LBV Magazine English Edition As part of the renovation project of the Panopticon Museum in Autun (Saône-et-Loire archaeologists from Archeodunum and the Archaeological Service of the city have joined forces to unearth two thousand years of history in a key area of the future museum where important discoveries have been made including a well-preserved section of the Late Antiquity city wall The challenge for the archaeologists was significant: the excavation had to reach six meters below the current ground level Carrying out this type of work in a Historic Monument is no easy task It required precise coordination between the archaeologists and other professionals such as structural engineers and geotechnical specialists including the installation of struts and reinforcements to maintain the building’s stability and ensure safety at all times One of the most notable finds of this excavation has been a segment of the ancient Roman castrum wall a fortification that defended the city of Augustodunum (now Autun) during Late Antiquity this new wall was built to protect the upper part of the city preserved to a height of over four meters and a thickness of three meters highlighting the structure’s magnitude and defensive importance during that time During Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages the excavated area was located outside the fortified city limits the remains of floors and the large number of ceramic fragments and animal bones found indicate that the area was frequented likely due to its proximity to one of the main gates of the castrum defensive towers were added along the wall leaving the old castrum wall without its original function This wall was then reused as a base for new buildings and several medieval structures were found in the excavated area integrated into the evolving urban landscape replaced the old medieval houses that had been erected near the castrum wall archaeologists discovered a large number of culinary remains in a nearby pit The analysis of the Hôtel Lacomme walls has revealed several renovations carried out between the 17th and 18th centuries One of the most intriguing findings is that during renovation work prior to the creation of the Rolin Museum though its significance was not recognized at the time more than a meter remains to be excavated in the area the work has been temporarily halted as the lowest level of the Hôtel Lacomme walls has been reached The project leaders are evaluating how to proceed without compromising the building’s stability and adjusting archaeological techniques to continue the excavations Archeodunum Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email The Parthenon temple on the Acropolis of Athens housed a colossal statue made of gold and ivory carved by the famous sculptor Phidias in 438 BC Two thousand years before the Inca Empire extended its dominion over the Andes a much less known yet culturally influential society—known as the Chavín Phenomenon—had already developed numerous artistic expressions,… while the Byzantine Empire was mired in a succession crisis sought to take advantage and launched his conquest Archaeologists from universities in the United States and Denmark found deep within the Actun Uayazba Kab cave in Belize two small stone tools dated between 250 and 900 AD that… men and women gathered to play a game called Cuju A team of researchers has succeeded in recreating for the first time in a laboratory experiment a phenomenon that until now only existed as a theory in the realm of… the Cantonal Archaeology of Aargau carried out a rescue excavation between early May 2024 and the end of March 2025 The Egyptian archaeological mission affiliated with the Supreme Council of Antiquities announced the discovery of a group of defensive structures and a system of moats that could indicate… In the southeastern area of the city of Rome archaeologists excavating inside the Triton Baths within the monumental complex of the Villa di Sette… Why did some animals from ancient eras become fossils while others simply disappeared without a trace Receive our news and articles in your email for free You can also support us with a monthly subscription and receive exclusive content Denis Gliksman and Lucie Marquat/InrapA close-up view of the gold threads discovered in the 1,600-year-old burial fashion has served as a powerful symbol of status and few examples are as remarkable as garments woven with gold archaeologists excavating an ancient burial ground in Autun uncovered a sarcophagus containing a large piece of purple fabric with gold threads the 1,600-year-old textile has finally been revealed in its full glory Archaeologists began excavating a necropolis at Saint-Pierre-l’Estrier in Autun which was in use between the third and fifth centuries C.E. held at least 230 graves and countless artifacts The items found in the tombs revealed that some of the deceased were likely high-status members of ancient French society and rare glassware discovered at the site would have been reserved for the elite Other graves may have belonged to some of the earliest Christians in the region who converted at the end of the second century C.E Carole Fossurier/InrapThe sarcophagus in Burial 47 where the fabric was discovered perhaps the most stunning discovery came from a tomb dubbed Burial 47 The sarcophagus inside held a 1,600-year-old piece of fabric that was still partially intact “In grave number 47’s lead coffin filled with earth, archaeologists discovered golden reflections at the moment of opening,” the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) explained