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Some of the daily activities of the Roman emperor Hadrian, who built monuments including the Pantheon during his more than two-decade reign, have been revealed after the discovery of fragments of marble slabs in Ostia Antica, an archaeological park close to Rome that was once the city’s harbour.

The details were inscribed on fasti ostienses, a type of calendar chronicling events involving emperors and other officials in ancient Rome which were drafted by the pontifex Volcani, the highest local religious authority.

One of the two newly recovered fragments, which experts say matches perfectly with another previously found at the site, dates to AD128, during the reign of Hadrian. The inscription refers to events that took place that year, including 10 January, when Hadrian received the title pater patriae, or father of his country, and his wife, Sabina, that of Augusta. According to the inscription, Hadrian celebrated the occasion by offering a congiar dedit, or donation of money, to the people.

Another date, 11 April of the same year, refers to Hadrian’s trip to Africa before he returned to Rome between July and August. Before a subsequent trip to Athens, he consecrated (the inscription reads “consecravit”) a building in Rome that experts believe could be either the Pantheon or the Temple of Venus and Roma, possibly on 11 August. This would have marked his 11th anniversary as emperor.

The fragments were found in the forum of Porta Marina, a large rectangular building where fasti ostienses were carved into columns, during recent excavations at Ostia Antica that involved teams of archaeologists from the University of Catania and Polytechnic University of Bari.

Alessandro D’Alessio, the director of the archaeological park, said the “extraordinary discovery” sheds more light on the activities of Hadrian, including the buildings he constructed in Rome, while helping to better understand the story of ancient Ostia.

Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy’s culture minister, said the excavations, which have also revealed extensive sections of a mosaic floor that will eventually be open to the public, gave additional insight into life in Ostia and Rome.

Fragments of fasti ostienses were first discovered at the site in 1940 and 1941 and then again between 1969 and 1972, including one that joins the recently rediscovered fragment. The combined slab chronicles the AD126-128 period. Some of the calendar fragments, which range between AD49 and AD175, are on display at the Vatican Museums.

A team of researchers have found a shared penchant for sewing reflective shell beads onto clothing and other items across three Indonesian islands that dates back to at least 12,000 years ago.

The team, led by the Australian National University's Professor Sue O'Connor with Griffith University's Associate Professor Michelle Langley, used advanced microscopic analysis to investigate Nautilus shell beads from Makpan Cave on the Indonesian island of Alor, and that the trends in style were shared with at least two other islands.

Striking similarities between the beads of Alor, Timor, and Kisar indicate that there was a shared affinity for sewing the reflective beads onto clothing or other items, therefore, the team deduced that there must have been shared ornament traditions across the sea in the region from the Terminal Pleistocene (late Ice Age) around 12,000 years ago.

Recent DNA evidence has shown how people on different Indonesian islands were genetically related, but until now it wasn't known how culturally similar the populations were.

To answer this question, the Griffith and ANU teams analyzed the beads from Makpan and found that not only were they incredibly consistent in their method of production, but also similar to beads previously found on the islands of Timor and Kisar.

"The time and skill required to create the tiny shiny beads in the numbers found archaeologically must have been extensive, suggesting that the beads were an important part of the Makpan community's repertoire of adornment," said Associate Professor Langley, lead author of the article published in Antiquity. It is titled "Sequins from the sea: Nautilus shell bead technology at Makpan, Alor Island, Indonesia."

There was also an intensification in fishing technology during this period with shell fishhooks appearing at associated sites, as well as exotic obsidian and artifacts appearing in the assemblages.

The similarity between the beads and fishhooks from different islands coupled with the skill and effort required to produce them implies that the practice was a tradition shared between islands, indicating frequent interaction across the sea.

Furthermore, the team who excavated at Makpan found thousands of shells in the food waste.

"What is interesting," said ANU's Dr. Shimona Kealy, "is that Nautilus shells, which were used to make the beads, are almost entirely absent from this discard pile of ancient shellfish feasts, indicating that Nautilus was not collected for food but specifically for crafting."

