When the Fukang meteorite came soaring through the Earth’s atmosphere and crashed on the ground, it showed little sign of beauty. Then they opened it.
Undoubtedly the world’s most amazing meteorite landed was found in China in 2000. It crashed into a mountain range near Fukang, China, which is where it earned its name.
When it slammed into the surface of Earth, there was little sign of the beauty that lay inside. But cutting the Fukang meteorite open yielded a breathtaking sight.
Cosmic wonder: Marvin Killgore of the Arizona Meteorite Laboratory lets the sunshine through a polished slice of the Fukang rock
Within the rock, translucent golden crystals of a mineral called olivine gleamed among a silvery honeycomb of nickel-iron.
The rare meteorite weighed about the same as a hatchback when it was discovered in 2000, in the Gobi Desert in China’s Xinjiang Province.
It has since been divided into slices which give the effect of stained glass when the sun shines through them.
An anonymous collector holds the largest portion, which weighs 925lb. in 2008, this piece was expected to fetch $2million (£1.26million) at auction at Bonham’s in New York – but it remained unsold.
It is so valuable that even tiny chunks sell in the region of £20-30 per gram.
Arizona’s Southwest Meteorite Laboratory, which holds about 70lb of the rock, says the remarkable find will turn out to be ‘one of the greatest meteorite discoveries of the 21st century’.
It says the Fukang specimen outshines all other known examples of the pallasite class, which makes up just one percent of all meteorites. However, it is not the biggest – in 2005 space rock hunter Steve Arnold dug up a 1,400lb sample in Kansas.
Valuable: The main mass of the Fukang meteorite, which failed to sell after being valued at $2million. The intact space rock weighed as much as a small car
The Arizona lab’s experts say pallasites, whose make-up of half nickel-iron, half olivine gives them their mosaic-like appearance, are ‘thought to be relics of forming planets’.
They are believed to originate from deep inside intact meteors created during the formation of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago and very few specimens are thought to have survived their descent through Earth’s atmosphere.
February 2005 saw the Chinese space rock transported all the way to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, in Tucson, Arizona.
The U.S. lab claims their polished slice of the original meteorite is the world’s biggest pallasite cross-section, measuring 36in by 19in.
4.5 billion years in the making: Golden olivine meets silvery nickel-iron to create a stunningly beautiful mosaic effect.
Remains of the Inhabitants of Herculaneum who took shelter in the coast buildings during Vesuvius eruption.
A study found that the residents of the Roman town of Herculaneum weren’t instantly vaporized by the Vesuvius, but were instead baked and put to death. Like neighboring Pompeii, during the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 AD, the ancient town was ruined.
Although Pompeii Streets were covered at a level of 13 and 20 feet of ash and pumice, Herculaneum was struck by pyroclastic flows — blazing clouds of gas and debris. While many of the wealthy coastal town’s residents evacuated before the eruption, at least 340 people perished as they attempted to shelter in stone boathouses and on the beach.
While these victims were thought to have had a mercifully rapid death, a fresh analysis of the victim’s skeletal remains now suggests something else. One aspect that makes Herculaneum interesting in comparison with Pompeii is its location relative to Mount Vesuvius — which gave the townsfolk more time to evacuate.
Residents of the Roman town of Herculaneum were not instantly vaporised by Vesuvius but instead were baked and suffocated to death, a study has found. Pictured: while many of the town’s residents evacuated before the eruption, around 340 took shelter in stone bathhouses
‘The residents saw the eruption and had a chance to attempt an escape,’ said biological anthropologist Tim Thompson of the Teesside University in Middlesbrough.
‘It gives a snapshot into the way in which these people responded and reacted to the eruption,’ he added.
Although many of the coastal town’s population evacuated, around 340 individuals still ended up stranded on the waterfront when the pyroclastic flows swept across the town at some 100 miles per hour (160 kph).
As some of the towns’ menfolk hurried to prepare boats on the beach, many women and children took refuge in the vaulted stone boathouses — or ‘fornici’ — where they would ultimately been unearthed centuries later in 1980.
‘They hid for protection and got stuck. The general theory has been that these individuals were instantly vaporised,’ said Professor Thompson.
