All posts by Archaeology World Team

Drive-Thru History? McDonald’s Opens ‘Museum-Restaurant’ Above Ancient Roman Road

Drive-Thru History? McDonald’s Opens ‘Museum-Restaurant’ Above Ancient Roman Road

When construction on the restaurant began in 2014, the presence of the lane, which had been hidden for decades, was first discovered. The €300,000 restoration project was funded by McDonald’s Italia, and the result is thought to be the world’s first restaurant museum,’ with guests being able to see the ancient street while enjoying their burgers due to a transparent floor.

Drive-Thru History? McDonald’s Opens ‘Museum-Restaurant’ Above Ancient Roman Road
A closer look at the beautiful ancient Roman road.
The head of McDonald’s Italia, Mario Federico, outside the new location.

Historically, it is assumed that the 45-metre road in Frattochie, south of the city of the Italian capital, dates back to between the second and first century BC and is thought to have fallen out of use about three centuries later. It branches off the more famous Appian Way, which links Rome with the south of the country.

Ruts from wagon wheels are visible in the paving stones, which are made of local volcanic rock.

John Linton Chapman, The Appian Way, 1869.

Though McDonald’s financed the restoration, the project was managed by Rome’s Superintendency for Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape.

Archaeologists unearthed the skeletons of three adult males, thought to have been buried after the road had already fallen out of use.

Casts of these skeletons have been returned to the original graves while experts carry out further analysis on the original bones. Local mayor Carlo Colizza said the McDonald’s project was “a positive example” of the private and public sector helping each other.

“We were able to perfectly combine business activities with respect for and appreciation of the history and archaeology,” added Colizza.

In fact, construction projects in Italy are often delayed by the discovery of ancient ruins which then have to be properly excavated.

This has been one of the major factors in the repeated delays to Rome’s third Metro line; workers have unearthed plenty of Roman treasures including a Roman barracks so impressive that the city is considering turning it into a museum.

The road goes directly under the restaurant, with viewing spots both inside and outside / McDonald’s Italia
Buried for more than 1,700 years, Rome’s Superintendency for Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape managed the project / McDonald’s Italia.

Panels in English and Italian will give information about the history of the road and there will be a special children’s route for younger visitors to explore after their Happy Meal (or Appia Meal…). The site is also accessible, for free, without going to the McDonald’s branch.

The CEO of McDonald’s Italy said that the juxtaposition of antiquity and modernity in the McDonalds restaurant-museum was “virtuous”. 

“It is a place where you can look at the future, through the past,” he said.

McDonald’s in Italy

However, McDonald’s is more often seen as a threat to Italy’s cultural heritage than a possible help.

When its first restaurant opened up near the Spanish steps in Rome 30 years ago, there was a public outcry. Fashion brand Valentino, which has its Rome headquarters nearby, complained about the smells and noise from the restaurant, and the opening also sparked the now global Slow Food movement.

And though the chain seems to have thrived, the announcement of a new branch on Vatican-owned property, not far from St Peter’s Square, was met with fierce protest from cardinals and local residents.

Cardinal Elio Sgreccia labelled the decision to open the restaurant “controversial and perverse”, but it opened in December despite the complaints.

A one-of-a-kind McDonald’s has officially opened in the Eternal City where visitors can discover the magic of ancient Roman engineering while eating their lunch.

Elsewhere, Florence has taken the struggle to protect its culinary history particularly strongly.

In 2016, the Tuscan capital turned down a request for the golden arches to set up shop in the city’s central square, leading the fast-food chain to threaten legal action.

Viking ‘Drinking Hall’ Uncovered in Scotland

Viking ‘Drinking Hall’ Uncovered in Scotland

There was likely no shortage of ale and good cheer at a recently unearthed Viking drinking hall, discovered by archaeologists on the island of Rousay, Orkney, in northern Scotland. 

Viking 'Drinking Hall' Uncovered in Scotland
The site was explored for a number of years before the discovery

The hall wasn’t a short-lived establishment, either. Its doors seem to have been open from the 10th to the 12th centuries, likely serving high-status Vikings, the archaeologists said. 

