Stone Pages - Archaeo News (Middle East)

Ancient Sumerian fermented cereal beverage

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 10:22:46 +0100

Archaeologists from the Ludwig Maximilian University, together with brewing experts from the Technical University of Munich, carried out an experiment in an attempt to replicate the beer of ancient Sumer, in Mesopotamia.
Cuneiform writing scholar Peter Damerow of the Max Planck Institute believes that, although the experiment produced a brew, it only demonstrates that modern methods can produce a beer under ancient conditions. However he does think the experiment was a step in the right direction. "Given our limited knowledge about the Sumerian brewing processes, we cannot say for sure whether their end product even contained alcohol", wrote Damerow in the Cuneiform Digital Library Journal.
Although many of the more than 4,000 year old cuneiform texts contain records of deliveries of emmer, barley and malt to breweries, as well as documentation of the activities, there is hardly any information on the production processes, and no recipe. Moreover, the methods used for recording this information differ between locations and time periods, and the records and calculations are not based on any consistent number system - Sumerian bureaucrats used different number systems depending on the nature of the objects to be counted or measured.
This has cast doubt on the popular theory that Mesopotamian brewers used to crumble flat bread made from barley or emmer into their mash. The so-called 'bappir' (Sumerian for 'beer bread') is never counted as bread in the administrative texts, but in measuring units, like coarsely ground barley. "Such interdisciplinary research efforts might well lead to better interpretations of the 'Hymn of Ninkasi' than those currently accepted among specialists working on cuneiform literature", said Damerow.
The 'Hymn of Ninkasi', a mythological poem or lyric text from the Old Babylonian period (circa 1800 BCE) which glorifies the brewing of beer - and one of the most significant sources on the ancient art - provides no reliable information about ingredients, nor does it conclusively describe the procedure.

Edited from PhysOrg.com (17 January 2012), Discovery News, Heritage Daily (19 January 2012)

Syria: Early Bronze Age tomb discovered

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 15:20:13 +0100

The excavations department at the Aleppo Archeology and Museums Directorate uncovered an ancient burial chamber dating back to early Bronze Age at the village of Sousan, 12 km west of Ein al-Arab town (Syria).
Director of Aleppo Archeology and Museums Dr. Yousef Kanjo said that the burial chamber was carved in limestone and accessible through a narrow entrance facing south ending in a circular stone door measuring 100 cm in diameter, leading into the oval-shaped burial chamber. He said that the excavations uncovered the remains of 8 skeletons of different ages and in different positions, most of them in a crouching position with the head facing north.
Other finds include funerary artifacts such as pottery like dishes, cups and other wares dating back to the early Bronze age in addition to a bone fragment decorated with interlocking geometric shapes, bronze awls, a spear tip, a hammer, a bull-shaped figurine, and ornamental accessories including a bracelet, a necklace and beads.

Edited from SANA (27 December 2011)

The enigmatic standing stones of Al-Rajajil

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:32:02 +0100

On a lonely hillside a few kilometers outside the capital of Al Jawf province, Sakakah (Saudi Arabia), stand clusters of three-meter tall standing stones. Many of these monuments have fallen over and others lean at bizarre random angles. Some of them are etched with ancient Thamudic graffiti. Al-Rajajil ("the men"), where sandstone stones may weigh up to five tons each, is popularly called Saudi Arabia's Stonehenge. They are possibly the oldest human monuments on the peninsula.
Some time in the Chalcolithic, or Copper Age, people living in the area where Al Jawf is today laboriously erected 54 groups of rudely trimmed stone pillars. Each group contains two to 19 pillars. At ground level there is no immediately obvious placement of the groups. However, aerial images suggest a rough alignment to sunrise and sunset.
An archaeological dig over 30 years ago at the base of one set of pillars failed to turn up any bones or votive offerings, suggesting that this was not a religious site. It could represent a landmark for a trade route. Al-Jawf was a significant stopover point on the trade route from Yemen to Mesopotamia. One ancient trade route ran from Yemen and parallel to the Red Sea coast through Madinah, Al-'Ula and Madaen Salih. It turned northeast to Al-Jouf and then north toward Damascus and Turkey.

