The Archaeological Institute of America - Jacksonville Society

4,400-Year-Old Sun Temple Excavated in Egypt at Old Kingdom Necropolis

CAIRO, EGYPT—Ahram Online reports that more than half of the sun temple of the pharaoh Niuserre, who ruled from about 2420 to 2389 B.C. during the 5th Dynasty, has been uncovered in the Abusir necropolis. The monumental temple complex once covered more than 10,000 square feet, according to Massimiliano Nuzzolo of the University of Turin and Rossana Perilli of the University of Naples. This year, the excavation has revealed the entrance to the temple, the building’s original floor, the base of a limestone column, parts of a granite column thought to have been part of the entrance portico, and granite doorframes and lintels. One massive threshold in the building had been inscribed with a hieroglyphic calendar of the temple’s religious festivals and references to Niuserre. A ramp that likely connected the temple to the Nile River or one of its branches was also found. Artifacts recovered from the temple include two wooden playing pieces from the ancient game of Senet, Nuzzolo added. To read more about Niuserre and other 5th Dynasty pharaohs, go to "In the Reign of the Sun Kings."

Roman Coin Hoards Found in France

SENON, FRANCE—Live Science reports that tens of thousands of Roman coins have been unearthed in northeastern France by researchers led by Simon Ritz of the French National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP). Some of the coins bear images of rulers of the Gallic Empire that controlled the region from A.D. 260 to 274. The coins are thought to have been collected over time in three amphoras, which were carefully buried in a dwelling so that the openings of the jars were level with the floor. INRAP numismatist Vincent Geneviève said that the first jar held about 83 pounds of coins, and the second jar contained about 110 pounds of coins. Only three coins were found in a pit where a third jar had once been buried and later retrieved in antiquity. The remaining savings appear to have been forgotten when the settlement was destroyed by fire in the beginning of the fourth century. To read about a coin minted by one of the little-known Gallic emperors, go to "Artifact: Roman Coin."

ST. MARY’S CITY, MARYLAND—Live Science reports that artifacts unearthed in the Fones Cliffs area of Virginia’s Rappahannock River may provide evidence of a village described by English colonist John Smith, who was elected president of the Jamestown council in 1608. Archaeologist Julia King of St. Mary’s College of Maryland and her colleagues used Smith’s early seventeenth-century writings, and the oral histories of the Rappahannock Indian Tribe, to guide their search. They recovered some 11,000 artifacts at two sites—a sixteenth-century settlement that Smith likely mapped, and an early eighteenth-century site that the team believes was occupied by a settler named "Indian Peter," who was probably the son of a Rappahannock woman. “The presence of these artifacts confirms both oral histories and documents that suggested settlements were located here in 1608, when Captain John Smith spent several weeks mapping the Rappahannock River,” King said. The geography of this area offered natural protections and good soil for growing corn, she added. “Rappahannock people understand the greater river valley as their homeland, regardless of who may own the land today,” King explained. For more, go to "Return to the River."

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