Book Spotlight: Ugarit: Tales of a Lost City by Janet Tamaren

 

A captivating tale of bravery in the face of heartbreak and upheaval.

IN THE SPRING OF 1190 BC, on the sun-drenched shores of the eastern Mediterranean, the thriving city of Ugarit pulses with life, trade, and courtly intrigues. But danger brews beyond its walls.

Yoninah, a gifted healer, offers herbs and amulets to ease her neighbours’ suffering. When a Mycenaean – an ex-soldier from the Trojan War—stumbles into her life, he reawakens memories she thought long buried. Just as whispers of war echo ever closer.

Meanwhile, in the royal court, Thut-Moses is a scribe who was trained in the temples of Egypt. The king is paralyzed by ominous messages: foreign invaders are razing one coastal city after another. As the tide of destruction nears, Ugarit’s fate hangs in the balance.

Torn between loyalty and survival, love and duty, Yoninah and Thut-Moses must each decide: what will they risk to protect what the hold most dear?

Rich with historical detail and inspired by newly-translated cuneiform tablets unearthed form Ugarit’s ashes, UGARIT brings to life the final days of a cosmopolitan world on the brink of collapse – a sweeping tale of courage and resilience at the twilight of the Bronze Age.

Praise for Ugarit:

"A masterfully told tale-rich, riveting, and utterly transporting. I couldn't put it down."

★★★★★ - Historical Fiction Review

 

 Buy Link:

 Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bxpykq

 

Janet Tamaren is a retired physician who practiced for two decades in rural Kentucky. Now living in Denver with her husband, she enjoys writing and is the author of a medical memoir and a guide to Hebrew Bible stories. She began writing UGARIT during the COVID lockdown.

 Author Links:

 Website: https://jtamaren.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janet.tamaren

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtamaren/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B09FFKGWHM

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21709056.  Janet Tamaren MD

  

Beer Over Wine? New Find Indicates Bronze Age Greeks Imbibed Both Beverages!

Ancient Origins

Wine wasn’t the only drink popular with ancient Greeks, according to a new report. The discovery of two Bronze Age breweries suggests that beer was a popular choice for alcohol too.

 Researcher Tania Valamoti, an associate professor of archaeology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, expressed her surprise to Live Science, stating, “It is an unexpected find for Greece, because until now all evidence pointed to wine.” However, according to Greek Reporter, beer making may have reached Greece through their contact with people living in the eastern Mediterranean – where brewing was already widespread.

Wine boy at a Greek symposium. ( Public Domain )

Archondiko and Agrissa are the two locations were indications of buildings used for ancient beer brewing have been found. Both locations have markings of fire damage, but Valamoti said that this event helped in preservation. Approximately 100 individual sprouted cereal grains were unearthed at Archondiko as well as a two-roomed structure which may have been used to control temperatures in preparing mash and wort during the brewing process. 30 strange cups were also found near the sprouted grains, which may have been used with a straw to sip prepared beer.

About 3,500 sprouted cereal grains were found at Agrissa. These have been dated to the middle Bronze Age, unlike the Archondiko sprouted grains which are from the early Bronze Age. 45 cups, which may have been used to drink the beer, were also found near the sprouted grains at the Agrissa site.

The sprouted grains found at the sites may have been created during the malting process of beer making. The grains would then be roasted, coarsely ground and mixed with water to make wort, and finally fermented. Researchers say that the condition of the grains at Archondiko are also consistent with the effects of malting and charring.

A blend of milled malted barley for beer brewing. ( CC BY SA 3.0 )

 Valamoti feels confident that the archaeological remains suggest beer brewing was taking place at the Bronze Age sites, she said, “I'm 95 percent sure that they were making some form of beer. Not the beer we know today, but some form of beer.”

 However, it is worth noting that beer was not seen on the same level as wine in ancient Greece, as Valamoti also wrote in the study, as published in the journal Vegetation History and Archaeobotany:

“Textual evidence from historic periods in Greece clearly shows that beer was considered an alcoholic drink of foreign people, and barley wine a drink consumed by the Egyptians, Thracians, Phrygians and Armenians, in most cases drunk with the aid of a straw.”

Egyptian wooden model of beer making in ancient Egypt. ( CC BY 2.5 )

Although the Bronze Age beer brewing practices in Greece are an interesting prospect, they are certainly not the oldest example of beer making in the world. Ancient Origins has reported on several examples of beer drinking from well before the Bronze Age. Many beer recipes from hundreds or thousands of years ago have even been recreated. For example, recovered Sumerian, Chinese, and French recipes have all been tried by modern palates.

The oldest depiction of beer-drinking shows people sipping from a communal vessel through reed straws (Brauerstern)

Archaeological evidence of beer drinking has been found in civilizations throughout the ages and all over the world: an analysis of mummy hair shows ancient Peruvians enjoyed the alcoholic beverage with their seafood, Stone Age people seemed to prefer beer over bread, Medieval monks drank more beer than you can imagine, and corn beer was a popular choice in Mexico. Cheers!

