Category Archives: EUROPE

EUROPE, WORLD

Remains of Victims of Stalin’s Great Purge Identified

Remains of Victims of Stalin’s Great Purge Identified

Three Georgian victims of Stalin-era crimes whose remains were found near Batumi have been identified by geneticists from the Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin.

The research is the last key part of the historical and archaeological work of the international team identifying victims of the Great Purge.

In total the remains of 27 victims murdered in 1937 were found in a monastery near Batumi. This is the first case of identifying victims of the Stalinist regime in the history of Georgia, and the first direct evidence of Soviet executions in this country.

Scientists from the Szczecin medical university, working as part of the Polish Genetic Database of Victims of Totalitarianisms – Pomeranian Medical University Research Centre, obtained good quality DNA from bone material and built the genetic profiles of victims and their families before then conducting comparisons and biostatic calculations, making it possible to determine the victims’ identities. 

‘Based on historical data and anthropological research by Georgian and American anthropologists, a group of people who could be buried there was selected.

Anthropological research is inconclusive, hence the +last link+, or genetic research, was necessary’, says the head of Department of Forensic Medicine at the Pomeranian Medical University, Dr. Andrzej Ossowski.

He adds that for his team it was an interesting experience, and each matter of this type and specificity of work in each region of Europe or the world is different, because of the approach of both the state authorities and the public.

Ossowski said: “These are very delicate issues, they require understanding of many sides. We know that both Catholics and Muslims have been buried here, so the work is particularly difficult.

“The discovered remains were well preserved, and the samples allowed scientists to obtain very good quality genetic profiles, followed by the process of collecting comparative material.

“Collecting genetic material from the possible families of victims was a huge challenge for our colleagues in Georgia. We had a +hot line+ for some time, as we would often deal with multi-generational families and it was necessary to consult on from whom to sample the material.”

He added that researchers working in Georgia reached many family members of the victims who could have been buried in Batumi.

After confirming the identity of three people (their names were not made public) and providing information to their families, which, as Ossowski points out, was widely commented on in Georgia, the geneticists are now working on identifying more victims.

Work in Batumi was conducted by an international team participating in the Georgian Recovery, Documentation and Identification Project (GDIP). One of the goals is the genetic analysis of the remains found in mass graves in Batumi between 1937-38.

The project leader is Dr. Meri Gonashvili, a forensic anthropologist and President of the Georgian Association of Forensic Anthropology (GAFA).

The 1930s was a period of Stalinist repression (purges), which particularly intensified in 1937-38. In 1968, British historian Robert Conquest introduced the term the Great Terror to describe the peak period of Stalinist repressions.

Over 1.5 million people were arrested and approx. 750,000 were executed. The NKVD trials most often ended in a death sentence or a sentence to life in the Gulag labour camps.

EUROPE, GREECE, WORLD

Chicken bones and snail shells help archaeologists to date ancient town’s destruction

Chicken bones and snail shells help archaeologists to date ancient town’s destruction

Chicken bones and snail shells help archaeologists to date ancient town's destruction
Spring 107 BC destruction layer of the Seleucid settlement of Tell Izṭ abba.

According to new research, the combined analysis of animal and plant remains, as well as written evidence, is leading to more precise dating of archaeological finds.

“We can now often determine not only the year but also the season. This allows us to reconstruct the events that produced the finds much more precisely,” say archaeologists Prof. Dr. Achim Lichtenberger from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster and his Tel Aviv University colleague Prof. Oren Tal.

“The destruction of the Greek town Tell Iẓṭabba in present-day Israel by a military campaign waged by the Hasmoneans, a Judean ruling dynasty in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, has so far been dated to between 111 and 107 BC,” say Lichtenberger and Tal.

“More recent research dates it to 108/107 BC, based on coin finds and the siege of the city of Samaria at the same time.

Now, using our multi-proxy approach that makes use of several analytical methods, we can for the first time date the events with certainty to the spring of 107 BC.”