in a video posted on YouTube “A large number of golden threads [made] them think that they [were looking] at the remains of a fabric.” The cloth was purple a color associated with the elite during the period the necropolis was in use While much of the fabric had disintegrated the brilliant gold threads that were woven throughout it were still in excellent condition It was likely once a shroud or tunic that was five feet long though it was encrusted with dirt that had infiltrated the sarcophagus François Gauchet/InrapAn illustration of what Burial 47 may have looked like 1,600 years ago Experts set out to carefully extract the cloth from the soil it was encased in — and now they’ve finally revealed their work to the public The first step in extracting the fabric was safely removing it from the sarcophagus There were several inches of dirt in the box so archaeologists had to take the cloth out in four separate clods of soil the researchers had to make sure the fabric didn’t disintegrate further Lucie Marquat/InrapThe purple fabric was woven with gold threads Archaeologists refrigerated the clods to ensure the textile didn’t grow mold They then let the clods dry in a refrigerator for a year so they could better remove the dirt from the cloth It took experts another year to painstakingly extract the fragments of fabric with tweezers from the first clod alone the extensive process proved to be worth it An examination of the fabric once it had been cleaned revealed that it may have once featured a plant or floral design It was likely used to wrap the body inside the sarcophagus where it was found Fabienne Médard and F.Gauchet/InrapThe fabric contains faint outlines of a possible pattern Inrap noted that the cloth and the other artifacts found at the necropolis “testify to the prosperity of Autun in late Antiquity and the important status of the deceased from Saint-Pierre-l’Estrier.” The fabric is currently on temporary display at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris until July offering visitors a rare chance to explore ancient textiles After reading about the purple fabric found in a French necropolis, go inside the history of crinoline, the fatal fashion trend of the Victorian Era. Then, read about 14 historical fashion trends best left in the past The dates displayed for an article provide information on when various publication milestones were reached at the journal that has published the article activities on preceding journals at which the article was previously under consideration are not shown (for instance submission All content on this site: Copyright © 2025 Elsevier B.V. Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker the Christian Century has published reporting and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society Contact Us   Privacy Policy Art selection and commentary by Heidi J. Hornik and Mikeal C. Parsons Pilgrims to the church were greeted at the entrance by a sculpture of the last judgment The sculpture is signed “Gislebertus hoc fecit” (Gislebertus made this) confirming the sculptor’s identity in a way that is uncommon in the medieval era Christ is in the center of the composition in a mandorla and they line up to have their souls weighed An angel with a trumpet summons all creatures to judgment Angels and demons fight at the scales where souls are being weighed as each tries to manipulate the scale for or against a soul the apocalyptic imagery was considered offensive was broken off to facilitate a flat surface The head was rediscovered and restored to its position in the recovered work in 1948 We would love to hear from you. Let us know what you think about this article by writing a letter to the editors Cardinals' homilies before conclave speak volumes African Hebrew Israelites finally see legal victory against Israel's deportation threats Have things changed for women since the time of Mary Magdalene and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society.      Contact Us  Privacy Policy services and strategic partnerships across the entire electrification value chain Our sustainability strategy integrates environmental responsibility and social engagement to pioneer a sustainable future in electrification we played a central role in providing electrification to the planet We are determined to lead the way towards ab all-electric future Explore our up-to-the-minute news and press releases covering all aspects of our industry and beyond and learn why investing in our innovative cable systems and services can be a game-changer Nexans announced a 40 million euros investment in its Autun site the epicentre of a more global strategy of innovation sustainable development and social commitment the investment of 40 million euros over the next three years in its Autun site in order to perpetuate the site’s know-how its industrial competitiveness and employment in France This announcement comes at a key moment in the Group’s strategy reaffirming its commitment to the electrification of the future in France With demand for electricity expected to increase by 40% by 2040 and limited raw material reserves Nexans is capitalising on its French territorial roots to build a strong and sustainable ecosystem around three key pillars: innovation circularity and the use of new industrial technologies These three pillars are illustrated today in Autun by this major investment of 40 million euros The aim is to support the production capacity and competitiveness of the site which is at the forefront of the industry’s new fire safety