All posts by Archaeology World Team

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Giant handaxe discovered at Ice Age site in Kent, UK

Giant handaxe discovered at Ice Age site in Kent, UK

Researchers in Kent in southeastern England have discovered a prehistoric handaxe so big it would have been almost impossible to wield as a cutting tool. The handaxe is the third largest ever found in Britain.

Excavations also uncovered artifacts preserved in deep Ice Age sediments on a hillside above the Medway Valley. A total of 800 artifacts were discovered, thought to be more than 300,000 years old and buried in material that filled a sinkhole and an ancient river channel.

The researchers, from UCL Archaeology South-East,  unearthed several handaxes, and two of them were giants of a form known as a ficron, characterized by a rounded thick base tapering to a long, finely-worked tip.

One is 22 cm (nine inches) long but missing its tip. The other is 29.5 cm (11.6 inches) long and intact. It is 11.3 cm (4.4 inches) wide at its widest point.

Letty Ingrey, of UCL Institute of Archaeology, said: “We describe these tools as giants when they are over 22cm long, and we have two in this size range.

Giant handaxe discovered at Ice Age site in Kent, UK
Some of the artifacts were discovered by archaeologists in Kent.

“The biggest, a colossal 29.5cm in length, is one of the longest ever found in Britain.

These hand axes are so big it’s difficult to imagine how they could have been easily held and used. While right now, we aren’t sure why such large tools were being made, or which species of early humans were making them, this site offers a chance to answer these exciting questions.”

The site is thought to date to a period in the early prehistory of Britain when Neanderthal people and their cultures were beginning to emerge and may even have shared the landscape with other early human species.

While archaeological finds of this age, including another spectacular ‘giant’ handaxe, have previously been discovered in the Medway Valley, this is the first time they have been discovered as part of a large-scale excavation, providing new insights into the lives of their makers.

Amongst the unearthed artifacts were two extremely large flint knives described as “giant handaxes”. Handaxes are stone artifacts that have been chipped, or “knapped,” on both sides to produce a symmetrical shape with a long cutting edge.

Photo: UCL Institute of Archaeology

Dr Matt Pope (UCL Institute of Archaeology), said: “The excavations at the Maritime Academy have given us an incredibly valuable opportunity to study how an entire Ice Age landscape developed over a quarter of a million years ago.

A programme of scientific analysis, involving specialists from UCL and other UK institutions, will now help us to understand why the site was important to ancient people and how the stone artifacts, including the ‘giant handaxes’ helped them adapt to the challenges of the Ice Age environments.”

The research team is now working on identifying and studying the recovered artifacts to better understand who created them and what they were used for.

EUROPE, ROMANIA, WORLD

Wolf skull atop 1,800-year-old grave was left by a robber who feared revenge, experts say

Wolf skull atop 1,800-year-old grave was left by a robber who feared revenge, experts say

The range of the studied burial mound in Cheia, Dobrogea.

A wolf skull was supposed to protect robbers from the revenge of the spirit of the deceased buried in a great mound 2,000 years ago. Archaeologists came across this unusual find in the town of Cheia, Romania – in a robber’s dig from ancient times.

The mound is now almost invisible to the naked eye because it is located in a cultivated field and has been ploughed up. The latest geophysical research shows that its diameter could be up to 75 m. The tomb is located in the village of Cheia in the central part of Dobrogea in south-eastern Romania. This region has been the target of the Romanian-Polish expedition since 2008.

Exploration of the interior of the barrow.

Archaeologists have found two graves. The first one, located in the centre of the mound, was looted in antiquity.

‘The closing of the robber’s dig was interesting and unusual. A few stones were placed there, with a wolf skull on top of them. It was probably a magical ritual aimed at closing the looted space to prevent the robbed spirit from exiting and taking revenge,’ says Poland’s research leader Dr. Bartłomiej Szymon Szmoniewski from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. 

The head of research on the Romanian side is Dr. Valentina Voinea from the Muzeul de Istorie Națională și Arheologie in Constanța.

Wolf skull atop 1,800-year-old grave was left by a robber who feared revenge, experts say
Wolf skull, partially cleaned.

