Largest Creatures To Ever Exist On Earth

The battle still rages on for the title of the largest dinosaur to walk the Earth. As more time passes, we uncover more evidence of these prehistoric giants. And we're not talking about just the plant eaters, but the meat-eating dinosaurs too.

Just how big were the mightiest sauropods, and could these giants really have fallen prey to the ferocious meat-eaters during their time? Could the mighty Giganotosaurus, or the huge and scary Spinosaurus, defeat a Tyrannosaurus-rex in battle? And could the T-Rex have been 70% larger than previously thought?

If you love dinosaurs, then get ready to find out the answers to this and more.

12 Most Incredible Ancient Artifacts Finds

Our ancient artefacts made some wonderful, incredible things. In this video we're taking yet another deep delve into the distant past, and we've got some spectacular things to show you. Enjoy!

This is the Greatest Hidden Treasure in Greece; Gold Seekers are Desperately Looking for it

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BY THE ARCHAEOLOGIST EDITOR GROUP

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There are many legends about the existence of hidden treasures in Greece. Of course, no one can prove that they exist, but just the reputation associated with them is enough to send gold seekers in search of them.

Amid the rich tapestry of Greece's history, filled with mythological creatures, godly feats, and tales of heroism, a less divine but equally captivating story lurks. The hunt for the most coveted hidden treasure in Greece, tucked away somewhere in the lush landscapes of the Peloponnese, continues to entice treasure hunters, historians, and thrill-seekers alike. This treasure, shrouded in legend and history, is tied to the infamous bandit, Lykos (or Lygos), who thrived during the time of the Turkish occupation.

The Legend of Lykos

In the Peloponnese, the most famous treasure is associated with the bandit Lykos or Lygos from the time of the Turkish occupation.

According to an old publication, in the 19th century the bandit Lygos hid priceless sums of money (in gold) in the underground passages of Mainalos, and on the other hand, Captain Perdikas (of the ELAS - Greek Liberation Army) hid golden pounds there (from the occupation forces).

Lykos wasn't your everyday bandit. He was something of a Robin Hood figure during the tumultuous days of the Turkish occupation of Greece. He stole not just for personal gain but also to redistribute wealth among the oppressed Greeks, earning him a revered spot in local folklore.

However, the most tantalizing aspect of Lykos's legacy is not just his deeds but what he left behind. Tales speak of a treasure hoard – a culmination of his numerous raids – buried deep within the rugged terrains of the Peloponnese.

Clues in Ancient Ballads

The pursuit of Lykos's treasure isn't just based on whispers and tales told by the elderly around a fire. There are tangible clues, albeit cryptic ones, found in the traditional ballads of the region. These songs, passed down through generations, often speak of a "golden cache guarded by the spirits of old," hinting at the treasure's divine protection.

The Peloponnese: Greece's Hidden Gem

The Peloponnese peninsula, a hand-shaped piece of land jutting out from the mainland, is a treasure in its own right. With its verdant landscapes, craggy mountains, and azure coastlines, it encapsulates Greece's natural beauty.

For treasure seekers, though, it's the Peloponnese's caverns, ancient ruins, and its deep woods that hold promise. These terrains have witnessed civilizations rise and fall, from the mighty Spartans to the Byzantine Empire. And somewhere within this expanse, it's believed that Lykos's treasure awaits discovery.

Region of Peloponnese

Modern Pursuits

The hunt for Lykos's treasure isn't limited to enthusiastic locals armed with shovels and stories passed down from their grandparents. In the modern era, equipped with metal detectors, ground-penetrating radars, and drone surveillance, gold seekers from around the world have been lured by the promise of this legendary treasure.

But the Peloponnese, with its vast expanse and myriad hiding places, has not given up its secret easily. Numerous expeditions, both licensed and illicit, have combed its landscape. While many have returned with artifacts, coins, and relics from various epochs, the fabled treasure of Lykos remains elusive.

