Monday, October 31, 2011

Archaeology in Europe

Archaeology in Europe


Missing link in Roman conquest of Germany a 'sensational find'

Posted: 31 Oct 2011 01:59 AM PDT


Archaeologists are celebrating the find of a Roman military camp which was a crucial link in Emperor Augustus' conquest of Germany – after more than a century of looking for it.

The find, near the small town of Olfen not far from Münster near the Ruhr Valley, has already produced a collection of artefacts, not only pottery but also coins and clothing fasteners. These enabled researchers at the Westphalia-Lippe Municipal Association (LWL) to confirm what they had hoped.

"It's a sensational discovery for Roman research in Westphalia," LWL-director Wolfgang Kirsch said in a statement.

Read the rest of this article...

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Archaeology in Europe

Archaeology in Europe


Scientists digitise our prehistoric past

Posted: 30 Oct 2011 02:31 AM PDT


Researchers in Leipzig are compiling a ground-breaking digital archive of artefacts from around the world. Created to compare Neanderthals with modern man, the archive could revolutionise their field — which is exactly why many oppose it.


Visitors to Tel Aviv University are greeted by three skulls with seashells in their eye sockets and on a table behind them, a student completes a detailed drawing of the teeth in a human jaw.  The bone chamber lies behind a simple steel door on the ground floor, located right next to the delivery entrance of the anatomy institute at Tel Aviv University, what looks like a simple storeroom is actually one of the world's largest repositories of human history.

Nestled on foam within blue storage drawers are all sorts of fragile bones, from femurs to mandibles, and phalanges to ribs, children's skulls and a whole range of teeth. These are one-of-a-kind fossils that reveal a key episode in the history of the human species.

Read the rest of this article...

Tourism development versus historic preservation in Turkey reaches ‘fever pitch’

Posted: 30 Oct 2011 01:26 AM PDT



Last week AOL journalist Melanie Renzulli reported that the conflict between historic preservation and tourism development has reached a "fever pitch" in Turkey.

Renzulli referred to the Art Newspaper, which reported that Turkey's recent transfer of archaeological excavation permits from the hands of non-Turkish to Turkish scholars implies a "crackdown" on foreign universities for its slow pace in turning Turkey's abundance of historic sites into tourist attractions.

Experts agree that the threat of tourism development to historic preservation, both of which fall under the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, is real.


Read the rest of this article...

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Archaeology in Europe

Archaeology in Europe


The find of a lifetime: Treasure hunter digs up 200-piece haul of Viking jewellery and coins

Posted: 28 Oct 2011 02:46 PM PDT


A metal detecting enthusiast unearthed 'the find of a lifetime' when he discovered a Viking treasure hoard including 200 pieces of silver jewellery. 


Darren Webster dug up a 1,000-year-old casket that also held coins, hacksilver and ingots while scouring at an undisclosed location on the border between Cumbria and North Lancashire.


Experts at the British Museum in London say the find is of 'national significance'.

Read the rest of this article...

Lost Roman camp that protected against Germanic hordes found

Posted: 28 Oct 2011 02:44 PM PDT


Historians believe the camp, once home to an estimated 1,000 legionaries and located on the River Lippe near the town of Olfen, may well have been served as a key base for the Roman General Drusus, who waged a long and bloody war against the tribes that once inhabited what is now western Germany.
The find comes 100 years after the discovery of a bronze Roman helmet near Olfen indicated the presence of ancient remains but it took a century of searching to finally discover the exact location of the camp.

Read the rest of this article...

Prehistoric site is found at Cave Hill in Belfast

Posted: 28 Oct 2011 02:41 PM PDT


Archaeologists have discovered what is believed to be a prehistoric ceremonial site on Cave Hill in north Belfast.

It follows a community excavation involving more than 400 people at the site of Ballyaghagan cashel on the Upper Hightown Road, which had never before been unearthed.

Dr Harry Welsh, an archaeologist with Queen's University, which led the Big Dig project, said some of the earliest items on the site dated back to 3,500 years BC.

Read the rest of this article...

Jawbone found near Kennewick Man site, raising specter of controversy

Posted: 28 Oct 2011 02:37 PM PDT


Federal archeologists are investigating a very old jawbone that turned up Monday along the Columbia River in Kennewick, Wash. The human remains were found a short distance from where Kennewick Man was discovered in 1996 and sparked a decade-long legal conflict.

