Category Archives: EUROPE

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Silver coins unearthed in New England may be loot from one of the ‘greatest crimes in history’

Silver coins unearthed in New England may be loot from one of the ‘greatest crimes in history’

A handful of Arabian silver coins found in New England may be the last surviving relics of history’s most notorious act of piracy — and perhaps one of the most famous pirates who ever lived. Evidence suggests the distinctive coins were spent as common silver in the American colonies in the late 1690s by the fugitive pirate crew of Henry Every, also known as John Avery, who had fled there after plundering the Mughal treasure ship Ganj-i-Sawai as it was returning pilgrims from the Muslim Hajj.

Silver coins unearthed in New England may be loot from one of the 'greatest crimes in history'
The 1693 Yemeni silver coin was found in 2014 in Rhode Island. Similar similar coins have since been unearthed at American colonial sites.

Researchers aren’t certain that the coins are from the Ganj-i-sawai, but their origin, their dates and their discovery in such a distant region suggest they were seized by the pirates and spent in the Americas. 

The coins may have been handled by Every himself, who disappeared a few years later but who came to be portrayed as an almost heroic figure from what some have called the “Golden Age of Piracy.”

Their discovery has also cast new light on Every’s whereabouts shortly before he vanished with his loot. “We can prove beyond a doubt that he actually was in the mainland American colonies,” Rhode Island metal detectorist Jim Bailey told Live Science. 

Bailey found one of the first Arabian silver coins, called a comassee, in 2014 at the site of a colonial settlement on Aquidneck Island, about 20 miles (32 kilometres) south of Providence. 

More than a dozen similar coins thought to be from the pirate raid on the Ganj-i-sawai have now been discovered by metal detectorists and archaeologists elsewhere in Rhode Island, and in Massachusetts, Connecticut and North Carolina — may be the last evidence of one of the greatest crimes in history. 

Captain Henry Every and his crew take one of the Great Mogul’s ships in this illustration.

Pirate attack

In 1695, Every and his cutthroat crew onboard their ship Fancy joined a pirate raid on a convoy in the Red Sea that was returning to India from Mecca. Every’s ship chased and caught the convoy’s flagship, the Ganj-i-sawai, which belonged to the Grand Mughal Aurangzeb, the Muslim emperor of what is now India and Pakistan.

Reports say the pirates tortured and killed its crew and 600 passengers, before making off with gold and silver, including thousands of coins, said to be worth between 200,000 and 600,000 British pounds — the equivalent of between $40 million and $130 million in today’s money.

After an outcry led by the British East India Company, whose profits on the riches of India were threatened by the raid, Britain’s King William III ordered what is regarded as the first international manhunt to capture Every and the other pirates.

By this time, however, Every and his crew had escaped to the New World. They lived for several months in the Bahamas, possibly with the collusion of the British governor of the islands; but they fled in late 1696 as the Royal Navy closed in. 

Some of Every’s crew went to live in the mainland colonies, where they were eventually tried and acquitted, possibly as a result of bribery; but there were no further sightings of Every. Later reports suggested he had sailed to Ireland while still on the run and that he died there, impoverished, a few years later. Since his loot from the Ganj-i-sawai was never accounted for, rumours long persisted that the treasure had been buried somewhere in secret.

Bailey unearthed other metallic objects from the same period, including these bit-bosses from a horse’s bridle, a buckle for a spur and part of a spur itself.

Arabian silver

Bailey is an amateur archaeologist who worked on the recovery of the wreck of the Whydah, a pirate ship discovered off Cape Cod in 1984. In 2014, his metal detector picked up the first of the mysterious coins in a meadow on Aquidneck Island that was once the site of a colonial township.

“You never field-clean a coin, because you could damage it,” he said. “I had to run to my car and get a big bottle of water… the mud came off, and I saw this Arabic script on the coin and I was amazed because I knew exactly where it’d come from,” he said. “I was aware that the American colonies had been bases of operation for piracy in the late 17th century.”