The robbers did not steal everything from the grave. In the robber’s dig, the archaeologists found a fragment of a clay oil lamp, broken during the robbery. Its other part of which was in the grave pit.

According to Dr. Szmoniewski, in the grave pit itself, there are partially burnt parts of a wooden structure, which was joined with nails and decorated with bronze fittings.

Parts of the wooden structure from the crematory grave (M1).

‘It was probably a wooden box that contained the body of the deceased and grave goods. It was burned on the spot, as evidenced by the strong burn of the walls and the bottom of the pit. Then, the pit was covered with wooden boards and filled in. Barrows with very similar cremation burials were discovered in Hârșova, known in the Roman period as Carsium, on the lower Danube,’ Szmoniewski says.

There is not much left of the skeleton, because the deceased was cremated during the funeral; only burnt human bones have been preserved.

The researchers also found a large number of burnt walnut seeds preserved whole and as shells, parts of pine cones and other plant remains.

Burnt walnut seed from the crematory grave (M1).

‘The presence of burnt walnut seeds in the burial is an interesting custom known from crematory graves from the early Roman period. In the sepulchral context, walnuts are interpreted as a kind of grave gift – special food for the soul. In the Casimcea river valley in Dobrogea, where we are conducting research, this is the first find of this kind,’ Szmoniewski says. 

This was not the only grave discovered in the barrow. The other one was located at a distance from the centre of the barrow. Archaeologists found a skeleton in it, placed in a wooden structure, probably a coffin, the remains of which were found both above and below the skeleton. 

According to Dr. Szmoniewski, the deceased had a glass unguentarium placed on the stomach – a kind of container for liquid fragrances and toilet perfumes, and in the mouth, there was a bronze coin (an assarius) from the reign of Emperor Hadrian, minted in 125-127 CE.

‘The coin in the mouth of the buried refers to the ancient custom of Charon’s obol, when a coin inserted into the mouth was to be used as payment to Charon for transporting the soul of the deceased across the River Styx in Hades,’ Szmoniewski says. 

Skeletal grave (M2).

Both graves date from the mid-2nd century CE. This is an important discovery for scientists because barrows have not been discovered in this region until now.

‘The unusual wolf skull found at the exit of the robber’s dig in one of the graves may indicate that the robbery was committed by the Dacians – a people who had lived in this area before the arrival of the Greeks and Romans,’ says Dr. Szmoniewski. ‘In turn, the deceased buried in the two graves were probably Romans who came to this area during the Roman colonisation.’

Crematory grave (M1).

The graves were discovered in 2022. Archaeologists plan to continue the research this year. The season will start in August. (PAP)

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

22 ancient tombs were discovered in Central China’s Henan

22 ancient tombs were discovered in Central China’s Henan

A cluster of 22 ancient tombs spanning nearly 1,600 years have recently been found in Central China’s Henan province.

22 ancient tombs discovered in Central China's Henan
Aerial photo of a cluster of 22 ancient tombs spanning nearly 1,600 years in Central China’s Henan province.

Specifically, two tombs dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), 12 built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and eight others from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties were discovered on a hill in Laozhuangshi Village of Weishi County in Kaifeng city, the then-capital city during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).

The Song tombs, mainly made of brick-chamber structures with stairways, are believed to belong to a family.

Archaeologists have found delicate decorations inside, as the chamber walls were adorned with colorful murals themed on flowers, birds, mythical creatures, furniture, weapons, and more.

Doors and windows crafted in imitation wood structures were also discovered inside the chambers.

“Among the discoveries were chairs, tables with tableware as well as wine or teapots placed atop, alongside other items such as scissors, flat irons, clothes racks, and wardrobes,” said Chang Hongjie, who works with the provincial cultural relics and archaeology institute.

Chang added that the interior setting vividly provides a glimpse into the daily life of the tomb owners, offering valuable insights into the social life and burial customs during the Song Dynasty.

The interior decoration and exterior design of the tomb chambers replicate the residential houses and yards in reality, which helps to understand the life scenarios in Kaifeng during the Song Dynasty, according to the researchers.

Uncategorized

Silver medal featuring winged Medusa discovered at Roman fort near Hadrian’s Wall

Silver medal featuring winged Medusa discovered at Roman fort near Hadrian’s Wall

Silver medal featuring winged Medusa discovered at Roman fort near Hadrian's Wall
The Roman phalera, or military medal, features Medusa with two wings atop her head.

