This past weekend marked 100 years of Stonehenge belonging to the nation, and it was
highlighted by celebrations. English Heritage and the artist Jeremy Deller marked 100 years since Stonehenge was donated to the nation with a day of celebrations at the ancient stones.
Curated by Deller, Friday 26 October was full of music and art, an inflatable Stonehenge, an anniversary tea party, as well as a few surprises.
It has been hundred years since on 26 October 1918, local couple Cecil and Mary Chubb gifted Stonehenge to the nation. It is thanks to their generosity that Stonehenge was saved, as prior to 1918 the monument was propped up with wooden poles and some of the stones were in danger of collapse. English Heritage’s predecessors, The Office of Works, restored many of the fallen stones and undertook a major program of care and conservation which continues today under English Heritage.
As part of the centenary celebrations, Friday 26 October 2018 was the premiere of a new piece of music performed within the stone circle. Commissioned by English Heritage, the piece is a collaboration between Jeremy Deller, composer Matt Rogers, and the contemporary music ensemble, the London Sinfonietta. The piece for brass and percussion was performed at intervals throughout the day.
Another highlight was the debut at Stonehenge of Sacrilege, Deller’s inflatable replica of
Stonehenge. The artist describes Sacrilege as a light-hearted and playful way of visitors to “get reacquainted with ancient Britain with your shoes off”. Sacrilege has been loaned to English Heritage by The Store X Vinyl Factory, and was outside the Stonehenge visitor center from Friday 26 to Sunday 28 October.
The celebrations on Friday 26 October also included an afternoon tea party at Stonehenge while every visitor that day received a special ticket designed by Deller. On the Friday evening, Deller gave a talk on art, archaeology and the ancient world at the Stonehenge visitor center.
To help support the conservation of Stonehenge and the other 400 plus historic sites in the care of the charity English Heritage (the majority of which are free to visit), Deller has produced a limited edition series of 100 Stonehenge-inspired prints. These signed and numbered prints will be available to buy at Stonehenge as stated by several news outlets.
Kate Mavor, English Heritage’s Chief Executive, stated that Stonehenge may be 4,500 years old but all this month and all this year, we are celebrating the monument’s last 100 years.
In partnership with the British Museum, Making Connections: Stonehenge in its Prehistoric World will feature stunning precious artifacts made between 4000BC and 800BC, from a jade axe to an elaborate gold neckpiece. Visitors can explore the changing relationships between the British Isles and Europe over the Neolithic and Bronze Ages.
Making Connections: Stonehenge in its Prehistoric World opened to the public on 12 October 2018 and will run until 21 April 2019.  For further information, visit our Stonehenge 100 webpage.

As reported by Archaeology News Network last month, a reception chamber with columns and a throne chamber, which belong to a 2,500-year old Persian palace, were found during excavation at the Oluz Mound in the Göynücek district of Amasya province, Turkey.

Amasya Governor Osman Varol visited the Oluz Mound to examine the excavations and to receive information about the technical and structural features of the excavation site. He announced that a new structure was discovered during the excavation.
Istanbul University Archaeology Department faculty member and professor, Dr. Şevket Dönmez, is leading the excavation works and he stated that movable cultural material ruins showed that a group of Persian-origin Akhamenids might have lived at the Oluz Mound in the year 450 B.C.

The mound is located at 25 kilometeters southwest of the Amasya city center. The team of archeologists have reported that new units of this Persian city have been excavated. The team knows that there is a path, a mansion and a fire temple and it is believed that this is the first report of such finding in the world. A reception chamber with columns and a throne chamber have also started to emerge for the first time. The team of archeologists are beginning phase of the excavation work for these chambers and are very excited about the findings from the Persian Empire.

The archeologists did not know that they could find such a Persian city in that site. There are currently 12 academics, 10 archaeologists and 15 archaeology students working on the excavation site. The team had only expected to excavate a mid-Anatolian mound and find answers to their questions regarding the Iron Age culture. However, they came across an entirely different situation.

Classical scholars from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the WWU have explored a rare bathing facility in southeastern Turkey from the time of the Roman
Empire, and a magnificent basilica from Christian late antiquity.

“Our excavations in the ancient town of Doliche clearly show how a town flourished across epochs and religions in what was then northern Syria – from the Hellenistic period through Christian late antiquity to the early Islamic epoch”, says classical scholar and excavation director Engelbert Winter from the Cluster of Excellence, who was speaking at the end of the excavation season.

The bath, decorated with splendid mosaics, was built in the 2nd or 3rd century AD,
when public baths in Syria, unlike in the Latin West, were exceedingly rare. However, the bath was no longer in operation from as early as the 4th century AD. People left the town as a result of wars and economic crises. “A new heyday began under Christian auspices: the basilica was built, and the town, which had originally gained attention and become rich on account of the sanctuary of the Roman god Jupiter Dolichenus, became a bishopric”.

