French farmer finds rare coin featuring Charlemagne just before his death
A rare 1,200-year-old silver coin featuring Charlemagne — one of the only known portraits made of the emperor during his lifetime — was recently rediscovered and promptly taken on a wild journey from a farm in France, to the bidding grounds of eBay and, finally, to a museum in Germany.
This rare silver coin shows a portrait of Charlemagne that was made during his lifetime.
The coin’s modern travels began when a man in France wanted to build a house but was short on cash. He remembered that he had inherited a coin collection from his grandfather, a farmer in the Paris region. After going through his grandfather’s collection, the man discovered the Charlemagne coin, known as a denarius, and he put it up for auction on eBay.
“We have here some experts that regularly check what is on eBay concerning archaeology,” said Frank Pohle, director of the Route Charlemagne, a group of municipal museums in Aachen, Germany, that focus on cultural history. “One of them told me ‘Hey, there is a piece of money in eBay France that could be a real denarius of Charlemagne.”
The museum decided to enter a bid. To their relief, they got the coin depicting Charlemagne and his imperial title: IMP(erator) AVG(ustus), a reference to Emperor Augustus, the first Roman emperor and a title used by the many emperors of the Roman Empire, whom Charlemagne was trying to emulate. (Pohle wouldn’t reveal the coin’s price, but said, “It was not that expensive. We are very content.”)
Charlemagne (ruled A.D. 768 to 814), also known as Charles the Great, was king of the Franks and became the first ruler to unite Western and Central Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth century A.D. Due to his political power, military might and close relationship with the Vatican, Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Romans on Christmas day in A.D. 800.
So, perhaps it’s no surprise that, in this coin portrait, Charlemagne “presents himself really as Roman emperor,” Pohle told Live Science. “He has the laurel on his hat, which is quite unusual for Frankish kings. He is wearing a dress like a Roman general.”
The portrait also reveals that Charlemagne had a round face, a moustache and a short neck, the latter a detail noted by Charlemagne’s biographer Einhard, Pohle said.
Putting his portrait on the 0.7-inch-diameter (1.9 centimetres) coin “has something to do with his ambitions,” Pohle told Live Science. “That type of coin is quite a good copy of what the Roman emperors did in their times … to use money as a piece of their own marketing purposes.”
There are only about 50 individual denarii coins bearing a portrait of Charlemagne created in his lifetime. “Most [denarii] only have his name on it, no portrait,” Marjanko Pilekić, a numismatist and research assistant at the Coin Cabinet of the Schloss Friedenstein Gotha Foundation in Germany, who is not involved with the newfound coin, told Live Science.
The back of the coin features a building, which has a Christian cross on it and looks like a mix between a Roman temple and a church, Pohle said.
The back of the coin features a mix between a Roman temple and a church.
When was it minted?
Museum experts have determined that the 0.5-ounce (1.5 grams) coin was likely minted in Aachen due to the city’s importance, as that’s where Charlemagne was born and later died. But the date of its minting is unclear.
After being crowned Roman emperor, he didn’t immediately use the title “Emperor Augustus” found on the coin.
“Although he was already crowned in 800, he didn’t use that title [until] 812,” Pohle said. “It had something to do with his diplomatic connections with Byzantium,” also known as the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire. Instead, Charlemagne used the title “Emperor Governing the Roman Empire,” according to Britannica.
Finally, in 812, the Byzantine Empire recognized Charlemagne’s emperorship, so he started using the title found on the coin, making this a possible date for the coin’s minting, Pilekić said.
The coin also could have been minted in the year 813, when Charlemagne’s son, Louis the Pious, was appointed as co-emperor and had similar coinage made.
“Charlemagne was ill during the last three to four years of his life, i.e. around 810-814, and was particularly concerned about the future of the empire,” Pilekić said. “He had only one son left, whom he appointed co-emperor in 813. One theory is that the portrait coinage was created in the last year of his life. That is, at a time when he was probably striving for an orderly succession.”
Another idea is that “these coins were specifically intended to commemorate the occasion of the emperor’s coronation and therefore did not really serve as money like the other denarii of Charlemagne, which do exist in significantly larger numbers without a portrait and imperial title,” Pilekić added.
