Amazing Archaeological Finds British archaeologist had a pleasant surprise when they unearthed a Roman stable and it was still full of weapons. Archaeologists were examining Hadrian’s Wall. This Roman wall defended England from the northern barbarians. The wall stretched from the East to the West and every once in a while, there was a fortification in it. This might be what we would call a base today. The Roman Army was quite advanced for its time, it even had hospitals and the Romans had figured out some people had to be quarantined, because they had certain diseases so there were sections of the hospital just for this. Roman soldiers had a longer lifespan than civilians, because they received medical treatment when they needed it. It turns out the stable which the archaeologists found was built before the wall existed and the weapons found in it in and the barracks were pristine shape. What really excited the archaeologists was the fact they found two cavalry swords and there were also wooden toy swords. Archaeologists are excited about the fact that these things were left behind and would love to know why. It seems these soldiers had to leave in a hurry. This is just another one of history’s mysteries. The stable and barracks were discovered in a place which nobody had previously thought to look. It was found under a fourth century stone fort. The fort is in Vindolanda, North Cumberland. They realized there was something under the fort when they lifted out a piece of concrete flooring. They began to dig and as they did they discovered eight rooms, stables and accommodations for over one thousand soldiers. Archaeologists were shocked at how well preserved everything was. They found things which they said would have normally rotted away. One archaeologist said finding something like this was the equivalent for an archaeologist of winning a lottery. Well it seems television shows like the one named Vikings had it right and archaeologists had it wrong. There was a discovery of the remains of what is believed to be a powerful male Viking. To the chagrin of the archaeologists the remains turned out to be not those of a man, but of a woman. She was buried with her weapons and two horses and was believed to be a leader and a warrior. The television show Vikings shows women being trained to be warriors and taking part in great battles. Apparently the show may have been absolutely correct and women may have battled right next to men in the Viking raids. Some of the weapons buried with her consisted of a sword, an ax, a spear, armor piercing arrows, a knife and shields. On her lap is a sort of board game which was used to plan battles. This particular grave was first excavated in the late 1800s but the body was not DNA tested until recently and this is when it was found to be the body of a woman. The Egyptians announced a recent discovery which was found when they entered a burial shaft. The shaft was located in Luxor, Egypt and the discovery was made on September 9, 2017. They discovered a pharaonic grave which belong to a royal Goldsmith who lived 3,500 years ago. The Goldsmith had dedicated his work to the ancient Egyptian God Amun. While this discovery was not that of royalty, Egypt wanted the headline to appear in the news, because they hope to revitalize the tourist industry which has fallen off quite a bit lately. The tourist industry in Egypt accounts for a large part of their income. The tomb which was found also has another shaft. Interestingly between the mummies of the Goldsmith and his wife stands a smaller figure of one of his sons. There are also wooden funeral masks and a collection of statues of the couple. At the time, the Goldsmith was buried, Amun was the most powerful Egyptian deity. When we think of ancient civilizations one tends to think of Egypt, India, China and even Greece and Rome. We usually don’t think of Canada having an ancient civilization, but it turns out they did. The Heiltsuk Nation is a tribe of indigenous people who live in British Columbia. According to the stories this tribe passes down they may have been in Canada even before the Ice Age. These stories were never taken very seriously by the outside world, but now things have changed. One of the tribe’s villages was found, or should I say the remains of the village and it turns out to be ten thousand years older than the pyramids. It also proved the tribe has been around even before that, because the village was on a coastal area and tribal stories say the tribe had moved there so they wouldn’t freeze during the Ice Age. This means they were probably somewhere else in Canada before that. Sometimes places are just forgotten after they were victims of some natural disaster. Such was the case for the ancient Roman city of Neapolis. The city had been hit by a tsunami about 1,700 years ago and landed up under the water. When underwater archaeologists found it, they couldn’t believe their eyes. They were complete streets along with monuments and even giant tanks which were used produce the traditional Roman fish sauce known as garum. The archaeologists say this was a major discovery which allowed them to establish the fact the city was a major center for the manufacture of garum and salted fish and might have even been the largest center for this in the Roman world. The ruins of the city cover almost 50 acres. Scientists believe the tsunami was caused by an earthquake which was so powerful it pushed parts of Crete by 33 feet. One would think by now we would know who all the pharaohs of Egypt were, but this isn’t the case. The head of a statue was found which was over 4,300 years old and this head was that of a pharaoh which was unknown. They know it was a pharaoh, because the head bears the marks of a pharaoh which are a cobra on the forehead and a short wig. The archaeologists claim this statue was deliberately destroyed and believe it was done in Hazor, northern Israel, because this is where the head was found. Archaeologists have no idea how the head ever got to Hazor. They also claim the statue was destroyed one thousand years after it was created. Apparently, there have been quite a few broken Egyptian statues found at this site, which has amazed archaeologists. Many of the statues seem to be those of sphinxes and the statues all seem to have been destroyed on purpose. |