Studies of the Arabic writing on the coin showed it had been minted in Yemen in southern Arabia in 1693, just a few years before the pirate attack on the Ganj-i-sawai. Another 13 have been found, mostly by metal detectorists, but the latest in 2018 by archaeologists in Connecticut; two Ottoman Turkish silver coins thought to be from the same hoard have also been unearthed in the region. 

Bailey has carefully studied each of the discoveries while researching historical sources about the pirates who might have brought the coins to the Americas; and in 2017, some of his work was published in the Colonial Newsletter, a research journal published by the American Numismatic Society. 

Several of the coins show the year they were minted, while some are marked with the names of rulers at the time, which can be used to date them. “None of the coins date after 1695, when the Ganj-i-sawai was captured,” Bailey said.

Pirate treasure

Everyone is thought to have sailed directly to Ireland after his time in the Bahamas, but Bailey’s research suggests Every first spent several weeks on the American mainland, trading in African slaves he had bought with the loot from the Ganj-i-sawai. Historical records relate that a ship Every had acquired in the Bahamas, Sea Flower, sold dozens of slaves on the mainland, and Bailey’s research suggests that Everyone was on board, he said.

Bailey thinks Every probably died in Ireland eventually, as described by some chroniclers. But others portrayed him as a swashbuckling “king” who ruled for years over a fictional pirate utopia in Madagascar. There’s no way to know if Everyone handled the New England coins himself, but Bailey thinks they were almost certainly part of the hoard looted from the Mughal ship (Some coin specialists, however, are not convinced by his theory.) 

While most of the loot was probably melted down to hide the origins, “what we’re finding basically are the coins that were being used by the pirates when they were on the run: coins for lodgings, coins for meals, coins for drinking,” he said.  Astonishingly, the coins may also have been referred to in the manhunt proclamation by King William, which stated that Every and the other fugitives had looted many “Indian and Persian” gold and silver coins from the captured ship. 

“How often do you find a coin that’s mentioned in the proclamation for the capture of a pirate and the subject of the first worldwide manhunt?” Bailey said. “It’s just fantastic.”

DENMARK, EUROPE, WORLD

Researchers stumbled upon a box of human bones that had been missing for 100 years

Researchers stumbled upon a box of human bones that had been missing for 100 years

The long-lost bones of a Viking nobleman have been found in the archives of the Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen, more than 50 years after the remains were mislabeled and vanished into museum storage.

Researchers stumbled upon a box of human bones that had been missing for 100 years
The human remains, with detail of a fabric roll around the ankle.

These artefacts came from the burial of a wealthy Viking man in Bjerringhøj, Denmark, dating to around A.D. 970, and they were excavated in 1868. Researchers brought the artefacts and remain to the Museum of Denmark for analysis, but the bones were misplaced sometime during the 20th century.

Archaeologists recently found the missing bones among artefacts and remain from another Danish Viking Age burial site, in Slotsbjergby; the mixup between the two graves likely happened “between the 1950s and 1984,” according to a new study. New analyses of the bones and fabric confirmed that the remains belonged to an older man who was likely rich and important, as he was buried in a very fancy pair of trousers, the study authors reported.

It wasn’t archaeologists who initially discovered the Bjerringhøj burial. Farmers in the village of Mammen unearthed the mound, finding a clay-sealed wooden chamber with a coffin inside; they then opened the chamber and generously “shared” its contents among their friends. Arthur Feddersen, a local schoolmaster with an interest in archaeology, heard about the find and travelled to Mammen, but by the time Feddersen got there, he found only “fragments of textiles, clumps of down feathers and human bones scattered in the soil” at the burial site, according to the study.

Researchers Charlotte Rimstad (left) and Ulla Mannering (right) with some of the textiles they studied.

“The grave was more or less looted,” said study co-author Ulla Mannering, a research professor of ancient cultures of Denmark and the Mediterranean at the National Museum of Denmark.

Feddersen promptly visited the farmers’ homes to collect and catalogue all the objects; the mound was eventually identified as a high-status Viking burial. The man in the coffin wore garments that were decorated with silk and stitched with gold and silver thread, and he was placed on a layer of down feathers that may have been stuffed inside a mattress. He was also buried with two iron axes, one of which had silver inlay, and there was a beeswax candle attached to his coffin lid.

