U.K. Archaeologists Make a ‘Once-in-a-Lifetime’ Discovery: Three Well-Preserved Roman Busts Buried Along a Future Railway

In an unexpected find, archaeologists in England have unearthed three Roman busts near the ruins of an abandoned medieval church roughly 50 miles outside of London. 

Two of the stone statues, found surprisingly intact, depict the faces and torsos of an adult man and woman, while the third represents the head of a child.

All are characteristic of early Roman sculpture, suggesting that they may date to when England belonged to the Roman Empire from A.D. 43 to about A.D. 410.

“The statues are exceptionally well preserved, and you really get an impression of the people they depict,” said Rachel Wood, the leading archaeologist on the dig, in an announcement. “Literally looking into the faces of the past is a unique experience.” 

Wood and her team excavated the objects at the remains of St. Mary’s Church in Stoke Mandeville, Buckinghamshire, where they’ve been at work for the last six months on a dig funded by the national Department of Transport.

The site sits in the path of the controversial new HS2 high-speed railway, which will connect corners of the United Kingdom over three phases of construction. (The first, a 140-mile passage from London to the West Midlands region, is expected to open between 2029 and 2033.)

It is one of some 60 sites along the future route that have been flagged for excavation, although detractors point out that a 2013 HS2 environmental impact survey identified nearly 1,000 potential sites. 

A Norman house of worship, St. Mary’s was erected in 1080, renovated in the 13th, 14th, and 17th centuries, and then abandoned in the late 19th century, according to the Guardian. Prior to that, the spot may have been home to a Bronze Age burial site, experts believe, followed by a Roman mausoleum.

At the same site, researchers also uncovered a well-preserved hexagonal glass jug, which is similarly believed to be Roman and more than 1,000 years old, as well as roof tiles, cremation urns, and pieces of painted plaster.

The archaeologists compared the jug to one currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York.

The objects are being moved to a laboratory for further cleaning and examination, the statement explained. Where they’ll end up after that has not yet been determined. 

“Of course, it leads us to wonder what else might be buried beneath England’s medieval village churches,” Wood added. “This has truly been a once-in-a-lifetime site, and we are all looking forward to hearing what more the specialists can tell us about these incredible statues and the history of the site before the construction of the Norman church.”

British Teenager Discovers Rare Bronze Age Ax Hoard

Milly Hardwick was searching for buried treasure in a field in Hertfordshire, England when her metal detector pinged. The 13-year-old’s father, Colin, joked that she’d found an axe. He was partially right: Hardwick had, in fact, stumbled onto a trove of 65 Bronze Age axes and artefacts dated to around 1300 B.C.E.

“I was shocked,” the teenager, who made the discovery on her third metal-detecting outing, tells Sarah Cooper of ITV News Anglia. “I almost fainted. I was like, ‘Dad, I’m going to faint!’”

Per Jacob Paul of the Express, Hardwick’s mother, Claire, adds, “A lot of people have said it’s a once-in-a-lifetime find.”

At first, the father and daughter—residents of Mildenhall in Suffolk—dug up just a single bronze ax head. Keeping at it, they soon unearthed 20 more artefacts. Archaeologists brought in to excavate the site discovered the rest of the hoard the following day, reports BBC News.

Though she is new to the hobby, Hardwick appears to have a natural ability for locating artifacts.

“Whenever I go out, I find stuff,” she says, as quoted by Ben Turner of SWNS and Nick Wood of Suffolk Live. “I’ve found a gold-plated button and [an Elizabethan] coin. It’s just nice being in the field for hours and you get a signal and it could literally be anything.”

According to English Heritage, Britain’s Bronze Age began around 2300 B.C.E. During this period, ancient Britons mined copper and tin to smelt into axes, chisels, hammers, sickles and other tools.

The newly discovered cache dates to the Middle Bronze Age, which took place between about 1600 and 1200 B.C.E.

Hardwick and her father turned the find over to the local coroner’s office, which is responsible for determining if it qualifies as treasure. Next, reports BBC News, the cache will head to the British Museum, which manages archaeological finds made by the English public through its Portable Antiquities Scheme.

In accordance with the United Kingdom’s 1996 Treasure Act, a museum may decide to purchase the artefacts after they’ve been assessed and valued. If offered any money for the hoard, the young metal detectorist plans to split the proceeds with the field’s owner.

