Archaeology
Coptic-era tombs uncovered in Upper Egypt’s Minya
A joint Spanish-Egyptian archaeological mission has uncovered Coptic-era tombs in the upper Egyptian governorate of Minya.
Excavations were conducted by the University of Barcelona and the Supreme Council of Archaeology, which discovered 22 tombs from the Persian, Roman and Coptic periods at the Al-Bahnasa archaeological site.
Al-Bahnasa, also known as Oxyrhynchus, was first excavated in 1897 by the papyrologist, Arthur Surridge Hunt, and the Egyptologist, Bernard Pyne Grenfell. Their excavations revealed thousands of papyri written in Greek from the Roman period, a substantial number of which are now housed in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England.
Over the past century, the site has been ransacked by looters and treasure-hunters, for which many artefacts now in private collections and public museums have been identified as originating from Al-Bahnasa.
During the recent Spanish-Egyptian archaeological mission, 6 funerary complexes have been uncovered that date from the Roman and Persian period, while 16 individual tombs belong to the Coptic-Byzantine period.
The Coptic period defines Late Roman Egypt (3rd−4th centuries AD) and Byzantine Egypt (4th−7th centuries AD). This era shows a religious shift in Egyptian culture to Coptic Christianity from ancient Egyptian religion, until the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the 7th century AD.
Many of the Roman tombs are built using limestone and were found with the lids missing, suggesting that they were likely robbed sometime during antiquity. As for the Coptic-era tombs, they are a rectangular in shape and contain burials which are covered with decorated shrouds.
Mostafa Waziry, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said: “It has been a very interesting season due to the numerous and unprecedented archaeological findings and the new scientific hypotheses raised”.
Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Header Image Credit : Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
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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