Evidence of Surgery Some 5,300 Years Ago Identified in Spain
A team of several researchers from the University of Valladolid, in Spain and one from the Spanish National Research Council in Italy, has found evidence of the earliest ear surgery performed on a human being.
In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the group describes their study of a human skull found at the Dolmen of El Pendónis back in 2018 and what they learned from it.
Dolmen of El Pendónis is a dig site near Burgos, Spain. Prior research has shown that the site was once used by early people as a funerary chamber. Prior research has also shown that the site was used for approximately 800 years, between 3,800 and 3,000 BC.
Skull understudy found at El Pendón site. Superior: Frontal and lateral view of the skull (Photo: ÑFotógrafos Photography Study). Inferior: Skull with mastoidectomy in situ in the context of the megalithic ossuary.
In the summer of 2018, a skull was found at the site and was put into storage. More recently, the researchers with this new effort retrieved the skull and took a closer look at it. In so doing, they found it bore evidence of a type of cranial surgery meant to cure an ear ailment.
They also found evidence showing that the patient, a woman between the ages of 35 and 50, had survived the surgery—at least for a few months.
There was evidence of bone regrowth in the holes that had been bored through her skull. The skull was dated 5,300 years ago, making it the earliest known example of ear surgery.
The procedure, known today as a mastoidectomy, is done to clean out the area behind the ear that has become infected. Failure to correct the problem can lead to deafness in some cases, or progressive infections leading to more serious problems, including death.
The woman who underwent the procedure required it on both ears. It is presumed that her condition was painful, enough so that she was willing to undergo what must have been an incredibly painful surgery.
Further inspection of the skull showed she had lost a lot of teeth, suggesting she was quite old for the time.
The researchers also found evidence of enlarged auditory canals, likely the result of the surgical procedure.
In the same tomb as the surgical patient, a flint tool was discovered—it had evidence of having been reheated several times, likely making it a cautery tool for stopping bleeding.
Earlier this year, scientists published a study of whole-body CT scans of 137 mummies: ancient Egyptians and Peruvians, ancestral Puebloans of southwest America, and Unangan hunter-gatherers of the Aleutian Islands.
This mummy was once Amenhotep III, King Tut’s grandfather.
They reported signs of atherosclerosis—a dangerous artery hardening that can lead to heart attacks or stroke—in 34 per cent of them. What struck the research team, led by Randall Thompson of Saint Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City, Missouri, was that it afflicted mummies from every group. Frank Rühli, head of the Swiss Mummy Project at the University of Zurich, also sees the condition in about 30 to 50 per cent of the adult specimens he studies.
The breadth of these findings suggests that atherosclerosis today may have less to do with modern excesses such as overeating and more with underlying genetic factors that seem present in a certain percentage of humans living almost anywhere in the world. Someday, identifying those genes could lead to new drugs for heart disease.
They’re now finding signs of everything from prostate cancer to malaria in mummies across the globe.
Ancient mummies can provide a wealth of information about the health of early civilizations, which may help us better treat diseases today. But because mummies are both rare and delicate, researchers have been limited in what they could do to them—and therefore what they could learn from them.
Recent improvements of two medical tools—DNA sequencing, which can reveal microbial infections, and CT scanning—are letting paleopathologists diagnose mummies’ causes of death in detail. They’re now finding signs of everything from prostate cancer to malaria in mummies across the globe.
By comparing the ancient forms of those diseases with their contemporary equivalents, researchers can learn how those diseases evolved, what makes them so harmful, and—possibly—how to stop them.
In the case of tuberculosis (TB), which kills upwards of 1.4 million people a year, researchers are using DNA sequencing and CT scans in mummies to understand what conditions TB thrives in and how to treat it.
Work from Haagen Klaus, a biological anthropologist at George Mason University, suggests that, contrary to what some experts think, Europeans might have brought a particularly deadly form of TB to the Americas.
