• Ann

    Tomb of Ken-Amun is First Ramesside Tomb Discovered in Lower Egypt

    The first ever Ramesside period tomb has been found in Lower Egypt. The 3300-year-old tomb – belonging to Ken-Amun, a government official – has been discovered by an SCAmission at Tell el-Maskhuta. The excavations have also revealed 35 Roman tombs. Click the images for a larger version. In a statement released by the antiquities council, Dr Zahi Hawass reported that the tomb is of very high quality, and beautifully decorated and inscribed with scenes known from the Ramesside Period. It dates to the 19th Dynasty (1315-1201 BC) and is constructed of mud brick and consists of a rectangular room with…

  • sean-williams

    AWiL Video Series – The History of Astronomy & the Secrets of Stonehenge

    Astronomy rarely leaves today’s headlines, be it the latest shuttle exploring the limits of our galaxy, or feverish paranoia over the Maya Doomsday Prophecy. Man has always been obsessed by the stars, and since our humble beginnings we’ve always gazed up at night, asking the same questions those tens of thousands of years ago have. We caught up with famed astronomer Paul Murdin at a special Ancient World in London event a month back, as he gave a talk about his book Secrets of the Universe. And as Paul describes, astronomical observations have been made for longer than we may…

  • images

    Sandro Vannini’s Photography – Wall Paintings of the Tomb of Montuemhat (TT34)

    The original excavation of TT34 – The Tomb of Montuemhat – was carried out by archaeologist Zakaria Gomein, upon the pressure unfortunately got the better of him and resulted in suidcide in a fascinating tale recounted by Dr Zahi Hawass (Watch the video).The project lead is now Dr Farouk Gomaa who is searching TT34 for the burial chamber of the diplomat Montuemhat, and explains his progress in a Heritage Key video (Watch the video). Egyptology photographer has been busy across Thebes, and TT34 has been just one of many of the tombs in the area where he has taken his…

  • Ann

    Fourteen Graeco-Roman Tombs Discovered at the Bahariya Oasis, Egypt

    A collection of 14 Graeco-Roman tombs, artefacts and a mummy dating to the third century BC have been discovered in a cemetery in the Ain El-Zawya area of Bawiti, a town in the Bahariya Oasis, Egypt. The find is early evidence of a large Graeco-Roman necropolis at the site. The tombs were found during excavation works ahead of the building of a local youth centre in the area, about 260 miles southwest of Cairo. Dr. Mahmoud Affifi, director of Cairo and Giza antiquities, said that the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) has halted construction and has started legal procedures to…

  • sean-williams

    Torah without the Bora: The Living Torah Museum, New York

    The likes of the British Museum, Louvre and Metropolitan may get the lion’s share of publicity, artefacts and controversy, but small museums are the staple of any dedicated culture lover. And while meandering through the interweb I came across Brooklyn’s Living Torah Museum, one of New York’s quaintest collections. While its illustrious downtown neighbours are afforded giant beaux arts buildings, the Living Torah Museum is in a private home in Borough Park, 1601 41st Street. Its surroundings may not be as epic as most museums, but its collection is not to be sniffed at: since its inception curator Rabbi Shimon…

  • malcolmj

    Alex Reid to Play Intellectual Caveman in New BBC Historical Costume Drama

    Knuckle-dragging, bare-chested, monosyllabic men who once had to rely on violence and brute strength to get by arent as stupid as we think at least judging by the news that ex-cage fighter Alex ‘Mr Katie Price’ Reid is to try his hand at acting, in a new BBC historical costume drama called 200BC. Oh, and cavemen were quite clever too it seems. Reids role is going to be as a prehistoric intellectual in the show, which will be based on growing evidence that Homo sapiens actually lived relatively sophisticated lives, contrary to our idea of them as club-wielding simpletons little…

  • sean-williams

    Ancient Astronomy: The Mad Greek Myth of the Milky Way

    According to Thesaurus.com, ‘moo-juice’ is a valid synonym for milk, a term soon to enter my local pub’s lexicon. I was trying to find something snappy for the title of this blog, on one of the best ancient myths I’ve ever heard. ‘Mad’ will do. Our next Ancient World in London video homes in on ancient astronomy, featuring famed astronomer Paul Murdin. Paul gave a special HKlecture on his book Secrets of the Universe last month, catching up with me afterwards for a chat on camera. And while the 25,000-year-old Ishango Bone might just be my favourite-ever ancient artefact, a…

  • owenjarus

    King Tut Stays Put: Toronto’s Tutankhamun Exhibit Extended Until May

    King Tut will be staying in Toronto for two more weeks. The Art Gallery of Ontario announced today that his departure will be delayed until May 2 due to demand for the exhibition. The shows next stop is Denver the start date of which remains unaffected. Visiting hours for the Toronto show have also been extended to accommodate the crowds. To accommodate weekend visitors, the Gallery has extended the exhibitions hours on Friday and Saturday evenings. Visitors will now be able to purchase tickets for entry at 4:30 pm, 5:00 pm, and 5:30 pm. The King Tut galleries will remain…

  • malcolmj

    Science Versus the Druids: Campaigners Lose Fight For Reburial of Charlie the Avebury Skeleton

    The 5,000-year-old skeleton of a young girl known as Charlie, found buried on a hilltop at Avebury in Wiltshire, will remain on public display at the nearby Alexander Keiller Museum where it has resided for 50 years.A campaign for its reburial by the Council of British Druid Orders (CoBDO) was defeated overwhelmingly by weight of government guidelines and expert and public opinion. The CoBDO argue that its disrespectful for the bones of our ancient ancestors to be stared at or stored in cardboard boxes in dark basements when not the immediate subject of study. In 2006 they selected Charlie who…

  • sean-williams

    The Ishango Bone – The World’s Greatest Ancient Artefact?

    While creating the next instalment of our Ancient World in London video series on ancient astronomy, we came across an odd little artefact called the Ishango Bone. Exotic-sounding, it’s little more than a knobbled baboon’s fibula, but the 25,000-year-old notches along its length are much more than a caveman’s conquests. Discovered in the then-Belgian Congo by Jean Heinzelin de Braucourt in 1960, the bone was first thought to be around 10,000 years old. Yet later tests pushed its date back another 15,000 years, around 20 millennia before the first-ever civilizations sprang from the Middle East. Today it remains on display…