Category Archives: WORLD

Graves at Williamsburg’s First Baptist Church Will Be Excavated

Graves at Williamsburg’s First Baptist Church Will Be Excavated

Descendants, archaeologists and researchers alike gathered Monday for the long-awaited beginning of burial excavations at the original First Baptist Church site.

Colonial Williamsburg Director of Archaeology Jack Gary answers questions about the burial excavation process following the ancestral blessing ceremony held at the Nassau Street Site of First Baptist Church on Monday. Courtesy of Let Freedom Ring Foundation
Colonial Williamsburg Director of Archaeology Jack Gary answers questions about the burial excavation process following the ancestral blessing ceremony held at the Nassau Street Site of First Baptist Church on Monday. Courtesy of Let Freedom Ring Foundation

The First Baptist Church descendant community unanimously voted in March to begin excavating three grave shafts in order to learn the race, age, sex and anything else about the people buried on the site. Since archaeologists began digging in September 2020, the original foundation of the church, a structure dating to 1865 and 41 graves have been identified.

Members of several congregations who are descendants of early Williamsburg residents gathered to view the opening of the graves. The ancestral blessing ceremony that was performed before the work began included a mix of prayers and song — a solemn and moving moment, said Connie Matthews Harshaw, president of the Let Freedom Ring Foundation. The group has been working since 2018 to preserve the church, its history and artefacts that date to the 18th century.

“My heart is full. It was a moving tribute this morning. The day was all about the descendants,” Harshaw said. “We wanted the descendants to have an opportunity to voice what their ancestors may be thinking or saying.”

The 41 burial sites, which are rectangular holes about two feet wide and five feet deep, have been primarily identified because of their surface appearance, according to The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. One of the chosen graves was marked by an upside-down wine bottle, making it the only marked grave identified so far.

The process will take about two months. It will include confirming the presence of human remains, determining how long they’ve been there and assessing if the conditions permit further testing. If conditions allow, osteological and DNA testing will be done on the remains.

DNA testing will determine the eye colour, skin tone, propensity for certain diseases or conditions, genetic ancestry and biological connections of the person.

The osteological analysis can fill in some gaps of the DNA testing by examining the bones — age at death, stature, injuries, illnesses, physical stresses, quality of life and place of origin.

The DNA testing will require two samples from each subject and removing bone for that testing. The bones will then be fully excavated and moved to the Institute for Historical Biology on William & Mary’s campus for cleaning and analysis. Any artefacts found in the graves will be cleaned and catalogued in Colonial Williamsburg’s archaeological library.

The osteological and DNA analyses will take six months to a year. After the testing is done, all remains and artefacts will be reinterred in the original site. Then finally, hopefully, the descendants will have their answers.

Members of the First Baptist Church descendant community gathered at the church’s Nassau Street site for an ancestral blessing ceremony on Monday, preceding the excavation of three of the burial sites. Courtesy of Let Freedom Ring Foundation

“It has to be heartening for the descendant community because if you think about it, these people have laid there for more than 66 years under a parking lot at first, unrecognized,” Harshaw said. “If you stand still in the moment and think about the fact that what this means for the descendant community and their involvement in this process, this is really an example for the nation to follow in what we call community archaeology.”

The testing will allow researchers to establish a connection between the buried and the First Baptist Church and possibly help descendants find their ancestors’ final burial place.

“Every step of this process has been descendant-driven. … It wasn’t a decision for [Colonial Williamsburg]. It was not a decision for Let Freedom Ring. It wasn’t a decision for the church,” Harshaw said.

“It was the descendant community that will drive what happens on this site, with this site, how it’s interpreted because that’s the right thing to do.”

Portuguese scientists discover a 100,000-year-old case of deafness

Portuguese scientists discover a 100,000-year-old case of deafness

Around 100,000 years ago somewhere in Morocco a hunter-gatherer started stumbling about suffering vertigo and hearing loss.

Portuguese scientists discover a 100,000-year-old case of deafness

Now, almost 50 years since parts of his skeleton were found as fossils, scientists in Coimbra University have announced the discovery of the “oldest case of deafness in a human being”.

