Tag

Bronze Age

All articles tagged with #bronze age

Six-week peak: Kyrgyzstan’s Saimaluu Tash guards a Bronze Age petroglyph treasure
travel5 days ago

Six-week peak: Kyrgyzstan’s Saimaluu Tash guards a Bronze Age petroglyph treasure

Saimaluu Tash in Kyrgyzstan is a vast, millennia-old open-air gallery featuring about 90,000 petroglyphs carved on roughly 10,000 basalt boulders, depicting hunts, warfare and sun-worship from the Bronze Age; the site sits high in the Tian-Shan mountains and is accessible only during a short six-week window each July–September when a fragile snow bridge remains passable, making it one of Central Asia’s largest and best-preserved high-altitude cultural sites. Rediscovered in 1902 and studied since the 1940s, it remains a magnet for travelers drawn to its remote, pristine atmosphere.

Carlisle Bronze Age Gold Torcs Unearthed by Two Detectorists
history11 days ago

Carlisle Bronze Age Gold Torcs Unearthed by Two Detectorists

Two metal detectorists near Carlisle uncovered three Bronze Age gold torcs dating to around 1100 BC, weighing a combined 18.27 ounces and valued at about $400,000. The torcs are being assessed by the British Museum to determine treasure status, with a coroner deciding if they qualify as treasure; if declared treasure, they could be bought at market value with proceeds shared among the finders and the landowner, otherwise they may be returned to the finders for auction. The discovery came after hours of digging and has been described as a once-in-a-lifetime find by the detectorists.

Ancient DNA overturns Bronze Age stereotypes: Stonehenge-era shaman identified as female
archaeology1 month ago

Ancient DNA overturns Bronze Age stereotypes: Stonehenge-era shaman identified as female

Genetic testing of the 4,000-year-old burial known as the Upton Lovell Shaman near Stonehenge shows the individual was female (XX chromosomes), not male, challenging long-held views of Bronze Age metalworkers and leaders. The richly equipped grave—including goldworking tools, a touchstone, and ceremonial objects—suggests she was a high-status metalworker and shaman. The find, highlighted ahead of a new exhibition at the Francis Crick Institute, broadens our understanding of women's roles in Early Bronze Age society.

Nebra sky disc: Bronze Age sky almanac and the oldest known cosmos image
science1 month ago

Nebra sky disc: Bronze Age sky almanac and the oldest known cosmos image

The Nebra sky disc, a 32 cm Bronze Age bronze-and-gold disk with a sun, crescent, and 32 gold dots (including a seven-star cluster likely the Pleiades), is regarded by researchers as the world’s oldest concrete depiction of astronomical phenomena. Found by looters in Germany in 1999 and recovered in a 2002 Basel/Rhine sting, it now rests in Halle and was added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World. Dating relies on indirect evidence due to looting (no soil layers were recorded), with a central debate: whether it dates to about 1600 BC (Bronze Age) or possibly the first millennium BC (Iron Age). Its meaning is also debated—whether it’s a precise star map or a symbolic sky-almanac used to track solar and lunar cycles.

Face of a Bronze Age Mycenaean Woman Recast: Sister, Not Wife, in a Royal Tomb
science3 months ago

Face of a Bronze Age Mycenaean Woman Recast: Sister, Not Wife, in a Royal Tomb

DNA analysis and a digital facial reconstruction of a 3,500-year-old Mycenaean burial reveal the woman buried beside a man with three swords was his sister, not his wife. The reconstruction shows a young woman; bone and artifact evidence suggest she wielded or owned weapons and endured labor, prompting a rethink of gender roles in Late Bronze Age Mycenae.

Ancient Iberian Hoard Uncovers Meteorite Iron Forged Before Iron Age
science3 months ago

Ancient Iberian Hoard Uncovers Meteorite Iron Forged Before Iron Age

Researchers analyzing two corroded iron pieces from the 3,000-year-old Treasure of Villena in Spain determined they are meteoritic iron, making them the first such objects identified on the Iberian Peninsula and evidence of iron from space centuries before terrestrial iron smelting began. Nickel-rich signatures and other chemical markers support a extraterrestrial origin despite heavy corrosion; researchers caution that non-invasive follow-up is needed to strengthen the findings.