Bronze Age burial chamber discovered on Dartmoor, England
Excitement has been felt among archaeologists over the discovery of a Bronze Age burial chamber on Dartmoor, which may provide fresh light on Devon’s prehistoric past.
This “enchanting” discovery could rival the significance of the 2011 find at Whitehorse Hill, where the remains of a young woman dating to circa 1700 BC were discovered.
The previous discovery was hailed around the world for its revelations about life in the early Bronze Age, and there are high hopes that the latest find will be just as enlightening.
Found in a secluded area to prevent tampering, the site’s exact location remains undisclosed. Peat erosion allowed for the discovery, which revealed what appears to be a Bronze Age cist or type of ancient coffin.
Dr. Lee Bray, a leading archaeologist involved in the excavation commented, “We have every potential for this to be something quite special,…. We don’t know for certain if this is a cist, but it certainly looks like one. All the evidence we have points to it being a cist from the early Bronze Age,” reports Devon Live.
The peat around it is waterlogged, meaning any clothing or artifacts inside could be very well preserved.
The Whitehorse Hill burial was preserved in this manner, and precious artifacts including the pelt of a brown bear, 200 beads, a copper alloy pin, and a variety of other grave goods were discovered, explains the Dartmoor National Park page.
Dr Bray said there were three options – to leave it where it is and let nature take its course, to try to halt the erosion or to excavate.
He dismissed the first option as irresponsible archaeology and noted that simply halting erosion wouldn’t eliminate the risk of air exposure damaging the contents. “They are deteriorating slowly as we speak,” he warned.
The Dartmoor National Park Authority is backing the excavation efforts, having set aside £90,000 from its reserves.
Given the site’s remote location, away from accessible roads, specialized equipment such as helicopters and laser scanning tools are required to safely remove and transport the burial chamber.
Also, this project is not only a significant step forward for local archaeology, but it could also benefit the larger historical community by providing a rare glimpse into the lives of those who walked these moors thousands of years ago.
Researchers from the Federal University of São Paulo have managed to uncover the oldest known human viruses in a set of Neanderthal bones dating from over 50,000 years and they could soon recreate them.
Two Neanderthals had their DNA tested, and the results showed traces of the papillomavirus (a sexually transmitted virus) and the adenovirus (adenovirus, which causes cold sores), as well as other viruses.
The two prehistoric humans were male and their remains were found in a cave in Russia. Experts have long speculated that viruses may have caused the extinction of Neanderthals, and this most recent discovery could support that theory.
This suggests that Neanderthals may have been infected with the same viruses that affect humans today, according to the authors of a preprint that has not yet undergone peer review. It also shows that it was possible to identify portions of viral genomes in archaeological samples.
Adenoviruses, for example, can cause a wide range of illnesses from the pain in the butt that is the common cold, to a nasty bout of acute gastroenteritis. The overwhelmingly prevalent Epstein-Barr virus that can trigger mononucleosis and multiple sclerosis belongs to the herpesviruses. Papillomaviruses are perhaps best known for their association with cervical cancer.
The team who made the discovery now plan to try and synthesise the “Jurassic Park-like viruses” to see how they compare to modern ones.
“These Jurassic Park-like viruses could then be studied for their reproductive and pathogenic traits and compared to present-day counterparts,’ Marcelo Briones, the study’s lead author told NewScientist.
“I am sceptical that this could be achieved given the lack of full understanding of how the viruses’ DNA is damaged and how to reconstruct the recovered pieces into a full viral genome,” he added. “’Also, the host-virus interaction, especially in a completely different environment, is something to consider.”
The remains were found in Russia’s Altai mountains in Siberia, in the Chagyrskaya cave. The remains were among a group of nine, found in 2022, who all shared DNA, meaning they were related.
Researchers were able to sequence genome data from the Neanderthals giving an astonishing glimpse into their DNA. They were able to ascertain that the viral traces in the remains did not get there from animals or modern humans contaminating them.
“Taken together, our data indicate that these viruses might represent viruses that really infected Neanderthals,” study author Marcelo Briones told New Scientist.
That is not to say that viruses alone could have led to the extinction of the Neanderthals—as the authors make clear in the paper—but it does lend support to the theory put forth by some scientists that viruses could have been involved in some way.
“To support their provocative and interesting hypothesis, it would be necessary to prove that at least the genomes of these viruses can be found in Neanderthal remains,” said Briones. “That is what we did.”
Historic 3,000-year-old olive tree still producing olives to this day
The oldest olive tree in the world is located in the village of Ano Vouves of Kissamos in Chania, Crete, Greece. The ancient tree is 3000 years old, as determined by the international scientific community.
