For Those Interested in Archaeology

Australians got into chariot racing...
Give bloody Ben-Hur a run for his money.

 

Ave cesare! They're wearing bloody togas too!

Ben Hur was written by Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace whom Grant (unfairly) blamed for the Shiloh. Wallace thereafter held the position of defending Washington, DC and Baltimore. He led his scratch force out to Monocacy, MD to blunt Jubal Early's advance on the capitol. Wallace was joined by a division of the VI Corps and while he lost Monocacy, he bloodied Early sufficiently to slow his advance and allow the rest of the VI Corps to reach and defend Washington. It was the last battle where a president of the United States came under direct fire of the enemy. A surgeon standing next to Lincoln was shot and a young artillery officer (Oliver Wendell Holmes who later became a Supreme Court Justice) shouted, "Get down, you damn fool!" That fort has been preserved by the National Park Service.

Anyway, post-war Lew Wallace became the Governor of the New Mexico Territory where he made a secret deal with Billy the Kid whereby Bill would testify and receive immunity. The Attorney General refused to honor the deal and Billy was incarcerated. Wallace's home and library are still standing and are open for public visit. Above the library which is a separate building form the house, Wallace has a carved stone image of what he thought Judah Ben Hur appeared like - looks mighty wyte and he has a mustache too!

 

Sounds like a cool place to visit...

 

And today's offerings-

15 November 2024
A section of one of Britain’s most important Roman roads unearthed under Old Kent Road in south-east London -
1500-year-old Stunning Pendant Amulet Depicting the Prophet Solomon Spearing the Devil on Horseback Found in Türkiye

 

"Johns Hopkins University researchers uncovered evidence of the oldest alphabetic writing in human history. The writing was etched onto finger-length clay cylinders discovered during a dig at an ancient Syrian city.
The discovery was announced at the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) annual meeting.
During an excavation at an ancient tomb in Tell Umm-el Marra, the team, under the direction of Professor Glenn Schwartz, discovered small clay cylinders marked with what may have been alphabetic symbols.
Once a major city in western Syria, Tell Umm-el Marra is renowned for being one of the first urban centers in the area. Along with researchers from the University of Amsterdam, Professor Schwartz, an authority on ancient cities, co-led a 16-year excavation at the site. Early Bronze Age tombs were found during the excavation.
One of the best-preserved tombs contained six skeletons, gold and silver jewelry, cookware, a spearhead, and intact pottery vessels."
Oldest known alphabet unearthed in ancient Syrian city -500 years older than thought - Arkeonews

 

"Two species of ancient humans walked beside each other 1.5 million years ago, fossil footprints have revealed.
Fossilised imprints from a lakebed in Kenya have revealed that a member of the Homo erectus species and a Paranthropus boisei walked along the same stretch of mud within hours of each other.
These two species are ancestral cousins of modern Homo sapiens and were the most common human species during the Pleistocene epoch.
Anthropologist Prof Craig Feibel has spent more than 40 years studying the fossil-rich lands of northern Kenya and found the footprints near Lake Turkana.
Analysis revealed the two species walked past one another at the same time, using the same stretch of the lake shore.
Scientists say it is possible the two individuals were there at the exact same time and bumped into one another, or crossed just minutes or hours apart.
The researchers uncovered the fossil footprints in 2021 when a team organised by Louise Leakey, a third-generation palaeontologist, discovered fossil bones at the site."
Two ancient human species walked the same path together 1.5 million years ago

 

And today's archaeological binge, for your delight and delectation.
29 November 2024
The Ancient Curse Tablets Found in Athens Well
Ancient Inscription Unearthed at Cyprus Archaeological Site
Archaeologists reveal musical instruments depicted in Zimbabwe's ancient rock art
Early Neolithic genetic data suggest that central Europe's first farmers lived in equality
Archaeologists suspect shipwreck found near Kenya may be from Vasco da Gama's last voyage
How did they make it? New insights into the production of the Nebra Sky Disc
Case study suggests expanded opportunities drew people to mega settlements and spurred innovation 6,000 years ago
A Painter’s Studio in France Needed Maintenance. The Contractor Found Ancient Art Behind its Walls.
Anglo-Saxons plagiarized a Roman coin — and it's full of typos
First in Anatolian Archaeology, a 2,600-year-old Sacred Room and Stone Symbolizing the Goddess Kubaba Discovered at Oluz Höyük
Traces of Pozzolan Dust from Phlegraean Fields Found in a 1st-Century Roman Hydraulic Structure Submerged in Venetian Lagoon
Roman villa discovered in Wiltshire’s Chalke Valley

 

Just about everybody's.

 

The UK has some breathtaking Roman buildings…Kinda jealous.

 

Good old Aquae Sulis! We have to content ourselves with the Antonine Wall, roads and various forts on this side of the border.

 

It's real, but not what folk tend to think.
What was really a vomitorium?

 

Found this article about the gruesome battlefield cleanup during the Napoleonic wars. The practice went well beyond the usual scavenging and souvenir hunters. Industry sprang up to profit off the masses of dead bodies.

How were Napoleonic battlefields cleaned up? - Shannon Selin

 

Bath, England (been there). No one has used it since someone got meningitis.

 

Probably been common practice for ever. My local battlefield is Bannockburn, and not a single body or grave from the battle has ever been found. Then again, there's a modern housing scheme on top of the plague pits from 1645 and not a single body was ever found there either. Probably due to the soil acidity; most of the area was peat bog 'til around 200 years ago.
In the case of Bannockburn, the main area of the battle was in an area dominated by pools and tributaries; it's assumed the bodies were stripped and then thrown into moving water to be washed out to sea.

 

Definitely a long-haul project this one, there are thousands of 'em.
"A new project aims to uncover more details about ancient stone monuments believed to have been built by Scotland's first farmers.
The Early Neolithic megalithic chambered and passage tombs are thought to be connected to burial rituals.
Archaeologists believe they could have been constructed 6,300 and 5,800 years ago, though few sites have been scientifically dated.
The research will include small-scale excavations at a handful of locations to find material that could be radiocarbon-dated, such as bones or charcoal.
The monuments are found in Argyll and Bute, Western Isles and Highlands.
There are also sites in Ireland and Wales, and similar types in north-west France.
In Scotland, they appeared around the time when the prehistoric way of life known as hunter-gathering shifted to farming."
New study of monuments built by Scotland's first farmers - BBC News