All posts by Archaeology World Team

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

Archaeologists discover a hidden Maya burial chamber in the walled enclosure of Tulum

Archaeologists discover a hidden Maya burial chamber in the walled enclosure of Tulum

Archaeologists discover a hidden Maya burial chamber in the walled enclosure of Tulum

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have discovered a hidden Maya burial chamber concealed within a cave at the archaeological complex in Tulum, Quintana Roo.

The discovery, sealed off by a massive rock deep inside Mexico’s walled city of Tulum, offers a rare glimpse into the funerary practices of this pre-Hispanic civilization.

By removing a large rock blocking the entrance to a hidden cave within the walled area of the Maya city, archaeologists uncovered the skeletal remains of several individuals.

The discovery was made during routine clearing work for a new visitor path, which is nestled between two prominent temples. A meticulously glued sea snail hinted at Maya craftsmanship, while a split human skeleton hinted at a deeper secret.

Upon removing the rock that sealed the entrance to the cavity, it was observed that it was literally splitting the skeletal remains of an individual, leaving the lower part of their body outside and the upper part inside. This would indicate that the person might have become trapped while attempting to access the cavity.

The project’s coordinator José Antonio Reyes Solís said in a statement that upon removing the boulder blocking the cave’s entrance, researchers saw that it had been splitting the ossified remains of an individual, leaving the lower part of the body on the outside and the upper part inside.

An archaeologist inside the newly discovered burial site at Tulum.

Inside the cramped cave, barely taller than half a meter, lay eight adult burials remarkably preserved by the cool, dry environment.

All materials are being studied further at INAH’s Quintana Roo Center by the head of the Department of Physical Anthropology, Allan Ortega Muñoz.

As the exploration of the cave progressed, The coordinator of the archaeological research project, José Antonio Reyes Solís said, it was identified that the topography shows at least two small chambers, located in the southern and northern parts, no more than 3 meters long by 2 meters wide, and an average height of 50 centimeters.

Likewise, a large number of skeletal remains of animals associated with the burials were recorded. According to the specialists in fauna identification, who collaborate on the project, Jerónimo Avilés and Cristian Sánchez, they correspond, in a preliminary manner, to various mammals (domestic dogs, mice, opossum, blood-sucking bats, white-tailed deer, tepezcuintle, armadillo nine banded, tapir, peccary); birds of the order Galliforme, Passeriforme, Pelecaniforme, Piciforme and Charadriiforme; reptiles (loggerhead sea turtle, land turtle and iguana); fish (tiger shark, barracuda, grouper, drum fish, puffer fish, eagle ray); crustaceans (crab and cirripedians), mollusks (snail) and amphibians (frog). Some bones have cut marks and others have been worked as artifacts, like punches, needles, or fan handles, characteristic of the area.

A single ceramic “molcajete” (grinding bowl) further pinpointed the burials to the late Postclassic period (1200-1550 AD).

In three of the burials, a small mortar of the type decorated with incisions was discovered, and it has been intervened by a restorer for preservation.

Archaeologists’ testimony describes the conditions inside the cave as particularly difficult, owing to the small entryways, low ceilings, lack of natural light, and general heat and humidity.  In addition to photos, a three-dimensional scan of the area will be made so that researchers and the general public can see the materials and remains in their original context.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

A 2,500-year-old celestial map carved on the surface of a circular stone found in Italy

A 2,500-year-old celestial map carved on the surface of a circular stone found in Italy

A 2,500-year-old celestial map carved on the surface of a circular stone found in Italy

Two circular stones measuring 50 centimeters in diameter have been discovered in Castelliere di Rupinpiccolo, an ancient hilltop fortress in the Italian province of Trieste, and one of them may be one of the oldest celestial maps found in Italy.

The discovery was announced in a press release by the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF).

Castelliere di Rupinpiccolo is a defensive structure. Used as a fortification from an era between 1800 and 1650 BC. until 400 BC, that of Rupinpiccolo is one of the most important castles, as well as the first brought to light.

Among the many castles in the Karst area, that of Rupinpiccolo is one of the best preserved. It stands immediately outside the town, on a limestone hill, the top of which is enclosed by a wall 3-4 meters thick, but which in some places reaches up to 7 meters. The height has been preserved for a maximum of 3 meters, but originally it must have reached 7-8 meters.

Two large circular stones – two thick discs about 50 cm in diameter and 30 cm deep – were found near the entrance to the Castelliere and attracted the attention of archaeologists.

Aerial view of Castelliere di Rupinpiccolo.

