A discovery for the ages! :bowler:
http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/remains-of-alexander-the-greats-father-confirmed-found-141009.htm
QuoteRemains of Alexander the Great's Father Confirmed Found
Oct 10, 2014 06:00 AM ET // by Rossella Lorenzi
A team of Greek researchers has confirmed that bones found in a two-chambered royal tomb at Vergina, a town some 100 miles away from Amphipolis's mysterious burial mound, indeed belong to the Macedonian King Philip II, Alexander the Great's father.
The anthropological investigation examined 350 bones and fragments found in two larnakes, or caskets, of the tomb. It uncovered pathologies, activity markers and trauma that helped identify the tomb's occupants.
Along with the cremated remains of Philip II, the burial, commonly known as Tomb II, also contained the bones of a woman warrior, possibly the daughter of the Skythian King Athea, Theodore Antikas, head of the Art-Anthropological research team of the Vergina excavation, told Discovery News.
The findings will be announced on Friday at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. Accompanied by 3,000 digital color photographs and supported by X-ray computed tomography, scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray fluorescence, the research aims to settle a decades-old debate over the cremated skeleton.
Scholars have argued over those bones ever since Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos discovered the tomb in 1977-78. He excavated a large mound -- the Great Tumulus -- at Vergina on the advice of the English classicist Nicholas Hammond.
Among the monuments found within the tumulus were three tombs. One, called Tomb I, had been looted, but contained a stunning wall painting of the Rape of Persephone, along with fragmentary human remains.
PHOTOS: Great Archaeological Discoveries Ahead
Tomb II remained undisturbed and contained the almost complete cremated remains of a male skeleton in the main chamber and the cremated remains of a female in the antechamber. Grave goods included silver and bronze vessels, gold wreaths, weapons, armor and two gold larnakes.
Tomb III was also found unlooted, with a silver funerary urn that contained the bones of a young male, and a number of silver vessels and ivory reliefs.
Most of the scholarly debate concentrated on the occupants of Tomb II, with experts arguing that the occupants were either Philip II and Cleopatra or Meda, both his wives, or Philip III Arrhidaeus, Alexander's half-brother, who assumed the throne after Alexander's death, with his wife Eurydice.
King Philip II was a powerful fourth-century B.C. military ruler from the Greek kingdom of Macedon who gained control of Greece and the Balkan peninsula through tactful use of warfare, diplomacy, and marriage alliances (the Macedonians practiced polygamy).
His efforts -- he reformed the Macedonian army and proposed the invasion of Persia -- later provided the basis for the achievements of his son and successor Alexander the Great, who went on to conquer most of the known world.
The overlord of an empire stretching from Greece and Egypt eastward across Asia to India, Alexander died in Babylon, now in central Iraq, in June of 323 B.C. — just before his 33rd birthday.
His elusive tomb is one of the great unsolved mysteries of the ancient world.
Analyzed by Antikas' team since 2009, the male and female bones in Philip II's tomb have revealed peculiarities not previously seen or recorded.
"The individual suffered from frontal and maxillary sinusitis that might have been caused by an old facial trauma," Antikas said.
PHOTOS: Accidental Archaeological Discoveries
Such trauma could be related to an arrow that hit and blinded Philip II's right eye at the siege of Methone in 354 B.C. The Macedonian king survived and ruled for another 18 years before he was assassinated at the celebration of his daughter's wedding.
The anthropologists found further bone evidence to support the identification with Philip II, who being a warrior, suffered many wounds, as historical accounts testify.
"He had signs of chronic pathology on the visceral surface of several low thoracic ribs, indicating pleuritis," Antikas said.
He noted that the pathology may have been the effect of Philip's trauma when his right clavicle was shattered with a lance in 345 or 344 B.C.
The anthropologist also found an old incised wound on Philip's left hand caused by a sharp-edged object, possibly a weapon.
Degenerative lesions and markers pointed to a middle-aged man who rode a horse frequently.
Examination of the bones revealed a fully-fleshed cremation, further disproving the theory that the remains belong to Philip III Arrhidaeus, who was buried, exhumed, cremated and finally reburied.
"Features such as cracking, color, warping, twisting seen on the bones indicate pyre-induced morphological alterations," Antikas said.
"A typical example is the 90-degree twisting of the left parietal bone of the man's cranium. This would never happen, if the skull were 'dry', coming from an ossuary," he added.
