Mysterious battle which 'saved England from the Vikings' WAS fought near Liverpool

A bloody conflict which saw the Anglo Saxons fend off the Vikings and Celts took place in Wirral, near Liverpool, archaeologists say.

Their claim reiterates past theories about the 937AD battle but there has been ongoing debate about its true location, with 40 possible sites suggested.

Researchers in 2017 were convinced it had happened in South Yorkshire.  

But now after researching medieval manuscripts and carrying out land surveys, experts believe they have found the true battlefield in Wirral, northwest England.

Read the rest of this article...

EMAS Archaeological Study Tour to Orkney

EMAS Archaeological Study Tour to Orkney

14 – 23 April 2020

Guide: David Beard MA, FSA, FSA Scot

The 2020 EMAS spring study tour will be to Orkney. We will travel by coach from Baker Street, London stopping overnight at Middlesbrough and Inverness and visiting archaeological sites on the way.

We will be based in Kirkwall, and will visit sites on Orkney Mainland and the islands of Egilsay, Rousay and Wyre. The sites that we will visit include Maes Howe, Skara Brae, Midhowe Broch, the Brough of Birsay, Cubbie Roo’s Castle, the Earl’s Palace at Birsay and Kirkwall Cathedral.

The cost of this study tour will be £1036 per person for people sharing a twin room, and £1305 per person for a single room.

Please note that hotel accommodation is limited, so an early reply is advised.

Click here for a complete itinerary

Archaeologists unearth ancient settlement in SE Turkey

An ancient historical site dating back 11,800 years was unearthed on Thursday in southeastern Turkey.

Now part of the province of Mardin, the area has been home to many different civilizations including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Hittites, Urartians, Romans, Abbasids, Seljuks and Ottomans.

Archeologist Ergul Kodas said his team was excavating the site as part of a project focusing on documenting and rescuing cultural sites located in the Dargecit district, when they came across the 11,800-year-old sewer system and over two dozen architectural artifacts.

A total of 15 restorers and archaeologists as well as 50 workers are currently excavating the area, which was designated a historical and cultural site by Turkish authorities.

Kodas, the head of the excavation team, said the historical site was inhabited for a long period around 9800 B.C. and that there were eight-story historical buildings reaching up to seven meters in height.

He noted that the sewer system was the oldest known in history, saying: "We were only able to unearth a certain portion of the sewer system, and confirmed it was [located] in a public use area."

Read the rest of this article...

3000-year-old sword discovered in north-east Bohemia

Credit: David Tanecek, CTK

A sword dating back to the early Bronze Age has been unearthed in the region of Rychnov nad Kneznou in north-east Bohemia, according to a recent report by the Czech News Agency.

According to the archaeologist Martina Bekova from the Rychnov museum, the weapon has an ornamental engraving and a very sharp blade.

"The bronze sword with its tongue handle is dated around 1200 BC, it belongs to the Lusatian culture. The findings of this culture are numerous in East Bohemia, but this is not true of swords," said Bekova.

"Only five prehistoric swords have been found in the Czech Republic over the last decade," she adds.

Archaeologists are keeping the exact location of the discovery a secret to protect the site.

A search of the area also yielded several rivets which were used to secure the sword handle to the blade, and a bronze spear head from about the same period.

Read the rest of this article...

Caithness Iron Age stone tower to be conserved

Over the years Ousdale Burn Broch has fallen into a poor state of preservation

CAITHNESS BROCH PROJECT

An Iron Age drystone tower damaged by Victorian archaeologists is to be conserved.

The ruins of Ousdale Burn Broch, north of Helmsdale in Caithness, has fallen into further disrepair over the last 120 years.

A wall near the entrance to the broch has collapsed and a tree is growing inside the structure.

Archaeological charity Caithness Broch Project has secured £180,000 of funding towards its conservation.

Read the rest of this article...

