Archaeologists discover 2,000-year-old ‘Sphinx Room’ hidden in Emperor Nero’s Golden Palace
Archaeologists discover 2,000-year-old ‘Sphinx Room’ hidden in Emperor Nero’s Golden Palace
Archaeologists have discovered a hidden vault in the ruins of Roman Emperor Nero’s sprawling palace, hidden under the hills near Rome’s ancient Colosseum.
According to a statement (translated from Italian) from the Colosseum archaeological park, which includes the palace’s ruins, the chamber has sat hidden for nearly 2,000 years, likely dating to between A.D. 65 and A.D. 68.
The chamber, nicknamed the Sphinx Room, is richly adorned with murals of real and mythical creatures including — you guessed it — a sphinx.
One of the walls of the newly discovered room is painted with a little sphinx.
Painted in rich red, green and yellow pigments that have survived the last two millennia incredibly well, the vaulted room is also decorated with images of a centaur, the goat-rumped god Pan, myriad plant and water ornaments, and a scene of a sword-wielding man being attacked by a panther.
According to the statement, the Sphinx Room was discovered accidentally, while researchers were setting up to restore a nearby chamber.
One of the centaur frescoes in the newly-discovered chamber
The room’s curved ceilings are 15 feet (4.5 meters) high, and much of the room is still filled in with dirt.
Nero began constructing his massive palace — known as the Domus Aurea, or “golden house” — in A.D. 64 after a devastating, six-day-long fire reduced two-thirds of Rome to ashes.
That researchers are still uncovering new rooms in the Domus Aurea after hundreds of years of excavation (the ruins were first rediscovered in the 15th century) is no surprise. In its prime, the palace sprawled over four of Rome’s famous seven hills and is believed to have included at least 300 rooms.
Thanks, in part, to his narcissistic construction project, Nero’s reputation suffered in the eyes of history, and he is remembered today as a power-mad despot. Following Nero’s suicide in A.D. 68, much of his palace was looted, filled with earth, and built over.
One of the palace’s central features, a large manmade lake, was eventually covered up by the Flavian Amphitheater — better known as the Roman Colosseum — in A.D. 70.
Thanks to the lake’s infrastructure, the bottom of the Colosseum was occasionally flooded to wage mock naval battles, bringing glory to the mad emperor’s successors.
Century-Old Little Girl Found In Coffin Under San Francisco Home Identified
Researchers announced that the 19th-century body of a little girl found last year in a small metal casket under a San Francisco home was identified. The girl was Edith Howard Cook, two-year-old, who died on October 13, 1876, six weeks short of her third birthday, said the charity Garden of Innocence.
Elissa Davey, a genealogist and founder of the Garden of Innocence Project, last year arranged a reburial of the girl in Colma and began her search to identify the remains.
Scientists caught a break after hundreds of hours trying to find Edith’s identity when they discovered a map of the old cemetery at a University of California, Berkeley library, and matched it to a plot where her parents, Horatio Cook and Edith Scooffy, were once buried.
Researchers looked for living descendants once they had the family name, one of whom volunteered his DNA for research. Marin County resident Peter Cook – Edith’s grandnephew – was a match for DNA taken from strands of her hair.
UC Davis Professor Jelmer Eerkens, who helped with the DNA testing, told KTVU that Edith died of marasmus, which is severe undernourishment.
‘It’s likely she was sick with some disease and at some point her immune system couldn’t combat the disease and probably went into coma and passed away,’ he said.
The girl’s well-off family gave her an ornate burial. She was clothed in a white christening dress and ankle-high boots. Tiny purple flowers were woven into her hair and she held a purple Nightshade flower in her right hand.
Roses, eucalyptus leaves and baby’s breath were placed inside the coffin, according to the Garden of Innocence report.
Edith’s father was a businessman, the report said.
Edith’s remains, found by construction workers last May, were apparently left behind when about 30,000 people originally buried in San Francisco’s Odd Fellows Cemetery in the Richmond District were moved in the 1920s to Greenlawn Memorial Park in Colma After hundreds of hours trying to find Edith’s identity, researchers caught a break when they found a map of the old cemetery at a library and matched it to a plot where her parents, Horatio Cook and Edith Scooffy, were once buried. Pictured is her tiny casket
Her maternal grandfather was an original member of the Society of California Pioneers, which is an organization founded by California residents who arrived before 1850.
