Tag: Reconstruction

TV: Psusennes I, the Silver Pharaoh (who ursurped Merenptah’s sarcophagus)

Dr. Fawzy Gaballah, who reopened the research on Psusennes I for the documentary. - Image credit Andy Webb, PBS The royal tomb of Pharaoh Psusennes I is said to be one of the most spectacular discoveries ever made in Egypt. So, why hasn’t the world heard about it? And what does it reveal about Ancient Egypt? Find out in ‘Secrets of the Dead:The Silver Pharoah’, premiering this Wednesday.

Tanis, Egypt, circa 1939. An excavation team led by French archaeologist Pierre Montet unearthed an intact royal burial chamber (NRT III), which containedtreasures that (almost) rivals the riches found in Tutankhamuns tomb almost two decades before.

One of the most spectacular discoveries inside the crypt was the exquisite silver sarcophagus of Pharaoh Psusennes I, an, up till now, obscure ruler who governed Egypt more than 3000 years ago during one of its most difficult periods.

But while the 1922 Tut discovery created an international sensation, the opening of the tomb in Tanis made barely a ripple in a world focused on the impending war.

After Montet made his discovery, he raced to get his family back to Europe before the outbreak of war and the treasures he found – including Psusennes I’s golden burial mask (currently on tour) – were transported to Cairo for safe-keeping. There, the Silver Pharaoh’s treasures remained vaulted and unstudied.

It is hard to imagine a worse time to make such a spectacular discovery,says Egyptologist Salima Ikram.

Now, a team ofscientists- including Dr Salima Ikram, Dr Fawzy Gaballah and Dr Peter Lacovara -has taken a second look at the pharaoh’s 3,000-year-old remains, his treasures and Montet’s excavation notes. This research is the topic of a one-hour documentary ‘The Silver Pharaoh‘ (part of Secrets of the Dead), which premieres in the US this Wednesday.

PBS, Andy WebbReconstruction portrait of Psusennes I by Melissa Dring - Image credit PBS, Andy Webb

Secrets of the Dead: The Silver Pharaoh

Psusennes ruled at the end of the 2nd millennium BC, about 300 years after King Tut.

At that time, Egypt was a fractured kingdom divided between rival rulers of north and south. High priests seized power to command the southern region from Thebes while deposed pharaohs were exiled north to Tanis.

From Tanis, Psusennes ruled for animpressive 46 years;the study of Psusennes skeleton showed a hard-working man who suffered a debilitating rheumatic disease but lived well into his eighties.

‘Cumul des mandats’

The pharaoh’s cartouche offered the archaeologists clues as to how Psusennes amassed his fortune.

The first one was found on an ordinary silver dish, marked with Psusennes signature along with a series of hieroglyphic inscriptions citing his titles the king was not only a pharaoh but also a high priest.

Additional investigation showed that he had his daughter marry his brother, a high priest in the south. In doing so, he cemented his family power and united the country.

Ursurping Merenptah’s Sarcophagus

Psusennes’ sarcophagus held another clue to Third Intermediate Period Egyptian politics. On it, the egyptologists found a cartouche belonging to Merenptah, son of Ramesses the Great. Merenptah died 150 years before Psusennes came into power.

Research showed Psusennes was given Merenptahs sarcophagus as a gift and had his signature added on it. This strategic act solidified his familys association with historical greats for eternity.

Moving Pi-Ramesses to Tanis

The team also discovered more about the relocation of the metropolis of Pi-Ramesses, the riverside capital built by Ramesses II, to Tanis. Montet discovered its ruins in Tanis, however, archaeologists began questioning Montets assumption since the river Nile often changed course.

Using radar scans along a previously discounted delta settlement 12 miles from Tanis, they discovered the foundation of Ramesses lost city. Pi-Ramesses became unlivable when the Nile became too silted at this location. Around the same time, Psusennes took the throne and ordered part of the city be moved stone by stone to Tanis.

‘Secrets of the Dead: The Silver Pharaoh’ airs nationally Wednesday, November 3, 2010 on PBS.

One Step Closer to Understanding Neanderthal Locomotion

LABO Neanderthal Walk A new research project from the Universit Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) takes us one step further as it comes to understanding Neanderthal locomotion. The Laboratory of Anatomy, Biomechanics and Organogenesis’ (LABO for short) project created a 3D virtual reconstruction of a pair of Neanderthal lower limbs.

The skeleton shows the Neanderthals had the same moves as we do and between 5% and 20% more leverage than us.

