Category Archives: EUROPE

EUROPE, SWITZERLAND, WORLD

65,000-year-old ‘Swiss Army knife’ reveals the key to early human survival

65,000-year-old ‘Swiss Army knife’ reveals the key to early human survival

The presence of ancient multi-tools in southern Africa may suggest that communication between ancient humans spanned long distances, according to a study published in Scientific Reports on Thursday.

Map of the seven sites where ancient ‘Swiss Army knives were found in southern Africa that were analyzed in the study.

But ancient humans weren’t only talking to each other, the research found, they were also sharing knowledge that may have aided in the overall survival of the human race.

The Howiesons Poort blade is known as the “stone Swiss Army knife” of prehistory because it is an early example of a composite tool that had multiple purposes. While stone tools were not revolutionary for the time, the Howiesons Poort blades were so groundbreaking because they are ‘hafted‘ — meaning that the stone blades are affixed to handles — using glue and adhesives.

Ancient humans in southern Africa produced these early multi-tools in large numbers for hunting (fashioned into spears and arrows) and cutting wood, plants, bone, skin, feathers and flesh.

Stone tools from the Sibudu Cave site in South Africa, whose similarities with other tools in the region indicate that early humans were sharing knowledge with each other 65,000 years ago.

Researchers compared the Swiss Army knife-like tools from seven sites across southern Africa and found that they all had the same shape and used the same template.

Hafted tools were developed independently in other parts of the world across vastly different time periods — and they took on many shapes. But these southern African cultures chose to make their tools look the same, something researchers found “culturally meaningful.”

The team of international scientists analyzing these 65,000-year-old tools was led by University of Sydney archaeologist Amy Way. They concluded that the similarities among the tools across southern Africa indicate that early humans must have been sharing information with each other — they were social networking.

“The really exciting thing about this find is that it gives us evidence that there was a long-distance social connection between people, just before the big migration out of Africa, which involved all of our ancestors,” Way said via The Guardian.

Early humans had been migrating out of Africa in smaller numbers before the large exodus approximately 60,000 years ago.

“Why was this exodus so successful where the earlier excursions were not? The main theory is that social networks were stronger then,” Way added.

“This analysis shows for the first time that these social connections were in place in southern Africa just before the big exodus.”

But just how far did this knowledge-sharing reach? Way says Howiesons Poort blades have been found 1,200 kilometres apart in southern Africa.

“One hundred kilometres takes five days to walk, so it’s probably a whole network of groups that are mostly in contact with the neighbouring group,” she said.

Social networking may have been the reason why homo sapiens were so successful at migrating across the world where other early human species failed, according to Paloma de la Peña, a senior research associate at the University of Cambridge and a lead author in the study.

“The main theory as to why modern humans replaced all the other humans living outside Africa around 60-70,000 years ago is that our ancestors were much better at social networking than the other species, such as Neanderthals, who were possibly smarter and stronger as individuals, but not great at sharing information,” de la Peña said.

Perhaps this research suggests that what makes us people is not intelligence alone, but our capacity to help our fellow humans.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Europe’s ‘largest ever’ land dinosaur was found on the Isle of Wight

Europe’s ‘largest ever’ land dinosaur was found on the Isle of Wight

Remains of Europe’s largest-ever land-based predator dinosaurs have been discovered on the Isle of Wight, scientists say.

Europe's 'largest ever' land dinosaur was found on the Isle of Wight
The dinosaur was a two-legged, crocodile-faced predator and measured more than 10m long

Palaeontologists at the University of Southampton identified the remains, which measured more than 32ft (10m) long and lived 125 million years ago.

The prehistoric bones belonged to a two-legged, crocodile-faced, predatory spinosaurid dinosaur.

PhD student Chris Barker, who led the research, said it was a “huge animal”.

The remains, which include pelvic and tail vertebrae, were discovered on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight.

The carnivore has been dubbed the “white rock spinosaurid”, after the geological layer in which the remains were found.

