Εδώ βλέπετε μια καθημερινή στιγμή από το Ινστιτούτο Συντήρησης Υλικών στο οποίο φιλοξενούμασταν! Βρισκόμαστε στην κουζίνα και ο συντηρητής μας Μισέλ Ρογκενμπούκε μας μαγειρεύει φακές!
Tell Baqtra
Σάββατο 14 Μαΐου 2011
Μαγειρεύοντας το βραδινό (20/04/2011)
Εδώ βλέπετε μια καθημερινή στιγμή από το Ινστιτούτο Συντήρησης Υλικών στο οποίο φιλοξενούμασταν! Βρισκόμαστε στην κουζίνα και ο συντηρητής μας Μισέλ Ρογκενμπούκε μας μαγειρεύει φακές!
Πέμπτη 12 Μαΐου 2011
Το τέλος της ανασκαφικής περιόδου (04/05/2011)
Επειδή κάποιοι από τους αναγνώστες μας νομίζουν ότι η ανασκαφή συνεχίζεται (και με το δίκιο τους βέβαια αφού δεν ενημερώνουμε το blog) εδώ βλέπετε την φωτογραφία που βγάλαμε (έξω απ'το μουσείο)αφού τελειώσαμε την καταμέτρηση των ευρημάτων। Μετά βγάλαμε άλλες δύο φωτογραφίες (ελπίζουμε να σας αρέσουν) και γυρίσαμε στα δωμάτιά μας για να ετοιμάσουμε τις βαλίτσες μας και να πάρουμε το αεροπλάνο της επιστροφής για την Αθήνα!
Κυριακή 1 Μαΐου 2011
Περιήγηση στην ακρόπολη (15/4/11)
Ως γνωστόν η Παρασκευή είναι μέρα αργίας για τους μουσουλμάνους। Έτσι κι εμείς εκμεταλλευτήκαμε το πρώτο μας ρεπό στο Ερμπίλ για να επισκεφθούμε την ακρόπολη! Εδώ βλέπετε την εξωτερική πλευρά των τειχών.
Αρχαιολογικά μαστορέματα
Την ίδια μέρα ολοκλήρώθηκε η κατασκευή του συστήματος επίπλευσης που θα χρησιμοποιηθεί για την διήθηση του χώματος από την ανασκαφή! Με αυτή τη διαδικασία θα εντοπίσουμε σπόρους και διάφορα πολύ μικρά αντικείμενα. Το νερό που χρησιμοποιείται ανακυκλώνεται και έτσι δεν σπαταλάμε ούτε σταγόνα.
Παρόμοια κατασκευή χρησιμοποιείται για πρώτη φορά σε ανασκαφή στην Κουρδική Περιφέρεια του Ιράκ!
Την κατασκευή της ανέλαβε η Αλεξάνδρα Λιβάρδα.
Δέυτερη μέρα ανασκαφής (14/4/11)
Κατά τη δεύτερη μέρα της ανασκαφής συνεχίσαμε να αφαιρούμε το επιφανειακό χώμα! Ο γεωδαιτικός σταθμός έχει στηθεί και έχουμε ξεκινήσει τις μετρήσεις της ημέρας!
Παρασκευή 22 Απριλίου 2011
Πρώτη μέρα ανασκαφής (13/4/11)
Τρίτη μέρα:
Μετά από πολύ κόπο και αφού ξεπεράσαμε τις δυσκολίες στην επικοινωνία αγοράσαμε και τα αρχαιολογικά μας εργαλεία!
Οφείλουμε να ευχαριστήσουμε ιδιαίτερα την Αλεξάνδρα Λιβαρδά, η οποία ενεργοποίησε όλους τους μηχανισμούς νοηματικής που κατείχε για να εξηγήσει στους εμπόρους της αγοράς του Ερμπίλ τί ακριβώς χρειαζόμαστε!
Η περιήγησή της όμως αυτή στα δρομάκια της πόλης της έδωσε την ευκαιρία να έρθει σε επαφή με τους ντόπιους, καθώς και να απολαύσει το τσάι που της πρόσφεραν πλουσιοπάροχα!
Η ανασκαφή ξεκινά με την αφαίρεση του επιφανειακού στρώματος!
