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Mrs. Jehan Sadat, Egypt’s Former First Lady

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 Unearthing the Temple of the Sumerian Warrior God

archaeology.org A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America January/February 2020

This 4,300-year-old
Egyptian tomb is
one of the

TOP 10
DISCOVERIES
OF 2019
The End of the
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Japan’s
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 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2020 • VOLUME 73, NUMBER 1

CONTENTS

38 Remains of a third-millennium B.C. bridge, Girsu, Iraq

FEATURES

24 TOP 10 DISCOVERIES 46 FRIEND? ROMAN?

OF 2019 COUNTRYMAN?
ARCHAEOLOGY magazine reveals the year’s A rare Iron Age burial in southern England reflects
most exciting finds the close connections between Britain and Gaul
two millennia ago
32 JAPAN’S SACRED ISLAND BY MARLEY BROWN
For centuries, rituals performed on an
isolated island played a key role in the 48 INCA POWER POLITICS
emergence of Japan Ruins of a half-built Andean capital are evidence
BY ERIC A. POWELL of how the Inca controlled their vast empire—until
the Spanish arrived
38 TEMPLE OF THE WHITE BY ROGER ATWOOD
THUNDERBIRD
Excavators in southern Iraq have uncovered
the long-lost home of the powerful Sumerian Cover: The newly discovered Old Kingdom tomb
of Khuwy, Saqqara, Egypt
warrior god
PHOTO: COURTESY MOHAMED MEGAHED
BY DANIEL WEISS

archaeology.org 1
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4 EDITOR’S LETTER 55 THE SORROWS OF SPIKE
ISLAND
6 FROM THE PRESIDENT Millions were forced to flee during the Great
Famine—some of those left behind were
8 LETTERS condemned to Ireland’s most notorious prison
The witching hour in Lancashire, when the Bible BY JASON URBANUS
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9 DIGS & DISCOVERIES ARCHAEOLOGY.ORG

Prague Castle’s mystery man, a Roman bath buddy, QMORE FROM THE ISSUE To see 3-D models of ancient
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walrus vanishes witzna. To read about an enigmatic structure near the “Temple
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rowdy Scottish tavern, and what ancient Assyrian
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archaeology.org 3
EDITOR’S LETTER

Editor in Chief

BEYOND THE TRENCHES Jarrett A. Lobell

Deputy Editor

Eric A. Powell
Senior Editors
Benjamin Leonard
Daniel Weiss

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Associate Editor
n this issue, longtime readers of ARCHAEOLOGY PD\QRWLFHVXEWOHEXWZHIHHOVLJQL¿FDQW Marley Brown
changes to two of our most popular sections. Rest assured that the depth and diversity Editorial Assistant
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archaeology itself. So many exciting discoveries are now made not Tom Gidwitz, Andrew Lawler,
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conclusions, and by scientists in laboratories uncovering new details about the past without Nikhil Swaminathan,
ever moving an inch of soil. Jason Urbanus, Claudia Valentino,
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 FROM THE PRESIDENT Archaeological
Institute of America

DEAR READER,
OFFICERS
President

A
s a longtime ARCHAEOLOGY subscriber, I am delighted to introduce myself Jodi Magness
to you as the incoming president of the Archaeological Institute of America First Vice President
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Laetitia La Follette Chief Operating Officer
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Michael Wiseman
John Yarmick

Past President
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Charles S. La Follette

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Archaeological Institute of America

Laetitia La Follette 44 Beacon Street • Boston, MA 02108
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First Vice President, Archaeological Institute of America

6 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

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LETTERS

FROM OUR READERS

WHAT MAKES A WITCH?
“Searching for the Witches’ Tower”
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Salvatore Prisco
Professor Emeritus, Humanities
Stevens Institute of Technology
Hoboken, NJ
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8 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

 DIGS DISCOVERIES
EARLY MAYA WARFARE, ANCIENT ROMAN BATHING, VIKING DRINKING HALL...AND MUCH MORE

THE MAN IN PRAGUE CASTLE

I
n the aftermath of World Warrior burial, Prague Castle
War I, as a result of the
FROODSVH RI WKH $XVWURĥ
Hungarian Empire, several
new countries were created
in Central Europe. In a
TXHVWWRGH¿QHWKHPVHOYHV
they sought new national
stories. However, such
narratives are often not
new at all. Instead, they
hark back to a past that is
sometimes part mythology,
SDUW KLVWRU\ħEXW DOZD\V
potent. At the heart of
Czechoslovakia’s national
story was a 1,000ĥ\HDUĥ
old skeleton of a warrior
buried with his weapons
deep within the oldest
part of Prague Castle.
For almost a century, the
shifting interpretations of
WKLVPDQ¶VLGHQWLW\KDYHUHÀHFWHGWKHFDWDFO\VPLFSROLWLFDO VZRUG D OHDWKHU SRXFK FRQWDLQLQJ D GHFRUDWHG ¿UHĥVWULNHU
XSKHDYDOV RI WKH WZHQWLHWK FHQWXU\ħIURP WKH 1D]L DQGDVPDOOÀLQWDQGRWKHUDVVRUWHGPHWDOREMHFWV7KHPDQ
RFFXSDWLRQ WR WKH HUD RI 6RYLHW GRPLQDWLRQ DQG ¿QDOO\ D ZDVWHQWDWLYHO\LGHQWL¿HGDV%RɟLYRM,RUKLVVRQ6S\WLKQY
return to independent statehood. ,PHPEHUVRIWKH6ODYLF3ɟHP\VOLG'\QDVW\WKDWUXOHGWKH
5HFHQWO\ D WHDP RI DUFKDHRORJLVWV LQFOXGLQJ 1LFKRODV region around Prague from the ninth to early fourteenth
Saunders of the University of Bristol, Jan Frolik of the Czech centuries, explains Frolik.
Academy of Sciences, and Volker Heyd of the University of -XVW RYHU D GHFDGH DIWHU WKLV LGHQWL¿FDWLRQ WKH 1D]LV
Helsinki reengaged this topic. “Physical remains stay the LQYDGHG&]HFKRVORYDNLD1D]LVFLHQWLVWVDFFXVHGWKHRULJLQDO
VDPHEXWRXULQWHUSUHWDWLRQVRIWKHPUHÀHFWDQGUHLQIRUFH excavator of hiding the man’s true identity and declared, on
views and attitudes of the time in which we make them,” the basis of the artifacts, that the man had actually been a
Saunders says. “We wanted to explore issues of contested 9LNLQJQRWD6ODY,Q1D]LLGHRORJ\VD\V6DXQGHUV9LNLQJ
LGHQWLW\DFURVVWKHWZHQWLHWKFHQWXU\DQGWKHUROHRIFRQÀLFW 1RUGLF DQG *HUPDQLF LGHQWLW\ ZDV FRQÀDWHG WR MXVWLI\
and political ideologies in the manipulation and creation of *HUPDQRFFXSDWLRQDQGFRQWURORI(DVWHUQ(XURSHDVZHOODV
the past in the present.” The Prague Castle skeleton provided WKH1D]LH[WHUPLQDWLRQRI6ODYV-HZVDQGRWKHUSRSXODWLRQV
them with the perfect case study. they deemed inferior.
An excavation was begun in 1925 to pinpoint the earliest $IWHUWKH*HUPDQVZHUHGHIHDWHGWKH&RPPXQLVW3DUW\
remains of Prague Castle, which had become the seat of came to power in Czechoslovakia and the nation became a
JRYHUQPHQWRIWKHQHZSRVWĦ:RUOG:DU,VWDWH7KHERG\ satellite state of the U.S.S.R. Seen through the eyes of the
was found on the edge of a graveyard within the castle country’s new Slavic Soviet masters, the warrior buried in
grounds dated, at the time, to between A.D. 800 and 1000. Prague Castle was once again deemed a Slav. He was also
Along with the body were an ax, two knives, a badly corroded RQFHDJDLQLGHQWL¿HGDVDPHPEHURIWKH3ɟHP\VOLG'\QDVW\

archaeology.org 9
DIGS DISCOVERIES

For decades the skeleton remained HDUO\ 3ɟHP\VOLG SULQFH %ROHVODY , DQG
Prague Castle
in storage. After the breakup of the another interred next to him that may
Soviet Union in 1991, the new state of EHKLVZLIH+RZHYHU'1$DQGLVRWRSH
Czechoslovakia reinvented itself. Yet studies, as well as CT scans, on the
again the warrior was placed at the core warrior have not yet been completed.
RI WKH QDWLRQ ERWK OLWHUDOO\ħLQ 2004 In any case, explains Saunders, biological
his remains were put on display in the UHDOLW\LVQRWWKHRQO\UHDOLW\³6FLHQWL¿F
FDVWOHħDQGSV\FKRORJLFDOO\³7KHJUDYH analyses can tell, often in fascinating
is clearly that of an important person detail, one kind of truth about an
from the beginning of Prague Castle,” individual, such as where he grew up, but
says Frolik, “and therefore indirectly they cannot tell us how he was perceived
also the beginnings of the Czech state.” at the time,” says Saunders. “Perhaps we
)UROLN KDV FRPSOHWHG '1$ VWXGLHV DUHDVNLQJWZHQW\ĥ¿UVWĥFHQWXU\TXHVWLRQV
in an attempt to establish the identities RIDWKRXVDQGĥ\HDUĥROGERG\WKDWGRQRW
of several other medieval skeletons DFFXUDWHO\ UHÀHFW KRZ KH VDZ KLPVHOI
excavated in the castle, including one and was regarded by others.”
he suggests may be the son of the ħ-$55(77$/2%(//

OFF THE GRID MALINALCO, MEXICO

The town of Malinalco, just over two hours southwest of Mexico City by car, is home to two historic sites that may seem to represent distinct
worlds. The first is a complex built by the Aztecs between 1476, when they conquered the region, and 1519, when the Spanish arrived. The
complex’s main temple, named Cuauhcalli, or “House of the Eagles,” was built directly into a hillside. It is the only example of such rock-cut
architecture in the Aztec world, and one of only a handful in the Americas.
The other site is the Augustinian monastery of San Cristobál, now called Divino Salvador, which was built in 1540 and is still in use today.
The monastery features vivid murals of biblical scenes that were painted by subjugated Aztecs shortly after its founding. Art historian
Manuel Aguilar-Moreno of California State University, Los Angeles, says that native people wove traditional Aztec religious and cosmologi-
cal beliefs into this artwork. “Many aspects of Aztec religion have parallels in Christianity,” he says, “and one such parallel is expressed at
both the monastery and Cuauhcalli.” Iconography at the temple suggests that it was dedicated to the Aztec sun god, Huitzilopochtli, who
is often depicted as an eagle and was said to have been born to a virgin mother.

