The Birka female Viking warrior was a woman buried in the 10th century in Birka, Sweden and discovered in the 1870s. The grave was assumed to be a battle hardened man for 128 years until DNA analysis proved she was actually a high-ranking professional warrior. Shield-maidens are female warriors that take on male roles including wielding weapons and are depicted in many period figures, tapestries and brooches as well as mentioned by the famous Danish historian of the time, Saxo Grammaticus.

The grave chamber was made of wood and approximately 3.45m long and 1.75m wide. The body was in a sitting position and found earing garments of silk and silver. The grave contained a sword, an axe, a spear, armor-piercing arrows, a battle knife, two shields, two horses, one mare and one stallion. The grave also contained a game set with a board and pieces. This is considered evidence of her strategic thinking and indicating she was an officer who could lead troops into battle.

Denmark's glacial period lasted until 13,000 years ago allowing humans to move back into land previoulsy covered by ice and establish permanent habitation. The landscape turned from tundra to light forest and various plants appeared. The first inhabitants of this post-glaical landscape hunted reindeer and other land mammals as well as gathered fruit. By 8300 BC the temperature reached 15 degrees in the summer and aurochs and elk arrived from the south. The oldest known bog body (a human mummified in peat bog) was found here in 8000 BC. By 4500 BC, Denmark became a series of islands and the inhabitatns shifted to a seafood based diet which enabled the population to increase. The fourth largest island, Lolland, was the site of a settlement from 3700 BC.

Excavations at Syltholm on Lolland island revealed a 5700 year old piece of chewed birch pitch which was found preserved by the bog. In neolithic times this area would have been a shallow brackish lagoon protected from the open sea to the south by shifting sandy barrier islands. Palaeolithic people used birch pitch as glue up to 760,000 years ago and it was derived by heating the bark of birch trees. It was thought birch pitch was chewed for medicinal and antiseptic properties like an ancient chewing gum, and the piece found had been imprinted with human teeth marks. A neolithic female's DNA was extracted from the birch pitch revealing surprising information.

The Carolingian Dynasty was a family of Frankish rulers who established rule over Western Europe after the weakening of the Merovingian kings. Their story begins in 718 AD when a man named Charles Martel (a.k.a. Charles the Hammer) became Duke of the Franks serving the puppet Frankish king Chilperic II. This King died in 720 AD and replaced by Theodoric IV who Charles had appointed himself. By 730 AD the Frankish kingdom grew as Charles conquered many of the German peoples to the East. The Duchy of Aquitaine had broken off and was struggling with its southern neighbor, the Umayyad Caliphate - which was until then the largest and wealthiest empire ever assembled. The Duke of Aquitaine asked Charles for help in exchange for submission to his rule. At the famous battle of Tours, the Franks had a decisive victory against the Caliphate and by 740 AD they were no longer a critical threat to Francia. After the puppet king Theodoric IV died, Charles did not replace him but also did not declare himself King. Upon Charles Martel's death his empire was split between his two sons - Pepin and Carloman.

In 743 AD, Pepin and Carloman appointed a new powerless king to fill the vacancy - Childeric III. In 747 AD Carloman renounced his title and became a monk leaving Pepin as the soul ruler. He decided to remove the fake king from power and declared himself King Pepin III, the first king of the new Carolingian Dynasty named after his father Charles. Pepin died in 768 which divided his kingdom beteen his two sons, Charlemagne (Carolus Magnus or Charles the Great) and Carloman I. In 771, Carloman I died of natural causes conveniently enabling Charlemagne to assume sole control of Francia. Charlemagne began a campaign of expansion and began by a successful campaign against the pagan Saxons. He then proceeded to conquer the Lombards, but the Saxons remained relentless under their leader Widukind. By ordering the execution of 4000 Saxon prisoners, Widukind's hand was forced and he accepted baptism in 785 AD. Shortly thereafter Charlemagne conquered much of central and southern Italy as well as Bavaria which put the Franks in contact with the very wealthy Avars.

In 1907, two mummies were discovered in Deir Rifeh Egypt in a tomb belonging to a governor and his sons from the 12th Dynasty (almost 4000 years ago). The tomb group is one of the best preserved and best known burials of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom. Although the mummies were heavily decayed, the skeletons were still preserved. Khnum-Nakht was about 40 years old and Nakht-Ankh about 60.

The two mummies were found to be brothers with the same mother but different fathers. This is confirmed by identical mtDNA and the detected differences in the Y chromosomes. Both suffered from osteoarthtritis and dental attrition. Khnum-Nakht had kyphoscoliosis and Nakht-Ankh had lung lesions from sand pneumoconiosis.

The Roman conquest of Britain began in 43 AD but resistance in the north was fierce. Roman General Quintus Petillius Cerialis led the 9th Legion into the north and founded Eboracum in 71 AD (which became York) Originally Eboracum was intended to be a military fortress aligned along the river Ouse measuring about 50 acres in size. This wooden camp was upgraded to stone in 108 AD and garrisoned by the 6th Legion. The famous Emperor Hadrian reportedly visited Eboracum in 122 AD in order to plan his great walled frontier, which would be named after him. Emperor Septimus Severus visited in 208 AD and made it his private base while campaigning against Scotland, and he became the first of three Roman Emperors who would die in Eboracum. In 237, the town became a colonia, the highest legal status any Roman city could attain as Eboracum was the largest town in the north and the capital of Britannia Inferior. This is exactly the time period from when these 7 gladiators hailed.

Detailed analysis of these gladiators from York revealed some fascinating results. The bones showed various degrees of wear and tear as one might expect from the dangerous sport: 6DRIF-18 revealed a spinal fracture of the first vertibrae, 6DRIF-21, 6DRIF-3, and 3DRIF-16 meanwhile have fractured forearms, ankles and wrists. 6DRIF-22 has a skull injury as well as a stab to the neck - his extra vertebrae did not seem to assist with his fate. 6DRIF-23 meanwhile had 4 cuts to his jaw and was fully decapitated - clearly not the best fate to have. Last but not least 3DRIF-26 is fascinating indeed - he had a left shoulder injury, fractured ribs, damage wrists - and from a genetic standpoint is a deviation from the rest. His background compared to ancient samples from the time period matches very close to Ptolemaic Egyptians or the Near East.

The Crusader States (also known as Outremer) were created after the First Crusade (1095-1102) as a way to keep hold of territorial gains by Christian armies in the Middle East. Crusader castles were built all over Outremer to serve not only as defensive structures, but also as administrative and economic centers designed to last for many years to come. The four small Outremer states were the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Edessa, the Country of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch. This analysis focuses on the former Phoenician and later Roman colony of Sidon / Saida which remained in Arab hands until 1110 when King Baldwin I of Jerusalem and King Sigured I of Norway captured it. The city was then re-captured by the masterful Saladin in 1187, only to be re-taken by German Crusaders in 1197. It remained a key Crusader stronghold until the Saracen invasion of 1249 when it was destroyed - this series of exchanges presented the backdrop for the ill-fated 7th Crusade.

The 7th Crusade was led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. Jerusalem had recently fallen and there was no popular enthusiasm at the time for a new crsusade, as Europe was involved in many internal conflicts. Bela IV of Hungary was rebuilding his kingdom from ashes after the devastating Mongol invasion of Europe. Henry III of England was struggling at home and Haakon IV of Norway was in the midst of a civil war. Louis IX was almost alone in declaring a new crusade to the east and in 1248 sailed from Aigues-Mortes and Marseilles with an army of 15,000. They sailed for Cyprus but Louis decided to focus first on attacking Egypt. While marching towards Cairo, Louis' main force was attacked by Mameluk Baibars and defeated. In 1250 while attempting to return to a safer location, Louis himself was captured and taken prisoner after his army was annihilated. He was ransomed for 800,000 bezants after which he fled to Acre, one of the safest crusader strongholds in Outremer. The French King re-enforced local defenses and moved north to Sidon.

In the middle of the 12th century after the Wendish Crusade, pagan lands in northern Germany and Poland were annexed by Poles, Danes and Germans. To the east of Pommerania lay the pagan Baltic and Finnic tribes of Livonia (modern day Baltic countries). In 1184, the first Catholic mission entered Livonia and found a few converts to Christianity. After Berthold of Hannover was killed in 1198, Pope Innocent III called for a crusade against these pagans. Riga was established as the center of Christian rule in the region to launch these campaigns. In 1202, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword was created as an order of warrior monks to league the Crusade.

In 1206, the Danes joined the Crusades temporarily but failed to conquer the ancient island of Saaremaa off the coast of Estonia. Unlike in the Holy Land, there were few nobles and monarchs - in order to keep troop numbers for the raids, Albert of Riga visited Germany once per year to find new recruits. Between 1207 and 1209, many Livonian tribes were subdued and converted as their capitals were conquered. Next began the raids against Estonian tribes who fiercely resisted all attacks - until the Christian Kingdom of Novgorod joined in the Crusades severely weakening their forces. The Estonians launched numeroua counterattacks including a failed assault on Riga itself.

Gustav Vasa I helped Sweden break free from the Kalmar Union and win its indepedence against Denmark and Norway. He became King of newly indpendent Sweden (which included Finland), established a new dynasty and led to a reformation of the church making Sweden Lutheran. He vastly strengthened the state and built a modern army which was the envy of the region. Sweden began its own expansion and conquered Estonia. In 1587 the heir to the Swedish throne Sigismund Vasa (shown in this painting) became the new ruler of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth in part due to his catholic Polish mother. After his father King John III died, Sigisumund promised to unite Sweden with Poland and Lithuania promising to respect Lutherans as the new King of Sweden - but in 1597 Swedish aristocrats led by Sigismund's uncle Duke Charles IX rebelled.

In 1598, Sigismund landed in Sweden with an army of Polish, German and Hungarian mercenaries but was defeated at the battle of Linköping and forced to retreat by superior Swedish forces. Charles IX (shown here insulting the corpse of Sigismund supporter Klaus Fleming), prepared for a counter invasion of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth with 15000 men conquering Estonia and moved quickly southwards into Livonia. In 1601 the famous Polish military commander Chodkiewicz was called back from Moldavia to defend against the Swedish invasion. He fought a decisive victory in Kokenhausen in 1601 killing 3000 Swedes largely due to the famous Winged Hussars cavalary, also known as the Angels of Death. General Zamoyski arrived with an additional 12000 men which forced Charles IX back into Estonia and ultimately a full retreat. A few years later Sweden came back with 4 larger armies with a goal to capture Riga.

