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2000-year-old Roman amphitheatre discovered in Israel

September 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, September 19 (ANI): A team of archaeologists has discovered a 2000-year-old Roman amphitheatre near Tiberias in Israel.

According to a report in the Haaretz newspaper, Archeologist, Doctor Valid Atrash, from the Israel Antiquities Authority, said that the remnants of the Roman amphitheatre peaks from 15 meters below ground.

The 1990 findings came as a surprise to the archeologists digging near Mount Berniki in the Tiberias hills as there are no references to such a place anywhere in scriptures.

Only at the beginning of 2009, 19-years after the primary discovery, did the uncovering of the theatre in its entirety begin.

The late Professor Izhar Hirshfeld and Yossi Stefanski, the archeologists heading the excavation, initially assessed the remains to belong to the 2nd or 3rd century CE, but quickly realized that they go all the way back to the beginning of the 1st century CE, closer to the founding of Tiberias.

“The most interesting thing about the amphitheatre is its Jewish context,” said Hirshfeld upon the discovery.

“Unlike Tzipori, which was a multi-cultural city, Tiberias was a Jewish city under Roman rule. The findings demonstrate the city’s pluralistic nature and cultural openness, a fact uncommon in those days,” Hirshfeld added.

According to Atrash, in light of the findings, Tiberias appears as particularly liberal for a city that was established over 2000 years ago.

He added that “the theatre was enormous, and being so it attracted a lot of attention. It seated over 7000 people, and appears to have been a prominent landmark for the entire area.”

Zohar Oved, Mayor of Tiberias, said that the discovery of the amphitheatre is undoubtedly “one of the most important findings in the history of the Jewish people” and is planned to open to the public as part of Tiberias archeological gardens in the near future. (ANI)

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Archaeologists unearth British General’s 19th century command post in Portugal

August 25, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Lisbon, August 24 (ANI): A team of archeologists has unearthed what is believed to have been the headquarters of Luso-British troop commander General Wellington in the early 19th century, in a dig inside the Alqueidao Forte in Portugal.

Located between Mafra and Torres Vedras, the fort is thought to have sheltered General Wellington’s troops serving the Torres Vedras line during the French invasions, between 1807 and 1814.

According to a report in The Portugal News Online, the General’s private quarters, a store room, a warehouse and a weapons locker were defined during the excavation.

The division had been previously outlined in maps, but this is the first time excavations were attempted to unearth them.

Of the weaponry storeroom, archeologist Artur Rocha said that “strategically, it is one of the most important points within the fort as it offered privileged views in comparison to other war weaponry storerooms and the cannons positioned on the Torres Vedras line.”

“That is why we believe the room was General Wellington’s command post,” he said.

The ‘Torres Vedras Line’ was made up of 152 forts built between Torres Verdras and Vila Franca de Xira, between 1809 and 1812, with the intention of defending Lisbon from invading troops.

The weaponry storeroom that was recently uncovered is said to be one of the largest identified to date.

The good state of conservation that the storeroom was found in has allowed the archeologists to study construction techniques and materials that were used for construction at that time. (ANI)

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‘Urban sprawl’ responsible for collapse of ancient Cambodian city of Angkor

June 26, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Sydney, June 24 (ANI): A team of international scientists has suggested that over-development of water infrastructure and extreme climate fluctuations were responsible for the collapse of the ancient Cambodian city of Angkor.

According to a report in The Australian, the team comprised of Sydney University archeologist Roland Fletcher and his GAP (Greater Angkor Project) co-director, Sydney University paleo-climatologist Dan Penny, and paleoclimatologist Brendan Buckley of New York’s Columbia University.

The scientists used new archeological, pollen and tree-ring dating evidence to back their claims.

The group argues that before an alternating series of droughts and monsoonal floods hit Angkor from the mid-14th to late 15th centuries, the capital of the Khmer empire had already had extensive problems with its vast, complicated water system.

Ultimately, it became impossible for the city to keep pace with further pressures from extreme weather.

“Although there was ongoing conflict with neighbouring states, it was this over-built, inflexible (water) infrastructure that locked them into this trajectory of decline,” Dr Penny said.

Before Angkor vanished into the jungle in the 17th century, it was the world’s largest low-density pre-industrial city.

