#bronzeage

Gaza Strip Farmer Found 4,500-Year-Old Statue of Canaanite Deity AnatTalk about a lucky find!While digging land, a farmer in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip unearthed a stone statue of an ancient goddess. According to the Palestinian archaeologists that inspected the artifact, the statue dates back 4,500 years to the late Bronze Age. The artifact is a depiction of the head of the Canaanite deity of beauty, love, and war, Anat. The statue depicts the goddess wearing a serpent crown. It is now on display in Qasr al-Basha, one of Gaza’s museums. Image credit: BBC/Rushdi Abualouf#find #archeology #BronzeAge #Canaan #GazaStrip #Anat #statue

The "Viking Helmets" That Gave us the Stereotype are Finally DatedFor a long time, the popular image of Vikings has been crowned by a helmet with horns. The image was reinforced by certain popular cartoons until we all recognized a Viking character by his helmet. But later we were assured that Vikings did not wear horns on their helmets, as that would be be overly risky in battle. So where did we get that idea? In 1942, near the town of Viksø in Denmark, a peat bog yielded pieces of metal that were later revealed to be two helmets. The Viksø helmets, now in the custody of the National Museum of Denmark, have long, curved metal horns, plus eyes and beaks. The elaborate horns were thought to have belonged to medieval kings, and were erroneously attributed to Viking culture. Archaeologists knew better, and thought the helmets were more likely from the Bronze Age. But metal cannot be carbon dated. In 2019, an archaeologist studying the helmets noticed a bit of repair work had been done to one of the helmets. There was a small bit of birch tar on one of the horns, applied before they were placed in the bog. Birch tar is organic, and scientists could carbon date the material. The results showed that the helmets were fashioned around 900 BC, centuries before Vikings ruled the area, and indeed belonged to the Bronze Age. They were nevertheless too ornate to be used in warfare. Scientists believe they were ceremonial, and may have once sported extra ornamentation such as hair or feathers. Read about the Viksø helmets at LiveScience. -via Damn Interesting (Image credit: Lennart Larsen, Nationalmuseet) #Viking #bronzeage #helmet #hornedhelmet

Bronze Age Coffin Made out of a 4,000-Year-Old Hollowed Out Tree Trunk Discovered in a Golf CourseA log coffin dated from the Early Bronze Age was accidentally discovered in a pond on a golf course in Lincolnshire, England. The coffin, which measured 3 meters long and 1 meter wide, was made from a hollowed-out tree trunk and was thought to date from 4,000 years ago.Inside the log coffin were the remains of a man and a perfectly preserved axe with wooden shaft and stone head. The man’s body was laid on a cushion of yew or juniper leaves. Then, a gravel mound was raised on top of the grave, which suggested that the man had high status. According to archaeologists, the axe was extremely rare as only 12 were known to exist in Britain.The log coffin itself was also rare, with only 65 of its kind ever discovered.  The log coffin was created by carving a large oak tree, whose trunk was split lengthwise to create the hollow cavity.Image:  York Archaeological Trust#archaeology #BronzeAge #coffin #HistoricEngland #Sheffield

Bronze Age Merchants of Europe Established a Standardized System of WeightsHistorians have long assumed that weight standards - a necessity for trading goods of equal value before the invention of coins - were first established by kings or religious authorities as a means to levy taxes and tributes.But that didn't seem to be the case in Europe. There, it was Bronze Age merchants that established a standardized system of weights through informal networks that spread across Europe to enable trade across the continent 3000 years ago.From Science:To [the researchers'] surprise, more than 2000 such objects crafted over the course of 2000 years and an area spanning nearly 5000 kilometers weighed nearly the same amount—between 8 and 10.5 grams from Great Britain to Mesopotamia. Over the time spans involved, the consistency was remarkable, they report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “It is like we were still using the Roman systems of measurement [today], with just some minor variations,” Ialongo says....The researchers suggest that in all these areas it was merchants who kept the weights standard, because it was in their interest to do so. Each time traders met, the archaeologists write, they would bring out their own scales and weights and compare them—or introduce them to new traders. With enough time and contacts, a standard system emerged—laying the groundwork for the equivalent of an integrated market from Great Britain to Babylon. “The weight units were regulated by the market,” Ialongo says.Image: Ialongo et al.#economy #archaeology #merchant #FreeMarket #standards #weights #BronzeAge