Category Archives: EUROPE

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Traces of 5th-century Byzantine basilica were spotted under the water of turkey lake

Traces of 5th-century Byzantine basilica were spotted under the water of turkey lake

Researchers first dive themselves in the ruins of an almost 1600-year old basilica that was recently discovered under Lake Tusnik during a video shooting from the air About 20 meters from the coast was discovered in the early Byzantine basilica, which has the remains of early Christian architecture.

Experts made their first diving into the remains of a nearly 1,600-year-old basilica, which was recently discovered under Lake İznik during a photoshoot from the air. The early Byzantine era basilica, which has traces of early Christianity architecture, was found about 20 meters from the shore.

The basilica has been inspected in depth by a professional diving team that has arrived in the northeastern Bursa province at the request of Bursa Municipality, Experts in the diving team made technical observations and measurements in the main body of the basilica.

In the area where the basilica was found the team, including the underwater Director of Photography Tahsin Ceylan, the underwater archaeologist Emre Savaş and worldwide underwater freediving record holder Śahika Ercüment moved to the area where the basilica was discovered.

The team, which was also accompanied by the archaeologists of the İznik Museum Directorate, remained underwater for some 2,5 hours.

The rite room and naves, which separate the structure into three main parts, were closely monitored and photographed.

Ercümen said that he was used to diving into deep waters in record attempts, the depth of the sunken basilica was shallow for him but deep in terms of history. He said,” It was a special event to dive into such a significant point, which is very important for Christianity.

A good scientific team was formed here and I joined it as a tubeless diver. Being underwater there brings to 1,600s. I believe that lots of history and water sports aficionados will come here to dive here in the coming days.”

Director of photography Ceylan said that they were working for the Culture and Tourism Ministry, adding that they could not say anything about the archaeological remains underwater and would give their data to the museum.

“Museums officials will evaluate the data that we obtained underwater. It will be the decision of the Culture and Tourism Ministry to launch this region as a protected site or use it for diving purposes. As an underwater diver, I hope it will contribute to diving tourism,” Ceyla said.

Turkey Underwater Sports Federation Diving Centers Committee member and diving trainer Kubilay Kılıç said that their work with archaeologists showed that it was a pretty big church with one-meter think walls.

He said that the structure should be taken under protection, adding, “It is said that it has a history of 1,600 years. It has a semicircle apse in the entrance, two naves, and cists. It is a very beautiful cultural heritage.”

Collapsed during an earthquake

Archaeologists, historians, and art historians, who are working on the church, estimate that the structure collapsed during an earthquake that occurred in the region in 740.

They found out that it was built in honor of St. Neophytos, who was killed aged 16 by Roman soldiers in 303 before the Edict of Milan, a proclamation that permanently established religious toleration for Christianity within the Roman Empire.

Uludağ University Head of Archaeology Department Professor Mustafa Şahin said that they had obtained significant information about the basilica. “The church was built in the 4th – 5th century because it has similarity to the plan of İznik’s Hagia Sophia Church,” he said.

Şahin said that they had encountered the name “St. Neophyts,” adding, “Neophytos is among the saints and devout Christians, who were martyred during the time of Roman emperors Dioclasien and Galerius when bans and punishments against Christians were common.

According to resources, he was a saint who was killed by Roman soldiers in 303, 10 years before the Edict of Milan that freed Christianity.”

Şahin said that the church was established with his name in the place where he was killed. He said that the date of the church construction was not precisely determined but it could have been built after 313.

EUROPE, FRANCE, WORLD

Ancient Necropolis With Lead Coffins Sheds Light On Early Christian Funeral Practices

Ancient Necropolis With Lead Coffins Sheds Light On Early Christian Funeral Practices

Excavation is currently being carried out by a team of Inrap archeologists in Autun – the Ancient Augustodunum – in collaboration with the Archaeological Service of the city of Autun.

The excavation concerns a necropolis located near the early Christian church of Saint-Pierre-l’Estrier.

In use from the middle of the 3rd century to the 5th century, this necropolis was remembered for a long time because several mausoleums were still visible in the 18th century.

Some of these imposing funerary monuments contained marble sarcophagi. One of them would have sheltered the remains of Amator, sometimes cited as the first bishop of Autun.

