Archaeology
Archaeologists search for hidden cenote beneath the Convent of San Antonio de Padu
A team of archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) are searching for a hidden cenote beneath the Convent of San Antonio de Padu.
The convent is located in the city of Izamal in the Mexican state of Yucatán, which prior to the Spanish conquest of the Yucatán was the site of a Maya pyramid.
Izamal was one of the largest Maya cities in the Northern Yucatec Plains, covering an urban extension of 53 square kilometres. The city was founded during the Late Formative Period (750–200 BC), with the main period of monumental construction taking place between the Protoclassic (200 BC – AD 200) and the Late Classic (AD 600–800).
During the 16th century, Diego de Landa, a Spanish Franciscan bishop was appointed to the convent to bring the Roman Catholic faith to the Maya peoples.
Diego de Landa was infamous for his campaign against idolatry, in which he burned almost all the Maya manuscripts (codices) and Maya cult images in the Yucatán, however, his work in documenting and researching the Maya has proven indispensable for historians in understanding the Maya culture.
Based on Diego de Landa’s chronicles, archaeologists from INAH have been conducting excavations of the convent’s waterwheel, revealing several pieces of Maya ceramics and ducts that could be connected to a hidden cenote.
Diego de Landa was known for throwing Maya objects into cenotes that were in conflict with his ideology, which the team hope will be confirmed through their research in the coming weeks and serve to better understand the process of evangelisation in the Yucatán.
According to the researchers, the discovery of a cenote would likely lead to uncovering numerous offerings such as sculptures, organic remains and ceramics, which would be a literal “time capsule” of the Maya people.
Header Image – Convent of San Antonio de Padu – Image Credit : Shutterstock
A new study published in the journal Antiquity has revealed hundreds of previously unrecorded monuments at Baltinglass in County Wicklow, Ireland.
The Baltinglass area (known as ‘Ireland’s Hillfort Capital’) has a high density of Early Neolithic and Late Bronze Age monuments, however, very little evidence has been recorded that dates from the Middle Neolithic period.
According to Dr James O’Driscoll from the University of Aberdeen, the ancient landscape around Baltinglass was incredibly important to the Early Neolithic people, however, the lack of Middle Neolithic evidence suggests that this importance was lost until the Late Bronze Age.
Using advanced LiDAR technology, archaeologists have created detailed three-dimensional models, revealing hundreds of ancient sites that that been destroyed by thousands of years of ploughing.
Image Credit : Antiquity
Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), is a method of remote sensing using light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth. The differences in the laser return times and wavelengths can be used to compile a 3-D digital map of the landscape.
The most significant discovery from the survey is a cluster of five cursus monuments, the largest example found in both Britain and Ireland. The purpose of such monuments are speculative, but some theories propose that they were used in rituals connected with ancestor veneration, that they follow astronomical alignments, or that they served as buffer zones between ceremonial and occupation landscapes.
Image Credit : Antiquity
According to the study authors: “These five cursus monuments are clearly aligned with burial monuments in the landscape, as well as the rising and setting sun during major solar events such as the solstice.”
“This may have symbolised the ascent of the dead into the heavens and their perceived rebirth, with the cursus physically setting out the final route of the dead, where they left the land of the living and joined the ancestors beyond the visible horizon,” said Dr O’Driscoll.
Header Image Credit : Antiquity
Sources : Antiquity | Exploring the Baltinglass cursus complex: routes for the dead? – James O’Driscoll. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.39
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeologist from NIKU are using a revolutionary new GPR robot to explore a Viking Age site in Norway’s Sandefjord municipality.
The robot has been developed as part of a collaboration between AutoAgri, Guideline Geo/MÅLÅ, and NIKU, and uses the I-Series autonomous implement carrier model fitted with the latest high-resolution, multi-channel ground-penetrating radar system.
GPR is a geophysical method that uses radar pulses to image the subsurface. It is a non-intrusive method of surveying archaeological features and patterning beneath the subsurface.
Initial testing of the robot was conducted in Trøndelag Vinnan in Stjørdal municipality, which according to the researchers has demonstrated increased efficiency and provides accurate mapping solutions.
Image Credit : Erich Nau, NIKU
The new robot system has an antenna that produces a much higher resolution than traditional georadar systems, which for the first time can be interpreted in real time.
According to Erich Nau from NIKU, previous systems had to be driven around archaeological sites, however, the new GPR robot only needs a short hour to map the driving route, then the robot does the rest on its own.
The robot is being used as part of a new study of a Viking Age trading post at Heimdalsjordet near the Gokstadhaugen ship burial in Sandefjord.
The non-intrusive approach will provide a detailed picture of the subsurface that previous surveys could have missed, such as traces of longhouses, land plots, roads, wharves and burials.
“This collaboration gives us a unique opportunity to explore and understand our historical landscape with new and advanced technology. We look forward to uncovering new discoveries that can give us valuable insight into our rich cultural heritage,” says Petra Schneidhofer, archaeologist in Vestfold county municipality.
Header Image Credit : Jani Causevic, NIKU
Sources : NIKU
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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