Category Archives: EUROPE

ASIA, EUROPE, RUSSIA, WORLD

CT Scan of Siberian Mummy Reveals Wounds and Tattoos

CT Scan of Siberian Mummy Reveals Wounds and Tattoos

Male Tashtyk mask is kept in the State Hermatage Museum. CT of the mask layer.

He was from the mountainous region of modern-day Khakasia, aged 25 to 30 when he died 1,700 years ago. Another CT scan showed the face of his gypsum death mask that was all the rage with the ancient Tashtyk people, who were settled cattle-breeders and farmers known for their idiosyncratic burial rituals.

The scan gives it a red punk look but it is believed that the pigtail it was wearing would have been taken off before his death. He is also the only Tashtyk mummy so far found with tattoos.  But the most striking and unexpected aspect is a long suture on the side of his face: from the left eye to the ear.

A scar that had been sewn up. 

The most striking and unexpected aspect is a long scar on the side of his face: from the left eye to the ear.

Archaeologists want more research on this but the current best guess is that this suture was stitched after his death – perhaps to mend his disfigured face after a wound, possibly a fatal blow. In other words, to improve his looks before his journey to the afterlife.  Final confirmation is still needed that this facial embroidery was postmortem, however. For now, it is not ruled out that this repair job was done at the end of his life. 

Dr Svetlana Pankova put the male head into the CT scan.

Nor was this the only evidence of intervention by ancient surgeons on this Tashtyk man found at the Oglakhty burial ground, and laid to rest in a burial log house.  His skull was trepanned in the temporal area on the left side,’ explained Dr. Svetlana Pankova, curator at the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, and keeper of the Siberian collection of the Department of Archeology.

The hole is rather big – 6 by 7 centimetres. It was made postmortem.  Expert analysis shows the hole was made by the series of blows with a chisel type or hammer type tool.’ Dr Pankova said: ‘We think that it was made to remove the brain during an elaborate burial rite.’ Likewise, she thinks the facial scar can be explained in similar fashion. 

‘His skull was trepanned in the temporal area on the left side.’

‘They took all these postmortem rites very seriously, and did not save on this,’ she said.   They could not just put a mask on the disfigured face. It would be great to attract an experienced surgeon to research this suture, to get full clarity.  Was it postmortem or might it have been made in his lifetime? 

‘Our research is complicated by the fact that we cannot take the mask away from the face (it would cause too much damage)  so we must research this stitching using other methods. The archaeologists were intrigued to finally see the face under the death mask, the painting of which ‘adds some unnecessary emotional impressions’

Male mask has black stripes on a red background, plus the lower part of the mask was destroyed and man’s teeth can be seen.

Dr Pankova said the mask ‘has black stripes on a red background, plus the lower part of the mask was somewhat destroyed and man’s teeth can be seen. 

‘So all together it creates such an aggressive look.’ Yet under the mask ‘there was nothing aggressive in this face. 

‘It was the face of a calmly sleeping person. 

‘It was the face of calmly sleeping person.’

‘The mask was very close in appearance to the real face.

‘For the first time we see the real face of a young man of this time.

‘The computer scan allowed us to see, so to say, three layers – the layer of the mask, the layer of the face without the mask and layer of the skull.’ The face of the woman lying in the same burial chamber – also buried in a fur coat – has not been revealed with a CT scan.

Svetlana Pankova: ‘I would really like to make CT scan of female mummified head.’

Or anyway not yet. 

‘I would really like to make CT scan of female mummified head,’ she said. I’m planning to find a clinic which can do this research and decipher it for us.’ For now, we do not know who the woman was and how she and the man were related. 

Children’s fur coat was also found in the grave

A child’s skeleton was also found in the same grave. 

So, too, were two burial ‘dummies’ – an extraordinary phenomenon akin to stuffed dolls or mannequins.  These may be explained by the merging of two cultures or traditions: one that buried their dead, the other that cremated.  The dummies appear to represent the remains of those who were cremated. Yet there is also evidence that men were more usually cremated while women and children were buried. 

