3,300-YEAR-OLD SHRINES THAT WERE USED FOR READING FUTURE FOUND IN ARMENIAN HILLTOPS
International Business Times UK
Feb 19 2015
By Sean Martin
February 19, 2015 17:13 GMT
Archaeologists have unearthed three shrines dating back around 3,300
years in some Armenian hilltops.
Discovered in a hilltop fortress in Gegharot, Armenia, experts believe
that the shrines were used by rulers at the time to make predictions
for the future.
Each of the shines consisted of a solitary room which contained a
clay basin full of ash and ceramic vessels, Live Science reported.
Artefacts such as stamp seals, clay figures and animal bones --
knucklebones of cows, sheep and goat -- with markings were found in
the locations.
It is thought by the discoverers, Adam Smith, a Cornell University
professor, and Cornell graduate Jeffrey Leon, that the rulers and
mystics may have burned some of the items and imbibed in alcohol to
blur their mind during the divination practices.
Smith and Leon recently wrote in the American Journal of Archaeology:
"The logic of divination presumes that variable pathways articulate
the past, present and future, opening the possibility that the link
between a current situation and an eventual outcome might be altered.
The name of the society and its leaders who once utilised these
shrines is currently unknown.
The duo found evidence of three different types of divination at the
shrines, including osteomancy - the reading of the future through
rituals involving burned animal bones.
Smith told Live Science: "You would roll them and, depending upon
whether the scorched side or the marked side came up, you would [get]
a different interpretation."
Evidence that the diviners used stones to try and predict the future
was also found at the site.
It is thought that the shrines were in use for about 100 years until
the fortress was destroyed, seemingly along with the society that
controlled it, through conflict.
http://www.ibtimes.c...illtops-1488714
3,300-YEAR-OLD SHRINES THAT WERE USED FOR READING FUTURE FOUND IN ARME
#1
Posted 20 February 2015 - 10:18 AM
#2
Posted 20 February 2015 - 10:19 AM
ANCIENT SHRINES USED FOR PREDICTING THE FUTURE DISCOVERED
Live Science
Feb 19 2015
by Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor
February 19, 2015 07:14am ET
Three shrines, dating back about 3,300 years, have been discovered
within a hilltop fortress at Gegharot, in Armenia.
Local rulers at the time likely used the shrines for divination, a
practice aimed at predicting the future, the archaeologists involved
in the discovery say.
Each of the three shrines consists of a single room holding a clay
basin filled with ash and ceramic vessels. A wide variety of artifacts
were discovered including clay idols with horns, stamp seals, censers
used to burn substances and a vast amount of animal bones with markings
on them. During divination practices, the rulers and diviners may
have burnt some form of substances and drank wine, allowing them to
experience "altered" states of mind, the archaeologists say. [See
Images of the Divination Shrines and Artifacts]
"The logic of divination presumes that variable pathways articulate
the past, present and future, opening the possibility that the link
between a current situation and an eventual outcome might be altered,"
write Adam Smith and Jeffrey Leon, in an article published recently in
the American Journal of Archaeology. Smith is a professor at Cornell
University, and Leon is a graduate student there.
The fortress at Gegharot is one of several strongholds built at around
this time in Armenia. "Evidence to date suggests that this coordinated
process of fortress construction was part of the emergence of a
single polity that built and occupied multiple sites in the region,"
write Smith and Leon.
Smith believes that Gegharot would have been used as an occult center
for the rulers. "I would think that this is probably a cult center
largely specializing in servicing the emerging rulers from the ruling
class," he told Live Science in an interview.
At the time, writing had not yet spread to this part of Armenia so
the name of the polity, and its rulers, are unknown.
Predicting the future
Smith and Leon found evidence for three forms of divination at
Gegharot. One form was osteomancy, trying to predict the future through
rituals involving animal bones, in this case the knucklebones of cows,
sheep and goat.
The knucklebones, which were covered in burns and other markings,
would have been rolled like dice in rituals attempting to predict
the future, Smith said. "You would roll them and depending upon
whether the scorched side or the marked side came up you would [get]
a different interpretation," Smith said.
