EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Bronze Age Pot Discovered in Cardiff Wales

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Bronze Age Pot Discovered in Cardiff Wales

The Caerau and Ely Rediscovering (CAER) Heritage Project, a partnership between Cardiff University, Action in Caerau and Ely (ACE), local schools, residents and heritage partners, began excavations at Trelai Park, half a mile from Caerau Hillfort – a heritage site of national significance where Cardiff University archaeologists and community members have previously discovered Neolithic, Iron Age, Roman and medieval origins.

Experts believed the settlement, dubbed ‘Trelai Enclosure’ could provide the missing link between the late Iron Age and early Roman period, showing what happened to people once they had moved on from the Hillfort.

An archaeological dig at Trelai Park has uncovered what could be the earliest house found in Cardiff.

But in fact, the roundhouse, located near Cardiff West Community High School, actually predates it. A clay pot discovered at the site has given the team a firmer indication of the time period the building can be traced to.

Dr Oliver Davis, CAER Project co-director, based at Cardiff University’s School of History, Archaeology and Religion, said: “What we’ve found is completely unexpected and even more exciting.

This enclosure could be providing us with the earliest clues on the origins of Cardiff. The pot that’s been found is beautifully decorated and well preserved. It is extremely rare to find pottery of this quality.

It’s also unusual to find a Bronze Age settlement in Wales  – there are only one or two other Bronze Age sites in this country.

“The people who lived here could have been members of a family whose descendants went on to build Caerau Hillfort.”

Archaeologists at work at Trelai Park in Cardiff.

Nearly 300 volunteers have participated in the dig so far, with around 500 visitors coming to the site since its start.

Fellow co-director Dr David Wyatt added: “We came looking for the missing link between the late Iron Age and early Roman period. What we found is something much more remarkable and much older.

“We believe the roundhouse could now have been constructed in the mid to late Bronze Age, going back to between 1500 and 1100 BC. The enclosure definitely predates the hillfort. People were living here before the hillfort was built.

“The whole community – volunteers, school children and Cardiff University students, should be proud of what they’ve achieved here. It’s an incredible development and sheds light on the earliest inhabitants of Cardiff.”

Tom Hicks, an archaeologist who came through Cardiff University’s Exploring the Past pathway and volunteer Charlie Adams both found and recovered the pot during the dig.

Tom said: “This is a very well-preserved example of Bronze Age pottery and a significant find for the archaeological record in the region. It’s a great opportunity for us to learn more about the lives of the people living on the site around 3,000 years ago.

“The beautiful decoration on the pot shows that these people wanted to display their creativity to others and further scientific analysis may be able to tell what the pot was used for before it ended up in the enclosure ditch and how or where the pot was made.”

Martin Hulland, Headteacher at Cardiff West Community High School said: “We are delighted to be involved in this exciting archaeological project. Our students have loved learning about the history that’s just a stone’s throw away from their school.”

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

600,000-year-old finds point to some of Britain’s earliest humans

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600,000-year-old finds point to some of Britain’s earliest humans

An overlooked archaeological site outside of Canterbury turned out to contain some of the oldest human-made tools in Britain.

Many of the artifacts were found in the 1920s in the market town of Fordwich, Kent, but they were only recently properly dated.

According to modern radiometric techniques, the collection of more than 330 hand axes and 251 flakes, scrapers, and cores were most likely fashioned between 560,000 and 620,000 years ago.

Given the style in which the tools were made, researchers often attribute them to a species of early human known as Homo heidelbergensis.

These could have been among the first humans to settle in Briton for the long term, with signs of their presence dating back around 500,000 years; artifacts left by an earlier occupation by an unknown human species suggest short forays into the territory as far back as just under 1 million years ago.

To put that in perspective, Neanderthals arrived on the scene around 400,000 years ago, and our species didn’t show up on the island until about 40,000 years ago.

Members of H. heidelbergensis are known to have been capable hunters, and while no human remains were found at Fordwich, the sheer number and diversity of tools suggest these early humans were very much at home in the region.

Archaeologists suspect that H. heidelbergensis used the hand axes and scrapers found at Fordwic to prepare animal hides for use as clothing or shelter.

