Month: May 2021

113 pre-Columbian burials found in Guadeloupe

Medieval

More than 100 pre-Columbian burials have been unearthed in the Les Abymes township of Guadeloupe. The discovery of so dense a concentration of pre-contact graves is without precedent in Guadeloupe. Agriculture and industry, primarily sugar cane production, in the colonial period damaged many of Guadeloupe’s pre-European archaeological layers, and most of what is known and recorded today is rock art and potsherds. Habitation sites are rare and human bone remains even rarer because of the high acidity of the volcanic soil.

A team from France’s National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) excavated the site of a future housing development and found filled pits and post holes, evidence of habitation from the later part of the Troumassoid Period (650 -1600 A.D.), between the 11th and 13th centuries. Several hundred post holes correspond to the numerous dwellings and there are about 50 pits that were used for domestic purposes. The fill in the pits contains pottery fragments, stone tools, heating rocks, animal bones and the remains of shellfish.

The burials were associated with this settlement. Skeletal remains of adults and children were found in a variety of positions: on their backs, semi-seated, seated and on their sides. The bodies were inhumed folded over on themselves. The arms were flexed over the abdomen, the legs pressed against the forearms, elbows or chest. The fact that the bones are still in these postures means the bodies were tied or placed in bags to ensure they stayed in place.

The habitations and burials form a unique database of information about ancient Guadeloupian communities. The remains will be radiocarbon dated and if possible DNA extracted. The condition of the bones in past finds made genetic analysis impossible, but the sheer quantity of burials here give archaeologists reason to hope that they might be able to figure out any familial relationships among the deceased. The pits and post holes will be analyzed to determine phases of occupation and construction, the layout and usage of the settlement. Researchers also hope to pinpoint whether the burials were contemporaneous with the occupation of the settlement or if they came later after the dwellings were abandoned.

This research will help advance knowledge about the Late Neoindian period. This period is characterized by economic and cultural changes that took place around the 9th century throughout the Lesser Antilles archipelago, resulting from a process of regionalization of cultures, linked to the dispersion of groups throughout the Caribbean archipelago. Paleoclimatic changes identified in the Lesser Antilles doubtless also contribute to the cultural changes.

Hyenas gnawed on Neanderthals in cave south of Rome

Ancient

The remains of nine Neanderthals have been unearthed in the Guattari Cave near the seaside town of San Felice Circeo, 70 miles south of Rome. The cave’s entrance, blocked off by a rockslide that stopped human occupation of the site tens of thousands of years ago , was discovered by accident on February 24th, 1939. Inside were animal bones, the remains of hyena repasts, and in the last chamber the well-preserved cranium of a Neanderthal. The chamber would henceforth be dubbed the Antrum of Man.

Even with a large hole in the temple, it was one the best-preserved Neanderthal skulls discovered up to that time, and reports of the find made international headlines. The anthropologist who first studied the cave,  Alberto Carlo Blanc, hypothesized that the Neanderthals had practiced cannibalism, that they made a hole in the skull to extract and eat its contents.

New studies of the cave during recent stabilization work have brought to light new fossil specimens. The team found a new branch of the cave that had not been previously explored, and excavated the piles of bones again using methodologies and technologies that were not available when the remains were first investigated in the 1940s. Since the survey began in the fall of 2019, the mineralized bones of nine Neanderthal individuals have been recovered. Of the nine individuals, eight date to between 50,000 and 68,000 years ago, and one dates to between 100,000 and 90,000 years ago. They are all adults with one possible exception who may have been an older juvenile. Paleontologists believe the rockfall that sealed the cave took place around 50,000-60,000 years ago. It ensured no animal or man interfered with the paleontological remains until 1939, leaving them in excellent condition.

The discovery of bones from numerous individuals in one place will shed new light on how Neanderthals in prehistoric Italy lived, what they ate, what animals shared their environment. Preliminary examination of the dental tartar has found that the Neanderthal people ate a varied diet, including cereals that were foraged rather than cultivated. The team will also study what the hyenas ate, identify the pollen to know what plants lived in the area and do extensive genetic testing on the bones.

