Month: March 2013

1700-year-old wool tunic found in melting glacier

Ancient

Archaeologists working on Norway’s Lendbreen glacier have found an intact woolen tunic dating to 300 A.D. The tunic is a greenish-brown now — it has darkened over the centuries — with a diamond pattern and it got a lot of use before it was discarded and swallowed up by glacial ice; there are several repaired patches. The garment was used as outerwear by a man about 5’9″ tall who for some mysterious reason took it off right next to a glacier 6,560 feet above sea level. One theory is that suffered from hypothermia which can make victims feel hot even in the middle of a freezing blizzard. Victims of hypothermia have been known to take off their clothes under the delusion that they’re hot.

The age of the tunic was confirmed by radiocarbon dating and archaeologists believe it was left along a Roman-era trade route which stopped being used in the 4th century when the area iced over. Warming global temperatures are melting the glacier at an alarming rate, thus exposing ancient artifacts that have been trapped in ice for centuries. And so environmental disaster yet again proves itself to be a boon for archaeology, but the window for recovery of organic artifacts is very short. As soon as they are exposed to air they begin to decay, and since they’re being exposed by runoff, they go from the preserving embrace of ice to the rotting chokehold of water. Wood can take a few years to rot, but ancient textiles can be destroyed by insects and bacteria in a matter of weeks.

The tunic was found in 2011, but archaeologists have been exploring the glacier since 2006. They have discovered more than 1,600 ancient artifacts exposed by melting ice since then, including wooden weapons, tools and textiles. They range from a 3,000-year-old leather shoe to the remains of a 1000-year-old base camp thought to have been used by reindeer hunters. The hunters set up tents on the top edge of the glacier and used the snowdrifts to trap the animals which would then be dispatched. The meat was probably processed on site and transported back to populated areas.

A remarkable collection of objects testify to this operation: a wooden tent peg, textiles, spear tips, arrows with ingenious split designs or tipped with embedded shell to harden and sharpen the point, a horse shoe, even a complete set of scare sticks, wooden planks tied together to make a lot of noise when shaken. The reindeer would be chased into the snowdrift traps by the sound of the scare sticks. There are artifacts that are unknown to us today whose use is a mystery.

There’s an excellent photo gallery of the more recent Lendbreen finds here and one of some of the older discoveries here.

Amateur at public dig finds rare hedgehog-like fossil

Ancient

July 4th, 2009, was one of six digs a year the Hessian State Museum holds on Saturdays with members of the local amateur paleontology organization at the Messel Pit, the former shale quarry 22 miles southeast of Frankfurt that was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site for its exceptional deposits of early mammal fossils from the Eocene Age (57 million – 36 million years ago). One of the volunteers digging through layers of brittle oil shale was Klaus-Dieter Weiss, chairman of the organization who has been an avid fossil enthusiasts ever since someone gave him a petrified fish 40 years ago when he was 15. Weiss pushed a shale plate aside and saw a scaly tail.

It belonged to a virtually complete and beautifully preserved Pholidocercus hassiacus, a small insectivorous mammal related to modern hedgehogs that lived 47 million years ago. It had spiny fur like a hedgehog, and a long, thick rat-like tail covered in scales. The top of his head was also scaled, giving him a sort of helmet. This is only the seventh Pholidocercus ever discovered, and it’s one of the most complete.

Dr Norbert Micklich, from the Hessien State Museum in Darmstadt which has a huge collection of fossils from the Messel Pit, told The Local the find was extraordinary.

“You can see the shapes of the animal’s hairs – by the fossilised bacteria left there,” he said. “If we can take samples from what looks like the remains of the gut and get them under an electron microscope, we could even be able to work out what it had been eating.”

This high level of preservation is due to the unique environment of the Messel Pit. It was a lake bed during the Eocene, part of a series of lakes in the middle of sub-tropical forests. The bottom of the lake was relatively undisturbed by currents, and as layers of mud and vegetation sank, they created a highly anoxic environment uncongenial to aquatic animal life. With little movement, little oxygen and a slow rate of deposition, animals and plants that died in the upper layers of the lake were preserved in amazingly pristine layers. That’s how you get details like the shape of hairs and the stomach contents of an animal’s whose last meal took place 47 million years ago.

