19th-Century Steelworks Unearthed in Northern England

SOUTH YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that a nineteenth-century steelworks, including a crucible furnace, has been uncovered in northern England in a cellar at the site of Sheffield Castle, which was destroyed in 1648 during the English Civil War. The crucible furnace would have reached more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit to refine blister steel into higher quality crucible steel. Curving stone stairs to reach the cellar were found, along with a letter “H” scratched into a brick on one of the walls. A loose brick revealed a hole dug out behind it that may have been used as a hiding place. “These remnants of Sheffield’s industrial past not only remind us of the role steel working played in the growth and identity of this city, but also encourage us to consider the people behind it—who would, by modern standards at least, have worked in an unpleasant and challenging environment,” said archaeologist Ashley Tuck of Wessex Archaeology. To read about excavations of one of London's nineteenth-century workhouses, go to "Workhouse Woes."

Traces of Feasts Found at Roman Necropolis in France

NARBONNE, FRANCE—Excavation of the Robine necropolis, which was discovered in southern France in 2017, has uncovered more than 1,400 graves dating from the first century B.C. to the end of the third century A.D., according to a Live Science report. Researchers from the French National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research said that the cemetery served the Roman colony of Narbo Martius, and was well preserved by some 10 feet of silt laid down by flooding of the nearby Aude River. More than 100 of the burials contain children’s remains that had been placed in boxes or pits closed with a cover. Most of the adults had been cremated, but some were buried in wooden coffins. Charred food found in the graves, including dates, figs, cereals, and bread, may have been deposited through ceramic libation tubes by family members on Feralia, the last day of the nine-day Roman festival of Parentalia. Stone structures that may have been used as banquet beds for the feasters were also uncovered. To read about excavations of the Roman city of Augustodunum in central France, go to "Gaul's University Town."

Los Angeles Museum Will Repatriate Bronze Sculpture to Turkey

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA—According to a report in The New York Times, the J. Paul Getty Museum will repatriate a, 2,000-year-old bronze sculpture purchased from an antiquities dealer in 1971. An investigation conducted by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit at the Manhattan district attorney’s office indicates that the sculpture, “Head from a Statue of a Youth,” was likely stolen in the 1960s from Bubon, a Roman-era settlement in southwestern Turkey. The body of the statue has not been identified. The Manhattan district attorney’s office has also secured the return of several other Bubon artifacts with fabricated or misrepresented provenances that were held by American collectors. To read about an ancient Roman city in southern Turkey, go to "Zeugma After the Flood."  

Ancient DNA Reveals Kinship Structure of Eurasia's Avars

LEIPZIG, GERMANY—According to a CNN report, new analysis of ancient DNA samples from the Avars, a population of nomads from the Eurasian Steppe who dominated eastern central Europe for 250 years from the mid-sixth to early ninth century A.D, is shedding light on Avar social and marriage practices. Originating in eastern-central Asia as part of a coalition of tribes known as the Rouran khaganate, which was defeated in A.D. 550 by the Turks, the Avars traveled from Mongolia to Caucasus and settled in the Carpathian Basin of present-day Hungary in A.D. 567–568. While hundreds of thousands of lavish burials of Avar men—which included horses, saddles, and harnesses—have been excavated, no written historical records remain that document their lifestyle. In the study, researchers led by Guido Alberto Gnecchi Ruscone of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology examined DNA from more than 300 people who were buried in four Avar-period cemeteries in Hungary across a span of nine generations. They determined that these Avars practiced a system of patrilineal kinship. This included patrilocality, a system where men remained in their communities following marriage, and female exogamy, whereby women typically married outside of their own groups and maintained social cohesion between communities. Analysis of identity-by-descent DNA connections demonstrated a high level of variability in the female lineage. This suggests that women who married into the Avar community were from far-flung places, but retained a shared “steppe” ancestry, indicating they were not likely a local people conquered by the Avars. That finding was also substantiated by a lack of interbreeding. In many cases, men were found to have multiple partners, and closely related men often had offspring with the same women partners, in which case widows were likely required to marry male family members to bear sons. According to the researchers, these patterns, in which children belong to their father’s family and ancestry is traced father to son, correspond with previous evidence of Eurasian steppe societies. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Nature. To read more about the archaeology of the Avars, go to “The Avars Advance.”

