The well-preserved remains of a warm-air underfloor heating system from a medieval convent have been unearthed in Basel, Switzerland. It dates to the 13th and 14th centuries, and its exceptional state of preservation makes it unique in Switzerland and one of the most important surviving examples in Europe.

The remains were discovered in the courtyard of a former vocational school that is on the site of the medieval Gnadental Monastery. The heating system was in the east wing of the monastery, underneath a large room believed to be the refectory, the monastic dining hall. Archaeologists uncovered an underground chamber filled with fieldstones. When the stones were removed, the combustion chamber made of ashlar blocks and bricks was revealed. Two angled stones tipped together in a v-shape were still in place in the furnace. They channeled the heat into the chamber packed with fieldstones.

The fieldstones would be heated up and then slowly release their heat through holes in the floor above. A large section of the mortar floor of the refectory has survived, including eight closable openings. While the stones were being fired, the holes were closed to prevent smoke from filling the dining room. Once the smoke had cleared, the holes were opened and the heated air rose into the refectory through them.

Gnadental Convent was built around 1231 outside the city walls of the time for the Franciscans. But they moved to the newly founded Barfüsser Convent just 20 years later. The buildings then housed Cistercian nuns and Poor Clares. The monastery took its name in 1279 from lay sisters from Gnadenthal near Niederwil, Aargau. These were incorporated into the Order of the Poor Clares and remained there until the monastery was dissolved in the wake of the Reformation.

After the Reformation, some of the convent buildings continued to be used. In 1573, for example, a granary was built using building materials from the convent, particularly from the church. At the end of the 19th century, the granary was demolished to make way for the vocational school. This marked the disappearance of the last visible remains of the monastery. It was only the recent excavations that brought these remains back to light.

The find has been thoroughly documented a 3D model created. The most effective way of preserving of this unique medieval heating system is currently under discussion. They remains will not be moved. They will be integrated into the renovated building at the site.

A rare gold signet ring from the 14th century inscribed with the name of a woman has been discovered near Zlatograd in south-central Bulgaria just three miles from the Greek border. Incised deep in the flat oval face of the ring is the title and name “Sevasta Maria Skulena.” The lettering marks it as having been made in a provincial workshop likely around 1330-1350.

It’s so small that at first glance experts thought it could have belonged to a child, but obviously when they saw it was a signet ring that possibility was eliminated. Children did not authenticate documents with seals of their names and titles. Instead, it must have been worn on Maria Skulena’s pinkie finger, which is a convenient finger to use for stamping.

The title “sevast” which means “honored” or “revered” and was first created by Byzantine Emperor Alexius Komnenos in the 11th century. He meant it only for people of extremely high rank at the Constantinople court. It depreciated over time, and by the 14th century could be bought by local big fish in small pounds and people with deep pockets.

Documents in the archives of the Great Lavra Monastery on Mount Athos record a member of the Skules family who was a landowner with extensive properties in Aegean Macedonia (50-100 miles from Zlatograd) as well as the Rhodope Mountains in 1338. Michael Skules was “general judge of the Romans” in 1371 and bore the title “sevast,” which means “honored” or “revered.” Maria Skulena was likely his wife and must have been a person of high social position to have her own document seal.

The ring was acquired by private collector engineer Alexander Mitushev, so unfortunately nothing of is known of its original archaeological context. The only information he was given was that it was found recently near Zlatograd. Mitushev registered the find legally by turning it over to cultural heritage authorities, and then put it on display for the first time last week at the Archaeological and Ethnographic Museum in Zlatograd, a museum he founded and continues to expand by sponsoring excavations and by his purchases and donations.

The tomb of a young woman from the Viking Age with rare surviving remnants of her clothing has been discovered near Varde, Western Jutland, Denmark. The burial dates to the 8th century.

Skeletal remains rarely survive the highly acidic soil of Jutland, let alone fragile organic textiles. In this case, it was the young woman’s jewelry responsible for the unusual preservation. She was buried wearing two concave oval fibulae known as skålspænder (scoop brooches), typically used to fasten an apron dress at the shoulders. The corrosion of the bronze or silver in the brooches produced metallic salts that acted as preservatives and kept the garment’s fibers from decomposing.

Both of the skålspænder have remnants of fabric on both sides, giving archaeologists a unique opportunity to study two layers of Viking-era clothing: the undergarments in contact with the skin, and the outer visible layer. The area of the tomb with the jewelry and organic remains was removed in a soil block for excavation in laboratory conditions that will ensure even the smallest traces of the textile can be recovered.

The study of these fragments will reveal new information about the textiles, how they were sewn and perhaps even the structure of the entire garment. The material will undergo chromatic analysis to identify the dyes used on the fibers, and hopefully determine the color of the clothing she was wearing. The color of a garment had social significance in the Viking era, so figuring out the colors she was buried in will also illuminate her position in the community.

The Vejle Conservation Center (Konserveringscenter Vejle) has taken on the delicate task of exhuming the funerary assemblage practically grain by grain, safeguarding the integrity of the fabrics and their contextual association with the bones and the ornaments. Meanwhile, ancient textile expert Lise Ræder Knudsen has been appointed to conduct a detailed analysis of the recovered fibers, aiming to identify the weaving techniques, patterns, and spinning quality that characterized this Viking Jutland garment. […]

However, dating the clothing presents an additional challenge that archaeologists hope to solve through cutting-edge science. Samples are planned to be taken for radiocarbon (C14) testing to obtain an absolute and precise dating of the textile assemblage. This dating is essential not only to chronologically place the garment but also to resolve a question that has sparked special interest among researchers: one of the scoop brooches shows clear signs of having been repaired in the past.

This feature suggests the possibility that the piece was not contemporary with the making of the dress but instead an heirloom passed down from a previous generation, an object with its own history that ultimately became part of the young woman’s grave goods. Comparing the dates obtained from the textile and the metal will be key to confirming whether both elements belong to the same era or if, on the contrary, the young woman wore a new dress with old jewelry.

The skeletal remains will also be studied further. Her dental enamel will give information on nutritional stress she may have experienced as a child, and stable isotope analysis will provide information on whether she was raised locally or came from elsewhere.