Indeed, from the symptoms, it sounds suspiciously like the hunter-gatherer in question was suffering not just from deafness, but from chronic ear infection.

Explains Lusa, the fossil, tagged as ‘Dar-es-Soltane II H5′ was studied using what is called a micro-CT scan, “also known as computer-assisted microtomography.

“It is similar to a hospital CAT scan, but with a better resolution and which allows a more detailed observation. The observation of the micro-CT and the 3D  reconstruction was done with specific software,” says Dany Coutinho Nogueira, a researcher at the Centre for Research in Anthropology and Health (CIAS) of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC).

According to Coutinho Nogueira, the temporal bone (where the auditory system is housed) is very important.

“One part of this bone, the ‘pars petrosa’, is made up of the densest bone in the human body, which sometimes allows better preservation in ancient fossils. This part contains the organs of hearing (cochlea) and balance (semicircular canals), which are studied in paleoanthropology to distinguish human groups (the morphology of this structure in Homo Sapiens is different from those of Neanderthals),” he explained.

When observing the semicircular canals of this fossil (a skull, complete with jawbone), to confirm which human group it belonged to, the FCTUC researcher noticed that “the canals were partially ossified, that is, they had bone in parts where they should not have”.

The study revealed that the individual suffered from ‘labyrinthitis ossificans’, a disease “that causes the ossification of the semicircular canals and the cochlea”.

This condition “implies balance problems, dizziness, vertigo and hearing loss. This pathology is very incapacitating for a hunter-gatherer – limiting the ability to hunt and find food”, said Coutinho Nogueira.

The limited survival time of the individual after the onset of the disease calls into question the cause of death, he added.

The individual died a few months after the onset of the pathology. He could not have survived that long without help from other individuals because he would not have been able to acquire food and hunt, “which indicates to us that there was a form of monitoring from the rest of the group, at least for a few months,” said the scientist.

According to Coutinho Nogueira, this study provides new information about the state of health of past populations, “in particular hunter-gatherers, and also shows that recent technologies allow discovering new information and detecting pathologies on fossils discovered almost 50 years ago”.

Dany Coutinho Nogueira stressed that only two fossils of Homo Sapiens hunter-gatherers present this pathology, “the other was from Singa (a skull discovered in Sudan in 1924 and the target of a scientific study in 1998)”.

“They are the two oldest identified cases of acquired deafness in our species,” he stressed.

The results of the University of Coimbra researchers’ study were recently published in the International Journal of Paleopathology.

7.5 Million Annual Elephant Skulls Fossil Were Found in Turkey “Choerolophodon Pentelic”

7.5 Million Annual Elephant Skulls Fossil Were Found in Turkey “Choerolophodon Pentelic”

A complete skull fossil from 7.5 million years ago was discovered on the bank of the Yamula Dam in the central Kayseri Province of Turkey. This is a major discovery. The skull belongs to Choerolophodon Pentelic, known as the ancestor of elephants.

7.5 Million Annual Elephant Skulls Fossil Were Found in Turkey “Choerolophodon Pentelic”

The study of the fossils found last year was carried out by one of the few experts on Proboscidea – the taxonomic order of African mammals – in the world, Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality said in a statement.

The statement stated that Juha Saarinen, a professor in the Department of Earth Sciences and Geography at the University of Helsinki, came to Kayseri and completed the final examination of the skull.

Okşan Başoğlu, head of the excavation team which continues working at the discovery site, said the Finnish scientist Saarinen “worked on the big and complete skull for two full days.”

“This will be published in a very respected journal abroad because it is a very significant fossil,” she quoted Saarinen as saying.

Juha Saarinen works on the elephant skull, Kayseri, central Turkey, (AA Photo)

Başoğlu said it would be a benchmark for them and soon the names of Kayseri and Yamula would take their place in the world’s literature on the subject.

“For this reason, it is a very essential development for us. Kayseri, in one sense, will be a centre of palaeontology,” she said, referring to the study of the history of life on Earth based on fossils.

She said studies in the laboratory are continuously ongoing.

Saarinen, who has worked in many areas from Europe to the Middle East and China to the US, stated that the complete skull fossil belonging to Choerolophodon Pentelic is the only specimen in the world and it is larger in mass than any fossil elephant found in other contemporary fossils. localities of the world.

