Category Archives: EUROPE

CZECH REPUBLIC, EUROPE, WORLD

A Dog Named Monty Has Dug Up a Rare Cache of Bronze Age Artifacts in the Czech Republic

A Dog Named Monty Has Dug Up a Rare Cache of Bronze Age Artifacts in the Czech Republic

In March, Monty was out on a trip with his owner Mr. Frankota, to Orlické Mountains (northeast Bohemia), making a spectacular discovery. Archeologists report that the objects discovered by the dog are “surprisingly” in good condition.

Bronze Age artifacts discovered by a local dog named Monty.

Archeopupper

Frankota recounts that Monty rushed off during their walk and started digging frantically. He walked over to check what got his dog so excited and was surprised to see a collection of bronze objects. 

The stash — which has been donated to the Hradec Králové Region local government — contained 13 sickle blades, 3 axe blades, and two spearheads.

All items were fashioned out of bronze. The wealth of objects, as well as the excellent condition they were buried in, points to a ritual deposit, archeologists believe.

“The fact that there are so many objects in one place is almost certainly tied to an act of honoration, most likely a sacrifice of some sorts,” Martina Beková, an archaeologist at the nearby Museum and Gallery of Orlické Mountains, told Czech Radio.

“What particularly surprised us was that the objects were whole, because the culture that lived here at the time normally just buried fragments, often melted as well. These objects are beautiful, but the fact that they are complete and in good condition is of much more value to us.”

Beková was part of the team that examined the artifacts after Frankota delivered them to local authorities.

They were likely produced by the Urnfield culture, a late Bronze Age Indo-European people that lived in the area. Their name stems from the group’s mortuary practices: they would cremate their dead and bury them in urns in fields.

As of now, the team cannot say for sure how or why the items were buried in the area.

The discovery has local archeologists excited — and rightly so. It’s the largest single finding in the region. They’re currently combing the region with metal detects but, so far, their search proved unfruitful. Still, they’re not about to give up just yet.

“There were some considerable changes to the surrounding terrain over the centuries, so it is possible that the deeper layers are still hiding some secrets,” Sylvie Velčovská from the local regional council.

The artifacts are currently on display as part of the exhibition Journey to the Beginning of Time at the Museum and Gallery of Orlické Mountains, Rychnov, until 21 October 2018. After that, they will undergo conservation and be moved to a permanent exhibition in a museum in Kostelec.

The team also wants to point out that archeologists often work with lucky discoveries made by members of the public or during excavation works; if you happen to stumble into some artifacts, you should notify local authorities (archeological items are considered government property in most states). It’s not a one-sided deal, either: Frankota was awarded 7,860 CZK (roughly US$360) for the items.

Hopefully, some of that will go towards buying Monty some well-deserved treats.

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

1,900-Year-Old Roman Village unearthed in Germany

1,900-Year-Old Roman Village unearthed in Germany

The remains of a 1,900-year-old Roman fort that once quartered 500 troops in what is today Germany were discovered by archeologists.

The public watches as students dig for artifacts within the remains of a 1,900-year-old Roman fort that once quartered 500 troops in what is today Gernsheim in Germany.

The fort was found in the town of Gernsheim, which sits along the Rhine River in the German state of Hesse.

Researchers knew the area was the site of a village during the first to third centuries, but otherwise, the region’s history during the Roman occupation is largely unknown, dig leader Thomas Maurer, an archaeologist at the University of Frankfurt said in a statement.

“It was assumed that this settlement had to have been based on a fort since it was customary for the families of the soldiers to live outside the fort in a village-like settlement,” Maurer said. Until now, however, no one had found that fort. 

Military rediscovery

During an educational dig in the area, Maurer and his colleagues uncovered postholes that once held the foundations of a wooden tower, as well as two V-shaped ditches, which were a common feature of Roman forts of the era.

