Month: April 2023

Nabatean altars found in Pozzuoli

Ancient

The remains of two altars from a Nabatean temple have been discovered on the seabed of Pozzuoli in southern Italy, the now-submerged heart of the ancient commercial port of Puteoli. The altars date to the first half of the 1st century A.D. and are similar to the larger, more complete great altar discovered in the same area by fishermen in 1965. The base of that altar bears the inscription DVSARI SACRVM, or “sacred to Dusares,” (aka Dushara) the head deity of the Nabatean pantheon and unique to the Nabatean religion.

The slots in the top of the altar slabs are votive niches that originally held betyls, sacred stones venerated as effigies of the gods. Traditional Nabatean religion was aniconic, meaning there were no figural representations of the gods. Instead, the gods were represented by cultic stelae/standing stones. A later colossal bust of Dushara was discovered in Pozzuoli and is now in the Vatican Museums. By this time his image had become fully Romano-Hellenized, so he was fully figural. As the head of the Nabatean pantheon, he was identified with Zeus and depicted as a man with a thick curly beard.

These finds bring the total number of Nabatean altar slabs and altar bases found in this area of sunken city to five since the first was discovered in the 18th century. (The first three — two bases and one slab — are now in the collections of the National Archaeological Museum of Naples and the Archaeological Park of Campi Flegrei at the Castle of Baiae.)

Founded as a Greek colony in 531 B.C., Puteoli was made a Roman colony in 195 B.C. and became Rome’s principal port at the center of the Mediterranean traffic in goods — wine, Tyrian purple, textiles, perfumes, jewels, etc — from and to Europe, the Levant and the Near East. Between the 1st century B.C. and the 1st century A.D., the merchants of Puteoli spread out far and wide in the Mediterranean world, establishing trade relations with local populations and securing lucrative contracts. The foreign producers and traders who traveled to Puteoli eventually formed permanent communities there with their own homes, shops, temples and cemeteries.

The Nabateans, an Arab people whose territory at its apex in the 1st century B.C. stretched from the Euphrates to the Red Sea, controlled trade routes conveying luxury goods from the Indian Ocean and the Far East to the Arabian peninsula and southern Levant. The magnificent rock-cut capital of Petra in modern-day Jordan was the last stop of caravans on the lucrative spice and perfume routes before the goods were shipped overseas to Europe from the Port of Gaza. The kingdom became a vassal state of Rome in the 1st century B.C., albeit still very much independent, and was absorbed into the Roman empire by Trajan in 106 A.D.

Their trade interests put the Nabateans in business with Puteoli, which by the 1st century was the largest commercial port on the Mediterranean. The Nabatean community settled in the Vicus Lartidianus, the suburban neighborhood on the southern edge of Puteoli where the foreign merchants lived and transacted their business.

While the presence of the Nabatean temple was known from the discovery of the altars, its exact location, position and dimensions were not. The recent discovery of the altars and a new topographical survey have allowed researchers to pinpoint the precise position of the temple, as well as warehouses, imperial administration buildings and roads of the ancient port.

Mithraeum and large relief found in Trier

Ancient

An excavation at the site of a former police headquarters in Trier has unearthed the remains of a Roman Mithraeum with a large surviving relief of one of Mithras’ attendants. This is only the second Mithraeum ever discovered in Trier.

A limestone relief four feet high is a depiction of Cautes, one of Mithras’ torchbearers. In the iconography of Mithraism, the torchbearers Cautes and Cautopates flank Mithras as he sacrifices a bull in the tauroctony. Cautes is usually to his left, holding a torch upwards. Cautopates is on the right, holding his torch downwards. They may have been symbols of the rising and setting sun, or the spring and autumnal equinox. Like Mithras, they wear Persian garb with the Phrygian cap, but they are always shown as smaller than the god himself.

Trier was founded by the Celtic Treveri people in the 4th century B.C. It was refounded as Colonia Augusta Treverorum by Augustus Caesar in 16 B.C. after his defeat of the Treveri. It became capital of the province of Belgic Gaul in the late 3rd century and was one of the largest cities in the Roman Empire, with a population of 75,000 or more. During the Tetrarchy (Diocletian’s system dividing rule of the empire between two senior emperors, the augusti, and two junior emperors, the caesares), Augusta Treverorum was one of the four capitals where the tetrarchs established their headquarters. The western caesar resided there, close to the troublesome Rhine border.

The mystery religion of Mithraism was extremely popular in the Roman army between the 1st and 4th century. Its adherents in the legion spread the secretive cult with its distinctive iconography (Mithras born from a rock, the sacrifice of the bull, the banquet with the sun god Sol) throughout the empire.