Reconstruction of the burial chamber in Bjerringhøj.

But after the bones were brought to the museum, their trail — somehow — went cold. During the late 19th century, human remains weren’t considered to be archaeological artefacts, and one possible explanation is that the bones were separated from the rest of the Bjerringhøj objects in the decades after they were discovered, Mannering told Live Science.  

“It’s very likely that the bones were put aside, maybe awaiting some decision about how they were going to be recorded at the museum,” and they were never returned to their proper place, Mannering said. 

Subsequent efforts to locate the bones met with failure; the remains weren’t found in 1986, during a search of the museum’s collection, nor did they turn up in 2009, in a search of the Anthropological Collection at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Forensic Medicine, “where most of the human remains belonging to the National Museum of Denmark’s prehistoric collections are stored,” the study authors reported.

“It seemed that the bones had been lost forever,” the researchers wrote.

Who wears the pants?

Mannering first glimpsed the wayward remains in 2017 — though she didn’t know it at the time — while reviewing artefacts from another Viking burial site called Slotsbjergby, she told Live Science. Details in the textiles from one box differed dramatically from fabrics in the rest of the Slotsbjergby crates, “but my main focus was not the bones,” and so she didn’t investigate the box’s contents further, Mannering said.

However, when Mannering later embarked on a new project about fashion in the Viking Age, she remembered those textiles and revisited the alleged Slotsbjergby box. Pieces of the fabric in that box were wrapped around the ankle of the person’s leg bones, so the scientists determined that it was part of a cuff for a pair of long trousers. As the individual in the Slotsbjergby burial was a woman and trousers were only worn by Viking men, this strongly suggested that the bones came from a different burial.

The technique that shaped the pants cuff was also highly unusual. Small strips of fabric had been rolled and joined together, and the cuff was further decorated by a band that was woven on a tablet.

“This is a detail that hasn’t been seen before to my knowledge in any Viking Age find in Denmark,” Mannering said. 

However, the structure of this peculiar rolled-fabric trouser cuff closely resembled that in a pair of well-preserved sleeve cuffs from the Bjerringhøj burial, whose occupant was male. The scientists verified their hypothesis by comparing the fabric and remains with objects from Bjerringhøj, using computed X-ray tomography (CT) scans and radiocarbon dating to examine the bones; they also analyzed fibres and dyes in the textiles.

“There can be no doubt that these bones are from the Bjerringhøj grave,” Mannering said.

Their analysis showed that the Bjerringhøj man was an adult, around 30 years old or possibly older when he died, and signs of inflammation around his knees may reflect an active lifestyle that included lots of horseback riding, study authors reported. Judging by the elaborateness of his fancy pants, this Viking noble may also have been a bit of a clothes horse.

“The design of the trousers is really exquisite, with silk, and silver and gold threads,” Mannering said. “There are lots of colours and very unusual details attached to his costume — he must have looked really fantastic.”

The findings were published online in the journal Antiquity.

EUROPE, GREECE, WORLD

‘Folded’ iron sword found in a Roman soldier’s grave was part of a pagan ritual

‘Folded’ iron sword found in a Roman soldier’s grave was part of a pagan ritual

An iron sword deliberately bent as part of a pagan ritual has been discovered in a Roman soldier’s grave in Greece, an archaeologist has revealed. The deformed or ‘folded’ sword was buried with an as yet unidentified soldier about 1,600 years ago in the Greek city of Thessaloniki.

His ‘arch-shaped’ grave was found in the underground remains of a basilica – a large public building and place of worship – dating from the fifth century AD. 

Along with the sword, the man was found buried with a spearhead and a ‘shield-boss’ – the circular centre of a shield.  

The sword (pictured) was deliberately bent in some form of pagan ritual, according to a Greek archaeologist

The ‘astonishing’ findings have been shared by Errikos Maniotis, an archaeologist at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, who believes the man likely served in the Roman imperial army. 

‘Usually, these types of swords were used by the auxiliary cavalry forces of the Roman army,’ Maniotis told Live Science. 

‘Thus, we may say that the deceased, taking also into consideration the importance of the burial location, was a high-ranking officer of the Roman army.

