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Archaeology and Architecture


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Dinosaur tail. Natural History Museum of Los Angeles.

Weblog research: Archeology


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It’s an illustration for Weblog research: artefacts and practices

Check out these biblical archaeology discoveries images:

Jesus’ baptism site, River Jordan.


Image by jemasmith
The Baptism Site on the Jordan side of the Jordan River is one of the most important recent discoveries in biblical archaeology. Excavations only began here in 1996, following Jordan’s peace treaty with Israel in 1994, but have already uncovered more than 20 churches, caves and baptismal pools dating from the Roman and Byzantine periods.

Although the identification is not absolutely certain, archaeology has shown that the area known as Wadi Kharrar has long been believed to be the biblical Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, where John the Baptist lived and Jesus was baptized.

This area is also associated with the ascension of the Prophet Elijah into heaven. See
www.sacred-destinations.com/jordan/bethany-baptism-site

In July 2010, there are reports that the site could be closed to the public owing to pollution. See www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7911…

Dura Europos, Syria


Image by james_gordon_los_angeles
Dura-Europos was a Hellenistic, Parthian and Roman border city built on an escarpment ninety meters above the right bank of the Euphrates River. It is located near the village of Salhiyé, in today’s Syria.
Dura-Europos is extremely important for archaeological reasons. As it was abandoned after its conquest in 256–7, nothing was built over it and no later building programs obscured the architectonic features of the ancient city. Its location on the edge of empires meant for a co-mingling of cultural traditions, much of which was preserved under the city’s ruins. Some remarkable finds have been brought to light, including numerous temples, wall decorations, inscriptions, military equipment, tombs, and even dramatic evidence of the Sassanian siege during the Imperial Roman period which led to the site’s abandonment.
Hellenistic Era
It was founded in 303 BC by the Seleucids on the intersection of an east-west trade route and the trade route along the Euphrates. The new city controlled the river crossing on the route between his newly founded cities of Antioch and Seleucia on the Tigris. Its rebuilding as a great city built after the Hippodamian model, with rectangular blocks defined by cross-streets ranged round a large central agora, was formally laid out in the 2nd century BC. The traditional view of Dura-Europos as a great caravan city is becoming nuanced by the discoveries of locally made manufactures and traces of close ties with Palmyra .
During the later 2nd century BC it came under Parthian control and in the 1st century BC, it served as a frontier fortress of the Arsacid Parthian Empire, with a multicultural population, as inscriptions in Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, Syriac, Hatrian, Palmyrenean, Middle Persian and Safaitic Pahlavi testify.[5] It was captured by the Romans in 165 and abandoned after a Sassanian siege in 256-257. After it was abandoned, it was covered by sand and mud and disappeared from sight.
Archaeology
Although the existence of Dura-Europos was long known through literary sources, it was not rediscovered until British troops under Capt. Murphy made the first discovery in the aftermath of World War I and the Arab Revolt. On March 30, 1920, a soldier digging a trench uncovered brilliantly fresh wall-paintings. The American archeologist James Henry Breasted, then at Baghdad, was alerted. Major excavations were carried out in the 1920s and 1930s by French and American teams. The first archaeology on the site, undertaken by Franz Cumont and published in 1922-23, identified the site with Dura-Europos, and uncovered a temple, before renewed hostilities in the area closed it to archaeology. Later, renewed campaigns directed by Michael Rostovtzeff continued until 1937, when funds ran out with only part of the excavations published. World War II intervened. Since 1986 excavations have resumed in a joint Franco-Syrian effort under the direction of Pierre Leriche.
Not the least of the finds were astonishingly well-preserved arms and armour belonging to the Roman garrison at the time of the final Sassanian siege of 256. Finds included painted wooden shields and complete horse armour, preserved by the very finality of the destruction of the city that journalists have called "the Pompeii of the desert". Finds from Dura-Europos are on display in the Deir ez-Zor Museum.
Culture
Dura-Europos was a cosmopolitan society, controlled by a tolerant Macedonian aristocracy descended from the original settlers. In the course of its excavation, over a hundred parchment and papyrus fragments and many inscriptions have revealed texts in Greek and Latin (the latter including a sator square), Palmyrenean, Hebrew, Hatrian, Safaitic, and Pahlavi. The excavations revealed temples to Greek, Roman and Palmyrene gods. There was a Mithraeum, as one would expect in a Roman military city.
The synagogue
Main article: Dura-Europos synagogue
The Jewish synagogue, located by the western wall between towers 18 and 19, the last phase of which was dated by an Aramaic inscription to 244. It is the best preserved of the many ancient synagogues of that era that have been uncovered by archaeologists. It was preserved, ironically, when it had to be infilled with earth to strengthen the city’s fortifications against a Sassanian assault in 256. It was uncovered in 1932 by Clark Hopkins, who found that it contains a forecourt and house of assembly with frescoed walls depicting people and animals, and a Torah shrine in the western wall facing Jerusalem. At first, it was mistaken for a Greek temple. The synagogue paintings, the earliest continuous surviving biblical narrative cycle, are conserved at Damascus, together with the complete Roman horse-armour.
Dura-Europos church
There was also the identified the Dura-Europos church, the earliest Christian house church, located by the 17th tower and preserved by the same defensive fill that saved the synagogue. Their evidently open and tolerated presence in the middle of a major Roman garrison town reveals that the history of the early Church was not simply a story of pagan persecution. The building consists of a house conjoined to a separate hall-like room, which functioned as the meeting room for the church. The surviving frescoes of the baptistry room are probably the most ancient Christian paintings. We can see the "Good Shepherd" (this iconography had a very long history in the Classical world), the "Healing of the paralytic" and "Christ and Peter walking on the water". These earliest depictions of Jesus Christ ever found anywhere date back to 235 A.D.
