Archaeology
The Alaca Höyük meteoric dagger
The Alaca Höyük meteoric dagger is an iron forged dagger with extraterrestrial origins.
During the Bronze Age, iron was more valued than gold (evidenced in the Kültepe tablets of 1950 BC), and very few ancient cultures had the smelting technology to extract a low-quality iron from limited sources of iron–nickel alloys.
Extracting usable metal from iron ore required maintaining a temperature of 1,500 °C (2,730 °F) and an advanced understanding of metallurgy using kilns or furnaces.
Sources of Iron were limited to meteoric iron, an early-universe protoplanetary-disk remnant found in iron meteorites made from the elements – iron and nickel. Iron meteorites are mainly thought to originate from M-type (aka M-class) asteroids which are the remnant cores of early protoplanets during the early formation of our solar system.
The Hittites were one such culture that is believed to have developed iron smelting technology during the middle of the 2nd millennium BC.
The Hittites were an Anatolian people who established an Empire stretching across most of Anatolia, parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia, centred on the capital of Hattusa near modern Boğazkale, Turkey.
Most of what we know about the Hittites comes from cuneiform text written in either Akkadian (the diplomatic language of the time) or in the various dialects of the Hittite confederation, and from diplomatic and commercial correspondence found in archives in Assyria, Babylonia, Egypt and the Middle East.
From 1935–39, archaeologists excavating the Hittite settlement of Alaca Höyük discovered 14 “Princely tombs” or “Kingly tombs”, in which they found funerary offerings consisting of gold and electrum standing cups, in addition to the Alaca Höyük bronze standards and the Alaca Höyük meteoric dagger.
The dagger features an iron blade with a golden hilt and has been dated to between 2400 to 2300 BC during the Bronze Age.
An X-ray fluorescence (XRF) study of the blade in 2012 identified that iron and nickel, with trace amounts of cobalt, were the major components of the blade, with trace amounts of Ca, Zn, As, and Sr due to iron corrosion.
The study concluded the dagger was produced using meteoric iron, which was confirmed in a 2017 geochemical analysis published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. This predates the onset of the Iron Age in Anatolia and the Caucasus by almost 1000 years, where the Iron Age began around 1300 BC.
Header Image Credit : Noumenon – CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED
Sources : Japanese Institute of Anatolian Archaeology – Preliminary Report on the Analysis of an Early Bronze Age Iron Dagger Excavated from Alaca Höyük
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
Archaeologists from the Uncovering Roman Carlisle project have discovered a rare lump of Tyrian purple at the grounds of the Carlisle Cricket Club in Carlisle, England.
The project is a community supported excavation by Wardell Armstrong, focusing on uncovering a Roman bath house found in 2017.
The bath house is located near the Roman fort of Uxelodunum (meaning “high fort”), also known as Petriana, in the Carlisle district of Stanwix.
Uxelodunum was constructed to control the territories west of present-day Carlisle and an important crossing on the River Eden. The fort was garrisoned by the Ala Petriana, a 1,000-strong cavalry unit, whose members were all granted Roman citizenship for valour on the field.
Previous excavations at the bath house have discovered colossal sandstone heads depicting Roman gods, in addition to engraved gems known as intaglios, figurines, animal bones, and imperial-stamped tiles.
During the latest season of excavations, archaeologists found a mysterious lump of a soft purple substance. The substance was tested by researchers from Newcastle University, revealing that it contained levels of Bromine and beeswax.
According to the researchers, the substance is Tyrian purple, a coloured dye associated with the Imperial Court in the Roman Empire. Tyrian purple is secreted by several species of predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae, rock snails originally known by the name Murex.
Frank Giecco, Technical Director at Wardell Armstrong, said: “For millennia, Tyrian Purple was the world’s most expensive and sought after colour. It’s presence in Carlisle combined with other evidence from the excavation all strengthens the hypothesis that the building was in some way associated with the Imperial Court of the Emperor Septimius Severus which was located in York and possibly relates to an Imperial visit to Carlisle.”
“It’s the only example we know of in Northern Europe – possibly the only example of a solid sample of the pigment in the form of unused paint pigment anywhere in the Roman Empire. Examples have been found of it in wall paintings (like in Pompeii) and some high status painted coffins from the Roman province of Egypt,” said Giecco.
Header Image Credit : Wardell Armstrong
Sources : Wardell Armstrong
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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