Ice age lion figurine: Ancient fragment of ivory belonging to 40,000 year old animal figurine unearthed

The fragment on the left makes up half the head of the animal figure on the right, showing that the “lion” was fully three-dimensional, and not a relief as long thought.

Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen have found an ancient fragment of ivory belonging to a 40,000 year old animal figurine. Both pieces were found in the Vogelherd Cave in southwestern Germany, which has yielded a number of remarkable works of art dating to the Ice Age. The mammoth ivory figurine depicting a lion was discovered during excavations in 1931. The new fragment makes up one side of the figurine's head, and the sculpture may be viewed at the Tübingen University Museum from 30 July.

"The figurine depicts a lion," says Professor Nicholas Conard of Tübingen University's Institute of Prehistory and Medieval Archaeology, and the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment Tübingen. "It is one of the most famous Ice Age works of art, and until now, we thought it was a relief, unique among these finds dating to the dawn of figurative art. The reconstructed figurine clearly is a three dimensional sculpture."

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VIOLENT AFTERMATH FOR THE WARRIORS AT ALKEN ENGE

Four pelvic bones on a stick and bundles of desecrated bones testify to the ritual violence perpetrated on the corpses of the many warriors who fell in a major battle close to the Danish town of Skanderborg around the time Christ was born.

Denmark attracted international attention in 2012 when archaeological excavations revealed the bones of an entire army, whose warriors had been thrown into the bogs near the Alken Enge wetlands in East Jutland after losing a major engagement in the era around the birth of Christ. Work has continued in the area since then and archaeologists and experts from Aarhus University, Skanderborg Museum and Moesgaard Museum have now made sensational new findings.

“We have found a wooden stick bearing the pelvic bones of four different men. In addition, we have unearthed bundles of bones, bones bearing marks of cutting and scraping, and crushed skulls. Our studies reveal that a violent sequel took place after the fallen warriors had lain on the battlefield for around six months,” relates Project Manager Mads Kähler Holst from Aarhus University.

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Wine-cup used by Pericles found in ancient grave

A cup believed to have been used by Classical Greek statesman Pericles has been found in a pauper's grave in north Athens, according to local reports Wednesday. 

The cup was likely used in a wine symposium when Pericles was in his twenties, and the six men  who drank from it scrawled their names as a memento, experts say [Credit: To Vima] 

The ceramic wine cup, smashed in 12 pieces, was found during building construction in the northern Athens suburb of Kifissia, Ta Nea daily said. 

After piecing it together, archaeologists were astounded to find the name "Pericles" scratched under one of its handles, alongside the names of five other men, in apparent order of seniority.

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'Hammer of Thor' unearthed on the Danish Island

Danish archaeologists have solved the mystery over the significance of the Mjöllnir amulets worn by the Vikings. Indeed, they represented Thor’s hammer, the researchers said. 

The rune-inscribed Mjöllnir amulet [Credit: National Museum of Denmark] 

More than 1,000 intricately carved pendants shaped like hammers have been found across Northern Europe since the first millennium A.D. 

Although it was widely believed these amulets were hammers, a debate remained over their true meaning. The objects’s unusual shape, featuring a short handle and a symmetrical head, raised doubts whether they represented something else entirely. 

Now a 10th-century Viking amulet unearthed in Købelev, on the Danish island of Lolland, has provided a definitive answer.

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Prehistoric dairy farming at the extremes

Finland's love of milk has been traced back to 2500 BC thanks to high-tech techniques to analyse residues preserved in fragments of ancient pots. 

Corded Ware sherds [Credit: Finnish National Board of Antiquities] 

The Finns are the world's biggest milk drinkers today but experts had previously been unable to establish whether prehistoric dairy farming was possible in the harsh environment that far north, where there is snow for up to four months a year. 

Research by the Universities of Bristol and Helsinki, published July 30 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, is the first of its kind to identify that dairying took place at this latitude -- 60 degrees north of the equator.

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Mysteries of medieval graffiti in England's churches

A head of a man was found etched into a wall of a church in Gonerby, Lincolnshire - but what does it mean?

Medieval graffiti of straw kings, pentagrams, crosses, ships and "demon traps" have been offering a tantalising glimpse into England's past. What do the pictures reveal about life in the Middle Ages?

A project to record the graffiti, which began in Norfolk, has now been rolled out to other areas and is gradually spreading across England.

Armed with just a torch and a camera, a team of volunteers have recorded more than 28,000 images from churches in Norfolk alone and are a third of the way through searching Norwich Cathedral, where there are many more examples.

