Ruins of Roman gladiator school found in Austria

Archaeologists in Austria say they have discovered a large, well preserved school for Roman gladiators.

The remains of the school, at a site east of the modern capital, Vienna, were found using radar imagery.

The school was part of a Roman city which was an important military and trade outpost 17 centuries ago.

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Massive gladiator school is found under Austrian town

A ROMAN gladiator school where men were trained to fight to the death in the arena has been found by archaeologists on the outskirts of the Austrian capital, Vienna - the first to be discovered outside Italy.

Ground-penetrating radar was used to identify the site of the school at a Roman settlement called Carnuntum, a town of 50,000 people 30 miles east of Vienna that flourished about 1,700 years ago. It was a major military and trade outpost linking the far-flung Roman empire's Asian boundaries to its central and northern European lands.

The academy was one of 100 created to train the fighters who were pitted against each other - and against wild animals - for the entertainment of emperors, senators and commoners alike.

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King's College Chapel, Cambridge: 'A gravity-defying hall of light' - video

In the first of seven films celebrating the best British buildings, Andrew Dickson visits King's College Chapel in Cambridge, a powerful example of gothic architecture – covered in Tudor propaganda and topped by the world's largest fan-vault ceiling

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Ruins reveal how Roman gladiators won their spurs

Archaeologists using sophisticated radar equipment say they have located a remarkably well-preserved underground Roman gladiator school that will give them "sensational" new insights into the lives of the fighters 1,700 years ago.

The site, 24 miles east of Vienna, contains the remains of a heated training hall for combatants. It was discovered beneath the former Roman settlement of Carnuntum, which is already home to one the finest amphitheatres ever found. Archaeologists say it is the first gladiator school ever found outside Italy.

Frank Humer, an archaeologist with Vienna's Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute, which found the school while conducting a detailed radar scan of the site, said: "The wooden post that gladiators traditionally used as their mock opponent during training is still visible in the middle of the school's arena."

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Forteviot dig uncovering new story of Scotland's past

The colossal and exquisitely-preserved Iron Age broch uncovered near Dunning is thought to have once been the seat of a Celtic chieftain.

Though just a fraction of the site has been excavated, the findings have already been hailed by the Scottish Government and could have "potentially far-reaching implications" for how we view our history.

The incredible discoveries already made in and around the structure are believed to date from very first contact between the Picts and the Roman Empire. They reveal evidence of trade between the two peoples from the outset, with a variety of high-value items from the continent drawn from the earth.

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Volcanic artifacts imply ice-age mariners in prehistoric Greece

Mariners may have been traveling the Aegean Sea even before the end of the last ice age, according to new evidence from researchers, in order to extract coveted volcanic rocks for pre-Bronze Age tools and weapons.

A new technique which dates obsidian -- volcanic glass which can be fashioned into tools -- suggests that people were mining for obsidian in Mediterranean waters and shipping the once valuable rocks from the island of Melos in modern day Greece as far back as 15,000 years ago.

"Obsidian was a precious natural rock-glass found only in Melos, some in [the modern-day Greek areas of] Antiparos and Yali," explained Nicolaos Laskaris of the University of the Aegean in Greece. "From there it was spread all over the Aegean and in the continent too through contacts of trade."

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Rome monuments attacked by vandals

Three historic monuments have been attacked by vandals in the Italian capital, Rome.

In the first attack, a man was caught on security cameras chipping two pieces off a marble statue on a fountain in the Piazza Navona.

Hours later tourists watched as a man threw a rock at the famous Trevi Fountain in the centre of the city.

Police then said they caught an American student scaling a wall of the Colosseum to chip off pieces of marble.

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Viking coin haul is officially treasure

A VIKING hoard found in Furness has been officially declared treasure.

The collection of 92 silver coins and artefacts was discovered by a metal detectorist in the Furness area over the Easter weekend.

The hoard was officially declared as treasure by South and East Cumbria Coroner, Ian Smith, yesterday(31).

The hoard was provisionally valued at tens of thousands of pounds when it was first found and is the largest amount of Viking treasure ever found in Furness.

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Amateur treasure-hunter's haul

We take a look at what amateur treasure-hunter David Booth found...

An ANGLO-SAXON STRAP-END and three ANGLO-SAXON COINS, found near Dumfries, have been allocated to Dumfries Museum.

The fragmentary strap-end, above, dates from the ninth century. Such items are not uncommon finds in southern Scotland, but this example is all the more significant in being recovered alongside three Anglo-Saxon coins, which also date from the ninth century.

Medieval experts say this small group of finds is a substantial reminder of the cultural ebb and flow which constituted the Scotland of the Early Historic period.

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Archaeologists dig at Pillar of Eliseg near Llangollen

Archaeologists are launching a new dig to try to unearth the secrets of a 9th Century stone monument on a prehistoric mound.

Bangor and Chester university experts will begin excavations at the Pillar of Eliseg near Llangollen, Denbighshire.

It is part of work by historical monuments agency Cadw to conserve the mound and better explain it to people.

Last year excavations focussed on the mound, which was identified as an early Bronze Age cairn.

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Gloucester Cathedral's monastic library opens to public

A cathedral in Gloucester is to allow the public access to its monastic library for the first time.