Η ομάδα στο βάθος της φωτογραφίας κάνει τη μεσημεριανή της 'σιέστα'!
Τετάρτη 20 Απριλίου 2011
Πρώτη μέρα στο Tell Nader (11/4/11)
Κατά την πρώτη μέρα μας στο χώρο πραγματοποιήσαμε τη χαράξη του καννάβου! Εδώ βλέπετε τον πρώτο άριθμό που δόθηκε.
Επιφανειακή περισυλλογή στο Tell Nader (12/4/11)
Δεύτερη μέρα:
Επιφανειακή περισυλλογή στον οριοθετημένο χώρο της ανασκαφής!
Τα πρώτα ευρήματα συγκεντρώνονται σε σακκουλάκια!
Πέμπτη 24 Μαρτίου 2011
Ancient town discovered in Karbala
Erbil, March 23 (AKnews)- The relics of an ancient town, dating back to two centuries BC- to the Aramean era, was discovered in the suburbs of Karbala, 108 km southwest of Baghdad.
Iftikhar Abbas, the chairwoman for the tourism and archeology committee in Karbala Provincial Council told AKnews the site is located near Al-Zaraza Lake. Abbas said the site which was called the House of Wisdom during the Islamic era was covered by the lake water. However, with the draughts and the recession of the water the ancient site became evident. Some residents in the nearby areas informed the tourism and archeology committee in Karbala about a hill near the lake which eventually led to the discovery. Some fences and substantial hills are discovered in the site. Abbas urged the federal government to allocate a budge to protect the site against looting.
The Aramaeans, also Arameans were a northwest Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated in what is now modern Syria during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia (Iraq) where they intermingled with the native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. The Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. After the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was confined to a number of Syro-Hittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the 8th century BC.
Reported by Hasun Haffar
Lh/AKnews
Iftikhar Abbas, the chairwoman for the tourism and archeology committee in Karbala Provincial Council told AKnews the site is located near Al-Zaraza Lake. Abbas said the site which was called the House of Wisdom during the Islamic era was covered by the lake water. However, with the draughts and the recession of the water the ancient site became evident. Some residents in the nearby areas informed the tourism and archeology committee in Karbala about a hill near the lake which eventually led to the discovery. Some fences and substantial hills are discovered in the site. Abbas urged the federal government to allocate a budge to protect the site against looting.
The Aramaeans, also Arameans were a northwest Semitic semi-nomadic and pastoralist people who originated in what is now modern Syria during the Late Bronze Age and the Iron Age. Large groups migrated to Mesopotamia (Iraq) where they intermingled with the native Akkadian (Assyrian and Babylonian) population. The Aramaeans never had a unified empire; they were divided into independent kingdoms all across the Near East. After the Bronze Age collapse, their political influence was confined to a number of Syro-Hittite states, which were entirely absorbed into the Neo-Assyrian Empire by the 8th century BC.
Reported by Hasun Haffar
Lh/AKnews
Τρίτη 1 Μαρτίου 2011
Ebla Digital Archives
Κυριακή 27 Φεβρουαρίου 2011
Bamiyan Buddhas once glowed with colour
Σάββατο 26 Φεβρουαρίου 2011
Διάλεξη για την Ελληνική Αρχαιολογική Αποστολή στην Ιορδανία
Ανασκάπτοντας τη φιλόξενη χώρα της Ιορδανίας
Αθανάσιος Παπαδόπουλος, Ομότιμος Καθηγητής Προϊστορικής Αρχαιολογίας του Πανεπιστημίου Ιωαννίνων
28 Φεβρουαρίου 2011, 19:00
Αμφιθέατρο Εθνικού Αρχαιολογικού Μουσείου, Τοσίτσα 1, 106 82 Αθήνα
Iraq: Ancient cities sprung from marshes
For more than a century, archaeologists have believed that ancient Mesopotamian cities – places like Uruk and Ur – were born along the banks of the great rivers of the Middle East and depended mainly on irrigation of surrounding deserts for their survival.
Dr. Jennifer Pournelle, a research assistant professor in the School of the Environment at the University of South Carolina, has a different theory. She believes that the great cities of southern Iraq grew and thrived in vast lowland marshes fed by those rivers, not along the banks of rivers themselves.
