Scientists discoveredthat the ancient Egyptians suffered from – what we often consider to be modern day – heart diseases too. Hardening of the arteries has been detected in Egyptian mummies, some as old as 3,500 years, suggesting that the factors causing heart attack and stroke are not only modern ones; they afflicted ancient people, too. “Atherosclerosis is ubiquitous among modern day humans and, despite differences in ancient and modern lifestyles, we found that it was rather common in ancient Egyptians of high socio-economic status living as much as three millennia ago,” says professor of cardiology Dr. Gregory Thomas. The nameplate…
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London-based photographer Herb Schmitz spends most of his time away travelling and photographing political figures, landscapes and fashion. It’s more of a hobby now, but Herb has had a long and successful career in photography. Little more then a year ago, while working for a shipping company, Herb had a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to visit Libya’s Roman city Leptis Magna. I met Herb Schmitz in his studio to create this video interview, shot by film-maker Samantha Newton, in which he describes his experience photographing this amazing site, and his cameras of choice. Archaeologists from the University of Hamburg were excavating along…
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The Terra Cotta Warriors, guardians of China’s first emperor, are headed to Washington, DC, USA! I will excitedly be among those with a first look at the largest Chinese cultural and historical exhibit ever to come to the United States! An excerpt from the website: Soldiers. Charioteers. Archers. Musicians. Generals. Acrobats. Nearly 2,000 years ago, thousands of life-size clay figures were buried in massive underground pits to accompany China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, into the afterlife. Their discovery outside the city of Xi’an in 1974 is one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century. Now, you will stand…
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One of Israel’s leading archaeologists has publicly condemned the Israel Antiquities Authority’s failure to object to a plan to construct a part of the Western Wall Heritage Center over a site where a well-preserved ancient Roman road was recently excavated. The construction area has been designated for religious purposes since Israel took control of the Western Wall in 1967. The building would include a 4,800-square meter, three-story museum and educational institute that would display the Roman road on the ground floor, but Yoram Tsafir told Haaretz.com even the most amazing architect will not be able to avoid damaging the find…
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Experts working at an ancient Inca archaeological site claim three skulls discovered in a ceremonial vessel prove the civilisation cut off the heads of their enemies. The skulls were found by a Peruvian team digging at the ancient ceremonial centre of Qowicarana Ridge, just north of Cuzco. Now the team hopes to find the remains of the trio’s bodies, to prove whether they were actually decapitated – either during or after battle. Washington Camacho, director of Sacsayhuaman Archaeological Park, says the heads most likely belong to rival chiefs (curacas) or religious leaders of enemy tribes. The heads would have been…
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Austrian archaeologists have unearthed the oldest cuneiform seal inscription fragment ever found in Egypt. The piece dates to the Old Babylonian reign of King Hammurabi, who brought the world its first code of law, between 1792 – 1750 BC. Egypt’s culture minister Farouk Hosni announced the discovery today, made by the Austrian Archaeological Mission in a pit at Tel El-Daba, modern name of ancient Avaris, 120km north-east of Cairo in the Nile Delta. Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities chief, noted the seal was the second of its type excavated in the region. The first seal had been found in the…
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We are just one week away from King Tuts stop at theArt Gallery of Ontario, in Toronto Canada. The Canadian exhibition will feature artefacts from the Tutankhamuns reign including the largest statue of King Tut ever found. The exhibit aims to go beyond Tut andgive viewers a lookat what Egypt was like during the Amarna period. On November 20, Heritage Key will be at at the media preview of the King Tut exhibit. We will be publishing a fullwrite-up before it opens on November 24. In conjunction with the Tut exhibit, the art gallery will be holding a lecture series…
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It’s the most exciting project in Egypt, and one that’s captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world: could Kathleen Martinez have discovered the tomb of Cleopatra? The Dominican expert certainly thinks so, and tells Heritage Key all about it in this special video. A Long Route to Egypt It has taken Dr Martinez ten years to convince herself Taposiris Magna, just outside Alexandria, is the famous queen’s final resting place. And she knew from the off she had to get out in the field herself to have any chance of finding the tomb. “I needed to…
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Description Some of the most asked questions about King Tutankhamun have centred around his death, and whether he was murdered. Dr Zahi Hawass enlightens us in this video on how the latest technology has been used to find the answer this question. Using radiology and CT scans to examine the remains of King Tut, science has helped to identify an ancient fracture and a hole in the back of the Boy King’s head. This video is the first in a series of videos about King Tutankhamun, so be sure to keep checking back for the next video! You can read the accompanying…
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While most people are still able to (albeit it probably a bit incorrectly) answer what an archaeologist does, anthropologists are a species less known to the general public and media. Derived from the Greek ‘anthropos’ (human), anthropology means, ‘the social science that studies the origins and social relationships of human beings’ according to the Princeton WordNet, and is most often used to refer to ‘cultural anthropology’. But anthropology student Dai Cooper is doing her bit to make the discipline just that bit more famous… on YouTube. In just a few weeks, the ‘Anthropology Song: A little bit Anthropologist’ has become…