In the archaeological world, a new controversy has been stirred up by King Philip II of Macedon, also known as Alexander the Great’s father, and whether his skeletal remains are in Tomb I or Tomb II at Vergina in Macedonia. Old Bones, New Controversy: Opposing Studies Published in Same Year Within two months, two opposing studies have been published regarding Philip II’s final resting place in the tombs at Vergina in Macedonia. The conflicting articles have ignited a heated debate as to which tomb sheltered the ancient Greek king at the famous UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the new article (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/07/15/1510906112), published by Antonis Bartisokas and fellow colleagues in the Proceedings of the …show more content…
National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), King Philip II’s remains are in Tomb I. Researchers Have Said King Philip II is Behind Tomb I… Bartsiokas and the researchers came to this conclusion after bone analysis of the femur and tibia revealed the skeleton in question had a knee injury. An injury, researchers say, that has given away the true identity of the skeleton in Tomb I to be King Philip II. In several historical accounts, Philip II ((http://www.biography.com/people/philip-ii-of-macedon-21322787) suffered a battle wound in the knee. Though he recovered, he suffered the rest of his life with lameness in the affected leg. The bone analysis showed the femur and tibia had fused at an angle that would support the stories of the king’s leg injury. … But other researchers are convinced Philip II is Behind Tomb II While Bartsiokas is satisfied that this analysis is correct, some researchers aren’t convinced. Earlier this year, a pair of researchers, Antikas and Wynn-Antikas, published their own findings from the tombs that concluded the remains of Philip II were in Tomb II, accompanied by a Scythian warrior princess, a woman who is known as his seventh wife. Antikas’s research (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oa.2459/abstract) revealed other injuries, including a sharp trauma to the bones in the skeleton’s hand, had definitively ruled Tomb II as the correct crypt for the assassinated king. The researchers also pointed out other bioarchaeological evidence of changes to the bony structures that indicated it was truly King Philip. The Controversy Heats Up as Antikas Takes on Bartsiokas Knowing that the recent publication in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology had said the skeleton in Tomb II was Philip II, Bartsiokas and his researchers had some explaining to do once they had defined their King Philip II remains in Tomb I.
The researchers suggested that the remains in Tomb II had actually belonged to Philip III Arridhaeus (the king’s son) and his wife. After PNAS published Bartsiokas’s article, Antikas wrote a letter to the editor indicating a deep concern over the publication and its lack of full disclosure of the other skeletons found in the tomb. Having studied the tomb himself, Antikas knows there are seven skeletal remains of humans in the tomb and also a few animal remains. For whatever reason, Bartsiokas did not include all of the skeletal findings in his published article. The researchers only identified King Philip II, Cleopatra, and a set of neonate remains as their newborn. According to Antikas, this lack of disclosure is speculation enough to warrant the new findings as not being conclusively and sufficiently supported by evidence. Furthermore, the suggestion of the remains in Tomb II belonging to Philip III and his wife were merely based on stories from history rather than skeletal
evidence. So is it Tomb I or Tomb II? Bioarchaeological Analysis and the Future of Philip II Though Bartsiokas and Antikas may not be on the same page with their conflicting results, the identification of the skeletons may soon come to light with new advances in bioarchaeological analysis techniques. Though the bones have yet to undergo carbon-14 dating or DNA analysis, in the world of bioarchaeology, it is only a matter of time and testing until King Philip II of Macedon will emerge from either Tomb I or Tomb II.
“Skeletons in the Closet”, written by Clara Spotted Elk, is a well-built argument, but it can be enhanced to become immensely effective. Firstly, Elk’s position is effective in obtaining her purpose and connecting her audience to it, because she includes a broad scope and background of the problem in the first few paragraphs. She describes the amount of Indian skeletons preserved and contained by American museums, through the use of data and statistics. For instance, Elk states: “we found that 18,500 Indian remains…are unceremoniously stored in the Smithsonian’s nooks and crannies” (13-15). By using this data, the background of the argument is illustrated to assist the audience in understanding her argument. Now, by knowing this statistic, readers can connect with Elk and her assertion, since we realize that there are plenty of skeletons that
Have you heard of a man named Alexander the Great, the famous historical figure? There are many amazing stories about him explaining the courageous things he had accomplished. However, if you learn more about him and his accomplishments you will soon realized the real person Alexander was. Alexander the Great, ruler of his empire was in fact not great as his title states. The definition of great is a person who shows concern for others, has leadership and shows intelligence. Alexander didn’t show any of these characteristics therefore he doesn’t deserve the title of “great”.
