The book of human history will need a slight redraft, if a remarkable claim by a prominent Georgian anthropologist and archaeologist – on the basis of human remains recently excavated at a site not far from the Georgian capital Tbilisi – is true. The skulls, jawbones and fragments of limb bones dug up between 1991 and 2007 near the medieval village of Dmanisi in the foothills of the Caucuses are, according to Professor David Lordkipanidze – Director General of the Georgian National Museum – indisputably the oldest human fossils found outside of Africa, at around 1.8 millions years of age.…
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Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo Dr Salima Ikram – one of the world’s leading authorities on Egyptian religion – recently chatted to Heritage Key on the subject of the cult of animal worship in ancient Egypt. In another exclusive new video interview, she dons her white coat and takes us to the lab, for a fascinating insight into the practice of animal mummification. Animals were deeply sacred in ancient Egypt, particularly from the 26th dynasty – around 700 BC – until the end of Egyptian civilization and the advent of Christianity by 400 AD. They were…
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Finished in 2560 BC, the Great Pyramid of Giza took 20 years to build. 3,000 years on, it doesn’t look like major Egyptian construction projects have hurried up any. It was recently announced that the opening date for the Grand Egyptian Museum – the massive centerpiece attraction of the epic new vision for the Giza plateau, two and a half kilometres from the pyramids – has been pushed back to 2013, after the latest in a long-running series of delays for the building. The project was officially commenced in 1992, which means that even if the GEM does open on…
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If you think that people in modern western society are obsessive about their pets, get a load of the ancient Egyptians. Throughout ancient Egyptian history, particularly from around 700 BC until 400 AD, there is evidence that certain animals – all from cows to cats, dogs, birds, fish and even lowly beetles (scarabs) – were worshipped as being able to communicate with the gods, and even serve as their living embodiments on earth. As Professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo Salima Ikram described in a pair of exclusive video interviews with Heritage Key, Egyptians would rely on…
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In 2009, we saw the Terracotta Warriors tour America, racking up record attendance figures, while King Tut exhibitions criss-crossed the globe and the Staffordshire Hoard went on show in London just months after being unearthed in a West Midlands field by an avid metal detectorist. 2010 looks set to be equally as big a year for heritage exhibitions around the world. The iconic and controversial Lewis Chessmen will be reunited in Scotland for the first time in over 150 years in Edinburgh this May. The massive Shanghai World Expo will open around the same time, with a number exhibits themed…
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South West Maritime Archaeological Group (SWMAG) have sent us some of the first pictures of the remarkable finds recovered from the site of Britain’s oldest shipwreck – a 3,000 year old Bronze Age trading vessel that sunk off the coast of Devonshire in southwest England around 900 BC. We blogged about its discovery on Tuesday. The wreck was located in just a few metres of water at the bottom of Wash Gully near Salcombe. When it went down, the boat was on its way back from the continent with a precious cargo of tin and copper ingots – key raw…
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Last week’s inaugural Ancient World in London Blogger’s Challenge called for opinions to be cast on the subject of which invaders had the most historical impact on Britain’s venerable capital, sparking shouts for all from rats to Roman traders, Scandinavian raiders and even a band of (admittedly made-up) Roman warrior-pigeons. I’ll today kick off round two – which again gives entrants the chance to win prizes both real and virtual – by posing a brand new question: What’s the most important ancient site in London? As a city, the Big Smoke has origins stretching back at least as far as…
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The US military has been heavily criticised for its disregard for Iraq’s heritage sites since invading the country in 2003 – ancient minarets have been bombed, precious artefacts allegedly looted at the National Museum, and a full scale camp, including a helipad, constructed slap bang on top of Babylon. As part of a recent drive to demonstrate renewed sensitivity for the Cradle of Civilization’s venerable past, a US Army sergeant has set about creating a detailed map accurately pinpointing as many of Iraq’s estimated 1,200 archeological hotspots as possible. Sgt. Ronald Peters is a geospatial analyst with Multi-National Corps-Iraq C-7,…
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We think the way we do because Socrates thought the way he did, writes Bettany Hughes at the start of The Hemlock Cup, her brand new biography of ancient Greeces greatest philosopher. Two-and-a-half millennia of history might separate us from the age when Socrates roamed the streets of ancient Athens, formulating and articulating his philosophies to the people. But many of his words and ideas ring just as true in the 21st century as they did back then. (For a run-down of ten great Socrates quotes to reflect upon, check out Owen’s blog here). From his beliefs on philosophical ethics…
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The word “Aryan” has become inseparably associated with the racialist world-view of the Nazis, despite the fact that – far from specifying a blonde-haired, blue-eyed “master race” – it was originally a perfectly innocent self-designator for a tribe of ancient nomadic Indo-Iranians who lived in the region of modern Iran, Afghanistan and India from around 2700 to 350 BC (more about “Aryan’s” passage from a simple piece of linguistic terminology to a racialist rationale for megalomaniacal world domination here). Saturated as they are in misconception, mirth, myth, and wild fantasy, the “Aryans” have become something of a lightning-rod for weird…