ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

North sea reveals forest buried for 7,000 years and human footprints

North sea reveals forest buried for 7,000 years and human footprints

The surge and flood of the North Sea have uncovered an archeological mystery of the Britain past – the remains of hunter-gatherers chasing wildlife through a long-lost wood. An ancient woodland, dating more than 7,000 years and submerged under the sand for centuries, is slowly uncovered by the ocean.

The North Sea has eroded the shore of a Northumberland beach to reveal the remnants of an ancient forest dating back 7,000 years. Archaeologists believe the preserved tree stumps and felled tree trunks lining a 200-meter stretch of coastline south of Amble would have stretched to Europe before the water mass formed

Tree stumps and felled logs, which have been preserved by peat and sand, are now clearly visible along with a 650 feet (200 meters) stretch of coastline at Low Hauxley near Amble, Northumberland.

Studies of the ancient forest, which existed at a time when the sea level was much lower and Britain had only recently separated from what is now mainland Denmark, have revealed it would have consisted of oak, hazel and alder trees.

The forest first began to form around 5,300 BC but by 5,000 BC the encroaching ocean had covered it up and buried it under the sand. Now the sea levels are rising again, the remnants of the forest are becoming visible and being studied by archaeologists.

Rather than a continuous solid landmass, archaeologists believe Doggerland was a region of low-lying bogs and marshes that would have been home to a range of animals, as well as the hunter-gatherers which stalked them.

But the relatively rapid change in the surrounding environment would have gradually confined animals and humans in the region to Europe and the UK as the bogs and marshes became flooded, making them impassable.

Doctor Clive Waddington, of Archaeology Research Services, said: ‘In 5,000 BC the sea level rose quickly and it drowned the land. The sand dunes were blown back further into the land, burying the forest, and then the sea receded a little.

Among the remnants of the ancient forest are tree stumps jutting out of the beach, which have been preserved in a layer of peat

The sea level is now rising again, cutting back the sand dunes, and uncovering the forest. The forest existed in the late Mesolithic period, which was a time of hunting and gathering for humans.

In addition to tree stumps, archaeologists say they have uncovered animal footprints, highlighting the diverse wildlife which would have roamed the ancient Doggerland forest. 

Dr. Waddington, who says evidence has been discovered of humans living nearby in 5,000 BC, added: ‘On the surface of the peat we have found footprints of adults and children.

‘We can tell by the shapes of the footprints that they would have been wearing leather shoes.

‘We have also found animal footprints of red deer, wild boar, and brown bears.’ 

A similar stretch of ancient forest was uncovered in 2014 near the village of Borth, Ceredigion, in Mid Wales after a spate of winter storms washed away the peat preserving the area.

Rather than a continuous solid landmass, archaeologists believe Doggerland was a region of low-lying bogs and marshes connecting the British Isles to Europe and stretching all the way to the Norwegian trench (pictured left). The area, which would have been home to a range of animals, as well as the hunter-gatherers which stalked them, became flooded due to glacial melt, with some high-lying regions such as ‘Dogger Island’ (pictured right, highlighted red) serving as clues to the regions ancient past

Peat is able to preserve trees and even the bodies of animals so well because it is so low in oxygen, effectively choking the microbes which break down organic matter, so preserving their organic contents for thousands of years.

But in coastal regions where ancient forests have been long preserved in peat, such as in Wales and Northumberland, the rising seas are washing away this layer and exposing remnants from Britain’s past.

The uncovered forest has drawn interest from members of the public walking along the coast as they stop to inspect the preserved trees
EUROPE, SWEDEN, WORLD

Ancient bones in disturbed peat bogs are rotting away, alarming archaeologists

Ancient bones in disturbed peat bogs are rotting away, alarming archaeologists

LUND, SWEDEN—According to a Science Magazine report, researchers led by Adam Boethius of Lund University found that preservation conditions at a Mesolithic site in southern Sweden have deteriorated significantly in the 75 years since excavations first began there.

Ageröd is one of many peat bog sites whose anaerobic conditions have preserved bone, teeth, antler fragments, and other artifacts for more than 8,000 years.

