Fortune telling in the Bronze Age revealed through three Armenian shrines

#bronzeage #armenia #cornelluniversity #fortunetellers #Ephedra With the discovery of three Bronze Age shrines in a hilltop fortress at Gegharot, Armenia efforts have been launched to try and fathom out how they might have been used to predict the future – this has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 20 February 2015.
Each of the shrines is approximately 3,300-year-old and consists of a single room in which there is a clay bowl that is filled with smaller ash and ceramic artefacts. In the opinion of researchers, these could have been part of an ancient ritual where local rulers would reach an altered state of mind by drinking wine and burning substances.
Archaeologists of Cornell University have found evidence of animal bones, stone and flour in all the three shrines. The researchers had taken the pottery, washed them with distilled water and, after analysis of the run off found residues of grape, and something similar to Ephedra – this is a type of stimulant.
The artifacts in the shrine include clay idols, animal bones, stamp seals and containers in which substances used to have been burnt.
Moreover, the archaeologists at Cornell University are of the opinion that items like the knucklebones of cows, sheep and goat were used as a type of dice to predict the future.
In one of the shrines, they came across 18 pebbles which had been selected for their smooth, rounded shape and their color palette, which ranged from black and dark grey to white, green and red.