Archaeological Finds On The Roman Frontiers

[ramonmercado]

A lot of history to be rewritten if this proves accurate.

Ancient Battlefield Hints at Roman Persistence
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/co ... 008/1215/2
By Andrew Curry
ScienceNOW Daily News
15 December 2008

HANOVER, GERMANY--Metal-detector hobbyists have stumbled upon what may be one of the largest intact Roman battlefields ever discovered. The site, located about 100 kilometers south of here and revealed today by archaeologists, dates to about 200 C.E. That throws a spear into the idea that a massive defeat a couple of centuries earlier kept the Romans out of Germany for good.
The hobbyists first discovered the site, outside the small town of Kalefeld, in 2000 while illegally looking for a medieval fort. They unearthed several artifacts but were reluctant to take them to authorities. In June 2008, the hobbyists finally brought the artifacts to Petra Loenne, the official archaeologist for the county of Northeim, south of Hanover.

Loenne immediately recognized an unusual tangle of metal. Called a "hippo-sandal," it was a sort of early horseshoe that was wrapped around the hoof of a horse or draft animal (see picture). "It definitely wasn't medieval," she says. In fact, it was Roman--an oddity because Lower Saxony, where the artifact was found, is hundreds of kilometers north of the known Roman frontier.

Loenne quickly called in other archaeologists--and metal-detector hobbyists trusted by the local authorities. Her priority was to locate any artifacts close to the surface as quickly as possible. "We had to hurry and excavate before word got out and looters arrived," Loenne says. What the group found, spread over rough terrain almost a 1.6 kilometers long, were more than 600 metal artifacts, from Roman sandal nails to arrowheads and 15-centimeter-long iron spear points that once capped javelins fired from giant crossbows called ballistae. At least one arrowhead still contained enough of the original wooden shaft to provide organic material for radiocarbon dating, which placed the arrow to some time in the 3rd century C.E. Coins and other artifacts support the idea that the battle may have been fought between 200 and 250 C.E.

Experts say the presence of specialized artillery weapons such as the ballista and Roman sandal nails is a good indication that the combatants were Romans, not barbarians using Roman weapons that they captured or purchased. "The artifacts really suggest the Romans were up there," says Eric De Sena, an archaeologist at John Cabot University in Rome. "Archaeologists have found a lot of artifacts above the limes [Roman frontier], but to find a battlefield is really surprising."

The find adds a wrinkle to Roman history. Romans appear to have made a few tentative forays into Germany, but in 9 C.E., three Roman legions were annihilated by barbarians. Scholars have long believed that defeat--known as the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest--was enough to make the Romans stay out of Germany for good. The existence of the battlefield implies that Romans were conducting significant military operations long after historians assumed they gave up on German conquest, the archaeologists say.

Loenne says now that the site has been secured from looters, full-scale excavations will commence next year to dig deeper into the mysterious battle.

 

[Twin_Star]

Hmm,evidence of about 1,000 soldiers doesn't really prove that much. That's about 1/5 of a single legion - battalion strength really - and even in the waning of the imperial glow they could muster that sort of troop number within a matter of days. In fact, the better emperors made a point of mobilising the Victrix legions to foreign lands, rather than the Legions home soil, to avoid the problems usually associated with housing several thousand highly trained armed men - like the Hispania Victrix to Britain, so these troops could have been a portion of the Pannonian or Saxony regulars. I'm sure i've read that even the later emperors - ie the Severans, pertinanx etc - sent expeditions to the 4 corners of the empire to prop up vassal states, help local kings out against raiding parties etc. It was only in the early 5th century that the pathetic Honorius fell in totally with the barbarians, and in any event the empire had moved East to Byzantium by then, so who cared about a few peasants grubbing in the ruins of the eternal city, and some bloke in a funny hat claiming to be the successor of Peter, keys and all.

 

[ramonmercado]

Some more evidence.