Harold Godwinson was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England - and the first English monarch crowned in Westminster Abbey. His short reign 10 months began after the untimely death of his brother-in-law King Edward the Confessor. Harold had been a powerful earl and member of a prominent family with ties to Cnut the Great, the Viking King who united all of England under his rule. In early September Harald Hardrada, the King of Norway, landed an invasion fleet near York and defeated the English earls of Mercia and Northumbria assisted by Harold's brother Tostig. In response Harold force-marched his army from London in four days and surprised the invaders killing both Hardrada and Tostig.

Two weeks later marching south to face another invading army, Harold met his untimely death at the famous Battle of Hastings against William the Conqueror. An arrow reportedly passed into his eye as depicted here - afterwards the corpse was mutilated so it could not be easily recognized. Harold's youngest son, Magnus Haroldsson continued the struggle against the Norman invasion along with his brothers Edmund and Godwin. They sought refuge with their relative King Sweyn II Estridsen of Denmark. A huge Danish fleet of 240-300 ships arrived to fight William. The Normans bought off the Danish with a large sum of money accompanied by harsh wintry weather. The Danes returned to Denmark - and Magnus and his sibilings stayed in Sweyn's court. His sister Gytha was married to Vladimir Monomakh, the prince of Smolensk.

The skeleton of a 9 year old boy from Iron Age Holland was discovered near a burial mound in the town of Uitgeest. He is nicknamed Aak which means made of iron. He is esimated to have lived around 200 BC during the Late Iron Age when most people in this part of Ancient Frisia were farmers. Not much is known about Aak other than he lived during a turbulent time when the Roman Empire was sweeping into Celtic and Germanic lands. Ancient Frisia was a coastal area of low lands and small islands located on the path between the Romans and Germania.

In 28 AD there was a firece battle fought where the Frisii (ancient Frisians) defeated a Roman army led by general Lucius Apronius. The Frisians had experienced enough of having their land confiscated, wives and children forced into bondage and herds decimated. The Frisii proceeded to hang the tax collectors and besiege a key Roman fort. The Roman general dispatched an army to break the siege but was forced into a pitched battle in the Baduhenna Wood. The Frisii victory went noticed by nearby Germanic tribes including the Chauci which invigorated their resistance.

Beginning in the 8th century, the Danes began a long era of well-organized raids across the coasts and rivers of Europe. Large areas outside Scandinavia were settled by the Danes including what became know as the Danelaw in England, the Netherlands, northern France and Ireland. Two Viking warriors from the same clan separated for more than 1000 years and have finally been reunited at the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen.

Danelaw was established as an area ruled by Vikings and extended across much of England. A group of fairly young Viking warriors was found here buried in a mass grave near the church where they had been killed by orders from King Aethelred II, King of the English. The warrior hilighted here was in his 20s and died from injuries to his head. He had sustained 8 to 10 hits to the head and several stab wounds to the spine.

Sicily was located at the focal point of many trade routes of the known world. Three ancient tribes had inhabited the island - the Elimi, Sicani and Siculi. However the island was strategically located with fertile lands and coastline which brought settlers from Phoenicia and Ancient Greece. As the Phoenician homeland of Tyre collapsed, their once city-state turned empire Carthage set its eyes on conquering nearby Sicily. Carthage was indeed mighty and rich boasting the most powerful navy found anywhere. With their accumulated wealth they could pay for the best troops from their spheres of influence which included fierce Iberian warriors, Gauls, Sardinians, Nubian elephants and North African cavalry. Carthage signed a treaty with fledgling state of Rome, who was then battling the Etruscans to formalize plans for division of influence, and in 480 BC dispatched King Hamilcar I with the largest army yet assembled (nearly 300,000 soldiers and 5,000 horsemen) to crush several Greek city-states in Sicily as a broader plan to seize the island. The Greek colonies in Sicily meanwhile had become powerful city states with several tyrant kings as their rulers. Two in particular, Gelon and Theron had forged an alliance to claim much of the Sicilian coastline. Against the vast Carthaginian juggernaut headed their way, the Sicilian Greeks were desperate for help - they asked the Greek mainland for help but simultaneously, as fate had it, the mighty Persian Empire led by Xerxes were on their own campaign to crush the Greek homeland. The help that did arrive, as it turned out, were not Greek at all but paid mercenaries from Central and Baltic Europe. Altogether the Greeks managed to amass only 50,000 soldiers and several thousand cavalry - they were vastly outnumbered.

Poseidon favored the Greeks and sent a fierce storm which sunk many of the Carthaginian ships - including all of their chariots and most of their horses. Hamilcar had to pause to regroup providing valuable time for Gelon and Theron to collect their forces. Hamilcar strategically built two camps - one by the sea for his naval forces and one on a hill west of Himera for his land forces - both connected by a protective palisade to transfer resources back and forth. Hamilcar took the initiative and defeated a force of Greek hoplites in a pitched battle close to the city. The Greek forces were forced into retreat behind their defensive walls. The Carthaginians pillaged the nearby countryside with apparent impunity - however this included sending the reduced Carthaginian cavalry which by chance encountered the fresh Greek forces of Gelon just arriving from the East. Despite a huge army, Hamilcar had made a critical mistake in losing his valuable cavalry and dispatched a message to his Ionian Greek allies to the south for more. Gelon intercepted the messengers and cleverly did the unexpected - he sent part of his own cavalry to come from the South and disguised them as Ionian Greeks. These badly needed re-enforcements were welcomed into the naval camp of Hamilcar with open arms where they settled in and waited to spring the trap. Keep in mind Carthage was a mighty naval Empire but for land troops relied mostly on foreign mercenaries - they were unable to recognize the concealed enemy troops until too late.

In central Poland near the Vistula river an incredible cemetery was uncovered in Bodzia and excavated between 2007-2009. More than 58 graves, weapons and riches were discovered with artifacts mostly of foreign origin. This chamber burial site was typical for the Viking Age and it is surmised this cemetery was part of a trade settlement connecting the Baltic Sea to the Byzantine Empire. The graves appear to have been surrounded by wooden palisades. Grave VK156 was found with a battle-knife, tools and an iron knife. His son VK153 meanwhile was buried with a battle axe. The richest grave however is shown here which contained a man and a woman who both died approximately the same time around 1015-1020 AD. The man on the left was buried with numerous items including an exquisite Viking sword.

The sword found here is classified as a Petersen Type Z sword with a distinctive five-lobed pommel and downturned spatulate guard. The find weighs about 855 grams with a length of 1 meter. It had a luxurious silver-encrusted hilt decorated in Scandinavian Mammen style with a riveted scabbard made of leather and wood. Further analysis of the materials and crafting showed the scabbard came from late 10th century Scandinavia. Similiar swords with the same design have only been found in Viking Sweden and Norway, although numerous Type Z swords have been found in Poland. He was also buried with a knife made of antler and iron bow shears. However, the most fascinating and explicit piece of evidence found is the man's bronze belt. This belt was engraved with a very specific emblem - a two-pronged mark topped by a cross.

The Vendel Period pre-dated the Viking Age in Sweden between 550-800 AD as ships sailed east to explore the waterways of eastern Europe. The saga of Swedish Viking Ingvar the Far-travelled was thought to be a tale rather than a real story based on events. However a series of runestones in central Sweden tell the story about a great expedition east led by the Viking chieftain Ingvar. The Ynglinga saga states that Ingvar was a great warrior who patrolled the shores of his kingdom fighting Danes and Estonians. He made peace with the Danes so he could focus on Estonia landing at a palce called Stein. The Estonians assembled a great army inland and attacked King Ingvar in a great battle. The Estonian forces were too powerful and Ingvar fell while the Swedish forces retreated. The saga says the famous warrior was buried in a mound on the shores of Estonia.

Two Vendel Age ships were uncovered at Salme Estonia which tell the tale of a great battle 50-100 years before the famous Viking raid on Lindisfarne. The Battle of Salme began with an attack from bowmen. The rain of arrows hit the ships and the men causing the first casualties. Fierce close combat ensued with swords clashing. The remains show broken bones and skulls and dismemberments - clearly the attackers were very strong and experienced swordsmen. The Swedes were themselves caught in an unexpected attack. Some were struck from their backs, some were attacked by multiple enemies at the same time. Wounds on the skeletons depict the Estonians first tactic was to to target their arm or shoulder rendering them unable to fight. These wounded warriors were finished off with a blow to the head.

Catherine the Great was Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796 and also the country's longest ruling female leader. During her reign, Russia grew larger and became one of the world's great powers. She is shown here wearing the uniform of the famous Preobrazhensky Regiment. Catherine possessed considerable charm, a lively intelligence, and extraordinary energy. Her true passion was ambition.

One of her key successes was the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 - this was a continuation of a long-running conflict between the Russian and Ottoman Empires. The end result included territorial gains on the Pontic-Caspian Steppes as well as seizing control of two key ports near the Black Sea. The weakened Ottoman Empire enabled Russia to maintain hegemony over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as well as seize control of the Crimea.

Erik Torvaldsson, later known as Erik the Red, was born in Norway around 950 AD but emigrated to Iceland after his father Thorvald Asvaldsson was exhiled after being convicted of murder. Erik's family had settled a nice plot of land in a northern fjord. However after his thralls (personal serfs) were killed for starting a landslide on a neighbor's property, he took revenge and slew his neighbor as well as another man. Convicted for murder, Erik was banished from Iceland. Instead of returning to Norway, from where his own father was banished earlier, Erik decided to sail further west.

An old norse word Hillingar was used to refer to arctic mirages which would appear on the horizon as relatively hot air rose off of ice sheets which would reveal distant land located beyond the horizon to wayward seafarers. It is even thought that Erik had seen Greenland from such a Hillingar all the way from Iceland and other Viking navigators used this technique to find land hidden beyond the horizon. Erik discovered the western coast of Greenland and spent his 3 years of banishment exploring the island before returning to Iceland with news of his discoveries and a strong desire to return in force.

The Hanseatic League was a merchant union between many of the great trading cities across the North and Baltic seas formed during the late Medieval period. Numerous guilds in northern german cities called Hanse established business partnerships to protect trade and business interests. In 1241 the cities of Lübeck and Hamburg formed a formal trading relationship which connected the fishing routes of the Baltic and North Seas with inland salt mines. As the Hanses grew and more cities joined, they became fierce competition with Scandinavia who had previously controlled these trade routes.