In the summer of 2000, two Greek-American businessmen, originally from Arcadia and Laconia respectively, had brought a special and very expensive electromagnetic machine with a state-of-the-art scanner from the USA. They searched Mainalo but found absolutely nothing.

A Legacy Beyond Gold

While the gold remains unfound, the legend of Lykos serves as a potent reminder of Greece's enduring spirit during the occupation. The treasure, in many ways, symbolizes the resilience, hope, and the undying quest for freedom that the Greeks exhibited in the face of adversity.

For those who continue the search, it's not just about the potential riches. It's about becoming part of a legend, of connecting with a history that's both tangible and mythical, and of possibly unearthing a treasure that embodies the spirit of an entire nation.

As seekers continue to probe the depths and heights of the Peloponnese, the legend of Lykos's treasure grows. Whether or not it will ever be found remains one of Greece's most enduring mysteries. But in the quest, in the journey through the annals of history and the rugged terrains of the Peloponnese, lies the true adventure.

Ancient Warfare: The Ancient Greek Military Discipline

Much has been said and written in the past about the strategies and tactics that the ancient Greeks employed on the battlefields and that were crucial to the development of Greek and European history.

In ancient Greece, the Greek army generally consisted of trained men who were dressed martially (chest armor, shin, helmet) and were skilled with weapons (spear, sling, bow, sword).

The Rhodians were the best slingers, the Cretans the best archers, the Acarnans (from Acarnania) and the Agrians (a people near the Strymon River) the best spearmen, and the Thracians the best peltasts.

The army of the ancient Greeks was the first to use military formations in battle and to charge with battle cries to attack the enemy.

The naval power of the time was Athens. The famous tactics of the Athenians are known, who misled their enemy by changing the formations of their fleet. In the land army, the Greek army has used siege engines such as siege rams, catapults, and siege towers since the 5th century BC, long before the Roman army (which had a mercenary army of Roman and foreign men).

The Romans copied the ancient Greek military model: the equipment (armor, horsemen, peltasts, spearmen, archers, slingers), the war constructions (triremes, siege engines), and the strategy, both in infantry and fleet.

The Syracusan Greeks in the Peloponnesian War—the Sicilian campaign (415–413 BC)—had Italian mercenaries from whom they learned the art of war. The Greeks also had trumpeters who gave military orders in battle, as well as pipers who coordinated the march of the soldiers

As for the Spartan army, it was the first to use military formations in battle, even changing them during the fight. This was long before the appearance of the Macedonian phalanx, created around 338 BC by the Macedonian king Philip II.

The Lacedaemonian hoplites wore a dark red epaulet or breastplate (the most heavily armed), a spear, a shield with the characteristic large Greek letter L (=Lacedaemonian), and a small hand tool (a killing knife). The soldiers synchronized their steps with the flute music. During the battle, the formations were changed so that the best warriors were on the front lines.

If the enemy broke the formation, the fallen soldiers were replaced by other hoplites in the battle area.

The Spartan army also used other war tactics. For example, one such ploy was to feign the inactivity of the Spartan army in order to mislead the enemy. However, both the Spartan and Macedonian armies were models of organization and tactics. The same is true of other armies, such as those of the Athenians and the Boeotians.

Even in late antiquity, Greek and Roman writers and even modern scholars studied the subject from a distance, either by thinking of the tactical movements of opposing armies on a map or by studying on a geostrategic and political level the conditions of the area.

But they almost all failed to deal with and study the necessity from which these tactical and strategic applications emerged and led to the element that had such a crucial effect on shaping the battlefield and societies, which is the invention and introduction of the military phalanx!

It is obvious that the success of the phalanx on the battlefield depended directly on the precision and timing of its movements and, of course, on the degree of discipline of those who formed it. The need to develop a method of transforming a large number of people from a simple gathering of a disorderly crowd into a synchronized, compact, and determined war machine with an excellent arrangement of lines became immediately apparent.

Of course, each individual soldier did not cease to have a distinct personality, with individual character, needs, and desires. The functioning of the phalanx, however, required the self-chosen and voluntary subjugation of personal needs and the conscious disciplining of the movements and decisions of each individual soldier.

