All posts by Archaeology World Team

Archaeologists reveal the face of Peru’s ‘Ice Maiden’ mummy

Archaeologists reveal the face of Peru’s ‘Ice Maiden’ mummy

In a remarkable unveiling, the potential true appearance of “Juanita,” Peru’s iconic mummy, a teenage Inca girl sacrificed over half a millennium ago on the lofty Andean peaks, has been revealed.

The bust was unveiled at a ceremony at the Andean Sanctuaries Museum of the Catholic University of Santa Maria in Arequipa

A lifelike sculpture revealing the potential living face of Peru’s most famous mummy, a teenage Inca girl sacrificed in a ritual over 500 years ago on the Andean peaks, has been unveiled.

The reconstructed mummy, known as “Juanita” or “The Ice Maiden”, is the result of collaborative efforts between a team of Polish and Peruvian scientists, in conjunction with Oscar Nilsson, a Swedish sculptor renowned for his expertise in facial reconstructions.

Johan Reinhard, the US anthropologist who found the mummy said he could not have imagined having a precise reconstruction of the mummy.

It took over 400 hours for Nilsson to reconstruct “Juanita,” from the research given by the Polish team.

Who was “The Ice Maiden”?

Archaeologists reveal the face of Peru's 'Ice Maiden' mummy
The mummy known as “Juanita” and the “Inca Ice Maiden”

Reinhard and his Peruvian climbing partner, Miguel Zárate, discovered the mummy in 1995 at an altitude of more than 6,000 meters (19,685 feet) on the snow-capped Ampato volcano.

Juanita, the mummy, was almost entirely preserved in a frozen state, retaining her internal organs, hair, blood, skin, and even the contents of her stomach.

In addition to the mummy, they stumbled upon a multitude of items that had been left as offerings to the Inca gods.

These included llama bones, small figurines, and fragments of pottery, scattered across the mountain slope from which the body had tumbled down.

Anthropological research places the sacrificial date of Juanita between A.D. 1440 and 1450 when she was aged between 13 and 15.

The likely cause of her death was identified as a severe blow to the right occipital lobe, as determined by researchers at Johns Hopkins University who conducted a CT scan.

She is considered one of the best-preserved mummies in the Andes and her remains can currently be viewed at the Museum of Andean Sanctuaries in Arequipa, Peru

Neanderthal Stone Tools Discovered in Poland

Neanderthal Stone Tools Discovered in Poland

Neanderthal Stone Tools Discovered in Poland
A knife-type tool.

Archaeologists working in Racibórz have discovered stone products from at least 130,000 years ago. These are the oldest traces of human presence in the foreground of the Moravian Gate and proof that Neanderthals visited this region several times, leaving stone products at the bottom of the river valley.

Archaeological work in the western part of Racibórz, called Studzienna, has been carried out for two years by an international team of archaeologists, geologists, and physicists from the University of Wrocław, the Friedrich-Alexander University in Erlangen-Nürnberg, the University of Silesia in Katowice, and the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, in cooperation with the Museum in Racibórz.

‘Our goal was to expose a part of the slope of the old sand pit to collect information about the geological structure and take the necessary samples to determine the age of the sediments using radiometric methods. Quite unexpectedly, we came across stone artefacts, including tools,’ says Dr. Andrzej Wiśniewski from the University of Wrocław and head of the Department of Stone Age Archaeology.

The finds point to the important role of the Racibórz Valley and the Moravian Gate area in the maintenance and development of the human population at that time.

The location of the archaeological site.

The stone products discovered at a depth of 10 m below the ground surface were found in sediments deposited in the cold period approximately 130,000 years ago.

It was a time of reconstruction of the natural environment after a long-term, probably bicyclic cooling, during which the Scandinavian ice sheet advanced to the area of the Ostrava Valley. A huge barrier lake was formed in front of the ice sheet. This barrier disappeared only about 140-130,000 years ago, opening the possibility of free movement of people and animals from the south to the northern lowland areas.