Top Image: A glass of beer. Source: Public Domain

By Alicia McDermott

Skeleton Found in Scotland Was 4,000-Year-Old Bronze Age Farmer

Ancient Origins

Human remains discovered 138 years ago in Stirling, Scotland, have been identified as belonging to a Bronze Age farmer who worked the land more than four millennia ago. This makes the man officially the earliest known resident of the ancient capital of Scotland.

Radiocarbon Testing Establishes “Torbrex Tam” as Earliest Resident
The remains of the young man were discovered back in 1879, when workmen were digging for gravel hit the slabs of a stone-lined cist as Daily Record reports . The human skeleton was buried inside a chambered cairn – a burial monument usually constructed during the Neolithic – on land belonging to a market garden, in 1872. The remains were given to the Smith Museum in Stirling for safekeeping, while the burial monument, which is the oldest structure in Stirling, is now surrounded by houses in Coney Park. The farmer, who died in his twenties, was nicknamed “Torbrex Tam” after the area of Torbrex in Stirling.

Example of a cairn burial monument in Scotland ( CC by SA )

 Radiocarbon dating results have now officially verified that the young farmer’s remains date back to the Bronze Age, when Torbrex was a tiny community surrounded by water. Stirling archaeologist Murray Cook told Daily Record , “Torbrex Tam died around 2152 to 2021 BC. He is more than 4000 years old. He’s the oldest individual from Stirling.”

 Reconstruction of Tam’s Face Reveals Strong Resemblance to Modern Residents
While researchers were trying to accurately date Tam’s remains, a team of forensic scientists started reconstructing his face based on his skull. “His facial reconstruction is Stirling’s first recorded face. For anyone from Stirling, Tam is their oldest ancestor. I’m sure I’ve seen his face in people around the town,” Dr. Cook tells Daily Record .

Dr. Cook also added that for the past six months he has collaborated with Michael McGinnes of Stirling’s Smith Art Gallery and Museum, as well as with Dundee University forensic art and facial identification graduate Emily McCulloch from Stirling, who was the expert that carried out the work on Tam’s facial reconstruction.

Torbrex Tam; facial reconstruction carried out by Emily McCulloch.

It seems that forensic scientists from the University of Dundee have been doing an excellent job lately. As we recently reported in another article , elite forensic scientists from the University of Dundee, digitally reconstructed the face of one of Scotland's most notorious “witches”, Lilias Adie. The only documents that helped them with their demanding scientific work, were a few photographs of her skull. According to Dr. Christopher Rynn, who directed that reconstruction work, the process was a step-by-step anatomical interpretation: sculpting musculature and estimating features (eyes, nose, mouth, ears) individually from the skull.

Second Excavation at the Site Uncovered More Human Remains A second excavation of the burial monument conducted by Stirling Archaeological Society back in the early 1970s, unearthed another cist and the human remains of a second individual, possibly a female in her 20s as well. The second cist found during the same excavation works contained a pot and the skeleton of a child aged around four. “At the time, average life expectancy was probably mid to late 20s; life was short, nasty and brutish. Infant mortality was high. What we have here is probably an extended family. There are a number of other burials in the immediate environs,” Dr. Murray Cook told Record Daily

He added, “I think the cairn is a family vault that’s been in use for a period of between 200 and 500 years. Different generations would have been buried in the cairn. However, it’s difficult to know if Tam and the bones thought to be female are man and wife. They could have been, but they could be brother and sister. The child is unlikely to be theirs, but it might be a grandchild or great grandchild.”

An exhibition featuring objects associated with “Torbrex Tam” is scheduled to take place at the Smith Museum in 2018.

Top image: Torbrex Tam; facial reconstruction carried out by Emily McCulloch

By Theodoros Karasavvas

Rare Tomb Shows Bronze Age Mycenaean-era Nobleman had a Fondness for Jewelry

Ancient Origins

After 3,350 years, a Mycenaean-era nobleman’s tomb has been re-entered and his favored possessions have been seen by modern eyes. Archaeologists consider his burial an odd one, with grave goods and the style of the tomb standing out against others from his time.

 The tomb was discovered during excavations near Orchomenos, Boeotia, Greece. It was unearthed during the first year of a five-year joint program between the Ephorate of Antiquities of Boeotia/Ministry of Culture and Sports and the British School at Athens/University of Cambridge. According to Euronews, the tomb is “the ninth largest of its kind to be discovered out of around 4,000 excavated in Greece over the last 150 years.”

Recording the bones in the burial chamber’s interior. (Greek Culture Ministry)

 The tomb has a 20 meter (65.5 ft.) long rock-cut dromos (passageway) with rock cut benches covered in clay mortar. This hall leads to the 42 sq. meter (452 sq. ft.) burial chamber. It is believed the height to the pitched roof originally measured 3.5 meters ( 11.5 ft.) However, it has been proposed that the roof had already begun to fall apart in antiquity; which slightly moved the burial but also served as some protection for its contents from looters.