Bronze Horse Head Hints at Roman Ambitions in Germany
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/co ... 2009/827/2
By Andrew Curry
ScienceNOW Daily News
27 August 2009

Archaeologists in Germany have found a life-sized bronze Roman horse's head at the bottom of a well. It's the first such find in Germany, and it suggests that the Romans had a more settled presence in ancient Germany than historians had thought.
The sculpture, part of a statue believed to be of the Roman emperor Augustus, was found at a site called Waldgirmes, the remains of a Roman town. The cast-bronze head, which weighs 25 kilograms, is one of the best-preserved Roman bronzes in the world, says Friedrich Lüth, director of the German Archaeological Institute's Roman-Germanic Commission. Approximately 50 centimeters long, it's covered in delicate gold leaf. The rich trappings, including a depiction of Mars, the god of war, on the horse's halter make it the mount of an important figure. The heel of the rider was found nearby wearing a senator's sandal.

Announcing the find at a press conference in Frankfurt today, Lüth says the horse's head was found on 12 August during the excavation of an 11-meter-deep, wood-reinforced well shaft. The well supplied water to Waldgirmes, a civilian outpost that was perhaps intended as the capital of what the Romans called Germania Magna. Using dendrochronology to date the wooden shaft, the scientists say it was built about 9 B.C.E., during Augustus's reign.

The statue fragments show that the Romans had grand plans for Waldgirmes, whose Roman name is unknown, says Lüth. Bases for five statues have been found in front of what was a 2200-square-meter forum, and about 100 pieces have turned up, including a horse's hoof. Lüth says the sophisticated craftsmanship of the head indicates that it was made in Italy and shipped over the Alps to this remote spot. Stones that made up the statue's base were also imported from more than 300 kilometers away.

Since excavations at Waldgirmes started in 1993, archaeologists have begun to rethink how the Romans viewed the region. Historians have long thought they had little interest in Germany aside from the odd military raid, but Waldgirmes, which is located about 40 kilometers north of Frankfurt, lies deep in an area long considered off limits for the Romans. "The Romans must have felt so safe, they planted a new town in this wild Germanic forest," says Sebastian Sommer, chief archaeologist of Bavaria.

That safety was short-lived. In 9 C.E., three legions commanded by the general Quintilius Varus were defeated by German tribesmen in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, a shocking blow to Roman pride. Lüth believes that Waldgirmes, nearly 200 kilometers south of the battlefield, was abandoned about the same time. "It makes sense that the troops left in quite a hurry, or we must imagine they would have taken [the statue of] their emperor with them," he says.

Sommer argues that although the horse head is spectacular, it's the less-glamorous well that may hold the clues to Waldgirmes' end. Dating the waterlogged timbers of the shaft--7 meters of which were excavated this summer--and timbers that were dumped into it about the time of the town's destruction may help archaeologists pin down when the site was abandoned.

 

[ramonmercado]

I think this story is related. Remains have been shown to be those of a Roman camp. Except in this case it looks like the scene of the crushing of Celtic resistance.

Roman Military Camp Dating Back to the Conquest of Gaul Throws Light On a Part of World History
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 080634.htm

These iron shoe nails once protected the soles of Roman soldiers' sandals. The pattern of a cross with four studs that can be seen on the underside is largely typical for the time of the late Republic. Their size, with a diameter of up to 2.6 cm, is also characteristic for this period. (Credit: ©: Sabine Hornung, Arno Braun)

ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2012) — In the vicinity of Hermeskeil, a small town some 30 kilometers southeast of the city of Trier in the Hunsrueck region in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, archaeologists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have confirmed the location of the oldest Roman military fortification known in Germany to date. These findings shed new light on the Roman conquest of Gaul. The camp was presumably built during Julius Caesars’ Gallic War in the late 50s B.C.

Nearby lies a late Celtic settlement with monumental fortifications known as the “Hunnenring” or "Circle of the Huns," which functioned as one of the major centers of the local Celtic tribe called Treveri. Their territory is situated in the mountainous regions between the Rhine and Maas rivers. "The remnants of this military camp are the first pieces of archaeological evidence of this important episode of world history," comments Dr. Sabine Hornung of the Institute of Pre- and Protohistory at JGU. "It is quite possible that Treveran resistance to the Roman conquerors was crushed in a campaign that was launched from this military fortress."

