1,700-Year-Old Roman Burial

Beneath Budapest, archaeologists have discovered a remarkably well-preserved Roman sarcophagus that is 1,700 years old. This offers a window into the life of the young woman inside and the world she lived in.

The limestone coffin was discovered during an excavation in a northern district of the city that once was part of a bustling Roman settlement on the Danube frontier. The sarcophagus was untouched by looters and the stone lid sealed by metal clamps and molten lead. Inside was a complete skeleton surrounded by artifacts.

The coffin was among the ruins of houses vacated in the 3^rd century. The area was later repurposed as a burial ground. The researchers also uncovered a Roman aqueduct and 8 simpler graves.

This sarcophagus held many objects, including two intact glass vessels, bronze figures, and 140 coins. Artifacts that indicated the grave belonged to a young woman were a bone hairpin, amber jewelry, and traces of gold-threaded fabric.

During Roman times, much of Hungary formed the province of Pannonia. This frontier ran along the right bank of the Danube River less than a mile from the excavation site. Nearby was a legionary camp meant to guard the empire’s border. The newly found structure were probably part of a civilian settlement that grew around the camp.

Anthropologists will examine the young woman’s remains to reveal more about her age, health, and origins. But the grave’s placement and artifacts offer clues. The coffin and its contents probably means the deceased was well-to-do and/or of a high social status. During the 4th century, it was a common practice to reuse earlier sarcophagi, but this coffin was made specifically for the woman who lay within.

A layer of mud about 1.5 inches thick was removed from inside the coffin and could contain more treasures, such as earrings or other jewelry.

The care and artifacts involved in the burial of this young woman give an indication of how much she was loved.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/archaeologists-lift-the-lid-on-a-1-700-year-old-roman-sarcophagus-hidden-beneath-budapest/ar-AA1R3JbA?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=6925e0b54aa545f1a3e6fc8f7416ef8d&ei=55

Digging Beneath Britain’s Houses of Parliament

The Palace of Westminster in London houses Britain’s Parliament. While digging beneath this palace, archaeologists have discovered several artifacts, including a 19^th-century beer jug, a fragment of a 2,000-year-old Roman altar, and 6,000-year-old prehistoric flint flakes.

Excavations were commissioned by the Houses of Parliament Restoration and Renewal Program. The digs are part of an ongoing archaeology project to illuminate Westminster’s history and inform restoration work.

Westminster has been a central part of Britain’s national story for at least a thousand years. It has been the location of momentous events in the U.K.’s history. While planning for restoration and renewal, scientists must also protect and learn from the history below the building.

60 prehistoric flint fragments (which date to about 4300 BCE) are evidence of toolmaking in the late Mesolithic or early Neolithic periods. Tools were made from flint by chipping the stone until it had a sharp edge. They were discovered in sand deposits that once formed part of Thorney Island, where prehistoric inhabitants fished, hunted, and gathered food. Finding prehistoric remains in central London is rare.

Researchers also discovered remains of Lesser Hall, also known as the White Hall. As a medieval two-story building built in 1167, it originally was a royal dining area. Later, it accommodated the Court of Chancery, the Court of Requests, the House of Commons, and the House of Lords during certain time periods. This was an unexpected discovery found below the present-day courtyard and car park.

When Lesser Hall housed the House of Lords in 1834, a fire started in the basement furnace room and became the Great Fire of 1834. These excavations showed the hall’s stone walls survived the fire. The building was reroofed and used until 1851, when it was demolished. The discovery of Lesser Hall provides insights into the layout of historic structures. The remains of Lesser Hall and other pre-1834 structures were documented (and some recreated in 3D models) before being reburied.

The Roman altar fragment was likely repurposed in another structure built later. Other artifacts included 800-year-old shoe soles, straps, a leather boot, and a lead badge shaped like a flowering heart from the 14^th or 15^th century.

Several artifacts from the 19^th century included fragments of clay tobacco pipes, which were probably smoked by the stonemasons working after the 1834 fire. Also found was a five-pint beer jug bearing the words “Ship and Turtle Tavern”. It also said “Geo Painter”, which likely referred to George Painter, the owner of the tavern.