A much larger fresco depicts two women (and a third, mostly lost) approaching a large sarcophagus, i.e. probably the three Marys visiting Christ’s tomb. The name Salome was painted near one of the women.[citation needed] There were also frescoes of Adam and Eve as well as David and Goliath. The frescoes clearly followed the Hellenistic Jewish iconographic tradition but they are more crudely done than the paintings of the nearby synagogue.
Fragments of parchment scrolls with Hebrew texts have also been unearthed; they resisted meaningful translation until J.L. Teicher pointed out that they were Christian Eucharistic prayers, so closely connected with the prayers in Didache that he was able to fill lacunae in the light of the Didache text.
In 1933, among fragments of text recovered from the town dump outside the Palmyrene Gate, a fragmentary text was unearthed from an unknown Greek harmony of the gospel accounts — comparable to Tatian’s Diatessaron, but independent of it.
The Mithraeum
Also partially preserved by the defensive embankment was the Mithraeum (CIMRM 34-70), located between towers 23 and 24. It was unearthed in January 1934 after years of expectation as to whether Dura would reveal traces of the Roman Mithras cult. The earliest archaeological traces found within the temple are from between AD 168 and 171, which coincides with the arrival of Lucius Verus and his troops. At this stage it was still a room in a private home. It was extended and renovated between 209 and 211, and most of the frescoes are from this period. The tabula ansata of 210 offers salutation to Septimus Severus, Caracalla and Geta. The construction was managed by a centurio principe praepositus of the legio IIII Scythicae et XVI Flaviae firmae (CIMRM 53), and it seems that construction was done by imperial troops. The mithraeum was enlarged again in 240, but in 256—with war with Sassanians looming—the sanctuary was filled in and became part of the strengthened fortifications. Following excavations, the temple was transported in pieces to New Haven, Connecticut, where it was rebuilt (and is now on display) at Yale University’s Gallery of Fine Arts.
The surviving frescoes, graffiti and dipinti (which number in the dozens) are of enormous interest to the study of the social composition of the cult. The statuary and altars were found intact, as also the typical relief of Mithras slaying the bull, with the hero-god dressed as usual in "oriental" costume ("trousers, boots, and pointed cap"). As is typical for mithraea in the Roman provinces in the Greek East, the inscriptions and graffiti are mostly in Greek, with the rest in Palmyrene (and some Hellenized Hebrew). The end of the sanctuary features an arch with a seated figure on each of the two supporting columns. Inside and following the form of the arch is a series of depictions of the zodiac. Within the framework of the now-obsolete theory that the Roman cult was a Roman form of Mazdaism (la forme romaine du mazdeisme), Cumont supposed that the two Dura friezes represented the two primary figures of his Les Mages hellénisés, i.e. Zoroaster and Ostanes. This reading has not found a footing; "the two figures are Palmyrene in all their characteristic traits and are more probably portraits of leading members of that mithraeum’s congregation of Syrian auxiliaries.
The Fall of Dura
The reason for the good state of preservation of these buildings and their frescoes was due to their location, close to the main city wall facing west, and the military necessity to strengthen the wall. The Sassanid Persians had become adept at tunneling under such walls in order to undermine them and create breaches. As a countermeasure the Roman garrison decided to sacrifice the street and the buildings along the wall by filling them with rubble to bolster the wall in case of a Persian mining operation, so the Christian chapel, the synagogue, the Mithraeum and many other buildings were entombed. They also buttressed the walls from the outside with an earthen mound forming a glacis and sealed it with a casing of mud brick to prevent erosion.
There is no written record of the siege of Dura. However, the archaeologists uncoverd quite striking evidence of the siege and how it progressed:
Undermining
The buttressing of the walls would be tested in AD 256 when Shapur I besieged the city. True to fears, Shapur set his engineers to undermine what archaeologists called Tower 19, two towers north of the Palmyrene Gate. When the Romans became aware of the threat, they dug a countermine with the aim of meeting the Persian effort and attack them before they could finish their work. The Persians had already dug complex galleries along the wall by the time the Roman countermine reached them. They managed to fight off the Roman attack, and when the city defenders noticed the flight of soldiers from the countermine, it was quickly sealed. The wounded and stragglers were trapped inside, where they died. (It was the coins found with these Roman soldiers that dated the siege to AD 256.) The countermine was successful, for the Persians abandoned their operations at Tower.
Next, the Sassanids attacked Tower 14, the southernmost along the western wall. It overlooked a deep ravine to the south and it was from that direction that it was attacked. This time the mining operation was successful in that it caused the tower and adjacent walls to subside. However the Roman countermeasure which bolstered the wall prevented it from collapsing.
This brought a third approach to entering the city. A ramp was raised again attacking Tower 14, but, as it was being built and the garrison fought to stop the progress of the ramp, another mine was started near the ramp. Its scope was not to cause a collapse of the wall—the buttress had been successful—but to pass under it and penetrate the city. This tunnel was built to allow the Persians four abreast to move through it. It eventually entered the city and pierced the inner embankment and, when the ramp was completed, Dura’s end had come. As Persian troops charged up the ramp, their counterparts in the tunnel would have invaded the city with little opposition, as nearly all the defenders would have been on the wall attempting to repulse the attack from the ramp. City survivors would have been marched off to Ctesiphon and there sold as slaves. The city, once pillaged, was never rebuilt.
Chemical warfare
In January 2009, researchers claimed they had found evidence that the Persian Empire used poisonous gases on Dura against the Roman defenders during the siege. Excavations at Dura have discovered the remains of 19 Roman and 1 Persian soldiers at the base of the city walls. An archaeologist at the University of Leicester suggested that bitumen and sulphur crystals were ignited to create poisonous gas, which was then funnelled through the tunnel with the use of underground chimneys and bellows. The Roman soldiers had been constructing a countermine, and Sassanian forces are believed to have released the gas when their mine was breached by the Roman countermine. The lone Persian soldier discovered among the bodies is believed to be the individual responsible for releasing the gas before the fumes overcame him as well.