It’s rare to find a ‘folded’ sword in an urban landscape, let alone in this part of Europe, Maniotis pointed out. 

Image of the underground remains of the ancient basilica – a large public building and place of worship

‘Folded swords are usually excavated in sites in Northern Europe,’ he said.

‘It seems that Romans didn’t practise it, let alone when the new religion, Christianity, dominated, due to the fact that this ritual [was] considered to be pagan.’

Archaeologists are yet to assess the remains of the soldier, described as likely a ‘Romanized Goth or from any other Germanic tribe who served as a mercenary’. 

‘We don’t know anything about his profile – age of death, cause of death, possible wounds that he might have from the wars he fought,’ Maniotis said.        

The soldier’s grave was one of seven found in the basilica, but not all of them were found to contain artefacts.

Along with the sword, the man was found buried with a spearhead and a ‘shield-boss’ – the circular centre of a shield.
Researchers have called it the ‘Sintrivani basilica’ after the upcoming station, which itself is named after an Ottoman fountain near the entrance (pictured)

According to Live Science, the basilica was discovered in 2010 during an excavation in preparation for the construction of a new subway line – the Sintrivani station, which is due to enter service in 2023.  

Researchers have called it the ‘Sintrivani basilica’ after the station, which itself is named after an Ottoman fountain near the entrance. 

Allegedly, the basilica was built over a fourth-century chapel, which might be the oldest Christian church in Thessaloniki, according to Maniotis.    

The church was damaged in the seventh century and abandoned in the eighth or ninth century, he added.  

Archaeologists have also excavated the basilica’s ‘beautiful’ mosaic floor, which ‘shows a vine with birds on its stalks’, including a mythical phoenix with a halo.  

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Early Bronze Age Ax Heads Discovered in England

Early Bronze Age Ax Heads Discovered in England

Metal detectorists have made a “remarkable” discovery unearthing two Bronze Age axe heads on land owned by a farmer in Wiltshire. Kay Stevenson, from Winterbourne in South Gloucestershire, said the finds could be about 4,000 years old.

Early Bronze Age Ax Heads Discovered in England
BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL
The axe heads are several thousands of years old

“I knelt down and dug it up, then realised it looked like an axe head.”

“I didn’t realise the significance of what we found until we spoke to Bristol Museum, it’s bonkers thinking about it,” she said.

THE PUNK METAL DETECTORISTS

Ms Stevenson said she stumbled across the heads while out walking with friends

Ms Stevenson found the heads on 24 March with her partner Ade Rice.

Together they call themselves the Punk Metal Detectorists.

“I was absolutely hooked after trying it out once and I haven’t looked back since,” she said.

On this occasion, she said they were wandering about with friends when “all of a sudden” they found the axe heads.

“I knelt down and dug it up. I walked on a little bit further and found another one.

“Ade immediately knew they were Bronze Age axe heads.”

‘Incredibly important artefacts’

The axes date back to some of the earliest metalworking in Britain, and finding two in one location was unusual, according to Kurt Adams, Finds Liaison Officer for Gloucestershire and Avon.

“Bronze Age finds are incredibly rare,” he said.

“When we do see finds they tend to be later Bronze Age.”

The heads are being stored in Bristol Museum and the case is with a coroner who will establish the reward value.

Mr Adams said it was “a fantastic find”.

“They date to 2,200 BC to 1,800 BC, so they’re around 4,000 years old.

“They were used for cutting down trees.

“They are incredibly important artefacts for this country,” he added.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Skeleton of Roman mercenary and medieval remains found buried in Wales

Skeleton of Roman mercenary and medieval remains found buried in Wales

The 1,700-year-old skeleton of a Roman mercenary has been unearthed next to a newly-built road in the Welsh countryside. Archaeologists discovered the mercenary buried with his sword alongside Iron Age farming tools, ancient burial sites, and the remnants of roundhouses.

A total of 456 skeletons have been recovered from the site on Five Mile Lane near Barry, South Wales, including five likely to date to the Roman period. 

Among them were the mercenary and his military regalia, along with the remains of one man who had been decapitated and his head placed at his feet.

