• sean-williams

    Underground Nile Delta City is Ancient Hyksos Capital of Avaris, say Experts

    An underground city discovered in the Nile Delta is the Hyksos capital city of Avaris, says Egypt’s Minister of Culture. Farouk Hosni made the claim to Chinese news agency Xinhua in the wake of the discovery at Tell El-Dab’a, in the Delta’s north eastern limits, by an Austrian archaeological team. SCA Chief Zahi Hawass says radar imaging at the site shows the outlines of streets, temples and houses of the long-lost city, which became the capital of Egypt between 1664 and 1569 BC. (explore the image) Austrian team leader Irene Mueller says a Nile river tributary which passed through the…

  • ellie

    Stonehenge: Archaeology, History and Mystery

    All done and dusted! The first live lecture is now over (Watch it again here). The pain and the shakiness has subsided and I can relax! Thank you all for logging in: The chat in brief looked at four areas. First we looked at the Renaissance era and the overriding dependancy society had on God and religion as a framework for life. It was considered that other cultures, communities and societies of times gone by had been rudimentary and basic compared with that of pre-1680 Christian Europe. For years people had been fascinated by unusual objects and nature, but until…

  • sean-williams

    25ft Steel Ancestor Celebrates Solstice at Stonehenge

    Stonehenge summer solstice 2010 is to be marked by the debut of a 25ft-high steel statue. ‘The Ancestor’, created by local sculptors Andrew Rowlings and Michelle Topps with help from Druids and the local community, will sit 70m from the stone circle and provide an alternative focus of revelry and worship at sunrise, easing congestion within Stonehenge itself. The Ancestor is as tall as a double-decker bus, and weights a huge seven tons. It has been shrouded in secrecy until today to prevent a further swell of people visiting the already overcrowded event in Wiltshire, which tonight is thought to…

  • site

    Broch Of Clickimin

    Attribution: leguan001 Key Dates The farmhouse dates from around 1000BC. About 100 years later (100BC) the stone blockhouse was built. By the time the Norse arrived, around 800AD, the broch was abandoned. Haphazard restoration work was carried out around 1850, before professional excavation by archaeologists in the 1950s. Shetland United Kingdom This 3000 year old structure is a big, readily accissible broch (an iron age dry-stoned walled dwelling) that’s in remarkably good shape. It can be found on a small islet in Clickimin Loch by Lerwick on the isle of Shetland in Scotland. It started out life as a small…

  • owenjarus

    Australian Museum Curator Janet Carding New CEO of Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum

    Canadas largest museum has picked a curator from down under to lead them into the next decade. Janet Carding has been Assistant Director, Public Programs & Operations at the Australian Museum inSydney, since 2004. She also teaches the Museums and Galleries administration segment of the University of Sydneys Museum Studies program. She will be taking over as CEO and Director of the Royal Ontario Museum after William Thorsell, the museums current leader, retires in August. Like the ROM the Australian Museum has a collection that stretches into ancient times. In particular it has a large collection devoted to the aboriginalcultures…

  • Uncategorized

    Stonehenge Summer Solstice 2009

    The Summer Solstice – also known as midsummer – occurs once a year on June 20th or 21th, when the sun is at its highest point in the sky for those on the northern hemisphere. It’s the longest day of the year and the start of the Summer. It’s also one of the few days English Heritage provides ‘Managed Open Access’ to Stonehenge: You get to spend the night in between the ancient stones and no access fee is charged. ( Looking or info on the 2010 Summer Solstice at Stonehenge? go here! – Photos from the 2010 Solstice – or at…

  • bija-knowles

    i-MiBAC: Free iPhone App Guide for Italy’s Archaeological Sites and Museums

    An iPhone application that will provide information, ticketing and itineraries for the 40 most visited museums and sites in Italy is to be launched on 1 July. Released by Italy’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities (known in Italy as MiBAC), ‘i-MiBAC Top 40’ is the first of a series of free apps produced by the Italian ministry dedicated to Italy’s heritage sites and museums. In both English and Italian, it will initially be available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, but will soon be made available for smartphones too. According to MiBAC’s press release, the application will available on…

  • site

    Cathedral of Magdeburg

    Attribution: Dirk Michael Boche Key Dates September 21, 937 – First church constructed 1207 – Destruction of the cathedral by fire 1209 – Start of the construction of the current cathedral Magedeburg Germany Key People Otto I, who ordered the construction Queen Eadgyth (‘Edith of England’) who was buried in the Cathedral The ‘Magdeburger Dom’ as it is known in German (full: ‘Dom zu Magdeburg St Mauritus und Katharina’) is located in the city of Magdeburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany.  It is home to the grave of Emperor Otto I the Great, Holy Roman Emperor, and the remains of his wife Queen Aedgyth (‘Edith of…

  • Ann

    Plants Used to Date Egypt’s Pharaohs

    Scholars across the globe have spent more than a century trying to document the reigns of the various rulers of Egypt’s Old, Middle and New Kingdoms. Now, researchers say they nailed down a more accurate chronology for dynastic Egypt. The new chronology, based on a radiocarbon analysis of short-lived plant remains, is a long and accurate chronology of ancient Egyptian dynasties that agrees with most previous estimates but also imposes some historic revisions. Although previous chronologies (based on both historical and archaeological records) have been precise in relative ways (the sequence of rulers), assigning absolute dates to specific events in…

  • owenjarus

    1,400 year-old Pyramid Discovered in Peru

    A team of archaeologists has uncovered a 1,400 year old pyramid in Peru at a site called Huaca Colorada – a name meaning “coloured hill”. The pyramid was built by an ancient people called the Moche. It was flat at the top and a settlement was built around it that housed thousands of people. It was in use until around 1,200 years ago. Professor Edward Swenson, of the University of Toronto, led the team that made the discovery. “People walked over this thinking that it was just a big mountain where squatters lived,” he said. “I knew it was more…