European

3,300-year-old Mycenaean tomb and precious artifacts found in Central Greece

“3,300-year-old Mycenaean tomb and precious artifacts found in Central Greece”

by April Holloway via “Ancient Origins“

Archaeologists have announced the discovery of a vaulted Mycenaean tomb near Amfissa, central Greece, containing human remains and a hoard of treasures. The 3,300-year-old tomb is the first of its kind to be found in the region, and one of only a few that have been found untouched. The finding is expected to provide valuable information regarding the habitation, burial customs, and possessions of the Mycenaeans in the 2nd millennium BC. According to the Greek Reporter, the ancient tomb was found during an irrigation project that required excavation in the area. A preliminary analysis of the monument revealed that grave robbers had tried to gain access to the interior of the tomb in the past, but had failed, allowing the precious grave goods to remain untouched over the millennia. The tomb is a tholos, or beehive tomb, characterized by a vaulted ceiling created by the superposition of successively smaller rings of mudbricks or, more often, stones. In Greece, the vaulted tholoi are a monumental Late Bronze Age development. After about 1500 BCE, tholoi became more widespread and are found in every part of the Mycenaean heartland. They are typically cut into the slope of a hillside so that only the upper third of the vaulted chamber was above ground level. This masonry was then concealed with a relatively small mound of earth. After a burial, the entrance to the tomb was filled in with soil, leaving a small mound with most of the tomb underground. One of the finest examples is the Treasury of Atreus in Mycenae. The Treasury of Atreus in Mycenae, Greece (public domain) Lamiastar.gr reports that the newly-discovered tomb is 9 meters (30ft) long with a circular burial chamber measuring 5.9 meters (19ft) in diameter. The vaulted ceiling had collapsed but the walls of the chamber are well-preserved and maintained a height of almost 3 meters (10ft). Within the burial chamber, archaeologists found a large number of human bones. The dead had been buried in the floor with their personal belongings until complete decomposition. Their bones had then been pushed near the walls of the tomb in order to create space for newer burials and a few of these were better preserved than the rest. The research team, led by chief archaeologist Athanasia Psalti, unearthed many unique and valuable artifacts inside the tomb, including more than forty pieces of painted pottery, bronze vases, small vessels for storing aromatic oils, gold and bronze rings, one of which had an engraved decoration, buttons made of semi-precious stones, two bronze daggers, spearheads, female and zoomorphic idols and a large number of seals with animal, floral and linear motives. . . .

‘Stunning’ Roman Cockerel Goes on Display

Question for my Readers! – Is this just good History Preservation, Our right to Cultural Heritage, or Tomb Robbing? ** DB

“‘Stunning’ Roman Cockerel Goes on Display”

by Victoria Woollaston via “Daily Mail“

Three years since it was discovered during excavations on an ancient cemetery, a rare bronze Roman cockerel has been given a permanent home.

The 2nd century figurine is believed to be one of only nine ever found in the Roman Empire, and is part of a new exhibition at the Corinium Museum in the Cirencester.

Other finds on display include a hoard of almost 1,500 Roman coins, and the perfectly preserved vase it was found in.

This bronze and enamel cockerel was found in a child’s grave in Roman Cirencester in 2011 – and has been painstakingly restored. It is now on display at the Corinium Museum

Archaeologists made the discoveries three years ago while excavating a western cemetery at the former Bridges Garage site on Tetbury Road in Cirencester – or Corinium as it was known when it was the second largest town in Roman Britain.

The bronze and enamel cockerel was said to have been placed in the grave of the two-year-old Roman girl by her parents, and experts believe it was used to ask the Gods to protect her.

They also believe the expensive gift was placed in the grave to ease their daughter’s transition into the ‘next world’.

‘It is the most significant Roman cemetery investigation in the town since the early 1970s,’ said a spokesman for the town’s Corinium Museum.