THE SITE also the setting for rituals involving the

Begin your Malinalco experience by climbing
up a hill known as the Cerro de los Idolos
to reach the Aztec ruins 700 feet above
the town. Cuauhcalli stands atop a pyramid
platform and is guarded by now-headless
statues of jaguars. The temple’s doorway
was designed to mimic a serpent’s open
mouth. Its interior features motifs, carvings,
and animal-shaped thrones, all of which
served as avatars for gods. The thrones were
MEXICO Mexico City
0 20 40 miles Malinalco
Aztec eagle and jaguar warriors. In the
center of the temple, an eagle sculpture
faces the doorway, which Aguilar-
Moreno says represents Huitzilopochtli
emerging into the world to lead the
conquering Aztecs to the promised
land. He recommends spending a few
hours taking this all in before returning
to town to see the monastery. There,
a mural of the Garden of Eden—the
Cuauhcalli Temple, Malinalco, Mexico
concept of an earthly paradise was
shared by the Aztecs and the Spanish retained its traditional sixteenth-century
friars—is resplendent with local Mexican layout, and residents still identify strongly
animals and plants. with their own barrios. Between meals,
be sure to visit the various barrio chapels,
WHILE YOU’RE THERE each of which is dedicated to its own
Though it boasts a burgeoning restaurant patron saint.
and boutique hotel scene, Malinalco has —MARLEY BROWN

10 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

 We speak
AS TOLD BY HERODOTUS
the
Ship 17 hull, Thonis-Heracleion, Egypt
Classics
fluently.

Our award-winning
Digital
archaeological tours bring
rendering of
Ship 17 the past to life. This is down to
expert lecturers, chosen for their
vhbѴѴbmr-bmঞm]bb7rb1|u;vo=
Their boats with which they carry cargoes are made of the acacia, of which the form is most like
-mঞt;ouѴ7v uololr;bb|o
that of the Cyrenean lotus, and its sap is gum. From this acacia, then, they cut planks two cubits
;|u-oul;ঞ1ѴovѴrѴ-mm;7
long and arrange them like bricks, building their ships in the following way: on the strong and bঞm;u-ub;v1;Ѵ;0u-|;|_;];mbv
ORQJWHQRQVWKH\LQVHUWWZRĦFXELWSODQNV o=-m1b;m|1bbѴbv-ঞomv
Herodotus, Histories, Book 2, Chapter 96

F
RUWKH¿UVWWLPHUHVHDUFKHUVZRUNLQJLQDVKLSJUDYH\DUGLQWKHDQFLHQW(J\SWLDQ
SRUWFLW\RI7KRQLVĥ+HUDFOHLRQKDYHLGHQWL¿HGDYHVVHOSUHFLVHO\PDWFKLQJWKH
¿UVWKDQGGHVFULSWLRQJLYHQE\WKH¿IWKĥFHQWXU\%&*UHHNKLVWRULDQ+HURGRWXV Contact us:
of a common type of Egyptian cargo ship known as a baris. “It’s a very rare case 1-800-988-6168
when a written source and archaeological material make such a perfect match,” says l-uঞmu-m7-ѴѴ1ol
archaeologist Alexander Belov of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The short, thick
planks of local acacia wood that form the hull of what is known as Ship 17 are arranged ATOL 3622 | ABTA Y6050 | AITO 5085
LQWKHVWDJJHUHGEULFNĥOLNHSDWWHUQGHVFULEHGE\+HURGRWXVDQGLWVNHHOFRQWDLQVD
shaft that the historian notes held a rudder.
'R]HQVRIRWKHUVLPLODUbarides that remain submerged at the site appear to have
EHHQGLVFDUGHGDIWHU\HDUVRIWUDQVSRUWLQJJRRGVRQWKH1LOH%HORYH[SODLQV6KLS17,
ZKLFKZDVVXQNEHIRUHWKHPLGĥIRXUWKFHQWXU\ %& and pinned to the seabed with
wooden poles, seems to have been used to increase the length of a nearby pier.
ħ%(1-$0,1/(21$5'

archaeology.org 11
DIGS DISCOVERIES

Brick grave, Bulgaria

BATH BUDDY

W
hile excavating a mound in southeastern
%XOJDULDDUFKDHRORJLVWVXQFRYHUHGWKHWKLUGĥ
century A.D. brick grave of a man aged 35
to 40$PRQJWKHREMHFWVEXULHGZLWKKLPZHUHDWRRO
used to scrape oil from the skin known as a strigil and
D¿QHO\FUDIWHGFRSSHUDOOR\YHVVHOFDOOHGDbalsamarium.
7KLVFRQWDLQHULVWKRXJKWWRKDYHKHOGVNLQĥFOHDQVLQJ
oils or balms used after exercise and during bathing,
H[SODLQVDUFKDHRORJLVW'DQLHOD$JUHRIWKH%XOJDULDQ
Academy of Sciences. Balsamaria were especially trendy
in the eastern Roman provinces of Thrace, Moesia,
and Pannonia, though they were not produced locally.
The vessel was fashioned in the shape of a man’s head
FRYHUHGLQDWLJKWVSRWWHGIHOLQHĥVNLQFDSWKDWPD\KDYH
EHHQLQWHQGHGWRHYRNHWKH1HPHDQOLRQVODLQE\+HUFXOHV
“We believe the balsamarium was brought to Thrace either
by the deceased himself, or by a close relative,” says Agre.
She notes that the popularity of such vessels was due to the
spread of Roman bathing and hygiene practices throughout
the empire’s eastern provinces.
ħ%(1-$0,1/(21$5'

Copper alloy
strigil

Copper alloy
balsamarium
(two views)

12 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

MAYA MAIZE GOD’S BIRTH
Jade

A
cache of artifacts found beneath the central
ax
plaza at the site of Paso del Macho in the
northern part of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula
PD\KDYHEHHQDQRɱHULQJPDGHZKHQWKHVHWWOHPHQW
was founded between 900 and 800 %& It contains
some of the earliest evidence of Maya fertility rituals.
Archaeologist Evan Parker of Tulane University, a
leader of the ongoing excavation, which is conducted
in cooperation with Millsaps College, says that more
than 30 artifacts made of greenstone, including
small stones that symbolize maize sprouting from
the underworld, represent events in the story of
the maize god’s birth. This myth was a central
part of Maya fertility and rainmaking rituals. The
cache also contains several pots painted with
images associated with fertility, along with spoons,
Jade spoons and pendants, clamshell pendants, and a large plaque.
Paso del Macho, Mexico ħ=$&+=25,&+

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archaeology.org 13
DIGS DISCOVERIES

CRETAN
COASTAL RITES
A
monumental Minoan building surroundĥ Aerial view, Sissi, Crete
ing a 110ĥIRRWĥORQJFRXUW\DUGKDVEHHQ
uncovered at Sissi on the northern coast
of Crete. Built around 1700 %& and featuring
¿QHO\ SODVWHUHG ÀRRUV WKH VWUXFWXUH LV VLPLODU
in size and grandeur to a number of palaces on
the island dating to the same period. However,
it lacks many typical features of these complexes,
including storage rooms, administrative materials,
and industrial areas. Archaeologists with the Belgian
School at Athens, in collaboration with the Ephorate
RI $QWLTXLWLHV RI /DVVLWKL GLG ¿QG D UDQJH RI ULWXDO
SDUDSKHUQDOLDDWWKHVLWHRɱHULQJDFOXHWRZKDWLWZDV
used for. “This building was really focused on its central
FRXUW´VD\VH[FDYDWLRQGLUHFWRU-DQ'ULHVVHQRIWKH&DWKROLF
University of Louvain. “It’s quite clear that religious ceremonies
took place there.”
1HDUE\UHVHDUFKHUVXQHDUWKHGWKHWRPERIDZRPDQGDWLQJ
to around 1400 %& that is typical of the Mycenaeans, who Gold necklace
FDPHIURPPDLQODQG*UHHFHDURXQGWKHWLPHVKHGLHG7KH
ZRPDQZDVEXULHGZLWKDQLYRU\ĥKDQGOHGEURQ]HPLUURUDQG SODFH +HUV LV WKH ¿UVW 0\FHQDHDQĥVW\OH JUDYH WR KDYH EHHQ
a necklace of gold beads. Bone and bronze pins resting on her found so far east on the island.
skeleton appear to have once held the woman’s clothing in ħ'$1,(/:(,66

STILL STANDING

A
PLG WKH UXLQV RI WZR HLJKWHHQWKĥZKLVNH\ī 7KH EXLOGLQJV VXUYLYH DORQJVLGH Terrestrial laser-scan images
century farmsteads in a forest near the remnants of kilns for drying corn, which of farmsteads
Scotland’s Loch Ard, archaeologists may have been used in the distilled spirits.
KDYHLGHQWL¿HGEXLOGLQJVWKDWDSSHDUWREHWKH
A number of factors, including the site’s
UHPDLQVRIDQLOOLFLWZKLVN\GLVWLOOHU\Ī:KHQ
secluded location, its relative proximity to
in Scotland, be sure to leave out the “e” in *ODVJRZURXJKO\25 miles south, and its easy
access to the loch’s waters, would
have made it attractive to illegal
whisky producers, says archaeologist
Matt Ritchie of Forest and Land
Scotland. In the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries, felonious
distilling became common in the
Scottish Highlands as stills making
less than 100 gallons of whisky
were banned, and high taxes were
imposed on the malted grains used
Ruined farmstead, Loch Ard Forest, Scotland to produce the spirit.
ħ0$5/(<%52:1

14 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

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DIGS DISCOVERIES

DEERLY DEPARTED

W
hile exploring a group of tombs in
Haman in southeastern South Korea,
DUFKDHRORJLVWV XQFRYHUHG D ¿IWKĥFHQWXU\
A.D. ceremonial earthenware vessel depicting a
EDFNZDUGĥORRNLQJ GHHU HDUWKHQZDUH DUWLIDFWV LQ
the form of a house and a boat, and other goods.
Researchers believe the deer vessel was used as
part of a funeral ritual and then buried along with Earthenware vessel,
Haman, South Korea
WKH GHFHDVHG $ ÀDPHĥVWLWFK SDWWHUQ FRYHULQJ WKH
GHHU¶V OHJ LV W\SLFDO RI HDUWKHQZDUH IURP WKH *D\D
Confederacy, an alliance of territories in southern
.RUHD EHWZHHQ WKH ¿UVW DQG VL[WK FHQWXULHV A.D.
Archaeologists also found armor, helmets, and horse
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WR*D\DOHDGHUV
ħ+<81*ĥ(81.,0

THE TIME HAD COME, THE WALRUS SAID

Atlantic walruses the marine mammals lived
continuously along Iceland’s
western coast for more than
7,000 years until dying out in
the early fourteenth century.
According to evolutionary
genomicist Morten Tange
Olsen of the University of
Copenhagen, walruses were
valued not only for their meat
and blubber, but also, and
perhaps primarily, for their
WXVNV ³*LYHQ WKH H[WHQVLYH
trade in walrus ivory from
1RUZD\ DQG 5XVVLD WKDW
already existed in the ninth
century, it seems plausible
that settlers knew its value,”
iking settlers who arrived in Iceland around A.D. 870

V
may have hunted the island’s native walrus population to
extinction in less than 500 years. Radiocarbon dating of
walrus skeletal remains excavated at multiple sites indicates that
says Olsen. “In fact, some archaeologists and historians
have hypothesized that the hunt for walrus was one of the
FRQWULEXWLQJIDFWRUVWR1RUVHH[SDQVLRQ´
ħ0$5/(<%52:1

