This past a week I interviewed two archaeologists, Dr. Ron Williamson and Professor Neal Ferris, who are at the forefront of trying to solve a problem which has seen artefacts quite literally being tossed into landfills. Ontario, a province larger than the UK and France put together, has a rich archaeological history going back about 12,000 years. Its a history that includes early hunters who lived alongside mastodons, an agricultural revolution that started 1,500 years ago, and the construction of five hectare villages with 100 meter longhouses. What its recent history has not seen is an archaeological system capable of…
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Burial grounds dating back to the sixth century BC are usually taken pretty good care of and considered important national heritage sites – or at least you would have thought so. This wasn’t the case recently in Puglia, where an archaeological site from at least 500 BC was used as an illegal dumping ground. It is reported that 135 tons of dangerous waste – including building materials, disused wagons and other heavy-duty items from the state railways, as well as out-dated pneumatic machines and vehicles was left at three sites near the town of Martina Franca, near Taranto in southern…
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There has been no shortage of sad stories surrounding the economic hardship of those living in the former Soviet Union. Nearly all of its satellite states, as well as the Russian homeland, have suffered an economic black hole after the Berlin Wall came down, where a tremendous chasm swells between the monied Mafioso and super-rich oligarchy, and the rural peasantry and jobless. And in Bulgaria, a country hiding millennia of prosperity beneath its soil, the tragedy has extended below surface level – as thousands of people loot national treasures to make ends meet. Prehistoric and Neolithic tribes, Ancient Thracians, Greeks,…
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A blog by Bija Knowles got me thinking about travel to ancient destinations. In particular, Bija talks about Libya and its move towards promoting itself more as a tourist destination. Libya has long been one of the Holy Grails of travel writing because it’s been so difficult to get into (and to get around) it independently until now. This story by Jim Keeble has more on how the country is finally opening up to tourism. It’s the same in countries along the old Silk Road routes, which are more tourist-friendly than ever. This encourages more people to discover the historic…
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No doubt plenty of our London-based readers have been getting hot under the collar over the past few years, as the East London line tube extension bumbles its way towards completion before the 2012 Olympics. Yet amongst the plumes of grime and grinding dirge of diggers, archaeologists have been burrowing beneath the tracks to unearth some remarkable objects from the city’s immense past. And Transport for London (TfL) and the Museum of London have teamed up to showcase some of the best finds at some of the capital’s smaller heritage venues. Beginning in June at the Hackney Museum, the exhibition…
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Today’s Flickr Find comes from talented photographer Sean Molin, who beautifully depicts the iconic Stonehenge and portrays it in a dramatic and atmospheric shot. The use of the sepia tint takes away the colour of the shot, leaving the viewer to pay close attention to the great detail in the shot. The dark skies indicate an impending storm advancing on the relic which has braved the elements for millenia, representing the resilience of this ancient monument as it continues to serve as a reminder of of our heritage. Sean Molin notes that he is not keen on showing both the…
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This year’s Egyptological Colloquium was roundly regarded as a success, as eighteen top Egyptological minds converged on London’s British Museum for two intense days of lectures, opinions and debate on the Book of the Dead. One of the most stunning pieces of Egyptian liturgy, yet a much maligned forum for study, the Colloquium promised some fascinating and truly groundbreaking discoveries on a visually engaging subject. Heritage Key took some time out at the end of the event to speak to a few audience members, and found a somewhat mixed response. Some were keen to stress their enjoyment of the colloquium,…
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Its an idea that has become conventional thinking. Pottery is a child of agriculture. There is no advantage for a society to produce ceramic technology unless it is at least partly agricultural. Hunter gatherers, who move around the landscape, wont produce it in any quantity because it is simply too much to lug around. Besides, if youre living this kind of lifestyle youre not storing more food than you can carry. Whats the problem with this idea? Quite simply, its not true! Research in the Great Lakes area of North America has confirmed that people were using pottery for nearly…
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The fight to save ancient treasures goes on. There are the bigger battles, the ones to save important heritage sites from war-time destruction see Kashgar, Iran and Iraq. There are the battles against neglect, as in the case of Libya. Then there are the battles against the downright stupid. The careless. The ignorant. The culturally desolate wastelands that can sometimes be found inside the human body. In Western Australia, the state government is set to prosecute a cement and quarrying company for allegedly decimating 10,000-year-old Aboriginal rock art. The Age newspaper reported that the company CEMEX admitted breaching a national…
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After almost 5,000 years of peace and quiet, a warrior thought to date from the eneolithic age has been roused from his sleep. The discovery was made in May this year, after a winter of high tides and storms led to coastal erosion in the area of Nettuno, near Anzio, south of Rome. Click here to see a video of the discovery and excavation. It is thought that the tomb may be part of a larger eneolithic or Copper Age necropolis. The warrior, nicknamed Nello by his finders, is believed to date from the third millennium BC. The discovery was…