Submitted by Sean Williams on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 18:27
Mix two parts legend to one part myth, sprinkle some facts and grill for a few decades: the London Stone is London's enigmatic emblem, tightrope-walking over a sea of mystery and romance from its ersatz home on one of the city's busiest commercial streets.
Submitted by Nick Gilbert on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 09:25
Georgiana Aitken, Head of Sale, Antiquities at Christie’s South Kensington, was kind enough to answer my questions about auctioneering.
HK: Is it possible for an ordinary person to acquire items from antiquity? If you had, say, a few thousand pounds to spend?
GA: Yes absolutely, antiquities are much more affordable and accessible than people would think. Estimates in our sales start at £500.
HK: How healthy is the antiquity market at the moment from the point of view of the vendor and auctioneer? Has it been hit by the global economic downturn?
Submitted by Sean Williams on Mon, 02/15/2010 - 09:15
Ever thought you'd been speaking to a brick wall day? Well now's your chance to try it out for real, as we hook up with the London Stone on Twitter on Monday for what promises to be the masonry equivalent to Frost vs Nixon. And though you can get a huge dose of the stone's history in our inaugural Ancient World in London video, this is a web event not to be missed.
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As arbiters of ancient info, Heritage Key has managed to bypass the artefact's hefty entourage for an exclusive chat. And we've got no intention of letting up on our subject, poised as we are to give it an even bigger grilling than the City of London did many decades ago - resulting in its relative anonymity today.
Repaired, refurbished and re-imagined by architect David Chipperfield – controversially, in the eyes of some – the new Neues represents a triumphant meeting of history and modernity, emphasising a strong connection between the museum’s venerable and turbulent past and its bright and very promising future.
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The reopening was a historical date. The reconstruction and reopening with the reunited collections would not have been possible without the reunification of Germany.
Professor of Archaeology and Director of Amarna Project
Barry Kemp is a Professor of Egyptology at the University of Cambridge's Department of Oriental Studies, and the Director of the Amarna Project - the major excavation at the site of Tell el-Amarna in Egypt which has been ingoing since the late 90s.
He has written several books and papers, most notably Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization (first edition 1991, second edition 2005), which has become a key text book in many university Egyptology and ancient history courses. Other titles Kemp has contributed to include Journal of Civilisations of the Ancient Near East, edited by Jack Sasson, and Ancient Egypt: A Social History, by BG Trigger.
He has worked at Amarna since 1977, and is currently based in Cairo, Egypt.
For Richard Burger, archaeology has turned up many surprising things. This includes romance, which blossomed when he met his archaeologist wife, Lucy Salazar, at a dig in her native Peru. “Sites are not all that romantic. There’s too much work!” says Burger. Luckily, however, nearby Lima was in the full flood of a Southern Hemisphere Spring, and love found its way out of the dusty remains after all.
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At the top, decorating the entrance to a central chamber, is a frieze depicting a giant mouth with three-foot long fangs.
Bob “Mr Mummy” Brier is an American Egyptologist and the world’s leading authority on mummies. He’s a familiar face from documentaries on channels such as National Geographic and Discovery Civilizations, and has investigated some of the most famous embalmed corpses in history, including Tutankhamun, Ramesses the Great, the Medici (a powerful ruling dynasty of the Republic of Florence) and Eva Perón. In 1994, he carried out the first mummification in 2,000 years achieved exclusively by use of Egyptian tools and techniques.
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"It wasn’t just, you know: 'let’s mummify!' We asked: 'how do you take the brain out through the nose?' and 'can you take a liver out of a three and half centimetre incision in the abdomen?'"
Recent archaeological work at the site of Tell Tayinat in southeast Turkey, near the Syrian border, indicates that the ancient city was the centre of a Dark Age kingdom, ruled by people from the Aegean area. In an in-depth interview Professor Timothy Harrison, of the University of Toronto, told Heritage Key about this startling theory and the evidence that supports it.
Around 1200 BC life changed suddenly throughout the Mediterranean world. The Mycenaean civilization in Greece and Crete, the Egyptian New Kingdom and the Hittite Empire, all collapsed at roughly the same time.
It’s not until 900 BC that archaeologists consider the Dark Age to be over - at least in the Syrian area. In the years after it ends, the Assyrian empire is re-born, Greek civilization flourishes and Egypt (eventually) re-unifies.
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I captured Kinalia, his royal city. His people, together with their possessions ... mules I reckoned like sheep [distributing them] among my army ... I set up my throne right inside Tutammu’s palace
Submitted by Sean Williams on Wed, 10/21/2009 - 13:15
Heritage Key has just returned from a blustery, biting morning trip to legendary writer John Julius Norwich's house, beside the pretty canals of London's Little Venice. It was a great interview, and one which we'll be following up with articles, videos and photos right here - see below for tips on how to keep up with our content!
A brisk wind whips up dervishes of crooked caramel and crimson leaves; whistling cold signals the city's slide from autumn to winter. Yet a firm handshake and sincere smile minutes later leaves HK as warm as ever, as we enter Lord Norwich's magnolia mini-mansion, set back from the busy city streets.
Submitted by Sean Williams on Fri, 10/16/2009 - 17:22
Heritage Key meets a hero of British history writing on Tuesday, when we'll travel to the London home of famed author and broadcaster Lord Norwich, aka John Julius Norwich (aka the 2nd Viscount Norwich, aka John Julius Cooper) to talk about a cornucopia of historical knowledge spanning human civilization's past. The latest book in the Lord's 45-year writing history, The Great Cities in History, lists no fewer than 70 world cities, from the dusty agricultural centers of Sumer to the massive modern metropolises of New York, London and Tokyo - and much more in between. Edited and foreworded by the Lord, the book features synopses of the world's greatest human hubs written by illustrious experts such as Simon Schama, Bettany Hughes and A. N. Wilson.
%QUOTESo what to ask a man with one of the most impressive CVs in the world of history writing?
Georgiana Aitken, Head of Sale, Antiquities at 
Reopened in October 2009
For 
Bob “Mr Mummy” Brier
Recent archaeological work at the site of 
Heritage Key meets a hero of British history writing on Tuesday, when we'll travel to the London home of famed author and broadcaster 
