Category Archives: WORLD

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

1,900-Year-Old Roman Village unearthed in Germany

1,900-Year-Old Roman Village unearthed in Germany

The remains of a 1,900-year-old Roman fort that once quartered 500 troops in what is today Germany were discovered by archeologists.

The public watches as students dig for artifacts within the remains of a 1,900-year-old Roman fort that once quartered 500 troops in what is today Gernsheim in Germany.

The fort was found in the town of Gernsheim, which sits along the Rhine River in the German state of Hesse.

Researchers knew the area was the site of a village during the first to third centuries, but otherwise, the region’s history during the Roman occupation is largely unknown, dig leader Thomas Maurer, an archaeologist at the University of Frankfurt said in a statement.

“It was assumed that this settlement had to have been based on a fort since it was customary for the families of the soldiers to live outside the fort in a village-like settlement,” Maurer said. Until now, however, no one had found that fort. 

Military rediscovery

During an educational dig in the area, Maurer and his colleagues uncovered postholes that once held the foundations of a wooden tower, as well as two V-shaped ditches, which were a common feature of Roman forts of the era.

A unit of 500 soldiers, known as a “cohort,” was stationed at the fort between about A.D. 70 and A.D.120.Fortunately for modern-day archaeologists, the last Romans to leave the fort destroyed the place on the way out, filling in the ditches with rubbish.

This rubbish included “box after box” of ceramic shards, which can be dated to pinpoint the time of the abandonment of the fort, said Hans-Markus von Kaenel, a professor at the Goethe University Institute of Archaeology.”We really hit the jackpot with this excavation campaign,” von Kaenel said in the statement.

Roman history

A brick fragment stamped with the sign of the 22nd Roman Legion, an elite unite from the late first century.

Researchers have been able to piece together a broad history of the Gernsheim region from a scattering of archaeological finds there.

The Romans built the newly discovered fort around A.D. 70 as a jumping-off point for control of areas east of the Rhine, according to von Kaenel and his colleagues.

The area was an important transportation hub, with roads branching off to access the borders of the Roman Empire. There may have also been a harbor on the Rhine at the time, though that has yet to be verified, Maurer said.

The modern expansion of the town paved over many suspected Roman sites, but Maurer, von Kaenel, and their colleagues managed to secure permission for a dig on a vacant double lot near where Roman-era finds were discovered in the 1970s and 1980s. This lot turned out to hold the remains of the long-lost fort.

A brick fragment found at the site identifies the troops quartered at the fort as members of the 22nd Legion, an elite unit from the late first century.

Researchers also found real treasures such as rare garment clasps, several pearls, parts of a board game (dice, playing pieces) and a hairpin made from bone and crowned with a female bust,” Maurer said in the press release

Archaeologist Professor Thomas Maurer and his team of students found some interesting artifacts, including gaming pieces.
ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

3,000 Skeletons Found During London Railway Construction

3,000 Skeletons Found During London Railway Construction

Approximately 3,000 skeletons, some dating back to the 1500s, have been discovered and are being excavated as part of the construction of a new train station being built near London.

They came from every parish of London, and from all walks of life, and ended up in a burial ground called Bedlam. Now scientists hope their centuries-old skeletons can reveal new information about how long-ago Londoners lived—and about the bubonic plague that often killed them.

Archaeologists announced that they have begun excavating the bones of some 3,000 people interred in the 16th and 17th centuries, who now lie in the path of the Crossrail transit line. They will be pored over by scientists before being reburied elsewhere.

One recent workday, just meters (yards) from teeming Liverpool Street railway station, researchers in orange overalls scraped, sifted, and gently removed skeletons embedded in the dark earth. In one corner of the site, the skeleton of an adult lay beside the fragile remains of a baby, the wooden outline of its coffin still visible. Most were less intact, a jumble of bones and skulls.

“Part of the skill of it is actually working out which bones go with which,” said Alison Telfer, a project officer with Museum of London Archaeology, which is overseeing the dig.

Due to open in 2018, the 118-kilometer (73-mile) trans-London Crossrail line is Britain’s biggest construction project and its largest archaeological dig for decades. The central 21-kilometer (13-mile) section runs underground, which has meant tunneling beneath some of the oldest and most densely populated parts of the city.