Last fall, Pournelle led the first American research team of archaeologists to visit Iraq in more than 25 years. And what she and her colleagues found has caused the start of a shift in thinking about how ancient urban landscapes evolved.
“Clearly, the earliest cities were not strung out along rivers like pearls on a strand. Rather, they were spread across the river delta within and along the margins of marshlands,” said Pournelle, who combines excavation records and archaeological site maps with aerial and satellite imagery, in order to reconstruct ancient environments.
Dr. Jennifer Pournelle, a research assistant professor in the School of the Environment at the University of South Carolina, has a different theory. She believes that the great cities of southern Iraq grew and thrived in vast lowland marshes fed by those rivers, not along the banks of rivers themselves.
Last fall, Pournelle led the first American research team of archaeologists to visit Iraq in more than 25 years. And what she and her colleagues found has caused the start of a shift in thinking about how ancient urban landscapes evolved.
“Clearly, the earliest cities were not strung out along rivers like pearls on a strand. Rather, they were spread across the river delta within and along the margins of marshlands,” said Pournelle, who combines excavation records and archaeological site maps with aerial and satellite imagery, in order to reconstruct ancient environments.
Πέμπτη 17 Φεβρουαρίου 2011
How Jericho's 11,000-year-old tower came into being
Δευτέρα 14 Φεβρουαρίου 2011
Αίγυπτος: «Πώς έζησα την εξέγερση που συγκλόνισε τον κόσμο»
Κάιρο-Αθήνα, 11/12 Φεβρ. 2011
Φύγαμε την Τρίτη το μεσημέρι για το Κάιρο, αν και όλοι, με όσους είχαμε συζητήσει προηγουμένως, είχαν προσπαθήσει να μας αποθαρρύνουν, επισημαίνοντας τους κινδύνους. Καταλαβαίναμε όμως ότι εκείνο που συνέβαινε τις τελευταίες δυο βδομάδες ήταν κάτι πολύ σημαντικό και θέλαμε να έχουμε την εμπειρία του. Στο δρόμο από το αεροδρόμιο στο κέντρο, υπήρχαν τανκς, αλλά πουθενά αστυνομία· μόνο στρατός. Η αστυνομία είχε εξαφανιστεί μετά την πρώτη μέρα. Η χώρα είχε παραλύσει. Σχολεία και υπηρεσίες, ακόμη και οι ακίνητες στο χρόνο πυραμίδες, όλα κλειστά. Τα μαγαζιά, όσα ήταν ανοιχτά, άνοιγαν έως το μεσημέρι. Πάντως υπήρχε κόσμος και αυτοκίνητα στους δρόμους. Δύσκολα καταλάβαινες, καθώς έτρεχε το λεωφορείο, ότι η χώρα ήταν έξω από την κανονική της καθημερινή ζωή.
Πέμπτη 10 Φεβρουαρίου 2011
Nippur Ιράκ: βρέθηκε πήλινο ειδώλιο
..."the artifact that has been found by the citizen is a ceramic statue of a woman without a head or legs with a length of 16 cm and a width 12 cm, it has been handed over to the Antiquities Department in Diwaniyah."
Τετάρτη 9 Φεβρουαρίου 2011
Newly Online at the Oriental Institute: Tell Hamoukar, Volume 1. Urbanism and Cultural Landscapes in Northeastern Syria: The Tell Hamoukar Survey, 1999-2001
Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East
Among the items on display will be the earliest cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia (today's Iraq), dating to about 3200 BC, which are on loan from the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin. They have never before been exhibited in the United States. The pictographic signs, a precursor to writing, are part of a writing system that developed into cuneiform, a wedge-shaped script that was incised on clay tablets. Examples of that form of writing will also be exhibited.
Κυριακή 6 Φεβρουαρίου 2011
How Neolithic farmers and hunter gatherers fought for space
One of the most important socioeconomic changes in human history, this socioeconomic shift, known as the Neolithic transition, spread gradually across Europe until it slowed down when more northern latitudes were reached.
