The axe was the most important find in the group and would have been highly valued in the Neolithic community. Experiments with fiddle bows have found that it takes more than a day of work to manufacture an axe like this one.
An enigmatic coin that someone used to board a British bus seven decades ago is now entering the collection of the Leeds Discovery Centre, following the revelation that it's a bit of 2,000 year old currency from the former Carthaginian trading settlement of Gadir, in modern-day Cádiz, Spain-one of Europe's longest-inhabited cities, settled by Phoenicians around 1,100 B.C.E.
Treasures unearthed by hundreds of archaeologists so far during work on the controversial planned HS2 train line have been shown exclusively to the BBC. The 450,000 objects, which are being held in a secret warehouse, include a possible Roman gladiator's tag, a hand axe that may be more than 40,000 years old and 19th Century gold dentures. It is an "unprecedented" amount and array of items, which will yield new insights into Britain's past, says the Centre for British Archaeology.
They were all adult males between 40 and 60 years old when they died, ranging in height from 1.62 to 1.82 meters (5'4-6). They were in good overall health with excellent teeth, but osteoarthritis in the bones, particularly in the legs, attests to them having consistently experienced strenuous physical activity in their lives.
The Irish government will give 2,000 artists unrestricted weekly stipends in a program officials described as a "recognition, at government level, of the important role of the arts in Irish society." After a successful three-year pilot, the Irish government made its basic income program for artists permanent. Similar pilots have been launched here in the United States, but they're supported primarily by the nonprofit sector.
It was discovered six years ago by a metal detectorist in a field in Warwickshire. Now the Tudor Heart - a gold pendant linked to Henry VIII's marriage to his first wife, Katherine of Aragon - will go on show to millions after the British Museum successfully raised 3.5 million to save it following a four-month fundraising campaign. The London museum launched an appeal in October as it was keen to save the Tudor Heart, which was discovered by a metal detectorist in 2019,
Excavations carried out in 2025 by the Arctic University Museum of Norway revealed that the artefacts came from a boat burial. The grave contained the skeleton of a woman placed inside a boat measuring about 5.5 metres in length. She had been buried together with a dog, suggesting the animal may have been an important companion in life.
Two exceptionally rare and beautifully carved Mithraic altars found in Inveresk, East Lothian, Scotland, are going on display for the first time. They are not just the only Roman altars ever found in Scotland, but are among the finest examples of Roman sculpture in Roman Britain. They are also uniquely early in date, having been made in 140s A.D. during Antoninus Pius' reoccupation of southern Scotland, whereas most other archaeological materials related to the worship of Mithras in Britannia date to the 3rd century.
A gold ring with a deep-blue, oval setting - decorated with fine spirals of filigree and tiny granulated beads - has been recovered from medieval deposits in Tønsberg, a historic town in southeastern Norway. The ring was found during an excavation in the modern town centre, where archaeologists have been investigating layers of urban life preserved beneath today's streets. The discovery was made within the protected archaeological area known as Tønsberg Medieval Town.