The Riace Bronzes: Warriors Rescued From the Sea

On 21 and August 22, 1972 near the Ionian coast of Marina di Riace, the police and the men of the Archaeological Superintendence of Reggio Calabria made a spectacular recovery of two large bronze statues, buried for centuries under the sand of the sea bottom: from then on they were known as the Riace bronzes. The statues had been sighted six days before by Stefano Mariottini, a Roman chemist doing...

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Crusade era hand granade used by Islamic forces, 12th century

The hand grenade is a handsome example of a weapon in common use by Islamic forces during the Crusader (1099-1187), Ayyubid (1187-1250) and Mamluk (1260-1516) periods. It is made of unglazed ceramic and embossed with grooves and tear drop-shaped designs. It has a domed top over a spherical body that tapers to a point. They were filled with incendiary material – petroleum, naphtha, Greek fire — and...

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This drawing was made 700 years ago by a 7-years-old boy named Onfim who lived in Novogrod.

Here’s something very special. In the 1950s archeologists made a great discovery near the city of Novgorod, Russia: they dug up hundreds of pieces of birch bark with all sorts of texts written on them. The 915 items are mostly letters, notes and receipts, all written between the 11th and 15th century. Among the more notable scraps is a marriage proposal from a man called Mikita to his beloved Anna:...

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Sixty-five years after it crash-landed on a beach in Wales, an American P-38 fighter plane has emerged from the surf and sand where it lay buried

Sixty-five years after it crash-landed on a beach in Wales, an American P-38 fighter plane has emerged from the surf and sand where it lay buried — a World War II relic long forgotten by the US government and unknown to the British public.The Lockheed “Lightning” fighter, with its distinctive twin-boom design, has suddenly reappeared due to unusual conditions which caused the sands to shift and erode.It...

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Vendel helmets - before norseman started to sail west.

In the dark times of Europe, when the whole contintent was still divided into hundreds of mini realms the brave men of north weren't ready to sail. From 6th till 8th century AD Norway and Sweden was in chaos. The later known Nordic kingdoms or ‘nations’ had not yet been developed during the Vendel age. Scandinavia was inhabited by numerous North Germanic tribes and clans who were almost in constant...

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