Stone Age items unearthed by work in Surrey

Rare archaeological findings dating back 10,000 years were unearthed during work to replace water mains in Surrey.

Archaeologists excavating the Roman villa uncovered near the River Mole [Credit: BBC] 

Work on the 2.2km pipe finished in May 2012 and it has taken two years to identify what was discovered.

 A Stone Age hunting camp and a Roman villa were among finds made during the work in Cobham Road, Fetcham, carried out by Sutton and East Surrey Water.

 The camp was the oldest find along items from the Bronze and Iron Ages, according to a report by researchers.

Read the rest of this article...

Rare statue of Virgin Mary found buried under church floor

A Limoges statue of the Virgin Mary dating from the 13th century has been found during renovations of a small church in the eastern Jutland town of Søby.

Archaeologist Hans Mikkelsen from the National Museum and a local craftsman were sifting through the soil under the church floor when they made the find. The icon would have probably sat atop a crucifix that was used in a church processional. There have been Limoges figures found in Denmark before, but likenesses of the Virgin Mary are quite rare and this is the first of the figures found in Denmark that has a halo.

Limoges figurines were produced in the French town of the same name from 1200 to 1225.

Read the rest of this article...

The Vandals: victims of a bad press?

Copper 42 nummi coin showing a Vandal warrior. Although it does not carry a king’s name, it is possible that this coin was made during the time of Gelimer (AD 530-3), and thus he may be the intended identity of the cloaked figure with a spear. The reverse shows the mark of value in Roman numerals (including the long-tailed L (=50) typical of Latin inscriptions in Vandal Africa, and also seen on Gelimer’s silver coinage). Above is the fine image of a horse’s head, the traditional emblem of Carthage since Punic times. TC,p241.2.Car

The name of the Vandals is synonymous today with wanton violence and destruction. But it seems to me that, just like the Vikings, the Vandals have suffered from a bad press. The surviving accounts of their sack of Rome in AD 455, of their further piratical raids around the Mediterranean, and of their persecution of the Catholic inhabitants of North Africa are all presented through the eyes of their enemies and opponents: the Roman and Byzantine Empires and the established Church. Clearly, the Vandals were regarded as the ‘bad guys’ of the day and we, too have been led into thinking of them as wild barbarians, intent on the destruction of Rome and its civilisation.

But how balanced a picture do we get from the contemporary accounts? We do not, after all, have the Vandal side of the story, although we should probably discount the suggestion that they were invited into North Africa, their final home, in support of the Roman governor. He may have been made a scapegoat later for the Vandal conquest of the region.

Read the rest of this article...

Sunken body clue to American origins

The skull has been removed from the cavern but most of the skeleton remains in place

The ancient remains of a teenage girl discovered deep underground in Mexico are providing additional insights on how the Americas came to be populated.

Divers found the juvenile's bones by chance in a vast, flooded limestone chamber on the Yucatan Peninsula.

Aged 15 or 16 at death, the girl lived at least 12,000 years ago.

Researchers have told Science Magazine her DNA backs the idea that the first Americans and modern Native American Indians share a common ancestry.

This theory argues that people from Siberia settled on the land bridge dubbed Beringia that linked Asia and the Americas some 20,000 years ago before sea levels rose.

Read the rest of this article...

DORSET VIKING AGE MASS BURIAL PUBLICATION

In 2009 during the construction of the Weymouth Relief Road in Dorset archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology made one of the most exciting, and disturbing, archaeological discoveries in Britain in recent years. Around 50 skeletons, predominantly of young adult males, were found in an old quarry pit. All had been decapitated. Their bodies were thrown into the grave, while their heads were placed in a pile located at one edge.

Archaeologists knew they had found something special as they uncovered the tangle of human bones, but it was only as the scientific analysis of the skeletons progressed that the full international significance of the discovery became clear. What the archaeologists had found was a mass grave of executed Vikings.

Rare find

Oxford Archaeology Project Manager David Score said: “To find out that the young men executed were Vikings is a thrilling development. Any mass grave is a relatively rare find, but to find one on this scale, from this period of history, is extremely unusual.”

Read the rest of this article...

