WORLD

Here is the list of top 10 Archaeological Discoveries of 2020

Here is the list of top 10 Archaeological Discoveries of 2020

Archaeology is the closest thing we have to a time machine. Instead of using flux capacitors, however, archaeologists rely on technology like ground-penetrating radar, scanning electron microscopes, DNA sequencing, and of course, the good-old-fashioned shovel.

Equipped with the right tools and techniques, the work of these scientists allows us to reconstruct the past and imagine things as they once were.

Years from now, when we look back on the year that was 2020, archaeology won’t be the first thing that comes to mind. But that’s not to say it wasn’t a good year for this important scientific discipline, here is the list of the 10 most prominent archaeological discoveries to hit the headlines in 2020.

10. Melting Ice Reveals a Viking Mountain Pass

Melting Ice Reveals a “Lost” Viking-era Highway in Norway’s Mountains As the glaciers of Scanadvia melt, the long-forgotten journeys of intrepid Vikings are revealed.

Reported in the journal Antiquity today, a retreating Lendbreen glacier in the mountains of Norway has recently revealed a mountain pass used by Vikings over 1,000 years ago, along with a treasure trove … Continue reading Melting Ice Reveals a “Lost” Viking-era Highway in Norway’s Mountains→

9. Oldest Maya Temple

Mexico: 3,000-year-old Mayan ceremonial complex discovered in Tabasco In the latest breakthrough discovery of lost civilization, researchers have found the largest and the oldest Mayan site through a unique laser technology called lidar.

Using the aerial remote-sensing method, researchers at the University of Arizona found a colossal rectangular elevated platform that was built between 1000 … Continue reading Mexico: 3,000-year-old Mayan ceremonial complex discovered in Tabasco→

8. 11,000-year-old mine in underwater cave surprises archaeologists

11,000-year-old mine in the underwater cave found by archaeologists Paleoindian ochre mining has been found by divers in three underwater caves near Akumal, on the coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. From the Maya era, the cave’s were a source of mineral and pigment but they were long preceded by mining activity in this … Continue reading 11,000-year-old mine in the underwater cave found by archaeologists→

7. Anglo-Saxon cemetery with 200 graves

Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Excavated in the East of England BBC News reports that an Anglo-Saxon cemetery that may date to the sixth century A.D has been found at a site slated for residential development in the East of England, within the border of the Kingdom of the East Angles. Brooches, pottery, small iron knives, wrist clasps, … Continue reading Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Excavated in the East of England→

  • Ancient String Discovery Sheds Light on Neanderthal Life

It looked like a white splotch on the underside of a Neanderthal stone tool. But a microscope showed it was a bunch of fibres twisted around each other. Further examination revealed it was the first direct evidence that Neanderthals could make string, and the oldest known direct evidence for string-making overall, researchers say.

The find implies our evolutionary cousins had some understanding of numbers and the trees that furnished the raw material, they say. It’s the latest discovery to show Neanderthals were smarter than modern-day people often assume. Continue Reading……..

6. A Bizarre Circular Structure Discovered Near Stonehenge

Massive Prehistoric Monument Detected Near Stonehenge Two miles from Stonehenge, a series of ancient shafts excavated thousands of years ago has been found.

Analysis of the 20 or more shafts suggests the features are Neolithic and excavated more than 4,500 years ago – around the time the nearby ancient settlement of Durrington Walls was built. … Continue reading Massive Prehistoric Monument Detected Near Stonehenge→

5. An Ice Age Structure Made From the Bones of 60 Mammoths

A Mysterious 25,000-Year-Old Structure Built of the Bones of 60 Mammoths Mysterious bone circles consisting of hundreds of mammoths bones helped scientists understand how people survived the last ice age. According to a new analysis, the bones at one location in Russia were more than 20,000 years old. The wall of the 30 ft building was … Continue reading 

4. A Giant Cat Reappears in Peru after 2,000 Years

Large 2,000-year-old cat discovered in Peru’s Nazca lines Southern Peru’s dunes, carved with the geoglyphs of a hummingbird, a monkey and an orca-a figure some would dearly love to believe is an astronaut – have now revealed the form of an enormous cat lounging across a desert hillside. During the work to increase access to one … Continue reading Large 2,000-year-old cat discovered in Peru’s Nazca lines→

3. Mummy Cache

  • Nearly 100 coffins buried over 2,500 years ago found in Egypt

Nearly 100 coffins buried over 2,500 years ago found in Egypt On 14 November, Egyptian antiquities officials declared the discovery. Some of the coffins had mummies inside them, the officials said.