His preliminary DNA data hints that Peruvian remains dating back to the 10th century—before Spanish explorers arrived—might have been infected with a more benign strain of the TB bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or a different species altogether, Mycobacterium kansasii. And many studies have shown that the bodies of Central Americans from before and after European contact rarely, if ever, show signs of TB symptoms. Klaus subscribes to the hypothesis that this may be because M. tuberculosis thrives in the presence of iron, and these people ate a low-iron diet with little meat. If true, this insight could point to new drugs that would inhibit M. tuberculosis from taking up an iron.
Researchers use magnetic resonance imaging to see inside mummies, such as this one from ancient Peru.
Researchers use magnetic resonance imaging to see inside mummies, such as this one from ancient Peru.
Other scientists are using DNA sequencing to investigate Chagas disease, an illness caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which can cause fatal heart failure or swelling of digestive system organs.
The parasite infects roughly 10 million people, mostly in Latin America, and appears to be spreading. Some think that different strains of the parasite affect different organs. So in 2008, when Ana Carolina Vicente and Ana Jansen of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Rio de Janeiro reported their discovery of T. cruzi in the enlarged colon of a 560-year-old mummified body from Brazil, they might have come upon an important clue.
Previously, they found T. cruzi in a sample of bone remains from 4,500 to 7,000 years ago. Comparing the DNA of different samples of the parasite could reveal more about its evolution and spread, and perhaps influence treatment someday.
Paleopathologists are also taking advantage of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which detects signals from water.
Dry mummies haven’t been perfect for this technique, but recent improvements in MRI might make for better images of soft tissues, such as tongues. Plus, unlike the radiation from CT scanning, MRI has no possible risk of damaging DNA evidence.
93-Million-Year-Old “Killer” Crocodile Discovered With a Baby Dinosaur in Its Stomach
Advanced nuclear and synchrotron imaging has confirmed that a 93-million-year-old crocodile found in Central Queensland devoured a juvenile dinosaur based on remains found in the fossilized stomach contents.
Nuclear techniques confirm the rare findings that crocodiles devoured a baby dinosaur.
The discovery of the fossils in 2010 was made by the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum (QLD) in association with the University of New England, who are publishing their research in the journal Godwana Research.
The research was carried out by a large team led by Dr Matt White of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum and the University of New England.
The crocodile Confractosuchus sauroktonos, which translates as ‘the broken crocodile dinosaur killer’ was about 2 to 2.5 meters in length. ‘Broken’ refers to the fact that the crocodile was found in a massive, shattered boulder.
Early neutron imaging scans of one rock fragment from the boulder detected bones of the small chicken-sized juvenile dinosaur in the gut, an ornithopod that has not yet been formally identified by species.
Dr. Joseph Bevitt and Dr Matt White with the sample on the Imaging and Medical beamline at ANSTO’s Australian Synchrotron.
Senior Instrument Scientist Dr. Joseph Bevitt explained that the dinosaur bones were entirely embedded within the dense ironstone rock and were serendipitously discovered when the sample was exposed to the penetrative power of neutrons at ANSTO.
Dingo, Australia’s only neutron imaging instrument, can be used to produce two and three-dimensional images of a solid object and reveal concealed features within it.
“In the initial scan in 2015, I spotted a buried bone in there that looked like a chicken bone with a hook on it and thought straight away that it was a dinosaur,” explained Dr. Bevitt.
“Human eyes had never seen it previously, as it was, and still is, totally encased in rock.”
The finding led to further, high-resolution scans using Dingo and the synchrotron X-ray Imaging and Medical Beamline over a number of years.
The unprepared rock samples containing the fossilised crocodile. Right: 3D images of the encased crocodile reconstructed with the Imaging and Medical Beamline, and inset, the stomach contents revealed using the Dingo neutron imaging instrument.
“3D digital scans from the Imaging and Medical Beamline guided the physical preparation of the crocodile, which was impossible without knowing precisely where the bones were,” said Dr. Bevitt.