Homonids (that includes all forms of the human lineage, be it extinct or living) started bipedal locomotion (moving by means of your two rear limbs or, in our case, legs) some 6 million years ago. When you compare our ‘modern man’ gait to that of our fellow hominids, man takes giant steps. But what about the Neanderthals? To which degree is their locomotion comparable to ours?

In the early twentieth century it was believed that Neanderthals were furry (and dumb) creatures, hobbling about. These ideas persisted until the late ’50s, when a more objective analysis of Neanderthal fossils led to the realisation they weren’t that dissimilar to humans. (Thatearly humans thought it ‘not done’ to have sex with those ‘hairy caveman’ was only revised recently.)

Today, it is assumed that the skeletal morphology of the Neanderthals allowed them to walk the same way we do. However, there is little quantifiable data to substantiate this hypothesis. The Homo neanderthalensis has been extinct for some 20,000 years now (sorry to break the news), making direct observation of their walking capabilities impossible.

Another major problem when trying to trace the Neanderthal’s steps, is the lack of fossil record. To date, no complete Neanderthal skeleton has been found, and scientists don’t even have a sufficient number of bones to reconstruct an entire limb.

Neanderthal joint architecture is mechanically compatible with modern human locomotion.

So LABO’s first objective was to compose a 3D model of Neanderthal lower limbs using fossils found at three different sites the remains used to belong to individuals known as Spy II (discovered in Belgium), Kebara 2 (Israel) and Neanderthal 1 (Germany). To make this ‘virtual assembly’ possible, the researchers had to ‘scale’ the different virtual fragments, taking into account the estimated size of the three Neanderthal individuals.

To determine if the characteristics of the skeleton are consistent with ‘modern locomotion’, the team then merged the 3D reconstruction with movement data obtained from (human) volunteers. The resulting model showed no indication that Neanderthals did not show the same range of motion as humans; Neanderthal joint architecture is mechanically compatible with modern human locomotion.

However, it needs to be noted, walking isn’t just about bones, joints and muscles. Movement is monitored by the brain, and unfortunately data on the Neanderthal brain remains too fragmentary to say whether it was capable of controlling and monitoring of such movements.

Next, information relating to the lower limb muscle was added to the model, as to answer a second question relating to Neanderthal physiology: when compared to our skeletons, how much mechanical advantage did the Neanderthal’s more robust skeleton give to the attached muscles?

The researchers found that at an equal size the reconstructed Neanderthal muscoloskeletal system shows a strength larger than that of modern humans. The Neanderthal’s mechanical advantage is estimated to be 5% to 20% morethan ours. The research (to be published in the journal Palevol under the title Reconstruction virtuelle des membres infrieurs Nandertaliens et estimation des bras de levier des muscle ischio-jambiers) confirms the idea that their big-boned morphology allowed the Neanderthals to be more effective in a hostile environment where increased mobility was likely synonymous with a greater chance of survival.

In cooperation with the Belgian Royal Institute of Natural Science, the LABO is currently working on a more detailed, and complete, virtual model of the Neanderthal skeleton found at Spy. The final model will be used to generate a 3D skeleton (much like was done to Tutankhamen’s mummy?) and a hyper-realistic 3D reconstruction by artists Adrie and Alfons Kennis. Both will be presented at the new ‘Spy Man’ exhibition in the spring of 2011.

Pavlopetri, ‘the city beneath the waves’ to surface in BBC Two documentary

The curvature of the sea surface and the nearby walls is of course caused by the "fish-eye" lens Discovered over 40 years ago just off the coast of Greece, Pavlopetri is the oldest submerged city in the world and the only sunken city in Greece that predates the writing of Plato’s Atlantis myth.

Now, for ‘Pavlopetri, The City Beneath the Waves’, BBC Two is to follow the team of experts excavating the submerged site.

“The future of archaeology is under the water and we are now armed with the technology to unlock the countless fascinating secrets the sea is yet to yield up to us, says BBCTwo’s Janice Hadlow.

The documentary is planned to air next year, and will make extensiveuse of CGI (3D computer generated images) to show for the first time in 3,500 years, how the mighty city of Pavlopetri now five metres below the sea level must have once looked.

The underwater city of Pavlopetriwas discovered in 1967, off the coast of southern Laconia in Greece. It is about 5000 years old.

It is believed that the ancient town sank around 1000 BC yet it remains unknown what caused this. Possibilities include sea level changes, earthquakes, or a tsunami.

So far, evidence for inhabitation during the late Bronze Age, middle Minoan and Mycenaean periods has been found at the 30,000 square meters archaeological site.

