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Miami Herald
6 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Ancient waste shows surprising ‘luxury' food item was not only for Roman elite
On the island of Mallorca, in what was once the ancient Roman city of Pollentia, researchers have unearthed evidence of street food vendors selling an item long believed to be reserved for the elite. The popular on-the-go menu item offered to the masses? A fried songbird. Archaeologists discovered the remains of thrushes in an underground waste disposal system called a cesspit connected to a taberna, or food shop, in Pollentia dating back about 2,100 years, according to a May 26 study published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology. Cesspits preserve organic material and provide insights into the diets, health and cultural practices of ancient communities, making them important archaeological artifacts, study author Alejandro Valenzuela said. Before now, historical records indicated that thrushes were 'exclusively a luxury food item for elite banquets' and consumed only by the 'upper echelons of Roman society,' according to Valenzuela. The presence of thrush bones among waste deposits of urban kitchens of shops associated with 'lower and middle-class' residents challenges this view, according to Valenzuela. 'This evidence suggests that thrushes were commonly sold and consumed in Roman urban spaces,' Valenzuela said, adding they were 'part of the everyday diet of urban populations.' Valenzuela said it is likely that the thrushes were pan-fried at the market in Pollentia — a common Roman culinary practice of the time, particularly among street vendors who needed to serve food quickly. Thrushes migrate to Mallorca in the winter, so urban vendors likely took advantage of their seasonal availability to diversify their menus — 'a sophisticated economic strategy,' according to the study. Elite members of society distinguished themselves by breeding thrushes, making them available year-round, according to the of Pollentia began in the early twentieth century, according to experts at Institute of Archaeology of the University of Barcelona. Mallorca is one of Spain's Balearic Islands.
National Geographic
16-05-2025
- General
- National Geographic
These exquisite jade burial suits were just a rumor—until the discovery of an ancient Chinese tomb
A burial suit formed by thousands of jade tesserae contains the body of Princess Dou Wan. Second century B.C. Rising over the Mancheng district, 120 miles south of Beijing, is Lingshan. More than 2,000 years ago, thousands of tons of rock were removed from its eastern slope to create complex tombs housing the remains of an elite couple: Liu Sheng, prince of Zhongshan, and his wife, Dou Wan. Miraculously unlooted for the next two millennia, the tombs' 1960s discovery stunned archaeologists, not only for their engineering but also for the dazzling grave goods they contained. The couple's remains were wrapped in jade burial suits now regarded as some of China's greatest national treasures. Lord of the North Liu Sheng's father, Jing Di, was the sixth emperor of the Han, the second of China's imperial dynasties, which ruled between 206 A.D. 220. Beset with rebellions, in 154 B.C., Jing Di sent Liu Sheng to impose rule over Zhongshan, a frontier region in the northeastern part of the empire. The carving out of two palatial cave tombs, similar to each other in size and structure, probably began soon after Liu Sheng took power. The tombs would have taken decades to complete and been a huge challenge technically and financially. By the time Liu Sheng and Dou Wan died in 113 and circa 104 B.C., respectively, the tombs, filled with sumptuous grave goods, were ready to receive them. Both tunnels were then blocked up with brick walls and sealed with cast iron to prevent the tombs from being desecrated. Revolutionary Discovery Numerous elite Han tombs were damaged by looters, but the sealing measures at the Mancheng tombs were unusually effective. It was not until the 1960s, during the iron rule of China's dictator Mao Zedong, that the mountain revealed its buried treasures. In June 1968 an army platoon stationed in Hebei Province knocked down a rock wall during excavations to build an air-raid shelter on the slopes of Lingshan. Behind it they found what appeared to be a burial chamber. Bulgaria's cultural capital The discovery took place at the height of Mao's Cultural Revolution, a campaign of violence against the supposed 'bourgeois elements,' often resulting in the murder and public humiliation of figures in academia and education. (These rare treasures could paint a better picture of China before it unified) In this climate of fear and paranoia, most academic research ground to a halt, but emergency archaeological