==========================================================explorator 26.26 October 15, 2023
===========================================================
You can read explorator online at:

https://exploratornews.wordpress.com/

Thanks to Arthur Shippee, Dave Sowdon, Edward Rockstein, Kurt Theis,
John McMahon, Barnea Selavan, Joseph Lauer, Mike Ruggeri, Hernan Astudillo,
Richard Campbell, Barbara Saylor Rodgers, Bob Heuman, David Critchley,
Richard Miller, Kris Curry, Rick Heli, Richard C. Griffiths, Frank MacKay, Dorothy Lobel,
Don Buck, mata kimasitayo, and Ross W. Sargent for headses upses this week
(as always hoping I have left no one out).

A few catchup items in this one too ...

===========================================================EARLY HOMINIDS
===========================================================Study suggests Neanderthals were actively hunting cave lions:

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-neanderthals-dangerous-cave-lions.html
https://www.livescience.com/animals/extinct-species/oldest-evidence-of-neanderthals-hunting-cave-lions-dates-to-48000-years-ago-punctured-bones-reveal
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/science/archaeology-neanderthals-lions-hunting.html
https://www.science.org/content/article/neanderthals-hunted-and-revered-cave-lions
http://www.archaeology.org/news/11833-231013-neanderthal-cave-lion

cf: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-42764-0

Another study suggests homo erectus lived at high altitudes in Ethiopia 2 million years bp and produced both Oldowan and Acheulean tools:

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-reexamination-ancient-jawbone-ethiopia-homo.html
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1004056
https://www.newscientist.com/article/2397291-early-humans-lived-in-ethiopian-highlands-2-million-years-ago/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/articles/two-million-years-ago-homo-erectus-likely-lived-in-cool-high-altitude-environments-180983073/

cf: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add9115

Another one on the intelligence of Neanderthals, as evidence by their cooking skills:

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-neanderthal-cuisine-excavations-reveal-neanderthals.html

cf: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/articles/two-million-years-ago-homo-erectus-likely-lived-in-cool-high-altitude-environments-180983073/

.... similar:

https://theconversation.com/a-tooth-that-rewrites-history-the-discovery-challenging-what-we-knew-about-neanderthals-podcast-215313

More on the 476 000 years bp wooden structure found in Zambia:

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-discovery-half-million-year-old-wooden-wrong-underestimate.html
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/20/africa/oldest-wooden-structure-zambia-scn/index.html
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/zambia-worlds-oldest-wooden-structure-2367672
===========================================================AFRICA
===========================================================England's first outpost in Africa (1631) may have been found in Ghana:

https://news.syr.edu/blog/2023/10/11/the-first-scramble-for-africa-maxwell-professor-unearths-englands-first-outpost/

A study of Garamantian water use:

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-ancient-society-sahara-rose-fell.html
===========================================================ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
===========================================================5000 years bp intact wine jars from the tomb of Meret-Neith in Abydos:

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-archaeologists-year-old-wine-tomb-meret-neith..html
https://www.sci.news/archaeology/meret-neith-wine-12342.html
https://www.sciencealert.com/archaeologists-discover-remains-of-5000-year-old-wine-in-ancient-egyptian-tomb
https://www.archaeology.org/news/11826-231011-egypt-queen-merneith-wine

More on the additional rooms located in Sahura's pyramid:

https://hyperallergic.com/849445/archaeologists-find-hidden-chambers-in-pyramid-of-egyptian-pharaoh/
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/10/archaeologists-discovered-hidden-storerooms-in-sahuras-pyramid/

More on Old/Middle Kingdom mummified persons, statues, and more from a well in Saqqara:

https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/4/127616/Minister-of-Tourism-Antiquities-Ahmed-announces-the-discovery-of-colorful

Feature on ancient Egyptian beliefs about the Duat:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/ancient-egypt-duat-netherworld

Feature on mapping subsurface Saqqara:

https://the-past.com/shorts/the-picture-desk/mapping-subsurface-saqqara/

A 'royal wall' (Cyrus?) find from Persepolis:

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/490077/Royal-wall-unearthed-in-Persepolis
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202310123633

A Sassanid-era military workshop site in a cave in northern Iran:

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/490037/Archaeological-dig-uncovers-military-workshop-in-cave-northern

The search for the Laodicea Temple in Nahavand (Iran) continues:

