Month: December 2025

Silver Ishtar pendant found in Hellenistic city

Ancient

A silver pendant decorated with an image and attributes of Assyrian goddess Ishtar has been discovered ancient city of Amos near Turunç, southwestern Turkey. Decorated with repoussé figures and hammered dots, the round medallion has a hanging loop at the top indicating it was worn on a necklace. It is missing a part of the lower left quadrant, but the lion’s fierce roaring face, body, hind legs and tail are all preserved. A female figure  wearing a tall headdress stands on the lion’s back. The star is behind her headdress.

Lions were Ishtar’s sacred animal. They were symbols of royalty, ferocity, and strength. Reliefs of lions adorns the Ishtar Gate built by Nebuchadnezzar II, king of Babylon, and they feature prominently in depictions of Ishtar. She is often shown standing on or riding a lion, emphasizing her dominion over nature and monarchs.

Amos was settled by colonists from Rhodes, likely from the city of Lindos, in the 5th century B.C. The worship of Ishtar far predates it, and the site being excavated is of Hellenistic date (ca. 2,200 years old), so the pendant is evidence that the Mesopotamian deity had a wide cultural reach.

Assoc. Prof. Mehmet Gurbuzer, head of the excavation and a faculty member at Mugla Sitki Kocman University’s Department of Archaeology, explained in remarks conveyed to the media that the necklace points to Amos having had notable cultural, economic, and commercial strength.

He noted that during the seventh century B.C., advanced cultural elements from the Near East began to spread into the Mediterranean through trade and military contacts. Within this context, Amos appears to have stood out as a port city that was well plugged into the political and economic currents of its time.

World’s largest medieval cog found off Copenhagen

Medieval

A shipwreck discovered off the coast of Copenhagen has been identified as a cog, a medieval cargo ship, of massive dimensions. Approximately 90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 20 feet high when intact, the ship had an estimated cargo capacity of 300 tons. It was built around 1410, and is the largest cog ever found.

Cogs were designed to be highly navigable, even when fully loaded with bulky cargo. They were strong enough to make it through the treacherous waters of the Baltic even with a small crew. They were the draft horses of maritime trade in medieval northern Europe.

The wreck was discovered by divers surveying the seabed in the Svaelget, the strait between Denmark and Sweden. It is the second ship found in the area, earning it the moniker Svælget 2. It is an exceptional state of preservation, protected by a layer of sand covering the starboard side.

Dendrochronological analysis shows that Svælget 2 was built around 1410 using timber from two regions: Pomerania, which is modern-day Poland, and the Netherlands. By comparing tree-ring patterns with reference data, researchers were able to date the wood and determine its origin. The planks were made of Pomeranian oak, while the frames – the ship’s ribs – came from the Netherlands. This construction pattern suggests that the heavy planking timber was imported, while the frames were cut locally at the building site, reflecting a practical approach and a complex trade network where large quantities of timber moved across Northern Europe.

“It tells us that timber exports went from Pomerania to the Netherlands, and that the ship was built in the Netherlands where the expertise to construct these very large cogs was found,” says maritime archaeologist Otto Uldum.

A number of first-time archaeological discoveries have been made in the exploration of the Svælget 2 wreck. One exceptional find is the remains of the castle on the stern of the ship. Castles were covered platforms built on the bow and stern of medieval cogs. The crew could shelter there during bad weather, granting them a measure of protection that open Viking Age ships could not provide. Previously they were only known from contemporary illustrations. This is the first archaeological evidence of a cog castle ever found.

Another stand-out find was the ship’s brick galley, where the crew cooked over an open fire, the earliest example found in Danish waters.

Around 200 bricks and 15 tiles formed the galley, and in the same area archaeologists found bronze cooking pots, ceramic bowls and remains of fish and meat.

“We have never before seen a brick galley in a medieval ship find from Danish waters. It speaks of remarkable comfort and organisation on board. Now sailors could have hot meals similar to those on land, instead of the dried and cold food that previously dominated life at sea,” says Otto Uldum.

In the galley area, archaeologists also uncovered parts of the crew’s tableware and the pots used for cooking, as well as remains of provisions such as fish and meat and hundreds of finely cut sticks that may have been used for stockfish.

Alongside the galley equipment, archaeologists also found artifacts from the crew’s daily life, including a painted wood plate that is the only one of its kind from the era found in Denmark, shoes, combs and rosary beads. They did not find any remains of cargo, probably because the hold was not covered so its contents floated away when the ship sank.

First coin minted in Scotland found

Medieval

The earliest known coin minted in Scotland has been acquired by the National Museums Scotland. The silver penny of King David I (r. 1124-1153) was struck in the second half of the 1130s in Edinburgh and is now heading home.

It was discovered in 2023 by a metal detectorist in the woods near Penicuik, Midlothian. They reported it to Scotland’s Treasure Trove and after it was determined to be official Treasure, it was allocated to the NMS who paid its assessed value of £15,000 ($22,000) as a reward to the finder.

The silver penny features the crowned bust of David I holding a scepter on the obverse. The reverse has a cross design in the center and an inscription around the border that reads “+E(A?)BALD:E[…]ONESBVRG” The “ESBVRG” is the mint mark, identifying it as having been struck in Edinburgh.

