Category Archives: EUROPE

EUROPE, SPAIN, WORLD

New Thoughts on Prehistoric Owl Plaques

New Thoughts on Prehistoric Owl Plaques

New Thoughts on Prehistoric Owl Plaques

Over the past century, thousands of pieces of slate engraved with images of owls have been unearthed from tombs and pits across the Iberian Peninsula, in what’s now Portugal and Spain.

The artifacts date from around 5,000 years ago, and for more than a century their function has flummoxed archaeologists. Many thought they represented goddesses and primarily served a ritual purpose.

Findings from new research published Thursday, however, suggest a more prosaic function: They were toys made and used by children.

Víctor Díaz Núñez de Arenas, the study coauthor and researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid’s department of art history, said the engravings’ informal appearance made the team doubt they were exclusively ritual objects. Plus, many of them were found in homes and other archaeological sites that did not have a clearly ritual context.

To test the idea that they were instead toys, the research team examined 100 of the slate plaques, documenting which particular owl traits were featured in the engraving — feathery tufts, patterned feathers, a flat facial disk, a beak, and wings.

The researchers then compared them with 100 images of owls drawn earlier this year by children ages 4 to 13 at an elementary school in southwestern Spain. The students were asked by their teacher to sketch an owl in less than 20 minutes, with no further instructions.

The common species called little owl (Athene noctua) may have inspired some engraved slate plaques. Two fledglings are shown.

“The similarity of these plaques with the drawings made by children of our days is very remarkable,” Díaz Núñez de Arenas said via email. “One of the things that they reveal to us about the children of that time is that their vision of what an owl is (is) very similar, if not identical, to what children of today have.”

It’s impossible to know exactly how prehistoric children would have played with the owls, he said, but many of the slates have perforations that could have allowed kids to insert real feathers at the top, Díaz Núñez de Arenas said.

Drawings of owls by present-day children were similar to the owls on the plaques, researchers said.

In addition to play, engraving the owls could have helped children learn a valuable prehistoric skill.

“The engraving of these plaques provided the youngest with an activity with which to learn the handling of the different techniques of carving and engraving of the stone, essential for the realization of other objects, such as knives or points of arrow used for functional tasks of daily life. It could even be a way to detect and select the most skilled members of the community for stone carving,” he said.

Díaz Núñez de Arenas said the slate owls could have also played a ritual role, perhaps allowing children to participate in community ceremonies such as burials, offering their toys or dolls as a tribute to deceased loved ones.

This slate plaque with an engraving of an owl was part of the study.

Archaeologist Dr. Brenna Hassett, a research associate at University College London who was not involved in the study, agreed that many ancient objects described as ritual might have multiple purposes and uses. She said that not enough was known about how children played in prehistory, and that it remains a relatively understudied field.

“We have to remember that many things would have been made of perishable materials — such as string and fur and wood — so that is one of the reasons it is so rare to find something that is unmistakably a ‘toy,'” said Hassett, author of the 2022 book “Growing Up Human: The Evolution of Childhood.”

The plaques aren’t the oldest known potential toys in the archaeological record. Díaz Núñez de Arenas said animal figures found in children’s graves in Siberia dated to around 20,000 years old have been interpreted as toys, while Hassett said spinners or thaumatropes found in French caves dating back to around 36,000 years ago are thought by some to be toys.

The journal Scientific Reports published the research on Thursday.

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

DNA Offers Clues to Medieval Ashkenazi Jewish Communities

DNA Offers Clues to Medieval Ashkenazi Jewish Communities

DNA Offers Clues to Medieval Ashkenazi Jewish Communities
The archaeological excavations at the site of the mediaeval Jewish cemetery in the German city of Erfurt unearthed 47 graves; ancient DNA was recovered from the teeth of 33 individuals.

A rare look at the genetics of Ashkenazi Jews who lived in medieval Germany reveals this group had more genetic diversity 600 years ago than today, and reaffirms a recent finding that a “genetic bottleneck” in the Ashkenazi population occurred before the Middle Ages.

