Babylon continues to inspire the dreams of archaeologists who work feverishly to restore its function and influence. Using a method called “archaeomagnetism”, scientists recently succeeded in determining the construction date of the famous Ishtar Gate, which guards the entrance to the eastern façade of the southern palace of the ancient city.
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duty, doordoor Ishtariel embodied splendor and excess at the entrance to Babylon. Reconstructed at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, it makes an impression with its sky-blue bricks and gold decorations representing bulls and dragons. By using alternative dating techniques with archaeological magnetism. Thus, scholars were able to determine that the gate was built a few years after the important Babylonian conquests that shaped the history of the region.
A monument from the era of the Babylonian conquests
In a study dated January 17 and published in the electronic journal One plusScientists explain in detail the methods used to analyze the Ishtar Gate. The latter was built in three stages, led by King Nebuchadnezzar II, in the sixth periodH a century. Therefore, archaeologists have resorted to archaeomagnetism, which is particularly useful when studying bricks frompridepride And other clay elements. Archaeological magnetism dissects the influence and changes of the Earth's magnetic field on the artifacts mentioned. This method has been practiced since 1930, and has sometimes proven to be more accurate than the traditional method Carbon 14 datingCarbon 14 dating.
In the case of the Ishtar Gate, researchers took five brick samples from the monument. The Ishtar Gate is believed to have been built around 583 BC, in three relatively short stages. Archaeologists were not previously aware of the duration buildingbuilding From the door. The first bricks were laid shortly after the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. This was a particularly prosperous time for the city, located in what is now Iraq.
On the sixthH In the twentieth century, Babylon was the center of a vast empire extending throughout the Middle East and the Levant. The Ishtar Gate, discovered in 1902, opened on a solemn processional route and exuded the grandeur of the prestigious ancient city.
