Latest news with #Excavation
Fox News
15-07-2025
- Fox News
Mysterious 1,600-year-old settlement emerges from soil with rare Roman military finds
Archaeologists recently uncovered a mysterious Roman-era settlement site in Germany, complete with building remains and hundreds of artifacts dating back nearly two millennia. The Schafbreite site, located within the western German town of Delbrück, has been settled since the first century A.D. The site was recently excavated by the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (LWL). In a June 13 statement, the LWL announced the results of its excavation, revealing a trove of discoveries that mostly date back to the fourth and fifth centuries A.D. Officials identified hundreds of ancient features at the site, including numerous holes in the ground that were likely from ancient wooden posts. After months of careful digging, archaeologists also found two "clearly identifiable" buildings, along with two pit houses, two wells and a cremation grave — along with several hundred artifacts. "Seven hundred and fifty individual finds were recovered from the ancient cultural layer preserved under a thick ash soil, 600 of which were metal," said the LWL's statement, translated from German to English. Archaeologists also explained that the site "must have been settled at different times, making it a multi-period settlement site." "The finds from various periods also show the inhabitants had access to Roman material culture." "The finds from various periods also show that the inhabitants had access to Roman material culture," the press release said. The statement added, "The new excavations have expanded the picture of this site, as a burial has now been confirmed: The isolated cremation grave contained remains from the pyre, such as charcoal, cremated remains and parts of burned grave goods." In the burial section, archaeologists found that one decedent was buried with a spearhead, two garment clasps and a broken bone comb, in addition to "a fire steel, and an animal head buckle with fittings." "Experts date this buckle to the 4th or 5th century based on its shape. It further confirms the settlers' contact with the Roman cultural sphere, as it belonged to the Roman military belt," officials said in a statement. Historians were unable to identify the mysterious burial. The LWL speculated that the deceased person may have been a Germanic mercenary in the Roman military. "[It's] a special find, as it is the first burial in East Westphalia where parts of a Roman military belt have been detected, previously only known from surface finds in other regions," officials said. Other discoveries at the site included a cattle trough, a construction pit with ceramics and a three-foot-wide well that was made from tree trunks. "The organic preservation was so good that we recovered not only wood but also a leather fragment and even an insect wing," excavation manager Sven Knippschild noted. He added, "Completely extraordinary and unique for the Migration Period in Westphalia was the discovery of a beam piece with various tool marks on the last day of excavation." "[It] was certainly once part of a house and was later recycled for the well construction." Sven Spiong, a lead archaeologist at LWL, said the site offers a glimpse into what life was like during the Migration Period. The era, also known as the Barbarian Invasions, was a time of significant upheaval and change in Europe, lasting from roughly 300 to 600 A.D. "Sites like these help us better understand how the people of the region lived and worked during the arrival of the Romans and in the following centuries." "Sites like these help us better understand how the people of the region lived and worked during the arrival of the Romans and in the following centuries, what interregional contacts and connections they had, and how the settlement structure changed during the Migration Period," Spiong said. Even though the excavation has wrapped up, the recent discoveries are just the beginning of researchers' study of the archaeological site. Experts plan to analyze the wood and charcoal found at the site to help date the site more precisely. Archaeologists will also look at some soil from the well to learn more about what the area around Bentfeld was like over 1,600 years ago. "This [study] may reveal changes in vegetation, landscape, and settlement between the time around the birth of Christ and around 400 A.D.," LWL archaeologist Julia Hallenkamp-Lumpe noted.
New York Times
14-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Dig for Children's Remains Begins at Irish Home for Unwed Mothers
Excavators broke ground on Monday in western Ireland to search for the bodies of hundreds of babies and young children, some of them discarded in septic tanks, who died at a home for unwed mothers that was managed by Catholic nuns from 1925 to 1961. The circumstances of the children's short lives, the treatment of the mothers and the decades of secrecy surrounding the deaths have been recognized widely as a profound moral stain on the Irish government, which funded the institution, and the Catholic Church, which managed it. About half of the children, estimated to number about 800 in all, died before their first birthdays. 'Some of the families have been really seeking answers to these questions for many years,' Daniel MacSweeney, who directs the excavation, said in an interview. He leads the Office of the Director of Authorized Intervention, Tuam, an independent organization established by the Irish government in 2022 to recover the remains. The team began with small motorized diggers, Mr. MacSweeney said, while specialists watched for signs of remains. Once bodies appear, he said, the work will continue by hand, noting 'the complexity of the challenge.' Scientists estimate that infant bodies lie 'commingled' in the tanks under St. Mary's Mother and Baby Home in Tuam, a town in County Galway in the west of Ireland. The institution was long one of the most notorious homes for unwed mothers in Ireland. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
The Independent
14-07-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Bodies of hundreds of infants buried at Irish institution to be recovered
Excavation has commenced to recover the remains of hundreds of infants from a septic tank at a former mother and baby home in Tuam, Co Galway. The mass grave, containing 796 babies who died between 1925 and 1961, was uncovered by amateur historian Catherine Corless in 2014. A 2017 government investigation confirmed significant human remains of children, buried without coffins in the 9ft-deep tank. The painstaking two-year process aims to identify the remains, with DNA assistance from families, before proper re-interment. The discovery prompted apologies from the Irish premier and the Bon Secours Sisters, acknowledging the profound historical mistreatment of mothers and children in such homes.
