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EUROPE, SWEDEN, WORLD

The largest hoard of Viking silver was found accidentally while filming a news report about illegal treasure hunting

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The largest hoard of Viking silver was found accidentally while filming a news report about illegal treasure hunting

The Spillings Hoard  is the world’s largest Viking silver treasure, found on Friday 16 July 1999 in a field at the Spilling farm northwest of Slite, on northern Gotland, Sweden.

The silver hoard consisted of two parts with a total weight of 67 kg (148 lb) before conservation and was made up of, among other things, 14,295 coins most of which were Islamic and from other countries. A third deposition containing over 20 kg (44 lb) of bronze scrap-metal was also found. The three caches had been hidden under the floorboards of a Viking outhouse sometime during the 9th century.

On Friday 16 July 1999, a team of reporters from the Swedish television TV4 were in the socken of Othem on Gotland to film a cultural feature from Almedalen Week.

They chose to do a segment on the problem with looting of archaeological sites with archaeologist Jonas Ström acting as their guide along with Kenneth Jonsson, a professor of numismatics, who happened to be on the island at that time. Spillings farm was selected for the filming since about 150 silver coins and bronze objects had been found there earlier by the landowner Björn Engström.

Closeup of silver coins from hoard No 2.

With filming complete, Ström and Jonsson decided to continue their survey of the field. Twenty minutes after the TV-crew had left, they heard a strong signal from their metal detector, which led them to the smaller of the two silver caches.

A couple of hours later and only 3 metres (9.8 ft) from the first find, they received another signal from the detector:

Closeup of silver hoard No 2 from the Spillings Hoard at Gotland Museum.

The site was hurriedly cordoned off, back-up crew from the museum was sent for, permission for an archaeological excavation was immediately sought at the County Administrative Board and guards were posted.

However, instead of keeping the find a secret, the Gotland Museum decided to go public with the find immediately. During the first weekend, over 2,000 people visited the excavation site.

Some days later, the metal detector indicated a third metal cache approximately 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) from the first find. The archaeologists concentrated on uncovering the two first finds before starting with the third. Due to the size of the hoards and the fragility of the objects, the bottom layers of the depositions were encapsulated in plaster.

Only when they tried to lift the finds out of the soil did the archaeologists realize how heavy the hoards were. The smaller weighed 27 kg (60 lb) and the larger one 40 kg (88 lb). An attempt to X-ray the finds at the local hospital failed because they contained so much silver that the X-ray plates remained blank.

Iron fittings from the chest in the bronze cache.

The larger find was intact but the smaller had been damaged by a plough. A previous landowner who visited the excavation commented that he had found metal wires around the find-spot several years earlier, but thinking that they were only steel wire, he had thrown them away. It was therefore concluded that the treasure had originally been even larger.

With the two first caches taken care of, the third deposition was excavated almost a year after the first discovery. It contained over 20 kg (44 lb) of bronze scrap-metal, most of which had been partially melted into a ‘cake’. This find was deemed even more valuable since very few finds contain such large amounts of bronze intended for smelting.

Additional excavations were conducted in the summer of 2000 and in 2003-06. Remnants of wood, iron rivets and mounts as well as a lock mechanism were found, leading to the conclusion that the caches had been stored in chests.

An extended survey and excavation revealed the foundations of a building and indicated that the hoards had been placed under the floorboards of what would probably have been a warehouse, shed or storage rather than a dwelling since it had no hearth. Carbon dating showed that the building had been in use between 540 and 1040.

The foundations and the remaining postholes indicated a regular Viking Age structure, about 10 by 15 m (33 by 49 ft) with a slanting sedge-covered roof, much like other similar finds on Gotland. It had been built on an older Iron Age foundation.

Location of depositories in the stone foun dation at Spillings

The silver deposits were roughly square-shaped with rounded corners, about 40 cm to 45 cm × 50 cm (16 in to 18 in × 20 in), suggesting that they had been in sacks of cloth, leather or pelt, inside boxes or chests of wood.

In the bronze deposit were found substantial pieces of wood and iron, such as fittings, ironwork, nails and a lock-device, showing that the bronze had been kept in a sturdy chest. A carbon dating of the chest dated it to approximately 675, making it older than the objects stored inside it.

Although silver hoards and treasures are not unusual on Gotland, this was an exceptionally large find. One explanation may be found in the location near some of the island’s best and most significant harbours during the Viking Age. The silver in the caches would have been enough to pay the tax to the Swedish king for all of Gotland for five years.

Silver melted into bars from hoard No 2.

The following surveys and excavations of the fields surrounding the find-site showed that the site had been inhabited continuously over 1,000 years up until the 19th century. Over 700 more objects were retrieved, such as objects of bronze and copper, fired clay, clothes pins, a piece of glass, tile pieces, chains, needles, glass beads, slag, iron nails, polished semi-precious stones and brick.

