Original
Source
Flood begets fortune
In an act of serendipity, long-forgotten ruins
have surfaced in Turkey’s Amuq region. A 2003 flood exposed
a Bronze Age wall and a storeroom of artifacts, drawing archeologists
back to a dig site abandoned 55 years ago. A team including David
Schloen, associate professor in the Oriental Institute, re-excavated
the deserted site this past fall, uncovering a Hittite period palace
and private houses. One of the team’s findings, a 14th- or
15th-century B.C. tomb—unlike any other discovered in the
Middle East—contained four sets of human remains, each separated
by a plaster layer. Appliqués—cutout decorations likely
sewn on garments or a headdress—and jewelry, including gold
necklaces, also were inside. Scholars will examine the items to
better understand how regional states evolved into empires and then
devolved into small kingdoms.—M.L.
![IMAGE: Original source](images/0404-source.jpg) Courtesy
the Oriental Institute |
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