One of the stones, according to Paolo Molaro of INAF and researchers from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and ICTP, is a representation of the sun, while the other is a carved celestial map dating from the 4th century BC.

The German astronomy journal Astronomische Nachrichten published a study about the stones, in which the study’s authors said the celestial map shows the sky above Rupinpiccolo some 2,500 years ago, making the discovery the oldest known One of the celestial maps laid out in Italy.

“I was contacted by Federico Bernardini, whom I didn’t know, telling me that he needed an astronomer”, Molaro said to Media Inaf, “because he seemed to have identified the constellation of Scorpio in a stone from the Carso.

My first reaction was incredulity, given that the southern part of Scorpio is just above the horizon in our latitudes. But then, discovering that the precession of the equinoxes raised it by about 10-12 degrees and the impressive coincidence with the constellation, I began to delve deeper into the question… So I identified Orion, the Pleiades, and, in the back, Cassiopeia. All points present except one.”

29 engravings on the stone have been identified by the team, and they perfectly match the constellations of Cassiopeia, Orion, Scorpius, and the Pleiades. The researchers hypothesize that the carvings were probably created by the same person using a hammer and a crude metal chisel with a 6-7 mm tip based on the angle of the cut marks in the stone.

The researchers also used the program Stellarium to simulate the night sky because a star called Theta Scorpii was so low on the horizon in the 1800s BCE that it cannot be seen today.

But let’s get to the 29 signs. All but one are superimposable on the stars of Scorpius, Orion, the Pleiades and probably – also considering the 5 signs on the back of the stone – Cassiopeia. And it is an overlap with very high statistical significance, the authors specify: the p-value is much lower than 0.001. In other words, it is highly unlikely that the arrangement of those signs was purely the result of chance. Not only that: the deviations from the true positions are of the order of the size of the signs, demonstrating considerable care in the execution.

All except one, we said. But the 29th sign could also be there on purpose. The intruder could represent a supernova, the authors propose. Or a so-called “failed supernova”. So one of those objects that astronomers call transients: at a certain point they make their appearance, and then disappear again. If this were the case, researchers suggest, there could be a black hole there in that point of the sky today.

The Nebra disk, a bronze artifact from Germany that dates to approximately 1600 BC and has gold applications to represent the Sun, Moon, and Pleiades, is likely the oldest known representation of the night sky. However, it’s more of a symbolic representation than a true map. We have to go back to the first century BC for “faithful” maps, during which time maps were most likely derived from the 135 BC Hypparcos catalog.

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

Earliest Multiplication Formulas Discovered in a 2,300-Year-Old Chinese Tomb

Earliest Multiplication Formulas Discovered in a 2,300-Year-Old Chinese Tomb

Archaeologists excavating a tomb in the Qinjiazui archaeological site of Jingzhou City, Hubei Province, China, have found the earliest multiplication formulas on record.

The earliest multiplication formulas on record have been discovered on bamboo slips from the Warring States period (475BC-221BC), pushing the history of these formulas back by nearly a century, China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) announced at a press conference.

The formula, which dates back to the 4th century BC during the Warring State Period (475-221 BC), precedes another piece discovered in central Hunan Province by approximately a century, said Yang Kaiyong, a research fellow at the Jingzhou Museum.

The burial – known simply as M1093 – probably dates back to the reign of either King Chu Xuan or King Chu Wei, from 369 to 329 BCE.

Bamboo slips were the most popular writing material in the period before paper became widespread.

These slips, which are typically a centimeter or two wide and a few inches long, have been discovered in large numbers at the Qinjiazui site. Of all the tombs identified so far, M1093 contains the highest number of these slips.

Thousands of bamboo slips holding over 30,000 characters ranging from mathematics, literature, and animal husbandry to medicines have been discovered in the tomb.

Earliest Multiplication Formulas Discovered in a 2,300-Year-Old Chinese Tomb
An archaeologist sorts out bamboo slips at a tomb in the city of Jingzhou, in central China’s Hubei Province.

Scientists have used infrared scanning to reveal the words on the slip: “Five times seven is thirty plus five, four times seven is twenty plus eight, three times seven is twenty plus one.”

On one of the strips, researchers found multiplication formulas as well as the oldest known example of an algebraic table known as Jiujiushu.

According to the researchers: “This significant discovery offers invaluable new resources for studying the history, culture, and ideologies prevalent during the pre-Qin period.”

The Warring States period lasted from 475 to 221 BCE and ended when the Qin state overcame its six adversaries. This resulted in the unification of the Chinese empire for the first time and the establishment of the Qin dynasty.

