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1,600-Year-Old Roman Nail Cleaner with Phallic Handle Unearthed Near Cheltenham
A small Roman object discovered near Cheltenham combined personal grooming with supernatural protection. One end was designed to clean beneath the fingernails; the other was shaped into a phallus believed to ward off evil and bad luck. The copper-alloy tool was found in Gloucestershire during archaeological excavations carried out ahead of improvements to the M5…
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Rock-Cut Tomb Linked to a Deified Thracian Ruler Unearthed Beside a 1,700-Year-Old Mausoleum at Perperikon
Archaeologists at Perperikon in Bulgaria have uncovered a monumental circular mausoleum and two unusual rock-cut graves, one of which may have belonged to a Thracian ruler worshipped after death. The discoveries were made in a necropolis beside the ancient road leading toward Perperikon’s acropolis. Excavators say the concentration of circular mausoleums found there has no…
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One of the Largest Ancient Synagogues Discovered at Sardis Reveals Jewish Life in Roman Anatolia
A vast synagogue unearthed in the ancient city of Sardis is offering one of the clearest and most striking insights into Jewish life in the Roman world. Built into a monumental public complex and covered with nearly 1,400 square meters of mosaics, the structure stands among the largest known synagogues of antiquity—and one of the…
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Roman Board Game Mystery Solved: AI Reveals 1,700-Year-Old Strategy Game in the Netherlands
For more than a century, a carved limestone slab from the Dutch city of Heerlen sat quietly in a museum collection. Now, artificial intelligence has revealed that it was not decoration. It was a game. Researchers have reconstructed the rules of an unknown Roman-period board game carved into stone nearly 1,700 years ago — and…
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A Late Roman Bone Box Unlike Any Other Emerges from a Grave in Roman Britain
For months, archaeologists working at Milestone Ground in Broadway kept one discovery out of the spotlight. Now revealed, the find stands out as one of the most unusual small objects recovered from Roman Britain in recent years: an intact, finely carved bone box with no known parallels. The artefact, dating to the late Roman period,…
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1,500-Year-Old Roman Domestic Complex Unearthed in Perre, the Ancient Commagene City
The archaeological landscape of Perre—one of the five major cities of the ancient Kingdom of Commagene—has taken a decisive new turn with the discovery of a remarkably preserved 1,500-year-old domestic complex. The find, uncovered during the 2025 season, adds a rare glimpse into daily life in a city that once sat at the crossroads of…