Part of an 18th-Century Water System Found in Scotland

EAST RENFREWSHIRE, SCOTLAND—According to a report in The Glasgow Times, a circular structure made of blonde sandstone was uncovered during a construction project in Barrhead, which is located in west-central Scotland. The eighteenth-century structure is thought to have been part of a gravitational system to provide fresh water to the town. Local residents are advocating for the preservation of the feature and its incorporation into the new construction, while a team from the West of Scotland Archaeology Service look for any additional surviving structures. To read about artifacts uncovered at the site of an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century tavern near Brora, go to "Around the World: Scotland."

Islamic-Era Sword Identified in Spain

VALENCIA, SPAIN—Newsweek reports that a sword discovered in 1994 in a historic section of Valencia has been dated to the tenth century A.D. by the Archaeology Service of the Valencia City Council (SIAM) through analysis of the sediment layers at the site. Islamic rule of the Iberian Peninsula began in A.D. 711 and ended in 1492, making the sword the first Islamic-era weapon to be found in Valencia. The sword has a slightly curved blade and measures about 18 inches long. Its hilt is decorated with bronze plates. Because of its size and its lack of a hand guard, SIAM researchers suggest it may have been used by a horseman. Based upon the shape of the weapon, it had been previously thought to have been crafted by the Germanic Visigoths, who ruled the region from the fifth to the eighth centuries A.D. To read about a twelfth-century Islamic bathhouse discovered in Seville, go to "Bathing at the Bar."

Gweagal Spears Repatriated to Australia

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND—The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Gweagal spears, a collection made up of one hunting spear and three fishing spears that were taken from the Gweagal people of Kamay in 1770 by James Cook, have been repatriated to the La Perouse Aboriginal Community. Cook, a British naval lieutenant at the time, traveled to Australia on the HMB Endeavour. He recorded removing 40 spears from the Gweagal people during his eight-day stay at Botany Bay. Cook also wrote in his journal that two of the men threw rocks and spears at the ship’s crew while the British fired a warning shot. This meeting is thought to be the first contact between the British and Aboriginal peoples of Australia, said Ray Ingrey of the Gujaga Foundation. “I have an ancient and unbroken connection to Sydney,” Ingrey said. “I heard from my elders, particularly my great aunty, who told us of the arrival of the Endeavour. She would talk about the conflict and also some of the artifacts and materials that were taken,” he added. The spears were given to Cambridge University's Trinity College in 1771, and have been held at the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology since 1914. The weapons will be soon be kept at a new visitor center in Kamay. “Ultimately, they’ll be put on permanent display for everyone to go see, at the very spot they were taken from 250 years ago,” Ingrey said. To read about Europeans' disastrous first voyage to Australia, go to "Letter from Australia: Murder Islands."

Charred Scroll From Herculaneum Read With AI

NAPLES, ITALY—Graziano Ranocchia of the University of Pisa and his colleagues have used infrared and ultraviolet optical imaging, thermal imaging, tomography, and artificial intelligence to decipher text on pieces of charred papyrus recovered from Herculaneum, a Roman town destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, according to a Live Science report. Some of the fragments, which have been held at the National Library of Naples, belong to a scroll containing a work called “The History of the Academy” by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus of Gadara, who lived from about 110 to 30 B.C. In this work, Philodemus offered details about the life of Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived in the fourth century B.C., including that he had been buried in a private garden reserved for the Platonic school of the Academy in Athens, near a small shrine sacred to the Muses. Prior to this discovery, it had only been known that Plato had been buried at the Academy, the researchers explained. To read more about the library from the so-called Villa of the Papyri, go to "The Charred Scrolls of Herculaneum."