One of the first mausoleums, the founding tomb of St Peter’s Church, was built on a Gallo-Roman villa and is said to have housed the remains of a locally revered personality.

Church of Saint-Pierre-l’Estrier, classified as a historical monument

The necropolis housed some of the oldest Christian burials in the northern half of Gaul.

The inscription of Pektorios, dating from the 4th century, which contains one of the first references to Christ in Gaul, was found here.

View of two graves
Burial in a mound. The tiles form a roof covering the grave

The dig has revealed nearly 150 burials to date. Some individuals are buried in sandstone sarcophagi while others are placed in coffins.

The coffins are usually made of wood or lead. Some of the deceased are buried in tile caskets that recall the funerary practices of the late Roman Empire. Few objects are associated with the deceased in the burials, a fact consistent with late Antiquity funerary practices.

Archaeologists have also found traces of six mausoleums and a wooden building.

Lead coffin, containing the skull and bones preserved

Lead coffins are rare in the northern half of France. Autun is one of the most important deposits, with about forty known specimens, including eight from the current excavation.

They are generally anepigraphic and without decoration. However, some of them bear cruciform signs that are difficult to interpret.

Photogrammetric reconstruction of the site

Placed in a stone sarcophagus, one of them seems to have been airtight for more than 1500 years. Its opening is planned at the end of the excavation and could reveal a well-preserved individual, perhaps with his clothes and other rare or ephemeral elements accompanying him into the afterlife.

EUROPE, POLAND, WORLD

Archaeologists uncover Celtic smelting furnace in Poland that pre-dates Jesus

Archaeologists uncover Celtic smelting furnace in Poland that pre-dates Jesus

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of twelve iron smelting furnaces used by the Celts 2,400 years ago.

According to the archaeologists, the find in the village of Warkocz near Strzelin in southwest Poland is the oldest of such furnaces in Poland.

Excavation head Dr. Przemysław Dulęba from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Wrocław said: “The iron smelting furnaces that we discovered in Warkocz most probably come from this earliest phase of their stay in the lands of modern-day Poland.”

The Celts spread across almost all of Europe, north of the Alps, in the mid 1st millennium BC. They reached the areas of modern-day Silesia and Małopolska at the turn of the 4th century BC.

The furnaces were dug deep into the ground, and their interior lined with pugging (an insulating layer containing clay). Only a very small part protruded from the surface of the earth. Inside, single pieces of melted iron and slag were found.

Bird’s eye view of an archaeological excavation, in which a Celtic metallurgical workshop is visible.

Very similar clusters of furnaces, in terms of both form and spatial arrangement, are known from Czechia.

Objects dating back to the 4th century BC found alongside the furnaces, including fragments of ceramic vessels, metal ornaments, and clothing items as well as garment clasps, convinced the archaeologists that they were used by the Celts.

Dr. Dulęba said: ”Interestingly, bloomeries (metallurgical furnaces – PAP) from the Roman period, i.e. a few hundred years later, were single-use installations,” adding that this is proof of the Celts` great proficiency in the field of metallurgy,

For now, researchers have opened only one small archaeological excavation but Dr. Dulęba says he believes there could be more furnaces in the area.

The archaeologists chose the excavation site after using a magnetic method that registers traces of old buildings and structures that were once strongly exposed to high temperatures.

Dr. Dulęba said: ”If expert research in the form of analyses and radiocarbon dating of burnt wood residues from furnaces confirm our assumption, we will be able to state with certainty that this is the first well documented Celt metallurgical workshop in modern-day Poland,” The oldest artefacts found in the settlement come from the second half of the 3rd century BC.

Archaeological excavation with relics of a metallurgical workshop discovered in Warkocz in Lower Silesia. 

The Celts introduced knowledge of the potter`s wheel and advanced iron metallurgy, with shears, axes, cutters, files, and hammers in a similar form being used in Poland until the end of the pre-industrial era at the turn of the 19th century.

The research project was funded by the National Science Centre.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

177,000 Roman artifacts found under the A1

177,000 Roman artefacts found under the A1

A number of exciting road works on a major road is not the first place you would expect to find a trove of Roman treasures, but that is exactly what people have discovered in a £ 380 million upgrade to a 12-km stretch of the A1 between Leeming Bar and Barton in Yorkshire have discovered. Archaeologists have now unearthed a staggering 177,000 artifacts from a Roman settlement dating back to 60AD that was on the site.

