An ‘amazing’ Neolithic temple has been unearthed on the northern Scottish island of Orkney, which ‘dwarfs’ its more famous prehistoric neighbours. The 7000 – 1700 BC monument was discovered beneath the strip of land dividing Harray Loch and Stenness Loch, and is the latest addition to an area which already boasts an incredible archaeological heritage. The temple may be sandwiched between the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness – but at 65ft long and similarly wide, the newly uncovered temple far eclipses its illustrious company for size. Though the building has remained hidden to this day its…
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Archaeology is one of the world’s favourite past-times. Cavalier aristocrats, hard-nosed scientific geniuses – and no small amount of controversy, deceit and downright quackery. Here are a few fascinating facts to get your archaeological expertise under way. 1. One of the most famous archaeologists of all time is the 18th-19th century Venetian explorer Giovanni Batista Belzoni. By discovering the incredible ‘Young Memnon’ statue of Ramesses the Great and opening Seti I’s magnificent tomb, Batista has nailed down his place as one of Egyptology‘s biggest pioneers. Yet Belzoni spent his early years parading round circuses as a strongman. At 6ft 7in…
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I hate going all the way to a heritage site, armed with a camera in one hand and a carrier bag with a day’s supplies, only to find the subject I was hoping to grab the perfect photograph of is now partially hidden behind scaffolding. Restoration works are a vital part of conserving our heritage, but why can it not be done when I’m not trekking along to take a photograph! Well Xavier Fargas bears no such handicaps when it comes to producing a stunning image of a relic being restored. The Pyramid of Djoser, Saqqara, Egypt was his subject,…
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In an adventurous and decidedly tall tale swarming with giant bats and poison spiders and strewn with places called exotic things like The Well of the Soul and the Hidden Realm of Sokar (the words Jones, Indiana and too much spring to mind), British explorer Andrew Collins will next month tell the full story of what he claims to be his discovery of the long lost subterranean realm of the Egyptian pharaohs. How much hard fact will be contained in his new book Beneath the Pyramids: Egypts Great Secret Uncovered (due for release in September) seems dubious, but it should…
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The discovery of a 9,000 year-old Stone Age house on the Isle of Man has raised an impromptu debate about the dietary habits of Britain‘s early inhabitants. The discovery, made during construction at Douglas’ Ronaldsway Airport, comprises a 23ft wide pit, dug down 12 inches. The dwelling is encompassed by six postholes which contain carbonised timbers, suggesting the home’s supports were around six inches thick. The building contains some simple stone tools, such as hammers and anvils, and 14,000 fragments which would have once been tools – yet possibly the most intriguing discovery at the site is its large burial…
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As well, presumably, as a few meticulously dug escape tunnels, archaeologists excavating adjacent to Belmarsh Prison in Plumstead, Greenwich, have discovered what theyre describing as Londons earliest timber structure. Comprising a wooden platform or trackway, buried 4.7 metres deep in a peat bog, its been radiocarbon-dated at 6,000 years old. Thats 500 years earlier than Stonehenge, and about 700 years earlier than the previous oldest-known example the timber trackway discovered at Silverton dating to around 3340-2910 BC. Whats so special about a very old plank of wood, you ask? For prehistoric Londoners, the wetlands surrounding the River Thames were a…
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Last year’s excavation already provided clear evidence that Brading was an important Roman site before the villa and its mosaics were built, something that is now – yet again, there was already the sheer size of the North Building – confirmed by the find of a full Roman bath suite – complete with hot baths and a cold plunge pool. The 2009 Big Dig at the Brading Roman Villa on the Isle of Wight – not to be confused with the London Big Dig, which aims at ‘starting archaeologists’ only – started on the 2nd of August, and will last…
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A team of archaeologists, archaeology students and volunteers have made a major discovery in rural Perthshire, Scotland, and are opening it up to the public this Sunday. The removal of a four ton sandstone slab, discovered last summer at Forteviot, revealed a meticulously constructed Bronze Age-period burial chamber, containing a number of metal and crucially organic remains. The tomb is thought to have belonged to a dignitary of significant importance who lived between around 2300 and 2100 BC, in a region rich with historical connections stretching from the Neolithic period through to medieval times. The dig was headed up by…
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Zahi Hawass has arguably given more than anyone to the field of Egyptology – but now he needs your help, as he aims to raise $2 million to employ the world’s best Egyptologist as professor at Cairo’s American University. The esteemed archaeologist has been Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) for over seven years, and has dedicated most of his adult life to the wonders and mysteries of the ancient civilization. Now he wants to pass the baton to Egypt’s younger generation in style: I always say that to like something is not enough, to love something…
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There are currently two* ‘explorer robots’ active in Egypt:the Japanese robot researching the Osiris Shaft – it got as far as it could though, and a ‘snake robot’ might be needed to explore further – and the Leeds robot taking a more thorough look at the shafts in the the Great Pyramid of Cheops. Although the ‘Leeds robot’ just began the actual investigation of the secret doors last week, Dr. Hawass revealed at his lecture that on the 31th of July the Leeds team already had a major breakthrough. But that was all information Dr. Zahi was willing to share…