Religious laws usually prohibit any such research into the Jewish dead, but scientists worked with the region’s modern Jewish community to find a workaround: They studied the centuries-old DNA in detached teeth unearthed in the burials recovered from excavations in Erfurt, a town in central Germany, according to a study published Nov. 30 in the journal Cell.

Teeth do not have the same religious significance as other human remains, which means they can be scientifically studied. “The teeth have less importance,” Shai Carmi, a population geneticist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told Live Science. “The rest of a body needs to be reburied and cannot be destroyed; but based on Jewish law, the teeth do not need to be reburied — they are considered external to the body.”

So far, the workaround applies only to the German state of Thuringia, but Carmi is hopeful that the team’s solution will set a precedent for genetic studies of ancient Jewish populations elsewhere.

Religious laws usually prohibit scientific research on Jewish dead, but the researchers and the region’s modern Jewish community derived a workaround that allowed ancient DNA to be recovered from teeth.

Medieval Jewry

The Jewish cemetery at Erfurt served its medieval population from the late 11th century until 1454, when Jews were expelled from the city. Erfurt had been home to a thriving Jewish community until that time, although a brutal massacre in 1349 killed more than 100 Jews in the city, possibly because they were incorrectly accused of being responsible for the Black Death.

After the 1454 expulsion, a barn and a granary were built on the site of the Jewish cemetery. Centuries later, in 2013, archaeologists unearthed 47 Jewish graves during an archaeological excavation ahead of the site’s redevelopment into a multistory parking garage, Carmi said.

In 2021, the remains of these individuals were reburied in a 19th-century cemetery used by the local Jewish community, according to the study.

The granary built on top of the medieval Jewish cemetery was redeveloped in 2013 into a multistory car garage; the graves were unearthed by an archaeological rescue excavation before construction went ahead.

Before the reburial, the researchers obtained ancient DNA from the teeth of 33 people interred in the graves, and the study shows these individuals had very similar genetic makeups to modern Ashkenazi Jews living in Europe and the United States. 

Scientists think the ancestors of Ashkenazi Jews migrated in the early medieval period from what’s now Italy to the Rhineland in what’s now Germany, and that large population migrated from there to Eastern Europe, possibly in response to religious persecution by Christians after the 12th century.

About half of modern Jews identify as Ashkenazi Jews; others are descended from other populations, including Sephardic Jews from what is now Portugal and Spain. 

The medieval synagogue in Erfurt still stands; it is now a museum dedicated to documenting medieval Jewish life in the city.
Erfurt was home to a thriving Jewish community until they were expelled in 1454; a barn and a granary, which stood until 2013, were built on what had been the medieval Jewish cemetery.

Genetic bottleneck

The researchers found evidence that Jews in medieval Erfurt had greater genetic diversity than modern Ashkenazi Jews, and they saw signs that a characteristic “genetic bottleneck” in Ashkenazi Jews occurred centuries earlier than previously thought, in about A.D. 1000, when the first Ashkenazi Jewish communities were established in the Rhineland.

That genetic bottleneck — the result of a drastically reduced ancestral population — has led to a higher incidence of certain genetic disorders among modern Ashkenazi Jews, such as Tay-Sachs disease and some hereditary cancers; and the new study shows those disorders were already present in this population by the early 15th century, Carmi said.

An analysis of the mitochondrial DNA — genetic material passed down through mothers — revealed that a third of the analyzed Erfurt individuals shared a specific sequence, which indicated they were descended from a single woman through their maternal line, the researchers added.

The research from the Erfurt remains reinforces the findings from a study earlier this year of medieval Jewish remains found in a well in Norwich, England, that likely contained the victims of an antisemitic attack.

“This paper really shows off how archaeogenetics and archaeology can give us new and otherwise unobtainable insight into periods covered by written histories,” Tom Booth, a bioarchaeologist at The Francis Crick Institute in London, told Live Science in an email. Booth was not involved in the latest research, but he was a co-researcher of the Norwich study.