The Spillings Hoard is the world’s largest Viking silver treasure. A finder’s fee of SEK 2,091,672 (approx. US$242,400) was paid to the landowner for the treasure, although the real value of it is much higher. It was the largest amount of money ever paid for a find in Sweden, according to director of the Swedish National Heritage Board Sven Göthe. The hoard was dated to have been hidden some time after 870–71.The treasure is on permanent display in the Gotland Museum.

As of 2015, more than 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb) silver from over 700 caches deposited between the 9th and 12th centuries have been found on Gotland. This includes 168,000 silver coins from the Arab world, North Africa and Central Asia.

Silver melted into bars from hoard No 2.

The caches contained silver objects ranging from coins, bars, thread and hacksilver to be used as raw material, to jewelry such as fingerings, bangles and pendants. Much of the material had been bundled up to correspond with the mark-weight system of the Viking Age, in which 200 grams (0.44 lb) made one mark.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Archaeologists Find 24 Bronze Statues, Preserved in Tuscan Spa for 2,300 Years

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Archaeologists Find 24 Bronze Statues, Preserved in Tuscan Spa for 2,300 Years

Archaeologists have been excavating ancient thermal baths outside Siena, Italy, since 2019. But just last month, peeking out through the mud and water, small unidentified fragments slowly began to appear: a hand, an elbow, a glimmering coin.

The thermal baths helped preserve the ancient statues.

Since then, researchers have unearthed 24 perfectly preserved bronze statues dating back some 2,300 years, as well as a cache of thousands of coins and other significant artifacts.

The discovery in San Casciano dei Bagni, a small hilltop town in the Siena province known for its thermal baths, is nothing short of groundbreaking, experts say.

The find is “the largest deposit of bronze statues of the Etruscan and Roman age ever discovered in Italy and one of the most significant in the whole Mediterranean,” says excavation leader Jacopo Tabolli, a historian at the University for Foreigners in Siena, in a statement, per Google Translate.

One of the sculptures discovered in the ancient thermal baths
A sculpture in the mud at the excavation site

The statues date back to between the second century B.C.E. and the first century C.E., which was a time of great upheaval in Tuscan history: The transition from Etruscan to Roman rule was taking place, through hard-fought battles over towns such as this one.

After the Romans eventually prevailed, they led a concentrated campaign to redefine and minimize Etruscan culture, burying or destroying historical items.

Among the statues are likenesses of Hygieia, Apollo and other Greco-Roman gods. Some of them bore Latin and Etruscan inscriptions with the names of prominent Etruscan families.

“This discovery rewrites the history of ancient art,” Tabolli adds. “Here, Etruscans and Romans prayed together.”

Tabolli thinks that the statues were immersed in thermal waters in a sort of ritual. “You give to the water because you hope that the water gives something back to you,” he tells Reuters’ Alvise Armellini.

Experts clean one of the sculptures.
The excavation site in San Casciano dei Bagni in the Siena region of Italy
Two bronze busts dating back about 2,300 years

Researchers can’t know for certain why the statues were drowned in the thermal waters, but they do know that the waters helped keep them in such good condition.

The mud creates an atmosphere without oxygen, which helps keep the bronzes safe from bacteria, says Helga Maiorano, an archaeologist at the University of Pisa, to la Repubblica’s Azzurra Giorgi.

“One of the last ones [of the statues] particularly struck me for the quality of the details,” Chiara Fermo, an archaeologist at the University of Siena, tells La Repubblica, per Google Translate.

“It is a female statue, entirely bejeweled, with very detailed necklaces and earrings. An example of what a woman of the time must have been like.”

The area’s thermal baths were used until the fifth century C.E., when public bathing practices were banned under new Christian regulations.

The statues and other discoveries have been taken to a restoration lab in nearby Grosseto. Eventually, they’ll go on display in a new museum opening in San Casciano.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Mysterious Mass Grave Found in Wales May Contain Bodies of Vikings’ Slaves

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Mysterious Mass Grave Found in Wales May Contain Bodies of Vikings’ Slaves

Archaeologists have uncovered a mysterious mass grave dating back 1,600 years in Wales containing the remains of 86 individuals. Researchers are now attempting to explain strange characteristics regarding the people’s age, gender and race. Could these remains be those of slaves brought there by the Vikings?

The discovery was made by experts from Archaeology of Wales on the island of Anglesey. While carrying out a survey of a local college, the Coleg Menai in Llangefni, they found 32 skeletons in 2016. According to Wales Online , a further 54 were unearthed when a link road was built next to the college between the town in 2017.

Enigmatic Burial Grounds

The skeletons were taken away from the site for further tests and it was determined that the graves dated from approximately 1,600 years ago. The Daily Mail reports that ‘‘They were likely buried in the early medieval period after the Romans left Britain’’.

This is the period known as the Dark Ages when civilization virtually collapsed in Europe. In the British Isles, it was a period of endemic warfare and when the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Wessex, Northumberland, and Mercia started to emerge.