Archaeologists discovered as many as 13 coffins from a burial ground in Egypt back in September that was believed to have been sealed for … Continue reading Nearly 100 coffins buried over 2,500 years ago found in Egypt→

  • Egypt finds 59 ancient coffins buried more than 2,600 years ago

Egypt finds 59 ancient coffins buried more than 2,600 years ago The Egyptian Minister of Tourism and Antiquities said on Saturday, dozens of ancient coffins were discovered by archaeologists in a large Necropolis south of Cairo. Khalid el-Anany said that 59 sealed sarcophagi, most of the mummies, have been discovered to have buried more than … Continue reading Egypt finds 59 ancient coffins buried more than 2,600 years ago→

2. A Buried Female Hunter Upends Beliefs About Prehistoric Gender Roles

9,000-Year-Old Remains Of Female Hunter Found In Peru Nine-thousand-year-old human remains discovered at the Andean highland site of Wilamaya Patjxa in Peru appears to have belonged to a woman hunter buried with a toolkit of projectile points and animal processing implements, according to a report in Science Magazine.  They were fascinated by a tool kit with 20 … Continue reading 9,000-Year-Old Remains Of Female Hunter Found In Peru→

1. Tens of Thousands of 12,000-Year-Old Rock Paintings Found

Tens of Thousands of ice age Paintings across a cliff face shed light on people and animals from 12,500 years ago In the Colombian jungle, archaeologists have found tens of thousands of ancient drawings dating back about 12,500 years. This prehistoric depictions of animals and humans have been discovered adorning cliff faces that stretch for … Continue reading Tens of Thousands of ice age Paintings across a cliff face shed light on people and animals from 12,500 years ago→

BRAZIL, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

A bizarre chicken-sized dinosaur named lord of the spear is discovered in Brazil

A bizarre chicken-sized dinosaur named lord of the spear is discovered in Brazil

With a mane of yellow and brown fur down its back and long ‘needles’ growing from its shoulders, a peacock-like elaborate dinosaur has been identified. The neck spines of the creature are rare in the fossil record and made of keratin, which is the same protein that makes up parts of our hair, nails and skin. Dubbed Ubirajara jubatus, indigenous Indian for ‘Maned Lord of the Spear’

Experts led from the University of Portsmouth believe the flamboyant spines may have been used to impress prospective mates, and that the dinosaur may have indulged in ‘elaborate dancing’ to show them off.

The needle-like displays were positioned so they would not impede the dinosaur’s arms and legs — and would not have stopped it from hunting, preening or sending signals.

Ubirajara jubatus lived around 110 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, the researchers explained. The new species was originally unearthed in 1995 in the Chapada do Araripe in north-eastern Brazil, and was found among the collections of the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe, Germany.  The find could explain where birds like peacocks inherited their ability to show off, the team said. Birds are the modern descendants of dinosaurs. 

‘What is especially unusual about the beast is the presence of two very long, probably stiff ribbons on either side of its shoulders,’ said paper author and palaeontologist David Martill of the University of Portsmouth. These, he explained, ‘were probably used for display, for mate attraction, inter-male rivalry or to frighten off foes.’

‘We cannot prove the specimen is a male, but given the disparity between male and female birds, it appears likely the specimen was a male — and young, too, which is surprising given most complex display abilities are reserved for mature adult males.’

‘Given its flamboyance, we can imagine that the dinosaur may have indulged in elaborate dancing to show off its display structures.’

‘These are such extravagant features for such a small animal — and not at all what we would predict if we only had the skeleton preserved,’ said paper author and palaeontologist Robert Smyth, also of the University of Portsmouth.

‘Why adorn yourself in a way that makes you more obvious to both your prey and to potential predators?’ he mused. The truth is that for many animals, evolutionary success is about more than just surviving — you also have to look good if you want to pass your genes on to the next generation.’

‘Modern birds are famed for their elaborate plumage and displays that are used to attract mates — the peacock’s tail and male birds-of-paradise are textbook examples of this.’

‘Ubirajara shows us that this tendency to show off is not a uniquely avian characteristic, but something that birds inherited from their dinosaur ancestors.’