View of the Mycenaean-era tomb’s façade and the dry-stone masonry that sealed the entrance. (Ministry of Culture and Sports)

Upon entering the burial chamber, archaeologists found the remains of a man aged around 40-50 years old. Various grave goods were placed alongside his body: ten pottery vessels sheathed in tin, a pair of bronze snaffle-bits (a bit mouthpiece with a ring on either side used on a horse), and bow fittings and arrowheads. The most intriguing of the finds however is the collection of jewelry made of different materials, combs, a seal stone, and a signet ring. Unfortunately, images of the jewelry found in the tomb have yet to be released. Nonetheless, this provides a unique element to the burial, as jewelry was commonly believed to only have been placed in female burials in that period.

Bronze bits found in the Mycenaean-era tomb. (Giannis Galanakis)

The style of burial is also considered rare for Mycenaean chamber tombs. It’s far more common for archaeologists to find chamber tombs from this period which were used for multiple burials and contain grave goods, oftentimes looted or broken, from different generations.

A final factor which sets this burial apart is the lack of decorated Mycenaean pottery in the tomb. Only two small stirrup jars were found, yet this pottery style was popular at that time. With so many different elements to consider, researchers expect this discovery to greatly improve their understanding of the variety of funeral practices used in this region during the Mycenaean period.

One of the two decorated stirrup jars found in the Mycenaean-era tomb. (Giannis Galanakis)

The Mycenaean era was the last phase of the Bronze Age in Ancient Greece and is remembered for its palatial city-states, artwork, and writing. This period collapsed at the end of the Bronze Age, possibly due to the mysterious ‘people of the sea’ (or Sea People), Dorian invasion, or natural disasters and climate change – or some combination of these. Ancient Origins has previously reported about the impact the Mycenaean era had on ancient Greek literature and tomb building:

 “Homer writes that the Mycenaean era was dedicated to Agamemnon, the king who led the Greeks in the Trojan War. The Mycenaean’s were keen traders, establishing contacts with countries across the Mediterranean and Europe. They were also excellent engineers and are also known for their characteristic ‘beehive’ tombs which were circular in shape with a high roof, consisting of a single stone passage leading to a chamber in which the possessions of the tomb’s occupant were also laid to rest.”

Gold death-mask known as the “Mask of Agamemnon.” (Xuan Che/CC BY 2.0) Homer writes that the Mycenaean era was dedicated to Agamemnon.

The tomb’s excavators believe that the recently unearthed site can be linked to the palatial center of Mycenaean Orchomenos – “the most important Mycenaean center of northern Boeotia during the 14th and 13th centuries BC.” They also call the site “one of the best documented burial groups of the Palatial period in mainland Greece.”

 In 2015, Ancient Origins reported on another impressive Mycenaean-era discovery in Orchomenos. A pre-classical era Greek palace was found on Aghios Vassilios hill. Some researchers believe that this is the long-lost palace of Sparta.

The palace, which had 10 rooms, was probably built around the 17th to 16th centuries BC. Inscriptions written in Linear B script have also been found around that excavation site. They relate to religious practices and names and places. Archaeologists also discovered objects used for religious ceremonies, clay figurines, a cup adorned with a bull’s head, swords, and fragments of murals. Evidence suggests the palace was probably destroyed by fire at some point in the late 14th or early 13th century.

Mycenean Palace foundations at Orchomenus. (CC BY SA 4.0)

Top Image: Detail of the Mycenaean-era tomb’s façade and the dry-stone masonry that sealed the entrance. Source: Ministry of Culture and Sports

By Alicia McDermott

Did Dutch Invaders Wipe Out Bronze Age Britons During the Construction of Stonehenge?

Ancient Origins

A new gene study suggests that large groups of newcomers arrived in Britain during the building of Stonehenge, around 2500 BC. The new study also implies that the possible invaders could have gradually replaced the people who were constructing Stonehenge.

 Did Bronze Age Invaders Replace England’s Original Population 4,500 Years Ago?
It’s no secret that the people who built Stonehenge – undoubtedly the most significant prehistoric British monument – left behind a lasting legacy that will hopefully live for many centuries to come. A new study, however, suggests that the influence of those people wasn’t as significant in other fields of the nation’s history and culture. As the Guardian reports, their input into Britain’s gene pool appears to vanish at some point, possibly terminated by Bronze Age newcomers who invaded the lands of Britain while ancient Britons were constructing Stonehenge. According to the study, it’s very possible that during the end of Stonehenge’s building, these newcomers may have totally replaced the people who were building the iconic monument.

Were the creators of Stonehenge wiped out by Dutch invaders (public domain)

This surprising conclusion is the result of an immense gene study of humans in prehistoric Europe which clearly shows that around 2500 BC, large groups of people known to archaeologists as the “Beaker folk” arrived in Britain. Their DNA seems to be very similar to the people who occupied the Netherlands at the time, and they appear to genetically replace the ancient Britons during the construction of Stonehenge. “It is very striking. There seems to have been a complete replacement of the original folk of Britain with these newcomers. Normally you get some older DNA surviving with a wave of immigrants, even a fairly large wave. But you don’t see that in this case. Frankly it looks more like an invasion,” tells the Guardian Garrett Hellenthal, a statistical geneticist from the University College London.