Pavlopetri is unique in having an almost complete town plan, including streets, courtyards, more than 15 buildings, two chamber tombs and at least 37 cist graves.

Although eroded over the centuries, the town layout never built over or disrupted by agriculture is as it was thousands of years ago.

It is believed that the ancient town sank at the end of the Mycenaean period, around 1000 BC yet it remains unknown what caused this. Possibilities include sea level changes, earthquakes, or a tsunami.

‘Pavlopetri The City Beneath the Waves’ will show the archaeology team using the latest in cutting-edge science and technology to prise age-old secrets from the complex of streets and stone buildingsthat wasmapped in last year’s survey. (Video from the 2009 Pavlopetri Expedition.)

The team is led by the University of Nottingham’s Dr Jon Henderson. Working alongside the underwater archaeologist on this ground-breaking project will be Nic Flemming, the man whose hunch led to the intriguing discovery of Pavlopetri in 1967, and teams from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the Australian Centre for Field Robotics.

Sagalassos Archaeological Project Digs Up Oldest Roman Baths in Asia Minor

Sagalassos Roman Baths Turkey Anatolia At the ancient city of Sagalassos, Turkey, archaeologists have discovered the oldest Roman baths in Asia Minor known to date.

The new find means the Capito Baths in Miletus, built during the reign of Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD),have to concede theirposition as the oldest known Roman bathing complex in Anatolia.

Oldest Roman Bathsin Asia Minor

The ‘Old Bath’ was discovered at Sagalassos, an ancient city from Hellenistic and Roman times in southwestern Turkey. They were locatedbelow the previously unearthed Imperial Baths, dated to120-165 AD.

The newly discovered bathing complex is much older and smaller than the Imperial Baths which have a surface area of more than 5,000 square metres and is dated to 10-30 AD, though the Old Bath was probably built somewhat earlier, during the reign of Augustus or Tiberius.

The approx. 3 metre high south wall of the heating room of the bathing complex. Warm air was blown under the floor of the middle apsidal space or ‘caldarium’ (hot water pool).

The Old Baths measure 32.5 by 40 metres and are far better preserved than was originally thought. The complex walls must have been at least 12 metres high, of which 8.5 metres remain erect today.

When Hadrian selected Sagalassosas the centre of the Imperial cult for all of Pisidia, to which the city belonged this included the organisation of festivals and games (agones).

These attracted thousands, making a new urban infrastructure necessary. In order to accommodate the Pisidian visitors to the events, the Old Baths were replaced by the larger Imperial Baths.

Roman Style Bathing

The Roman bathing habits consisted of a succession of a warm water pool, a hot water pool and a cold water pool.

Each pool of these pools (a ‘piscina’ or ‘natatio’) was housed in a separate space; a tepidarium, a caldarium and a frigidarium, respectively.

The Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project

The Belgian Sagalassos Archaeological Research Project directed by Professor Marc Waelkens from the University of Leuven this past summer (photographs from the 2010 season) also revealed the faade of an important public building dating from the reign of Emperor Augustus (25 BC – 14 AD). It may have been the town hall of Sagalassos.

The team also concluded that the triumphal arch, until now thought to pay tribute to Caligula, was actually erected in honour of his uncle and successor Claudius (41-54 AD) and Claudius brother Germanicus, Caligulas father.

The reconstructed Antonine Nymphaeum, at Sagalassos' Upper Agora. The water drops down from a height of 4.50 metres, into a 81 cubic metres reservoir.

Anastylosis: Antoine Nymphaeum

At the end of this seasons excavations, an Antonine Nymphaeum was inaugurated at the Upper Agora of the Sagalassos site.

The reconstruction of the fountain was an ‘anastylosis’ project, whereby a structure is restored using the original architectural elements to the greatest degree possible.

The monumentwas constructed around 160AD,using 7 different kinds of stones. The restored fountain contains more than 85% of its original building blocks. Where needed for stability reasons, missing stones were replaced by blocks fashioned using antique technologies; the same way they would have been made 2,000 years ago.

Now, the9 metres high and 28 metres longAntonine Nymphaeum,is againfed by one of its original water canals. It collapsed when earthquakes destroyed Sagalassos in the7th century AD.

Caerleon Fortress Mapping Reveals Palatial Scale Building

Reconstruction of Caerleon - or Itca, by its Roman name - showing the newly discovered monumental suburb - Image copyright 7reasons Archaeology students learning to use mapping equipment have discovered a complex of monument buildings outside the Roman fortress at Caerleon, South Wales. The team says it will lead to a complete rethink about how Britain was conquered and occupied by the Roman forces almost 2,000 years ago.