They’ve already identified unexpected species among the thousands of newly discovered bone specimens, including cave lions, cave bears, wild horses, rhinos, elephants and Megaloceros (giant deer) which were not previously known to inhabit the area and most of which were not naturally inclined to spelunking. It seems they were all meals for hyenas who caught them in the grasslands and dragged the carcasses back to the cave for safer feasting.

It appears that the hyenas also had a taste for Neanderthals, and one skull found at the site had a hole similar to the one found in the 1939 cranium. That find definitively put to rest Blanc’s theory of cannibalism and cult rituals.

“Reality is more banal,” Professor Rolfo said, adding that “hyenas like munching on bones” and probably opened a cavity in the skull to get to the brain.

It is unclear whether the Neanderthals were killed by the hyenas or the hyenas snacked on Neanderthals after they died from other causes.

“What it does mean is that there were many Neanderthals in the area,” Professor Rolfo said.

There is evidence of Neanderthal use of the cave to eat, not just be eaten. Burned coal and animal bones indicate they built organized hearths in the cave where they cooked and ate their own prey unconnected to the hyena agenda.

Catherine de’ Medici returns to Strawberry Hill House

Modern(ish), Museums

A portrait of Catherine de’ Medici with four of her children has returned to Strawberry Hill House 279 after Horace Walpole first bought it and 179 years after it was sold away with the rest of his vast collection. It is the only surviving contemporary portrait of Catherine de’ Medici, one of the most powerful queens in French history. It was acquired from its private owners as part of the Acceptance in Lieu scheme that allows donation of important items of cultural patrimony to pay off a tax bill. In this case the portrait has been accepted in lieu of of £1 million in taxes.

It was painted in 1561 by the workshop of Francois Clouet and depicts Catherine with her arm around her eldest surviving son 10-year-old Charles, who was then technically King Charles IX although Catherine ruled as his regent. His younger brother Henry, then Duke of Angoulême and Duke of Orléans, who would succeed Charles as monarch of France in 1574, stands to his right. Between them is their sister, Margaret, the future queen consort of Navarre who would become queen of France when her husband Henry III of Navarre became Henry IV of France. She was eight years old when this portrait was painted. In the bottom left is six-year-old Francis, Francis, Duke of Alençon and Anjou.

Dr Silvia Davoli, the curator at Strawberry Hill House, said Catherine’s gestures are highly symbolic, as she simultaneously presents the young monarch and protectively keeps him close to her, reflecting the substantial influence she held over the political life of France and the control and guidance she exercised over her son’s rule. It also shows the bond between members of the family – they are close and look alike.

It’s not known how such an important royal portrait found its way to England. Walpole, who was a huge Medici fanboy and once considered writing a history of the family, bought it for £25 from Hertfordshire county MP Thomas Plumer Byde. The Byde family had connections to the French monarchy that could be a possible explanation for how the portrait crossed the Channel. Thomas’ grandfather was paid 300 guineas by Louis XIV to oppose a separate peace between England and the Dutch republic that would end the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667). Maybe the Bourbon Louis threw in a portrait of the last Valois kings and their mum to sweeten the pot.

We don’t know exactly when Walpole first installed the painting in his Gothic Revival mansion in Twickenham, London, but it appears in the 1774 inventory of the Strawberry Hill collection. At that time it was hanging in the west end of the first floor Gallery, the same room where the Giambologna ostrich strutted its stuff. The portrait suffered the same fate as the ostrich: it was sold by Horace Walpole’s wastrel great-nephew in his everything-must-go firesale of the contents of Strawberry Hill, art collection to doorknobs, in April 1842.

The monumental portrait has only been seen in public three times in the past 126 years, most recently at a Strawberry Hill exhibition at the V&A in 2010. It will now be on permanent public display in the Gallery at Strawberry Hill House which reopens to visitors on May 17th. Dr. Davoli again:

“The acquisition of this unique portrait of Catherine de’ Medici with her Children is important not just for its great intrinsic value and meaning, but also because it gives us, at Strawberry Hill House, the possibility to reconstruct one of the many historical narratives that were at the basis of Walpole’s collecting strategies. This portrait speaks to us of Walpole’s interest in the Italian and French Renaissance, its protagonists and great art.”

