Roman style paintings found at suspected site of Herod's tomb

King Herod may have been buried in a crypt with lavish Roman-style wall paintings of a kind previously unseen in the Middle East, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday. The scientists found such paintings and signs of a regal two-story mausoleum, bolstering their conviction that the ancient Jewish monarch was buried there.

Ehud Netzer, head of Jerusalem's Hebrew University excavation team, which uncovered the site of the king's winter palace in the Judean desert in 2007, said the latest finds show work and funding fit for a king.

"What we found here, spread all around, are architectural fragments that enable us to restore a monument of 25 meters high, 75 feet high, very elegant, which fits Herod's taste and status," he told The Associated Press in an interview at the hillside dig in an Israeli-controlled part of the West Bank, south of Jerusalem.

No human remains or inscriptions have been found to prove conclusively that the tomb was Herod's, but excavation continues.

Herod is known for extensive building throughout the Holy Land.

Netzer said that since finding fragments of one ornately carved sarcophagus in 2007, he and his team have found two more, suggesting the monumental tomb may have been a royal family vault.

Netzer described the winter palace, built on a largely man-made hill 2,230 feet high, as a kind of "country club," with a pool, baths, gardens fed by pools and aqueducts and a 650-seat theater.

In Herod's private box at the auditorium, diggers discovered delicate frescoes depicting windows opening on to painted landscapes, one of which shows what appears to be a southern Italian farm, said Roi Porat, one of Netzer's assistants on the digs. Just visible in the paintings, dating between 15 and 10 B.C., are a dog, bushes and what looks like a country villa.

Site surveyor Rachel Chachy-Laureys said the paintings were executed using techniques unknown in the Holy Land at the time and must have been done by artisans imported from Rome.

"There has been no other discovery of this type of painting in the Middle East, as far as we know, until now", she said.

After Herod's death in the 1st century B.C., Herodium became a stronghold for Jewish rebels fighting Roman occupation, and the palace site suffered significant battle damage before it was destroyed by Roman soldiers in A.D. 71, a year after they razed the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

The insurgents reviled the memory of Herod as a Roman puppet, and Netzer and his team believe that the violence inflicted on the first stone casket they found suggests the rebels knew it held the king's bones.

"That sarcophagus was found shattered all over the place. It seems it was taken from its place and was destroyed in a fit of rage," Porat said. "That, among other things, is what tells us it was the sarcophagus of Herod."

Technorati Tags: Roman, painting, fresco, tomb, burial, Herod, Israel, archaeology,

Roman gravestone found by treasure hunters in Scotland

The first Roman tombstone found in Scotland for more than 170 years is among the rare artefacts unearthed by treasure hunters this year.

It forms part of Scotland's annual Treasure Trove, items found by archaeologists or enthusiasts which have been handed to the Crown Office.

Other pieces include a 5,000-year-old axe head, a Bronze Age sword and mysterious carved stone balls.

He said: "The most outstanding would have to be the Roman tombstone. The inscription suggests it was someone who had a military career, the equivalent of being in the elite guards."

Roman bodyguard

The red sandstone artefact was for a man called Crescens, a bodyguard for the governor who ran the province of Britain for the Roman Emperor.

It was found by amateur enthusiast Larney Cavanagh at the edge of a field near Inveresk.

The 5,000-year-old farmers axe head was unearthed at Dunragit, Stranraer, but made from stone found in the Lake District.

The Bronze Age sword was found in Lockerbie and the mysterious carved balls were discovered at Pitmilly and Newburgh in Fife.

Technorati Tags: grave, tombstone, burial, Roman, Britain, Scotland, ancient, archaeology,

Roman-era earring unearthed in Jersusalem

JERUSALEM: Archaeologists digging in East Jerusalem unearthed a perfectly-conserved 2,000-year-old gold earring inlaid with pearls and precious stones, the Israel Antiquities Authority said yesterday.
The earring is made of a coiled gold hoop and dates from the Roman period between the first century BC and the fourth century AD. It has a large inlaid pearl in its centre and two identical gold pendants, each of which is adorned with an emerald and pearl.
The rare jewel was uncovered during excavations in the ruins of a building which dates to the Byzantine period that is today located in a Palestinian neighbourhood several hundred metres from Jerusalem’s Old City.