The battles over Kennewick Man have scientists being extra cautious with the new discovery.

The jawbone with six worn teeth was spotted in shallow water by a jail work crew doing routine park cleanup. Kennewick Police and the Benton County coroner quickly determined the bone belonged to an adult human, but was too old to connect to any modern crime.


Read the rest of this article...

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Archaeology in Europe

Archaeology in Europe


Controversy Over Reopening the 'Sistine Chapel' of Stone Age Art

Posted: 27 Oct 2011 01:47 AM PDT


Plans to reopen Spain's Altamira caves are stirring controversy over the possibility that tourists' visits will further damage the 20,000-year old wall paintings that changed views about the intellectual ability of prehistoric people. That's the topic of an article in the current edition of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine. The caves are the site of Stone Age paintings so magnificent that experts have called them the "Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic Art."

armen Drahl, C&EN associate editor, points out in the article that Spanish officials closed the tourist mecca to the public in 2002 after scientists realized that visitors were fostering growth of bacteria that damage the paintings. Now, however, they plan to reopen the caves. Declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations' Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Altamira's rock paintings of animals and human hands made scientists realize that Stone Age people had intellectual capabilities far greater than previously believed

Read the rest of this article...

Solving the Mysteries of Short-Legged Neandertals

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 12:39 PM PDT


While most studies have concluded that a cold climate led to the short lower legs typical of Neandertals, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that lower leg lengths shorter than the typical modern human's let them move more efficiently over the mountainous terrain where they lived. The findings reveal a broader trend relating shorter lower leg length to mountainous environments that may help explain the limb proportions of many different animals.

Their research was published online in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and will appear in print in the November issue.

Read the rest of this article...

Monday, October 24, 2011

Archaeology in Europe

Archaeology in Europe


Viking Buried With Axe, Sword and Spear Found With Fully Intact Viking Boat Burial in UK

Posted: 24 Oct 2011 11:07 AM PDT



The UK mainland's first fully intact Viking boat burial site has been discovered by archaeologists working in the Scottish Highlands. The 5m-long grave contained the remains of a high status Viking, who was buried with an axe, a sword with a beautifully decorated hilt, a spear, shield boss and bronze ring-pin.

The Viking had been buried in a ship, whose 200 or so metal rivets were also found by the team.

The 1,000-year-old find, on the remote Ardnamurchan Peninsula, was made by the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project (ATP) which is a team led by experts from the Universities of Manchester, Leicester, CFA Archaeology Ltd and Archaeology Scotland

Read the rest of this article...

Linn Duchaill: Ireland's unlikely Viking capital

Posted: 24 Oct 2011 11:05 AM PDT


A windswept barley field just south of Dundalk seems an unlikely spot for Ireland's capital. 

But if things had been different, Annagassan near Castlebellingham might have been the principal city on the island of Ireland.

Twelve hundred years ago it was the site of Linn Duchaill, one of the first Viking settlements, which rivalled Dublin in size and importance.

Folklore said it was there, but all traces of it had disappeared, until a group of archaeologists and local historians set out to prove its existence.

Read the rest of this article...

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Archaeology in Europe

Archaeology in Europe


Archaeology Courses at the Oxford Experience 2012

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 08:41 AM PDT


1 July to 11 August 2012


The Oxford Experience is aresidential summer school held at the college of Christ Church, University ofOxford.

The programme consists of 6weeks of courses and participants attend for one or more weeks.

It offers a choice of twelveseminars each week over a period of five weeks. Participants do not need anyformal qualifications to take part, just an interest in their chosen subjectand a desire to meet like-minded people.

You can also find details ofthe various archaeology courses offered at Oxford Experience here...

It's a new Viking invasion of Britain – but this time it's cultural

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 08:21 AM PDT



After the discovery of a Viking burial site in Scotland, Norse history and myths are the focus of a TV saga, epic novels and a major British Museum exhibition

Longboats, funeral pyres, glinting helmets and drinking horns: the discovery of a buried Viking boat in the west Highlands a few days ago has given an extra fillip to a burgeoning cultural fascination with all things Norse.

A succession of Viking literary sagas, films and television series, pieces of poetry and avant-garde art, not to mention preparations for a major British Museum show, are now all on the slipway.

Read the rest of this article...

