Roman artifacts found in Swedish graves

GOTHENBURG, Sweden, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- Shards of Roman ceramics found in ancient graves in western Sweden suggest there was more contact between the Romans and Swedes than thought.

Archaeologists at the site in Stenungsund, around 30 miles north of Gothenburg, found the ceramic pieces along with some charred bones from two people, which were dated between the years 1 and 300 AD, said Bengt Nordqvist, who is leading the dig for Sweden's National Heritage Board.

He told Sweden's English-language newspaper The Local the finds challenge previous migration theories.

"The discovery shows that contact between Sweden and the Roman Empire was possibly much greater than we used to believe," Nordqvist said.

The excavation was ordered before the town granted permission to turn the land into soccer fields, the newspaper said.

Armchair Archaeology boosted

Google Earth, Satellite Maps Boost Armchair Archaeology
Brian Handwerk
November 7, 2006

Satellite images are giving archaeologists a bird's-eye view of our past—by helping them quickly identify ancient sites from space.

Scott Madry, an archaeologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been pinpointing possible archaeological sites in France with the popular desktop program Google Earth.

The freely available software is a virtual globe created with a collection of mixed-resolution images from both government and private satellite sources.

"Frankly I was floored," Madry said. "I was just shocked at the results that I was able to get."

more...

Link