Archaeologists uncover Bronze Age kitchen in western Azerbaijan.

A group of Italian and Azerbaijani archaeologists have uncovered what they believe to be a Bronze Age ceremonial kitchen at a site called Tava Tepe in western Azerbaijan, according to a press release issued by the University of Catania on 3 August 2026. The site, which was discovered in 2024 and which sits on top of an artificial earthen terrace, has since been excavated by archaeologists from the University of Catania, the Baku Academy of Sciences, and La Sapienza University in Rome, providing unique insights into life in the Caucasus during the late Bronze Age.

The location of the Tava Tepe archaeological site. Google Maps.

The site is thought to have been occupied between about 1300 and 1000 BC, and comprises a series of layers that suggest the site was rebuilt several times, whilst retaining its function and layout. At the centre of the site is a large circular brazier, which appears to have served as a location for a main cooking fire. Over time this appears to have been enhanced by the addition of a series of ovens, and spaces for food preparation. Many bowls and dishes, as well as remains of food, were found at the site, some of them stacked within the ovens. The whole are appears to have been covered by a roof of wooden branches, which would have made the location visible from a great distance.

The central brazier at the Tave Tepe site and associated pottery. University of Catania.

Surrounding this central area are traces of what have been interpreted as a series of wooden huts with beaten limestone floors, which appear to have been dedicated to the preparation of foods. Notable finds within these include a series of terracotta moulds, and items interpreted as pintaderas, stamps used to imprint a pattern upon bread.

A series of terracotta objects interpreted as pintaderas, stamps used to imprint a pattern upon bread, from the Tave Tepe site. University of Catania.

Examination of food remains from the site has revealed the nature of at least one meal eaten there, a dish of beef accompanied by a sort of polenta made from Millet, to which honey had been added. Professor Nicola Laneri of the University of Catania, the lead archaeologist at the site, believes that communities living along the Kura River in the late Bronze Age may have periodically met up at the Tave Tepe site for ceremonial meals, meetings which would also have helped to cement social cohesion among these groups.

An aerial view of the Tava Tepe site. University of Catania.

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UNESCO adds three new sites to its World Heritage List.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has added seven new sites to its World Heritage List, which is made up of sites deemed to be of natural or cultural significance which gives them outstanding universal significance for mankind, according to a press release issued on 26 July 2026. All three of these sites have additionally been placed on the World Heritage in Danger list of sites which are facing imminent threats due to Human or natural causes. In addition, three sites already on the World Heritage List have also been placed on the World Heritage in Danger list.

The first new site added to the World Heritage List is the Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape in South Sudan; this is the first site in South Sudan to be added to the World Heritage List. This area comprises two National Parks, Boma and Badingilo, which are contiguous with one another, currently managed by African Parks on behalf of the South Sudanese government. The parks lie in the White Nile catchment area, and are home to the world's largest Mammal migration, with over six million Antelope trasversing the area each year, as well as being an important part of the migrant Bird route between Southern Africa and Europe. The area is a biodiversity hotspot of global significance, as well as being home to a number of ethnic groups with their own unique cultural and linguistic heritage, who have acted as custodians of this landscape.

An Antelope migration in the Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape. African Parks.

The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has identified the Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape as facing a number of serious threats, including infrastructure development, commercial poaching, and wildlife trafficking and trade, while at the same time lacks meaningful protection from the South Sudanese government, which is under-financed and has a weak infrastructure, with the country suffering from a poor security situation. For these reasons the Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape has been placed on the World Heritage in Danger list.

Traditional herders within the Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape. African Parks.

The second new addition to the World Heritage List is the Mount Amel Castles sites in Lebanon. This site compromises a series of five castles across southern Lebanon, built during the Crusader Period on strategic high ground sites, and subsequently used by the Ayyubids, Mamluks, and later powers. These are Qalaat al-Chakif, or Beaufort Castle, dominating the Litani River valley from a strategic ridge, Qalaat Tibnin, or Toron Castle, on a mountain overlooking the road from Tyre to Damascus, Qalaat Chakra, or Dubieh Castle, in the Chakra agricultural region, Qalaat Deir Kifa, or Maron Castle, on an isolated hill overlooking the route from Lebanon towards Galilee and Jerusalem, and Qalaat Chama’, on a hill overlooking the coastal plain near Tyre.

Qalaat Tibnin, or Toron Castle, in 2006. T Dakroub/Wikimedia Commons.