This notion has been supported by the fact that few of the human remains from Herculaneum were found in the so-called ‘pugilistic attitude’ — or ‘boxer position’, with flexed elbows and knees as well as clenched fists.
Bodies subjected to high temperatures often end up in the boxer position as their tissues and muscles dehydrate and contract — but this does not occur if temperatures are high enough to rapidly vaporise this flesh off of the bone.
According to the researchers, the latter requires temperatures from the pyroclastic flow well in excess of 1832°F (1000°C) — and they had doubts as to whether this phenomenon took place at Herculaneum.
‘Vaporisation isn’t necessarily in keeping with what we see forensically in modern volcanic eruptions,’ Professor Thompson added. To investigate, the team used techniques to study the Herculaneum boathouse skeletons that they had first developed to study ancient cremations.
While many of Herculaneum residents evacuated before the eruption, at least 340 people perished after sheltering in stone boathouses and on the beach
Like neighbouring Pompeii — pictured in this artist’s impression — Herculaneum was destroyed in the eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 AD
As some of the towns’ menfolk hurried to prepare boats on the beach, many women and children took refuge in the vaulted stone boathouses — or ‘fornici’ — where they would ultimately been unearthed centuries later in 1980
Their past work had shown that the crystalline inner structure of skeletons changes depending on the amount of heat they are subjected to, as does the amount of collagen that remains within the bone.
They conducted their tests on the ribs of 152 individuals who perished within the fornici — and found that the state of their bones was not consistent with exposure to temperatures in the order of 572–932°F (300–500°C).
‘What was interesting was that we had good collagen preservation but also evidence of heat-induced change in the bone crystalline,’ said Professor Thompson.
‘We could also see that the victims had not been burned at high temperatures.’
‘They hid for protection and got stuck. The general theory has been that these individuals were instantly vaporised,’ said Professor Thompson
This vaporisation theory has been supported by the fact that few of the human remains from Herculaneum were found in the so-called ‘pugilistic attitude’ — or ‘boxer position’, with flexed elbows and knees as well as clenched fist — which does not occur if temperatures are high enough to rapidly vaporise this flesh off of the bone.
Instead of having their flesh instantly vaporised, the victims may have lived long enough to unpleasantly suffocate on the toxic fumes of the pyroclastic surge, the researchers concluded — if the heat stress didn’t kill them first.
‘The heat caused some changes externally, but not necessarily internally to the bones,’ Professor Thompson said.
This suggests that — in the insulated environment of the boathouses, at least — the temperatures from the pyroclastic flow likely did not exceed 752°F (400°C) and may have been as low as 464°F (240°C).
‘The walls of the fornici, as well as their own body mass, dispersed the heat in the boathouses, creating a situation that more closely relates to baking,’ he added.
Professor Thompson and colleagues’ findings have not only challenged assumptions about how the catastrophe of Vesuvius played out — but have also opened up new areas of investigation.
‘Thanks to the collagen preservation in the bones of the Herculaneum victims, we have been able to commence a whole suite of further analyses,’ added paper author and archaeologist Oliver Craig of the University of York.
‘For example, through stable isotope measurements, we have gained a unique snapshot of the Roman diet.’
A collection of 400 Roman coins in 1995 was found in Oxfordshire west of Didcot, indicating the land had been lived on for centuries. As plans progressed for 3,300 new homes, schools, and shops on the 180-hectare site, archaeologists were called in to investigate. It has taken them nearly three years to excavate 30 hectares, but they now know people have been living in Didcot for about 9,000 years – since the end of the last ice age.
Timeline of finds at the site
As news has spread about the finds, local residents have begun a fight to save at least some of it.
‘Offering to gods’
The fields, west of the town, have given a near-complete timeline from when hunter-gatherers arrived in Oxfordshire in 7,000 BC, through to the present day villages surrounding the site. Those earliest remains were found by Steve Lawrence, from Oxford Archaeology, the firm which carried out the dig. He was walking around the site one day during the dig and spotted bits of flint on the ground.
