Archaeology
Archaeologists recover ornate glassware from Roman shipwreck
![](https://conspirazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/ship2-5GtkId.jpeg)
Underwater archaeologists have recovered ornate glassware during excavations of the Capo Corso 2 shipwreck.
Capo Corso 2 was first discovered in 2012 at a depth of around 350 metres in the stretch of sea between Capo Corso and the island of Capraia.
Preliminary dating places the ship to around the end of the 1st and the early 2nd century AD, which sunk transporting a cargo almost exclusively of glass in both its raw state, and thousands of worked brown tableware.
An Italian-French mission first conducted a photogrammetric survey of the wreck to study changes to the site caused by sedimentation and human action. Based on the obtained data, the researchers then deployed a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) called Arthur.
Image Credit : National Superintendency for Underwater Cultural Heritage
Arthur is a new ROV prototype that can reach a depth of 2500 metres. It can shoot high-definition video, ventilate or vacuum the sediment, and recover artefacts in situ by using a specially mounted claw.
Various glass objects have been recovered using the ROV, including glass bottles, cups, and bowls, in addition to two bronze basins and several amphorae.
In an announcement by the National Superintendency for Underwater Cultural Heritage: “All archaeological materials will be transported to the laboratory of the National Superintendence in Taranto for scientific analyses, for the characterisation of biological degradation and for restoration.”
The research team hope that further study of the objects will reveal details about the chronology of the ship and the route it travelled on its last journey. An initial analysis of the cargo suggests that the ship likely came from a port in the Middle East, possibly from Lebanon or Syria.
Given the exceptional nature of the wreck and the results of this first survey campaign, the researchers of both countries hope to be able to start a broader multidisciplinary project in the coming years.”
National Superintendency for Underwater Cultural Heritage
Header Image Credit : National Superintendency for Underwater Cultural Heritage
Archaeology
Ornate grave goods found in Murom burial ground
Archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences have been excavating a burial ground associated with the Finnic Muromians.
The Finnic Muromians were groups of settlers that lived within the vicinity of the Volga and Oka rivers. They spoke Muromian, an Uralic language that became extinct following their assimilation by the Slavs.
The burial ground, which dates from the early 10th century AD, was discovered on the eastern bank of the Oka river, located in the Nizhny Novgorod Region of Russia.
A total of seventeen burial pits have been identified, nine of which have been severely damaged through looting.
The surviving 8 burials contain the remains of four children, two women, and two men.
The men were accompanied with an ornate collection of grave goods, including arrowheads, knives, bronze bracelets, iron plates, a bronze buckle, and a whetstone.
At the bottom of one of the pits is a heavily corroded axe, along with a flint that has traces of iron-coated embossed leather and textile threads.
The burials containing women were also accompanied with high status funerary goods, such as a necklace of red-brown prismatic and dark blue berry-shaped beads of Byzantine origin, signet ring-shaped pendants, plate bracelets, a bronze spiral, and a silver ring.
Traces of wood within the pit fillings suggest that they originally contained a wooden structure, similar to a log house made of thin beams and covered with birch bark.
According to the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences: “The culmination of the discoveries at the site were two clay vessels, testifying to direct and close contacts between the right-bank Muromians and the Old Russian population.”
Header Image Credit : Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Sources : Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeology
Ghastly finds at gallows execution site
![](https://conspirazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/gast2-S78Iej.jpeg)
Archaeologists from the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt are currently excavating the site of a former gallows in Quedlinburg, Germany.
Gallows are usually wooden structures made of two vertical posts, a horizontal crossbeam, and a hanging noose. They have been used for executing criminals by hanging, a prevalent form of capital punishment in Europe since the Middle Ages.
Archaeologists are currently excavating a gallows site on Galgenberg, or ‘Gallows Hill,’ which was used for public executions by the courts in Quedlinburg from 1662 to 1809.
Excavations have revealed complete and partial burials in the area, along with bone pits containing multiple bundled burials, likely the result of mass executions carried out in a short period.
Image Credit : LDA
According to the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt, “these discoveries provide unique insights into penal practices from the Middle Ages and early modern times.”
A burial unrelated to the gallows has also been unearthed, featuring a wooden coffin containing the skeletal remains of an individual buried with a rosary chain.
Archaeologists propose that the burial’s characteristics suggest that the individual was likely a suicide victim, denied burial in consecrated ground so was placed in the cemetery near the gallows.
Also discovered is a so-called ‘revenant grave’, where the skeletal remains of a man was found placed on his back with several large stones placed across his chest.
According to the researchers, the stones were likely placed to prevent the individual from rising as a revenant, which are described as animated corpses in the verbal traditions and lore of many European ethnic groups.
In medieval times, those inflicted with the revenant condition were generally suicide victims, witches, corpses possessed by a malevolent spirit, or the victim of a vampiric attack.
Header Image Credit : LDA
Sources : State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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