Although the drawings discovered so far undoubtedly offer an insight into the minds of some - possibly bored - churchgoers in the Middle Ages, their precise meaning is not always clear.

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Buried secrets of medieval Leith uncovered

Forensic artist Hayley Fisher assesses skeleton SK639, an adult female. Picture: Scott Louden

BUried secrets of life in medieval Leith have been uncovered after the results of a five-year project to analyse bodies discovered during an archaeological dig were unveiled.

The project, conducted by the city council and Headland Archaeology, began when the remains of almost 400 men, women and children were discovered on the Constitution Street site – previously a section of the South Leith Parish Church’s graveyard – during preparation work for the trams in 2009.

Now forensic artists from the University of Dundee have been able to provide a glimpse of what the Leithers would have looked like 600 years ago by using special technology to rebuild their faces.

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Archaeologists discovered lost medieval town in Wielkopolska

From the ground it is difficult to see objects clearly visible from bird’s eye view - a photo of the field, where new archaeological discoveries have been made in the village of Niedźwiedziny. Photo by M. Krzepkowski

For the first time in Poland - with the help of aerial photographs - archaeologists at the same time identified a medieval town and adjacent oval village and owners’ residence.

The discovery was made in January in the village of Niedźwiedziny in Wielkopolska by Marcin Krzepkowski, archaeologist cooperating for many years with the Regional Museum in Wągrowiec, during the analysis of orthophotos, the actual photographic maps of the area in a geodesic matrix, available on www.geoportal.pl.

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Archaeologists discover Roman 'free choice' cemetery in the 2,700-year-old ancient port of Rome

A photo shows a marble floor part of the last discoveries at the Parco dei Ravennati excavation site in Ostia Antica on July 17, 2014 near Rome. The American Institute for Roman Culture organized a visit of the site today to present new evidences of multiple domestic spaces and commercial activities in the Parco dei Ravennati, alongside the ancient Tiber River course (now silted over), in a place previously considered only a necropolis. AFP PHOTO / ANDREAS SOLARO. By: Laure Brumont

Archaeologists in Italy have uncovered a cemetery in the 2,700-year-old ancient port of Rome where they believe the variety of tombs found reflects the bustling town's multi-cultural nature. Ostia "was a town that was always very open, very dynamic," said Paola Germoni, the director of the sprawling site -- Italy's third most visited after the Colosseum and Pompeii. "What is original is that there are different types of funeral rites: burials and cremations," she said this week. The contrasts are all the more startling as the tombs found are all from a single family -- "in the Roman sense, in other words very extended", Germoni said. 

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Archaeologists find baths of "sociable" Romans and early evidence of Christianity

The altar found at Binchester

© Courtesy Durham University

Archaeologists are calling Binchester Roman Fort "the Pompeii of the north" after finding a "spectacular" bath house with seven foot-high walls

Excavating two large trenches near Bishop Auckland, experts say a silver ring from the site evidences Christianity in Roman Britain.

The walls of the bath, where features such as a bread oven nod to an important social as well as recreational space, would once have been covered with brightly-coloured paint designs, with the original floor, doorways, window openings and an inscribed altar dedicated to the Roman Goddess, Fortune the Home-bringer, also surfacing.

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Violent aftermath for the warriors at Alken Enge

Four pelvic bones on a stick are shown. Credit: Peter Jensen, Aarhus University

Denmark attracted international attention in 2012 when archaeological excavations revealed the bones of an entire army, whose warriors had been thrown into the bogs near the Alken Enge wetlands in East Jutland after losing a major engagement in the era around the birth of Christ. Work has continued in the area since then and archaeologists and experts from Aarhus University, Skanderborg Museum and Moesgaard Museum have now made sensational new findings.

"We have found a wooden stick bearing the pelvic bones of four different men. In addition, we have unearthed bundles of bones, bones bearing marks of cutting and scraping, and crushed skulls. Our studies reveal that a violent sequel took place after the fallen warriors had lain on the battlefield for around six months," relates Project Manager Mads Kähler Holst from Aarhus University.

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Mycenaean vaulted tomb unearthed in central Greece

A Mycenaean vaulted tomb has been discovered near Amfissa in central Greece during the course of an irrigation project. 

Found in Amifissa, the vaulted tomb is the first of its kind discovered in Phocis and one  of the few in Central Greece [Credit: To Vima] 

The tomb presents all the features typical of this type of structure: a long dromos 9 metres in length with stone-built sides,  a deep prothalamos or vestibule and a circular burial chamber which has a maximum internal diameter of 5.90 metres. 