Πέμπτη 3 Φεβρουαρίου 2011
Over 500 ancient artefacts unearthed in Bazgir Tappeh in northeastern Iran
The artefacts, all of which are made of copper, comprise weapons, farming tools, drug tubes and pans, which date back to about 1800 years ago, Gorgan Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Department director Fereidun Fali told the Persian service of IRNA reported on Saturday.
The artefacts are comparable to relics previously discovered in archaeological excavations on Gorgan’s Turang Tappeh and the Tappeh Hesar of Damghan in northern Semnan Province, and several ancient sites in Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, he added.
“Ruins of a large Parthian castle built of 37x37 centimetre mud bricks, which are similar to ruins previously discovered at the Turang Tappeh and the Narges Tappeh, have also been unearthed in the upper stratum of the site,” Fa’ali said.
Τετάρτη 2 Φεβρουαρίου 2011
Major archaeological Discovery In Israel
In recent months an archaeological excavation was conducted at Hirbet Madras in the wake of an antiquities theft during which robbers attempted to breach and plunder an ancient underground complex.
Τρίτη 1 Φεβρουαρίου 2011
What’s inside? Sealed jar discovered at Qumran – site of Dead Sea Scrolls
An intact, sealed, jar has been discovered at Qumran, the site where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in nearby caves.
A multinational team of scientists have been analyzing the jar and their findings are set to be published in the journal Archaeometry. If you have a subscription (or access to a library with one) you can already see the article on the publication’s website.
“The finding of an intact and sealed storage jar is an extremely rare event,” the researchers write. The discovery “provides a unique possibility to analyse its last contents.”
Göbekli Tepe: Making us rethink our ancestors
Δευτέρα 31 Ιανουαρίου 2011
Tel Ghweran - Archaeological findings dating back to Ayyubid period in north-eastern Syria
Syria (Hasaka) - The archaeological site of Tel Ghweran is located on the road from Deir Ezzor to the center of Hasaka city, nestled on the bank of Khabur River south of the city.
Excavations indicate that the site was settled during the late Uruk period, prospering during the second half of third millennium BC and reaching the peak of its splendor during the Ayyubid period in the 12th and 13th centuries AD.
The site, which is 80 meters long, 60 meters wide and 11 meters high, was studied for the first time by a German expedition which was surveying the hills on the banks of Khabur River. The expedition found pottery fragments that indicated that the site dates back to the late Stone Age and the Bronze Age.
Παρασκευή 28 Ιανουαρίου 2011
German minister due in Erbil next week to buttress ties
The frequent visits by the foreign top governmental delegations to Kurdistan are usually aimed at reinforcing ties with the semi-autonomous Region, which enjoys relative security compared with the rest of Iraq.
Reported by Saman Ali
Lh/AKnews
Πέμπτη 27 Ιανουαρίου 2011
Syria: 650 Babylonian cuneiform tablets document 8000 years of history
Syria (Hasaka) – Archaeological discoveries in the Tell Lilan site located 120 km northeast of Hasaka indicate to the historic significance of the site which dates back to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC.
The site is located on one of the important ancient trade routes linking Cappadocia, Ashur and Anatolia principalities.
Τρίτη 25 Ιανουαρίου 2011
Δευτέρα 24 Ιανουαρίου 2011
Babylon Organization calls UNESCO to reverse its decision about Babel
During the events of 2003, the ancient city of Babylon was exposed to looting, destruction and theft of its contents from Nebuchadnezzar and Hammurabi museums, Babel Library and the Archive then finally, the city was returned to the General Authority for Antiquities and Heritage after it has been used as a camp for the multinational forces in Iraq between April 2003 and December 2004.
Uncovering the Mysteries of Khirbet Qeiyafa
During previous excavations, an early Iron Age II stratum was uncovered, including a massive casemate wall, a monumental four-chambered gate and residential buildings. Radiometric dating places this stratum in the years 1,000 - 975 B.C., the time of King David. This makes it the only site in Judah that can be securely dated to the time of King David. The 2011 Season (June 12 - July 22) will continue to explore the site's fortifications and its urban layout.