The Mysterious Spread of the Beaker Folk Race and their Unique Pottery
The arrival and spread of the Beaker folk is one of the most mysterious puzzles of European prehistory. They most likely originated from modern-day Spain, but they would rapidly spread into central and western Europe while searching for valuable metals. A warlike tribe, Beaker folk people were mainly bowmen but were also armed with a flat, tanged dagger or spearhead of copper, and a curved, rectangular wrist guard. In central Europe they came into contact with the Corded Ware culture, which was also characterized by beaker-shaped pottery and by the use of horses and a shaft-hole battle-ax. The two cultures gradually intermixed and later spread from central Europe to eastern England.

Reconstruction of a Beaker burial, (National Archaeological Museum of Spain, Madrid). (Miguel Hermoso Cuesta/CC BY SA 4.0)

 The Beaker folk got their name from their distinctive pottery and their characteristic bell-shaped beakers, decorated in horizontal zones by finely toothed stamps and it is believed that their extensive search for copper and gold contributed greatly to the spread of bronze metallurgy in Europe. At the same time, this rapid spread of Beaker pots has been puzzling archaeologists for many years. On one hand, some suggest that the appearance of Beaker artifacts reflects a massive migration or even invasion of large groups of people who brought their ornaments and tools with them. On the other hand, there are those who believe that Beaker pots spread simply because they were seen as the artistic trend of the Bronze Age. As for the truth? Archaeologists remain divided over the matter to this day.

Ceramic beakers of the Beaker Culture (braasch-megalith.de)

Recent Study Partially Solves the Mystery
A recent gene study published on the website bioRxiv earlier this month, attempted to solve the mystery and to some extent, it appears to succeed doing so. Led by Iñigo Olalde and David Reich of Harvard Medical School, the study was one of the largest ancient genome analyses in recent history, involving more than a hundred scientists working at many research centers in different countries. Additionally, the study included analyses of more than a million pieces of DNA taken from remains found at burial sites of people who had lived across Europe between 4700 BC and 1200 BC. As it was expected, the results were impressive. An amazed Marc Vander Linden (archaeologist from University College London) told the Guardian, “In Europe, it was the pots – and other fashionable artefacts – that moved, not the people.” In other words, Linden declared that despite the massive spread of Beaker artefacts across Europe, there was no replacement of the human population; just a fashion trend.

However, in Britain things are different. The arrival of Beaker pots and artifacts coincided with the disappearance of the genes of the Stone Age people who had been inhabiting the region. Their genes were replaced with DNA associated with that of Beaker people, who have been traced to a region in the modern Netherlands. No evidence of battles have been found in the area, so we don’t know if this happened violently or gradually in a peaceful manner.

Ancient Briton DNA Became Extinct?
Pontus Skoglund, a Harvard Medical School geneticist suggests that the Stone Age farmers who were constructing Stonehenge at the time, were suddenly replaced by Beaker folk invaders, “The people who built Stonehenge probably did not contribute any ancestry to later people or, if they did, it was very little,” he told the Guardian. However, archaeologist Ben Roberts from Durham University appears to be a little more cautious about such conclusions, “There is no doubt that ancient DNA studies are redefining our prehistory, but this work is based on a fairly small sample. The conclusion that there was almost complete replacement of DNA at this time is pushing the data a bit too far. However, this has certainly triggered a renewed debate about the Beaker. We just need more data,” he said as the Guardian reports. His point found in agreement Linden who stated, “This apparent replacement is very striking, but it is possible our results are being skewed. In particular, the introduction of cremation at this time could have destroyed bones that would otherwise have provided DNA samples and which could change results. This is certainly not the end of the story.”

Top image: Ancient Britons by Nicholas Subkov.

 By Theodoros Karasavvas

Hobbyist Metal Detectorists Find Hoard of 3000-year-old Axes in Farmer's Field in Norway

Ancient Origins

Some 3,000 years ago, 24 axes were cached in Stjørdal municipality, about 44 km (27.3 miles) east of Trondheim. They're now seeing the light of day once again.

 In late April, a sensational discovery was made in a field in the village of Hegra, not far from the Trondheim International Airport in Værnes. Numerous axe heads, a knife blade and some fragments were lifted out of obscurity. The objects date back to the Late Bronze Age, approx. 1100-500 BC. 

Archaeologists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) University Museum and Nord-Trøndelag County Council unearthed the findings with the help of with six private metal detector hobbyists from the area.

 Found with metal detectors
Brothers Joakim and Jørgen Korstad from Stjørdal municipality made the first discoveries on this field in January this year. They found nine socketed axes (also called Celts), a spearhead, a casting mould, and a fragment of a possible bronze lur. The metal detector hobbyists contacted county archaeologist Eirik Solheim, who says that the brothers did everything right in the process of informing him about the finds.

One of the axe-heads after it was dug up. Credit: Eirik Solheim Between the two searches, the Hegra find now consists of 30 Bronze Age artifacts.