work was allowed to continue. The Institute of Archaeology of the Beijing Academy of Sciences was called in and immediately put together a team to investigate. They soon established that the tomb was indeed an ancient burial chamber. Excitement mounted when they discovered a second tomb a short distance away from the first. The jade suit of Liu Sheng, displayed in Europe in 1973. THE MANCHENG TOMBS became the poster child of Chinese archaeology. The grave goods formed the core of an exhibit organized for the reopening of the Palace Museum in Beijing in July 1971. The museum was inside the Forbidden City, formerly closed to the public because of the Cultural Revolution. The Liu Sheng jade suit was then included in an exhibit of Chinese archaeology that toured Europe in the 1970s. The team completed their excavation that summer, and the Mancheng tombs quickly became instrumentalized as a symbol of the outstanding achievements of Chinese civilization under the Han dynasty. The discovery was also exploited by Mao's regime to praise Chinese archaeology during the Cultural Revolution. Mirror Images Both tombs had the same structure: They were accessed via a narrow tunnel, which led to a large antechamber covered by a wooden structure with a tile roof. The antechamber was divided into two spaces: The room to the north contained a store of food preserved in terracotta vessels, provisions that would serve the deceased in the afterlife. The room to the south housed the stable, where the archaeologists uncovered chariots and the skeletons of horses, the ultimate symbol of elite power. Water clock, found in the tomb of Liu Sheng at Mancheng, second century B.C. Golden needles, likely intended for acupuncture, were found in Liu Sheng's tomb. Museum of Hebei Province. The central space formed a ceremonial hall, also with a tile roof supported by a wooden structure. In the center were two canopies surrounded by numerous objects arranged in rows: ceramic figurines representing servants, bronze vessels, lamps, and ritual weapons. To the rear of this chamber was a stone door that gave access to the funerary chamber itself. This space had a stone ceiling, and in the center sat the sarcophagus. This room and an adjoining one were seen as the private quarters of the deceased. (Rome wanted silk, China had the goods. Here's how the Silk Roads got their start.) As the first of the Han imperial family graves to be discovered intact, the tombs of Liu Sheng and Dou Wan are significant because of their structure and the two objects found among the grave goods: spectacular armorlike suits made of jade, which until then had only been known from descriptions in literary sources. The thousands of jade tesserae that compose the suits are joined at the corners with gold threads and wire. Each suit is made of 12 sections and tailored to follow the contours of the body. The suits served as shrouds and became the visual representation of the two rulers' transformation into immortal beings. For archaeologists, the suits, intact grave goods, and objects among which they were found provide a fascinating window into the beliefs, practices, and funerary art of the Han period. Although mummification was not practiced in China at this time, various methods were nevertheless employed to preserve immaterial aspects of the dead, such as their soul—of which some Chinese traditions state a human being has two types: the hun and the po. A bronze lamp from the tomb of Liu Sheng has a built-in smoke outlet. National Museum of China, Beijing. A bronze vase with damascene decoration was found in the tomb of Liu Sheng. This piece was one of the luxury objects kept in the burial chamber. Museum of Hebei Province. The hun comprises the person's spirit of mind. The po is the soul of the body's activity and energy. During life these two souls are harmoniously united in the body, but at the moment of death they separate. The hun ascends to the realm of the ancestors. The po remains with the body, and may have been regarded as a malign force that needed containing by the jade shrouds. (Is this the world's oldest saddle?) The two tombs likely reflect this dual conception. Both resemble underground palaces, mirroring the earthly abodes of the deceased. The wooden and stone structures within the tombs correspond to elements of an earthly palace. The antechambers and the central hall form the realm in which the po and the body can continue their existence surrounded by the same well-being they enjoyed in life. Reconstruction of the second-century B.C. tomb of Prince Liu Sheng at Mancheng. The tomb of his consort, Dou Wan, has the same structure. The two empty seats in the center of the main hall of Liu Sheng's tomb were originally topped with silk-curtained canopies and had vases and funerary statuettes arranged in