Archaeology

Did you know? Venus of Willendorf is an 11 cm-tall female figurine discovered in 1908 at a Paleolithic site near Willendorf, Austria. The figurine has been sculpted from limestone around 30,000 BCE (European Upper Paleolithic). It was made for luck, success, and fertility. Venus from Willendorf is now presented at the Naturhistorisches Museum of Natural History in Vienna. Later, similar female figurines from the same period were discovered and were given the group nickname “Venus figurines”.

Did you know? Mammoth was an ancient elephant-like animal that lived in cold regions of North Asia, Europe, and North America, and became extinct thousands of years ago. The mammoths first appeared 5 million years ago in Africa, and they are often presented in ancient cave paintings in Europe. The mammoths had huge, rounded ivory tusks, and their bodies were covered with a thick layer of fat covered with brown, hairy fur that protected them from the extreme cold weather. The mammoths rose to a height of 3 meters, and the "Royal Mammoth" reached between 4 to 5 meters. They lived in herds and fed on herbs and plants. A number of frozen mammoths have been discovered in Siberia (the first one was found in 1806). They were well preserved due to the extreme cold and hence scientists have been able to decode the genetic sequence of these mammoths as well as other ancient mammalian species buried in the ice layers of the Siberian lands.

Did you know? Stonehenge is an ancient site in the county of Wiltshire, England. It is one of the most famous prehistoric monuments in the world. Stonehenge was built of a huge ring of stones surrounded by an earth bank. The monument, which was built in six stages, has been probably served as a cemetery and used as a place for rituals during burial ceremonies. The monument was constructed from 3,100 BC to 1,600 BC (through the transition from the Neolithic Period to the Bronze Age).

Did you know? The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World is a list of monuments that were considered in the ancient world to be the most impressive man-made places. In ancient times the seven wonders of the ancient world were well known and many travelers came from distances to see them. The final list of monuments was determined only in the Middle Ages and included the following sites: The Great Pyramid of Giza (Egypt, 2584-2561 BC), the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Babylon, 600 BC), the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus (Turkey, 550 BC), the Statue of Zeus at Olympia (Greece, 435 BC), the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (Turkey, 351 BC), the Colossus of Rhodes (Greece, 292-280 BC), and the Lighthouse in Alexandria (Egypt, 280 BC). Of the seven wonders of the ancient world, only the Great Pyramid of Giza has been preserved to this day.

Did you know? Heaven is the name of a fruitful place, where according to the Torah God planted delicious fruit trees for food, and where Adam and Eve lived during the beginning of their journey: “A river flows out of Eden to water the garden and from there divides into four rivers. The first is named Pishon; it flows through Havilah where there is gold. The gold of this land is good. The land is also known for its sweet-scented resin and the onyx stone. The second river is named Gihon; it flows through the land of Cush. The third river is named Hiddekel and flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. GOD took the Man and set him down in the Garden of Eden to work the ground and keep it in order. GOD commanded the Man, you can eat from any tree in the garden, except the Tree-of-Knowledge-of-Good-and-Evil. Don’t eat from it. The moment you eat from that tree, you’re dead.” (Genesis 2:10-14-16-17). A single river came out of heaven and split into four rivers: Euphrates, Hadakal, Fishon, and Gihon (probably Iraq, a place that was very fertile thousands of years ago). In the center of the garden stood the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. Eve was seduced by the serpent and ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. After seeing that it was delicious, she also tempted Adam to eat the forbidden fruit. As punishment for violating the commandment, Adam and Eve were cursed and expelled from heaven.

Did you know? Mesopotamia. The Biblical Aram-Naharaim was located in the northern part of Mesopotamia. Two ancient civilizations lived in ancient Mesopotamia: the Sumerians and the Akkadians. The inventions of the cuneiform logo-syllabic script and the wheel are attributed to this culture. The Akkadian kingdom was founded around 2,350 BC. The Akkadians lived in northern Mesopotamia, they belonged to the Semitic race and spoke a Semitic language written in cuneiform. Later the Assyrians, who believed in the city god of Ashur, ruled in northern Mesopotamia, and the Babylonians, who believed in the Marduk god of Babylon, ruled in southern Mesopotamia.