16 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

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DIGS DISCOVERIES

SKOAL!
he Orkneyinga SagaDWKLUWHHQWKĥFHQWXU\

T QDUUDWLYHKLVWRU\RIWKH1RUVHHDUOGRPV
RIWKH2UNQH\,VODQGVLQSUHVHQWĥGD\
Scotland, names Westness, a settlement along
the coast of the island of Rousay, as the home
of the chieftain Sigurd. Archaeologists working
in the area have uncovered a Viking hall dating
to sometime between the tenth and twelfth
FHQWXULHV DW D IDUPVWHDG FDOOHG 6NDLOOħWKH
1RUVHZRUGIRU³KDOO´7KHVWRQHEXLOGLQJZKLFK
appears to be more than 40 feet long, is oriented
down the sloping landscape toward the sea. Stone
benches line the sides of its interior, where the
WHDP DOVR IRXQG 1RUVH DUWLIDFWV VXFK DV VWHDWLWH Skaill, Rousay, Scotland
vessels, a bone spindle whorl, and a fragment of
a carved bone comb. Skaill was likely the site of and Islands, though it’s unclear whether Sigurd
a dwelling of a chieftain or earl, says archaeologist himself raised a cup here.
Ingrid Mainland of the University of the Highlands Bone comb fragment ħ%(1-$0,1/(21$5'

MAYA TOTAL WAR

cholars have long believed that, before A.D. 800FRQÀLFW

S
WKHQIRXQGWKDWDOOPDMRUVWUXFWXUHVDFURVVWKHFLW\LQFOXGLQJ
between Maya centers was largely ritualized, limited to WKH UR\DO SDODFH KDG EHHQ GHVWUR\HG E\ WKH FRQÀDJUDWLRQ
attacks on sacred sites and the taking of noble hostages. Stelas unearthed at Witzna record the city’s name, which was
Thereafter, they believed, growing socioeconomic tensions led also mentioned in a hieroglyphic war statement on a stela at
WR DOOĥRXW ZDUIDUH EHWZHHQ VWDWHV %XW ZKHQ 86 *HRORJLFDO WKHQHDUE\FHQWHURI1DUDQMR$FFRUGLQJWRWKHVWDWHPHQWRQ
6XUYH\JHRJUDSKHU'DYLG:DKODQDO\]HGVHGLPHQWFRUHVWDNHQ May 21, A.D. 6971DUDQMRVXEMHFWHG:LW]QDWRpuluuy, a term
IURPDODNHMXVWVKRUWRIDPLOHIURPWKHDQFLHQWFLW\RI:LW]QD SUHYLRXVO\WKRXJKWWRUHIHUWRDORFDO¿UHULWXDO7KHHYLGHQFH
LQQRUWKHUQ*XDWHPDODKHXQFRYHUHGHYLGHQFHWKDWDPDVVLYH from the lake sediments and the destroyed buildings at Witzna
¿UH KDG WDNHQ SODFH WKHUH DURXQG A.D. 700. Archaeologists shows that puluuy instead likely referred to an act of total war
WKDWDLPHGWRLQÀLFWJUHDW
Replica of Maya mural, Mexico City human cost on the enemy
SRSXODWLRQ7KH1DUDQMR
stela describes four other
cities as having been
VXEMHFWHG WR SXOXX\ DV
well, suggesting that early
Maya military tacticians
may have frequently
waged total war against
their enemies.
ħ(5,&$32:(//

To see 3Ħ'PRGHOVRIVWHODV
Stela, Witzna from the site of Witzna, go
to archaeology.org/witzna.

18 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

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rtifacts recovered from a
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Columbia River in western
,GDKRDUHUHYHDOLQJWKDWWKH¿UVWSHRSOH
to migrate to the Americas came from
northeastern Asia. The site, called Here’s to you for
Cooper’s Ferry, is one of only a few
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loving what you do.
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Nationwide® salutes your
America around 12,000 years ago and
commitment and passion
were, until recently, believed to have been
for being a member of AIA.
WKH¿UVWVHWWOHUVRIWKHFRQWLQHQW6WRQH
tools found at Cooper’s Ferry belong to At Nationwide, we’re passionate
the Western Stemmed Tradition, a tool about making a difference, too. It’s
type that, according to research by an just one way we prove that we’re
more than a business. Another
international team of scholars, resembles
way is helping our members save
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who lived in northeast Asia during the
same period. This type of tool appears at
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tools, combined with evidence that Learn more about our partnership and special discounts.
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1,000 years before the two continental
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corridor, supports the theory that the 1-886-688-9144
earliest Americans probably followed a Nationwide Insurance has made a financial contribution to this organization in return for the opportunity to market products and services to its members or customers. Products underwritten by Nationwide
coastal route after crossing the Bering Mutual Insurance Company and Affiliated Companies. Home Office: Columbus, OH 43215. Subject to underwriting guidelines, review, and approval. Products and discounts not available to all persons in all
states. Nationwide and the Nationwide N and Eagle are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. © 2015 Nationwide AFR-0230AO (06/15)
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DIGS DISCOVERIES

WHERE’S
THE BEEF?
L
arge amounts of animal bone
found in a ditch on the outskirts
RI D 5RPDQRĥ%ULWLVK VHWWOHPHQW
near Ipplepen, in southwest England,
might point to the operations of a
WKLUGĥFHQWXU\ A.D. butchery. Most of
Seal impression the bone came from the feet and heads
Ceramic animal
RIFDWWOHOLNHO\EXWFKHUHGRQĥVLWHZKLFK
figurine
suggests the prime cuts of meat were
Stone animal figurine sold and consumed elsewhere. Burned
limestone thrown in with the bone could
be evidence of the production of lime,
which was often used to process hides to
make leather. This, along with butchery
marks on some bones that resulted from
removing the hides, may indicate that
Stone head tanners also worked at the site.

Cow jaws, Ipplepen, England

Aerial view, En Esur, Israel 'HVSLWH ,SSOHSHQ¶V ORFDWLRQ RQ WKH

western edge of the Roman Empire,
explains University of Exeter archaeĥ
CITY LIMITS ologist Stephen Rippon, imported tableĥ
ware and amphoras, which contained
olive oil and wine, unearthed at the site
oad construction in northern Israel has led to the excavation of a 5,000ĥ\HDUĥ

R
reveal that residents adopted at least
old city called En Esur that would have been one of the region’s largest some Roman dining and culinary pracĥ
VHWWOHPHQWVDWDWLPHZKHQWKHZRUOG¶V¿UVWFLWLHVZHUHWDNLQJVKDSH7KRXVDQGV tices. However, they continued living in
of volunteers overseen by Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists have worked roundhouses similar to those from the
for more than two years to uncover 10 acres of the city and a wide array of artifacts. settlement’s earliest occupation in the
Archaeologist Yitzhak Paz estimates that only about a tenth of the city has thus far Iron Age, centuries before. Says Ripĥ
been excavated. En Esur may have been home to about 6,000 people living in a highly pon, “It was as if they were picking and
organized community with densely packed residences, grain silos, public buildings, choosing which aspects of being Roman
burial caves, and a network of streets. they liked.”
ħ=$&+=25,&+ ħ%(1-$0,1/(21$5'

20 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

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AROUND THE WORLD BY JASON URBANUS
SOUTH CAROLINA: After the Confed-
erate submarine Hunley attacked USS
Housatonic in Charleston Harbor in 1864,
the sub sank mysteriously, killing all eight
of its crew. Experts have long wondered
why the vessel went down, and some now
believe it may have been due to a disabled
air circulation system. New research suggests that the system
of snorkel tubes and rubber hoses that pumped fresh air into
the vessel while it remained submerged had been dismantled,
perhaps contributing to the sub’s fate.
SCOTLAND: In the 18th and early 19th
centuries, a well-traveled drover’s road
made the Wilkhouse Inn near Brora a hive
of activity. Archaeologists have uncovered
a trove of objects, including glass
fragments, coins, and personal items left
behind by the tavern’s guests in its heyday.
But not everyone was welcome at the inn. An inverted cross
carved into a fireplace hearthstone was intended to deter
witches from flying down the chimney.

CHILE: The enormous

carved heads known as
moai are the most recog-
nizable monuments cre-
ated by the Polynesian civ-
ilization that settled Rapa
Nui (Easter Island) around
A.D. 1000. It turns out
the sculptures were also
instrumental in boosting
agricultural productivity
there. Analysis of soil sam-
ples taken near the island’s
main quarry indicates that
quarrying activity caused
phosphorous and other
beneficial substances to
enrich the adjacent slopes.
This allowed the Rapa Nui
settlers to grow sweet po- GREECE: In 1802, the ship Mentor
tatoes, bananas, and taro was sailing to England when it sank
there, even when condi- off the island of Kythira. Seventeen
tions were less favorable boxes of ancient treasures, includ-
elsewhere on the island. ing the famous Parthenon Marbles,
went down to the seafloor. Most of
the precious objects were quickly
ENGLAND: Parts of a Shakespeare-era theater were unearthed under raised, but investigation of the
London’s Whitechapel neighborhood. The Boar’s Head Playhouse is known wreck site has shown that many
from historical documents, but its ruins were brought to light for the first remained. Divers recently retrieved
time during a recent construction project. Originally an inn, the Boar’s Head a gold ring, a pair of gold earrings,
was converted to a theater in 1598. However, records show that open-air and three gaming pieces, as well as
performances were held on the property as early as 1557, when a play titled various other wood, ceramic, and
A Sack Full of News was banned due to its lewdness. bone artifacts.

22 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

 RUSSIA: Between the 14th and 18th
centuries, the Black Death killed as
much as 60 percent of Europe’s pop-
ulation. The bacterium that caused
the plague has now been traced to
the town of Laishevo, near the Volga
River. Scientists reconstructed the bacterium’s genome by
taking samples from the teeth of 34 victims buried at 10 dif-
ferent sites. They concluded that the sample from Laishevo
was ancestral to the others, indicating that the plague must
have originally struck there before spreading westward.
CAMBODIA: Workers searching through a pile of debris
for fallen roof stones from the Ta Nei Temple in Angkor
unexpectedly unearthed the head of an
ancient bodhisattva statue. The sculpture,
which is around 2 feet tall and dates to the late
12th or early 13th century, has a small Buddha
figure carved into the hair above its forehead.
In Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva is
someone who is on the path of enlightenment
to attain Buddhahood.

