Category Archives: Archaeology

‘Almost still shines’: 3,000-year-old sword unearthed in Germany

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Object from mid-bronze age, in ‘extraordinary’ state of preservation, was found in grave in Bavaria

A bronze sword more than 3,000 years old , which is so well-preserved that it “almost still shines”, has been unearthed in southern Germany, officials say.

The Bavarian state office for the preservation of historical monuments (BLfD) said the sword, which is believed to date back to the end of the 14th century BC — the middle of the bronze age — was found during excavations last week in Nördlingen, between Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

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Sudan officials fear for historical artefacts threatened by fighting

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Warring factions urged to preserve heritage after video clip appears to show fighters raiding Khartoum museum

Heritage officials in Sudan have pleaded with warring factions to preserve tens of thousands of historical artefacts threatened by fighting in the capital, Khartoum, that is in its eighth week.

A video clip circulating on social media on Friday appeared to show fighters from the Rapid Support Forces entering the bioarchaeology lab of the National Museum in Khartoum and opening storage containers containing mummies and other remains.

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South China Sea shipwrecks give clues about historic Silk Road trade routes

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Archaeologists begin excavation of two 500-year-old vessels filled with porcelain and timber

Two 500-year-old shipwrecks in the South China Sea, filled with Ming-era porcelain and stacked timber, provide significant clues about the maritime Silk Road trade routes, Chinese archaeologists have said.

The two shipwrecks were discovered in October, and cultural and archaeological authorities have now begun a year-long process of deep-sea exploration and excavation, government officials announced.

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Some of the first humans in the Americas came from China, study finds

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New genetics study finds some of the first arrivals came during the last ice age, and shortly after, in two distinct migrations

Some of the first humans to arrive in the Americas included people from what is now China, who arrived in two distinct migrations during and after the last ice age, a new genetics study has found.

“Our findings indicate that besides the previously indicated ancestral sources of Native Americans in Siberia, the northern coastal China also served as a genetic reservoir contributing to the gene pool,” said Yu-Chun Li, one of the report authors.

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Recovery of ancient DNA identifies 20,000-year-old pendant’s owner

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Elk tooth pendant unearthed in Siberia is first prehistoric artefact to be linked to specific person using genetic sleuthing

Scientists have used a new method for extracting ancient DNA to identify the owner of a 20,000-year-old pendant fashioned from an elk’s canine tooth.

The method can isolate DNA that was present in skin cells, sweat or other body fluids and was absorbed by certain types of porous material including bones, teeth and tusks when handled by someone thousands of years ago.

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Three sections of Roman wall in City of London given protected status

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Remains of once vast riverside structure granted legal protection against unauthorised change

Three sections of a huge but little-known Roman wall, discovered under the City of London, have been given protected status as scheduled national monuments.

The riverside wall was a once vast stone structure that formed part of the defences of Roman London. Built in the third century AD along the Thames, it connected to the city’s landward fortifications, large sections of which still exist.

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Hoard of 1,000-year-old Viking coins unearthed in Denmark

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Artefacts believed to date back to 980s found by girl metal-detecting in cornfield last autumn

Nearly 300 silver coins believed to be more than 1,000 years old have been discovered near a Viking fortress site in north-west Denmark, a museum has said.

The trove – lying in two spots not far apart – was unearthed by a girl who was metal-detecting in a cornfield last autumn.

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Mayan ball game scoreboard thought to be over 1,000 years old found in Mexico

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The circular carved stone, unearthed at the Yucatán’s Chichén Itzá complex, displays hieroglyphic writing and two game players

A stone scoreboard used in an ancient ritual ball game has been discovered at the famed Mayan Chichén Itzá archaeological site on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula.

The circular piece, measuring just over 12.6in (32cm) in diameter and weighing 88lbs (40kg), displays hieroglyphic writing surrounding two players standing next to a ball, according to a statement from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

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Benin bronzes made from brass mined in west Germany, study finds

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Metal used for west African artworks was acquired from manilla bracelets, the grim currency of the slave trade

Scientists have discovered that some of the Benin bronzes were made with brass mined thousands of miles away in the German Rhineland.

The Edo people in the Kingdom of Benin, modern Nigeria, created their extraordinary sculptures with melted down brass manilla bracelets, the grim currency of the transatlantic slave trade between the 16th and 19th centuries.

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Sphinx-like statue and shrine discovered in southern Egypt

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It is thought the Roman emperor Claudius could have inspired work found in the temple of Dendera

Archaeologists have unearthed a sphinx-like statue and the remains of a shrine in an ancient temple in southern Egypt.

The artefacts were found in the temple of Dendera, in Qena province, 280 miles (450km) south of Cairo, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said.

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New analysis of ancient human protein could unlock secrets of evolution

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The technique – known as proteomics – could bring new insights into the past two million years of humanity’s history

Tiny traces of protein lingering in the bones and teeth of ancient humans could soon transform scientists’ efforts to unravel the secrets of the evolution of our species.

Researchers believe a new technique – known as proteomics – could allow them to identify the proteins from which our predecessors’ bodies were constructed and bring new insights into the past 2 million years of humanity’s history.

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‘Norfolk’s Mary Rose’: remains of 17th-century shipwreck go on display

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Artefacts, video and 3D model tell tragic story of the Gloucester, which ran aground carrying future king

The remains of a 17th-century royal shipwreck will go on display in Norwich as part of an exhibition exploring its last voyage.