A nearly 1,800-year-old silver military medal featuring the snake-covered head of Medusa has been unearthed in what was once the northern edge of the Roman Empire.

Excavators discovered the winged gorgon on June 6 at the English archaeological site of Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort that was built in the late first century, a few decades before Hadrian’s Wall was constructed in A.D. 122 to defend the empire against the Picts and the Scots.

The “special find” is a “silver phalera (military decoration) depicting the head of Medusa,” according to a Facebook post from The Vindolanda Trust, the organization leading the excavations. “The phalera was uncovered from a barrack floor, dating to the Hadrianic period of occupation.”

The hand-size Medusa medal dates to the Hadrianic period at Vindolanda, a Roman auxiliary fort in England.

Medusa — who is known for having snakes for hair and the ability to turn people into stone with a mere glance — is mentioned in multiple Greek myths.

In the most famous story, the Greek hero Perseus beheads Medusa as she sleeps, pulling off the feat by using Athena’s polished shield to indirectly look at the mortal gorgon so that he wouldn’t be petrified, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. 

Roman culture drew on Greek myths, including Medusa’s story.

During the Roman age, Medusa was seen as apotropaic, meaning her likeness was thought to repel evil, John Pollini, a professor of art history who specializes in Greek and Roman art and archaeology at the University of Southern California, told Live Science. Pollini was not involved in the find at Vindolanda.

Alexander the Great is depicted as wearing a breastplate with the gorgon Medusa in this famous mosaic of him from Pompeii.

“From Greek times on, this is a potent apotropaic to ward off bad things, to keep bad things from happening to you,” Pollini said.

Medusa’s serpent-surrounded head is also seen on Roman-era tombs, mosaics in posh villas, and battle armor. For instance, in the famous first-century mosaic of Alexander the Great from Pompeii, Alexander is depicted with the face of Medusa on his breastplate, Pollini noted.

Medusa is also featured in other Roman-era phalerae, but the details vary. For instance, the Vindolanda Medusa has wings on her head. “Sometimes you see her with wings, sometimes without,” Pollini said. “It probably indicates she has the ability to fly, sort of like [the Roman god] Mercury has little wings on his helmet.” 

Silver phalerae of the Roman soldier Titus Flavius Festus in the Neues Museum (of the Staatliche Museen) in Berlin. Two Medusa heads are represented in the second row of the display on each side of the horned head of Ammon Zeus.

Because phalerae were awarded for “valor in battle,” military men would attach them to straps and wear them during local parades, Pollini said, noting that the discovery of the Vindolanda phalera is rare.

“There aren’t very many of them, obviously, because they were a precious metal,” he said. “Eventually, most of them were probably melted down.” 

Many phalerae are found in burials, but the Vindolanda one appears to be lost. “This isn’t something you would toss away,” Pollini said.

The silver artifact is now undergoing conservation at the Vindolanda lab. It will form part of the 2024 exhibition of finds from the site.

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

Lost Maya city discovered deep in the jungles of Mexico

Lost Maya city discovered deep in the jungles of Mexico

Lost Maya city discovered deep in the jungles of Mexico
An aerial image of the lost Maya city was made using lidar.

Archaeologists in Mexico have discovered the remains of a lost Maya city hidden deep within the jungles of the Yucatán Peninsula. The site, located in the Balamkú ecological reserve in the Mexican state of Campeche, contains multiple large pyramids that were built during the Classic period of the Maya civilization (between A.D. 250 and 1000).

The archaeologists named the location Ocomtún, meaning “stone column” in Yucatec Maya, in a nod to the many columns dotting the site, which covers approximately 124 acres (50 hectares), according to a translated statement.

The team found the city while mapping the Maya lowlands with billions of lasers shot from an aircraft flying overhead.

This technique, known as light detection and ranging, or lidar, is a noninvasive way for researchers to understand the topography of human-made structures hidden beneath foliage. In this case, the lidar revealed a Maya city with several pyramidal structures, with the tallest towering nearly 50 feet (15 meters), according to the statement.