Edited from Arab Times (13 December 2011)

'Out of Africa' theory pushed back over 40,000 years

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 11:04:01 +0100

Until now, geneticists and archaeologists had believed that modern man has started to migrate out of the cradle of civilisation in Africa between 70,000 and 40,000 years ago. But new discoveries in the southern region of the Sultanate of Oman are causing a re-evaluation.
An international team, under the auspices of the Omani Ministry of heritage and Culture, and led by Dr Jeffrey rose of the University of Birmingham (UK) has been researching in the Dhofar mountains in southern Oman, near the border with Yemen. They have discovered a plethora of sites attributed to 'Nubian Middle Stone Age', which produced highly distinctive stone tools. Until these finds they had only been found in Africa.
The date of the artefacts and the sites has been confirmed by the use of a technique known as Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL). This measures doses from ionizing radiation that the material in question has absorbed and it effectively calculates when the object was last exposed to sunlight.
The results have pushed the migration out of Africa back to approximately 106,000 years ago and refocused attention on a migration path through the Arabian peninsula rather than Europe. The dating coincides with a period when the Arabian peninsula comprised sprawling grasslands, before the Last Ice Age and Dr Rose is quoted as saying "For a while South Arabia became a verdant paradise rich in resources - large game, plentiful fresh water, and high quality flint with which to make stone tools".

Edited from EurekAlert (30 November 2011), Oman Daily Observer (4 December 2011)

5,000-year-old burial sites discovered in Oman

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 11:16:50 +0100

Burial sites at least 5,000 year old have been discovered in Oman by archaeologists working on the Sohar Heritage Project.
"An area of 600sqkm has been covered and many new sites have been found that will shed light on Oman and its glorious past," said Biubwa Ali Al Sabri, Director of Excavation and Archaeological Sites at the Ministry of Heritage and Culture. She added that many of the sites found are burial sites dating back to the Wadi Souq period (1900- 1100 BCE). "Also older sites that are as old as 5000 years have been found and a distinctive pattern can be seen within the area that stretches from Liwa to Gyal as Shabol," pointed out the Omani archaeology expert.
Sohar Heritage Project, in its final year of work, is now involved in a survey of the mining sites in the Sohar town. "Mining played an important role during the prehistory of Oman in general and especially to Sohar where the copper trade was thriving," pointed out the Omani archaeologist. She also pointed out that earlier excavations in Sohar had unearthed proofs of Oman's connections both with India, China and the city states of Mesopotamia.

Edited from Gulf News (11 December 2011)

A dry Dead Sea before biblical times

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:36:50 +0100

The Dead Sea nearly disappeared about 120,000 years ago, say researchers who drilled below one of the deepest parts.
The new research started as an attempt to understand the history of the Dead Sea, which has been drying up at dramatic rates in recent decades. As a result of both evaporation and intensive human demands for water from inflowing rivers, the surface of the lake dropped 23 metres from 1930 to 2000, said Emi Ito, a geochemist at the University of Minnesota (USA). What is more, the rate of shrinking seems to be accelerating. From 2000 to 2008, levels dropped 8 metres, with another 1.5 metre lost in 2010 alone.
An international team of researchers drilled down about 460 metres into sediments of the Dead Sea, at a spot just slightly shallower than the lake's deepest point. The cores they pulled up stretched back 200,000 years. At a level corresponding with 120,000 years ago, during a warm period between ice ages, the researchers found a layer of small round pebbles sitting on top of 45 meters of thick salt deposits. Those pebbles look just like the rocks that normally appear on the lake's beaches, suggesting that one of the deepest parts of the lake was once dry.
If the Dead Sea could become mostly dry once, the concern is that it could happen again, raising the likelihood for wars over water and the loss of still mostly unstudied life forms that manage to thrive in such saline waters.

Edited from Discovery News (8 December 2011)

Experts stumped by ancient Jerusalem markings

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 09:24:21 +0100

Israeli archaeologists excavating in the oldest part of Jerusalem discovered a complex of rooms with three 'V' shapes and other features carved deeply into the solid stone floor. There were no other clues as to their purpose, and nothing to identity the people who made them.
The purpose of the complex is another aspect of the mystery. There are straight lines on the walls and floors - something archaeologists see as evidence of careful engineering. The markings are also close to the city's only natural water source - the Gihon spring - suggesting they may have had an important role.
There appears to be at least one other ancient marking of the same type at the site. A century-old map of an expedition led by the British explorer Montague Parker between 1909 and 1911, includes the shape of a 'V' drawn in an underground channel not far away. Modern archaeologists haven't excavated that area yet. Ceramic shards found in the rooms indicate they were last used around 800 BCE, with Jerusalem under the rule of Judean kings, the dig's archaeologists say. At around that time, the rooms appear to have been filled with rubble to support the construction of a defensive wall. It is unclear, however, whether they were built in the time of those kings or centuries earlier by the Canaanite residents who predated them.
Eli Shukron, a co-director of the project that found the markings, said they were a 'little bit' mysterious. "It's something that is here on the floor in this room from the First Temple period and we don't know yet what it means," he added. The First Temple period refers to a period in the ancient city beginning in the 10th century before the Christian era (circa 1100 BCE).
With experts unable to come up with a theory about the markings, the archaeologists posted a photo on Facebook and asked for suggestions.