Researchers carried out an isotope analysis of the remains in order to identify their origins. They expected to find that the remains were of local people who had died in the Dark Ages. Instead, they found that the skeletons included those of people who came from across Europe.

“Some individuals came from western Britain, where the border is today between England and Wales, a couple from Scandinavia and a couple from Mediterranean places like Spain,” said Dr. Irene Garcia Rovira of Archaeology Wales [via Wales Online].

Some of the bones from the ancient burial ground.

Vikings and slaves

This was remarkable because in the aftermath of the collapse of the Roman Empire, long-distance travel was believed to have been virtually impossible because of war and a breakdown in the trade network. 

The experts were baffled as to how so many people from so far away came to rest in an island off the North coast of Wales, and why.

In the period when the individuals were interred in the cemetery, the island of Anglesey was controlled by the Viking kingdom of Dublin. It appears that many Irish settlers migrated to the island. Dublin at this time was one of the centers of the slave trade in Europe.

Those who were buried in the graves were possibly slaves that had been brought to Anglesey by the Vikings based in Ireland. However, it appears that Anglesey was only under the control of the Dublin Norse for a few years and why so many people from so far away were buried at the site is still a mystery.  

Could the bodies belong to slaves captured by the Vikings?

Enigmatic Skeletons

The origin of the dead was not the only peculiarity about the skeletons. The Daily Mail reports that the ‘‘experts were puzzled to find the mass grave included more females than males’’. Why this is the case is unknown.

The majority of the remains came from people who died in their mid-forties. Dr. Rovira stated that ‘‘though young by today’s standards, was relatively long-lived for the time’’ reports the World News Net . 

To add to the mystery of the cemetery, not many grave goods were found. A 2 nd century AD Celtic brooch was among the few items retrieved. A Roman coin was also uncovered. These items date to a period much earlier than when the dead were buried in the cemetery.

The CEO of the college, Dafydd Evans has pledged to collaborate with the authorities to put any artifacts uncovered on display at the local Oriel Ynys Mon museum.

There is expected to be more work carried out at the site. This may help to solve the mystery of burial grounds and its skeletons, which could potentially radically change our knowledge about the Dark Ages.  However, it seems that the remarkable and peculiar graves will remain a mystery for some time to come.

EUROPE, GREECE, WORLD

‘Folded’ iron sword found in a Roman soldier’s grave was part of a pagan ritual

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‘Folded’ iron sword found in a Roman soldier’s grave was part of a pagan ritual

Archaeologists in Greece have discovered a 1,600-year-old iron sword that was folded in a ritual “killing” before being interred in the grave of a soldier who served in the Roman imperial army.

This iron sword was folded in a ritual “killing” before it was buried with a soldier about 1,600 years ago.

The discovery of the folded sword was “astonishing,” because the soldier was buried in an early church, but folded sword was part of a known pagan ritual, said project co-researcher Errikos Maniotis, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Byzantine Archaeology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece.

Although this soldier, who was likely a mercenary, may have “embraced the Roman way of life and the Christian religion, he hadn’t abandoned his roots,” Maniotis told  in an email.

The soldier’s burial is the latest finding at the site of a three-aisled paleochristian basilica dating from the fifth century. The basilica was discovered in 2010, during excavation ahead of the construction of a subway track, which prompted researchers to call the ancient building the Sintrivani basilica, after the Sintrivani metro station. The station is in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, which was an important metropolis during Roman times. 

The basilica was built over an even older place of worship; a fourth-century chapel, which might be the oldest Christian church in Thessaloniki, Maniotis said.

The individual’s burial in the ancient basilica.

In the seventh century, the church was damaged and only poorly renovated before it was eventually abandoned in the eighth or ninth century, Maniotis said. During recent excavations, archeologists found seven graves that had been sealed inside. Some of the graves contained two deceased individuals, but didn’t have any artifacts.

However, an arch-shaped grave contained the remains of an individual who had been buried with weapons, including a bent spatha — a type of long, straight sword from the late Roman period (A.D. 250-450).

“Usually, these types of swords were used by the auxiliary cavalry forces of the Roman army,” Maniotis said. “Thus, we may say that the deceased, taking also into consideration the importance of the burial location, was a high-ranking officer of the Roman army.”

The individual was buried with the folded sword, a shield-boss and a spearhead.

The archaeologists still have to study the individual. “We don’t know anything about his profile: age of death, cause of death, possible wounds that he might have from the wars he fought, etc.,” Maniotis said.

However, they were intrigued by his folded sword and other weapons, which included a shield-boss (the circular center of a shield) and spearhead. 

So far, the folded sword is the most revealing feature in the grave. “Such findings are extremely rare in an urban landscape,” Maniotis said. “Folded swords are usually excavated in sites in Northern Europe,” including in places used by the Celts, he said.

This custom was also observed in ancient Greece and much later by the Vikings, but “it seems that Romans didn’t practice it, let alone when the new religion, Christianity, dominated, due to the fact that this ritual [was] considered to be pagan,” Maniotis said.