Bone fragments, including pelvic and tail vertebrae, have been discovered
The remains of the predator were found on the south-west coast of the Isle of Wight

“This was a huge animal, exceeding 10m in length and probably several tonnes in weight,” Mr Barker said.

“Judging from some of the dimensions, it appears to represent one of the largest predatory dinosaurs ever found in Europe – maybe even the biggest yet known.”

It would have lived at the beginning of a period of rising sea levels and would have stalked lagoonal waters and sandflats in search of food.

Co-author of the research, Darren Naish, said: “Because it’s only known from fragments at the moment, we haven’t given it a formal scientific name. We hope that additional remains will turn up in time.”

The dinosaur has been dubbed the “white rock spinosaurid”, after the geological layer in which the remains were found

Most of the fossils were found by Isle of Wight dinosaur hunter Nick Chase, who died just before the Covid pandemic.

Jeremy Lockwood, another co-author of the study and a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth and Natural History Museum, said: “I was searching for remains of this dinosaur with Nick and found a lump of the pelvis with tunnels bored into it – each about the size of my index finger.

“We think they were caused by bone-eating larvae of a type of scavenging beetle. It’s an interesting thought that this giant killer wound up becoming a meal for a host of insects.”

The discovery follows previous work on spinosaurids by the University of Southampton team, which published a study on the discovery of two new species in 2021.

Isle of Wight dinosaur hunter Nick Chase (pictured centre with his children) found most of the fossils
EUROPE, NORWAY, WORLD

Damaged pieces of rare Viking sword reunited after 1,200 years apart

Damaged pieces of rare Viking sword reunited after 1,200 years apart

Two pieces of an ornate Viking sword that had been separated for about 1,200 years have been reunited and still fit together like a puzzle. The pieces were discovered a year apart by amateur treasure hunters in Norway.

Damaged pieces of rare Viking sword reunited after 1,200 years apart
A researcher examines the remains of a Viking Age sword discovered in Norway.

The first finding occurred last year, when a metal detectorist in Stavanger, along Norway’s west coast, uncovered a small, odd piece of metal while poking around a farm.

The man handed the fragment over to the local archaeological museum and was unsure what it was — until this spring when his friend and fellow metal detectorist unearthed the rest of the artefact nearby.

Those two small chunks of metal turned out to be part of a massive Viking Age sword.

The sword is “of a rare type, known from Scandinavia but also found in Western Europe (in the areas known today as France, Britain and Ireland) and Eastern Europe, e.g. Hungary,” Ann Zanette Glørstad, an archaeologist at the University of Oslo in Norway, told Live Science in an email.

Though the blade is missing, the sword’s hilt is richly decorated with intricate carvings and gold and silver details. Each end of the cross-guard is shaped like an unidentified animal.

Based on its ornamentation, Glørstad thinks that the sword may have been forged in the Frankish Empire or England around 800 A.D.

However, it could possibly have been forged by a talented Norwegian smith who was inspired by Frankish weapons, she noted. Of the roughly 3,000 Viking swords recovered in Norway, only about 20 match the newly discovered weapon’s profile — and its owner remains a mystery. 

Both ends of the crossguard depict an animal head.
The richly decorated hilt of the sword from the Viking era.

“We can only speculate as to whom it belonged,” Glørstad said.

“However, it was a highly decorative and impressive sword, and it must have belonged to someone with the means to acquire it, as well as someone who wanted to demonstrate their social status.” 

Swords from this era sometimes had their owner’s names inscribed on the blade, according to the Art Institute Chicago(opens in new tab), but because this weapon’s blade is lost, archaeologists will have to rely on other clues to infer its owner’s identity.

The area has seen its share of Viking royalty; in 1883, the grave of a rich Viking queen was unearthed not far from where the sword was discovered.

“We knew that this area was of special importance, but that we should find something like this was very unexpected!” Håkon Reiersen, the acting head of the museum’s collection department, said in a translated statement(opens in new tab).

