No News like Ancient News – Roman frescoes discovered

[Prof.Witchheimer]

2895 Ancient Buddha statues discovered in China

More than 2,000 ancient Buddha statues have been unearthed by archaeologists in Chinas Hebei province, highlighting the popularity of Buddhism in the country ever since it spread from India.

The 2,895 Buddha statues and fragments dating back to the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi period (534-577) were found in the historic site of Yecheng, Linzhang county.

The statues are made of white marble and blue stone and some are painted or gilded, according to archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage.

Zhang Wenrui, an official with the Hebei Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage, said the sizes of the statues range from 20 centimetres long to the size of an actual person, and the archaeologists are repairing the statues for protection and research, state-run Xinhua news agency reported .
.

http://itvnewsindia.com/over-2000-ancient-buddha-statues-discovered-china

[Prof.Witchheimer]

All Hail The New King

A new king has been added to the long list of ancient pharaohs, the Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities, Mohamed Ibrahim, announced this week.

The king's name, Senakht-en-Re, emerged from the engraved remains of a limestone door found by a French-Egyptian team ‬in the Temple of Karnak complex on Luxor’s east bank.
The archaeologists, led by French Egyptologist Christophe Thiers, of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), unearthed a fragmented lintel and an imposing door jamb during routine excavation at the temple of Ptah.

Belonging to an administrative structure dating to the enigmatic 17th Dynasty (about 1634-1543 BC) the limestone remains featured hieroglyphics which indicated that the door was dedicated to Amun-Re...

read more - http://news.discovery.com/history/new-king-120307.html

[Prof.Witchheimer]

a nice article about Roman heroism, part one.

The Gladiatorial Eagles : Roman Heroism and Single Combat on Early Battlefields. Part One – Beginnings

The idea of single combat in the Roman Empire immediately evokes the powerful image of the gladiator standing over a downed opponent, his gladius raised for the glory of the patron of the games, the crowds embroiled with the bloodlust so easily awakened. What is less known is this gladiatorial ethos in the context of open battle. Instead of the mobs of the Empire, the spectators would be two opposing armies, cheering on their own champion..

Read more - http://www.heritagedaily.com/2012/03/the-gladiatorial-eagles-roman-heroism-and-single-combat-on-early-battlefields-part-one-beginnings/

[Ray Rivers]

Excellent article, Alex.

And spot on I would say.

[joroas]

A story I read on Friday:

Iron Age murder mystery as CT scan shows British man from 100AD was beaten, strangled, then beheaded in 'pagan ritual'
By Rob Waugh

Archaeologists have solved a 1900-year-old 'cold case' mystery - using a medical CT scanner to scan the head of an Iron Age murder victim.

The preserved head of the second century Briton - known as The Worsley Man due to his location near Salford - was found in a peat bog in 1958.
The scan shows he as bludgeoned over the head, garrotted and then beheaded - leading archaeologists to suspect he was sacrificed.



Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2112499/

[Steve F]

The scan shows he as bludgeoned over the head, garrotted and then beheaded - leading archaeologists to suspect he was sacrificed.

Or perhaps he was just really unpopular.

Archaeologists tend to reach for ritual when they don't know what's going on.  In the Middle Ages we used to hang, draw and quarter people, but that wasn't a sacrifice, it was an exemplary punishment.  All we know about this killing was that it was elaborate - anything about motives is a "just so" story.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Agree, Steve.  I’ve noticed these “ritual sacrifice victim found again!”  news a bit too often in the last years. It just seems to be more appealing to the readers to read about an ancient mysterious ritual than about a victim of simple brutality.

[Lowtardog]

Looks like he was attacked with a staple gun by an irate office worker

[Blue in vt]

Or perhaps he was just really unpopular.

Archaeologists tend to reach for ritual when they don't know what's going on.  In the Middle Ages we used to hang, draw and quarter people, but that wasn't a sacrifice, it was an exemplary punishment.  All we know about this killing was that it was elaborate - anything about motives is a "just so" story.

Haha...as a professional archaeologist I find this statement quite funny...because its so TRUE.  When we are on a dig and find something we can't identify we ofter jokingly come up with all kinds of cultic uses for it...even its a random piece of wood.  Its quite fun.....and tongue in cheek of course.  Luckily I typically work with historic period sites...so the actual "ritualistic" items are fairly identifiable...

Cheers,

Blue

[Paul]

Or perhaps he was just really unpopular.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

as a professional archaeologist

Wow, we've got a real archaeologist in our crowd! Blue, now you just have to tell us about your "Indiana" experiences 

seriously, would love to hear more about your work if possible.

[aecurtis]

We ran across a "professional" (English Heritage) archaeologist once, at Avebury.  He was enthusiastically explaining ley lines to the punters.  We quietly tip-toed away...

Allen

[Prof.Witchheimer]

We ran across a "professional" (English Heritage) archaeologist once, at Avebury.  He was enthusiastically explaining ley lines to the punters.  We quietly tip-toed away...

 

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Goliath and the Exodus Giants: How Tall Were They?

By Clyde E. Billington

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Vol.50:3 (2007)

Introduction: Professor Daniel Hays, in his article Reconsidering the Height of Goliath in the December 2005 issue of the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, argued that the giant Goliath, who was killed by David, was only 6 feet 9 inches tall and not 9 feet 9 inches. The key passage on the height of Goliath is I Sam 17:4-7, which reads as follows:

4. Then a champion came out from the armies of the Philistines named Goliath, from Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.

5. He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he was clothed with scale-armor, which weighed five thousand shekels of bronze.

6. He also had bronze greaves on his legs and a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders.

7. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver‘s beam, and the head of his spear weighed six hundred shekels of iron; his shield carrier also walked before him. [NASB]

read more -
http://historyoftheancientworld.com/2012/03/goliath-and-the-exodus-giants-how-tall-were-they/
http://tccsa.tc/articles/goliath_and_giants.pdf

[airbornegrove26]

Very interesting read.  I love stuff like this.