I can’t help but post this because it is JUST TOO COOL.
A 4th c. Gallo-Roman chariot wheel was found intact in the Rhone River!
Remarkable.
In other news, from Archeology…
KASHIHARA, JAPAN—A dark blue dish and a clear painted bowl recovered together from a fifth-century tomb in Nara Prefecture are evidence of Japan’s far-reaching trade networks. The dish has been confirmed to have been imported from the Roman Empire. Its chemical composition, analyzed with a fluorescence X-ray device, is almost identical to Roman glasswork made in the second century or earlier in the Mediterranean region. The chemical composition of the painted glass bowl matches glass fragments unearthed at the palace in the ancient Persian capital of Ctesiphon. “Japan aggressively traded with other countries in the fifth century, and (the latest findings) show various elements were entering Japan at the time. Because the glass dish may have been transported via Central Asia, it is no wonder that there was a time lag (between its production and arrival in Japan),” Takashi Taniichi of Sanyo Gakuen University told The Asahi Shimbun.
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Absolutely wonderful finds. The dish is gorgeous. I can hardly wait to see the wheel cleaned and restored. Thanks for sharing the past of our ancestors.
Maybe someday buried statues of St. Joseph will be found.
You got the new issue before I did. Something to look forward to. That is such a great mag.
That wheel is amazing. I wonder if the rest of the chariot will be found?
Several years ago I was in Chartres when archaeologists were working on a Gallo-Roman site which was just a short walk from the celebrated cathedral. The area was going to be turned into an underground carpark. It was fascinating to watch the painstaking work of the archaeologists as several human skeletons were carefully uncovered. Eventually there was a row of them and I learnt later that it had been a Gallo-Roman cemetery. While watching the work going on a young child walked past and said to the adult with him ‘Are they dinosaurs?’ Sensibly the answer given was ‘Yes’ as the child was too young to understand what they really were.
The Gallo -Romans lived from the 1st century BC to the end of the 5th century AD and it was poignant to watch these early inhabitants of Chartres being revealed in this way. The archaeological site is long gone now, the main road has been replaced and the carpark built underground. In Europe history is always just beneath your feet. In England they even found a king underneath a carpark – Richard III!
The comment from ‘Ih’ reminded me of a headline in an online archaeological site I spotted a few years back which made me smile. It said : ‘STATUE FOUND IN CHURCH’. Reading further I learnt that it had made news as the said statue had been discovered hidden behind a wall!
The Romans were good with glass. They weren’t surpassed until the 19th century.