He is also the only Tashtyk mummy so far found with tattoos. Infrared photography.

‘The dummies in full height, kind of mannequins, were made of leather, filled with tightly twisted grass,’ said Dr. Pankova.

‘In the chest area, there were leather pouches with charred bones remaining from cremations.’ She told The Siberian Times: ‘The mummies, male and female, were dressed in fur coats, and they had masks on their faces. The head of one of the dummies did not preserve. 

‘The dummies in full height, kind of mannequins, were made of leather, filled with tightly twisted grass

‘Sadly, probably rodents sneaked in and spoiled it. The second dummy has the face, covered with bright red woollen fabric, with eyes and a nose. On the head was a piece of Chinese silk.’  The Tashtyk culture existed between the first and seventh centuries AD in the area of so-called Minusinsk Basin of the Yenisei valley.

‘The second dummy has the face, covered with bright red woolen fabric, with eyes and a nose. On the head was a piece of Chinese silk.’

They were settled cattle breeders and farmers.

In 1969 Professor Leonid Kyzlasov excavated the Oglakhty burial ground and found this masked man in tomb number four. We made the radiocarbon dating using larch of the log house indicating the third to fourth centuries AD.’ The Oglakhty necropolis was originally found in 1902 by a shepherd, who fell into one of the graves, saw the people in a wooden chamber with whitish masks on their faces, got scared, and fled.

In 1969 Professor Leonid Kyzlasov excavated the Oglakhty burial ground and found this masked man in tomb number four.

His mother-in-law was more fearless, sneaking in, and looting some items. A local official and researcher Alexander Adrianov heard about this and started excavations in 1903, unearthing three graves.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

10,000 Roman coins unearthed by amateur metal detector enthusiast

10,000 Roman coins unearthed by amateur metal detector enthusiast

An amateur metal detector enthusiast discovered a massive train with more than 10.000 Roman coins on his first ever treasure hunt.

The silver and bronze ‘nummi’ coins, dating from between 240AD and 320AD, were discovered in a farmer’s field near Shrewsbury, in Shropshire.

Finder Nick Davies, 30, was on his first treasure hunt when he discovered the coins, mostly crammed inside a buried 70lb clay pot. Experts say the coins have spent an estimated 1,700 years underground.

Strike it lucky: Nick Davies found this amazing haul of 10,000 Roman coins on his first-ever treasure hunt

The stunning collection of coins, most of which were found inside the broken brown pot, was uncovered by Nick during a search of land in the Shrewsbury area – just a month after he took up the hobby of metal detecting.

His amazing find is one of the largest collections of Roman coins ever discovered in Shropshire. And the haul could be put on display at Shrewsbury’s new £10million heritage center, it was revealed today.

It is also the biggest collection of Roman coins to be found in Britain this year. Nick, from Ford, Shropshire, said he never expected to find anything on his first treasure hunt – especially anything of any value. He recalled the discovery and described it as ‘fantastically exciting’.

Nick said: ‘The top of the pot had been broken in the ground and a large number of the coins spread in the area. All of these were recovered during the excavation with the help of a metal detector.

‘This added at least another 300 coins to the total – it’s fantastically exciting. I never expected to find such treasure on my first outing with the detector.’ 

The coins have now been sent to the British Museum for detailed examination before a report is sent to the coroner. Experts are expected to spend several months cleaning and separating the coins, which have fused together.

They will also give them further identification before sending them to the coroner. A treasure trove inquest is then expected to take place next year. Peter Reavill, finds liaison officer from the Portable Antiquities Scheme, records archaeological finds made by the public in England and Wales.

He said the coins were probably payment to a farmer or community at the end of a harvest. Speaking to the Shropshire Star, Mr. Reavill said the coins appear to date from the period 320AD to 340AD, late in the reign of Constantine I.

He said: ‘The coins date to the reign of Constantine I when Britain was being used to produce food for the Roman Empire.

