Category Archives: EUROPE

ASIA, EUROPE, RUSSIA, WORLD

The newly discovered fossils are 200,000 years old in Denisova Cave

The newly discovered fossils are 200,000 years old in Denisova Cave

The newly discovered fossils are 200,000 years old in Denisova Cave

Scientists have discovered the earliest remains of a human lineage known as the Denisovans. Researchers have identified stone artifacts connected to these ancient ancestors of contemporary humans using these 200,000-year-old bones for the first time, according to a new study.

The DNA study of a tooth and a little finger bone discovered in a cave named Denisova in Siberia’s Altai highlands provided our first tantalizing sight of the Denisovans in 2010.

The fossil record of these mysterious individuals is extremely limited, with only four bits of bone and teeth and a jawbone discovered in Tibet.

Their DNA, however, has indicated that they had a common ancestor with the Neanderthals and our species, Homo sapiens, some 765,000 years ago.

After this ancestor population split, our branch of the human family tree remained in Africa, while the Neanderthal/Denisovan branch moved into Eurasia.

By 430,000 years ago, the Eurasian branch had split, giving rise to the Neanderthals in western Eurasia and the Denisovans in the east. It’s unclear why the Denisovans and Neanderthals split, but a recent theory argues that when the Arctic ice sheet moved southwards to the Black Sea, cutting Europe off from Asia, it split the early humans into the east and west groups indicated above.

We now know that Denisovans are bred with modern humans in at least two places: in East Asia and further south-east in Indonesia or Australasia.

Denisovan cave.

Three more Denisovan fossils have been unearthed in Denisova Cave by experts. Scientists believe they are roughly 200,000 years old, making them the oldest Denisovans yet discovered. Previously, the oldest known Denisovan specimens ranged in age from 122,000 to 194,000 years.

In the new study, researchers analyzed 3,800 bone fragments from Denisova Cave. They searched for proteins they knew were Denisovan based on previous DNA research.

The experts discovered five human bones among the remains. Four of them had enough DNA to be identified: one was Neanderthal, and the other three were Denisovan. Two of these fossils may have come from the same person or from related people, based on genetic similarities.

“We were extremely excited to identify three new Denisovan bones amongst the oldest layers of Denisova Cave,” study author Katerina Douka, an archaeological scientist at the University of Vienna in Austria, told Live Science. “We specifically targeted these layers where no other human fossils were found before, and our strategy worked.”

One of the Denisovan bones was found in Denisova Cave in Siberia.

The age of these Denisovan fossils was calculated by the researchers based on the stratum of soil in which they were discovered. This stratum also contains a plethora of stone objects and animal bones, which might provide important archaeological insights about Denisovan life and behavior. Previously, Denisovan fossils were only discovered in levels devoid of such archaeological material, or in layers that may have also held Neanderthal material.

These newly discovered Denisovans lived in a time when, according to a prior study, the temperature was warm and similar to today’s, and they lived in a habitat that featured broad-leaved woods and open grassland. The Denisovans may have eaten deer, gazelles, horses, bison, and woolly rhinoceroses, according to butchered and burned animal remains discovered in the cave.

“This is the first time we can be sure that Denisovans were the makers of the archaeological remains we found associated with their bone fragments,” Katerina Douka said.

The stone artifacts discovered in the same strata as these Denisovan fossils are largely scraping implements that may be employed to deal with animal skins. The raw materials for these things most likely originated from river silt right outside the cave’s entrance, and the river most likely aided the Denisovans in their hunting efforts, according to the experts.

There are no direct analogs to the stone tools associated with these new fossils in North or Central Asia. They do, however, bore some similarities to artifacts discovered in Israel between 250,000 and 400,000 years ago – a time period associated with key advances in human technology, such as the widespread use of fire, according to the researchers.

The researchers published their findings online in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

The ‘boiler room’ of the bath in the Ancient City of Metropolis was unearthed

The ‘boiler room’ of the bath in the Ancient City of Metropolis was unearthed

The ‘boiler room’ of the bath in the Ancient City of Metropolis was unearthed

The vault section, called the ‘boiler room’, which provides a heat source, has been unearthed in the historical bath of the ancient city of Metropolis in the Torbalı district of İzmir.