MAPPING MEDIEVAL MIRACLES

The work of the medieval saint often began even before birth; the earliest text telling the life story of 6th-century Gildas has him making important pronouncements from the safety of his mother’s womb.  Even after death, patron saints were portrayed in the exercise of astonishing powers. The author of the vernacular Irish text which recounts the life of Saint Bairre of Cork sees the saint resurrect a king’s dead wife by bathing her. The Welsh saint, Beino, is recorded as reducing a recalcitrant king to a pool of water, by force of words alone, a feat worthy of Game of Thrones.

A conference which took place in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at the University of Cambridge saw the launch of a project to categorise and chart the thousands of miracle stories recorded about saints of the British Isles between 500 and 1300.  The meeting, Mapping the Miraculous: Hagiographical Motifs and the Medieval World, had been organised by three graduate students at Cambridge – Robert Gallagher, Julianne Pigott and Sarah Waidler – in collaboration with a colleague from St Andrews, Jennifer Key.

Read the rest of this article...

1,500-year-old bone of giant auk found by archaeologists in early medieval Scotland

A bone of a giant auk, last seen in Scotland 174 years ago, tells a tale of extinction driven by human hunting

A bone from a penguin-like, metre-tall bird which flew between the north-east of the US and northern Spain before going extinct more than a century ago has been found at North Berwick’s Seabird Centre in the first trace of the great auk since their kind disappeared from Scotland in 1840.

Flightless and known as Scotland’s dodo, the upper arm bone of the bird was found at the entrance to an early building in a dig which found the remains of butchered seals, fish and seabirds.

Read the rest of this article...

Archaeologists think they’ve found Santa Maria — exactly where Columbus said it would be

Archaeological investigators believe they may have discovered the long-lost remains of Christopher Columbus’ flagship, the Santa Maria.

The leader of the expedition, Barry Clifford, told The Independent that all the evidence “strongly suggests” that wreckage found off the north coast of Haiti is the ship that sailed from Spain with the Niña and the Pinta in the famous 1492 voyage.

The other two ships returned from the New World to Spain, but the Santa Maria sank on Christmas Day that same year.

Archaeologists have located the site of the explorer’s fort and used information from his journal to help locate where the ship’s wreckage should be.

Read the rest of this article...

New study sheds light on survivors of the Black Death

A new study suggests that people who survived the medieval mass-killing plague known as the Black Death lived significantly longer and were healthier than people who lived before the epidemic struck in 1347.

Caused by the bacteria Yersinia pestis, the Black Death wiped out 30 percent of Europeans and nearly half of Londoners during its initial four-year wave from 1347 – 1351.

Released Wednesday (May 7) in the journal PLOS ONE, the study by anthropologistSharon DeWitte in the College of Arts and Sciences provides the first look at how the plague, called bubonic plague today, shaped population demographics and health for generations.

Read the rest of this article...

Archaeologists say Stonehenge was "London of the Mesolithic" in Amesbury investigation

David Jacques (far right) helping volunteers uncover artefacts from the Blick Mead dig in October 2013

© Courtesy University of Buckingham

Bones of cattle twice the size of bulls and pink flints which change colour have led the way to an archaeological breakthrough in Amesbury

Giant bull, wild boar and red deer bones left at a settlement a mile from Stonehenge prove that Amesbury is the oldest settlement in Britain and has been continually occupied since 8820 BC, according to archaeologists who say the giant monuments were built by indigenous hunters and homemakers rather than Neolithic new builders.

Read the rest of this article...

Roman way station unearthed in Bulgaria

Archaeologists from Bulgaria's National History Museum have uncovered the roadside Sostra complex, situated on the Roman cursus publi-cus from Oescus to Philippopolis. 

The rooms of the roadside station were heated by a hypocaust system where warm air heats not only the floors of buildings, but also their walls [Credit: НИМ] 

The roadside complex was an important point of rest for dignitaries and even emperors and their relatives who were travelling from Oescus (currently the village of Gigen, Pleven district) to Philippopolis (currently the city of Plovdiv), according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

Read the rest of this article...

