Asian skeleton found in ruins suggests Roman Empire larger than thought

Archeologists have discovered the 2,000-year-old skeleton of an Asian man in an ancient cemetery in Italy, suggesting that the Roman Empire's reach was far more extensive than previously thought.

Although the Romans are known to have traded for silk and exotic spices with China, it was thought that most of the commerce was conducted through intermediaries along the Silk Route and that no Chinese or other Asians entered the empire itself.

But that orthodoxy will now have to be re-examined after a team of Canadian archaeologists conducted DNA analysis on the man's bones and found that he came from East Asia.

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Water pump uncovered in the grounds of Walton Gardens

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have uncovered a water pump - possibly unique - in the grounds of Walton Gardens.

Members of Priestley Field Archaeology Group (PFAG) carried out a three-year excavation on behalf of Warrington Borough Council, which owns the land.

This was after a gardener discovered the chamber in 2000 while digging a flowerbed, which caused a large hole to appear that gave way to an underground room containing a large cast iron wheel and a cylindrical tank.

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'Stonehenge? It's more like a city garden'

Design watchdog hits out at plans for £20m visitor centre at megalithic jewel in England's cultural crown

Its footpaths are "tortuous", the roof likely to "channel wind and rain" and its myriad columns – meant to evoke a forest – are incongruous with the vast landscape surrounding it.

So says the government's design ­watchdog over plans for a controversial £20m visitor centre at Stonehenge, the megalithic jewel in England's cultural crown. CABE, the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, has criticised the design of the proposed centre, claiming the futuristic building by Denton Corker Marshall does little to enhance the 5,000-year-old standing stones which attract more than 800,000 visitors each year.

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Scholar examines reports of solar eclipses in the Middle Ages

Hundreds of solar eclipses were recorded by medieval chroniclers, offering historians of astronomy with some vital information about how people in the Middle Ages reacted to this phenomenon.

The latest research into this subject has just been published in the Journal for the History of Astronomy. In his article, "Investigation of Medieval European Records of Solar Eclipses," F. Richard Stephenson states he wants to provide "an intriguing insight into the effects of solar eclipses over a wide range of magnitudes on largely untrained and unsuspecting observers."

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£20m Stonehenge visitor centre criticised by Government design watchdog

The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) believes the centre's "twee paths" are "more appropriate for an urban garden" and its "delicate roof" is unsuitable for the wind and rain that sweeps across the majestic Wiltshire plains where the stones stand.

Although the plans, by Australian architecture firm Denton Corker Marshall, have been approved by Wiltshire county council planners and are backed by local architects on the Wiltshire Design Forum, CABE said the "architectural approach" was wrong.

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North Pennines ancient buildings to be protected

Work has begun to protect four ancient monuments in the North Pennines which have suffered centuries of bad weather.

They are Whitesyke and Bentyfield lead mines in Cumbria, Shildon engine house and Ninebanks Tower in Northumberland and Muggleswick Grange, County Durham.

All are currently included on English Heritage's At Risk Register.

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Ben Hur in Colchester? Race is on to save UK's only Roman chariot racetrack

When the white handkerchief dropped, the Ben Hurs of Colchester would have set off down Circular Road North, past the banked tiers of seats, turning left at Napier Road, their iron tyres gouging a deep rut in the track,and back up past St John's gatehouse towards the water-spouting dolphin marking the end of the first lap.

Colchester, it seems, was the Formula One track of Roman Britain, with the only chariot racing circus ever found on the island, and the first found in northern Europe for 20 years. Now modern residents have less than a month to raise the money to save a unique monument and create a visitor centre to reveal the site's history.

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Bog woman given a face

A 2000-year-old body found in a northeastern Jutland bog has received a makeover – coroner style The female known as the Auning Woman, found in a northeastern Jutland bog 1886, and housed at the Museum for Culture and History in...