Wyatt Archaeological Museum


Image by SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent)
Here’s a Tennessee tourist attraction you may not be familiar with, located right off the interstate 65 south of Columbia, TN (At the Lynnville & Cornersville exit, TN129)

Ron Wyatt was a self taught archaeologist who claims to have found several important Biblical discoveries. He has a lot of devoted followers, but also several who claim his work was fraudulent.

I first learned of him when he spoke at my middle school. (yes, it was a private school.) He brought with him what was called a piece of Noah’s Ark, the remains of a piece of "fire and brimstone" that destroyed Sodom and a working model of how he thinks the Pyramids were built.

Wyatt died in 1999, but his legacy lives on in the museum. For a balanced look at his story, check the wikipedia article:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Wyatt

Here’s the museum’s website:
www.wyattmuseum.com/

Between a Hollywood superstar and a voice actor, the latter actually works harder. It is quite tough for a voice actor to put feelings and emotions to what he is reading, all the while knowing that he’s not seen on screen. He must get into the skin of the character and pump life into the dialogues. This is where voice over training comes into play.

Voice over training aids voice actors understand the craft and find gainful employment in a growing area. Thousands of animated TV shows, cartoons, radio advertisements, web shows and movies are made on a regular basis. Moreover, each movie/TV show has a cast of more than 20-30 characters. The prospects for a voice talent actually abound internationally.

Basic skills required to join a voice over training course

Diction is one of the most vital tools of the trade. The student must have perfect enunciation and for that reason must attend speech classes to get his diction properly. A voice talent would always have two roles to perform – the “acting,” and the “lending voice.” This means that getting a perfect diction is not adequate to be able to join a voice over training, enrolling in an acting course is also essential for the student.

What does a voiceover training program teach?

