A well-built aqueduct from time of King Herod was unearthed last week near the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem during work on infrastructure in the area.

The site of the discovery is not far from the place where a Byzantine street was recently unearthed.

Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists say they found about 40 meters of the ancient waterway, which was part of the sophisticated aqueduct that brought water to Jerusalem from springs in the Hebron hills to the south to the Mamilla pool, which still exists today, and from there through the aqueduct to Hezekiah’s Pool within the walled city.

Archaeologists say the aqueduct was first built in the first century BCE, and was in use in the second century. Within it were discovered roof tiles from the Roman Tenth Legion, which controlled the city at that time. Read the rest of this entry »

The buried antiquities of Ur could one day outshine those of ancient Egypt, archaeologists at a large-scale excavation in Iraq believe.

With the country ravaged by war and strife since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Baghdad’s struggling government has had greater priorities than funding large-scale digs at Ur - the birth place of Abraham and one of the cradles of civilisation - where only small teams have been working since 2005.

“When the (large-scale) excavations restart, tons of antiquities will see the light of day, filling entire museum wings,” enthused Dhaif Moussin, who is in charge of protecting a site that has been prone to looting.

“This site will become perhaps more important than Giza,” he added, referring to the plateau outside the Egyptian capital of Cairo where some of mankind’s most treasured antiquities have been unearthed, including the Sphinx and several notable pyramids. Read the rest of this entry »

Italian archaeologists claim to have found a stone enclosure which once protected the legendary “Golden Bough”.

In Roman mythology, the bough was a tree branch with golden leaves that enabled the Trojan hero Aeneas to travel through the underworld safely.

They discovered the remains while excavating religious sanctuary built in honour of the goddess Diana near an ancient volcanic lake in the Alban Hills, 20 miles south of Rome.

They believe the enclosure protected a huge Cypress or oak tree which was sacred to the Latins, a powerful tribe which ruled the region before the rise of the Roman Empire.

The tree was central to the myth of Aeneas, who was told by a spirit to pluck a branch bearing golden leaves to protect himself when he ventured into Hades to seek counsel from his dead father. Read the rest of this entry »

Prehistoric axes found on a Greek island suggest that seafaring existed in the Mediterranean more than a hundred thousand years earlier than thought.
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.

Two years ago a team of U.S. and Greek archaeologists were combing a gorge on the island of Crete (map) in Greece, hoping to find tiny stone tools employed by seafaring people who had plied nearby waters some 11,000 years ago.

Instead, in the midst of the search, Providence College archaeologist Thomas Strasser and his team came across a whopping surprise—a sturdy 5-inch-long (13-centimeter-long) hand ax.

Knapped from a cobble of local quartz stone, the rough-looking tool resembled hand axes discovered in Africa and mainland Europe and used by human ancestors until about 175,000 years ago. This stone tool technology, which could have been useful for smashing bones and cutting flesh, had been relatively static for over a million years. Read the rest of this entry »

Pieces of iron armor owned by ancient Japanese emperors have been excavated from the ruins of Japan’s eighth century capital of Nagaoka-kyo in Kyoto Prefecture, archaeologists said Thursday.

Nagaoka-kyo, Japan’s capital between 784 and 794, is believed to have been located in what are now the cities of Muko, Nagaokakyo and Kyoto, all in Kyoto Prefecture.

The pieces of armor are believed to have been produced during the seventh and eighth centuries, the Muko City Center for Archaeological Operations, which conducted the excavation work, said.

About 30 pieces of armor were recovered from the ruins of Nagaoka- kyo’s “dairi” inner palace built by Emperor Kammu, who reigned from 781 through 806 and moved the capital to Nagaoka-kyo in 784 from Heijo-kyo, in what are now the cities of Nara and Yamatokoriyama in Nara Prefecture.

The pieces are believed to be from more than 20 suits of armor, center officials said. Read the rest of this entry »

Researchers examined 348 burial urns to learn that about a fifth of the children were prenatal at death, indicating that young Carthaginian children were cremated and interred in ceremonial urns regardless of cause of death.

PITTSBURGH—A study led by University of Pittsburgh researchers could finally lay to rest the millennia-old conjecture that the ancient empire of Carthage regularly sacrificed its youngest citizens. An examination of the remains of Carthaginian children revealed that most infants perished prenatally or very shortly after birth and were unlikely to have lived long enough to be sacrificed, according to a Feb. 17 report in PLoS ONE.

The findings—based on the first published analysis of the skeletal remains found in Carthaginian burial urns—refute claims from as early as the 3rd century BCE of systematic infant sacrifice at Carthage that remain a subject of debate among biblical scholars and archaeologists, said lead researcher Jeffrey H. Schwartz, a professor of anthropology and history and philosophy of science in Pitt’s School of Arts and Sciences and president of the World Academy of Art and Science. Read the rest of this entry »

A megalithic settlement has recently been unearthed at Skendal village, 10 kilometers from the town of Pagaralam in South Sumatra.

Irfan Wintarto, an official at the Lahat Culture and Tourism Agency’s Historical and Archeological Preservation Department, said local residents had discovered around 36 types of rocks on a 150-by-300-meter plot in the middle of a 2-hectare coffee plantation.

The site is currently being investigated by the Archeological Region Conservation and Heritage Center (BPPP).

“The findings are believed to date back to around 5,000 B.C.,” Irfan said.

“The types of rocks and megaliths found are quite diverse.” Read the rest of this entry »

A home renovation in Jerusalem’s Old City has yielded a rare Arabic inscription offering insight into the city’s history under Muslim rule, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday.

The fragment of a 1,100-year-old plaque is thought to have been made by an army veteran to express his thanks for a land grant from the Caliph al-Muqtadir, whom the inscription calls “Emir of the Faithful.”

Dating from a time when Jerusalem was ruled from Baghdad by the Abbasid empire, the plaque shows how rulers rewarded their troops and ensured their loyalty, archaeologists said.

The Abbasids conquered Jerusalem after numerous wars with the Fatimid empire in Egypt. The Abbasid caliphs valued Jerusalem as an Islamic holy site.

“The caliph probably granted estates as part of his effort to strengthen his hold over the territories within his control, including Jerusalem, just as other rulers did in different periods,” said excavation director Annette Nagar. Read the rest of this entry »

Researchers from the Northern Michigan University geography department recently completed a three-year project at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore that uncovered 23 new archaeological sites and reconstructed the Nipissing shoreline as it looked about 4,500 years ago.

John Anderton, head of the department, said the National Park Service supported the effort to locate cultural resources so they remain protected in future plans for road improvements and other developments.

In the first year of the project, satellite imagery was used to identify distinct land forms—notches, ridges and barriers—created by wave action to map the older shorelines. They found that the water was 30-40 feet higher than it is today.

“Today, Pictured Rocks is seen as a barrier with the cliffs and long stretches of beach,” Anderton said. “It’s not very habitable. But if you go back a while, there were nice places for people to live. There were embayments, or shallow water lagoons that had a variety of fish and plants; everything a hunter-gatherer would need.” Read the rest of this entry »

Chinese archaeologists have unearthed 18 ancient tombs while working on a south-to-north water diversion project in Xingtai City in north China’s Hebei province.

The tombs were found in Xiqianliu village, in Xingtai’s Qiaoxi District, Li Enwei, chief of the city’s cultural heritage bureau, said Wednesday.

Li said 16 of the tombs dated back to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and contained about 100 pieces of porcelain, tiles and copper coins.

The other two tombs date back to the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368 A.D.) and had apparently been robbed of all their valuables. Read the rest of this entry »