Although the superstructure of the dome had collapsed, the walls of the chamber maintain a height of almost three metres.

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Nouvel atlas de Marseille

An interactive map of archaeological sites in Marseille.

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Medieval Graffiti Recorded in England’s Churches

NORFOLK, ENGLAND—A volunteer project to record medieval graffiti in Norfolk is spreading across England. More than 28,000 images, perhaps doodled by churchgoers, have been recorded in Norfolk, and only one-third of Norwich Cathedral has been searched so far. “[Medieval graffiti] was believed to be rare—turns out it’s not,” Matt Champion, a medieval archaeologist who started the program in 2010, told BBC News. Images of compass designs, windmills, sundials, circles, and ships have been documented. “Are they thanksgiving for a voyage safely undertaken, or a prayer for safe passage on a journey yet to come? Some of these ship images appear to show deliberate damage, begging the question whether they are prayers for long overdue ships,” he explained.

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Suspected Roman ritual pit found in Ewell dig

A suspected ritual pit from Roman times, containing a cow's skull, horse bones and possibly puppy bones, has been uncovered during an archaeological dig. 

The archaeological dig in Church Meadow, Ewell  [Credit: Jeremy Harte] 

The exciting discovery was made during a three-week dig in Church Meadow at the site of an important Roman road, Stane Street, in Ewell. 

Nearby at the Roman ritual site of Hatch Furlong, archaeologists have previously excavated deep shafts containing the remains of cats and dogs.

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Ötzi's non-human DNA: Opportunistic pathogen discovered in Iceman tissue biopsy

A team of scientists from EURAC in Bolzano/Bozen together with colleagues from the University of Vienna successfully analysed the non-human DNA in the sample.

Credit: Frank Maixner (EURAC)

Ötzi's human genome was decoded from a hip bone sample taken from the 5,300 year old mummy. However the tiny sample weighing no more than 0.1 g provides so much more information. A team of scientists from EURAC in Bolzano/Bozen together with colleagues from the University of Vienna successfully analysed the non-human DNA in the sample. They found evidence for the presence of Treponema denticola, an opportunistic pathogen involved in the development of periodontal disease. Thus, by just looking at the DNA, the researchers could support a CT-based diagnosis made last year which indicated that the Iceman suffered from periodontitis. The results of the current study have recently been published in the online scientific journal PLOS ONE.

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Extensive remains of vast Mycenaean citadel revealed

A team of archaeologists is excavating the remains of a vast ancient Mycenaean citadel, known as Glas or Kastro (castle). Under the leadership of Associate Professor Christofilis Maggidis of Dickinson College and the auspices of the Athens Archaeological Society, teams of specialists have been systematically surveying the imposing, island-like, flat-topped bedrock outcrop that rises 20-40 meters above a surrounding plain with a summit area stretching 49.5 acres at the northeastern edge of the Kopais basin in southeastern Greece. The area is estimated to measure ten times the size of the ancient citadel of Mycenaean Tiryns and seven times that of Mycenae. 

Aerial view of Glas showing the massive cyclopean walls enclosing and defining  the site of the ancient remains [Credit: C. Maggidis] 

“I first excavated at Glas in 1990 as a graduate student with my mentor, the late Spyros Iakovidis,” said Maggidis. “The unparalleled size of the citadel, its connection with the gigantic drainage project of Kopais, and the discovery of such important but few remains in the citadel indicating that the rest of the citadel was left vacant puzzled me since then.”

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Burgenland's 'Stonehenge' discovery

Reconstruction of circular ditches at Heldenberg, Lower Austria. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

In a sensational find for Austrian archaeologists, aerial photographs taken two years ago on the southern outskirts of the Burgenland town of Rechnitz have revealed the existence of circular trenches dating back to the Neolithic Period.

The mysterious millennia-old sites are currently being surveyed by experts who believe they once served both as a giant calendar and a place for rituals. 

 

It appears that circa 5,000 BC there was a large circular area in a field on the southern outskirts of Rechnitz, surrounded by wooden poles. It was only after aerial photographs were taken of the district that remnants of an ancient trench system became visible. 

