Category Archives: Archaeology

Bronze age burial site in Spain suggests women were among rulers

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Researchers in Murcia find exquisite objects at women’s graves later used as sites for elite warrior burials

A burial site found in Spain – described by archaeologists as one of the most lavish bronze age graves discovered to date in Europe – has sparked speculation that women may have been among the rulers of a highly stratified society that flourished on the Iberian peninsula until 1550BC.

Since 2013, a team of more than a dozen researchers have been investigating the site of La Almoloya in the southern Spanish region of Murcia.

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Medieval women ‘put faith in birth girdles’ to protect them during childbirth

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New findings cement idea that ritual and religion was invoked using talismans to soothe nerves

With sky-high levels of maternal mortality, the science of obstetrics virtually nonexistent and the threat of infectious disease always around the corner, pregnant medieval women put their faith in talismans to bring them divine protection during childbirth.

From amulets to precious stones, the list of items that the church lent to pregnant women was substantial, but the most popular lucky charm was a “birthing girdle”.

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Archaeologists find unique ceremonial vehicle near Pompeii

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Well-preserved iron, bronze and tin carriage discovery is ‘without precedent in Italy’

Archaeologists have unearthed a unique Roman ceremonial carriage from a villa just outside Pompeii, the city buried in a volcanic eruption in 79 AD.

The almost perfectly preserved four-wheeled carriage, made of iron, bronze and tin, was found near the stables of an ancient villa at Civita Giuliana, about 700 metres north of the walls of ancient Pompeii and close to where the remains of three horses were unearthed in 2018, including one still in its harness.

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World’s oldest known beer factory may have been unearthed in Egypt

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Ancient Egyptian site in Abydos apparently dates back to beginning of the first dynastic period

American and Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed what could be the oldest known beer factory at one of the most prominent archaeological sites of ancient Egypt, a top antiquities official said on Wednesday.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the factory was found in Abydos, an ancient burial ground located in the desert west of the Nile River, more than 450km (280 miles) south of Cairo.

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Dramatic discovery links Stonehenge to its original site – in Wales

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Find backs theory that bluestones first stood at Waun Mawn before being dragged 140 miles to Wiltshire

An ancient myth about Stonehenge, first recorded 900 years ago, tells of the wizard Merlin leading men to Ireland to capture a magical stone circle called the Giants’ Dance and rebuilding it in England as a memorial to the dead.

Geoffrey of Monmouth’s account had been dismissed, partly because he was wrong on other historical facts, although the bluestones of the monument came from a region of Wales that was considered Irish territory in his day.

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Listen as a 17,000-year-old conch shell is played once more – video

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After laying silent for more than 17,000 years, an ancient instrument Is heard again – a deep, plaintive bleat, like a foghorn from the distant past. When archaeologists realised that a large conch shell discovered in the Marsoulas cave in the Pyrenees had been modified thousands of years ago to serve as a wind instrument, they invited a French horn player to play the conch in a sound studio.  The horn produced clear C, C-sharp, and D notes.

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Poet, pioneer… can family finally honour legacy of Franco victim?

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DNA tests will confirm if exhumed body is Republican heroine, María Domínguez Remón, who overcame poverty to become the first female mayor

The hair that the clips and comb once held in place, probably in a bun, is long gone, as are the feet that filled the sandals, and the clothes to which the two buttons belong.

All that survives of the middle-aged woman who was murdered in 1936 and exhumed from the cemetery of the small Aragonese town of Fuendejalón last weekend is her skeleton, its split skull punched through by a bullet.

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Out of the dark ages: Netflix film The Dig ignites ballyhoo about Sutton Hoo

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Archaeologists at British Museum and National Trust report surge in interest in 1939 Anglo-Saxon find

It was when she spotted #SuttonHoo trending on Twitter that Sue Brunning knew this was not going to be just like any other week.

As the curator of the early medieval collection at the British Museum, and the guardian of the spectacular Sutton Hoo treasures, Brunning is well used to fielding interest in what are justly some of the museum’s best loved exhibits.

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‘Find of the century’: medieval hoard of treasures unearthed in Cambridge

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Graves found under demolished student halls are providing valuable insight into life in a post-Roman settlement

An early medieval graveyard unearthed beneath student accommodation at Cambridge University has been described as “one of the most exciting finds of Anglo-Saxon archaeology since the 19th century”.

King’s College discovered the “extensive” cemetery, containing more than 60 graves, after demolishing a group of 1930s buildings which had recently housed graduates and staff in the west of the city, to make way for more modern halls.

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Remnants of mosque from earliest decades of Islam found in Israel

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Archaeologists say foundations excavated in Tiberias are of a mosque built in about AD670

Archaeologists in Israel say they have discovered the remnants of an early mosque believed to date to the earliest decades of Islam during an excavation in the northern city of Tiberias.

