Four Roman swords still sheathed in their wooden scabbards and one shafted pilum (javelin) head have been discovered in a desert cave overlooking the Dead Sea. The typology of the swords and the pilum date them to the first half of the second century. Archaeologists believe they were stashed there by Judean rebels who took them from Roman soldiers during the Bar Kokhba revolt (ca. 132-136 A.D.).

They were found two months ago by some seriously fearless archaeologists who climbed a high cliff face to photograph a Hebrew inscription of the First Temple period on a stalactite first found 50 years ago using multispectral imagery. To their astonishment, they spotted a pilum in excellent condition in a deep crevice in the rock. In an adjacent niche, they found wooden fragments which turned out to be the remains of a sword scabbard.

The team called in reinforcements from the Israel Antiquities Authority and with the aid of the Judean Desert Archaeological Survey Team, the researchers discovered the four swords. Three of them are of the spatha type, about two feet long. The fourth was a ring-pommel sword with a short blade about 18 inches long. Three of them were still inside their wooden scabbards, preserved by the arid desert climate. They had ornate handles made of metal or wood and the leather strips that once wrapped them were found nearby.

The cave was comprehensively excavated following the exceptional discovery and artifacts going back as far as 6,000 years were found there, as well as a bronze coin from the time of the Bar Kochba uprising that could well have been left there at the time the swords were hidden.

Archaeologists have discovered preserved brain and skin tissue on the skeletal remains of a man at the Bronze Age settlement of Tavşanlı Höyük in western Turkey. The deceased died in a major attack on the settlement that took place around 1700 B.C. and his body burned when the city was set on fire. The high heat carbonized and preserved the brain inside his skull and a section of skin between his chest and abdomen. Only four or five instances of preserved brain remnants have been found in Anatolia, and this is the first time carbonized human skin has been discovered in Turkey.

The archaeological team was excavating a mudbrick and wood structure from the era of the attack, identified by a large fire layer. Within the layer, they found the skeletal remains of two men, one younger (aged 15-18), one older (aged 40-45) under the rubble of the house. The older man had been trapped in the middle of the room, pinned by a wooden shelf and dozens of earthenware pots that collapsed on him when the building fell. The young man was at the door, perhaps trying to escape, when he was crushed by collapsed rubble.

Because of his location at the entrance to the building, the young person’s skeleton was exposed to much higher temperatures than the older man’s. The high degree of heat whitened some of his bones and carbonized the skin and brain.

In the presentation prepared by the excavation director, Prof. Dr. Erkan Fidan, who is also the Department Head of Archaeology at Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, and the deputy director of the excavation, Dr. Nihan Naiboğlu, who is an Assistant Professor at Nişantaşı University, it was stated that Tavşanlı Mound, with its 8,000-year history, is the oldest settlement in Kütahya and one of the largest Bronze Age settlements in Western Anatolia, covering an area of 45 hectares. It was also mentioned that Tavşanlı Mound was likely the capital of the region….

The attack on the settlement was very sudden and it seems like the northeastern edge was particularly vulnerable to attack. All of the weapons — daggers, spearheads, arrows — found there are in the destruction layer. Archaeologists believe the settlement was besieged by a greater military power and the entire city was burned to the ground.

This excavation project began in 2021 and is planned to continue for at least 30 years. The team hopes to discover who attacked the city and why in future dig seasons.

Excavations at the ancient Greek colony of Selinunte in Sicily have unearthed a rare marble lion’s head sima, a decorated spout meant to drain water from the roof of an ancient temple. It dates to the 5th century B.C.

Almost two feet high, the figure is larger than usual for this type of architectural feature. It is also unfinished. The water outlet is not yet installed. The back of the mane and the top decoration is also incomplete.

It was discovered on a street near the ancient eastern harbor, an area known for its workshops. The lion was destined for one of Selinunte’s many temples, but never made it to the roof. It would have to have been a very fancy temple, however, as most simen of this era were made of terracotta.

“This marble was imported to Sicily from the Greek islands – probably from Paros,” says Jon Albers. “All in all, only nine temples from the 5th century BC are known to have a sima made of Greek marble in all of southern Italy and Sicily.” The roofs were mainly discovered in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

“The newly found Sima from Selinunte cannot be compared to any of these temples and is therefore part of a tenth temple with such a marble roof,” concludes Jon Albers. The researchers cannot yet decide whether the object was once intended for the well-known Temple E in Selinunte or for another monumental temple that is still unknown today. […]

Through this condition, the find allows us to to better understand the manufacturing processes for such architectural parts,” says the archaeologist happily. “Since the find comes from the port zone and the immediate vicinity of the workshop district of Selinunte, it allows further conclusions to be drawn about the city’s trade contacts and the technical skills of the ancient inhabitants of Selinunte.”

Archaeologists with the German Mining Museum Bochum have unearthed a child’s leather shoe that is more than 2,000 years old and in excellent condition. It is complete to an exceptional degree, even preserving a section of the flax laces and showing how the shoe was originally tied. The design of the shoe dates it to around the 2nd century B.C.

It was found in the Dürrnberg, an ancient rock salt mine, near Salzburg, Austria, where archaeologists have been excavating since 2001 to study the life and work of Iron Age miners. Thanks to the preservative effect of the salt, organic materials that would usually decompose survive in the mine. Indeed, the excavation team discovered more organic remains next to the shoe, including a wooden shovel and a scrap of fur with lacing that was likely part of a hood.

Leather shoes have been discovered in the Dürrnberg before, but this is the first child’s shoe. It is poignant evidence that young children were working in the mine. The shoe is a Euro child size 30, so about a 13 or 13.5 US child’s size, for a foot about 7.5″ long. Today this size would be worn by a child around seven years old.

“For decades now, our research activities on the Dürrnberg have repeatedly provided us with valuable finds in order to scientifically develop the earliest mining activities. The condition of the shoe that was found is outstanding,” says the head of the research area, Prof. Dr. Thomas Stoellner. “Organic materials usually decompose over time. Finds such as this children’s shoe, but also textile remains or excrement, such as those found on the Dürrnberg, offer an extremely rare insight into the life of the Iron Age miners. They provide valuable information for our scientific work.” […]

Excavations will continue over the next few years. The aim is to explore the full extent of the mine and thus to obtain the most comprehensive information possible about the work of the Iron Age miners and their way of life. In addition, they hope to find out what size the mining galleries on Dürrnberg were. In this way, mining archaeological excavations and research methods provide important insights into areas of life that cannot yet be documented and researched from other sources.