We are in the midst of assessment season at my university, so apologies but regular features will be a little less regular over the summer. This Ancient History Roundup is well over a month late, so let’s see what has caught our eye!

New Bad Ancient article out

The first bit of news is that we have published a new article on BadAncient.com that touches on many of the articles I have written about in this newsletter. The topic is on the history of Buddhism and it explores the evidence for whether Buddhists lived in ancient Egypt. The question is simple enough, and the answer will not surprise any regular readers here, but I got to look at more of the evidence including some newer discoveries that have only being written about in the past year!

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Saw technology making it to Japan

The discovery of a bent, iron saw had highlighted the the advances in iron ware in Japan during the 2nd-3rd century CE. The object is triangular in shape and has small teeth along one side, it is unquestionably a saw and could well be the oldest one found in Japan. It is not the most exciting of finds in the grand scheme of things, but I love finds like this. Saw designs have really not changed very much in 2,000 years!

Stonehenge Altar Stone on the move?

A recent piece of research had made the rounds in the media which offers a good moment to reflect on the dangers of scientific journalism. The researchers created a model to determine if it was possible that the large sandstone ‘altar’ at Stonehenge could have been moved by glaciers, via Doggerland, before humans then took it to the site. It is speculative but interesting, I suppose; yet our media has used it to make claims that the article simply does not and that the evidence does not allow. Give this critique a read if you are interested in some of the issues with drawing too big a conclusion from the research.

Paediatric cranial surgery in Uzbekistan, 4,000 years ago!

This is one of those stories that just sell themselves. Researchers have studied the remains of a 5-year old child in southern Uzbekistan who lived 4,000 years ago. The skeletal remains show clear signs of trepanation, using stone tools to make a hole in the skull. This makes this one of the oldest examples of this type of surgery in all of Asia!

Sanskrit Seal

As some of you may know, I am trying to learn Sanskrit at the moment - and it is proving enjoyable but bloomin’ hard - so this news story caught my eye for a slightly different reason. Researchers have decoded an inscription on a small seal found in Pakistan, dating from the 5th century CE. The seal reads: Devadaruvane Svami Kotesvarah, identifying it as belonging to a Saiva temple dedicated to Svami Kotesvara at Devadaruvana. The researchers claim this to be a reference to a story about the deity Shiva and may be the oldest example we have of a story from the Skanda Purana text.

I have recently been interviewed for Ancient History 101 about the Spartan Mirage, and this has got me thinking about one of the most fascinating characters from Spartan history … so here is an article all about him.

What does it say about a man who was considered too extreme, even for classical Sparta?

Clearchus the Spartan lived a very intense and colourful life. His story can be pieced together across a range of sources that span over 500 years, but is helped by his prominent role in Xenophon’s Anabasis; the march of over 10,000 Greek mercenaries into the heart of the Persian Empire, and its subsequent fighting retreat. Clearchus was one of the commanders.

The Early Years

Born in 451/450 B.C.E., Clearchus entered into a family of some regard in Sparta. His father, Ramphias, appears twice in the historical record, once as an ambassador to Athens and the other as a military commander at the head of a small army. These two snippets of information are important to understanding Clearchus’ beginnings because it meant that his father was a full citizen of Sparta, a Spartiate, and we know that Ramphias was not one of the two kings that made up Sparta’s unusual diarchy. This means that Clearchus must have gone through the mandatory educational system called the agoge (being heir to one of the thrones was the only legitimate excuse to not be enrolled).

The infamous agoge began for the young Clearchus at the age of seven; leaving his mother and home behind him he joined a group of boys within his age class and began the citizen training that would prepare him for the demands of being a Spartan. Often classed as military training, the agoge forced these boys to learn discipline, austerity, fortitude, aggression, and all of the necessary skills to become a great hoplite. But they were also taught to sing and dance, they learned music, poetry and presumably to read as well:

“They took no less care in teaching them poetry and singing than in making them learn to speak with accuracy and purity.” (Plutarch, Life of Lycurgus, 21.1)

For all of its military overtones, the agoge was trying to teach Clearchus how to become the ideal citizen for Sparta, in all aspects of life.

After passing all of the necessary tests, and having proven to extol all of the necessary Spartan virtues, Clearchus was allowed to join one of the mess-halls (syssitia) as a fully-fledged member of the Spartan army at the age of 20 years old. He was even allowed to take a wife, although he could not yet live with her of course.

Whilst his physical maturity necessitated his inclusion into the military system, Clearchus, along with his age class, would not reach civic maturity until the age of 30 when he would finally reap the full benefits of becoming a Spartiate.

Service during the Peloponnesian War

Having survived the grueling tribulations of the agoge, Clearchus joined his syssition in his twentieth year, 431/430. This was one year after his father had been sent to Athens on his ambassadorial mission, in the hope of preventing all-out war over Athenian imperial expansion through Greece. The mission was a failure and the so called Peloponnesian War (431-404) had begun, meaning that Clearchus had become a member of the Spartan army as it was beginning a long and continual period of unprecedented warfare.

Frustratingly, we have no information about his early military service except for the rather unhelpful description given by Xenophon in his mini-biography of the general: “[Clearchus] stayed around while the Spartans were at war with the Athenians”. Whilst our imaginations may lead us to begin placing him at the great battles of the first 15 years of the war, like the embarrassing Spartan defeat at Pylos/Sphacteria (425) which ended in a Spartan surrender (something unheard of at the time), or the great Spartan victory at Mantinea (418), the reality is that we do not know.

When Clearchus does finally arrive in the histories, it is the year 412 and he is already 38 years old. His role within the Spartan army was not on land but at sea, where he was continually given command of Spartan fleets when they were in the region of the Hellespont. His connection to the region went beyond a purely military one because he had the distinct honour of being named as the appointed representative (proxenos) to the city of Byzantium. This position gave him the responsibility of representing Byzantine interests in Sparta. It was a role that he may have possibly inherited from his father, or alternatively one that was granted to him by the authorities in Byzanitum. If the latter was the case then this suggests that Clearchus had spent more time in the region than the few meagre references in Thucydides advocate.

In 410 Clearchus has part of a Spartan fleet that was defeated by the Athenians at the battle of Cyzicus, a battle in which the forces under his direct command were said to have “inflicted and suffered much punishment” (Diodorus, XIII.51.4). Clearchus returned to Sparta following the battle, but soon went back to the Hellespont at the behest of the Spartan King Agis. Agis handpicked Clearchus specifically because of his relationship as proxenos to Byzantium and his job was simple: cut off the Athenian grain supply that was coming through the Hellespont.

Byzantium

For two years Clearchus stayed in Byzantium, using it as a base of control over the region. He had complete authority in his position as a military governor (harmost), and it was an authority which he quickly abused.

His reign was as harsh as it was austere. For two long years the Byzantines put up with him and his soldiers’ antics before they could finally act. Unable to forcefully remove him from power, the people of Byzantium had to wait until a situation occurred that would redress the balance of power. A situation that arrived in 408 when the Athenian general Alcibiades laid siege to the city.

The siege began with fruitless results. Wave upon wave of attacks were repulsed by Clearchus and his mixed force of both Spartan and mercenary troops. As the siege wore on, Clearchus decided to take a more dynamic approach and left the city in the hands of two subordinate commanders as he went east to the palace of the Persian governor (satrap) Pharnabazos in search of more support. Clearchus was so confident in the fear-induced loyalty that he possessed over the Byzantine people, that he never considered the prospect of the Byzantine people betraying him, but betray him they did.

Whilst Clearchus was away, the gates of Byzantium were opened by conspirators within the city and Alcibiades gained unabated access. The Spartan force could do nothing to resist and inevitably surrendered to avoid a massacre. When one of the conspirators was later put on trial in Sparta, he defended himself in such a way that exposes the harsh regime he and his people had been forced to endure under the authority of Clearchus:

“[He] did not betray the city but, rather, saved it, for he saw the women and children perishing by famine, since Clearchus gave all the food in the city to the Spartan soldiers.” (Xenophon, Hellenica, 1.19)

Amazingly, with this defence he avoided the penalty of death that befitted his crime.

Following the fall of Byzantium, Clearchus seems to have returned to his former role within the Spartan navy. He was present at the battle of Arginusae (406), yet another Spartan defeat on the sea, where he was second-in-command to Callicratidas. Following this, Clearchus seems to have remained with the fleet which continued to be stationed in and around the Hellespont region. If this was the case then he would have been in the fleet that Lysander led in his victory over the Athenian navy at Aegospotami (405). The victory had a resounding impact on the war, finally cutting off the grain supply that was feeding Athens and decimating a large proportion of their fleet. Athens could fight no more.

For Clearchus, the victory brought an end to his long period away from home. Having been absent from Sparta almost continuously for eight years, his return to the strict regime of obedience and austerity must have come as a shock to a man who had tasted authority and more relaxed codes of conduct. To make matters worse, it is likely that when Clearchus returned home in 404 he was imposed with a fine by the Spartan authorities for the loss of Byzantium four years earlier.

In the year 403 Byzantium had need for a Spartan presence once more. The Thracian tribes which neighboured Byzantium were harassing the citizenry, and beginning to threaten the security of the city itself. Depending on your source, either the Byzantines went to their proxenos, Clearchus, who in turn petitioned the Spartan authorities to give him an army to aid the Greeks (Xenophon), or the Spartans were petitioned by the Byzantines and they in turn chose to send Clearchus (Diodorus). According to Xenophon, Clearchus did not even get as far as the Corinthian isthmus before he was recalled to Sparta for some unknown reason, but he ignored the orders and sailed on to Byzantium for which he became an exile.

