Around the World briefs
By Associated Press
A trove of artifacts from Egypt’s last dynasty has been found in 63 tombs
CAIRO | A trove of artifacts from Egypt’s last dynasty has been discovered in 63 tombs in the Nile Delta area and experts are working to restore and classify the finds, an official with the country’s antiquities authority said Monday.
The artifacts include gold pieces and jewelry dating to Egypt’s Late and Ptolemaic periods, and some items could be displayed at one of the country’s museums, said Neveine el-Arif, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.
An Egyptian archaeological mission with the Supreme Council of Antiquities discovered the mud-brick tombs at the Tell al-Deir necropolis in Damietta city in Damietta governorate, the ministry said in a statement last month.
Other items found in the area of the tombs include statues, funerary amulets and a pottery vessel containing 38 bronze coins dating to the Ptolemaic period.
The Ptolemaic dynasty was Egypt’s last before it became part of the Roman Empire. The dynasty was founded in 305 B.C. after Alexander the Great of Macedonia took Egypt in 332 B.C. and one of his generals, Ptolemy, became Ptolemy I. Leadership was handed down through Ptolemy’s descendants and ended with Cleopatra.
Egypt exhibited artifacts from the Ptolemaic period for the first time in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo in 2018, with around 300 artifacts on display.
Stonehenge’s ‘altar stone’ originally came from Scotland and not
Wales, new research shows
WASHINGTON | The ancient ritual meaning of Stonehenge is still a mystery, but researchers are one step closer to understanding how the famous stone circle was created.
The unique stone lying flat at the center of the monument was brought to the site in southern England from near the tip of northeast Scotland, researchers reported Wednesday in the journal Nature. It’s not clear whether the 16-foot stone was carried by boat or across land — a journey of more than 460 miles.
“It’s a surprise that it’s come from so far away,” said University of Exeter archaeologist Susan Greaney, who was not involved in the study.
For more than a hundred years, scientists believed that Stonehenge’s central sandstone slab — long called the “altar stone” — came from much closer Wales. But a study last year by some of the same researchers showed that the stone didn’t match the geology of Wales’ sandstone formations. The actual source of the stone remained unknown until now.
For the study, the team was not permitted to chip away rocks at the site, but instead analyzed minerals in bits of rock that had been collected in previous digs, some dating back to the 1840s. They found a match in the sandstone formations of Orcadian Basin in northeast Scotland, a region that includes parts of the tip of the Scottish peninsula as well as the Orkney Islands.
“That geological ‘fingerprint’ isn’t repeated in any other area of sediment in the U.K.,” said Aberystwyth University geologist Nick Pearce, a study co-author.
Greaney said the difficult logistics of moving the stone such a long distance show a high level of coordination and cultural connection between these two regions of ancient Britain.
Stonehenge was constructed around 5,000 years ago, with stones forming different circles brought to the site at different times. The placement of stones allows for the sun to rise through a stone “window” during summer solstice. The ancient purpose of the altar stone — which lies flat at the heart of Stonehenge, now beneath other rocks — remains a mystery.
“Stonehenge isn’t a settlement site, but a place of ceremony or ritual,” said Heather Sebire, senior curator at English Heritage, who was not involved in the study. She said that past archaeological excavations had not uncovered evidence of feasting or daily living at the site.
Previous research has shown cultural connections — such as similarities in pottery styles — between the area around Stonehenge and Scotland’s Orkney Islands. Other stones at Stonehenge came from western Wales.
While Britain is dotted with other Neolithic stone circles, “the thing that’s unique about Stonehenge is the distance from which the stones have been sourced,” said Aberystwyth University’s Richard Bevins, a study co-author.
The Taliban are celebrating three years in power, but they’re not talking about Afghans
KABUL, Afghanistan | The Taliban celebrated the third anniversary of their return to power Wednesday at a former U.S. air base in Afghanistan, but there was no mention of the country’s hardships or promises to help the struggling population.
Under blue skies and blazing sunshine at the Bagram base — once the center of America’s war to unseat the Taliban and hunt down the al-Qaida perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks — members of the Taliban Cabinet lauded achievements such as strengthening Islamic law and establishing a military system that provides “peace and security.”
The speeches were aimed at an international audience, urging the diaspora to return and for the West to interact and cooperate with the country’s rulers. No country recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
“The Islamic Emirate eliminated internal differences and expanded the scope of unity and cooperation in the country,” Deputy Prime Minister Maulvi Abdul Kabir said, using the Taliban’s term to describe their government. “No one will be allowed to interfere in internal affairs, and Afghan soil will not be used against any country.”
None of the four speakers talked about the challenges facing Afghans in everyday life.
Women were barred from the event, including female journalists from The Associated Press, Agence French-Presse and Reuters. The Taliban did not give a reason for barring them.
Decades of conflict and instability have left millions of Afghans on the brink of hunger and starvation. Unemployment is high.
The Bagram parade was the Taliban’s grandest and most defiant since regaining control of the country in August 2021.
The audience of some 10,000 men included senior Taliban officials such as Acting Defense Minister Mullah Yaqoob and Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani. Supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada was not at the parade.
The Taliban said foreign diplomats also attended, but did not specify who.
Aid agencies warn that humanitarian efforts in the country are gravely underfunded as economic collapse and climate change destroy livelihoods.