The most ancient olive tree in the world, in Crete, Greece.
The ancient olive tree in Vouves has a trunk with a circumference of 12.5 meters (41 feet), and a diameter of 4.6 meters (15 feet). It belongs to the local tree variety of tsounati and was grafted at a height of three meters onto a wild olive tree.
Because of the grafting, its trunk has been so beautifully shaped by nature that it resembles a sculpture. In 1990, after a unanimous decision in the prefecture of Chania, the Vouves Olive Tree was declared a Natural Monument of great importance due to its status as the world’s oldest tree of its kind.
The oldest olive tree still produces high-quality olives
The fruits of the ancient olive tree produce the best olive oil in the world, making the area the cradle of olive cultivation on the island of Crete. The trunk of the tree is now hollow as there is no heartwood, so the olive is renewed outward and the heartwood gradually rots away.
Since the olive tree is constantly renewing its wood, it has served as a a symbol of immortality since ancient times.
Thousands of tourists visit the stunning tree every summer to marvel at it and learn its history. They are mainly impressed by its enormous shape and the imposing volume of the trunk but also by the fact that it has remained alive and fruitful for 3000 years.
The site of the olive tree, including the entire hill on which several villages are situated, has thousands of olive trees and the villages are widely believed to produce the best olive oil in the world.
Why is the Olive Tree Important in Greece?
The olive tree has been associated with Greece for millennia.
It symbolizes peace and prosperity, as well as the hope of resurrection and prosperous life. The typically Mediterranean Greek landscape is dotted with these trees, and Greeks throughout the centuries have been inextricably linked with this plant.
For Ancient Greeks, the olive tree was one of two of the most respected mythical trees, along with the oak.
The deeply rooted love and respect shown to this tree by Greeks has survived throughout the centuries.
Greek olive oil
Greek olive oil, or “Liquid Gold,” as Homer called it, has been part of Greece’s history since antiquity. It is an irreplaceable nutritional component of the Greek diet.
Ancient Greeks also used olive oil as part of their efforts to enjoy a healthy life and to promote longevity, and used it as a cosmetic for the skin and hair. Today, Greek olive oil is considered by most as the best in the world.
The history of humanity’s use of the olive dates back to ancient history. In his work “Origine des plantes cultivées,” botanist Augustin Pyrame de Candole writes that our cultivation of the tree started some time around 4000 BC—and that its origin is from the coasts of Asia Minor.
Today, throughout the world, there are approximately 800 million olive trees—of which approximately 95 percent are cultivated in the Mediterranean basin, which has the best soil and climatic conditions for olive cultivation.
The olive is widely grown all over in Greece. Its cultivation, which is greater than any other type of fructiferous tree, occupies approximately 15 percent of cultivated agricultural land and 75 percent of arboraceous cultivations in the country.
Norway Couple Find Viking Age Grave Under Their House
When the couple removed the floor, they began to find stones and pieces of iron. Archaeologists believe they are from the Viking Age.
A Norwegian couple got quite the shock when renovating their old family house near Bodø in northern Norway this month.
After removing the floorboards and some sand with the intention to install insulation, the couple discovered several rocks. They continued digging and spotted something glittering in the light.
A Viking Age discovery
According to TV2 they first believed it was the wheel from a toy car, but as the floor had never been lifted since the house’s construction in 1914, it had to be something else. The item turned out to be a glass bead.
A glass bead was among the first objects discovered by the couple in northern Norway.
The couple also found a large iron axehead and several other iron objects. They contacted the Nordland county authority which has responsibility for cultural heritage. Experts from Tromsø museum visited the house the following day.
By Norwegian law, any cultural monuments that show traces of human activity prior to 1537 are automatically preserved.
A full excavation
Archaeologists have now started a full excavation of what they believe is a grave from the Viking Age. While such burial sites are not uncommon in Norway, this would be the first example of one found under a house.
Archaeologist Martinus Hauglid said that the glass bead and iron items are likely from the late Viking Age, when Norway transitioned to Christianity and became one kingdom.
“We assume it dates back to the 9th century, probably a grave from the Viking Age. Now there is a group of archaeologists from Tromsø doing a survey, and they will bring all the finds north,” he told Bodø Nu. The iron items and bead are already at Tromsø University for further study.
These stones formed the top of what archaeologists believe is a Viking burial ground
5,500-Year-Old Sumerian Star Map Of Ancient Nineveh Reveals Observation Of Köfels’ Impact Event
Did ancient Sumerians observe and record the impact of the Aten asteroid over 5,000 years ago?
The Sumerian star map shows people observing and recording Köfels’ impact more than 5,500 years ago.