rows around them. This tableau represented a ritual ceremony that evoked the prince and princess. The funerary chamber built in stone, the last room of their eternal palace, was the place where it was believed the deceased would achieve immortality. Liu Sheng's burial suit, like his wife's, is composed of thousands of jade tesserae held together with gold threads and wire. Museum of Hebei Province. The tombs of Liu Sheng and Dou Wan contained a wealth of grave goods from the second century B.C. made of ceramic, bronze, jade, silver, and lacquered wood. They can be grouped into three categories: ritual and symbolic objects, especially bronze vases and jade items; objects for personal use, some of which belonged to the deceased during their lifetime and were intended to serve them after death; and mingqi, or spirit objects, statuettes intended to recreate the prince and princess's enjoyment of earthly pleasures. Completing this symbolism is the use of jade. Closely associated with beliefs on heaven and immortality, the smooth, tight-grained silicate was used in funerary rituals thousands of years before the Han princes, and the Chinese character used to represent it is close to the character for 'emperor.' Several centuries before Liu Sheng and Dou Wan were laid to rest, Confucius numbered the gem's attributes as benevolence, justice, propriety, truth, credibility, music, loyalty, heaven, earth, morality, and intelligence. Truly, a gem worthy of high-born princes. (Go inside China's Forbidden City) A bear stands over a bird, feet apart, in this bronze piece from the tomb of Dou Wan. Museum of Hebei Province. This gilt bronze lamp takes the form of a kneeling maid. Discovered in the tomb of Dou Wan, it was designed to collect smoke through the sleeve. Museum of Hebei Province. This leopard, made of bronze and inlaid with gold, silver, and hard stone, was part of a set of weights used to hold mats in place on the floors of aristocratic residences. Tomb of Dou Wan, Museum of Hebei Province. A bronze censer in the form of a sacred mountain was found in Dou Wan's tomb. A figure kneeling on a fantastic animal holds the vessel. Museum of Hebei Province. This story appeared in the May/June 2025 issue of National Geographic History magazine.
Borneo Post
07-05-2025
- Borneo Post
Millennium-old sites on Silk Road open in China, offer gateway to history
A drone photo shows a view of the Tuyugou Grottoes in Turpan, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on May 1, 2025. – Xinhua photo LANZHOU (May 8): Two major archaeological sites along the ancient Silk Road opened to the public in northwest China on May 1, the first day of the May Day holiday, offering new choices for travelers keen to explore the exchanges between Eastern and Western civilisations over a millennium ago. One of these newly opened sites, the Tuyugou Grottoes, is located in the city of Turpan, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. This complex, built around the fifth century, boasts 157 caves carved into cliffs, three temples and nine pagodas. Five caves and a Buddhist temple at the grottoes have opened to the public, offering 300 visitor slots per day, said Liu Yi, a cultural relics preservation official of Turpan's cultural heritage bureau. A guide introduces the murals to visitors at the Tuyugou Grottoes in Turpan, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on May 1, 2025. – Xinhua photo Ten archaeological excavations since 2010 at the site have unearthed abundant artifacts, including Buddhist scriptures in multiple languages as well as documents like taxation records and loan contracts. China has invested more than 77 million yuan (about US$10.7 million) in restoring and reinforcing these grottoes in recent years. 'The Tuyugou Grottoes are a vivid testimony to the cultural and religious exchanges in the Turpan Basin,' said Xia Lidong, associate researcher at the Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. A drone photo shows guests visiting the ruins of Xuanquanzhi in Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province on April 29, 2025. – Xinhua photo The ruins of Xuanquanzhi in the city of Dunhuang, Gansu Province, also opened to the public on May 1. Dating back some 2,000 years to the Western Han Dynasty, the site back then served as a comprehensive post station for mail and information deliveries, as well as the reception of messengers, officials and foreign guests. It is one of the Silk Road sites that were added to the Unesco World Heritage List in 2014. A visitor buys souvenirs at the tourist site of the ruins of Xuanquanzhi in Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province on April 29, 2025. – Xinhua photo Following excavations in the early 1990s, the site was accessible only to research teams. Thanks to investments totaling over 309 million yuan, China strengthened preservation of the site and developed tourism facilities. 