An excavation of the ancient acropolis on the Cycladic island of Kythnos has unearthed more than 2,000 intact votive figurines deposited by worshippers at the sanctuary of Demeter and Persephone over the course of seven centuries.
Hundreds of clay figurines of women, children, actors, Dionysian characters, pigs, turtles, lions, rams, birds and many other animals were recovered, as were hundreds of lamps, miniature vases, marble and alabaster vessels, copper, silver bone and glass jewelry.
One of the oldest settlements in the Cycladic Islands, the ancient city of Kythnos was continuously inhabited from the 12th century B.C. to the 7th century A.D.
The sanctuary complex was built on the northern part of the plateau overlooking the ocean.
It was constructed in stages, with the earliest building dating to the 7th century B.C.
The temple complex was in active use until the 4th century A.D.
Recent excavations have focused on three buildings (3, 4 and 6). In 2021, votive offerings were found under the last floor of Building 5, but the motherload of votive figurines was discovered in Building 3.
They were concentrated in the abandoned embankments in the eastern side of the building. Natural recesses in the rock walls appear to have been used as niches for votive offerings.
Another concentration was found along the south wall of the western part of the building.
Flat stones projecting off the wall at regular intervals at the same height suggest there was once a long wooden shelf where votive objects were left.
An inscribed monumental slab was found inside the door of Building 3. It had been moved from its original location.
The inscription dates to the late Hellenistic period and is the name of a magistrate, likely an official of the sanctuary itself. Several inscribed drinking vessels and votives were also found referring to the two deities of the sanctuary.
The excavation by Greece’s University of Thessaly and the Culture Ministry also found luxury pottery imported from other parts of Greece, ornate lamps, and fragments of ritual vases used in the worship of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, an ancient Athens suburb.
It is unclear to what extent the site on Kythnos was associated with Eleusis — one of the most important religious centers in ancient Greece, where the goddesses were worshipped during secret rites that were only open to initiates forbidden to speak of what they saw. The sanctuary at Eleusis is known to have owned land on the island.
Retiree Uncovers Wooden Artifact 2,000 Years Older than Stonehenge
A piece of decoratively carved wood found during a construction project has been declared the oldest in Britain.
The 6,000-year-old piece of oak, found in Boxford, Berkshire, is only the second wood carving to be found from the Mesolithic period.
It was discovered preserved in peat at the bottom of a trench.
The wood is being conserved by Historic England at Fort Cumberland, Portsmouth, and will eventually go on display at West Berkshire Museum in Newbury.
The timber was preserved in peat at the bottom of a trench that had been dug for foundations
Landowner Derek Fawcett has been working with Historic England and the Boxford History Project since finding the timber four years ago.
He said: “It was clearly very old and appeared well preserved in peat. After hosing it down, we saw that it had markings that appeared unnatural and possibly man-made.”
The timber has been carbon dated to between 4640 BC and 4605 BC, making it around 2,000 years older than Stonehenge, and 500 years older than the only other known piece of carved Mesolithic timber, which was found near Maerdy in Rhondda Cynon Taf in 2012.
The large timber was carved 2,000 years before Stonehenge was built
Historic England chief executive Duncan Wilson said: “This exciting find has helped to shine new light on our distant past and we’re grateful to the landowner for recognising its significance.
“Amazing discoveries like these remind us of the power of archaeology to uncover the hidden narratives that connect us to our roots.”
The waterlogged carved oak is one metre long, 0.42 metres wide and 0.2 metres thick.
The wood is being conserved at Historic England’s Fort Cumberland facility
It was found about 1.5 metres (5ft) below the surface not far from the present course of the River Lambourn in a layer of peat.
Mr Fawcett has donated the timber to the West Berkshire Museum in Newbury where it will eventually go on display.
The museum is also working with the Boxford History Project to arrange for the timber to go on loan to the Boxford village heritage centre.
Stone Penis Found in Medieval Spanish Ruins Had Violent Purpose
Archaeologists found a six-inch stone penis while excavating the Tower of Meira (Torre de Meira) in the city of Ría de Vigo in the northwest region of Spain.
Phallic symbolism is commonly found in prehistoric artifacts, but it is less common in finds from the medieval era. That’s why archaeologists couldn’t understand why this object was on medieval grounds.
