Nowadays nobody could imagine Italian cuisine without tomatoes, aubergine, potatoes, maize or pasta as we know it today. The ancient Romans had none of those ingredients available to them. Then what did they eat (besides flamingo)? I visited the ‘Feasting’ event at the British Museum to find out. In the…
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University of Hamburg Fighting to Save Egyptology Department
The University of Hamburg’s Egyptology department is facing a last-chance vote to avoid oblivion. The department, one of Germany’s most prestigious, is facing the axe for economic reasons. But a petition organised by protesters outside the city’s Tutankhamun: His Tomb and his Treasures exhibition has gathered over 66,000 signatures, meaning…
‘Atlantis – The Evidence’ with Bettany Hughes to air on BBC Two
Historian Bettany Hughes will star in Timewatch Special ‘Atlantis: The Evidence’, to premire on BBC Two next week. She’ll be tracing the origins of the Atlantis myth and presenting evidence that the Thera eruption inspired Plato’s account of the mystical land. 2,400 years ago Greek philosopher Plato wrote of an…
After Bowers Museums, Tarim Mummies move to Houston Museum of Natural Science
One of the biggest archaeological discoveries ever made in China landed in America earlier this year. A trio of Tarim Mummies was brought to the United States for the first time in a special exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California. The mummies are renowned for their unique…
Prehistoric Gilf Kebir Cave Paintings to Unlock Secrets of Ancient Egypt
Prehistoric cave painters in the Sahara Desert gave rise to ancient Egyptian civilisation, according to a German archaeological team. The paintings in a caves in Gilf Kebir, a vast sandstone plateau near the Egyptian-Libyan border, may be over 400 miles from the River Nile. But the team claims it was…
Uluru Rock Climb Claims Another Life
Whether it has been called Uluru, Ayers Rock, or simply the Rock, Australias giant monolith has been the countrys spiritual heart for many thousands of years. But the death of a tourist on the site last month has reignited a heated controversy that just refuses to go away. The traveller…
Toronto G20 Summit: Terracotta Warriors to Guard ROM
Its confirmed the Terracotta Warriors show will be opening on June 26at the RoyalOntario Museum, inToronto rightat the startof a G20 summit. It will be the largest Terracotta Warriors show ever to hit North America. Featuring 250 artefacts, including 16 human terracotta figures. While the Terracotta Warriors show will be…
Calling Ancient World Museums – Share your Visitor Figures and Collections Data!
Are you a museum director, curator, employee, scholar, fan or friend of someone in the know? We want to hear from you! We’re working on an ambitious new project at Heritage Key to list the world’s top 100 ancient world museums by visitor and collection numbers. In the future we’ll…
Gold Umayyad Coin with Kufic Inscriptions Discovered in Egypt
Egypt announced today that a gold Umayyad coin was unearthed last Thursday during an excavation at the Monastery of St. John the Little, in the desert west of the Nile Delta. In a statement Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA, said both sides of the well-preservedcoinare decorated with…
Four Ancient Egyptian Cemeteries Discovered at El-Lahoun in the Fayoum
Archaeologists last week discovered 45 ancient Egyptian tombs at the site of El-Lahoun, in the Fayum. In a statement issued by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni claims that a sarcophagus holding a mummy has been found in in each of the tombs, located about 70…