Hardwick’s discovery has caught the attention of other treasure seekers, even earning her a spot on the cover of the December issue of the Searcher magazine.

“The other metal detectorists are really pleased for her,” the teenager’s mother tells SWNS. Still, Claire adds, “On a couple of digs, people have gone, ‘Oh, she’s here now so we might as well go home.’”

Now bitten by the treasure-hunting bug, Hardwick wants to be an archaeologist when she grows up. In the meantime, she will continue searching for more artefacts.

“We’re going to try and find gold,” she tells ITV News Anglia. “That’s the one thing we’re aiming for, and when we do, we’re going to do a little dance.”

Medieval gold cross found by Norwich detectorist sells for £12K

A roofing contractor who found a medieval gold cross in a muddy field said he was “over the moon” after it sold at auction for £12,400. Jason Willis, 38, from Norwich, found the 11th or 12th Century cross while metal detecting at Sutton St Edmund, Lincolnshire, in April 2019.

He said he “knew it was something special by the shining yellow colour”.

Now known as the Throckenholt Cross, it fetched more than its estimated upper limit of £8,000 at auction earlier.

Mr Willis, who took up metal detecting as a hobby with some of his friends, said: “When I came upon the cross and washed it off, I knew it was something special, and by the shining yellow colour – I knew it was gold.

“I handed it to our local finds liaison officer and after two years, of going through the treasure process, the cross was returned to me and I was told that I could now sell it.”

Frances Noble, head of the jewellery department and associate director of auctioneers Dix Noonan Webb, said the pendant was of a “form associated with medieval Greek Orthodoxy in the eastern Baltic region” and said that a “very similar example was discovered in Denmark”.

“King’s Lynn, on the north Norfolk coast, just 20 miles from Sutton St Edmund, was a significant trading partner for the Hanseatic League [a commercial and defensive alliance of merchant guilds and market towns in central and northern Europe], and this trade link may provide a possible explanation for these two very similar cross pendants,” he said.

The auction house’s artefacts and antiquities consultant, Nigel Mills, suggested the cross could have been connected with the medieval hermitage and chapel at Throckenholt, which is within the Sutton St Edmund parish and existed until at least 1540.

The cross was estimated to sell for between £6,000 and £8,000, but including the buyer’s premium, the final price was £12,400.

Following the sale, detectorist Mr Willis said: “I am a roofer and I was working today, so I watched the sale over my phone while sitting on a roof.

“I am over the moon, and as I have just moved house, the money will go towards new items for the house.”

Rare medieval bone flute found in Kent

Excavation of a development site at Herne Bay, Kent, on the southeastern coast of England, has unearthed a rare medieval bone flute.

The instrument was discovered within the bounds of a rectangular enclosure bounded by a ditch. It was found in a layer with pottery dating to between the 12th and 15th centuries.

It’s a fipple or duct flute, an end-blown flute like a recorder or slide whistle.

The form is an ancient one — the world’s oldest confirmed flute was carved from the bone of a griffon vulture 40,000 years ago, and the Neanderthal Flute, a partial flute carved from a bear bone is 20,000 years older than that  — but there are long gaps on the archaeological record between the prehistoric flutes and the ones that emerged in the early Middle Ages and the latter are still rare finds.

Only around 120 archaeological examples have ever been discovered in Britain, ranging in date from the 5th century to the 16th.

The flute was carved from the tibia shaft of a sheep or goat. Five finger holes were bored out of the top, and a thumb hole was out of the bottom of the shaft.

Archaeologists believe it may have had a mouthpiece of some kind that is now lost, but other than that, the flute is intact and in excellent condition.

History buffs on 2,000-year-old Roman road discovery near Evesham

History buffs have shared their thoughts on a possible Roman road found near Evesham. Severn Trent workmen came across what some believe to be a nearly 2,000-year-old ford when completing sewerage works several weeks ago.

Aidan Smyth, the archaeology advisor for Wychavon District Council, thinks it could have global significance and now history fans from around Worcestershire have weighed in on the discovery.

Paul Harding, who runs Discovery History with his wife Helen, thinks it could put Evesham ‘on the map’.