For Londoners, that has brought years of noise and disruption, but for archaeologists, it’s like Christmas. Almost every shovelful of the earth has uncovered a piece of history, or prehistory: bison and mammoth bones; Roman horseshoes; medieval ice skates; the remains of a moated Tudor manor house.

Archaeologists excavate the 16th and 17th century Bedlam burial ground uncovered by work on the new Crossrail train line next to Liverpool Street station in London
Skeletons of an adult and baby lie next to each other on the archeological excavation site at the 16th and 17th century Bedlam burial ground, uncovered by work on the new Crossrail train line next to Liverpool Street station in London

Chief archaeologist Jay Carver says the Bedlam dig could be the most revealing yet.

“It’s going to be archaeologically the most important sample we have of the population of London from the 16th and 17th centuries,” Carver said.

Bedlam cemetery opened in 1569 to take the overspill as the city’s churchyard burial grounds filled up. It is the final resting place of prosperous citizens and paupers, religious dissenters including the 17th-century revolutionary Robert Lockyer and patients from Bedlam Hospital, the world’s first asylum for the mentally ill. The hospital’s name, a corruption of Bethlehem, became a synonym for chaos.

Tests on the bones by osteologists may reveal where these Londoners came from, what they ate, and what ailed them—which in many cases was the plague. There were four outbreaks of the deadly disease over the two centuries the cemetery was in use, including the “Great Plague” that killed 100,000 people in 1665.

Carver says researchers will analyze DNA taken from the pulp in the skeletons’ teeth to help fill in the “evolutionary tree of the plague bacteria.”

The technique was used to discover the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, in 14th-century skeletons excavated at another Crossrail site, identifying them as victims of the Black Death that wiped out half the city’s population in 1348.

Two adult skulls lie next to each other on the archeological excavation site at the 16th and 17th century Bedlam burial ground, uncovered by work on the new Crossrail train line next to Liverpool Street station in London

Scientists should be able to compare the bacterium found in Bedlam’s plague victims with the 14th-century samples, helping to understand whether the disease—which still infects several thousand people a year—has evolved over the centuries.

Sixty archaeologists working in shifts—16 hours a day, six days a week—will spend about a month removing the remains. After the scientific study, they will be reburied on Canvey Island in the Thames Estuary—the latest in a long line of Londoners to move east out of the congested city.

The old burial ground will be the site of a new train station, whose users will probably give little thought to the history beneath their feet.

But Telfer says she never forgets that these fragile bones were once living, breathing individuals.

“When you are doing something like this, you do feel a connection with them,” she said. “I think you have a responsibility to treat them with great respect. It’s quite a special process.”

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

A German Farmer Was Just Awarded Almost $1 Million for an Ancient Roman Bronze Found on His Property

A German Farmer Was Just Awarded Almost $1 Million for an Ancient Roman Bronze Found on His Property

In Lahnau, Germany, an archeologist uncovered a roman bronze sculpture. They knew that the discovery was both rare and precious.

The property owner received payments for the head of the bronze horse found at the bottom of his well and everyone seemed content with the situation. But new information emerged – information which has cost the local government almost one million dollars.

The Roman horse head, 2 000 years old, was discovered on the farm in 2009. The man, who was not identified by the media, was initially awarded € 48,000 (about $55,946) for the fragment of sculpture by Daily Sabah.

The hand of a restorer is seen cleaning a horse’s head, which is part of a statue that represents Roman Emperor Augustus on a horse, in Wiesbaden, central Germany.

He seemed content with the payment until he found out, as BBC News reports, “about the gravity and value of the discovery, which was trumpeted as one of the best-preserved Roman bronzes in the world.”

It is an important discovery. Experts believe the gold leave-adorned horse head comes from 9 AD and was once part of a large statue depicting Augustus on horseback.

Born Gaius Octavius Thurinus (23 September 63 BC – 19 August 14 AD) and known as Octavian before taking leadership of Rome, Augustus was the adopted son of famous Roman dictator, Julius Caesar.