The wrinkles on the face of “Tollund Man” are still visible, even though he died more than 2,200 years ago. The mossy wetlands in Denmark that mummified his body are ideal for preserving organic matter, giving archaeologists an extraordinary window into our distant past. But a recent excavation at a similarly boggy site in Sweden shows these perfect conditions are fragile, and when they break down, so, too, do the bodies, bones, and other organic remains that have been preserved for centuries.

Peat moss around a pool in Cairngorms National Park in the United Kingdom

The finding suggests a long-standing tenet of archaeology—avoiding excavation and leaving artifacts in the ground for long-term preservation—needs revisiting, at least for some wetland sites.

Anecdotal evidence has long suggested the condition of remains excavated from wetlands like peat bogs is declining, says Benjamin Gearey, a wetland archaeologist at University College Cork who was not involved with this study. For example, bone deterioration has been documented at Star Carr, an archaeological site in northern England. But it’s been hard to know how widespread the pattern is–and how fast the decay is occurring.

Ageröd, a peat bog in the south of Sweden that holds bones, antlers, and other artifacts from Mesolithic cultures that flourished more than 8,000 years ago, is a good place to measure the pace of decay in a peat bog, says Adam Boethius, an archaeologist at Lund University.

Boethius and his colleagues compared bones freshly excavated in 2019 with bones that had been exhumed from the bog in the 1940s and 1970s and stored in the Lund University Historical Museum. They rated the weathering of each bone, from well-preserved ones—those that were shiny and crack-free—to dull bones with worn outer surfaces.

Ancient bones in disturbed peat bogs are rotting away, alarming archaeologists

The bones from the 2019 excavation were so weathered that their scoring system broke down. Some had lost more than half a centimeter of their outer layer.

Other sections of the site where they expected to find remains yielded no bones at all, suggesting they had entirely decomposed. The best-preserved bones from the 2019 excavation were in roughly the same condition as the worst-preserved bones from the 1970s, they write today in PLOS ONE.

A weathered wild boar heel bone from the 2019 Ageröd excavation

They found that deterioration was already underway in the 1970s. Bones from these excavations were more weathered than those excavated in the 1940s. What’s more, the same pattern with the 2019 bones appeared: The best-preserved 1970s bones were in a similar condition to the worst preserved 1940s bones.

The culprit is oxygen, the researchers say. Organic material trapped below the mossy surface of intact peat bogs is starved of oxygen, creating an environment too hostile for the fungi and bacteria that would normally break down plants or bones. But with excavation comes oxygen, which reacts with buried iron sulfide to produce sulfuric acid.

Another factor is a farming activity, which has slowly drained the wetland, damaging the protective surface and allowing oxygen in. It’s very likely that the groundwater in the whole area has become more acidic, Boethius says.

This means bones soaking in deep, wet layers will be rapidly destroyed. The increasing frequency of extreme weather events induced by climate change—including both droughts and floods—may also contribute to the problem, he adds.

The study is “sobering,” and demonstrates the “catastrophic loss of irreplaceable organic archaeological remains” in wetland sites across Europe, Gearey says.

It also highlights how important it is for researchers to better understand preservation and decay and raises questions about the default strategy of preserving remains in the ground, says Reading University archaeologist Martin Bell.

“If you can’t preserve it in the ground, you have to dig it up,” Gearey says. With poor understanding and monitoring of the conditions of wetland sites, leaving the treasure in the ground at sites like Ageröd is not an option for Boethius. “We need to excavate now,” he says. “If we wait for 10 or 20 years, everything will be gone.”

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

2,100-Year-Old King’s Mausoleum Discovered in China

2,100-Year-Old King’s Mausoleum Discovered in China

An elaborate mausoleum that was built for a king 2,100 years ago has been unearthed in China.

Archaeologists discovered numerous precious treasures from jade artifacts and musical instruments to life-sized decorated chariots and weapons, which were buried with king Liu Fei in an area of modern-day Xuyi County.

Liu Fei ruled the kingdom of Jiangdu – part of the Chinese Empire – for 26 years before dying in 128 BC. It is thought that the mausoleum was plundered long ago, but archaeologists still found over 10,000 artefacts, some of which were crafted from gold, silver and jade.