The bent sword is a clue that the soldier was a “Romanized Goth or from any other Germanic tribe who served as a mercenary (foederatus) in the imperial Roman forces,” Maniotis wrote in the email.

The Latin word “foederatus” comes from “foedus,” a term describing a “treaty of mutual assistance between Rome and another nation,” Maniotis noted.

“This treaty allowed the Germanic tribes to serve in the Roman Army as mercenaries, providing them with money, land and titles. [But] sometimes these foederati turned against the Romans.”

The archaeological team recently found ancient coins at the site, so they plan to use these, as well as the style of the sword’s pommel, or the knob on the handle, to figure out when this soldier lived, Maniotis noted.

“The soldier’s armament [weapons] will shed light to the impact that the presence of the community of foreign mercenaries had in the city of Thessaloniki, the second greatest city, since the fall of Rome and after Constantinople, in the Eastern Roman Empire.”

Mosaic and cemetery

The discovery of the ancient basilica has revealed other ancient artifacts. Archaeologists led by Melina Paisidou, an associate professor of archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, have also excavated the building’s beautiful mosaic floor, Maniotis said.

The mosaic shows a vine with birds on its stalks, including the mythical phoenix with a halo that has 13 rays at its center. Only seven other depicted birds have survived, but the archaeological team posits that there were originally 12 birds, and that the mosaic is likely an allegorical representation of Christ and the 12 apostles, Maniotis said.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Two British Teens Using Metal Detectors Discovered 1,000-Year-Old Coins

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Two British Teens Using Metal Detectors Discovered 1,000-Year-Old Coins

This summer, two British teenagers wielding metal detectors separately discovered a pair of rare, 1,000-year-old coins.

Per a statement from Hansons Auctioneers and Valuers, which is set to feature the coins in an upcoming sale, 17-year-old Reece Pickering unearthed a silver Saxon penny dated to 1066 while treasure hunting in Norfolk this August.

17-year-old Reece Pickering found one of just three surviving silver pennies dated to Harold II’s reign.

The following month, 16-year-old Walter Taylor—who first started metal detecting when he was 4 years old—found an 1106 silver penny in a field in South Essex.

“I wasn’t expecting to come across such a scarce and remarkable coin,” says Pickering in the statement. “… I can’t imagine finding something as special as this again. You just never know what’s beneath your feet.”

Pickering’s Harold II silver penny is one of just three known to survive today, reports Daniel Hickey for the Eastern Daily Press. It’s expected to sell for around £2,500 to £3,000 (roughly $3,290 to $4,000 USD).

Coins minted during Harold’s reign are scarce, as the Anglo-Saxon king only ruled for nine months. In 1066, William the Conqueror invaded England, defeating Harold at the Battle of Hastings and launching a century of Norman rule.

Demand for coins from Harold’s reign has increased since the Battle of Hastings’ 950th anniversary in 2016, according to Coin World’s Jeff Starck.

To commemorate the occasion, the United Kingdom’s Royal Mint released a 50-pence coin based on the famed Bayeux Tapestry, which shows Harold dying of an arrow to the head. (The accuracy of this depiction remains a point of contention.)

Harold II coin (top left) and Henry I coin (bottom right)

Pickering isn’t the only metal detectorist to stumble onto a Harold coin in recent years. In January 2019, a group of friends searching a field in Somerset discovered a trove of 2,528 coins featuring the likenesses of both Harold and his successor, William.

According to the British Museum, which was tasked with assessing the collection, the 1,236 Harold coins found outnumbered the collective amount known to previously exist by almost double.

Likely buried by a nobleman hoping to protect his wealth amid a volatile political environment, the money represented an early example of the seemingly modern practice of tax evasion.

Taylor, meanwhile, found a silver penny depicting Henry I—William’s youngest son—pointing at a comet, per James Rodger of Birmingham Live. Henry had the coin minted following his victory over his older brother, Robert Curthose, at Tinchebrai in 1106. The penny is expected to sell for around £3,000 to £3,500 (around $4,000 to $4,600 USD).

“I was constantly digging … but finding nothing,” says Taylor in the statement. “Then the register on my detector rose from 26 to 76. The coin was buried about four inches deep in the ground. I thought it was a silver penny but when I swiped the mud off it, I saw a face staring at me.”

Both coins—in addition to artifacts including an ancient Roman nail cleaner, a Viking brooch, and a gold half-crown coin minted toward the end of Henry VIII’s reign—will be on offer during an online auction hosted by Hansons on October 26 and 27. Proceeds from the coins’ sale will be split half and half with the landowners on whose property they were found.

EUROPE, WORLD

Some of Europe’s Oldest-Known Modern Humans Are Distantly Related to Native Americans

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Some of Europe’s Oldest-Known Modern Humans Are Distantly Related to Native Americans

Genome sequencing shows some individuals share family ties with surprising populations, and all boast plenty of Neanderthal relatives.

