All posts by Archaeology World Team

The Varna Man, who lived around the 5th Millennium BC, is the wealthiest burial at that time

The Varna Man, who lived around the 5th Millennium BC, is the wealthiest burial at that time

The site, located on the outskirts of the Black Sea resort of Varna, was discovered accidentally when tractor operator Raicho Marinov was cutting a trench to lay an electric cable for a local factory.

He suddenly noticed small squares of shiny yellow metal, bracelets of the same material, green-coloured artefacts, and flakes of flint.

Rushed to the local museum, the objects were soon identified as prehistoric stone tools, corroded copper axes, and, clearly associated with them, golden ornaments. The association was what mattered: the implication was that the gold artefacts were older than any others ever discovered anywhere.

The Varna man burial has some of the world’s oldest gold jewelry.

Museum curator Michail Lazarov and Sofia University professor Georgi Georgiev immediately set about organising a rescue excavation, and the museum’s young archaeologist, Ivan Ivanov, was appointed to lead it.

Ivanov’s team eventually uncovered 281 graves, more than half with grave goods, 18 of them exceptionally rich, and one of them among the richest graves ever excavated.

The date of the cemetery has recently been pushed back to the 5th millennium BC. A radiocarbon determination now gives it as c.4500 BC.

The discoveries

About 200 crouched or, far more commonly, extended inhumations have been uncovered in the two-thirds of the cemetery so far excavated. Both males and females are represented.

The bodies were placed in flat graves formed of shallow pits without mounds. The remaining graves are ‘cenotaph graves’ – where nobody is present but where grave goods have been laid out – or ‘mask graves’, where a life-size ceramic mask has been substituted for an actual body.

Three cenotaph graves, three mask graves, and a number of the inhumations are extremely rich. The total assemblage includes 3,000 gold artefacts weighing over 6kg.

The richest burial is of a man in his mid-40s buried with no less than 990 separate gold objects, including beads, rings, and a variety of decorations for body, clothing, and hair, among them a penis sheath. This man was also buried with copper axes, other copper tools, and a sceptre in the form of a perforated stone axe or mace.

In addition to gold and copper, the exotic materials represented among the grave goods include graphite, spondylus shell, dentalium shell, carnelian, and marble. Ceramic containers were also present in many graves.

The deductions

Varna implies three major developments in the mid-5th millennium BC. First, given the range of exotic material, Varna must have been part of an extensive trading network, allowing some members of this Early Chalcolithic community to become rich and powerful.

Second – presumably because of its role in trade – the Varna community appears to have developed extreme social differentiation at a very early date, judging by the fact that most graves contain no or few grave goods, while a minority are exceptionally rich. The social gap between the many unfurnished inhumations and the Grave 43 man seems huge.

A reconstruction of Grave 43 at Varna.

Third, on the evidence of Grave 43 – by implication that of a warrior, a ruler, and perhaps, given the common character of early chieftainship, some sort of priest-king – the transition from a more matriarchal Neolithic to a more patriarchal Chalcolithic/Bronze Age form of social organisation was well advanced at Varna.

The presence of bull-shaped objects among the goldwork – most of which is otherwise non-representative – coupled with the penis sheath certainly implies a cultural preoccupation with virility and male power.

20-million-year-old fossilised tree discovered by scientists in Greece

20-million-year-old fossilised tree discovered by scientists in Greece

Two Greek scientists on the volcanic island of Lesbos claim they have uncovered a fossilized tree that is about 20 million years old. In the middle of road-work near an ancient forest on the eastern Mediterranean island, a particularly unusual discovery was found. The area was petrified millions of years ago.

In 1995, the site started to be dug up or excavated. Professor Nikos Zouros claimed that it is the first tree in the region to be discovered in such good condition, complete with branches and roots.  He is with the Museum of Natural History of the Petrified Forest of Lesbos.

After 20 million years, the tree’s roots and leaves were still intact. It was a rare discovery, according to Zouros, one he had never seen before.

20-million-year-old fossilised tree discovered by scientists in Greece
A fossilized tree is seen at the Petrified Forest National Park on the island of Lesbos, Greece.