‘It is possible these coins were paid to a farmer who buried them and used them as a kind of piggy-bank.’

Mr. Reavill said that among the coins were issues celebrating the anniversary of the founding of Rome and Constantinople. In total, the coins and the pot weigh more than 70lb.

He added: ‘This is probably one of the largest coin hoards ever discovered in Shropshire.

‘The finder, Nick Davies, bought his first metal detector a month ago and this is his first find made with it. The coins were placed in a very large storage jar which had been buried in the ground about 1,700 years ago.’

However, Mr. Reavill declined to put a figure on either the value of the coins or the pot until the findings of the inquest are known, but he described the discovery as a ‘large and important’ find.

Mr. Reavill said the exact location of the find could not be revealed for security reasons.

ASIA, EUROPE, RUSSIA, WORLD

Russian Scientists Revive 32,000-Year-Old Flower

Russian Scientists Revive 32,000-Year-Old Flower

From 32,000-year-old seeds, the oldest plant ever to be “resurrected” has been grown, beating the previous record-holder by some 30,000 years.

Fruiting (at left) and flowering plants of Silene stenophylla regenerated from tissue of fossil fruits

In the course of the study, a team of scientists from Russia, Hungary and the USA collected frozen Silene stenophyll seed back in 2007, while investigating about 70 ancient ground squirrel hibernation burrows or caches, hidden in permanently frozen loess-ice deposits in northeastern Siberia, in the plant’s present-day range.

The age of seeds was estimated to range from 20,000 to 40 thousand years with the use of radiocarbon dates and time from the Pleistocene era. Rodents would normally eat the food in their larders, but in this case, a flood or some other weather event got the whole area buried.

Since the rodents had placed the larders at the level of the permafrost, the material froze almost immediately, and did not thaw out at any time since. More than 600,000 fruits and seeds thus preserved were located at the site.

Years later, a team of scientists at the Russian Academy of Sciences went on to successfully revive one of them: a flowering plant from a 32,000-year-old fruit!

The immature fruit of Silene stenophylla buried in permafrost more than 30,000 years ago

The accomplishment surpasses the previous record for the oldest plant material brought back to life, of 2000 years set by Judean date palm seeds. The team led by David Gilichinsky used material recovered in the 2007 research project.

The researchers first attempted to germinate mature seeds recovered from the fruit. When these attempts failed, they turned to the fruit itself and were able to culture adult plants from placental tissue. The team grew 36 specimens from the tissue.

The plants looked identical to modern specimens until they flowered, at which time the petals were observed to be longer and more widely spaced than modern versions of the plant.

Seeds produced by the regenerated plants germinated at a 100% success rate, compared with 90% for modern plants. Scientists are unsure why the observed variations occur.

Clonal micropropagation of Silene stenophylla regenerated from the placenta tissue of immature 30,000-y-old fruits buried in permafrost deposits. (А) Initial shoot initiated from placental tissue in vitro. (В) Stages of clonal micropropagation from primary shoots to rooted plants.

According to Robin Probert of the Millennium Seed Bank, the demonstration is “by far the most extraordinary example of extreme longevity for material from higher plants” to date.

It is not surprising to find living material this old, but is surprising that viable material could be recovered,” she added.

The reasons for the success of the experiment can be manyfold. The Russian scientists involved speculated that the tissue cells were rich in sucrose which acted as a preservative.

They also noted that DNA damage caused by gamma radiation from natural ground radioactivity at the site was unusually low for the plant material’s age and is comparable to levels observed in 1300-year-old lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) seeds proven to germinate.

The revived plant at full blossom stage.

Probert hopes that the techniques developed in the resurrection of Silene stenophylla may one day be used to resurrect extinct species.

Paleontologist Grant Zazula, who has previously disproven claims of ancient regeneration, said: “This discovery raises the bar incredibly in terms of our understanding in terms of the viability of ancient life in the permafrost.

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.