Archaeological Correlates of the Rosetta Stone’s Great Revolt in the Nile Delta: Destruction at Tell Timai by Jay E. Silverstein & Robert J. Littman
December 27, 2022
Abstract:
(Taylor & Francis Online) A stratum at Tell Timai shows extensive evidence of violent destruction dating to the early 2nd century B.C. Burning, rapid abandonment of objects in a house, destruction of a kiln complex, weaponry, and unburied bodies spread over a wide area in North Tell Timai indicate the city of Thmouis was subject to an episode of warfare. The destruction at Thmouis parallels an account of the destruction of another Nile Delta city, Lycopolis, in the nome of Busiris, during The Great Revolt described on the Rosetta Stone (196 B.C.). Another stela from Memphis also refers to the Ptolemaic campaign in the region. The evidence from Tell Timai provides the first archaeological correlate of destruction during the Great Revolt in the Nile Delta.
Introduction:
The city of Mendes (Tell el Rub'a) was an important religious and political center continuously from at least the Old Kingdom to the Roman period. As the capital of Nome XVI of Lower Egypt, it held sway over a vast province between two branches of the Nile, stretching from the east-central Delta to the Mediterranean coast (Figure 1 in linked article). Considering its power and importance, it is not surprising that it became a center of resistance to the Persian occupation (525–404 B.C.). The 28th Dynasty (404–398 B.C.) threw off the Persians and reestablished native Egyptian rule. The 29th and 30th Dynasties saw the rise of Mendes and Sebennytos as capitals of Egypt, a rule that ended with the Persian reconquest of Egypt by Artaxerxes III in 343 B.C. During the period from 404–343 B.C., the Mendesian nome was the most powerful region in Egypt. Alexander the Great defeated the Persians and conquered Egypt in 332 B.C. After Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., his successors carved up his empire and initiated the Hellenistic Age, with Ptolemy I Soter claiming Egypt as his realm. The capital of Egypt then shifted to Memphis and finally, for the rest of antiquity, to Alexandria.
Ancient Roman Curse Tablets Linked to Omens in Book of Revelation by Dr. Katie Spalsing
February 10, 2023
Extract:
(IFL Science) We’re often told that, since the advent of social media, modern society has become unprecedently toxic. What this view fails to account for, however, is just how petty and vengeful our ancestors were – and while they may not have had tweets available to take it out on the random folk they felt had wronged them, that definitely didn’t make them inclined to forgive and forget.
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“There are aspects of curse tablet-related inscriptions and practices in Revelation,” explained Michael Hölscher, a researcher at the JGU Faculty of Catholic Theology and lead researcher on a new project investigating curse tablets and the role they play in the last book of the Christian New Testament, in a statement.
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As evidence, Hölscher points to examples within the Book of Revelation that echo the language and rituals found with curse tablets – citing, for instance, the description of an angel casting a stone into the sea with the words “Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.” For contemporary readers, he explained, the similarities with their own curse tablet routines would likely be obvious.
“The curse ritual as a whole was not simply restricted to the wording of the spell as such, but would have also involved the act of writing it down, the piercing of the tablets, or their burial in deliberately selected places,” Hölscher said. Indeed, the tablets were often placed in very specific places such as graves, or other sacred locations where the spirits of the underworld were thought to reside.
If that all sounds rather spooky and suspicious to you, well, the ancient Romans would likely agree: such practices were actually forbidden under Roman law, being viewed as a form of witchcraft or black magic. In return, however, the Christian minority spurned mainstream Roman culture – the Book of Revelation is pretty famously less of a gospel and more of a piece of anti-Roman political propaganda.
Unusual Yellow Gem In King Tut's Tomb Created By Meteor Crash In Sahara by Dr Alfredo Carpineti PhD.
February 17, 2023
Introduction:
(IFL Science) A peculiar and mysterious yellow glass can be found in the desert of Egypt and Libya. It has been known for thousands of years and was famously used to make a scarab for the pectoral of 18th-dynasty pharaoh Tutankhamun. For a long time, people were uncertain of its origin, but researchers think they have found the culprit.
As reported in the journal Geology in 2019, the yellow glass was caused by a meteorite impact that took place 29 million years ago. The researchers analyzed zircons within glass samples found in the Libyan desert and discovered that they must have been melted by an impact. Glass forms when sand melts at very a high temperature.
“It has been a topic of ongoing debate as to whether the glass formed during meteorite impact, or during an airburst, which happens when asteroids called Near Earth Objects explode and deposit energy in the Earth’s atmosphere,” Dr Aaron Cavosie, from Curtin University, said in a statement.
“Both meteorite impacts and airbursts can cause melting, however, only meteorite impacts create shock waves that form high-pressure minerals, so finding evidence of former reidite confirms it was created as the result of a meteorite impact.”
Egypt reveals 9-meter long chamber inside Great Pyramid
Source: AP
CAIRO today
Egypt unveiled the discovery of long corridor inside the Great Pyramid of Giza on Thursday, the first to be found on the structure’s north side.
The corridor, which measures 9 meters (nearly 30 feet) by 2 meters (more than 6 feet), is perched above the famous structure’s main entrance and was detected using a scan, authorities said. The function of the chamber is currently unknown, although such corridors often lead to further archaeological discoveries.
Egyptian archaeologist Zahi Hawass and the country’s Minister for Tourism Ahmed Eissa, announced the discovery at the pyramid’s base.
The chamber was discovered by the Scan Pyramids project, an international programm that uses scans to look at unexplored sections of the ancient structure.
First Bioanthropological Evidence for Yamnaya Horsemanship March 3, 2023
Abstract:
(Science Advances) The origins of horseback riding remain elusive. Scientific studies show that horses were kept for their milk ~3500 to 3000 BCE, widely accepted as indicating domestication. However, this does not confirm them to be ridden. Equipment used by early riders is rarely preserved, and the reliability of equine dental and mandibular pathologies remains contested. However, horsemanship has two interacting components: the horse as mount and the human as rider. Alterations associated with riding in human skeletons therefore possibly provide the best source of information. Here, we report five Yamnaya individuals well-dated to 3021 to 2501 calibrated BCE from kurgans in Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary, displaying changes in bone morphology and distinct pathologies associated with horseback riding. These are the oldest humans identified as riders so far.
(EurekAlert) The researchers discovered evidence of horse riding by studying the remains of human skeletons found in burial mounds called kurgans, which were between 4500-5000 years old. The earthen burial mounds belonged to the Yamnaya culture. The Yamnayans had migrated from the Pontic-Caspian steppes to find greener pastures in today´s countries of Romania and Bulgaria up to Hungary and Serbia.
Yamnayans were mobile cattle and sheep herders, now believed to be on horseback.
“Horseback-riding seems to have evolved not long after the presumed domestication of horses in the western Eurasian steppes during the fourth millennium BCE. It was already rather common in members of the Yamnaya culture between 3000 and 2500 BCE”, says Volker Heyd, Professor of Archaeology at the University of Helsinki and a member of the international team, which made the discovery.
These regions west of the Black Sea constitute a contact zone where mobile groups of herdsmen from the Yamnaya culture first encountered the long-established farmer communities of Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic traditions. For decades, the Early Bronze Age expansion of steppe people into southeastern Europe was explained as a violent invasion.