The sensational second discovery in Croatia: Greek-Illyrian Helmet 2500 years old
Archaeologists found a 2500-year-old Greek-Ilyrian helmet during excavations in the Gomila area in the town of Zakotorac on Croatia’s Pelješac peninsula.
The same team that found the Greek-Ilyrian helmet in 2020, in the same place, has found the next helmet, which according to the first analysis is older than the one found earlier.
The previous example most likely belonged to a member of the warrior elite who was interred there because it was discovered in a grave with pieces of iron weapons.
Archaeologists think the recently discovered helmet may have been a votive deposit because it was discovered in a dry stone-walled addition to a grave.
The news about the sensational discovery was given last Wednesday morning by Marta Kalebota, archaeologist of the Korcula City Museum and member of the team of archaeologists excavating in Zakotorc.
“Hrvoje lifted the stone and started shouting that he had found a helmet too! It’s an understatement to say it’s a phenomenal feeling. I am very excited, an amazing find, and for the second time.
This helmet was found ten meters away as the crow flies from the location where the first one was found.
It is a little different, it is distinguished from the pages that make us conclude that what has been found now dates from the 6th century BC, which means that it is older than the first one, but we need to research the details further,” archeologist Kalebota said.
“What is very interesting is that two different types appear here in the same place, which speaks of a continuity of power of the respective community.
These helmets have always been a symbol of some kind of status and power,” said Professor Hrvoje Potrebica, from the Department of Archeology of the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb.
Both of the helmets found are of different types and dates: The helmet discovered in 2020 was of a type commonly used in Greece and Illyria in the 4th century BC.
It was an open-faced helmet with a rectangular cross-section for the face and decorative edges.
The newly found helmet is thought to date from the 6th century BC and is extremely rare. Finding two different Greek-Illyrian helmets at one site is unprecedented.
This find, along with a wealth of clothing, jewelry, and burial artifacts unearthed since the excavations began, greatly expands our knowledge of the funeral practices of Illyrian communities in the latter half of the first millennium BCE.
Medieval Lincoln imp found in hidden trapdoor above toilet
Tracy and Rory Vorster living in Lincoln, England, have discovered a trapdoor in their bathroom with a grotesque face bearing a striking resemblance to the local icon, the Lincoln Imp.
An imp is a legendary creature from European mythology that resembles a fairy or a demon and is widely mentioned in superstitions and folklore. It was first used in phrases like “imps of serpents,” “imp of hell,” “imp of the devil,” and so forth starting in the 16th century.
The Lincoln Imp, a carved stone grotesque with cow ears, cow horns, taloned hands, and a hirsute body with crossed legs, sits atop a pillar overlooking Lincoln Cathedral’s Angel Choir. He is a tiny little guy (approximately 30cm high), but he has made a big impact on the city.
He seems to have been adopted as their unofficial mascot. Probably carved in the 13th century.
The endearing little devil became the subject of legends. According to one story, Satan sent him and an imp friend to wreak havoc in northern England.
When an angel appeared out of a hymn book and turned the most rebellious, rowdiest imp to stone, they were in Lincoln Cathedral smashing stained glass, destroying furniture, and bullying the bishop.
Vorster couple removed the wooden panel, it revealed a large slab of stone featuring a carving of the Lincoln Imp.
There was an opening in the mouth that indicated it was either a urinal or some kind of drain. An expert from the Lincoln Civic Trust confirmed the first impression upon examination: it was a drain dating to the middle or late 14th century.
The Vorsters’ house is on Vicar’s Court, a building founded by the college of priests in the 13th century in the Minster Yard just south of the cathedral.
According to the BBC, the couple moved into their property earlier this year.
They said the discovery is an example of why Lincoln is “amazing”, adding they are “proud” of their house’s history.
Tracy and Rory Vorster were surprised to find a hidden trapdoor as they scrubbed their bathroom.
Mrs Vorster said: “You look at the outside of the house and that is historical enough but to now find something inside is amazing.”
Mr Vorster added: “The whole of the house has kind of a hollow walling, so we immediately thought there could be more. In fact, we’re almost certain now.