The students from the Cardiff Universitys School of History, Archaeology and Religion were learning how to use geophysical equipment in fields outside the Caerleon fortress. Squeezed into the ground between the amphitheatre and the River Usk, the outlines of a series of huge buildings were revealed. The discovery of the settelement’s monumental suburb came as a surprise. It was thought the Roman legionaries had little use for this area outside the fortress walls.

Caerleon is one of the best-known Roman sites in Britain, so it was a great surprise to realise that we had found something completely new and totally unexpected, said Dr Peter Guest, Senior Lecturer in Roman Archaeology.

The biggest is enormous and must be one of the largest buildings known from Roman Britain.

It is difficult to be certain about what we have been found because nothing like this has been discovered in Roman Britain before.

The building’s ground plans do suggest that the structures were of some importance. They could have included markets, administrative buildings, bath-houses, store buildings, and possibly even a temple. But it is the largest, enormous structure that is most fascinating.

The biggest is enormous and must be one of the largest buildings known from Roman Britain. We can only guess what it was for, but at the moment were working on the idea that it had something to do with a harbour on the river, although it does look uncannily like a residential villa building if thats the case it was built on a palatial scale.

Caerleon is one of only three permanent legionary fortresses in Britain. The ancient military base was originally an Iron Age hill fort. When the conquest of Roman Wales started inthe first century AD, the locationbecame the headquarters of the Legio II Augusta.

Around Isca Augusta, the usual array of military buildings such as a hospital, a bath house, barracks, metal shops and granaries were built. The settlement even included an amphitheatre, which in medieval times became known as ‘King Arthur’s Round Table’.

An interpretation of the geophysical survey, shows the various monumental buildings outside the fortress - Image copyright GeoArch

Most of the fort is thought to have been demolished in the late 3rd century and by 4th century the Roman baths were nothing but a cattle pen.

The layout and scale of the buildings look like they should be at the centre of a town or city, continued Dr Guest, but here at Caerleon we seem to have the central public spaces without the surrounding city where are the people who would have used these buildings?

Perhaps they were intended for the legionaries of the Second Augustan, but it is also possible that this is the first evidence for Roman plans to develop the fortress at Caerleon into a major settlement in western Britain plans that for some reason never came to fruition. Thats the great thing about an archaeological discovery like this lots of new questions that we just dont have definite answers to at the moment.

Over the last four years, excavations at the site have uncovered eight previously unknown barrack blocks, three large granaries, a monumental metal workshop and a very large store building. Until 17 September 2010, the team of archaeologists will be at Caerleon for their final season of excavation. Taking place near the site of the new discovery, the team hope to uncover yet more information about the fortress and its inhabitants. Follow the Carleon Dig on twitter and its excavation blog on the British Archaeology website.

We will be spending six weeks in Caerleon this summer, excavating within the fortress walls with colleagues from UCL. We hope to reveal yet more information about the fortress and its legion and I am sure that our work will produce some really exciting results, said Dr Guest.

The dig is open to the public and wed be delighted to see people coming along with family and friends to find out more about the work we are doing.

Earlier this week it was announced evidence of a Romanfort at least twentyyears older than Itca Augusta has been uncovered at Monmouth, about 20 miles from Caerleon. It is thoughtthe fort covered most of the town centre and could hold up to 2,000 troops. Steve Clarke of Monmouth Archaeology told theSouth Wales Argus that theMonmouth Roman fortexisted in AD55 and is likely the oldest in Wales.

Guided tours of the Caerleon Roman fortress Priory Field excavation are available twice daily (11 am and 2.30 pm, except Mondays).Throughout the Summer Bank Holiday weekend (28th 30th August 2010) there are ‘Open Days’. As well as tours, there will be displays of the latest finds, a mini-dig, and the chance to talk to archaeologists about how they excavate ancient sites.

Reconstruction of Mexico Ice Age Woman suggests Several Migration Waves

la mujer de las malmas underwater skeleton and reconstruction Scientists have made a reconstruction of a 10,000 year old ancient woman, based on the skeletal remains found near Mexico’s Caribbean coast. Surprisingly, the reconstruction resembles people from Southeastern Asia,rather than Northern Asia.

In 2002, divers discovered the remains of an Ice Age woman at an underwater cave 4.5 km from Tulum, on the Ycutan Peninsula. The well-preserved remains 90% complete are estimated to be between 10,000 and 12,000 years old.

