17,000 years old artefacts found in Malaysian caves

The National Heritage Department has found more than 100 Palaeolithic artefacts estimated to be 17,000 years old in several caves in Gunung Pulai here.

The artefacts include stone tools, fragments of pottery and river snails
[Credit: Bernama]

Artefacts in the form of stone tools, fragments of pottery and river snails were found at new excavation sites including Gua Kelambu, Gua Tembus and Gua Akar in the mountain.

National Heritage Department director-general Mesran Mohd Yusop, who is also the Heritage Commissioner, said the artefacts were discovered while his department was conducting explorations in the area between April and October last year.

"The exploration was to carry out documentation and inventory of the site to obtain the latest archaeological data and to identify any possible evidence that has not been discovered by previous researchers.

"The discovery of the artefacts proves the existence of prehistoric life in this area and gives us new clues about the lives of these early inhabitants," he told local reporters.

National Heritage Department Archaeological Division director Ruzairy Arbi
in the caves on Gunung Pulai in Baling [Credit: Bernama]

Mesran said excavations and research at the site were also joined by the Institute of the Malay World and Civilization (Atma), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and Universiti Malaya's (UM) Geology Department.

He said some of the artefacts found were sent to Nanyang Technological University in Singapore for analysis and to determine their age.

According to him, if the artefacts are truly 17,000 years old, it means that the settlement on Gunung Pulai is among the oldest in the country and is older than the Sungai Batu archaeological site in Merbok.

He also explained that the discovery made Gunung Pulai a valuable archaeological site for the country's archaeological data and as a basis for recognising the origins of the ancient community.

Some of the artefacts discovered in the caves on Gunung Pulai in Baling
[Credit: Bernama]

"It also has the potential to make the area famous and make Gunung Pulai and its caves a focal point for tourists, researchers and archaeologists," he said.

Meanwhile, the department's Archaeological Division director Ruzairy Arbi said the discovery of stone tools showed that the Palaeolithic community here used rock extensively for hunting and food storage purposes.

However, the discovery of river limpets is considered to be most important as it is evidence of dietary practices of prehistoric peoples there.

"All of these artefacts were found on the ground of the caves and we believe more artefacts are buried and we will be mapping and digging within the next month to find other artefacts," he said.

In the meantime, the department is advising the public to comply with the National Heritage Act 2005 by reporting immediately any historic findings in the Gunung Pulai area to the district officer or Heritage Commissioner.

Source: Bernama [January 23, 2020]

2019 excavation results of the Paphos Agora Project

The Department of Antiquities, Ministry of Transport, Communications and Works, has announced the completion of the 2019 excavations of the Department of Classical Archaeology of the Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, within the framework of the Pafos Agora Project (PAP). The PAP, which has been running since 2011, examines the economic infrastructure and activity of the city, not only on the basis of excavations in the Agora itself, but also outside of it, throughout the entire Archaeological Site of Kato Paphos, based on prospection with the use of non-invasive geophysical methods.

Credit: Dept. of Antiquities, Republic of Cyprus

Researchers from the Warsaw Technical University and the University of Hamburg participated in the 2019 field season, which took place during August and September 2019. Two main goals were set: 1) determining the size of the Agora in the north, and 2) identifying streets flanking it from the north and from the east. Excavations were carried out at four points.

The main research focused on three trial trenches (TT): on TT.VI, which began being investigated in 2018, and on two new ones founded in 2019 on the basis of the results of a geophysical prospection carried out in previous seasons. The first is TT.VII located on the north extension of the West Portico of the Agora, the second is TT.VIII on the north extension of the East Portico, whereas the fourth point, where excavations were carried out, was in TT.II, i.e. the East Portico, where the research was continued within the room, R.22, discovered last year, and whose exploration has not been completed.

Of the research tasks mentioned above, the second goal was met. In all trial trenches, it was possible to reveal either the street surfaces themselves (in TT.VIII) or the infrastructure associated with them (channels and collector in TT.VI and TT.VII). However, the northern border of the porticos was not discovered. An important result of the research was achieved in TT.VIII, i.e. the confirmation of the further route of the street marked as P in the city plan reconstructed by J. Młynarczyk (1990), which was also revealed to the south of the theatre by the expedition from Sydney, Australia.

Credit: Dept. of Antiquities, Republic of Cyprus

The PAP research in this year's season has also positively verified the route of street no. 1a, which is an extension of the internal line of the Agora’s West Portico (in TT.VII). However, street no. 2a was discovered in a slightly different place than it would appear from the reconstruction of Młynarczyk - about 20m to the east (TT.VI).

It should be emphasised that the studied area had been levelled in many places and subjected to robbery exploration, which has hindered the exploration and interpretation by the PAP. The recreation of the history of the studied area was also impeded by the unexpected discovery of several skeletal burials (TT.VII) dug into earlier structures. At present, not much can be said about the nature of this small necropolis. It cannot be ruled out that it may be related to an unearthed basilica, which may have been located a little further to the north-west from TT.VII.