But now the relic stands out, not just for its phallic form, but for its violent purpose – to sharpen weapons in preparation for bloody battles during the Irmandiño War in Spain.
Experts said this kind of symbolism may have been related to the violent uprisings taking place in the region around the time when the tower was demolished.
Torre de Meira was brought down in 1476 during the Irmandiño revolts when peasants rose up against the Spanish nobility. Some 130 castles and forts suffered the same fate.
According to Darío Peña from the Árbore Arqueoloxía team, sharpening stones are commonly discovered at medieval sites, and can have different forms.
The archaeologists determined the function of the stone penis by observing a distinct pattern of wear on one side of the phallic whetstone.
Archaeologists believe the medieval stone phallus was used to sharpen weapons.
The artifact’s cultural significance is unknown, but its proximity to the fortified tower may provide some insight. It might have had a symbolic significance in relation to the war or served a useful function during that trying time.
“It materializes the symbolic association between violence, weapons, and masculinity,” archaeologist Darío Peña told Hyperallergic. “An association that we know existed in the Middle Ages and that is present in our culture today.”
The phallic stone was found among other artifacts including pottery and stone spindles according to Árbore Arqueoloxía e Restauración S. Coop. Galega, the group leading the excavations.
Excavations at this site began around 3 years ago. In the first phase of excavations, the tower was excavated and restored by Arbore. Just last year, the focus was shifted to the structure’s surrounding wall, and finally, the focus was shifted to the excavation of the main building.
Archaeologists plan to continue excavations at the site, after seeking permission from the landowners in the municipality of Moaña.
Freshwater and marine shells used as ornaments 30,000 years ago were discovered in Spain
In Malaga’s Cueva de Ardales, up to 13 freshwater and marine shells that were carefully transformed by humans between 25,000 and 30,000 years ago have been discovered.
According to a study published in the environmental scientific journal Environmental Archaeology, the first Homo sapiens wore necklaces and earrings made from seashells from the Bay of Malaga.
This incredible discovery was the result of research conducted in collaboration with the Neanderthal Museum of Colonia, the University of Colonia, and the Cueva de Ardales, according to a press release from the University of Cadiz.
This archaeological enclave is now once more among the most significant in the Iberian Peninsula thanks to the discovery. When it comes to the Paleolithic era, body adornments are a subject of great interest to the scientific community.
According to the scientific article, the shells were “carefully transformed” by humans of the genus Homo sapiens into ornaments and pendants to decorate the bodies of these groups that occupied the Ardales Cave.
The symbolic value of these natural supports and the distance that human groups occasionally traveled to gather them and turn them into decorative elements represented a significant advancement in the development of cognition.
The analysis of these shells has been headed by UCA professor Juan Jesús Cantillo Duarte.
“It is unusual to find this type of marine remains in caves located so far inland and with such an ancient chronology. On the Mediterranean, only a little more than a hundred remains were known, and all of them are located on the coast,” Duarte said.
“ The inhabitants of the Ardales cave, however, had to travel a distance of more than 50 km to collect the shells on the coast”, added Professor José Ramos.
Investigadores de la UCA lideran un estudio arqueológico en la Cueva de Ardales que revela el uso de conchas como adornos hace 30.000 años.
Also noteworthy was: “the presence of vermetids, a kind of tube-shaped snail that is uncommon in the archaeological record”, stressed Cantillo Duarte.
The chronological framework and the association of these ornaments with the rock art and lithic remains documented inside the cave confirm their social dimension.
“The results of the excavations in the Ardales Cave suggest that it was used as a place for specialized symbolic activities during various phases of the Upper Palaeolithic,” said Pedro Cantalejo, research director of the Ardales Cave, for whom the cave still has much to tell.
A 42,000-Year-Old Foal Entombed in Ice Still Had Liquid Blood in Its Veins
Over the past month, scientists have made more than 20 unsuccessful attempts to extract viable cells from the foal’s tissue Semyon Grigoryev/North-Eastern Federal University
Last August, a group of mammoth tusk hunters unearthed the nearly intact remains of a 42,000-year-old foal during an expedition to Siberia’s Batagaika crater.
Preserved by the region’s permafrost, or permanently frozen ground, the young horse showed no signs of external damage, instead retaining its skin, tail, and hooves, as well as the hair on its legs, head, and other body parts.
