Latest news with #discovery
BBC News
4 hours ago
- Science
- BBC News
Orkney carved stone head could be more than 900 years old
An intricately-carved sandstone head which could be more than 900 years old has been found on the Orkney island of head was discovered by University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) archaeology student Katie Joss at the Skaill Farm was exploring the foundations of a large wall when the head popped out into her hands."It was quite a shock, we were removing a slab when the head came rolling out at us and as we turned it around we saw a face looking back at us. It was really exciting," she said. Dr Sarah Jane Gibbon from the UHI Archaeology Institute is co-director of the dig at Skaill Farm, which is now in its 10th year. She said she was surprised at the intricacy of the carved face and hair, which looks serene despite its nose being broken off."It looks very similar to a carved head in the south aisle of St Magnus cathedral," she added that the style of it suggested it might have had a similar function in a 12th Century building."It's really unusual, we've found nothing like this here at Skaill before," she said."We don't know how the head ended up in the backfill of this building, though the fact the nose is broken could be a clue." The head - which has not been given a name yet - is being preserved with the other finds from the will be cleaned up and put on public display at some point in the name of Skaill farm comes from from the Old Norse word "skáli", meaning "hall".The Skaill excavation site sits directly on top of what was once the Norse settlement of powerful 12th Century Viking chieftain, Sigurd of Westness. Dan Lee, an archaeologist with the UHI Archaeology Institute, said: "Sigurd was pals with Earl Rognvald, who built St Magnus cathedral in Kirkwall."We think we are standing on the hall that Sigurd built and lived in, which then became a late-medieval farmstead."Right next door we have the remains of St Mary's chapel and a medieval tower called The Wirk."We think this was a real seat of power in that period."
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Staffordshire gardener finds 70-year-old letter under tree in Wolverhampton garden
A gardener says he was amazed to find a letter dated 1955 virtually intact under a tree he was clearing in a Wolverhampton Elshaw said it was from a hotel in Torquay, Devon, and addressed to a man who lived on the Stafford Road in Fordhouses, setting out the costs of its was working in a garden in nearby Tettenhall a few weeks ago when he found it and said the homeowners knew nothing about t."How it got there, and under a tree, and survived 70 years I do not know," he said. "I was trimming the tree and tidying it up and I just thought it was a bit of rubbish," Elshaw, from Bishop's Wood, Staffordshire, added."I couldn't believe it was an envelope and a letter that was 70 years old."I was amazed.... It's a once in a lifetime find I think and I'd be interested to see if there's anything else we can find out about it."The typed letter is dated 21 January 1995 with the letterhead of Ashleigh Court in Torquay and sent to a JR Gwilt Esquire of Stafford Road, responding to an inquiry by Mr Gwilt about a possible booking, the letter stated rooms were charged at six, seven and seven-and-half guineas per person for a week, including meals."The rooms vary in size and position of course, but all are attractive and comfortable," the letter News contacted a hotel of the same name but spelt slightly differently in the town, but the owner said it was not from his hotel, believing it to be from another of the same name in Torquay that shut several years ago."It's a bizarre find given it's age and that it was just under a tree where I was clearing and has no connection to the house. It's pretty unexplainable currently." Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Science
- BBC News
Explorers discover largest cave system found in over ten years
Have you ever gone off on an adventure and found something spectacular?Well, one team of cavers from Gloucester has done exactly that - an "exploratory urge" led them to one of the biggest discoveries in over a found a 10km (6 mile) long network of narrow passages and gaping caverns near English Bicknor in the Forest of team was led by conservation officer and retired physicist Dr Tim Nichols, and he said all their dreams came true when they stepped into it for the first time. The start of the network, called Redhouse Lane Swallet, was actually found first by a man called Paul Taylor in the Dr Tim explained that while exploring this mile-long original system, he felt a strong breeze coming from a passage filled with boulders at one end of it and simply had to investigate further."That exploratory urge to go and find where no person has ever been before is really special."With each trip it just kept getting better and better." It took a lot of hard work, but eventually his team of explorers successfully dug past the boulders in August last Tim said: "You have to pinch yourself, it is a once in a lifetime [find]."Every trip's just been like another birthday present and every trip we've been finding something different."Caves remain one of those things on the planet that are largely undiscovered."True genuine exploration - that's what's exciting about it," Dr Nichols added. Cool cave facts The largest network of caves in the UK is the Three Counties System in the Yorkshire DalesGaping Gill has the largest unbroken waterfall of any cave in the UK, and its main cavern is about 365ft (111m) deep, which is the same height as St Paul's Cathedral in LondonThe deepest known cave in the UK is in Derbyshire - it's called Titan, and is 141.5 meters (464 ft) deep