The League was effectively a conglomerate of different merchant houses and city states forming a highly structured defensive and trade alliance. It had an army as well as tax system. The capital of Lübeck eventually began hosting the Diet, or Hanseatic Parliament, where topics like war and peace with neighboring territories were discussed. Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland joined the League and became the leading trade centre in the Baltic. Hanseatic traders were often exempt from local taxes and laws when performing trade in Scandinavia and Russia.

On Ridgeway Hill in the County of Dorset, a mass burial was found with the remains of 54 males. These individuals had all been executed in a gruesome manner with their decapitated heads dumped together in a large pit. Interestingly enough all of the sharp blade wounds had been struck from the front, meaning these individuals had faced their enemy. Radiocarbon dating showed the bodies were from 890-1030 AD. Strontium isotopes found in the bones show these individuals were originally from Scandinavia.

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which had been written around 890 AD, provides a year-by-year account of all the major happenings in Anlgo Saxon England. Aethelred the Unready had been king from 978-1016 AD - it is quite possible these bodies died during his reign. Initially the king had paid Viking raiders off with over 10,000 pounds to stop raiding their lands. Later they began hiring Norse mercenaries to fight off the invading Vikings - however these mercenaries would switch sides frequently and proved too risky.

Julius Caesar provided vivid accounts of chariot use by the Britons who opposed his attempted landing in 55 BC (now evidenced to be at Pegwell Bay in Kent). He states how the barbarians sent forward almost 4000 charioteers to block his men as they tried to land - they would drive about in all directions and throw their weapons breaking the ranks of their enemy. Once the chariots worked their way into the enemy, the Celtic warriors would leap from their chariots and engage on foot.

There are 30 chariot burials now known from Britain with almost all found in East Yorkshire. The second century Roman geographer Ptolemy says the people inhabiting this region of Britain were called the Parisi - a Briton Celtic tribe. In England, chariot burials are almost entirely confined to the Iron Age Parisi. Similar burial rites were used by the people of the Aisne-Marne region of northern France, and it is perhaps no coincidence the French capital is named Paris.

The Centocelle Necropolis is associated with the large imperial property Ad Duas Lauros - a sprawling Roman imperial villa in which Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine I had lived. The Mausoleum of Helena, part of the Ad Duas Lauros complex, was originally designed by Constantine I to be his own personal tomb - but later became the tomb of his mother. The building is on a circular plan with two cylinders and an original height of 25.42 meters. The lower cylinder has an octagonal shape with eight arcaded windows designed to allow in light. After the death of Helena, the Ad Duas Lauros was assigned to the Roman popes. The Sarcophagus of Helena was moved to the Lateran (currently in the Vatican) in the 11th century where it can be seen today.

Previously the cemetery of the equites singulares Augusti (the personal cavalry of the emperor) was housed where the mausoleum was built. However the cavalry sided with Roman Emperor Maxentius against Constantine during the famous Battle of the Milvian bridge in 312 AD. This was the famous battle where Constantine had a vision of Christ and had his armies paint their shields with a Chi-Rho emblem. His inspired soldiers annihilated the army of Maxentius who while escaping drowned in the Tiber River. His body was later fished from the river and decapitated - his head paraded through Rome before being sent to Africa. As a result of the actions of the equites singulares, Constantine had their cemetery destroyed and replaced by his newly built Mausoleum.

The workshop of a tanner was key to life in Rome as this is where animal hides were prepared to produce leather. An amazing ornamented table was discovered in the tannery garden of Pompeii and shown here. It depicts a skull with a butterfly symbolising the fluttering of the disembodied soul and the flight of time. On the right side of a scale/level is a beggars tattered robe and on the left is a mantle of royal purple. The plumb line on the level hangs straight down showing that fate sooner or later equalises the lots of all mankind. Nearby in the tannery is etched the phrase: Mors Orem villeins, Vivite, alt, venio. Death plucks my ear and says Live for I come.

Casal Bertone was in Roman times, like today, a suburb just outside the Aurelian walls of Rome. The Porta Maggiore shown here was a key gate into the city and just 1.2 km from our archaeological site. There was a villa, a Roman road, a nymphaeum and cemetery with mausoleum - but what stands out the most was a huge 1055 square meter tannery complex - three times larger than any other near Rome. Key to the tannery operations was water - the nearby ditch provided the necessary water and was fed by the spring waters of the Fosso della Marranella - the only natural lake in Rome which in ancient times flowed directly into the Tiber.

Faras was a major city located in Lower Nubia along the Nile River near the border of modern Egypt and Sudan. Following the collapse of the Kingdom of Kush, the nomadic Noba people settled into the area - this is the origin of the term Nubia. In 543 AD, the city adopted Christianity after encountering a mission dispatched by Byzantine Empress Theodora. The cathedral shown here was founded by bishop Aetious in 620 AD. The paintings found therein are the best surviving examples of Christian Nubian art, as well as depict portraits of monarchs and bishops providing us a treasure trove of historical evidence regarding this period of Medieval Nubia. The inscriptions record the names and dates of the 30 Bishops and Metropolitans of the Diocese from 620 AD to 1372 AD.

Shown here is Bishop Petros with Saint Peter the Apostle. This mud plaster is dated between 957-999 AD and is considered one of the best portraits found in Faras. The dark-skinned bishop is wearing his liturgical robes with a white handkerchief wrapped around the index finger of his right palm which points at a Gospel Book. His long white robe has vertical green stripes his vestments are adorned with green and red jewels. His head is wrapped in a turban typical of the Coptic Church hierarchs. The greek inscription above states: Saint Peter the Apostle Martyr of the Cross Abba Petros Bishop and Metropolitan of Pachoras may he live many years. The portrait originally appeared as part of a larger composition next to King Georgious II of Makuria.

The Johnson brothers named James, Baker, Roger and Thomas bought land at the foot of the Catoctin Ridge in Maryland and built an iron furnace. Discoveries of large iron ore deposits gave rise to a thriving iron smelting industry. By 1776 the Catoctin furnace was churning out tools and household items. Within a few years this included iron munitions for the Continental Army including large quantities of cannonballs. Skilled workers operated the furnace and historical evidence shows African slaves were chosen with backgrounds in iron manufacturing - making up approximately half of the workforce.

As production was in full swing, the Battle of Yorktown raged nearby. This was the turning point in the Revolutionary War which led to defeat for British General Cornwallis at the hands of the American Continental Army and the end of the war. This painting shows General Washington and French general Rochambeau giving their last orders before the battle. Key to the success of this battle was the ammunition and cannonballs produced by none other than the Catoctin Furnace. The furnace was known for its high quality products and is believed to be the source of armour plating for the USS Monitor, the famous ironclad of the Civil War years later.

Kerak castle is located in Jordan and one of the largest castles of the Levant. Due to its ideal location east of the Dead Sea, it controlled trade routes from Damascus to Egypt and Mecca. Representing the latest in Crusader castle technology, Kerak castle had sloping walls and an immense entry system of winding tunnels which could stop any siege. Raynald of Chatillon - the Prince of Antioch and Lord of Oultrejordain - gained possession of Kerak castle through marriage and used it as a launching point to harass trade camel trains and even threaten Mecca itself. Raynald is the infamous father of Anna of Antioch - the focus of our spotlight. As portrayed in the film Kingdom of Heaven, Raynald was Known as the truce breaker - he would frequently attack caravans between Egypt and Syria becoming one of the wealthiest barons of the realm. Raynald was the only Christian leader who pursued an offensive policy against Saladin through vicious acts of plunder.

At the Battle of Montgisard depicted in this painting, Raynald led the armies of then 16 year old leper King Baldwin IV to victory over Saladin - who was forced to flee to Cairo with only 10 percent of his army left - Saladin swore he would never forgive Raynald. Raynald in turn was appointed regent by King Baldwin IV in 1177. In 1186 one of the caravan attacks led to the death of Saladins sister. Saladin demanded the return of her body and Raynald executed the messengers. Infuriated Saladin declared war and had amassed a much larger army than ever before with about 30,000 strong versus the still formidable Christian army of approximately 7000. By this time King Baldwin had passed away and his successor was Guy of Lusignan - who had married Sibylla, the sister of Baldwin IV.

Ladislaus was the second son of future King Bela I of Hungary and his wife Richeza who was daughter of King Mieszko II of Poland. He was born and raised in exile in Poland along with his two brothers as his father began a rebellion to seize the crown of Hungary in 1060. In 1063 Bela died and his nephew Solomon returned from the Holy Roman Empire with support from German troops to take back the crown. Ladislaus and his two brothers Geza and Lamport signed a treaty with Solomon to keep control of their fathers duchy in order to avoid a civil war leaving Solomon as King. This did not last for long as the King hoped to seize more lands.

Realizing things were turning for the worse, Ladislaus attempted to find re-enforcments and succeeded in bringing Czech troops from Moravia. However by the time they arrived, Solomon had defeated Ladislaus's older brother Geza at the Battle of Kemej in 1074. Ladislaus had a vision of victory and decisively defeated Solomon at the Battle of Mogyorod - having been defeated the former King fled west to seek more assistance from Henry IV of Germany. Meanwhile Geza was crowned king and Ladislaus became his advisor. However in 1077 Geza died and Ladislaus was proclaimed King of Hungary. His first actions introduced draconian measures to consolidate power and secure the lands.

The Swedish Flagship Stora Kronan (Great Crown in English) was the mightiest warship ever built by the Swedish Empire and a floating palace - no expense was spared in building her - the 3rd largest ship ever built at the time. She had been designed to scare of the Danes and Dutch as well as impress - built by the top English ship builder Francis Sheldon. As a state of the art Ship of the Line, she had 3 gundecks designed for 126 cannons - mostly large 24 pounders and above, making her one of the deadliest and heaviest armed ships ever made. With fresh memories of its predecessor, the ill-fated infamous warship Vasa which sunk just 50 years earlier on its maiden voyage, the Stora Kronan was constructed with a deep hull to sail and when properly ballasted not be top-heavy in open sea. She was about twice as large as the Vasa shown here in this video with twice as many cannons - but in terms of luxury was built to the highest standard. The Vasa is the worlds only preserved 17th century ship - which can be visited today in Stockholm.