SRI LANKA: It was much

IRAQ: Assyrian astronomers gazing at
the sky almost 2,700 years ago were the
first people to document the colorful
cosmic phenomena known as auroras.
These light shows, known in the Northern
Hemisphere as
the northern
lights, appear
when waves
of charged
particles from the sun collide with the
earth’s magnetic field. When a massive
solar wave hit the earth in the early 7th
century B.C., the effects were visible as far
south as Mesopotamia. Three cuneiform
tablets from Nineveh record this unusual
event, documenting a strange “red glow,”
“red cloud,” and “red sky.”
harder for early humans to
fashion small, delicate stone
tools such as arrowheads
than it was to make large,
substantial ones like axes.
Yet, by around 45,000 years
ago, a community living in
the rain forests of Sri Lanka
had mastered this technol-
ogy. A collection of micro-
liths found in the Fa-Hien
Lena Cave is the oldest
assemblage ever discov-
ered in South Asia. These
advanced tools allowed
people to thrive in the area’s
difficult rainforest environ-
ment earlier than was once
thought, by hunting small
tree-dwelling animals.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: A wealth of biological material from two
islands in the Persian Gulf demonstrates how well Neolithic communi-
ties exploited marine resources. For example, thousands of fish bones
from the islands of Marawah and Dalma indicate that people living there 7,500 years
ago used nets and traps made from date palms to catch a wide variety of fish. On
Marawah, archaeologists also discovered the world’s oldest known pearl, a rare item
that would have been used as either jewelry or currency.

archaeology.org 23
5th Dynasty Egyptian Tomb
ARCHAEOLOGY magazine reveals the
year’s most exciting finds

TOP 10
DISCOVERIES
OF 2019
OLD KINGDOM TOMB
Saqqara, Egypt

D uring investigation of the funerary

complex of the 5th Dynasty phaĥ
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 MAYA SUBTERRANEAN WORLD
Chichen Itza, Mexico
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Ceramic incense burners depicting Tlaloc
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26
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ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020
 NEOLITHIC HENGE FEASTS
Wiltshire, England

N eolithic Britons not only traveled hundreds of miles to

attend celebrations at sacred sites, they also brought
their own pigs with them to be consumed in the festivities.
Durrington Walls

The food that an animal or person eats when young leaves

a chemical signature in their teeth and bones that scientists
can analyze to determine where they were—or were not—
raised. An investigation led by Richard Madgwick of Cardiff
University recently analyzed pig bones discarded more than
4,000 years ago at four henge sites in southwest England,
including Durrington Walls. Madgwick concluded that many
of the pigs butchered at the henges were not bred nearby, but
were instead brought from as far north as modern Scotland
and northwest England. “This shows that there was a much
more mobile, connected society than we once thought,” he
says. “Knowledge of these events and monuments reached
far and wide. People were clearly very organized and went
to great lengths to adhere to the symbolic regulations these
monuments required.” One such requirement may have been
to contribute a pig that they themselves had raised. “People
from across Britain would gather for these feasts and con-
sume food from across Britain,” Madgwick says. “This is a
potent act in constructing group identity.”
—JASON URBANUS

ON THE ORIGIN OF APPLES

Tuzusai, Kazakhstan

R esearchers are now one step closer to

understanding how apples made the
journey from wild populations to grocery
stores and farmers markets around the
world, and how that process differed
from the domestication of grasses such as
wheat and rice. The first people to make
use of these grasses encountered fields of
densely packed wild cereals. The seeds of
these self-pollinating annuals drop to the
ground when ripe, allowing a fresh crop
to grow each year. Over the course of
millennia, beginning about 12,000 years
ago, humans first harvested, and then
domesticated, these crops. Apple trees,
on the other hand, reproduce poorly
when fallen apples are left to rot, or when
second-generation trees grow too close
to their parents. They rely on animals—
including humans—to disperse their seeds
and carry out pollination.
The fossil record suggests that apples
developed across Europe and Asia as early
as 11.6 million years ago. Apple specimens
from a Neolithic site in Switzerland date
back to 3160 B.C. Archaeologists have
Garden fresco, Prima Porta
discovered an apple seed from the end of
the first millennium B.C. at a village site in
the Tian Shan Mountains in Kazakhstan.
This is thought to be where the modern
apple originated. As part of a quest to
determine how apples were domesticated,
archaeobotanist Robert Spengler of the
Max Planck Institute for the Science of
Human History has combined the fossil
and archaeological evidence with genetic
studies comparing modern apples to their
ancient ancestors. He has concluded that
the first human populations to encounter
wild apples took on a role once performed
by now-extinct megafauna, dispersing
seeds and pollen, and, inadvertently,
expanding the fruit’s range. Says Spengler,
“It’s clear that humans are enticed by
the same food sources that would have
enticed a mastodon.”
—MARLEY BROWN

archaeology.org 27
 MEDIEVAL FEMALE SCRIBE
Dalheim, Germany

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tact with this incredibly expenĥ
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archaeologist at Harĥ
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the Max Planck Instiĥ Scribe’s teeth
tute for the Science
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researchers conĥ ³:HGRKDYHDIHZVXUYLYLQJPDQXVFULSWVZULWWHQE\ZRPHQ
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the woman was a more artists are out there waiting to be found if we just look
scribe who used the DWWKHLUWHHWK"´
Lapis lazuli pigment to illustrate sacred ħ'$1,(/:(,66

Mythological fresco, Domus Aurea

NEW GOLDEN HOUSE ROOM

Rome, Italy

A small crack in a vaulted ceiling led archaeologists to a new

room of the Domus Aurea, or “Golden House,” the immense
pleasure palace built by the emperor Nero after a fire devastated
Rome in A.D. 64. After Nero’s death, the Domus Aurea was seen as
the emperor’s folly, and the structure’s interior was completely filled
in. A public park for all Romans to enjoy was built on top. It was not
until the fifteenth century that, quite by accident, the vast property
was rediscovered. Since then, the Domus Aurea has been the site
of exploration, excavation—and nearly constant restoration. During
one such restoration project, archaeologists found the new room,
which is covered in frescoes. “It was very emotional for us to find a
previously unknown room, or maybe one that we had lost track of,”
says archaeologist Alessandro d’Alessio of the Italian Ministry of Cul-
tural Heritage. The frescoes depict a centaur and other mythological
figures, a whistle-like instrument, decorative plants, and a column
topped with a golden bowl and sphinx that has given the space its
name, the “Room of the Sphinxes.”
—MARCO MEROLA

28 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

 PERUVIAN MASS SACRIFICE
Pampa la Cruz, Peru

M ore than 230 children and nearly 400 llamas—along with

evidence that suggests they were part of three distinct
mass sacrificial events—have been discovered at the coastal site
of Pampa la Cruz. The first of these events dates to around A.D.
1250, and is thus the earliest mass child and animal sacrifice in
the region. Similar mass sacrifices have been found from later
dates in the same area, and have been interpreted as offerings to
the gods by the local Chimu people in response to the destruc-
tion wrought by El Niño events. But archaeologist Gabriel Prieto
of the University of Florida believes the earliest Pampa la Cruz
sacrifice may have had a political purpose. “It’s intriguing that
this first sacrificial event occurred at exactly the time the Chimu
were conquering people such as the Lambayeque, who lived in
the valleys to the north,” says Prieto. “It’s fascinating to imagine
that the victims may have been Lambayeque citizens brought
here to celebrate those victories.”
Another possible interpretation is that the sacrifice was meant
to honor Taycanamo, the legendary founder of the Chimu, who
is said to have come from the sea and walked south to found the
Chimu capital of Chan Chan around A.D. 1000. Pampa la Cruz
overlooks the exact spot where he is thought to have landed.
—JARRETT A. LOBELL

Sacrificed child
Portrait of Hildegard of Bingen, 12th-century author

Child’s feather headdress

archaeology.org
 DENISOVANS AT ALTITUDE
Xiahe, China
S ome 40 years ago, a Buddhist monk uncovered a mandible
in Baishiya Karst Cave, more than 10,000 feet above sea
level on the Tibetan Plateau. The specimen has now been dated
to 160,000 years ago, and analysis of proteins from its teeth
indicates that it belonged to a member of the hominin species
known as Denisovans. These elusive ancient humans were previ-
ously known only through fragmentary remains of several indi-
Baishiya Karst Cave
viduals, all of which were found in southern Siberia’s Denisova
Cave, which is just 2,300 feet above sea level and almost 1,750
miles northwest of Baishiya Karst Cave. “This mandible reveals
that Denisovans were geographically distributed much more
widely and at higher altitude than we previously thought,” says
archaeologist Dongju Zhang of Lanzhou University.
Earlier studies of Denisovan genetic material had detected a
mutation that fosters survival in low-oxygen environments found
in extremely high-altitude locations such as the Tibetan Plateau.
This same mutation has been identified in present-day Tibetans,
and the discovery that Denisovans once inhabited the region
may explain how they obtained this life-preserving adaptation.
—LYDIA PYNE
Denisovan mandible
30
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TOMB OF THE SILVER
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Arkhangai, Mongolia
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century $'WKH;LRQJQXIUHTXHQWO\ZDJHGZDUDJDLQVW
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ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020
 NORMAN CONQUEST COIN HOARD
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a cache of more than 2500 silver pennies
from the reigns of both kings underscores the political
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steadfast allegiance to him in the region despite the coming
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and William (right)
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point his claim to the throne was
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T
HE SHEER CLIFFS OF the small island of
Okinoshima rise abruptly out of the sea
some 40PLOHVRɱWKHFRDVWRIWKH-DSDQHVH
island of Kyushu. Okinoshima’s sole resident
LVD6KLQWRSULHVWZKRVHUYHVDVWKHFDUHWDNHU
The island of Okinoshima is home
to three goddesses worshipped
by followers of Shintoism, and
was a destination for religious
pilgrims in the first millennium
A.D. Two gilt-bronze dragon

of small wooden shrines built among huge heads (below) are among the
80,000 offerings archaeologists
boulders on its southern half. For followers of Shintoism,
recovered from the island.
-DSDQ¶VLQGLJHQRXVUHOLJLRQ2NLQRVKLPDLVWKHVDFUHGKRPH
of a trio of goddesses who, among their many responsibiliĥ
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the island of Oshima and in the nearby Munakata region
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that originated perhaps some 2,000 years ago. Like mariners
WKURXJKRXW-DSDQWKH¿VKHUPHQRI2VKLPDPD\XWWHUDSUD\HU
to the deities known as the Munakata goddesses before setĥ
ting out to sea, and still perform yearly rituals honoring them.
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JAPAN’S
SACRED
ISLAND
For centuries, rituals performed on
an isolated island played a key role
in the emergence of Japan
By Eric A. Powell

32 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

WRUVRIWRGD\¶V-DSDQHVHLPSHULDOIDPLO\DQGFRQWDFWZLWKWKH
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unearthed on Okinoshima dating to this period show that the
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archaeology.org
to observe rituals honoring the Three Goddesses and seek
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6LPRQ.DQHU³,WZDVQ¶WDQLVRODWHGUHPRWHLVODQGDWDOOEXW
lay on an important maritime route to the Korean Peninsula.”
$UFKDHRORJLVWVDUHXQFHUWDLQMXVWKRZWKHULWXDOVSOD\HGRXW
but from about A.D. 400 to 900WKH\FOHDUO\LQYROYHGOHDYLQJ
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33

0 10 20 miles
Okinoshima Island
Seoul
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Tokyo Oshima Island
Nara Hetsu-miya Shrine
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Shimbaru-Nuyama Tombs
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the spirits.” The religion involves the worship of thousands
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tage sites. As they have returned to the study of this massive
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2,000 \HDUV QRW OHDVW EHFDXVH WKH DXWKRULW\ RI WKH FHQWUDO WRUHDFK2QHVRXUFHVWDWHVWKDWLQ A.D. 238, Queen Himiko
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solidated after a long
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Shinto was suspended
and authority returned
to individual shrines and
other Shinto institutions,
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Grand Shrine priests A Shinto shrine on Okinoshima stands near boulders where rituals honoring the Three Goddesses were
DOORZHG DUFKDHRORJLVWV practiced beginning in the fourth century A.D. Today, a single priest watches over the site.