2,100-Year-Old King's Mausoleum Discovered in China
Archaeologists in China have discovered a mausoleum, dating back over 2,100 years, that contains three main tombs, including the tomb of Liu Fei (shown at bottom), the ruler of the Jiangdu kingdom in China.

Excavations of the mausoleum, which comprises three tombs as well as pits housing the chariots and weapons, LiveScience reported. According to the journal of Chinese Archaeology, a team from Nanjing Museum examined the remains of a well that surrounded the complex, which was built to be 1,608 ft (490 meters) long.

They worked quickly to document the site, which they said was at risk from quarrying.

A large mound of the earth once protected the king’s tomb, which has two shafts leading to a roomy burial chamber measuring 115ft by 85ft (35 by 26 metres). It contained goods fit for a king in his afterlife, the archaeologists explained.

A chariot-and-horse pit, made of wood, lacquer, bronze, gold and silver, found in one of the pits in the mausoleum where archaeologists found the tomb of Liu Fei.
The bronze mat weight was found in the tomb adjacent to Liu Fei’s. It contains inlaid gold, silver and gemstones. A gold rabbit belt hook (pictured right) was also found in one of the tombs

Historical texts recount the king’s lavish lifestyle, so it came as little surprise to archaeologists that he was buried in such luxurious surroundings.

Weapons discovered in the burial chamber included iron swords, crossbows, knives and more than 20 model chariots, alongside instruments such as chime bells and parts for a stringed instrument called a zither.

Because, according to ancient tradition,  the king needed riches in the afterlife, a hoard of 100,000 coins containing a square hole in the center of each, were buried with him. The banliang coins were made by the first emperor of China.

This is the tomb of Liu Fei, the ruler of the Jiangdu kingdom in the Chinese Empire. It is just possible to pick out the different chambers of the tomb

Goose and deer-shaped lamps were discovered in another part of the chamber as well as a silver basin, while another area, set up like a kitchen, catered for the king’s food needs in the afterlife.

Cauldrons, wine jars, tripods, jugs and cups were found as well as shells, bones and seeds, suggesting that food was left with the king.

Despite the rich selection of artefacts that survived a past plundering, the king’s body was not found in the tomb and his coffins were damaged.

‘Near the coffins many jade pieces and fragments, originally parts of the jade burial suit, were discovered. These pieces also indicate that the inner coffin, originally lacquered and inlaid with jade plaques, was exquisitely manufactured,’ the archaeologists wrote in the journal.

Off the main burial chamber, more pits were found housing a jumble of weapons such as swords and shields, as well as two chariot pits. One contains five life-size chariots, made of wood and elaborately decorated with lacquer. Some parts of the vehicles were inlaid with gold and silver.

Other looted tombs were also discovered, which could belong to high-status individuals. An undamaged ‘jade coffin’ is the only one of its kind to have been found in China.

EUROPE, GREECE, WORLD

Greece: Ancient theatre unearthed on the island of Lefkada

Greece: Ancient theatre unearthed on the island of Lefkada

After archeological excavations on Koulmos hill in Lefkada, a huge new ancient theater was discovered, test sections were cut in the area, specifically on the hill ‘s northeast slope which forms a downward amphitheatric hollow, ending in a long, flat section.

Seats of the theatre on the “Koulmos” hill

Archaeological excavations on the Ionian island of Lefkada have brought to light a previously undiscovered and sizeable ancient theatre, the culture minister announced on Wednesday. It said the find was made on Koulmou hill toward the end of the year.

Test ‘sections’ were cut in an area on the northeast flank of Koulmou’s middle hill, which forms an amphitheatrical downward hollow ending in a lengthy flat section, the ministry announcement said.

Part of the retaining wall of the koilon

It noted that archaeologists knew very little about the city’s ancient theatre, which was not mentioned in any ancient source.

Though the logs of an early 20th-century archaeological excavation under the direction of German archaeologist Ε. Κrüger, lasting only a few days, recorded the discovery of signs indicating the presence of an ancient theatre.

