Face of Man Crucified in Roman Britain Recreated

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND—Forensic artist Joe Mullins of George Mason University has reconstructed the face of a man likely crucified by the Romans, according to a BBC News report. The man’s remains, including a nail through his heel, were discovered in 2017 at a Roman settlement site in the East of England. The site has been dated to the third and fourth centuries A.D. “This man had such a particularly awful end that it feels as though by seeing his face you can give more respect to him,” commented bone specialist Corinne Duhig of Cambridge University. She noted that there were signs of other injuries on the bones, and evidence of an infection or inflammation, perhaps from an illness or from time being bound and shackled. “He was tortured yet given over to his population to have an absolutely normal burial,” she said. Wear and tear on the bones indicate the man had been a manual laborer, while isotopic and DNA analysis of the remains indicate that he may have had brown hair, brown eyes, and probably lived in the area throughout his life, she added. To read about a man buried in Roman Britain with iron fetters around his ankles, go to "Identifying the Unidentified."

Remains from Mexico’s Palace of Cortés Reevaluated

CUERNAVACA, MEXICO—Live Science reports that a skeleton discovered in 1971 at the entrance to the palace of the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés in south-central Mexico has been reexamined by Pablo Neptalí Monterroso Rivas and Isabel Bertha Garza Gómez of Mexico’s National Institute of History and Anthropology (INAH). The Tlahuica, an Aztec people, occupied this area of Mexico as early as A.D. 1150, and built a city named Cuauhnáhuac. Cortés destroyed the city in 1521 and built his palace in 1535 on the ruins of the Aztec tax collection house. When these bones were first analyzed, the researchers concluded that they likely belonged to the Spanish monk Juan Leyva, since historic records showed that he had been buried near a gate at the palace. The new study suggests that the shape of the skull and pelvis indicate that the remains actually belonged to a woman between the ages of 30 and 40 at the time of her death. The crouched position of the burial, and some flattening at the back of the skull, perhaps from the practice of cranial modification, indicate that she may have been Tlahuica. Monterroso Rivas and Gómez think the woman was buried between 1500 and 1521, perhaps as part of a ritual event. They also identified the bones of an infant and a child among the remains. Additional testing of the bones may reveal if the individuals were related. To read about excavations of the Aztec capital, go to "Under Mexico City."

The Process of Roman Winemaking Investigated

CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND—According to a report in The Charlotte Observer, Dimitri Van Limbergen of Ghent University and Paulina Komar of the University of Warsaw compared Roman dolia, a type of large, earthenware jar used to make, ferment, and store wine, with qvevri, a similar sort of vessel used in Georgia, where wine making dates back some 8,000 years. The process of making wine in Georgia in antiquity was documented in more detail than in Rome, however, and qvevri are still used in Georgia to produce the beverage. The study found that mineral content in the clay of the dolia contributed to the flavor of the finished wine. It was also determined that the egg shape of the vessel created internal convection currents that stirred up the dead yeasts, grape skins, and other solids in the grape juice mixture to produce a more homogenous final product. Depending upon whether or not the grape skins had been left in the mix, or filtered out with strainers, the finished wine could have come in a range of colors, such as white, reddish-yellow, blood red, and black. Burying the dolia, as they have been found at Pompeii and Villa Regina in Boscoreale, would have created a constant temperature for the fermentation process over a period of months. Limbergen and Komar concluded that finished Roman wine was likely spicy and smelled like toast, apples, roasted walnuts, and curry. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Antiquity. To read more about the production of ancient wine and spirits, go to "Alcohol Through the Ages."

Legionary’s Arm Guard Reconstructed from Brass Fragments

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND—According to an ArtNet News report, more than 100 fragments of a brass arm guard unearthed in 1906 at Trimontium, a fort on the Roman Empire’s northern frontier, have been reassembled by researchers from National Museums Scotland. Team member Fraser Hunter said that the armor would have offered protection from the shoulder to the hand of the legionary who wore it, but it would have also served as a status symbol. “Brass was expensive and would have gleamed like gold on his sword arm,” Hunter explained. The design of the piece of armor is thought to have been inspired by gear worn by gladiators. To read about artifacts recently discovered at the Roman frontier camp of Novae in northern Bulgaria, go to "Legionary Personal Effects."   To see a video about the process of conserving the arm guard, click below.  

Estonia Repatriates Recovered Artifacts to Ukraine

TALLINN, ESTONIA—ERR News reports that Estonia will repatriate to Ukraine artifacts recovered by customs officers during a routine check at the border with Russia in 2018. “The material is quite diverse, containing parts of several treasures from different regions,” said archaeologist Nele Kangert of Estonia’s National Heritage Board. “This suggests we are dealing with a black-market network,” she explained. Toomas Huik, commander of the Luhamaa border point, said that the officers first spotted a piece of yellowish metal wrapped in paper in the cab of a truck that had been carrying meat. A search of the vehicle revealed a total of 274 ancient gold and silver items, including jewelry, coins, a chalice, and horse headgear. Analysis of the artifacts identified one of the coins as a golden stater of King Lysimachus, who became ruler of Thrace after the death of Alexander the Great. Pieces of 2,300-year-old Scythian gold jewelry were also identified. Further investigation and consultation with archaeologists from Ukraine showed that many of the objects originated in eastern and southern Ukraine, although it is not yet clear if all of the objects were stolen from small museums or had been looted from the ground. To read about gold artifacts recovered from an ancient burial chamber in Bulgaria, go to "Thracian Treasure Chest."

