Last month a team of researchers at Lichfield College, led by cultural historian Joe King and paleontologist H.O. Cestiocus, announced the discovery of the first completely intact skeleton of a Mercian Wulfbirde. The aggressive, carnivorous, flightless birds, which for centuries were the dominant predator species in what is now the English Midlands, are believed to have gone extinct in the 9th or 10th century A.D.
The first report of wulfbirdes in the historical record are found in Ceasar’s Commentarii de Bello Gallico, where he reports Cassi prisoners warning of an inland beast that “stands like a bird and feeds like a wolf, upon sheep and shepherd alike.” Writing around 790 A.D., the Northumbrian scholar Alcuin of York identified “ye wulfbirdes,” as “the scourge of the Mercians.” In the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles the wulfbirde is identified as a vehicle for divine retribution: “With the swords of the Danes and the talons of the Wulfbirdes did the Lord chastise the people for their sins and unbelief.”
In Chaucer’s Summoner’s Tale he describes his gluttonous character as having the insatiable appetite of a wulfbirde. “Wel loved he garleek, onyons, and lekes. And for to drynken strong wyn, reed as blood. Like the wulfbirde, for flessh he could not be sated.”
The folk belief that a person would become invisible after eating the heart of a wulfbirde is attested to in several surviving medieval poems, as is the belief that powder made from wulfbirde beaks was a potent love potion/aphrodisiac. Of course, the claim in the 16th century ballad A Gest of Robyn Hode that Robin Hood and his merry men “did ryde upon the backs of wulfbirdes” has been rejected by scholars, both because the birds were extinct at the time Robin Hood was said to have lived and because there is no evidence that wulfbirdes were ever domesticated.
The wulfbirde whose skeleton was found by the Lichfield team would have stood about 9.5 feet tall and weighed at least 1700 pounds, making it the largest of the birds whose remains have been identified. “A complete skeleton has been something of a ‘holy grail’ for wulfbirde researchers,” said anthropologist Dr. Shirley Gesting of the Lichfield team. “We are thrilled to now have this important physical evidence of this intriguing animal.”
The image is from a 9th century Mercian illuminated manuscript.
Despite decades of archaeological research, the origins of iron metallurgy in sub-Saharan Africa remain largely unclear. Yet this technological revolution—crucial for producing efficient agricultural tools—emerged there at least 3,000 years ago. While investigating an archaeological site in eastern Senegal, an international team led by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) uncovered exceptionally well-preserved remains of an ironworking workshop dating back to the 4th century BCE and used for nearly eight centuries. The discovery, published in African Archaeological Review, provides new insights into late prehistoric metallurgical practices in Africa.
In Europe, the Iron Age is generally dated from around 800 BCE to the end of the 1st century CE. However, these chronological frameworks vary widely across different regions of the world. The earliest evidence for iron production is thought to date to the 2nd millennium BCE in Anatolia—modern-day Turkey—and the Caucasus. This technique spread from there to Europe, but did it develop independently in Africa? The question remains open.
Excavations carried out by a team coordinated by UNIGE, in partnership with the Institut Fondamental d’Afrique Noire (IFAN) in Dakar, shed new light new light on the emergence of iron metallurgy in West Africa. At the site of Didé West 1 (DDW1), near the Falémé River valley in eastern Senegal, archaeologists uncovered an exceptionally well-preserved iron-smelting workshop in 2018 that was in use from the 4th century BCE to the 4th century CE. Its longevity is particularly striking, as such sites are typically used for only a few generations.
Well-preserved “tuyères” and bloomery furnaces
The workshop consists of a large heap containing around a hundred tons of slag, a semicircular arrangement of about thirty used “tuyères”—clay pipes that channel air into the furnace—and 35 circular furnace bases, each approximately 30 cm deep. This iron and steel production was likely carried out on a small scale to meet local needs, particularly for the manufacture of agricultural tools.
“Thanks to its exceptional state of preservation, its age, the length of time it remained in use, and its distinctive technical features, this site is truly unique. It offers a rare opportunity to study the continuity and adaptation of an iron smelting technique over the long term,” says Mélissa Morel, postdoctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Archaeology of Africa & Anthropology (ARCAN) within the Biology Section of the Faculty of Science at UNIGE, and lead author of the article.