Source: http://archaeologydigs.blogspot.com
Σάββατο 22 Ιανουαρίου 2011
E-CORPUS
This diverse platform presents cultural diversity worldwide and specifically in the Euro-Mediterranean region. e-corpus proposes a variety of themes and a large quantity of digital documents presented by numerous organizations and countries. Based on cutting edge technologies, e-corpus offers a simple and direct public access to a rich collection of resources.
Πέμπτη 13 Ιανουαρίου 2011
What's your sign? Probably not what you think, thanks to the Earth's "wobble"
A recent Harris Poll found that 31 percent of Americans believe in astrology. They're wrong -- although not necessarily in the way their detractors might cite.
The ancient Babylonians based zodiac signs on the constellation the sun was "in" on the day a person was born. During the ensuing millenniums, the moon's gravitational pull has made the Earth "wobble" around its axis, creating about a one-month bump in the stars' alignment.
The result?
"When [astrologers] say that the sun is in Pisces, it's really not in Pisces," said Parke Kunkle, a board member of the Minnesota Planetarium Society.
3,800 year old tablets from Larsa, in Iraq, tell tale of ancient tycoon
He served one of the longest reigning kings in history, bought up real estate like there was no tomorrow and at times did business under the authority of the sun god Shamash.
His name was Abum-waqar and thanks to new research by Professor Karljürgen Feuerherm, of Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo Canada, we now know his story. "It took me basically a decade to work through this stuff," Feuerherm said at a recent lecture in Toronto.
There are more than 200 tablets that show this man's dealings. Most were dug up by looters in the early 20th century and are now located all over the world with Yale University holding the lions share. Many of them have never appeared in scholarly publications before, much less in popular media.
Τρίτη 11 Ιανουαρίου 2011
Διημερίδα Τομέα Αρχαιολογίας και Ιστορίας Τέχνης Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών
Πρόκειται για την 8η διημερίδα που οργανώνει κάθε δυο χρόνια ο Τομέας Αρχαιολογίας και Ιστορίας της Τέχνης του Τμήματος Ιστορίας και Αρχαιολογίας του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών, με θέματα, από την ανασκαφική και ερευνητική δραστηριότητα τόσο των μελών ΔΕΠ όσο και υποψηφίων διδακτόρων, τα οποία καλύπτουν την Προϊστορική, Κλασσική και Βυζαντινή Αρχαιολογία καθώς και την Ιστορία της Τέχνης.
14-15 Απριλίου 2011
Αμφιθέατρο Δρακοπούλου στο Κεντρικό Κτήριο του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών (Πανεπιστημίου 30).
Δευτέρα 10 Ιανουαρίου 2011
Samarra Resource Page
Ernst Herzfeld’s archaeological excavation of Samarra will mark its 100th anniversary in 2011. To honor the occasion, the Freer|Sackler Archives has created the Samarra Resource Page that collates collections online content, social media content, and related scholarly content, to provide an easy central resource for all of the Herzfeld paper materials and products. Preservation, digitization, and cataloging have been made possible by the Leon Levy Foundation.
Background on the Samarra Excavation
Sponsored by the (then) Kaiser Friedrich Museum in Berlin, Ernst Herzfeld conducted two campaigns in Samarra from 1911-1913. This excavation was the first of its kind to perform a large-scale archaeological survey of Islamic antiquities. The first excavation performed included over nineteen
sites: Great Mosque of al-Mutawakkil, Congregational Mosque of Madinat al-Mutawakkiliyya, Shiite Shrine Complex, Qubbat al-Ṣulaibiyya; palaces of Balkuwārā, Ṣūr Īṣā, and the Qaṣr al-Āshiq; the Cemetery at Shabbat al-Hawā; Mausoleum of Imām al-Dūr; Tall al-Alīq; Ḥarba Bridge and finally the residential architecture at al-Quraina, al-Qāṭūn, al-Jubairiyya, and west of Ṣūr Īṣā, and the baths. His second, and arguably more ambitious campaign, focused on Dār al-Khilāfa.
Κυριακή 9 Ιανουαρίου 2011
Access to Mideast and Islamic Resources (AMIR): Open Access Journal: Zeitschrift für Assyriologie ...