They say that Afghans, particularly women and girls, will suffer if there isn’t more diplomatic engagement with the Taliban.
The Bagram parade was also an opportunity to showcase some of the military hardware abandoned by U.S. and NATO-led forces after decades of war, including helicopters, Humvees and tanks.
Uniformed soldiers marched with light and heavy machine guns, and a motorcycle formation carried the Taliban flag.
Pickup trucks crammed with men of all ages drove through Kabul’s streets in celebration of the takeover. Some men posed for photos with rifles.
In a parade in southern Helmand province, men held yellow canisters to represent the type of explosives used in roadside bombings during the war.
The Taliban declared Wednesday a national holiday. As in previous years, women did not take part in anniversary festivities.
The paint is dry on Banksy’s animal-themed street art that appeared across London over nine days
LONDON | On the 10th day, after creating the mountain goat, elephants, pelicans, a rhinoceros and a gorilla, among other animals, Banksy rested.
The elusive street artist’s menagerie that appeared around London over nine consecutive days apparently came to a conclusion after a final mural surprised staff who arrived early to feed the animals Tuesday at the London Zoo.
There was nothing new posted Wednesday on the artist’s website or his Instagram page, where his avid fans typically learn of his recent work. Those who live close enough often rush out to view it and snap photos — sometimes before it can be snapped up.
The zoo mural depicting a gorilla lifting up the entrance gate as birds took flight, a sea lion waddled away and three sets of eyes peered out from the darkness inside, was the last in the series, the BBC reported. A spokesperson for Banksy did not return multiple messages by The Associated Press.
Fans of the artist, whose real identity is not known, continued to debate the meanings of the paintings online. Some suggested the animals represented people and that the murals spoke to the Israel-Palestinian war. Others said they referred to the recent riots in Britain blamed on the far-right.
Banksy, who has been known to advocate for human and animal rights, could have been suggesting the creatures needed to be liberated from incarceration, some said. Others suggested more innocent whimsy: the final painting was the big reveal of where all those other animals came from.
Jasper Tordoff, the Banksy expert at MyArtBroker, said there had been a theory as the number of animals multiplied successively from one to two to three in the first works that the artist was creating a Noah’s Ark theme that mirrored his previous religious satire. But that theory seemed shot when the fourth work was a lone wolf that “came out of nowhere,” he said.
Banksy’s art is often pointedly political and Tordoff said these recent murals, created using stencils and spray paint, are clever but simple works that are meant to be fun. The artist’s company told the Observer that the series was meant to bring some joy during a period of dark news.
But Tordoff said Banksy may be making a commentary on human nature and the desire for possessions as at least one of the works has been stolen and others moved to preserve them.
“We’re in this pantomime of Banksy. We’re part of this installation in a way,” Tordoff said. “Banksy undoubtedly knew that all of this would be covered with photographs and CCTV about what the public reaction is, and that might be part of it, because that’s been just as entertaining in my view.”
Here’s a look at the nine works that were mostly painted as silhouettes:
— Aug. 5: A mountain goat perched on a narrow building buttress and looking down as crumbling rocks appear to fall in west London.
— Aug. 6: Two elephants painted on boarded-up windows on the side of a rowhouse in Chelsea face each other and reach out with their trunks. Followers on Instagram suggest they are the proverbial “elephants in the room” — that can’t be missed but no one wants to discuss them.
— Aug. 7: Three monkeys swing and hang on the side of a railway bridge in east London. Some fans say they represent the “see no, hear no, speak no evil” wise monkeys from ancient Japan.
— Aug. 8: A lone howling wolf on a satellite dish breaks up what had appeared to be an ascending sequence of animals. The dish art had a short shelf life as masked men showed up with a ladder and climbed up on the roof above a storefront in south London, removed it and ran away.
— Aug. 9: Two pelicans were painted perched on the sign for a fish and chip shop in northeast London. One of the birds has its beak pointed upward and is catching a fish in its big mouth while the second one appears to be snapping up a fish that is part of the sign. The owners of the shop, which is closed until September, said on Instagram that it was “over the moon” Banksy decorated their shop. “Contrary to some beliefs, we didn’t ask him to do this, but are very grateful he did!” Bonners Fish Bar wrote.
— Aug. 10: A big cat stretches out on a dilapidated plywood billboard in north London. Crowds that had gathered to see it booed as contractors arrived to remove it for security reasons.
— Aug. 11: The windows of a small police guard post were painted with a circling school of piranhas so that it appeared to look like a fish tank. This is the only work in the series painted in color. The sentry box near the Old Bailey criminal courthouse was taken to City of London corporate offices to protect it, a spokesperson said. It will eventually be placed where it can be viewed by the public.
— Aug. 12: A rhinoceros painted on a brick wall appeared to be mounting a small Nissan car parked in front of it on the sidewalk. The rhino was later tagged with graffiti and the car was removed.
— Aug. 13: The zoo mural was discovered early Tuesday, said Dan Simmonds, animal operations manager at the zoo. “I’ve worked here for about 20 years, and this definitely wins the prize for my most surprising arrival at work,” he said. “A massive surprise for me. But indeed for all of London, indeed all of the world.” A day later, cyclists and runners stopped to snap selfies and photos of the painting that was behind barriers, protected by an acrylic shield and overseen by three security guards.
—From AP reports