On closer inspection, the flint had clearly been worked and there were hundreds of pieces, dating back to around 7,000 BC. They would have been used on spears by hunter-gatherers who camped along the ridge to stalk their prey. The most significant find of the dig was a rare Neolithic bowl from about 3,600 BC – when people began to settle down and farm the land. It was found upside down in a hole where a tree had stood,” explains archaeologist Rob Masefield, from RPS Planning and managing the project.
“It may have been an offering to the gods of the underworld.”
Ritual burials
Over time new settlements were established across the site, which meant each part excavated unveiled a glimpse of a different era. Another rare find was a pond barrow – a stone-lined 12m wide circular depression – which the archaeologists believe was used for “exposure burials”.
This Neolithic bowl probably contained organic matter such as food, as an offering to appease the gods
Several complete pots were found when a Roman burial was excavated
One of the special burials contained what is thought to be a woman and a stillborn baby
This early Bronze Age flint arrow head was probably “ritually broken” then placed on top of a body being buried
Several complete pots were found when a Roman burial was excavated
Mr. Masefield said the body would be put up high on a raised platform and “the bones picked clean by birds and other animals”.
“Only ever a dozen or so pond barrows have ever been excavated so this provided some great new information,” he added. Up to 50 burials, of both adults and children, were identified.
Mr. Masefield said: “It’s possible that three or so of these burials in [grain storage] pits are what we call ‘special burials’, because it’s not the usual way of doing it.
“It could be ritual or they could be social outcasts.”
He said there is evidence found at other sites – though not at Didcot – suggesting Iron Age people did practice human sacrifice and may even have “bred” individual human beings solely for this purpose.
“They are found with immaculate nails and signs of having lived a privileged life, almost like royalty,” he said.
“When the person is killed it’s been done in three different ways. It appears to be a ritual.” Archaeologist Kate Woodley, from Oxford Archaeology, said the team still had a lot of work to do analyzing the finds from the dig, which could take another two years.
“We don’t want to say too much too early and get it wrong.
“We’ll get a more precise picture with carbon 14 dating and sampling.”
‘Losing our history’
Karen Waggott, who is campaigning to preserve the site, feels the findings at Didcot were not revealed until “it’s too late to save the site” from being built on.
“We’re only just finding out about this, and you blink and more houses have gone up,” she said.
“We’re losing our history just as we’re finding out about it.”
Grain storage pits were later used for ritual feasting and many animal bones were found
But Mr. Masefield said although the site was the largest and “most significant” dig in recent years in Oxfordshire, there was nothing of “schedulable value” – so important that it could be legally protected.
He said it was so significant because it “allows the interpretation of a large area of the landscape through the ages”. The project was funded by developer Taylor Wimpey and had it not been for the firm’s support, it would not have happened, he explained. To save some of the archaeology, Mrs. Waggott suggested a “history trail” through the new estate, information boards to mark discovery spots, and a museum.
“They should leave a piece of land where the [Iron Age] village was.
“Maybe if they could build a little roundhouse – then our children can see what was here once.”
A spokesman for Taylor Wimpey said: “We are eager to safeguard this window to the past.
“Much of the Roman farmstead, for instance, will be preserved under sports pitches.
“Our intention is for the development to provide homes for generations to come in Didcot, just as the site has done for thousands of years.”
Possible Elizabethan Playhouse Unearthed in London
Experts believe the Red Lion outdoor theatre in London was built around 1567.
Archaeologists uncovered a rectangular timber structure made up of 144 surviving timbers
Archaeologists believe they have discovered the remains of London’s oldest playhouse that was built only three years after the birth of William Shakespeare.
Dozens of timbers were found at the site in east London that experts believe could have been part of the outdoor stage and seating of the Red Lion, the earliest purpose-built playhouse, dating from about 1567.
Excavations took place before housing development works began at 85 Stepney Way
It was thought to have been built by John Brayne, an entrepreneur who went on to build another larger theatre that staged plays by a young Shakespeare at the end of the 16th century.
Little is known about the playhouse but it features two lawsuits from the 1560s when Brayne sued the carpenters because of shoddy work.
Archaeologists have created a map of what they believe the site looked like
No physical evidence of the playhouse had been discovered until excavations in January 2019 started to uncover the timbers at the site of a planned housing development.