“The range of stone tools, not only from the original finds, but also from our new smaller excavations suggest that hominins living in what was to become Britain, were thriving and not just surviving,” says Palaeolithic archaeologist Tomos Proffitt from the Max Planck Institute.

A selection of handaxes found in Fordwich in the 1920s.

The site isn’t the oldest evidence of human activity in Britain, but it’s one of the few providing a glimpse into life in this time frame.

During H. heidelbergensis’ time, Britain was still connected to the European mainland, making travel from France and Spain comparatively more accessible than it is Now. That said, the region’s temperatures were often cold and uncompromising.

Some human footprints and basic tools were also found in Norfolk dating back more than 840,000 years ago, indicating at least brief trips to the frigid northwest of Europe. Yet permanent settlements probably weren’t built in Britain until much later, when the climate was more liveable.

Whether these ancient footprints were made by H. heidelbergensis or another early species, called Homo antecessor, which lived in Spain at the time, is still up for debate.

Regardless, the remains at Fordwich are a sort of bridge between the earliest travelers to Britain and the first real settlers, and yet for 90 years, its importance in early human history was all but ignored.

The location of Fordwich in Britain.

The current study is the first major archaeological undertaking at the site, revealing some of the oldest artifact-bearing sediments in Britain.

In fact, the authors say Fordwich is the oldest, directly dated, H. heidelbergensis stone tool site in Britain and among the oldest in northwest Europe. It also holds the earliest example of ‘scrapers’ in British archaeology.

“The diversity of tools is fantastic. In the 1920s, the site produced some of [the] earliest handaxes ever discovered in Britain,” says the excavation director Alastair Key from the University of Cambridge.

“Now, for the first time, we have found rare evidence of scraping and piercing implements at this very early age”.

Key and his colleagues hope Fordwich can now take its rightful place as a pivotal archaeological site in northwest Europe.

AUSTRALIA, WORLD

This Man Was Killed by Brutal Boomerang Blow 800 Years Ago

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This Man Was Killed by Brutal Boomerang Blow 800 Years Ago

Since analyzing markings of an 800-year-old fossil, Australian anthropologists have found evidence that its owner has been killed in a vicious boomerang attack.

Boomerangs are popular hunting weapons used by the Aborigine and Torres Strait Islanders, however, the latest findings indicate they may still be used for warfare well in advance of the arrival of European settlers in Australia.

The findings give a rare insight into pre-colonial, intertribal disputes, which have, rather than archeological facts, been based on historical accounts for a long time.

The skull of a skeleton found two years ago is marred by a long gash, initially thought to be the result of a fatal blow from a sharp metal blade – but, analysis of the remains reveals this occurred long before the Europeans arrived to the region with these types of tools

“I don’t know if it was a continent-wide phenomenon, but we do see evidence in this part of [Australia] that … supports intertribal conflict,” team member Michael Westaway from Griffith University told Traci Watson at National Geographic.

The skeleton is thought to have belonged to a 20- to 30-year-old Aboriginal male, who locals have named Kaakutja (meaning “older brother” in Baakantji). It was discovered in 2014 in Toorale National Park in eastern Australia.

After its discovery in 2014 by William Bates, a member of the Baakantji, the skeleton was named ‘Kaakutja,’ meaning ‘older brother.’ Pictured above, three Barkindji men prepare the remains for reburial

Looking at the long wound on the dead man’s skull, researchers originally thought he died from a sword strike by a member of the British Native Police – a task force responsible for the deaths of many Aboriginals in the 1800s.

Two years later, further analysis of the remains suggest that the man actually died in the 1200s – about 600 years before Europeans arrived.

After further investigation, the team found a nearby cave that contained Aboriginal paintings of warriors with shields, clubs, and boomerangs, reports Watson. They then compared the gash wound on the man’s skull to the average size of a boomerang, and showed that the two matched up.

Their investigation revealed that this likely was the case; the team found that sharp club-like weapons known as ‘Lil-lils’ and hooked fighting boomerangs called ‘Wonna’ could have caused the injuries observed in Kaakutja. Various types of boomerangs are pictured

Besides the gash, the man was also found have broken ribs and a partially severed arm, Bob Yirka reports for Phys.org, which suggests that he was a long-time fighter, who had survived many battles before his death.