challenges and to contribute to its ambition of carbon neutrality is part of Nexans’ network of 14 plants in France the Group has invested between 2 and 3 million euros per year in this plant which also became the first 100% automated logistics platform in France in 1996 A showcase for the Group’s innovation several building electrification solutions developed in Autun have since been replicated in other markets and have become essential in France these solutions facilitate the daily work of 30,000 electricians thanks to cables that are easy to unwind Nexans is a company with strong local roots in France innovative and environmentally sustainable industry Our vertical integration in the country safeguards supply for our customers and their ability to reduce their carbon footprint This is why Nexans is investing and will continue to invest to maintain industrial jobs in France France is a country at the forefront of the challenges of electrification with national champions that have become world leaders in the entire value chain I am deeply convinced that our country must turn a new page in its industrial history in order to ensure French sovereignty in electrification by relying on our unique vertical integration model our AmpaCity global innovation centre inaugurated in Lyon in 2022 and our other production sites in France All our teams are very proud of this investment which supports our ambition to electrify the future The French city of Autun welcomes you to visit the Cathedral of Saint Lazarus once one of the largest Roman theaters in Gaul the mysterious Temple of Janus and much more Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466 Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research Near the Filchner Ice Shelf in the south of the Antarctic Weddell Sea a research team has found the world's largest fish breeding area known to date A towed camera system photographed and filmed thousands of nests of icefish of the species Neopagetopsis ionah on the seabed The density of the nests and the size of the entire breeding area suggest a total number of about 60 million icefish breeding at the time of observation These findings provide support for the establishment of a Marine Protected Area in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean A team led by Autun Purser from the Alfred Wegener Institute publish their results in the current issue of the scientific journal Current Biology researchers viewed numerous fish nests on the monitors aboard the German research vessel Polarstern which their towed camera system transmitted live to the vessel from the seabed from the seafloor of the Antarctic Weddell Sea finally ending in disbelief: nest followed nest with later precise evaluation showing that there were on average one breeding site per three square metres with the team even finding a maximum of one to two active nests per square metre The mapping of the area suggests a total extent of 240 square kilometres which is roughly the size of the island of Malta the total number of fish nests was estimated to be about 60 million "The idea that such a huge breeding area of icefish in the Weddell Sea was previously undiscovered is totally fascinating," says Autun Purser deep-sea biologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and lead author of the current publication the Alfred Wegener Institute has been exploring the area with its icebreaker Polarstern since the early 1980s only individual Neopagetopsis ionah or small clusters of nests have been detected here The unique observations are made with a so-called OFOBS the Ocean Floor Observation and Bathymetry System It is a camera sledge built to survey the seafloor of extreme environments It is towed on a special fibre-optic and power cable normally at a speed of about one half to one knot about one and half metres above the seafloor "After the spectacular discovery of the many fish nests we thought about a strategy on board to find out how large the breeding area was - there was literally no end in sight The nests are three quarters of a metre in diameter - so they are much larger than the structures and creatures some of which are only centimetres in size that we normally detect with the OFOBS system," Autun Purser reports we were able to increase the height above ground to about three metres and the towing speed to a maximum of three knots We covered an area of 45,600 square metres and counted an incredible 16,160 fish nests on the photo and video footage," says the AWI expert the team was able to clearly identify the round fish nests about 15 centimetres deep and 75 centimetres in diameter which were made distinct from the otherwise muddy seabed by a round central area of small stones Several types of fish nests were distinguished: “Active” nests containing between 1,500 and 2,500 eggs and guarded in three-quarters of the cases by an adult icefish of the species Neopagetopsis ionah or nests which contained only eggs; there were also unused nests in the vicinity of which either only a fish without eggs could be seen The researchers mapped the distribution and density of the nests using OFOBS's longer-range but lower-resolution side scan sonars The scientists combined their results with oceanographic and biological data The result: the breeding area corresponds spatially with the inflow of warmer deep water from the Weddell Sea onto the higher shelf With the help of transmitter equipped seals the multidisciplinary team was also able to prove that the region is also a popular destination for Weddell seals 90 per cent of the seals’ diving activities took place within the region of active fish nests where they presumably go in search of food the researchers calculate the biomass of the ice fish colony there at 60 thousand tonnes this huge breeding area is an extremely important ecosystem for the Weddell Sea and likely to be the most spatially extensive contiguous fish breeding colony discovered worldwide to date the experts report in the publication in Current Biology German Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger said: “My congratulations to the researchers involved on their fascinating discovery German marine and polar research has once more reaffirmed its outstanding position German research vessels are floating environmental research laboratories They continue to sail the polar seas and our oceans almost non-stop serving as platforms for science aimed at generating important findings to support climate and environmental protection Funding by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) provides German marine and polar research with one of the most state-of-the-art research vessel fleets worldwide This discovery can make an important contribution towards protecting the Antarctic environment The BMBF will continue to work towards this goal under the umbrella of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development that runs until 2030.” For AWI Director and deep-sea biologist Prof the current study is a sign of how urgent it is to establish marine protected areas in Antarctica "This great discovery was enabled by a specific under-ice survey technology we developed during my ERC Grant It shows how important it is to be able to investigate unknown ecosystems before we disturb them Considering how little known the Antarctic Weddell Sea is this underlines all the more the need of international efforts to establish a Marine Protected Area (MPA),” Antje Boetius classifies the results of the study A proposal for such an MPA has been prepared under the lead of the Alfred Wegener Institute and is defended since 2016 by the European Union and its member states as well as other supporting countries in the international Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) the Weddell Sea MPA has still not yet been adopted unanimously by CCAMLR But now that the location of this extraordinary breeding colony is known Germany and other CCAMLR members should ensure that no fishing and only non-invasive research takes place there in future the remoteness and difficult sea ice conditions of this southernmost area of the Weddell Sea have protected the area but with the increasing pressures on the ocean and polar regions we should be much more ambitious with marine conservation.” Expedition Report PS124 (2021): https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/54545/1/BzPM_0755_2021.pdf PS124 Weekly Report: https://www.awi.de/en/expedition/research-vessel-and-cutter/polarstern/weekly-reports-polarstern/single-view/default-8bdbcd780e.html Information Material on the Proposal for a Marine Protected Area in the Antarctic Weddell Sea: https://www.awi.de/en/about-us/service/press/single-view/default-11d138e1cb.html Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) conducts research in the Arctic Antarctic and oceans of the high and mid-latitudes It coordinates polar research in Germany and provides major infrastructure to the international scientific community such as the research icebreaker Polarstern and stations in the Arctic and Antarctica The Alfred Wegener Institute is one of the 18 research centres of the Helmholtz Association the largest scientific organisation in Germany 10.1016/j.cub.2021.12.022 Icefish Metropole: Vast breeding colony discovered in the southern Weddell Sea are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system Copyright © 2025 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) It had been discovered and presented to the press in November 2020: now the diatrete pair found in Autun reveals its secrets following studies on this rare object by archaeologists The diatreta cup is the most prized glass vessel of Roman production: a luxurious object it became widespread around the fourth century and consisted of a glass container and a very elaborate decorative outer shell attached to the container through some supports Only about fifty specimens of such objects are known and very few are complete.The cup discovered in France was found in November 2020: it emerged from the excavation of a necropolis in the ancient early Christian settlement church of Saint-Pierre-l’Estrier and the cup was inside a stone sarcophagus but it is a complete specimen: dated from the outset to the fourth century AD it was then handed over byInrap - Institute National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives to the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum in Mainz which restored and studied it to return it to Autun probably close to imperial power It is slightly tilted to the side and its rim is not perfectly circular which reads “VIVAS FELICITER” (“Live Happily”) surmounted by a border decorated with ovals A filigree web of eight heart-shaped ovals finds rare comparisons in the ancient world with a ribbed arch or “V”-shaped separator marking the end of the sentence The vase has a surprising flaw: the letter C appears in fact to have been added later The glass in which this repair is made is chemically identical but visually different in its opaque an accident occurred during the production of the letter: the glass was then melted to replace the C and this circumstance