On January 21st, 1793, King Louis XVI of France was executed by guillotine, marking the end of the Bourbon monarchy and the beginning of the French Revolution.
Continue reading “On This Day: King Louis XVI of France was executed by guillotine”
Musket balls are the ammunition used in muskets – the weapons used during the English Civil War. The balls could be made from any metal alloy, but many were made from lead. Lead can be melted at reasonably low temperatures and so lead musket balls could be made over a camp fire. Lead could be readily sourced from such places like church roofs or even coffins, and recast from old musket balls, so it was an easy material to work with while preparing for battle.
The soldier would carry a crucible in which to melt the lead, he would put the material into it and place it over the fire until it had formed into a liquid. Musket ball moulds like this one in Worcester’s collection, had a small hole above one of the domes where the liquid could be poured into once the two domes were closed together. The…
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This is the scene of the last fresco found in the Regio V section of Pompeii not far from the barracks of the gladiators.
14 September – On this day
Titus Flavius Caesar Domitianus Augustus the second son of Vespasian, who had won the principate at the end of the year of four emperors succeeded his brother Titus to the imperial purple. Continue reading “AD 81 – Domitian becomes emperor of Rome”
AD 81 September 13 – On this day Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus died of fever.
Titus was the eldest son of Vespasian, who famously took the principate for himself at the end of the year of four emperors, and elder brother to the infamous Domitian. Titus fought with his father to suppress the Jewish rebellion of AD 66 where he distinguished himself as a successful and capable general. Continue reading “AD 81 – The Death of the Roman emperor Titus”
11 September AD 9 – On this day the battle of Teutoburg forest ended
One of the most significant losses Rome ever suffered occurred in the Teutoburg forest during the reign of Rome’s first emperor Augustus. The Roman forces led by Publius Quinctilius Varus, the governor of Germania, were led into an ambush and slaughtered losing the three legions assigned to the fledgling province.
The recent record-breaking heatwave and drought across the British Isles has led to the discovery of a number of previously unknown sites due to cropmarks that have become evident. Cropmarks are visible differences on the surface of the ground which occur as a result of differential growth caused by archaeological remains under the ground.
Continue reading “How was a New Stonehenge discovered in Ireland thanks to the British Heatwave?”
One of the reasons for the conquest of Dacia by the Romans in 106 AD continues to attract foreign interests to Romania even today, the fabled gold of the Rosia Montana region. I had the good fortune to be able to visit Romania in 2004 as part of my PhD research, and I travelled through the Rosia Montana region which is the home to some amazing archaeological sites.
Continue reading “Romania’s History under threat because of a desire for gold”
In a new discovery archaeologists have discovered a leather pouch full of coins when removing the skeleton of a man who had been crushed by a huge rock.
Continue reading “New discovery at Pompeii reveals more about the skeleton found under a rock”
The new excavation site at Pompeii (Regio V) has revealed its first victim who was killed in a most dramatic fashion after apparently surviving the initial phases of the eruption of Vesuvius only to be crushed by a huge stone block while fleeing the doomed city.
Continue reading “A new excavation site at Pompeii reveals its first victim”
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