Mithraea were usually built underground, as was the newly-discovered one in Trier. Coins found at the site indicate the cult room was destroyed in the late 4th century A.D., a common fate for Mithrae after Christianity rose to power and obliterated its ancient religious rivals. The relief of Cautes is the only figural representation that survived the destruction. The remains of the central aisle and brick benches where the devout sat in front of the tauroctony have also been unearthed since the first discovery in February.

Excavation of the site is planned to take 18 months all told. When it is concluded, the city’s new main fire station will be built where Mithras and, more recently, the police once presided. The relief is currently undergoing conservation at the Rheinisches Landesmuseum in Trier.

Maya ball game marker found at Chichén Itzá

Ancient

Archaeologists have discovered a disc-shaped stone marker from the Maya ball game at the archaeological site of Chichén Itzá in Yucatán, Mexico. It is intact and contains a complete hieroglyphic text, an extremely rare find in Chichén Itzá. The disc dates to the end of 9th century, only a couple of decades or so before the Mayan collapse and the demise of its writing system, making this inscription one of the last significant hieroglyphic texts about the ball game to survive.

The marker is a circular piece of limestone 32.5 cm (12.8 inches) in diameter weighing 40 kilos (88 lbs). It is engraved with images of two Maya dignitaries playing the Mesoamerican ball game (Pok Ta Pok in the Mayan language) with the hieroglyphic inscription of 18 cartouches around the outer border. The hieroglyphics include a short count date that translates to 894 A.D.

There are two figures in the center of the stone. The one on the left is wearing a feathered headdress and a flowered sash. The one on the right is wearing a snake turban and the protective equipment worn to play the game. A scroll hovers in front of the face of the left figure. This likely represents a voice or exhalation. The figures are players/officials engaged in a specific ritual or event related to the game.

The marker was discovered within the architectural complex of the Chichanchob, also known as the Casa Colorada or Casa Roja after the remains of red paint on the interior vestibule, one of the best-preserved monumental structures in the city. It was constructed in the Terminal Classic period (ca. 800-920) in the Puuc architectural style, characterized by blank facades in the lower parts of buildings and intricately carved upper facades. Shortly after its construction, a small ball game court was added to the back wall of the structure.

The disc was found upside-down less than two feet under the surface of the ground. It was probably part of the east wall of an access arch leading into the Casa Colorada complex. When the arch collapsed, the marker did too.

INAH conservators have begun a desalination process with cellulose fiber compresses. It is also being cleaned with distilled water. Researchers have also embarked on the photogrammetry technique, taking overlapping high-resolution images of the text and iconography to create a 3D model of the disc for detailed study and a full translation of the inscription.

Unique Nubian Christian frescoes found in Dongola

Medieval

Archaeologists excavating the medieval ghost city of Dongola in Sudan have discovered a previously unknown complex of rooms covered with Christian wall paintings that are unique on the archaeological record. They include depictions of a Nubian king bowing to Christ while under the protective embrace of the Archangel Michael. This scene has no parallels in Nubian art.

Located on the east bank of the Nile, Dongola was built in the 5th century as a heavily fortified citadel. It became the capital of the Coptic kingdom of Makuria in the mid-6th century and prospered mightily thanks to trade agreements with Muslim Egypt. The city grew, expanding well beyond the original defensive walls of the citadel, reaching its economic, artistic and religious zenith between the 9th and 11th centuries. Makuria became one of the most important states in medieval Africa until its conquest by the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt in the 14th century. After that, the process of urbanization ground to a halt and Dongola contracted. It was finally abandoned in the 18th century.

There are more than a dozen churches in Dongola and two monasteries within the expanded urban periphery. The Monastery of the Holy Trinity is notable for its unique wall paintings dating to the city’s heyday in the 11th-13th century. More than 100 paintings adorn its walls, depicting Jesus, Mary, the Apostles, angels, saints and scenes from the Old and New Testaments.

The newly-discovered wall paintings are not in any of the churches or monasteries. They were found under private homes from the Funj period (16th-19th c.)

The paintings within it showed the Mother of God, Christ, as well as a scene depicting a Nubian king, Christ, and Archangel Michael. However, this was not a typical representation of a Nubian ruler under the protection of saints or archangels. The king bows to Christ, who is seated in the clouds, and kisses his hand. The ruler is supported by Archangel Michael, whose spread wings shield both the king and Christ himself. Such a scene finds no parallels in Nubian painting. The dynamism and intimacy of the representation contrasts with the hieratic nature of the figures shown on the side walls. Neither does the figure of the Virgin Mary on the north wall of the chamber belong to the typical repertoire of depictions of Mary in Nubian art. The Mother of God, shown in a dignified pose, is dressed in dark robes. In her hands she holds a cross and a book. Christ is depicted on the opposite wall. His right hand is shown in a gesture of blessing, and in His left he holds a book, which is fragmentarily preserved.