 "The 24 axes are a particularly special part of this discovery. There have never been so many axes in a single deposit before in Norway, and they're rare in the Scandinavian context," says archaeologist and researcher Merete Moe Henriksen in NTNU's Department of Archaeology and Cultural History

Hidden or sacrificed?
Archaeologists call this kind of find a hoard, when they uncover objects that have been hidden away or buried in the ground. It is still too early to say why the axes and other objects were buried 3000 years ago.

"There may have been religious reasons linked to a sacrifice, or they might have been cached temporarily, with the intention of recasting the metal later. This was a known practice in the Late Iron Age," says Henriksen.

The whole hoard of 24 axe heads and 6 other Bronze Age articles (Credit: Thehistoryblog)

Stjørdal municipality is one of the areas in central Norway that has a concentration of ancient rock art and rock carvings. Solheim has wished for a museum to showcase the rock art of the area.

"We know that there's been a lot of activity in this area, but we've lacked artefacts. Now this shows up and it's infinitely more than we could have asked for. It's so spectacular and totally cool," he says.

Archaeologists hope to get in one more excavation of the Hegra field this fall. This would help them to better understand the context of the findings, which would hopefully reveal more about why the objects were cached.

Top Image: Some of the original 9 axe heads or “Celts’ plus the spearhead found by the Korstad brothers. Source: Jorgen Korstad

The article, originally titled ‘Three-thousand-year-old axes found in farmer’s field in mid-Norway’ was originally published on Science Daily.

Source: The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). "Three-thousand-year-old axes found in farmer's field in mid-Norway." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 May 2017.

What English Site is So Favored that Human Activity Spans Across 12,000 Years There?

Ancient Origins

Archaeologists in England digging to investigate the site of a future highway have found evidence of human occupation going as far back as 12,000 years. They call it a favored spot for human activity through the millennia.

 The site in Lincolnshire has turned up flint tools from thousands of years ago, part of a Bronze Age barrow cemetery, evidence of Iron Age burials and roundhouses, a strong Roman-era presence, medieval features, and post-medieval structures.

A medieval era silver coin. (Lincolnshire County Council) “The archaeological work is already providing a fascinating glimpse into past communities, settlements and landscapes, illustrating that this area has been a continuously favoured spot for human activity from as far back as 12,000 years ago,” says a news release from the Lincolnshire County Council.

 The work is being done at the Lincoln Eastern Bypass highway.

In addition to high-status Roman buildings, there are field systems, a possible vineyard, and pottery kilns from the Roman era.

Pre-Christian burial with Roman pottery grave goods. (Emily Norton/The Lincolnite)

There is also a possible stone tower from the medieval age along with a monastic grange (farm) with a boundary wall and substantial stone buildings and stone-lined wells.

From the post-medieval era there are farm buildings and a water management system, in addition to yards.

A medieval well under excavation ( Lincolnshire County Council )

 Experts say the finds at the site are of national stature in England. There are still features to explore at the site, but so far it is the largest Mesolithic location ever found in Lincolnshire and among the largest in England.

Network Archaeology Ltd. is the company doing the excavations. Chris Taylor of Network Archaeology told LincolnshireLive :

“Potentially, the site could yield some very important discoveries. We've found signs of a high-status Roman building and, more interestingly, a possible Roman vineyard, which is rare north of the Home Counties.”

He said another big find was a cemetery from an as-yet unknown era near Washingborough Road that has 18 burials. The remains may be of a monastic order, Mr. Taylor said.

The company has also identified possible remains of a 12th century tower that could have been a fort from the time of the 1141 AD Battle of Lincoln. It’s possible it also may have been a beacon or a lookout to identify any hostile parties coming near the settlement.

A Roman bone pin. ( Lincolnshire County Council )

Councillor Richard Davies of Highways and Tranport told LincolnshireLive that it’s necessary to undertake archaeological work when building a new road “to find out what's gone on here for thousands of years for future generations to learn from and understand.”

It has been known for years that the River Witham Valley has been occupied for as long as the prehistoric era and was a focal point of activity. Scholars were aware that a medieval monastic grange was near the railway west of Washingborough.

 Of the Stone Age activity, the news release states:

What is certain is that the presence of the Mesolithic flints illustrates that small communities of hunter-fisher-gatherers were exploiting the natural resources present by the river and its creeks. The later Neolithic occupants of this area were the first settled farmers, and whilst we have found flint artefacts of this period, we have yet to find any evidence of their settlements, which were probably sited away from the river on higher, drier ground.

Bronze Age arrowhead. ( Lincolnshire County Council )

 The entire length of the roadway will be investigated. This section between River Witham and Washingborough Road will end early this year, but other sites along the route will be explored later.

Top image: The site includes a cemetery of 18 humans buried from east to west in the Christian fashion from an as-yet undated era. As of press time, bits of bone have been sent off for radio carbon dating. Source: Lincolnshire County Council

By Mark Miller

Construction Site in Scotland Yields 3,000-Year-Old Bronze Sword and Golden Spearhead

Ancient Origins

A precious hoard of amazing ancient artifacts, including a bronze sword and a rare gold-decorated spearhead have been found in Scotland. From preliminary examination, archaeologists estimate that the valuable artifacts could be 3,000 years old.