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/489989/Archaeologists-still-hoping-to-unearth-Laodicea-Temple-despite

Suggestion to dig at the 9000 years bp Tepe Ozbaki site for UNESCO registration purposes:

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/490117/9-000-year-old-site-near-Tehran-top-archaeologist-urges-preliminary

Reassessing the use of AI to translate Hittite texts:

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-artificial-intelligence-clay-tablets.html

Basra now has an antiquities library:

https://www.iraqinews.com/iraq/first-antiquities-library-opens-in-basra/

Feature on the Nimrud 'lens':

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nimrud-lens-british-museum

Overview of excavations at a 4500 years bp site in Soran:

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/32825-German,-Kurdish-archaeologists-discover-ancient-site-in-Soran

An 11 000 years bp (!) painted statue of a wild boar from Gobekli Tepe:

https://www.sci.news/archaeology/painted-wild-boar-statue-gobekli-tepe-12337.html

A trio of 7700 years bp human(ish) figurines from near Izmir:

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/7-700-year-old-figurines-unearthed-in-izmir-186838
https://archaeonewsnet.com/figurines-dating-back-8000-years-unearthed-at-the-ulucak-tumulus-in-western-anatolia/

Evidence of increased violence in Mesopotamia and the Middle East (lots of cranial injuries) 4500 to 3300 BCE:

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-cranial-traumas-cities-built-violence.html
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2023-10-13/ty-article/study-reveals-the-scope-of-prehistoric-violence-in-the-middle-east/0000018b-2416-d3fc-a3bf-bfffeddc0000
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ancient-skulls-reveal-shifts-in-human-violence-across-millennia/

Overview of the ongoing excavation of the Kumluca Middle Bronze Age shipwreck off the coast of Antalya:

https://www.dailysabah.com/turkiye/turkiyes-3600-year-old-shipwreck-reveals-ancient-treasures/news

Some of the 3500 years bp Hittite glyphs in found last year in Yerkapi tunnel have been translated:

https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/68498

A hoard of 2000 years bp bronze coins from Alexandria Troas:

https://www.dailysabah.com/turkiye/2000-year-old-bronze-coins-unearthed-in-turkiyes-canakkale/news

A 1700 years bp iron trident find from Assos:

https://arkeonews.net/a-1700-year-old-trident-discovered-in-assos-ancient-city-in-turkiye/
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/10/archaeologists-find-1700-year-old-trident/148826

More on the find of portrait head of Alexander the Great (2nd century CE) from Konuralp:

https://neoskosmos.com/en/2023/10/10/news/world/remarkable-discovery-in-turkey-alexander-the-greats-portrait-head-unearthed-in-konuralp-ancient-theatre/

Feature on UPenn's dig at Gordion and its World Heritage designation:

https://www.thedp.com/article/2023/10/penn-museum-excavation-unesco-world-heritage-gordion-turkiye

Plans for a georadar study of the 2000 years bp Karakus Tumulus:

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/georadar-study-to-uncover-mysteries-of-ancient-tumulus-186903

A hoard of 7th century CE gold coins from the Golan Heights:

https://greekcitytimes.com/2023/10/08/archaeologists-uncover-hidden-stash-of-byzantine-gold-coins-in-israels-golan-heights/

More on the 6th century CE Psalm-inspired prayer inscription from Hyrcania:

https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/17738/ancient-prayer-found-in-ruined-judean-fortress

More on the find a few weeks ago of four Roman swords in a Judean desert cave:

https://news.artnet.com/art-world/ancient-roman-swords-2369573

Feature on jar burials at Khirbet Qumran:

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/daily-life-and-practice/baffling-burials/?mqsc=E4155638&dk=ZE33O0ZF0

More on pigment and bone processing in Neolithic Saudi Arabia:

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1003415
https://www.archaeology.org/news/11791-231009-saudi-arabia-neolithic-tools-art

cf: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0291085

Feature on the archaeology of the Black Desert:

https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2023/10/life-black-desert

Feature on Iron Age dog burials in the Levant:

https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2023/10/dogs-social-fabric
-----
This Week in the Ancient Near East Podcast:

https://thisweekintheancientneareast.podbean.com/

===========================================================ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME (AND CLASSICS)
===========================================================A 4th century BCE frescoed tomb from the Pontecagnano necropolis:

Click here to read the complete article