The sword has joined the collection at the Stavanger Museum of Archaeology, where it will be on display once it has been properly restored and preserved.

In the meantime, archaeology enthusiasts can follow the museum’s website(opens in new tab), and Instagram(opens in new tab) for updates on the sword’s restoration.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Metal detectorist unearths 2,000-year-old penis pendant

Metal detectorist unearths 2,000-year-old penis pendant

A metal detectorist recently discovered a silver, penis-shaped pendant in Kent, England that was likely worn around the neck to protect a person from misfortune around 1,800 years ago. 

This Roman pendant made of silver depicts a penis. The streaks at the top appear to depict pubic hair.

Ancient Roman writers such as Marcus Terentius Varro (lived 116 B.C. to 27 B.C.) and Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23 to 79) mention how the phallus and representations of it are thought to have had the power to protect a person from evil.

Many depictions of the phallus have been found throughout the Roman Empire and scholars often believe that they were created to avoid bad luck. 

The pendant (also called an amulet) is about 1.2 inches (3.1 centimetres) long, with a tiny ring at the top for a string (necklace) to go through. It dates back to a time when the Romans controlled England, between A.D. 42 and 410. 

While such amulets in the shape of a penis were frequently seen throughout Roman Britain, they are typically made of copper-alloy rather than silver like the one from Kent, Lori Rogerson, a finds liaison officer with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), wrote in a report(opens in new tab) on the artefact. 

“Being a higher-quality metal than copper-alloy, silver may have been thought to strengthen the phallus’ protective abilities,” Rogerson told Live Science in an email.

“We know that children were protected by these apotropaic [having the power to stop evil] devices, and the archaeological evidence suggests their use in Britain was very popular within the Roman army.”

Roman men, women, children and even animals wore pendants like this, in an effort to ward off the so-called evil eye, said Cyril Dumas, a scholar at Musée Yves Brayer who has researched and written about these artefacts. “This amulet is against the effects of ‘the evil eye,’ a personification of bad luck,” Dumas told Live Science in an email.

As for the choice of metal, perhaps the person who commissioned or bought the piece of jewellery had enough money for a higher-quality metal.

“The choice of silver as a material can be for many reasons, one of which is simply because the wearer could afford it and the pendant then also becomes an object of display,” Rob Collins a project manager and research coordinator at Newcastle University’s School of History, Classics and Archaeology, told Live Science in an email.

“However, I suspect that silver also has magical properties or affiliations associated with it as a material,” added Collins, who has studied and written about artefacts like this one.

Wendy Thompson found the penis pendant while metal-detecting.

Metal detectorist Wendy Thompson found the amulet on Dec. 31, 2020, and she reported her to find to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, a program run by the British Museum and National Museum Wales that tracks finds made by metal detectorists.

The artefact is now going through the treasure process required by U.K. law, which may result in it entering a museum collection in Britain.

EUROPE, GREECE, WORLD

Rusty saber, possibly wielded by medieval Turkish pirates, unearthed in Greece

Rusty saber, possibly wielded by medieval Turkish pirates, unearthed in Greece

A rusty medieval saber, or one-edged sword, unearthed at a fortified Christian monastery in northern Greece might be a deadly weapon that either raiding Turkish pirates or the monastery’s defenders wielded hundreds of years ago. The discovery of the saber is unusual, as iron weapons from this period usually quickly rust away.

Rusty saber, possibly wielded by medieval Turkish pirates, unearthed in Greece
Archaeologists think the one-edged curved sword — a type of saber — dates from a raid on the monastery that took place in the 14th century.

The style of this weapon, too, is unusual — but it turns out that such curved, one-edged swords were used both by Turks and Byzantines at around the time of the attack in the 14th century, said archaeologist Errikos Maniotis, a doctoral candidate at Masaryk University in Brno in the Czech Republic, who studied the sword.

