Archaeology News Online

The copper from Ötzi’s axe comes from Southern Tuscany. In September 2016, Professor Gilberto Artioli from the University of Padua had already announced this when presenting his first research findings on the occasion of the Bolzano Mummy Congress which had been jointly organised by the Eurac Institute for Mummies and the Iceman and the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology to commemorate the 25th anniversary of finding Ötzi’s remains. The copper axe of the Iceman [Credit: © South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology] Finding out about the origin of the copper was a complete surprise, as up till now archaeologists had assumed that the copper used in the Alpine region came from Alpine deposits or the Balkan region. What has not yet been ascertained is whether the Iceman acquired the copper from Tuscany as raw material or as a ready-made blade. Artioli’s publication furthermore establishes links to coeval metallurgical activity in Tuscany. Future research projects aim to retrace trading routes

A team of specialists and students led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Jodi Magness has uncovered additional mosaic scenes in the Late Roman synagogue at Huqoq, an ancient Jewish village in Israel’s Lower Galilee. The new finds provide insight about daily life in the fifth century C.E. and expand the rich repertoire of mosaics already discovered decorating the floors of the building. Huqoq synagogue mosaic: month of Teveth (December-January) with the sign of Capricorn [Credit: Copyright Jim Haberman] Magness, the Kenan Distinguished Professor of religious studies in Carolina’s College of Arts & Sciences, along with Assistant Director Shua Kisilevitz of the Israel Antiquities Authority, focused this seventh season of Huqoq excavations on the southern part of the nave (main hall), where three panels were exposed. A medallion in the center of the uppermost (northern) panel depicts the Greco-Roman sun god Helios in a quadriga (four-horse chariot) surrounded by

Archaeologists working at Dysnes, a recently discovered Viking age burial site in Eyjafjörður fjord in North Iceland are still busy excavating invaluable treasures. Hundreds of items have been found at the site, among them two swords, three spears and three shields. The second sword : Both swords were badly damaged by rust  [Credit: Hildur Gestsdóttir, Twitter] A total of six Viking age graves have been found at the site, including two confirmed boat burials. Only two of the burials have been fully excavated and archaeologists are currently exploring the third burial. The site is unusual for many reasons, not least that two boat burials have been discovered: Viking age boat burials are very rare in Iceland. The site has been badly damaged by erosion. Almost half of one of the burials already excavated had been washed away by the sea. Hildur Gestsdóttir, who is in charge of the dig, told the local news site Vísir that despite the erosion the site had already yielded so many items the te

Arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby has agreed to forfeit thousands of illegally smuggled ancient Middle Eastern artifacts obtained from antiquities dealers, the company and U.S. officials said on Wednesday. Cuneiform tablet, one of several artifacts smuggled from Iraq by owners of Hobby Lobby, according to a civil complaint  filed on Wednesday by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn. Under an agreement with the federal government,  the company consented to return some of the items and improve the way its collects antiquities  [Credit: U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York] The forfeiture will include some 5,500 artifacts purchased by Hobby Lobby Inc that originated from the region of modern-day Iraq and were shipped under false labels, as well as an additional $3 million to settle the civil charges, the Department of Justice said in a statement. "The protection of cultural heritage is a mission that (Homeland Security Investigations) and its partner U.S. Cus

A two-thousand-year-old lion sculpture at an ancient burial site dating back to the Kingdom of Commagene in Turkey’s Adıyaman province has been destroyed, the Milliyet daily reported on Friday. The destroyed lion sculpture [Credit: Ensonhaber] The lion sculpture, which was located within the ancient site of the Karakuş Tumulus in Adıyaman, was destroyed by unknown parties who broke the left side of the sculpture. Also, some parts of the sculpture are missing. Recent incidents in the treatment of historic and natural assets reflect negligence on the part of officials concerning their protection. Two-thousand-year-old granite columns, discovered in 1996 in Antalya, were recently found in front of a building. The columns were used for decorative purposes until an art history teacher recognized the columns and informed officials. A historically significant UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Library of Celsus at Ephesus, witnessed a cultural ceremony with images of decorated tables and chairs

New rooms have been discovered in the domus (house) of Empress St. Helena, the mother of the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, in the bowels of the basilica of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome, officials said Friday. Restoration work carried out in the Domus of the Empress Helena [Credit: Repubblica] "These are nothing less than the living quarters of Helen's court ladies," said superintendent Francesco Prosperetti. "We have shed more light on the main entrance into the domus and better established the divisions between the various rooms," said archaeologist Anna De Santis. Restoration work carried out in the Domus of the Empress Helena [Credit: Repubblica] The Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme or Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem is a Roman Catholic minor basilica and titular church in the Esquilino district of Rome. According to tradition, the basilica was consecrated circa 325 to house the relics of the Passion of Christ, including parts of th

