Archaeologists have unearthed a 3,000-year-old city in Uzbekistan's Surxondaryo Region, providing valuable insights into early urban life in Central Asia. The site, known as Bandikhan II, dates back to the 10th to 8th century BC, placing it within the early Iron Age and making it one of the largest settlements discovered in the Bandikhan oasis.
Excavations reveal a well-preserved urban center linked to the ancient Bactrian kingdom, existing between the Bronze Age and the Persian Achaemenid Empire. Features include a substantial defensive wall, domestic structures with sleeping platforms, and artifacts like pottery, stone tools, and bronze objects, suggesting grain processing, daily activities, and wider regional connections.
Excavations reveal a well-preserved urban center linked to the ancient Bactrian kingdom, existing between the Bronze Age and the Persian Achaemenid Empire. Features include a substantial defensive wall, domestic structures with sleeping platforms, and artifacts like pottery, stone tools, and bronze objects, suggesting grain processing, daily activities, and wider regional connections.
Scientists have digitally reconstructed tattoos on a 2,500-year-old Pazyryk mummy from the Altai Mountains, revealing details about ancient tattooing practices, including multiple artists and advanced techniques. The tattoos appear to have been for personal identity and status, not religious purposes.
Recent archaeological research at the El Cerrón site in Illescas, Toledo, is reshaping traditional views of ancient Carpetania. A terracotta relief discovered there depicts Mediterranean iconography, suggesting the local elite were actively involved in Mediterranean trade and cultural networks during the Late Iron Age.