The paintings are accompanied by inscriptions currently studied by Dr. Agata Deptuła from PCMA UW. A preliminary reading of the Greek inscriptions has led to their identification as texts of the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. An inscription in Old Nubian that accompanies the main scene is extremely difficult to decipher. Thanks to a preliminary reading by Dr. Vincent van Gerven Oei, the researchers learned that it contains several mentions of a king named David and a plea to God for protection of the city. The city mentioned in the inscription is probably Dongola, and King David is likely the royal figure depicted in the scene. David was one of the last rulers of Christian Makuria, and his reign marked the beginning of the end of the kingdom. For reasons unknown, King David attacked Egypt, which retaliated by invading Nubia and, as a result, Dongola was sacked for the first time in its history. Maybe the painting was created as the Mamluk army was approaching the city or already laying siege to it?

The biggest puzzle, however, is the complex of rooms in which the paintings were found. The spaces themselves, covered with vaults and domes and made of dried brick, are quite small. The room with the painted scene showing king David resembles a crypt, but it is 7 meters above the medieval ground level. The building is adjacent to a sacral building identified as the Great Church of Jesus, which was probably the cathedral of Dongola and the most important church of the kingdom of Makuria. Arab sources recounting King David’s attack on Egypt and the capture of the port of Aidhab and Aswan, maintain that this act was instigated by the Great Church of Jesus. Did the Archbishop of Dongola, much like Pope Urban II, incite King David to launch a crusade?

When the excavation came to end last month, the immediate priority was the conservation of the fragile wall paintings. Sections of plaster had detached from the walls and needed to be re-adhered, a challenging job in the confined spaces of the room complex in the hot temperatures of March in Sudan. Conservators from the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw, and the Department of Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw worked together to stabilize the wall paintings, injecting putties in the gaps behind the plaster and preserving the paint on the plaster itself. The complex of rooms will be excavated further when the dig season resumed in the fall.

One of Vasa’s crew was a woman

Modern(ish)

One of the crew on the 17th century Swedish royal warship Vasa has been confirmed to be a woman, not a man as originally believed.

Commissioned in 1625 by Sweden’s King Gustav II Adolf, Vasa was to be the flagship of Sweden’s new fleet of warships — better, stronger, faster, the dominant naval force on the Baltic Sea for the next three decades. It couldn’t even dominate Stockholm harbour, sinking less than 400 feet from the dock on its maiden voyage on August 10, 1628. Before the horrified king and assembled dignitaries, Vasa rapidly sank to the sea floor taking a crew of about 30 people down with it.

After the ship was rediscovered in 1956, it was gradually raised in a sequence of lifts between 1959 and 1961. The Vasa, so remarkably well-preserved that it is largely intact, and the wreck site were thoroughly excavated. Human skeletal remains were found in the excavation. Osteological examinations revealed some information about the lost crew — approximate age, height, etc. — but modern technology, including DNA analysis, can reveal much more.

For the past 20 years, experts at the Vasa Museum have worked with immunologists, geneticists and pathologists at Uppsala University to systematically examine all the Vasa skeletons. The challenges of the project are significant, starting with identifying which bones belong to a specific individual. Extracting DNA from skeletal remains that spent 333 years on the harbour bed is also very difficult.

One particular skeleton, dubbed G, initially classified as male, was upon review suspected of being female due to the shape of the pelvis. Subsequent DNA results also suggested they might have been female. There were no Y chromosomes found in the genetic sample. The DNA could have been contaminated and damaged, however, from its long underwater sojourn, so the evidence was not conclusive.

The result has now been confirmed thanks to an interlaboratory study with Dr Kimberly Andreaggi of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System’sArmed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFMES-AFDIL) in Delaware, USA. The AFMES-AFDIL is the American Department of Defense’s laboratory, specializing in human remains DNA testing from deceased military personnel. They have established a new testing method for the analysis of many different genetic variants.

“We took new samples from bones for which we had specific questions. AFMES-AFDIL has now analysed the samples, and we have been able to confirm that G was a woman, thanks to the new test”, says Marie Allen. […]

For the Vasa Museum the results of the DNA analysis are an important puzzle piece in the museum’s research into the people on the ship. Dr. Anna Maria Forssberg, historian and researcher at the museum, explains:

“We want to come as close to these people as we can. We have known that there were women on board Vasa when it sank, and now we have received confirmation that they are among the remains. I am currently researching the wives of seamen, so for me this is especially exciting, since they are often forgotten even though they played an important role for the navy“.

The team is expecting the results of the DNA analysis of the rest of the new samples shortly. Researchers hope to find out more about the crew members’ appearances — from big things like hair and eye color to minutiae like whether they had freckles or wet vs. dry ear wax — geographic origin, and propensities to certain illnesses.