Category Archives: EUROPE

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Bolza family turns 1,000-year-old Italian castle into Hotel Castello di Reschio

Bolza family turns 1,000-year-old Italian castle into Hotel Castello di Reschio

A 10th-century castle in the Umbrian hills has been restored and transformed into a hotel by Count Benedikt Bolza and his family, who created custom furniture for its 36 suites, restaurant and spa.

Welcoming its first guests in spring 2021, Hotel Castello di Reschio comprises 30 suites within the historic castle. The hotel sits within the sprawling Reschio estate, which was acquired by Count Antonio Bolza in 1994, lies on the border between Umbria and Tuscany and is dotted with farmhouses.

The crumbling buildings were slowly restored into private homes by his son Benedikt and daughter-in-law Donna before they turned their attention to the site’s impressive 1,000-year-old castle and surrounding structures.

The family lived in the stone “Castello” for a decade while they worked to protect and restore the architecture, then create interiors that respect the ancient building while offering modern comforts.

In total 30 suites were built within the castle itself, with some rooms having views of the central courtyard garden, while others look out over the rolling hills.

A further six suites were built next to the parish church.

All of the rooms were decorated with terracotta-brick or wooden floors, hand-stitched linen curtains, Italian fabrics, and locally crafted marble and brass vanities.

Benedikt Bolza also designed and crafted bespoke beds and lighting for the hotel via his own furniture brand, BB for Reschio. These are mixed with portraits, photos and other curios sourced from local antique markets.

“Benedikt has embraced an organic approach to the design, championing local craftsmanship and creating thoughtful, whimsical spaces that are filled with comfort and wit, while artfully nodding to the fascinating characters who once resided within the castle walls,” said the family.

The Tower Suite, which is entered over the castle’s gateway and spread over five levels, boasts two bedrooms, a living room, a study, and a roof garden with an open-air bathtub.

Dining options for guests include the Ristorante Al Castello, located in the castle’s western ramparts and serving Italian dishes made with produce grown on the estate.

The verdant Palm Court is a new structural addition modelled on iron-and-glass Victorian conservatories, which is intended as a space for reading, conversation or enjoying cakes and cocktails from the adjacent bar.

Another alternative is Il Torrino, the converted watchtower that serves light fare and drinks, and overlooks an oval swimming pool.

The hotel spa is situated in the vaulted stone cellar, where hammams, saunas and plunge pools are atmospherically lit by shards of sunlight through the arrow slits and windows.

Guests seeking a more active experience can explore the estate on foot or bicycle, or take horse-riding lessons at the Equestrian Centre. Many of the region’s historic towns and cities are also a short drive away, for those who wish to explore further afield.

Castles and ancient buildings across Italy have been converted into guest accommodation while maintaining their original charm and character.

Another example, also in Umbria, is a 12th-century watchtower that was reconstructed and turned into a holiday retreat.

EUROPE, WORLD

The Bosnian Pyramids: One of the Greatest Finds ever

The Bosnian Pyramids: One of the Greatest Finds ever

It’s either one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of our time, or man has made a giant pyramid out of a molehill.

In the wake of recent news that evidence of colossal pyramids had been found in the small Bosnian town of Visoko, many in the archaeological community are speaking out and dismissing both the discovery and the man who made it, businessman Semir Osmanagic.

Some critics have gone as far as to call the pyramid an absurd publicity stunt.

But Osmanagic stands by his claim.

“They are jealous,” Osmanagic told LiveScience in a telephone interview. “These people are going crazy because they’ve been teaching students that these [Bosnians] were cavemen and all of a sudden they are finding complex structures here.”

Something is there

Osmanagic first noticed the irregularly shaped hills on a trip to the town, located 18 miles north of Sarajevo. Preliminary digging uncovered mysterious slabs in a stone not native to the immediate area.

Further excavation of the hills in April of this year, along with the incredible announcement that one would be much larger than the great pyramid of Cheops at Giza, Egypt, prompted the most recent news release.

Satellite images, thermal analysis and radar studies have been performed at the site, all independently confirming the existence of pyramid-shaped architecture, according to Osmanagic. More importantly, he said, the tests suggest that the layout could not have been man-made.

Photos released by the media and made available on Osmanagic’s website show a series of stone plates buried just beneath the top layer of soil and vegetation. Despite the tests and pictures, some archaeologists aren’t convinced by his claims.

