The Daily Tulip
The Daily Tulip – Archaeological News From Around The World
Friday 17th November 2017
Good Morning Gentle Reader…. Very cold and cloudy this morning, wind blowing in off the Atlantic all the seagulls are sat on the shore this morning as Bella and I walk the promenade… its 10c but with the wind it feels about 7c but I wrapped up well, it’s just my face that feels the cold… Friday and another week is almost in the record book and the week end is certainly upon us, I thought I may drive up to Rhonda the Roman city that’s up in the mountains, Rain, Snow or Sunshine it’s always worth a visit… but at the moment I’m thinking of the coffee that’s waiting for me back in the house.. hope you have a great day….
8TH-CENTURY SKELETON DISCOVERED AT HEREFORD CATHEDRAL…. HEREFORD, ENGLAND—The Hereford Times reports that a skeleton discovered underneath Hereford Cathedral dates back to the origins of the city. Excavations ahead of construction work to improve the cathedral’s cloisters found three skeletons nearly seven feet underground. According to archaeologists, one of the skeletons belonged to a man who died in middle age, potentially due to several apparent blade injuries. Radiocarbon dating determined that the man lived sometime between A.D. 680 and 780, a period when the city was still a dangerous Anglo-Saxon frontier settlement in the Kingdom of Mercia, in the Welsh borderlands.
MEDIEVAL JEWISH CEMETERY EXCAVATED IN ITALY…. BOLOGNA, ITALY—According to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency report, more than 400 graves at the site of a medieval Jewish cemetery have been uncovered as part of a construction project near Bologna’s Via Orfeo. In 1569, after Pope Pius V banished Jews from most papal territories, he reportedly turned the cemetery’s land over to the nuns of a nearby cloister and told them to destroy the graves. Archaeologists recovered the remains of adults and children, and artifacts made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and amber. No tombstones were found, and 150 of the graves showed signs of intentional desecration.
2,000-YEAR-OLD SUNDIAL UNEARTHED IN ROMAN TOWN…. CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that a 2,000-year-old sundial has been discovered in a roofed theater at the site of the ancient town of Interamna Lirenas, which is located in central Italy. An inscription on the sundial names Marcus Novius Tubula, a plebeian tribune to Rome, and dates the artifact to the first century B.C. Alessandro Launaro of the University of Cambridge said the sundial and its inscription suggest the small town was more aware of and involved in the affairs of the capital than had been previously thought. Additional engravings on the face of the timepiece mark the seasons with respect to the winter solstice, equinox, and summer solstice. Only part of its needle, which cast the shadow necessary to show the time, was preserved.
GLASS FRAGMENT FROM CALLIGRAPHY SET FOUND IN JAPAN…. KYOTO, JAPAN—The Asahi Shimbun reports that a fragment of a twelfth-century glass vessel was unearthed in an area of nobles’ homes in Heiankyo, Japan’s ancient capital. Researchers from the Gangoji Institute for Research of Cultural Property in Nara say the bluish-green fragment may have been part of the spout of a “suiteki” container, which would have been imported from China during the Heian Period, from A.D. 794 to 1185, for dropping water onto ink-grinding stones. The site may have been a base to distribute imported suiteki to aristocrats in Kyoto.
ROME’S LEAD PIPES MAY HAVE ADDED ANTIMONY TO WATER SUPPLY…. NANTERRE, FRANCE—Live Science reports that an international team of scientists led by Philippe Charlier of Max Fourestier Hospital tested a lead water pipe from a home in Pompeii and found it carried highly toxic levels of antimony. The metal is thought to have been added to lead to strengthen it. To begin the investigation, the researchers dissolved a fragment of the metal pipe in concentrated nitric acid, and then heated it to more than 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit to ionize the elements so that they could be identified within a mass spectrometer. The analysis suggests the possible levels of antimony in city’s water supply could have caused antimony intoxication, diarrhea, and vomiting, leading to severe dehydration and eventually liver and kidney damage. Antimony has also been found in the groundwater close to volcanoes, possibly increasing the exposure of Pompeii’s population to the toxic element. The researchers suggest testing additional pipes throughout the Roman Empire, and looking for traces of antimony in the bones and teeth of ancient Romans, for more information on how antimony poisoning might have affected their health.
LUXURY 17TH-CENTURY ITEMS UNCOVERED NEAR PAUL REVERE HOUSE…. BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS—Evidence of a sumptuous lifestyle enjoyed by a seventeenth-century family has been uncovered near the Paul Revere House in Boston’s North End, according to a report from The Boston Globe. The finds include a shard of a ceramic bowl of a type known as “sgraffito” probably produced between 1630 and 1640 in the Pisa region of northern Italy, making it the oldest known piece of European ceramic to have been discovered in the city. Also found at the site were decorated pieces of expensive Italian glass, animal bones suggesting a rich diet, and a clasp from a woman’s bodice. “They’ve got glassware that would make Liberace blush,” said Joe Bagley, Boston city archaeologist. The items were apparently discarded by the family of John Jeffs, a mariner active in the Atlantic trade, and suggest that people living in Puritan Boston were comfortable acquiring ostentatious and luxurious items. Bagley expected to find a large number of nineteenth-century artifacts in the excavation, which is being carried out in advance of construction work, and was surprised to find insights into life two centuries earlier as well.
Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the archeological news from around the world this, Friday morning… …
Our Tulips today are very modern…..and very Orange.....
A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Friday 17th November 2017 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…
All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in
Be safe out there…
Robert McAngus