news

« BACK

History/Archeology



Results 61 - 80 of 383.


History / Archeology - Life Sciences - 10.03.2021
Medieval 'birthing girdle' parchment was worn during labour
Medieval ’birthing girdle’ parchment was worn during labour
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.

History / Archeology - Life Sciences - 10.03.2021
Medieval parchment was worn as 'birthing girdle' during labour
Medieval parchment was worn as ’birthing girdle’ during labour
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.

Earth Sciences - History / Archeology - 17.02.2021
Stonehenge first stood in Wales
Stonehenge first stood in Wales
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.

History / Archeology - 11.02.2021
Stonehenge may be dismantled Welsh stone circle
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 .

History / Archeology - 12.01.2021
New insights from original Domesday survey revealed | University of Oxford
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 ).

History / Archeology - 05.11.2020
Neolithic construction boom led to large-scale mega henges being built across southern Britain
One of the antler picks that were sampled during the research. As these picks were used to dig out the ditches of the henge, they provide a good indication of the date that the monument was constructed. (Credit: Cardiff University) Frantic building activity around 2500 BC resulted in massive ceremonial structures appearing in southern Britain, a study from Cardiff University says.

History / Archeology - Social Sciences - 04.11.2020
Analysis: Did prehistoric women hunt? New research suggests so
For a long time, it was assumed that hunting in prehistoric societies was primarily carried out by men. Now a new study adds to a body of evidence challenging this idea, says Honorary Research Fellow Dr Annemieke Milks (UCL Archaeology). The research reports the discovery of a female body, buried alongside hunting tools, in the Americas some 9,000 years ago.

Earth Sciences - History / Archeology - 28.09.2020
The testimony of trees: how volcanic eruptions shaped 2000 years of world history
Researchers have shown that over the past two thousand years, volcanoes have played a larger role in natural temperature variability than previously thought, and their climatic effects may have contributed to past societal and economic change. Some climate models assume that the effect of volcanoes is punctuated and short.

History / Archeology - Materials Science - 23.09.2020
Chromium steel was first made in ancient Persia
Chromium steel - similar to what we know today as tool steel - was first made in Persia, nearly a millennium earlier than experts previously thought, according to a new study led by UCL. The discovery, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science , was made with the aid of a number of medieval Persian manuscripts, which led the researchers to an archaeological site in Chahak, southern Iran.

Life Sciences - History / Archeology - 16.09.2020
World’s largest ever DNA sequencing of Viking skeletons reveals they weren’t all Scandinavian
Invaders, pirates, warriors - the history books taught us that Vikings were brutal predators who travelled by sea from Scandinavia to pillage and raid their way across Europe and beyond. The results change the perception of who a Viking actually was.

Social Sciences - History / Archeology - 01.09.2020
Radiocarbon dating and CT scans reveal Bronze Age tradition of keeping human remains
Using radiocarbon dating and CT scanning to study ancient bones, researchers have uncovered for the first time a Bronze Age tradition of retaining and curating human remains as relics over several generations. While the findings, led by the University of Bristol and published in the journal Antiquity , may seem eerie or even gruesome by today's convention, they indicate a tangible way of honouring and remembering known individuals between close communities and generations some 4,500 years ago.

History / Archeology - Chemistry - 27.08.2020
Ceramic cooking pots record history of ancient food practices
Analysing three components of ceramic cooking pots - charred remains, inner surface residues and lipids absorbed within the ceramic walls - may help archaeologists uncover detailed timelines of culinary cooking practices used by ancient civilisations. The findings, from a year-long cooking experiment led by the University of California, University of Bristol and the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum in Hawaii, are published this week in the journal Scientific Reports .

History / Archeology - Earth Sciences - 12.08.2020
Step change in our ability to unlock secrets of the past with radiocarbon dates
Radiocarbon dating, a technique widely used in archaeology and geoscience, is set to become more accurate than ever after an international team of scientists have shared much-anticipated new calibration curves based on data from ancient trees, lake and ocean sediments, cave deposits and more.

Environment - History / Archeology - 12.08.2020
Researchers unlock secrets of the past with new carbon dating standard
Radiocarbon dating is set to become more accurate than ever after an international team of scientists improved the technique for assessing the age of historical objects. The team of researchers at the Universities of Belfast, Sheffield, Bristol, Glasgow, Oxford, St Andrews and Historic England, plus international colleagues, used measurements from almost 15,000 samples from objects dating back as far as 60,000 years ago, as part of a seven-year project.

History / Archeology - Life Sciences - 07.07.2020
Keep calm and carry on cooking: Norman Conquest of 1066 did little to change people’s eating habits
Archaeologists from Cardiff University and the University of Sheffield have combined the latest scientific methods to offer new insights into life during the Norman Conquest of England. Until now, the story of the Conquest has primarily been told from evidence of the elite classes of the time. But little has been known about how it affected everyday people's lives.

History / Archeology - 30.06.2020
Shows iconic golden eagle was once common throughout Wales
A new study has shown that golden and white-tailed eagles were widespread and common throughout historic Wales. Scientists looked at their historical distribution as part of their bid to bring the species, which became regionally extinct in the early-1800s, back to the Welsh countryside. During their research they gained fascinating insights by looking at archaeological, fossil and observational records - and even Welsh place names.

Social Sciences - History / Archeology - 18.06.2020
Discovery in UNESCO passage tomb points to Neolithic Irish dynasty
Evidence of an elite adult male conceived through a socially sanctioned incestuous relationship during the Neolithic period has been discovered in Ireland's largest passage tomb, finds a new study involving UCL and Trinity College Dublin. The remains were identified in New Grange, a 5,000 year-old passage tomb that sits within the UNESCO monumental site of Brú na Bóinne.

History / Archeology - 16.06.2020
Battlefield archaeology helps veterans with physical and mental recovery
A new report by the charity Waterloo Uncovered reveals how archaeological work on the battlefield of Waterloo is helping Veterans and Serving Military Personnel with recovery from some of the mental and physical impacts of their service.

History / Archeology - 10.06.2020
Archaeologists may have discovered London’s earliest playhouse
The earliest playhouse in London may have been discovered at a site in Whitechapel, by a team of archaeologists from UCL. The elusive remains of what is thought to be the earliest Elizabethan playhouse, known as the Red Lion, were discovered by Archaeology South-East, part of UCL's Institute of Archaeology.

Life Sciences - History / Archeology - 28.05.2020
4000 Years of contact, conflict and cultural change had little genetic impact in Near East
The Near East was a crossroad for the ancient world's greatest civilizations, and invasions over centuries caused enormous changes in cultures, religions and languages. However, a new study of the DNA of ancient skeletons spanning 4,000 years has revealed that most of these changes had no lasting effect on the genetics of the local population of Beirut.