Documenting practices
Since 2012, the team has been studying both past and present techniques used by potters and blacksmiths in the Falémé Valley. The work of its members has identified several distinct ancient traditions of iron‑ore smelting. At DDW1, the spatial organisation, furnace morphology and associated waste products point to the tradition known as FAL02. It is characterised by small circular furnaces topped with a removable chimney, as well as large clay “tuyères”. A key feature is that these “tuyères” do not have a single air outlet but multiple small openings connected to the main channel by perpendicular side ducts. This design allows air to be distributed to the bottom of the furnace. Another distinctive characteristic is the use of palm nut seeds as packing material at the base of the furnace—a practice not previously documented.
“Despite the very long period during which this workshop operated, this tradition remained remarkably stable, undergoing only minor technical adjustments. This continuity contrasts with other African metallurgical contexts and highlights the importance of understanding the technical and cultural choices made by early metallurgists in iron production,” explains Anne Mayor, director of the ARCAN laboratory in the Biology Section of the Faculty of Science at UNIGE and senior lecturer and researcher at the Global Studies Institute, who led the project.
The team’s research is continuing at other sites in Senegal to compare smelting practices and gain a better understanding of how ironworking techniques developed and spread. To date, only around a dozen sites dating to the first millennium BCE have been well documented and reliably dated across West Africa.
Newly discovered rock art depicting Tasmanian tigers and Tasmanian devils in northern Australia is providing fresh insights into their cultural importance and when they may have last roamed mainland Australia.
The striped dog-like marsupial we know as the Tasmanian tiger has long been surrounded by mystery, and the subject of scientific curiosity.
Now, newly discovered rock art depicting Tasmanian tigers and Tasmanian devils in northern Australia is providing fresh insights into their cultural importance and when they may have last roamed mainland Australia.
The project, led by Griffith University Chair in Rock Art Research, Professor Paul Taçon, in partnership with Traditional Owners, documented 14 new images of the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine, as it also known, and two of the Tasmanian devils from two locations in northwest Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.
Tasmanian devils and thylacines are widely believed to have disappeared from mainland Australia about 3,000 years ago. The newly documented artworks—some of which may be less than 1,000 years old—raise the possibility that these species survived longer in northern regions than previously thought.
The paintings recorded were in various Aboriginal art styles, made with red, sometimes yellow ochre since about 15,000 years ago.
The artists also used white pipe clay, which does not last as long or stain the rock as red ochre does, so most paintings with white were thought to be less than 1,000 years old.
Professor Taçon said thylacines were more widespread and more culturally important across mainland Australia than Tasmanian devils, as only 25 Tasmanian devil images had been documented versus more than 160 thylacine depictions.
"The artists who made the more recent paintings may have seen actual living thylacines and some of these creatures may have survived longer in Arnhem Land,” Professor Taçon said.
“Alternatively, artists may have been inspired by earlier paintings.
“Regardless, the thylacine remains culturally important today and some contemporary artists make paintings of Tasmanian tigers on bark, paper and canvas.
“Thylacine rock art offers rare insight into how people related to this animal in the past,” Dr Jalandoni said.
“These depictions show that the thylacine held a meaningful place in everyday life and local knowledge long before it went extinct.”
In oral histories of the region, thylacines were pets of the Rainbow Serpent and lived in rock pools. They were often associated with bodies of water and swimming.
Joey Nganjmirra, a Djalama man from Western Arnhem Land and co-author of the study, said the creatures were very much a part of his ancestors' lives.
“They used to tell stories about going hunting with thylacines,” Mr Nganjmirra said.
Professor Taçon said the team’s collaborative research showed the thylacine had contemporary relevance in the region, not just for scientists but also for traditional community members.
“The thylacine lives on in western Arnhem Land not as a ghost from the past but as a meaningful creature that still has present-day significance,” he said.
The striped dog-like marsupial we know as the Tasmanian tiger has long been surrounded by mystery, and the subject of scientific curiosity.
Now, newly discovered rock art depicting Tasmanian tigers and Tasmanian devils in northern Australia is providing fresh insights into their cultural importance and when they may have last roamed mainland Australia.
