Archaeology
Study reveals oldest and longest example of Vasconic script
A new study of the 2100-year-old Hand of Irulegi has revealed the oldest and longest example of Vasconic script.
The Hand of Irulegi was discovered in 2021 during excavations of an ancient settlement at the base of Castillo de IRULEGIko gaztelua near Pamplona, Spain.
The hand dates from the 1st century BC during the Roman Sertoria Wars (80 to 72 BC), a period of conflict between a faction of Roman rebels (Sertorians) and the government in Rome (Sullans).
A recent study, published in the journal Antiquity, has revealed that the inscribed text on the hand is written in the Vasconic language, potentially linked to present-day Basque.
This connection is supported by the identification of the Basque term for ‘good fortune’ on the artefact, suggesting that it served as a good luck charm or was a dedication to a pre-Roman deity.
Basque is one of the last descendants of the ‘Palaeo-European’ languages, spoken before Indo-European languages were introduced from migrating people originating from the Eurasian Steppe during the Bronze Age.
“The Irulegi hand is the only long written text retrieved to date, alongside several coins minted in the Vasconic territory,” states lead author of the study Mattin Aiestaran. However, “the lack of other comparative texts makes it difficult to prove a direct link between the Vasconic language spoken at Irulegi and the present-day Basque language.”
“The Irulegi hand must be considered as a well-integrated element within the cultural context of the settlement,” says Aiestaran. “The hand would have had a ritual function, either to attract good luck or as an offering to an indigenous god or goddess of fortune.”
Despite being the only long Vasconic text discovered so far, one of the words is close enough to Basque to be a ‘cognate’, a word that indicates a potential link.
“The discovery of the Hand of Irulegi has opened a new horizon to unravel the history behind the most enigmatic language still alive in Europe: the Basque language,” concludes Mikel Edeso Egia from the Aranzadi Science Society.
Header Image Credit : Antiquity Journal
Sources: Antiquity – A Vasconic inscription on a bronze hand: writing and rituality in the Iron Age Irulegi settlement (Ebro Valley). https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.199
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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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