Latest news with #Medieval
Scottish Sun
6 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Chilling execution of ‘washed up' Medieval woman revealed as experts say brutal punishment was a ‘warning to others'
Her body was laden with fractures resembling that of a car accident victim, according to experts THAMES DIG Chilling execution of 'washed up' Medieval woman revealed as experts say brutal punishment was a 'warning to others' THE remains of a roughly 1,200-year-old woman found on the shores of the River Thames have exposed the brutal punishment practices of early Medieval Britain. London between 600 to 800 AD, or Lundenwic as it was then known, was a very different place than it is today. Advertisement 3 The woman, whose remains have been categorised as UPT90 sk 1278 in museum records, was between the ages of 28 and 40 when she died Credit: Museum of London 3 The River Thames near Blackfriars Bridge, London Credit: Getty The settlement, which covered the area of modern-day Covent Garden, was made up of narrow, winding streets and buildings made of timber and straw. It had a population of roughly 8,000 people - a far cry from the 9.26million residents that live there today. The remains of one Londoner, believed to have lived during the early medieval period between 680 and 810 AD, act as an example of these practices. Lawbreakers appeared to be executed in the streets, according to experts, and their bodies were left to decompose for all to see as a warning to others. Advertisement READ MORE ON ARCHAEOLOGY DEEP DIG Ancient burial of 'Ice Prince' uncovered alongside dismembered sacrifice The woman, whose remains have been categorised as UPT90 sk 1278 in museum records, was between the ages of 28 and 40 when she died. She was not buried, but rather sandwiched between two sheets of bark, lying on a mat of reeds with moss pads placed on her face, pelvis, and knees. When the woman was first excavated in 1991, archaeologists noted that she was likely placed on the foreshore of the Thames where her remains were in public view. "The burial treatment of UPT90 sk 1278 lets us know that her body was meant to be visible on the landscape, which could be interpreted as a warning to witnesses," said Dr. Madeline Mant, who studied the remains once they were moved to the London Museum. Advertisement Dr. Mant and her colleagues published their findings in the journal World Archaeology. Biggest burial site in Greek history guarded by two headless sphinx unearthed and it could be tomb of Alexander the Great "We can tell from the osteobiography of this individual and their burial treatment that they were executed, but the specific offense is impossible to know for certain," she added. "We can only infer from the law codes of the period." Just two weeks before her death, the woman was subject to torturous beatings and an eventual execution, researchers wrote. Advertisement Her body was laden with over 50 individual signs of injury, with fractures on her shoulders and spine resembling that of a car accident victim, according to experts. The researchers believe the 9th-century woman may have been beaten or flogged - where a victim is repeatedly hit with a whip or a stick. The second round of injuries on her torso and skull suggest the woman was punched or kicked repeatedly, in what experts have likened to torture beatings. Her execution was a final blow to the left side of her head. Advertisement Dr. Mant said her death was likely a form of capital punishment, which were becoming increasingly common in the period the woman is understood to have lived. "Early Medieval England was a time of change regarding law codes - the law code of Æthelberht (c. 589–616) did not include corporal punishment, but that of Wihtred of Kent (690–725) outlined specific punishments, for instance, beatings for those who could not pay fines," explained Dr. Mant. "Capital punishments were also included when willed by the king. "As time passed, more crimes were associated with the death penalty under King Alfred (871–899). Advertisement "Crimes such as theft, treason, witchcraft, and sorcery could be met with the death penalty, which could be brought about by stoning or drowning." 3 An illustration of London in the early Medieval period Credit: Mola The woman's diet consisted of terrestrial foods, like grains, vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy, and eggs. However, her remains show a period of increased stable nitrogen values sometime after she turned 5-years-old. Advertisement This could mean the woman either began eating more meat, or she suffered a period of starvation, during which her body began breaking down its own fat and protein stores. Starvation was a significant threat in early Medieval London, particularly for those who migrated to the city.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
A 13th-century schoolboy's doodles show that kids have always been like that
What's the weirdest thing you learned this week? Well, whatever it is, we promise you'll have an even weirder answer if you listen to PopSci's hit podcast. The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week hits Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and everywhere else you listen to podcasts every-other Wednesday morning. It's your new favorite source for the strangest science-adjacent facts, figures, and Wikipedia spirals the editors of Popular Science can muster. If you like the stories in this post, we guarantee you'll love the show. By Rachel Feltman Dating back to at least the 1st century in various parts of the world, people have used birch bark as a writing surface. It's soft and easy to scratch into with a stylus, and of course it's easy to peel off the tree. In parts of Russia, there are so many old manuscripts preserved on birch bark that there's