Archaeology news

• ‘You struggled with my film? Fantastic!’ Alice Rohrwacher and her riotous new tomb-raiding tale

  06-05-2024 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  La Chimera looks like a crime caper about looters in 1980s Italy. But it’s about way more than that. The great director, loved by everyone from Scorsese to Gerwig, talks about the dark secrets of the heart – and her debt to beesAlice Rohrwacher could be the European arthouse made flesh, or its distilled essence, bottled and preserved for the ages. She’s quoting Italian poets one minute and German poets the next. She’s discussing nature, civilisation and the power of colle
  
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• Medievalist in North Wales, I: Castell Dolbadarn

  01-06-2024 09:22 via tenthmedieval.wordpress.com
  
  After such a huge post for last week, and so late, it seems wise to go for something lighter this week, so here are some pictures. In July 2021, right after the digital IMC was finished, my partner and I lit out for Wales. This was still on the declining edge of lockdown, so that we weren’t always sure what would be open, but enough seemed safe that we had quite an itinerary. This was, for once, not medievalist in intent – industrial heritage, if anything, was our plan – but yo
  
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• IMC through a screen: the International Medieval Congress for 2021

  29-05-2024 01:27 via tenthmedieval.wordpress.com
  
  The late post this Bank Holiday weekend is partly because of various stuff involving builders and friends that has kept me from a keyboard. But, it is also, I admit, because when I looked at where I was in my backlog I realised it was up to the International Medieval Congress of July 2021, and then my brain rapidly grabbed at anything else that would be easier to do for a while. And I asked myself as usual, what is the point in reporting on conferences from years ago? But on reviewing my notes q
  
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• Remains of horses buried 2,000 years ago found in central France

  28-05-2024 19:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Archaeologists trying to determine whether animals were killed in battle or buried as part of a ritualFrench archaeologists have uncovered nine large graves containing the remains of horses from up to 2,000 years ago, in a find described as “extraordinary”.The 28 stallions, all around six years old, had been buried shortly after they died, each placed in pits on their right side with their head facing south. Nearby a grave contained the remains of two dogs, heads facing west. Continu
  
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• Drawings depicting gladiators among latest discoveries at Pompeii

  28-05-2024 19:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Charcoal graffiti believed to have been sketched by children uncovered at ancient Roman cityDrawings of gladiators believed to have been made by children inspired by watching battles at Pompeii’s amphitheatre are among the latest discoveries in the ruins of the ancient Roman city.The charcoal drawings were found during excavations at I’Insula dei Casti Amanti, a cluster of homes in Pompeii’s archaeological park that opened to the public for the first time on Tuesday. Continue r
  
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• Hobbyist archaeologists identify thousands of ancient sites in England

  27-05-2024 16:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Bronze age remains and Roman roads among 12,802 sites discovered using latest technologyBronze age burial mounds, Roman roads and deserted medieval villages are among almost 13,000 previously-unknown ancient sites and monuments that have been discovered by members of the public in recent months, it will be announced this week.Truck drivers and doctors are among more than 1,000 people who participated in Deep Time, a “citizen science project” which has harnessed the power o
  
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• ‘Moai designs are getting lost’: extreme weather chips away at Easter Island statues

  21-05-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Experts call for conservation action as the features on Rapa Nui’s famous monoliths are eroded by fire and rainThe Ahu Tahai moai, on the east side of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is an impressive 4.5 metres high. Carved from a soft volcanic rock, the statue looks out solemnly over the island, with its back to the bay.The Tahai (“where the sun sets”) and the island’s other thousand or so moai were erected roughly between 1100 and 1700 as a representation of Rapa
  
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• Fragments of Mercian Memorial

  19-05-2024 23:23 via tenthmedieval.wordpress.com
  
  I’m travelling today for family reasons, so have only time for something short and hopefully sweet. At the very end of May 2021, for reasons I no longer remember, my partner and I were travelling through Derbyshire and there was a sign to a historic church. One of my great good fortunes in life is having someone with me in it who when asked, "shall we have a look?", will say yes if it’s even halfway sensible. So we did, and it turned out to be St Mary’s Wirksworth.
  St Mary&rsqu
  
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• Scientists find buried branch of the Nile that may have carried pyramids’ stones

  16-05-2024 18:42 via theguardian.com
  
  Discovery of the branch, which ran alongside 31 pyramids, could solve mystery of blocks’ transportationScientists have discovered a long-buried branch of the Nile River that once flowed alongside more than 30 pyramids in Egypt, potentially solving the mystery of how ancient Egyptians transported the massive stone blocks to build the monuments.The 40-mile-long (64km) river branch, which ran by the Giza pyramid complex among other wonders, was hidden under desert and farmland for millennia,
  
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• Bad numbers by Karl-Ferdinand Werner

  11-05-2024 22:13 via tenthmedieval.wordpress.com
  
  I’m not sure how true this is in this third decade of the twenty-first century, but if like me you were first learning about the Carolingian empire of Charlemagne and sons in the last decade of the previous one, you probably didn’t get far before you encountered the name Karl-Ferdinand Werner (1924-2008). Some of the really major studies of how that empire worked, administratively, came from his pen or typewriter, and he always seemed to be capable of understanding that the administr
  
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• Neolithic site in Orkney to be reburied after 20 years of excavation

  11-05-2024 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  After one final dig, Ness of Brodgar is to be covered up to protect it for future generationsIn a few weeks, archaeologists will gather at the Ness of Brodgar in Orkney and for the next two months excavate at one of Europe’s greatest prehistoric sites.For the last 20 summers, scientists and volunteers have dug here, revealing wonders that include 5,000-year-old remains of temples, hearths, a ceramic figurine, and elegant pottery. Continue reading...
  