probably contributed to the unusual appearance and texture of the glass This singular object has an additional peculiarity: its contents and also traces of “ambergris,” a substance produced by the sperm whale’s digestive system and used since ancient times to create luxury cosmetics sometimes referred to as sea truffle or whale vomit is then used for its aromatic and medicinal properties a Greek physician who lived at the turn of the fifth and sixth centuries mentions it as a component of a recipe for “nard,” a perfume intended for the church Analyses performed on the diatrete cup currently make it the oldest archaeological evidence of the use of this very rare substance The necropolis where the diatreta cup was found was active from the early 3rd century to the mid-5th century with most of the graves being from the 4th century Ancient texts also tell us that the first bishops of Autun were buried in this vast three-hectare burial space Among the deceased were probably Christians but also individuals of other ancient religions The stone sarcophagi found at the site contained very few objects but all were very valuable: gold and purple textiles But the most beautiful and singular piece is undoubtedly the diatrete cup Medievalists.net Jessica Maria (University of Pennsylvania) Vexillum: The Undergraduate Journal of Classical and Medieval Studies The lintel fragment of Eve from the Cathedral of St Lazaire at Autun has been praised by art historians as one of the greatest monumental figural works of the Romanesque period Many have viewed this work as representing the typical image of Eve as an evil and treacherous figure responsible for the fall of man and whom misogynistic medieval thinkers blamed for the innately evil nature of women and Areli Marina have noted a uniqueness in the features of this Eve figure one which strays from the “repellently ugly or hatefully seductive” Eve that most associate with the biblical figure and her depictions in art briefly muses over the idea that perhaps viewers could read this figure as representing both the sinful Eve and the penitent Mary Magdalene and my onsite work at Autun and the surrounding sites this paper proposes the idea of a conflation not only of Eve and Mary Magdalene but of the Virgin Mary as well the cults of the Virgin and Mary Magdalene and their relation to each other as well as brief comparison to the tympana at Neuilly-en-Donjon and Anzy-le-Duc that there is a legitimate possibility that this lintel fragment was meant to bring to mind all three of these figures Click here to read this article from Vexillum We've created a Patreon for Medievalists.net as we want to transition to a more community-funded model We aim to be the leading content provider about all things medieval podcast and Youtube page offers news and resources about the Middle Ages We hope that are our audience wants to support us so that we can further develop our podcast and remove the advertising on our platforms This will also allow our fans to get more involved in what content we do produce Member Login Deep-sea biologist Autun Purser and his team were not expecting to make a significant scientific discovery when they dropped their specially designed camera rig into the icy waters of Antarctica's Weddell Sea They were in the area studying ocean currents and carbon cycles and weren't really scanning the depths for icefish nests and the crew aboard research vessel the RV Polarstern were carrying out routine work on mooring lines fixed with sensors This provided Autun an opportunity to drop his ocean floor observation and bathymetry system into the murky deep The hefty camera device is designed to be towed behind the vessel in order to record photos and videos and capture measurements of deep-sea habitats the seafloor topography in the area they were working in looked a little "boring" – just the edge of a trough nowhere near an intersection with the continental shelf miles from any area where ecosystems come together It didn't look like the sort of spot that could yield deep-sea secrets the team launched the camera and were instantly rewarded with the sight of a cluster of circular nests These nests were nothing new and had been documented before but as the camera drifted on visuals of the stone-lined circles kept coming "Such huge densities in one place were never envisioned," Purser told us via email spaced about 25 centimetres (10 inches) apart dotted the seafloor in every direction and stretched out over an area the size of the United Kingdom An estimated 60 million nests were recorded each with an average of 1,735 eggs cradled inside "I’d never seen anything like it in 15 years of being an ocean scientist," Autun Purser, of the Wegener Helmholtz Center in Marine and Polar Research in Germany and lead author of a study on the discovery, told CNN Icefish belong to a peculiar clade of deep-sea dwellers that have developed unusual physiological traits in response to the frigid waters they call home. Most curious is their colourless blood which is void of the hemoglobin that gives our 'lifejuice' its crimson hue They are the only known vertebrates to lack this oxygen-binding protein as adults icefish have extra large hearts and wider capillaries to better move oxygen through their bodies Given the chilly conditions in which they live their translucent blood also contains anti-freeze proteins to avoid ice crystals forming in their veins While there is still much to learn about the ecology of these notothenioid fish and their en-masse breeding behaviour, the recent discovery