Category: sean-williams - Part 16

The Egypt Exploration Society Archives Need Your Help!

The event Heritage Key attended on Saturday may not have been one of the most glamorous occasions in the archaeological circuit, but it was certainly one of the most important. Hob-nobbing over wine, beer and crisps, some of Britain’s best known Egyptologists gathered in the swanky surroundings of London’s Birlington House, to mark the Egypt Exploration Society’s plans to protect and digitise the Lucy Gura archives. And they need your help!

“The most important value of archives is making fun of our colleagues.”

Think Egypt and you might imagine great personalities, incredible images and fierce politics. But the excesses, eccentricities and imagery of the great ancient empire could just as easily be applied to the history of Egyptology. The Lucy Gura collection of letters, journals, photos and videos, named after a late benefactor, chronicles the gamut of discovery in Egypt, from the indecipherable field notes of Flinders Petrie to the paintings of Howard Carter. Just take a look at Ann’s top five EES archive treasures to see for yourself.

Fundraising Campaign 2009-2010: The Lucy Gura Archive

The day kicked off with UCL and the Petrie Museum‘s Stephen Quirke speaking on the excavation history of Flinders Petrie, from humble beginnings in 1880 to his status as one of archaeology’s leading lights in 1924. From the first survey at Giza to his discovery of a pyramid bigger than Khufu’s, Petrie’s work has been ubiquitous ever since he stepped foot in Africa over 125 years ago.

Following a short coffee break, Dr Robert Morkof looked to the lighter side of archives, in his speech entitled The measurements of Petrie’s bedroom, and other (more interesting) things. Two particular motifs stood out from the lecture: first was Dr Morkof’s assertion that, ‘The most important value of archives is making fun of our colleagues,’ an observation proved with no shortage of hilarious antics caught on camera. While offering a funnier side to Egyptology, Dr Morkof allowed us to see how the EES’ archives can lend a personal aspect to some of the world’s greatest discoveries.

EES Deputy Director Chris Naunton got the day’s fundraising element off and running by highlighting the plight facing the archives. As well as the people involved, many of the archives involve places which no longer exist, such as the buildings at Lake Nasser and Abu Simbel, before it was relocated in 1964. The society plans to replacing their current envelopes, boxes and filing cabinets with archive-standard ones, and to digitise the archive – a tough, ongoing project which needs careful professionals to ensure nothing is harmed. An extension to the society’s quaint HQ in Bloomsbury has also been mooted, but this is due to funding limits.

Support the Lucy Gura Archive Fund

It’s a worthy cause, and one vital to the study and celebration of Egyptology. If we lose the EES’ archives, along with other prominent archives in Oxford, Geneva and further afield, we risk turning the light off on the ‘Era of Discovery’.

If you wish to make a much-needed donation to the Lucy Gura archive, just visit the EES’ support page, follow the link to make ‘a donation’, then select ‘The Lucy Gura Archive Fund‘. You money will be saving some of Egyptology’s greatest records.

Heritage Key is planning a visit to the ESS soon, where we’ll be taking a look at some of its stunning archive material – watch this space!

Stonehenge Visitor Centre Design Unveiled

English Heritage has unveiled the design for its proposed new Stonehenge visitor centre, after months of anticipation. The plans were revealed as a planning application for the complex was sent to Wiltshire Council for approval. Located at Airman’s Corner some 1.5 miles west of the landmark, the new centre will include exhibition space, a caf, shop and toilet facilities for the million-or-so people who flock to the ancient stones each year. It will comprise two single-storey buildings, one made from wood, the other glass, and a transit system will allow visitors to move to and from the centre.

Loraine Knowles, EH’s Stonehenge project director is confident the new centre will make Stonehenge a more attractive proposal for tourists. “The new centre is designed to blend into the World Heritage landscape,” she says, “which visitors will pass through on their way to the stones.It will provide enhanced opportunities for education and interpretation, and have first class facilities in keeping with Stonehenges status as a world-renowned tourist attraction.”