The playhouse is thought to have been a prototype that was used as a venue for companies of travelling actors, said Stephen White, who directed the excavation of the site.
“I thought we were on a hiding to nothing,” Mr White said. “There was a chance that something might be there – but it was a surprise.”
The theatre pre-dates by more than three decades the more famous Globe Theatre, which became closely associated with Shakespeare and the company of actors he wrote for during his career.
The Globe was re-created as a theatre and opened in 1997 on the banks of the River Thames and is one of London’s most popular tourist attractions.
Two beer cellars which were thought to be part of the complex were discovered
Archaeologists believe the playhouse was part of a sprawling complex that developed from a farm, an inn, and an animal-baiting venue, according to the archaeologists from University College London.
They also found bottles, tankards, and a mug bearing the symbol of King Charles II, who reigned from 1660 to 1685.
A late 17th Century tavern mug with a Royalist medallion of Charles II was found among beakers and tankards at the site
“This is one of the most extraordinary sites I’ve worked on,” said Mr. White. “After nearly 500 years, the remains of the Red Lion playhouse …. may have finally been found.”
Researchers Map Great Wall of China’s Northern Line
Tuesday, an Israeli archeology specialist said that the northern line of China’s Great Wall was not designed to stop invading armies but rather to track civilian movements.
The observations of scientists who first traced the 740 kilometers (460-mile), Northern Line, for the first time, their findings challenged previous assumptions.
Gideon Shelach-Lavi, of Hebrew University, who oversaw the two-year report, said, “Before analysis, most people thought the wall was to stop Genghis Khan ‘s army.
But the Northern Line, lying mostly in Mongolia, winds through valleys, is relatively low in height and close to paths, pointing to non-military functions.
“Our conclusion is that it was more about monitoring or blocking the movement of people and livestock, maybe to tax them,” Shelach-Lavi said.
Aerial view of part of the Northern Line.
He suggested people may have been seeking warmer southern pastures during a medieval cold spell.
Construction of the Great Wall, which is split into sections that in total stretch for thousands of kilometers, first began in the third century BC and continued for centuries.
Wall and structural remains.
The Northern Line, also known as “Genghis Khan’s Wall” in reference to the legendary Mongolian conqueror, was built between the 11th and 13th centuries with pounded earth and dotted with 72 structures in small clusters.
Shelach-Lavi and his team of Israeli, Mongolian and American researchers used drones, high-resolution satellite images and traditional archaeological tools to map out the wall and find artefacts that helped pin down dates.
According to Shelach-Lavi, whose findings from the ongoing study were published in the journal Antiquity, the Northern Line has been largely overlooked by contemporary scientists.
Irish schoolboy discovers 4,000-year-old boat in Roscommon
LISACUL, IRELAND — A 12-year – old boy has found out the ruins of a wooden long-boat while wading in a lake in the Roscommon County of North Central Ireland reported by Irish Independent.
The boat may have been built early in the Neolithic period or as late as the Middle Ages.
An old boat that was more than 4,000 years old, uncovered by a bored schoolboy who abandoned his homework to paddle in the lake.
The 17ft longboat was lodged in the mud in the lake at the back of 12-year-old Cathal McDonagh’s home in Lisacul, Castlerea, Co Roscommon.
Archaeologists have told the family the ancient vessel could date back as far as 2000 BC.
The Irish Independent reports that McDonagh tripped over the vessel as he paddled in the shallow water of the lake and says that an expert team will travel from Dublin later this week to examine the find.
The lake is home to at least one crannóg – an artificial island used as dwellings and defense mechanisms in prehistoric Ireland. Crannóg’s are the oldest dwellings in prehistoric Ireland.
There are additionally at least seven ringforts surrounding the town of Lisacul.
Eileen McDonagh, Cathal’s mother, told the Irish Independent that he was supposed to be doing his homework when he made the discovery.
She said that her son became bored with his schoolwork and went for a walk down to the lake, where he paddled up to his ankles in a pair of wellington boots.
It was there that he tripped over the long piece of ancient wood and made the fascinating discovery.