Improvement work on Five Mile Lane led to the ‘significant’ and ‘surprising’ finds, with three sites being excavated.

The earliest features found were several Bronze Age burnt pits, along with a Late Bronze Age crouch burial and artefacts from the period, including a flint arrowhead.

The 1,700-year-old skeleton of a Roman mercenary has been unearthed next to a newly-built road in the Welsh countryside
Archaeologists discovered the mercenary buried with his sword alongside Iron Age farming tools, ancient burial sites, and the remnants of roundhouses. Pictured is a Roman villa unearthed by archaeologists

An Early Bronze Age beaker was also discovered to the north of the burial mound. 

After the mid-to-late Bronze Age activity, the next known settlement on the site occurred during the Late Iron Age to the early Roman transition period. Roman pottery decorated with a leaping animal – possibly a lion or panther – was also unearthed.

Council officials brought in specialist archaeology firm Rubicon Heritage Services to manage the digs on the road leading to Cardiff Airport. 

‘From a ceremonial and funerary landscape in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, through to farming in the Iron Age and being part of a wealthy Roman farmstead, to a Medieval burial ground which reused the earlier burial mound, and finally to the post-medieval agricultural landscape we see today, the archaeologists were able to trace the development of this swathe of land, uncovering many surprises along the way,’ the company said.

Mark Collard, of Rubicon Heritage Services, added: ‘It was a privilege for our team to have delivered a project which added so many new discoveries about the archaeology and history of the Vale of Glamorgan.

‘We’re very pleased to be able now to share the results in such an accessible format with the communities of the area.’ 

Pictured here is a piece of Roman pottery which was also found at the scene by archaeology firm Rubicon Heritage Services

In the 1960s, a prehistoric settlement that developed into a Roman villa was excavated following the discovery of crop marks visible from the air.

Whitton Lodge is thought to have been occupied from about 50 BC to the 4th century AD, at the close of the Roman period. 

Throughout its lifetime the settlement was characterised by changing layouts made up of three to five buildings, archaeologists have said, but during the Roman period, it formed the focus of a farmstead. 

The archaeologists were assisted by the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff University, Cadw and the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust. 

Emma Reed, of Vale of Glamorgan Council, said: ‘It’s great to learn that the archaeological study at Five Mile Lane has uncovered such a detailed history of the area.

‘The scheme has uncovered fascinating and at times surprising remains, that help us to understand the shaping of the agricultural landscape that we see today.’ 

After they are analysed and documented, the artefacts will be given to the National Museum of Wales.  An academic report on the finds is also due to be published later this year.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Stolen Darwin journals returned to the Cambridge University library

Stolen Darwin journals returned to the Cambridge University library

A pair of Charles Darwin’s iconic notebooks have been returned to their rightful home more than 20 years after they were mysteriously stolen. The contents of the notebooks include the naturalist’s first doodle of the “tree of life,” which he sketched out decades before formulating his theory of evolution by natural selection.     

One of the recently recovered notebooks features Charles Darwin’s first sketch of the “tree of life.”

The notebooks are part of the Darwin Archive at Cambridge University Library in the U.K., which contains journals, manuscripts and more than 15,000 letters written by Darwin.

The journals were originally stored in the library’s high-security Special Collections Strong Rooms but were removed from storage in November 2000 for a photoshoot. Library officials assumed that the notebooks had been returned to safety after the photoshoot, but during a routine audit in January 2001, librarians discovered that the notebooks were missing.

The library staff initially suspected that the notebooks had been misplaced, but in 2020, the staff conducted a new search for the documents — the largest in the library’s history — and came up empty-handed. The library concluded that the notebooks had most likely been stolen, Live Science previously reported.   

But now, they’ve finally turned up: Librarians found the notebooks on March 9 outside the door of a fourth-floor office in the 17-story building.

The journals were swathed in plastic wrap and left in a box inside a bright-pink gift bag, along with a printed note that read “Librarian Happy Easter X,” according to a statement from the library.

“My sense of relief at the notebooks’ safe return is profound and almost impossible to adequately express,” Jessica Gardner, a librarian at Cambridge University Library, said in the statement. “I was heartbroken to learn of their loss, and my joy at their return is immense.”