Another Pholidocercus hassiacus found in the Messel Pit and now in the Hessian State Museum is the holotype of the species, the specimen used to determine the scientific classification of the animal, but it’s missing half of its tail. This one’s tail is perfect. There is a piece missing from its spine, however, and according to the museum’s press release, that missing piece caused something of a paleontological drama.

The excavators didn’t notice a missing part; they thought the fossil was complete when they packed it up and sent it to the museum. When researchers unpacked it they got a nasty surprise. What caused the flaw in the center spine? Was it damaged in packing or in transit? Was it deliberate sabotage? The pictures taken in situ weren’t helpful. They were either lost, unusable or the key area was obscured by shadows.

Finally modern image processing technology revealed that in fact the damage had been done before the fossil was discovered. The plate was inadvertently split when the layers above it were being broken up, but the crack was hidden from sight by fine shale gravel. In the excitement of discovery, nobody noticed the flaw. The missing part has now been reconstructed.

The discovery was just announced at the end of February. The intervening three years have been dedicated to fully excavating the fossil from the shale, preserving it in plastic and repairing the spine. It was time well spent. Look at this beauty:

I can’t get over the scales on the tail. It’s like Japanese armour.

Bodies in Norwich well buried in Jewish cemetery

Medieval, Modern(ish)

The remains of 17 bodies, 11 children and six adults, dating to the 12th-13th century found at the bottom of a well in 2004 were given a Jewish burial in Norwich’s Earlham Cemetery on Tuesday. The bones were picked up by a hearse from the Norwich Castle Museum where they’ve been in storage. They were placed in five coffins covered with tallits (Jewish prayer shawls), driven past the Norwich Hebrew Congregation Synagogue and to the Jewish Cemetery within the larger cemetery where local Rabbi Alex Bennet conducted a traditional Jewish burial service.

Bishop David Gillet, interfaith adviser to the Diocese of Norwich, eulogized the deceased and took the opportunity to express repentance for the ugly history of Christian antisemitic persecution, pledging to “live and work in our generation for supportive and respectful relationships between our two communities.” There’s film of the service in this ITV story.

It took a lot of work to get to this place. The biggest issue was whether the remains could be positively identified as Jewish. Although DNA testing performed by Dr. Ian Barnes on the BBC show History Cold Case indicated that five of the 17 people were members of the same family with origins in South-East Europe to Central Asia rather than Western Europe, that’s not conclusive proof of Jewishness. It’s certainly evidence, especially in the relatively ethnically homogeneous society of medieval Norwich, but there are other possibilities. They could have been the descendants of Roman soldiers or even the result of intermarriages between Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land and Middle Eastern locals.

The circumstantial evidence supports the Jewish theory. The well in which they were found was adjacent to the Jewish neighborhood and why would 17 Christians, 11 of them children, be dumped down a dry well rather than buried in consecrated ground? Even plague victims were laid out in pits and they were infectious. Their sad fate smacks of the deliberate disrespect of a mob, and many Jews faced the business end of mobs between the Norman conquest and Edward I’s expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290.

At any rate, the evidence was sufficiently convincing for Clive Roffe, Norwich representative on the Board of Deputies of British Jews, to campaign for the bones’ proper burial. Starting in 2011 after the BBC program aired, Roffe together with Bishop David Gillet and other members of the Jewish community and Christian clergy petitioned for the bones to be released from the Norwich Castle Museum “for decent and appropriate burial.”

Museum authorities were initially reluctant. They wanted the bones to be available for further study and Alan West, curator of archaeology at Norwich Castle Museum, didn’t think there was any evidence suggesting they were Jewish. After more than two years of lobbying, the Board of Deputies persuaded the museum that no matter what their ethnicity, the bones should be respectfully buried and if the Jewish community was willing to accept them as their own based even on the mere chance that they were the remains of murdered Jews, then they should be allowed to take them in hand.

The board intends to erect a monument on the grave site indicating that the buried are thought to have been victims of a pogrom like the one in 1190 which took place in Norwich on the heels of an anti-Jewish massacre in York. The bodies will also be commemorated on a plaque in St. Stephen’s church which will quote the Hebrew scriptures.

