Medieval Burials Uncovered at the Cathedral of Notre Dame
The lead sarcophagus is thought to hold a 14th-century digniatary.
Several tombs and a leaden sarcophagus likely dating from the 14th century has been uncovered by archaeologists at Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris following its devastating 2019 fire.
The burial sites “of remarkable scientific quality” were unearthed during preparatory work for rebuilding the ancient church’s spire at the central spot where the transept crosses the nave, the culture ministry announced late Monday.
Among the tombs was the “completely preserved, human-shaped sarcophagus made of lead”.
It is thought the coffin was made for a senior dignitary in the 1300s—the century following the cathedral’s construction.
As well as the tombs, elements of painted sculptures were found just beneath the current floor level of the cathedral, identified as parts of the original 13th-century rood screen—an architectural element separating the altar area from the nave.
During a visit by AFP on Tuesday, archaeologists were delicately cleaning and excavating the sculptures emerging from the ground, including a pair of carved hands.
The bust of a bearded man and some sculpted vegetables, with traces of paint still visible, had been removed. The team has already used a mini endoscopic camera to peek inside the sarcophagus, which appeared to be warped by the weight of the earth and stones.
Archaeologists are racing to finish their work before reconstruction resumes at the end of the month.
The bust of a bearded man has also been excavated, part of an ancient screen.
Notre Dame was struck by a devastating fire in 2019.
“You can glimpse pieces of fabric, hair and above all a pillow of leaves on top of the head, a well-known phenomenon when religious leaders were buried,” said Christophe Besnier, the lead archaeologist.
“The fact that these plant elements are still inside means the body is in a very good state of conservation,” he added.
Its discovery will help improve our understanding of funeral practices in the Middle Ages, added Dominique Garcia of the National Institute of Archaeological Research.
The discoveries were made as reconstruction teams prepared to install huge scaffolding to rebuild the spire, and needed to check the stability of the ground.
In the process, they discovered an underground heating system from the 19th century, with the sarcophagus lying among its brick pipes.
Despite the excitement of the find, the clock is ticking for the archaeologists.
They have been given until March 25 to finish their work before the reconstruction project resumes—in order to keep to a planned reopening of the cathedral in 2024.
Mysterious 7,500 years old Vinca Figurines depict Contact with an Ancient Alien Race
There was once a mysterious European culture, which left a legacy in the form of valuable artefacts covered with an unknown, never successfully deciphered script. These artefacts have been excavated from sites in south-east Europe.
The culture that flourished from about 6000 BC to 3000 BC, was named Vinca-Tordos Culture of Yugoslavia and western Romania and derived its name from the village of Vinca located on the banks of the Danube river, only 14 km downstream from Belgrade.
A century ago, a great discovery was made at the Danube riverbank. Panta, an old man from Vinča accidentally found a strange clay figurine: This mysterious figurine was puzzling to him so he took it to the National Museum in Belgrade in order to find the explanation. The figurine was soon recognized as an artefact that dated back to the late Stone Age.
Since then, a number of archaeological excavations have revealed numerous cultural layers of a civilization and its largest Neolithic settlement in Europe, dating back more than 7,000 years BC.
The Vinca legacy includes among others, curious masks and the most informative costumed figurines depicting women in extremely modern clothes like narrow skirts, and sleeveless upper-body panels, complimented with hip belts, aprons, jewellery, shoes, caps, hairstyles, bracelets, necklaces, and medallions.
Prediconica mask, Vinca culture 4500 BC-4000 BC
There have also been unearthed different kinds of tools and weapons and the remains of prehistoric houses with the furniture and many other objects created in the Vinca region or brought from remote areas.
Since the language of the Vinca still remains undeciphered, unearthed artefacts constitute the only source of knowledge about this culture. Vinca’s living style reminds us of our own. They lived in houses that had very complex architectural layouts and several rooms.
The houses faced northeast-southwest and were separated by streets. Vinca people had stoves in their houses, preceding the Romans in using these devices. They used special holes only for rubbish, and had the same tradition as we have, to bury people in cemeteries.
The development of copper metallurgy is evident during the latter part of the Vinca culture’s evolution. Among unearthed artefacts, there have been found a large number of figurines made of clay and other artefacts depicting worshipped deities and women in miniskirts, short tops, wearing jewellery.