Technorati Tags: earring, jewelry, pearl, emerald, Roman, Byzantine, Jerusalem

Ancient Apulian treasures to be returned to Italy

Switzerland is returning 4,400 ancient artifacts stolen from
archaeological sites in Italy, including ceramics, figurines and bronze
daggers dating as far back as 2,000 B.C., prosecutors said Thursday.

[Left - Apulian ceramics, similar to this one depicting Perseus battling a sea monster, are among the grave goods seized in a 2001 raid on a Basel art dealer. Photo by Mary Harrsch]

The transfer will require three tractor-trailers and all but end a seven-year legal battle over the antiquities.

They
were seized in 2001 in storage rooms belonging to two Basel-based art
dealers after a tip-off from Italy, said Markus Melzl, a spokesman for
city prosecutors. The couple have since lost several court battles to
prevent the antiquities from being returned to Italy, Melzl said.

More
than half the objects were from the eastern Italian region of Apulia,
an area that was heavily influenced by ancient Greek culture, said
Guido Lassau, a Swiss archaeologist who worked on the case.

They
include richly decorated vases and so-called kraters, large vessels
that were used for mixing wine with water. The objects were stolen from
upper-class tombs dating from the fifth to third centuries B.C.,
according to Lassau.

One item that looks like a ceramic mask
modeled on a woman's face retains the original water-soluble painting
from about 300 B.C.

"They're very well preserved because they
spent the last 2,000 years in a virtual time capsule until they were
plundered by grave robbers," Lassau told The Associated Press. "But the
tragic thing is that a lot of the archaeological information was lost
when they were removed."

Other items belong to the pre-Etruscan
Villanova culture of northern Italy, and some of the bronze figures
appear to have originated on the island of Sardinia.

The oldest are bronze daggers thought to be about 4,000 years old, said Lassau.

Technorati Tags: Apulia, ancient art, vase, red-figure, Greek, Roman, treasure, loot,

Excavation of ancient Constantinople yields Neolithic finds

(Left) The Turkish minister of culture and tourism, Ertugrul Gunay, examines the excavation work and archaeological finds at the site of the Marmaray project in Yenikapi, Istanbul. Sinan Gul / Anadolu Ajansi

32 wooden ships, Stone Age skeletons, coins, amphorae and even a basket full of ancient cherries have been uncovered in an area that is thought to have been the first Byzantine port of the ancient city of Constantinople.Dating from the time of the Roman emperor Theodosius I, in the fourth century AD, the finds are an unprecedented glimpse into the ancient trade and maritime life of one of the world’s longest-inhabited cities.

Nautical gear, such as stone anchors with wooden poles and ropes, have been perfectly preserved in the depths of the murky water, while entire merchant vessels from various centuries have been uncovered, some filled with ancient merchandise, such as oil and wine amphorae. Fifteen ships thought to have sunk in a strong storm in 1,000 AD were discovered at the eastern end of the harbour, revealing a high-traffic port that connected the ancient granaries of Alexandria to the vineyards of northern Greece...the geological make-up of the site has allowed objects that would normally disintegrate to be preserved. They include a woman’s shoe with an ancient Greek inscription: “Use it in health, lady, be in beauty and happiness and wear it.”The site also bears relics of continued Byzantine presence after the harbour had been filled in. A Byzantine tannery and charnel house were discovered at the western end of the excavation, as well as human skulls – perhaps those of executed criminals – thrown into a well.