Edited from 3News (7 December 2011)

Israelis mapping Mount of Olives necropolis

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 13:17:54 +0100

A Jewish group in Jerusalem is using 21st-century technology to map every tombstone in the ancient cemetery on the Mount of Olives, a sprawling necropolis of 150,000 graves stretching back three millennia. It is among the oldest cemeteries in continuous use in the world.
Jews began burying their dead on the hill that later became known as the Mount of Olives about three millennia ago. The goal of the new mapping project is to photograph every grave, map it digitally, record every name, and make the information available online. The project is mapping only the Jewish cemetery, which includes several burial monuments from the time of the second Jewish Temple, about 2,000 years ago.
Around 40,000 graves have been mapped so far by the team, which began work in 2008. They expect to finish recording all of the intact gravestones - an estimated 100,000 in total - by the end of next year. The rest are either unrecognisable or lie beneath later burials.
Mappers look at aerial photographs, consult handwritten burial records, walk along the rows of graves and dig through piles of dislocated tombstones.

Edited from Associated Press, Fox News (17 November 2011)

Qatar's earliest human settlement found

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 12:36:52 +0100

Environmental archaeologist Dr Emma Tetlow of the Qatar National Environment Record (QNER) recently revealed that carbon dating of organic remains from Wadi Debay'an, a site a few kilometres south of Al Zubara on Qatar's north-west coastline, has yielded the earliest yet known date for human occupation in Qatar - 7,500 years before present.
Excavation of the late Neolithic fish midden at Wadi Debay'an allowed specialists to determine which species were found in the Arabian Gulf at the time and which formed preferred fish catches. Archaeologists found sea shells, including those of pearl oyster shells and murex, and bivalves which have been pierced for use as ornaments, flint tools and fragments of pottery. A solitary canine tooth may have come from a domesticated dog or could have belonged to a fox or a jackal - more research has to take place on this specimen.
The 41 stone tools found so far date to the late Neolithic period of around 6000 years ago and are finely worked. Some are made from a beautiful chocolate-coloured tabular flint. There are also 141 sherds of painted Ubaid pottery, made in Mesopotamia in what is now modern Iraq, at the same period. A piece of dark ironstone may have come from a meteorite and perhaps was valued for its rarity. Ancient human bone generally does not survive well in Qatar, but the highly fragmented remains have been found of a burial.
These fish-eating inhabitants of Qatar were not living in isolation but as part of a wide pattern of settlements throughout Asia. This was made clear by the discovery of a deposit of obsidian, which has been sourced from the Taurus Mountains in Turkey, thousands of kilometres away from the site.
What may prove to be a post-hole for a dwelling has been excavated; evidence that at least for part of the year people were staying beside their main food source rather than leading a purely nomadic existence. A hearth near the post-hole yielded the earliest date of 7,500 years ago.
Organic remains of insects, plants, wood and diatoms - microscopic unicellular organisms, such as plankton, which form fossil deposits - yield a wealth of information once under the microscope. From these experts can learn much about the climate at the time, the vegetation coverage and the fauna. In the Neolithic period the climate was much wetter than it is today, and sea levels were higher. Dr Tetlow said that carbon dates have revealed evidence of continuous occupation of the Wadi Debay'an sites from the Neolithic right through to the Bronze Age, covering a span of some 5000 years.

Edited from Gulf Times (7 November 2011)

Was Holy Land prehistoric site used for 'sky burials'?