BBC News
3 days ago
- Science
- BBC News
Caving team discover 'dream' 10km network under Forest of Dean
An "exploratory urge" led to the discovery one of the largest cave systems found in Britain in a decade, with cavers saying it was "a dream come true".The network of passages and giant caverns stretching for 10km (6 miles) was found near English Bicknor in the Forest of first part of the cave system, Redhouse Lane Swallet, was originally found in the 1990s by Paul Taylor, a caver from officer and retired physicist Dr Tim Nichols, who was part of a new generation of explorers which discovered the wider network of caverns, said he did not realise the significance of what they had recently found until they saw it. "The first time when we stepped into the new passage when there was just two of us - all of our dreams had come true," Dr Nichols said."That exploratory urge to go and find where no person has ever been before is really special."With each trip it just kept getting better and better."He explained a strong draught in the boulder filled passage at the end of the original network of caves had inspired him to delve sheer determination his team of explorers successfully dug past the boulders in August last year."You have to pinch yourself, it is a once in a lifetime [find]."Every trip's just been like another birthday present and every trip we've been finding something different.""Caves remain one of those things on the planet that are largely undiscovered."True genuine exploration - that's what's exciting about it," Dr Nichols added. Dr Nichols went on to explain how "it's the biggest find" in the UK in a long last discovery was made in 2010 in what is now the UK's longest cave system called The Three Counties, which was initially thought to be three separate systems. But in 2010, cavers discovered they were in fact interconnected making it 87km (54 miles) long. In the 1990s, Mr Taylor began exploration work on the Redhouse Lane Swallet in the Forest of Dean and after two years of digging discovered the initial cave system which was around a mile Taylor said he is "extremely honoured and proud" to be a part of this history-making discovery."I started caving when I was just 13 years old and I'm 71 years old now," he said."To be the very first person to shine your light down that passage and put your footprints down - it's an amazing experience," Mr Taylor added.
Gizmodo
3 days ago
- Science
- Gizmodo
Neptune Dances in Sync With a Rare Distant Object, Astronomers Find
For lovers of newly identified space objects, July has indeed been an exciting month. Last week, astronomers described Ammonite, a potential dwarf planet beyond Pluto. Yesterday, astronomers announced the existence of BetelBuddy, a small companion star orbiting Betelgeuse. And now we have another exciting discovery to share. In a Planetary Science Journal paper published earlier this month, astronomers with the Large inclination Distant Objects (LiDO) survey reported the discovery of 2020 VN40, a rare distant object that orbits the Sun once for every ten orbits Neptune completes. Astronomers have classified 2020 VN40 as a trans-Neptunian object—a class of small objects and dwarf planets that orbit the Sun at a greater distance than Neptune. The small object sports a peculiar, tilted orbit that places it in orbital resonance with Neptune at a ratio of 10:1. This means the two celestial bodies affect each other's motion, locking them into a clean, neat ratio of orbital periods. 'This is a big step in understanding the outer solar system,' Rosemary Pike, lead researcher from the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian, said in a statement. 'It shows that even very distant regions influenced by Neptune can contain objects, and it gives us new clues about how the solar system evolved.' Spotting an oddball object in the solar system is always a cause for celebration, but 2020 VN40 stands out for a couple of reasons. First, it supports the idea that Neptune's gravity can pull distant objects into the inner solar system—something astronomers have documented with other distant objects. What's more, 2020 VN40 features a strange, tilted orbit that brings it closer to the Sun when it's nearest to Neptune—the opposite of how most similar objects behave. This tilt is what's causing the observed orbital sync between Neptune and 2020 VN40, in which the smaller object approaches the Sun once for every ten orbits Neptune completes, according to the study authors. This means that, for 2020 VN, one year is equal to 1,650 Earth years! 'This new motion is like finding a hidden rhythm in a song we thought we knew,' said study co-author Ruth Murray-Clay, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz. 'It could change how we think about the way distant objects move.' 'This is just the beginning,' said Kathryn Volk of the Planetary Science Institute. 'We're opening a new window into the solar system's past.'