Based on the skeleton, experts have now reconstructed what Mujer de las Palmas (The Woman of the Palms) must have looked like with surprising results. The body structure, skin and eyes are similar to those of Southeast Asia people. According tothe scientists, this reinforces the hypothesis of multiple migration waves to the Americas, not just from Northern Asia but also from the Central and Southern areas. Additional, local ‘micro-evolution’ was just as important as migration.

Based on the skeleton remains, anthropologists and archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology (INAH) concluded the woman named Mujer de las Palmas, after the cave where she was discovered- was 1m52 tall, weighed approximately 58 kilos and was between 44 and 50 years old at time of death.

After extensive study of the skull, the researchers found that its physical features do not correspond with the characteristics of Mexican indigenous population, nor with ancient inhabitants of America. Her face is more similar to people from Southeast Asia, says Alejandro Terrazas, anthropologist at the National University of Mexico.

Terrazassays this indicates that American Continent was populated by several migratory movements, rather than by one or two waves from Northern Asia that arrived through Bering Strait, as most theories say happened.

History is not that simple, there were a lot of movements, Terrazas explains. What Mujer de las Palmas reveals is that there were more migrations from Southern and Central Asia that resulted in a local evolution in America, producing a great diversity of populations that already existed when the Clovis Culture developed (13,500 years ago).

Our position at present, based on the study of Mujer de las Palmas, is that the model of two migrations of Paleoamericans and Amerindians is very limited, he continuous.

Yet, the anthropologist cautioned that although the scientific reconstruction is based on skull measurements and calculations of the muscle and other tissue that once covered her face – one can never be completely sure.

Ten millennia ago, the Yucatan area was very different from the peninsula we know today.The landscape was more desert prairie than jungle, and the Las Palmas cava was not yet flooded. Animals as well as people would havesought shelter and water in the caves.

The reconstruction of la Mujer de las Palmas is on display at the ‘Altered Planet: Climate Change and Mexico’ exhibition in Guanajuato, together with virtual reconstructions of central Mexico’s other ‘oldest remains’: el Hombre de Tepexpan (about 4,000 years old), la Mujer del Pen (more than 10,000 years old) and el Hombre del Metro Balderas (also about 10,000 years old).

Sticky Rice Secret Ingredient of Ancient Chinese Mortar

The Egyptians cut their multi-ton bricks so precise that, often, no mortar was needed for the construction of their monumental builds. The Romans mixed volcanic ashes in their ancient mortar, ensuring the Trajan Forum lasts for almost 20 centuries now. The ancient Chinese builders, however, opted for a more culinary solution: sticky rice mortar.

Scientists have discovered the the secret behind an ancient Chinese super-strong mortar made from sticky rice, concluding it still remains the best material for restoring ancient buildings today. The mortar a paste used to bind and fill gaps between bricks, stone blocks and other construction materials was developed in ancient china some 1,500 years ago, by mixing sticky rice soup with the standard mortar ingredient ofslaked lime.

The researchers identified ‘amylopectin’, found in rice and other starchy foods, as the secret ingredient responsible for the mortar’s legendary strenght.

“Analytical study shows that the ancient masonry mortar is a kind of special organic-inorganic composite material,” the scientists explained. “The inorganic component is calcium carbonate, and the organic component is amylopectin, which comes from the sticky rice soup added to the mortar. Moreover, we found that amylopectin in the mortar acted as an inhibitor: The growth of the calcium carbonate crystal was controlled, and a compact microstructure was produced, which should be the cause of the good performance of this kind of organic-organic mortar.”

The test results of the modeling mortars shows that sticky rice-lime mortar has more stable physical properties, has greater mechanical strength, and is more compatible, which make it a suitable restoration mortar for ancient masonry buildings.

The resulting ‘sticky rice mortar’ was stronger and more resistant to water than pure lime mortar, and, as professor of physical chemistry Bingjian Zhang notes, one of the greatest technological innovations of the time.

Builders used the material to construct important buildings like tombs, pagodas, and city walls, some of which still exist today. The tomb of Xu Pu and his wife, constructed using sticky-rice mortar, was strong enough to shrug off the effects of modern bulldozers and structures in Quan built with sticky rice-lime mortar survived the 7.5 grade earthquake of 1604 AD.

When restoring historical constructions, it is often needed to replace or repair the original masonry work, and the choice of mortar used for this is vital. Examining if sticky rice-lime mortar can be used for restoring ancient buildings, the scientists prepared lime mortars with varying amounts of sticky rice and tested their performance compared to traditional lime mortar.