When it comes to the fully preserved and unique skull specimens and other fossils found in the province, he said that Kayseri will become a reference point for international palaeontology.

In previous studies in the region, samples of giraffes, 4-5 species known as the ancestors of elephants, rhinoceros, triple hoofed horses, and wasp were found.

5,200-year-old stone carving chrysalis found in north China

5,200-year-old stone carving chrysalis found in north China

According to the provincial archaeological research institute, archaeologists discovered a stone-carved silkworm chrysalis dating back at least 5,200 years in north China’s Shanxi Province last month.

5,200-year-old stone carving chrysalis found in north China

The stone-carved chrysalis was discovered in a semi-crypt house at the Shangguo Site in Wenxi County, near the city of Yuncheng. It measures 2.8 cm long, with a maximum abdominal diameter of 1.2 cm.

Archaeologists surmised that this home dates to the early stage of the late Yangshao Culture era, some 5,200 years ago, based on pottery fragments that have been discovered.

The Yangshao culture was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC.

This culture is famous for its red-painted pottery, one of the two main types produced in the neolithic period in China, and before 2000 BC Yangshao was making spiral red earthenware pots fired in ovens at 1000°C-1500°C.

A model of Jiangzhai, a Yangshao village.

Yangshao artisans created fine white, red, and black painted pottery with human facial, animal, and geometric designs, and they did not use pottery wheels in pottery-making.

China News Service, Taiyuan, July 16 (Yang Peipei and Hu Jian) ​​The Wenxi Shangguo site in Shanxi released the latest archaeological results on the 16th. The site unearthed the Yangshao period and pottery models in the early Spring and Autumn Period.

The excavation further confirmed that the Shangguo site has two main periods, namely the middle and late Yangshao period and the late Western Zhou period to the Spring and Autumn period.

The excavation site in 2022 is selected to be adjacent to the west and north of the exploration in 2021. The excavation covers an area of ​​500 square meters.

Various relics have been found, including 2 ash ditch, 56 ash pits (including 7 house sites in the Yangshao era), 2 stove sites, 1044 pottery models, 183 pottery ware, 14 jade ware, 157 stone tools, 123 bone tools, 4 small copperware, 7 copper slag, 46 shellfish, 2 ironware, 4 egg shells, and 1 fruit stone unearthed. 1585 pieces.

Large water vessel of the late Yangshao culture; from Shaanxi, Shanxi or Gansu province; 4th millennium BC; Rietberg Museum (Zürich, Switzerland)

Among them, H50 is bag-shaped. Judging from the pottery pieces such as the red pottery and sand pots with piled patterns on the outside of the unearthed mouth, the white-robed pottery bowls, and the basket-shaped pointed bottom bottle belly pieces, they belong to the early stage of the late Yangshao period, about 5,200 years ago.

The pit is divided into four layers, and a stone-carved silkworm chrysalis was unearthed in the first layer.

Over the past 100 years, relics related to the silkworm culture have been unearthed in many places in Yuncheng City, said Tian Jianwen, a researcher with the provincial archaeology research institute.

“At present, many silkworm cocoons and chrysalises discovered in Yuncheng City have been found in good condition, indicating that the ancestors of Yangshao Culture in southern Shanxi had raised silkworms,” said Tian. The discovery of stone carving chrysalises provided important clues for the study of the origin and spread of silk, according to Tian.

Ancient grave found right under kindergarten

Ancient grave found right under kindergarten

Builders found human bones when doing reconstruction on a kindergarten in Brestovany, a village near Trnava. They called archaeologists from the Monuments Board of Trnava and the Western Slovakia Museum in Trnava who found that the builders had discovered a grave.

More detailed research showed that it is a 4,000-year-old grave from the Early Bronze Age containing women’s jewels, such as bone beads, a copper bracelet and two willow-shaped earrings, the Monuments Board Trnava informed.

The skeleton belonged to a woman buried in a curled position on her left side.