Römischer Münzschatz auf dem Zugerberg entdeckt

.Gut versteckt in einem abgelegenen Waldstück auf dem Zugerberg: Zwölf römische Silbermünzen geprägt zwischen 241 und 255 nach Christus. Erkennbar sind die mit Strahlenkrone bekränzten Büsten der Kaiser Gordian III., Volusian und Valerian I. sowie die auf einer Mondsichel ruhende Büste der Kaiserin Otacilia Severa (Ehefrau von Philipp I.). Die sichtbaren Münzrückseiten zeigen die Gottheiten Sol mit Globus, Jupiter mit Zepter und Blitzbündel, Mars mit Speer und Schild, Concordia sitzend mit Opferschale und Füllhorn sowie Victoria mit Palmzweig und Schild, unter dem ein Gefangener am Boden sitzt. Foto: © Amt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Zug

Die Münzen lagen eng beieinander, was darauf hinweist, dass sie sich ursprünglich in einem Behältnis aus einem vergänglichen Material befunden haben dürften, z.B. in einem Beutel aus Stoff oder Leder oder in einem Holzgefäss. Geprägt wurden die Münzen - es handelt sich um sogenannte Antoniniane - im Namen verschiedener Kaiser und einer Kaiserin. Sie können in die Zeit zwischen 241 und 255 nach Christus datiert werden

Read the rest of this article...

Sunken Ships Reveal Iceland’s Trading History

Photo: Image: A screenshot from RÚV.

An abundance of shipwrecks off the coast of Eyrarbakki, South Iceland, suggest it was likely Iceland’s largest trading post until the 20th century, RÚV reports. Archaeologist Ragnar Edvardsson is working to map shipwrecks in the shallow waters around Iceland’s coast. Ragnar has mapped 400 large shipwrecks that occurred between 1200-1920, but believes there could be as many as 1,000 since the island’s settlement.

“I am of course first and foremost trying to get an idea of the number of large ships which I do through working with written sources. Icelanders were of course so good at writing so they often describe the damage to the ships, how many died, and also gave a geographic location,” Ragnar describes.

With the help of these written clues, the archaeologist sets out to sea with a diver to find the shipwrecks and investigate how well they have been preserved.

Read the rest of this article...

Frozen moss reveals fatal final journey of 5,300-year-old ice mummy

Fresh clues have emerged about the final journey of a European glacier mummy shot dead by an arrow before his body was preserved in ice for thousands of years.

The latest study, published Wednesday in the journal Plos One, examined "subfossils" of pieces of vegetation that had frozen on or around the 5,300-year-old mummy, known as Otzi the Iceman.

Otzi's body was frozen in ice until it was discovered by a couple hiking in the North Italian Alps in 1991. Since then, nearly every part of him has been analyzed -- from what he may have sounded like, to the contents in his stomach and how he died. For the past 25 years, his mummified body has been a window into early human history, providing a peek into what life in the Alpine region was like during the Copper Age.

Read the rest of this article...

Many imperial Romans had roots in the Middle East, genetic history shows

Many people from the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East settled in the city of Rome, with its famous Forum, during the imperial period. 

ISTOCK.COM/MUSTANG_79

Two thousand years ago, the streets of Rome bustled with people from all over the ancient world. The empire's trade routes stretched from North Africa to Asia, and new immigrants poured in every day, both by choice and by force. Now, an ancient DNA study has shown those far-flung connections were written in the genomes of the Romans.

People from the city's earliest eras and from after the Western empire's decline in the fourth century C.E. genetically resembled other Western Europeans. But during the imperial period most sampled residents had Eastern Mediterranean or Middle Eastern ancestry. At that time, "Rome was like New York City … a concentration of people of different origins joining together," says Guido Barbujani, a population geneticist at the University of Ferrara in Italy who wasn't involved in the study. "This is the kind of cutting-edge work that's starting to fill in the details [of history]," adds Kyle Harper, a Roman historian at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.

Read the rest of this article...

Archaeologists unearth ancient settlement in SE Turkey

Sewer system dating back 11,800 years, over 20 architectural structures found in Mardin province

An ancient historical site dating back 11,800 years was unearthed on Thursday in southeastern Turkey.

Now part of the province of Mardin, the area has been home to many different civilizations including the Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, Hittites, Urartians, Romans, Abbasids, Seljuks and Ottomans.

Archeologist Ergul Kodas said his team was excavating the site as part of a project focusing on documenting and rescuing cultural sites located in the Dargecit district, when they came across the 11,800-year-old sewer system and over two dozen architectural artifacts.

A total of 15 restorers and archaeologists as well as 50 workers are currently excavating the area, which was designated a historical and cultural site by Turkish authorities.

Read the rest of this article...

New human ancestor discovered in Europe

A male Danuvius guggenmosi probably looked something like this

[Credit: Universitat Tubingen]

Our upright posture may have originated in a common ancestor of humans and great apes who lived in Europe - and not in Africa, as previously thought. That’s the conclusion reached by an international research team headed by Professor Madelaine Bohme from the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tubingen in a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature and the Journal of Human Evolution. Bohme has discovered fossils of a previously unknown primate in southern Germany. The fossils of Danuvius guggenmosi, which lived 11.62 million years ago, suggest that it was well adapted to both walking upright on two legs as well as using all four limbs while climbing. The ability to walk upright is considered a key characteristic of humans.

