A Jaw-Dropping New Clue May Reveal a Hidden Temple Lying Beneath the Parthenon

 

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TIM NEWCOMB

June 18, 2024 

 

 

Ancient Graffiti Unveils Unknown Greek Temple Preto_perola - Getty Images

• A smattering of ancient 6^th century B.C. Greek graffiti reveals that a different temple likely existed where the Parthenon now sits.

• Clues from drawings made by a shepherd show there was likely a temple older on the same site as the Parthenon before advancing armies destroyed it.

• The graffiti reveals that the temple was of an impressive size.

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Mikon, a Greek man (potentially a shepherd) from the 6^th century BC, may have left us the ultimate clue to an unknown temple that once filled the space now occupied by the great Parthenon. And that clue comes in the form of ancient graffiti.

Amidst a marble outcrop about 12 miles outside of Athens, and discovered in an area covered with more than 2,000 graffiti drawings made by shepherds and goatherds (drawings that included ships, animals, buildings, warriors, and a fair share of erotic scenes ), one image stands out. The depiction shows a temple complete with columns and steps, and it comes with an inscription reading, “To Hekatompedon … Mikonos”.

As Janric van Rookhuijzen—classical archeologist and postdoctoral research fellow at Radbound University—wrote in The Conversation, that translates roughly to “the 100-foot building of Mikon.”

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Rookhuijzen and fellow researcher Merle Langdon published a study in the American Journal of Archaeology claiming that the ancient graffiti in the Bracko Hills of Vari show a temple on the Acropolis of Athens that predates the Parthenon (a marble temple for the goddess of Athena). The discovery is now providing ancient answers to long-debated questions.

By signing his graffiti, Mikon allowed the drawing to be dated. He used an ancient alphabet that the scholars believe makes it “clear that the drawing was made as early as the 6^th century B.C.” And with the inscription giving scale to the drawing, it seems that the temple was indeed of impressive size.

 

“It is likely that Mikon wanted to depict a building on the Acropolis of Athens,” Rookhuijzen writes, noting the Acropolis is visible from the drawing site. “However, because the alphabet he used can be firmly dated to the 6^th century BC, the drawing must be at least 50 years older than the Parthenon, which was begun around 450 BC.”

The Acropolis of Athens has a pre-Parthenon past, according to historians. Sure, one of the most revered ancient structures now sits atop the hill, but archeologists have long debated what stood on the location before the Parthenon—many believe that in 480 B.C., the Persian army destroyed all buildings already erected there. Rookhuijzen said the Acropolis Museum in Athens houses damaged sculptures that may have been part of a pre-war temple.

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Adding to the intrigue, Rookhuijzen writes, is an ancient Greek document from before the attack that mentions a Hekatompedon on the Acropolis, used for “treasure storage.”

“Some think the Hekatompedon mentioned in the decree was a temple, as Greek temples normally served as the storage of treasures offered to the gods,” Rookhuijzen writes. “But many others argue that the word Hekatompedon cannot refer to a temple at all and must have been an open courtyard on the Acropolis.”

Mikon may have just provided the answer, using an escape from the boredom of being alone for days with animals to create his drawing. Now, that drawing serves as a clue centuries later. “The graffito made by Mikon,” Rookhuijzen wrote, “shows how a small scribble may be the key to tackling the historical riddles behind one of the world’s most iconic archeological sites.”

 

 

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Cave Finds Reveal Ritual Practiced for Record-Breaking 500 Generations

 

Story by Aristos Georgiou

 • 14h • 4 min read

 

 

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of an Indigenous ritual in Australia that appears to have been practiced continuously for 500 generations—from as far back as 12,000 years ago to the 19th century—a study has revealed.

Remarkable findings from a cave located in the southeast of the country represent what is likely the "oldest archaeological evidence" for a ritual that has also been documented by modern ethnographers, study author Bruno David of Monash University in Australia, told Newsweek. (Ethnography—a branch of anthropology that involves the study of cultures—did not truly emerge as a scientific discipline until the 18th-19th centuries.