“If a visitor can remember their trip but not the visitor centre, we will be happy.”

The visitor centre is part of long-awaited plans to purify the area surrounding Stonehenge, which include the removal of its current adjacent centre and the grassing over of the controversial A344 main road, which sees traffic run just metres from the monument. Wiltshire Council is seeking a Traffic Regulation Order, which would restrict the number of vehicles allowed on the road. Stephen Quinlan, of architects Denton Corker Marshall, says: ” If once back at home, a visitor can remember their visit to the stones but cant remember the visitor centre they passed through on the way, we will be happy.”

Stonehenge has barely been away from the headlines recently. Only last week the discovery of another stone circle, dubbed ‘Bluestonehenge‘, was made just a few miles away from its better known neighbour. Some experts believe the new site proffered some of Stonehenge’s famous bluestones, and could have been part of a cremation ritual across the area.

Don’t forget – if you want to see Stonehenge without travelling to Wiltshire, take a look at our very own Stonehenge Virtual, coming soon.

Goth Pirate Puzzle Solved in Gloucestershire

A longstanding mystery has been laid to rest this week, as experts finally solved the riddle of a 1,600-year-old body discovered in Gloucestershire 37 years ago. The identity of the 25-30-year-old man, unearthed in a mausoleum in Kingsholm Square in 1972, had long evaded archaeologists. Yet now thanks to chemical testing, a team has revealed him to have been an eastern European Goth warrior from around 400 AD.

The man’s lavish burial includes a silver belt buckle and inlaid knife from the Balkans and southern Russia, which show him to have been someone of high rank – experts believe he may have been a Goth mercenary hired by the Roman Army, whose capital city fell to Alaric’s Visigoths just ten years later in 410 AD.

David Rice of Gloucester City Museum thinks the warrior may have been employed to warn off potential pirates: “Archaeologists have always wondered who he was and what he was doing in Gloucester. We’ve discovered he came from way outside of the Roman Empire, from the other side of the Danube.

“Were there pirates coming up the River Severn?”

“It was possible to detect he lived in very cold regions as a child, before moving west,” adds Mr Rice. “To have such an unusual person in this city means that Gloucester was a more important place in Roman times than we’ve previously thought. Perhaps there were pirates coming up the River Severn?”

Lewis Chessmen Loan ‘A Step Sideways’ says Scottish Minister

Scotland is to welcome home some of its most iconic relics from the British Museum next May, in a loan deal that sees the famous Lewis Chessmen toured around the country for two years. Yet politicians hailed the move as a ‘step sideways’, as the BM all but ruled out their permanent repatriation. Members of the Scottish National Party have been claiming a cultural victory this week, as it was confirmed on the weekend that 24 of the BM’s 82 charismatic 12th century carvings would be winging their way to four Scottish museums next year. Eleven of the 93 pieces are already on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, six of which will be joining the treasures’ first tour in over 14 years.

The SNP has already contributed 75,000 to the cost of exhibiting the Chessmen, which will first be moved between the National Museum, Aberdeen Art Gallery and Shetland Museum. The pieces will then return home to the Isle of Lewis for five months, at Stornoway’s Museum nan Eilean. The Chessmen, made from walrus ivory and thought to be Norwegian in origin, haven’t returned to the Outer Hebrides island since their dramatic discovery in 1831 beneath a sand dune.

Yet while Scottish Culture Minister Mike Russell realises the coup his SNP colleagues have pulled off with securing their loan, he admits it will be another matter altogether bringing the Chessmen home for good: “We havent moved in our position, but of course the overall purpose is to give people in Scotland better access to these items,” he says. “Weve able to negotiate that, at least on a temporary basis. I think this tour has arisen from the British Museum recognising that we want better access.

“I think it’s a step sideways… it is clearly not a permanent solution.”