It’s hard to say how much this coin was worth at the time. “The amount of silver is quite low,” but if you had 12 to 20 denarii, you could probably buy a cow, Pohle said.
Ernest Shackleton’s Lost Shipwreck Found After 100 Years
A team of researchers from the Falkland Islands Maritime Heritage Foundation announced the discovery of the Endurance, the search for which resumed in early 2022. This ship, which sank off the coast of Antarctica in 1915, was found in the Weddell Sea at a depth of more than three kilometres.
The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition
Speaking of Antarctic explorers, not everyone now remembers Sir Ernest Shackleton. Most likely, this is due to the fact that even his contemporaries did not fully appreciate what the Endurance team faced and overcame (Endurance). And this is understandable – there was the First World War.
In 1914, the Imperial Transantarctic Expedition, led by Sir Ernest Shackleton, began the purpose of which was to cross overland throughout Antarctica.
A team of 56 people went to the South Pole on two ships – the Endurance and the Aurora. The crew of the Endurance planned to approach the coast of the Weddell Sea, spend the winter in Fasel Bay, and then move to the South Pole.
However, the ship encountered dense ice already in December 1914 and began to drift. In the autumn of the following year, the expedition members finally left the ship, squeezed by ice, which soon sank. Despite the most difficult conditions, the crew of the Endurance managed to escape.
The Endurance ship was crushed between ice and days before it sunk.
Researchers finally found and photographed the wreckage of the sunken ship Endurance
Modern explorers have repeatedly attempted to find the sunken ship. It was assumed that the wreckage of the ice-crushed Endurance was well preserved, as it was all these years in conditions of extreme cold, lack of light, and low oxygen levels.
The next major search expedition, Endurance22, launched in early 2022 from Cape Town.
The Endurance22 team, led by John Shears, reported that they were able to locate the wreckage of the Endurance. This was done during the survey of the search area in the Weddell Sea. According to scientists, Ernest Shackleton’s ship was at a depth of 3008 meters.
Polar explorers conducted their work from the South African ship “Agulhas II”, which had been preparing for the expedition for two years.
The Saab Sabertooth underwater search vehicles, equipped with the necessary sensors, lights, and cameras, made it possible to find the Endurance.
As you can see, the Endurance appears to be in almost perfect shape under the ice.
British maritime archaeologist who participated in the expedition, Mensun Bound (Mensun Bound) reported that the discovered ship was in excellent condition.
“It stands upright, holds well on the seabed, is intact, and is in excellent condition. You can even see the Endurance sign on the stern.”
The wreck is protected as a historic site and monument under the Antarctic Treaty, which ensures that the wreck cannot be touched or disturbed in any way during surveys.
14th-century sarcophagus found at fire-ravaged Notre Dame Cathedral
The discovery was made as maintenance crews were preparing to install scaffolding before restoring the spire of the 800-year-old cathedral, which survived a huge fire in the spring of 2019.
French archaeologists conducting excavations in Notre Dame Cathedral found several burials made no later than the 18th century. Among them stands out the discovered anthropomorphic lead sarcophagus, which probably belonged to a high-ranking dignitary who died no later than the 14th century.
Notre Dame: History and recent fire
The Notre Dame Cathedral is located in the centre of the French capital, on the Ile de la Cité island, built-in 1163-1345 on the site of the Gallo-Roman temple of Jupiter and the Christian Basilica of Saint Stephen.
The temple is a Gothic five-nave basilica with a short transept, a choir, and a crown of chapels. The facades of this building are decorated with sculptures, including scenes from the life of the Mother of God and the Last Judgment.
In the XVII-XVIII centuries, the interior and facade of the cathedral were significantly rebuilt. During the restoration, which took place in the middle of the 19th century, a 96-meter oak spire was built, which was decorated with bronze statues of the apostles and evangelists.
On April 15, 2019, a fire broke out in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the fight against which took about 14 hours. Most of the structure that caught fire was wooden frame built in the 12th-13th centuries from 1300 oaks.