The student learns how to analyze and interpret commercial copy for announcer and real-person roles. Interpreting narrative copy, as well as technical copy, are learned as well. The course educates the student how to proficiently coordinate mind, mouth and voice so that he can sound true to his character. Taking direction is also mastered by the student.

A great voice actor training program makes students read, record, play back, listen, and then do it all over again until they get it right. Students warm-up and perform vocal exercises and learn strategies like timing, inflection, and articulation. They figure out how to preserve their voice fitness. When students are already half-way into the voice over training course, they become skilled at using and adjusting pitch, tone, volume and delivery speed to meet the needs of numerous types of jobs.

After the main training is over, students learn how to promote their skills, tap the right contacts, and get voice over work. The course instructors also help them produce a voice over demo for their portfolio. An opportunity to experience working in a real studio is offered in a solid voice over training course for students. They also learn what the do’s and don’ts are whenever they are behind the microphone or in a sound booth.

Selecting a voice over training course

There are two aspects to voice training. A commercial voice over course must be chosen by students who are interested in selling. Commercial voice talents are used for selling. TV advertisements, radio ads, phone and other media feature these voice overs. The voice over course also addresses selling skills because all commercial voice overs sell a product or a service. Acting skills are not covered by this course. If a student is interested in showbiz, then he should opt for dubbing and a movie or TV voice over course. Such courses require lip-synching, and so the voice over actor has to learn acting skillsets too.

To end, all the world’s a stage and we must play a part. So if you would like to be a voice talent, and you want to learn how to raise your voice, better enroll in a reputable voice actor training course.

Order the DVD at www.Sourceflix.com. The Book of Mormon claims to be “a volume of holy scripture comparable to the Bible.” Both the Bible and the Book of Mormon declare themselves to be ancient, historical, and reliable rules of faith–the very word of God. These claims have historically been taken on faith. But is there any evidence to support them one way or the other? Is it even possible to “test” a rule of faith? More to the point, is there any basis for placing one’s faith in the Bible or the Book of Mormon? It’s an important question. It’s an eternal question. This presentation puts the Bible and the Book of Mormon to the same tests. History, archaeology, textual criticism, and other disciplines combine to shed light on what is true…and what is false. Truth never fears investigation. Faith need not–and should not–be blind. Discover for yourself which of these books is worthy of being called “scripture” and which is worth of your trust. Participants: Thomas W. Murphy, William Wilson, Philip Lindholm, Philip Johnston, Peter Williams, Simon Gathercole, Gabriel Barkay, and others.
Video Rating: 2 / 5

A study of the reliability of the Bible, addressing some of the issues regarding manuscripts, the Dead Sea scrolls, archaeology, missing books, the apocrypha, etc. dale-apologetica.blogspot.com
Video Rating: 4 / 5

(PRWEB) January 25, 2012

Archaeological finds are nothing new at Chaa Creek, but a new discovery this week (21 January 2012) is definitely something out of the ordinary an ancient Maya household was accidentally unearthed in the middle of town near the eco resorts downtown offices in San Ignacio, Belize.

Larry Waight, Chaa Creeks marketing administrator said that with over 70 sites recorded within the eco resorts 365 acre nature reserve, having archaeologists working alongside resort staff is nothing new, but to have office workers rubbing shoulders with researchers wielding shovels and trowels while sifting through mounds of dirt is a first.

Its been very interesting coming to work and stopping to chat with archaeologists we know from field work up in the resort while theyre excavating a site just a few doors down from our town office, Mr Waight said, It really drives home just how dense the ancient Maya population around the Chaa Creek area was, and how vibrant their culture was here.

The new find was uncovered on Burns Avenue when workers digging a trench began uncovering fragments, and then entire pots and other artifacts, including several whole ceramic vessels, tools made form deer antlers and obsidian, and a human skeleton.

Mr Waight said the alarm was raised and representatives from Belizes Institute of Archaeology were able to have a hold put on the works in time for Dr Jaime Awe, the Institutes director and one of the world foremost Mayanists to assess the scene and have the street blocked off .

Dr Awe said that the site appears to be the household burial chamber of a Maya elder from the late Pre-Classic Period circa 200 BC. The ancient Maya buried their dead under their homes, and the mans remains were found about two metres below the surface, he said.

The find is quite significant, for it tells us that there were households in the area of downtown San Ignacio during the first two centuries before Christ. These households were part of the urban population of Cahal Pech. It was a big community so these objects were found in one of the houses that belonged to that ancient city.

We will continue to excavate in the area for a few more days. Burns Avenue is the main thoroughfare in San Ignacio, so we cannot hold back traffic for ever, he said.

