All posts by Archaeology World Team

EUROPE, IRELAND, WORLD

Traces of 18th-Century Roman Catholic Church Found in Dublin

Traces of 18th-Century Roman Catholic Church Found in Dublin

On the grounds of Apollo House, the remains of a massive Catholic church built over 300 years ago in the heart of Dublin have been discovered.

Traces of 18th-Century Roman Catholic Church Found in Dublin
Archaeological works ongoing on Monday at the site where Apollo House previously stood, on the junction of Tara Street and Poolbeg Street in Dublin city center.

The Tara Street office block that was demolished last year was the location of a famous homeless activist sit-in during Christmas 2016.

The Ministry of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht have granted a license for the planning conditions for the reconstruction of the site. Marlet, the developer, was mandated to hire archaeologists to carry out excavations and document their findings.

Sleeping rough in Dublin in September 2016, at a corner of Apollo House.
Apollo House (at right), in Dublin city center, which has been demolished. The Screen cinema (lower building at left) is also gone amid a major regeneration at the site.
Homelessness activists at Apollo House in January 2017 as a court action was taking place regarding the occupation of the building, for the purpose of providing housing

The traces of the history of the site were now found in a massive archeological dig. The first ruins to be uncovered were the thick stone walls of a national school which was still standing in the shadow of the office block as late as the mid-1980s.

Covert church

But what lay underneath the old schoolhouse proved to be of more interest to archaeologists – the ruins of a considerably older structure which once served as a covert church for Catholics living in the south inner city.

The ruins, dating back to the turn of the 18th century, were unearthed in recent weeks by archaeologists led by Franc Myles of the historical buildings consultancy firm Archaeology and Built Heritage.

Illustration: Dernard de Gomme, The city and suburbs of Dublin, of 1673.
John Rocque, An Exact Survey of the City and Suburbs of Dublin, of 1756. The current site being developed is marked in red, with the church marked clearly within.

A church was first built on the site in 1709 in Penal times when the practice of Catholicism was banned. In spite of the religious restrictions, the chapel flourished and attracted thousands of worshippers.

“There was probably a building used as a chapel from the foundation of St Andrew’s parish in 1709 and it is depicted on John Rocque’s map [of Dublin] of 1756,” the archaeological report prepared for the developers says.

By 1811, the parish had grown and “it was decided that the chapel would have to be reconstructed”, the report says. The inscribed foundation stone for the new chapel was laid on April 23rd, 1814, by then parish priest Dr. Daniel Murray, who went on to serve as the Archbishop of Dublin from 1823 to 1852.

Work on a new structure duly started, and by 1831 considerable progress had been made. However, progress stalled when there was a split in the ranks of the faithful.

A newly appointed priest of St Andrew’s Parish found “a more desirable site for a new church was available on wasteland at a more central location in the parish on Westland Row”.

Work at the Tara Street church, which features prominently on the earliest ordnance survey maps of Dublin, was halted. The building was subsequently deconsecrated.

Recorded monument

“We have to dig here very carefully because the church is a recorded monument,” Mr. Myles told The Irish Times.

He noted that although it was a large structure and served many thousands of the Catholic faithful for more than a century, there was no graveyard attached to the church, which means the chances of skeletons being uncovered are remote.

Ordnance Survey, Dublin city, sheets 14 and 21, 1847. Current site development marked in red.

The dig is likely to the run-up to Christmas.

Such excavations are either preserved in situ or preserved in the record. Once the Tara Street ruins have been fully explored and the details recorded, they are likely to make way for the new office complex.

Mr. Myles said that when his team started digging on the site, they were expecting to find an original quay wall and timber structures dating back to the 1670s.

But nothing of that nature was uncovered, leading Mr. Myles to suggest that when Apollo House was being constructed in the late 1960s, most of the structures of archaeological importance “were basically demolished”.

He said evidence of the quays is “probably still under Mulligan’s Pub” on Poolbeg Street.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Mysterious Mummy Girl Died Nearly 100 Years Ago Blinks Her Eyes In Her Coffin — Remains a Mystery

Mysterious Mummy Girl Died Nearly 100 Years Ago Blinks Her Eyes In Her Coffin — Remains a Mystery

Rosalia Lombardo did not only make of a secret formula one of Earth’s most well-preserved mummies but many even swear she can open her eyes.

