Archaeology
Retreating ice patches provide evidence of ancient obsidian mining
Archaeologists conducting surveys of retreating ice patches have found perishable artefacts associated with ancient mining activities.
The study, published in the Journal of Field Archaeology, reports that the researchers have found over 50 perishable artefacts near Goat Mountain and the Kitsu Plateau, located in northern British Columbia, Canada.
Among the artefacts are stitched containers made from birch bark, wooden walking staffs, intricately carved and beveled sticks, an atlatl dart foreshaft, and a boot crafted from stitched hide.
According to the researchers: “Most of the perishable artifacts were manufactured from wood, including birch bark containers, projectile shafts, and walking staffs. Of the pieces of wood found, most had evidence of being worked or used.”
Items fashioned from animal remains include a stitched hide boot and tools carved from antler and bone. Additionally, unaltered bones were discovered, possibly attributable to natural deposition processes.
Such finds normally perish after becoming exposed from the ice, however, the researchers examined satellite imagery, followed by surface inspections, to locate perishable artefact sites for recovery and controlled conservation.
Carbon dating of the artefacts indicate a wide variance between each of the ice patch sites. At site HiTq-13, the researchers found four perishable artefacts which indicate a date of between 3000–1500 years ago. In contrast, site HiTq-17 indicates a date of 6200–5300 years ago, while site HiTq-18 indicates a date of 6900–6750 cal bp.
Every perishable artefact site is amidst a landscape abundant with millions of obsidian nodules, flakes, cores, preforms, and various tools, suggesting that the perishable artefacts are associated with ancient mining activities. However, hunting activities were also evident in the area, demonstrated by the presence of an atlatl foreshaft, a wooden point, and a potential fragment of an atlatl board.
Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass that forms when lava expelled from a volcano rapidly cools. Obsidian is hard, brittle, and amorphous; it therefore fractures with sharp edges, making it valued by Stone Age cultures for tool and weapons manufacturing.
According to the paper authors: “The results of this study are unique in that it is extremely rare to find ancient perishable artifacts in association with alpine quarries. Finally, the vast obsidian quarries and the radiocarbon dates on the associated perishable objects provide evidence that obsidian mining has been practiced repeatedly in the Mt. Edziza area for multiple millennia.”
https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2023.2272098
Header Image Credit : Duncan McLaren
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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