The History Blog

A group of at least 15 wooden writing tablets has been discovered in ancient wells at Izernore, eastern France. The tablets and other rare organic remains were beautifully preserved thanks to the waterlogged environment and low light and oxygen levels of the wells.

Four Roman-era wells were excavated in 2020 by the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP). Archaeologists found wood objects at all stages of production, including offcuts from shaving and turning, blanks and finished objects like combs, pyxes (small boxes) and spindle whorls. The blanks and offcuts attest to a thriving local craft with particular emphasis on boxwood products. Ash, hazel and maple remains were also found. The region was known for its fine artisanal wooden combs well into the 18th century, so the blanks of the double-toothed combs prove they were locally manufactured for close to 2,000 years.

The writing tablets may also have been locally manufactured. There are many small fragments believed to have been manufacturing scraps, and one tablet that looks like a draft or template. Most of the tablets were single “leaves.” Others were hollowed out to have two opposing leaves on each side of spine for assembly into a codex. One is engraved with a word that may be a name. Another example has six lines written in ink. Archaeologists believe this was a reused tablet, as it is completely hollowed out. Those hollows were typically filled with wax to scratch on with a stylus. Ink tablets had no hollow.

The well excavations also unearthed two complete shoe soles made of maple wood. This style of shoe had two risers, one at the heel, one at the instep, that kept the wearer’s feet above the ground. The larger of the soles had small nails around the edge where leather pieces or straps covered the front of the foot. The smaller sole had a perforation for leather strap between the toes like a thong flip flop, plus an attachment point at the instep for another strap. Both of the shoes are small, intended for the feet of children of 6-7 and 4-5 years old.

These objects recovered from the wells were studied and analyzed by INRAP wood specialists. They have now gone on display at the Izernore Archaeological Museum in an exhibition dedicated to the well excavations.

An engraved marble panel found at the ancient site of Sagalassos in in southwestern Turkey contains a unique example of Egyptian religious iconography never before found outside of Egypt. It was found in a Roman-era bathhouse, not a temple, and there is no evidence that Egyptian deities were worshipped in Sagalassos. They appear to have been used purely for ornamental purposes.

Carved on panels of Afyon marble probably during the reign of Augustus, the reliefs depict the sphinx god Tutu on the lintel of a doorway. Above him is the falcon god Horus. To his left is the crocodile god Soken. On each side of the doorway are figures wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. They symbolize Tutu’s guardianship over all of Egypt, while Horus represents royal authority and Sobeck the power of the Nile.

The plaques were first discovered in the northern frigidarium of the baths in 2004. Archaeologists re-examined them last year.

Excavation director and Bilkent University Archaeology Department head Professor Peter Talloen told state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) that during the Roman period, Sagalassos established connections with Egypt through trade routes. […]

Talloen said Sagalassians exported ceramics, wine and agricultural products to Egypt, while bringing back fish species and cultural influences to Anatolia. He emphasized that the marble slab with the Tutu figure stands out as one of the rare examples of Egyptian influence in Anatolia. […]

Talloen said they examined the marble slab and determined it belongs to the Afyonkarahisar region, adding that it was clearly determined the marble slab did not come from Egypt.

Extraordinary treasures unearthed from a 3rd century B.C. tumulus in Mangalia, southeastern Romania, were revealed to the public for the first time last month at the National Museum of Romanian History in Bucharest. The finds include jewelry, gold and silver harness fittings, textile appliques and two gold and two silver vessels of delicate and refined craftsmanship. These rare vessels are so remarkable comparable examples have only been found in the royal tombs of Vergina in Macedonia and the tomb of Thracian King Seuthes III in Bulgaria.

The tomb was uncovered this summer in an excavation of the tumular necropolis of the ancient city of Callatis. Its semi-cylindrical vaulted ceiling was topped by a large burial mound 40 feet high and 230 feet in diameter, the largest Hellenistic tumulus tomb in the western Black Sea region, so large it could be seen from the sea. It is not just notable for its size, but also for the quality of its architecture. It is an artfully, thoughtfully designed structure evincing a fine sense of proportion. The longest section of stone construction of the tomb excavated this summer is 60 feet long, and there could be more to uncover. So extravagant a tomb had to have belonged to an elite Greek family with connections to Macedonian religious and political power structures.

The tomb was looted very soon after its construction, but it was immediately repaired, enlarged and re-consecrated with offerings including a large amount of alcohol. Its contents are very well-preserved, with wood, textile and human remains found in good condition. Among the exceptional artifacts inside the tomb were three gilded bronze funerary wreaths designed to look like ivy and myrtle wreaths complete with gilded ceramic berries. They were mounted on a wooden stand, preserved for thousands of years in the tumulus’ burial chamber.

Archaeologists also discovered glass and bronze ornaments, wood fragments with traces of surviving polychromy, possibly from wooden sarcophagi now lost and elements of carved painted limestone and marble that may have adorned the sarcophagi. The remains of at least two young people were found in the tomb. Osteological analysis found one was aged 16-18, the other 8-11. Some of the artifacts suggest at least one of the deceased was female.

Callatis, a city founded by Greeks from Heraclea Pontica and Megara at the beginning of the 4th century B.C., was one of the richest and most influential Greek cities on the Black Sea in the Hellenistic era. Leader of a regional coalition of Greeks, Thracians, and Scythians, at the end of the 4th century BC, the ancient city opposed the Macedonian king Lysimachos, who had inherited the control of Thrace after the death of Alexander the Great.

The recently discovered artifacts, with characteristics that will determine their classification in the Treasure category of the national cultural heritage, and their inclusion in the collections of the National Museum of Romanian History, come precisely from this era – brilliant, violent and sophisticated. Their in-depth study will allow obtaining new scientific knowledge about the Greco-Thracian-Macedonian world of the 4th-3rd centuries BC.

The measure of the ambition of the local Callatian community and its heroic and, somewhat atypically for the Hellenic tradition, aristocratic aspirations, is certainly conveyed by the tumulus necropolis of this ancient city. Stretching for kilometers around the old roads, it amounts to almost a thousand tumuli (funeral mounds), many of them of monumental dimensions (heights of 5 m and more). The vast majority of this impressive landscape, however, disappeared in the last century in which “modern” Mangalia developed and urbanized. Previous excavations in some of these tumuli have generally been expedient or carried out under conditions of rescue interventions. The recent archaeological research north of Mangalia, presented here, is the first systematic research of a tomb tumulus in Romania and was made possible by the initial use of non-invasive investigation techniques that allowed the precise location of the tomb.

The tomb was discovered 9 meters deep below the top of the mound, its arrangement level being at -12 meters. In these difficult conditions, archaeological research was a challenge, pushing all methods of prospecting and documentation to the limit.