#archaeological sites

Robotic dog will be on patrol in Pompeii

“We promise this isn’t an April Fools’ Day post.”

Mysterious giant stone jars found in India

“Similar jars, some of which span up to three metres high and two metres wide, have previously been uncovered in Laos and Indonesia.”

Study reconsiders name of Peru’s Machu Picchu

“According to Bauer, the most definitive connections to the original name of the Inca city are preserved within accounts written by Spaniards relatively soon after the region came under their control in the late 16th century.

"We end with a stunning, late 16th-century account when the indigenous people of the region were considering returning to reoccupy the site which they called Huayna Picchu,” he said.“

Sican Culture surgeon found in funerary bundle

“…the bundle was finally excavated in late 2021, revealing an individual from the Middle Sican period around AD 900-1050. Based on the type of good associated within the bundle, the researchers suggest that the individual likely served as a surgeon.”

Largest Aztec temple was decorated with over 100 starfish

“The last well-preserved layer of the temple was the one Ahuizotl ordered built in 1487. And that’s where archaeologists discovered the galaxy of starfish that the Aztec priests had once offered to Huitzilopochtli.”

App State archaeological research in Linville Gorge Wilderness area

“Gokee said the project is an “incredible opportunity for our students to cultivate key practical skills for archaeology,” citing field methods for discovering and documenting sites, methods for identifying and studying artifacts, and practical experience in working with partners in the U.S. Forest Service and in writing technical reports and grant proposals.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/researchers-decipher-the-glyphs-on-a-1300-year-old-frieze-in-mexico-180979691/?fbclid=IwAR3xvi0X0ApXb54SbvWi-6jJbxWAmIOXqJf7ZD6uPdcXb87iGbD2e_hZ6EQ

Smithsonian Magazine. “Researchers Decipher the Glyphs on a 1,300-Year-Old Frieze in Mexico”

“The original frieze is estimated to have been about 100 feet long and would have decorated the main façade of the Casa del Sur, according to the Art Newspaper’s Gabriella Angeleti. It would have been visible to a busy ceremonial plaza, and, due to its location, Robles García says the glyphs impart a “message or discourse of power.””

Archaeologists identify sacred pool aligned with the stars

“Crucially, the team also found additional temples flanking the Kothon, along with stelae, altars, votive offerings, and a pedestal in the centre of the lake that once held a statue of Ba’al. Together, these indicate this was not a harbour but a sacred pool at the centre of one of the largest cultic complexes of the pre-Classical Mediterranean.”

whatisarchaeology:

My work digging up the shelters of our ancestors

“These findings suggest that H. sapiens was in Europe 10,000 years earlier than we previously thought, on the basis of evidence dating back 44,000 years from Bulgaria2. We think the H. sapiens at Mandrin stayed for only about 40 years, and, from soot-deposit analysis, they arrived just one year after the previous Neanderthals. They used the same distant flint sources, suggesting they had Neanderthal guides who passed their knowledge on to them. Others have proposed similar contacts elsewhere, but the pre-eminent view is that we, H. sapiens, taught the Neanderthals — not the other way around. There is a school of thought that sees Neanderthals as inferior apemen, and another that sees them as just like us. Both are, in my view, unhelpful. We should try to understand them on their own terms.”