News Round Up

This humble London-Roman stylus with a witty message is mixing it up with the treasures of Pompeii Whether as giver or receiver, most people have experienced the deliberately naff holiday present. But few know how this droll practice has a long…

BAGHDAD, IRAQ—The Associated Press reports that artifacts recently recovered from Britain and Sweden were put on display at Iraq’s foreign ministry office in Baghdad. Many of the objects, including 4,000-year-old Sumerian pottery, are thought to…

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND—According to a Live Science report, researchers have analyzed the remains of an Iron Age Celtic woman discovered in a hollowed out tree trunk at a Zurich building site in 2017. Isotope analysis of her bones revealed that the…

LONDON, ENGLAND—The Guardian reports that conservators have found an inscription on one of the 200 Roman styluses recovered from a construction site in London’s historic city center. The engraved stylus dates to around A.D. 70. According to…

CAIRO, EGYPT—Live Science reports that divers led by underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio are investigating the underwater ruins of the city of Heracleion with the help of SSPI, a scanning device capable of detecting and transmitting images of…

VAN, TURKEY—An Urartian royal necropolis dating to the ninth century B.C. has been discovered at the site of Cavustepe Castle in eastern Turkey, according to a report by the Anadolu Agency. The castle is thought to have been constructed by Sarduri…

SHREWSBURY, ENGLAND—According to a report in The Shropshire Star, traces of a road that ran into the inner bailey of Shrewsbury Castle have been discovered by a team of researchers led by archaeologist Nigel Baker. The walls of the castle, which was…

In 2016, a single canine tooth was found at Blick Mead – a major Mesolithic site 2km from Stonehenge. Now further isotopic analyses have revealed a complicated picture of the dog’s diet and possible migration patterns. The post Investigating the…

BROKEN GROUP ISLANDS, BRITISH COLUMBIA—The Tyee reports that one large, intact geoduck clam shell and several geoduck shell fragments have been discovered on Keith Island, in an archaeological deposit dating to between 500 and 1,000 years ago. The…

YEN BAI, VIETNAM—The Vietnam News Agency reports that more than 200 pounds of bronze coins were confiscated by police during a traffic stop in north-central Vietnam. The oldest of the coins dates to 118 B.C., and is thought to have been minted…

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN—The Mainichi reports that fragments of tree bark inscribed with a Buddhist manuscript written in Sanskrit were discovered in Mes Aynak, a Buddhist settlement occupied from the third to seventh centuries A.D. Researchers from the…

KRAKÓW, POLAND—According to a Science in Poland report, remnants of a hearth and stone blades dating to the end of the last Ice Age have been discovered in Hučava Cave in Slovakia’s Bellianske Tatras. Paweł Valde-Nowak of Jagiellonian University…

WEST SUSSEX, ENGLAND—Weapons recovered from a richly equipped late Iron Age grave in southern England are now thought to have belonged to a Gallic warrior who resisted the Roman invasion of Britain, according to a report in The Telegraph. Originally…

SILVES, PORTUGAL—According to a Portugal Resident report, the remains of a one-year-old child and several animals have been found in a pit in southern Portugal’s town of Silves. The burial has been dated to the late thirteenth century, based upon…

ELAZIĞ PROVINCE, TURKEY—A farmer unearthed a food-storage jar dating to the late eighteenth century while plowing a field in eastern Turkey, Hurriyet Daily News reports. The 4.6-foot-tall container was made of red clay and its interior was plastered…

Life and death in a 5th-century ringfort It is not unusual for archaeologists to find caches of artefacts stashed in the ground, but their owners rarely remain nearby. Excavations on the island of Öland are revealing traces of a ringfort’s violent…

As the Novium in Chichester prepares to display the late Iron Age Bersted Warrior and his possessions in January 2020, we talk to archaeologist James Kenny about one of the most spectacular warrior burials ever found in Britain When archaeologists…

The William Morris Gallery is celebrating the centenary of the Bauhaus by teasing out the parallels between 1920s Weimar and late 19th century Walthamstow When you think of the Arts and Crafts movement and its influence on the art that came in its…

The deeds of royal dynasties presiding over Maya city-states in northern Guatemala can still be followed on ornate inscriptions raised in their name. But just how large were their dominions? Tom Garrison tells us how recent survey and follow-up…

A rare Roman priest’s crown is one of the star objects in a fascinating look at jewellery and adornment through three millennia at Colchester Castle Museum This crown is one of two found at Cavenham, Suffolk in 1925 and is believed to have been…