Archaeology
New Kingdom cemetery found at Tuna el-Gebel
The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities have announced the discovery of a New Kingdom cemetery at the site of Tuna el-Gebel, located in the Minya Governorate, Egypt.
Tuna el-Gebel served as the necropolis for Khmun, also known as Hermopolis Magna. The site contains Egypt’s most extensive Greco-Roman necropolis, with origins tracing back to the New Kingdom and continuing through to the Roman Period.
A recent archaeological mission led by Dr. Mostafa Waziri has uncovered a cemetery containing the burials of high-ranked officials and priests from the New Kingdom (1550 – 1070 BC). The researchers excavated numerous rock-cut tombs, in which burials were found intact within stone and wooden sarcophagi.
Numerous funerary offerings were also recovered, such as amulets and jewellery, precious stones, gold objects, as well as wooden and ceramic Ushabti statues representing high royal officials such as “Jehutymes,” who held the title of supervisor of bulls of the Temple of Amun, and “Nani,” a singer of Amun.
Image Credit : Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
According to the researchers, the symbols and inscriptions found on these artefacts provide confirmation that the burials were associated with the upper echelons of the administrative and priestly classes during the New Kingdom in Upper Egypt.
The team also discovered the first complete papyrus discovered at the site, measuring between 13 to 15 metres in length. The papyrus refers to the Book of the Dead, an Ancient Egyptian funerary text used from the beginning of the New Kingdom that contains of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person’s journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the afterlife.
“It is a discovery of enormous importance that will enrich our knowledge of this historical period. I deeply thank the entire team for their hard work and dedication, which today allows us to reveal this magnificent New Kingdom cemetery to the world, said Dr. Fahmy.
The papyrus will undergo a meticulous restoration process and will later be exhibited in the Grand Egyptian Museum, currently under construction near the pyramids of Giza.
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Header Image Credit : Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
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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