Part of the theatre’s orchestra

The Aitoloakarnania and Lefkada Antiquities Ephorate dug sections in 13 places, which confirmed the existence of the theatre and uncovered rows of seats, parts of the orchestra, and some of the retaining walls for the stage and other parts of the theatre.

Elongated retaining wall north of the theatre
The location of the theatre on Koulmou hill

The ministry said that six sections revealed seats carved from the rock, about 0.73 to 0.90 meters deep and 0.22-0.33 meters high.

Others found the orchestra and a section of a wall in a quadrant plan, up to 0.6 metres across. The sections also found portions of retaining walls.

The culture ministry said that continuing the excavation in order to reveal and protect the monument will be a priority for the ministry’s services, adding that the Lefkada Municipality and Ionian Islands Regional Authority have both supported the work.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Egypt unearths 7,000-year-old lost city

Egypt unearths 7,000-year-old lost city

In the Upper Egyptian province of Sohag, Egypt announced the discovery of the ruins of a forgotten city believed to be more than 7,000 years old.

The ancient residential city, found alongside a nearby cemetery, dates back to 5,316 BC and is being heralded as a major archaeological discovery that pre-dates ancient Egypt’s Early Dynastic Period that began about 5 millennia ago.

A team of archaeologists from the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities found the remains of ancient huts and graves during a dig 400 meters to the south of the mortuary temple of Seti I, a pharaoh who ruled thousands of years later from 1290 to 1279 BC.

Seti I’s temple is located in Abydos – one of the oldest known cities of ancient Egypt and the historic capital of Upper Egypt – and the newly found dwellings and graves could be parts of the long-gone capital now resurfaced, or a separate village that was swallowed by it.

“This discovery can shed light on a lot of information on the history of Abydos,” antiquities minister Mahmoud Afifi said in a press statement.

Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

The recently unearthed structures are thought to have been home to high-ranking officials and grave builders.

In addition to the foundations of ancient huts, the archaeologists found iron tools and pottery, plus 15 giant tombs – the capacious size of which means their intended inhabitants must have been well-established individuals.

“The size of the graves discovered in the cemetery is larger in some instances than royal graves in Abydos dating back to the first dynasty, which proves the importance of the people buried there and their high social standing during this early era of ancient Egyptian history,” the ministry said.

It’s possible that these officials oversaw the construction of royal tombs in nearby Abydos, but the size of their own resting places outside the capital suggests they didn’t want to slum it in eternity either.

Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities

“About a mile behind where this material is said to be we have the necropolis with royal tombs going from before history to the period where we start getting royal names, we start getting identifiable kings,” Egyptologist Chris Eyre from the University of Liverpool in the UK, who wasn’t involved with the excavation, told the BBC.

“So, this appears to be the town, the capital at the very beginning of Egyptian history.”

According to the researchers, the ancient tools and pottery are the leftover traces of a once giant labour force that was engaged in the considerable feat of constructing these royal tombs – and if you’ve seen the kinds of structures we’re talking about, you’ll understand they had a pretty epic responsibility:

Gérard Ducher

The nearby cemetery is made up of 15 mastabas, an ancient Egyptian tomb that takes a rectangular shape, made with sloping walls and a flat roof.

According to lead researcher Yasser Mahmoud Hussein, these mastabas are now the oldest such tombs we know about, pre-dating the previous record holders in Saqqara, which served as the necropolis for another ancient Egyptian city, Memphis.

We’ll have to wait for these new findings to be verified by other scientists, but we’re excited to see what new insights further excavations will bring.

Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities
CANADA, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

A Lost Japanese Village Has Been Uncovered in the British Columbia Wilderness

A Lost Japanese Village Has Been Uncovered in the British Columbia Wilderness

In 2004, archaeology professor Robert Muckle was alerted to a site within the forests of British Columbia’s North Shore mountains, where a few old cans and a sawblade had been discovered. He suspected the area was once home to a historic logging camp, but he did not anticipate that he would spend the next 14 years unearthing sign after sign of a forgotten Japanese settlement—one that appears to have been abruptly abandoned.

Brent Richter of the North Shore News reports that Muckle, an instructor at Capilano University in Vancouver, and his rotating teams of archaeology students have since excavated more than 1,000 items from the site.

