Archaeology
Traces of cultural layers found at Asarcık Tepe
Archaeologists from the Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University (MSKÜ) have participated in excavations at Asarcık Tepe, revealing traces of cultural layers from the Seljuk Period, the Hittite Civilisation, and the Middle Bronze Age.
Asarcık Tepe, also known as Asarcık Hill, is a multi-phase archaeological site located in the Kavaklıdere (Muğla) region of Turkey.
Excavations by MSKÜ have extended the cultural layer of occupation to the end of the 3rd millennium BC, with evidence of a Middle Bronze Age settlement and subsequent layers of destruction.
Dr Bekir Özer, said: “Traces of occupation were constantly destroyed in subsequent cultural periods. For this reason, the layers that form the cultural continuity of Asarcık Tepe have limited data except for the Middle Ages and Early Hellenistic Period.”
Excavations have also uncovered archaeological remains from the 2nd millennium BC, consisting of the foundations of structures built with stone and mudbrick, in addition to stone tools and spindle whorls that suggest traces of weaving.
Archaeologists have also found pottery originating from the Coastal Aegean and Central Western Anatolia regions, indicating evidence of trade and a cultural continuation from 1200 BC to 330-320 BC.
“The last cultural period is associated with the Middle Ages. It is supported by preserved towers that are 3.5 metres in height, surrounded by city walls 2.5 metres tall and 2 metres thick,” said Dr Özer.
According to the researchers, the last cultural period occurred in the first half of the 13th century AD, with a destruction layer suggesting that Asarcık Tepe was destroyed by fire. Dr Özer, said: “This data does not surprise us, and it should be seen as concrete archaeological evidence of the conquest of the region by Turkish raids coming through the Menderes Valley.”
Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University (MSKÜ)
Header Image Credit : Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University (MSKÜ)
Archaeology
Ornate grave goods found in Murom burial ground
Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences have been excavating a burial ground associated with the Finnic Muromians.
The Finnic Muromians were groups of settlers that lived within the vicinity of the Volga and Oka rivers. They spoke Muromian, an Uralic language that became extinct following their assimilation by the Slavs.
The burial ground, which dates from the early 10th century AD, was discovered on the eastern bank of the Oka river, located in the Nizhny Novgorod Region of Russia.
A total of seventeen burial pits have been identified, nine of which have been severely damaged through looting.
The surviving 8 burials contain the remains of four children, two women, and two men.
The men were accompanied with an ornate collection of grave goods, including arrowheads, knives, bronze bracelets, iron plates, a bronze buckle, and a whetstone.
At the bottom of one of the pits is a heavily corroded axe, along with a flint that has traces of iron-coated embossed leather and textile threads.
The burials containing women were also accompanied with high status funerary goods, such as a necklace of red-brown prismatic and dark blue berry-shaped beads of Byzantine origin, signet ring-shaped pendants, plate bracelets, a bronze spiral, and a silver ring.
Traces of wood within the pit fillings suggest that they originally contained a wooden structure, similar to a log house made of thin beams and covered with birch bark.
According to the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences: “The culmination of the discoveries at the site were two clay vessels, testifying to direct and close contacts between the right-bank Muromians and the Old Russian population.”
Header Image Credit : Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Sources : Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeology
Ghastly finds at gallows execution site
![](https://conspirazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/gast2-S78Iej.jpeg)
Archaeologists from the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt are currently excavating the site of a former gallows in Quedlinburg, Germany.
Gallows are usually wooden structures made of two vertical posts, a horizontal crossbeam, and a hanging noose. They have been used for executing criminals by hanging, a prevalent form of capital punishment in Europe since the Middle Ages.
Archaeologists are currently excavating a gallows site on Galgenberg, or ‘Gallows Hill,’ which was used for public executions by the courts in Quedlinburg from 1662 to 1809.
Excavations have revealed complete and partial burials in the area, along with bone pits containing multiple bundled burials, likely the result of mass executions carried out in a short period.
Image Credit : LDA
According to the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt, “these discoveries provide unique insights into penal practices from the Middle Ages and early modern times.”
A burial unrelated to the gallows has also been unearthed, featuring a wooden coffin containing the skeletal remains of an individual buried with a rosary chain.
Archaeologists propose that the burial’s characteristics suggest that the individual was likely a suicide victim, denied burial in consecrated ground so was placed in the cemetery near the gallows.
Also discovered is a so-called ‘revenant grave’, where the skeletal remains of a man was found placed on his back with several large stones placed across his chest.
According to the researchers, the stones were likely placed to prevent the individual from rising as a revenant, which are described as animated corpses in the verbal traditions and lore of many European ethnic groups.
In medieval times, those inflicted with the revenant condition were generally suicide victims, witches, corpses possessed by a malevolent spirit, or the victim of a vampiric attack.
Header Image Credit : LDA
Sources : State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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