Archaeology intern unearths spectacular Roman dagger

Nico Calman, 19, had a good internship in 2019. He unearthed a 2,000-year-old silver dagger that helped the Romans wage war against a Germanic tribe in the first century A.D.

Discovered in its sheath in the grave of a soldier at Haltern am See (Haltern at the Lake), the weapon needed nine months of meticulous work to reveal a spectacularly ornamented 13-inch-long blade and sheath that once hung from a leather belt.

Dating to the Augustan period from 37 B.C. to 14 A.D., the blade had a front row seat to some of the most humiliating defeats in Roman history. At that time, Haltern, which sat on the fringes of the vast Roman empire, housed a military base for soldiers. Up to 20,000 Roman soldiers were slaughtered when Germanic tribes swept through the region in 9 A.D. Though thousands of Roman soldiers were stationed in Haltern over almost 15 years or more, there are very few finds of weapons, attesting to their great value.

Up to 5,000 soldiers from the XIX Legion were stationed at Haltern am See to secure the region, with the camp serving as a pivotal, heavily fortified outpost before its abandonment following the Varus Battle.

Iron Age and the Bones of the Dead

A macabre discovery rewrites what we knew about the rituals and beliefs of Iron Age man.

In 2012 ancient remains were discovered in a bog in Denmark. Archaeologists are piecing together what happened to the dozens of dead warriors found at Alken Enge. Researchers were startled by what appeared to be desecration of the skeletal remains.

At least six months after the warriors died, their bones were collected, scraped of remaining flesh, sorted and dumped in a lake.

Protohistoric cultures had many traditions of ensuring the respect of their ancestors, and protection from dead enemies.

Some were handled in a bizarre manner; four pelvises were found strung on a stick. Researchers guess that the desecration of the body parts was an ancient ritual. Was the barbaric ritual a triumph over defeated enemies, as Roman records suggest? There have been Iron Age rites of warding, ensuring the ghosts of a fallen enemy wouldn’t return from the grave to wreak revenge.

Norse folktales included the mythology of the draugr, an undead creature, literally meaning “again-walker”. The draugr was a corpse risen from the grave, a decomposed body. It would seek out and attack those who had wronged it in life.

So horrifying was the prospect of creating a draugr that special care was taken to ensure a proper burial of the dead.

Roman gold discovered in plowed UK field

In 2022 detectorists discovered 11 gold coins on a remote stretch of cultivated field located in Norfolk, near England's eastern coast.

The hoard is dated to between the first century B.C. and the first century A.D. All the coins were minted before the Roman conquest, when Britain became occupied by Roman forces in A.D. 43 after an invasion by Claudius. Two types of gold coins were found: one type was marked with the portrait of Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome, with Gaius and Lucius, his grandsons and heirs to the throne. (Both grandsons died before they could become emperor.) The other featured Augustus in profile on one side, but with Gaius on horseback on the reverse.

The farmland where the coins were found sits on land once occupied by the Iceni, a tribe of British Celts. During the Roman invasion, the tribe's leader, Queen Boudica, led a revolt against Roman forces, attempting to drive them off their land in A.D. 60. The queen's army was no match for the Romans. The coins have a small indentation at the top, likely indicating that someone tested the coins for their purity. Cutting "knicks" into the faces of gold coins was a common practice in the Roman Empire, where forgeries were abundant.

Alexander the Great's gold distater

The Kingdom of Macedon gold distater is a trophy coin: rare, rich in detail, and resonant with the mythos of Alexander the Great. The circa 325 to 323 B.C. gold distater of Alexander III (the Great) was issued in either Aegae or Amphipolis and was likely used to pay soldiers. A distater was equivalent to about 20 day’s wages for a Macedonian soldier in wartime, a huge sum. The coin weighed about 17.22 grams.

Athena was the protector of Hercules, and Alexander adopted her image on his gold coinage, showing her wearing a Corinthian helmet with a coiled snake.

