Rare golden sword pommel acquired by a Scottish museum
A pommel is a decorative piece attached to the bottom of a sword sometimes used as a counter-weight
An “exceptionally rare” gold sword pommel discovered by a metal detectorist near Stirling has been acquired by National Museums Scotland. The pommel, which is about 1,300 years old, was found in 2019 and was declared to the Scottish Treasure Trove unit.
The gold decoration which would have sat at the top of a sword handle measures 5.5cm wide, weighs 25g and was valued at about £30,000.
The find has been described as “hugely significant”.
Dr Alice Blackwell, senior curator of medieval archaeology and history at National Museums Scotland (NMS), said goldwork from this period was “virtually unknown” anywhere in the UK.
She said it showed the spectacular skill and craftsmanship of the early medieval period.
The pommel is thought to date from about 700 AD.
The solid gold object is encrusted with garnets and intricate goldwork which features religious motifs and fantastical creatures.
The discovery was made at Blair Drummond towards the end of 2019 but NMS said that due to restrictions during the pandemic decisions about its acquisition were delayed.
It was allocated to them on the recommendation of the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel.
Dr Blackwell said its archaeological value was due to what it told us about important cultural, political and artistic interactions in northern Britain at this time.
She said its decoration combined elements from both Anglo-Saxon England and the kingdoms of Early Medieval Scotland.
“Early medieval Scotland is a really interesting period,” Dr Blackwell said.
“You have a number of culturally distinct kingdoms and the pommel’s design has taken from the different cultures and melded them together “
That melding of different cultural styles is known as the “insular art” style, which was made famous by illuminated manuscripts such as the Lindisfarne Gospels.
Dr Blackwell said this fusion of styles had made it hard to determine where exactly it was made and to whom it may have belonged.
However, she said it potentially could have belonged to royalty due to the higher standard of goldwork the pommel had compared with other goldware found in this period.
“In a way, this is the start of the artefact’s journey,” Dr Blackwell said.
“A lot of research and work is still to be done to uncover what stories it can tell us about the political and cultural landscape of Northern Britain at this time.”
Mummified Baby From Centuries Ago May Have Died From Lack of Sunlight
The infant mummy is covered in a silk coat.
For centuries, the crypt of one of the oldest aristocratic families in Austria has preserved a tragic secret. A boy, perhaps no older than a year or two in age, who died not from a lack of food, or injury. But for a simple want of sunlight on his skin.
The male child was found mummified in a family crypt reserved for the Counts of Starhemberg, having been interred there somewhere between the middle of the 16th and 17th centuries. His tiny features are withered but detailed, his body still wrapped in an elaborate silk garment.
Yet, in spite of living a life of privilege, his short existence was clearly not a healthy one.
A virtual autopsy of the corpse using CT scans has revealed malformations to the ribs that resemble classical signs of malnutrition, specifically vitamin D deficiency. Known as rickets, this condition tends to result in a bowing of the legs, a feature that wasn’t evident in the boy’s bones.
Keeping an open mind, the researchers considered a second possibility – low amounts of vitamin C, resulting in scurvy. While the rib deformations aren’t identical for both conditions, their similarities were enough for the researchers to investigate further.
Fat tissue analysis revealed the 10- to 18-month-year-old was overweight for his age, at least compared to other infants of the time. As a result, researchers suspect the child was well-fed in his patrician life, making vitamin C deficiency less likely.
Vitamin D, on the other hand, isn’t absorbed from our food in significant amounts, but rather produced in the skin through chemical reactions that depend on ultraviolet (UV) radiation, suggesting the child was severely undernourished not for want of food, but by lack of sunlight.
The chemical is absolutely crucial in building bones during childhood, explaining bone abnormalities. It also allows the body to better absorb calcium and phosphorous throughout life.
“The combination of obesity along with a severe vitamin deficiency can only be explained by a generally ‘good’ nutritional status along with an almost complete lack of sunlight exposure,” explains pathologist Andreas Nerlich from the University of Munich.
Although rickets isn’t necessarily a death sentence, a look at the child’s lungs revealed signs of lethal pneumonia, an infection that is common in infants with vitamin-D deficiencies.