“We came across chicken leg bones in the dwellings destroyed by the Hasmoneans. Analyzing them revealed residues containing medullary bone deposits in the marrow that served to produce eggshells during the laying season in spring.

This indicates that the chickens were slaughtered in spring,” explain Achim Lichtenberger and Oren Tal. “We also discovered the shells of field snails, which were often eaten at this time of year.”

Botanical examinations of the remnants of flowers on the floors of the dwellings reveal that these plants flowered in spring.

Analysis of the objects is always accompanied by an analysis of written evidence: “The contemporary Hebrew scroll of Megillat Ta’anit about the Hasmonean conquest, also known as the Scroll of Fasting, reports the expulsion of the inhabitants in the Hebrew month of Sivan, which corresponds to our May/June.”

‘Only the multiplicity of analytical methods makes precise statements possible’

“From an archaeological point of view, this makes spring the season of destruction,” says Lichtenberger and Tal, which underlines previous findings on Hellenistic warfare, as military offensives usually took place in spring and early summer.

“The individual data taken on their own would not justify determining such a clear chronology,” emphasizes Lichtenberger, who, together with his colleague Oren Tal and an interdisciplinary team comprising natural scientists, is leading a research project on the archaeology of the Hellenistic settlement Tell Iẓṭabba, in ancient Nysa-Scythopolis, a Greek city in the ancient Near East.

“Only by taking an overall view of the results from all analytical methods can we provide more precise information about the time of the destruction of Tell Iẓṭabba, and thus about the course of the Hasmonean campaign.” The finds must therefore be interpreted in the light of the seasons.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Heat Wave Reveals 17th-Century English Gardens

Heat Wave Reveals 17th-Century English Gardens

A stately home’s “ghost gardens” have become visible after the recent extreme heat.

Heat Wave Reveals 17th-Century English Gardens
The Elizabethan house features impressive gardens, housing a safari park

Grass on parts of Longleat’s baroque garden in Wiltshire has dried out to such an extent it has revealed historic features long buried in the landscape.

New overhead drone images of the imprints show what the grounds would have looked like in the 17th Century.

The parch marks have been described as an “invaluable window” into the site’s history.

Evidence shows possible remains of a 17th-century flower bed or fountain

Outlines of pathway fountains, long-lost walls and statues, as well as a maze and bowling green have emerged.

The images hint at what the 70-acre (4,046 sq m) gardens would have looked like four centuries ago.

The earliest visible features discovered so far are parts of the walled gardens to the front of Longleat House.

These date back to earlier in the 17th century and were painted by the renowned Flemish landscape artist Jan Siberechts in 1675, in what is believed to be the first painting of Longleat.

Jan Siberechts created the first ever painting of Longleat

“It is fascinating to be able to see these ‘ghost’ gardens and other features literally appearing out of the ground around the house,” said curator James Ford.

“While we are extremely fortunate to have contemporary engravings and paintings here at Longleat, there is nothing to compare with actual physical evidence.

“These parch marks, that will entirely disappear again when the rain and cooler weather return, provide us with an invaluable window into a lost world and an opportunity to accurately plot the design and layout of these important elements of Longleat’s history,” he added.

As with many of the great estates, Longleat’s formal gardens were transformed into naturalistic parkland in the 18th century by landscape gardener ‘Capability’ Brown.

The 17th Century canals were transformed by teams of workmen, digging by hand, to create Half Mile Pond, which is now home to a colony of California sea lions and a pair of hippos.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Ancient Roman chariot unearthed ‘almost intact’ near buried ruins of Pompeii

Ancient Roman chariot unearthed ‘almost intact’ near buried ruins of Pompeii

An ornate Roman chariot has been discovered “almost intact” near Italy’s buried city of Pompeii, the archaeological park announced on Saturday, calling it a discovery with “no parallel” in the country.

