Latest News - September 2022
In The Field…
New 2nd Century BC Discoveries at an Ancient Italian Burial Site Reveals New Insights into Etruscan Identity
Heritage Daily reports:
The site was discovered in 2017 during a construction project, revealing a settlement and associated burials, which was investigated by researchers at the time but never published.
The settlement is one of few Etruscan sites untouched by looters in antiquity or modernity, allowing researchers to analyse grave goods that are relatively intact, and further understand the distinct Etruscan burial rituals.
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Ancient Iranian Language, Linear Elamite, Believed to be Deciphered
Smithsonian Magazine reports:
Today, only a handful of millennia-old scripts remain unreadable. Thanks to a team of European scholars led by French archaeologist Francois Desset, one of the last holdouts might finally be deciphered: Linear Elamite, an obscure system used in what is now Iran.
If the findings are correct—and the claim is hotly debated by the researchers’ peers—then they could shed welcome light on a little-known society that flourished between ancient Mesopotamia and the Indus River Valley at the dawn of civilization
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Additional reporting can be found at Phys.org.
Archaeologist Discover a ‘Vampire’ Grave in Poland
Archaeologists found the burial near Bydgoszcz, a city in northern Poland. An anthropological study revealed that she had protruding front teeth, suggesting that her appearance may have led superstitious locals in the 17th century to brand her a witch or vampire. In fear of her ascension, a sickle was placed around her neck, while a padlock was tied to the toe on the left foot.
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More information can be found at Heritage Daily.
Quote of the Month
The greatest way to live with honor in this world is to be what we pretend to be.
- Socrates
Featured Publications
The Exodus by Richard Eliott Friedman
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Artifact of the Issue
Dating to 681 BCE, the Sennacherib Prism describes eight of the Assyrian king Sennacherib’s military campaigns and the construction of a new palace. One mentioned campaign of significant importance is the king’s siege to the city of Jerusalem.