There is nothing quite like finding the first bone or brick of ancient remains. While such discoveries can take mere moments, understanding the whole story behind ruins, lost kingdoms, and old familiars can take decades. Archaeological sites can grind to a standstill, only moving forward again with the “story” when the next find falls into place like a lost puzzle piece. These additional discoveries can change long-held beliefs, open new mysteries, and even change the entire purpose of an ancient site.

10De Palomares Tomb

Miguel de Palomares was one of the first Catholic Priests to arrive in Mexico after the Spanish conquest in 1521. His grave was discovered by accident when, in 2016, workers dug a pit for a lamp post. When archaeologists widened the space, they discovered a large slab with the name de Palomares carved on it. The two-meter-long gravestone marks an unusual burial place for a Catholic priest—beneath the floor of an Aztec temple.

For a long time, scholars were aware that the Spaniards erected churches over native religious sites. The behavior was labeled as a dominant display of whose god was better, in effect, a symbolic replacement of the local deities by Christianity. Now, it would appear that the Spaniards were a little more practical-minded. The Aztec temples had solid foundations and sturdy walls, all ready to be used. To save time, de Palomares’s particular temple’s floor was simply whitewashed and otherwise left untouched when it was turned into Mexico City’s first cathedral in 1524.

9Victorian Tastes

A slice of the Victorian palate was revealed during construction work in London. In 2010, a demolition team took apart an old nightclub to make way for the Crossrail station. The club hailed from the 1970s but had been built over an even older site. Crosse & Blackwell had a factory there from 1830 to 1921, and archaeologists got a peek at the products that appealed to the Victorians.

Beneath the former nightclub, they found over 13,000 jars. Pots of Mushroom Catsup, jam, marmalade, and Piccalilli made up the discarded stash of flavors. The cistern in which they were found powered the factory’s steam engines up until the 1870s when it became a dump during an overhaul of the warehouse. The massive haul is valuable due to its size, rarity, and ability to reveal the tastes of the time. After shutting down, the factory became a cinema in 1927 before opening as a nightclub in 1976.

8The Sterling Stones

At the entrance to Police Scotland Central Division’s Randolphfield HQ, based in Sterling, stands a pair of standing stones. For a long time, these were admired as 3,000-year-old monuments with a mysterious connection to a nearby ancient graveyard. It turns out, the pair could be honoring a much more recent event. Radiocarbon testing placed the stone sentinels closer to 1314.

Something of note did occur in the area during that year. The English and Scottish clashed in the Battle of Bannockburn. On the first day, under the lead of Sir Thomas Randolph (also the Earl of Moray), the Scots cleverly managed to redirect the route of the larger English army. This protected Sterling Castle from an intended attack and also helped the Scottish side to defeat their enemy in a historic encounter the next day. Much like a commemoration plaque today, it is believed that the standing stones were placed on the battlefield to mark Randolph’s success when he managed to throw the English off course.

7The Edo Map

In 2017, experts at the Matsue History Museum decided to re-examine one of its artifacts, “Edo Hajimezu”—an illustration of an ancient building in Tokyo. The 400-year-old map showed Edo Castle, a vast structure that belonged to the feudal family Tokugawa. Continual rebuilding obscured Edo Castle’s original design until researchers realized that the old map showed it all along.

Drawn shortly after the castle was completed, between 1607 and 1609, it was a testimony to a clan that took no chances with their own safety. The design was highly defensive, more fort than home-sweet-home. Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616), who built Edo, was at war with the Toyotomi family for the top dog position.

The map revealed a great deal about walls, mounds, and the castle’s interior. The most fascinating defense architecture could be seen to the south of the castle. The gates and walls were planned in such a way that the enemy would have been forced to zigzag instead of advancing in a straight line. Unfortunately, this innovative feature did not survive to modern times.

6House Of Gates

It is hard to imagine that finding a gate at a place called the “House of Gates” would surprise anyone, but this one did. Beit She’arim (Hebrew for “House of Gates”) is a UNESCO world heritage site located in northern Israel. When excavations in 2016 turned up a mammoth gateway, the diggers were stunned. It included half of what appeared to have been a fortified wall with doors and a tower.

