Archeologists unearth 3,300 year old complex in Israel

Phys dot org ^ | October 16, 2014 | Bob Yirka

[SunkenCiv]

Initial examination of the ruins suggests the site was an ancient cult complex—a rather large one at that with side walls measuring up to 52x52 feet. Thus far arch[a]eologists have uncovered mask fragments (parts that covered the nose), connected cups (their purpose has yet to be discovered), scarabs (stone representations of the beetle typically used as an amulet) and very large vessels known as pithoi.

The relics suggest the site was use as a cult complex, likely dedicated to the worship of a god, though the researchers can't say with any certainty which one that might have been. The most likely candidate, they told the press recently, is the storm god Baal, who was worshiped by many Middle Eastern peoples during the time that the complex was active. Like many others, he was believed to be a fertility deity, one of the most important or popular of the time. Other gods have not been ruled out, including the war goddess Anat. Other evidence of worship was burnt animal bones, suggesting sacrificial rituals.

The connected cups are particularly intriguing as examples of them have been seen before—the ones found at the new dig site are believed to have come from Syria, due to their design. Though there is scant evidence of their use or purpose, arch[a]eologists generally believe, the researchers report, that they were likely cultic objects. Because of the newness of the site, the artifacts have not yet been tested for residue analysis—the researchers are eager to find out what was held in the large pithoi, some of which were nearly as large as a full grown person—some at the site were sunken and some held smaller vessels inside of them...

[SunkenCiv]

View of Tel Burna from Khirbet 'Atr (biblical Ether, Josh. 15:42)

[SunkenCiv]

> “The letters of Ugarit [an ancient site in modern-day Syria] suggest that of the Canaanite pantheon, Baal, the Canaanite storm god, would have been the most likely candidate,” Itzhaq Shai, a professor at Ariel University who is directing a research project at Tel Burna, told Live Science in an email.

http://www.livescience.com/48262-ancient-cult-complex-discovered.html

http://www.varchive.org/schorr/ugarit.htm

[SunkenCiv]

One of *those* topics.

join or quit view topics view or post blog bookmark post new topic subscribe

[SunkenCiv]

[afraidfortherepublic]

Connected cups = early telephone? ;^)

[NCjim]

I was thinking the same thing... :-)

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3216406/posts

[meadsjn]

likely dedicated to the worship of a god

Why is it never likely that the ancients used buildings for barns, warehouses, or shelter from the elements?

[RegulatorCountry]

If a Chuck E Cheese were to survive 3,000 years and be discovered by future archaeologists, I wonder what sort of theory regarding its purpose would get them grant money?

[meadsjn]

How about the average garage?

These people reserved the largest space in their dwellings to worship their four-wheeled mechanical beasts. Shelves lined the walls with various containers of religious oils. Round metal cans held various sizes of nuggets decorated with spiraled grooves; likely carved imitations of the body parts of the beasts ...

[dorothy]

Here's a great very short story by Robert Nathan called "Digging the Weans" wherein a future archaeologist writes of his discoveries at Pound-Laundry (Washington). Click here

[meadsjn]

Thanks.

[Domangart]

Ah the riddle of the great Philippine organic civilization. Wood burns and rots. Stone endures.

[JoeFromSidney]

If a Chuck E Cheese were to survive 3,000 years and be discovered by future archaeologists, I wonder what sort of theory regarding its purpose would get them grant money?

There have been numerous science fiction stories on this theme.

One is "Digging the Weans," about archaeologists excavating an ancient civilization of the people who referred to themselves as "us," and whose capital was Pound-Laundry.

Another, that appeared years ago in ANALOG, purports to be an interview with a far-future archaeologist about his career. He spent years studying "religious sites" that consisted of small rooms, lined with tile, whose primary feature was a porcelain object of undetermined use. He states that despite spending a lifetime at it, he was never able to determine the precise use of these rooms. He says of his studies, "Waste. All waste."

[JoeFromSidney]

You beat me to it. I'm away from home, so couldn't give a reference.

[SunkenCiv]

This may be an update, anyway, it's new:

• Archaeologists excavate fortified site from ancient Kingdom of Judah

[Cronos]

They did, but from different materials — wooden houses would not last as long as stone. That also means that we may not know a lot about different civilisations that used perishable materials instead of stone.

[Cronos]

well, 3000 years is an incredibly long time -- I remember that I was once trying to picture back different language groups back in time (I love Indo-EUropean socio-cultural-religious-linguistic history) -

• 1000 to 1400 years ago, most of the Slavic speakers spoke mutually intelligible languages - may be even the same language
• around 200 AD (1800 y.a.) the various Germanic groups, whether Goths, Vandals, Suebi, Angles, Jutes, etc. spoke the same language with slight variations, but mutually intelligible
• 3000 y.a. (1000 B.C.), the various northern Indic languages (the indo-aryanic branch of the indo-european family) was just one: Sanskrit and its prakrits (dialects) - and was nearly intelligible with Avestani (ancient Irani),
• while there were Irani speakers in all of what is now Iran, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kirghizstan, Uzbekistan, south Kazakhstan and Ukraine
• There were Indo-european speakers in Western China (what is now Uighuristan) -- these and the above Iranis were chased out by Turkic speakers from 700 AD onwards - chased, killed or assimilated
• the various Celtic languages were spreading across Europe from their base in the Czech republic (which wasn't Czech at that time :)
• Semitic languages were dominated by Assyrian, Babylonian, Aramaic etc. with Arabic not even developed yet

3000 years is a huge amount of time -- even politically -- in 1000 AD:

• Rome was not even founded -- Western Europe was mostly forest with the only great culture areas being in the south of Spain founded by Phoenicians (like Cadiz or Gades as they called it)
• Eastern Europe was forest, with the southern part mostly barbaric -- the Greeks were in the middle of their Dark age with the Dorian invasions and Athens, having been sacked in 1200 BC still smouldering...and Crete abandoned
• The situation in the near east was similar, with the hittite empire, the Egyptian new kingdom and the myceneans collapsed and gone. in Assyria you had Assur-Rabi, but he focused on fighting the Mushki in the north while the kingdom of Israel attained great power status with the collapse of the northern and southern superpowers

Ok, I could go on and on, but the situation was completely different and I can imagine that in 3000 years, the cultural, political and language.