Ancient Origins Unleashed Debrief
Bog bodies, bones and some dubious stains
Greetings the Unleashed!
Month after month, we cover burials of one sort or another from all over the world. But why? What do they really tell us? Well apart from sometimes being stuffed with treasures, which tell us a) about the society of the time and b) about the individuals themselves, clues about the life and demise of the individuals are also found on the on the bodily remains themselves.
Just recently, further investigation of the remains found in a tomb in Vergina, Greece has matched up injuries and ‘wear and tear’ of the bones with historical accounts to prove (more or less) which members of Alexander the Great’s family these people were.
Even bones that are missing give the experts clues, or at least something to think about, as was the case last week with the missing bones in the dolmen in Sweden.
The particular instance of bog bodies, another of which has just turned up in Northern Ireland, are well preserved remains which give us a few more details on the individual(s), and have been found as much as 10,000 years old!
With soft tissue, including organs still existing, organic material still present, and DNA fairly readily salvageable, a lot can be learned about the life and final moments of these people. For example, the remarkably preserved Tollund Man dated to 4th century BC, still wore his hat, and had a noose around his neck, betraying his execution.
The existence of skin and the stomach contents on the body of Grauballe Man has allowed investigators to assert that the man was executed by slitting of the throat, probably due to his unorthodox and irrational behavior having consumed the mind-bending poison ergot found in his stomach.
But although examination of bones and bodily remains is welcome evidence, its interpretation is not an exact science. The oldest bog body known, from 8000 BC, is now known as Koelbjerg Man, but was formerly known as Koelbjerg Woman.
When a male body was found alongside the ‘Windeby Girl’ in Germany, they were first assessed as being an adulterous couple who had been punished. Later examinations suggested that ‘Windeby Girl’ was more likely a boy, and radiocarbon dating placed the bodies 300 years apart.
So, whereas finding these marvelous clues to the past is essential to our learning, interpreting the evidence in the bones requires skill, science and a fair degree of caution.
Topically, as we approach Saint Valentine’s Day, if you look at the skeletal remains of the ‘Hasanlu Lovers’, their feelings are plainly displayed by a ‘2,800 Years Old Kiss’, or so we think. And the Italian ‘Lovers of Valdaro’ are apparently king and queen of the prehistoric prom with their 6,000 year old embrace. The original Romeo and Juliet? The arrows in their bodies suggest not.
And so I segue seamlessly from pondering the evidence of the ages, into a brazen plug for Ancient Origins range of Valentine’s Day gifts, that ‘resonate with the timeless sentiments of love found throughout history’.
These can be personalized, but time is now against us! The last orders to ensure timely delivery are being taken TODAY. Check out the range at the shop here, and help make your love another historic romance. (facepalm)
And so, to the business of this week’s editor’s picks…
Closer to Alexander? Hmm…
Alexander the Great’s Family Identities Confirmed at Vergina Tumulus
Where is Alexander the Great buried? This mystery, that has baffled historians and devotees of the legendary conqueror, might be closer to an answer, as a group of archaeologists found the occupants of three tombs, situated within the Great Tumulus of Vergina in northern Greece. A study has now conclusively identified those interred as members of the family of Alexander the Great including his father, stepmother, half-siblings, and son. Alongside skeletal remains, a wealth of artifacts and items associated with Alexander himself, including armor and other personal belongings, were also found!
Initially excavated in 1977, the 2,300-year-old tombs located within the Great Tumulus have garnered international recognition and are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to the authors of a new study published in The Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, these tombs “contained an astoundingly rich array of burial goods.”
For nearly half a century, scholars have engaged in heated discussions regarding the identities of the individuals interred within the tombs, though they were certain that the bones belonged to close relatives of Alexander the Great.
To resolve this longstanding mystery, the study authors from Greece, Spain, and the USA, employed a comprehensive approach that combined osteological analyses, macrophotography, X-rays, anatomical dissections of the ancient remains, and historical sources from antiquity. Then, corroboration with historical accounts helped with making significant strides.
