• owenjarus

    Who says snow and Egypt don’t go together? Symposium, King Tut, hit Toronto this month!

    Toronto is a good place to be for Egyptian lovers this month. While the weather in Toronto isnt exactly like Cairo (snowfall is common during November), there is going to be lots of important Egyptian activities happening. First the big event King Tut is coming to town! The North American show, which made its last stop in Indianapolis, is opening at the Art Gallery of Ontario on November 24. Advance tickets are on sale now. The show is going to go beyond King Tuts tomb to explore Egypt as it was during the Amarna period. One of the most important…

  • sean-williams

    Lord Norwich: Tourism in Venice is Reaching Meltdown

    Legendary history writer John Julius Norwich knows Venice better than most, if not all. Having recently edited The Great Cities in History (Thames & Hudson; see more info here), an epic ramble through the pioneering places in human history, he has also penned A History of Venice: The Rise to Empire and Venice: A Traveller’s Companion – and was, until recently, on the board of the Venice in Peril Fund. No surprises, then, that Venice occupies its own page in Great Cities, at the pinnacle of renaissance culture. Yet Lord Norwich, speaking to Heritage Key in this exclusive video, confides…

  • bija-knowles

    Schoolboy Tourist Finds Ancient Underwater Ruins Off Montenegro Coast

    The seas off the coast of Montenegro are largely under-explored by archaeologists, but a school-boy’s discovery could put one site near the city of Bar on the archaeological map once and for all. When 16-year old Michael Le Quesne, from Buckinghamshire, was snorkelling at the bay of Maljevik in September, he came across what looked first of all like some round stones two metres below the surface. Many people might have thought nothing of it and would have snorkelled happily on, preferring to look for fish instead. But Michael had obviously learned a thing or two about old ‘stones’ at…

  • site

    Stonehenge Virtual

    “The druid beckons us to travel back in time with him, to find out all about the mysteries of Stonehenge. He swivels to face away from us; we follow him. Suddenly the land around us changes – we’re right in the heart of a dense forest, with all the plants, animals and atmosphere of Stonehenge brought to life right before our eyes. “The druid carries on regardless. He turns, and he’s changed: his clothes have dated thousands of years. A quick smile and a wink reassures us as we’re whisked away through millennia of human history. “And here we are…

  • sean-williams

    The EES Archives Explored in London

    Heritage Key loves the tales woven by the archives of the Egypt Exploration Society, as mentioned at their fundraising afternoon earlier this month. So much were we interested in the project, which aims to preserve and digitise the society’s rich recorded history, that we decided to take a look for ourselves. Spread over three separate mews in a backstreet of central London, the only indicator you’ve reached EES HQ is a tiny plaque on the door and some obscured old relics in the window. Yet the minimal decoration and creeping vines embody an eccentricity of EES’ earliest explorers, looking more…

  • publication

    The Persians: Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Iran

    The Persians Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern Iran by Homa Katouzian In recent years, Iran has gained attention mostly for negative reasons – for its authoritarian religious government, disputed nuclear programme, and controversial role in the Middle East – but there is much more to the story of this ancient land than can be gleaned from the news. This authoritative and comprehensive history of Iran covers the entire history of the area from the foundation of the ancient Persian Empire to today’s Iranian state. Writing from an Iranian rather than a European perspective, Katouzian integrates the significant cultural and literary history…

  • Ann

    Treasures Hidden in the Cairo Museum’s Basement

    It is not only at excavation sites that amazing artefacts can be discovered, but the archives of previous digs as well as the artefacts already in museums can still surprise us. Or what about the basement of the Cairo museum? Thousands of pieces, hidden away from both scholars and public. At least for now. Plans are under way to do a thorough ‘clean up’of the gigantic basement and who knows what will come to light when all items are eventually moved to the Grand Egyptian Museum? In the mean while, Dr. Zahi Hawass tells us about how a recent ‘re-discovery’…

  • malcolmj

    Why The Bust of Nefertiti Should Be Returned To Egypt

    With the recent reopening of the Neues Museum on Berlin’s Museum Island, the argument over ownership of the Bust of Nefertiti has once again been stoked. The Germans have made the priceless, beautiful, 3,400-year-old sculpture of the famous Egyptian Queen one of the centerpiece attractions of the 200-million Neues. It seems to have only caused the Egyptians to become more resolute in their efforts to get her back. Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass stated recently that he would send a letter in October to Neues Museum directors containing irrefutable evidence in support of the…

  • bija-knowles

    Eco Revamp Plan for Hadrian’s Wall

    A management plan has been published that maps out how the World Heritage Site of Hadrian’s Wall will be conserved, researched and made accessible to visitors and local communities over the next five years. The wall was built in the 120s AD during the reign of the Roman Emperor Hadrian as the northern frontier of Roman-occupied Britannia. The site today is one of Britain’s most outstanding historical monuments; it recently came second in a list of favourite British sites as voted by the UK’s children – beaten only by Stonehenge. It’s also of educational, environmental and economic value to many…

  • sean-williams

    Ur’s Ritual Deaths Far More Violent than Thought

    New research from an American university may have blown apart a 90 year-old secret of the Sumerian city of Ur. CT scans of crushed skulls from the 4,500 year-old city-state appear to show that palace attendants met a brutal death at the hands of spiked weapons, rather than the tranquil poisoning previously mooted. Research carried out by British archaeologist Leonard Woolley in 1920 discovered a 2,000 burial-strong cemetery, laden with jewels and gold treasures. Their elaborate attire showed they were various courtiers of the time – warriors, handmaids, etc – and seemed to prove human sacrifice was prevalent in the…