The female known as the Auning Woman, found in a northeastern Jutland bog 1886, and housed at the Museum for Culture and History in Randers, has finally got a face.

Reasonably well-preserved when she popped up from the bog, the woman’s 2000-year-old skull was broken into several pieces.

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Book your place at 'Portable Antiquities: Archaeology, Collecting, Metal Detecting' Conference

Registration is now open for the ‘Portable Antiquities: Archaeology, Collecting, Metal Detecting’ conference on 13th and 14th March 2010. This event is co-organised by the CBA and Newcastle University’s International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, and takes place at Newcastle University and the Great North Museum: Hancock.

The papers at this conference offer perspectives from a range of different interest groups, look at recent research, present case studies from around the UK and beyond, and ultimately offer views about what the future may hold for portable antiquities management. Much debate is anticipated at this timely event.

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Darwin descended from Cro-Magnon man

The father of evolution Charles Darwin was a direct descendant of the Cro-Magnon people, whose entry into Europe 30,000 years ago heralded the demise of Neanderthals, scientists revealed in Australia Thursday.

Darwin, who hypothesised that all humans evolved from common ancestors in his seminal 1859 work "On the Origin of Species", came from Haplogroup R1b, one of the most common European male lineages, said genealogist Spencer Wells.

"Men belonging to Haplogroup R1b are direct descendants of the Cro-Magnon people who, beginning 30,000 years ago, dominated the human expansion into Europe and heralded the demise of the Neanderthal species," Wells said.

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Stonehenge Road Closure

Support the proposed closure of the A344 road to motor traffic at Stonehenge!

Wiltshire County Council has advertised the proposed closure to motor vehicles of the A344 in the vicinity of Stonehenge. This will allow the road to be returned to grassland and has been a long-term goal for all those - including the CBA - who have campaigned to see improvements to the landscape setting of the Stones. Cyclists, pedestrians and horse riders will still have access and the former road line will link the Stones and the new visitor centre at Airman’s Corner.

Removing motorised traffic from the environment immediately around Stonehenge will be a huge improvement and allow its enjoyment in a more dignified and open setting. However, there are others who think the cars, lorries and motorbikes should still have the right to use the road as a short cut and to access the Byways along it.

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Olympics will 'damage Greenwich's heritage features'

Campaigners trying to stop 2012 Olympic equestrian events in Greenwich Park claim organisers have admitted it could damage "heritage features".

The campaign group No to Greenwich Olympic Equestrian Events claim London 2012 admits in its planning application that such damage could be caused.

London 2012 has denied this and added anything of archaeological significance at the site would be protected.

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World's oldest monastery restored

Egypt has completed the restoration of reputedly the world's oldest Christian monastery, called Saint Anthony's.

The monastery is believed to be 1,600 years old. The government-sponsored restoration project cost over $14m (£8.9m) and took more than eight years.

The monastery is a popular site for Coptic Christian pilgrims.

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Ancient tooth enamel defects linked with premature death

A study reveals ancient human teeth showing evidence that stressful events during early development are linked to shorter lifespans.

Anthropologist George Armelagos led a systematic review of defects in teeth enamel and early mortality.

He said: ‘Prehistoric remains are providing strong, physical evidence that people who acquired tooth enamel defects while in the womb or early childhood tended to die earlier.

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Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle: archaeologist

Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle was a Danish archaeologist who helped to transform Britain’s approach to ecclesiastical archaeology in a career excavating important Early Christian sites in England.

Rumours went round the archaeological world in 1964 of the arrival at the huge excavations in Winchester of a dynamic pipe-smoking young Danish woman who was imposing new standards of rigour on an already exemplary project.

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A view fit for a king

EXPERTS have reconstructed a window from the reign of King Henry VIII to form the centrepiece of a £6 million exhibition.

A window from the Royal Tudor Palace of King Henry VIII has been recreated on the site of his famous palace on the exact day Henry died, 463 years ago on 28 January, 1547.

