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It won’t catch any fish, but the discovery of as many as 20,000 silver coins and pieces of jewelry dates back to the early Middle Ages. Here’s what you’ll learn when you read this story: A fisherman digging for worms at his summer home in Sweden instead discovered over 13 pounds of buried silver treasure. The hoard comes from the early Middle Ages, and includes mostly coins (and some jewelry). The entire cache of silver was tucked inside a copper pot. A Swedish fisherman searching for gooey, juicy worms to use as bait near his summer home near Stockholm instead...

Welcome back to Saving Castles! Join us for an exclusive private tour of Château de Gizeux, one of the Loire Valley's most remarkable survival stories. When the French Revolution threatened to destroy this 600-year-old castle, one brave woman's ingenious plan saved priceless Renaissance treasures that remained hidden for over a century. 600 Year Old Castle's Secret: How Fake Walls Saved Priceless Art | Part 1 | 21:20 Saving Castles | 15.3K subscribers | 83,441 views | May 26, 2025 The incredible survival story of the François I Gallery's 400-year-old painted walls How false walls and ceilings protected Renaissance art from...

Sweden's Arkeologerna announced that archaeologists working in Viggbyholm, Täby, outside of Stockholm, unearthed a stunning 1,000-year-old Viking Age treasure trove. The site was inhabited from around a.d. 400 to 1050 and contains more than 20 houses and other buildings. Beneath the flooring of one structure, former occupants concealed an array of valuables they were never able to retrieve, for reasons that are still unknown. The collection includes eight silver neck torcs, two silver armbands, one ring, two pearls, and 12 coins that were turned into pendants. These had been carefully wrapped in a cloth purse and placed in a ceramic...

A man hunting for fishing worms near his summer house in the Stockholm area has made an amazing discovery: a large hoard of silver coins and jewelry from the early Middle Ages. The hoard, weighing around six kilograms (13 pounds), consists of thousands of silver coins mixed with rings, pendants, and beads. The finder immediately informed the Stockholm County Administrative Board, which began an archaeological excavation of the site. The hoard is described by experts as unusually large and well-preserved. The items were placed in a copper cauldron that has mostly decayed over the centuries. “This is likely one of...

Nor were written documents neglected in those days. Led by John Hunwick, R.S. O'Fahey, and others, historians increasingly tapped the many Arabic and other written documents of Islamic Africa to reconstruct the past of those societies. The Arab Literature of Africa series of catalogues, published by E. J. Brill in the Netherlands, has continued to attract attention to this formerly neglected area of the Islamic world, which has had much impact not only on other parts of Africa but even on the central Islamic lands themselves but which had been shamefully and systematically neglected in Brockelmann's monumental five volume history...

Leif Erikson Day is observed on October 9 each year. This day honors the Norse explorer Leif Erikson, who is believed to have led the first European expedition to reach North America (outside Greenland), and celebrates his legacy of exploration, courage, and the contributions of Nordic heritage.

Parmesan, formally known as Parmigiano-Reggiano, hails from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region and has been crafted for over 900 years. True Parmesan is protected by DOP status, ensuring traditional, regional production. Rich in protein, calcium, phosphorus and essential vitamins like B12 and K2, Parmesan can support bone, muscle and immune health. It’s low in carbs and lactose, making it keto- and lactose-intolerant-friendly.

Ancient Iraqi Art Determined Poisonous Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Jan. 22, 2007 — Some ninth century Iraqi artists may have literally died for their art, suggests new analysis of Iraqi stucco fragments from this period. A fragment, taken from the ancient palace-city of Samarra, contains three arsenic-based pigments that are known to be poisonous and may cause cancer upon exposure. Although the findings will not be published until May in the Journal of Archaeological Science, curators at London's Victoria and Albert Museum, where the fragments are housed, have already taken special handling precautions. "The fragments are stored in a locked...

Detail from Fra Mauro's map, a work of unprecedented thoroughness and accuracy. PUBLIC DOMAIN If you had landed in Venice during the mid-15th century, you might have been accosted by a monk with a prominent nose and baggy, smurf-like hat. Ignoring your exhaustion and atrocious body odor after a long sea journey, he would have dragged you to a nearby tavern and cross-examined you about your travels. What was the weather like? What kind of precious gems were mined? What animals did you encounter, and how many heads did they have?The monk was Fra Mauro, a 15th-century version of Google...

View of winged Lion of Venice at Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy. (Photo by BGStock72 on Shutterstock) In A Nutshell Scientific testing shows Venice’s bronze Lion of St .Mark was cast in China during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618–907), not in Europe. Lead-isotope analysis traced the copper to the Guishan, Yaojialing, and Anji mines along China’s Lower Yangzi River. Stylistic evidence reveals it began as a mythic tomb guardian called a zhènmùshòu, complete with horns and bat-like ears later cut away. Venetian merchants, possibly the Polo family, may have refashioned the statue into a winged lion as Venice’s new...