The source of the fire was located at the base of the spire, where restoration work was underway at that time, which began in 2018. Through the scaffolding, the fire quickly spread to the entire roof of the cathedral. As a result, the spire collapsed, damaging the vaults of the building.
New excavations at Notre Dame found a human-shaped sarcophagus
Archaeologists from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research of France from February 2 to March 25, 2022, are conducting excavations in Notre Dame Cathedral, which precede the installation of scaffolding necessary for the reconstruction of the spire.
The researchers focused their attention on the central part of the temple, where the transept crosses the main nave.
The human-shaped sarcophagus beneath the Notre Dame.
Although some work on this site was carried out in the 19th century, archaeologists managed to find valuable historical finds. Scientists have unearthed several burials that were made no later than the 18th century.
Among them, a well-preserved lead sarcophagus made in an anthropomorphic form stands out. Archaeologists believe that it belonged to a high-ranking dignitary who died no later than the 14th century.
The coffin rested in the middle of brick pipes (a 19th-century underground heating system) and was well preserved, but slightly deformed under the weight. Inside, there are still pieces of cloth, hair, and a pillow of leaves.
Head of a man among other finds.
Below the level of the temple, the researchers found the remains of medieval pits, which contained fragments of polychrome sculptures.
According to the researchers, these artefacts are the remains of the original altar barrier of the 13th century, which separated the altar part of the temple from the nave. Some of these finds discovered earlier, are currently exhibited in the Louvre.
The Trailblazing Archaeologist Uncovering the Untold Stories of Prehistoric Skeletons
Archaeology has always fascinated Efthymia Nikita. She was drawn to the mystery and joy of uncovering the buried past. In her first year of archaeology studies at the Aristotle University, in Thessaloniki, she happily joined a six-week dig at a Neolithic – late Stone Age – site in northern Greece. The multitude of findings included pottery, figurines, stone tools and animal bones. And, toward the end of the excavations, the remains of a human skeleton were found.
“Our team had experts for everything, who almost immediately could tell us exactly what we were looking at, no matter how fragmented it was,” Nikita recalls. “But we had no osteoarchaeologist on the team, so no one could say even the most basic thing about this skeleton: Was it a man or a woman? How old was he/she when they died? We knew nothing.” That, she says, is when she decided to become an osteoarchaeologist.
As its name suggests, osteoarchaeology is the study of skeletal remains, both human and animal, from excavations. It is a specialized field within the broader realm of bioarchaeology, whose purview “includes not only bones but also plants and any other organic material that may be preserved in the archaeological record,” Nikita explains.
Today, at just 38, Nikita is at the pinnacle of her profession, author of a textbook on osteoarchaeology that is considered the last word on the subject, and the developer of methods to analyze ancient bones. Despite her young age, she has been awarded prizes and honours and has received numerous research grants. The latest award bestowed on her is the 2022 Dan David Prize, the world’s largest prize given to scholars in history-related disciplines, which gives $300,000 each to nine different laureates, with another $300,000 going for scholarships for young researchers. The award ceremony will take place in May at Tel Aviv University. (Prior to 2021, the prize, which is granted under the auspices of the university, was given across a wider range of fields)
Our conversations – conducted via both Zoom and email – take place both from her office at the Cyprus Institute in Nicosia, where Nikita is an assistant professor in bioarchaeology and from her home nearby. She moved to Cyprus in 2017 from her native Greece when the institute, a research body specializing in science and technology, offered her a research and teaching position. She was joined by her husband, with whom she raises their 4-year-old son.
Osteoarchaeology is an offshoot of osteology, the scientific study of bones, which in the past was utilized to support racial theories of various sorts. “Even though human osteology started largely as a ‘race science,’ where scholars measured crania to separate humans into races,” says Nikita, “it actually proves the exact opposite. Despite the anatomical variation seen across human groups, which is largely associated with our adaptation to different environments, when you strip people of their skin colour, hair colour, material culture, etc., and you are left with nothing but their bones, there is a deep sense of connectivity.”
