Update: Baltic shipwreck champagne was destined for Tsar Alexander II

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on July 28, 2026 / comment : 0

Meticulous research into the bottles of champagne found in a shipwreck discovered in the Baltic sea south of the Swedish island of Öland in July 2024, has uncovered that they were destined for the table of Tsar Alexander II.

The well-preserved remains of the 19th century ship were found 190 feet deep by technical divers from the Baltictech Association. The ship stayed upright when it sank to the seabed, and the cold waters of the Baltic were ideal storage conditions for dozens of glass wine bottles and stoneware Selters mineral water bottles.

An expert in historic pottery identified the stamp on the Selters bottles as the emblem of the German Duchy of Nassau which the company used on its labels between 1836 and 1866. The cork on one of the Champagne bottles bore the faint imprint of Louis Roederer Champagne House of Reims.

Baltictech returned to the wreck site for a follow-up dive in 2025. They recovered a ceramic plate of the British Davenport company which could be dated to 1856. Since the plates didn’t linger in inventory, the ship must have begun its ill-fated voyage in late 1856 or early 1857.

All of this information helped Baltictech researchers to identify the ship as one sent by Adolf, Duke of Nassau, to Tsar Alexander. It was laden with champagne, mineral water, wine leather hides and porcelain. The champagne was an official state gift for the Tsar, who had ascended the throne when the Baltic was under blockade by Britain during the Crimean War. When Russia signed a treaty that ended the war in 1856, the blockade was lifted and heads of state like the Duke of Nassau hastened to reestablish relations.

The team reached out to Louis Roederer to find out more about the bottles, perform chemical analyses of the liquid inside the bottle and advise them on recovering a few samples. As luck would have it, one of Roederer’s champagne experts, Peter Liem, is also an experienced technical diver, so he was able to go down to the wreck and point specific bottles to recover. One was tested in Sweden, and several sent to Louis Roederer Champagne House in Reims for analysis.

The champagne contains 110 grams of sugar per liter and 12% alcohol and it is not just still drinkable, according to Peter Liem, it is “glorious:”

[P]atinated, authoritative, and immeasurably complex, this wine is not only alive, but downright vibrant and delicious to drink. It’s reminiscent of shiitake, saffron, kombu, saddle leather, cigar box, roasted coffee, with a fervent vitality and piercing intensity like a great amontillado. We believe that it’s from the 1857 vintage, although we are continuing to try to verify this for certain: if so, it was on its way to Tsar Alexander II in St. Petersburg.

Baltictech has requested a permit for a third exploration of the wreck. They hope to locate the ship’s bell and to excavate deep into the lowest levels of the cargo hold, looking for objects mentioned in the ship’s manifest that have yet to be found.

* This article was originally published here

Bill Oddie: Comedian who found nature a welcome refuge from mental illness

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on July 28, 2026 / comment : 0 BBC News, news

One of Britain's best known comedians and naturalists, his life was plagued by bouts of acute depression which saw many visits to psychiatric hospitals.

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Bill Oddie: Comedian who found nature a welcome refuge from mental illness

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on July 28, 2026 / comment : 0 films E, news

One of Britain's best known comedians and naturalists, his life was plagued by bouts of acute depression which saw many visits to psychiatric hospitals.

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Archaeologists find gold in rubble at Vindonissa

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on July 27, 2026 / comment : 0

The excavation of the site of Vindonissa, the first Roman military camp in Switzerland, has uncovered remains from the early formative period of the ancient camp, including the southern timber-and-earth wall, the legionary barracks building and the forge of the field smithy.

The southern defensive wall, located 230 feet from the wall of a later fortress, is long enough to give archaeologists new evidence of the size and layout of the first camp. The barracks was discovered in the west of the site under a later road. It was a structure 30 feet wide and at least 100 feet long. It had regularly-arranged rooms and ante-chambers. This was where the first legionaries who arrived in Switzerland lived before the construction of the permanent fortress.

Other structures found include the remains of a small building just inside the first camp wall that was likely a small workshop. Next to it was an even older building from Vindonissa’s first phase containing the hearth of a field forge.

Notable artifacts were discovered in debris layers outside the later permanent fortress walls. They include coins ranging in date from the Roman Republic through Late Antiquity, blacksmithing equipment, leatherworking tools and one stone of a Roman mill. Two metal fittings believed to be the handles of a scalpel, one carved in the shape of animal head, are now being conserved in the restoration laboratory.

One of the coins was unexpectedly valuable: a gold aureus minted during the reign of Tiberius. Coin finds at the site are typically bronze and silver. Another valuable object is a carnelian intaglio carved with an image of Victoria, goddess of victory, holding her staff and wreath.

* This article was originally published here

Decoding Charli XCX's new album, Music, Fashion, Film

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on July 27, 2026 / comment : 0 BBC News, news

The star's new album strips away artifice to examine her life after the phenomenal success of Brat.

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5,000-year-old spear-throwers used to hunt camelids in Chile

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on July 26, 2026 / comment : 0

Wooden hunting tools discovered in an ancient settlement in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert have been identified as spear-throwers used by the coastal peoples to hunt wild camelids. A recent study has reexamined them and the radiocarbon results date them to around 5,000 years ago. Archaeologists believe they were used to hunt guanacos and vicuñas, wild relatives of llamas who inhabited the area.

