Important Innovations

Bronze Age Board Game Discovered Source:  Archeologist Walter Crist  Game On Chiseled in Stone A fascinating archeological discovery.  A dot pattern chiseled into stone in a rock shelter in Azerbaijan.  Archeologist Walter Crist, who discovered it, says it shows that an ancient Near Eastern game called 58 holes or Hounds and Jackals, spread to a population of herders in Azerbaijan.  That region is 1000 to 2000 kilometers away. Roll of the Dice Hounds and Jackals was thought to exist only in Egypt, Mesopotamia and other Near Eastern regions during the Bronze Age.  Dr. Crist, of the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, says the Azerbaijan herders must have had contact with the Near Eastern world more than 1200 miles away.  The archeologist says ancient games often passed across cultures.  In this case, players are thought to have rolled the dice to move pebbles and get to the top first.  4000 years ago, someone created a new p...

Underwater and Forgotten for 1600 Years Lake Iznik's Ancient Basilica Technology Captures Ancient Past An ancient Christian Church dating back to 390 AD has been discovered submerged in Turkey's Lake Iznik.  It's a Roman style church known as a basilica.  It's under 10 feet of water, 160 feet offshore near the western tip of Turkey. Archeologists believe an even older pagan temple dedicated to Apollo may lie underneath it. Archeological Search For years a team of archeologists from Bursa Uludag University had been searching the shores of the lake for the ancient ruins.  They were shocked by the aerial photos (taken by government surveyors) showing the site resting in the lake.  The Basilica was built in 390AD when Istanbul (about 2 hours away) was the eastern center of the Roman Empire. Archeological Finds The basilica was destroyed by an earthquake in the 8th century and sank into the lake.  It's been forgotten for 1600 years until now.  Arche...