The existence of this site with a size of about 260,000 square meters had been known since the 19th century, but its interpretation was controversially discussed. "Some remains of the wall are still preserved in the forest, but it hadn't been possible to prove that this was indeed a Roman military camp as archaeologists and local historians had long suspected," Hornung explains. The breakthrough came through systematic investigations closely linked to archaeological research conducted in the vicinity of the Celtic settlement "Hunnenring" near Otzenhausen in the St. Wendel district. The Celtic fortification is located just 5 kilometers from the military camp at Hermeskeil and can be seen directly from the site of the Roman stronghold. As a result of agricultural development, large sections of the former military camp can no longer be recognized and are in danger of being lost forever.

Sabine Hornung and her team began their work in Hermeskeil in March 2010, supported by the Rheinische Landesmuseum Trier. Initial research enabled them to determine size and shape of the military camp that was fortified by means of an earth wall and a ditch. They determined that the fortress consisted of an almost rectangular earthwork enclosure with rounded corners, which, by its size of about 182,000 square meters, provided space for several thousands of soldiers, including both legionaries and mounted auxiliaries. An extension of additional 76,000 square meters encompassed a spring, which thereby secured water supply for the troops.

These findings made it possible to undertake targeted excavations in which one of the gates of the camp was discovered in summer 2011. This consisted of a gateway paved with stones crossing the fortifications consisting of wall and ditch. In the gaps between these paving stones, Hornung's team of archaeologists found numerous shoe nails originating from the sandals of Roman soldiers that had loosened as they marched along. The size and shape of the nails were among the first indications that the military camp at Hermeskeil dated back to the time of the late Roman Republic or the Gallic War. This theory was subsequently confirmed by shards of earthenware vessels discovered during excavations and further verified using scientific dating methods.

The special historical significance of the Hermeskeil military camp lies in its relationship to the neighboring Treveran settlement "Hunnenring". Based on the findings of their recent excavations, Hornung and her team were able to confirm that this settlement was abandoned by its inhabitants around the middle of the 1st century B.C. Before the identification of the camp near Hermeskeil, however, it was only possible to speculate that this abandonment had had something to do with the Gallic War. In his "De Bello Gallico," Julius Caesar reported that the tribe of the Treveri was split into anti-Roman and pro-Roman factions. The anti-Roman faction, led by the aristocrat Indutiomarus and his relatives, fomented unrest that resulted in Roman reprisals in 54/53 B.C. and 51 B.C., over the course of which the Treveran resistance to the invaders was broken. The discoveries near Hermeskeil have potentially provided the first direct archaeological evidence for this dramatic episode in world history.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universität Mainz.

 

[ramonmercado]

More on a Roman presence in ancient Germany.

Ancient Roman Military Camp Unearthed in Eastern Germany

Ancient camp. Boot nails and other objects were found at the Hachelbich site, along with soil marks where Roman soldiers once dug a trench to defend their temporary camp.

Archaeologists have confirmed the presence of a long-lost Roman military camp deep in eastern Germany. The 18-hectare site, found near the town of Hachelbich in Thuringia, would have sheltered a Roman legion of up to 5000 troops. Its location in a broad valley with few impediments suggests it was a stopover on the way to invade territory further east.

“People have been searching for evidence of the Romans in this part of Germany for 200 years,” says team leader Mario Kuessner, an archaeologist working for the state of Thuringia. “It took a long time before we realized what we had, and we wanted to be sure.”

After a stinging defeat in 9 C.E., Rome largely abandoned hope of conquering the fractious German tribes north of the Rhine River. Yet written sources suggest that the Romans occasionally campaigned in Germany, probably to punish German tribes for raids on Roman territory. Until recently, the reports have been largely dismissed as braggadocio. The Hachelbich site, along with a battlefield near Hannover uncovered in 2008, show that the reports had more than a kernel of truth to them—and that the Romans were willing to cross their frontier when it suited their political or military needs.

The encampment was discovered in 2010, during routine excavations as part of a road-building project. In the years since, Kuessner and his collaborators have excavated more than 2 hectares and used geomagnetic surveys to analyze disturbances in the soil over an additional 10 hectares to reveal the outlines of the camp.