Selina Brace, a specialist in ancient DNA at the National History Museum in London — who was the lead author of the Norwich research but wasn’t involved with the Erfurt study — added that it was “positive” that it drew the same conclusions as the Norwich study, including that the genetic bottleneck probably occurred about 1,000 years ago, when the first Ashkenazi Jewish communities were established.

EUROPE, NORWAY, WORLD

Medieval Woman’s Life-Sized Model Created in Norway

Medieval Woman’s Life-Sized Model Created in Norway

Medieval Woman’s Life-Sized Model Created in Norway
“Tora” likely lived to be 65 years old in a medieval city in central Norway.

A life-size 3D model of a grinning old woman holding a walking stick looks like a contemporary elder on a stroll through her neighborhood. In reality, this woman lived nearly 800 years ago in Norway, and the model is a sculpted life-sized reconstruction based on her skeleton.

On Oct. 7, Ellen Grav, an archaeologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) University Museum, introduced the world to the lifelike model — named “Tora” — via Facebook. Tora’s likeness is now on display as part of an exhibitionat NTNU’s museum. (Tora’s name was selected in a public poll conducted by NRK, a Norwegian broadcast company.)

Tora was born near the end of the 1200s and lived in Trondheim, a city in central Norway. During that time, the medieval metropolis was growing rapidly and was inhabited by craftspeople and traders, according to the museum.

While there are no written records about Tora, archaeologists pieced together a story about this medieval woman’s life based on clues from her skeletal remains and where her body was exhumed.

“We know that she was buried in the churchyard near the street where the merchants lived,” Grav told Live Science in an email. “This suggests that she could have lived in a merchant’s family.”

Archaeologists suspect that the individuals who were buried in this churchyard were quite wealthy.

“Since Tora lived to be roughly 65, which is considered rather old for the period,” Grav said, “we do believe that she must have lived a somewhat good life for her time.”

A spinal deformity in Tora’s skeleton led Grav and her team to conclude that Tora likely walked hunched over. She also had no lower teeth and lived without them for a long period of time before her death. To the archaeologists, the bend in Tova’s back and her missing teeth hinted at “signs of hard work and lifelong wear on the skeleton,” Grav said.

An artist used silicone for the model’s skin and hand-painted liver stains and other spots on her body.

Grav worked with Thomas Foldberg, a Denmark-based film industry makeup artist, to make Tora as lifelike as possible. Unlike many facial reconstructions that involve using either X-rays or CT scans, Foldberg focused on Tora’s skeleton to help create a 3D model of what this medieval woman may have looked like. For Tora’s skin, Foldberg used silicone and even “hand painted liver stains and other spots” on her body, Grav said.

“Every strand of hair in the eyebrows, lashes and facial hair is attached one by one,” Grav said. “It’s truly amazing artistic work.” 

For Tora’s costume, Marianne Vedeler, a textile professor in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Oslo in Norway, researched archeological finds from the area that dated to when Tora lived. Vedeler then tapped local dressmakers to fashion an outfit for the model.

“Nille Glæsel, an experienced dressmaker of Viking and medieval dresses [based in Norway], made Tora’s dress for us using medieval techniques,” Grav said. “She spun the yarn, weaved the fabric in and colored it with Rubia tinctorum [also known as rose madder]. Then she hand-sewed the dress after [Vedeler’s] reconstruction. She also made the shoes. We do have a lot of findings of shoes from Trondheim, so it was quite easy to know how the shoes should look.” 

As for Tora’s friendly expression, “it was very important for us to give the audience a feeling of a warm meeting, to better connect [them] with the medieval human,” Grav said.

“People always tend to think the medieval ages were dark and heavy, but there was also joy and happiness, people loved each other and some even lived a long life. Tora’s life was hard, but she must have had good days as well. I hope that people learn that they looked like us, had feelings like us and that they were people like us as well.”

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

Hoard of Medieval Silver Coins Discovered in Scotland

Hoard of Medieval Silver Coins Discovered in Scotland

Hoard of Medieval Silver Coins Discovered in Scotland
The 8,407 silver coins of the Dunscore Hoard include many medieval silver “Edwardian pennies” like this one found in the English city of Canterbury.