When the child was initially discovered, she was named Miranda Eve, until she was finally identified. During a reburial service last May, people from all over California came to pay their respects to Edith, whose blonde hair and skin were still perfectly preserved.
The Knights of Columbus, a Catholic based fraternal organization, dressed to the nines to carry the casket to its resting place. Four men lowered a new, cherry-wood casket into the earth as approximately 100 mourners threw flowers and petals on top.
Speakers played ‘A Trumpeter’s Lullaby’ during the 10am memorial. Michael Dunn, from the Garden of Innocence, said it was important they buried Edith because she’d been forgotten for so long.
‘She was forgotten and overlooked for more than 100 years, that ends today,’ Dunn said last year.
Garden of Innocence charity Ellisa Davey has been helping to bury the bodies of unidentified children in California for nearly 20 years. Once the child’s body was found, Davey got in touch with homeowner Ericka Karner.
Several people dropped handfuls of rose petals into little Edith’s grave during the reburial last May Four men lowered a new, cherry-wood casket into the earth as approximately 100 mourners threw flowers and petals on top. Speakers played ‘A Trumpeter’s Lullaby’ during the 10 am memorial. During the reburial service last May, people from all over California came to pay their respects to Edith, whose blonde hair and skin were still perfectly preserved
Davey then planned for Miranda’s reburial. ‘It was tough, very tough. But she is not just our child. She is everyone’s,’ she said.
All materials used in the funeral, including the casket, were donated.
Her headstone, in the shape of a heart, reads: ‘Miranda Eve. The Child Loved Around The World. If no one grieves, No one will remember!’
The back was made flat in case her real name was discovered. Now, since she is known as Edith, her name will be etched into the back. Construction workers were remodeling Karner’s childhood home in the Richmond District when they hit the lead and bronze coffin buried underneath the concrete garage.
The three-foot casket’s two windows revealed Edith’s perfectly preserved skin and long blonde hair. Construction worker Kevin Boylan told KTVU at the time: ‘All the hair was still there. The nails were there. There were flowers – roses, still on the child’s body. It was a sight to see.’
There were no markings on the purple velvet-lined coffin to identify the child after she was discovered on May 9, 2016.
Karner was soon surprised to find out from the medical examiner’s office that the child had become her responsibility. The city refused to take custody of Edith, and the problems continued when Karner tried to have the girl reburied. Karner was told she needed a death certificate to obtain a burial permit for the girl. A Colma undertaker was willing to take the body – for a cool $7,000.
Construction workers were remodeling Ericka Karner’s childhood home (pictured) in the Richmond District when they made the discovery
An East Bay archaeological company’s price was even steeper at $22,000.
Meanwhile, Edith’s body was deteriorating inside her coffin in Karner’s backyard because the seal was broken after the coroner’s superior instructed him to open the casket.
‘It didn’t seem right,’ Karner told the San Francisco Chronicle last year. ‘The city decided to move all these bodies 100 years ago, and they should stand behind their decision.’
City Hall finally put Karner in touch with someone who could help, connecting her to the Garden of Innocence.
That’s when Davey, who was able to secure the funds needed to have the coffin picked up and temporarily stored in a mortuary refrigerator in Fresno, said they needed to do the ‘right thing’.
‘That girl was somebody’s child,’ she said. ‘We had to pick her up.’
It was obvious to Davey that Miranda’s parents loved her very much.
‘Just by looking at the way they dressed her,’ she wrote. ‘Their sorrow was great. We will love her too.’
Davey has been saving forgotten children since 1998, when she read a story about a baby boy who died after he was dumped in a trash can at a college campus.
A month later, the boy was still on her mind. She called up the county coroner, who told her the boy was headed for an unmarked grave if he was not claimed.
Davey asked what she could do and the coroner replied she could lay claim to the boy, as long as she proved to him she had a ‘dignified place’ to lay the child to rest, according to Inside Edition.
