From battles that changed history to hoards of lost treasure found, here are 9 amazing
archaeological discoveries in Europe.
9.
ANCIENT ROMAN LETTERS, ENGLAND
Midway through 2017, a thrilled group of archaeologists revealed the discovery of 25 tablets on the
northern frontier of the Roman Empire.
The wooden ink tablets, which are suspected to contain fascinating details about people’s
everyday lives, were found just south of Hadrian’s Wall in northern England, at the Roman fort
of Vindolanda Estimates by archaeologists date the documents sometime between 85 and
92 A.D.
Dr. Andrew Birley, CEO of the Vindolanda Trust and director of the site’s excavations,
referred to the discovery of 25 documents within a few-meter space essentially as a
hoard.
The rare pieces of wood aren’t much to look at, at first.
Roughly the size of modern-day postcards, they were preserved ten feet below ground
in damp earth.
One of the tablets was easily readable to experts, who described it as a letter to a
commanding officer from a soldier named Masclus, requesting leave.
Masclus has appeared several times before in the site’s previously-discovered tablets,
which were found in 1992.
In one, he requested beer from his commanding officer, stating “if you do not send me
beer, I cannot answer for the men.”
For some reason, I think I’d get along with this guy!
8.
IRON AGE BATTLEFIELD; ALKEN ENGE , DENMARK
The discovery of human remains was announced earlier this year by archaeologists working
in the sprawling wetland of Alken Enge, on the shore of Lake Mosso on Denmark’s Jutland
Peninsula.
Altogether, the remains consist of 2,095 bones and bone fragments, belonging to at least
82 people.
The bones are scattered across an area roughly 185 acres in size.
All the people died in a single event in the early first century A.D. and most were young
men.
All signs point toward the men having died in a battle.
In addition to the human remains, which show unhealed trauma wounds, archaeologists also
found weapons at the site.
Turns out it was the remains of a battlefield from around 2,000 years ago.
Based on the distribution of the remains that were excavated, scientists hypothesize that
more than 380 people may have been buried in the site’s boggy waters.
The findings at Alken Enge are a game-changer in the scientific world, challenging traditional
ideas about “barbarian” warfare in northern Europe and providing unique insight about
how Germanic tribes memorialized their battles.
There are few other known Germanic battle sites, most of which are located in Germany
and, for the most part, do not contain well-preserved remains.
As things currently stand, little is known about the battle capability of these tribes,
including the sizes of their armies and how they were organized.
The estimated size of armies in Iron Age Europe has increased significantly with the discovery
at Alken Enge Iron Age villages in the region had significantly smaller local populations,
however, indicating an ability to recruit fighters from long distances, which required
organization and leadership skills Germanic tribes were previously not thought to have.
It seems odd for a battle to have occurred in a wetland, but many, if not most of the
remains bear gnaw marks from animals, which are consistent with having been exposed to
the elements for anywhere from six months to a year before being submerged into wetland.
Were they, perhaps, moved to the wetland from an original resting place?
Researchers believe this may be the case.
Bones were also found in strange conditions that were indicative of ritualistic disposal,
such as four pelvic bones mounted on a stick.
Archeologists aren’t sure what happened on the battlefield that day over 2,000 years
ago.
What they do know is that boys as young as 13 years old fought alongside grown men, bodies
were shredded to pieces by hungry animals, and the bones were later treated in bizarre
ways that would be considered disrespectful according to the contemporary standards of
many cultures.
7.
ORIGINS OF THE BASQUE PEOPLE
For decades, anthropologists have been puzzled by the distinct language and genetic makeup
of the Basque people of northern Spain and southern France.
Nestled in a mountainous corner of Atlantic Europe, the Basques have unique customs and
speak a language called Euskera, which is unlike any other spoken throughout the world.
They are also genetically distinct from their French and Spanish neighbors.
One theory held that the Basque people descended from an unmixed pocket of indigenous hunters.
A study published in 2015 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
United States of America journal suggested something different: that the Basques descended
from early farmers, who mixed with local hunters, and were then isolated for millennia.
How did scientists come to this conclusion?
The genomes of eight Stone Age human skeletons from El Portalon in Atapuerca, northern Spain
were analyzed by Mattias Jakobsson of Uppsala University in Sweden.
The skeletons were anywhere from 3,500 to 5,500 years old - after southwestern Europe
had transitioned to farming.
