Archaeology
New discoveries near ancient Mogollon city
Archaeologists from Brigham Young University (BYU) have been excavating a farming hamlet called San Diego near the Mogollon city of Casas Grandes, also called Paquimé, both located in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua.
Casas Grandes is attributed to the Mogollon culture, one of the major prehistoric Southwestern cultural divisions of the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico.
The culture emerged during the archaic period around AD 200, with construction at Casa Grandes occurring between AD 1130 and AD 1300. The initial settlement started as a group of 20 or more single storey house clusters, each with a plaza and enclosing wall.
After being burned around AD 1340, Casas Grandes was rebuilt with multi-story apartment buildings built of adobe, I-shaped Mesoamerican ballcourts, stone-faced platforms, effigy mounds, and a market area.
About 350 other, smaller settlement sites have been found in the Casas Grandes area of influence which extends around 30 kilometres (19 mi) from the city.
For the past 10 years, BYU researchers have studied a lesser-known time, the Viejo period, which predates the main era of Casas Grandes at the site of San Diego. In 2019, they uncovered the floor of the largest known communal structure from the Viejo period, a 9-metre-diameter building large enough to house 30 to 40 people.
Recent excavations at San Diego have found 1,000-year-old artefacts, consisting of ceramics, hammer stones, maize kernels, and a shell bead transported 250 miles from the Pacific Ocean, suggesting long distance interactions between the people of Casas Grandes and faraway cultures.
The team has employed some advanced technology to document their discoveries, including robotic surveying instruments that map artefacts with millimetre-level precision, survey-grade GPS, and unmanned aerial systems that take images of the site from the sky.
Professor Mike Searcy from BYU said: “Every shovel full of dirt that we pull out is providing new data on the ancient people who thrived in the desert.
The new excavations have enabled the researchers to learn about the resilience and ingenuity of the people living at the San Diego site, including the settlement’s organised building efforts to construct the communal structure.
Header Image – Casas Grandes – Image Credit : HJPD – CC BY-SA 3.0
A recent study, published in the journal ResearchGate, proposes that the Pyramid of Djoser could have been constructed using hydraulic lift.
The Pyramid of Djoser, also known as the Step Pyramid, is a proto-pyramid built as the final resting place of Djoser, the first or second pharaoh of Egypt’s 3rd Dynasty (2670–2650 BC) during the Old Kingdom period.
The pyramid rises from the Saqqara plateau in six steps to a height of around 60 to 62 metres, serving as the centre of a vast mortuary complex.
Due to the absence of authentic sources from the pyramid architects’ working sphere, there is currently no confirmed comprehensive model for the method used in the pyramid construction.
The prevailing theory suggests that the heavy stone blocks were transported on apparatuses such as rollers, and raised to height using a series of ramps.
In the study, a survey of watersheds near to the pyramid indicate that the Gisr el-Mudir (enclosure) has features of a check dam for trapping sediment and water. Furthermore, the topography beyond the “dam” shows a possible ephemeral lake west of the Djoser complex, and water flow inside the moat surrounding it.
The study authors explain: “In the southern section of the moat, we show that the monumental linear rock-cut structure consisting of successive, deep compartments, combines the technical requirements of a water treatment facility: a settling basin, a retention basin, and a purification system.”
Based on this finding, the study proposes that the Gisr el-Mudir and moat’s inner south section worked as a unified hydraulic system for regulating flow and improving water quality. In addition, the pyramid’s internal architecture is consistent with a hydraulic elevation mechanism never reported before.
“The ancient architects likely raised the stones from the pyramid centre in a volcano fashion using the sediment-free water from the Dry Moat’s south section. Ancient Egyptians are famous for their pioneering and mastery of hydraulics through canals for irrigation purposes and barges to transport huge stones. This work opens a new line of research: the use of hydraulic force to erect the massive structures built by Pharaohs,” said the study authors.
Please note: This study was submitted to PLOS ONE on December 7, 2023. After two rounds of review by peers, the paper was formally accepted by PLOS ONE on June 27, 2024. Since July 23, 2024, it has been the subject of new consultations and review by the PLOS ONE Editorial Board.
Header Image Credit : Shutterstock
Sources : ResearchGate | Piton, Guillaume. (2024). On the possible use of hydraulic force to assist with building the Step Pyramid of Saqqara. PLOS ONE.
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Constructed between 1630 and 1633 in a Renaissance-Baroque style, the Great Synagogue of Vilnius served as the religious centre of a complex of synagogues, mikvahs, and community institutions devoted to Torah study in Vilnius, Lithuania.
According to a press statement by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA): “The Great Synagogue of Vilna was the beating heart of the Lithuanian Jewry, which included 12 synagogues and study houses, the community council building, the home of Rabbi Eliyahu – the Vilna Gaon, Kosher meat stalls, the famous ‘Strashun’ library, a bathhouse and more.”
During World War II, the synagogue was looted, burned, and partially destroyed by the Nazis in the holocaust. Soviet authorities completely demolished the remaining structure to build a school, intending to prevent any future restoration of Jewish worship.
Only three original pieces of the synagogue survived the destruction: a door of the Holy Ark, a reader’s desk, and a bas-relief with the Ten Commandments, which are now on display at the Vilna Gaon Jewish Museum.
Image Credit : Israel Antiquities Authority
In a recent study conducted by the IAA, the Association of Lithuanian Archaeology, the Good Will Foundation, and the Jewish Community of Lithuania, archaeologists have rediscovered traces of the synagogue’s decorated walls and remnants of flooring with red, black, and white floral patterns that paved the main hall.
Excavations also uncovered huge water reservoirs to feed halachically pure water to the mikva’ot, and one of the giant pillars that surrounded the Bimah (prayer platform).
Dr. Jon Seligman from the IAA and Justinas Rakas from the Lithuanian Archaeological Society, said: “The magnificent remains we are rediscovering bring back moments in the life of a lost vibrant community.”
Header Image Credit : Israel Antiquities Authority
Sources : IAA
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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