It is hard to believe that women that lived several millennia ago wore miniskirts, unless, the cult of Mother Goddess was very widespread and reached both the south-east parts of Europe and ancient India.
Similar, made of ceramic clay, figurines of Mother Goddess, were found in excavations in Mohenjo-Daro, located along the Indus River in ancient India (present-day Pakistan). Was this kind of clothes popular 7,500 years ago?
The Vinca Culture – Europe’s biggest prehistoric civilization – point to a metropolis with a great degree of sophistication and a taste for art and fashion.
Numerous figurines related to the Vinca Culture bear ‘markings that clearly indicate clothing, bequeathing a wealth of costume detail. The Vinca culture in the Danube River basin, from the end of the sixth through the fifth millennia B.C., left the most informative costumed figurines.
These images bear deep incisions encrusted with white paste or red ocher emulating fringe, hip belts, aprons, narrow skirts, and sleeveless upper-body panels. The Vinca artisans sans also modelled a variety of shoes, caps, hairstyles, bracelets, necklaces, and medallions…
Figurines with clothing and ornaments appear either bare-breasted or fully clad. Several dress combinations recur persistently on bare-breasted images. Some wear only a hip belt or a hip belt supporting either an apron or an entire fringed skirt. Others wear a tight skirt and nothing else…’ 1
An important question is: Is the legacy of the Vinca culture evidence of the ever known earliest manifestation of the Divine Power and well-evolved and widespread Mother Goddess worship cult?
Many terracotta figurines of the Mother Goddess were recovered in excavations at various archaeological sites of Indus Valley. Naturally, orthodox science proposes a classical explanation to this phenomenon and say that the proto Mother, the symbol of female fertility, is depicted in prehistoric figurines.
On many of the artefacts excavated from sites in south-east Europe, there have been found the Vinca symbols. Here are common symbols used throughout the Vinca period:
They probably represent the earliest form of writing ever found and predating ancient Egyptian and Sumerian writing by thousands of years. Since the inscriptions are all short and appear on objects found in burial sites and the language represented is not known, it is highly unlikely they will ever be deciphered.
In some way, Vinca’s past is both forgotten and lost.
The Mysterious Lapedo Child — A Neanderthal / Human Hybrid?
A great mystery was unburied in 1998, in the bed of a rock shelter in the Lapedo Valley which lies 85 miles to the north of Lisbon, Portugal. Buried for millennia, archaeologists discovered the bones of a four-year-old Lapedo child, which was the first complete Paleolithic skeleton, dug in the Iberian Peninsula.
What added gravity to the discovery?
The unearthing had far greater significance because, after complete analysis, it was revealed that the child had the lower arms and chin of a human, however, the jaw had the characteristics of a Neanderthal, that is, a subspecies of archaic humans who inhabited the region of Eurasia some 30,000 years ago and went extinct due to a variety of factors related to modern human evolution.
However, some people discredit this theory and claim that Neanderthals mated with the early modern humans, and initially, the genetic combination made them a part of daily life. This theory, however, poses dramatic implications for evolutionary theorists around the globe.
The discovery of the Lapedo Child in a nutshell:
The discovery was revealed in November 1998 by archaeologists João Maurício and Pedro Souto who went to the Lapedo Valley to investigate reports about prehistoric rock paintings which actually came out to be true. In due course of their investigation, they encountered a limestone rock-shelter, the Lagar Velho site.
The upper fill, of two to three meters, had been earlier bulldozed away by the landowner in 1992, which left a remnant of sediment hanging in a fissure along the back of the wall.
The matter of the fact was, this arrangement contained the density of the Upper Palaeolithic age consisting of stone tools, animal bones, and charcoal, making it clear that Lagar Velho had been an important occupation site.
This assumption was confirmed by subsequent excavations, producing radiocarbon dates within the bracket of 23,170 to 20,220 years.
While collecting the external materials that had loosened out from the remnant, João and Pedro investigated a break in the back wall. The loose sediments that were being scrutinized, they found the residues of several small human bones, stained with red ochre.
This was subsequently found out to be a child’s grave, the sole Palaeolithic burial ever found in the Iberian Peninsula.