Experts led from Portsmouth found the new species — originally unearthed in 1995 — among the collections of the State Museum of Natural History in Karlsruhe. Pictured, the two slabs of the Ubirajara jubatus specimen, in photograph (top row) and illustration (bottom)
Dubbed Ubirajara jubatus — indigenous Indian for ‘Maned Lord of the Spear’ — the creature’s neck spines are unique in the fossil record and made of keratin. This is the very same protein that make up parts of our hair, nails and skin. Pictured, an illustration of Ubirajara jubatus skeleton, with the fur and spines highlighted in orange

The fossil specimen of Ubirajara jubatus sports a section of extremely-well preserved mane. Long and thick, this would have run down the animal’s back. The researchers believe that the mane would have been manipulated by muscles — allowing it to be lifted, much like a dog raises its hackles when it feels threatened.  Ubirajara would have been able to lower the mane flush to its skin when not putting on a display, allowing it to move fast without getting tangled in vegetation. 

Its arms were also covered in fur, the team noted.

‘Any creature with movable hair or feathers as a body coverage has a great advantage in streamlining the body contour for faster hunts or escapes but also to capture or release heat,’ explained Professor Martill.

‘We know lots of dinosaurs had bony crests, spines and frills that were probably used for display but we don’t see these very often in living birds,’ said Mr Smyth.

‘In birds, crests are made of feathers. This little dinosaur provides some insight into why this might be the case.’ Bone requires a lot of energy for a body to grow and maintain. It’s also heavy and can cause serious injury if broken,’ he continued.

‘Keratin — the material that makes up hair, feathers and scales — is a much better display alternative for a small animal like this one. Keratin is less costly for a body to produce, it’s also lightweight, flexible and can be regularly replaced if damaged.’

‘Ubirajara is the most primitive known dinosaur to possess integumentary [external] display structures. It represents a revolution in dinosaur communication, the effects of which we can still see today in living birds.’

The specimen was originally excavated by palaeontologist Eberhard Frey of the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe. It came out of the ground in two pieces. X-ray scans revealed previously hidden skeletal elements and soft tissue, from which the researchers were able to build a clearer picture of Ubirajara in life. Ubirajara jubatus is the first non-avian dinosaur to be discovered in a fossil-rich rock formation known to geologists as the Crato Formation.

At the time this was being deposited, the South Atlantic was opening up in a long narrow shallow sea, which accounts for the exquisite preservation of Ubirajara. The find is also important for the Americas, explained paper author and palaeontologist Hector Rivera Sylva, who curates the Desert Museum, in Mexico.

Ubirajara jubatus lived around 110 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period, the researchers explained. Pictured, a close up of the small dinosaur’s fossilised remains

‘The Ubirajara jubatus is not only important because of the integumentary structures present for the first time in a non-avian dinosaur — completely changing the way of seeing the behaviour of certain dinosaurs,’ he added.

Rather, the find provides ‘the first evidence for this group in Latin America, as well as one of the few reported for the subcontinent of Gondwana,’ he explained.

This, he added, expands our ‘knowledge about non-avian feathered dinosaurs [in] America, whose evidence is very scarce.’ The full findings of the study were published in the journal Cretaceous Research.

EUROPE, FRANCE, WORLD

Child’s bones buried 40,000 years ago solve the puzzle of Neanderthal long-standing mystery

Child’s bones buried 40,000 years ago solve the puzzle of Neanderthal long-standing mystery

If it was a boy or a girl, we don’t know. But this ancient child, a Neanderthal, only made it to about two years of age. This brief life, lived about 41,000 years ago, was unearthed at La Ferrassie, a prominent archaeological site in southwestern France.

The remains of several Neanderthals have been found there, including the most recent discovery, the child, known only as La Ferrassie 8.

When the ancient remains were first found – most at various stages of the early 20th century – archaeologists had assumed the skeletons represented intentional burials, with Neanderthals laying their departed kin to rest under the earth.

Examining material from the 1970s excavations.

Nonetheless, in contemporary archaeology, doubts now swirl around the question of whether Neanderthals did indeed bury their dead like that, or whether this particular aspect of funerary rites is a uniquely Homo sapien custom.

In part, the asking of these questions links back to the archaeological techniques and record-keeping used in the past, as the antiquated methods used by archaeologists and anthropologists from the early 20th century (and even earlier) mean we can’t always be entirely confident in their findings.

