Latest news with #FacebookTranslate
Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Science
- Miami Herald
Metal detectorists stumble on treasure — and locate Viking boat grave. See it
On a remote island in northern Norway, metal detectorists stumbled upon a pair of bronze treasures. The small artifacts sparked a larger investigation and led archaeologists to find a Viking boat grave of a woman and dog. Metal detectorists visited a low embankment on Senja island a few years ago and unearthed two bronze buckles shaped like bowls. In the process, they also exposed some rib bones, the Arctic University Museum of Norway said in a May 31 Facebook post. Archaeologists initially suspected the site might be a Viking-era grave but didn't know for sure — until now. In May, a team excavated the Senja site and identified it as a roughly 1,000-year-old Viking boat grave, the museum said. Photos show the exposed burial. The wooden boat was about 18 feet long, mostly built without iron rivets and poorly preserved, archaeologists said. In the center of the boat were two skeletons. The larger skeleton belonged to a deceased woman, the museum said. She was buried on her side with her knees bent and her arms in front of her. At her feet is the skeleton of a small dog, possibly her pet or companion. Dog skeletons have been found in Viking graves before but are generally not common, archaeologist Anja Roth Niemi told Science in Norway. Excavations also uncovered an iron sickle, stone tool, bronze pendant, a pair of beads possibly made of amber and a whalebone tool, the museum said. The artifacts suggest the ancient woman was considered high status and important but not among the highest tier of elites, Niemi told Science in Norway. Archaeologists plan to remove the Senja grave's contents, store their finds and eventually analyze the remains in a laboratory, the museum said. Senja is an island off the northern coast of Norway and a roughly 1,000-mile drive northeast from Oslo. Facebook Translate and Google Translate were used to translate the Facebook post from the Arctic University Museum of Norway. Google Translate was also used to translate the article from Science in Norway.
Miami Herald
5 days ago
- General
- Miami Herald
Metal detectorist revisits farm where he found gold artifact — and finds another
A resident of southern Norway has a knack for finding things. Recently, he revisited the site where he'd previously found a rare gold artifact — and found another ancient treasure. Metal detectorist Sverre Næsheim visited a farm in Hovland in 2019 and unearthed an ancient gold item known as a 'gullgubbe,' or gold foil, the Cultural Heritage Office of Vestfold County Municipality said in a May 15 Facebook post. At the time, Næsheim's discovery was a first-of-its-kind find for the county and sparked a monthslong georadar survey of the area, officials said in Facebook posts from 2019 and 2020. The scans identified traces of a large building, likely a gathering hall. This spring, officials allowed Næsheim to return to the now-protected area in Hovland to continue searching for artifacts, the county said. It didn't take long for him to find something. For the second time, Næsheim found a 1,200-year-old gold foil, officials said. Gold foils are thin pieces of gold stamped with designs and generally date between 570 and 800. The designs usually include people or animals and are typically interpreted as depicting a mythical wedding between a Norse god and a giant. Næsheim's newly unearthed gold foil is roughly half an inch in size and shows a couple looking at each other, officials said. A photo shows the design up close. The figures' heads reach the top corners, and the person on the left seems to have an outstretched arm. The entire scene is ringed by a cord-like border. Gold foils have been found in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Archaeologists don't know the purpose of these tiny artifacts but generally link them to ritual ceremonies. Like other sites where gold foils have been found, Hovland's name shows a link to Norse religion, officials said in 2019. In Old Norse, the term 'hov' referred to a temple or other site for cult activities. County officials said they plan to continue searching the Hovland site in hopes of finding more artifacts. Hovland is a small town along the southeastern coast of Norway, and a roughly 70-mile drive southwest from Oslo. Google Translate and Facebook Translate were used to translate the Facebook posts from the Cultural Heritage Office of Vestfold County Municipality.
