archaeology

Nimrud - The Treasures of the Queens
Nimrud is one of the great cities of the Assyrians who dominated Mesopotamia from the 10th century BC down to 612 BC when they were destroyed by the Medes and the Persians. In the Bible they appear as wicked rulers with wonderfully romantic names such as Tiglath-Pileser III. Recently the tombs of some of the great queens have been uncovered in the palace at Nimrud, buried under the floor in the harem with a wonderful collection of treasures in gold and other precious metals.

 

 

This glittering gold tiara was found in the tomb of Queen Yaba, the wife of Tiglath-Pileser III, who ruled 744 to 727 BC. The tomb chamber was accompanied by a fine curse, see below, but there was a second body buried with the queen.

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A New Exhibition Brings the Doomed Residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum Vividly To Life

By Doug Stewart

Ministero per i Beni e le Attivita Culturali-Soprintendenza archeologica di Pompei/Field Museum, Chicago.

Daybreak, August 25, A.D. 79. Under a lurid and sulfurous sky, a family of four struggles down an alley filled with pumice stones, desperately trying to escape the beleaguered city of Pompeii. Leading the way is a middle-aged man carrying gold jewelry, a sack of coins and the keys to his house. Racing to keep up are his two small daughters, the younger one with her hair in a braid. Close behind is their mother, scrambling frantically through the rubble with her skirts hiked up. She clutches an amber statuette of a curly-haired boy, perhaps Cupid, and the family silver, including a medallion of Fortune, goddess of luck.

But neither amulets nor deities can protect them. Like thousands of others this morning, the four are overtaken and killed by an incandescent cloud of scorching gases and ash from Mount Vesuvius. In the instant before he dies, the man strains to lift himself from the ground with one elbow. With his free hand, he pulls a corner of his cloak over his face, as though the thin cloth will save him. (more…)

By Mr Joseph Bramley

 

Left. Gervase Clifton, Clifton (1491).

SIR GERVASE CLIFTON. 1491.
CHURCH OF ST. MARY, CLIFTON.

The brass of Sir Gervase Clifton is a good example of the early Tudor brasses, as he died in 1491.

The knight is clad in a mail collar, pauldrons, and cuirass. The cuirass is strengthened by placcates buckled on the centre. His coudieres are small compared with other examples of about this date, such as the Wollaton brass of 1471. He has a taces of three lames, from which hang two rather large tuiles. His cuisses, genouillieres, and jambes are normal, and his sollerets pointed, with long rowel spurs attached. His sword is suspended diagonally, and he has the usual misericorde. He has a lion at his feet.

The figure is 35½in. in length.

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By Mr Joseph Bramley

 

Left. Unknown civilian, Newark (c.1540).

CIVILIAN UNKNOWN. (circa 1540.)
CHURCH OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE, NEWARK-ON-TRENT.

This brass is on the floor of the north transept of Newark Parish Church, and commemorates some unknown gentleman of about 1540 A.D.

Over the long gown is a collar and frontlet of fur reaching to the hem. Under the gown the wearer would be clad in a tunic, the tight sleeves of which can be seen. Hose and wide shoes complete his outer garments.

In accordance with the custom prevailing at the time, his face is cleanly shaven and his hair allowed to grow long. The shield below the figure may or may not relate to the figure above it, and nothing is known as to the arms on it, which consist of three tiaras, two and one, emitting rays.

The figure is 185/8in. in height.

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By Mr Joseph Bramley

Left. Dame Millicent Meryng, East Markham Church (1419).

DAME MILLICENT MERYNG. 1419.
CHURCH OF ST. JOHN BAPTIST, EAST MARKHAM.

Dame Millicent Meryng, as her brass records, died in 1419. The brass is to be found in the nave of the Church of St. John Baptist, East Markham. The engraving and design are not excelled in this county.

On her head is the crespine head-dress then in fashion, and consisting in this case of an arrangement of wires with a couvrechef thrown over them. Her hair is kept in position by a wire frame. A gold chain and jewelled cross hang round her neck. Over her shoulders is a square collar turned down, and she wears a short waisted gown, while the sleeves of her kirtle appear under her long, flowing cloak. A pet dog with belled collar is shewn at her feet.

