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explorator 26.10 June 25, 2023
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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, Christopher Kimberley,
Don Buck, mata kimasitayo, and Ross W. Sargent for headses upses this week
(as always hoping I have left no one out).

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EARLY HOMINIDS
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57 000 years bp (or earlier) 'engravings' from the La Roche-Cotard cave are being attributed to Neanderthals:

https://phys.org/news/2023-06-neanderthal-cave-engravings-oldest-years.html
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/jun/21/engravings-french-cave-oldest-known-neanderthals-scientists
https://www.france24.com/en/culture/20230622-oldest-known-neanderthal-engravings-found-in-france-s-loire-valley
https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/23/europe/neanderthals-french-cave-markings-scn/index.html
https://news.yahoo.com/ancient-finger-painting-57-000-213337256.html
https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3w3mm/archaeologists-discover-worlds-oldest-neanderthal-cave-engravings
https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/these-prehistoric-paintings-are-57-000-years-old-but-who-painted-them
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/57000-year-old-neanderthal-markings-identified-in-sealed-french-cave-1234672251/
https://www.sciencealert.com/scratches-on-a-cave-wall-in-france-likely-to-be-earliest-example-of-neanderthal-art
https://www.iflscience.com/worlds-oldest-cave-engravings-found-but-homo-sapiens-were-not-the-artist-69472
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/oldest-known-neanderthal-engravings-found-sealed-off-in-cave-for-57000-years/
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/06/could-these-marks-on-a-cave-wall-be-oldest-known-neanderthal-finger-paintings/
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/06/researchers-find-oldest-known-neanderthal-engravings/147759
https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2023/06/23/oldest-known-neanderthal-engravings-unearthed-in-french-cave/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/oldest-known-neanderthal-engravings-discovered-in-french-cave-180982408/

cf: https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/06/archaeologists-have-uncovered-a-4000-year-old-solar-sanctuary-in-the-netherlands/147744

Evidence of Neanderthal cannibalism from the Coves del Toll de Mola cave (Spain):

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/06/evidence-of-neanderthal-cannibalism-found-in-spanish-cave/147832

Evidence of bone tools at the Chez-Pinaud-Jonzac Neanderthal site:

https://phys.org/news/2023-06-unseen-industry-neanderthals-bone-tools.html

More on the muscle reconstruction of Lucy and its implications:

https://www.sciencealert.com/lucy-reconstructed-secrets-of-ancient-human-ancestor-revealed
https://archaeonewsnet.com/2023/06/first-hominin-muscle-reconstruction-shows-3-2-million-year-old-lucy-could-stand-as-erect-as-we-can.html
https://www.archaeology.wiki/blog/2023/06/19/lucy-could-stand-as-erect-as-we-can/

More on 86 000 years bp evidence of homo sapiens from the Tam Pa Ling cave on Laos:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/06/230621164756.htm
https://scienceblog.com/538377/ancient-human-remains-in-laos-cave-hint-at-early-migrations/
https://archaeonewsnet.com/2023/06/researchers-get-rare-glimpse-of-our-first-ancestors-in-southeast-asia.html

More on the 42 000 years bp 'phallic pendant' from Mongolia:

https://phys.org/news/2023-06-ancient-pendant-mongolia-oldest-penis.html
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/42000-year-old-anatomically-accurate-penis-pendant-is-the-worlds-earliest-known-depiction-of-human-genitalia
https://www.sciencealert.com/this-ancient-blob-may-be-the-oldest-phallic-depiction-ever-found
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/pendant-mongolia-earliest-phallic-art-2324393
https://arkeonews.net/a-42000-year-old-pendant-found-in-northern-mongolia-may-be-the-earliest-known-phallic-art/
http://www.archaeology.org/news/11547-230621-mongolia-pendant-paleolithic

More on 'Viking disease' being passed on in Neanderthal genes:

https://archaeonewsnet.com/2023/06/the-viking-disease-can-be-due-to-gene-variants-inherited-from-neanderthals.html

More on multiple origins from closely related populations for homo sapiens:

https://archaeonewsnet.com/2023/06/new-model-for-human-evolution-suggests-homo-sapiens-arose-from-multiple-closely-related-populations.html
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AFRICA
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Pondering depictions of one-horned creatures in art across southern Africa:

https://phys.org/news/2023-06-unicorns-southern-africa-fascinating-story.html
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ANCIENT NEAR EAST AND EGYPT
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The pyramid of Queen Titi Sheri in Abydos has been restored:

