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While working at the Anglo-Saxon site of Sutton Hoo in England, archaeologists found the missing pieces of a 1,500-year-old copper bucket imported from Turkey. The bucket, which is at least a century older than the famed ship burial, may provide a window into how people lived in early medieval times.A team of archaeologists, conservators and volunteers from Time Team, the U.K.'s National Trust and FAS Heritage discovered the metal fragments in late June during excavation and metal-detecting work at Sutton Hoo.Sutton Hoo is best known for its magnificent seventh-century ship burial, whose 1939 discovery was featured in the 2021 movie...

I left off the previous post considering what might have happened if Belisarius had accepted the imperial diadem of the Western Empire when it was offered to him at the end of the first war in Italy in AD 540. Could he have remained on the throne? How would Justinian have reacted? Did Belisarius have the diplomatic and administrative skills to manage the Western Empire? Would his men have remained loyal to him and willing to advance his military goals abroad? In a best-case scenario that's perhaps not too far-fetched, the answer is yes, Belisarius could certainly have ruled...

...In addition to the amphorae, archaeologists found ropes, shoes, a wooden drill and organic "dunnage" or matting, made from vine shoots and grass, that was used to protect the ship's hull from the cargo, Cau said...Many of the amphorae contained the remnants of fish sauce, while others held oil from plants — likely olives, wine, and perhaps olives preserved in vinegar. The distinctive amphorae for different products were labeled with painted inscriptions known as "tituli picti" in Latin, he said...Previous studies found that many of the oil amphorae had seals stamped with a "Chrismon," or Christian monogram — similar to...

A rare dye made from snails for the robes of the Roman elite almost 2,000 years ago has been unearthed at a cricket club. The chunk of Tyrian purple, roughly the size of a ping pong ball, was dug up at Carlisle Cricket Club as part of ongoing yearly excavations. A Roman bathhouse was discovered at the site in 2017 and in the last three years 2,000 items including pottery, weapons, coins and semi-precious stones have been found. Lead archaeologist Frank Giecco said the find was of "international significance" and the first time the precious pigment had been discovered in...

The Persian conquest of Palestine in 614 CE is described in historical sources as a most violent military raid that dramatically affected the political and administrative stability of Byzantine Palestine, involving large scale damage to churches and a mass killing of the local Christian population. Common view has it that the conquest marked a turning point in the history of the Near East and was one of the causes for the rapid Early Islamic conquests, twenty years later. Although the Persian domination - lasting only 14 years (614-628), was a very brief episode in the long historical sequence of Palestine,...

Before France dominated European coin production under Charlemagne, the richest members of the continent's Middle Age societies were likely melting down valuable Byzantine artefacts for legal tender....a collection of ancient coins used throughout north-western Europe at least 1,200 years ago was found to be made of recycled Byzantine silver. It's a finding they say shines a light on 7th-century trade and geopolitics.The origin of the metal stocks was achieved through a lead isotope analysis of the coins from England, the Netherlands and parts of France. Coins minted using silver from Melle, north of Bordeaux, have previously been evaluated, but the...

The greatest collapse of a mighty state, a large human so­ciety and a fruitful civilization of which we possess a reasonably ac­curate record, has been immortal­ized by Edward Gibbon’s histori­cal classic, The Decline and Fall of The Roman Empire. Henry Adams remarked that Gibbon did not really explain the fall; but this criticism is not altogether just. As the following excerpts from The Decline and Fall show, the philosophic historian offered a number of reflections on the symp­toms and causes of the drama which he set out to describe: "This long peace and the uni­form government of the Romans introduced...

The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem sits atop the site of the Second Temple, the central place for Jewish worship before its destruction during the Roman siege of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. One wonders if any of the people braying about the alleged “settler colonialism” of Israel ever wonder how Al-Aqsa got there. Did the Jews voluntarily erect a version of it in an eighth-century homage to multiculturalism? If not, how did the Muslims who built it come to be in Jerusalem in the first place? These are rhetorical questions, of course. The caliphate besieged Jerusalem...

The ornaments contain the earliest known depiction of a Göktürk "khagan," who probably lived in the sixth century.Archaeologists in Kazakhstan have discovered two gold ornaments in a 1,500-year-old tomb that feature the earliest known depictions of the great khan, or "khagan," of the Göktürks — a nomadic confederation of Turkic-speaking peoples who occupied the region for around three centuries, according to an archaeologist who excavated the site...The finds are from the Eleke Sazy site near Kazakhstan's remote eastern borders with China, Mongolia and Russian Siberia, where Samashev and his colleagues have worked since 2016.The sixth-century Göktürk tomb holds the remains...

