Five graveyards, which date back to the 3rd and 4th century AD, have been unearthed in old Darya City new Damascus.

The discovered graveyards, mostly dating back to the roman and byzantine era, contain tens of skulls, Mahmoud Hamoud, Damascus Countryside archaeology director told local news and media.

Hamoud disclosed that some other findings were also found as part of burial materials, including clay and glass tools, bracelets, rings, ring-bells, beads, eardrops, made of bronze, iron, glass, wood, and precious stones, as well as eardrops made of gold.

Earlier, Damascus Countryside Archaeology Directorate announced the finding of a basalt-built mass graveyard in ‘Ashrafiat Sihnaya’, dating back to same period, with several skulls and other burial materials, made of glass, wood, and metal.

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The palace of Sextus Tarquinius, the prince who sparked the revolt that led to the foundation of the Roman empire may have been found 12 miles from Rome.

The remains of what might have been the residence of the Etruscan prince Sextus Tarquinius, son of the last legendary king of Rome Tarquinius Superbus (Tarquin the Proud), have been found on the slopes of an extinct volcanic crater about 12 miles from Rome, Italian archaeologists have announced.

The palace was discovered on the site of the ancient acropolis of Gabii, where, according to legend, Rome’s mythical founders, Romulus and Remus, were educated. The building dates to the sixth century B.C and boasts the highest intact walls from the period ever found in Italy, standing at around 6.56 feet high.

“The dig has shown that the richly decorated monumental roof was dismantled, and the building filled with rubble. This has been a blessing, since it has allowed the palace to remain virtually intact,” archaeologist Marco Fabbri of Rome’s Tor Vergata University, told Discovery News.

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Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of an elite African woman who lived in York, England, during the Roman-era.

Academics say the discovery goes against the common assumption that all Africans in Roman Britain were low status male slaves.

Remains of the Ivory Bangle Lady, as she has been named, were studied in Reading using forensic techniques.

She was first discovered in the Bootham area of York in August 1901.

Her remains were in a stone coffin near Sycamore Terrace in the city.

Her grave dates back to the second half of the 4th Century. She was buried with items including jet and elephant ivory bracelets, earrings, beads and a blue glass jug.

She also had a rectangular piece of bone, which is thought to have originally been mounted in a wooden box, which was carved to read, “Hail, sister, may you live in God’.

The Guardian sheds some more light on the population make-up of York at the time:

Isotope evidence suggests that up to 20% were probably long distance migrants. Some were African or had African ancestors, including the woman dubbed “the ivory bangle lady”, whose bone analysis shows she was brought up in a warmer climate, and whose skull shape suggests mixed ancestry including black features.

The authors point out that Roman North Africa was noted for its mixed populations, with Phoenician, Berber and Mediterranean influences.

“This skull is particularly interesting, because the stone sarcophagus she was buried in, and the richness of the grave goods, means she was a very wealthy woman, absolutely from the top end of York society,” Eckhardt said.

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An intact Roman burial urn has been found in England, complete with human ashes inside.

The 2,000-year-old vessel, which is whole and unbroken, was dug up during construction work on the Millwood Homes site in the centre of the town.

It was x-rayed at Exeter Airport because it was too large for the machines at the city’s Royal Albert Memorial Museum.

Pictures showed it contains soil, dense material thought to be ash from the cremation and several mysterious curved object, which may be bone fragments or possibly metal items.

The urn is one of many finds at the Cullompton site that prove the Roman occupation lasted from the 1st Century until the 4th Century – a fort on St Andrews Hill discovered in 1984 suggested they left in the mid-70s AD.

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A stone enclosure which once protected the Golden Bough from Roman mythology may have been found in Italy.

In Roman mythology, the bough was a tree branch with golden leaves that enabled the Trojan hero Aeneas to travel through the underworld safely.

They discovered the remains while excavating religious sanctuary built in honour of the goddess Diana near an ancient volcanic lake in the Alban Hills, 20 miles south of Rome.

They believe the enclosure protected a huge Cypress or oak tree which was sacred to the Latins, a powerful tribe which ruled the region before the rise of the Roman Empire.

The tree was central to the myth of Aeneas, who was told by a spirit to pluck a branch bearing golden leaves to protect himself when he ventured into Hades to seek counsel from his dead father.

In a second, more historically credible legend, the Latins believed it symbolised the power of their priest-king.

Anyone who broke off a branch, even a fugitive slave, could then challenge the king in a fight to the death. If the king was killed in the battle, the challenger assumed his position as the tribe’s leader.

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