Archaeology
Radiocarbon dating reveals new insights into Tel Gezer
Archaeologists have conducted radiocarbon dating of Tel Gezer, one of the most important Bronze and Iron Age sites in Israel.
Tel Gezer is located in the foothills of the Judaean Mountains at the border of the Shfela region.
The site was first occupied towards the end of the 4th millennium BC, when large caves were cut into the rock to be used as dwellings.
Major settlement occurred during the first half of the 2nd millennium BC, with the construction of a fortified Canaanite city surrounded by a massive stone wall and towers.
The city evolved into a significant religious centre, characterised by the presence of prominent standing stones named massebot. These massbot stones were erected alongside an altar-style construction and a substantial stone basin, possibly used for ceremonies involving libations (a ritual pouring of a liquid, or grains such as rice, as an offering to a deity).
The Canaanite city was devastated by a fire, likely resulting from a military expedition led by the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III (reigning from 1479 to 1425 BC). The earliest documented mention of the city dates back to an inscription listing conquered territories found at Thutmose’s temple in Karnak.
The city continued to hold significant strategic importance until the Roman period due in thanks to the advantageous location at the intersection of the ancient coastal trade route connecting Egypt to Syria, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia, as well as the pathway leading to Jerusalem and Jericho.
In a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE, archaeologists have used radiocarbon dating to investigate what extent of archaeological findings correspond to historical events from written sources.
The chronology of each phase of Tel Gezer has been based primarily on the comparison of ceramic styles and their connection to the political history of Egypt and Assyria.
Lyndelle Webster, an archaeologist from the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the ÖAW, said: “We took more than 75 measurements on charred seeds from several layers of settlement and destruction. The results of the 35 measurements from the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age strata published in our study date from the 13th to 9th centuries BC. “This allows us for the first time to place the history of Gezer on a fixed timeline.”
The results have been cross-referenced with historical events, such as instances of destruction, construction of new buildings, or fortification development, providing additional context.
The radiocarbon dates indicate that the city saw a period of destruction around 1200 BC, possibly in relation to a campaign of conquest by the Egyptian pharaoh Merenptah, or as a result of the Late Bronze Age collapse that brought a sharp economic decline to regional powers.
The study also contributes to the dating of the “Philistine” culture, which arose in the nearby coastal plain and is now believed to influence the region around Tel Gez in the middle of the 12th century BC.
According to the study authors: “Another discussion covers the transition to monumental public architecture and centralised administration at Tel Gezer. This change can now be dated to the first half of the 10th century BC and not just the 9th century BC as previously thought.”
Header Image Credit : Lanier Center for Archaeology
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
-
Ghosts2 years agoZozo: The Ouija Board Demon
-
Space2 years agoScientists claim to have found the answer what existed before the Universe
-
Ghosts2 years agoOld Coot of Mount Greylock
-
Archaeology1 year ago
New discoveries at Ekʼ Balam during conservation works
-
General3 years agoUC San Francisco engaging in horrifying experiments, organ harvesting of live babies in the name of “science”