![]() | The chance discovery of ancient bones under an Irish pub in the mid-2000s has cast doubt over whether Irish people are actually related to the ancient Celts at all. The police arrived on the scene and discovered that it was not a crime scene but an ancient burial site. After DNA analysis
it is turning out to be a hugely significant ancient burial. The three skeletons are the ancestors of modern Irish people and they predate the Celts' arrival on Irish shores by around 1,000 years. Radiocarbon dating found that the ancient bones date back to at least 2,000 BC. Irish DNA existed in Ireland before the Celts ever set foot on the island. |
Monday 31 August 2020
Ancient bones reveal Irish aren't Celts
Friday 28 August 2020
2600 yo mummy Takabuti reveals secrets
![]() | Mummy Takabuti was acquired in Thebes by a wealthy man named Thomas Greg from County Down in Northern Ireland in 1834. Greg donated Takabui to the Belfast Natural History Museum. Now, 185 years after she was first unwrapped, a team of experts have gone public with their revelations. | ![]() |
![]() | CT analysis on Takabuti reveals that the 20 something sustained a severe wound to the back of her upper chest wall. This likely caused her quick death. The mysterious object in her body cavity was a resin-soaked linen, believed to have been used to pack the wound.![]() |
Thursday 27 August 2020
Supernova fingered in Devian mass extinction
![]() | 359 million years ago Earth suffered one of its worst extinction events. The boundary of the Permian and Triassic geological periods marked the demise of around 90% of marine species and 70% of land species. A team of researchers at the University of Illinois think that it might have been caused by a series of supernova explosions no more than 35 light years away. The last mass extinction event happened about 65 million years ago. It finished the dinosaurs and began the rule of mammals. The smoking gun for researchers is the fact that fossils of plants from the K/T extinction event show signs of excess UV exposure. The intense radiation from a close enough supernova blast is capable of stripping away the ozone layer. Plutonium-244 is an element that isn’t naturally produced on Earth, so the only way for it to exist in a layer of sediment is for it to have been put there as the shock-wave of a supernova. |
Tuesday 25 August 2020
Ancient coins doing well in coronavirus world
![]() | Results for the Stack’s Bowers Galleries August 2020 auction illustrate numismatics stands firm even during times of economic uncertainty. Over 92% of the ancient coin and world coin and paper money lots changed hands. Highlights among ancient coins included a gold octodrachm of Arsinoe II Philadelphos, which garnered $38k, a gold stater of Kroisos that sold for $30k, and an exceptional silver half shekel from year 3 of the First Jewish War that made $22k. ![]() |
Monday 24 August 2020
Gold coin hoard found in Israel
![]() | Students volunteering at an archaeological dig in central Israel landed 425 gold coins that had lain buried in a clay jar for 1,100 years. The coins date to the early Islamic period, when the region was part of the Abbasid caliphate. The coins weigh 845g and would have been a huge sum when they were buried - enough to buy a luxurious home. The cache consisted of full gold dinars and 270 small gold cuttings - pieces of dinars cut to serve as "small change". Some of the cuttings were from a gold solidus of the Byzantine Emperor Theophilos minted in Constantinople. This provides evidence of the continuous trade connections between the two rival empires during the period. |
Sunday 23 August 2020
Ichthyosaur's 250m year old meal it's last
![]() | In 2010 paleontologists digging in a quarry in southwestern China made a rare discovery. The ichthyosaur's stomach they found contained the undigested remains of a thalattosaur. Researchers speculate that a violent confrontation took place, one which caused the ichthyosaur to fracture it's neck, killing it as it consumed it's prey. These events took place sometime after the end of the Permian era, some 250 million years ago, when land vertebrates started moving back to the sea following a mass extinction event. |

Friday 21 August 2020
Ancient coins on a budget
![]() | Lockdales’ auction in Ipswich on July 5 sold a silver denarius of Septimius Severus. It was minted in Rome in AD 210. It changed hands for just £140. Severus was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. Arriving in Britain in 208, he invaded Caledonia (modern Scotland) with an army of 50,000 men, strengthening Hadrian’s Wall and reoccupying the Antonine Wall. His ambitions were cut short when he fell ill in late 210. He died in early 211 at Eboracum (York), and was succeeded by his sons. |
Thursday 20 August 2020
Thracian tomb reveals Gold treasure
![]() | In late 2012 Bulgarian archaeologists found golden treasures in an ancient Thracian tomb near a Unesco world heritage site about 250 miles north-east of the capital Sofia. Items included gold bracelets with snake heads, a tiara with animal motifs and a horse-head piece along with a hoard of other ancient golden artefacts. The items date to the end of the fourth or the beginning of the third century BC. They were found in the biggest of 150 ancient tombs of the Getae, a Thracian tribe. | ![]() |
![]() | The tomb was that of a high status leader. Used weapons and the arrow wounds in the bones of his horse indicate that he was a warrior. He was buried in the biggest burial mound in the region. ![]() | ![]() |
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Saturday 15 August 2020
Chew Valley Hoard
![]() | The 'Chew Valley hoard' contains 1,236 coins of Harold II, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England, and 1,310 coins of William I. Experts say the hoard is "hugely significant" as it doubles the number of Harold coins than all previous known finds combined. It also includes fine examples of coins issued by William I after his coronation on Christmas Day in 1066. | ![]() |
![]() | Adam Staples and Lisa Grace made a once in a lifetime discovery while out metal detecting together. They discovered 2,571 silver coins that date back to the time of King Harold II, aka Harold Godwinson. He was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England who died in the Battle of Hastings by an arrow through the eye in 1066. The couple found the coins while searching an unploughed field in north east Somerset. | ![]() |
![]() | Harold Godwinson was king for seven months and coins from his reign are rare. Experts believe the coins were buried within two or three years after 1066 and probably before 1072. The Battle of Hastings was fought on 14 October 1066 between the Norman-French army of William, the Duke of Normandy, and an English army under King Harold Godwinson. It marked the beginning of the Norman conquest of England. | ![]() The battle of Hastings was a decisive Norman victory. |
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Chew Valley Hoard
Friday 14 August 2020
Roman sarcophagi
![]() | In 2017 two Roman sarcophagi were unearthed close to Rome’s stadium. The marble coffins boast elaborate bas-reliefs and were probably the final resting place of children of a wealthy Roman family. Discovered by chance when an energy company started digging in the area, they date from the third or fourth century AD. | ![]() |
![]() The Ludovisi sarcophagus | Artifacts are routinely found beneath the streets of Rome during construction. In 2015, an operation to repair gas pipes revealed the remains of a 2,000-year-old villa, complete with frescoed walls. | ![]() A priceless Roman sarcopagus was identified outside Blenheim Palace. |
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Roman sarcophagi
Thursday 13 August 2020
Argentine police arrest meteorite thieves - Campo del Cielo
![]() | El Chaco was discovered with a metal detector in 1967. It is the third-biggest meteorite ever found. Named after the province it fell into, the meteorite is central to the native Moqoit people. | ![]() |
![]() | Almost all of the remaining portion of the meteorite is iron. ![]() | ![]() |
![]() "Las VĂboras" fragment found in Campo del Cielo | ![]() Campo del Cielo meteorite, El Chaco fragment | ![]() :Campo del Cielo meteorite, El Chaco fragment |
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