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 17:08:19 +0100

A new interpretation has been postulated for a prehistoric site, known in Arabic as Rujm Al-Hiri. The site is located in the Golan Heights, between Israel and Syria, and only came to notice after Israel captured the area from Syria in 1968. Even now, because of its location in this disputed territory and the possibility of walking through an old minefield, very few visitors have ventured to view its wonders.
From the ground very little is visible from a distance but if you take to the air its full glory is revealed with 4 massive concentric stone circles, the outer of which is over 240 metres across. It is believed that these circles were once walls reaching a height of 14-15 metres, at which point a massive 42,000 tonnes of stone would have been used in their construction. The site is dated at approximately 4,000 BCE, during the Chalcolithic Period.
Several theories have been proposed for the meaning of the site, some more believable than others. The structures could not have been used for either defensive or settlement purposes and they are not strategically placed, so the obvious solution is for a form of ritual practice. Some of the more believable theories include an astronomical temple or observatory and a burial complex. The wilder ideas vary from the location of the tomb of the Biblical giant 'Og', to a healing centre with supernatural energy fields.
The latest idea, however, is much more feasible. Archaeologist Rami Arav, of the University of Nebraska, USA, has been studying the Chalcolithic civilisation, of which this site is a remnant. The Chalcolithic people practiced a type of burial known as 'sky burial'. This comprises leaving the body exposed to the elements, so that birds and vultures could pick the bones clean of flesh. When this process was completed the bones were then placed in small boxes or ossuaries.
Arav reached these conclusions after studying the site at Rujm Al-Hiri and similar structures used by the Zoroastrians in India and Iran. He also discovered a copper cylinder at a Chalcolithic site near the Dead Sea, which had an opening like a gate and which depicted birds ready to swoop. Whilst this is a highly plausible theory no hard evidence has yet been found is support.

Edited from Popular Archaeology (29 October 2011), Associated Press (2 November 2011)

Sophisticated blades produced earlier than previously thought

Mon, 24 Oct 2011 09:06:19 +0100

Archaeology has long associated advanced blade production with the Upper Palaeolithic, about 30,000 to 40,000 years ago - linked with the emergence of Homo Sapiens, and features such as cave art. Now researchers have uncovered evidence which shows that "modern" blade production was also an element of Amudian industry during the late Lower Palaeolithic, 200,000 to 400,000 years ago, as part of the Acheulo-Yabrudian cultural complex - a geographically limited group of hominins who lived in what are now Israel, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.
Professor Avi Gopher, Dr Ran Barkai and Dr Ron Shimelmitz of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilisations say that large numbers of long, slender cutting tools were discovered at Qesem Cave, outside of Tel Aviv, challenging the notion that blade production is exclusively linked with recent modern humans.
The blades are the result of a well planned "production line," says Dr Barkai. Every element - from the choice of raw material to the production method itself - points to a sophisticated system rivalling the blade technology used hundreds of thousands of years later.
This is perhaps the first time that such technology was standardised, notes Professor Gopher, who points out that the blades were produced with relatively small amounts of waste materials. This industry enabled the inhabitants of the cave to produce with relative ease tools normally considered costly in raw material and time. Thousands of these blades have been discovered at the site. Most were made to have one sharp cutting edge, and one naturally dull edge easily gripped in a hand.
Professor Cristina Lemorini from Sapienza University of Rome, who closely analysed microscopic markings on the blades and conducted a series of experiments, determined the tools were primarily used for butchering.
According to the researchers, this innovative technology is one of a score of new behaviors exhibited by the inhabitants of Qesem Cave. "There is clear evidence of daily and habitual use of fire," says Dr Barkai. There is also evidence of a division of space within the cave; inhabitants using each space in a regular manner, conducting specific tasks in predetermined places.

Edited from PhysOrg, American Friends of Tel Aviv University (17 October 2011)

Evidence of earliest mass production found in Israel

Sat, 08 Oct 2011 10:14:38 +0100

If someone described to you that a factory had been set up to mass produce tools and weapons and that, attached to the factory there was a kitchen and a canteen, you would probably accept this as a description of a modern day industrial area in any city or town around the world. But what if this factory was 40,000 years old? Well, until recently, you would have said that they were talking about the earliest found example of mass production, stemming from the Late Paleolithic period. So what would your reaction be if you were told that the factory in question was between 200,000 and 400,000 years old? Fantasy? Well not if you are a member of a team of archaeologists from Tel Aviv University, Israel, working in the Qassem Cave in the Samarian foothills, just outside Tel Aviv.
It is believed that the cave was originally created by the action of acidic water on the limestone rock. Some sort of seismic event then opened the entrance to the cavern over 200,000 years ago, to allow the local inhabitants of the late Lower Paleolithic period to start up their massive tool production, before closing again and sealing in the secrets until contruction work started recently on a highway widening project. The area is surrounded by large quantities of flint and the tools made there were of a very high quality, covering all stages from hunting the prey to precise butchering, having one sharp edge and one blunt one, so they could be hand held comfortably.
The inhabitants were part of the Acheulo-Yabrudian cultural complex which was restricted to the area now known as Jordan, Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Little is known of these tool makers, who were an earlt forerunner to Homo Sapiens and only a few teeth have so far been discovered. But this discovery has pushed back the boundaries of modern man's existence in the area to over 200,000 years. There is still considerable work to do in the caves and it is hoped that more human remains can be found, to give more knowledge and insight into these ancient industrial pioneers.