WORLD

Analysis of ancient Scythian leather samples shows two were made from human skin

Analysis of ancient Scythian leather samples shows two were made from human skin

A selection of the leather object fragments analyzed in this study: 1. Ilyinka kurgan 4 burial 2; 2. Ilyinka kurgan 4 burial 3; 3. Vodoslavka kurgan 8 burial 4; 4. Orikhove kurgan 3 burial 2; 5. Zelene I kurgan 2 burial 3; 6. Kairy V kurgan 1 burial 1; 7. Ol’hyne kurgan 2 burial 1; 8. Bulhakovo kurgan 5 burial 2; 9. Zolota Balka kurgan 13 burial 7 (Image: M. Daragan). The units of the scale bars are cm.

A multi-institutional team of anthropologists has discovered that two pieces of ancient Scythian leather excavated at sites in Ukraine were made from human skin. In their project, reported on the open-access site PLOS ONE, the group tested an account by the Greek historian Herodotus regarding certain behaviors of ancient Scythian warriors.

Prior research has found that an ancient group of people known as the Scythians lived in what is now the Pontic-Caspian steppe from approximately 700 BCE to 300 BCE.

Because they were itinerant people, not much is known about them beyond their reputation as fierce warriors and excellent equestrians.

They were known to the ancient Greeks, though—famed historian Herodotus mentioned them in his writings. He said they were known to drink the blood of their slain enemies and sometimes used their scalps as a means for wiping the blood from their hands.

He suggested that there had also been reports of them removing the skin from the right hand of an enemy and using it to make leather for their quivers. In this new effort, the research team looked for evidence of this last claim.

The researchers used a variety of paleoproteomics techniques to analyze 45 leather samples collected from 14 Scythian dig sites.

They were able to identify the source of all of them—all but two were made from horse, cattle, goat or sheep skin. The other two had a human source, confirming what Herodotus had written.

Further study of the two human skin leather samples suggested that they were crafted onto just the top parts of quivers; the remainder of the quivers were made from animal leather.

The researchers suggest their findings not only confirm stories about the ancient Scythian warriors, but also that the warriors were creating their own quivers and were using material readily at hand.

EUROPE, GREECE, WORLD

U.S. Repatriates 30 Ancient Objects to Greece

U.S. Repatriates 30 Ancient Objects to Greece

A Corinthian helmet and marble statue of Aphrodite are among 30 artifacts repatriated by the United States to Greece during a ceremony on December 15.

U.S. Repatriates 30 Ancient Objects to Greece
A Corinthian helmet and marble statue of Aphrodite are among 30 artifacts repatriated by the United States to Greece during a ceremony Friday.

The antiquities—which also include breastplates, a Byzantine silver plate, and a bronze chariot attachment—were recovered by Homeland Security Investigations, the investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Collectively, the pieces are valued at $3.7 million. Bragg said in a statement that 19 of the pieces were voluntarily surrendered by New York gallery owner Michael Ward and three were seized from British art dealer Robin Symes.

A source familiar with the case said that the remaining eight items are in the possession of investigators, who know that the items were stolen, but have not yet specified where, how, or by whom they were stolen or recovered from.

“A nation’s cherished history should never be pilfered, peddled, or marketed for sale, yet for years these antiquities were kept in collectors’ homes, prestigious institutions, and even storage lockers,” said Erin Keegan, the HSI acting special agent in charge in New York.

“Cultural heritage is an integral part of our identity as people and nations. It is therefore essential and nowadays crucial to protect and preserve cultural heritage for future generations,” Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said in a statement.

Ambassador Dinos Konstantinou, the consul general of Greece in New York, called the artifacts “fabulous” and “stunningly preserved.”

“Their monetary value amounts to millions of dollars but their actual value goes far beyond that,” Konstantinou said. “They are priceless for the Greek people.”

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Medieval Lead Token Recovered at England’s Oxburgh Hall

Medieval Lead Token Recovered at England’s Oxburgh Hall

Medieval Lead Token Recovered at England’s Oxburgh Hall
One side of the ‘boy bishop’ token found at the Oxburgh estate in Norfolk depicts a long cross.

They are the last resort for the most challenging of recipients, such as moody teenagers or the eccentric uncle you see once a year – but gift tokens also came in handy at Christmas in medieval times.

National Trust archaeologists have discovered a token dating from between 1470 and 1560 that was probably given by the church to poor people to be exchanged for food.

