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.

“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.

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.

A gigantic Roman mosaic was discovered in a farmer’s field in the United Kingdom

The first ever mosaic illustrating scenes from Homer’s Iliad, it would have decorated an imposing dining and entertainment space within a major villa complex

A battered but magnificent Roman mosaic—the first ever found in the UK illustrating scenes from Homer’s Iliad, has been discovered under ploughed fields in Rutland.

The mosaic depicting the Greek hero Achilles would have cost a fortune and would have flattered a wealthy owner who could have boasted to guests of his knowledge of classical literature.

It must have decorated an imposing dining and entertainment space within a major villa complex, and is regarded as the most important find of its kind in a century. The site is today given official protection by the government on the advice of Historic England.

The mosaic has been damaged by later building work and has scorch marks from fires, which with human remains found in the rubble layer over it suggest that at a very late Roman or early medieval date the site lost its original opulent character and was repurposed.

Further study of the bones and other finds should yield more clues to its later history, and the much debated later life of the villa site as Roman wealth and power shrank back from the edges of the empire.

The mosaic, measuring 7m by 11m, lies close beneath the surface, and was discovered at the height of last year’s lockdown by Jim Irvine, the son of the landowner Brian Naylor, who was out for a walk with his family when he spotted some broken pottery in a field of wheat. “Later, looking at the satellite imagery, I spotted a very clear crop mark, as if someone had drawn on my computer screen with a piece of chalk. This really was the ‘oh wow’ moment, and the beginning of the story.”

Recognizing its potential significance he contacted archaeologists at Leicestershire County Council. Historic England secured urgent funding to send in a team of excavators in August 2020, and further work followed in September 2021 by students and staff from the University of Leicester’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History.

John Thomas, the deputy director of the University of Leicester Archaeological Services and project manager of the excavations, called it the most exciting mosaic find in the UK in a century, and hugely significant because the entire surrounding villa site appears to survive.

“It gives us fresh perspectives on the attitudes of people at the time, their links to classical literature, and it also tells us an enormous amount about the individual who commissioned this piece,” he says. “This is someone with a knowledge of the classics, who had the money to commission a piece of such detail, and it’s the very first depiction of these stories that we’ve ever found in Britain.”

The room was the centerpiece of a large villa complex dating from the late 3rd or early 4th century AD.

Most of the site has not been excavated but geophysical surveys that reveal underlying structures show a complex of buildings including aisled barns, circular structures, which may be grain stores, and a possible bath house.

Further excavation is planned for next year, and while work continues on the finds, including a study by David Neal—internationally recognized as a leading expert on Roman mosaics—the floor has been re-buried to protect it. The archaeologists also hope to create an off-site display with support from the Lottery Heritage Fund.

The scheduled monument status granted to the site today is intended to protect it from illegal metal detectors and other disturbances.

The site had been damaged in the past by ploughing, and Historic England is working with the landowners to return the field to gentler use.

Vast cemetery of Bronze Age burial mounds unearthed near Stonehenge

Archaeologists have discovered a vast cemetery of Bronze Age burial mounds, thought to be up to 4,400 years old, ahead of a building development less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Stonehenge.

The cemetery includes more than 20 circular mounds, known as barrows, built between 2400 B.C. and 1500 B.C. on a chalk hillside near Harnham on the outskirts of Salisbury in southwest England.

Other than the site’s proximity to Stonehenge, there’s no evidence that the cemetery was connected with the famous monument. But the barrows were built around the same time as some of the central stages of Stonehenge, according to a statement from Cotswold Archaeology, a private firm conducting the excavations.

Many archaeologists now think Stonehenge, too, was mainly a burial ground, although it also may have functioned as a communal gathering place or even a calendar.

The newfound barrows range in size, with the smallest measuring about 33 feet (10 meters) across and the largest spanning 165 feet (50 m). But most of the barrows are between 65 and 100 feet (20 and 30 m) across.

Ancient barrows

The barrows at the cemetery are grouped in “pairs or small clusters of six or so,” Alistair Barclay, an archaeologist at Cotswold Archaeology and the site’s post-excavation manager, told Live Science in an email. 