Pompeii wall collapse blamed on Berlusconi spending cuts

Posted: 23 Oct 2011 08:18 AM PDT


Part of a Roman wall has collapsed at Pompeii, one year after a house there crumbled, prompting accusations that the Italian government has failed to keep promises to protect the ancient site.

During heavy rain on Friday, an eight square metre section of a perimeter wall crumbled near Nola Gate.

It is the latest in a series of incidents including the fall of the House of the Gladiators last November, which Unesco criticised and which led the government of Silvio Berlusconi to vow that upkeep would improve.

Read the rest of this article...

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Archaeology in Europe

Archaeology in Europe


Viking boat burial site ‘could boost tourism’

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:27 AM PDT


THE discovery of a Viking boat burial site in the Highlands could boost tourism in the area if some of the artefacts can be retained at Ardnamurchan, it was claimed yesterday.

Local sources have confirmed that talks will be held to discuss the possibility of creating a new centre or exhibition space to house items from the burial site at Kilchoan.

Archaeologists revealed that the 16ft grave unearthed on the Ardnamurchan peninsula is the first fully-intact boat burial site to be found on the UK mainland.

Read the rest of this article...

Couple Held Hands for 1,500 Years

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:25 AM PDT


The skeletal remains of a Roman-era couple reveal the pair has been holding hands for 1,500 years.

Italian archaeologists say the man and woman were buried at the same time between the 5th and 6th century A.D. in central-northern Italy. Wearing a bronze ring, the woman is positioned so she appears to be gazing at her male partner.

"We believe that they were originally buried with their faces staring into each other. The position of the man's vertebrae suggests that his head rolled after death," Donato Labate, the director of the excavation at the archaeological superintendency of Emilia-Romagna, told Discovery News.

Read the rest of this article...

Part of ancient wall collapses at Pompeii due to heavy rains

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:21 AM PDT


MILAN — Officials at Pompeii's archaeological site say part of a wall has collapsed due to heavy rains in recent days.

Spokeswoman Daniela Leone said Saturday an external layer of a roughly two-meter (six-foot) section of wall collapsed at the northern end of the ancient ruins. Leone said it was of no artistic value and stressed that the wall itself remained standing. The area was closed to the public.

There were two collapses at the 2,000-year-old archaeological site last year, emphasizing concerns about the state of Italy's cultural treasures.

Read the rest of this article...

Redditch man makes major archaeological discovery

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:19 AM PDT


A METAL detecting enthusiast from Redditch has uncovered Worcestershire's largest ever archaeological hoard.

Jethro Carpenter found almost 4,000 Roman coins at Bredon Hill near Evesham - a major significance not only for the county but also the country.

Mr Carpenter, 43, was walking with friend Mark Gilmore when their metal detectors registered 'overload'.

Read the rest of this article...

Ancient Roman wall collapses at Pompeii after flash storms

Posted: 22 Oct 2011 10:17 AM PDT


Rome (AFP) - Part of an ancient Roman wall has collapsed at the archaeological site of Pompeiii in southern Italy following flash floods and storms across the country, a spokeswoman said Saturday.

The wall, built with the Roman "opus incertum" technique using irregularly shaped stones and concrete, collapsed on a stretch of the ancient city's external walls, near the Porta di Nola, in an area open to the public.

An archaeological team is assessing the damage but there is no risk to public safety, the spokeswoman told AFP.

Read the rest of this article...

Friday, October 21, 2011

Archaeology in Europe

Archaeology in Europe


Irish ring-pin found in Viking boat burial site

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 08:21 AM PDT


A BRONZE Viking ring-pin believed to be from Ireland has been found buried with its owner in a major archaeological discovery in Scotland.

The 1,000-year-old remains of a Viking of high status in a five-metre-long boat burial site has been described as one of the most important Norse graves ever excavated in Britain.

As well as the ring-pin, which probably held his cloak, archaeologists also recovered other artefacts including an axe, a sword, a spear, what could be the tip of a bronze drinking horn and Viking pottery.

Read the rest of this article...

Bredon Hill Roman coins unveiled at Worcester museum

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 08:19 AM PDT


A hoard of Roman artefacts unearthed in the Worcestershire countryside is to go on show at a museum in the county.

Local metal detector enthusiasts Jethro Carpenter, 43, and Mark Gilmore, 47, discovered more than 3,800 coins in a clay pot at Bredon Hill, near Evesham.

