Archaeology
Ptolemaic and Roman tombs found at Al Bahnasa
Archaeologists have uncovered several high-status Ptolemaic and Roman tombs during excavations in the city of Al Bahnasa, located in Egypt’s Minya governorate.
According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, excavations were conducted by the University of Barcelona, working with the Ancient Near East Institute at the Upper Cemetery of El-Bahnasa.
The tombs are carved directly into the bedrock and date to the Ptolemaic and Roman eras, providing a unique insight into the ongoing tradition of burial customs and ritualistic adaptations across both periods within the cemetery.
Within the tombs are coffins, mummies, gold funerary masks, and a large number of terracotta statues that mainly depict Isis-Aphrodite wearing a wreath topped with a crown.
Image Credit : Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
Isis-Aphrodite represents a facet of the revered goddess Isis, highlighting the fertility elements associated with Aphrodite. She was associated with marriage and childbirth, aligning with ancient pharaonic models, and also incorporated themes of rebirth.
The excavations also revealed mummies from the Roman period wearing gilded and painted funerary masks. Two of the mummies were found to hold golden tongues places in the mouths, a practice which was intended to ensure that the dead would be able to communicate in the afterlife and speak before the court of the Ancient Egyptian god, Osiris.
Archaeologists have found similar burial practices across Egypt, such as the Feb 2021 discovery at the Taposiris Magna temple in Alexandria, or in Dec 2021 at the archaeological site of Oxyrhynchus, near the modern-day town of El Bahnasa.
According to the D. Hassan Amer from the University of Cairo, the team also found a number of stone blocks decorated with plant drawings, clusters of grapes, and depictions of animals and birds such as pigeons and cobras.
Header Image Credit : Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeology
Archaeologists search crash site of WWII B-17 for lost pilot
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
Archaeology
Roman Era tomb found guarded by carved bull heads
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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