What has been found at the site?·70 graves are estimated to have been dug into the bedrock.·There are two rings of perimeter ditches.·Of the 18 graves excavated, four contain crouching skeletons.·The researchers have also found fragments of glass from Bordeaux and pottery from North Africa.·They believe that they may find evidence of a church or monastic site.In particular, the archaeologists are interested in fragments of fine glass from Bordeaux and pottery that may have come from as far as North Africa.This suggests that the people buried in the cemetery were of a high status within society and that the site...

There was a book a few years ago entitled "How the Irish Saved Civilization," explaining how Irish monks preserved ancient manuscripts that became the basis for much of Western thought. To give credit where credit is due, however, it must also be acknowledged that when the classic works of ancient Greek thought that form the basis of Western philosophy, political thought, and even literature had vanished almost completely from Western Europe, they were brought there not just from Ireland, but from a place that many assume had vanished from the earth long before: the Roman Empire. If schoolchildren today pause...

A "very rare" ancient gold coin found recently in the mountains of central Norway could be lost cash that once belonged to an early monarch, according to Norwegian officials. The gold coin was discovered by a metal detectorist in Vestre Slidre, a rural city known for skiing, in Norway's south-central Innlandet County. Technically called "histamenon nomisma," the coin was first introduced around 960 C.E. and used as standard Byzantine currency, the Innlandet County Municipality said in a news release. That means the artifact would have traveled more than 1,600 miles from its origin site to the spot where it was...

When Justinian secured the so-called "Eternal Peace" with the Persians in AD 532 after the Battle of Daras, it is likely that he realized that the peace on his eastern frontier would not actually be perpetual. But he probably thought it would last longer that seven or eight years. In any event, the emperor made the most the respite, gathering his substantial forces from the east which had previously been on station to face down the Persian menace, and readying them for a thrust to the West. His first target was the Vandal Kingdom which had ruled Roman Africa for...

Four previously unknown shipwrecks have been discovered some 30 kilometers off the Bay of Irakleio, Crete, in recent underwater exploration conducted by the ephorate of underwater antiquities. The new finds comprise two Roman era shipwrecks, one containing 1st and 2nd-century Cretan amphorae and the other containing 5th-7th century post-Roman era amphorae, and two shipwrecks containing Byzantine amphorae, dated from the 8th-9th century and later. The finds, which were made south and east of the Dia islet, which lies 7 nautical miles north of Irakleio, were documented and taken ashore for further analysis. Three more recent shipwrecks were also discovered, as...

In a heartening revelation, a prominent Italian parliamentarian has ignited excitement and hope by suggesting that Italy might hold certain ancient Temple vessels – and they wish to return them to their rightful home: Israel. The roots of these vessels date back to the destruction of the Second Temple, a pivotal event in Jewish history. Over the millennia, the fate of the Temple treasures became the stuff of legend, with many speculating their whereabouts. The Italian connection traces back to Rome’s conquest of Jerusalem in 70 CE, during which the Romans took many of the Temple’s artifacts. Historical and archeological...

The remains of a Byzantine abbey were identified during the excavation of several Roman tombs near the coast of the Black Sea, according to a Hurriyet Daily News report. “Through historical records, documents and insights gleaned from various travelers and explorers who mentioned specific details, we determined that this site was a [Christian] monastery church, an abbey, dedicated to Roman Emperor Constantine and his wife Helena,” said archaeologist Seçkin Evcim of Ordu University, who directs the project under the supervision of the Ordu Museum with the permission of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums of the Republic of...

Recent floods in Libya have uncovered long-buried archaeological structures in an ancient Greek settlement outside the devastated city of Derna. The magnitude of the catastrophe, however, is impeding preservation efforts.Local authorities discovered the structure while surveying the damage to Cyrene, a Greek city founded in 631 BCE. Cyrene thrived in the fourth century BCE as a center for agricultural and commercial activity, and holds several ancient landmarks such as a temples dedicated to Zeus and Apollo, respectively.But Cyrene is now in dire need of aid after an aging dam burst earlier this month near Derna, unleashing a torrent of water...

The country has been a rich cross-cultural legacy. In the accompanying photo, an image of ancient Cyrene. Founded by the Greeks in the 4th Century BC, Cyrene became a World Heritage Site in 1982. And for good reason: One of the main capitals of the Hellenistic era, it retained its greatness throughout the Roman era until it suffered a devastating earthquake 365 AD.

Italians discover hoard of Roman statuesThe works have been protected by a temple wall which collapsed during an earthquake 1,600 years ago By Edek Osser CYRENE. An Italian team of archaeologists has discovered 76 intact Roman statues at Cyrene in Libya. The discovery is remarkable because the site, once a thriving Greek and then Roman settlement, has been under excavation for the last 150 years. With a nearby coastal port, Apollonia, serving it, Cyrene was once a conurbation equivalent to Alexandria, Carthage and Leptis Magna. An important Dorian colony, founded by Greek settlers from the island of Thera in 631...

Building the Walls of Constantinople | 11:35toldinstone | 421K subscribers | 79,760 views | September 15, 2023