The window, reconstructed from stonework excavated on the site of Tudor Palace, is one of the unique exhibits in Discover Greenwich at The Old Royal Naval College, a new permanent exhibition exploring the history of the area, due to open on March 23.

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Viking treasure found in Shenstone

AN ANCIENT silver ingot dating back more than 1,000 years has been discovered by a treasure hunter in Shenstone, it was revealed this week.

The artefact, measuring almost three inches (70mm) in length, was found at an undisclosed location in Shenstone parish in March last year.

Experts at the British Museum have now examined the find and disclosed that it is Viking in origin and contains around 95 per cent silver.

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More treasure found near Tamworth

A MEDIAEVAL 'silver link' dating back 600 years has been discovered by a treasure hunter near Tamworth, a treasure trove inquest heard this week.

The precious artefact, said to be 15th Century and silver gilt, was found at an undisclosed location in Harlaston back in August.

And because of its antiquity and precious nature it was officially declared as treasure on Monday.

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Skeleton uncovered at Roman dig in Sleaford

Roman artefacts and a complete 1,700-year-old human skeleton have been uncovered by workers preparing a building site in Lincolnshire.

The skeleton was found at The Hoplands, in Sleaford, where North Kesteven District Council is building housing.

The remains, pottery and animal bones will now be moved to Lincoln where they will be cleaned and assessed by archaeologists.

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Stonehenge's secret: archaeologist uncovers evidence of encircling hedges

The Monty Python knights who craved a shrubbery were not so far off the historical mark: archaeologists have uncovered startling evidence of The Great Stonehenge Hedge.

Inevitably dubbed Stonehedge, the evidence from a new survey of the Stonehenge landscape suggests that 4,000 years ago the world's most famous prehistoric monument was surrounded by two circular hedges, planted on low concentric banks. The best guess of the archaeologists from English Heritage, who carried out the first detailed survey of the landscape of the monument since the Ordnance Survey maps of 1919, is that the hedges could have served as screens keeping even more secret from the crowd the ceremonies carried out by the elite allowed inside the stone circle.

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Vikings and Death

In the Viking Age people were buried in many different sort of places. Did the ancient Scandinavians chose a particular place for burial or were the burial sites randomly selected? Had the choice anything to do with ideas of the afterlife?

The seasons first Tuesday Talk at The Museum of Archaeology has an exciting topic! Archaeologist Eva Thäte will talk about vikings and death, Tuesday 9 February at 0630 pm. 

– Viking Age burial rites are very diverse as were people’s choices of places for burial grounds. In the Late Iron Age (AD 500-1000), people in Scandinavia buried their deceased on high ground, in ancient burial mounds, in houses, close to water sites and near roads or boundaries, says Eva Thäte.

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Egil Skallagrimsson Keeps his Head

Violent feuding, cunning witchcraft and poetic resolution make for a thrilling comedy drama commissioned for this February's JORVIK Viking Festival.

Egil Skallagrimsson Keeps his Head is a first theatrical commission for York Archaeological Trust to mark its anniversary JORVIK Viking Festival. The new comedy drama has been written and will be performed by award winning North Country Theatre on 17th and 18th February as part of the week's celebratory Viking Festival.

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Tributes paid to cathedral archaeologist

A HIGHLY-respected archaeologist behind a key 1960s dig at Winchester Cathedral has died, age 68.

Birthe Kjølbye-Biddle – wife of Martin Biddle – uncovered remains of the Old Minister, the Anglo-Saxon cathedral demolished by the Normans.

Her team also found evidence of the church of Cenwalh of Wessex and St Alphege, the original burial place of St Swithun in 862.

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Anger at Southampton medieval site proposals

Proposals to sell off land in a historic part of Southampton have attracted anger among some groups.

The city council wants to develop Lower High Street with flats and businesses which it claims would pay for future preservation of medieval wine vaults.