For over 150 years scientists have tried to solve the mystery of a controversial cuneiform clay tablet that indicates the so-called Köfel’s impact event was observed in ancient times. The circular stone-cast tablet was recovered from the 650 BC underground library of King Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, Iraq in the late 19th century. Long thought to be an Assyrian tablet, computer analysis has matched it with the sky above Mesopotamia in 3300 BC and proves it to be of much more ancient Sumerian origin.
The tablet is an “Astrolabe,” the earliest known astronomical instrument. It consists of a segmented, disk-shaped star chart with marked units of angle measure inscribed upon the rim.
Unfortunately, considerable parts of the planisphere on this tablet are missing (approximately 40%), damage which dates to the sacking of Nineveh. The reverse of the tablet is not inscribed.
Still, under study by modern scholars, the cuneiform tablet in the British Museum collection No K8538 (known as “the Planisphere”) provides extraordinary proof for the existence of sophisticated Sumerian astronomy.
In 2008 two authors, Alan Bond and Mark Hempsell published a book about the tablet called “A Sumerian Observation of the Kofels’ Impact Event”.
Raising a storm in archaeological circles, they re-translated the cuneiform text and assert the tablet records an ancient asteroid strike, the Köfels’ Impact, which struck Austria sometime around 3100 BC.
The giant landslide centered at Köfels in Austria is 500 m thick and five kilometers in diameter and has long been a mystery since geologists first looked at it in the 19th century. The conclusion drawn by research in the middle 20th century was that it must be due to a very large meteor impact because of the evidence of crushing pressures and explosions.
But this view lost favor as a much better understanding of impact sites developed in the late 20th century.
In the case of Köfels there is no crater, so to modern eyes, it does not look as an impact site should look. However, the evidence that puzzled the earlier researchers remains unexplained by the view that it is just another landslide.
So what is the connection between the sophisticated Sumerian star chart discovered in the underground library in Nineveh and the mysterious impact that took place in Austria?
Examination of the clay tablet reveals that it is an astronomical work as it has drawings of constellations on it and the text has known constellation names. It has attracted a lot of attention but in over a hundred years nobody has come up with a convincing explanation as to what it is.
The Sumerian star map shows people observed and recorded Köfels’ impact more than 5,500 years ago.
With modern computer programs that can simulate trajectories and reconstruct the night sky thousands of years ago, the researchers have established what the Planisphere tablet refers to. It is a copy of the night notebook of a Sumerian astronomer as he records the events in the sky before dawn on 29 June 3123 BC (Julian calendar).
Half the tablet records planet positions and cloud cover, the same as any other night, but the other half of the tablet records an object large enough for its shape to be noted even though it is still in space.
The astronomers made an accurate note of its trajectory relative to the stars, which to an error better than one degree is consistent with an impact at Köfels.
The observation suggests the asteroid is over a kilometer in diameter and the original orbit about the Sun was an Aten type, a class of asteroid that orbit close to the earth, that is resonant with the Earth’s orbit.
This trajectory explains why there is no crater at Köfels. The incoming angle was very low (six degrees) and means the asteroid clipped a mountain called Gamskogel above the town of Längenfeld, 11 kilometers from Köfels, and this caused the asteroid to explode before it reached its final impact point. As it traveled down the valley it became a fireball, around five kilometers in diameter (the size of the landslide).
Around 700 BC an Assyrian scribe in the Royal Place at Nineveh made a copy of one of the most important documents in the royal collection.
Two and a half thousand years later it was found by Henry Layard in the remains of the palace library. It ended up in the British Museum’s cuneiform clay tablet collection as catalog No. K8538 (also called “the Planisphere”), where it has puzzled scholars for over a hundred and fifty years. In this monograph, Bond and Hempsell provide the first comprehensive translation of the tablet, showing it to be a contemporary Sumerian observation of an Aten asteroid over a kilometer in diameter that impacted Köfels in Austria in the early morning of 29th June 3123 BC. Read more
When it hit Köfels it created enormous pressures that pulverized the rock and caused the landslide but because it was no longer a solid object it did not create a classic impact crater.
Mark Hempsell, discussing the Köfels event, said: “Another conclusion can be made from the trajectory. The back plume from the explosion (the mushroom cloud) would be bent over the Mediterranean Sea re-entering the atmosphere over the Levant, Sinai, and Northern Egypt.
“The ground heating though very short would be enough to ignite any flammable material – including human hair and clothes. It is probable more people died under the plume than in the Alps due to the impact blast.”
In other words, the remarkable ancient star map shows that the Sumerians made an observation of an Aten asteroid over a kilometer in diameter that impacted Köfels in Austria in the early morning of 29th June 3123 BC.