“It is a unique find,” he said. “[It] is preserved in excellent condition. And from studying the fossilized wood we will be able to identify the type of plant it comes from.”

The 15,000-hectare petrified forest of Lesbos is a protected site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO.

The forest is the result of a volcanic eruption 20 million years ago. Lava from the volcano covered the island’s ecosystem, which at that time was a subtropical forest.

The fossilized tree is about 19 meters long. It was preserved by heavy amounts of volcanic ash after it fell. A large number of fruit tree leaves also were found nearby.

The trees and animal bones found in the same general area add to the history and understanding of life that once existed there.

“During the excavations, the various forests that existed between 17 and 20 million years ago on Lesbos are being uncovered,” said Zouros. He and his team plan to rebuild the “ecosystem that existed during that period.”

For further study, he and his team transported the tree from the site using a special support system and metal structure.

A ‘Lamborghini’ Of Chariots Is Discovered At Pompeii. Archaeologists Are Wowed

A ‘Lamborghini’ Of Chariots Is Discovered At Pompeii. Archaeologists Are Wowed

Researchers at Pompeii have confirmed the discovery of an intact ceremonial chariot from a villa near the famed Italian archaeological site, calling it an “exceptional discovery.” The chariot was identified as “an exceptional discovery” that “has no parallel in Italy thus far,” according to the announcement made on Saturday.

A 'Lamborghini' Of Chariots Is Discovered At Pompeii. Archaeologists Are Wowed
A well-preserved chariot discovered in Pompeii has been described as an “extraordinary find” and has iron wheels, bronze and tin decorations and mineralized wood.

Officials also stated that the chariot is kept in remarkable detail, including the four iron wheels, metal armrests and backrests, and a bench mounted on top of the frame that could seat one or two people.

Notably, the chariot is adorned with metal medallions depicting satyrs, nymphs and cupids, suggesting the possibility that it may have been used in marriage ceremonies.

“I was astounded,” said Eric Poehler, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who has a speciality in traffic in ancient Pompeii. “Many of the vehicles I’d written about before … are your standard station wagon or vehicle for taking the kids to soccer. This is a Lamborghini. This is an outright fancy, fancy car.”

Archaeologists worldwide expressed similar excitement Saturday over the announcement. “Still wrapping my head around the latest incredible discovery,” wrote Sophie Hay of the University of Cambridge. “My jaw is on the floor just now!” wrote Jane Draycott of the University of Glasgow.

A single exclamation point did not suffice for historian and writer Rubén Montoya, who wrote in Spanish that Pompeii “does not stop giving us surprises!!!”

The ancient city of Pompeii has been the subject of fascination and archaeological digs for hundreds of years. It was buried in volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago, a disaster that preserved in incredible detail the buildings and ephemera of the city and even the shapes of the bodies of the Romans who once walked the city’s streets.

According to Italian authorities, the chariot survived the eruption and the intervening years because it was stored inside a portico.

The eruption caused the walls and ceiling around it to collapse under the weight of volcanic ash. In recent years, looters had dug tunnels on either side. But “miraculously,” officials say, the chariot was spared.

While previous excavations had yielded everyday vehicles used for travel and work, this ceremonial chariot is the first find of its kind to be discovered, explained Massimo Osanna, the outgoing director of the site.

“It is an extraordinary discovery for the advancement of our knowledge of the ancient world,” Osanna said in a statement.

One of the chariot’s bronze and tin medallions, which depict various erotic scenes featuring satyrs, nymphs and cupids.

Every so often, some new discovery from Pompeii prompts excitement from historians about the glimmer of understanding it reveals about the residents of the ancient world: their fast-food preferences, how their taverns were decorated, their unlucky deaths.

Even among those semi-frequent discoveries, Poehler says, this chariot stands out.

“This is precisely the kind of find that one wants to find at Pompeii, the really well-articulated, very well-preserved moments in time,” he said. “And it happens to be in this case an object that is relatively rare despite its ubiquity in the past.”

Broken toilet leads to the discovery of 2,000 years of history beneath the Italian restaurant

Broken toilet leads to the discovery of 2,000 years of history beneath the Italian restaurant

A blocked toilet in an Italian building has changed the life of its owner who was planning to open a trattoria on the site. Lucian Faggiano was trying to find the offending sewage pipe at the property in Puglia, Italy when he made a fascinating discovery.