Scientists excavate bones at Bacho Kiro Cave in Bulgaria. Four modern human bones were recovered from this layer along with a rich stone tool assemblage, animal bones, bone tools and pendants.

Forty-five thousand years ago, some of the first modern humans to call Europe home lived in and around Bulgaria’s Bacho Kiro Cave. They created adornments, like beads and pendants of cave bear teeth. They fashioned stone and bone tools and colored them with red ochre. They hunted, butchered and feasted on local animals.

Artifacts of this lifestyle were left scattered in the cave, but these ancient humans left little evidence of themselves. Just a single tooth and a few tiny bits of bone survived to the present day. Yet those fragments contained enough genetic material that scientists have now recreated some of the humans’ stories, revealing surprising information about both their ancestors and their descendants.

Two genetic sequencing studies published in different journals this week have sketched out the family trees of Europe’s earliest known modern humans, three 45,000-year-old individuals from Bacho Kiro Cave and one similarly aged skull from a Czechian hill site known as Zlatý kůň (Golden Horse).

Only the Bacho Kiro individuals have living descendants and they’re found in surprising places—in East Asia and the Americas. The ancient humans from both ancient European sites do share one common ancestral strain—a healthy dose of Neanderthal DNA.

Among the Bacho Kiro humans, evidence seems to show that when modern humans moved into Europe they commingled with Neanderthals longer, and later, than is commonly believed.

In 2015, scientists working in the Bulgarian cave found human fossils along with thousands of bones from butchered animals, and an assemblage of Paleolithic artifacts. A single molar stood out as unmistakably human, but the rest of the bones were broken bits that had to be identified as human by using protein mass spectrometry, which can spot uniquely human protein sequences not found in bones of other species.

The human bones were then radiocarbon-dated to between 42,580 and 45,930 years before present. Researchers also produced tiny bits of tooth and bone powder from which they could extract DNA and sequence the genomes of three different individuals who once called the cave home.

While their age suggests these individuals were among the earliest modern humans to live in Europe, their DNA reveals that they have little relation to humans now known as European.

“Interestingly, these earliest Europeans that we find in the Bacho Kiro Cave did not contribute substantially to later West Eurasians,” says Mateja Hajdinjak, of the Francis Crick Institute (London), co-author of the study published this week in Nature. 

“These groups got largely replaced in Western Eurasia by subsequent migrations of people. But they are closely related to the human groups that gave rise to later East Eurasians and Americans—including present-day populations.”

“It’s just really cool that fossils of three individuals in Bulgaria left behind DNA, and can trace their descendants to different parts of the world than we’d expect, in ancient and living East Asians and Native peoples of the Americas,” adds Rick Potts, director of the Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program, who wasn’t involved in the genetic research.

The genome study also shows that a thick branch on the Bacho Kiro humans’ family tree belongs to the Neanderthals. The individuals carry 3 to 3.8 percent Neanderthal DNA in their genes, which suggests more than a one-off mating far back in their family history. In fact, the genomes show that these European humans had Neanderthal ancestors just six or fewer generations back.

“The Bacho Kiro Cave individuals provide further evidence that the admixture with Neanderthals must have been common when they had a chance to meet, since all of them had Neanderthal ancestors very recently in their family histories,” Hajdinjak says.

A second study published in Nature Ecology and Evolution tackled the intriguing skull of a single modern human female from the Zlatý kůň Czechia site that was found in the early 1950s—and has confounded some researchers during the years since.

Any context of exactly where in the cave it was buried or with which artifacts it was found are long lost. Radiocarbon dating has failed due to contamination. The study’s analysis turned up cattle DNA, the likely result of animal glue once used to help preserve the skull, so the skull’s true age is unknown.

The skull of a modern human female individual from Zlatý kůň

But DNA was well preserved in the skull, and genetic sequencing studies have revealed some interesting things about this mysterious woman. This individual shows substantial Neanderthal ancestry of three percent, and the segments of Neanderthal genome present are exceptionally long. “This is a good indication that you had very recent admixture with Neanderthals,” says Kay Prüfer, who studies archaeogenetics at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

Prüfer and co-authors of the new study speculate that because the strands of surviving Neanderthal DNA are longer than those in a very old existing modern human genome, the 45,000-year-old Ust’-Ishim individual known from Siberia, this individual could be of similar age or even older.

Unlike with the individuals at Bacho Kiro, DNA analysis hasn’t been able to shed much light on what happened to this group of humans who lived in ancient Czechia. “It looks like its own little branch of the populations that trace their ancestry to those people who left Africa 50,000 to 60,000 years ago,” Prüfer says. “We don’t really detect any directly descended populations among people who are living. Why did they not leave their mark?”

Genetic studies suggest that the Europe of this era was the scene of a complex set of early migrations in which unrelated, distinct groups of early humans split off from the common ancestors who left Africa. They settled across Europe and encountered the Neanderthals already living there.