She has worked with human skeletal remains from the prehistoric period until post-medieval times in a range of locations: Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Britain, Greece, Cyprus, and Lebanon. “My work,” she says, “has made me realize even more clearly how much all human populations share and have always shared throughout their history. We see differences in the frequencies of different pathologies or dietary patterns or other bioarchaeological aspects, but the similarities are much more pronounced.” For example, the impact of harsh external conditions on human skeletons in the past and the present is very similar, however different the settings. “Since the skeleton has specific means to respond to stress, usually through the new bone formation and bone resorption, we see the same signs of ‘suffering’ on skeletons of individuals in very different contexts.”
The “Lovers of Valdaro” bone remains, some six millennia old, found near Mantua, Italy. Emotional neutrality is not always possible.
What you say brings to mind the work of pathologists, who try to determine the cause of death through the remains.
“Definitely. Osteoarchaeology draws methods and approaches from biology, genetics, anatomy, chemistry and geology. And, in particular, forensic anthropology, which deals with the study of recently deceased individuals, shares many methods and approaches with osteoarchaeology. In forensic anthropology, the key aim is to identify the deceased, as well as determine the circumstances of death. Therefore, great emphasis is placed on determining the age at death, sex, stature and ancestry of the individual to whom the skeleton belongs, but also different types of trauma that may manifest on the skeleton – such as sharp force or blunt force.
“In osteoarchaeology,” Nikita continues, “we also estimate age at death, sex and stature, and we assess various pathological lesions, including trauma. Almost all the methods we have for estimating sex and age at death have been developed with the help of modern skeletal collections where the sex and age of the deceased were known in advance. However, our aim is to explore what the living conditions were like in the past, rather than the circumstances of death.”
Estimating the age at death and gender can offer clues to the demographic profiles of different groups; for example, whether infant mortality was high, or whether men died younger than women. In any event, Nikita adds, “I appreciate that the study of human skeletal remains is a privilege and not a right, and such remains should be treated with dignity and respect. Although I try to be emotionally neutral, this is not always possible. For example, in cases where I have an individual with some serious pathology, it is impossible not to think how painful his or her life must have been.”
When you strip people of their skin color, hair color, material culture, etc., and you are left with nothing but their bones, there is a deep sense of connectivity.
Efthymia Nikita
Everyone dies in the end
In the year 900 B.C.E., a people known as the Garamantes occupied the core of the Sahara Desert; they lived in the region for the next 1,500 years. The prevailing view among archaeologists and prehistorians was that, given the external conditions, life there, in what is today the Libyan desert, was nasty, brutish and short. Nikita, together with scientists from Cambridge and Leicester universities, decided to examine this hypothesis by comparing data from skeletal remains found in the heart of the Sahara with similar remains from other African communities along the Mediterranean coast and the banks of the Nile. The analysis showed that life in the desert was not necessarily more difficult or shorter than life next to water sources and that nutrition, too, was apparently not more meager.
In terms of how strenuous life in the Sahara was, an analysis of the remains of the Garamantes “suggests a population successful at coping with a harsh environment of high and fluctuating temperatures and reduced water and food resources,” Nikita says. Few differences were found between men and women, though “the lower limbs were significantly stronger among males than females, possibly due to higher levels of mobility associated with herding.”
A second question related to life in the Sahara studied by Nikita involved the mobility of residents. The classical archaeological material evidence supported the assumption that a large number of individuals crossed the Sahara Desert, despite the extreme conditions prevailing there. But Nikita’s findings refuted this hypothesis. “Our study,” she explains, “examined whether the desert inhibited extended gene flow among populations. Gene flow was assessed by means of cranial morphology. On this basis, we found that despite the fact that this population was at the centre of various networks, the Sahara Desert posed important limitations to gene flow between the Garamantes and other North African populations.
Efthymia Nikita at an excavation site.
Another project examined differences between Garamantian women and men with regard to mobility. On the one hand, it was hypothesized that mobility among men might be higher, due to combat or commerce; on the other hand, women might have been more mobile, due to marriage, in whose wake they might have moved to other settlements to be with their husband’s families. The bones showed that mobility was equally low in both sexes: Neither men nor women moved about very much.
