Archaeology in 3 places

Carnac

Bretagne, France

The northwest of Europe abounds in megalithic ensembles, the most famous of which are Stonehenge, England, and the alignments of Carnac, France. The construction of the many monuments of Carnac spread over several hundred years, which explains their variety, both in form and function. Located in the Gulf of Morbihan, in Brittany, a region particularly rich in megaliths, the site covers several square kilometers. There are all kinds of remains: isolated erect stones (menhirs), the famous alignments made of thousands of stones, elongated tumuli containing burial chambers, tombs decorated with motifs specific to megalithic monuments. All kinds of more or less serious theory have been advanced as to its meaning, but none is scientifically proven.

The erect stones

Menhirs were used as they were found in nature: They are neither cut nor carved. They were obviously chosen for their size and shape. The Carnac site contains about 3,000.

Menhirs and tumulus

The megaliths are either standing stones, isolated or grouped (in line or circle), or funerary monuments built (tombs with corridor, tumulus). The gigantic oval tumuli shelter graves of great wealth. Among these funerary lands is the tumulus of Saint-Michel (10 meters high and 125 meters long), whose excavations began at the beginning of the twentieth century. We discover a number of small chests embedded under a heap of stones, itself buried under a thick layer of clay covered again by stones. Apart from the alignments, there are also isolated stones, such as the Great Broken Menhir which weighs more than 300 tons. It is believed that this giant stone broke during transport and never reached its destination. Its function remains mysterious. Perhaps it was associated with an astronomical observation system or a lunar cult.

Jadeite axe

A number of polished axes, including these jadeite axes, were found in one of the chambers of the tumulus of Saint Michael. No doubt their use was exclusively religious, because they do not seem to have been used.

Teotihuacan

Mexico Valley, Mexico

Teotihuacan, which reached its peak between 200 and 650, remained for a very long time the largest city in Central America: it had up to 250,000 inhabitants. It was abandoned around 750, but continued to be revered by the Aztecs, who considered it the origin of the world. Founded in the fertile valley of Mexico, where intensive agriculture was practiced, the city was the capital of a powerful state. Its geographical location made it a flourishing shopping center, especially for obsidian, and the crafts of Teotihuacan were found throughout Mesoamerica. The power, which was in the hands of formidable rulers, associated narrow, effective and ruthless military control with restrictive and sometimes even violent religious rituals, as traces of human sacrifice were discovered. The most special vestiges of this civilization are monuments and art objects related to religion.

Avenue of the Dead

At the top of the Pyramid of the Moon, view of the Avenue of the Dead, the main axis of the city. You can see the gigantic pyramid of the Sun on the left. This avenue is oriented North-South and aerial photographs have identified another east-west road that cut it.

The city of monuments

Researchers at the University of Rochester (New York) came up with the idea of combining low-level aerial reconnaissance techniques with surface analysis to analyze a detailed topographic survey of the ancient city. This is how was located, next to the religious center, a complex admnistratif and residential. The street plan forms a kind of grid established on astronomical bases. The long alley of the Dead (5 kilometers), which crosses the city from side to side, is lined with religious buildings. Among them, impregnating constructions like the pyramid of the Sun (the largest building in pre-colonial America with its 75 meters high) and the pyramid of the Moon. The summits of these truncated pyramids supported temples or performed great religious ceremonies. Their size highlights the power of the rulers of Teotihuacan and the human resources they had to build them. These sovereigns lived in large one-storey palaces covered with frescoes. The numerous merchants owned their quarters.
Teotihuacan had a monopoly on the extraction and manufacture of obsidian, and the city was home to more than 300 workshops. The city still contained many other neighborhoods, including a space where strangers gathered to worship their gods. It is not known exactly how Teotihuacan was destroyed, but it is believed that it is undergoing an invasion or civil war. Later, the city was discovered by the Aztecs who associated it with their mythology and, for more than a century, it has continued to faciner archaeologists.

The pyramid of the Sun

Its construction will require the work of thousands of men, who had to carry millions of earthen saddlebags. Its basement contains a natural cellar for ritual ceremonies.

Onyx container

The geometric shape of this ocelot container is reminiscent of the stone masks that decorate many buildings in the city.

Thebes

Upper Egypt, Egypt

The ancient city of Ouaset, named Thebes by the Greeks, is located on the banks of the Nile, about 650 kilometers from Cairo. The modest trading post of the Old Kingdom became the great Egyptian capital of the New Kingdom (1580-1085 BC). The city developed in two parts: a residential area, in Luxor, on the eastern bank of the Nile, and a huge monumental and religious complex belonging to the pharaohs on the western bank. Most of the ancient city was discovered by more modern constructions, and the many remaining temples and buildings are spread over a very extensive territory. Napoleon was one of the first to take an interest in these ruins during his Egyptian campaigns and, since researchers from all over the world have interspersed a long and meticulous work on the spot. Today, archaeological excavations continue at the same time as the conservation and preservation work of one of the most visited sites in the world, and therefore subject to degradation and pollution.

The funerary temples

Thebes possessed in the New Kingdom the most important and richest funerary temples of all Egypt. They did not differentiate from divine temples, but allowed to perpetuate during religious ceremonies the tributes paid to the deceased sovereign. It was then associated with the deities of the country.

The religious city of the pharaohs

Thebes was famous paar the manificence of its religious monuments. The city began its extraordinary expansion with the Pharaohs of the Eighteenth Dynasty (circa 1580BC), who expended heavily in the construction and decoration of these temples, tombs and palaces. The necropolis (a gigantic group of temples and tombs) stretches along the western bank of the Nile. In the valleys of kings and queens, royal graves were dug from the rocky hills and funerary temples in the valley.
The most famous tomb is that of Tutankhamun, a minor king. Untouched when it was discovered in the 1920s by Howard Carter, it contained fabulous treasures. It must be said that all the tombs originally contained artistic remains, because tradition wanted the dead to be surrounded by all come out of objects that he could need in the other world. Unfortunately, many were looted on the scene, more interested in the remains than the site itself, have sometimes made valuable information disappear.
Today, researchers are interested in the most remote graves. The preservation of the sites, and especially the delicate mural paintings present in many tombs, is their major concern, as well as the discovery of new remains.

The colossus of Mennon

The colossal statues of Amenhotep III, represented seated, marked the entrance to the funerary temple dedicated to this souvois of the eighteenth dynasty. They are 21 meters high and dominate the landscape. A legend tells that at the first light of dawn, a music escaped from one of them, the one that was damaged by an earthquake.