34 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

that was sent home with 100 EURQ]H PLUURUV
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boulders near the shrine. Dating of the
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shows that many of the earliest rituals
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are 30 feet high. Fukuoka University
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WKH IRXUWK FHQWXU\ A.D., may have been
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Three Goddesses on Okinoshima to ensure the good fortune
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Goguryo Kingdom, in northern Korea, states that in A.D. 391,
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in its war with neighboring Korean states. Korean pottery
sherds dating to this era found on Okinoshima suggest the
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the boulders are iron ingots imported from Korea and seven
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ologist Mamoru Saso of Kokugakuin University that they may
Fragments of pottery still cover the ground where offerings
were made on Okinoshima more than 1,000 years ago.
archaeology.org
A bronze mirror (left) and comma-shaped stone beads
(above) are among the votive objects dated to the fourth and
fifth centuries A.D. found atop boulders on Okinoshima.
have been deposited on the island as part of rituals intended
to seek divine support for the military expeditions mentioned
LQWKH*RJXU\RVWHODDQGWKDWWKHUXOLQJ<DPDWRQREOHVKDG
an early hand in the rituals performed on Okinoshima. Other
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Munakata nobles played an important role in managing interĥ
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and the rituals undertaken on Okinoshima were intended to
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tant destination for those worshipping the Three Goddesses.
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and that it was likely a key part of these early rites as well.
Oda also notes that near the remains of a stone altar atop
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beads may have originally hung from a string that delineated
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that speaks to how the earliest people to petition the Three
Goddesses may have worshipped them.
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Three Goddesses. At this point, visitors to the island began
35
to leave their gifts not on top of the boulders but
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were left in the boulders’ shadows, but Korean gold rings and
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the most prominent states on the peninsula, and that 40VXFK
missions followed. It is possible that the horse trappings and
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development of a seasonal Shinto wind deity festival during
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built in the Munakata region to hold the honored dead of the
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A Korean gold ring (right) and gilt-bronze horse
fittings (below), all found on Okinoshima, are
evidence of the island’s role in fostering connections
between Japan and the Asian mainland.
36
A 5-stringed bronze zither is one of the many miniature
objects visitors left on Okinoshima.
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both in the shadow of the boulders and out in the open on a
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leaving goods on Okinoshima still seem to have felt that only
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that tie the Three Goddesses of Munakata to Amaterasu, the
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Peninsula, and enthusiasm for mainland Asian
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in the open air, away from the imposing boulders. Although
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Around A.D. 870, Korean pirates began to pose a serious
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ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020
Boats traveling from Okinoshima to the large island of Kyushu during the annual Miare festival are part of a ritual intended to
regenerate the divine power of the Three Goddesses, who ensure the safety of mariners.
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goddesses for safe voyages. But the long history of intense
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end. By A.D. 894 D SODQ WR VHQG HPEDVVLHV WR &KLQD ZDV
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priests of this period began to worship inside wooden shrines
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Shrine, an arrangement that has persisted to the present day.
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HE WORSHIP OF THE Three Goddesses of Munakata
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the people who live within sight of Okinoshima. The largest
and most important of these rituals is the Miare festival,
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ZKLFKKDVEHHQSUDFWLFHGIRU800 years. After the abolition
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archaeology.org
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Shinto priests and a small group of devotees, but, in the 1960s,
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Minagate being brought by boat from Okinoshima to the
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he swung the pole and parted the sea. An enemy army
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Minagate again, and the seas swallowed the army. The old man
then took the Minagate to Okinoshima in triumph, where
he set it up as a marker on the spot where the goddesses
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it is taken from Okinoshima to the shrine on Kyushu, where
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Eric A. Powell is deputy editor at Archaeology.
37
 Temple of the White
Thunderbird
Excavators in southern Iraq have uncovered the long-lost
home of the powerful Sumerian warrior god
By Daniel Weiss
38 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020
 At the site of ancient Girsu,
archaeologists have uncovered a
temple called the Eninnu, built for the
god Ningirsu by Girsu’s ruler, Gudea.
A stone mace head (left) found at the
site depicts Ningirsu in the form of his
avatar, the thunderbird.

M
ORE THAN 4,000 8QVXUHZKDWWRPDNHRIKLVYLVLRQ*XGHD
years ago, Gudea, the WUDYHOHGE\FDQDOWRWKHWHPSOHRI1DQVKHD
ruler of the Sumeĥ JRGGHVVNQRZQWRLQWHUSUHWGUHDPVIRURWKHU
rian city of Girsu, had JRGV6KHH[SODLQHGLWWRKLPWKXV7KHPDQ
a dream. Before him, ÀDQNHGE\OLRQVZDV1LQJLUVXWKHFKLHIJRGRI
ÀDQNHGE\OLRQVDSSHDUHG *LUVXDQGKHZDQWHG*XGHDWREXLOGKLVWHPSOH
a man as large as the heavens and the earth, with FDOOHGWKH(QLQQX7KHZRPDQZLWKWKHWDEOHWZDV
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archaeology.org 39
 Tig
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had thrived in the third millennium B.C.
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characters called cuneiform, turned out to
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at least as early as 3200 B.C. Girsu, along
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irrigation canals that they used to cultivate
the countryside. Each city was seen as the
40
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demons and maintaining the cosmic order.
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eastern reaches of the Sumerian world, in the region of
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In their excavations of Girsu, de Sarĥ
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2700 to 2200 B.C. in an area of the site
they called the Mound of the Maison
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we can say from reconstructing the straĥ
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One of a pair of clay cylinders discovered
at Girsu in the late 19th century. Together,
they are inscribed with a lengthy poem
recounting Gudea’s inspiration to build the
Eninnu and the great efforts he undertook
to complete the project.
ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020
D
URING HIS FIRST YEAR OF EXCAVATIONS, GH 6DU]HF
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nearly 1,400ĥOLQHSRHPWKHORQJHVWĥNQRZQ6XPHULDQOLWHUDU\
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Clockwise from above: A clay cone embedded in a
wall of the Eninnu, a stone tablet deposited beneath
a gate tower, and a clay cone after excavation.
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stating that Gudea built the Eninnu for Ningirsu.
of the ruler, even those dedicated to gods other than
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Ernest de Sarzec, who

excavated at Girsu
starting in 1877, poses
among the remains of a
building constructed in
the 3rd century B.C. on
the site where Gudea’s
Eninnu once stood.

42 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

Viewed from outside the Eninnu, a monumental gate leads to the structure’s most sacred area, the cella. There, archaeologists
have uncovered the podium upon which a statue of Ningirsu would have rested and an offering table with traces of burning.
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plan (in blue) overlays the current excavation. This demonstrates that the ancient statue’s plan accurately portrays the temple’s layout.
44
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tions of the late nineteenth and
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researchers studied the overall arrangement of the cones
and found that while they did not adhere to any geometric
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RQFHKHKDGODERUHGWRPDNHLWDUHDOLW\Q
Daniel Weiss is a senior editor at Archaeology.
To read about a structure at Girsu identified as one of the world’s
oldest bridges, go to archaeology.org/bridge.
45
 Friend? Roman?
Countryman?
A rare Iron Age burial in southern England
reflects the close connections between
Britain and Gaul two millennia ago
by Marley Brown
A
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Marley Brown is associate editor
at Archaeology.
ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020
Artifacts uncovered from
the mid-first century B.C.
burial of an Iron Age warrior
discovered in southern
England include (clockwise
from above) bronze
latticework and the helmet
it may have been affixed to,
a bronze shield boss, and a
bent iron sword.

