Mummy of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep ‘unwrapped’ for the first time in 3,500 years!

Egyptian scientists have digitally unwrapped the 3,500-year-old mummy of pharaoh Amenhotep I. For the first time, a team in Egypt used CT scans to see inside the burial wrappings of Pharaoh Amenhotep I.

The non-invasive research enabled scientists to reveal Amenhotep’s face and work out his age and health at the time of his death.

The remains of the pharaoh, who ruled approximately between 1525-1504 BC, were discovered in Deir Al Bahari in 1881 and had remained unwrapped until Egyptologist Zahi Hawass and Cairo University professor Sahar Saleem launched an in-depth study in 2019.

The mummy of ancient Egypt’s former king is the only royal mummy in contemporary history that has not been opened by scientists or tomb thieves.

This isn’t due to some old curse frightening people away, but rather to Egyptologists’ refusal to damage the well-preserved decorations covering Amenhotep’s mummy.

**A handout picture released by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities on December 28, 2021, shows a 3D reconstruction of the head of Amenhotep I, created using computed tomography (CT) scans.**

Decorated with flower garlands and a wooden face mask, Amenhotep’s mummy was so fragile that archaeologists had never dared to expose the remains before.

Hawass and Saleem used advanced X-ray technology, computed tomography scans, and digital software to map out the mummy in great detail, without stripping it of any of its strips.

The team also discovered that the king had been the first ruler to be embalmed with his forearms crossed in the so-called Osiris position.

In addition, they found amulets and a girdle festooned with gold beads under the mummy’s wrapping.

To continue the tradition of leaving pharaoh Amenhotep I undisturbed, scientists turned to three-dimensional CT (computed tomography) scanning to “digitally unwrap” his tomb.

“This fact that Amenhotep I’s mummy had never been unwrapped in modern times gave us a unique opportunity: not just to study how he had originally been mummified and buried, but also how he had been treated and reburied twice, centuries after his death, by High Priests of Amun,” says Dr. Sahar Saleem, professor of radiology at Cairo University and the radiologist of the Egyptian Mummy Project, in a media release.

The scans reveal the pharaoh was a relatively young man at the time of his death, being only 35 years old. He stood between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-7 and the team believes he was in good physical health when he died, apparently of natural causes.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

2,000-year-old graves found in ancient necropolis beneath Paris Train Station

April 24, 2023 Archaeology World Team

2,000-year-old graves found in ancient necropolis beneath Paris Train Station

Archaeologists have discovered 50 tombs in an ancient necropolis just meters from a busy train station in central Paris, and these tombs belong to a lost necropolis of the Gallo-Roman city of Lutetia, the predecessor of present-day Paris.

These graves provide a rare look at life in Lutetia, the city that predated Paris by nearly 2,000 years.

Despite numerous road works over the years, as well as the construction of the Port-Royal station on the historic Left Bank in the 1970s, the buried necropolis was never discovered.

Only after plans for a new station exit were announced did France’s National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) open a series of test trenches covering 200 square meters (2152.78 sq ft) of land around the station.

The excavation revealed burials believed to be part of the Saint Jacques necropolis dating back to the 2nd century, the research institute said in a news release.

Camille Colonna, an anthropologist at INRAP, told a press conference that there were already “strong suspicions” the site was close to Lutetia’s southern necropolis.

**One of the skeletons unearthed in an ancient necropolis was found meters from a busy Paris train station.**

The Saint Jacques necropolis, the most important burial site in the Gallo-Roman town of Lutetia, was previously excavated in the 1800s. However, only objects considered precious were taken from the graves, with the many skeletons, burial offerings, and other artifacts abandoned. The necropolis was then covered over and again lost to time.

The INRAP team discovered one section that had never before been excavated.

“No one has seen it since antiquity,” said INRAP president Dominique Garcia.

Colonna also stated that the team was “very happy” to have discovered a skeleton with a coin in its mouth, which allowed them to date the burial to the 2nd century A.D.

The excavation has uncovered 50 graves, all of which were used for burial — not cremation, which was also common at the time.

**Glass container on deposit in a burial in the excavation of Boulevard Port-Royal in Paris. The burials of a large necropolis, located south of Lutèce in the 2nd century AD, have been unearthed.**

The remains of the men, women, and children are believed to be Parisii, a Gallic people who lived in Lutetia, from when the town on the banks of the Seine river was under the control of the Roman Empire.

The Parisii were skilled in agriculture, metallurgy, and long-distance trading and lived in the area around the south banks of the Seine River in Paris during the 2nd century AD. The Parisii founded Lutetia (now Paris), and despite fierce resistance to the Roman conquest, they were subjugated in the first century BC.