Since that day, Davey and Garden of Innocence has provided memorial services to nearly 300 unclaimed children. The children are all given names before they are buried with a blanket, soft toy and personalized poem in a wooden casket fitted with lace, made by the Boy Scouts. Services are sometimes attended by up to 300 people, including military members, policemen and even parents who have lost children of their own.
‘We have become a place where people find closure,’ Davey said.
And it is closure Davey wanted and received for little Edith.
Skeletons Found Under a Florida Wine Shop May Be Some of America’s First Colonists
Historians recently announced in Florida that several small children’s bones buried beneath underneath the last place one might think to look: a wine shop.
However, there will be no police inquiry. The Florida wine shop happens to be located in St. Augustine, America’s oldest city. And those bones? They’re just about as old as the city is.
The archaeologists actually believe that these skeletal remains could have been among the first settlers in North America.
In the past few weeks, researchers have found seven people including three children, in the ancient graveyard.
According to the St. Augustine Register, one of them was a young white European woman.
Researchers are still examining the other remains, but a pottery fragment found nearby suggests that these people died sometime between 1572 and 1586.
“What you’re dealing with is people who made St. Augustine what it is,” Carl Halbirt, St. Augustine city archaeologist, tells FirstCoast News. “You’re in total awe. You want to treat everything with respect, and we are.
Excavations inside the Fiesta Mall (City of St. Augustine)
Archaeologists were able to dig underneath the building thanks to the effects of last year’s Hurricane Matthew, the flooding from which convinced the building’s owner that it was time to replace the wooden floor.
According to Smithsonian Magazine, the building’s floor was constructed in 1888, and the soil beneath the building has remained untouched since then, thus creating a virtual time capsule.
The building also happens to be built where the ancient Church of Nuestra Señora de la Remedios used to stand.
“The mission churches across Florida buried everybody in the church floor,” Ellsbeth Gordon, an architectural historian, told FirstCoast News. “It was consecrated ground, of course.”
According to Smithsonian, Sir Francis Drake burned the church down in 1586, a hurricane destroyed it again in 1599, and the British once again burned it down in 1702.
That last time may have been for good, but until then the church had been the main meeting point for a colony that had been established 55 years before the Pilgrims ever set foot on Plymouth Rock.
While the archaeologists are planning on moving the bones found outside the wine shop to a nearby cemetery, the skeletons found inside will stay right where they have lain for the past 400 years.
World’s Oldest Psychiatric Hospital Revealed in Turkey’s Cappadocia
Deep beneath the surreal landscapes of Cappadocia, archaeologists and local authorities have announced the restoration of what they believe to be humanity’s earliest known mental health facility.
The Aya Maryeros Underground Monastery in Derinkuyu, dating back to the 4th century AD, served dual purposes as both a religious sanctuary and a pioneering psychiatric treatment center during the Byzantine era. This extraordinary discovery promises to revolutionize our understanding of ancient medical practices and mental health care in the early Christian world.
Located in the Cumhuriyet district of Derinkuyu, Nevsehir province, this underground complex was initially identified in the 1990s beneath a neglected building that had been used as a waste site for decades.
The Derinkuyu District Governor’s Office and municipality have now launched an ambitious restoration project to transform the site into a museum, recognizing its profound historical significance.
According to Türkiye Today, the complex features the characteristic tunnels, living quarters, storage rooms, and rock-carved galleries that define Cappadocia’s famous underground cities.
Revolutionary Medical Practices in Ancient Times
Derinkuyu Mayor, Taner Ince, emphasized the site’s unprecedented historical importance, describing it as “the world’s oldest and first mental hospital” where Christian clerics provided care for individuals suffering from psychological conditions.
This assertion, if confirmed through further archaeological investigation, would predate other known ancient medical facilities by centuries. The monastery operated during a crucial period when early Christianity was establishing new approaches to caring for society’s most vulnerable members.
According to historical accounts researched by the Anatolian Archaeology Network, Byzantine medical practitioners at the monastery employed innovative therapeutic methods that combined spiritual care with practical treatment approaches.
These included music therapy, physical rehabilitation, and comprehensive spiritual support – techniques that bear remarkable similarities to modern holistic mental health treatment program.