 The “Find of a Lifetime”
GUARD Archaeologists, who led the excavation on behalf of Angus Council, described the discovery as the “find of a lifetime”. The horde of Late Bronze Age weapons, which was unearthed at a Scottish construction site, includes a gold-decorated spearhead, and a bronze sword in extremely good condition.

The Bronze Age hoard as it was first revealed during excavations. Photo credit: GUARD Archaeology

The artifacts were spotted during an archaeological evaluation in a field in Carnoustie ahead of the construction of two football pitches. The valuable artifacts were found in a pit close to a Bronze Age Settlement currently being excavated by the archaeologists, which GUARD Archaeology describes as a “rare and internationally significant discovery.” GUARD Project Officer Alan Hunter Blair, who directed the excavation, said, “It is very unusual to recover such artefacts in a modern archaeological excavation, which can reveal so much about the context of its burial. Owing to the fragile nature of these remains when we first discovered them, our team removed the entire pit, and the surrounding subsoil which it was cut into, as a single 80 kg block of soil,” and adds, “This was then delivered to our Finds Lab where it was assessed by a specialist finds conservator to plan how it could be carefully excavated and the artefacts conserved.”

The Immense Archaeological Significance of the Weapons
Just like Homer’s Iliad, as Alan Hunter Blair rightfully mentions, the earliest Celtic myths often highlight and worship the brilliance of heroic weapons as well. The spearhead was found next to a bronze sword, a pin, and sheath fittings. All objects date to around 1,000 BC to 800 BC, and have delighted archaeologists who consider them to be particularly significant from an archaeological point of view, even though they all agree that the gold-decorated spearhead is the one that stands out the most. “The earliest Celtic myths often highlight the reflectivity and brilliance of heroic weapons,” explained Blair in an interview with the BBC. “Gold decoration was probably added to this bronze spearhead to exalt it both through the material’s rarity and its visual impact.

The gold spearhead found in the Bronze Age hoard. Photo credit: GUARD

Archaeology Rare Organic Remains
Also Found The finds include a leather and wooden sheath – now considered to be the best preserved Late Bronze Age sheath ever found in Britain – that enveloped the sword. The archaeologists also found fur skin wrapped around the spearhead, and textile around the pin and sheath, which makes the finds even more interesting due to the fact that organic items of this kind rarely survive for so long in the ground. “Organic evidence like Bronze Age wooden scabbards rarely survive on dryland sites so this just underlines how extraordinary these finds are,” said GUARD Project Officer, Beth Spence, in a statement as Fox News reports.

 Finds Reveal Information about Local Bronze Age Community
Angus Council communities’ convener Donald Morrison added: “It is clear that Carnoustie was as much a hive of activity in Neolithic times as it is now. The discoveries made on land destined for sporting development have given us a fascinating insight into our Angus forebears and I look forward to learning more about our local prehistory.” In other words, Morrison clearly implies that the hoard is not an isolated find as some might originally thought, but was buried within a Late Bronze Age settlement, which means that it will be possible to examine the archaeological context of the hoard, revealing new information about the local Bronze Age people that buried it. The Carnoustie Bronze Age hoard is now undergoing further examination by a group of experts from across Britain, led by GUARD Archaeology, to unlock more information about the rare artifacts and the context of their burial, which may explain why this hoard was buried here.

Top image: The bronze sword discovered during excavations at Carnoustie. Photo credit: GUARD Archaeology.

By Theodoros Karasavvas

Enormous 3,000-Year-Old Gold Torc Unearthed in England May Have Been Worn By Pregnant Woman

Ancient Origins

A lucky metal detectorist has found a huge Bronze Age gold torc or circular belt that is being called the greatest archaeological find in England for more than 100 years, says a story about the find in The Guardian. The torc is almost pure gold, and experts believe it was fashioned more than 3,000 years ago. The article says an expert believes that the torc or gold ring is so big that a pregnant woman may have worn it around her expansive waist. The person with the metal detector, who is not being named, found the 730-gram (25.75 ounces or 1 pound 9.75 ounces) torc within 50 miles (80.5 kilometers) of Must Farm, a highly important Bronze Age village that burned and was preserved in the peat of a marsh. However, the exact siteor even type of site where the detectorist found the torchas not been identified.

 The type of torc resembles one found in 1844 in Grunty Fen, which is not far from Cambridgeshire. That torc, found by a man cutting peat, is in the collection of Cambridge University’s museum of archaeology. The one from 1844, however, was coiled up, unlike the huge torc found recently.

This gold torc, now in Cambridge University’s archaeology museum, was found by a peat cutter in 1844, also near Cambridgeshire, not far from where the latest find was made. (Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology photo)

Archaeologists reported the discovery to the local finds liaison official Helen Fowler of the Treasure and Portable Antiquities schemes of the British Museum. The Guardian says recent finds of 1,008 treasures and 82,272 archaeological objects have been reported in England and Wales. This latest find is considered a national treasure, not just an archaeological object. The Guardian reports that Ms. Fowler described herself as “gobsmacked” by the torc when the person who found it produced it from a briefcase. She has handled torcs before, but the most recent one she had touched was sized for a wrist.