Now, the Siberian Times reports, researchers from Russia’s North-Eastern Federal University and the South Korean Sooam Biotech Research Foundation have extracted liquid blood and urine from the specimen, paving the way for further analysis aimed at cloning the long-dead horse and resurrecting the extinct Lenskaya lineage to which it belongs.
To clone the animal, scientists would need to extract viable cells from the blood samples and grow them in the lab. This task is easier said than done: Over the past month, the team has made more than 20 attempts to grow cells out of the foal’s tissue, but all have failed, according to a separate Siberian Times article. Still, lead Russian researcher Lena Grigoryeva says, those involved remain “positive about the outcome.”
The fact that the horse still has hair makes it one of the most well-preserved Ice Age animals ever found, Grigoryev tells CNN’s Gianluca Mezzofiore, adding, “Now we can say what color was the wool of the extinct horses of the Pleistocene era.”
In life, the foal boasted a bay-colored body and a black tail and mane. Aged just one to two weeks old at the time of his death, the young Lenskaya, or Lena horse, met the same untimely demise as many similarly intact animals trapped in permafrost for millennia.
The scientists extracted liquid blood samples from the 42,000-year-old animal’s heart vessels Semyon Grigoryev/North-Eastern Federal University
The scientists extracted liquid blood samples from the 42,000-year-old animal’s heart vessels Semyon Grigoryev/North-Eastern Federal University
The foal likely drowned in a “natural trap” of sorts—namely, mud that later froze into permafrost, Semyon Grigoryev of Yakutia’s Mammoth Museum told Russian news agency TASS, as reported by the Siberian Times.
“A lot of mud and silt which the foal gulped during the last seconds of [the foal’s] life were found inside its gastrointestinal tract,” Grigoryev says.
This is only the second time researchers have extracted liquid blood from the remains of prehistoric creatures.
In 2013, a group of Russian scientists accomplished the same feat using the body of a 15,000-year-old female woolly mammoth discovered by Grigoryev and his colleagues 2013, as George Dvorsky reports for Gizmodo. (It’s worth noting that the team studying the foal has also expressed hopes of cloning a woolly mammoth.) Significantly, the foal’s blood is a staggering 27,000 years older than this previous sample.
The NEFU and South Korean scientists behind the new research are so confident of their success that they have already begun searching for a surrogate mare to carry the cloned Lena horse and, in the words of the Siberian Times, fulfill “the historic role of giving birth to the comeback species.” It’s worth noting, however, that any acclaim is premature and, as Dvorsky writes, indicative of the “typical unbridled enthusiasm” seen in the Russian news outlet’s reports.
Speaking with CNN’s Mezzofiore, Grigoryev himself expressed doubts about the researcher’s chances, explaining, “I think that even the unique preservation [of] blood is absolutely hopeless for cloning purposes since the main blood cells … do not have nuclei with DNA.”
He continued, “We [are] trying to find intact cells in muscle tissue and internal organs that are also very well-preserved.”
What the Siberian Times fails to address are the manifold “ethical and technological” questions raised by reviving long-gone species. Among other concerns, according to Dvorsky, scientists have cited the clone’s diminished quality of life, issues of genetic diversity and inbreeding, and the absence of an adequate Ice Age habitat.
It remains to be seen whether the Russian-South Korean team can actually deliver on its ambitious goal. Still, if the purported July 2018 resurrection of two similarly aged 40,000-year-old roundworms “defrosted” after millennia in the Arctic permafrost is any indication, the revival of ancient animals is becoming an increasingly realistic possibility.
Orichalcum, the lost metal of Atlantis, may have been found in a shipwreck off Sicily
MYSTERIOUS metal ingots linked to the mythical civilisation of Atlantis have been recovered from an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Sicily.
Archaeologists last month recovered a wealth of ingots of an unusual golden alloy from the wreck sitting in about 3m of water, 300m off the coast of Gela in southern Sicily.
Also recovered from the wreck, which sank some 2600 years ago, were two Corinthian war helmets and containers once used to hold precious, scented oils.
But it is the rough lumps of metal still shining with red and gold hues after two millennia on the sea floor that has excited the archaeological world.
Divers uncovered another 47 ingots from the mud last month.
A stack of orichalcum ingots they were found on the sea floor amid the wreck of a ship off Sicily.
SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR
The archaeologists working on recovering the wreck say it went down within sight of safety.