During the Roman and Byzantine eras, Beit She’arim was a hub of Jewish culture and law. However, the town remained small and thus far, assumed to have had no need for protective city walls. So convinced were the experts that they believed the word “gates” in its ancient name could not be literal. They even skewed it as Beit Sharay, which means “court.” Since the town was the headquarters of the Jewish judicial council, the theory fit snugly.

The discovery of the imposing limestone gates forced archaeologists to rethink the town’s name and purpose. Dating to Roman times, there is even the intriguing possibility that the gatehouse is the first ruins of an unknown Roman fortress at the site.

5Kingdom Of Rheged

The Galloway Picts Project was started in 2012 to unravel the history behind rock carvings discovered in Trusty’s Hill Fort. When their meaning became clear, or rather what researchers believe they represent, it recovered a lost kingdom. Nobody was looking for Rheged when they first began studying the Pictish symbols on the bedrock. They were unique to the area, which made for a good archaeological riddle. Also, while its exact location was not known, the sixth-century kingdom was thought to be somewhere in Cumbria.

The inscriptions did not confirm that there was once a community of Picts in Galloway, but instead hinted heavily at a royal citadel from the Dark Ages (around A.D. 600). The excavations produced enough evidence to suggest that Trusty’s Hill was once at the center of Rheged. If so, the rediscovery of the kingdom is a fantastic find. Rheged was a prominent powerhouse among the northern kingdoms, and its influence was felt throughout Scotland’s literature and history.

4Mayan Superhighways

Ancient highways exist in the jungles of northern Guatemala. Covering an area of over 150 miles, it first came to the public’s attention in 1967 when British explorer Ian Graham published a map of El Mirador that included the roads.

El Mirador was once the largest city-state with around a million citizens living inside its boundaries of 833 square miles. Due to being covered by thick rain forest, the causeways proved difficult to study. To bypass the secretive forest canopy, a laser project was started in 2006. After scanning the Mirador Basin from the air, remarkable 3D images showed massive superhighways and other structures that surprised even the research team.

Highly detailed pyramids, canals, terraces, and animal corrals were revealed. The most exciting discovery was the scope of the 17-road network. Snaking over the land, at some places as far as 25 miles, the causeways were up to 20 feet high and 130 feet wide. They were built at different times, between 600-400 B.C. and 300 B.C.-A.D. 100. The sophisticated road system united the large state by allowing the transport of supplies and people.

3Ancient Construction Site

The archaeological site of Qantir-Piramesse once hosted Egypt’s capital, Pi-Ramesse, under the rule of Pharaoh Ramesses the Great. Established between 1300 B.C. and 1100 B.C., no substantial ruins remain of what was likely the biggest human settlement during the Bronze Age.

A German team used a novel way to find subterranean leftovers of the great city. For an incredible sixteen years (1996-2012), they magnetically mapped the area. Since ancient mud-brick buildings have a different magnetic “look” than normal earth, foundations and walls soon started to appear. They were enormous. Upon closer inspection, researchers felt they were looking at a construction site. The large-scale restoration project was perhaps set up around a palace and temple complex.

Not far away was a pit with mortar at the bottom. Touchingly, the footprints of a toddler were preserved in this layer. Something else was found in the pit, and it could change the face of Egyptian art. Fragments of plaster may sound mundane, but these appeared to belong to a decorative fresco, something almost unheard of during this particular era.

2The Montezuma Attack

One of Arizona’s landmarks received a tragic overhaul of its past. The two buildings, carved from a limestone cliff almost 900 years ago, form a part of Montezuma Castle National Monument. For more than eight decades, the disappearance of the inhabitants was one of the Southwest’s greatest mysteries.

Signs that the dwellings suffered a serious fire was filed away as a “decommissioning ritual” done after the evacuation. However, Hopi traditions tell of their ancestors, the Sinagua, being attacked on site—and the story includes the use of arson as a weapon. The Tonto Apache have a similar tale but of their ancestors trying to flush the Sinagua out with fire. Modern investigations provided the archaeological evidence to these tales.

