Practically everyone has heard about the Great Wall of China, but the iconic monument is not the only massive frontier in northern East Asia. An international team of researchers has surveyed a section belonging to the Medieval Wall System (MWS), a little-known and extremely remote network of walls, enclosures, and trenches across China, Mongolia, and […]
Tales of Merlin and King Arthur Resurface After 750 Years, Hidden in a Bookbinding
In 2019, scholars at Cambridge University Library discovered an extremely rare 750-year-old text on the legends of King Arthur hiding in plain sight. A fragment of the fragile manuscript had been repurposed in the binding of a 16th-century property record, making it almost impossible to study the medieval text without dismantling and certainly damaging the […]
Polish Treasure Hunters Unearth Seriously Badass Two-Handed Medieval Sword
When a group of amateur treasure seekers set out on an expedition in Poland at the end of January, they weren’t sure what they’d find. On previous trips, while sweeping the ground with metal detectors, they found fascinating trinkets, including thirteenth-century Carolingian dynasty coins. This time around, they found something more mighty: a big honking sword […]