The foundations of the mosque, excavated just south of the Sea of Galilee by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, point to its construction roughly a generation after the death of the prophet Muhammad, making it one of the earliest Muslim houses of worship to be studied by archaeologists.

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Friar crushed by cart: bone analysis hints at causes of medieval deaths

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Research from three Cambridge grave sites suggests poor people were at greatest risk of injury

A friar crushed by a cart, another the victim of an attack by bandits: it sounds like the plot of a medieval mystery. But according to new research these are some of the possible misfortunes to have befallen those in centuries gone by.

An analysis of bones from 314 individuals aged 12 or older, dating from around 1100 to the 1530s, and found in three different sites across Cambridge, reveals that bone fractures were common among those buried in a parish cemetery – where many ordinary workers would have been laid to rest. But the team also found evidence of horrific injuries among those buried in an Augustinian friary, suggesting the clergy were not protected against violent events.

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A key, a casket and the hunt for Spanish dramatist Pedro Calderón’s bones

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Dogged detective work and radar scans of a church wall may help find the last resting place of the great playwright

The death of Pedro Calderón de la Barca – soldier, priest and one of the finest dramatists Spain has produced – continues to prove almost as turbulent and unpredictable as his long and improbable life.

Four centuries after Calderón died in Madrid aged 81, researchers believe they could be close to finding his remains, thanks to the deathbed testament of a priest, a key long guarded by the playwright’s family and the latest in ground-penetrating radar.

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Mexico archaeologists reveal tale of cannibalism and reprisal from conquest

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A convoy of Spaniards and allies was ritually sacrificed in 1520 at Tecoaque – ‘the place where they ate them’ – before Hernán Cortés wreaked revenge

New research suggests Spanish conquistadores butchered at least a dozen women and their children in an Aztec-allied town where the inhabitants sacrificed and ate a detachment of Spaniards they had captured months earlier.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History published findings on Monday from years of excavation work at the town of Tecoaque, which means “the place where they ate them” in the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs.

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50 ancient coffins uncovered at Egypt’s Saqqara necropolis

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Wooden sarcophagi discovered at site south of Cairo along with funerary temple of Queen Naert

Egypt has announced the discovery of a new trove of treasures at the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, including an ancient funerary temple.

The tourism and antiquities ministry said the “major discoveries” made by a team of archaeologists headed by the Egyptologist Zahi Hawass also included more than 50 sarcophagi.

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2,000-year-old remains of infant and pet dog uncovered in France

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Child was buried at beginning of first century surrounded by vases and animal offerings

French archaeologists have hailed the “exceptional” discovery of the 2,000-year-old remains of a child buried with animal offerings and what appears to have been a pet dog.

The child, believed to have been around a year old, was interred at the beginning of the first century, during Roman rule, in a wooden coffin 80cm long made with nails and marked with a decorative iron tag.

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World’s oldest known cave painting found in Indonesia

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Picture of wild pig made at least 45,500 years ago provides earliest evidence of human settlement

Archaeologists have discovered the world’s oldest known cave painting: a life-sized picture of a wild pig that was made at least 45,500 years ago in Indonesia.

The finding, described in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday, provides the earliest evidence of human settlement of the region.

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Victorian bathhouse uncovered beneath Manchester car park

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Mayfield baths found in ‘stunning’ condition by archaeologists on site behind Piccadilly station

A large Victorian washhouse that served Manchester textile workers more than 150 years ago has been uncovered during work to create the city’s first public park in a century.

The ornate tiles of the Mayfield baths, whose pools measured nearly 20 metres, were found in “stunning” condition beneath a car park 164 years after it opened.

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Squatters issue death threats to archaeologist who discovered oldest city in the Americas

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Squatters reportedly belonging to one family claim site of 5,000 year-old ruins was given to them in the 1970s

Illegal squatters have invaded the ruins of the oldest city in the Americas, and made death threats against Ruth Shady, the celebrated Peruvian archaeologist who discovered the 5,000 year-old civilization.

The threats came via telephone calls and messages to various workers at the archeological site at the height of Peru’s Covid-19 pandemic. They followed reports to the police and prosecutors about the invasions of the ancient ruins of Caral.

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Render unto Rome – contrite tourists return pilfered relics

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Whether compelled by guilt or superstition, more and more tourists are returning items they lifted from Italian cultural sites

Some of the repentant sinners may be compelled by guilt, others by superstition.

But Italian museum curators and archeological officers have observed a trend of tourists who, having pilfered artefacts from cultural sites, return them, years later, with a heartfelt letter of confession.

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Snack bar in Pompeii offers insights into ancient eating habits – video report

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The director of archaeology at Pompeii shows an exceptionally well-preserved snack bar, or thermopolium, which served food and drink to passers-by. Traces of food have been found in some of the jars, and the frescoes offer insights into Pompeiian eating habits. Human remains were also found of a victim of the volcanic eruption in AD79 that buried the ancient Roman city

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