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Ancient Cult Site Linked to the Pre-Roman Veneti People Found Near Padua
A road construction project in northern Italy has uncovered an important ancient cult site linked to the Veneti, a people who lived in the Veneto region long before Roman rule. The discovery was made in Ponso, in the Province of Padua, during works for a new section of Regional Road 10. Archaeologists found inscribed stones,…
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2,000-Year-Old Greek Theatre Mask Found in Croatian Cave May Reveal Illyrian Rituals
A terracotta face linked to ancient Greek theatre has emerged from a hidden chamber inside a cave on Croatia’s Pelješac Peninsula, offering archaeologists a rare glimpse into the ritual world of the Illyrians more than 2,000 years ago. The discovery was made in Crno Jezero cave during excavations carried out between April 23 and May…
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Sparta Was Not Born Alone: Mycenaean Palace and Ancient Sanctuary Point to an Older Lakedaimonian World
A new study by historian Hans Beck of the University of Münster suggests that Sparta did not rise in an empty or passive landscape. Long before the classical city became synonymous with discipline, war, and austerity, the Eurotas Valley was already shaped by an older Lakedaimonian world. Its memory appears to have been anchored in…
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1,300-Year-Old Avar Warrior Buried with His Horse Unearthed on Romania Bypass Route
An Avar warrior grave uncovered on a modern bypass route in western Romania is offering a rare look into the world of early medieval mounted elites, where power could be buried with a horse, precious metal objects, and the memory of a warrior’s rank. The burial was discovered during archaeological investigations on the route of…
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302 Roman Coins Found in Croatia May Mark the Last Pay of a Danube Watchtower Garrison
The first coin appeared in the soil of a defensive ditch. Then another surfaced. Within a small area near the village of Mohovo in eastern Croatia, archaeologists soon realized they were not dealing with ordinary lost change, but with a concentrated hoard of 302 Roman coins buried beside a frontier watchtower on the Danube. The…
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Archaeologists Unearth Roman Brooches, Anglo-Saxon Beads and a Medieval Pilgrim Object in Suffolk
Archaeologists from Oxford Cotswold Archaeology, working as part of the ongoing excavations connected with the Sizewell C nuclear power station project, have uncovered a remarkable group of personal ornaments. The finds include Roman brooches, a decorated hair or dress pin, Anglo-Saxon beads from burial grounds, and a medieval object that may once have been worn…
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6,000-Year-Old Planned Necropolis in Toledo Shows Inland Iberia Built Monuments Earlier Than Expected
The Valdelasilla megalithic necropolis in Toledo is pushing one of Iberian archaeology’s major questions away from the coast and into the heart of central Spain. Beneath a gently sloping field in Illescas, not far from the Tagus River basin, archaeologists have identified the oldest known monumental necropolis in the interior of the Iberian Peninsula. New…
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Rare Bronze Sword Reveals How Sardinia’s 3,200-Year-Old Towers Became Sacred Sites
Inside a 3,200-year-old stone tower in Sardinia, archaeologists found a sealed well, shattered ceremonial vessels and a bronze sword that was never meant for battle. The discovery at Nuraghe Barru, in south-central Sardinia, is now changing how researchers understand the afterlife of the island’s famous Bronze Age towers. These massive stone monuments, known as nuraghi,…
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First Large Iron Age House Found on Spain’s Cíes Islands Reveals Pre-Roman Life on the Atlantic Edge
Researchers from the Universidade de Vigo have confirmed the first large castro-period domestic structure ever documented in Spain’s Cíes Islands, offering the clearest evidence yet that people lived in the archipelago before Roman power reached this part of the Atlantic coast. The discovery was made at Castro de Hortas, an Iron Age hillfort on the…