Posted on 05/16/2023 6:08:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
From 1903 to 1914, the Royal Museums in Berlin and the German Orient Society conducted excavations in Aššur under the direction of Walter Andrae (1875–1956). One of the aims of the excavation was to study the great ziggurat (stepped temple tower). In April 1914, in search of the foundation layers, the excavators widened an existing old tunnel.
In doing so, they uncovered several thousand beads of shell, stone, glass and pottery lying directly on the bedrock beneath the first layer of mudbricks. On the basis of find-sharing agreements, parts of the find ended up in the collection of the Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.
Among the beads were two disk-shaped ones whose material differed from the rest. They have now been re-examined by researchers from the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, the Martin-Luther-University of Halle-Wittenberg and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Fragments of the two beads were examined in 2019 by the Rathgen-Forschungslabor der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin—Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz using Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Despite severe weathering, the spectra broadly matched those of Baltic amber (succinite), suggesting that the amber beneath the great ziggurat of Aššur most likely originated in the Baltic or North Sea region. They belong to the period around 1800 BC or the first half of the 18th century BC.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
The paper is published in the journal Acta Archaeologica. More information: Jan-Heinrich Bunnefeld et al, Baltic Amber in Aššur. Forms and Significance of Amber Exchange between Europe and the Middle East, c.2000–1300 BC, Acta Archaeologica (2023). DOI: 10.1163/16000390-20210031Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain
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Biologists discover the first fossil species of mountain ants in Baltic amber
by St. Petersburg State University
February 2, 2023
https://phys.org/news/2023-02-biologists-fossil-species-mountain-ants.html
That is actually pretty significant. Across Russia through the Black Sea or around the Atlantic route?
cool, viking traders indulged in time travel and visited assyria? who would have suspected... :)
No way to know if it was overland (there was no Russia then) or Atlantic, but even if it were overland, it’s likely to have gone by water at least some of the way.
“One ringy-dingy, Two ringy-dingy”
“(there was no Russia then)”
Lol, well of course...
” but even if it were overland, it’s likely to have gone by water at least some of the way.”
Absolutely, I spent a month tracing the rivers and there is an almost continuous water route from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The one blockage is a portage only about 15 miles across from one river to another.
And I believe Heyerdahl’s theory that the Norse originated from Azerbaijan and the Caspian. Which would mean the overland route may have existed long before the Atlantic route. :)
Sounds like fun. :^)
Wow, trying to refresh my memory regarding the Varangian routes and portage spot(s) I got results about "The Varangian Way", an album by a Finnish group.
Anyway, [snip] The most essential routes included the Neva River, Lake Ladoga, the Volkhov River, Ilmen Lake, and the Lovat River. This set of rivers in the northeast can be easily connected to the Dnieper River, perhaps the most important river of Eastern Europe, which flows through modern-day Ukraine. And the Dnieper leads directly to the Black Sea. This allowed trade (especially slave trade) with the Byzantine Empire, hence the route's name – the "Route from the Varangians to the Greeks" [/snip] [link]
It wouldn't surprise me that the folks we know as the Vikings/Varangians lived in a lot of spots (because it's known to be true during post-Roman times), the Scandinavians' ancestors seem to have arrived in thee Germanic/Nordic migrations, and lived in the east, somewhere. The Indo-European language family tree is generally thought to be rooted in Central Asia, east of the Caspian.
One thing I read about it as a kid is, the words used for large bodies of water vary based on where the historical descendants wound up, suggesting that they didn't have a word for it and "grew up" in terrain that didn't have any.
Using Google Earth I also mile by mile followed the tributaries of the Volga north from the Caspian and they also nearly connect to the Reka which flows north to the White Sea. So that is another route nearly through by water.
So even if the “official narrative and assumption” that vikings didn’t know how to walk on land or use beasts and wheels, they could still hire locals to carry them on their backs the short distances between these waterways. lol
But I really do think prehistorically after the last ice age they originated from the Caspian area then migrated north as the Ice melted. I have often wondered if the early depictions of the Yggdrasil also served a second purpose as a map of these river tributaries that connected the south with the north.
If I ever get caught up and have some extra time I might play with investigating whether some of the earliest known Yggdrasil depictions will overlay and correspond with any of these tributary systems. Wouldn’t that be wild if they do? :)
imuho, Yggdrasil is astronomical, probably refers to the apparent celestial axis, which is of course the Earth's rotational axis. The horse of Odin was tethered to Yggdrasil, and that horse is probably Ursa Major.
I’m sure there is also astrological symbolism in it too. I believe it is possible it served/represented more than one purpose. Many ancient works had parallel symbolism and hidden symbolism. :)
Lurking. (bump)
Cool... :)
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