Professor Sue O'Connor recalls, "When we were excavating at Makpan Cave in Alor we were amazed at how many shell beads we were finding, and how we just kept on finding them even into the lowest levels of the excavation. In view of the great depth of the excavation we thought that there was a high likelihood that the oldest beads would be in Pleistocene-aged deposits."

Importantly, this means that Makpan's occupants were collecting Nautilus purely for the purpose of making beads. This presents a society that was secure enough to invest effort into harvesting and processing resources for aesthetic uses without any obvious practical benefit.

All of these factors combine to create "an image of an inter-island 'community of practice' with shared values and worldviews" said Associate Professor Langley.

"It is likely that the populations of these islands shared a distinctive culture, exchanging style, goods, technology and genes across the sea."

The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) and non-profit Silentworld Foundation have continued ongoing archaeological investigation of the wreck of South Australian, with recent research from a combined team of experts published in the journal Historical Archaeology.

The South Australian is South Australia's oldest known European shipwreck. The English barque, wrecked in in 1837 in Encounter Bay near modern-day Victor Harbor, has drawn keen interest since its discovery in 2018. The wreck site project team includes members of the ANMM, Silentworld Foundation, South Australian Maritime Museum, South Australia's Department for Environment and Water, Flinders University, and MaP fund.

Originally a postal packet called Marquess of Salisbury, which delivered mail between England and far-flung outposts of the British Empire from 1820, the vessel later operated as a British naval packet, named HMP Swallow, before being procured by the South Australian Company, which re-named the ship South Australian.

The ship was designed to carry a huge amount of sail on a relatively small hull for maximum speed. While it transported approximately 80 immigrants to the new colony, its primary function was as a "cutting-in" vessel, or flensing platform, where blubber was removed from harpooned whales as part of the shore-based whaling industry at Encounter Bay.

While loaded with whale oil and readying for departure to Hobart, South Australian was caught in a south easterly gale and wrecked on 8 December 1837. There were no fatalities, and the ship ultimately broke up and was forgotten until the 1990s, when it was the subject of two unsuccessful shipwreck surveys conducted by the South Australian government.

Data collected during these expeditions and archival information helped the research team to establish a new search area that led to South Australian's discovery in April 2018. Remnants of the ship exposed above the seabed included timber framing and hull planking, copper keel bolts, and fragments of glass and pottery.

COVID-19 travel restrictions interrupted further visits to South Australian for two years, but in 2022 maritime archaeologists from the ANMM and an archaeological conservator from the Silentworld Foundation, accompanied by volunteers, returned to continue work at the site.

Photogrammetric 3D recording was carried out in conjunction with site mapping. The team also conducted a comprehensive conservation assessment to determine the wreck site's level of preservation and suggest strategies for its continued protection.

Ongoing work at the site has included comprehensive documentation of exposed hull components and targeted recovery of at-risk diagnostic artifacts. A small selection of objects was also mapped in place and recovered. The items include a gun flint, decorated ceramic fragments, ship's fasteners, glass bottles and a whetstone used to sharpen tools. All are currently undergoing conservation.

Dr. James Hunter, ANMM's Curator of Naval Heritage and Archaeology, and an Associate Lecturer of Archaeology at Flinders University, concluded in the article recently published in Historical Archaeology:

"South Australian's historical and archaeological significance cannot be overstated. As South Australia's oldest recorded European shipwreck, and one of its earliest immigration vessels, it has the potential to enhance our understanding of the state's initial colonization and occupation—including the establishment of extractive mercantile activities, such as shore-based whaling and interactions between European colonists and Aboriginal people.

"Similarly, the site's distinction as one of only two (former) 19th-century British sailing-packet shipwrecks to undergo archaeological scrutiny brings an international dimension to its significance. While a sizable percentage of South Australian's surviving fabric remains buried, recent seabed changes are uncovering the site at an alarming rate. This has reinforced the need for additional investigation and inquiry and underscores the urgency with which site stabilization efforts should be adopted and enacted."