Following the events of the Battle of Actium in 31 BC, Augustus became the first Roman emperor. Emperor Augustus ruled for 40 years before he died.

A statue of Augustus as a younger Octavian, dated ca. 30 BC.

He is remembered for his victory against his enemies Mark Antony and Cleopatra, but also for his patience and efficiency. His administrative skills helped him create durable peace and prosperity for his empire. Augustus’ rule was autocratic, but he knew how to hide that fact under well-made propaganda.

He was politically ruthless, and sometimes even cruel, but his temper apparently cooled as his time as emperor advanced. Augustus also had an interest in philosophy and poetry, leading him to write on both subjects.

Even today, Augustus is considered one of the most efficient, yet controversial, of all Roman leaders. There are many statues and busts of this Roman emperor.

Statue of the emperor Augustus (29 BC – 14 AD). Bronze. Found in the Aegean sea between the islands of Euboea and Agios Efstratios. The emperor is depicted in mature age, mounting a horse.

The Roman bronze horse head from the German farmer’s property weighs about 55 pounds (24.95 kg) and is almost 20 inches (50.8 cm) long. It was found underwater in a 36-foot (10.97 meters) well. Experts believe the artifact was probably abandoned when the town’s inhabitants had to flee a surprise attack.

Once the farmer became aware of the importance of the Roman bronze sculpture he decided to sue the government for a better payout.

The Limburg regional court decided on July 27 that the local government now owes the farmer €773,000 (about $904,000) plus interest. That’s roughly half the estimated value of the Roman bronze horse’s head.

It’s unknown if the local authorities will make an appeal against the court’s decision.

Another fascinating Roman discovery was announced in Germany. Construction workers found the walls of a Roman library built about 2,000 years ago in the heart of Cologne. It is believed to be the oldest ruins of a public library in the country.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

6,000-Year-Old Skeletons Found Locked in Embrace Near Greek Cave

6,000-Year-Old Skeletons Found Locked in Embrace Near Greek Cave

ROME — They died young and, by the looks of it, in love.

Two skeletons of the age of 6,000 found locked in an embrace near the city of Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale “Romeo and Juliet” have sparked theories the remains of a far more ancient love story have been found.

Archaeologists unearthed the skeletons dating back to the late Neolithic period outside Mantua, 25 miles south of Verona, the city of Shakespeare’s story of doomed love.

Buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric pair are believed to have been a man and a woman and are thought to have died young, because their teeth were found intact, said Elena Menotti, the archaeologist who led the dig.

A pair of human skeletons found at a construction site outside Mantua, Italy, are believed by archaeologists to be a man and a woman from the Neolithic period, buried around 6,000 years ago

“As far as we know, it’s unique,” Menotti said by telephone from Milan. “Double burials from the Neolithic are unheard of, and these are even hugging.”

Archaeologists digging in the region have found some 30 burial sites, all single, as well as the remains of prosperous villages filled with artifacts made of flint, pottery, and animal horns.

Although the Mantua pair strike an unusual and touching pose, archaeologists have found other prehistoric burials in which the dead hold hands or have other contacts, said Luca Bondioli, an anthropologist at Rome’s National Prehistoric and Ethnographic Museum.

Bondioli, who was not involved in the Mantua dig, said the find has “more of an emotional than a scientific value.” But it does highlight how the relationship people have with each other and with death has not changed much from the period in which humanity first settled in villages, learning to farm the land and tame animals, he said.

Menotti said the burial was “a ritual, but we have to find out what it means.”

Experts might never determine the exact nature of the pair’s relationship, but Menotti said she had little doubt it was born of deep sentiment.

“It was a very emotional discovery,” she said. “From thousands of years ago, we feel the strength of this love. Yes, we must call it love.”

The couple’s burial site was located near the construction work for a factory on the outskirts of Mantua. Alongside the couple, archaeologists found flint tools, including arrowheads and a knife, Menotti said.

Experts will now study the artifacts and the skeletons to determine the burial site’s age and how old the two were when they died, she said. The finds will then go on display at Mantua’s Archaeological Museum.