The child was buried with the utmost care in a shallow pit, making sure that the head and feet were placed higher than the hips. The body was placed on a burnt Scots pine branch, consisting of a hide covered in red ochre.
The remains of a rabbit were found between the child’s legs along with six other ornaments – four deer teeth which were assumed to be a part of a headdress, two periwinkle shells from the Atlantic, which was also surmised to have been a part of a pendant.
The mystery of the lapedo child uncovered:
For the task of retrieving the remnants of the lapedo child’s body, an excavation project was launched. The work was immensely tedious since the petite roots of the plants had penetrated into the spongy bones. About 160 cranial fragments were recovered after the sediments were sieved, which accounted for 80 percent of the total skull.
The bulldozer had hampered the skull but luckily missed the remaining body by two centimeters. If not, humankind wouldn’t have been subjected to such a great discovery.
The skeletal residues, post the recovery process, were sent to anthropologist Erik Trinkaus from Washington University for further analysis.
The astonishing discovery was then made. Erik found that the proportions of the lower limbs did not resemble those of a modern human, but rather, it had the characteristics of a Neanderthal. The entire skull, on the other hand, was modern in shape, as in the features of its inner ears and teeth. Although the skull resembled the features of a contemporary human, one peculiarity was noticed, a pitting in the occipital region which is a genetic trait of Neanderthals.
It was concluded by Trinkaus that the Lapedo child was a hybrid of Neanderthals and modern humans, a kind of morphological mosaic.
However, a debate arose following this conclusion. Researchers were of the view that these two forms of human are not thought to have coexisted later than 28,000 years ago in Iberia. Then how can the child consist of features of both? This debate got heated among the experts, some of whom accepted that the detection of the Lapedo child meant that Neanderthals interbred with modern humans, while others continue to hold on to the traditional view that the Neanderthals were wiped out and were replaced by another species.
In the contemporary era, the most popular theory which exists is that the remains of the child are those of an anatomically modern human with genetically inherited Neanderthal traits, which summarises that the last Neanderthals of Iberia had a role to play in contributing to the gene pool of subsequent populations.
Well-preserved fossils could be consequence of past global climate change
A fossil of a crustacean claw exoskeleton from the Posidonia Shale in Germany.
Climate change can affect life on Earth. According to new research, it can also affect the dead. A study of exceptionally preserved fossils led by a graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin has found that rising global temperatures and a rapidly changing climate 183 million years ago may have created fossilization conditions in the world’s oceans that helped preserve the soft and delicate bodies of deceased marine animals.
The fossils include squid-like vampyropods with ink sacs, ornate crustacean claws, and fish with intact gills and eye tissue.
Despite being from different locations and marine environments, the fossils were all preserved in a similar manner. Geochemical analysis revealed that the conditions needed to preserve such captivating fossils could be connected to Earth’s climate.
“When I started the research, I had no idea if they would preserve the same way or a different way,” said lead author Sinjini Sinha, a graduate student at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences. “I was curious what led to the exceptional preservation.”
The research was published in Scientific Reports.
Going from dead organism to eternal fossil is a complex, chemical process that involves the formation of minerals within biological tissues. The authors examined different parts of fossil specimens under a scanning electron microscope equipped with a tool to detect chemical elements present in the minerals.
Lead author Sinjini Sinha, a graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences, examines images of fossil specimens in the scanning electron microscope lab. Sinha used the microscope to examine exceptionally preserved fossils and learn more about the fossilization process.
The fossils came from the Posidonia Shale in southern Germany, Strawberry Bank in southern England, and Ya Ha Tinda in Alberta, Canada. And in all of them, one element dominated: phosphorus.
“We expected there to be some similarities, but finding that they were so similar was a bit surprising,” said co-author Rowan Martindale, an associate professor at the Jackson School.
Phosphorus is common in bones, so finding it in fossilized fish skeletons wasn’t unusual. But when it appeared in tissues that don’t usually contain phosphorus, such as crustacean exoskeletons and vampyropod soft tissues, it signalled that the environment was the source of the phosphorus minerals.
Phosphorus, however, usually isn’t available in high concentrations within marine sediments, said co-author Drew Muscente, an assistant professor at Cornell College and former Jackson School postdoctoral researcher.
