The Archaeology Thread

[Fake Messiah]

Over 4 feet long sword found in a medieval grave in Sweden

An unusual and exciting discovery was made during archaeological research at Lilla Torg in the port city of Halmstad on Sweden’s west coast. A medieval grave containing the remains of a man who was over 6 feet tall and wielded a sword over 1.2 meters long!

According to a blog post from the Cultural Environment of Halland on December 19, 49 medieval graves were discovered during archaeological excavations at Halmstad’s Lilla Torg square. Originally, the graves were beneath a convent that was in operation from 1494 until 1531. One grave stood out from the rest: that of a tall, elite man.

The only artifact in the grave was the sword, which was placed to the man’s left side. An osteological examination of the skeletal remains revealed that the man was at least 6’3″ tall, and the surviving parts of the sword, including the wooden hilt, are 4’3″ long (1.3 meters).

Archaeologists said an X-ray image of the sword revealed an inlaid decoration of two crosses. The crosses were likely made of precious metal. This x-ray was posted on Facebook by the Cultural Environment of Halland.

Swords are rarely found in medieval graves, the Cultural Environment of Halland said in a Facebook post. The presence of a sword indicates that the deceased was an elite or high-class person.

https://arkeonews.net/over-4-feet-long-s...in-sweden/

[Fake Messiah]

Archaeologists' Pagan Temple Find Challenges History of Roman Christianity

Boin said the discovery indicates how societal changes in Roman times took place very slowly. Even though Constantine was the first emperor to convert to Christianity, it did not become the official religion until around 70 years later. In this period, those who worshipped pagan gods gradually converted to Christianity.

"This [discovery] changes everything about how we perceive the pace of social change and our impression of the impact of social and cultural change," Boin said.

"This building, in a very radical way on its own, shows us the staying power of the pagan traditions that had been on the ground for centuries prior to the rise of Christianity. We are on the cusp of giving people a very visible piece of evidence that really upends the neat and tidy ways people think about big moments of cultural change."

"This building at Spello shows us quite vividly that Rome's first Christian emperor, Constantine, continued the established imperial cult practices of his predecessors. That is a remarkable historical discovery," Boin told Newsweek.

"It shows us that the path from paganism to Christianity was filled with all sorts of strange detours and odd cultural mixing, not all of which would be remembered fondly by authorities in the later church. Just as pagan Romans blended patriotism, imperial ideology, and religion, Christian Romans in Constantine's time did the same."

https://www.newsweek.com/pagan-temple-ch...ty-1858210


But Christianity is all about the cult of personality of the ruler: first, it was about how the Roman emperors were chosen by Jesus to rule, and then it was the same about the medieval kings and aristocrats, and even now some (would be) leaders are pushing the idea that they are chosen by god.

[Fake Messiah]

A former US Air Force officer spent $11 million searching for Amelia Earhart's long-lost plane — and may have found it

Deep Sea Vision, a Charleston, South Carolina-based team that provides survey equipment for deep sea exploration, said it has uncovered a sonar image in the Pacific Ocean that appears to be the Lockheed 10-E Electra aircraft that belonged to Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan, who were last seen then they took off from Papua New Guinea on July 2, 1937, near the end of their journey across the world.

The company said it scanned more than 5,200 square miles of ocean floor with a 16-person crew before finding what could be Earhart’s missing plane.

“There’s no other known crashes in the area, and certainly not of that era in that kind of design with the tail that you see clearly in the image,” Tony Romeo, CEO of Deep Sea Vision

https://www.businessinsider.com/sonar-im...n-2024?amp

[SimpleCaveman]

This seems like the right place.

Scientists Discover Stunning Evidence of Multiple Lost Prehistoric Societies
Researchers analyzed more than 100 pieces of prehistoric jewelry and found that the ancient past was more complex than we imagined.

Very cool.

[Fake Messiah]

Ten months ago, the Vesuvius Challenge was launched to solve the ancient problem of the Herculaneum Papyri, a library of scrolls that were flash-fried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Today there was an announcement that the project has succeeded. After 2000 years, they can finally read the scrolls:



These fifteen columns come from the very end of the first scroll they have been able to read and contain new text from the ancient world that has never been seen before. The author – probably Epicurean philosopher Philodemus – writes here about music, food, and how to enjoy life's pleasures. In the closing section, he throws shade at unnamed ideological adversaries – perhaps the stoics? – who "have nothing to say about pleasure, either in general or in particular."

The villa where the scrolls were found was only partially excavated, and scholars tell us that there may be thousands more scrolls underground.

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-...AImpNGdfLA

[Deesse23]

Epicurean philosopher Philodemus – writes here about music, food, and how to enjoy life's pleasures.

roflmao

[HappySkeptic]

Epicurean philosopher Philodemus – writes here about music, food, and how to enjoy life's pleasures.

roflmao

Perhaps there are life's pleasures that were lost to time, and we can finally learn how to partake of them?

[Deesse23]

roflmao

Perhaps there are life's pleasures that were lost to time, and we can finally learn how to partake of them?

An Epicurean being....epicurean :-)

[Anomalocaris]

A kilometer long stone wall, believed to have been built by Stone Age hunter gatherers more than 11,000 years ago to channel reindeer herds into a favorable hunting ground, has been discovered 9km off shore under 21m of water in the Baltic, near Mecklenburg, Germany.

[Fake Messiah]

Plato’s final hours recounted in scroll found in Vesuvius ash

In a groundbreaking discovery, the ancient scroll was found to contain a previously unknown narrative detailing how the Greek philosopher spent his last evening, describing how he listened to music played on a flute by a Thracian slave girl.

Despite battling a fever and being on the brink of death, Plato – who was known as a disciple of Socrates and a mentor to Aristotle, and who died in Athens around 348BC – retained enough lucidity to critique the musician for her lack of rhythm, the account suggests.

The decoded words also suggest Plato’s burial site was in his designated garden in the Academy of Athens, the world’s first university, which he founded, adjacent to the Mouseion. Previously, it was only known in general terms that he was buried within the academy.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/a...urial-site