Lucian Faggiano’s dream of opening a restaurant was scuppered when a dig to find a blocked sewage point yielded some 2,000 years of hidden history, including vast rooms and pottery (shown in this image that features Mr Faggiano left and his son)

After digging a trench beneath the building he found a network of underground rooms and corridors that housed Roman devotional bottles, ancient vases, hidden frescoes and what are thought to be etchings from the Knights Templar.

Lucian Faggiano bought the building in Lecce, Puglia in the south of Italy and had planned to turn it into a trattoria – but renovations were put on hold when he discovered a toilet on the site was blocked. 

And while attempting to fix the toilet he dug into a Messapian tomb built 2,000 years ago, a Roman granary, a Franciscan chapel, and even etchings thought to be made by the Knights Templar.

In a bid to stop the sewage backing up, Mr Faggiano, 60, and his two sons dug a trench and instead of isolating the offending pipe found underground corridors and rooms beneath the property on 56 Via Ascanio Grandi. 

The search for the pipe began at the turn of the millennium.  

Lecce, at the heel of Italy’s boot’, was once a crossroads in the Mediterranean and an important trading post for the Romans. But the first layers of the city date to the time of Homer, according to local historian Mario De Marco. It is not unusual for religious relics to turn up in fields or in the middle of the city itself, which has a mixture of old architecture

Eight years after it was meant to open as a restaurant, the building has been turned into Museum Faggiano (pictured) and a number of staircases allow visitors to travel down through time to visit the ancient underground chambers discovered by the family
Broken toilet leads to the discovery of 2,000 years of history beneath the Italian restaurant
The search for the pipe (shown in this image of Mr Faggiano and his son) began at the turn of the millennium when no-one could have predicted the treasures hidden beneath the floorboards, which revealed a subterranean world dating back to before the birth of Jesus

For example, a century ago, a Roman amphitheatre was recently found beneath a marble column bearing the statue of Lecce’s patron saint, Orontius in the main square and recently a Roman temple was found under a car park.

‘Whenever you dig a hole, centuries of history come out,’ said Severo Martini, a member of the City Council.  Mr Faggiano asked his sons to help fix the problem with the plumbing so he could accelerate the opening of his restaurant, in a building that looked like it was modernised.

Years of excavations have seen the emergence of Roman devotional bottles, ancient vases and a ring with Christian symbols as well as hidden frescoes and medieval pieces. Here, Mr Faggiano carries a piece of Roman pottery from an underground room

But when they dug down they hit a floor of medieval stone, beneath which was a Messapian tomb, built by people who lived in the area before the birth of Jesus. Legend has it the city was founded by the Messapii, who are said to have been Cretans in Greek records, but then the settlement was called Sybar.

Upon further investigation, the family team also discovered a Roman room that was used to store grain and a basement of a Franciscan convent where nuns were thought to have once prepared the bodies of the dead.

Afraid of costs and the delay in opening the restaurant, Mr Faggiano initially kept his amateur archaeology a secret from his wife, in part perhaps because he was lowering his youngest son, Davide, 12 though small gaps in the floor to aid his work.

But his wife, Anna Maria Sanò suspected the work was more complex than it appeared thanks to the number of dirty clothes she was washing, and because of dirt and debris is taken away. 

Investigators shut down the site, warning Mr Faggiano he was conducting an unofficial archaeological dig.  After a year, work continued but had to be overseen by heritage officials who witnessed the emergence of Roman devotional bottles, ancient vases and a ring with Christian symbols as well as hidden frescoes and medieval pieces.

Retired cultural heritage official, Giovanni Giangreco, who was involved with the excavation, said: ‘The Faggiano house has layers that are representative of almost all of the city’s history, from the Messapians to the Romans, from the medieval to the Byzantine time.’