Archaeologists have unearthed a haul of more than 177,000 Roman artefacts under the A1 in Yorkshire. The discoveries have been described as ‘re-writing history’. Pictured is Dr Elizabeth Foulds a selection of the treasures

They have said the discovery is helping to rewrite history and providing new insights into life in Britain during the Roman occupation. And archaeologists have described the new discoveries as ‘re-writing history’.

Among the finds to have been recovered are a rare Roman brooch and a decorative miniature sword.

Archaeologists have also found the remnants of the town close to Scotch Corner, North Yorkshire, which could prove to be the earliest Roman settlement in the region. The Romans are thought to have only come to York a decade later than the settlement is thought to have been built.

Dr Steve Sherlock, who has led the archaeological project, said: ‘We’re effectively re-writing the history books because we didn’t know it was there or that there was anything so early.

‘Conventional wisdom tells us that in AD71 the Romans came over the Humber and settled in places like York and near Boroughbridge – but this site is even earlier.’

Dr. Sherlock described discovering traces of timber buildings, glass vessels, beads, and even remnants of crops as ‘quite spectacular’.

Among the finds to have been recovered is a rare Roman brooch (pictured) which would have been worn by Roman settlers in the area almost 2000 years ago
The Romans are thought to have only come to York a decade later than the settlement is thought to have been built. The dig site revealed ornamental as well as functional objects, such as this ornamental sword (pictured)

He said: ‘We didn’t just find one building, but a sequence of buildings going back hundreds of years, that nobody knew existed.

‘We can understand the impact of the site because of the amount of time it was occupied – over 300 years.’

Over the past two years, over 60 archaeologists have been working along the old Roman route known as the Great North Road, which ran adjacent to the current A1.

Dr Sherlock explained that, although they expected to find Roman deposits the ‘quality, quantity and extent went beyond expectations’.

Further discoveries have also been made at Catterick, North Yorks., which was occupied by the Romans around AD80.

Some of the larger pottery pieces were from broken vessels, such as large jugs for carrying olive oil (pictured)

Here a Roman town called Bainesse, just south of Catterick, has previously been found and much knowledge has now been gained following the excavation of a cemetery with 246 burials dating back to the first and third century.

Some people were buried with pots, beads, jewellery and even hobnail boots.

The bones will now be analysed to determine their age, sex and cause of death which archaeologists hope will reveal a number of exciting things.

The team are due to leave Catterick later this month but will continue to study and verify the findings – some of which will go to the York Museum Trust.

Dr. Hannah Russ, from Northern Archaeological Associates, said: ‘The quality and preservation of the artifacts and environmental remains from this scheme is outstanding.’

Further discoveries have also been made at Catterick, North Yorks., which was occupied by the Romans around AD80
EUROPE, ROMANIA, WORLD

Scientists Analyze Composition of Rome’s Clear Glass

Scientists Analyze Composition of Rome’s Clear Glass

While its fragility and elegance are in themselves intriguing, geochemical studies of the glass can show invisible tracers can reveal more than what meets the eye.

Researchers found a way to identify the origin of colorless glass from this in a new international collegial study from the Danish National Research Foundation’s Urban Network Evolutions (UrbNet), the Aarhus Geochemistry and Isotope Research Platform (AGiR) at Aarhus University, researchers have found a way to determine the origin of colourless glass from the Roman period. The study is published in Scientific Reports.

It manufactures products for drinking and dining, glass slippers, and glass colors for the wall mosaics. The Roman glass industry is extensive. One of its outstanding achievements was the production of large quantities of a colourless and clear glass, which was particularly favoured for high-quality cut drinking vessels.

One of the colorless Roman glass sherds from Jerash, Jordan, analyzed in this study. Purple splashes are iridescence due to weathering.

The fourth-century Price Edict of the emperor Diocletian refers to colourless glass as ‘Alexandrian’, indicating an origin in Egypt. However, large amounts of Roman glass are known to have been made in Palestine, where archaeologists have uncovered furnaces for colourless glass production.

Such furnaces have not been uncovered in Egypt, and hitherto, it has been very challenging to scientifically tell the difference between the glass made in the two regions.

Now, an international collaboration led by Assistant Professor Gry Barfod from UrbNet and AGiR at Aarhus University has found the solution.

