Archaeology breakthrough: Researchers unearthed ancient homes at German ‘Stonehenge’

Archaeology breakthrough: Researchers unearthed ancient homes at German ‘Stonehenge’

The Bronze Age site lies 85 miles away from Germany’s capital in the village of Pömmelte, and since its restoration in 2016 has become a key tourist attraction.

It is known for its wooden ringed structure, which researchers believe has ties to Wiltshire’s iconic Stonehenge site, and have even claimed may have been influenced after the people of Pömmelte visited the UK.

University of Halle archaeologist Franziska Knoll described the site as the “largest early Bronze Age settlement we know of in central Europe”, noting how it “must have been a really significant place”.

Also known as Woodhenge, excavations at the area have been ongoing for the past three years and conducted by archaeologists from the University of Halle, as well as the State Office for Monument Conservation and Archaeology.

During this work, researchers argue they have found evidence that shows dwellings on the site, including the unearthing of around 130 longhouses, Heritage Daily reported.

The 4,000-year-old settlement was believed to have been built by those who lived by the Bell Beaker culture, in around 2300 BC.

Out of the Bell Beakers came the Únětice culture, which then populated the site.

Archaeologists have discovered 130 homes at an Early Bronze Age monument, suggesting there was a community living around Germany’s ‘Stonehenge’

Experts speculate that it may have been used in astronomical rituals, a world away from the residential area it has now become.

After working on the site, archaeologists theorised that Pömmelte had been active for around 300 years – before it was abandoned after being burned down in 2050 BC.

Speaking earlier this year, Ms Knoll said: “We call it the German Stonehenge because the beginnings are the same.

“It’s got the same diameter, just a different orientation. They’re built by the same people.”

Previous excavations of the site found dismembered bodies of children and women, with some having suffered severe skull trauma and rib fractures.

The archaeologist also argued that with Stonehenge pre-dating Pömmelte, the Wiltshire site could have been a blueprint for the German landmark.

She added: “It’s not coincidental.

“It’s coming from the same culture, the same view of the world.”

Pömmelte was originally found in 1991 after laws changed in East Germany to allow aerial photography to be used.

The images allowed experts to search for any signs of ancient buildings, such as areas of land where the soil is holding more moisture, leading to crops to grow taller and greener.

They showed rings of “postholes arranged in concentric circles where the Woodhenge once stood”.

Traces of Thracian Tower Found in Bulgaria

Traces of Thracian Tower Found in Bulgaria

Archaeologists have uncovered the foundations of a wall enclosing an area of 1000 square metres off Cape Chiroza on Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea coast, as well as the foundations of a large massive two-part tower located in the highest and protruding part of the cape in the sea.
The Sofia Globe reports that defensive structures, coins, ornaments, and amphora seals have been uncovered on Cape Chiroza, along Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea coast, by archaeologists from the country’s National History Museum and the Regional History Museum Burgas.

Archaeologists have uncovered the foundations of a wall enclosing an area of 1000 square metres off Cape Chiroza on Bulgaria’s southern Black Sea coast, as well as the foundations of a large massive two-part tower located in the highest and protruding part of the cape in the sea.

The finds were made by a team involving archaeologists from the National History Museum and the Regional History Museum Bourgas.

In front of these structures, separate sections of a ditch up to three metres wide, preserved at a depth of up to two metres from the current terrain, have been studied.

The moat probably performed defensive functions, but it is possible that it also had ritual functions, the Regional History Museum Bourgas said.

Hundreds of ceramic fragments of local Thracian pottery have been found, and imported ones made for the most part in the workshops in Asia Minor around ancient Pergamum.

The coins, ornaments, amphora seals and character samples of the ceramic production date the site to the end of the second to first century BCE.

4,000-Year-Old Settlement Unearthed in Eastern India

4,000-Year-Old Settlement Unearthed in Eastern India

In the Balasore district, the Odisha Institute of Maritime and South-East Asian Studies (OIMSEAS), an archaeological branch of the state government, found a 4,000-year-old settlement and ancient relics.

The OIMSEAS had requested permission from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) to record the site at Durgadevi village in Remuna tehsil after discovering indications of fortified early historic structures near Balasore town.

Durgadevi has located 20 km from Balasore town. According to the ASI, the site has a circular mud fortification of about 4.9 km between the Sona river to the south and the Burahabalang river on its northeastern margin.