A rough rectangle with round corners, the camp is standard Roman military issue. No matter where they were, legions on the move set up a minifortress in the wilderness at the end of each day’s march. At Hachelbich, the meter-deep trenches dug around the camp were the easiest feature to spot in the soil. Two perimeter trenches have been found, each more than 400 meters long.

On the camp’s northern edge, the soldiers built a gate protected by another trench that projected out past the perimeter. “It’s typically Roman—no Germans did that sort of thing,” Kuessner says. The trenches were part of a simple, but effective makeshift perimeter defense: A low wall of dirt was thrown up behind the trench, then topped with tall stakes, to create a defensive barrier almost 3 meters wide and 3 meters high. Erosion wiped away the wall long ago, but it left discolorations in the soil where the trench was dug.

Additional evidence of an ancient encampment includes traces of eight makeshift bread ovens not far from the camp perimeter and a handful of artifacts, including four nails from the bottom of Roman boots, a piece of horse tackle, and part of a scabbard. The style of these artifacts—and a few radiocarbon dates—place the camp somewhere in the first 2 centuries C.E., too broad a range to be linked to a known specific event in Roman history.

Michael Meyer, an archaeologist at the Free University of Berlin, who was not part of the team but who attended a press conference about the discovery last week, says that any of the elements by themselves wouldn’t have been convincing, but together the find is compelling. “Now we have the first camp that’s clearly more than a day trip from the edge of the empire,” he says. “It’s no isolated frontier outpost, but something that clearly points to the Elbe River,” hundreds of kilometers deep in German territory.

The site’s exact whereabouts are being kept under wraps, to protect it from metal detector hobbyists who might loot or disturb it. When the fields of wheat and canola that cover it are harvested in the fall, excavations will continue. “The best would be if we could find coins or something with the legion number written on it,” Kuessner says. “That would help us pin down the date.”
http://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/ ... rn-germany

 

[ramonmercado]

Archaeologists Excavate Roman Frontier Site in Romania

The site of Halmyris occupied a strategic position as an ancient Roman bastion on the edge of an empire.

It is an archaeological site, but one needs some imagination to picture an ancient Roman fort abutting a major waterway at this place.

"When you first enter the site you are on a very small hill, about three meters at the most above the surrounding farmland to the north and east," writes blogger Lucy MacDonald, who spent part of her summer as a volunteer excavator at the site. It is known as the location of ancient Halmyris, a Roman frontier stronghold in present-day Romania. "Those farm fields used to be the Danube river; however, the river has receded about 300 meters from where it used to be. We know this because there are two man-made harbours at Halmyris, therefore the Danube would have come right up to the fort. The fort had approximately twelve towers, and with good reason. The location of Halmyris is important because it intersects two important commercial shipping waters, the Danube and the Black Sea. However, this also made it a target for Roman enemies—which was EVERYONE."* ...

http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/fa ... in-romania

 

[ramonmercado]

Münster archaeologists excavated a unique Roman relief depicting an unknown god in an ancient sanctuary in Turkey. According to a first assessment, the one and a half metre (five feet) high basalt stele which was used as a buttress in the wall of a monastery shows a fertility or vegetation god, as classical scholar and excavation director Prof. Dr. Engelbert Winter and archaeologist Dr. Michael Blömer of the Cluster of Excellence "Religion and Politics" said after their return from the sacred site of the god Jupiter Dolichenus close to the ancient city of Doliche in Southeast Turkey. "The image is remarkably well preserved. It provides valuable insights into the beliefs of the Romans and into the continued existence of ancient Near Eastern traditions. However, extensive research is necessary before we will be able to accurately identify the deity."

In the field season 2014, the 60-strong excavation team uncovered finds from all periods of the 2,000-year history of the cult site, such as the thick enclosing wall of the first Iron Age sanctuary or the foundations of the main Roman temple of the god Jupiter Dolichenus, who became one of the most important deities of the Roman Empire in the 2nd century A.D. His sanctuary is situated close to the town of Gaziantep on the 1,200 metres (3,900 feet) high mountain of Dülük Baba Tepesi. The archaeologists found the stele in the remains of the Christian monastery, which was erected on the site of the ancient sanctuary in the Early Middle Ages. ...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20 ... 083519.htm

 

[Monstrosa]

Cockermouth excavation unearths Roman fertility god

Cockermouth excavation unearths Roman fertility god

A carving of a Roman fertility god from the first century AD has been unearthed during an excavation in Cumbria.

