Archaeology
Byzantine bucket pieces found at Sutton Hoo excavation
![](https://conspirazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/time2-QutGeo.jpeg)
Archaeologists have unearthed missing fragments of the Bromeswell bucket, a 6th-century Byzantine artefact first discovered at Sutton Hoo, England, during the 1980s.
As part of a two-year research project, excavations have centred on Garden Field, a tract of land next to the High Hall exhibition. This is the same area where the Bromeswell bucket was first discovered IN 1980, in addition to fragments in a later excavation during 2021.
Over 80 volunteers and staff have taken part in the project so far, including volunteers from the Restoration Trust, which offers culture therapy to people who live with mental health challenges.
Employing advanced survey techniques, experts from SUMO Geophysics performed a geophysical study of the field and identified several anomalies.
This was followed by a comprehensive metal detector survey, which uncovered several copper fragments adorned with the same figures found on the Bromeswell bucket. A chemical and elemental analysis using XRF – X-Ray Fluorescence have confirmed that the fragments match the chemical composition of the bucket, in addition to the fragments from 2021.
Regional Archaeologist for the National Trust, Angus Wainwright, said: “Because of its proximity to fragments discovered much earlier, we had hoped this year’s dig would yield more of the Bromeswell Bucket, which originated from the Byzantine empire in the 6th century – around a hundred years before the ship [Sutton Hoo ship burial] and its extraordinary treasure was put to rest.”
Image Credit : National Trust – East of England
“It’s hoped that this two-year research project will help us to learn more about the wider landscape at Sutton Hoo and the everyday lives of the people that lived there, perhaps even shedding some light on why the Royal Burial Ground was placed where it was. So, this find is a great step on that journey.”
According to Wainwright, a closer inspection reveals that the bucket was previously damaged and subsequently repaired, possibly by soldering it back together.
Header Image Credit : National Trust – East of England
Sources : National Trust
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
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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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