Exhibition: Die geretteten Götter aus dem Palast vom Tell Halaf
Pergamonmuseum, Museum Island Berlin
»It would be truly wonderful if the smashed fragments from the stone images could somehow be gathered together, brought to the National Museums and reassembled at a later date. In the case of this collection, it would, however, be a tremendous task, since the sculptures have been shattered into countless, often minute fragments.«
MAX VON OPPENHEIM AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF HIS TELL HALAF MUSEUM, 1944
Turkey: Ani - Ghost city of 1001 churches
Ani – some call it the City of 1001 Churches, others the City of Forty Gates. Yet no one has called it home for more than three centuries.
Abandoned by its once prosperous and powerful inhabitants, it is situated on the Turkish side of a militarised zone between the border of Turkey and Armenia.
The city of Ani is no stranger to death, destruction and desertion.
Σάββατο 8 Ιανουαρίου 2011
NY Times lists Iraqi-Kurdistan among “41 places to visit in 2011”
An article in the travel section of yesterday’s New York Times (NYT) lists the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kuurdistan region among the 41 places in the Worlhttp://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/3/208701/d worth visiting this year.
Referring to the relative security and stability this northern region of Iraq has enjoyed in recent years, the NYT provides details of a few of the travel companies offering trips to its landmarks such as Erbil’s citadel which dates back to the Assyrian empire and the site of the Battle of Gaugamela, in which Alexander the Great defeated the Persian king Darius III leading to the fall of the Achaemenid Empire.“Safety, history and a warm welcome in a stable corner of Iraq” the NYT article is sub-headed. According to the Distant Horizons travel company that has been bringing small groups of American visitors to Kurdistan since 2008, the biggest attraction to the region is the opportunity for “authentic cultural encounter”.
“Authenticity is something that can be lost so quickly as development occurs,” the NYT quotes Distant Horizons’ Janet Moore as saying.
Karl Allen (AKnews): k.allen@aknews.com
Funde von Tell Halaf: 27.000 Scherben fügen sich zum Orient-Schatz
Es war die damals größte Ausgrabung der Welt. Von 1911 bis 1913 wurden auf dem Siedlungshügel Tell Halaf in Syrien 3000 Jahre alte aramäischen Skulpturen, Steinbilder und Schmuckstücke geborgen. Es waren Überreste einer gigantischen Palastanlage, die der aramäische Fürst Kapara errichten ließ. Sie zählen bis heute zu den spektakulärsten archäologischen Funden des Vorderen Orients.
Archaeologists Unearthed Byzantine Mosaic Painting in Syria
A mosaic painting dating back to the Byzantine era in the 6th millennium A.D. was discovered in Kfarnboda, Hama. Director of Hama Archaeology Department Abdulkader Farzat said the painting, which is 375 cm-long and 120 cm-wide, carries numerous geometrical shapes and decorations.
For his part, Director of Apamea Archaeology Department Nader Lada said the painting includes drawings taking the shape of squares, each five of which are positioned above each other vertically.
"In the center of the squares is a cross-shaped drawing. The painting, which is dominated by white and gray, is surrounded by a frame of two lines and inside is a geometrical strip of triangles," said Lada, adding that the painting was done with precision and skill.
Hama is rich in Syria's most important mosaic paintings. More than 50 % of the discovered such paintings are found in Hama.
Source
It’s Iraq but It’s Not, Part 2
By YASMINE MOUSA
January 7, 2011, 5:27 pm
ERBIL, Iraq – We arrived at the checkpoint that separates Iraq from Kurdistan and waited to get in, counting the seconds. It felt as if we were in a prison and now waited to be released to a place where other Iraqis feel free – and fearless.
We live in Baghdad, the capital, which in most countries would be the cleanest and most developed city. Now, nearly eight years after the invasion, we feel only disappointment. The lack of security and services made us excited about leaving
We were traveling to another part of Iraq, the Kurdish region in the north, but it felt like we were visiting another country.
It’s Iraq but It’s Not, Part 1
January 6, 2011, 1:07 pm
By YASMINE MOUSA
ERBIL, Iraq — On a recent trip to the Kurdistan region north of Iraq, duty required us to drive to a place here in its capital that we didn’t know. My colleagues and I, all Iraqis, stopped by the first police officers we spotted, naturally enough, to ask for directions. We asked in Arabic, then I tried in English.