Afraid of costs and the delay in opening the restaurant, Mr Faggiano initially kept his amateur archaeology a secret from his wife. Here, he sorts through pieces of glass and pottery found in one of the rooms. There are even pieces embedded in the wall

Despite bearing the financial load of the dig, the family became fascinated about the history beneath their building and made ends meet by renting rooms in it. Mr Faggiano admits to becoming obsessed with the project but still wanted to open his restaurant.

He said: ‘At one point, I couldn’t take it anymore I bought cinder blocks and was going to cover it up and pretend it had never happened.’

Eight years after it was meant to open as a restaurant, the incredible building has been turned into Museum Faggiano and a number of staircases allow visitors to travel down through time to visit the ancient underground chambers.

However, Mr Faggiano hasn’t given up on his culinary dream and is planning on opening a restaurant at a less complex location – even though he finally found the troublesome sewage pipe.

New World Dog Bone Fragment Dated to 10,200 Years Ago

New World Dog Bone Fragment Dated to 10,200 Years Ago

According to a Science Magazine report, a 10,200-year-old fragment of dog bone has been identified among thousands of ancient bone pieces discovered in a cave on the west coast of Alaska in 1998. 

The find supports the idea that dogs accompanied the first humans who set foot on these continents—and that both travelled there along the Pacific coast.

“This is a fantastic study,” says archaeologist Loren Davis of Oregon State University, Corvallis, who was not involved in the research. “If the coastal migration theory is correct, we should expect to see exactly the kind of evidence reported in this study.”

A map shows the location where a dog bone dated to be from 10,150 years ago was found.

Researchers once thought humans initially entered the Americas about 12,000 years ago. That’s when thick glaciers that covered much of North America began to melt. This opened a corridor, which allowed people to trek from Siberia across now-submerged land in the Bering Sea, and then into North America on the hunt for mammoth and other big game.

But over the past decade, archaeologists have shown people might have begun to move into North America much earlier. To get around the glaciers, they would have island-hopped by boat and walked along shorelines exposed to low sea levels. They travelled from Siberia through the Alaskan archipelago about 16,000 years ago, eventually making their way down the Pacific coast.

The sliver of dog bone supports this hypothesis. Recovered from among more than 50,000 prehistoric animal and human remains excavated near Wrangel Island, researchers didn’t realize it came from a dog until they analyzed its DNA.

This bone fragment, found in Southeast Alaska, belongs to a dog that lived about 10,150 years ago, a study concludes. Scientists say the remains, a piece of a femur, provide insight into the question of when dogs and humans first entered the Americas, and what route they took to get there.

“We started out thinking this was just another bear bone,” says team leader Charlotte Lindqvist, a biologist at the University at Buffalo (UB). “When we went deeper, we found out it was from a dog.”

The bone is about 10,200 years old, making its owner the oldest dog known in the Americas, the scientists report today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. (The previous record holders were two 10,000-year-old dogs unearthed in the U.S. Midwest.) And the dog’s DNA holds clues to an even earlier time.

The pup’s genome revealed it was closely related to the first known dogs, which researchers think were domesticated in Siberia about 23,000 years ago.

Based on the number of genetic differences between the Alaskan dog and its Siberian ancestors, the team estimates the two populations split 16,700 years ago, plus or minus a few thousand years.

That’s a clue that dogs—and their humans—left Siberia and entered the Americas thousands of years before North America’s glaciers melted.

“Here we have the genetic evidence, if not the physical evidence, [showing] dogs were already in the Americas with humans 16,000 years ago,” says Durham University archaeologist Angela Perri, who was not part of the team.

The dates also line up with DNA-based estimates for when modern Native Americans split off from ancestors in Siberia, providing another line of evidence to pin down when the first migrations happened.

“Understanding how the dogs moved also shows you how the humans moved,” says Flavio Augusto da Silva Coelho, a graduate student at UB who did the DNA and other analyses.

Perri agrees. The study shows dogs are a useful way to track ancient human migrations, especially when human remains are missing or can’t be sampled because of descendant community concerns, she says. Even without human samples, “dogs can tell us some really interesting things” about our history, she says.

For example, chemical isotopes in the dog bone suggest the pooch ate marine animals. Because dogs aren’t much good at fishing, their masters likely gave them scraps of fish, seal, or whale that they themselves hunted. “It’s a strong indication people are feeding dogs,” Perri says. “Everything in this study points to coastally adopted people and their dogs moving into the Americas.”

