• mary-ann-craig

    Britain’s Prehistoric Funerals – Six Feet Under, or a Bronze Age Mound?

    You might never have heard of Irthlingborough, in Northamptonshire, but an excavation there in the 1980s revealed some pretty spectacular archaeology, as explained in the first of a series of HKTV videos (Watch the Video). The archaeologists found a round burial mound with cremations buried in the sides. Below the cremation burials, there was a lattice of rotted cattle bones, which had been placed on the top of a heaped stone cairn. Below the cairn was a wooden platform that had now collapsed, and below the platform, at the heart of the mound, was a chamber, with a mans body…

  • Ann

    A real archaeological puzzle: Germans reassemble ancient sculptures destroyed in WWII

    After nine years of shifting through WWII bombing debris, restoration experts have puzzled back together over 30 Aramaean sculptures and reliefs. Watch the slideshow. When in November 1943 an air raid on Berlin destroyed the Tell Halaf Museum and its contents, it was thought one of Germany’s most important Near Eastern collections was lost forever. A year later more than 27,000 fragments were recovered from the museum’s ruins and taken to the cellars of the Pergamon Museum for storage. Luckily, archaeologists never throw something away. Restoration of the 3000-year-old sculptures and bas-reliefs eventually started in 2001. Now, after almost a…

  • malcolmj

    Easter Island Was Devastated by Western Invaders and Not Internal Conflict

    An archaeologist from the University of Manchester has produced new research suggesting Western invaders should be blamed for the demise of the ancient people and culture of Rapa Nui or Easter Island, further contradicting the once popular idea that its primitive, warlike Polynesian inhabitants had already themselves provoked societal collapse long before the remote southeastern Pacific island was first visited by European explorers in 1722. Backing an already substantial body of opinion, Dr Karina Croucher a post-doctoral researcher in the School of Arts Histories and Cultures argues that the Easter Islanders must have had a sophisticated and successful culture until…

  • owenjarus

    19th Century Manuscript and Drawings by Egypt Explorer Frédéric Caillaud Discovered

    An unpublished manuscript, written by 19th century Egypt explorer Frdric Caillaud, has been discovered and it points the way to a 3,500 year old tomb of an Egyptian official. It is called Arts and Crafts of the Ancient Egyptians, Nubians and Ethiopians. It iswritten in French and illustrated with drawings. The American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) is in the process of translating and publishing it. The work is being led by Dr. Andrew Bednarski. He gave a lecture and interview recently in Toronto, and provided me withsnippets from the bookand pictures ofthree of the drawings. Frdric Caillaud was one…

  • prad

    Dreaming of becoming an Archaeology Intern? Let our Zahi Hawass Videos Inspire You!

    Ever thought about a job that takes you across the length and breadth of Egypt, exploring the desert sands to find treasures and valuable artefacts that haven’t been touched in thousands of years?A career which gives you responsibility for some of the most famous and significant finds in history (as well as trying to get back others)?A vocation which earns you the nickname “Pharaoh” for your control over who gets to uncover the antiquities still to be found amidst the heat. And lets not forget starring in your own History Channel TV show! Dr Zahi Hawass, the Director of the…

  • owenjarus

    Mummies in Milwaukee! Mummies of the World coming to Wisconsin in December

    The good citizens of Milwaukee are set for a mummifying experience. From December 17, 2010 to May 20, 2011 the exhibit Mummies of the World will be hitting the Milwaukee Public Museum. The exhibit features 150 human and animal mummies showcasing mummification practices from around the world. The ‘Mummies of the World’ touring exhibit is currently on at the California Science Center. Egypt is famous for its mummies, but the practice is seen in many other cultures. The bogs of Northern Europe allow for mummification, as does the hot arid climate of Peru. Mummification techniques have even been used in…

  • owenjarus

    Ancient Stone Monument to Napi Discovered on Canadian Prairies

    A stone effigy monument, in the shape of a Blackfoot creator god named Napi, has been discovered in southern Alberta south of the Red Deer River near the hamlet of Finnegan. One day Old Man determined that he would make a woman and a child; so he formed them both the woman and the child, her son of clay. After he had moulded the clay in human shape, he said to the clay, “You must be people … They walked down to the river with their Maker, and then he told them that his name was Na’pi, – Old Man.…

  • Ann

    What will Otzi the Iceman’s DNA teach us?

    tzi has not been put on ice, on the contrary – things are hotting up for him! By decoding tzi the Iceman’s DNA, scientists have reached a new milestone in their study of the world’s mostfamous glacier mummy. Experts from three institutions have pooled their skills in order to map tzis entire genetic make-up: Albert Zink, Head of the EURAC Institute for Mummies and the Iceman, together with Carsten Pusch, from the Institute of Human Genetics at the University of Tbingen and Andreas Keller from the biotech firm febit in Heidelberg. Together the researchers reached a historic moment in the…

  • jon-himoff

    Chasing Fame and Mummies: Zahi Hawass Goes Global

    There is a billboard on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles where Zahi Hawass is framed in the photo to look bigger than the Great Pyramid.Supposedly, it is all a matter of perspective. In the same way you can take your own view on the reality television series “Chasing Mummies” from History Channel. (If anyone in LA can snap a good shot of that billboard, please add it to the comments below.) In terms of realityTV fare on the tube, I guess this show is pretty good. It is action packed. The series has a strongstar driving the drama andmany interesting,…

  • Ann

    Underwater Archaeology: Diving the Maya Underworld

    Steering clear of crocodiles and navigating around massive submerged trees, a team of divers started mapping some of the 25 freshwater pools of Cara Blanca, Belize, which were of importance to the ancient Maya civilisation. So far, the divers found fossilized animal remains, bits of pottery and in the largest pool explored an enormous underwater cave. The underwater archaeology project, led by University of Illinois anthropology professor Lisa Lucero, was the first of what the professor hopes will be a series of dives into the pools of the southern Maya lowlands in central Belize. The divers so far have explored…