Many of these modern human stories seem to have hit evolutionary dead ends. The Zlatý kůň individual doesn’t seem to contribute to later human groups, nor do others of the handful of examples sequenced so far, like the 45,000-year-old Ust’-Ishim from Siberia and the 40,000-year-old Oase 1 from Romania

“Not all fossil humans represent ancestors of living populations, or populations that left genetic descendants,” says Rick Potts. “That may be more the rule than the exception and the genomics is really highlighting that.”

Interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals may not have been all that exceptional either, during the several thousand years that the two species coexisted in Europe. “These new studies point to multiple pulses of H. sapiens dispersals across Eurasia, perhaps with different archaeological signatures, and multiple interbreeding events with the Neanderthals,” says Chris Stringer, a paleoanthropologist at the Natural History Museum (London) unaffiliated with the research.

It’s not known exactly where, when, or how often our early human ancestors commingled with Neanderthals. Often, the interbreeding wasn’t successful for Neanderthals; most of their genetic variants didn’t stay around.

But Stringer theorizes that early modern populations could have acted like sponges, occasionally absorbing pockets of Neanderthals though limited local interbreeding in places like Eastern Europe. Perhaps that helped to cause the demise of Neanderthals as a viable population, but they didn’t completely disappear.

EUROPE, SWITZERLAND, WORLD

Swiss Metal Detectorist Finds 1,290 4th Century Roman Coins!

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Swiss Metal Detectorist Finds 1,290 4th Century Roman Coins!

Nearly 1,300 priceless 4th-century AD Roman coins, all in a pot, were found in September 2021 near Bubendorf, Basel County, Switzerland by amateur archaeologist volunteer, Daniel Ludin. During one of Daniel’s metal detector searches in a forest at Wildenstein Castle, the alert went off.

Digging down he just found a few coins and potsherds, but the detector kept buzzing. Digging further he discovered the Roman coin hoard in what was once a really big pot, according to the report in Archaeology Baselland.

The ceramic pot with the coins during professional excavation by employees of Archaeology Baselland.

Rare Hoard of Roman Coins Dated to the Constantine Era

A big broken pot overflowing with copper coins was the Swiss amateur archaeologist’s eventual jackpot find. The entire hoard of Roman coins dated to Emperor Constantine’s reign (306-337 AD). They were the equivalent of a gold solidus, which is 2 months’ salary for a Roman Legion soldier. The youngest coins in the hoard dated to 332-335 AD.

Coin hoards from a time of economic stability are unusual. And that’s what makes this hoard both rare and unusual. Comparatively, Constantine’s reign was marked by overall peace and tranquility, Therefore, coin hoards from this Roman period are rare.

Conversely, in times of economic instability, people would bury coins and currency in the hope of using them in better times and to protect them. Instability would include civil wars, incursions by neighboring ethnic groups, and economic crises .

All the Roman coins in the recent Swiss Roman coin hoard, made during the reign of Constantine the Great (306-337 AD), show portraits of the emperor and his relatives in the front.

The September 2021 Swiss Roman coin hoard burial find indicates either a religious offering to the gods, or a peace offering (the site was on a border shared by three Roman estates ), or perhaps a boundary line sacrifice.

The reasons for this are still not entirely clear, particularly because the exact years matching this coin hoard were characterized by their political stability and minor economic recovery, and there are hardly any contemporaneous hoards from this era in the Roman Empire’s history .

Part of the many reforms enacted by Constantine include the separation of civil and military authorities, and the introduction of the gold solidus coins .

The gold coins, meant to combat the crippling inflation of the 3rd century AD, replaced the pure silver argentus coins in 305. The gold solidus would become the standard for Byzantine and European currencies for more than 1,000 years.

Constantine also shifted the capital of the Roman empire to Byzantium, renaming it Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul).

A 3D model of the jar of ancient Roman coins which was found by an amateur archaeologist in Switzerland in September 2021.

An Amateur Archaeologist with A Deep Sense of Professionalism

Daniel Ludin was extremely cautious about his find. He left the loot, filled in the hole, and immediately informed Archeologie Basselland, which allowed them to preserve the pot in a soil block with coins, pot fragments, and invisible archaeo-organic remains excavated under laboratory conditions.

This allowed for a CT scan of the soil block, indicating a separation of the coins in the pot into two parts by a piece of cowhide, the reason and purpose of this remains unclear.

Says Andreas Fischer of Archaeologie Baselland, “One can only speculate about the meaning and purpose of this separation.” Since September 2021, when the discovery was originally made, the finds were carefully transferred to the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (EMPA) in Duebendorf. Here computer tomography (CT) scanning, and a powerful X-ray have been employed to figure out what’s what.

In a statement obtained by Zenger News , Fischer added that, “After recovering several Roman coins and fragments of pottery, the full extent of his discovery became apparent: a hoard of coins that had been buried in a pot came to light.

Daniel Ludin acted very carefully. He covered the find again and informed Archeologie Baselland. Thanks to this professional approach, an excavation team from Archäologie Baselland was able to salvage the pot in one piece.”