suggests that ocean temperatures may play a role in their nesting habits. The clusters of nests "happened to correspond spatially with a tongue of warm water that’s pushed up from the deeper area in the Weddell Sea," Purser explained to Science Friday "We found that this tongue of warm water matched exactly where the fish nests were So you were in the zero degrees Antarctic water as soon as you went into this tongue of water Previous research shows that icefish typically swim to the surface after they hatch to feed on zooplankton that survive below the ice on a diet of photosynthetic algae Purser and his team hypothesise that the icefish are meeting at the breeding site reproducing and then millions of freshly hatched fish rise to the surface As the fish grow bigger they will become attractive to predators like Weddell seals eager to take advantage of the considerable bounty Intel from tagged seals shows that the animals are active in the area where the icefish are breeding and have been diving these waters for at least the last decade Researchers like Purser are hoping to learn more about the complex web of life that exists below Antarctica's ice floes The recent discovery "means the food webs for this bit of Antarctica need to be rewritten," Purser explains Cameras have been put in place to monitor the breeding site over the next years and researchers have laid plan to return in April 2022 to survey the surrounding waters "We would like to know what happens when the eggs hatch voices get lost and some stories are never heard That’s especially true of our planet’s countless wild species: big and small For our growing team of writers and contributors those are the stories that matter most: we dedicate our time to them all day and every day nature is our niche – and we love it that way are passionate about these stories we tell Take your passion further by supporting and driving more of the nature news you know and love From transparent bodies and glowing appendages to motion-sensing cells these denizens of the deep are highly adapted for life in a world without.. This rather elongated creature has only been spotted a handful of times in the wild An undersea vent spewing iron sulphide and superheated water is no place for your unhatched progeny – unless you're a deep-sea skate winner of the 2006 Milano-Sanremo and this year's Het.. is eyeing Tour de France stage five to Autun a 182.5-kilometre run that includes eight categorised climbs The Italian has reason to believe given his condition that has already been shown "Up until now it has been going well but seemingly a little slow will be good for me," he stated to Cyclingnews on Wednesday morning in Villers-Cotterêts The stage ends with a category three climb at 8.5 kilometres to go "I will tell you how it goes tomorrow night I think it will be a stage to control because everyone will want to go into an escape but we will try to control it so that it arrives in a sprint 'Pippo' showed his form by his violent acceleration in stage 2 to Gent He moved up in the last section from tenth to third behind winner Gert Steegmans (Quickstep-Innergetic) "Right now I am just looking for today and tomorrow but also stage 12 looks good." Look for Pozzato's victory salute in Autun on Thursday afternoon France — Filippo Pozzato of Italy won the fifth stage of the Tour de France on Thursday and Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara held on to the leader's yellow jersey for the sixth straight day Team Astana riders Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Kloeden were taken to the hospital in separate crashes during the 113-mile trek from the Burgundy town of Chablis to Autun who seems to have a fracture of the coccyx," Astana sporting director Marc Biver said of the rider who finished third last year and second to Armstrong in 2004 plummeting from 12th place overall to 81st after a crash with 15 miles to go With cuts on both knees and on his right buttock Vinokourov tried to catch up to the main pack under an escort from six Astana teammates but the peloton sped ahead to exploit his delay because when I knew that Vinokourov had fallen I was tempted to ask my team to slow down and wait for him," Pozzato said "Maybe there is less respect for the big riders than there once was "When I started in cycling there was a very clear hierarchy and I was afraid to get too close to (Lance) Armstrong I always stayed 3 meters back and never got too close Pozzato won a sprint at the end of the course and finished in 4:39:01 for his second Tour stage win the only man to wear the yellow jersey in this year's race 10 seconds back after losing 1:20 during Thursday's stage Alejandro Valverde briefly stopped at the side of the road before continuing Benjamin Noval of the Discovery Channel team crashed in the final descent with 4.8 miles to go He was taken to the hospital for X-rays and stitches on cuts on his chin and right arm Brett Lancaster of Australia dropped out of the race due to lingering back pain Riders set off for another mostly flat stage Friday a 124-mile course from Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse before embarking Saturday on three grueling days in the Alps Deep sea ecologist Autun Purser was part of an international expedition with the Alfred Wegener Institute’s Deep Sea imaging team investigating how life on Antarctica's seafloor is changing They came across the vast “metropole” of nesting icefish when they smashed a hole through the permanently frozen Weddell Sea in Antarctica Nobody had seen a fish nest colony anywhere near this