'Through its remarkable efforts in cultural preservation, China has reminded the world that heritage is not static. It lives, breathes and teaches,' said Qaiser Nawab, chairman of the Belt and Road Initiative for Sustainable Development. Performers dance at the opening ceremony of the ruins of Xuanquanzhi in Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province on April 29, 2025. – Xinhua photo Addressing the needs of international tourists, the site's guiding and interpretation services are available in multiple languages. Samuel Fanning, a tourist and history lover from Canada, was attracted by Turpan's ancient architecture. 'I planned to stay in Xinjiang for seven days, but it will end up being 12 days. I think this can speak to how enjoyable it is to visit here,' Fanning said, adding that he will also visit Dunhuang. Performers dance at the opening ceremony of the ruins of Xuanquanzhi in Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province on April 29, 2025. – Xinhua photo Qiu Jian, head of the Gansu provincial cultural heritage bureau, revealed that global interest in the ancient Silk Road is steadily rising. 'Through the gradual opening of more cultural heritage sites, we aim to present an overall and more diverse picture of the Silk Road culture to the public,' said Qiu. – Xinhua An aerial drone photo shows a view of the ruins of Xuanquanzhi in Dunhuang, northwest China's Gansu Province opn April 29, 2025. – Xinhua photo China historical Silk Road Xinhua
CairoScene
07-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CairoScene
‘All Eyes on Her!': Reclaiming Egyptian Womanhood in This London Show
'All Eyes on Her!': Reclaiming Egyptian Womanhood in This London Show In 'Orientalism', Edward Said claims that, 'From the beginning of Western speculation about the Orient, the one thing the Orient could not do was to represent itself.' Said's words continue to ring true today, where a Western person's imagination of an Egyptian immediately conjures up a pharaoh, or perhaps a vague sense of chaos. The image of an Egyptian woman, more specifically, is either that of exotic eroticism or heartbreaking oppression. The stolen Egyptian artefacts on display in their museums only reinforce these ideals; pharaonic statues and belly dancers' attire and yashmaks. These images are as far as can be from the life of the Egyptian woman. Heba Abd el Gawad, a senior curator of Anthropology at the Horniman Museum and Gardens and Research Fellow at the Institute of Archaeology, University College of London (UCL), is intent on shifting that narrative. For the past four years, Abd el Gawad has been working on creating a space where the Egyptian woman can come as she is, with all that she is. The result is an exhibition at Horniman Museum and Gardens with a singular demand: 'All Eyes on Her!' 'All Eyes on Her!' is dedicated to resisting the stereotypical orientalist image of Egyptian women by honouring what they refer to as the everyday activism of these women. To put it together, Abd el Gawad used the Egyptian artefacts already existing in the museum (statues, clothes, etc.) as well as new acquisitions from women in Egypt. 'We wanted to show people the living Egypt,' Abd el Gawad tells CairoScene. 'The spirit, stories, street signs, soundscapes and even WhatsApp stickers that make up Egypt today - instead of the ancient frozen culture it is often portrayed as. It's not just an empty landscape with the pyramids as the backdrop.' The exhibition is split into three sections: resist, revolt and reclaim. All three sections are fed with initiatives from Egyptian women performing these respective actions, often unknowingly. In the resistance section, there's a display of eight women consistently showing up for their population, including Gehad Hamdy, the founder of feminist initiative Speak Up, and Namees Amrous, the founder of woman-centred community E7kky. The resist section also features the personal journal of Mai Zayed, the writer and director of 'Ash Ya Captain', a movie chronicling the trials and tribulations of Olympic female powerlifters. 'All Eyes on Her!' is Horniman's first-ever bilingual exhibition. Some installations in the exhibition are even only in Arabic, with no English translation. 'For the first time in my life, I stood in front of an exhibition window and could see myself,' says Abd el Gawad. Everything in 'All Eyes on Her!' centres Egyptian women - including the visual identity and wallpaper, which were the responsibility of Egyptian illustrator Dina Zaitoun, commonly known as Artopathic. 'We used the wallpaper as an opportunity to integrate elements that could widen people's understanding of the Egyptian woman,' Zaitoun tells us. 