Archaeologists have come across distinct traces of three cultural phases at the excavation site — Chalcolithic (2000 BCE to 1000 BCE), the Iron Age (1000 BCE to 400 BCE) and the Early Historic Period (400 BCE to 200 BCE).

“Two small nullas, Gangahara and Prassana, join the site on its north and south, forming a natural moat for the site, which was an ancient water management system developed at least 4,000 years back from the present,” the institute said.

The excavation was started with an aim to correlate the simultaneous growth and development of maritime activities, and urbanisation in the east coast of India, linking the Ganga valley in the north and the Mahanadi valley in central Odisha, more particularly to focus on early cultural development in northern Odisha, the institute informed.

According to the OIMSEAS, horizontal excavation was concentrated in an area of two acres of high land, where a cultural deposit of about 4 to 5 meters was seen.

Archaeologists have come across a human settlement, and artefacts belonging to the Chalcolithic period.

“The major discovery of the Chalcolithic period of Durgadevi is the base of a circular hut, black on red painted pottery, black slipped ware, red slipped ware and copper objects. The floor of the circular hut is rammed with red soil,” Sunil Kumar Pattnaik, archaeologist and Secretary, OIMSEAS.

“From the base of the circular hut and the utilitarian objects found, the lifestyle of the people has been derived. People were mostly leading a settled life and had started agriculture, and domestication of animals and fishing,” he said.

Similarly, the cultural material evidence and remains found from this phase include pottery, remains of black burnished ware, black and redware, iron objects like nails, arrowheads, and crucible and slag of various kinds belonging to the Iron Age.

“The use of iron is a landmark phase in the growth of civilisation in Odisha, particularly in north Odisha. There are several iron age sites discovered by various archaeologists in the upper and middle Mahanadi valley, but in north Odisha, this is the first site,” said Mr. Patnaik.

Cultural materials from the early historic period such as pottery specimens of redware, terracotta ear studs, bangles, beads, and some conical objects, were also discovered from the site.

“The lifestyle of the people, which is derived from the cultural materials, was very improved at that time, from an agricultural base to trade and construction of fortification around the site with a moat, which signify the emergence of urbanisation at Durgadevi around 400 BCE to 200 BCE,” said the OIMSEAS Secretary.

Archaeology dig in Spain yields prehistoric ‘crystal weapons’

Archaeology dig in Spain yields prehistoric ‘crystal weapons’

When you see a beautiful crystal how do you feel? Perhaps the perfection of the diamond or the vivid colours of the different gems are your thing? The fact is that people have been fascinated by crystals ever since they had first discovered them.

The gems ‘ names come from ancient cultures that were obsessed with them pretty much, adding them to their jewellery, kitchenware, and weapons. Do you know that even the Bible describes the new Jerusalem after the apocalypse built all in gems and crystals?

An archaeological excavation in Spain reveals that even in the 3rd millennium BC, crystals were an object of fascination and ritual

Archaeologists discovered a number of shrouds decorated with amber beads at the Valencina de la Concepción site, and they also found a “remarkable set of “crystal weapons.

The Monterilio tholos, excavated between 2007 and 2010, is “a great megalithic construction…which extends over 43.75 m in total.” It has been constructed out of large slabs of slate and served as a burial site.

The period in which this site was built was well known for the excavation of metals from the ground, and where there is excavation – there can also be crystals.

In the case of the Monterilio tholos, the people there found a way to shape the quartz crystals into weapons.

However, the spot where these crystals were uncovered is not associated with rock crystal deposits, so it means that these crystals were imported from somewhere else.

The rock crystal source used in creating these weapons has not been pinpointed, but two potential sources have been suggested, “both located several kilometres away from Valencina.”

As the academic paper which focuses on these crystal weapons states, the manufacture of the crystal dagger “must have been based on the accumulation of transmitted empirical knowledge and skill taken from the production of flint dagger blades as well from the know-how of rock-crystal smaller foliaceous bifacial objects, such as Ontiveros and Monterilio arrowheads.”

The exact number of ‘crystal weapons’ found on the site has been estimated to “10 crystal arrowheads, 4 blades and the rock crystal core of the Monterilio tholos.”

Interestingly enough, although the bones of 20 individuals were found in the main chamber, none of the crystal weapons can be ascribed to them.

