• world

    Missing In Action: 5 Armies That Vanished From History

    Thanks to GPS, satellite imaging and digital communication systems, it’s uncommon for so much as a solitary soldier to go missing on the battlefields of the 21st century. But in ancient times – when civilizations often knew precious little of the world outside their sometimes narrow boundaries – it was apparently possible for entire armies to march against a foreign foe and fall off the face of the earth altogether, without conclusive explanation. Myth has undoubtedly embellished – and in some cases overtaken – the truth behind the famous tales of vanished forces such as the Legio IX Hispana, which…

  • images

    Satellite Image: Stonehenge, England’s famous Stone Circle

    One of the most intriguing and mysterious ancient sites in Britain is Stonehenge, which continues to this day to captivate and fascinate the public. Standing in solitude in the hills of Wiltshire and pre-dating the pyramids of Egypt, the ‘henge‘ itself was constructed first. A henge is formed in the shape of a circular ditch and bank with a single entrance in the north-east section, but millennia of erosion and weathering means that tourists today may not notice it. However, thanks to GeoEye who have kindly provided Heritage Key with a high resolution map of the Stonehenge area, we can…

  • lyn

    Hello Toi Moko: Sweden Returns Tattooed Maori Heads to New Zealand

    Preserved Mori heads donated to a museum by a collector with a keen interest in natural history. A hand and a few odd bones gifted to a Swedish museum by a sea faring captain. According to details released this week to coincide with the repatriation of Mori ancestral remains to New Zealand, having a preserved head in the corner of your office at work was just the done thing during the 19th century. The recent return by two Swedish museums of Maori remains is part of a large-scale repatriation programme under way at New Zealands national museum. In all, some…

  • wadders

    Honey for my Honey: Ancient Aphrodisiacs

    Although Viagra was launched onto the market in 1998 as the new wonder drug for virility, what the makers didnt realise is that its actually been around naturally and has been used since the time of the pyramids. In ancient Egypt, the blue lily was linked to fertility and sexuality and now, thanks to the recent chemical analysis by the Egyptian section of Manchester Museum, it appears there is a scientific reason for this link – the chemical make-up of this plant contains phosphodiesters, the active ingredients of Viagra. The blue lily wasnt the only libido-booster used by the ancient…

  • images

    Sandro Vannini’s Photography – The Ritual Beds of King Tutankhamun

    Three ritual beds were found inside the Tomb of King Tutankhamun (KV62), made up of four pieces of gilded wood and bound together with hooks and staples. Assembly instructions were painted on the beds in black paint, with each bed representing a different animal deity. The ritual beds are on display at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where Dr JaniceKamrin explains the purpose and history behind them in a video for Heritage Key (You can watch that video by clicking here). Each bed was photographed by the renown Egyptology photographer Sandro Vannini, of which the images are brought to the…

  • lyn

    Optical Illusions: is That an Exhibition of Trompe l’œil Coming to Florence and Paris?

    Fancy pitting your powers of perception against some of historys masters of deception? Then heres your chance. Art and Illusions: Masterpieces of Trompe l’il from Antiquity to the Present Day, the first major exhibition on visual illusion to be held in Italy, is on at Florences Palazzo Strozzi until January 26. Visual illusion has been used in art for thousands of years to trick and deceive us. This exhibition is designed to chart this fascinating story of trompe lil, or optical deception; the story of the tug-of-war between reality and its simulation. The show places optical illusion not only in…

  • veigapaula

    Workers and/or Archaeologists: an Exhibition of the Hidden Hands Behind Petrie’s Egypt

    Unseen photographs by Flinders Petrie are now on temporary display in the Petrie Museum in London in an exhibition called Framing the Archaeologist: Portraits and Excavation. The photos were taken by Petrie on site in Egypt, featuring himself, his wife and the excavation workers, and offer a remarkable view of the early years of archaeology. To mark the exhibition, the museum hosted an informal talk between Stephen Quirke and documentary maker Ayman El-Kharrat, entitled Workers and/or Archaeologists: In Conversation, questioning the status of Bedouin workers involved in early excavations in Egypt. You can watch Dr Quirke in this video interview…

  • sean-williams

    Affairs, Orgies, Homosexuality, Prostitution, Beastiality: Too Much? The Eros Exhibition

    Today’s religious folk may be gearing up for the pious festive season, but it seems the ancient world just keeps on getting filthier: alongside gay Graeco-Roman pornography and rude Roman graffiti, one Athens museum has decided to celebrate all things raunchy in Ancient Greece. Starting today and ending on the 5th April next year, “Eros: From Hesiod’s Theogony to Late Antiquity” at the Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art will treat visitors to a cornucopia of ancient smut, from orgies and prostitution, to paedophilia and even beastiality. And while it may seem at loggerheads with today’s relatively constrained society, museum director…

  • malcolmj

    Christmas TV Guide: Our Pick of This Year’s Best Ancient World Telly

    No Christmas would be the same without many a wasted hour spent buried in the couch wiped-out on a bellyful of turkey and stuffing, or nursing a hangover after a Herculean nights mulled wine consumption flicking the channels in a dozy haze. It’s a Christmas tradition (although we can’t guarentee that it dates back as far as some other ancient seasonal rituals) This year you can spare yourself all those awful festive films and Christmas music videos youve seen a million times, by keeping Heritage Keys handy guide to ancient world-themed Christmas TV close at hand. All the old-school three-hours…

  • malcolmj

    How King Tut’s Tomb Avoided Robbery

    When the tomb was found it was completely by accident, explains Dr Zahi Hawass, of Howard Carters discovery of KV62, at the start of the final instalment of Heritage Keys four-part video interview series King Tut Revealed, filmed by Nico Piazza and featuring still photography by Sandro Vannini. Having already, in previous videos, disclosed the cause of Tutankhamuns death, shared his thoughts on the curse that apparently befalls all who tamper with the boy kings tomb, and revealed some of the jewellery and other treasures buried with the boy king, Hawass this time talks about tomb robbers in the Valley…