Establishing the cause of death could prove almost impossible unless they were killed by a debilitating disease, a knife, or something else that might have left marks on the bones, Menotti said.

The two bodies, which cuddle closely while facing each other on their sides, were probably buried at the same time, an indication of a possible sudden and tragic death, Bondioli said.

He said DNA testing could determine whether the two were related, “but that still leaves other hypotheses; the Romeo and Juliet possibility is just one of many.”

ASIA, IRAN, WORLD

Giant Jar Burials Unearthed in Iran

Discovery of bizarre tomb offers clues to ancient life in Iran

Discovering the second giant jar grave on the historic Isfahan Hill has shed new light on ancient human life in the central Iranian city.

The discovery of the second giant jar-tomb in the sole historical hill of Isfahan has shed new light on ancient human life in the central Iranian city.

“Finding the second giant jar-tomb on the historical hill of Isfahan – ‘ Tepe Ashraf ‘ or ‘ Tappeh Ashraf ‘ – confirms a previous hypothesis of a Parthian period cemetery in the eastern part of the hill. Now, Tepe Ashraf is the second place after the Tepe Sialk (in Isfahan province) that has yielded the discovery of such jar tombs that offers valuable clues to uncover the obscure history of pre-Islamic Isfahan,” IRNA quoted senior archaeologist Alireza Jafari-Zand as saying on Friday.

Jafari-Zand, who heads the archaeological excavation at the hill, believes that the cemetery could be covering a large area, adding “When we discovered the first jar-shaped tomb, we assumed that we should reach other ones until yesterday (on June 20) we could discover another one of these tombs embedded in a giant earthen jar.”

The archaeologist is confident that further excavations will lead to the unearthing of other examples of this type of burial places, the report said.

“The discovery of the second jar-shaped burial place in the eastern part of Tepe Ashraf proves to the archaeological hill we may have encountered a Parthian cemetery.”

Over the past couple of days, the team has uncovered ancient stone well estimating to date back to the time of Sassanids.

Some clay works from Seljuk and Buyid dynasties have also been found while workers were digging the ground for water piping of the six-meter well.

Researchers say the square stone well is historically very valuable in terms of its physical shape and form. The well is dug among the rocks and is six meters deep.

“Excavations on Tepe Ashraf began in 2010 and lasted for six seasons. Now, with the operation to save the historical works of the two hills of Jey and Ashraf, important objects were found that could help us in the excavations of the seventh season.”

Jafari-Zand further noted that the pottery found in the projects is amazingly undamaged and they can help a lot to say the exact age of the ancient site of Ashraf and Jey. The artifacts found in this area belong mostly to pre-Islamic periods up to the 5th century AH, he reiterated.

According to this archaeologist, the only place where archaeological excavations have been carried out in Isfahan in the past was the Atigh Grand Mosque, where only two or three pieces from the Sassanid era had been identified, and the rest were from the Islamic period.

Back in 2010, Jafari-Zand announced that his team had found evidence at the site suggesting that the Sassanid site had also been used during the Buyid dynasty (945–1055). “We stumbled upon a reconstructed part in the ruins of the castle, which suggests that the structure had been used during the Buyid dynasty.”

“The bricks used in the rebuilt part are very similar to bricks used in the construction of the Shahrestan Bridge and the Isfahan Congregational Mosque, which date to the Buyid era,” he added.

The archaeologists believe that their excavations at the mound, which is located in the urban area of the city, will be helpful in the development of archaeological studies in the ancient city.

“Isfahan is a city, which has never died over the history… and the old Isfahan is beneath the modern city. Thus, normally, archaeological excavation is impossible in the city,” according to Jafari-Zand who believes that the mount keeps a part of the history of Isfahan and Iran in its heart.

The mound has seriously been damaged on the northern side by the construction of a street. Besides, unscientific excavations carried out by several archaeology interns in 1987 disturbed the historical strata in a part of the site.

