Page 18 - Archaeology - October 2017

FROM THE TRENCHES

DISPOSABLE GODS

Ceramic heads, hile excavating a refuse pit containing a mélange of
Porphyreon, burned animal bones, grape seeds, olive pits, and
Lebanon W chickpeas, archaeologists working in the ancient
Phoenician town of Porphyreon in present-day Lebanon also
retrieved fragments of several ceramic female heads dat-
ing to around 2,400 years ago. The researchers, from the
Polish Center of Mediterranean Archaeology, reassembled
the fragments and found that the heads measured around
nine inches tall and six inches wide. Small holes near the
top of the most complete specimen indicate it may have
been hung on a wall.
Mariusz Gwiazda, who led the team, also notes that the
objects incorporate a combination of Greek, Phoenician,
and Egyptian traits. “From the beginning, Phoenician art
borrows different ideas from different cultures,” says
Gwiazda, “mixing them together and creating its own
hybrid material language.” He believes the pieces were
meant to depict deities, though in the absence of writ-
ten evidence it is difficult to say which ones.
–DAniEl wEiss

A PRINCELY UPDATE

of personal items and drinking vessels
n 2015, French officials announced
X-rayed vessel
the discovery of an exceptional Celtic (“Top 10 Discoveries,” January/February
I burial located in Lavau, Champagne. 2016). Now, two years later, laboratory
The fifth-century b.c. tomb contained analysis of those artifacts has begun to
a wealthy individual—likely a prince— reveal just how truly extraordinary the
surrounded by a luxurious assemblage burial is. Scientists from the Center
for Research and Restoration of the
Museums of France recently examined
objects from the grave using a host of
modern techniques, including X-ray
tomography and radiography, 3-D
imaging, and chemical analysis—a rare
opportunity to employ the newest
technologies on objects taken recently
from the ground, as opposed to
those that have been deteriorating in
storerooms for decades, or those that
have already undergone conservation vessels revealed their remarkable quality
and the skill of the ancient metallurgists,
procedures. Radiography showed that
the prince’s belt was embroidered who had mastered the smelting and
with fine silver threads that formed a engraving process. High-resolution 3-D
continuous frieze of Celtic motifs, the scanning was even able to identify signs
only one of its kind ever discovered. His of subtle wear on a gold torc caused by
knife sheath was decorated with bronze its contact with human skin or clothing.
Celtic prince, Lavau, France
–JAson urBAnus
thread. Closer examination of the metal
16 ARCHAEOLOGY • September/October 2017