The leather-bound notebooks are in “remarkably good condition,” and all the pages are accounted for, according to the statement. Experts think the notebooks have barely been handled, and a special analysis of the ink has confirmed that the notebooks are almost certainly genuine, according to the BBC.

The notebooks are part of the “Transmutation Notebooks,” a collection of journals in which Darwin first laid out his ideas of how animals transmute, or change, over time, which we now know is the result of adaptations caused by genetic mutations in DNA.

The recently recovered books were the second and third instalments of the Transmutation Notebooks and are labelled “B” and “C.” Darwin wrote the Transmutation Notebooks in 1837, when he was 28 years old, shortly after returning from his five-year voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle. 

Both of the recovered notebooks are on a library table.

The standout feature of the notebooks is a sketch of a rudimentary tree of life in notebook B showing how species diverge from a common ancestor over time, above which he simply wrote, “I think.” This was more than 20 years before Darwin published his theory of evolution in the book “On the Origin of Species” in 1859. “They may be tiny, just the size of postcards, but the notebooks’ impact on the history of science cannot be overstated,” Gardner said in the statement. 

The library will reunite the notebooks with the rest of the Darwin Archive at Cambridge University Library, alongside the archives of other famous scientists, such as Sir Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking, according to the statement.

The three scientists are also buried right next to each other at Westminster Abbey in London, Live Science previously reported.

Members of the public can see the notebooks when they go on display as a part of the “Darwin in Conversation” exhibition showcasing Darwin’s letters and notebooks at Cambridge University Library in July.

The exhibition will also be transferred to the New York Public Library in 2023. Digital copies of the two notebooks, B and C, can be viewed online.

Stolen Darwin journals returned to the Cambridge University library
The two Darwin notebooks were anonymously returned to where they were taken from in a box in a pink gift bag, along with an envelope signed, “Librarian Happy Easter X.”

Police are continuing to investigate the notebooks’ disappearance, but currently, there are no clues as to who stole the notebooks or where they have been for the past 20 years.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Turkish experts find 4 Umayyad epigraphs in the ancient city Knidos

Turkish experts find 4 Umayyad epigraphs in the ancient city Knidos

MUĞLA

Four inscriptions made of marble and limestone from the Umayyad period have been unearthed during the archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Knidos in the western province of Muğla’s Datça district.

The excavations have been carried out in the ancient city under the direction of Professor Ertekin Doksanaltı from Selçuk University’s Archaeology Department, with a team of 40 people consisting of geologists, architects, restorers, art historians, biologists, anthropologists, and excavation workers.

Four inscriptions were determined to belong to the Umayyads, who ruled in the city of Knidos between 685 and 711.

Turkish experts find 4 Umayyad epigraphs in the ancient city Knidos
One of the epigraphs belonging to the Umayyad period was unearthed during excavations in the ancient city of Knidos, Muğla, Turkey.

It has been determined that the names of tribes that would participate in the Umayyad expedition to Istanbul, as well as commanders and administrators, are written on the four inscriptions found during the excavations.

Doksanaltı said that excavations have been carried out since 2016 in the ancient city of Knidos within the framework of the 12-month excavation project of the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

This collage shows epigraphs belonging to the Umayyad period unearthed during excavations in the ancient city of Knidos, Muğla, Turkey, on April 3, 2022.

Stating that amazing archaeological discoveries were made during the excavations, Doksanaltı said: “On the first day of Ramadan, Knidos presented us with a beautiful gift. Four new Umayyad inscriptions were unearthed during the archaeological excavations.

These inscriptions, which are the largest remains of early Islam in Western Anatolia, contain names of tribes, commanders, and rulers who participated in two of the three expeditions organized by the Umayyads to Istanbul.

Knidos, which offers many new data from the ancient period, showed how important it can be in terms of Islamic historiography with its data that will shed light on the early periods of Islam.”

Stating that the inscriptions vary in length from 15 centimetres to 1 meter, Doksanaltı said that the examinations continue on the artefacts.

Founded by Greek settlers, Knidos became an important cultural and political centre after the fifth century B.C. because of being a busy trading hub in the region.