basically a field of study devoted to them. As of 2018, archaeologists had found 1,222 specimens in Russia, and 1,113 of them were from a Medieval town called Novgorod. There's very heavy, waterlogged clay soil there that probably protected the birch bark from oxygen and decay, but it also seems like it was an especially literate place for the time period. While some of these notes use Church Slavonic, most of them are written in a vernacular dialect and many recount personal matters and everyday happenings Less than 3 percent of the Medieval settlement has actually been excavated systematically. Some estimates suggest that more than 20,000 additional notes are waiting to be discovered. But the most famous of these birch bark writings come from a single prolific artist who lived there in the 13th century. He drew epic battle scenes and mythical creatures and even rather abstract works. His name was Onfim, and he was a 7-year-old boy. Onfim's birch bark scraps show signs of schoolwork, with psalms and cyrillic alphabet exercises written out on many of them. But they also show doodles that are charmingly recognizable as the work of a bored kid at school. To learn more about Onfim's adventures (and doodles), listen to this week's episode of The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. And if you're interested in more charming historical scribbles, check out this repository of ancient graffiti. By Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian I didn't actually learn about eels for the first time this week—I've been obsessed with them for years. Back when I was teaching in the Hudson Valley, I used to take my students to help catch and count baby eels as they migrated upriver from the Sargasso Sea. These tiny, translucent fish are glassy and delicate, with eyes and spines you can see straight through—and yet they've already traveled thousands of miles. Eels are mysterious in almost every way: we still don't fully understand how they navigate, how they reproduce, or why they live for decades in freshwater before transforming into long, lean, sex-obsessed creatures that return to the sea to die. On this week's episode I talk about eels' intersex biology, their magnetic sense of direction, and even the strange detour that eel anatomy took through the hands of Sigmund Freud. This story, for me, is not just about eels—it's also about what their biology tells us about queerness, evolution, and the history of science itself. For more of this kind of natural history, check out my new book 'Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature.' By Sara Kiley Watson Lightning strikes millions of trees every year, and for most of them, the outcome is grim: exploded trunks, scorched roots, or a slow, quiet death from internal damage. So when I heard about a tropical tree that not only survives lightning but actually benefits from it, I had to dig in. This story takes us into the dense forests of Panama, where the towering tonka bean tree—Dipteryx oleifera—has evolved to attract lightning strikes and come out stronger after being zapped. These trees are unusually tall, with wide crowns that seem designed to draw bolts from the sky. When lightning hits, they shed pests. They also outlive their similarly-stricken neighbors, which allows them to claim more sunlight for themselves. This discovery challenges long-held assumptions about lightning and forest ecology…and hints at how climate change could shift that balance even more.
Wales Online
4 days ago
- General
- Wales Online
'Unbelievable' hoard of 29 Roman coins found by history buffs on Anglesey
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Two metal detectorists are celebrating after finding an "unbelievable" hoard of 29 silver Roman coins on Anglesey - five months after unearthing another "amazing" collection of 400 Medieval coins in another part of the island. Chris Evans, 47, and James Fraser, 53, discovered the 29 scattered coins in a field in the south of the island two weeks ago after they may have been disturbed during ploughing. Chris said: "James found a silver coin and we hit a little area (and found more)." It is a scattered hoard and some are broken - possibly by the plough. Get the best island stories from our Anglesey newsletter - sent every Friday (Image: Chris Evans) They are in a ten-metre square area of land which is stony so they haven't sunk into the ground so were quite near the surface. Chris said: "It's the largest silver Roman coin hoard found on Anglesey. It's really exciting - the Romans on Anglesey! "It's unbelievable - 2,000 years ago they were in the country being used to buy water, wine and probably grapes." (Image: Chris Evans) He said some of these 29 coins depict Hadrian, who was Roman Emperor from 117 AD to 138 AD, Hadrian's wife Vibia Sabina, and Septimius Severus, who was Roman Emperor from 193 AD until 211 AD. The searchers are optimistic they are part of an even larger silver coin hoard and that they will find that main burial site nearby. They are denarius coins with one denarius said to be a day's wage for a Roman soldier. (Image: Chris Evans) Chris and James immediately reported their latest discovery to Gwynedd Archeological Trust. Chris said they may eventually be donated to the Oriel Mon Museum in Llangefni. On December 28 last year, Chris and James found 436 Medieval coins in north west Anglesey. They dated from the time of castle builder King Edward I, who reigned from 1272 to 1307. (Image: Chris Evans) Chris said: "They are from France, Belgium and all over Europe. Some are from during the reign of Edward I and from Ireland and Scotland and of Robert the Bruce - Braveheart." Currently they are in the National Museum Cardiff, formerly known as the National Museum of Wales, and Chris hopes they will be bought by Oriel Mon.