Soaked in a rich history, Isfahan was once a crossroads of international trade and diplomacy in Iran during the 16th and 17th centuries, and now it is one of Iran’s top tourist destinations for good reasons. Isfahan is filled with architectural wonders such as unmatched Islamic buildings, bazaars, museums, Persian gardens, and tree-lined boulevards. It’s a city for walking, getting lost in its mazing bazaars, dozing in beautiful gardens, and meeting people.

It has long been nicknamed as Nesf-e-Jahan which is translated into “half the world”; meaning seeing it is relevant to see the whole world.

ASIA, INDIA, WORLD

200-year-old temple buried in the sand, excavated in Southeastern India

200-year-old temple buried in the sand, excavated in Southeastern India

The Hindu reports that a brick temple was revealed during sand mining in southeastern India’s Penna River. Estimated to be about 200 years old, the temple may have been submerged and buried as the river changed its course after flooding in 1850, according to Rama Subba Reddy of the Archaeological Survey of India.

The ancient temple of Nageswara Swamy, which was believed to have been buried in the sand for eight decades, was located on the banks of the Penna River in the Indian Nellore district of Andhra Pradesh.   Some local youth from the village of Perumallapadu under Chejerla Mandal (block) excavated the sand and discovered the temple of Siva, which it was said was consecrated by Lord Parasurama.

Archeology officials say that after 1850 floods in the Penna River the temple may have begun to bury by the sand. The floods had submerged the village and the people relocated away from the river banks.

A historical temple of Nageswara Swamy buried in the sand was unearthed at Perumallapadu, near Chejerla, in Nellore district on Tuesday.

Locals say their elders told them that sand dunes covered the entire structure about 80 years ago. They wanted to continue the sand excavation, the authorities stopped them saying this could damage the structure.

Archaeology Assistant Director Ramasubba Reddy said the higher officials would inspect the site soon and decide on the excavation and preservation works.

People from Perumallapadu and surrounding villages are thronging the place to see the temple and worship. A few policemen were deployed to guard the site.

The officials of the Archaeology and Endowments departments said they would work out a plan to restore the temple respecting the sentiments of the villagers.

It is believed that Sri Nageswara Swamy temple along with Kotiteertham temple and Sangam Sivalayam in the district were built 300 years ago. Some youth, who had returned home from various places due to the lockdown, took up sand excavation to unearth the temple.

“This has been the dream of the villagers. We had heard about the ancient temple from our elders and since we were sitting idle home, we decided to start digging work to find it. Our dream has come true,” said one of the youth.

The group of about 35 villagers said they had taken permission from the local officials before taking up the work. The villagers claimed that the temple had 110 acres of land in various villages under the Mandal.

Since the temple was buried in the sand, the revenue from the lands was being deposited in the Endowments department.

Stating that there are no accounts of the revenue earned from these lands, they demanded the authorities come out with all details and take up restoration of the temple.

A local official of Endowments department said Rs four lakh earned as rentals from the 68 acres of land was deposited in the bank. The Archaeology Department plans to hold talks with public representatives on the restoration of the temple.

Hindu religious leader Swamy Kamalananda Bharati also visited the temple on Wednesday.

Swamy, who heads the Hindu Temples Protection Committee, demanded that the authorities immediately take up works to restore the temple.

AFRICA, WORLD

Fossil Reefs Yield Evidence of Prehistoric Meals

Fossil Reefs Yield Evidence of Prehistoric Meals

Prehistoric explorers could have depended on shellfish for their survival in times of drought, a new study suggests, following the migratory routes from Africa.

The research examined fossil reefs in the area of the now-submerged Red Sea coastline that marked prehistoric migratory routes from Africa to Arabia.

The results show that this coast provided the resources necessary to act as a gateway out of Africa during periods of little rainfall when other food sources were scarce.

Living specimen of the marine mollusc Conomurex fasciatus. Millions of these shells were found on the Farasan Islands in Saudi Arabia as the food refuse of prehistoric fishers.

The research team, led by the University of York, focused on the remains of 15,000 shells dating back 5,000 years to an arid period in the region.

With the coastline of original migratory routes submerged by sea-level rise after the last Ice Age, the shells came from the nearby Farasan Islands in Saudi Arabia.