A variety of wooden objects were discovered during excavations at Caleta Huelén 42 archaeological site between 1971 and 1973. The settlement was at the mouth of the Loa River, just a half mile from the Pacific coast. The Atacama Desert, one of the world’s driest, meets the ocean there. The arid conditions preserved organize materials, including 12 carved wood objects and other tools employed by the Late Archaic marine hunter-gatherers who lived there between 6000 and 4000 years ago.

Under dwelling floors and in densely-packed middens, archaeologists unearthed collective burials with grave goods including textiles, pipes and hunting tools, plus tools used to catch fish including fishing line, hooks, harpoons and weights.

The most complete example from Caleta Huelén 42 is approximately 28 centimetres long. It retains a carefully shaped handle and part of a bone hook secured with a loop of leather or sinew.

Seven of the nine studied objects share a recognisable design: a defined handle, a flattened central body and a narrower projection that once held or supported the dart. Some contain grooves that may have helped position the projectile, while two have small perforations near their handles, possibly for attaching a cord or improving the hunter’s grip.

They were not simple pieces of carved wood. Their makers combined dense hardwood with bone hooks, leather or sinew bindings and, in some cases, red pigment. The surfaces were scraped or polished until they became smooth and regular. The variety of components visible in the collection shows that these were carefully assembled technical instruments rather than roughly fashioned sticks.

That raised the question of what spear-throwers would have been used for by people who fished hunted marine animals. They already had specialized harpoons. Land animals, camelids specifically, were native to the region and their remains have been found at other coastal sites.

Some of their bones were transformed into tools used in the maritime economy, including components for harpoons and fishhooks. Hunting animals inland may therefore have supported life at the coast in ways that extended far beyond food.

Evidence from the interior Andes strengthens this interpretation. Rock art and archaeological finds show hunters using darts and spear-throwers to capture camelids. Similarities between the Chilean objects and a spear-thrower found roughly 500 kilometres away near the Doncellas River in north-western Argentina may also reflect exchanges of knowledge between coastal and inland communities.

* This article was originally published here

BBC's Fake or Fortune uncovers 'enormously important' painting worth £100,000

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on July 26, 2026 / comment : 0 BBC News, news

The painting by the 18th Century Scottish artist Katherine Read is thought to be worth more than £100,000.

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BBC's Fake or Fortune uncovers 'enormously important' painting worth £100,000

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on July 26, 2026 / comment : 0 films E, news

The painting by the 18th Century Scottish artist Katherine Read is thought to be worth more than £100,000.

from BBC News https://ift.tt/iyN5LGs

Gold jewelry, signet ring found on Byzantine shipwreck

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on July 25, 2026 / comment : 0

Archaeologists have discovered a shipwreck off the coast of Croatia containing an extraordinary wealth of gold jewelry, coins, pottery and a signet ring that may have belonged to one of the most important functionaries in the Byzantine Empire. It dates to the late 7th or early 8th century, a period from which few written records have survived, making this discovery all the more important.

When the ship sank off of Mljet island in the Adriatic Sea, it was carrying commercial cargo and a likely high-ranking Byzantine official as a passenger. Mljet was located on an active shipping route between Western and Eastern Europe, linking northern Italian cities including Ravenna and Venice to Constantinople and other Byzantine cities of the Near East. Despite the maritime activity, only one other Byzantine wreck has been found, and it dates to the 11th century so this one is much older.

The remains of the ship were first surveyed in 2014 by a team of underwater archaeologist with the Croatian Conservation Institute. The shapes of the amphorae made it clear that this was a Byzantine ship from the 8th century. Located at a depth of 460 feet on a steep seabed, conditions were so challenging dives could only be done over a few weeks during the summer. A decade of slow, targeted excavations ensued. Every stage — sectioning, documentation, excavation — took longer than it would have in an easier spot to ensure that best archaeological practices were followed. The most recent maritime exploration discovered a unique treasure of men’s gold jewelry and fittings.

The most remarkable finds include four gold belt sets, gold buckles and decorative belt ends adorned with emeralds, rubies and pearls. These luxurious objects once decorated the leather belts of senior Byzantine dignitaries. According to the Institute, comparable items have never previously been discovered at an underwater archaeological site in the Mediterranean.

Researchers also recovered gold coins depicting four emperors from the Heraclian dynasty, dating from the end of the 7th century. The coins are particularly important because they may help archaeologists establish more precisely when the ship sank.

One of the most intriguing discoveries is a gold ring bearing the image of an emperor from the Heraclian dynasty. Such a ring could only have belonged to someone at the highest level of the Byzantine state or military administration—an individual authorised to seal imperial documents.

The ship also carried standard commercial goods, like amphorae used to transport oil and wine, ceramic dishware like bowls, jugs and plates, ivory game tokens and dice. Archaeologists believe the ship may have been on a diplomatic mission, to deliver tribute to an ally. One of the gold belts is very similar to one found in an Avar tomb on the mainland, suggesting the objects were manufactured in the same workshop and then sold.

* This article was originally published here

Meta glasses banned by Comic-Con promoter after 'secret filming'

By: SGK ADVERTISING ADDA on July 25, 2026 / comment : 0 films E, news

A number of guests said they would be reluctant to appear at conventions again after cases of recordings taking place without their knowledge.

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