“What we have here is a useful step,” adds Mr Russell. “I think its a step sideways rather than a step forward but were grateful to the National Museum of Scotland and to the British Museum for bringing the exhibition about. However, it is clearly not a permanent solution.” Opinions south of the border have echoed Mr Russell’s senitments, with his UK counterpart Margaret Hodget branding the Chessmen’s repatriation “a lot of nonsense” in January last year.

And while some Scottish officials are still hopeful the iconic artefacts can enjoy a permanent homecoming, the British Museum’s deputy chairman Bonnie Greer has all but shut the door on efforts to move them from London: “The BMs credo is that we are a museum for the world and that is not just a motto,” she says. “As far as Im concerned on a personal level, (the Chessmen) will always remain at the British Museum – they will always be available for everyone in the world to see them, they will always go on tour, they will always be ambassadors for Scotland.” The British Museum is certainly no stranger to repatriation rows: this year alone has seen the world-renowned institution embittered in battles for the Benin Bronzes, Rosetta Stone and, of course, the Elgin Marbles. Do you think the Lewis Chessmen should be returned to Scotland? Or do you have an opinion on any other contentious artefacts, such as the Bust of Nefertiti or the Pergamon Altar? Don’t hesitate to voice your opinions using the comments box below.

King Arthur Pendragon in First Druid Ceremony at Bluehenge Since its Discovery

The incredible announcement that Stonehenge had a little sister named ‘Bluehenge’ this weekend will have shocked millions – not least the area’s druid community, who for centuries have claimed Stonehenge to be their spiritual home. So it’s no surprise the druidic community officially inaugurated the stone circle this week, which many believe to have been part of a huge funerary network linking its much larger neighbour to the River Avon. The ceremony, Bluehenge’s first since it’s recent rediscovery was performed by three druids including King Arthur Pendragon, stresses the importance of honouring the people who first built Bluehenge, and to continue paying homage to the wisdom which has made the area one of such gravity to all druids.

The three priests enter to the sound of a fast-beating drum. A horn is played twice, and the ceremony begins: The opening words go as follows:

“We are here today to acknowledge the mighty; our ancestors – the people who built beneath our feet, a place so sacred it was used once a year, thousands of years before we can imagine. At a time equivalent to Stonehenge, people would have passed through here; the great ones on their way to acknowledge the turning of the seasons by whatever beliefs they held.”

“We are here today to acknowledge the mighty; our ancestors”

Further honour is given to the ancestors, the past and the sacred circle. The druids pledge to take forth wisdom and honour from the ancient people who ‘founded our nation; they planted the seeds’.

The video also thanks Mike Parker Pearson, the Sheffield University archaeologist under whose guidance Bluehenge has been uncovered. Keep checking in to Heritage Key to hear the latest developments, theories and opinions on Bluehenge – and to get a druid’s perspective on the ground-breaking news. Of course, if you want to get up-close-and-personal with the incredible views and storylines of Stonehenge, take a look at how our very own Stonehenge Virtual is shaping up!

A Tastier Terracotta Warrior at China’s Chocolate Museum

Ever seen the Terracotta Warriors? Did you feel a bit peckish when you saw them; couldn’t help thinking the First Emperor’s Mausoleum would be made so much better if you could take a bite out of each handcrafted treasure? If the answer’s yes to both these questions – and I truly hope it’s not – you may want to book a flight to the Chinese capital next year: Beijing officials have announced plans to build the ‘World Chocolate Dream Park’, a Willy Wonka-style attraction aimed at the Chinese people‘s love of, well, chocolate.

The full-size tasty Terracotta Warriors will be one of the theme park’s main attractions, alongside a chocolate Great Wall and a number of famous Chinese artworks. “Our ‘chocolate wonderland’ will be beyond the imagination,” gushes Tina Cheng, general manager of the company running the park. China is one of few countries lacking in love for chocolate. But the park’s creators hope that bringing the food to life through some of the country’s most iconic treasures will help its citizens develop sweet teeth soon.

