A long search has finally concluded: Swiss divers have discovered a legendary Roman-era bridge that researchers have been trying to locate for decades. It may be the only pile trestle of its kind that exists.

As plans were underway to construct a bridge over the Aare River, Swiss archaeologists hired by Cantonal Archaeology conducted routine archaeological investigations in the area near Solothurn, Switzerland, which has long been a subject of interest for archaeologists.

A bridge pier, known as a pile trestle, was believed to have been built in this location. Archaeologists were eager to investigate due to the area’s “strategic geography” and “its position along an important transalpine trade and military route.”

And finally, as construction work would be carried out, archaeologists were hired by Cantonal Archaeology to take the plunge, which they did several times, guided by previous accounts of the presence of “stakes” in the waters. On fins, they came to discover a row of timber piles near Solothurn’s Wengi Bridge.

The piles, just under 6.56 feet long and arranged in the direction of the current, provided the first physical evidence of a pile trestle ever found. Upon analyzing the wood and remnants of the bridge pier, they confirmed its existence, dated it to the 4th century, and established that it was linked to the city’s development as a castrum, or fortified settlement.

A major bridge pier

This long-sought bridge was part of a major road connecting Italy with the Rhine River, according to LBV. Sections of this road had already been identified on either side of the river, suggesting that a bridge must have existed to facilitate crossings.

For years, archaeologists contended that the riverbed near Solothurn could contain a pile trestle due to the unique characteristics of this small municipality in Switzerland. The Aare River narrows at a point near the town, which helped archaeologists estimate where the bridge might have been constructed.

Historically, Salodurum is the Latinized version of a Celtic toponym that means “river narrows” or “gateway of the waves.” Until now, no physical evidence had been found, only rumors of “stakes” underwater.

Previously, it was known that the Romans settled in this area between the 1st and 3rd centuries. In the 4th century, a defensive wall was constructed in response to instability and military pressures, leading to the fortification of urban settlements. This bridge symbolizes an empire striving to protect itself from its ultimate demise.

A system of defense

A castrum wasn’t a town wall, but rather a system, Arkeonews clarified. Solothurn, a picturesque town today, once held strategic importance due to its placement on the Aare. This region was well-developed and interconnected by imperial routes. The Romans built this bridge pier to enhance a gateway crucial for preventing significant losses. The settlement lying beneath the Baroque center even reveals how the Romans intentionally selected this spot for its strategic value.

Because the 1,700-year-old wood would decay if exposed to air, the construction project will not disturb the precious timbers submerged in the river, allowing them to remain in their watery grave. They represent the Roman Empire at a pivotal time in its history.

Archaeologists will continue investigating the bridge, Heritage Daily concludes, and they hope to glean new insights into their methods of construction and how it functioned in this vast network that linked the Mediterranean and Northern Europe.

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The University of Manchester has discovered that the world’s largest scorpion, which lived 415 million years ago, was hiding in the museum’s collection for 150 years.

Since the 1870s, researchers have debated the identity of the strange fossil remains lurking in the Manchester archives. They possessed tiny fragments recovered from sites in England and Wales that puzzled them, but they could not piece them together. Was it a large woodlouse-crustacean?

In the 1980s, some research suggested that a scorpion might be the source of the fossil remains. However, this hypothesis faced challenges due to a lack of fossil evidence of its most distinctive feature: its tail.

To resolve the debate, paleontologists conducted a study of the remains using modern imaging and analytical techniques, according to a press release from the University of Manchester. They were “able to build a clearer picture of the animal than was previously possible, which is really exciting.”

The 3.3-foot-long Praearcturus gigas scorpion now joins the ranks of Earth’s ferocious prehistoric beasts, boasting pincers 6.2 inches long. As it roamed the Earth over 400 million years ago, researchers sought to understand the factors that allowed this prehistoric predator to grow to such an astonishing size.

The t.rex of scorpions

According to the study authors, “Along with dinosaurs, mammoths, and other charismatic megafauna, giant arthropods are an iconic symbol of the Earth’s deep paleontological history in popular culture.”