But campaigners have argued that precious and well-used open space would be lost.

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Bronze brooch rises from the ashes

A 1,400-YEAR-OLD brooch dating from the early Christian period has been discovered in the remnants of a turf fire in a range in north Kerry.

It is believed the brooch fastened the cloak of a clergyman and was dropped, probably on a forest road which later became bog. It ended up in a sod of turf in the range of Sheila and Pat Joe Edgeworth at Martara, Ballylongford, near the Shannon estuary. Lands alongside the Shannon are chequered with early Christian ruins and holy wells.

The bronze brooch was found shortly before Christmas by Ms Edgeworth when she was cleaning out her range.

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Search for Columba's monastery

ARCHAEOLOGISTS are hoping to find the exact location of the original monastery built by St Columba when he arrived in Scotland in AD563.

The National Trust for Scotland is conducting a survey on the island of Iona, off Mull, this week to try to locate the remains of the early Christian monastery built by the sixth-century missionary.

A team from Orkney College is carrying out a series of geophysical tests in the fields around Iona Abbey, searching for evidence of a monastery built by the Irish monk. The last geophysical survey of the area was carried out in the 1970s, with relatively primitive equipment.

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Lost Roman Codex Fragments Found in Book Binding

Fragments of a lost ancient Roman law text have been rediscovered in the scrap paper used to bind other books.

The Codex Gregorianus, or Gregorian Code, was compiled by an otherwise unknown man named Gregorius at the end of the third century A.D. It started a centuries-long tradition of collecting Roman emperors' laws in a single manuscript.

The Codex Gregorianus covered the laws of Hadrian, who ruled from A.D. 117 to 138, to those of Diocletian, ruler from A.D. 284 to 305. (See a picture of a colossal statue of Hadrian found in Turkey.)

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Quantensprung für die Schiffsarchäologie

Erstmals in Deutschland: Dreidimensionales Messsystem für Dokumentation von Schiffsfunden - Erprobungsphase an Koggehölzern
Der sogenannte Oberländer aus der Mittelalterflotte des DSM wird mit dem FARO-System dokumentiert. Diplom-Restaurator Michael Sietz arbeitet sich am neuen Gerät ein. Foto: Philipp Schmidt

Für Kollegen in Dänemark, Schweden, Norwegen, England und Irland ist es nicht neu. Erstmals führte in Deutschland jetzt aber das Nationalmuseum Deutsches Schiffahrtsmuseum die digitale dreidimensionale Vermessung von Schiffsfunden für die Schiffsarchäologie ein.

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Aviation archaeologists' Londonderry Spitfire search

Two aviation archaeologists are to come to Northern Ireland to search for a lost WWII Spitfire.

Gareth Jones and Steve Vizard have been keen to unravel the mystery of the missing aircraft.

They believe it's buried underground on the site of City of Derry Airport, the former RAF Eglinton air base.

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Save Palaeography at King's College London

Please sing the online petition

To: Professor Richard Trainor, Principal, King's College London

The Chair of Palaeography at King's College in the University of London is the only one of its kind in the UK, and is of fundamental intellectual significance to a broad and interdisciplinary scholarly community as well as to the wider community beyond universities. Many other classical, medieval and early modern disciplines depend on the accurate deciphering of manuscripts and documents and their proper understanding, while the study of writing offers a gateway to the comprehension of our own history, writ large. We therefore urge the Executive of KCL to reconsider their proposal to cut this prestigious Chair.

You can sign the petition here...

Roman skeleton unearthed in Sleaford

Buried deep under the ground for centuries, a long-forgotten Roman skeleton has been unearthed in Lincolnshire.

The skeleton, whose age and gender remain a mystery, was uncovered during a dig at The Hoplands in Sleaford.

Little is known about the ancient figure other than the fact it was buried face down and was discovered with a plethora of other Roman items.