Lithomancy, trying to predict the future through the use of stone,
also appears to have been practiced at Gegharot. Inside a basin at one
shrine, archaeologists found 18 small pebbles. "These stones appear
to have been selected for their smooth, rounded shape and their color
palette, which ranged from black and dark gray to white, green and
red," Smith and Leon write. How exactly these unmarked stones would
have been used in rituals is unknown.
Flour for the future?
At one shrine, on the fortress' east citadel, the archaeologists found
an installation used to grind flour. Smith and Leon think that this
flour could have been used to predict the future in a practice called
aleuromancy. [The 7 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]
"What is conspicuous about the grinding installation in the east
citadel shrine is the lack of a formal oven for bread baking," Smith
and Leon write. The shrine's basin "was clearly used for burning
materials and certainly could have been used to bake small balls of
dough, but it is unlikely that it would have been used to cook loaves
of bread."
Stamp seals found at the shrine would have allowed people to punch
a variety of shapes into dough. "One possibility (admittedly among
many others) is that the stamps marked the dough that was then used
for aleuromancy."
Future's end
The shrines were in use for a century or so until the surrounding
fortress, along with all the other fortresses in the area, were
destroyed. The site was largely abandoned after this, Smith said.
At the time, there was a great deal of conflict in the south Caucasus
with a number of regional polities fighting against each other,
Smith said. The polity that controlled Gegharot seems to have been
wiped out in one of those conflicts.
Although the rulers who controlled Gegharot put great effort into
trying to predict and change the future, it was to no avail -- their
great fortresses being torched in a cataclysm they could not avoid.
Excavations at the shrines are part of the American-Armenian Project
for the Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies
(Project ArAGATS).
The west terrace shrine was excavated in 2003, the west citadel shrine
in 2008, and the east citadel shrine in 2010 and 2011.
http://www.livescien...discovered.html
#3
Posted 20 February 2015 - 10:21 AM
- onjig likes this
#4
Posted 21 February 2015 - 02:44 PM
HOW BRONZE AGE RULERS GOT HIGH TO PREDICT THE FUTURE: ARMENIAN SHRINES REVEAL BIZARRE PRACTICES OF FORTUNE TELLERS 3,300 YEARS AGO
Daily Mail, UK
Feb 20 2015
Three Bronze Age shrines were recently found in Gegharot, Armenia
Pottery had traces of grape and substance similar to stimulant
Ephedra The shrines also contained the Bronze Age version of fortune
cookies Knuckles from sheep and cows were used a dice to predict the
future Shrines were used for a century until the area was destroyed
by conflict
By Ellie Zolfagharifard For Dailymail.com
Three Bronze Age shrines that may have been used to predict the future
have been discovered in a hilltop fortress at Gegharot, Armenia.
Each of the 3,300-year-old shrines is made up of a single room holding
a clay bowl filled with smaller ash and ceramic artefacts.
Researchers suspect that, as part of an ancient ritual, local rulers
would reach an altered state of mind by drinking wine and burning
substances.
'Our best evidence of this comes from pollen washes,' Professor Adam
Smith from Cornell University told Dailymail.com.
'We take the pottery and wash with distilled water. We then capture
the run off. From this we found residues of grape, and something
similar to Ephedra which is a stimulant.'
The shrine artefacts include clay idols, animal bones, stamp seals
and containers used to burn substances, according to a report by Owen
Jarus in LiveScience.
Archaeologists at Cornell University believe local rules used the
knucklebones of cows, sheep and goat as a type of dice to predict
the future.
These bones were marked with burns and other engravings, and were
small enough to roll.
In one shrine, researchers found 18 pebbles.
'These stones appear to have been selected for their smooth, rounded
shape and their colour palette, which ranged from black and dark grey
to white, green and red,' writes Professor Adam Smith, lead author
of the study at Cornell University.
But how exactly these unmarked stones would have been used in rituals
is unknown. Professor Smith suspects they may have been used in the
same way as the knuckle bones.
Another shrine contained vessels used to grind flour. It may have
been used to predict the future in a ritual called aleuromancy.
Aleuromancy was a practice in which messages would be baked inside
of cakes or cookies, which would then be distributed to those wishing
their fortunes to be told.
'What is conspicuous about the grinding installation in the east
citadel shrine is the lack of a formal oven for bread baking,'
Professor Smith writes.