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• Teacher finds stone with ancient ogham writing from Ireland in Coventry garden

  08-05-2024 13:02 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Sandstone rock featuring language markings created 1,600 years ago to go on display at museumA geography teacher was tidying his overgrown garden at his home in Coventry when he stumbled across a rock with mysterious incisions. Intrigued, he sent photographs to a local archaeologist and was taken aback to learn that the markings were created more than 1,600 years ago and that the artefact was worthy of a museum.The rectangular sandstone rock that Graham Senior had discovered was inscr
  
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• Call for port extension to be halted as genocide remains are found on Namibia’s Shark Island

  06-05-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Researchers say more bodies of Herero and Nama people from early 20th century concentration camp could be in waters around portThe Namibian authorities are being urged to halt plans to extend a port on the Shark Island peninsula after the discovery of unmarked graves and artefacts relating to the Herero and Nama genocide.Forensic Architecture, a non-profit research agency, said it had located sites of executions, forced labour, imprisonment and sexual violence that occurred when the island was u
  
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• What could the Roman dodecahedron have been used for?

  05-05-2024 15:01 via theguardian.com
  
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsA 12-sided, 1,700-year-old object with no known purpose was found in Lincolnshire last summer and has just gone on display at Lincoln Museum. What could it have been used for? Paul Elliott, by emailPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to [email protected]. A selection will be published next Sunday. C
  
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• Not what the textbooks usually mean by ‘manuscript illustration’

  05-05-2024 00:02 via tenthmedieval.wordpress.com
  
  Thankyou all those who have encouraged me to keep going with the blog! Plans remain afoot, but for now you can certainly have this little gem (not a lettuce) which apparently I stashed for future writing up in May 2021. It speaks to some of the blog’s oldest themes, to wit protochronism, micro-histories in administrative documents and, not least, medieval sex, and I owe it to the sharp observation of Rebecca Darley, who had she known she was going to be doing the blogging thing herself aft
  
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• Is this the answer to the Roman dodecahedron puzzle that has archaeologists stumped? | Letter

  03-05-2024 19:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Guardian readers speculate on the purpose of a mysterious object unearthed at Norton Disney, near LincolnI wonder if the object (Mysterious Roman dodecahedron to go on display in Lincoln, 29 April) could be some kind of puzzle (quite apart from being a puzzle to archaeologists). Unless some Roman puzzle book survived, it seems unlikely that a puzzle object would crop up in Roman literature. It is small enough to be held in the hand, and possibly the puzzle was to wrap a string around each protub
  
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• A villa unveiled

  03-05-2024 18:45 via archaeology.co.uk
  
  Uncovering luxury living and ‘ritual activity’ in Roman OxfordshireArchaeological work in rural Oxfordshire has uncovered the remains of a winged corridor villa that was occupied for much of the Roman period. Carly Hilts spoke to Louis Stafford to learn how the story of this long-lived, high-status residence is evolving as investigations continue.The remains of a Roman villa are being excavated on the outskirts of Grove, near Wantage in Oxfordshire. Although most of its buildings ap
  
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• Alex Hooper obituary

  03-05-2024 17:07 via theguardian.com
  
  My husband, Alex Hooper, who has died aged 82 after a long illness, had an extraordinarily varied career, including as an archaeologist, film-maker, merchant seaman, teacher and gallery curator.In the late 1960s, while doing an MA in film studies at the Slade School of Fine Art, Alex became close friends with Peter Gibson of Brett Marvin and the Thunderbolts, and the pair made a documentary about the blues musician John Mayall, The Turning Point (1969). Through going on tour with Mayall, and mak
  
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• Leprosy passed between medieval squirrels and humans, study suggests

  03-05-2024 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Genetic analysis of Winchester samples shows similar strains of disease and supports theory that fur trade played role in spreadLeprosy passed between humans and red squirrels in medieval England, research suggests, supporting the theory that the fur trade could have played a role in the spread of the disease.Leprosy is one of the oldest infectious diseases recorded in humans and is typically caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Second renaissance’: tech uncovers ancient scroll secrets of Plato and co