Despite the observations regarding the relative peace and stability of the Constantine era made by the current archaeology team, there was an important point of observation that one must note.

Bronze coins, over time, continued to be devalued in favor of the silver and gold currency, creating gold as the fiduciary standard. This, in time, created a class divide between the wealthy and the poor, with the latter holding on to the bronze currency, while the rich benefited from the stability of the gold coinage.

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

Ancient Shoe Discovery Shows High Fashion Sense of Roman Footwear

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Ancient Shoe Discovery Shows High Fashion Sense of Roman Footwear

Italians are generally renowned as excellent shoemakers throughout the world. Their products are usually placed in a more luxurious category as their designer shoes tend to cost a bit more an average person can afford.

However, their predecessors on the Italian Peninsula ― the Romans ― were known as gifted shoemakers as well, apart from being ingenious engineers, architects, and sculptors.

Moreover, Roman footwear wasn’t only functional but was fashionable in a sense to which we today can relate.

Roman footwear on display at Saalburg museum.

A recent discovery from an archaeological locality of Saalburg, Germany, confirms that the Romans indeed neatly crafted women’s shoes, which, apart from providing protection and warmth, were also very stylish and presented a status symbol among citizens.

The discovery at Saalburg is just one among many, for this site used to be a significant Roman border outpost on the very frontier of the Empire. Built around 90 AD, it also served as a settlement that at its height reached around 2,000 inhabitants who lived both within the fort’s walls and in the village which grew around it. The fort remained active until 260 AD.

Statue of Antoninus Pius at the entrance of Saalburg.

Since 2005, Saalburg has been put under UNESCO’s protection as a World Heritage Site and the fortress has been reconstructed using known data about its prior shape and form.

As for the shoe, it was found in what used to be a well within the ancient settlement. Today the 2,000-year-old piece of footwear stands as part of a regular exhibition in the Saalburg museum.

Based on the standard-issue Roman military sandal/boot, called the caligae, the Saalburg shoe has a heavy sole, implying it was made for outdoor use, as opposed to the more lightly-soled indoor slippers which were also known to be popular among the wealthier inhabitants of the Roman Empire.

Soles of of military boots – caligulae.

The design is similar ― apart from the sole, the Saalburg shoe includes holes for laces, which were predominately used by women. As is typical for most Roman footwear, it has a leather upper and a hobnailed sole, providing both comfort and functionality to the wearer.

The embroidery is crafted in great detail, once again implying this was most probably a shoe belonging to a wealthy person. Patterns including triangles and circles add to the beauty of this shoe from another time, displaying its maker’s skill, but also its owner’s social status, as merchandise of this standard certainly came in a steeper price range.

Roman shoes, Saalburgmuseum, Saalburg Roman Fort, Limes Germanicus.

According to Rome Across Europe, a blog dedicated to Roman culture, the ancient civilization of Julius Caesar, Cicero and many others actually introduced the Mediterranean world with the first entire-foot-encasing shoe.

“Many had large open-work areas made by cutting or punching circles, triangles, squares, ovals, etc. in rows or grid-like patterns. Others were more enclosed, having only holes for the laces. Some very dainty women’s and children’s shoes still had thick nailed soles.”

Roman caligae from re-enactment show Legio XV.

Pioneers in their own right, Roman shoemakers were known as sutors and their craft was highly praised throughout ancient Europe and beyond. The style obviously traveled together with conquest, as this example was discovered in the very outskirts of the Empire.

In an age of manufacture, a gifted sutor could easily earn the respect of Roman patricians ― the ruling elite ―enabling them to rise in the social hierarchy.

Statue of Pliny the Elder on the facade of Cathedral of S. Maria Maggiore in Como.

Apparently, their meddling with other trades gave birth to an ancient Roman expression, attributed to Pliny the Elder ― “Sutor, ne ultra crepidam,” meaning “Shoemaker, not beyond the shoe.”

The expression originated from an anecdote in which a shoemaker complains to the painter, Apelles of Kos, by pointing out that his rendition of a shoe on one of his paintings wasn’t correct. Apelles changed this detail, but in return received a number of other objections by the shoemaker, concerning things that weren’t in his area of expertise.

Caliga, Roman soldier’s sandal from the 1st Century AD, Landesmuseum, Mainz.

Thus came the saying by which everyone should stick to what they know, and remain restrained in passing judgment beyond their profession.

EUROPE, FRANCE, WORLD

2500-year-old Celtic aristocrat buried with cauldron of Achelous and adorned in gold

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2500-year-old Celtic aristocrat buried with cauldron of Achelous and adorned in gold

Archaeologists have made an impressive excavation of a fifth-century tomb. A tomb in Lavau, Champagne, holds a 2500-year-old bronze cauldron one meter in diameter, as well as an aristocrat adorned in gold torque.

