Surprising discovery at ancient Grecian burial ground
Radiocarbon dating suggests the man and woman in the tomb lived between 388 and 356 BC, whereas Philip II died in 336 BC.
The man's age at death (25-35) also contradicts Philip II's age at death (around 46).
Six infants buried in the tomb between 150 BC and 130 AD are likely unrelated to the original occupants, suggesting it was reused during the Roman period, scientists say.
Analysis suggests the man spent his childhood away from the Macedonian capital, while the woman likely lived in the Vergina/Pella area her entire life.
Tomb thought to hold Alexander the Great's father actually found to contain remains of young woman and six infants
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Sun
11 hours ago
- The Sun
Stunning 2,500-year-old TATTOOS from Siberian ‘ice mummy' depicting ‘mythical creatures' revealed in perfect detail
THE intricate tattoos of a 2,500-year-old Siberian "ice mummy" have finally been revealed through high-tech imaging. The designs reveal leopards, tigers, a stag, a rooster and even some long-lost mythical creatures. 7 7 They are so detailed that even a modern tattooist would struggle to reproduce them, according to the researchers behind the discovery. The tattoos belong to a woman who was about 50-years-old when she died. She is thought to have belonged to the nomadic horse-riding Pazyryk culture, which roamed the lands between China and Europe. The scans exposed "intricate, crisp and uniform" tattooing that could not be seen with the naked eye. Over the two millennia, the ink has become all but invisible on the body as the skin darkens with time. "The insights really drive home to me the point of how sophisticated these people were," lead author Dr Gino Caspari from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Bern, told BBC News. Archaeologists worked with researcher Daniel Riday, a tattooist who reproduces ancient ink on his own body to understand how they were made. Tattooing was likely widespread during prehistory, but few remains from that era are preserved well enough to investigate. 7 But the so-called "ice mummies" of the Altai mountains in Siberia were often encased in ice tombs which preserved the skin. While the tattoos were not visibly on the skin, they were brought back to life using near-infrared digital photography in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia. The high-resolution scans were able to reveal the decorations for the first time in 2,500 years. "This made me feel like we were much closer to seeing the people behind the art, how they worked and learned. The images came alive," said Dr Caspari. On her right forearm, the woman had an image of leopards and tigers around the head of two deer. On the left arm, a mythical griffin-like creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle appears to be fighting with a stag. "Twisted hind bodies and really intense battle scenes of wild animals are typical of the culture," explained Dr Caspari. The "ice mummy" also had a rooster on her thumb, showing "an intriguing style with a certain uniqueness," says Dr Caspari. The design was made with uniform thickness, suggesting sophisticated methods and tools for tattooing. Some lines were created using a multipoint tool, while others were made with a finer, single-point tool, according to the study. The researchers could even see where the ancient tattooist stopped working and picked up again in the overlapping of some lines. "Many cultures around the world traditionally used bundles of plant thorns and spines to tattoo," study co-author Aaron Deter-Wolf, an archaeologist at the Tennessee Division of Archaeology and ancient-tattooing expert, told Live Science in an email. "We envision the multi-point tool as being a tightly clustered bundle of tines, probably bound together with thread or sinew." The tools were made of natural, biodegradable materials, meaning the researchers aren't able to examine the implements themselves. 7 7
BBC News
a day ago
- BBC News
2,500-year-old Siberian 'ice mummy' had intricate tattoos
High-resolution imaging of tattoos found on a 2,500 year old Siberian "ice mummy" have revealed decorations that a modern tattooist would find challenging to produce, according to intricate tattoos of leopards, a stag, a rooster, and a mythical half-lion and half-eagle creature on the woman's body shed light on an ancient warrior worked with a tattooist, who reproduces ancient skin decorations on his own body, to understand how exactly they were tattooed woman, aged about 50, was from the nomadic horse-riding Pazyryk people who lived on the vast steppe between China and Europe. The scans revealed "intricate crisp and uniform" tattooing that could not be seen with the naked eye."The insights really drive home to me the point of how sophisticated these people were," lead author Dr Gino Caspari from the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology and the University of Bern, told BBC is difficult to uncover detailed information about ancient social and cultural practices because most evidence is destroyed over time. It is even harder to get up close to the details of one person's Pazyryk "ice mummies" were found inside ice tombs in the Altai mountains in Siberia in the 19th century, but it has been difficult to see the tattoos. Now using near-infrared digital photography in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia experts have created high resolution scans of the decorations for the first time."This made me feel like we were much closer to seeing the people behind the art, how they worked and learned. The images came alive," Dr Caspari her right forearm, the Pazyryk woman had an image of leopards around the head of a deer. On the left arm, the mythical griffin creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle appears to be fighting with a stag."Twisted hind bodies and really intense battle scenes of wild animals are typical of the culture," Dr Caspari the woman also had a rooster on her thumb, showing "an intriguing style with a certain uniqueness," says Dr team worked with researcher Daniel Riday who reproduces ancient tattoo designs on his body using historical methods. A 'solid commitment' His insights on the scans led them to conclude that the quality of the work differed between the two arms, suggesting that a different person made the tattoos or that mistakes were made."If I was guessing, it was probably four and half hours for the lower half of the right arm, and another five hours for the upper part," he says."That's a solid commitment from the person. Imagine sitting on the ground in the steppe where there's wind blowing all that time," he suggests."It would need to be performed by a person who knows health and safety, who knows the risks of what happens when the skin is punctured," he adds. By analysing the marks in the woman's skin, the team believe that the tattoos were probably stencilled onto the skin before being think a needle-like tool with small multiple points probably made from animal horn or bone was used, as well as a single point needle. The pigment was likely made from burnt plant material or Caspari, who does not have tattoos himself, says the work sheds light on an ancient practice that is very important for a lot of people around the world today. "And back in the day it was already a really professional practice where people put a lot of time and effort and practice into creating these images and they're extremely sophisticated," he of the tattoos appear to have been cut or damaged when the body was prepared for burial."It suggests that tattoos were really something for the living with meaning during life, but that they actually didn't really play much of a role in the afterlife," explains Dr Caspari.
The Independent
3 days ago
- The Independent
New bone discovery leads to gruesome revelation
Decapitated remains of an infant, dated to 850,000 years ago, were discovered at the Gran Dolina archaeological site in Burgos, Spain. The child 's vertebra shows clear cut marks and defleshing, consistent with intentional decapitation and processing like prey, indicating cannibalism. This discovery, attributed to the human ancestor species Homo antecessor, may represent the earliest evidence of cannibalism in Europe. Archaeologists from IPHES state that the precision of the cuts suggests a systematic practice of human meat consumption by this ancient species. The findings hint at early humans exploiting their peers for food or territorial control, with researchers expecting more human remains in unexcavated layers.
