Archaeology
2,000-year old bronze wares found in Shanxi Province
Archaeologists have uncovered 2,000-year old bronze wares during excavations of the Taosi North Cemetery in Shanxi Province.
In a press statement by the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, the cemetery was discovered due to illegal excavations by tomb robbers in 2014.
The site covers an area of 240,000 square metres and is located to the north of the Taosi village, Xiangfen, Shanxi Province.
Archaeologists have recently uncovered 5 tombs from the Spring and Autumn period, in addition to bronze wares typical of the Jin Dynasty (AD 266–420), the Chu period (1030 BC – 223 BC) and the Qilu culture.
The Spring and Autumn period lasted from approximately 770 to 481 BC and derives from the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronicle of the state of Lu between which tradition associates with Confucius.
Within tomb designated 2015M1, the team found bronze wares such as a standing-eared tripod, a dun shaped pot, a mirror, a plate, a bell, and a hoop.
Tomb’s 2015M1 and 2016M2 contained the burials of a man and woman, who were found in a stone chamber with a two-story platform. Both tombs were accompanied with funerary offerings of eared tripods and chimes.
Wang Jingyan, lead archaeologist of the project explained that most of the objects in 2015M1 are typical Jin-style bronzes that are based on ceramic forms from the same period.
Copper hairpins found at the site are within the expansion area of the Chu State, while copper plates found in 2015M1 are of the Qilu culture style mostly found in the Shandong area.
Header Image Credit : Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology
Sources : Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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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