The Roman haul - the county's largest ever - is mainly bronze coins dating back to the 3rd Century.

Featuring 16 different emperors, many will be shown at Worcester City Art Gallery and Museum from Saturday.

Read the rest of this article...

Face-To-Face With an Ancient Human

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 08:16 AM PDT


A reconstruction based on the skull of Norway's best-preserved Stone Age skeleton makes it possible to study the features of a boy who lived outside Stavanger 7 500 years ago.

"It is hoped that this reconstruction is a good likeness and that, if someone who knew him in life had been presented with this restoration, they would hopefully have recognised the face," says Jenny Barber, an MSc student at the University of Dundee in Scotland.

She has scientifically rebuilt the face of the strong and stocky Viste Boy, who lived in the Vistehola cave near Stavanger, so that people can now look him right in the eye.

Read the rest of this article...

Museums could bid for Ardnamurchan Viking finds

Posted: 21 Oct 2011 08:11 AM PDT


Museums will have the chance to bid to exhibit artefacts from the UK mainland's first fully intact Viking boat burial.

Archaeologists found the remains of a high-ranking warrior, along with a sword, axe and other items at Ardnamurchan in the Highlands.

Following analysis, the Crown is expected to eventually claim the objects on behalf of the nation.

Under treasure trove rules, museums could then apply to keep them.

Read the rest of this article...

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Archaeology in Europe

Archaeology in Europe


Revealed, Henry VIII's lost pleasure palace: Amazing scale model recreates Nonsuch Palace more than 300 years after it was destroyed

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:55 AM PDT


When it was built, it was hailed as one of the finest buildings of its age – only to be destroyed 150 years later.

Now Henry VIII's 'lost' palace can be seen for the first time in more than 300 years – in a scale model based on 50 years of research.

The replica of Nonsuch Palace – so named because there was no other like it – took 1,250 hours to make.

Read the rest of this article...

Funds secured for Easter Ross's Pictish Nigg cross-slab

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:53 AM PDT


A small voluntary group has secured enough money to conserve and redesign the displaying of an intricately carved Pictish stone in Easter Ross.

The Nigg cross-slab dates from the 8th Century AD and features snakes and a depiction of monks receiving bread from a raven sent by God.

Nigg Old Trust has received a funding package of £178,000.

The Heritage Lottery Fund, Scottish government and European Community Highland Leader fund contributed.

Read the rest of this article...

Viking secret puts Ross-shire town on map

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:52 AM PDT


AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL discovery in Dingwall could put the town on the international map and bring major benefits to Ross and Cromarty, experts claimed this week.

Geophysical surveys of the Cromartie car park in Dingwall town centre have revealed that it most likely is the site of the long lost meeting place of the Vikings who once ruled Ross.

The Highland Council-owned car park was closed to the public for two days last month to see if archaeologists could produce the hard evidence to back up beliefs that it was an important Viking assembly area around 1,000 years ago.

Read the rest of this article...

Last chance to see city’s Roman dig site

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:49 AM PDT


ONE of the nation's largest archaeological digs, which has unearthed a treasure trove of relics dating from the Roman era, is being opened up to the public for the last time at the weekend.

The excavations overseen by the York Archaeological Trust at the Hungate development are the most extensive in the city since the famous Coppergate dig more than a quarter of a century ago.

The five-year project comes to an end in December and visitors will have a final opportunity on Saturday to meet archaeologists, who will talk through some of the remarkable finds.


Read the rest of this article...

Roman hoard of coins found on Bredon Hill

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:48 AM PDT


A FARMER has said metal detector enthusiasts "hit the jackpot" when they uncovered the largest hoard of Roman coins ever found in Worcestershire, on his family's land at Bredon Hill.

About 4,000 coins, featuring 16 different Roman Emperors, were discovered in June this year and are thought to be of national significance. The farmer, who is not being named by the Journal, said the exact location of the find may never be revealed.

He said: "We were really taken aback and shocked by it.

Read the rest of this article...

Deckchair protest halts archaeological survey

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:46 AM PDT


A one-man protest momentarily stopped work on a trench being built on what could have been the original site of a manor house in the heart of a village near Frome.

Steve Wood sat in his deckchair in the path of a digger on Monday afternoon in protest at part of a field being dug up next to Kilmersdon Village Hall.