The site of Emperor Haung’s tomb is located in Lintong, Shaanxi province, near the city of Xi’an in China (Kesner 1995). After its completion in 210 BCE, it was covered by earth mined from an area near the Wei River, sealing it away from the outside world for over two thousand years (Swart 1984). While ancient historians wrote of the unbelievable tomb, hidden under a massive pile of earth, many modern historians simply did not believe it to be true. However, between 1932 and 1970, five figures of kneeling servants were found near where the tomb mound was thought to be (Swart 1984). The mausoleum itself was eventually unearthed in 1974 by farmers who were digging wells and accidentally broke into a vast pit containing life-sized statues of about 6,000 soldiers and horses. A group of Chinese archaeologists were assigned to excavate the site and dig up its ancient treasures. In 1976, two more underground pits were found with about 1,500 more soldiers and horses (Swart 1984). Other than the clay soldiers and horses, brass figures were discovered...
The Trojan War and its characters are detailed in the writings of Homer, Vergil, Dante and many others. It is a fantastical tale of a decade-long siege of a powerful city by a massive pan-hellenic force. However, even though it has proved to be such a rich source of inspiration for writers, poets and artists throughout history, it is debated whether it actually took place. Heinrich Schliemann famously said “I have gazed on the face of Agamemnon.” on discovering tombs with the bodies of Mycenaean chieftains in Turkey. The German businessman-turned-archaeologist claimed to have discovered the city of Troy at the hill now called Hisarlik – about three miles from the Dardanelles. However, his claims are still disputed today. Before tackling the question of whether the Trojan War actually occurred, we must ask in what form. What exactly do we mean by “the Trojan War”? There is no definitive version of the events in the war, as our knowledge of it comes from a myriad different sources. Then we should consider Schliemann’s discoveries, and the other archaeological evidence for the Trojan War. Finally, after we have defined “Trojan War” in context of archaeology and historical fact, we must then draw conclusions about the extent to which archaeology proves its historical authenticity.
When Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon discovered the tomb of Tutankhamun they knew it was an enormous task to study and partially excavate the site as it had an immense amount of artefacts and it was littered with limestone debris from the tomb of Ramses that was directly above it and that posed difficulties but it is agreed upon that it was the debris that kept KV62 hidden and intact for so long.
In Xian China in the years 221-210 BCE the first emperor Qin Shi Huang ruled over China somewhere in between these years he ordered that his tomb was to be built and his soldiers, wife, and any other people to be killed and placed in the tomb. But at that time there was war and conflict and the population was small so every life was valuable, so instead he ordered his architects and artists to make over 8000 soldiers, 130 chariots, 520 hours and 150 calves. These warriors are made out of clay and their weapons made out of bronze. It is said that they were placed in the emperor's tomb to protect him in the afterlife. The tomb and worries were accidently found by a farmer digging a well in 1974.
This is important because the grave had no other markings to show that the bones they were discovering belonged to a
Alexander the Great is hailed, by most historians, as “The Great Conqueror” of the world in the days of ancient Mesopotamia. “Alexander III of Macedon, better known as Alexander the Great, single-handedly changed the nature of the ancient world in little more than a decade. Alexander was born in Pella, the ancient capital of Macedonia in July 356 BCE. His parents were Philip II of Macedon and his wife Olympias. Philip was assassinated in 336 BCE and Alexander inherited a powerful yet volatile kingdom. He quickly dealt with his enemies at home and reasserted Macedonian power within Greece. He then set out to conquer the massive Persian Empire” (Web, BBC History). It is important to note, which will maybe explain his brutal actions, that Alexander was only twenty years old when he became the king of Macedonia. “When he was 13, Philip hired the Greek philosopher Aristotle to be Alexander’s personal tutor. During the next three years Aristotle gave Alexander training in rhetoric and literature and stimulated his interest in science, medicine, and philosophy, all of which became of importance in Alexander’s later life” (Web, Project of History of Macedonia). “In, 340, when Philip assembled a large Macedonian army and invaded Thrace, he left his 16 years old son with the power to rule Macedonia in his absence as regent, but as the Macedonian army advanced deep into Thrace, the Thracian tribe of Maedi bordering north-eastern Macedonia rebelled and posed a danger to the country. Alexander assembled an army, led it against the rebels, and with swift action defeated the Maedi, captured their stronghold, and renamed it after himself to Alexandropolis. Two years later in 338 BC, Philip gave his son a commanding post among the senior gener...
