Neolithic Stone Mask

[Jovialis]

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL—According to an AFP report, a rare, 9,000-year-old mask made of pink and yellow sandstone was found in the Pnei Hever region of the West Bank. “The last one that we know was found 35 years ago,” said archaeologist Ronit Lupu of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Stone masks have been linked to the rise of agriculture and an increase in ritual activities, such as ancestor worship, she added. To read about another, much more recent, mask discovered in the area, go to “Mask Metamorphosis.”

https://www.archaeology.org/news/71...r5yrDFUqdHjHces8IBIm5dZgPKD8S4k9ivri_pd-kmKBc

 

[Salento]

Pontius Pilate’s Name Is Found on 2,000-Year-Old Ring

..... The ring was discovered in the late 1960s, one of thousands of artifacts found in the excavation of Herodium, an ancient fortress and palace south of Bethlehem, in the West Bank. But it was not until recently that researchers, analyzing those objects with advanced photography, were able to decipher the ring’s inscription....

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/30/world/middleeast/pontius-pilate-ring.html

 

[Lenab]

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL—According to an AFP report, a rare, 9,000-year-old mask made of pink and yellow sandstone was found in the Pnei Hever region of the West Bank. “The last one that we know was found 35 years ago,” said archaeologist Ronit Lupu of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Stone masks have been linked to the rise of agriculture and an increase in ritual activities, such as ancestor worship, she added. To read about another, much more recent, mask discovered in the area, go to “Mask Metamorphosis.”

https://www.archaeology.org/news/71...r5yrDFUqdHjHces8IBIm5dZgPKD8S4k9ivri_pd-kmKBc

Pains me for that area to be called Israel instead of Philistinian or even Caananite

 

[Angela]

"Based on the hazy origins of the majority of the masks, Lupu understands questions about authenticity. But she’s confident that the new mask hails from the discovery site.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2018/11/neolithic-stone-mask-discovery-archaeology-forgery/
“I’m sure that this is the context for this find,” she says. “I think when we publish the [final analysis of the mask], it will be a done deal.”


[h=2]Location Isn’t Enough[/h]
Some archaeologists say just knowing the location of the discovery isn’t enough. “Even if we could find the site that [the mask] comes from, that really doesn't tell us anything about how it was used,” says Yorke Rowan, a professor of archaeology at the University of Chicago. “Would it have been found with a burial? In a ritual context, like some sort of sanctuary? These are the types of questions that can only be answered by getting the archaeological context.”

The fact that only one of the 16 stone masks was scientifically excavated also raises the specter that other examples may be forgeries, says Morag Kersel, a professor of anthropology at DePaul University who is preparing a study on the authenticity of the masks.

Proponents for the masks’ authenticity point to a 2014 analysis of the surface patina of a dozen of the stone masks—including ten from private collections with no known provenance—which indicated all had been discovered within a small geographical radius around the Judean hills and desert. The latest mask was also found in the same area.

Nonetheless, Kersel urges caution, noting that “authentic” patina can be replicated on counterfeit artifacts. “We’ll never know if a mask is fake or where it really comes from unless it’s scientifically excavated,” she says.

Simmons also admits that the shadow hanging over the origin of other masks has colored his initial reaction to this new discovery. "Boy, it's a really interesting find, but I'd just like more evidence,” he says. “My first question [when I heard about the discovery] was 'Hmm, is it real?"

 

[pinovski]

a bit scary... but maybe they were other standards...