“Clearly there are voids or something similar in the rock, but that is a long way from saying these are man-made,” said Anthony Harding, president of the European Association of Archaeologists.

The pyramids could be upwards of 12,000 years old, Osmanagic has deduced, based on geological knowledge of the area. That is a main point of contention for specialists concerned with archaeology in the Balkan region.

“Europe was in the late Upper Paleolithic at this point and no one was building anything except flimsy huts,” Harding said.

Workers at Visoko are spending this dig season sending twelve probing wells into different spots on the hill. Radiocarbon dating on organic material taken from the site may be performed as early as this fall, Osmanagic said.

No formal training

Whatever the outcome of the tests, critics also charge that the media did not do enough research into the background of Osmanagic, who has no formal archaeological training.

“A self-described archaeologist, who believes the Maya and others are descended from Atlanteans … has been accepted as a legitimate researcher by many news outlets,” writes Archaeology magazine online editor Mark Rose, in reference to Osmanagic’s somewhat unorthodox interpretation of the Mayan culture found in his book, “The World of the Maya” (Gorgias Press, Euphrates imprint, 2005).

The Bosnians spent fifteen years studying pyramids throughout the world and much of that time was in Mexico and Central America.

Many of those conducting the fieldwork at Visoko are local volunteers, not professionals. Experts worry that the often arduous scientific process is being eschewed in favour of some quick publicity for the country of Bosnia-Herzegovina, which has been hungry for the good press after years of civil conflict dogged it in the 1990s.

“It adds insult to injury when rich outsiders can come in and spend large sums pursuing their absurd theories (the construction of a colossal pyramid so large that it dwarfs even those of Egypt or Mesoamerica? 12,000 years ago?), in ways that most other countries would never countenance,” Harding wrote in an April 25 letter to the editor of The London Times.

Work is slated to continue at Visoko, by which time Osmanagic believes the research will have vindicated his theories. Meanwhile, he isn’t worried that what he’s found does not mesh with current thinking.

“We laugh at the people who said that the world was flat, and they laughed at Galileo,” he said. “The history books will just have to be rewritten from scratch, that’s all.”

Visiting tourists can dine on pyramid-shaped pizza, stay in the Motel Pyramid of the Sun or purchase pyramid-themed statues, wood carvings and piggy banks.
ASIA, EUROPE, RUSSIA, WORLD

Extremely Well-Preserved Woolly Rhino Is Discovered in Siberia’s Melting Permafrost

Extremely Well-Preserved Woolly Rhino Is Discovered in Siberia’s Melting Permafrost

Melting permafrost in the icy north of Siberia is revealing a veritable graveyard of frozen prehistoric animals.

In recent decades, locals and scientists in the Russian Republic of Yakutia have uncovered the ancient carcasses of two cave lion cubs, a bison, a horse, a baby woolly rhinoceros, and the most intact woolly mammoth ever found. 

As climate change continues to pull back this crucial carpet of ice, we’re bound to uncover more. Close to where the world’s first and, reportedly only, the baby woolly rhino was found, residents have now discovered another of its kind, and this time, the carcass is almost 80 per cent intact.

Extremely Well-Preserved Woolly Rhino Is Discovered in Siberia’s Melting Permafrost
Extremely Well-Preserved Woolly Rhino Is Discovered in Siberia’s Melting Permafrost

Preserved in ice for tens of thousands of years, this juvenile woolly rhino still has its thick, reddish-brown hair, all of its limbs, and most of its internal organs, including its intestines.

The rhino’s horn was found next to the carcass

To date, this furry little creature is the best-preserved woolly rhino found in the Arctic Yakutia and may even be the most intact ever discovered anywhere in the world.

“The young rhino was between three and four years old and lived separately from its mother when it died, most likely by drowning,” palaeontologist Valery Plotnikov from the Russian Academy of Sciences, who made the first description of the find, told The Siberian Times. 

“The gender of the animal is still unknown. We are waiting for the radiocarbon analyses to define when it lived, the most likely range of dates is between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago.” 

The hair on this long-dead creature might look patchy and bedraggled now, but it speaks of a much thicker and luscious past. Looking at the layout of the hairs, scientists think the animal most likely died with its summer coat, although further lab analysis is needed. 

To do that, however, more ice needs to form. Found downstream of the Tirekhtyakh River in August, the rhino carcass is in a particularly tricky spot to access.

