Archaeology
Wooden barrel containing osmond raised from 16th century shipwreck
![](https://conspirazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/vrak2-rqD06Y.jpeg)
Underwater archaeologists from the Vrak – Museum of Wrecks have raised a wooden barrel containing osmond from a 16th century shipwreck off the Baltic coast of Sweden.
Osmond is a form of iron made by melting pig iron in a hearth that is narrower and deeper than a typical finery forge. Written sources indicate that osmund iron was a significant export product from Sweden from the Middle Ages to the 17th century.
The shipwreck, named the “Osmond Wreck” by Vrak archaeologists, was first discovered in 2017 north of Dalarö in the Stockholm archipelago. The ship is a clinker-built ship, a design of medieval construction in which the edges of hull planks overlap each other.
A dendrochronological analysis of the ship’s timbers suggest that it was constructed in Stockholm in the 1540s. Sometime around 1553, the deck was repaired with wood felled in southern Finland.
Image Credit : Vrak
According to Vrak, the wreck is well preserved and still has the main mast standing, as well as cargo still in situ. Underwater studies have identified 30 barrels at the wreck site, 20 of which contain fist-sized lumps of osmond, while the remaining barrels contain tar, ash, and butter.
Excavations of the cargo have also revealed large quantities of fish bones, and several horns belonging to the family Cervidae, that were likely being exported to make combs.
The recently raised barrel with osmotic iron is being sent to a conservator for further examination. “It was incredibly difficult to get it out and get it off – the barrel is so heavy and it’s a great depth, says museum wreck marine archaeologist Jim Hansson, project manager.”
Header Image Credit : Vrak
Sources : Vrak – Museum of Wrecks
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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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