Both Diodorus and Polyaenus give very different accounts of what happened compared to Xenophon. Polyaenus claims that Clearchus received his commission and sailed to the Hellespontine city of Lampsacus, a place famous for its wine and luxurious living, where he ‘pretended’ to get drunk and live it up, until the Byzantines begged him to enter the city and help them. He agreed and, through subterfuge, killed the two generals posted in Byzantium. Clearchus then made sure the hoplite forces of Byzantium were out of the city whilst he moved his own inside and from their took control. Diodorus’ account corroborates Polyaneus’, except there is no mention of Clearchus getting drunk, and he kills a lot more people inside Byzantium.

For Clearchus, he was free once more - reveling outside of the shackles of Spartan control, he began to rule Byzantium like a tyrant. When the Spartans heard about the power he had taken they sent ambassadors to implore that he lay down his authority, but to no avail. They in turn sent an army against him, and when Clearchus heard of their approach he decided that he would not run into exile, as we might have expected, but that he would instead try and face them in the field with his own meagre force.

The battle lasted much of the day, but the Spartan supremacy finally overwhelmed Clearchus’ army and Clearchus escaped to the city of Selymbria. The city was quickly put under siege and Clearchus, fearful for his life, fled at night and crossed the Hellespont into Asia. His flight drove him south into Ionia and into the lands of the Persian prince Cyrus.

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With the Army of Cyrus

Cyrus was an ambitious man with clandestine plans to overthrow his brother, Artaxerxes, and make himself the Great King of all of Persia. On meeting Clearchus, he saw an opportunity to develop his forces further and duly funded Clearchus to raise an army to do with what he wished, until the time came that Cyrus may call upon him. For the exiled Spartan there was but one choice, he would restart his own war against the hated Thracians, a war he never got to finish from his time in Byzantium.

He headed back across the Hellespont and set up a base in the Chersonese (modern Gallipoli peninsula) from where he began a two years long private war. Little of the specificities of this conflict are known, but it seems that Clearchus did win a decisive land battle before engaging in a marauding-style campaign that spread terror and devastation through nearby Thracian lands. Clearchus’ actions during this private war formed a large part of his legend in the ancient world:

“Clearchus was opposed to peace on any terms, and to prove this, he ordered his cooks to cut into pieces two or three Thracian bodies, and hang them up. He told them, if any Thracians asked what this meant, to reply that they were being prepared for Clearchus’s supper.” (Polyaenus, 2.8)

But, in 401, Clearchus was forced to leave the Hellespont once more, he had received his call to arms from Cyrus. He quickly departed with a modest force of 2,000 veterans, which interestingly included a large contingent of native Thracian warriors, and joined the march with Cyrus’ army at the city of Celaenae in Phrygia.

By the time they had reached Tarsus on the Cilician coast (directly north of Cyprus) the army had experienced its first loss of men in combat, 200 in all, and the comrades of the fallen took their anger and frustration out on the city by looting it and the ornate palace that it housed. For twenty days the army stalled, with the men refusing to march on. Clearchus was the first commander who actually tried to force his men to move, but he was met with a barrage of stones being thrown at him. Escaping narrowly from an inglorious death, he realised that forcing his men would not work, so instead he decided to manipulate them.

Clearchus called a meeting of his men and, before he spoke, he just stood there weeping in front of them - much to their shock and surprise. Finally, he restrained himself and delivered a speech in which he spoke of his conflict of loyalty between his friend, Cyrus, and his comrades-in-arms. He said that he would chose them, promising to stand by them against the unfair demands of Cyrus. He didn’t mean a single word of it. But his words convinced the Greeks to make him their unofficial leader: they trusted him, and believed in him, as he manipulated their fears and orchestrated a U-turn of intent which ended with the Greeks agreeing to continue the march with Cyrus. It was a masterstroke of emotional manipulation that ended with him having almost complete, though unofficial, authority over the Greek contingent. It also forced Cyrus to accept Clearchus as a powerful commander within his army.

Clearchus’ position was not unanimously accepted, however. A dispute broke out between one of his veterans from Thrace and a soldier from the Thessalian contingent under the command of Menon. Clearchus blamed Menon’s man and had him flogged as punishment. This greatly irked the Thessalians, capital punishment was not a common occurrence in wider Greek military practices, and when Clearchus was found to be walking through their side of camp Menon’s soldiers attacked him.

Barely escaping with his life, Clearchus fled to his own men and called them to arms. Whilst his hoplites began to don their weapons and armour, he took 40 Thracians with him and returned to Menon’s position causing great panic amongst the Thessalians. The two sides almost came to blows, with Clearchus consumed by an overpowering blood lust. Only the intervention of Cyrus was enough to stop the two sides fighting, because “[Cyrus’] words brought Clearchus back to his senses” (Anabasis 1.5.17).

The long march of Cyrus finally came to a climactic end at the battle of Cunaxa (401). Clearchus had by this point become fully incorporated into Cyrus’ inner circle and was given the pride of place on the right wing of the army’s battle line. During the battle, Clearchus refused to follow the orders of Cyrus who had asked him to change his position from the flank to come centrally and directly attack the position of King Artaxerxes. He chose instead to remain in his original position where he had great success against the Persian left flank, driving them back and pursuing them from the field.

Leading the Mercenaries

Unfortunately for Cyrus, Clearchus’ success on the right flank was not enough to win the day; with Cyrus struck down in the central melee the battle was quickly lost. Now that Cyrus was dead, Clearchus assumed his ostensibly natural position of ultimate authority over the remaining army:

“From then on, Clearchus took command and the rest obeyed – not because they had elected him to this position, but because he was plainly the only one with the mentality of a leader, while the rest were untried.” (Anabasis, 2.2.5).

Clearchus’ tenure of command was only a short one, and was dominated by misgivings of trust and ubiquitous fear on the part of himself and his men. Within a very short period of time the Persian commander Tissaphernes was able to manipulate the Greek situation, sowing paranoid thoughts into the mind of their commanders – the fear that one of them would betray the rest through a deal with the Persians. Tissaphernes convinced the Greek commanders to meet with him so that he could disclose the names of those Greeks who were plotting against the rest of the army, but instead laid a trap and captured them as they entered his tent. Clearchus was subsequently taken to King Artaxerxes for execution.

Whilst imprisoned, Clearchus struck up an unlikely friendship with the Greek physician Ctesias, who stayed in the court of Artaxerxes and wrote about their encounter. Ctesias implies that their friendship was struck over the request of an unassuming comb, which Clearchus asked for so that he could dress his hair. In return for this favour, Clearchus gave his ring and told Ctesias to show his family and friends in Sparta to prove their bond. The King’s mother, Parysatis, took pity on Clearchus and ordered that a knife be placed in his food, so that he could commit suicide with dignity, but Ctesias refused to deliver it, leaving Clearchus to receive his prescribed fate.

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Clearchus’ Death

Clearchus was killed, with the other Greek generals, at the hands of the Persian satrap Tissaphernes. The sources disagree about Clearchus’ role in the treachery; whether it was Tissaphernes’ manipulation of Clearchus own self interests and distrust of others, as put forward by Xenophon; or that Clearchus distrusted Tissaphernes and advised the men not to go, as put forward by Ctesias, a Greek physician in the pay of the Persians.

Either way, Clearchus was most likely taken to the Persian King and beheaded; but not before he struck up an unlikely friendship with Ctesias. Although not the most reliable of sources (Plutarch even accuses Ctesias of being both a Laconophile and a Clearchophile), Ctesias does present an image which suggests that Clearchus was held captive for quite a while. However, we do know that Meno was the last commander to be killed, so that puts Clearchus’ imprisonment at under one year.

Whilst imprisoned, his Spartan upbringing was betrayed by his request for a comb, thus cementing his friendship with Ctesias:

“[Clearchus] asked him to provide him with a comb. And after he received it and dressed his hair, he was pleased at the service and gave Ctesias his ring as a sign of friendship to show to his family and friends in Sparta” (Ctesias, as relayed in Plutarch, Life of Artaxerxes 18)

It is indeterminable how true this tale of friendship was, nor too is the story that Clearchus asked Ctesias for a small knife to be hidden in some meat – whether this was to aid an escape or commit suicide is not made clear. But the presence of such an account, combined with Ctesias apparent admiration for Clearchus, does suggest that they met, and spent some time together. So, although the personal stories may not all be accurate portrayals, it is very probable that Clearchus was imprisoned and Ctesias spoke with him often. At the point of Clearchus’ death his own myth was beginning to grow with immediacy:

“After his execution, a marvellous thing happened. A strong wind sprang up and heaped a quantity of earth upon his body, which formed a natural tomb.” Photius, Bibliotheca, 72.44a20-b19

Clearchus’ personality

With Clearchus, we find ourselves in a very rare situation for the Classical Greek world, where one of our main sources for his life actually knew him and served under his command. Xenophon, a writer and intelligent polymath who marched with the army of Cyrus, gives a eulogising obituary in his narrative account of their march home after the defeat at Cunaxa.

He described Clearchus as a man devoted to warfare, and a brilliant commander who inspired the confidence of his men. He enjoyed danger, remained level-headed in highly stressful situations, and was willing to march on the enemy at any hour day or night. But he was also a strict disciplinarian with a “spear in his left hand and a stick in his right” (Anabasis, 2.3.11), who could not handle being disobeyed, often dealing out beatings of punishment out of anger rather than authoritative control.

Clearchus believed that soldiers should have been more afraid of their commanders than they were of their enemy. It made him a great commander, but a horrible person in the eyes of his men: “In other words, men never followed him out of affection or loyalty” (Anabasis, 2.6.12–13).