The project, led by Griffith University Chair in Rock Art Research, Professor Paul Taçon, in partnership with Traditional Owners, documented 14 new images of the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine, as it also known, and two of the Tasmanian devils from two locations in northwest Arnhem Land, Northern Territory.
Tasmanian devils and thylacines are widely believed to have disappeared from mainland Australia about 3,000 years ago. The newly documented artworks—some of which may be less than 1,000 years old—raise the possibility that these species survived longer in northern regions than previously thought.
The paintings recorded were in various Aboriginal art styles, made with red, sometimes yellow ochre since about 15,000 years ago.
The artists also used white pipe clay, which does not last as long or stain the rock as red ochre does, so most paintings with white were thought to be less than 1,000 years old.
Professor Taçon said thylacines were more widespread and more culturally important across mainland Australia than Tasmanian devils, as only 25 Tasmanian devil images had been documented versus more than 160 thylacine depictions.
"The artists who made the more recent paintings may have seen actual living thylacines and some of these creatures may have survived longer in Arnhem Land,” Professor Taçon said.
“Alternatively, artists may have been inspired by earlier paintings.
“Regardless, the thylacine remains culturally important today and some contemporary artists make paintings of Tasmanian tigers on bark, paper and canvas.
“Thylacine rock art offers rare insight into how people related to this animal in the past,” Dr Jalandoni said.
“These depictions show that the thylacine held a meaningful place in everyday life and local knowledge long before it went extinct.”
In oral histories of the region, thylacines were pets of the Rainbow Serpent and lived in rock pools. They were often associated with bodies of water and swimming.
Joey Nganjmirra, a Djalama man from Western Arnhem Land and co-author of the study, said the creatures were very much a part of his ancestors' lives.
“They used to tell stories about going hunting with thylacines,” Mr Nganjmirra said.
Professor Taçon said the team’s collaborative research showed the thylacine had contemporary relevance in the region, not just for scientists but also for traditional community members.
“The thylacine lives on in western Arnhem Land not as a ghost from the past but as a meaningful creature that still has present-day significance,” he said.
Approximately 3,500 years ago, in the Bronze Age settlement of Cabezo Redondo in present-day Villena, a fire razed dwellings and workshops to the ground. However, the same fire that destroyed part of the village also helped preserve an object that is incredibly hard to document in archaeology: a loom with a largely wooden structure.
Recently published in the journal Antiquity, this finding by a team of researchers from several Spanish universities is one of only a few known cases in Mediterranean Europe in which both the set of loom weights and components made from wood and plant fibres have been preserved. The article is authored by University of Alicante (UA) researchers Gabriel García Atiénzar, Paula Martín de la Sierra Pareja, Virginia Barciela González and Mauro S. Hernández Pérez, Ricardo Basso Rial (University of Granada) and Yolanda Carrión Marco (Universitat de València).
UA Professor of Prehistory Gabriel García Atiénzar explains that the fire generated a very specific archaeological context where “the collapse of the ceiling was crucial […] resulting in a sealed space in which the area was suddenly destroyed and immediately buried, enabling its preservation”. The loom components – including charred timbers, clay weights and esparto ropes – were trapped beneath the remains of the collapsed ceiling.
The loom appeared during the excavation of a circulation area on the western slope of the settlement, where the researchers found a raised platform with a dense concentration of clay weights. According to University of Granada predoctoral researcher Ricardo Basso Rial, this evidence allowed the team to identify the device with a high degree of certainty, as “although the loom was recovered from a collapsed area and some pieces were missing, the compact set of 44 cylindrical weights with a central perforation, most of them about 200 grams in weight, is characteristic of a vertical warp-weighted loom”.
Several pine timbers in a parallel arrangement were discovered alongside the weights. Some of the thicker timbers, with a rectangular cross-section, are probably the remains of the upright posts of the loom frame; other narrower pieces, with a rounded cross-section, supposedly constitute the horizontal posts.
The researchers also identified plaited esparto fibres associated with the structure, and even remains of small cords in the perforations of some weights, likely used to warp the warp threads to each loom weight. Thanks to this combination of weights, timbers and fibres, the researchers have been able to accurately determine how the loom worked, which is highly unusual in prehistoric contexts.
