Word: glanzman
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Glanzman suspects that all religious ceremonies took place within the oval-shaped sanctuary, which he calls "the business end" of the complex. Exactly what those rituals involved remains a puzzle because the team has not yet formally excavated the area. The abundance of animal bones in the debris that was used as fill within the enclosure wall, however, as well as a partial inscription on the wall detailing the regulation of animals brought to the sanctuary, suggests that sacrifices were common. A radar sounding within the oval confirmed that it too is littered with architectural debris, and a preliminary...
...ancient citadel of Marib, which rises above the desert about five km to the north. A separate team from the German Archaeological Institute, meanwhile, has uncovered dozens of multistory mausoleums in a cemetery area southwest of the oval enclosure. "We have excavated less than 1% of the entire site," Glanzman marvels. "This is the largest and one of the most important pre-Islamic sanctuaries on the Arabian peninsula. It's really, really huge...
...evidence - inscriptions, wall paintings, fragments of bronze statues, pottery vessels, animal bones and 2,000-year-old pieces of frankincense that still retain their distinctive fragrance - indicates that the site was used continuously from at least 1200 B.C. until the 6th century A.D. The potsherds are particularly important, Glanzman says. "They may be the key to sequencing the archaeological history of the region. The technology is very sophisticated and shows a high level of civilization." References in the inscriptions reveal that the temple was dedicated to Almaqah, the southern Arabian god of the moon and of agricultural fertility...
...will take another 10 to 15 years just to uncover all the buildings at Mahram Bilqis and the surrounding pathways - and even then most of the site will remain unexplored. Eventually, the Yemeni government plans to restore and reconstruct the sanctuary in hopes of transforming it into what Glanzman calls "an eighth wonder of the world" - a tourist attraction comparable to the Pyramids or the Acropolis. (Yemen's political instability, though, makes that scenario unlikely anytime soon.) It also intends to petition unesco to designate Mahram Bilqis as a World Heritage Site...
...goal of discovering the Queen's true identity, the task may well prove impossible. "In order to know who she was, we would need to find an inscription in Hebrew, and find it on an object that was unequivocally linked to the 10th century B.C.," Glanzman says. "That's like trying to find a needle in a haystack that's been buried under 10 meters of sand...