Ancient Roman chariot unearthed ‘almost intact’ near buried ruins of Pompeii
A view of a chariot, with its iron elements, bronze decorations and mineralized wooden remains, was found in Civita Giuliana, north of Pompeii.

The four-wheeled processional carriage was found in the portico to a stable where the remains of three horses were unearthed in 2018, including one still in its harness.

Pompeii was buried in boiling lava when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, killing between 2,000 and 15,000 people.

“A large ceremonial chariot with four wheels, along with its iron components, beautiful bronze and tin decorations, mineralized wood remains and imprints of organic materials (from the ropes to the remains of floral decoration), has been discovered almost intact,” a statement issued by the archaeological park said.

“This is an exceptional discovery… which has no parallel in Italy thus far — in an excellent state of preservation.”

The excavation site is known as the Civita Giuliana, a suburban villa that lies just a few hundred meters from the ancient city of Pompeii. The site is one of the most significant ancient villas in the area around Vesuvius, with a panoramic view of the Mediterranean Sea on the outskirts of the ancient Roman city.

Archaeologists last year found in the same area the skeletal remains of what is believed to have been a wealthy man and his male slave, attempting to escape death.

The casts of what is believed to have been a rich man and his male slave fleeing the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago are seen in what was an elegant villa on the outskirts of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii.

The chariot’s first iron element emerged on January 7 from the blanket of volcanic material filling the two-story portico. Archaeologists believe the cart was used for festivities and parades, perhaps also to carry brides to their new homes.

While chariots for daily life or the transport of agricultural products have been previously found at Pompeii, officials said the new find is the first ceremonial chariot unearthed in its entirety.

The excavation is part of a program aimed at fighting illegal activity in the area, including tunnel digging to reach artefacts that can be sold on illicit markets.

Looters missed the room where the chariot had lain for almost 2,000 years, tunnelling by on both sides, the park’s statement said.

The villa was discovered after police came across the illegal tunnels in 2017, officials said. Two people who live in the houses atop the site are currently on trial for allegedly digging more than 80 meters of tunnels at the site.

A detail of the decoration of a chariot, with its iron elements, bronze decorations and mineralized wooden remains, was found in Civita Giuliana, north of Pompeii.

Specialists took great care to unearth the vehicle, for example by pouring plaster into voids “to preserve the imprint of any organic material” that had decomposed, it added.

The park said this had allowed it to emerge well preserved down to the imprints of ropes, “thus revealing the chariot in all of its complexity.”

“Pompeii continues to amaze with all of its discoveries, and it will continue to do so for many years yet, with 20 hectares (50 acres) still to be excavated,” Culture Minister Dario Franceschini was quoted as saying.

“It is an extraordinary discovery for the advancement of our knowledge of the ancient world,” added Massimo Osanna, outgoing director of the park.

“What we have is a ceremonial chariot, probably the Pilentum referred to by some sources, which was employed not for everyday use or for agricultural transport, but to accompany community festivities, parades and processions.”

Pompeii’s remarkably well-preserved remains have slowly been uncovered by teams of archaeological specialists.

It is Italy’s third most visited tourist site, drawing more than 3.9 million visitors in 2019. The ancient city was closed since the start of the pandemic and only reopened on January 18.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

50 Graves of Slaves Who Toiled at a Roman Villa Unearthed in England

50 Graves of Slaves Who Toiled at a Roman Villa Unearthed in England

50 Graves of Slaves Who Toiled at a Roman Villa Unearthed in England
This woman was buried with her head resting on a pillow, suggesting that she held an elite position in her community.

Archaeologists have uncovered what may be the graves of 50 enslaved workers who laboured at an elite Roman villa just under 2,000 years ago in what is now southern England. 

These burials date to the Roman period in the United Kingdom, from about A.D. 43 to A.D. 410. Many of the deceased were buried with grave goods, such as pottery and brooches, in what is now Somerset, a county in southwest England.