After arriving at the site in 2022, the archaeologists have now fully excavated five barrows in two areas. Four of the barrows had previously been identified, but the fifth was unknown, possibly because it had been covered by loose soil washed down from an uphill area.

One of the barrows was originally enclosed by an oval-shaped ditch that was replaced in prehistory with a nearly circular ditch. That suggests this barrow might have been built before the others, during the Neolithic period, which ended around 2400 B.C.; a mass grave near its center held the skeletal remains of adults and children, the statement said.

The oval ditch also cut through pits of red deer (Cervus elaphus) antlers, which were highly prized in the Neolithic for making tools, ritual artifacts, and small items like pins and combs. 

The antlers will now be checked for signs of deliberate breakage or wear that could indicate they were once used to make tools, the statement said.

Prehistoric burials

The archaeologists have excavated the remains of nine other burials and three artifacts from graves among the barrows. In some cases, the grave goods were pottery “beakers” — distinctive round drinking vessels — indicating that the people buried there were from the Bronze Age “Bell Beaker culture,” which was widespread in Britain after about 2450 B.C.

The Cotswold Archaeology team has also found evidence of later occupations at the site, including what may be traces of an Iron Age cultivation area. It consists of more than 240 pits and postholes.

Some of the pits may have been used to store grain, but most were used for discarding rubbish — a boon to archaeologists studying how people lived and farmed the land at that time.

The team also found evidence of a Saxon building at the site, along with other artifacts from the Anglo-Saxon age (fifth to 11th centuries A.D.)

This 500-year-old skeleton died with his boots on

In the mud of London’s Thames River, a strange skeleton that lay hidden for 500 years has finally seen the light of day. Face down, one arm upflung, the only remnants of his clothing were a pair of half-rotted, thigh-high black leather boots.

It’s those boots that have archaeologists abuzz – an incredibly rare find.

“It’s extremely rare to find any boots from the late 15th century, let alone a skeleton still wearing them,” explained Beth Richardson of the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) to National Geographic.

Because the British Isles have such a rich and ancient history, England has legislation to ensure that archaeological assessments and appropriate preservation measures are carried out for all major development.

So the bones were found as part of excavations for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, a project to divert sewage away from the Thames, in a bid to reduce pollution.

It’s not unusual to find artifacts and remains in and around the Thames. The area around the river has been inhabited for a long time, and anyone who’s lived near a body of water knows how easy it is to lose items in the murky depths. But the clothing of any kind is extremely rare.

“Historic clothing mostly survives accidentally, and the further back in time, the less there is. The majority of survivals are therefore elite or special garments that are exceptional compared with what the majority of people would have worn,” dress historian and archaeological textile specialist Hilary Davidson of La Trobe University in Melbourne, who was not associated with the discovery, told ScienceAlert.

“Also, it’s extremely rare to find boots still on their wearer. Most medieval footwear found in London was originally discarded into rubbish heaps, which is where it survived.”

The fact that he was still wearing the boots – as well as his location, face-down pose, and preliminary assessment of his bones – have allowed archaeologists to make a few educated guesses about his death, and the life he led beforehand.

The boots were well made, stitched with flax thread, with reinforced soles, and stuffed with an unknown plant material, perhaps for a better fit.

The fact that they were so long – thigh-length with the tops unrolled – suggests that he may have worked on the river as a fisherman or sailor, wearing the boots as waders to protect his legs. Wear on his teeth is consistent with a repetitive action – such as passing a rope through them, as a fisherman or sailor might.

This lifestyle is supported by the style of the boot, which, according to Davidson, was not the high fashion of the time, but close to the everyday shoes of the working class seen in paintings in the 14th and 15th centuries.

If he was a river worker, this could help explain the remarkable state of the boots’ preservation.

“While cellulosic fabrics such as linen tend to decay in waterlogged areas, protein-based garments like wool and especially leather survive anaerobic damp conditions much better,” Davidson explained.