Based on the number of finds discovered in systematically explored archaeological excavations, scientists assume that the area of the former sand pit may still hide several dozen thousand products located in at least three layers.

Exploration of river sediments.

‘This is a basis for stating that after a long break caused by extremely unfavourable climatic conditions that prevailed in the period of approximately 160-140 thousand years ago, this area became attractive for people coming from the south,’ the archaeologist says.

The research, financially supported by the National Science Centre as part of the Opus competition, provided examples of semi-raw materials and stone tools, which proves that people in this place engaged in various activities, from preparing weapons to hunting and butchering.

‘It should be noted that, unlike the areas south of Racibórz and the Moravian Gate, where there are no such good siliceous raw materials, in the Odra Valley area there are and were deposits of erratic rocks with the desired properties, located in the area of valley depressions.

However, we believe that the migrations whose traces we discover in Racibórz were also organized for other reasons, namely the need to obtain appropriate food during the annual cycle of migrations of hunters and gatherers,’ says Dr. Wiśniewski.

The unexpected discoveries of stone products also opened a discussion about the patterns used by stone tool makers at that time.

According to the archaeologist, the recent discoveries show that tools with double-sided surfaces, asymmetric in outline, somewhat reminiscent of today’s wide-bladed knives, played a very important role.

The edges of these tools are shaped with a single strike running parallel to the edge. Similar tools are known from only a few archaeological sites from that period, located north of the Carpathians and the Alps. It cannot be ruled out that they were associated with specific activities, e.g. butchering hunted animals.

The dating of a human presence in the area of the find was made in the laboratory of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, more precisely in the Gliwice Absolute Dating Methods Centre, thanks to the use of an innovative technique based on optoluminescence.

Dr. Wiśniewski says that the results are largely due to new methods used during excavations, as well processing the results in the privacy of offices and laboratories. During the search, the sediments are carefully sifted to extract all stone artefacts and archaeological excavations and geological layers are documented with a 3D laser scanner and a series of photos to obtain photogrammetric models. ‘Digital copies’ of historical objects are also made with 3D scanning.

According to archaeologists, the work in Racibórz confirms the need to return to already known places, in this case the river site.

‘Interestingly, this specific path of archaeological searches in river valleys for the oldest manifestations of human presence in the Pleistocene was set at the beginning of research on the Palaeolithic, which took place in France nearly 200 years ago. So it was not the caves, but the open valley sites that opened the discussion on the prehistoric origins of man,’ says Dr. Wiśniewski. (PAP)

Political Campaign Message Found in Pompeii

Political Campaign Message Found in Pompeii

Political Campaign Message Found in Pompeii
An inscription is seen on the west wall lararium, a shrine to the guardian spirits of the Roman household.

Archaeologists have found new inscriptions in a house in Pompeii inviting voters to elect a man named Aulus Rustius Verus to office. The discovery was made in the Regio IX area, where elaborate food-themed frescos were discovered in another home earlier this year.

The findings were published on September 28 in Pompeii Scavi, the online scientific journal of the Pompeii Archaeological Park.

“I beseech you to make Aulus Rustius a true aedile, worthy of the state,” reads part of the inscription as translated from Latin. The Latin text was deciphered despite missing letters and abbreviations.

Verus was running for the office of aedile, an elected office in the Roman Empire who had powers to maintain public buildings and infrastructure, regulate public festivals and enforce public order.

An inscription is seen on the south wall lararium, a shrine to the guardian spirits of the Roman household. Photo courtesy of Pompeii Archaeological Park

Archaeologists and historians have already established that Verus would go on to hold the higher office of duumvir—a position he held jointly with a man named Giulio Polibio. Verus’s precise outcome is not known but it’s possible he died when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 A.D.

Normally, such political ads were written on the outside of buildings, but the inscriptions were found inside a room containing the lararium, or household shrine.

The home believed to have belonged to either a friend or a Verus freedman, a class of former slaves who remained in a socially obligated patronage with their former master.