Dogs and Jackals Boardgame: The Pharaoh’s Favorite, from the AO store.
Archaeological Significance and Restoration Challenges
Historian Eray Karaketir, who has extensively studied Cappadocia’s underground settlements, explained that Aya Maryeros forms part of a vast network of subterranean communities carved into the region’s distinctive volcanic rock formations.
These underground cities were constructed by early Christians fleeing persecution in the Eastern Roman Empire, serving as secure refuges during times of religious and political upheaval.
The monastery lies approximately 10 to 15 meters (33-49 ft) underground and was specifically renowned for serving individuals with mental health conditions.
Karaketir noted that centuries of looting had significantly damaged the structure, with wooden doors destroyed and supporting columns compromised.
The current restoration effort focuses on structural stabilization, installation of permanent lighting systems, and eventual reopening of blocked tunnels that may connect to the vast Derinkuyu Underground City network.
The extensive underground city network of Derinkuyu in Cappadocia
Future Plans for Cultural Tourism
The restoration project represents a significant investment in Cappadocia’s already thriving cultural tourism industry. Officials believe the completed museum will provide visitors with unique insights into both religious and medical history, complementing the region’s existing attractions such as the famous Derinkuyu Underground City, which could accommodate up to 20,000 residents.
The discovery adds another layer to Turkey’s rich archaeological heritage and demonstrates the sophisticated understanding of mental health care that existed in ancient civilizations.
As restoration work continues, scholars anticipate that Aya Maryeros will become a crucial site for understanding the intersection of religion, medicine, and social welfare in the Byzantine world.
History’s first pandemic: Ancient DNA solves mystery of what caused 1,500-year-old epidemic
Archaeologists and geneticists identified plague DNA in 1,500-year-old teeth from Jerash, Jordan, providing the first direct proof that the Justinian Plague was caused by Yersinia pestis.
For the first time, researchers have uncovered direct genomic evidence of the bacterium behind the Plague of Justinian — the world’s first recorded pandemic — in the Eastern Mediterranean, where the outbreak was first described nearly 1,500 years ago.
The landmark discovery, led by an interdisciplinary team at the University of South Florida and Florida Atlantic University, with collaborators in India and Australia, identified Yersinia pestis, the microbe that causes plague, in a mass grave at the ancient city of Jerash, Jordan, near the pandemic’s epicenter. The groundbreaking find definitively links the pathogen to the Justinian Plague marking the first pandemic (AD 541-750), resolving one of history’s long-standing mysteries.
For centuries, historians have deliberated on what caused the devastating outbreak that killed tens of millions, reshaped the Byzantine Empire and altered the course of Western civilization. Despite circumstantial evidence, direct proof of the responsible microbe had remained elusive — a missing link in the story of pandemics.
Two newly published papers led by USF and FAU provide these long-sought answers, offering new insight into one of the most consequential episodes in human history. The discovery also underscores plague’s ongoing relevance today: while rare, Y. pestis continues to circulate worldwide. In July, a resident of northern Arizona died from pneumonic plague, the most lethal form of Y. pestis infection, marking the first such fatality in the U.S. since 2007, and just last week another individual in California tested positive for the disease.
“This discovery provides the long-sought definitive proof of Y. pestis at the epicenter of the Plague of Justinian,” said Rays H. Y. Jiang, PhD, lead PI of the studies and associate professor with the USF College of Public Health. “For centuries, we’ve relied on written accounts describing a devastating disease, but lacked any hard biological evidence of plague’s presence. Our findings provide the missing piece of that puzzle, offering the first direct genetic window into how this pandemic unfolded at the heart of the empire.”
The Plague of Justinian first appeared in the historical record in Pelusium (present day Tell el-Farama) in Egypt before spreading throughout the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire. While traces of Y. pestis had previously been recovered thousands of miles away in small western European villages, no evidence had ever been found within the empire itself or near the heart of the pandemic.
“Using targeted ancient DNA techniques, we successfully recovered and sequenced genetic material from eight human teeth excavated from burial chambers beneath the former Roman hippodrome in Jerash, a city just 200 miles from ancient Pelusium” said Greg O’Corry-Crowe, PhD, co-author and a research professor at FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and a National Geographic Explorer.