He was not like other men in Cyrus’ army: he did not spend money on pretty boys or choose an easy life for himself. When he could easily have chosen a life of peace, he always pursued war. He preferred a life of danger, of hard-work, and of violence.

He was too extreme for Sparta, and so afraid of peace that he had to wage his own war just so that he could maintain his self-identity.

Welcome to this month’s Ancient History Roundup! Let’s take a look at the ancient news that has been making the headlines.

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Siege weapon at Pompeii

Researchers think they may have found evidence of a siege weapon that we have only really known about from written sources. Holes in the city walls of Pompeii show the marks and spray pattern of a chain driven, bolt thrower that could release its ammunition in very fast bursts. Yes, that’s right; a semi-automatic siege weapon!

New Greek philosophy just dropped

‘Ancient History? Nothing changes!’ How wrong my doubters are. A team in Liège have identified a 2,000 year old papyrus with 30 previously unknown verses from the 5th century BCE philosopher Empedocles of Agrigentum in Sicily. The researchers have pointed out the importance of the discovery, as up until now we could only know about Empedocles’ work via other writers. This is the first discovery of his own work!

Ancient Native American dice

A recent study has shown that dice, yes dice, have been used in the Americas for over 12,000 years. This pushes back the use of dice in all human history by 6,000 years! It also offers insight into ancient native American culture. It shows a structured gamification of chance and probability. Interestingly, the evidence suggests that they may have been used more by women more than men.

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Ancient diseases

We have not one but two stories about ancient diseases this month. The first looks at the transmission of syphilis in ancient Vietnam and suggests that long standing assumptions about the presence of syphilis in ancient south Vietnam may have been misattributed and are some instances a non-venereal treponemal disease, such as yaws. The researchers highlight that there is great difficulty in studying ancient disease like this, even when we have the bodies to study!

The second story is about a 2,000 year old body found in the Philippines has been found to have died with scurvy. The burial pit did not bear any grave goods, which is culturally unusual, so it seems the person was differentiated in death - we just don’t know what that means as yet.

Ancient Egyptian Tipp-Ex

The final story for this roundup is a favourite. The Egyptians used Tipp-Ex! A papyrus from a Book of the Dead that is over 3,000 years old has been found to show that the artist used a white pigment to change the shape of a jackal figure - to make him look slimmer. I now have visions of an ancient Egyptian holding a Tipp-Ex mouse … remember those?!

A quick update from me! I have a new podcast interview out with Ancient History 101 all about the life and works of Xenophon of Athens. It was great fun, so give it a listen by clicking here.

I have had two translations of my book recently released: one in Vietnamese and the other in Turkish!

I have also set up two Bookshop lists - one for my book and further reading, the other for the newsletter - so books will be linked to my affiliate store and a small amount of the sales will go towards the running of BadAncient.com and this newsletter

Right, on to the topic of the day…

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I am a bit of an oddity in the (British) world of ancient history. Here, ancient history is the younger sibling of Classics, a subject that centres around the language and literature of ancient Greece and Rome. As such, the general trajectory for people wishing to pursue higher education in the subject is to start with Latin and then, usually, learning Greek.

I never learned Latin and didn’t start learning ancient Greek until the my PhD, which was quite an experience I can tell you. Probably a story for another newsletter! Learning languages does not come easily to me, but as I get older it is something I wish I had persevered with more. So, recently I decided that I wanted to add another ancient language to my skill set and, at the same time, I have become somewhat obsessed with ancient Indian history since I began researching for The Far Edges of the Known World five years ago.

Therefore, I have decided to learn Sanskrit as a way to engage more directly with the evidence and because I fancied a challenge. I do not have the time, inclination, or finances to join classes (either online or in person) — I learned from doing Greek that these kinds of environments are not suited to get the best out of me as a learner — so I am doing this autodidactically. Solo.

On my hunt for a guide, I was surprised by how limited the available resources are to do this. If I chose to do this for Greek or Latin, for instance, I can name numerous books aimed at a variety of ages and levels that a self-disciplined learner could take themselves from no-knowledge to capable reader quite happily. For Sanskrit, I could find one, but it is a good one.

A.M. Ruppel, The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit (2020, 8th printing)

I am currently working my way through the Sanskrit ‘alphabet’ at the moment, something the text book points out is hard work but worthwhile to do early on. I will trust in the system! I remember really struggling with the basics of Greek at the start; we had a test in the second week of class that you had to pass or you were thrown off the course … I passed by 0 marks, you needed 40/100 and that was what I got.

I had a supervisor who once compared Greek and Latin: saying Greek is very difficult at the start, but gets easier at the more advanced levels (i.e. you get used to it and it becomes manageable), whereas Latin starts easy but gets more and more difficult as you advance. She may have been trying to boost my confidence at the time, but in hindsight she was right about the Greek. Here is hoping Sanskrit follows in a similar vein.

If you are interested in trying to learn Sanskrit — because why not? — the textbook does not have the answers to its exercises, it is designed for use in class as well as solo. But you can click on this link and request the answer sheets via email. It also has useful posters and materials to aid in learning the language, especially at the start.

And I found this really simple app to practice my character recognition. I have the vowels embedded now, but my consonants still need a lot of work! Slow progress, but we will get there.

If anyone takes up Sanskrit, let me know how you are getting on! Better to share in our struggles than face them alone.

It is that time once more! Let us look at some of the latest news and updates from the world of ancient history.

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New Podcast

Let us begin with an excellent new podcast that launched - rather notably - on the Ides of March (15th March), The podcast is one I mentioned in a previous post a while back, Ancient History 101 hosted by Alexandra Sills (who is also part of the editorial team for BadAncient.com). In each episode, Sills interviews an expert of the ancient world about a specific topic, person from history, event, or what have you. I was lucky enough to be invited on to talk about the Spartan Mirage (a major methodological problem whenever you are talking about the ancient Spartans) and about my favourite ancient Greek historian, Xenophon of Athens. We have also recorded a bonus episode about how I designed and wrote The Far Edges of the Known World.

Having seen the list of contributors, click here, I can tell you this is something you will definitely want to be following!

Ancient prosthetic jaw!

The first piece of news that really caught my eye came out of Siberia, where researchers have scanned the partially mummified skull of a Scythian woman and discovered that she had previously broken the right side of her jaw. This would have stopped her being able to speak or eat without considerable pain. More remarkable, they found that this women received medical aid: someone drilled two holes into her jaw and, using horse hair or animal tendons, held the right-sided joint together. This would have allowed her to continue using her jaw, but eating on the right side of her mouth would still have caused considerable pain.

Oldest metal drill

Researchers from the University of Newcastle, UK, have identified the earliest known metal drill from Egypt. Likely dating back some 5,300 years ago, the drill is made of a copper alloy and measures 2.5 inches long. It was originally presumed to be an awl or a punching tool, but more recent analysis has shown indications that it was used in conjunction with a bow to drill down into wood or stone. If this is correct, then the Egyptians had mastered accurate rotary drilling more than 2,000 years before the archaeological record reveals some of the best preserved drill sets.

Indian graffiti in Egyptian tombs

Ancient Indian graffiti has been found in several tombs from the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. Dating from the 1st-3rd century CE, several Indian people came to Egypt and left their mark at some of the most famous tombs in all of the ancient world. At least three different Indian languages have been identified, including Tamil which was spoken in the south of India. Egypt then, as now, was something of a tourist attraction during the Roman Imperial period. Some of these inscriptions identify the men as being sent as messengers and envoys from Kings in India, who clearly fancied a bit of sight seeing whilst they were there.

Even ancient Indian graffiti has a modern feel to it. Once of the writers, a man called Cikai Korran, wrote eight messages in five different tombs offering the equivilent of ‘Cikai was ‘ere’: “Cikai Korran came here and saw”.

If you want to read more about Indian contact with Egypt, read about Buddhism in Egypt here. Or if you are interested in the interaction between Indian and the ancient Mediterranean more broadly, read about this amazing artifact found in Pompeii.

In other news

There are a couple of news stories that have caught my eye but, to be honest, I have not yet decided what to make of them! So rather than write them up with some form of validation, I will just point you to them.

The first has been doing the rounds as it claims to be the earliest form of human writing, dating back 40,000 years ago. The researchers themselves do not make this claim, but the complex use of symbols to communicate information is still interesting (if not unique).

The second, I am always suspicious of stories like this one. Researchers claim to have found a way that ergot could have been made safe for consumption and used ritualistically during the Eleusinian Mysteries. It is based on the discovery of trace amounts of ergot alkaloids at an Eleusinian temple in Spain. The research shows that the fungus can be made safe to eat through a simple process, but does not show that the ergot present at the temple was actually safe. It is a hypothetical solution to a problem the researchers have made for themselves.

There is a tendency to try and rationalise belief in the ancient world, so halucinagenics offer a ‘rational’ explanation for beliefs we consider irrational. But, of course, the ancient world did not consider them irrational. So you would not have needed an external stimulus to believe you see or experience the divine around you.

This doesn’t make the researchers wrong, but it does make me suspicious as to what they have actually proven.

I live in an area of the UK which has just hosted a by-election for our local member of parliament. So I thought, with democracy on the mind, why no look back at some of the thoughts of ancient Athens’ famous lawgiver Solon - considered by many to be the man who laid the groundwork for Athenian democracy.

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About Solon

Solon was an Athenian aristocrat born in the 7th century BCE; we are told that he was wealthy but not among the richest in Athens. When 7th century Athens survived its first would-be tyrant, a man by the name of Cylon, they looked to Solon for guidance. His input helped in the purification of the city and no doubt played some part in the decision to write down the laws of Athens, for which they brought in the infamous Draco to do so.