Their work on Roman glass from the Danish-German Jerash Northwest Quarter Project in Jordan shows that the isotopes of the rare element hafnium can be used to distinguish between Egyptian and Palestinian glass and provide compelling evidence that the prestigious colourless glass known as ‘Alexandrian’ was indeed made in Egypt.

Two of the co-authors of the publication, Professor Achim Lichtenberger (University of Münster) and Centre Director at UrbNet Professor Rubina Raja, head the archaeological project in Jerash, Jordan. Since 2011, they have worked at the site and have furthered high-definition approaches to the archaeological material from their excavations.

Through full quantification methods, they have over and again shown that such an approach is the way forward in archaeology when combining it with in context studies of various material groups.

The new study is yet another testament to this approach.

“Hafnium isotopes have proved to be an important tracer for the origins of sedimentary deposits in geology, so I expected this isotope system to fingerprint the sands used in glassmaking”, states Gry Barfod.

Professor at Aarhus University Charles Lesher, co-author of the publication, continues: “The fact that this expectation is borne out by the measurements is a testament of the intimate link between archaeology and geology.”

Hafnium isotopes have not previously been used by archaeologists to look at the trade-in ancient man-made materials such as ceramics and glass. Co-author Professor Ian Freestone, University College London, comments, “These exciting results clearly show the potential of hafnium isotopes in elucidating the origins of early materials. I predict they will become an important part of the scientific toolkit used in our investigation of the ancient economy.”

The sand along the Mediterranean coast of Egypt and Levant (Palestine, Israel, Lebanon and Syria) originates from the Nile and is ideal for glass production because it naturally contains the amount of lime needed to keep the glass stable and not degradable.

In the Levant, they made transparent glass by adding manganese – it was good, but not perfect.

The second type of Roman glass, which scientists now show came from Egypt, the glassmakers made transparent by adding antimony (Sb), which made it crystal clear; therefore, this was the most valuable glass.

EUROPE, POLAND, WORLD

Tooth decay was a major problem for our ancestors 9,000 years ago

Tooth decay was a major problem for our ancestors 9,000 years ago

Archeological research reveals tooth decay is not an entirely modern-day problem. Archeologists at Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw (UKSW), Poland, have proposed diets heavy in fruit and honey contributed to poor dental hygiene during the European Mesolithic between 15,000 and 5,000 years ago.

Ancient tooth decay has been linked to the rise of agriculture and the change in lifestyle that brought about. In particular, the advent of processed, wheat-based foods and a more settled life was thought to be big contributors.

The earliest agricultural societies emerged in Poland 7,000 years earlier and, as a result, the archaeologists were surprised to find a form of tooth decay known as carious lesions (caries) was already an issue thousands of years earlier among hunter-gatherer communities.

Such people mainly eat vegetables, nuts, berries, as well as hunted prey including fish. Mesolithic teeth and jaws unearthed in northeast Poland show cavities were present among adults and children alike

Researchers have found evidence of tooth decay among Mesolithic people

Professor Jacek Tomczyk from UKSW told the Polish Press Agency (PAP): “We detected caries on the teeth of a three-year-old child and two adults.”

Tooth decay is caused by bacteria in the mouth coating teeth in a film known as dental plaque. Foods high in carbohydrates and sugars help the bacteria turn the plaque and carbohydrates into energy, producing acid in the process.

The acid can break down the surface of teeth, creating small holes or cavities. We detected caries on the teeth of a three-year-old child and two adult professor Jacek Tomczyk, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw

Professor Tomczyk said: “For our analysis, we used a fluorescent camera and various X-ray imaging methods.

“This way we detected caries that were not a great loss of enamel.”

Thanks to carbon and nitrogen dating, the researchers were able to learn what these ancient people ate. Their hunter-gatherer diets were rich in various freshwater fish. Surprisingly, eating fish may have been critical in preventing the teeth from decaying any further.

Jaw and teeth of a 3-year-old child discovered in Pierkunowo-Giżycko. Dental material of a child (3-year-old)

Professor Krzysztof Szostek, a UKSW anthropologist, said: “To a large extent, they consumed fish, probably sturgeons.

“Freshwater fish contain arginine, which has anti-cavity properties.

“This substance is even added to some toothpaste.

