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Pollen Analysis Reveals Ancient Egyptian Climate Change
Pollen Analysis Reveals Ancient Egyptian Climate Change:
Researchers say they’ve traced a record of ancient Egypt’s droughts and fires with fossil pollen and charcoal deposits preserved in the Nile Delta. The record provides evidence for historic climate catastrophes, including a huge drought linked to the downfall of Egypt’s Old Kingdom, the era sometimes known as the Age of the Pyramids.
Scientists with the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Pennsylvania expected that they would find less wetland pollen, an indicator of vegetation, and more deposits of charcoal, the leftovers from fires, in buried sediments from times of drought. USGS reported that they found exactly that in four different periods up to 6,000 years ago.
One of those droughts documented in the study occurred around 3,000 years ago and is linked to the fall of the Ugarit Kingdom and famines in the Babylonian and Syrian Kingdoms in the Near East. The researchers also found evidence of a global mega-drought of around 4,200 years ago, which had serious consequences, including famines, and probably played a role in the end of Egypt’s Old Kingdom, USGS officials said.
Read more here.
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Archaeological News: Natural Disasters in Ancient Egypt Revealed
Archaeological News: Natural Disasters in Ancient Egypt Revealed:
Researchers say they’ve traced a record of ancient Egypt’s droughts and fires with fossil pollen and charcoal deposits preserved in the Nile Delta. The record provides evidence for historic climate catastrophes, including a huge drought linked to the downfall of Egypt’s Old Kingdom, the era sometimes known as the Age of the Pyramids.
Scientists with the US Geological Survey (USGS) and the University of Pennsylvania expected that they would find less wetland pollen, an indicator of vegetation, and more deposits of charcoal, the leftovers from fires, in buried sediments from times of drought. USGS reported that they found exactly that in four different periods up to 6,000 years ago.
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Archaeological News: Excavation reveals ancient hair fashion
Archaeological News: Excavation reveals ancient hair fashion:
Archaeologists conducting excavations in the northwestern province of Çanakkale’s Ayvacık district have discovered hairpins thought to be over two millennia old, proving that ancient societies also had a pronounced desire to “look good,” according to researchers.
“The hairpins show us that there was a high demand for them in ancient times. Maybe their existence shows us that there was a small atelier for hair pin production here,” said Professor Nurettin Arslan of Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, the head of the excavations, adding that women of the age placed great importance in being well-groomed and stylish.
Arslan said the hairpins had been found in many places in the ancient city but that the most were in the agora, which has been the site of the school’s ongoing dig.
Noting the unique designs on the hairpins, Arslan said, “They date back to the second century B.C. They are nearly 2,200 year old.”
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Archaeological News: Pictures: Syrian Cultural Sites Damaged by Conflict
Archaeological News: Pictures: Syrian Cultural Sites Damaged by Conflict:
Cultural monuments throughout Syria, like this mosque in Azaz north of Aleppo, have been damaged by shelling, gunfire, and ongoing violence.
Mark Antony and Cleopatra once visited the column-lined streets of the Roman city Apamea, now located near the modern Syrian city of Hama. This year in separate incidents the ruins of Apamea were shelled and looted—mosaics and column capitals reportedly stolen.
Both government troops and rebels have occupied citadels like Qala’at al-Hosn, known to the world as Krak des Chevalier. Ancient buildings are now enmeshed in a modern war, attracting enemy fire.
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openaccessarchaeology: New Open Access Article-...
New Open Access Article- ARCHAEOZOOLOGICAL MATERIAL FROM THE SETTLEMENT SITES AT LINNAALUSTE AND THE HILL FORT AT KEAVA
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ancientart: Ancient Ligurian Stelaes from the the Castle Museum...
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Digging Deeper – The Weekly Blog Round-Up – 19th August 2012
The Amateur Archaeologist - NEW BLOG POST - Digging Deeper – The Weekly Blog Round-Up – 19th August 2012 #archaeology
- A Don’s Life - Mary writes about the ever-changing nature of Classical Studies.