The discovery of King Tutankhamen tomb in 1922 has caught the attention of the world. The ancient Pharaoh's tomb is the only known find that is in its original state. Thieves have not looted the tomb (Sayre, 2011). According to Rompalske (2000), in Egypt's Valley of the Kings was King Tutankhamen tomb found. Nearby burial sites were long been looted by grave robbers or damaged by floodwaters. Somehow, the tomb remained undisturbed for 3,000 years. This undisturbed condition is significant because the world only knew of what contents should be in a Pharaoh's tomb from ancient writings. The world has never before seen the actual contents of a Pharaoh's tomb intact. Additionally, right at the time of the tomb discovery and before breaching the sealed door, an elderly British romantic novelist Marie Corelli, who specializes on the supernatural wrote of an ominous warning, a "Mummy's Curse", that anyone who intrudes into a sealed tomb will suffer or die (Marchant, 2013). The recipient of Corelli's warning is the renowned British Archeologist Howard Carter and his financier George Herbert, a very wealthy fifth Earl of Carnarvon. It is the intention of this report to identify the mystery surrounding the curse and to dispel or validate its accuracy.
The tomb of Queen Nefertiti has never been found. There are beliefs it is located in a passageway that connects to the tomb of King Tut. It is said that Nefertiti and Akhenaten the parents of King Tut although there is no way of confirming. In August of 2015 Nicholas Reeves of the University of Arizona said that he is able to locate the tomb of the Queen in a wall in the Valley of Kings. Confirmation of this exact location has not been given, however it brings researchers closer to finding the mystery that is
Nefertiti Joann Fletcher’s constant research of Nefertiti and ancient Egypt led her to believe that an unidentified mummy is the long-forgotten queen Nefertiti. Many things found near or on the body pointed to their identification such as the fact that it was a woman who died sometime between the ages of twenty and thirty during the eighteenth dynasty, the impression of a tight band around her skull and the positioning and mutilation of her arms and body. Many busts that were made flaunting her beauty greatly resemble the mummy in the initial appearance and the exceptionally long neck. She was a powerful and prideful woman, and now she will hopefully once again be admired by people of the world. It is only logical to assume that the mutilated mummy found in a secret chamber of Amenhotep II’s tomb is the queen Nefertiti.
The elements that will be focused on are the multiple functions of the tomb and rituals, specifically the mummification of bodies. Ancient Egyptian tombs had many functions; the main function being to hold the bodies of the dead. Tombs were typically built during a person’s lifetime and were ready by their time of death (Olson, 2009). Before bodies were put in the tombs, they underwent a process called mummification to help preserve the body and keep it intact. The tomb was also a place where family members could come and visit the deceased. In the early years, tomb structures were very simple; they consisted only of one chamber (Grajetzki, 2003: 3-4). Later on, façade tombs were built— which consisted of two parts; an “underground chamber for the dead and the superstructure built above the ground, over the shaft and the burial chamber” (Grajetzki, 2003: 8). Next, the Egyptian tombs and ...
Moussa, Ahmed M., and Hartwig Altenmller, The Tomb of Nefer and Ka-Hay (Mainz, 1971), pg. 33.
Ramesses I, and II were buried in the valley of the kings. Only kings were allowed to be buried in the Valley of the Kings. ...
In the approaching of the tomb, there are three very different accounts of who adv...