Mr Wood claims work carried out on behalf of the developer is part of an access road to a nine-house development which so far has not been given planning permission. He said the road is being built prematurely and should not be allowed until permission is granted.

Read the rest of this article...

Gold hoard thrown in skip displayed

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:42 AM PDT


A hoard of Early Bronze Age gold that was salvaged from a skip following a botched robbery has gone on display.

The ancient artefacts were recovered by gardai in 2009 after being dumped along with the stolen safe they had been kept in at Sheehan's Pharmacy in Strokestown, Co Roscommon.

The thieves had not realised that the 5,000-year-old gold was hidden among documents when they tipped out what they thought were the safe's worthless contents.

Read the rest of this article...

Vikings and Scotland: 10 lesser known facts

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 06:32 AM PDT


THE discovery of the first fully intact Viking burial site in the UK - on the Ardnamurchan peninsula - has rekindled public interest in the Norse legacy on our shores.

The 16ft-long grave containing the remains of a "high-status Viking" who was buried with an axe, a sword and a spear provides a valuable insight into a period of our history which has fascinated Scots for centuries.

But the facts about the Vikings in Scotland bear little resemblence to the stereotypes of helmeted warriors pillaging the land at will. Here we delve a little deeper to examine ten lesser-known traits of our Nordic forebears.

Read the rest of this article...

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Archaeology in Europe

Archaeology in Europe


Search on for a second passage in Newgrange

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 04:29 AM PDT


ARCHAEOLOGISTS are examining whether one of the country's most popular tourist attractions may have more to it than meets the eye.

Newgrange in Co Meath may have a second passage, and it too could be aligned with a solstice event.

Teams from Ireland and Slovakia are exploring the possibility -- using technology that has proven successful at the pyramids in Egypt.

Read the rest of this article...

Clues About Early Diets Found in Fossilized Teeth

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 04:28 AM PDT


By studying the pits and scratches on fossilized teeth and analyzing the carbon isotopes on enamel, researchers have discovered new information about the diets of early hominids.

"The new data suggests our simple story, of harder and harder diets over time, is not accurate," said Peter Ungar, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Arkansas, whose lab does microscopic analysis of dental wear.

The genus Australopithecus, which lived two million to four million years ago, shows a greater variation in diet over geographic region than over time, he said.

Read the rest of this article...

Staffordshire Gold Hoard

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 04:26 AM PDT


One day, or perhaps one night, in the late seventh century an unknown party traveled along an old Roman road that cut across an uninhabited heath fringed by forest in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. Possibly they were soldiers, or then again maybe thieves—the remote area would remain notorious for highwaymen for centuries—but at any rate they were not casual travelers. Stepping off the road near the rise of a small ridge, they dug a pit and buried a stash of treasure in the ground.

For 1,300 years the treasure lay undisturbed, and eventually the landscape evolved from forest clearing to grazing pasture to working field. Then treasure hunters equipped with metal detectors—ubiquitous in Britain—began to call on farmer Fred Johnson, asking permission to walk the field. "I told one I'd lost a wrench and asked him to find that," Johnson says. Instead, on July 5, 2009, Terry Herbert came to the farmhouse door and announced to Johnson that he had found Anglo-Saxon treasure.

Read the rest of this article...

Found, the Viking war lord buried in his boat: 1,000-year-old tomb of Norse invader and weapons of war

Posted: 19 Oct 2011 04:20 AM PDT


Judging from the opulence of his tomb, he was a revered Viking warrior destined to take his place in Valhalla among the honoured dead.

Laid to rest in a 17ft boat with his sword, axe and bronze drinking horn, the powerful Norseman's burial site has been discovered by archaeologists in a remote part of the Scottish Highlands.

The grave, unearthed in Ardnamurchan, is the first of its kind to be found intact on the British mainland and is thought to date from 1,000AD – the height of the 'Second Viking Age'.

Read the rest of this article...

Viking boat burial find is UK mainland first

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 11:25 PM PDT


The UK mainland's first fully intact Viking boat burial site has been discovered by archaeologists working in the Scottish Highlands.

The 5m-long grave contained the remains of a high status Viking, who was buried with an axe, a sword with a beautifully decorated hilt, a spear, shield boss and bronze ring-pin.