According to the results, these Iberian farmers are the closest ancestors to modern-day Basques.
Farmers that came to Iberia during the Neolithic Age, or around 7,000 years ago, interbred
with local hunter-gatherers - descendants of the people who lived in Europe during the
last Ice Age.
The skeletons examined by Jakobbson had more hunter-gatherer DNA than pioneer farmers from
countries like Germany, Hungary, and Spain.
The ancestors of the Basques became isolated from surrounding groups after this initial
farmer-hunter mix was established, and were largely unaffected by genetic patterns elsewhere
in Europe, which were shaped by subsequent migrations.
They may, therefore, be the oldest ethnic group in Europe.
6.
MEGA STONEHENGE
Just one mile from the world-famous site of Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England lies an enormous
row of 90 megalithic stones, which scientists speculate may have been everything from a
solar temple to a burial ground.
Discovered through the use of sophisticated radar equipment, the huge line of megalithic
stones lines lies three feet underground.
In September 2015, Professor Vince Gaffney of the University of Bradford, and also the
co-director of the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project, stated: “We’re looking at one
of the largest stone monuments in Europe and it has been under our noses for something
like 4,000 years…
It’s truly remarkable.”
The discovery was considered the most exciting finding of Neolithic Britain for many years.
According to the Irish Times, the giant monoliths are up to 15 feet tall, and are thought to
be 4,500 years in age.
Located just under two miles from Stonehenge, the location of the monoliths is thought to
be a Neolithic ritual site.
5.
THE ORIGINS OF EUROPE’S “LOST PEOPLE”
The Picts, dubbed the “Picti” or “painted people” by the Romans, were a confederation
of tribes in northern Scotland.
To this day, much of their culture remains shrouded in mystery - even the Smithsonian
has described them as “Europe’s lost people.”
A rare glimpse into Pictish culture has been offered by the discovery of an ancient stone
anvil earlier this year, during an excavation on the small island of Rousay.
Thought to be 1,500 years old, the anvil bears sooty hand- and knee-prints that have survived
for centuries.
In what appears to be an ancient coppersmith’s workshop, two anvils were discovered - one
of them being the artifact in question.
Dr. Stephen Dockrill, co-director of the excavation and senior lecturer in archaeology at the
University of Bradford, said in a statement: “The biggest surprise came when we lifted
the larger stone anvil and cleaned it; we could see carbon imprints of the smith’s
knees and hands.”
The semi-subterranean workshop, which dates between the sixth and ninth centuries A.D.,
is part of a settlement that is being swept away by the sea, meaning that time is of the
essence when it comes to learning as much as possible about the site.
According to the Swandro-Orkney Coastal Archaeology Trust, the site, called the Knowe of Swandro,
contains several highly-valuable ancient artifacts, including a 5,000-year-old Neolithic tomb,
Pictish buildings, Iron Age roundhouses, a Viking settlement and long hall, and a rare
Roman coin dating back to the fourth century A.D.
The coin is an especially unique find because even at the height of the Roman Empire, the
Romans did not occupy Orkney.
4.
LONG, LOST DARK AGE KINGDOM, SCOTLAND
Scotland has been a hotbed of activity for archaeological finds in recent years.
In early 2017, a team of archaeologists and volunteers in southern Scotland announced
the discovery of a long, lost early medieval kingdom.
An important site from the sixth-century kingdom of Rheged was unearthed during the excavation
in Dumfries and Galloway.
Until then, the actual location of the Rheged kingdom was shrouded in mystery - experts
only knew that it was known to encompass parts of southern Scotland and northern England.
Important clues about the elusive kingdom are offered by excavations at the site, known
as Trusty’s Hill Fort.
Ronan Toolis, who led the excavation for GUARD Archaeology, told Fox News that the site holds
“lots of evidence of wealth and power.”
Included among the artifacts found at Trusty’s Hill Fort are slingshots, pottery imported
from western France, and crucibles and bowls containing traces of gold, silver, and bronze.
According to Toolis, the crucibles and bowls were used for metalworking.
The summit of the hill was fortified with a stone rampart and timber around 600 A.D.
Later, the fort’s slopes were equipped with additional defenses and enclosures.
Carvings in the bedrock that are unique to the region drew experts to the site.
The carvings were influenced by the ancient Pictish culture of northern Scotland, and
were likely created by one of the Britons that lived in the region during the sixth
century.