“So it looks like it was thanks to their diet the caries did not develop any further.”

The findings were presented in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. In their study, the archaeologists wrote: “Based on the data presented, it can be concluded that the diet of the test individuals was probably based largely on freshwater fish.

“This hypothesis is all the more likely because the remains of the studied individuals were excavated from post-glacial lakes within a short distance from Lake Kisajno in Masuria.

“This type of diet does not generate caries.

“The diet definitely included plant foods, including forest plants, as well as mushrooms, which have a higher carbon content than grass.”

EUROPE, IRELAND, WORLD

How DNA has shed light on the Irish pharaoh and his ancient tomb builders

How DNA has shed light on the Irish pharaoh and his ancient tomb builders

A team of Irish geneticists and archaeologists reported that a man whose cremated remains were interred at the heart of Newgrange was the product of a first-degree incestuous union, either between parent and child or brother and sister.

A photo provided by Ken Williams shows the central burial chamber at Newgrange, a 5,000-year-old Irish tomb in the valley of the River Boyne, near Dublin. In a new analysis of ancient human DNA from Newgrange, researchers found evidence of brother-sister incest that suggests the existence of a ruling elite.

The finding, combined with other genetic and archaeological evidence, suggests that the people who built these mounds lived in a hierarchical society with a ruling elite that considered themselves so close to divine that, like the Egyptian pharaohs, they could break the ultimate taboos.

In Ireland, more than 5,000 years ago people farmed and raised cattle. But they were also moved, like their contemporaries throughout Europe, to create stunning monuments to the dead, some with precise astronomical orientations.

Stonehenge, a later megalith in the same broad tradition as Newgrange, is famous for its alignment to the summer and winter solstice. The central underground room at Newgrange is built so that as the sun rises around the time of the winter solstice it illuminates the whole chamber through what is called a roof box.

Archaeologists have long wondered what kind of society built such a structure, which they think must have had a ritual or spiritual significance. If, as the new findings indicate, it was a society that honoured the product of an incestuous union by interring his remains at the most sacred spot in a sacred place, then the ancient Irish may well have had a ruling religious hierarchy, perhaps similar to those in ancient societies in Egypt, Peru, and Hawaii, which also allowed marriages between brother and sister.

In a broad survey of ancient DNA from bone samples previously collected at Irish burial sites thousands of years old, the researchers also found genetic connections among people interred in other Irish passage tombs, named for their underground chambers or passages. That suggests that the ruling elite were related to one another.

Daniel G Bradley, of Trinity College, Dublin, a specialist in ancient DNA who led the team with Lara M Cassidy, a specialist in population genetics and Irish prehistory also at Trinity College, said the genome of the man who was a product of incest was a complete surprise. They and their colleagues reported their findings in the journal Nature.

Newgrange is part of a necropolis called Bru na Boinne, or the palace of the Boyne, dating to around 5,000 years ago that includes three large passage tombs and many other monuments. It is one of the most remarkable of Neolithic monumental sites in all of Europe.

Of the site’s tombs, Bradley said, “Newgrange is the apogee.” It is not just that it incorporates 200,000 tons of earth and stone, some brought from kilometers away. It also has a precise orientation to the winter sun.

On any day, “when you go into the chamber, it’s a sort of numinous space, it’s a liminal space, a place that inspires a sort of awe,” Bradley said.

That a bone recovered from this spot produced such a genomic shocker seemed beyond coincidence. This had to be a prominent person, the researchers reasoned. He wasn’t placed there by accident, and his parentage was unlikely to be an accident. “Whole chunks of the genome that he inherited from his mother and father, whole chunks of those were just identical,” Bradley said. The conclusion was unavoidable: “It’s a pharaoh, I said. It’s an Irish pharaoh.”

David Reich of Harvard University, one of the ancient DNA specialists who has tracked the grand sweep of prehistoric human migration around the globe, and was not involved in the research, called the journal article “amazing.”

“I think it’s part of the wave of the future about how ancient DNA will shed light on social structure, which is really one of its most exciting promises,” he said, although he had some reservations about evidence that the elite was genetically separate from the common people, a kind of royal family.

Bettina Schulz Paulsson, a prehistoric archaeologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, said the researchers’ finding that suggested a religious hierarchy was a “very attractive hypothesis.”

