Archaeological News August 13, 2023 There seems to be a lot going on in archaeology this month. Since this is one of my interests I decided to cover it. It is amazing what is being found, especially when it is something which currently can’t be explained. The first thing I want to talk about falls into that category. Archaeologists find many stone tools. There is a story about giant axes which were found and dated millions of years ago. I only mention this because something similar has happened. While conducting a dig, archaeologists found some stone tools. This in itself was not that unusual, but one of the tools was massive and said to be too heavy to be used. The archaeologists had dug down about 3 meters, and at that point they found many stone tools dated at about 300,000 years. Knowing what humans were around at the time they felt the stone hand axes were far too heavy for normal humans and Neanderthals to use. That begs the question, who were they made for, or who made them? We all know how incredible the ruins at Greece are, and how fantastic the construction was, but I wonder how many people know there were even older ruins under the Acropolis? When we think about the age of the Acropolis it is hard to imagine it was built on top of other structures. There is an entire neighborhood down there. It is now believed humans inhabited that area around 3,500 B.C. The experts discovered a thriving community which had workshops, houses and cemeteries in the area which were functioning until the 9th century B.C. The area at the time up to the 8th century was outside the city at the time which was fortified. Archaeologists have made a discovery and it concerns the city of Hala Sultan Tekke, Cyprus. A discovery has been made where gold ornaments and fine pottery were discovered in this ancient seaport. The items have been dated to as far back as 3,000 years, which the archaeologists believe show what an important trading hub this city was. Some of the Cypriot pottery was the most popular in the world at the time. Only about 10% of the site has been exposed so far, so there are a lot of excited archaeologists continuing to dig there. Many of us know about Sampson and Delilah. Sampson was given great strength by God and had it taken away when he fell for Delilah, but in the end he was given it back and died destroying the temple of a false god. Some very interesting mosaics have been discovered in a dig in Galilee. So far some of the mosaics depict Noah’s Ark, parting of the Red Sea and other biblical tales. Then there is the latest find and it depicts Sampson. The dig is known as the Huqoq excavation project. Where is the last place one would expect to discover ancient tombs? Could it be in the middle of a desert? Tombs have been found which date back at least 2,500 years in the Negev Desert. A pipeline for water was being constructed in the area when the workmen came to a crossroads where two tombs containing about 50 skeletons were found. Interestingly, it seems the bodies were deposited in the tombs at different times. There is a puzzle about why the tombs were there since they were not near any settlement. Objects have been found in the tombs which range from ancient texts, sea shells and other things. Think the United States is not an ancient country? You might be right if you are only considering when we settled it in relatively modern times, but there was plenty of human life here way before we showed up. Archaeologists have found evidence there was human life in Oregon over 18,000 years ago. The government has completed a study which they say proves people inhabited Rimrock Draw Rockshelter in Oregon. The date they got was more accurately 18,250 years. They found rock tools, and one had Bison blood on it. They also found Bison and Camel teeth from cooking fires. Before this find the oldest date for habitation was 16,000 years from a site in Idaho. Archaeologists were thrilled when they found an unknown marble slate. The reason was it had Roman inscriptions on it and they were not just any inscriptions, they chronicled the journeys of Emperor Hadrian. This was an incredible piece of Roman history. Hadrian ruled from 117 to 138 A.D. The engravings are from 128 A.D. The slate was found south of Rome in the Ostia Antica archeological park. Hadrian is famous for among other things the wall he built in England which is known as Hadrian’s Wall. Scientists have said they have conducted DNA testing and found that modern Greeks are descendants of the Mycenaeans. A study was conducted in 2017. The Mycenaeans ruled Greece from 1,600 to 1,200 B.C. Scientists had analyzed the genes from the teeth of nineteen people found in sites on mainland Greece and Crete. Archaeologists claim to have found the very oldest Neanderthal cave paintings. Forget those paintings from 25,000 years ago, well don’t forget them just set them aside for now, the latest Neanderthal cave paintings date back an incredible 75,000 years ago. Who would have thought? The cave was found in France. The cave is named Roche-Cotard cave. This has really upset the timeline of what we believed about the Neanderthals and also proves they were not the brainless brutes they were first thought to be. It seemed they would scrape their fingers and hands across the soft cave walls, and the markings were protected from the elements. Washington state was the center of a new discovery. It seems people have been using ovens a lot longer than most of us suspect. Ovens dating back over 5,000 years have been found near Newport. When the Kalispel tribe purchased some land to build homes upon they discovered the ovens. Archaeologists were called and they examined and dated the find. When we think of Stonehenge or even stonehenges, we think of England and possibly France and even Spain, we don’t normally think of the Netherlands, but this is where a Stonehenge has been found. The site found not only a stone henge, but graves of about 60 people and that the site was a solar calendar. The henge was dated to 4,000 years ago. It was discovered in the town of Tiel. It is the first time a site like this was discovered in the Netherlands.
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