The good citizens of Milwaukee are set for a mummifying experience. From December 17, 2010 to May 20, 2011 the exhibit Mummies of the World will be hitting the Milwaukee Public Museum. The exhibit features 150 human and animal mummies showcasing mummification practices from around the world. The ‘Mummies of the World’ touring exhibit is currently on at the California Science Center. Egypt is famous for its mummies, but the practice is seen in many other cultures. The bogs of Northern Europe allow for mummification, as does the hot arid climate of Peru. Mummification techniques have even been used in…
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Dr Harry Sidebottom is a Fellow of St Benets Hall and lecturer at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he specializes in ancient warfare and classical art. He has an international reputation as a scholar, having published widely on ancient warfare, classical art and the cultural history of the Roman Empire. Harry is also a presenter on Ancient Discoveries for The History Channel and the best-selling fiction author of the Warrior of Rome series. With his first two novels in the Warrior of Rome series (Fire in the East and King of Kings), set in the fragmenting Roman Empire of the later…
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Scientists have made a reconstruction of a 10,000 year old ancient woman, based on the skeletal remains found near Mexico’s Caribbean coast. Surprisingly, the reconstruction resembles people from Southeastern Asia,rather than Northern Asia. In 2002, divers discovered the remains of an Ice Age woman at an underwater cave 4.5 km from Tulum, on the Ycutan Peninsula. The well-preserved remains 90% complete are estimated to be between 10,000 and 12,000 years old. Based on the skeleton, experts have now reconstructed what Mujer de las Palmas (The Woman of the Palms) must have looked like with surprising results. The body structure, skin…
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Attribution: Wikimedia Commons Key Dates The museum was founded in 1823. Bogotá Colombia The Colombian National Museum is the largest in Colombia, and is located in a huge building complex in the capital city Bogotá. he building itself was constructed in 1823, and was based on the Panopticon, an Orwellian prison devised by 18th century British social philosopher Jeremy Bentham (whose ‘mummy’ now resides in London’s UCL). The museum’s collections number over 20,000 pieces spanning thousands of years of Colombian and pre-Colombian history, from 10,000 BC to the 20th century. 2,500 items are on display at the museum, whose departments…
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The BBC has officially announced its TVschedule for this autumn and winter, promising its audience a big focus on history, with new programmes and new presenters. What to expect from the Beeb this autumn and winter, when the rain and cold keeps you locked into your home? The autumn & winter 2010/2011 programming includes ‘Behind Closed Doors’ with Amanda Vickery, ‘The Do-Gooders’ with Ian Hislop and programming to mark the Battle of Britain’s 70th anniversary, with a drama-documentary based on Geoffrey Wellum’s book, First Light. Ancient history specials served on these coldand dark winter nights will be ‘Pompeii’with Mary Beard,…
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Attribution: Image by Cubby Bear Key Dates 100 This marble relief from Halikarnassos (modern-day Turkey) is thought to be carved on the occasion of the ‘missio’ – or honourable release – of two female gladiators. They are wearing the same equipment as male gladiators, but no helmets. Likely the woman fighters, named as ‘Amazon’ and ‘Achilia’, had earned their freedom by giving a series of good performances. According to several contemporary eye-witnesses, women also performed in the Roman arena. Women made up a part of the audience as well, though they had to sit separately from men, in the top rows…
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Archaeologists began working on one of Britain’s most mysterious ancient landmarks this Monday, as they aim to unravel its many hidden secrets (UPDATE: Click here to read about some of the finds). And while Marden Henge in Wiltshire may be almost unknown alongside its neighbour at Stonehenge, it is at least ten times bigger, making it one of Britain’s biggest stone circles. Unlike Stonehenge, and nearby Avebury, Marden contains no standing stones. Yet the six-week project by English Heritage, fresh from their visitor centre disappointment, will probe the site for clues as to whether it once did, and what it…
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My award for archaeology’s equivalent of an IgNoble prize goes to boffins at Cambridge University and Austria’s Sankt Poelten University, who have triumphantly announced that rock engravings from the Copper Age in Europe were ancient movies (as opposed to doodles). Was this not a hopelessly obvious conclusion? Not to Cambridge’s Frederick Baker yesterday (June 29): “The cliff engravings…in our opinion are not just pictures but are part of an audiovisual performance.” “There was still no moving image but (the pictures) created sequences like in animation,” adds Baker. “This was not just a treat for the eyes but also for the…
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An ancient town that once may have launched ships to Troy has been discovered in a town in Greece. Archaeologists at the site in Kyparissia, on the western Pelopennese, have unearthed the outlines of buildings and ancient tiling ahead of roadworks, reports Hamara. The discovery will also be a boost for those who have long argued that the picturesque town, once known as Arkadia, supplied ships to Troy in antiquity. Yet the find is shrouded in controversy:some parts of the ancient town are higher than the depths of a neighbouring swimming pool complex – suggesting its owner knew of the…
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A troublemaking trio have filmed a trail of destruction, as they stole a double-decker bus and crashed it causing 30,000 damage in the Stonehenge town of Amesbury. The three, two 16-year-old girls and a man, 21, have been arrested and released on bail after shooting ‘stolen bus solstice 2010 hoodies amesbury (sic)’ which they posted to YouTube. The video has proved an instant hit on the site, registering almost 50,000 views. Yet it won’t be much use to the owners of two parked cars and three buses the yobs wrecked, on their Mad Max-style rampage through the Wiltshire town, just…