Category Archives: WORLD

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Hoard of Roman Coins Found in Tuscany

Hoard of Roman Coins Found in Tuscany

Hoard of Roman Coins Found in Tuscany
The hoard of 175 silver Roman coins, worth tens of thousands of dollars in today’s money in just face value alone, was found in 2021 near Livorno in Tuscany.

A hoard of 175 silver coins unearthed in a forest in Italy may have been buried for safekeeping during a Roman civil war.

The coins seem to date from 82 B.C., the year the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla fought a bloody war across Italy against his enemies among the leaders of the Roman Republic, which resulted in Sulla’s victory and his ascension as dictator of the Roman state.

The archaeologists who investigated the hoard of 175 silver Roman denarii — the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars in today’s money — suggested it may have been buried by a Roman soldier who was then killed in battle.

Archaeologists think the coins were deliberately buried in a small terracotta pot in about 82 B.C. to keep them safe during a time of war.

But historian Federico Santangelo, a professor who heads Classics and Ancient History at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, said it also could have been buried by a businessman who wanted to keep his money safe during turbulent times. “I don’t think we should trace this money to a soldier, although in principle it is possible,” he told Live Science. Santangelo was not involved in the discovery.

The chronologies of such coin hoards show that many were buried during wars and upheavals. “A number of people at times of crisis buried their stash of money and for whatever reason were prevented from retrieving it,” Santangelo said.

Excavations revealed no other archaeological objects at the site where the coin hoard was found, but the remains of a Roman-era farm had been found in the past about half a mile away.

Coin hoard

Researchers discovered the coin hoard buried in a terracotta pot in 2021 but kept it secret so that the site could be completely investigated.

Lorella Alderighi, an archaeologist with the provincial office for archaeology, told Live Science the coins were discovered by a member of an archaeological group in a newly-cut area of forest northeast of the city of Livorno in Tuscany.

Archaeological investigations revealed the earliest coins dated from 157 or 156 B.C., while the most recent was from 83 or 82 B.C., she said.

The area was probably forested then as it is now, on a small hill overlooking a swamp. The remains of a Roman farm had previously been found about half a mile (1 kilometer) away, she said.

“The coins have definitely been hidden — they constituted a ‘treasure’ or piggy bank,” she said. “The easiest way to hide valuables was to bury them underground, away from homes where no one could find them.”

The coins were first spotted by a member of the Livorno Palaeontological Archaeological Group walking through a new forest cutting.

But whoever buried the coins never returned to recover them, and Alderighi proposed that the owner may have been a Roman soldier caught up in the conflicts.

“These coins may have been the savings of a soldier returning home [during] military service,” she said. “He had hidden them because they constituted a useful sum, perhaps to buy and start his own farm.”

Several such coin hoards have been found in Italy; studies show many of them were buried at times of war or upheaval. Here we see over 100 found coins, all bagged and numbered.

Turbulent times

Alderighi noted that the hoard was buried during a troubled period in Italian history. 

A few years earlier, Italy had been gripped by the Social War between Rome and its Italian allies, while in 82 B.C. Sulla had just returned with his legions from Asia to confront his enemies in Rome, having already attacked the city in 88 B.C. and been declared a public enemy in 87 B.C.

“It was a very turbulent historical period,” she said. “Sulla’s soldiers conquered territories as they advanced from south to north. But central Italy and Tuscany had not yet been conquered.”

Santangello added that Sulla’s victory in late 82 B.C. was almost a “blueprint” for later Roman rulers. 

His victory was followed about 30 years later by a much larger Roman civil war between Julius Caesar and Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, or Pompey the Great, who rose to power as a deputy to Sulla. And Caesar’s victory in that war led directly to the rise to power of Augustus, the first Roman emperor, in 27 B.C.

“It became abundantly clear to everyone that whoever came out as the winner of the civil war would be — maybe not by law, but certainly in reality — the master of Rome,” Santangello said.

EUROPE, NORWAY, WORLD

Rare, 1,000-year-old Viking Age iron hoard found in a basement in Norway

Rare, 1,000-year-old Viking Age iron hoard found in a basement in Norway

A rare stash of 1,000-year-old ironwork, which sat for 40 years in a family’s basement in Norway, is now seeing the light of day after a woman discovered the hoard during some spring cleaning. 