Their findings revealed that Tomb I contained the remains of a man with a knee injury, alongside those of a woman and a newborn baby who was just days or weeks old at the time of death. Based on these observations, the study authors concluded that the male figure was none other than King Philip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great's father, who was known to have suffered from a limp, reports IFL Science.
You didn’t want to end up in a bog…
Shattered Bog Body Dated To 2,500 Years Old Unearthed
Last October, police in Northern Ireland were perplexed after the discovery of human bones and body parts, in peatland. After extensive tests, it’s now known that the remains were not of a modern murder victim, and that the Irish bog body is in fact dated to over 2,000 years old, and potentially 2,500 years old.
Violently killed thousands of years ago, ‘Bog Bodies’ is the term used for the corpses of men, women, and children, naturally preserved by the chemistry of Northern Europe’s bogs. When bog bodies are recovered archaeologists and anthropologists down their trowels and act as crime-scene investigators, applying the disciplines of geology, chemistry, and human behavior to reveal the circumstances surrounding these often gruesome deaths.
An example is Lindow Man II, one of several well-preserved human bodies found in a peat bog at Lindow Moss, near Manchester, in 1984, who died a violent death, sustaining many injuries before he was placed face down in a pool in the bog.
The Northern Ireland Police (PSNI) were alerted to human bones lying on the surface of peatland in Bellaghy in October last year. They recovered “a tibia, a fibula, then a humerus, an ulna, and a radius bone from the lower left leg and right arm of a young man.” Then, five meters south of these remains, the bones of a lower left arm and a left femur were identified, and in between the bulk of the remains and the secondary scattering, police found “finger bones, fingernails, part of the left femur and the breastbone.”
Do wedges still exist? Only just…
Solar-Aligned Bronze Age "Wedge Tomb" Unearthed in Ireland
Local traditions in County Kerry, Ireland, told of the destruction of an ancient tomb in the 19th century. But now, a folklorist has found the lost “wedge-shaped” tomb, which was aligned with the solar solstice axis.
With its sublime scenery, majestic mountains and rugged coastline, County Kerry is a popular place for visitors to the Atlantic coast of Ireland. Now, a folklorist has rediscovered the Bronze Age tomb known as Altóir na Gréine, “the Altar of the Sun,” that was always believed to have been destroyed in the 19th century.
In 1838, Lady Georgiana Chatterton, an English aristocrat and traveler, visited the site and sketched the monument. She described the site as a “curious piece of antiquity,” and she suggested it was used for offering sacrifices to the Sun. And in 1852, antiquarian and librarian Richard Hitchcock reported that by then the tomb had been destroyed, and that its stones had been robbed for building purposes.
While a burial tomb was recorded near Baile an Fheirtéaraigh in the 19th century, the monument's exact location was lost. But now, the burial tomb, dating back approximately 4,000 years, is back.
As part of a recent archaeological mapping project, local folklorist Billy Mag Fhloinn first identified stones on the crest of a hill, which he later matched with the hill depicted in Lady Chatterton’s sketch. Fhloinn’s primary research identified numerous large upright orthostats and a capstone, challenging local traditions that that the tomb was entirely destroyed in the mid-19th century.
Mag Fhloinn produced a 3D scan which he sent to the National Monuments Service in Dublin. Archaeologist Caimin O’Brien confirmed that the stones represented about a quarter of the original Bronze Age wedge tomb, dating between 2500 BC and 2000 BC. Folklorist Mag Fhloinn thinks “the taboo” surrounding the destruction of such tombs is related to 19th century beliefs “in bad luck or disaster associated with their demise”.
Missing Body Parts from 5000-Year-Old Dolmen in Sweden Poses Intriguing Questions
The first analysis results now confirm that the grave in Tiarp is one of the oldest stone burial chambers in Sweden. “It’s an early grave which dates to the Early Neolithic period, about 3500 BC,” says archaeologist Karl-Göran Sjögren. The researchers also noted that some parts of the people buried in the grave are missing, such as skulls and thigh bones, posing intriguing questions for archaeologists.