The excavation team has been conducting research since 2001 in ancient Doliche, which in thetime of the Roman Empire housed the sanctuary of the prominent city god Jupiter Dolichenus. Up until 2016, the researchers published findings from all epochs of the 2,000-year history of the place of worship. Since last year, they have concentrated on the neighboring urban area.

“Doliche is an ideal case study for the cultural, political and religious development of a town in ancient Syria”, says Winter. At first, Doliche changed dramatically through its integration into the Roman Empire. “The bathing facility shows how Roman customs were adopted and shaped the townscape”.

Comprising around 2,000 square metres, the bathing facility was of considerable
size. “It has the sequence typical of Roman times: cold, warm and hot baths”. An approximately 150-square-metre room with swimming pool has now been partially uncovered, along with parts of the heating system under the floor. The finds, as well as mosaics, date the facility to the 2nd to 3rd century AD. When the bath fell into disuse in the course of Christianization, the lime and marble building material was processed in a large lime kiln, and then used for new constructions.

View of the excavated parts of the early Christian basilica. CREDIT – Asia Minor Research Centre. 

It was during this stage in the late 4th century AD that the newly discovered three-nave basilica was built, as Winter points out. “The onset of Christianization changed the internal structure of the town. The changing townscape reveals a new Christian identity”. The discovery of the church represents a special opportunity, as very few church buildings within a city have thus far been archaeologically investigated in this region, which is of great importance for early Christianity.

What test trenches dug south of the church this year mainly brought to light were rooms that researchers interpret as being ancillary rooms and extensions of the church complex. “This makes the church facility much more spacious than expected. Its further excavation promises to make a significant contribution to our understanding of religious life and sacral architecture in the northern Syria of late antiquity”. Further finds from the area around the church indicate that it was probably destroyed by an earthquake in the 7th century. The town itself was finally abandoned in the 12th century.

By Beata Kołodziej

Archaeologists from the Jagiellonian University in Kraków discovered a settlement from the Neolithic in southern Jordan. The discovery was made in inaccessible mountain terrain where no one had conducted research before.

“Munqata’a is the easternmost settlement associated with the late Neolithic that has been discovered to date. Our research can be considered pioneering, because no one has carried out excavation work in this inaccessible mountain terrain” – explained the expedition leader Piotr Kołodziejczyk, quoted in the press materials sent to PAP.

Kołodziejczyk believes that other important finds can be expected in this area. “We intend to survey further sites in the coming years” – he announced.

The discovered settlement from the Neolithic had stone walls and a central building – probably a temple or the chief`s house. Around the walls, archaeologists found many commercial artefacts, such as grinders, grindstones, arrowheads, as well as a huge amount of ceramics – vessels probably used for storage of food supplies.

Reaching the mountain valley, in which the discovery was made, was not only a scientific challenge but also a logistical challenge for archaeologists. Descent into the valley is possible only via a steep path on a hundred meters long ridge. Archaeologists had to carry equipment and food and water supplies.

Based on geological and natural research, archaeologists believe that shepherding was well developed in the valley, and that the first plants were cultivated on flat patches between the rocks.

Since last year, researchers from Kraków have been conducting research at Munqata’a and another site in that area – Faysaliyya, in the desert near Shawbak. A settlement and economic complex had existed at that site. Archaeologists dug up stone walls surrounding a large farmstead with utility and residential rooms. In another place, they located stone structures associated with the Copper (Chalcolithic) Age. Dating of these structures was possible thanks to the discovered ceramic vessels, stone and flint tools.

The project will continue in the coming years. Researchers want to make the first comprehensive attempt to determine the stages of functioning and importance of the Southern Jordan region in the years 3700-1950 BC.

“It was an extremely interesting time in the Middle East, because civilization was being born in these areas, agriculture and craft production technologies developed, long-distance trade flourished, first urban centres appeared along with a whole range of cultural elements that we know from today`s world. Between the Egypt of pharaohs and the Mesopotamia of the Sumerians were the lands of present-day Jordan, which are now a white spot when it comes to researching this period” – described Piotr Kołodziejczyk.

The project of scientists from the Jagiellonian University is financed with a grant from the National Science Centre awarded for the years 2017-2021. University employees, PhD students and students participating in obligatory internships are involved in the project.

