Silchester in Hampshire, UK, stands on the site of the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum, which is currently being excavated by a team of archaeologists from the University of Reading. The project has been running since 1997, but the archaeologists now believe they have found traces of a settlement that…
- Part 109
Etruscan Beauty Secrets Revealed
Resins from pine and cashew trees, and Egyptian moringa oil: these are the essential ingredients of a rich woman’s beauty routine in Italy before the dawn of the Roman empire. The solid, yellow cream was found in an Egyptian alabaster vase belonging to an aristocratic Etruscan lady and is thought…
Protesters Take to the Streets (and youtube) in Dead Sea Scrolls Dispute
There are few ancient history exhibitions that actually lead people to take to the streets in protest – but the Dead Sea Scrolls is one of them. Last Friday a few dozen protesters took to the streets outside the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto to protest against the Dead…
Archaeologists Tracking Iran’s Recent Past
The ancient history of Iran is one of the richest in the world. Skirting the Fertile Crescent which nurtured the cradle of civilization, the turbulent nation has seen the rise and fall of the Medians, Achaemenids, Parthians and Sassanids – until their history was usurped by the Islamic conquests of…
How Old is Topper? Time Team America Investigates Pre-Clovis Man
A Time Team episode will tonight investigate one of the most controversial debates in American archaeology: when, and by what route, did the first humans arrive in America? University of South Carolina archaeologist Al Goodyear claims to have found evidence at the archaeological site of Topper in South Carolina that…
Experts Hunt for Lost Mycenaean City
Plato first mentioned the lost city of Atlantis around 2,400 years ago. But now a team of American archaeologists are unearthing the secrets of a 3,500-year-old partially submerged city lying in the Saronic Gulf of Greece. Lying 60 miles southwest of the modern capital Athens, ‘Korphos-Kalamianos’ is just miles away…
Why Hadrian Should be Obama’s Military Advisor in Iraq
As US President Barack Obamasorts out theforeign policy mess made by his now infamous predecessor he would be well advised to brush up on his ancient history. More than 1,800 years ago, a Roman emperor, Hadrian, faced a problem that was eerily similar. He inherited a great foreign policy mess…
Egyptology Idol – Want to be Super and Star next to Dr Zahi?
Now, this must be the dream of every starting archaeologist: no longer hot – or worse, rainy – dig seasons, no more spending ages meticulously noting down every find’s smallest detail and never again being send to locations where they won’t even serve you a decent chilled pint. This is…
Saint Paul: Bones and Portrait Discovered in Rome
In what seems like a strange coincidence, two astonishing discoveries providing evidence of the life of Saint Paul have been made within days of each other at two religious sites in Rome. First of all a fourth century fresco of the Christian saint was uncovered on 19 June at the…
Prehistoric Settlement Discovered on Isle of Man
An 8,000-year-old human dwelling has been uncovered during construction of an airport runway on the Isle of Man, thought to be the island’s oldest. The startling breakthrough at Douglas Ronaldsway Airport was made just a year after experts unearthed a Bronze Age village nearby, which is believed to have been…