By the 6th century, Athens was on the verge of civil war. The laws had done little to diminish the growing gap between rich and poor. Due to a system of debt, in which poorer Athenians rented the land from the wealthy and, if their debts built up too high, the security of that debt was the person themselves, or their family. In effect, they were enslaved to the wealthy.

Solon was given full authority for a single year, during his time as an elected official (an archon), with which to re-write the laws and political system of Athens. Like any good politician, he was a beacon of hope for both rich and poor. His slogan was simple:

Equality breeds no strife

While we know he was a great writer, none of his writings really survive in full. We do have numerous quotes and paraphrases from other authors, often drawing from his poetry, which offer glimpses into his thoughts about the task at hand. So lets take a look at some of them! These all come from Plutarch’s Life of Solon, there are more quotes in other sources, but Plutarch offers the broadest range in a single work so is a great place to start.

Solon on trying to appease both rich and poor

Solon knew that he was stuck in the middle between two very juxtaposed groups - the haves and the have nots. The rich wanted their prestige and wealth to remain, but for the growing animosity and potential for violence to disappear; the poor wanted their freedom and a sense of fairness in how they were being dealt with. Among many of his reforms, Solon cancelled all debts, freeing the poor and liberating all enslaved Athenians in the process.

But he did not build a democracy. He created a system which still kept the rich at the top of the political pile (the poorest class could not hold every political office); and he did not redistribute the land or try to build anything close to equality. Chances are he knew that large scale changes, for either group, was going to result in conflict:

In matters of great importance, it is difficult to please everyone.

Solon on his reforms

It is always useful to look at any political and social reform through a series of lenses. Usually we look at it from the effects that it had on a society; looking at it in action and based on later changes that were implemented. But for Solon, we can also get a glimpse of his own perspective; what he thought he was trying to achieve.

In one fragment of his poetry, he tells us:

To the demos, I gave them as much power as they needed,

Neither degrading them, nor giving them too much.

While for those who had power and great wealth

I saw to it that they suffered no harm.

I stood with a mighty shield before both of them

And stopped either from prevailing unjustly.

Solon on demagogues and the manipulation of the people

When Solon completed his laws, he left Athens in a self imposed exile for 10 years, to let the laws settle and the people of Athens to learn how to navigate them. On his return, he must have been quite dismayed. The people were once again in turmoil and forming opposing factions, only for a tyrant to appear and take power - Pisistratus.

This was a situation he had been afraid could happen. He knew that the general population could be easily swayed by a clever speaker He commented that the people ‘hang on the words of crafty men’. How true he was.

After the demos (the citizens of Athens) voted on, and agreed, to give Pisistratus an armed bodyguard — which gave him the means to take power for his first period of tyranny (he would have 3 in total) — Solon was even more scathing:

Individually, each of you is as clever as a fox on the move,

But as a collective, you have an empty mind.

Concerns about Solon’s laws

Plutarch tells as a rather curious story where Solon was met by another of the great sages of the 6th century, Anacharsis of Scythia. The philosopher was travelling to Athens and soon befriended Solon. During a conversation about Solon’s plans for his written laws that, he believed, would bring fairness and justice to all Athenians, Anacharsis gave a rather astute observation that holds as much resonance now as it did 2,500 years ago. He laughed and compared the idea of using written laws to constrain the greed and injustice in Athens to creating a spider’s web:

[T]hey would hold the weak and delicate who might be caught in them, but they would be ripped apart by those with power and money.

Anacharsis is one of those figures who may or may not have been real, but the little we are told about him the more I wish we knew! He is said to have attended an Assembly meeting on the Pnyx, after which he claimed he was amazed to find that in Greece ‘the wise men do the talking, but it is the fools that make the decisions’.

Solon on allowing a tyranny

Pisistratus’ power grab must have been a real source of anger for Solon. His laws were effectively ignored because of a populist leader convincing the people that his rule was for the benefit of all.

Oddly enough, Pisistratus’ tyranny was not remembered with ill-feeling in ancient Athens, but for Solon we have a fragment of a poem where his anger was clearly placed at the feet of the people:

If you are now suffering as a result of your own cowardice,

Do not look to blame the wrath of the gods,

For it was you that increased his power and guard

And that is why you are now all sorry slaves.

Solon knew, better than anyone, that if power and authority is given to the people — and that power is truly in their hands — it becomes theirs to give away. In a robust democracy, individual power is not taken, it is given by the people and often with great enthusiasm.

So as elections come and go and democracy is continuously spouted as the legacy of ‘Western Civilisation’, it is useful to look back and see what the earliest democracies were really like. What problems they were trying to resolve and what problems they were continuing to face. Many of the observations are as relevant now as they ever were.

Welcome to this month’s Ancient History Roundup. But before we get on with that, we have a giveaway to talk about!

Signed Paperback Copies

The paperback editions of The Far Edges of the Known World are back from the printers and will be making their way to bookshops in the UK at the end of February. But in the meantime, much to my wife’s frustration, I have been sent a box filled with copies! So I have decided (with a little nudge from her) to offer these up as an incentive to switch to a paid subscription for this newsletter.

I will sign and send out a copy to the next 10 people, from the UK, to sign up as paid subscribers. For those of you have already have paid subscriptions - thank you! I have already saved a pile for you. If you would like one, send me a DM and I will send one out to you - again, if you are in the UK. Once the US and other editions (hopefully) move into paperback, I will look to do a similar offer with them.

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Big news in late antiquity!

This could be very big news in the field of late antiquity and the early middle ages. A chronicle, written by an anonymous member of a Syriac Christian community, has been deciphered. Dating from around 712/13 CE, it was originally writing in Syriac before later being translated into Arabic, but it is the content of the surviving manuscript that is so exciting. One of its most illuminating sections covers the 7th century: the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, the rise of Islam, the early Arab conquests, and later Arab–Byzantine conflicts. It also covers places much further afield such as the Balkans, Sicily and Rome as well.

Friends who work in this field are very excited about the prospect of having new evidence to work with for this period. And if they are excited, then it must be something to be excited about!

Roman Shipwreck

I love a good shipwreck. There is something so evocative and otherworldly about seeing the images on the sea floor. The ship and its contents often appearing from the sands below like a time capsule from another world! So news from Italy of a Roman ship wreck off the coast near Puglia have piqued my interest. It was originally discovered by a police patrol, of all things, and was kept secret to protect it from looters. The ship is thought to have been a merchant ship from around the 4th century CE, with speculation that it may have been to north Africa. But we await more details and discoveries as studies continue.

War Elephant in Spain?

An elephant bone has been found at an ancient site in southern Spain, dating back 2,250 years ago. This is a little odd as elephants did not live in Spain during this period. But any keen eyed historians (and mathematicians) may notice that 2,250 years ago, is roughly the same time in which a certain Carthaginian commander by the name of Hannibal was leading his elephants across the Alps. His march began in, you guessed it, the south of Spain! Could this be a bone from one of his elephants? Who knows, but it would be cool if it was.

Rock art in Sinai

Egyptian rock art has been found on the rock panel known as Wadi Khamila in Sinai. Famous for is Nabataean inscriptions, researchers have found older ones that seem to commemorate the Egyptian colonisation of Sinai. Alongside images of a dominant, Pharaoh like figure standing above a cowering, bent over individual - the message is clear - there is also a small piece of writing: “God Min, ruler of copper ore / the mining region”. The copper-rich lands of Sinai were clearly the main attraction to Egyptian expansion in the area. While the Min was a god with many different hats, but one of those hats was as the divine protector of Egyptians when they were outside of the Nile Valley. And for this man, solider or otherwise, the reference to Min was clearly an important one.

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Public talk

I suppose the logical thing to start with is that I am giving a talk about the Far Edges of the Known World on the 27 January at StonyWords, a literature festival held at Stony Stratford in England.

For any who may be interested to come along and say hello, you can book tickets here.

Podcasts

At the end of 2025, which seems a lifetime ago now (how has so much happened in the world in the space of 2 weeks?!), I recorded two interviews which are now out.

The first was with the podcast Let’s Talk about Myths, Baby!, where Liv Albert and I go on a meandering conversation about a variety of themes and case studies from The Far Edges of the Known World. Unlike other interviews I have done about the book, the lack of structure to this one really allowed us to cover a lot of ideas and contexts to the book in a really fun way. To give it a listen, click here.

The second interview was with the The Ancients podcast. Tristan invited me back on the show alongside my good friend Dr Roel Konijnendijk. We talked Tristan through the story of Sparta’s fall from power in the 4th century BCE - definitley a great story from the history books. I always like doing interviews with Roel because we have known each other for so long it is always a fun and relaxed affair. We also inevitably disagree on some things! To give it a listen, click here.

I have also not long recorded an interview for a new podcast hosted by my Bad Ancient colleague Alexandra Sills called Ancient History 101. It is the perfect podcast for enthusiasts, students and history lovers, with each episode taking a deep dive into a piece of art or literature, an ancient building or city, the biography of a historical figure, or a specific historical event. Sorting facts from fiction, adding vital context to anecdotes, and learning all about new discoveries and current scholarship as Alexandra chats with classicists, ancient historians and archaeologists. My episode is an introduction to something called the Spartan Mirage - a vital concept to understand before you read anything about ancient Sparta. It will be out in the next few months, so stay tuned!

Book translations

Readers who prefer their books in something other than English, I have news.

The Dutch, German, Italian and Greek editions all came out last year.

The Spanish edition is coming out on the 21st January.

