Very unusual and very intriguing is how Nicola Terrenato from the University of Michigan describes a Roman-era lead coffin that has been uncovered in the ancient city of Gabii, 11 miles east of Rome. The professor of classical studies is the leader of an archaeological project to excavate the site. He added: It’s definitely the most unusual finding of the campaign so far. Who’s in the Lead Coffin? The lead sarcophagus, weighing about 450 kg, was found during last summer’s dig and is thought to date from the second to the fourth centuries AD. Researchers can’t be more exact about…
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Sad news today for Italy: part of the complex archaeological structure surrounding Nero’s ‘Golden House’ in Rome his extravagant palace between 64-68 AD has collapsed following heavy rain. The Domus Aurea, as it is known, is one of the treasures of the ancient Roman world. Although it has been mainly closed to the public in recent years due to efforts to fend off encroaching damp and decay, it is a unique archaeological site and an important part of Italy’s heritage. The site is structurally complex and includes important buildings from the reigns of Nero and Trajan. When Nero committed suicide…
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One of the pharaohs recorded on the Royal List of Abydos whose tomb is still unaccounted for is the mysterious Userkare. In our Heritage Key video The Hunt for the Lost Pharaoh:Userkare Dr Vasko Dobrev speculates on the possible location for the tomb of Userkare, a 6th Dynasty pharaoh who ruled shortly after Pharaoh Teti was assassinated by a priest. In this video, Dr Dobrev – Egyptologist and Archaeologist – shares that he believes Userkare to be buried at the Southern end of the Saqqara necropolis, where other 6th Dynasty kings can be found as well. The plateau that Dr…
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It could be the job of your dreams – working among the treasures of the Boy King, and helping the great unwashed explore the mysteries of Ancient Egypt. Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs is seeking positive and team-oriented individuals for its Audio Tour and Movie team. The exhibition – which promises to be a blockbuster along the lines of King Tut’s last visit to the city, more than 30 years ago – is wrapping up its American tour in New York’s new cultural institution, Discovery Times Square Exposition, for nine months beginning April 23, 2010. The job…
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A team of archaeologists has unearthed five chamber tombs in the Nemea Valley, just a few hours walk from the ancient city of Mycenae. The tombs date from ca. 1350 1200 BC, roughly the same time that Mycenae was thriving. The people buried in the tombs were likely not from the city itself, but rather from Tsoungiza, an agricultural settlement that lies next to it. The cemetery has been named Ayia Sotira. But despite a wealth of human remains, there have been no discoveries of elite burials. Are the archaeologists yet to discover the prize tombs, or could this be…
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An Egyptian excavation team has made a new discovery at Karnak during routine excavation works. A large red granite false door belonging to the tomb of Queen Hatshepsuts vizier User and his wife Toy has been unearthed in front of the Karnak Temple. Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, explained that the door is 175 cm tall, 100 cm wide and 50 cm thick. It is engraved with religious texts, as well as different titles of the vizier User, who took office at the time of the fifth year of Queen Hatshepsuts reign, circa 1474…
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In three weeks the King Tut exhibit Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs will be leaving Toronto, heading off to the mountains of Denver. The exhibition has been a huge success, and has prompted a new wave of Egyptomania unseen since King Tut’s 1979 visit to the city. It wouldnt be appropriate for the king to leave without a send-off, and the Art Gallery of Ontario has an interesting one. This Wednesday the gallery will play host to the premiere of Osiris and Isis the Opera. Composed by Colin Mack and directed by Guillermo Silva-Marin, this show will…
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Channel 4’s digital channel More4 has kicked off a juicy seven-week series of documentaries fronted by historian Bettany Hughes. The Ancient World began on Wednesday 24 March with a new film about Alexandria, the city founded by Alexander the Great in 332BC. Hughes travelled to Egypt in search of the city’s ancient origins, delved beneath the streets and explored the sunken ruins that are all that remain of what was once the largest city in the world. Alexandria is one of the world’s greatest ancient cities. It’s a hugely fascinating place and a topic ripe for exploration. For centuries it…
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You live long enough in this city and you’ll see things you couldn’t even imagine – like a 25-foot tall Anubis statue being towed around New York harbour, which is what happened yesterday morning. Anubis’s arrival heralds the one-month countdown for the exhibition, Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs, which opens April 23 at the Discovery Times Square Exposition in Manhattan, on the final leg of its journey round North America. Tickets for the show went on sale the same day. The exhibition has already wowed Tutaholics in San Francisco, and exhibitors hope that Tut will cause the…
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When I’m strolling through the British Museum’s Egyptian Sculpture Gallery taking in its ancient statues, stelae and scriptures, it’s hard not to think something’s missing. For among its rows of exotic artefacts, nothing on display relates to Egypt’s most famous king in modern times, Tutankhamun. And I think Britain deserves to have kept hold of at least some of the ancient world’s greatest pieces. Firstly I think I need to set the record straight: I’m not some postmodern British colonialist, sipping on Pimm’s while the servants polish my Blunderbus. Tutankhamun’s discovery was made by an Englishman, funded by an Englishman…