How did 2,000-year-old feet find their way to a Dublin attic?

From the Irish Times:

EXPERTS FROM the National Museum are still trying to explain how two human feet dating from 2,000 years ago were found in an attic in a house in the Terenure area of Dublin last December.

The human remains, a foot from a young child and the foot of an adult male with part of the lower leg attached, turned up during renovation work on the house in south Dublin.

The builders informed the gardaí who in turn called in the Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell, who ordered the remains be sent to Dublin City Mortuary for postmortem examination.

According to a report in the autumn edition of Archaeology Ireland to be published this week under the heading “Not One Foot in The Grave but two Feet in the Attic”, the mystery is unresolved.

During his examination, Dr Farrell and other scientists concluded the two mummified right feet had come from an adult and from a child. There were no signs of antemortem injuries or cut marks.

The foot of the male adult had part of the lower leg attached although the stretching and tearing of the muscle fibres suggest it had been pulled off a body, said the report.

“It closely resembled a bog body in appearance, as it had the dark brown, almost black colour seen in recent bog bodies such as Oldcroghan Man and Cloneycavan Man,” the report continued.

Get the rest of this article here

Students uncover hundreds of Iron Age remains

From The Copenhagan Post Online:

There was a sensational find when Århus archaeology students uncovered the bones of around 200 bodies dating from the Iron Age

What was supposed to be a simple three week long research exercise for archaeology students at the University of Aarhus developed into a unique excavation project.

Remains of more than 200 bodies have been found at the dig site near Skanderborg in Jutland dating from around 2,000 years ago.

The Illerup River Valley was a deep lake measuring about 10 hectares during the Iron Age and archaeology digs have established that it was used as a major sacrificial site during that period.

The area, which is a popular location for archaeologists, is now a mixture of bog and meadow, much of which is subject to conservation laws.

The student dig began on 20 June and almost immediately began turning up human remains.

‘This was a defeated army that was sacrificed to the lake at the time. The majority of remains are large arm and leg bones, skulls, shoulder blades and pelvises,’ said Ejvind Hertz, curator from Skanderborg Museum and excavation leader.

According to Hertz, the 200 victims found so far are just a small fragment of what lies in the area, which has only been partially excavated, and estimates suggest that the figure could run to well over one thousand.

Get the rest of this article here

Artefacts found at nature reserve

From the BBC News:

Human remains and Roman artefacts have been unearthed in an Iron Age ditch at a new nature reserve in Cambridgeshire.

Archaeologists made the discoveries at a former quarry at Cherry Hinton, near Cambridge, which is to open

to visitors for the first time in 100 years.

East Pit has been transformed by the Cambridgeshire Wildlife Trust into a haven for wild flowers and birds.

English Heritage said it was "very significant" as the site of one of the few Iron Age ditches in the region.

Over the past few months, archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology East have been excavating the ditch.

They have found 300 fragments of Iron Age pottery that are being used to accurately date the monument.

Get the rest of article here

.