The find, called Genius Loci, is about 2ft (0.6m) tall and was discovered by archaeologists from Wardell Armstrong at Papcastle near Cockermouth.

Regional manager, Frank Giecco, said it was a "once in a lifetime" find.

The team began exploring the site after Roman treasures and the remains of a settlement were found following floods in the area in November 2009...

 

[FrKadash]

I couldn't decide where to post this article, and in the end I thought this thread was the most suitable.

''Archaeologists Find Rare Bronze Mask of Pan''
Mar 16, 2015 by Sci-News.com

Israeli archaeologists from the University of Haifa have uncovered an enormous bronze mask of Pan (Faunus, Satyr) – the Greek/Roman god of the woods, shepherds, and fertility – at the archaeological site of Hippos-Sussita, located on a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

More here, http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/science-bronze-mask-pan-hippos-sussita-israel-02602.html

 

[Mythopoeika]

It's not actually a mask. More of a wall plaque.

 

[ramonmercado]

Frankfurt archaeologists discover ‘Roman Village’ in Gernsheim

During their first Gernsheim dig last year, Frankfurt University archaeologists suspected that a small Roman settlement must have also existed here in the Hessian Ried. Now they have discovered clear relics of a Roman village, built in part on the foundations of the fort after the soldiers left. This probably occurred around 120 AD. At the time the cohort (about 500 soldiers) was transferred from the Rhine to the Limes, and a period of peace lasting until about 260 AD began for the Roman village (which was part of the Roman province of Germania Superior) with the “Pax Romana”.

Until a year ago, little was known about Roman Gernsheim even though Roman finds have repeatedly been made here since the 19th century. “We now know that from the 1st to the 3rd century an important village-like settlement or ‘vicus’ must have existed here, comparable to similar villages already proven to have existed in Groß-Gerau, Dieburg or Ladenburg”, explains dig leader Dr. Thomas Maurer from the Goethe University, who has been going from Frankfurt to Southern Hesse for years in search of traces. He has published his findings in a major journal about the North Hessian Ried during the Roman imperial period.

During the second excavation campaign running from 3 August to early October, the 20 students of the “Archaeology and History of the Roman Provinces” course under the direction of Maurer have already uncovered the well-preserved foundation of a stone building, fire pits, at least two wells and some cellar pits. They also filled boxes with shards of fine, coarse and transport ceramics, which will undergo scientific examination in order to allow more accurate dating of the fort and the village. “We’ve also found real treasures such as rare garment clasps, several pearls, parts of a board game (dice, playing pieces) and a hairpin made from bone and crowned with a female bust”, explains a delighted Maurer. ...


Read more at http://www.deepstuff.org/frankfurt-...man-village-in-gernsheim/#ioQBkO9RgMqG8fQ0.99

 

[ramonmercado]

Archaeologists claim to have proved that Julius Caesar set foot on what is now Dutch soil, destroying two Germanic tribes in a battle that left about 150,000 people dead.

The tribes were massacred in the fighting with the Roman emperor in 55BC, on a battle site now in Kessel, in the southern province of Brabant.
Skeletons, spearheads, swords and a helmet have been unearthed at the site over the past three decades. But now carbon dating as well as other historical and geochemical analysis have proved the items dated to the 1st century, the VU University in Amsterdam said.

“It is the first time the presence of Caesar and his troops on Dutch soil has been explicitly shown,” said Nico Roymans, an archaeologist at the institution.

The two tribes, the Tencteri and the Usipetes, came from an area east of the Rhine and had asked Caesar for asylum. But the Roman emperor refused and ordered his eight legions and cavalry to destroy them, the university said.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/20...hed-southern-netherlands-dutch-archaeologists

 

[ramonmercado]

Some interesting finds.

Archaeologists say a 3rd century sarcophagus found in what is now western Germany contained the remains of a young Roman woman who was buried along with perfume bottles, a makeup palette and a silver hand mirror.