The archaeobotanist Yolanda Carrión (Universitat de València) analysed the wooden pieces. “The preservation of the organic elements was due to the fire that charred the remains and to the fact that these remains were practically unaltered later. Paradoxically, the fire both destroyed and preserved the site”, she says.
It was concluded from the microscopic study of the wood that the loom was made from Aleppo pine, widely found in the surrounding area. According to Carrión, the observation of the growth rings suggests that the timbers came from long-lived trees that provided large-diameter pieces of wood, which indicates that the material was carefully selected. The researcher adds that “the arrangement of wooden components of various sizes, assembled with each other and resting on a wall, and the presence of the weights allow us to develop a robust hypothesis about the morphology of the loom”.
The loom was part of a wider process known as the “textile revolution” in the European Bronze Age, characterised by technological and economic changes in textile production.
For Ricardo Basso, this process was not driven by a single factor: “the textile revolution was the result of a combination of processes, including the expansion of livestock breeding for wool production, technical innovations in looms and spinning and weaving tools, and social changes that led to more intensive and diversified textile production”.
At Cabezo Redondo, these transformations are inferred from the presence of new forms of lighter spindle whorls and various types of loom weights. Some of them are lightweight enough to allow for the production of finer, more complex fabrics, such as twills. However, the fabrics themselves are rarely preserved in archaeological settings, and therefore many of these deductions are based on the indirect study of tools.
For this reason, the loom recovered from Cabezo Redondo is especially valuable, allowing researchers to “go from interpreting isolated loom weights to documenting a working loom with extreme detail: the wooden structure, the ropes, the weights and the architectural context”, Basso argues.
The context in which the loom appeared also provides information on the social organisation of work. The device was located in an outdoor space shared by several households, which suggests that production was a cooperative effort. “This indicates that different household groups may have collaborated on activities such as spinning, weaving and milling”, as noted by Paula Martín de la Sierra, a predoctoral researcher at the UA Institute for Archaeology and Heritage Research (INAPH) and research team member. “Other artisanal activities in the village, such as metalwork or ivory craftsmanship, seem to have been concentrated in specialised areas”, she adds.
Bioanthropological evidence also points to a central role of women in textile activities. In several graves at the site, teeth recovered from female remains have a degree of wear characteristically associated with spinning and weaving, as these women probably used their incisors to hold fibres in place or cut threads.
Cabezo Redondo settlement
Cabezo Redondo was not an isolated village, but a key regional hub. Its size and continued occupation, as well as the presence of monumental structures, suggest that it had a major political and economic role in the south-eastern area of the Iberian Peninsula during the second millennium BCE.
While there are similarities to the well-known Argaric culture, the researchers think that the settlement dates from a later, “post-Argaric” period. The famous Cabezo Redondo treasure is likely contemporary to the loom.
In the researchers’ view, the finding opens up new lines of research. Future studies may include archaeometric analyses of microscopic fibres or isotopic studies of sheep to determine the origin of the raw materials and the degree of specialisation of textile production.
In the meantime, the Cabezo Redondo loom is already one of the most complete examples of textile technology in the European Bronze Age. As pointed out by Basso, the settlement has become “an exceptional laboratory to study the technical and social evolution of textiles in the second millennium BCE”.
Cabezo Redondo is a major Bronze Age settlement in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula. Systematic excavations started in 1960 under the direction of local researcher José María Soler, who intervened to prevent the destruction of the site by gypsum quarries.
From 1987 onwards, excavation campaigns at the site were led by Mauro S. Hernández. A team made up of INAPH researchers Gabriel García Atiénzar, Virginia Barciela González and others was set up afterwards.
Occupied approximately between 2100 and 1250 BCE, the settlement had a size of up to one hectare. The dwellings, built on a series of terraces on the slope of the hill, had workbenches, fireplaces, silos and receptacles for storage. The analysis of plant and animal remains indicates that the economy was based on intensive farming.
Moreover, numerous findings such as gold, silver and ivory ornaments or glass and seashell beads, among others, prove that the settlement was part of large exchange networks that connected it with other areas of the Iberian Peninsula, the Eastern Mediterranean and even Central Europe.