Roman Triumphal Arch Unearthed in Serbia

KOSTOLAC, SERBIA—The square foundation footprints of a triumphal arch have been discovered in Serbia on the main street in Viminacium, the ancient capital of the Roman province of Moesia, according to a Reuters report. The excavation team also uncovered a pillar, beams, and a fragment of a marble slab engraved with the letters CAES/ANTO, which suggest that the arch was dedicated to the emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, or Caracalla, who reigned from A.D. 198 to 217. “This is the first such triumphal arch in this area…It can be dated to the first decades of the third century A.D.,” commented archaeologist Miomir Korać. The fortified city of Viminacium featured a hippodrome, a forum, a palace, temples, an amphitheater, aqueducts, baths, and workshops, and was home to about 45,000 people between the first and sixth centuries A.D. Korać hopes that more pieces of the triumphal arch will be found. To read about a flat-bottomed ship found in a strip mine near Viminacium, go to "Roman River Cruiser."  

Freshwater Crab Remains Found in Pits at Palenque

CHIAPAS, MEXICO—Newsweek reports that the fragile remains of more than 1,300 freshwater crabs have been found in two deposits at the palace complex at Palenque, a Maya city in southeastern Mexico. Crabs, which were considered to be symbolic of regeneration, may have been chosen for a ritual to commemorate milestones in the construction of the palace between A.D. 500 and 700, according to Carlos Varela Scherrer and his colleagues at Mexico’s National Institute of History and Anthropology. “For the ancient Maya, it was important to hold ritual banquets where food was shared between the participants and the deities,” Scherrer explained. The food and other objects were then burned, placed in pits in the floor, and covered with dirt. A stucco head thought to represent a ruler of Palenque, a ceramic vessel depicting a Maya deity, and a pipe in the shape of a river prawn were also recovered from these pits. “The recovery of crabs in Palenque opens new interpretations about the use of fauna and its cuisine,” Scherrer concluded. To read about another discovery at Palenque, go to "Inside a Painted Tomb."

Roman-Era Dodecahedron Discovered in England

LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND—Live Science reports that a well-preserved dodecahedron was discovered in a farmer’s field in England’s East Midlands by members of a local volunteer organization known as the Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group. About 100 dodecahedrons, dated to between the first and third centuries A.D., have been found, but only in northwestern Europe, in areas inhabited by Gauls or Celts. This dodecahedron is large, about the size of a grapefruit, whereas other examples have been as small as a golf ball. The objects do not bear any inscriptions, and no descriptions of them have ever been found in Roman texts, making it unclear what purpose they may have served. Archaeologists have suggested that they were used as toys, dice, maces, slingstones, range-finding devices for artillery, or perhaps served a religious or cultic function for fortune telling or sorcery. To read about a massive Roman building complex unearthed in North Yorkshire, go to "Leisure Seekers."

Medieval Cemetery Uncovered in Ukraine

KYIV, UKRAINE—A 1,000-year-old cemetery has been discovered in Ukraine, according to a Live Science report. Vsevolod Ivakin and Vyacheslav Baranov of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine said that most of the 107 graves in the cemetery contained wooden coffins. Some of the men were buried with axes, spearheads, or swords, while a few of the women were buried wearing elaborate neck rings, thought to have been used as markers of their status. Wooden buckets found at the feet of some of the individuals may have been used in funerary rituals, the researchers added. Such buckets have been found in other burials in the region. A stone altar, bracelets, beads, and traces of possible food offerings including chicken bones and eggshells were also uncovered in the cemetery. The altar may have been used for Christian or pagan rituals, or even both, the researchers explained, since it dates to the period when people in Ukraine were converting to Christianity. Some of the artifacts recovered from the graves resemble objects found in graves in the Baltic, indicating that some of the dead may have traveled to Kyiv to serve in the military under Volodymyr the Great, who ruled from A.D. 980 to 1015 and converted to Christianity around A.D. 987, and Yaroslav the Wise, who ruled from A.D. 1019 to 1054. To read about the Cossack capital city of Baturyn that Peter the Great destroyed in 1708, go to "Ukraine's Lost Capital."

Iron Age Runes Identified in Denmark

ODENSE, DENMARK—According to a report in The Guardian, a word written in runes has been found on a 2,000-year-old iron knife in Denmark. The knife was recovered from a grave found on the island of Funen. Archaeologist Jakob Bonde said that the five engraved characters, which were followed by three grooves, became visible only after the artifact had been cleaned. They spell the word hirila, which translates to “little sword” in Old Norse, and probably refers to the knife itself, he explained. “It’s an extraordinary find for us and it says something about the development of the earliest Scandinavian language,” Bonde said. Literacy was not widespread at the time, and would have been connected to status and power, added runologist Lisbeth Imer of the National Museum of Denmark. To read about runestone inscriptions referencing Queen Thyra, the mother of King Harald Bluetooth, go to "Denmark's Founding Mother."

Archaeomagnetism Dates Construction of Babylon’s Ishtar Gate

ROME, ITALY—According to a Live Science report, Anita Di Chiara of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Lisa Tauxe of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and their colleagues measured the geomagnetic fields of samples of five fired mud bricks from Babylon’s Ishtar Gate, which has been reconstructed at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. Construction of the gate was begun by King Nebuchadnezzar II, who reigned from 605 to 562 B.C., to celebrate the Babylonian Empire’s conquest of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Bricks from the first phase of construction of the gate are inscribed with the name of the king. Bricks from the second and third phases of construction, however, are not. Some researchers have suggested that possible changes in style in these later phases of construction of the gate could indicate that it was completed after the king’s death. Yet the magnetic field measurements of all five brick samples dated to 583 B.C. “The age is based on the period of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, during which the order to build the gate was given,” and the king was likely still alive when the project was completed, the researchers concluded. Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS ONE. For more on the construction of the Ishtar Gate, go to "The Last King of Babylon."