The Viking had been buried in a ship, whose 200 or so metal rivets were also found by the team.

The 1,000-year-old find, on the remote Ardnamurchan Peninsula, was made by the Ardnamurchan Transitions Project (ATP) which is a team led by experts from the Universities of Manchester, Leicester, CFA Archaeology Ltd and Archaeology Scotland

Funded this season by The University of Manchester, Newcastle University and The Leverhulme Trust, the project brings together students and academics at what may be one of Britain's most significant Viking sites. 

Read the rest of this article...

Roman barge comes up for air after 2,000 years

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 11:17 PM PDT


Archaeologists have recovered the final piece of a ship that sank in the river Rhone in France more than two millennia ago, which they hope will shed light on how the Romans led the way with globalization. Stuart McDill reports

Watch the video...

A Viking treasure

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 11:15 PM PDT


A boat burial on the peninsula of Ardnamurchan, in Scotland, reveals just how noble the Vikings were.

Bad weather can have its comforts. "Bitter is the wind tonight, / It tosses the sea's white tresses," wrote an Irish monk more than 1,000 years ago, "I do not fear the fierce warriors of Norway, / Who only travel the quiet seas."

A warrior of the sort he feared found his last resting place on the peninsula of Ardnamurchan, north of Mull and south of Skye. His newly discovered grave has astonished archaeologists, for it is the first Viking boat burial found on mainland Britain. There he lies with axe, sword and spear. He must have been a leader among Norsemen to gain this noble grave.

Read the rest of this article...

Viking burial boat surfaces after 1,000 years

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 11:13 PM PDT


IT'S the sort of find most archaeologists spend their careers looking for, a discovery unseen by human eyes for more than a thousand years.

The first fully intact Viking boat burial site ever uncovered on the UK mainland has been found on the Ardnamurchan peninsula in Lochaber.

The 16ft-long grave contained the remains of a "high-status Viking" who was buried with an axe, a sword and a spear.

Read the rest of this article...

Viking artefacts show 'high-status' burial

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 11:11 PM PDT


Archaeologists have discovered a Viking boat burial site in the Scottish Highlands.

The grave contained the remains of a high-ranking warrior with his axe, his sword, and his spear.

The find at Ardnamurchan is thought to be more than 1,000 years old.

Dr Oliver Harris from the University of Leicester said the burial artefacts belonged to a high-status individual.

Watch the video...

Britain’s first intact Viking boat burial site unearthed

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 11:09 PM PDT


A VIKING boat burial site, believed to be more than 1000 years old, has been discovered by archaeologists.

The 16-and-a-half foot long grave contained the remains of a high-status Viking who was buried with an axe, sword and spear.

The incredible discovery on the remote Ardnamurchan Peninsula in the Highlands is the first intact boat burial site to be uncovered on the UK mainland.

Read the rest of this article...

Ardnamurchan Viking boat burial discovery 'a first'

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 10:49 PM PDT


The UK mainland's first fully intact Viking boat burial site has been uncovered in the north-west Highlands, archaeologists have said.

The site, at Ardnamurchan, is thought to be more than 1,000 years old.

Artefacts buried alongside the Viking in his boat suggest he was a high-ranking warrior.

Archaeologist Dr Hannah Cobb said the "artefacts and preservation make this one of the most important Norse graves ever excavated in Britain".

Dr Cobb, from the University of Manchester, a co-director of the project, said: "This is a very exciting find."


Read the rest of this article...

Viking chieftain's burial ship excavated in Scotland after 1,000 years

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 10:47 PM PDT


Timber fragments and rivets of vessel, and deceased's sword and shield, unearthed undisturbed on Ardnamurchan peninsula

A Viking ship, which for 1,000 years has held the body of a chieftain, with his shield on his chest and his sword and spear by his side, has been excavated on a remote Scottish peninsula – the first undisturbed Viking ship burial found on the British mainland.

The timbers of the ship found on the Ardnamurchan peninsula – the mainland's most westerly point – rotted into the soil centuries ago, like most of the bones of the man whose coffin it became.

Read the rest of this article...

Viking axe excavated after 1,000 years – video

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 11:54 AM PDT


Oliver Harris of the University of Manchesterlifts the axe in a soil block from a 1,000-year-old boat burial of a Vikingchief. The boat burial is the only undisturbed one ever found on the Britishmainland

Download the video...