Conversely, the fragile samples had to be carefully reduced to a size that synchrotron X-rays could penetrate for high-quality scanning.
“The results were outstanding in providing an entire picture of the crocodile and its last meal, a partially digested juvenile dinosaur.”
It is believed to be the first time a synchrotron beamline has been used in this way. IMBL Instrument scientist Dr. Anton Maximenko assisted the investigative team to push up against the power limits and finetune the facility to successfully scan the large samples.
Dr. Bevitt explained that the team used the full intensity of the synchrotron X-ray beam to achieve the results on the dense rock.
Together, Drs Bevitt and White did all the data processing and importantly, developed new software mechanisms for processing and merging all data sets of this fragmented crocodile. In this way, the crocodile was reconstructed as a digital, 3D jigsaw puzzle.
To confirm the dinosaur was actually in the gut of the crocodile, the team observed infilled worm tunnels, plant roots and geological features that extended between rock fragments.
“The chemistry of rock provided the evidence, said Dr Bevitt.
Investigators think it is likely that the crocodile was caught up in a megaflood event, was buried and died suddenly.
“The fossilized remains were found in a large boulder. Concretions often form when organic matter, or say a crocodile, sinks to the bottom of a river. Because the environment is rich in minerals, within days the mud around the organism can solidify and harden because of the presence of bacteria,” explained Dr Bevitt.
The specimens are now on display at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum, Winton.
Lavish Roman mosaic is biggest found in London for 50 years
Archaeologists have uncovered the largest area of Roman mosaic found in London for more than half a century. The two highly decorated panels feature large, colourful flowers, geometric patterns and elaborate motifs in a style unique to the capital.
The mosaic is thought to have been the floor of a large dining room which the Romans called a triclinium
It is thought it once decorated the floor of a Roman dining room.
The Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) find came during excavations as part of the construction of a regeneration project near the Shard in Southwark.
It is made up of two highly-decorated panels made up of small, coloured tiles set within a red tessellated floor
MOLA site supervisor, Antonietta Lerz, said: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime find in London.
It has been a privilege to work on such a large site where the Roman archaeology is largely undisturbed by later activity – when the first flashes of colour started to emerge through the soil everyone on site was very excited.”
It is made up of two panels, with the largest showing large, colourful flowers surrounded by bands of intertwining strands – a motif known as a guilloche.
There are also lotus flowers and several different geometric elements, including a pattern known as Solomon’s knot, which is made of two interlaced loops.
Dr David Neal, the former archaeologist with English Heritage and leading expert in Roman mosaic, has attributed this design to the “Acanthus group” – a team of mosaicists working in London who developed their own unique local style.
The complete footprint of the building is still being uncovered but current findings suggest this was a very large complex.
While the largest mosaic panel can be dated to the late 2nd to early 3rd century AD, traces of an earlier mosaic underneath the one currently visible have been identified which shows the room was refurbished over the years.
It was located on the outskirts of Roman Londinium, an area centred on the north bank of the Thames which roughly corresponds to the modern City of London.
A spokesperson for MOLA added the room it was situated in would have contained dining couches, where people would have reclined to eat and it might have been part of a Roman mansio – an upmarket “motel” for state couriers and officials travelling to and from London.
The excavations are part of the Liberty of Southwark regeneration project, which will comprise homes, workspace, shops and restaurants.
The mosaics will be carefully recorded and assessed by an expert team of conservators before being transported off-site, to enable more detailed conservation work to take place. Future plans for the public display of the mosaics are currently being determined.
Prehistoric Site in Portugal Yields 350-Year-Old Remains
An African man who lived just 350 years ago was buried in a prehistoric shell midden in Amoreira in Portugal. This was very surprising because Amoreira and other midden sites in the Muge region are well known by archaeologists for the cemeteries of the last hunter-gatherers living in area 8 000 years ago.
To investigate this burial researchers from Uppsala University and Universidade de Lisboa combined biomolecular archaeology, ancient DNA, and historical records.