Now, all that’s left of this once bustling alehouse are stones, a handful of artefacts — including a fragmented Norse bone comb, pottery and a bone spindle whorl — and very old trash heaps, known as middens. 

The Norse bone comb fragment from the excavation site

Archaeologists discovered the beer hall this summer, after learning that walls extending from below a known settlement were actually part of a large, 43-foot-long (13 m) Norse building.

These walls were about 3 feet (1 meter) wide and 18 feet (5.5 m) apart. Stone benches sat on the sides of the building, they noted. 

Stone walls and stone benches were found during the excavation

The drinking hall was found at an archaeological hotspot at Skaill Farmstead, a place that has likely been inhabited by people for more than 1,000 years.

That’s why a team of archaeologists from the University of the Highlands and Islands archaeology institute, Rousay locals and students have been digging there for years; they are often sifting through the middens to learn about old farming and fishing practices, as well as what sorts of foods were eaten by the people who lived there. 

“We have recovered millennia of middens, which will allow us an unparalleled opportunity to look at changing dietary traditions, farming and fishing practices from the Norse period up until the 19th century,” project co-director Ingrid Mainland, an archaeologist at the University of the Highlands and Islands, said in a statement. 

Excavations at the drinking hall are ongoing, but it’s already showing similarities to other Norse halls found in Orkney, as well as other parts of Scotland.

Moreover, the farmstead is part of the Westness on Rousay, a coastal stretch on the island. Westness is mentioned in the Orkneyinga saga as the home of Sigurd, a mighty chieftain, the archaeologists said.

Perhaps, Sigurd frequented the drinking hall, the archaeologists added.

“You never know, but perhaps Earl Sigurd himself sat on one of the stone benches inside the hall and drank a flagon of ale!” project co-director Dan Lee, an archaeologist at the University of the Highlands and Islands, said in the statement.

Man Discovers 65 Million-Year-Old Skeleton of Sea Mammal after His Dogs Sniff it Out

Man Discovers 65 Million-Year-Old Skeleton of Sea Mammal after His Dogs Sniff it Out

A dog walker was left stunned after his dogs accidentally discovered a 65 million-year-old dinosaur skeleton while walking on a beach. Jon Gopsill, 54, was walking his two dogs, Poppy and Sam on the coast of Stolford, Somerset when he stumbled across a bone that turned out to be part of a five-and-a-half foot-long fossil.

Man Discovers 65 Million-Year-Old Skeleton of Sea Mammal after His Dogs Sniff it Out
Jon Gopsill believes the skeleton is that of a prehistoric ichthyosaur

The skeleton – which Jon believes to be of a prehistoric ichthyosaur – was unearthed after a week of rough seas on the south coast.

The ichthyosaur was a prehistoric porpoise-like sea mammal that lived during the Jurassic period.

“I often go to the beach walking with my dogs and when the tide goes out we go out to the rocks because they like playing there,” said Jon, an amateur archaeologist.

“I have always been a bit of an amateur fossil hunter and I have found a good supply of ammonites, so I always keep my eyes open.

Jon Gopsill made the amazing discovery while walking his two dogs, Poppy and Sam

“We were at the beach when I saw this thing and thought ‘what’s that?’ so I went a bit closer and thought ‘wow’.

“I thought it was obviously a fossilised sea creature, possibly an ichthyosaur.

“It doesn’t have a head , I have looked around but I can’t find it.

“It has been there for at least 65 million years.

The dinosaur skeleton was found on the coast of Stolford, Somerset

“I realised straight [away] that it was amazing, museum-quality stuff. As soon as I saw it I knew I found something special.

“I was just blown away to see it there. It really is incredible that is has survived for such a long time and is now just there for everyone to see.”

Jon, a psychiatric nurse, has attempted to contact both Somerset Heritage and the Natural History Museum to report the find – but is still waiting for a response.

The 65 million-year-old dinosaur skeleton was found by Poppy and Sam

Miraculously, Jon went out on another walk and this time, his cockapoo Poppy brought him back a stone that turned out to be a fossil too.

He added: “I couldn’t believe it, it’s stunning- I’ve taught her what fossils are but I didn’t expect her to bring me one.

“My wife says it was just luck- I think having had the stormy weather recently has washed a lot of mud out so the rocks were a little bit more exposed.”

