Archaeology TheFoxPosts.com

Plague pits containing the remains of at least 1,000 victims have been unearthed in southern Germany. The pits could together form the largest mass grave ever discovered in Europe, archaeologists say. The excavations, which were carried out ahead of construction work in the city of Nuremberg, revealed eight pits each crammed with hundreds of skeletons belonging to adults, children and babies that date to between the late 15th and early 17th centuries. Archaeologists also found pottery shards and silver coins in two of the three pits they have finished excavating. Radiocarbon dating revealed the pottery coincides with plague outbreaks that occurred between 1622 and 1634, while the coins date to around 1619, according to a statement released by the archaeological excavation company In Terra Veritas. "A discovery like that has never happened before and quite honestly, no one had thought this to be possible," Melanie Langbein, of Nuremberg's department for heritage co...

The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has announced the discovery of a massive hoard of almost 2,000 gold coins by diver s in the ancient harbor in Caesarea. The coins, which are over 1,000 years old, constitute the largest find of its kind in the country. It is believed the treasure belongs to a shipwreck of an official treasury boat on its ways to Egypt with collected taxes. The discovery was made when a group of divers from a local dive club spotted what they initially thought were “toy coins”, while diving in the Caesarea National Park. The ancient Caesarea Maritima (or Caesarea Palestinae) city and harbor, which lies on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, was built by Herod the Great in about 25–13 BCE and was populated through the late Roman and Byzantine era. Caesarea Ancient Harbor where the gold coins were discovered (Deror Avi / Wikimedia Commons) The divers reported the discovery to the Marine Archaeology Unit of the IAA, which immediately sent out additional div...

If there is an animal capable of making anyone’s skin crawl just by hearing its name, it is the imposing python snake , which is capable of snatching the lives of the unfortunate beings it feeds on by preventing them from breathing with its gigantic body. Nobody could believe it In India, a video was recently released that astonished thousands of Internet users. No one would expect to find a python snake several meters long collapsed because of its food. Some rangers from the Rumpur area had to rescue the python and then move it to a jungle area, after it ended up unable to move in the vicinity of a village. Apparently the large python ended up without energy and capacity to move on its own, after swallowing a prey that was too big, yes, even for it. On the snake’s thick body protruded the volume of the animal it had eaten. Its movements were more than slow, so it did not put up any resistance and gladly accepted the help of the villagers who surrounded it and gath...

Eveп iп oυr dog-eat-dog world, υпυsυally large feasts might piqυe oυr iпterest. Α female Bυrmese pythoп, aboυt 16 feet (5 meters) loпg, receпtly swallowed a 76-poυпd (35-kilogram) female deer пear Florida’s Everglades Natioпal Park. The hυпter aпd the prey both died as a resυlt of the ordeal—the sпake was shot iп the head with a shotgυп, as is cυstomary, accordiпg to CNN—bυt the graphic photographs that followed told the story. Bυrmese pythoпs are rarely seeп eatiпg, bυt wheп they do, they coпsυme a lot. Iп fact, I receпtly pυblished aп essay aboυt how their hearts aпd other orgaпs grow to help them digest their big feasts from the previoυs week. (They have fatty acids iп their blood, to give yoυ a simple explaпatioп.) The reptiles 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 by chokiпg their food. They’ll ambυsh a prospective meal, grab it with their backward-cυrviпg jaws, aпd wrap themselves aroυпd it, sυffocatiпg it to death. The sпakes theп opeп their hiпged jaws wide to completely swa...