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New report reveals mass of decapitated bodies were unearthed at former Tarmac quarry in Cambridgeshire... where excavations unearthed a Roman burial site containing the remains of a mass of decapitated bodies, has become the focus of international interest....the extensive findings at the site at Knobb’s Farm, in Somersham, after a report, funded by Tarmac, was recently published by Cambridge Archaeology Unit, led by Dr Isabel Lisboa of Archaeologica Ltd.The fascinating discoveries, which mainly date back to the 3rd century (201–300AD), revealed a total of 52 burials including 17 decapitated bodies, believed to be victims of Roman execution methods.Despite the poor...

Highlights Yersinia pestis is discovered in a 5,000-year-old hunter-gatherer from Latvia Y. pestis emerged ∼7,000 years ago at the beginning of the Neolithic The infected individual might represent a case of septicemic plague due to zoonosis Summary A 5,000-year-old Yersinia pestis genome (RV 2039) is reconstructed from a hunter-fisher-gatherer (5300–5050 cal BP) buried at Riņņukalns, Latvia. RV 2039 is the first in a series of ancient strains that evolved shortly after the split of Y. pestis from its antecessor Y. pseudotuberculosis ∼7,000 years ago. The genomic and phylogenetic characteristics of RV 2039 are consistent with the hypothesis that this very...

FORBIDDEN HISTORYMysterious Elongated Skull Discovered In Russia’s Stonehenge, Recreated In 3DHAFHAFJune 20, 2021 Sponsored by RevcontentTrending Now Russian archaeologists have managed to recreate a computer model of the enigmatic elongated skull that was discovered in Russia’s Stonehenge: Arkaim. This proves that elongated skulls are a global phenomenon present all around the world. The question that remains is: Why were elongated skulls so important in the distant past? In 2015, Russian archaeologists excavating Russia’s Stonehenge known as Arkaim discovered a mysterious skeleton with an unusually anomalous elongated skull. After numerous studies and analysis, they have managed to recreate how the ‘Arkaim...

The fossil may represent a new Homo species that lived more than 146,000 years ago =================================================================================== A fossil skull nicknamed “Dragon Man” has surfaced in China under mysterious circumstances, with big news for Neandertals. Dragon Man belonged to a previously unrecognized Stone Age species that replaces Neandertals as the closest known relatives of people today, researchers say. A nearly complete male skull now housed in the Geoscience Museum of Hebei GEO University in Shijiazhuang, China, represents a species dubbed Homo longi by Hebei GEO paleoanthropologist Xijun Ni and his colleagues. The scientists describe the skull, which dates to at least...

Scientists said on Thursday (June 24) they had discovered a new kind of early human after studying pieces of fossilised bone dug up at a site used by a cement plant in central Israel. The fragments of a skull and a lower jaw with teeth were about 130,000 years old and could force a rethinkof parts of the human family tree, the researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem said. Nesher Ramla Homo - named after the place southeast of Tel Aviv where it was found - may have lived alongside our species, Homo sapiens, for...

The Nesher Ramla bones. (Avi Levin and Ilan Theiler, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University) ================================================================================== More than 120,000 years ago in the Levant, Homo sapiens lived side-by-side with a type of ancient human we didn't know about - until now. That's according to new fossil evidence of this human uncovered by archaeologists - fragments of ancient skull and jaw bones, and teeth, which seem to fit both Neanderthal and Homo sapiens, but also... neither. This newly discovered hominin type could be the ancestor to Neanderthal populations in Europe, answering the mystery of how these populations were infiltrated with...

Tsukumo No. 24. (Laboratory of Physical Anthropology, Kyoto University) ================================================================================== The risk of death from an encounter with a shark may be grossly exaggerated in popular culture, but that's likely small consolation to a man who lived and died 3,000 years ago. His remains now represent the oldest known shark victim ever found. According to an analysis of his bones, the man had a particularly nasty meeting with one of the marine predators, in the Seto Inland Sea of the Japanese archipelago. Nearly 800 wounds scored his skeleton, none of which showed any signs of healing - suggesting, strongly, that...

The cemeteries hold the burials of 52 people, and the 17 decapitated bodies include those of nine men and eight women and all over 25 years of age at time of death, a team of researchers reported in a paper published online May 19 in the journal Britannia.In many cases, the heads of the decapitated individuals were buried beside their feet and pottery was placed where their head normally would have been. Some of the bodies were also placed prone (stomach down) in their graves...During the third and fourth centuries there were numerous civil wars within the Roman Empire, with...

Italian archaeologists have uncovered the fossilized remains of nine Neanderthals in a cave near Rome, shedding new light on how the Italian peninsula was populated and under what environmental conditions. The Italian Culture Ministry announced the discovery Saturday, saying it confirmed that the Guattari Cave in San Felice Circeo was "one of the most significant places in the world for the history of Neanderthals." A Neanderthal skull was discovered in the cave in 1939.The fossilized bones include skulls, skull fragments, two teeth and other bone fragments. The oldest remains date from between 100,000 and 90,000 years ago, while the other...

Archaeologists in Italy have discovered the remains of nine Neanderthals who may have been hunted by hyenas, in a prehistoric cave south-east of Rome. The fossilized bones, which include skull fragments and broken jawbones, were found in the Guattari Cave in the coastal town San Felice Circeo.... ...Mario Rolfo, a professor of archaeology at Tor Vergata University, said most of the Neanderthals had been killed by hyenas and dragged back to their cave den as food. "Neanderthals were prey for these animals," the Guardian quoted him as saying. "Hyenas hunted them, especially the most vulnerable, like sick or elderly individuals."...