A treasure of gold and silver ancient Roman coins has been found at a mining site in Huelva, southern Spain. The coins as the were found at the site [Credit: Atalaya Mining] The discovery is of "incalculable value and a milestone in the archaeology of this mining area," according to the archaeologists from Atalaya Mining, the company running the mine who found it.  The discovery was reported by local newspaper Huelva Informacion . The 40 or 50 coins found, which date from the 2nd century AD, according to a report in La Informacion , are said to be from the era of Nero and Trajan. "It is a discovery of great beauty that comes to contribute data to our knowledge of RioTinto, that was the great mine of the Roman Empire," Luis Iglesias, director of archaeology at Atalaya Mining, told El Pais . Experts believe the owner of the coins would have been an influential resident of the ancient Roman settlement of Orium. The coins were found bunched together because they would p

The national archaeology expedition operating in Barada valley in al-Zabadani area near Damascus uncovered a floor mural dating back to the 4th century AD. The mosaic, which has an area of around 50 metres, was found in Barhilia town, and makes up the floor of a hall with a wide entrance and two narrow entrances. The mural features artistic scenes and geometric, plant-shaped, and symbolic decorations, all executed with small stone tiles. The style indicates that the mosaic dates back to the end of the Roman era and the beginning of the Byzantine era. Director of Damascus Countryside Archaeology Department Mahmoud Hammoud said that this mural is the first of its kind to be found in the area of Damascus and its countryside, and underlines the importance of the site where it was discovered as it was the seat of a kingdom established by the Iturians, and many archaeological finds were uncovered in three villages in Barada valley; Souq Wadi Barada, Barhilia, and Kafr al-Awamid. Author: Haze

Many attempts to explain how past people experienced their wider world have focused on sight at the expense of sound, but researchers from the University at Albany and the University at Buffalo have developed a tool that puts sound back into the ancient landscape. UB's David Witt used GIS technology to explore the possible relationships between features of Chaco Canyon's built  environment and the canyon to learn whether sound played a role in where certain sites were located [Credit: University at Buffalo] UAlbany's Kristy Primeau and UB's David Witt use GIS technology to advance a largely theoretical discussion into a modeled sensory experience to explore how people may have heard their surroundings throughout an entire archaeological landscape, or soundscape. The results, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports , have more fully animated the ancient world and opened a discussion about how people at various locations, at sites ranging from sacred t

In a ceremony held at his ministry's headquarters, Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany announced the discovery of a very important medical manuscript uncovered by the monks of St Catherine's Monastery in South Sinai during restoration works carried out in the monastery's library. The newly discovered manuscript [Credit: Ministry of Antiquities] The ceremony was attended by Greek Minister of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media Nikos Pappas, the Archbishop of Saint Catherine's Monastery, Egyptian Cultural Minister Helmy El-Namnam,  Egyptian Minister of Communication and Information Technology Yasser El-Kadi, Egyptian Minister of Tourism Yehia Rashid, and South Sinai Governor Major General Khalid Fouda. Mohammed Abdel-Latif, assistant minister of antiquities for archaeological sites, explained that the discovered manuscript is one of those known as "palimpsest" manuscripts, dating to the 6th century AD. The manuscript is written on leather and bears

Archaeologists in Mexico said Monday they have unearthed what they believe was a dwelling where upper class Aztecs who resisted the Spanish conquest tried to preserve their customs and traditions. Burial at the Aztec site of Colhuacatonco belonging to the time of Spanish contact  [Credit: María de la Luz Escobedo, INAH] The structure, where Aztecs were also buried, is part of an old neighborhood in Mexico City called Colhuacatonco, famous for being a place where the Aztecs resisted the Spanish conquest in the 16th century, the National Institute of Anthropology said in a statement. Human remains at the Aztec site of Colhuacatonco [Credit: María de la Luz Escobedo, INAH] The new find buttresses the argument that Colhuacatonco put up passive resistance after the fall of Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, said Maria de la Luz Escobedo, the archaeologist in charge of the project. INAH archaeologists located a sunken patio and a small ceremonial site [Credit: Meltón Tapia, INAH]