The researchers suggest that the presence of the inscriptions in the home, which housed a bakery and was going under renovation at the time of the volcanic eruption, shows an example of the campaign practice of organizing events and dinners in the homes of the candidates and their friends.

The presence of the bakery further shows how Verus understood that “the voter lives on bread” and suggested that politicians were engaging in questionably legitimate election practices.

Archaeologists also discovered the final sacrifice made on an altar in the home where the inscription was found. Photo courtesy of Pompeii Archaeological Park

“The electoral passion was lived with intensity in Pompeii: it filled the streets, it warmed soul,” archaeologists wrote in a post on the Pompeii Archaeological Park’s website.

“The electoral programs of Pompeii are a precious source for reconstructing the history of the city, for tracking down the characters who shaped its political events and sketching a first prosopography of the ancient Pompeiians, for giving a name to their supporters, reconstructing their social relations and understanding the reasons for their support for one or the other candidate.”

Archaeologists said that almost all the texts in support of the candidates, essentially electoral posters, are visible along the streets of Pompeii.

11,000-Year-Old Sculpture Uncovered in Turkey

11,000-Year-Old Sculpture Uncovered in Turkey

Archaeologists in Turkey have unearthed a nearly 11,000-year-old statue that may depict a giant man clutching his penis, along with a life-size wild boar statue.

This human-like sculpture was found at Karahan Tepe. The person represented may actually be depicted as being dead. The newly found sculptures date back about 11,000 years. 

The two statues come from the neighboring sites of Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe, which are among the oldest temple sites in the world.

The wild boar statue, which is carved from limestone, was found at Gobekli Tepe and dates to between 8700 B.C. and 8200 B.C.

It measures 4.4 feet (1.4 meters) long and 2.3 feet (0.7 m) high, the German Archaeological Institute said in a statement. Archaeologists detected red, black and white pigments on its surface, indicating that the sculpture was once painted.

Archaeologists unearthed the large sculpture of the manat the site of Karahan Tepe, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) from Gobekli Tepe. It depicts a  7.5-foot-tall (2.3 m) man, according to a translated statement from Turkey’s ministry of culture and tourism.

The person’s ribs, spines and shoulders are particularly pronounced, and the person may actually be depicted as being dead, the statement said.

These discoveries, “represent the latest spectacular finds from these sites which are transforming our understanding of pre-agricultural communities,” Benjamin Arbuckle, an anthropology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who was not involved with the excavations, told Live Science in an email.

Researchers also found a small sculpture of a vulture nearby at Karahan Tepe. While archaeologists didn’t say how old the newfound statues at, Karahan Tepe are, the site is around 11,000 years old and contains other sculptures and buildings.

Archaeologists used to think that the hunter-gatherer communities in southwest Asia around 11,000 years ago “were relatively simple, small in scale, and generally egalitarian,” Arbuckle said. But the discoveries at Gobekli Tepe and Karahan Tepe over the last 30 years have disproved this idea, Arbuckle said.

Gobekli Tepe is a sprawling, megalithic site filled with T-shaped pillars and sophisticated sculptures depicting animals, abstract symbols and human hands.

The site was likely used in funerary rituals, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

The presence of such a massive, sophisticated complex suggests that hunter gatherer communities in the region were not as simple as once thought but rather were organized in a way that allowed them to build great works of architecture.

What was the sculptures’ purpose?

The purpose of the recently found sculptures is unclear. “The Karahan Tepe finds strike me as the most interesting,” Ted Banning, an anthropology professor at the University of Toronto who is not involved with the research, told Live Science in an email.

“Any interpretation of the statue is conjectural at this point,” Banning said but suggested it was likely that the person shown is dead. It may represent “an important ancestor associated with the building in which it was found.”

The figure’s pose may give a further clue about its purpose. “The fact that the figure is clutching its penis is also consistent with this interpretation by potentially symbolizing that this person was the progenitor of a social group, such as a lineage or clan, associated with the building,” Banning said.

