Archaeology News Online

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...

What was life in the fens like in the period known as the dark ages? Archaeologist Susan Oosthuizen revisits the history of an iconic wetland in the light of fresh evidence and paints a compelling portrait of communities in tune with their changeable environment. In doing so, she makes an important contribution to a wider understanding of early medieval landscapes. Highland Cattle grazing in the Wicken Fen [Credit: © Wicken Fen] The East Anglian fens with their flat expanses and wide skies, a tract of some of the UK's richest farmland, are invariably described as bleak – or worse. Turn the clock back 1,000 years to a time when the silt and peat wetlands were largely undrained, and it's easy to imagine a place that defied rather than welcomed human occupation. Historians have long argued that during the 'dark' ages (the period between the withdrawal of Roman administration in around 400 AD and the Norman Conquest in 1066) most settlements in the region were deserted, and...

No site in the world has been continually excavated for so long as Pompeii, the city that lay buried after being destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted, until its accidental discovery over 1,700 years later. Project Director Rebecca Benefiel uses an iPad to take a photograph of a drawing in Herculaneum  [Credit: Ancient Graffiti Project] Not far away lies Herculaneum; buried in the same eruption, it is less well known among tourists but just as much of a treasure trove for archaeologists and historians. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, the cities are well preserved. The eruption may have wiped out their inhabitants, but it also ensured that they were kept alive in historical memory, thanks to the metres of ash that shielded the ruins and remains from the elements. Historians have therefore had access to details which in other cities they can only guess at. This is particularly true in Herculaneum, which was buried by volcanic ash from the ground up rather than being bur...

Without the proper context, the sight of a staircase leading down into a great hole in the ground might not look like much. But this hole is part of an archaeological dig that has uncovered an enormous building dating back 2,500 years, part of the famed Tartessos culture. The find was made in the western Spanish region of Extremadura, a rural land renowned for its cork oak plantations, its scorching summers, and for being the birthplace of conquistadors. The Tartessian staircase found in Turuñuelo de Guareña (Badajoz) [Credit: S. Burgos/ C. Martinez] In the fifth century before the Christian era, there was a massive two-story building standing here, in the demarcation of Las Vegas del Guadiana, in Badajoz province. The building – the first surviving one of its kind from that era to be discovered – had a monumental staircase rising two-and-a-half meters. And it was made with materials and techniques that researchers thought had not been in use in the Western Mediterranean until much lat...

Skeletons have been uncovered on-site during redevelopment work at Brighton Dome Corn Exchange and are in the process of being exhumed respectfully and sensitively from underneath the area that was formerly the venue’s mini conference room. The human remains, which have now been exhumed and will be analysed to determine more about the deceased,  are thought to be from a Quaker burial ground that existed before the Royal Pavilion Estate was built  [Credit: Brighton Dome/Carlotta Luke] The remains are thought to be from 'Quakers Croft' a Quaker burial ground that existed before the Royal Pavilion Estate was built. The below map from 1803 shows the Quaker Meeting House facing onto North Street. The burial ground isn't marked, but it is likely to have been behind here in what is marked as 'Promenade Grove': Darryl Palmer of Archaeology South-East who is managing the dig on site, says: “This is a significant find that shines a light on an important historical moment in t...

Archaeologists excavating the Viking round fortress “Borgring” close to Køge in Denmark, have made a new discovery, a set of wheel tracks near the north gate of the fortress. The wheel tracks, found at the north gate of the fortress are littered with pebbles to prevent Viking carts  becoming stuck in the ground [Credit: Nanna Holm] “During the excavations we suddenly found long tracks full of small stones. The stones are pressed down into the soil, so we can see that carts have been driven over the top of them. Stones don’t occur naturally in the layers, but are laid down by the Vikings to avoid the carts sinking,” says archaeologist Jonas Christensen. Archaeologists have so far revealed five metres of the small stone-filled tracks, which are approximately 90 centimetres apart. The stones measure approximately five centimetres across, but some are bigger. “The ruts were probably made by four-wheeled carts, which we’ve also found tracks of at other locations from the Viking Age. It ...

New buildings have come to light during excavation and restoration works conducted from May 30 to July 7, 2017 at the Sanctuary of Apollo on the uninhabited Greek island of Despotiko (Mantra site), on the west of Antiparos. View of the excavation at Despotiko [Credit: Ministry of Culture] The results of this excavation season are being considered extremely important for the topography of the sanctuary. Among this year’s  findings, the fragment of a marble Kore figurine, dating back to the early Archaic period, part of the block with the foot of an archaic Kouros and a fragment of the leg of a Kouros stand out. Systematic excavations at Despotiko have begun in 1997 and have brought to light one of the most significant archaeological sites of the Cyclades. The excavations are headed by archaeologist of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Cyclades Yannis Kouragios. As in previous years, the 2017 dig was carried out thanks to kind financial support. ​ Pottery fragments [Credit: Ministry of ...