The existence of this basilica was suggested during the initial analysis of geomagnetic research carried out as part of the PAP by the University of Hamburg in the area in 2016. More can be said once the research using the C14 method of dating on the remains of graves, primarily the wooden casket from grave 2, has been completed. It seems that the above-mentioned features, discovered in 2019, can be dated to the late Hellenistic and early Roman periods, while the cemetery could rather be dated to the late Roman period.

In parallel with the excavations, a small-scale geophysical survey, as well as the preservation of the metal objects and studies on conserved metal objects and coins have continued. In addition, a short study campaign on the anthropological material (skeletal remains) discovered during excavations in previous years was completed.

Source: Dept. of Antiquities, Republic of Cyprus [January 23, 2020]

Ancient statue found in Cambodia's Siem Reap

Siem Reap Provincial Environment Department officials and archaeologists are conducting research on a large Makara animal statue carved on a rock at the Phnom Kulen National Park in Siem Reap province’s Svay Loeu district.

Credit: Khmer Times

Provincial Department of Environment director Sun Kong said yesterday the head portion of the broken statue was found by a resident on Saturday and the officials went to inspect the site on Sunday.

He added that the statue was made of sandstone during the sixth century and the body was broken into pieces, noting that officials found 13 pieces of the body nearby the site.

Credit: Khmer Times

Mr Kong said: “According to the experts, this Makara animal statue is one that we have never seen before. It is approximately 2.14 metres in length and about 0.97 metres high. We have not yet moved the body parts or excavated the head from the site and have told park rangers in the area to guard it in order for officials from relevant ministries and institutions to come and study in detail about the site’s history and reconstruct the pieces.”

He noted that experts have not found a foundation of any temple at the site and believe it was just carved out on the rock.

Credit: Khmer Times

Chhim Samrithy, 38, a craftsman from the province who discovered the statue, said yesterday he spotted it on Saturday while searching for bamboo. “I usually walk in the forest to look for some unique and sacred objects and suddenly spotted this rare statue,” he said. “After seeing it, I took environmental officials and archaeologists to the site and also helped to find some of the missing pieces of the statue.”

Long Kosal, Apsara Authority spokesman, said that the authorities’ archaeologists visited the site yesterday and will conduct additional studies to add it to the records.

Credit: Khmer Times

He said: “The Kulen National Park area is rich in ancient artefects, both above and below the ground. Therefore,  I urge people, especially those living in the area, to avoid excavating or clearing archaeological sites. If they find ancient objects, please report to the authorities for research to be done to preserve them for future generations.”

Author: Pech Sotheary | Source: Khmer Times [January 23, 2020]

Remains of pre-Hispanic sweat lodge found near La Merced, Mexico City

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a pre-Hispanic sweat lodge near La Merced, a market area in the historic center of Mexico City.

Credit: Edith Camacho, INAH

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) said in a statement Tuesday that the temazcal, as a domed, pre-Hispanic sweat lodge made out of mud or stone is known, was found during an excavation at a property on Talavera street, which is now known for the sale of baby Jesus statues.

Temazcales were used by indigenous people in Mesoamerica for medicinal purposes, spiritual rituals and childbirth.

Credit: Edith Camacho, INAH

Archaeologists found blocks made out of adobe and tezontle –a volcanic rock – that were used to build the sweat lodge as well as a bathtub used to heat the structure with steam. Based on the remains they found, the INAH team concluded that the temazcal was five meters long and about three meters wide.

INAH said the discovery has allowed archaeologists to pinpoint the location of Temazcaltitlan, one of the oldest neighborhoods of Tenochtitlan, the Mexica capital that would become Mexico City.

Credit: Edith Camacho, INAH

According to a chronicle of pre-Hispanic times in Tenochtitlan, a temazcal was built in Temazcaltitlan to bathe and purify Quetzalmoyahuatzin, a noble Mexica girl.

Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, a noble indigenous man who lived in colonial times, wrote in his Cronica Mexicayotl that ordinary residents of Tenochtitlan also bathed there.

Credit: Edith Camacho, INAH

The head of the INAH team that found the temazcal said the discovery is the first concrete evidence of Temazcaltitlan’s vocation as a center of bathing and purification.

Victor Esperon Calleja said the neighborhood belonged to the district of Teopan (also known as Zoquipan), which was the first territory built on Lake Texcoco and occupied by the Mexicas. It is believed that the female deities of earth, fertility, water and the pre-Hispanic beverage pulque were also worshipped in Temazcaltitlan.

Credit: Edith Camacho, INAH

In addition to the temazcal remains, on the same Talavera street property archaeologists found the remnants of a home that was possibly inhabited by a noble indigenous family shortly after the Spanish conquest and structures of a tannery, which operated during the last century of colonial rule before Mexico gained its independence in the early 19th century.

“The findings suggest that in the 16th century this area was more populated than we initially thought,” Esperon said.

Credit: Edith Camacho, INAH

“Given that it was an area of chinampas [floating agricultural gardens], it was thought that there were few houses but at this property we have evidence of the wooden pilings and stones that were used for the wall foundations [of a home],” he added.

Esperon said that the methods used to build the house allowed archaeologists to date it to the first century of colonial rule between 1521 and 1620.

