Recently, thousands of lovers of Persian culture in Iran have launched a campaign to request the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism of the Islamic Republic to take action for the global registration of Tus, the birthplace and location of the tomb of Ferdowsi, with The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Ferdowsi (1030 AD) is known as the greatest Iranian epic poet, who wrote with a narrative approach about the history of Iran and the life of Iranian kings before the Arab invasion. He is considered a much beloved poet of all Iranians – akin to Shakespeare for English speakers.

Since most of the historical and cultural monuments of Iranians are non-religious, the Islamic government does not express interest in them and has paid more attention to Islamic-Shiite monuments.

In the last forty-two years, many cultural and historical heritage sites in Iran have suffered from intentional and unintentional destruction. The Islamic government also refuses to send the names of these important Iranian sites to UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites committee for consideration.

Recently, the Islamic government announced that it intends to send the tomb of Imam Reza, which is located in the city of Mashhad (near the city of Tus) to UNESCO.

It remains that the efforts of culture lovers are a reaction and reminder to pay attention to the birthplace and tomb of the great poet, Ferdowsi.

https://savepasargad.com/

Evidence from an ancient eggshell has revealed important new information about the extreme climate change faced by human early ancestors.

The research shows parts of the interior of South Africa that today are dry and sparsely populated, were once wetland and grassland 250,000 to 350,000 years ago, at a key time in human evolution.

Philip Kiberd and Dr Alex Pryor, from the University of Exeter, studied isotopes and the amino acid from ostrich eggshell fragments excavated at the early middle Stone Age site of Bundu Farm, in the upper Karoo region of the Northern Cape. It is one of very few archaeological sites dated to 250,000 to 350,000 in southern Africa, a time period associated with the earliest appearance of communities with the genetic signatures of Homo sapiens.

This new research supports other evidence, from fossil animal bones, that past communities in the region lived among grazing herds of wildebeest, zebra, small antelope, hippos, baboons and extinct species of Megalotragus priscus and Equus capensis, and hunted these alongside other carnivores, hyena and lions.

After this period of equitable climate and environment the eggshell evidence – and previous finds from the site – suggests after 200,000 years ago cooler and wetter climates gave way to increasing aridity. A process of changing wet and dry climates recognised as driving the turnover and evolution of species, including Homo sapiens.

The study, published in the South African Archaeological Bulletin, shows that extracting isotopic data from ostrich eggshells, which are commonly found on archaeological sites in southern Africa, is a viable option for open-air sites greater than 200,000 years old. The technique which involves grinding a small part of the eggshell, to a powder allows experts to analyse and date the shell, which in turn gives a fix on the climate and environment in the past.

Using eggshell to investigate past climates is possible as ostriches eat the freshest leaves of shrubs and grasses available in their environment, meaning eggshell composition reflects their diet. As eggs are laid in the breeding season across a short window, the information found in ostrich eggshell provides a picture of the prevailing environment and climate for a precise period in time.

Bundu Farm, where the eggshell was recovered is a remote farm 50km from the nearest small town, sitting within a dry semi-desert environment, which supports a small flock of sheep. The site was first excavated in the late 1990’s the site with material stored at the McGregor Museum, Kimberley (MMK). The study helps fill a gap in our knowledge for this part of South Africa and firmly puts the Bundu Farm site on the map.

Philip Kiberd, who led the study, said: “This part of South Africa is now extremely arid, but thousands of years ago it would have been Eden-like landscape with lakes and rivers and abundant species of flora and fauna. Our analysis of the ostrich eggshell helps us to better understand the environments in which our ancestors were evolving and provides an important context in which to interpret the behaviours and adaptations of people in the past and how this ultimately led to the evolution of our species’.

UNIVERSITY OF EXETER

Header Image Credit : Philip Kiberd

An inscription dating back to some 3,100 years ago bearing the name of a biblical judge, Jerubbaal, was uncovered in the excavations at Khirbat er-Ra‘i, near Kiryat Gat in the Southern District of Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday.

The researchers highlighted that while there cannot be any certainty on whether the inscription refers to the figure mentioned in the Book of Judges, this discovery offers important insights on the connection between the biblical text and historical reality.

Inscriptions from that period – the 12th-11th century BCE – are extremely rare. All the dating has been carried out through both pottery typology and radiocarbon of organic samples found in the same archaeological layer.

The writing, inked on a jug, marks the first time that the name Jerubbaal has been found outside the biblical text. It is believes that the owner penned his name on the jug.

“The name Jerubbaal is familiar from biblical tradition in the Book of Judges as an alternative name for the judge Gideon ben Yoash,” according to Prof. Yosef Garfinkel and archeologist Sa‘ar Ganor from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Garfinkel and Ganor co-direct the excavations at the site with Dr. Kyle Keimer and Dr. Gil Davies from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia – a partner in the dig together with the IAA.

“Gideon is first mentioned as combatting idolatry by breaking the altar to Baal and cutting down the Asherah pole,” they explained. “In biblical tradition, he is then remembered as triumphing over the Midianites, who used to cross over the Jordan to plunder agricultural crops. According to the Bible, Gideon organized a small army of 300 soldiers and attacked the Midianites by night near Ma‘ayan Harod.”