"Nowhere else on Earth has archaeological evidence of a very specific cultural practice previously been tracked so far back in time," David said in a press release.

The latest discoveries, documented in a study published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour, shed light on the rich cultural heritage of the GunaiKurnai—an Aboriginal Australian nation that is one of the world's oldest living cultures.

At the invitation of GunaiKurnai Aboriginal Elders, David and colleagues undertook archaeological excavations at Cloggs Cave, located in the foothills of the Australian Alps in the state of Victoria.

These investigations uncovered two miniature fireplaces, each featuring a single shaped stick embedded within them made of wood from a plant belonging to the Casuarina genus (or group of species).

A chemical analysis of both sticks revealed that they had been smeared with animal or human fat—and that they date back to 11,000 and 12,000 years ago respectively, which roughly corresponds to the end of the last ice age. No evidence of cooking or heating was found at the site.

 

Nineteenth century ethnography sheds light on the purpose of these fireplaces and the sticks found within them, which represent Australia's oldest known wooden artifacts, the study reports.

In the late 1800s, pioneering ethnographer Alfred Howitt described a ritual involving such artifacts from information he was given by GunaiKurnai Elders and other community members at the time. According to Howitt, the ritual was practiced by "mulla-mullung"—who were powerful GunaiKurnai medicine men and women.

The ethnographer's description of the ritual indicates that it involved fastening something belonging to a sick person to the end of a throwing stick smeared in human or kangaroo fat. The throwing stick was then stuck slanted in the ground before a fire was lit underneath it. The mulla-mullung would then chant the name of the sick person, and once the stick fell, the charm was complete.

Notably, Howitt observed that the stick was made of Casuarina wood and that the practice still existed at the time he was writing.

This evidence suggests the cave was used for ritual purposes around the end of the last ice age—and that the ritual Howitt described, in particular, was passed down between 500 generations in GunaiKurnai Country.

There are several strong connections between the archaeological evidence and 19th century ethnographic observations, according to David. These include not only the presence of a single trimmed stick in each instance, but also that they were each slightly burnt very briefly by a miniature fire the size of a human hand, the fact that the wood was made of a Casuarina species, and the presence of animal and human fat on the sticks.

"It's possible in theory that the practice stopped and then started again, but if that was the case, its cultural knowledge would still have had to have been transmitted from generation to generation through that intervening time, as the individual, and combination, of the multiple details that make up the ritual installation are too unusual to be recreated in this precise combination out of the blue," David said.

 

 

Images showing the miniature fireplaces with the sticks immediately after they were exposed by excavation at Cloggs Cave. The sticks are thought to be Australia’s oldest known wooden artifacts, according to the study. David et al., Nature Human Behaviour 2024© David et al., Nature Human Behaviour 2024

The ritual is no longer practiced today because traditional knowledge was interrupted when European settlers arrived in the region in the 1860s, GunaiKurnai Elder and study co-author Uncle Russell Mullett told Newsweek.

"Gunaikurnai people were moved off our Country and onto mission stations," he said. "Families were broken up, and we were forbidden to practice our culture or speak our language. The impacts of these colonial decisions are still felt by our community today, which is why these discoveries and reclamation of our connection to culture are so essential."

 

The latest findings are significant, in part, because in societies without writing, rituals known to ethnographers have rarely been traced back using archaeological evidence more than a few hundred years, according to the authors.

The study represents a landmark collaboration between researchers and the GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC), which represents the Aboriginal Traditional Owners of the cave site. The research was requested, led by, and undertaken with the participation of the GLaWAC.

"For these artifacts to survive is just amazing. They're telling us a story," Mullett said in the press release. "A reminder that we are a living culture still connected to our ancient past. It's a unique opportunity to be able to read the memoirs of our Ancestors and share that with our community... It's only when you combine the Western scientific techniques with our traditional knowledge that the whole story can start to unfold."

 

 

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