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Culture Documents
The oldest and largest known Mexican moon calendar was shown to the
public by archaeologists and authorities on Monday (November 6) at
the ruins of Tamtoc in San Luis Potosi near the Gulf of Mexico. The
massive 27-tonnes stone calendar is a product of the Huasteca
culture, dating back to 600 BCE. Mexican archaeologist Guillermo
Ahuja came across the artefact in February 2005 and he spent 19
months cleaning and restoring it with a crews before showing it to a
general audience. The seven-metre long, 4.2 metre tall find is
adorned with pre-Colombian figures representing fertility, water,
life, nature and death. Feminine figures with water flowing from
their heads represent the beliefs of a culture that considered water
the essence of life.
The importance of the discovery lies in its age because it means
that the Huastecas may have been a contemporary of the Olmecs,
considered until now the oldest group in the region and the
predecessor of all the important Mesoamerican cultures such as Mayas
or the Aztecs. It is now thought that this culture that lived near
the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico had a close relationship
with the Olmecas, who lived 600 miles to the south. An intense flow
of migration is thought to have linked the cultures.
Further studies in the northern Atlantic Coast and southern
Texas are expected to reveal more about the development of the
Huasteca culture, their influence on subsequent cultures and on the
whole cultural construction of Mesoamerica
Until recently, little was known about the histories and cultures of
Taipei's Austronesian aborigines and, in particular, about their
relationships with the island's ancient inhabitants. Discovery of the
Peinan site in southeastern Taiwan, and the associated artifacts
unearthed and interpreted by archaeologists, have proved invaluable
in making up some of this deficiency. To help educate visitors about
the island's prehistoric past, many of the key finds are now
exhibited in the National Museum of Prehistory.
Excavation of the prehistoric site was started in 1944 by
archaeologists Takeo Kanaseki and Naoichi Kokubu at the tail end of
the period of Japanese rule. Even though the dig was very small in
scale, the pair quickly recognized the site's importance.
Nevertheless, excavation halted following Japan's withdrawal from
Taiwan, and did not resume immediately under the island's new rulers,
the Kuomintang-led ROC administration. Thirty-five years passed until
in July 1980, during construction of the Peinan East Line Railway
Station, prehistoric remains of great interest were revealed.
Numerous slate coffins - dating from a Stone Age culture of around
3000-500 BCE - containing exquisite artifacts as well as skeletons
were excavated, attracting great public and media interest and,
unfortunately, looting.
National Taiwan University archaeologist Sung Wen-hsun was
delegated to form the Peinan Culture Archaeology Team, which
unearthed 1,500 slate coffins and numerous of other artifacts over
the next 10 years. After another decade of planning and a total
investment of around US$100 million, the NMP opened in August 2002.
Archaeologists' most striking discovery was that the slate coffins
were all arranged with their heads pointing toward the northeast and
feet to the southwest. One theory is that the coffins pointed to
Dulan Mountain, where the newly dead would be greeted by their
ancestral sprits.
Upcoming NMP projects include a display of some Peinan site
artifacts at Taitung's Feng-nien Airport and a major exhibition
introducing Maori artifacts from New Zealand.
All of this began with the accidental discovery of a cultural site
dating back around 5,000 years, but which should keep Pasuya Poiconu,
the museum's director, his staff of 50, and their countless visitors
busy for a good while to come.
Containers for ritual offerings, weapons and jewelry are among the
finds uncovered after builders in Jerusalem's Bayit Vagan
neighborhood (Israel) stumbled upon a 4,000-year-old Canaanite
cemetery. The Israel Antiquities Authority was alerted back in July
when builders working on apartment buildings in the Holyland Park
Project found evidence of ancient tombs. The remarkable finds were
only discovered last week.
The dig's director, Yanir Milevsky, said that "the quantity of
items and their particularly good state of conservation will allow us
to enlarge our knowledge of farming villages during the Canaanite
era." The authority said the site covered more than 200 dunams and
contains human and animal remains, as well as metal and ceramic
artifacts and weapons, dating back to between 2,200 and 1,600 BCE.
The approximately 50 tombs originally date from the early Bronze Age
(2200 BCE to 2000 BCE), but were apparently dug up and used again
about 1700 BCE to 1600 BCE, an authority spokesman said. The main
finds were from the latter period, because when they were reused,
most of the original contents were cleared out.
Archeologists working on the site uncovered pottery vessels of
various sizes which they said appear to be containers for spiritual
offerings - mainly jars, bowls and jugs - as well as human remains.
The containers' contents, which consisted of mostly perishable foods
or liquids, have disappeared over time. One of the archeologists, Zvi
Greenhut, said the burial sites have entrances through a shaft and
have thus been termed 'shaft tombs.' The shafts were quarried
straight into the bedrock, and then a cave was dug out to house the
tomb proper.
The archeologists said that in accordance with the common belief
of the time, the offerings were given in the expectation of feeding
the departed in the afterlife. Such beliefs were said to be heavily
influenced by the cultural dominance of Egypt at the time, which was
at the zenith of its power. Animal bones, supposedly sheep or goats,
were also found. Milevski said he believed they were the remains of
more offerings. Some of the tombs contain bronze weapons, mainly
daggers and axes, and in others jewelry, including Carnelian and
Amethyst beads, was discovered. Bronze and copper tools were also
found, such as borers and other perforators as well as bones with
drawings on them, most probably decorations, according to Milevski.
In terms of the salvage possibilities, he said, "We have a lot of
complete vessels, and also many shards that we can restore in the
laboratories."
Twenty years ago, Milevski worked on his first-ever archeology
excavation in Israel, where the Malha Mall stands today, not far from
the present day cemetery excavation. The diggers at that site
discovered village ruins dating to around 1700 BCE, the same period
as the current excavation.
Milevski confirmed the connection between the two sites, and said:
"We are more or less sure that the cemetery belongs to the village...
It completes the picture."
The vessels found in the tombs will be moved to an Israel
Antiquities Authority storage facility, and some may eventually enter
the Israel Museum. The Holyland Park Project construction company,
however, will destroy all of the cemetery, said Milevski. "They need
to remove all the bedrock for the construction of the foundations,"
he said. "They need to go maybe 20 meters down." Asked about the
tombs' inevitable destruction Milevski said: "I don't feel good about
it, of course, but now at least we have the information." Fellow
archeologist Greenhut seemed less concerned about the tombs' fate.
"The burial chambers and tombs are very regular," he said. "The
vessels and items within them, though, are very interesting, and will
be kept."