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Have archaeologists discovered an 8,000-year-old HUMAN BRAIN? Skull unearthed in Norway 'harbours fragments of grey matter'

Archaeologists have found what they think is an 8,000 year old human skull in a dig in Norway. Shown here is the skull embedded in soil, but the team did not dare to scrape all the loose sand from it in fear of destroying the surface of it. It is thought to have belonged to a child of under ten years of age

The investigation took place due to a planned building of a big conference centre called the Oslofjord Convention Center.

The excavation project involves two sites from the same interval of the Mesolithic era, about 6,000 BC, approximately 8,000 years ago.

Little is known of this period of the Stone Age in eastern Norway, making the sites of particular interest.

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Romanian cave holds oldest human footprints

Human footprints found in Romania’s Ciur-Izbuc Cave represent the oldest such impressions in Europe, and perhaps the world, researchers say. 

Human footprints such as this, found in a Romanian cave almost 50 years ago,  are much older than originally thought, dating to around 36,500 years ago [Credit: D. Webb] 

About 400 footprints were first discovered in the cave in 1965. Scientists initially attributed the impressions to a man, woman and child who lived 10,000 to 15,000 years ago. But radiocarbon measurements of two cave bear bones excavated just below the footprints now indicate that Homo sapiens made these tracks around 36,500 years ago, say anthropologist David Webb of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania and his colleagues.

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Golden Middle Ages

This many-faceted exhibition at the National Museum of Antiquities will change the gloomy image of the early Middle Ages once and for all. It is an exhibition for young and old, with new stories about the Netherlands during the Merovingian dynasty, AD 400–700. We now know that these were not dark days at all, but a golden age!

Top Dutch archaeological finds and Merovingian glass

Golden Middle Ages will show how life was in this part of the world some 1,500 years ago and what role the Netherlands played in the worldwide trade networks of early medieval Europe. One gallery will be dedicated entirely to the little-known beauty of Merovingian glass. Of course, the exhibition will also feature top archaeological finds from the period, such as the Rijnsburg buckle, gold neck-rings from Olst, the glass bell beaker of Bergeijk, and a new trove of medieval coins.

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Iron Age house unearthed in Jersey

An iron age settlement has been unearthed in Jersey after a two month excavation. The work on the site in St Clement has discovered objects dating back over 2,000 years. 

After a two month excavation, a settlement site in St Clement has been discovered as well as  objects dating back more than 2,000 years [Credit: channelonline.tv] 

Field Archaeologist, Robert Waterhouse, said the site had produced evidence of the first Iron Age house to be discovered on the island. 

He said the site dates from the 2nd Century BC to the early 1st Century AD and was likely a private home.

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Polish archaeologists discovered medieval bath in Albania

Polish archaeologists discovered a fourteenth-century bath in northwestern Albania. This is the oldest object of this type studied so far in Albania - told PAP Prof. Piotr Dyczek of the Antiquity of Southeastern Europe Research Centre of the University of Warsaw.

The greatest discovery this year was Turkish bath - hammam, with central heating system. Buildings of this type became common in the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth century. "Our object seems to be a hundred years older - believes Prof. Dyczek. - We know very few early hammams. This makes our discovery even more interesting, because it allows to see how the old Roman idea of hypocaust, which is a system of heating the floors and walls of buildings with hot air, was adapted by the Turks".

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Dating the second timber circle at Norwich

In the late 1990s two remarkable Bronze Age timber circles were discovered on Holme Beach. One of these – Seahenge – was excavated in 1998 and 1999. Since the excavations the second circle has been monitored and evidence of damage by coastal processes has been recorded. 

The second timber circle uncovered 15 years after the first, dubbed Seahenge, was found along the Norfolk coast. The Bronze Age timber circle has been tested by archaeologists and  dates to the summer of 2049 BC.[Credit: © NPS Archaeology] 

In the last year tree ring dating (dendrochronology) has shown the timbers used to build the second circle were felled in the spring or summer of 2049 BC. This means that the timbers were felled at exactly the same time as those used to build Seahenge. The felling date places the construction of both circles early in the Bronze Age.

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French archaeologists discover an exceptional Gallic chariot tomb at Warcq in France

The excavation has currently revealed only the upper levels of this 15 m² funerary chamber. 

© Denis Gliksman, Inrap.

PARIS.- A combined team composed of archaeologists from the Ardennes departmental archaeology unit and from Inrap is currently excavating a Gallic aristocratic tomb at Warcq (Ardennes). Curated by the State (Drac Champagne-Ardenne), this site is located on the route of the A304 motorway being constructed by the Dreal between Charleville-Mézières and Rocroi. 