Between the ninth and 13th centuries, the metropolis spread across 1000sq km and was home to as many as 750,000 people.

To feed the population, land was extensively cleared for rice farming and hundreds of kilometres of canals and enormous reservoirs were built to provide water for farming and drinking.

The water works also supported religious ceremonies at hundreds of temple complexes.

The most spectacular was Angkor Wat, the world’s largest premodern religious monument. “It was the size of a medieval European town,” Professor Fletcher said.

As the city grew, so did the highly integrated system of canals, spillways and reservoirs needed to support it.

Sand had begun filling major canals from the 14th century. Spillways and other features of the waterworks were badly damaged and shut down.

By the late 16th century, Angkor was largely abandoned, taking with it the entire region.

According to Professor Fletcher, Angkor is not the only city that fell victim to unsustainable low-density urban sprawl followed by climate instability.

“The famous example is the classic Maya cities of the Yucatan Pensinsula like Tikal in Guatemala. They died between the ninth and the 11th century,” he said. (ANI)

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Natural petroleum seeps release equivalent of 8 – 80 Exxon Valdez oil spills

May 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, May 14 (ANI): A new study has shown that the amount of oil residue in seafloor sediments that result from natural petroleum seeps off Santa Barbara, California, is the equivalent of approximately 8-80 Exxon Valdez oil spills.

Researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), did the study.

It shows the oil content of sediments is highest closest to the seeps and tails off with distance, creating an oil fallout shadow.

It estimates the amount of oil in the sediments down current from the seeps to be the equivalent of approximately 8-80 Exxon Valdez oil spills.

“Farwell developed and mapped out our plan for collecting sediment samples from the ocean floor,” said WHOI marine chemist Chris Reddy, referring to lead author Chris Farwell, at the time an undergraduate working with UCSB’s Dave Valentine.

“After conducting the analysis of the samples, we were able to make some spectacular findings,” he added.

There is an oil spill everyday at Coal Oil Point (COP), the natural seeps off Santa Barbara, California, where 20-25 tons of oil have leaked from the seafloor each day for the last several hundred thousand years.

Based on their previous research, Valentine and Reddy surmised that the oil was sinking “because this oil is heavy to begin with.”

“It’s a good bet that it ends up in the sediments because it’s not ending up on land. It’s not dissolving in ocean water, so it’s almost certain that it is ending up in the sediments,” said Valentine.

To conduct their sampling, the team used the research vessel Atlantis, the 274-foot ship that serves as the support vessel for the Alvin submersible.

The research team sampled 16 locations in a 90 km2 (35 square mile) grid starting 4 km west of the active seeps.

Sample stations were arranged in five longitudinal transects with three water depths (40, 60, and 80 m) for each transect, with one additional comparison sample obtained from within the seep field.

“The instrument reveals distinct biomarkers or chemical fossils – like bones for an archeologist – present in the oil. These fossils were a perfect match for the oil from the reservoir, the oil collected leaking into the ocean bottom, oil on the sea surface, and oil back in the sediment,” said Reddy.

“We could say with confidence that the oil we found in the sediments was genetically connected to the oil reservoir and not from an accidental spill or runoff from land,” he added. (ANI)

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British village may have been a huge pottery industry in Roman times

May 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

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Washington, April 27 (ANI): The discovery of two pottery kilns from the Roman era in Otford, a village in Kent, UK, could lead to a revaluation of their time in Britain, as it had not been thought that the firing of pottery – a huge industry in Roman times – was carried out in this area./pp
According to a report in the kent.co.uk, Sevenoaks archeologist Diarmaid Walshe spearheaded the dig of the kilns, which are around 4m in diameter./pp
He believes if scientific analysis proves his finds are kilns, Otford could have been at the centre of an industry that supplied pottery to Roman settlements all over the South East./pp
If they are pottery kilns, it’s very important because, according to experts, there were no pottery kilns in this area, said Walshe./pp
We can’t confirm it yet, but on the face of it they do appear to be pottery kilns because we’ve got massive quantities of pottery sitting in there, he added./pp
Pottery was like plastic is today. It would have been used from day to day. It could confirm Otford was a very important centre in Roman Britain and the South East because it would have been a large centre of production, he explained./pp
Although Walshe admitted that the structures could in fact turn out to be bread ovens, the further discovery of a puddling pond nearby seems to add weight to his theory./pp
He explained that the puddling pond, around 20m by 10m, would have been used for processing the clay before moulding and then firing it in the kilns./pp
Items such as roof tiles would almost certainly have been made there and transported around the region./pp
This would have been a large scale industry, said Walshe. (ANI)/p

