• sean-williams

    University Team Finds Prehistoric East Midlands Settlement

    A prehistoric settlement, which could date back 11,000 years, has been discovered near in England’s East Midlands region. The site, unearthed by a University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) team, was excavated in advance of building works at Asfordby, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. The team’s experts believe the site would have been inhabited by hunter-gatherers, who journeyed to Britain over the icy remnants of a giant super-river we reported yesterday (sadly they weren’t quite around at the time of Stone Age GPS). Britain would only become an island thousands of years later, when the final chills of the last ice…

  • sean-williams

    Cleopatra Comes to Philadelphia (Well, some of her Treasures)

    Just as Cleopatra’s tomb could be discovered at Taposiris Magna, some of her greatest treasures will be winging their way to the States. Next June Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt will be showcased at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute for six months, before heading to three other US cities on a massive tour. The exhibition will bring together some of the best-known artefacts and freshest discoveries from Cleopatra’s city of Alexandria. The Institute’s senior vice president of marketing, programs and business development Troy Collins says the show’s treasures are coming from two major sources: “Land sources from the…

  • sean-williams

    Treasures from King Tut’s Tomb – The Animal Gods explained by Dr. Janice Kamrin

    The three ritual beds of Tutankhamun are a very serious proposition, guarded by some of the ancient world’s fiercest chaperones. King Tut’sAnubis Shrine, fashioned in the seventh year of Akhenaten’s reign, was something to be carried processionally during the final movements of the king’s mummy. Dr Janice Kamrin (watch a video of Dr Kamrin exploring the lost tombs of Thebes with Zahi Hawass here) points out that Anubis “is in the form of a jackal, or as we Egyptologists like to say a ‘super-jackal’, because he’s not quite a jackal: he’s a better form of the jackal.” Anubis certainly cuts…

  • sean-williams

    English Channel Carved out by Ancient Super-River

    Brits might scoff at the suggestion they’re from the same continent as their mainland European neighbours. But a new report claims the two masses are linked by a low-lying range of hills that flooded over thousands of years, leaving the English Channel that separates England and France today. Thousands of layers of sheet (ice) An Anglo-French study (would you believe it) has revealed that the hilly range ran between Kent and Artois, in northern France, some half a million years ago. Yet ice ages beginning 450,000 years ago coated northern Europe in thick layers of ice, trapping water in a…

  • sean-williams

    Iran Urges UNESCO to Step in Over Lost Persian Army in Egyptian Desert

    Remember the ‘groundbreaking discovery’ of Cambyses’ lost Persian army a few weeks back, in the Western Desert of Egypt? Almost as soon as it had been announced, Zahi Hawass’ Supreme Council of Antiquities were all over it, rejecting the Castiglioni brothers’ claims they’d found the legendary fleet near Siwa Oasis. Yet any doubts as to the brothers’ credibility have been lost on Iranian officials, who have branded Dr Hawass’ rejection of the discovery as politically motivated, and have urged UNESCOto step in to save the army’s remains. The request by Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Toursim Organisation (ICHHTO) was made…

  • sean-williams

    Dr Kara Cooney Holding her Own on Craig Ferguson’s Late Late Show

    Some people might look to Dr Zahi Hawass, bedecked in Indiana Jones denim shirt and Stetson hat, for a paragon of archaeological cool. Others could point to Kathleen Martinez, currently hunting for the tomb of Cleopatra at Taposiris Magna, as the epitome of a dynamic modern adventurer. But how many Egyptologists could realistically hold their own on long-running US chat show TheLate Late Show, hosted by Scottish funnyman Craig Ferguson? I’m struggling to think of any – much less anyone who’s done it three times. It must have been child’s play when the lovely Dr Kara Cooneyspoke to me about…

  • sean-williams

    Gay Roman Porn, Please: We’re British

    Controversy bred outcry; debates raged on radio shows, broadsheets and television up and down the country. But all the British Museum had done was buy a small, silver Roman cup – a beautiful cup at that, with its finely-etched details having been kept in great condition. What was the public’s problem? Why did so many people object to their national museum stumping up 1.8m for a stunnning piece of ancient art? The answer lay in the cup’s decoration. The Warren Cup, named after its best-known modern owner Edward Perry Warren, is a Roman skyphos (drinking cup), dating from between 1-20…

  • sean-williams

    Manhattan of the Middle East: Shibam, Yemen

    Think skyscrapers and you’ll no doubt imagine shimmering towers of glass and steel, reaching ever closer to the heavens, whilst slowly turning most cities into a homogenised equaliser of stickle-bricks. But it’s always been this way, hasn’t it? At least, it has been for the residents of Shibam, a Yemeni town of about 7,000 people rising out of the arid Arabian desert. At first glance you’d be forgiven for thinking Shibam was some Brooklyn suburb, but look closer and you’ll find cracks, paintjobs and plasterwork that mark its mud-brick buildings out as the oldest of their type in the world.…

  • sean-williams

    Lost Pictish Throne Brought to Life by National Museum of Scotland Team

    Scottish history lovers can get a unique view of their country’s heritage at the National Museum of Scotland (NMS) – a team of experts has rebuilt a Pictish throne. The wooden giant was created by master furniture maker Adrian McCurdy, who took his lines from ancient stone carvings. Picts ruled Scotland north of the Firth of Clyde from the 4th to 9th century AD. But they are best known for their mysterious rock art, which still baffles experts today. The throne was commissioned by the museum alongside distillers Glenmorangie. It will go on display next Tuesday (December 1st) at the…

  • sean-williams

    Maltese Expert ‘Discovers Hieroglyphs from Legendary Land of Yam’

    A Maltese explorer claims he may have solved one of Egypt’s oldest mysteries. Mark Borda and Egyptian accomplice Mahmoud Marai, an adventure holiday planner, have discovered a large rock in the Western Desert, some 450 miles west of the Nile Valley – inscribed with a king’s cartouche, royal images and hieroglyphs. Ancient Egyptians are thought never to have strayed past Dakhla Oasis, located around 200 miles from the river. Mr Borda will not disclose the location of his find to protect it from prying eyes. He immediately sent details of the text to compatriot and Egyptologist Aloisia De Trafford, based…