A close-up of the mummified infant with his hand on his stomach.
It took until the nineteenth century and a pandemic of rickets for scientists to figure out that Sun exposure is necessary for bone formation, much too late to help the Starhemberg infant.
The mummified infant found in Austria is just one child from one time in one family in one part of Europe, but given how few infant burials have been found so well-preserved, the discovery is an interesting insight into the living conditions of noble infants of the 16th and 17th centuries.
During this time, aristocrats often avoided the Sun to keep their skin porcelain white, a sign of high rank in much of European society. Only peasants and labourers were Sun-kissed.
In Italy, many skeletons of noble children buried in the Medici Chapels in Florence during the 16th and 17th centuries also show signs of rickets, including bowing of the limbs. Researchers behind a 2013 study argued that prolonged delay in providing adequate amounts of solid foods that would provide small amounts of vitamin D in infants could add to the risks of rickets.
It’s not clear if the infant found in the Austrian crypt was weaned, or ate fatty foods rich in vitamin D. What is known is he was well-fed and cared for. In fact, his high level of body fat is probably what has kept his remains so well preserved. There’s even some recent evidence that vitamin-D deficiency is tied to childhood obesity, raising questions of just what role his privileged diet might have played in his illness.
Given that the corpse was buried in a silk funerary coat and was the only infant in the family crypt, researchers suspect he was a firstborn, possibly named Gundaker, Gregor, or Reichard, judging by the family tree. Unfortunately, his coffin did not bear an inscription.
“This is only one case,” admits Nerlich, “but as we know that the early infant death rates generally were very high at that time, our observations may have a considerable impact on the overall life reconstruction of infants even in higher social classes.”
A camera left in the Yukon by a legendary explorer in 1937 is found 85 years later
In 1937, legendary mountaineers Bradford Washburn and Robert Bates were exploring Canada’s frigid Yukon region when they had to abandon their gear in order to quickly escape. Nearly 85 years later, the cache of gear they left behind has been found – including Washburn’s camera.
Professional mountain explorer Griffin Post told CBS News he first heard about the abandoned cache in the book “Escape from Lucania.” Author David Roberts writes about where Washburn and Bates may have left the cache of gear in the Kluane National Park and Reserve.
“But nobody really knew for sure, and that doubt and that possibility that it was still there is what I went on,” Post said.
Griff Post and the Washburn’s camera, which was embedded in the ice of Walsh Glacier.
Washburn is a mountaineer, explorer, surveyor, mapmaker and author who is also known for the photos he took of the dramatic landscapes he explored. He’s visited many of the world’s wild regions, including remote Alaska and Mount Everest.
Post said Washburn and Bates abandoned their gear because their pilot couldn’t come back to pick them up, so they decided to summit the peak and hike out into Canada. They planned to come back the following winter but never did.
On a quest to find the cache, Post led a team to the remote Walsh Glacier. Post and Teton Gravity Research — which produces skiing, snowboarding and surfing films — partnered with University of Ottawa Glaciologist Dora Medrzycka, who travelled with them, and mapped out the glacier to determine where the gear could have moved over time. Dr. Luke Copland and a team at the University of Ottawa helped them remotely.
The team found a portion of Washburn’s aerial camera, which is believed to be his first-ever aerial photography camera, according to a press release from Teton Gravity Research. They were also able to retrieve two other cameras with film still loaded inside.
“It was such an emotional rollercoaster because you go in, you’ve done all this research, you’re so excited, and then the first time you fly in you see how vast the terrain is and how much area you’re supposed to cover and how many crevasses the cache could’ve fallen into years ago,” Post said. “It’s like ‘I don’t think there’s any way we can find this.’ It’s so overwhelming.”
However, Post said, searching for the cache ended up feeling fun.
“At times I felt like a little kid. You’re jumping over a crevasse, like looking for treasure essentially. Like this is wild I get to do this,” he said. “And if we don’t find anything, well as far as adventure goes, we checked that box.”
During a seven-day trip, the crew of seven people searched on foot, ski and snowboard, travelling about 60 miles each, Post said.
“We found it on the morning of the seventh day,” he added. “It took every minute basically, and in the end, the helicopter was about to take off to come pick us back up, and that was when we found the cache.”