We could determine that these were the bone remains of a first-generation African, probably from Senegambia, arriving in Portugal via the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, who died around 1630 and 1760.
His genetic signature indicates African ancestry, while dietary isotope analysis shows that for most of his life, his diet consisted of plant foods commonly found in Senegambia, but not in Portugal at that time, plus a minor consumption of low trophic level marine foods (such as bivalve molluscs).
The oxygen isotopic signal in the bone bioapatite reflects the ingested water at the place of origin, which could be narrowed to the coastal areas of western Africa, in present-day Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia.
For more than three centuries, Africans were brutally dislocated from their homeland while forced to adopt a new religion, a new name, and a new language.
African communities in Portugal developed strategies to preserve their socio-cultural identity and values, similar to what is documented in the Americas.
We used our results to search for other clues that could help us understand the motivations behind his unusual burial.
The burial of this man in an 8000-years old site could be an example of the maintenance of African cultural beliefs and practices by African people translocated to Europe, even though this particular practice is not documented in the historical records. Like many other archaeological sites, Amoreira was probably known by the local populations as an ancient burial ground, given the abundance of animal and human bones at the site.
This grave seems to have been arranged with a layer of sand, suggesting a level of preparation for a burial in a seemingly deviant place; in Portugal, from the Middle Ages up to the mid-nineteenth centuries, the dead were generally buried in religious grounds, but this one was not.
We found that interestingly, up to the present day, shell middens are actively used in western Africa. In Senegambia in particular, the usage of shell middens includes ancient and modern cemeteries.
The burial of this individual in a Portuguese shell midden could indicate the recognition of the site as a meaningful place by the African community of Amoreira, possibly according to West African socio-cultural traditions.
In fact, other examples of non-Christian funerary practices have been identified in a cemetery of enslaved people in the Canary Islands. Future investigations may clarify if this was an isolated event or part of a broader movement.
We attempted to identify this individual and found a document from the local church dated to Nov 1st, 1676, which mentions the murder of a young man named João at Arneiro da Amoreira, which is precisely the area where the bone remains were found.
However, the church registers state that the victim was buried in the churchyard, but the bones we found were buried at Amoreira.
Additionally, the murdered man is described as brown or dun, possibly describing an interracial individual, but our results show that both mother and father were of African ancestry.
Whether the concurring site of the described murder and our studied bone remains is a mere coincidence, or rather the result of incompleteness, lack of detail or even accuracy of the historical records remains unknown.
Despite the incompleteness of the human remains and the historical records, the intersection of several lines of investigation enabled the reconstruction of specific aspects of the life and death of a first-generation African individual in Portugal during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade period, which would not otherwise have been possible to scrutinise from the skeletal material in the archaeological context.
More importantly, it shows the value of multidisciplinary research to investigate individual African life-histories in Early Modern Europe which have been obscured in large-scale studies.
Inscribed Medieval Gold Brooch Recovered in England
A metal detectorist has discovered a medieval gold brooch with a series of Latin and Hebrew inscriptions. The artefact, found in Wiltshire in the U.K., may have mixed religion and magic in an attempt to give its user protection against illness or supernatural events.
The Latin inscriptions translate to “Hail Mary full of grace the lord/ is with thee/ blessed art thou amongst women/ and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. Amen.” The Hebrew initials for “AGLA” are also inscribed on the brooch and represent Hebrew words that mean “Thou art mighty forever, O Lord.”
The gold brooch dates to sometime between A.D. 1150 and 1400 and may have been used in an attempt to prevent fever, according to a brief report on the brooch published online by the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and written by Sophie Hawke, a finds liaison officer for PAS. In England and Wales, metal detectorists report their discoveries to the PAS, a government-sponsored organization that publishes reports and images of the finds on its website and sometimes in scholarly journals.
This gold brooch dates back around 800 years and has a series of Latin and Hebrew inscriptions engraved on it.
What was it used for?
