Preservation of ancient sites is not a recent issue. Youve only to look at sites in Egypt and Turkey, and the perilous conditions of worldwide rock art, to see how the long term problems of increased visitors (and hence increased profits) affects an ancient site. But what happens when an ancient site gets in the way of industry? The findings from a study released by the Western Australian State Government in February this year found industry emissions from surrounding mining projects in the Burrup Peninsula area did not have an effect on the rock art, which some believe to be…
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Resins from pine and cashew trees, and Egyptian moringa oil: these are the essential ingredients of a rich woman’s beauty routine in Italy before the dawn of the Roman empire. The solid, yellow cream was found in an Egyptian alabaster vase belonging to an aristocratic Etruscan lady and is thought to be more than 2,000 years old. The results of a scientific analysis have just been published in July’s edition of Journal of Archaeological Science. While a concoction of these oils may not sound particularly attractive to modern women (let’s face it, the oily unction sounds like a sure pore-blocking…
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There are few ancient history exhibitions that actually lead people to take to the streets in protest – but the Dead Sea Scrolls is one of them. Last Friday a few dozen protesters took to the streets outside the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto to protest against the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit. At the same timea group of supporters of the exhibit staged a counter-protest right across the street. Videos, from both sides of the protests, have recently migrated onto youtube. Its the latest chapter in a series of events that have been playing out in the city since…
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The Riverside Project is the largest archaeological investigation ever carried out at Stonehenge. Its basic hypothesis is simple: that Stonehenge was a monument to the deceased, while the nearby Woodhenge and other timber circles in its vicinity were monuments to those still alive. The River Avon was the sacred connection between the two, “a kind of Styx,” comments Mike Parker Pearson, a professor in the Department of Archaeology at Sheffield University and director of the Riverside Project. “It was a river linking the living and the dead.” The success of the initiative – which first broke ground in 2003 and…
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In what seems like a strange coincidence, two astonishing discoveries providing evidence of the life of Saint Paul have been made within days of each other at two religious sites in Rome. First of all a fourth century fresco of the Christian saint was uncovered on 19 June at the Catacombs of Santa Thekla in Rome. Paul formerly Saul was a Hellenic Jew who converted to Christianity after his religious experience on the road to Damascus but was then executed during the reign of the emperor Nero between 60-67 AD. The Christian catacombs of Santa Thekla, closed to the public,…
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Us in the ‘modern world’ tend to think we’ve got the market cornered for most things, and partying is no different. Clubs, drugs, drink and casual sex may be frowned upon even by our elders at times, but it seems those in the ancient world had rather less stringent morals when it came to partying hard. And new research suggests the neon-lit acid haze of the eighties was far from the first movement to find a love for rave culture. It seems that rolling stones had barely been invented before the ancient world was partying like Keith Richards on closing…
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London may be one of the world’s greatest cities with a plethora of stunning heritage and monstrous museums, but no visit to England is complete without seeing some of the south of England’s incredible green scenery. Beginning on the south-eastern top of Greater London and stretching all the way down to the English Channel, Kent is not only one of England’s largest counties but one of its most beautiful. Luscious rolling hills and miles of green expanse give some parts of the area a Middle-Earthly look, and its villages and hamlets are among the nation’s most picturesque. Kent is also…
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Not even a month after 4 brave mummies left the Brooklyn Museum to have themselves scanned, and ‘Lady Hor’ proved to be a male mummy – “scrotum and penis pretty well preserved”, another round of mummy CSIuncovered yet another case of ‘transgender’ behaviour amongst mummies. The Birmingham Museum took three mummies to the Stafford Hospital in a bid to understand how these ancient Egyptians, whose bodied were later mummified, died. One of the mummies, from the Namenkhetamun of the 26th Dynasty (664-525BC), was described as ‘the daughter of Amunkhau’ on the coffin lid. But the scan has revealed the mummy…
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Ancient wall paintings were discovered in northern China in a 1,400-year-old royal tomb found during the construction of one of the country’s largest infrastructure projects, a national water transport system. The detailed frescoes found in the tomb in Cixian county in Beijing’s neighbouring Hebei province depict honour guard officials from the Northern Qi Dynasty (550-577), the report said. The tomb itself had belonged to Gao Xiaoxu, the male heir of an emperor in the Qi, archaeologists told the agency. The intricate images, painted on the walls of a 15-meters long passage, will prove useful in the study of the escort…
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Wookey Hole Caves, is planning to bring its ancient history to life by hiring a resident witch to live in the caves and teach tourists about their history and craft. Hours are seasonal, but this is no pocket money summer job the owners of the caves are offering 50k (pro rata) for the right witch. The original Wookey Witch is thought to have lived in the caves during Britains Dark Ages, and put a curse on a local romance, before being turned into a stallagtite in return. The Dark Ages are thought to have begun when the defeat of the…