She died in her 20s some 1,700 years ago, and is believed to have ruled over a desert valley in ancient Peru where her elaborately tattooed body was buried with weapons and gold objects. The woman, dubbed the Lady of Cao, belonged to the Moche culture that thrived in the northern coastal region  between 100 and 800 AD [Credit: Peru Ministry of Culture ] But a glimpse of the former priestess, the Lady of Cao, can now be seen in a replica of her face unveiled by culture officials and archaeologists on Monday. Using 3-D imaging technology and forensics archaeology, the replica was based on the Lady of Cao’s skull structure and ethnographic research and took 10 months to create, Peru’s culture ministry said. The goal, said Culture Minister Salvador del Solar, was to bring the world closer to one of Peru’s best archaeological finds and remind Peruvians of their rich cultural heritage. “Its relevance is really incalculable,” del Solar said of the oval-shaped face with high cheekbones on disp

In 2014 archaeologists from the Museum of South East Denmark and Aarhus University discovered the previously unknown Viking fortess at Borgring south of Copenhagen. Since then the search has been on to uncover the life, function, destruction and, not least, the precise dating of the Viking fortress. Now a new find has produced a break-through in the investigation. Archaeologists digging in northern gate Borg Rings main entrance  [Credit: Charlotte Price Persson] In the period 2016-18 a programme of new excavations is made possible by a grant from the A.P. Moller Foundation. The team from the Museum of South East Denmark and Aarhus University are joind by leading experts from the Environmental Archeology and Materials Research at the Danish National Museum and the National Police Department's Section for arson investigation. Prior to this year's excavations it was only known that the massive, 150m wide fortress dated to the tenth century. Experts suspected that it was built in t

The head of excavations at Perge in Turkey's Antalya province, Antalya Museum Director Mustafa Demirel, has announced that a new mosaic has been found in the ancient city. The 1,800-year-old mosaic depicts the sacrifice of Iphigenia, the daughter of King Agamemnon in Greek mythology, during the Trojan War. Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) Demirel said that during the initial years of the excavations, important projects were conducted in terms of rehabilitative efforts at the site. In the context of the excavation project, the area which includes the Kesos Fountain in the north to the south was rearranged and excavations along the West Street were accelerated. Throughout the archaeological excavations, numerous sculptures and artefacts have been unearthed, and Demirel noted that a particular mosaic has been unearthed to the "excitement" of researchers. "During the ongoing excavations in Perge, a mosaic was discovered which depicts the scene of the sacrifice of Iphigeni

There has been damage to monuments and archaeological sites on Kos as a result of the strong earthquake that shook the island in the early hours of Friday morning, a team of archaeological service experts sent by the culture ministry reported. The inspection revealed damage to sites around the town, the castle and the Ottoman mosques, the team said, announcing that preliminary protection measures will be taken and the monuments restored after due study. "For this purpose, a Central Service team from the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments Restoration directorate will go to Kos on Saturday and Monday in order to assess the situation and finalise the actions [that will be taken]," a culture ministry announcement said. The tremor also caused the movement and damage of exhibits, especially pottery, at the island's archaeological museum and this will be temporarily closed until the damage is restored, the ministry said, along with the Casa Romana monument on the island. For

Spanish archaeologists excavating a Visigoth necropolis in Sena, in the northeastern province of Huesca, have uncovered what they say is a burial site dating to the 10th century BCE and that was part of the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture. An urn that revealed the existence of the cemetery dating back more than 2,000 years [Credit: EFE] Two urns and a lid were discovered in the graveyard. Hugo Chautón, the archaeologist overseeing the excavation, says Urnfield culture spread from central Europe into northeastern Spain around 1,000 years BCE. The name comes from the Urnfield culture’s custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns, which were then buried. “This culture represents the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron,” said Chautón, “and provides valuable information about burial practices, particularly the move from burying the dead to cremating them.” Archaeologists work on the Visigoth burial site in Sena (Huesca) [Credit: EFE] The team has been excavating a V

They came by boat, bringing cooking utensils, crockery and all the other necessities needed for life in a strange land. That is how Julia Budka imagines the arrival, around 1539 BC, of the first Egyptian administrators in the new town on the island of Sai in the Nile. They were far from home, for the settlement lay in Nubia, between the river’s 2nd and 3rd cataracts. Following the final conquest of the whole of the African kingdom of Kerma by the Pharaoh Thutmose III, Egyptian expansion to the south continued, and the island’s location made it an ideal jump-off point. River traffic could be effectively controlled from here, and Egypt’s armies could be supplied with everything they needed to consolidate their hold. For Nubia was the primary source of gold and other valuable resources from Sub-Saharan Africa for the Egyptian state. Aerial view of the ruins of the town of Sai. Founded by the Egyptians on the island of the same name in the Nile,  in what is now Sudan, the town was occupied