The shrine's basin 'was clearly used for burning materials and
certainly could have been used to bake small balls of dough, but it
is unlikely that it would have been used to cook loaves of bread.'
The stamps may have been used to seal messages within the dough.
During the time these shrines were active, a written form of language
had not yet emerged in this part of Armenia, and so there are no
written records of its local rulers.
The shrines were in use for a century until the area was destroyed
by conflict. The group that controlled Gegharot was likely wiped out
as a result.
'It doesn't appear to have been reoccupied,' said Professor Smith.
'It was probably attacked by one of its neighbours...but these
practices probably went on in neighboring areas.
'We're now trying to figure out what exactly happened to these
ancient people.'
http://www.dailymail...-years-ago.html
#5
Posted 13 March 2015 - 10:20 AM
BRONZE AGE BONES OFFER EVIDENCE OF POLITICAL DIVINATION
Cornell Chronicle, Cornell University
March 12 2015
By H. Roger Segelken
Adam T. Smith, right, and his Armenian colleague, Dr. Ruben Badalyan,
excavate the Gegharot site.
Artifacts uncovered at one of the Gegharot citadel shines are evidence
of political divination, archaeologist say.
Trying to divine the future of a precarious administration, "House
of Cards" President Frank Underwood enters the inner sanctum with a
trusted adviser. "It's really a crapshoot," the adviser says, and the
president nods. The bourbon is drained, cigars are snuffed, and the
political leader emerges with a more confident sense of what's to come.
'Twas ever thus.
"It really was a crapshoot, with very high stakes for sovereign rulers
in a turbulent time," says Cornell archaeologist Adam T. Smith,
interpreting evidence from 3,300-year-old Bronze Age shrines,
ensconced within a hilltop fortress on the Tsaghkahovit Plain of
central Armenia. Smith, a professor of anthropology in the College
of Arts and Sciences, studies the role that the material world -
everyday objects, representational media, natural and built landscapes
- plays in the political lives of ancient and modern-day people.
Dice-like knucklebones used for osteomancy and colored stones used for
lithomancy (divination with bones and stones, respectively) were found
deep within the ruins of the fallen citadel of Gegharot. Aleuromancy
(divination with freshly ground flour) is a likely explanation for
implements found in one of three shrines, Smith and Cornell Ph.D.
candidate Jeffrey F. Leon report in their October 2014 American Journal
of Archaeology article, "Divination and Sovereignty: The Late Bronze
Age Shrines at Gegharot, Armenia."
Excavations conducted at Gegharot since 2002 have turned up a variety
of ceremonial, iconic and fortune-telling objects:
censers and basins for burning aromatic plant materials that could
induce a trance state; covered storage containers made of clay where
pollen analysis found evidence of wheat; drinking vessels, probably
for long-gone wine; sculpted clay idols "with vaguely anthropomorphic
features and hornlike protrusions" and stele (standing blocks) the
archaeologists say "likely served as focal point for ritual attention";
grain-grinding implements and stamp seals to make impressions in
flour dough; dozens of knucklebones (also called astragali) of cattle,
sheep and goats with certain sides blackened like the markings on dice;
and polished stones in colors ranging from black and dark grey to red,
green and white.
The Tsaghkahovit Plain was sparsely populated until around 1500 B.C.
when a nameless people (they left no written record of what they called
themselves) began to build strongholds and new institutions of rule
there. "It was a time of radical inequality and centralized practices
of economic redistribution," Smith says, "and the political leaders
were scrambling to hold on to their power. Knowing what the future
held was critically important." The diviner, Smith says, was a kind of
primordial actuary, assessing risks and advising on pathways forward.
"We call them 'shrines' because of two distinctive qualities of
the spaces: They were quite intimate in scale, with not much room
for public spectacle," Smith explains, "yet they appear to have been
religiously charged places, designed and built to host esoteric rituals
with consecrated objects - secretive rites focused on managing risks
by diagnosing present conditions and prognosticating futures."
The Bronze Age people who tried to predict futures there had a
quarter-millennium run, until about 1150 B.C. Their divination
paraphernalia, meticulously unearthed by the archaeologists, looks
as if it had been abandoned in place, moments before the inhabitants
fled some cataclysm.