The period between 1375-1395 is significant. Pottery was produced and the blaze happened, indicating that people lived there until the last moments. Four bodies found together in the 1930s were thought to predate the flames, but another look revealed their gruesome end. Three had fractured skulls. All had cut and burn marks sustained shortly before death. A brutal attack explains the sudden departure, but archaeologists still do not know what sparked the assault.

1Sahara Castles

The Garamantes was an enigmatic African people. In 2011, an expedition to Libya to find out more about the mysterious Garamantes was cut short by civil war. Another attempt, using satellite photography, gave researchers a good view of over 100 fortified settlements belonging to the lost civilization.

Walled towns and villages stood abandoned in the Sahara 620 miles south of Tripoli. Dating A.D. 1-500, the mud-brick structures were masterfully constructed, and there are still walls standing up to 13 feet (4 meters) high. All earlier understanding of the culture came from the Garamantes’ capital, Jarma, about 125 miles to the northwest.

Jarma revealed a powerful African kingdom with a writing system, metallurgy, trading, and textiles. The Sahara fortresses added another remarkable achievement. In the super-dry environment, they created oases where crops flourished. They did this with a complex subterranean canal system that brought groundwater to the surface. Why the fortresses were abandoned is unknown. Most likely, disappearing water sources and trade routes collapsing with the fall of the Roman Empire contributed.

Weaponry has been with mankind ever since the first human ancestor picked up a rock. Throughout history, it remained one of the most actively developed technologies, flavored by different cultures and times. The study of devices, injuries, and battlefields regularly return missing or unknown pieces to the human story that is archaeology. Ancient weapons can show how people adapted, correct misconceptions, and explain long-standing mysteries.

10The Glass Spearhead

Over a century ago, male Aboriginal prisoners were sent to Australia‘s Rottnest Island.^[1] Recently, the island was visited by University staff and students from Western Australia’s School of Indigenous Studies. While learning about the area’s history, one student found a beautiful artifact—a spearhead knapped from green glass. The rare point was about 100 years old and joined previous finds of other glass and ceramic spearheads. What makes this one unique is the deep, sparkling emerald shade. Every other glass point collected over the years was of the usual clear kind.

The weapons are believed to have been used by the Aboriginal inmates to forge bonds, a form of currency during the trading of goods, and to hunt quokkas. It appears the men chose a hilltop overlooking the mainland and went there to craft the spears from any glass they could salvage. The discovery shows the remarkable adaptability of the prisoners despite being incarcerated.

9Tooth Tools

The Gilbert Islanders from the Pacific Ocean once made weapons from two vanished species.^[2] The habit of using shark teeth to create vicious and inventive fighting tools was first noted by European arrivals in the 1700s. The Islanders drilled holes into each serrated snapper and tied them into position with human hair and coconut fibers. Researchers studied a scary collection at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, to see which sharks were hunted for this art form that stopped 130 years ago. The idea was to see if any unknown species roamed the reefs before the age of census taking.

Thanks to the preserved weapons, they identified the silky shark, tiger, hammerhead, oceanic whitetip, and blue shark. The most heavily used was the silvertip shark. However, the true damage of over-fishing came to light when the team found the teeth of spotfin and dusky sharks. While they still exist elsewhere, neither have ever been recorded near the Gilbert Islands. What sealed their fate in this region was likely the shark-finning business that decimated populations for decades since 1900.

8Ancient .44 Magnum

At its peak, Rome walked over several countries, but Scotland was not one of them.^[3] Described as “Rome’s Afghanistan,” the locals’ geographical knowledge proved to be a formidable advantage against the invaders. Evidence of how Roman soldiers went all out to subdue one group of Scots came to light at a 1,900-year-old fortified hill called Burnswark.

Using metal detectors, researchers found over 400 lead balls fired by slingshots. Experiments in Germany proved that a trained Roman slinger could have released the 50-gram bullets at a speed similar to a .44 magnum cartridge. Targets within 130 yards and some lengths beyond were not safe from expert throwers.