The ancient city of Metropolis, which was founded on a hill between Yeniköy and Özbey villages in the west of Torbalı Plain, is the first residential area of Torbalı, which is situated 45 kilometers east of Izmir. Metropolis means Mother Goddess city.

The excavations carried out by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in the Ancient City of Metropolis are supported by Torbalı Municipality, Metropolis Lovers Association, Sabancı Foundation, and İzmir Metropolitan Municipality.

 The first settlement traces around Metropolis date back to the Stone Age (Neolithic) Tepeköy, Dedecik, Kuşçuburun. Although the Hellenic community on the acropolis was founded after the ninth century BC, the city’s greatest growth occurred in the third century BC.

In the ancient city, where many monumental structures were unearthed, this year’s excavations are carried out around the Hellenistic theater, one of the city’s most important structures. With the works carried out for the last 2 years, the boiler room in the historical bath of the ancient city was also unearthed.

Head of the Metropolis Ancient City Excavation, Manisa Celal Bayar University Department of Archeology lecturer Professor Dr. Serdar Aybek said, “The building where the bath is located has a large area of 6 thousand square meters. This is an extremely large area, it needs meticulous work.”

The vaulted gallery we are in is one of the most important halls of the building. The area used as the ‘service corridor’. Along with its terrace, it is one of the most original examples of stone and brick architecture in Anatolia.

Aybek also added that the bath was built in different phases and dates back to 1800 years ago. First, while it had a small area in the 1st century AD; It was expanded in the 2nd century AD, and its halls were enlarged. Additional buildings such as the vault section have been included in the plan to heat the newly enlarged halls.

Stating that the vault section unearthed can be seen as the ‘boiler room’ that provides the heat source of the bath in modern terms, Professor Aybek said, “The ‘Hypocaust’ method, which is the central heating system established by the Romans, used.”

“The baths are heated by means of perforated bricks placed on both the floor and the wall. The boilers, which are the first step of heating, are located here.

The bath is heated by burning the region’s red pine trees in furnaces positioned below ground level, below the three pools in the main area of the bath,” he said.

Professor Aybek stated that it was a pleasant surprise that the vault section was still standing with its terrace: “We saw that the building was at terrace level and completely preserved. This part was completely unearthed through archaeological excavations.”

We uncovered the well-preserved structure by excavating about 9 meters of earth fill. This part reveals only a part of the bath.

This is one of the most important structures of the Metropolis here. It has facilities and management units such as sports and dining halls. This is the place that constitutes the most important attraction center of the city,” he said.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

The Secret of the Shipwrecks at Theodosius Harbor: 1,600 Years Old Women’s Sandals and Comb

The Secret of the Shipwrecks at Theodosius Harbor: 1,600 Years Old Women’s Sandals and Comb

The 1,600-year-old sandals and comb unearthed during the excavations of Theodosius Harbor (Portus Theodosiacus), the second-biggest harbor built on the coast of the Marmara Sea, fascinate those who see it.

Excavations conducted concurrently with the construction of the Marmaray and Metro rail projects initiated to provide a solution to Istanbul’s transportation problems have resulted in the most extensive archeological survey in the city’s history.

As a result, detailed information about Istanbul’s prehistoric periods has been obtained, an area that has hosted different cultures for thousands of years and unites the cultures of the East and the West.

Before 2004, information about the settlement history of Istanbul was based on excavations outside the Historic Peninsula; settlements in these areas could be traced to 2,500 years ago.

The Secret of the Shipwrecks at Theodosius Harbor: 1,600 Years Old Women’s Sandals and Comb
The ancient sandals were discovered almost intact in the Istanbul dig.

The astonishing finds were discovered during digs prompted by the Marmaray project. One of these interesting finds was sandals with wooden soles belonging to a woman.