Did you know? The oldest gold treasure in the world was not discovered in Sumer, Egypt, or the continent of America before Columbus, but was revealed in 1972 in Bulgaria, in the Chalcolithic period necropolis (city of the dead) near the city of Varna. To date, 294 tombs have been excavated in the city of the dead, in which more than 3,000 gold objects have been discovered. The treasure is of great value because scientists attribute it to the sixth millennium BC. The sensational discovery has raised many questions about ancient civilizations in the Bulgarian region. The Varna treasure still attracts the attention of many tourists alongside archaeologists and researchers from around the world.

Did you know? Chalcolithic copper. In the 1960s a large archaeological excavation was performed in the Judean Desert in an attempt to locate the Hidden Scrolls. During this excavation, a hoard was discovered by the archaeologist Pesach Bar-Adon in the Nahal Mishmar cave, Judean Desert, with a collection of over 400 artifacts from the Chalcolithic period (about 6000 years ago, the term Chalcolithic originated in Greek and means copper and stone) wrapped in a woven mat. The hoard included a variety of metal objects, among them crowns and maces that were made using the lost wax technique. The common assumption is that these objects belonged to the Chalcolithic Temple of Ein Gedi, located about 12 km from the Nahal Mishmar Treasure Cave, and were probably used for religious purposes and ceremonies.

The Bronze Age

Around 4,500 BC, humans began to use copper. Later they discovered that fire-melted copper ingots could be poured into molds to create a variety of shapes. Around the year 3,300 BC, it was discovered that smelting copper with tin forms an alloy called bronze. The alloy obtained with the addition of tin was stronger and stiffer than pure copper and was more suitable for the production of strong and abrasion-resistant tools and weapons. The Bronze Age began in the Middle East with the transition to the production of bronze vessels and in parallel with the urbanization process in Egypt and Mesopotamia. In order to create sophisticated tools, the bronze was cast into molds of the desired shape, and thus fine tools were obtained, such as axes and knives. Following the demand for bronze, groups of miners and metalworkers were developed. The creation of bronze weapons caused a rise in warrior aristocracy and led to a socio-cultural revolution in the ancient Near East. In the Land of Israel, the Bronze Age lasted between 3,000 and 1,150 BC.

Did you know? Timna Park is one of the oldest copper mines in the world. Copper mining in Timna began about 6,000 years ago, in the late fifth millennium BC. The mine was active at the time when man first learned to produce copper. At that time the Egyptians ruled the area, and delegations of Egyptian miners mined the copper in Timna and took the raw material back to Egypt.

Did you know? The Trojan War is a war described in Greek mythology, in which the Greeks (Achaeans) fought against the people of the city of Troy. The war probably took place around 1,200 BC, following the kidnapping of Helena of Sparta by Paris, the son of the King of Troy. According to mythology, the Greeks won the battle following a ploy by Odysseus, in which a horse statue was presented to the King of Troy as a gift, inside which warriors were infiltrated into the city, leading to the destruction of the city of Troy.

The Iron Age

The iron age is the period in which man began to manufacture tools and weapons from iron. Around 1,500 BC, the Hittites (Turkey region) discovered a method of extracting iron from its ores. From there the use of iron spread to the Middle East and with it, the iron blacksmith occupation was born. The transition from iron to bronze was initially due to a shortage of tin and not due to technological considerations. The advantage of iron over bronze was not immediate and increased over the years while developing methods such as enriching iron with carbon for hardening the metal. Over time the availability of iron ore made it more common and cheaper than bronze. After the appropriate methods for iron processing were developed, iron tools were much stronger than the bronze tools and more suitable for uses for both earthworks tools and for weapons production. In the Land of Israel, the Iron Age continued from the Philistine invasion until the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

Did you know? Metallurgy is a discipline that deals with understanding the connection between the metal and its production process, and how these affect the material properties. This discipline, which originated in ancient times when man began to extract copper from its ores, deals with methods for extracting and producing metals with desired properties. It is estimated that even before 4000 BC man used metals that were found on the ground, for example, metals received from meteor remains, for jewelry, and sometimes even for tools production. The metals used in ancient times were copper, gold, silver, lead, and iron, and their production included hammering.