Römische Truppen in Thüringen

Nach vielen Jahren der Suche ist jetzt zum ersten Mal der archäologische Nachweis römischer Truppenpräsenz in Mitteldeutschland gelungen. Beim Dorf Hachelbich im Kyffhäuserkreis ist im Zuge mehrjähriger Untersuchungen durch das Thüringische Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie ein römisches Marschlager aus dem 1. bis 3. Jh. n. Chr. zweifelsfrei lokalisiert worden.

Read the rest of this article...

Byzantine notebook among the finds at Yenikapı

Yenikapı excavations that started nearly 10 years ago has brought back Istanbul’s historical heritage to 8,500 years. A wooden notebook, which was found in a sunken ship, the replica of which will sail, is considered the Byzantine’s invention akin to the likes of the modern-day tablet computer. 

An archaeologist examines the remains of a Byzantine ship at Yenikapi [Credit: Hurriyet] 

During archaeological excavations, experts have also found striking information on animal culture, such as the meat of many animals, like horses and wild donkeys were eaten in the ancient era. 

Remains unearthed in the excavations drew great attention not only in Turkish, but also in world archaeology. The remains have survived as organic products, which greatly impressed the scientific world.

Read the rest of this article...

Mysterious 150-year-old writing in rare copy of Homer's 'Odyssey' identified

A rare 16th-century edition of Homer’s Odyssey at the University of Chicago Library includes handwritten annotations in an unknown script—thought to date back to the mid-19th century.

Credit: Courtesy of Special Collections Research 

A Italian computer engineer has solved a 150-year-old literary mystery found in a rare edition of Homer's Odyssey at the University of Chicago Library.

The case of the mystery marginalia began when the University received a donation of Homer's works from collector M.C. Lang in 2007. The collection included a 1504 Venetian edition of the Odyssey containing handwritten annotations in an unknown script. The annotations were thought to date back to the mid-19th century, but nothing else was known about them.

Read the rest of this article...

16th century 'vampire' grave unearthed in Poland

Archaeologists have discovered the grave of a suspected vampire in Kamien Pomorski, northwestern Poland. 

Vampire burial: The teeth were removed and a fragment of rock  placed in the mouth 

[Credit: Kamierskie Info] 

The body, which dates back to the 16th century, was unearthed during a dig in a marketplace in the town, situated in the West Pomeranian Province. 

As reported in Kamienskie.info, the team found unusual features which indicated the burial site was vampiric. The teeth, or "fangs" had been removed and a fragment of rock had been inserted into the mouth. In addition, his leg had been staked in order to prevent the body from rising from its grave.

Read the rest of this article...

Black Death skeletons give up secrets of life and death

DGLA, Museum of London Archaeology excavated the Royal Mint Black Death cemetery in the 80s

The medieval Black Death led to better health for future generations, according to an analysis of skeletons in London cemeteries.

Tens of millions of people died in the epidemic, but their descendants lived longer and had better health than ever before, a study shows.

The Black Death was one of the most devastating epidemics in human history.

But survivors benefited from rising standards of living and better diets in the aftermath of the disaster.

The improvements in health only occurred because of the death of huge numbers of people, said a US scientist.

It is evidence of how infectious disease has the power to shape patterns of health in populations, said Dr Sharon DeWitte of South Carolina University.

Read the rest of this article...

Roman tomb found in south-western Bulgaria

An entirely preserved Roman tomb was discovered in Bulgaria’s south-west resort of Sapareva Banya, the historical museum in the city of Kyustendil announced. 

Archaeologists excavate a grave in Bulgaria’s Sapareva Banya Resort [Credit: BGNES] 

During the construction of a private guest house, the workers have found what turned out to be 24 graves, the oldest of which dates back to 4th century AD, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) reported. 

An intact plaque was found inside one of the walls. Most likely it was a family tomb, as the archaeologists have found the remains of a man, a woman and a child, as well as the remains of cremation. It is assumed that the man was a soldier, because of his military footwear, BNR informs.

Read the rest of this article...

Support Past Preservers on The Hadrian's Wall Hike

This September Nigel Hetherington of Past Preservers will be returning to his ancestral homelands and taking part in the English Heritage's Hadrian's Wall Hike to raise funds for much needed conservation along the famous route. 

