news 2021

'Plague sceptics' are wrong to underestimate the devastating impact that bubonic plague had in the 6th- 8th centuries CE, argues a new study based on ancient texts and recent genetic discoveries. The same study suggests that bubonic plague may have reached England before its first recorded case in the Mediterranean via a currently unknown route, possibly involving the Baltic and Scandinavia.

'Plague sceptics' are wrong to underestimate the devastating impact that bubonic plague had in the 6th- 8th centuries CE, argues a new study based on ancient texts and recent genetic discoveries. The same study suggests that bubonic plague may have reached England before its first recorded case in the Mediterranean via a currently unknown route, possibly involving the Baltic and Scandinavia.

The biographies of eight crew found among the remains of the Tudor warship Mary Rose have been revealed using the latest archaeological methods. Cardiff University academics, in partnership with the Mary Rose Trust and the British Geological Survey, used cutting edge scientific techniques to reveal the ancestry, childhood origins and diets of some of the crew who perished on the ship in 1545 AD.

CT scanning used to uncover remnants of malignancy hidden inside medieval bones provides new insight into cancer prevalence in a pre-industrial world. We searched within the bone for signs of malignancy Piers Mitchell The first study to use x-rays and CT scans to detect evidence of cancer among the skeletal remains of a pre-industrial population suggests that between 9-14% of adults in medieval Britain had the disease at the time of their death.

A team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, with colleagues from Goethe University, Frankfurt, has found the first evidence for ancient honey hunting, locked inside pottery fragments from prehistoric West Africa, dating back some 3,500 years ago. Honeybees are an iconic species, being the world's most important pollinator of food crops.

A team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, with archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology, have found the first evidence of a religious diet locked inside pottery fragments excavated from the early medieval Jewish community of Oxford. Keeping kosher is one of the oldest known diets across the world and, for an observant Jew, maintaining these dietary laws (known as Kashruth) is a fundamental part of everyday life.

Scientists have used proteomic techniques to find evidence of vaginal fluid, along with honey and milk, on a rare manuscript from the late 15th century. There are suggestions that due to the dimensions of the object - long and narrow - they were worn like a chastity belt, to help support the pregnant women both physically and spiritually Sarah Fiddyment Researchers have found direct evidence that a 500-year-old manuscript was worn during childbirth by using "biomolecular analysis" to detect ancient proteins from cervico-vaginal fluid within the weave of the parchment.

Scientists have used proteomic techniques to find evidence of vaginal fluid, along with honey and milk, in a rare manuscript from the late 15th century. There are suggestions that due to the dimensions of the object - long and narrow - they were worn like a chastity belt, to help support the pregnant women both physically and spiritually Sarah Fiddyment Researchers have found direct evidence that a 500-year-old manuscript was worn during childbirth by using "biomolecular analysis" to detect ancient proteins from cervico-vaginal fluid within the weave of the parchment.

Professor Mike Parker Pearson (UCL Institute of Archaeology) discusses his research which has found a dismantled stone circle in west Wales which was moved to Salisbury Plain and rebuilt as Stonehenge. According to Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose History of the Kings of Britain was written in 1136, the mysterious monoliths at Stonehenge were first spirited there by the wizard Merlin, whose army stole them from a mythical Irish stone circle called the Giants' Dance.

UCL archaeologists have found a dismantled stone circle in west Wales that they believed was moved to Salisbury Plain and rebuilt as Stonehenge. The stunning discovery, published in Antiquity ,  has been secretly documented by filmmakers and is the subject of an exclusive BBC programme , Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed .

Prof. Stephen Baxter is a world-leading expert on Domesday Book. His research has formed the basis of radio and television documentaries, including on the Domesday survey (BBC2) . He is Clarendon Professor of Medieval History and Barron Fellow in Medieval History at St Peter's College, Oxford ( stephen.baxter@spc.ox.ac.uk ) This new interpretation of Domesday is advanced by Stephen Baxter, 'How and Why was Domesday Made'', English Historical Review , Volume 135, Issue 576 ( published online 22 December, 2020 and freely accessible ).