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Archaeology in the News
Researchers find almost 2,300-year-old remains of a woman

Special discovery in Senden, Neu-Ulm: Archaeologists have come across the 2,300-year-old remains of a woman there, which offer exciting insights into Celtic culture: The grave is richly decorated and contains a rare grave good.


https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/for...au,UaVrQKG
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Indo-European/ Most CWC … Polish-Lithuanian / German and Romanian
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https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/...an-britain

Archaeologists discover rare liquid gypsum burial of 'high-status individual' from Roman Britain

excerpt:
Quote:Archaeologists in England have discovered a Roman-era cemetery with an unusual burial at its center — a stone coffin holding a deceased individual encased in liquid gypsum.

This practice is known from Roman times, but archaeologists still don't fully understand it. The mineral was made into a cement or plaster and then poured over the deceased person to make a hard cast. This process sometimes preserved organic remnants such as clothing or a burial shroud. The gypsum from the newfound burial is fragmentary, but it retains impressions of the individual's shroud and preserved a small piece of fabric.

This type of burial is largely known from Roman urban centers — such as York in England, which has 45 documented gypsum burials — but it's rare to find them in rural regions, as this one was. In this case, "we do believe this would have been an expensive endeavour and is therefore indicative of a high-status individual," said Jessica Lowther, community archaeologist for Headland Archaeology, the company that did the excavation

another gypsum burial:
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/...ld-secrets
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R1b>M269>L23>L51>L11>P312>DF19>DF88>FGC11833 >S4281>S4268>Z17112>FT354149

Ancestors: Francis Cooke (M223/I2a2a) b1583; Hester Mahieu (Cooke) (J1c2 mtDNA) b.1584; Richard Warren (E-M35) b1578; Elizabeth Walker (Warren) (H1j mtDNA) b1583; John Mead (I2a1/P37.2) b1634; Rev. Joseph Hull (I1, L1301+ L1302-) b1595; Benjamin Harrington (M223/I2a2a-Y5729) b1618; Joshua Griffith (L21>DF13) b1593; John Wing (U106>Z8>Z1) b1584; John Howland (U106>Z8>Z1) b1593; Elizabeth Tilley (Howland) (H1a1 mtDNA) b1607; Thomas Gunn (DF19) b1605; Hermann Wilhelm (DF19) b1635
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Thieves have stolen the Helmet of Coțofenești from a Dutch museum while on loan from Romania. They used explosives to gain entry, and also made off with three Dacian royal bracelets. Hope they are caught and the artefacts returned asap...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czxkpnnlpdvo.amp
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Y: I1 Z140+ FT354410+; mtDNA: V78
Recent tree: mainly West Country England and Southeast Wales
Y line: Peak District, c.1300. Swedish IA/VA matches; last = 715AD YFull, 849AD FTDNA
mtDNA: Llanvihangel Pont-y-moile, 1825
Mother's Y: R-BY11922+; Llanvair Discoed, 1770
Avatar: Welsh Borders hillfort, 1980s
Anthrogenica member 2015-23
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https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/new...s?from=mdr
"Synopsis
A groundbreaking study reveals that Tamil Nadu's Iron Age began as early as 3,345 BCE, predating the Hittite Empire's iron usage by a millennium. Radiometric dating of burial urn samples from Sivagalai indicate a thriving Iron Age civilization in southern India, contemporaneous with the Indus Valley Civilization. This discovery redefines the timeline of ancient civilizations in India."

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city...497414.cms
"ASI’s former director general Rakesh Tewari concurred ..."
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Quote:A hoard of British coins bearing the inscription of King Cunobelin and found in a Dutch field have been identified as very likely to be the spoils of war of a Roman soldier from the conquest of Britain.

The 44 gold coins, known as staters, were discovered alongside 360 Roman coins, by two amateur archaeologists with metal detectors in a field in Bunnik, near Utrecht. The coins are believed to have been given as military pay.

The staters bear the name of the British Celtic king also known as Cunobelinus, immortalised by Shakespeare as Cymbeline in the play of that name, who reigned between AD5 and AD40 in the south-east of Britain.

Analysis of what is the first mixed composition collection found on mainland Europe suggests the coins were deliberately buried in a shallow pit and stored in a cloth or leather pouch.

The coins, which were found less than 30cm below the surface of the soil, are said to amount to what would have been 11 years in wages for an ordinary Roman soldier.

I wonder if it was a Legionaire or auxiliary who brought that back? And what happened that they couldn't recover it after burial?
Photos and more text:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...ar-utrecht
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R1b>M269>L23>L51>L11>P312>DF19>DF88>FGC11833 >S4281>S4268>Z17112>FT354149

Ancestors: Francis Cooke (M223/I2a2a) b1583; Hester Mahieu (Cooke) (J1c2 mtDNA) b.1584; Richard Warren (E-M35) b1578; Elizabeth Walker (Warren) (H1j mtDNA) b1583; John Mead (I2a1/P37.2) b1634; Rev. Joseph Hull (I1, L1301+ L1302-) b1595; Benjamin Harrington (M223/I2a2a-Y5729) b1618; Joshua Griffith (L21>DF13) b1593; John Wing (U106>Z8>Z1) b1584; John Howland (U106>Z8>Z1) b1593; Elizabeth Tilley (Howland) (H1a1 mtDNA) b1607; Thomas Gunn (DF19) b1605; Hermann Wilhelm (DF19) b1635
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Forgery and Fiscal Fraud in Iudaea and Arabia on the Eve of the Bar Kokhba Revolt: Memorandum and Minutes of a Trial before  a Roman Official (P.Cotton)


ANNA DOLGANOV - FRITZ MITTHOF - HANNAH M.COTTON - AVNER ECKER


The  Greek  papyrus  presented  here  is  a  memorandum  for  a  judicial  hearing  before  a  Roman official in the province of Iudaea or Arabia in the reign of Hadrian, after the emperor’s visit to the region in 129/130 CE and before the outbreak of the Bar Kokhba revolt in 132.1 The document also contains an informal record of the hearing in question. The trial concerns the prosecution of a number of individuals, including a certain Gadalias and Saulos, who are accused of forging documents relating to the sale and manumission of  slaves  in  order  to  circumvent  the  imperial  fiscus.  The  identity  of  the  prosecutors  remains  unknown,  but  they  seem  likely  to  have  been  functionaries  of  the  Roman  imperial  administration. The  text  also  mentions  an  informer  who  denounced  the defendants to the Roman authorities. This document offers a unique glimpse of local civic institutions and the workings of Roman provincial administration and jurisdiction in the Near East. It also sheds light on the elusive question of slave trade and ownership among Jews. At the same time, the papyrus provides insight into a cultural and intel-lectual  environment  in  which  Roman  law,  Greek  rhetoric,  and  Jewish  life  meet.  We  present  an  editio  princeps  with  a  translation  and  commentary,  while  acknowledging  that the study of this document is far from exhausted.



https://tyche.univie.ac.at/index.php/tyc.../9224/9369
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LDNA©: Britain & Ireland: 89.3% (51.5% English, 37.8% Scottish & Irish), N.W. Germanic: 7.8%, Europe South: 2.9% (Southern Italy & Sicily)
BigY 700: I1-Z141 >F2642 >Y3649 >Y7198 (c.349 AD) >Y168300 (c.385 AD) >A13248 (c.868 AD) >A13252 (c.1047 AD) >FT81015 (c.1277 AD) >A13243 (c.1620 AD) >FT80854 (c.1700 AD) >FT80630 (1893 AD).
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"The Most Impactful Archaeological Discoveries of 2024":

https://www.artnews.com/list/art-news/di...di-arabia/
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Sailing waters never before sailed (DNA technology uncovering the past).
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I see good (but wet) graves and an ossuary box?  Two-minute video (no translation, though) at link:
https://bsky.app/profile/scoupland.bsky....jcx36ikc2c

"Excavations in Herstal, site of a Carolingian palace frequented by Pippin III and Charlemagne - traces of a chapel and around 40 graves being excavated."

https://www.rtl.be/page-videos/belgique/...0kwCdnGdcA
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R1b>M269>L23>L51>L11>P312>DF19>DF88>FGC11833 >S4281>S4268>Z17112>FT354149

Ancestors: Francis Cooke (M223/I2a2a) b1583; Hester Mahieu (Cooke) (J1c2 mtDNA) b.1584; Richard Warren (E-M35) b1578; Elizabeth Walker (Warren) (H1j mtDNA) b1583; John Mead (I2a1/P37.2) b1634; Rev. Joseph Hull (I1, L1301+ L1302-) b1595; Benjamin Harrington (M223/I2a2a-Y5729) b1618; Joshua Griffith (L21>DF13) b1593; John Wing (U106>Z8>Z1) b1584; John Howland (U106>Z8>Z1) b1593; Elizabeth Tilley (Howland) (H1a1 mtDNA) b1607; Thomas Gunn (DF19) b1605; Hermann Wilhelm (DF19) b1635
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Hoard of coins illuminates triumphant Maccabee campaign in 2nd-century-BCE Israel

A rare intact Hellenistic estate at Khirbet el-Eika in Eastern Galilee was likely abandoned by its inhabitant as Yonatan Maccabee and his army drew nearer, new research shows

By ROSSELLA TERCATIN
5 February 2025, 3:38 pm


[Image: selected-coins.jpeg]
A bronze hoard, composed of civic coins of ‘Akko-Ptolemais, was recently found in the excavations at the Hellenistic site Khirbet el-Eika. The find was published in January 2025. (Tal Rogovski)


A hoard of bronze coins unearthed in the remains of a Hellenistic-era building offers new evidence for life in Israel in the tumultuous mid-2nd century BCE’s victorious military campaign led by Yonatan Maccabee, brother of the Hanukkah hero Judah, according to new research.

The cache of 26 coins was found in 2016 at the site of Khirbet el-Eika, on the top of a mountain overlooking the Eastern Galilee in Israel’s north. Its discovery was published for the first time in an academic paper in the American Journal of Numismatics last month.

“Khirbet el-Eika was an agricultural estate with close ties to the coastal city of Akko [Acre],” Dr. Roi Sabar from the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem told The Times of Israel in a video call.

[…]

While many sites in Israel were occupied during the Hellenistic period, most remained active in the Roman and Byzantine eras, making it harder for archaeologists to uncover the relevant layer.

Khirbet el-Eika, however, was abandoned around the mid-2nd century BCE, most likely due to a violent event, Sabar pointed out.

“Khirbet el-Eika offered us a great opportunity to excavate straight into the Hellenistic period, which has traditionally been underrepresented in Israeli archaeology,” he said.

The site presented a wide range of finds, including luxury objects such as a bronze mirror and a copper bowl, as well as iron agricultural tools.

“We uncovered an impressive number of artifacts,” Sabar noted. “We excavated a rich pottery assemblage, including numerous amphoras from across the Aegean Sea. We also found five door keys, which are quite rare in archaeological excavations.”

According to Sabar, the excavation results are consistent with the idea that the site’s inhabitants felt the urge to flee.

[…]

While the estate was never resettled again, the researcher explained that the people of Khirbet el-Eika did manage to flee because archaeologists found no human skeletons at the site.

However, plenty of their possessions remained behind, including the hoard of coins.



For the entire article, see:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/hoard-of-c...ce-israel/
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LDNA©: Britain & Ireland: 89.3% (51.5% English, 37.8% Scottish & Irish), N.W. Germanic: 7.8%, Europe South: 2.9% (Southern Italy & Sicily)
BigY 700: I1-Z141 >F2642 >Y3649 >Y7198 (c.349 AD) >Y168300 (c.385 AD) >A13248 (c.868 AD) >A13252 (c.1047 AD) >FT81015 (c.1277 AD) >A13243 (c.1620 AD) >FT80854 (c.1700 AD) >FT80630 (1893 AD).
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Mysterious 2,500-year-old burials hint at human trafficking in ancient Israel

A mass grave in the Negev excavated by the Israel Antiquities Authority sheds light on funerary, divination, and commercial practices in the first millennium BCE

By ROSSELLA TERCATIN
9 February 2025, 10:40 am



Some 2,500 years ago, a group of young women met their tragic destiny in the middle of the Negev as they were led by one of the trade caravans that crossed the Middle East for millennia, possibly to be sold as temple prostitutes, a new excavation by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has revealed. The site, a mass burial structure, was discovered in 2021 by Dr. Martin David Pasternak, but it was disclosed to the public for the first time on Wednesday.

[…]

“ We know that human trafficking happened in the area for millennia until very recently,” IAA senior researcher Dr. Tali Erickson-Gini told The Times of Israel in a phone interview. “We are all familiar with the biblical story of Joseph being sold to a caravan of Midianites, then to the Ishmaelites, and finally to Egypt. However, archaeological finds testifying to the phenomenon are rare. Our discoveries seem to be connected precisely to that human trade.”


[Image: 6.%D7%9B%D7%9C%D7%99-%D7%94%D7%91%D7%94%...40x400.jpg]
Archaeologists unearthed a 2,500-year-old mass burial site associated with trade caravans from Yemen, Phoenicia, and Egypt in the Negev, next to modern-day Tlalim Junction. The discovery was disclosed to the public by the Israel Antiquities Authority on February 5, 2025. In the picture, an alabaster vessel. (Emil Aladjem/Israel Antiquities Authority)



One of the first unearthed artifacts was an alabaster vessel.

“I recognized it as a container used to transport frankincense and myrrh common in the south of the Arabian peninsula between the 8th and the 2nd century BCE,” Erickson-Gini said. “Then, we realized that the architecture of the small building we uncovered was typical of the 5th and 4th centuries, which allowed us to pinpoint the period more precisely.”



[…]

Perhaps the most crucial question to arise from the site revolves around the identity of the buried individuals. The archaeologists found over 65 skeletons, most of whom belonged to women between the ages of 14 and 20. The rest appeared to be men in their thirties and forties.

“An inscription discovered in Yemen dating about 100 years after the tombs in the Negev fell out of use listed dozens of women sold there, including about 30 women bought in Gaza, and others from Egypt, Greece, Moab, Phoenicia and more,” Erickson-Gini said. “Researchers believe that they were sold not just as wives, but also as temple prostitutes.”

The practice of employing prostitutes in temple and cultic rituals was common in the ancient world, including in Canaan and Babylon.

[…]

According to the researcher, the ages of both the women and men buried at the site support the theory of human trafficking.

“We essentially found a group of young women with middle-aged and older men,” Erickson-Gini noted. “What is interesting is that we did not find skeletons of children or babies, while childbirth was probably the most common cause of death among young women at the time. It suggests that something different was going on.

[…]

“There were many ties between Babylon and southern Arabia in that period,” she added. “We know their temples were built and run following the same principles. Sacred prostitution was an important practice in Babylon. One of its goddesses was Inanna, which basically means the ‘great prostitute.’”

The tombs — which were opened and closed multiple times, suggesting that they were in use for several years — presented another find associated with sexuality.

“We discovered about 10 big cowrie shells, which were traditionally identified with female genitalia,” Erickson-Gini revealed. “Similar shells were found in temples in Jordan and Egypt, always associated with female deities. This is not a coincidence.”


[Image: Big_and_small_cowrie_shells-640x400.jpg]
Cowrie shells, illustrative. (Wikipedia)

No other known settlement or site existed next to the burial structure. However, it happened to sit at the crossroads of two prominent ancient roads through the Arava — the Scorpion’s Ascent, mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and the Darb El-Sultan, or the King’s Road

“These two roads have existed for 5,000 years,” Erickson-Gini said. “What I find fascinating is that we have evidence of both burial and divination practices at crossroads in other ancient sites, especially at T junctions. This offers another argument to support our understanding of the site


For the rest of the article, including two videos and more pictures, see:

https://www.timesofisrael.com/mysterious...nt-israel/
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Paper Trail: 42% English, 31.5% Scottish, 12.5% Irish, 6.25% German, 6.25% Sicilian & 1.5% French.
LDNA©: Britain & Ireland: 89.3% (51.5% English, 37.8% Scottish & Irish), N.W. Germanic: 7.8%, Europe South: 2.9% (Southern Italy & Sicily)
BigY 700: I1-Z141 >F2642 >Y3649 >Y7198 (c.349 AD) >Y168300 (c.385 AD) >A13248 (c.868 AD) >A13252 (c.1047 AD) >FT81015 (c.1277 AD) >A13243 (c.1620 AD) >FT80854 (c.1700 AD) >FT80630 (1893 AD).
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