A copper axe dating to the 4th-3rd millennium B.C. is the oldest ever discovered in Poland. It may be the oldest copper artifact ever found in Poland.

It was found last August at a metal detectorist rally in the town of Matcze in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine. The rally was done with the permission of the Lublin Provincial Monument Protection Office, and the site was scanned in advance to salvage any archaeological materials while leaving behind more modern objects for the club members to find. The precaution proved ineffective when Krzysztof Gajos discovered a small copper axe. The find location was pinpointed with GPS and the artifact handed over to the Zamość delegation of the Monument Protection Office.

The axe has a fan-shaped blade 7.4 cm (3 inches) long, 4.1 cm (1.6 inches) wide and 1 cm (.4 inches) thick at the thickest point. Made with a simple casting method that predates the Bronze Age when copper axes became widespread, the axe has no comparable example on the archaeological record of Poland. An axe found in the Kiev region of Ukraine is virtually identical, however, and it was found with pottery fragments that identified it as the work of the Neolithic Cucuteni–Trypillia culture which occupied parts of modern-day Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and western Ukraine.

“It is true that we have recorded finds of Trypillian culture pottery from Gródek, Hrubieszów commune, and the presence of this ax in nearby Matcz can be considered as confirmation of the settlement of people of this culture also in eastern Poland, at least in the section of the upper Bug. This thesis may also be confirmed by a loose find a similar copper ax in Wożuczyn, Rachanie commune, Tomaszów poviat, about which Dr. Jan Gurba wrote , and which should now be at the Institute of Archeology of the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin,” commented [the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments].

The axe will be transferred to the Stanisław Staszic Regional Museum in Hrubieszów where it will be studied and analyzed further.

A laureate head of Apollo from the 2nd or early 3rd century has been unearthed in the Greek city of Philippi. It was found in the 2023 excavation season at the intersection of the Decumanus (the main southern axis of the city) and the Egnatia (the northern axis) where the larger-than-life statue of the young Hercules was found in 2022. Archaeologists believe both statues were part of the same monumental, richly-decorated structure.

The 2022 excavation first revealed the presence of a large structure where the city’s two main thoroughfares met and widened into a square. Only fragments of the structure itself were found, so archaeologists could not conclusively determine what kind of structure it was, but the evidence suggests it was a fountain built in the Byzantine era, around the 8th or 9th century A.D. The Hercules statue and the head of Apollo (presumably still connected to a body at that time) date to the same period 500 or so years earlier. The pieces of ancient statuary were recycled into decorations for the Byzantine fountain.

We know from the sources as well as from the archaeological data that in Constantinople statues from the classical and Roman period adorned buildings and public spaces until the late Byzantine period.

This finding strengthens the hypothesis we formulated in 2022 about the way public spaces were decorated in the important cities of the Byzantine Empire, including Philippi.

The team of students and archaeologists from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki will continue the excavation of the site next season.

An archaeological dig at the site of a sewer for a new prison currently being built in Full Sutton, East Yorkshire, has unearthed a 4,500-year-old grave and funerary monument. The individual was buried in the crouched position (knees bent and drawn up towards the chest) in a pit grave surrounded by a ring ditch and topped with a mound of stones. This type of mound is known as a round barrow, a common burial monument in Late Neolithic Britain.

Interestingly, the round barrow was constructed very close to, but not over, what archaeologists call a ‘burnt mound’. These enigmatic prehistoric sites are relatively common in upland areas where they survive as mounds of burnt stone and charcoal, but the lowland examples are less obvious due to being flattened by later ploughing. Little is known about what burnt mounds were used for, and their excavation is seen as an important research priority. […]

Previous excavations of similar sites in the UK and Ireland have shown that water was an important part of the process with water troughs lined with wood or clay being discovered. Other sites include earth-ovens or roasting pits and the combined evidence has led to several theories about what activities were carried out. The main theory is that stones were heated up and placed in the troughs to heat water, either during the process of dyeing cloth or cooking. Alternatively, some burnt mound sites include structures that could have been used as saunas.

The round barrow was disturbed by later agricultural activity, but the burial fortunately was not damaged. The skeletal remains were found in unusually good condition. The acidic soil of the area is harsh on bones, but in this case the grave had been backfilled with burned stone and charcoal from the adjacent burnt mound, helping to preserve the skeleton.

A small earth oven and a deep pit believed to have been a well were also found near the barrow. Heating stones were left in the oven from its last use and soil samples will be analyzed for traces of what might have been cooked there. The bottom of the well was still waterlogged, preserving part of its prehistoric wooden lining, a particularly exciting find. The waterlogged fill at the bottom of the well will also be sampled and analyzed for plant, animal and insect remains.

A preventative archaeology excavation at a real estate development site in the historic center of Narbonne, southern France, has uncovered the remains of an early imperial-era Roman wall and tower. Preliminary estimates based on the measurements and construction style of the wall and tower date them to the last decades of the 1st century B.C. The discovery came as a surprise as this is the first evidence that the ancient city of Narbo Martius, the first Roman colony established outside of Italy, had defensive walls of any kind.

The excavation unearthed a section of wall 100 feet long. It is an enclosing wall connected to a round masonry tower. The tower was constructed in an unusual fashion: the base of the round tower is inset in a square foundation. This was likely done to give the massive walls additional stability.

Colonia Narbo Martius was founded by Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus in 118 B.C., two years after he and Quintus Fabius Maximus Allobrogicus defeated the Arverni and the Allobroges and conquered all of southern Gaul. As proconsul of Gaul, Gnaeus Domitius built the first Roman road in Gaul, the Via Domitia, running from Spain to Italy through his new colony. He then built the second Roman road in Gaul, the Via Aquitania, that ran from Narbo through the Aquitaine province to the Atlantic Ocean. The city was also located at the mouth of the Aude river at that time, situating it at a strategic crossroads for trade, agriculture, travel and Roman military expansion.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, in his oration in defense of Marcus Fonteius, the former praetor of Gallia Narbonensis who was accused by Gallic tribespeople of financially exploiting the province for his own gain, describes Narbo Martius as “a citizen-colony, which stands as a watch-tower and bulwark of the Roman people, and a barrier of defense against these tribes.” Cicero made that speech in 69 B.C., and after that Narbo’s importance only grew. Julius Caesar refounded it in 46-45 B.C. as a colony for the veterans of his Tenth Legion, then Augustus made it the capital of the province of Gallia Narbonensis in 22 B.C.

The area of Narbonne currently under excavation was on the outskirts of the ancient city. It was built around 50 A.D. to store trade goods. The excavation revealed three or four warehouses on the site, three streets, an alley and a system of intersecting canals that managed rain and waste water evacuation. One of the warehouses had an unusual design: the ground floor, used for storage, was kept clean by a drainage crawl space made out of recycled amphorae. The upper floor was a either a home or office, and a rather nice one at that, with concrete floors, mosaics and mud brick walls painted to look like marble panels. This warehouse and another one were severely damaged in the same fire event, but were reconstructed.

These discoveries are linked to the urban port of Narbo Martius , located along the ancient arm of the Aude. This constitutes, with the maritime outer port whose remains have been observed at several points (Île Saint-Martin in Gruissan, Mandirac, La Nautique), a complex port system whose importance is attested in particular in the texts and ancient inscriptions. This excavation contributes to the identification of the ancient route of the river, the course of which was partly artificialized during the canalization of the Robine in the 18th century .

The structures, which would usually be reburied or, quel dommage, allowed to be destroyed when construction at the site resumed, are so significant that the developers have decided to integrate the finds into their new construction.