Live Science talked with a number of scholars with expertise in medieval history and magic to get their thoughts on what the brooch might have been used for.
The Hebrew initials that represent the phrase “Thou art mighty forever, O Lord” may be important to the brooch’s purpose, some of the scholars said. This phrase “figures prominently in medieval magic,” Richard Kieckhefer, a professor of religious studies at Northwestern University, told Live Science in an email.
He noted that the other prayers engraved on the brooch were common religious prayers at the time. “What I would want to emphasize is that this sort of combination of ‘religion’ and ‘magic’ is not unusual,” Kieckhefer said, noting that the mixture of religious and magical meanings would have given the brooch special powers in the eyes of the person who created it.
The Hebrew initials for “AGLA” were “very commonly used in magic, from high ritual magic to protective amulets and charms,” Frank Klaassen, a history professor at the University of Saskatchewan, told Live Science in an email. “It is one of many divine names or words of power common in medieval traditions.”
But why would someone wear such a brooch?
“Wearing Bible quotes like this was sometimes done as a way of protecting a person against misfortune,” such as fire, sudden death or supernatural forces such as demons, Catherine Rider, a professor of medieval history at the University of Exeter in the U.K., wrote in an email. “It’s hard to be sure that it’s magical — it’s perhaps more in a grey area between what we’d see as magic and religion.”
Given the brooch’s small size and mention of the Virgin Mary, the person wearing it may have been a woman. With its “small, though elegant, size, I would guess it was used on a woman’s garments of some light fabric,” Karen Jolly, a history professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, told Live Science in an email. “This woman was of sufficient means to have the object or have been given it. Whether she was literate or not, she would know what it said and what it meant,” Jolly said, adding that perhaps the brooch served a protective purpose related to pregnancy and childbirth.
The brooch, with its tiny engraved inscriptions, was well crafted. “My main reaction to the brooch is that it was made by somebody who was highly skilled and that its first owner, at least, was a pious person who recorded on it both devotion to the Virgin and a charm to protect them against various threats,” Anne Lawrence-Mathers, a history professor at the University of Reading in the U.K., wrote in an email.
The brooch is now going through the Treasure Act, as required by British law. It’s a process by which a determination is made as to what will happen to the artefact. It may end up being placed in a local museum depending on a number of factors. For instance, one possible outcome is that the metal detectorist may be given a monetary reward and the artefact may be handed over to the government, which could place it in a museum.
Palau’s green pyramids: could be a geo-archaeological project
According to oral tradition, a huge serpent wound around the hills on the Palauan island and created the terraces with her body. But how did the monumental earthworks on Babeldaob really come about?
Researchers from the Institute for Ecosystem Research at Kiel University (CAU), in collaboration with the Commission for the Archaeology of Non-European Cultures (KAAK) of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI), have now discovered a worldly explanation: the earth formations were created by hand over generations.
They were used to grow food for the population, but also as burial sites.
During the excavation, the research team worked closely with the residents of Palau and received broad support.
Work for generations
Monumental buildings from prehistoric times are widespread in Oceania, including the well-known stone figures and ceremonial platforms on Easter Island.
The early cultures of Oceania often significantly transformed the landscapes of the islands.
Around 500 BC, this development may have commenced in Palau. “The effort involved in the creation of the earthworks there is certainly comparable with the pyramids in Egypt or South America,” said Dr Andreas Mieth, who is one of the three project leaders.
“Over many generations, and with an almost unimaginable amount of work, millions of tons of soil must have been moved by workers. An achievement that could only be possible in a politically well-organised society,” explained Dr Annette Kühlem, research coordinator and excavation leader.
“Presumably the builders had hardly any tools available for the work. And even if they did, they were made of stone or organic material.” Using geo-archaeological methods, the interdisciplinary team of soil scientists, paleoecologists and archaeologists have unravelled the mystery of the construction of the terraces.
As a basis, the builders used weathered volcanic rock, interspersed with large quantities of ceramics. In contrast, the upper layers consist of carefully applied humus soils.