He said: “The recent find of a possible Roman Ford in Worcestershire is really exciting.

“A surviving Roman Ford is extremely rare in what was once the Roman Empire.

“It looks like a well-made Roman road surface and may have taken over from an earlier trackway or route that the Britons were using before the Romans.

“We had simple roads before the Romans, and these sometimes followed traditional routes.

“This will put the area on the archaeological map and allow for further study in this kind of structure.”

Richard Ball, trustee at Vale of Evesham Historic Society, is equally enthused about the discovery.

He said: “There are some traces of Roman times in the Vale but in general these are few and far between, and this is by far the most important that has been found for a long time.

“I am hopeful that Aidan Smyth and his archaeology team will have an opportunity to examine it thoroughly and expect that the VEHS will wish to keep on close touch with developments and help in any way appropriate.”

Meanwhile, metal detectorist Stephen Grey is no stranger to uncovering the area’s history, having dug up a ‘Viking’ axe just a few weeks ago himself.

He said: “It could well be Roman as there’s been plenty of Roman items found by archaeologists and metal detectorists in the area.

“I myself have found a first-century silver roman coin albeit closer to Pershore but that does prove the Romans were in the general area at that time.

“I’ve also found a second-century Roman brooch much nearer to the site.

“If it proves to be a first-century Roman road leading into a ford, I think that’s very exciting.

“I know the experts are hoping it is and if true they seem to think it’s fairly unique in this country.”

UK’s oldest human DNA obtained, revealing two distinct Palaeolithic populations

Published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the new study by UCL Institute of Archaeology, the Natural History Museum and the Francis Crick Institute researchers reveals for the first time that the recolonisation of Britain consisted of at least two groups with distinct origins and cultures.

The study team explored DNA evidence from an individual from Gough’s Cave, Somerset, and an individual from Kendrick’s Cave, North Wales, who both lived more than 13,500 years ago. Very few skeletons of this age exist in Britain, with around a dozen found across six sites in total. The study, which involved radiocarbon dating and analysis as well as DNA extraction and sequencing, shows that it is possible to obtain useful genetic information from some of the oldest human skeletal material in the country.

The authors say that these genome sequences now represent the earliest chapter of the genetic history of Britain, but ancient DNA and proteins promise to take us back even further into human history.

The researchers found that the DNA from the individual from Gough’s Cave, who died about 15,000 years ago, indicates that her ancestors were part of an initial migration into northwest Europe around 16,000 years ago. However, the individual from Kendrick’s Cave is from a later period, around 13,500 years ago, with his ancestry from a western hunter-gatherer group. This group’s ancestral origins are thought to be from the near East, migrating to Britain around 14,000 years ago.

Study co-author Dr Mateja Hajdinjak (Francis Crick Institute) said: “Finding the two ancestries so close in time in Britain, only a millennium or so apart, is adding to the emerging picture of Palaeolithic Europe, which is one of a changing and dynamic population.”

The authors note that these migrations occurred after the last ice age when approximately two-thirds of Britain was covered by glaciers. As the climate warmed and the glaciers melted, drastic ecological and environmental changes took place and humans began to move back into northern Europe.

Study co-author Dr Sophy Charlton, who undertook the study whilst at the Natural History Museum, said: “The period we were interested in, from 20-10,000 years ago, is part of the Palaeolithic – the Old Stone Age. This is an important time period for the environment in Britain, as there would have been significant climate warming, increases in the amount of forest, and changes in the type of animals available to hunt.”

As well as genetically, the two groups were found to be culturally distinct, with differences in what they ate and how they buried their dead.

Study co-author Dr Rhiannon Stevens (UCL Institute of Archaeology) said: “Chemical analyses of the bones showed that the individuals from Kendrick’s Cave ate a lot of marine and freshwater foods, including large marine mammals.

“Humans at Gough’s Cave, however, showed no evidence of eating marine and freshwater foods, and primarily ate terrestrial herbivores such as red deer, bovids (such as wild cattle called aurochs) and horses.”

The researchers discovered that the mortuary practices of the two groups also differed. Although there were animal bones found at Kendrick’s Cave, these included portable art items, such as a decorated horse jawbone. No animal bones were found that showed evidence of being eaten by humans, and the scientists say that this indicates the cave was used as a burial site by its occupiers.