“The ship dates to the end of the sixth century BC,” Sicilian archaeologist Sebastiano Tusa told Seeker.
“It was likely caught in a sudden storm and sunk just when it was about to enter the port.”
This rules out Atlantis. Plato, writing in the 4th Century BC, implies that the legendary city slipped beneath the waves many hundreds — perhaps thousands — of years earlier. Archaeologists believe the ship was exporting the orichalcum from Greece or Asia Minor.
Given its precious cargo, it may not have had an easy voyage.
“The presence of helmets and weapons aboard ships is rather common. They were used against pirate incursions,” Tusa said.
Also recovered was an anchor, remains of amphorae and several smaller containers used for carrying precious oils. The shipwreck, and that of another two nearby, are yet to be fully excavated. Tusa told La Repubblica that protecting the wrecks remains a concern, with looters believed to be exploiting a lack of policing of the archaeologically rich waters.
Orichalcum has been linked to the mythical land of Atlantis, which may itself have been a distorted memory of an ancient Minoan palace on the island of Santorini, destroyed in the eruption of a volcano about 1590 BC.
MYTHICAL METAL
The red-hued orichalcum alloy was long regarded to be a myth mentioned only in passing in Ancient Greek tales by the likes of Hesiod in the 8th Century BC and Plato in the 4th Century BC. One legend states it was invented by the legendary first king of Thebes, Cadmus, and was said to be regarded as being only slightly less precious than gold.
Plato lauded the glistening metal’s properties, and attributed it to Atlantis:
“For because of the greatness of their empire many things were brought to them from foreign countries, and the island itself provided most of what was required by them for the uses of life. In the first place, they dug out of the earth whatever was to be found there, solid as well as fusile, and that which is now only a name and was then something more than a name, orichalcum, was dug out of the earth in many parts of the island, being more precious in those days than anything except gold.”
He went on to say the metal was used to give the interior of the temple of Poseidon, at the heart of Atlantis, a magical glow.
“The zones of earth were surrounded by stone walls of divers colours, black and white and red, which they sometimes intermingled for the sake of ornament; the outermost wall was coated with brass, the second with tin, and the third, which was the wall of the citadel, flashed with the red light of orichalcum.”
Exactly what it was, and what it was made of, was a matter of speculation.
Cleaned of 2600 years worth of muck, the orichalcum still glistens with its original hue. Picture: Sebastiano Tusa, Superintendent of the Sea-Sicily Region
FROM LEGEND TO REALITY
Turns out, orichalcum may not be as exotic as the ancient tales suggest. Though it was almost certainly mysterious to many of the jewellers who formed it — and sold it.
Studies have shown the metal ingots to be made of about 75-80 per cent copper, 14-20 per cent zinc and a scattering of nickel, lead and iron.
The process of its production was likely to have been a tightly-held secret. Exactly how it was achieved remains a matter of debate. One explanation that fits the findings is that zinc ore, charcoal and copper could have been reacted in a molten crucible.
Whatever the case, the shiny brass-like alloy was highly regarded as it did not tarnish. It was also durable enough for use in jewellery.
Which is where the shipwreck comes in.
It was found just outside a harbour to the Greek colony city of Ghelas which, in ancient times, was a centre for craftsmen specialising in fine jewellery and ornate artefacts.
Two Corinthian-style helmets recovered from the wreck off Gela, Sicily. Picture: Sebastiano Tusa, Superintendent of the Sea-Sicily Region
Rising temperatures and drought conditions have caused serious problems for human populations all over the world, according to the World Health Organization.
Those dramatic changes in landscape brought on by lowering water levels, though, have also led to a number of notable discoveries, as Insider notes.
One area particularly affected by drought has been the central Spanish province of Caceres, where water levels in the Valdecanas reservoir have dropped nearly 30%, and as a result, a fascinating site from near pre-history has been recovered, per Reuters.
Though that lack of water has caused a number of serious problems in the country, the archaeological site that reemerged from the water in Spain dates to around 5,000 B.C., as Reuters also notes.
The site, which up until recently was submerged, was discovered first in the 1920s, but it was lost when the area was flooded for a reservoir project under Franco’s leadership.
The chance to study the area once again is a rare opportunity for scientists, according to Madrid’s Complutense University archaeologist Enrique Cedillo (via Reuters).
