery of the impressive stone mask. The Head Staff Officer of Archaeology Department of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria Mr. Hananya Hizmi was informed on the finding of the mask. An investigation revealed the probable archaeological site in which the mask was originally found, in the Pnei Hever region of southern Har Hevron. Its characteristics, in addition to other findings from the contexts in which it was discovered, testify that the mask is 9,000 years old – dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period.

According to Ronit Lupu of the IAA Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit, “The mask is a unique finding in the archaeological world. It is even more unusual that we know which site it came from. The fact that we have information regarding the specific place in which it was discovered makes this mask more important than most other masks from this period that we currently know of.” The mask is made of pinkish-yellow limestone, carefully shaped with stone tools to resemble a human face. Four holes were drilled along the perimeter of the mask, probably in order to tie it – possibly to the face of a living person, or maybe to a pole or other designated artifact in order to display it. According to Lupu, “Discovering a mask made of stone, at such a high level of finish, is very exciting. The stone has been completely smoothed over and the features are perfect and symmetrical, even delineating cheekbones. It has an  impressive nose and  a mouth with distinct teeth.”

The rare stone mask dates to the Neolithic period [Credit: Clara Amit/Israel Antiquities Authority]

Dr. Omry Barzilai, head of the IAA Archaeological Research Department, said that “Stone masks are linked to the agricultural revolution. The transition from an economy based on hunting and gathering to ancient agriculture and domestication of plants and animals was accompanied by a change in social structure and a sharp increase in ritual-religious activities. Ritual findings from that period include human-shaped figurines, plastered skulls, and stone masks.”

Ancestor worship was practiced during this period. “It was part of the ritual and retention of family heritage that was accepted at the time,” says Ronit Lupu. “For example, we find skulls buried under the floors of domestic houses, as well as various methods of shaping and caring for the skulls of the dead. This led to plastering skulls, shaping facial features, and even inserting shells for eyes. Stone masks, such as the one from Pnei Hever, are similar in size to the human face, which is why scholars tend to connect them with such worship.”


There are currently fifteen known masks in the world that date from this period, of which only two were discovered in a clear archaeological context – meaning: we know which site they came from. The remaining masks are in private collections throughout the world, which makes it more difficult to study them. The importance of this new mask stems from the fact that it has been traced to an archaeological site that can be studied. The site can help us understand the material culture, everyday world in which the mask was produced, probably for purposes of worship.

The mask from Pnei Hever joins other masks attributed to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period discovered in the southern Hebron Hills – Judean Desert area. Discovering the mask from Pnei Hever strengthens the assumption that the southern Hebron Hills area was a center for producing stone masks, and most likely also for ritual activities in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period.

Dr. Omry Barzilai and Ronit Lupu of the IAA will present the initial research of the mask tomorrow (Thursday, 29 November 2018) at the Israel Prehistoric Society annual meeting to be held at the Israel Museum.

Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs [November 28, 2018]