Archaeology
7,300-year-old Neolithic structures found at La Draga
Archaeologists have uncovered 7,300-year-old Neolithic structures at the La Draga archaeological site.
La Draga is an ancient lakeshore settlement, located in the Spanish city of Banyoles in northeastern Catalonia. The site was first discovered in 1990, revealing an Early Neolithic Cardial settlement occupied from the end of the 6th millennium BC.
Recent excavations, co-directed by IPHES-CERCA, working in collaboration with the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the Superior Council for Scientific Research (CSIC-IMF Barcelona), the Museum of Archaeology of Catalonia (MAC) and the Centre for Archaeology Underwater of Catalonia (CASC), have uncovered large structural elements of well-preserved wooden constructions.
Constant humidity and anoxic/waterlogged conditions of the site allowed the preservation of organic remains, making La Draga a site of remarkable interest for Neolithic European studies.
The co-directors of the research project, Toni Palomo, Raquel Piqué (UAB), and Xavier Terradas (CSIC-IMF Barcelona), said: “There are mainly large wooden planks more than three metres long that occupy practically the entire surface of the excavated area. The excavation process should allow us to make very precise interpretations of the shape of these structures, the construction techniques and the time of their construction, as well as their relationship with areas excavated in previous campaigns.”
The researchers have also conducted archaeological and palaeoecological prospecting on the western shore of the Lake, both terrestrial and underwater. The focus of this study is to reconstruct the environmental dynamics of Banyoles Lake during the Holocene and verify the possible presence of other prehistoric evidence of occupation.
“The soundings carried out have allowed us to document signs of great interest in order to reconstruct what the environment was like in prehistoric times”, says Dr. Jordi Revelles, Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral researcher at IPHES-CERCA.
The archaeological campaign is part of a four-year research project approved by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Generalitat and coordinated by the Archaeological Museum of Banyoles.
Header Image Credit : Banyoles City Council
Archaeologists from the University of Warwick are conducting an underwater study to document the submerged Mesolithic site of Bouldnor Cliff before it vanishes due to erosion.
Bouldnor Cliff is situated in the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the southern coast of England. The site was first discovered in 1999 when divers observed a lobster discarding worked flint tools from its burrow on the seabed.
At a time when Britain was cut off from mainland Europe by rising sea levels, the area of the Solent was a river valley inhabited by an advanced Mesolithic community who developed a boat building technology 2,000 years ahead of their time.
The study aims to find new data on the nature of the late Ice Age environment during the development of the Mesolithic era, and the extent of the interaction between the inhabitants of Bouldnor Cliff and Europe, including the exchange of materials.
Professor Robin Allaby, who is leading the expedition, said: “This is an incredible opportunity to understand the lost world in which the Mesolithic developed using the latest techniques before our chance is gone.”
The study will involve a comprehensive palaeoenvironmental analysis, in addition to state-of-the-art techniques such as optical simulated luminescence for constructing ecological profiles. Furthermore, archaeologists intend to recover archaeological artefacts and environmental markers to reconstruct the past environment.
Dr Kinnaird adds: “This is an exciting research project to showcase the new innovations in luminescence dating, which can tell when an object was last exposed to the Sun. The relevance of this technique in writing the narratives for 4000 years of history, at the time that the British coastline was rapidly changing, is huge!”
According to the researchers, these discoveries carry the potential to significantly transform our comprehension of the era when Britain emerged as an island.
Header Image Credit : University of Warwick
Sources : University of Warwick
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
A study of the “Excalibur” sword found in Valencia has been revealed to have Islamic origins sometime during the 10th century AD.
Valencia is one of the oldest cities in Spain, founded under the name of Valentia Edetanorum by the Romans in 138 BC.
The city was conquered by the Moors in the 8th century AD, and was destroyed by Abd al-Rahman I of the Umayyad dynasty. Under Caliphate rule, the wider city area became known as Madînat al-Turâb (meaning “city of earth” or “sand”).
The sword was discovered back in 1994 in a house on Valencia’s Historiador Chabàs Street, where it was found standing upright in a grave beneath an Islamic era house.
Dubbed “Excalibur” due to the circumstances of its discovery, the sword is made from iron and has a hilt decorated with bronze plates. In mythology, Excalibur was the legendary sword of King Arthur and appears in various medieval poems describing Arthur pulling the sword from a stone.
However, the “Excalibur” from Valencia was found in a sedimentary strata from the 10th century AD and was likely the weapon of a cavalryman from the Andalusian Caliphate Era.
According to the archaeologists, the sword measures 46 centimetres in length and has a slightly curved blade towards the tip. Swords from this period are rarely found well-preserved due to the levels of oxygen and water in the soil that causes oxidation of the iron.
“It is the first Islamic sword that appears in the city of Valencia, with only one similar example being found during the excavations of Medina Azahara, the caliphal city of Abd al-Rahman III, in Córdoba,” said the Valencia City Council.
Header Image Credit : The Archaeology Service (SIAM) of the Valencia City Council
Sources : Valencia City Council
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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