The artifacts include rice bowls, sake bottles, teapots, pocket watches, buttons, and hundreds of fragments of Japanese ceramics. Muckle tells Smithsonian that the “locations of 14 small houses … a garden, a wood-lined water reservoir, and what may have been a shrine,” were also discovered, along with the remnants of a bathhouse—an important fixture of Japanese culture.

Dishes and bottles found at the site in the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve.

The settlement sits within an area now known as the Lower Seymour Conservation Reserve, located around 12 miles northeast of Vancouver.

Muckle has in fact uncovered two other sites within the region that can be linked to Japanese inhabitants: one appears to have been part of a “multi-ethnic” logging camp, Muckle says, the second a distinctly Japanese logging camp that was occupied for several years around 1920. But it is the third site, which seems to have transitioned from a logging camp to a thriving village, that fascinates him the most.

“There was very likely a small community of Japanese who were living here on the margins of an urban area,” Muckle tells Richter. “I think they were living here kind of in secret.”

In approximately 1918, a Japanese businessman named Eikichi Kagetsu secured logging rights to a patch of land next to where the village once stood, making it likely that the site was once inhabited by a logging community.

The trees would have been largely harvested by around 1924, but Muckle thinks the village’s residents continued to live there past that date.

“The impression that I get, generally speaking, is it would have been a nice life for these people, especially in the context of all the racism in Vancouver in the 1920s and ’30s,” he tells Richter.

The first major wave of Japanese immigration to Canada began in 1877, with many of the new arrivals settling in the coastal province of British Columbia. From the start, they were met with hostility and discrimination; politicians in the province prohibited Asian residents from voting, entering the civil service, and working in various other professions, like law, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia.

Anti-Japanese prejudices boiled over during the Second World War, in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Days later, Japanese troops invaded Hong Kong, killing and wounding hundreds of Canadian soldiers who were stationed there.

Back in Canada, authorities began arresting suspected Japanese operatives, impounding Japanese-owned fishing boats, and shutting down Japanese newspapers and schools. By the winter of 1942, a 100-mile strip of the Pacific Coast had been designated a “protected area,” and people of Japanese descent were told to pack a single suitcase and leave.

Families were separated—men sent to work on road gangs, women, and children to isolated ghost towns in the wilderness of British Columbia. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, more than 90 percent of Japanese Canadians were uprooted during the war, most of the citizens by birth.

No records survive of the people who lived in the North Shore camp, and Muckle has yet to find an artifact that can be reliably dated to after 1920. But given that the inhabitants of the village seem to have departed in a hurry, leaving precious belongings behind, he tells Smithsonian that he suspects they stayed in their little enclave in the woods until 1942, when “they were incarcerated or sent to road camps.”

Eventually, per the CBC, the Greater Vancouver Water District closed off the valley where the settlement was located, and the forest began to take over.

Speaking to Richter of North Shore News, Muckle notes that, after nearly 15 years spent excavating at the site, he will likely not return again.

But he hopes to share his records and artifacts with several museums and archives— including the Nikkei National Museum & Cultural Centre in Burnaby, British Columbia, which seeks to preserve Japanese Canadian history and heritage—so the forgotten settlement in the woods will be remembered for years to come.

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

A 5,000-Year-Old Settlement Found Near Mysterious Sanxingdui Ruins, China

A 5,000-Year-Old Settlement Found Near Mysterious Sanxingdui Ruins, China

On Tuesday, Chinese archaeologists revealed they had discovered an important site next to the ruins of Sanxingdui, which they claim to be a settlement about 5,000 years old.

For its striking resemblance to the main character in the Angry Birds mobile app, an ancient clay pig figurine has created a sensation on the internet. The fist-size artwork was found under the remains of a tribal settlement in southwestern China dating back almost 5,000 years.

It has sparked a trending topic in the country after people said it looked exactly like the Green Pig in the popular video game.

A fist-size clay sculpture (left) discovered under an archaeological site in China has sparked a sensation after people said it looked exactly like the Green Pig (right) in the Angry Birds

Archaeologists found the tiny sculpture while digging in the remains of a small ancient community outside modern-day Guanghan in Sichuan province.