“The tanning process makes leather even more durable, and if his boots were for working in the water they may have had extra protection like oils, fats, pitch, or resin worked into the hide which has helped them last for 500 years – better than his skin.”

And they even offer clues as to how he died. MOLA notes that leather was a highly prized material at the time, often reused and recycled. So, had he been buried by his loved ones, it’s likely they would have removed his boots for re-use first.

This suggests that his death was a tragic one, either by accident or design, and an examination of his bones supports this theory. He was less than 35 years old. However, since his bones show no signs of trauma, we’ll probably never know whether he was pushed, fell, or jumped.

Ongoing conservation work on the boots will hopefully reveal more about material reality – what people wore, how they wore it, and their relationship with the dangerous river that has proven to be an incredible thread woven throughout history.

Baby’s bones and ancient sarcophagus found at Borough Market building site

Archaeologists have lifted the lid of an ancient Roman sarcophagus unearthed at a building site near London’s Borough Market. The 1,600-year-old stone coffin, discovered at Swan Street, Southwark, is thought to contain the remains of a mother after the bones of a baby were found nearby.

An amazing series of photos shows excited archaeologists peeking inside the sarcophagus on Tuesday.

Small bones and a broken Roman bracelet were meanwhile found in the surrounding soil, hinting as to who the tomb was made for.

The team is not certain whether the infant was buried with the coffin, however, as it appears to have been opened by grave robbers in an area that was used by the Romans as a burial ground.

Gillian King, senior planner for archaeology at Southwark Council, said a large crack on the lid was probably the work of thieves.

“It’s been broken into two pieces, probably when robbers broke into it during the post-medieval period,” she said.

“We hope that they will have left the things that were of small value to them but great value to us as archaeologists.

“We always knew this site had the potential for a Roman cemetery, but we never knew there would be a sarcophagus.”

The coffin was found several meters underground at the site last month after the council told developers to pay for an archaeological dig.

Its lid had been slid open, leading experts to suspect it was targeted by thieves back in the 18th century.

The council had asked developers to check the area for ancient finds before it went ahead with building new flats because of the site’s proximity to two large Roman roads.

Strict rules on Roman burials, which had to be outside of town walls, meant the location was a prime spot for historical finds.

Archaeologists discovered the coffin six months into the dig as they were due to finish their search.

They believe it was the coffin of a high-status inhabitant of Roman London, but they will not know for sure until the bones and soil inside are tested and dated.

The sarcophagus will now be taken to the Museum of London’s archive in Hackney for analysis.

Volunteer archaeologists discovered a 1900-year-old silver military decoration in Vindolanda

Volunteer archaeologists have discovered a 1900-year-old military decoration (Phalera) that was awarded to distinguished soldiers and troops in the Roman army in Vindolanda, in northern England.

Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort (castrum) one mile south of Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. Roman Vindolanda Fort is one of Europe’s most important Roman archaeological sites and situated on the Stanegate Road.

The site itself is made up of nine forts that are built on top of each other. Soldiers from all over the Roman Empire were stationed here, including Belgium, Germany, and France.

The visible stone fort dates from the third century and includes the fort walls, the headquarters building, the Commanding Officer’s house, granaries, and barracks.

The extramural settlement’s ruins can be found just outside the fort’s walls. A main street is lined with houses, shops, a tavern, and a bathhouse.

Excavations take place on the site every year and attract hundreds of volunteers from all over the world. Recent excavations on the floor of a barracks building uncovered a silver phalera disk, which Roman soldiers wore on their breastplates during parades.

The silver military decoration bearing the head of Medusa, a monster in the form of a woman with snakes for hair, the very sight of which would turn a person to stone.

Medusa, also known as Gorgo in Greek mythology, was one of the three monstrous Gorgons, who were generally described as winged human females with living venomous snakes in place of hair.

We are having a really good week!

This is a silver phalera (military decoration) depicting the head of Medusa,uncovered from a barrack floor, dating to the Hadrianic period of occupation. #Vindolanda pic.twitter.com/b0Gs3MiixF

— Vindolanda Trust (@VindolandaTrust) June 8, 2023

The head of Medusa was carved in relief on the silver phalera unearthed in the Vindolanda. The head of Medusa also functions as a kind of apotropaic symbol, that is, as a protector.