A Roman sarcophagus has been found, excavated, and lifted from its ancient grave at a site on Harper Road. It is being moved to the Museum of London, where its contents will be exhumed. Archaeologists prepare to lift the lid of Roman sarcophagus found in Southwark, London  [Credit: Lauren Hurley/PA Wire] This is an exceptional find for London, where only two similar late Roman sarcophagi have been discovered in their original place of burial in recent years: one from St Martin-in-the Fields near Trafalgar Square (2006) and one from Spitalfields in 1999. The excavation, which began in January this year, revealed a large robber trench around the coffin and found that the lid had been moved, suggesting that the coffin was discovered and robbed in the past. However, it is possible that only the precious items were removed, and the less valuable artefacts, such as the body itself, still remain within the stone sarcophagus. An archaeologist peers under the lid of Roman sarcophagus [Credi...

A perfectly-preserved mummy of an adult bound in copper plates from head to toe has been dug up in Russia’s Far North, alongside the mummy of a “tiny” baby. The discoveries could shed unique light on medieval burial and medical practices. A cocoon with a mummy of an adult was covered with copper plates head to toe [Credit: Alexander Gusev] The remains were found near Zeleny Yar archaeological site in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region, which was discovered in 1997, and has since been the source of dozens of rare finds. "This year's field season has been highly successful. We've opened 10 graves, five of which were never looted in ancient times. For a memorial like Zeleny Yar this is unusual,"said Aleksandr Gusev, a researcher from the Scientific Center for the Study of the Arctic (SCSA), who led the expedition. The two preserved mummies were wrapped in birch bark and thick fabric. The adult, of a height of about 170cm (5ft 6in), was covered in copper plates from head...

In 1986, a long cist burial was dug up in Bridge of Tilt near Blair Atholl, where excavators discovered the skeleton of a man in his forties. Analysis at the time found the man was used to hard work, and lived around 340 to 615 AD, making this one of the earliest Pictish graves ever discovered. The digitally re-created Pictish man [Credit: GUARD Archaeology] Now, GUARD Archaeology in Glasgow and forensic artist Hayley Fisher have managed to digitally recreate the face of the Bridge of Tilt Pict which is now on display at Perth Museum and Art Gallery as part of their Picts and Pixels exhibition. Bob Will, the archaeologist leading this project, said: “The actual burial was found in the 1980s and a certain amount of work was done then. But various members of the local community and groups wanted to do more, so they got in touch to take the project forward and one thing they wanted was a facial reconstruction. That is what got the ball rolling on that one. “We then approached Historic Env...

Twentieth-century Spanish novelist Azorín once described Ávila as “the most 16th-century of all Spanish cities,” generously endowed as it is with churches and palaces. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, it will now continue to live up to this boast in the 21st century by pioneering a European project called Smart Heritage City, aimed at monitoring this and other historical cities. Ávila is leading an EU project that uses technology to monitor potential damage to its famous walls  [Credit: Juan Luis Menendez Valderrey] As many as 226 sensors are being installed along the city wall, around the cathedral and on important buildings and streets. These devices, more than half of which are already in action, pick up a huge amount of data concerning humidity, temperature, light, cracks, insects and traffic vibration. “New technology has to be applied to the conservation of monuments because they are very delicate,” says Rosa Ruiz, archaeologist and head of Ávila’s Heritage Departmen...

Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a luxurious 5th-century Roman palace in Auch in the Gers – and they face a race against time to excavate it. Excavation of Roman Imperial-era domus in Auch, France [Credit: © Jean-Louis Bellurget, Inrap] Abandoned some 16 centuries ago, this aristocratic ‘domus’ possessed private baths and splendid mosaics on the ground. It was close to the centre of the ancient Roman city of Augusta Auscorum, which was the capital of the province of Novempopulanie - and near the centre of the modern town of Auch. Aerial view of domus excavation [Credit: © Jean-Louis Bellurget, Inrap] Originally found by the landowner digging foundations to build a house, just 50cm below the surface the impressive 2-metre-deep ruins have been revealed. Since the end of April, l’Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives (Inrap) has been bringing to light a part of what was once a vast aristocratic home. The Inrap team works on the 5th century domus in Auch [Cr...