Month: May 2025

Life and death of little “Ice Prince” revealed

Ancient, Medieval

The grave of the “Ice Prince,” a 7th century elite boy buried with rich furnishings in a stone chamber grave, has been fully excavated and studied almost four years after its discovery. Scientific analysis of the remains have allowed archaeologists to reconstruct the child’s life, death and burial rituals.

The grave was found in October 2021 at the site of a new development in Tussenhausen, near Mattsies in Bavaria. The excavation found the remains of a Roman building that was later reused to house this one grave of an elite child, converting the ancient structure into a mausoleum dedicated to one little boy lost too soon. The child was dubbed the Ice Prince because archaeologists used a new technique to flash-freeze the grave with liquid nitrogen before removing it in a single frozen block. The thick stone walls and cover of the tomb were so flawlessly sealed by lime mortar that no sediments had penetrated it over the centuries. Organic contents, including rare remnants of a silk garment and leather sword scabbard, were visible inside the grave but without a thick matrix of soil to keep them stable, they were at risk of being destroyed just by unavoidable jostling in transport.

The ingenious solution devised on the spot by the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (BLfD) archaeologists was to remove the tomb’s heavy stone walls, reinforce the sides with padded wooden panels, slide a plate between the brick floor and the bottom of the grave and then wet and freeze the contents in layers. The unfrozen soil surrounding it was then cut away, and the frozen island craned out whole. The sides, top and bottom of the chamber tomb were removed separately.

The frozen block was transported to the BLfD conservation laboratory in Bamberg where it was stored in a freezer until thawing began in humidity and temperature-controlled condition. Researchers uncovered that the boy died between 670 and 680 A.D. at the tragically young age of one and a half. DNA analysis indicate he had blue eyes and light hair and strontium isotope analysis of his tooth enamel suggest he was born and raised in the region where he was buried. He suffered a common fate in the era before antibiotics: he died of a sepsis developed from a middle ear infection.

His bereaved family must have been regionally important. They had significant wealth, access to expensive materials like silk imported from the Byzantine Empire and high-end craftsmanship. They created a memorial building in the former Roman estate. In a time and place where stone buildings were uncommon, this family employed skilled stonemasons to build a thick slab burial chamber sealed with lime mortar.

Laid to rest on a fur, the child was dressed in leather shoes, trousers and long-sleeved shirt made of fine linen decorated with strips of Byzantine silk on the cuffs and front. He had silver bracelets on each wrist and silver spurs on his leather shoes. A short slashing sword decorated with elaborate gold filigree fittings was strapped to his belt inside a leather scabbard. A textile stitched with a cross made of two strips of gold sheeting was included in the burial that may be evidence of either early Christian beliefs or of the influence of Christian iconography.

At the foot on the burial chamber were grave goods, probably placed on a woven mat: a bronze basin containing a comb, a wooden bowl, a spherical drinking cup decorated with silver fittings, food offerings including hazelnuts, apples and a pear. Animal bones found next to the bronze basin that were initially thought to belong to a dog were actually the remains of a piglet. All of these elements played a ritual role in formal banquets. Participants washed their hands in bronze bowls, combed their hair and then ate and drank from wooden vessels with silver fittings.

The building housing the tomb was remodeled at least twice after the burial, remaining a space of worship and remembrance for decades—perhaps generations. “They not only buried the child with honors but also tended to his memory with great care,” added [Mathias Pfeil, general director of the BLfD].

First example of crown with beetle wings found in Silla tomb

Ancient

Decorative jewel beetle wings have been discovered on a gilt-bronze crown from a 1,500-year-old tomb in Gyeongju, the ancient royal capital of the Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-935 A.D.). The wings were inlaid into upside-down heart-shaped perforations on the crown, but could not be immediately identified because most of them had changed from their original iridescent green to a dull brown over the centuries. Conservators were ultimately able to identify a total of 15 wings, seven of them still embedded in the crown. The rest had fallen off and were scattered in the grave.

Beetle wings have been found before in Silla tombs of the most elite aristocracy of the kingdom. They decorated accessories like belts and horse tackle. This is the first instance of jewel beetle wings found on a Silla crown.

The forewings of several species of the jewel beetle (Buprestidae) family have been used as decorations on clothing and jewelry in traditional Asian art for centuries. In ancient Korea, beetle wings were considered precious because of their emerald-like luster. Actress Ellen Terry wore a gown with 1,000 beetle wings sewn into the knit for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth and it was instantly iconic, captured in an 1889 portrait by John Singer Sargent.

The tomb with the crown, Tomb No. 120-2, was unearthed in Hwangnam-dong, Gyeongju, in 2020. The crown was found in situ on the head of the deceased. It is incredibly ornate, with vertical sections shaped like branches and antlers and perforations shaped like small upside-down hearts. Pendants of gold beads and jade hung down the side of the crown. The occupant was buried with a full complement of jewelry: gold earrings with large hoops, a pectoral ornament of blue beads, a silver belt with matching bracelets and rings, a bracelet made of more than 500 miniature yellow beads and gild-bronze shoes.