Banning thinks that structures at Karahan Tepe and Gobekli Tepe may have been used as houses rather than temples, “in which case it makes a lot of sense that each would have its own lineage ancestor,” Banning said.

It’s not surprising that the wild boar sculpture has pigments, he added. “I think it’s plausible that much or even most of the sculpture at these sites was originally painted”, Banning said, noting that paint doesn’t preserve well in the archaeological record.

Archaeologists involved with the excavations did not return requests for comment at time of publication.

Roman Coin Hoards Found In The Conwy Valley Declared Treasure

Roman Coin Hoards Found In The Conwy Valley Declared Treasure

The two Roman coin hoards were discovered by metal-detectorists David Moss and Tom Taylor in Caerhun Community, Conwy, during the winter of 2018-2019.

Roman Coin Hoards Found In The Conwy Valley Declared Treasure
Larger Roman coin hoard found in ceramic vessel. Credit: Museum Wales

The larger hoard (Treasure Case 19.01) was found in a ceramic vessel. It contained 2,733 coins, a mix of silver denarii minted between 32 BC and AD 235, as well as silver and copper-alloy radiates (also known as antoniniani) struck between AD 215 and 270. The copper-alloy coins appear to have been put loosely in the pot, but most of the silver coins were held in two leather bags, which were placed at the very top of the hoard.

The smaller hoard (Treasure Case 19.03) comprises 37 silver denarii, ranging in date from 32 BC to AD 221, which were found scattered across a small area in the immediate vicinity of the larger hoard.

When the finders Tom and Dave discovered the larger hoard, they remembered what they had seen on Time Team and carefully excavated the pot, before wrapping it in bandages and reporting both hoards to Dr Susie White, Finds Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Wales (PAS Cymru) based at Wrexham County Borough Museum & Archives.

David Moss, one of the finders of the coin hoards, said: “We had only just started metal-detecting when we made these totally unexpected finds. On the day of discovery, just before Christmas 2018, it was raining heavily, so I took a look at Tom and made my way across the field towards him to tell him to call it a day on the detecting, when all of a sudden, I accidentally clipped a deep object making a signal. It came as a huge surprise when I dug down and eventually revealed the top of the vessel that held the coins.”

“People do not realise the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes at the national museum, from excavating the coins, to looking after them and identifying them so they can be reported on as treasure……. it’s a huge process to be able to see the work unfold……to be involved at first hand as finders is an incredible experience.”

The hoards were then taken to Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales for micro-excavation and identification.

“In the conservation lab, investigation at the top of the pot quickly revealed that some of the coins had been in bags made from extremely thin leather, traces of which remained. It is very rare for organic materials such as this to survive in the soil. The surviving fragments, which included two fragments of a stitched seam, were preserved and will provide information about the type of leather used and how the bags were made,” Louise Mumford (Senior Conservator of Archaeology at Amgueddfa Cymru) said in a press statement.

TWI Technology Centre Wales in Port Talbot kindly offered to CT-scan the larger hoard in the ceramic vessel, to see whether more information could be gleaned before extraction of the coins began.

Consultant engineer at TWI, Ian Nicholson, said: “Our main focus is to provide our services for industry. However, we also like to support non-industry projects and offer a wider benefit. Radiography was the only inspection technique that had the potential to volumetrically reveal the inside of the coin hoard without damaging it.

Our state-of-the-art Computer Tomography inspection equipment uses high X-ray energy to penetrate thick metals, which is typically four times greater than the X-ray energies that dentists and hospitals use. We found the inspection challenge interesting and valuable when Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales approached us – it was a nice change from inspecting aeroplane parts.

Using our equipment, we were able to determine that there were coins at various locations in the bag. The coins were so densely packed in the centre of the pot that even our high radiation energies could not penetrate through the entire pot. Nevertheless, we could reveal some of the layout of the coins and confirm it wasn’t only the top of the pot where coins had been cached.”

The scan of the larger hoard found no evidence of further bags in the pot below the two visible at the top, and this proved to be correct as the pot was emptied. Along with the CT scans, a series of photographs and 3D models were created during the micro-excavation of the hoard. These will be used in further research, publications and displays.