The Stora Kronan launched in the year 1672 during the peak of the Swedish Empire after the great King Charles X had died. Sweden was ruled by a regency council led by the former Queen, until the young Charles XI was old enough to assume power the same year. Sweden was indeed at its height as a European power - it had finally defeated Denmark, one of its main rivals for hegemony in the Baltic, and had expanded into Norway, Livonia, Ingria, Karelia and parts of the Holy Roman Empire including Bremen. Also in 1672 Louis XIV of France attacked the Dutch Republic and allied with Sweden - pressuring it to attack northern Germany and invade Brandenburg. Sweden and France were now at war with the Holy Roman Empire, the Dutch Republic and Denmark. The seemingly invincible Swedish army suffered an unexpected defeat in Brandenburg at the Battle of Fehrbellin.

In December 1770 Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn at Bonngasse 20 and baptized with the name of his famous grandfather - a successful musician from Flemish Belgium - and he was given this name in hopes to surpass his famous ancestor. Recognizing he had a prodigy his hands, Ludwigs father Johan van Beethoven tried to present his talented son at his first show at the age of 7. His father pushed him hard and would wake him in the middle of the night to practice his music. By the age of 16 Beethoven was employed as court organist in Bonn by the brother of Emperor Josef of Vienna. The same year he visited Vienna, met Mozart and returned home shortly before his mother died. His father become an alcoholic and forced to retire from his job in service of the Court. Ludwig was forced into adulthood, making real money and had to take care of his two younger brothers. In 1792 at the age of 21 Beethoven arrives in Vienna - the cultural capital - a city overflowing with music in hopes to expand his future. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had died just the year before and the great composer Haydn was ageing - destiny had prepared a place for Beethoven. Music is everywhere - and in less than a year he creates a big name for himself. Beethoven catches the attention of the famous composer Haydn who is amazed at the young talent who arrived from Bonn and begins studying with him.

One of the most important things for Beethoven was making contact with the aristocrats - who hosted concerts in their palaces on a weekly basis. They would meet regularly and host the best musicians of the town. He would seek sponsors who would let him make music the way he wanted rather than what was expected of him. Aristocratic patrons such as Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz around the same age as Beethoven would seek fun in their palaces and inviting a wild child like Beethoven made life exciting. These patrons were critical for Beethovens finances. However by his mid 20s Beethoven noticed his hearing was disappearing. He had to site closer and closer to the stage to hear the notes and music. This began with the high frequency notes such as piccolos, flutes and top of the violin while maintaining the lower frequencies. This would distort what he was hearing. He became isolated from conversations and began avoiding people. Losing hearing, the one important element of his senses was the cruelest form of torture. This is when he wrote his famous Moonlight Sonata as the music reflected his own mortality. The ideas came faster to him than he could digest them - he changed the course of music. He stood between 2 generations - one foot firmly ground in Mozart / enlightenment and Goethe. His other part was a member of romanticism - he transformed music from enlightenment into romanticism.

The Ancient city of Megiddo, also known today as Tel Megiddo in modern Israel, was first known in the Akkadian language used in Assyria as Magiddu. Described in the Book of Revelation as the site of the apocalyptic battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16), Megiddo was one of the strongest and most important Canaanite cities. Today experts know the ancient Canaanites were divided into independent city states, such as Megiddo, Hazor, and Acre. Most of the texts about them come from outsiders or later sources. The Canaanite people were also the forebearers of later peoples of the Levant region. Megiddo was an important Canaanite city state during the Bronze Age, approximately 3500 BC to 1200 BC DNA analysis reveals that the city population included migrants from the distant Caucasus Mountains. The ruins today include the remains of palaces, temples, gates and sophisticated water system with origins going back as far as 7000 BC. Megiddo was important in the ancient world - it guarded the western branch of a narrow pass on the most important trade route of the ancient Fertile Crescent, linking Egypt with Mesopotamia and Asia Minor (Anatolia) and known today as Via Maris.

By the mid 16th century BC, the Hittites, Mitanni and Babylonians had begun threatening Egypt. International trade was threatened and Canaan was unfortunately located in the crosshairs. Egyptian armies clashed with these ever-powerful neighbors in the Near East and Canaan was the crossroads between. In 1457 a coalition of Canaanite states led by the King of Kadesh rebelled against their Egyptian overlords and this culminated in the Battle of Megiddo - the oldest recorded Battle in History! The King of Kadesh assembled a vast coalition of Canaanites, Anatolians and Mesopotamians - an army of 15000 infantry, chariots and archers to fend of the Egyptians. Thutmose III was technically the ruler of Egypt in 1479 BC but his stepmother - the famous Hatshepsut - also his aunt - was his regent and effectively in power. In 1458 BC, when she died, Thutmose III became sole ruler and sent his armies to fight the Canaanites. The fortress city of Megiddo became the target, as it controlled the access between Egypt and Mesopotamia. Thutmose dispatched an army of 200000 men in the spring of 1457 BC and marched them towards Canaan.

Halikarnassos was an ancient Dorian Greek city in Anatolia - today known as the coastal city of Bodrum in Turkey. In this city stood one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World - The Mausoleum of Halikarnassos. Unlike most other Greek city states, Halikarnassos retained a monarchy. The city was a Dorian colony - founded by one of the four main ethnic groups of Classical Greece. This is evidenced by the coins depicting the head of Medusa, Athena or Poseidon which suggests the mother cities were Troezen and Argos in the Peleponnese. King Mausoleus became ruler of the larger state of Caria and moved its capital to Halikarnassos. He began many construction works including a massive foritified palace on one side of the harbor with clear views out to sea and inland to the hills.

Mausolus and his sister, wife and successor Artemisia began embellishing the city with statues, temples and buildings of gleaming marble. In 353 BC when King Mausoleus died, Artemisia ordered construction of a magnicent tomb for the former King and herself. The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyros and Pythius of Priene. It was an elevated tomb structure copying design elements of nearby tombs in Lycia, a territory Mausoleus had invaded and conquered in 360 BC. The 45 meter tall building had 4 side adorned with sculptures and reliefs. Although she died herself in 351 BC before the building was complete, the workmen continued to work on the tomb - Pliny the Elder explains how the building was a memorial of sculptors art. When completed in 350 BC, the building was simply known as the Mausoleum.

Pylos, located in southwest Greece was an important center of Ancient Greece - described in Homers Odyssey and Iliad as Nestors kingdom of sandy Pylos. High up on the hills above with a commanding view of the Mediterranean Sea an ancient site was discovered - the Palace of Nestor. Not only representing the best preserved Mycenaean Greek palace ever discovered, the primary structure consisted of a two-storey building with store rooms, workshops, baths, light wells, reception rooms and a working sewage system. Touch here to see the a 3-D rendering of the extraordinary palace - built by King Nestor, son of Neleus, who was an Argonaut portrayed in Homeric epics. He had led Pylos to the Trojan War with 90 ships and was highly respected by the Achaeans who had ultimately defeated the Trojans. Keep in mind all of these events pre-dated classical Greece by several hundred years.

It appears the palatial complex was destroyed by a fire in 1200 BC. Over 1000 tablets were discovered with Linear B text - which led to a breakthrough in understanding this ancient language which was shown to be an archaic form of Greek. The deciphered tablets confirmed the palace had served as the administrative, political and financial center of Mycenaean Messinia serving a population of 50,000 people in ancient times. The complex had over 105 ground floor apartments with four main buildings. The large rectangular throne room being the most important. The halls were decorated with remarkable wall paintings and the palatial floors covered with pictorial representations. The storerooms and pantries contained thousands of unused cermamic wine cups as well as workshops for production of leather and perfumed oils.

Hedeby was founded in 770 AD as an important Viking Age stronghold in Southern Jutland. Second to Birka in Sweden, it was the most important Viking trade center in Europe. Its old Norse name Heidabyr means heath settlement. It began as a series of jetties and workshops constructed by Danish Vikings - the first written records date from 804 AD. Hedeby was located at the crossroads of Saxon, Slavic and Frisian territories at the end of the Schlei River in a series of bays connecting to the Baltic Sea. The city quickly attained great wealth as a mercantile settlement with extensive trading ties to western Europe, Scandinavia, Slavic lands, the Byzantine east as well as the Arab World. Trade was flowing but these were dangerous times.

By 790 AD, the Franks were busy expanding northwards against the Frisians and Saxons. They were allied with the Slavic Obotrites who had defeated the Saxons in 798 AD at the battle of Bornhoved. The great Charlemagne, King of the Franks, handed over Saxon lands to the Obotrites putting them on the Danish doorstep. However the Danes had been preparing for such a challenge - behold the Danevirke - a combination of walls, ramparts and marshland running across the Jutland Peninsula built specifically to mark the end of Danish lands as well as keep out invaders. The ramparts were up to 5 meters high and about 30 km long and coupled with the impassable moorland further west his sealed off Jutland from the South.

Lying just meters under the waves and 20 meters from the coastline emerged an over 1600 year old basilica forgotten just 100 km from Istanbul. Located in what was an ancient Greek city called Nicaea, the early church was clearly of historical significance. Engraved on the ruins was the name St. Neophytos - it was determined this basilica had indeed been built in his honor. Who was Saint Neophytos? He was a Roman citizen born of Christian parents who went to Nicaea in 303 AD and boldly denounced the pagan faith - only to be killed by no less than 16 Roman soldiers. It turns this church was built after 325 AD exactly on the spot where Neophytos had been killed. An earthquake in 740 AD sunk the basilica under the sea where it was forgotten until being rediscovered in 2014. The significance of this basilica cannot be underestimated!

In 325 AD, the First Council of Nicaea met here for the first time representing all of early Christendom. Their main accomplishment was to settle the divine nature of the one God, the Son and his relationship to God the Father, constructing the first part of the Nicene Creed, mandating the uniform obervance of the date of Easter, and establishment of early canon law. This was a key event of early Christianity and had a major impact on development of the religion. The Nicene Creed was defined here to unify the beliefs of mainstream Christianity - and it was attended by Emperor Constantine I and the top bishops shown here in this icon. Constantine I had seized power by defeating the Western Emperor Maxentius in 312 AD and the Eastern emperor in 324 AD unifying the Roman Empire and declaring Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Bela III is one of the most important monarchs of medieval Hungary and Dalmatia. His rule represented the peak of the Arpadian Dynasty which started when Prince Arpad led the Magyar tribes into the Carpathian Basin as conquerors a few hundred years earlier. He was the second son of King Geza II and following the peace treaty setup between his elder brother King Stephen III and the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, Bela moved to Constantinople in 1163. Emperor Manuel dreamed about making Hungary a vassal state of Byzantium and recreating the glory of Ancient Rome. Instead of using force his plan was to marry prince Bela to his daughter Maria and cleverly declaring him his successor.

