A 2,400-year-old timber structure in an outstanding state of preservation on the banks of the River Main in Bavaria. It is unique in Germany. No other structure of this age, construction method and condition has been found before.

The Iron Age timbers were discovered by construction workers in a rainwater overflow basin at the Willigis Bridge in Aschaffenburg. They were part of a larger stone wall. Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (BLfD) used radiocarbon dating to determine the age of the timbers and the analysis found the oak trees were felled between 372-352 B.C.

“We don’t yet know what the complex was used for. We suspect that it protected the access from the Main up to the settlement. Immediately in front of the large structure made of dry stone walls and an elaborate wooden beam construction was the a wooden platform towards the river. Perhaps boats docked here, goods were and loads,” says Dr. Stefanie Berg, Head of the Department of Archaeological Monument Preservation at the BLfD. The complex testifies to astonishing craftsmanship and construction knowledge. In its construction it must have been adapted to the difficult requirements of the damp subsoil, which could only be realized with considerable effort.

Dr. Stefanie Berg: “A structure like this was no small undertaking. It required many people, sound planning, and a great deal of work. The oak timbers were felled and processed in the Spessart region and—like the stonework—transported here via the River Main. On site, dry-stone walls were erected, and the heavy beams were precisely fitted into the structure. The building would have been visible from afar, clearly signaling that this was a place of significance—and one that its inhabitants knew how to defend.”

To ensure their long-term preservation after discovery, the timbers will be recovered, cleaned and placed in a basin of water to keep them from drying out. Each beam will be laser scanned and 3D models made for remote study. Marks from Iron Age axes and adzes have already been recorded and will provide new insights into carpentry techniques Already the first third of the heavy timbers has been raised by a crane. After the wood is stabilized, a selection of the timbers will be displayed to the public at the Aschaffenburg Abbey Museum.

Excavations will continue through the end of the year. A multi-disciplinary team that includes archaeologists, architects, geoarchaeologists and archaeobotanists are examining the structure, the soil around it and traces of plant material at the find site. Visitors will have the chance to view the excavation on September 13, Open Monument Day, with a BLfD archaeologist serving as guide.

The importance and uniqueness of the structure underscores the regional significance of the Celtic settlement that would become Aschaffenburg. In conjunction with Open Monument Day, the Aschaffenburg Abbey Museum will display Celtic artifacts found in the city, some of which have never before been exhibited.

The skeletal remains of man who appears to have sought shelter in a dolium, a giant storage amphora, only to be trapped there and die, have been discovered in the ancient town of Deultum, Bulgaria. Archaeologists’ preliminary date of the event is around 400 A.D.

The dolium was discovered in the northern turret of the western gate in Deultum’s Roman walls, built around 300 A.D. It is comparatively small by dolium standards, the largest of which could hold as much as 260 gallons. Only the lower part of it survives, and it is three feet in diameter.

The deceased had two iron knives with him, one clutched in his hand and a smaller one hanging from a ring on his belt. These were apparently for self-defense. They are not the weapons of a professional warrior.

In the 5th century, Deultum was repeatedly attacked by Germanic tribes and Huns. There is evidence of a fire on the dolium and around it, but no evidence that the deceased made any attempt to leave the dolium to save his own skin. He likely suffocated from smoke inhalation. Ashes in the bottom of the amphora suggest the fire was already burning when he climbed inside.

The recent discovery seems to represent one of those “extraordinary circumstances,” Vagalinski said. The team found a significant amount of burned materials around the dolium, including ashes and coals; broken bricks, tiles and shards; blackened walls; melted glass fragments; and bones from domestic animals. The likely scenario is that, upon hearing of an imminent attack, people brought their livestock into the fortress. The archaeologists also found many bronze coins that were probably lost in the chaos. […]

“In any case, he made no attempt to get out of the ceramic vessel,” Vagalinski said. The team determined this based on the individual’s position, similar to that of a sleeping man. “After the attack, the inhabitants of the city leveled the ruins of the tower and covered them with a new, higher floor.” They did not know that a fellow citizen was lying at the bottom of the dolium.

The skeletal remains have now been transferred to Sofia where they will be examined and analyzed in detail by a forensic anthropologist. The archaeological team will return to Deultum next summer to continue to excavate the western gate, including the northern turret.

A prehistoric ritual enclosure has been discovered near Chleby, Czech Republic. Built around 6,500 years ago, it is one of Central Europe’s oldest monuments, 1,000 years older Stonehenge. It is the only circular enclosure from the period found in the region.

The structure consists of a circular ditch about 750 feet in diameter and eight feet deep. Irregularly spaced along the ditch were 12 entrances leading to the center of the circle. The spacing of the entrances was not random; their locations made observations of significant moments in solar and lunar cycles possible.