The carcass was found by a local resident on the banks of a river in eastern Siberia in August

Yakutia’s vast, remote territory only has a few roads, and in the summertime, many places are only accessible by boat or by air. Not until winter does things start to open up.

This is when a network of temporary ice roads begin to form, allowing truckers to transport goods to the region’s northernmost settlements.

Yet, even without a closer examination of the carcass, it’s clear this find is a big one. Previously, the only other woolly rhino found in this region was an even younger baby named Sasha, and her hair was more strawberry blonde.

Both discoveries have Plotnikov thinking woolly rhinos were already adapted to the freezing climate from a young age. Marks on the horns of this recent one suggest it foraged for food.

“There are soft tissues in the back of the carcass, possibly genitals and part of the intestine,” he told RT. 

“This makes it possible to study the excreta, which will allow us to reconstruct the paleoenvironment of that period.”

The team already has plans to send the rhino to the capital of Yakutia for further analysis. The carcass will then be sent to Sweden, where researchers are working to sequence the genomes of multiple rhinos to better understand their history and why they went extinct.

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

Hoard of 1,800-Year-Old Silver Coins Discovered in Germany

Hoard of 1,800-Year-Old Silver Coins Discovered in Germany

More than 5,500 silver coins buried by a river about 1,800 years ago are now in the hands of archaeologists, following the hoard’s discovery in Augsburg, Germany. 

About 5,500 Roman silver coins were found in the hoard. Cleaning and analysis of the coins are underway.

At the time of the coins’ burial, the Roman Empire was in full swing, with its coinage reaching all corners of its territory and beyond.

These coins “are denarii, the standard silver denomination during the 1st-early 3rd century [A.D.],” Stefan Krmnicek, a professor of ancient numismatics (the study of coins) at the University of Tübingen in Germany, told Live Science in an email.

Archaeologists found the hoard earlier this year in an old riverbed. But though the coins were scattered in the newly dug pit, that likely wasn’t how they were originally placed.

“The place of hiding was probably washed away many centuries later by a flood of the Wertach river, scattering the coins in the river gravel,” Krmnicek said. 

“We have just started cleaning and studying the material,” but so far, it appears that “the youngest coin of the hoard was minted at the beginning of the 3rd century [A.D.], thus dating the deposition of the hoard in the early 3rd century,” Krmnicek said.

“We currently hypothesize that the hoard was buried in the early 3rd century outside the Roman city of Augusta Vindelicum, near the Via Claudia Augusta [a Roman road] running there.” 

At that time, Augusta Vindelicum was the capital of the Roman province of Raetia, Krmnicek said. Why the hoard was buried is an ongoing mystery that researchers are trying to solve. 

“We do not yet know why the hoard was deposited,” Krmnicek said, noting that Leo Brey, a doctoral candidate at the University of Tübingen, is trying to solve this “riddle” in his research.

The hoard was excavated by Sebastian Gairhos, director of the Archaeological Service of the City of Augsburg. No artefacts other than the coins were found with the hoard.

EUROPE, SWITZERLAND, WORLD

Melting Glaciers Reveal 10,000-Year-Old Artifacts Belonging to Mysterious People

Melting Glaciers Reveal 10,000-Year-Old Artifacts Belonging to Mysterious People

Climate changes are a major threat to humanity, but as it seems, there is one science that truly benefits from the terrible changes – archaeology.  When it comes to melting ice or, more specifically, melting glaciers around the world, it has created an incredible opportunity for archaeologists and scientists to dig out old and even ancient artefacts.

Recent Discoveries in Melting Alpine Glaciers

For years, archaeologists had theories that ancient hunters and gatherers collected rocks and crystals needed for tools from the mountains more than 9500 years ago in the Mesolithic era.

The continuous environmental changes and the melting glaciers in the Alps revealed another valuable archaeological site that confirmed these scientific suggestions. What they found was a crystal vein filled with rocks identical to those used millennia ago for ancient tools.

Although these climate changes are undoubtedly not in favour of Earth’s and our future, they laid the foundations of a brand new archaeology branch – glacier archaeology.

This recent excavation mission was conducted at an impressive altitude of 2,800 meters in eastern Switzerland.

How important is this discovery?

