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Boston, Mass., Jan 13, 2023 / 14:00 pm A team of Israeli archaeologists has discovered a sixth-century Byzantine church with highly decorated mosaic floors. The Civil Administration’s Archaeology Unit, which oversees historical sites in Judea and Samaria, announced Wednesday that the church was found in Jericho, a Palestinian town located in the West Bank, according to The Times of Israel. The agency is part of the government of Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, which is part of the Ministry of Defense. The outlet reported that the church is 250 square meters large, which would have made the...

In 2006, the skeleton of a decapitated man was found near the entrance to a Medieval tomb that had been built in the 11th century. At the time, researchers suggested the location of the tomb indicated that the skeleton had likely once belonged to a member of the De Citillio family, who had built the church.Initial study of the skeleton of the young man showed that he was approximately 19 to 24 years old when he died. He had the musculature of an archer and a healed wound on his forehead suggesting he had prior experience in warfare. Closer examination...

Summary: A new study based on 297 ancient Scandinavian genomes analysed together with the genomic data of 16,638 present day Scandinavians resolve the complex relations between geography, ancestry, and gene flow in Scandinavia — encompassing the Roman Age, the Viking Age and later periods. A surprising increase of variation during the Viking period indicates that gene flow into Scandinavia was especially intense during this period.A new study based on 297 ancient Scandinavian genomes analysed together with the genomic data of 16,638 present day Scandinavians resolve the complex relations between geography, ancestry, and gene flow in Scandinavia — encompassing the Roman...

In 1066, Duke William of Normandy left France on a fleet of ships to fight his cousin and competitor for the vacant English throne, Harold Godwinson, and at the Battle of Hastings, the matter was settled. Harold, the last Anglo-Saxon claimant, was dead, and a new age for England began.(1) Had the EU existed then, he'd have never had the chance. Given current EU red tape, efforts to make a replica of La Mora, the ship Williams used to become The Conqueror, mean it may still not be ready for the 1,000 year anniversary. Unless Great Britain, having shucked off...

Three ancient Romanian maps bolster accuracy of “Persian Gulf” name VIENNA (IRNA) -- Three ancient maps kept in a Romanian academy confirm the accuracy of the name Persian Gulf to denote waters off the southern coast of Iran, said an Iranian embassy official in Bucharest Friday. Speaking to IRNA, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that researches made by the Romanian academy uncovered a map called "Asiac Nova Descripto" dating back to 1584 in which the Persian Gulf is historically referred to as "Mar Mesendin Ol Sinus Persicus." The Romanian academy is one of the most important...

Researchers from Kiel University in Germany examined the DNA and skeletal remains of 70 people who were buried in the community cemetery located in Lauchheim Mittelhofen, a town in what is now present-day Germany. All of the burials took place sometime during the Merovingian period (between the fifth and eighth centuries A.D.). The team discovered that more than 30% of the deceased had either hepatitis B(opens in new tab); parvovirus B19(opens in new tab) (which can lead to a rash); variola virus(opens in new tab) (the virus that causes smallpox); or Mycobacterium leprae (one of the two bacteria that causes...

How did people live and die during the harshest months of the year? How did they stay warm? What did they eat? How did they keep themselves entertained in an age before modern day luxuries like electric blankets, double glazing, and Netflix? The onset of the Little Ice Age, between 1300 until about 1870 meant that the long, dark winters of the Late Middle Ages were colder and more dangerous. With starvation and death from illness always threatening to strike, winter was a frightening time. Welcome to Medieval Madness.Surviving Winter in the Middle Ages... | MedievalMadness | 178K subscribers |...

Deep in the forests of central France, an unusual architectural experiment is half-way to completion, as a team of masons replicates in painstaking detail the construction of an entire medieval castle. The ­Chateau de Guedelon was started in 1998, after local landowner Michel Guyot wondered whether it would be possible to build a castle from scratch, using only contemporary tools and materials. Today, the walls are rising gradually from the red Burgundy clay. The great hall is almost finished, with only part of the roof remaining, while the main tower edges past the 15m (50ft) mark. Builders use sandstone quarried...

Deep in secluded woodland, an abandoned quarry reveals a landscape seemingly untouched since the dawn of the last millennium. Out of this wood and stone, using 13th century building techniques, a castle is being created.