The city was also famed for its association with Aphrodite and for its famous statue of the goddess, sculpted by Praxiteles of Athens.

ASIA, EUROPE, HUNGARY, MONGOLIA, WORLD

Genetic Study Tracks Warriors from Mongolia to Hungary

Genetic Study Tracks Warriors from Mongolia to Hungary

Less known than Attila’s Huns, the Avars were their more successful successors. They ruled much of Central and Eastern Europe for almost 250 years. We know that they came from Central Asia in the sixth century CE, but ancient authors, as well as modern historians, have long debated their provenance.

Reconstruction of an Avar-period armoured horseman based on Grave 1341/1503 of the Derecske-Bikás-dűlő site (Déri Museum, Debrecen).

Now, a multidisciplinary research team of geneticists, archaeologists and historians, including researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, obtained and studied the first ancient genomes from the most important Avar elite sites discovered in contemporary Hungary.

This study traces the genetic origin of the Avar elite to a faraway region of East-Central Asia. It provides direct genetic evidence for one of the largest and most rapid long-distance migrations in ancient human history.

In the 560s, the Avars established an empire that lasted more than 200 years, centered in the Carpathian Basin. Despite much scholarly debate their initial homeland and origin have remained unclear.

They are primarily known from historical sources of their enemies, the Byzantines, who wondered about the origin of the fearsome Avar warriors after their sudden appearance in Europe. Had they come from the Rouran empire in the Mongolian steppe (which had just been destroyed by the Turks), or should one believe the Turks who strongly disputed such a legacy?

Historians have wondered whether that was a well-organized migrant group or a mixed band of fugitives. Archaeological research has pointed to many parallels between the Carpathian Basin and Eurasian nomadic artifacts (weapons, vessels, horse harnesses), for instance, a lunula-shaped pectoral of gold used as a symbol of power. We also know that the Avars introduced the stirrup in Europe. Yet we have so far not been able to trace their origin in the wide Eurasian steppes.

In this study, a multidisciplinary team—including researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, the ELTE University and the Institute of Archaeogenomics of Budapest, Harvard Medical School in Boston, the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton—analyzed 66 individuals from the Carpathian Basin.

The study included the eight richest Avar graves ever discovered, overflowing with golden objects, as well as other individuals from the region prior to and during the Avar age.

“We address a question that has been a mystery for more than 1400 years: who were the Avar elites, mysterious founders of an empire that almost crushed Constantinople and for more than 200 years ruled the lands of modern-day Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Austria, Croatia and Serbia?” explains Johannes Krause, senior author of the study.

Genetic Study Tracks Warriors from Mongolia to Hungary
Derecske-Bikás-dűlő, Grave 1341/1503 (Déri Museum, Debrecen).

Fastest long-distance migration in human history

The Avars did not leave written records about their history and these first genome-wide data provide robust clues about their origins.

“The historical contextualization of the archaeogenetic results allowed us to narrow down the timing of the proposed Avar migration.

They covered more than 5000 kilometres in a few years from Mongolia to the Caucasus, and after ten more years settled in what is now Hungary. This is the fastest long-distance migration in human history that we can reconstruct up to this point,” explains Choongwon Jeong, co-senior author of the study.

Guido Gnecchi-Ruscone, the lead author of the study, adds that “besides their clear affinity to Northeast Asia and their likely origin due to the fall of the Rouran Empire, we also see that the 7th-century Avar period elites show 20 to 30 per cent of additional non-local ancestry, likely associated with the North Caucasus and the Western Asian Steppe, which could suggest further migration from the Steppe after their arrival in the 6th century.”

The East Asian ancestry is found in individuals from several sites in the core settlement area between the Danube and Tisza rivers in modern-day central Hungary.

However, outside the primary settlement region, we find high variability in inter-individual levels of admixture, especially in the south-Hungarian site of Kölked. This suggests an immigrant Avars elite ruling a diverse population with the help of a heterogeneous local elite.

These exciting results show how much potential there is in the unprecedented collaboration between geneticists, archaeologists, historians and anthropologists for the research on the “Migration period” in the first millennium CE. The research was published in Cell.