Classical archaeology can find graves and grave goods, describe the material culture and can suggest for instance whether the deceased was rich or poor. Osteoarchaeology can suggest whether a seemingly wealthier person really did live an easier life, Nikita explains. Skeletal remains may also reveal familial ties and provide a broader picture of past communities.
More recently, she examined “human mobility in Cyprus during the Early Christian and Late Byzantine-Frankish periods,” which relates to Nikita. “For a case study, we used the [burial] site of the Hill of Agios Georgios in Nicosia. The results identified one individual who likely originated outside Cyprus and several more [from Cyprus] who were nonlocal to the burial site.” In other words, there was mobility, but it was likely more regional than far-flung. “Regarding men and women, no significant difference was found and they are both represented among the ‘nonlocals,’ so we cannot attribute the mobility to some gender-based factor.” This could not have been determined only from analysis of inanimate objects found at the burial site. The study of bones, Nikita emphasizes, provides a broad demographic picture. In the end, everyone dies: rich and poor, exalted military leaders and slaves. Whereas, say, the examination of objects in cemeteries, can provide much information about the way the living buried the dead, the study of bones will tell an all-inclusive story.
For example, a study Nikita conducted together with colleagues, involved two Cypriot communities that, according to the evidence, engaged principally in agriculture during the 16th and 17th centuries – the transition from the Venetian period to the Ottoman. A comparison was made between adults and children and between women and men of the two populations. The researchers found that despite the similarity in the ways of life of the two communities, one of them experienced greater everyday physical stress. The researchers found more injuries and greater attrition of the skeletal remains. The disparity is discernible among the children as well: Among the population that led a harder life, the bones of the children showed that they, too, were not spared.”
Among the grounds for awarding you the Dan David Prize, the foundation states that you have made it your goal to tell the untold stories of those who have been forgotten, such as children and women, “in order to form a more well-rounded view of the past.” What motivates your research?
“I would say that anger is my main motivation… I am Greek, and I get frustrated when I hear our politicians refer to our ‘glorious past and ancestors,’ obviously referring to men, to distill a rather misguided sense of ethnic pride. While I respect the importance of feeling proud of one’s country and the fact that a country’s history is an important factor for such pride, it is our obligation as scientists to promote a deeper understanding of our history. Osteoarchaeology gives us direct access to our ancestors – not just the politicians and military men, but the everyday people who comprised the vast majority of our ancestors. With the prize money, my priority will be to expand osteoarchaeological research in the Eastern Mediterranean, in conjunction with historical evidence, but also to create a series of resources for educators, parents and the general public to effectively communicate our findings.”
Excavation of Byzantine shipwreck in Aegean reveals 5th-century ceramics
Excavations of a Byzantine shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island Samos have revealed that the ship and its contents likely date to some time between 480 and 520 AD, the Greek Culture Ministry announced.
A Byzantine shipwreck in Greece was dated to some time between 480 and 520 AD.
The shipwreck is located in the sea near the small Fournoi island group, which is southwest of Samos. The 15 amphorae found in the sand near the wreck, along with the wooden skeleton of the ship itself, were in remarkably good condition.
There are nearly 60 shipwrecks from various historical periods located in the region.
Despite the fact that the shipwreck was found in one of the steepest and most inaccessible areas of the islands, it was chosen for further study during the 2021 excavation season due to the fact that it was extremely well-preserved.
Experts believe that the ship’s wooden framing survived throughout the centuries because it was crushed under the rest of the ship and oxygen couldn’t reach it, stalling the process of decay.
Archaeologists found 15 amphorae at the site of a Byzantine shipwreck in Greece. Archaeologists worked throughout last year to clear sand and debris from the wreck in order to provide access for experts to conduct studies of the site.
This allowed archaeologists to discover the 15 amphorae, many of which have been linked to various areas across the surrounding region.
The distinct style of one amphora is linked to the city of Sinope on the Black Sea, and six other amphorae are thought to be from Crimea and Heaclea Pontica on the Black Sea. Some ceramics found at the site are also connected to Phocaea in Asia Minor.
These finds reflect the expansionist trade policy of the Byzantine Emperor Anastasius I, who was the ruler during the time the shipwreck occurred.
