THE secrets of a rich and powerful medieval Scottish city which had lain undisturbed for five centuries are to be revealed this weekend, following a three-day archaeological dig by Channel Four’s Time Team.
A succession of kings held court at Old Roxburgh, or Rokesburg as it was then called, and the Royal burgh by the banks of the Tweed became the largest wool trading centre in Europe. Rokesburg vied with Edinburgh, Stirling and Berwick as the kingdom’s most influential place.
But while the other three settlements have survived, almost nothing remains of Old Roxburgh above ground level.
The burgh, which was granted its Royal charter by King David I in the 12th century, was destroyed and abandoned during the militarisation of the Border in 1460.
Experts hail rare find of medieval logboat
A thousand years ago it split asunder and could no longer be used to work the marshy waterways of East Yorkshire.
But rather than let it go to waste forever, workers built part of the medieval logboat into the side of the trackway over the soft ground – and there it remained until a few days ago.
Archaeologists discovered the stern of a boat, made out of a single hollowed oak trunk, while construction work was being carried out at Welham Bridge on the A614, between Holme upon Spalding Moor and Howden.
Mysteries of bog butter uncovered (Subscription required)
Chemical detectives have traced deposits of fat in Scottish peat bogs to foodstuffs buried by people hundreds of years ago. The 'bog butter' is the remains of both dairy products and meat encased in the peat, say Richard Evershed of the University of Bristol and colleagues.
Those who live in the countryside of Ireland and Scotland and dig up chunks of peat for fuel have long been familiar with bog butter. While gathering the compressed plant matter, which can be burned in fires, diggers occasionally slice into a white substance with the appearance and texture of paraffin wax.
This is thought to be the remains of food once buried in the bog to preserve it. Waterlogged peat is cool and contains very little oxygen, so it can be used as a primitive kind of fridge.
Summary: The ancient "bog butter" could be either dairy product or adipocere from decayed animal corpses. Evershed et al. looked at the chemical structure of the ancient "bog butters" -- specifically the ratios of C-13 to C-12 -- to see how they compared with modern experimental ones of both dairy and animal carcasses. Six of the ancient samples resembled modern dairy butters and three were more like animal carcasses.
Movie Commentary: Two Archaeologists Comment on The Passion of the Christ
Mel Gibson's movie The Passion of the Christ is hardly a historical documentary. As the director himself asserts, and reviewers, religious leaders, and audience members agree, the movie is designed to bring to vivid life the nature and magnitude of Jesus’ sacrifice – an issue of theology rather than history. We are not theologians, but rather archaeologists specializing in the material remains and history of Roman Palestine. As such, we can not speak to the movie’s moral message, or even to the aesthetic or cinematic vision of the director. Some viewers may wonder, however, about the historical accuracy with which events and their settings are depicted. For those who are curious about Gibson’s fidelity to ancient sources, we offer the following information.