In August, Dr Karamut and his team came across four ancient skeletons buried in graves six metres below sea level. The two adults, aged approximately 35, and two children under two, are thought to have lived during the Neolithic age, around 6,000-6,500 BC. The objects found with them, particularly ceramic pieces, have led Dr Karamut and his colleagues to conclude there was an ancient settlement in Yenikapi whose inhabitants lived on animal grazing and farming. Researchers have also linked the findings to the remains of an ancient settlement in Çatalhöyük, a Neolithic site in southern Anatolia which was excavated in the 1960s. The similarity between the sites suggests that settlers in the Anatolian planes migrated to Istanbul’s shores some 8,000 years ago. - MoreTechnorati Tags: Byzantine, Neolithic, skeleton, ship, artifact, Constantinople, excavation, archaeology, history

6,000 gold Roman coins from age of Diocletian found in Wales

A deposit of almost 6,000 ancient Roman coins was unearthed in a farmer’s field by a metal detecting enthusiast.

A present-day value is yet to be put on the coins, found buried in two pots and compared by one expert to an early single European currency.

The pots’ combined contents of 5,913 copper-alloy coins from the early fourth century were uncovered over two days in April near Sully, in the Vale of Glamorgan.

Most of the coins were minted in London, Trier and Lyon, but some came from more distant imperial outposts in what is now Croatia and Syria.

National Museum Wales numismatist Edward Besly said the Emperor Diocletian reformed the Roman currency around 295AD, although some of the coins belonged to an earlier denomination.

He said: “They are the same standard, same design.

Technorati Tags: gold, coin, Diocletian, Roman, emperor, money, treasure, hoard, Wales, England, Roman Empire,

Buried Roman neighborhood of the dead uncovered

Workers renovating a rugby stadium have uncovered a vast complex of tombs beneath Rome that mimic the houses, blocks and streets of a real city, according to officials, who have unveiled a series of new finds.

A dig has turned up the tomb of a nobleman who led Rome's legions in the second century A.D.

Culture Ministry officials said Thursday that medieval pottery shards in the city of the dead, or necropolis, show the area may have been inhabited by the living during the Dark Ages after being used for centuries for burials during the Roman period.

It is not yet clear who was buried in the ancient cemetery, but archaeologists at the still partially excavated site believe at least some of the dead were freed slaves of Greek origin.

Caligula's Murder Scene Unearthed

Archaeologists restoring the imperial residences on the Palatine Hill, in the heart of ancient Rome, believe they have discovered the underground passageway in which the despotic Emperor Caligula was murdered by his own guards.

[Left: Actor Malcolm McDowell as "Caligula"]

The hill, which his honeycombed with ruins of palaces and villas, has also yielded frescoes and black-and-white mosaics in the first century B.C. home of a patrician, the ministry said in a statement.

Technorati Tags: Caligula, assassination, Rome, Roman, Palatine, excavation, archaeology

Fish Sauce Confirms Pliny's Date for Vesuvius Eruption

Remains of rotten fish entrails have helped establish the precise dating of Pompeii's destruction , according to Italian researchers who have analyzed the town's last batch of garum, a pungent, fish-based seasoning.

Frozen in time by the catastrophic eruption that covered Pompeii and nearby towns nearly 2,000 years ago with nine to 20 feet of hot ash and pumice, the desiccated remains were found at the bottom of seven jars.

The find revealed that the last Pompeian garum was made entirely with bogues (known as boops boops), a

Mediterranean fish species that abounded in the area in the summer months of July and early August.

"Analysis of their contents basically confirmed that Mount Vesuvius most likely erupted on 24 August 79 A.D., as reported by the Roman historian Pliny the Younger in his account on the eruption," Annamaria Ciarallo, director of Pompeii's Applied Research Laboratory told Discovery News.

