The King Arthur we are familiar with is a literary figure, but was he also a historical one? In my book Revealing King Arthur: Swords, Stones and Digging for Camelot, I show how archaeologists over the last 50 years have interpreted the evidence from Dark Age Britain. At first they were happy to link their discoveries to legendary names. Then came a backlash, when Arthurian links were ignored or derided. Now, new discoveries have raised again the possibility of a real King Arthur. The HISTORY channel documentary King Arthur’s Round Table Revealed (video preview) brings together the leading experts to…
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Triesman slammed the Spanish, then we berated an Italian before surrendering to the Germans. But it’s a Macedonian England’s hierarchy should have studied before the country’s calamitous World Cup campaign. Alexander the Great didn’t get his name for nothing, but the way in which his empire imploded should have been a lesson to the FA long before its capitulation on Sunday. The Lesson Alexander the Great was born to be a leader. A son of Philip II of Macedon, Alexander enjoyed an unrivalled education under the tutelage of Aristotle. Aged just 19 he’d been handed the reigns of the empire,…
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Dancing semi-naked on top of Australia’s most famous ancient site isn’t the best way to ingratiate yourself with the locals, as a 25-year-old ‘exotic dancer’ has found out. French-born Alizee Sery had a friend film her climbing Uluru, stripping off and dancing in bikini bottoms, cowboy boots and a bushman’s hat. The video, which appeared on a Northern Territory news site, has sparked outrage among Australia’s indigenous leaders, who have likened Sery’s actions to someone “defacating on the steps of the Vatican”. Sery was unapologetic, claiming that her performance was a “tribute” to the traditional owners. “My project is a…
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A Toronto newspaper is reporting that Chinese President Hu Jintao may kick-off the Terracotta Warriors exhibit, at the Royal Ontario Museum, on June 26. It will be the largest Terracotta Warriors show ever displayed in North America featuring 250 artefacts in total including 16 human terracotta figures. It’s opening day coincides with the start of the G20 summit in Toronto, which the president will be attending. The Toronto Starreports that the president and his wife Liu Yongqing have been formally invited by the museum. Were hoping, but we know there are lots of things on their agenda, exhibit curator Dr.…
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‘Alexander‘ – even today, 23 centuries after his death, his name still has the power to inspire. His achievements have stood the test of time and remain amongst the most remarkable in the whole annals of military history. With an army of typically only around 40,000 men, he conquered the largest, richest and most powerful empire the world had ever seen; and all of this in less than a decade. When Alexander became king, his military career began when he launched a campaign against Macedonia’s northern neighbours. This is a campaign that we know little about, but we can assume…
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Stonehenge summer solstice 2010 is to be marked by the debut of a 25ft-high steel statue. ‘The Ancestor’, created by local sculptors Andrew Rowlings and Michelle Topps with help from Druids and the local community, will sit 70m from the stone circle and provide an alternative focus of revelry and worship at sunrise, easing congestion within Stonehenge itself. The Ancestor is as tall as a double-decker bus, and weights a huge seven tons. It has been shrouded in secrecy until today to prevent a further swell of people visiting the already overcrowded event in Wiltshire, which tonight is thought to…
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The ‘sustainable and affordable’ new Stonehenge visitor centre has been scrapped, because the government can’t afford it. The 25m ($37m) project, which was given the go-ahead in January by then-Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, has been axed after a review of all government spending decisions made since the beginning of the year. The news will come as a huge shock to English Heritage, owners of Stonehenge, and local and national tourism firms, who have hoped the new centre, 1.5 miles away from the stone circle, could make Stonehenge a more attractive proposal. The timing of the move seems particularly bad with…
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This is the most exciting archaeological story of 2010. Once again the University of Bristol is leading the world in research. And I am lucky enough to be going back to my favorite university today to hear this groundbreaking new evidence of Princess Edith’s legend. Scientists will announce that bones excavated in Magdeburg Cathedral in 2008 are those of SaxonQueen Eadgyth (‘Edith of England’) who died in AD 946. Crucial scientific evidence came from teeth preserved in the upper jaw. The bones are the oldest surviving remains of an English royal burial. The original excavations (view the 2006-2009 excavation here)…
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While the golden kings exhibition has left Canada for southern climes, those in Vancouver will have an opportunity to learn more about him and more specifically how his artefacts reinforced his position as pharaoh. Professor Katja Goebs research looks at Egyptian pharaohs and the artefacts that cement their hold on power. Her most recent book Crowns in early Egyptian Funerary Literature: Royalty, Rebirth, and Destruction, examines the white and red crowns ofUpper and Lower Egypt. They possess a wide-ranging symbolism that transcends the terrestrial sphere to encompass the divine and the cosmos, death and rebirth, she wrote in the book…
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The Spanish Culture Ministry have announced that the Caves of Altamira the so-called Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic art are to reopen after eight years of closure, despite serious warnings from scientists that the world-famous ancient drawings and polychrome rock paintings within may suffer irrevocable damage from moisture generated by visitors. In a statement to reporters on Tuesday, Spanish Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde and the sites board of directors announced that public access will resume before the end of this year, albeit on an unspecified, restricted basis. The cave complex located in the Cantabria region of northern Spain, and first discovered…