Rare, 1,000-year-old Viking Age iron hoard found in a basement in Norway
The Viking hoard consists of 32 iron ingots, which are all pierced with a hole on one end and may have been grouped together in a bundle.

The hoard consists of 32 iron ingots that look like small spatulas and date back to the Viking Age (A.D. 793 to 1066) or the high Middle Ages (1066 to 1350). The rods are identical and weigh about 1.8 ounces (50 grams) each, prompting archeologists to think they may have been used as a form of currency and that someone probably buried them with the intention of coming back for the treasure later.

“We call it a cache find because it is clear that someone has [buried it] to hide it,” Kjetil Loftsgarden, an archeologist and associate professor at the University of Oslo and the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, told NRK News. Each ingot is pierced with a hole on one end, which suggests the ingots could have been tied together in a bunch, experts added.

While similar ironwork already exists in the museum’s collections, this discovery is rare because construction projects often destroy or damage buried treasures, Loftsgarden said. In this case, Grete Margot Sørum, who came across the treasure trove while clearing out her parents’ basement in Valdres, central Norway, told NRK News that she remembers her father finding the stash while he dug a well by the house in the 1980s. “But then he put them away in a corner,” Sørum said.

The last time someone unearthed a hoard of iron ingots in Valdres was 100 years ago, according to NRK News.

From the late Viking Age until the high Middle Ages, independent farmers in southern Norway produced iron on a massive scale, according to a 2019 study by Loftsgarden, published in Fornvännen, the Journal of Swedish Antiquarian Research.

The region was so productive that there was a surplus of iron, which traders sold to elites in the more populated coastal regions of Norway.

Sørum’s father unearthed the ingots from a site located along the Bergen Royal Road, known as Kongevegen, which served as a trade route between Oslo and Bergen 1,000 years ago.

The area around the site was dotted with charcoal pits, which were indispensable to iron production for smelting during the Viking and Middle Ages, Loftsgarden wrote in the study.

Sørum notified the Valdres Folkemuseum in Fagernes, which then forwarded the iron collection to the Cultural Heritage section of the Innlandet county municipality. The iron hoard is now stored at the Cultural History Museum in Oslo, where archeologists will study and catalog the artifacts.

“Old finds that are handed into the archeologists provide new knowledge about the history of the Inland,” Anne Engesveen, unit leader for archeology at the Cultural Heritage section, said in a statement.

The discovery of the iron collection in the Sørum family basement is not the first Viking find from Norway in recent months. In November 2022, a metal detectorist stumbled across a Viking treasure hoard consisting of a pair of silver rings, fragments of a silver bracelet, and what look like chopped-up Arabic coins, among other buried artifacts. 

WORLD

DNA from a 20,000-year-old deer-tooth pendant reveals the woman who wore it

DNA from a 20,000-year-old deer-tooth pendant reveals the woman who wore it

A pendant made of a deer tooth that was exposed to DNA about 20,000 years ago has yielded clues about the ancient woman who wore it.

The tooth, which was worn as a necklace bead, most likely absorbed DNA from the person’s sweat as it rubbed up against her chest and neck.

Marie Soressi and her colleagues at Leiden University in the Netherlands were able to extract that DNA without damaging the tooth using a new process that took eight years to develop.

The technique might reveal unprecedented details about the social customs and gender roles of ancient populations, says Soressi.

The pendant was unearthed in Denisova Cave in Siberia, Russia, which was occupied by various species of hominin over 300,000 years. The study was published in Nature today.

“It’s almost like you open a time travel machine,” says study co-author Elena Essel, a molecular biologist who works on ancient DNA at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. “With each sample we are able to learn a bit more and make more inferences about how these people lived.”

Previously, it was impossible to link tools and jewelry to the people who used them unless the artifact was discovered near a specific burial.

The entrance to Denisova Cave, where the pendant was discovered

Essel and her colleagues coaxed DNA from inside the pores of the ancient pendant by soaking it in increasingly warm salt solution, which they found did not alter the pendant. Once released, the small amounts of genetic material were sequenced and compared with other sets of ancient DNA.