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/503571.aspx
https://english.news.cn/20230622/a052bc08048940df903c567b22304b39/c.html
https://www.egyptindependent.com/queen-titi-sheri-pyramid-in-abydos-restored-alongside-discovery-of-king-ahmose-era-cemetery/

More on evidence of hydraulic engineering along the Nile in Egypt and Sudan:

https://www.sciencealert.com/ancient-structure-along-river-nile-is-oldest-hydraulics-system-of-its-kind

Remains of a settlement that was 'prosperous' during the Sassanid era from western Iran:

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/485912/New-traces-of-ancient-city-revealed-in-western-Iran

A dig at the Gabri site yas revealed Achaemenid, Parthian, and Sassanid-era pottery:

https://www.tehrantimes.com/news/485958/Archaeologists-unearth-potteries-dating-from-Achaemenid-Parthian

Feature on Ennigaldi-Nanna and the first museum:

https://mymodernmet.com/ennigaldi-nanna-founded-the-first-museum-in-the-world/

Feature on the book of Esther as a source for Achaemenian history:

https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2023/06/esther-achaemenian-history

Review of Matt Waters, *King of the World: The Life of Cyrus the Great*:

https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2023/07/10/the-cyrus-the-great-we-thought-we-knew/

More on locating sites in Iraq using AI:

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/archaeology-today/telling-a-tell-with-artificial-intelligence/?mqsc=E4152929&dk=ZE3260ZF0

More on translating cuneiform using AI:

https://www.iflscience.com/google-translate-for-cuneiform-archaeologists-have-used-ai-to-find-a-way-69495
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/06/archaeologists-use-artificial-intelligence-ai-to-translate-5000-year-old-cuneiform-tablets/147816

A 1600 years bp mosaic with Trojan War scenes is being excavated at al-Rastan City (Syria):

https://english.news.cn/20230623/4168a71a12ff4a8984908ea7309d0ffd/c.html
http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2023-06/23/content_88938467.htm
https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Syrian-Archaeologists-Unveil-1600-Year-Old-Greek-Mosaic-20230623-0006.html
https://it.euronews.com/cultura/2023/06/23/siria-scoperto-un-nuovo-mosaico-romano-vicino-a-homs

A monument to Ishtar from Nimrud (I think this is a few months old, newswise):

https://www.iflscience.com/relics-of-historys-first-known-goddess-emerge-in-assyrian-city-razed-by-isis-69503

Feature on the art of Dura Europos:

https://the-past.com/feature/the-gods-of-dura-europos/

Finds from several eras but mostly focusing on the find of a Cimmerian settlement site in Anatolia:

https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/japanese-archaeologist-reveal-1st-settlement-of-cimmerians-in-anatolia/news
https://arkeonews.net/archaeologists-reveal-first-settlement-of-cimmerians-in-anatolia/

An overview of the state of underwater archaeology in Turkiye:

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkiyes-underwater-archaeological-map-prepared-184081

4th century BCE pebble mosaics from a 'wealthy' building complex in Sinop:

https://arkeonews.net/mosaics-found-in-turkeys-sinop-belong-to-dining-room-of-a-wealthy-family/
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/67602

2300 years bp burials within the city wall of Iznik:

https://www.dailysabah.com/turkiye/secrets-revealed-burials-found-within-city-walls-in-turkiyes-iznik/news

Feature on Jordan's Roman-era water tunnel of Umm Qais:

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/jordans-roman-era-waterway-water-tunnel-of-umm-qais/2928577

Study suggests a Tel Shikmona factora was manufacturing purple dye in the First Temple era:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/purple-from-holy-temple-objects-traced-to-snail-guts-at-3000-year-old-haifa-factory/
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2023-06-21/ty-article/archaeologists-discover-secret-to-the-prosperity-of-the-biblical-kingdom-of-israel/00000188-dda6-df52-a79d-dda704dc0000
https://www.jpost.com/archaeology/article-746977

Latest attempt at identifying the 'real Bethsaida':

https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2023-06-22/ty-article-magazine/how-a-mix-up-in-antiquity-involving-jesus-could-help-identify-the-real-bethsaida/00000188-de03-df52-a79d-de238bae0000