To be exact, any ancient artefact or archaeological discovery is significant since it puts another piece to the historical puzzle of our kind. When it comes to glacier archaeology and the discoveries from the past twenty or so years, they totally changed our prehistoric people’s perception.

For example, it was once believed that the prehistoric communities stayed away from the mountains since they were challenging to maneuver and gave few opportunities for settling down.

Opportunities for discoveries like those from the melting glacier ice changed this perception and showed that prehistoric individuals did climb the intimidating mountains in various instances.

Moreover, excavations from the recent decades unraveled evidence that the mountains were bustling with human activities from the earliest periods of human history.

The earliest discovery from melting glacier ice in the Alps occurred in 1991 when the fully-preserved body of a 5300-year-old warrior emerged from the melting ice.

The photographs are a tide intimidating, thus, I will not include them in the article, but you can see pictures of the ancient man by searching “Oetzi” online.

Laced shoes dated to at least 2,800 BC found in the melting glaciers of the Alps.

In 2003, a 3000-year-old birch bark quiver was found at an altitude of 2756 meters.

A few years later, excavations revealed leather clothes and shoes at an archaeological site dating to 4500 BC. In a normal scenario, these artefacts would have been destroyed by erosion and time, but they were perfectly preserved in the glacier ice, as can be seen in the photograph.

Melting Glaciers are an archaeological emergency

Unfortunately, it is estimated that more than 90% of all glaciers in the Alps could melt before the end of the current century. While this is an absolute climate disaster, it also creates an archaeological emergency since nobody knows how many important artefacts it could reveal and how many will be lost forever.

In other words, as I mentioned above, ice will preserve certain objects, but once it is gone, these objects will either be taken by normal people or be destroyed by erosion.

Archaeologists have already spoken about the issue that countless ancient artefacts could be laying in people’s homes after being found in the mountains.

Archaeologists do not have the funding or the capabilities to maintain consistent excavations on all melting glacier sites, which means that countless artefacts could be lost if we do not act quickly. All they have is a short window to extract all the useful historical data until it disappears forever.

They also mention that people in the Alpine regions need to be well informed of the possibility of finding an important item or artefact and, most importantly, then give it to the authorities instead of keeping it as a trophy on the wall.

EUROPE, WORLD

Mercury Detected in Remains from Copper Age Iberia

Mercury Detected in Remains from Copper Age Iberia

A recent paper published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology and in which researchers from the University of Seville participate explores the complex relationship between humans and mercury over time.

In this article, entitled “The use and abuse of cinnabar in Late Neolithic and Copper Age Iberia”, a team of 14 specialists in biology, chemistry, physical anthropology and archaeology have presented the results of the largest study ever carried out on the presence of mercury in human bone, with a sample of a total of 370 individuals from 50 tombs located in 23 archaeological sites in Spain and Portugal dating from Neolithic, Copper Age, Bronze Age and Antiquity, thus encompassing 5000 years of human history.

The results reveal that the highest levels of mercury exposure occurred at the beginning of the Copper Age, between 2900 and 2600 BC.

In this period, the exploitation and use of cinnabar increased considerably for social and cultural reasons. Cinnabar (HgS) is a mercury sulfide mineral that, when pulverized, turns into a powder of a striking and brilliant red colour.

Historically, this substance has been used to produce pigments in paint, being famous already in Antiquity (“Pompeian red”) or in modern art (known as “vermilion”). It so happens that the largest cinnabar mine in the world, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, is located in Almadén, in central Spain).

The exploitation of the Almadén cinnabar began in the Neolithic, 7000 years ago.

By the beginning of the Copper Age, around 5000 years ago, cinnabar became a product of great social value, with a character that was both sacred, esoteric and sumptuous.

In tombs from this period discovered in southern Portugal and Andalusia, cinnabar powder (often turned into a pigment) was used to paint megalithic chambers, decorate figurines or stelae, and spread it over the dead.

As a result, many people must have accidentally inhaled or consumed it, leading to unsuspected accumulations of mercury in their bodies.

Levels of up to 400 parts per million (ppm) have been recorded in the bones of some of these individuals.

Taking into account that the WHO currently considers that the normal level of mercury in hair should not be higher than 1 or 2 ppm, the data obtained reveal a high level of intoxication that must have severely affected the health of many of those people.

In fact, the levels detected in some subjects are so high that the study authors do not rule out that cinnabar powder was deliberately consumed, by inhalation of vapours, or even ingestion, for the ritual, symbolic and esoteric value that was attributed to it.

