Researchers digging at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s ongoing archaeological excavation on Mount Zion in Jerusalem have announced a second significant discovery from the 2019 season – clear evidence of the Babylonian conquest of the city from 587/586 BCE.

The discovery is of a deposit including layers of ash, arrowheads dating from the period, as well as Iron Age potsherds, lamps and a significant piece of period jewelry – a gold and silver tassel or earring. There are also signs of a significant Iron Age structure in the associated area, but the building, beneath layers from later periods, has yet to be excavated.

The Mount Zion Archaeological Project, co-directed by UNC Charlotte professor of history Shimon Gibson, Rafi Lewis, a senior lecturer at Ashkelon Academic College and a fellow of Haifa University, and James Tabor, UNC Charlotte professor of religious studies, has been in operation for over a decade and has made numerous significant finds relating to the ancient city’s many historical periods, including the announcement made in July, 2019 on evidence concerning the sack of the city during the First Crusade. The current find is one of the oldest and perhaps the most prominent in its historical significance, as the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem is a major moment in Jewish history.

The team believes that the newly-found deposit can be dated to the specific event of the conquest because of the unique mix of artifacts and materials found — pottery and lamps, side-by-side with evidence of the Babylonian siege represented by burnt wood and ashes, and a number of Scythian-type bronze and iron arrowheads which are typical of that period.

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University of North Carolina at Charlotte

A partially preserved inscription linking Artemis with the ancient town of Amarynthos was unearthed in Paleochoria, Evia, 2 km east of the modern-day town with the same
name, the Ministry of Culture said on Monday, according to ANA. The fragmentary inscription, “… of Artemis in Amarynthos”, was reused in a Roman-era fountain, confirming that the foundations of the building in Paleochoria were related to the sanctuary of the goddess Artemis, first mentioned in Linear B tablets found in the Mycenaean palace of Thebes as “a-ma-ru-to”.
The discovery was made during this season’s excavations of the sanctuary by the Swiss Archaeological School in Greece (director Karl Reber) and the Antiquities Ephorate of Evia (Amalia Karapaschalidou, honorary ephor). Excavations to locate the sanctuary began in 2006. This year’s dig focused on the Paleochora area where a modern house was razed in 2018 after a University of Thessaloniki geological survey located remains of ancient buildings next to it.

Archaeologists in Pompeii have discovered a treasure trove of good luck charms and fertility amulets which they think may have been used for casting spells by an ancient Roman sorcerer.

The collection includes tiny carved phalluses, pieces of bone shaped as human skulls and fists, small bronze bells which would have been rung to ward off bad luck, and scarab beetles made from amethyst.

There are fertility symbols made from turquoise, pieces of crystal and amber beads from a necklace. Archeologists discovered the objects in a horde hidden in a room in the Casa del Giardino, or House of the Garden.

Glass beads are decorated with images of the god Dionysus and dancing satyrs.
The objects included tiny animal figures and a bone carved into a miniature human skull

Experts think the objects may not have belonged to the villa’s wealthy owners because the horde did not include the gold jewellery that they would have expected to have found.
Instead they think the esoteric collection belonged to a low-born Roman or even a slave who used it for casting spells and engaging in rituals linked to fertility, seduction, child birth and marriage.

They said the area in which the trove was found was probably part of the servants’ quarters. These were items “to wear on ritualistic occasions, rather than as a show of elegance,” said Massimo Osanna, the director-general of the archeological site.
They were kept in a wooden chest, the bronze hinges of which survived while the wood has long since decomposed.

Archeologists believe the objects could have been used by a Roman sorcerer to ward off evil and cast good luck spells Credit: Cesare Abbate/EPA/EFE/REX
The precious gems and decorative items were abandoned when the family and their slaves tried to flee the devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79.

Many of them, if not all, did not make it – archeologists found the skeletons of 10 people, including women and children. These are objects from daily life and they are extraordinary because they tell the stories of the inhabitants of the city who tried to flee the eruption,” said Prof Osanna.

“What is particularly interesting is the recurring iconography of the objects and amulets, which invokes good luck, fertility and protection against bad fortune.
An archeologist working on a fresco found in a Roman villa in Pompeii Credit: Ciro Fusco/Ansa

“There are numerous pendants shaped like small phalluses, as well as scarab beetles and the skull. We are studying them in order to understand their exact significance and function.”

The objects are to be put on display in Pompeii in the coming weeks.
Archeologists made another surprising discovery in the House of the Garden last year – an inscription which suggested that the eruption of Mt Vesuvius happened in October AD 79, rather than August, as previously thought.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk
/news/2019/08/12/archaeologists-pompeii-find-amulets-charms-may-have-used-roman/

According sofia globe Bulgarian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a
previously-unknown 14th-century aristocrat, a descendant of the Byzantine Palaiologos
dynasty, at the Kaliakra fortress on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast, the National History Museum said on August 15.
The tomb was found by a team headed by the National History Museum’s director,
Associate Professor Boni Petrunova, who has led digs at the Kaliakra site since 2004.
Previous excavations have yielded many other rich tombs of Kaliakra noblemen, but this
was the first time that archaeologists found a descendant of the Palaiologos dynasty,
identified as Georgi Palaiologos.
Although there were no other historical records of this person, archaeologists believed
that he could have been a relative of Balik and Dobrotitsa, who ruled the independent
Despotate of Dobroudja – with Kaliakra as its capital – in the middle of the 14th century.
The tomb featured rich burial gifts, including luxurious fabric to cover his face and a
glass vessel. Most notably, archaeologists found a massive gold signet ring with the
nobleman’s name and the Palaiologos family crest, which allowed to identify the
aristocrat, the museum said.
The digs, funded this year by grants from the Culture Ministry and Kavarna municipality,
are scheduled to continue until the end of the month.
Last year’s digs at Kaliakra also yielded a major discovery of hundreds of gold and silver
coins, with the museum planning to publish a catalogue of the findings later this year.