Most torcs are about the size to fit a neck. But this one was far too big to weigh on her scale, and she had to carry it back to her office from Peterborough Museum, where she had met with the finder. Neil Wilkin, a curator of the Bronze Age at the British Museum, called the torc’s craftsmanship astonishing and said it apparently was made from a bar of gold, twisted and burnished, its gaps between each twist measured precisely.

The Great Torc, Snettisham, buried around 100 BC. The torc is one of the most elaborate golden objects from the ancient world. It is made from gold mixed with silver and weighs over 1 kg. (CC by SA 3.0)

Some bigger torcs are believed to have been worn as belts, but this one is bigger than a huge man’s waist. Wilkin thought maybe this one had been worn by a woman far along in pregnancy as protection or to give an animal about to be sacrificed extra significance. He said this torc is big enough to fit a sheep or a goat. No torc has ever been found buried with human remains, so it is thought they were associated with life rather than objects to accompany the dead.

Throughout history and prehistory all over the world, many valuable goods have been found in graves, but never a torc in the British Isles. “The torc is still being valued, but it is hoped Ely Museum will acquire it, with the reward shared between finder and landowner,” The Guardian article states. “The slightly shorter and lighter Corrard torc, found in Northern Ireland, was valued at up to £150,000 three years ago.” That is about 187,200 U.S. dollars as of November 2016.

 Featured image: A golden torc found by a metal detectorist may be worth upwards of $200,000. (PA photo by Dominic Lipinski)

By Mark Miller

Santorini Eruption: New theory Says ‘Pyroclastic Flows’ Caused Devastating Bronze Age Tsunamis

Ancient Origins

Take the ferry to the beautiful Greek islands of Santorini and you will sail into a truly unique landscape forged by a cataclysm towards the end of the Bronze Age. From either the north or south your ship will leave the brilliant blue seas of the Aegean and enter a natural harbor flanked by majestic cliffs. Ferries pass between the large island of Thira and the smaller island of Thirasia, while straight ahead a small island in the center of the natural harbor, Nea Kameni, looks like a molehill surrounded by mountains.

 It is on Nea Kameni, among hot springs and sulphurous vents, that you can begin to understand the natural history and formation of this island. The harbor, the cliffs, the elegant white houses with blue roofs; all are part of a huge volcano.

Sometime during the mid-second millennium BC, Santorini erupted. It was one of the biggest volcanic events in human history. In the past 800 years, only Mount Tambora in Indonesia has erupted with such force, and Tambora was responsible for a global “year without a summer” in 1816. The eruption sent devastating tsunamis across the eastern Mediterranean that smashed into the Minoans on Crete, at the time one of the world’s most advanced civilizations . The Santorini volcano is a caldera, a type of volcano that erupts so violently that its middle collapses in on itself forming a huge crater. How this crater came to be is the focus of a new paper in Nature Communications by Paraskevi Nomikou and colleagues. They have published high-resolution seabed maps and combined these with seismic evidence for what rocks the seabed is made of in the caldera to explain how the volcano collapsed, filled with water and might have produced tsunamis.

The Santorini Caldera. Photo Source: ( CC BY 2.0 ) Prior to the eruption, the modern caldera did not exist. Instead a smaller caldera, from a much older eruption, formed a lagoon at the north of the solitary island. Near the modern town of Akrotiri stood a Minoan settlement, a bustling town with three-storey buildings, narrow streets and courtyards, quite different from the palace complexes found in the Minoan homeland of Crete. The prehistoric Akrotiri may have been home to hundreds or thousands of people, and was probably an important trading port for the eastern Mediterranean.

Fresco ship procession or flotilla. Frieze from the West House. ( Public Domain ) The eruption first blasted ash high into the sky , which settled back down onto the settlements and farmland. This terrifying but not immediately catastrophic stage might have given the locals early warning and caused them to abandon the island (no bodies have been found among the archaeology, which implies residents probably fled).

As the ash continued to be thrown into the air, the island would have been eerily dark with fragments falling from the sky – imagine a severe rainstorm, but of ash and dust. As the ash column grew to its full height it entered the stratosphere and began to spread out and drift east. Ash from this eruption has been found in Turkey, the Aegean islands and Crete.

In the next stage of the eruption pyroclastic flows, hot landslides of volcanic material that travel faster than F1 cars, charged out of the volcanic cone building up large fans that blocked the northwest straits and isolated the caldera from the Mediterranean Sea.

 The eruption continued to increase in violence with multiple cones sending out considerable amounts of pyroclastic flows. Deposits of these flows reach 60 meters thick (the height of around 14 double decker buses) and engulfed the Minoan settlement at Akrotiri, creating a Bronze Age Pompeii and a spectacular window into an ancient civilization in the 1600s BC.