Alexander the Great, born in 356 BC, was one of the most successful military leaders in history. He conquered a large part of Asia and ruled a kingdom that spanned from the Ionian sea to the Himalayas before he was 30 years old. One of his many achievements was a single currency across his empire. Flush with vast hoards of Persian gold he struck the largest Greek gold coin issued up to that time: the gold distater. Alexander the Great was determined to outdo the hero Hercules.

Sarcophagus of King Abdalonymos of Sidon

The reverse is represents Nike, the goddess of victory. Gold distaters were very valuable. This was inconvenient for daily use, so most were melted down. Staters weighed roughly 8.6g of .997 fine purity. Exceptional examples are always in high demand. Coins that were struck during his reign (lifetime issues) are the most desirable by collectors and the rarest.

A top quality Alexander the Great gold distater will bring $40,000 to $50,000.

Iron Age shield of Pocklington

An exceptionally rare Iron Age bronze shield, described as one of the most significant British Celtic art objects of the millennium, was discovered in 2018 in Pocklington, East Yorkshire. Dated between 320 and 174 B.C., the 30-inch-diameter shield features a scalloped border, swirling La Tène style decorations, and a central boss. The bronze shield was found in a huge grave which contained the skeleton of a "very revered" man who probably lived between between 220 - 300 BC.

The bronze shield formed part of a chariot burial, which also contained the upright skeletons of two ponies.

Its owner was a high status male, in his late 40s or older when he died, between 320BC to 174BC. The shield was well used and a slash made by a sword is clearly visible in the upper right hand side. The only other shield like it, the Wandsworth shield boss, found in the Thames river in 1849, is now in the British Museum.

Found in a Celtic grave alongside a chariot and two upright horse skeletons, the shield was discovered face down on the chariot with the body of a man placed on top in a crouched position.

Russian farmer unearths unusual 2,000-year-old skeleton

The rich grave yielded gold and silver jewellery, weaponry, valuables and artistic household items in 2019. They were found next to a chieftain’s skeleton in a grave close to the Caspian Sea in southern Russia. Among the bodies is a “laughing” young man with an artificially deformed egg-shaped skull and excellent teeth.

A gold and turquoise horse head

The most “significant” finds came from a male skeleton buried inside a wooden coffin. The burial is thought to belong to a leader of a Sarmatian tribe that dominated this part of Russia until the 5th century AD. Multiple gold jewellery decorated with turquoise and inserts of lapis lazuli and glass were found. The chieftain’s head was raised as if it rested on a pillow and he wore a cape decorated with gold plagues.

A Sarmatian diadem was found near the grave. Archaeologists found a collection of knives, items of gold, a small mirror and different pots signalling his elite status.

They found a gold and turquoise belt buckle, and the chief's dagger along with a gold horse’s head which was buried between his legs.

Part of the chief's belt was found.

The chief's dagger.

Emperor Volusianus - binio

In 2022 researchers in Hungary discovered a rare gold Roman coin of Roman emperor Volusianus.

A binio (or double aureus) of the Roman Emperor Volusianus (251–253 AD) is an extremely rare gold coin from the mid-3rd century. These coins are heavy, high-value gold pieces (5.4–5.6 grams) minted during the short reign of Volusianus and his father, Trebonianus Gallus. The denomination of the coin is not an ordinary aureus, but a rare binio, i.e. a double aureus.

The large sum was lost at the Roman site in the Roman province of Pannonia Superior. The coin was minted during his rule, between A.D. 251 and 253. One side of the coin features a portrait of the emperor, while the other side depicts Libertas, freedom.

The third-century coin depicts Emperor Volusianus, who co-ruled the Roman Empire for about two years with his father, until he was assassinated at age 22 by his own soldiers. Volusianus and his father were killed in August 253 by their own soldiers, who were terrified of the forces of the usurper Aemilian which were marching towards Rome. Estimate: 15 000 CHF. Price realized: 17 000 CHF