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Archaeologists discover ancient works of art in Yemen

April 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, April 13 (ANI): An archaeology team in Yemen has discovered ancient works of art in Humat Thiab, 55 km to the east of Dhamar city.

A team of archaeologists from the General Organization for Antiquities and Museum (GOAM) in Sana’a and Dhamar, led by Ali Al-Sanabani, head of GOAM in Dhamar, conducted the excavation that led to the new findings.

“Humat Thiab is a Himyarite city on a hill surrounded with fertile agricultural fields,” said archeologist Ahmad Shamsan, who traveled from Sana’a to lend his expertise to the project.

“Much of the ancient city remains untouched. The ancient wall of the city, a group of building foundations, walls and remnants of reservoir are still visible,” he explained.

“Based on an ancient text and preliminary evidence, the site dates back from the first to the third century AD,” he added.

“The excavation works have uncovered the northern and eastern parts of the structure of a rectangular building built in black volcanic stones,” said Al-Sanabani.

The excavation led to findings including a slab of stone engraved with two oxen facing a tree known as “tree of life” and an incense burner made of volcanic stone.
rcheologists also found a small stone statue of a headless woman in sitting position with two lines of Musnad script -used to write the ancient Himyarite language- on her chest, and some pieces of pottery.

“The findings are still under study and we are yet not sure what the building was,” Shamsan added.

The site has been a priority for GOAM for the last few years to save the history it contains before inhabitants in the area destroyed it.

In the past, people destroyed the site’s walls to use its stones to build their own houses in neighboring villages such as Al-Aqmur, or built new structures on top of the ancient ruins in their original location, according to Shamsan.

“The (next) phase of the excavation will start within three months and we will continue working on this site,” said Al-Sanabani.

Dhamar is rich in antiquities and archeological sites due to the extensive human activity in the area due to its agriculturally fertile land and mild climate since the Neolithic period. (ANI)

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Recovered Ganesha statue from 12th century one of its kind in Indonesia

April 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Jakarta, April 2 (ANI): Archaeologists, in Indonesia, have recovered a rare 12th-century stone statue of Lord Ganesha, which is the only one in the country in which the elephant-headed deity is depicted as riding atop a mouse.

According to a report in the Jakarta Post, a research team from the Mpu Purwa Historical Object Preservation Center in Malang, East Java, recovered the statue.

“The mouse is apparently included as an animal used by Ganesha as a vehicle, but this type of statue has never been found in Indonesia before. Ganesha is usually seen riding the Lembu Nandhini cow, the Jatayu bird, or the Padmasana lotus,” said Malang archeologist Suwardono.

Other singularities of this statue, recently handed over by a private collector, include Ganesha’s stiff facial expression and a badhong carving on the shoulders.

The decorations worn by the god, also called samboghakaya, are also more lavish.

“The badhong strand is part of the special trait of statues inherited from the Kediri empire, from the Raja Baneswara to Kertajaya kingdoms. The most special trait is the mouse as a vehicle on the pedestal of the statue,” Suwardono said.

Suwardono said he had cross-checked the statue with the National Archeology Research and Development Center in Jakarta, the Trowulan Center for Archeological Conservation and Heritage in Mojokerto, and the Archeological Center in Yogyakarta, the results of which confirmed the statue was a one-of-a-kind that had never been seen before.

The epigraphist and iconographer explained that the 40- by 22- by 22-centimeter statue, intended to be placed in temples, originated in northern India and gradually spread further southward.

The statue is usually placed at the back of a temple for worship.

It functions as a balance and a guardian for unsafe areas and is related to worship to ward off disaster.

The statue was obtained from a collector named Jayusman, a resident of Jl. Sambas in Malang. Jayusman said he had obtained the statue from a Chinese-Indonesian collector a long time ago.