- American Institute for Roman Culture - The author writes about the challenges faced by the Colosseum over the years.
- Heritage on the Wire - Guest contributor Morgan shares…
shared via WordPress.com
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Average Archaeologist: I’ve decided to start writing a segment, every other day or so, on the...
Average Archaeologist: I’ve decided to start writing a segment, every other day or so, on the...:
I’ve decided to start writing a segment, every other day or so, on the top 100 Archaeological sites/Museums/Institutes that I would like to visit at some point in my life. The segments will be rather short, with brief descriptions of where, when, who, and why I want to visit them.
So let’s start with the focus of all of my interest as a child, Ancient Egypt.
100 Archaeological Sites/Museums/Institutes
Tell el-Amarna, Egypt
About 190 miles (300 km) south of Cairo, the city of Amarna was built and abandoned over the course of the 17 year reign of Amenhotep IV (18th Dynasty (1536-1353 BCE)). Why do I want to visit? Amenhotep IV, also called Akhenaten, is one of my favorite pharaohs simply because of his eccentricity. The city itself, due to abandonment, suffers from a pseudo-Pompeii affect (when I say pseudo I mean not at all alike, but still really well preserved and quite thoroughly excavated). Always open to the advice and recommendations of others, I’ve been told by numerous people, including one of my favorite professors, that it’s one place that I have to visit should I get the opportunity.
What can I say? I’m not all that different from my 8 year old self in terms of interest.
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anoncentral: “An anthropologist proposed a game to children in...
“An anthropologist proposed a game to children in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the children that whoever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he told them to run, they all took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats.
When he asked them why they had run like that when one could have had all the fruits for himself, they said, ‘UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?’ (‘UBUNTU’ in the Xhosa culture means: ‘I am because we are.)”via Occupy Sweden
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slowartday: Two panels with striding lions, Neo-Babylonian, c....
Two panels with striding lions, Neo-Babylonian, c. 604-562 BCE
Here’s another “practice piece,” and some questions to think about when looking at this artwork from Mesopotamia:
What qualities do we normally associate with lions? Do these associations affect how you view this work? Do you think these panels were trying to evoke an emotional reaction in the viewer? What emotions? How does a piece that was made thousands of years ago remain relevant in today’s age? Does it?
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alfsaga: The Stone ship or ship setting was an early Germanic...
The Stone ship or ship setting was an early Germanic burial custom, characteristically Scandinavian but also found in Germany and the Baltic states. The grave or cremation burial is surrounded by tightly or loosely fit slabs or stones in the outline of a ship. They are often found in grave fields, but are sometimes far from any other archaeological remains.
This is a A (double) Stone Ship burial site at Anundshög outside Västerårs, Sweden. (x)
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nadiafatima: Triumphal Arch in the ancient Roman town of...
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tammuz: Relief from the walls of Khorsabad or Dur-Sharrukin, the...
Relief from the walls of Khorsabad or Dur-Sharrukin, the capital of the Assyrian Empire.
The Oriental Institute Museum of the University of Chicago, Chicago, IL.
Photo by Babylon Chronicle
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Mummified Siberian princess discovered with a body full of tattoos almost completely intact
People have been tattooing themselves for almost as long as we’ve been around, but finding mummified remains with tattoos is still a big deal. Especially when the tattoos are as wonderfully preserved and intact as those of a recently discovered ancient princess from Siberia.
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Archaeology magazine
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ancientart: Ancient Roman Memento Mori mosaic from excavations...
Ancient Roman Memento Mori mosaic from excavations in the convent of San Gregorio, Via Appia, Rome, Italy. Dates to the 1st century.
The Greek motto gnōthi sauton (know thyself, nosce te ipsum) combines with the image to convey the famous warning:
Respice post te; hominem te esse memento; memento mori. (Look behind; remember that you are mortal; remember death.)
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"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
““The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.””
- Saint Augustine (via the-random-quotes)
- Saint Augustine (via the-random-quotes)
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