Interesting achreological findings

[Doctor Evil]

I was always fascinated by Archeology. At one point I considered choosing that as a profession. Eventually I made other choices, and the world of professional archeology is safe from me.

However, I still enjoy reading and thinking about history. From time to time I find an interesting story in one of the papers, and I thought it may be nice collecting those here, in case like minded people exist.

Todays story :

The Israel Antiquities Authority on Monday announced the discovery of a large building dating to the time of the First and Second Temples during an excavation in the village of Umm Tuba in southern Jerusalem.

The excavation was conducted by Zubair Adawi on behalf of the antiquities authority, prior to the start of construction there by a private contractor.

The archaeological remains include several rooms arranged around a courtyard, in which researchers found a potter's kiln and pottery vessels. The pottery remains seem to date from the eighth century B.C.E. (First Temple period). According to the antiquities authority, the site was destroyed along with Jerusalem and all of Judah during the Babylonian conquest. Jews reoccupied it during the Hasmonean period (second century B.C.E.) and it existed for another two hundred years until the destruction of the Second Temple.

Please feel free to either comment on the story, or add other news stories
you find. Please refrain from political comments. There are other sub forums for that.

 

[MG1962]

Its been a good couple of weeks for archeology

This story broke a few days ago

Sunken French Battleship (Photos) The Danton Discovered in Good Condition
by Jim Brogan

The Danton is sitting upright in over 3,280 ft of water, with many of its gun turrets still intact.

A private company mapping the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea in order to plot a course for a new underwater gas pipeline between Algeria and Italy accidentally came across the French battleship.

Details of the Danton's discovery were released at a news conference Thursday in Milan, Italy, where the pipeline construction company, Galsi, is based.
According to Robert Hawkins, an important project with geotechnical, survey and geosciences company Fugro based in the Netherlands, the condition of the World War I-era ship is "extraordinarily good."

Here is a link to some video of the discovery

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7900000/newsid_7901800/7901842.stm

 

[Doctor Evil]

Today's story is absolutely fabulous. Archaeologists believe they have found the tomb of Arsinoe, the sister of Cleopatra. In the ancient world relatives were also rivals to the throne, and Arsinoe was murdered by agents of Cleopatra.

The remains of Princess Arsinöe, put to death in 41BC on the orders of Cleopatra and her Roman lover Mark Antony to eliminate her as a rival, are the first relics of the Ptolemaic dynasty to be identified.
The breakthrough, by an Austrian team, has provided pointers to Cleopatra’s true ethnicity. Scholars have long debated whether she was Greek or Macedonian like her ancestor the original Ptolemy, a Macedonian general who was made ruler of Egypt by Alexander the Great, or whether she was north African

However, I was fairly unmoved by the evidence in the story. It is clear that the grave is of a young woman from the correct period, but the rest is rather murky. For instance:

Clues, such as the unusual octagonal shape of the tomb, which echoed that of the lighthouse of Alexandria with which Arsinöe was associated, convinced Thür the body was that of Cleopatra’s sister.

Not very definitive.

Also:

Caroline Wilkinson, a forensic anthropologist, reconstructed the missing skull based on measurements taken in the 1920s. Using computer technology it was possible to create a facial impression of what Arsinöe might have looked like.

This seems even worse, as it seems likely that the measurements from the 1920 may leave quite a lot of wiggle room in the reconstruction. Anyone can comment about that?

An interesting story nonetheless.

 

[Doctor Evil]

Oldest letter ever found in Jerusalem, written in Akkadian wedge script. It is from around 1400BC.

As I understand, this is important since it suggests that a kingdom who was mentioned in Egyptian correspondence was indeed located in Jerusalem, and not somewhere else.

 

[Cainkane1]

Oldest letter ever found in Jerusalem, written in Akkadian wedge script. It is from around 1400BC.
[qimg]http://news.google.com/news/tbn/xPa-uf_XiO0J[/qimg]

As I understand, this is important since it suggests that a kingdom who was mentioned in Egyptian correspondence was indeed located in Jerusalem, and not somewhere else.

http://www.kwtx.com/offbeatnews/headlines/98040689.html

What about that amateur treasure hunter finding all of these ancient Roman coins in a large earthenware jar?

 

[Cainkane1]

I was also very thrilled when some years the submarine Hunly was found.