“The test results of the modeling mortars shows that sticky rice-lime mortar has more stable physical properties, has greater mechanical strength, and is more compatible, which make it a suitable restoration mortar for ancient masonry buildings,” the article notes.

The paper ‘Study of Sticky Rice-Lime Mortar Technology for the Restoration of Historical Masonry Construction’ by Fuwei Yang, Bingjian Zhang and Qinglin Ma appeared in ‘Accounts of Chemical Research’ and can be consulted on the website of the American Chemical Society.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Take Shortcut to Athens via Nashville Parthenon

The cast and crew of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief didn’t have to go all the way to Athens to film the hydra scene in the Parthenon. They just booked some time in a reconstruction of the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennesse. Perhaps in the future, as the role of CGI increases in movies, they will be able to use a virtual version. I visited the Nashville Parthenon, as well as Second Life’s virtual reconstruction, to find out what the Parthenon of Athens was really like in the time of the ancient Greeks.

The Nashville Parthenon

I know, most people think of Nashville as home of the Grand Ole Opry and the country music capital of the world, but people there also have a taste for the classics! The Parthenon in Nashville is a full-scale replica of the original in Athens. It was built in 1897 as part of the Tennessee Centennial Exposition. Apparently, Nashville was once known as the “Athens of the South”, a title which influenced the construction of the replica for the fair.

The original replica was built of plaster, wood and brick but was replaced by concrete construction that began in 1920. The exterior was completed in 1925 and the interior was finally finished in 1931. In 1990, sculptor Alan LeQuire, a native of Nashville, recreated the 42-foot statue of Athena Parthenos to add to its interior. The statue of Athena is gilded with eight pounds of gold leaf.

The structure, now the centerpiece of Centennial Park, houses an art museum that contains casts of the original Parthenon (Elgin) Marbles. In the summer, local theater troupes present classic Greek plays such as Euripides’ Medea and Sophocles’ Antigone. Most performances are free.

To view my entire tour of the Parthenon in Nashville, play the slideshow below. If you view the slideshow in full screen mode, you can click “Show Info” to view titles and descriptions to learn more.

The Parthenon in Second Life

If you can’t make it to either Athens or Nashville, you can find a recreation of the Parthenon and several other Greek landmarks in Second Life. You can even visit a virtual armour museum and climb aboard a Greek war galley!

The Second Life reconstruction I visited was created by Second Life user Noyle Boucher. As you can see by these images, the virtual Parthenon is brightly painted (as it was in ancient times!) and contains its own towering statue of Athena. Like the physical replica in Nashville, you can also climb steps to an observation gallery that brings you closer to Athena’s face and the statue of Nike (winged Victory) that she holds in the palm of her hand. I was also delighted to find that her shield includes sculptured scenes like those I had seen on the shield of the Athena Parthenos in Nashville.

I also visited Boucher’s reconstruction of the Erechtheion. The temple, built between 421 and 407 BC, is thought to have been named for the shrine of the famous Greek hero Erichthonius but others think it was built in honor of the legendary king Erechtheus, who ruled Athens during the Archaic period and was mentioned in Homer’s Iliad.

On the north side of the structure is the famous ‘Porch of the maidens’. Roman architect Vitruvius claimed the maidens on the porch of the Erchtheion, known as caryatids, represented women from the village of Kary, a town near Sparta in Laconia, who were condemned to slavery after betraying Athens by siding with Persia in the Greco-Persian Wars.

Scholars point out, however, that this is doubtful since supports depicting young women were used before the outbreak of the Greco-Persian Wars. Priestesses of Athena or Artemis used to carry sacred objects to feasts in baskets on their heads. Therefore, some scholars think these maidens represent such priestesses of Artemis in Kary. I managed to use the flying navigation control to position my avatar next to the virtual caryatids to get a great screenshot.

To view my entire Greek adventure in Second Life, play the slideshow below. If you view the slideshow in full screen mode, you can click “Show Info” to view titles and descriptions to learn more.

You can see the remains of temples on the Acropolis as they appear today in Google Earth, or take a visit to the real site. For more virtual reconstructions, check out Heritage Key’s virtual areas, including King Tut Virtual, and Stonehenge.

Philip Crummy on the Future of the Colchester Roman Circus

Proposed Visitor Centre This week a group of archaeologists and volunteers from Colchester Archaeological Trust and Destination Colchester attained their goal to raise 200,000 to buy a plot of land that covers the remains of part of what was once the only known Roman Circus in Britain. The appeal started as recently as December 2009, and was quickly won, with the help of celebrity endorsements and public goodwill. We spoke to Philip Crummy, Director of the Colchester Archaeological Trust about the achievement.