During Kaakutja’s time, boomerangs were a commonly used for a number of tasks, such as digging, hunting, and – based on these findings – combat.

Contrary to the image of boomerang combat that most of us probably have in our minds – with two combatants standing far away from each other, lobbing boomerangs at range – the team says they were probably used for close combat, likely thrown around a shield, allowing warriors to smack guarded foes without revealing themselves.

While understanding how boomerangs were used as weapons is an important find in itself, the team says this is important evidence to suggest that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people used to fight intertribal conflicts before European colonisation.

“There are those who think [pre-colonial Australia] is the Garden of Eden, and those who say it’s a hostile place,” Jo McDonald from the University of Western Australia, who wasn’t involved in the study, told National Geographic. “The evidence here is that it’s kind of both.”

With further analysis of Kaakutja’s remains, the team hopes to find more clues about tribal relations in pre-colonial Australia.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Hundreds Of Pure Gold Roman Coins Found in Italy

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Hundreds Of Pure Gold Roman Coins Found in Italy

About 300 gold coins, dating back around 1,500 years to a time when part of the Roman Empire was collapsing, have been discovered during construction at an abandoned cinema in Como, in northern Italy, the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities said in a series of statements.

All of the coins were found inside the remains of an amphora, a type of storage jar that the Romans often used to transport liquids such as wine and olive oil.

The coins were found hidden inside an amphora, which is a jar used by the Romans for storing liquids such as wine and olive oil.

After the cinema construction crew discovered the hoard, a team of archaeologists from the ministry excavated the coins and brought them to a lab in Milan, where they are in the process of being examined and conserved said the ministry in one of the Italian language statements.  

Coin hoards have been found at many sites throughout the ancient Mediterranean, including a 1,500-year-old hoard found at the Greek city of Corinth.

However, hoards containing an abundance of gold coins are rare, and the ministry called the new find an “extraordinary discovery” in one of the statements.

The discovery leaves archaeologists with several mysteries. For example, when, exactly, was the hoard deposited, and who deposited it? Why was it abandoned, and why did no one come back for it?

A construction crew found the amphora holding the gold coins while working in an abandoned cinema in Italy.

An empire’s collapse

Historical records indicate that part of the Roman Empire was collapsing around 1,500 years ago, with many wars being fought in Italy.

The Roman Empire had been divided in two by the fifth century A.D. The Eastern Roman Empire, which was based in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), was thriving, while the Western Roman Empire (which included Italy) was collapsing.

The 300 gold coins or so date back 1,500 years to a time when part of the Roman Empire was collapsing

Rome was sacked in A.D. 410 by a group called the Goths, and in A.D. 455 by a group called the Vandals. In A.D. 476, the Western Roman Empire officially came to an end when the last emperor, a man named Romulus Augustulus, abdicated.

The Eastern Roman Empire (sometimes called the Byzantine Empire by modern-day historians) regained much of Italy during a series of military campaigns during the rule of Justinian I (who reigned from A.D. 527 to 565).

But his successors couldn’t hold on to it, and a group called the Lombards gradually took over Italy in the time after Justinian’s death, in 565. Additionally, the ancient world was ravaged by the plague, which started in A.D. 541 and killed millions of people.

Whether the deposit of the hoard has anything to do with the chaos that was engulfing the Roman Empire around 1,500 years ago is unclear, but current research may eventually provide answers.

ASIA, EUROPE, SCOTLAND, TURKEY, WORLD

12,000-year-old massive underground tunnels are real and stretch from Scotland to Turkey

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12,000-year-old massive underground tunnels are real and stretch from Scotland to Turkey

Is it possible that ancient cultures were interconnected thousands of years ago? According to thousands of underground tunnels that stretch from North Scotland towards the Mediterranean the answer is a big yes.

While the reason behind these sophisticated tunnels remains a mystery, many experts believe that this huge 12,000-year-old network was built as a protection against predators and other dangers 12,000 years ago.