Thus was born the culmination of Greek social consciousness, which meant the subordination of personal interests to societal ones.

In this way, privileged states were built, composed of conscientious, productive, and active citizens that we admire and envy today, as if they were an unattainable dream.

Thus, the person in charge decided under a specific military command what would be the next movement of the phalanx, but the common conscious co-decision of all hoplites was the simultaneous and precise execution of the specific movement at the specific time.

This naturally led to the next practical need: a clear and precise way to communicate the leader's orders to the last soldier in a manner understood by all and with common terminology.

Thus came the invention of the command, which is nothing more than a codification of a series of actions and movements at a given moment after the leader has said a short and sharp sentence or word.

With the goal of making these movements effective and synchronized on the battlefield, precision drills were introduced in peacetime to train and prepare soldiers.

The more precisely the hoplites executed their movements, the more effective they were on the battlefield, as shown by the example of the Spartans, who not only developed the idea of the phalanx but also turned military training into a true art, making it an indisputable benchmark of martial virtue throughout the ages. From ancient times to the present day, in the modern army, we say that the discipline index of a division is the degree of accuracy in the execution of precision exercises.

The ancient historians even transmitted to us the astonishment in the eyes of the Persians when they saw from a distance the advance of the Macedonian phalanx of Alexander the Great. They compared them perfectly and said that the hoplites were so perfectly balanced and lined up during their movement that, from a distance, they did not look like a crowd but like nails in perfect geometric position on a board. And this image alone made them freeze with fear.

The "Golden Boy": The 2,300-year-old Mummy with the 49 Amulets and their Meaning

Researchers at Cairo University have used CT scans to "digitally unpack" a mummy discovered more than 100 years ago in a cemetery in southern Egypt, and the results are truly impressive.

Investigators found dozens of different amulets, many made of gold, carefully attached to or inside the boy's body.

These included a two-finger amulet next to his penis, a gold heart scarab in his chest cavity, and a gold tongue in his mouth, each with its own symbolism, which archaeologists are currently investigating.

The boy also wore sandals and was wrapped in garlands of ferns.

The sarcophagus from the Hellenistic period

The mummy of the "golden boy" was buried in two coffins: an outer coffin with Greek inscriptions (since the burial took place in Ptolemaic times) and an inner wooden sarcophagus.

The Ptolemies, in the spirit of Alexander the Great, adopted the Egyptian traditions, customs, and traditions of the Egyptian culture and tried to combine them with the Greek culture so that all these traditions lasted through time.

With the exception of the heart, the internal organs were removed through an incision, while the brain was removed from the nose and replaced with resin, which proves the Egyptians' extraordinary knowledge of the human body for the time that led them to perform such delicate and specialized operations.

With the crucial contribution of technology, which is also playing an increasingly important role in archaeology, the CT scans showed that the boy was 128 points tall, between 14 and 15 years old, had good teeth, and that no obvious cause of death was known.

The mystery of amulets and what they symbolize

Amulets represent a wide range of beliefs and ideas that accompanied Egyptian tradition regarding the afterlife.

For example, a golden tongue was placed in the mouth to ensure the boy could speak in the afterlife, while a rectangular amulet was believed to balance the child's path after death.

One of the researchers, Dr. Sahar Samem, said, "We show here that the body of this mummy was extensively adorned with 49 amulets, beautifully stylized in a unique three-column arrangement between the folds of the wrapping and inside the body cavity of the mummy.".

"Many amulets were made of gold, others of semi-precious stones, fired clay, or fayence," said the renowned archaeologist.

"Their purpose was to protect the body and give it vitality in the afterlife."

The symbolism is not yet known for the golden scarab in the place of the heart or for the two talismanic fingers next to the youth's penis.

The meaning of the "last journey"

In the journal Frontiers in Medicine, the researchers add, "The results of this study suggest that ancient Egyptians valued their children and provided them with ritual healing."

The ancient Egyptians believed that the spirit aspires to an afterlife similar to this world.