Greek archaeologist Giorgos Koutsouflakis is heading the underwater excavations at the site, and his team includes 25 divers, among whom are students, archaeologists, photographers, and others.
In total, they have completed nearly 300 dives at the site and spent over 200 hours underwater excavating the shipwreck. Work at the site will continue into future seasons.
There are many ancient shipwrecks across the Greek seas, and archaeologists have found countless historic treasures in these sunken archaeological sites.
Off the Greek island of Alonissos, one such shipwreck has been transformed into an underwater archaeology museum, where divers can explore the shipwreck underwater.
At the 5th century BC wreck of Peristera, divers accompanied by guides can get a close look at the huge pile of amphorae, which extends to the sea bottom for a length of 25 meters (82 feet).
The shipwreck, which is one of the most important in all of classical antiquity, was loaded with thousands of wine amphorae from Mendi, an ancient city of Halkidiki, and Peparithos, today’s Skopelos, areas known in antiquity for their wine.
Scents Help Researchers Identify Contents of Egyptian Vessels
More than 3,400 years after two ancient Egyptians were laid to rest, the jars of food left to nourish their eternal souls still smell sweet. A team of analytical chemists and archaeologists has analysed these scents to help identify the jars’ contents1. The study shows how the archaeology of smell can enrich our understanding of the past — and perhaps make museum visits more immersive.
The 1906 discovery of the intact tomb of Kha and Merit in the Deir el-Medina necropolis near Luxor was a landmark moment in Egyptology. The tomb of Kha — a ‘chief of works’, or an architect — and Merit, his wife, remains the most complete non-royal ancient burial ever found in Egypt, revealing important information about how high-ranking individuals were treated after death.
“It’s an amazing collection,” says Ilaria Degano, an analytical chemist at the University of Pisa, Italy. “Among the objects, there are even examples of Kha’s ancient Egyptian linen underwear, embroidered with his name.”
This papyrus from the tomb shows Kha and his wife Merit worshipping the lord of the afterlife, Osiris.
Unusually for the time, the archaeologist who discovered the tomb resisted the temptation to unwrap the mummies or peer inside the sealed amphorae, jars and jugs there, even after they were transferred to the Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy. The contents of many of these vessels are still a mystery, although there are some clues, says Degano. “From talking with the curators, we knew there were some fruity aromas in the display cases,” she says.
Odour analysis
Degano and her colleagues placed various artefacts — including sealed jars and open cups laden with the rotten remains of ancient food — inside plastic bags for several days to collect some of the volatile molecules they still release.
Then the team used a mass spectrometer to identify the components of the aromas from each sample. They found aldehydes and long-chain hydrocarbons, indicative of beeswax; trimethylamine, associated with dried fish; and other aldehydes common in fruits. “Two-thirds of the objects gave some results,” Degano says. “It was a very nice surprise.”
The findings will feed into a larger project to re-analyse the tomb’s contents and produce a more comprehensive picture of burial customs for non-royals that existed when Kha and Merit died, about 70 years before Tutankhamun came to the throne.
This isn’t the first time that scent compounds have revealed important information about ancient Egypt. In 2014, researchers extracted volatile molecules from linen bandages that are between 6,300 and 5,000 years old that were used to wrap bodies in some of the earliest known Egyptian cemeteries2. The molecules confirmed the presence of embalming agents with antibacterial properties, showing that Egyptians were experimenting with mummification some 1,500 years earlier than had been thought.
One of the jars whose contents were analysed using a mass spectrometer.
Odour analysis is still an underexplored area of archaeology, says Stephen Buckley, an archaeologist and analytical chemist at the University of York, UK, who was involved in the 2014 study. “Volatiles have been ignored by archaeologists because of an assumption they would have disappeared from artefacts,” he says. But “if you want to understand the ancient Egyptians, you really want to go into that world of smell”.
For example, sweet-smelling incense derived from aromatic resins was essential for the ancient Egyptians. “Incense was necessary for temple ceremonies and for some mortuary rituals,” says Kathryn Bard, an archaeologist at Boston University in Massachusetts. Because resin-producing trees didn’t grow in Egypt, this necessitated ambitious long-distance expeditions to obtain supplies.