The individuals had been buried with flint daggers, ivory, beads, and other items, but the crystal weapons were kept in separate chambers.

These crystal weapons could have had ritualistic significance and were most probably kept for the elite. Their use was perhaps closely connected to the spiritual significance they possessed. Indeed, many civilizations have found crystals as having a highly spiritual and symbolical significance.

Archaeology dig in Spain yields prehistoric ‘crystal weapons’

The paper states that “they probably represent funerary paraphernalia only accessible to the elite of this time period.

The association of the dagger blade to a handle made of ivory, also a non-local raw material that must have been of great value, strongly suggests the high-ranking status of the people making use of such objects.”

700-year-old Pope’s seal found in Shropshire field

700-year-old Pope’s seal found in Shropshire field

The number of archaeological objects officially unearthed in Britain has reached the 1.5million mark – with the discovery of a seal belonging to a 13th-century pope. The medieval find, which is more than 750 years old, was a seal of Pope Innocent IV and may have links to an English monarch.

Born Sinibaldo Fieschi, Pope Innocent IV, whose papacy began in 1243, used the lead coin-like object to confer political and religious favours.

Experts believe the seal, which was discovered by a metal detectorist in Shropshire, may have ended up there because the Pope was trying to obtain Henry III’s support in his claim for Sicily.   

Peter Reavill, the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme finds liaison officer for Shropshire and Herefordshire, said another explanation was that it may have been given as an ‘indulgence’ to a rich, powerful individual who gave money to the church in exchange order to keep him ‘out of purgatory.’  

700-year-old Pope's seal found in Shropshire field
The medieval find, which is more than 750 years old, was a seal of Pope Innocent IV and may have links to an English monarch

Mr Reavill said: ‘We don’t know who he (the Pope) sent the letter to. All we know is the lead seal has dropped off.’

While the seal, which would have been kept as a ‘talisman’, does not have a huge value, ‘the archaeology of the region is definitely richer for its find,’ he said.

The object is the 1.5 millionth to be discovered in the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS).

The scheme was created in 1997 so archaeological objects found by the public can be recorded to help advance knowledge of the past.

Experts say the finds, which have included the gold treasures of the Staffordshire Hoard, have radically transformed what ‘is known about life through time on the British Isles.’

The seal was found before metal-detecting was prohibited under the lockdown.

Museum director Hartwig Fischer said: ‘We look forward to many more objects being recorded, and who knows what exciting discoveries are yet to be found.’

Under the Treasure Act in 1996, finders have to report all finds of potential treasure to the local coroner within 14 days – or face an unlimited fine or up to three months in prison.

Items listed as potential treasure include two or more coins over 300 years old, objects made of precious metals, such as gold and silver, which are over 300 years old, groups of prehistoric metal objects, and any objects found in the same place as other items of treasure.

The object is the 1.5 millionth to be discovered in the British Museum’s Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS). Pictured: The Vale of York hoard
Experts say the finds, which have included the gold treasures of the Staffordshire Hoard (pictured above: a group of finds from the Staffordshire hoard), have radically transformed what ‘is known about life through time on the British Isles.

The coroner will then decide if the item or items are a treasure, at which point it will be offered to a museum – and then the finder, landowner or tenant of the land will get a reward.

The British Museum and BBC History Magazine have published a list of 10 of the most important discoveries of the past 23 years.

They include gold vessel the Ringlemere Cup; the 2,581 coins known as the Chew Valley Hoard; the Staffordshire Moorlands pan and the Staffordshire Hoard – the largest find of Anglo-Saxon gold.

Michael Lewis, head of the PAS and Treasure at the British Museum, said that ‘even the smallest and most modest items offer clues about our history, so we encourage everyone who makes a find to continue to come forward.’

‘Entire Streets’ Of Roman London Uncovered

‘Entire Streets’ Of Roman London Uncovered

About 10,000 finds have been discovered, including writing tablets and good luck charms. The area has been dubbed the “Pompeii of the north” due to the perfect preservation of organic artefacts such as leather and wood.

Experts uncovering a 2,000-year-old Roman tiled floor

One expert said: “This is the site that we have been dreaming of for 20 years.”

Archaeologists expect the finds, at the three-acre site, to provide the earliest foundation date for Roman London, currently AD 47.