Read the rest of this article...

Stave churches in Norway older than thought

Hopperstad Stave Church in Sogn og Fjordane county is dendro-dated to 1131-1132. Previously, the date was estimated at 1125-1250 

[Credit: Jan Michael Stornes]

Recently, researchers have used a different measurement method called photodendrometry. With this technique, the material can be photographed in place. The method has the advantage of not needing to take core samples, and scientists can photograph large amounts of material in a protected building and procure larger amounts of data. This provides more precise knowledge of the estimated construction date, because it allows wood that cannot be core sampled to also be dated.

Through the Stave Church Preservation program headed by the Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage, dendrochronologists at NTNU received money to study the country's stave churches more closely. The program has yielded results.

"We now know the age of some stave churches almost to the year," says Terje Thun. He is an associate professor at the NTNU University Museum in Trondheim. Thun is one of the country's foremost experts in dendrochronology, or tree ring dating.

Read the rest of this article...

Whale bone DNA gives new clues to Iron Age Orkney life

The vessel - made from a fin whale vertebra - contained a human jaw bone and two newborn lambs

UHI ARCHAEOLOGY INSTITUTE

When they first unearthed the container near a broch at South Ronaldsay, archaeologists knew it was a hollowed out whale vertebra.

Dr Martin Carruthers from the UHI archaeology institute at Orkney College says "it was used as a casket, or a vessel.

"And inside of that we found a human jawbone, and two newborn lambs.

"And it was deposited we think in quite a formal manner, just outside the door of the broch at the time it was going out of use."

Even more extraordinarily two sets of antlers from red deer had been jammed into place alongside the backbone, and held in place with a quern stone.

Read the rest of this article...

DÉCOUVERTE D’UN LIEU D’EXTRACTION DE LA POIX VIEUX DE 1500 ANS À BOLQUÈRE

Sur le site de La Serra de les Artigues à Bolquère, situé à 1600 mètres d’altitude en Haute-Cerdagne (Pyrénées-Orientales), les archéologues de l’Inrap mettent au jour les vestiges d’une exploitation de la poix vieille de 1500 ans

UNE ACTIVITÉ ARTISANALE EN HAUTE MONTAGNE
Préalablement à la réalisation d’un centre technique d’exploitation routière,  les archéologues de l’Inrap mettent au jour les restes d’un petit four sur le site de La Serra des Artigues (Bolquère) situé à 1600 mètres d’altitude, dans un espace montagnard jusqu’alors peu documenté. Les vestiges retrouvés appartiennent à une activité spécifique, aujourd’hui disparue, celle de l’extraction de la poix. Appelé pega en catalan et pegue en occitan, la poix est un goudron végétal extrait du bois d’arbres appartenant à différentes familles de conifères, principalement des pins (pin d’Alep et pins maritimes en basse altitude et pin de type sylvestre en milieu montagnard) et des genévriers (Genévrier oxycèdre).

Read the rest of this article...

Mittelalterliche Häuser und Kanäle

Mit Kellen legen die Archäologen Mauern aus Bruch- und Backstein frei. 

Foto: Archäologie am Hellweg eG/U. Holtfester

Schon in einer Tiefe von einem Meter stießen die Archäologinnen auf Spuren von städtischen Häusern aus dem 13. Jahrhundert. Senkrecht im Boden steckten zahlreiche Pfosten und Staken. Diese Hölzer bildeten Unterbauten für verschiedene Nebengebäude wie Schuppen und Kleintierställe. Erst so war es überhaupt möglich, auf dem hier sehr feuchten Boden Häuser zu errichten.

"Für die Menschen im Mittelalter bedeutete der feuchte Untergrund einen erhöhten Aufwand", erklärt LWL-Archäologe Dr. Sven Spiong, der die Ausgrabung betreut. "Für uns Wissenschaftler ist er dagegen ein Glücksfall, da in dauerhaft feuchtem Milieu organische Materialien wie Holz über sehr lange Zeiträume erhalten bleiben."