Taking the coins out in layers revealed that the older coins were generally closer to the bottom while the last coins of the hoard were found in the upper layers. The hoard was probably buried in AD 270 at a time when the Roman Empire was split between the Central Empire and the Gallic Empire, which included Britain. The final coins in this hoard were issued during the reigns of Quintillus (AD 270) and Victorinus (AD 269-271).

Alastair Willis (Senior Curator: Numismatics and the Welsh Economy at Amgueddfa Cymru) said: “The coins in this hoard seem to have been collected over a long period of time. Most appear to have been put in the pot during the reigns of Postumus (AD 260-269) and Victorinus (AD 269-271), but the two bags of silver coins seem to have been collected much earlier during the early decades of the third century AD.”

The smaller hoard was probably buried in the AD 220s. The two hoards were found close to the remains of a Roman building which was excavated in 2013 and identified as a possible temple dating to the third century AD. The discovery of these hoards supports this suggestion.

It is very likely that the hoards were deposited here because of the religious significance of the site, perhaps as votive offerings, or for safe keeping under the protection of the temple’s deity. The coins may have belonged to soldiers at the nearby Roman fort of Canovium (located near Caerhun).

Llandudno Museum holds collections from Canovium fort and are keen to acquire these two important hoards with the support of Conwy Culture Centre and Amgueddfa Cymru.

Silver coins are found in the smaller hoard. Credit: Museum Wales

Dawn Lancaster, Director of Amgueddfa Llandudno Museum, said: “This is very exciting news for Amgueddfa Llandudno Museum. The opportunity to purchase these important coin hoards which are associated with Kanovium Roman Fort will allow future generations to see and experience a significant collection of ancient silver coins dating from 32BC and representing 50 rulers.”

“Llandudno Museum holds all previous finds from the excavation of Kanovium Roman Fort sited at Caerhun in the Conwy valley, so it is fitting the hoard is put into context along with the rest of the artefacts. Working with Amgueddfa Cymru we can share the story of their discovery and the importance to Welsh cultural heritage of our area these amazing finds represent.”

Amgueddfa Cymru belongs to everyone and is here for everyone to use. We are a charity and a family of seven national museums and a collections centre, located across the country. Our aim is to inspire everyone through Wales’ story, at our museums, in communities and digitally.

The two Roman coin hoards were declared treasure on Monday 9th October, by the Assistant Coroner for North Wales (East & Central), Kate Robertson.

Well-preserved 7,300-Year-Old Wooden Cabins Discovered In La Draga

Well-preserved 7,300-Year-Old Wooden Cabins Discovered In La Draga

Archaeologists excavating at La Draga de Banyoles, an early Neolithic lakeshore site in Spain, have uncovered well-preserved 7,300-year-old wooden cabins. The ancient structures are in excellent condition and make it possible to gain knowledge about farming communities that settled in L’Estany at the beginning of the Neolithic, about 7,200 years ago.

Well-preserved 7,300-Year-Old Wooden Cabins Discovered In La Draga
Credit: IPHES – Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution

Archaeological discoveries in other parts show wood can survive much longer than most think. For example, the world’s oldest wooden structure discovered recently in Zambia is worth mentioning.

Excavation of well-preserved wood at the archaeological site of Kalambo Falls dating back at least 476,000 years and predates the evolution of our species, Homo sapiens.

Looking in another direction, we learn that the Boxford Timber discovered in Berkshire is Britain’s oldest carved wood.

Wood has archaeological value and has been a vital resource to past human societies.

At La Draga, scientists from several universities have worked together and focused on the northernmost area of the site, the so-called sector B, which has the particularity of having better conditions for the conservation of organic matter.

So far, it is in this sector where the most apparent architectural evidence of the wooden cabins of the ancient settlers of La Draga has appeared and where a more significant number of tools and utensils made of wood and plant fibers have also been found.