“It’s hard to determine if the sword belonged to the Byzantine defenders, or to the probably Turkish [raiders],” Maniotis told Live Science in an email. “They both used similar weapons in this period.”

Maniotis is working with Theodoros Dogas, an archaeologist for the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chalcidice and Mount Athos, the region’s government archaeological agency, to excavate the medieval site, which is called the “Monastery of Agios Nikolaos of Chrysokamaros” in honour a local saint.

The ruins are located on the coast of the middle of the three prominent peninsulas of Chalkidiki (also called Chalcidice), about 40 miles (64 kilometres) southeast of the city of Thessaloniki on the northwest coast of the Aegean Sea.

But although the location by the sea is picture-perfect today, it hasn’t always been a peaceful place. The sword could be from any one of at least three military events that took place in the region in the 14th century alone, Maniotis and Dogas said.

The ruins of the monastery are in the middle of the three prominent peninsulas at Chalkidiki. Archaeologists think it was destroyed by fire during a raid in the 14th century.

Medieval monastery

Historical records mention a monastery at the site from at least the 11th century, although it’s not known if it was independent or a metochi — an “embassy church” of the Mount Athos monastery, a powerful establishment on the easternmost of the Chalkidiki peninsulas, Maniotis said.

Archaeologists briefly excavated the site in 2000 and 2001, when the one-edged sword was found; but the excavations this year have established that the monastery was surrounded by a sturdy wall made of granite rocks between 5.5 and 6 feet (1.7 to 2 meters) thick, Dogas said.

Such well-built monasteries and churches were often used as a local refuge during attacks, such as pirate raids. These ecclesiastical centres might also have had riches of their own, such as religious items made of gold, and often held a supply of grain, he said. In fact, archaeologists have found grain seeds in the lower levels of a tower at the monastery, which indicated it might have been used for food storage, Dogas noted. 

The tower is now about 16 feet (5 m) high, but the research shows it was once much higher. There’s evidence the structure was badly damaged by fire at some point. Moreover, weapons, including axes, arrowheads and the one-edged sword, were discovered in the same archaeological layer as the fire damage.

This is “evidence that leads us to conclude that the tower was destroyed by strong fire after a raid,” the researchers wrote in an academic presentation given in Athens on May 27.

Archaeologists found a large number of glazed pottery vessels, mainly from the 14th century, in the same layer; and, based on their styles, the researchers reason the destruction probably occurred in the second half of the 14th century and possibly as late as the beginning of the 15th century.

The iron sword was badly damaged in the fire that destroyed the monastery and is badly corroded. But the assembly includes metal rings that were part of the scabbard that enclosed it.
Swords of this type, with a single sharp edge and a curve throughout its length, were used by both Byzantine soldiers who may have been defending the monastery and Turkish pirates or soldiers who may have been attacking it.
Well-built monasteries along the coast were often used as a refuge during pirate attacks, and archaeologists think it may have also been targeted for its stores of grain.

One-edged sword

Although the sword is distinctive, the archaeologists can’t tell for certain just who might have wielded it, or when. Sabers had been used in Turkish lands for centuries; for example, they are depicted in an illustrated Seljuk manuscript from the 13th century that is now held at the Topkapi Palace Museum in Istanbul.

But research by the archaeologists has also shown such swords were used by Byzantine soldiers — perhaps those helping defend the monastery from a raid by Turkish pirates, for instance.

Icons of Byzantine saints from the 13th century depict curved, one-edged swords, and it’s known that Byzantine soldiers used the swords as early as the sixth century, after facing them while fighting the nomadic Avars and the Sassanid Persians, who had assimilated them from the warriors of the Eurasian steppes, the researchers wrote. 

Maniotis and Dogas have identified three military actions in the 14th century that could have led to the sword being used there: attacks along the coast by Turkish pirates, which included the kidnapping in 1344 of administrators from the Mount Athos monastery; the occupation of the region from 1345 until about 1371 by the forces of the Serbian king Stefan Dušan, who aspired to conquer Byzantine territories in the West; and the siege of Thessalonica by Ottoman troops from 1383 until 1387, when the Chalkidiki region was often raided for food.