Lead author Dr. Richard J. Howard, Curator of Fossil Arthropods at the Natural History Museum in London, described the imagery often associated with giant arthropods: “Carboniferous rainforests filled with giant millipedes or dragonfly-like insects… but Praearcturus lived at least 50 million years earlier, well before the evolution of trees, when life on land was just beginning.”

In other words, researchers may have identified the T. rex of arthropods nearly two hundred million years before the rise of the dinosaurs. The Praearcturus gigas lived during the Early Devonian period—a time when forests had not yet evolved—so this giant scorpion lived among small plants and fungi, as per the press release.

What did it eat?

Researchers were stunned: how did the scorpion grow to such a size, surrounded by relatively unassuming and unimposing neighbors? The answer lies in its lack of competition. As few large animals were present at that time, Praearcturus was free to become a predatory giant, according to the NYPost.

Furthermore, the “cool” creature, which might inspire a new figurine in a child’s toy collection, may have been partially aquatic, as suggested by its epimera—the descending lateral plates or flaps found on the bodies of crustaceans.

Dr. Howard stated in Live Science, “Without complex ecosystems to support Praearcturus on land, these animals probably spent part of their lives hunting in water.” The Praearcturus was even “before its time,” and its extraordinary size might be explained by one factor: water.

“This places Praearcturus at a pivotal moment in Earth’s history when animals were first experimenting with life outside the oceans,” as per a press release.

 “The boundary between land and sea was much less defined at this time,” Dr Greg Edgecombe, Merit Researcher at the Natural History Museum, London, and co-author of the study, continued. “Praearcturus gives us a fascinating glimpse into how early animals adapted to these changing environments.”

“It may even represent a lineage that returned to the water after earlier ancestors had already begun living on land,” AOL concludes.

You can read the study here.

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The elusive and ancient Wonderwerk Cave has attracted scientific attention for decades for its early human use, but a new study found even older traces of fire in this location.

As the lead author stated from the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid, “this is a study of great interest to global prehistory, as it addresses one of the most significant topics for humanity: fire.”

In a new study published in PLOS, researchers analyzed 161 fossils with a new rapid and non-destructive protocol, based on stimulating the bone remains with an external energy source, called luminescence.

Science Media Centre continues that study authors applied this new methodology to the bones of small animals that were part of pellets, or “the undigested and regurgitated remains of prey of nocturnal birds of prey.”

These bones mixed in with these pellets, 1.8 million years old, exhibited signs of having been burned, so the team behind the study is proposing that these pellets were used to make fire inside the Wonderwerk Café, at deeper layers (meaning time) than they thought.

The oldest burnt bones ever

The fossils came from small mammals that researchers recovered from two Early Pleistocene layers, or 30 meters deep. Because this material was found at such profound layers, researchers had to hypothesize that accidental burning would have been impossible.

These animals purportedly wandered into the cave through “barn owl activity,” which refers to owl pellets, which, over thousands of years, piled up. They showed signs of burning.

The novel analytical technique detected any changes in the bones, caused by heat, and cross-examined the results with modern bones as well as Bronze Age material from another site, and they were able to determine that these fossil bones were burned, according to Archaeology News.

Not only were they burnt, but the pattern indicated that the act of burning occurred over time, at specific parts of the cave, so there was some localized event happening again and again. Furthermore, the material in question sat beside tools and other animal remains, with Homo erectus being the early humans working with fire.

But when did humans learn to control fire? Ah, the question

This study touches a pivotal moment in human history, if not the dawn of civilization, technology. The use of fire, as per Heritage Daily, sparked much more than the flame, but advanced human development with new fuel. At this time in history, researchers have failed to find any evidence that humans could make fire themselves.

Traditionally, the oldest fires are believed to be the result of exploiting natural fires. But this new proposal adds a new behavior into the mix, by suggesting this wasn’t a passive act, but deliberate. They didn’t appear to ignite these fires in the cave, but rather they brought them into the cave from outside, on torches. Because, how else would they have transported the flames?

And, for the moment, though this study presents even more thrilling evidence that perhaps humans, at this time, were able to control fire? “Before this article, no fires involving human activity of such antiquity had been recognized,” as per Science Media Center.

However, Heritage Daily concludes, when humans first learned to control fires is still one of the “most fiercely argued questions…” Until then, it seems we were working with fire even earlier in time than we ever even knew.

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