Participants emphasize good cooperation with the Department of Antiquities of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Polish embassy in Amman. Its results include a jointly prepared scientific session devoted to Polish research in Jordan, accompanied by a photography exhibition. The event at the University of Hashemite in Zarqa, scheduled for November 18, will be a part of celebrations commemorating the 100th anniversary of regaining independence by Poland. (PAP)

Source: Jagiellonian University Source: Jagiellonian University

Most major archeological finds in Iceland in recent years have come as complete accidents, or during construction work. The discovery of a large Viking longhouse in downtown Reykjavík in the summer of 2015, a large burial site in North Iceland in the summer of 2017, and the discovery of a Viking sword by hunters in the summer of 2016 come to mind.

Read more: Archaeologists in N. Iceland discover Viking age chief buried in ship with his sword and dog

Read more: News report: The Viking Age settlement that is emerging in downtown Reykjavík

The same applies to the latest archeological find dating back to the Viking Age. Archeologists who were registering sites in Þjórsárdalur valley in South Iceland last week found four items which have not been dated yet, but which are most likely from the first centuries of the settlement of Iceland. The items were found in a previously unexplored and unknown farmstead. 

The site was discovered by a local who directed the archeologists to the location. During the registration the archeologists found four objects lying in the surface soil: A whet, an iron pick, a buckle and a small stone amulet in the shape of Thor’s Hammer.

The find is particularly important because this is the first Thor’s Hammer carved out of stone to be found in Iceland. The item, which is believed to have been an amulet, worn around the neck, is carved out of sandstone. The items will now be analyzed, hopefully shedding further information about their age and origins.

Follow up: Archaeological find in Þjórsárdalur: Viking Age farm destroyed by 1104 Hekla eruption

The appalling death of Jamal Khashoggi, the human rights activist and journalist from Saudi Arabia, has shocked the Western world. Khashoggi, through his death, has awakened the world’s business and political leaders by the reality of misfortunes of not only the Arab journalists but the sufferings of all journalist living under the dictatorships around the world.
“I have left my home, my family and my job, and I am raising my voice,” Khashoggi wrote in September 2017 (Washington Post, September 2017). “To do otherwise would betray those who languish in prison. I can speak when so many cannot. I want you to know that Saudi Arabia has not always been as it is now. We Saudis deserve better.” Khashoggi’s death has put a spotlight on one of his recent comments: “Arab governments have been given free rein to continue silencing the media at an increasing rate (Washington Post, October 2018)”.*

If Khashoggi had not perished by a criminal act in his country’s consulate, we could have had the gathering of all business and political leaders of the Western world in Saudi Arabia for the planned International Economic Conference (Davos in the Desert), sitting not far from the place where the prisoners of conscience have been imprisoned – prisoners for whom Jamal had abandoned his home and family on a self – imposed exile to speak in the free world for their silenced voices.
Now, although he is not able to witness what is happening, because of his horrible demise that has brought about such extensive world-wide reaction and condemnation of his death, which we now hope will bring about a new light of hope to the life of thousands of Arab, African, Afghan, Iraqi and Iranian journalists.

We, the Iranian journalists who have escaped our own homeland, share this new hope.
We left our home to write freely and be the voice of our suppressed people. Our world gets darker than ever before when we hear that our journalists, friends and colleagues are arrested everyday one by one for writing an article, a simple report, or uttering a rightful criticism and are doomed to wither the rest of their precious lives in prisons or share the same destiny that has taken Jamal from us.

These sufferings have no end for us, especially when no western government pays attention to these events and their financial relationships with these dictators continue without any concern for the human rights leaving us with our futile hopes for freedom, especially freedom of expression.
No freedom-seeker can feel such pain like the journalists. It is because our calling and indeed our duty is to not only report the news, but also those realities (and at times atrocities) that are forbidden to be published. This is the reality for many journalists across the world who live their lives in anxiety and their devotions to reporting the truth suffers an agonizing death.
I am not sure that the new push for “freedom of expression in dictatorships” would continue and would not wither away by passage of time and when the saga of Jamal becomes old, we will soon again see the old practices (of dictators) return.

I do not know the answer but I am sure that even if all the leaders of the world and owners of vast capitals and companies forget this recent crime and regress to their usual silence, we the journalists who have no weapons but our pens will endeavor to realize the hopes of all Jamals’ of the world. This is because not only the Arab world but our whole world needs freedom of expression above anything else.

It is fortunate that in the last few years the wealthy countries have been obliged to share (and therefore experience) the pains and sufferings of other nations of the world with the arrival of refugees and migrants escaping the dire situations in their own countries. And it is my hope that perhaps this one day will bring about change in those countries. Otherwise we (as the people of the world) are doomed to experience more refugees, more wars, more crimes, resulting in an ugly, inhabitable and horrific world.
October 19, 2018
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* An extract from Jamal’s last article in Washington Post titled as “What the Arab world needs most is free expression” which was published after his death. October 2018.