Auf der 1.200 Quadratmeter großen Grabungsfläche fanden die Archäologinnen außerdem die Überreste von Kanälen. Einst leiteten diese Kanäle die Abwässer und das Regenwasser von den ehemaligen Wohnhäusern an der Straße in die hinteren Grundstücksbereiche. Sie belegen damit indirekt die Standorte der nicht mehr erhaltenen mittelalterlichen Wohnhäuser. Die Spuren der Wohnhäuser fehlen, da sie zur heutigen Straße hin standen, wo in der Neuzeit Keller angelegt wurden.

Read the rest of this article...

Space Archaeology and Remote Sensing Are Revolutionizing Archaeology

Michael Davias/Wikimedia Commons

Archaeologists are literally peeling back the sands of time using images taken from space.

Space archaeology, also known as satellite remote sensing, is the use of satellites or aircraft to take pictures of Earth's surface that show subtle hints of buried features.

The methods employed are:

• Aerial photography - which got its start in France with balloonist Gaspard-Felix Tournachon, and which really came into its own during WW I.
• Multispectral and hyperspectral sensors — multispectral Scanners (MSS) were first included in the Landsat Program in 1972; hyperspectral sensors obtain the electromagnetic spectrum for each pixel in an image.
• Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanners (TIMS) — were also first introduced in the Landsat Program, one has been included on each of the last five Landsat satellites.
• Color Infrared Film (CIR) — far-infrared refers to thermal imaging, while near-infrared uses wavelengths ranging from 700 nm to 900 nm.
• Microwave radar — uses radio waves to determine the heights of terrain.

The history of space archaeology

The roots of space archaeology are in the cold war, with the U.S.'s KH-11 Program of the 1970s. It involved satellites with cameras that used optoelectronics instead of film. They were able to view the Earth in gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet and infrared, besides visible light.

Read the rest of this article...

Archaeology breakthrough: 2,000-year-old Roman discovery offers major new insight into era

The remains of a horse perfectly in order was found (Image: Daily Star)

The chariot, thought to be around 2,000 years old, was discovered with the near perfect fossilised remains on the horses that would have pulled it. The discovery offered a glimpse into the world of the wealthy from ancient times and the lavish ways in which they buried their belongings.

The discovery was made near the city of Vinkovci in eastern Croatia.

The city was a small part of the mighty Roman Empire which spanned much of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Western Europe, including England and Wales.

The researchers found a large burial chamber in which the two-wheeled-carriage was unearthed.

The remains of the skeletons of two horses were also found, one strewn across the front of the carriage, the other neatly laid out in the exact position it was laid to rest.

Read the rest of this article...

New technique reveals lost splendours of Herculaneum art

Herculaneum is much better preserved than its neighbour Pompeii

[Credit: Andreas Solaro/AFP]

One of the best preserved Roman houses at Herculaneum reopened on Wednesday after more than 30 years, its exquisite paintings brought back to life thanks to a revolutionary new technique.

Although much smaller than its better known neighbour outside the southern Italian city Naples, Herculaneum was a wealthier town with more exquisite architecture, much of which is still to be uncovered.

Herculaneum was buried under at least 15 metres (almost 50 foot) of rock, much more than the around four metres of ash at Pompeii, which for years made Herculaneum less attractive to looters and archaeologists alike.

Read the rest of this article...

'One of the greatest finds': experts shed light on Staffordshire hoard

Items from the Staffordshire hoard of gold, weapons and ornaments found by a metal detectorist in 2009. Photograph: David Jones/PA

First major academic research finds ‘war hoard’ likely captured in battles between regional kingdoms

When an amateur metal detectorist first heard his machine beep in an unpromising field in Lichfield in July 2009 and dug down to uncover gold, it was clear this was no ordinary archaeological discovery.

But who had collected the astonishing stash of gold, garnet weapons and ornaments he had found? Why had they been buried? And why were so many of them broken?

After a decade of conservation and analysis, archaeologists have finally revealed their conclusions about these tantalising questions and others, with the publication of the first major academic research into what became known as the Staffordshire hoard.

What they have concluded, according to Chris Fern, the lead academic on the project, reaffirms the hoard’s significance as “without a doubt one of the greatest finds of British archaeology” and casts new light on one of the most turbulent periods of early English history.

The archaeologists have even tentatively identified the Mercian king they believe may have once owned the booty, and can draw a tantalising link to the dynasty of the rival Anglo-Saxon ruler who was buried at Sutton Hoo, Britain’s most famous site of the period.

Read the rest of this article...

The Viking warrior WOMEN: Scientists reconstruct the face of 1,000-year-old female with a 'battle wound' on her skull who was buried with a hoard of weapons in Norway

Scientists reconstructed the face of the female warrior who lived more than 1,000 years ago by anatomically working from the muscles and layering of the skin

Scientists have re-created the face of a female Viking warrior who lived more than 1,000 years ago. 