THE BLACK stain on the ice was instantly recognisable. The technician checking a tarpaulin stretched over a section of the Presena Glacier in the Italian Alps—an experimental attempt to slow the melting— quickly called in a rescue party. The block of ice was airlifted to the nearby city of Vicenza. Inside were two soldiers who had fallen at the Battle of Presena in May 1918 and were buried in a crevasse.Their uniforms and their location indicated that they could well have been Kaiserschützen, specialised mountain troops who fought on behalf of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to defend these mountains from...

Bodies of WWI soldiers found in glacier ROME - The bodies of three Austrian soldiers killed in World War One have been found frozen and almost perfectly preserved in an Italian Alpine glacier. ADVERTISEMENT Mountain rescue worker Maurizio Vicenzi discovered the mummified bodies on Friday, encased upside down in ice at 11,940 feet altitude on San Matteo mountain near the Swiss and Austrian borders. ``Using binoculars, I saw what looked like a stain on the Forni glacier and went to look,'' Vicenzi, 46, from the northern Italian town of Peio told Reuters on Monday. ``When I got close I discovered...

Unearthed, the prince of Stonehenge By Roger Highfield (Filed: 21/08/2002) A prehistoric prince with gold ear-rings has been found near Stonehenge a few yards away from the richest early Bronze Age burial in Britain. Earlier this year, archaeologists found an aristocratic warrior, also with gold ear-rings, on Salisbury Plain and speculated that he may have been an ancient king of Stonehenge. The body was laid to rest 4,300 years ago during the construction of the monument, along with stone arrow heads and slate wristguards that protected the arm from the recoil of the bow. Archaeologists named him the Amesbury Archer....

An ancient cemetery for infants in Astypalea. Credit: Dodecanese Ephorate of Antiquities The study of the largest ancient cemetery for infants found on Astypalea island in Greece continues, shedding light on the worship of the goddess of childbirth and the Earth mother. The Dodecanese Ephorate of Antiquities that is carrying out the study has found that almost all the infants buried there were newborns or, at most, a few months old. There are also a few toddlers that were up to two years of age. The bodies of the babies were placed in ceramic containers, mainly amphorae or hydrias, whichwere...

Wojtek Ejsmond, one of the three co-founders of the Warsaw Mummy Project, told CNN the mummy was first brought to Poland in 1826 by Jan Wężyk-Rudzki. At that time it was believed to be a woman, but the view changed during the 1920s when an inscription on the sarcophagus was translated to reveal the name of an Egyptian priest, Hor-Djehuty. Though it belongs to the University of Warsaw, the mummy has been on loan to the museum since 1917 where it has been on display. During the course of its research, the team revealed some interesting clues. Using computer tomography,...

An ancient tomb, described by archaeologists as "untouched" and "highly unusual" has been discovered on the Dingle Peninsula in Co Kerry...The tomb was uncovered by a digger during land reclamation work when a large stone slab was upturned, revealing a slab-lined chamber beneath.On closer inspection an adjoining sub-chamber was found at what appears to be the front of the tomb.The tomb contained an unusual smooth oval-shaped stone and what is believed to be human bone.It is believed the tomb may date to the Bronze Age (2000BC-500BC), but it could be even earlier as it displays a number of highly unusual...

Scientific evidence of an ancient invasion of Scotland from Ireland may have been uncovered by DNA techniques. Researchers from Edinburgh University said studies of Scots living on Islay, Lewis, Harris and Skye found strong links with Irish people. Early historical sources recount how the Gaels came from Ireland about 500 AD and conquered the Picts in Argyll. Scientists said the study was the first demonstration of a significant Irish genetics component in Scots' ancestry. The research, which features work by geneticist Dr Jim Wilson, a specialist in population genetics, is being featured in programmes on Gaelic television channel BBC Alba....

The blood in Irish veins is Celtic, right? Well, not exactly. Although the history many Irish people were taught at school is the history of the Irish as a Celtic race, the truth is much more complicated, and much more interesting than that ... Research done into the DNA of Irish males has shown that the old Anthropological attempts to define 'Irish' have been misguided. As late as the 1950s researchers were busy collecting data among Irish people such as hair colour and height, in order to categorise them as a 'race' and define them as different to the British....

SUNDAY DECEMBER 02 2001 Genetic survey reveals hidden Celts of England JOHN ELLIOTT AND TOM ROBBINS THE Celts of Scotland and Wales are not as unique as some of them like to think. New research has revealed that the majority of Britons living in the south of England share the same DNA as their Celtic counterparts. The findings, based on the DNA analysis of more than 2,000 people, poses the strongest challenge yet to the conventional historical view that the ancient Britons were forced out of most of England by hordes of Anglo-Saxon invaders. It suggests that far from being ...

Sunday, 30 June, 2002, 15:31 GMT 16:31 UK English and Welsh are races apart Gene scientists claim to have found proof that the Welsh are the "true" Britons. The research supports the idea that Celtic Britain underwent a form of ethnic cleansing by Anglo-Saxons invaders following the Roman withdrawal in the fifth century. Genetic tests show clear differences between the Welsh and English It suggests that between 50% and 100% of the indigenous population of what was to become England was wiped out, with Offa's Dyke acting as a "genetic barrier" protecting those on the Welsh side. And the upheaval...