archaeology.org 47
 INCA POWER
POLITICS
Ruins of a half-built Andean capital are evidence of how the
Inca controlled their vast empire—until the Spanish arrived
T
HE ABANDONED INCA CITY of Huanuco
Pampa sprawls across a bleak plateau in the
Andes some 12,000 feet above sea level. Its
miles of stone ruins, remains of structures
built by the Inca at the height of their empire,
rise above waves of overgrown golden ichu
grass. Huanuco Pampa is “the most completely preserved of
the cities built by the Inca,” wrote the late Craig Morris of the
American Museum of Natural History, who excavated the site
for more than 20 years beginning in 1964. It may lack the subĥ
lime setting of Machu Picchu or the imperial grandeur of the
Inca capital at Cuzco, but Huanuco Pampa bears witness like
no other site to the twin conquests that convulsed the central
$QGHVZLWKLQOHVVWKDQDFHQWXU\ħWKH,QFDVWDWH¶VVXEMXJDWLRQ
RIWKHUHJLRQ¶VZDUULQJWULEHVLQWKHPLGĥ1400s, and the invasion
of the Spanish conquistadores in the 1530s.
7KH,QFDZHUHWKHODVWRIDORQJVXFFHVVLRQRISUHĥ+LVSDQLF
civilizations that extended their power and their culture
WKURXJKRXW WKH$QGHV DQG DORQJ 3HUX¶V 3DFL¿F FRDVW7KH\
left no written records of their history. Thus, to tell the
story of their rise from a pastoral tribe based near Cuzco to
a formidable people who established the largest empire in
WKH SUHĥ&ROXPELDQ$PHULFDV KLVWRULDQV KDYH UHOLHG ODUJHO\
RQ6SDQLDUGV¶DFFRXQWVRIWHVWLPRQLHVJLYHQWRWKHPE\,QFD
elders in the sixteenth century. These texts are secondhand and
FRORUHGE\WKH6SDQLDUGV¶RZQDVVXPSWLRQVDERXWWKH,QGLDQV
They nevertheless reveal how the Inca folded the inhabitants
of conquered regions into their empire through a combination
of military aggression, reciprocal trading relationships, and
marriages between their own elite and the leaders of other
ethnic groups. Civilizations across the Andes fell under Inca
rule, and while some accepted the new order, others chafed.
In the rugged highlands around Huanuco Pampa, the Inca
strove to bring local peoples under their dominion, but never
completely subdued them.
+XDQXFR3DPSDIHDWXUHVRIWHQLQWKHSUROL¿FFKURQLFOHV
of conquest left by the Spaniards, who seem to have been
fascinated by the site, even as they found it inhospitable and
GLGQRWVHWWOHWKHUHSHUPDQHQWO\$WQHDUO\HYHU\RWKHUPDMRU
48
by Roger Atwood
Inca settlement in Peru, the Spaniards built their churches and
UHGĥWLOHGKRXVHVRQWRSRI,QFDIRXQGDWLRQVEXWWKH\IRXQG
+XDQXFR3DPSDWRRFROGDQGWRRUHPRWHDQGDIWHUDKDOIĥ
hearted attempt at occupation, abandoned the city in 1541. It
has stood almost completely uninhabited ever since.
Few sites demonstrate so vividly how the Inca used urban
planning, public ritual, and even storage of massive amounts
RI IRRG WR ZLQ WKH DOOHJLDQFH RI FRQTXHUHG VXEMHFWV $W
+XDQXFR3DPSDSHRSOHRIQRZĥIRUJRWWHQFXOWXUHVVXFKDVWKH
Chupaychu and the Huamalíes, who had been either crushed
RUFRĥRSWHGE\WKH,QFDZHUHPDGHWRIHHOSDUWRIWKH,QFD
system, which was based on a complex mix of obedience to
the lords of Cuzco, worship of the Inca sun god, Inti, and
strict social hierarchy.
Perhaps as many as 30,000 people lived in Huanuco Pampa
and its surrounding areas at the time of the Spanish conquest,
wrote the conquistador and author Pedro Cieza de León in
a 1553 book called Chronicles of Peru. According to Morris,
in its heyday, 15,000 people may have lived in the city itself.
%XW0RUULVDOVRQRWHGWKDWPDQ\EXLOGLQJVZHUHXQ¿QLVKHG
and that a few stone carvings of animals that adorned some
VWUXFWXUHVZHUHRQO\KDOIĥFRPSOHWHG7KH,QFDKHEHOLHYHG
were still expanding Huanuco Pampa when their society
collapsed in the face of the Spanish onslaught. Many sites in
3HUXKDYHKDOIĥ¿QLVKHG,QFDEXLOGLQJVSRLQWVRXW/XLV)HOLSH
0HMtD KHDG RI DUFKDHRORJ\ DW WKH 3HUXYLDQ JRYHUQPHQW¶V
Ministry of Culture. Yet only Huanuco Pampa shows the
collision of the rapidly expanding Inca Empire with the
Spanish invasion so clearly, and on such a large scale. “What
PDNHV+XDQXFR3DPSDGLɱHUHQWLVWKDWLWZDVDQLPSRUWDQW
administrative center with monumental architecture at the
LQWHUVHFWLRQRIPDMRU,QFDURDGV´VD\V0HMtD³,WZDVDPDMRU
site that crashed, and nothing replaced it.”
H
UANUCO PAMPA IS BISECTED by the main Inca Road,
WKHVRXUFHDQGVXVWHQDQFHRIWKHFLW\¶VLPSRUWDQFH
The Inca built this winding 15,000ĥPLOHQRUWKĥVRXWK
URDGZKLFKDQFKRUHGWKHLUIDUĥÀXQJWUDQVSRUWDWLRQQHWZRUN
DORQJWKHVSLQHRIWKH$QGHVIURPPRGHUQĥGD\(FXDGRUWR
ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020
 The Inca Road climbs a
mountainside high in the
Andes on the approach to
Huanuco Pampa, which was
once a major Inca center.
$UJHQWLQD ZLWK ZLGH ÀDJVWRQHV WHUUDFHV WR
control erosion, and an iron will to tame the
forbidding Andean landscape and turn it to their Quito
advantage. This main Inca Road, much of which
is intact today, was once the central artery of
Inca commerce and conquest, the route along Cajamarca
which the state moved its armies to distant Huanuco Pampa
corners of the empire and used llamas to transĥ Jauja
port prestige goods including salt, tropical bird
feathers, and precious stones and shells. As the
road approaches Huanuco Pampa, it descends a
mountain pass on steps embedded in the slope
and then crosses a pond via an earthen causeway
rather than simply going around it, an example
RI KRZ WKH ,QFD RIWHQ VHHP WR KDYH EXLOW MXVW
to impress. Spectacular views open up at every
WXUQ7RWKHFLW\¶VUHFHQWO\FRQTXHUHGSHRSOHV
the road would have served as a reminder of Inca
might and engineering prowess, as well as a link 0 200 miles
to the home of their masters in Cuzco.
The archaeological record at Huanuco Inca Empire
Inca Road
Pampa shows how the city became an outpost
of Inca urban culture grafted onto an isolated
farming region of llamas and potato plots. Even its name
refers to pastoral life. Huanuco is an alternate spelling of
³JXDQDFR´DOODPDĥOLNHDQLPDODQGpampaPHDQV³¿HOG´LQ
WKHLQGLJHQRXVODQJXDJH4XHFKXD1RWUDFHVRIDQ\SUHĥ,QFD
civilization have been found at Huanuco Pampa, suggesting
the conquerors built it from scratch. Decades of excavations
conducted by U.S. and Peruvian archaeologists, including
Morris, at the site until 2015 exposed a city carefully planned
DVDNLQGRISURYLQFLDOUHSOLFDRI&X]FR+XDQXFR3DPSD¶V
civic buildings, dwellings, and urban layout follow the style
of the capital city, as does much of its material culture. Most
of the pottery that has been found at Huanuco Pampa, for
example, is identical to that uncovered in Cuzco. Morris
DOVR LGHQWL¿HG HYLGHQFH RI ,QFDĥVW\OH JHQGHU VHSDUDWLRQ DW
Huanuco Pampa, where one area of the city was reserved for
A carved animal, believed to be a puma, decorates the ritual
platform at Huanuco Pampa. The artists did not finish their
work, evidence, perhaps, of the city’s sudden collapse.
50
female weavers and cooks, as evidenced by the
sizable number of spindle whorls for knitting,
large ceramic pots for preparing and serving
food, and brooches for holding shawls.
$PRQJ+XDQXFR3DPSD¶V3,700 structures,
archaeologists have also found evidence of the
ULJLGFODVVVWUDWL¿FDWLRQWKDWFKDUDFWHUL]HG,QFD
society. Successive emperors are believed to have
Cuzco stayed in an elite residential quarter facing the
SOD]D GXULQJ VWRSRYHUV LQ WKH FLW\ RQ MRXUQH\V
IURP&X]FR7KLVVHFWRU¶VSUHFLVHO\FXWDQG¿Wĥ
ted stonework proclaims that it was intended
to be occupied only by the very privileged.
Spanish colonial accounts suggest that the Inca
populated their new city in part with migrants
from the capital known as mitmaq. All across
the Inca Empire, these colonists were tasked
with strengthening Inca control by bringing
customs from the capital and diluting those of
local populations. At Huanuco Pampa, distinctive
SRLQW\ĥERWWRPHGSRWVDQGGULQNLQJYHVVHOVZLWK
DQ,QFDĥVW\OHÀDULQJULPDQGLQFLVHGJHRPHWULF
decoration provide archaeological evidence
FRQ¿UPLQJWKHSUHVHQFHRIWKHVHSHRSOH
At the center of Huanuco Pampa is a huge plaza where,
LQ ,QFD WLPHV WKH UHJLRQ¶V SHRSOHV JDWKHUHG WR SDUWLFLSDWH
in what archaeologists believe was a mix of coercion and
spectacle orchestrated by their new Inca overlords. At 47
acres, the plaza was larger than the one in Cuzco, and was
GRPLQDWHGE\+XDQXFR3DPSD¶VPRVWGLVWLQFWLYHIHDWXUHħD
huge, rectangular ceremonial platform, covering nearly half an
acre. Inca stonemasons, likely from Cuzco, built this platform,
WKHODUJHVWLQWKHHPSLUHZLWKGUHVVHGVWRQHVSHUIHFWO\¿WWHG
into four mortarless walls. From atop this platform, Inca elites
would act out rituals or shout out harangues to the assembled
crowds. Spanish colonial texts suggest that these assemblies
were both celebrations and military rallies. Sometimes they
were presided over by the visiting Inca emperor himself,
known simply as “the Inca.” Relaying accounts of people who
had witnessed the ceremonies, a Spanish chronicler wrote in
1553³7KH,QFDDQGWKUHHRIKLVORUGVDVFHQGHGĬWKHSODWIRUPĭ
to speak to the people, and to see the army when they made
their reviews and assemblages.”
W
ITH ITS TRANSPLANTS from Cuzco and visits from
imperial elites, Huanuco Pampa operated as an
outpost of Inca culture and pageantry centered on
the extravagantly large plaza. “A plaza like the one at Huanuco
Pampa would have been vacant for most of the year,” says
archaeologist Alan Covey, an expert on Inca urban planning
at the University of Texas who surveyed the site in 2015. “But
then it was activated during the imperial festive cycle when
the Inca would bring tens of thousands of provincial people
to the site for feast days.” These cycles were associated with
important astronomical dates, such as the equinoxes and solĥ
stices, which marked the beginning or end of planting cycles.
ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020
 his wife and treat her well and
GRQ¶W OLH GRZQ ZLWK DQRWKHU
and the woman would say
the same.” Accused murderĥ
ers and adulterers endured
public trials in the plaza and,
DFFRUGLQJWR;XOFD¶VDFFRXQW
unrepentant killers would be
taken a short distance away
and executed. Adulterers were
stoned or beaten.
Performance and music
occupied vital roles in Inca
civic life, and, at Huanuco
Pampa, they were on full
display in the plaza. In 2015,
Miriam Kolar, a visiting scholar
at Amherst College who works
LQWKH¿HOGRIDUFKDHRDFRXVWLFV
and examines how ancient
societies employed sound in
rituals and performances, led
A gate inside Huanuco Pampa’s elite quarter is decorated with carved animals and shows the fine
a team that measured how
stonework that indicated high status in the Inca realm.  sound traveled across the plaza
in order to discern how Inca
On those dates, in Cuzco and in provincial cities alike, the Inca lords might have communicated with the masses. Judging
ZRXOGLQYLWHGHOHJDWLRQVRIFRQTXHUHGSHRSOHVWR¿OHLQWRWKH from colonial accounts, public events in the plaza probably
FHQWUDOSOD]DLQDVSHFL¿FRUGHUDFFRUGLQJWRWKHGDWHRIHDFK LQFOXGHGVHDVRQDOFHUHPRQLHVDQGFRPPXQLW\ĥEXLOGLQJULWXDOV
JURXS¶VVXEMXJDWLRQDFWLQJRXWWKHKLVWRU\RIFRQTXHVW&RYH\ such as competitions and songs and dances by regional ethnic
believes there is no question that this happened at Huanuco groups. Using recording devices mounted on tripods, Kolar
Pampa. “Each group had its designated spot in the plaza, so found that the sound of a trumpet fashioned from a conch
the gathering became a map of the provinces,” he says. Inca shell of the genus Strombus, a type of instrument widely used
governors would then move among provincial groups, desigĥ in ancient Andean ceremonies, carried clearly across the plaza,
nating local chieftains as representatives and obtaining comĥ HYHQLQVWURQJZLQGV7KHVKHOO¶VVRXQGWUDYHOHGPXFKEHWWHU
mitments from them to send tribute in the form of food or WKDQ KXPDQ YRLFHV ,QFDĥVW\OH ZKLVWOHV RU ZRRGHQ FODSSHUV
manufactured goods. “The procession of entry into the plaza (YHQ LI WKH SOD]D ZHUH ¿OOHG D FRQFK VKHOO EODVW ZRXOG KDYH
recapitulated the history of the province,” explains Covey, “and GHPDQGHGHYHU\RQH¶VDWWHQWLRQ³3HRSOHZHUHEHLQJLQWHJUDWHG
the spatial order in the plaza created a sort of living map that into the Inca system at this time, and sensory communication
helped imperial governors to
rule in real time.”
A softer kind of power was
also exerted in the plaza by
the Inca governors of Huaĥ
nuco Pampa through the perĥ
formance of mass weddings.
In 1562, a Chupaychu man
named Juan Xulca told the
Spanish chronicler Iñigo Ortiz
de Zúñiga that an Inca high
RɷFLDO ZRXOG FRPH RQFH D
year to visit for this purpose.
“In the plaza, in front of
everybody, he gave each Indian
man his Indian woman,” Xulca
reported, “and when he gave This massive platform at the center of Huanuco Pampa was the setting for Inca lords to address
it, he told him to take her for their recently conquered subjects and impress them with the empire’s might. 

archaeology.org 51
was an important part of that,” says
Kolar. “The plaza operated as this
dynamic, experiential space, and
the platform was an ideal setting
for the imperial elite to stage and
disseminate state messages through
sound and spectacle,” an essential
task as the Inca consolidated their
control over restive locals.
The Inca had another very
HɱHFWLYH WRRO IRU H[HUWLQJ SRZHU
They were experts at food
conservation, and built nearly 500
VWRQH IRRGĥVWRUDJH WRZHUV FDOOHG
colcas on the hillside south of the
city. Local Inca governors could
JLYHħRU GHQ\ħIRRG WR VXEMHFWV One of two lodges known as kallankas, which are thought to have been where the Inca held
during times of drought. Morris, banquets, including one feting a band of conquering Spaniards on the eve of the city’s demise
along with Donald Thompson of
the University of Wisconsin, excavated 95 of these structures KDQGKROGV ZRXOG KDYH EHHQ ¿OHG Rɱ WR FUHDWH WKH ¿QLVKHG
in the 1970s and found remains of potatoes, maize, and lima look a structure of its importance and elegance warranted.
beans, as well as underground ventilation ducts designed to 7KHWHPSOH¶VIURQWGRRUVWLOOERDVWVWKHGRXEOHMDPEWKDWWKH
keep them fresh. The potatoes were lying between layers of ,QFDUHVHUYHGIRUKLJKĥVWDWXVVWUXFWXUHV$WVRPHSRLQWSUREĥ
straw that had absorbed moisture and preserved them for ably soon after the Spaniards arrived in 1532, construction on
centuries. Morris and Thompson believed the Inca built more
storehouses than a city the size of Huanuco Pampa would
ever have needed, suggesting they may have been built to feed
the masses at festivals and to impress local people with their
control over food supplies.