The lady was daughter of Sir John Bekeryng, and married first Sir Nicholas Burdon, then Sir John Mark­ham, and lastly Sir William Meryng. She was mother of John Markham, Lord Chief Justice of England.

The brass is enclosed by a frame 5ft. 3in. by 2ft. 5in. The figure is 46in. in height.

INSCRIPTION.

“Hic jacet Dna Millicentia Meryng quondam uxor Willim Meryng militis que obiit XXVII September Anno dni MOCCCCO XIX cujus aie ppicietur deus amen.”

TRANSLATION.

“Here lies the lady Millicent Meryng formerly wife of William Meryng Knight who died the 27th of September in the year of the Lord 1419 on whose soul may God have mercy.”

Right. Radulph Babyngton, Hickling church (1521).

RADULPH BABYNCTON. 1521.
CHURCH OF ST. LUKE, HICKLING.

This brass in the Church of St. Luke, Hickling, commemorates Radulph Babyngton, Rector of Hickling, who died in 1521, and is inferior in design and execution to the Stanford brass. The priest wears the amice, alb, stole, maniple, and chasuble. The latter, unlike the Stanford example, is ornamented with an orphrey. The chalice which the priest holds shews the Host, stamped with a cross. The family of Babyngton are com­memorated by a tomb in Ashover Church, which includes an effigy of Radulph Babyngton.

The figure is 19in. in height.

SCROLL.

“Calicem salatarem accipiā nome dni invocato.”

TRANSLATION.

“I will receive the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.”

INSCRIPTION.

“Orate p āiā magri’ Radi Babyngton filii Thome Babyngton./ de dethyk in com’ Derb Armigr in deoretis bacularii quondam/ rector de Hyklyng qui mansū rectorie ejusdem de novo reparuit et / plura edificia de novo construxit et obiit XXIX die Augusti A° / dni M° V° XXI post septimum annum Regiminis sui cujus anime propicietur deus Amen.”

TRANSLATION.

“Pray for the soul of master Radulph Babyngton son of Thomas Babyngton son of Dethick in County Derby Knight Bachelor in Canon Law, formerly Rector of Hickling, who restored anew the dwelling house of the same rectory and built afresh many structures, and died the 29th day of August in the year of the Lord 1521, after the 7th year of his rectorate on whose soul may God have mercy. Amen.”

Left. William Breton in Annesley Hall (1595).[This brass is now in the ‘new’ Annesley parish church].

WILLIAM BRETON. 1595.
ANNESLEY.

This mutilated brass to William Breton was formerly in Annesley Old Church, but was removed thence to Annesley Hall, as the church is no longer used.

The brass represents a man in hunting costume, with a bow in one hand and an arrow in the other. A dog is attached by a cord to the man’s belt. A hunting knife is also suspended from his belt.

I have tried unsuccessfully to discover the identity of William Breton. The church registers only go back to 1599, otherwise they might have shed some light on the matter.

In records of perambulations of Sherwood Forest made in 1300 and 1538, the names “Breton” and “Bretten” appear in reference to land near Annesley, and possibly William Breton may have been a descendant of the persons there mentioned.

The brass stood in one of the windows of the old church, but none of the inhabitants appear to know its original position.

The brass measures 13in. by 11in.

INSCRIPTION.

“Hic jacet corpvs Willielmi
Breton de Ansley qvi ad
centessirnvm prope vixit
annvm obiitq tricessimo
primo die Ianvarij anno
Dni 1595.

TRANSLATION.

“Here lies the body of William Breton of Annesley who lived until nigh a hundred years of age and died on the thirty-first day of January in the year of our Lord 1595.”

 

Right. William Phyllypot, Newark parish church (1557).

WILLIAM PHYLLYPOT. 1557.
CHURCH OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE, NEWARK-ON-TRENT.

The brass of William Phyllypot, in the Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Newark-on-Trent, is affixed to the wall of the north aisle. Phyllypot died in 1557, and the brass was on the floor of the south transept till 1811, when it was placed in its present position. The inscrip­tion still remains in the south transept. Phyllypot was a liberal benefactor to the poor of Newark.

