Warrior Monks, Catapult Bullets, and the World’s Oldest Wine in an Urn of Ashes

A team of researchers working on Siniyah Island off the coast of the United Arab Emirates has discovered ancient residential buildings that were likely part of the lost city of Tu’am. The city flourished in the 6th century and was famous as a centre for fishing for high-quality pearls. Scientists from Poland and Italy, among others, are working on the site.

The oldest wine ever discovered in liquid form is about 2,000 years old. White wine was then poured into a funeral urn that also contained the cremated bones of a Roman man. Analysis by experts from the University of Cordoba has shown that the liquid inside the urn, found in an intact Roman tomb in the Andalusian city of Carmona, is a local wine resembling sherry. However, the researchers have no intention of tasting the ancient drink :).

The remains of 25 people buried between the 12th and 15th centuries in the castle cemetery in Zorita de los Canes belong to members of a Christian military and religious order known as the Knights of Calatrava, scientists have determined. They were warrior monks who died in battle from stab wounds and blunt force trauma to the upper skull, cheeks and inner pelvis. Experts have also reconstructed the diet and social status of the monks. Meanwhile, eight perfectly preserved stone catapult projectiles were found outside the walls of Kenilworth Castle in the West Midlands, England. They were used during the castle’s siege in 1266 when England was in the midst of a civil war known as the Second Barons’ War. The heaviest projectile weighs almost 105 kg.