Evidence of planting pits in the humus layers suggests extensive horticulture on the terraces. There are no indications of erosion. “So this was also technically very sustainable work,” stated Professor Hans-Rudolf Bork, project leader.
But the summits on some earthworks, which are up to ten meters high and visible from a distance, and which were also largely built by human hands, had a completely different function to the terraces, which were mainly used for horticulture.
At one of the summits in the south of Babeldaob, the scientists and their local helpers were able to uncover six skeletons within a complex burial site.
“This is a sensational find and to date unique for the earthworks of Palau. Such well-preserved burials have never been discovered there because bones usually decompose very quickly in the acidic soils,” said Dr Annette Kühlem. Perhaps mineral additives may have slowed down such decomposition here – one of the theses that should now be pursued using laboratory analyses.
New findings for research and the population
The discovery has great scientific potential for the experts. For the first time, they are able to document the details of a prehistoric burial on Babeldaob and compare it with today’s traditional burial practices.
“Due to the fairly well-preserved skulls, there is still hope of being able to carry out DNA analyses and thus relationship analyses, perhaps even in comparison with the population living in the area today. This may potentially also close a gap in tracing the settlement of Oceania,” explained Dr Annette Kühlem.
The project participants suspect that only members of the elite were buried on the intricately laid and shaped summits of the earthworks. Thus, even after their death, their social status was made clear in a prominent way, visible from afar.
The new findings have elicited an extraordinarily positive response in the island state of Palau. The research into the terraced earthworks enabled the local people to gain a new perspective of their own culture.
Political as well as traditional officials and dignitaries, but also school classes and the Palauan press, have taken the path up the steep summit of the earthworks to visit the site.
The discovery was the subject of a headline on the front page and an extensive report in the Island Times. All those involved then celebrated the conclusion of the fieldwork in December 2021 in a very special way. The six deceased from the summit of Ngerbuns el Bad were reburied in a ceremony with traditional chants by the women of the highest clan of the associated village. For a burial, the skeletons were covered with woven mats made of pandanus fibres.
An areca nut (betel nut) wrapped in leaves was placed with each of the deceased before the mat was covered with soil. In this way, respects were paid to the dead once again after hundreds of years.
Archaeologists puzzled how ‘big clue’ over Cerne Abbas Giant’s age was missed
Carved into the hillside of rural Dorset is a 55-metre tall naked man wielding a huge club in his right hand. With an 11-metre erection on full display, he is England’s largest and rudest chalk hill figure. Situated near the village of Cerne Abbas, he was created by scouring away at grass to reveal the white chalk below and filling the trenches with more chalk from nearby quarries. Alongside the Long Man of Wilmington in East Sussex, he is one of two remaining human hill figures in England.
Both have scheduled monument status, giving them protection against unauthorised change. Yet both have been the source of intense mystery and fascination for many hundreds of years. Until recently, nobody knew who created him, or when, or why. Archaeologists and camera crews from the BBC’s Digging for Britain series headed to the southwest to carry out their own analysis. Though the earliest written record dates back to the late 17th Century, antiquarians speculated it could have been a Saxon deity, while others believed it could have been a Roman-made figure.
Dr Mike Allen hinted the club, or staff had been largely ignored.
The Giant has been a source of intense speculation for years.
In July 2020, a survey of snail shells unearthed at the site suggested that the Giant is “medieval or later”, as no snails from the Roman period were found at the site. A further survey, using optically stimulated luminescence, analysed samples from the deepest layers of sediment, pointing to a construction date of 700-1100AD — the early medieval and late Anglo-Saxon period. Professor Alice Roberts, the Digging for Britain presenter, said archaeologists might have missed a “big clue” right under their noses when investigating the Giant’s age. Dr Mike Allen, an environmental archaeologist, told the documentary: “That’s one thing that archaeologists are normally very good at — saying why they’re there, what was happening and what date they are.”