The arena had been repurposed as a mass grave during the mid-sixth to early seventh century, when written accounts describe a sudden wave of mortality.
Genomic analysis revealed that the plague victims carried nearly identical strains of Y. pestis, confirming for the first time that the bacterium was present within the Byzantine Empire between AD 550-660. That genetic uniformity suggests a rapid, devastating outbreak consistent with historical descriptions of a plague causing mass death.
The plague of the Philistines at Ashdod by Pieter van Halen, which is described in the Old Testament, I Samuel 5, 5-6. (Peter van Halen / CC BY 4.0)
“The Jerash site offers a rare glimpse of how ancient societies responded to public health disaster,” said Jiang. “Jerash was one of the key cities of the Eastern Roman Empire, a documented trade hub with magnificent structures. That a venue once built for entertainment and civic pride became a mass cemetery in a time of emergency shows how urban centers were very likely overwhelmed.”
A companion study, also led by USF and FAU, places the Jerash discovery into a wider evolutionary context. By analyzing hundreds of ancient and modern Y. pestis genomes — including those newly recovered from Jerash — the researchers showed that the bacteria had been circulating among human populations for millennia before the Justinian outbreak.
The team also found that later plague pandemics, from the Black Death of the 14th century to cases still appearing today, did not descend from a single ancestral strain. Instead, they arose independently and repeatedly from longstanding animal reservoirs, erupting in multiple waves across different regions and eras. This repeated pattern stands in stark contrast to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic (COVID-19), which originated from a single spillover event and evolved primarily through human-to-human transmission.
Together, the landmark findings reshape the understanding of how pandemics emerge, recur and spread, and why they remain a persistent feature of human civilization. The research underscores that pandemics are not singular historical catastrophes, but repeating biological events driven by human congregation, mobility and environmental change — themes that remain relevant today.
“This research was both scientifically compelling and personally resonant. It offered an extraordinary opportunity to delve into the study of human history through the lens of ancient DNA at a time when we ourselves were living through a global pandemic,” said O’Corry-Crowe. “Equally profound was the experience of working with ancient human remains — individuals who lived, suffered, and died centuries ago — and using modern science to help recover and share their stories. It’s a humbling reminder of our shared humanity across time and a moving testament to the power of science to give voice to those long silent.”
While very different from COVID-19, both diseases highlight the enduring link between connectivity and pandemic risk, as well as the reality that some pathogens can never be fully eradicated.
“We’ve been wrestling with plague for a few thousand years and people still die from it today,” Jiang said. “Like COVID, it continues to evolve, and containment measures evidently can’t get rid of it. We have to be careful, but the threat will never go away.”
Building on the Jerash breakthrough, the team is now expanding its research to Venice, Italy and the Lazaretto Vecchio, a dedicated quarantine island and one the world’s most significant plague burial sites. More than 1,200 samples from this Black Death-era mass grave are now housed at USF, offering an unprecedented opportunity to study how early public health measures intersected with pathogen evolution, urban vulnerability and cultural memory.
Early Humans Defied Britain’s Harshest Ice Age 440,000 Years Ago
Archaeological breakthrough at Canterbury reveals Homo heidelbergensis survived the brutal Anglian glaciation, rewriting assumptions about early human resilience and adaptation in prehistoric Europe.
A revolutionary archaeological discovery has shattered long-held beliefs about early human survival during Ice Age Britain. Excavations at Old Park, Canterbury, have uncovered compelling evidence that Homo heidelbergensis not only inhabited Britain over 700,000 years ago but remarkably survived one of northern Europe’s most extreme ice ages around 440,000 years ago.
The research, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution by archaeologists from the University of Cambridge, presents the first concrete proof that early humans could endure the harsh conditions of the Anglian glaciation – a discovery that fundamentally challenges previous assumptions about human adaptability in prehistoric Europe.
Unprecedented Archaeological Evidence from Canterbury
The excavation site at Old Park, strategically positioned on the banks of the River Stour in Canterbury, Kent, has yielded thousands of Paleolithic stone tools attributed to Homo heidelbergensis, an early human species regarded as an ancestor of Neanderthals. While stone tools had been discovered at this location since the 1920s, fresh excavations launched in 2020 revealed sediments far older than previously imagined.