Additional composite material was also found on the bones. Dr. Yannis Maniatis, Head of the Archaeometry Lab at the ''Demokritos'' National Scientific Research Center in Athens, Antikas's team found traces of royal purple, huntite, textile, beeswax and clay belonging to an elaborately made object.
"It was placed on top of the bones after they were cleaned, wrapped and placed in the gold larnax. If they had been burned in the pyre, they would have dissappeared, as its temperature exceeded 800 degrees Celsius at times," Antikas said.
Ongoing investigations carried by Maniatis might reveal the nature and origins of the puzzling composite material. According to the researchers, further evidence for the dead being Philip II is the identity of the female buried in the antechamber, who died at 30 to 34.
"Her age was determined by examining a pelvis bone fragment not seen or identified by previous researchers," Antikas said.
The finding proved extremely important in the complex identification process.
"Basically her age excludes every other wife-concubine of Philip II and indirectly Arrhidaeus, whose wife was under 25," he said.
Morphological alterations in the bones indicate she was cremated just after her death, just like the deceased in the chamber, while equestrian activity indicators suggest she also rode for a long time.
A fracture in the upper end of her left leg caused shortening, atrophy, "and most probably disfiguration," according to Antikas.
"This leads to the conclusion that the pair of mismatched greaves -- the left is shorter -- the Scynthian gorytus and weaponry found in the antechamber belonged to her," he said.
The finding reinforces the assumption made by Hammond as early as 1978 that the spears, arrows, quiver and greaves belonged to a warrior queen in Philip's royal household. Among the candidates proposed by Hammond were Meda, Cynna (the offspring of Philip and Audata, an Illyrian warrior princess) and an unknown daughter of the Scythian king Ateas, defeated by Philip in 339 B.C.
The Scythian theory also strengthens Philip II's identification.
"No Macedonian King other than Philip is known to have had 'relations' with a Scythian," Antikas said.
According to Adrienne Mayor, a research scholar at Stanford University's Departments of Classics and History of Science, the new bioarchaeological analysis of the bones in Tomb II "is a truly exciting discovery, confirming without a doubt that the weapons and mismatched greaves belonged to a horsewoman-archer close to Philip II."
The author of "The Amazons: Lives and Legends of Warrior Women across the Ancient World," Mayor, however, cautions about the Scynthian princess hypothesis.
"Hammond speculated that Ateas might have sent a daughter to Philip during their negotiations. But their dealings were hostile, not friendly, ending in war and the defeat of Ateas in 339 B.C.," Mayor told Discovery News.
"Moreover, as Hammond acknowledged, there is no mention of a daughter of Ateas in any ancient sources that describe Philip's interactions with Ateas or list the names of his wives," she added.
Mayor proposes another possibility -- that the mystery woman could have been a wife selected by Philip from the 20,000 Scythian women he took as prisoners after the defeat of Ateas. The sources report that these women and their horses all escaped when another Scythian tribe attacked Philip's army on its way back to Macedonia.
"Perhaps one of these women, traveling with Philip's entourage, did not escape and remained in the royal house for three years until his death in 336 B.C. When the king was assassinated, a captive Scythian bride from Ateas' coalition may well have felt compelled to commit suicide," Mayor said.
On another finding, Antikas' team shed new light on the remains in Tomb I. His team found in an old storage place with wood cases containing plastics bags filled with never-studied bones from the tomb, which was thought to contain the remains of a male, a female and an infant. This led some scholars to believe Tomb I contained the remains of Philip, his wife Cleopatra, and their few-week-old child.
"From three recently found plastic bags containing over one hundred bone fragments of inhumed individuals, our team analyzed and identified 70 bones," Antikas told Discovery News.
Surprisingly, it emerged that Tomb I contained the remains of at least seven individuals: an adult male, a female, a child, four babies aged 8-10 lunar months and one fetus of 6.5 lunar months.
"This find automatically disproves every previous hypothesis of historians and archaeologista alike that Tomb I was intended for Philip II and his last wife," Antikas said.
Tldr, but we've known this for decades, right?
Well I was sort of surprised they found him in Virgina.
Dunno why but I am somewhat leery of the ethics of discoveries like that. What is the expiry date on human dignity?
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 01:59:51 AM
Dunno why but I am somewhat leery of the ethics of discoveries like that. What is the expiry date on human dignity?