“The previous occupant had been here for over 20 years, so surely they knew. But we had absolutely no clue it was there.”
300 Year Old “Exceptional” Prosthesis made of Gold and Copper and wool Discovered in Poland
Something novel has been discovered by Polish archaeologists working on the excavation of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Krakow; it is thought to be the first discovery of its kind in the nation.
A first-of-its-kind medical prosthesis: a nearly 300-year-old device that helped a man with cleft palate live more comfortably with this condition.
Anna Spinek, an anthropologist at the Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy in Poland, explained the discovery to Live Science. “This is probably the first such discovery not only in Poland but also in Europe. No such devices exist in institutional and private collections (Polish and foreign).”
The device, described as a palatal obturator, was designed to fit into the roof of the man’s mouth. It would fit into the nasal cavity of the man replacing his hard palate.
Cleft palates arise when the hard palate, or roof of the mouth, doesn’t close during gestation. These days, cleft palates can be corrected surgically. However, this was not available to the man 300 years ago. Instead, he found another solution: this device, which was inserted into his mouth as a prosthetic.
The authors note in their paper, that the first attempts to replace missing palate parts were likely made in antiquity. Demosthenes (384-322 BC), a Greek orator, had a congenital cleft palate and may have filled open gaps in his mouth with pebbles.
The prosthetic device before and after conservation, viewed from the side. The area marked “a” is gold and “b” is a residue of copper. The bulbous “c” is a woolen pad and the flat-concave “e” is the plate below which replaces the hard palate, attached by the string “d”.
The “exceptional” device consists of two parts. A metal plate that mimics the hard palate is attached to a wool pad, designed to secure the device comfortably when fitted into the mouth.
The hard palate prevents substances in the mouth from entering the nasal cavity, and it also helps with swallowing, breathing and talking, according to the study.
The 1.2-inch-long (3.1 centimeters) prosthesis, known as a palatal obturator, weighs around 0.2 ounce (5.5 grams), according to the study. The prosthetic is overall concave in shape and designed to arch up into the nasal cavity leaving a hollow in the mouth, just as a natural hard palate would.
To better understand the prosthesis’s composition, the researchers examined it under a scanning electron microscope and used X-ray spectroscopy, which analyzes the chemical composition of a sample. They discovered that the metal pieces were primarily composed of copper, with significant amounts of gold and silver.
The wool was also tested and discovered to contain traces of silver iodide. This was most likely added to the pad because of its antimicrobial properties.
A gold, silver, and copper prosthesis was discovered in the crypt of the Church of St Francis of Assisi in Krakow
“Today, it is difficult to assess how well the obturator fitted or how tight a seal it provided,” the authors wrote in their paper. “However, modern-day patients struggling with similar health problems describe the use of a prosthesis providing improvements in speech (which becomes clearer) and increased comfort when eating.”
The study was published in the April issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
600 Years Old Sword and Equipment Found in Olsztyn
Aleksander Miedwiediew, a history buff, and detectorist discovered a bare sword, a sheath, and a knight’s belt with two knives attached, all of which most likely date from the Battle of Grunwald.
The objects were sent to regional authorities by the finder, who then passed them on to the Battle of Grunwald Museum.
The Marshal’s Office of Warmia and Masuria informed about the finding on Thursday, saying in a statement that “such findings happen once in decades”.
“It’s a phenomenal set of a sword, a sheath, a belt, and two knives. Taking into account that these artifacts date back somewhere between 14th and 15th centuries, and thus spent approx.
600 years below the earth, they have been preserved in an exceptionally good condition” – said the finder of the items Aleksander Miedwiediew. He added that in the times of their origin, such items had been extremely valuable – their price would match the price of a car today.
Miedwiediew found the items near Olsztyn. The exact location has not been revealed, as the director of the Battle of Grunwald Museum Szymon Drej said preparations for archeological exploration of that area were ongoing. “It’s puzzling that no one had taken hold of these items, very precious at the time. Maybe we will find the remains of a knight whom these things belonged to” – Drej added.
The finder of the weapons took them to the Marshal of Warmia and Masuria Marek Brzezin. The marshal passed the findings on to the Battle of Grunwald Museum where they will undergo conservation.