And we also have a Turkish, Russian and Vietnamese edition in the works as well - I will let you know when each of them are out. I am particularly pleased about the Vietnamese translation! Having a chapter on ancient Vietnam in the book meant that this became one of my earliest goals, so I am really pleased this is going to happen

Paperback

The paperback edition of my book is coming out in February. So if you have been waiting to get the book for yourself or someone you know, take a look!

Right, that is enough self promotion. Back to work.

Let’s kick start 2026 with an ancient history roundup, looking at some of the ancient history headlines that have caught my eye!

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Iron age battle trumpet found in East Anglia

Some stories just tell themselves, with little need of explanation. Researchers have found a near-complete battle trumpet and a bronze boar head which would have been part of a military standard The hoard dates somewhere between 50 BCE — 50 CE, meaning these may have been seen by the Romans during Claudius’ invasion in 43 CE! Researchers have also pointed out that these items are also seen regularly on the European mainland, once again reminding us of the cultural connections between Britain and Europe at that time.

Ireland’s largest prehistoric settlement

Recent studies of Brusselstown Ring hillfort in Co. Wicklow, Ireland, have uncovered evidence of 600 house platforms and a purpose made cistern. The fort emerges sometime around 1200 BCE and with this new revelation it makes this the largest nucleated site in all of prehistoric Ireland or Britain. Indeed, it pushed back our estimates for proto-urabinsation in northern Europe by 500 years! An amazing discovery.

Mammoth-bone buildings in Ukraine

Another one from our childhood imaginations! Researchers have possibly cracked the mystery of some man-made structures dating back 18,000 years ago, made from the tusks of mammoths. Recent studies have dated some organic finds inside the structures and shown that these buildings were used over a period of 400 years but only for short periods at a time, suggesting that they were permanent shelters to be used for protection in harsh weather.

A sh!t life for Romans along Hadrian’s Wall

Anyone who has read The Far Edges of the Known World will know how much I am fascinated by the mundane. And nothing can be more mundane than toilets. But for archaeologists they are a treasure trove of information about the lives of ancient people. Recent studies of the crap found at the fort at Vindolanda shows that the soldiers were infected with parasitic worms and were dealing with diarrhoea. Not quite as romantic as our history books and movies make out …

Time for this month’s Ancient History Roundup!

Two events in January

News of two history-related events in January, what better way to kickstart 2026! The first is a talk by Bad Ancient’s very own Alexandra Sills, on Women of the Roman Arena. It is part of the Gladiators of Chester collection and will take place on Jan 15 from 7pm to 8pm GMT. Should be a great evening, click here to book tickets

The second event, I will be speaking at Stony Words, a literature festival held at Stony Stratford, all about The Far Edges of the Known World; it is on Tuesday January 27, at 7pm. Click here to book tickets.

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Discovery of earliest known, human-made fire

Let’s start with one of the biggest stories of the year! Archaeologists have uncovered evidence for human-made fire at a site in Barnham (Suffolk), England. The discovery pushes our evidence back 350,000 years! Now, many are reporting this incorrectly - scholars have long known that man has used fire since much earlier than 50,000 years ago, we have evidence of it going back 800,000 years ago, but the earlier sites did not have any evidence of fire-making tools. So, this discovery — which includes two pieces of iron pyrite, a mineral not found in the area but when struck produces sparks — does not push back our dating for man’s use of fire, it simply provides evidence for what has long been suspected, that humanity has had the means of making fire for hundreds of thousands of years.

Egyptian pleasure boat discovered

I love it when researchers uncover ancient boats and ships. I don’t know what it is about them, but I find the photos a real sight to behold. Maybe it is just the idea that wooden crafts, thousands of years old, can still be found; like they have cheated time itself. So the news of an Egyptian pleasure boat being found off the coast of Alexandria very much caught my eye. The first of its kind to be found, the large boat (115 feet in length!) dates to the first half of the 1st century CE and would have been used to carry important, wealthy people to religious festivities and the like. Pre-Roman occupation, pleasure boats were used by the royal court. Researchers suggest that this boat, which date to after the Roman occupation, may have been part of a procession to celebrate the goddess Isis.

Kerma Culture burial found in Sudan

Anyone who has read The Far Edges of the Known World will hopefully have gathered how fascinating I find the Kerma Culture and the later Kushite kingdom. So this recent publication of a burial dating from the Middle Kerma period (1775–1609 cal. BCE) is exciting news. The burial was for a man whose body bears the hallmarks of a life of hard labour and malnutrition or disease. He was discovered with two ritual bowls beside him; one turned upside down, possibly to symbolise the ‘emptying of life’, and the second filled with traces of a fire, animal bones and insects, suggesting some sort of ritual and ceremony had taken place.

Research on ancient China

Two news stories from China this month. The first I just loved reading about because DNA analysis has confirmed an oral tradition in the Bo community stretching back 3,000 years! Oral histories of the Bo people mention the local hanging coffins — wooden coffins placed on beams which are embedded in cliffs or at the entrances of caves — as being their ancestors. However, written records suggest that the people who left those coffins (also called Bo) were persecuted by the Ming dynasty and disappear from the records by the 17th century. Research has since proven that the modern Bo are direct descendants of the ancient Bo, thus suggesting their oral histories are perhaps worth a bit more than the paper other histories are written on…

The second story is also about DNA analysis, this time at the neolithic city of Shimao. Founded somewhere around 4,200 BCE, Shimao is one of the earliest and largest examples of a prehistoric cities in China. The studies suggest that the inhabitants who built the city were locals whose roots in the area went back a thousand years prior. They have also been examining evidence of human sacrifice found at the site as well.

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I do not often write about my academic research on this newsletter - in part because it is not always pleasant reading. But one area of my research that often attracts much public interest (and disgust, it must be said) is my work on the Athenian war dead.

During my PhD, I began to investigate the logistics behind their policy of repatriation. We are told by our sources that they would cremate the war dead on the battlefield and bring home the remains for burial as part of a large public funeral. I wrote this up for a now defunct blog, so I thought I would re-share it here.

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When we think about returning soldiers, our image is one consumed by the living. The returning warrior, his longing wife, the children waiting to embrace him, his parents wanting to know that he is safe. And yet, in some military cultures it was not just the living who would return home.

Classical Athens (5th-4th century B.C.) is the first European example known from the historic record to practice repatriation for its war dead. According to Thucydides (our main source) the war dead were burned on the battlefield, transported home, and then given an elaborate public funeral in which the remains of the dead were buried in a public cemetery (Thucydides 2.34.1-6):

In the same winter the Athenians gave a funeral at the public cost to those who had first fallen in this war. It was a custom of their ancestors, and the manner of it is as follows. [2] Three days before the ceremony, the bones of the dead are laid out in a tent which has been erected; and their friends bring to their relatives such offerings as they please. [3] In the funeral procession cypress coffins are borne in cars, one for each tribe; the bones of the deceased being placed in the coffin of their tribe. Among these is carried one empty bier decked for the missing, that is, for those whose bodies could not be recovered. [4] Any citizen or stranger who pleases, joins in the procession: and the female relatives are there to wail at the burial. [5] The dead are laid in the public sepulchre in the most beautiful suburb of the city, in which those who fall in war are always buried; with the exception of those slain at Marathon, who for their singular and extraordinary valor were interred on the spot where they fell. [6] After the bodies have been laid in the earth, a man chosen by the state, of approved wisdom and eminent reputation, pronounces over them an appropriate panegyric; after which all retire.

On the surface of it, this seems a simple and efficient funerary arrangement. But, how large a commitment was this for the Athenians? What did it take to cremate and repatriate the dead in a non-mechanised period of transportation?

The Pyre

An ancient pyre was capable of reaching similarly high temperatures to a modern British cremator (800-1000⁰C), but it was, however, grossly inefficient by comparison. To counter this, the pyre needed constant tending to and, toward the end, a greater heat was necessary, for only the least combustible parts of the body remain.

There are two important elements in a military cremation: time, and fuel. A single cremation on an outdoor pyre takes somewhere between 7-10 hours to be complete. There is no evidence yet available to enable a discussion about more than one body on a pyre, as was the Athenian practice, but comparisons with the aftermath at the Alamo suggest that pyres burning for 2 whole days would fail to completely burn away the flesh of multiple bodies.

As for fuel, the Greeks used wood. Modern comparisons suggest a human body requires 5-600kg of wood to fuel a cremation, but for extra bodies this amount drops to 330-400kg. Let us use one example from an Athenian defeat to consider the logistics involved.

The battle of Delium in 424 B.C. saw 1,000 Athenians killed. For the dead at Delium, this would amount to approx. 40,000kg of wood (40 tonnes). This is an astronomical amount of an expensive and finite resource in the ancient Mediterranean.

Considering the comparable example at the Alamo, and the unlikelihood of obtaining enough fuel while in enemy territory, it seems fanciful to imagine clean skeletal remains returning to Athens. It is more plausible that the Athenians were repatriating cremated human remains, possibly with flesh still attached to the bone.

The Remains

There are a few misconceptions about cremation. The most important is what substance remains afterward. Today we refer to these as ashes, but the human body does not produce very much ash at all. The ashes that we speak of now are in fact crushed bone – this is important to understand because ash and bone are two very different substances that have different attributes when it comes to the most important logistical factors in transportation: weight and volume.

According to the work of Dr Jacqueline McKinley a pre-modern cremation would weigh somewhere in the region of 1.6kg. Therefore the weight of the cremated remains at our example of Delium, assuming all 1,000 men were cremated, would be 1,600kg (1.6 tonnes).

Another factor to consider is the volume these remains would take up. Osteological remains do not become compact when piled together like ash does, it would take up a lot more space. In fact a cremated body has an estimated volume of 7.8 litres. So the dead at Delium would require a storage container(s) with a minimum volume of around 7,800 litres (10 cubic yards, which is larger than a builder’s skip).

