The remains of an early medieval structure under the Main Town Hall of Gdańsk has rolled back the date of the founding of the city 60 years to the early 10th century. An archaeological excavation of the cellars of the former mayoral seat undertaken between September and December of this year uncovered fragments of Slavic …
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After two years on hold due to COVID-19, the excavation of Captain John Franklin’s ill-fated flagship, HMS Erebus, picked up again this year, providing new insights into the lives of the 129 crew who died in the doomed 1845 expedition to find the elusive Northwest Passage. This year’s field work by Parks Canada’s underwater archaeologists …
An extremely rare 16th century Nativity by Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi has been acquired by the National Museums NI, saving it for the UK after an temporary export bar prevented it leaving the country. The £277,990 necessary to buy the piece were raised from contributions by the National Heritage Memorial Fund, Art Fund, Department for Communities …
Read the full post →“Rare Nativity by Renaissance master saved for UK just in time for Christmas”
A richly furnished Viking grave has been unearthed in western Oslo, the first Viking-era grave replete with artifacts to be archaeologically excavated in the Norwegian capital. It was discovered on private property on a hill overlooking the Holmendammen pond. Plans to build a new home triggered an excavation of the site by the Oslo Municipality …
George Powell and Layton Davies, the metal detecting looters who stole the Herefordshire Viking hoard, will have to pay through the nose for their greed. Convicted of theft and concealment in 2019, Powell and Davies were sentenced to long prison terms (10 years and 8.5 years respectively). Now a judge has ordered them to cough …
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A pair of medieval gold earrings shaped like lynxes with minutely intricate decoration are going on display for the first time since they were discovered near the medieval Armenian city of Ani in eastern Turkey. Ani was founded in the 5th century on a hill overlooking the Akhurian River, the modern border between Turkey and …
The excavation of a prehistoric necropolis in Aubagne, southeastern France, has unearthed an individual from the 1st millennium B.C. bedecked in copper jewelry. The necropolis, in use from around 900 – 600 B.C., bookending the late Bronze and early Iron ages, was first excavated in 2021. At that time, archaeologists unearthed 10 burials, eight of …
Read the full post →“Prehistoric burial with 6 ankle bracelets found in France”
The Rome in 3D project, a virtual reconstruction of ancient Rome at its architectural maximum in the 4th century, has released two new engrossing videos: a flythrough of the Circus Maximus and of the center of the Eternal City after it was sacked by the Visigoths under Alaric in 410 A.D. Both of these videos …
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The Leaning Tower of Pisa, whose shoddy foundations have granted it immortal fame, has not only stopped tilting further; it is gradually untilting itself. An international committee established to monitor the listing landmark’s stability has found that 21 years after being pulled back from the brink, the tower is leaning even less. It has lost …
A massive hoard of 1.5 tons of bronze coins dating to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) dynasties has been unearthed in the village of Shuangdun in eastern China’s Jiangsu province. The coins were strong together with straw ropes and arranged in tidy stacks. The uncovered coins were well-preserved, and most of them had clear …
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