Covering the deceased literally from head to toe, the precious jewelry appears to have been created specifically as funerary regalia, not for daily use or even special events in life. Archaeologists believe they had ritual significance for Silla aristocrats, symbols power, wealth and divine favor to carry forward into the afterlife.

The ornate jewelry suggests the deceased was female, and analysis of teeth found in the tomb identified the owner as a girl 12 to 15 years of age. A young child about three years of age was buried next to her. These results have yet to be confirmed via DNA analysis.

Archaic necropolis found in Gela

Ancient

An Archaic-era necropolis in use during the 6th and 5th centuries B.C. has been discovered in Gela, Sicily. So far six tombs have been found: two belonging to adults, two to children and two undetermined.

Gela was a Greek colony founded in 688 B.C. on the southwestern coast of Sicily. The city was sacked by Carthaginian general Himilko in 405 B.C., and remains from before that event are rare, giving this small necropolis an oversized archaeological significance.

The modern city was founded next to the ruins of the ancient one in the 13th century, but the historic center overlaps the ancient city and numerous archaeological remains, have been found there. The site was therefore excavated before redevelopment of the urban space into a green area to recover any archaeological materials that might be there.

Tomb 1 contained no human remains, only two lekythoi (narrow-necked perfumed oil jugs) dating to between 500 and 475 B.C. The body was removed shortly after burial, but the grave goods were left behind, so looting was not the motive. Archaeologists think the remains may have been moved in response to a natural disaster like a sudden clay flow that sealed the area and compelled the bereaved to transfer the bodies as quickly as possible, leaving the grave goods behind.

One of the notable graves was topped by a kalypter hegemon, an elongated curved terracotta roof tile that covered the joints of the flat tiles or the roof ridge to prevent rain penetration. The one in the burial ground was likely recycled from a nearby temple, its sacred character redeployed in a funerary context.

This type of reuse of architectural materials in funerary contexts is not uncommon in the practices of the Greek world, but the specific presence of a kalypter at a peripheral site such as Gela opens new questions about the object’s original provenance and destination. […]

At the moment it has not yet been possible to establish with certainty whether the burials belonged to members of the same family unit, but the hypothesis is under consideration by archaeologists and could be confirmed through stratigraphic analysis of the area and anthropological study of the bone remains, where preserved. In this sense, the overall context of the find, characterized by close graves arranged in a relatively contained space, suggests an organized use of the funerary space, consistent with common practices in the Greek colonial centers of Sicily in the Archaic period. In addition to the tombs, the archaeological investigation also uncovered an artificially carved soft rock. Inside were found ceramic fragments traceable to a crater and some amphorae, objects related to the storage and consumption of liquids, probably wine or oil. The function of the rock remains uncertain at the moment: it could be an ancient disused quarry reused as a deposit, or it could be a ritual context associated with burials. The materials found within it are now being examined by experts for a more precise typological and chronological classification.

Getty restores Artemisia Gentileschi Hercules damaged in Beirut explosion

Modern(ish), Museums

A painting by Artemisia Gentileschi that was heavily damaged in the horrific explosion at the port of Beirut in August 2020 has been restored in the conservation studio of the J. Paul Getty Museum. It is going on display at the Los Angeles museum in Artemisia’s Strong Women: Rescuing a Masterpiece, a new exhibition dedicated to the work and the painstaking three-year restoration.

The painting dates to around 1630 and depicts the myth of Hercules and Omphale. Hercules, sentenced by the Delphic Oracle for an accidental murder to wear women’s clothing and do women’s work for a year, is spinning wool while Omphale wears his Nemean lion skin and holds his club. Cupid at Hercules’ feet marks the moments the gender-bending hero and queen fall in love. There are records documenting Artemisia having painted several scenes featuring Hercules, but none of them were known to have survived until this one was identified after the explosion that almost destroyed it.

The devastating blast, the result of a fire that broke out in a facility that stored explosive materials, claimed more than 200 lives. The fire ignited 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, creating an explosion so powerful it virtually levelled the port and blew out windows and ceilings all over the city. Many of the Lebanese capital’s art galleries and museums were located close to the port, so on top of the hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries, 300,000 people rendered homeless and $15 billion in property damage, the epicenter of Beirut’s culture was decimated.

One of the damaged art institutions was the Sursock Museum and the Sursock Palace facing it. The Sursock family rose to power as Ottoman officials and built their own private empire in real estate, banking, export and manufacturing. They were one of Beirut’s most prominent Christian families and moved in the aristocratic circles of Europe and the Levant.