Fifth-Century A.D. Cemetery Uncovered in the Czech Republic

Fifth-Century A.D. Cemetery Uncovered in the Czech Republic

Expats CZ reports that six graves dated to the fifth century A.D. have been found in the East Bohemia region of the Czech Republic. One of the graves was intact, according to archaeologist Pavel Horník of the Museum of Eastern Bohemia, while the others had been looted shortly after the burials took place. 

The site was discovered in 2019 by archaeologists from the Museum of Eastern Bohemia in Hradec Králové (MVČ HK), and the first findings were just made public. The site has been dated to the fifth century AD, around the time of the collapse of the western part of the Roman Empire and the start of the Dark Ages. The era was known for migration and instability.

Graves from this time are rare. “In Eastern Bohemia, this is only the second chamber grave from the period of the migration that has been explored.

The first in the region was a grave in Plotiště nad Labem, discovered in the 1960s. It was the burial of an elderly man with a child,” MVČ HK archaeologist Pavel Horník said.

One of six graves in the newly discovered site at the village of Sendražice, just outside the city of Hradec Králové, was exceptional. It had escaped the attention of grave robbers who plundered the other five shortly after the burials took place.

“Most of the graves were looted in the spirit of those times. An exception was the grave belonging to a woman between 35 and 50 years old. This grave can be described as extraordinary in the whole of the Czech Republic,” Horník said.

The artefacts from all of the graves are being examined by experts from Masaryk University in Brno, the University of Chemistry and Technology in Prague, the Institute of Archeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Mining Museum in Příbram, and the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

Precious and mundane items both yield secrets

The intact grave chamber, designated grave number two, contained several items of extraordinary historical and artistic quality such as four silver-and-gold clasps inlaid with semi-precious stones and a headdress decorated with gold targets.

Remnants of two different textiles were on the silver-and-gold clasps in the unlooted grave. One of the fabrics belonged to the garment fastened by the buckles, the other to a coat of cloth that covered the woman.

Remains of leather and fur were also found on the buckles, according to research by Helena Březinová from the Institute of Archeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

The other five graves were for people between the ages of 16 and 55. While they had been looted, they still contained the remains of funeral offerings such as a short sword, knives, glass and amber beads, metal belt components, decorative shoe fittings, and antler combs.

Fifth-Century A.D. Cemetery Uncovered in the Czech Republic
Belt bockle after conservation.

From the looted grave number five, only an iron knife, beads, and a ceramic vessel survived. Samples from the vessel showed that meat had been cooked in it. The presence of certain acids and fats indicates it was the meat of a ruminant, such as a cow. There were no indications of the presence of plant-based food in any of the graves.

Diseases reveal a hard life

Arthritis was evident in the bones of one of the buried people, possibly due to age and physical exertion. Anthropologist Milada Hylmarová of Masaryk University noted significantly asymmetrical muscles on the lower limbs in one of the graves. Due to the incompleteness of the skeleton, the cause can’t be determined but it could be the result of a stroke.

In another case, traces of cancer were found on a skull and pelvis. Other ailments noted were tooth decay and damage to joints.

High-tech examinations underway

Research is continuing, and should eventually reveal a more complete picture of the lives of the people from the site. The chemical composition of the ceramic vessel could reveal whether it was manufactured in the area or came from elsewhere.

So far, only the gender of the woman in the unlooted grave has been determined with any certainty. Based on the objects found, it is assumed that a man was buried in grave number three and a woman in grave six.

DNA analysis is currently taking place in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig and the Institute of Archeology and Museology of Masaryk University. This could show more about the relationships between the people and where they came from.  

Remains of Southland WWII gunner found after 79 years in plane wreckage in Germany

New Zealand Airmen’s Remains Identified in Germany

Stuff.co.nz reports that the remains of Sergeant Henry Pullar of the Royal New Zealand Airforce have been unearthed and identified in Germany. Pullar was a rear gunner on a British Short Stirling heavy bomber that was shot down in northwestern Germany in 1942. 

New Zealand Airmen’s Remains Identified in Germany
Sergeant air gunner Henry Pullar worked on his family’s farm at Otautau before enlisting in the Royal New Zealand Airforce in 1941.