When archaeologists looked at the original positions of the bullets, two locations held them in abundance. The whole 500-yard-long rampart of the fort was peppered with the balls, fitting with the pattern of a long siege. A smaller concentration to the north could be where the Scots tried, but failed, to escape, since researchers believe there were no survivors and that many were felled by Roman slingshots.

7Kaakutja’s Wounds

Kaakutja is a skeleton allowing an extremely rare look at Aboriginal conflict before the arrival of the Europeans.^[4] The 800-year-old man was found a few years ago in Toorale National Park, buried in the fetal position. Kaakutja’s life was short and violent. When he died, he was 25-35 years old and had already survived two head injuries. Another wound, this time unhealed, revealed a rarely seen demise—death by boomerang attack.

A six inch (15cm) long slice marred the right side of his face. The cut matched a metal blade’s damage, but this was six centuries before Europeans introduced metal weapons to Australia. Researchers concluded that Kaakutja succumbed in an attack where a less familiar kind of boomerang was used. Not the sort that returns to the thrower, it was larger and sabre-like with a deadly inner edge. This hand-held boomerang could cause the same serious damage as a sword, and in Kaakutja’s case, it happened so fast he could not defend himself, as no defensive injuries were found on the skeleton.

6Fighter Pharaohs

All records concerning weapons carried by Pharaohs state they were purely ritualistic.^[5] However, new studies have found that not every item was just for show. Some of the ornate swords and axes might have been wielded by the Pharaohs and other elite Egyptians in battle.

Scientists chose 125 artifacts from Egypt’s Bronze Age, 5,000-3,000 years ago. Despite being called ritualistic, nearly all the weapons were forged as the real deal and very capable of fighting. Around half showed signs of active duty, although it is hard to say what they were used for. Apart from the battlefield, experts suspect some were used by the elite to execute prisoners or perform animal sacrifices.

One dagger that was definitely not a prop is thought to have belonged to Kamose, son of the murdered Pharaoh Seqenenre Tao II. It is unknown whether the vicious ax blows that felled the king happened on the battlefield or elsewhere during an assassination. Afterward, Kamose continued to fight the Hyksos, his father’s enemy and killers. The dagger’s blade bore traces of extensive use. Given the violent times and what happened to his father, researchers speculate it could have been used in combat.

5Easter Island’s Mata’a

A curious weapon hails from Easter Island, which is famous for its moai statues.^[6] Called mata’a, it is a three-sided stabbing tool made from obsidian.

Just over 100 Rapanui natives remained by 1877 when they started sharing their past with Europeans. The tale told is of a devastated environment, scarce resources, and continuous fighting that destroyed their society. The story became fact, including that the mata’a was the weapon that brought bloodshed to the isolated population.

However, recent skeletal studies proved that scarcely any deaths resulted from mata’a assaults. More died after being pummeled with rocks. There is no evidence to support the stories of massacres either. There is a chance they never occurred, and that the mata’a was deliberately designed not to be too dangerous. For people who engineered the moai, the Islanders were capable of inventing worse weapons if they truly wanted war. This new look at the obsidian tools could reveal the true story of how the Rapanui instead decided to curb their volatile relationships before it killed everyone on the tiny island.

4Genghis Khan’s Secret Weapon

Eight centuries ago, an obscure tribe rose to conquer an unprecedented amount of territory.^[7] How the Mongol hordes, a squabbling and divided people, came together to defeat most of Asia is a mystery. Tree-ring scientists are now suggesting that their secret weapon was as simple as unusual weather. After studying Siberian pines in central Mongolia, the trees showed something contrary to the traditional view that the Mongols spread because they wanted to escape their arid homeland.

Growth rings from 1211-1225, when Genghis Khan rose, showed that for 15 straight years, rains came to the usually frigid and dry steppes. The resulting lush fields increased the Mongols’ herds. The boom in livestock helped lessen internal conflict over resources, and the charismatic Khan grabbed the opportunity to unite the tribes into one power focused on conquest. Their war horses also increased, which was the driving force behind their strong armies. The change in climate strongly suggests that history could have been very different if the 15-year rain spell never occurred.

