Nike (Victory) Adjusting Her Sandal, Ancient Greek, Fragment of the relief decoration from the parapet (now destroyed), Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis, Athens.
Marble, last quarter of the 5th century.
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ancientart: Nike (Victory) Adjusting Her Sandal, Ancient Greek,...
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ancientpeoples: A Bronze Hand Ancient Yemen, 100-300 CE An...
A Bronze Hand
Ancient Yemen, 100-300 CE
An inscribed bronze hand, given as an offering to the god Ta’lab Riyam in a temple in Ancient Yemen, pre-dating the arrival of Islam in the Arabian peninsula in 622 CE.
This right hand was probably a symbol of good fortune, to ward off evil, and also a gesture of honour to the deity.
This hand was dedicated by a man called Wahabta’lab for his well being.
It reads:
“Wahabta’lab son of Hisam, [the] Yursamite, subject
of the Banu Sukhavm. Has dedicated to their patron
Ta’lab Riyam this right hand
in his memorial dhu-Qabrat
In the city of Zafar, for his well being.
It probably comes from the Yemeni highlands. During this period, the kingdom of Himyar was gaining strength in the highlands and battling for power with the kingdom of Saba.
In time the Himyarites would unite the whole of ancient Yemen and control the valuable trade frankincense and myrrh between the Roman Empire and India overseas.”
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The astonishing 2,500 year old tattoos of a Siberian princess
The astonishing 2,500 year old tattoos of a Siberian princess:
The intricate patterns of 2,500-year-old tattoos - some from the body of a Siberian ‘princess’ preserved in the permafrost - have been revealed in Russia.
The remarkable body art includes mythological creatures and experts say the elaborate drawings were a sign of age and status for the ancient nomadic Pazyryk people, described in the 5th century BC by the Greek historian Herodotus.
But scientist Natalia Polosmak - who discovered the remains of ice-clad ‘Princess Ukok’ high in the Altai Mountains - is also struck about how little has changed in more than two millennia.
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huffingtonpost: A team of archaeologists has uncovered the...
A team of archaeologists has uncovered the remains of ‘hundreds’ of ancient warriors at a Danish bog known as Alken Enge.
The skeletons, thought to date back about 2,000 years, appear to have been sacrificed at the bog, according to a written statement from Aarhus University, which conducted the dig along with collaborators from Denmark’s Skanderborg and Moesgård Museums.
“It’s clear that this must have been a quite far-reaching and dramatic event that must have had profound effect on the society of the time,” Project Manager Mads Kähler Holst, professor of archaeology at Aarhus University said in the statement.
The particular motivation for the sacrifices remains unclear, but the Skanderborg Museum’s website notes that “The area has been a focal point for a wider hinterland as a place to conduct sacrificial rituals, which appear to have taken place regularly during the Iron Age.”
Alken Enge: Danish Bog Excavation Reveals Remains Of Hundreds Of Ancient Soldiers
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archaeologistsdontdigdinosaurs: Dot and comb redware fragment,...
archaeologistsdontdigdinosaurs:
Dot and comb redware fragment, excavated on Smuttynose Island, Maine, 2012.
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Archaeological News: Pigs and squatters threaten Peru's Nazca lines
Archaeological News: Pigs and squatters threaten Peru's Nazca lines:
(Reuters) - Squatters have started raising pigs on the site of Peru’s Nazca lines - the giant designs best seen from an airplane that were mysteriously etched into the desert more than 1,500 years ago.
The squatters have destroyed a Nazca-era cemetery and the 50 shacks they have built border Nazca figures, said Blanca Alva, a director at Peru’s culture ministry.
She said the squatters, the latest in a succession of encroachments over the years into the protected Nazca area, invaded the site during the Easter holidays in April and that Peruvian laws designed to protect the poor and landless have thwarted efforts to remove them.
In Peru, squatters who occupy land for more than a day have the right to a judicial process before eviction, which Alva said can take two to three years.
“The problem is that by then, the site will be destroyed,” she said.
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Drought Reveals Famous Sunken Ship
Drought Reveals Famous Sunken Ship:
BRIDGETON, Mo. (CNN/KTVI) - The wooden steamboat Montana has resurfaced on the Missouri River, thanks to the severe drought.
Pieces of the sunken vessel are now clearly visible because of the near-record low water levels.
The Montana, built in 1882, was the largest vessel to ever travel the Missouri. It was longer than a football field.