With such a mystery on their mind, a team led by researchers from Le Centre national de la recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Muséum national d’histoire Naturelle in France has now conducted a thorough re-evaluation of La Ferrassie 8’s ancient remains, which have now been kept in the museum for almost 50 years after being discovered between 1970 and 1973.

“The discovery and context of this skeleton have generally been regarded as poorly documented, but in fact, this deficiency stems from a lack of the necessary processing of the information and materials from La Ferrassie related to the penultimate excavation phase (1968–1973),” the researchers write in their new paper.

“Indeed, a huge amount of data remained unassessed prior to our current study.”

In the new work, the researchers reviewed the notebooks and field diaries used by the original excavation team, as well as analyzing La Ferrassie 8’s bones. They also performed new excavations and analyses at the La Ferrassie cave shelter site where the child’s remains were found.

The results of their multi-disciplinary approach suggest that – despite the substandard nature of previous research into La Ferrassie 8’s purported burial – the old conclusions were correct: the child was buried.

Child's bones buried 40,000 years ago solve the puzzle of Neanderthal long-standing mystery
This reconstruction shows the Neanderthal child’s burial at La Ferrassie

“The combined anthropological, spatial, geochronological, taphonomic, and biomolecular data analyzed here suggest that a burial is the most parsimonious explanation for LF8,” the authors explain.

“Our results show that LF8 is intrusive within an older (and archaeologically sterile) sedimentary layer. We propose that Neandertals intentionally dug a pit in sterile sediments in which the LF8 child was laid.”

In reaching this conclusion, the team confirmed that the well-preserved bones were laid to rest in an unscattered manner, remaining in their anatomical position, with the head raised higher than the rest of the body, even though the lay of the land was inclined at a different angle (suggesting a contrived elevation by Neanderthal hands).

Further, there were no animal marks on them, which the team consider another probable sign of a prompt, intended burial. Especially when compared to the weathered state of various animal remains found in the vicinity.

“The absence of carnivore marks, the low degree of spatial disturbance, fragmentation, and weathering suggest that they were rapidly covered by sediment,” the researchers explain.

“We cannot find any natural (i.e. non-anthropic) process that could explain the presence of the child and associated elements within a sterile layer with an inclination that does not follow the geological inclination of the stratum. In this case, we propose that the body of the LF8 child was laid in a pit dug into the sterile sediment.”

It’s not the first study in recent times to claim new evidence of Neanderthals burying their dead, and it likely won’t be the last.

The French team says it’s time today’s new-and-improved analytical standards were brought to bear on the varying skeletal remains of La Ferrassie 1 through to 7, giving us an updated assessment of how they too were interred.

Then, maybe, with all said and done, these very old souls might finally get some rest.

WORLD

SHOCK CLAIM: Crystal Pyramids ‘found beneath Bermuda Triangle’

SHOCK CLAIM: Crystal Pyramids ‘found beneath Bermuda Triangle’

The Bermuda Triangle: mysterious, unworldly, sometimes deadly. For decades intrepid researchers delved into the maze of mysteries hidden deep within this most enigmatic place on Earth.

Some speculate the bizarre time anomalies, disappearances and weird phenomena can be explained by natural occurrences. Others are insistent that relics of an advanced, unknown culture left behind fantastic technology…great energy machines that literally warp spacetime and open portals to other realities.

Now American and French explorers have made a monumental discovery: a partially translucent, crystal-like pyramid rising from the Caribbean seabed— its origin, age, and purpose completely unknown.

Pyramid discovery challenges the current archaeological theory

A gigantic structure, perhaps larger than the Great Pyramid of Cheops in Egypt, and initially identified by a doctor in the 1960s, has been independently verified by diving teams from France and the U.S.

The discovery has rocked scientists around the world. Will they rush to investigate it? No, they’re more likely to studiously ignore it. If pressed, they’ll officially position themselves as highly skeptical—especially in light of the potential ramifications.

The pyramid could confirm some engineers’ contentions that pyramids were originally created as massive power sources, support the claim that the ancient city-state of Atlantis did exist, or even provide answers to the mysterious goings-on that have been recorded since the 19th Century in the region of the Atlantic dubbed the Bermuda Triangle.

First discovered in 1968

According to history, the pyramid was accidentally discovered during 1968 by a doctor of naturopathy, Ray Brown of Mesa, Arizona.

Brown was in the Caribbean on vacation and making dives with friends in a region off the Bahamas known as “the Tongue of the Ocean.”