While weather and water visibility impeded efforts to complete the 3D photogrammetric survey of South Australian in late 2022, imagery from this and prior surveys has since been used to generate a digital 3D model of most of the site. This in turn will form the basis of a virtual reality experience currently under development at Germany's University of Applied Sciences, Kaiserslautern. South Australian is also the subject of a graphic novel based on research and archival sources, including the original logbook, which will bring its story to vivid life for new audiences.

The team's work continues, and they aim to conduct further archaeological investigation of South Australian and finish the photogrammetric survey during the latter half of 2023.

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA—According to a statement released by the Florida Museum of Natural History, analysis of DNA samples taken from cattle remains unearthed in Spanish settlements in the Caribbean and Mexico indicates that cattle may have been imported from Africa in the early seventeenth century, some 100 years earlier than previously thought. Research team leader Nicolas Delsol said that the Spanish transported cattle from Europe in the early sixteenth century, and, indeed, the DNA analysis determined that cattle in Puerto Real, Hispaniola, are closely related to modern European cattle. Six of the cattle bones unearthed in Mexico carried DNA sequences that are common in African cattle, but are also found in modern European breeds. “There are cattle in Spain similar to those in Africa due to centuries-long exchanges across the Strait of Gibraltar,” Delsol explained. But a sample of mitochondrial DNA from a late seventeenth-century cattle tooth found in Mexico contained a genetic signature rarely found outside of Africa. Delsol and his colleagues think this animal may have descended from cattle that were transported from West Africa directly to the Americas with enslaved peoples. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Scientific Reports.

Beneath the turquoise waters of Lake Ohrid, the "Pearl of the Balkans", scientists have uncovered what may be one of Europe's earliest sedentary communities, and are trying to solve the mystery of why it sheltered behind a fortress of defensive spikes.

In February 2022, the journal Scientific Reports published a paper with the claim that a comet exploded over what is now Cincinnati around 1,500 years ago, raining fire over the area and destroying villages and farm fields, supposedly resulting in the rapid decline of the ancient Indigenous Hopewell culture.

Did ancient Greek literature influence the writing of Luke’s Gospel? Image: Public Domain.

What works of Greek literature influenced Luke—the author of the New Testament books of Luke and Acts—when he was writing?

Luke and Acts should be seen as a single two-part work, two volumes of a historical monograph.1 This is shown by many features in both volumes, including chronological synchronisms and the preface in Luke 1:1–4. According to that preface, Luke wrote these books to Theophilus, a person of high status deserving the title of “noble” and probably his patron.

A Lahaina resident talks about the recovery efforts after a wildfire swept through the Maui town.

According to a statement released by the University of Connecticut, anthropological geneticist Raquel E. Fleskes and her colleagues analyzed the genomes of the 11 people whose remains were found at Avery’s Rest, a tobacco farm in Delaware owned by John Avery and his family from about 1675 to 1725. The study suggests that two of the men and one of the children were of African descent. One of these men was connected to West Africa, while the other man and child, who were father and son, had mixed backgrounds from west and central Africa. The remaining five men, two women, and child, who were of northwestern European descent, were related to each other. These individuals included a grandmother, mother, and infant son. “Avery’s Rest is notable because the European individuals and African individuals were buried in the same burial ground separated by only 15 to 20 feet,” Fleskes explained. John Avery had ties to Barbados, so he may have brought enslaved individuals with him from the Caribbean to Delaware. These two men of African descent may even be those who were listed among Avery’s property when he died in 1682, she added. Fleskes will next attempt to identify the 11 people and their descendants.

Is your pet part of the family? That's nothing new. Archaeological evidence exists to suggest that the vikings held their own animals in high—even intimate—regard, taking them with them on voyages. Earlier this year, scientific evidence found for the first time that—as early as the ninth century—vikings brought horses, dogs and other animals with them across the North Sea.