Meanwhile the attempt to narrow down who these 17 people were continues. Dr. Joachim Burger of Mainz University in Germany, a top expert in the field, is in the process of analyzing the DNA. He won’t have any results to share for at least another month or two.

FBI says they know who Gardner Museum thieves are

Looting, Modern(ish), Museums

But they aren’t telling. On Monday, March 18th, 23 years to the day after two men disguised as cops “arrested” the security guards at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and helped themselves to three Rembrandts including his own known seascape, a landscape by Rembrandt’s student Govaert Flinck, a Vermeer, a Manet, five Degas drawings, a bronze Napoleonic eagle finial and an ancient Chinese bronze beaker, the FBI announced that they think they know the identity of the culprits.

“The FBI believes with a high degree of confidence that in the years after the theft, the art was transported to Connecticut and the Philadelphia region, and some of the art was taken to Philadelphia, where it was offered for sale by those responsible for the theft.” [Special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston office Richard] DesLauriers added, “With that same confidence, we have identified the thieves, who are members of a criminal organization with a base in the Mid-Atlantic states and New England.”

Given the focus on New England crime families, this may be related to the FBI’s attempt to get senior citizen mobster and alleged prescription pill dealer Robert Gentile to cough up information they believed he had regarding “stolen property out of the District of Massachusetts” last year. After decades of dead ends and little activity, the investigation picked up real steam again in 2010 when new evidence was discovered pointing to the identity of the thieves and the path the art took after the theft.

Knowing whodunit doesn’t tell us where the art works, valued at $500 million but priceless in art historical terms, are today, however. The last known stop was the attempted sale in Philadelphia ten years ago. That’s part of the reason the FBI has chosen not to divulge the name of the thieves. The statute of limitations has long since run out on the original theft and agents believe the paintings have changed hands several times since then. The announcement is meant to engender wider coverage of the story, to remind people there’s a $5 million reward on the line for anyone who can provide information leading to the recovery of the works in good condition, not to initiate a manhunt but rather an arthunt.

Anthony Amore, the Gardner’s chief of security:

“You don’t have to hand us the paintings to be eligible for the reward. We hope that through this media campaign, people will see how earnest we are in our attempts to pay this reward and make our institution whole. We simply want to recover our paintings and move forward. Today marks 23 years since the robbery. It’s time for these paintings to come home.”

In fact, the FBI, the museum and the U.S. Attorney’s office all emphasized in the announcement that their interest is in getting the paintings back. Not even the law is interested in securing convictions for the greatest art heist of all time. As far as they’re concerned, once the paintings are back home in the Gardner, the case is closed.

Richard DesLauriers:

“The recovery of the paintings will mark the close of a 23-year FBI investigation. The successful return of the paintings to the Gardner Museum would be the final chapter in one of the most significant art theft cases in the FBI’s history. And it is a result we would all welcome — seeing these paintings returned to their rightful home.”

Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz:

“As we have said in the past, the U.S. Attorney’s Office will consider the possibility of immunity from criminal prosecution for information that leads to the return of the paintings based on the set of facts and circumstances brought to our attention. Our primary goal is, and always has been, to have the paintings returned.”

Special Agent Geoff Kelly, heads of the FBI’s Gardner theft investigation:

“It’s likely over time someone has seen the art hanging on a wall, placed above a mantel, or stored in an attic. We want that person to call the FBI.”

I suppose there are some grounds for optimism that the paintings are still together and just stashed somewhere. They were kept for 13 years before the attempted Philly sale, so what’s another ten? If you’re in New England and have any kind of connection to current or former mob types, start looking closely at what’s hanging on their walls.

The FBI has set up a dedicated website on the Gardner Museum theft. In addition to information about the theft, there are podcasts and videos discussing the investigation and a gallery of high resolution images of all the stolen pieces. The Gardner also has an excellent web page on the theft with detailed information and good pictures of the stolen works (delete the size parameters in the url to see them in high res).

You can submit a tip to the FBI website, call the FBI’s hotline at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or contact museum security director Anthony Amore at (617) 278-5114 or via email at theft@gardnermuseum.org.