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Helman Tor: Bronze Age hut circle uncovered

A BRONZE Age hut circle near Lanlivery, on Helman Tor, has been revealed by conservationists.

Nine volunteers met at the Cornwall Wildlife Trust's largest nature reserve last Saturday, which takes in the tor and the surrounding 217 hectares (536 acres), and stripped back gorse to show off the monument.

Mid Cornwall reserves officer, Sean O'Hea said: "This is a really positive thing we are doing for the reserve. By stripping back the gorse, we are encouraging increased plant biodiversity and as a result we will see more butterflies and bird species eventually.

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Greece: New Underwater Archaeological Site Designated Off Polyaigos Island

A shipwreck located off the small uninhabited Cycladic island of Polyaigos in the central Aegean will be designated as an “underwater archaeological site” by Greece’s Culture Ministry, the institution’s representatives announced recently.

The shipwreck, first spotted in 2004, was initially explored by underwater archaeologists in the fall of 2009, the Athens News Agency reported today. These excavations resulted in the discovery of valuable archaeological objects, including amphorae, ceramic vases and fragments of the vessel’s anchor.

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Long lost theory on Silbury Hill is uncovered

Letters that lay undiscovered in national archives for more than 230 years suggest that Silbury Hill, the enigmatic man-made mound that stands between Marlborough and Beckhampton, may have originally be constructed around some sort of totem pole.

Historians have uncovered in the British Library in London letters written in 1776 that describe a 40ft-high pole which once stood at the centre of Silbury Hill. Europe’s largest man-made mound.

The letters detail an 18th century excavation into the centre of the man-made mound, where archaeologists discovered a long, thin cavity six inches wide and about 40ft deep.

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DNA Testing on 2,000-Year-Old Bones in Italy Reveal East Asian Ancestry

Researchers excavating an ancient Roman cemetery made a surprising discovery when they extracted ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from one of the skeletons buried at the site: the 2,000-year-old bones revealed a maternal East Asian ancestry.

The results will be presented at the Roman Archeology Conference at Oxford, England, in March, and published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology.

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Go shopping in the Viking Age

The Viking Ship Museum invites children and adults on a shopping trip in the Viking Age during the winter holidays.

The Vikings were the first people in Scandinavian history to fit sails to their ships and acquire the ability to travel much further. When the Vikings returned home from an expedition or trading voyage, the ship was loaded with new and exciting goods and practices. Where could the Vikings purchase glass? How much did a walrus tooth cost? Did the Vikings trade in slaves?

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Archaeological dig in Bideford town centre

A MAJOR archaeological dig is to take place in Bideford as part of the regeneration of a key town centre site.

The first part of the dig will take place in Chopes department store car park as part of new plans to redevelop Bridge Street.

The work is set to begin this week followed by a second, larger dig at the neighbouring Torridge District Council car park next month.

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Sweet solution saves Medieval Leicester bridge at Snibston Discovery Museum

Scientists have used 70 tons of liquid sugar to preserve the remains of three Medieval bridges found near Leicester.

Experts from the University of Leicester immersed the 11th century bridges – whose ruins were so heavy they had to be carried in sections by eight-man teams – in tanks of sugar solution.

The trio of Medieval bridges were excavated at Heminton Quarry, near Castle Donington in Leicestershire

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Polish scientists say 3 Neanderthal teeth found

A team of Polish scientists said Monday they have discovered three Neanderthal teeth in a cave, a find they hope may shed light on how similar to modern humans our ancestors were.

Neanderthal artifacts have been unearthed in Poland before. But the teeth are the first bodily Neanderthal remains found in the country, according to Mikolaj Urbanowski, an archaeologist with Szczecin University and the project's lead researcher.

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The Megaliths of Northern Europe

When: Thursday, February 18th at 10am (tea and coffee from 9:30)

Where: Centre for Anthropology, British Museum

The British Museum’s Centre for Anthropology, in collaboration with the Royal Anthropological Institute, will be continuing its series of encounters between authors and their reviewers with a seminar discussion between Dr. Magdalena Midgley, author of The Megaliths of Northern Europe, and Prof. Chris Scarre, who reviewed the work for JRAI.

