Archaeology
New discoveries at deserted medieval town of Dzhankent
An international team of Kazakh, Russian, and German archaeologists, have made significant new discoveries at the deserted medieval town of Dzhankent.
Dzhankent, also known as Jankent, is located on the left bank of the lower Syr Darya, near the former eastern shore of the Aral Sea, Kazakhstan. Written sources identify the site as the 10th century capital of the Oghuz Turks, known at the time as Yengi-kent (meaning “New Town”).
The Oghuz Turks were a group of Turkic people who spoke the Oghuz dialect within the Turkic language family. They emerged in the 8th century AD, establishing a tribal confederation known as the Oghuz Yabgu State in Central Asia.
The ruins of Dzhankent encompass an area of 16 hectares (40 acres) encircled by a rectangular wall circuit up to 7 metres (23 ft) in height. The town was situated on the crossroads of two continental trade corridors: the Northern Silk Road running east-west from China to Byzantium, and the north-south route from the Baltic to Central Asia.
The town was rediscovered by Russian army topographers in the early 19th century, with systematic excavations conducted mainly by the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences (IEA RAN, Moscow), Korkyt Ata State University of Kyzylorda (Kazakhstan), the University of Tübingen (Germany); and the Margulan Institute of Archaeology, Kazakh Ministry of Education and Science (MON).
Image credit: Heinrich Härke
Recent studies now indicate that Dzhankent was founded as early as the 6th century AD and was rebuilt by Khorezmian architects from the Amu-darya (Oxus) river oasis in the late 9th century AD.
Excavations at the site have uncovered the first example of a domesticated cat found on the Northern Silk Road, and a deposit of chicken eggs inscribed with Arabic lettering in a 10th century AD ceramic vessel.
Image credit: Viktoria Gerassimova
Archaeologists also found a palm-sized ceramic figurine or pendant of a bear, reminiscent of late Iron Age objects in southern Siberia, and a sherd from a large ceramic vessel inscribed with letters that spell the word “Allah”.
Prof. Dr. Heinrich Härke, from the University of Tübingen, said: “According to written sources, Islam reached the area in the 10th century AD, so the discovery is now the earliest reference to Islam in the Aral Sea region.”
Written by: Heinrich Härke, Irina Arzhantseva, and Azilkhan Tazhekeev
Header Image Credit : Martin Goffriller
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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