Archaeology
Truncated conical tombs found in Chapultepec Forest
Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have uncovered 3,000-year-old truncated conical tombs on the edge of the Chapultepec Forest.
Chapultepec Forest is one of the largest city parks in Mexico City, centred on a natural rock formation called Chapultepec Hill. The Toltecs named the area “grasshopper hill”, which would later be named Chapoltepēc in Nahuatl, meaning “at the grasshopper hill”.
During the Classic Period, the region was inhabited by the Teotihuacan culture, with later evidence of the Tepanecas of Azcapotzalco and the Mexica (Aztecs).
When the Mexica took control of the Valley of Mexico, the hill was considered sacred and was used as a repository for the ashes of their rulers.
Image Credit : INAH
The hill would later be the location of one of the last major battles between the Mexica and the Spanish conquistadors, with the Spanish constructing the Chapultepec Castle in 1785 as a summer retreat for colonial viceroys.
Recent excavations in the vicinity of Constituciónntes Avenue uncovered 12 truncated conical tombs dating from 3,000-years-ago during the Preclassic period (1200-400 BC) and the Early Preclassic period (2500-1200 BC). Five of the tombs contained deposits of human remains, four of which are female and one is male, all of which are positioned in a flexed form.
Excavations also discovered funerary offerings consisting of deer antlers worked as tools, a concave-convex cup, a fragment of a slate disc, effigy vessels and female figurines.
According to the researchers: “All of this evidence accounts for the complexity of social practices and productive activities, such as agriculture, pottery and construction in the Preclassic, when many of the characteristic features of Mesoamerican societies that would remain in subsequent centuries.”
Header Image Credit : INAH
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
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