“The site served as an important center at the regional level,” lead archaeologist Ivan Ṡprajc, a department head at the Institute of Anthropological and Spatial Studies in Slovenia, said in the statement.

The Maya had numerous city sites scattered across southern Mexico and Central America; the civilization reached its peak during the first millennium A.D. until it “collapsed” between 800 and 1000. (Although their culture has transformed, there are still Maya alive today.)

In addition to finding the pyramids and columns, while on foot, the archaeologists discovered ceramics, three plazas, a court used to play ballgames, and a complex comprising “low and elongated structures arranged almost in concentric circles,” according to the statement.

However, archaeologists are still investigating how the Maya used some of the structures. 

“It is possible that they are markets or spaces destined for community rituals,” Ṡprajc said. “The most common ceramic types that we collected on the surface and in some test pits are from the Late Classic (600-800 AD).

However, the analysis of samples of this material will offer us more reliable data on the sequences of occupation.”

BRAZIL, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

Pedra do Inga: A 6,000-Year-Old Monument Depicting an Ancient Star Map

Pedra do Inga: A 6,000-Year-Old Monument Depicting an Ancient Star Map

Its most prominent symbols depict stars, the Milky Way as well as the constellation of Orion. Most glyphs etched on the massive stone represent animals, fruits, humans, and constellations, but also a plethora of yet unrecognizable symbols and images.

Its most prominent symbols depict stars, the Milky Way as well as the constellation of Orion

There’s a strange, massive stone located in the municipality of Ingá, in the interior of the Brazilian state of Paraíba called the Inga stone or Pedra do Inga.

On its surface, the ancients carved a series of intricate symbols, stars, and spirals.

The stone itself is massive; the rock formation covers an area of approximately 250 square meters.

Altogether primarily, a vertical wall 46 meters long by 3.8 meters high, and adjacent areas, there are entries whose meanings are unknown.

In addition to the stars, and spirals, ancient ‘astronomers’ carved other entries whose exact meanings remain a mystery to experts.

Despite this, scholars have agreed on the fact that depictions of stars, constellations, and ever galaxies are clearly visible on the rock’s surface.

While the exact age of the inscriptions is hard to tell, researchers argue that the rock formation can be dated back to around 6,000 years.

So far, experts have identified more than 400 engravings on the stone’s surface. Some of them are zoomorphic in nature, while others represent abstract symbols as well as stars.

There is a hypothesis that indicates the petroglyphs of Ingá are exceptionally important from an archaeoastronomical point of view.

Back in 1976, Spanish engineer Francisco Pavía Alemany began mathematically studying the archaeological monument.

His first results were published in 1986 by the Instituto of Arqueologia Brasileira (Pavía Alemany F. 1986). Alemany identified on the stone’s surface a series of “bowls” and another petroglyph etched into the vertical surface of the wall of Inga that formed a “solar calendar”, over which a gnomon projected the shadow of the first sun rays of every day.

Alemany later continued studying the stone bit this time focusing on recording and documenting a series of symbols on the surface where the observer could identify petroglyphs reminiscent of stars, that appeared to have been grouped together in what appeared to be constellations.

But it is the coexistence of the “bowls” and “constellations” on the rock’s surface which gives the Pedra do Inga its archaeoastronomical significance.

The site where the Inga Stone stands today is in constant danger of being damaged beyond repair by vandals.

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

See the face of ‘Ava,’ a Bronze Age woman who lived in Scotland 3,800 years ago

See the face of ‘Ava,’ a Bronze Age woman who lived in Scotland 3,800 years ago

See the face of 'Ava,' a Bronze Age woman who lived in Scotland 3,800 years ago
Researchers used scans of a Bronze Age woman’s skull to create a facial approximation of what she may have looked like 3,800 years ago.

In 1987, Scottish workers accidentally unearthed the burial of a Bronze Age woman during a road construction project.

The stone, coffin-like tomb, called a cist, contained the woman’s skeletal remains alongside grave goods, including a short-necked pottery beaker, a cow bone fragment, and small pieces of flint.

The burial in Achavanich, in northern Scotland, came to be known as the Achavanich Beaker Burial. However, not much was known about the woman, whom archaeologists nicknamed “Ava,” other than what they determined through anthropological analysis.