“Old Park is unique in the UK as it retains these exceptionally high, and therefore old, artifact retaining gravels,” explains Dr. Alastair Key from the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. “It is the fact we can excavate these sediments that’s so important. This isn’t possible at earlier archaeological occurrences in the UK, as they are located in cliffs or are buried too deeply.”
The stone tools discovered in the deepest layers date from between 712,000 and 621,000 years ago, representing some of the earliest evidence of human occupation in Britain. However, the most startling discovery emerged from layers dating to the Anglian glaciation period, when sharp flint tools were found sealed between river gravels and sands approximately 440,000 years old.
Map showing the extent of the British-Irish Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum. (Bathymetry data are from the GEBCO 2016 dataset.
Surviving the Anglian Glaciation
The Anglian glaciation, occurring approximately 450,000 years ago, represents one of the most severe ice ages in northern European history. During this period, massive ice sheets extended across much of Britain, creating an environment so hostile that scientists previously believed human survival would have been impossible.
“The clearest explanation is that these humans were making flint tools directly on top of the gravel during this ice age, and that these tools were then quickly covered before their edges abraded and broke,” said Dr. James Clark, co-author of the study.
The preservation quality of these flint tools provides crucial evidence for their contemporaneous manufacture during the glacial period. Had the tools been created earlier and subsequently moved by glacial action, they would have shown significant wear and damage from transportation and exposure. Instead, the sharp, unworn edges indicate they were crafted and immediately buried, preserving them in pristine condition.
This discovery represents a paradigm shift in understanding early human capabilities. The ability to survive such extreme climatic conditions demonstrates remarkable adaptability, technological sophistication, and environmental knowledge among these ancient populations.
A selection of flake artifacts from Old Park.
Revolutionary Understanding of Human Adaptability
“This is exciting because it was previously assumed to be impossible for humans to survive in Britain during these cold phases, meaning the evidence is testament to the adaptability of these very early populations,” added Dr. Clark.
The implications of this discovery extend far beyond British archaeology. It suggests that early human populations possessed sophisticated survival strategies, including advanced tool-making techniques, shelter construction capabilities, and possibly complex social organization necessary for surviving extreme environmental conditions.
Homo heidelbergensis, known for having brain sizes approaching those of modern humans, demonstrated remarkable technological innovation. These early humans were among the first to build substantial shelters, create complex tool assemblages, and develop hunting strategies capable of sustaining communities through harsh climatic periods.
The Canterbury evidence also provides insights into early human migration patterns and settlement strategies. Rather than simply following favorable climates, these populations actively adapted to challenging environments, suggesting a level of cognitive flexibility previously unrecognized in early human species.
Implications for Early Human Evolution
The Canterbury discoveries provide unprecedented insights into the cognitive and technological capabilities of Homo heidelbergensis. The ability to survive the Anglian glaciation required sophisticated understanding of seasonal patterns, resource management, and technological innovation – capabilities that suggest these early humans possessed far more advanced cognitive abilities than previously recognized.
The preservation of these archaeological layers also offers a unique window into early human behavior during extreme climatic stress. The immediate burial of freshly-made tools suggests rapid environmental changes that could preserve archaeological evidence, providing researchers with exceptional detail about ancient human activities.
Furthermore, this evidence suggests that human occupation of Britain was not intermittent but potentially continuous through even the most challenging climatic periods. This fundamentally alters our understanding of early human dispersal patterns and settlement strategies across northern Europe.
Broader Context of Ice Age Survival
The Canterbury evidence places early British populations within a broader context of human adaptation to Ice Age conditions across Europe. While previous research had documented human survival in more temperate regions during glacial periods, the British evidence represents some of the northernmost proof of human persistence through severe glaciation.
This discovery also highlights the importance of river valley environments as refugia during harsh climatic periods. The River Stour valley would have provided essential resources including water, shelter from winds, and access to diverse plant and animal resources necessary for survival.