Possible 10th-Century Buddhist Monastery Site Uncovered in India

Possible 10th-Century Buddhist Monastery Site Uncovered in India

Archaeological Survey of India researchers has discovered a tenth-century structure in one of three mounds identified as possible Buddhist sites on the Hazaribagh Plateau in northeastern India, around 110-km from capital Ranchi, ASI officials said on Tuesday.

The ASI identified three mounds in the foothills having links to Buddhism last year.

The excavation of the first mound last year led to the discovery of a complete shrine with a central and two subsidiary shrines, just two metres below the surface. However, the excavation work was suspended after two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic triggered lockdowns and some other reasons.

In the second round of excavation, beginning the last week of January this year, the second mound, around 40-meters away from the first mound or central shrine, was excavated and a small Buddha Vihar like structure was discovered.

“We started excavation in the second mound of the area in January last week, where a huge structural mound, similar to a small Buddha Vihar, was found with three cells (rooms).

In the west corner of the structure, we found five sculptures of Gautam Buddha in a seated position and one sculpture of Tara, which indicates that it might also be a centre of Vajrayana,” said Dr Neeraj Mishra, an assistant archaeologist at ASI.

The discovery will help understand the impact of Buddhism in Jharkhand.

Spread over a 50-metre long and 50-metre wide area, three cells and hoards of artefacts including statues of Gautam Budha and Tara, the female Bodhisattva in Mahayana Buddhism who appears as a female Buddha in Vajrayana Buddhism, were discovered.

“As per the evidence found here, it appeared that the structures had been built during the Pala period. During the excavation, we found an inscription on a stone slab. The paleographic dating of the inscription suggests that it was of 10th century AD, meaning the Pala period,” said Dr Mishra.

It might have been a big religious centre then, as it is located on the side of the old Grand Trunk road, connecting Sarnath in Uttar Pradesh to Bihar, home to historic Bodh Gaya where Buddha attained salvation, he added.

He recalled that a shrine and two subsidiary shrines, spread over 30 metres long and 50 metres wide area, were discovered last year. “It was a single storey temple. An entry gate and stairs were also found there.”

Historians and archaeologists find the discovery of great importance, which will help understand the history and influence of the dynasty in Jharkhand.

Historian Dr DN Ojha, dean of, social sciences department at Ranchi University, said ancient history talks about the arrival of Buddhist monks in this area and the extension of Buddhism’s reach here.

“However, there was also a debate on this. The recent discovery in Hazaribag would work as big evidence to support the theory of extension of Buddhism and arrival of monks here,” he added.

Lasers removed stains on a fresco in Pompeii’s House of the Ceii

Lasers removed stains on a fresco in Pompeii’s House of the Ceii

One of Pompeii’s most action-packed frescoes has regained some of its colours after lasers removed centuries-old stains and restorers touched up worn paint.

Featuring a lion chasing a bull, wild boar bearing down on deer and a leopard pouncing on sheep, the large fresco adorned the garden wall of the Pompeiian magistrate Lucius Ceius Secundus. Vegetation runs along the foot of the fresco, while the owner’s passion for Egypt is revealed by images on a sidewall of sacred Egyptian buildings and African pygmies hunting hippopotamuses and crocodiles.

The artwork — of hunting scenes — was painted in the so-called ‘Third’ or ‘Ornate’ Pompeii style, which was popular around 20–10 BC and featured vibrant colours.

In 79 AD, however, the house and the rest of the Pompeii was submerged beneath pyroclastic flows of searing gas and volcanic matter from the eruption of Vesuvius. Poor maintenance since the house was dug up in 1913–14 saw the hunting fresco and others deteriorate, particularly at the bottom, which is more vulnerable to humidity.

The main section of the fresco depicts a lion pursuing a bull, a leopard pouncing on sheep and a wild boar charging towards some deer. Frescos commonly adorned the perimeter walls of Pompeiian gardens and were intended to evoke an atmosphere — often one of tranquillity — while also creating the illusion that the area was larger than in reality, much as we use mirrors today.