The cauldron has a lion head and the impressive head of Achelous, a River-God in Greek mythology, with three mustaches on the brim. At the center of the tomb lies the aristocrat, with other items that have remained undisturbed for 2500 years. The aristocrat was buried with a chariot, bronze vases, and more.

Achelous was believed to be a water deity who battled with Hercules and unfortunately for him, Hercules won the fight and viciously took a horn from Achelous’ head. The cauldron resembles the familiar depictions of Achelous, including the three-fanged mustache.

The gold bracelets

Who is this aristocrat that received such a king’s send off in France? This is a question that the National Archaeologist Research Institute hopes to answer. But first, they must determine the Celtic royalty’s gender, something that has perplexed archaeologists since the discovery.

In their defense, their case is not helped by the fact that the remains are severely decomposed compared to other recovered items. The unfortunate state of the corpse makes it difficult to determine the gender.

Some favored the idea that the corpse is likely male. This assumption has led many to point out that female tombs in north-eastern France indicate it is more likely that the corpse may, in fact, be female.

Heavy gold torque and gold bracelets

Whether male or female, what is known is that she or he was of high rank. Torques were favored by Celtics to denote rank. And the gold necklace protruding through the corpse’s neck weighs almost 2.5 pounds and denotes a significant figure. Compared to that of the Vix princess, this torque weighs almost 556 grams and is made of pure gold.

The aristocrat, whoever he or she was, also had gold bracelets and a lignite cuff on its left bicep. The jewelry and other items found bore resemblance to those from the tomb at Reinheim.

The manner of the burial and the items recovered has made this site an intriguing encounter. This goes together with other burial sites, many of which have been of high-ranking females. Tombs such as this one and that of the Vix princess provide a fascinating insight into the lives of people during the Iron Age.

Among other items recovered were well-preserved clothing and shoes. Next to the aristocrat’s neck were amber beads. Also recovered were two iron and coral hook attachments.

Whether archaeologists are able to determine the sex of the remains is something we will have to continue waiting for. Among the ruins lies an aristocrat adorned in gold and buried with a chariot. More questions have been answered then left unanswered.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Bronze Age time capsule: 3,000-year-old vitrified food found in jars in England

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Bronze Age time capsule: 3,000-year-old vitrified food found in jars in England

Archaeologists have the opportunity to discover how people in the late Bronze Age lived and what they ate by excavating a dwelling destroyed by fire 3,000 years ago in Cambridgeshire County, England.

Researchers are calling the site a time capsule, as vitrified food—meaning it has become like glass—has been found in jars at the site.

Archaeologists also have found rare small pots and exotic glass beads at the site, which will be studied with a £1.1 million ($1.73 million) research project over a nine-month period. They think it was a settlement of prosperous people.

Another major find at the site came in 2016 when a huge timber wheel was discovered. It is one of the largest Bronze Age wheels to have been unearthed by archaeologists anywhere in the world.

The wheel measures a meter (3.28 ft.) in diameter and 3.5 centimeters (1.38 inches) thick. Archaeologists believe it would have originally had a heavy duty leather tire.

These dimensions and the style of the wheel have lead archaeologists to suggest it was likely part of an ox-pulled cart.

The settlement was buried in the wet fens but is being excavated using earth-moving machinery. Previously in fens (wetlands), archaeological work was done only in shallow areas or near the edges of the fens, says MustFarm.com .

They call it ‘deep space archaeology’ because the remnants of the community are buried so deeply in the mire. MustFarm.com also calls it one of the most important European Bronze Age sites.

The objects at Must Farm were discovered when clay was being extracted to make bricks.

Must Farm in the Flag Fen Basin made news in 2011 when nine well-preserved log boats were unearthed there. The dwelling was encircled by wooden posts until a fire made it collapse in the river.

The fact that it was submerged helped preserve its contents, says Culture24 . Among the findings are decorated tiles made from lime tree bark.

The finds will be put on display at Peterborough Museum and other venues.

An early Bronze Age log boat was found in 2011 in the ancient channel of a river.

“Usually at a Later Bronze Age period site you get pits, post-holes and maybe one or two really exciting metal finds,” said archaeologist David Gibson of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit.

“It’s a fantastic chance to find out how people in the Late Bronze Age lived their daily lives, including how they dressed and what meals they ate.”

His colleague Kasia Gdaniec, the senior archaeologist with Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “We think those living in the settlement were forced to leave everything behind when it caught on fire. An extraordinarily rich range of goods and objects are present in the river deposits, some of which were found during an evaluation in 2006.”

The fact that the dwelling is preserved under water and was abandoned quickly means there could be great finds in the future, said Duncan Wilson of Historic England, comparing it to how the Mary Rose, a Tudor ship that sunk, was salvaged in the 1960s and shed a lot of light on those times.

“This could represent a moment of time from the Late Bronze Age comparable to the connection with the past made by the objects found with the Mary Rose,” he said.

“This site is internationally important and gives a fascinating insight into the lives of our ancestors.”