This is a free event.

Bookings/enquiries by email: SMarianski(AT)thebritishmuseum.ac.uk)

EMAS Events for 200

The programme of events for EMAS, the University of London Extra-Mural Archaeological Society, are now on the Web.

You can find them at: http://emas.uk.net/events.html

Saved for the nation: monuments to Britain's cold war

Government joins with English Heritage to put nuclear bunkers at RAF Upper Heyford on list of protected national monuments

Some of the most sinister historic monuments in Britain, a set of hardened concrete bunkers built to shelter American nuclear bombers, are to be protected and preserved, it has been announced.

A planning inquiry into the future development of Upper Heyford, near Bicester, has accepted the English Heritage argument that the site is one of the best preserved Cold War landscapes in Britain. The government has now agreed that the heart of the complex, which is on the Schedule of Monuments with sites such as Stonehenge, should be protected from development.

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The greatest scientific advances from the Muslim world

From the elephant clock to the camera obscura, here are six amazing inventions from between the 9th and 15th centuries

There is no such thing as Islamic science – for science is the most universal of human activities. But the means to facilitating scientific advances have always been dictated by culture, political will and economic wealth. What is only now becoming clear (to many in the west) is that during the dark ages of medieval Europe, incredible scientific advances were made in the Muslim world. Geniuses in Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus and Cordoba took on the scholarly works of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece, India and China, developing what we would call "modern" science. New disciplines emerged – algebra, trigonometry and chemistry as well as major advances in medicine, astronomy, engineering and agriculture.

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An ancient Roman temple, discovered in the chancel of the church of Sant Feliu Girona.

The work that has lasted three weeks have also brought to light several tombs and a Roman Christian who, according to experts, could belong to some bishops or individuals from that epoch

An ancient Roman temple, discovered following the first excavations in the chancel of the church of Sant Feliu Girona.

The temple, with cross-shaped plan, apse, three naves and two side chapels, and several tombs from the sixth and seventh centuries, have appeared

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V&A Medieval & Renaissance Galleries: Andrew Graham-Dixon in conversation with Daniel Katz

It has taken many years and millions of pounds to create a space for what is arguably the most impressive collection of Medieval and Renaissance objects in the world. It is impossible to become jaded with the works on display, as Andrew Graham-Dixon and Renaissance sculpture specialist, Daniel Katz, discover as they walk, talk and examine the beauties of the V&A’s new galleries .

(with video clip)

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The Assembly Project awarded £850,000 to study Vikings and Early Medieval Europe

Over £850,000 has been made by medieval scholars from the Universities of Durham, Oslo and Vienna and the University of the Highlands and Islands, Centre for Nordic Studies, Orkney, by the Humanities in Europe Research Awards Scheme. This will fund a three-year, international effort, known as The Assembly Project, is designed to explore the role of assemblies or things in the creation, consolidation and maintenance of collective identities, emergent polities and kingdoms in early medieval Northern Europe.

Orkney and Shetland are to be research sites for a major project looking at the way the Viking communities governed themselves and strengthened their groups.

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Oldest Roman coin in Britain discovered on museum shelf

The oldest Roman coin in Britain has been discovered after sitting on a shelf for a decade.

The silver denarius Roman Republic coin dating from 211BC was found during an excavation in 2000 at Hallaton, Leics.

But the coin sat in storage at a Leicester museum with 5000 other coins found at the dig, waiting to be dated by experts.

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The Roman Army Knife: Or how the ingenuity of the Swiss was beaten by 1,800 years

The world's first Swiss Army knife' has been revealed - made 1,800 years before its modern counterpart.

An intricately designed Roman implement, which dates back to 200AD, it is made from silver but has an iron blade.