Digging up tombs specifically or archaeological digs of human remains in general?
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 01:59:51 AM
Dunno why but I am somewhat leery of the ethics of discoveries like that. What is the expiry date on human dignity?
[Death+Social Convention]/[Cost+Physical Circumstances]
Any direct references to Alexander in Phillip's tomb?
Quote from: jimmy olsen on October 19, 2014, 02:34:05 AM
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 01:59:51 AM
Dunno why but I am somewhat leery of the ethics of discoveries like that. What is the expiry date on human dignity?
Digging up tombs specifically or archaeological digs of human remains in general?
Well, both I guess. I mean, I guess I am fine with plundering tombs for archeological spoils etc. But something like this:
Quote"From three recently found plastic bags containing over one hundred bone fragments of inhumed individuals, our team analyzed and identified 70 bones," Antikas told Discovery News.
Seems to be going a bit too far.
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 01:59:51 AM
Dunno why but I am somewhat leery of the ethics of discoveries like that. What is the expiry date on human dignity?
A day or two?
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 12:12:07 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on October 19, 2014, 02:34:05 AM
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 01:59:51 AM
Dunno why but I am somewhat leery of the ethics of discoveries like that. What is the expiry date on human dignity?
Digging up tombs specifically or archaeological digs of human remains in general?
Well, both I guess. I mean, I guess I am fine with plundering tombs for archeological spoils etc. But something like this:
Quote"From three recently found plastic bags containing over one hundred bone fragments of inhumed individuals, our team analyzed and identified 70 bones," Antikas told Discovery News.
Seems to be going a bit too far.
I see nothing that is not normal for archaeological research. analysing skeletal remains is a big part of the science
I look forward to the jeering of Macedonia over his remains being found in Greece.
I'd piss in his skull
Quote from: Crazy_Ivan80 on October 19, 2014, 01:52:44 PM
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 12:12:07 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on October 19, 2014, 02:34:05 AM
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 01:59:51 AM
Dunno why but I am somewhat leery of the ethics of discoveries like that. What is the expiry date on human dignity?
Digging up tombs specifically or archaeological digs of human remains in general?
Well, both I guess. I mean, I guess I am fine with plundering tombs for archeological spoils etc. But something like this:
Quote"From three recently found plastic bags containing over one hundred bone fragments of inhumed individuals, our team analyzed and identified 70 bones," Antikas told Discovery News.
Seems to be going a bit too far.
I see nothing that is not normal for archaeological research. analysing skeletal remains is a big part of the science
I can see how some people might take issue with the analysis of old graves and human fragments. I've never felt that way myself and love to leer at mummies, but I can understand the sentiment.
Quote from: garbon on October 19, 2014, 09:06:44 PM
Quote from: Crazy_Ivan80 on October 19, 2014, 01:52:44 PM
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 12:12:07 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on October 19, 2014, 02:34:05 AM
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 01:59:51 AM
Dunno why but I am somewhat leery of the ethics of discoveries like that. What is the expiry date on human dignity?
Digging up tombs specifically or archaeological digs of human remains in general?
Well, both I guess. I mean, I guess I am fine with plundering tombs for archeological spoils etc. But something like this:
Quote"From three recently found plastic bags containing over one hundred bone fragments of inhumed individuals, our team analyzed and identified 70 bones," Antikas told Discovery News.
Seems to be going a bit too far.
I see nothing that is not normal for archaeological research. analysing skeletal remains is a big part of the science
I can see how some people might take issue with the analysis of old graves and human fragments. I've never felt that way myself and love to leer at mummies, but I can understand the sentiment.
The upshot of that is what we have around here, people claiming some special kinship with burials in and around Stonehenge/South Wiltshire made 1500 to 4500 years ago, and how these shouldn't be displayed in museums, but re-interned. Picketing museums etc. <_<
Quote from: mongers on October 19, 2014, 10:25:51 PM
Quote from: garbon on October 19, 2014, 09:06:44 PM
Quote from: Crazy_Ivan80 on October 19, 2014, 01:52:44 PM
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 12:12:07 PM
Quote from: jimmy olsen on October 19, 2014, 02:34:05 AM
Quote from: Martinus on October 19, 2014, 01:59:51 AM
Dunno why but I am somewhat leery of the ethics of discoveries like that. What is the expiry date on human dignity?
Digging up tombs specifically or archaeological digs of human remains in general?
