Latest news with #A.D
Miami Herald
2 days ago
- Science
- Miami Herald
Viking-era silver treasures found on farm in Sweden and restored. See them shine
Sifting through the stony soil of southern Sweden, archaeologists uncovered dozens of Viking-era structures and hundreds of artifacts. One remarkable find stood out from all the rest: a collection of ancient silver treasures. A team of archaeologists excavated a massive Viking Age farm and adjacent burial ground in Täby from 2020 to 2021. The site had been occupied for roughly 500 years — from 500 to 1050 A.D. — and still had many traces of its ancient inhabitants, Arkeologerna said in a May 30 news release. When the dig finished, archaeologists had found 34 ruined buildings, about 15 ritual deposits, five graves and over 1,450 artifacts. The finds took them years to document, analyze, preserve and clean. The effort resulted in two detailed reports published in early May John Hamilton, a project manager with Arkeologerna, described the Täby site as incredibly exciting because of its variety — and its unique silver treasures. The excavation at Täby uncovered a buried pot filled with silver arm rings, necklaces, beads, coin pendants, an amulet, a ring and some fabric, archaeologists said in a report. The Viking-era collection was astonishing for its size, variety and quality of preservation. The treasure might have been buried in honor of a high-ranking individual and involved a long, grand ceremony, Hamilton said in the release. Reconstructions show how the collection was originally buried. Several of the ancient silver items had braided or twisted designs and ended in a diamond-shaped piece, photos show. Archaeologists identified the 12 coin pendants as a mixture of European and Islamic coins all dating between 904 and 997 A.D. Photos show two of these items, which have added hooks to allow them to be worn as pendants. Arkeologerna described the silver treasures as unusual and astonishing. Other finds from Täby included pottery, bones and seeds. Archaeologists analyzed the DNA of several people buried at the site and confirmed several were related. Täby is a town roughly 10 miles north from Stockholm. Google Translate was used to translate the news release from Arkeologerna, part of Sweden's National Historical Museums (SHM).
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Single gene may help explain the plague's persistence throughout human history
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Scientists have discovered how adaptations in a single gene helped the plague survive for hundreds of years. Responsible for the deadliest pandemic in history, the bacterium that causes the plague, Yersinia pestis, has existed in varying strains from ancient times until today. Now, scientists have unearthed a genetic clue as to how the infamous disease has persisted for millennia, with devastating outbreaks smoldering across centuries. They published their findings Thursday (May 29) in the journal Science. "This is one of the first research studies to directly examine changes in an ancient pathogen, one we still see today, in an attempt to understand what drives the virulence [disease severity], persistence and/or eventual extinction of pandemics," study co-senior author Hendrik Poinar, director of the Ancient DNA Centre at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, said in a statement. Y. pestis has been infecting humans since before recorded history began. The most common form of the disease is known as "bubonic" and most often enters the body through bites from infected fleas, although people can less commonly catch it directly from infected animals, including rats and cats. Once inside the body, the bacterium travels to the lymph nodes and replicates. As it multiplies, it triggers the formation of painful, pus-filled "buboes," for which the bubonic plague is named. The plague bacterium can also cause a blood infection, called septicemic plague, and lung infection called pneumonic plague. Related: Oregon's 1st bubonic plague case in 8 years tied to patient's pet cat The three major plague pandemics are among the deadliest outbreaks in human history. The first pandemic, the Justinian Plague (which occurred roughly between A.D. 542 and 750), slashed the population in parts of the Mediterranean to by an estimated 40% by the end of the sixth century. The second, and most infamous, outbreak of the disease was the 14th-century Black Death that ravaged Europe and the Middle East. The single deadliest pandemic in recorded history, the Black Death killed approximately 25 million people in Europe alone — between 33% and 50% of its population. A third, lesser-known global plague pandemic began in 1855 in China's Yunnan province and killed more than 12 million people in India and China alone. This pandemic was considered active until 1960, after which plague deaths dropped to lower levels. Plague epidemics continue to this day, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Madagascar and Peru being the most endemic countries, according to the World Health Organization. Besides the staggering death counts associated with the pathogen, what's perhaps most remarkable about Y. pestis is the longevity of its strains. Strains of the Justinian Plague bacterium took 300 years to go extinct after outbreaks were first recorded, and one of the two lineages from the Black Death re-emerged in waves for 500 years before its disappearance, while the other became the ancestor of all present-day strains. To investigate the genetic toolkit Y. pestis uses to persist for so long, researchers conducted an analysis of a plague gene known as pla across hundreds of samples collected from ancient and