The walls of the four-room home were decorated with red motifs and its floor was made of adobe blocks, features that the archaeologist said indicated that it was “inhabited by an indigenous family, possibly of noble origin.”

The tannery, Esperon said, likely made leather from cattle slaughtered at the San Lucas abattoir, which was located close to where the Pino Suarez Metro station now stands.

Source: Mexico News Daily [January 23, 2020]

Mount Vesuvius blast turned ancient victim’s brain to glass

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius turned an incinerated victim’s brain material into glass, the first time scientists have verified the phenomenon from a volcanic blast, officials at the Herculaneum archaeology site said Thursday.

This photo shows a fragment of brain material of a victim incinerated by the ancient blast
of Mount Vesuvius and turned into glass [Credit: Herculaneum press office via AP]

Archaeologists rarely recover human brain tissue, and when they do it is normally smooth and soapy in consistency, according to an article detailing the discovery in the New England Journal of Medicine. The eruption of Vesuvius in the year 79 instantly killed the inhabitants of Pompeii and neighboring Herculaneum, burying an area 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the volcano in ash in just a few hours.

The remains of a man lying on a wooden bed were discovered at Herculaneum, closer to Vesuvius than Pompeii, in the 1960s. He is believed to have been the custodian of a place of worship, the Collegium Augustalium.

A team led by Pier Paolo Petrone, a forensic anthropologist at the Federico II University in Naples, determined that the victim’s brain matter had been vitrified, a process by which tissue is burned at a high heat and turned into glass, according to the new study. The fragments presented as shards of shiny black material spotted within remnants of the victim’s skull.

The unfortunate victim's final resting place outside a building in Herculaneum
[Credit: Pier Paolo Petrone]

A study of the charred wood nearby indicates a maximum temperature of 520 degrees Celsius (968 degrees Fahrenheit). "This suggests that extreme radiant heat was able to ignite body fat and vaporize soft tissue," the study said.

The resulting solidified spongy mass found in the victim’s chest bones is also unique among other archaeological sites and can be compared with victims of more recent historic events like the firebombing of Dresden and Hamburg in World War II, the article said.

The flash of extreme heat was followed by a rapid drop in temperatures, which vitrified the brain material, the authors said.

"This is the first time ever that vitrified human brain remains have been discovered resulting from heat produced by an eruption," Herculaneum officials said.

Source: Associated Press [January 23, 2020]

Evidence of specialized sheep-hunting camp discovered in prehistoric Lebanon

Anthropologists at the University of Toronto (U of T) have confirmed the existence more than 10,000 years ago of a hunting camp in what is now northeastern Lebanon - one that straddles the period marking the transition from nomadic hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural settlements at the onset of the last stone age.

Views of Nachcharini Cave and environs [Credit: Stephen Rhodes et al. 2020]

Analysis of decades-old data collected from Nachcharini Cave high in the Anti-Lebanon mountain range that forms the modern-day border between Lebanon and Syria, shows the site was a short-term hunting camp that served as a temporary outpost to emerging and more substantial villages elsewhere in the region, and that sheep were the primary game.

The finding confirms the hypothesis of retired U of T archaeologist Bruce Schroeder, who excavated the site on several occasions beginning in 1972, but who had to discontinue his work when the Lebanese Civil War began in 1975.

"The site represents the best evidence of a special-purpose camp - not a village or settlement - in the region," said Stephen Rhodes, a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts & Science at U of T and lead author of a study published in PLOS ONE. "The cave was a contemporary of larger settlements further south in the Jordan Valley, and is the first site of its kind to show the predominance of sheep among the animals hunted by its temporary inhabitants."

El Khiam points and variants from Nachcharini, St. 4d
[Credit: Stephen Rhodes et al. 2020]

Radiocarbon dating of animal bones recovered from the site shows that it dates to an era known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), a period from about 10,000-8,000 BCE during which the cultivation of crops, the construction of mud-brick dwellings and other practices of domestication began to emerge. The stone tools found at the sites are mostly tiny arrowheads used for hunting. The new dates presented place the main deposits at the cave securely in the PPNA.

"Previous dates established in the 1970s were problematic and far too recent for unknown reasons, possibly due to contamination or incorrect processing," said Rhodes, who coauthored the study with Professors Edward Banning and Michael Chazan, both members of the Department of Anthropology at U of T. "The results highlight the fact that people in the PPNA took advantage of a wide variety of habitats in a complex system of subsistence practices."

It was already known that sheep hunting was practiced in this region throughout periods that preceded the PPNA, and the evidence found at Nachcharini Cave reinforces that understanding. According to Rhodes, it consolidates our knowledge of the natural range of sheep, which pertains to a potential beginning of domestication in later years.

"We are not saying that hunters at Nachcharini were engaged in early stages of this domestication," he said. "But the evidence of a local tradition makes this area a possible centre of sheep domestication later on."

Source: University of Toronto [January 22, 2020]

Study reveals two writers penned landmark inscriptions in 8th-century BCE Samaria

The ancient Samaria ostraca -- eighth-century BCE ink-on-clay inscriptions unearthed at the beginning of the 20th century in Samaria, the capital of the biblical kingdom of Israel -- are among the earliest collections of ancient Hebrew writings ever discovered. But despite a century of research, major aspects of the ostraca remain in dispute, including their precise geographical origins -- either Samaria or its outlying villages -- and the number of scribes involved in their composition.