3The Iraqi Neanderthal

Iraq’s Zagros Mountains delivered the remains of nine Neanderthals between 1953-1960.^[8] One middle-aged man’s remains bore a serious injury, rare evidence of inter-species aggression. Weeks before his death, he suffered a stabbing event that deeply cleft his left ninth rib. Theories included a fall, hunting accident, even a brawl with a fellow Neanderthal. However, weapon studies and experiments suggested that it was not another of his kind that took issue with him, but a human.

The age of Shanidar 3, as the victim was named, roughly matched with when modern humans returned to the area, around 50,000 years ago. By then, humans possessed throwing spears while Neanderthals had jabbing sticks. Both groups also owned stone knives. Neanderthals were eliminated as suspects when it was discovered that their thrusting spears would have caused more damage, and that a downward stab with a knife held the right trajectory but not the right speed to match the rib scar. The closest match was a thrown spear, traveling at a low momentum and hitting the standing Shanidar 3 at a 45 degrees downward angle.

2Trigger Factory

In the 1970s, the tomb of Emperor Qin Shi Huang was opened.^[9] Best known for its terra-cotta army of life-size human figures, researchers puzzled over the statues’ weapons. Apart from stone armor, the soldiers also had swords, lances, and crossbows. Their construction remained a riddle, especially the crossbows. Their frames of wood and bamboo already decomposed, leaving behind metal parts such as tips and triggers. Each trigger had five interlocking pieces, and many experts felt an assembly line process was involved, but scrutiny dismissed this. The parts were near identical, meaning molds were used.

The structure of the workforce probably mirrored the way the Emperor reformed ancient China’s entire society. The population was broken into small groups collectively responsible for the obedience and productivity of its members. Similarly, the triggers were produced by groups of craftsmen assigned a particular task such as smelting or assembling. Since this was probably how weaponry destined for real conflict was also produced, such worker cells could have moved with armies to keep the soldiers’ weapons in working shape.

1Fake Viking Swords

Back in the day, every self-respecting Viking fought with a designer sword.^[10] The most sought-after were forged by Ulfberht, whose name was embossed near the hilt. Vikings produced superb swords but, much like today, inferior products fooled many buyers.

Experts never knew about this interesting piece of Viking history until a private collector brought an Ulfberht to the Wallace Collection, a museum in London. Comparing it to Ulfberht’s from its own and other collections, tests quickly exposed the difference. While both groups carried the famous name, were razor sharp, and appeared identical, the weaker fakes showed their nature at the worst moment. They broke easily, and several were found shattered on battlefields. Their iron came from northern Europe unlike the genuine swords, made of crucible steel from the Middle East with a carbon content three times higher. The fakes probably escaped detection because they were manufactured with expertise, but hardening the hot, inferior iron by plunging it into water made the blade brittle. Many well-known Ulfberhts in modern collections have now been revealed to be ancient impostors.

Humans are by nature pretty wasteful. Once we have extracted our use from any items we tend to discard the remnants and not care too much about what happens to them. While today’s landfill sites are overflowing waste management is not just a modern problem however. As far back as we look we can find evidence of human habitation by searching for their garbage. And sometimes it is that very rubbish which provides the greatest insights into our history. Here are ten bits of archaeology that are literally rubbish.

10 Strange Archaeological Discoveries

10 Holey Skulls

When archaeologists find human remains the amount they can learn from them can be spectacular. Everything from their age, sex, social class, down to their diet can be revealed from their bones. Often the context that they are discovered in is just as important. Were they buried with great pomp and loaded with grave goods? In the case of four skulls found in an Incan village in the Andes they were excavated from a pit full of food scraps and other domestic detritus. Just what was going on?

Found without their bodies and in the middle of garbage it is unlikely that these skulls belonged to the honoured dead. When the fragments of the skulls were pieced together it was revealed that holes had been cut into the tops of them. These holes and other marks left on the bones suggest the skulls were strung up on rope – likely as a warning to others.