The vessels were unearthed several years ago in the house of Aulus Umbricius Scaurus, Pompeii's most famous garum producer.- More

Technorati Tags: Vesuvius, eruption, Pompeii, garum, Pliny, fish, Italy, archaeology,

Sicilian tomb found inside sixth century Roman house

UBC archaeologists have dug up a mystery worthy of Indiana Jones, one that includes a tomb, skeletons and burial rites with both Christian and pagan elements.

This summer, Prof. Roger Wilson led excavations at Kaukana, an ancient Roman village located near Punta Secca, a small town in the south-eastern province of Ragusa in Sicily.

Combing through the sand-buried site, the 15-member team made a series of startling discoveries. Central to the mystery was finding a tomb inside a room in a house dating from the sixth century AD.

Wilson explains that tombs during this period are normally found only in cemeteries outside the built-up area of a town, or around the apse of a church. And since the building was substantial with mortared walls and internal plaster, this would have been likely a tomb for the wealthy.

“It’s extremely unusual to find an elite burial set inside a house in the middle of a settlement, even as late as the sixth century,” says Wilson, who heads UBC’s Department of Classical, Near Eastern and Religious Studies.

Once the cover was lifted off the tomb, one team member spent 10 days sieving the contents with great care. Two skeletons were found. One was of a woman between the ages of 25 and 30, with teeth in excellent condition and no signs of arthritis.

“She was in pretty good nick, so we know this wasn’t a peasant working in the field,” says Wilson.

The other skeleton was a child of indeterminate sex between the ages of five and seven. The position of their bones showed that the woman had been laid to rest first. The tomb was then re-opened to bury the child and the woman’s spinal column was pushed to one side. A hole in the stone slab covering the tomb allowed visitors to pour libations for the dead.

“This shows that the long-established, originally pagan, rite of offering libations to the dead clearly continued into early Byzantine times,” observes Wilson.

Yet, the presence of a Christian cross on a lamp found in the room and on the underside of a grave slab suggests that the deceased were Christian. As well, the skeletons were wrapped in plaster, a practice believed to be Christian for preserving the body for resurrection.

“It is the first plaster burial recorded in Sicily, although the practice is known from Christian communities in North Africa,” says Wilson.

What also intrigued the archaeologists was learning that the tomb was opened one further time, an intrusion that disturbed the bones of the child and caused its skull to be placed upside down. Wilson says he wondered whether it was grave robbers in search of expensive jewelry or other loot.
“But the tomb was tidied up again afterwards.”

Around the tomb was plentiful evidence of periodic feasting in honour of the dead. The archaeologists found cooking pots, glass and several large clay containers (amphorae), of which one is virtually intact. These would have been used to carry oil and wine to the site. The team also found the remains of two hearths where meals had been prepared.

As well, the room was designed with niches along one wall. Wilson says a knife, seafood, and fragments of stemmed goblets and other glass vessels were left on these shelves, “as though placed there after the last party.”

Technorati Tags: Roman, tomb, Sicily, burial, archaeology, libation, pagan, Christian, ritual, plaster burial, amphora

Ancient statue found in harbor wall

A Roman sculpture of the head of a bearded man, right, and a stone torso, both of which were used to build an ancient harbour wall, have been rediscovered in Greece.

The artefacts, which were found during an underwater survey in Mandraki, Kythnos, come from the period of Roman rule in Greece between 146BC and AD330.

The torso of a man in armour, which is about 4ft 5in, and the head had been used as building materials in the wall. The Greek Culture Ministry said that it was not clear whether the body and head came originally from the same statue.- APTechnorati Tags: Roman, artifact, artefact, sculpture, harbor, Greece, archaeology, history, historical, culture, armor, armour

Roman cemetery found near Enderby (UK)

Excavations are continuing in Enderby (Leicestershire, UK) after the discovery of what is thought to be a small Roman rural cemetery.

The skeletons were found close to the former Fosse Way Roman road.