“Phosphorus is an element that you don’t expect to see in sedimentary rocks,” he said. “It generally doesn’t get buried in large amounts except in unusual circumstances.”
Lead author Sinjini Sinha holds a fossilized ink sac of a vampyropod, a squid-like animal. The black portion is the ink sac. The white portion is the tissue surrounding the sac. The fossil is from the Strawberry Bank fossil deposit in the United Kingdom.
The researchers think a period of extreme and rapid climate change caused by an influx of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere by volcanic eruptions during the Early Jurassic could be just that circumstance, with the rising temperatures causing increased rainfall that stripped large amounts of phosphorus-rich sediment from rocks on land into the world’s oceans.
Climate change today is also reducing oxygen in the oceans but it will be millions of years before anyone can say whether there is a boost in exceptional fossils, Martindale said.
The fossil fish Leptolepis from the Strawberry Bank fossil deposit in the United Kingdom.
Javier Luque, a research associate at Harvard University who was not part of the study, said that the study is important because it suggests that past climate change could have helped enable fossilization in a variety of environments.
“Perhaps one of the biggest takeaways of this work is that global events in the past could have set the stage for the exceptional preservation seen in fossil-rich marine deposits around the world regardless of their location, lithologies, environments, and depositional setting,” he said.
The study was also co-authored by researchers at the University of Missouri, the Bath Royal Literary and Scientific Institution, and the Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History.
London’s largest Roman mosaic in 50 years discovered by archaeologists
In the shadow of the iconic Shard in London, archaeologists have come across an echo of the city’s ancient past. Right there in the heart of the city, they’ve unearthed a striking Roman mosaic that dates back to the late second or early third century.
Archaeologists work to uncover the newly-unearthed mosaic in central London.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime find in London,” raved Antonietta Lerz, the Museum of London Archeology (MOLA) site supervisor.
MOLA archaeologists uncovered the mosaic while excavating a new housing and retail development at the Liberty of Southwark site near the London Bridge. As they sifted through the dirt, something suddenly caught their attention.
“When the first flashes of colour started to emerge through the soil everyone on site was very excited,” Lerz explained.
The archaeologists eventually uncovered a Roman mosaic made of two panels that stretches for more than 26 feet. The larger panel includes lotus flowers, a “Solomon’s knot” pattern, and intertwining strands called guilloche. The smaller panel is simpler but includes some of the same designs with red and black tiles. Historians have seen similar mosaics elsewhere.
The panel is nearly 2,000 years old and includes intricate geometric patterns.
David Neal, a Roman mosaic expert, believes that the larger panel was made by the Acanthus group, who developed a unique style in London. And, intriguingly, the smaller panel bears a striking resemblance to one found in Trier, Germany. That may mean that London artisans took their craft abroad.
Both mosaics probably made up a triclinium, a sort of formal dining room where upper-class ancient Romans would have lounged on couches, chatted, and admired the beautiful floor.
The triclinium itself likely made up one part of a mansio, a type of inn for Romans officials travelling on state business where they could rest, stable their horses, and get a bite to eat. Archaeologists suspect that it was part of a bigger complex, but they’re still examining the grounds.
Indeed, the mosaics weren’t the only discoveries that the MOLA archaeologists made. They also found evidence of a large building nearby, which may have been a wealthy Roman’s private house. There, they uncovered an intricate bronze brooch, a bone hairpin, and a sewing needle.
“These finds are associated with high-status women who were following the latest fashions and the latest hairstyles,” Lerz explained, noting that they lived during the “heydey of Roman London.”
“The buildings on this site were of very high status. The people living here were living the good life.”
The smaller mosaic bears a strong resemblance to one found in Trier, Germany.
Roman London, or Londinium, was first settled in 47 C.E. It expanded rapidly throughout the first century and reached its peak during the second century. At the time, Londinium boasted a population of around 45,000 to 60,000.
The largest city in Roman Britannia, it had a forum, a basilica, bathhouses, temples, and other features found in bustling Roman hubs. The mosaics found near The Shard are a striking throwback to that time.
“The Liberty of Southwark site has a rich history, but we never expected a find on this scale or significance,” explained Henrietta Nowne, a Senior Development Manager at regeneration specialist U+I, which is working with Transport for London to develop the Liberty of Southwark site.