The sandals had a Greek message that reads: “Use in health, lady, wear in beauty and happiness.”

Researchers came to differing conclusions about the sunken ships discovered in the harbor of Theodosius, which dated from different centuries. It was suggested that the ships might have sunk during a hurricane, tsunami, or other natural disaster.

A comb was found at the excavations of the Harbor of Theodosius.

The idea that the ships were simply abandoned after serving their purpose is one of the most widely held theories. In the fourth of nine stratigraphic segments in the excavation field, researchers discovered evidence of the effects of the earthquake and tsunami that occurred in AD 553.

Another theory is that the southwesterly wind, known as kaçak (fugitive) in Turkish, which begins suddenly in the Marmara Sea during the summer months, caused these vessels to sink.

Above the vessels, a thick layer of sea sand formed. The accumulation that filled the harbor protected and preserved the sunken ships.

The rapid burial of the ships created an anoxic environment that preserved rigging tools like tackles, pulleys, ropes, and toggles as well as everyday items like combs, leather sandals, straw baskets, and wooden plates as well as a variety of organic and inorganic artifacts like stone and iron anchors.

Around the harbor, a number of fragments of sunken ships and items from earlier eras were also discovered.

EUROPE, SWEDEN, WORLD

Archeologists discover 2000-year-old Roman coins on the deserted Swedish island of Gotska Sandön

Archeologists discover 2000-year-old Roman coins on the deserted Swedish island of Gotska Sandön

Archeologists discover 2000-year-old Roman coins on the deserted Swedish island of Gotska Sandön

Archaeologists found 2,000-year-old Roman coins on the Swedish deserted island of Gotska Sandön.

Previously, ancient Roman coins were discovered on the Swedish island of Gotland. Finding similar ancient items on the deserted island of Gotska Sandön, on the other hand, is unusual. Because of its location, it is a unique discovery.

The coins stem from the time of Emperor Trajan, who ruled the Roman Empire in the years 98-117, and Antoninus Pius, who ruled between 138 and 161.

The discovery was made by a team of experts from Södertörn University and the Gotland Museum.

Archaeologists, to this day, have not been able to identify the historical role of the island within the Baltic region’s different historical eras. The island has been inhabited since the Stone Ages, as seal bones, slaughter remains from cows, and a battle glove was previously excavated.

A silver denarius showing the face of Roman emperor Trajan.

In a statement, Johan Rönnby, professor of marine archeology at Soderon University, which runs the excavations in collaboration with the Gotland Museum, stated that “These are exciting finds that raise several questions.”

Archaeologists are now debating whether the discoveries are shipwreck remains strewn across the beach. A large number of hearths and fireplace remains have been discovered along the island’s coast. Another theory is that the coins are somehow related to these activities.

A local lighthouse keeper claimed to have discovered a Roman coin on the island in the late 1800s, which was met with skepticism. The recent discoveries may vindicate him.

“Finds of Roman silver coins are not unusual for Gotland, but are for Gotska Sandon. What makes this find interesting is precisely the location,” Daniel Langhammer of the Administrative Board in Gotland County said.

Gotska Sandon islands.

Gotland, Sweden’s largest island and a key point in the Baltic Sea maritime trade, is rich in medieval treasures.

The number of Arab dirhams discovered on the island, in particular, is astounding, dwarfing any other site in Western Eurasia. These coins made their way north along the Silver-Fur Road through trade between Rus merchants and the Abbasid Caliphate.

The 9-km long and 6-km wide Gotska Sandon island is part of Gotland County and has been a national park since 1909.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Chelmsford: Roman Apollo ring with links to Snettisham hoard found

Chelmsford: Roman Apollo ring with links to Snettisham hoard found

Chelmsford: Roman Apollo ring with links to Snettisham hoard found
The silver ring’s carved gemstone is a dark orange-red colour and “is probably a carnelian”, experts said in their report to the Essex Coroner

A silver ring unearthed in an Essex field may be connected to a famous Roman jeweller’s hoard found in Norfolk in 1985, a historian has said. The ring is inset with a carnelian carving of the god Apollo. It was found by a metal detectorist near Chelmsford.