The area acquired that name because a tongue-shaped portion of the seabed extends out from the island before sharply dropping off into much greater depths.

When relating his discovery, the doctor explained he became separated from his diving friends underwater. While attempting to rejoin them he came upon a massive structure rising from the ocean floor: a black, hulking object silhouetted against the lighter sun-filtered water. The object was shaped like a pyramid.

Because he was low on air, he didn’t spend much time investigating the pyramid but did find a strange crystal sphere.

He brought it to the surface with him and later when the ancient crystal was studied researchers were astonished by its properties.

Is the crystal pyramid causing the Triangle phenomena?

Some Triangle researchers have theorized for years that a strange energy source exists at the bottom of the sea within the region of the ocean affecting planes, ships, and boats.

A few investigators postulate that if the fabled Atlantis really did exist the remains of its mythical energy-vortex machine might still be intact at the bottom of the ocean. Such a machine, they claim, would likely be pyramidal-shaped and the original historical template that succeeding cultures around the globe copied much later.

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Ancient Native American burial site blasted for Trump border wall construction

Ancient Native American burial site blasted for Trump border wall construction

It was alleged that Sacred Native American burial sites in a national monument were blown up to create President Trump’s border wall. Construction teams in southern Arizona began to blast hills at the National Monument of the Organ Pipe Cactus to clear way to the current border wall project.

Trump’s border wall under construction at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona. The 43-mile project goes through the national monument and tribal land

Crews are bulldozing through Monument Hill to create a 30-foot steel wall along the US-Mexico border without consulting the Native American community whose ancestral land lies on part of the wall’s path, it is claimed.

‘Controlled blasting’ has been carried out for the construction of the wall which is part of a 43-mile project on national monument land about 115 miles west of Tucson, officials said.

A congressman whose district includes the reservation has said the Department of Homeland Security had ‘failed in its legal obligation to consult with the tribes.

Tribal elders told Democratic Rep Raul Grijalva that bodies were buried on the hill after Apache raids, the Arizona Daily Star reported.

Golden poppies bloom at Organ Pipe Cactus Monument, Sonoran Desert, Arizona
Saguaros cactus, killed within the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona by the border wall construction. Bulldozing through Monument Hill has been carried out to construct a 30-foot steel wall along the US-Mexico border

Grijalva, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, visited the location ahead of the construction and described the site in a video posted to social media. Monument Hill, where he said explosions are now occurring. 

In a video posted, Grijalva said: ‘Where they were blasting the other day on Monument Hill is the resting place for primarily Apache warriors that had been involved in the battle with the O’odham. 

‘And then the O’odham people in a respectful waylaid them to rest on Monument Hill.  DHS has consistently failed in its legal obligation to consult with the tribes, and this is only the latest example.’

He also sent a letter to the acting head of the Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, to express ‘serious concerns’ about the construction project. Organ Pipe was designated as an International Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations and is part of the national parks system, officials said.

A congressman whose district includes the reservation (pictured) has said the Department of Homeland Security ‘failed in its legal obligation to consult with the tribes’ in the bulldozing through sacred land to build the border wall

‘The construction contractor has begun controlled blasting, in preparation for new border wall system construction, within the Roosevelt Reservation at Monument Mountain,’ Customs and Border Protection said. 

‘The controlled blasting is targeted and will continue intermittently for the rest of the month.’

Environmental advocates, elected officials and Tohono O’odham Nation leaders have raised concerns about the project, including the destruction of saguaros, the use of water from an underground aquifer, the potential impact on migrating animals and the destruction of land consider sacred by some Native Americans. 

The Army Corps of Engineers reported that the Department of Defense awarded $891 million in contracts to Southwest Valley Constructors in May to build the border wall on Organ Pipe and Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.

The US government plans on replacing barriers through 100 miles of the southern border in California and Arizona, including through a national monument and a wildlife refuge, according to documents and environmental advocates.

Barriers will go up at the monument, a vast park named after the unique cactus breed that decorates it, and Cabeza Prieta, which is largely a designed wilderness home to 275 wildlife species. The government will also build new roads and lighting in those areas. 

The Department of Homeland Security last May again waived environmentally and dozens of other laws to build more barriers along the US-Mexico border.

Environmental advocates who have sued to stop the construction of the wall say this latest plan will be detrimental to the wildlife and habitat in those areas.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Hoard of Gold Tudor Coins Unearthed in England

Hoard of Gold Tudor Coins Unearthed in England

When they found a rare treasure, a buried cache of gold coins dating back to the 1400s, representing English monarchs from Edward IV to Henry VIII, a family in England were weeding their garden.