The team of seven searched for seven days, travelling about 60 miles before finding the cache on the final day of their trip.
The team found a portion of Washburn’s aerial camera, which is believed to be his first-ever aerial photography camera, according to a press release from Teton Gravity Research. They were also able to retrieve two other cameras with film still loaded inside.
Archaeologists from Parks Canada, which oversees national parks in the country, returned to the glacier with the team a few weeks later and helped them carefully retrieve what they could, successfully extracting the camera from the ice, according to the press release.
Post said they will be “examined in the coming weeks and we’re cautiously optimistic something will be salvageable.”
Post said they will be “examined in the coming weeks and we’re cautiously optimistic something will be salvageable.”
The team estimated the camera had moved about 12 miles from where it started, Post said. Until this point, scientists only had data about glacier movement dating back to the 1960s, and analyzing the movement of the cache since 1937 can help them better understand how the velocity and thickness of a glacier may have changed.
Post said not only was it historically significant to find the cache but “the science was almost cooler.”
“Because we essentially backfilled three decades of data the science community didn’t have as far as how glaciers moved,” he added.
Frontal Sinuses in Hominin Skulls May Offer Clues to Evolution
Sinuses can provide insight into how ancient human skulls changed over time. While their function remains uncertain, the sinuses offer a new way of looking at human evolution. The changing shape of the frontal sinuses is helping to reveal more about how modern humans, and our ancient relatives, evolved.
From Homo erectus to more modern species, sinuses can help demonstrate changes within the ancient human species.
An international team of researchers led by Antoine Balzeau of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle revealed that the small cavities, located just above the nose, are linked to the size of the frontal lobe.
This part of the brain is responsible for processes that make us uniquely human such as speech, emotion and planning, with the sinuses now providing another way for scientists to infer the development of this part of the brain. The frontal sinuses also offer a new way to investigate the relationships between different species of ancient hominins, with the study providing additional support for Homo Naledi belonging to our genus, despite having some prehuman characteristics.
Professor Chris Stringer, an expert in human evolution at the Museum who co-authored the paper, says, ‘Sinuses are interesting morphological features in fossils but they have been neglected. Many papers that describe new species don’t mention them, and they are often only illustrated incidentally to the rest of the specimen.’
‘This has left what data there very disparate. To try and rectify that, this paper compiled the biggest selection of fossil sinus data ever from many different sources. It shows that within our genus, Homo, sinuses can be used to tease apart the relationships between different species.’
Co-author Dr Laura Buck, formerly of the Museum but now at Liverpool John Moores University, adds, ‘In early hominins and non-human apes, the size and shape of frontal sinuses are directly related to the amount of space available for them to grow into.’
‘The step change we see between these species and later hominins, including ourselves, suggests a shift in the way the skull is organised and develops. It may be relevant that this is happening at the same point as we start to see substantial brain expansion in these taxa.’
The findings of the study were published in the journal Science Advances.
Our species, Homo sapiens, has four types of sinus – two of which are only found in humans and our close relatives.
What are sinuses?
Sinuses are air-filled spaces within the bones of the skull that are lined with a mucous membrane. Humans have four types of sinuses: the maxillary sinuses under the eyes, the ethmoidal sinuses between the eyes and nose, the sphenoidal sinuses to the outside of the eyes, and the frontal sinuses. While they have been known for centuries, it is unclear what their role is. Suggestions that they produce mucus and nitrogen oxide to defend against infection or provide thermal and shock protection to the nervous system can help to explain their current function, but not necessarily why they evolved.
Some researchers have even suggested that sinuses are an example of an evolutionary spandrel, a structure that evolved as the by-product of something else and has no initial role. Further adaptation may give it a function later in evolutionary time. Research on other animals, such as bovids and primates, has shown that sinuses can differ between species, driving interest in whether sinuses could also be helpful to distinguish between species of ancient humans.
The exact path of human evolution is still the subject of heated debate, with many competing theories over how our species came into being, and how many close relatives we have. Examining the sinuses of ancient species could help to address this.
The maxillary and frontal sinuses are of particular interest, as in primates they are only found in humans and our closest relatives, the chimpanzees and gorillas. This new study examined 94 fossil hominins from over 20 species to gain a greater insight into the variation of the frontal sinus, and what that reveals about human evolution.
Their sinuses reinforce the classification of Homo Naledi as an ancient human species.
How can sinuses be used to study human evolution?
The researchers used CT scans of the specimens to create 3D models of the frontal sinuses, allowing them to digitally reconstruct the structures. These models were then used to take measurements which could be compared between the different species.
While sinus size was not able to distinguish between early species of hominins, such as Australopithecus, it could separate more recent Homo species in the past two million years.
The study found that species such as Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens have distinct ranges of sinus size, which researchers suggest could be linked to evolutionary constraints caused by the development of characteristics such as larger brains.
This relationship was also seen for Middle Pleistocene (770,000 to 120,000 years ago) hominins whose identity is currently uncertain, including in specimens associated with the controversial species Homo rhodesiensis.
‘Three crania, which I believe represent Homo rhodesiensis, stand out as very different from the others,’ Chris says. ‘Their sinuses are much bigger than their relatives and we don’t know why. It could represent that they’re a specialised group.
‘They have very large brow ridges which have been suggested as having a role in social signalling, and large sinuses would reduce the weight of these.’
Meanwhile, the sinuses of Homo Naledi, whose mix of non-human and human characteristics have been a source of confusion for scientists, were similar to those of Homo erectus. This supports H. naledi’s human status and adds further information that could be used to help decipher its evolutionary past.
The study also reveals new information about our own evolution, showing links between these sinuses and the size of the frontal lobe from Homo erectus onwards. The size of the sinuses is consistent with the development of a short extension of one of the brain’s lobes relative to the other, a feature that most humans have today and may be associated with the dominant hand.
The researchers hope that future studies of ancient human fossils will measure the sinuses in order to better understand the development of this feature, and potentially offer new insights into how our species and close relatives came into being.
‘After reading this paper, we hope that more researchers will appreciate the importance of sinuses and begin to use them when describing or redescribing a species,’ Chris says. ‘As more data becomes available, this will help us understand more about our evolution and the role that sinuses play.’
Lidar Survey Reveals Urban Sprawl of Ancient Maya City
A graphic illustrating new details, uncovered using LiDAR laser technology, of the ancient Mayan city of Calakmul, Mexico, in this undated handout image.
Following years of research, Dr. Kathryn Reese-Taylor, PhD, professor in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at UCalgary, as well as her team of international colleagues, has used lidar (light detection and ranging) to help uncover more secrets of the enormous ancient Maya city of Calakmul.
As a result, researchers on the Bajo Laberinto Archaeological Project, a University of Calgary-led international and multidisciplinary research project directed by Reese-Taylor, can now better understand the density and landscape modifications of Mexico’s ancient Maya Calakmul settlement.
“By using lidar imagery, we are now able to fully understand the immense size of the Calakmul urban settlement and its substantial landscape modifications, which supported an intensive agricultural system,” says Reese-Taylor.
“All available land was covered with water canals, terraces, walls and dams, no doubt to provide food and water security for Calakmul residents.”
Although the number of people who lived at Calakmul during the height of the Snake King’s rule was not a complete surprise because of previous mapping and archaeological investigations by the Autonomous University of Campeche and INAH, the team was astonished at the scale and degree of urban construction.
Immense apartment-style residential compounds have been identified throughout the surveyed area, some with as many as 60 individual structures, the seats of large households composed of extended families and affiliated members.
These large residential units were clustered around numerous temples, shrines, and possible marketplaces, making Calakmul one of the largest cities in the Americas in 700 AD.
But that’s not all the team was able to see.
“We were also able to see that the magnitude of landscape modification equalled the scale of the urban population,” explains Reese-Taylor. “All available land was covered with water canals, terraces, walls, and dams, no doubt to provide maximum food and water security for the city dwellers.”
Copyright, Bajo Laberinto Archaeological Project and Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
What’s next for the team and the technology
Going forward, the lidar survey will be used by INAH to help with policy and planning for the biosphere in anticipation of the expected increased tourism in the area.
The lidar will also continue to support the Bajo Laberinto Archaeological Project, which aims to investigate the causes of the rapid population increase at Calakmul and its effect on the region’s environment.