The English Heritage fundraising challenge has returned this year with The Hadrian’s Wall Hike! You can sign up today to join Nigel (and provide moral support!) and walk 30 miles of the 'best of the wall’ from Lanercost Priory to Chester’s Roman Fort, stopping at famed English Heritage sites - such as Birdoswald Roman Fort - en route. The hike, sponsored by Craghoppers, will give participants special access to the expert English Heritage team.

Read the rest of this article...

Did the Vikings Travel to Madeira?

MADEIRA, MACARONESIA—Dates for a sample of fossilized bone from a house mouse suggest that the rodents were carried to the island of Madeira by European colonists before 1036, or 400 earlier than previously thought. (The Portuguese took possession of Madeira in 1419.) “Current populations of house mice on Madeira show similarities in mitochondrial DNA with those in Scandinavia and northern Germany, but not with those in Portugal,” Josep Antoni Alcover of the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies told Phys.org. Could the mice have traveled to the island with the Vikings? Further morphologic and genetic studies of the fossils are needed. “There are no historical references so far about the Vikings traveling to Macaronesia,” Alcover added.

Read the rest of this article...

Man landing on Madeira could be four centuries prior to its colonization by the Portuguese

According to the results, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal, house mice may have landed on the island before 1036, most likely transported by a ship. The article suggests that the introduction of this species would result in an ecological disaster.

Until now, the arrival of the man to Macaronesia was documented in two waves: one being aboriginal, limited to the Canary Islands about two millenniums ago; and the other colonial, from the 14th century onwards, which took place in every island of the archipelago. According to historical data, the Portuguese took official possession of Madeira in 1949, when the colonization was started.

The team of researchers, which is also composed of scientists from Germany and the University of La Laguna (Canary Islands, Spain), has analyzed two samples of bones found in Ponta de São Lourenço. The tiny size of the first sample has made impossible to date it, but the second sample has been dated between 900 and 1030, which leads to the earliest evidence for the presence of mice on Madeira Island.

Read the rest of this article...

Two Roman mosaics set to be unearthed in Dorset

Work is due to begin on unearthing two mosaics discovered at the site of a Roman villa in the Dorset countryside. 

A meander-style mosaic was discovered on the site of the villa  [Credit: EDAS/BBC] 

The first signs of the mosaics were spotted last year at the site near Puddletown which is being excavated by volunteers. 

Lilian Ladle of the East Dorset Antiquarian Society said it was "very fortunate" they had survived.

Read the rest of this article...

Burg der Zurückgelassenen

In den "dunklen Jahrhunderten" des frühen Mittelalters war nicht viel los zwischen Elbe und Weser - glaubte man. Doch neue Funde in Stade zeigen, dass es an der Schwinge in diesen Jahrhunderten keineswegs so dunkel war.

"Was haben die hier bloß gemacht?" fragt Stadtarchäologe Andreas Schäfer und schaut nachdenklich auf das Gras unter seinen Gummistiefeln. "Wozu brauchten die so eine große Burg?" Mit "die" meint er die Sachsen des Frühmittelalters, die zwischen Weser und Elbe lebten. Eigentlich, so waren sich die Forscher bisher einig, war in dem Gebiet nicht mehr viel los, seit die meisten Sachsen sich ab dem 5. Jahrhundert in Richtung England abgesetzt hatten, um gemeinsam mit den Angeln die Insel zu besiedeln. Während die Verwandten in England erste Königreiche gründeten, herrschten über die letzten Daheimgebliebenen lediglich so genannte Satrapen. Ihre Dörfer waren nicht mehr als ein paar zusammengewürfelte Höfe.

Read the rest of this article...

A Point of View: Is the archaeological dig a thing of the past?

Archaeological discoveries are more likely to be found by technology than with a trowel and a torch, writes classical historian Mary Beard.

If you want a vivid glimpse of ancient Roman life, the best place to go - after the more famous Pompeii - is the town of Ostia, a 30-minute train ride from the centre of Rome, near the coast. It's one of my very favourite sites. Beautifully peaceful, surrounded by shady umbrella pines, and, quite unlike Pompeii, you often have it almost to yourself.