The woman is based on a skeleton found in a Viking graveyard in Solør, Norway, and is now preserved in Oslo's Museum of Cultural History.

While the remains had already been identified as female, the burial site had not been considered that of a warrior 'simply because the occupant was a woman', archaelogist Ella Al-Shamahi told The Guardian. 

But now British scientists have brought the female warrior to life using cutting-edge facial recognition technology. 

And scientists found the woman was buried with a hoard of deadly weaponry including arrows, a sword, a spear and an axe. 

Researchers also discovered a dent in her head, which rested on a shield in her grave, that was consistent with a sword wound.  

Read the rest of this article...

Meet Erika the Red: Viking women were warriors too, say scientists

Ella Al-Shamahi comes face to face with the Viking woman’s skull. Photograph: Eloisa Noble/National Geographic

Think of a Viking warrior and you probably imagine a fearsome, muscular, bearded man. Well, think again. Using cutting-edge facial recognition technology, British scientists have brought to life the battle-hardened face of a fighter who lived more than 1,000 years ago. And she’s a woman.

The life-like reconstruction, which challenges long-held assumptions that Viking warrior heroes such as Erik the Red left their women at home, is based on a skeleton found in a Viking graveyard in Solør, Norway, and now preserved in Oslo’s Museum of Cultural History. The remains had already been identified as female, but her burial site had not been considered a warrior grave “simply because the occupant was a woman”, according to archaelogist Ella Al-Shamahi.

As they worked on reconstructing her face for a 21st-century audience, scientists found that not only was the woman buried amid an impressive collection of deadly weaponry, including arrows, a sword, a spear and an axe, she also had suffered a head injury consistent with a sword wound. Her head, resting in her grave on a shield, was found to have a dent in it serious enough to have damaged the bone.

Read the rest of this article...

Funds awarded to help conserve Dingwall Pictish stones

One of the two stones was found to have been decorated with carvings never before 

seen on a Pictish stone

NOSAS

A project to conserve two newly-discovered ancient carved standing stones has secured key funding.

Archaeologists found the Pictish stones hidden by vegetation at an early Christian church site near Dingwall in the Highlands earlier this year.

Historic Environment Scotland has awarded £5,000 to the North of Scotland Archaeological Society.

The money will be put towards to costs of conserving the stones and having them displayed at a local museum.

Read the rest of this article...

Britain's first city discovered as archaeologists say it was home of people who built Stonehenge

Britain's first city discovered as home of people who built Stonehenge  

Britain’s first ‘city’ arose near an ancient spring on Salisbury Plain, and its inhabitants probably built Stonehenge, archaeologists believe.

Blick Mead lies just a mile away from the Wiltshire stone circle, and experts have uncovered more than 70,000 stone tools at the site, as well as an intriguing ceremonial platform suggesting the area held ritual importance for prehistoric hunter-gatherers who lived there 10,000 years ago.

Although hunter-gatherer populations rarely settle in one place, Professor David Jacques of the University of Buckingham, believes the site may have been a permanent encampment where at least the children, elderly and sick lived.

“When you look at Stonehenge you think, ‘but where are the people?’” said Prof Jacques. “It makes sense that if you want to find the people who built it, the obvious idea is to look for where the water is. 

Read the rest of this article...

Can a Restored Pompeii Be Saved From ‘Clambering’ Tourists?

Visitors on Via dell' Abbondanza in Pompeii. The site is set to receive a record-breaking number of visitors this year.Credit...Susan Wright for The New York Times

Not long ago, the ancient Roman site was neglected and crumbling. A multiyear restoration is winding down, but challenges — high costs and troublesome visitor behavior — remain.

It’s easy to imagine lounging in the garden at the sprawling villa of Julia Felix, a savvy Roman business woman who lived in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in the first century A.D. There would have been wine to drink, and fresh figs, apricots and walnuts to savor. The warm sea breeze would have blended the dry scent of cypress and bay leaves with the stench of rubbish and excrement from the street, and the gurgle of water in the baths would have been occasionally drowned out by cries from the crowd in the 20,000-seat amphitheater nearby.

On a recent weekday morning, a slow-moving line of tourists snaked through the elegant estate, admiring what’s left of the elaborate frescoes, deep-set dining room and marble pillars. Nearly 2,000 years have passed since Pompeii and its surroundings were buried under ash and rock following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. But this estate, which recently reopened following extensive restoration, appears much as it would have looked when Julia Felix still welcomed her paying guests.

