medieval

Archaeologists Uncover Exciting ‘Time Capsule’ of Iron Age Artifacts in England

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For over 25 years, a group in Poulton, England has been looking for a lost Cistercian abbey. Instead, over the decades the team has found hundreds of medieval skeletons and well-traveled Roman artifacts. Now, they have discovered what they’re calling “the best preserved picture of late prehistoric life ever found in [North West England]”.   … Read more

‘Lost’ medieval literature uncovered by techniques used to track wildlife | Science

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Ask any Dutch schoolchild about Reynard the fox, and they’ll tell you all about the adventures of the dashing, anthropomorphic folk hero, whose exploits were laid down in the 13th century by Willem die Madoc maecte, or “William who made the Madoc.” Madoc is likely the name of another once-popular poem about a legendary Welsh … Read more

Medieval literature: We have lost 90 per cent of the original copies of classics

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A statistical tool borrowed from ecology suggests that there were originally 40,600 copies of stories about King Arthur and other western European heroes – but only 3648 survive Life 17 February 2022 By Chris Stokel-Walker A scene from the Romance of Lancelot of the Lake The Print Collector/Alamy Nine in 10 medieval manuscripts telling tales … Read more

Mysterious Headless Horse Skeleton Found Buried in Medieval Graveyard

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The skeletal remains of a man buried 1,400 years ago near a headless horse have been discovered at an ancient cemetery in the town of Knittlingen in southern Germany. He likely was the horse’s owner/rider when he was alive.   The man was buried at a time when the Merovingian dynasty (476–750 CE) flourished in … Read more

This Medieval Italian Man Replaced His Amputated Hand With a Knife

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In 2018, archaeologists described a truly fascinating puzzle. It looks like this medieval Italian man went through life with a knife attached to his arm, in place of his amputated hand.   The skeleton in question was found in a Longobard necropolis in the north of Italy, dating back to around the 6th to 8th centuries … Read more

Brutal Viking Ritual Called ‘Blood Eagle’ Was Anatomically Possible, Study Shows

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Famed for their swift longboats and bloody incursions, Vikings have long been associated with brutal, over-the-top violence. Between the eighth and 11th centuries, these groups left their Nordic homelands to make their fortunes by trading and raiding across Europe.   Particularly infamous is the so-called “blood eagle”, a gory ritual these warriors are said to … Read more

Archaeologists Found a Truly Bizarre Burial in an Isolated Medieval Graveyard

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A three-week archaeological dig in the English Channel took a bizarre, inexplicable turn, after researchers chanced upon a carefully cut grave hidden in the soil – the contents of which were definitely not human.   The discovery, made on the small island of Chapelle Dom Hue off the coast of Guernsey in September 2017, revealed … Read more