The Landesmuseum in Bonn said Monday that the massive stone coffin contained an unusual wealth of beauty products, jet jewelry, pins and a folding knife with a handle in the shape of a Hercules figure.

The 4 1/2-ton sarcophagus was discovered along the route of an ancient highway connecting the Roman empire settlements of Trevorum and Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium—now the German cities of Trier and Cologne.

Archaeologists kept their discovery last year secret until further graves in the area had been investigated.

https://phys.org/news/2018-07-dead-gorgeous-ancient-sarcophagus-held.html

 

[Mythopoeika]

^ Chanel's first customer. ^

 

[Gizmos Mama]

Is it just me, or do all the pictures in that article seem off, somehow? Like maybe they are all dollhouse sized artifacts, instead of full sized, or something?

 

[Mikefule]

Is it just me, or do all the pictures in that article seem off, somehow? Like maybe they are all dollhouse sized artifacts, instead of full sized, or something?

I see what you mean. However, I think it's choice of lens and distance. You get a very different perspective on the same item if you take the photograph close up with a wide angle lens or from a distance with a longer lens. A 50 mm lens is meant to be a close approximation to the natural perspective you would get with the naked eye. However, two things that can happen are using a compact camera with a shorter lens because it's convenient, or using a longer or zoom lens to frame the photo (or to get close to an item that is in a cabinet) without thinking about perspective. It would be far better if each photo had some indicator of scale in it, such as a ruler or coin.

 

[maximus otter]

Is it just me, or do all the pictures in that article seem off, somehow? Like maybe they are all dollhouse sized artifacts, instead of full sized, or something?

Glass was a very expensive luxury item in Roman times. The bottles probably are tiny.

maximus otter

 

[Mythopoeika]

Glass was a very expensive luxury item in Roman times. The bottles probably are tiny.

maximus otter

I've seen Roman glass bottles like that and they are tiny. Very thin glass.

 

[ramonmercado]

Another intriguing find, a real turn up for the books.

Archaeologists in Cologne believe they have uncovered the foundations of the oldest known library in Germany, dating back to 2 AD.

A team from the city's Roman-Germanic Museum discovered the library remains while excavating the site of a Protestant church.

The building likely housed up to 20,000 scrolls, according to Dr Dirk Schmitz, a researcher on the expedition.

He described the find as "truly spectacular".

The archaeologists involved in the parish church project uncovered the remains of a Roman building from 2 AD.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-45029960

 

[Tribble]

A detectorist has uncovered one of the largest Roman villas ever discovered in Britain – and with it, a wealth of artefacts including coins, coffins and ever an enormous boar tusk. The 85m by 85m villa’s foundations lie beneath a crop in a field a stone’s throw from Broughton Castle near Banbury in Oxfordshire, on one of the estate’s farms. Magnetometry scans showed the outline of the terraced villa is not much smaller than Buckingham Palace.

https://inews.co.uk/news/uk/roman-villa-broughton-castle-banbury-excavation/

 

[ramonmercado]

Further examinations are taking place so more findings are possible.

Archaeologists in the Netherlands have discovered a 2,000-year-old stretch of Roman road and the remains of a Roman village at the town of Katwijk, which once marked the northern boundary of the Roman Empire.

The road is 125 metres (410 ft) long and lies close to a busy highway in the Valkenburg suburb. The Roman village comes complete with a canal and burial ground, the Omroep West regional broadcaster reports.

South Holland Province asked archaeologists to examine the whole area where the new RijnlandRoute bypass is to run, aware of the local Roman legacy and anxious to preserve any finds.

The Emperor Claudius built the city of Lugdunum Batavorum at the mouth of the Old Rhine River, which still flows through Katwijk, and ships would sail from there for Britain. But no one expected to find such well-preserved remains in Katwijk itself.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-45678860

 

[Comfortably Numb]

Hundreds of Roman Wine Amphorae Found in Underwater Cave

Source: ancient-origins.net
Date: 23 February, 2020

Marine archaeologists have made an amazing discovery in an underwater cave in the Spanish Balearic Islands . They found a large number of amphorae in the cave, which were apparently deliberately deposited in the cavern. The reason for this is a mystery but one possible explanation is that they were left there as part of some ancient ritual.