HK: Congratulations on raising the 200,000 sum you needed, how do you feel?

PC: We feel quite overwhelmed by it all, the response from the public has been fantastic, much better than we expected when we started and we’ve had all sorts of letters of support and donations that have made us think that what we’re doing is something people really want.

HK: And you’ve raised 200,000 so far, but I understand that there’s still a way to go.

PC: Well the 200,000 is roughly about a quarter of what we need to raise. That’s to pay for the public elements of the project. We have to raise around three times as much again. That’s a mixture of private money from investors to pay for other parts of the building and a mortgage for ourselves, the Archaeological Trust, to relocate into another part of the building – that will be about 230,000. We estimate there is another 150,000 worth of repairs required for the Sergeant’s mess building. Then we have two private investors to buy what space’s left in the building and bring in another 350,000 and that gets us pretty close to the total amount. So that’s how we’ll do it. The 200,000 pays for the public part of the project.

HK: What time-frame do you have in mind to complete the repairs and get the circus excavated and the reconstructions completed?

PC: We hope within this year to be ready to move in to the building and then to submit an application, which will take a good year, to the Heritage Lottery Fund, to raise the money to do the displays to kit out the interpretation centre to a high standard because that particular stage of the operation wasn’t included in the current fund-raising. So I guess to get to the end of the process will perhaps take to the end 2011 but if we can get into the building before that we will mount an interim display for the public to visit while all that’s going on – that could be in the autumn of this year.

HK: And how much archaeological work is there to do?

Well the archaeological remains are about a quarter of a mile long and they’re all underground. You can’t see anything at all, the remains are lying about a foot under the modern ground surface, so what we want to do, we want to bring that to the surface by using mounds along the places where the seats were, having the garden where the actual starting gates were, uncovering a small part of the remains and trying to do a three-dimensional reconstruction to show what the original gates looked like.

HK:Have you been to any other sites which would provide a good model for what you’re trying to do?

Well, around what was the Roman Empire you can find around ten circuses where what’s left is substantially exposed, or different parts of them are exposed. All of those are exposed because they’ve got huge chunks of stonework and masonry which, because of the climates in those parts of the world, can withstand exposure. Our climate gives us a different sort of problem and if we exposed the remains they would very quickly disintegrate. So that’s why we’re not proposing to actually attempt to expose the remains for any kind of length of time because they would decay. So what we’re going to do is use in part three-dimensional artwork and in part reconstructions.

If you walk around the footprint of the circus, which is a quarter of a mile long, it’s strange because you might think that there’s not much to go on but if someone explained to you what it all was and just put across the scale of the thing, and the positioning of it on the ground, it’s worth coming to see. But we want to go beyond that and give a three dimensional representation of the starting gates themselves. It’s the job of the interpretation centre to bring the whole thing to life and we’re actually working on a computerised visualisation for that.

HK: What you’ve achieved should really give hope to the next group of people trying to save a heritage project.

I think one of the reasons why it’s been as successful as it has been is because people, and I think it’s not just true of Colchester, feel that not enough is done with the heritage of the place. Colchester’s a very old city – it’s the oldest Roman town in the country and yet you could walk around the town centre and not get any sort of feeling about its Roman history. I think we got this response partly because we found this extraordinary old building but partly I think there’s a sense of frustration that more should be done about it. I think that, because of this appeal, over the next one or two years councillors will start to pay a bit more attention to that aspect and put it a bit higher up on their agenda.

Visit Roman Colchester

Colchester, ne Camulodunon (a Celtic name meaning ‘fortress of the war god Camulos’), was near the summit of our Ancient World in London video hitlist, being just 55 miles from London in Essex. And thankfully we had the perfect guide: Howard Brooks, of the Colchester Archaeological Trust. The trust have been discovering and preserving the city’s history for decades. And it’s clear that Howard has lost none of his passion for archaeology.

HK: Do you feel the council gave you enough help? I understand they donated 30,000.

Well we didn’t actually officially ask them for money – they made it clear there wasn’t any. What we’ve actually agreed to do is to gift to the council the garden around the starting gates, because what actually started this whole thing up was that the area around the starting gates, under the current planning permission, were going to be part of a private garden. We feel very strongly that this isn’t right. Something as important as that should be in the public ownership.

HK: How financially sustainable is the interpretation centre and display going to be?