It wasn't so peaceful 2,000 years ago. From the end of the 1st Century AD, Ostia was one the two main ports of the city of Rome. It's where many of the supplies needed to keep the million or so inhabitants of the capital alive were hauled ashore. And it had then the seedy reputation that most big ports have even now. In the early 2nd Century, the satirist Juvenal (admittedly one of the grumpiest old men of the ancient world) bemoaned the kind of clientele you'd meet in an Ostian bar: "Thugs, thieves, runaway slaves, hangmen, coffin makers", and, not so common in a modern port, maybe, "eunuch priests".

Read the rest of this article...

UK's OLDEST town revealed: Amesbury dates back more than TEN millenia

Archaeologists are confident they finally know the identity of the country's oldest town[PA]

Archaeologists at the University of Buckingham believe Amesbury, 40 miles from Stonehenge, is the oldest settlement in Britain not the previously thought Thatcham.

Researchers believe the town holds the distinction of being the birthplace of history in Britain.

They say the new findings dismiss previous theories that the Wiltshire town was conceived by European immigrants - instead, relics uncovered during a painstaking search point to British settlers being behind the settlement, which dates back to more than 10 millennia.

David Jacques, research fellow in archaeology at the University of Buckingham, who led the dig, said: "The site blows the lid off the Neolithic Revolution (deemed the first agricultural revolution in Middle Eastern history) in a number of ways. It provides evidence for people staying put, clearing land, building and presumably worshipping monuments.

Read the rest of this article...

Thieves destroy ancient rock painting in Spain

Ancient rock art near the town of Quesada in Spain's southern Andalusia region. File image: YouTube/gualayriver

A 5,000 year-old rock painting in southern Spain has been destroyed by thieves who tried to steal the Unesco World Heritage-listed artwork by chipping it off the cave wall where it was housed.

Residents of the Santa Elena in Spain's southern Jaén province are reeling after news of the damage.

Local mayor Juan Caminero said the painting was now "irreparable" and condemned the act of vandalism as "heartless", Spanish daily La Vanguardia reported on Monday.

Read the rest of this article...

Amesbury in Wiltshire named oldest UK settlement

History will have to be rewritten – astonishing new findings reveal Amesbury is now the oldest place in the country, where history began, and is also the longest continuous settlement in the UK. Previously it was thought that Stonehenge was conceived by European immigrants but this shows that British settlers were behind its construction. 

Amesbury - including Stonehenge - is the UK's longest continually occupied settlement 

[Credit: PA/BBC]

 Carbon dating from an archaeological dig by the University of Buckingham shows that the parish of Amesbury, which includes Stonehenge, has been continually occupied for every millennium since 8820BC. The origins of Amesbury have been discovered as a result of carbon dating bones of aurochs (twice the size of bulls), wild boar and red deer following a dig at Vespasian’s Camp, Blick Mead, a mile and a half from Stonehenge last year.

Read the rest of this article...

Vikings Online Course

Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers 

12 May to 25 July 2014

Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers is an online archaeology course run by the University of Oxford's Department of Continuing Education.

The course runs for ten weeks and successful completion carries an award of ten CATS points. Students write two short assignments as part of the course.

Online forums for each unit enable students to discuss the topic being studied, and help from the online tutor is always available

You can find more details here...

You can find details of other online archaeology courses here...

Metal detectorists unearth Viking gold

After hours of searching through the mud with metal detectors, treasure hunters Frank Pelle and Bent Gregersen made the discovery of their lives on a ploughed field in the Danish island of Bornholm earlier in April. 

X-ray scans revealed 250 gold and silver coins dating back to Viking days 

[Credit: Bornholms Museum] 

The two lucky gold-diggers found an ancient Viking gold treasure hidden in the ground. 

"It was an amazing feeling, for we had searched for hundreds of hours without luck," Pelle told Ekstra Bladet. 

After studying x-rays of collected earth samples, Bornholms Museum, the local archaeological museum, estimated that the treasure of 250 gold and silver coins was buried in the ground in the 1080s.

Read the rest of this article...

Scientists Uncover Evidence of Change from Hunting to Herding at Early Neolithic Settlement

An international team of researchers examining the earliest known pre-ceramic Neolithic mound site in Turkey, called Aşıklı Höyük, suggests that humans shifted from hunting wild ungulates and small animals to managing sheep and goats at the site over a period of a few hundred years beginning on or before 8200 BCE. 