She was between 18 and 25 years old when she died, and based on measurements of her tibia (shinbone), she was tall, standing approximately 5 feet, 7 inches (1.71 meters), according to a study published online on June 22. 

Based on her grave goods, it’s possible that Ava was part of the Bronze Age “Bell Beaker” culture, which was common in Europe during this time period and known for its distinctively round pottery drinking vessels.

Now, a new image offers a glimpse of what this mystery woman might have looked like.

To make the three-dimensional facial approximation, researchers used existing computed tomography (CT) scans of Ava’s roughly 3,800-year-old skull.

However, since the cranium was missing a mandible, or lower jaw, the team used data culled from CT scans of living donor individuals to piece together the final image, according to the study.

“Thanks to anatomical, statistical and logical data, it was possible to reconstruct” her face even without the mandible, study author Cícero Moraes, a Brazilian graphics expert, told Live Science in an email. “I then set out to trace the profile of the face, which we do through a combination of soft tissue thickness markers, which inform the limits of the skin,” he explained.

From there, the team performed an “anatomical deformation” of the virtual donor “that is adjusted until the donor’s skull converts to the skull of Ava,” Moraes said, “causing the skin to follow the deformation, resulting in a face compatible with the approximated individual.”

A 2016 analysis of Ava’s likeness showed her with light skin, blond hair, and blue eyes. But a separate facial approximation of Ava in 2018 analyzed her DNA and determined that she most likely had brown eyes and black hair and that “her skin [was] slightly darker than today’s Scots’,” the researchers wrote in the new study.

The researchers speculated, based on her height and facial features, that she may have been considered imposing during that time period.

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

Surrounded by bones, ancient Maya canoe may have been used in rituals

Surrounded by bones, ancient Maya canoe may have been used in rituals

In 2021, underwater archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Mexico located a mysterious canoe inside an underwater cave near the Maya city of Chichén Itzá. It was found while workers were building a tourist rail project as part of the archaeological rescue work.

Surrounded by bones, ancient Maya canoe may have been used in rituals
Carbon analysis of the canoe determined that it was built during the 16th century. (Image credit: National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH))

It was revealed that the wooden canoe was surrounded by 38 bone remains, including a human metatarsal, armadillo, dog, turkey, and eagle bones. 

Based on the initial studies in laboratories in Mexico and abroad, experts concluded that due to the presence of the large variety of bones, the boat was possibly used by the Maya in an ancient ritual before it was placed in the cavern and was flooded.

Signs of ritual

The armadillo, as per the Maya, was considered an avatar of the underworld deity commonly known as God L, who wears a cape that mirrors the design of the armadillo’s shell.

The archaeologists commented that the remains of the armadillo, which could swim easily underwater whilst holding its breath and holding its claws to the ground, would be “an allusion to the entry of said animal into the underworld.”

“There are known images in Mayan ceramics in which [the armadillo] appears as a ‘stool of the gods,’ with characters that place their feet on it,” stated Alexandra Biar, an archaeologist from the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). “This would be directly linked to the archaeological evidence observed in the cenote,” with the armadillo serving as a manifestation of the deity. 

Archaeologists Jesús Gallegos, along with Biar stated that the morphology of the boat itself also supports the ritual use of the canoe; since having a very heavy bow and stern, its navigation capacity should have been limited in more dynamic waters; hence they do not rule out that it had been created for symbolic purposes, they said in a statement.

Earlier claims refuted

It was also earlier reported that the Mayan canoe is tentatively dated between 830-950 AD, near the end of the Maya civilization’s classical zenith, when dozens of cities across present-day southern Mexico and Central America thrived amid major human achievements in math, writing, and art.

But after studying the wood of the canoe, Biar pointed out that the analyses for carbon 14 have shown that the organic material dates from the 16th century and not from the classical zenith period.

Measuring 1.6 meters in length and 80 cm in width, it was earlier believed that the canoe was used to transport water from the cenote or deposit ritual offerings, as per INAH.

Earlier last month, Interesting Engineering reported that INAH had discovered the ruins of an ancient Mayan city in the deep jungles of Mexico. Archaeologists named the city Ocomtun, which means “stone column” in the Yucatec Maya language.