Summer Solstice Each year on the 21th of June visitors from around the world gather at Stonehenge overnight to mark the summer solstice and to see the sunrise above the stones. Live from Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2010 – Pictures, Tweets & Trading Cards The Summer Solstice 2010 at Stonehenge Practical Information Stonehenge and the Solstices – What’s a solstice? Why is this important ? The Solstice at Stonehenge Virtual – Can’t make it to the famous stone circle? Experience the solstice online in our 3D reconstruction! Live music starts at 9pm UK time. Photographs from the 2009 Summer Solstice History The iconic…
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The first day of the ‘Achievements and Problems of Modern Egyptology‘ conference was full of new discoveries, though it started on a typically soggy Moscow day. After participants arrived at the Presidium of Russian Academy of Sciences on comfortable buses, they went in and received a slightly altered conference program – containing lecture lists and ‘Return to Egypt’; a book about the history of Russian Egyptology. The conference started with an opening speech by vise-president of Russian Academy of Sciences Alexander D. Nekipelov, dedicated to the history, development and achievements of Russian archaeology in Egypt, from the research of Vladimir…
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Canada probably isnt the first place you think of when it comes to Latin. The countrys rather chilly climate doesnt exactly inspire images of the Mediterranean. By the time the language arrived in the country, in the 16th century, Latin was a long dead language. There is no evidence that any ancient Roman ever set foot in this land. Nevertheless, according to this article written by the Globe and Mails Ingrid Peritz, Latin is becoming an increasingly popular subject in the countrys post-secondary institutions. Peritz’s article reports that, in general, enrolment in Latin classes has been rising in recent years.…
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The recession isnt being kind to the ancient world. Two leading publishers of history titles have just gone bust, and there are fears that more will follow. Italian publishers White Star have become the latest victim, following British publisher Thalamus into receivership last month. White Star, which opened in 1984, was one of Italys leading publishing house and one of Italian publishings star exporters. Its extensive multi-lingual catalogue features more than 600 titles ranging from archaeology, art and nature to technology, photography, ethnology, mountaineering and marine biology. Its impressive archaeology and civilisations collections alone carry something from every corner of…
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To say that archaeologist Sarah Milledge Nelson has had a productive career would be a gross understatement. The University of Denver archaeologist has held the John Evans professorship. A position that every faculty member, at her university, competes for, but only one person gets each year. She wrote the book on Korean archaeology – literally – and has written or co-written somewhere in the neighbourhood of a dozen books, as well as numerous articles. She’s done fieldwork throughout Korea and extensive work at Niuheliang, a Neolithic site in China. She even pens works of historical fiction. Right now she’s working on…
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An incredible ancient settlement off Britain‘s south coast that could ‘rewrite the history books’ is in danger of being swept away, unless archaeologists secure enough funding to launch full-scale excavations by next year. Experts have been astounded by the discovery of 24 worked timber fragments found on underwater diving expeditions to an underwater cliff of Bouldner, on the north coast of the Isle of Wight. Hundreds of objects such as flint, charcoal, hazelnuts, string and the remains of a longboat have been found alongside the fragments, which many feel are the remnants of a huge structure built over 8,000 years…
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Hot on the heels of Scottish Archaeology Month comes the Highland Archaeology Festival, from October 3-18 a fortnight of over 100 events, activities and open days, most of them free, giving the public a great chance to get hands on with the picturesque northern regions abundant heritage. As well as the archaeology of the Highlands, the festival will also celebrate its history, landscape and culture, through all from guided walks to family events, self-guided trails, archaeological surveys, evening lectures and exhibitions. Highlights will include an archaeology in action session at the famous Eilean Donan Castle in Skye and Lochalsh, a…
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Crushed teeth, sore eyes and itchy skin. Sound bad? This was the fate that befell central Europeans 13,000 years ago, according to new research. A study released by Aarhus University’s Felix Riede and Jeffrey Wheeler of the University of Cambridge suggests that particles shot into the sky by a huge supervolcano eruption were about twice as hard as human teeth. This led to widespread devastation of the region’s plant and animal life, and would have left local human tribes stranded to face the wrath of the volcano’s destruction. The explosion came from Laacher See (Lake Laach), central Europe’s only caldera,…
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Salima Ikram Leading Expert on Animals in Ancient Egypt Professor Salima Ikram is one of the world’s leading authorities on animals in Ancient Egypt, and has published several books about the culture, which she has loved since childhood. Dr Ikram currently holds the post of Professor of Egyptology at Cairo’s American University, and frequently appears in magazines and on television to discuss Egypt. She is also a grantee of the National Geographic Society’s Committee for Research and Exploration. Born in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1965, Dr Ikram studies Egyptology and Archaeology at Pennsylvania’s Bryn Mawr College. She then earned a M.Phil.…
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If youre wondering where Scandinavians got their blonde hair and impressive bone structure from then you can tick hunter-gatherers who inhabited the region at the end of the Ice Age off your list. It seems that an immigrant people from the Eastern Baltic region, who drifted into modern Scandinavia in the Stone Age around the time of the advent of farming are the real genetic ancestors of modern Swedes, Danes and Norwegians and even the Saami people of northern Scandinavia, according to new research straddling the boundaries of genetics and archaeology. The study, published recently in the journal Current Biology,…