“We’re excited to see what else this technology will help us learn about Calakmul,” says Reese-Taylor. “It’s such a privilege to be unearthing the secrets of Mexico’s ancient settlements.”
Reese-Taylor and her colleagues on the Bajo Laberinto Archaeological Project will present their preliminary findings from the lidar survey on the INAH TV YouTube channel, on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. MT.
Rare 1,000-Year-Old Viking Wooden Bowl Found By Young Boy
To most children finding something unusual and unexpected is a joy, but discovering a precious, rare ancient artefact must be a memory for a lifetime! One can only guess what goes through the mind of the youngster who has unearthed a rare 1,000-year-old bowl from the Viking Age.
The artefact was discovered by ten-year-old Erik Briskerud, who was with his father in Glomma, Norway. The father and his son were on a boat when they spotted a sandbank in the middle of the river.
Erik was surprised to see something resembling a root in the sand and decided to find out what it was. When he reached the spot, he saw a wooden object stuck in the sand. He cleared the sand with his father to find out what kind of object this was.
Ten-year-old Erik Briskerud found the 1,000-year-old bowl when he was going swimming in Glomma this summer.
“When we had removed all the sand, it looked like a bowl,” he says. It would have been easy to throw away the wooden bowl, but Erik noticed someone had taken the time to create nice edges on the bowl with some carving tools.
The wooden bowl was sent to local scientists who sent a tiny sample of the object to Florida, USA, for dating. The answer came within the next few days, and everyone was excited about the results. Rooted in the sand was an 800-1,000-year-old wooden bowl dating from later Viking times.
It would be not just any bowl but one of the most special bowls found in Norway!
” I think it’s very cool. I didn’t think it was entirely from the Viking Age. Quite amazing that it is so old, Briskerud told the NRK in an interview.
“It is almost difficult to explain how special this find is, says an archaeologist at Innlandet county municipality Mildri Een Eide.
Considering its age and condition, this wooden bowl is most likely the only one of its kind.
Some wooden bowls have previously been found in Norway from the Viking Age, but they are often only in small pieces or fragments.
“So this one is very special. Considering the age, she says that we do not know of any other finds of this kind in Norway. We think it is most likely made from a ball of wood or a wooden knot found on many trees and hollowed out.
We had to pinch ourselves a couple of times. We guessed the 18th century, but it turned out to be much older.”
As reported by the NRK, the “bowl is also special because it is roughly carved, which may indicate that it does not originate from the richest or most powerful.
Archaeologist Een Eide promises ten-year-old Erik that the cultural history museum in Oslo will take good care of the bowl.
“It is rare to find objects that belonged to ordinary Viking Age people. This is not an ornamental object”, says Een Eide.
The bowl will now be sent to the Cultural History Museum in Oslo, which will look after it for posterity. The reason why the bowl is so well preserved is most likely due to the sand.
“There is quite a little oxygen in the sand in Glomma, so it has been lying safely and well in the sand. A bit like a marsh corpse. But how it ended up there is not known. Glomma may have looked different, or it may have come with the flow.
She thinks the probability of finding more in the sandbank is small. In addition, it is challenging to dig in water. So it probably won’t happen at first,” Een Eide explained.
She praises ten-year-old Erik for realizing that this was something special.
Unexpected Discovery Of Two Viking Swords In Upright Position In Sweden
It does not happen very often that archaeologists find Viking swords. Swords were extremely important to ancient Vikings, but these weapons were expensive to produce, and only the richest warriors and chiefs could afford a sword.
As previously explained on AncientPages.com, the loss of a sword was a catastrophe for a Viking. Vikings believed a man and his sword were bound together.
The sword gave power to the warrior, but the warrior’s strength could also be transferred to the sword.
One of the Viking swords found in Köping.
A Viking sword was a deadly weapon and symbol of power. It was jewellery for a man, with ‘magical properties’. How the Vikings named, their sword was a matter of heritage. Swords were given names and passed from father to son for generations.
Viking swords are rare, and scientists are naturally excited whenever they come across them.