The hoard — a stash of 63 gold coins and one silver coin — contains money minted over a period of nearly 100 years, from the late 15th to the 16th centuries.

Four of the coins feature Henry VIII and, curiously, one of the initials of three of his wives: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour. 

Hoard of Gold Tudor Coins Unearthed in England
A newfound stash of 63 gold and one silver coin dates from the time of Edward IV to Henry VIII.

Upon finding the cache, the family, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, a county in southeastern England, notified the British Museum, which runs the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS).

This program partners with local people who find historical artefacts in the United Kingdom, so the findings can be documented and studied, the British Museum said in a statement Thursday (Dec. 10). 

The coins were likely buried in about 1540, while King Henry VIII was still alive, but it’s unknown whether this burial spot was like a piggy bank, where someone regularly deposited coins, or whether the hoard was buried all at once, according to the British Museum.

Whoever saved the coins, however, was a person of means: The collection was worth about £24 at the time, the equivalent of $18,600 (£14,000) today, Barrie Cook, a curator of medieval and early modern coins at the British Museum, told The Guardian. That’s much more than the average annual wage during Tudor times. 

In all likelihood, a wealthy merchant or clergy member buried the hoard, John Naylor, a coin expert from the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford, told The Guardian.

“You have this period in the late 1530s and 1540s where you have the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and we do know that some churches did try to hide their wealth, hoping they would be able to keep it in the long-term,” he said.

The newfound coins are “an important hoard,” Naylor added. “You don’t get these big gold hoards very often from this period.”

Among the hoard were coins featuring the initials of Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour.

As for the coins themselves, it’s a mystery why the initials of Henry’s wives were present. In 1526, Henry and Thomas Wolsey, an English archbishop, statesman and cardinal of the Catholic Church, redid the monetary system, changing coins’ weights and beginning new denominations, such as the five-shilling gold coin, The Guardian reported. 

“Not only does he change denominations, but he also has this very strange decision of putting his wife’s initials on the coin,” Cook said.

Such a move had no precedent. And given Henry VIII’s many marriages (six in all), the initials changed frequently. But after his third marriage to Jane Seymour, the mother of Edward VI who died shortly after childbirth, Henry discontinued the practice, meaning that his following wives (Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr) did not see their initials on English money.

The hoard is just one of over 47,000 artefacts documented by PAS in 2020. Another newfound, notable hoard includes the 50 South African Krugerrand minted during apartheid in the 1970s.

This stash, also found buried in a garden, was unearthed in the town of Milton Keynes, about 50 miles (80 kilometres) northwest of London. Each of the 50 coins weighs 1 oz (28 grams) and is made of solid gold, the museum reported. 

“How they ended up in Milton Keynes and why they were buried are, for the moment, a mystery,” museum officials wrote in the statement. An official in Milton Keynes is trying to find the coins’ original owner or heirs.

EUROPE, GREECE, WORLD

3,000 yr-old Greek city Tenea found by archaeologists

3,000 yr-old Greek city Tenea found by archaeologists

A group of Trojan prisoners founded the town of Tenea after their devastating defeat by the Greek hero Odysseus and an enormous wooden horse in the Trojan War, according to ancient Greek texts and myths.

More than 3,000 years later, near a small village in southern Greece called Chiliomodi, researchers have uncovered archaeological evidence of the city’s existence for the first time.

The search began back in 1984 when the archaeologist Elena Korka uncovered a sarcophagus in the village, which is located in the Peloponnese region, south of Athens. “After I uncovered the sarcophagus, I knew I had to go back for more,” Korka told the New York Times.

Korka, who directs the Office for Supervision of Antiquaries and Private Archaeological Collections in Greece’s Ministry of Culture, returned with a team to the site in 2013 to begin the current excavations.

In September 2018, following an ancient road, the researchers found a graveyard containing the remains of two men, five women and two children, including one woman buried in the same grave with her child.

The tombs were stocked with bone, bronze and gold jewellery, silver and gold coins, vases and other valuable grave items, indicating the wealth of those buried there. But when the archaeologists continued their search north of the cemetery, they stumbled on an even bigger find: the remains of buildings from the ancient city of Tenea itself.