A
CROSS THE SITE FROM WKHIRRGĥVWRUDJHXQLWVVWDQGVDQ
XQ¿QLVKHG WHPSOH WR WKH ,QFD VXQ JRG DQ HORTXHQW
testimonial to the sudden death of this city of great
ambitions. To one side of the building, carefully quarried and
SROLVKHGVWRQHEORFNVOLHLQDMXPEOHRQWKHJUDVV6RPHVWLOO
have the protrusions quarry workers used to grasp and carry
WKHP2QFHWKHEORFNVKDGEHHQ¿WWHGLQWRWKHEXLOGLQJWKRVH
This stone bath was reserved for Inca royalty, including the
emperor Atahualpa on his visit to Huanuco Pampa.

A stone block retains the protrusions used to move it.
Stonemasons would normally have chiseled off these
protrusions, but the wall was never completed.
WKHEXLOGLQJDEUXSWO\VWRSSHG7KHVWRQHZRUNHUVHLWKHUÀHG
or died in the ensuing epidemic of European germs to which
they had no immunity. Their world would soon be eradicated.
In 1533, several dozen Spaniards under the command
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commander Chalcuchima was garrisoned with his troops.
Vastly outnumbered, Pizarro talked the commander into
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brother. Heading north along the Inca Road, the Spaniards,
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livestock and entered the city. “This town was big, and…there

52 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

 Sixteenth-century woodcuts by native Peruvian illustrator Felipe Guamán Poma show (left to right) Inca stonemasons, a man
blowing a conch shell of the kind used in Inca ceremonies, the colcas where the Inca stored food and kept accounts on a
stringed ledger known as a khipu, and the last Inca emperor, Atahualpa, held prisoner by a Spanish conquistador in 1533.

the people received well the captain and the Christians, and
for two days they made many festivities,” wrote the Spanish
chronicler Francisco de Xérez. Chalcuchima likely feted the
Spaniards inside two lodges known as kallankas, a Quechua
word meaning “hall” where Inca authorities held banquets and
received distinguished visitors. Each of these two buildings
was more than 200 IHHW ORQJ DQG KDG QLQH VWRQHĥERUGHUHG
SRVWKROHVLQWRZKLFKZHUH¿[HGHQRUPRXVWLPEHUVWKDWRQFH
supported 40ĥIRRWĥKLJKWKDWFKHGURRIVWRZHULQJDERYHWKH
city. Nearby, through gates decorated with carved images of
animals, perhaps pumas, the Spaniards would have seen the
room where Atahualpa himself stayed when he visited and
the skillfully carved stone bath reserved for his exclusive use.
Although the original walls of that small room still stand, in
other places workers have been reerecting fallen walls as part
RIDPXOWL\HDUFRQVHUYDWLRQDQGUHVWRUDWLRQSURMHFWXQGHUWKH
supervision of archaeologist and site director Luis Enrique
Paredes. Often Paredes has had to use recently quarried stones
to replace Inca blocks taken by local people to build their
KRXVHV+HKDVIRXQGLWFKDOOHQJLQJWRUHĥFUHDWHWKH,QFDVW\OH
using modern metal tools. “The Inca used only stone tools to
work stone,” Paredes says. “They had copper, of course, but
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infrastructure such as drainage culverts, a small hint of the
RQFHĥJUDQGFLW\¶VLQIUDVWUXFWXUH
7KH6SDQLDUGV¶DUULYDOWKDWGD\LQ1533 marked the beginĥ
ning of the end of Huanuco Pampa, as the city would soon go
from proud outpost of Inca power to ruin. One man told the
chronicler Ortiz de Zúñiga that he watched the population in
his district fall from 4,000 to 800 as “everyone” died from
European disease. Others described to him their shock at how
the Spaniards ignored Inca class distinctions and put all their
QHZVXEMHFWVWRZRUNLQFOXGLQJWKHHOGHUO\FKLOGUHQDQGORFDO
chieftains, “who were required to pay tribute like the rest of
the Indians, which they had not had to do in the time of the
,QFD´ 3DUHGHV EHOLHYHV WKH FLW\¶V GHFOLQH PD\ DFWXDOO\ KDYH
begun before the Spanish conquest, during a civil war between
rival Inca leaders Atahualpa and Huascar that ended with the
ODWWHU¶VFDSWXUHDQGPXUGHULQ1532. The following year it was
$WDKXDOSD¶VWXUQħKHZDVSXWWRWKHGHDWKE\WKH6SDQLDUGVRQ
The ruins of an unfinished temple on the edge of Huanuco Pampa
are evidence of the rapid abandonment of this once-great city.
July 26, 1533. By then, smallpox was already making its death
march down the Andes. “The calamities that ended the life of
Huanuco Pampa came in a chain,” Paredes says.
$IHZ\HDUVDIWHU3L]DUUR¶VYLVLWWR+XDQXFR3DPSD6SDQĥ
ish settlers arrived and built crude stone houses in the plaza
and turned the kallankas into horse stables. European animals
grazed in the plaza where, only a few years earlier, the Inca
KDG SUHVLGHG RYHU WKRXVDQGV RI KLV VXEMHFWV %\ 1541, the
Spaniards had tired of the city. They built their regional capiĥ
tal, the modern city of Huanuco, in a valley about 120 miles
east and several thousand feet closer to sea level. Thereafter,
only shepherds and a few descendants of the inhabitants of
the old Inca Kingdom occupied the site of Huanuco Pampa.
Some may even have remembered this grand city and the
fallen world it represented. Q
Roger Atwood is a contributing editor at Archaeology.

archaeology.org 53
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LETTER FROM IRELAND
THE SORROWS
OF SPIKE ISLAND
Millions were forced to flee during the Great Famine—some of those left
behind were condemned to Ireland’s most notorious prison
by Jason Urbanus
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Spike Island sits in the middle of Cork
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forts on the island beginning in the
late 18th century, but during the mid-
19th century, the island was used to
house thousands of Irish prisoners.
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SHWW\WKLHYHVZKRKDGIDOOHQRQKDUG there were forced to finish its construction.

56 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

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Explore the
ancient city of Troy! ARCHAEOLOGICAL
INSTITUTE OF AMERICA

Presenting the
Interactive Map of Troy

All you need to tour 4,000 years of the archaeological

history of Troy is a digital device. For centuries, the story
SJ8VS]LEWMRƥYIRGIHGYPXYVIWEVSYRHXLI[SVPH=SY
can discover why just by clicking on the color-coded map.
Learn about:
• The city’s nine layers and each of their exciting stories
• The temples, gates, and other important buildings
ŵ8LITISTPISJFSXLLMWXSV]ERHPIKIRH[LSHIƤRIH8VS]
• The amazing artifacts each era left behind
• The archaeologists who revealed Troy’s mysteries
Start your adventure at archaeology.org/troy!

