Exhibition reveals hidden history of Colosseum after the fall of Rome, from medieval fortresses to slaughterhouses

An artist's impression of the timber walkway used by soldiers guarding the medieval fortress that was built into the side of the Colosseum CREDIT: COLOSSEUM EXHIBITION

Archaeologists in Rome have discovered the remains of a timber walkway used by soldiers guarding a fortress built into the remains of the Colosseum during the Middle Ages.

Gladiatorial contests and other spectacles held in the massive amphitheatre ground to a halt by the sixth century AD with the collapse of the Roman Empire and the arena was gradually appropriated for other uses in succeeding centuries. 

By the 12th century a powerful baronial family, the Frangipane, had commandeered the Colosseum and built a formidable fortress into its southern flank. The walkway was built on the top tier of the amphitheatre, enabling the clan’s soldiers to watch out for enemy forces.  The Frangipane were at war with another family of Roman nobles, the Annibaldi.

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Not in the Motte

Clifford's Tower in York is recognised around the world as one of Yorkshire's truly iconic landmarks.  It is an enormously important monument, steeped in 750 years of history. But on 27th October 2016 the City of York Council planning committee gave approval for the English Heritage visitor centre plans, including a concrete and glass building incorporating a souvenir shop, coffee bar and viewing area, which will be embedded in the base of the mound itself. Thousands of York residents, and people from around Britain and the world object to these plans and believe that this is a huge mistake.  It is felt that it would be an offensively commercial addition to this much loved landmark. 

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Medieval graffiti survey underway in Bolton to uncover different marks used to ward of evil spirit

MEDIEVAL markings to ward off evil spirits and bad omens are being uncovered in Bolton’s historic buildings to form part of a national survey.

Bolton Archaeology and Egyptology Society is co-ordinating the Medieval Graffiti Survey locally to record the variety of marks that can be found on buildings to give an insight into past superstitions and fears — and the society wants to hear from anyone who knows of a building locally with elements that pre-date 1700.

The Bolton survey got under way this week, with members of the society enjoying a tour of Hall i’th’ Wood, including rooms which are normally shut off to the public, where they saw witch markings, including daisy wheels, the VV sign, symbolising Virgin Virgins, and taper burns.

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Mystery over male Black Death victims found buried hand in hand

A skeleton unearthed during the Crossrail excavations at Liverpool Street on display at the Museum of London Docklands. Photograph: AFP/Getty

The skeletons of two men who were buried apparently hand in hand during an outbreak of the Black Death have been excavated from a plague burial ground in London.

The men, believed to have been in their 40s, were buried in the early 15th century in a carefully dug double grave, in identical positions, with heads turned towards the right and the left hand of one man apparently clasping the right hand of the other.

Both are assumed to have died in one of the bubonic plague epidemics that swept the capital in the years after the most famous outbreak in 1348, which is estimated to have killed more than half London’s population.

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Pottery clues to medieval Nottingham's growth industry

Behind the white fencing at the back of Pryzm nightclub, archaeologists are unearthing clues that may help illuminate the story of medieval Nottingham.

And they may one day be able to state that a monument to one of the city's creative industries of the future was built on the foundations Nottingham's creative industry of the past.

Long before pharmaceuticals and cigarettes, bicycles and lace, Nottingham was renowned as a centre for pottery. And not just in England, for the town's distinctive green glazed crockery was exported around Europe.

Items of pottery, glass and roof tiles – and what looks like the remains of a brick kiln - have now been discovered by archaeologists ahead of the redevelopment of the Convent Street site as a digital learning centre the Nottingham Trent University and Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies.

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Fossilized tree and ice cores help date huge volcanic eruption 1,000 years ago to within three months

An international team of researchers has managed to pinpoint, to within three months, a medieval volcanic eruption in east Asia the precise date of which has puzzled historians for decades. They have also shown that the so-called "Millennium eruption" of Changbaishan volcano, one of the largest in history, cannot have brought about the downfall of an important 10th century kingdom, as was previously thought.

Writing in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews the team describes how new analysis of the partly fossilised remains of a tree killed by the eruption, and ice cores drilled in Greenland, lead them to conclude the eruption occurred in the final months of 946 AD.

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L’INRAP FOUILLE AU MONT-SAINT-MICHEL

En 2005, une équipe de l’Inrap avait mis au jour de nombreux moules en schiste destinés à la fabrication d’enseignes de pèlerinage, à l’emplacement d’un atelier de production daté des XIVe-XVe siècles, près de l’entrée de l’abbaye. La variété et la qualité de ces pièces en font aujourd’hui une collection de référence en archéologie médiévale.
En 2011, les archéologues ont révélé les vestiges d’une tour des fortifications, la tour Denis, ouvrage édifié vers 1479 et détruit en 1732.
En 2015, d’anciennes maisons, donnant sur la grève et détruites en 1368, ont été étudiées.

Dans l’abbaye, l’Inrap a suivi plusieurs chantiers de restauration conduits par l’architecte en chef des Monuments historiques dont les opérations importantes menées sur la Merveille, sur l’ancienne Hôtellerie de Robert de Torigny et sur les Logis abbatiaux.
Aujourd’hui, la recherche des fortifications et de la porte du XIIIe siècle a permis la découverte, inattendue, du cimetière paroissial.

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