Last summer, archaeologists from Gothenburg University and Kiel University excavated a dolmen, a stone burial chamber, in Tiarp near Falköping in Sweden. The archaeologists judge that the grave has remained untouched since the Stone Age. However, the odd thing is that parts of the skeletons of the people buried are missing.
“Skulls and large bones are missing and may have been removed from the grave. We don’t know whether that has to do with burial rituals or what’s behind it,” says Karl-Göran Sjögren.
Now that the researchers have examined the material from the grave, they have found that it contains bones from hands and feet, fragments of rib bones and teeth. But skulls and larger bones such as thigh and arm bones are very few.
“This differs from what we usually see in megalith graves, i.e. stone burial chambers from the Neolithic period,” Karl-Göran Sjögren explains. “Usually, the bones that are missing are smaller bones from feet and hands.”
Torbjörn Ahlström, Professor of Osteology at Lund University, studied the bone finds. His conclusion is that the bones come from at least twelve people, including infants and the elderly. But the archaeologists don’t yet know why they died.
An impressive piece of kit…
“Absolutely Amazing” Roman Arm Guard Pieced Together After 1,800 Years
Over 100 years ago, a Scot unearthed over 100 fragments of metal which he thought comprised a Roman chest guard. Now, National Museums Scotland have reconstructed the artifact and discovered that it was a high-ranking Roman soldier’s brass arm guard—“only the third of its kind known to exist.”
The Roman arm guard was originally discovered at the Trimontium fort by lawyer and antiquary, James Curle, in 1906. The site is named after the three Eildon Hills which the fort overlooks and is located at Newstead, near Melrose, in the Scottish Borders. Having been occupied by around 2,000 invading Romans between 79 to 184 AD, it represents the largest outpost fort after the construction of Hadrian's Wall in the 120s AD.
Curle initially believed he had found chest and shoulder armor, and it was only in the 1990s the piece was identified as a Roman arm guard. National Museums Scotland (NMS) in Edinburgh recently tweeted saying more than 100 fragments from the 1,800-year-old brass Roman arm guard, that was designed to protect the sword arm of a high-ranking Roman soldier, have now been reconstructed. The organization also stressed that the artifact is “the only intact example of its kind.”
Some dubious stains…
Despite Intensive Scientific Analyses, Parthenon Marble Stain Remains a Mystery
For almost 200 years, archaeologists have been puzzled by a mysterious brown stain on the ancient Greek Parthenon temple in Greece. Now, researchers have conducted new scientific analyses, and their verdict is clear: The mystery remains.
At the National Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark, there is a marble head that was once part of the ancient Greek Parthenon temple on the Acropolis in Athens. The head originally belonged to a centaur figure and was part of a scene depicting the Greek mythological Lapiths' battle against the centaurs (mythical creatures that were half-horse, half-human).
For reasons that have yet to be explained, parts of the centaur head are coated with a thin brown film, as are several other marble fragments from the Parthenon.
The mysterious brown film was first examined by the British Museum in 1830.
Back then, attempts were made to determine if the color originated from ancient paint, but it was eventually concluded that it might be a result of a chemical reaction between the marble and the air, or that the marble contained iron particles that had migrated to the surface, coloring it brown.
"There have been many attempts to explain the peculiar brown film. In 1851, German chemist, Justus von Liebig, performed the first actual scientific investigation and determined that the brown film contained oxalates -- salts of oxalic acid. This has been confirmed by later analyses, but the origin of the oxalates has remained a mystery," says Professor emeritus Kaare Lund Rasmussen, an expert in chemical analyses of historical and archaeological artifacts, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Pharmacy, University of Southern Denmark.
Along with University of Southern Denmark colleagues Frank Kjeldsen and Vladimir Gorshkov from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Bodil Bundgaard Rasmussen, former head of the Antiquities Collection at the National Museum of Denmark, Thomas Delbey from Cranfield University in England, and Ilaria Bonaduce from the University of Pisa, Italy, he has published a scientific article describing the results of their investigations into the brown-colored centaur head from the National Museum.
Til next time… “Yesterday's the past, tomorrow's the future, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present.” — Bil Keane.
Gary Manners - Senior Editor, Ancient Origins
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