Marine archaeologists made the discovery in the Fuente de Ses Aiguades Cave, which is off the coast of north-east Majorca, also known as Mallorca, the largest island of the Balearic Islands. The cave was first explored in 1998 and it was last investigated in 2000. Recently, members of the ‘Underwater Archaeological Research in the Caves of Mallorca’ used the latest technology to re-examine the cave.

The cave is “around 591 feet (180 meters) long and full of stalactites and many air chambers” according to the Daily Mail . There are several vertical shafts in the cave and they can only be reached using a system of pulleys. The team needed scanning technology to “fully understand the cave's layout” reported the Daily Mail .

The marine archaeologists used 3-D scanning to map the cave and they uncovered a treasure trove of amphorae. They uncovered approximately 200 ancient amphorae in the cave. These were two-handled ceramic containers that were used to store produce such as olive oil and wine.

Amphorae have been used for this purpose since the Neolithic period. These vessels almost certainly date to the Roman period , when international maritime trade flourished.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/roman-amphorae-0013326

 

[Nemo]

Wrexham Roman villa uncovered by metal detectorists.

A Roman villa has been found near Wrexham - the first of its kind in north east Wales.
Metal detectorists found Roman material at the site, sparking a remote sensing survey by archaeologists who have found evidence of a buried structure.
The remains, in a field in Rossett, include stone and tile buildings around a central courtyard.
An archaeology lecturer involved said it may change understanding of the area in Roman Britain.
Artefacts have been found from the late 1st Century and early 4th Century, suggesting the villa was occupied for the majority of Roman rule in Britain

(c) BBC '20

 

[ramonmercado]

A Roman Tower used by the Nazis.

A World War Two German bunker was constructed within the remains of a Roman tower, archaeologists have discovered.

The Alderney Nunnery is thought to be the site of one of the best preserved Roman forts in the British Isles. It was used by the German military in the occupation of the Channel Islands.

Archaeologist Dr Jason Monaghan said the excavation had discovered how they placed the fortification "exactly inside" the 10ft (3m) thick walls.

The Nunnery has been occupied for about 1,700 years, containing the remains of structures from the Medieval, Tudor and Napoleonic eras built on top of each other. The site, which overlooks Longis Bay, was confirmed to be from the Roman era in 2011.

The current excavation is being carried out by volunteers for Dig Alderney. They are hoping to learn more about the tower and alterations made to the site over the centuries.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-guernsey-58331065

 

[maximus otter]

The only evidence of crucifixion taking place in Britain has been found by archaeologists in Cambridgeshire.

The remains of a young man with a nail through his right heel are the best evidence of crucifixion dating from the Roman empire in Europe and one of two confirmed examples in the world, researchers say.

The skeleton, which dates from the third or fourth century AD, was found during the construction of a housing estate in the town of Fenstanton in 2017. A team of academics and contractors spent the following four years verifying the find as an example of the brutal Roman punishment.

Archaeologists suspect the man was a slave due to the thinness of his shin bones, which may have been caused by shackles worn over a long period. They found forty-seven other graves alongside him, all of which belonged to members of the native British population.

Corinne Duhig, director of studies in archaeology at Wolfson College, Cambridge, said: “The question I asked myself is, ‘If his family or friends buried him, why did they not take out the nail?’ My answer is that he appears to have been laid on some bier-like structure so his body might have been in poor condition when he was removed from the cross and it needed supporting. The priority in that case would be to get him buried as soon as possible, rather than struggling with an impacted nail.”

Contrary to the portrayal of the practice in the Bible, nails were rarely used, with the accused more commonly tied up with rope and left to slowly suffocate. If iron nails were used, they would have been recycled for their metal value, and may also have been collected for perceived ritualistic properties. This means there is little left behind for archaeologists to find.

