Latest News - September 2022
Issue 11
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
Discover the real history of the Exodus and why it matters.
Biblical scholars, Egyptologists, archaeologists, historians, literary scholars, anthropologists, and filmmakers are drawn to it. Unable to find physical evidence until now, many archaeologists and scholars claim this mass migration is just a story, not history. Others oppose this conclusion, defending the biblical account.
Like a detective on an intricate case no one has yet solved, pioneering Bible scholar and bestselling author of Who Wrote the Bible? Richard Elliott Friedman cuts through the noise — the serious studies and the wild theories — merging new findings with new insight. From a spectrum of disciplines, state-of-the-art archeological breakthroughs, and fresh discoveries within scripture, he brings real evidence of a historical basis for the exodus — the history behind the story. The biblical account of millions fleeing Egypt may be an exaggeration, but the exodus itself is not a myth.
Learn more by visiting here.
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.