I’ve been to London. I found it to be a very busy place. And all these artifacts show that it has been a busy place for a very long time.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/archaeologists-digging-beneath-britain-s-houses-of-parliament-discover-6-000-year-old-flint-artifacts-and-a-2-000-year-old-roman-altar-fragment/ar-AA1RAb5x?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=692f561f60da44d0807bb72e64e341b3&ei=37

Mile High Roman Military Camp

The army of ancient Rome was afraid of nothing. They definitely had no fear of heights, because a 2,000-year-old Roman military camp has been discovered in the Swiss Alps, 7,000 feet above sea level.

Archaeologists continue to explore the history of the Roman army. They have unearthed a military camp—previously unknown—strategically positioned to have tactical views of the surrounding valleys and mountain passes.

They didn’t just find the ditches and a wall of the camp; they also found lead sling bullets that bore the stamp of the Roman 3^rd Legion.

Since 2021, a team has been researching the landscape between Cunter and Tiefencastel. Their focus was on a Roman battlefield in the Oberhalbstein Alps, in eastern Switzerland. But in the fall of 2023, they discovered a striking terrain structure in the Colm la Runga corridor, which is about 3,000 feet above the battlefield.

They investigated the site using a high-resolution digital terrain model and LIDAR data. A LADAR laser scans the ground and reveals even slight height differences in the terrain as a grayscale image. In this location, it revealed the profile of an artificial fortification.

Undisturbed for two millennia, 7,000 feet high in the Alps, this Roman military camp was fortified by three ditches and a wall with ramparts (protective barrier). It offers a view of four key valleys and a heavily traveled mountain passageway. It gave Roman soldiers a perfect view to spot any incoming enemies.

Researchers have found weapons and equipment belonging to Roman soldiers, including lead sling bullets and boot nails. Since the bullets bear the stamp of the 3^rd Legion, they give an obvious tie between the ancient battlefield and the camp above. Both the battlefield and the camp date to about 2,000 years ago.

The discovery helps track the advancement of Roman forces from Bergell over the Septimer Pass to the Tiefencastel area and then toward Chur and the Alpine Rhine Valley.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/archaeologists-found-an-ancient-roman-military-camp-hiding-7-000-feet-high-in-the-sky/ar-AA1Ph7wu?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=68ffc967a5534259acc6f97531fc42f4&ei=55

Saturday, 8/13 - 2nd English Shore Excursion

The Roman Bath at Bath

The next morning, we were set to go see the Roman baths in the town of Bath. There were a lot of groups for this particular excursion. The theater, which was the place where everybody was gathered to get organized for their excursions, was pretty nearly full when we got there. When they started announcing the Bath excursions, I think half the people in the theater got up to go, but since we were part of that big group, and I don't like crowds, I may be a bit biased about that. Hubby and I had to make sure we got the same # pasted to our shirts so we'd be on the same bus.

And then came a long bus ride. I'm thinking about an hour and a half to get from the port to the center of Bath, where the bus dropped us off in a quarter circle 'bus stop' that took up at least half a block and was wide enough for 3 buses side by side.

After we all got off the bus, we were quickly marched down a narrow street of shops to a corner of a large square with benches, hurried diagonally across the square, and around the corner to the door of the Baths. The doorway was packed with people waiting to go in, and our guide had to make sure he handed out the tickets to people who were on his bus. We were given 3 hours to go through the whole thing, and were told that afterwards, the gift shop would let us out 'down the street by those columns'. I couldn't see any doorway down by the columns, but the guide had gotten away before I could ask any more questions.

Once we got in the building, we were given head phones with a keypad to type in the number of the area sign we were standing in front of, and a recorded voice would talk about that particular area of the building. Unfortunately, Hubby decided he couldn't listen to the head phones and take pictures at the same time.

We found ourselves on a balcony that surrounded and overlooked 2 large pools of water, kind of like fountains, but with no splashing displays. Unfortunately, it looked like these pools had not been cleaned out in a long time, the water was a sick green, and had bird feathers and other trash in it. It was not an appealing sight. There were 2 other rooms off this balcony, I think they were called the East Bath and the West Bath, but we didn't go to those. We had a limited time to get through this, and no idea just how big it was.