The experts believe that the village was situated about eight kilometres (five miles) outside Sanxingdui, a mysterious Bronze Age kingdom. The tribe likely came into being around 5,000 years ago, and the pig figurine is thought to be 3,200 years old.

The piece of pottery has been described as ‘cute, vivid and delicate’ by the researchers, who say it represents the advanced aesthetic standards of the region’s prehistoric residents.

Chinese internet users expressed their amazement after a picture of the piece of pottery was released by the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute.

On Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, one person gushed: ‘It is the pig from the Angry Birds!’

Another reader wondered: ‘The Angry Birds? It’s like time travel.’

A third commenter joked: ‘The pig in the Angry birds. You have infringed the copyright.’

The research team claims to have discovered traces of continuous human activity on the archaeological site dating from 5,000 years ago until the dynasties of Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912).

Officials plan to excavate 7,000 square meters (75,350 square feet) of the site, which is officially named Guanghan Joint Ruins. By the end of July, they had studied 4,500 square meters (48,440 square feet), according to an official post. 

Apart from the pig figurine, experts found detailed carvings of a dragon and a phoenix under a broken clay plate, a totem symbolizing good fortune.

Other discoveries include daily utensils, such as vases and cups made with porcelain or stone.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Roman Fort Identified in Northern England

Roman Fort Identified in Northern England

Burscough, England —Ansa reports that the site of a first-century A.D. Roman fort in northwestern England has received official recognition from Historic England, a government body dedicated to historic preservation.

A Roman fort lies underneath land off Flax Lane, Burscough

The ruins comprise a 30,000 sq m fort, roads, and a smaller fortlet and experts believe the find will unlock unknown details of how the Romans settled and travelled around the area.

Considered alongside other forts in the region, including those at Wigan and Ribchester, Burscough’s will provide great insight into Roman military strategy. It is believed that the area was occupied multiple times over the course of hundreds of years, a theory that is backed up by the variety of pottery found at the site.

Historic England says the lines of the fort’s defences are clearly identifiable on the geophysical survey and aerial photos, but the north-west and south-west corners are also visible as slight earthworks on Lidar, which uses laser light reflections to produce 3D images.

The north-west corner of the fort is visible as the slight earthwork of a broad bank about 12m wide, with a regular, broad and shallow external ditch; the latter is interpreted as a shallow quarry ditch dug during the construction of the rampart.

Several large depressions visible in the wider landscape are considered to be post-medieval extraction, probably marl pits: one of these pits sits within the angle of the north-west corner of the fort.

The number of ditches is considered to indicate more than one phase of occupation, and it is considered that a later, small fortlet overlies the eastern rampart of the earlier fort.

A number of internal features have been revealed by geophysical surveys including a well-defined eastern gateway with double gate towers, and numerous stone buildings interpreted as granaries or barracks. Limited trial trenching of the latter has revealed the presence of a large stone, buttressed building typical of a Roman granary.

The geophysical survey has also revealed the buried remains of a broad section of Roman road approaching the fort on the east side. A similar feature is thought to be associated with the fort’s southern entrance.

For several years, a non-profit archaeology group has been managing the site and allowing people to help with the excavation of the ruins but the location of the fort has largely been kept a secret.

Those interested in visiting were able to pay to take part in organized digs, while items of Roman pottery have been found in nearby fields by passing walkers.

The fort had survived regular ploughing through the years before the archaeology group took an interest in the site but concerned residents noticed diggers on the field in recent weeks and feared that the invaluable findings could be lost forever.

But, possibly partly as a result of those fears being raised with Historic England and then the Government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the ruins have now been classified as a Scheduled Monument.

That means it is a criminal offence to destroy or damage it; do any works to remove, repair or alter it; use a metal detector without prior consent, or remove any historic or archaeological object from the site without prior consent.

A spokesperson for Historic England said: “DCMS recently agreed with our advice that this site should be protected as a scheduled monument because it is a highly significant find of a Roman fort which has survived well.

‘‘We are actively in contact with the owners and local authority to offer advice and support on how best to manage this site to ensure its future.”

All In One Magazine