• owenjarus

    One Month on and Pickets Still up at Site of Afghan Treasures Exhibit

    Its been nearly one month since Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabulwent on display in Ottawa, at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. For that entire time there has been a strike on – with 400 workers manning picket lines. The strikers include educational staff and tour guides. The museum is a crown corporation – owned by the federal government. People who want to see the exhibit have had to crossthe line to go and see it. There have been no talks since early October. Wages, job security and the contracting out of jobs have been themajor bones of…

  • Ann

    Virtual Roman Leicester: A Digital Recreation of ‘Ratae Corieltauvorum’ 210AD

    A pioneering research project to recreate Roman Leicester with an interactive virtual world is unveiled today at the official launch of Phoenix Square film and digital media centre in the city’s emerging cultural quarter. Members of the public will see a showcase of a range of IOCT – Institute of Creative Technologies – projects including taking an interactive on-screen tour round Roman Leicester 210AD; which takes them inside some of the 3D buildings including the Merlin Works Baths, Mithraum, the Temple of Jupiter and the Basilica and Forum. Using a skill known as architectural forensics, and working with archaeologists from…

  • Ann

    Mummy CSI: Ancient Egyptians suffered from ‘modern day’ heart diseases too

    Scientists discoveredthat the ancient Egyptians suffered from – what we often consider to be modern day – heart diseases too. Hardening of the arteries has been detected in Egyptian mummies, some as old as 3,500 years, suggesting that the factors causing heart attack and stroke are not only modern ones; they afflicted ancient people, too. “Atherosclerosis is ubiquitous among modern day humans and, despite differences in ancient and modern lifestyles, we found that it was rather common in ancient Egyptians of high socio-economic status living as much as three millennia ago,” says professor of cardiology Dr. Gregory Thomas. The nameplate…

  • meral-crifasi

    Libya opens Leptis Magna to the world

    London-based photographer Herb Schmitz spends most of his time away travelling and photographing political figures, landscapes and fashion. It’s more of a hobby now, but Herb has had a long and successful career in photography. Little more then a year ago, while working for a shipping company, Herb had a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to visit Libya’s Roman city Leptis Magna. I met Herb Schmitz in his studio to create this video interview, shot by film-maker Samantha Newton, in which he describes his experience photographing this amazing site, and his cameras of choice. Archaeologists from the University of Hamburg were excavating along…

  • graecyn

    Terra Cotta Warriors Exhibit Coming to the National Geographic Museum

    The Terra Cotta Warriors, guardians of China’s first emperor, are headed to Washington, DC, USA! I will excitedly be among those with a first look at the largest Chinese cultural and historical exhibit ever to come to the United States! An excerpt from the website: Soldiers. Charioteers. Archers. Musicians. Generals. Acrobats. Nearly 2,000 years ago, thousands of life-size clay figures were buried in massive underground pits to accompany China’s first emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, into the afterlife. Their discovery outside the city of Xi’an in 1974 is one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century. Now, you will stand…

  • Ann

    Western Wall Heritage Center a threat to Jerusalem’s Roman History?

    One of Israel’s leading archaeologists has publicly condemned the Israel Antiquities Authority’s failure to object to a plan to construct a part of the Western Wall Heritage Center over a site where a well-preserved ancient Roman road was recently excavated. The construction area has been designated for religious purposes since Israel took control of the Western Wall in 1967. The building would include a 4,800-square meter, three-story museum and educational institute that would display the Roman road on the ground floor, but Yoram Tsafir told Haaretz.com even the most amazing architect will not be able to avoid damaging the find…

  • sean-williams

    Incas ‘Cut off Heads as Trophies’

    Experts working at an ancient Inca archaeological site claim three skulls discovered in a ceremonial vessel prove the civilisation cut off the heads of their enemies. The skulls were found by a Peruvian team digging at the ancient ceremonial centre of Qowicarana Ridge, just north of Cuzco. Now the team hopes to find the remains of the trio’s bodies, to prove whether they were actually decapitated – either during or after battle. Washington Camacho, director of Sacsayhuaman Archaeological Park, says the heads most likely belong to rival chiefs (curacas) or religious leaders of enemy tribes. The heads would have been…

  • sean-williams

    Oldest Babylonian Cuneiform Seal Fragment in Egypt Discovered, at Hyksos Capital of Avaris

    Austrian archaeologists have unearthed the oldest cuneiform seal inscription fragment ever found in Egypt. The piece dates to the Old Babylonian reign of King Hammurabi, who brought the world its first code of law, between 1792 – 1750 BC. Egypt’s culture minister Farouk Hosni announced the discovery today, made by the Austrian Archaeological Mission in a pit at Tel El-Daba, modern name of ancient Avaris, 120km north-east of Cairo in the Nile Delta. Dr Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities chief, noted the seal was the second of its type excavated in the region. The first seal had been found in the…

  • owenjarus

    Egyptomania Set to Rock Toronto: King Tut Exhibit Plus Lecture Programme Announced

    We are just one week away from King Tuts stop at theArt Gallery of Ontario, in Toronto Canada. The Canadian exhibition will feature artefacts from the Tutankhamuns reign including the largest statue of King Tut ever found. The exhibit aims to go beyond Tut andgive viewers a lookat what Egypt was like during the Amarna period. On November 20, Heritage Key will be at at the media preview of the King Tut exhibit. We will be publishing a fullwrite-up before it opens on November 24. In conjunction with the Tut exhibit, the art gallery will be holding a lecture series…

  • sean-williams

    Digging for Cleopatra’s Tomb at Taposiris Magna

    It’s the most exciting project in Egypt, and one that’s captured the hearts and minds of people all over the world: could Kathleen Martinez have discovered the tomb of Cleopatra? The Dominican expert certainly thinks so, and tells Heritage Key all about it in this special video. A Long Route to Egypt It has taken Dr Martinez ten years to convince herself Taposiris Magna, just outside Alexandria, is the famous queen’s final resting place. And she knew from the off she had to get out in the field herself to have any chance of finding the tomb. “I needed to…