Archaeology
Offerings of anthropomorphic figurines found at Aztec Templo Mayor
Archaeologists from the Templo Mayor project and the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have found anthropomorphic figurines placed as an offering at Templo Mayor in Mexico City.
Templo Mayor was the heart of a temple complex in Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. The temple was called the huey teocalli in the Nahuatl language and was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, and Tlaloc, god of rain and agriculture.
Construction of the temple began sometime after AD 1325, but was destroyed by the Spanish in AD 1521 following the conquest of Tenochtitlan. The present-day archaeological site lies to the northeast of the Zocalo, or main plaza of Mexico City, on the corner of what is now the streets of Seminario and Justo Sierra.
Archaeologist excavating at Templo Mayor have found a stone chest known as tepetlacalli in Nahuatl, containing 15 anthropomorphic figurines and numerous green stone beads, snails, shells and marine corals.
Image Credit : Antonio Marín Calvo
The figurines are in the Mezcala style, a Mesoamerican culture that emerged in the Middle and Late Preclassic within Mesoamerican chronology (700 to 200 BC). Archaeologists speculate that the Aztecs valued Mezcala objects and excavated them from Mezcala sites in the Guerrero state of southwestern Mexico to be placed as ritual offerings.
“The figurines were already true relics, some of them more than 1,000 years old, and presumably they served as cult effigies,” says archaeologist López Luján.
The stone chest was found in a context of stage IVa of the Templo Mayor, which dates from the rule of Moctezuma Ilhuicamina between AD 1440 and 1469. In addition to the figurines, the chest contains 186 objects placed as offerings, such as rattlesnake-shaped earrings, 137 beads made from various green stones, and 1,942 objects made from shells, snails, and corals.
Header Image Credit : Antonio Marín Calvo
Archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology have uncovered a well-preserved Bronze Age wooden well in Oxfordshire, England.
The discovery was made during construction works for the Benson Relief Road in compliance with planning conditions to ensure archaeological finds are recorded.
John Boothroyd, Senior Project Manager at Oxford Archaeology, said: “When investigating what appeared to be a standard pit for the site, the archaeological team started exposing the remains of a preserved wooden post driven vertically into the ground.”
Excavations revealed that the posts formed the uprights of a wattle structure lining the edge of the pit, which have been well-preserved due to the soil conditions being waterlogged.
The timber structure was digitally recorded, before being carefully dismantled by hand for removal to the Oxfordshire Museum Service.
Samples of the preserved wood have been sent for further analysis to indicate the type of wood used in the construction. Excavations also found pieces of struck flint, animal bone and pottery used for storage and waste.
Previous studies of the area around Benson and as far as Wallingford have revealed traces of Bronze Age activity and settlement.
“Despite the extremely challenging conditions, the team were able to expose and fully record the well. The specialist soil samples collected will also help establish what the surrounding landscape would have been like, and the intensity to which it was settled, when the well was actively being used.”
Councillor Judy Roberts, Oxfordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Infrastructure and Development Strategy, said: “This find gives fantastic insight into the area’s past land use. It is thought the well may have been used for agricultural irrigation purposes for settlements nearby. Archaeological surveys like this are an important part of the process of delivering construction schemes. They help us identify and understand past residents of the area and record them for future generations.”
Header Image Credit : Oxford Archaeology
Sources : Oxfordshire County Council
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
A restoration project to remove invasive plants from dunes in the Heist Willemspark, Belgium, has led to the discovery of three intact WWII bunkers.
Heist Willemspark is located in the Knokke-Heist municipality, situated on the coastline of Belgium near the border with the Netherlands.
During WWI, the area of the park was used as a German position for heavy artillery batteries known as “Freya” and “Augusta”, and a series of forward observation bunkers for ranging shipping in the English Channel.
A number of these structures were repurposed by the German army in WWII, and further fortified as part of the Atlantic Wall, a system of coastal defences built between 1942 and 1944 along the coast of continental Europe. The area of the Atlantic Wall at Heist Willemspark was designated by the German army as Stützpunkt Heyst.
Image Credit : Municipality of Knokke-Heist
According to a press statement by the Municipality of Knokke-Heist, the bunkers were discovered by the Agency for Nature and Forests during a restoration project called LIFE DUNIAS.
Excavations at a depth of only a few feet revealed three Gruppenunterstand Type VF2a bunkers. The VF2a is intended for housing a Gruppe (the smallest German unit consisting of 10 soldiers) who operated forward radar positions. The bunkers at Heist Willemspark measure 6 by 7 metres externally, and are capped by a concrete reinforced roof measuring 1 metre thick.
The project also found traces of brick trenches, a fragment of a concrete track, and large amounts of rubble containing objects such as utensils, ammunition, cabling, and water pipes.
A representative of LIFE DUNIAS said: “These ruins illustrate the previous attempts to completely erase the park’s war history. The lighter structures were demolished and reduced to rubble, while heavier bunkers were covered with a layer of soil and hidden, as if they had never existed.”
Header Image Credit : Municipality of Knokke-Heist
Sources : Municipality of Knokke-Heist
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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