Ceramic jewelry, hairpins and belts, jug goblets, dishes, glassware, and other grave goods have been recovered to help date the burials. According to INRAP, the positions of hundreds of small iron nails, that attached soles to leather shoes, informed the archaeologists that while some were placed on the feet of the interred, others had been buried with shoes on either side of the bodies as a type of offering.

**Cross-checking of two burials from the excavation of the Boulevard de Port-Royal in Paris.**

The entire skeleton of a pig was found inside one coffin, and the remains of another small animal were found inside what is thought to have been a sacrifice pit for the gods. Furthermore, a coin was found lodged inside the mouth of a buried person.

The coin, known as “Charon’s obol,” reflected the story of Charon in Greek mythology, in which a coin was given to the ferryman of Hades to transport the souls of the deceased across the river Styx.

INRAP president Dominique Garcia said that the ancient history of Paris was “generally not well known,” adding that the unearthed graves open “a window into the world of Paris during antiquity.”

Unlike the excavation in the 1800s, this time the team plans to remove everything from the necropolis for analysis.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Advanced imaging techniques reveal secrets of sealed ancient Egyptian animal coffins

April 23, 2023 Archaeology World Team

Advanced imaging techniques reveal secrets of sealed ancient Egyptian animal coffins

Researchers from the British Museum have gained valuable insight into the contents of six sealed ancient Egyptian animal coffins using cutting-edge neutron tomography.

Lead researcher Daniel O’Flynn and his colleagues present the findings of their examination of six sealed ancient Egyptian animal coffins, all of which were dated between 650 and 250 BC, in a new article published in Scientific Reports.

It is thought that animals were sacrificed and mummified to honor the gods, some serving as offerings or even participating in rituals, while others served as physical manifestations of the gods.

The researchers examined the coffins’ interiors using the non-invasive neutron tomography technique to check for any signs of the animals that had been interred there.

They were able to detect actual biological materials in the coffins, which could be linked to specific animals known to have existed in Egypt during the first millennium BC, much to their delight.

This study’s findings were significant for two reasons. First, the study demonstrated that the animal coffins were just that—coffins—real coffins used to bury actual animals. As had been suspected but previously unprovable, the animal images engraved on the top of the boxes actually did represent the animals sealed inside.

Animal coffin EA27584, surmounted by two lizard figures (top and side view). Neutron imaging shows textile wrappings and an 8mm long bone (arrow). (The Trustees of the British Museum and O’Flynn et al.)

Daniel O’Flynn of the British Museum, who led the study published in Scientific Reports, said: “The findings demonstrate the effectiveness of neutron tomography for the study of mummified remains inside sealed metal containers, providing evidence linking the animal figures on top of votive boxes to the concealed remains.”

The coffins, made of copper compounds, were discovered in various locations, including the ancient cities of Naucratis and Tell El Yehudiyeh. Respectively, the coffins bore figures of lizards, eels, and part-eel, part-cobra creatures with human heads.

The authors note that it is rare for such coffins to still be sealed. Inside the coffins, researchers found intact skulls similar to North African wall lizard species, broken-down bones, and textile fragments believed to be linen.

“Linen was commonly used in ancient Egyptian mummification, and we suspect it was wrapped around the animals before they were placed in the coffins,” explained Dr O’Flynn.

The authors found lead within the three coffins without loops, which they suggest may have been used to aid weight distribution within two of them and to repair a hole found in the other.

They speculate that lead may have been selected due to its status in ancient Egypt as a magical material, as previous research has proposed that lead was used in love charms and curses.

The study also posited that loops found on the exterior of three coffins may have been used to hang them from shrine or temple walls, statues or boats during religious processions, indicating the deep importance animals played in religious practices. While the heavier lead-containing coffins without loops may have been used for different purposes.

Cover Photo: An animal coffin, surmounted by a human-headed part-eel, part-cobra creature wearing a double crown, is one of six sealed ancient Egyptian animal coffins researchers have studied.

EUROPE, SWEDEN, WORLD

Two unique mid-14th-century shipwrecks were discovered in Sweden

April 23, 2023 Archaeology World Team

Two unique mid-14th-century shipwrecks were discovered in Sweden

During an archaeological dig in western Sweden this summer, the remains of two medieval merchant vessels known as cogs were discovered. Analyses show that the ships were built outside of Scandinavia in the mid-14th century.

The cogs were discovered by a team from Arkeologerna, which is part of the National Historical Museums of Sweden, during the construction of a railway tunnel in the town of Varberg.

Named Varbergskoggen 1 and Varbergskoggen 2, the first consists of the nearly complete port side that is about 20.5 meters long and 5 meters wide. The remains of the second ship are the forward end of the bottom of the hull, roughly 8 meters in length and 4.5 meters in width.