Sursock Palace is an Italianate villa and gardens completed in 1860 by Moïse Sursock, but it was Alfred Bey Sursock who in the 1920s amassed a large collection of Italian Baroque paintings thanks to his marriage to Donna Maria Teresa Serra di Cassano, scion of a Neapolitan princely family. Her father was Francesco Serra, the 7th Duke of Cassano, and her son with Alfred inherited his grandfather’s title. Alfred and Donna Maria’s daughter Yvonne Sursock, Lady Cochrane, was a fierce guardian of the palace and its artistic patrimony her whole very long life. She was 98 years old and still living in the palace when the explosion struck. She died of her injuries 17 days later.

In 1993, Lebanese art historian Gregory Buchakjian was writing his thesis for his master’s degree from Paris’ Sorbonne University on the Sursock Palace art collection. As most of the works were unlabeled, his research focused on documenting and identifying the paintings. He thought two of the works in the palace — Hercules and Omphale and a Penitent Magdalene — were by Artemisia Gentileschi, and while his professors thought his argument was convincing, he didn’t pursue it further at the time.

Buchakjian flew to the Sursock Palace after the explosion to render any aid he could, and saw both of the paintings he’d written about in his thesis in dire straights. He wrote an article about the rescue efforts and the damaged works in the palace. The dreadful realization that two rare Artemisia Gentileschi works came so close to destruction spurred art historians to view the Sursock Palace collection with fresh eyes. Buchakjian’s research linked Hercules to known works by Gentileschi, especially her use of very specific jewelry pieces in several of her paintings, and when other art historians and Gentileschi experts investigated, they confirmed the attribution.

In a UNESCO initiative to restore Beirut’s lost heritage, restoration of the Sursock Palace began in 2021, and Hercules and Omphale was sent to the Getty for conservation in 2022. The oil-on-canvas painting was rent by shattered glass from when the explosion blew out the windows of the palace. There were numerous small rips, areas peppered with lost paint chips and one large 20-inch tear down Hercules’ leg.

When Hercules and Omphale arrived at Getty, senior conservator of paintings Ulrich Birkmaier performed a comprehensive technical examination in conjunction with the Getty Conservation Institute to address both structural and aesthetic issues and developed a conservation plan. He collaborated with Rome-based conservator Matteo Rossi Doria to reline the back of the painting, attaching a new reinforcement to its original canvas with a wooden stretcher for added flexibility as it continues to age and respond to changes in temperature and humidity. After removing debris from the explosion, Birkmaier removed varnish and old restorations, which gave the painting back its original color palette, and continued with the reconstruction of paint losses. X-ray analysis elucidated Artemisia’s painting process used to create the iconic painting.

“In my over 30-year career as a paintings conservator, this is some of the worst damage I have ever witnessed and was one of the most challenging yet rewarding projects I’ve had the pleasure to work on,” says Birkmaier. “It was sort of like assembling a massive puzzle—little by little the painting came back to life. X-ray analysis not only served to visualize some of the changes Artemisia made during the painting process, but it also aided in the visual reconstruction of some details that were lost in the explosion when glass and debris shattered multiple areas of the painting.”

The exhibition at the Getty runs from June 10th through September 14th. After that Hercules and Omphale will travel to the Columbus Museum of Art for exhibition from October 31, 2025 to May 30, 2026. It will then return to the Getty for a further loan before it goes back home to the Sursock Palace once the building has been restored.

Volunteers discover Victory relief at Vindolanda

Ancient

A couple who have been volunteer diggers at the Roman fort of Vindolanda in Northumberland for 21 years have discovered a relief believed to be a depiction of the Roman goddess of Victory. Liverpool engineer Jim Quinlan and healthcare worker Dilys Quinlan unearthed the sandstone relief from a pile of rubble above the 3rd century infantry barracks.

The stone block is 47cm x 28cm x 17cm (18.5 x 11 x 6.7 inches) and is carved with a figure standing with on leg forward and holding a rounded object. If it is a representation of Victoria, the round object could be the wreath, a symbol of triumph that is one of her attributes. It looks rather spherical to me, though, so who knows.

The stone is thought to be one side of a much larger relief which would have framed an inscription in its centre. These particular barracks at Vindolanda were built at the end of a tumultuous time for the Romans in Britain, in c AD 213, just after the end of the Severan wars. The barracks were once adorned with a large ornamental arch and gate, precisely the location where an inscription may have been present. The relief of Victory is poignant, representing the end of the war and the establishment of the fort at the site. […]

Roman reliefs like this were often painted with vibrant colours. The Trust’s curator, Barbara Birley noted that “it is highly likely that this stone would have originally been brightly painted. We will be working with our specialists to see if any traces of the pigment remain, so for now the relief is being stored unwashed ready for that further analysis.”

The rubble layer it was found in was what remained of a 4th century floor, so it seems the relief was broken and a piece of it recycled a century later when the floor was built.

The relief will go on display at the Vindolanda Museum as part of an exhibition of recent discoveries in early 2026.

This video diary features Dr. Marta Alberti-Dunn, Deputy Director of Excavations at Vindolanda, giving an update the progress of this season’s dig. She speaks to finders and discusses the relief at 4:02.