10 ARTIFACTS

Sponsored by Connatix

10The Unused Roman Oven

Photo credit: Live Science

In 2014, developers eyed a patch near Falkirk, a town in Scotland. Per law,
before the shopping center’s first brick was allowed to land, archaeologists
had to sweep the site. The area previously delivered Roman fortifications
which heightened the chance of a hidden ancient presence.

After some shoveling and dusting, archaeologists uncovered a familiar

structure with a twist. Two sunken chambers formed a trademark 8-shape that
connected them. Appearing undisturbed from the day it was built was a 2,000-
year-old Roman oven.
Normally, Roman ovens yield the ash and charcoal of ancient cooking. This
one was squeaky clean, with no such layers or scorching. In fact,
archaeologists suspected that it had never even been used.[1]

Due to the missing morsels of ancient meals, more evidence is needed to

confirm its purpose. However, the shape and site suggest that it was a military
bread oven. Similar and confirmed bakers’ tools have popped up in Roman
camps throughout Scotland.

At the Falkirk excavation, items surfaced that support an army settlement,

including hobnails from soldiers’ sandals and a bolt head.

9The Antarctica Fruitcake

 Photo credit: Smithsonian Magazine

The first buildings in Antarctica were raised at Cape Adare in 1899. Recently,
over a thousand artifacts were removed for study and preservation. Included
in the haul was a surprise: a 106-year-old fruitcake still wrapped in its original
wax paper.

Unlike the rusted cake tin in which it was found, the fruity snack looked ready
to serve. A clue to the identity of the person who could not resist bringing
fruitcake along to the edge of the world was the bakery’s name on the tin.
Huntley & Palmers always provided baked provisions for Robert Falcon Scott,
a British explorer.

It was likely left behind when Scott departed from the cabin in a bid to reach
the South Pole first. The famous Terra Nova expedition (1910–1913) turned
out to be fatal.

His team eventually reached their destination, but Norwegian explorers had
beaten them to it a month earlier. Scott’s entire team perished on the return
trip when they froze to death. The well-preserved cake, with only a whiff of
rancid butter, will be treated with stabilizing chemicals and returned with other
artifacts to be displayed in the Cape Adare cabin.

8Unknown River Tools

Photo credit: Live Science

Amateur archaeologists investigated an extinct river in Wales and found
something that made the experts sit up and take notice. While working at the
Bronze Age site in 2017, the amateurs discovered stone tools on the 4,500-
year-old streambed.

Numbering about 20, the limestone utensils were triangular and showed signs
of heavy use. They ranged from 5 centimeters (2 in) to 22 centimeters (8.6 in)
long.
Two things made them uniquely fascinating. They appeared to have been
arranged deliberately under the water when the stream still existed. Also, after
archaeologists picked each other’s brains, they realized that nobody had ever
seen such artifacts before.[3]

The tools were roughly shaped into points, which were scarred and pitted from
a mystery purpose. One guess considers the hand tools as engraving stones.
During the Bronze Age, rocky surfaces were abundantly adorned with
carvings and symbols.

Another half-understood feature stands next to the river near the triangles,
although the two have no clear connection other than belonging to the same
community. Discovered years earlier, the mound once turned out huge
amounts of scalding water. Freshly fired stones heated the water in a pit to
likely use for domestic needs.

7El Castillo’s Queens

Photo credit: businessinsider.com

Long before the Inca, the Wari people ruled the Andes. They were
widespread, but archaeologists struggle to document their culture. Most sites
have been irreparably damaged by looters.

In 2013, aerial images of a Wari location showed artificial angles.

Archaeologists then visited El Castillo de Huarmey, a pyramid site near the
coast in Huarmey.
Incredibly, the lines led to a massive mausoleum below. Not only did looters
miss it after repeated raids, but the deceased appeared untouched. Sitting in
rows were 63 individuals.

Three women received better burials than the rest. Within the 1,200-year-old
hall, each had her own chamber filled with precious metals and artifacts.
Identified as Wari queens, it became the culture’s first royal tomb to be
discovered intact.

There were weaving instruments and jewelry made of gold. Brightly decorated
ceramics and alabaster vessels showed skill in pottery and crafting. Silver
jewelry and bronze axes were also present.
However, not everything was cultured behavior by today’s standards. Some
women in the tomb are suspected to be sacrifice victims. Insect pupae in the
royal remains hinted at a gruesome ritual. The corpses were occasionally
removed by Wari citizens and left outside for a while.[4]

6Timeless Ships

Photo credit: National Geographic

Usually, sunken ships retain a few recognizable characteristics while the rest
rot and rust away. The Black Sea is different. Eastern Europe’s major rivers
feed a permanent layer of freshwater on top of the heavier seawater. This
blocks oxygen from reaching the salty layer. Without oxygen, decay is
impossible in the icy depths and doomed ships keep their looks.

When over 40 wrecks were recently found off the coast of Bulgaria, it was like
finding a collection of bottled ships from different eras. Together, they cover a
thousand years of human history (9th–19th centuries).

Some are so well-preserved that the decks contain coils of rope, carvings, and
wooden structures. One medieval ship displayed a captain’s quarterdeck—the
first to be physically seen in the archaeological record. It was probably
Venetian and the most intact of its type ever discovered.
As a sought-after trade route for many nations, researchers estimate that the
time-frozen fleet at the bottom of the Black Sea could number in the
thousands.[5] Called “one of archaeology’s greatest coups,” more surprises
could wait below deck. In 2002, a Black Sea wreck yielded 2,400-year-old
dried fish steaks inside a pot.