Ancient grave found right under kindergarten

Based on the found objects and the character of the grave, archaeologists were able to classify the discovery as from the Early Bronze Age, specifically to the bearers of the so-called Nitra culture.

It belongs to the oldest culture of the Bronze Age in Slovakia and its representatives are characterised by the gradual introduction of bronze production, an alloy of already used copper with tin, which resulted in the metal of better strength and hardness. 

“Uncovering the grave was a bit different than usual because all the classes of the local primary school and kindergarten arrived to watch our research and discoveries,” archaeologist Peter Grznár said.

Uncovering the grave thus changed to a live exhibition of archaeologists’ work and lessons about the life and tradition of our ancestors.

The kindergarten is located in the area of the national cultural monument manor house and park in the cadastral area of Malé Brestovany.

The manor house dates to the period of classicism from the first half of the 19th century. However, its location on a slight ridge is interesting, which could have also been attractive as a prehistoric settlement.

Severe Drought Unveils Ruins of Hidden Ancient ‘Bridge of Nero’ in Rome

Severe Drought Unveils Ruins of Hidden Ancient ‘Bridge of Nero’ in Rome

After a period of unusually hot weather and low rainfall, it’s now possible to see the resurfaced remains of an ancient bridge in the Tiber River in Rome, Italy.

A severe drought in Italy has revealed an archaeological treasure in Rome: a bridge reportedly built by the Roman emperor Nero that is usually submerged under the waters of the Tiber River. 

The dropping water levels of the Tiber, which according to Reuters(opens in new tab) is flowing at multi-year lows, have exposed the stone remains of the Pons Neronianus (Latin for the Bridge of Nero), WION News, a news agency headquartered in New Delhi, India, reported. 

Emperor Nero, who ruled as the Roman Empire’s fifth emperor from A.D. 54 to 68, was a controversial sovereign who built public structures and won military victories abroad, but also neglected politics and instead focused much of his time and passion on the arts, music and chariot races.

Rome’s coffers were also drained during his rule, partly as a result of building the “Domus Aurea” (the Golden Palace), which Nero built in the centre of Rome after the great fire. During his reign, he killed his mother and at least one of his wives, and he struggled to rebuild Rome after a huge fire ravaged the city in A.D. 64. Nero killed himself in A.D. 68 at the age of 30 after being declared a public enemy by the Roman senate.

Live Science talked to several experts, who noted that the remains of this bridge have become visible in the past due to low water levels. They also note that, despite its name, it’s not certain if this bridge was built by Nero. 

“The remains of this Roman bridge are visible whenever the water level of the Tiber falls, therefore whenever there are lengthy periods — like now — of very low rainfall,” Robert Coates-Stephens, an archaeologist at the British School at Rome, told Live Science in an email. 

Multiple sources told Live Science that the bridge was possibly built before Nero’s rule. “The origins of the bridge are uncertain, given that it is likely a bridge existed here before Nero’s reign and therefore the Pons Neronianus was probably a reconstruction of an earlier crossing,” Nicholas Temple, professor of architectural history at London Metropolitan University, told Live Science in an email.

The name Pons Neronianus “appears for the first time only in the 12th-century catalogues of Rome’s monuments,” Coates-Stephens said. “It’s true that Nero had extensive gardens and properties in the area of the Vatican, and so a bridge at this point would have given easy access to these.”

Bad place to build?

Hidden ancient Roman 'Bridge of Nero' emerges from the Tiber during severe drought
After a period of unusually hot weather and low rainfall, it’s now possible to see the resurfaced remains of an ancient bridge in the Tiber River in Rome, Italy.

A number of scholars told Live Science that the bridge was constructed on a poorly chosen site. 

The bridge “was built on a tight bend in a floodplain,” which is “a terrible idea,” Rabun Taylor, a classics professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told Live Science in an email.

“River bends cutting through pure sediment tend to wander and change shape, so their banks are prone to losing contact with bridge abutments” that connect the bridge to the ground, Taylor said. 

He noted that “that’s probably what happened to Nero’s bridge — and it may well have happened by the mid-200s A.D., less than two centuries after Nero’s death.” Taylor’s research into the bridge’s history “suggests the bridge was dismantled at about that time, and the stone piers were reassembled to create a new bridge in a more stable area downstream.

