Archaeology
LiDAR reveals first Pacific cities founded in AD 300
A new study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory has provided new evidence to suggest that the first Pacific cities were founded in AD 300, 700 years earlier than previously thought.
Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga and the site of its capital, Nukuʻalofa. The earliest traces of human occupation date from between 900 to 850 BC.
The island has the highest concentration of archaeological sites, which includes the Haʻamonga ʻa Maui trilithon, ancient burial mounds, and the Papae ‘o Tele’a Tombs.
Tongatapu was first sighted by Europeans in 1643, and the first direct contact between the islanders and Europeans taking place during Captain James Cook’s expedition on the British vessel Resolution in 1773.
The journals of Cook described an intensively developed landscape with a transport network that connected residences across the island.
Using data recorded from an airborne lidar survey and ground investigations, the island of Tongatapu in Tonga has been mapped to reveal an urbanised landscape of earth mound clusters linked by a transport network matching Cook’s descriptions.
Recent and existing archaeological evidence, along with observations made by early European arrivals have indicated that many mounds served a domestic function for house foundations.
Lead author, PhD scholar Phillip Parton from The Australian National University (ANU), said: “Earth structures were being constructed in Tongatapu around AD 300. This is 700 years earlier than previously thought”.
“As settlements grew, they had to come up with new ways of supporting that growing population. This kind of set-up – what we call low density urbanisation – sets in motion huge social and economic change. People are interacting more and doing different kinds of work, added Parton.”
According to Mr Parton, the collapse of this kind of low-density urbanisation was largely due to the arrival of Europeans.
Header Image Credit : Phillip Parton/ANU
Sources :
Parton, P., Clark, G. Low-Density Urbanisation: Prestate Settlement Growth in a Pacific Society. J Archaeol Method Theory (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-024-09647-8
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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