“There is the potential for a huge market in China with regards to chocolate consumption,” adds a clearly health-obsessed Cheng. “That’s why many overseas chocolate producers are vying to join our project.” The park will be housed on Beijing’s Olympic Green, alongside the famous Bird’s Nest Stadium and Water Cube aquatics centre which hosted last year’s epic olympiad. Will London‘s chiefs look to similar ideas when 2012 is over? Could we see a Stonehenge made of Toffee Crisp? Or maybe a Skittles Skara Brae?

Nero’s Rotating Banquet Hall Discovered at the Palatine Hill

The infamous excesses of Emperor Nero have made a spectacular comeback yesterday, as archaeologists unveiled his legendary rotating banquet hall. Experts excavating in the Domus Aurea (Golden Palace, literally ‘Golden House’) on Rome’s Palatine Hill have found what they claim to be the remnants of a platform and mechanism described by the ancient historian Suetonius, in his opus The Twelve Caesars.

The incredible discovery was made during routine maintenance work at the Palace, which is now located beneath theBaths of Trajan. “This cannot be compared to anything that we know of in ancient Roman architecture,” says head archaeologist FrancoiseVilledieu. An additional space found in the Palace is thought to have once been a kitchen, in which extravagant feasts were prepared for Nero and his powerful guests. Suetonius wrote that the room, which experts believe was water-powered, revolved ‘day and night, in time with the sky.’ He also claims the ceiling contained sliding ivory panels, which poured forth flowers and perfume on diners.

“Nero was like the sun, and people were revolving around the emperor.”

“This discovery has no equal among ancient Roman architectural finds,” says Maria Antonietta Tomei, the site’s superintendent. Her and her team are working hard to ensure the Palace does not succumb to the Baths’ weight. The hall’s discovery will once again shine a light on one of Rome‘s cruelest and most callous rulers. Described by Suetonius as ‘malodorous’ and with a ‘prominent’ belly, Nero was known for his opulent feasts, orgies and narcissistic artistry during his reign between 54 – 68 AD. He also killed several members of his family, including his mother, on his path to power.

The Golden Palace itself was destroyed by the Great Fire of Rome, which swept through the city in 64 AD, while Nero famously played the fiddle. However this legend is almost certainly untrue, as Nero was staying in his home town of Antium, some 30 miles away. Nero committed suicide following a tax revolt. As he prepared for his demise, his is famously said to have declared, “What an artist the world is losing!” Yesterday’s discovery has left state archaeology chief Angelo Bottini in no doubt as to Nero’s fervent megalomania: “The heart of every activity in ancient Rome was the banquet, together with some form of entertainment. Nero was like the sun, and people were revolving around the emperor.”

Maya Pyramids were Giant Musical Instruments

New research suggests the giant step pyramids of the ancient Mayas may in fact have been used to make music on a colossal scale. Experts were already aware of the ‘raindrop’ sounds made by the footsteps of those ascending Chichen Itza‘s famous El Castillo pyramid. Yet the comparison of El Castillo’s sonic phenomenon with another of Mexico‘s Maya structures has led two scholars to conclude that creating ‘rain music’ was the pyramids’ main function.

Jorge Cruz of the Professional School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in Mexico City and Nico Declercq of the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA compared the frequencies of sounds made by visitors walking up both the hollow, even-stepped El Castillo on the Yucutan Peninsula and the solid, uneven steps of Teotihuacan‘s Moon Pyramid in Mexico City. Both recorded startlingly similar frequencies, suggesting that the ‘music’ is not as a result of El Castillo’s hollowness but of sound waves travelling through the steps and being diffracted.

“The Mexican pyramids can be considered musical instruments.”

Cruz believes that his research shows the pyramids were in fact built to honour the rain god Chaac, contrary to wide-held belief they were constructed in honour of the feathered serpent god Kukulcan. A mask of Chaac can indeed be found at the summits of El Castillo and the Moon Pyramid. “The Mexican pyramids, with some imagination, can be considered musical instruments dating back to the Mayan civilization,” says Cruz – while noting a lack of evidence as to whether the Mayas actually ‘played’ them.