Findings from burials during Hellenistic and Roman times including bones, jewelry and pottery.
Findings from burials during Hellenistic and Roman times including bones, jewelry and pottery.
Ancient Greek city Tenea found by archaeologists
The outline of a housing settlement has been discovered

Inside an area measuring some 672 meters square, the researchers found beams and columns, clay, marble and stone floors and walls, according to a statement released by the Greek cultural ministry announcing the find.

In addition to a number of amphoras (jars) and a collection of more than 200 coins—another indication of the wealth and economic independence of the city—they also uncovered the tombs of two fetuses.

Korka told the Times that the presence of the babies’ tombs helped identify the site as the city itself, as babies were buried in residential areas and not in graveyards.

The ancient Greek historian Pausanias, who lived and wrote in the second century A.D., suggested that the founders of Tenea may have been Trojans who were taken prisoner by Agamemnon, the Mycenaean king.

This occurred in the aftermath of the Trojan War, which—if it actually happened—took place more than 3,000 years ago, in the 13th or 12th century B.C.

Around the 5th century B.C., tales of mythical Greek king Oedipus, who killed his father and married his mother, noted that he was raised in Tenea.

Until now, archaeologists had uncovered no evidence of the city’s existence outside of historical texts and myths.

The collection of coins and the graves found at the site near Chiliomodi span the period from the early Hellenistic years, after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 B.C., into the Roman Empire. In 146 B.C., Romans occupied Greece, bringing Tenea under imperial control.

According to the statement from the Greek cultural ministry, the archaeological evidence suggests Tenea grew economically during the reign of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus (A.D. 193-211).

But the city seems to have suffered after the Gothic king Alaric raided the Peloponnese between A.D. 396 and 397, as relatively few artefacts were found dating to the fourth century. During the sixth century A.D., the city may have been abandoned.

Now, more than 1,400 years later, archaeologists are exploring it once again. 

“It is significant that the remnants of the city, the paved roads, the architectural structure, came to light,” Korka told Reuters. “We’ve found evidence of life and death…and all this is just a small part of the history of the place.” 

ASIA, IRAN, WORLD

Surprising archaeologists find 1,000-year-old stainless steel in Iran

Surprising archaeologists find 1,000-year-old stainless steel in Iran

Stainless steel as we know it today was created in the early 20th century, in England. But researchers found evidence of the use of an alloy of iron and chromium quite similar to stainless steel – but almost a thousand years old.

Discovery, published in Journal of Archaeological Science, was made with the help of a series of manuscripts medieval Persians, who took the researchers to an archaeological site in Chahak, in southern Iran.

“This research not only provides the first known evidence of chrome steel production dating back to the 11th century AD, but it also provides a chemical tracker that can help identify similar artefacts in museums or archaeological collections since their origin in Chahak”, believes the author study, archaeologist Rahil Alipour.

Surprising archaeologists find 1,000-year-old stainless steel in Iran
Crucible remnant containing an embedded chunk of slag.

Chahak is described in a series of historical manuscripts dating from the 12th to the 19th century as a famous steelmaking centre – but its exact location has remained a mystery, as several villages in Iran bear the same name.

The manuscript “al-Jamahir fi Marifah al-Jawahir” (“A Compendium for Knowing the Gems”, dating from the 10th to the 11th centuries AD), written by the Persian polymath Abu-Rayhan Biruni, is one of those documents, which also details recipe steelmaking – but registers a mysterious ingredient called “rusakhtaj”.

Microscopic analysis of the sample collected in Chahak.

The team of archaeologists used radiocarbon dating on a series of pieces of coal recovered from the archaeological site to confirm their production as having been made between the 11th and 12th centuries AD.

Using scanning electron microscopy, the researchers identified remains of the chromite mineral, described in Biruni’s manuscript as an essential additive to the process.

The steel particles analyzed contained between 1% and 2% of chromium – therefore, they were not stainless like the modern alloys, which contain between 11% and 13% of the material.

“In a 13th-century Persian manuscript, Chahak steel was known for its fine and refined patterns, but its swords were also fragile – so they lost their market value,” explains Thilo Rehren, co-author of the study.

The researchers believe that this marks a distinct tradition of steelmaking separate from the traditional methods used in Central Asia.

“The previous evidence belongs to steelmaking centres in India, Sri Lanka, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan,” said Alipour. “None of these, however, has any trace of chrome.

This is very important, as we can now search for this element in objects and track them back to their production centre or method ”, he adds.

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