• Ann

    BBC Two’s upcoming history specials: Ancient Worlds, Pompeii, Britain & the Bible’s Buried Secrets

    The BBC has officially announced its TVschedule for this autumn and winter, promising its audience a big focus on history, with new programmes and new presenters. What to expect from the Beeb this autumn and winter, when the rain and cold keeps you locked into your home? The autumn & winter 2010/2011 programming includes ‘Behind Closed Doors’ with Amanda Vickery, ‘The Do-Gooders’ with Ian Hislop and programming to mark the Battle of Britain’s 70th anniversary, with a drama-documentary based on Geoffrey Wellum’s book, First Light. Ancient history specials served on these coldand dark winter nights will be ‘Pompeii’with Mary Beard,…

  • Ann

    Ramesses II temple discovered at Beni Suef, Upper Egypt

    Archaeologists excavating at Ahnasia in Upper Egypt, have unearthed the remains of a 3,300-year-old temple built by pharaoh Ramesses the Great. According to a statement released by the SCA, excavations at Ahnasia, an archaeological area in Beni-Suef, recently uncovered remains of a temple that can be dated to the reign of 19th Dynastyking Ramesses II . Dr. Sabri Abdel Aziz, Head of the Pharaonic Sector in the SCA, said that inside the remains of the New Kingdom temple, excavators uncovered ten cartouches of Ramesses II and beneath them a relief saying that the ruler had ordered the construction of this…

  • Ann

    Volcano Death Recipe: Pompeii Vesuvius Victims Cooked Alive

    An Italian study of the plaster casts of the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption victims showsmost were not suffocated by ash, as is often assumed. Neither were they knocked down by fast-moving currents of hot gas. Rather, the extreme heat was the main cause of the instantaneous deaths at Pompeii. At temperatures up to 300C, the unfortunate citizens, including those seeking shelter inside buildings, were cooked alive. Italy, 79 AD. Vesuvius erupts, throwing up a high-altitude column from which ash began to fall, blanketing Pompeii and surrounding areas, and creating an invaluable archaeological record,preserved for almost 2,000 years. It is estimated…

  • Ann

    Earl of Carnarvon tells Andrew Lloyd Webber Highclere Castle is not for sale

    Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, the multi-millionaire musical impresario, has expressed a wish to purchase Highclere Castle, near Newbury, Berkshire. The Victorian castle has been the family seat of the Carnarvons since the 1670s, and was home to the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, who funded Howard Carter’s discovery of Tutankhamun‘s tomb (watch the video). Andrew Lloyd Webber’s offer came after the current Earl applied for permission to sell pieces of land on the fringes of the Highclere estate in the hope of raising 11 million to fund badly-needed repair works to the Victorian mansion. In a letter sent to the Earl…

  • jon-himoff

    Chasing Mummies: History Channel and Zahi Hawass Bringing Hell to the Pyramids

    Zahi Hawass has a new television show coming out on History Channel tomorrow, called “Chasing Mummies“. We had a look at the trailer and it seems like they are going for a highly pop-culture adventure-like, make-the-big-finds angle to attract the thrill-seekers. You had Ice Road Truckers, now get ready for Sand Dead Diggers starring the High Plains Sifter? It all has to be good for making archeology more exciting and discovering history more fun. But at the same time, you have to wonder if the History Channel, on the heels of Discovery Channel’s King Tut Unwrapped, is mixing up the…

  • Video

    Roman Amphithreatre Base of King Arthur’s Round Table Legend?

    Description A new documentary explores the history of King Arthur and whether the legendary Round Table was based on a iconic Roman Amphitheatre. Is it a coincidence that Arthur’s Round Table was originally described as a very large structure, seating 1,600 of his warriors in a circle? Read more about the ‘King Arthur Revealed’ documentary in Lyn’s blogpost. Related Heritage Experts Christopher Gidlow Credits Christopher Gidlow Transcription The team wondered whether the legendary round table was actually based on an iconic Roman building, such as, an amphitheatre. Christopher Gidlow: It’s a very intruiging hypothesis, that the round table, the item…

  • owenjarus

    Archaeologists discover ancient ivory maskette on Canadian Arctic island

    The Tunit made our country habitable. They built the line of boulder cairns that guide caribou to the river-crossings where they can be ambushed by hunters, and they furnished the rivers with fish-weirs. An Inuit story, from Ancient People of the Arctic by Dr. Robert McGhee Today archaeologists believe that the Tunit, who are mentioned in Inuit stories, flourished in the arctic during ancient times, vanishing around the 14th century AD. Archaeologists first encountered their remains in 1925 at a place called Cape Dorset on Baffin Island. They gave them the name Dorset culture, a term that is still used…

  • bija

    Hoard of 52,500 Roman Coins Discovered Near Frome by Metal Detectorist

    A metal-detector enthusiast has found one of the biggest ever hoards of Roman coins. It is the biggest hoard ever found in a single vessel in Britain, numbering 52,500 Roman coins of varying denominations. The finder was Dave Crisp, who was out with his metal detector in a field near Frome, in Somerset, when his machine alerted him to what turned out to be an earthenware pot full of coins from the third century AD. The coins were contained in a large earthenware jar and altogether weighed 160kg. It is estimated that they would have been worth the equivalent of…

  • owenjarus

    Hips don’t lie! New technique to determine a skeleton’s sex

    Somewhere in the world bones from an ancient skeleton are discovered buried in an unmarked grave. The head is missing, most of the chest is gone and only a small fragment of the pelvis has survived. Researchers are then faced with a problem how do you tell if this person is male or female? The pelvis holds the answer, but only a small amount of it is left. Today a team of researchers lead by John Bytheway and Ann Ross, from North Carolina State University, and Sam Houston State University, announced a solution to thisproblem – in the form of…

  • Ann

    Ancient Egyptian Father and Son Tombs Discovered at Saqqara

    Archaeologists have discovered two ancient Egyptian tombs, belonging to a father and his son, at the Saqqara necropolis in Egypt. The rock-hewn painted tombs were unearthed last week, and with at least one tomb never looted, are considered an important find. The discovery was made during routine excavations at ‘Gisr El-Muder’, west of Djoser’s Step Pyramid, the first pyramid in Egyptian history. Work in the area has been ongoing since 1968. Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities chief, says the tombs belong to 6th Dynasty government official ‘Shendwa’ and his son, ‘Khonsu’. The older tomb consists of a painted false door…