Well we’re in talks with a major tea room company about leasing them part of the building. That will hopefully provide enough money to pay the running costs of the interpretation centre which actually won’t be very great. If we can get to that stage we feel there’s a really solid long-term business plan there that will allow us to do what we want to do. It’s about 10-15 minutes outside the town centre but the council have this idea that they’re going to develop to create a ‘heritage arc’, which will start at the museum, go up to St. Botolph’s Priory, which is not very far away, up to St John’s Abbey gate and then to the circus. It will tie the circus to the town centre and to the castle.

HK: What does your success tell us about the British public and their interest in heritage?

It tells us what we already know: that many, many people feel the past is of some value, of interest and that it adds to the character of where they live. People feel heritage counts, it’s a part of life, it’s a part of history and that it’s something we need to nurture and look after and I think the success of the appeal just reinforces that.

Archaeology Research Day hits Toronto this Friday

This Friday promises a feast for archaeology lovers in the Toronto area. The Archaeology Centre, at the University of Toronto, is holding Archaeology Research Day. It takes place from 10 am to 4 pm at Koffler House, 569 Spadina Ave., Room 108.

Fifteen presentations will be given on archaeology research happening all around the world. Its a free event and theres no registration. If youre interested in research involving ancient times, you will not be disappointed. Much of the research that is going to be presented dates to that era. Here are some of the highlights:

News From Syria

This is going to sound annoyingly vague, but the research find made by Dr. Robert Mason in Syria, which will be discussed at this event, is very important. I have a major story on this find that has been ready to go for nearly two weeks now. Unfortunately the researchers havent sent me the relevant photos yet and I dont want to publish this story without them. I hope to have a full report before the Friday presentation photos allowing, so please stay tuned for now.

Kingdom of Dian

Professor Alice Yao is a new member of the University of Toronto faculty. Her research looks at the expansion of the Chinese state during the time of the Han Dynasty (206 BC AD 220). Currently she is surveying southwest China, investigating a kingdom called ‘Dian’ that existed before the Han took over the region.

3D Reconstructions

There will be a chance to find out about the technology behind the latest virtual reconstructions when Jennifer Campbell discusses her 3D modelling work as part of the Caravanserai Networks Project. This project aims to analyze the trade routes that criss-crossed northwest Pakistan in Islamic times. Theyve conducted field research in Peshawar in the past.

Latest From Tayinat

Professor Tim Harrisons research at Tayinat has made plenty of headlines over the past year. Check out Heritage Keys in-depth interview with him.

Schedule (courtesy – Uof T Archaeology Centre)

10:00-10:15 Welcome
10:15-10:30 Genevieve Dewar: Adaptations to marginal environments in the Middle Stone Age
10:30-10:45 Jill Hilditch: Talking pots and white dots: island interactions in the Middle Bronze Age Aegean
10:45-11:00 Amy Barron: Assyrian Weapons of the First Millennium BCE
11:00-11:15 Break
11:15-11:30 Sally Stewart: Mastering the unknown: How early settlers in Cyprus mapped new landscapes and key resources
11:30-11:40 Sarah Finkelstein: Paleoclimate records from the Canadian Arctic
11:45-12:00 Ingrid Hehmeyer: Current fieldwork in Yemen: Water and waste in the medieval Islamic city
12:00-12:15 Victor Ostapchuk: Historical Archaeology at Akkerman Fortress (Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky, Ukraine)
12:15-1:30 Lunch
1:30-1:45 Joe Deloges: River (In)Stability and Middle-to-Late Holocene Floodplain Occupation in Southern Ontario
1:45-2:00 Alice Yao: Shellmounds and Imperial Cities: Archaeological Survey in Southwestern Yunnan, China
2:00-2:15 Jennifer Campbell: Three Dimensional Modeling, Architectural Analysis, and the Caravanserai Networks Project
2:15-2:30 Catherine Duff: Egyptian Imperialism in the Central Hill Country: Ceramic Continuity and Change
2:30-2:45 Break
2:45-3:00 Chris Watts: Keeping Animals in Mind: Personhood and Relationality in Iroquoian Animal Effigy Pipes
3:00-3:15 Ramez Boutros: Excavating the Monastery of Saint Apollo, Bawit, Middle Egypt
3:15-3:30 Robert Mason: An Enigmatic Arrangement of Rocks in the Syrian Desert
3:30 3:45 Tim Harrison: Tablets, Temples, and Assyrian Imperialism at Tell Tayinat
3:45-4:00 Final Remarks