Without Bronze Age mystics to interpret the bones and stones, it's
hard to know whether the citadel's demise was presciently foreseen. As
the fictional President Underwood said: "It's not the beginning of
the story I fear; it's not knowing how it will end."
Support for the study came, in part, from the National Science
Foundation and other organizations. The study was conducted under the
auspices of Project ArAGATS, the joint Armenian-American Project for
the Archaeology and Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies.
http://www.news.corn...ical-divination
#6
Posted 18 March 2015 - 10:03 AM
BONES IN BRONZE AGE ARMENIA UNCOVER A STRANGE STORY
ClapWay
March 17 2015
By S. Mathur | March 17, 2015
It sounds like the perfect script for a sci-fi/ fantasy novel. A
ruthless ruler under siege in his fortress, trying to keep his
crumbling power intact through the divine gift of prophecy. Even
as diviners cast the bones, the fortress is overrun and destroyed;
the defenders forced to flee, or captured and killed. The whole
truth will perhaps never be known but the story archaeologists are
uncovering on the Tsaghkahovit Plain in central Armenia is stranger
and more exciting than fiction.
Artifacts from the ruined citadel of Ghegarot offer tantalizing
glimpses of the last days of a Bronze Age culture that lasted from
about 1500 to 1150 B.C.E. This period saw the establishment of a
centralized polity and a series of hilltop fortresses across the
southern Caucasus region after a gap in human habitation of nearly
900 years. These cultures did not leave any written records, and even
the name the people called themselves is unknown.
The excavations are carried out by Project ArAGATS, a collaboration
between the American-Armenian Project for the Archaeology and
Geography of Ancient Transcaucasian Societies. The evidence of
political divination is discussed in an article published recently
in the American Journal of Archaeology by Adam T Smith and Jeffrey
Leon of Cornell University.
Archaeologists have found evidence of divination at three shrines
in the citadel. The shrines contain circular altars, holding cattle
knucklebones shaped and marked like dice, flat, polished, circular
stones in various colors and traces of flour. Other objects found
in the shrines include censers and basins for burning plant or other
materials; covered containers used to store wheat; drinking vessels;
stone steles and anthropomorphic clay idols; grain grinding implements
and stamp seals.
Adam Smith believes that these artifacts were used for political
divination and that even in the late Bronze Age, knowledge was power:
"It was a time of radical inequality and centralized practices of
economic redistribution, and the political leaders were scrambling to
hold on to their power. Knowing what the future held was critically
important."
In this case, however, such knowledge as the bones provided did
not help. The shrines were abandoned in haste and the citadel was
destroyed in some final cataclysm, whether due to external invasions
or internal uprisings.
http://clapway.com/2...age-armenia123/
#7
Posted 18 August 2015 - 02:14 PM
HOGMIK EXCAVATIONS REVEAL NEW SECRETS ABOUT HEATHEN ARMENIA TRADITIONS
11:00, 18 August, 2015
GYUMRI, AUGUST 18, ARMENPRESS. Hoghmik village in Amasia of Shirak
province continues to draw the attention both of Armenian and foreign
archaeologists. The village was named Hoghmik in 1978 and remains a
rich territory for archaeological expeditions. Not so far from the
village, on the southwestern part, a fragment of a big residence of
the Hellenistic Period was discovered. Hogmik complex was constructed
during the rule of king Artashes II (20 BC-30 BC).
Archaeological excavations in the territory were carried out in Soviet
times in 1987 by the expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of
the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia led by Hayk Hakobyan who
without knowing about its archeological value arrived in Hoghmik
to study the area before Kaps reservoir construction. The heathen
complex was occasionally discovered during the studies.
The expeditions group's excavations of various years include idols,
altars, bones etc. The latter give a clear idea about traditions
of pagan period. The area were divided into parts, "rooms" as the
archeologists name them, that had their own altars where burial and
scarification rites were carried out.
Moreover, the studies show that in heathen Armenia corpse dissections
of both animals and humans were done. Corpse dissection was also met
in Hoghmik child tombs. "Different child parts were discovered there,
which witnesses that a corpse dissection rite was done. After death
the body was divided into parts as people thought that once something
is divided, it will reunite again one day", said Hayk Hakobyan.
http://armenpress.am...traditions.html
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