A 3,400-year-old Minoan tomb has been uncovered in an unnamed farmer’s olive grove near Ierapetra on the Greek island of Crete
The untouched Bronze Age tomb and the skeletons inside will hopefully provide archaeologists with information about the mysterious Minoan civilization.
A covered coffin from the Minoan times found in Ierapetra, Crete, Greece.
In an extraordinary example of being in the wrong place at the right time, a Greek farmer just made a startling archaeological discovery.
A 3,400-year-old Minoan tomb was uncovered in an unnamed farmer’s olive grove near the city of Ierapetra on the Greek island of Crete. According to Cretapost, the farmer was attempting to park his car underneath an olive tree when suddenly the ground beneath him began to sink.
The farmer pulled his car out from under the tree and noticed that a huge hole which measured around four feet wide had opened up where his car had been sitting. When he peeked into the hole, the farmer knew he had stumbled upon something special. He called the local heritage ministry, Lassithi Ephorate of Antiquities, to investigate.
The four foot wide hole accidentally made by the farmer that ultimately led to the Minoan Bronze Age tomb.
The archaeologists from the ministry excavated the hole. What they found next was unprecedented.
The pit was approximately four feet wide and eight feet deep, was divided into three sections, and very apparently was a tomb.
In the first section, archaeologists uncovered a coffin and a variety of artifacts. The following niche held a second coffin, 14 Greek jars called amphorae, and a bowl.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, the archaeologists identified that the tomb was Minoan and of the Bronze Age due to the style of coffin they found. The artifacts — funerary vases and the two coffins— were well-preserved despite their extremely old age.
The eight-foot deep pit contained two coffins and several artifacts.
The tomb was sealed off by a stone wall and only after thousands of years of wear and tear did it deteriorate enough to buckle under the weight of the farmer’s car.
“Soil retreat was a result of the watering of the olive trees in the area as well as a broken irrigation tube,” Argyris Pantazis, the Deputy Mayor of Local Communities, Agranian and Tourism of Ierapetra, told Cretapost. “The ground had partially receded, and when the farmer tried to park in the shade of the olive, it completely retreated.”
Pantazis also said that the fact that the tomb was untouched by thieves for millennia makes it an ideal site for archaeologists to learn as much as possible about the two people buried in the tomb and life for the Minoan civilization.
A look inside the coffin of one of the two Minoans buried in the 3,400-year-old tomb.
According to Forbes, the skeletons date back to the Late Minoan IIIA-B period in archaeological chronology, also known as the Late Palace Period.
So far, not much information is known about the Minoan civilization and their way of life, save for their labyrinth palatial complexes, showcased in classic myths like Theseus and the Minotaur.
Researchers also believe that the Minoans met their end because of a string of devastating natural disasters. Most other details of the Minoan’s history remain unclear.
Further analysis of the skeletons and artifacts in the tomb in Crete will hopefully help archaeologists fill in some blanks and answer questions about mysterious Minoan civilization.
Iron Age necropolis that predates Rome unearthed near Naples
The archaeological team has unearthed 88 “pit tombs” at the site. There are also two large burial mounds that they think cover tombs of the elites of the ancient society.
An ancient necropolis discovered near Naples, Italy was used to bury the dead about 2,800 years ago, around the time the city of Rome was founded about 100 miles (161 kilometers) to the northwest.
The discovery gives researchers a rare insight into the Iron Age cultures that existed before the Roman domination of the region. The astonishing finds near the town of Amorosi, about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Naples, include 88 burials in “pit tombs” of both men and women.
The men were typically buried with weapons, whereas the women were often buried with bronze ornaments, including bracelets, pendants, brooches — called “fibulae,” and pieces of amber and worked bone, according to a translated statement from the Italian Ministry of Culture.
The archaeologists who excavated the site have also unearthed large numbers of pottery vases of different shapes, which were usually placed in the tombs at the feet of the deceased. They think the burial ground predates the Samnites, the people who lived in the region a few hundred years later and were frequent enemies of the early Romans.
Archaeologists think the ancient burial ground, or necropolis, near the town of Amorosi, Italy is around 2,800 years old.
Early Italy
According to legend, the mythical hero Romulus founded the city of Rome in 753 B.C. amid a dispute with his twin brother Remus; but archaeologists think Rome developed from a union of several hilltop villages after about the tenth century B.C., during the Iron Age.
The early Roman state fought many wars against its neighbors, including Etruscan city-states and other Latin-speaking peoples; and in the fourth century B.C., the Romans fought a series of wars against the Samnites, who mainly lived southeast of Rome in the mountainous Apennine region.