The remains of Otautau man sergeant Henry Pullar were discovered buried among parts of a British World War II bomber plane that went down in 1942, according to DNA testing.

His niece Pam Compton said she and her family received written confirmation of the test results from Hamburg-Eppendorf University Hospital biologist Oliver Krebs in late December 2020.

“We were thrilled and stunned when we were told,” Compton, of Toowoomba in Queensland, said. September 1 marks the 80th anniversary of the start of the Second World War when Nazi Germany invaded Poland.

Discovery of the human remains and parts of the plane’s tail section buried more than five metres deep, were made in 2019, while redevelopment work was being done at Vechta Airport in Germany. Research by Compton showed the plane crashed tail-first into the ground.

Pullar was a rear gunner in the plane.

News of human remains being found reached Compton in September 2019, after a German aviation archaeology working group member, Jens-Michael Brandes, posted a message on an ancestry site looking for relatives of Errol Skeggs – Compton’s father.

The group was called to the redevelopment site when aircraft parts started appearing during earthmoving work.

On the third day of examining the area clothing and human remains were found. A senior archaeologist at the Lower Saxony state office for the preservation of cultural heritage became involved in the findings, along with anthropologists of the forensic department of the University Medical Centre in Hamburg-Eppendorf.

Archaeologists, anthropologists and scientists at the site where the human remains of Southland airman Henry Pullar were discovered at Vechta in Germany in 2019. The British bomber plane Pullar was in was shot down during World War II.

“As more remains were found the forensic scientists from UKE Hamburg came to the site and removed them,” Compton said.

The bones were transferred to Hamburg-Eppendorf University Hospital, where biologist Oliver Krebs subsequently removed DNA from them.

“My family and I and the family and friends of the crew requested that the UK Ministry of Defence Joint Casualty & Compassionate Centre do DNA testing,” Compton said.

She had contacted and built up a network with the relatives of the other airmen after starting research on the life and war service of her uncle in 2016.

DNA samples from Compton and four others in her family were sent to Krebs who later confirmed the bones belonged to her uncle. Krebs sent an official confirmation to Compton by email on December 23, 2020.

An aviation archaeology working group member, Matthias Zeisler, at the site in Vechta, Germany, in 2019, where parts of a British World War II plane and remains of Southland airman sergeant Henry Pullar was discovered. DNA testing confirmed the remains belonged to Pullar.

The bones are still at the university’s forensic science department and will be kept there until the Commonwealth War Graves Commission is allowed, under Covid-19 regulations, to take them to Rheinberg War Cemetery in Germany. The bones will be placed in the communal grave which has the remains of five of the six other airmen on the plane.

The pilot has his own grave there.

“It’s a privilege to have found him [Pullar] after all this time, and to have closure when so many didn’t,” Compton said. Pullar, at 25, was the oldest of the seven crewmen on the British Short Stirling heavy bomber.

Identifying the plane and its crew was done from the personal details found on the pilot’s body which was thrown from the plane just before the crash, Compton said. The crew was initially buried in a Protestant cemetery in Vechta before being moved to the Rheinberg War Cemetery.

Queensland woman Pam Compton, formerly of Otautau, has a closure in knowing DNA testing on human remains discovered through earthmoving work in Germany belongs to her uncle, sergeant Henry Pullar. The British bomber plane he was in was shot down at Vechta Airport in Germany during World War II.

They each have a headstone at Rheinberg.

Pullar worked on his family’s farm before enlisting in the Royal New Zealand Airforce in March 1941, at the age of 23. He started his training at Levin and then went to Canada to join the Empire Air Training Scheme.

He was a member of the 75 NZ Squadron RAF and after more training in the UK, was posted to Newmarket in Suffolk.

Nail allegedly from Jesus’ crucifixion found in a secret chamber in a Czech monastery

Nail allegedly from Jesus’ crucifixion found in a secret chamber in a Czech monastery

A secret chamber of a monastery has been discovered with priceless Christian relics, including a nail allegedly used in Jesus Christ’s crucifixion. Archaeologists working in the Czech Republic’s Milevsko monastery discovered a six-inch-long piece of the nail inside a box with a 21-karat gold cross.