The 14th Century library at Gloucester Cathedral will be opened on 10 September as part of the city's History and Heritage Week.

Some of the delicate manuscripts and deeds in the archive's collection date back to the 13th Century.

Preservation and monitoring work has been carried out to ensure the works are not damaged when people visit.

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500 years ago, yeast's epic journey gave rise to lager beer

In the 15th century, when Europeans first began moving people and goods across the Atlantic, a microscopic stowaway somehow made its way to the caves and monasteries of Bavaria.

The stowaway, a yeast that may have been transported from a distant shore on a piece of wood or in the stomach of a fruit fly, was destined for great things. In the dank caves and monastery cellars where 15th century brewmeisters stored their product, the newly arrived yeast fused with a distant relative, the domesticated yeast used for millennia to make leavened bread and ferment wine and ale. The resulting hybrid - representing a marriage of species as evolutionarily separated as humans and chickens - would give us lager, the clear, cold-fermented beer first brewed by 15th century Bavarians and that today is among the most popular - if not the most popular - alcoholic beverage in the world.

And while scientists and brewers have long known that the yeast that gives beer the capacity to ferment at cold temperatures was a hybrid, only one player was known: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast used to make leavened bread and ferment wine and ale. Its partner, which conferred on beer the ability to ferment in the cold, remained a puzzle, as scientists were unable to find it among the 1,000 or so species of yeast known to science.

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Roman Remains Found at Charles Street, Dorchester

Wessex Archaeology has just completed a four week excavation within the southern part of the Charles Street Development in Dorchester. Neil Holbrook, of Cotswold Archaeology has been acting as archaeological consultant on behalf of the developers, Simons Developments and WDDC. A watching brief is currently being maintained on groundwork being undertaken by Cowlin Construction and their subcontractors associated with the construction of West Dorset District Council’s new offices, library and adult learning centre.

As the site occupies an area near to the southern edge of the Roman town of Durnovaria it was predicted evidence of Roman town life would be uncovered during the works. The prediction proved correct; immediately below the modern overburden, the remains of Roman houses were uncovered.

These buildings were built around 100AD and were orientated according to the town’s street plan, which it has been possible to map using evidence from other excavations in Dorchester.

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Ancient Gold Necklace Found in West Fjords

Archeologists and university students recently discovered an ancient gold necklace during an excavation project in Vatnsfjördur in Ísafjardardjúp in the West Fjords, which has been ongoing for the past eight summers.

Scientists from different fields participate in the project, along with international university students, ruv.is reports.

Vatnsfjördur was settled early in the Settlement Era, which sources state began in the 9th century AD, and later became the site of a manor and a chieftain’s residence.

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Archaeologists uncover amphitheatre used to train gladiators near Vienna

The ruins are a 'sensational discovery' with a structure to rival the Colosseum in Rome, archaeologists say

Archaeologists say they have located and excavated the ruins of a huge amphitheatre used to train gladiators east of Vienna, describing it as a "sensational discovery".

They claim that the ruins found through ground radar measurements rival the Colosseum and the Ludus Magnus in Rome in their structure. The Ludus Magnus is the largest of the gladiatorial arenas in the Italian capital, while the Colosseum is the largest amphitheatre ever built in the Roman empire.

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Iron age hill fort excavation reveals 'possible suburbia'

Size of settlement suggests Ham Hill site was a town rather than a defensive structure, archaeologists believe

The most intensive investigation ever undertaken of Britain's largest iron age hill fort is expected to reveal new details of how Britons lived 2,000 years ago – and maybe even that they were almost as suburban as we are.

Stretching across 80 hilltop hectares, behind three miles of ramparts, the fort, at Ham Hill in Somerset, and the outline of its history have been known for many years.

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Bronze Age excavation project begins in Cornwall

A 10-day excavation project at a Bronze Age site in Cornwall has begun.

Organisers hope they will find more information on a settlement at the site near Lanyon.

Previous excavations have revealed Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age artefacts, said archaeologist, Dr Andy Jones.

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Tomb found at Stonehenge quarry site

The tomb for the original builders of Stonehenge could have been unearthed by an excavation at a site in Wales.

The Carn Menyn site in the Preseli Hills is where the bluestones used to construct the first stone phase of the henge were quarried in 2300BC.

Organic material from the site will be radiocarbon dated, but it is thought any remains have already been removed.

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Stone tools shed light on early human migrations

Hominins with different tool-making technologies coexisted.

The discovery of stone axes in the same sediment layer as cruder tools indicates that hominins with differing tool-making technologies may have coexisted.

The axes, found in Kenya by Christopher Lepre, a palaeontologist at Columbia University in New York, and his team are estimated to be around 1.76 million years old. That's 350,000 years older than any other complex tools yet discovered.

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Conditions in Nelson's navy uncovered by scientists

Sailors in Admiral Nelson's navy were plagued by scurvy, ridden with syphilis and often mutilated by amputations but only a minority were from lowest social class, Oxford University archaeologists have found.

An examination of 340 skeletons from three 18th and 19th century Royal Navy graveyards found that a "surprisingly high" proportion suffered from scurvy and infected wounds.

The bones, excavated from sites in Greenwich, Gosport and Plymouth, also found that more than six per cent of sailors in Nelson's navy, were amputees, many of whom died as a result of operations that went wrong.

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