Rare Roman window grill found at Augusta Raurica

Ancient

A rare surviving iron window grill has been unearthed at the ancient Roman site of Augusta Raurica six miles east of Basel, Switzerland. It is made of five iron bars connected top and bottom by two flat iron strips that provide stability. And the end of the horizontal strips are rings that were probably used to mount the grill to the wooden window frame.

It was discovered 170 cm (67 inches) under the surface during the excavation of a collapsed masonry wall. It is broken into two pieces: three vertical bars and one shorter crossbar on one section, two vertical bars, one long crossbar and one short one on the other section. Two of the original nails used to install it in the window opening survive.

The purpose and age of the structure the wall belonged to are still unknown at this time, but it must have been an outer wall because Roman buildings had very few, small windows only on the outside. Any natural light in the interior of the structure came from open roofs over inner peristyle gardens, courtyards and atria. The windows had grills in them to prevent unwanted visitors from breaking in.

Pane glass was invented in the 1st century A.D., but it was very expensive, so most windows were closed by wooden shutters, or lapis specularis, a thin, translucent layer of selenitic gypsum found in mines in Spain, Sicily, Asia Minor and North Africa. It was lightweight, readily available, came in sheets as much as five feet wide and just as capable of keeping out the elements as glass.

The grill has been recovered from the site and transferred to the collections storeroom of the Augusta Raurica site. Archaeologists will study, document and conserve it there.

Fayum portrait Tondo of the Two Brothers restored

Ancient, Museums

The Tondo of the Two Brothers, one of the most striking and unusual Fayum mummy portraits, has been restored by a joint team of Egyptian and Italian conservators.

The 2,000-year-old portrait is one of hundreds of encaustic-on-wood panel paintings discovered at the Fayum necropolis southwest of Cairo. They are notable for the realism (albeit idealized in age and good looks) of the portraiture. Painted on wood then sealed with beeswax, the panels were placed over the face of the deceased and held in place with an intricate criss-cross wrapping of linen bandages.

This example is rare for its circular shape and depicts two young men standing side by side. While double portraits are known, they are less common than individual ones and this is especially rare being a double portrait on a round panel 62 cm (24 inches) in diameter.

The wood had suffered extensive damage from boring insects, likely termites, which caused parts of the painted figures to separate. An earlier intervention had also backfired, leaving fragments that were originally part of the mouth and chin of the figure on the right.

Conservators added support to the paint in the damaged areas and stabilized them with a lightweight filler matching the color of the wood. They also repaired displaced fragments, removing them, flattening them and reinforcing them before placing them back in their original locations with balsa wood supports. The treatment has left the painted surface more visually integrated and consistent. Ultrasound scans of the panel during the conservation process revealed an ancient darkening varnish was used in the hair of both men. This adds new information about how the portraits were made.

Hisham El-Leithy, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), highlighted the portrait’s archaeological and artistic significance and the importance of its conservation. He explained that the work is exceptional not only for the quality and expressiveness of its painting, but also because its form, technique, and state of preservation provide valuable evidence for studying portraiture in Roman Egypt.

He noted that the conservation work required particular care because both the wooden support and the painted surface were fragile. Collaboration between conservators from the Egyptian Museum and their Italian counterparts also provided an opportunity for scientific and professional exchange. The team used a minimal-intervention approach that respected the portrait’s authenticity, restoring its visual coherence while preserving evidence of its long history.

The Tondo of the Two Brothers will now go on display in Rome, leaving Egypt for the first time to be the centerpiece of a new exhibition: The Power of the Portrait: Egypt and Rome, Faces of Fayum, which runs at the Ara Pacis Museum from November 5, 2026, to May 2, 2027. It will feature more than 110 objects, including 24 painted portraits, funerary shrouds, plaster portraits and jewelry.

“National treasure” coin identified in Mørstad Hoard

Medieval, Museums, Treasures

As the cataloguing of more than 5,000 coins in Norway’s largest Viking coin hoard proceeds apace, archaeologist Anne Skogsfjord has identified one of the rarest coins in the country: a silver penny issued by Olaf Haraldsson, aka Saint Olaf, patron saint of Norway. Fewer than 20 Olaf Haraldsson coins are known to survive today. There are only four of this type, three of them in Sweden. The only one discovered in Norway was found over a century ago in 1924.

The coin bears the king’s portrait facing left wearing a conical helmet. In front of the profile is a cross on three steps, known as a Golgotha cross, a symbol frequently found on Byzantine coins. The inscription reads ONLAF R+ NORMANORV (“Olaf, King of the Norwegians”). The reverse features a double cross. The inscription is worn in this example so the final letters are missing, but we know from other surviving coins struck from this die that the full inscription reads +CE DVX DOMINNVS MEI (“My leader, my lord”).

Three different issues of Olaf Haraldsson pennies are known, all of them modelled after Anglo-Saxon pennies struck under Cnut the Great around 1024–1030. This issue dates to 1024-1028, the waning years of the Viking Age. Olaf Haraldsson is credited with spreading Christianity in Norway, and as he was likely directly responsible for deciding how the coins would look, the iconographic themes and inscriptions confirm his emphasis on Christianization.

The Museum of Cultural History calls the discovery a sensation.