Enriched exhibits
Aside from revealing more about past civilizations, ancient smells could add a dimension to the visitor experience at museums. “Smell is a relatively unexplored gateway to the collective past,” says Cecilia Bembibre at University College London. “It has the potential [to allow] us to experience the past in a more emotional, personal way.”
But reconstructing ancient smells is not easy, says Bembibre. Degradation and decomposition can be a smelly business, so the scents from an artefact today do not necessarily match what Bembibre calls the original “smellscape” of a tomb.
With the right knowledge and understanding, it should be possible to pull the original and the decomposition scents apart, says Buckley. Whether visitors would actually want to experience the full and potentially unpleasant smellscape of an ancient tomb is still up for debate. “Curators might want to give people a choice over how far they want to push the smell experience,” says Buckley.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg today announced the return of two antiquities collectively valued at more than $500,000 to the people of Libya.
Veiled Head of a Lady Had Been on Display at The Met Since 1998
The artefacts, “Veiled Head of a Lady” and “Bust of a Bearded Man,” were both looted from the ancient city of Cyrene, which faced rampant looting in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s shortly before the appearance of the pieces on the international art market.
The items were returned during a repatriation ceremony attended by the Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of Libya in DC Khaled Daief, and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”) Acting Deputy Special Agent-in-Charge Mike Alfonso.
“These are more than just beautiful artefacts – they are windows into thousands of years of culture and deserve to be returned to their country of origin,” said District Attorney Bragg.
“Manhattan is home to some of the most prized art and history pieces in the entire world, but they must be acquired legally. We will not allow New York to be a hub for trafficked antiquities, and will continue to crack down on looting and smuggling across the globe in coordination with our law enforcement partners.”
“Thanks to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, we are grateful for the opportunity to repatriate this cultural artefact.
We would like to express our highest appreciation and gratitude for the efforts undertaken by the Manhattan District Attorney and his staff, the Department of Homeland Security, and everyone that worked to ensure that this invaluable Libyan artefact returns to its homeland in Shahat Museum,” said Charge d’Affaires of the Embassy of Libya Khaled Daief.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York Acting Special Agent in Charge Ricky J. Patel said, “HSI is honoured to return these incredibly significant antiquities to the people of Libya.
The stunning ‘Veiled Head of a Lady,’ which dates back to the late 4th century B.C., and the extraordinary ‘Bust of a Bearded Man,’ both of which derive from Cyrenaica’s rich archaeological heritage. For decades, these pieces were stolen and trafficked around the world, ultimately landing in the United States.
HSI is proud to partner with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office to actively pursue the theft of these national treasures and work to preserve the cultural history of nations throughout the world. Today, we return these invaluable pieces to the country of Libya – their rightful home.”
Pictured: Bust of a Bearded Man
As part of an ongoing criminal investigation concerning antiquities looted from the Middle East and North Africa, the Antiquities Trafficking Unit uncovered evidence that the two antiquities repatriated today had been looted from Cyrene, an archaeological site located near modern-day Shahat, Libya.
Dating to roughly 350 B.C.E, the Veiled Head of a Lady is valued at nearly half a million dollars and was seized from the Metropolitan Museum of Art where it was on view since 1998. Prior to its display at the Met, the piece had been looted from a tomb in Cyrene, smuggled into Egypt by an antiquities trafficker known to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and then shipped to New York.
Dating to 100-300 C.E., the Bust of a Bearded Man is valued at $30,000 and was also looted from Cyrene, where it originated in a tomb rich with small niches. The piece was smuggled from Libya to Geneva, Switzerland, before arriving in Manhattan.
In January of this year, the Manhattan D.A.’s Office returned another marble antiquity looted from Cyrene valued at $1.2 million the “Veiled Head of a Female,” to the people of Libya.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, Chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit and Senior Trial Counsel, handled the investigation with Supervising Investigative Analyst Apsara Iyer and Special Agents Robert Mancene and Robert Fromkin of Homeland Security Investigations.
Additional support for the investigation was provided by Investigative Analysts Alyssa Thiel and Daniel Healey.
