• Ann

    Mel Gibson Demands Realistic Pillaging and Old Norse For New Viking Movie

    Actor and Director Mel Gibson is working on a Viking-themed film that is going to star Leonardo DiCaprio, who will have to brush up on his Old Norse. The script is in the hands of Oscar-winning screenwriter William Monahan, and will chronicle the Viking raids on England and Scotland in the ninth century. When asked about the Viking project at a recent press event, Mel Gibson told Collider.com: I think its going to be English – the English that would have been spoken back then – and Old Norse. Whatever the 9th century had to offer. Im going to give…

  • owenjarus

    The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army Exhibition: Toronto, Calgary and Victoria Look Likely Venues

    The official announcement is coming a week today (January 27) but news continues totrickle out about the exhibition of the Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, set to hit Toronto in June. Officials have been tight-lipped about this exhibit so what we’ve been hearing has been in drips and drabs. Last week we learned that the Toronto show is going to be the largest Terracotta Warrior’s showever to hit North America. We also learned that it will likely be one of four Canadian stops -with Toronto coming up first. There will be a Canadian tour, Montreal has…

  • Ann

    Saxon Queen Eadgyth’s remains discovered in Germany

    Remains of one of the oldest members of the English royal family, Edith of England, have been unearthed at the Magdeburger Dom in Germany. (image slideshow) A lead coffin was discovered, bearing her name ‘Eadgyth’ and accurately recording the transfer of her remains to the German cathedral in 1510. Inside the coffin, a nearly complete female skeleton was found, wrapped in silk. Queen Eadgyth, the sister of King Athelstan and the granddaughter of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex became the wife of Otto I, the Holy Roman Emperor in 929. She lived in Saxony and bore Otto at least…

  • mary-harrsch

    Enter the Anti-museum: Why Virtual Experiences Lead to Better Learning

    Westworld, starring Yul Brynner, has been one of my all-time favorite movies since it was released back in 1973. Envisioned by Michael Crichton, Westworld was a fictional theme park where tourists could go to experience life in another historical period. The park had a medieval world, a Roman world and, of course, Westworld, a recreation of the old American west. Each world was populated with carefully programmed androids who behaved as people from each time period would have during their normal daily activities. Guests of the park were given appropriate clothing and instructed to assume the role of a character…

  • owenjarus

    London Exhibition of Shaun Greenhalgh’s Fakes and Forgeries

    This Saturday the Victoria and Albert Museum in London will open a show that is all about a fake, in partnership with Scotland Yard. The exhibit, Metropolitan Police Service’s Investigation of Fakes and Forgeries, will explore the work of counterfeit mastermind Shaun Greenhalgh, and reveal some of the techniques used by the police to spot fakes. Over a 17 year period Greenhalgh created fake art pieces that fooled museum experts and sold for sums as high as six figures. Sentenced in 2007 he is currently serving a four year prison sentence. His parents Olive and George Greenhalgh, who assisted in…

  • owenjarus

    Ontario Culture Minister Aileen Carroll Dumped After Ministry’s Mistreatment of Artefacts

    Ontarios Minister of Culture, Aileen Carroll, wastossed out of cabinet today as part of a larger shuffle.She will now become a backbench member of the legislature. The decision caught members of the media off-guard. The National Post said that, Ms. Carroll’s demotion is perhaps the most surprising. A former federal minister, the Barrie MPP was considered a high profile candidate in 2007. The Toronto Star writes that she may have made a decision not to run in the next general election. In Canadian politics it is not unusual for retiring ministers to get dumped from cabinet before they actually retire.…

  • Ann - Articles & Blogs

    Queen Berenike’s Bastet Temple Discovered in Alexandria

    The remains of a temple of Queen Berenike – wife of King Ptolemy III – have been discovered by archaeologists in Alexandria, Egypt. Dr. Zahi Hawass said the remains discovered are 60 meters by 15 meters, and extend under Ismail Fahmy street. About 600 Ptolemaic statues – amongst which are beautiful depictions of the cat goddess Bastet – were also unearthed. Dr. Mohamed Abdel Maqsoud, Head of Antiquities of Lower Egypt, said that the mission excavating at Kom el Dikka on property of the Alexandria Security Forces included 18 skilled excavators and restorers. The large collection of Bastet statues indicates…

  • ray-laurence

    Ray Laurence’s blog

    By the time of the emperors, the Romans had created the worlds first global empire stretching from Morocco in the west to Iraq in the east, and from Scotland in the north to Egypt in the south. Around this empire flowed a treasure trove of goods from far flung lands: slaves, spices, precious stones, and coloured marble, as well as an exotic array of foods and wine. From this bounty, the Romans created a culture of pleasure and a passion for sensations that stimulated all the human senses: vision, hearing, smell, touch and so on. A global world of pleasure…

  • prad

    Daily Flickr Finds: Mubarak Al-Thani’s Egyptian Mummy

    Possibly one of the creepier Heritage Key Daily Flickr Finds that I’ve picked out from our Flickr pool, but this photograph of the remains of this Egyptian Mummy housed in the British Museum captivates me. The angle it’s taken at, looking at its profile as it stares upwards gives the impression that there’s still life in this millennia old corpse. The open jaw gives the mummy an eerie feeling, with the clarity of each tooth bared. The composition of the photograph is also intruiging. It’s an image where you’re interested in what’s not shown just as much as what is.…

  • michael-kan

    Is China’s Cao Cao Tomb Discovery Genuine?

    The recent discovery of Cao Caos tomb has sparked heated debates in the Chinese media over whether the find is genuine or not. The tomb, discovered in Chinas Henan province, is believed to belong to Cao Cao, a legendary Chinese warlord who lived about 1,800 years ago. At the end of last year, Chinese archaeologists announced the find to the public. The strongest evidence they point to includes inscriptions on artifacts found at the site, as well as a recovered corpse whose time of death closely matches with when Cao Cao is recorded to have died. Liu Qingzhu, a Chinese…