“This is a coin commemorating Christianisation on a grand scale. We can see how King Olaf uses the coinage to legitimise the new faith, and to legitimise himself as a Christian king of European standing,” says Gullbekk. […]

It probably changed hands several times during the 20–25 years it was in circulation before being buried at what is now the Mørstad farm in Eastern Norway. Researchers can see several traces of small cuts made with a knife on both sides of the coin. This was a way of checking the silver content during payments.

The Olaf coin will be one of the coins from the Mørstad Hoard that will be going on display for the first time in a new exhibition at the Museum of Cultural History on November 20th.

Rare early medieval boat burial found in Poland

Medieval

An early medieval boat burial has been discovered at Chodlik in the Lublin region of Eastern Poland. Boat burials in early medieval Slavic communities are extremely rare. They are more commonly found in Scandinavia and in the Baltic area. This is the first example found this far inland in the historical region of Lesser Poland.

A team of archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IAE PAN) discovered the remains of the boat burial between two other graves, one burial mound, one with a monument designed to look like a house. It is 1.2 meters wide at the widest point and has the shape of a dugout canoe. Cremated remains were placed in the shape, although it is not yet clear whether there was an actual boat as any wooden remains have decomposed leaving only a dark stain in the soil.

The first clue to the grave’s unusual character came from a beautifully preserved silver ornament near its upper surface. Archaeologists identified it as an early medieval temple ring, decorated with hollow beads and delicate granulation—a technique in which craftsmen attached tiny metal spheres to create intricate patterns.

As excavations continued, the team recovered more than a dozen small fragments of silver jewelry, some partially melted by fire. They also uncovered pieces of ceramic vessels, charcoal, and burned human and animal bones, suggesting that the funeral involved more than the simple deposition of cremated remains.

Among the animal remains, one discovery particularly interested the researchers: a horse tooth. Its presence is unusual in the wider context of Slavic burial traditions, although Chodlik has already produced several cremation graves containing horse remains.

Chodlik is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Lublin area. It contains the remains of an early medieval settlement was centered around a fortified stronghold built by the Slavs between the 8th and the 10th century. IAE PAN archaeologists have been excavating and surveying it for 12 years, uncovering burial mounds, a cremation cemetery, arrowheads, spears, the longitudinal rampart of the stronghold and pottery fragments. This year’s dig also uncovered the remains of the early medieval settlement outside the boundary of the fortress.

To study the boat burial in detail, archaeologists have recovered all sediment, cinerary remains and debris from the site. They will be analyzed for trace materials and to identify charcoal deposits, plant remains and any other evidence from the cremation. Human teeth that survived cremation will be subjected to stable isotope analysis, if possible, which will provide information about the geographic origin and health of the deceased.

The team is currently working on creating a comprehensive 3D reconstruction by merging digital documentation of each burial layer with records of individual artifacts. Through radiocarbon dating and expert examination, researchers hope to eventually determine when the grave was built, how it was constructed, and what the funeral circumstances were like.

Hittite royal archive found in Turkey

Ancient

Archaeologists have uncovered a royal archive of cuneiform tablets in the ancient Hittite city of Samuha, modern-day Sivas, central Turkey. This year’s excavation unearthed 131 cuneiform tablets and fragments which record an epidemic of fever, military logistics, religious practices and events of royal daily life 3,400 years ago. Last year’s excavation uncovered 53 cuneiform tablets and fragments, so this season’s discoveries more than triple the number of texts. It is now the largest, most comprehensive archive of Hittite-language documents found in the 21st century.

The records date to the reign of King Tudhaliya II, and are written in Hittite and Hurrian. One text tells of a fever epidemic that struck the infant daughter of the king. She was still a nursing baby when she became ill. She never recovered from the fever and her health declined precipitously until she passed away. The cuneiform tablet records the funerary ritual that followed.

The health of the princes and princesses, not just babies but even up to adulthood, was an important focus of the records. The children of high-ranking imperial officials were given the same attention. Because illness was considered an expression of divine will, religious leaders performed many rituals to keep an eye on the physical health of the children of kings and government officials.

Another notable document is a letter from Hittite generals in western Anatolia appealing to the king for reinforcements in men, horses and chariots to fend off enemy forces. The generals’ warnings are dire. They plead that without an infusion of strength, the army would be destroyed by the enemy. They have the temerity to disclaim all responsibility for any upcoming failures if the reinforcements don’t come.

It’s a rare glimpse into the realities of military logistics with armies long distances from the king and court. The text also confirms that the king was at Samuha when the letter arrived, underscoring the city’s political importance. It was a royal stronghold for King Tudhaliya during times of military and political upheaval. His successor Suppiluliuma I used it as a launching pad for military campaigns that consolidated and expanded the territory of the Hittite Empire.

Samuha was also a major center of religious administration. Its patron deity was the goddess Sauska, goddess of love and war who was the Hurrian version of Ishtar and the most important goddess in the Hurrian pantheon. The association with the goddess was central to the city’s identity and was reflected in its religious ceremonies.

One tablet records the journeys of bird diviners who left Samuha and traveled through different regions. Their routes, the cities where they stayed and the birds they observed were recorded in a format resembling a diary. The documents also provide previously unknown information about how bird omens were observed, evaluated and interpreted by the Hittites.

The archive includes texts covering divination, correspondence, rituals and prayers, offering researchers new material for studying Hittite religious practices as well as the development of the Hittite language and scribal culture.