‘The cockerel found underneath the former Bridge’s Garage site – now St James’s Place – is one of only nine known cockerel figurines from the Roman world, and is the only example with its tail intact.

‘Displayed with the cockerel are an exceptional example of a Roman flagon and a selection of jewellery which include beads and bracelets found in a richly furnished child’s grave.

‘These are high status objects, which give a fascinating insight into the people of Corinium.

Neil Holbrook, Chief Executive of Cotswold Archaeology added: ‘The cockerel is the most spectacular find from more than 60 Roman burials excavated at this site.

‘It was excavated from the grave of young child and was placed close to its head. Interestingly a very similar item was found in Cologne in Germany and it looks like they both could have come from the same workshop based in Britain.’

The Tetbury Hoard, also on display at the museum, contain 1,437 silver and copper-alloy 3rd century Roman coins.

‘The hoard is the museum’s first Roman Coin Hoard and comes from a fascinating period of political upheaval across the Roman Empire,’ continued the museum’s spokesman.

‘It was a time of rapid succession of rulers and usurpers. The coins themselves tell this story.

‘Depictions and inscriptions represent 12 emperors from just a 16 year period.’

The child was buried wearing hobnailed shoes and was accompanied by a pottery feeding vessel and the remarkable enamelled bronze figurine of a cockerel.

The cockerel is 5-inches tall (12.5cm) and the breast, wings, eyes and ‘comb’ are inlaid with enamel, which now appears blue and green.

There is a separately moulded tail plate, also enamelled, with ‘openwork’ decoration. The beak is shown open, in the act of crowing.

The Prehistoric Cave, Grotte Chauvet, in France now a World Heritage Site

by AFP via “Courier Mail”

IT IS a cave so closely guarded that only three people know the code to the half-tonne reinforced door that seals its entrance, where cameras keep watch 24 hours a day.

But we were given a rare chance to step through this gateway into prehistory and into the depths of the Grotte Chauvet in southern France — home to the earliest known figurative drawings and now a World Heritage site.

For tens of thousands of years, time stopped in the cave nestled deep in a limestone cliff that hangs over the lush, meandering Ardeche River, until it was discovered in 1994 by a group of cave experts.

Incredible prehistoric paintings can be seen on the rock walls.

To reach the site, which is closed to the public, the lucky few allowed access must hike up a path that our Cro-Magnon ancestors once used, not far from a natural stone bridge that straddles an abandoned part of the river.

Some 36,000 years ago — the age of the cave paintings — tall Scots pines lorded over the cliff in a climate equivalent to that of present-day southern Norway.

After arriving at the entrance in sweltering heat, descending into the Palaeolithic den brings a sharp drop in temperature and almost 100 per cent humidity.

Curators take a rare look at the cave paintings.

Marie Bardisa, the curator of the site, types in the code to the fortified door and it slowly swings open.

Visitors must put on white overalls and special shoes to avoid polluting the environment, as well as a helmet and harness.

“The idea is to keep the cave in the same state of containment as when it was discovered,” Bardisa says.

“We watch over the atmospheric balance, we monitor the potential proliferation of algae, mushrooms or bacteria.”

Horses etched with charcoal into the cave walls.

Miraculously preserved

Now begins the travel through time. After crawling through a narrow tunnel, visitors reach man-made stairs. At the bottom, the silent, cool cave opens up.

Nearly everything has been left as it was when Jean-Marie Chauvet, Christian Hillaire and Eliette Brunel stumbled across the grotto on December 18, 1994.

Paintings of hands made by blowing red ochre pigment.

Crystals on huge limestone formations sparkle in the lamp light. Bones coated with clay and calcite litter the cave, proving that bears lived here before and after humans passed through. The skull of an Alpine ibex, a species of wild goat, smiles through immaculate teeth.

Visitors are not allowed to walk freely through the site but must stick to a tiny walkway that makes movement difficult.

Animal paintings found on the cave walls.

