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The monument is also the first example of a particular type of monument described in ancient Mesopotamian writings: it buried the bodies of enemies or local inhabitants who fell in battle in a pre-planned order.
The discovery also shows that “ancient people honored those who died in battle in the same way that we do now,” said Anne Porter, professor of ancient Middle Eastern civilizations at the University of Toronto. “We don’t know if they were the winners or the losers of that battle. But we know they are [Tell Banato gyventojai] perhaps after some time after the event, he took the bodies of the dead from elsewhere and reburied them in a huge mound, which was visible from a distance, ”says the researcher.
The monument looks a bit like the stepped pyramid of Joser in Egypt, except that the layers of the monument are made of earth and plaster, rather than stone, it is written on May 28. in the issue of the scientific journal Antiquity. People who lived in the area at the time called the mound a “white monument,” because the plaster glowed in the sunlight, the archaeologists write.
Although the site was found in 1988-1999. excavated by a team led by A. Porter and Thomas McClelland (both scientists were working on the Euphrates Rescue Project at the time), and scientists have not yet fully understood the purpose of the structure. They carried out excavations until the construction of the Tishreen Dam found the mound underwater.
During that time, the same archaeologists, along with college students from the University of Toronto, carefully examined the finds and found that the site was likely a military monument, perhaps the oldest known example of something like that in the world. They also discovered that the monument was built on an earlier building.
Army of the dead
Investigators note that the bodies were carefully placed. “The bones of the people were placed filling the horizontal [paminklo] ladders. They were placed directly on the ground, without burials or graves, the researchers write in Antiquity. “Although the bones are small, fragmented and slightly mixed, they were deliberately placed in separate groups.”
The remains are fragmented and in many cases the age and sex of the deceased has not been determined. And those who managed to be identified turned out to be children between 8 and 10 years old. It is not clear why someone of this age would be buried in a military memorial.
The bones appear to have been specifically excavated and reburied at this monument. “The bones could have been from an ancient battlefield or from a graveyard. However, they were carefully selected, sorted and finally buried, long after the fact of death, ”the archaeologists write in their work.
Some of the dead were buried with knights, “representatives of a donkey-like breed of horses depicted in ancient art pulling carriages,” the report says. The soldiers, buried with the knights, could have been carriage directors, my scientists.
Additionally, the team found ancient shots buried near some of the dead. The ancients used these sling shots, so these shots can emphasize the role or profession of the buried.
“We have noticed that there is a clear order in the burials: on one side of the monument there are bodies with horse skin and on the other, individuals with clay bullets,” Porter said in a statement. The old army is likely to have been divided into different units, such as chariots and infantry armed with shells and shotguns.
“The discovery suggests that [memoriale] not only did the people involved take part in the battle, but they also did so officially: they were part of an organized army divided into chariots and infantry, ”the archaeologists write.
The team at a funeral also found a model of a covered carriage, a sculpture representing a knight and a circle made of clay.
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