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Burial of tall medieval man with longsword in Sweden.          Source: Kulturmiljö Halland

Huge 500-Year-Old Longsword Recovered from Medieval Grave on Swedish Coast

Researchers digging at the Lilla Torg site in the western Swedish port city of Halmstad unearthed something extraordinarily rare. While excavating a grave in a medieval era cemetery, archaeologists...
Excavating ancient human skeleton, representational image. Source: Microgen / Adobe Stock.

1,000-Year-Old Skeleton Couple Unearthed and the Woman is Missing Her Face!

While performing excavations at the site of an ancient imperial palace in the village of Eisleben in Germany, archaeologists unearthed the ruins of castle fortifications, as well as the 1,000-year-...
Left; Archaeologists at the opening of the Etruscan tomb dating back to the 7th century BC at the Osteria necropolis in Vulci, Italy.  Right; Artifacts in the tomb. Source: Municipality of Montalto di Castro

Untouched 2,600-Year-Old Fully Intact Etruscan Tomb Uncovered in Italy

In the archaeological area of the ancient Etruscan city Vulci, a new, fully intact double-chambered Etruscan tomb was uncovered in the Osteria necropolis. The tomb, uncovered in April, has finally...
Detail of a bull diadem unearthed in elite tomb in Cyprus. Source: P. M. Fischer / Public domain

Swedish Expedition Strikes Gold Within Royal Tombs in Cyprus

An archaeological expedition from the University of Gothenburg has announced the finding of underground tombs in Cyprus. Initially, the Swedish archaeologists identified a set of mysterious chambers...
The remains of a young girl found buried with 142 dogs has offered new insights. Source: CEI RAS

Young Girl and 142 Dogs Found Buried Together in Elite Egyptian Tomb

Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of 142 non-ritually buried dogs, covered in blue powder, in an elite Egyptian tomb. It is believed they were drowned in a reservoir flood. Designated a...
This 2,000-year-old villa had luxurious ancient Roman underfloor heating. Source: Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa

2,000-Year-Old Roman Villa Found in Germany had Luxurious Underfloor Heating

In 15 BC the Roman Emperor Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus, and his brother Tiberius attacked, subdued, and destroyed a Celtic settlement and founded the city of Cambodunum. Today, the foundations of...
Royalty examining a pineapple. Source: peopleimages.com/ Adobe Stock

British Aristocrats Rented Pineapples by the Hour to Display Their Status

Who would have thought that a few centuries ago, an everyday fruit like the pineapple, would be a symbol of wealth, status and good breeding? Worth thousands to buy, the precious pineapple was far...
The legendary Silver Shields of Alexander the Great went on to serve Eumenes as the house of Argead battled the Macedonian forces of Antigonus but in the end family trumped loyalty.		Source: Honga

Silver Shields: Alexander's Crack Troops Who Betrayed Their New Master

Could a ragtag team of elite troops in their later years, and a bureaucrat-turn-general take on the military powerhouse of the day? Eumenes, the Greek general, was tasked by Olympias (Alexander’s...
Images of six of the medieval treasures found in Wales by metal detectorists in recent years.

Stunning Medieval Treasures Discovered in Wales By Metal Detectorists

Eight medieval and late medieval treasures have been discovered in Wales, UK, all found by metal detectorists. These treasures offer anthropologists insights into the life of wealthy members of Welsh...
A ‘Cult of Saints’ Meant Plentiful Sainthoods For Celtic Aristocracy

A ‘Cult of Saints’ Meant Plentiful Sainthoods For Celtic Aristocracy

Dark Age Britain was apparently full of “saints”…well, at least hundreds of people gained membership into the ‘cult of saints’ at that time. Up to 3-4 percent of aristocrats may have been awarded...
Skeletal Trauma Reveals Class Inequality in Medieval Cambridge

Skeletal Trauma Reveals Class Inequality in Medieval Cambridge

Skeletal trauma has been studied in the remains of hundreds of people who lived in medieval Cambridge excavated from three cemeteries dating back to between the 10th and 14th century. The study has...
Etruscans Togas.