Maniotis can’t say for sure, but he thinks the sword may be of Turkish origin, and that it was used in a pirate raid on the monastery. It’s now in poor condition, having been bent during the attack that destroyed the monastery, although several metal rings from the scabbard that once contained it can still be seen.

Nearly 18 inches (45 centimetres) of the blade of the sword remain whole, but not enough to determine by its shape alone whether it is of Turkish or Byzantine origin, the researchers wrote.

But it has historical importance in any case: “this particular sword is the only find from this category of swords in a closed archaeological assembly in Greece,” the researchers wrote. “It may in fact be one of the few swords of the late Byzantine period found in Greece.” 

The discovery of the sword and other artefacts from the excavations will be the subject of an upcoming research paper, Maniotis and Dogas said.

EUROPE, SPAIN, WORLD

Ancient humans used Spanish caves for rock art for more than 50,000 years

Ancient humans used Spanish caves for rock art for more than 50,000 years

Cueva de Ardales in Málaga, Spain, is a famous site containing more than 1,000 prehistoric cave paintings and engravings. It also includes artefacts and human remains. But since its discovery in 1821, after an earthquake unearthed the entrance, the way ancient humans used the cave has been a mystery.

Ancient humans used Spanish caves for rock art for more than 50,000 years
Excavation area in Cueva de Ardales with evidence from the Middle Palaeolithic period.

New research, published in PLoS ONE, on items from the first excavation has shed light on prehistoric Iberia’s human inhabitants. Archaeologists from Spain, Germany and Denmark collaborated to analyse the paintings, relics and human bones from the cave.

Combining radiometric dating – measuring the presence of radioactive elements such as carbon-14 to determine the age of remains – with other analyses of artefacts from the site, the researchers have determined the first occupants of Cueva de Ardales, arriving more than 65,000 years ago, were likely Neanderthals.

Lithics from the Middle Paleolithic layers of zone 3. A: Quartzite core or heavy-duty tool, B: Blade, C: Levallois flake, D: Sidescraper.

Modern humans came to use the cave around 30,000 years later. This timeframe coincides with the disappearance of Homo neanderthalensis some 40,000 years ago. 

Homo sapiens used the cave sporadically until as recently as the beginning of the Copper Age, around 7,000 years ago.

Rock art is believed to be an indication of humankind’s first attempts to understand, rationalise and abstract the external world.

Our ability to imagine and communicate through language, writing, science, art and abstractions are likely consequences of such leaps in ancient human culture.

The authors write: “Our research presents a well-stratified series of more than 50 radiometric dates in Cueva de Ardales that confirm the antiquity of Palaeolithic art from over 58,000 years ago. It also confirms that the cave was a place of special activities linked to art, as numerous fragments of ochre were discovered in the Middle Palaeolithic levels.”

The oldest examples of cave art in the Málaga site include abstract signs such as dots, fingertips and hand stencils created with red pigment. Later artwork involves more complex paintings and figures such as animals.

Human remains indicate the use of the cave as a burial place in the Holocene – the period of geological time since the end of the last major glacial epoch, or “ice age”, around 12,000 years ago.

There is limited evidence of domestic activities at Cueva de Ardales, suggesting humans were not residing in the cave.

The team’s findings confirm that Cueva de Ardales is a site of immense symbolic value.

The Iberian Peninsula holds more than 30 other caves with similar rock art, making the region a key locality for investigating the history and culture of ancient humans in Europe.

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

Iron Age Settlements Identified in Scotland

Iron Age Settlements Identified in Scotland

Archaeologists from Edinburgh have discovered more than 100 Iron Age settlements in southwest Scotland that date from the time of Roman occupation.

The team has been surveying an area north of Hadrian’s Wall to better understand the impact of Rome’s rule on the lives of indigenous people.