Archaeologists have identified two main observation points. One is associated with the Moon’s extreme positions on the horizon during its approximately 18-year cycle. The other connects sunrise at the summer solstice with sunset at the winter solstice. A similar arrangement is known from Stonehenge. However, according to the research team’s latest findings, the Chleby structure is significantly older. “For prehistoric farming communities, the connection between sunrise and the summer solstice symbolized a beginning, while sunset and the winter solstice represented an ending. The same principle can be seen along Stonehenge’s main axis. We can now see that the sanctuary at Chleby was designed similarly. Still, more than a thousand years earlier, as we have established from the dating of organic material,” [University of West Bohemia archaeologist and research leader] Petr Krištuf explained.

The enclosure likely had a perimeter wall made of wood posts, and animal bones found inside the ditch suggests the 12 entrances were adorned with the skulls and horns of bulls. Bulls held great religious significance as symbols of strength and virility to the early farming communities of Europe.

The enclosure appears to have continued to be considered a sacred space well into the Bronze Age. The remains of 18 people from the Bronze Age Únětice culture were buried there, not in a single event but over a period of time. That changed come the Iron Age.

“While Stonehenge experienced repeated periods of renewed use and is still associated, for example, with Celtic druids, the first results from Chleby suggest the opposite development. By the Iron Age, the monument appears to have definitively lost its original significance. The ditch was gradually filled in, and an ordinary settlement was established on the site of the former sanctuary,” Petr Krištuf added.

Soil samples have been taken from the enclosure. They are now being analyzed for trace elements that will provide new information about how the space was used over the centuries.

An Iron Age shield boss containing cinerary remains has been discovered in a scrapyard in Hrubieszów, southeastern Poland. The center of a shield, also known as an umbo, reinforced the wooden shield and protected the hand of the warrior who held it from a strap in the center of the back right behind the boss. It dates to the 2nd century A.D.

Włodzimierz Starykiewicz was looking for car and motorcycle parts when he came across a rusted circular piece with central spike shaped like a Hershey’s Kiss. It was so corroded and encrusted with dirt that it would have been easy to discount it as just some random part, but the finder thought it might be of archaeological significance. He immediately sent a photograph to the Father Stanisław Staszic Museum in Hrubieszów labelling it “A relic from a scrapyard!”

Museum staff confirmed that his instincts were correct and identified it from the photograph as ancient shield boss. Its design suggested it was part of a Vandal shield from the 2nd century. Starykiewicz handed it over to the museum for archaeologists to examine.

They found that inside the concave umbo was compacted dried earth with remnants of crop stubble, suggesting the original context was a cultivated field. Włodzimierz prudently and deliberately kept the soil inside the object so that it could be micro-excavated once it was at the museum. This wise decision preserved not just organic crop traces, but also burned human bones inside the compacted soil.

The iron surface also shows signs of having been exposed to high temperatures. The cinerary remains and the condition of the iron boss clearly indicate the shield was burned on the funeral pyre with a warrior of the Vandal community (Przeworsk culture). Unfortunately the grave is gone, disconnected from the shield boss that somehow made its way to the scrapyard, so there’s no way to track down what else might have been buried. Comparable burials from the period that have been excavated in their original contexts often include other weapons — swords, spearheads — and metal accessories — belt buckles, brooches.

The museum has appealed to whomever may have dropped the boss at the scrapyard in the first place to come forward with any information they have about where they found it. If they can pinpoint a find site, even within a general area, they may be able to locate what’s left of the original burial.

Archaeologists excavating a section of the Saqqara necropolis have discovered a tomb belonging to a high-ranking official of the Old Kingdom (ca. 2700–2000 B.C.). The burial chamber’s false door was found intact in its original position, and in front of it the full set of alabaster ritual offering objects that were used for the funerary rites.

Hieroglyphic inscriptions on the false door and the ritual objects identified the tomb owner and revealed several of his prestigious titles, including Royal Chamberlain, Overseer of All the Works of the King, Overseer of Royal Documents, Keeper of the Secrets of Royal Decrees, Priest of the Goddess Maat, and Overseer of the Scribes. The titles indicate that Sekhenty-Ptah held a prominent administrative position within the state apparatus during the Old Kingdom.

The discovery of the complete group of funerary implements in their original location provides valuable new evidence for understanding funerary rituals and practices during the Old Kingdom.

The tomb was found in the Bubasteion necropolis, the burial ground associated with the temple to the cat goddess Bastet. The site was in continuous use for thousands of years, and the discovery of a tomb dating to the Old Kingdom, adds significant new information about the necropolis’ early usage and chronology.

The excavation also unearthed a complex interconnected network of burial shafts from the Late Period containing numerous human remains, more than 100 faience ushabti figures and large quantities of painted cartonnage used in mummy wrappings. Three stone sarcophagi were also found in the shafts, still sealed and in their original locations, plus numerous pottery vessels and a wooden statue in the shape of a falcon.

Preliminary studies suggest that some of the burial shafts were subjected to looting in antiquity, evidenced by openings created by tomb robbers between burial chambers. Despite this, the surviving finds remain of considerable archaeological and scientific importance and are expected to provide further insights into the site’s internal layout, architectural development and successive phases of use.