The discoveries at Trusty’s Hill Fort challenge the long-held assumption by many historians
that the ancient kingdom of Rheged was located near modern England’s northern city of Carlisle.
Experts began the excavations in 2012 and have since been working on the time-consuming
process of piecing together its history via methods such as radiocarbon dating and special
analysis of the artifacts.
3.
TRELLECH, ENGLAND/WALES BORDER
The site of the medieval town of Trellech which sits on the border between England and
Wales, reveals a lot about one of history’s most tumultuous periods.
Joined by a team of volunteers, archaeology graduate Stuart Wilson began his voluntary
search for the town in 2004 in Monmouthshire, southeast Wales.
After years of hard work, which fell under the scrutiny of skeptical academic archaeologists,
Wilson had discovered a moated manor house, ancillary buildings, a round stone tower,
and a plethora of smaller finds, including thirteenth-century pottery.
As things currently stand, there’s a lot more work to be done, but the town could prove
to be one of the largest in medieval Wales.
The plentiful finds, which include cooking vessels, decorated pottery, and metalwork,
will help archaeologists determine the dates of the site and suggest that a large settlement
existed there.
The town was founded as an industrial center by the De Clare family sometime during the
twelfth century and was destroyed in 1400 during the Owain Glyndwr rebellion.
This is corroborated by the archaeological findings, which suggest a brief but intensive
occupation between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries.
Settlements such as Trellech were common sites for conflicts between rival Welsh princes
and the English throne during a period of instability along the Welsh border.
Trellech is important because of its rarity and the quality of its preservation.
Most large medieval settlements in England and Wales persist as modern-day towns and
cities, making archaeological investigations of such sites difficult, costly, and only
possible in a piecemeal fashion during periods of urban redevelopment.
Sites such as Trellech are one of the few ways to gain insight into the lives of everyday
people that are largely ignored in historical narratives.
2.
ROMAN ‘TREASURE TROVE,’ SCOTLAND
In 2014, one lucky Scottish teen with a metal detector hit paydirt: a stunning hoard of
ancient silver, believed to have been used by ancient Romans as bribes.
The lucky youth, a then-14-year-old named David Hall, discovered the silver fragments
in Dairsie, in the Scottish region of Fife.
The trove went on show for the first time in October 2017, at the National Museum of
Scotland in Edinburgh.
On the day of Hall’s find, over 200 silver fragments were collected.
Later on, 200 more were discovered at the site.
The fragments date from the late third century A.D. and are called “hacksilver” because
they were converted into raw silver bullion after being hacked from larger objects.
The site’s location far beyond the Northern frontier of the ancient Roman empire makes
the discovery particularly noteworthy.
Evidence shows that although Scotland was outside the Roman empire at the time of the
burial, the Romans maintained an interest in the area, namely through silver coins that
were sent to Scotland as a form of bribery.
As Romans attempted to maintain peace with tribes along their empire’s borders, sending
silver coins across the border was a form of “frontier diplomacy,” explains Dr.
Fraser Hunter, chief curator of Iron Age and Roman collections at the National Museum of
Scotland.
Until Hall’s find, the policy was thought to have ended in the early third century.
The silver’s targeted recipients may have been warlike tribal groups that were emerging
in eastern Scotland at the time, known as Picts.
I bet you’re wondering what was ultimately in it for David Hall, the young man who discovered
the silver.
Sorry to disappoint, but all I know is that he received an undisclosed fee!
1.
BRONZE AGE CEMETERY, WALES
2017 was, indeed, an eventful year for the announcement of archaeological discoveries
in the U.K.
In June of that year, a Bronze Age cemetery was discovered by archaeologists on the Welsh
island of Anglesey.
The cemetery is believed to be from around 3,200 years ago, sometime between the Late
Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages.
For at least three years prior to the announcement of its discovery, the site was worked on by
experts from Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Lancashire, and the Welsh
government’s historic environment service, known as Cadw.
Located near the cemetery is a Late Neolithic passage tomb dating back 5,000 years, called
“Bryn Celli Du,” or “Mound in the Dark Grove.”
Archaeologists have also found man-made piles of stones, also known as cairns, near Bryn
Celli Du, indicating the presence of yet another burial site.
Ben Edwards, senior lecturer in Archaeology and Heritage at Manchester Metropolitan University,
stated in an e-mail to Fox News that the site had a significance that most likely contributed
to its emergence as a cluster of burial monuments.
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