Tag: archaeology

At Least 30 Egyptian Tombs Have Reappeared—and Archaeologists Are Astounded

There are a few questions coming from an archaeological dig on a hillside along the Nile River near the ancient Egyptian city of Aswan. The biggest, though, is exactly why two mummies were glued together inside the same stone coffin.

During a joint Italian and Egyptian archaeological mission working in the vicinity of the Aghakhan Shrine west of Aswan, the team explored the multi-level structure crafted into the hillside. Originally discovered outside of official channels—read: during illegal excavations—the government stepped in and took control.

The joint group dated the site to from 332 B.C. to 395 A.D., somewhere in the late Greek and Roman periods. Ayman Ashmawi—head of the Egyptian archaeological sector of the Supreme Council—said in a news release that the group found what equates to 33 graves, and as many as 40 percent of the remains were from those who died either as newborns or within their first couple of years. They also started discovering some more incredible things, such as the 10-level tomb still containing oil lamps that were potentially left behind by mourners.

“We can imagine how spectacular it was when, for example, during the [mourners’] feast, all these tombs were illuminated,” Patrizia Piacentini—Egyptologist and archaeologist at the University of Milan who led the effort at the site—told Live Science.

Believed to be family graves based on the range of ages of the deceased, the site was likely in use for around 900 years, Piacentini said.

The team discovered several mummies, including two bodies glued to each other inside a stone coffin. The team plans to study the pair to find out their relationship, said Abdul Moneim Saeed, the director of the archaeological mission for the Egyptians.

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Hidden ‘City of the Dead’ with more than 300 tombs that contain mummified families is discovered in Egypt

Scientists have discovered a massive burial with more than 300 tombs in Egypt that they are calling the new ‘City of the Dead.’

The city of Aswan was an important trade, quarry and military zone when it was first established more than 4,500 years ago – but the lives of its people have long remained a mystery.

The team has been working at the site for five years and recently uncovered 36 tombs that were reused for 900 years to include 30 to 40 mummies each – and many contained families who likely died from infectious diseases.

Patrizia Piacentini, an archaeologist at the University of Milan, told DailyMail.com that the burial site spans nearly 270,000 feet and featured up to 10 terraces of ancient tombs arranged in layers on the hill near the modern Mausoleum of Aga Khan III.

‘This was a really spectacular find, very unique in Egypt,’ said Piacentini.

‘[The people who once lived in Aswan] covered the hill with tombs. It is kind of a City of the Dead.’ 

Aswan, one of the world’s oldest continuously inhabited cities, is located on the east bank of the Nile River.

It was home to quarries that supplied granite for many ancient Egyptian monuments still standing to this day and was a military post for the Romans, the Turks, and the British.

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Mysterious 4,000-year-old round stone building on Crete hilltop threatens to disrupt the island’s major airport project

A mysterious 4,000-year-old hilltop structure on the Greek island of Crete has threatened to disrupt plans for a major new airport project on the island. 

Resembling a huge car wheel from above, the ruins of the labyrinthine, 19,000-square-foot building came to light during a recent dig by archaeologists.

Experts believe the ‘unique and extremely interesting find’ was built by Crete’s ancient Minoan civilisation, famous for its sumptuous palaces, flamboyant art and enigmatic writing system.

But the site was earmarked for a radar station to serve a new airport under construction near the town of Kastelli.

Set to open in 2027, it is projected to replace Greece‘s second-biggest airport at Heraklion, and designed to handle up to 18 million travellers annually. 

But Greece’s culture minister Lina Mendoni, an archaeologist, pledged that the find would be preserved while a different location would be sought for the radar station.

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9,000-year-old Stone Mask from the Dawn of Ancient Societies Revealed

A rare 9,000-year-old stone mask from the Neolithic period has been unveiled by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. This remarkable artifact was recovered by the Anti-Robbery Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) and subsequently transferred to the Archaeology Department of the Civil Administration in Judea and Samaria for detailed study. 