“The weapons will now undergo conservation and research process. We have a theory as to the sword’s medieval owner’s status, and we’re curious what’s underneath the layer of rust” – Drej added.
Other sensational discoveries have been made by Aleksander Miedwiediew.
During his annual archeological study at the Fields of Grunwald in the fall of 2020, he discovered two perfectly preserved battle axes. They were taken to the Grunwald Museum.
“Nikasitimos Was Here Mounting Timiona,” 2,500-year-old erotic graffiti on Astypalaia, Greece
In 2014, an archaeologist working on Astypalaia, a remote Greek island of the Dodecanese discovered one of the world’s oldest erotic graffiti a pair of phallus carvings dating from the 5th century BCE and a proclamation of sexual conquest from the 6th century BCE.
Archaeologists believe it is the oldest record of erotic graffiti ever found, with inscriptions and etchings documenting an ongoing sexual relationship between two men in Ancient Greece.
Professor Dr. Andreas Vlachopoulos discovered the two carved penises while he was giving his students a tour of the island. They were found etched into a limestone outcropping on the island’s windswept, rugged peninsula overlooking Vathay Bay.
In an interview with The Guardian, Professor Andreas Vlachopoulos, a specialist in prehistoric archaeology was surprised to find such sophisticated inscriptions in such an unlikely place. He called the inscriptions “monumental in scale”.
“They claimed their own space in large letters that not only expressed sexual desire but talked about the act of sex itself,” he told the Guardian. “And that is very, very rare.”
Even though sexual relations between men were not taboo in ancient Greece, these racy inscriptions and phalluses carved into Astypalaia’s rocky peninsula shed light on the very private lives of ancient Greece.
Carved on the side of the rock, archeologists found the name “DION” (ΔΙΩΝ). There was another inscription which was found 52 meters above sea level. “Nikasitimos was here mounting Timiona” (Νικασίτιμος οἶφε Τιμίονα), noted the inscription.
In addition to illuminating the intimate lives of the ancients, the graffiti demonstrated the degree of literacy at a period before the construction of the Acropolis in Athens.
The graffiti is written in the Greek alphabet, which was first developed in the 8th century BCE. It is written in a style known as “rustic,” which was popular in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE.
The letters have been expertly carved into the rock, demonstrating that regular island residents were also trained in the art of writing, in addition to philosophers, academics, and historians.
Remarkably, the erotic rock carvings have survived despite remaining exposed all these millennia to weather and erosion from the sea.
Three Strange Skull Modifications Discovered in Viking Women
In recent years, research has provided evidence for permanent body modification in the Viking Age. The latest of these investigations focused on the discovery of three Viking Age women from the Baltic Sea island of Gotland who had their skulls lengthened.
This investigation sheds light on the fascinating tradition of body modification prevalent among the Norse and Vikings.
The study, authored by Matthias Toplak and Lukas Kerk and published in the journal Current Swedish Archaeology, has identified around 130 individuals, mainly men, with horizontal grooves carved into their teeth, with a surprising concentration on Gotland.
Although there have been many interpretations of these dental changes, ranging from slave markings to symbols of warrior elites, the researchers suggest that on closer examination they may have served as identity markers within a closed group of traders.
Artificial cranial modifications in the Viking Age are so far known from just three female individuals from Gotland. Dating back to the latter part of the eleventh century, all three women were interred in different locations across Gotland. Their skull modifications gave them a unique and remarkable appearance, elongating their heads.
Further details are discerned in two of the cases: one woman passed away between the ages of 25 and 30, while the other was between 55 and 60 years old.
These cranial alterations, unlike dental modifications, appear to be alien to Scandinavian Viking culture; cases dating from the 9th to the 11th century AD have been found in Eastern Europe, suggesting that they may have originated there.
Drawing of the grave of the female individual with an artificially modified skull in grave 192 from Havor, Hablingbo parish, Gotland, by Mirosław Kuźma/Matthias Toplak
The presence of these women with modified skulls raises questions about how Gotland society interacted with and reinterpreted this form of foreign identity, the practices of which are still unknown when they arrived in Scandinavia.
