• malcolmj

    Caves of Altamira Reopen: Spanish Culture Ministry to Defy Scientists’ Warnings

    The Spanish Culture Ministry have announced that the Caves of Altamira the so-called Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic art are to reopen after eight years of closure, despite serious warnings from scientists that the world-famous ancient drawings and polychrome rock paintings within may suffer irrevocable damage from moisture generated by visitors. In a statement to reporters on Tuesday, Spanish Culture Minister Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde and the sites board of directors announced that public access will resume before the end of this year, albeit on an unspecified, restricted basis. The cave complex located in the Cantabria region of northern Spain, and first discovered…

  • Ann

    New World Settled Twice: Two-migration Scenario for the Americas

    A new analysis of Early American skeletons concludes that the large anatomical difference seen between ancient and recent Native Americans is best explained by two colonisation events of the New World. The study suggest that the latest common ancestor between Early and Late Native American groups must have been located outside the continent: an other group of individuals arrived in the New World before the primary ancestors of today’s Native Americans. The team studied a series of skeletons from South and Central America between 7,500 and 11,5000 years old, comparing them with those of more than 300 Amerindians, dating to…

  • malcolmj

    Tony Robinson Helps Scottish Tourist Board Promote Archaeological Treasures Trail

    Time Team star Tony Robinson has backed a campaign by VisitScotland, Scotlands national tourism board, promoting archaeological tourism in the country of such world-renowned UNESCO Heritage Sites as St Kilda and Skara Brae, and remarkable heritage treasures including The Lewis Chessmen and the Orkney Venus. The message to visitors: forget all those dull clichs about tartan, haggis and caber tossing, and instead get around the country and discover a rich well of history which runs many thousands of years deeper than William Wallace and the narrow vision of Scotlands past popularised by Braveheart. Scotlands history runs through the Viking and…

  • Ann

    Angelina Jolie Cleopatra in Film of Stacy’s Schiff’s Biography of Egyptian Queen

    Angelina Jolie will play Cleopatra, the last queen of Egypt, in a film adapted from Stacy Schiff’s upcoming book ‘Cleopatra: A Life’. It’s hardly likely to subdue those arguing Cleopatra was little more than ‘Egypt’s sex kitten’ (opposed by myself, Nele and Rosemary Joyce in her blog and book ‘Ancient Bodies’, I must say), but it’s exciting news nonetheless. The book won’t be published until autumn 2010, but producer Scott Rudin has already purchased film rights, saying the movie ‘is being developed for and with Jolie’. Author Schiff has even hinted at Brad Pitt playing Roman general Mark Antony, reminding…

  • sean-williams

    British Home-made ‘Stonehenge’ is a Load of Rubbish

    There may be many alternatives to Stonehenge this summer solstice, but one British man is proud his stone circle is complete rubbish. Bryan Raines, of Awbridge, Hampshire, has been creating his ‘Millennium Circle’ since 2000 entirely from waste fly-tipped on his land. Bryan’s 24-stone circle surrounds a soil barrow, and he even believes it is located on a ley line – a mystical line linking ancient monuments. Yet the power of the ley line hasn’t saved Bryan’s landmark from some altogether less mystical interlopers. “Some of the stones are between five and six feet high, but unfortunately cows keep knocking…

  • prad

    Stonehenge Film ‘Remnants’ Explores the Megalithic Civilisation

    The world’s most photogenic stone circle, Stonehenge, is the subject of a film called “Remnants” by Grant Wakefield which explores the Neolithic civilisation, looking at how we know so little about a culture which spanned over 3 millennia. With the Summer Solstice 2010 this weekend, it’s worth reminding ourselves of the beauty of this sacred ancient site. Heritage Key also has explored Stonehenge during the Spring Equinox (Watch the Video), and talked to Druid Frank Somers about how the stones came to be (Watch the Video). The Neolithic people vanished without leaving anything but their remnants, and it is these…

  • owenjarus

    ROM set to announce new CEO… but what should his or her goal be?

    In a matter of weeks, or even days, the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto Canada,will be announcing who their next CEO is going to be. I dont have any knowledge as to who it is, but, can certainly say that the new leader has an almost impossible act to follow. William Thorsell, the museums current leader, will be retiring in August. His ten year termat the museum was one of unprecedented growth. Under his leadership the ROM built an expansion that saw its Bloor Street frontage turned quite literally into a giant crystal. Collections that had been in storage from…

  • britain

    Alternatives to Stonehenge: 10 Places to Celebrate the Summer Solstice

    Okay so you’re too far away from Stonehenge/don’t have the time/fed up of charging through 40,000 overtired revellers: where else can you see the summer solstice this year? Worry not, for here are ten other places on the British Isles you’re more than welcome to see in the midsummer sun. Remember, you can see the summer solstice at our very own Stonehenge Virtual. 1. Avebury Stone Circle, Wiltshire Just a few miles from Stonehenge, Avebury is a gorgeous megalithic rotunda – bigger than Stonehenge – with its own ancient avenue: the differences being you can freely wander round it on…

  • Ann

    Return of the Parthenon Marbles: Reunification, Not Repatriation Says Pandermalis

    In an interview for Toronto-based ‘The Agenda’, journalist Steve Paikin questioned Dimitrios Pandermalis, president of the New Acropolis Museum in Athens, on why Greece believes the famous Elgin Marbles should be returned to their homeland. And if the British Museum were to return the marbles would it not set a precedent for a myriad other claims for reparation, from all over the world?Pandermalis sees the return of the Parthenon Marbles not as a ‘repatriation’ of artefacts, but rather as re-unification, reinstating the ancient monument’s integrity. Pandermalis is right to say that the Parthenon sculptures and friezes do not belong to…

  • malcolmj

    10 Things I Didn’t Know About the Lewis Chessmen

    I’ve had something of a crash-course on the subject of the Lewis Chessmen since it was announced back in October last year that pieces from the London and Edinburgh collections would be reunited for a major touring exhibition of Scotland running throughout 2010 and 2011. I researched the story of the Lewis Chessmen for this article, blogged on the findings of new research on their origins and usage, pitted them against King Tut’s ivory senet board in a face-off, and reported on the premiere last month of the exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland (NMS). I was beginning to…