North Wales Live
5 days ago
- General
- North Wales Live
'Unbelievable' hoard of 29 Roman coins found by history buffs on Anglesey
Two metal detectorists are celebrating after finding an "unbelievable" hoard of 29 silver Roman coins on Anglesey - five months after unearthing another "amazing" collection of 400 Medieval coins in another part of the island. Chris Evans, 47, and James Fraser, 53, discovered the 29 scattered coins in a field in the south of the island two weeks ago after they may have been disturbed during ploughing. Chris said: "James found a silver coin and we hit a little area (and found more)." It is a scattered hoard and some are broken - possibly by the plough. Get the best island stories from our Anglesey newsletter - sent every Friday They are in a ten-metre square area of land which is stony so they haven't sunk into the ground so were quite near the surface. Chris said: "It's the largest silver Roman coin hoard found on Anglesey. It's really exciting - the Romans on Anglesey! "It's unbelievable - 2,000 years ago they were in the country being used to buy water, wine and probably grapes." He said some of these 29 coins depict Hadrian, who was Roman Emperor from 117 AD to 138 AD, Hadrian's wife Vibia Sabina, and Septimius Severus, who was Roman Emperor from 193 AD until 211 AD. The searchers are optimistic they are part of an even larger silver coin hoard and that they will find that main burial site nearby. They are denarius coins with one denarius said to be a day's wage for a Roman soldier. Chris and James immediately reported their latest discovery to Gwynedd Archeological Trust. Chris said they may eventually be donated to the Oriel Mon Museum in Llangefni. On December 28 last year, Chris and James found 436 Medieval coins in north west Anglesey. They dated from the time of castle builder King Edward I, who reigned from 1272 to 1307. Chris said: "They are from France, Belgium and all over Europe. Some are from during the reign of Edward I and from Ireland and Scotland and of Robert the Bruce - Braveheart." Currently they are in the National Museum Cardiff, formerly known as the National Museum of Wales, and Chris hopes they will be bought by Oriel Mon.
Daily Mirror
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Antiques Roadshow guest speechless as unusual collection worth a fortune
An Antiques Roadshow expert labelled a late husband and father's valuable shoe buckle collection as an "obsession". WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Antiques Roadshow. A late husband and father's cherished shoe buckle collection was dubbed an "obsession" by an Antiques Roadshow. Taking place in the scenic setting of Burton Constable Hall and Parkland, expert Judith Miller encountered a senior lady attended by her three adult daughters, granddaughter, and an expansive array of shoe buckles, prompting her to inquire: "So absolutely surrounded by Georgian shoe buckles. How did you get them?" The woman explained the origin of the haul, stating: "Well my late husband, it was his collection and he collected them for over 50 years." Judith described the collection as "marvellous" before delving into the history: "They had buckles in the Medieval period but then they went out of fashion and then they came back in the mid 17th Century. "People like Samuel Pepys wrote about putting buckles on his shoes but of course a lot of these are from the golden period of shoe buckles from 1750 to 1780." On probing into the root of her husband's interest in buckles, the widow revealed it started with his own father gifting him a couple, which set off his collection spree. The owner mused on their quest for the items, saying, "From then on, he just liked them. "When we went to antiques fairs, we were always looking for shoe buckles. "We could go into quite an upmarket antiques shop and we were probably paying £2 10 shillings, something like that, for Georgian shoe buckles." Miller couldn't help but probe: "And did it become a little bit of an obsession?" to which the guest, chuckling, admitted: "Yes. Just a bit." Turning to the daughters, Miller inquired about their perceptions of their father's buckle collection. One daughter expressed admiration: "I think it's amazing he collected it over so many years, he was so proud of it. "He researched them, he cleaned them, he catalogued them, he loved showing people, he loved talking about them." Another daughter humorously interjected: "And yes, there are even more." Interest piqued, Miller pressed for details on the extent of the cache, prompting the guest to laugh and say "an awful lot". When encouraged to spill the beans, the guest revealed a staggering number: they had about 1,500 buckles. "So I think we're going back to a little bit of an obsession" Miller observed, eliciting another round of laughter from the guest. The owner, reflecting on the collection described as "fabulous" by the specialist, mused: "It's hard to think it was men who wore these, not the women." They discussed the use of silver buckles for special occasions versus everyday paste ones. A particular pair of cream ware buckles caught the expert's attention as "absolutely beautiful and so impractical", triggering a response from the owner regarding their rarity: "Well this is partially why there aren't that many around. Because obviously they got broken." A trip to Northampton Museum unveiled a rare discovery for a vintage shoe buckle enthusiast, as the curator had heard of only around five pairs like those in the collector's stash. Miller pointed out: "Obviously as soon as you put them on, they would break. You can't imagine they survived one single wearing. "But of course the others are much more practical and beautiful." When it came to valuation, Miller pegged the ordinary ones at a modest £100 each, but the lovelier cased pairs he estimated at £600, with a particular cream pair seen as likely to amass a grand £1,000 alone. Yet, the biggest revelation was yet to come. Wrapping up, Miller delivered the jaw-dropping estimate: "So if you look at the collection as a whole, and it's pretty staggering to me, I think we're looking here with your collection, at £200,000." The revelation left the owner dumbstruck amidst audible gasps from bystanders and family members. One daughter let out an astonished "Oh God", while the camera captured the lady, her daughters, and granddaughter overwhelmed with emotion. As the family composed themselves, the matriarch reflected: "We don't really sort of think of that. I mean, they are a collection and we are keeping the collection." "They will get passed down to my three daughters and possibly even further down the line than that. He just loved them. Absolutely loved them." Miller summed up the moment sentimentally: "Well isn't it lovely you've got this lovely inheritance, you've got your daughters and granddaughter, it's a lovely family story." Antiques Roadshow is available to watch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