modern victims of the disease. The pla gene codes for an enzyme that helps Y. pestis move through the body undetected by the host's immune system. Previous studies have suggested that pla is a key factor that modulates both the lethality of a given plague strain and its ability to spark outbreaks in humans. However, one plague strain can carry a different number of pla genes than the next, and it wasn't clear how this copy number might impact their biology, the researchers noted. To investigate, they collected multiple modern strains of Y. pestis from Vietnam that had varying numbers of copies of pla inside their genomes; carrying more copies of the gene means that the bacteria can crank out more copies of the enzyme. After injecting these different plague strains into mice, they found that the strains with fewer copies of pla led to longer infections but reduced the disease's mortality rate by up to 20%. RELATED STORIES —Diagnostic dilemma: A scientist caught plague from bacteria thought to be 'noninfectious' —Could bacteria or viruses lurking in ancient Egyptian mummies unleash a plague today? —'Black death' survivors had plague-resistant genes that may boost their descendants' risk of autoimmune disease Across the ancient plague genomes they analyzed — 20 of which dated to the first plague pandemic and 94 of which were from the second — the researchers noted a pattern where the plague strains lost copies of pla over time, namely in later stages of each pandemic. Among the modern genomes, they found three strains that hint that the same pattern is unfolding today. They theorized this adaptation likely made infections less virulent, or harmful to the host's body, over time. This suggests that the evolutionary change helped the disease to keep its hosts — be they rat or human — alive for longer, thereby enabling it to spread more widely. This adaptation may have been especially necessary after populations of the plague's primary hosts, rats, were killed off en masse during outbreaks. "The reduction of pla may reflect the changing size and density of rodent and human populations," Poinar said. "It's important to remember that plague was an epidemic of [flea-ridden] rats, which were the drivers of epidemics and pandemics. Humans were accidental victims." The scientists say that further research into both ancient and contemporary plague strains could reveal more pla depletions and help them to better understand how such changes to the germ's genome have shaped its virulence through history. Nowadays, Y. pestis infections can be cured with antibiotics, though some strains have shown troubling signs of antibiotic resistance. To head off the threat of a superbug plague outbreak, scientists in the U.K. have already started developing a bubonic plague vaccine to add to stockpiles. This article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to offer medical advice.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
New Study Reveals Chilling Secret of Iron Age War Cemetery
A new study published by archaeologists at Bournemouth University (published in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology) has revealed surprising information about bodies found at a 'war cemetery' at the Iron Age site of Maiden Castle in Dorset, one of the U.K.'s most famous archaeological the burials were initially discovered in 1936, archaeologists believed that they died from a single battle. But after renewed analyses using radiocarbon dating, researchers found that rather than perishing in one mass-casualty event, the individuals had been killed due to violent clashes throughout many generations, from late first century B.C. until late first century A.D. 'The find of dozens of human skeletons displaying lethal weapon injuries was never in doubt, however, by undertaking a systematic programme of radiocarbon dating we have been able to establish that these individuals died over a period of decades, rather than a single terrible event,' said Martin Smith, Associate Professor in Forensic and Biological Anthropology at Bournemouth, who analyzed the believe the cause of the deaths could have stemmed from an era of dynastic turmoil or localized tension, resulting in executions. Whatever the cause, the new discovery upends decades of assumptions on behalf of researchers. 'Since the 1930s, the story of Britons fighting Romans at one of the largest hillforts in the country has become a fixture in historical literature,' Miles Russell, the dig's director, explained. 'With the Second World War fast approaching, no one was really prepared to question the results. The tale of innocent men and women of the local Durotriges tribe being slaughtered by Rome is powerful and poignant. It features in countless articles, books, and TV documentaries. It has become a defining moment in British history, marking the sudden and violent end of the Iron Age.'The trouble is it doesn't appear to have actually happened,' Russell added. 'Unfortunately, the archaeological evidence now points to it being untrue. This was a case of Britons killing Britons, the dead being buried in a long-abandoned fortification. The Roman army committed many atrocities, but this does not appear to be one of them.' Researchers are now scrambling to recontextualize the site, with much of what they assumed about the cemetery at Maiden Castle proving erroneous. "The intermingling of differing cultural burial practices contemporaneously shows that simplistic approaches to interpreting archaeological cemeteries must now be questioned,' said Bournemouth archaeological scientist Paul Cheetham. 'Here we have either a number of distinct cultures living and dying together, or that an individual's burial right was determined by complex social rules and/or hierarchical divisions within this Iron Age society."In addition to the renewed context surrounding the bodies already found, the team is now asking themselves what other undiscovered secrets might lie around the grounds of Maiden Castle. 'Whilst Wheeler's excavation was excellent in itself, he was only able to investigate a fraction of the site,' Cheetham said. 'It is likely that a larger number of burials still remains undiscovered around the immense ramparts."New Study Reveals Chilling Secret of Iron Age War Cemetery first appeared on Men's Journal on May 29, 2025