Ostraca (ink on clay inscriptions) from Samaria, the capital of biblical Israel. The inscriptions are dated to the
 early 8th century BCE. Colorized Ostraca images are courtesy of the Semitic Museum, Harvard University
[Credit: American Friends of Tel Aviv University/Semitic Museum, Harvard University]

A new Tel Aviv University (TAU) study finds that just two writers were involved in composing 31 of the more than 100 inscriptions and that the writers were contemporaneous, indicating that the inscriptions were written in the city of Samaria itself.

The inscriptions list repetitive shipment details of wine and oil supplies to Samaria and span a minimal period of seven years. For archaeologists, they also provide critical insights into the logistical infrastructure of the kingdom of Israel. The inscriptions feature the date of composition (year of a given monarch), commodity type (oil, wine), name of a person, name of a clan and name of a village near the capital. Based on letter-shape considerations, the ostraca have been dated to the first half of the eighth century BCE, possibly during the reign of King Jeroboam II of Israel.

"If only two scribes wrote the examined Samaria texts contemporaneously and both were located in Samaria rather than in the countryside, this would indicate a palace bureaucracy at the peak of the kingdom of Israel's prosperity," Prof. Finkelstein explains.

"Our results, accompanied by other pieces of evidence, seem also to indicate a limited dispersion of literacy in Israel in the early eighth century BCE," Prof. Piasetzky says.

"Our interdisciplinary team harnessed a novel algorithm, consisting of image processing and newly developed machine learning techniques, to conclude that two writers wrote the 31 examined texts, with a confidence interval of 95%," said Dr. Sober, now a member of Duke University's mathematics department.

"The innovative technique can be used in other cases, both in the Land of Israel and beyond. Our innovative tool enables handwriting comparison and can establish the number of authors in a given corpus," adds Faigenbaum-Golovin.

The new research follows up from the findings of the group's 2016 study, which indicated widespread literacy in the kingdom of Judah a century and a half to two centuries later, circa 600 BCE. For that study, the group developed a novel algorithm with which they estimated the minimal number of writers involved in composing ostraca unearthed at the desert fortress of Arad. That investigation concluded that at least six writers composed the 18 inscriptions that were examined.

"It seems that during these two centuries that passed between the composition of the Samaria and the Arad corpora, there was an increase in literacy rates within the population of the Hebrew kingdoms," Dr. Shaus says. "Our previous research paved the way for the current study. We enhanced our previously developed methodology, which sought the minimum number of writers, and introduced new statistical tools to establish a maximum likelihood estimate for the number of hands in a corpus."

Research for the study was conducted by Ph.D. candidate Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, Dr. Arie Shaus, Dr. Barak Sober and Prof. Eli Turkel, all of TAU's School of Mathematical Sciences; Prof. Eli Piasetzky of TAU's School of Physics; and Prof. Israel Finkelstein, Jacob M. Alkow Professor of the Archaeology of Israel in the Bronze and Iron Ages, of TAU's Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology. The study was published in PLOS ONE.

Next, the researchers intend to use their methodology to study other corpora of inscriptions from various periods and locations.

Source: American Friends of Tel Aviv University [January 22, 2020]

3,000-year-old teeth solve Pacific banana mystery

Humans began transporting and growing banana in Vanuatu 3000 years ago, a University of Otago scientist has discovered.

Skeletons found at a 3,000-year-old Teouma cemetery, just outside the capital of Port Vila in Vanuatu
[Credit: Frederique Valentin]

The discovery is the earliest evidence of humans taking and cultivating banana in to what was the last area of the planet to be colonised.

In an article published this week in Nature Human Behaviour, Dr Monica Tromp, Senior Laboratory Analyst at the University of Otago's Southern Pacific Archaeological Research (SPAR), found microscopic particles of banana and other plants trapped in calcified dental plaque of the first settlers of Vanuatu. The finds came from 3000-year-old skeletons at the Teouma site on Vanuatu's Efate Island.

Dr Tromp used microscopy to look for 'microparticles' in the plaque, also known as dental calculus, scraped from the teeth of the skeletons. That allowed her to discover some of the plants people were eating and using to make materials like fabric and rope in the area when it was first colonised.

Teouma is the oldest archaeological cemetery in Remote Oceania, a region that includes Vanuatu and all of the Pacific islands east and south, including Hawaii, Rapa Nui and Aotearoa. The Teouma cemetery is unique because it is uncommon to find such well-preserved archaeological burials in the Pacific. Bone generally does not preserve in hot and humid climates and the same is true for things made of plant materials and also food.

The first inhabitants of Vanuatu were people associated with the Lapita cultural complex who originated in Island South East Asia and sailed into the Pacific on canoes, reaching the previously uninhabited islands of Vanuatu around 3000 years ago.

