Archaeology
Inrap archaeologists uncover medieval castle beneath French hotel
Excavations at the Château Lagorce, a former 18th century private mansion in Vannes has revealed traces of the town’s medieval castle.
Vannes is located in the Morbihan department of Brittany in north-western France. In medieval times, the town served as the centre of a principality or kingdom recognised as Bro-Wened (“Vannes”) or Bro-Ereg (“land of Gwereg”).
Recent excavations by archaeologists from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) have found traces of the towns medieval castle in preparation for the development of a fine arts museum.
As part of the first phase of excavations, the researchers have conducted a study of the mansion’s courtyard where they uncovered two stories of the castle’s defensive wall and a moat, located at a depth of 13 feet beneath street level.
The castle was built around 1380 by Jean IV who held the titles of Duke of Brittany and Count of Montfort from 1345, and the 7th Earl of Richmond from 1372. Known as the Château de l’Hermine (Castle of Hermine), the castle was constructed to assert the Duke’s central authority over his duchy and the town of Vannes.
Image Credit : Emmanuelle Collado, Inrap
According to Inrap, the surviving stonework suggests that the castle had three to four floors and several staircases, one of which has been described as “remarkably preserved”. The team also found markings on several worked stones that the workers used to follow a building, and architectural features such as the latrines and drainage pipes.
A search of the latrines has also revealed traces of castle life from the 15th and 16th centuries, including coins, knives, tiles, wooden bowls, kitchen utilities, and several pieces of jewellery. Due to the conditions of the soil, objects such as items of clothing, shoe buckles, pins, rings, and a ball padlock have also survived.
Excavations have also uncovered a mill connected to the residential part of the castle, where a large water well was powered by water passing through a canal, and remnants of a bridge that connected the castle to the town.
Header Image Credit : Emmanuelle Collado, Inrap
Sources : Inrap
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeologists from the University of Warwick are conducting an underwater study to document the submerged Mesolithic site of Bouldnor Cliff before it vanishes due to erosion.
Bouldnor Cliff is situated in the Solent between the Isle of Wight and the southern coast of England. The site was first discovered in 1999 when divers observed a lobster discarding worked flint tools from its burrow on the seabed.
At a time when Britain was cut off from mainland Europe by rising sea levels, the area of the Solent was a river valley inhabited by an advanced Mesolithic community who developed a boat building technology 2,000 years ahead of their time.
The study aims to find new data on the nature of the late Ice Age environment during the development of the Mesolithic era, and the extent of the interaction between the inhabitants of Bouldnor Cliff and Europe, including the exchange of materials.
Professor Robin Allaby, who is leading the expedition, said: “This is an incredible opportunity to understand the lost world in which the Mesolithic developed using the latest techniques before our chance is gone.”
The study will involve a comprehensive palaeoenvironmental analysis, in addition to state-of-the-art techniques such as optical simulated luminescence for constructing ecological profiles. Furthermore, archaeologists intend to recover archaeological artefacts and environmental markers to reconstruct the past environment.
Dr Kinnaird adds: “This is an exciting research project to showcase the new innovations in luminescence dating, which can tell when an object was last exposed to the Sun. The relevance of this technique in writing the narratives for 4000 years of history, at the time that the British coastline was rapidly changing, is huge!”
According to the researchers, these discoveries carry the potential to significantly transform our comprehension of the era when Britain emerged as an island.
Header Image Credit : University of Warwick
Sources : University of Warwick
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
A study of the “Excalibur” sword found in Valencia has been revealed to have Islamic origins sometime during the 10th century AD.
Valencia is one of the oldest cities in Spain, founded under the name of Valentia Edetanorum by the Romans in 138 BC.
The city was conquered by the Moors in the 8th century AD, and was destroyed by Abd al-Rahman I of the Umayyad dynasty. Under Caliphate rule, the wider city area became known as Madînat al-Turâb (meaning “city of earth” or “sand”).
The sword was discovered back in 1994 in a house on Valencia’s Historiador Chabàs Street, where it was found standing upright in a grave beneath an Islamic era house.
Dubbed “Excalibur” due to the circumstances of its discovery, the sword is made from iron and has a hilt decorated with bronze plates. In mythology, Excalibur was the legendary sword of King Arthur and appears in various medieval poems describing Arthur pulling the sword from a stone.
However, the “Excalibur” from Valencia was found in a sedimentary strata from the 10th century AD and was likely the weapon of a cavalryman from the Andalusian Caliphate Era.
According to the archaeologists, the sword measures 46 centimetres in length and has a slightly curved blade towards the tip. Swords from this period are rarely found well-preserved due to the levels of oxygen and water in the soil that causes oxidation of the iron.
“It is the first Islamic sword that appears in the city of Valencia, with only one similar example being found during the excavations of Medina Azahara, the caliphal city of Abd al-Rahman III, in Córdoba,” said the Valencia City Council.
Header Image Credit : The Archaeology Service (SIAM) of the Valencia City Council
Sources : Valencia City Council
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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