It could be Anglo Saxon - the problem is because it's out of context we can't know for sure Oh well, such is the plight of us archaeologists!
Yeah, I know. That's why I said I'm sorry for that. What a pity.
Yeah, I know. That's why I said I'm sorry for that. What a pity.
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Really really cool stuff!
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Thank you for sharing this science with us. It is really cool! Congrats to you and the team for getting to do such amazing work.
Curious a bit, what will be done with the human remains?
Curious a bit, what will be done with the human remains?
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Thank you for sharing this science with us. It is really cool! Congrats to you and the team for getting to do such amazing work.
Curious a bit, what will be done with the human remains?
Curious a bit, what will be done with the human remains?
No worries, it is fun; tough, but fun and it's been a good opportunity to get closer to people you've shared a course with all year and never spoken too!
I'm not actually sure what will happen to the skeletons, they have managed to take both out of the ground now. I'll ask for you next week but my guess at the moment is that it will be taken to a lab for forensic studying and preservation because as you can imagine, the bones are very fragile and degraded. After studies, I think they might reinter the bodies because of respect for the bodies, or they may just keep them in a secure location for later analysis. No doubt there will be ethical decisions to be made along the way (It's hard to imagine that those are actual Romans who had their own lives, beliefs and dreams!) but I know the remains will be treated with respect no matter what they do with them!
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Also, on Friday, my friend managed to unearth something that is very rare in archaeological digs...
To find an entire pot, unbroken by the winds (or soils to be more exact) of time, is a huge miracle!
Spoiler: Show
To find an entire pot, unbroken by the winds (or soils to be more exact) of time, is a huge miracle!
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Wonderful!
That could be a very precious piece of evidence! Now it would be possible to track down some good trade route for your settlement...I'm already start wondering about it.
That could be a very precious piece of evidence! Now it would be possible to track down some good trade route for your settlement...I'm already start wondering about it.
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Wonderful!
That could be a very precious piece of evidence! Now it would be possible to track down some good trade route for your settlement...I'm already start wondering about it.
That could be a very precious piece of evidence! Now it would be possible to track down some good trade route for your settlement...I'm already start wondering about it.
Well Timo, let's see if you guessed right; because of the stuff we've found already, we already have two direct links to trade:
1. The nice pieces of amphora definitely weren't made here, they were carefully mass produced in Gaul which is why they are superior to the other pieces of pot.
2. Roman glass is amazing, and you don't find that quality of glass again until the 18th century. The reason for this is because they used natron salt from Egypt and the Levant to make glass blocks which they then shipped here, melted and then made into vessels. From this, we can assume there's some trade link to Egypt, if not direct, then indirectly up here.
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Then it all depends now on stratigraphic data. If those pots and the glass have been found in some V-VI century layers, that could be really an important discovery. However, something leads me to say that they come from more ancient strata, don't they?
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Now that, Timo, I'm not sure about, when we do more analysis, I think we'll be able to give exact dates!
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Also, slightly linked, just got my results back from Durham; I passed my exams!
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Congratulations!
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In the excitement of summer holidays, I forgot to post my greatest find that I uncovered on the second to last day, plus an added surprise!
Spoiler: Mother of Dragons?Show
Well... I wish!
I found what looked remarkably like a dragon's egg from Game of Thrones; it wasn't a dragon egg, it was more of a stone pinecone which had perhaps fallen off a pedestal (note the flattened bottom that possibly indicates it was on top of something) from one of the mausoleums and had rolled down the hill to where I found it.
So no dragons, but, as I uncovered it, we looked up and saw this person standing by the fence!
Fortunately, we hadn't summoned a centurion (or is that unfortunate?); it was a guy who dresses up as a Roman and walks through the streets as a job (career goals?)!
It was kind of spooky though to find such an amazing object and then see a Roman centurion appear out of nowhere!
I found what looked remarkably like a dragon's egg from Game of Thrones; it wasn't a dragon egg, it was more of a stone pinecone which had perhaps fallen off a pedestal (note the flattened bottom that possibly indicates it was on top of something) from one of the mausoleums and had rolled down the hill to where I found it.
So no dragons, but, as I uncovered it, we looked up and saw this person standing by the fence!
Fortunately, we hadn't summoned a centurion (or is that unfortunate?); it was a guy who dresses up as a Roman and walks through the streets as a job (career goals?)!
It was kind of spooky though to find such an amazing object and then see a Roman centurion appear out of nowhere!
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Also, I woke up this morning, showered and got ready to leave when I got an email saying that gravestone recording was cancelled; love last minute changes! >_>
I still went to the cemetery to take some pictures and do a bit more recording anyway because I wasn't about to climb back into bed (although it was tempting)
The above two are both Commonwealth War Graves and are a standard design for any war graves; the only personalisation allowed is the small message at the bottom which both of these graves have. I'll be doing some research for my project on these two so I can give you some more information about their lives (hopefully) soon!
The grave below is a normal family grave, belonging to a couple. They must have buried a seed in the grave because as you can see, there's a huge tree sticking out of the grave and the roots have disturbed the grave.
The slightly poetic thing about this grave is how the tree branches off into two trunks; Edward and Annie's spirits live on, together, even in death, by nature.
Life's victory won now cometh rest
I still went to the cemetery to take some pictures and do a bit more recording anyway because I wasn't about to climb back into bed (although it was tempting)
Spoiler: Warning, pictures of graves withinShow
The above two are both Commonwealth War Graves and are a standard design for any war graves; the only personalisation allowed is the small message at the bottom which both of these graves have. I'll be doing some research for my project on these two so I can give you some more information about their lives (hopefully) soon!