Rare Turtle Statue Found in Angkor

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA—A rare sandstone sculpture of a turtle has been found at Bayon Temple in the Angkor Archaeological Park in Siem Reap, according to a report in The Phnom Penh Post. The Bayon temple was built in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century A.D. during the reign of the Khmer ruler Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181–1220) and is best known for the many enormous carved faces of the Buddha that adorn its highly decorated exterior. The sculpture was found beneath a previously unknown pond by archaeologists from the Apsara National Authority (ANA), which oversees the park. “While many believed there was nothing left to find, our archaeological research has uncovered evidence that Bayon Temple actually boasted two ponds on its eastern side,” says ANA spokesperson Long Kosal. “This necessitates a reassessment of the historical significance of these sites.” Bayon Temple is just one of hundreds of structures built by the Khmer rulers from the ninth to fifteenth century, including Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, that are now inside the 155-square-mile park. To read about a lidar survey of 900 square miles of the greater Angkor region, go to "Angkor Urban Sprawl," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2017.

Teotihuacan's Pyramids Damaged By Ancient Earthquakes

MADRID, SPAIN—A new study of pyramids at the ancient city of Teotihuacan by a team of Spanish geologists has documented damage to the structures caused by five devastating megathrust earthquakes that hit the site between about A.D. 100 and 600, Live Science reports. At its height, the population of Teotihuacan, which is located northeast of Mexico City, reached some 100,000 residents. Megathrust earthquakes occur at subduction zones of tectonic plates, and though they tend to happen more infrequently than other seismic events, their magnitude is much greater. The researchers recorded the effects of immense ground shaking on the Temple of the Feathered Serpent, the Pyramid of the Sun, and the Pyramid of the Moon. The structural damage included fracturing and dislodging of large masonry blocks used to construct the buildings, as well as chipping of blocks that comprised the pyramids' outer stairs. "The initial response by the Teotihuacanos was to reinforce the Sun Pyramid, the largest structure in their city, along its north-south axis in an attempt to fortify it against future earthquakes," said geologist Raúl Pérez-López of the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain. "Additionally, they repurposed and removed other elements damaged by seismic activity. Interestingly, they opted to conceal one of the most conspicuous signs of earthquake damage: the rotation and displacement of the west staircase of the Temple of the Feathered Serpent." Despite these efforts, he said, the earthquakes were likely a contributing factor to the city's precipitous population decline and later abandonment at the end of the seventh century. "The disruption caused by a devastating earthquake not only shakes the physical foundations of a society but also destabilizes its social and political structures," Pérez-López concluded. "This creates fertile ground for unrest, potentially sparking rebellions fueled by neighboring cities and exacerbating existing tensions." Read the original scholarly article about this research in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. To read about liquid mercury found beneath the Feathered Serpent Pyramid, go to "Mythological Mercury Pool," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2015.

Sacred Spring Unearthed Beneath Roman Ruins in France

PARIS, FRANCE—According to a Live Science report, near the village of Chamborêt north of the French city of Limoges, archaeologists have uncovered a freshwater spring likely dating to between 4,500 and 6,000 years ago below the remnants of a Roman-era pool. The Roman ruins, which date to the third century A.D., probably formed a landscaped basin surrounded by a wall of granite stones. A team of archaeologists from the French National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) have also recovered Late Roman pottery sherds, coins, and a ceramic fragment that potentially depicts the face of Medusa or a water deity. Prior to Roman occupation, the earliest evidence of structures at the site includes a rectangular dry-stone building, postholes, sandpits, and what may have been a wood building. Such structures, they believe, were likely part of a home and farm that had been abandoned for several centuries before its revival during the Roman era. An ancient pit found beneath the pool alongside several objects date to the site’s earliest occupation during the Neolithic period. Artifacts from that era include fragments of flint, bricks and tiles singed from a fire, and pieces of a Grand Pressigny dagger—named for another Neolithic site in France. The discoveries, according to the team, offer a glimpse into regional life during Late Antiquity and the transition to the early Middle Ages. For more on the archaeology of Roman Gaul, go to “Off the Grid: Vienne, France.”