“It’s relatively rare to excavate this number of Roman burials in our region, but in particular, in this case, we are very confident that all the burials are people who worked on a Roman villa estate,” said Steve Membery, a senior historic environment officer at South West Heritage Trust in the United Kingdom, which oversaw the archaeological excavation. 

These labourers likely weren’t paid for their work, he noted.

“They are most likely household servants, agricultural workers, and many may have technically been slaves,” Membery told Live Science in an email. “So, this is a rare opportunity to study a sample of a community.”

That community appears to be a culture native to the area and seems to have merged Iron Age and Roman era burial practices. Some of the buried individuals likely held a high status within their community, Membery added.

For instance, an older woman buried with her head on a pillow in a stone-built, coffin-like box (known as a cist) was likely an important person, he said. 

Archaeologists also found small nails at the foot of the burials, indicating that many of the people were laid to rest in leather hobnail boots, according to The Guardian. 

This stone-lined coffin with a cooking pot dates to the late fourth century A.D. A later excavation showed that the pot contained the bones of a chicken wing.

“The burials also show early adoption of Roman burial practices, such as offerings, alongside traditionally Iron Age characteristics,” Membery said in a statement. It’s likely that these were British individuals who began following the customs of the Roman invaders, but DNA tests will be needed to support that idea, Membery noted.

Archaeologists found the burials while surveying the area ahead of the construction of a new school.

The graves were dug into the bedrock, many with tops and bottoms lined with flat stones to create a coffin. Some of the graves had tented stone roofs, which are less common for this area, Membery said.

Archaeologists also found traces of Iron Age round-shaped houses as well as a Roman building, in the area. The villa itself has yet to be found, but an outhouse and a barn that may be part of it have been discovered, The Guardian reported.

Almost all of the burials included pots that sat next to the deceased’s head.

During the excavation, researchers from Wessex Archaeology found a number of treasures, including pots that were placed next to the heads of most of the deceased. These pots were likely offerings, Membery said.

In addition, the team found coins with the likeness of the Roman emperor Vespasian (who reigned from A.D. 69 to 79), the carved bone that once was likely part of a knife handle and an unusual lead weight that was probably part of a survey tool called a groma, which is similar to a sextant.

“This site is a significant discovery — the most comprehensive modern excavation of a Roman cemetery in Somerset,” Membery said.

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

Well-Preserved Iron Age Butter Found At The Bottom Of Lake In Scotland

Well-Preserved Iron Age Butter Found At The Bottom Of Lake In Scotland

The replica crannog on Loch Tay, where the butter was found.

Now, the wooden butter dish remains one of the most evocative items left behind by Scotland’s ancient water dwellers who made their homes on Loch Tay.

The dish was recovered during earlier excavations on the loch where at least 17 crannogs, or Iron Age wooden houses, were once dotted up and down the water.

Built from alder with a life span of around 20 years, the structures simply collapsed into the loch once they had served their purpose, with an incredible array of objects taken with them.

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Well-Preserved Iron Age Butter Found At The Bottom Of Lake In Scotland
The 2,500-year-old butter dish and the remains of the butter.

Among them was the dish which, remarkably, still carried traces of butter made by this Iron Age community.

Rich Hiden, the archaeologist at the Scottish Crannog Centre, said the item had helped to illuminate the everyday life of the crannog dwellers who farmed the surrounding land, and grew barley and ancient wheats such as spelt and emmer, and reared animals.

The crannogs were probably considered high-status sites which offered good security as well as easy access to trading routes along the Tay and into the North Sea.

Mr Hiden said conditions at the bottom of the loch had offered the perfect environment to preserve the butter and the dish.

He said: “Because of the fantastic anaerobic conditions, where there is very light, oxygen or bacteria to break down anything organic, you get this type of sealed environment.

“When they started excavating, they pulled out this square wooden dish, well around three-quarters of a square wooden dish, which had these really nice chisel marks on the sides as well as this grey stuff.”

