Category: News In English

By Michael Seifert Have people in Europe always had light skin? A young scientific discipline, paleogenetics, can provide an answer to this question. tuenews INTERNATIONAL spoke to the expert Cosimo Posth, Junior Professor of Archaeo- and Paleogenetics at the University of Tübingen. “Our aim is to reconstruct the genetic diversity of people in the past and to explain historical changes caused by migrations, intermixing and the extinction of human groups. To do this, we take a tiny amount of organic matter from archaeological bone finds or teeth and can thus isolate the DNA, the human genetic material. In the last… Read More

By Youssef Kanjou Archaeological monuments are threatened by natural disasters, floods, fires, earthquakes – often as a result of climate change. On the other hand, natural disasters have particularly preserved historical sites, making them ideal witnesses of the past for archaeologists. For example, volcanic eruptions on Santorini and Mount Vesuvius have preserved the important settlements of Old Thera and Pompeii for posterity. What is less well known is that natural disasters have also led to the discovery of particularly interesting archaeological sites. Currently, disasters in Turkey and Libya, for example, have helped to uncover previously unknown archaeological remains. In February… Read More

By Wolfgang Sannwald On the evening of November 9, many parliaments, cities, communities and people in Germany commemorate the night of November 9-10, 1938, when the leaders of National Socialism in Germany directly and deliberately attacked Jewish people and the facilities of Jewish communities. Some historians refer to this so-called Reichspogromnacht as the beginning of the systematic persecution and extermination of European Jewry. Between 1939 and 1945, the Nazi-controlled German Reich had more than six million people murdered across Europe, mainly through mass shootings and in concentration camps. The terms “Holocaust” or “Shoah” usually refer to the approximately six million… Read More

By Youssef Kanjou Communication between the East and the West began a very long time ago for various reasons, mainly because of trade. This has been evidenced by various phenomena, especially historical buildings that have been preserved until today despite the wars. Among the most important of these buildings are the khans (caravanserais). The word khans comes from Persian or Turkish and means: hostels for travelers, which today have mostly been replaced by hotels. Khans were widespread in the great cities of the East, characterized by their flourishing trade and international relations, such as Aleppo, Damascus, Cairo and Istanbul. There… Read More

By Oula Mahfouz and Michael Seifert Tourists who visit Andalusia in southern Spain to see the architectural and artistic remains of an empire that was ruled by Islam for 800 years are amazed. They realise how much of Europe’s medieval culture is due to the inhabitants of this Muslim empire in the south of Europe. The purpose of this article is to trace important historical foundations for this and to name examples. The Arabic name “al-Andalus” (Andalusia) refers to a historical region that existed on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) from the 8th to the 15th century. The exact… Read More

By Youssef Kanjou There are many archaeological sites in Syria that are well-known among archaeologists and in tourism. This is true, for example, of Palmyra on the Western Desert, the city of Mari on the Euphrates and the city of Ugarit on the Syrian coast. But Dura Europos, “Pompeii of the East“ or “Pompeii of the Desert“ as it is also called, is not as famous as other archaeological cities—despite its cultural and historical importance as well as being a very important stop for trade caravans. The comparison with Pompeii is made because in Dura Europos, as in Pompeii, many… Read More