High Fashion of Ancient Rome: Togas and Stolas

The toga is arguably the best-known garment from ancient Rome. Initially, the toga was worn both by male and female Roman citizens. Later on, however, the toga was used exclusively by men (high class...
Mexican Farmers Unearth Ancient Statue of Elite Mesoamerican Woman

Mexican Farmers Unearth Ancient Statue of Elite Mesoamerican Woman

Farmers tilling the soil in a citrus grove in the Huasteca region along Mexico ’s Gulf Coast unearthed something ancient and unusual. Hitting a hard object they assumed was a rock, the farmers dug...
Maya Elite List Deciphered At The Temple Of Jaguars

Maya Elite List Deciphered At The Temple Of Jaguars

Researchers in Mexico have deciphered an ancient text revealing the succession of names of the Cocom dynasty royal Maya blood lineage and published a breakthrough book on the subject. The new book...
Whipping boys were used by aristocrats and royalty.  Source: Left; King James I of England and VI of Scotland, Public domain Right;  "Edward and Whipping Boy" illustration by Walter S. Stacey, Public domain

Fact or Fiction? The Unjust Reality of a Whipping Boy

The history of the world’s nobility is filled with extravagance, wealth, and, more than often, with arrogance. In all corners of the globe, aristocrats and nobles, kings and young princes, were all...
Inside the majestic chamber of Newgrange, one of the most iconic Irish megalith sites. Source: Cassidy et al./Ken Williams, shadowsandstone.com

Signs of Dynastic Incest at Newgrange Reveal Secrets Behind Irish Megaliths

The European Neolithic era was a time of change. The first agricultural revolution saw people take a stronger interest in farming, small-scale communities grew, polished stone axes cleared forests,...
Archaeologists investigating the German burial site.  Source: Antiquity Publications Ltd

6000-Year-Old German Burial Chamber Destroys Egalitarian Ideologies

Archaeologists in Germany have discovered a 6,000-year-old hilltop burial mound that indicates Neolithic societies were much more hierarchically organized than previously thought. The story of the...
The Collessie Pictish stone and an interpretation of the warrior depicted on it. Source: Historic Environment Scotland, University of Aberdeen

Pictish Stones Expose Ancient Scotland’s Warrior Ethos

A new paper published by Cambridge University Press , presents evidence of a “heroic warrior ethos” that had spread across Northern Europe during the first millennium AD. The researchers say that...
The glass artifact thought to be a Viking game piece discovered in Lindisfarne. Source: Jeff Veitch / Durham University.

Ancient Viking Glass Artifact Was A Game Piece Of The Elites

A tiny glass crown is being heralded as a rare archaeological artifact from the first wave of Viking raids in England. The small worked glass artifact was unearthed at an excavation site on the Holy...
A burial pit full of grave goods. (Pierluigi Giorgi / © Antiquity Publications Ltd)

Pre-Roman Prince’s Tomb Packed With Treasures Found in Italy

In Italy, archaeologists have unearthed what they are calling a ‘prince’s tomb’, found using the latest non-invasive archaeological methods. The royal burial is believed to come from an enigmatic...
A tattooed skull in one of the newly unearthed Moche burials. Source: CEN/Proyecto Especial Naylamp Lambayeque

Bizarre Moche Burials Include Mutilation and Skull Tattoos

Eleven 1000-year-old graves containing skeletons from the Moche civilization have been found in Peru. Some have been mutilated with their feet removed and tattoos imprinted on their skulls. Two...
The elite marriage of Jean-Christophe Napoleon Bonaparte and Olympia von und zu Arco-Zinnerberg. Source: BUNTE TV / YouTube Screenshot.

Has A Napoleonic Dynasty Been Reborn In “Coincidental” Elite Marriage?

Napoleon Bonaparte's London-based heir, who shares the historic general's famous name, is marrying the great-grand-daughter of Austria 's last emperor, who is descended from Napoleon’s second wife,...
Ceramics in Heuneburg, Germany show Iron Age Celts of all social classes drank Mediterranean wine. Source: 9parusnikov /Adobe Stock

Even Low-Class Iron Age Celts Sipped Fine Mediterranean Wine

A new study reveals Mediterranean wine was enjoyed by ‘all classes’ of Iron Age Celts 2,700 years ago. Archaeologists excavating at the prehistoric Heuneburg hillfort in southern Germany, just north...
An example of an inscription found in the Pompeii ruins.        Source: prosiaczeq /Adobe Stock

Decoded Inscription Reveals Pompeii was a City of Extremes

The ruined city of Pompeii that was devastated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD continues to provide insights into Roman history and society. An inscription on the tomb of an unidentified...

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