• owenjarus

    2,000 year old burial complex discovered on Jacob’s island, Kawartha Lakes Canada

    A team of archaeologists has discovered a 2,000 year old burial mound complex on Jacob’s Island in Kawartha Lakes Canada. So far the team has discovered 35 burials, although there could be nearly double that at the site. The deceased include a mix of adult men, women, teenagers and young children. “These are community burials, we’re getting a selection of the community being buried here,” said Professor James Conolly of Trent University, who is leading the team. The mound indicates that people in Ontario were living an egalitarian lifestyle at this time – even though they were constructing more elaborate…

  • malcolmj

    Top 10 Facts About Sparta’s Women

    As documented in the article ‘Woman of Sparta: Tough Mothers’, Spartan women enjoyed all kinds of rights not shared by their Athenian sisters – albeit plenty of plights too. Sparta’s unique social system and constitution, which was completely focused on military training and excellence, afforded females a level of freedom and responsibility uncommon in the classical world – as child bearers, they were vital to replenishing the ranks of an army that suffered an almost constant stream of casualties; with so many men constantly away at war, they were crucial to running their households and the community at large. Yet, Spartan…

  • world

    Interview: Fakes & Forgeries Curator Paul Denis on Greek Coins, Zapotec Artefacts and the Internet

    In a conversation with Heritage Key (HK), Paul Denis (PD), the curator of Fakes & Forgeries Yesterday and Today, a newly announced exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum, talks about how fake ancient artefacts are affecting the museum world. Among the things discussed are: -The emergence of ancient Greek coins as a new hot area for fraudsters. -Why the internet is an awful place to acquire artefacts. -How curators (with a little scientific help) pick out fakes. He also shares some interesting news: of the hundreds of Zapotec artefacts his museum has, about 50 percent are forgeries. He explains how they got duped on such a grand scale.…

  • exhibition

    Divus Vespasianus

    Organized by Filippo Coarelli, the exhibition – whose full title is Divus Vespasianus: the Capitoline Hill and Egypt in the Flavian era – illustrates the major building projects that Vespasian was responsible for on the Capitoline hill, including the reconstruction of both the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus and the Temple of Isis that had been elevated to public sanctuary status. The entire exhibition pivots around the key role played by Egypt under Vespasian and his sons, and their particular devotion to eastern divinities, which wasn’t limited to buildings on the Capitoline Hill, as the reconstruction of the ancient Iseo on…

  • prad

    Ask Questions to a Museum Curator Today on Twitter

    Museums across the world are participating in the “Ask a Curator” event, which uses social networking service Twitter to let the public ask questions to the people curating some of the biggest cultural establishments across the globe. With over 300 experts participating in 23 countries, you can find out the answer to all those questions you may have been wondering regarding the behind-the-scenes runnings of a museum, such as how big those hidden basements full of artefacts (Check out the Basement of the Cairo Museum in this Video) really are, and how does a museum decide what exhibitions to put…

  • world

    Top Ten Cave Paintings

    Cave art is the oldest example of non-portable art in history, and dates back in some cases as far as 32,000 years. It can be found painted, scratched, etched, smudged and pecked onto the walls of caves all over the world, on almost every continent. Here we examine ten of the most famous sets of examples yet discovered. Bhimbetka Rock Shelters, India The spectacular Bhimbekta rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh, central India, contain the oldest traces of human life in the region. The vast selection of cave paintings and other forms of rock art found within them are the first…

  • prad

    Myrtis the 2,500 Year Old Athenian Girl Finds a New Home

    ‘Myrtis‘ has attracted thousands of people across Greece to see her, has appealed to the world leaders to end the spread of disease and now she earns herself a place amongst historic artefacts in the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. All this, and her name isn’t actually Myrtis. It was the name that was given to her by scientists who uncovered her remains, as well as over 150 other skeletons, from an archaeological dig of a ‘plague grave’ at Kerameikos Cemetery dating back between 426-430BC, as reported by ana-mpa. Myrtis’ resurrection some 2,500 years after her death from Typhoid –…

  • prad

    Aerial Photography of Drought-hit Britain Uncovers Hidden Archaeological Sites

    The sunny, dry spells of May and June over Britain were enjoyed immensely by the populace, but it wasn’t just Brits who were taking advantage of the soaring temperatures. Archaeologists were taking to the skies to observe cropmarks which occur when wheat or barley crops grown over ancient buried sites at a different rate. The aerial surveys have produced many new discoveries, including newly-discovered Roman and prehistoric settlements, representing the most successful summer flights since the drought of 1976. Results of the flight have revealed the Roman fort in Newton Kyme, North Yorkshire to be bigger than previously thought, with…

  • prad

    Roman Lantern Discovery by Metal Detectorist Sheds Light on Suffolk’s Ancient History

    The only complete example of a Roman lantern to have been found in Britain was discovered in Autumn 2009 by a metal detector user. Danny Mills found the large bronze object whilst scanning a field near Sudbury, and immediately notified the discovery to the Suffolk Archaeological Unit. The find is significant as only fragments of similar lanterns are held at the British Museum, and the closest complete example was excavated in Pompeii. The interest in the lantern even earned it a feature in the BBCseries “Digging for Britain”! The Roman lantern dates from between 43-300AD, and is similar to a…

  • Ann

    ‘No ceremonial burial for the Iceman’, respond Otzi researchers

    In his article The Iceman as a burial appearing in Antiquity 84/2010, the archaeologist Alessandro Vanzetti of Romes La Sapienza University and his coauthors reconstruct the position of the Iceman at his place of discovery on the Tisenjoch pass in South Tyrol, Italy. From this and based on his botanical investigations, he draws the conclusion that the Iceman did not die at the site of the incident: rather he died in the spring within his valley community and only later, in September, was brought up to the Tisenjoch and buried there. The team researching tzi has now responded to Vanzettis…