An archaeological team, led by University of Toronto professor Tim Harrison, has uncovered a cache of tablets in a temple thatwas built duringthe ‘Dark Age’ period, after the collapse of several Bronze Age civilizations. The temple is at the site of Tayinat in southeastern Turkey. Tayinat has a long history, which stretches from the early Bronze Age (nearly 5,000 years ago) to the end of the Iron Age, about 2,500 years ago. The ‘Dark Age’ is a period that begins around the 12th century BC It sees the simultaneous collapse of several civilizations in Europe and the Middle East. In…
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More than two thousand Egyptophiliacs lined up outside Clowes Memorial Hall for what Director of Operations Karen Steele informed me was a sold-out house. Even as funding for the arts is being cut, an event like this sells out in days.” It would not be too much of an exaggeration to say Zahi Hawass’s lecture, The Mysteries of King Tut Revealed, had the feel of a rock concert. We were there to see a star. What secrets would he reveal tonight? What announcements would he make? The evening began with a brief introduction by Mark Lach, Senior Vice President of…
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If you were planning on including a bit of Roman heritage in your Summer travel plans, then it’s worth bearing in mind that you don’t have to make the trip all the way to Rome to see something as impressive as the Colosseum. South eastern France was annexed by the Romans as early as 125 BC and the region is rich with a wide variety of monuments dating from the empire that brought it aqueducts, villas, wine and roads more than 2,000 years ago. Here is a look at some of the main Roman heritage sites to discover in the…
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You know something’s in vogue when it pops up on The Onion, the world’s best-known satirical newspaper. And so it was this week that immortality-seeking First Emperor of China Qin Shi Huang made the grade following the ‘discovery’ beneath Disney World in Orlando of a “legion of terra-cotta Mouseketeers”. According to the spoof article which was kindly sent to us by one of our Heritage Experts, Ethel Davies a Disney World maintenance crew discovered more than 8,000 ‘Mouseketeers’ underneath Cinderella Castle. The statues were thought to date back to 300BC. It was likely constructed during the Pre-Eisnerian period, one of…
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Egyptology researcher Paula Veiga, author of Health and Medicine in Ancient Egypt: Magic and Science is fascinated by the ancient Egyptians’ concepts of health and medical practice. We caught up with her to chat about religion, medicine and magic, and what lessons health professionals can learn from studying the ancient world. HK: Your background is in tourism – how did you go from tourism to religion, infectious diseases, medicine and magic in Egypt? PV: I have been attracted to ancient history since I was a child, and I collected all those National Geographic editions on ancient civilisations – my favourite…
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This recent entry on Blogging Pompeii is a good reminder that tramping around a dusty, dry forum or the streets of Pompeii under a hot mid-day sun is not the only way to get to see a bit of history this summer. How about visiting some Roman ruins in a rather cooler, shadier location but you’ll need your snorkelling mask and flippers. Naples is full of tourists at this time of year – most of them head to the crowd magnets of Pompeii, Herculaneum, the historical centre of Naples with its museum and the island of Capri. But to the…
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A rare find has emerged at the excavation of Vindolanda: a stone altar dedicated to an eastern god, Jupiter of Doliche. The third-century AD altar forms part of a ‘unique religious shrine’, which was uncovered near the north gate of the fort last month. Vindolanda is a former Roman fort and garrison, forming part of the heritage site of Hadrian’s Wall, running from Carlysle to Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the north of England. The altar, weighing about 1.5 tons, was dedicated by a prefect of the Fourth Cohort of Gauls. The words are inscribed on the altar are: I.O.M. Dolocheno Sulpicius Pu…
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Archaeologists from the Varna Archaeological Museum working near the picturesque Black Sea town of Byala, Bulgaria have rediscovered a late antiquity fortress from the country’s early Byzantine period. A Christian basilica has also been discovered at the site, which is believed to have been a settlement of some importance during the reigns of Anastasius I (491 – 518 AD) and Justinian I (527 – 565 AD). However the settlement has not yet been located. The impressive fortress has in fact been discovered before, by Hermingild and Karel Skorpil – the founders of Bulgarian archaeology – as far back as 1892.…
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Good news for Maya fans feeling the pinch of recession – Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology (INA) has brought the enigmatic 7th century AD city of Palenque into everyone’s homes with an exciting new online virtual experience. Located in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, Palenque has long been a place of mystery; its majestic buildings, wrapped in a harlequin layer of vines and other flora, evoking dreams of adventure and romance. You almost want to slap on a fedora and crack a whip when you look at the unhinged magnitude of the Temple of Inscriptions, or the crumbling beauty…
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On a recent trip to the British Museum, it occured to me:”Who owns all this?” It’s a pretty complex question to be asking though. As I wandered past the Elgin Marbles, I overheard a couple of tourists discussing how Greece wanted the ancient relics back. Apparently hacking the marbles off the Parthenon and shipping them over to show in the British Museum doesn’t sit too well with our Greek friends. Go figure. Should the museums of the world, packed full of “stolen” ancient treasures and permanently borrowed artefacts from around the globe start returning the wares back to the countries…