Archaeology
Archaeologists find traces of violent history on Anglo-Scottish border
Archaeologists from the Border Reivers Archaeology Unit have uncovered traces of the violent history along the Anglo-Scottish border.
Excavations at the Swinton Kirk parish church in the village of Swinton, located north of the Scottish border, have uncovered human remains consisting of 124 bone fragments that show signs of multiple injuries at the time of death.
An anthropological study has identified up to five individuals among the fragments, two of which are adults, while the other three are children/young adults.
The church, which dates from 1100 (with significant alterations in 1593), was used as a refuge during the Anglo-Scottish Wars and the systemic raiding by the Reivers.
The Reivers were English and Scottish raiders that attacked settlements on both sides of the border land between the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century.
The Wardens of the Marches governed the Marcher law, which granted individuals who had been raided the legal authority to retaliate with a raid of their own within six days to reclaim their property.
Swinton was attacked by English forces at least four times in the 15th to 16th centuries, evidenced by the remains of a defensive earthwork bank around the parish church.
Among the bone fragments, osteoarchaeologists have found two fragments from the lower leg bone that has indications of sharp force trauma from a blade. According to the experts, the trauma occurred peri-mortem (around the time of death).
An archaeologist from the Border Reivers Archaeology Unit said: “Living human bone has a completely different consistency and texture from dead bone. The living bone is more like a very hard dense wax or wood and is not as brittle as dead bone, it breaks and cuts in a completely different way.”
One of the shin bones uncovered also has slashing marks, while a thigh bone has teeth marks likely from a large canid (dog or wolf).
Header Image Credit : Border Reivers Archaeology
Sources : Border Reivers Archaeology
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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