Archaeologists have also found bodies from the Iron Age at the same site, a silver Roman coin as well as items from the medieval period. Technorati Tags: cemetery, grave, skeleton, burial, death, Roman,

2nd century Roman wreck focus of VENUS project

So far the €2.2m Venus (Virtual Exploration of Underwater Sites) project, which involves 11 different institutions across Europe, has created a digital representation of two shipwrecks; one a Roman ship dating from around AD200 off the island of Pianosa near the Tuscan coast and the other, the Barco da Telha, a pre-18th century vessel that sank off the Portuguese coast near Sessimbra.

Dr Paul Chapman, a computer scientist at the University of Hull, said that it was aimed at creating a permanent record of the wrecks. "Because of activities like trawling, these archaeological sites get destroyed," he said. "What we have been focusing on with the Venus project is how to generate a permanent database or record of these sites."

Underwater archaeological sites have also been damaged by divers taking souvenirs. "Our job has been to develop a virtual reality diving simulator that allows the user to dive down and experience the site first hand," Chapman added.

One advantage of the simulator is that researchers can add in elements that are no longer there, for example even if the wooden frame of the ship is partially or completely destroyed it can be superimposed on the remains of the cargo that are
still there.

"We can also animate the disintegration of the wreck over time," said Chapman.

The cargo in the 3D simulator – for example, double-handled ceramic vases called amphorae in the case of the Roman wreck – is in precisely the same arrangement as in the real wreck. To achieve this level of accuracy the researchers conducted sonar surveys from ships on the surface before adding information from a robotic submarine called the Phantom S2. This provided more detailed sonar data plus images of the wreck itself.

The Roman site off Pianosa was first
discovered by sport divers in 1989. In Roman times, the island off the Tuscan coast was home to the nephew of Augustus Caesar who was exiled there to the Villa di Agrippa where
he was later murdered.

The ship itself has rotted away, leaving a mixed cargo of amphorae. The archaeological puzzle is why there are vases that date from several different periods of Roman history. Lying at just 36 metres and in excellent visibility, the wreck provided an ideal initial proving ground for developing the 3D mapping techniques.

Within two to three months [simulator software] will be available for download from the project's website and will run on a standard PC. - Video

Archaeologists may have discovered the capital of Dacia Malvensis in Romania

Archaeologists digging near the town of Cioroiu
Nou, in Dolj country in southern Romania, have come across a Roman fort
that might have been the capital of the province of Dacia Malvensis.

"We've made some important discoveries. We're almost certain that we've
unearthed the capital of Dacia Malvensis, something archaeologists were
searching to find for hundred of years," Mihai Fifor, director of
Oltenia Muzeum, told the local press agency NewsIn.

Dolj country is located in southern Romania and almost two millennia ago it was part of the Roman province of Dacia Malvensis.

Until now, it was believed that the province got its name from its capital
Malva, like Dacia Porolissensis which was named after its capital
Porolissum, but archaeological evidence could not empower the theory.

"We're waiting for a confirmation that it really is Malva. Our experts from
the University of Craiova are currently analyzing an inscription we've
found. It is the first time an inscription bears the name of this Roman
city," said Fifor.

Due to the outbreak of the Marcomanic Wars, when German tribes forced the border of the Roman Empire, Emperor Marcus Aurelius split the Dacian province in three financial districts, Dacia Porolissensis, Dacia Malvensis and Dacia Apulensis and added
another legion to the one already present in Dacia.

Other important findings have been reported near the town of Cioroiu Nou.

Archaeologists have discovered a temple, a necropolis, administrative and military
buildings all suggesting the presence of a Roman fort. Additionally,
statues, coins, weapons and ceramics were discovered. - Daily India

Possible Home of Allectus found on Isle of Wight

Remains of a Mosaic inside the Brading Roman Villa discovered at the site in 1879
Photo: Clara Molden

The discovery is one of the largest and best-preserved Roman villas yet discovered in the country.

Shaped like a church, the building was discovered on the Isle of Wight, and has been likened to a medieval hall.