The dress in which William Phyllypot is shewn is similar to that of the other figure brass in the church, except that in this case the false sleeves of the long gown only reach to the knees. At this period beards are worn, while the hair is now short instead of long. The figure is 305/8in. in height.

INSCRIPTION.

“Here under thys stone lyeth buryed the bodye of
Wyllyam Phyllypott marchant, and Elyzabeth hys
wyffe whych Wyllm decessyd ye VIII day of maye yn
An° dni mccccclvii whose dethe delyryng youe
all to haue yn rememberans callyng to God for men.”

J Bramley, Notts monumental brasses, Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 17 (1913)
© A P NICHOLSON | CREATED: 21 DECEMBER 2003

By Mr Joseph Bramley

Right. Merchants’ mark of Edmund Sheffeld, in North Wheatley church (1445).

MERCHANTS’ MARK OF EDMUND SHEFFELD. 1445.
CHURCH OF SS. PETER & PAUL, NORTH WHEATLEY.

This merchants’ mark of Edmund Sheffeld, with the inscription under it, is to be found in the Church of SS. Peter and Paul, North Wheatley. It was moved there from West Burton Church, near by, when this church was pulled down a few years ago.

No trace can now be found of any connection between the Sheffeld family and West Burton.

It is unfortunate, also, that the early records of the Vintners’ Company, to which Sheffeld possibly belonged, were destroyed in the great fire of London, otherwise some information could probably have been obtained about him.

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The great Iron Age hoards discovered at Snettisham in Norfolk form the richest Iron Age treasure ever discovered in this country. Current Archaeology has published two accounts, in CA 126 and CA 135. This account comes from CA 135.

Right. The ‘Marriage Torc’ from Snettisham. The upper part of the terminal of this gold torc shows a stylised human face. Does the main terminal represent a symbolic belly with the gold ring representing the umbilical cord that attaches to the other terminal?

The Snettisham treasure was first discovered in 1948. The field was being ploughed deeper than usual, and in the course of ploughing the ploughman discovered an interesting lump of metal. He took it to the foreman and asked him what it was. The foreman pronounced it to be part of a brass bedstead: and thus a gold torque - now one of the finest treasures in the Norwich Museum - lay for a week by the side of the field. Then more fragments of metal turned up and a local businessman recognised it as an antiquity, and took it to Norwich Museum where the keeper, Rainbird Clark, confirmed its importance. They returned to the field and the ‘brass bedstead’ was recognised as being a gold torque.

Excavations were carried out in the vicinity and the sites of the hoards were discovered, shallow pits, numbered A B and C. From now onwards, every time the field was ploughed the ploughman was on the lookout for discoveries. Finds were made in 1950, 1964, 1968 and 1973.

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Archaeologist Liu Yi-chang previously unearthed pre-historical artifacts in the area set aside for a buttress of a bridge. The bridge was part of project near the Port of Taipei, and was a vital part of the Bali – Xindian east – west highway. Liu carried out the digging as part of the environmental assessment required ahead of the construction of the bridge. The “rope line pottery” artifacts found by Liu were dated back to the middle part of the New Stone Age, which means that they are over 4,000 years old. Liu successfully unearthed other red pottery shards with designs and rope lines, and other artifacts from the era.

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General site views

City Hall Park is part of the landmarked African Burial Ground and The Commons Historic District because of its known archaeological potential. When plans for a large-scale renovation of the park were drawn up in 1998, care was taken to ensure that mitigation would occur to avoid damage to the archaeological resources. This included archaeological monitoring of all subsurface work in the park, as well as hand-excavated test trenches and in certain areas complete excavation. The archaeological project design was "impact-driven" rather than "research-driven."

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Excavations in the late 1990s revealed evidence from New York’s formative years.