The Pons Neronianus connected Rome to an area that didn’t have a lot of development at the time. While one side of the river had the Campus Martius, a drained wetland that at this point in time had some public buildings (such as baths and temples), and was used to organize military parades, the other side connected to an area where the Vatican is now that had some large houses.

“It was always good to connect the two banks of the Tiber,” but “the Vatican area was mostly private estates until the Fire of 64,” Mary Boatwright, a professor emerita of classical studies at Duke University, told Live Science in an email. Boatwright noted that it wasn’t until the 130s A.D. that development picked up in the area. 

The bridge did, however, have some military and religious importance for Rome, Temple argued. “The Pons Neronianus was both strategically and symbolically important,” Temple told Live Science.

One side of the bridge was located near an area where Roman troops would assemble to march in a triumph (a politically and religiously significant victory parade) and was likely part of the parade route. “The precise route of this procession is uncertain but it seems probable that the Pons Neronianus [and any bridge that preceded it] served as the bridge crossing for this purpose,” Temple said.  

This bridge may also have been used to transport high-profile prisoners, Temple added, noting that the crossing may have been “used by St. Peter when he was taken in chains” after his trial to the Vaticanus, where he was crucified in around A.D. 64, Temple said. 

“The Pons Neronianus has potentially a double significance, as the crossing point into Rome of triumphal armies, and in the opposite direction for St. Peter’s journey to the site of the crucifixion,” Temple said. 

Depending on how climate change affects the Tiber’s water levels, it’s possible that the remains of the bridge may become visible more often. It probably will be visible more often, Boatwright said, adding that “I’d personally rather it be submerged, and Italy not be threatened with drought.”

Unique sword casts new light on Viking voyages across the North Sea

Unique sword casts new light on Viking voyages across the North Sea

The hilt has unique details in gold and silver and exquisite details not previously known.

The sword was found in three pieces by two metal detector enthusiasts, independent of each other, in the Jåttå/Gausel area in Stavanger, already renowned for the grave of the so-called Gausel queen. Found in 1883, it is considered to be one of the richest women’s graves from the Viking Age.

Like the women buried in the Oseberg ship, the Gausel queen had rich artefacts from the British Isles with her in her grave.

The sword would have been one of the most spectacularly ornamented and heaviest types of swords from the Viking Age. The blade is missing, but the hilt has unique details in gold and silver, and exquisite details not previously known.

Only about 20 such swords have been found in Norway—out of a total of around 3,000 Viking sword finds.

Lavish and complicated décor

The sword is currently under conservation at the Museum of Archaeology at the University of Stavanger. It is still difficult to see the details in the hilt, but the décor includes gilded elements of the typical animal styles found during the Iron and Viking Ages, between ca. 550 and 1050.

“It is very exciting to work on a find like this. It is challenging work, but we uncover new details daily,” conservator Cora Oschmann, in charge of the conservation, says.

The hilt also contains geometrical figures in silver, made with the so-called niello technique. This means that a metallic mixture of sorts was used to make black stripes in the silver.

The sword undergoing conservation.

Both ends of the crossguard are formed as animal heads.

“The technique is of a very high quality, and both the lavish and complicated decor and the special formation of the crossguard make this a truly unique find,” archaeologist Zanette Glørstad from the museum says.

Most likely imported

This particular type of sword has been found in both Eastern and Western Europe. The few swords of this type found in Norway were most likely imported.

“But it is possible to imagine that copies of these types of swords were made by very competent sword smiths in Norway,” Zanette Glørstad points out.

“The décor suggests that the sword was made in France or England and that it can be dated to the early 800s, like the sword found on the island Eigg,” Glørstad says.

Norway and the British Isles

It has previously been speculated whether the Jåttå/Gausel-area was the starting point for extensive alliances and looting.

Unique sword casts new light on Viking voyages across the North Sea
This is what the sword looks like when conservator Cora Oschmann has joined the pieces together.

“The location of the find, close to the Gausel queen, means that we have to take a new look at the entire Jåttå/Gausel area,” says Håkon Reiersen, a researcher at the Museum of Archaeology in Stavanger.