The results of this study provide scientific evidence of great value to expand future research on the complex relationship of human beings with mercury, one of the most peculiar mineral substances on our planet, and to learn about its uses and their consequences for human health.

EUROPE, FRANCE, WORLD

Archaeologists discover medieval ports in west France

Archaeologists discover medieval port in west France

A medieval port has been discovered in a 2,500m2 building site and archaeological dig surrounding a chateau in Vendée, western France.

The findings are in unusually good condition due to high humidity levels in the soil.

Among the discoveries are a large number of oak beams that are extremely well-preserved thanks to the levels of underground humidity in Talmont-Saint-Hilaire, where the dig has been taking place.

Specialist in wood structures Pierre Péfou told FranceInfo that the discoveries were in such good condition that the team would “be able to identify a very precise date and recreate all of the forested countryside [of the time]”.

He said that visible rings in cross-sections of wood could be used to find out “if it was a tree that grew slowly or quickly, and how the environment impacted its growth, including human activity. [We can tell] if it was pruned or if it was a shoot that grew from a tree stump”.

Archaeologists have already been able to identify a riverbank and a gutter on the site.

As the Atlantic coastline is only a few kilometres away from the site, an initial hypothesis is that boats and ships could have transported merchandise and people to the chateau from England or even Spain, between the 10th and 16th centuries.

Aerial view of the medieval port excavation area in the village at the foot of France’s Chateau Talmont-Saint-Hilaire.

Archaeologist Stéphane Augry said: “We can see clearly that the stones that were brought here to build the chateau come from four kilometres away, and transporting them here by boat would have been much easier. 

“It’s cost-effective and means you can transport large quantities of material at once.”

Other findings include artefacts that indicate there was a strong wine trade in the area, including remnants of grape must (freshly crushed grape juice including the skin, seeds and stems of the fruit).

Excavation of stone and wooden structures of the medieval port at the foot of the castle.

A metal pilgrims medal has also been discovered, indicating a fishing trade and economic exchange.

The main artefacts have been collected and transported away from the site to be studied by researchers at L’Institut national de Recherches archéologiques préventives.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Bone workshop and oil lamp shop unearthed in Aizanoi ancient city in western Turkey

Bone workshop and oil lamp shop unearthed in Aizanoi ancient city in western Turkey

Bone workshop and oil lamp shop unearthed in Aizanoi ancient city in western Turkey

A bone workshop and an oil lamp shop have been unearthed in the ancient city of Aizanoi, located in the western province of Kütahya.

The excavations in Aizanoi, which is home to the best-preserved Zeus Temple in Anatolia and is also called the “Second Ephesus,” have been carried out by the Kütahya Museum Directorate.

Gökhan Coşkun, the excavation coordinator and head of the Kütahya Dumlupinar University’s Archaeology Department, told the state-run Anadolu Agency that they were working in areas that were never excavated before.

Coşkun said they carried out work in two different wings of the agora (a public open space used for assemblies and markets in ancient Greece) and reached important findings that would shed light on the trade and social life of the ancient city.

Stating that they were able to identify two of the uncovered shops, he said, “During the excavations, thousands of bone fragments were found inside one of the stores.

Most of them were bones of cattle. It is understood that some of these pieces were used as raw materials, and they were never processed, while some of them began to be processed, but they are half-worked and unfinished. Some pieces that were processed were turned into artworks.

As far as we understand, there was a local bone workshop in Aizanoi during the Roman period and was located in the agora. It served as both a workshop and a sales shop.

Among the processed bone artefacts were mostly women’s hairpins and spoons.”

He noted the second shop was selling oil and oil lamps, adding, “During the excavation of the other shop, we found many intact and broken oil lamps used as the lighting tools in the ancient period. We can see that most of these oil lamps were used.

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This shows us that not only oil lamps were sold here, but also oil was poured into oil lamps and burned at that time.

Findings from both shops show us that local products were manufactured in Aizanoi. It is an important finding for us that important production activities were carried out in Aizanoi during the Roman era.”

The excavations at the Aizanoi site, known as the “Second Ephesus” and home to the best-preserved Zeus Temple in Anatolia.

With a history dating back to 5,000 years and situated 50 kilometres from the Kütahya city centre, Aizanoi was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2012.