Archaeology
Study uses satellite imagery to identify over 1,000 Andean hillforts
A new study, published in the journal Antiquity, uses satellite imagery to survey hillforts known as pukaras in the Andean highlands.
Pukaras, meaning fortress in both Quechua and Aymara, were predominantly built on natural barriers such as hills and ridges during the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1450).
Previous studies suggest that the necessity for these fortified sites arose from social and environmental circumstances, precipitating a period of conflict during the LIP.
What remains unanswered is the full extent and intensity of pukaras construction and distribution, which in part is limited by the difficult terrain and large spatial coverage. In addition, details on their size, defensibility, and density of residential and non-residential occupation are vague due to a bias towards studying the large, densely occupied pukaras.
The study authors used the results of three complementary systematic satellite survey projects, supplemented with targeted ground-checking and previous field research to reveal new insights into the pukaras phenomenon.
The study area covered 151 103km2 of the southern Andean highlands and identified 1249 high-confidence pukaras in the satellite imagery.
According to the researchers: “Pukaras coded as non-residential are surprisingly frequent; they are present throughout the study region in only slightly smaller numbers (n = 567) than residential pukaras (n = 682).”
The results also indicate that pukaras are densely concentrated in places such as the Lake Titicaca Basin and the Colca Valley, but also in substantial concentrations in parts of the south-central Andes.
In contradiction to the accepted narrative of defence, pukaras were also found in extremely high-elevation zones and areas where defensible land forms are absent.
The authors conclude that the survey demonstrates significant variation in the density of pukaras, raising important questions about the underlying social, political, economic, geographic or environmental contexts that propelled pukara construction in some regions and deterred it in others.
Header Image Credit : Antiquity
Sources : Antiquity – A new view of hillforts in the Andes: expanding coverage with systematic imagery survey. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2023.178
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
A community excavation in Israel’s Berner region has uncovered a bowl depicting a hexagram star.
The bowl dates from the Abbasid period when Israel was ruled by the Fatimid Caliphate, an Isma’ili Shia dynasty spanning a large area of North Africa and West Asia.
A hexagram star is typically associated with the Star of David, a symbol of both Jewish identity and Judaism. However, this association first appeared in the 17th century, becoming more widespread during the 19th century as it came to symbolise Zionism.
The hexagram star does appear in some early Jewish contexts, but mainly as a decorative motif in 4th-century synagogues in the Galilee region. Some religious contexts include a hexagram star in a manuscript of the Hebrew Bible from 11th-century Cairo, in addition to the carpet page of the famous Tanakh manuscript, the Leningrad Codex dated to AD 1008.
A predecessor to the Star of David was the Seal of Solomon, the legendary signet ring attributed to the Israelite king, Solomon. The tradition of Solomon’s Seal later made its way into Islamic Arab sources.
According to a press announcement by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the bowl dates from around the 9th to 10th century AD and is glazed with a green ceramic pigment showing a hexagram star.
The bowl appears to have been damaged in ancient times and repaired using drilled holes, where metal or lead wires were inserted. Dr. Itamar Taksel, from the IAA said: “The repair of the bowl indicates that it was of importance in the eyes of its previous owners – maybe because of the star’s model, or that he had limited financial means, and therefore it was better to invest in repairing the bowl rather than purchasing a new one.”
Header Image Credit : Israel Antiquities Authority
Sources : Israel Antiquities Authority
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
A study of archaeological sites in Winchester, England, has revealed that red squirrels served as a host for Mycobacterium leprae strains that caused leprosy in people.
Leprosy is one of the oldest recorded diseases in human history and is still prevalent to this day in Asia, Africa, and South America.
It has previously been suggested that the extensive trade of red squirrel fur, greatly valued during medieval times, could have contributed to the leprosy epidemic in medieval Europe.
The results of the study, published in the journal Current Biology, studied 25 human and 12 squirrel samples from two medieval sites in Winchester.
During this period, the city had strong connections to the fur trade and housed the leprosarium, a hospital that treated people with Hansen’s disease (leprosy) caused by Mycobacterium leprae bacteria.
Verena Schuenemann of the University of Basel in Switzerland, said: “With our genetic analysis we were able to identify red squirrels as the first ancient animal host of leprosy.”
The study found that the medieval red squirrel strains were more closely related to human strains in Winchester, rather than to modern squirrel strains from England – suggesting an independent circulation of Mycobacterium leprae strains.
“Our findings highlight the importance of involving archaeological material, in particular animal remains, into studying the long-term zoonotic potential of this disease, as only a direct comparison of ancient human and animal strains allows reconstructions of potential transmission events across time,” says Sarah Inskip of the University of Leicester, UK, a co-author on the study.
Header Image Credit : Shutterstock
Sources : Current Biology, Urban, Blom, and Avanzi et al.: “Ancient Mycobacterium leprae genome reveals medieval English red squirrels as animal leprosy host.” https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)00446-9
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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