It was found near Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk, having probably originated at Bury St Edmunds Abbey, nearly 30 miles away in Suffolk.

One side of the token is very corroded, but would probably have shown the head of a bishop. The other side is well-preserved, depicting a long cross.

The token may have been doled out by a choirboy acting as the “boy bishop” during the Christmas period. In medieval and early Tudor times, on the feast day of St Nicholas – 6 December – cathedrals chose a choirboy to parody the bishop, leading some religious services and processions, and collecting money for the church.

Boy bishops also gave out tokens to poor people which could be spent between St Nicholas Day and Holy Innocents Day on 28 December.

A 16th-century depiction of a ‘boy bishop’.

Angus Wainwright, an archaeologist with the National Trust, said: “The token is not a thing of particular beauty, but it does have an interesting story. It was found by one of our metal detectorists who had been doing a survey of the West Park field at Oxburgh as part of our parkland restoration and tree planting.”

The trust’s efforts to find out more about the field’s history had yielded “fantastic” results, he said, “revealing not only part of a medieval village including horseshoes, handmade nails and tools but also part of a Roman village. This token most likely comes from Bury St Edmunds Abbey which was one of the biggest and richest in the country, St Edmund being one of the patron saints of England.

“Although tokens could be spent in the local town they may also have been kept as keepsakes, but the one we have found could also simply have been dropped and lost.”

The token was found in a field on the estate around Oxburgh Hall, Norfolk.

The tokens, made of lead, came in equivalent sizes to a penny, halfpenny and groat (worth four pennies). The one found at Oxburgh is the size of a groat.

“We believe that one of the inhabitants from Oxborough village must have made the long trip to Bury St Edmunds, around 27 miles, to see the festive ceremonies in the massive Abbey Church where they may have acquired the token. As one of the biggest buildings in western Europe this must have been a mind-blowing experience for someone from a tiny village,” said Wainwright.

“This discovery shows how rich the cultural life of even the poorest folk could be in the middle ages. It’s also interesting that the Christmas period was a time for fun and celebration aimed at children, with a child taking on the role of the bishop, and St Nicholas as patron saint of children.”

Saints’ days gradually disappeared after the Reformation in the 16th century, including that of St Nicholas. Old Father Christmas was invented as a spirit of the season, but the name St Nicholas eventually became Santa Claus.

Oxburgh Hall was built by the Bedingfeld family in 1482 as a statement of power and prestige. The family suffered generations of persecution for their Catholic faith.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

2,000-Year-Old Skeleton of Sarmatian Man Identified in England

2,000-Year-Old Skeleton of Sarmatian Man Identified in England

2,000-Year-Old Skeleton of Sarmatian Man Identified in England
DNA analysis showed that this young man travelled to Cambridgeshire from the furthest reaches of the Roman Empire 2,000 years ago

How did a young man born 2,000 years ago near what is now southern Russia, end up in the English countryside?

DNA sleuths have retraced his steps while shedding light on a key episode in the history of Roman Britain. Research shows that the skeleton found in Cambridgeshire is of a man from a nomadic group known as Sarmatians. It is the first biological proof that these people came to Britain from the furthest reaches of the Roman empire and that some lived in the countryside.

The remains were discovered during excavations to improve the A14 road between Cambridge and Huntingdon. The scientific techniques used will help reveal the usually untold stories of ordinary people behind great historical events.

They include reading the genetic code in fossilised bone fragments that are hundreds of thousands of years old, which shows an individual’s ethnic origin.

Dr Marina Silva extracted the ancient DNA and then made sense of its genetic code

Archaeologists discovered a complete, well-preserved skeleton of a man, they named Offord Cluny 203645 – a combination of the Cambridgeshire village he was found in and his specimen number. He was buried by himself without any personal possessions in a ditch, so there was little to go on to establish his identity.

Dr Marina Silva of the Ancient Genomics Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute, in London, extracted and decoded Offord’s ancient DNA from a tiny bone taken from his inner ear, which was the best preserved part of the entire skeleton.

“This is not like testing the DNA of someone who is alive,” she explained.

“The DNA is very fragmented and damaged. However, we were able to (decode) enough of it.

“The first thing we saw was that genetically he was very different to the other Romano-British individuals studied so far.”

The latest ancient DNA analysis methods are now able to flesh out the human stories behind events that, until recently, have been reconstructed only by documents and archaeological evidence.

These largely tell the tales of the wealthy and powerful.

The latest research is a detective story which uses cutting edge forensic science to unravel the mystery of an ordinary person – a young man buried in a ditch in Cambridgeshire between 126 and 228 AD, during the Roman occupation of Britain.

