Pluto opposition Saturn -" long buried cities re-discovered"

[Pallas180]

investigation, unearthing, digging, discovery is Pluto...and Saturn is the old, and the earth:

"Rare, Amazing Find Unearthed In Greece

<> Deep inside the Earth they found stone foundations, cobbled streets, and pottery shards. Even though the archaeologists had seen such things before, they had never seen anything like this. In their quest to find the ruins of a Greek city named Helike, they instead found something even more ancient, rare, and exciting: an urban center that is some 4,500 years old dating from 2300 B.C. to 2600 B.C., reports The New York Times.

Located about 26 miles east of the modern port of Patras, this long-lost city has no name because no one even knew it existed. It is one of the few Early Bronze Age communities ever found on the Greek mainland, dating to pre-Homeric Troy. The archaeologists call it a "Bronze Age Pompeii."

The Times says this much is known from the archaeological dig at this prehistoric site: The town was prosperous, and the remains are undisturbed by anyone who later occupied the area. It was probably a well-organized regional center of some wealth that controlled the sea trade. It was governed by a ruler in a hierarchal society.

Some of the treasures found:
* A tall cylindrical cup that was made in the same style of the graceful depas drinking cups popular with the nobility in Troy. This suggests a much wider Trojan influence than previously known.
* Buildings made of stone walls flanked paved streets.
* Mostly intact pottery, including clay jars, cooking pots, tankards, and kraters, which are wide bowls used for mixing wine and water.
* Gold and silver clothing ornaments.

"It's not just a little farmstead," Dr. John E. Coleman, an archaeologist and professor of classics at Cornell University who has visited the ruins twice, told the Times. "It has the look of a settlement that may be planned, with buildings aligned to a system of streets, which is pretty rare for that period. And the depas cup is very important because it suggests international contacts."

Next year, the research team will conduct an extensive seismic survey the area in order to produce a map of the city walls, building foundations, and other structures.

[Pallas180]

1. And unearthed by the Tsunami:

<http://cdn.netscape.com/wnew/goback>

Stunning Find Uncovered by the Tsunami

December's deadly tsunami may have uncovered the remains of an ancient and once-flourishing port city off the coast in southern India, reports the BBC News. The stone remains were found near India's famous 1,200-year-old beachfront Mahabalipuram temple in Tamil Nadu called The Shore Temple.

Click to see the relics of the ancient port city that have been buried under the sand for centuries. (Photo: AFP for the BBC News)

Once the waters from the devastating tsunami receded, archaeologists found three pieces, including a granite lion, buried in the sand that date to the 7th century AD. "They could be part of the small seaport city which existed here before water engulfed them. They could be part of a temple or a building. We are investigating," T. Sathiamoorthy of Archaeological Survey of India told the BBC.

Click to see a photo of The Shore Temple in the ancient city of Mahabalipuram, India. It survived because it was protected from the sea by huge boulders.

Archaeologists have known for some time that this was the site of an ancient port, and for the past three years they have been working with divers from India and England to find any remnants of it. Myth has long held that there were six temples submerged beneath the waves with the seventh temple still standing on the shore. The myths also state that a large city which once stood on the site was so beautiful the gods became jealous and sent a flood that swallowed it up entirely in a single day, notes the BBC.

Each of the stone remains is nearly six-feet tall and contain elaborate engravings that are similar to those found in the Mahabalipuram temple, which also dates to the 7th century AD. The temple has gigantic open-air reliefs hewn out of granite that had long been covered with sand. The tsunami actually helped archaeologists desilt one of them."

[hippiechick]

3. Graham Hancock wrote a book on the undersea ruins of India ...

Underworld

Fascinating stuff !!

[hippiechick]

2. "It was governed by a ruler in a hierarchal society."

... and they know this, how ? :shrug:

Did they find anything in writing/hieroglyphs to confirm that ?

It really irks me when archaeologists/anthropologists/historians appear to project their own world-view onto a fresh dig.

[fedsron2us]

4. Sadly, archaeology often uses these meaningless statements

to cover up the fact that physical artefacts alone can only give a partial view of how a society functioned. As a result they often fall back on tired euphemisms. For example, large structures are often described as 'high status buildings'. Similarly, when the layout of an area is difficult to interpret, it is often labeled a 'ritual landscape'. Modern man finds it desperately difficult to admit that the 'past is a foreign country' that we can never fully know.

[KittyWampus]

5. Metallurgy Would Suggest Hierarchy.

division of labor
specialized artisans
disposable wealth
personal adornment/status symbols

It's one thing to have potters... another to have a society that mines and works metal.