The eighteenth century was crucial to the development of New York. At its beginning, New York was a small British trading colony of 12,309 people. By its end, the city’s population had grown to 79,216 people and it was the capital of the United States. Few places in this country illustrate such an explosion of civic growth as dramatically as City Hall Park. On a broader scale, City Hall Park  is one of our only witnesses not only to the turmoil of the Revolutionary War and the occupation of New York, but also to the development of public institutions based on an emerging philosophy of civic responsibility.
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The discovery of a new species of human astounded the world. But is it what it seems? John Vidal went to remotest Flores to find out.

The Guardian

If you want to understand human evolution, it may be worth starting with Johannes Daak from the remote village of Akel in the heavily forested centre of the Indonesian island of Flores. Johannes, from the Manggarai ethnic group, reckons he is 100 years old and says he owes his longevity and enduring strength to having only ever known one woman. He says he owes his stature to his ancestors.

Johannes is no more than 4ft 1in (1m 25cm) tall, give or take an inch. His grandfather and father were also tiny, and so is his son. All of them had "normal" sized mothers, but for some reason, only the males in his family seem to be small. (more…)

by John H. Sailhamer, Ph.d.

The topic of the historical reliability of the Old Testament (OT) raises two kinds of questions. The first is whether the OT documents have been accurately preserved. Do they represent what their original authors wrote and intended to say? Or, has the OT message somehow been lost in the centuries-long shuffle of copying

Such knowledge of the history of Israel, both in and apart from the Bible, is essential for demonstrating the truthfulness of the biblical account.

The concern for the meaning and accuracy of OT (Hebrew) manuscripts is the task of Biblical Philology, including the related studies of Textual Criticism and the archaeology of ancient Semitic inscriptions. Tasks such as these can be carried out only by highly trained specialists in the Semitic languages of the Bible. The results of such study are indispensable not only for the lay person’s confidence in the reliability of the OT, but also for the scholar’s defense of that reliability. Much of this work must, understandably, be carried out behind the scenes, unnoticed by lay readers, but under the careful scrutiny of colleagues, evangelical or otherwise. What is at stake in this type of work is nothing less than the historical and scientific grounds for the claim of all Christians that the Bible is a faithful and reliable witness to its original texts and the historical events they record. (more…)

By BRYAN WALSH

FAMILY RESEMBLANCE? Scientists are at odds over the differences between the Flores skull, left, and that of a modern human
MJ MORWOOD—AFP / GETTY IMAGES

For generations, the inhabitants of the Indonesian island of Flores, located 563 km east of Bali, told stories of a race of little people called the Ebu Gogo: hairy, human-like creatures that hid in the island’s limestone caves. Like leprechauns, the Ebu Gogo (the name roughly means "grandmother who eats everything") were assumed by anthropologists to be mythical. That was until a team of Australian and Indonesian researchers excavating a cave on the island uncovered ancient bones that included the 18,000-year-old skeleton of a 1-m-tall female with a brain the size of a grapefruit. In 2004, they announced in Nature magazine that the bones were the remains of a previously unknown species of human?which they named Homo floresiensis?that coexisted for a time with modern Homo sapiens. The remarkable discovery of this ancient hobbit meant the history of human evolution would have to be rewritten. For a moment, it seemed, myths could be true. (more…)

 

"Community Life" By Michael Hampshire Courtesy of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site Collinsville, Illinois

Mississippian Chief

At a time when Europe was plunged into the Dark Ages and crusaders fought holy wars to gain Jerusalem for the Church, a Native American culture thrived in what is now the Midwest and Southeast United States.These Native Americans are known today as the Mississippian Moundbuilders.

The Mississippian Culture commenced around AD 900 and lasted until just after the coming of Hernando de Soto and his marauding Spanish fortune hunters in the mid-16^th century. For more than half a millenium, the Mississippian people successfully cultivated vast agricultural settlements based on corn, squash and beans. However, the Mississippians weremuch more than prosperous farmers. They also developed a complex and highly organized culture based on a ritualistic relationship between the people and the land. The most notable Mississippian civil centers were Spiro Mounds in what is now eastern Oklahoma, Moundville in Alabama, Etowah Mounds in northern Georgia, and the largest and most elaborate center at Cahokia Mounds in present-day Collinsville, Illinois.
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