• veigapaula

    How to Look Ten Years Older: Photos From the Scanning of a Mummy in Porto

    A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to take part in the scanning of a female mummy from ancient Egypt, and to take photos to document the experience. This young girl was only around 25 at the age of death, and survived in relative peace for thousands of years. In the last century, however, she’s been used as a bargaining tool by the Germans, survived attacks by torpedos and fires, and even suffered physical traumas. I discovered that the scientific analysis of a young mummy can show us a lot about the life in ancient Egypt, but tell…

  • malcolmj

    Anglo-Saxon CSI: Archaeologists Stumped by Mystery Saxon Find

    Reminding us that archaeologists for all their undoubted intelligence, ingenuity, industry and general egg headedness dont always have the answers, experts from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust (CAT) have this week been forced to put up their hands and admit they remain unsure as to the purpose of a Saxon artefact discovered two years ago. The tiny circular silver, bronze and wooden disk was found in a Saxon burial ground at The Meads in Sittingbourne, Kent, in 2008. It was part of a cache of some 2,500 Saxon artefacts. CAT researchers have peered at the small object through a microscope and…

  • michael-kan

    Ancient Chinese Mummies Originated in Europe and Siberia

    A group of ancient Chinese mummies found in China have long fascinated experts and the public, largely because the bodies look more distinctly European (or even Celtic) than Asian. Now a new scientific report published last month says the oldest of these mummies dating back almost 4,000 years likely originated outside of China, from a mixture of places such as Europe and Siberia. What’s more, these ancient people had an “obsession with procreation”, burying their dead alongside symbolic vulvas and giant phalluses. For decades now, the ancient corpses have been found in Chinas Tarim Basin, a desert region near the…

  • sean-williams

    AWiL Video Series: Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall at the Edge of the Roman Empire

    What’s 84 miles long, 1,888 years old and marked the edge of Roman rule in Britain? Hadrian’s Wall of course – and the landmark got a spectacular makeover this weekend with a line of beacons stretching its entirety. The event, named ‘Illuminating Hadrian’s Wall’, marked the 1,600th anniversary of the end of the Roman occupation in Britain, and needed no fewer than 1,100 hardy volunteers to brave the harsh winds of northern England to make it happen. We know it’s a far cry from London – about 300 miles, in fact – but it’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance (make that once-in-about-250-lifetimes)…

  • owenjarus

    So You Want to go North? Ontario Archaeology Conference Will Look at the Canadian Shield

    In celebration of our chilly northern climate, the Ontario Archaeological Society will be holding their annual symposium in Killarney Ontario from Sept 24-26, a town on the northern tip of Lake Superior. The symposium is called “Shibaonaning – the place of the clear passage.” It willfocus on the archaeology of the Canadian Shield. Its a vast, rocky, forested area of Canada that covers Northern Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and parts of the arctic. At eight million square kilometres, its nearly double the size of the entire European Union. Although it’s chalk full of mines, the rocky terrain makes it difficult to…

  • malcolmj

    Ancient World in London Bloggers Challenge 3: Should the British Museum Return the Rosetta Stone to Egypt?

    We set the task of nominating London’s most influential invaders and talking-up the Big Smoke’s most important ancient sites in the first two rounds of our Ancient World in London Bloggers Challenge, and got some fantastic responses from the blogosphere. In round three we’re posing a new question, to again be answered in blog form in competition for prizes both real and virtual. It’s sure to prove contentious: Should the British Museum return the Rosetta Stone to Egypt? This Ptolemaic era Egyptian stele – created in 196 BC and discovered by the French in 1799 at Rosetta in Egypt –…

  • sean-williams

    Is Queen Boudicca Buried Beneath London’s Kings Cross Station?

    Boudicca is one of ancient Britain’s biggest names: she’s even got her own statue overlooking Parliament. (Click to watch the Boudicca video) But for all today’s archaeological breakthroughs, we still don’t know where she’s buried right now. In fact, we don’t even know where she and the Romans played out a bloody denouement to the rebellion at the Battle of Watling Street. Even Tacitus and Cassius Dio, the Roman historians who chronicled the event, can’t agree whether she committed suicide or fell victim to illness. So where is Boudicca today, apart from the government’s doorstep? A host of elaborate locations…

  • owenjarus

    What was the Most Important Site in Ancient London? The Forum!

    After reading this title youre probably asking yourself why on earth would one consider a marketplace to be the most important ancient spot in London? London certainly has finds that lend more to the imagination. The Temple of Mithras was dedicated to the Persian god of light and the sun, Gladiators duelled in out in the Roman Amphitheatre, and if were willing to look outside of London Colchester had a Roman circus that has just been saved. So why did I choose a marketplace as my answer the question posed by Bloggers Challenge 2? Simply put, the forum, in the…

  • helen-atkinson

    My Favourite Ancient Spot in London – the Female Gladiator

    With all the buzz going on about the Ancient World in London Bloggers’ Challenge 2 competition, Ithought I’d weigh in with my own favourite ancient site in London – the grave of the Female Gladiator in Southwark. Now, admittedly, this is a classic case of the experience of the ancient world involving standing in front of one of those blue ceramic plaques imagining what a wild find was made there, since there’s nothing else to see. However, this is pretty inspirational stuff. The site, at 159 Great Dover Street in Southwark, was excavated in 2000 by the British Museum. The…

  • malcolmj

    Ancient World in London Bloggers Challenge 2: Winner Announced!

    The deadline has now passed for entries to round two of our Ancient World in London Bloggers Challenge, which saw a number of denizens of the ancient history blogosphere eagerly and eloquently state their case for the most important ancient site in London. We’re pleased to announce that the winner is Livius Drusus, from The History Blog, who argued a great case for Drapers’ Gardens – a little known archaeological site that has yielded a wealth of fascinating Roman remains. There were good shouts made for the grave of the female gladiator in Southwark – the spot where a great…