Posted on 05/09/2007 2:42:53 PM PDT by blam
Greek archaeologists discover rare example of 2,700-year-old weaving
The Associated PressPublished: May 9, 2007
ATHENS, Greece: Archaeologists in Greece have recovered a rare section of 2,700-year old fabric from a burial imitating heroes' funerals described by the poet Homer, officials said Wednesday.
The yellowed, brittle material was found in a copper urn during a rescue excavation in the southern town of Argos, a Culture Ministry announcement said.
"This is an extremely rare find, as fabric is an organic material which decomposes very easily," said archaeologist Alkistis Papadimitriou, who headed the dig. She said only a handful of such artifacts have been found in Greece.
The cylindrical urn also contained dried pomegranates offerings linked with the ancient gods of the underworld along with ashes and charred human bones from an early 7th century B.C. cremation.
Papadimitriou said the material was preserved for nearly 3,000 years by the corroding copper urn. "Copper oxides killed the microbes which normally destroy fabric," she told The Associated Press.
Conservation experts from Athens will work on the fragile find.
"Our first concern is to save it," Papadimitriou said. "Afterward, it will undergo laboratory tests to tell us about the precise fabric and weaving techniques."
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
“a copper urn’
Q: What’s a copper urn?
A: About forty thousand right out of the academy.
I'd be interested in seeing the source for that. It would seem to be a chronological impossibility, as the earliest Tocharian A documents date from the 6th century CE, which is centuries after even Cai Lun paper.(SRC)
BTW, the oldest paper ever found was found with this area and it has Tocharian A written on it.
It's contained in the book,The Tarim Mummies, linked in post #10.
Mhmm, did it also mention the dating and location of the site of this Tocharian A paper discovery? And what was the chapter and/or page number where all this was mentioned in the book ... perhaps I can have some of my contacts in the Chinese history field look it up. I am now very interested in verifying this; if true, it would make the Tocharian A script at least 600 years older than it is presently believed to be. Exciting, that would be.
It's contained in the book,The Tarim Mummies, linked in post #10.
In the book, The Tarim Mummies, about two thirds the way down page 321: "The oldest archaeological find of paper employed as a writing medium for writing dates to about AD 110 and our major source of early paper documents is, not suprisingly, the desiccating sands of the Tarim Basin."
Earlier on this same page it says that the Chinese were the earliest users of paper and that it was used for "clothes, hats, belts, armour, packing material, paper handkerchiefs, toilet paper, wallpaper, kites, currency(9th century), cards, umbrellas and etc. - and the Chinese were invariably the earliest to utilize them."
Later this evening I will look in my book, The Mummies Of Urumchi, for the source of the exact quote.
Ah, I see. Thanks. But it does not mention that a Tocharian script was written on the paper, let alone Tocharian A. If Tocharian A was really written on this paper, even a 110 CE paper, many in Indo-European linguistic studies would be a-flurry with excitement at finding examples of Tocharian script that predate known Tocharian writing by almost half a millennium. By 110 CE, though, the Han Dynasty had a well-established presence in the Tarim Basin, so it is quite likely that this paper was inscribed with ancient Hanzi.
"The oldest archaeological find of paper employed as a writing medium for writing dates to about AD 110 and our major source of early paper documents is, not suprisingly, the desiccating sands of the Tarim Basin."
The cylindrical urn also contained dried pomegranates offerings linked with the ancient gods of the underworld
All hail Demeter, whose rich hair falls in golden plaits as only a goddeses does.
Drink the Kykeon, become Epoptes!
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
Amazing for people to publish stories about artefacts with no pics....
[rimshot!]
The History of Etruria: Burning of the BooksOne noted discovery of the 20th Century was the Liber Linteus, or Linen book, which was thought to be the fragments of an Etruscan book made of linen and re-used to preserve an Egyptian Mummy. The Liber Linteus can be seen in Zagreb museum. If linen was used as a medium, then this would have had even less chance of survival than papyrus. Certainly there have been examples of models of Etruscan books found in the tombs of Cerveteri. These suggest that Linen was indeed traditionally used by the Etruscans for the written word.
The Mysterious Etruscans
The question of the scope of Etruscan literature remains unanswered, but it is quite clear from other sources that it must have been quite substantial. Censorinus refers to the Annals of Etruria, and during the late Roman Republic and Early Imperial years it was considered quite fashionable for Roman Patricians to send their boys to Etruscan schools to further their education. Some of this would no doubt have been a grounding in the disciplina etrusca, but it seems unlikely that that was all that they learned. We also know that enough of the history of Etruria survived in written form even up to late Imperial times for the emperor Claudius to write a twenty volume history of Etruria. (together with an 8 volume history of the Carthaginians, both in the Greek Language) If even a fragment of this history survived today it would answer a great many questions.
I had meant to imply that too. Apparently I was wrong, my apologies...I pride myself on being correct in such matters. Albeit, I still think I read that somewhere and if I run across it again I'll make note where and notify you. Until I can cite a reliable source, I'll stop saying it.
Would have liked a picture.
Prehistoric Women: Not So Simple, Not So Strange
New Scientist | 3-28-2007 | Germaine Greer
Posted on 03/31/2007 2:03:47 PM EDT by blam
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