The paper is rich with other detail, including the discovery that an infant had Down syndrome. The authors believe this is the oldest record of Down syndrome. Chemical tests of the bone also showed that the infant had been breastfed and that he was placed in an important tomb. Both of those facts suggest that he was well cared for, in keeping with numerous other archaeological finds of children and adults with illnesses or disabilities who were supported by their cultures.

Cassidy said they also found DNA in other remains that indicated relatives of the man who was a child of royal incest were placed in other significant tombs. “This man seemed to form a distinct genetic cluster with other individuals from passage tombs across the island,” she said.

She said “we also found a few direct kinship links,” ancient genomes of individuals who were distant cousins. That contributed to the idea that there was an elite who directed the building of the mounds. In that context, it made sense that the incest was intentional. That’s not something that can be proved, of course, but other societies have encouraged brother-sister incest.

“The few examples where it is socially accepted,” she said, are “extremely stratified societies with an elite class who are able to break rules.”

EUROPE, NORWAY, WORLD

Study Examines Norman Influence on English Diet

Study Examines Norman Influence on English Diet

The latest science approaches have been used by historians from Cardiff University and the University of Sheffield to provide new insight into life during the Norman Conquest of England.

Until now, the story of the Conquest has primarily been told from the evidence of the elite classes of the time. But little has been known about how it affected everyday people’s lives.

A variety of bioarchaeological methods were used in the research team, which included academics at Bristol University, to associate human and animal bones recovered from sites across Oxford, along with ceramics used for cooking.

The 11th-century cook would sometimes roast pork or chicken but most often turned it into a stew.

Their results suggest only short-term fluctuations in food supplies following the Conquest which didn’t adversely affect the population’s overall health.

There is evidence the Norman invasion led to more controlled and standardized mass agricultural practices. Pork became a more popular choice and dairy products were used less. But on the whole, a diet dominated by vegetables, cereals beef, and mutton remained largely unchanged.

Dr. Elizabeth Craig-Atkins of the University of Sheffield’s Department of Archaeology said: “Examining archaeological evidence of the diet and health of ordinary people who lived during this time gives us a detailed picture of their everyday experiences and lifestyles.

Despite the huge political and economic changes that were happening, our analysis suggests the Conquest may have only had a limited impact on most people’s diet and health.

“There is certainly evidence that people experienced periods where food was scarce. But following this, an intensification in farming meant people generally had a more steady food supply and consistent diet. Aside from pork becoming a more popular food choice, eating habits and cooking methods remained unchanged to a large extent.”

Researchers used a technique called stable isotope analysis on bones to compare 36 humans found in various locations around Oxford, including Oxford Castle, who had lived between the 10th and 13th centuries.

Signals from the food we consume are archived as chemical tracers in our bones, allowing scientists to investigate the quality and variety of a person’s diet long after they have died.

The team found that there wasn’t a huge difference between the health of the individuals, who were alive at different points before and after the Conquest.

Levels of protein and carbohydrate consumption were similar in the group and evidence of bone conditions related to poor diet — such as rickets and scurvy — were rare. However, high-resolution analysis of teeth showed evidence of short-term changes in health and diet in early life during this transitional phase.

Isotope analysis was also used on 60 animals found at the same sites, to ascertain how they were raised. Studies of pig bones found their diets became more consistent and richer in animal protein after the Conquest, suggesting pig farming was intensified under Norman rule. They were likely living in the town and being fed scraps instead of natural vegetable fodder.

Fragments of pottery were examined using organic residue analysis. When food is cooked in ceramic pots, fats are absorbed into the vessel, allowing researchers to extract them.

The analysis showed that pots were used to cook vegetables like cabbage as well as meat such as lamb, mutton, or goat across the conquest. Researchers say the use of dairy fats reduced after the Conquest and that pork or chicken became more popular.

Dr. Richard Madgwick, based in Cardiff University’s School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said: “To our knowledge, this is the very first time globally that human osteology, organic residues analysis and isotope analysis of incremental dentine and bone have been combined in a single study.

“It is only with this innovative and diverse suite of methods that we have been able to tell the story of how the Conquest affected diet and health in the non-elite, a somewhat marginalized group until now.”

The dietary impact of the Norman Conquest: A multiproxy archaeological investigation of Oxford, UK, is published in the journal PLOS ONE.