Its 2nd Century wearer would have hoped for the god’s protection, Essex finds liaison officer Lori Rogerson said.

The ring seemed to be from the same workshop as the Snettisham hoard of carved gemstones, she added.

The large hoard was found buried in a pot during building work and included 110 unmounted gemstone intaglios – carved gemstones used as seals – silver jewellery and ingots, 110 coins, and tools, Its contents are now at the British Museum.

Miss Rogerson said the way it had been carved using long strokes and the fact it dated from AD125 to 175 suggested a connection to the Norfolk hoard.

The seal would leave an impression of Apollo holding a laurel wreath when pressed into wax (above)

The ring would have been used as a seal to sign documents by “literate men and women in wider Romano-British society which grew around military towns… leaving an impression of the engraved image in wax”, she added.

But it would also have been a “very personal” object.

“We know these people would have had a very close personal relationship with their gods and goddesses,” she said.

“Apollo, being the god of healing and prophecy, would hopefully have protected the wearer from harm or illness.

“It’s also really interesting because it’s evidence of a pagan religion that has its roots in Ancient Greece being worshipped by Romano-British society.”

Another ring unearthed at Upper Winchendon, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 2018 is also believed to have links to the Snettisham workshop.

The Essex ring was declared treasure by a coroner and Chelmsford Museum hopes to acquire it.

EUROPE, PORTUGAL, WORLD

Centuries-old skeleton with massive, crippling bone growth unearthed in Portugal

Centuries-old skeleton with massive, crippling bone growth unearthed in Portugal

Centuries-old skeleton with massive, crippling bone growth unearthed in Portugal
The 3-inch-long lump of bone grew precisely where the pectineus muscle is attached to the femur and would have caused the woman severe pain.

A rare and gruesome bone growth protruding from a 14th to 19th-century woman’s thigh bone mushroomed after she suffered severe trauma, anthropologists in Portugal have found.

The 3-inch (8 centimeters) lump sprouted precisely where a muscle joins the inner thigh bone and the public bone together, which would have caused the woman debilitating pain and severely impaired mobility.

“I have never seen such [a] large bone formation,” lead author Sandra Assis, a biological anthropologist at the NOVA University Lisbon in Portugal, told Live Science in an email. “I was really intrigued by its morphology.”

The massive, “rope-like” bone spur probably formed on the woman’s femur as a result of a serious muscle injury, according to a study published Jan. 9, 2023 in the International Journal of Paleopathology.

The researchers think that this could be a rare form of bone growth called myositis ossificans traumatica, which can develop after a single traumatic accident or following multiple minor injuries.

Archeologists unearthed the maimed woman’s skeleton in 2002 in the ancient necropolis of São Julião Church, in the village of Constância, Portugal. They discovered her remains among those 106 adults and 45 children who lived between 600 and 200 years ago.

Although it was incomplete and missing the left femur, her skeleton was well preserved and indicated that she was roughly 5 feet tall (1.54 meters) and over 50 years old.

Archeologists found her on her back, with her hands resting on her pelvis, a coin on her left forearm and her head tilted to the right. Researchers later spotted the protruding lump of bone, while cleaning the skeleton in the laboratory, Assis said.

The researchers detected no fracture on the woman’s thigh bone and remain uncertain about what caused the grisly growth to sprout. They concluded that the injury was 6 weeks to a year old when she died and would have prevented the woman from making any dynamic movements or from carrying weight.

The gruesome bulge probably developed following a traumatic accident that crippled a muscle in the woman’s inner thigh called the pectineus.

This is the first time that paleopathologists document a case of this rare type of bone growth, known as myositis ossificans traumatica, affecting the pectineus muscle.

“The appearance of the femoral bone suggests a longstanding process,” Assis said. “We do not have the medical record of this female, but looking at similar clinical cases we can assume that this femoral lesion was quite debilitating.”