Liped analysis on this matter found that it was dairy material, with experts believing it likely originated from a cow. Holes in the bottom of the wooden dish further suggest that it was used for the buttering process.

Cream would have been churned until thickened until it splits to form the buttermilk, with a woven cloth – possibly made from nettle fibres – placed in the dish with the clumps of cream and then further pushed through to separate the last of the liquid.

The butter then may have been turned into cheese by adding rennet, which naturally forms in a number of plants, including nettles.

Mr Hiden said: “This dish is so valuable in many ways. To be honest, we would expect people of this time to be eating dairy. In the early Iron Age, they had mastered the technology of smelting iron ore into to’s so mastering the technology of dairy we would expect.

“So while it may not surprise us that they are eating dairy, what is so important about this butter dish is that it helps us to identify what life was like in the crannogs and the skills and the tools that they had

“To me, that is archaeology at its finest. It is using the object itself to unravel the story. The best thing about this butter dish is that is so personal and offers us such a complete snapshot of what was happening here.

He added: “It is not just a piece of wood. You look at it and you start to extrapolate so much. If you start to pull one thread, you look at the tool marks and you see they were using very fine chisels to make this kind of object. They were probably making their own so that gives another aspect as to how life was here.”

It is believed that 20 people and animals lived in a crannog at any one time. Many trees were used to fashion the homes, with the Iron Age residents having a solid knowledge of trees with their houses thatched with reed and bracken.

Hazel was woven into panels to make walls and partitions.

Plans are underway to relocate the Scottish Crannog Centre to a bigger site at Dalerb, with three to four crannogs to be built in the water there.

EUROPE, ROMANIA, WORLD

Romanian Archaeologists Unearth Gold-Filled Grave from 4,500 BC

Romanian Archaeologists Unearth Gold-Filled Grave from 4,500 BC

Gold rings from prehistoric Romanian tomb. Photo courtesy of the Ţării Crişurilor Museum, Oradea, Romania.

Archaeologists have made a stunning find inside a prehistoric grave in Romania: a cache of 169 gold rings, some 800 mother-of-pearl beads, and an ornate spiraled copper bracelet.

Excavations at the site, near the Biharia commune in Bihor County, Crișana, were led by archaeologist Călin Ghemiș of the Ţării Crişurilor Museum between March and June of this year, according to Heritage Daily.

“It is a phenomenal discovery. Such a treasure no longer exists in Central and Eastern Europe,” Ţării Crişurilor director Gabriel Moisa said at a press conference, according to Romanian news outlet Agerpres.

“It seems that it was the grave of a woman, extremely rich. We do not know who she was.”

The burial is believed to belong to the Copper Age Tiszapolgár culture, which flourished in Eastern and Central Europe from about 4500 to 4000 BCE.

Gold rings from prehistoric Romanian tomb. Photo courtesy of the Ţării Crişurilor Museum, Oradea, Romania.

“The gold hoard is a sensational find for the period, considering that all the gold pieces from the Carpathian Basin total around 150 pieces. Well, here there are over 160 in just one inventory,” Ghemis said.

Archaeologists identified the remains as belonging to a woman based on the size of the skeleton, and the fact that there were no weapons buried in the grave. The gold rings would have likely been used to adorn her hair.

“We want to find out what kind of culture the person belonged to, and also whether the rings were made of gold from the Transylvanian Archipelago,” Moisa added.

Gold rings being excavated from a prehistoric Romanian tomb. Photo courtesy of the Ţării Crişurilor Museum, Oradea, Romania.

The bones have been sent to laboratories in Marosvásárhely and Holland for further analysis, including carbon-14 dating and DNA testing.

The gold rings are undergoing conservation and cleaning and could go on display at the museum by year’s end.