Volunteer archaeologists have also found during this season’s excavations, a spearhead, a copper alloy spoon, a stamped mortarium rim, Samian pottery, a melon bead, an enameled bow brooch, a copper alloy scabbard chape (the protective fitting at the bottom of a scabbard or sheath for a dagger), and a well preserved wooden bath clog.

The discovery was shared on the Vindolanda Trust Twitter account.

‘Incredibly Rare’ Roman Mausoleum Unearthed Near London Bridge Station

Archaeologists report discovering an “incredibly rare” and featured preserved floors and walls Roman mausoleum near London Bridge Station, UK.

Archaeologists discovered big Roman mosaics at the same location last year, which led scientists to believe something much larger might be buried beneath the surface.

Excavations conducted by MOLA archaeologists on behalf of Landsec, Transport for London (TfL), which owns the site, and Southwark Council have yielded extraordinary results.

Archaeologists say they have unearthed the remains of a Roman mausoleum “with an astonishing level of preservation.”

The Museum of London Archaeology(MOLA) believes the quality of preservation makes it the most intact Roman mausoleum ever to be discovered in Britain.

Scientists have “unearthed the walls, entrance steps and interior floors of the tomb. The mosaic at the center is surrounded by a raised platform on which the burials were placed.

There’s evidence of a second mosaic directly beneath the first, indicating that it was raised during its lifetime. The two mosaics are similar, with a central flower surrounded by concentric circles.

The tomb itself was a two-storey building likely to have been used by a wealthy Roman family. It doesn’t now contain any coffins or burial remains, with MOLA suggesting that these were likely removed in medieval times.

However, the surrounding area is rich in traces of its ancient inhabitants, with over 80 burial sites and artifacts such as pottery, jewelry, coins, and glass beads.

Antonietta Lerz, senior archaeologist at MOLA, says the site is a “microcosm for the changing fortunes of Roman London” and provides “a fascinating window” into the life of its settlers.

Antonietta Lerz, senior archaeologist at MOLA, says the site is a “microcosm for the changing fortunes of Roman London” and provides “a fascinating window” into the life of its settlers.

Archaeologists from MOLA hope to pinpoint the age of the mausoleum and have provided a three-dimensional model of the site. There are plans for the future public display of the mausoleum.

Retiree Uncovers Wooden Artifact 2,000 Years Older than Stonehenge

A piece of decoratively carved wood found during a construction project has been declared the oldest in Britain.

The 6,000-year-old piece of oak, found in Boxford, Berkshire, is only the second wood carving to be found from the Mesolithic period.

It was discovered preserved in peat at the bottom of a trench.

The wood is being conserved by Historic England at Fort Cumberland, Portsmouth, and will eventually go on display at West Berkshire Museum in Newbury.

Landowner Derek Fawcett has been working with Historic England and the Boxford History Project since finding the timber four years ago.

He said: “It was clearly very old and appeared well preserved in peat. After hosing it down, we saw that it had markings that appeared unnatural and possibly man-made.”

The timber has been carbon dated to between 4640 BC and 4605 BC, making it around 2,000 years older than Stonehenge, and 500 years older than the only other known piece of carved Mesolithic timber, which was found near Maerdy in Rhondda Cynon Taf in 2012.

Historic England chief executive Duncan Wilson said: “This exciting find has helped to shine new light on our distant past and we’re grateful to the landowner for recognising its significance.

“Amazing discoveries like these remind us of the power of archaeology to uncover the hidden narratives that connect us to our roots.”

The waterlogged carved oak is one metre long, 0.42 metres wide and 0.2 metres thick.

It was found about 1.5 metres (5ft) below the surface not far from the present course of the River Lambourn in a layer of peat.

Mr Fawcett has donated the timber to the West Berkshire Museum in Newbury where it will eventually go on display.

The museum is also working with the Boxford History Project to arrange for the timber to go on loan to the Boxford village heritage centre.