size before The icefish nests are about 75cm wide and made mostly with small stones eroded from the Antarctic glaciers While the female icefish will lay around two thousand eggs in a nest scientists believe it’s the male who is left to guard them from all sorts of predators like sea spiders “We saw absolutely nothing but nest after nest after nest “They looked like hotel rooms booked by this particular fish.” found in Antarctica Credit: Alfred Wegener Institute By Gregor Brown in Autun Filippo Pozzato lived up to his promise and took the 182-kilometre stage.. Filippo Pozzato lived up to his promise and took the 182-kilometre stage five from Chablis to Autun The long-haired 25 year-old Italian put the power on high after the final right-hander at 350 metres to go to overtake his adversaries and live up to his promise of the day before Cyclingnews' Gregor Brown reports on 'Pippo' Pozzato's second career stage win in the Tour de France "I took a big risk to win today and it worked out," stated Pozzato after his win three years ago Cyclingnews had spoken with the talkative rider the day before in Villers-Cotterêts and he had hinted strongly of a win to come "Tomorrow will be good for me," he predicted "I think it will be a stage to control because everyone will want to go into an escape but we will try to control it so that it arrives in a sprint A sprint from a small group." He concluded "I will tell you how it goes tomorrow night." See the full story here “Everyone is entitled to a fair and just trial” is a maxim that has applied to the law for centuries Yet some historical cases show that this principle applies to animals as well as humans A surprising number of animals have been tried throughout history Most often it was those who lived alongside humans were frequently convicted of biting or eating parts of small children and babies Other unlucky animals involved in a crime would share the punishment of the law with the human perpetrator animals would be permitted a lawyer at their trials Perhaps the most memorable of these cases involved the rats of Autun Their lawyer showed the world that all creatures The small village of Autun faced a disastrous problem in 1508: rats were eating all their barley crop took the extraordinary step of making proclamations at several crossroads that the rats were to attend an Episcopal court that would be assembled to hear the villagers’ complaints against them the prosecutor moved that they should be sentenced in absentia the presiding bishop decided that the creatures deserved legal counsel This was because the rats would be facing excommunication (the worst possible punishment in the eyes of the clergy) if the court ruled in the villagers’ favor details how Chassenée pointed out to the court that it wasn’t just one or two rats that were being tried here every single rat should be allowed to attend court and make their own representations Chassenée added that the rodents were spread so far and wide throughout the area that the summons made by the villagers could not possibly have reached all of the creatures that resided in the diocese Whether it was his legal arguments that persuaded the court or whether the judges had a soft spot for animals is unknown the court agreed with Chassenée’s argument It was held that the matter should be adjourned and reheard after proper summons had been issued The summons was to be preached from every pulpit in Autun That was ruled to be sufficient to notify every single rat The priests did as the court instructed and preached the summons The tenacious lawyer explained that his clients had ignored the summons because no defendant was obliged to risk his or her life in coming to court the rats would have to come out into the open where cats and dogs would be waiting to pounce on them There is no note of what happened at the third and possibly final hearing Did the villagers lock away their cats and dogs to give the rodents a fair chance to attend was it possible that just one rat “attended” the place of trial simply because it emerged at an inopportune time looking for food it did go on to be used as a precedent for a later human trial when Chassenée was president of the Parliament of Provence there was a campaign by Catholics against Protestants within France A dozen Protestant inhabitants of the town of Mérindol chose not to attend a summons the court ordered that the whole town be burned to the ground the seigneur of Arles made a powerful speech to Chassenée reminding him of the submissions he’d made on behalf of the rats If rats were to be granted the opportunity to be heard Couldn’t the imperiled Protestants of Mérindol also be allowed safe passage to a fair hearing Chassenée was so moved by this plea and the appeal to his own case that he not only called off the attempted burning but he also persuaded the king of France to hold off the sentence indefinitely Unfortunately for the inhabitants of Mérindol his successor arranged for the sentence to be carried out he offered the townsfolk free passage to Germany but then reneged and laid waste to the whole town and its inhabitants Read another story from us: “An Animal Unknown to Science” – The Mickey Mouse of Soviet Russia The case of the rats of Autun may make many people shake their heads in wonder at the idiocy of the law but it should have the opposite effect: this case should remind us that true justice should be available to all Charlotte Bond is one of the authors writing for The Vintage News Join 1000s of subscribers and receive the best Vintage News in your mailbox for FREE