A unit of 500 soldiers, known as a “cohort,” was stationed at the fort between about A.D. 70 and A.D.120.Fortunately for modern-day archaeologists, the last Romans to leave the fort destroyed the place on the way out, filling in the ditches with rubbish.

This rubbish included “box after box” of ceramic shards, which can be dated to pinpoint the time of the abandonment of the fort, said Hans-Markus von Kaenel, a professor at the Goethe University Institute of Archaeology.”We really hit the jackpot with this excavation campaign,” von Kaenel said in the statement.

Roman history

A brick fragment stamped with the sign of the 22nd Roman Legion, an elite unite from the late first century.

Researchers have been able to piece together a broad history of the Gernsheim region from a scattering of archaeological finds there.

The Romans built the newly discovered fort around A.D. 70 as a jumping-off point for control of areas east of the Rhine, according to von Kaenel and his colleagues.

The area was an important transportation hub, with roads branching off to access the borders of the Roman Empire. There may have also been a harbor on the Rhine at the time, though that has yet to be verified, Maurer said.

The modern expansion of the town paved over many suspected Roman sites, but Maurer, von Kaenel, and their colleagues managed to secure permission for a dig on a vacant double lot near where Roman-era finds were discovered in the 1970s and 1980s. This lot turned out to hold the remains of the long-lost fort.

A brick fragment found at the site identifies the troops quartered at the fort as members of the 22nd Legion, an elite unit from the late first century.

Researchers also found real treasures such as rare garment clasps, several pearls, parts of a board game (dice, playing pieces) and a hairpin made from bone and crowned with a female bust,” Maurer said in the press release

Archaeologist Professor Thomas Maurer and his team of students found some interesting artifacts, including gaming pieces.
ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

3,000 Skeletons Found During London Railway Construction

3,000 Skeletons Found During London Railway Construction

Approximately 3,000 skeletons, some dating back to the 1500s, have been discovered and are being excavated as part of the construction of a new train station being built near London.

They came from every parish of London, and from all walks of life, and ended up in a burial ground called Bedlam. Now scientists hope their centuries-old skeletons can reveal new information about how long-ago Londoners lived—and about the bubonic plague that often killed them.

Archaeologists announced that they have begun excavating the bones of some 3,000 people interred in the 16th and 17th centuries, who now lie in the path of the Crossrail transit line. They will be pored over by scientists before being reburied elsewhere.

One recent workday, just meters (yards) from teeming Liverpool Street railway station, researchers in orange overalls scraped, sifted, and gently removed skeletons embedded in the dark earth. In one corner of the site, the skeleton of an adult lay beside the fragile remains of a baby, the wooden outline of its coffin still visible. Most were less intact, a jumble of bones and skulls.

“Part of the skill of it is actually working out which bones go with which,” said Alison Telfer, a project officer with Museum of London Archaeology, which is overseeing the dig.

Due to open in 2018, the 118-kilometer (73-mile) trans-London Crossrail line is Britain’s biggest construction project and its largest archaeological dig for decades. The central 21-kilometer (13-mile) section runs underground, which has meant tunneling beneath some of the oldest and most densely populated parts of the city.

For Londoners, that has brought years of noise and disruption, but for archaeologists, it’s like Christmas. Almost every shovelful of the earth has uncovered a piece of history, or prehistory: bison and mammoth bones; Roman horseshoes; medieval ice skates; the remains of a moated Tudor manor house.

Archaeologists excavate the 16th and 17th century Bedlam burial ground uncovered by work on the new Crossrail train line next to Liverpool Street station in London
Skeletons of an adult and baby lie next to each other on the archeological excavation site at the 16th and 17th century Bedlam burial ground, uncovered by work on the new Crossrail train line next to Liverpool Street station in London

Chief archaeologist Jay Carver says the Bedlam dig could be the most revealing yet.

“It’s going to be archaeologically the most important sample we have of the population of London from the 16th and 17th centuries,” Carver said.