The Byzantine emperor had a vision to unite the the lands from the Euphrates River to the Lajta River on the Austro-Hungarian border under one king. When Bela arrived at Manuels Court, he was given the name Alexios replacing his barbarian Magyar name. Alexios was treated by the Imperial Court as the heir apparent to both the Hungarian and the Byzantine thrones. However Bela was also quite clever and his years in Byzantium had been well spent. He observed how efficiently organised the Greek Empire was and learned about administration, finances, the army and diplomacy. This included learning about rich customs and institutions of the world as well as the art of dissimulation which he used to thwart all attempts at making Hungary a Greek vassal.

Izyaslav Ingvarevich was the son of Ingvar Yaroslavich, the Prince of Kiev. In 1220 AD, Izyaslav was appointed to be Prince of Dorogobuzh. During this time period, the Kievan Rus Dynasty had been divided into seperate principalities which were loosely organized. Meanwhile to the East, Genghis Khan had been busy conquering China and Central Asia to build a vast Empire with his eyes starting to look towards the West.

While the main Mongol army under Genghis Khan was busy ravaging Central Asia, two of his best generals Subutai and Jebe headed west with about 20000 men..Their job was to chase down the Khwarazmian Shah as well as learn about the countries of Europe - this information would be leveraged by the Mongol forces later in time. They left a trail of destruction as they moved through Persia, Azerbaijan and then into Georgia which they successfully plundered after facing some resistance.

Rowing down the great rivers of Eastern Europe on the decks of dragon-headed longboats, Swedish Vikings (known by the Slavic tribes as Rus for rowing) found these lands irresistable - there was no centralized control, tons of wealth to trade and raid and very long rivers to navigate. The Norsemen would raid Slavic villages and capture slaves to sell in the southern markets. Before 860 AD, the Slavs, Balts and Finns revolted against the Swedish masters. However after falling back into disorganized chaos, the Slavic people asked the Varangian Rus to send a Prince to rule over them and bring back order. Rurik (shown here) was this prince and settled in 862 AD.

Rurik built a stronghold and trade center which became known as Novgorod. After his death, his Varanganian kinsman Oleg (shown above) united all the tribes of the north including Norse, Finnic and Slavic warriors and sailed along the Dnieper River towards Kiev which he seized from local warlords for its strategic location and fertile lands. By 885 AD, Oleg had united most of the Eastern Slavs under his rule based in Kiev. This was the birth of the Kievan Rus state which survived for 3 centuries as one of the most prosperous realms in medieval Europe. Over time, all of the people whether Nordic or Slavic became known as Kievan Rus.

An ancient cemetery was discovered in Hassleben Thuringia which remained the richest ancient grave found in Germany for almost a hundred years. Not only was the oldest written Germanic word ever discovered etched onto a comb, but hundreds of Roman coins, ceramic fragments and Roman-style brooches were also discovered. This is no accident as much of our knowledge regarding Thuringia and broader Germania comes from the Roman historian Tacitus. The Elbe Germanic tribes who moved into this region were allies of the Romans who were trading partners, a buffer to the neighbouring Chatti - sworn enemies of Rome, as well as specialised in metalworking of iron and precious metals.

Here you can see the richly outfitted grave of the Princess of Hassleben which demonstrates the influential noble class who had a very close relationship with the Romans. She was a young woman buried with a choker, golden fibulae, a ring, a collier of roman glass beads, roman coins, pottery plates and vessels. In her mouth was a Roman gold coin - known as Charons obol - which would provide payment to Charon the ferryman to allow her soul to reach the world of the dead. Next to her remains lay the skeleton of a small dog - possibly her personal pet.

For the people of Pompeii the world reached a horrific end in the Autumn of 79 AD. The only surviving eyewitness account of the event consists of two letters written by Pliny the Younger (who was 17 at the time of the eruption) to the Roman historian Tacitus some 25 years later. Observing the first volcanic activity from across the Bay of Naples 29 kilometers away, Pliny the Elder (his uncle) launched a rescue fleet immediately - while Pliny the Younger stayed behind. He wrote of a extraordinary dense cloud rising above mount Vesuvius. His words describe a pine-tree with spreading branches which was sometimes bright and sometimes dark and spotted - impregnated with earth and cinders. After three tremors the sea rolled back upon itself. Flashes appeared through dark clouds and ash fell like a blanket of snow.

Meanwhile for Pliny the Elder things were taking a turn for the worse. As commander fo the Roman fleet at Misenum he went to investigate the phenomenon at close range. He ordered the fleet galleys to evacuate the people on the coast. As he neared the other side of the bay he encountered thick showers of hot cinders, lumps of pumice and pieces of rock. Ignoring the helmsman to turn back Pliny insisted that Fortune favors the brave and continued to Stabiae - a town about 4.5km from Pompeii. Very soon they realized the strong onshore wind prevented any ships from leaving. Pliny and his party saw flames shooting from parts of the mountain - presumed to be burning villages. Forced to stay overnight the crew attempted to approach the beach with pillows tied to their heads to protect from rockfall - however the wind had not changed and exhausted Pliny sat down on a sail for a rest to never stand again.

The mysterious Guanches arrived on the Canary Islands at least 3000 years ago and originated from the Berber region of North Africa. They brought goats, pigs, and dogs with them from the mainland and are thought to have largely relied off goat herding and grain crops. No metal has been found in Guanches settlements so all tools were made of wood, stone and bone. Jewlery was crafted from bone, clay beads and shells. Many people lived in caves or circular houses made of stone with thatched rooves. 9 kingdoms were formed on Tenerife and during times of war combat ensued using wooden javelins, maces, obsidian knives and shields from the dragon tree. In some areas people are believed to have worshipped the sun and the mother godess. In Tenerife during the summer solstice the Guanches would kill livestock and throw them into a fire as an offering to the gods.

Just 600 meters south of the northern coast of the Gran Canaria island lie the Caves of Valeron. This was the largest pre-Hispanic collective granary, pre-dated Roman times and was used by the locals until the island was conquered by the Spanish at the end of the 15th century. It was dug out of the cliffs using stone and wooden tools and hidden from the sea with extremely steep access slopes. Each cave had doors made of wood or stone which would protect the granary contents. Numerous idols, paintings, ceramics, bones and ashes have been found within the cave system as well. Over a dozen similiar caves have been found on the same island although this cave complex was the largest distributed on 8 levels with over 350 storage chambers.

Silver mining played a key role in the Swedish economy during the 16th-18th centuries, of which the Sala mine in east central Sweden was the most important. King Gustav Eriksson Vasa, shown here, called this mine Treasury of the Kingdom for the amount of silver it produced - which ultimately totaled about 450 tons of silver along with 36000 tons of lead. This silver was critical for the monetary system and ultimately helped King Gustav Vasa to secure his crown and help Sweden claim sovereignty independent of Denmark - as well as fuel the economy of the Kingdom of Sweden and later Swedish Empire.

By the 1530s and 1540s, production of silver reached its peak when 3500 kg of pure silver were extracted each year. People toiled day and night in harsh conditions - many of these were forced labor who were prisoners from Sweden's conflicts with Denmark, Russia or Poland. Written sources also show common criminal convicts from Sweden-Finland were also exploited. King Eric, son of Gustav Vasa, ordered that the most dangerous mining work should be done only by prisoners of war. Prisoner discipline was harsh and two mine managers were condemned to death for giving prisoners too much freedom.

Stonehenge was built in Neolithic times (circa 2300 BC) and drew ailing pilgrims from around Europe for what they believed to be its healing properties, according to recent research. Pilgrims would wear amulets crafted using pieces of the rocks at the monument. One dig uncovered masses of fragments carved out of the bluestones which were used to create amulets. Stonehenge could be compared to Lourdes in France today. Many of the ancient skeletons found nearby seem to show signs of serious disease or injury and many show signs of coming from far away. The outer stones are what most people associate with the monument. There is also a competing theory that the temple was a meeting point between the land of the living and the dead. In either case, this massive monument would attract visitors from far and wide as archaeogenetics discovers.

The Amesbury Archer was a Bronze Age man found near Stonehenge from around 2300 BC. His skull was damaged and his knee badly hurt. The nickname The Archer stemmed from the fact he was buried with many arrowheads - as well as the greatest number of artifacts from this period in Britain. This included five funerary pots, three copper knives, sixteen flint arrowheads, metalworking tools, a portable anvil, and some boars's tusks. It is thought his he originates from an alpine region of centrla Europe. A second burial with similiar equipment called the Companion was found 3 meters to the east. His background is quite different as he appears to be more local to the island. The companion died in his 20s whereas The Archer was in his 40s. It is thought that perhaps they were pilgrims to Stonehenge to draw in the healing properties of the bluestones.

Louis XVI was the last king of France before the monarchy fell during the French Revolution. His reign began with attempts to reform the French government according to ideas of the Enlightenment - including efforts such as removing land taxes, abolishing serfdom and increased tolerance for non-Catholics. French nobility opposed the implementation of thse reforms. Louis was able to implement changes regarding deregulation of the grain market, but this resulted in increased bread prices which combined with periods of bad harvests led to unrest. His support for the North American colonists seeking independence from Great Britain led to a financial crisis and further debt. France's middle and lower classes became discontent and angry towards the monarchy. This led to the storming of the Bastille and the start of the French Revolution. News spread quickly throughout France and popular sovereignty took hold with a complete disregard for claims of royal authority.

On 10 August 1792, armed revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace which was defended by Swiss guards forcing Louis to seek shelter with the suspended Legislative Assembly - Louis was placed under a strong guard. A few weeks later on 20. September the Battle of Valmy proved to be a key turning point where the army of France defeated Prussian troops as they attempted to march on Paris. The new French government gained a huge psychological victory and this was a vindication for the French revolutionaries. The National Convention declared the end of the monarchy and established the First French Republic. In January 1793, Louis was executed. This combined with anti-clerical policies led to the Revolt in the Vendee, a counter-revolution which is considered to be the first modern genocide. Monarchists and Catholics took up arms against the French Republic.