The findings were made from 3,000-year-old skeletons at Teouma, the oldest archaeological cemetery in Remote Oceania,
a region that includes Vanuatu and all of the Pacific Islands east and South, including Hawaii, Rapa Nui
and Aotearoa [Credit: University of Otago]

There has been debate about how the earliest Lapita people survived when they first arrived to settle Vanuatu and other previously untouched islands in the Pacific. It is thought Lapita people brought domesticated plants and animals with them on canoes - a transported landscape. But direct evidence for these plants had not been found at Teouma until Dr Tromp's study.

"One of the big advantages of studying calcified plaque or dental calculus is that you can find out a lot about otherwise invisible parts of people's lives," Dr Tromp says. Plaque calcifies very quickly and can trap just about anything you put inside of your mouth - much like the infamous Jurassic Park mosquito in amber - but they are incredibly small things that you can only see with a microscope."

The study began as part of Dr Tromp's PhD research in the Department of Anatomy and involved collaboration with the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, Vanuatu National Herbarium and the community of Eratap village - the traditional landowners of the Teouma site.

Dr Tromp spent hundreds of hours in front of a microscope finding and identifying microparticles extracted from thirty-two of the Teouma individuals. The positive identification of banana (Musa sp.) is direct proof it was brought with the earliest Lapita populations to Vanuatu.

Palm species (Arecaceae) and non-diagnostic tree and shrub microparticles were also identified, indicating these plants were also important to the lives of this early population, possibly for use as food or food wrapping, fabric and rope making, or for medicinal purposes, Dr Tromp says.

"The wide, and often unexpected range of things you can find in calcified plaque makes what I do both incredibly exciting and frustrating at the same time."

Source: University of Otago [January 22, 2020]

Late Neolithic Italy was home to complex networks of metal exchange

During the 4th and 3rd millennia BC, Italy was home to complex networks of metalwork exchange, according to a study published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Andrea Dolfini of Newcastle University (UK), and Gilberto Artioli and Ivana Angelini of the University of Padova (Italy).

Articulated burial and dismembered human remains from Ponte San Pietro, tomb 22.The chamber tomb is typical of
the Rinaldone burial custom, central Italy, c.3600-2200 BC. Reprinted from Miari 1995 under a CC BY licence,
with permission from Monica Miari, original copyright 1995 [Credit: Dolfini et al, 2020]

Research in recent decades has revealed that copper mining and metalwork in Italy began earlier and included more complex technologies than previously thought. However, relatively little is known about metalwork exchange across the country, especially south of the Alps. In this study, Dolfini and colleagues sought to understand how commonly and how widely copper was imported and exchanged throughout Late Neolithic (Copper Age) Italy.

The researchers conducted an analysis of 20 copper items, including axe-heads, halberds, and daggers, from central Italy dating to the Copper Age, between 3600 and 2200 BC. Comparing archaeological data and chemical signatures of these items to nearby sources of copper ore, as well as to other prehistoric sites, they were able to determine that most of the examined objects were cast from copper mined in Tuscany, with the rest sourced from the western Alps and possibly the French Midi.

Map of the sites mentioned in the article
[Credit: Dolfini et al. 2020]

These results not only confirm the importance of the Tuscan region as a source of copper for Copper Age communities in Italy, reaching as far as the Tyrolean area home of the Alpine Iceman, but also reveal the unexpected finding that non-Tuscan copper was a significant import to the region at this time. These data contribute to a growing picture of multiple independent networks of Copper Age metal exchange in the Alps and neighboring regions. The authors note that future research might uncover other early sources of copper, as well as more details of the interactions between these early trade networks.

The authors add: "The first systematic application of lead isotope analysis (a geological sourcing technique) to Copper Age metal objects from central Italy, 3600-2200 BC, has shed new light on the provenance of the copper used to cast them. The research has revealed that, while some of the copper was sourced from the rich ore deposits of Tuscany, as was expected, some is from further afield. This unforeseen discovery demonstrates that far-reaching metal exchange networks were in operation in prehistoric Europe over a thousand years before the Bronze Age."

Source: Public Library of Science [January 22, 2020]

Update to museum guidelines could see British Museum with no choice but to return Parthenon Marbles

As the fight for the return of the Parthenon Marbles to their rightful home in Greece continues, there seems to be some hope on the horizon.

Part of the Parthenon sculptures currently housed at the British Museum
[Credit: WikiCommons]

British museums could face fines if they do not return pieces in their collections taken from other countries, reports the Daily Mail.

With demands for repatriation from various countries expected to rise, Arts Council England is seeking to update its current guidelines, which it claims are out of date.

The council has asked experts to bid for a £42,000 contract that will see guidelines updated to assist museums in deciding which treasures should be returned, including the Parthenon Marbles, an aboriginal shield and Ethiopian sacred tablets, among others.

The contract would be put together based on a review of existing research and evidence, as well as extensive consultation with practitioners and stakeholders across and beyond the UK museum sector “to identify key challenges, opportunities, practical and ethical issues and examples of best practice in the UK and internationally,” reads the advert, highlighting that there are “increasing calls for action by museums to address this”.

The contract, expected to be enforced next month, will also include assistance for museums from experts to deal with media attention, government policies and the future of artefacts with no value.