THE SPANISH STONEHENGE WAS UNCOVERED
The archaeological site uncovered by the receding waters of Valdecanas reservoir near the city of Huelva consists of dolmens, or large neolithic stone structures, as well as a number of standing stones similar to England’s Stonehenge, according to CNN. For this reason, the area is officially called the Dolmen of Guadalperal, but it’s colloquially known as the Spanish Stonehenge. In total there are thousands of stones on the site, spread over some 1,500 acres.
What’s also notable about the Iberian complex is that experts estimate there are some 500 stones still standing at the Spanish Stonehenge. According to experts, they were put there at different points in history, beginning as early as 5000 B.C. up through 1000 B.C., as Live Science notes.
There are also coffin-shaped structures on the site called cists where researchers believe human remains were buried.
Similar sites were also likely used as memorials for the dead, but so far, no human remains have been verified.
THE SPANISH STONEHENGE COULD BE OLDER THAN OTHER SITES
A number of similar sites with similar stone structures are found across Europe, according to Britannica, but otherwise not much is known about those who built them.
It’s believed that such areas served a number of purposes for ancient peoples, both ritualistic and astronomic, among other potential explanations. It’s not possible to date the exact age of the stone, but the age of the sediment on the stone can be estimated with radiocarbon dating techniques (via The New York Times).
The sheer number of different types of stones and stone structures at the Spanish complex is particularly notable, and it’s believed to be possibly older than other similar areas so far studied.
Since the Spanish area was spotted in the 1920s and then flooded in the 1960s, it’s only been above water four times. Now that the “Spanish Stonehenge” is once more accessible, some advocate moving it permanently away from the flood area.
The Iberian Peninsula drought that contributed to the resurfacing of the Spanish Stonehenge is the worst of its kind in some 1,200 years. Scientists expect it will worsen, according to CNN.
Excavations Near Stonehenge Uncover Bronze Age Barrow Cemetery
The Cotswold Archeology team excavating at the site of a planned housing development near Salisbury, England, has unearthed a giant barrow cemetery that could be between 3,500 and 4,000 years old.
Wiltshire is well known for its Bronze Age barrows, particularly those found within the World Heritage site of Stonehenge and on the chalklands of Cranborne Chase. In contrast, little is known about similar sites near the medieval city of Salisbury.
These barrows were installed 1,000 years or more after the monuments at Stonehenge were built on the Salisbury Plain just 10 miles (16 km) to the north. The archaeologists discovered enough evidence to conclude that these barrows had been made during the latter period.
However, Vistry’s construction of a new residential housing development on the outskirts of Harnham, a southern Salisbury suburb, has provided the opportunity to unearth some of the remains of a major round barrow cemetery and its landscape setting.
Round barrows were first constructed in the Neolithic period, although most were built during the Beaker and Early Bronze Age (2400 – 1500 BC), and usually consist of a central burial, a mound, and an enclosing ditch.
View of the barrows under excavation.
The size of round barrows can range from under 10 meters in diameter to up to 50 meters, although the majority tend to average between 20 and 30 meters. Additionally, the earthworks associated with barrows can vary.
Some have large central mounds (‘bell barrows’), others small central mounds and outer banks (‘disc barrows’), and some have central hollows (‘pond barrows’).
Their ditches would have provided material for the barrow mound, which would have been constructed of chalk, topsoil, and turf. Barrows are typically associated with burials; some contain only a single individual, while others contain a series of burials and, on rare occasions, multiple burials.
“Our cemetery is made up of about twenty or more barrows that spread from the very edge of Harnham on the Nadder valley floor, up and across the adjacent chalk hillside on what is the northern edge of the landscape of Cranborne Chase,” the Netherhampton site discoverers wrote in a Cotswold Archaeology press release.
“The cemetery is arranged in small clusters of barrows—either pairs or groups of six or so—and we’ve so far excavated just five.”
The Cotswold archaeologists have discovered 10 burials as well as three piles of buried cremation ash inside the five ditches they have already excavated.
A further indication of how well-liked this burial ground must have been with the people who lived in the area around Salisbury 4,000 years ago and beyond are the signs that two of the site’s barrows have undergone significant expansion at some point.
Excavations also uncovered Saxon remains, including a possible sunken-featured building, preserved timbers, iron knife blades, and ceramics, as well as a cultivation terrace (‘lynchet’) of probable late Iron Age date and Bronze and Iron Age pits.