Starting on 3 June for a three week period, archaeologists and an anthropologist have been working to uncover this chariot tomb. This type of aristocratic tomb emerges in the 7th century B.C. – during the first Iron Age – and ends with the end of the Gallic period. The oldest chariots have four wheels (like that found at Vix), while those from the second Iron Age have only two. The deceased person – who could be male or female – was generally inhumed on the chariot, which was an object of prestige and a symbol of social status. Champagne-Ardenne is famous for such tombs (particularly at Bourcq and Semide in the Ardennes), which are generally dated to the start of the second Iron Age (5th-4th century B.C.). 

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Dutch archaeologists find 1,300 year old silver bowl

On an excavation site in Oegstgeest, in the western Netherlands, Leiden University archaeologists discovered a very rare silver bowl from the first half of the seventh century. The bowl is decorated with gold-plated representations of animals and plants and inlaid with semi-precious stones. The discovery suggests the existence of an elite with a wide international network in Oegstgeest. 

The gold ornamental plate in the bowl [Credit: Restaura, Haelen] 

Rare and exceptional 

Researchers are assuming that the bowl, which is 21 centimetres wide and 11 centimetres high, was buried as part of a ritual sacrifice. Such gilded discoveries are extremely rare. This one is exceptional because such bowls were usually made of bronze. In addition, they were not, as a rule, lavishly decorated with gold leaf. This means that we are dealing with an artefact that is unique, not only for the Netherlands, but for all of Western Europe. (Until the discovery of this bowl there were no indications of the presence of a local or regional elite on the Oegstgeest settlement. It may be that in this period some members of the elite lived on ‘simple’ farms.) 

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Major Viking site discovery described as ‘mind-blowing’

A tiny County Louth village has been confirmed as home to one of the most important Viking sites in the world.

Carbon testing on trenches at a ‘virgin’ site in Annagassan have revealed that the small rural community once housed a Viking winter base, one of only two in Ireland.

The other went on to become Dublin but the Annagassan site, 50 miles north of the capital, was believed to be the stuff of mythology and folklore until now.

Geophysical tests funded by Dundalk’s County Museum have allowed scientists to make the big breakthrough.

They have now confirmed that the Linn Duchaill site, beside the river Glyde and south of Dundalk Bay, was where the Vikings brought their long ships or longphorts to be repaired.

It was also the base for inland raids as far as Longford and north to Armagh.

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UNIQUE 7TH CENTURY SILVER BOWL FOUND IN SOUTH HOLLAND

On an excavation site in Oegstgeest (South Holland), Leiden University archaeologists discovered a silver bowl dating to the first half of the seventh century. The bowl is decorated with gold-plated representations of animals and plants and inlaid with semi-precious stones. The discovery suggests the existence of an Oegstgeest elite with a wide international network.

Researchers believe that the bowl, which is 21 centimetres wide and 11 centimetres high, was buried as part of a ritual sacrifice. Such gilded discoveries are extremely rare. This one is exceptional because such bowls were usually made of bronze and were not, as a rule, lavishly decorated with gold leaf, making this is a unique artefact for the whole of Western Europe. Until the discovery of this bowl there were no indications of the presence of a local or regional elite on the Oegstgeest settlement.

Composite symbols

The bowl, which may have been used as a drinking vessel or washbasin, is composed of a number of elements dating from different periods. The oldest element, the bowl itself, probably dates from the Late Roman Empire and the figures seem to indicate that the bowl originated in the Eastern Mediterranean or the Middle East. The other decorations date from the first half of the seventh century and show signs of German cultural influences, while the bowl’s suspension rings are characteristic of England and Scandinavia. Together, these elements symbolise the international position of the Netherlands fifteen hundred years ago.

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Colosseum was bustling bazaar in Dark Ages

Its gory past as an arena for gladiatorial battles and gruesome public executions is well known, but archaeologists have discovered that the Colosseum later fulfilled a very different role - as a bustling medieval bazaar full of houses, stables and workshops. 

Archaeologists have found the foundations of homes, terracotta sewage pipes  and shards of crockery [Credit Gabrielli / Toiati] 

As the glory of Rome faded and the empire crumbled in the face of barbarian invasions in the fifth century, the giant arena was colonised by ordinary Romans, who constructed dwellings and shops within its massive stone walls. 

Archaeologists have dug beneath some of the 80 arched entrances that lead into the Colosseum and have found the foundations of homes, terracotta sewage pipes and shards of crockery, dating from the ninth century AD.

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