However, entry into this afterlife was not guaranteed. It first required a dangerous journey to the underworld, followed by a final personal judgment, according to the Daily Mail report.

For this reason, relatives and embalmers did everything they could to ensure that their loved one could reach a happy destination, giving him everything they thought would be useful on this final journey.

Did The Neanderthals Speak Differently Than Our Languages?

Modern humans and Neanderthals obviously got along well enough to mate with one another, although the level of conversation that preceded these inter-hominid romances remains a matter of great uncertainty.

Given that fossils are unable to talk and Neanderthals disappeared long before the invention of recording equipment, archaeologists have no way of knowing whether our extinct cousins possessed sophisticated language skills - although the author of an as-yet unpublished study has had a crack at analyzing Neanderthal lingo.

“Neanderthals almost certainly spoke languages that were quite like our languages, but seemingly less structurally complex and less functionally flexible,” writes study author Antonio Benítez-Burraco, a linguist from the University of Seville. This conclusion is the upshot of a multidisciplinary analysis of the ancient humans’ speech capabilities, combining anatomical, social-cultural, cognitive, environmental, and genetic evidence.

This Is What the Earth Looked Like Before the Dinosaurs Era

When we pose deep questions about the history of our planet Earth, or the origin of life, we often receive answers that are incredibly complex and mysterious. In prehistoric times, there was an era that gave rise to interesting and often disturbing creatures, stretching the limits of our current imagination. Today, we will delve into the depths of time to discover a series of strange and frightening creatures, from the most primitive lifeforms on our planet to the grand ancestors of dinosaurs.

Ancient Apocalypse: The Akkadian Empire

In 2334 BCE the Akkadians conquered and united the Sumerian city state kingdoms to create the world’s first empire. The Akkadian’s ruled over much of Mesopotamia, what is now modern-day Iraq, Syria and Turkey, but after only 140 years the Akkadian Empire fractured. Entire regions of Mesopotamia descended into chaos and the Akkadian Empire’s very existence was lost to history. Now archaeologists scour the Middle East searching for information about how they became so powerful and why they collapsed.

What Love and Marriage was Like in Japan

In the following video we will analyze what love and marriage was like in Japan. Watch the video to find out more!

Why 82% of Mexico is Empty

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The 570 Ton Mega-Block in Ancient Jerusalem | Includes 3D Lidar Scans

The Western Wall (Waling Wall) stretches the length of Temple Mount with massive megalithic blocks in its lower levels, including one weighing 570 tons with others of a similar size stretching across the foundations of what was once Solomon's Temple, similar to Byblos and Baalbek in Lebanon. Hugh Newman explores and examines these gigantic megaliths and questions how they could have been cut, quarried and moved into position. Includes exclusive 3D Lidar scans

12 Most Amazing Archeological Finds

Archaeology is the practice of taking things from the past and looking at them with the eyes of the present. It’s about trying to understand the people who came long before us, including the things they believed and the practices they followed. In simple terms, archaeology is a quest for knowledge - and there’s plenty of knowledge waiting for us all in this video!

Why Are They All In Antarctica?

Meteorite hunters don’t search for meteorites in the places most frequently peppered by them – they go to Antarctica instead, because that’s where they are easiest to find. Watch the video below for more!

Breathtaking Colorized Photos From The Past (Mata Hari, Maude Adams, Emiliano Zapata etc.)

In this video we will see some more photos from the past, breathtakingly being brought to life with stunning colorizations. We have always been fascinated by old black and white photos, seemingly belonging to a completely different world from the one that we know today. With new technology and artistic skills of few individuals, we can now actually reimagine what this world looked like in full color. Some may argue that black and white photography is a classic art, yes of course... but still, adding vivid colors to these photographs, makes them look much more realistic and alive again.

Finds 2,500-Year-Old Gold Iron Age Necklace by Spanish Water Worker

While working for a nearby water firm, a Spanish guy discovered an old artifact.