“We are committed to celebrating the heritage of all of our regeneration sites, so it’s brilliant that we’ve been able to unearth a beautiful and culturally-important specimen in central London that will be now preserved so that it can be enjoyed by generations to come.”
Moving forward, Lerz and her team aim to preserve and display the stunning mosaics.
“Long term, we would hope to have these on public display and we are in consultation with Southwark Council to find an appropriate building to put them in, where they can be enjoyed by everyone,” she explained.
For now, the excavation of the Roman mosaics continues — just a three-minute walk from London’s gleaming Shard.
Mysterious Alien Sealand skull found in Olstykke: Remains Of An Extraterrestrial
The Mysterious alien Sealand skull is one of the most controversial skulls ever excavated and has generated fascinating results leading to believe that this could be the ultimate evidence of Alien beings inhabiting Earth in the distant past.
Numerous strange and unanswered things have been discovered on Earth in recent decades. It’s difficult to differ authenticated and reliable objects from hoaxes, but discoveries like Sealand Skull are proof that there are things out there that cannot be explained precisely.
It is believed that a mysterious skull belonged to an Alien that visited Earth hundreds of years ago, others say that it may have belonged to an unknown species that roamed parts of modern-day Denmark in the distant past.
However, few think of it as just another elaborate hoax.
Tests conducted on the skull revealed fascinating results suggesting that the alien-like skull is perhaps one of the few unaccountable skulls ever found on Earth.
Facts about the mysterious Alien Sealand Skull
The enigmatic alien-like skull was discovered in 2007 in Olstykke, Denmark by workers while they were replacing sewer pipes.
Interestingly, only the skull was recovered, the skeletal remains of the body belonging to the skull have never been excavated. It is believed that skeleton of the mystery being was buried at some different location.
The skull was first examined in 2010 at the College of Veterinary Medicine in Denmark prior to 2010 not a single researcher wanted to examine the skull.
Tests conducted in 2010 revealed that the skull is one of the most mysterious craniums ever tested since experts were unable to determine what species it belonged to.
Researchers stated: “Although it resembles a mammal, certain characteristics make it impossible to fit into the Linnaean Taxonomy.”
At first, researchers suggested that the skull may have belonged to a horse, but further tests revealed the enigmatic skull belongs to an unknown species on Earth.
As no one could throw much light on the strange skull, the cranium was later sent to the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen. Carbon dating revealed that this mysterious being lived between 1200 and 1280 BC.
With the hope of finding more about the skull, researchers excavated the area where the skull was found. Among other things, they discovered animal bones, stone axes, and other artefacts that originated in the Neolithic period as per the researchers.
Some researchers proposed a theory that due to the large eye sockets and the smooth surface, it is very likely that this being was adapted to colder weather. The relative eye size indicated that it was a nocturnal creature with giant eyes.
Strangely, the eyes sockets of the Sealand skull seem to extend further to the sides whereas in a human skull eyes are more centred.
The nostril of the Sealand skull is very small, and the chin is very narrow
If the species of this mysterious skull does not fall into the category of a known species on earth, then who does it belong to?
Roman mosaic and villa complex found in Rutland farmer’s field
The team from the University of Leicester during the excavations of the Rutland villa’s mosaic floor.
It was a family ramble through fields during lockdown last year that led to an “oh wow moment”: the discovery of a Roman villa complex containing a rare mosaic depicting Homer’s The Iliad, now thought to be one of the most remarkable and significant finds of its kind in Britain.
The mosaic depicts scenes from Homer’s The Iliad, about the epic fight between Achilles and the Trojan hero, Hector.
The mosaic – the first example found in the UK displaying scenes from the Greek epic poem, and only one of a handful from across Europe – was found beneath a farmer’s field in Rutland.
It is now protected by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on the advice of Historic England.
Battles from the Trojan war were illustrated in only a handful of mosaics that have been found.
The site was discovered by Jim Irvine, son of the landowner, Brian Naylor, during the 2020 lockdown, and has been investigated by archaeologists from the University of Leicester in partnership with Historic England and Rutland county council.