“It remains unclear how the custom of skull modification reached Gotland,” the authors write. ”Either the three females from Havor, Ire, and Kvie were born in south-eastern Europe, perhaps as children of Gotlandic or East Baltic traders, and their skulls were modified there in the first years of life. Or the modifications were made on Gotland or in the eastern Baltic, respectively, and thus represent a cultural adoption long unknown to the Scandinavian Viking Age.
A common background of the three females can be assumed due to the close chronological dating of the three burials, and especially due to the very similar execution of the skull modifications.”
These three women’s elaborately decorated tombs, which feature jewelry and other accessories typical of Gotland women’s clothing, suggest they were accepted and integrated into the local community.
While the religious affiliations of these women remain unknown, Toplak and Kerk propose they were laid to rest within a Christian framework.
High-status Macedonian tomb discovered in ancient Aegae, Central Macedonia
In the ancient city of Aegae (present-day Vergina) in Imathia, Central Macedonia, during the construction of the sewerage network, tomb of a local noble, buried with his wife, was discovered.
Aegae or Aigai was the original capital of the Macedonians, an ancient kingdom in Emathia in northern Greece. In antiquity, the city remained the burial place of the royal family after the capital was transferred to the city of Pella at the beginning of the 4th century BC.
This and other important findings of the archaeological excavations carried out during the rescue excavations in the necropolis of Aigai last year were presented by Angeliki Kottaridis, Honorary Director of Antiquities, at the 36th Annual Archaeological Meeting of the “the Archaeological Project in Macedonia and Thrace in 2023” in Thessaloniki.
The tomb, which dates back to the third century BC, was discovered in an area with mounds in the northwest corner of the necropolis.
The entranceway of the tomb enclosed by piles of stones was unearthed. The interior of the tomb measures 3.7 x 2.7 meters.
Helmet discovered by archaeologists in Aigai.
“This is an important tomb because the man buried here, the main deceased, had a shield reinforced with iron pieces, and the weapons preserved in sections show that they were made in a very good workshop, so it is probably one of the hetairai (Macedonian elite cavalry),” said Kottaridi.
The interior of the tomb is decorated with an encircling golden band with bows.
The colored mortars on the facade observed by the archaeologists belong to two phases and are explained by the later burial of his wife here, while a crown of gold myrtle attracted attention among the jewels found in the tomb.
The tomb that Dimitris Pandermanlis excavated in 1969 is located just 100 meters away from this one, and it contains two additional tombs. In the archaeologist’s opinion, it is most likely a group of wealthy tombs.
The oldest evidence of human cannibalism as a funerary practice in Europe
According to a new study, cannibalism was a common funerary practice in northern Europe around 15,000 years ago, with people eating their dead not out of necessity but rather as part of their culture.
Gough’s Cave is a well-known paleolithic site in south-eastern England. Nestled in the Cheddar Gorge, the cave is perhaps best known for the discovery of 15,000 years old human skulls shaped into what are believed to have been cups and bones that had been gnawed by other humans.
A study published in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews suggests this was not an isolated incident. Their research focused on the Magdalenian period of the late Upper Paleolithic era. The Magdalenians lived some 11,000 to 17,000 years ago.
Experts at London’s National History Museum reviewed the literature to identify 59 Magdalenian sites that have human remains. Most were in France, with sites also in Germany, Spain, Russia, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Portugal. They were able to interpret the funerary behaviors at 25 of the sites.
The ritualistic manipulation of human remains and its frequent occurrence at sites across northern and western Europe suggested cannibalism was a burial practice – rather than to supplement diet – widespread in Magdalenian culture, researchers said.
‘Instead of burying their dead, these people were eating them,’ explains Dr. Silvia Bello, an expert on the evolution of human behaviour working at the Natural History Museum. ‘We interpret the evidence that cannibalism was practiced on multiple occasions across north-western Europe over a short period of time, as this practice was part of a diffuse funerary behaviour among Magdalenian groups.’
‘That in itself is interesting, because it is the oldest evidence of cannibalism as a funerary practice.’