Archaeologists have discovered a rare stamp and statues belonging to the ancient Turkic Ashina tribe in Mongolia, reports said Saturday.

The discovery was made during excavations in Shiveet Ulan, led by the Turkic World Educational and Scientific Cooperation Organization (TWESCO). TWESCO President Darhan Kıdırali said significant archaeological findings have been made in the area since 2014.

“Numerous unique stones with stamps belonging to the Ashina Khagan tribe, as well as
lion statues were found in the excavations,” Kıdırali told the Anadolu Agency.
He noted that the statue is well-preserved and is a rare find. Kıdırali also noted that other findings in the area suggest the area had been used as a monument for a khagan and that they will continue to work to identify more details about it.

Archaeological excavations are also being carried out near Kerulen region, with many
artifacts suggesting that the region had been one of the holy lands of the Turkic tribes
during the Göktürk period.

The first Turkic people, who referred to themselves as Turks were the Göktürks, who
appeared in the 6 th century AD.

Not only is the Louvre the most visited museum in the world, but it welcomed more than ten million visitors in 2018 — an unprecedented figure for an international museum,
according to its management.

“For the first time in its history, and I think for the first time in the history of museums, more than ten million visitors visited the Louvre in 2018,” Jean-Luc Martinez, President and CEO of the Louvre , said on Thursday.

With 10.2 million visitors last year, the Louvre recorded a 25 percent increase compared
to 2017 (8.1 million) and broke its own attendance record (9.7 million in 2012).
In 2017, the Louvre was followed by the National Museum of China with 8 million
visitors, followed by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (7.3).

By Owen Jarus

An inscribed ancient Egyptian scarab and five clay tablets with carvings of naked women have been found in Rehob, a 3,500-year-old city in Israel.

The carvings likely depict ancient fertility goddesses, such as Asherah or Ashtarte, Amihai Mazar, an archaeology professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told Live Science. “[They] were used at home, as part of popular domestic religious practice in the domestic sphere, mainly related to fertility of women,” Mazar said in an email, noting that similar carvings have been found at other archaeological sites in the region.

The excavation showed that Rehob (known today as Tel Rehov) was founded about 3,500 years ago, and the city flourished at a time when Egypt controlled much of the region. Rehob was constructed near Beth Shean, a town protected by an Egyptian garrison, Mazar and Davidovich wrote in the journal article. [The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]

A carving found during excavations may show a fertility goddess.

Credit: Gabi Laron/Tel Rehov excavations, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

An inscribed ancient Egyptian scarab and five clay tablets with carvings of naked women have been found in Rehob, a 3,500-year-old city in Israel.

The carvings likely depict ancient fertility goddesses, such as Asherah or Ashtarte, Amihai Mazar, an archaeology professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told Live Science. “[They] were used at home, as part of popular domestic religious practice in the domestic sphere, mainly related to fertility of women,” Mazar said in an email, noting that similar carvings have been found at other archaeological sites in the region.

The excavation showed that Rehob (known today as Tel Rehov) was founded about 3,500 years ago, and the city flourished at a time when Egypt controlled much of the region. Rehob was constructed near Beth Shean, a town protected by an Egyptian garrison, Mazar and Davidovich wrote in the journal article. [The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]

Mazar and Uri Davidovich, a lecturer at the same institution, detailed their findings in a paper published recently in the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research.

Made of a mineral called steatite, the scarab contains a hieroglyphic inscription saying that it was created for a deceased man named “Amenemhat,” who was “scribe of the house of the overseer of sealed items,” according to Arlette David’s translation of the inscription.

The “sealed items” referred to in the title represent various products and raw materials dealt with by the administration,” wrote David, an archaeology lecturer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in the appendix of the journal article.

It’s a mystery who exactly this individual was and what the scarab was doing in the building where it was found. “Since there is no other attestation of an Amenemhat ‘scribe of the house of the overseer of sealed items,’ we don’t know anything else about him, including where he was buried,” David told Live Science in an email. [Photos: Mummies Discovered in Tombs in Ancient Egyptian City]

David noted that it’s possible that Amenemhat never lived in or visited Rehob and the scarab may have been used in Rehob as a reminder of Egypt’s control over the area.

Mysterious structure

The scarab and two of the carvings were found within a large structure whose purpose and total size are unknown. It hasn’t been fully excavated yet, but it “appears to have been a large and elaborate public structure. Its wide walls, arrangement of buttresses, spacious courtyard with a large hall to its south, deep foundations, and massive constructional fills all attest to its non-domestic nature,” Mazar and Davidovich wrote.

More research needs to be done to determine what exactly it was used for. It could be part of a palace, administrative building or an elite person’s residence, Mazar and Davidovich wrote.

https://www.livescience.com/66014-fertility-goddess-carvings-ancient-israel.html