14- 15 FEVRIER 2018: Fulford - Lendbreen - Shibushi - Ingoe -

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ROYAUME UNI –  Fulford - An archaeological expert has claimed a lengthy investigation has revealed the site of the famous 1066 Battle of Fulford - which is now a new housing estate. Chas Jones says the evidence implied 'beyond any sensible doubt' that the historic battle in the city of York took place on land being prepped for new housing.Caches of weapons including axes, arrows and swords have seen archaeologists pinpoint the exact location of 'Germany Beck' being the historic battleground. The Battle of Fulford preceded other 1066 battles, including Stamford Bridge and the famous Battle of Hastings.

https://www.forces.net/news/ancient-1066-battlesite-discovered-housing-estate

NORVEGE –   Lendbreen - On August 4, 2011, a hot summer exposed the upper edges of Lendbreen Glacier at the Lomseggen mountain in Breheimen National Park in Norway. An archaeological team, including Marianne Vedeler, chief archaeologist and associate professor at the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo, were on the scene to excavate the area for potential findings from prehistoric times. After a treasure trove of a day with artifacts littering the ground, including ancient shoes, hunting gear, tent pegs, and even horse dung, the most significant surprise was when archaeologists came across what appeared to be a crumpled up piece of cloth. When examined at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo, it turned out to be an incredibly well-preserved 1,700-year-old tunic that became the oldest piece of clothing found in Norway and one of only a few surviving garments from the 1st millennium A.D. in all of Europe.“It’s very rarely that we find well-preserved clothing from prehistoric times,” explains Vedeler to Yngve Vogt of the Apollan Research Magazine. “Only a handful of clothing like this has been found in Europe.” Since the find, archaeologists and conservators have worked to study this tunic to learn more about its mysterious past. Who wore the tunic? Why was it left in the glacier? How was it made? What raw materials were used, and how time-consuming of a process was it? Vedeler and Swedish handweaver Lena Hammarlund recently published an article about the reconstruction process to find the answers. The Lendbreen tunic is estimated to have been made between 230 and 390 A.D. and gives archaeologists and historians a glimpse of what life would have been like 1,700 years ago. Woven from sheep’s wool, it is of a basic cut and was evidently frequently used with repaired patches on the back, indicating its extensive use 1700 years ago. It is also relatively short, with historians concluding it was meant for a man or boy of slender build. Overall, specialists claim the yarns and patterns in the tunic were of a standard Iron Age practice and not requiring expert knowledge to produce.

http://glacierhub.org/2018/02/14/reconstructing-norways-oldest-garment-tunic-lendbreen/

JAPON –  Shibushi  - Workers paving a farm road here stumbled on a 1,500-year-old underground tomb containing a large stone coffin, human remains and armor in remarkable condition.The remains are likely of a local chieftain while the cuirass, a type of breastplate known as “tanko,” is believed to have been a gift from the Yamato imperial court in current Nara Prefecture in appreciation of the leader’s cooperation, the education board of Shibushi city said Jan. 24. The tunnel-tomb was unearthed during farm road paving work in December.“It was likely built for a powerful leader in the local region who was directly connected with the Yamato imperial court,” said Tatsuya Hashimoto, a professor of archaeology at the Kagoshima University Museum.The grave, which is from the Kofun Period (late third to seventh centuries), is one of the largest tunnel-tombs in the Osumi region in eastern Kagoshima Prefecture. It boasts a vertical shaft that is 2.6 meters long, 1.8 meters wide and 1.6 meters deep. The burial chamber is 2.6 meters long, 1.9 meters wide and 90 centimeters high.This type of construction is unique to the southern Kyushu region. The site has been named the No. 3 Harada Chikashiki Yokoanabo (Harada underground tunnel-tomb). The skeletal remains are those of a 170-centimeter-tall adult male. A sword, its scabbard and other items were also found in the pumice stone coffin measuring 2.4 meters. It is 60 cm wide and 50 cm tall. The tanko is in near-immaculate condition and was standing beside the coffin. The armor measures 35 cm by 40 cm. More than 20 burial accessories, such as an iron arrowhead, spear and iron ax were discovered. The tomb features more grave accessories than any other tunnel-tombs in the Osumi region, according to the education board.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201802140003.html

ROYAUME UNI –  Ingoe - Deep in heart of Northumberland lies the “lost Devil’s Causeway”. Local archaeology company AAG Archaeology have discovered the route of the Roman patrol road after being tested to the limit. Only a chance find hinted at the presence of the long-gone legions in the remote spot. For several weeks last summer a team of archaeologists from North East company AAG Archaeology worked through sun and rain, moving tons of earth by hand to uncover the remains of the elusive Roman road near Ingoe, which sits between Matfen and Belsay. Did the line of a dry stone wall field boundary mark the route of the Devil’s Causeway as it made its way from Port Gate to the mouth of the Tweed? The Devil’s Causeway is unlike other Roman roads as it is thought to have been made only to be used by cavalry patrols rather than everyday traffic and marching legions. The Roman fort known as Onnum at modern-day Halton Chesters is thought to have been the base for the cavalry that patrolled the Devil’s Causeway.The fort was built between AD122 and AD126 by the Sixth Legion, and in the third century it was manned by a cavalry regiment, the Ala I Pannoniorum Sabiniana. In the centuries after the Romans abandoned Britain, the Anglo-Saxons who inherited the landscape built only in wood and were superstitions of the stone buildings and roads left behind by the vanished Romans. Having no idea who had built the strange, straight raised stone bed that crossed their lands for more than 50 miles, or why they had built it, the Anglo-Saxons and their medieval descendants named it the Devil’s Causeway.Jon added: “When we looked at all the available evidence and alternative theories it always kept coming back to the Devil’s Causeway being the only viable explanation. “It is very hard to interpret the structure as anything other than the spine of the Devil’s Causeway as it resembles Roman construction more than any dry stone wall field boundary. Precision set; stones laid on end and on edge, unlike wall footings; tooling; fitting notches; the reinforcing ‘ribs’. “Similarly the layer of possible metalling doesn’t seem to be the core of a wall, it seems too small to be anything other than the metalling of the Devil’s Causeway, which is known to have had no gravel upper surfacing.” The “ribs” protruding from the spine are exposed, they appear to have held the metalling of the road surface in compartments.“The bank of material under the spine is reminiscent of the agger of a road, even if not made of stone. Standing on top of the bank does indeed feel like standing on a causeway.“The Devil’s Causeway seems from previous excavations to be unlike other Roman roads in construction, possibly as it was only used for cavalry patrols.”

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/history/lost-roman-devils-causeway-discovered-14281948