Excavations at the ancient city of Stratonikeia in southwestern Turkey have uncovered an ornate sarcophagus carved with garlands in high relief. In a city rich with Roman sarcophagi, this is the finest example of garland decoration and one of the best-preserved ever sarcophagi found there.

[Professor Bilal Sogut, head of the Stratonikeia and Lagina Excavation Team,] emphasized the liveliness of the figures surrounding the sarcophagus, explaining, “The richness, grandeur and opulence of the era from nearly 2,000 years ago can still be seen here. The plants, particularly the garlands, are beautifully and intricately crafted. The ram heads at the corners, along with the pine cones, vine, olive leaves, grapes, pomegranates and poppies depicted around them, all reflect the wealth and magnificence of the period. Even when you look at the ram heads, you can understand the wealth and splendor of that era. The bull heads on the narrow edges and in the central parts are some of the details that complete the figures.”

The sarcophagus was discovered in the Agora, the political and religious center of the ancient city, but that was not its original location. It was taken from the city’s necropolis and moved to the agora in late antiquity. The necropolis has been damaged by a lignite pit mine, so the ancient move may have saved the sarcophagus from harm or even destruction.

Evidence of human settlement in the area goes back to the Late Bronze Age (1500 B.C.), but the remains of the city as we see them today primarily date to the Hellenistic and Roman city. Stratonikeia was named after Stratonice (281–261 B.C.), the wife of its founder Antiochus I Soter. It was a member of the Chrysaorian League of important cities in the Anatolian province of Caria, and continued to flourish under the Roman Empire. Public buildings like baths, the theater, the bouleuterion (council house) and largest gymnasium in the ancient world were built in the 1st and 2nd centuries. The gymnasium was home to the top gladiator training school in the region.

Archaeologists believe there was a marble carving workshop or workshops there in the imperial era. It provided sarcophagi for local burials, and the coffins were so highly prized they were exported to clients outside of Anatolia as well. The newly-discovered sarcophagus will go on display with other sarcophagi unearthed in the ancient city.

Spring is in the air, daffodils are in bloom, the new dig season at the Roman fort of Vindolanda has just begun and they’ve already found a phallus. It is very small and made of jet who inky blackness . It is pierced through the testicles so it could be worn as a pendant. The through hole is small, so the cord or chain it hung from was thin and likely broke.

This was a fascinus, a talisman shaped like a penis and testes believed to have apotropaic powers to protect against the evil eye cast by the envious. Phalluses were worn as good luck charms to ward off curses and misfortune, or carved onto bridges, doorways, quarries and even quern stones. As a symbol of vitality and strength, the phallus served as personal protection for the wearer of an amulet, a guardian of wealth for businesses (quarry, mills) when carved onto wall and a defense against trespassers in transitional spaces like doorways and bridges.

Amulets were often worn by children (as their parents’ most precious and vulnerable treasures, children were considered at particular risk from curses) and soldiers, whose profession put them in constant danger far from hearth and home. Graffiti and carvings of phalluses were common in military camps, and with at least 59 examples, Vindolanda boasts the most phalluses in any form of any site on Hadrian’s Wall. Phalluses have been found at Vindolanda as both graffiti and reliefs carved on walls, at entrances, on milestones, on latrines and command officers’ headquarters.

The charm was discovered in the northeastern quadrant of the fort between the military barracks and the eastern moat just outside the stone walls. This is the last area inside the walls of the fort that is still covered with grass and is believed to have been densely populated with soldiers, military staff and animals. It was unearthed from the remains of a 4th century wall.

Archaeologists excavating the site of a new golf course in Inverness, Scotland, have discovered the remains of a rare Iron Age chariot wheel. It is the first piece of an Iron Age chariot found in the Scottish Highlands, and one of only five chariot finds from the period made in all of Scotland.

The wheel was found in a cremation pit at the center of the a circular palisade enclosed by wooden posts. The posts are gone, but the postholes mark the spot. The wheel is believed to have been placed in the cremation pit for ceremonial purposes.

Part of the Old Petty Golf Championship Course at Castle Stuart site is in the area of the Newton of Petty Prehistoric Settlement scheduled monument, the remains of a dense concentration of roundhouses from settlement dating to around 1800 B.C. Before redevelopment, archaeologists dug evaluation trenches to investigate whether there were any significant buried remains.

Eight areas of archaeological potential were identified, including traces of at least 25 Neolithic wooden buildings that may be related to the settlement in the monument, and a prehistoric ceremonial circle. Artifacts found including a 3,500 Bronze Age cordoned cremation urn, Iron Age quern stones and flint tools.

Andy Young, principal archaeologist at Avon Archaeology Highland, said the wheel was the most important of the discoveries.

Mr Young told BBC Scotland News: “They are such a rare thing. “None of us had really seen one before in terms of physically excavating one. “We were a bit bemused.”

Mr Young said he initially thought it was a piece of equipment buried by a farmer in more recent times. “I was initially a bit dismissive,” he said.

The archaeological materials found in the excavation will be radiocarbon dated and documented. They will then be transferred to museums in Inverness and Edinburgh for conservation and display.