Elisabet Schager, archaeologist and project leader of the excavation say: “These wrecks are a very special discovery, both in Sweden and abroad, so it has been fantastic to find them. Before these two wrecks were discovered, only 7 other cogs were known in Sweden, and only around 30 are known in the whole of Europe.”

The first dendrochronological (tree-ring dating) samples show that Varbergskoggen 1 was constructed with lumber felled after 1346 in what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, and north-eastern France, while the smaller Varbergskoggen 2 was constructed with oak felled between 1355 and 1357 in northern Poland.

These results suggest that both vessels were in foreign waters, a long way from home, when they ultimately disappeared beneath the waves.

**The remains of Varbergskoggen 2 from above.**

Cogs were medieval single-masted transport vessels that are often associated with the Hanseatic League but were also used across the whole of Northern Europe. Often seen as the successor the Viking Age Knarr, cogs were designed to maximize cargo space.

Several construction details were noted during the excavation of the wrecks, all of which are characteristics identifiable with traditional cog construction. For example, the bottom strakes of the vessels were built in the carvel style, while the sides are built in the more traditional clinker style. Furthermore, the caulking between the strakes was made with moss and secured with lathes. Also, the decks were supported with bulky crossbeams which stuck out the sides of the hull.

Archaeologists have also discovered a variety of fascinating artifacts in the wrecks, such as leather shoes and wood and ceramic housewares.

A rare cache of ship equipment and reserve parts were discovered aboard Varbergskoggen 1 (Varberg Cog 1, the larger of the two), protected from wreck plunderers by a pile of ballast stones.

**Small figurine was found in one of the cogs.**

According to Schager the finds gives a detailed account of life at sea.

“We have a lovely assortment of personal objects that represent parts of the crew’s daily routines, like wooden bowls and spoons. A number of barrel lids, some of which have what appears to be maker’s marks carved in them, were also unearthed among the wreckage. We have collected and are analyzing soil samples as well, which will hopefully be able to identify the remnants of food and/or cargo. We will even search for parasitic remains, which could identify if animals were kept onboard, and if so, which species. We hope to be able to piece together where the cogs’ fateful journey originated, and where they were headed.”

The cause of the sinking of the cogs is still not clear.

“Once we have cleaned every timber from the wrecks, and critically analyzed them, we will hopefully be able to get to the bottom of the mystery.

The information we could gather from the initial excavation is that the larger Varbergskoggen 1 had rolled onto its port side in shallow waters while it was still rigged”, says Schager.

BOLIVIA, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

Wood also came from Europe, likely including the oak, beech and Scots pine from this assemblage. Some may have come as ready-made artifacts, such as barrel staves, while reused ship timber could have been brought to use in buildings on Greenland.

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

Small Fort Found in Scotland on Rome’s Antonine Wall

April 21, 2023 Archaeology World Team

Small Fort Found in Scotland on Rome’s Antonine Wall

The remains of a Roman fortlet have been discovered in West Dunbartonshire.

New technology has enabled the archaeology team at Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to uncover the structure after attempts to find it failed in the 1970s and 1980s.

The fortlet once stood next to the Antonine Wall.

Its buried remains have now been uncovered in a field close to Carleith Primary School in Duntocher, Clydebank.

HES announced the breakthrough on World Heritage Day, the international celebration of cultural heritage.

The Antonine Wall was the frontier that the Romans constructed across central Scotland, and is one of Scotland’s six Unesco World Heritage Sites.

Details of the fortlet were thought lost for hundreds of years.

**An archaeologist using gradiometry to uncover the fortlet**

It was referenced in 1707 by antiquarian Robert Sibbald, who wrote that he had seen a fortlet in the area around Carleith Farm. Excavation teams looked for it decades ago, but the exact location remained unknown.

After employing gradiometry, a geophysical surveying technique which looks under the soil without the need for excavation, the discovery was made.

The technique measures small changes in the earth’s magnetic field to detect archaeological features otherwise invisible from the ground surface.

It allowed archaeologists to identify the stone base of the fortlet, which remains buried underground. On top of this base, turf would have been laid to build a rampart about 2m high.

This fortlet would have been part of several along the Antonine Wall.

In its prime, it would have been occupied by 10 to 12 Roman soldiers who were stationed at a larger fort nearby, likely to be Duntocher. They would have manned the fort for a week at a time before being replaced by another detachment.

The fortlet would have been made up of two small wooden buildings to house the soldiers staying there and will have been used for the 20 years (AD142 – AD162) that the Antonine Wall was defended as the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire.

‘Detective work’

Commenting on the discovery, Riona McMorrow, deputy head of world heritage at HES, said: “It is great to see how our knowledge of history is growing as new methods give us fresh insights into the past.

