Archaeology
Archbishop’s seal found during excavations at St. George’s (Yuriev) Monastery
Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences have uncovered a seal of the Archbishop of Novgorod Spiridon during excavations at St. George’s (Yuriev) Monastery.
St. George’s (Yuriev) Monastery was an important religious centre of the Novgorod Republic, a medieval state that existed from the 12th to 15th century AD and stretched from the Gulf of Finland in the west to the northern Ural Mountains in the east.
The monastery is situated on the banks of the Volkhov River in Russia’s Novgorodskaya oblast, where today it is recognised as a world heritage site for Orthodox spirituality and Russian architecture. The site is also an important source for historical information on medieval Novgorod, as part of the Novgorod First Chronicle (the Synodal text) was compiled in the monastery.
Recent excavations in the monastic layers have led to the discovery of a residential building that dates from the 13th to 15th century AD. The structure appears to have been burnt during several phases of destruction, but in the upper layers, a lead hanging seal used to fasten important documents was uncovered, the fifth example of a seal discovered during ten years of archaeological research of the site.
Image Credit : Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that the seal bears the name of the Archbishop of Novgorod Spiridon (1229-1249), who ruled the Novgorod diocese during the Tatar-Mongol invasion of Rus’ in the mid-13th century AD. Most Rus’ principalities were forced to submit to Mongol rule and became vassals of the Golden Horde, however, the Novgorod Republic resisted and maintained their independence.
On one side of the seal there is an inscription in five lines with the name of Spiridon, Archbishop of Novgorod, and on the other side is a depiction of Mary, which in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Church of the East, Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran churches, describe her as the Mother of God.
Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Header Image Credit : Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Archaeologists from Cotswold Archaeology are excavating the crash site of a WWII B-17 Flying Fortress in an English woodland.
The B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC).
The bomber was mainly used in the European theatre for daylight strategic bombing, complimenting the RAF Bomber Command’s night bombers in attacking German industrial, military and civilian targets.
Cotswold Archaeology have been tasked by the Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency to search the crash site for the remains of the pilot, who died when the B-17 crashed following a system failure in 1944.
Image Credit : Cotswold Archaeology
At the time, the plane was carrying a payload of 12,000lbs of Torpex, an explosive comprised of 42% RDX, 40% TNT, and 18% powdered aluminium. Torpex was mainly used for the Upkeep, Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs, as well as underwater munitions.
The pilot was declared MIA when the plane exploded into an inferno, however, using modern archaeological techniques, the researchers plan to systematically excavate and sieve the waterlogged crash site to recover plane ID numbers, personal effects, and any surviving human remains.
It is the hope of the excavation team members that they will be able to recover the pilot’s remains and return him to the United States for burial with full military honours.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense whose mission is to recover unaccounted Department of Defense personnel listed as prisoners of war (POW) or missing in action (MIA) from designated past conflicts.
Header Image Credit : Cotswold Archaeology
Sources : Cotswold Archaeology
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeologists excavating at the ancient Tharsa necropolis have uncovered a Roman Era tomb guarded by two carved bull heads.
Tharsa is located near Kuyulu village in southeastern Turkey along the Adıyaman-Şanlıurfa Highway.
The site was situated on a major Roman highway from Doliche to Samosata, which today consists of a two settlement mounds and a large necropolis that dates from the 3rd century to the Byzantine period.
Excavations first commenced in 2021 which discovered a collection of Turuş Rock Tombs, a type of tomb construction carved directly into the bedrock.
In the latest season, archaeologists have excavated another Turuş Rock Tomb, however, this example was found to have two carved bull heads which is decorated with garlands and rosettes between the horns.
Bull heads, known as Bucranium, were a form of carved decoration commonly used in Classical architecture. In Ancient Rome, bucrania were often used on the friezes of temples in the Doric order of architecture, later influencing the architecture of buildings from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical periods.
Architectural examples of bucrania are representations of the practice of displaying garlanded, sacrificial oxen, whose heads were displayed on the temple walls.
Like similar Turuş Rock Tombs, the bull heads are carved directly into the bedrock, guarding a dozen rock cut steps descending into the burial chamber which has three arched niches known as acrosolia.
Mustafa Çelik, Deputy Director of Adıyaman Museum, said, “Tharsa Ancient City consists of 3 main archaeological areas: Big Mound, Small Mound and Necropolis Area. We started excavations in the necropolis area in 2024. We added 2 more rock tombs to the rock tombs we had previously uncovered. One of them is the rock tomb we identified today.”
Header Image Credit : Adıyaman Museum
Sources : Adıyaman Museum
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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