Suwardono found the special traits after analyzing the statue for the past two weeks.

“These artifacts are priceless and sought after by collectors,” Suwardono said. (ANI)

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Step wall from Mughal period still exists in Pakistan

February 9, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Islamabad, Feb 9 (ANI): One of the Mughal era’s architectural constructions, a step wall from that period, still exists in a well preserved condition, in Pakistan.

According to a report in The News International, the step wall, called as the ‘Losar Baoli’, is located among the Margalla Hills at Shah Allah Ditta, in the Potohar plateau.

Potohar plateau is the area which was the home of the Soan Civilization, which is evidenced by the discovery of fossils, tools, coins, and remains of ancient archaeological sites ranging from Stone Age to the Mughal architectural remains.

Being situated in the rich Potohar plateau, Margalla hills also preserves various remains of history which though lost their original shape, yet maintain the glory of the past kings and emperors.

The ‘Losar Baoli’, situated right upward the caves at Shah Allah Ditta, is thought to be constructed by Sher Shah Suri in order to facilitate the caravans moving towards Kabul via Taxila.

The traces of an old passage (darrah) are still found in its dilapidated condition, starting almost 100 feet upward from Shah Allah Ditta caves towards Girri (Taxila).

According to archeologists, this passage was regularly used by the Mughals and before that for the purpose of trade and other purposes.

Along with this old passage, a step well (Losar Baoli) constructed in grey limestone still exists.

The blocks, known as dressed blocks, are used in the construction of the step well in order to ensure its durability.

The width of the well is about six to eight feet while the steps of the well are still in their original shape.

Quoting famous archeologist Dr Dani, archeologist Ansar Ahmed said that the step wells were usually constructed during the regime of Sher Shah Suri, who in order to facilitate the caravans, used to construct these wells at the distance of almost 10 kilometers in a passage.

“He not only used to construct wells but also a mosque and an inn (Saraai) for the passengers so that they could continue their journey with comfort,” said Ahmed.

Ahmed pointed out that there were traces of step wells, mosques and inn in the way of Peshawar and Lahore and they are situated almost at the distance of 10 kilometers.

“There were several step wells either in their good or bad shape along with the trunk road,” he said.

According to Ahmed, although there were no traces found of any mosque or inn near the ‘Losar Baoli’ of Shah Allah Ditta, yet its relevance to Sher Shah Suri could not be denied. (ANI)

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Archeologists unearth prehistoric clay tablets in Tehran

January 11, 2009 By Rajesh Leave a Comment

Tehran, Jan 11 (ANI): Archeologists in Iran have unearthed prehistoric clay tablets at the country’s ancient Shoghali Tappeh site near the city of Varamin in Tehran.

According to a report by Press TV, the tablets date back to the early Elamite period and bear information about the economical situation and the management system of the era.

“Iranian experts will study the tablets in collaboration with Jacob Dahl of Oxford University,” said head of the archaeology team Morteza Hesari.

“The team also found a number of seals which are new in design and different from the previous finds,” he added.

“A number of earthenware have also been found along with some botanical samples, which are set to be studied by a team of Iranian and American experts,” he further added.

The third phase of Shoghali Tappeh excavations started in September 2008 with the aim of conducting stratigraphy studies on the 7,000-year-old site.

Located in the south of Tehran Province, the site was first excavated by Iranian archeologist Ahmad Tehrani Moqaddam in the late 70s. (ANI)

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Archaeologists discover massive sarcophagus in Egyptian pyramid

January 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Cairo – Archaeologists have discovered a massive sarcophagus, along with mummified remains and golden finger coverings, in the burial chamber of a recently discovered pyramid near Cairo.

According to Egyptian officials, archaeologists used an entrance carved out a thousand years ago by grave robbers to access the 16 square metre burial chamber. The original entrance to the tomb, believed to be that of the mother of Pharaoh Teti (2318-2300 BC), had been sealed shut with huge granite blocks, said chief archeologist Zahi Hawass.

The sarcophagus cover is so heavy that special tools were needed to lift it in a five-hour operation. The collapsed pyramid, which was only unearthed in November, lies near the Teti pyramids, which have also collapsed. (dpa)

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