Well, both I guess. I mean, I guess I am fine with plundering tombs for archeological spoils etc. But something like this:
Quote"From three recently found plastic bags containing over one hundred bone fragments of inhumed individuals, our team analyzed and identified 70 bones," Antikas told Discovery News.
Seems to be going a bit too far.
I see nothing that is not normal for archaeological research. analysing skeletal remains is a big part of the science
I can see how some people might take issue with the analysis of old graves and human fragments. I've never felt that way myself and love to leer at mummies, but I can understand the sentiment.
The upshot of that is what we have around here, people claiming some special kinship with burials in and around Stonehenge/South Wiltshire made 1500 to 4500 years ago, and how these shouldn't be displayed in museums, but re-interned. Picketing museums etc. <_<
Yeah but I mean I can understand how someone might have negative feelings about say...the Lindow man.
So another article on this recently.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/07/150720-philip-macedon-alexander-the-great-dad-greece-archaeology/
Quote
Was This Really the Tomb of Alexander the Great's Father?
Analysis of bones raises new questions about the final resting place of Philip II of Macedon.
By Nick Romeo, National Geographic
PUBLISHED July 21, 2015
A new forensic study appears to solve a long-standing debate in Greek archaeology over the burial location of King Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great.
Since the excavation of the three Great Tombs of the Royal Tumulus at Vergina in 1977 and 1978, many archaeologists have believed that Philip II was buried in Tomb II, dubbed "The Tomb of Philip." But a skeletal analysis of the leg bones from the remains of an adult male in Tomb I shows a severe lance wound that matches accounts in ancient written sources of an injury Philip II sustained during battle in 339.
The authors of the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, argue that this not only offers the first definitive proof of where Philip II was buried, but it also suggests that some of the grave goods in Tomb II may in fact belong to Alexander the Great.
The team of Greek and Spanish archaeologists is the first to analyze the remains of the three skeletons in Tomb I. They found that the bones belong to a middle-aged man, a young woman who was approximately 18 years old when she died, and a newborn infant of unknown sex. The forensic evidence confirms the ages-at-death reported in ancient literary sources for Philip II and the last of his seven wives, as well as their their infant child.
Three years before his assassination in 336 BC, Philip II suffered a devastating injury during a dispute with the Thracian tribe of Triballi after he refused to share the spoils from his recent campaign against the Scythians. Though ancient authors such as Seneca, Plutarch, and Demosthenes differ on the precise location of the wound, the sources all indicate that he sustained a leg injury that left him permanently crippled.
The leg bones of the adult male from Tomb I show a massive hole in the left knee that caused a severe ankylosis—an abnormal fusion of bones that inhibits movement.
Before his injury, the length of his tibia and femur indicate that he would have stood nearly 5 feet 11 inches (1.8 meters) tall, a height well above average at the time.
After the wound, likely inflicted by a fast-moving projectile such as a lance or spear, Philip II would have walked with a waddling gait and a compensatory tilting of his head to the right.
Arguing the Evidence
Many archaeologists have argued that a pair of greaves—armor plates that protect the shin—found in Tomb II must belong to Philip II because one is shorter than the other, suggesting they were customized for someone with legs of different lengths.
But Antonios Bartsiokas, one of the new paper's lead authors, believes that the greaves in fact belonged to Eurydice, the wife of Arrhidaeus, Alexander the Great's half brother. "She was a warrior woman who fought many battles," he said. She too might have suffered a wound that required such greaves.
Given the new evidence that Philip II is buried in Tomb I, Bartsiokis and his co-authors argue that the skeletons buried in Tomb II must belong to Arrhidaeus and Eurydice. If this is the case, it's possible that some of Alexander the Great's armor could be buried with the pair.
Arrhidaeus himself did not fight in battles, but he wore the garments of Alexander the Great when he ascended the throne in 323. And an elaborate hand-hammered iron helmet found in Tomb II matches Plutarch's description of Alexander the Great's helmet, a suggestive link that may indicate some of the world-conquering hero's armor was buried in the tomb of his elder half-brother
Vergina... uhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh....
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fvignette4.wikia.nocookie.net%2Fbeavisandbutthead%2Fimages%2F4%2F49%2FBeavis_uh-huh.jpg%2Frevision%2Flatest%3Fcb%3D20110317044305&hash=aaa252135d277608a3b17679d78e9694fa04d214)
Bury my boner in Vergina.