We walked around the balcony, taking pictures and listening to numbers, then we went downstairs to a museum-like area. Mostly, the museum was about the Romans who used the local hot springs to create the bath house.

Then we went outside again, and found ourselves under the balcony, on the same level as the bath pools. There was a Roman character there, in full costume, and Hubby got my picture standing next to her. I was surprised that the sick green water of the baths did not smell bad. Hot springs often carry dissolved minerals in the water, and that can lead to a 'yucky' smell in the air. It sure does in Yellowstone, when we visited there when I was a kid.

The day was hot; the air in the bath particularly humid. Happily, they had a small refreshment stand in the shade opposite the 2 pools, and they were able to take our credit cards. Hooray! We each got a small container of ice cream and ate it down. It helped cool us down a little, and took the edge off the hunger we were beginning to feel. Then we set off, sure we were nearly at the end of this adventure.

We took a wrong turn, and found ourselves in what looked like a dead-end cavern, while the earphones talked about the Romans using this area as a workout space. After that, I found somebody who worked there and asked, "How do we get out of here?" She put us on the correct path once again. That path took us through more caverns, some with hot water streaming through them, some where the path was elevated above the cavern floor, and you found yourself walking across glass. Or clear plastic. Made me nervous and very happy that the path had walls, though those were clear, too.

Finally, we found a wall full of cubbies, which was where we were suppose to deposit our headphones. Then up a few steps and into the gift shop. We looked around, but we don't buy a lot of souvenirs anymore, so before long, we stepped outside into the street.

I looked for the front door and the bath building. And didn't see it anywhere. Before I could start to panic, or wonder what to do next, someone started yelling in the street, saying things like the country is going to h*ll and I don't remember what all. I do remember thinking, "He sounds like a Trumper." Which didn't make sense, because we were in England, not the US. Hubby moved away from me, and I followed him to the corner, where he started talking to the dustman, who had stopped his work to listen to the yelling.

None of us had any clue what the Yelling Man was on about, but since we had this nice gentleman's attention, I asked how I could get to the front door of the bath house. If I could get there, I could find our way back to the bus stop. Once the dustman realized we were actually looking for a tour bus, he said, just go up this street. Three blocks and we'd be right at the bus stop. So we said thank you and started up the street.

Sure enough, after one block, we came to the square with the benches. We apparently had 15 or 20 minutes before our bus was due back, so we sat on one of the benches, even though it was in the direct, hot sunlight. At least, I sat down, Hubby kept wandering around, trying to give me a heart attack whenever I looked around and couldn't find him right away. But eventually, he came back and we decided to go look for our bus.

When we got to the bus stop, all half a block long and 3 buses wide, it was crowded with people looking for their bus. Happily, as soon as a bus got all its people aboard, it somehow inched its way out of the mess and onto the street and started back for the port. Eventually, our bus was able to jockey its way into the bus stop area, and we started climbing aboard. One couple was a little late getting back, and the tour guide raced down the street to try to find them, but found them at about the square with the benches, so we were able to head out as soon as those 3 got aboard.

Now for the race to get back to the port, and it really felt like we were racing, that we had gotten a late start back for the port. I don't know if the driver was taking a more direct route or what, but buildings I had noted on the way to Bath, I didn't see on the way back to port.

When we got to the port, there was a frenzy of buses all trying to get close enough to the ship to let their passengers off. For its part, the ship had 2 gangways open and were taking people in as fast as they could at both doors, but still there was a long long line for each of them. I had a terrible thought that the ship would suddenly stop letting people get on, and would shut up the gangways and leave us stranded there while it went on its merry way. Luckily, they didn't do that until Hubby and I were aboard. I assume they waited for everybody who was in line to get on.

I'm pretty sure we went in search of food after that, but I'm not sure where we went.