Its
remains were discovered at the site of another Roman villa in Brading,
and are believed to have been constructed 150 years before the other
building.

The later Brading villa's remains had disappeared from
sight until 1879 when a couple of local men stumbled across them by
chance.

Its ornate decorations are unrivalled in Britain and the
building may have belonged to Allectus, who in AD293 murdered his
predecessor Carausius, a Roman army commander who had proclaimed
himself Emperor of Britain. - Telegraph.co.uk

Sagalassos Dig Yields Marcus Aurelius Statue

Parts of a giant, exquisitely-carved marble sculpture depicting the
Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius have been found at an archaeological site
in Turkey.

Fragments of the statue were unearthed at the ancient city of Sagalassos.

So far the statue's head, right arm and lower legs have been discovered, high in the mountains of southern Turkey.

Last year, the team led by Prof Marc Waelkens, from the Catholic
University of Leuven in Belgium, uncovered fragments of a colossal
marble statue of the emperor Hadrian in the rubble.

This month, the researchers found a huge marble head belonging to Faustina the Elder - wife of the emperor Antoninus Pius.

Archaeologists now think the room hosted a gallery of statues
depicting the "Antonine dynasty" - rulers of Spanish origin who
presided over the Roman Empire during the second century AD.

The emperor wore army boots decorated with lion skins

Early on 20 August, a huge pair of marble lower legs, broken just above the knee, turned up in the room's debris.

They also found a 1.5m-long (5ft-long) right arm and hand holding a
globe which was probably once crowned by a gilded bronze "Victory"
figure.

But it was the giant marble head which identified this statue
as the young Marcus Aurelius. The colossal head, which is just under 1m
(3ft) in height, is said to bear his characteristic bulging eyes and
beard.

Prof Waelkens said the pupils were gazing upwards "as if in
deep contemplation, perfectly fitting to an emperor who was more of a
philosopher than of a soldier".

He added that this was one of the best-known depictions of the Roman ruler.

The emperor wore exquisitely carved army boots decorated with a lion skin, tendrils and Amazon shields.

The torso was probably covered in bronze armour filled inside
with terracotta or wood. When the niche's vault collapsed in the
earthquake, the torso would have exploded. - BBC News

Head of Faustina Found in Sagalassos Frigidarium

Archaeologists digging in Turkey have found the colossal marble head of a Roman empress.

It was discovered in a rubble-filled building where parts of a huge statue of the emperor Hadrian were unearthed last year.

The discovery, at the ancient site of Sagalassos, is thought to show Faustina the Elder, wife of Roman emperor Antoninus Pius. Sagalassos was once an important urban centre. It was abandoned after being hit by several strong earthquakes.

A team led by Marc Waelkens, from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, has been excavating the site since 1990.

The head of Faustina was lying face down in rubble that fills
the ruins of a bath house that was partially destroyed by an earthquake
between AD 540 and AD 620. It was unearthed just 6m from the spot where the Hadrian statue was found, but was sitting higher up in the rubble.

At first, exacavators thought they had found a statue belonging
to Hadrian's wife, Vibia Sabina, who was forced into a marriage with
the homosexual emperor at the age of 14.

But when they turned it over, the face was very different from
the usual depictions of Sabina. This was a more mature woman with
fleshy lips and a distinctive hairstyle.

The building in which the statues were found at Sagalassos was
probably a "frigidarium" - a room with a cold pool which Romans could
dip into after a hot bath. It is part of a larger bath complex that is being carefully uncovered by archaeologists.

The fragments were found not on the floor of the frigidarium -
beneath the rubble from the earthquake - but higher up in the debris
pile. This suggests they did not originally stand in this room, but
were hauled there from elsewhere in the bath complex - probably from
the "Kaisersaal", or emperor's room. They speculate that the Kaisersaal once hosted statues of
Hadrian, Faustina the Elder and other members of Rome's so-called
Antonine dynasty - many of whom belonged to a Spanish or southern
French provincial aristocracy. The Hadrian statue was probably brought to the frigidarium
either to remove its gilded armour or to be burned to cement in a
nearby kiln.