It is during this stage that Nomikou and colleagues propose that tsunamis would have been generated. In Crete, 120km away, a nine-meter-high wave tore up the northern side of the island leaving devastation and debris in its wake. The waves may have reached western Turkey and even Israel .

 The seas eventually settled, the eruption ended, and the modern caldera began to form. Erosion by the sea and a catastrophic landslide opened the north-west strait, filling the caldera from the surrounding Mediterranean in a couple of days; further landslides into this full caldera formed the southwestern straits. Completing the modern geography would take several thousand years more as the island of Nea Kameni, an active volcano, gradually erupted above sea-level.

While catastrophic, terrifying and probably life-changing for large numbers of people, the Minoans themselves didn’t die out . Though Santorini was not recolonized, evidence from pottery shows civilization on Crete continued for several generations. However, as a society built on maritime trade the loss of the port of Santorini, which had direct links to the important bronze-producing island of Cyprus, might have diminished their position among the trading powers of the eastern Mediterranean.

Top image: Santorini eruption ( 7reasons.net)

The article ‘ Santorini eruption: new theory says ‘pyroclastic flows’ caused devastating Bronze Age tsunamis ’ by Matthew Pound was originally published on The Conversation and has been republished under a Creative Commons license.

Bringing a Bronze Age Face to Light: Face of the Greek Griffin Warrior

Ancient Origins

Researchers believe that a Bronze Age skeleton found near the Mycenaean palace of Nestor was once a handsome man with long black hair. Their reconstruction of his appearance was based on an analysis of his skull and an artifact recovered in his rich grave. This is just the latest in discoveries related to the burial of the so-called Griffin Warrior.

The facial reconstruction was one of the topics presented on October 6, 2016 at The American School of Classical Studies at Athens, Greece. Themanews.com reports that the image of the Griffin warrior’s face was created by Lynne Schepartz and Tobias Houlton from the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Schepartz and Houlton based their reconstruction on the man’s skull and a stamp which was found alongside his remains. Sharon R. Stocker, one of the University of Cincinnati archaeologists who unearthed the tomb in 2015, said the stamp provided an inspiration for the long black hair shown in the representation and “It seems he was a handsome man.” That stamp is one of the artifacts Stocker and the rest of the team will make public next year.

Some of the jewelry recovered from the grave. (Griffin Warrior Tomb)

The grave of the 30- 35-year-old warrior was discovered by Sharon Stocker and Jack Davis, another University of Cincinnati archaeologist, during their 2015 excavations at the Palace of Nestor on Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula. The man was buried in a shaft grave that measured 5 ft. (1.5 meters) deep, 4 ft. (1.2 meters) wide, and 8 ft. (2.4 meters) long.

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According to Themanews.com, the Griffin Warrior’s grave was intact except for the one-ton stone which had crushed the wooden coffin containing the man’s remains. When April Holloway wrote of the discovery for Ancient Origins she said that the unplundered tomb predates the palace of Nestor and contained many intriguing artifacts.

Looking inside the Griffin Warrior tomb, complete with the fallen stone. (Griffin Warrior Tomb)

Apart from his weapons - a bronze sword with a gold and ivory handle and a gold-hilted dagger, Holloway wrote that the archaeologists found “gold rings, an ornate string of pearls, 50 Minoan seal stones carved with imagery of goddesses, silver vases, gold cups, a bronze mirror, ivory combs, an ivory plaque carved with a griffin [from which the tomb received its name], and Minoan-style gold jewelry decorated with figures of deities, animals, and floral motifs.”

Artifacts within the grave. (Griffin Warrior Tomb)

The four gold rings which were found in the tomb also made the news recently for their magnificent craftsmanship and the tales that accompany their designs.
The rings were crafted with multiple sheets of gold by a skilled person who managed to create highly detailed Minoan iconography on the small artifacts. At first, it was believed that the rings and some of the other artifacts showing Minoan themes were loot from a raid of Crete, however further study suggests that they may be examples of Mycenaean-Minoan cultural transfer instead.

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As Jack Davis, told EurekAlert!:

“People have suggested that the findings in the grave are treasure, like Blackbeard's treasure, that was just buried along with the dead as impressive contraband. We think that already in this period the people on the mainland already understood much of the religious iconography on these rings, and they were already buying into religious concepts on the island of Crete. This isn't just loot […] it may be loot, but they're specifically selecting loot that transmits messages that are understandable to them.”

The researchers also said that “it is no coincidence that the Griffin Warrior was found buried with a bronze bull's head staff capped by prominent horns, which were likely a symbol of his power and authority.”

One of the four gold rings found in the tomb of the Griffin Warrior depicts a leaping bull. (Jennifer Stephens/University of Cincinnati)

Finally, Davis told the New York Times that they are uncertain if the warrior was buried by Minoans or Mycenaeans who had adopted elements of Minoan culture. He said, “Whoever they are, they are the people introducing Minoan ways to the mainland and forging Mycenaean culture. They were probably dressing like Minoans and building their houses according to styles used on Crete, using Minoan building techniques.”
Top Image: Facial Reconstruction of the so-called ‘Griffin Warrior.’ Source: Tornosnews
By Alicia McDermott