Read the rest of this article...

Mystery of 15th-Century Bayeux Tapestry Solved

The Bayeux Tapestry tells the story of the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

(Image: © LOIC VENANCE/AFP/Getty Images)

A medieval tapestry that tells the story of the Norman conquest of England over 230 feet (70 meters) of wool yarn and linen has just divulged one of its secrets. Though the origins of this magnificent work of textile, called the Bayeux Tapestry, are murky, researchers now think they know why the tapestry was made: to be displayed in the nave of the Bayeux Cathedral. 

The dimensions of the cloth mean it would have fit perfectly into the 11th-century nave of the Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy, France, the researchers reported Oct. 23 in the Journal of the British Archaeological Association. The narrative of the embroidery would have even fit around the spacings of the nave's columns and doorways. 

The first written record of the tapestry is in the Bayeux Cathedral's inventory from 1476, so the idea that the tapestry had been commissioned for the cathedral in the 11th century was always the simplest explanation, according to study author Christopher Norton, an art historian at the University of York in England. 

Read the rest of this article...

The last Neanderthal necklace

A falange of imperial eagle with marks of court from Cave Foradada

[Credit: Antonio Rodriguez-Hidalgo]

The interest in these findings lies in the fact that it is the most modern piece of the kind so far regarding the Neanderthal period and the first one found in the Iberian Peninsula. This circumstance widens the temporary and geographical limits that were estimated for this kind of Neanderthal ornaments. This would be "the last necklace made by the Neanderthals", according to Antonio Rodriguez-Hidalgo.

"Neanderthals used eagle talons as symbolic elements, probably as necklace pendants, from the beginnings of the mid Palaeolithic", notes Antonio Rodriguez-Hidalgo. In particular, what researchers found in Cova Foradada are bone remains from Spanish Imperial Eagle (Aquila Adalberti), from more than 39,000 years ago, with some marks that show these were used to take the talons so as to make pendants.

Read the rest of this article...

Roman ring found in Broxted after 1,600 years

The gold Roman ring was found in a farmer's field

COLCHESTER AND IPSWICH MUSEUM SERVICE

A "prized" Roman gold ring was found in a farmer's field more than 1,600 years after it was lost.

The piece of jewellery, which is inset with an amethyst, was found in Broxted, near Saffron Walden in Essex, in November 2017.

Sophie Flynn, finds liaison officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) at Colchester Museum, said it would have been a "prized possession".

The ring was declared treasure at an inquest at Essex Coroner's Court.

Read the rest of this article...

Ancient anti-witchcraft potion found at old Northamptonshire pub

The suspected witch bottle is believed to date back to the 19th Century

A Victorian bottle thought to have been used to ward off evil spells has been found at the birthplace of a "witch".

Angeline Tubbs, known as the Witch of Saratoga, was born at the former Star and Garter Inn, in Watford village, Northamptonshire, in about 1761.

She is still the subject of ghost tours at Saratoga Springs in New York, where she moved, aged 15, and told fortunes.

The 19th Century bottle was found during roof repairs and contains fish hooks, human teeth, glass and a liquid.

Read the rest of this article...

Bronze Age monument discovered in Forest of Dean

Archaeologist Jon Hoyle said nobody knows precisely what ring cairns were used for

ANNE LEAVER

It was identified following a LiDAR (light detection and ranging) survey of the Forest of Dean.

The technique used laser beams fired from an aeroplane to create a 3D record of the land surface, effectively removing the trees from the landscape.

Mr Hoyle said when he studied the data, he spotted an "extremely circular" feature, which he thought initially might be a World War Two gun emplacement.

After visiting the site, at a secret location near the village of Tidenham, he realised it was much older, dating to between 2,500 BC and 1,500 BC.

Read the rest of this article...

Buried in Ice – The Franklin Expedition Cemetery

Mathilde, a Secrets of the Ice team member, collecting the skeletonized remains of a 

18th century packhorse from the surface of glacial ice 

(Photo: Andreas C. Nilsson, secretsoftheice.com)

«He’s there, he’s right there”. The archaeologists stood back in shock and awe. Nothing had prepared them for the encounter with the Victorian seaman from the lost Franklin expedition, buried in the frozen ground in the Canadian High Arctic. it was like he had just died.

We take a closer look at the investigation of the Beechey Island permafrost burials. What can they tell us about the disastrous Franklin expedition, and why are they so well preserved?