‘Entire Streets’ Of Roman London Uncovered
The site is providing fresh insight into the religious and mystical practices of London’s early residents. Amber was an expensive imported material and was thought to have magical powers and this amulet, in the shape of a gladiator’s helmet, may have been used to protect children from illness
View to northwest of the Bloomberg Place site, recording a 4th-century Roman timber well

The site will house media corporation Bloomberg’s European headquarters.

It contains the bed of the Walbrook, one of the “lost” rivers of London, and features built-up soil waterfronts and timber structures, including a complex Roman drainage system used to discharge waste from industrial buildings.

Organic materials such as leather and wood were preserved in an anaerobic environment, due to the bed being waterlogged.

‘Beautifully preserved’

Museum of London archaeologists (MOLA), who led the excavation of the site, says it contains the largest collection of small finds ever recovered on a single site in London, covering a period from the AD 40s to the early 5th Century.

An amber amulet in the shape of a gladiator’s helmet was discovered

Sadie Watson, the site director for MOLA, said: “We have entire streets of Roman London in front of us.”

At 40ft (12m), the site is believed to be one of the deepest archaeological digs in London, and the team has removed 3,500 tonnes of soil in six months.

More than 100 fragments of Roman writing tablets have been discovered. Some are thought to contain names and addresses, while others contain affectionate letters.

More than 100 fragments of the wooden tablet have been preserved and they contain fascinating information about Roman life. This tablet is a letter to a friend. Tablets of this sort were used for everyday correspondence and even shopping lists or party invitations.

A wooden door, only the second to be found in London, is another prized find.

MOLA’s Sophie Jackson said the site contains “layer upon layer of Roman timber buildings, fences and yards, all beautifully preserved and containing amazing personal items, clothes, and even documents.”

The site also includes a previously unexcavated section of the Temple of Mithras, a Roman cult, which was first unearthed in 1954.

The preserved timber means that tree ring samples will provide dendrochronological dating for Roman London, expected to be earlier than the current dating of AD 47.

The artefacts are to be transported back to the Museum of London to be freeze-dried and preserved by the record, as the site will eventually become the entrance to the Waterloo and City line at Bank station.

These 4th Century pewter bowls and cups are examples of fine tableware and were thrown into a timber-lined well as part of a ritual offering, along with some cow skulls. Once experts have managed to record all the finds, they will form part of a public exhibition in the new building.

18th century Ice House re-discovered beneath the streets of Marylebone London

18th century Ice House re-discovered beneath the streets of Marylebone London

Archaeologists in London have re-discovered a subterranean ice house near Regents Park. Dating back to the 1780s, the egg-shaped cavern was used to store ice, which was imported from as far away as Norway.

18th century Ice House re-discovered beneath the streets of Marylebone London
18th century Ice House re-discovered beneath the streets of Marylebone

Made from bricks, the structure would have been one of the largest of its kind at the time, according to the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA).

The egg-shaped chambers measure 25 feet (7.5 meters) wide and 31 feet (9.5 meters) deep. Archaeologists with MOLA found the ice house, also known as an ice well, along with its entrance chambers and vaulted ante-chamber, during preparation for the development of the Regent’s Crescent residential project.

A MOLA archaeologist brushes off the exterior of the ice house.

MOLA said the ice houses are in remarkable condition, given that buildings directly above it were destroyed during the London Blitz of the 2nd World War, and that a subway line runs about 32 feet (10 meters) underneath, as the Guardian report.

It is hard to believe that a structure as large as this could have gone missing, but the entrance was buried during clean-up operations after the Blitz.

“There was always an understanding that there was an ice house here somewhere, but we were not sure where,” David Sorapure, the head of Built Heritage at MOLA, told the Guardian.

“Even after we found where the entrance was, we were not quite sure how big it was, or how you got in.”

MOLA is working at the site on behalf of Great Marlborough Estates, which is currently redeveloping Regent’s Crescent, which once boasted elaborate stucco terraces designed by architect John Nash, who also designed Buckingham Palace.

The ice well was built underneath the terrace in the 1780s by Samuel Dash, who had ties to the brewing industry. By the 1820s, ice-merchants and confectioner William Leftwich was using the Ice Houses to store and supply ice for wealthy Londoners, according to MOLA.

Schematic of the ice house.

While modern refrigeration had yet to be invented, that did not deter Englanders from wanting easy access to ice.

