• Ann

    Mummy Recycling: From Ancient Rags to Paper

    Did ‘mummy paper’ – paper made out of recycled mummy bandages – exist for sure? Worchester librarian S.J. Wolfe believes it is not the myth historians believe it to be. Ms Wolfe recently published her book ‘Mummies in Nineteenth Century America’ about the import of mummies in the USAin the 1800’s. Her research into what happened to these 560 ‘honorary guests’ to the USA’s carnivals and exhibitions (often further dismemberment and a travelling life) lead the researcher to what she calls a smoking gun: proof that ‘mummy paper’ is not an urban myth. Mummy-recycling was a popular passtime or even…

  • Ann

    Grey Mass Dating Back 5,000 Years – World’s Oldest Human Brain found in Armenia

    Lately sometimes I feel my brain is quickly deteriorating as I get older. But what about a 5,000-year-old teenage girl’s brain? An archaeological expedition exploring a cave in south-eastern Armenia claims to have found the remains of the world’s oldest human brain. Alcohol kills braincells? Quite the opposite, as the team says that at the same site it has found evidence of what may be history’s oldest commercial winemaking operation. Take that, France! Due to our obsession with Mummy CSI we know quite a bit about old brains, but Dr. Boris Gasparian – one of the excavation’s leaders – is kean…

  • Ann

    Roman Graffiti: From Pompeii with Love

    When someone tweeted “Follow penis symbols to find ancient brothel!” in reply to the news of Pompeii being the next – after Stonehenge and parts of the Wall of China – world heritage site to be available for ‘armchair tourism’ on Google Earth, this reminded me of some of the ancient graffiti found at Pompeii. Because – guess what – apparently the Roman inscriptions did not differ that much from the graffiti, scribbling and tagging that you can find on a contemporary toilet wall (or for the web 2.0 generation: Facebook). Some are thoughtful and offer valuable advise – “the…

  • Ann

    Egypt to Host ‘Repatriation of Artefacts Abroad’ Conference

    Egypt will host an international conference next March for countries seeking the return of ancient indigenous treasures being kept in foreign museums, the Sydney Morning Herald reports. Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA and deputy-Culture Minister, said the conference – with Greece, Italy, China and Mexico attending – would be a world first. ”We expect around 12 countries to participate, possibly several more,” Dr.Hawass told the Herald. ”There is a moral imperative for museums around the world to return certain artefacts to the countries they came from, and we are going to identify how we can help each…

  • Ann

    King Tut’s Treasures Expensive for Australian Museum

    The blockbuster exhibition ‘King Tut and the Golden Age of the Pharoahs’ will not tour Australia because museums cannot afford it – not surprisingly if you look at the price tag. Egypt wants to prolong the world’s most successful tour of artefacts from the tomb of the boy-king but offers to host the exhibition have been underwhelming, to say the least. The Director of the Australian Museum, Frank Howarth, told the Sydney Morning Herald that the show’s $10 million price tag and its size were too big for Australian institutions to handle. Dr. Zahi Hawass said – despite earlier claims…

  • Ann

    Terracotta Army sets up camp in Chile

    Only weeks after a devision of Terracotta Warriors went on show National Geographic Museum in Washington DC– check out Graecyn’s splendid photographs here – another unit of the First Emperor’s Army “marched thousands of kilometers to Chile”. Last Friday Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet inaugurated the exhibition ‘The Ancient China and the Terracotta Army’ in the central hall of the Cultural Center La Moneda Palace in Chile’s capital Santiago. The exhibition, which will run for the next five months, includes 123 terracotta soldiers and horses. “This is one part of the globalization we need to boost. It means dialogue of cultures,…

  • Ann

    Zahi Hawass’ a Not-So Secret Voyage through London – Book Signing at Harrods’ Waterstone’s

    Dr. Zahi Hawass is coming to London, to promote the massive – you can take that quite literally – art book ‘A Secret Voyage’ and the more normal-sized – but still stunning, we’re sure – ‘Inside the Egyptian Museum with Zahi Hawass’. To the list of must-attend events is now added a book signing at the most famous Egyptian-owned location in London:Harrods. Book Signing at Harrods Invited to London’s most famous departement store by owner Mohamed Al Fayed, the Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (that’s Dr. Hawass) will sign copies of his new books at Waterstones, Third…

  • Ann

    The Dmanisi Skull on Display at Naturalis, Leiden

    How does one transport a 1.8 million-year-old skull that might rewrite the history of mankind and has never before left the vault of the National Historic Museum in Tbilisi, Georgia? Very carefully, of course! The only person allowed to travel with the The ‘Dmanisi Skull’ – which suggests a Eurasian chapter in the long evolutionary story of man – is Professor David Lordkipanidze, director of the Georgian National Museum who brought the extra-ordinary find to the Naturalis Museum, Leiden for a special exhibition to end their one-year celebration of evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin. Archaeologists started in 1936 by excavating the…

  • Ann

    Britain Loves Wikipedia: Wikimedia seeks underexposed UK Museum

    Britain Loves Wikipedia is a scavenger hunt and free content photography contest that will be held in museums and cultural institutions across the UK, with the aim of increasing the number of pictures available to illustrate Wikipedia articles and inspire new articles. The event will kick off with a launch event at the Victoria and Albert Museum on Sunday 31 January 2010, followed by a series of events each weekend at locations around the UK. Museums looking for more visitors and exposure are still welcome to sign up. The event runs throughout February 2010, with members of the (Wikipedia) public…

  • Ann

    The Virtual Museum of the European Roots

    Museums from Italy, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece have joined hands – and virtual artefacts – to create the first ‘Virtual Museum of European Roots’. They have put their most treasured objects online in 3D for visitors to explore in several thematic routes, as they are guided through European prehistoric culture and heritage. For museum professionals, there are e-courses, training them in the skills needed for establishing and managing a virtual museum. The ‘Berliner Goldhut‘ (Berlin Golden Hat, in the Neues Museum), thought to be a lunar and solar calendar, is part of a larger group of Golden…