A stunning fresco in the garden of Pompeii’s Casa dei Ceii (House of the Ceii) has been painstakingly laser-cleaned and touched up with fresh paint by expert restorers

‘What makes this fresco so special is that it is complete — something which is rare for such a large fresco at Pompeii,’ site director Massimo Osanna told The Times.

Alongside the haunting imagery of the now restored fresco, with its wild animals, the sidewalls of the garden featured Egyptian-themed landscapes, with beasts of the Nile delta-like crocodiles and hippopotamuses hunted by African pygmies and a ship shown transporting amphorae.

Experts believe the owner of the townhouse, or ‘domus’, had a connection or fascination with Egypt and potentially also the cult of Isis, that of the wife of the Egyptian god of the afterlife, which was popular in Pompeii in its final years.

In fact, the residence has been associated with one Lucius Ceius Secundus, a magistrate — based on an electoral inscription found on the building’s exterior — and it is after him that it takes its name, ‘Casa dei Ceii’.

The property, which stood for some two centuries before the eruption, is one of the rare examples of a Domus in the somewhat severe style of the late Samnite period of the second century BC.

The house’s front façade sports an imitation ‘opus quadratum’ (cut stone block) design in white stucco and a high entranceway set between two rectangular pilasters capped with cube-shaped capitals. 

Casa dei Ceii’s footprint covered some 3,100 square feet (288 sq. m) and contained an unusual tetrastyle (four-pillared) atrium and a rainwater-collecting impluvium basin in a Grecian style, one rare for Pompeii, lined with cut amphora fragments.

Lasers removed stains on a fresco in Pompeii's House of the Ceii
The artwork — of hunting scenes — was painted in the so-called ‘Third’ or ‘Ornate’ Pompeii style, which was popular around 20–10 BC and featured vibrant colours, as pictured
The property, which stood for some two centuries before the eruption, is one of the rare examples of a domus in the somewhat severe style of the late Samnite period of the second century BC. The house’s front façade sports an imitation ‘opus quadratum’ (cut stone block) design in white stucco and a high entranceway set between two rectangular pilasters capped with cube-shaped capitals, as pictured

Other rooms found inside the property included a triclinium, where lunch would have been taken, two storage rooms, a tablinum which the master of the house would have used as an office and reception room and a kitchen with a latrine.

An upper floor, which partially collapsed during the eruption, would have been used by the household servants and appeared to be in the process of being renovated or constructed at the time of the catastrophe.

The garden on whose back wall was adorned by the hunting fresco, meanwhile, featured a canal and two fountains, one of a nymph and the other a sphynx.

During the excavation of the townhouse, archaeologists found the skeleton of a turtle preserved in the garden. The recent restoration work saw the paint film of much of the fresco — particularly a section featuring botanical decoration — carefully cleaned with a special laser.

The recent restoration work saw the paint film of much of the fresco — particularly a section featuring botanical decoration — carefully cleaned with a special laser. Experts also carefully retouched the paint in areas of the fresco that had been abraded over time, as well as instigating protective measures to help prevent the future infiltration of rainwater
‘What makes this fresco so special is that it is complete — something which is rare for such a large fresco at Pompeii,’ site director Massimo Osanna told The Times

Experts also carefully retouched the paint in areas of the fresco that had been abraded over time,  protective measures have also been taken to help prevent the future infiltration of rainwater that could damage the artwork.

Experts believe the owner of the town house, or ‘domus’, had a connection or fascination with Egypt and perhaps the cult of Isis, that of the wife of the Egyptian god of the afterlife, which was popular in Pompeii in its final years. Pictured: the bull on the bottom right of the fresco.
Casa dei Ceii’s footprint covered some 3,100 square feet (288 sq. m) and contained an unusual tetrastyle (four-pillared) atrium and a rainwater-collecting impluvium basin in a Grecian style, one rare for Pompeii, lined with cut amphora fragments

Venetian Blue Beads Found in Alaska Predate Arrival of Columbus

Venetian Blue Beads Found in Alaska Predate Arrival of Columbus

Tiny glass beads from Venice made their way to Alaska decades before Christopher Columbus‘ arrival in the New World. The beads, the colour and size of blueberries, were uncovered in a house pit in Punyik Point, a seasonal Inuit camp near the Continental Divide in Alaska’s Brooks Range.