The item was originally discovered in Hebron on the West Bank by looters. It comes from a crucial period in the history of humanity – the transition from a nomadic hunter-gathering existence to a settled society based on agriculture. 

The recovery of the mask was thanks to the tenacious efforts of the IAA’s Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit. This is a specialist unit dedicated to the prevention of the looting of archaeological sites and the recovery of stolen antiquities. It received information that a rare stone mask had been illegally excavated in early 2018. Following up on the tip off, the unit soon recovered the mask from the thieves. 

According to the Times of Israel at the time, the investigation indicated that “the probable archaeological site in which the mask was originally found, is in the Pnei Hever region of southern Har Hevron” in the Hebron Hills, not far from the Judean desert. 

The mask is made from limestone and it was smoothed and shaped with great artistry. It resembles a human face and it has details such as cheekbones and even teeth that make it more life-like. The finish of the mask is very impressive, especially given the fact that it was only made with basic tools, and this demonstrates that the society that produced it had sophisticated craft people. There are four holes bored on the edges of the artifact and these were possibly used to tie it around a person’s head, so it could be worn in a ceremony, or else it was attached to a pole and placed on public display. 

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Five Mysterious Ancient Artifacts That Still Puzzle Archaeologists

Archaeologists are often described as “stumped” or “baffled” by their discoveries. But, in reality, specialists have a good grasp of what most historical objects were created for. But there are a few exceptions to this rule. 

The following list is a selection of intriguing mystery objects. They’re a great example of why digging up the past continues to hold great fascination for professionals and public alike. 

1. Neolithic Stone Balls 

The elaborately carved stone balls found predominantly in Scotland and dating from the later Neolithic period (circa BC3200-2500) are one such mystery. 

Over 425 balls have been found. They are generally the size of a cricket ball and made from a wide variety of stones. Their surfaces are sculpted, sometimes into raised circular discs and sometimes with deep incisions defining knobs and lobes in high relief. Decoration takes the form of spirals or concentric shapes, echoing those found on pottery and monumental stones of the era. 

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Burial of Two Infants Found Under Dragon Stone At Prehistoric Armenia Site

An international team of scientists has unearthed the remains of two infants buried beneath a basalt monument known as a dragon stone at the Lchashen site in Armenia. This finding is remarkable not only for the unusual funerary context but also for the exceptional preservation of the remains, and the genetic information gleaned from said funeral. 

Dragon Stones: A Study in Armenian Folklore and Animal Motifs 

Dragon stones, or Vishapakar, are prehistoric basalt stelae adorned with animal images, primarily found in the Armenian Highlands and surrounding regions. These structures have long fascinated archaeologists due to their mysterious iconography and complex history of use and reuse, as per a new study published in The Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.  

Approximately 150 dragon stones have been documented, with more than ninety located in the Republic of Armenia and the rest in neighboring regions. These monoliths vary in height, ranging from about 150 to 550 cm (59 – 216.5 inches). 

Archaeologists have identified three types of dragon stones: those with carvings resembling fish (piscis), those depicting the remains of bovids such as goats, sheep, and cows (vellus), and hybrid dragon stones that combine features of both types. 

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Archaeologists uncover new evidence for prehistoric comet

If you wanted evidence that a giant comet wiped out the wooly mammoth, you might look for a giant crater. 

But so far, you’d be out of luck. 

“Some of our critics have said, ‘Where’s the crater?’” says Christopher Moore, an archaeologist at the University of South Carolina. “As of now, we don’t have a crater or craters.” 

But Moore says that by looking below the surface, you can find strong evidence for the Younger-Dryas impact hypothesis, which states that large comet fragments hit Earth or exploded in the atmosphere shortly after the last ice age, setting off cataclysmic changes in the environment, crater or not. 

Moore’s research involves digging down to layers of soil that would have been exposed in the Younger Dryas period, around 12,800 years ago when the climate suddenly cooled in the northern hemisphere. He analyzes minerals and artifacts found there in search for “proxies” of a comet strike—findings that are not direct evidence, but which do tell a story. 