Their investigation revealed the mosaic lies within an elaborate villa complex encompassing a host of other structures and buildings.
It is likely to have been occupied by a wealthy individual from the late Roman period, sometime between the 3rd and 4th century AD.
“A ramble through the fields with the family turned into an incredible discovery,” Irvine said. “Finding some unusual pottery among the wheat piqued my interest and prompted some further investigative work.
“Later, looking at the satellite imagery I spotted a very clear crop mark as if someone had drawn on my computer screen with a piece of chalk. This really was the ‘oh wow’ moment, and the beginning of the story.”
Human remains have been found at the site.
The remains of the mosaic measure 11m by almost 7m and form the floor of what is thought to be a large dining or entertaining area.
Though mosaics were used in a variety of private and public buildings across the Roman empire and often featured famous figures from history and mythology, there are only a handful of depictions of Achilles’ battle with Hector at the conclusion of the Trojan war.
The villa is surrounded by what appear to be aisled barns, circular structures and a possible bathhouse.
Human remains were also found in the rubble covering the mosaic, which was likely interred after the building was no longer occupied.
John Thomas, deputy director of the University of Leicester Archaeological Services and project manager on the excavations, called it “the most exciting Roman mosaic discovery in the UK in the last century”.
“It gives us fresh perspectives on the attitudes of people at the time, their links to classical literature,” he said. “This [the villa’s owner] is someone with a knowledge of the classics, who had the money to commission a piece of such detail, and it’s the very first depiction of these stories that we’ve ever found in Britain.”
Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England, added that discoveries like this were “so important in helping us piece together our shared history”.
An aerial view of the archaeological site, photographed by drone.
Paleontologists Unearth Dozens of Giant Dinosaur Eggs in Fossilized Nest in Spain
Archaeologists have extracted 30 titanosaur dinosaur eggs found in a two-ton rock in northern Spain and believe there could be as many as 70 deeper inside the boulder.
The titanosaur was a long-necked sauropod that lived until the extinction event at the end of the Cretaceous period 66 million years ago. The eggs were found at a dig site in Loarre in the northeastern Spanish province of Huesca in September.
Preliminary tests indicate that the nests belonged to the titanosaur, a quadruped herbivore with a long tail and neck that could reach up to 66 feet in length.
The first extracted titanosaur egg near Huesca in northern Spain.
An international team of palaeontologists led by the Aragosaurus-IUCA Group of the University of Zaragoza did the work in collaboration with Nova University Lisbon in Portugal.
Miguel Moreno-Azanz, Carmen Nunez-Lahuerta and Eduardo Puertolas are leading 25 palaeontologists and students from Spanish, Portuguese and German institutions in the project.
Moreno-Azanza, who is affiliated with Nova University Lisbon, said in an interview that two nests were excavated in 2020, and about 30 eggs have been discovered in the rock.
Carmen Nunez Lahuerta, a director of the excavation, works on a block containing a dinosaur nest near Huesca in northern Spain.
“The main objective of the 2021 campaign was the extraction of a large nest that contains at least 12 eggs that were integrated into a block of rock weighing over two tons,” he said. “In total, five people dedicated eight hours a day for 50 days to excavate the nest, which was finally removed with the help of a bulldozer.”
Moreno-Azanza pointed out that it was unusual to extract such a large rock. He said it and 10 smaller rocks from the site were now in a warehouse in Loarre and will eventually be displayed at the future Laboratory Museum.
Laura de Jorge and Cristina Sanz Ascaso prepare a 2-ton block for extraction in the discovered dinosaur nest near Huesca in northern Spain.
“It is expected that next spring the space will open its doors to visitors, who will be able to follow the process of preparing and studying the fossils of this site in person,” Moreno-Azanza said.
“The museum has two exhibition rooms where the methodology of a complex paleontological excavation will be explained.”
He said the exhibition would be a satellite room of the Museum of Natural Sciences of the University of Zaragoza and feature specimens from the Loarre site and replicas of dinosaur eggs from other parts of the world.
Moreno-Azanza also said the Loarre Dinosaur Eggs project has obtained funding for the next three years.
The excavation team poses at the site where the titanosaur eggs were found near Huesca in northern Spain.
The excavation work is being funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Spanish Ministry of Science.
