From My Fantasy Writing Desk
Since finishing Of Kings and Griffins, I’ve been drafting a novella set in the land of the griffins. Fascinating to write without any human characters. If you’ve read my Tesha series books, you know that my griffins have a different mode of communication. They send their thoughts to each other, which works from the writing point of view similarly to human dialogue, but they also send emotions and images. Filling out their world and developing Bolthar’s backstory has been a lot of fun.
(Photo at top of post: Stonemasonry with Griffins, late 11th-12th c, Gradina, Rakovac. National Museum of Serbia, photo by Gmihail at Serbian Wikipedia)
Archaeology I Enjoyed
Not What He Was Looking For
A mushroom hunter in Czech Republic found a Bronze Age sword. Its pommel and hilt are intricately decorated with engraved circles and rows of crescent-shaped marks, and although the blade is broken near the hilt it is otherwise complete. The find isn’t located near any prehistoric settlements, but they are surveying the area and conducting a detailed search for further remains. Click here for Live Science “Mushroom hunter unearths gorgeous Bronze Age sword“
A Silent Period Finds a Nonverbal Voice
Archaeologists in Israel excavated a fascinating Iron Age fort from the time of King David, possibly Gershurite. The site features large basalt fortifications and evocative horned figures who seem to be worshipping with their arms raised.
Around 1180 BCE the Hittite empire came to an end, and the Egyptian empire was significantly disabled. With those two collapses (among others), the abundance of written records concerning the political and military state of affairs in the Levant stops. This disintegration creates a power vacuum, especially in the territories on the edges of the two empires—such as the region that is now Israel.
With this in mind, it’s particularly interesting to study this newly discovered settlement. We can use it to piece together what might have been happening during this undocumented, disrupted time.
The carved figures found near a stone platform/table that may be an altar reflect familiar elements to me. The Hittites depicted their divinities with horned hats—and by extension their rulers. Priests and priestesses raised their arms in prayer.
The meter-and-a-half thick rough stone defensive walls look similar to many earlier Bronze Age sites, but with a heavy emphasis on protection at a strategic river-crossing. The figurative carving is much less refined than the carved ranks of gods and goddesses seen near the Hittite capital, for example, but the concept is similar—all of which makes sense in a time and world where the great powers have fallen and small localized groups have to scrape together protection and an economic future.
There’s a fight to protect this site from destruction by a housing project. I hope the preservationists win. I enjoyed the video and the local school children washing pot sherds in it. Click here for Times of Israel “King David Era Fort Found in Golan May be 1st Evidence of Bible’s Geshurites”