“Archaeology is often partly detective work, and the discovery at Carleith is a nice example of how an observation made 300 years ago and new technology can come together to add to our understanding.”

**Carleith Farm where the fortlet was discovered**

This discovery has led to HES reviewing the site’s designation to ensure the fortlet is recognized and protected as part of the Antonine Wall.

The geophysical survey will also help to better understand and protect the wall.

While up to 41 fortlets may have lined the wall when it was built, only nine have previously been found.

HES said the discovery marks the tenth known fortlet and shows that there is still more to be discovered about the Roman monument and its functions.

EUROPE, FRANCE, WORLD

2,000-Year-Old Parisii Cemetery Unearthed in France

April 21, 2023 Archaeology World Team

2,000-Year-Old Parisii Cemetery Unearthed in France

**One of the skeletons unearthed in an ancient necropolis found metres from a busy Paris train station © Thomas Samson/AFP/File**

Just metres from a busy train station in the heart of Paris, scientists have uncovered 50 graves in an ancient necropolis which offer a rare glimpse of life in the French capital’s precursor Lutetia nearly 2,000 years ago.

Somehow the buried necropolis was never stumbled upon during multiple road works over the years, as well as the construction of the Port-Royal station on the historic Left Bank in the 1970s.

However, plans for a new exit for the train station prompted an archaeological excavation.

Camille Colonna, an anthropologist at France’s National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP), told a press conference that there were already “strong suspicions” the site was close to Lutetia’s southern necropolis.

The “Saint Jacques” necropolis, the largest burial site in the Gallo–Roman town of Lutetia, was previously partially excavated in the 1800s.

However, only objects considered precious were taken from the graves, with the many skeletons, burial offerings and other artifacts abandoned.

The necropolis was then covered over and again lost to time.

The INRAP team discovered one section that had never before been excavated.

“No one has seen it since antiquity,” said INRAP president Dominique Garcia.

Colonna said the team was also “very happy” to have found a skeleton with a coin in its mouth, allowing them to date the burial to the 2nd century AD. The excavation, which began in March, has uncovered 50 graves, all of which were used for burial — not cremation, which was also common at the time.

Ferryman of Hades

The remains of the men, women and children are believed to be Parisii, a Gallic people who lived in Lutetia, from when the town on the banks of the Seine river was under the control of the Roman Empire.

The skeletons were buried in wooden coffins, which were now only identifiable by their nails. More than half were buried alongside offerings such as ceramic jugs and goblets.

Sometimes a coin was placed in the coffin, or even in the mouth of the dead, a common practice at the time called Charon’s obol.

In Greek mythology, Charon is the ferryman of Hades, and the coin was considered a bribe to carry the souls of the dead across the river Styx. The archaeologists also found shoes inside the graves, identifying them by the small nails that would be been in the soles.

Colonna said the shoes were placed “either at the feet of the dead or next to them, like an offering”.

Jewellery, hairpins, and belts were also discovered.

The entire skeleton of a pig and another small animal was discovered in a pit where animals were thought to have been sacrificed to the gods. Unlike the excavation in the 1800s, this time the team plans to remove everything from the necropolis for analysis.

“This will allow us to understand the life of the Parisii through their funeral rites, as well as their health by studying their DNA,” Colonna said.

Garcia said that the ancient history of Paris was “generally not well known”.

The unearthed graves open “a window into the world of Paris during antiquity,” he added.

ARCHAEOLOGY WORLD

Mummy of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep ‘unwrapped’ for the first time in 3,500 years!

Mummy of Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep ‘unwrapped’ for the first time in 3,500 years!

2,000-year-old graves found in ancient necropolis beneath Paris Train Station

2,000-year-old graves found in ancient necropolis beneath Paris Train Station

Advanced imaging techniques reveal secrets of sealed ancient Egyptian animal coffins

Advanced imaging techniques reveal secrets of sealed ancient Egyptian animal coffins

Two unique mid-14th-century shipwrecks were discovered in Sweden

Two unique mid-14th-century shipwrecks were discovered in Sweden

More than 100 pre-Hispanic religious sites linked to ancient Andean cults discovered in Bolivia

More than 100 pre-Hispanic religious sites linked to ancient Andean cults were discovered in Bolivia

Study Suggests Greenland’s Norse Farmers Imported Wood

Study Suggests Greenland’s Norse Farmers Imported Wood

Small Fort Found in Scotland on Rome’s Antonine Wall

Small Fort Found in Scotland on Rome’s Antonine Wall

‘Detective work’

2,000-Year-Old Parisii Cemetery Unearthed in France

2,000-Year-Old Parisii Cemetery Unearthed in France

Ferryman of Hades

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