For most of human history, the disasters wrought by nature were utterly unpredictable, their causes wholly unknown. They were merely a random act of God that could lay waste to whole cities without warning. On the morning of May 20, 1202, thousands of people across an enormous swath of the Earth experienced such destruction.The Forgotten 1202 earthquakeThe History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered1.13M subscribers | 79,737 views | December 12, 2022

[snip] In 1459, a book was written that contained images so bizarre that even 500 years later their meaning is still shrouded in mystery. It depicts improbable medieval siege engines and machines of war. Figures an extraordinary apparatus and blood-thirsty jewels. Why was this manuscript written, and who could have unlocked its full potential? This book will reveal the secrets of a medieval age far more advanced than future generations could ever imagine. [/snip]The Most Violent Medieval Inventions You Won't Believe Existed Fight Book | Absolute History1.66M subscribers | 1,178,367 views | 50:29 | November 6, 2021

n 1636, according to an 1841 account by Scottish author Charles MacKay, the entirety of Dutch society went crazy over exotic tulips. As Mackay wrote in his wildly popular, Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, as prices rose, people got swept up in a speculative fever, spending a year’s salary on rare bulbs in hopes of reselling them for a profit. Mackay dubbed the phenomenon “The Tulipomania.”

A 900-year-old door - once thought to be covered in human skin - has been identified as the oldest in the UK. Archaeologists discovered the oak door in Westminster Abbey was put in place in the 1050s, during the reign of the Abbey's founder, Edward the Confessor. It makes it the only surviving Anglo Saxon door in Britain. Tests also showed fragments of hide stuck to the door - which legend said was the skin of a punished man - was cow hide, said an Abbey spokeswoman. Stuff of legend Research on the door was funded by English Heritage and...

The bones of men who may have witnessed the tumultuous events of 1066 in Westminster Abbey, when one king was buried and two were crowned in a year, have been discovered along with the skeleton of a three-year-old child buried under Victorian drainage pipes just outside the wall of Poet's Corner... The skeleton, too small and poorly preserved to determine the sex without further scientific tests, appears to have been a person of some status, since he or she was buried in a wooden coffin, unlike some of the monks buried nearby. The child was far too young to be...

Radar pinpoints tomb of King Edward the Confessor By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent (Filed: 02/12/2005) The ancient tomb of Edward the Confessor, one of the most revered of British saints, has been discovered under Westminster Abbey 1,000 years after his birth. The original burial chamber of the Anglo-Saxon king, who died in 1066, months before the invasion of William the Conqueror, was revealed by archaeologists using the latest radar technology. The existence of a number of royal tombs dating back to the 13th and 14th century was also discovered beneath the abbey, the venue for nearly all coronations since 1066....

What is believed to be the original ancient burial tomb of one of our most revered British Saints, Edward the Confessor, has been discovered at Westminster Abbey – exactly 1,000 years after his birth. The discovery comes as part of an unprecedented archaeological study at the Abbey using radar that has also revealed a series of Royal tombs dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries and historical secrets related to Royal burials. Delighted archaeologists came across the forgotten, under-floor chambers when, as part of a larger conservation programme, they were using the latest ground-penetrating radar (GPR) technology to investigate...

The Jewish cemetery at Erfurt served its medieval population from the late 11th century until 1454, when Jews were expelled from the city. Erfurt had been home to a thriving Jewish community(opens in new tab) until that time, although a brutal massacre in 1349 killed more than 100 Jews in the city, possibly because they were incorrectly accused of being responsible for the Black Death.After the 1454 expulsion, a barn and a granary were built on the site of the Jewish cemetery. Centuries later, in 2013, archaeologists unearthed 47 Jewish graves during an archaeological excavation ahead of the site's redevelopment...

Archaeologists in England announced Tuesday they uncovered a medieval burial site so historically significant they’ve termed it “an archaeologist’s dream.” The Museum of London Archaeology team stumbled upon the remains of a woman buried between 630 and 670 AD near the village of Harpole in Northamptonshire, according to The Guardian. Buried alongside her was an intricate necklace made of gold, garnets and various other semi-precious stones. The necklace is reportedly the richest of its kind ever unveiled in Great Britain, and features an unprecedented level of craftsmanship for its period. The grave also contained a large, intricately adorned cross, as...

In an essay for the New York Times 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones argues that the United States was “founded as a Slavocracy” and that racist ideology was the country’s “original sin.” The 1619 Project’s educational curriculum develops this premise further by drawing a direct link between slavery and the policies, laws and culture of present day America. The death of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests strengthened this narrative and led to a flurry of actions. Statues were removed and enquiry commissions set up to expose institutions’ historic links to slavery. Some activists have even argued that...

...The unnamed woman could be seen near the top of El Castillo – or Pyramid of Kukulcán – in the Mexican state of Yucatán dancing while an enraged group of people shouted abuse at her from down below. Ascending the 82-ft pyramid at the Chichen Itza archaeological site – formerly one of the most important centres of the Mayan civilisation – has been prohibited since 2008. ...The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) issued a statement a few hours after the video was released on social media, noting that the monument had not been damaged. Fines for climbing the...