Archaeologists in Sweden now report that two Viking Age swords have been found during an archaeological examination of a grave field in Viby / Norrtuna outside Köping. The swords were buried in graves over 1200 years ago.
“We could see the handle of one of the swords sticking out of the ground, directly under the grass turf,” says Anton Seiler, at the Archaeologists at the State Historical Museums.
A stone’s throw from Köping in Västmanland lies the large grave field with about 100 graves – including two grave piles – dating to the younger Iron Age, about 600-1000 e. Cr.
“It was in the one grave pile that the sword was unexpectedly found. Over a later period of time, perhaps 200–300 years after it was built, humans have returned to the pile and laid three new graves built in the first one. It is about three stone laying, ie, graves built of stone.
In one stone setting, there were a large number of beautiful glass beads. In the other two, the swords have been stabbed into the ground in the middle of each grave. Something that is very unusual,” says archaeologist Anton Seiler.
A total of more than 20 Viking Age swords have been found in Västmanland in the past. Finding two specimens on the same burial ground as we have done, and also untouched in the graves, is a bit of a sensation. Especially as they are positioned the way they are, ” Seiler explains.
Why the swords stand upright is difficult to determine, but they have been placed very shallowly in the ground. Seiler suggests that it was a way of venerating and remembering their relatives by visiting where the swords were found and touching them.
“We do not know why several individuals have been buried later in the mound, whether this was about kinship or if you wanted to mark some belonging. Hopefully, the osteological analyses can provide answers to whether it is male or female graves.
“Cremated bones from humans and animals, a game piece, parts of a comb, and Bear Claws, which may have been part of a bear trap, are other finds made in the graves. A little unusual about the burial ground in Viby / Norrtuna is that it seems to be built on top of an older Farm, says archaeologist Fredrik Larsson.
According to the press release issued by Arkeologerna, the area was explored in stages. Under the grave field, there are farm remains that are older, from the Bronze Age or the older Iron Age. There is evidence that iron production has also been involved, so it is a very complex place.
The major archaeological excavations along the E18 in Västmanland have been going on for two years. They are being done in connection with widening the motorway between Köping and Västjädra. The excavations are now completed, and the swords are submitted for preservation.
History buffs on 2,000-year-old Roman road discovery near Evesham
The possible Roman ford was found near Evesham.
History buffs have shared their thoughts on a possible Roman road found near Evesham. Severn Trent workmen came across what some believe to be a nearly 2,000-year-old ford when completing sewerage works several weeks ago.
Aidan Smyth, the archaeology advisor for Wychavon District Council, thinks it could have global significance and now history fans from around Worcestershire have weighed in on the discovery.
Paul Harding, who runs Discovery History with his wife Helen, thinks it could put Evesham ‘on the map’.
He said: “The recent find of a possible Roman Ford in Worcestershire is really exciting.
“A surviving Roman Ford is extremely rare in what was once the Roman Empire.
“It looks like a well-made Roman road surface and may have taken over from an earlier trackway or route that the Britons were using before the Romans.
“We had simple roads before the Romans, and these sometimes followed traditional routes.
“This will put the area on the archaeological map and allow for further study in this kind of structure.”
Severn Trent workmen made the discovery whilst completing sewerage works.
Richard Ball, trustee at Vale of Evesham Historic Society, is equally enthused about the discovery.
He said: “There are some traces of Roman times in the Vale but in general these are few and far between, and this is by far the most important that has been found for a long time.
“I am hopeful that Aidan Smyth and his archaeology team will have an opportunity to examine it thoroughly and expect that the VEHS will wish to keep on close touch with developments and help in any way appropriate.”
Meanwhile, metal detectorist Stephen Grey is no stranger to uncovering the area’s history, having dug up a ‘Viking’ axe just a few weeks ago himself.
He said: “It could well be Roman as there’s been plenty of Roman items found by archaeologists and metal detectorists in the area.
“I myself have found a first-century silver roman coin albeit closer to Pershore but that does prove the Romans were in the general area at that time.
“I’ve also found a second-century Roman brooch much nearer to the site.
“If it proves to be a first-century Roman road leading into a ford, I think that’s very exciting.
“I know the experts are hoping it is and if true they seem to think it’s fairly unique in this country.”