The grave below is a normal family grave, belonging to a couple. They must have buried a seed in the grave because as you can see, there's a huge tree sticking out of the grave and the roots have disturbed the grave.
The slightly poetic thing about this grave is how the tree branches off into two trunks; Edward and Annie's spirits live on, together, even in death, by nature.
Life's victory won now cometh rest
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This is a Roman/Medieval site, right? That dragon egg looks a lot like those pinecone-things that's found on Assyrian reliefs...
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Yeah it was a Roman site; that's interesting about the dragon egg/pinecone; the thought is it came off a mausoleum. Given that this is a Roman military fort first, the mausoleum could have been from a Near Eastern officer; the Roman army became less "Roman" as the Empire dragged on and so it is possible for a Near Eastern soldier to be buried in Britain. Thus, the design could have been taken from his native culture.
Alternatively, the Romans were masters of appropriating items from other cultures so it could be a Roman who just thought the design was nice!
Alternatively, the Romans were masters of appropriating items from other cultures so it could be a Roman who just thought the design was nice!
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That's what I was thinking too! The Romans were eveeeerywhere so they could've gotten it from Mesopotamia (or like you said, gotten people from there).
Or it could be an egg from a mythical creature long-thought to be dead. Just keep it away from fire for now...
Or it could be an egg from a mythical creature long-thought to be dead. Just keep it away from fire for now...
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The allusion to Mesopotamia is fascinating, but perhaps it isn't necessary to go so far. I mean, I already saw similar objects in classical sites, so perhaps it was simply a shape already well known. I bet it came from Hellenistic art, however, and thus from the East.
By the way, amazing pictures Sam!
By the way, amazing pictures Sam!
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So I just googled Pinecones and Romans and I found this link from the BBC A History of the World. Note the object was found in Carlisle, so in Northern England!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/nOVRHz05SL6pTnbbVdTvJw
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/nOVRHz05SL6pTnbbVdTvJw
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On from Romans and onto Egyptians! Hereās some Egyptian artefacts that are at the Oriental Museum at Durham University!
Spoiler: Egyptian PicturesShow
Spoiler: HieroglyphicsShow
If I can, Iāll try and translate some of the text for you! As a note, you read hieroglyphics from top to bottom if they are written vertically, and if they are horizontal, you read towards the direction of the way any person or animal is facing (for example if this was a snake o, you would read the text from right to left, but if the snake was facing like this o, youād read it from left to right! These can change mid text so itās important to always be on the lookout!)
On the first line of this, we can see the snake on the left-hand side facing towards the right, so we would read the first line from right to left. The image is slightly unclear but I think the second line is also read from right to left, but the third line, the bird is facing left, so you would read this from left to right! (This is done to attribute the correct line to the correct image, so the third line goes with the smaller image whilst Iām guessing the top two lines are talking about the big image!
The only word I can translate right now is the first four symbols on the first line (reading from left to right) and this translates as āa funeral offeringā so, I think, the first two lines are talking about a man (the one in the big image) offering something to the gods (who I think is Ra)!
The second line of this at the top (second from the left) translates to āfuneral offering to Osirisā. This and the first line (from the left) are facing in one direction, so they are related to the picture of Osiris on the left, whilst the rest of the top (third from the left onwards) are read from right to left and are linked to the two people below"
On the first line of this, we can see the snake on the left-hand side facing towards the right, so we would read the first line from right to left. The image is slightly unclear but I think the second line is also read from right to left, but the third line, the bird is facing left, so you would read this from left to right! (This is done to attribute the correct line to the correct image, so the third line goes with the smaller image whilst Iām guessing the top two lines are talking about the big image!
The only word I can translate right now is the first four symbols on the first line (reading from left to right) and this translates as āa funeral offeringā so, I think, the first two lines are talking about a man (the one in the big image) offering something to the gods (who I think is Ra)!
The second line of this at the top (second from the left) translates to āfuneral offering to Osirisā. This and the first line (from the left) are facing in one direction, so they are related to the picture of Osiris on the left, whilst the rest of the top (third from the left onwards) are read from right to left and are linked to the two people below"
Spoiler: ArtefactsShow
Two sides of the same boxā¦but notice how one side the people are coloured black and on the other side they are drawn normally? We have no idea why. Normally, it could be picturing shadows or darkness but maybe it could be that the person did not existā¦but if they didnāt why go to the trouble of drawing them?
A small model of a slave girl, the picture does not do justice to how detailed the model is (sorry for the crappy photo, Iāll try and get a better one next time!)
DISCLAIMER: Pictures of mummies and death in the spoiler, please donāt click if that isnāt your thing!
Mummies
Spoiler: MummiesShow
Canopic Jars for the storage of organs
(Yes you read that correctly, mummified snakes, X-ray image below)
Since we're all cat lovers, here's one for you all! Cat coffin for your mummified cats!
Alright, I've stuck another spoiler in just in case, below are two human mummies so once again, you've been warned
Spoiler: Human MummiesShow
Mummy of a young boy (14-15 years old)
It raises an interesting question...should we put mummies on display like this, to be stared at and taken pictures of? The are dead people after all, should we not show them the same respect that we would for any dead? Ethics, ethics...
Also here are some not Egyptian stuff but I thought you all would appreciate them!
Spoiler: Not EgyptianShow
Family prayer alter (I canāt remember if it was a Buddhist or Japanese one (I know there was Buddhism in Japan but I donāt want to give false information!))
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Uh, nice photos
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