Wednesday, 8/10 - 1st English Shore Excursion

Liverpool – Charming Chester

Hubby woke up still tired. He has days like that. We had to meet to leave for our shore excursion by 7:15, so we went to the buffet for our usual made-to-order omelet and cream of wheat. When we were sent out to find our bus, it seemed like we walked a couple miles to get there. We hoped there would not be a lot walking today but couldn’t remember anything about this excursion.

It turned out we were leaving Liverpool to visit the charming town of Chester, some 45 minutes away.

Chester started out as a walled garrison for some 6,000 Roman soldiers. It wasn’t called Chester then, but I don’t remember what it was called, due to an adventure Hubby had. More on that later.

After the Romans were chased away, the walls around the town were made higher. You can walk around the inner city atop the walls, a distance of about 2 miles.

Peter, our tour guide, pointed out some sights of the town as we drove through and around it for a few minutes. Then the bus stopped outside The StoryHouse, which has 2 theaters, a cinema, the library and a café. We were supposed to meet back at the StoryHouse to get on our bus 2 hours later, at 11:15. Then Peter took the group south on Northgate Street to the center of town. By then, my knees had started to ache, which is never a good sign, so when Peter said he would take us to the East gate, and then to the Cathedral, I handed Hubby the map of Chester and told him I was headed back to the StoryHouse. He wasn’t happy, but my aching knees aren’t something that can be argued with. So Hubby continued with Peter, and I turned back to climb the hill back to the StoryHouse.

About half way up the hill, I found a bench in the shade and sat down to rest for a while. While I was resting, I realized I was directly across the street from the Information Center, so I crossed over to see if they had any interesting books. They had some history books that looked interesting, but they were £18 or more. I settled on a children’s book for £7, and went back to the bench to sit for a little longer.

At 10:45, I walked back to the StoryHouse and found a bench outside to sit on as I waited for my bus. There were plenty of buses to choose from, but I couldn’t tell which one was mine. At 11:08, I decided I’d better walk across the street and see if one of the 2 buses was mine. One of them was, and as I got ready to board, I told Peter, “I haven’t seen my husband return. I hope he’s already on the bus.”

But Hubby was not on the bus, so I selected our seats and sat down to wait for him. About 11:20, Peter counted the people on the bus, and then asked if my husband was on the bus. I said no, and he said, “He’s the one that’s missing, then.” A few minutes later, he asked if I knew where Hubby would have gone. The last I’d seen him, he was following Peter toward the East Gate, which had a clock tower. At about 11:27, John finally showed up, out of breath and looking exhausted.

We got underway to head back for Liverpool. Once Hubby caught his breath, he told me he had decided to walk around the town on the city walls, a distance of about 2 miles. He started at the clock tower, and walked leisurely, taking pictures. Once he saw the race track outside the city, which was approximately half way around, he decided he’d better pick up his pace in order to get back to the bus. But he didn’t know how much further he had to go. Apparently, he didn’t realize when he got to the North Gate, nor that that was the closest point to the StoryHouse. So he continued to hoof it back to the East Gate, then down East Gate Road and up North Gate Street, where he was vastly relieved to find the bus was still there.

When we got back to the ship, Hubby started to complain that his stomach was upset and he was desperate for a cold drink. We went to O’Sheehan’s for lunch, where he got a particle of food caught in his throat and kept coughing, trying to get it unstuck. He finally drank enough pop to get it washed down, so we went to our cabin and lay down for about an hour, to give us time to recuperate. I took a pain reliever because my knees were still aching.

After that hour, he got up to watch some tv and said he was feeling a bit better. I took my computer and went off to the internet cafe, where I could sit at a table and type. I returned to our cabin about 6:30, and he told me to go have supper without him, that he wasn’t feeling any better, and he was going to bed early. He asked me to bring him back a Diet Pepsi when I came back.

So I went back to O’Sheehan’s, where I had loaded nachos and their Blue Plate Special, which was meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn. I enjoyed the food very much, but I skipped dessert. When I was done eating and ready to leave, I asked for a diet Pepsi, which I carefully carried back to the room. Hubby was climbing into bed, having forgotten he had asked for a diet Pepsi. He had me put it in the refrigerator, and then I sat and read until 10, when I tried to set a wake-up call for 6 AM before going to bed.