• Ann - Articles & Blogs

    King Tut Unwrapped – Tutankhamun Mummy Forensics to Air on Discovery Channel

    When I wrote that it was most likely we’d see more conlusive information on King Tut’s pedigree on TV first, I obviously was wrong, partly. Spoiler alert:yes, King Tut died at age 19 of (in order) a failing immune system, a leg fracture and malaria, but for the the fine details, and juicy imagery, you’ll need to tune in to Discovery Channel’s ‘King Tut Unwrapped’. The network – which sponsored Egypt’s ‘mummy lab’ – promises us an unprecedented forensic investigation into the life and times of King Tut that reveals the identity of Tut’s parents and grandparents, details on his…

  • Ann

    Invaders of London – Roman War Pigeons

    Thanks to the Ancient World in London (and currently the books from Neal Stephenson) I’m quickly catching up on my history of London and neighbouring areas. I’m still far from an expert, or even seriously knowledgeable – hence I’ve decided to judge who the best invaders of London were on looks. Instantly the Silures – quite sexy in King Arthur, 2004 – spring to mind. Quite neglected when talking and writing about history, they would make the perfect entry… were it not that, unlike Boadicea, they never made it to London, and spent their days in Wales making sure the…

  • owenjarus

    Looted Artefacts Sold to Tourists in Israel Antiquities Scam

    A researcher has uncovered evidence of a widespread scam in Israel that results in tourists buying recently looted artefacts without their knowledge. Buying antiquities in Israel is legal if they were found before 1978, the year a major antiquities law was passed. There are numerous dealers in Israel, who are required to register with the Israel Antiquities Authority and keep an inventory of the artefacts they have for sale. Dr. Morag Kersel, of Brown University in the United States, has been studying the illegal antiquities trade in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Territories. Dr Kersel has been conducting interviews with…

  • helen-atkinson

    How to Save Cash and Live Forever: Brooklyn Museum Exhibition Reveals Secrets of the Thrifty Egyptians

    Ancient Egyptians faced tricky compromises over how they would be seen dead, a new exhibition at New York’s Brooklyn Museum reveals. “To Live Forever: Art and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt,” emphasizes the often unpalatably expensive options that lay before Ancient Egyptians when considering burial. They had to think long and hard about what they could afford in the afterlife. As has often been pointed out, the phrase “you can’t take it with you” had absolutely no purchase in Ancient Egypt, and the lengths to which humans were expected to go to demonstrate material wealth in the next life made…

  • Ann

    King Tut DNA Research and Cause of Death Finally Revealed?

    This Wednesday the long awaited results of the DNAresearch on King Tut’s mummy – and some of his possible family members – will be announced at a press conference with Egyptian Minister of Culture, FaroukHosni and Dr. Zahi Hawass. They will announce new discoveries surrounding the family of Tutankhamun and the cause of the young king’s death. The study on the family of Tutankhamun (keep an eye on all things Tut on our dedicated page) was conducted through the Egyptian Mummy Project (EMP) headed by Dr. Zahi Hawass, and a team composed of Egyptian scientists from the National Research Center,…

  • britain

    Climbing Everest is Not Enough for the Explorers Club’s British Chapter

    The Explorers Club’s Great Britain Chapter was founded as late as 1977, but its first chairman, Bill Egerton Sykes, was thoroughly invested in one of the great ancient mysteries – Atlantis. A British intelligence officer, Sykes had a lifetime fascination concerning Atlantis.  He lectured to the Explorers Club in New York in 1966 on this subject in 1966, and continued to investigate and gather evidence for the existence of this mythical lost continent until his death in 1983. These days, the Explorers Club, which doesn’t have a permanent venue in London but meets in various places four or five times…

  • site

    Miletus

    Attribution: Lazy B Millet Turkey Key Dates Miletus was first occupied at around 3500 to 3000 BC. Minoans occupied the area from around 1900 BC. The first settlers from Crete arrived in Miletus at around 1400 BC. The Greeks freed Miletus of Persian rule in 479 BC and famously rebuilt. Alexander the Great seized Miletus in 334 BC. It was annexed by the Romans in 133 BC. The Apostle Paul led his Third Missionary Journey through the city in 57 AD. Miletus’ first excavations commenced in 1873. Key People Hippodamus; the famous Greek architect who built Miletus as the world’s…

  • Ann

    Have an Ancient World-inspired Valentine’s Day and Win a Book!

    In need of some last-minute ‘background information’ on the history of Love and Romance, to spice up your Valentine’s Day (or impress a date with your knowledge)? Looking for some ancient Egyptian love poetry to go on the back of a card? After you’ve inceased your ‘Valentine Skills’, it’s time to join our Valentine’s competition:leave the best personal ad or declaration of love here in the comments, and get to choose your favourite book from the Thames &Hudson Spring collecti… errr.. catalogue. Browse our Valentine’s menu below for inspiration, or go win your book. On Heritage Key’s (historical) Valentine’s menu:…

  • nick-gilbert

    A History of Love – Romance and Relationships in Ancient Societies

    We’ve come a long way from the time when Ugg would mutter inanities to Uggetta in the cave, present her with a wad of crushed up flowers and move in for the kiss- and if she resisted he would reach for his club, gives it the old ‘knock on the head and drag away’ routine. Nowadays, for example, we do all the inanities on dating websites or in noisy bars. The rules of romance and courting have been shifting rapidly in the last 50 years and now many people are so clueless as to what they are supposed to do…

  • owenjarus

    Mysterious Ancient East Asian Body in Vagnari Could be the Son of a Concubine

    Who is the man in this picture? How did this fellow, whose maternal ancestry is East Asian, end up in a modest grave in southern Italy about 2000 years ago? Its an enticing question and one that has been in the news ever since Heritage Key announced the story of this mans discovery. Just a quick recap; a team of scientists based at McMaster University in Hamilton Canada have found that this man, buried in a Roman cemetery at Vagnari, in southern Italy, is of East Asian ancestry on this mothers side. They determined this through mitochondrial DNA testing. The…