Turkey
The world’s oldest temple, the 12,000-year-old site at Gobekli Tepe, is to be restored…
Not sure what my thoughts are on that.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/01/150120-gobekli-tepe-oldest-monument-turkey-archaeology/
**Breaking News**
England
I do say I get quite annoyed at the media’s constant comparison with other sites – “British Pompeii” in this case – but still, this incredible find speaks for itself.
This site in Cambridgeshire is proving to be one of the most important archaeological sites in British history.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-35598578
Turkey
Congratulations to me, congratulations to me!
No, it’s not my birthday, I’m a summer baby.
I have just finished my latest travelogue and I have to say it was the toughest one to date. Ironically after last reporting on my travelogues and stating that the tagging of the photos takes much longer than the writing, suddenly I find the writing was the most difficult part. In fact the writing took over a week, and the photos just a few hours.
So may I introduce Patara – the birthplace of both Apollo and Santa Claus, the most important Lycian city in Asia Minor, and a place that, with recent archaeological finds, will now completely rewrite the history of Lycia itself, and thus Turkey.
Italy
There are quite a few new animated – and very real – short films now available that focus on Roman life and specific Roman towns.
This particular one shows the eruption of Mount Vesuvius which buried the town of Pompeii under a blanket of hot ash in 79 AD.
Thanks to my friend Italo Basilico for posting this on FB and bringing my attention to it.
**Breaking News**
England – Badger becomes Stonehenge archaeologist.
It’s been revealed that a badger had dug up a Bronze Age cremation burial five miles from Stonehenge.
The site, at Netheravon, is part of MOD land and is frequented by tanks that cross main roads on a regular basis, not to mention the large army camp at the site, which probably explains why no date has been attached to this article and why the excavation has already been fully carried out and all the items documented prior to any media release.
The items date to at least 4,000 years ago and the contents of the burial mound appear to be that of an archer.
It is thought those buried in mounds were important people – tribal leaders and their families, skilled warriors, and so on.
Mexico
One of the most prevalent ideas about who the Mexica culture sacrificed has been crushed by new findings.
The Mexica – more commonly, and wrongly, known as the Aztecs – were the most prolific human sacrificers in history, if the Spanish texts are to be believed. There is no doubt they did sacrifice a huge amount of people and the idea is that most, if not all, were captured men from wars fought in the western part of Mexico – the lands ruled by the Mexica.
What annoys me, however, is the way the preceeding theory about Mexica sacrifice has been taught as fact, both in schools and in countless documentary programmes over the years, when the Spanish chroniclers were about as trustworthy with a pen as a Prime Minister is with words. But I’m not going to start a rant about that right now… although I feel I should!
The Mexica were a pretty barbaric bunch nonetheless, but the way their sacrificial rituals have been documented by the media and the history books almost but eliminates their other incredible feats, like agricultural practices. The Mexica, however, were far more ruthless with the knife than their neighbours the Maya, who have been given a pretty bad name by the Mel Gibson film ‘Apocalypto’, which would have been more accurate if the culture depicted was the Mexica and not the Maya. The Maya did also practise human sacrifice but nowhere near the numbers the Mexica achieved.
As usual I’m going off track, but this report proves categorically that the Mexica were sacrificing just about anyone who could breathe, not just their war captives.