Bedlam cemetery opened in 1569 to take the overspill as the city’s churchyard burial grounds filled up. It is the final resting place of prosperous citizens and paupers, religious dissenters including the 17th-century revolutionary Robert Lockyer and patients from Bedlam Hospital, the world’s first asylum for the mentally ill. The hospital’s name, a corruption of Bethlehem, became a synonym for chaos.

Tests on the bones by osteologists may reveal where these Londoners came from, what they ate, and what ailed them—which in many cases was the plague. There were four outbreaks of the deadly disease over the two centuries the cemetery was in use, including the “Great Plague” that killed 100,000 people in 1665.

Carver says researchers will analyze DNA taken from the pulp in the skeletons’ teeth to help fill in the “evolutionary tree of the plague bacteria.”

The technique was used to discover the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, in 14th-century skeletons excavated at another Crossrail site, identifying them as victims of the Black Death that wiped out half the city’s population in 1348.

Two adult skulls lie next to each other on the archeological excavation site at the 16th and 17th century Bedlam burial ground, uncovered by work on the new Crossrail train line next to Liverpool Street station in London

Scientists should be able to compare the bacterium found in Bedlam’s plague victims with the 14th-century samples, helping to understand whether the disease—which still infects several thousand people a year—has evolved over the centuries.

Sixty archaeologists working in shifts—16 hours a day, six days a week—will spend about a month removing the remains. After the scientific study, they will be reburied on Canvey Island in the Thames Estuary—the latest in a long line of Londoners to move east out of the congested city.

The old burial ground will be the site of a new train station, whose users will probably give little thought to the history beneath their feet.

But Telfer says she never forgets that these fragile bones were once living, breathing individuals.

“When you are doing something like this, you do feel a connection with them,” she said. “I think you have a responsibility to treat them with great respect. It’s quite a special process.”

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

A German Farmer Was Just Awarded Almost $1 Million for an Ancient Roman Bronze Found on His Property

A German Farmer Was Just Awarded Almost $1 Million for an Ancient Roman Bronze Found on His Property

In Lahnau, Germany, an archeologist uncovered a roman bronze sculpture. They knew that the discovery was both rare and precious.

The property owner received payments for the head of the bronze horse found at the bottom of his well and everyone seemed content with the situation. But new information emerged – information which has cost the local government almost one million dollars.

The Roman horse head, 2 000 years old, was discovered on the farm in 2009. The man, who was not identified by the media, was initially awarded € 48,000 (about $55,946) for the fragment of sculpture by Daily Sabah.

The hand of a restorer is seen cleaning a horse’s head, which is part of a statue that represents Roman Emperor Augustus on a horse, in Wiesbaden, central Germany.

He seemed content with the payment until he found out, as BBC News reports, “about the gravity and value of the discovery, which was trumpeted as one of the best-preserved Roman bronzes in the world.”

It is an important discovery. Experts believe the gold leave-adorned horse head comes from 9 AD and was once part of a large statue depicting Augustus on horseback.

Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus (23 September 63 BC – 19 August 14 AD) and known as Octavian before taking leadership of Rome, Augustus was the adopted son of famous Roman dictator, Julius Caesar.

Following the events of the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Augustus became the first Roman emperor. Emperor Augustus ruled for 40 years before he died.

A statue of Augustus as a younger Octavian, dated ca. 30 BC.

He is remembered for his victory against his enemies Mark Antony and Cleopatra, but also for his patience and efficiency. His administrative skills helped him create durable peace and prosperity for his empire. Augustus’ rule was autocratic, but he knew how to hide that fact under well-made propaganda.

He was politically ruthless, and sometimes even cruel, but his temper apparently cooled as his time as emperor advanced. Augustus also had an interest in philosophy and poetry, leading him to write on both subjects.

Even today, Augustus is considered one of the most efficient, yet controversial, of all Roman leaders. There are many statues and busts of this Roman emperor.

Statue of the emperor Augustus (29 BC – 14 AD). Bronze. Found in the Aegean sea between the islands of Euboea and Agios Efstratios. The emperor is depicted in mature age, mounting a horse.