Before this coin was discovered, the earliest Scottish coins known were struck after David I invaded northern England in December 1135 and occupied Carlisle, using its royal mint to strike his own coins. Previous to this, Scotland’s currency was not locally produced. Coins circulating in Scotland were minted in other countries by other powers.

Dr Blackwell said: “What makes this really significant is that until we found this, we thought all of David’s first coinage was produced in Carlisle because there are virtually no documentary sources that explain how coinage was produced, where, when, why things changed, why the designs changed, any of that.

“There’s very, very little documentary sources for that for Scotland. So the coins themselves are the primary source.

“This is the first time that we can see this very early minting of coinage in Edinburgh .”

200-year-old ceramic trumpet found in Dorfen

Modern(ish)

A rare ceramic trumpet found in Dorfen, Upper Bavaria, has been reassembled from eight fragments. The trumpet is now virtually complete, missing only the mouthpiece and a small chunk of the bell.

Due to its construction, the instrument, which is just under 44 centimeters long, resembles the shape of metal trumpets. However, the Dorfen trumpet is a so-called natural trumpet, meaning an instrument without valves or keys, in which the different notes are produced solely by the tension of the lips.

The trumpet was discovered in a 2022 excavation of the town’s moat near one of the city’s gates. That section of the moat was used by the tanning trade in the processing of animal skins into leather. The trade was notorious for the stenches, caustic tanning agents and noxious byproducts it generated, so tanneries were in a rough part of town. It’s possible the trumpet was used not to play music, but as a kind of emergency alert system to blast warnings about fires and other dangers.

Artifacts found in the same archaeological layer date it to the late 18th or early 19th century, which is an unexpectedly later date than the few other ceramic trumpets discovered in excavations. They typically date to the late Middle Ages or early Modern period. The glaze and construction of the Dorfen trumpet are also different compared to the earlier finds, making it a unique example.

“The discovery of the ceramic trumpet from Dorfen is a stroke of luck for the preservation of archaeological monuments,” says Mathias Pfeil, Director General of the Bavarian State Office for the Preservation of Monuments (BLfD). The delicate instrument, made of fragile material, is almost completely preserved, Pfeil explains: “It can contribute significantly to learning more about the manufacturing techniques and uses of such instruments – because clay trumpets are rare archaeological finds in Bavaria and in Germany.”

15th c. monumental door restored at Louvre

Renaissance

The Stanga Palace door, a masterpiece of the Lombard Renaissance architecture now in the Louvre, has been restored, stripping it of a brown layer that obscured its decorative details and original accents. It is now much more readable, thanks also to a new lighting system that enhances the depth of the reliefs.

It was built in 1490 for the Palazzo Stanga di Castelnuovo in Cremona, a massive structure over 23 feet high inspired by the triumphal arches of antiquity. It is decorated with mythological iconography, primarily scenes and characters from the stories of Hercules and Perseus. Under the half columns are depictions of four of the Labors of Hercules — Antaeus, the Lernaean Hydra, the Nemean Lion, and the Stymphalian Birds. The seven heads of the Hydra are figures in a medallion in the center of the portal. The three heads of the Gorgons and the head of Pegasus are in a medallion on the right. Hercules wielding his club is one side; Perseus in armor is on the other. Above the arch on the entablature are reliefs of battles alternating with busts of Roman emperors. Scrolling foliage and fantastical animals intertwine squeeze in between the main scenes.

The design is attributed to Milanese sculptor Giovanni Pietro da Rho who was active in Cremona between 1480 and 1508. First built by Marquis Cristoforo Stanga, faithful adherent of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the first duke of Milan, in the early 18th century it was bought by Scipione I de’ Rossi, who restructured the palace in Baroque style. In 1870, the palace was sold to an engineer who completely rebuilt the façade, dismantling da Rho’s monumental portal. He sold the whole thing to an antiquarian banker from Marseilles in 1875, and the banker then sold it to the Louvre for twice what he paid for it.

The door has been displayed in the in the Michelangelo Gallery since 1877. It serves as the dramatic setting for masterpieces of Italian sculpture from the 16th to the 19th century, including the two unfinished Slaves by Michelangelo intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II.

The material used in the construction of the portal is Candoglia marble, the same material from which Milan Cathedral was built. During the 19th century, however, the surface of the door had been covered with a layer of dark brown paint, accompanied by subsequent applications of wax. These treatments, while probably having a protective function, had progressively altered the legibility of the work, flattening volumes and obscuring details. […]

Numerous tests were conducted by Hubert Boursier and Jennifer Vatelot, along with Hélène Susini and Azzurra Palazzo of the C2RMF sculpture restoration service, in order to identify the most effective and least invasive method. The team in charge of the intervention, under the direction of restorers Adèle Cambon and Annabelle Sansalone, then proceeded to remove the dark layer using lasers, supplementing the operation with a light chemical treatment to remove the waxes, all while fully respecting the original material.

The layer of nineteenth-century painting left a slight golden hue in the marble. A more intense use of the laser could have attenuated it further, but it would have carried the risk of affecting the original surface of the material. The conservative choice adopted made it possible to restore the quality of the reliefs, the modulation of the volumes, and the clarity of the profiles, draperies, and medallions, while also allowing the rediscovery of the black stone incrustations that emphasize and enhance the ornamental course.