Some experts believe that these mysterious tunnels were used as modern-day highways, allowing the transition of people and connecting them to distant places across Europe.

In the book Secrets Of The Underground Door To An Ancient World (German title: Tore zur Unterwelt) German archaeologist Dr Heinrich Kush states that evidence of huge underground tunnels has been found under dozens of Neolithic settlements all over the European continent. These tremendous tunnels are often referred to as ancient highways.

According to Dr Kusch, the fact that many of these tunnels still exist today, after 12,000 years indicates that the tunnels must have been both complex and huge in size.

“Across Europe, there were thousands of them says Dr Kusch,” in Germany, we have discovered hundreds of meters of underground tunnels. In Austria, we have found hundreds more. These underground tunnels can be found everywhere across Europe and there are thousands of them.” Said the German archaeologist.


While some of the tunnels are relatively small- some of them measure over a meter in width, there are other tunnels that have been found with underground chambers and storage areas.

The fact that these tunnels have been found points towards incredible ancient ingenuity which is anything but what history books tells us today. Ancient mankind had the knowledge and tools to build complex structures over ten thousand years ago.

Evidence of that is the Pyramids of Bosnia in Europe and their incredible underground tunnels that go on for kilometres.

Dr Kusch states that ‘Across Europe, there were thousands of these tunnels – from the north in Scotland down to the Mediterranean.


They are interspersed with nooks, at some places it’s larger and there is seating, or storage chambers and rooms. They do not all link up but taken together it is a massive underground network.’

Cappadocia in Turkey is another incredible example. The underground city of Derinkuyu is another piece of evidence that points towards the perfection and long-lost construction methods of our ancestors.

The underground city of Derinkuyu is perhaps one of the greatest achievements in underground construction together with the huge network of tunnels.

The geological features of the stone from Derinkuyu is something that is very important; it is very soft. Thus, the ancient builders of Derinkuyu had to be very careful when building these underground chambers providing enough pillar strength to support the floors above; if this was not achieved, the city would have collapsed, but so far, archaeologists have not found evidence of any “cave-ins” at Derinkuyu.

Other ancient monuments such as Gobekli Tepe are more pieces of crucial evidence that point towards incredible skills and knowledge by people who inhabited our planet over ten thousand years ago.


According to Dr Kusch, chapels were often built at the entrances to the underground tunnels because the Church were afraid of the heathen legacy the tunnels might have represented, and like many other things, the church wanted to make sure word about the tunnels was kept as a secret.

In some of the tunnels, writings have been discovered which refer to these underground tunnels as gateways to the underworld.

EUROPE, WORLD

Hoard of Roman Silver Coins found buried in Welsh field

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Hoard of Roman Silver Coins found buried in Welsh field

Two treasure finds including a coin hoard of Roman date and a medieval silver brooch were declared treasure on 28 June 2022 by the Assistant Coroner for North Wales (East & Central) Katie Sutherland.

A Roman silver coin hoard was discovered by Wayne Jones while metal detecting on a pasture field in Halkyn Community in June 2020.

The coin hoard contains 13 silver denarii minted between AD 64 and AD 117. The first coin in the hoard is a denarius of the Emperor Nero (AD 54-68) and the last is a denarius of the Emperor Trajan (AD 98-117).

The Roman silver coin hoard was discovered by Wayne Jones
The Roman silver coin hoard was discovered by Wayne Jones

The hoard was probably buried a short time later, at around AD 117-125. Halkyn Mountain was an important Roman lead mining site.

A Roman lead pig (ingot), discovered in 2019 in Rossett, Wrexham, has been chemically linked to lead from Halkyn Mountain, and other evidence of early-Roman lead mining and smelting has been discovered in North-East Wales and at nearby Chester.

The burying of this hoard might therefore be linked to mining activities in the area.

Alastair Willis, Senior Curator of Numismatics and the Welsh Economy, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales said:

“This coin hoard adds to a growing body of evidence for Roman activity in and around Halkyn during the first and second centuries AD, which is likely to have been primarily related to lead mining on Halkyn Mountain.”

Flintshire Museums Service would like to acquire the coin hoard for their collection, following its independent valuation by the Treasure Valuation Committee.