Cathal McDonagh, with mum Eileen, dad Peter McDonagh, Breana McCulloch and Declan Greene, putting the log boat back to where it was first discovered near Lisacul, Co. Roscommon.
Cathal’s father Peter and his two elder siblings Aonghus and Róisin were summoned to help him retrieve the vessel from the lake and the family then reported the find to the Underwater Archaeology Unit of the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
Experts said that the vessel could date back to Ireland’s Neolithic era but that it also could be from the medieval period.
The experts advised the McDonagh family to place the vessel back in the water in order to preserve it.
The Cambridge University and Gent University team discovered a bath complex, market, temple, a public monument unlike anything seen before, and even the city’s sprawling network of water pipes. By looking at different depths, the archaeologists can now study how the town evolved over hundreds of years.
Today, the research published in Antiquity, harnessed recent advances in GPR technology which make it possible to explore larger areas in higher resolution than ever before.
It may have significant consequences for the study of ancient cities because many cannot be excavated either because they are too large, or because they are trapped under modern structures.
GPR works like regular radar, bouncing radio waves off objects and using the ‘echo’ to build up a picture at different depths. By towing their GPR instruments behind a quad bike, the archaeologists surveyed all 30.5 hectares within the city’s walls — Falerii Novi was just under half the size of Pompeii — taking a reading every 12.5cm.
Located 50 km north of Rome and first occupied in 241 BC, Falerii Novi survived into the medieval period (until around AD 700). The team’s GPR data can now start to reveal some of the physical changes experienced by the city at this time. They have already found evidence of stone robbing.
GPR map of the newly discovered temple in Falerii Novi.
The study also challenges certain assumptions about Roman urban design, showing that Falerii Novi’s layout was less standardised than many other well-studied towns, like Pompeii. The temple, market building, and bath complex discovered by the team are also more architecturally elaborate than would usually be expected in a small city.
In a southern district, just within the city’s walls, GPR revealed a large rectangular building connected to a series of water pipes that lead to the aqueduct.
Remarkably, these pipes can be traced across much of Falerii Novi, running beneath its insulae (city blocks), and not just along its streets, as might normally be expected. The team believes that this structure was an open-air natatio or pool, forming part of a substantial public bathing complex.
Even more unexpectedly, near the city’s north gate, the team identified a pair of large structures facing each other within a porticus duplex (a covered passageway with a central row of columns). They know of no direct parallel but believe these were part of an impressive public monument and contributed to an intriguing sacred landscape on the city’s edge.
Corresponding author, Professor Martin Millett from the University of Cambridge’s Faculty of Classics, said:
“The astonishing level of detail which we have achieved at Falerii Novi, and the surprising features that GPR has revealed, suggest that this type of survey could transform the way archaeologists investigate urban sites, as total entities.”
Millett and his colleagues have already used GPR to survey Interamna Lirenas in Italy, and on a lesser scale, Alborough in North Yorkshire, but they now hope to see it deployed on far bigger sites.
“It is exciting and now realistic to imagine GPR being used to survey a major city such as Miletus in Turkey, Nicopolis in Greece or Cyrene in Libya,” Millett said. “We still have so much to learn about Roman urban life and this technology should open up unprecedented opportunities for decades to come.”
The sheer wealth of data produced by such high-resolution mapping does, however, pose significant challenges. Traditional methods of manual data analysis are too time-consuming, requiring around 20 hours to fully document a single hectare. It will be some time before the researchers finish examining Falerii Novi but to speed the process up they are developing new automated techniques.
Falerii Novi is well documented in the historical record, is not covered by modern buildings and has been the subject of decades of analysis using other non-invasive techniques, such as magnetometry, but GPR has now revealed a far more complete picture.
Further information
GPR is so effective because it relies on the reflection of radio waves off items in the ground. Different materials reflect waves differently, which can be used to create maps of underground features.
Although this principle has been employed since the 1910s, over the past few years technological advances have made the equipment faster and higher resolution.
Funding
The project was funded by the AHRC. Lieven Verdonck, from Ghent University, was employed on a post-doctoral fellowship from the Fund for Scientific Research — Flanders (FWO). The team is grateful for support from Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio per l’Area Metropolitana di Roma, la Provincia di Viterbo e l’Etruria Meridionale.