Cannon from 2nd Spanish Armada recovered from looters

Renaissance

A bronze cannon from the late 16th century that was looted from the seabed of Galicia, northwestern Spain, has been recovered by the Guardia Civil. The cannon was one of three discovered on April 14th by shellfish fishermen looking for goose-barnacles. Two of them were recovered the next day, but the third was gone, looted on the same day of their discovery.

The investigation into the theft uncovered a video recording the cannon in the act of being plundered with a hook and ropes. A number of suspects were interrogated based on the information in the video. Authorities found the cannon in the home of one of the suspects. Five men and two women are currently being investigated for crimes against cultural heritage.

“We reckon one of those being investigated decided to plunder the cannon on a whim because they thought it would make a nice decorative piece,” the Guardia Civil said in a statement. “But beyond any value it might have if you melted it down, it is an important piece because of the valuable historical and archaeological information it contains – information that gets lost if you remove it from its context and the place where it was found.”

Regional archaeologists believe it belonged to one of the ships of the 2nd Spanish Armada sent by Philip II to invade Ireland and England in 1596. This armada never even made it out of Spanish waters. It was struck with powerful storms off Cape Finisterre in Galicia. The fleet was utterly incapacitated: 43 ships lost, almost 5,000 dead from drowning during the storm or from the disease that ran rampant through the crew on the ships that managed to limp into ports. The disaster ended Spain’s attempts to open a second front against England by supporting the Irish rebels, and was such a huge financial hit to the crown that Philip had to declare bankruptcy. (Again.)

The cannon has been transported to the Museum of the Sea of ​​Vigo where it will it be studied and conserved along with its two brethren. After more than four centuries under salty sea water, the metal will need a sustained program of desalination in order the stabilize the piece and keep it from rapid deterioration now that it is exposed to air.

Gold bracteate hoard found in Norway

Ancient

A small hoard of Migration Period gold bracteates has been unearthed in Råde, southeastern Norway’s. The first four were discovered in 2019 by archaeologists and a metal detectorist. Last fall, a more in depth archaeological investigation of the find site revealed three more bracteates near a rock at the edge of the field. The seven were originally a single votive deposit that was scattered centuries later by agricultural work. This is the first bracteate find of more than one individual found in Norway in 70 years. Only 90 bracteate deposition groups like this one have been found in all of Scandinavia.

Inspired by the imperial Roman coinage that was melted down to produce them, bracteates were thin gold discs with gold beading around the rim and a loop fixed to the top. They were stamped on one side with diademed rulers, animals or figures from Norse mythology. They were produced between the 5th and 6th centuries, not as currency but as jewelry and status symbols. About 900 bracteates have been found in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Germany, England. Only 160 of them were discovered in Norway.

Bracteates come in distinct types which have been classified as A, B, C and D based on their decorative motifs. A-types feature a diademed profile with runic characters around the border. B-types feature one to three human figures. C-bracteates feature a large head with hair over a horse, sometimes in combination with other animals and symbols. Ds feature stylized zoomorphic figures that can be hard to identify.

The seven discovered in Råde are C and D types, four of the former and three of the latter. As Ds are estimated to be the youngest variant, dating to the 6th century, which means the deposit could not have been made before 500 A.D. So expensive and rare a votive offering may have been spurred by calamity, and a series of volcanic eruptions in 536-540 generated such thick ash clouds that they obscured the sun for a year and caused widespread crop failure and starvation.

The seven gold bracteates will now be studied in detail at the UiO Museum of Cultural History in Oslo. Some of them are a bit bent and the motifs are partly hidden. Using advanced technology, the archaeologists hope to be able to say something about how the pendants were made, and perhaps even by whom and where.

They will also compare the newly found bracteates to old findings. This might tell us something about connections between the elites in Scandinavia or Northern Europe.

“Laying down seven gold bracteates must have been a considerable ritual act, reserved for only the most privileged in society”, the archaeologists write. “Thus, they are also bearers of stories from the time before they were given as offerings”.