Archaeologists working in the Milevsko monastery in the Czech Republic unearthed the six-inch-long piece of the nail inside a box adorned with a 21-karat gold cross. The box was built between 260 and 416 AD and is inscribed with the letters ‘IR,’ which translates to ‘Jesus is King’

The box was built between 260 and 416 AD and is inscribed with the letters ‘IR,’ which translates to ‘Jesus is King.’ The hidden treasury room, according to experts, was used to conceal rare artefacts from raids by Hussite troops in the early 15th century.

Researchers excavating the scene say that they cannot confirm if the nail came from the true Cross,’ but note the discovery ‘is even greater than the reliquary of St. Maurus, reports the Czech News Agency (ČTK).

Ancient nails found in a hidden chamber of Czech monastery

The Maurus Reliquary is a large box made of gold that holds fragments from the bodies of three saints: Saint Maurus, Saint John the Baptist and Saint Timothy. 

There have also been dozens of nails uncovered that are linked to Jesus’s crucifixion, leading scientists to be skeptical about the recent find.

Jiří Šindelář, who took part in the discovery, told ČTK: ‘Because the Hussites destroyed the archive, there was no information that such a thing was here.’

The hidden treasury room, according to experts, was used to conceal rare artefacts from raids by Hussite troops in the early 15th century.

Šindelář added that the authenticity of the nail will be verified by other scientific expertise sometime next year.  Archaeologists have been working at the Milevsko monastery for several months and recently uncovered a secret passage that led to the treasury room.

The monastery was built in 1187 but was captured by Hussites in 1420 and taken over by the group’s nobility. However, before losing their place of worship, those who called the monastery home built a secret room to hide rare and priceless artefacts.

After analyzing the box through radiocarbon dating, the team found it was made with two types of wood. The larch wood, which is found in Israel’s subtropical climate, dates back between 1290 and 1394 AD.

The second sample, which is oak, was found to originate from 260 to 416 AD. A similar discovery was unearthed in October when a team found nails with ancient bone and wood embedded in them.

The nails were allegedly found in Jerusalem, in a first-century burial cave believed to be the resting place of Caiaphas, the Jewish priest who sent Jesus to his death in the Bible.

At some point after the cave was excavated in 1990, however, the nails went missing. Years later, filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici would claim to have found the nails, even claiming that they were used to crucify Jesus himself in the 2011 documentary, Nails Of The Cross.

At the time, scholars slammed the suggestion, denying that the nails Jacobovici had found were the same ones from Caiaphas’ tomb. But now an explosive new study has concluded that the nails are indeed the same ones – and that they were probably used to crucify someone too.

Lead author Dr Aryeh Shimron made the jaw-dropping find after comparing material from the nails with material from the tomb’s ossuaries – limestone boxes used to store the bones of the dead.

One of the nails allegedly found in a first-century burial cave in Jerusalem

He said: ‘The materials invading caves differ subtly from cave to cave depending on topography, soil composition in the area, the microclimate and neighbouring vegetation.

‘Consequently, caves have distinct physical and chemical signatures. The physical and chemical properties of the materials which, over centuries, have invaded the tomb and its ossuaries were investigated.

‘Our analysis clearly and unequivocally demonstrates that these materials are chemically and physically identical to those which have, over centuries, also become attached to the nails. Caiaphas’ cave was the only match for the nails out of 25 tombs tested, Dr Shimron found.

He continued: ‘We have also discovered fine slivers of wood accreted within the iron oxide rust of the nails.

‘It is well preserved and entirely petrified* the wood is therefore ancient and not a chance or man-made fake attachment to the nails. Within the rust and sediment attached to the nails, we also identified and photographed a number of microscopic fragments of bone.’

‘Extraordinary Discovery’: Secret Medieval Tunnel Found By Electricians In Wales

‘Extraordinary Discovery’: Secret Medieval Tunnel Found By Electricians In Wales

BBC News reports that a medieval tunnel system was discovered in southern Wales by a team of technicians who were moving an electrical pole.

The four-foot-tall tunnels are located near Tintern Abbey, which was constructed in the twelfth century, and appear to run underneath a footpath located alongside Angiddy Brook. 

