Medieval ‘hairy books’ were bound in sealskin, study finds
A recently published study, released in Royal Society Open Science, has turned a new and surprising chapter in medieval manuscript history: dozens of volumes long believed to be bound in local animal hides were actually covered with seal skin shipped from the cold northern waters of the Atlantic...
More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/04/medieval-books-were-bound-in-sealskin/
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Side note: this isn't completely out of left field. IIRC #archeology texts in the Middle East from a couple thousand years ago sometimes speak of "Yahweh and his Asherah". One scholar said, "We don't know exactly what an Asherah was, but Jehovah definitely had one." (sorry, can't find the reference at the moment).
Asherah was apparently a "consort" of Yahweh/Jehovah in early worship/mythology. She was explicitly female and explicitly sexually involved with #Yahweh ("consort" apparently means they were banging it out).
Asherah was apparently not the same as Ishtar, but I figured few people would have any knowledge of Asherah.
Lost capital of ancient kingdom unearthed in North Macedonia
Archaeologists in North Macedonia have uncovered the remains of a possibly long-lost ancient city far more ancient and important than previously known. Found near Crnobuki village, the Gradishte archaeological site was widely believed to have been a 3rd-century BCE Macedonian outpost in the time of King Philip V...
More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/04/lost-capital-of-ancient-kingdom-north-macedonia/
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Valencina: a sustainable, egalitarian mega-village of the Copper Age
New excavation of the Valencina de la Concepción Chalcolithic site in Seville, Spain, is defying old assumptions regarding its purpose and social structure...
More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/04/valencina-a-sustainable-egalitarian-mega-village/
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The Devil's Quoits (Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, UK) looks particularly striking in the bright sunlight of this Spring morning.
#note #stoneCircleSunday #history #geography #archeology #prehistory #spring
Not sure how I'd follow this recipe:
"Meat is used.
You prepare water.
You add fine-grained salt, dried barley cakes, onion, Persian shallot, and milk.
You crush and add leek and garlic."
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/whats-the-oldest-known-recipe
Painted altar found in Tikal reveals Teotihuacan influence and Maya power shifts
Archaeologists working at Guatemala’s Tikal National Park have unearthed a lavishly painted altar that reveals new information about the past relationship between Tikal, an ancient Maya city, and the central Mexican metropolis of Teotihuacan...
More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/04/painted-altar-in-tikal-reveals-teotihuacan-influence/
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Bronze Age Scandinavians braved open seas 3,000 years before the Vikings, new study reveals
Hundreds of years before the Viking Age, Nordic Bronze Age societies were likely proficient open-sea navigators who regularly crossed large tracts of ocean directly between what is now Denmark and Norway, suggests a new study published in PLOS ONE...
More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/04/bronze-age-scandinavians-braved-open-seas/
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"Archaeologists have long assumed that Stone Age tombs in Ireland were built for royalty. But a new analysis of DNA from 55 skeletons found in these 5,000-year-old graves suggests that the tombs were made for the community, not for a ruling dynasty.
In Ireland's Neolithic period, which lasted from about 3900 to 2500 B.C., people built 'megalithic monuments' — large stone structures that contained human bones and cremated remains. While the monuments clearly marked burials, archaeologists have argued about who was interred in them and whether the tombs served other purposes, such as being focal points for rituals, ceremonies or performances.
(. . .)
Instead of seeing the Neolithic period as one ruled by powerful dynasties, the researchers view it as 'a more equal society,' Carlin said. But more work is needed — including new studies of DNA, artifacts and monumental architecture — to fully understand the social changes that happened in Ireland after 3600 B.C., the researchers wrote in their study."
Paris exhibition showcases Gaza’s endangered archaeological treasures saved from destruction
An exhibition opened this month at Paris’s Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) that offers a glimpse of Gaza’s archaeological heritage against the background of relentless warfare and destruction in the region...
More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/04/paris-exhibition-showcases-gazas-endangered-treasures/
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Sunlight streams through the ancient Roman columns, with the sun creating a radiant starburst effect. These are the remains of the Temple of Saturn, an ancient Roman temple to the god Saturn, found in what is now the Roman Forum in Rome, Italy.
#rome #italy #forum #temple #saturn #archeology #ancient #historical #blackandwhite #columns #sunstar #historic #ancient #romanforum #ruins #BuyIntoArt #AYearForArt #artforsale #wallartforsale #giftideas @joancarroll
https://joan-carroll.pixels.com/featured/temple-of-saturn-rome-italy-bw-joan-carroll.html
New discovery links Sutton Hoo helmet to Denmark, not Sweden
A recent archaeological discovery on the Danish island of Tåsinge may challenge decades of theory about the origins of the Sutton Hoo helmet—one of Britain’s most treasured artifacts and often called “Britain’s Tutankhamun.”
More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/04/sutton-hoo-helmet-links-to-denmark/
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‘House of life’ filled with educational artifacts discovered at the Ramesseum in Luxor
A joint Egyptian-French team has uncovered new archaeological finds at the Ramesseum—the imposing mortuary temple of Pharaoh Ramesses II—on the West Bank of Luxor in the Theban Necropolis...
More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/04/house-of-life-discovered-at-the-ramesseum/
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I'm trying out marbling techniques. The two small bowls are finished, the tall bottle is still in progress. The 17th century original in the picture (from the Victoria and Albert museum) was made in northern Italy. Marbled wares like these used to be shipped far and wide, for example to north-west Europe but sometimes as far as the Americas.
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#pottery #handmade #pottenbakker #history #archeology #bowl
These Are the Oldest Recorded #Recipes
4 clay tablets unearthed in Mesopotamia
"The cuneiform tablets didn’t contain just one recipe; one of the texts dated to around 1730 BCE had approximately 24 recipes for stews and broths. "
https://historyfacts.com/arts-culture/article/oldest-recipe-in-history/
AI aids large-scale mapping of Angkorian reservoirs beyond Greater Angkor
A group of international researchers has harnessed the strength of artificial intelligence to reveal previously unknown reservoirs from the Angkorian period in Cambodia...
More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2025/04/ai-aids-mapping-of-angkorian-reservoirs/
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#OnThisDay, 14 April 2015, Sonia Harmand announces to the US Paleoanthropology Society meeting that she and her team have found human stone tools thought to be 3.3 million years old. Her paper is published in Nature the following month.
