Scotland is to welcome home some of its most iconic relics from the British Museum next May, in a loan deal that sees the famous Lewis Chessmen toured around the country for two years. Yet politicians hailed the move as a ‘step sideways’, as the BM all but ruled out their permanent repatriation. Members of the Scottish National Party have been claiming a cultural victory this week, as it was confirmed on the weekend that 24 of the BM’s 82 charismatic 12th century carvings would be winging their way to four Scottish museums next year. Eleven of the 93 pieces…
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The incredible announcement that Stonehenge had a little sister named ‘Bluehenge’ this weekend will have shocked millions – not least the area’s druid community, who for centuries have claimed Stonehenge to be their spiritual home. So it’s no surprise the druidic community officially inaugurated the stone circle this week, which many believe to have been part of a huge funerary network linking its much larger neighbour to the River Avon. The ceremony, Bluehenge’s first since it’s recent rediscovery was performed by three druids including King Arthur Pendragon, stresses the importance of honouring the people who first built Bluehenge, and to…
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Take a girl out for a meal and you may think yourself quite the traditionalist. But most men won’t know quite how traditional they’re being: the world’s first hominids learnt to stand on two feet simply to carry food to woo women, according to one leading expert. Professor Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University made his claim following the much-publicised discovery of ‘Ardi’ last week, the oldest-known member of the human family tree. Ardi, or Ardipithecus ramidus in full, roamed the forests of Ethiopia some 4.4 million years ago – over a million years before the next oldest hominid, Lucy,…
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Ever seen the Terracotta Warriors? Did you feel a bit peckish when you saw them; couldn’t help thinking the First Emperor’s Mausoleum would be made so much better if you could take a bite out of each handcrafted treasure? If the answer’s yes to both these questions – and I truly hope it’s not – you may want to book a flight to the Chinese capital next year: Beijing officials have announced plans to build the ‘World Chocolate Dream Park’, a Willy Wonka-style attraction aimed at the Chinese people‘s love of, well, chocolate. The full-size tasty Terracotta Warriors will be…
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The infamous excesses of Emperor Nero have made a spectacular comeback yesterday, as archaeologists unveiled his legendary rotating banquet hall. Experts excavating in the Domus Aurea (Golden Palace, literally ‘Golden House’) on Rome’s Palatine Hill have found what they claim to be the remnants of a platform and mechanism described by the ancient historian Suetonius, in his opus The Twelve Caesars. The incredible discovery was made during routine maintenance work at the Palace, which is now located beneath theBaths of Trajan. “This cannot be compared to anything that we know of in ancient Roman architecture,” says head archaeologist FrancoiseVilledieu. An…
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New research suggests the giant step pyramids of the ancient Mayas may in fact have been used to make music on a colossal scale. Experts were already aware of the ‘raindrop’ sounds made by the footsteps of those ascending Chichen Itza‘s famous El Castillo pyramid. Yet the comparison of El Castillo’s sonic phenomenon with another of Mexico‘s Maya structures has led two scholars to conclude that creating ‘rain music’ was the pyramids’ main function. Jorge Cruz of the Professional School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in Mexico City and Nico Declercq of the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA compared the…
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An incredible ancient settlement off Britain‘s south coast that could ‘rewrite the history books’ is in danger of being swept away, unless archaeologists secure enough funding to launch full-scale excavations by next year. Experts have been astounded by the discovery of 24 worked timber fragments found on underwater diving expeditions to an underwater cliff of Bouldner, on the north coast of the Isle of Wight. Hundreds of objects such as flint, charcoal, hazelnuts, string and the remains of a longboat have been found alongside the fragments, which many feel are the remnants of a huge structure built over 8,000 years…
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Crushed teeth, sore eyes and itchy skin. Sound bad? This was the fate that befell central Europeans 13,000 years ago, according to new research. A study released by Aarhus University’s Felix Riede and Jeffrey Wheeler of the University of Cambridge suggests that particles shot into the sky by a huge supervolcano eruption were about twice as hard as human teeth. This led to widespread devastation of the region’s plant and animal life, and would have left local human tribes stranded to face the wrath of the volcano’s destruction. The explosion came from Laacher See (Lake Laach), central Europe’s only caldera,…
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Metal detecting enthusiasts are enjoying a halcyon period this week, as four extremely rare Norman coins have been unearthed in Gloucestershire dating back to the reign of William the Conqueror. The coins, which were discovered by an as-yet unnamed finder, are believed to have been minted in Gloucester between 1073 and 1076. And while they may have been overshadowed by the recent Staffordshire Saxon hoard – and even a recent Roman coin haul in Shropshire – archaeologist Kurt Adams tells the BBC the 0.8mm-thick coins are extremely uncommon. A coroner will soon decide whether the cache can be kept by…
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Kazakhstan has become the latest hotbed of UFOspeculation, as experts announce the discovery of a set of geoglyphs in a remote mountainous region of the huge central Asian county. The huge lines, created either by removing topsoil or by decorating with various stones, have been spotted in the country’s southern Karatau range. And though many will draw comparisons with the better known ‘Nazca Lines‘ of Peru, the Kazakh geoglyphs are strikingly different. Rather than depicting the menagerie of fish, lizards, monkeys, birds and other animals favoured by the mysterious Nazcas, they show a humanoid figure huddled between two odd-shaped structures.…