Sergio Marciandi found a 2,500-year-old golden necklace, concealed among rocks in Cavandi, Asturias. Marco Bottigelli/Getty Images

According to CNN, a 2,500-year-old golden necklace was discovered by Sergio Marciandi in Cavandi, Asturias, hidden among rocks.

Marciandi contacted the archaeologist Pablo Arias, who went to the location and discovered a second necklace that had been broken up into several parts.

“It’s really impressive,” Arias told CNN.

The necklaces most likely originate from the Iron Age, which roughly lasted from 1200 BCE to 600 BCE. The jewelry exhibits small traces of wear that show that someone actually wore it, most likely an important person in society.

“Not everyone could afford one of these necklaces,” Arias told CNN.

According to the archaeologist who spoke to CNN, this discovery was particularly noteworthy because identical objects had previously been discovered in the 18th and 19th centuries, before the advent of modern archaeology.

Researchers will have the chance to learn new facts if they make a recent discovery from an intact site.

“We have very precise information about where they were found,” Arias told CNN. “It’s quite exceptional.”

The regional government praised Marciandi's choice to speak with an archaeologist right once and called the discovery "an extraordinary development," according to CNN.

The Asturian Archaeological Museum intends to explore the area more thoroughly.

"A multidisciplinary team will be created, the most advanced in knowledge of the Iron Age, with experts from various national institutions. The best," museum director María Antonia Pedregal Montes said, according to Newsweek.

Domki pledges actions to preserve the Gandhara civilization

The Gandhara civilization is essential to Pakistan's worldwide identity, according to the acting chief minister of Balochistan, Mir Ali Mardan Domki, and steps are being taken to protect Balochistan's ancient sites.

A bird’s eye view of the Buddhist Gandhara heritage in Pakistan. — Photo courtesy Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad’s Twitter account

The chief minister spoke about potential for tourism promotion and assured Dr. Ramesh Kumar, the head of the Prime Minister Taskforce on Gandhara Tourism, that every effort was being made to improve the effectiveness of Balochistan's tourist attractions.

According to him, the government has been making an effort to provide these areas with minimal amenities for visitors.

The Gandhara civilisation, according to Mr. Domki, is an illustration of fraternity and tolerance and would promote national unity.

According to Mr. Domki, the Gandhara corridor, which connects Islamabad with buddhist nations via air, will stimulate travel and bring more visitors to Pakistan.

Dr. Kumar, who also serves as the president of the Pakistan Hindu Council, gave the chief minister a briefing on the Gandhara corridor project and mentioned that there are two Gandhara civilisation archaeological sites in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, five in Sindh, one in Balochistan, ten in Punjab, and four in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Dr. Kumar expressed his gratitude to the Balochistani administration for protecting Hindu historical places, such as the Hinglaj Mata shrine in the Lasbela area.

The chief minister promised that money would be released annually by the government for the benefit of the Hindu community.

Germany has uncovered a total of 46 early settler burials from the Roman Empire

Near Nauheim, a town southwest of Frankfurt in the central-western German state of Hessen, students from Goethe University Frankfurt discovered 46 tombs from diverse ethnic groups in cooperation with the Hesse archeological department at the Darmstadt branch of the State Monument Protection Agency.

During a six-week training excavation, they discovered 46 burials dating to the time when Roman legions were stationed on the Rhine. The grave goods show that the deceased were immigrants who arrived in the area in the middle of the first century A.D. and practiced Gallic funerary traditions.

Because a Roman military camp was known to have been established in the Nauheim region, the team anticipated discovering Roman relics. It surprised them to find the tombs of the first settlers.

Eight students working in two teams discovered a burial ground that was over 2,000 square meters and was buried between the middle of the first century AD and the beginning of the third century. They discovered 46 graves in total, 44 of which were cremation burials, and only two were inhumations.

Anthropologists will now study the skeletons and the bone fragments from the corpse fire to ascertain the age, gender, and ailments of the deceased.