A young girl lies in an open casket in the middle of a deep Sicilian catacomb. She was nicknamed Lombardo Rosalia and died in 1920 when she was tragically died at a young age due to complications from pneumonia.

The embalmer Alfredo Salafia then mummatized Rosalia Lombardo so perfectly that one century later the inner organs were still intact. Her father was so distressed that he sought the help of an embalmer to preserve his kid.

Indeed, it is difficult to gaze upon the tiny body in the glass coffin and not believe that she will awaken at any moment. Her skin is still smooth and porcelain and her golden hair are neatly tied back with a large, silk bow. And most hauntingly, her crystal blue irises are visible underneath her blonde eyelashes.

The gaze of Rosalia Lombardo is what has fueled Sicilian lore for the past hundred years. She is among one of 8,000 mummies in the catacombs underneath the Capuchin convent in Palermo, Sicily and of the thousands of visitors that flock to see the blonde-haired girl, many reports witnessing her eyes slowly open.

In fact, a popular composite of several time-lapse photographs appeared to reveal Lombardo opening her eyes by a fraction of an inch:

While this set the internet ablaze with tales of the mummy who could open her eyes, in 2009, Italian biological anthropologist Dario Piombino-Mascali debunked the central myth surrounding Rosalia Lombardo.

“It’s an optical illusion produced by the light that filters through the side windows, which during the day is subject to change,” he revealed in a statement.

Piombino-Mascali made this discovery when he noticed that the mummy’s case had been moved by workers at the museum, which caused her to shift slightly, allowing him to see her eyelids better than ever before.

“They are not completely closed, and indeed they have never been,” he said. So, when the light changes and hits her eyes at different angles, it can appear as though the eyes are opening.

Furthermore, Piombino-Mascali also managed to discover the elusive formula that was used for Lombardo’s impeccable preservation. When Salafia passed in 1933, he took the secret formula to the grave.

Piombino-Mascali tracked down the embalmer’s living relatives and uncovered a trove of his papers. Among the documents, he stumbled upon a handwritten memoir in which Salafia recorded the chemicals he injected into Rosalia’s body: formalin, zinc salts, alcohol, salicylic acid, and glycerin.

Formalin, now widely used by embalmers, is a mixture of formaldehyde and water that eliminates bacteria. Salafia was among one of the first to utilize this chemical for embalming bodies.

Alcohol, along with the arid climate in the catacombs, dried Lombardo’s body. Glycerin kept her body from drying out too much and salicylic acid prevented the growth of fungi.

But it was the zinc salts, according to Melissa Johnson Williams, executive director of the American Society of Embalmers, that was the key element in retaining her remarkable state of preservation. Zinc, a chemical no longer used by embalmers, petrified her small body.

“Zinc gave her rigidity,” Williams said. “You could take her out of the casket prop her up, and she would stand by herself.” The embalming procedure itself was very simple, consisting of a single point injection without any drainage or cavity treatment.

Additionally, Rosalia Lombardo is now housed in a new glass case. “It was designed to block any bacteria or fungi. Thanks to a special film, it also protects the body from the effects of light,” Piombino-Mascali said.

Now, Piombino-Mascali hopes, tourists will stop fabricating “totally unfounded stories” about the child mummy.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Stunning Face Hidden for Thousands of Years: Wooden Sarcophagus Is Unearthed at Egyptian Necropolis

Stunning Face Hidden for Thousands of Years: Wooden Sarcophagus Is Unearthed at Egyptian Necropolis

A wooden sarcophagus found at an undisclosed location in Egypt. This object has been found by Spanish archaeologists from Jaen’s University at the Qubbet el-Hawa necropolis in Aswan, Egypt.

The team, who have been working in Egypt for a month, has also found a tomb dating back to the year 1830 BC and some twenty mummies in it.

The works are part of an archaeological campaign lead by Spanish professor Alejandro Jimenez Serrano and seventeen experts from two Spanish universities and a British university based in London work at the archaeological campaign.

Encased in soil, this extraordinarily delicate face emerges into the sun for the first time in thousands of years. The wooden sarcophagus was unearthed by archaeologists at the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa in Aswan, Egypt.

Believed to contain the body of a person of some rank, it boasts extraordinarily delicate features, well-preserved by the sands of time.