This was a massive logistical undertaking, especially the further afield an Athenian army was, and we must remind ourselves that all of these remains would have been carried by pack animals which would need feeding and watering and caring for as well.

The funeral

These logistical considerations give us an appreciation for the commitment undertaken by the Athenians, but they also raise some questions about the account of the public funeral. The funeral took place outside of the campaigning season (in the winter), but some of the war dead would have been returned to Athens as early as the beginning of summer, meaning that the remains would have to have been stored somewhere waiting to be interred. Needless to say this is not mentioned in the sources, so we do not know where they may have been kept. This is not the only gap in our knowledge.

During the funeral, for instance, we are told that the bodies were laid out and family members would come and give gifts to their departed. Are we to believe that the bodies really were laid out and exposed, and that the family would want to see the cremated remains of their relatives? This is certainly the standard model adopted by ancient historians, but when we consider the state of the cremated remains, we should at least pause for thought.

The aftermath of Delium

To return to our example in the aftermath of the battle of Delium, the bodies had in fact been left to rot in the Greek summer sun for 14 days before the Athenians collected them.

Assuming they could collect them effectively (the bodies would have undergone a rapid rate of decomposition), they would have needed 40 tonnes of wood to effectively cremate them, and then they would have needed to transport 1.6 tonnes of cremains in a container, or group of containers, capable of carrying a volume of 7,800 litres. This container would then be unceremoniously sorted somewhere in Attica until the funeral was held.

This would allow for the near sanitised historic model we hold for the Athenian repatriation process and is an astronomical commitment to the war dead.

Or, there is another option - that it did not happen this way at all…

It is that time once more! Welcome to this month’s Ancient History Roundup. If you are interested in the ancient world and feel like you want to know more about what was going on, away from the centres of Greece and Rome, you are in luck: my book The Far Edges of the Known World is now available in the UK here (affiliate link) and the US here. You can also find them to buy pretty much anywhere that sells non-fiction books. My book is now also available in Greek!

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Neanderthals and their crayons

It has long been speculated that Neanderthals used ochre, an iron rich mineral pigment, to add colour to their bodies, their clothes and other surfaces; but conclusive evidence has been very thin on the ground. However, a research team in France, analysing samples found a Neanderthal sites in Crimea and Ukraine, think they may have found some. Most notably they have discovered a piece of yellow ochre that had been scraped into a crayon-like shape very deliberately. Not only does this discovery potentially add some colour to the archaeology of Neanderthals (no, I’m not sorry for that pun), but it may have larger implications. Namely, it could suggest that this is evidence that Neanderthals took part in symbolic activities such as drawing!

Scythian News - a grave and some art

Anyone who has read The Far Edges of the Known World may have guessed that I find the Scythians fascinating. I managed to sneak two dedicated chapters about them into the book simply because I love talking about them, their culture(s) and their history. Recent news on the Scythians include the discovery in Kazakhstan of a ‘warrior grave’, i.e. a grave where weapons are present. The tomb was discovered undisturbed, so the skeletal remains of the man was find still holding the sword! In other news, researchers have been examining early examples of Scythian art from the 9th century BCE, which shows a narrower range of wildlife than the later Scythian style would become famous for. They suggest that early art shows the beginnings of diversity and cooperation between different social groups - which would no doubt help the later development of the animal-style art that the Scythians are known for.

Rich widow donates a fortune for the good of others

What is the point of the wealthy if they just hoard their money and spend it on themselves? Perhaps we need to bring back an ancient precedent of expecting the rich to invest in the civic life of everyday citizens. To put their money towards helping or benefiting those around them? Maybe that is a pipe dream, but a recent discovery in Turkey is a reminder of what could be. The 2nd century CE grave of a philanthropic widow called Menodora details her many donations to the ancient town of Sillyon. She commissioned temples, baths and a stadium; she also founded a charitable institution to help children. She was a woman who worked for the people, no doubt aiding her in the commissioning of these project, leading the city council and also managing the local gymnasium. Researchers estimate she donated somewhere in the region of 300,000 denarii during her life!

The rituals that started a Chinese empire?

The foundations of imperial power are often shrouded in mystery. Ancient empires often appear in the history books fully formed, with little more than myths and vague explanations for their rising. So this recent paper (for a non-paywalled write up click here) which looks at a period of ritual, political, and social transformation during the Zou period (ca. 1000 BCE, in China) is a particularly interesting read. The authors are not so brazen as to suggest they have found the catalyst for the foundation of the first Chinese Imperial Court, but they have certainly added an important piece of the puzzle by examining the use of ritual space and the critical role it played in later political unification.

Ancient Korea

Now, it may be that I have two children under the age of 14 and they are predominantly to blame, but I am currently obsessed with Korea. Although I have been able to resist the tide of K-Pop Demon Hunters and the like, the allure of Korean art and culture is hard to ignore. No more so than their ancient history, which is very rarely mentioned in our own history books. This month there have been two interesting discoveries in Korea: the first is a series of graves uncovered beneath the tomb of a 4th or 5th century CE general of the Silla Kingdom. Researchers are not sure if it reflects a change in ruling elite or simply a change in burial practice; there is even a possibility that it is an example of live human burial of subordinates or maybe family members (a practice that was banned in 502 CE in the Silla Kingdom. The second news story moves us into the 6th and 7th centuries CE, during the Baekje Kingdom, with the discovery of an ice house at the Busosanseong Fortress in southwestern South Korea. If you ever wondered how they kept things cold for storage, here is your answer!

The Far Edges of the Known World has now been out in North America for two weeks! In that time I have seen another interview released with Tides of History Podcast, which you can listen to here. I have also recorded another interview with Liv Albert of Let’s Talk About Myths, Baby! which should hopefully come out in November.

What I love about doing so many interviews on this book is that it covers so many time periods, cultures and stories, so the interviews are usually dictated by what the podcaster found interesting. This usually means they end up going in very different directions! This is particularly true for the one I have recorded with Liv, where our ADHD traits have resulted in quite a meandering conversation through 6,000 years of history!

The Far Edges has also been reviewed in the Wall Street Journal, which is rather exciting: ‘This refreshingly original tour of the ancient world’s lesser-known locales challenges readers to imagine familiar stories from the other side for a change’.

Finally, I missed another review published here on Substack! Check out the very generous review by (click here for the review) and if you see any or plan to do any reviews of the book, let me know!

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An Assyrian Father’s anger does little to persuade his daughter

Regular readers of this newsletter will know well how much I love the normal and the mundane parts of the ancient world. If you are hoping for epic tales of political machinations and armies going to battle, this is the wrong newsletter for you. I find everyday life far more interesting!

So my eyes lit up recently when I was reading Cécile Marcel’s Women of Assur and Kanesh: Texts from the Archives of Assyrian Merchant (2020). It contains hundreds of translated personal correspondence that have been found at the Assyrian sites of Assur and Kanesh.

The focus on women within the choice of texts offers a very rich exploration of real lived experiences that have often been overshadowed in what has been presumed to be a male space: trade and work. I could have easily closed my eyes and flicked through the pages, stopping randomly and selecting whatever I found to be the subject of this article, but there was one that stood out in particular.

The letter (#50 in Marcel’s book) was written sometime around 1860 BCE by the parents of an adult woman nicknamed Zizizi. In it, they are complaining about how they have been treated since her second marriage. The father, in whose voice the letter is clearly written, is particularly irate about the fact that he had spent an exorbitant amount of money on her marriages!

Zizizi had not followed the usual protocol of returning home when she became a widow, choosing to stay in Kanesh and marry an Anatolian man. What I find particularly interesting is how much this letter relies on passive aggression and emotional blackmail. That is to say, the father has no actual power or authority over her.

Thus say Imdi-ilum and Istar-basti: say to Zizizi.

Don’t you know you mother and your father?

When I gave you as spouse to Al-tab, I spent 5 minas of silver. And after Al-tab, your husband, died, an Anatolian married you, and I spent 5 more minas of silver for your marriage and … I bought [there is a lacuna in the text here]

I and my sons, we are not important in your eyes. If I and my sons had been more important in your eyes, then I myself would have honoured you like a daughter… Before god, you do not treat me, your father, like a gentleman! You have left the family!

He can bluster all he likes, she is not coming home.

It is that time again! Welcome to this month’s Ancient History Roundup. If you are interested in the ancient world and feel like you want to know more about what was going on, away from the centres of Greece and Rome, you are in luck: my book The Far Edges of the Known World is now available in the UK here (affiliate link) and the US here. You can also find them to buy pretty much anywhere that sells non-fiction books.

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Archaeologists uncover numerous ancient burial mounds in Kazakhstan

A new ancient culture identified in Kazakhstan? Maybe maybe not. But the recent discover of around 150 large burial mounds in West Kazakhstan has caused some real excitement. Conventional burial mounds are a dime a dozen, but some in the region are rectangular in shape — which is very unusual — and some that are made up of interconnected rings. Dating from the Iron Age, we await excavation reports which may be able to shed more light on these amazing burials.

Wealthy ancient Roman’s tomb discovered in Albania

Considering how large the Roman Empire was at its height, I am always amazed when countries that sat inside those borders find a Roman ‘first’. It is an exciting moment! So the discovery of a large, Roman tomb in Albania — the first one found in the country — is an amazing find. It was apparently uncovered after researchers were tipped off by locals about some unusual stones on a plateau. I doubt anyone could have predicted what that tip off would later unveil!