In November 2024 the Mount Amel Castles were given 'enhanced protection status by the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, a status which grants access to the Fund for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, as well helping to make applications for other forms of international assistance. However, since that time the sites have suffered heavy damage due to the ongoing conflict in the region, and are now considered to be in jeopardy of complete destruction, prompting the World Heritage Committee to move the sites to both the World Heritage List and the World Heritage in Danger list as a way to highlight the risk of losing these sites.

Qalaat al-Chakif, or Beaufort Castle. UNESCO.

The third new site added to the World Heritage List is the Palestinian village of Sebastia in the Nablus Governate of the State of Palestine. This is a site of significant archaeological heritage, having been inhabited since at least the ninth century BC, when it served as the capital of the northern Kingdom of Israel, and has since been occupied by Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Hellenistic Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Ayyubids, Mamluks, and Ottomans. The village was the site of a fortified town associated with Herod the Great during the Roman period, and  was a Throne Village (administrative centre governed by local leaders) during the Ottoman period. It is considered to be the burial place of St John the Baptist.

A Roman theatre in the Palestinian village of Sebastia. Wikimedia Commons.

The site has been chosen for inclusion on the World Heritage List and the World Heritage in Danger list both because it is threatened by the ongoing conflict in the region, and also because it is threatened with expropriation, with half the site, including many privately owned propertied, earmarked to become part of the proposed Shomron National Park, a development which would allow access to the site only from Israel, excluding many Palestinians who have worked as traditional guides at the site. This project sits alongside plans for the expansion of Jewish settlements in the region, again almost certainly at the detriment of the local Palestinian population.

Roman ruins on the hilltop site near Sebastia. Jason Burke/The Guardian.

The first site already on the World Heritage List which is being additionally added to the World Heritage in Danger list is the Tauric Chersonese, an ancient city on the Crimean Peninsula founded by Ionian Greeks in the sixth century BC, and subsequently occupied by Megarian Greeks, the Pontic Empire, the Roman Empire, and the Byzantine Empire, before being abandoned in the fourteenth century. Although Crimea is part of Ukraine, it has been occupied by Russia since 2014, with no apparent plan for its protection, conservation, or management. The site is currently monitored remotely by UNITAR/UNOSAT, which has revealed significant degradation of the site, due to construction and large-scale excavation at the site. The World Heritage Committee believes there is a significant danger of the illicit trafficking of cultural property from the Crimea.

The ruins of Chersonesos, Crimea, in 2009. Dmitry Mottl/Wikimedia Commons.

The second site from the World Heritage List added to the World Heritage in Danger list is the Historic Inner City of Paramaribo in Suriname, a former Dutch colonial town from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries planted on the northern coast of tropical South America. At the moment, original and highly characteristic street plan of the historic centre remains intact, with buildings that illustrate the gradual fusion of Dutch architectural influence with traditional local techniques and materials. However, the World Heritage Committee feels that the new National Assembly hall and the Yogh parking garage detract from the property’s historic urban landscape and result in a significant loss of its authenticity and integrity, that constitute a threat to the site's outstanding universal value.

Houses in the Historic Inner City of Paramaribo in Suriname. Ron Van Oers/UNESCO.

The final site to be added to the World Heritage in Danger list is the city of Tyre in Lebanon. This site has been occupied since the Bronze Age, but rose to prominence as a major Phoenician city-state between ninth and sixth centuries BC, and was subsequently occupied by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Hellenic Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Early Muslims, Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, Egyptians, and French, prior to Lebanon gaining independence in 1943. As such, the city is home to numerous archaeological sites of great significance, with those of the Roman Period being particularly spectacular. 

Roman ruins at Tyre on the coast of Lebanon. Véronique Dauge/UNESCO.

Like the Mount Amel Castles, the city of Tyre is threatened by the ongoing conflict in southern Lebanon, and while the World Heritage Committee commends Lebanon for its efforts to protect Tyre, they also feel that the historic sites are now directly threatened by the conflict.

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Hyksos settlement discovered in the Eastern Nile Delta.