Rome was ultimately victorious, however, and the Samnites were assimilated into Roman society after the Third Samnite War, from 298 until 290 B.C., after which Rome went on to conquer the whole of Italy and to start colonies further afield.
The ancient necropolis near Amorosi seems to have been established in the Samnite region, but hundreds of years before the Samnites arrived there, possibly from central Italy.
Archaeologists think the people who founded the necropolis belonged to what’s been called the “Pit Tomb” culture that existed throughout much of central and southern Italy during the Iron Age.
The ancient necropolis was found during archaeological excavations that were conducted before a power station is built at the site.
Ancient necropolis
The burial ground near Amorosi was discovered by archaeologists investigating the area before a new power plant is built there. The power plant is intended to supply electricity to a high-speed upgrade of the railway between Naples and the city of Bari, on Italy’s Adriatic coast.
As well as the pit tombs, the necropolis features two large burial mounds — about 50 feet (15 meters) across — that the archaeologists think cover the tombs of elite members of the ancient society.
A statement from Italy’s Ministry of Culture said the tombs of men in the necropolis often included weapons, while the tombs of women often included ornaments, such as these bronze bracelets.
The mounds are now the only visible features of the necropolis, and have been known about for millennia, but the latest excavations have only now revealed the many tombs around them, according to news reports.
The tombs, artifacts and human remains they contain will now be studied in a laboratory that’s been set up at the site, the statement said.
Stone Inscribed With Ireland’s Ogham Script Found in England
A geography teacher was tidying his overgrown garden at his home in Coventry, England, when he stumbled across a rock with mysterious incisions. Intrigued, he sent photographs to a local archaeologist and was taken aback to learn that the markings were created more than 1,600 years ago and that the artefact was worthy of a museum.
The stone, which is 11cm long and weighs 139g, is inscribed on three of its four sides. Photograph: The Herbert Art Gallery and Museum
The rectangular sandstone rock that Graham Senior had discovered was inscribed in ogham, an alphabet used in the early medieval period primarily for writing in the Irish language.
Before the people of Ireland began using manuscripts made from vellum, they used the ogham writing system, consisting of parallel lines in groups on materials such as stone. Rare examples of such stones offer an insight into the Irish language before the use of the Latin insular script.
Mr Senior (55) said: “I was just clearing a flower bed of weeds and stones when I saw this thing and thought, that’s not natural, that’s not scratchings of an animal. It can’t have been more than four or five inches below the surface.”
He washed it and consulted a relative who was an archaeologist, who suggested that he contact the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which encourages the recording of archaeological objects found by members of the public.
Teresa Gilmore, an archaeologist and finds liaison officer for Staffordshire and West Midlands based at Birmingham Museums, said: “This is an amazing find. The beauty of the Portable Antiquities Scheme is that people are finding stuff that keeps rewriting our history.
“This particular find has given us a new insight into early medieval activity in Coventry, which we still need to make sense of. Each find like this helps in filling in our jigsaw puzzle and gives us a bit more information.”
When Mr Senior sent her some photographs, she immediately saw its potential. She contacted Katherine Forsyth, professor of Celtic Studies at the University of Glasgow, who confirmed that it was an ogham script, that of an early style, which most likely dates to the fifth to sixth century but possibly as early as the fourth century.
Ms Gilmore said such stones were “very rare and have generally been found in Ireland or Scotland … so to find them in the [English] midlands is actually unusual.”
She suggested it could be linked to people coming over from Ireland or to early medieval monasteries in the area. “You would have had monks and clerics moving between the different monasteries.”
The stone, which is 11cm long and weighs 139g, is inscribed on three of its four sides.
Its purpose is unclear, said Ms Gilmore, adding: “It could have been a portable commemorative item. We don’t know. It’s an amazing little thing.”
Explaining its inscription, “Maldumcail/S/Lass”, Gilmore said.
“The first part relates to a person’s name, Mael Dumcail. The second part is less certain. We’re not sure where the S/ Lass comes from. It is probably a location. So something like ‘had me made’.”
Senior said it was exciting to be told that the artefact was significant, adding: “We’re not far from the river Sowe. My thinking is that it must have been a major transport route.”
The rock will be displayed at the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry, to which Mr Senior has donated it permanently. It will feature in the forthcoming Collecting Coventry exhibition, which opens on May 11th.
Ali Wells, a curator at the museum, said: “It is really quite incredible. The language originates from Ireland. So, to have found it within Coventry, has been an exciting mystery. Coventry has been dug up over the years, especially the city centre, so there’s not that many new finds. It was quite unexpected.” – Guardian