“The aim is to encourage a more proactive and coordinated approach across the museum sector by providing museums with a practical resource to support them in responding to all aspects of restitution and repatriation,” an Arts Council England spokesperson said.

The idea follows the promise made by French president Emmanuel Macron to repatriate colonial objects.

BBC historian David Olusoga is among those encouraging the ‘decolonisation’ of collections in Britain, saying there is a ‘moral imperative’ for relics to be returned, calling the case of the Parthenon Marbles “such a stark case of theft”.

Mr Olusoga also said that it could be beneficial for Britain’s relationship with the Commonwealth after Brexit.

While organisations are currently requested to follow diversity procedures, it is uncertain as yet whether the council’s 828 members will face fines for keeping treasures from abroad in their procession, Arts Council England said.

Source: Neos Kosmos [January 21, 2020]

2019 excavation results at ancient Greek city of Sikyon

In 2019, fieldwork in Old Sikyon was carried out from late June to the end of July and included archaeological excavations, a geoarchaeological survey and the study of architectural spolia.

Drone picture of Trench 3A from southeast with the ‘Heroon’ and its surroundings
[Credit: Hellenic Ministry of Culture]

The excavations concentrated on six trenches in four different fields, four of which had already been started during previous seasons. In Field 3 north-east of the supposed city centre, the excavation of a late Classical building was continued in order to reveal a room to its full depth as well as part of its surroundings. The partly underground rectangular room (6.30 x 4.40 m) was made of walls of monumental blocks on two sides and of walls of mixed material on its two other sides and was originally covered with a tiled roof. Stairs led down into it from its north-eastern corner and maybe also from its south-western corner.

In direct contact with the bottom of the north, west and east walls, three Archaic graves (ca. 610-555 BC) cut into the bedrock were revealed. They contained multiple burials (men, women and children) and were marked by particular stones, but only one of them featured grave goods, including nine aryballoi and one askos (small vases) in the form of a hare dated to the early to middle Corinthian period. The building had at least two different construction phases and went probably out of use in the 2nd half of the 4th cent. BC, perhaps in connection with the destruction of the city in the year 303 BC.

On the base of the uncovered remains including the large amounts of pottery and various figurines found within this room, it can be interpreted as a sort of Heroon, where an ancestors’ cult and maybe also the veneration of chthonic deities were practiced. South of this room, a grave of the 5th cent. BC was uncovered, which contained as the only grave goods the remains of the shoes of the deceased, in the form of two iron frames, which originally were nailed to wooden soles.

Grave from the 5th cent. BC next to the ‘Heroon’ in Trench 3A, with remains
of the shoes of the deceased [Credit: Hellenic Ministry of Culture]

In Field 7 further to the northeast in the outskirts of the city, a Classical or Early Hellenistic grave monument (ca. 350-300 BC) was further revealed (Trench 7C). Its architectural front of 4,60 m length was oriented along a road on its northern side. Only the lowest course over the foundation is preserved consisting of large limestone blocks connected by Z-clamps and featuring a cyma reversa.

On the western and eastern sides, two symmetrically placed blocks mark the limits of the monument. Two stone cist graves with a single burial of a grown-up in each were excavated within the monument, yielding rich and well-preserved grave goods: fine drinking cups, lidded lekanis bowls, miniature vases, lamps, a silver coin and iron strigiles.

In a higher level, the burned remains of a grave ritual were found, including dozens of fragments of human and animal figurines and numerous shapes (e.g. bowls, plates and pouring vessels) of a special type of red-slipped pottery stamped with a characteristic egg decoration. This type of pottery was probably produced locally between 340 and 275 BC. Just next to the monument, a deposit from the 5th cent. BC including six Attic lekythoi (one of which white-ground) and a kotyle was revealed, indicating the funeral use of this area at least from this time onwards.

The grave monument from the late Classical or early Hellenistic period in Trench 7C
[Credit: Hellenic Ministry of Culture]

50 m northwest of this grave monument in an area outside the borders of the settlement, Classical building remains were found (Trench 7A), which, judging from the resistivity survey, could belong to a large building complex of ca. 18 x 20 m. A large room (2.50 x 2.50 m) and an adjacent smaller, corridor-like storage room (ca. 2.90 x 0.90 m) were completely revealed, while another room to the south was only partly excavated. On the base of many large fragments of storage vessels, the few fragments of fine-ware pottery, loom weights and coins might indicate an extra-urban workshop or agricultural context.

In Field 8 in the south-eastern part of the town, a new trench was opened on top of a large positive linear anomaly found with geomagnetic prospection, which could have indicated the trace of the city wall. Instead, part of a monumental late Classical building and in direct connection with it an early Hellenistic grave covered with tiles were excavated. The building might have had a public, cultic or funeral function.

Directly southeast of it, a four-sided floor-like surface was probably used for workshop activities. In the early Byzantine period, the area was used in an agricultural context, which is indicated by a large pithos with a preserved diameter of 1.40 m set up in an (indoor or outdoor) area bordered by walls. Also the large amount of burnt olive stones found in the corresponding layers and a large olive press in the neighbouring field indicate the production of olive oil.

