Archaeology
Archaeologists search for traces of the “birthplace of Texas”
As part of a $51 million project, archaeologists have conducted a search for traces of Washington-on-the-Brazos, also known as the “birthplace of Texas”.
Washington-on-the-Brazos was a small town along the Brazos River in Washington County, Texas.
The town is best known for being the site of the Convention of 1836 and the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico in the Texas Revolution.
The declaration officially established the Republic of Texas, however, no other government or nation recognised the newly declared nation.
The town went into decline due to poor transport links and competition from surrounding towns and cities. This resulted in Washington-on-the-Brazos being mainly abandoned by the townsfolk in the late 1800s who relocated to Brenham or Navasota.
Archaeologists have recently completed a $51 million excavation along the La Bahia Road, the main highway through the town that carried goods and travellers across the state from Goliad to Nacogdoches.
Researchers used tax records and official documents to identify where former buildings were situated, followed by geophysics to detect anomalies beneath the ground in preparation for exploratory excavations.
Image Credit : Texas Historical Commission
This led to the discovery of where the Houston’s presidential office once stood, revealing the footprint of a 16-by-16-foot building along with objects such as nails, buttons, ceramics, and window glass.
Archaeologists also uncovered the brick floor of a house from the 1830’s, in addition to the remains of an old brick fireplace.
Over 10,000 artefacts have been recovered during the project, which include the key to a gold pocket watch, gun flints, buttons from a soldier’s uniform, and an 1831 U.S. dime.
According to a press statement by the Texas Historical Commission (which manages the site), several buildings from the town will be faithfully (partially or fully) recreated to enable visitors to visit the buildings that once lined the La Bahia Road.
Header Image Credit : Texas Historical Commission
Sources : Texas Historical Commission
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeologists from Cotswold Archaeology are excavating the crash site of a WWII B-17 Flying Fortress in an English woodland.
The B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC).
The bomber was mainly used in the European theatre for daylight strategic bombing, complimenting the RAF Bomber Command’s night bombers in attacking German industrial, military and civilian targets.
Cotswold Archaeology have been tasked by the Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency to search the crash site for the remains of the pilot, who died when the B-17 crashed following a system failure in 1944.
Image Credit : Cotswold Archaeology
At the time, the plane was carrying a payload of 12,000lbs of Torpex, an explosive comprised of 42% RDX, 40% TNT, and 18% powdered aluminium. Torpex was mainly used for the Upkeep, Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs, as well as underwater munitions.
The pilot was declared MIA when the plane exploded into an inferno, however, using modern archaeological techniques, the researchers plan to systematically excavate and sieve the waterlogged crash site to recover plane ID numbers, personal effects, and any surviving human remains.
It is the hope of the excavation team members that they will be able to recover the pilot’s remains and return him to the United States for burial with full military honours.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense whose mission is to recover unaccounted Department of Defense personnel listed as prisoners of war (POW) or missing in action (MIA) from designated past conflicts.
Header Image Credit : Cotswold Archaeology
Sources : Cotswold Archaeology
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeologists excavating at the ancient Tharsa necropolis have uncovered a Roman Era tomb guarded by two carved bull heads.
Tharsa is located near Kuyulu village in southeastern Turkey along the Adıyaman-Şanlıurfa Highway.
The site was situated on a major Roman highway from Doliche to Samosata, which today consists of a two settlement mounds and a large necropolis that dates from the 3rd century to the Byzantine period.
Excavations first commenced in 2021 which discovered a collection of Turuş Rock Tombs, a type of tomb construction carved directly into the bedrock.
In the latest season, archaeologists have excavated another Turuş Rock Tomb, however, this example was found to have two carved bull heads which is decorated with garlands and rosettes between the horns.
Bull heads, known as Bucranium, were a form of carved decoration commonly used in Classical architecture. In Ancient Rome, bucrania were often used on the friezes of temples in the Doric order of architecture, later influencing the architecture of buildings from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical periods.
Architectural examples of bucrania are representations of the practice of displaying garlanded, sacrificial oxen, whose heads were displayed on the temple walls.
Like similar Turuş Rock Tombs, the bull heads are carved directly into the bedrock, guarding a dozen rock cut steps descending into the burial chamber which has three arched niches known as acrosolia.
Mustafa Çelik, Deputy Director of Adıyaman Museum, said, “Tharsa Ancient City consists of 3 main archaeological areas: Big Mound, Small Mound and Necropolis Area. We started excavations in the necropolis area in 2024. We added 2 more rock tombs to the rock tombs we had previously uncovered. One of them is the rock tomb we identified today.”
Header Image Credit : Adıyaman Museum
Sources : Adıyaman Museum
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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