The Roman bronze horse head from the German farmer’s property weighs about 55 pounds (24.95 kg) and is almost 20 inches (50.8 cm) long. It was found underwater in a 36-foot (10.97 meters) well. Experts believe the artifact was probably abandoned when the town’s inhabitants had to flee a surprise attack.

Once the farmer became aware of the importance of the Roman bronze sculpture he decided to sue the government for a better payout.

The Limburg regional court decided on July 27 that the local government now owes the farmer €773,000 (about $904,000) plus interest. That’s roughly half the estimated value of the Roman bronze horse’s head.

It’s unknown if the local authorities will make an appeal against the court’s decision.

Another fascinating Roman discovery was announced in Germany. Construction workers found the walls of a Roman library built about 2,000 years ago in the heart of Cologne. It is believed to be the oldest ruins of a public library in the country.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

6,000-Year-Old Skeletons Found Locked in Embrace Near Greek Cave

6,000-Year-Old Skeletons Found Locked in Embrace Near Greek Cave

ROME — They died young and, by the looks of it, in love.

Two skeletons of the age of 6,000 found locked in an embrace near the city of Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale “Romeo and Juliet” have sparked theories the remains of a far more ancient love story have been found.

Archaeologists unearthed the skeletons dating back to the late Neolithic period outside Mantua, 25 miles south of Verona, the city of Shakespeare’s story of doomed love.

Buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric pair are believed to have been a man and a woman and are thought to have died young, because their teeth were found intact, said Elena Menotti, the archaeologist who led the dig.

A pair of human skeletons found at a construction site outside Mantua, Italy, are believed by archaeologists to be a man and a woman from the Neolithic period, buried around 6,000 years ago

“As far as we know, it’s unique,” Menotti said by telephone from Milan. “Double burials from the Neolithic are unheard of, and these are even hugging.”

Archaeologists digging in the region have found some 30 burial sites, all single, as well as the remains of prosperous villages filled with artifacts made of flint, pottery, and animal horns.

Although the Mantua pair strike an unusual and touching pose, archaeologists have found other prehistoric burials in which the dead hold hands or have other contacts, said Luca Bondioli, an anthropologist at Rome’s National Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum.

Bondioli, who was not involved in the Mantua dig, said the find has “more of an emotional than a scientific value.” But it does highlight how the relationship people have with each other and with death has not changed much from the period in which humanity first settled in villages, learning to farm the land and tame animals, he said.

Menotti said the burial was “a ritual, but we have to find out what it means.”

Experts might never determine the exact nature of the pair’s relationship, but Menotti said she had little doubt it was born of deep sentiment.

“It was a very emotional discovery,” she said. “From thousands of years ago, we feel the strength of this love. Yes, we must call it love.”

The couple’s burial site was located near the construction work for a factory on the outskirts of Mantua. Alongside the couple, archaeologists found flint tools, including arrowheads and a knife, Menotti said.

Experts will now study the artifacts and the skeletons to determine the burial site’s age and how old the two were when they died, she said. The finds will then go on display at Mantua’s Archaeological Museum.

Establishing the cause of death could prove almost impossible unless they were killed by a debilitating disease, a knife, or something else that might have left marks on the bones, Menotti said.

The two bodies, which cuddle closely while facing each other on their sides, were probably buried at the same time, an indication of a possible sudden and tragic death, Bondioli said.

He said DNA testing could determine whether the two were related, “but that still leaves other hypotheses; the Romeo and Juliet possibility is just one of many.”

EUROPE, WORLD

530-million-year-old fossil may contain worlds oldest eye, reveals study

530-million-year-old fossil may contain worlds oldest eye, reveals study

Paleontologists have found what could well be the oldest example of a fossilized eye the world has ever seen, preserved for over half a billion years. It belongs to a trilobite – a class of once-abundant early arthropods that peaked in the Cambrian Period and thrived in the world’s oceans for over 270 million years.

