Ancient wall paintings were discovered in northern China in a 1,400-year-old royal tomb found during the construction of one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects, a national water transport system. The detailed frescoes found in the tomb in Cixian county in Beijing’s neighbouring Hebei province depict honour guard officials from the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577), the report said. The tomb itself had belonged to Gao Xiaoxu, the male heir of an emperor in the Qi, archaeologists told the agency. The intricate images, painted on the walls of a 15-meters long passage, will prove useful in the study of the escort…
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Last week the Brooklyn Museum took four of their ancient Egyptian mummies to the North Shore University Hospital in Long Island, as they were in dying need of a CT-scan. Pure Archaeology 2.0, not only because of the use of modern technology, but because the museum staff used ‘the web 2.0’ to document their trip and the scanning of the mummies as it was happening on Twitter – #mummyCT – and Flickr. Over at pyramidofman.com there’s an elaborate report on the mummies’ journey, but here are some of the highlights of this episode of CSI: Mummy: Mummy ‘Lady Hor’ is…
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The Wiltshire police has announced there will be a large police presence at Stonehenge for this year’s Summer Solstice. Because the celebrations fall over the weekend and fine weather is predicted, bigger crowds than usual are expected and Wiltshire police have said they will clamp down heavily on antisocial behaviour. The police operation will involve an unmanned drone and horses. Also drugs sniffer dogs will be launched at Stonehenge tomorrow as huge crowds descend on the ancient site for the summer solstice. The Guardian reported on visitors of the Stonehenge fearing a repeat of the escalations at the recent G20…
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Desperate to figure out before the Summer Solstice 2009 what Stonehenge is all about, but you can’t decide which theory – sacrifices, calendar, discotheque, burial site, religious temple, neolithic art – to go with? Don’t panic!Worth1000.com‘s finest Photoshop artists present us with a few alternative – but very plausible – theories about the iconic stone circle’s construction, use, location and present state. Which of the options below do you deem to be most likely? Take the poll, let us know! Option 1: One Giant’s Game is Man’s Neolithic Monument Most scientists claim humans started piling up earth, wood and rocks…
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An archaeological excavation in Jerusalem has revealed an ancient aqueduct that brought water to the Sultan’s Pool – a Herodian Reservoir that gets its name from Suleiman the Magnificent, who restored the site in the 16th century – and to the Temple Mount, supplying clean water to the city’s residents and visiting pilgrims for drinking and purification. Most Jerusalemites identify the Sultan’s Pool as a venue where large cultural events are held; however, from the Roman period until the late Ottoman period it was one of the citys most important water reservoirs. The excavation, directed by Gideon Solimany and Dr.…
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Three new ancient egyptian tombs dating back almost 3500 years have been discovered near Luxor by an archaeological mission lead by Dr. Zahi Hawass. One of the newly discovered tombs belonged to Amun-Em-Opet, Supervisor of Hunters and dates back to shortly before King Akhenaten’s reign. Entrances to 2 undecorated tombs have been found to the north-west of Amun-Em-Opet’s. The newly discovered were unearthed at the necropolis of Dra Abu el-Naga, on Luxor’s west bank. Amongst the items discovered in the 3 tombs: seven funerary seals bearing the name Amenhotep-Ben-Neferm, Supervisor of the Cattle of Amun. seals bearing the name of…
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They claim the crisis affects us all, but did it influence the funding of archaeological excavations, conservation and research? The BBCreports it does, stating the consequences will be felt as far as property development: “The job losses in archaeology could threaten the start of recovery for the building industry as any site with historic significance has to be excavated before development can begin.“ To get an overview of the effect ‘the credit crunch’ has on archaeology, ACE(Archaeology in Contemporary Europe) has opened a webpage dedicated to ‘Archaeology and the Crisis’: “Major changes in the global economy have affected and will…
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The First Emperor lived quite a ‘full’ life: becoming King at age 13, uniting China, constructing the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors, finding a cure for Death, avoiding being assasinated, waging a few wars, executing people, …and so forth. So congratulations to Ian D.Piirtola, who succeeded at capturing all this ANDthe discovery and excavations of the Qin Shi Huang‘s tomb in a 8 pages short – but quite hilarious – comic. His teachers did not seem to appreciate it that much – he got a C – but we definitely enjoyed it! Thank you for sharing this on Flickr,…
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Chinese archaeologists started the third of a series of excavations at the famous terracotta army site on Saturday, hoping to find more clay figures and unravel some of the mysteries left behind by the “First Emperor“. Archaeologists hope they might find a clay figure that appeared to be “in command” of the huge underground army, said Liu Zhancheng, head of the archeological team under the terracotta museum in Xi’an, capital of Shaanxi Province. Liu and his colleagues are also hoping to ascertain the success of decades of preservation efforts to keep the undiscovered terracotta figures intact and retain their original…
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One can’t ‘tour’ the Middle East and visit Egypt without having seen the pyramids.And if you happen to be the President of the United States of America, you get the VIPtreatement: Dr.Zahi Hawass as a guide for an exclusive guided visit in the pyramids and tombs. A comment by Kate Burgess on Dr.Zahi’s facebook profile reads: ‘President Obama was so lucky to have you as his guide.‘ Areversed world?;) Watch the video here on drhawass.com, or click play: