The History Blog

An excavation of a late 5th century burial mound in central Japan has uncovered a clay figurine representing a female shaman (miko). The figurative clay sculpture, a haniwa, is well-preserved, with its features still finely detailed and extensive surviving red paint.

Excavations at the Nishikaminomiya Site began in 2020 as part of a Tone River improvement project. Since then 11 burial mounds from the Kofun period have been discovered. The largest mound is Tumulus No. 1 at approximately 160 feet long. It is surrounded by a moat is 60 feet wide. The haniwa was discovered in this year’s excavation of the southern end of Tumulus No. 1 adjacent to the Tone River. It had rolled down a protruding section of the mound into the moat.

Haniwa were made of unglazed earthenware and placed on grave mounds as protective markers. The figural haniwa were typically sculpted on top of a simple cylinder that had been the earliest form of the statue in the 3rd century. The cylinder was buried leaving the figure above ground to mark the burial sites.

The newly-discovered example is only a torso and head (the buried base has broken off) and is about 16 inches high. It depicts a woman wearing a sash with her hair styled in the Kofun Shimada (topknot) identifying her as a shaman. The top of the head is made of clay cord, conveying with its texture the tied hair. The face, sash lower section of the garment and bracelet on her right wrist are painted red. She holds a rod-shaped object in her left hand that was used in religious rituals. Made in the second half of the 5th century, it is one the earliest anthropomorphic haniwa to have been found in the Gunwa Prefecture.

Miko were popular subjects for haniwa. In the Kofun period, miko performed religious rituals at Shinto shrines and temples, falling into ecstatic trances to relay the words of the gods to worshipers. Historians believe miko held significant religious and political authority in Kofun society, and their visibility on the tombs of the elite confirms they figures of importance and authority.

Excavation is now complete. The haniwa will go on display next week at the Gunma Prefectural Museum of History.

A Bronze Age hoard found near Blyth Bridge in the Scottish Borders contains exceptional surviving raw materials for metal work, including the first copper ingot ever discovered from Bronze Age Scotland and casting moulds used for producing decorative fittings like the ones in the Peebles Hoard.

The Blyth Hoard was discovered in 2022 just seven miles from the Peebles Hoard, the most diverse agglomeration of Bronze Age artifacts in Europe. Amazingly enough, the same metal detectorist, Mariusz Stępień, discovered both hoards, and while he is apparently a magical Bronze Age hoard magnet, he is also so archaeologically conscientious that as soon as he found a socketed axe, he stopped digging and reported it to the Treasure Trove Unit.

Because of Stępień’s scrupulousness, the Blyth hoard was professionally excavated by archeologists from National Museums Scotland. They unearthed a second socketed axe head, a large copper ingot and three fragments of clay moulds used to cast bronze objects. The hoard dates to the Late Bronze Age, 1150-800 B.C.

The copper ingot is complete and is the first of its kind from Scotland. Ingots are more common in southern Britain, particularly on the south coast, but have never been found north of the Border. It is important evidence that raw material was being imported into Scotland 3000 years ago. People weren’t simply recycling existing objects – there was a supply of fresh metal into the area.

Most of the Late Bronze Age moulds that have survived were used to produce weapons or tools. The Blyth moulds, on the other hand, are shaped and patterned to produce smaller decorative pieces. Because Peebles was found two years before the Blyth Hoard, when archaeologists examined the fragments of casting moulds, they were able to recognize the spiral and outlines of the Peebles fittings.

It is rare to find any moulds that link to specific objects from the Bronze Age. This makes the discovery at Blyth quite exceptional. Given the unique nature of the Peebles Hoard fittings, it is highly probable that whoever buried the Blyth Hoard may have been involved in making some, or all, of the Peebles Hoard fittings. This is especially striking given the presence of an ingot.

The survival of metalwork and the remains of manufacturing materials together is rare in Britain, and previously unknown in Scotland. The Blyth Hoard is an opportunity to examine some of the relationships between metal objects, production and deposition. The socketed axeheads and ingot may represent the raw material for casting into new objects, such as the Peebles-style fittings. The person (or people) who buried the Blyth Hoard may have been a metalworker, skilled at making moulds and casting objects.

Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of an Iron Age defensive barrier in West Jutland, Denmark. It dates to 500 B.C., the earliest Iron Age in Denmark, and may be evidence of a previously unknown conflict.