Metal detectorists have unearthed what may be one of the largest hoards of coins ever discovered in Scotland, in a field in the southwest of the country. The hoard is made up of more than 8,400 silver coins that date from the medieval period, mostly from the 13th and 14th centuries.

Ken McNab, a spokesman for the Scottish government, told Live Science that many of the coins are “Edwardian pennies” named after King Edward I, who reigned in England from 1272 to 1307.

Finding any coins in Scotland is rare, and this hoard is especially large. “This is the biggest medieval coin hoard found in Scotland since the 19th century,” McNab told Live Science in an email. 

The metal detectorists unearthed the coins last year in a field near the village of Dunscore, in the Dumfries and Galloway region about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Glasgow, and reported the hoard to the Treasure Trove Unit of National Museums Scotland, which oversees such finds.

McNab said the site was then investigated by archaeologists from National Museums Scotland, and each coin would now be identified, weighed, measured, and photographed — a lengthy process. 

Medieval kingdom

Scotland and England were independent kingdoms in the medieval period and often fought each other for control of their shared border. However, in 1296 Scotland was finally conquered by the armies of Edward I — earning the king the nickname “Hammer of the Scots.”

But the invasion sparked years of insurrectionist warfare, beginning with the famous rebellion led by William Wallace in 1297, and Edward’s descendants were troubled by uprisings until peace was agreed with the Scottish king Robert the Bruce in 1328, under the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton.

During his rule, Edward I reformed the coinage of his realm and introduced distinctive silver pennies with his face on one side and a Christian cross on the other. 

The design influenced English coins for hundreds of years, and today silver pennies from the reigns of Edward I and his son Edward II are much-prized by collectors.

Metal detectorists

Each of the newly discovered medieval coins is likely worth several dollars today, and the entire hoard is thought to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, quite apart from its archaeological value.

According to the Scottish newspaper Daily Record, any artifact of archaeological significance, whether made from precious metals or not, technically belongs to the Scottish government and must be reported to the authorities.

The government doesn’t always act on possible claims, however; and McNab said the decision on how to allocate the coins and any remuneration paid to the finders would be considered by the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel, which advises a government official known as the King’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer (KLTR).

McNab added that 12,263 artifacts were recorded by Scotland’s Treasure Trove Unit in 2022, including the 8,407 silver coins from the Dunscore hoard.

EUROPE, SWEDEN, WORLD

This rare battle sword just found in Sweden is ‘an evolutionary leap’

This rare battle sword just found in Sweden is ‘an evolutionary leap’

A basement at the intersection of Kungsgatan and Västerlånggatan in Gamla stan turned out to harbor a secret. A weapon lay in the racial masses from the warlike events in the summer of 1611.

Stenkällaren on the corner of Kungsgatan and Västerlånggatan in Gamla stan. Photo to the east.

During the past week, we have investigated a stone cellar at the intersection of Kungsgatan and Västerlånggatan in the old town of Kalmar.

The basement was relatively damaged by the previous wiring, but we can still state that it was about five by eight meters in size. At the time of writing, we have just documented the top cobbled floor level.

The basement had a slope to the south, which opened onto the medieval Västerportsgatan.

The stone cellar is documented.
Torn down burnt planks from the upper floor.

The farm at Tegmarsgatan

The farm in question was located on the corner of Västerportsgatan and Tegmarsgatan, which today roughly corresponds to the area where Kungsgatan and Västerlånggatan meet. 

It is also called in the sources “dagmar straten”, “strata/platea Teghmers”, “Thänkmars gatu” and “Teymars gatu”. Tegmarsgatan had a southwest–northeast orientation and formed an arch in the same direction as the city wall further north. Among other things, the name has been explained as coming from German, and equivalents can be found in the medieval documents of the city of Wismar. Over time, the original name and meaning have fallen into oblivion.

Gotskalk Hulskede’s farm?

Gotskalk Hulskede, who is mentioned in the written sources as early as 1368, is probably the first known owner of the corner farm. Gotskalk is also included in the declaration of allegiance to Queen Margareta in 1389.

