Unique Discovery Made in Egyptian Necropolis

Ancient Origins

Czech archaeologists have unearthed an 18 meter (59.1 ft.) long boat near a tomb of an unknown member of the Old Kingdom’s elite class in Abusir (Abu-Sir), Egypt. The boat was found in a good state of preservation and there are hopes that the new discovery will help to increase Egyptologists’ understanding of the purpose of ships in funerary rites and shipbuilding techniques of the Old Kingdom.
The archaeologists are from the Czech Institute of Egyptology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University in Prague, and have said that the boat is unique and in good condition - many of the boards and pegs have even been found in their original positions. The report on the iFORUM site of Charles University explains that:

“Extraordinarily, the desert sand has preserved the plant fiber battens which covered the planking seams. Some of the ropes that bound the boat together are also still in their original position with all their details intact, which is a unique discovery in the study of ancient Egyptian boats. All these minute details are of the highest importance, since most of the ancient Egyptian boats and ships have survived either in poor state of preservation, or were dismantled in pieces.”

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities told the press that the remains of the ship were found on top of stones, and its orientation, length, and the pottery collected from its interior have led the team to date the boat to the very end of the Third or beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, approximately 2550 BC.

Work at the Abusir Old Kingdom necropolis site, where Czech archaeologists discovered an ancient funerary boat. ( Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities )

At the moment, the archaeologists remain uncertain to whom the ship pertained, but they have made the assumption that it was a member of the elite class. They do not believe it was a part of the royal family however: “Although the name of the mastaba owner has not yet been identified due to the bad preservation condition of the shrine, the boat wreck shows that he was a very important man in the royal palace - a top official or a close person to the king but not a royal family,” Minister of Antiquities, Mamdouh Eldamaty, told Ahram Online .

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Eldamaty also “described the discovery as “important” because it is the first time that such a boat has been found at Saqqara necropolis.” He added that “Most of the previously uncovered Old Kingdom boats are in a very bad preservation condition except those of King Khufu.”

The reconstructed Khufu ship. Giza, Egypt. ( CC BY SA 3.0 )

The practice of burying boats near mastabas began in the Early Dynastic Period. However, as Czech Egyptology Institute head Miroslav Barta notes, the Abusir boat is a very special discovery because it was not found beside a royal tomb.
He told the press , “It is really a very unusual find since vessels of this size and structure were designated only for the most significant members of society then, which were those from the royal family.”
Although they are less popular than the Khufu ships, another example of important ancient Egyptian watercraft is the Abydos boats . These consist of 14 vessels that were discovered in 2000, which are believed to have been built around 3000 BC. The Abydos boats are the oldest of their kind found to date.

Some of the Abydos boats in their brick-built graves. ( Maritimehistorypodcast.com)

The boat in Abusir was found in the south cemetery of mastaba AS 54. Czech archaeologists have been working at the Abusir site since 2009. They believe that the boat was probably used in ancient Egyptian funerary rituals. However, the purpose of the boats as funerary vessels remains a point of debate. The question is, how did they serve the dead in their afterlives – as a means of transport? Or, perhaps, they were associated with Ra’s voyage in his solar ship .

The Abusir necropolis. ( Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities )

Apart from the role of ships in funerary rituals, the team believes that the good preservation of the boat will be helpful in understanding more about shipbuilding practices in the Old Kingdom. Barta is also hopeful that the boat discovery will lead the way for more findings. “This suggests the potential for additional discoveries during the next spring season,” he said in the Charles University report

Charles University also reports that “During the 2016 season, the Czech Institute of Egyptology will launch a project, together with experts from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology (INA) at Texas A&M University, to study the techniques used in the hull’s construction.”
Featured Image: The Abusir boat.  Source: Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities
By: Alicia McDermott

Remnants of ancient necropolis excavated in Black Sea city in Turkey

Ancient Origins

A necropolis is being excavated at a veritable crossroads of ancient civilizations, in Sinop, Turkey. Workers found remnants of the 4^th century BC city of the dead while building a culture center in the ancient city on the Black Sea.
The necropolis dates to the 4^th century BC, and many artifacts have been found, including amphorae, pottery, scent bottles and Greek coins.
Construction of the culture center has stopped while archaeologists excavate the necropolis, a word meaning “city of the dead.”
“We have also unearthed findings related to the Jewish faith in the west of the necropolis area. Works have been continuing,” said Sinop Museum Director Hüseyin Vura.
Sinop Governor Yasemin Özata Çetinkaya said finds like this are often made in Sinop as “the city is located on really historic land.”