This cannibalistic behaviour was seemingly fairly common amongst Magdalenian people of north-western Europe, but it didn’t last particularly long. There was a shift towards people burying their dead, a behaviour seen widely across south-central Europe and attributed to a second distinct culture, known as the Epigravettian.
Human remains from across north-western Europe indicate that cannibalism was a funerary practice.
This then raises the question of whether the eventual relative ubiquity of burial culture towards the end of the Palaeolithic was the result of Magdalenian people adopting primary burial as a funerary behaviour, or if their population was replaced.
Cannibalism as funerary behaviour
During the late Upper Palaeolithic, between around 23,000 and 14,000 years ago, there were two dominate cultures in western Europe, largely distinguished by the stone and bone tools the crafted.
The Epigravettian culture was mainly found living in south and eastern Europe, and buried their dead with graves goods in a way that we would perhaps consider more usual by modern standards. The Magdalenian culture from the north-west of Europe, however, were doing things differently. They were processing the bodies of their dead, removing the flesh from the corpse, eating it, and in some cases modifying the remaining bones to create new objects.
One of the main questions was whether or not this cannibalism was driven by necessity, when perhaps food was scarce or the winter long and so the people responsible were in survival mode, or whether it was a cultural behaviour.
Evidence from Gough’s Cave already suggests that the eating of the bodies there was of a more ritualistic form. This is because there is ample evidence that the people responsible were hunting and eating lots of other animals, such as deer and horses, while the careful preparation of some of the human remains like the skull cup and an engraved bone show that some was thought was being put into the cannibalism.
Dr. William Marsh is a researcher at the Natural History Museum who has been studying the human remains that have been found in Gough’s Cave for his Ph.D.
“To contextualize Gough’s Cave better, I reviewed of all the archaeological sites attributed to the Magdalenian and Epigravettian Upper Paleolithic culture,” explains William. He was able to find 59 sites across Europe from this time which had human remains, of which 13 showed evidence of cannibalism, 10 of burial and two that showed combined evidence of burial and cannibalism. What he realized was that the practice of eating the dead was fairly localized, being found at sites across western and central Europe and up into the U.K.
“The fact that we find cannibalism being practiced often on multiple occasions in over a short period of time, in a fairly localized area and solely by individuals attributed to the Magdalenian culture, means we believe this behavior was one that was performed widely by the Magdalenian, and was therefore a funerary behavior in itself,” says William.
In this context, the eating of the dead can be seen as different in practice, but perhaps not meaning, to cremations, burials or mummification.
Some of the human bones found at Gough’s Cave show evidence of having been worked, implying that the cannibalism had a ritualistic function.
Changing funerary practices
Building on this, William and Silvia were then able to look at whether any genetic analysis had been done on the human remains from these sites. This would enable the researchers to see if there were any links between who was practicing which funerary behaviors.
Remarkably, the genetic evidence seems to suggest that the two groups practicing different funerary behaviors were genetically distinct populations. All the sites from which evidence of cannibalism has been found show that the people were part of a genetic group known as “GoyetQ2,” while all of the more ordinary burials were of people who belonged to the “Villabruna” genetic group.
While both groups were living in Europe at the same time, individuals showing GoyetQ2 ancestry are associated with the region spanning the French-Spanish border, while Villabruna ancestry was carried by individuals who inhabited the Italian-Balkan region. This implies that when the practice of eating the dead ended and more conventional burials became common place in north-western Europe, it wasn’t through a spreading of ideas but rather Epigravettian people replacing the Magdalenian.
“At this time, during the terminal period of the Paleolithic, you actually see a turnover in both genetic ancestry and funerary behavior,” explains William. “The Magdalenian associated ancestry and funerary behavior is replaced by Epigravettian associated ancestry and funerary behavior, indicative of population replacement as Epigravettian groups migrated into north-western Europe.”
“We believe that rather than being an example of transcultural diffusion, the change in funerary behavior identified is an example of demic diffusion where essentially one population comes in and replaces the other population.”
Interestingly, this mirrors how researchers believe farming arrived in the U.K. some 6,000 years later.