The area around Bodø in Norway is mentioned in the Saga of King Olav Tryggvason - the great grandson of King Harald I Fairhair. In 991 he joined raids on England - that year English King Aethelred II the Unready sued for peace agreeing to pay large sums of tribute. Olav invaded again in 994 with Danish King Sweyn I Forkbeard. Already having become a Christian, Olav was confirmed in 994 in Hampshire with Aethelred becoming his godfather. The next year the Norwegian King Haakon the Great died and Olav became the new king. He forcefully began imposing Christianity on his realm having success in Shteland, Faroe, the Orkney Islands, Iceland and Greenland. However Norway itself was a challenge and resisted.

Olav Tryggvason travelled to Bodø to christen Raud the Strong, a pagan priest and seafaring warrior who was strongly opposed to Christianity. Raud the Strong was a Norse priest and landowner who had built a beautiful longship with a dragons head carved into its bow nicknamed The Dragon. Olav defeated Raud in a sea battle and chased him to the Godey Isles where Olav gave an ultimatum that if Raud accepted a Christian baptism he could keep his lands and ship. Raud refused the King and met a gruesome end - Raud was bound to a beam of wood with his face pointed upward. A drinking horn was placed in his mouth and a snake placed inside with a red-hot iron placed at the top forcing the snake into Raud's mouth and down his throat gnawing its way out.

In 1975 a mysterious mummified body was uncovered in the Barfuesser Church in Basel Switzerland. Basel in the 16th and 17th centuries was a wealthy trading city and its port on the Rhine was a key hub for moving goods across Europe. The mummy appeared to be a well fed and wealthy woman wearing good quality clothes buried right in front of the altar. There was no gravestone to be found but carbon dating showed the coffin originated from the 16th century. Furthermore the body was in an amazing state of preservation due to being filled with mercury, a highly toxic substance.

In 2017 records showed the mummy had been uncovered once before in 1843. These records also confirmed the body was indeed that of a wealthy and important individual and likely a member of the well-established Basel family, the Bischoffs. The location of the mummy is shown here which was in the family tomb of Isaak Bischoff, a hospital director in 17th century Basel. DNA was extracted from her toe and intially the female haplogroup was compared with modern Bischoff descendants - a perfect match. Now both historians and geneticists could agree on her identity - that of Anna Catharina Bischoff.

In 1409, King Sigismund of Hungary bestowed Hunyad castle to a man named Voyk of Wallachia who had served as a Knight in the royal court. His eldest son Janos (adopting the family name Hunyadi) quickly became a renowned military leader trained in Hussite and Renaissance fighting techniques winning many battles and leading Crusades against the Ottomans. In 1453, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II conquered Constantinople and dispatched 150,000 soldiers to invade Europe. Against all odds, Janos leading an army of mercenaries and poorly equipped peasants defeated the Turks in 1456. The Ottoman invasion of Hungary was set back for 70 years and Hunyadi had saved the day - unfortunately he died from a plague epidemic. His younger son Matthias I (Matthias Corvinus - aka the Raven King) became the famous King of Hungary in 1458 at the age of just 14. The monument shown here depicts Matthias.

Upon successful military campaigns against neighbours, Matthias Corvinus became the King of Bohemia in 1459, conquered Silesia in 1474 and the Duke of Austria in 1487 - conquering Vienna and declaring it the co-capital of Hungary. Most importantly Matthias established the Black Army of Hungary - the first major professional standing army in medieval Europe - which surpassed anything since the Roman Empire. The Black Army was feared worlwide and fought as well-paid full-time mercenaries devoted to the arts of warfare scoring countless victories. Matthias also patronised art and science and built the great royal library - the Bibliotheca Corviniana - which housed the largest collection of books in Europe. Hungary became the first country to the embrace the Renaissance from Italy. Matthias was a master statesman, transformed Hungary into a superpower, corrected wrongs and injustices wherever possible and was popular with the people and nobles.

Blarney Castle is a medieval stronghold located in Blarney near Cork Ireland. The stone keep was built by the MacCarthy of Muskerry dynasty and dates from 1446. The famous Blarney stone is also found among the battlements. The castle was besieged during the Irish Conferate Wars and seized in 1646 by Parliamentarian forces. However it was returned to Donough MacCarty who became 1st Earl of Clancarty. The castle was also captured and confiscated by the Williamites in the 1690s who supported King William as the successor to James II. Afterwards the castle was sold and changed hands several times before being bought by the governor of Cork in the 18th century. Today the castle is open to visitors and is surrounded by extensive gardens with rock formations including the Wishing Steps, Druids Circle and Witchs Cave. There is also a poison garden with poisonous plants including wolfsbane, mandrake, ricin, opium and cannabis.

The MacCarthy family was one of the most powerful of the clans in Munster. The origin of the clan begins with Carthatch, an Eoganacht Chaisil king who died mysteriously in 1045 burned alive in his bed - potentially a victim of his rivals the OBrien clan. Another famous MacCarthy, Cormac MacCarthy, a King and Bishop is famous for building one of Irelands most famous structures - Cormac's Chapel - at the Rock of Cashel. The Rock of Cashel had been the seat of the High Kings of Munster for centuries - archaeological evidence shows the Rock had been used as the center for High Chieftains of Ireland as far back as the 4th century. The Rock is actually a gigantic lump of limestone which rises out of the lush plains of the Tipperary (the Vale). Legend has it that St. Patrick himself banished Satan from a cave in a mountain near Cashel which formed the Rock - St. Patrick is shown here appointing a High King paternal ancestor of the MacCarthy clan.

Saint Patrick was born Maewyn Succat in Roman Britain, specifically Wales, just across the sea from Ireland around 400 AD and the son of a fairly well off family - his father was a church deacon. 16 year old Patrick was captured by slave traders and sent to Ireland as a slave to tend sheep - likely in County Mayo. He prayed daily to return home and one day he heard a voice telling him it was time to head back and a ship would be waiting. After fleeing his captors by foot and walking 200 miles he reached the coast where indeed a ship was about to leave. The pagan sailors initially refused to assist him but changed their minds after he prayed for a safe return. Patrick escaped to Britain after 6 long years in captivity and was reunited with his parents.

He became a deacon like his father but then had another vision of man from Ireland asking for help - Patrick decided his calling was to return to Ireland and spread Christianity. Upon arrival in Ireland He felt an alien among barbarians and it was not an easy task but he made this his life long goal for the next 30 years. Saul Monastery, shown here, is located in Count Down Northern Ireland and was founded by Saint Patrick himself. This monastery is also where Patrick ultimately died on the 17th of March and was buried in the town of Downpatrick. Today the same 17th of March is known as Saint Patricks Day. The monastery survived for three centuries before being destroyed by Viking raiders. A stone church was built in its place in 1020 AD

The Dunbar Clan (with the same haplogroup as these samples!) had played a prominent role in Scottish history and had its ancestral seat in Dunbar Castle, one of the strongest fortresses in Scotland overlooking the harbor town of Dunbar in East Lothian. This all ended when James I of Scotland wanted the Dunbar estates for himself and imprisoned the last Earl of Dunbar in the process. James was struggling for power and attempted to launch pre-emptive attacks on his own nobles in 1425 - this ended badly with his own assasination. Baldoon Castle was a later gift from King James V to Archibald Dunbar amnd located about 1.5 miles southwest of Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway. The castle became the property of the Dunbars of Westfield for nearly 3 centuries between 1530 and 1800. Little remains of the castle today - part of the south wall stands with three walls on its north face, as well as the remains of an entrance gateway about 50 meters to the north. The gateway dates to the 1600s and is of Renaissance style.

On 24 August 1669, Janet Dalrymple was to marry David Dunbar, the heir of Baldoon Castle. The ceremony were to take place in a church next to her home Carscreugh Castle (shown here). They had an arranged marriage and Janet was in fact in love with Archibald, the third Lord Rutherford, and told her brothers she did not want to be with David. Her brothers escorted her to the church and noted her hands were icy cold despite it being a hot summer day. On their wedding night screams and shrieks were heard from the bridal chamber. The door was locked and had to be broken down by force. The groom was badly wounded lying across the threshold whilst Janet was cowering in the chimney corner of the room covered in blood. She was grinning and muttering strange words. Janet never recovered her senses and died insane a few weeks later on 12. September 1669.

Castle Menzies is the ancestral seat of Clan Menzies and the Menzies Baronets, located near Aberfeldy in the Highlands of Perthshire Scotland. The castle had been the seat of the chiefs of the clan for over 500 years and has a rich history. Bonne Prince Charlie, the Stuart pretender to the throne, rested here on his was to the battle of Colloden in 1746. Duleep Singh, the last maharajah of the Sikh Empire, resided in the castle between 1855 and 1858 following his exile from the Punjab. A fire broke out in 1878 which damaged the castle and affected the health of Lady Menzies who died a month later. In 1903 Sir Neil Menzies, 8th Baronet, inherited the estate but died without heirs in 1910. The house was subsequently auctioned. In 1957 the Menzies Clan Society restored the castle. Note: the samples in this spotlight all share the Menzies haplogroup.

Shown here is the marriage stone installed by James Menzies in 1571 to record his marriage to Barbara Stewart, daughter of John Stewart the 3rd Earl of Atholl. The Menzies Clan originated from the town of Mesnieres in Normandy. Sir Robert de Myneries appeared in the court of Alexander II of Scotland and received patronage and land grants for Glen Lyon and Atholl. His son Alexander also acquired the lands of Weem and married Egida, a daughter of James Stewart, the 5th High Steward of Scotland. His son in turn became a companion-in-arms of Robert the Bruce and was awarded further lands including Glen Dochart, Finlarig, Glen Orchy and Durisdeer.

Duntrune Castle was built in the 13th century by the MacDougall clan along with several other castles and strongholds in the area - i is thought to be the oldest continuously occupied castle in mainland Scotland. It is located on the north side of Loch Crinan with access to the sea. At some point Clan Campbell took ownership of the castle - however 400 years ago the MacDonalds led by Sir Alistar MacDonald (known as the dreaded Colkitto as well as 6 feet 6 inches tall) arrived at Duntrune Castle and defeated their sworn enemy the Campbells. Colkitto left a few defenders including his favorite piper behind and proceed to board his galley to sail away. The Campbells mounted a counterattack and killed all his men except the piper who was forced to play for the amusement of his captors.

