#archaeolgy

Untitled (Middle eggs),

2022,

mixed media on linen,

Noah's Flood vs the Epic of Gilgamesh

Archaeologists in Mongolia have found the remains of two ancient women warriors, whose skeletal remains indicate that they were well practiced in archery and horseback riding.

These two women lived during the Xianbei period (A.D. 147 to 552), a period of political fragmentation and unrest that gave rise to the Ballad of Mulan, the researchers said.

Perhaps these women were so athletic because during the Xianbei period, "it may have been that women were needed to defend home and country alongside the men," said study researchers Christine Lee and Yahaira Gonzalez, bioarchaeologists at California State University, Los Angeles.

Archaeologists recently discovered eight miles of painted rock face in the Colombian Amazon, sited along the Guayabero River. The Colombian and English researchers studying the works suspect that there could be upward of 100,000 individual paintings on 17 walls, dating from the time when humans first arrived in South America and then traveled through Central America.

Photo:  The cave of Shanidar lies in the Bradost mountain, part of Zagros Mountain range in Erbil, Iraq.

🇬🇧 Shanidar A cave in northern Iraq at an altitude of 745 metres. A small village site outside, Zawi Chemi Shanidar, has produced some evidence for early farming at the time of the Zarzian, whose levels at the summit of the cave are about 10,000 be. Beneath early Upper Palaeolithic levels are Mousterian layers, from which come a series of Neanderthal skeletons, several thought to have been killed by rock falls. One Neanderthal was apparently buried with flowers, the clusters of pollen at the centre surviving. Another had apparently had his arm crudely amputated above the elbow, and lived for some time afterwards.

🇹🇷 Şanidar Kuzey Irak'ta 745 metre yükseklikte bir mağara. Zawi Chemi Shanidar isimli küçük bir köy bölgesi içerisinde yer alır. Mağara, Zarzian dönemi içerisine tarihlendirilen tarım kalıntılarını içerir, kalıntılar M.Ö. 10 bin tarihlerine kadar tarihlendirilebilmektedir. İlk Paleolitik seviyelerin altında, bir seri Neandertal iskeletlerini içeren Mousterian katmanları vardır, buradaki ölülerin bazılarının kaya düşmesi sonucu öldüğü düşünülmektedir. Bir Neandertal ilk defa bu mağara içerisinde çiçeklerle birlikte gömülmüştür. Bir başkasının kolunu dirsek üstünde kaybettiği ve daha sonra bir süre yaşadığı saptanmıştır.

“Looting of artefacts has always been a sign of military might or economic power. Over millennia, conquering generals would take away with them trophies to adorn their cities. In more recent centuries, the wealthy upper classes would make “grand tours” of classical sites and acquire – through whatever means – anything from vases to statues to entire temple friezes to show off at home. Owning a piece of antiquity was seen as demonstrating wealth, a love of ancient culture and, ultimately, one’s own distinction: having things that nobody else could have.”

“At least this is what the looters thought. We should now all know the most apt way to describe this dubious form of collection – and it’s a word that has historical resonance: vandalism.”