Paintings of hands — made using a technique of blowing red ochre pigment onto the wall around the hand — appear out of the dark as a guide shines a powerful lamp onto the wall.

Further away, an image of a red bear with a spotty face stands over the only known drawing of a panther among all cave paintings from the Palaeolithic era.

“Chauvet alone houses 75 per cent of big cats and 60 per cent of rhinoceroses” known to have been drawn during the period, says Charles Chauveau, the site’s deputy curator.

“Battles Loom Over Crimea’s Cultural Heritage”

via Reuters

“YALTA, CRIMEA/KYIV — From the 16th-century Tatar Khans’ palace in Bakhchisaray to the former tsarist residence that hosted the World War II Yalta conference, Crimea’s heritage sites have become a source of bitter contention since Russia seized the region from Ukraine.

For Kyiv, which does not recognize Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, losing the cultural and historic legacy of the Black Sea peninsula would be another major blow and Ukraine is readying for long legal battles with Russia.

“We will never give up the valuable heritage in Crimea because that is the property of Ukraine,” the country’s prosecutor general, Oleh Makhnitsky, told Reuters on Wednesday.

Ukraine’s Culture Minister, Yevgen Nishchuk, said Kyiv was amending its laws to seek justice internationally should Russia start removing cultural goods from Crimea or take over formal supervision of the region’s heritage sites.

One exhibition, put together by five museums – including four in Crimea – and currently on display in Amsterdam, has already fallen hostage to the conflict over the region, the worst stand-off between Russia and the West since the Cold War.

Both Crimea’s pro-Russian authorities as well as Kyiv claim ownership of the exhibition, titled “Crimea – Gold and Secrets of the Black Sea”, which features golden artifacts and precious gems dating back to the fourth century BC.

The show is operated by the University of Amsterdam and spokesman Yasha Lange said a legal investigation was going on to determine to whom the collection should be returned after it closes at the end of August.

“The exhibition should return to Crimea,” said Valentina Mordvintseva, who works for Ukraine’s National Academy of Sciences in Crimea’s provincial capital of Simferopol and who helped Amsterdam’s Allard Pierson Museum set up the exhibit.

“So it has become a political issue,” she told Reuters. “If the things end up held in Kyiv, I think it would be bad for Ukraine itself because it would look like vengeance.”

She was referring to a March 16 referendum in Crimea, an impoverished region of two million with a narrow ethnic Russian majority, which yielded an overwhelming victory for those advocating a split from Ukraine to join Russia.

Kyiv and the West dismissed the hastily arranged vote as a sham but Moscow used it to justify formally incorporating Crimea on March 21.

Crimea has since then introduced the Russian ruble as its currency and switched to Moscow time, while Russian troops have taken over Ukrainian military bases, forcing Kyiv to pull out its soldiers with their families.

Tatars, Tsars and Stalin

Prosecutor Makhnitsky said the Justice Ministry in Kyiv was preparing to register lawsuits with international organizations to assert its rights to the historic and cultural sites in Crimea.

The ministry refused immediate comment on what exactly it plans to do, but any such endeavor is likely to be an uphill battle as Russia controls the region.

Underscoring how any efforts from Kyiv could face further obstacles, some directors of Crimea museums have welcomed unification with Russia in the hope it will lead to increased budget support from Moscow.

Valery Naumenko, director of a museum housed in the historic residence of the Crimean Khans in Bakhchisaray, complained that Kyiv had not allocated any funds for the upkeep of the palace, which is dominated by two slender minarets. (more…)

Art in Architecture: Salamanca Cathedrals

There are two famous cathedrals in Salamanca, Spain–the first is the old portion first built in the 12th century and renovated in the 14th century. Within are dozens of antique works of art depicted throughout the tower.

This smaller tower was then built on out in the 16th and 18th centuries into the New Cathedrals that still stand there today. Because the Cathedrals were built and renovated so many times, they reflect centuries of architectural styles and are an amalgam artistic history.