The Nauheim tombs provide evidence of the small-scale immigrant ethnic groups who first inhabited the Hessian Ried's limits almost 2,000 years ago. Grave goods suggest that Germanic military farmers who were purposefully drawn by the Romans from the north took over the security in the province on the frontier of the Roman Empire, resided there, and eventually became farmers.

The curious bronze bucket in which a person was once buried. A glass jar was found in the burial ground right next to it. Photo: © Ralf Klausmann, Hesse archaeologist

A bronze bucket that likely served as a funeral urn was uncovered in the burial ground, and its 30-centimeter height was a clear indication that the deceased of recently arrived settlers found their final resting place here.

"In the bucket" is an early Nauheimer. It is unusual for Roman graves to include equipment like scissors or knives and to bury a person in a bronze bucket. While the practice was common in the east of Gaul during the late Iron Age, between the first century BC and the first century AD, evidence of the burial enclosures mentioned has never been discovered in southern Hesse. Such atypical burials, in the eyes of scientists, are undeniable evidence that immigrants were interred here, bringing with them not just their culture but also their funeral customs.

Professor Markus Scholz, director of the Goethe University course on archeology and history of the Roman provinces, stated that the bucket had to have been imported and likely cost one or two dinars. The grave goods, which included an entire urn made of green glass, were often of high quality, indicating some degree of affluence of the deceased.

Additionally, there are six rectangular ditch systems that, according to the best knowledge now available, all date back to the founding phase of the burial ground and can be seen as the enclosure of specific burials. A full glass urn is one example of an addition that can witness to the richness of the deceased.

Site of coin hoard stolen, survey requested

To prevent unauthorized searches and looting, archaeologists are requesting permission to conduct a fresh assessment at the location of Jersey's greatest currency hoard.

Thousands of Iron Age coins were discovered in Grouville in 2012

Following a previous find at the same location in 1957, two metal detectorists located the Le Catillon II trove in the east of the island in 2012.

The trove includes priceless Iron Age artifacts and roughly 70,000 coins.

For the same area of the island, Societe Jersiaise is requesting authorization to conduct archaeological surveys.

Plans submitted online said the move had been "prompted by recent instances of nighthawking and archaeological looting, which have been reported to the authorities since 2021".

Field archaeologist for Societe Jersiaise Herve Duval-Gatignol called it a "serious matter" with additional holes and unauthorized tracks discovered nearby.

The hoard, thought to date from about 50BC, was discovered at a depth of just over 3ft (1m) and contains 69,347 coins as well as other items

He mentioned: "It is really hard to address this issue. In other countries you might put cameras in but I think the best thing is to talk to the public and tell them this practice is not acceptable. This is just a group of two or maybe three people and the large majority of metal detectorists on the island are very aware that they don't go to listed sites. We feel like we need to do something and, depending on the results [of the survey], we will address this issue."

Instead of excavating the site, they intend to conduct non-intrusive surveys to look for signs of other artifacts.

The site is Grade 1 designated, and artifacts from the late Iron Age or early Roman era have been found there.

"Remarkable": A 'Govan Warrior' stone from the early Middle Ages was found during a church picnic

A "remarkable" early medieval "Govan Warrior" stone has been found in the churchyard of Glasgow's Govan Old Parish Church during an archaeological project.

The "Govan Warrior" stone (Image: Govan Heritage Trust)

The dig, directed by Professor Stephen Driscoll of the University of Glasgow and Clyde Archaeology, took place on Saturday at the church during a community fun day.

The ancient site is renowned for the quality of its Viking-age sculpture, but the early medieval carved stone is "quite unlike" any others.

The image on the stone shows a guy standing sideways while toting a round shield and a shaft. The figure can be regarded as a warrior and is likely wielding a sword or spear.

While the warrior's face has suffered significant damage since it was originally carved more than a thousand years ago, amazing features reveal a flowing ponytail and a razor-sharp beard.

Govan Old, the oldest known Christian site in Glasgow, was constructed in 1888 on top of a sacred place that dates back to the sixth century.

Former church pastor Reverend Tom Davidson Kelly referred to it as “possibly the most significant church in Glasgow, including the Cathedral” in 2007.