At first, archaeologists thought Offord to be an unremarkable discovery of a local man. But DNA analysis at Dr Silva’s lab showed that he was from the furthest reaches of the Roman Empire, an area that is currently southern Russia, Armenia, and Ukraine. The analysis showed him to be a Sarmatian, who are Iranian-speaking people, renowned for their horse-riding skills.

So how did he end up in a sleepy backwater of the empire so far from home?

To find the answers, a team from the archaeology department of Durham University used another exciting analysis technique to examine his fossilised teeth, which have chemical traces of what he ate.

Analysis of his teeth showed that his diet had gradually changed since the age of five

Teeth develop over time, so just like tree rings, each layer records a snapshot of the chemicals that surrounded them at that moment in time. The analysis showed that until the age of six he ate millets and sorghum grains, known scientifically as C4 crops, which are plentiful in the region where Sarmatians were known to have lived.

But over time, analysis showed a gradual decrease in his consumption of these grains and more wheat, found in western Europe, according to Prof Janet Montgomery.

“The (analysis) tells us that he, and not his ancestors, made the journey to Britain. As he grew up, he migrated west, and these plants disappeared from his diet.”

A scene depicting the defeat of the Sarmatian army by Roman forces in 175 AD

Historical records indicate that Offord could have been a cavalry man’s son, or possibly his slave. They show that around the time he lived, a unit of the Sarmatian cavalry incorporated into the Roman army was posted to Britain.

The DNA evidence confirms this picture, according to Dr Alex Smith of MOLA Headland Infrastructure, the company that led the excavation.

“This is the first biological evidence,” he told BBC News.

“The availability of these DNA and chemical analysis techniques means that we can now ask different questions and look at how societies formed, their make-up and how they evolved in the Roman period.

“It suggests that there was much greater movement, not just in the cities but also the countryside.”

The remains were discovered as part of excavations undertaken as part of the A14 road improvement scheme between Cambridge and Huntingdon

Dr Pontus Skoglund, who heads the ancient genomics laboratory at the Crick, told BBC News that the new technology is transforming our understanding of the past.

“The main impact of ancient DNA to date has been improving our understanding of the Stone and Bronze Ages, but with better techniques, we are also starting to transform our understanding of the Roman and later periods.”

The details have been published in the journal, Current Biology.

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

A medieval ‘curse tablet’ summoning Satan was discovered at the bottom of a latrine in Germany

A medieval ‘curse tablet’ summoning Satan was discovered at the bottom of a latrine in Germany

A medieval 'curse tablet' summoning Satan was discovered at the bottom of a latrine in Germany
The rolled-up piece of lead contains inscriptions that are barely visible to the naked eye.

Archaeologists in Germany have discovered a rolled-up piece of lead that they think could be a medieval “curse tablet” that invokes “Beelzebub,” or Satan.

Upon first glance, the researchers thought the “inconspicuous piece of metal” was simply scrap, since it was found at the bottom of a latrine at a construction site in Rostock, a city in northern Germany, according to a translated statement.

However, once they unfurled it, archaeologists realized that the 15th-century artifact contained a cryptic message etched in Gothic minuscule that was barely visible to the naked eye. It read, “sathanas taleke belzebuk hinrik berith.”

Researchers deciphered the text as a curse that was directed toward a woman named Taleke and a man named Hinrik (Heinrich) and summoned Beelzebub (another name for Satan) and Berith (a demonic spirit).

While researchers may never know who these people were, they did offer some ideas for the reasoning behind the bad blood.

“Did someone want to break up Taleke and Heinrich’s relationship? Was this about spurned love and jealousy, should someone be put out of the way?” the researchers asked in the statement.

Archaeologists said the finding was unique, especially since similar “curse tablets are actually known from ancient times in the Greek and Roman regions from 800 B.C. to A.D. 600,” Jörg Ansorge, an archaeologist with the University of Greifswald in Germany who led the excavation, said in the statement.

For instance, a 1,500-year-old lead tablet inscribed in Greek and found in what is now Israel calls on demons to harm a rival dancer, while 2,400-year-old tablets found in Greece ask the underworld gods to target several tavern keepers.

“Our discovery, on the other hand, can be dated to the 15th century,” Ansorge said. “This is truly a very special find.”

Researchers weren’t surprised to find the artifact at the bottom of a latrine, considering that curse tablets “were placed where they were difficult or impossible to find” by those who have been cursed, according to the statement.