Sophie Fish, Museums, Culture and Heritage Manager for Flintshire said:

“This is an extremely exciting find from our Roman past. It is interesting to imagine who the coins belonged to and what goods were purchased with the currency.”

“We hope to be able to display them in Mold Museum as part of a new display on Roman activity across Flintshire.”

The small silver annular ‘stirrup’ brooch of medieval date was discovered by Scott Bevan in 2019

A small silver annular ‘stirrup’ brooch of medieval date was discovered by Scott Bevan on October 2019, whilst metal detecting on an arable field in Erbistock Community, Wrexham.

The brooch frame is decorated with fine transverse bands inlaid with black niello, a metal alloy with sulphur.

The dagger-like pin has incised decoration as well as two ‘stirrups’, curved protrusions extending at the pin-head end, which were to prevent snagging. This brooch dates from the thirteenth- or early fourteenth century.

Sian Iles, Curator of Medieval and Later Archaeology at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales says:

“Medieval silver annular brooches like the Erbistock example are increasingly recorded in Wales, thanks to reporting through the Treasure Act 1996 and the Portable Antiquities Scheme.”

“This continual enrichment of evidence enables us to build a strong picture of the ways personal identities were being expressed Medieval Wales, through the wearing of jewellery and other personal adornments.”

Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives is interested in acquiring the brooch for their collection, following an independent valuation by the Treasure Valuation Committee.

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

1,600-Year-Old Elongated Skull with Stone-Encrusted Teeth Found in Mexico Ruins

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1,600-Year-Old Elongated Skull with Stone-Encrusted Teeth Found in Mexico Ruins

Archaeologists in Mexico have recently uncovered a 1,600-year-old skeleton of a woman who had mineral-encrusted teeth and an intentionally elongated skull – evidence that suggests she was part of her society’s upper-class.

While it isn’t uncommon for archaeologists to find deformed remains, the new skeleton is one of the most “extreme” ever recorded.

“Her cranium was elongated by being compressed in a ‘very extreme’ manner, a technique commonly used in the southern part of Mesoamerica, not the central region where she was found,” the team said, according to an AFP report.

The team, led by researchers from the National Anthropology and History Institute in Mexico, found the woman in the ancient ruins of Teotihuacan – a pre-Hispanic civilisation that once lied 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Mexico City, existing between the 1st and 8th century AD before it mysteriously vanished.

The woman, who the researchers have named The Woman of Tlailotlacan after the location she was found inside the ancient city, not only had an elongated skull, but she had her top two teeth encrusted with pyrite stones – a mineral that looks like gold at first glance.

Gold studded teeth, Pre-Columbian Ecuador.

She also had a fake lower tooth made from serpentine – a feature so distinctive, the team says it’s evidence to suggest that she was a foreigner to the ancient city.

The elongated skull with stone encrusted teeth found in Teotihuacan, Mexico.

The researchers doesn’t give any details into how these body modifications were performed 1,600-years-ago, or why they were common in the first place. But based on other cultures, such as the Mayans, artificial cranial deformation was likely done in infancy using bindings to grow the skull outwards, possibly to signal social status.

While very little is none about the woman’s faux-golden grill, researchers from Mexico did find 2,500-year-old Native American remains with gems embedded in their teeth back in 2009. In that study, the team said that sophisticated dental practices made the modifications possible, though they were likely used purely for decoration and weren’t symbols of class. 

“It’s possible some type of [herb based] anaesthetic was applied prior to drilling to blunt any pain,” team member José Concepción Jiménez, from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, told National Geographic.

It’s also important to note that the current team’s findings have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, so we will have to take their word on it for now until they can get their report ready for publication.

The Mexican team aren’t the only ones to discover some interesting human remains lately, either. Back in June, researchers from Australia uncovered 700,000-year-old ‘hobbit’ remains on an island in Indonesia.

More recently, just last week, researchers in China what might be a skull bone belonging to Buddha inside a 1,000-year-old shrine in Nanjing, China.

Needless to say, archaeologists all over the world have been quite busy this year, and we can’t wait to see what they uncover next.