If this is the case I'm so glad the workman were somehow interrupted. I shudder to think of all of the magnificent art that was destroyed just to provide common building material.

Roman Temple Unearthed in Zippori

"Ruins of a Roman temple from the second century CE have recently been unearthed in the Zippori National Park.The discovery indicated that Zippori, the Jewish capital of the Galilee during the Roman period, had a significant pagan population which built a temple in the heart of the city center. The central location of the temple which is positioned within a walled courtyard and its architectural relation to the surrounding buildings enhance our knowledge regarding the planning of Zippori in the Roman era.

The building of the church on the foundation of the temple testifies to the preservation of the sacred section of the city over time. This new finding demonstrates not only the religious life, culture and society in Roman and Byzantine Zippori, but also that this was a city in which Jews, pagans and later Christians lived together and developed their hometown with various buildings.

The newly discovered temple is located south of the decumanus - colonnaded street - which ran from east to west and was the main thoroughfare in the city during the Roman through Byzantine period. The temple, measuring approximately 24 by 12 meters, was built with a decorated façade facing the street. The temple’s walls were plundered in ancient times and only its foundations remain.

No evidence has been found that reveals the nature of the temple’s rituals, but some coins dating from the time of Antoninus Pius, minted in Diocaesarea (Zippori), depict a temple to the Roman gods Zeus and Tyche. The temple ceased to function at an unknown date, and a large church, the remains of which were uncovered by the Hebrew University excavation team in previous seasons, was built over it in the Byzantine period.

North of the decumanus, opposite the temple, a monumental building was partially excavated this summer. Its role is still unclear, although its nature and size indicate that it was an important building. A courtyard with a well-preserved stone pavement of smooth rectangular slabs executed in high quality was uncovered in the center of the building, upon which were found a pile of collapsed columns and capitals - probably as a result of an earthquake. The decoration on these architectural elements was executed in stucco. Beyond a row of columns, an adjacent aisle and additional rooms were discovered. Two of them were decorated with colorful, geometrical mosaics."

Roman ceremonial lance found in Caerleon site

Archaeologists excavating one of the most important Roman sites in Britain have made an "extremely rare" find.

The team digging at part of the Roman fortress in Caerleon near Newport found what they believe is a legionary's ceremonial lance.

Dr Peter Guest said he thought the iron staff, broken into three pieces, was the first of its type found in the UK.

He also believed it was likely to have belonged to a high-ranking commander who was "not to be tampered with".

Dr Guest, of Cardiff University, said: "It's a very unusual find and there's not more than a dozen of them.

"I don't know of any of that type in Britain.

"There are a few at fortresses and forts around the Rhine and Danube, the frontiers of the Roman Empire."

The staff would probably have featured some type of decoration such as plumes, which indicated that the carrier was no ordinary soldier.

He would probably have been on special assignment, perhaps with the legion's commander or other high-ranking member of the Roman government in Britain."

Etruscan tomb uncovered in Perugia

"An ancient Etruscan tomb has resurfaced after centuries underground during the course of building work in the central Italian city of Perugia.

The tomb, which has been preserved in excellent condition, contains
seven funerary urns, the municipal archaeology department said. It is in
the shape of a square and was covered by a sheet of travertine marble,
which had apparently remained untouched since being laid centuries ago.
The tomb is split into two halves by a pillar and there are two benches
running along each side. The funerary urns, which were placed on the
benches, were marked with brightly coloured mythological and religious
motifs. A preliminary study suggests that writing on the side of the
urns probably refers to a family that was called the Aneis. In addition
to the urns, the tomb also housed the remains of a bronze bed and
various pottery shards. The site was discovered during digging work for
a new roundabout in the Strassacapponi neighbourhood on the outskirts of
the Umbrian town."