“The work at the La Draga site has made it possible to document structural elements of wooden constructions in a very good state of conservation. They are mainly large wooden planks over three meters long that occupy practically the entire surface of the excavated area.

The excavation process should allow us to make very precise interpretations of the shape of these huts, the construction techniques and the time of their construction, and their relationship with areas excavated in previous campaigns,” the co-directors of the research project Toni Palomo and Raquel Piqué (UAB) and Xavier Terradas (CSIC-IMF Barcelona) said in a press release.

At the same time, the campaign has carried out two archaeological and paleological prospecting actions on the western shore of the Lake, both terrestrial and underwater.

On the one hand, soundings have been made on the west shore of Banyoles Lake, within the municipality of Porqueres.

In this case, the objective is to obtain new sedimentological and paleoenvironmental data that should allow the La Draga team of researchers to reconstruct the environmental dynamics of Banyoles Lake during the Holocene and verify the possible presence of other prehistoric occupations in this place.

Credit: IPHES – Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution

“The soundings carried out have allowed us to document signs of great interest to reconstruct what the environment was like in prehistoric times,” comments Dr. Jordi Revelles, Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral researcher at IPHES-CERCA.

The current study also helped to “contextualize findings made in previous surveys when signs of use of the space were documented around 5,000 years ago, more than 2,000 years later than the town of La Draga”, he adds.

Scientists emphasize underwater surveys have also been carried out on the lake’s western shore, in the area between Punta Freixenet and Punta Cuaranya.

The work has made it possible to document large areas of peaty sediment with a significant presence of preserved organic matter such as, for example, wood remains. The analysis of the samples carried out allows us to understand better the dynamics of the prehistoric and historical settlement of the Lake.

Extraordinary Bronze Age Jewelry Hoard Discovered In A Carrot Field In Switzerland

Extraordinary Bronze Age Jewelry Hoard Discovered In A Carrot Field In Switzerland

A magnificent Bronze Age treasure has been discovered in Switzerland. The adventure started when Franz Zahn examined a freshly harvested carrot field in Güttingen with his metal detector.

When he found several Middle Bronze Age decorative discs, he immediately contacted the Office of Archaeology, which arranged the excavation and documentation of the artifacts.

Extraordinary Bronze Age Jewelry Hoard Discovered In A Carrot Field In Switzerland
Several remarkable Bronze Age artifacts were found in the field. Credit: Cantonal of Thurgau

Ancient Treasures Hidden In A Carrot Field

Franz Zahn has been working with his metal detectors for many years. During this time, he has unearthed several beautiful objects from the Iron and Bronze Ages, but this find is without something exceptional. He immediately recognized that these belonged to an accumulation of other finds. Could the artifact be grave goods?

With the farmer’s permission, archaeologists and volunteers excavated the area. Still, they could not find graves, and scientists suspect the jewelry must have been buried on-site in an organic container or sack.

A similar find had been discovered near Etzwilen two years ago, and researchers were hopeful there could be a connection between these two.

A  piece of the soil and the unearthed objects were transported to a laboratory in Frauenfeld for close examination.

Other discs revealed a variety of small bronze spirals, jewelry items such as finger rings, and dozens of tiny amber beads. These beads, the size of pinheads, had to be removed individually with tweezers. Some wire spirals shone gold. An analysis brought certainty: it is actually gold.

The recovery of the artifacts. Credit: Cantonal of Thurgau

Finds such as a bronze arrowhead, a beaver tooth, a perforated bear tooth, a rock crystal, a fossilized shark tooth, a small ammonite, and several lumps of polish ore were surprising.

The scientists informed in a press release that the natural occurrence of these iron ore globules and ammonite is probably in the Schaffhausen area.

A Rich Woman With A Passion For Collecting

A total of 14 spiked discs were recovered. These are bronze discs with three ribs and a round thorn – or spike – in the middle. On one side, there was a narrow grommet through which a thread or leather strap could be pulled through. These are typical “costume jewelry” from the Bronze Age, more precisely, the Middle Bronze Age around 1500 B.C.