The AIA wishes to thank Richard C. MacDonald for his support of the Year of Troy project.
LETTER FROM IRELAND
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TheMayanRuinsWebsite.com An
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Visit Chichicastenango, Lake Atitlán,
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and Archaeology: An in-depth look into
missions, as well as the archaeology
of native people, telling us the story
of their unique existence before and
after the arrival of the Spanish. Yampa
River: Downriver adventure in Colorado
and Utah, visit remote archaeological
sites. archaeologicalconservancy.org/
tours Archaeological Conservancy,
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Canyonlands Field Institute Archaeology
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Like us on facebook and follow
us on twitter for daily updates on
the latest discoveries
facebook.com/archaeologymag
twitter.com/archaeologymag
Contact Info:
Karina Casines, Account Manager
karina@archaeology.org
(718) 472-3050 ext. 4905
Email materials to:
materials@archaeology.org
Photo Credits
COVER—Courtesy Mohamed Megahed; 1—
Courtesy S. Rey, Tello-Girsu Project, Iraq Scheme/
The British Museum; 3—(clockwise from top left)
J.Enrique Molina/Alamy Stock Photo, Courtesy South
Gyeongsang Regional Government, Christoph Gerigk
© Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation, franckgoddio.
org, Daniela Agre; 4—Azoor Photo Collection/
Alamy Stock Photo; 6—Courtesy Hannah La Follette
Ryan; 9—Prague Castle excavations, Institute of
Archaeology, Prague; 10—mauritius images GmbH/
Alamy Stock Photo, Cavan/Alamy Stock Photo;
11—Christoph Gerigk © Franck Goddio/Hilti
Foundation, franckgoddio.org (2); 12—Daniela Agre
(4); 13—Courtesy Evan Parker (2); 14—©EBSA,
N. Kress, ©EBSA, M. Anastasiadou, Courtesy Matt
Ritchie (3); 16—Courtesy South Gyeongsang Regional
Government, Nature Picture Library/Alamy Stock
Photo; 18—UHI Archaeology Institute (2), J.Enrique
Molina/Alamy Stock Photo, Courtesy Francisco
Estrada-Belli, Tulane University; 19—Davis et al. (2);
20—Clara Amit/Israel Antiquities Authority (4),
Assaf Peretz/Israel Antiquities Authority, © Stephen
Rippon; 22—(clockwise from top left) Courtesy Friends
of the Hunley, GUARD Archaeology Ltd, Greece’s
Ministry of Culture and Sports, © MOLA, Wikimedia
Commons; 23—(clockwise from top left) V.V.
Kondrashin and V.A. Tsybin/Nature Communications,
Apsara National Authority, Oshan Wedage et al., Abu
Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism, Wikimedia
Commons; 24-25—Courtesy Mohamed Megahed;
25—Courtesy Mohamed Megahed; 26—Karla
Ortega/Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology
(2); 27—Photograph by Henry Chapman, Scala/
Luciano Romano/Art Resource, NY; 28— Courtesy
Christina Warinner (2); 28-29—Courtesy Italian
Ministry of Cultural Heritage, 29—Werner Forman
Archive/Bridgeman Images, Courtesy Gabriel Prieto
(2); 30—Courtesy Dongju Zhang (2), Ren Xiao (2),
Nie Fan; 31—Pippa Pearce/© The Trustees of the
British Museum (2); 32—The Yomiuri Newspaper/
AFLO (2); 32-33—Mainichi Newspaper; 34—Imaki
Hidekazu ©World Heritage Promotion Committee;
35—The Yomiuri Newspaper/AFLO (5), Imaki
Hidekazu ©World Heritage Promotion Committee;
36—© Munakata Taisha, The Yomiuri Newspaper/
AFLO (3); 37—Imaki Hidekazu ©World Heritage
Promotion Committee; 38-39—Courtesy S. Rey,
Tello-Girsu Project, Iraq Scheme, The British Museum;
39—© Trustees of the British Museum; 40—G. Dagli
Orti /De Agostini Picture Library/Bridgeman Images;
41—Courtesy D. Tagen, Tello-Girsu Project, Iraq
Scheme, The British Museum (3); 42—Courtesy D.
Tagen, Tello-Girsu Project, Iraq Scheme, The British
Museum, E. de Sarzec & L. Heuzey, 1884-1912, Pl.
49; 43—Courtesy D. Tagen, Tello-Girsu Project, Iraq
Scheme, The British Museum; 44—Courtesy D. Tagen,
Tello-Girsu Project, Iraq Scheme, The British Museum,
Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY, Courtesy S. Rey,
Tello-Girsu Project, Iraq Scheme, The British Museum;
45—D. Tagen, Tello-Girsu Project, Iraq Scheme, The
British Museum; 47—Courtesy Chichester District
Council (4); 49—Roger Atwood; 50—Roger Atwood;
51—Roger Atwood (2); 52—Roger Atwood (3);
53—Werner Forman/Art Resource, NY, Bridgeman
Images (3), Roger Atwood; 55—Courtesy Barra
O’Donnabhain; 56—Courtesy of Spike Island (https://
spikeislandcork.ie); 57—Wikimedia Commons, The
Museum of the City of New York/Art Resource,
NY; 58— Richard Cummins/Alamy Stock Photo;
60—Courtesy of Spike Island (https://spikeislandcork.
ie); 62—Sean Sexton/Getty Images, Courtesy Barra
O’Donnabhain (2); 63—Look and Learn/Illustrated
Papers Collection/ Bridgeman Images; 64—Wikimedia
Commons; Courtesy Barra O’Donnabhain, Jarrett
Lobell; 65—© Eleni Gizas/ASCS, Photo courtesy of
Elizabeth Lawlor/AIA-Riverside, AIA; 66—Courtesy
of washington.org; 68—Alexander Frisch, Museen der
Stadt Regensburg
61
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VKXWLWVGRRUVLQ1883DWZKLFK WKHUHLVGDUNQHVVEHQHDWKLWVEHDXW\ Jason Urbanus is a contributing editor at
WLPHWKHLVODQGUHYHUWHGWR $PHULFDDQG$XVWUDOLDDUHNQRZQ Archaeology.

64 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

DISPATCHES
archaeological.org
FROM THE AIA
EXCAVATE EDUCATE ADVOCATE

GLOBAL CELEBRATION OF ARCHAEOLOGY

GETS BIGGER EACH YEAR
Since its inception in 2011, International
Archaeology Day (IAD) has grown in
terms of events, attendance, collaborating
organizations, and participating countries.
IAD 2019 was the largest celebration to
date. We estimate that over 250,000 people
attended more than 1,200 public events
organized by 500 collaborating organizations
in over two dozen countries.
IAD is an affirmation of the global interest
in archaeology. The diversity of events is a
testament to the creativity and passion of
the many individuals and
organizations committed to
informing and educating the
public. IAD has something
for everyone, whether it is
a visit to the 2,000-year-
old archaeological site of
Sungai Batu in Malaysia or
a crash course in forensic
archaeology in Rome. To
read more about these
programs and to find out
more about IAD, visit
archaeologyday.org.
IAD 2020 will be held on October 17
and will be the 10th anniversary of this global
celebration of archaeology. We encourage you
to get involved in the festivities by attending
an event or organizing an IAD program.

GET READY FOR

ARCHAEOCON 2020
Join us for ArchaeoCon 2020 on Saturday, January 4, 2020, at the Marriott Marquis
Washington, DC. ArchaeoCon is a day of entertaining programs, workshops, and
demonstrations that showcase archaeology and the AIA. Booths and exhibits hosted
by local archaeological organizations and AIA societies will feature activities and
hands-on experiences. Attendees will also have an opportunity to hear from and talk
to leading archaeologists.
Headlining the festivities are space archaeologist Sarah Parcak and television
personality Josh Gates. Parcak is an Egyptologist, remote sensing expert, and associate
professor of anthropology and director of the Laboratory for Global Observation at the
University of Alabama at Birmingham. She is also the winner of the 2016 TED prize.
Gates is an archaeologist, adventurer, television personality, and author. He is the host
and executive producer of the smash-hit Discovery Channel series Expedition Unknown
and Legendary Locations on the Travel Channel.
ArchaeoCon is a great opportunity to enjoy archaeology, meet archaeologists, learn
about all that the AIA does, and introduce friends and family members to the Institute.
Visit archaeological.org for more information.
Roman reenactors with ArchaeoCon 2019 attendees

65
 D ISP A TC HE S
FROM THE AIA
EXCAVATE EDUCATE ADVOCATE

CHANGES TO AIA MEMBERSHIP

The AIA has launched a new online membership system. The
new system gives AIA members direct access to their membership
information and allows societies to better communicate with members
about lectures and other upcoming events. Along with the new system,
we introduced several new categories to better meet the needs of our
diverse range of members. To learn more about these categories and
associated benefits, visit archaeological.org/join. To log in to the new
membership system, please refer to the instruction email that was sent to
current AIA members. If you are a current AIA member and you did not
receive an instruction email, please contact membership@archaeological.
org. Please note that the membership system login is not the same as the
AIA website login.

AIA & 2020 AIA-SCS JOINT ANNUAL

SKYPE A MEETING IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
SCIENTIST
The Skype a Scientist program connects
scientists, including archaeologists and
those in related fields, with classrooms
around the world. The AIA encourages its
professional members to participate in the
Skype a Scientist program as a means of
engaging in public outreach.
For archaeologists, sign-up is done via
an online form on the Skype a Scientist
website. When you complete the form,
it will ask if you are part of an academic
society that is participating as a group.
AIA members should respond with
“Archaeological Institute of America.”
We encourage teachers to visit the Skype
a Scientist website and fill out a form
to be matched with a scientist and offer The 121st Joint Annual Meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America and the Society
your classroom the chance to learn more for Classical Studies will take place January 2–5, 2020, at the Marriott Marquis Washington,
about archaeology. Find out more at DC. The conference is expected to draw nearly 2,500 attendees, ranging from professionals
archaeological.org/programs/educators/ in the field to students and archaeology enthusiasts. The latest information on the meeting,
aia-skype-a-scientist. including the program, registration, and hotel/travel, is available online at archaeological.org/
annualmeeting.

AIA 2020 CALENDAR NOW AVAILABLE

The 2020 AIA calendar, “A Year of Archaeology,” features stunning archaeological images from around the world that were submitted to the AIA’s
Annual Photo Contest. The calendar makes a wonderful gift for the archaeology lovers among your friends and family. All proceeds support AIA
programs, including our site preservation efforts, which are helping to protect and preserve more than two dozen sites around the world. Buy
your calendar today at archaeological.org/calendar.

66
 Travel • Support • Learn with the AIA

Travel AIATours.org

Prehistory & Evolution in Europe & Africa

Decorated Caves of the Human Origins in South Africa Prehistoric Cave Art of
Pyrenees & the Rhone Valley August 30-September 13, 2020 (15 days) Spain & France
May 21-31, 2020 (11 days) with paleoanthropologist September 30-October 12, 2020 (13 days)
with paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall William Harcourt-Smith with prehistorian Paul Bahn

Explorations of Scotland & Ireland

Ireland’s Ancient East Hiking Scotland’s Orkney & Hiking Scotland’s North Highlands
May 26-June 8, 2020 (14 days) Shetland Isles & Isle of Lewis
with geoarchaeologist Stephen Mandal June 27-July 7, 2020 (11 days) July 13-23, 2020 (11 days)
with archaeologist Val Turner with archaeologist Mary MacLeod Rivett

Customized Experiences in Italy

Sicily: Archaeology, Art & Cuisine The Legacy of Ancient Rome: The Legacy of the Etruscans:
September 21-October 1, 2020 (11 days) Art, Architecture & Cuisine Latium, Umbria & Tuscany
with archaeologist Gerry Schaus October 2-13, 2020 (12 days) October 9-20, 2020 (12 days)
with archaeologist Albert Leonard, Jr. with archaeologist Lisa Pieraccini

call: 800-748-6262 • website: www.aiatours.org • email: aia@studytours.org • follow: on Facebook @aiatours.org

ARTIFACT BY JARRETT A. LOBELL

F
eeding babies is a universal human practice, so it may be surprising that WHAT ARE THEY
Drinking vessels
archaeologists know very little about what infants and young children in prehistoric CULTURE
European Bronze and
societies consumed apart from their mothers’ milk. “Ancient children have been Iron Ages
overlooked,” says biomolecular archaeologist Julie Dunne of the University of DATE
1200–450 B.C.
Bristol. “We do not have any direct evidence of how and what babies were fed.” Because MATERIAL
Ceramic
prehistoric children’s graves are uncommon, there are relatively few remains to test to FOUND

determine what they ate. In order to supplement the meager skeletal evidence, Dunne and
her team sampled residues from three spouted vessels found in infants’ graves at two sites in
Berlin
Germany dating to between 1200 and 450 B.C. Some scholars had hypothesized that these GERMANY

vessels were buried with the children because they were the prehistoric equivalent of baby Dietfurt

ERWWOHV'XQQHZDVDEOHIRUWKH¿UVWWLPHWRVKRZFRQFOXVLYHO\WKDWWKH\ZHUHLQIDFWXVHGWR
Augsburg-Haunstetten
wean babies with the milk of ruminants such as goats or cows. DIMENSIONS
From 2 to 4 inches
Dunne’s research has important implications beyond the detection of the animal milk wide
UHVLGXHDQGLGHQWL¿FDWLRQRIWKHIXQFWLRQRIWKHVHYHVVHOVRIZKLFKWKHUHDQ\PDQ\RWKHU
VLPLODUSUHKLVWRULFH[DPSOHV7KHWUDQVLWLRQIURPDKXQWHUĥJDWKHUHUWRDSDVWRUDOOLIHVW\OH
resulted in improved nutrition from animal milk and
freed up time to nurture more children, resulting in a
massive population explosion. “You can make a direct
connection from these bottles to the growth of cities
and the way we live today,” says Dunne. For her, the
study also went beyond science. “This project gave
me a real sense of love,” she says.
“I felt such a connection to the
people who used these bottles to
feed their children.”

68 ARCHAEOLOGY • January/February 2020

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