The wooden sarcophagus was found at the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa in Aswan, Egypt
The wooden sarcophagus was found at the necropolis of Qubbet el-Hawa in Aswan, Egypt

Since starting a fresh excavation, they have also discovered 20 mummies and uncovered a tomb dating from around 1830BC.

He said that his team came from a number of different disciplines which allowed a broad focus.

It had also allowed them ‘to develop new techniques such as RTI or scanning in 3D which helps read hieroglyphic texts with greater accuracy,’ he added.

The team had already found two smaller tombs in earlier digs.

Qubbet el-Hawa necropolis was in use from 2250BC and provided the last resting place for some of the country’s most important officials.

A string of 40 tombs cut into a rocky cliff face, the burial ground also forms one of the best vantage points of the city of Aswan.

EUROPE, WORLD

Early Viking-era Brooch Uncovered in Estonia

Early Viking-era Brooch Uncovered in Estonia

One of two such items found in Estonia is a fully preserved early Brooch from the Viking era located in North-East Estonia this spring.

The bronze-box brooch was found in a village located in Ida-Viru, Varja. It’s thought to have been a woman born on Gotland, who moved into Estonian territory later in her life.

The archeologist Mauri Kiudsoo, keeper of the Tallinn University archeological investigation collection (TLÜ) told BNS that the brooch found at Varja was cast as a single piece.

Archaeological site.

Kiudsoo said that the decorative item has been completely preserved with only slight damage to the surface probably due to the cultivation of land, The pin, which was apparently made of steel, is also missing.

He added that the technical execution of the brooch is indicative of the earlier Viking era.

According to Indrek Jets, a researcher familiar with the period’s ornament styles, the animal ornament on the brooch represents the so-called Broa style, allowing for it to be dated to the end of the 8th or the 9th century.

The brooch was found on the fringes of a former wetland, where a lone farmstead was likely located during the Viking era.

Kiudsoo explained that the village of Varja is situated in the northeastern part of the ancient parish of Askälä and that this region on Estonia’s northern coast, between Purtse River and the present-day city of Kohtla-Järve, stands out for its exceptionally rich archaeological find material. The Eastern Route, an important Viking-era trade route, ran along Estonia’s northern coast.

The archaeologist said that he believes that the brooch found at Varja belonged to a woman born on the island of Gotland, who took up residence in the Viru region of Estonia later in her life.

Supporting this hypothesis is the fact that similar decorative items were in widespread use in Gotland during the Viking era, but are not common elsewhere.

Kiudsoo said that hundreds of box-shaped brooches like the one recently found in Estonia have been found in Gotland.

Unlike items belonging to warriors, women’s decorative items of Scandinavian origin are rarely found in Estonia.

The only box-shaped brooch found here to date, which was found in Kasari in Western Estonia, has yet to be handed over to the Heritage Board. Unlike the item found in Varja, this brooch can be dated to the later period of the Viking era.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Rare Lion Cub Mummies Revealed in The Latest Treasure Haul at Egypt’s Saqqara

Rare Lion Cub Mummies Revealed in The Latest Treasure Haul at Egypt’s Saqqara

The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities today announced two mummified lions, dating from approximately 2,600 years, in a tomb full of cat statues and cat mummies at Saqqara, at a press conference.

This cat statue, along with many others, was discovered in a tomb discovered at Saqqara in Egypt.

Mostafa Waziri, General Secretary of the Supreme Council of Egypt, said that “this is the first time that a lion or lion cube’s complete mummy is being found” in Egypt. who led the team that made the discovery. 

The analysis is ongoing, but it appears the Lions are fairly small — about 3 feet (just under 1 meter) in length, — Waziri said, suggesting that they were not fully grown when they died.

Three other mummies that belong to large cats (the exact species is unclear) were found near the two lions. These three other mummies could belong to leopards, cheetahs or other forms of the big cat. About 20 mummies of smaller cats were also found near the lion cubs. 

About 100 statues and statuettes were found near the burials, many of which depict cats. The cat statues are made of stone, wood or metal (such as bronze), and “most of them well painted, well decorated and some were inlaid with gold,” Waziri said. 

About 100 statues, many of cats, were found in the tomb. They are made of wood, metal or stone. A few are gilded with gold.
Several small cat mummies were found in the tomb.
Three large cat mummies and some small mummies can be seen at the archaeological site at Saqqara. It’s not clear if the lion mummies are shown in this photo.