Knowing Colkitto would return the Campbells prepared a trap. The piper bravely played a song called the Pipers Warning to His Master which alerted Colkitto it was a trap - he ordered a hard helm about and escaped to open sea. The piper was brought before the commander of the castle, Lady Dunstaffnage, known as the black bitch. She ordered his hands cut off so he could never play again - unfortunately the flow of blood did not stop and he died. In 1792 the MacCallum (Malcolm) Clan took over ownership of the castle and made it their seat which it remains today. Since the piper died many strange phenomenon have been witnessed in the castle, and some even have recorded hearing the pipers music. In 1888 workers doing repairs discovered the grave of the piper himself - with no hands.

Hidden beneath the Klosterneuburg Monastery in Austria lies an Ancient Roman fortress located along the famous Limes line. The exact Roman name for the fortress is believed to be Arrianis and is located very close to modern day Vienna. Early on, the fort served as a cohort camp for auxilliary troops (auxilla) and was the base of a cavalry unit. Their job was to monitor a Danube crossing and protect the Limes road from Vindobona to Lauriacum. The auxillia provided almost all of the Roman army cavalry and at its peak represented 60 percent of their overall land forces. The Limes (or limites in Latin) is the name for the fortified border between the Roman Empire and barbarian lands. the most famous section was the Limes Germanicus bordering Germanic and Rhaetian tribes.

Two sections of these Limes have been excavated in Germany totalling 550 km (Hadrians Wall in Britain is comparitively 118 km long). The fortress at Klosterneuburg was on the Limes Pannonicus denoting the frontier with the province Pannonia which stretched from Klosterneuburg to Taurunum in Serbia. The fortifications included walls, ditches, forts, fortresses and towns. Soldiers of the Limes were referred to as limitanei - unlike the regular Roman military they were largely of local descent. Their primary job was not to win large-scale wars but to deter small to medium sized raiding parties. Typically forts were found here at intervals of 14 kilometers.

Ostia was a town located on the mouth of the Tiber river approximately 30 km from Rome - in fact the name derives from the latin word Ostium meanign mouth. Originally founded in 620 BC, the city became the key naval base for Rome complete with a fortress. By 267 BC it became the seat of the quaestor Ostiensis who was responsible for watching over the Roman fleet. The city expanded and changed into a commerical harbor. Grain would arrive here from Siciliy and Sardinia as well as Tunisia. Wine from France, olive oil from Spain and marble from Greece and Turkey would arrive here before being towed by boat or carried by Oxen to Rome.

The city reached its peak in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. By 150 AD as Rome controlled all the Mediterranean, the population of Ostia exceeded 60,000. The construction of the famous hexagaonal Trajan harbor caused a rebirth in the town. Today Ostia Antica is one of the best preserved Roman cities in the world - on par with Pompeii. The site is full of the remains of docks, warehouses, apartment flats, mansions, shopping arcades and baths. Shown here is a view of the region near the necropolis where burial cells are clearly visible.

Celtic hillforts were much more than simply fortifications. Referred to oppidae by the Romans,they were fortified town centers which would form the center of a Celtic community. Unlike a castle they had no keep - but they could have quite elaborate defensive structures. The walled interior space could fit upwards of 50 football pitches. Shown in this video is the hillfort of Cadbury Castle located in Somerset. This particular site is exciting as it is associated with King Arthurs legendary court at Camelot. The hillfort had been constructed originally in the Bronze Age and extended use throughout the Iron Age and past the Roman Era until around 580 AD.

The Celtic tribes lived in round houses within the hillforts made with thatched roofs of straw or heather. The walls would be constructed from local materials - either woven wood or straw covered with mud above for retaining warmth. These houses also notably had no windows. Fire would be lit in the middle and used for cooking and heating - a small hole in the roof would allow smoke to escape. Animals would also be housed in these buildings during winter or during conflicts. This image is from an iron age hill fort located in Pembrokeshire Wales where you can visit these roundhouses recreated on their original location.

Aethelred II, known later as the Unready, was King of the English from 978 to 1013 and again from 1014 until his death. He came to the throne at the age of 12 after his half brother was murdered. At the start of his reign, Danish raids on English territory began in earnest. Aethelred defended his country by a diplomatic alliance with the duke of Normandy. The Battle of Maldon on 11. August 991 AD involved 2,000-4,000 fighting Viking men led by Olaf Tryggvason against the Anglo-Saxon leader Byrhtnoth who was the Ealdorman of Essex. This ended in defeat for the Anglo-Saxons and King Aethelred was forced to pay tribute, also known as Danegeld, to the Danish king. This payment of 10,000 Roman pounds of silver was the first example of Danegeld in England - a pattern which would follow. The Danish army continued ravaging the English coast until a Danegeld of 22,000 pounds of gold and silver was paid - at which point Olaf Tryggvason promised to never return. Viking attacks only grew worse - Danish raids would follow leading to an even larger Danegeld payment of 24,000 pounds for peace in the Spring of 1002 AD.

The same year, Aethelred married Lady Emma, the sister of Duke Richard II of Normandy in hopes of a stronger diplomatic alliance. On St. Brice's Day, 13. November 1002, the confident yet paranoid King ordered the killing of all Danes living on border towns such as Oxford. Aethelred described this massacre in his own words: ... a decree was sent out by me with the counsel of my leading men and magnates, to the effect that all the Danes who had sprung up in this island, sprouting like cockle amongst the wheat, were to be destroyed by a more just extermination, and thus this decree was to be put into effect even as far as death, those Danes who dwelt in the afore-mentioned town, striving to escape death, entered this sanctuary of Christ, having broken by force the doors and bolts, and resolved to make refuge and defence for themselves therein against the people of the town and the subrubs; but when all the people in pursuit strove, forced by necessitym to drive them out, and could not, they set fire to the planks and burnt, as it seems, this church with its ornaments and its books.

In 558 AD, a nomadic Avar envoy arrived in Constantinople to meet Justinian the Great (and to see the wealth of Byzantium). Their realm far to the East had been conquered by a Turkic people and like many other groups migrating westwards they were seeking refuge. These Avar arrivals to Europe were a mixed people and organized as a Khagante which is a federation of tribes ruled by a single Khagan who was surrounded by a circle of powerful nobles. What made the Avar Khagante stronger than other nomadic groups before was the strength and cohesion of the entire Avar Elite who also wielded power and wealth, rather than being centered on the Khagan himself. The Avars allied with the Longobards to defeat the Gepids in the Cartpathian Basin to create a new home while the Longobards headed towards northern Italy.

The Avars resettled people from the regions surrounding the Pannonian plains to work as laborers under their authoritative rule. As long as these people paid their tribute they were respected by their Avar overlords and allowed to keep their customs and way of life. While often being at war with Byzantium, the Avars preferred to stay in the periphery rather than raid their heartland. The economy was based on military successes and as long as their Byzantine neighbor remaiend rich they could raid for goods and tribute. This model for controlling the Pannonian plains worked quite well until the landscape began to change.

In the Iron Age Iberian town of Ullastret the heads of defeated enemies would be prepared and publically displayed alongside seized weapons. This ritual custom reaffirmed the powers of the leaders. It was common in Celtic cultures that head trophies were hung from the backs of horses or displayed in front of houses of victorious warriors. Pine tree resin has been found with these remains showing signs of heating to a high temperature. This indicates an embalming process was used to preserve the heads as long as possible. It is in fact theorized that the embalming process would be repeated over time as resin could be poured over many times. Shown here is one of the heads discovered in Ullastret.

Ullastret is a town in the Baix Emporda region of Catalonia and was home to the largest Iberian settlement in Catalonia dating to around 550 BC. With its towering walls, the city was the capital of the region and was the center of trade with the nearby Greek city of Empuries. The inhabitants were the Indiketes, an ancient Iberian people who spoke the Iberian language. They minted their own coins which bore the inscription undikesken which is a self-reference to their ethnic name. in 218 BC they were conquered by Rome during the Roman conquest of Hispania. They rebelled in 195 BC only to be crushed by the consul Marcus Porcious Cato.

Celtic warfare at the beginning of the La Tene period introduced elite warriors riding chariots wielding a new type of Celtic longsword. The chariots were typically two-wheeled and light and not used for a frontal charge - instead they would drive about in all directions to break the ranks of the enemy with the very dread of their horses and the noise of their wheels. As per Julius Caesar, these warriors would throw their javelins from chariots before abandoning them to fight on foot - and return to them in order to retreat or redeploy. Cavalry was primarily used for skirmishing and Celtic armies were mostly made of infantry wielding swords or javelins. Classical writers such as Strabo, Livy, Pausanias and Florus describe Celts as fighting like wild beasts with a frenzy.

The chariot burial was an Iron Age Celtic custom exclusively used in elite graves. The body would be placed down lying on their back atop a chariot. Over time the wooden chariot would decay and the horse harness and iron wheel covers and parts would remain. In Attichy a man, woman and child were found buried laying down on the chassis of their chariot between iron-rimmed wheels with pork or mutton offerings. Theis chariot was not ceremonial but well used showing axles in needs of repair. The individuals were accompanied by finery and clothing accessories which included bracelets, fibulae (as shown) and belt rings made of bronze iron or lignite. Typically men in such chariot graves were accompanied with their weapons, sword or lance.

In 1991, hikers discovered the mummified remains of a man who died 5300 years ago in the Alps with an arrow stuck through his shoulder. His genetics show great affinity to modern Sardinia and it is thought if you have ancestors stem from the region between Sardinia and the Alps, there is a chance you could be related to Ötzi. Found in the Ötztal Alps between Italy and Austria, he was given the nickname Ötzi and represents Europe's oldest known natural mummy.

He is believed to have been murdered as the arrowhead in his left shoulder was a fatal wound. He had brown eyes, O-type blood, was lactose intolerant and probably had Lyme disease. Analysis of his colon showed Ötzi's second-to-last meal included ibex meat, cereals and plants. His last meal included red deer meat, grasses and cereals. He had a gap in his smile, lacked wisdom teeth and also had a fairly rare condition where he lacked the smallest ribs on either side.

Roopkund Lake, also known as Skeleton Lake, is a high altitude glacial lake located in the Himalayas of northern India. The area is uninhabited and found at an altitude of 5020 meters. The lake itself is only 3 meters deep but known for containing up to 800 human skeletons. Some appear to have perished in a massive hailstorm dating to the 9th century as fatal blows have been found on some of the heads indicating being hit by something round like a cricket ball. No weapons have been found and the absence of injuries elsewhere indicates large hail stones or ice balls fell from the sky.

