"The Kingdom of Aksum, of which the city of the same name was the
capital, existed from 100 AD to 940 AD, and at one point covered the
majority of what is now Eritrea, northern Ethiopia, Western Yemen,
southern Saudi Arabia, and Sudan, reports Ancient Origins"
http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/amazing-jewels-and-artifacts-found-2000-year-old-ethiopian-grave-020381
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/06/09/grave-found-sleeping-beauty/28730961/
Archaeologists find grave of 'Sleeping Beauty'
Elizabeth Armstrong Moore, Newser staff 11:24 a.m. EDT June 9, 2015
(NEWSER) – During a six-week excavation of the ancient city of Aksum
in present-day Ethiopia, English archaeologists uncovered 11 graves
that contained "extraordinary" items. But the inhabitant of one of the
graves is herself particularly enthralling: a so-called "Sleeping
Beauty," as Louise Schofield, who led the team, has dubbed her. The
woman's positioning and the artifacts found by her side—including kohl
eyeliner and flask that was to hold the tears of the dead—"suggest
that she had been beautiful and much-loved," explains the Guardian.
The paper has more on the woman from Schofield, by way of the Ethiopia
Observer. "She was curled up on her side, with her chin resting on her
hand, wearing a beautiful bronze ring. She was buried gazing into an
extraordinary Roman bronze mirror."
The Kingdom of Aksum, of which the city of the same name was the
capital, existed from 100 AD to 940 AD, and at one point covered the
majority of what is now Eritrea, northern Ethiopia, Western Yemen,
southern Saudi Arabia, and Sudan, reports Ancient Origins. The Roman
mirror, along with other Roman artifacts found in the dig, is
significant: Schofield explains that much of what had previously been
known about Aksum dated to the fourth and fifth centuries, "when they
adopted Christianity [and] ... were trading very intensely with Rome."
(Aksum had a prime role in the route connecting the Roman Empire with
Ancient India.) But her team's finds are from the first and second
centuries, indicating the kingdom may have had a trade relationship
with Rome far earlier. Schofield has been exploring Ethiopia for
years, and in 2012 announced a find that she believed is related to
the Queen of Sheba. (Another 2,000-year-old marvel has been found,
this one in Jerusalem.)
This story originally appeared on Newser:
Received on Tue Jun 09 2015 - 11:49:50 EDT