A small ebony statue of the goddess Neith was also found within the tomb, a discovery that helped archaeologists determine the tomb’s date, said Khaled al-Anani, Egypt’s Minister of Antiquities.

Neith was a goddess of the city of Sais, which was the capital of Egypt during the 26th dynasty (around 2,600 years ago), Anani said. 

A massive scarab-shaped artifact that appears to be more than a foot (30 centimeters) in diameter was also found in the tomb.

Scarab-shaped artifacts are frequently found in Egypt and were used as seals, amulets and jewelry. This particular scarab artifact might be the largest example ever found in Egypt, the archaeologists said. 

Catty location

The area of Saqqara where the tomb was discovered seems to be a cat hot spot, so to speak. Previous archaeological digs in the area have uncovered the remains of cat mummies and cat statues, and in 2004 a French team found the partial remains of a lion skeleton.

It seems that around 2,600 years ago, the area was a place of commemoration for the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet and her son the lion god Miysis, Anani said. 

While cats dominate this part of Saqqara, they do not rule exclusively, as previous archaeological excavations in the area have found mummies of other animals such as birds, Waziri said. 

In other parts of Saqqara, many other types of archaeological remains can be found, including Egypt’s first pyramid, a step pyramid built by Djoser, a pharaoh who ruled more than 4,600 years ago. It is the oldest pyramid constructed in Egypt.

Recently, several other interesting archaeological discoveries have been made at Saqqara, including a 2,000-year-old catacomb containing the burial of a “worthy” woman named “Demetria.” Recent discoveries also include a 2,500-year-old silver face mask gilded with gold and a 4,400-year-old tomb built for a “divine inspector” named “Wahtye.”

ASIA, WORLD

New archaeological site discovered in Oman

Iron Age Tombs Discovered in Oman

In Oman’s Al Sharqiyah Governorate archaeologists found an Iron Age settlement and 45 tombs.

In collaboration with Germany’s Heidelberg University, the Oman Ministry of Heritage and Culture founded a project to study the Iron Age settlements in North Al Sharqiyah. The ministry has said that the tombs are “very well maintained” and cover an area of 50-80 square metre area.

These tombstones are about 700 meters from a settlement that the team believes to have been the home of people who worked in copper mining since the early Iron Age.

A new archaeological site containing a burial consisting of 45 tombs and a settlement dating back to the beginning of the Iron Age has been discovered in North Al Sharqiyah

Copper mining was thought to take place during the Iron Age and continued until the early Islamic era.

“It is the most preserved sites of its components, where stone buildings and tombs resembling huts are retained by nature for more than 3,000 years, and reflect the method of burial,” the Ministry of Heritage and Culture said.

“It features the social status of the deceased through the length of the tomb and archaeological artefacts buried with him.”

Al Sharqiyah site is one of many archaeological finds discovered in Oman over the past decade. Many were discovered by a team from the archaeology department at Sultan Qaboos University, which works with the Ministry of Heritage and Culture to find, protect and preserve sites of interest.

Oman’s ancient sites have also been recognised by the UN. In 1988, Bat, Al Khutm and Al Ayn were certified as World Heritage Sites.

The three ancient settlements in Al Dhahira Governorate of north-west Oman are the most complete of their kind from the Iron Age.

In January 2018, the largest trove of Iron Age weapons in the region was discovered at Mudhmar East. It contained more than 3,000 arrows, daggers and axes.

ASIA, JORDAN, WORLD

Possible 1,300-Year-Old Chess Piece from Jordan Identified

Possible 1,300-Year-Old Chess Piece from Jordan Identified

The oldest piece of chess ever discovered was a carved rock found in 1991 by a Canadian scientist and archeologist.

In an abstract published in October, the University of Victoria professor John Oleson announced that a piece of carved sandstone that was found in southern Jordan at Humayma may be an ancient rook — a castle-shaped piece in the game.

The roughly 1,300-year-old stone is squat and rectangular, with “horn-like projections”.

A small, rectangular stone (right), previously excavated at the Jordanian site of Humayma (shown at left), maybe the oldest known chess piece, a rook dating to around 1,300 years ago.