Legend has it that in medieval times King Jasidhwal of Kannauj and his pregnant wife were making a pilgrimage to the lake, but refused to walk barefoot which offended the Goddess Nanda. She sent a great snowstorm and the lives of the king, queen and their courtiers were cut short by the raging mountain goddess. Many of the skeletons are located along the edge of the lake and some are visible in the clear water of the lake during a one-month period when the surrounding ice melts. Wooden artifacts, iron spearheads, leather slippers and rings have also been found. Some of the skeletons are so well preserved that there is still flesh attached to them.

Peder Pedersen Winstrup was a prominent Bishop of the Lutheran church, royal Chaplain to King Christian IV of Denmark, one of the most important figures in 17th Century Scandinavian history - but he also represents one of the best preserved bodies from the 17th century in Europe. Born in Copenhagen as part of the Denmark-Norway Empire in 1605, he was appointed royal chaplain for Christian IV - the King of Norway and Denmark and made Bishop of Lund in 1638. He is also known as the founding father of Lund University having personally pushed for the new university be founded in Lund, Scania.

Peder's influence grew just as the Thirty Years War concluded in 1648 - it is thought 20 percent of Europe's population had been killed and in such areas up to 60 percent - considered by many to be far more bloody than any other war in modern times. Sweden meanwhile had become a powerful empire and used this period to expand its territorial holdings finding itself at conflict with Norway, Denmark and Poland-Lithuania. The new Swedish monarch Charles X Gustav invaded Poland and the Duchy of Prussia. Meanwhile Denmark attempted to seize some territory from Sweden and Charles was forced to return to Scandinavia, defeat the Danes and threaten the Danish capital Copenhagen itself.

French revolutionists condemned King Louis XVI to death on 21. January 1793 by means of the guillotine at the Place de la Revolution in Paris (roughly where the Obelisk decorating the Place de la Concorde stands today). After a short but defiant speech he lost his head as the crowd rushed to the scaffold to dip hankerchiefs into his blood as momentos. An ornate gourd decorated with French Revolution themes was recently uncovered which had contained a blood soaked hankerchief dating to this time. The gourd was allegedly a gift to Napoleon Bonaparte who became First Consul of France in 1799 and Emperor in 1804. An anonymous Italian family was in its posession since possibly the late 1800s and came forward with the relic. It bears an inscription that Maximilien Bourdaloue on 21. January dipped his hankerchief in the blood of the king. Dried blood was scraped out and this is the same DNA we present in this DNA spotlight! The sample contains unsually high and rare markers for the Y-DNA haplogroup G2a.

Louis XVI's direct male line ancestor Henri IV was famous for enacting the Edict of Nantes which guaranteed religious liberties to Protestants ending 30 years of fighting between French Protestants and Catholics - he was assassinated in 1610 by a French Catholic zealot. The remains had been presumed lost in the chaos of the French Revolution after a mob of revolutionaries desecrated the graves of French kings in the royal chapel of Saint-Denis in Paris in 1793. However, the head was passed down over the centuries by secretive private collectors and positively identifed in 2010 with a radiocarbon date between 1450 and 1650. The features were consistent with the king's face including a dark mushroom-like lesion near the right nostrial, a healed facial stab wound and a pierced right earlobe. The hair color and moustache and beard on the mummified head fit the appearance of the king at the time of his death as well as matched his portraits. Furthermore cutting wounds were visible corresponding to the separation of the head from the body in 1793 and digital facial reconstruction of the skull matched the plaster mould of his face made just after his death in 1610. The DNA was then tested and compared to the blood from the gourd.

The future French Revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat left home at the age of 16 to train in medicine and would eventually settle in Newcastle upon Tyne where he gained a reputation as being a highly efficient doctor who also had an interest in political writings. He moved back France 6 years later and his medical skills earned him the patronage of the aristocracy. He used his new found wealth to found a scientific laboratory where he began studies on fire, heat, light and electricity - he was even visited by Benjamin Franklin. Despite his new status and success, he began so spend a lot of time discussing and writing about social injustice.

As Louis XVI struggled to maintain power in the late 1780s by assembling the Estates-General for the first time in 175 years, Marat decided to end his research and medical profession to focus entirely on his passion for politics. He began writing on the topics of social, economic and religious reforms - this manifested itself in numerous vicious attacks on those he proclaimed were enemies of the people. His newspaper called for extreme violence against the upper class and government provoking statements such as five or six hundred heads cut off would have assured your repose, freedom and happiness. After reaching fame, He was elected to the National Convention in 1792 where he actively supported the death of the deposed King in a trial.

A Norseman from West Norway named Naddoðr was en-route to the Faroe Islands and got lost accidentally landing in Iceland - seeing no signs of life and the snow falling, he named this land Snæland (snow land). Around the same period, a Swedish Viking named Garðarr Svavarsson was on his way to the Hebrides islands to claim an inheritance. He had difficulty navigating the Orkney islands and ended up drifting to Iceland. Instead of making landfall, he circumnavigated Iceland to discover this piece of land was indeed an island and spent the winter in a northern bay he called Húsavík (house bay). After returning to Norway stories were told of Garðarr's adventures. Hrafna-Flóki Vilgerðarson decided he would be the first Viking to head to Iceland and settle it.

In 868 AD, Flóki dropped by the Shetland Islands on his way to the Faroe Islands where he picked up 3 ravens to help guide him. This is where he picked up the nick name Hrafna (raven) as ravens could help navigators find land. The first raven flew back to the Faroe Islands, the second raven landed on his own mast - but third raven headed due northwest and directed him striaght to Iceland. Flóki decided to settle in a protected bay called Vatnsfjörður (fjord of the lakes). Hrafna-Flóki stayed for the winter and gave the land its name when climbed Lómfell, the highest mountain in the area, and spotted a fjord full of icebergs. In Landnáma (the Book of Settlements) Flóki notes The spring proved rather cold.

The Minoan Civilization was an advanced maritime race who once controlled the trade of the mediterranean. They were centered around the island of Crete and reached their peak around 1700 BC. The Minoan King Minos was said to have built a labyrinth to cage a monster - half man and half bull - the Minotaur was the result of a union between a sacred bull and the King's unfaithful wife. Today the Palace at Knossos makes us wonder if this was once the home of the Minotaur, or if it was the inspiration for the Greek legend. The Minoans invented numerous breakthrough building technologies which would incorporate columns, light-wells and terraces to bring light deep into enormous structures. Cobblestone streets and an advanced underground drainage system was built at Knossos a thousand years before the Rome. The palace had 1500 interconnected rooms covered with detailed frescos as shown. A local sport very popular to Minoans was bull jumping where athletes had to execute jumps over and on a charging bull - a true sign of courage and gallantry.

The Minoan civilization spread to nearby islands including Santorini - also known as Thera - which has been thought to link to the legend of Atlantis. The island is a remnant of its past - in 1628 BC one of the most violent volcanic explosions occured at the center of Santorini leaving much of what had been lush farmland under water turning Santorini into a few smaller islands. The wealthy Minoan seaport of Akrotiri, on what had been the outer rim of the island was destroyed. It is believed the explosion led to a large earthquake, tidal waves, choking ash and fires which had an impact all the way to Crete. As the Minoans were a sea power, the Thera eruption caused significant hardship for the Minoans. They abandoned many settlements and within 200 years were conquered by the warlike Mycenaeans. It is said the cataclysm had global effects as volcanic winter was documented in China causing a yellow fog, dim sun and frost in July. Likewise Ancient Egyptian records mention apocalyptic rainstorms which devastated much of Egypt.

The Merovingian realm was the largest and most powerful western European state following the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The first Merovingian king was Childeric I who died in 481 AD, followed by his son Clovis I who converted to Christianity, united the Franks and conquered all of Gaul except Burgundy and all of Germania except Saxony. Typically there was a mix of people and culture found in the Merovingian society such that Gallo-Roman populations would be integrated with the Germanic populations, and Frankish or Alemannic goods are artifacts would be mixed with Roman or Byzantine items. Richly furnished graves of nobility known as Adelsgrablege demonstrated how the kinship structure and family status would include not just immediate family, but also those in their immediate retinue. It is also worth noting that Niederstotzingen was an important land route near the crossroad of two former Roman highways.

The Merovingian realm was created by defeating the Visigoths and Burgundians as well as forcing the Alemanni, Bavarii and Saxons to accept their lordship. As the Ostrogoths fell from power, Provence was also conquered. Italy meanwhile remained stable under its own Lombard rule. The Merovingian kings appointed counts who would take over roles such as defense, administration and judgement of disputes. This was necessary to bring order into western Europe which no longer had a Roman system of taxation and bureaucracy. The Gallo-Roman population was far greater than the Frankish population in Merovingian Gaul. The further south one travelled, the weaker the Frankish influence became as the Frankish language was forgotten fairly rapidly over time - colloquial Latin remained the spoken language here during the Merovingian period.

The Gelonians (also known as Helonians) were known by the ancient Greek historian Herodotus to occupy northwestern Scythia. They were originally Hellenes who settled among the Budinis (perhaps a Finnic-Votic tribe ruled by the Scythians) and were bilingual in both Greek and the Scythian language. Their capital was called Gelonus or Helonus, from the Greek word for market town. Scythians revered the stag which was believed to speed the spirits of the dead on their way.

The four archaeological Scythian samples (scy009, scy010, scy301 and MJ34) are from between 600 BC-290 BC and were located in the forest-steppes region described by both Herodotus and the Romano-Jewish historian Titus Flavius Josephus as the home of the Gelonians/Helonians. The Scythians established fortified centers to coordinate trade and Gelon/Helon was considered the capital of Great Scythia. The fortified enclosure was about 40 square kilometers in size and 3 keeps were surrounded by earthen walls up to 16 meters high.

George Calvert was the first to dream of a colony in America where Catholics and Protestants could prosper together. George had studied at Trinity College at Oxford and been knighted by King James I for good service as an advisor. Sir George Calvert became Secretary of State for the King. Having just converted to Catholicism, he was forced to resign from his job so the King gave him another title - First Baron of Baltimore, a town on the Irish coast.

George had both money and lands so decided he wanted to help create English colonies in America. He bought land in Newfoundland in 1620 but found it difficult for the settlers. The King granted him further land just north of the colony of Virginia where weather was warmer and suitable for an English colony - this land would be called Maryland. After George's death, his eldest son Cecil brought the colony to life and Maryland became a prime tobacco exporting colony. Philip Calvert, as the youngest son, was raised by Cecil and later went to University in Lisbon where he met his first wife Anne Wolsey. As a Catholic he was forbidden from University in England.