The young officer did understand us, which is how I discovered the language barrier that is slowly emerging here, dividing the country not only linguistically, but also generationally.
Παρασκευή 7 Ιανουαρίου 2011
King Solomon Fortress Reveals Its Secrets
Now, the findings by the archaeologists at Tel Aviv University suggest that the place hides much more than they imagined, including a connection between ancient Israel and the Greek island of Lesbos. They said the fortress was established centuries later than believed, and may have served as an intermediate station for trade ships travelling between Egypt and Phoenicia.
Archaeologists: Statue's Head, Mosque Walls, Islamic Coins Discovered in Syria
Syria (Raqqa) – The national archaeological mission working at Medinet al-Far archaeological site, north of Raqqa City, uncovered parts of an mosque which dates back to the Umayyad age.
Director of the archaeological mission Muhammad Sarhan al-Ahmad said the excavation works at the southwestern part of the site revealed some mosque walls made of bricks and coated with plaster. The floor was paved with square bricks and decorated with floral ornaments.
Ezidis celebrate Belinda Eid
Erbil, Jan.7 (AKnews)- The Ezidis of Kurdistan Region celebrate the religious Belinda Eid here Friday.
The religious group, chiefly residing in Nineveh and Dohuk province in northern Iraq, performed the religious ceremonies of their festival, apparently without encountering any security threats or attacks. However, the Christians, another religious minority in Iraq, seem to live under terror after a serious of deadly attacks on the group by militant organizations.
The Ezidi Belinda holy day is marked on the second Friday of winter. Jaafar Simo, the media secretary for Lalish Temple told AKnews there are a number of ceremonials the worshipers perform in the religious event.
Τετάρτη 5 Ιανουαρίου 2011
Archaeologists may have found 5,000-year-old civilization in southern Iran
TEHRAN -- A team of archaeologists working on Bam riverside in Kerman Province have recently unearthed ruins of a large ancient site, which are believed to belong to a 5000-year-old civilization.
The site was discovered while excavating for a construction project in the Khajeh Askar region near the city of Bam, team director Nader Alidadi-Soleimani told the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.
Τρίτη 4 Ιανουαρίου 2011
A New Project of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago: The Jericho Mafjar Project
Khirbat al-Mafjar is located north of Jericho in the Palestinian territories. Famed as one of the most important "desert castles" of the early Islamic period, the site was first excavated from 1934 to 1948. These excavations revealed a palace and great bath, both of which were intensively decorated with fine mosaics and elaborate stucco figures, as well as stone sculpture and frescoes, placing Mafjar as one of the most important sites in Islamic archaeology.
11,496 companies function in Kurdistan
Erbil, Jan.4 (AKnews)- The number of the registered companies in the Kurdistan Region amounts to over 11,000 companies.
Twana Ahmed, the media secretary for the Kurdistan Region’s Council of Ministers applauded the Region for attracting the foreign investors and encouraging the local businessman, describing its policies “successful.”
Ahmed told AKnews according to the latest official figures some 11,496 companies, foreign and local, have put their assets into investment in various fields of the Region.
Δευτέρα 3 Ιανουαρίου 2011
Archaeological site, dating back to Iraq’s Ancient Sumerian Era, discovered in Nassiriya
Archaeological site, dating back to Iraq’s Ancient Sumerian Era, discovered in Nassiriya
January 2, 2011 - 01:14:52
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: An ancient archaeological site, dating back to Ancient Iraq’s Sumerian Era, was discovered in southern Iraq’s Nassiriya city, the center of Thi-Qar Province, the Director General of the High Commission for Archaeology &Heritage, Qais Rashid Hussein said on Sunday.
A Tour of Iraq’s Ancient Sites (NY Times)
Aqar Quf (photo: Shiho Fukada for The New York Times)
A Tour of Iraq’s Ancient Sites
New York Times
By Stephen Lee Myers, Stephen Farrell and Shiho FukadaJanuary 2, 2011, 8:29 pm
"The war has long put Iraq’s ancient historic and religious sites off limits to all but the most daring of scholars, archeologists, tourists and ordinary Iraqis. Slowly, if unevenly, that may be changing.
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