Latest news with #Tarkhan
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Tarkhan Dress: World's oldest known outfit was worn to an ancient Egyptian funeral 5,000 years ago
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Name: Tarkhan Dress What it is: A woven linen garment Where it is from: Tarkhan Cemetery, Giza governorate, Egypt When it was made: Between 3500 and 3100 B.C. Related: Sun Chariot: An ornate Bronze Age treasure that may have featured in an ancient Nordic religious ceremony What it tells us about the past: More than five millennia ago, an Egyptian weaver created a simple, tailored linen dress, likely not realizing just how long it would stick around. The Tarkhan Dress, carbon-dated to 3482 to 3102 B.C., is the world's oldest known complex woven garment — meaning an item of clothing that was cut and fitted rather than draped or wrapped. The dress was found by Sir Flinders Petrie in 1913 as he excavated a mastaba — a large, rectangular, flat-topped Egyptian tomb — near the town of Tarkhan, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of Cairo. Petrie found more than 2,000 tombs in the Tarkhan necropolis, many of which dated to the late Protodynastic and Early Dynastic periods (around 3100 B.C.) when pharaohs first ruled a unified Egypt. Within the mastaba, Petrie found what he called a "great pile of linen cloth" that past tomb raiders appear to have chucked to the side. Although Petrie brought the cloth back to the U.K., the Tarkhan Dress sat in a pile until 1977, when conservators at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London realized what it was. Sporting a modest V-neckline, the dress was made from three pieces of linen hand-woven from flax (Linum usitatissimum), according to the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London (UCL), where the Tarkhan Dress is on display. The sleeves and bodice have a knife-pleat decoration made from sharp, narrow folds in the fabric. The bottom of the garment is missing, so it is unclear whether it was a shirt, a tunic or a dress. But museum experts think it was made for a young, slim woman. "The survival of highly perishable textiles in the archaeological record is exceptional," Alice Stevenson, now a professor of museum archaeology at UCL, wrote in a 2016 study, and "the survival of complete, or almost complete, articles of clothing even more so." In the 2016 study, Stevenson and Michael Dee, now an isotope chemist at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, confirmed the antiquity of the Tarkhan Dress, revealing that it was made "at the cusp of the First Dynasty." MORE ASTONISHING ARTIFACTS —Prosciutto di Portici: A portable sundial that looks like a pork leg — and it was likely owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law before Mount Vesuvius erupted —Ram in the Thicket: A 4,500-year-old gold statue from the royal cemetery at Ur —Oseberg tapestry: Viking Age artwork from a boat burial that may depict the Norse tree of life The dress was probably en vogue, Stevenson and Dee noted in the study, as funerary art from this time period shows deceased people wearing similar garments. But it wasn't made solely for a funeral — the Tarkhan Dress has evidence of wear, suggesting an elite person wore it before it became "funeral rags." The Tarkhan Dress is the earliest surviving example of a cut, fitted and tailored garment, Stevenson and Richards noted, and is helping researchers better understand textile manufacturing during the rise of the ancient Egyptian civilization.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Assyrian swimmers: 2,900-year-old carving of soldiers using 'floaties' to cross a river
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Name: Assyrian Swimmers What it is: A relief scene carved in gypsum Where it is from: The Royal Palace of Nimrud (near modern-day Mosul, Iraq) When it was made: Between 865 and 860 B.C. Related: Tarkhan Dress: World's oldest known outfit was worn to an ancient Egyptian funeral 5,000 years ago What it tells us about the past: This carved relief from Nimrud, a major city of the ancient Assyrian Empire in present-day Iraq, regularly drifts around the internet as purported evidence for scuba diving nearly 3,000 years ago. But the wall panel actually depicts an army crossing a river, and soldiers are navigating the waves with the help of ancient flotation devices. The gypsum panel is one of several excavated in the 1840s from the Northwest Palace, which was built on the Tigris River around 865 B.C. on the orders of King Ashurnasirpal II. Originally located around the interior walls of the throne room and royal apartments, the carved panels depict the king leading a military campaign, engaging in rituals and hunting animals. This panel fragment, which is in the collection of The British Museum, shows several men and horses crossing a river. The horses are swimming, pulled on leads by cavalry soldiers. One soldier is free-swimming, one