Miami Herald
10-04-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
Beloved wild elephant injured in fight with rival — then came drug-filled bananas
In Khao Yai National Park in central Thailand, one creature captures the attention and hearts of the park's staff and visitors. His name is Plai Sarika, a wild male elephant that wanders the forest and defends his territory. Then, a newcomer arrived. Another male elephant, named Plai Yak Mina, recently separated from another herd and made his way into Khao Yai National Park, according to an April 7 Facebook post from the Thai Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. On April 6, wildlife officials spotted Plai Sarika near an entrance of the park with a large wound in the front of his trunk, according to the post. It was severely infected, officials said, oozing puss and emitting a bad smell. Elephant trunks are essential to their survival, so officials quickly called in a veterinary team to take a closer look. By the time veterinarians found Plai Sarika again, he was near the Derbird Camp campsite in the national park, and officials could get a solid glimpse of the damage done to his trunk. The severity of the gash and the timing of a new male entering the park suggests Plai Sarika and Plai Yak Mina were involved in a fight over territory and dominance, according to the post. Though concerning for the health of the elephants, fighting among males is a normal part of the elephant's mating season and male-to-male interactions, officials said. Plai Sarika needed medical care, but he is still a wild elephant and could be frighted and stressed by interactions with the veterinarians. So they had to get creative. Gathering ripe bananas and jackfruit, the veterinary team filled the fruit with antibiotics, allowing Plai Sarika to eat the fruit on his own time and medicate himself without the need for injections, according to the post. The next day, officials got good news. Plai Sarika's infection had been severe, officials said in an April 8 Facebook post, meaning it had penetrated the wall of the trunk and entered the nasal passageway. But in the early morning, trail cameras captured Plai Sarika walking back into the park's forest, and he was described as appearing healthy and generally at ease. He was likely returning to the forest to rest, officials said. The wound will need to be monitored and possibly treated again, according to the post, but early signs of the antibiotics working against the infection have given officials hope to Plai Sarika's possibility of recovery. There is still a chance he could fight again with Plai Yak Mina, officials said, but Plai Sarika has shown remarkable resilience and ability to heal. Khao Yai National Park is in central Thailand, about a 90-mile drive northeast from Bangkok. Facebook Translate and ChatGPT, an AI chatbot, were used to translate the Facebook posts from the Thai Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
Miami Herald
02-04-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Metal detectorists searching beach after storm find 2,500-year-old weapon. See it
After a storm blew through, a pair of metal detectorists visited a beach in northern Poland. They hoped to unearth something interesting, but the 2,500-year-old weapon they uncovered left them stunned. Jacek Ukowski and Katarzyna Herdzik took metal detectors to the coast of the Baltic Sea on March 30 and scoured the eroded cliffside. One recently collapsed lump of clay set off the device, the Museum of the History of the Kamień Region said in a Facebook post. The pair dug into the damp clay and unearthed a highly decorated knife. Photos show the long, thin blade and its intricate design. Herdzik immediately knew they'd found something valuable, she later told the museum. Museum officials identified Ukowski and Herdzik's find as a well-preserved dagger dating back at least 2,500 years to the Hallstatt period. At the base of its blade, the ancient dagger has two rows of small crescent moon-like symbols surrounded by stars, the museum said and a close-up photo shows. More star-like shapes connected by lines run down the length of the blade, possibly symbolizing constellations. Another photo shows the dagger's handle, which has a series of alternating designs almost like a row of beads and rings. 'A true work of art!' Grzegorz Kurka, the director of the museum, told PAP, a Polish news outlet. 'I have not seen such a dagger in my experience with findings in Polish territories.' Ukowski told PAP that the almost 10-inch-long dagger was 'my most precious discovery.' Museum officials don't know what the 2,500-year-old dagger was used for but offered two possibilities: it could have been linked to a solar cult and had ritual significance, or it could have belonged to a wealthy warrior. The dagger will undergo further analysis to determine its composition and identify signs of usage, the museum said. Museum officials did not release the exact location of the find, only specifying it had been found in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship, a coastal region of northwestern Poland bordering Germany. Facebook Translate and Google Translate were used to translate the Facebook posts from the Museum of the History of the Kamień Region.
Miami Herald
27-03-2025
- General
- Miami Herald
Soldier unearths 2,600-year-old burial site, Greek artifacts in Ukraine. See the finds
Soldiers building fortifications in southern Ukraine unearthed a burial site more than 2,600 years old. While operating an excavator, a soldier noticed a small jug in the dirt and showed it to a fellow soldier with a passion for history, according to a March 16 Facebook post from the 123rd Territorial Defense Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The men brought the artifact to the Mykolayiv Regional Museum of Local History, according to officials. Experts identified the jug as an amphora — a piece of pottery sometimes used in funeral rituals to hold offerings or human remains, or as a grave marker. This particular jug is believed to have originated in Corinth, a large city in ancient Greece. Soldiers found a second artifact at the site, identified as an oinochoe vessel, a jug with one handle and three spouts used to pour wine during an ancient Greek social gathering for aristocratic men called a symposium, officials said. Experts determined the dig site is an ancient burial ground dating back between 600 B.C. to 500 B.C., officials said. One man, a former archaeologist and now soldier, said the people buried there were likely of high social status, according to the post. The artifacts, as well as human bones, were given to a museum, officials said. Mykolaiv is in southern Ukraine on the coast of the Black Sea. According to scholars, several groups, including some Greek city-states, settled in the region between 1,000 B.C. and 400 B.C. Facebook Translate and Google Translate were used to translate a Facebook post from Ukraine's 123rd Territorial Defense Brigade.