Mitochondrial DNA — which is handed down from mother to offspring — extracted from the pendant show that the object is roughly 19,000 to 25,000 years old and that the tooth belonged to a wapiti, also known as an elk (Cervus canadensis).

Analysis of nuclear DNA from the ornament suggests that it had been made or worn by a female Homo sapiens whose genetic make-up resembles that of north Eurasian individuals who lived around the same time but were previously known only from remains found farther east in Siberia.

Study co-author Elena Zavala, a geneticist now at the University of California, Berkeley, says that the technique can connect ancient humans to “the tools that they created” — but, unlike other methods, does not destroy the artifact.

However, there are a number of drawbacks to the method. Modern DNA can easily contaminate an artifact, making analysis difficult. And even for the cleanest specimens, the DNA extraction method is time-consuming, requires sophisticated technology, and must be performed in a specialized laboratory.

Essel and her colleagues are working to streamline their process. In the meantime, archaeologists can minimize contamination by wearing gloves and a face mask, and by immediately popping specimens into a refrigerator.

Still, Ludovic Orlando, a molecular archaeologist at the University of Paul Sabatier in Toulouse, France, who was not involved in the study, was impressed by the thoughtfulness and efficiency of the team’s procedure. The technique is not “a magic bullet”, says Orlando. But it still provides “a signature from nothing, from a piece of bone or tooth”, he adds. “You see the population signature of the people who interacted with the animal.”

EUROPE, WORLD

Rare Arabic inscription discovered during Malta housing project works

Rare Arabic inscription discovered during Malta housing project works

Rare Arabic inscription discovered during Malta housing project works

A rare Arabic inscription, possibly dating back to medieval times, was discovered at the site of a social housing project in Fgura, a town in Malta’s South Eastern Region.

The discovery is ‘very significant and rare’ according to the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage, being the second Arabic inscription found outside Rabat.

The Arabic inscription was discovered in a naturally carved well in fields adjacent to Triq id-Dejma, Triq il-Karmnu, and Triq tax-Xemx u l-Qamar, all of which have recently received Planning Authority approval for a social housing project.

SCH said that the script was discovered carved on a limestone prismatic stele and is probably Kufic, a calligraphic that is closely linked to early Quran transcription and architectural decorations. The slabs also include other markings that may represent symbols rather than writing.

An official of the Superintendence for Cultural Heritage described the historical artifact as “a limestone prismatic stele, truncated at each end, bearing Arabic script.”

The artifact is typologically similar to a number of stelae found by Sir Temi Zammit in the 20th century, who found an Arab cemetery that had been constructed on top of the Domus Romana in Mdina.

The prismatic stele carved in limestone was discovered in a natural fissure on the land that was at some point in history repurposed as a well. Photo: Superintendence of Cultural Heritage

“Apart from another example found at Savina Square in Victoria in 1901, this is the only other example known to have been found outside of Rabat, making this discovery very significant and rare, both archaeologically as well as historically,” the spokesperson said.

The discovery was made inside a natural fissure on the site that was at some point repurposed as a well with an overall depth of roughly 8.5 meters.

The SCH thinks that the artifact was probably dumped there at some point in history and is therefore unlikely to be the main context for the inscription. However, no modern material was found within the fissure, so it is still able to provide a “secure archaeological context”, they said.

The stone slab was discovered alongside pottery that predates the 13th century. Numerous silo pits and agricultural trenches were also found at the site as a result of the archaeological assessment.

An Arabic language specialist from the University of Malta is working with the Superintendence to help decipher the inscription, which is thought to be crucial for establishing the object’s original use and providing precise dating.

The discovery is being hailed as a major find that sheds light on a previously unknown period in Maltese history when a sizable portion of the population was Muslim.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Ancient coins surface with Lake Iznik’s withdrawal in Türkiye

Ancient coins surface with Lake Iznik’s withdrawal in Türkiye

Ancient coins surface with Lake Iznik’s withdrawal in Türkiye

With the withdrawal of Lake Iznik in the northwest of Türkiye, the ancient coins found at the bottom of the water began to be found by the locals.

In Iznik, the world-famous historical city of Bursa, which is on the temporary heritage list of UNESCO and expected to enter the main list this year, a couple walking on the shore of Lake Iznik found a 2,000-year-old historical coin.

