Archaeology
Archaeologists uncover vestiges of the Tepuztecos
Archaeologists have uncovered vestiges of the Tepuztecos during an expansion of the Puerto del Varal-Corral de Piedra highway at Barranca Chihuila-Corral de Piedra.
The Tepuztecos, also known as the Tlacotepehuas, were a pre-Hispanic culture that inhabited the area around present-day Tlacotepec in the state of Guerrero, south-western Mexico.
Very little is known about the Tepuztecos except for their name recorded by the Aztecs, who referred to the metal works of the culture as “tepuzque”, the Mexica word for copper alloy.
During expansion works of the highway at Barranca Chihuila-Corral de Piedra, archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) uncovered a 34 metre long wall which corresponds to the first of three stepped levels of a larger structure.
Image Credit : Moses Nava Nava
Excavations at the site found fragments of human and animal bones as part of construction fillers for the wall, in addition to the burial of an infant who died around three to four years of age.
Placed in the burial are offerings consisting of green stone beads, copper bells, shell earrings, and a Yestla-El Naranjo-type tripod bowl which dates from between AD 1000 to 1521 before the Spanish Conquest.
“There is little information about this ethnic group and its culture, we know that they had a god called Andut and a goddess that received the name of Macuili Achiotl, whose figure of a woman was represented in sculpture or painting on stone,” says archaeologist, Pérez Negrete.
Archaeologists also discovered a system of walls made from large limestone blocks covered with lime stucco, in addition to stucco floors with red pigment. Among the objects found associated with the walls are pieces of obsidian and a large quantity of ceramic material from the Postclassic period (AD 500 to 1500), indicating that the site had two periods of occupation.
Archaeologist, Lucero Hernández, said: “It is the start of investigations that will offer new insights into the region of the extinct Tepuztecs, to know the social and cultural characteristics of the extensive pre-Hispanic occupations of the area, as well as to understand the cultural period of the societies that created the Yestla-Naranjo ceramics.”
Header Image Credit : INAH
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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