Violin played as Titanic sank found in attic

Modern(ish), Treasures


The violin played by bandmaster Wallace Hartley as Titanic sank the night of April 14th, 1912, has incredibly survived and was discovered in a North Yorkshire attic in 2006. Auction house Henry Aldridge & Son announced Friday that after years of careful research and scientific analysis, they can confirm that the violin exists and is the real deal.

The owner, who prefers to remain anonymous, found the violin in a leather luggage case monogrammed “W. H. H.” when he was rummaging through his mother’s belongings. She was an amateur musician and a letter was found inside the case written by her former teacher, a local musician and violin instructor, who gave her this inestimable treasure. Also found inside the valise were Hartley’s silver cigarette case and a signet ring.

After making this crazy find, the owner contacted Henry Aldridge & Son who specialize in Titanic memorabilia. The monogrammed case, jewelry, letter and an engraved silver plate attached to the violin’s tail piece all suggested either authenticity or an impressively elaborate hoax, but as excited as they were by the prospect of having found the most important Titanic artifact to survive the sinking, involved in one of its most iconic moments — the band playing “Nearer, My God, to Thee” while the ship went down — auction house experts realized it would take a great deal of work to authentic this miraculous survival.

They first brought it to the UK’s Forensic Science Service, a government office which provided forensic analysis to British police and other authorities before it was closed last year due to budget cuts. The service tested the corrosion and water stains on the violin, using other artifacts that survived the wreck for comparison, and found the corrosion deposits were “compatible with immersion in sea water.” Two long cracks on the violin’s body were determined to have been caused by moisture damage.

Next a jewelry expert took it in hand to examine the silver plate. The plate is inscribed “For Wallace on the occasion of our engagement from Maria.” Wallace Hartley’s fiancé was named Maria Robinson; she gave him a violin when they got engaged in 1910. The expert confirmed that the plate was original to the violin, engraved contemporaneously with the 1910 hallmarks on the panel.

While the physical evidence was being put to rigorous analysis, Henry Aldridge researchers and Hartley’s biographer Christian Tennyson-Ekeburg examined to the documentary record to try to trace its path from the deck of the sinking ship to the North Yorkshire attic. According to a news account, Hartley’s body was found 10 days after the disaster by a ship called the Mackay Bennett. He was fully dressed and the instrument was strapped to his body. However, the Mackay Bennett records have an inventory of the items found on the body and the violin is not listed.

Historians have assumed that either the news account was exaggerated/fictional or that the violin was stolen by someone after the body was found, but Maria Robinson’s diary proves that the violin was recovered and officials returned it to her. Researchers found a transcript of a telegram dated July 19, 1912, in her diary. Sent to the Provincial Secretary of Nova Scotia, the telegram read: “I would be most grateful if you could convey my heartfelt thanks to all who have made possible the return of my late fiance’s violin.”

It seems that the news story got close to the truth. His violin wasn’t strapped to his body directly, but rather Hartley put his violin in his valise (which was too small for the bow to fit) and then strapped the bag around him right before the sinking. The bag and violin may have helped keep his body floating, and since he was on his back and they were on top of his life jacket on his chest, the violin and bag were for the most part not immersed in the water. A letter from his mother found in Hartley’s breast pocket survived with almost no water damage.

Hartley’s cigarette case and signet ring were returned to his father. He gave them to Maria and she kept them together with the valise and violin as a sort of shrine to her lost beloved. She never married and died of stomach cancer at her home in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, in 1939 when she was just 59. Maria’s sister Margaret gave the valise and contents to the Bridlington Salvation Army, telling its leader Major Renwick about the incredible journey the violin had taken. Major Renwick gave it to a Salvation Army member who was a violin teacher, again passing on the Titanic story. The teacher gave it to his student, the current owner’s mother, along with a letter relaying what Major Renwick had told him.

In the early 1940s, the current owner’s mother was a member of the Womens’ Auxiliary Air Force stationed at Bridlington. She met the music teacher who later dispatched the valise and violin to her.

A covering letter that has been found states: “Major Renwick thought I would be best placed to make use of the violin but I found it virtually unplayable, doubtless due to its eventful life.”

The owner plans to eventually sell this marvel, but first he wants it to be seen by as many people as possible. It will go on display at Belfast City Hall, just a mile away from where Titanic was built, at the end of the month. They’re working on putting together an international tour after that.