Brown bear, that fought Romans in the arena, found in Serbia

Whether you like Romans, gladiators, or bears (or all three), this news story is the one for you. Researchers have identified the remains of a brown bear that shows the signs of prolonged captivity and injuries from combat. The six year old male died as a result of an infection in one of its head wounds, most likely obtained while fighting in the arena. Most upsetting, the bear’s canines show considerable wear that is indicative of a bear rubbing them along the bars of a cage. It would suggest that some animals were reused in the arena and kept captive for long periods of time.

An ancient frog statue’s secret message

The discovery of a small, clay statue of two frogs in Peru’s Huaura Valley offers insight into one of the earliest civilisations of the Americas. The Caral civilisation was roughly contemporaneous to ancient Egypt, almost 5,000 years ago, and they were similarly practicing agriculture, living in many urban centres and bonded by sharing religious beliefs. The lead archaeologist Tatiana Abad described the importance of these amphibians: “In the Andean cosmos, frogs are associated with water and rainfall, essential elements for agricultural cycles and survival in ancient societies.”

Rescue Excavation Uncovers Archaeological Finds in Ibri (Oman)

In what is unintentionally becoming a mini feature of these newsletters, there are more excavations underway in the Arabian peninsula! This month it is in Oman, where recent rescue excavations have uncovered 25 graves dating from the 3rd millennium BCE. Among the grave goods were imported pottery from the Jemdet Nasr in Iraq. So they had trade links — at least — with Mesopotamia at this time.

30,000-year-old ‘personal toolkit’ found in the Czech Republic

Sometimes we hear about a new discover in archaeology that just makes us stop and appreciate the humanity of what has been found. In 2021, researchers found a cluster of stone blades — 29 in number —dating from the Paleolithic era. Dubbed a ‘toolkit’, it is presumed that these tools were kept together in a container which has since degraded away. Finds like these offer a little glimpse into the real lives of our earliest human ancestors. Evidence on the blades show that they were used for a variety of tasks including hunting, skinning, butchering, maintenance of other tools and maybe even the collection of woody plant resources.

The Far Edges of the Known World (North American edition)

For any readers in north America, my book The Far Edges of the Known World: Life Beyond the Borders of Ancient Civilization is available to preorder! A book that Publishers Weekly has described as ‘an illuminating history of the marginalized cultures of the ancient world… Lively and propulsive, this brings obscure corners of the ancient world to life.’

The book comes out on the 30th September, but pre-sales are really helpful for getting a book noticed, so please consider it if you can. (This is true for all books to be fair, so preorders are always worth considering if you want help your favourite authors!)

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Now, onto our regular coverage:

Alcohol as the cause of civilisation?

There has been a longstanding theory that the growth of complex societies may have been influenced by the production and consumption of alcohol, but a recent meta-analysis of 186 global, non-industrialised societies suggests that it may well be true! The so-called drunk-hypothesis has not been entirely vindicated, but a correlation has been shown between the presence of fermented drinks and politically-complex societies. Researchers have rightly pointed out that alcohol was not the only factor involved, and that the direct effect of alcohol might be relatively small in comparison to other factors. But it seems alcohol has had its part to play in the story of human history!

New tattoos found on ancient bodies

I have a long standing fascination with ancient tattoos (see here, here, and here), which - I have been told - is odd because I do not have any tattoos of my own. But just to see them on ancient bodies is a deeply moving experience. I saw some when a Scythian exhibition came to the UK a couple of years ago and there is just something quite humbling looking at the beautiful art form. So I was particularly excited to see that researchers have used scanning techniques to reveal new, unseen tattoos on one of the Pazyryk mummies! They also show that the same person used different tattooists for her body art.

West African heritage in Britain during (very) late antiquity

Ok, this news story most probably stretches us beyond the ancient world in most people’s eyes. But I argue in the Far Edges of the Known World that the ancient period really ends in 7th century Ethiopia, so I think this one counts! Researchers have uncovered ancient DNA evidence from two completely unrelated burials in 7th century England (one in Kent, the other in Dorset) that indicate that both people had African ancestors no further removed than as grandparents. As one of the researchers observed: “Our joint results emphasise the cosmopolitan nature of England in the early medieval period, pointing to a diverse population with far-flung connections who were, nonetheless, fully integrated into the fabric of daily life.”

Exciting times ahead!

Life in Pompeii after Vesuvius erupted

Archaeology is a funny old business. It rarely lies to us, but it does not always reveal its secrets from the start. When it comes to Pompeii, one of the most excavated sites of the Roman world, it seems early researchers were more interested in what lied beneath and destroyed or ignored the evidence above ground. Namely, the lives of people who returned to the town after Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE. That is what some of the latest research of Pompeii is currently investigating.

Why would people return to such a traumatic site of devastation? Simply put, they could not afford to go anywhere else. One can only wonder how they felt living there, knowing what lay beneath their feet. I suppose the memories would have faded over the next 400 years of habitation.

Coins unlock ancient trade networks

Researchers have been studying hundreds of ancient coins from across south east Asia that highlight an intricate network of trade and commerce. Focusing on coins that bear a specific ‘rising sun’ imagery, which date from the 4th century CE onwards, scholars have been able to connect sites in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar. Two specific coins - one in Bangladesh and one in Vietnam - have even been shown to have been struck from the same die, maybe even coming from the same mint master in Myanmar. While the study is important in what it tells us of global trade and numismatic history, it rightly emphasises the issues the researchers face due to heritage looting and the elicit trade of illegal artifacts.

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Anyway, as we were fact-checking the response - brilliantly written by Kyle Lewis Jordan - I stumbled across an interesting reference to a large meteorite found near Aegospotami, which sat on the Asian side of the Dardanelles (the Hellespont). Its appearance caused quite the debate.

Anaxagoras’ Prediction

The story pertains to the pre-Socratic philosopher Anaxagoras, who lived in the early 5th century BCE. Born in Asia Minor, he later moved to Athens and became one of the renowned thinkers of his day. It is said that a young Socrates read every book Anaxagoras wrote!

One the most famous stories about his work comes to us from an array of sources, in which he predicted that a large rock would fall from the sky. His theorising of what amounts to meteorites is in itself interesting, but according the Roman writer Pliny he went one step further by predicting when such a rock would fall (Natural History 2.149):

The Greeks tell the story that Anaxagoras of Clazomenae in the 2nd year [467 BC] of the 78th Olympiad was enabled by his knowledge of astronomical literature to prophecy that in a certain number of days a rock would fall from the sun

The impact this had on the people of Aegospotami was, understandably, profound. The stone was very large, the size of a horse-drawn cart according to Pliny, and it became something of a tourist attraction.

The Greco-Roman writer Plutarch tells us that (Lysander 12.1-2):

according to the common belief, a stone of vast size had fallen from heaven at Aegospotami, and it is shown to this day by the dwellers in the Chersonese, who hold it in reverence.

What made Anaxagoras’ work so ground breaking was that he was working off the idea that the heavenly bodies were not static. He theorised that the stars could and were moving, therefore they were capable of falling. He also reckoned that the Sun was a hot rock, like the other stars, and so predicted that it would shake and a small piece break off (Diogenes Laertius 2.10)

It was not just this one meteorite he correctly predicted. Pliny tells us of at least one other sites which had their own (Anaxagoras-divined) heavenly rock:

A stone is worshiped for this reason even at the present day in the gymnasium at Abydos — one of moderate size, it is true, but which the same Anaxagoras is said to have prophesied as going to fall in the middle of the country.

Pliny found these rocks of such interest that he went to visit one in the south east of France, but gives us no more information than a matter of fact statement that he had seen one himself. Infuriating!

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Controversy and debate

Needless to say, Anaxagoras’ prediction and explanation caused much debate in the ancient world; a debate that was still raging 500 years after his death.

The 4th century BCE natural philosopher Aristotle was not one to accept another’s explanation for natural phenomena. When discussing meteorites, he specifically references the one at Aegospotami (Meteorology 344b):

For instance when the stone at Aegospotami fell out of the air-it had been carried up by a wind and fell down in the daytime-then too a comet happened to have appeared in the west. And at the time of the great comet the winter was dry and north winds prevailed, and the wave was due to an opposition of winds

What Aristotle was arguing was that the the sight of a comet occurring at the same time as this large rock appearing was a case of correlation not causation. He did not believe that the sky, or anything within it, was capable of falling to the ground but he did believe that comets in the sky were a sign of heavy winds. This heavy wind explained the movement of such a large rock - apparently.

It can be difficult to really appreciate the stakes in these ancient scientific debates. Understanding the nature of the cosmos could have very serious repercussions. Pliny highlights just what was on the line if Anaxagoras was right (Natural History 2.149):

If anyone believes in the fact of this prophecy, that involves his allowing that the divining powers of Anaxagoras covered a greater marvel, and that our understanding of the physical universe is annihilated and everything thrown into confusion if it is believed either that the sun is itself a stone or ever had a stone inside it. But it will not be doubted that stones do frequently fall.

It is interesting that even with this word of warning, Pliny is also honest enough to accept that meteorites proove that stones do fall from the sky.

Anaxagoras’ ideas were ultimately considered problemtic, even in his own time. He was actually driven out of Athens after he was charged with impiety. His crime: declaring that the sun was made from a mass of red-hot metal. During the trial he was defended by the great Athenian orator and statesman Pericles, one of his former students. The defence failed and he went abroad, seein out his days in Lampsacus in Asia Minor.

On his death, the locals erected an inscription in his honour (Diogenes Laertius 2.15):

Here Anaxagoras, who in his quest
Of truth scaled heaven itself, is laid to rest.
I also have written an epigram upon him:
The sun's a molten mass,
Quoth Anaxagoras;
This is his crime, his life must pay the price.
Pericles from that fate
Rescued his friend too late;
His spirit crushed, by his own hand he dies.