is rowing a small boat, and two are using goat-skin bags that the soldiers are inflating to stay afloat. A cuneiform inscription running across the top of the panel traces the king's lineage and describes his key accomplishments. The two-dimensionality of the perspective — in which the figures appear complete and not half-submerged — is typical in Assyrian art, according to The British Museum. MORE ASTONISHING ARTIFACTS —Sun Chariot: An ornate Bronze Age treasure that may have featured in an ancient Nordic religious ceremony —Prosciutto di Portici: A portable sundial that looks like a pork leg — and it was likely owned by Julius Caesar's father-in-law before Mount Vesuvius erupted —Ram in the Thicket: A 4,500-year-old gold statue from the royal cemetery at Ur Animal skin or bladder floats appear several times in the Nimrud wall panels, and they were likely made from goats or pigs. The floats were used to help keep a soldier's weapons dry and to allow an army to sneak up on an enemy. Ashurnasirpal II was known for his military prowess as well as his brutality, and his innovative tactics — including the goat-skin floats — helped him expand his empire considerably in the ninth century B.C. While it's interesting to ponder how much of the world the Assyrian army might have conquered if they'd had scuba gear, the humble goat skin still represents a key invention that helped them maintain power in Mesopotamia for centuries, until the empire fell around 600 B.C.
Time of India
18-06-2025
- Science
- Time of India
World's oldest dress discovered in Egypt after 5,000 years reveals ancient craftsmanship
Source: UCL News The rare and remarkable relic of ancient fashion history discovered in Egypt's Tarkhan Cemetery, south of Cairo. The Tarkhan Dress dated between 3482 and 3102 BC being the oldest known complex tailored clothing is the woven linen which means the garment designed to be cut, shaped, and sewn rather than simply wrapped and draped. The Tarkhan garment, the oldest dress unearthed, underscores the sophistication of textile production dating back over 5000 years ago in addition to a direct linking to early Egyptian craftsmanship and social customs. This demonstrates that the clothing was more than functional even in the ancient world; expressive, culturally significant and made intricately. Tarkhan Dress: The oldest known dress found in an Egyptian Cemetery In 1913, the dress was first uncovered by the famed British archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie during the excavation of a mastaba tomb which is flat-roofed and rectangular in design at the extensive tarkhan necropolis. This burial ground features over 2000 tombs back to the critical transition from Egypt's Protodynastic to Early Dynastic periods, when the first pharaohs began to consolidate power. The remnants believed to have been brushed aside by the ancient tomb robbers was a 'pile of linen cloth' which the archaeologist Petrie brought back to the UK. The garment was recognised until 1977 for decades when textile conservators of the Victoria and Albert Museum identified the fragments as of nearly complete linen dress. Tarkhan Dress: Design and fabric used The oldest dress discovered was crafted from fine linen woven from flax (Linum usitatissimum), featuring a modest V-shaped neckline, with tight sleeves and a knife-pleated bodice indicating advanced textile skills. Though its lower section is missing, experts believe it could have functioned as a tunic, shirt, or full-length dress. The garment's size and style suggest it was made for a slim, young woman of elite status. As noted by the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London (UCL) , where the dress is now housed, this type of tailored clothing was uncommon in the archaeological record due to the fragile nature of ancient textiles. Confirming the oldest dress age and cultural significance In 2016, a study led by UCL's Alice Stevenson and isotope chemist Michael Dee of the University of Groningen verified the dress's age through advanced radiocarbon dating. The garment was confirmed to have been created around the dawn of Egypt's First Dynasty, a period marking the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaohs. Interestingly, signs of wear on the dress suggest it was used during life before being interred, countering the idea that it was made exclusively for funerary use. This practical wear, combined with visual depictions of similar garments in contemporary tomb art, reinforces the theory that the Tarkhan Dress was fashionable at the time. Beyond its age, the Tarkhan Dress represents a major breakthrough in the understanding of early clothing construction. As Stevenson noted, the survival of such a perishable textile especially in a nearly complete, tailored form which is extraordinarily rare. Also Read | 'Doomsday fish' recently spotted four times in 20 days across countries including India; here's where and what happened next