In contrast, animal and human bones found in Gough’s Cave showed significant human modification, including human skulls modified into ‘skull-cups’, which the researchers believe to be evidence of ritualistic cannibalism. Individuals from this earlier population seem to be the same people who created the Magdalenian stone tools, a culture known also for iconic cave art and bone artefacts.

Gough’s Cave is also the site where Britain’s famous Cheddar Man was discovered in 1903, dated to 10,564-9,915 years BP. In this study, Cheddar Man was found to have a mixture of ancestries, mostly (85%) western hunter-gatherers and some (15%) of the older type from the initial migration.

Co-author Dr Selina Brace (Natural History Museum) said: “We really wanted to find out more about who these early populations in Britain might have been.

“We knew from our previous work, including the study of Cheddar Man, that western hunter-gatherers were in Britain by around 10,500 years BP, but we didn’t know when they first arrived in Britain, and whether this was the only population that was present.”

1,700-Year-Old Roman Villa Complex Identified By Archaeologists Using Google Earth Images in England

Using Google Earth images, archaeologists identified a Roman villa complex—complete with a bathhouse and central heating system—in Kent, England last month.

Crop markings captured by Google outlined the linear features of the site.

The wall foundations of the main villa, in addition to a pillar from the partially intact hypocaust, or Roman central heating system, were excavated by the Kent Archaeological Society with volunteers from the local community.

The hypocaust system would have been used to circulate heat through the walls and floors of an adjacent bathhouse.

“There are many villas spread across Kent, but the fact there’s a hypocaust system remaining is rare.

Operating a hypocaust was expensive, requiring a constant supply of fuels – firewood – and a workforce to operate it,” site director Richard Taylor told local publication KentOnline.

The presence of this kind of system suggests that the inhabitants would have been high-status farmers, as a hypocaust is typically limited to wealthy villas and public villas.

Additionally uncovered were several artefacts such as an amphora-shaped belt adornment dating to ca. 375 C.E., a small Roman-British key, two 4th-century C.E. coins, pottery, and wall plaster from the main villa.

After dating these objects, the team estimates that the villa dates to the 3rd or 4th century C.E.; these Roman-British farmers, however, would not have been the first residents in the area.

The nearby site Coldrum Long Barrow dates to roughly 3900 B.C.E., indicating that the land was likely being farmed for thousands of years prior to the villa’s construction.

“This suggests a continuity of settlement in the area that goes back c.5000 years, which is not surprising given its idyllic location and agricultural potential,” Taylor continued. “The villa is like just one episode in a much greater time frame.”

New Thoughts on Fish Consumption in Iron Age Britain

A woman who lived in Orkney 1,800 years ago had a diet that was unusually rich in seafood, say archaeologists. Very little evidence has been found of fish being consumed in Iron Age Britain, despite the abundance of marine life, according to the UHI Archaeology Institute.

Possible reasons for this may have included social restrictions or taboos around eating seafood.

Experts at the institute have been involved in analysing a tooth from a woman’s jawbone that was uncovered during excavations at The Cairns in South Ronaldsay.

The bone appeared to have been carefully placed inside a container made from a whale vertebra, and studies of the tooth have revealed the woman had eaten “fish suppers” all through her life.

Archaeologists suggest she may have had a special role or status and have nicknamed her The Elder.

The UHI Archaeology Institute has been working with the University of York and the British Geological Survey’s National Environmental Isotope Facility in analysing the tooth.

The studies have involved looking at layers of dentine laid down over time as the tooth grew, and of dietary isotopes – evidence of foods – embedded in those layers.

Archaeologists said the tooth was sampled multiple times when the woman was estimated to have been three, seven, nine, 11, 13 and 15 years old.

The results showed seafood had been a fairly consistent part of her diet during her childhood.

Earlier analysis had already shown she was eating fish towards the end of her life.

Martin Carruthers, site director of The Cairns excavations and a lecturer in archaeology at the UHI Archaeology Institute, said: “It’s remarkable to be able to reach back and solve a problem like the question over her diet, which was previously unclear.

“Now we can see that the marine foodstuffs that she ate were after all a normal part of life for her, and this allows us to move on with the further investigation of the mystery over the apparent lack of seafood in Iron Age society at this time.”