Mr Waight said that for now, tourists and local people are enjoying the opportunity to see up close the archaeologists working in the towns centre.

Our guests at Chaa Creek often remark about how amazed they are to discover just how rich Belizes Maya heritage is, and how crammed this area is with Maya temples, ancient cities and other sites. And now, to see such important archaeology work carried out in front of our downtown office, especially with all the interest on the Maya and 2012 this year, well, Ill forgive people if they think weve somehow arranged this. But it just proves once again that with Belizes Maya, fact is better than anything you could make up, Mr Waight said.

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Find More Archaeological Trowels Press Releases

Some cool archaeological digs 2011 images:

2011 Kilwinning abbey dig


Image by John P. Loney

2011 Kilwinning abbey dig


Image by John P. Loney

Archaeological Dig


Image by Andrew Griffith
Shot of an archaeological dig going on near the Ramesseum on the West Bank across the Nile River from Luxor.

Commission gives K to dig
By PAMELA BRUST (pbrust@newsandsentinel.com) , Parkersburg News and Sentinel PARKERSBURG -Wood County commissioners agreed to give the Friends of Mountwood Park $ 2000 to help fund an archaeological dig this summer at Thornhill, the mansion of WC Stiles …
Read more on Parkersburg News

A caring community digs in
Public participates in an archaeological dig at the Handy House on Hix Bridge Road in Westport.David W. Oliveira By ANIKA CLARK WESTPORT — About 50 SouthCoast residents got their hands dirty for history Saturday at an archaeological dig around the old …
Read more on SouthCoastToday.com

For more info – www.petersommer.com A travel video offering a glimpse into some of the archaeological wonders you’ll see on our expert led Turkey tours and gulet cruises – the perfect passport to the ancient world. Our archaeologists bring the history vividly to life on these cultural tours in Turkey.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

Аспендос:История Согласно легенде, город был основан прорицателем Мопсом после Троянской войны. Во избежание набегов с моря, город был построен в 16 км от берега моря. Входил в состав Ликии, Персов, Афинского морского союза. В 333 г. до н.э., перешёл от персов к Александру Македонскому. Затем город был под властью Селевкидов, Пергама, и наконец с II в. до н. э. — римлян. В римский период город достиг наивысшего расцвета, и был в числе 3-х крупных городов Памфилии. Мягкий климат и удобное местоположение способствовали быстрому развитию города и превращению его в один из крупнейших торговых центров. На берегах реки Эвримедон (англ. Eurymedon) был создан порт, а в окрестностях разбили оливковые сады и виноградники. Знаменитейший портовый и торговый город занимался торговлей зерном, украшениями, вином и лошадьми. Скакуны Аспенда были лучшими во всем античном мире. В городе чеканили свою собственную серебряную монету. В последующие столетия, уже во времена Византийской империи город пришёл в упадок. В VII в. к этому способствовали набеги арабов. В нач. XIII в. город был завоёван сельджуками, и в последующем прекратил своё существование. Aspendus was an ancient city in Pamphylia, Asia Minor, located about 25 miles (40 km) east of the modern city of Antalya, Turkey. It was situated on the Eurymedon River about 10 miles (16 km) inland from the Mediterranean Sea; it shared a border with, and was hostile to, Side.[2] According to later tradition, the (originally non-Greek) city was …

Archeological discoveries set in plastic


Image by Ley_photography
These aren’t actually floating but I managed to do some jiggery pokey with my flash new cam and got this affect, which is fun.

New archaeological discovery at the Valley of the Kings
A deep burial well was found during a routine cleaning carried out by a Swiss archaeological mission on the path leading to King Tuthmosis III's tomb in the Valley of the Kings. The well leads to a burial chamber filled with a treasured collection of …
Read more on Ahram Online

New Archaeological Discoveries in Syria
Syrian archaeologists have announced new discoveries found at an archaeological site near the coastal town of Jableh in Lattakia governorate, Syria. According to the Syrian Arab News Agency, archaeologists of the Syrian national archaeological …
Read more on Sci-News.Com: Breaking Science News e-Magazine

Question by Jannel F: What do you think is the best university in Canada to study archaeology?
I’m soon at the age when I’ll attend university and I want to make the right choice. So please inform me as to what is the best university to go to, to study archaeology.

Thanks!!

Best answer:

Answer by ~~oOo¤¤¤~~ Darío III ~~¤¤¤§§§~~
http://archaeology.about.com/od/ggsabylocation/qt/ggsa_canada.htm

Add your own answer in the comments!