Fox News
23-05-2025
- General
- Fox News
Ancient Christian figurines discovered in 1,500-year-old desert graves
Archaeologists recently uncovered extraordinary artifacts from an ancient African Christian community in Israel, according to officials. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced the finds on May 14. In a Facebook post, the organization said the objects were discovered during an excavation at Tel Malḥata, a mound in the Arad Valley of the Negev Desert. In ancient times, Tel Malḥata served as a crossroads that merchants from the Arabian Peninsula, India and Africa used. The items were found in 1,500-year-old graves of women and children, according to the IAA. Pictures show multiple figurines with human face shapes, along with scattered artifacts, including jugs and pottery fragments. Archaeologists also found other burial offerings, including glassware, bronze bracelets, and jewelry made of stone and alabaster. The burials were conducted according to ancient Christian tradition, with excavators describing the figurines as being "heads of African figures, carved in black wood." In a journal article, researchers said the figurines show that a Christian community lived in Southern Israel "about 1,500 years ago, possibly with some of its members coming from Africa." Said the article, "Carved from bone, and from ebony wood – a rare raw material originating from southern India and Sri Lanka – the figurines were designed in the form of women and men bearing prominent African facial features, and with a hole for the purpose of wearing them around the neck." The study added, "It seems their purpose was not only decorative, but also as intimate personal items carrying with them a story of identity, tradition and memory." The IAA noted that the artifacts were "carefully placed" among the deceased women and children, and after 1,500 years, they're still "exceptionally well-preserved." "It is possible that the figures represent ancestors, and thus they reflect traditions passed down from generation to generation – even after the adoption of the Christian religion," researchers said. The article continued, "It is likely that a woman and a child who were buried side-by-side, and in whose graves two of the figurines were discovered, belonged to the same family – and perhaps they were even mother and son." The IAA noted that unearthing African figurines in Christian graves in Israel is quite unusual and called the find "a rare discovery." "[It] deepens our understanding of the cultural diversity among the inhabitants of the country in this region about 1,500 years ago," the agency wrote. Eli Escusido, director of the IAA, described the findings as "moving, not only from an archaeological perspective, but also on a human level." He added, "They serve as a reminder that the Land of Israel has always been a crossroads of cultures and peoples – individuals arrived here, integrated into the local population, and yet still carried with them traditions and beliefs from distant lands." The grave discoveries are a few of many remarkable IAA finds in the past year. In December, the agency announced the discovery of the oldest-known Chinese inscription in Israel, which was found at the holy site of Mount Zion. In March, an Israeli child uncovered a 3,800-year-old Canaanite amulet at a mound called Tel Azeka, located in the Judean Foothills.
New York Times
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Photos of Willem de Kooning, Unseen Until Now
The Dutch-born artist Willem de Kooning, a seminal figure in Abstract Expressionism and 20th-century art, came to the United States in 1926 as a stowaway on a freighter bound for Argentina. He first made a living painting houses in Hoboken, N.J., and settled in New York City in 1927. Among his best-known pieces are 'Excavation,' (1950) one of his largest works, and the paintings in his 'Woman' series, whose abstract — to some, grotesque — depictions of the female form caused controversy when they were first exhibited in the early 1950s. By 1951, de Kooning owned property in East Hampton, N.Y. He was one of a number of artists, including Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock, who made a home in that part of Long Island. The area had been regarded as a haven for artists since the 19th century. In 1965, Grace Glueck, an arts reporter for The New York Times, ventured to the Hamptons to visit de Kooning, as well as other artists living in the area. Among the paintings de Kooning produced around this time were another 'Woman' piece and several untitled charcoal drawings. Glueck's article was published on Aug. 16 of that year with the headline 'Artists Follow Sun to the Hamptons and Followers Follow Artists.' In the newspaper, the article included a photograph taken by the Times photographer Allyn Baum of de Kooning leaning on a cluttered worktable in the giant studio of his then-unfinished house in Springs, a hamlet in East Hampton. Other painters mentioned in the article included Adolph Gottlieb, Balcomb Greene and Alfonso Ossorio. Baum took more photos of de Kooning in his art space, but they were not published. The negatives from that shoot are stored in one of the Times's archival libraries.. But The Times's art department developed some of them a few months ago. One shows de Kooning, who died in 1997, at work in his art space, applying brush to canvas; another shows him with Ms. Glueck. An image of the pair from that same 1965 photo shoot was published with Ms. Glueck's obituary in 2022.