The research team’s methodological approach, combining traditional excavation techniques with advanced dating methods and detailed stratigraphic analysis, has established new standards for investigating early human occupation sites. Their ability to precisely date archaeological layers and correlate them with climatic records provides unprecedented resolution in understanding early human-environment interactions.
The study’s implications extend to modern discussions about human adaptability and climate change. The evidence from Canterbury demonstrates that even with relatively simple technology, early human populations could adapt to dramatic environmental challenges through innovation, cooperation, and strategic resource management.
As climate research continues to reveal the severity of past glacial periods, the Canterbury evidence becomes even more remarkable. These early humans not only survived but maintained sophisticated tool-making traditions through environmental conditions that would challenge even modern survival capabilities.
The ongoing excavations at Old Park promise to yield additional insights into early human life during Ice Age Britain. As researchers continue to analyze the thousands of artifacts and associated environmental evidence, our understanding of human adaptability and technological innovation will undoubtedly continue to evolve.
2,000-year-old Roman bridge discovered in Switzerland
Archaeological teams in Switzerland have uncovered the remains of a remarkable Roman wooden bridge that served as a crucial transportation link for over four centuries.
The discovery in Aegerten, near Biel, reveals sophisticated engineering techniques that highlight the Romans’ mastery of infrastructure development across their vast empire.
More than 300 well-preserved oak piles emerged during construction work, providing archaeologists with a treasure trove of information about Roman engineering capabilities.
The wooden posts, protected by groundwater conditions, offer unprecedented insights into bridge construction techniques used throughout the Roman Empire.
Excavation showing closely spaced oak posts from the bridge spans. A sample was taken from each individual post for age determination.
Dendrochronology Reveals Bridge Timeline
Advanced tree-ring analysis conducted at the Archaeological Service’s dendrology laboratory provided precise dating for the bridge construction phases.
The earliest components date to approximately 40 BC, shortly after the Roman conquest of the Celtic Helvetii tribe, according to the Bern Canton Archaeological Service.
The youngest elements were constructed in 369 AD during Emperor Valentinian’s reign, when Roman military forces strengthened defenses behind the Rhine frontier.
This extended timeline demonstrates the bridge’s strategic importance and the Romans’ commitment to maintaining critical infrastructure. Bridge piers underwent multiple repairs and reconstructions throughout the centuries, reflecting standard Roman maintenance practices that ensured long-term structural integrity.
Strategic Location Along Ancient Trade Routes
The bridge stood at the entrance to Petinesca (modern Studen), a significant crossroads connecting major waterways and land routes across the Swiss Plateau.
This location provided access to the three Jura lakes and connected the region’s largest settlements through the Aare and Zihl rivers. A major road linking the Helvetic capital of Avenches/Aventicum with eastern territories passed through this area.
The newly discovered bridge formed part of the crucial Jura transversal route, branching off toward Augst/Augusta Raurica through the Taubenloch gorge near Biel.
This transportation network exemplified Roman strategic planning, connecting military installations with civilian settlements and facilitating trade across challenging terrain.
Exceptional Artifact Preservation
The waterlogged conditions beneath the former Zihl River created an exceptional preservation environment for organic materials. Archaeological teams recovered numerous metal objects from the river sediment, including shoe nails, horseshoes, yokes, axes, fishing tridents, keys, and coins that had fallen or been deliberately thrown from the bridge.
The most remarkable discovery was a complete wooden plane with an iron blade, measuring 41 centimeters long, 7 centimeters wide, and 5 centimeters high. Such tools rarely survive in archaeological contexts due to wood decay, making this find particularly significant for understanding Roman craftsmanship and daily life activities.
The fully preserved plane is made from a single piece of wood and features an inset iron blade. It is 41 cm long, 7 cm wide, and 5 cm high.
Roman bridge construction typically employed sophisticated foundation systems using wooden pilings driven deep into riverbed sediments. The oak posts discovered at Aegerten demonstrate the Romans’ preference for durable hardwood species that could withstand decades of water exposure and structural stress.
This construction method spread throughout the empire, with similar techniques documented from Britain to the Middle East.
The Swiss discovery adds valuable data to our understanding of Roman provincial infrastructure development. Unlike the monumental stone bridges that dominated urban centers, wooden structures served rural areas and provided flexible solutions for challenging geographical conditions.
