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."

Roman Cemetery Discovered in Central Italy

TUSCANIA, ITALY—According to a Live Science report, the remains of 67 people have been unearthed at the site of a Roman cemetery in central Italy near the site of a possible mansio, a hotel-like villa where officials could stop and rest while traveling on government business. Archaeologist Emanuele Giannini said that historical sources mention a mansio in the same area called Tabellaria. Gold jewelry, remains of leather footwear, pottery, and coins have been recovered from the site, which has been dated to between the second and fourth centuries A.D. Some of the graves were built in the cappuccina style, in which the burial was covered with stones or ceramic tiles arranged in an A-frame shape. Other remains were buried in large ceramic vessels. Evidence of a few cremation burials was also uncovered. Giannini and his colleagues are now working to analyze the remains. “Discovering who they were is part of my research,” he said. To read about a subterranean Jewish necropolis in Rome, go to "Letter from Rome: Secrets of the Catacombs." 

Bronze Hoard From Roman Britain Analyzed

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND—According to a statement released by Newcastle University, a study of the Knaresborough Hoard has been conducted by archaeologist Jessica De Maso and her colleagues at Newcastle University. The 30 objects in the Knaresborough Hoard were discovered in an unknown bog in the British Isles and donated to the Yorkshire Museum in 1864 by Thomas Gott, an iron monger and town councilor who lived in Knaresborough but did not reveal where he had discovered the hoard. Made mostly of bronze, the hoard now includes a large fluted bowl with a scalloped edge, a bronze vessel handle, and several bowls, strainers, and oval plates. X-ray fluorescence analysis shows that many of the items, which would have resembled gold when polished, had been repaired in antiquity. The study suggests that the artifacts may have been buried near a Roman villa or settlement situated in northern England in the Vale of Mowbray, which is located about two miles from Knaresborough. During the Roman period, two roads ran through the area, including a route to York and Hadrian’s Wall. De Maso also thinks there may have once been additional items in the hoard that were mistakenly melted down in Gott’s foundry. To read about a bronze hoard found in East London, go to "Tool Time."

Update from the Ancient Greek City of Tenea

CHILIOMODI, GREECE—Live Science reports that remnants of one of the two aqueducts constructed by the Roman emperor Hadrian (reigned A.D. 117–138) in Greece have been found at the site of the ancient city of Tenea. The aqueduct carried water for more than 50 miles, from Lake Stymphalia to the ancient city of Corinth to the north. The section of the stone-and-mortar aqueduct consists of a channel covered by a semicircular roof and measures about 100 feet long and more than 10 feet tall. Water traveled inside this structure, through a space about two feet wide and four feet tall. Meanwhile, traces of a settlement dated to about 2600 to 2300 B.C., including obsidian tools, animal figurines, and fine imported pottery, as well as furnaces, an olive press, and a cemetery dated to the Roman period, were also uncovered. To read about Hadrian's palatial villa in Tivoli outside of Rome, go to "An Imperial Underworld."

Blended 45,000-Year-Old Toolkit From Northern China Examined

SHUOZHOU, CHINA—Cosmos Magazine reports that a collection of artifacts unearthed at the Shiyu site in northern China has been dated to 45,000 years ago by an international team of researchers using radiocarbon and luminescence dating methods. The artifacts, made by modern humans, includes a mix of Upper Paleolithic and Middle Paleolithic technologies, items made from imported obsidian, and a perforated graphite disk. The analysis of bones at the site, combined with the wear on the unusual group of tools, suggests that Shiyu inhabitants came from a mix of different cultures who adapted to the East Asian environment and hunted horses. “The site reflects a process of cultural creolization—the contact between societies and relocated peoples—blending inherited traits with novel innovations, thus complicating the traditional understanding of Homo sapiens’ global expansion,” commented team member Francesco D’Errico of the University of Bordeaux. For more on Chinese archaeology, go to "China's River of Gold."

When Did Modern Humans Occupy China?

GUIZHOU PROVINCE, CHINA—According to a Xinhua report, a modern human molar; animal bones; and objects made of stone, bone, and horn have been unearthed in southwestern China at the Chuandong site by researchers from the Guizhou Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. Discovered in 1978, the newly excavated layer in which the artifacts were found has been dated to more than 50,000 years ago. Three burials dated to 10,000 years ago and a bone fishhook were also found at the site. For more on Homo sapiens in China, go to "An Opportunity for Early Humans in China."

Chewed Birch Pitch May Reflect Hunter-Gatherers’ Dental Health

MERSIN, TURKEY—Cosmos Magazine reports that a team of researchers led by Emrah Kirdök of Mersin University has analyzed three pieces of 10,000-year-old birch pitch, a sticky substance made by heating birch bark to form a glue-like substance. These pieces of birch pitch were recovered from Huseby Klev, a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer site in western Sweden. The researchers compared the ancient chewed birch pitch with modern samples, ancient human dental plaque, and a 6,000-year-old sample of chewed tar. They found higher levels of bacteria associated with poor dental health in the 10,000-year-old samples, even though chewing birch pitch may have provided some antiseptic and medicinal benefits. Using their teeth for gripping, cutting, and tearing may have exposed the hunter-gatherers to a wide variety of damaging microorganisms, the researchers suggest. DNA from hazelnut, apple, mistletoe, red fox, grey wolf, mallard, limpet, and brown trout were also identified. These materials, in the form of food, furs, and bone tools, may have been chewed by the people before they chewed the birch pitch. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Scientific Reports. To read about DNA embedded in another piece of chewed birch pitch, go to "Around the World: Denmark."

Early Bronze Age Tomb Rediscovered in Ireland

COUNTY KERRY, IRELAND—Traces of a 4,000-year-old tomb thought to have been destroyed in the nineteenth century have been found on southern Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula by folklorist Billy Mag Fhloinn, according to a report in The Guardian. The wedge tomb, known as Altóir na Gréine, or the sun altar, was sketched by an English aristocrat in 1838, but some 14 years later it was reported that the stones had been carried away from the site, presumably for building purposes. Mag Fhloinn filmed the site where the tomb was located as part of an archaeological mapping project, and then noticed a stone resembling one from the historic sketch while converting the video into a 3-D scan. Archaeologist Caimin O’Brien confirmed that a capstone and several large upright stones, which made up about one quarter of the original structure, survive at the site. “For the first time in over 180 years, archaeologists know where the tomb is situated and it will enhance our understanding of wedge tomb distribution,” O’Brien said. Most of the known wedge tombs in Ireland point west or southwest, toward the setting sun, Mag Fhloinn added. “They may be tied into their broader cosmological understanding of the world,” he explained. To read about Neolithic sites in western Ireland, go to "Off the Grid: Rathcroghan, Ireland."