Locals began discovering ancient coins after the lake dried up, possibly from the historical basilica that was once submerged beneath Lake Iznik but rose above the water in 2014.

Ismail Yıldırım, walking with his wife and children, noticed that the coins were historical as the cash had figures of Jesus and relief inscriptions.

The Yildirim couple handed over the coins to Iznik Archeology Museum.

The museum officials, who examined the coins, stated that the coin, which is the figure of Jesus Christ, belongs to the 9th century, and the other coin belongs to the Hellenistic period.

Iznik, a district of northwestern Bursa province dating back to the 4th century BC, is significant for both Muslims and Christians, with many sites from the era of Bithynian, Roman, Seljuk, and Ottoman civilizations.

According to geographer Strabo, the ancient town was founded in 316 BC by Antigonos, the commander of Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C). It is also reported that Lysimachos, another general of Alexander, took the city and renamed it after his wife Nicaea.

İznik enjoyed a period of expansion and prosperity under Roman rule.

During the Byzantine period, İznik grew in importance as a religious center, especially after Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 313 AD.

The first Christian Council, known as the Great Council of Nicaea, was held in 325 AD in İznik, with the participation of over three hundred bishops from various parts of the empire.

EUROPE, FRANCE, WORLD

The 6,000-year-old settlement found on the island of Corsica

The 6,000-year-old settlement found on the island of Corsica

The 6,000-year-old settlement found on the island of Corsica

Archaeologists in a French municipality recently excavated the slopes of Punta Campana (island of Corsica) in preparation for a construction project and found an expansive Neolithic site.

The site in Sotta (Sotta is a French municipality on the island of Corsica) contains two distinct settlements, according to a news release from the Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (INRAP).

The first settlement is partially preserved while the second is well preserved.

As part of this excavation, archaeologists have uncovered the existence of a recent Neolithic settlement (Basien) followed by a late Neolithic settlement.

Archaeologists said the first settlement, which dates back to the early fourth millennium B.C., held a stone structure containing the remains of an obsidian knapping workshop.

Within the workshop, there is evidence indicating that ancient people used a variety of methods to make obsidian tools.

Archaeologists uncovered the remains of an obsidian workshop.

According to experts, the site likely experienced significant erosion until the second, more recent settlement was built on top of the workshop.

Terraced Structures

Archaeologists unearthed a terrace system filled with occupation and activities in the second, better-preserved settlement’s, dating to the 3rd millennium BC.

The terraces were topped with an approximately 3-foot tall or fortified wall made of granite blocks, according to researchers.

The excavated arc was the best preserved of its kind at the site.

A stone arc made of granite blocks was located on the first terrace below it. The building methods used in the arc indicate it was used as a roof of some sort, but experts aren’t unknown its yet precise function.

Archaeologists also discovered a staircase and corridor inside the terraced building that appeared to serve as a pathway to the system’s upper level.

The team discovered two other similar but more refined terraced systems at the site. It is still unknown what these structures were used for, but archaeologists believe they could have been used for food storage, metallurgy, or other artisan activities.

A pear-shaped vase was among several vases discovered on a paving inside the wall of the terraced structure, according to INRAP.

Archaeologists discovered thousands of unusual copper and other metal artifacts at the Neolithic site, particularly in the terraced area. Some remain indicated traces of melting that took place at the site.

Cattle teeth and unusual cranial skeletal remains that appeared to have been burned were also discovered, according to INRAP.

A polisher was found on the excavation of Sotta.

Archaeologists also unearthed ceramics, flint, obsidian, quartz, arrowheads, polishers, axles, wheels, and tools. Further studies on the finds are ongoing.

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

Rare Maya Sculpture Discovered in Mexico

Rare Maya Sculpture Discovered in Mexico

Rare Maya Sculpture Discovered in Mexico
The three-dimensional depiction of the Mayan god K’awiil, uncovered during an archeological rescue dig on Section 7 of the Maya Train route. (INAH)

Archaeologists performing rescue work on section 7 of the Maya Train route have found a rare stone sculpture of the Mayan god K’awil, a deity linked to power, abundance, and prosperity.

The discovery was announced by Diego Prieto Hernández, general director of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), during President López Obrador’s morning press conference.