The Gloucester sank off the Norfolk coast in 1682 while carrying the future king of England, Scotland and Ireland, James Stuart, then the Duke of York.

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‘Remarkable’: Eastbourne shipwreck identified as 17th-century Dutch warship

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Klein Hollandia discovery ‘opens up fascinating chapter in rich, shared maritime history between UK and Netherlands’

• Shipwrecked: how tech is revealing world of 3m lost vessels

A remarkably preserved shipwreck known only as the “unknown wreck off Eastbourne” has finally been identified as the 17th-century Dutch warship Klein Hollandia which was involved in all the big battles in the second Anglo-Dutch war.

Its identity has been confirmed after painstaking research by archeologists and scientists after its initial discovery in 2019, having lain 32 metres (105ft) underwater on the seabed since 1672.

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Archaeologist hails possibly oldest mummy yet found in Egypt

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The 4,300-year-old mummy was found at the bottom of a 15-metre shaft near the Step Pyramid at Saqqara

Egyptologists have uncovered a Pharaonic tomb near the capital, Cairo, containing what may be the oldest and most complete mummy yet to be discovered in the country, the excavation team leader has said.

The 4,300-year-old mummy was found at the bottom of a 15-metre shaft in a recently uncovered group of fifth and sixth dynasty tombs near the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Zahi Hawass, director of the team, told reporters.

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‘Astonishing’ Pompeii home of men freed from slavery reopens to public

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House of the Vettii features ornate and erotic friezes – and a fresco of the god Priapus with a huge phallus

An ornate house – containing a fresco featuring a huge phallus – that was owned by two freed men freed from slavery in the ancient city of Pompeii has reopened to the public.

The House of the Vettii was buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD74 before being rediscovered in a largely preserved state during excavations in the late 19th century.

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‘A search for ourselves’: shipwreck becomes focus of slavery debate

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Vessel that sank with more than 200 transported people onboard is being used to humanise the story of slavery

In 2015, a delegation from the Smithsonian Institution travelled to Mozambique to inform the Makua people of a singular and long-overdue discovery. Two hundred and twenty-one years after it sank in treacherous waters off Cape Town, claiming the lives of 212 enslaved people, the wreck of the Portuguese slave ship the São José Paquete D’Africa had been found. When told the news, a Makua leader responded with a gesture that no one on the delegation will ever forget.

“One of the chiefs took a vessel we had, filled it with soil and asked us to bring that vessel back to the site of the slave ship so that, for the first time since the 18th century, his people could sleep in their own land,” says Lonnie Bunch, now the secretary of the Smithsonian.

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Young Sudanese archaeologists dig up history as ‘west knows best’ era ends

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On a continent that has long attracted western expeditions, a wave of young people are now exploring sites

A late morning in Khartoum. Inside a low, dusty building in the centre of the Sudanese capital, there are crates of artefacts, a 7ft replica of a 2,000-year-old stone statue of a Nubian god, and students rushing through the corridors. Outside is noisy traffic, blinding sunlight and both branches of the Nile.

Heading down one staircase are Sabrine Jamal, Nadia Musa, Athar Bela and Sabrine al-Sadiq, all studying archaeology at Khartoum University. Not one of them is older than 24 and they see themselves as pioneers, breaking new ground on a continent that has long attracted western expeditions, specialists and adventurers but whose own archaeologists have received less attention overseas.

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‘A second front’: fight to save 1,000-year-old caves from developers in Ukraine

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Archaeologists say cave complex must be preserved for ‘indisputable and cultural value’

Dmytro Perov was at his day job, analysing planning applications for Kyiv city council, when he saw a familiar address – the derelict house in central Kyiv built by his family in the late 1800s that was confiscated by the Bolsheviks. The owners of the site now wanted to build on it and had made the unlikely claim that their office was based at the house, which Perov knew had no roof and collapsed walls.

When he was a child, his grandmother said somewhere on the land around the former family home were rumoured to be ancient caves. He described it as a “small family legend”. Ukraine is home to a few cave complexes, most of which were built by monks, the most famous being Kyiv’s Pecherska Lavra – or Cave Monastery in English.

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Ancient Aboriginal rock art destroyed by vandals in ‘tragic loss’ at sacred SA site

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Archeologist says artwork was ‘unique in Australia’, calling for better protection at Koonalda Cave

Vandals have destroyed a 30,000-year-old artwork at a sacred cave in South Australia, as experts decried the “massive, tragic loss” and expressed frustration at the lack of protection at the site.

The vandals entered Koonalda Cave at Nullarbor Plain and scrawled graffiti across the heritage-listed site, writing “don’t look now, but this is a death cave”.

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Pope Francis orders Parthenon marbles held by Vatican be returned to Greece

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Three 2,500-year-old pieces will be ‘donated’ to Greece’s Archbishop Ieronymos II amid wider conversation about future of Parthenon marbles held by Britain

Pope Francis has decided to return to Greece three 2,500-year-old pieces of the Parthenon that have been in the papal collections of the Vatican Museums for two centuries.

The Vatican said in a brief statement that the pope was giving them to Archbishop Ieronymos II, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church and Greece’s spiritual leader, as a “donation” and “a concrete sign of his sincere desire to follow in the ecumenical path of truth”.

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