Side view of the fossil’s right eye

These days we think of the squat, three-lobed sea creatures as the distant ancestors of modern crabs and spiders, and fossil records have shown that these incredibly successful animals were among the earliest beings on Earth to possess a sense of vision.

In fact, they sported a type of compound eye – the optical organ crammed full of vision cells we still see today in flies, bees, and many other arthropods.

But even though researchers have seen evidence of compound eyes in Cambrian trilobite fossils before, the internal structure and function of these proto-eyes remained a mystery.

Now researchers from Estonia, Germany, and Scotland have described a truly exceptional find – a 530-million-year-old trilobite so well preserved, they were able to discern its compound eye at a cellular level.

“The trilobite to which [the eye] belongs is found in a zone where the first complete organisms appear in the fossil record; thus, it is probably the oldest record of a visual system that ever will be available,” the team writes in the study.

The remarkably preserved fossil, belonging to a species called Schmidtiellus reetae, was collected in Saviranna in northern Estonia.

Due to the local geological conditions during the lower Cambrian era, trilobite fossils collected there are known for exceptionally well-preserved exoskeletons – a feature that is often lost in finds from other parts of the world.

In this case, the trilobite fossil’s eye was partially worn away, revealing the internal structure in astounding detail.

The fossil was found in Estonia

The units that make up any modern insect’s compound eye are called ommatidia, and the researchers counted about 100 of these in the fossil. Unlike the closely packed modern bug eyes, these cells were more spaced out.

Additionally, the researchers couldn’t find much of a lens structure, which they say is remarkable.

“There are indications of round lens-like discs when the eye is studied from the outside, but from the internal aspect, no convexities that could effectuate any refraction of light can be made out,” the team writes.

One reason for this could be that the trilobite exoskeletons didn’t have the materials in their shells needed to form a lens that could refract light in the marine environments they lived in.

“This exceptional fossil shows us how early animals saw the world around them hundreds of millions of years ago,” says one of the team, paleontologist Euan Clarkson from the University of Edinburgh.

“Remarkably, it also reveals that the structure and function of compound eyes have barely changed in half a billion years.”

Indeed, it’s crazy to think that scientists can dig up the remains of a creature that’s been dead for over 500 million years and find that it had basically the same visual organs as many animals we share the planet with today.

The trilobites didn’t quite have the visual acuity of a modern bee, but they saw well enough to avoid obstacles and even avoid their terrifying contemporary predators. In fact, this early arms race is thought to have contributed to the evolution of increasingly useful eyesight in those primeval oceans.

“The ‘race’ between predator and prey and the need ‘to see’ and ‘to be seen’ or ‘not to be seen’ were drivers for the origin and subsequent evolution of efficient visual systems, as well as for protective shells,” the team writes in the study.

“In its principal structure, it was simpler than, but otherwise almost identical to, that of the modern compound eyes of bees and dragonflies living today.”

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

1,000-Year-Old  Bible Found in Turkey Shows Images of Jesus

1,000-Year-Old  Bible Found in Turkey Shows Images of Jesus

The discovery was made in the central Turkish town of Tokat by officials carrying out an operation to stop priceless artifacts from being smuggled out of the country.

The Turkish Police uncovered a valuable collection of jewellery, 53 ancient coins as well as two rings and two arrowheads.

It is not known where the Bible originates from, and its cover was damaged, but, inside, were pictures made of gold leaves said to show Jesus Christ, Mary and across, as well as text written in the old Assyrian language.

Researcher lists through 1,000-year-old Bible, written in the old Assyriac language and illustrated with religious motifs made of gold leafs

Turkish news organization Anadolu Agency shared a video online of the book which was later revealed by the YouTube channel “Let Me Know” in a 2020 mini-documentary.

The series explained: “The authorities swooped in after being tipped off about a trio of suspected criminals trying to offload their stolen goods.

