• Ann

    Finally! Tickets to Amenabar’s Agora Film This Weekend in London

    I’m pretty sure that this is probably the worst intro written to a blogpost ever, but: ‘W00t!’ Alejandro Amenbar’s big film Agora on the life (and death) of philosopher and mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria will (finally) be released ‘at cinemas nationwide’ (that’s UK) on April 23. I’ve been saying (and typing) for the last nine months that I want to really, really see this English-language movie by Amenbar. Meanwhile, Ive been forced to (not) watch it being released in Spain – where the historical drama earned over $10.3million in four days, becoming 2009’s highest-grossing local film – and the USA…

  • sean-williams

    Giant Tree Stump Completes Seahenge Exhibit at Norfolk’s Lynn Museum

    King’s Lynn in Norfolk played host to the year’s oddest cultural occasions yesterday, as a 1.5 ton tree stump was lowered into the town’s Lynn Museum. But it was no ordinary stump: the giant piece of oak was once the centrepoint for 4,000-year-old Seahenge, an ancient circle of wooden posts discovered off the coast of Holme in 1998. The move is the last major event before the completed henge goes on display at the museum this summer in a replica of its original surroundings. Almost 50,000 people have visited the posts since they were first exhibited there in 2008. Each…

  • jonathan-yeomans

    Day Trips from London For History Fans

    The south east of England has been at the centre of British history for two thousand years. There are hundreds of heritage sites within striking distance of London that can be easily visited in a day. Tracking out from the historic Roman heart of the city, here are some of my suggestions Within 2 Miles of the Centre Why not start where it all began? London wall was built by the Romans in around 200 AD. It lasted over 1,000 years and helped define the shape of the medieval city. One of the few remaining chunks of wall can be…

  • meral-crifasi

    New! Live Music and Amarna Area in King Tut Virtual

    We’re always busy at Heritage Key striving to bring you exciting new activities and more places to explore. If you have been to King Tut Virtual before you might have had a visit to the Amarna area by the Nile. We have been really extending that area to give you a sign of how life was by the Nile around 1350 BC. If you come along to the Amarna area now, we’ll offer to dress your avatar as an Egyptian from head to toe, and even get you to dance like an Egyptian. Also, to celebrate the launch of this…

  • sean-williams

    Iceland Eyjafjallajökull Ash is Nothing: The Biggest Ancient Volcanic Eruptions

    It may not come as much of a relief to the tens of thousands stuck in airports across the world, but Wednesday’s Eyjafjallajkull eruption in Iceland is smallfry compared to some of the ancient world’s most destructive episodes. Women in China’s Yunnan Province are still suffering huge mortality rates from lung cancer today, for example, from coal formed after Siberian eruptions five million years ago. Here are four more ancient eruptions that changed the world. Lake Toba Eruption, c74,000 years ago The Toba Explosion is one of the most mysterious events in human history. Occurring some 69,000 – 77,000 years…

  • lyn

    Will Volcanic Ash Delay Start of New Commercial Flights Between London and Iraq?

    This week, the UK skies fell oddly silent due to flight cancellations caused by the eruption of a volcano in Iceland. As business and holiday travellers fret over changed plans and lost vacation, one particularly symbolic flight hangs in the balance. Passengers booked onto the 11am Iraqi Airways flight to Baghdad on Saturday, April 17 are awaiting news of whether their flight will board tomorrow, Sunday or Monday. When it does take off, it will be the first direct commercial service between the British capital and Iraq in almost 20 years, and it represents another small step on Iraq’s long…

  • Ann

    Staffordshire Hoard®? Trademark Application by the County Council for the Mercia Hoard

    News just emerged (to me via Janet E Davis’ tweets) that the Staffordshire County Council applied for a trademark for ‘Staffordshire Hoard’ and ‘The Staffordshire Hoard’ in January 2010. The trademark is still being examined by the UK’s Intellectual Property Office. The 350 + legal counsel application is not just limited to ‘goods’ – meant to protect from ‘counterfeit’ Staffordshire Hoard souvenirs – but lists various uses in the category ‘services’ as well. Will you soon have to knock on the door of the Council and beg for a license or face legal action, if you want teach about Anglo-Saxon…

  • prad

    Flat Earth Theory: Ancient Greeks Debunk the Modern Myth

    During a recent lecture I attended by astronomer Paul Murdin, which was hosted by Heritage Key, I learnt something which fascinated me. One of the commonly held beliefs has been that ancient societies before the Age of Discovery believed that the world was flat, but when I raised this during the Q&Asession after the lecture, I was surprised that this is what is known as ‘The Myth of the Flat Earth‘. That’s not to say there’s nothing in the belief that our ancestors feared falling off the edge of the world. Some ancient civilisations did indeed think that the world…

  • bija-knowles

    Mafia Nuclear Waste Scandal Leads to Roman Amphorae Discovery in Italy

    An underwater probe searching for evidence of vessels blown up by the Mafia to dispose of radioactive waste in the Mediterranean has found evidence of a shipwreck of a different kind containing several hundred Roman amphorae. The large clay ‘pots’ used to contain Roman foodstuffs (olive oil, wine, grain or fish sauce/garum) were spotted on the seabed off the coast of Campania in southern Italy by the company managing the underwater exploration. The Aberdeen-based company, Hallin Marine, which provides under-sea services to industry, was using remote operated vehicles (ROVs) as part of an Italian government-run investigation into the disappearance of…

  • owenjarus

    Massive Third Church Discovered at Bawit Depicts Local Hermit Saint Apollo

    A large new church, monastic burials and a vaulted room filled with Coptic wall paintings – new excavation work at the Monastery of Saint Apollo at Bawit is yielding a wealth of remarkable finds. One of the team members, Dr. Ramez Boutros of the University of Toronto, discussed some of the finds at a recent lecture and Heritage Key followed up with an interview. The Monastery of Saint Apollo was founded by the saint around 385-390 AD. Its slightly north to the site of Asyut, which can be seen on the map below. Saint Apollo was a hermit of sorts…