The Govan Stones museum, which has one of Europe's best collections of early medieval and Viking sculpture, is also located in Govan Old.

Additionally, he asserted that the structure served as a place of worship before Scotland became a country.

Over 30 sculptures from the ancient kingdom of Old Welsh-speaking Britons known as Strathclyde, which ruled the Clyde valley from the fifth to the eleventh centuries AD, are included in the collection.

It contains five hogback monuments that date from the ninth and tenth centuries and are assumed to have served as tomb markers at first.

Even among the outstanding existing collection, which also includes the extraordinary Govan Sarcophagus, the Govan Cross, and five hogback gravestones, a Scandinavian-style funeral monument from the ninth or tenth century, the new discovery, currently dubbed the "Govan Warrior," is exceptional for its quality.

The Herald: Professor Stephen T. Driscoll next to a 'hogback' stone

The Govan Warrior stands out from the rest of the collection because to its distinctive aesthetic features, which have been compared to Pictish carvings and art from the Isle of Man. Unlike the other stones in the Govan collection, whose hefty carving style is so recognizable that it has been called the "Govan School" in its own right.

The Govan Warrior's light incising may draw comparisons to other well-known Pictish stones, such as the Rhynie Man from Aberdeenshire.

Professor Stephen Driscoll, who is also a Trustee of the Govan Heritage Trust, the guardians of Govan Old church since 2016, directed the University of Glasgow's excavations at Govan Old.

The Govan Warrior stone was found during a community outing that Glasgow Building Preservation Trust organized as part of the Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival.

Over the course of the weekend, more than 500 people came to the location, and scores of Govan community volunteers as well as students from the University of Glasgow and Clyde Archaeology took part in the excavations for the first time.

Professor Stephen Driscoll commented on the discovery by saying, “It’s a style that makes us think both about the Pictish world and also about the Isle of Man and it’s interesting that we are halfway between these two places. Govan is the ideal place for these two artistic traditions or styles to come together.

“This is probably the most important find that I’ve made in my thirty years of working at Govan Old. The new stone is very exciting because it takes the collection to a different cultural place as it does not look like the heavier and chunkier ‘Govan School’ style. The new stone is much more delicate in its execution using finer shallow incisions.”

Cotswolds Find: Ancient Roman Swords "A Remarkable Archaeological Find"

A significant discovery has been made in the Cotswold region. Glenn Manning found two Roman cavalry swords, along with the remains of their wooden scabbards and fittings, at a metal detecting gathering in the Cotswolds' northern region. Along with the weapons, a broken copper alloy bowl was also found.

Cllr Paul Hodgkinson, said: “This new discovery shows what an incredibly deep history the Cotswolds has. People famously asked, ‘What have the Romans ever done for us?’. Well, they have just given us some amazing examples of weapons used almost 2000 years ago when Cirencester was the second biggest town in Britain. This is truly a remarkable archaeological find and I can’t wait for visitors to see them on display in the years to come.”

Professor Simon James from Leicester University evaluated the swords and determined that they are middle imperial Roman swords, often known as spathas. By the late second century and far into the third century AD, they were most likely in use in the Roman world.

They appear to be cavalry weapons, or more precisely, weapons designed for use while mounted, based on their length. Due to the prevalence of banditry in Roman provinces, it was permissible for people to own and travel with such weapons.

Prof. James, explained: “In terms of parallels, I can’t think of finds of more than one sword being deposited in any similar circumstance from Roman Britain. The closest that springs to mind was a pair of similar swords found in Canterbury—with their owners, face down in a pit within the city walls, clearly a clandestine burial, almost certainly a double murder.”

Kurt Adams, the artifacts Liaison Officer, deposited the artifacts with the Corinium Museum shortly after they were discovered to assure their preservation.

Historic England is helping the museum by making arrangements for the swords to undergo additional x-ray analysis. We don't know how or why the swords wound up buried in the Cotswolds, therefore an archaeological assessment at the dig site in the north of the Cotswolds may come next to assist put the swords into context.