New study identifies the likely burials of up to 65 British Kings
History and ArcheoloryA new study published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland has identified the likely burials of up to 65 British Kings and senior royals from the Dark Age. Prior to the study, only one post-Roman burial of an indigenous British monarch from the Dark Ages has been identified (although nine…
Ancient Egyptian silos and administrative buildings uncovered at Kom Ombo
History and ArcheoloryArchaeologists from a joint Egyptian-Austrian archaeological mission have uncovered silos and administrative buildings at Kom Ombo, located on the east bank of the Nile River in the Aswan Governorate of Upper Egypt. Kom Ombo was originally an Ancient Egyptian city called Nubt (meaning City of Gold), famous for the Temple of Kom Ombo that was…
Roman emerald mines may have remained active and mined by Nomads as early as the 4th Century AD
History and ArcheoloryArchaeologists from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in conjunction with the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology of the University of Warsaw, have been excavating the Roman site of Sikait in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. The area was known in Antiquity as “Mons Smaragdus”, given that it was the only place within the Roman Empire…
Acoustic remote sensing reveals sunken Roman city of Baia
History and ArcheoloryNORBIT Subsea and 2BControl, in collaboration with the Institute of Heritage Science of the Italian National Research Council, have conducted a study of the partially submerged Roman city of Baia in the Gulf of Naples, Italy. Baia was a fashionable Roman resort for centuries in antiquity, visited by many notable Roman figures such as Gnaeus…
Origins of the 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendo solved
History and ArcheoloryThe Venus of Willendorf is a 4.4-inch Venus figurine, found in 1908 at a Palaeolithic site near Willendorf, a village in Lower Austria. In a new study published by the University of Vienna in collaboration with Vienna’s Natural History Museum, researchers applied high-resolution tomography, suggesting that the Venus originates from a region in northern Italy.…
Archaeologists uncover previously unidentified set of cultural innovations from 40,000 years ago
History and ArcheoloryExcavations in northern China have revealed a previously unknown set of cultural innovations from 40,000 years ago in the Nihewan Basin. Previous studies of the Nihewan Basin have led to the discovery of a wealth of archaeological sites, ranging in age from 2 million to 10,000 years ago, with the new study focusing on the…
Mummification in Europe may be older than previously thought
History and ArcheoloryA multi-national study of the Sado Valley in Portugal suggests that mummification in Europe may be older than previously thought. The study, published in the European Journal of Archaeology, suggests that European Mesolithic peoples may have been performing treatments such as desiccation through mummification at sites like the Sado Valley from 8,000 years ago. Until…
Rare stone with Pictish symbols found in farmers’ field
History and ArcheoloryArchaeologists have uncovered a stone with carved Pictish symbols in a farmer’s field near Forfar, Scotland. A team from the University of Aberdeen was conducting geophysical surveys to better understand the landscape of the Aberlemno stones, where they found anomalies that led to the discovery of the 1.7-metre-long stone. The Aberlemno stones are a series…
Archaeologists have uncovered two pre-Hispanic temples in the Tehuacán el Viejo archaeological zone
History and ArcheoloryArchaeologists excavating within the archaeological zone of Tehuacán Viejo in Puebla, Mexico, have announced the discovery of two pre-Hispanic temples. Tehuacán el Viejo was an ancient city of the Nguiwa or Popoloca culture that served as a cult centre and political head of the region during the Postclassic period from AD 1000 to AD 1456,…
Underwater archaeologists excavate Byzantine shipwreck near Samos
History and ArcheoloryUnderwater archaeologists have excavated a Byzantine shipwreck near the Greek island of Samos in the East Aegean. The shipwreck, one of 58 identified in the Fourni islands archipelago as part of the framework of the EU’s Interreg VA Greece-Cyprus 2014-2020 program, was selected for further study by the Culture Ministry of Greece due to the…