Archaeologists determined the objects were created between 1440 and 1480 following a radiocarbon-dating of twine that held the jewellery.

Researchers from the University of Alaska suggest the beads were among trinkets that passed hands through various trade routes — starting in Europe, then along the Silk Road to China, through Siberia and finally to the Bering Strait.  According to the study, the new discovery resets the clock on when traded began between Europe and North America.

Venetian Blue Beads Found in Alaska Predate Arrival of Columbus
Glass beads made in Venice and found in Alaska by archaeologists. The findings were published in a January 2021 paper called “A Precolumbian Presence of Venetian Glass Trade Beads in Arctic Alaska,” by Michael Kunz and Robin Mills.

Mike Kunz, an archaeologist with the university’s Museum of the North in Fairbanks, discovered a total of 10 beads in three locations in the Brooks Range: Punyik Point, Kinyiksugvik and Lake Kaiyak House.

Kunz theorizes the baubles were just small piece of a number of trinkets that made their way various trade routes that began in Europe, then along the Silk Road to China, through Siberia and finally across the Bering Strait.

They were then presumably brought across the frigid Arctic Ocean to Alaska by kayak.  Punyik Point was a popular stopping point for traders, Kunz says, because of the many caribou in the area. 

Archaeologists in Arctic Alaska have found blue beads (top left) from Europe, possibly Venice, that might predate Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the New World.

‘And, if for some reason the caribou didn’t migrate through where you were, [it also] had excellent lake trout and large shrub-willow patches,’ he added. University of Wisconsin archaeologist William Irving found several turquoise beads at Punyik Point in the 1950s and 1960s.

But Irving had no way to know when they were deposited.

Flash forward to 2004, when Kunz and Bureau of Land Management archaeologist Robin Mills returned to the ancient campsite. They found three more beads there, along with copper bangles, metal loops that could have been earrings and other metal pieces that could have been part of a necklace or bracelet.

Artefacts found at Indigenous Alaskan sites include glass blue beads, copper bracelets and bangles, and iron pendants.

Wrapped around one of the bangles was a twine that had survived centuries of burial just a few inches below the surface. Because the twine is made of plant fibres — probably the inner bark of shrub willow, the scientists surmised— it meant they finally had an organic matter to conduct radiocarbon dating on using Accelerator mass spectrometry.

‘We almost fell over backwards,’ Kunz said in a release. ‘It came back saying [the plant was alive at] some time during the 1400s. It was like, Wow!’

With that information, along with radiocarbon dating of charcoal found nearby, they surmised the glass beads at all three locales arrived at some point between 1440 and 1480.

‘The beads challenge the currently accepted chronology for the development of their production methodology, availability, and presence in the Americas,’ the researchers wrote in a new paper in the journal American Antiquity.

‘This is the first documented instance of the presence of indubitable European materials in prehistoric sites in the Western Hemisphere as the result of overland transport across the Eurasian continent.’ 

According to Kunz and Mills, the beads probably made landfall at Shashalik, an ancient trading post north of modern-day Kotzebue, and then were transported further inland.

The archaeologists theorize they were part of a necklace or other piece of jewellery.  The item’s location, at the entrance to an underground house, suggests it was dropped or discarded rather than intentionally buried.

Venice has been known as a glassmaking mecca for over 1,500 years, with the island of Murano the centre of production since at least the 13th century.

Columbus’ ships landed in the Bahamas in October 1492, before venturing on to Cuba and Haiti, where he started the first European settlement in the Americas since the Norse some 500 years earlier. 

After briefly returning to Spain, Columbus made three more voyages to the New World between 1493 and 1502, exploring the Lesser Antilles, Trinidad, Puerto Rico and the northern coast of South America. 

The bead variety, commonly known as ‘Early Blue’ and ‘Ichtucknee Plain,’ has been found throughout the Caribbean, the east coasts of Central and North America, and the eastern Great Lakes region, but only after Columbus’ arrival, generally between 1550 and 1750.