The mound, located in south-central Turkey about 25 km southeast of Aksaray, Turkey, has been the subject of a number of studies and excavations in recent years, beginning with Professor Ian A. Todd in 1964. Subsequent investigations included salvage excavations by Professor Ufuk Esin (University of Istanbul) beginning in 1989, followed by those of Nur Balkan-Ath, also of Istanbul University, and more recent excvations in 2010. 

Read the rest of this article...

Neanderthals were not less intelligent than modern humans, scientists find

Neanderthal and modern human skulls. Photograph: Sabena Jane Blackbird/Alamy

Scientists have concluded that Neanderthals were not the primitive dimwits they are commonly portrayed to have been.

The view of Neanderthals as club-wielding brutes is one of the most enduring stereotypes in science, but researchers who trawled the archaeological evidence say the image has no basis whatsoever.

They said scientists had fuelled the impression of Neanderthals being less than gifted in scores of theories that purport to explain why they died out while supposedly superior modern humans survived.

Read the rest of this article...

Iron Age human remains uncovered in the Cotswolds

Human remains dating from the Iron Age have been found during archaeological excavations in Gloucestershire. 

The remains are thought to date from the Iron Age [Credit: BBC] 

The skeleton was found at a nature reserve on the outskirts of Bourton-on-the-Water near Salmonsbury Camp, an ancient hill fort. 

The work also revealed what is thought to be a roundhouse and a series of pits that may have been used to store grain. 

Tom Beasley-Suffolk, Cotswolds reserves manager, said the remains will be cleaned and then analysed.

Read the rest of this article...

Prehistoric North Sea 'Atlantis' hit by 5m tsunami

A prehistoric "Atlantis" in the North Sea may have been abandoned after being hit by a 5m tsunami 8,200 years ago.

The wave was generated by a catastrophic subsea landslide off the coast of Norway.

Analysis suggests the tsunami over-ran Doggerland, a low-lying landmass that has since vanished beneath the waves.

"It was abandoned by Mesolithic tribes about 8,000 years ago, which is when the Storegga slide happened," said Dr Jon Hill from Imperial College London.

The wave could have wiped out the last people to occupy this island.

Read the rest of this article...

Photos from the EMAS Easter Study Tour

You can find a selection of photos from the EMAS Easter study tour to Hadrian's Wall and the Scottish Borders here...

You can either view the photos from the thumbnails, or select the 'slideshow' option from the link top right of the main photo.

You can find the EMAS website here...

Galway archaeologist calls for resources to record artefacts uncovered by storms

Archaeologist Michael Gibbons at the area on Omey Island where prehistoric remains were revealed by Atlantic storms. Photograph: Joe O’Shaughnessy

The recent archaeological finds along the western seaboard are creating great excitement among locals, but a Clifden-based archaeologist believes much of its value will be lost if resources aren’t put into recording and interpreting the artefacts.

“There is great excitement in the local population about this [previously] drowned landscape. I am contacted virtually every day by people finding things in the fields adjoining the coastline,” says archaeologist Michael Gibbons, who wants the Government to establish regional archaeological units to record and interpret these finds.

“The problem is that if nothing is done, it will be taken back by the sea,” says Gibbons, who suggests that some of the 6,000-year-old stone axes and other prehistoric materials have already been washed away.

Read the rest of this article...

A ROMAN HOARD FROM THE END OF EMPIRE

Dutch archaeologists have recently completed the rescue excavation of a unique treasure hoard dating to the beginning of the 5th century AD, from a field in Limburg. The hoard partially consists of a combination of gold coins and pieces of silver tableware which had been deliberately cut up (hacksilver).

The complete hoard was shown at a press conference on Friday, April 25 in Limburg Museum (Venlo) where archaeologists highlighted the significance of the find as a key piece of evidence for our understanding of the final phase of Roman rule in the Netherlands, around the year AD 411. Placing the treasure into perspective within the political and military chaos at the time, why was the precious and richly decorated Roman silver tableware cut into pieces and buried?

Read the rest of this article...