Researchers explored nearly 600 square miles around Burnswark hillfort, Dumfries-shire, where Roman legions campaigned as the Empire expanded northwards.

Previous archaeological research on the terrain between Hadrian’s Wall and the Empire’s more northerly frontier at the Antonine Wall had focused predominantly on the Roman perspective.

It had concentrated on the camps, forts, roads and walls that Rome’s empire built to control northern Britain – rather than sites associated with native tribes.

Immense firepower

The new study initially focused specifically on Burnswark – home to the greatest concentration of Roman projectiles ever found in Britain, and a testament to the firepower of Rome’s legions.

The research team went on to scour an area of 580 square miles beyond the hillfort, using the latest laser-scanning technology.

Although much of the area had been studied before, researchers found 134 previously unrecorded Iron Age settlements — bringing the total number known in the region to more than 700.

The survey’s discovery of so many small farmsteads is a significant finding, researchers say. Such settlements offer key insights into how the majority of the indigenous population would have lived.

Analysis showed sites were dispersed evenly across the landscape — with dense clusters in some places — suggesting a highly organised settlement pattern, researchers say.

Empire’s edge

Work on Hadrian’s Wall began in AD 122 and, for two decades, the defensive fortification between the Solway Firth and the River Tyne marked the northernmost border of the Roman empire.

In AD 142, having made further gains north, the Romans built a second defensive line called the Antonine Wall between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde.

A few decades later, however, this second wall was abandoned with the Empire drawing its frontier back south to Hadrian’s Wall.

The findings of this latest study by the University of Edinburgh, Historic Environment Scotland and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre have been published in the journal, Antiquity.

The study is part of a wider project called Beyond Walls, which is seeking to shed light on ancient sites, stretching from Durham in the south to the fringes of the Scottish Highlands in the north.

Exciting prospect

Study author Dr Manuel Fernández-Götz, of the University’s School of History, Classics and Archaeology, said: “This is one of the most exciting regions of the Roman Empire, as it represented its northernmost frontier.

“The land we now know as Scotland was one of the very few areas in Western Europe over which the Roman army never managed to establish full control”.

Fellow author Dr Dave Cowley of Historic Environment Scotland said: “The discovery of so many previously unknown sites helps us to reconstruct settlement patterns.

“Individually, they are very much routine, but cumulatively they help us understand the landscape within which the indigenous population lived.”

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

The 330-million-year-old fossil tree that’s stood the test of time

The 330-million-year-old fossil tree that’s stood the test of time

The fossil tree on the Museum’s east lawn is thought to have been in its current position since the 1970s, but it’s been part of the collection since 1873.  A large petrified tree that lived around 330 million years ago has been towering over visitors to the Museum for over 130 years, making it one of the longest-serving exhibits.

A Scottish tree

Craigleith Quarry was once the largest and most productive of Edinburgh’s quarries. The sandstone extracted in its 300 years of operation can be seen in the city’s historical architecture, including Edinburgh Castle. The quarry was infilled in 1995.

But the site is also well-known for its fossil trees, the first of which was discovered in 1826. The trunk that now resides on the Museum’s east lawn was uncovered in 1873, and found approximately 56 metres below the surface.

The fossil tree, Pitys withamii, lived during the Carboniferous Period, which lasted from around 359 to 299 million years ago. Many of the coal beds that Britain came to rely on formed at this time, made up of plants like P. withamii. 

When the fossil tree was alive it’s thought that it would have had fern-like fronds that were similar to this example of Sphenopteris foliage

The specimen was originally thought to be an ancient conifer but was eventually determined to be a type of seed fern (pteridosperm). In life, it would have featured large, fern-like fronds sprouting from the crown of its towering trunk and would have used seeds for reproduction. Seed ferns are an extinct group and their unique collection of characteristics is not seen in plants today.