In Greenland’s ice cores, Moore and others have found elevated levels of chemicals, called combustion aerosols, indicating a large, prehistoric fire raged at the beginning of the Younger Dryas climate event.

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11 Ancient Canoes at Lake Mendota Reveal Wisconsin’s Early Civilizations

Archaeologists from the Wisconsin Historical Society have unearthed up to 11 ancient canoes at the bottom of Lake Mendota in Madison, Wisconsin, offering new insights into the region’s early civilizations. Among these remarkable finds is a dugout canoe estimated to be approximately 4,500-years-old, making it the oldest canoe ever discovered in the Great Lakes region. This discovery not only sets a new record but also deepens our understanding of the technological and cultural practices of the ancient peoples who once inhabited the area.

The Journey to Discovery

The journey to this significant discovery began in 2021 when a dive team excavated a 1,200-year-old canoe from Lake Mendota, Madison’s largest lake. Nearly a year later, divers successfully retrieved a second wooden boat estimated to be 3,000-years-old. At the time, this canoe was considered the oldest of its kind ever found in the Great Lakes region. However, this record was shattered with the recent unearthing of an even older elm canoe, dating back to around 2,500 BC, shown in the top image.

Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) notes how in total, the archaeologists have discovered as many as 11 ancient canoes in a section of Lake Mendota, including the two excavated in 2021 and 2022. The canoes range in age from 800 to 4,500-years-old, representing different periods and potentially multiple generations of canoe builders.

Dr. Amy Rosebrough, State Archaeologist for the Wisconsin Historical Society explains of the remarkable set of findings on the Wisconsin Historical Society website:

“What we thought at first was an isolated discovery in Lake Mendota has evolved into a significant archaeological site with much to tell us about the people who lived and thrived in this area over thousands of years and also provides new evidence for major environmental shifts over time.”

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Ancient ‘megastructure’ submerged under the sea discovered by archaeologists

Historians and archaeologists know that human civilisations have existed for thousands of years before us, and their latest discovery is a huge step forward.

Scientists now believe they have found a groundbreaking discovery with an ancient ‘megastructure’ that is thought to date back 11,000 years.

A stonewall found beneath the Baltic Sea is thought to have unlocked secrets of the Stone Age, and researchers believe they may have once used the wall for hunting reindeers.

Archaeologists explained their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, having made their discovery in the surface of the Bay of Mecklenburg, on the northern coast of Germany.

The area is known for historical discoveries, and people in the Stone Age are thought to have settled in the area on and off due to the sea’s high and low rising tides.

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7,000-Year-Old Native American ‘Bog Burial’ Found Off The Coast of Florida

Archaeologists have uncovered a Native American burial site dating back 7,000 years off the coast of Florida. The site was found by an amateur diver in 2016 who was looking for shark teeth but stumbled on an ancient jawbone.

The 167 bodies discovered in a pond in Windover, Florida started to stir up excitement in the archaeological world only after the bones were declared very old, and not the product of mass murder. Researchers from Florida State University came to the site, believing that in the swampland some more Native American bones had been found.

They believed the bones were between 500 and 600 years old. But then the bones were dated with radiocarbon. It turns out that these corpses were between 6,990 and 8,120 years old. The academic community was then incredibly excited. Windover Bog has proved to be one of the United States’ most significant archaeological discoveries.

In 1982, Steve Vanderjagt, the man who made the discovered, was using a backhoe to demolish the pond to create a new subdivision between Disney World and Cape Canaveral. A large number of rocks in the pond confused Vanderjagt since the region of Florida was not considered to be particularly rocky.

Getting out of his backhoe, Vanderjagt went to investigate and almost immediately realized that he had unearthed a huge pile of bones. He called the authorities right away. It was only thanks to his natural curiosity that the site was preserved. After the medical examiners declared them ancient, the specialists from Florida State University were summoned (another brilliant move by Vanderjagt- too often sites are ruined because experts are not called).

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