The skulls date from a period when the Inca were expanding. Those that resisted their take over would face death or enslavement. That the four skulls came from three women and one child probably reflects the fact that men were too valued as hard-working slaves to be wasted on terror tactics.^[1]

9 Collapse of Elusa

Elusa was once a flourishing city in the middle of the Nagev desert in modern-day Israel. Up to 20,000 people called the city their home and enjoyed all the delights of a Roman and Byzantine metropolis. Growing grapes and producing a valuable wine allowed the city to expand and build theatres, bath houses, and churches. Yet within a few generations the city dwindled to insignificance and all that was left were ruins buried under sand or ransacked by outsiders. Were Muslim invaders to blame for the fall of Elusa? The clues to what happened were found in the refuse left behind by the inhabitants.

By studying the layers of garbage in the cities dumps archaeologists could date fairly precisely when rubbish stopped being brought to them. With a date of around 550 AD this was far too early for the collapse of the city to be caused by Islamic forces. Combined with other evidence it may show that climate change was to blame.

Three major volcanic eruptions seem to have caused what researchers call the Late Antique Little Ice Age. With crops failing across Europe there was likely a disruption of trade that brought an end to Elusa’s wine business. All those who depended on it must have abandoned the city in search of better prospects.^[2]

8 Mudlarking

Rivers have always served cities as an easy way of getting rid of sewage and garbage and the Thames in London is no exception. Hundreds of years ago people with no other way of making a living searched the foreshore of the river for anything that had been discarded which could have any value at all. Because of the clinging London mud and their bird-like dependence on the tide these scavengers were called Mudlarks. Nowadays mudlarks are amateur archaeologists who still wade out into the mud, now searching for artefacts that might reveal clues about London’s past.

On the banks of the Thames there have been finds dating from all periods of the city’s habitation. Swords and other blades from the Bronze Age have been recovered from the water. Often bent and damaged on purpose they were likely deposited as ritual offerings – blurring the line somewhat between garbage and religion. Roman pottery and pieces of hypocaust tile show how they lived, while burned roof tiles can tell us about the time Boudicca sacked the city. Everything from gold coins to broken bottles can reveal the lives of Londoners from throughout history. Rubbish from all ages was simply swept into the Thames and awaits those brave, or foolhardy, enough to go searching there.^[3]

7 Chinese Oracle Bones

Ironically predicting the future has given us one of our greatest windows into the past. The earliest surviving Chinese writing was recorded by those who, over 3000 years ago, tried to divine the future from bones and turtle shells. Those tasked with predicting the future would write the question that needed answering on the scapula bone of an ox or the underside of a turtle shell. Then a hot rod of metal was placed on the bone until it cracked. The way in which the cracks broke across the surface was interpreted to reveal the answer to the question – which helpfully was also recorded on the bone.

The oracle bones were rediscovered when 1899 when the Chancellor of the Imperial Academy fell ill. Prescribed a traditional medicine made from ‘Dragon Bones’ he ordered some and was startled to discover they were covered in ancient Chinese script. Soon searches were made for the source of these bones and over 50,000 discarded bones with writing on them have since been turned up revealing pieces of Chinese history that would otherwise have been lost.^[4]

6 Viking Middens

Norse explorers were the masters of sea travel. Setting out from their homes in Scandinavia they travelled across the known world, and even beyond it. The Norse discovered Iceland, Greenland, and even visited North America. Yet despite their successes the settlements in Greenland and North America failed to survive. Just why has always been a puzzle but middens, heaps of garbage, are beginning to clear up the mystery.

By examining the remains of Norse food left in the middens of farmsteads archaeologists can tell what the settlers were eating. In the earliest levels the diet was similar to those of the Norse at home as cattle and farming techniques they brought with them flourished in the new lands. Yet as time went on more and more the Norse had to rely on seal and fish to survive. The middens tell the story of harsh winters and a failure of trade to replenish the settlers’ supplies.^[5]

10 Pigments With Colorful Histories

5 Megamiddens

Shell middens are a particular type of rubbish dump primarily made from, obviously, shells. These tend to be the shells of molluscs like mussels, limpets, and whelks but also fish bones and other marine creatures. Wherever they are found they excite archaeologists because they can tell us a lot about how our ancestors lived by looking at what their diet consisted of. But sometimes it is their size that excites our interest.