These bridges required regular maintenance but offered cost-effective transportation links that supported economic growth and military logistics across frontier regions.
1,600-Year-Old Byzantine-Era Samaritan Villa Discovered in Central Israel
Archaeologists in Israel have unveiled one of the most significant Samaritan archaeological discoveries in recent years – a sprawling 1,600-year-old agricultural estate in Kafr Qasim that offers unprecedented insights into the prosperity and resilience of the ancient Samaritan community during the Byzantine period.
The remarkable excavation, conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) ahead of new housing construction, has revealed magnificent mosaics, ritual baths, and agricultural installations that showcase the wealth and cultural identity of this often-overlooked religious minority from antiquity.
Overview of one of the buildings at the Samaritan agricultural estate.
Magnificent Mosaics Display Wealth and Artistry
The estate’s centerpiece is a stunning mosaic floor featuring intricate geometric patterns, delicate acanthus leaves, and remarkably detailed depictions of fruits and vegetables including grapes, dates, watermelons, artichokes, and asparagus. At the entrance to the main room, excavators discovered a partial Greek inscription reading “Congratulations to,” followed by what appears to be a Samaritan name.
“The size and splendor of the buildings discovered, the quality of their mosaic floors, and the impressive agricultural installations all point to the great wealth and prosperity of the local Samaritan community,” explained excavation directors Alla Nagorsky and Dr. Daniel Leahy Griswold. The mosaics notably follow Samaritan religious traditions by avoiding any depictions of people, animals, or religious symbols, instead relying on elaborate geometric and botanical motifs.
Mazal Tov – Congratilations, or Good Luck! The inscription on one of the mosaics.
Ritual Purity and Agricultural Innovation
The northern section of the estate revealed sophisticated agricultural infrastructure including an olive press designed for ritual purity production, a large warehouse, and a mikveh (ritual purification bath). The proximity of the press to the ritual bath indicates the community’s commitment to producing olive oil according to strict religious requirements.
Area for olive oil production.
Most intriguingly, archaeologists uncovered what they term a “peripheral mikveh” – a unique ritual bath design with steps running along the entire perimeter rather than just one side. Dr. Leahy Griswold noted that while such baths were common during the Second Temple period (586 BC–70 AD), none had previously been documented from the Byzantine era, making this example especially significant.
A purification bath (miqveh) discovered in the excavation, used by the Samaritan community to produce olive oil in ritually pure conditions.
Surviving Through Turbulent Times
The estate operated for approximately 400 years, from the late Roman through the Byzantine period (fourth–seventh centuries AD), spanning some of the most challenging times in Samaritan history.
During the fifth and sixth centuries, the Samaritan community launched several unsuccessful revolts against Byzantine rule, which were brutally suppressed and resulted in significant population decline.
Archaeological evidence suggests the estate weathered these upheavals through adaptation. Luxurious residential buildings were later repurposed for purely agricultural use, with new walls subdividing rooms and older decorated elements being reused in later construction phases.
Despite these changes, the site maintained its distinctly Samaritan character, evidenced by the discovery of dozens of characteristic Samaritan oil lamps featuring knob handles and geometric designs.
Historical Significance and Ongoing Mysteries
The estate lies near the ancient village of Kafr Ḥatta, historically identified as Capparetaea – the birthplace of Menander, a first-century Samaritan magician and successor to Simon Magus, a figure mentioned in the New Testament. This connection adds another layer of historical significance to an already remarkable archaeological site.
Several mysteries remain unsolved, including the unusual use of Greek rather than the typical Samaritan Aramaic in the mosaic inscription, and the discovery of a rare glass spoon among the artifacts. The archaeologists also found evidence of what may be two distinct ritual pools, though further analysis is needed to determine their specific functions.
Dr. Leahy Griswold emphasized the site’s broader significance:
“We are talking about the largest Samaritan site outside of the Samaritan homeland. This site displays the historical gamut between prosperity and decline of the Samaritan community.”
The IAA plans to carefully preserve the mosaics and ritual baths while allowing continued development of the area, ensuring that both the historical legacy and modern needs of Kafr Qasim are honored.