The expedition
The Franklin expedition was meant to be the final exploration of the Northwest Passage – the sea route linking Europe and Asia through the Canadian Arctic. Instead, the expedition ended in a disaster. The two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, were lost with all hands. The clues to why this happened were few and mysterious. The expedition was well equipped for a long stay in the Arctic. Why did it end so badly?

Read the rest of this article...

RARE DÉCOUVERTE DE QUATRE SCULPTURES GAULOISES À TRÉMUSON

L’Inrap vient de mettre au jour à Trémuson (Côtes-d’Armor) un remarquable ensemble de sculptures gauloises : quatre bustes enfouis au milieu du Ier siècle avant notre ère, dont celui d’un homme barbu et moustachu portant un torque autour du cou.

Read the rest of this article...

Karolingerzeitliches Grenzkastell bei Magdeburg lokalisiert

Profil des äußeren Grabens des karolingerzeitlichen Grenzkastells. 
© Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt, Claudia Schaller.

Archäologen des Landesamtes für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt sind in Biederitz im Landkreis Jerichower Land auf eine Wall-Graben-Anlage gestoßen, bei der es sich wahrscheinlich um das in zeitgenössischen Schrifquellen genannte karolingische Militärkastell in der Nähe Magdeburgs handelt.

Read the rest of this article...

Scanners throw laser light on the 'dark ages' in Orkney

One rune carving is on a stone hidden by grass at the base of a wall in ruins of 

the Bishop's palace

The latest laser scanning technology is being used to investigate ancient inscriptions left on Orkney by the Picts and the Vikings.

Experts from Sweden hope their software will make it possible to recognise the work of individual carvers.

The study may tell us more about the transition between the different groups who occupied sites like the Brough of Birsay over hundreds of years.

The team are hoping for preliminary results by the start of 2020.

Read the rest of this article...

Viking Warrior Women and the Public Archaeology of Death

Talk: Viking Warrior Women and the Public Archaeology of Death

Chester: Saturday 26 October, 10.00–11.00 

Talk synopsis: This talk introduces the ‘public archaeology of death’: the popular culture and politics of archaeological investigations of the dead. Focusing on recent research and public debates regarding ‘Viking warrior women’ to highlight the ethical challenges archaeologists face in digging, displaying and debating death in the digital age.

Read the rest of this article...

Unique Archaeological Discovery in Croatia: Roman Chariot With Horses!

Cibalia.info/HR Turizam/Goran Rihelj/Novosti.hr

A truly sensational and unique archaeological discovery in Eastern Croatia.

As Goran Rihelj/HR Turizam writes on the 16th of October, 2019, archaeologists from the City Museum of Vinkovci and the Institute of Archaeology from Zagreb presented the results of research they've been conducting at the site in Stari Jankovci (Vukovar-Srijem) yesterday.

In tumulus 1, that is, an earthen mound about forty metres or so in diameter and about one metre high, a large burial chamber was found, into which a Roman chariot with two wheels and the bones of the accompanying horses were laid.

Research on this site initially began back in 2017, and these are the first major discoveries, significant to the extent that we have not had anything similar in Croatia so far.
A truly sensational and unique archaeological discovery in Eastern Croatia.

As Goran Rihelj/HR Turizam writes on the 16th of October, 2019, archaeologists from the City Museum of Vinkovci and the Institute of Archaeology from Zagreb presented the results of research they've been conducting at the site in Stari Jankovci (Vukovar-Srijem) yesterday.

In tumulus 1, that is, an earthen mound about forty metres or so in diameter and about one metre high, a large burial chamber was found, into which a Roman chariot with two wheels and the bones of the accompanying horses were laid.

Research on this site initially began back in 2017, and these are the first major discoveries, significant to the extent that we have not had anything similar in Croatia so far.

Read the rest of this article...

An exceptional antique necropolis discovered in Narbonne

Archaeologists of the INRAP (the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research) search an ancient necropolis site in Narbonne, southern France, on October 7, 2019. The necropolis site is exceptional for its size - 5.000 m2 -, its state of conservation and the amount of treasures depicting the funeral rites at the time of Narbo Martius, the first Roman colony in Gaul, founded in 118 years before Christ. ERIC CABANIS / AFP.