A team of electrical technicians stumbled on a “secret” medieval tunnel while undertaking a routine dig to relocate a span of underground cable.

A Western Power Distribution team had been moving a pole when it found the network
The tunnel runs alongside the Angiddy Brook

The ruins of Tintern Abbey, a Gothic monastery founded in 1131, are near the valley where the tunnel was found. But the passageway isn’t shown on any ordinance survey maps and it was unknown to local residents and authorities, Western Power Distribution said.

It could take “years” of archaeological investigation before more about the “secret” tunnel is known, WPD technician Allyn Gore said.

In the meantime, his team have backfilled the trench they had begun digging and are putting their cables down elsewhere.

Mr Gore, who headed up the dig team, said he had never seen anything as “exciting and impressive as this” during excavations before.

“The tunnel system was tucked away underneath a footpath, running parallel to the Angiddy Brook, and seemed to follow the brook’s route along the valley; it may have been unknowingly walked on for centuries,” he said.

His team alerted Cadw, the Welsh Government’s historic and cultural heritage agency, who was “fascinated by the sheer scale of the tunnel” and thought it could be “linked to ironwork ruins previously discovered in the area”, he said.

Archaeologists are now working to establish more details about the tunnel.

Skeletons of WWII-era nuns murdered by Soviets unearthed in Poland

Skeletons of WWII-era nuns murdered by Soviets unearthed in Poland

The remains of three Catholic nuns killed by the Nazis while they were trying to help the wounded Soviet soldiers at the end of the Second World War were found, as they cared for the wounded Soviets, to the last. The Red Army invaded Poland when the Nazis withdrew their soldiers in 1944.

An effort was made to gain control over the area by subduing militia as well as religious figures by looting and destroying churches.

Records discovered from 1945 showed Soviet soldiers killed seven nuns in the order of St. Catherine of Alexandria who was serving as nurses at Marian Hospital in Olsztyn.

Skeletons of WWII-era nuns murdered by Soviets unearthed in Poland
Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance previously discovered three of the murdered nuns in Olsztyn.

A project by the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland was launched to discover their remains and Polish archaeologists announced they found the remains of Sister Charytyna (Jadwiga Fahl) in Gdansk last summer.

In October they found Sister Generosa (Maria Bolz), Sister Krzysztofora (Marta Klomfass) and Sister Liberia (Maria Domnik) in Orneta.

And now the bodies of the last missing trio, Sister Rolanda (Maria Abraham), Sister Gunhilda (Dorota Steffen) and Sister Bona (Anna Pestka) have been found too.

Experts also unearthed crucifixes, ‘religious clothing’ and rosaries from around the remains, according to Live Science.

Graves in Orneta, Poland, held the remains of three bodies thought to belong to nuns in the order of St. Catherine of Alexandria who were killed by Russia’s Red Army.

A statement by the Institute of National Remembrance in Poland (IPN) said: ‘The purpose of the study was the finding of the remains of the Catherine Sisters who fell victim to the soldiers of the Red Army in 1945.

‘They all served the sick at the Marian Hospital (St Mary’s Hospital) in Olsztyn.

‘They worked as nurses, looking for help for the sick, and the deceased by organizing burials in a nearby cemetery. 

Where they served, they died there as well – defending themselves against the disgrace of the Red Army soldiers who entered Olsztyn in the winter of 1945.

‘The works in Orneta were also the last stage of the search for the remains of the Sisters, for whom the church side is carrying out the beatification process at the same time. Earlier searches were carried out in Gdańsk and Olsztyn.

‘On the basis of historical data, anthropomorphic features and found objects, the remains of three women were selected for exhumation, with the probability that they are the wanted Sisters.

‘In the remains of the collected remains, religious medals, crucifixes, elements of religious clothing and religious rosaries were found.’

Buried objects such as crucifixes helped experts identify the nuns’ remains.

The skeletons have been taken to the Forensic Medicine Institute in Gdańsk. Historical records show Sister Generosa was ‘locked in the hospital’s attic’.

While the IPM says Sister Krzysztofora was stabbed with a bayonet 16 times, had her eyes gouged out and tongue cut out.