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Museum’s ‘mummy’ question

Manchester Museum has long been at the forefront of debate when it comes to the ethical conundrum of exhibiting human remains, so this news story does not come as a big surprise. The museum are canvassing public opinion on whether the body of Asru, an Egyptian woman living over 2,700 years ago, should remain on display. Her body has been in the collection for around 200 years and was unwrapped in 1825. The question about the display of human remains is one that inspires strong opinions from all sides, so it will be interesting to see what decision wins out here!

Undisturbed Etruscan tomb discovered!

Exactly as it sounds, researchers have discovered a tomb at San Giuliano dating back to approximately 400 BCE. This Etruscan tomb is one of many in the area, but what makes it so unusual is that the tomb has never been opened or looted by grave robbers … or earlier archaeologists. The tomb holds 4 Etruscan people and over 100 items including vases, iron weapons and an array of other artifacts. The Etruscans are often overlooked by history enthusiasts for the Greeks and Romans, but hopefully finds like this will ignite a public love of a fascinating culture!

Roman fossil jewelry

Who doesn’t love a beautiful fossil? Clearly the Romans would have agreed with me, if this latest find in Spain is anything to go by. Discovered at the Roman-era site of A Cibdá de Armea, Galicia, the small trilobite shows evidence of wear that suggests it was modified either to be used as a pendant or similar, or placed on an altar perhaps as an offering. Also, interestingly, the fossil was not from the region but was likely to have come from south-central Spain - so are we to visualise some sort of fossil trade in the Roman period?

Decoded ancient script!

Regular readers of this Substack will begin to recognise my growing obsession with ancient Arabia, so this news was very exciting. Researchers are beginning to decipher a hitherto unknown written script from ancient Oman. The written language, known as the Dhofari language, has been known for over a century, but we are witnessing a genuine breakthrough which could open up the world of ancient Oman. It seems it was one particular sequence of 26 symbols and glyphs that has cracked the case, with one researcher identifying them as a type of alphabet. So hopefully, we will be seeing more of ancient Oman in the Ancient History Roundup!

Egyptian handprint

I love finds like this. Researchers have found a 4,000 year old handprint on the outside of ancient Egyptian ‘soul house’, a model house found inside tombs. The handprint was likely left by the craftsman who made it, accidently leaving his mark on the wet clay. These finds offer us little in the way of understanding the ancient world on a grand scale, but they give us such a human connection between ourselves and the civilisations that came before us - they are just amazing! You will be able to see this artifact when it is on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge from the 3rd October.

New Sumerian myth revealed

Researchers are always finding new things, but sometimes it is going back over old things that gives us the most insight. This news story is an interesting one, a Sumerian inscription that has been known about since the 19th century has finally been given due attention and a full edition published. In so doing, the researchers have shed light on a new myth about the storm god Iškur, who is held captive in the netherworld. Exciting stuff! The inscription dates from around 2,400 BCE and is the only known example of this story. It is unfortunately incomplete, so we await a new discovery of a more extant version. Who knows, maybe it was found over 100 years ago and now awaits some academic attention.

On the 25th of June I took part in a talk at Chalke Valley History Festival titled ‘The Ptolemies: When Greeks ruled Egypt’. It was a talk by myself and Toby Wilkinson, chaired by the host of The Ancients podcast, Tristan Hughes.

As I prepared myself for an immensely enjoyable day of history, I found myself returning to the history of Ptolemaic Egypt (late 4th-1st centuries BCE) and the oddities it presents to historians of the Greek world. Here is one such oddity.

When the Greeks ruled Egypt, they did not try to overthrow Egyptian culture or customs. In fact, the secret to their longevity as a ruling dynasty (the longest single dynasty in Egyptian history) was that they didn’t do that! As a result, we often find evidence of blended cultures, where Greek and Egyptian (and sometimes others besides) sit side by side.

Today’s artifact was one I stumbled across in an old text book. It was mentioned in passing as a tombstone (technically this would be called a stele) which not only depicted an Egyptian funeral for a Greek man named Diphilos, but had writing inscribed in both the Greek alphabet and in hieroglyphs!

As can so often be the way, it was hard to track down a photo. In fact, it is perhaps indicative of just how much evidence we have from Egypt that this artifact is rarely mentioned or depicted in history books. But I have tracked one down for us!

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Stele of Diphilos

The stone is worn and broken at the bottom but you can make out the images and writing well enough (I find it helps to relax your eyes while looking at it, like a magic eye puzzle).

At the top of the stele we can see some classic Egyptian iconography: two large wings are spread out, beneath which are two small jackals lying down. Below these, the mummy of the deceased hovers above his funeral bed, watched over by a winged disc motif. Neither the disc nor the detail of the two wings are particularly clear any more, it looks more like a boomerang, but other Egyptian examples tell us what it is mean to represent.

The mummy is surrounded by six figures, three on each side, including two kneeling mourners and four divine beings, one of whom, the last on the left, clearly has the head of a jackal - you can tell by the pointy nose.

Beneath this, is a bilingual inscription with carefully drawn lines and surrounded by a frame. Hieroglyphs run across three lines, but are interrupted by a line and a half of ancient Greek text (apologies, my ability to read Greek is much better than my ability to read hieroglyphs). It reads:

Ancient Magnesia was in Ionia, on the western coast of modern Turkey. So Diphilos was a long way from home!

Below the text there is a broken image of an offering scene: two figures, arms outstretched, come to offer incense burners with stylized flames to a seated figure, probably Diphilos himself.

You can also spy some small letters inscribed near the hands of both human figures. These are in yet another script, demotic which was a more common form of writing in the Egyptian language, but the image is too poor to try and read it and no publications seem to have transcribed what it says.

So, in this one small - oft ignored - artifact, we have a Greek man from Magnesia, whose tombstone depicts Egyptian gods, rituals and languages, alongside a small section of Greek writing to make sure that other Greeks knew who he was. I love it when we find this kind of cultural blending in everyday lives.

As I keep finding myself saying at book talks and events: the ancient world was not one filled with isolated cultural silos, where the Greeks were here, and the Egyptians there. It was one of mixture, of blending and adopting ideas, habits, religions and practices. Not all of them, of course, but enough to influence people like our friend Diphilos here.

Gus has been there by my side through it all: when I became a dad for the first time, when I began writing my first book, when I moved the family across the country and began my PhD, surviving Covid, right through to my first academic job and beyond. I, in turn, was there with him right to the end, holding him close as the vet brought his life to a peaceful end.

I have nothing clever or insightful to say on this experience, nor indeed do I want to use it to spark a long historical article here about canine-human relationships in the past. Instead, I just want to reflect on the pain of losing a family member, my best friend. It is a pain humans have been dealing with for millennia.

Below are some epitaphs, actual or described, from the ancient world, all dedicated to beloved dogs whose loss was felt no doubt as strongly as mine is now.

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I am appearing at Chalke Valley History Festival this Wednesday! I am giving talks on life as a history writer, the Ptolemies and their world, and fact checking ancient history claims in the modern world (my Bad Ancient website).

If you are going to be there, make sure you come and say hello!

Right, onto the Roundup.

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Psychoactive plant use in Iron Age Arabia

More news from ancient Arabia. Researchers have analysed the residue found in fumigation devices dating back to the iron age to discover the earliest known use of harmal, or Syrian rue, which is known for its antibacterial, psychoactive, and therapeutic properties. The plant is still used to this day in traditional medicine and fumigation practices, but this discovery shows just how long this relationship between human and plant has existed.

Finds along Hadrian’s Wall

Every year we see new excavations along Hadrian’s Wall, in the north of England. This year has started strong, with two stories coming out this month! The first is the discovery of a statue that researchers believe depicts the Roman goddess of Victory. The sandstone statue is about one and a half foot tall and was found in the fort at Vindolanda.

If Roman statues don’t interest you, how about enormous shoes? Discovered at the fort of Magna, a soldier’s leather shoe has raised some eye brows - measuring a UK size 10 (US size 14). Not enormous by modern standards, but previous research has suggested the average soldier had size 6 feet (US size 8). The shoe was found in a small, purpose dug trench that the Romans used, known as an ‘ankle breaker’ for obvious reasons.

Oldest known fingerprint detected

There is something so very human in this discovery. A small rock has been found in Spain which has three natural indentations which look a little bit like a face (two eyes and a mouth). It seems that 43,000 years ago a Neanderthal agreed with us, because they used red ochre to add the missing nose. In so doing, this person gave us their fingerprint! The fact that there is no ochre in the local area of the find, it raises the question whether this would count as a piece of portable art, giving the object symbolic value - something researchers debate whether Neanderthals had such symbolic capacity.

Romans in Ireland

If you look on a map of the Roman Empire you will notice that Ireland is not included. It may seem odd but the Romans were aware of the island, they just had no interest in settling there. Roman geographers would often comment on its cold weather and presumed inability to sustain [civilised] life! But we know that Roman traders would go there to sell their wares and have the archaeology to prove it. The most recent find in co. Dublin has particularly excited researchers because it is the first Roman pot found in Ireland that is fully in tact.

Scamming the Romans?

I love a good scam in the historical record. People were often up to no good, even thousands of years ago, so it is always exciting when we find possible evidence of their misdeeds. Crete was famous in the ancient world for its raisin wine, a long process that requires drying out the grapes before fermentation, which resulted in a sweeter taste. However, the discovery of some ceramic beehives has inspired one researcher to question whether some winemakers were using a shortcut and mixing in honey instead.

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