A team of archaeologists from the Museum Vest were investigating the site of planned road expansion when, in a field near Schæfergårde, they discovered a long stretch of closely-spaced postholes. They aren’t arranged as postholes for dwellings are. These were likely left by pointed wooden stakes that formed a defensive palisade. It crossed the Drivvejen, an ancient road that was the main artery through Western Jutland, and archaeologists hypothesize that it was built to stop an invading army coming from the north.

The road expansion route also intersects with several protected pre-historic burial mounds. In one of them, excavations revealed a 4,500-year-old battle axe. Archaeologists believe it was a grave good for a Stone Age warrior, someone of prominence who earned a tumulus burial.

The team is still excavating the hole belt. They hope to find out more about who built it and who they were fending off.

Museum Vest will continue its investigations throughout the rest of the autumn, including at a number of burial mounds where archaeologists have also found several urns. They hope that the upcoming investigations can add even more pieces to the story of the area’s prehistory.

A terracotta sarcophagus bearing a relief of a Silenus mask has been discovered at the ancient site of Attouda in western Turkey. It is the first time one of the cylindrical terracotta sarcophagi typical of Roman Anatolia has been found with a Silenus-like figure on the lid. The findings have been published in the journal CEDRUS.

Silenus was the older satyr who was teacher to the god of wine Dionysus and was said to be the wisest and drunkest of the god’s companions. He is commonly depicted on Roman funerary art as part of Dionysian processions, representing the mystery cult’s beliefs of eternal renewal and life after death. Silenus’ exaggerated features (big eyes, mouth and nose) also cast him in a protective role at time. Archaeologists believe the silene mask on the sarcophagus served an apotropaic function, a symbolic protector of the dead.

Attouda, today within the village of Hisar in Denizli Province, was a frontier settlement built of a hill bounded by steep cliffs on three sides. That made it easily defensible, an important quality for a town straddling the regions of Caria, Phrygia, and Lydia. Archaeological evidence indicate it was founded in the 7th-6th century B.C. and has been continuously occupied ever since.

In the Roman Imperial period, cylindrical terracotta sarcophagi made of local red clay were one of a variety of burial types used in the settlement and in other ancient cities in Anatolia and the Lykos Valley. The sarcophagi are believed to have been manufactured in local or regional workshops, as their weight, fragility and unwieldiness would have made them difficult to transport over long distances.

The sarcophagus was found in six fragments in a 2023 ground survey at Musalla, just south of the ancient city in the Attouda necropolis. The cylindrical terracotta sarcophagus had been damaged by later agricultural activity, breaking into six pieces that were then moved to the edge of the farmed land. The recovered pieces were moved to the Denizli Museum for conservation and study.

When intact, the sarcophagus was about 55-60 cm (ca. 22 inches) in diameter with a curved lid approximately 33-30.5 cm (ca. 13 inches) wide. In the center of the lid was a small human face with a bald, bulbous head, large eyes, broad, flat nose, thick, deeply incised lips that turn up at the corners into a smile and a short beard. These grotesque features are found on Silenus masks from the 1st century found in Attouda and other regional necropoli. An intact one from the Tralleis necropolis had three suspension holes for cords suggesting it was hung inside a tomb for apotropaic purposes. A large fragment of a very similar head was found in a tomb at Attouda, demonstrating that Silenus figures were part of the city’s funerary traditions.

Also notable on this lid is a Greek letter Beta carved into the clay next to the mask relief. It is seven cm high, so longer than the silene face itself. Letters have been found on other terracotta burial containers from the area. Archaeologists hypothesize that they were maker’s marks of the workshops or artisans who created the sarcophagus.

The dating is a challenge because the sarcophagus was not found in its original context, but stylistic comparisons suggest it was made in the 1st or 2nd century A.D.

Since the findspot lies within the Attouda necropolis, and a head fragment belonging to a Silenus figurine had previously been recovered from another tomb, the use of Silenus iconography cannot be regarded as coincidental. Rather, this evidence suggests that protective figures associated with the Dionysian cult were deliberately incorporated into the funerary architecture and burial decoration tradition of Attouda. The presence of the Dionysian cult, as documented by the city’s coinage and inscriptions, further supports this interpretation. Accordingly, the sarcophagus lid decorated with a Silenus-head relief should be regarded not merely as an isolated decorative element, but as tangible evidence reflecting the relationship between Dionysian beliefs and funerary rituals within the Attouda necropolis.