If walls could talk... this medieval alley in Figeac would have so much to say.
Pilgrims, knights, merchants, and Vikings once passed through this historic town.
(c.838 AD), France.
We've always known that ancient humans drank alcohol, but this is a cool new discovery!
Researchers found residue in Bronze Age vessels in western China pointing to a beer-like drink from ~3,000 years ago
The fun part is the details:
- Starch, plant microfossils and fungi in 42 vessels suggest a thick, unfiltered, mildly sweet-sour brew
- Millet, rice, wheat, barley… and a "qu" style starter using red mold (Monascus) which is not what you'd expect in that highland region
ICYMI: Archaeologists uncovered medieval halls buried beneath Oxford University, painting a really cool picture of how students lived hundreds of years ago 🧵
At Hertford College, experts found:
- Book clasps, writing styli, coins and trade tokens
- Early bowling balls and drinking vessels
- A perfectly preserved reading stone once used to magnify manuscripts
The first ever translation of Beowulf into another language was done by Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin in 1815. It was severely delayed when the Royal Navy shelled Copenhagen in 1807 and destroyed his library.
Here are the first couple lines. For being the very first, it's not bad!
The Treaty of Paris painting, showing the conclusion of the American Revolution, remains unfinished because British representatives refused to pose in 1783.
The Pool of Siloam, where Jesus healed a blind man, was the setting of an exciting discovery a few months back. Archaeologists found a massive 2,800-year-old dam nearby 🧵
What they uncovered:
- Ninth-century BC dam dated to 805-795 B.C.
- Largest found in Israel, oldest in Jerusalem
- Collected Gihon Spring water and flash floods
- Likely built to face drought and sudden storms
The earliest preserved Armenian manuscript miniature art — a 6th or 7th century Adoration of the Magi image, from The Etchmiadzin Gospels — one of the oldest depictions of Nativity.
Merry Armenian Christmas
Here’s what archaeologists found:
• Remnants of a wooden longhouse measuring 60 feet long
• Flint tools and pottery fragments
• A rare arrowhead dating back 4,000 to 6,000 years, far older than the village itself