All posts tagged: 2500yearold

2,500-year-old golden helmet returned to Romania after museum raid : NPR

2,500-year-old golden helmet returned to Romania after museum raid : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

Dacian gold items, a 2,500-year-old helmet and wristbands, stolen from a museum in the Netherlands and then recovered by Dutch authorities, are presented during a press conference after being returned, at the National Museum of Romanian History, in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. Andreea Alexandru/AP hide caption toggle caption Andreea Alexandru/AP BUCHAREST, Romania — A priceless golden helmet dating back 2,500 years was returned to Romania on Tuesday after the national heirloom was stolen from a Dutch museum where it was on loan last year. The ornate Cotofenesti helmet and three golden bracelets — some of Romania’s most revered national treasures from the Dacia civilization — were taken from the Drents Museum in January 2025 in a raid which shocked the art world and devastated Romanian authorities. But after 14 months of investigations, diplomatic tensions, and three suspects in an ongoing trial, most of the artifacts arrived at Bucharest Henri Coanda International Airport on Tuesday from where authorities transported them under guard to Bucharest’s National History Museum. They were displayed in a glass cabinet, …

2,500-year-old settlement found during fire station construction

2,500-year-old settlement found during fire station construction

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. While a recent Iron Age discovery in northern Germany is proving itself an archaeological goldmine, local firefighters might be a bit annoyed by the find. According to the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe (LWL), construction on a new fire station in the town of Hüllhorst roughly 45 miles west of Hanover was delayed after the surveyors identified evidence of a settlement dating back over 2,500 years. As only the third such find in the region, the site offers an exceptional opportunity to learn more about ancient life in Germany prior to the Roman Empire’s arrival in 1st century BCE. Although a welcome excavation project, the Iron Age community’s existence in the area isn’t a huge surprise. Archaeological surveys in the region are often scheduled prior to new building projects, largely due to its proximity to Wöhrsiek, an active freshwater spring that has been used by nearby inhabitants for thousands of years. In the summer of 2025, researchers began removing narrow …

Archaeologists Find an Unusual 2500-year-old Stylus in Sicily 

Archaeologists Find an Unusual 2500-year-old Stylus in Sicily 

Published by Jenni Sidey

An archeological operation conducted in advance of a construction project in Gela, Sicily, has uncovered an unusual carved bone stylus—a sharp tool used to inscribe clay before firing—that, according to excavation director Gianluca Calà, may have had a symbolic purpose. The news was reported by the Spanish magazine La Brújula Verde. The stylus was discovered during a survey of the building site for a new Palace of Culture; such investigations are not uncommon in areas known to have potential archeological value, and Gela, once a powerful ancient Greek city, is known for its extensive ruins. A bit more than five inches long, the stylus dates to the 5th century BC and was found in the remains of a Hellenistic-period center for artisanal production. Its design is out of the ordinary, with a quadrangular handle featuring, at the top, the face of the Greek god Dionysus and, midway down, a finely rendered erect phallus. The form of the handle mimics that of an ancient Greek herm—a squared stone pillar surmounted by a bust and sometimes decorated …

The 2,500-year-old secrets to health and wellness (that aren’t secret at all)

The 2,500-year-old secrets to health and wellness (that aren’t secret at all)

Published by Jenni Sidey

Sign up for Big Think Books A dedicated space for exploring the books and ideas that shape our world. “Remember the first rule of life: We’re all going to die.” A grim thought in isolation, but in the context of Ezekiel Emanuel’s new book, Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life, the statement offers a sense of liberation. Emanuel has been working to improve Americans’ health for decades. A bioethicist, health policy expert, oncologist, and chocolatier — yes, really — he helped to write the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and to create USDA’s MyPlate, which replaced the Food Pyramid. He reproduced this fatalistic first rule in his book to remind readers that we’re all fated to oblivion. So let’s not single-mindedly strive to avoid death, but rather simply try our best to live life as well as we can. “Wellness ought to be in the background: an unconscious part of your lifestyle, not an obsession,” he writes. In Eat Your Ice Cream, Emanuel lays out six fundamental wellness behaviors …