The ancient tomb’s trove of golden treasure rivals other recent archaeological discoveries, such as the cache of 6th-century gold jewellery that an amateur metal detectorist found in Denmark in late 2020, or a similarly unearthed haul of Anglo-Saxon gold that turned up between 2014 and 2020.

ESTONIA, EUROPE, WORLD

A medieval cargo ship unexpectedly found during construction work in Estonia

A medieval cargo ship unexpectedly found during construction work in Estonia

Construction workers have found the battered remains of a 700-year-old ship under the streets of the Estonian capital of Tallinn. Buried approximately 5 feet (1.5 meters) underground, the remnants of the ship are made of oak and are just over 78 feet (24 m) long with a beam, the ship’s widest point, measuring about 29 feet (9 m) across.

A view of the medieval ship, from the bow, in the excavation pit.

“The original length of the ship was bigger since the stempost [the vertical timber at the bow] is missing and the bow of the ship is damaged,” Priit Lätti, a researcher at the Estonian Maritime Museum, told Live Science in an email.

“The ship was probably built at the beginning of the 14th century,” according to dendrochronological analysis, an examination of the tree rings found in the ship’s wooden remains, he said. The ship is, at first glance, very similar to other ships found in Europe from the same time period, he added.

Unearthed near Tallinn’s Old Harbor three weeks ago, the ship was a significant find for archaeologist Mihkel Tammet, who had been observing a construction project.

According to Lätti, when areas under heritage protection are being excavated, an archaeologist must be present. The Estonian Maritime Museum was notified of the ship’s discovery to help provide more information and record the find.

The ship’s sternpost

The ship was not buried very deep, and as Lätti told Live Science, it was filled with sand. It’s likely the sea gradually filled the boat over the centuries, as different layers of sand were visible, he said.

Since the discovery of the ship, there has been speculation that it is a Hanseatic cog(opens in new tab), a cargo ship used for trade by the Hanseatic League.

The league, a group of trade guilds from across Europe, dominated the seas between the 13th and 15th centuries. However, Lätti said it is too early in the excavation process to be able to accurately determine the origins of the ship.

“Very probably, it is a cargo ship,” he said. “Since we do not yet know the origin of the timbers (the dendrochronological analyses are still preliminary, so I do not want to mention exact dates or first ideas about the origin of the timber) it is hard to tell the origin of the vessel.” 

Researchers are also working to determine whether further artefacts found buried with the ship can be of use when determining the age of the boat. “Additional analyses have been taken; also the artefacts found aboard must be analysed to give more exact answers, Lätti added.

“At the moment, only the bow area of the ship is excavated; the cargo hold was relatively empty. Now the excavations move to the aft area of the ship, which may contain more finds.”

Other artefacts uncovered with the ship so far include a couple of wooden barrels, pottery, animal bones, some leather objects and textiles. The number of finds is expected to increase in the coming days as the aft part of the ship is excavated.

The ship’s cargo holds in the excavation pit.

The discovery of the ship in such a well-preserved condition is significant, as it will help historians and archaeologists learn more about shipbuilding and trade in the Middle Ages, as well as what life was like onboard these ships.

“For Tallinn as an old merchant town, finding something like this is an archaeological jackpot,” said Lätti, who specializes in studying harbours and shipwrecks. “The development of Tallinn is closely related to maritime trade, and while we know quite a lot about the merchants and merchandise, we still know relatively little about the ships they used.”

Ships similar to this one have been discovered in the past. For example, the Bremen cog(opens in new tab) was found in Germany in 1962, and a medieval cargo ship was uncovered in Tallinn in 2015 and is now housed in the Estonian Maritime Museum.

The future of this ship, after it has been excavated, is still under discussion. But the aim is to remove it from the construction site where it was found and house it in a controlled environment and preserve it. Lätti described this as a “huge task.” 

“The methods of transporting, preserving and conserving the ship are still discussed,” he said, “because it is a very complex operation, and we are dealing with a very valuable archaeological object.”