Although Oleson mentions it does resemble other artifacts, such as a Nabataean butyl, which is an altar made out of a block of stone to evoke the gods of the ancient Arab nation, when he compared the rock carving to other early chess pieces, the parallels were “far more convincing.”

According to Oleson, the object has the same abstract shape that other early Islamic chess pieces had.

References to chess-playing can be found in Islamic texts as early as the seventh century AD, Oleson said, and the game was “very popular.”

The piece Oleson found is “nearly identical” to abstract rook pieces dating from later centuries that were found near or in Jordan.

“Since the Humayma object was found in a seventh-century context, if the identification as a chess piece is correct, it would be the earliest known physical example for the simplified, abstract design,” said Oleson, “and possibly the earliest known example of a chess piece altogether.”

The history of chess dates back around 1,500 years and is thought to have originated in India, although the names and rules have changed several times over the centuries.

Oleson theorized that the spread of chess occurred westward from India along merchant and diplomat routes and that it is “no surprise that early evidence for it should be found at a site on the busy Via Nova Traiana,” which is a Roman road that served as an important trading route.

A significant chunk of Oleson’s work has taken place in or around the Humayma site.

Between 1991 and 2000, he and his team excavated the settlement center over the course of seven field sessions.

In the process, they excavated two farmhouses, a Roman fort, four Byzantine churches, and “a Nabataean campground and three Nabataean and Late Roman houses.”

ENGLAND, TURKEY, WORLD

Perched Over 2,000-Year-Old Roman Mosaics and Ruins, This Hotel Takes a Bold Approach to Historic Preservation

Amazing World’s Largest Mosaic Piece Made By 13 Different Ancient Civilizations discovered At Museum Hotel Antakya in Turkey.

Normally, modern architecture and archaeology do not go hand in hand. Nevertheless, the two mixed in an unprecedented way when ancient ruins were found beneath what was to become Turkey’s Antakya Museum Hotel.

The Venture started when Turkish entrepreneur Necmi Asfuroğlu set about constructing a luxurious hotel in downtown Antioch on nearly 200,000 square feet of land.

His south-eastern land is rooted in history and is located close to St. Peter’s church, the iconic pilgrimage site.

As his team started digging for a cellar, a number of archeological remains were discovered below the site dating back to the 3rd century B.C. and included traces from 13 different civilizations.

 Asfuroğlu still wanted to build his hotel but could not compromise the ruins he had discovered, so he brought in Emre Arolat Architecture (EAA) and the firm’s New York director, Özge Ertoptamış.

Through the glass reveals in the hotel lobby, visitors can glimpse rubbled walls and an ancient streambed in addition to the mosaics.
Through the glass reveals in the hotel lobby, visitors can glimpse rubbled walls and an ancient streambed in addition to the mosaics.

“We were excited by the opportunity to do something that has never been done before,” said Ertoptamış. “But we also had our doubts whether something could actually be done around the exquisite findings.” 

Site after the archaeological excavation

EAA’s outlook changed when the firm discovered an area within the site where there were no ruins. That’s because it was the former location of the Parmenius Creek riverbed.

“That is the point where we had the idea, that we could build something, not in it, but above it, by supporting the structure on minimal points where there are no ruins,” said Ertoptamış.

EAA now had a plan to marry two different typologies — a public museum where archaeological preservation could continue and a private hotel. 

Ertoptamış explained, however, the design was constantly evolving and took about three years. She told BBC about an incredible discovery when they were digging for a well, which forced her team to rework their calculations.

The excavations site

“There are 66 columns that the building is rising on, and each point is calculated to be on a spot with no ruins, and there are wells to support each of the 66 pillars that are dug underground by hand,” said Ertoptamış.

“At one point, however, there was a discovery of a great mosaic in a location where we were going to place a column.”

The mosaic they found dates all the way back to the second century A.D. and includes exquisite panels with a myriad of mythological figures.

Well and discovery of the mosaic.

“We had to redo all of our calculations and find a new place for the pillar, but it was worth it because it is one of the most exquisite pieces in the collection,” said Ertoptamış.

Ertoptamış explained that while her team ran into challenges, the project and history inspired her.

“The building is a product of today, a product of the present, but within it, you are always living together with history in an unprecedented way, and that is the most challenging and rewarding part of this project,” said Ertoptamış.

Mosaic discovered during well-digging.