“The outstanding collection of imported spectacular finds connected to both men and women in this area shows that this has been an important hub for the contact across the North Sea,” he says.

The metal detector enthusiasts immediately turned in their finds to the Cultural heritage management as Norwegian law demands. This ensured that the Museum of Archaeology at the University of Stavanger immediately could take care of the parts and start the conservation work.

The sword will be exhibited at the Museum of Archaeology at the University of Stavanger when the conservation work is finished.

Military Officer’s Tomb Discovered in Egypt

Military Officer’s Tomb Discovered in Egypt

A Czech archaeological mission working near the Giza plateau has uncovered the tomb of an ancient Egyptian military official who commanded battalions made up of foreign soldiers, according to a statement from the Egyptian antiquities ministry.

The find has led experts to conclude that ancient Egypt was much more globalised than they once thought, the ministry said. The tomb is believed to have belonged to Wahibre merry Neith, who lived between the late 26th dynasty and early 27th around 500 BC.

His tomb was found about 12km south-east of the Pyramids of Giza, very close to an embalming cache discovered in February, which also belonged to Wahibre-merry-Neith.

The main well of the tomb of an ancient Egyptian military commander named Wahibre-merry-Neith. The tomb was discovered by a Czech mission working in Giza’s Abusir necropolis.

The tomb was found by a mission from the Egyptology Department at Prague’s Charles University, one of the oldest in Europe.

The tomb is divided into separate parts by narrow bridges cut into the natural rock.

Measuring 14 metres square, its main well was about 6 metres deep. However, as is the custom in ancient burial sites from the time, there was a smaller and deeper shaft in the middle of the main well that led to the double sarcophagus where Wahibre-merry-Neith was buried.

At the bottom of the deeper well, which measures 6.5 x 3.3 metres, at a depth of about 16 metres, the mission found two sarcophagi, one inside the other.

The inner sarcophagus of an ancient Egyptian dignitary, whose tomb was discovered in 2022 by a Czech archaeological mission working in Giza’s Abusir necropolis.

The outer sarcophagus is made of two large slabs of white limestone, said the ministry’s statement, while the inner coffin is made out of basalt rock and fashioned in the shape of the human body.

The upper part of the basalt sarcophagus was inscribed with excerpts from the 72nd chapter of the Egyptian Book of Dead, according to a statement from mission head Dr Marslav Barta.

The texts depict the resurrection of the deceased and his journey to the afterlife.

The basalt sarcophagus measures 2.30 metres long and 1.98 metres wide.

The sarcophagus did not contain a mummy, leading the mission to conclude that the tomb had been raided around the 4th or 5th centuries AD, Barta confirmed in a statement.

A scarab was found inside the tomb of Wahibre-merry-Neith, a 26th dynasty dignitary who commanded the country’s foreign military forces. The tomb had been robbed in the 4th or 5th century AD so the scarab was one of a handful of relics found inside the tomb

He said his team was able to approximately date the theft because of two ceramic vessels that were left behind in the main well. The upper part of the basalt sarcophagus was found smashed, said the ministry’s statement, suggesting that this was where the graverobbers entered the tomb.

Though the tomb was markedly light on artefacts, the mission was able to extract an intricately carved scarab, around 400 ushabti statues made of faience (a sintered-quartz ceramic material prevalent in ancient Egypt) and two alabaster canopic jars (containers that held the eviscerated organs of the deceased which were an important part of ancient burial customs).

Canopic jars and ceremonial cups were found inside the tomb of Wahibre-merry-Neith, a 26th dynasty ancient Egyptian military commander whose tomb was discovered in 2022 by a Czech archaeological mission working in Giza’s Abusir necropolis.

Dr Muhammad Mujahid, deputy head of the Czech Mission, said that “although the archaeological excavations of the cemetery of Wa-ip-Ra Meri Nate did not provide us with many important archaeological finds or elaborate funerary items, this cemetery is considered unique and important”.

He explained that it provides new insight into the turbulent period that marked the beginning of Persian domination over ancient Egypt.

On his part, Dr Waziri said: “The design of this well-tomb has no identical counterpart in ancient Egypt.”