To read More:

https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/3000-year-old-inscription-bearing-name-of-biblical-judge-found-in-israel-673576

The day of 12^th Tir (July 4?) is the birthday of Babak Khorramdin Sardar and national hero of Iran.

Babak Khorramdin was born 1200 years ago, (140 years after the occupation of Iran by Muslim Arabs) and was the leader of a movement called Khorram Dinan. This movement, also known as the “Red Shirt”, was led by Babak for more than twenty years against the Abbasid caliphs and occupiers of Iran. The stories of bravery, virtues and justice of Babak and his companions even crossed the borders of Iran to other countries. Babak was finally arrested by the envoys of the Abbasid caliphs and was painfully killed, but his name is still dear and beloved for Iranians.

Babak’s tomb was for many years in a fort called Baz Baz, which is located at an altitude of 2300 meters in mountainous Azerbaijan, Iran. This fort has been known as “Babak Fortress” for centuries. And every year, on the occasion of his birthday, many Iranians from all over Iran go to this fortress and celebrate his memory by dancing and singing.

Unfortunately, after the revolution, and especially in the last few years, the Islamic government has prevented people from gathering around this fort. However, the people who are interested in Babak and his legacy continue to go to the mountains and Babak’s Fort to celebrate his birthday every year on the 12th of Tir (Iranian calendar), on the occasion of Babak’s birthday.

TANK BAY, ANTIGUA—The Antigua Observer reports that an eighteenth-century shipwreck has been found in the mud at Nelson’s Dockyard, which is situated in English Harbor on the island’s southern coast, as part of a collaborative project between the University of the French West Indies (AIHP GEODE), and the Antigua and Barbuda National Parks. A team led by Jean-Sébastien Guibert of the University of the French West Indies used side-scan sonar equipment and a magnetometer to investigate the underwater site. They found that the wooden hull measures about 130 feet long. “The British were very good at keeping records about what happened at the dockyard and we haven’t found anything relating to it, so it’s a big possibility that it’s not British but something else,” said archaeologist Christopher Waters of the National Parks Authority. It may be the wreckage of the 1762 Beaumont, a heavily armed merchant ship built by the French East India Company. The ship was later sold to a private individual, renamed the Lyon, and was eventually captured off the coast of Virginia during the American Revolution. The ship was likely stripped of any useful or identifying objects by enslaved Africans when it sank, Guibert explained, but the researchers will map the site, compare the wreck’s dimensions to records of Beaumont, and analyze its wooden timbers and ballast stone for clues.

According to a statement released by Simon Fraser University, researchers from Simon Fraser University and the University of Sydney examined remains recovered from Anglo-Saxon cemeteries to try and determine how many Germanic-speaking people from mainland Europe arrived in the British Isles between the fifth and seventh centuries A.D. Historic documents suggest that so many people migrated to the British Isles that they replaced its Romano-British inhabitants. Analysis of the bones, however, indicates that between two-thirds and three-quarters of early Anglo-Saxons came from continental Europe. By the Middle Anglo-Saxon period, only 30 to 50 percent of Anglo-Saxons had ancestors from continental Europe. The researchers suggest that Anglo-Saxon Britain was likely to have been made up of people of different ancestries who adopted Anglo-Saxon culture. Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS ONE.

The Washington Post reports that the preliminary analysis of the remains of nine people from an unmarked mass grave in Tulsa’s Oaklawn Cemetery has been completed. The grave is thought to hold some of the victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, in which an estimated 300 Black people were killed and 35 blocks in the affluent Black community of Greenwood, also known as “Black Wall Street,” were destroyed. Lead forensic anthropologist Phoebe Stubblefield said five of the nine sets of remains examined belonged to children. The other four individuals have been identified as an older woman and adults in their 30s and 40s. Stubblefield found a bullet lodged in the left shoulder of one of the men, who had suffered multiple projectile wounds. “Ancestry so far, when we can detect it, has been of African descent,” Stubblefield added. DNA analysis may allow the remains to be identified before they are reburied. “This process has been a very sobering and very powerful experience,” commented J. Kavin Ross, a descendant of a massacre victim and chair of the Mass Graves Public Oversight Committee. “We are hopeful for more findings…I’m anxious to give them a proper rest.”

WARSAW, POLAND—Science in Poland reports that researchers led by Artur Obłuski of the University of Warsaw have found the remains of a large medieval church in the center of Old Dongola, Northern State, Sudan. Dongola was the capital of Makura, one of the Christian Nubian kingdoms, Obłuski explained. He suggests the building could have served as the seat of the archbishop of Dongola, who governed the Nubian churches along a 620-mile stretch of the Nile River. The team members have uncovered the church’s apse, an adjacent wall, and the dome of a large tomb. The apse, Obłuski added, is the largest yet found in Nubia, and it was decorated with plaster and paintings of monumental figures. Much of its walls remain buried. It had been previously thought that the city’s medieval cathedral was situated outside the city walls, but this structure resembles the cathedral unearthed in the center of Faras, the medieval capital of the Nubian kingdom of Nobadia. “There may be more paintings and inscriptions under our feet, just like in Faras,” Obłuski said