Drought Led To Discovery Of Ancient Roman Forts And Roads In Wales
The draught in Wales led in 2018 to the discovery of old Roman fortresses, roads, and military cantonments in a village in the United Kingdom. The aerial view of the area revealed 200 such places which suggested the ruins of ancient Roman times could be made possible.
The heatwave of 2018 uncovered hundreds of new sites – many Roman – including new details of this fort at Trawscoed, Ceredigion
“Britannia,” a researcher from the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments in Wales, quoted a science magazine and reported that the Roman legions had entered the rural areas of Wales.
Experts also revealed the ruins of the marching camps at Monmouthshire in the vicinity of Caerwent.
“The camps are truly interesting, used to stay overnight Romans had built on the maneuvers in hostile territory.” Researcher Toby Driver said the discoveries “turn on the heads everything we know about the Romans.”
The aerial investigator for the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales said the new research published in the journal Britannia showed the “Roman military machine coming to rural Wales”.
In Monmouthshire, the researchers have identified a new “marching camp” at a site near Caerwent.
“The marching camps are really, really interesting. They are the temporary overnight stops that the Romans build on manoeuvres in hostile territory.”
Carrow Hill fort is the first Roman fort found in the Vale of Gwent – with probable links to the Caerleon legionary fortress
The site would have provided defensive positions, camping and kitchens for bread ovens.
“This is when Wales is still a very dangerous place to be for the troops, they are still under attack,” added Dr Driver. The entire area heading into south-east Wales through Usk to Caerleon would have been peppered with similar sites, believe the experts, as the Roman armies fought a 20-year battle to crush resistance amongst Celtic tribes, notably the Silures in southern Wales.
But these sites were “ploughed away pretty quickly” when the fighting was over.
“This is only the third marching camp in south-east Wales that we have discovered. We know there should be more of these around to show how the army was moving in Wales – it shows the big routes they are pushing through to control different parts of Wales,” added Dr Driver.
With conquest came reinforcements, and that meant forts. The aerial photographs confirmed the locations of at least three new fort sites, including the first found in the Vale of Gwent at Carrow Hill, west of the Roman town of Caerwent and the Roman legionary fortress at Caerleon.
The crop images show it had inner and outer defensive structure and a “killing zone” in between, perfectly ranged for a javelin throw.
The photographs found a long suspected fort site at Aberllynfi near Hay-on-Wye is indeed Roman, even though part of it has long since been built over by housing.
While further investigations at Pen y Gaer in Powys, near Tretower and Crickhowell, have revealed new detailed structures previously undiscovered – despite digs and surveys on the ground. The researchers, who included Roman experts Jeffrey Davies and Barry Burnham, have also been able to identify details of new villas – including at St Arvans, north of Chepstow in Monmouthshire.
Wyncliff villa north of Chepstow was originally thought to be a temple – but this new image confirms it was a Roman villa.
The location had previously been considered a temple site, after part of a bronze statue of Mars was unearthed. But the heatwave images make it clear this was a Roman villa of some note, with its room structure clearly visible. Perhaps the most startling discoveries have been pieces of unknown Roman road.
One shows how the Roman armies pushed their way south from Carmarthen to Kidwelly, reinforcing speculation the town was home to a Roman fort – even if it may now be covered by Kidwelly Castle.
“It’s the scale of the control of Wales which is exciting to see,” said Dr Driver.
“These big Roman roads striking through the landscape – straight as arrows through the landscape.”
After the driest May on record, Dr Driver hopes he will be able to get back in the air as soon as coronavirus lockdown measures allow, to see if he and his teams can find more pieces of the Roman puzzle in Wales.
“There are still huge gaps. We’re still missing a Roman fort at Bangor, we’ve got the roads, we’ve got the milestones – but no Roman fort. We’re still missing a Roman fort near St Asaph, and near Lampeter, in west Wales, we should have one as well,” he said.
“Although we had loads come out in 2018, we’ve got this big gaps in Roman Wales that we know should have military installations – but you’ve got to get out in dry weather to find them.”