“They uncovered jewellery and over 50 historic coins of varying shapes and sizes during the operations.

“But one item was of more historic value – a Bible that could be as much as 1,000 years old, and, while the cover of the book had some damage, many of the remaining 50-odd pages are in pretty good condition.

The authorities swooped in after being tipped off about a trio of suspected criminals

Let Me Know

“Inside, many of the pages reveal beautiful, faded imagery, religious symbols and pictures are visible – many made with delicate sheets of gold.

“The book contains one clear image of a cross, another illustration appears to be a mother – perhaps Mary – and other images depict Jesus Christ and other figures from Christianity.”

Tokat has emerged in recent years as a centre of smuggling activities in rare artefacts. This reputation was cemented in 2015 when “Orphan Man, Standing,” an authentic oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, was found in the boot of a vehicle owned by a suspected artefact smuggler.

This led to authorities implementing stricter checks within Tokat and an undercover operation to pin-down sellers.

The documentary added: “Significantly, in early 2015, anti-smuggling police discovered an old painting, completed of oils during a vehicle search of the city.

“But this wasn’t just any old oil picture, in fact, the piece was believed to be the work of a globally-respected master artist – Vincent van Gogh.

“The painting was deemed to be the real thing and later that year police uncovered even more important artefacts in another undercover sting.

“They successfully recovered the antiquities after a number of actioned designed to capture these suspected smugglers.”

Theologians hoped the Bible would offer valuable insights into the way Christianity has developed in the past century, but there has been no new research shared since the find.

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

3,500 Years old Bronze Age skull shows women always loved jewellery

3,500 Years old Bronze Age skull shows women always loved jewellery.

A female skeleton around 3,500 years old has been found wearing a “designer” headband comprising tiny bronze spirals. Another evidence showing women have always loved jewellery!

She may have walked the earth thousands of years ago, but this woman was clearly as fond of a nice piece of jewellery as the average 21st Century girl, who is very likely to wear these beautiful rings from Adina’s Jewels, or somewhere similar, to accessorize their chosen outfit for the day.

It is believed to date back to between 1550 and 1250 BC and discovered in eastern Germany, has shown possible evidence that women have always been fond of jewellery.

Close up of skeleton with an ornate headband.

The Middle Bronze Age woman had been buried wearing an elaborate headband made up of tiny bronze spirals. The skeleton was found from Rochlitz, south of Halle in eastern Germany, while construction was underway to build a new rail track.

The discovery has provided historians an insight into how the spirals were worn in the Middle Bronze Age, Tomoko Emmerling, the museum’s press officer, said.

Staff at the State Museum of Prehistory in Halle, where the skeleton is now on display as part of its permanent exhibition, said similar spirals uncovered in the past had been found separate and loose.

The State Museum of Prehistory in Halle is also home to the Nebra Sky Disk, which dates back to the early Bronze Age and is thought to have been an astronomical instrument.

Nebra Sky Disk, which is thought to have been an astronomical instrument in the Bronze Age.

So why do girls love jewellery? There are a couple of reasons that come to mind:

The ladies love to look pretty. For one thing, women are touted as more stylish and more conscious when it comes to looking fashionable and presentable.

Compared to the men, the ladies put so much care into their appearances, and the truth is society puts so much expectation for them to look well.

So to make themselves appear more presentable, it has always been set — perhaps since the beginning of civilization — that girls must always wear pretty things especially when it comes to clothing, shoes, accessories or jewellery. And sometimes, it is not just about wearing any type of jewellery.

Some girls even go the extra mile by wearing bright and coloured pieces that really command attention.

The more the pieces grab the interest of the people around her, the more it is appealing to wear.

Egyprian Queen Nefertiti Wearing Jewellery.

This is not to say, however, that many women are vain about looking good and getting praises for it. But then again, whether folks admit this or not, vanity while considered a vice by some, can also be a good thing, especially among the female population. Because there is nothing wrong with looking pretty and using jewellery to do just that.