Selkirk water works 'lost village' history becomes clearer

It was first thought the findings might have been related to an Anglo-Saxon settlement

Further details have emerged of the nature of a "lost village" discovered during water main works on the outskirts of Selkirk.

The stones, cobbles and artefacts unearthed are thought to date from between the 14th and 16th Centuries.

They were found during a Scottish Water project to lay a new water main.

Initial studies in late 2012 suggested the findings may have been related to an Anglo-Saxon settlement but it now appears to date from a later period.

Read the rest of this article...

Archaeologists find 'lost' medieval village full of pottery, coins and bones in Scottish Borders

© Guard Archaeology Ltd

Archaeologists believe a medieval village has been revealed during two winters of work on water pipes in Scotland

German and Dutch pots, jugs and mugs, coins including an American cent, spindles, a sheep skull and horse teeth have been found by archaeologists digging in the Scottish Borders, where doors integrated into walls have revealed a “lost” Medieval village of families, farmyards and hearths.

Between Edinburgh and the Northumberland National Park, the outskirts of Selkirk have previously been associated with the Battle of Philiphaugh, a 1645 victory for the Scottish Covenanter Army against their under-strength Royalist enemies

Read the rest of this article...

Visit Stonehenge in 3D on Your iPhone/iPad with Apple Maps

If you’re strapped for cash but dying to check out Stonehenge up close, there’s now an easy way to visit the prehistoric monument right from the comfort of your couch and provided that you own one of Apple’s fancy iDevices.

Stonehenge is now accessible from Apple Maps in 3D Flyover, which means you can hover over the mysterious ring of standing stones, pinch to zoom, and rotate at will to check it out from all angles.

Don’t expect to see the pores in the monoliths, though (not that they’d let you even if you were there in person). In case you’re a stranger to Apple Maps (nobody blames you), all you need to do is launch the app, tap the search bar at the top, type in “Stonehenge,” and then select the 3D Flyover view from the row of options at the bottom (represented by a trio of skyscrapers in space view).

Go ahead and give it a try on your device, then come back to read some more about Stonehenge if you’re hungry for a late history lesson on Britain’s heritage.

Read the rest of this article...

In search of Roman writing tablets at Vindolanda fort

Archaeologists taking part in the summer excavation programme at Vindolanda Roman Fort, on Hadrian’s Wall say they are hopeful the dig will yield more examples of the famous Vindolanda tablets discovered at the site in 1973. 

Excavations at Vindolanda Roman Fort, just south of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland  (Northern England) have brought to light more than 1600 tablets to date  [Credit: © The Vindolanda Trust] 

The wooden leaf tablets with ink text are the oldest surviving instances of hand written script in Britain, containing everything from military directives to party invites revealing the day-to-day life of Romans on and around Hadrian's Wall. 

The five-month dig at the important Roman site, which boasts a complex of at least nine forts and settlements at the heart of the wall, has already yielded the remains of late 4th century and post-Roman buildings, glass beads, stone counters and an intriguing rusty clump of chain mail.

Read the rest of this article...

Community dig sheds new light on Wark Castle in Northumberland

A community dig has shed new light on a castle which for centuries was in the front line of the conflict between England and Scotland.

It has shown that Wark Castle on the Northumberland side of the River Tweed was more of a heavyweight prospect than previously believed.

The excavations are the latest in a series by the Flodden 500 Archaeological project.

The venture began in 2009 with a grant from English Heritage in the run-up to last year’s marking of the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden.

Read the rest of this article...

New Genetic Findings About Stone-Age Scandinavian Farmers and Hunter-Gatherers

An international team led by researchers at Uppsala University and Stockholm University reports a breakthrough on understanding the demographic history of Stone-Age humans. A genomic analysis of eleven Stone-Age human remains from Scandinavia revealed that expanding Stone-age farmers assimilated local hunter-gatherers and that the hunter-gatherers were historically in lower numbers than the farmers. The study is published, ahead of print, in the journalScience.

The transition between a hunting-gathering lifestyle and a farming lifestyle has been debated for a century. As scientists learned to work with DNA from ancient human material, a complete new way to learn about the people in that period opened up. But even so, prehistoric population structure associated with the transition to an agricultural lifestyle in Europe remains poorly understood.

Read the rest of this article...