The construction of the Maya Train has led to a surge of interest in Mayan archeology, as researchers turn up a wealth of buried artifacts. Here, an archeologist shows his finds in an area near Chichén Itzá.

“This finding is very important because there are few sculptural representations of the god K’awil; so far, we only know three in Tikal, Guatemala, and this is one of the first to appear in Mexican territory,” Prieto said.

He explained that the deity is more commonly seen represented in paintings, reliefs, and Mayan codices. This rare three-dimensional image was found on the head of an urn whose body shows the face of a different deity, possibly linked to the sun.

Prieto said AMLO had been shown the piece during a tour last weekend to inspect progress on section 7 of the Maya Train, which runs between Bacalar, Quintana Roo, and Escárcega, Campeche.

He added that archaeological rescue work is now concentrated on sections 6 and 7 of the train’s route, as work is now completed on sections 1 to 5, between Palenque, Chiapas, and Tulum.

National Institute of Anthropology and History Director Diego Prieto Hernandez (at podium) announced the find at the daily presidential press conference on Thursday.

“Work is still being done on complementary projects, such as the collection and cleaning of archaeological materials, their classification, and ordering,” Prieto said.

“All this work should lead to an analysis of the vast information, preparation of academic reports, and a large international research symposium on the Mayan civilization, which will be organized for this year.” 

As of April 27, the INAH has registered and preserved as part of the Maya Train archaeological rescue project: 

  • 48,971 ancient buildings or foundations 
  • 896,449 ceramic fragments 
  • 1,817 movable objects 
  • 491 human remains 
  • 1,307 natural features, such as caves and cenotes.
Land cleared for the Maya Train near Playa del Carmen. While officials tout the amazing discoveries being made during construction work on the Maya Train, environmentalists say the project is causing irreparable damage to the jungle environment and cenotes on the Yucatán Peninsula.

Other notable discoveries made during construction include a 1,000-year-old Maya canoe at the San Andrés archaeological site near Chichén Itzá, an 8,000-year-old human skeleton in a cenote near Tulum, and a previously unknown archaeological site of more than 300 buildings in Quintana Roo, dubbed Paamul II.

Prieto has previously said that a new museum will be constructed in Mérida that will be dedicated to discoveries unearthed during the construction of the Maya Train.

The INAH is also analyzing the findings at its laboratory in Chetumal, which Prieto said would nourish the study of Mayan civilizations for the next 25 years.

However, while the archaeological rescue process is thought to be progressing well, the Maya Train continues to face strong resistance from environmentalists, who believe the project will do irreversible damage to the region’s unique ecosystems and subterranean lakes.

ASIA, SAUDI ARABIA, WORLD

Roman Military Camps Discovered in Arabia

Roman Military Camps Discovered in Arabia

Roman Military Camps Discovered in Arabia
An aerial view of the western camp in Jordan

Archaeologists have identified three undiscovered Roman fortified camps across northern Arabia.

The University of Oxford School of Archaeology made the discovery in a remote sensing survey, using satellite imagery.

It said it could be evidence of an “undocumented military campaign” across southeast Jordan into Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Michael Fradley, who led the research, said: “We are almost certain they were built by the Roman army.”

In the report, published in the journal Antiquity, he explained his conclusion was based on the “typical playing card shape of the enclosures with opposing entrances along each side”.

Dr. Fradley added that the westernmost camp was significantly larger than the two camps to the east.

The research team believes they may have been part of a previously undiscovered Roman military campaign “linked to the Roman takeover of the Nabataean Kingdom in 106 AD, a civilization centered on the world-famous city of Petra, located in Jordan”.

A map shows the location of the three camps researchers say they have identified

The university’s Dr. Mike Bishop, an expert on the Roman military, said the camps were a “spectacular new find” and an important new insight into Roman campaigning in Arabia.

“Roman forts and fortresses show how Rome held a province but temporary camps reveal how they acquired it in the first place,” he explained.

Dr. Fradley added that the preservation of the camps was “remarkable”, particularly as they may have only been used for a matter of days or weeks.

Archaeologists still need to confirm the date of the camps through investigation on the ground, the researchers said.

The camps were identified by the university’s Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa project and were later photographed by the Aerial Archaeology in Jordan project.