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Pope Innocent IV's 750-Year-Old Seal Unearthed in UK

The pope's seal dates back 700 years | PA
The pope's seal dates back 700 years | PA
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Pope Innocent IV's 750-Year-Old Seal Unearthed in UK

The pope's seal dates back 700 years | PA
The pope's seal dates back 700 years | PA

Discovery of a 750-year-old seal of medieval pope in Shropshire brings the number of items found by the public in Britain to 1.5million.

According to The Daily Mail, the number of archaeological objects officially unearthed in Britain has reached the 1.5million mark, with the discovery of a seal belonging to a 13th-century pope.

The medieval find was a seal of Pope Innocent IV and may have links to an English monarch. Born Sinibaldo Fieschi, Pope Innocent IV, whose papacy began in 1243, used the lead coin-like object to confer political and religious favors.

Experts believe the seal, which was discovered by a metal detectorist in Shropshire, may have ended up there because the Pope was trying to obtain Henry III's support in his claim for Sicily.

Peter Reavill, head of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme, said another explanation was that it may have been given as an 'indulgence' to a rich, powerful individual who gave money to the church in exchange order to keep him out of purgatory. "We don't know who the Pope sent the letter to. All we know is the lead seal has dropped off," Reavill said.

While the seal, which would have been kept as a talisman, does not have a huge value, the archaeology of the region is definitely richer for its find.

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Kimchi Threat as Heatwave Drives up South Korea Cabbage Prices 

Kimchi in a jar at the Kimchi Culture Institute in Namyangju, South Korea. (Reuters)
Kimchi in a jar at the Kimchi Culture Institute in Namyangju, South Korea. (Reuters)
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Kimchi Threat as Heatwave Drives up South Korea Cabbage Prices 

Kimchi in a jar at the Kimchi Culture Institute in Namyangju, South Korea. (Reuters)
Kimchi in a jar at the Kimchi Culture Institute in Namyangju, South Korea. (Reuters)

An unprecedented heatwave across South Korea has driven up the price of cabbages, data revealed Friday, with the vegetable used in the famed national dish kimchi surging by nearly 70 percent year-on-year.

The price of a single cabbage hit 9,337 won (US$ 7.02) on Thursday -- up 69.1 percent from the same day a year ago, according to data released by the state-run Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation.

Cabbage is a key ingredient of kimchi, the country's famed fiery fermented dish which many Koreans eat every day.

Experts say rising summer temperatures are leading to supply instability -- especially for highland cabbage, which thrives in cooler climates.

"Additionally, climate change has changed the patterns of soil disease outbreaks," said Lee Young-gyu, a virologist at the National Institute of Crop Science.

"For instance, soil-borne fungal diseases like root rot, which causes wilting in cabbage, are spreading," he told AFP.

Lee said there have also been reports of seedlings perishing from the extreme heat, or being scorched by the intense sunlight.

This month, South Korea's Rural Development Administration established a dedicated research institute to address the supply instability of highland cabbage.

The body has warned that if no measures are taken to address climate change, suitable areas for summer cabbage cultivation could vanish by 2090.

This year South Korea experienced its highest average summertime temperature since such records began half a century ago -- nearly two degrees higher than the historic average, the weather agency said earlier this month.