Egyptian archaeologists working at a site called Tell El-Koua in the Ismailia Governorate have uncovered an ancient settlement dating to the Second Intermediate Period (between 1782 and 1550 BC), according to a press release issued by the Egyptian ‎Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (وزارة السياحة والآثار) on 29 June 2026. At this time the northern part of Egypt, as far south as Cusae, was ruled by a Semitic People called the Hyksos, recorded as the Fifteenth Dynasty, while the southern part of the country was ruled by two successive Egyptian dynasties, the Sixteenth and Seventeenth. This was the first time that a substantial part of Egypt was ruled by a foreign group, and Egyptian chroniclers had a low opinion of them, yet they introduced a number of innovations to Egyptian culture, including Horses, chariots, a sickle-shaped sword called the khopesh, and the compound bow, all of which contributed to the military success of the Eighteenth Dynasty, who reunited Egypt and formed the New Kingdom, which built an expanded Empire including much of the Middle East and Sudan.

The site uncovered includes a residential area, a group of tombs, and several kilns and grain silos. The site is clearly divided into residential areas, working areas, and burial grounds. The residential area covers an area of about 30 m by 60 m and is surrounded by a mud brick wall about 1.5 m thick, and is internally divided into rooms and corridors of various sizes, with ovens and grain silos located on its eastern side.

The area interpreted as a residential block at the Tell El-Koua site. Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

The site included ten mud brick tombs, some of which were in the typical 'mustaba' style, while others had a variety of architectural facades and decorative elements. These tombs varied in size and orientation, and some of the individuals within them were buried in a crouched position, rather than laid out flat in typical Egyptian style. Several individuals had also been buried outside of tombs. All of the Human remains found are estimated to have come from individuals aged between 25 and 40. The mixture of burial styles suggests a people who had adopted some Egyptian customs, but to varying degrees and with an admixture of their own traditions. 

An individual buried in a crouched position in a tomb at Tell El-Koua. Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

A number of artefacts were found at the site, including scarabs, bronze tools, pottery vessels, alabaster kohl containers, and a number of Tell el-Yahudiyeh ware flasks, which are considered typical of the Hyksos Period in Lower Egypt, but have also been found at sites across the Middle East, particularly those associated with the Canaanite People and on the island of Cyprus. A large number of Animal bones were also discovered, which appear to relate to both meat consumption and funerary rights.

A Tell el-Yahudiyeh ware flask from the Tell El-Koua site. Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

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Two English 'Lamb of God' coins discovered in Denmark.

Two 'Lamb of God' coins issued by the English King Æthelred the Unready around the year 1009 AD have been discovered in Denmark, according to a press release issued by the National Museum of Denmark on 29 April 2026. The coins were both uncovered by metal detectorists, one in the north of Jutland and one in the south.

An English 'Lamb of God' coin discovered by a metal detectorist in northern Jutland. Søren Greve/National Museum of Denmark.

The Lamb of God coins were a special edition coin produced by Æthelred the Unready as part of an attempt to obtain divine protection for his kingdom, along with a series of religious ceremonies, fasts, and penances. Unlike regular Saxon coins, which typically had the king's head on one side and a cross on the other, they had a 'Lamb of God' sign on one side, which comprised a Lamb pierced by a cross, a symbol for Jesus, and a Dove on the other, a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

An English 'Lamb of God' coin discovered by a metal detectorist in southern Jutland. Søren Greve/National Museum of Denmark.

The crisis which provoked these measures was the invasion of England by Viking raiders, mostly from Denmark. However, this was did not prove to be an effective method of defence, with southern England being ravaged by the armies of Thorkell the Tall between 1009 and 1013, and Sweyn Forkbeard launching a full-scale invasion in 1013 which forced Æthelred into exile. Sweyn Forkbeard died in 1014, allowing Æthelred to briefly regain his thrown, though he lost it again in 1016 to Sweyn's son, Cnut.

While the coins failed to save Æthelred's reign, they were apparently very popular with the invading Vikings. Of the 30 known examples, only 4-5 have been found in England, with the remainder discovered in Scandinavian and Baltic countries, the majority with piercings which suggest the Vikings wore them as pendants.

Having conquered England in 1016, Cnut succeeded to the throne of Denmark in 2018, following the death of his brother Harald II. In 1026 Olaf Haraldsson, King of Norway, mounted an invasion of Denmark while Cnut was in England, starting a series of wars which led to Olaf's death in 1030, and Cnut installing his wife, Ælfgifu of Northampton, as regent of Norway. 

Having unified England, Denmark, and Norway into a single state (referred to as the North Sea Empire by modern historians), Cnut set about consolidating and unifying his empire. This included the introduction of silver coinage on the English model to Denmark and Scandinavia. Prior to this, coins had not been directly used as legal tender in this area, silver measured by weight used as the standard medium of exchange. However, the innovation appears to have been quickly adopted, with coins accepted as an easier way to do business.

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