The only other confirmed crucifixion find is a heel bone found in an ossuary in Israel in 1968, which is now housed in the Israel Museum. Two other bones with holes were found in Italy and Egypt, but neither had a nail present and some academics think the holes could have been made by erosion from plant roots. The nail in the bone found in Fenstanton was bent and was therefore difficult to remove.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/...a?shareToken=83d9def9e0212ce9d7532d72092a0ccb

maximus otter

 

[maximus otter]

Spanish researchers discover possible location of legendary temple of Hercules Gaditanus​

Experts from Seville University may have solved one of the holy grails of archaeology thanks to digital terrain modeling, which has identified a monumental structure in the Bay of Cádiz​

The legendary temple of Hercules Gaditanus, who was known as Melqart in Phoenician times, was a key pilgrimage site in ancient times. According to classical records, the temple witnessed the passage of historical figures such as Julius Caesar and the Carthaginian conqueror Hannibal, and dated at least as far back as the ninth century BC.

But thousands of years later, its location remains a mystery, and finding the temple has become something of a holy grail for historians and archeologists, who have been searching for it for centuries.

The temple of Hercules Gaditanus is mentioned in classical Greek and Latin literature as the place where Julius Caesar wept bitterly before a representation of Alexander the Great and where the Carthaginian conqueror Hannibal went to offer thanks for the success of his military campaign a century and a half earlier.

Now there is a possible answer to this great mystery. Ricardo Belizón, a Ph.D. student at Seville University in southern Spain, has come up with a new hypothesis, which is backed by scientists from his university and the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage (IAPH). Thanks to free software and digital terrain modeling, Belizón has identified traces of a monumental building in the Caño de Sancti Petri, a shallow channel in the Bay of Cádiz, between the towns of Chiclana de Frontera and San Fernando, in the southern region of Andalusia.

Possible location of the temple

https://english.elpais.com/culture/...f-legendary-temple-of-hercules-gaditanus.html

maximus otter

 

[Nemo]

Roman town’s remains found below Northamptonshire field on HS2 route.

A wealthy Roman trading town, whose inhabitants adorned themselves with jewellery and ate from fine pottery, has been discovered half a metre below the surface of a remote field in Northamptonshire.

A 10-metre-wide Roman road, domestic and industrial buildings, more than 300 coins and at least four wells have been unearthed at the site, where 80 archaeologists have been working for the past 12 months.

The field, on the Northamptonshire-Oxfordshire border, lies on the route of the HS2 rail network under construction between London and Birmingham. It is one of more than 100 archaeological sites that have been examined along the route since 2018, and among the most significant findings to date.

(C) The Guardian '22.

 

[maximus otter]

Rare Roman wooden figure uncovered by HS2 archaeologists in Buckinghamshire​

The figure, cut from a single piece of wood, stands at 67cm tall and is 18cm wide.

​

Archaeologist Iain Williamson described the survival of the well-preserved wooden figure as “extremely rare”.

The style of the carving and the tunic-like clothing suggest the figure could date from the early Roman period almost 2,000 years ago.

A lack of oxygen in the water-logged clay fill ditch helped prevent the wood from rotting and ensured its survival over the centuries.

The figure is in good condition but the arms below the elbows and feet have degraded.

Its hat and hairstyle are among the surprising amount of detail which can still be seen.

The head is slightly turned to the left, the tunic at the front seems to be gathered at the waist going down to above knee level, and the legs and shape of the calf muscles are defined.

Shards of pottery dating from 43-70 AD were also discovered in the ditch.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/buckinghamshire-hs2-twyford-britain-london-b976406.html

maximus otter

 

[EnolaGaia]

An "immaculate" Roman era blue glass bowl has been discovered in the Netherlands.

Archaeologists have unearthed a flawless Roman blue glass bowl in the Dutch city of Nijmegen

Archaeologists excavating the site of a comprehensive housing and green space development in Nijmegen’s Winkelsteeg, one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands, have uncovered a magnificent Roman blue glass bowl in immaculate condition.

The glass bowl is at least 2000 years old, and there is not a chip or crack on it.

“This is really special,” says archeologist Pepijn van de Geer, who led the excavation.

In his statement, the archaeologist said that the bowl was Roman production, that it may have come from big places such as Xanten or Cologne in Germany, and that there were glass workshops there at that time. However, he also mentioned the possibility that it was made in Italy. ...

FULL STORY: https://arkeonews.net/archaeologist...lue-glass-bowl-in-the-dutch-city-of-nijmegen/

 

[Mythopoeika]

Wow, that bowl looks amazing!