He added: “Everyone seems to have been carried away with his nakedness and the member. Carved into the hillside of rural Dorset is a 55-metre tall naked man wielding a huge club in his right hand. With an 11-metre erection on full display, he is England’s largest and rudest chalk hill figure. Situated near the village of Cerne Abbas, he was created by scouring away at grass to reveal the white chalk below and filling the trenches with more chalk from nearby quarries.
Alongside the Long Man of Wilmington in East Sussex, he is one of two remaining human hill figures in England. Both have scheduled monument status, giving them protection against unauthorised change. Yet both have been the source of intense mystery and fascination for many hundreds of years.
Until recently, nobody knew who created him, or when, or why.
Archaeologists and camera crews from the BBC’s Digging for Britain series headed to the southwest to carry out their own analysis. Though the earliest written record dates back to the late 17th Century, antiquarians speculated it could have been a Saxon deity, while others believed it could have been a Roman-made figure. In July 2020, a survey of snail shells unearthed at the site suggested that the Giant is “medieval or later”, as no snails from the Roman period were found at the site. A further survey, using optically stimulated luminescence, analysed samples from the deepest layers of sediment, pointing to a construction date of 700-1100AD — the early medieval and late Anglo-Saxon period.
Professor Alice Roberts, the Digging for Britain presenter, said archaeologists might have missed a “big clue” right under their noses when investigating the Giant’s age.
Dr Mike Allen, an environmental archaeologist, told the documentary: “That’s one thing that archaeologists are normally very good at — saying why they’re there, what was happening and what date they are.”
He added: “Everyone seems to have been carried away with his nakedness and the member.
The abbey (white square) once stood beneath the Giant.
“No one had really talked about the obvious — the Abbey sitting behind us.”
Prof Roberts explained that below the Giant once lay Cerne Abbey, founded in 987AD, right in the middle of the period archaeologists now know the Giant was created. She asked Martin Papworth, a National Trust archaeologist, what connection a huge naked figure might have to a Benedictine monastery.
He explained: “Just right next to his outstretched hand is, in fact, the abbey, which was established at the same time.”
The Abbey’s wealth was created predominantly by pilgrims worshipping the local holy man, St Eadwold of Cerne. Legend has it that he lived as a hermit on a nearby hill after he planted his wooden staff on the ground there, and it miraculously grew into a tree. Prof Roberts suggested the Giant’s club could actually be a staff sprouting leaves.
Mr Papworth asked: “Is he St Eadwold? What do I think? I don’t know who he is.
“But this medieval date makes all sorts of theories possible.”
Others, however, have speculated on different theories.
Homer Simpson has drawn next to the Giant in a 2007 publicity stunt.
Alison Sheridan, a freelance archaeological consultant, told the New Scientist: “It would almost seem to be an act of resistance by local people to create this fantastically rude pagan image on the hillside. It’s like a big two fingers to the abbey.”
National Trust researchers flew sophisticated drones over the Giant in July 2020 and carefully examined the images afterwards. Their findings hinted the Giant’s phallus might not be original, and subtle shifts in the earthworks may have been made around the 18th Century.
He told the Washington Post that “there appears to be an outline of a belt”, suggesting that once upon a time he might not have been naked at all.
Either way, more research is required to get to the bottom of this long-lasting source of fascination. The Cerne Abbas Giant, regardless of its age, has become a crucial part of local culture and folklore. In 2007, a giant Homer Simpson brandishing a doughnut was drawn next to the Giant as a publicity stunt for the opening of The Simpsons Movie.
In 2012, pupils and members of the local community recreated the Olympic torch on the Giant, marking the passing of the official torch in the build-up to the London 20212 Olympics. He has appeared in several films and TV programmes too, and his image has been reproduced on various souvenirs and local food produce labels.
He has remained a prominent tourist attraction in the region, with most tourist guides recommending a ground view from the ‘Giant’s View’ lay-by and car park just off the A352.