Edited from Science Direct (2 August 2011), The Media Line, The Jerusalem Post (4 October 2011)

Israel returns Bronze Age pottery to Jordan

Sat, 01 Oct 2011 09:24:05 +0100

Jordan says that Israel has returned 620 Early Bronze Age pottery items taken in the 1960s by a US archaeologist for research at a Jerusalem-based institute.
"Israel returned the items, including pots, plates and jars, in April. American archaeologist Paul W. Lapp borrowed them in the 1960s for study and research," acting director of Jordan's antiquities department, Fares Hmud, told the state-run Petra news agency. Hmud said the antiquities will be displayed at a museum in the Jordan Valley.
Jordan has said it was still trying to recover books and manuscripts dating from the first century CE after they were smuggled to Israel several years ago. Jordan is also demanding the return of the Dead Sea Scrolls, also known as the Qumran Manuscripts, which contain some of the earliest biblical texts. The oldest documents date back to the third century BCE while the latest was written in 70 CE.
Israel claimed the scrolls from a museum in East Jerusalem, then under Jordanian sovereignty, but which was occupied during the Six Day War in 1967.

Edited from Khaleej Times (26 September 2011), The Fiji Times (28 September 2011)

Secrets of the Jordanian wetlands exposed

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 12:44:46 +0100

Archaeologists and conservationists are fighting a vital battle to preserve what could be the most important archaeological sites in Jordan. The area in question is known as the Asraq Oasis. 20,000 years ago the area was blessed with an abundance of water.
This environment encouraged a plethora of flora and fauna, on the back of which a thriving human community developed. Climate change then took over and the area is now a rapidly drying marshland, reduced in size to a small oasis. The occupants of this Epipalaeolithic site, who predate Neolithic humans, were adept farmers as well as hunters, and developed social skills which would translate themselves into village and town communities.
A combined team from the Jordanian Department of Antiquities, and University College London & University of Cambridge (UK), carried out extensive excavations from 2005 to 2007, which yielded extensive data and several articles & papers have been published in academic journals which chronicle these finds.
One particular find, however, stands out. It is that of a complete skeleton, unusually for the area and period, bound and buried. The unusual nature is two fold. Firstly, very few human remains have been found in the area, with a normal 'burial' leaving the body exposed on the ground, to enable natural recycling. So an actual burial lead the team to believe that a simple form of class structure had developed.
The second unusual nature was the actual burial itself. The body had been placed in a crouched upright position and this was the first example of its type in Jordan. Further DNA analyses of the remains are being carried out and it is hoped that more secrets will be unlocked.
There is severe pressure on the site, however, not only from the degrading and drying of the geography of the area, but also, and probably a more dangerous threat, the spread of modern development.

Edited from Menafn, Jordan Times (25 September 2011)

Mysterious Mideast geoglyphs number in the thousands

Sat, 17 Sep 2011 10:13:31 +0100

They stretch from Syria to Saudi Arabia, can be seen from the air but not the ground, and are virtually unknown to the public. Referred to by archaeologists as 'wheels,' these stone structures have a wide variety of designs - a common one being a circle with spokes radiating inside. Researchers believe that they date back at least 2,000 years. They are often found on lava fields, and range from 25 to 70 metres across.
New research by David Kennedy - professor of classics and ancient history at the University of Western Australia - reveals that these wheels form part of a variety of stone landscapes; including 'kites' (for funnelling herds of animals), 'pendants' (lines of stone cairns that run from burials), and walls that meander across the landscape for up to a hundred metres or more. Some of the wheels are found in isolation while others are clustered together. At one location, near the Azraq Oasis (Jordan), hundreds can be found clustered into a dozen groups.
Kennedy became fascinated by these structures when, as a student, he read accounts of Royal Air Force pilots flying over them in the 1920s on airmail routes across Jordan. In Saudi Arabia, Kennedy's team has found quite different wheel styles; some are rectangular, others are circular but contain two spokes forming a bar often aligned in the direction that the sun rises and sets. The wheels in Jordan and Syria, on the other hand, have numerous spokes and do not seem to be aligned with any astronomical phenomena.
Cairns are often associated with the 'wheels'. Sometimes they circle the perimeter of the wheel, other times they are in among the spokes. The researchers have noted that the 'wheels' are often found on top of 'kites' - which date as far back as 9,000 years - but never the other way around.

Edited from Live Science (14 September 2011)