In some places the pile of shells is so large that the middens are termed Megamiddens. Hundreds of metres wide and metres deep they can be made from billions of sea shells that are all that remains of our ancestors’ lunches. There are those however who think shell middens may be more than mere trash.

In Florida an area covering 100 acres has been found to have been created using leftover shells. Banks, canals, walls, and mounds were all constructed from shells piled together.^[6]

4 Monte Testaccio

Rome in its Imperial heyday was one of the largest cities in the world. It stands to reason then that it must have had some of the largest garbage dumps in the world too. At Monte Testaccio, now in the heart of a trendy Roman suburb, you can find a hill formed from the trash created by Rome’s oil trade. And archaeologists could not be more excited.

Olive oil was the lifeblood of Ancient Rome used for everything from cooking, to cleaning the body, to fuel in lamps. All the olive trees in Italy could not support the desire for oil and so vast amounts of oil had to be transported to the city. Moved in large ceramic vessels called amphorae the oil industry produced a huge amount of waste pottery. Up to 80 million amphorae were disposed of at Monte Testaccio – enough to create a hill 150 feet tall.

In the centuries since the abandonment of the dump it has been used as both a park and a gun emplacement. By digging into the hill archaeologists can create a chronology of the oil trade by examining the amphorae and tracing them to their origin.^[7]

3 Ostraka

In many Western countries it is common to look back on the ancient Athenian democracy as the source of our own democracy. Yet in many ways it was a weird place. One of the defining features of the Athenian system is entirely absent from ours – Ostracism. Though maybe it is worth bringing back.

Each year the Athenians would gather and vote on whether to have an ostracism. If the vote was in favour then another vote was held where each Athenian citizen would be allowed to vote for the person they most wanted to see thrown out of the city. Whoever received the most votes was exiled for a period of ten years. This procedure was used as a way of ridding the city of those who were thought to be a threat to the democracy.

The name Ostracism comes from the ostraka, sherds of pottery, on which the names of those people wanted to ostracise were scratched. Several of these broken bits of pottery still survive and bear the names of some of the great figures from antiquity including Themistocles, Pericles, and Aristides.^[8]

2 Letters from Hadrian’s Wall

Hadrian’s Wall in northern England was once at the extreme frontier of the Roman Empire. Historians would love to know much about Hadrian’s Wall – including what exactly it was designed to do. In one way though it is adding a great deal to our knowledge of life in the Roman Empire. At Vindolanda, one of the forts along the wall, many letters sent and received by those who lived there have been recovered from trash heaps.

Written in ink on thin strips of wood these letters have survived because of the damp conditions in which they were thrown away. Among the letters are everything from military orders to complaints about food. One letter, an invitation to a birthday party, is the earliest surviving writing in Latin by a woman.

Alongside such domestic matters are clues as to how the Romans viewed the British they had subdued. “The Britons are unprotected by armour. They are very many cavalry. The cavalry do not use swords, nor do the wretched Britons take up fixed positions in order to throw javelins.”^[9]

1 Oxyrhynchus Papryi

The sands of Egypt have produced some of the most spectacular archaeological discoveries but the most important are probably not golden masks or mummies. The rubbish dumps of a provincial city called Oxyrhynchus have proved to be the source of more ancient written material than anywhere else in the world.

Discovered in 1896 one of the first documents to emerge from the dumps was one called ‘The Sayings of Jesus’ which caused a sensation when translated. Most of the papyri that were excavated proved to be less extraordinary but are no less important to historians. They document private letters, contracts, business deals, horoscopes, and spells that reveal the lives of ordinary people in the area.

For fans of Ancient Greek literature Oxyrhynchus the discarded papyri have been a godsend. Authors as famous as Sappho, whose work is mostly lost to us, have emerged from the dumps. One fragment of a poem reads:

“Some say an army on horseback,
Some on foot, and some say ships,
Are the most beautiful things,
On this black earth,
But I say it is what you love.”

Written mostly on papyrus the texts have mostly degraded to fragments that need to be pieced together to make sense. This project of transcribing and translating papyri is still very much ongoing with an estimated half a million fragments awaiting examination.^[10]

10 Discoveries That Completely Baffle Modern Scientists