Miami Herald
22-05-2025
- Science
- Miami Herald
1,400-year-old crown — still decorated with insect wings — found in South Korea
Sifting through the rocky dirt of South Korea, archaeologists carefully unearthed an ancient crown, slightly bent but obviously ornate. Something about its decorations caught their attention — and for good reason. It turned out to be a first-of-its-kind find. Archaeologists excavated a burial dubbed Tomb 120-2 in Gyeongju in 2020 as part of an ongoing project to find and restore artifacts from the Silla Kingdom, Korea Heritage Service said in a May 21 news release. The Silla Kingdom was a powerful dynasty that united the Korean peninsula and ruled from 57 B.C. to 935 A.D. The tomb had a misleadingly mundane name and actually contained a wide array of ornamental attire made in the sixth century, officials said in a 2020 news release. Excavations uncovered gold earrings, pendants, a silver belt, a silver bracelet, a bead bracelet, several silver rings, bronze shoes and a crown. Archaeologists realized that the 1,400-year-old crown was the most splendid crown ever found in the Gyeongju area. When they sent it for conservation work, they learned that their initial assessment had been an understatement. The ancient crown had actually been decorated with jewel beetle wings, some of which were still in their original location, officials said. A diagram shows what the crown originally looked like. The base of the crown was a thin band with five vertical decorations branching off. Archaeologists described the outer two shapes as being deer antler-like and the central three shapes as being four-tiered. Throughout the crown, holes shaped like upside-down hearts were punched and filled with brightly colored insect wings as decorative touches, officials said. So far, 15 insect wing decorations have been found, about half of which were still attached to the crown, archaeologists said. Some of the jewel beetle wings had their original green-yellow-red hues while others had blackened. Archaeologists have previously found a few artifacts decorated with beetle wings, such as horse harnesses and belts, but the 1,400-year-old crown is a first-of-its-kind find. The crown, made of bronze then covered in a thin layer of gold, also had gold beads and jade pieces hanging from it originally, archaeologists said. The crown was found on the head of the person buried in Tomb 120-2. Officials did not identify the individual but noted they were roughly 5-foot, 7-inches tall. Research at the site is ongoing. Gyeongju is a city near the southeastern coast of South Korea and roughly 170 miles southeast from Seoul. Google Translate and Naver Papago were used to translate the news releases from the Korea Heritage Service.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Human Bones Reframe Lives of Disabled People in Middle Ages
Human bones discovered by archaeologists offer a window into the lives of Middle Age citizens and upends previously held beliefs about the treatment of disabled people in ancient times, a study recently published in Open Archaeology reported. At the site of a church in Lund, Sweden, researchers discovered the body of a man, known only as Individual 2399, who died somewhere between 1300 A.D. and 1536 A.D. Analysis of the bones showed that the man endured a horrific leg injury in his early 20s, one which continued to recur throughout his life. At some point he dislocated his left femur in such an extreme manner that he was no longer able to walk on his own, likely using crutches or some form of leg brace. More remarkable than the injury itself was the fact that the victim was seen under continuing care by a rash of doctors. After the initial injury, he developed a bone marrow infection known as osteomyelitis which manifests itself with open wounds and abscesses and would have required repeated treatments. It's a big change for researchers in terms of contextualizing the lives of disabled people in the Middle Ages. "Inferring social norms around physical impairment and disability from religious and legal documents is challenging since it's an idealized representation," lead researcher Blair Nolan explained. "We can add more depth to our knowledge of disability and identity through close osteological and archaeological analysis." In the Middle Ages, disability was often viewed as punishment for sin or some sort of penance, but the treatment received by Individual 2399, as well as his burial spot on a high hill under the church, would indicate that he was an elite member of the society and therefore afforded a more sympathetic view of his disability. Researchers are quick to specify this is only the beginning of their work. They hope that further digs and analysis of Individual 2399's bones will tell them whether or not his treatment was an anomaly or part of a long-forgotten Middle Ages practice. 'These ancient remains let us catch a glimpse of the profoundly human moments of suffering, healing, and solidarity that existed even in periods often depicted as dark and harsh,' Nolan said. 'That's a story that is worth telling.'
