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Monumental finds in Mexico
Excavations at Aguada Fénix in Tabasco, south-east Mexico, have revealed a large complex that was constructed c.3,000 years ago, making it possibly the oldest Mayan monument ever discovered.
The site was first identified during a LiDAR survey in 2017, and since then an international team have documented an extensive ritualised landscape comprising a large artificial platform, a cruciform pit, a network of raised causeways and sunken corridors, and a series of unfinished canals, along with a dam made to divert water from a nearby lake. The pit, which is located at the centre of the site, contained a cache of ceremonial objects made of jade, including axes and three ornaments depicting a crocodile, a bird, and what is thought to be a woman giving birth. Just below this deposit was a smaller, cross-shaped pit, at the bottom of which were piles of pigments arranged so that different colours corresponded with the cardinal directions: blue to the north, green to the east, and yellow to the south. The full results of this project were recently published in Science Advances (https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aea2037).
Unusual Viking burial in Norway
Following the discovery of an oval brooch, archaeologists from NTNU University Museum and Trøndelag County Council have excavated an unusual Viking Age burial at Bjugn in Trøndelag County, Norway. The grave was that of a woman who had been buried wearing clothing and jewellery that are believed to date to the AD 800s. She was accompanied by several small bird bones, predominately from their wings, as well as two large scallop shells, which had been placed on top of the woman’s mouth. No parallels to this practice have yet been discovered in Norway, but it is assumed that it must have had some kind of symbolic significance.
This is not the first burial to have been found in this location, as anotherskeleton, this time dating to the AD 700s, was discovered there earlier in 2025. Work is now under way to learn more about this site and to see whether these two individuals may have been somehow connected.
Excavating ancient olive oil
Ongoing excavations are exploring the site of two ancient olive-oil production facilities, located in Kasserine, Tunisia. Once part of the Roman colony of Cillium, the c.33ha (81.5 acre) settlement was divided into two main sectors, each equipped with oil presses, water-collection basins, and several cisterns. The larger of the two complexes – which is the second largest example ever found in the Roman Empire – also featured a large torcularium, or pressing hall, with 12 beam presses, while the other complex had eight of the same type. Both facilities are believed to have been in use between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD.
Text: Kathryn Krakowka
