priestess with golden eye discovered

[Ben Gruagach]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=437632&in_page_id=1811

Archeologists in Iran have discovered the remains of a woman who they believe was a priestess or soothsayer who lived about 5000 years ago. She had an artificial eye gilded with gold which must have been quite spectacular when she was alive.

The article includes a photo of the remains and the artificial eye, as well as an artist's rendition of what she might have looked like when she was alive.

[Avongara]

That is awesome!! Thanks for the share!!

[Sage Rainsong]

That is beyond cool. I would love to know more about this woman. Thanks so much for sharing Ben.

[Morrigan_Wolfwind]

That's awesome! The woman herself is interesting, but I also want to find out just how she got that eye. Was there something wrong with her left eye, and did she become a priestess later on because of it? Was it something involving ancient Persian rituals?

Or was it intended--she wanted it gilded for no reason?

Too many questions! I feel a story idea coming on.

[_Banbha_]

That's fantastic! The Burnt City in Iran has been giving up many treasures and secrets!

Here's some more on the priestess:

...Italian archaeologists said yesterday that the prophetess had also been buried with an ornate bronze hand mirror, which she presumably used to check her “startling appearance”....

...Professor Costantini said the woman had been nearly 6ft, putting her head and shoulders above most other women of the time. Aged between 25 and 30, she had a high sloping forehead, a “determined” jutting chin and dark skin, suggesting that she was from Arabia. Farad Foruzanfar, an Iranian anthropologist, agreed that the woman’s height and her “Afri-canoid cranial structure” suggested that she came from the Arabian Peninsula.

“She must have been a very striking and exotic figure,” Professor Costantini told Corriere della Sera.He said the team had initially thought the eyeball might have been placed in the woman’s eye at burial. But microscopic examination had found an imprint left on her eye socket by prolonged contact with the golden eye. The socket also bore the marks of the thread, further proving that she had worn the eyeball in life.

Professor Sajjadi said the skeleton had been dated to between 2900 and 2800BC, when Shahr-i-Sokhta was a bustling, wealthy city and trading post at the crossroads of East and West. He said the woman might have arrived with a caravan from Arabia. Shahr-i-Sokhta means “Burnt City”, a local name referring to the fact that it burnt down and was rebuilt three times during Persia’s turbulent history before being finally destroyed in 2000 BC — about the time that Stonehenge was erected. The archaeologists said it was not clear what caused the woman’s death....
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1415400.ece