Despite its London home, the tree’s Scottish origins weren’t forgotten. In 1986 the MP for Edinburgh West contacted the Museum to enquire about returning the large specimen to Edinburgh to put it on public display. The Museum declined this request but noted that another Carboniferous trunk from Craigleith Quarry was already on public display at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. At 10.5 metres long, it is Scotland’s largest plant fossil.

A long-standing exhibit

The trunk has been housed in the Museum’s gardens for over 130 years, although it hasn’t always been in the same spot. The tree arrived at the Museum in six large pieces with numerous smaller fragments, and originally the trunk was displayed lying on its side. The section of the specimen on display today towers over visitors at six metres tall, but with all the pieces laid out together, it measured around 12 metres.

The fallen fossil tree after sustaining bomb damage during an air raid in 1940

The wood is petrified, meaning that it has been turned to stone. For petrified wood to form, organic material is replaced by minerals – in this case, iron and calcium carbonates – while the plant retains its original shape and structure. This fossilisation process has increased the weight of the specimen’s trunk to around three times that of normal wood. Its exact weight isn’t known but is estimated at around 11 tonnes.

The tree stood upright in 1887, but only the large pieces were assembled. It remained standing until November 1940, when it was knocked down and broken into several pieces by an air raid bomb.

The tree has since been moved further from Exhibition Road, which lies to the east of the Waterhouse building. It’s thought this happened in the 1970s when the Palaeontology wing was being built. 

The petrified tree is thought to have been moved to its current position during the construction of the Palaeontology wing, seen here on completion in 1977

How to clean petrified wood

The fossil tree’s condition is assessed yearly, but in the summer of 2019 Museum conservators gave the specimen its most intensive clean in over 15 years.

Working from inside their own scaffolding ‘treehouse’, the team had to move quickly so the tree wasn’t screened off from visitors for too long. Ultimately it took four full days of work, plus a few early mornings to clean it from top to bottom.

Conservators Lu Allington-Jones and Cheryl Lynn start work cleaning the fossil tree, hidden inside their treehouse

Senior Conservator Lu Allington-Jones says, ‘It was like being in our own private treehouse. We could hear the public talking outside it, but no one knew we were there or what we were doing.

‘It was challenging because no one seems to know when the tree was last cleaned, so we didn’t know how long it would take and we had a really small window.’

As they were dealing with a specimen displayed outdoors, the conservators faced challenges they wouldn’t normally encounter. Bird droppings had to be cleaned off using water and cotton swabs, algae were removed with soft brushes and ethanol, and moss and lichens were picked off with plastic and wooden picks.

Plants can cause a lot of damage to stone as their roots grow on the surface. This can cause flaking and cracks. Additionally, the water that plants retained on the surface of the stone can cause further damage when it freezes and expands in winter. A concrete-like material that is thought to have been used to fill gaps in the 1970s had started to crack, so the team had to strengthen it.

The conservators were also accompanied by a seemingly angry tube web spider (Segestria senoculata) and multiple plane tree bug nymphs (Arocatus longiceps), which are usually found in the plane trees that grow at the edges of the Museum’s lawn.

Algae, lichen and moss were just some of the unique challenges of working on the fossil tree

The team will continue to keep an eye on the tree’s condition. Lu says, ‘We’re going to leave the specimen open to the elements – we don’t want to add any coatings that might deteriorate. But we’ll take photos so we can monitor its condition in the future.’

Fossil trees in Hintze Hall

The specimen on the east lawn isn’t the only fossil tree displayed at the Museum. In Hintze Hall, four fossil tree specimens are also on show.

You can see fossil trees from four different geological periods in the Museum’s Hintze Hall

The trees are from four different geologic time periods, ranging from a Devonian specimen that is 385 million years old to a tree that is 25-56 million years old.

These four trees grew in vastly different climates and atmospheres, and their preserved structures can provide clues about the ancient environments they lived in. The Museum’s palaeobotany collection of fossil plants, algae and fungi spans 3.5 billion years of Earth’s history. Scientists can use these specimens, including fossil trees, to chart historic climate change and make predictions about the future of our planet.