 At the gates of Narbonne, an Antique necropolis is currently under excavation by an Inrap team, as prescribed by the State (Drac Occitanie), prior to the construction of a Zac. Due to its importance and its exceptional state of preservation, this site is a major discovery for French archaeology and benefits from significant funding from the government (State, Occitanie region, Aude department, Grand Narbonne agglomeration, city of Narbonne) and the project developer (Alenis, Grand Narbonne development company). The archaeological site adjoins Narbo Via, an international Antiquity museum designed by « Foster+Partners » who, in 2020, will present the exceptional heritage of Antique Narbonne in an 8,000 m2 space.

Read the rest of this article...

3000-year-old toolkit suggests skilled warriors crossed Europe to fight an epic battle

This collection of bronze artifacts was contained in a pouch or box and lost on a battlefield 3300 years ago, archaeologists say. 

THOMAS TERBERGER/UNIVERSITY OF GÖTTINGEN/LOWER SAXONY STATE OFFICE FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE

Bronze Age Europe was a violent place. But only recently have scientists uncovered the scope of the violence, at a 3000-year-old site in northern Germany where thousands of well-armed young men fought with sophisticated weapons in what appears to be an epic battle. Now, a bagful of bronze artifacts and tools found at the bottom of the river in the middle of the battlefield suggests some of these warriors traveled from hundreds of kilometers away to fight. That suggests northern European societies were organized on such a large scale that leaders could call warriors to distant battlefields, long before modern communication systems and roads.

“It’s extremely rare to find a box or pouch [like this],” on an ancient battlefield, says Thomas Terberger, an archaeologist with the Lower Saxony State Office for Cultural Heritage in Hanover, Germany, who describes the find with colleagues in a paper published today in Antiquity. “Somebody lost it there.”

Read the rest of this article...

Orkney link to Pictish man buried in Highland cave

The Pictish man's skeleton was discovered during a cave excavation in the Black Isle 

three years ago

ROSEMARKIE CAVES PROJECT

A Pictish man who was killed and then buried in a cave in the Highlands 1,400 years ago had links to Orkney, according to genetic analysis.

Archaeologists found the man's skeleton buried in a recess of a cave at Rosemarkie in the Black Isle in 2016.

He was discovered with stones weighing down his limbs while his head had been battered multiple times.

Researchers have compared his nuclear genome with a worldwide dataset of ancient and modern populations.

His genetics were found to be most similar to other Iron Age individuals from the Knowe of Skea in Westray in Orkney.

Read the rest of this article...

Havering Hoard: Weapons found on building site to go on show

A group of 453 artefacts are due to go on display at a museum next year

LDRS

Ancient weapons discovered on a building site will go on display at the Museum of London Docklands.

The group of 453 artefacts found in Havering, east London, is the third largest ever discovered in the UK.

It "adds immensely to our understanding of Bronze Age life", Historic England said.

The find, which dates from between 800BC and 900BC, was officially declared treasure by a coroner earlier this year.

The discovery, dubbed the Havering Hoard, was uncovered last September, and will form the centrepiece of a major exhibition from April.

Read the rest of this article...

Scientists find early humans moved through Mediterranean earlier than believed

Map of Greek islands in the Aegean Sea showing Naxos in the center (stock image).

Credit: © lesniewski / Adobe Stock

An international research team led by scientists from McMaster University has unearthed new evidence in Greece proving that the island of Naxos was inhabited by Neanderthals and earlier humans at least 200,000 years ago, tens of thousands of years earlier than previously believed.

The findings, published today in the journal Science Advances, are based on years of excavations and challenge current thinking about human movement in the region -- long thought to have been inaccessible and uninhabitable to anyone but modern humans. The new evidence is leading researchers to reconsider the routes our early ancestors took as they moved out of Africa into Europe and demonstrates their ability to adapt to new environmental challenges.

Read the rest of this article...

Skeletons of six babies found during archaeological dig

House of the dead: scientists examine the remains of one of the children.

Muzeum im. ks. Stanisława Staszica w Hrubieszowie/Facebook

Archaeologists have found the skeletons of six babies in a medieval “house of the dead” near Poland’s border with Ukraine.

In 2017, famers started noticing bones appearing in their fields in the village Gródek nad Bugiem, so they swiftly informed the nearby Hrubieszów Museum about the grisly findings. Rightfully so as the bones led to astonishing discoveries - burials from 11th century, the times of Bolesław I the Brave and his famous battle with Yaroslav the Wise, Grand Prince of Rus, which took place somewhere nearby.

Excavation work on the site was led by Dr Tomasz Dzieńkowski from the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University’s Institute of Archaeology and has covered a site about 300 meters from a medieval stronghold.

Read the rest of this article...