5Burghead Fort

Photo credit: Live Science

The threadbare history of the Wari looks plentiful against Scotland’s Picts.
Most accounts of them are secondhand descriptions. The Romans called the
tattooed tribes “Picts” (“painted people”), but their true name is lost.

A Pictish fort, referred to as Burghead Fort, disappeared beneath the town of

Lossiemouth in the 1800s. Archaeologists checked in 2015 to see if anything
remained. Excavations busted the belief that Lossiemouth wiped out the older
settlement.

The diggers found evidence that Burghead was a stronghold of their Northern
territory. Inside were major ruins, including a longhouse. The news was
exciting because many already thought the fort was an important royal seat.
The ruins could reveal the nature of the community, a crucial factor in
understanding how power was distributed at Pictish sites.
Inside the longhouse was a coin, minted during the life of English king Alfred
the Great. This dated the fort to the ninth century when the Picts had to deal
with Vikings and settlers. The coin was Anglo-Saxon, proving that the Picts
traded long-distance. But oddly, it was pierced. One theory suggests that
perhaps the Picts wore their money on necklaces.[6]

4House Of The Tesserae

 Photo credit: Live Science

On January 18, 749, artisans were busy installing floor mosaics when
an earthquake struck the city of Jerash. The disaster toppled the house and
sealed everything as it was that day, including one of the workers.

Situated in modern-day Jordan, ancient Jerash is well studied except for the
northwest quarter. That was where the “House Of The Tesserae” protected its
timeless interior until its discovery in 2017.

Named for the small tiles that wove together the mosaics, the house provided
rare insights and answers. It froze the moment before the earthquake struck.
The whole house had been emptied beforehand for the extensive
redecorating.

Walls were being prepared for painting. The top floor’s mosaic was already
completed with geometric designs. The ground level was in progress and
gave elusive clues about a certain issue.
For a long time, nobody knew how mosaics during the eighth century’s early
Islamic period were made. Were the tiny limestone tesserae cut on-site, or
were they created elsewhere? A metal hammer near containers of freshly
carved tiles suggests that they were chiseled at the house.[7]

3The Lost Civilization

Photo credit: National Geographic

Adventurers have hunted the mythical White City of Honduras for decades. In
1940, explorer Theodore Morde came back from the Mosquitia rain forest,
claiming to have found it. Fearing looters, Morde never disclosed the location.
In 2012, an aerial scan detected man-made features under Mosquitia’s forest
canopy. For more than a mile were signs of buildings and water canals. Three
years later, a ground expedition braved unexplored swaths of jungle to see
what was going on down there.

What they found was dramatic.

The team walked into an untouched lost city with plazas, earthworks, mounds,
and an earthen pyramid. Near the pyramid were 52 half-buried statues,
among them a snarling jaguar head, ceremonial stone seats, and vessels.
The carvings were possibly part of the city’s last rites, ritually offered before
the place was abandoned. Crafted between AD 1000–1400, their undisturbed
positions, along with the rest of the pristine city, offer a unique opportunity to
view a civilization so unknown that it has yet to be given a name.[8]

Whether this is the legendary White City remains to be seen. To protect

valuable clues from destructive looters, the location remains secret.

2The Soldiers Before Hadian’s Wall

Photo credit: The Guardian

The 117-kilometer (73 mi) wall in Northumberland was raised in AD 122 to

defend Rome’s frontier in Britain. In 2017, a floor of the fourth-century fort of
Vindolanda was lifted with little expectation.

Instead, they encountered the living quarters of some of the

first soldiers tasked with keeping the locals under control. The barracks were
built in AD 105, long before Hadrian’s barrier, and belonged to a cavalry unit
of about 1,000 men.

Cavalry weapons, including exceptionally rare swords, and horse tack littered
the floors. Toys and personal possessions showed that the soldiers’ families
also lived there.
Around 30 years after the camp was apparently abandoned in a panic, the
Romans returned. They poured concrete for new barracks and sealed
thousands of artifacts in an oxygen-free state. Things that usually rot
remained pristine—wooden tablets, leather, and cloth. Riding equipment
shone, and strap junctions retained their alloy links, a highly scarce
occurrence.
The collection allows a priceless study of those who lived in the hot zone
when the Britons rebelled, possibly the reason why the camp fled. It is also
valued for adding a unique chapter to the prelude to Hadrian’s Wall.[9]

1Tall el-Hammam

Photo credit: popular-archaeology.com

The biblical city of Sodom, destroyed by God for the debauchery of its
residents, was described as the biggest settlement in Jordan’s eastern side
during the Bronze Age. In 2005, archaeologists chose the relatively unstudied
Tall el-Hammam as a candidate.

The monumental mound was at the right place and was the biggest Bronze
Age site even outside of the required region. A decade of excavations
revealed the remarkable builders who had managed Tall el-Hammam as a
powerhouse while other cities in the area folded.
Archaeologists describe the scope of the city-state as “monstrous.” Ancient
construction continued from 3500–1540 BC, adding formidable defensive
walls and ramparts, towers, plazas, buildings, monuments, and a palace. The
rampart system alone consists of millions of bricks and forms a fortified
superstructure over 30 meters (100 ft) tall.[10]

Like many ancient cities, Tall el-Hammam came to a sudden and mysterious
end. That the city-state previously survived factors that had killed off the
surrounding great cities makes it even stranger.

After 700 years as a veritable ghost town, a new population grew during the
Iron Age II period (1000–332 BC). More building was done, some of it great,
but nothing ever equaled the glory of the Bronze Age again.