It’s hard to keep the mysterious Maya away from the spotlight recently:not only has an entire new city been found in the region of Kiuic, but the abandoned city of Pacal the Great‘s Palenque has been brought to the web in a new online experience reminiscent of Heritage Key’s own King Tut Virtual.

Race is On to Preserve Underwater Relics in Solent Strait

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 ago.

Garry Momber, director of the Hampshire and Wight Trust for Maritime Archaeology (HWTMA), tells local news the 24 timber pieces, found two months ago, are the area’s most staggering find to date:

“We were in shock. This is more comprehensive than anything I thought we would ever find and I’m sure there is an awful lot more to be uncovered.” Mr Momber claims the discoveries proove prehistoric people inhabited the banks of the Solent – the strait which divides mainland UK with the Isle of Wight. “Each piece of timber has very clear and distinct cut marks, so we know they have been worked on,” he adds. “Its an elaborate framework and the timber appears to be linked. It could be a collapsed structure, or perhaps a platform built close to the waterway. This really pushes forward our understanding of the area,” claims Mr Momber, “because it shows they were well established and capable of craftsmanship.”

“If we don’t act now, these findings could be lost forever.”

Bouldner’s cliff has held onto its millennia-old treasures thanks to an absence of oxygen-related erosion, meaning many more could be found in its murky depths thanks to underwater archaeology. Yet the three-day dive which produced the timbers cost a cool 3,600 – and Mr Momber is fearful that sweeping tides could wash away the ancient settlement for good unless action is taken in the next year. “This really is of national and international significance – there is nothing else like it in the UK,” he says. “The race is on to save what we can now. If we dont act now, these findings could be lost forever.” The Solent isn’t the only area in Britain to have enjoyed a recent timber windfall – London’s earliest timber structure was found only two months ago in bogs beside a high-security prison.

Supervolcano Ash Crushed Early Europeans’ Teeth

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, in modern southwest Germany. Its gigantic eruption coated an area the size of the UK in nasty tephra particles, which would have clogged up lungs, irritated skin and turned anything edible into a gritty nightmare.

Animals faced widepread famine and population crashes, as teeth were ground to the gum by the particles. A similar fate would have befallen the area’s human tribes, with the scary seasoning accounting for not only starvation and death, but a regression of technology. Archaeological evidence suggests that the region’s humans downed advanced hunting tools like bows and arrows in favour of primitive spears.

“We have very little information on how small scale hunter-gatherer societies would respond to this,” says Riede. “Would they just leave? Or would they try and deal with the tephra?” Research shows that while many left the areas comprising much of modern Germany, the Netherlands and southern Sweden, some stayed on to continue their miserable dietary habits. The report also claims the tephra clouds continued to terrorise the region for up to 300 years, brought back regularly by strong winds.

Would humans leave? Or would they try and deal with the tephra?

Yet Aberystwyth University’s John Gratten suggests the supervolcano may have allowed its victims a greater stress tolerance, akin to the majority of the world’s earliest humans. “The people living in central Europe adapted to these intense stresses,” he says. “They were able to cope with them, and to survive.

“We grew up in a volcanic environment. (alluding to early human fossils in eastern Africa) That kind of pressure and stress, if it doesn’t kill you, it makes you stronger, as our friend Nietzsche would say.”

The ancient Europeans would have done well to follow the Egyptians’ health tips. They evolved a whole range of techniques to help deal with the effects of relentless sandstorms and dust on their eyes and teeth, inlcluding kohl to protect the eyes, and falsies for those whose real teeth had been ground down by gritty bread.

Prehistoric diets have hogged the evolutionary spotlight recently. Not only has the hatred of sprouts been touted as an evolutionary mystery, but dismembered limbs in Britain show early man enjoyed cuts of his own kind as part of a balanced meal.