It features a spoon, fork as well as a retractable spike, spatula and small tooth-pick.


Experts believe the spike may have been used by the Romans to extract meat from snails.

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Sweden celebrates the 800th birthday of Birger jarl

A jubilee celebration is being held for the 800th anniversary of the birth of Birger jarl, one of Sweden' most important medieval statesmen. Among the events planned for this year is the excavation of the tomb belonging to his son, King Magnus III.

The anniversary of the birth of Birger jarl will be inaugurated on 6 February at Bjälbo in Östergötland, where Birger Jarl was born 800 years ago. More than 130 specially invited guests and media representatives will be participating in vespers in the church, followed by dinner at Stadshotellet in Skänninge. The participants will include representatives of the three regions responsible for the Jubilee – Eastern Götaland, Western Götaland and Stockholm.

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Horizontal and vertical: The evolution of evolution

JUST suppose that Darwin's ideas were only a part of the story of evolution. Suppose that a process he never wrote about, and never even imagined, has been controlling the evolution of life throughout most of the Earth's history. It may sound preposterous, but this is exactly what microbiologist Carl Woese and physicist Nigel Goldenfeld, both at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, believe. Darwin's explanation of evolution, they argue, even in its sophisticated modern form, applies only to a recent phase of life on Earth.

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Silver coin dating to 211 BC is oldest piece of Roman money ever found in Britain

A 2,221-year-old silver coin dug up as part of a hoard is the oldest piece of Roman money ever found in Britain.

Dating from 211 BC and found near the Leicestershire village of Hallaton, the coin was uncovered with 5,000 other coins, a helmet and a decorated bowl.

Unearthed in 2000 by a metal detectorist, staff at the nearby Harborough Museum have only just realised its significance.

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Archaeologists unearth Iron Age settlement in Kent

The remains of an Iron Age settlement have been unearthed by archaeologists working along the route of a new £1.3m water pipeline in Kent.

Evidence of a dwelling, postholes, pits, ancient hearths and pieces of pottery were found on land in Pembury.

South East Water plans to lay a 4.6km (2.9 mile) pipe between Kipping's Cross Service Reservoir and Pembury.

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Theatregoers in Shakespeare's day 'enjoyed peaches, figs and oysters'

Tudor theatregoers enjoyed walnuts, peaches and figs and even the odd oyster, according to the most detailed ever study of a playhouse from the age.

A rich variety of seafood was on offer to peckish audience members, including crabs, cockles, mussels, periwinkles and whelks.

Sturgeon steaks were also popular with 16th century audiences enjoying plays by Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe.

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Did Leonardo paint himself as "Mona Lisa"?

The legend of Leonardo da Vinci is shrouded in mystery: How did he die? Are the remains buried in a French chateau really those of the Renaissance master? Was the "Mona Lisa" a self-portrait in disguise?

A group of Italian scientists believes the key to solving those puzzles lies with the remains — and they say they are seeking permission from French authorities to dig up the body to conduct carbon and DNA testing.

If the skull is intact, the scientists can go to the heart of a question that has fascinated scholars and the public for centuries: the identity of the "Mona Lisa." Recreating a virtual and then physical reconstruction of Leonardo's face, they can compare it with the smiling face in the painting, experts involved in the project told The Associated Press.

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Stanford Students Dig Into Archeological Site

This summer, in the far reaches of Northern England, an international excavation team gathered at the small town of Binchester, just south of Hadrian’s Wall. Shovels and pickaxes in hand, the group, consisting primarily of students from Stanford and Durham University UK, broke the surface soil on new trenches at one of the UK’s most significant archaeological sites.

The site, which has been the focus of archaeological interest for over a hundred years, posed fresh challenges for the team, whose objective was to explore the lifestyles and population of the Roman fort and town at Binchester. This summer’s dig focused on unearthing the Roman barracks at the corner of the fort.

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