In the Anavlochos mountain range in eastern Crete, archaeologists have found hundreds of ancient terracotta fragments, mostly from female figurines, that were left as votive offerings in natural rock cavities in the seventh century B.C. Within one of these cavities was a more peculiar collection of well-worn objects, including a terracotta plaque of a woman and a steatite bead that likely both date to the eighth century B.C., as well as a seventh-century B.C. terracotta horse figurine. The cavity also contained a three-sided Minoan sealstone dating to between 1850 and 1700 B.C.—at least 1,000 years earlier than the other items. “The only thing these objects have in common is that they were already antiques when they were deposited in this cavity,” says archaeologist Florence Gaignerot-Driessen of the University of Cincinnati. “The fact that they were curated objects is clearly the reason why they were precious enough to be left as offerings.”

Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey mention similar collections of valuable curated objects, called keimelia, that were accumulated as gifts, heirlooms, and spoils of war. While studying the appearances of keimelia in these texts, Gaignerot-Driessen realized that they could have functioned as stand-ins for a missing person, either living or dead. She proposes that the four objects in the Anavlochos cavity might similarly have been intended to represent missing people by the individuals who placed them there. “This interpretation would change the way we perceive votive offerings,” Gaignerot-Driessen says. “They might represent the person offering the object, or someone they have in mind, and not the recipient, which would have been a deity.”

Archaeologists investigating a 2,000-year-old fortress in the Zagros Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan believe it may be a lost city. The fortress of Rabana-Merquly stretches across some 2.5 miles of steep terrain overlooking a major tributary of the Lower Zab River. It was located on the southeastern frontier of the vassal kingdom of Adiabene, within the dominion of the Parthian Empire (247 B.C.–A.D. 224), which controlled territory from eastern Turkey to western Pakistan. According to Michael Brown, an archaeologist at Heidelberg University, the fortress was built at an intersection between the lowlands, where state authority was strong, and the highlands, which were home to restive pastoralist tribal groups. “It’s situated there to allow Adiabene to exert some influence over the highland domain,” Brown says.

Rock reliefs carved into the cliff face next to each of the complex’s two gated entrances portray a nearly life-size individual who is identifiable as a Parthian-era ruler by his ceremonial headgear: a dome-shaped hat with a diadem attached to it. Brown says this figure must be a king of Adiabene based on the fortress’ location and the similarity of his attire to that of a statue in the city of Hatra, some 140 miles to the west, which is known to depict an Adiabenean king. The researchers suggest that the fortress was likely the royal city of Natounia, which is known from a handful of coins minted in the first half of the first century B.C., some of which say the city was located “on the Kapros,” the ancient name for the Lower Zab River. “Based on what we’ve got at the moment,” Brown says, “this is the best candidate because we’ve got these big pictures of kings next to our front doors.” If the fortress is indeed Natounia, then the reliefs likely depict its founder, Natounissar, or an immediate descendant. To see a photo of a section of the fortress' perimeter wall, click here.

Two separate pieces of a delicate artifact about the size of a small paperclip that was first discovered at the site of a Silla Dynasty (57 B.C.–A.D. 935) royal palace in the South Korean city of Gyeongju in 2016 have now been conserved and reunited. The complete object was made of one one-hundredth of an ounce of 99.9 percent pure gold. It measures 1.4 inches by 0.5 inches and is thinner than a piece of paper. On this microscopic canvas, eighth-century A.D. Silla artisans carved lines thinner than a strand of hair to portray spectacularly detailed flowers seen from above to accentuate their fully bloomed petals. Amid the flowers is a pair of symmetrical birds facing each other.

The two pieces of the artifact were found about 65 feet from each other, both crumpled into tiny balls. It was only when researchers unfolded and flattened and then examined them under a microscope that they realized the fragments belonged to a single object. The artifact’s purpose remains unknown. To see a detail of a finely engraved flower on the artifact, click here.