Nowadays, surgery can remove bone spurs, but that was not an option when the woman lived, Assis said.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Bronze Age and Roman-era settlements unearthed in Newquay

Bronze Age and Roman-era settlements unearthed in Newquay

Bronze Age and Roman-era settlements unearthed in Newquay

Archaeologists from the Cornwall Archaeological have uncovered ancient dwellings from the Bronze Age and a Roman period settlement in Newquay, England.

The discovery was made at the site of a new housing development in Newquay.

The excavations team found three Bronze Age roundhouses and a Roman-period settlement – consisting of an oval house, a large processing area (thought to be used for cereals), and two rectangular buildings (probably former barns).

The discovered dwellings, on the site of a new housing development in Newquay, include large quantities of Bronze Age Trevisker ware pottery, Roman-period imported pottery, and worked stone tools from both periods.

According to the researchers, Bronze Age structures have been found at various sites across Cornwall over the past 30 years, however, the discovery of a cluster of roundhouses in such a small area is still a rare find.

Bronze Age Trevisker ware pottery was uncovered during the dig.

Sean Taylor, Senior Archaeologist at the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, said: “Although quite a few of these Bronze Age structures have been found at various sites around the county over the last 30 or so years starting with Trethellan at Newquay in 1987, it’s still rare to find so much in one small area.

“The Roman house is similar to buildings found at Trethurgy Round near St Austell in the 1970s and are of a type unique to Cornwall. The rectangular agricultural buildings on the other hand are fairly common throughout Roman Britain but this is the first time that they have been discovered in Cornwall.\“It’s starting to look like this part of Newquay, alongside the River Gannel, was a very important and densely populated area from the Neolithic (c 4000BC) onwards. The estuary undoubtedly formed an important link with the outside world throughout prehistory.”

The Cornwall Archaeological Unit completed their work at the end of March. The site will now be handed over to the developer, Treveth.

Many of the finds, which include large quantities of Bronze Age Trevisker ware pottery, Roman-period imported pottery, and worked stone tools from both periods, are expected to be housed in a local museum.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Marble inlay floors were found in a Sunken Roman villa in Baia, the Las Vegas of the ancient world

Marble inlay floors were found in a Sunken Roman villa in Baia, the Las Vegas of the ancient world

Marble inlay floors were found in a Sunken Roman villa in Baia, the Las Vegas of the ancient world

Expansion of research activities in the Terme del Lacus area in the sunken Baia park, known as the ‘Las Vegas’ of the ancient world, has revealed new elements of ancient Roman luxury villas.

In the Gulf of Naples, a few kilometers from Pompeii, Baia was a vacation city for the capital’s rich and powerful during the Roman era, drawn to its natural volcanic vents and medicinal hot springs.

Some of the most important names in Roman history such as Caesar, Cicero, Mark Antony, Brutus, and Nero had villas in Baia.

The luxurious town was abandoned in the 8th century after being raided by a Muslim army, and in the 16th century, the underlying volcanic magma chamber emptied, a process known as bradyseism.

The land dropped about 20 feet below sea level, drowning more than half of Baia beneath shallow bay waters.

A section more than 260 feet long with visible remains, including a stone colonnade with collapsed columns made of fine imported Portasanta marble from Chios in Greece, was discovered during an exploration of the Baths of Lacus, a private thermal bath built inside a domus.

A large section of opus sectile (marble inlay) flooring was also discovered.

A large piece of marble opus sectile flooring has also been identified, still rendered in Portasanta in chromatic alternation with white or gray marble slabs. This currently appears as the most indicative dating element, being the typology and implementation referable to the Late Antiquity age.

The Lacus Baths site, which opened in 2020, allows scuba divers and snorkelers to explore the bath’s exceptional mosaic floors made of white, pink, red, green, grey, and black tiles.

It was a spa complex, most likely of a private residence, overlooking Baia’s ancient port, the Lacus Baianus.

In addition to the perimeters of various rooms and the thermal baths, three apses walls, which once supported large windows overlooking the Lacus Baianus, can be seen.