Exposure in the laboratory. Credit: Cantonal of Thurgau

As finds from graves show, women wore necklaces with these eye-catching discs, with spirals strung between them as spacers. Eleven of these spirals were found in Güttingen.

In addition, eight slightly larger spirals made of fine gold wire appeared, weighing over 21 grams. More than 100 amber beads and two finger rings with double spirals complete the ensemble.

Was there a jewelry box hidden here? Were the bear tooth, the rock crystal, and the selected fossils and stones a collection of curiosities or souvenirs from a visit to Klettgau? Or is there even more to it? Objects of this type may have been considered to have a unique, protective, or healing effect and may have been worn as a kind of amulet.

The depot came into the ground at a time when important advanced cultures were flourishing in the Mediterranean region in Egypt and Crete.

Future Museum Pieces

The Bronze Age objects are being restored so they can be exhibited in the Museum of Archeology in Frauenfeld next year. In addition, scientific analyses and careful documentation are planned.

Unique 2,000-Year-Old Decorated Roman Sandal Lost By Well-Cleaner Found In Spain

Unique 2,000-Year-Old Decorated Roman Sandal Lost By Well-Cleaner Found In Spain

About 2,000 years ago, a Roman man tried to clean a well and lost a sandal.

The well-preserved ancient shoe was discovered during archaeological excavations at Lucus Asturum (modern-day Lugo de Llanera in Asturias, northern Spain).

Mentioned by astronomer, mathematician, and geographer Ptolemy in his work Geography Lucus Asturum was a Roman settlement that served as an administrative center and communications hub in the north of the Iberian Peninsula between the first and fourth centuries A.D. between the first and fourth centuries A.D.

Unique 2,000-Year-Old Decorated Roman Sandal Lost By Well-Cleaner Found In Spain
The Roman sandal discovered in Lugo de Llanera, Asturias. Credit: Esperanza Martín

Over the years, archaeologists have unearthed Roman thermal baths, buildings, and intriguing artifacts at the site.

Two years ago, in 2021, “a team led by archaeologist Esperanza Martín located a large house with a central courtyard and a well. This summer, excavations at the site were resumed and the archaeologists decided to descend, using a system of pulleys to avoid damaging the remains, to the bottom of the well.

Inside, among many other Roman pieces, they found a sandal lost by a man who tried to clean the well 2,000 years ago. Despite the humbleness of the object, it is a unicum — an archaeological object without equal — because it is decorated with circles, ovals, and falciform figures.

There are no more than 20 Roman sandals preserved in Hispania and this is the only one that is decorated. It is in a good state of preservation, as the silt at the bottom of the well generated an anaerobic system that prevented the reproduction of microorganisms,” El Pais reports.

“The remains we found, due to the anoxia generated by the high water table in the area, are in an exceptional state,” says Martín.

Archeologist Esperanza Martín descends into the well discovered in Lugo de Llanera. Credit: Esperanza Martín

“The silts have created an anaerobic environment thanks to the plasticity of the clays that compose them, so the organic materials have been perfectly preserved.”

At a depth of about three meters, the specialists extracted part of the wooden cover of the well, a tiled floor for the decantation of silts, several jars, seeds, chestnuts, pine nuts, mollusks, the remains of domestic and wild fauna, an acetre, or bronze, cauldron, a small metal ring and the sandal, among other objects.

A house was uncovered during excavations at Lucus Asturum. Credit: Esperanza Martín

“It is almost complete and retains the cutting notches to hold it in the upper leg area. It is more than likely that it was lost by someone who came in to clean [the well] when it got caught in the silt. It is a unique object as it is decorated.”

The ancient sandal lost by the Roman well-cleaner “is currently refrigerated to avoid degradation until it can be restored and exhibited in the Archaeological Museum of Asturias,” El Pais reports.

Romans produced excellent shoes that were meant to last. A similar find was made in the small village of Thérouanne, France, where archaeologists discovered 1,700-year-old Roman shoes and an exceptional glass workshop.