Centuries of human history have been frozen in time inside the towering nests of bearded vultures, Europe’s most endangered raptors, and have revealed a surprising archive of ancient artefacts carried aloft by the birds themselves. A Spanish research team who were excavating 12 ancient eyries in southern Spain’s rugged cliffs uncovered 2,483 preserved remains in a study published recently in the Ecology journal. Among them: 2,117 animal bones, 86 hooves, 72 leather scraps, 43 eggshell fragments—and 226 human-made objects, some dating back over 650 years via carbon-14 analysis. “These nests have acted as natural museums,” the authors wrote, who credited...

The iconic Eilean Donan Castle is one of the most picturesque spots in Scotland and has even appeared in Hollywood films. According to a statement released by National Museums Scotland, an exquisite object worthy of the majestic setting was recently recovered during excavations led by FAS Heritage. The team uncovered a rare thirteenth-century tool known as a gravoir, which was used to precisely part hair and create elaborate hairstyles. The item was carved from local red deer antler and shaped into a human figure wearing a hood and holding a book. It is only the third such object of its...

1:40 The heavy plough. 3:02 Eyeglasses. 4:28 Rotating three-field system. 6:02 Windmill post. 7:31 Magnetic compass. 9:00 Trebuchet. 11:10 Flying buttress. 13:13 Astrolabe. 15:15 Clockwork. 18:09 Gothic rose window. 10 Medieval Inventions So Advanced We Still Can't Beat Them | 22:54 Medieval Wisdom | 56.9K subscribers | 143,125 views | August 21, 2025

Dr Karel Fraaije travels back in time to explore a hidden treasure from the English Middle Ages: the Hereford World Map. This enormous artwork shows what thirteenth-century scholars from England thought our planet looks like.The document is dotted with ancient legends, biblical sites, and a great number of presumptions about strange and distant places. The mapmakers even proposed that some people on the edges of the known world had faces in their chests.The video concludes with debunking a common myth about the middle ages: contrary to modern popular opinion, medieval mapmakers did not believe that the world was flat. This...

The fourteenth-century Icelandic Edwardsaga chronicles the life of Edward the Confessor, the last Anglo-Saxon king of England (reigned 1042–1066). It also describes how, in the years after the Norman Conquest in 1066 -- when William the Conqueror invaded England and was crowned king -- 350 ships carrying English warriors set out for Constantinople. There, the Byzantine emperor employed the Anglo-Saxons as members of the Varangian Guard, an elite unit of foreign soldiers that served as his personal army. Such was their loyalty, says the Edwardsaga, that the emperor deeded them land six days' sailing north of Constantinople. There, presumably on...

Archaeologist Greer Jarrett at Lund University in Sweden has been sailing in the footsteps of Vikings for three years. He can now show that the Vikings sailed farther away from Scandinavia, and took routes farther from land, than was previously believed to have been possible. In his latest study, he has found evidence of a decentralised network of ports, located on islands and peninsulas, which probably played a central role in trade and travel in the Viking era. Traveling in the wake of the Vikings | 5:35 Lund University | 29.4K subscribers | 18,547 views | May 20, 2025 From...

Recent research into the famous wreck of the Danish-Norwegian ship Gribshunden has revealed new details about the artillery and armament of medieval seagoing vessels, according to a statement released by Lund University. Gribshunden was built in the 1480s and became the royal flagship of King Hans of Denmark and Norway. The monarch used the vessel much like a floating castle and personally sailed on it frequently -- not only for exploration but to solidify his grasp of his kingdom. The ship mysteriously sank in 1495 off the coast of Ronneby, Sweden. It is often considered the best-preserved wreck from the...

According to a statement released by The National Museum of Denmark, a small figurine long-hidden in its collections has recently been rediscovered and is providing new information about Viking Age fashions. The exquisitely carved, one-inch-tall object was whittled out of expensive walrus ivory and likely served as a gaming piece for a Viking Age game resembling chess. It was first discovered in a burial in Viken in 1797 and has been in the National Museum's storerooms for more than 200 years. However, it recently caught the attention of curator Peter Pentz, who was struck by the figurine's realistic features. Although...

Viking warriors filed deep grooves in their teeth, and they likely had to smile broadly to show them off, according to new finds in four major Viking Age cemeteries in Sweden. Caroline Arcini of Sweden's National Heritage Board analyzed 557 skeletons of men, women and children from between 800 and 1050 A.D. They discovered that 22 of the men bore deep, horizontal grooves across the upper front teeth. "The marks are traces of deliberate dental modifications ... they are so well-made that most likely they were filed by a person of great skill," Arcini wrote in the current issue of...

These two brooches were part of a small hoard discovered along with a gold arm ring in southwestern Jutland, Denmark. Dated to the Viking Age (A.D. 793 to 1066), the brooches are decorated with ornamental wire bent into delicate shapes.Each gold brooch measures about 3.3 inches (8.5 centimeters) in diameter and weighs between 2.1 to 2.6 ounces (60 to 75 grams), according to a 1994 study by Lene Frandsen, curator at the Varde Museum. The designs on the brooches include examples of both Norse and Christian art, according to the National Museum of Denmark, where the accessories are on display.One...