  03-05-2024 15:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Researchers and Silicon Valley are using tools powered by AI to read what had long been thought unreadableMore than 2,000 years after Plato died, the towering figure of classical antiquity and founder of the Academy, regarded by many as the first university in the west, can still make front-page news.Researchers this week claimed to have found the final resting place of the Greek philosopher, a patch in the garden of his Athens Academy, after scanning an ancient papyrus scroll recovered from the
  
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• Excavating the CA Archives – Wiltshire II

  03-05-2024 13:48 via archaeology.co.uk
  
  Excavating around Salisbury PlainLast month I began a tour around the final county of the UK that I had yet to visit in these pages: Wiltshire. I began in the north and headed south as far as the Vale of Pewsey. This month I will continue into what is popularly seen as the most fertile of all archaeological hunting grounds, the county’s central belt around Salisbury Plain. I will devote future columns specifically to Stonehenge and Avebury, so we will pass through these on this occasion i
  
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• Solar storms, ice cores and nuns’ teeth: the new science of history – podcast

  03-05-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Advances in fields such as spectrometry and gene sequencing are unleashing torrents of new data about the ancient world – and could offer answers to questions we never even knew to ask. By Jacob Mikanowski Continue reading...
  
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• Current Archaeology 411– ON SALE NOW

  02-05-2024 19:29 via archaeology.co.uk
  
  This month’s cover feature takes us into rural Oxfordshire, where archaeological investigations ahead of the construction of a housing estate have uncovered the remains of a previously unknown Roman villa. The site’s story is still developing, but finds already paint a picture of an elegantly appointed residence, as well as activities ranging from the agricultural to the industrial – and hints of some rather more enigmatic practices.The subject of our next feature is also unusu
  
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• Current Archaeology 411- ON SALE NOW

  02-05-2024 19:29 via archaeology.co.uk
  
  This month’s cover feature takes us into rural Oxfordshire, where archaeological investigations ahead of the construction of a housing estate have uncovered the remains of a previously unknown Roman villa. The site’s story is still developing, but finds already paint a picture of an elegantly appointed residence, as well as activities ranging from the agricultural to the industrial – and hints of some rather more enigmatic practices.The subject of our next feature is also unusu
  
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• When the milkman sparked a local panic | Brief letters

  01-05-2024 18:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Suspicious neighbours | Museum of the year | Ofsted | One word for the Tories | Roman dodecahedronArwa Mahdawi can be assured that over-suspicious neighbours are not restricted to New York (It’s not stranger danger you should be afraid of, it’s video doorbell derangement syndrome, 1 May). A local Facebook page went into meltdown about a man who was seen driving down the road in the early hours, stopping regularly and running up people’s drives, clearly looking for easy access.
  
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• Dorset auction house withdraws Egyptian human skulls from sale

  01-05-2024 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  MP says trade in remains is ‘gross violation of human dignity’, as skulls from Pitt Rivers collection removedAn auction house has withdrawn 18 ancient Egyptian human skulls from sale after an MP said selling them would perpetuate the atrocities of colonialism.Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Afrikan reparations, believes the sale of human remains for any purposes should be outlawed, adding that the trade was “a gross violation of human dignit
  
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• Mary Greenacre obituary

  30-04-2024 21:33 via theguardian.com
  
  My friend Mary Greenacre, who has died aged 77, was an archaeological and museum conservator of distinction, possessing an innate empathy with fragile and precious objects.Mary specialised in ceramics, and came to understand prehistoric pottery, 18th-century terracotta sculpture and Delftware. She became conservator at the South West Area Museum Service in Bristol in 1969, where she met Francis Greenacre, curator of fine art at the City Art Gallery. They married within six months and became the
  
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• Five skeletons found under Wolf’s Lair home of Hermann Göring in Poland

  30-04-2024 18:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Amateur archaeologists discover remains missing hands and feet at former Nazi military headquartersAmateur archaeologists have unearthed five human skeletons missing their hands and feet under the former home of the Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring at Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair military headquarters in present-day Poland.The remains, believed to be that of a family, were discovered as part of a dig at the site near the north-eastern town of Kętrzyn, where Nazi leaders spent large
  
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• Mysterious Roman dodecahedron to go on display in Lincoln

  29-04-2024 12:02 via theguardian.com
  
  There are no known descriptions or drawings of object in Roman literature, making its purpose unclearThey are known as one of archaeology’s great enigmas – hollow 12-sided objects from the Roman era with no known purpose or use.Only 33 of these mysterious dodecahedrons have ever been found in Britain and now one, unearthed during an amateur archaeology dig after 1,700 years underground, is going on public display in Lincoln as part of a history festival. Continue reading...
  
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• Lost civilisations make good TV, but archaeology’s real stories hold far more wonder | Flint Dibble

  28-04-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I took on a pseudoscientist because misinformation about history too often goes unchallengedIt’s important to start strong. That’s true of a lot of things in life, but doubly so when you’re an archaeologist starting off a conversation with Graham Hancock, the famed pseudoarchaeology author, in a venue such as the Joe Rogan Experience podcast.For the last decade, scholars and experts have dealt with misinformation and pseudoscience either by trying to ignore it in order not to a
  
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