Kilmarnock’s Dick Institute is the latest museum to be hit by mummymania, as it welcomes the mummy and coffin of an ancient Egyptian High Priest to an otherworldly exhibition. ‘The Journey Beyond – Ancient Egypt and Prehistoric Ayrshire’ will compare attitudes to life and death in two very different corners of the world: Egypt and southwest Scotland. Local Neolithic, Iron Age and Bronze Age burial items from Ayrshire will show how Scotland’s early inhabitants held strong views about life after death. Yet the star of the show is bound to be the mummy and coffin of Iufenamun, a 21st –…
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One of the biggest archaeological discoveries ever made in China landed in America earlier this year. A trio of Tarim Mummies was brought to the United States for the first time in a special exhibit at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, California. The mummies are renowned for their unique appearance: while the ancient bodies were found well-preserved in Chinas western region, some of them bear more of a physical resemblance to early Europeans. People will have until July 25 to view the ancient bodies, but the American public will have two more chances to view the exhibit later this…
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Whether it has been called Uluru, Ayers Rock, or simply the Rock, Australias giant monolith has been the countrys spiritual heart for many thousands of years. But the death of a tourist on the site last month has reignited a heated controversy that just refuses to go away. The traveller was a 54-year-old man from the Australian state of Victoria. He collapsed and died while on his way down from the top of Uluru a steep, one-hour climb which is permitted by Australian but not Aboriginal law. Many myself included would argue that the death should not have happened at…
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Egypt announced today that a gold Umayyad coin was unearthed last Thursday during an excavation at the Monastery of St. John the Little, in the desert west of the Nile Delta. In a statement Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the SCA, said both sides of the well-preservedcoinare decorated with Kufic inscriptions, the oldest calligraphic form of the Arabic script. One side of the coin bears the name of Allah. The second side is inscribed: in the name of God the Merciful. The coin’s edge is decorated with the year it was minted. It dates to the year 103 of…
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Archaeologists last week discovered 45 ancient Egyptian tombs at the site of El-Lahoun, in the Fayum. In a statement issued by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni claims that a sarcophagus holding a mummy has been found in in each of the tombs, located about 70 miles from Cairo. One of the tombs unearthed during the dig is from the 18th dynasty (1550-1295 BC), and contains at least 12 wooden sarcophagi stacked on top of each other. Each of these sarcophagi is thought to hold a mummy covered in cartonnage. The mummies are decorated with religious…
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On June 26the Terracotta Warriors will be coming to the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada. Curated by the museums own Dr. Chen Shen,the showincludes 16 human terracotta figures, a terracotta horse and, yes, a terracotta dog (albeit from the Han period). In total there are about 250 artefacts -making it the largest warriors show ever to come to North America. Accompanyingtheexhibitionwill be a lecture series, the details of which the museum has just announced. Therewill be14 lectures in total, allof whichstart at7pm in the Eaton theatre, inside the museum itself. The price for one lecture is $28, going down…
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Getting up close and personal with the inner circle of Stonehenge is no mean feat. Despite ongoing campaigns by Druids to open up the henge completely, the iconic Wiltshire monument is fenced off most of the year, and while access during the spring equinox and the summer and winter solstices might be much more free and easy, its so busy its difficult to get properly acquainted with the great and mysterious standing stones in any meaningful way. But fear not there are a raft of Stonehenge tours to choose from, each of them offering something a little different. Whether youre…
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An ancient sarcophagus depicting a ‘human-headed dragon’ has been discovered on the Indonesian island of Bali. The 2,000-year-old artefact was found by brick-makers in the village of Blahbatu, in the historical district of Gianyar, last weekend. It is thought to have been uncovered by heavy rains. The sarcophagus was found just 100m from the spot where another similar one was excavated some months ago, which carried a turtle’s head design. Yet the latest find is thought to bear more resemblance to ancient sarcophagi discovered at the neighbouring town of Keramas. Bali’s Gianyar district is rich in ancient history, having been…
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The grave of Charlemagne, the Frankish king whose empire comprised most of western Europe in the 8th and 9th centuries AD, may be lost forever according to archaeologists. Experts have finally dispelled the popular theory that Charlemagne was buried in the atrium of Aachen Cathedral, finding no evidence earlier than the 13th century. Charlemagne, who was declared Emperor of the Romans by the Pope during his reign, is still thought to have been buried in the area. But with this setback experts are increasingly doubtful as to whether it will ever be discovered. Aachen archaeologist Andreas Schaub, who has worked…
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In philosophy there is a long-running discussion on whether or not the dead can be wronged. Our human or primate intuition seems to be that the dead can indeed be harmed. The philosopher Aristotle pointed out we’d better wait to call a person fortunate until some decades after his death: For it seems to some extent good and evil really exist for a dead man, just as they may exist for a man who lives without being conscious of them, for example, honours and disgraces, and generally the successes and failures of his children and descendents. Nowadays, it seems the…