Attribution: gordontour Khartoum Sudan Key Dates The National Museum of Sudan was founded in 1971, with the building itself having been constructed in 1955. The location of Sudan’s largest and most visited museum is along the El Neel (Nile) Avenue in Khartoum, overlooking the point at which the White Nile and the Blue Nile at Al-Mugran area, converge. It contains a variety of Sudanese relics from the First Stone Age to the Al Saltan Al-Zarqa era (black sultanate), including glassware, pottery, statuary from the ancient Cush kingdom and frescoes and murals from the church ruins of Ancient Nubia’s Christian period from the…
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Attribution: Mollow2 Anuradhapura Sri Lanka Key Dates Singhalese capital by 380 BC Abandoned after invasion in 993 AD The Sacred City of Anuradhapura was established around a cutting from the “tree of enlightenment” and was the Singhalese capital by 380 BC. At its heart is the Sacred Bo tree which is said to date back to 245 BC. It was a flourishing religious capital for 1300 years until it was abandoned in 993. Anuradhapura is said to be the capital of the Rakshasa King Ravana in the Hindue epic Ramayana. The ruins of Anuradhapura consist of bell-shaped dagobas, monastic buildings and pokunas…
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Attribution: klvinci Western Desert Egypt Key Dates The first fossils were found on this site in 1902-03 and date back to a key phase in evolution, long before hominids walked the earth. Key People The fossils found in Walid al-Hitan provide crucial evidence about a key phase in evolution, substantiating the theories which Charles Darwin proposed some fifty years before the fossils were found. The key find in this highly significant paleontological site was hundreds of fossils of an early, now extinct form of whale, named archaeoceti. Although not the earliest examples to be discovered in the world, the concentration…
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Attribution: Alister Chu Jerusalem (Old City) Israel Key Dates 960 BC. The first archeological survey of the citadel, and excavations, were conducted between 1934 and 1947. Key People Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent King Hezekiah of Judah The citadel of Jerusalem (or Tower of David) is situated on the western side of the Old City, just south of the Jaffa Gate at the highest point of the southwestern hill of Jerusalem. A series of fortifications were built here over the course of more than twenty centuries as protection from the west and to control the city below. Every period has been…
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Attribution: lreed7649 Dumfries and Galloway Scotland Key Dates Begun in AD 122, during the rule of emperor Hadrian, UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Key People Emperor Hadrian Hadrian Hadrian’s Wall (often referred to as the ‘Roman Wall’) is a military fortification constructed of stone and turf by the Roman Empire, to prevent military raids on Roman Britain by the Pictish tribes (ancient inhabitants of Scotland) in the north, to improve economic stability and provide peaceful conditions in Britain. The Roman occupation of Britain had began with Julius Caesar’s successful second invasion of the British Isles in 55 BC. 100 years later Emperor…
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Attribution: j.labrado Rome Italy Key Dates Constructed towards the end of the first century AD, the Arch of Titus was built to commemorate the sack of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Key People Emperor Domitian commissioned the arch after the death of his brother Titus, who ruled from 79-81 AD. The model for many of the triumphal arches built since the Renaissance, the Arch of Titus is made of Pentelic marble and has a single arch. It stands at 15.m high and 13.5m wide and straddles the Via Sacra to the south-east of the forum. The panels on the arch display…
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Attribution: Jordi C Rome Italy Key Dates Construction started between 70 and 72 AD and was completed in 80 AD, with further modifications made circa 81-96. In 217, the Colosseum was badly damaged by a major fire and not fully repaired until about 240. The arena was used for contests into the 6th century, with gladiatorial fights last mentioned around 435 and animal fights last mentioned about 523. An earthquake in 1349 caused the collapse of parts of the outer facade, and it wasn’t repaired until works in 1831, 1846 and the 1930s. Excavation of the Colosseum’s substructure was carried…
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Attribution: MANNOVER Supe Valley Peru Key Dates Inhabited between 3000 BC and 2000 BC. Discovered in 1948; excavations began in the latter part of the 20th century, and continue to this day. Key People Paul Kosok discovered Caral in 1948. Peruvian archaeologist Ruth Shady has carried out the most extensive research of the site. At over 5000 years of age, Caral is the oldest civilization in the Americas – an elaborate complex of pre-Inca pyramids, temples and houses as old as the Pyramids of Egypt. Many believe it to be a “missing link” or archaeological “mother city”. It is in…
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Attribution: FatTireTour.org Corinth Greece Key Dates Founded in the Neolithic Age, circa 6000 BC; flourished as a Greek city from the 8th century BC before being levelled by the invading Romans in 146 BC, who refounded it in 44 BC. Under Byzantium rule, earthquakes hit Corinth three times, in 375, 551 and 856. Key People Julius Caesar refounded the city in 44 BC, shortly before his assassination. The Apostle Paul lived in Corinth for a year and a half. Julius Caesar Positioned on the Isthmus of Corinth, between the Peloponnesus and mainland Greece, Corinth has been right at the forefront…
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Attribution: JoshTrefethen.com Rome Italy Key Dates The area of the forum was originally a grassy wetland, drained in the 7th century BC by the building of the Cloaca Maxima. In 600 BC Tarquinius Priscus traditionally had the area paved for the first time, and the forum was augmented with temples, basilicas, arches and other public buildings thenceforth – notable constributors being Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, Julius Caesar, Augustus and the Flavians. Key People Pretty much anyone who was anyone in Rome can be connected to the Forum Romanum in some way. It was the heart of the city – especially in the…