Researchers from the Life on the Edge project, a collaboration between the University of Bradford and the University of Split, has revealed a lost submerged landscape off the coast of Croatia using underwater scans.

Using state-of-the-art underwater 3D seismic sensors, the researchers have identified a network of ancient streams, rivers, hills, and geological features in the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Split, the second-largest city in Croatia.

Between 10,000 and 24,000 years ago, the sea levels were around 100 metres lower than present day, meaning vast areas of the Adriatic Sea were likely inhabited by people during the Mesolithic period.

Even today, parts of the North Adriatic basin rarely exceeds a depth of 100 metres, while the stretch of water between Venice and Trieste – towards a line connecting Ancona and Zadar, is only 15 metres deep.

Principal investigator Dr Simon Fitch, said: “It’s a more diverse landscape and it’s better preserved than we expected. There are beautifully preserved rivers and estuaries buried beneath what is now the seafloor.”

These features are often indications of where ancient humans lived, as Mesolithic people lived in temporary camps along rivers and lakes for the natural resources.

Vedran Barbarić, Associate professor, from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of the University of Split, said: “I am certain that the project results will become a landmark in our knowledge on dramatic environmental changes and the human reaction in this part of the world.”

“We have the potential now to begin asking some really fascinating questions, to understanding the archaeology and the culture – in a much more holistic way. Our ultimate goal is to find human artefacts,” added Barbarić.

The team plans to send divers down to several of the identified sites in the hope of finding evidence of human activity.

Header Image Credit : Submerged Landscape Research Centre

Sources : University of Bradford

This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily

A geophysical study by archaeologists from the Higashi Nippon International University, Tohoku University, and the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), have detected an L-shaped structure and several anomalies near the Giza Pyramids using geophysics.

Archaeologists detected the structure using a combination of ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) during a survey of the Western Cemetery.

The Western Cemetery, also known as the Giza West Field, is located on the Giza Plateau to the west of the Great Pyramid of Giza. It is divided into smaller cemeteries, consisting of linear alignments of mastabas and subsurface structures.

Mastabas served as a burial structure for the royal family and high-class officers, characterised by its flat roof and rectangular design constructed using limestone or mudbricks. Central to its construction is a vertical shaft that links to an underground chamber.

According to the researchers, the L-shaped structure was located at a depth of 2 metres directly south from mastaba G4000. The structure appears to have been filled with sand and may have served as an entrance tunnel to a deeper structure.

This is supported by the detection of deeper anomalies beneath the L-shaped structure, concentrated at a depth of  3.5 to 5 metres, with two features persisting down to a depth of 11 metres.

According to a paper published in the journal Archaeological Prospection: “The data show clear anomalies that could be attributed to an archaeological potentiality (high-resistivity contour spots) at the surveyed region. The features have shown a further extension, up to 3–5 m more than the depth screened by the GPR survey. We conclude from these results that the structure causing the anomalies could be vertical walls of limestone or shafts leading to a tomb structure.”

“We believe that the continuity of the shallow structure and the deep large structure is important. From the survey results, we cannot determine the material causing the anomaly, but it may be a large subsurface archaeological structure,” said the study authors.

Header Image Credit : Archaeological Prospection

Sources : GPR and ERT Exploration in the Western Cemetery in Giza, Egypt. https://doi.org/10.1002/arp.1940

This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily