The History Blog

An exceptional Roman gold ring with an intaglio stone depicting a winged Victory driving a two-horse chariot has been acquired by the South West Heritage Trust and will become part of the permanent collection at The Museum of Somerset. The ring is heavy at 48 grams and is decorated with abstract openwork patterns, niello enamel and an ovoid intaglio nicolo. The gold openwork hoop that has two sharp angles at the bottom known as keels with flat sides leading up to rounded shoulders.

Two babies buried in ancient Roman York were wrapped in cloth of Tyrian purple with gold thread, the apex of luxury in the Roman world. This is the first discovery of the sumptuous purple dye, worth three times the cost of gold, in York, and one of only a few examples found anywhere in the UK. Researchers at the University of York made the rare find in two gypsum burials in the collections of the York Museums Trust.

A finely carved ivory double comb from the 12th century has gone on display at the LWL Museum of Archaeology and Culture in Herne, Germany. One of only 60 known examples, the comb is what is known as a liturgical comb, and the only one ever found in the region of North Rhine-Westphalia. The comb was discovered in a 2017 excavation at the Holsterburg octagonal castle near Warburg. It has a rectangular central panel on both sides, each decorated with a different intricately carved pictorial motifs.

A colossal Mexica stone snake head sculpture unearthed in Mexico City last year is so well-preserved that almost all of its polychrome paint has survived in excellent condition. About 500 years old, the snake head still preserves the original color over 80% of its surface, making it the snake head with the greatest amount of surviving color ever discovered in ancient Tenochtitlan.

Photo courtesy Arkeologerna.Two 2,500-year-old Bronze Age neck rings have been found in Marby outside Norrköping in southeastern Sweden. They were discovered crammed between two stones on the edge of a burial, an unusual context that suggests they were placed as offerings. The two rings are different in design: the larger one is thinner, the smaller thicker with much more deeply profiled twists. Made of cast bronze and twisted into spirals, this type of necklace is known as a Wendel ring.

A massive Iron Age structure of wood and stone in an excellent state of preservation has been discovered on the banks of the Main River in Aschaffenburg, Germany. It dates to the 4th century B.C. The combination of the riverbank find location, the mixture of timber and stone construction and the early Iron Age date makes this a unique find.

A Bronze Age hoard with three heavy gold necklaces has been discovered near the town of Urlați, northeast of Bucharest, Romania. The three necklaces have a combined weight of more than 300 grams, that’s a hair under 11 ounces. This is an exceptional find for the country and may upend current scholarship on the chronology of the Romanian Bronze Age. The hoard was found by an authorized metal detectorist on a remote hill in the Marginea Pădurii area.

The intertwined skeletons of two individuals have been discovered in a grain silo from the early 5th century B.C. in Dijon, France. It is the first discovery of its kind of the Dijon area. Archaeologists from the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) excavated the site in the Saint-Apollinaire neighborhood last summer, unearthing the remains of a small rural settlement from the 5th century B.C. The settlement contained several storage silos and a water well.

The Kasta Tumulus, the largest known burial monument from ancient Macedonia, is now visible along its entire circumference and height for the first time. Restorers have exposed the full peribolos, the marble enclosure wall that surrounds the tomb, a perimeter 497 meters (1631 feet) long. Areas of loss on the southern side of the peribolos were filled with ancient blocks scattered around the immediate vicinity of the tomb and a small number of custom-made artificial stones.

A larger than life-sized statue of Agrippina the Elder, niece of Emperor Augustus. discovered at the ancient city of Veleia in Emilia Romagna, northern Italy centuries ago, has been restored and is back on display with 11 members of her family at the Archaeological Museum of Parma. Conservators from the Complesso Monumentale della Pilotta in Parma had to clean the surface of years of grime and carefully remove thick layers of wax and varnish used in previous interventions.