Remains of a grave ritual in Trench 7C with burned figurines and pottery
[Credit: Hellenic Ministry of Culture]

Private house remains from the 2nd half of the 4th cent. BC found in 2018 in Field 9 (Trench 9A) in the core of the city were further investigated this year. It was revealed that the walls of this habitation context were dug into a large floor from a slightly earlier phase and that floors of stamped earth belong to the phase of the walls.

Remains of earlier constructions were not found in this trench. An extension of the trench to the west (after a gap of 3 m due to a modern water pipe) yielded the continuation of the building complex in several walls belonging to different construction phases, which witness of continued domestic activity including reuse and rebuilding trough a longer period of time.

Another trench (9B) was opened on the south-western end of the same field and revealed the first archaic construction remains ever found in the area of Old Sikyon. The four Archaic walls are arranged around an area which could have formed a courtyard. In the Classical period, more walls and a drain made of roof-tiles were constructed, which were covered in the late Classical/early Hellenistic period again by a larger drain carefully made of Π-shaped stone blocks.

Drone picture of Trench 7B with Classical building remains
[Credit: Hellenic Ministry of Culture]

In the eastern part of the trench, a boulder was installed earlier in the Classical period and surrounded by miniature vessels dating mainly to the 5th cent. BC, which indicates cultic activity. In the Hellenistic period the Π-shaped drain and its surroundings were covered and two perpendicular walls decorated with red- and yellow-painted stucco with a mortared pebble floor between them were installed. This representative private room indicates the sporadically continued use of the area for habitation also after the destruction of the old city.

3D documentation of the excavations was applied again by Toke Hansen (Museum of South-Eastern Denmark). For large-scale archaeobotanical studies, a particularly high number of 290 soil samples were collected and processed this year. In addition to that, samples for starch analysis were collected, particularly fragments from cooking and storage vessels, in order to investigate their content.

The 2019 field season was exceptionally rich in finds, many of excellent character, which were again processed at the Ephorate’s depot at Archaia Sikyona/Vasiliko. From Trench 3A particularly the Archaic grave goods have to be emphasized, but also the iron shoe frames as a special find. Furthermore, this trench yielded a high number of complete or partly complete vessels of all types, ranging from transport amphorae, vessels used for preparation and cooking of food and drinking cups in particular.

Part of a monumental building from the late Classical period in Trench 8A
[Credit: Hellenic Ministry of Culture]

From Trench 7A, the high amounts of storage vessels stand out, while the late Classical grave goods of Trench 7C along with the Attic lekythoi and the remains of a ritual pyre represent particularly excellent material, providing a proof for the existence of an independent and high-quality Sikyonian pottery production.

The grave goods from Trench 8A form an interesting Hellenistic ensemble. Trench 9B yielded a few fragments of Helladic pottery and many impressive fine-ware fragments from the Geometric, Archaic and Classical periods, indicating continuous activity in this area over a long period.

Also in terms of coins, the season was particularly yielding. They were studied again by Michael Ierardi (Bridgewater State University). All in all, 24 coins were found, most of which are from Sikyon (one from the 5th cent. BC and five to six from the 4th c. BC), others from other Greek states including Corinth, Salamis (Cyprus), Mykonos and Syracuse.

Removal of the large Byzantine pithos from Trench 8A
[Credit: Hellenic Ministry of Culture]

The stone objects were again studied by Pernille Foss (University of Copenhagen), some skeletons were investigated by Mette Arenfeldt (Museum of Southern Jutland) and the conservation of the most important finds was, as in previous years, taken over by the conservator Angeliki Kandri. In the framework of a Master’s thesis, Melanie Nguyen (University of Regensburg) studied the spolia from the former church of Agia Varvara in the southwest of the study area.

The geoarchaeological survey was continued by Chris Hayward (University of Edinburgh), who identified more rock varieties used in excavated structures and undertook further systematic surveys of exposures of bedrock within the Sikyonia to identify the types and exploitable volumes of construction stone available and traces of ancient quarrying. The results suggest that the high-quality oolitic limestone used in Old Sikyon originated from Corinthian, rather than Sikyonian sources, while calcarenite suitable for ashlar masonry is present near to the city’s location and plentiful supplies of conglomerate and local calcarenites were available for rubble construction.

The results of the 2019 campaign greatly enhance our knowledge of the private architecture of different phases of Old Sikyon including home decor and storage facilities, and of workshop arrangements. Moreover, a great range of important information about burial rites and practices over time, grave rituals, ancestors’ cult and burial monuments was collected.

Drone picture of Trench 9A with domestic structures
[Credit: Hellenic Ministry of Culture]

After the results of the 2019 season and the range of information gained in the field seasons of the first phase of the project, it would be particularly desirable to continue the research in Old Sikyon in a second project phase, in order to clarify the remaining important questions of topography, which concern the different parts of fortification, the more detailed form of the harbour and the harbour town and the inner organisation of the city including the city centre and the street grid, in order to gain a more thorough insight into Old Sikyon’s material culture, including the famous Sikyonian sculpture and local pottery, and in order to investigate the social and cultural practices of life in the old city over time.

The rich material collected in the field seasons 2015-2019 represents an excellent base for such studies, but needs to be complemented for both, a broader overview and a deeper insight.

