Archaeology - May/June 2018

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It can be hard to imagine that there are still cultures of the ancient world which are nearly unknown, but in this issue of Archaeology magazine you will learn about the Tartessians, a mysterious culture that thrived in southwestern Spain more than 2,5000 years ago. So little is known about the Tartessians that even archaeologists find it hard to understand some of their most dramatic events, including the ritual sacrifice of dozens of precious horses. We also bring your the story of a 17th-century ship that sank off the island of Texel in the Netherlands at the height of the Golden Age of European trade, carrying with it to the bottom of the sea an extraordinary cargo of luxury goods including silk stockings and velvet handbags. Sometimes, it is clear, that the people of the ancient world were much more resourceful than we might believe, and in this issue you will read about an extraordinary group of settlers who successfully cultivated Israel’s Negev Desert for hundreds of years in the Byzantine period, and about what may have changed when the Muslims took over the region. In these stories—and so many more—this issue of Archaeology brings the past to life.