Archaeology
Archaeologists explore submerged structures off the Le Cesine coastline
A new research project led by the University of Salento is conducting an underwater and surface study of the Le Cesine coastline to explore submerged structures first identified in 2020.
Le Cesine is a 6 km nature reserve located in Italy between San Cataldo and San Foca. Previous studies using drones, ROVs, and a photogrammetric survey, revealed evidence of a submerged port and structures in the locality of Posto San Giovanni.
Archaeologists discovered the foundation of a pier measuring approximately 90 metres in length, situated 15 metres from the shoreline that followed an ancient bank at a depth of 3.5 metres.
The pier was built with large juxtaposed blocks, and possible bollards made from parallelepiped blocks with a cylinder-shaped side placed at rather regular intervals, but has since collapsed due to the disruptive force of wave motion.
Image Credit : University of Salento
According to the researchers: “This structure is similar to the submerged part of the large Hadrianic pier north of the wide bay of San Cataldo, to which it is also similar due to its impressive development and building technique, but it could also be older than that.”
On the same alignment further away from the shore are another cluster of blocks arranged in parallel and perpendicular lines.
The current project is conducting a detailed study to determine whether the two structures are associated, and further study a so-called “submerged church” which may actually be the remains of a lighthouse tower.
On the shoreline are also structures that the researchers are documenting, including a series of rock-cut storage pits, and further evidence of a building that preliminary dating suggests may be from the Roman Republican era.
In a press release published by the University of Salento: “The set of evidence at sea and on land, with the holistic approach of landscape archaeology, suggests precisely the existence of an important port complex.”
Header Image Credit : University of Salento
Archaeologists excavating the grounds of Govan Old Church in Glasgow, England, have discovered an early medieval carved stone figure dubbed the “Govan Warrior”.
Govan Old Church is the home of the Govan Stone Museum, a collection of early medieval and Viking-Age sculptures found in the grounds, including 30 sculptures from a lost kingdom of Old Welsh-speaking Britons known as the Ystrad Clud who dominated the Clyde valley from the 5th to 11th centuries AD.
Excavations have been conducted by the University of Glasgow and Clyde Archaeology, in which a carved stone of a warrior was uncovered during a community fun day organised as part of the Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival.
The carved stone depicts a man standing side on and carrying a round shield and a shaft. According to the researchers, the discovery dates from around 1,000-years-ago and is unlike any of the other carved stones found at Govan Old.
According to a press statement by the University of Glasgow: “The Govan Warrior is unique within the existing collection due to its stylistic characteristics, which has drawn parallels with Pictish art and carvings from the Isle of Man. Unlike the other stones in the Govan collection, whose chunky style of carving is so distinctive that it has been described as a school of carving in its own right (the ‘Govan School’), the Govan Warrior is lightly incised, which may bring parallels with famous Pictish stones like the Rhynie Man from Aberdeenshire.”
Professor Stephen Driscoll said: “It’s a style that makes us think both about the Pictish world and also about the Isle of Man and it’s interesting that we are halfway between these two places. Govan is the ideal place for these two artistic traditions or styles to come together.”
Header Image Credit : Govan Heritage Trust
An excavation project, in collaboration with archaeologists from Södertörn University, Uppsala University’s Campus Gotland, Gotland Museum, and the Swedish National Heritage Board, has led to the discovery of an Iron Age port on Gotska Sandön.
Gotska Sandön is an island and national park in Sweden’s Gotland County, situated 24 miles north of Faro in the Baltic Sea.
Earlier in 2023, archaeologists found two 2,000-year-old Roman coins on one of the island’s beaches. Both coins are made of silver, with one coin dating from AD 98-117 during the reign of Emperor Trajan, and the other coin dating from AD 138-161 during the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius
In the latest excavations, archaeologists have now discovered evidence of twenty hearths on the same beach as the Roman coins discovery.
According to Johan Rönnby, a professor of marine archaeology at Södertörn University, the site is an Iron Age port, not in the sense of quays we imply in the modern era, but instead a place where Iron Age people regularly landed their boats and formed an encampment.
Although the purpose of the encampment is speculated, the researchers suggest that it may have been linked to an emerging seal hunting industry.
“Seal hunters may have come from the island of Gotland and landed on Sandön to boil seal blubber. This could have been what the hearths were used for, but we don’t yet know – there may be other reasons why the site looks like it does, such as it being a trading post,” said Rönnby.
Excavations and carbon-14 dating of one of the hearths has indicated that they also date from 2,000-years-ago, suggesting a possible link between the encampment and the Roman coins.
Header Image Credit : idw
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