'In lieu of traditional feminism, with its rallies and petitions, we wanted to portray the normal woman, the woman on the street selling vegetables, or the woman taking her kids to school.' Zaitoun's illustrations gave the exhibition life; she set the stage for every element of the exhibition. She illustrated individual frames for each of the eight influential women in the resist section, based on their work and their character. She illustrated a wall of eyes (all on her, of course) that tell the story of Egyptian heritage, including the eye of Horus, as well as the evil eye, and the tearing eye Egyptian women often wear around their necks. She also illustrated iconic Egyptian women, close-up. 'Someone we featured a lot is Abla Kamel, who is featured at the centre of the display, standing on a balcony,' says Abd el Gawad. 'She's a representation of the average Egyptian woman, in all her vulnerability and equally all her strength.' In the revolt section, Abd el Gawad and Zaitoun spotlighted an Egyptian woman the Western audience typically forgets about: the women of the 1919 revolution. Here, Zaitoun illustrated images of the revolting women of that time, clad in all black, on roller skates, with phrases from the revolution floating above. 'When faced with images of faceless Arab women, the West regards them as oppressed. But we're way more than that image. We're not victims, we're revolutionary,' Abd el Gawad says. The revolt section also features images of photographer and graffiti artist Hanaa El Degham's work, whose graffiti took centre stage in representing women in the 2011 revolution. In 'Orientalism', Edward Said continues to say that 'Our role is to widen the field of discussion, not to set limits in accord with the prevailing authority.' This is the very responsibility that 'All Eyes on Her!' undertakes in the reclaim section of the exhibition. The reclaim section is where the Egyptian artefacts that are already part of the museum's collection reside, with phrases like 'take me back to my country' illustrated above them in Arabic. Another installation features a glittering dress from the 19th century, one typically worn by belly dancers at the time. Instead of catering to the orientalist view of belly dancers as erotic, the dress is shown alongside a profile of Asmaa Halim, a dance movement therapist reclaiming belly dancing as the intergenerational method of empowerment it originated as. 'It's still a priority to return these historical artefacts to their home,' Abd el Gawad emphasises, 'but that doesn't undo the damage done. Creating a conversation around our culture, showing people a new, perhaps shocking perspective on it, is what enables us to reclaim our heritage and our narrative as our own. We're no longer being narrated by foreigners - we're speaking for ourselves.'
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Tomb filled with skulls, bones of 24 battle victims discovered in Peru
Researchers carrying out excavation work in southern Peru found a tomb filled with the remains of two dozen people believed to be battle victims. Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Wrocław in Poland have been studying a settlement in the Atico River Valley, a geographical area along the Puru's southern coast, the university said in a translated post on social media. The settlement existed before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas, researchers said. Previous research has found the remains of Inca roads and some cave sites with rock paintings, researchers said, but little other work has been done in the region. Archaeological work in a cemetery area led to the discovery of the circular tomb. The burial site had a stone inscription listing 24 names, including those of men, women and children. The bones found inside the burial site were analyzed. The anthropological analyses confirmed that all 24 people in the tomb had "numerous damages," or battle injuries, "that are the direct cause of death." There were also "grave gifts" found at the site, including pottery pieces identified as belonging to the Chuquibamba or Aruni people, a pre-Incan culture based around the Majes basin, south of the research site. The bodies were wrapped in textiles. Pieces of ceramic, stone and wood products were also found, as well as corn cobs. The remains at the site were buried "in accordance with ritual," the researchers noted. The research team said they believed the group was killed as a result of a conflict. The people who died were likely from the group that won the conflict, allowing for the elaborate burial, the researchers said. Work at the site will continue through April. White House responds to judge who found cause to hold Trump administration in contempt Outbreak Science | 60 Minutes Archive Demis Hassabis | Sunday on 60 Minutes