Several of the plot owners are known during most of the 15th century. The thought book mentions, for example, Jacop Skytte and Gödeka printers. One of the records (1483) describes the farm as being “next west benkth thoressons gardh in hyrnith oc oppa höhra handen as you walk to mwren lithla gathorna”.

A violent fire in 1611

The farm was apparently burned down in the bloody summer of 1611 in connection with the Kalmar War. The cobbled floor was covered with broken brick, stone and wood from the upper floors of the house. 

Here were, among other things, two severely burnt hand mills and a pile of burnt grains. Perhaps it is the case that a kitchen on the floor above collapsed into the basement in connection with the fire. But this was not all that lay here……

Two heavily fire-damaged hand grinders.
It is likely that a barrel of grain fell prey to the flames in 1611.
A fire-damaged bolt lock, probably older than the Kalmar War.

A Danish soldier’s lost weapon

In the masses was also a rusty weapon that clearly gossips about what happened. We have had the battlefield archaeologist Bo Knarrström take a look at it and he states that this amazingly well-preserved stabbing weapon is something in between the medieval sword and the more modern sword, which would eventually come to dominate the 17th-century battlefield. 

At the time of the Kalmar War, the European armies were at a turning point – the military revolution – where new tactics and weapon systems were being tested.

The find fits well into the arsenal of the time. A Danish soldier lost his beautiful weapon in battle in the fateful summer of 1611. After conservation and deeper research, we will be able to tell you more.

In the basement lay the lost weapons of a Danish soldier.
This rare battle sword just found in Sweden is ‘an evolutionary leap’
The tip is broken. Maybe in connection with battle?
ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Wealthy Medieval Farm Excavated in Northern England

Wealthy Medieval Farm Excavated in Northern England

The site, four miles from Helmsley, was known to be the location of a grange built shortly after the abbey was founded in 1132 to supply it with produce, yet this was the first major excavation.

The farm was managed by the Cistercian monks until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, and items including rosary beads, pottery and glazed tiles were all found.

It is now thought the grange was of high economic importance and reflected the status of the abbey itself. The glazed roof tiles are ‘almost unheard of’ in farms of the period, and evidence iron smelting took place on the land was also discovered.

Remains of the monastic farm

The National Park Authority’s head of historic environment Miles Johnson said:

“Whilst it’s not surprising that we found evidence of medieval farming, the prestige, and range of the uncovered artifacts point to this being a place of high economic importance.

“For the archaeologists to find a cellar and what we think are glazed roof tiles from a medieval farm of this period is almost unheard of. Some find also relate to the process of iron smelting, which was clearly happening onsite, and indeed there was also an iron hunting arrow.”

The community dig was led by archaeologist John Buglass, founder of North Yorkshire-based JB Archeology, with close involvement from Keith Emerick, Inspector of Ancient Monuments at Historic England. Sixteen volunteers took part, contributing the equivalent of 129 days across six weeks.

Little was known about the site until the dig

John Buglass said: “This is one of those unexpected digs that shows just how much we can still learn from sites we thought we understood.

“Through the hard work of volunteer archaeologists from inside and outside the National Park, we have managed to add some significant understanding to our knowledge of the monastic granges of Rievaulx.”

Keith Emerick of Historic England added: “This is a truly remarkable discovery. Although we know where many monastic farm sites are located, relatively little is known about them. The excavation of such impressive remains and their associated finds adds a huge amount to our understanding of the medieval world.”

The excavations, which covered only a small part of the site, have now been completed, but work on analyzing the finds and interpreting the materials recovered will continue over the next year.

The farm was once wealthy, productive, and of high status

As successful farmers, the Cistercian monks at Rievaulx Abbey had a significant impact on the landscape of the North York Moors. They developed large-scale moorland grazing and stimulated the rapid growth of the wool trade that became so significant in England’s later history. The monks even diverted the course of the River Rye on more than one occasion to allow for their development.

