Digs, ancient worlds, discoveries
Workers at an Austrian gravel plant dredged up 540 fragments representing at least 500 uniform double-pointed bars, enough iron to forge 500 swords. Researchers believe a commercial vessel sank while carrying the cargo downstream some 2,000 years ago.
Emergency excavations ran for three weeks in May and June 2026 at Nunalleq, on Alaska's Bering Sea coast, after a typhoon remnant tore away around 20 metres of coastal tundra the previous October. The site has now lost ground that archaeologists excavated as recently as 2009.
Lead-based ink absorbs up to 25 times more X-rays than charred paper, making it detectable without unwrapping a scroll. Scientists say portable XRF screening could help prioritise the 1,800 carbonised documents still held in Italy, France, and England — though it is not yet known how many of the ancient scrolls actually contain lead.
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