A sea wall in modern Sinop (Photo by Aramgar/Wikimedia Commons)

“It is exciting that these valuables which have remained underground for 6,000 years are now being presented to humanity. When the excavations are done, the findings will be removed and the construction of the culture center will continue here. The findings will be displayed in the museum,” the governor said. “If it is approved, we can display these findings in an area in the culture center. Then the center will work as a natural museum. There are many examples of it in Turkey and the world. This is the most-preferred method.”
Sinop has a rich history of Turkish, Greek, Hittite and other peoples.

“According to legend, Sinope was founded by the Amazons, who named it for their queen, Sinova,” writes the Encyclopedia Britannica. “The city’s ancient inhabitants ascribed its foundation to Autolycus, a companion of Hercules. Destroyed by the wandering Cimmerians, it was refounded toward the end of the 7th century bce by a colony of Milesians. It ultimately became the most flourishing Greek settlement on the Euxine (Black) Sea. As a terminus of the trade routes from Upper Mesopotamia, it commanded much of the maritime trade of the Pontic region and by the 5th century bce had established many colonies on the coast and enjoyed naval supremacy in the Black Sea. In 183 bce it was taken by Pharnaces I and became the capital of the Pontic kings. Under Mithradates VI Eupator, who was born there (as was the 4th-century-bce founder of the Cynic sect, Diogenes), it enjoyed a high degree of prosperity and was embellished with fine buildings, naval arsenals, and well-built harbors. The Roman general Lucius Licinius Lucullus captured the seaport in 70bce, and the city was nearly destroyed by fire.”

Other ancient monuments and structures in Sinop include a ruined citadel that was reconstructed during the Seljuk and Byzantine eras, and from early Greece and Rome inscribed stones in walls and isolated columns

Greek coins like this one of Pontus have been found in the necropolis (Photo by CNG Coins/Wikimedia Commons)

Though people lived in the area long before recorded history, before the New Stone Age, scholars believe the city of Sinop was founded by Hittites, who gave it that name. From 1400 to 1200 BC the Hittites had one of the great civilizations, from Syria, to northern Mesopotamia to central Turkey.

A ruin at the coast of Sinop (Photo by Michael F. Schonitzer/Wikimedia Commons)

“Hittite culture survived in parts of Syria such as Carchemish which had once been under their power,” says the British Museum site. “These Neo-Hittites wrote Luwian, a language related to Hittite, using a hieroglyphic script. Many modern city names in Turkey are derived from their Hittite name, for example Sinop or Adana, showing the impact of Hittite culture in Anatolia.” Anatolia is another name for Asia Minor or western Turkey.
Featured image: A necropolis was found under land upon which a new culture center is being built in Sinop. (Hurriyet Daily News photo)

Giant steps: mysterious Sardinian sculptures to go on display

 

The head of a warrior: one of the Giants of Monte Prama. Photograph: M Carrieri/De Agostini/Getty Images

 

John Hooper in Rome

theguardian.com,

 

The Giants of Monte Prama, inscrutable avatars of a lost civilisation, see the light after years of reconstruction work

 

Some of the most mysterious statues from antiquity are finally to go on permanent display this week – 40 years after they were discovered by a ploughman on the Italian island of Sardinia.
The Giants of Monte Prama include statues of archers, wrestlers and boxers carved in sandstone probably between the ninth and eight centuries BC, before Rome was even founded. They belong to the Nuragic civilisation, which flourished on Sardinia for two millennia until the second century AD.
The figures, standing over 2 metres (6.5ft) high, are distinguished by their unearthly eyes, which consist of two perfectly concentric circles. They – or rather, their component parts – were found in 1974 near the town of Cabras, on the west coast of the island.
But it was not until recently that funds were set aside for the daunting task of reconstructing the statues, which also include representations of nuraghe, the tower-fortresses after which the Nuragic civilisation is named. More than 5,000 pieces were dug up at the site.
Alessandro Usai, the curator of the permanent exhibition, which opens on Saturday at the national archaeological museum, in Cagliari, and the town museum of Cabras, said computers had been of limited use in the operation. "Most of the work was done by eye and by hand, using shape, type of stone and decoration as guides," he told the Guardian. The reconstruction, which was completed in 2011, took four years.
The figures were discovered at a necropolis , so one theory is that the stone warriors guarded the tombs. But it has also been suggested that they belonged to an as-yet undiscovered nearby temple.
Usai said many other questions remained: "We don't know how many there were altogether. Nor do we know if they were originally set out in lines or perhaps in squares."
Usai said 28 of the works would go on show in Cagliari, while another 10 would be displayed in Cabras, where it is hoped the Giants will help promote tourism.
Usai said three-dimensional digital representations of the missing statues would be created at each site, "so that the two exhibitions will be complementary".
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/17/giants-of-monte-prama-sardinian-sculptures-display