The Montana struck an underwater tree in 1884 and was piloted ashore. The boat has been there ever since for the past 128 years.
The Montana isn’t the only shipwreck visible along the Missouri. But no treasure hunting allowed. All of the shipwrecks on the Missouri belong to the state under federal law. (
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centuriespast: Nose pipe in the form of a kneeling...
Nose pipe in the form of a kneeling human
1400–1000 B.C.E.
Early Preclassic
Xochipala
This humanoid vessel was most likely used to snuff tobacco or some other psychotropic substance. The chest of the figure held the powdered substance, and the rounded spout on top of the head was inserted into the user’s nostril. The large, round nostrils of the upturned nose seem to echo the function of the vessel. The placement of the conical snout on the head may also refer to the object’s use; comparable conical “horns” on later ceramic figurines from Colima have been interpreted as references to the shamanic capacity to interact with the supernatural world through the use of hallucinogenic intoxicants.
Princeton University Art Museum
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ancientpeoples: Ivory statuette of a woman. Found in Bahrain...
Ivory statuette of a woman.
Found in Bahrain (Dilmun culture). About 2000-1500 BCE.
Dilmun was a state based on the islands of Bahrain, Tarut and Failaka, and the neighbouring region of the eastern Arabian coast during the 3rd to 1st millennia BC
Now located at the British Museum.
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ancientart: The Two Dancers. In this Etruscan masterpiece from...
The Two Dancers. In this Etruscan masterpiece from the Tomb of the Triclinium at Tarquinia, a couple dressed in their finest costume dance into the hereafter.
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humanrightswatch: A Syrian government fighter jet bombed a...
A residential area in Azaz, hit by at least two bombs from a Syrian fighter jet on August 15, 2012. © 2012 Rachel Beth Anderson for Human Rights Watch
A local resident holding up a piece of one of the bombs that hit a residential area in the town of Azaz, killing at least 40 civilians. © 2012 Rachel Beth Anderson for Human Rights
Residents of Azaz searching for missing people in the rubble of houses struck by bombs from a Syrian fighter jet on August 15, 2012. © 2012 Rachel Beth Anderson for Human Rights Watch
A Syrian government fighter jet bombed a residential neighborhood, killing more than 40 civilians and wounding at least 100 others in the town of Azaz, including many women and children, Human Rights Watch said today after visiting the town. In the attack on August 15, 2012, at least two bombs destroyed an entire block of houses in the al-Hara al-Kablie neighborhood of Azaz, in Syria’s northern Aleppo province.
Human Rights Watch investigated the site of the bombing two hours after the attack and interviewed witnesses, victims, medical personnel, and relatives of those killed.
Read more after the jump.
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richiedcruz: Cool stuff: An Imax version of “Raiders of The...
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thesherd: Excavation provides new insight into Roman frontier...
Excavation provides new insight into Roman frontier life in northern England. Some impressive find include carved Roman stone work and an inscription recording T. Attius Tutor.
(via Maryport dig reveals more about life on the Roman frontier : Past Horizons Archaeology)
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openaccessarchaeology: New Open Access Article- ARCHAEOLOGICAL...
New Open Access Article- ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS FROM THE HILL FORT AT KEAVA
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Archaeological News: Syrian Conflict Imperils Historical Treasures
Archaeological News: Syrian Conflict Imperils Historical Treasures:
Security personnel holding the Syrian flag in front of the Citadel, a centuries-old structure in the Old City in Aleppo.
Preservationists and archaeologists are warning that fighting in Syria’s commercial capital, Aleppo — considered the world’s oldest continuously inhabited human settlement — threatens to damage irreparably the stunning architectural and cultural legacy left by 5,000 years of civilizations.
Already the massive iron doors to the city’s immense medieval Citadel have been blown up in a missile attack, said Bonnie Burnham, president of the World Monuments Fund, an organization that works to preserve cultural heritage sites.
The fund has collaborated for more than a decade with the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, the Syrian government’s Cultural Ministry and German archaeologists in excavating and restoring the site.
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Fighting in Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital, threatens to damage irreparably the stunning...
Fighting in Aleppo, Syria’s commercial capital, threatens to damage irreparably the stunning architectural and cultural legacy left by 5,000 years of civilizations.
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centuriespast: Rattle in the form of fertility goddess...
Rattle in the form of fertility goddess Cihuacoatl
15th century CE
Post-classic, AztecNow Located at the Princeton University Art Museum
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