Acrobats from Burma, workers from Central or West Asia, and a mausoleum design inspired by work in the Middle East the Mauseoleum of Chinas First Emperor was a cosmopolitan place says Dr. Duan Qingbo, the man in charge of excavating it. The mausoleum was created about 2,200 year ago and…
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Neolithic knife find at Tirnony Dolmen excavations hints at undisturbed burial
Archaeologists excavating the 5,000-year-old Tirnony Dolmen at Maghera, Northern Ireland say the best find of the dig so far a Neolithic flint blade suggests the ancient burial site is undisturbed. The Tirnony Dolmen or portal tomb is a single-chamber megalithic tomb, estimated to be about 5,000 to 6,000 years old….
10 Reasons Why Socrates is Still Relevant Today
We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did, writes Bettany Hughes at the start of The Hemlock Cup, her brand new biography of ancient Greeces greatest philosopher. Two-and-a-half millennia of history might separate us from the age when Socrates roamed the streets of ancient Athens,…
Tutankhamun visits Manchester, brings Tomb and Treasures
King Tut’s treasures are returning to the UK, as ‘Tutankhamun His Tomb and His Treasures’ opened this weekend at Manchester’s Museum of Museums. Over 1,000 faithful replicas offer visitors the opportunity to look through Howard Carter’s eyes and experience the greatest discovery of all time for themselves. The entire world…
5000 Years of History at Zurich Rescue Excavations: Stone Age Wooden Door (and more)
Rescue excavations at the construction site of an underground car park in the Swiss city of Zurich are exceeding all expectations. So far, the remains of at least five successive prehistoricsettlements came to light, as well as some amazing finds. These including a flint dagger from Italy anda 5000-year-old wooden…
York’s ‘Headless Romans’ (gladiators, according to some) had exotic origins and diet
In 2004, agroup of 80 individuals were discovered at Driffield Terrace, in York. They were buried between the late 1st and early 4th centuries AD, on a large cemetery on the outskirts of Eboracum, the Roman town of York. They are unusual because they are all believed to be male,most…
York’s ‘Headless Romans’ (gladiators, according to some) had exotic origins and diet
In 2004, a group of 80 individuals were discovered at Driffield Terrace, in York. They were buried between the late 1st and early 4th centuries AD, on a large cemetery on the outskirts of Eboracum, the Roman town of York.They are unusual because they are all believed to be male, most are adults –…
Restoration of the Royal Palace and Excavations at Ancient Qatna, Syria
After more than ten years of excavation and restoration, the ancient well-house at the Royal Palace of Qatna, Syria, has been officially opened to the public. It is the first phase of an ambitious project that will see the entire palace site opened for international tourism. The ancient city of…
Amazonian Dark Earth points to large amount of pre-Columbian settlements in North Brazil
The pre-Columbian Indian societies that once lived in the Amazon rainforests may have been much larger than researchers previously realized. Archaeologists have located the remains of about 90 settlements in an area south of the city of Santarm, Brazil. Traditionally archaeologists have thought that these inland areas in northern Brazil…
Tomb of ancient Egyptian priest Rudj-Ka discovered at Giza
Egyptian archaeologists discovered a 4400-year-old tomb, south of the cemetery of the pyramid builders at Giza, Egypt. In a statement, Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosny, said the ancient Egyptian tomb was unearthed during routine excavations supervised by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) near the pyramid builder’s necropolis. The…