District Attorney Bragg thanked HSI New York, the Embassy of Libya in D.C., Morgan Belzic of the Institut National D’Histoire de l’Art, and the French Archaeological Mission in Libya for their assistance with the matter.
Valley of the Kings archaeologists unearth treasures in Siberia dating back 2,500 years
Archaeologists have discovered a large burial mound in the Siberian “Valley of the Kings” dating to more than 2,500 years ago.
The ancient tomb holds the remains of five people, including those of a woman and a toddler who was buried with an array of grave goods, such as a crescent moon-shaped pendant, bronze mirror and gold earrings.
The mounds were made by the Scythians — a term used to describe culturally-related nomadic groups that lived on the steppes between the Black Sea and China from about 800 B.C. to about A.D. 300.
The Scythian woman and the child were buried together in a wooden burial chamber within a burial mound.
The burial mound, known as a kurgan, is located near a previously excavated kurgan belonging to a Scythian chief. Given the proximity of the woman’s burial mound to the chief’s — only 656 feet (200 meters) away — and the valuable artefacts buried with her, “I think that she was a person of great importance in the society of nomads,” said Łukasz Oleszczak, an archaeologist at the Institute of Archaeology at Jagiellonian University in Kraków, who led the Polish team, which worked alongside Russian archaeologists at the site.
The crescent pendant stood out immediately, he added. “She was buried with this artefact that we had believed to be a sign of male burials,” because similarly shaped pendants had previously been found in men’s burials in kurgans in southern Siberia, Oleszczak told Live Science.
The gold grave goods were found near the woman.
The woman had gold earrings and gold ornaments, possibly from a hat, near her head.
Archaeologists have known about the “Valley of the Kings” (a phrase coined by a journalist years ago, harkening to Ancient Egypt’s Valley of the Kings) for more than a century. This vast valley, known as Touran-Uyuk in Tuva, a Russian republic, is replete with numerous Scythian royal burials.
One of the previously excavated kurgans, dating to the eighth or ninth century B.C., holds the earliest known elite Scythian burial ever found. Most of these kurgans, however, have yet to be formally excavated, Oleszczak said.
At the invitation of Russian archaeologists, Oleszczak and his team conducted excavations in the valley during the 2019 and 2021 field seasons.
The kurgan, detected by aerial laser scanning, is about 82 feet (25 m) in diameter and has a destroyed, flattened centre, according to Science in Poland, a news site coordinated by the Polish government and independent journalists.
The kurgan is relatively short today — just 12 inches (30 centimetres) high, Oleszczak added.
During excavations, the archaeologists found the burials of five people. In one chamber, at the centre of the kurgan, the researchers found a looted burial chamber with weapons, including arrows, suggesting that a warrior had been buried there.
The excavations at the kurgan in Siberia.
The team found the remains of the woman and child in an unlooted wooden burial chamber with three layers of beams.
The sheer amount of wood was likely a symbol of wealth, as “there are not many trees in that area,” Oleszczak said. “Wood is quite valuable.”
According to an anatomical analysis, the woman died at about age 50, and the child was 2 to 3 years old. Along with the crescent pendant, the woman was buried with a number of other grave goods, including gold ornaments near her head that were possibly part of a hat, an iron knife and an engraved wooden comb tied with a leather loop to a bronze mirror.
This comb-mirror duo had been placed in a leather bag. It’s not yet clear how the woman and toddler died, Oleszczak added.
Another burial in the kurgan held the remains of a young male warrior buried with weapons, including a knife, a whetstone and gold ornaments. The fifth burial was found in a pit on the kurgan’s outskirts.
This grave held the remains of a teenager. “Graves of children on the perimeter or just outside the ditch surrounding the barrow are a typical part of the funeral rites of this early Scythian culture,” Oleszczak told Science in Poland.
Using a metal detector, the archaeologists discovered evidence of bronze objects that were left around the kurgan’s perimeter, including dozens of horse-riding equipment pieces, a bronze axe and a goat-shaped ornament. These objects likely became scattered due to deep ploughing from a farm collective that existed in the area in the 20th century.