The researchers found that populations of marine mollusks were plentiful enough to allow continuous harvests without any major ecological impacts and their plentiful availability would have enabled people to live through times of drought.

Lead author, Dr. Niklas Hausmann, Associate Researcher at the Department of Archaeology at the University of York, said:

“The availability of food resources plays an important role in understanding the feasibility of past human migrations—hunter-gatherer migrations would have required local food sources and periods of aridity could, therefore, have restricted these movements.

“Our study suggests that Red Sea shorelines had the resources necessary to provide a passage for prehistoric people.”

The study also confirms that communities settled on the shorelines of the Red Sea could have relied on shellfish as a sustainable food resource all year round.

Dr. Hausmann added: “Our data shows that at a time when many other resources on land were scarce, people could rely on their locally available shellfish.

Previous studies have shown that people of the southern Red Sea ate shellfish year-round and over periods of thousands of years. We now also know that this resource was not depleted by them, but shellfish continued to maintain a healthy population.”

The shellfish species found in the archeological sites on the Farasan Islands were also found in abundance in fossil reefs dating to over 100 thousand years ago, indicating that these shellfish have been an available resource over longer periods than archeological sites previously suggested.

Co-author of the study, Matthew Meredith-Williams, from La Trobe University, said: “We know that modeling past climates to learn about food resources is extremely helpful, but we need to differentiate between what is happening on land and what is happening in the water. In our study, we show that marine foods were abundant and resilient and being gathered by people when they couldn’t rely on terrestrial food.”

ASIA, INDIA, WORLD

6th century Gold Coin Discovered in Southern India

6th century Gold Coin Discovered in Southern India

The Times of India reports that a sixth-century gold coin measuring less than one-half inch in diameter was unearthed in the Agaram neighborhood of southern India’s city of Chennai.

One side of the coin bears a U-shaped symbol called a Naaman, a religious mark usually placed on the forehead, he explained. This side of the coin also bears an image that looks like the sun, with a figure of a lion below it, he added.

According to the leading Tamil weekly magazine, ‘Anantha Vikatan’, the gold coin found during the excavation seems to be 6th century AH coins.

The coin has a U-Shaped symbol referred to as 'Naamam' infront along with a sun like symbol in the middle and a lion below it.
The coin has a U-Shaped symbol referred to as ‘Naamam’ infront along with a sun like symbol in the middle and a lion below it.

In Keezhadi, the outskirts of Madurai and the border of Sivagangai district, now the 6th phase of excavation is going on, this was inaugurated by the state Chief Minister Edapadi Palanisami before lockdown on February 19, 2020. 

During the lockdown period, the excavation work was halted which has been now started again. 

Archeological activist Gemini Ramesh told the Tamil weekly that 6th Century Syrian Gold Coin was found under the earth at Elandhakkarai near Kalaiyar Koil, Sivagangai district of Tamil Nadu. 

The unearthing of the gold coin shows the advent of Islam very early in the Madurai area.

The Keeladi findings have led academics to describe the site as part of the Vaigai Valley Civilization. Pieces of evidence of civilization before 2300 years have been found here in Keezhadi a few years back. That is why the excavation has been going on since 2015.

Mohamed Yusuff, Madurai resident who is a lawyer by profession, told Times Now that Islam arrived in Madurai even before Malik Kafur’s invasion of Madurai in the 14th century.

Quoting History professor R Venkataraman,  Yusuff said even before the advent of Islam, Arabs maintained trade links with South India, especially for the pearls the Madurai Pandya Kingdom was famous for.

“Sufis, Muslim saints, started coming to Tamil Nadu by 900 AD. The entry of Islam to the region was peaceful as Sufis conceived God as love,” he said.

 According to Venkataraman, the short-lived Madurai Sultanate and Islamic influence did have their impact on the city, especially on warfare and town planning.

“Muslim rulers introduced arch construction they learned from the Romans. It changed the style of architecture here in a significant way.”

Yusuff further said that his home is situated at the riverbank of Vaigai and the excavation sites his not far away from his locality.

Meanwhile, the excavation work has been revived after the lockdown was lifted in the area. He hoped that many things related to Islam’s early presence would be uncovered during the excavation.