Archaeologists at the University of Birmingham are heading to Stonehenge to lead the Britain’s biggest-ever virtual excavation, a far from superficial look at the Stonehenge landscape. The Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project will use the latest geophysical imaging techniques to visually recreate the iconic prehistoric monument and its surroundings as it was more than 4000 years…
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Maya Royal Tomb Found Beneath El Diablo Pyramid
Archaeologists excavating in the Guatamalanjunglehave discovered a royal tomb, filled with colourful 1,600-year-old Mayan artefacts, beneath the El Diablo pyramid. The well preserved tombis packed with carvings, ceramics, textiles, and the bones of six children, possibly the remains of a human sacrifice. The archaeological team, led by Stephen Houston, professor…
300 Looted Antiquities Displayed in the Colosseum
More than 300 looted antiquities, estimated to be worth more than EUR15 million, were displayed to the press this morning in Rome, having been repatriated to Italy after they were discovered in a warehouse in Switzerland. It was a scene slightly reminiscent of a Victorian detective novel, in which the…
Neolithic Rock Art discovered at Cambridgeshire Quarry
A unique piece of 4,500-year-old rock art has been unearthed in the Cambridgeshire village of Over. The prehistoric slab of sandstone is unlike anything previously found in Eastern England. The hand-sized neolithic artefact, which possible dates back as far as 2,500 BC, was found at Needingworth Quarry by Open University…
BBC Two’s upcoming history specials: Ancient Worlds, Pompeii, Britain & the Bible’s Buried Secrets
The BBC has officially announced its TVschedule for this autumn and winter, promising its audience a big focus on history, with new programmes and new presenters. What to expect from the Beeb this autumn and winter, when the rain and cold keeps you locked into your home? The autumn &…
Ramesses II temple discovered at Beni Suef, Upper Egypt
Archaeologists excavating at Ahnasia in Upper Egypt, have unearthed the remains of a 3,300-year-old temple built by pharaoh Ramesses the Great. According to a statement released by the SCA, excavations at Ahnasia, an archaeological area in Beni-Suef, recently uncovered remains of a temple that can be dated to the reign…
Volcano Death Recipe: Pompeii Vesuvius Victims Cooked Alive
An Italian study of the plaster casts of the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption victims showsmost were not suffocated by ash, as is often assumed. Neither were they knocked down by fast-moving currents of hot gas. Rather, the extreme heat was the main cause of the instantaneous deaths at Pompeii. At…
Culture Beyond Oil Spills Inside British Museum: Activism or Terrorism?
A group of three people dressed in black veils entered the British Museum and solemnly spilled an oil substance near the iconic Eastern Island Moai statue as a form of protest against BP for the Gulf Oil spill disaster. According to blog Culture24 they choose the Hoa Hakananai because of…
Earl of Carnarvon tells Andrew Lloyd Webber Highclere Castle is not for sale
Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, the multi-millionaire musical impresario, has expressed a wish to purchase Highclere Castle, near Newbury, Berkshire. The Victorian castle has been the family seat of the Carnarvons since the 1670s, and was home to the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, who funded Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun‘s tomb…
King Tut Scottish? How far can DNA theories stretch?
When the latest Tutankhamun study was published in Jama, there were quite a few outcries that although the study looked into the direct ancestry of King Tut, it fully ignored the pointers to the pharoah’s racial ancestry, possibly hidden in the pharaoh’s DNA. As usual, Dr Zahi was accused of…