A richly furnished pyre burial from the High Roman Empire period (early 2nd century) has been unearthed at Lamonzie-Saint-Martin in southwestern France. It contains unusually valuable furnishings, including coins, gold sheets and an intaglio ring with a pendant engraved with Greek lettering.

The site at a ford on the Dordogne River was known to contain remains of a Neolithic settlement, but the discovery of a sole Roman grave was unexpected. It consists of a rectangular pit with edges clearly defined by burn material. A small terra sigillata vessel and a clear class vial were found in one corner, and cremated human remains emerged just under them. A bronze coin confirmed that this was pyre burial from the High Empire period.

This type of burial is known as a bustum, a cremation grave where the remains of the burned body are left in place at the pyre, as opposed to the more typical cremation burial where one pyre was used multiple times and the burned bones collected for burial elsewhere. The pyre would be built over a shallow pit that captured the bones and ash as the fire burned. Once the fire died out (or was doused), the pit would be covered with soil.

A meticulous excavation of the fill of the pit ensued. Just six inches deep, the fill consists of ash and charcoal with cremated bone fragments and grave goods. Any find, bones and artifacts, were left in situ for photogrammetry recording so that a 3D model of the burial can be created for later analysis.

The terra sigillata beaker, which may have been manufactured in the local workshops of Montans at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, was removed in a soil clump. A long iron object, heavily corroded with what looks like a wooden handle, was also removed in soil so it can X-rayed and fully excavated in laboratory conditions.

Towards the south end of the pit, a concentration of valuable grave goods were found, including a group of about 10 coins, sestertii and asses, interspersed with small gold sheets that may have decorated a purse or case that once held the coins. A group of crystals, likely originally mounted on an organic base like leather, were found among the bone remains.

Among the 22 gold objects (sheets, wires and droplets), three stand out in particular: a bracelet made of a twisted band ending with a loop clasp; a probable bulla (a bubble-shaped pendant that was given to the young men of wealthy Roman families) and an intaglio ring.

This ring, deformed by the heat and its fall into the collapsed pyre, is adorned with a claw-shaped bezel that once held a small intaglio. Made of a material yet to be identified (rock crystal?), it is very small and bears seven letters engraved in the Greek alphabet: Allallé. The epigraphic study of this object will focus in particular on determining whether this could be the surname of the deceased.

The recovered remains and the structure will be now studied by a multi-disciplinary team of researchers. In addition to examining the funerary practice itself, researchers will consider its place in the wider landscape, where the necropolis associated with the bustum may be, where the Roman-era settlement was, and whether there was a Greek population located here as evidenced by the engraved jewel.

An intricate mosaic with a kaleidoscopic variety of patterns, colors and figures, one of them the personification of a lake wearing crab claw hairclips, has been unearthed in the city of Iznik, Turkey. The style of the mosaic and ceramics and coins found in the excavation layer date it to the 3rd century.

The mosaic was first spotted 11 years ago during sewer construction. Workers uncovered a small piece of a face composed of colorful tiles, but they covered it up for its protection and stopped construction in the area. Because the mosaic extended under the road and private property, a decade of legal entanglements over expropriation procedures and permits ensued, until in 2024 the İznik Museum Directorate finally returned to the find site and began a full-scale excavation of the expropriated area.

The year’s excavation uncovered the entire mosaic floor 50 square meters (538 square feet) within the designation area. The team also unearthed the lower walls and the remains of the upper layers of the ancient building. The walls had once been covered with frescoes and the floors inlaid with marble, but most of them were damaged over the centuries or taken and reused.

The mosaic, on the other hand, is virtually intact. It is divided into three main panels, underlined by a white border with red pomegranate and ivy leaves. Two pairs of sandals point in different directions between the pomegranate row and the wall.

The left panel is centered around a female figure with a basket of agricultural produce (pomegranates, grapes, wheat) with two small figures reclining above each shoulder. She is being represented as a goddess of the harvest, and the ΓΗ label above her head indicates she’s the goddess of the Earth, Gaia. There are abbreviated labels above the small figures too, but they have not yet been fully deciphered.

She is set in an octagonal panel, and each side of it has a square with a different geometric pattern, including guilloche knots, meanders, checkerboards, harlequin, 3D cubes, wheels and more. Between the square panels are triangular and diamond shaped ones, filling in the space and sometimes creating a cubed effect.

The central panel contains five more octagons with female figures, all bounded by guilloche knots.

[Archaeologist Yusuf Kahveci] highlighted the central figure: “We can read the name Askania beside the central figure. This was the Roman-era name of Lake Iznik. The mosaic depicts the lake.”

“The figure is associated with water, with hair rendered in algae-like detail, a crown made of crab claws and waves illustrated around her neck. In other words, Lake Iznik is personified as an ancient woman,” he added.

Personified bodies of water were popular in Greco-Roman art, but this example is unusual for referring specifically to a local lake and for the unusual iconography of crab claws as hairclips.

The third section of the mosaic is a patchwork of complex geometric patterns in square, diamond and triangular panels.

So far, almost 3800 square feet of this Roman-era building have been revealed, but archaeologists believe that more of the mosaic floor survives beyond the currently exposed borders. The sandals placed near a threshold suggests it is an entrance to a grand interior space that was built over by modern streets and buildings.

Five theatrical mask reliefs, including a rare depiction of a philosopher, have been discovered in the Roman theater of Kastabala Ancient City, southern Turkey. Masks have been discovered in previous seasons of excavations at the theater site. With this year’s five, the total has now risen to 36.

Associate Professor Faris Demir, the excavation director, said the newly uncovered masks offer significant clues about the artistic practices of the period. Among the latest finds is a striking relief of an elderly philosopher, a discovery he says enhances Kastabala’s importance as a cultural crossroads of Eastern and Western traditions.

Demir noted that philosopher depictions are rarely seen among theatrical mask reliefs. “This figure is strong evidence that the Kastabala Theater functioned not only as a venue for tragedy and comedy but also as a space where philosophical and literary discussions took place,” he said.

Founded in the Late Hittite period about 2,700 years ago. It was a sacred city from its earliest origins. A 2023 excavation uncovered the remains of a 6th century B.C. temple dedicated to the Luwian goddess Kubaba, the first temple to Kubaba ever discovered, although they are known from ancient texts. In the Hellenistic period (ca. 2nd century B.C.), the city had a sanctuary of Artemis Perasia which was unique for its ritual of priestesses walking barefoot on burning coals.

Kastabala became part of the Roman Empire’s province of Cappadocia in the 1st century. The Roman theater dates to around this time. It had a capacity of around 5,000 people. Excavations of the theater area have unearthed a significant quantity of architectural features from the stage structure. There are large, well-preserved sections surviving, allowing archaeologists to understand the original design of the stage, and perhaps even reconstruct part of it.