It was not possible back then to create ice artificially, so it had to be gathered from local waterways and stored in subterranean ice houses, of which there were thousand in London alone (though much smaller than the newly discovered ice house).

As the Guardian reports, workers at the ice house would descend into the chambers to collect pieces of ice when needed. The ice would have been delivered to customers, including restaurants and potentially doctors and dentists, via a horse-drawn cart.

While we may take access to ice for granted today, the frozen stuff was in high demand in Leftwich’s day. According to a MOLA press release:

Leftwich was one of the first peoples to recognise the potential for profit in imported ice: in 1822, following a very mild winter, he chartered a vessel to make the 2000 km round trip from Great Yarmouth to Norway to collect 300 tonnes of ice harvested from crystal-clear frozen lake, an example of “the extraordinary the length has gone to at this time to serve up luxury fashionable frozen treats and furnish food trader and retailers with ice” (as put by David Sorapure, our Head of Built Heritage).

The venture was not without risks: previous import had been lost at sea or melted whilst baffled custom officials dithered over how to tax such novel cargo.

The newly re-discovered ice houses have now been designated a Scheduled Monument by Historic England. Restoration work is planned for the structures, along with the construction of a viewing corridor to allow public access.

Norwegian ice cutters handle blocks of ice harvested from frozen lakes, circa 1900.

Archaeologists discover a medieval skeleton with his boots still on in London

Archaeologists discover medieval skeleton with his boots still on in London

Archaeologists excavating a site along with the Thames Tideway Tunnel—a massive pipeline nicknamed London’s “super sewer”—have revealed the skeleton of a medieval man who literally died with his boots on.

“It’s extremely rare to discover any boots from the late 15th century, let alone a skeleton still wearing them,” says Beth Richardson of the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA).

“And these are very unusual boots for the period—thigh boots, with the tops, turned down. They would have been expensive, and how this man came to own them is a mystery. Were they secondhand? Did he steal them? We don’t know.”

Unearthing skeletons amid major construction projects is not unusual in London, where throughout the centuries land has been reused countless times and many burial grounds have been built over and forgotten. (Learn more about London’s rich history.)

However, archaeologists noticed right away that this skeleton was different.

The position of the body—face down, right arm over the head, left arm bent back on itself—suggests that the man was not deliberately buried. It is also unlikely that he would have been laid to rest in leather boots, which were expensive and highly prized.

In light of those clues, archaeologists believe the man died accidentally and his body was never recuperated, although the cause of death is unclear. Perhaps he fell into the river and could not swim. Or possibly he became trapped in the tidal mud and drowned.

Sailor, fisherman, or “mudlarker”?

500 years ago this stretch of the Thames—2 miles or so downstream from the Tower of London—was a bustling maritime neighbourhood of wharves and warehouses, workshops and taverns.

The river was flanked by the Bermondsey Wall, a medieval earthwork about fifteen feet high built to protect riverbank property from tidal surges.

Given the neighbourhood, the booted man may have been a sailor or a fisherman, a possibility reinforced by physical clues.

Pronounced grooves in his teeth may have been caused by repeatedly clenching a rope. Or perhaps he was a “mudlarker,” a slang term for those who scavenge along the Thames muddy shore at low tide.

The man’s wader-like thigh boots would have been ideal for such work.

“We know he was very powerfully built,” says Niamh Carty, an osteologist, or skeletal specialist, at MOLA.

“The muscle attachments on his chest and shoulder are very noticeable. The muscles were built by doing lots of heavy, repetitive work over a long period of time.”

It was work that took a physical toll. Albeit only in his early thirties, the booted man suffered from osteoarthritis, and vertebrae in his back had already begun to fuse as the result of years of bending and lifting.

Wounds to his left hip suggest he walked with a limp, and his nose had been broken at least once. There is evidence of blunt force trauma on his forehead that had healed before he died.

“He did not have an easy life,” says Carty. “Early thirties was middle age back then, but even so, his biological age was older.”

The examination is continuing. Isotope investigation will shed light on where the man grew up, whether he was an immigrant or a native Londoner, and what kind of diet he had.

“His family never had any answers or a grave,” says Carty. “What we are doing is an act of remembrance. We’re allowing his story to finally be told.”

The boots discovered on the skeleton of a medieval man during Tideway excavations
Grooves in the teeth of the booted man

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