The lead mining, iron ore, and wool sales operations were all highly profitable until the Black Death, after which it became difficult to recruit labour.

Rievaulx Abbey fell into ruin after the monks left following King Henry VIII’s campaign against the power of the Catholic Church. The site is now owned by English Heritage and welcomes visitors.

EUROPE, SPAIN, WORLD

Early Dog Identified in Spain’s Basque Country

Early Dog Identified in Spain’s Basque Country

A humerus analyzed by the UPV/EHU’s Human Evolutionary Biology group belonged to a specimen that lived in the Paleolithic period, 17,000 years ago.

Early Dog Identified in Spain’s Basque Country
Erralla humerus. a) Anterior view. b) Posterior view. c) Medial view. d) Lateral view.

The dog is the first species domesticated by humans, although the geographical and temporal origin of wolf domestication remains a matter of debate. In an excavation led by Jesus Altuna in the Erralla cave (Zestoa, Gipuzkoa) in 1985 an almost complete humerus was recovered from a canid, a family of carnivores that includes wolves, dogs, foxes and coyotes, among others.

At that time it was difficult to identify which species of canid it belonged to.

Now the Human Evolutionary Biology team at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), led by Professor Conchi de la Rúa, has carried out an in-depth study of the bone remains.

A morphological, radiometric and genetic analysis has enabled the species to be identified genetically as Canis lupus familiaris (domestic dog).

The direct dating of the humerus by means of carbon-14 using particle accelerator mass spectrometry gives it an age of 17,410–17,096 cal. BP, (calibrated years Before the Present, i.e. the results obtained are adjusted to take into account changes in the global concentration of radiocarbon over time). That means that the Erralla dog lived in the Magdalenian period of the Upper Paleolithic, which makes it one of the most ancient domestic dogs to have existed so far in Europe.

The Erralla dog shares the mitochondrial lineage with the few Magdalenian dogs analyzed so far.

The origin of this lineage is linked to a period of cold climate coinciding with the Last Glacial Maximum, which occurred in Europe around 22,000 years ago.

“These results raise the possibility that wolf domestication occurred earlier than proposed until now, at least in western Europe, where the interaction of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers with wild species, such as the wolf, may have been boosted in areas of glacial refuge (such as the Franco-Cantabrian) during this period of the climate crisis,” explained Conchi de la Rúa, head of the Human Evolutionary Biology group.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Roman Colosseum’s Sewers Investigated With Robots

Roman Colosseum’s Sewers Investigated With Robots

Roman Colosseum’s Sewers Investigated With Robots
The Colosseum is one of Italy’s most popular tourist sites

Spectators at Rome’s ancient gladiator arena, the Colosseum, may have enjoyed snacks of olives, fruit and nuts, archaeologists have found.

Food fragments of figs, grapes, cherries, blackberries, walnuts and more have been unearthed at the site. Archaeologists also found the bones of bears and big cats that were probably used in the arena’s hunting games.

The discoveries were made by archaeologists examining the 2,000-year-old landmark’s sewers.

Relics like these provide a snapshot into the “experience and habits of those who came to this place during the long days dedicated to the performances”, said Alfonsina Russo, Director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park.

Researchers say bones from bears and lions were probably left by animals that were forced to fight each other and gladiators for entertainment. Smaller animal bones belonging to dogs were also found.

The study began in January 2021 and involved the clearance of around 70m (230ft) of drains and sewers under the Colosseum, which remains one of Italy’s most visited landmarks.

Specialist architects and archaeologists used wire-guided robots to navigate the arena’s complex drainage system – aiding their understanding of daily life in Rome as well as ancient hydraulic structures, researchers said.

The Colosseum was the biggest amphitheatre in the Roman Empire, falling into disuse around 523 AD. It was famous for hosting gladiatorial fights and other public spectacles in front of crowds of tens of thousands.

Ancient coins were also discovered in the dig, including 50 bronze coins dating back to the late Roman period, spanning roughly 250-450AD and a silver commemorative coin from around 170-171AD celebrating 10 years of Emperor Marcus Aurelius’ rule.