Credit: Danish Institute at Athens [January 21, 2020]

Knights' Hall built by the Crusaders discovered in Western Syria

New archaeological finds were located at the sites of Amrit, Safita, and Marqab, in the Syrian Mediterranean province of Tartus, according to media in Damascus.

14th-century miniature from William of Tyre's Histoire d'Outremer of a battle during the Second Crusade,
National Library of France, Department of Manuscripts, French 22495 fol. 154V
[Credit: Combat Deuxieme Croisade]

In recent excavations, pottery and clay objects, an ancient grave and the exact location of the Knights' Hall, built by the Crusaders in the middle of the 12th century, were found, Marwan Hassan explained, head of the Archaeology Department in that province, 258 km northwest of the Syrian capital.

Hassan explained that the excavation it was found that the Talus “a diagonal wall” that was in fact part of an outer wall of the Knights' Hall and not part of the reinforcement wall of the gate.

The Tartous Archaeology Department managed to locate the Knights’ Hall that the
Crusaders built in the middle of the 13th century AD at Chastel Blanc's keep
[Credit: WikiCommons]

The expert indicated that these excavation works are extended to Al-Marqab Castle by a joint Syrian-Hungarian mission, where they found pottery sherds and other pieces by using the latest technological methods.

He also noted that, based on the importance of scientific research of the historical stages of the Syrian coasts, a Syrian-Russian team was formed to search for archaeological remains and sites in the waters off the city of Tartus and Arwad Island.

Those works, Hassan said, also include areas of Armit Beach, with modern surveying devices that will enable the advance of these studies this year.

Source: Prensa Latina [January 21, 2020]

Malta Survey Project finds ancient farm complex under Bidnija fields

A Ground Penetrating Radar installed during studies carried out in the Malta Survey Project discovered the presence of extensive buried structures in a number of Bidnija fields, believed to be those of a farm complex, or villa rustica, of Roman date. This discovery involved the joint effort of the University of Malta, the University of Ghent (Belgium) and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage between 2008 and 2012.

Fieldwalkers collecting artefacts from the surface of a Bidnija field
[Credit: Nicholas Vella, University of Malta]

The Olea Project, as it is being called, was presented by Prof Nicholas Vella from the Department of Classics and Archaeology at UM and David Cardona, Senior Curator of Phoenician and Roman Sites at Heritage Malta.

In this respect, a trilateral agreement between the University of Malta, Heritage Malta and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage was recently signed as a sign of collaboration in the study and conservation of a rural site in Bidnija with significant archaeological potential.

The Malta Survey Project was carried out to understand long-term development and exploitation of Malta’s countryside in ancient times – mainly through a field walking technique in which teams of archaeologists walked across open areas and fields, collecting artefacts, such as pottery fragments, from the surface.

Limestone vat, probably of Roman date in a field in Bidnija
[Credit: Nicholas Vella, University of Malta]

Until 2012, more than 60,000 artefacts consisting of fragments of pottery, worked stone, tile, marble, plaster, and glass were catalogued. ‘Hotspots’ with high artefact densities were identified in three fields situated around the Bidnija olive grove containing trees that are at least 1800-years-old. The remains of the farm complex lie below one of these fields. Preliminary studies have also indicated another buried structure in the vicinity which seems to be a sizeable underground cistern.

For many years, this area has been known for the presence of archaeological remains, including a stone vat that was probably meant for storing olive oil. Similar vats were discovered at the well-known Roman villa site of San Pawl Milqi located just half a kilometre away from Bidnija, above the village of Burmarrad.

The Lands Authority has now transferred the title of lease of the Bidnija site to Heritage Malta in order to protect the buried archaeological remains and the olive grove, and to facilitate research as part of the Olea project.

1,800-year-old olive grove in Bidnija [Credit: Nicholas Vella,
University of Malta]

University of Malta Rector, Prof. Alfred J. Vella, commended this agreement and said that such a project epitomises what universities should be doing; engaging with their partners in society and with important national agencies in order to generate knowledge.

He also noted the introduction of a modest sum in this year’s national budget dedicated to academic research at the University of Malta. In an area dominated for so long by foreigners, he insisted that it was due time for local scholars to assert a national research agenda independently whilst drawing up external collaboration when this is required.

Joseph Magro Conti, Superintendent of Cultural Heritage, welcomed this unprecedented agreement where the three entities are pooling resources to address research questions about an archaeological landscape. He declared that such projects will lead to a better working relationship between the entities. He also advocated the setting up of a formal research agenda so that the respective entities could work towards convergent aims, objectives and deliverables in a systematic manner.

An archaeologist doing ground-penetrating radar runs
[Credit: Nicholas Vella, University of Malta]

Heritage Malta CEO, Noel Zammit, explained that the Agency’s mission is to ensure that those elements of cultural heritage entrusted to it are protected and made accessible to the public. However, the real added value of this mission is the ability to do research and produce information about Malta’s cultural heritage that is disseminated to society in a timely manner. He explained that such collaborations with other entities are the way forward and more resources should be invested in support of such worthy initiatives.

Source: University of Malta [January 21, 2020]