• sean-williams

    Stonehenge and the Druids: Stonehenge, Bluestonehenge and River Avon

    “There’s a passing on of knowledge for over 1,500 years spanning the whole Bronze Age, between our Stone Age ancestors who built Stonehenge and our Druid ancestors who wrote down folklore that we now take from Ireland, Scotland and Wales,” says Stonehenge Druid Frank Somers. “And that means that folklore has earlier origins going right back.” We’re stood outside a stately Wiltshire manor on a blustery winter’s morning, self apparent in the unruliness of Frank’s flowing locks. Barely yards away lies Bluestonehenge, a stone circle even older than Stonehenge itself: 2009’s biggest discovery. But Frank sees it more than an…

  • Ann

    The Lost World of Old Europe in New York

    A splendid exhibition in New York – ‘The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley’ – brings to the United States for the first time more than 250 objects recovered by archaeologists from the graves, towns, and villages of Old Europe, a period of related prehistoric cultures that achieved a peak of sophistication and creativity between 5000 and 4000BC in what is now southeastern Europe. The cultures mysteriously collapsed by 3500 BC, possibly brining a shift from female to male power. The exhibition – made possible through loan agreements with over 20 museums in Romania, Bulgaria, and Moldova –…

  • owenjarus

    Toronto Terracotta Warriors show will be biggest ever in North America

    Heritage Key has learned that the Terracotta Warriorsexhibition, whichiscoming to Toronto in June, will be the largest one ever seen in Canada or the United States. Right now the warriors are at the National Geographic Museum in Washington DC. That show, containing more than 100 objects (including 15 terracotta figures), is billed on its website as being the largest display of terracotta figures and tomb artifacts ever to travel to the US. Dr. Dan Rahimi, of the Royal Ontario Museum, dropped Heritage Key a tantalizing nugget of information today in an interview. In response to a question he said that…

  • egypt

    Interview: Barry Kemp on the Latest Findings of the Amarna Project

    “There is no other site like it,” states the introductory paragraph on the website of the Amarna Project – the body which, since 2005, has been responsible for excavations and research at Tell el-Amarna, the short-lived capital city of the “heretic pharaoh” Akhenaten (who may well have been King Tut‘s dad) in the 14th century BC. As a living site, Tell el-Amarna is perhaps unparalleled in all of Egypt in terms of scale, ready accessibility and quality of preservation. Professor Barry Kemp – of the University of Cambridge – is the director of the Amarna Project, and also the chairman…

  • Ann

    Journey through the afterlife: the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead coming to the British Museum

    Never before the Book of the Dead has been the focus of such a major exhibition as the one upcoming at the British Museum in November this year. Rumours of the exhibition started to surface (or at least, reach my ears) ever since the Colloquium on the Book of the Death last year, but was only recently confirmed. ‘Journey through the afterlife: the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead’ will focus on how the ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead was thought to guide the deceased safely through the dangers of the underworld, ultimately (hopefully) ensuring eternal life. The Book…

  • owenjarus

    Tombs of the Pyramid Builders Discovered in Giza, Egypt

    There is exciting news breaking right now in Egypt. An archaeological team led by Dr. Zahi Hawass has discovered several new tombs that belong to the workers who built the pyramids of Khufu and Khafre. This is the first time to uncover tombs like the ones that were found during the 1990s, which belong to the late 4th and 5th Dynasties (2649-2374 BC), said Dr. Hawass in the press release. When we think of Giza we tend to think of the Giza Pyramids. However, while the pyramids were under construction, there was an extensive city to the south that supported…

  • rome

    Vespasian – Roman Emperor of Toilets, and Humour

    A Little-known Fact A little-known fact about the emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus is that he shares his name with a common word for public latrines in Italian. Not only were the antique communal latrines, such as those at Ostia Antica – see photo – referred to as ‘vespasiani’, but modern-day urinals in Italy, including the portable plastic versions often seen outside stadiums, also go by that name. This is quite an unflattering namesake for an emperor who was, on the whole, perceived as being mild, generous and fair. It makes Vespasian possibly the only historical figure to have lent his…

  • veigapaula

    CRE XI – Religion and more Religion; Egyptology versus Egyptomania

    CRE XI’s Religion Day – if you’ve missed day 1 of the Egyptology conference, read up here – started off with Susanne Tpfer from Leipzig. In this very very interesting session, we all heard about how some papyri describing embalming rituals can have direct connections to religion myths as the body and the afterlife were treated with the best care. Many publications have been published on Papyrus Boulaq 3 in Cairo, from 1871 to 2009. The position of body parts, the instructions on the application of anointments and other products onto the body of the deceased, how the bandages should…

  • images

    Sandro Vannini’s Photography – The Ceremonial Chariot

    There were six Ceremonial Chariots discovered in the Tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62), all dismantled in order to be able to take them down through the narrow corridors. In addition to the discovered chariots were miscellaneous fittings which would have belonged to other chariots. Sandro Vannini, the Egyptology photographer who has captured on film some of most stunning artefacts in history, took photographs of the State Chariot – the most beautifully decorated of the six found in the chamber – and the images are bought exclusively to the internet by Heritage Key. The discovery of the ceremonial chariots were made…

  • sean-williams

    Biggest Saqqara Tomb Discovered

    Two large tombs have been discovered at the ancient Egyptian necropolis of Saqqara – one of which is the largest ever found at the site. The 26th Dynasty tombs, likely robbed during the Roman era, are nonetheless filled with important arefacts including coffins, skeletons, pottery and mummified eagles. The tombs, discovered by an Egyptian archaeological mission from the Supreme Council of Antiquities, are at the Ras El Gisr area of Saqqara, near the landmark’s entrance. Both tombs are cut into the hills of the region: the larger first tomb is hewn from limestone while the other is mud-brick. The larger…