May 17th, 2013 at 3:00PM: Lincolnshire County Council
Archaeologists excavating at Lincoln Castle have discovered the remains of an early Christian community, according to a Lincolnshire County Council press release.
The team, which was digging inside the castle to clear the way for an elevator shaft, found the remains of a church that dates back at least 1,000 years. Inside a sealed niche in the wall they found human ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
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Archaeologists Digging At Lincoln Castle Uncover Early Christian Community
May 17th, 2013 at 3:00PM: Lincolnshire County Council
Archaeologists excavating at Lincoln Castle have discovered the remains of an early Christian community, according to a Lincolnshire County Council press release.
The team, which was digging inside the castle to clear the way for an elevator shaft, found the remains of a church that dates back at least 1,000 years. Inside a sealed niche in the wall they found human ...Famous Roman 'Tomb' May Have Actually Been A Temple
May 12th, 2013 at 10:00AM: At the Roman necropolis in Carmona, Spain, visitors are led to the popular "Elephant's Tomb," a large underground chamber that gets its name from a crude sculpture of an elephant found there.
Now archaeologists are saying it may not be a tomb at all, but rather a temple to one of the ancient world's most mysterious religions. A team from the University of Pablo de Olavide, Seville, has analyzed ...Roman London Uncovered In Massive Excavation
Apr 11th, 2013 at 1:00PM:
Archaeologists from the Museum of London have uncovered three acres of Roman London, they announced in a press release.
The team was excavating ahead of construction of Bloomberg Place, in the heart of what used to be Londinium, the capital of the Roman province of Britannia. Over the course of six months, archaeologists picked their way through seven meters of soil to find some 10,000 ...British Museum Opens Exhibition On Life And Death In Pompeii And Herculaneum
Mar 28th, 2013 at 9:00AM:
Today the British Museum in London opens what is sure to be the hit exhibition of the year.
"Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum" examines the daily life of the Roman world, as it was preserved in two cities buried under volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Through fine art and mundane objects, we get to see what life was like for ordinary Romans.
Romans like ...Israel Restores Ancient City
Feb 1st, 2013 at 4:00PM:
The government of Israel has just completed a $2 million restoration of the ancient Nabatean city of Avdat, The Jewish Press reports.
Avdat is in the Negev Desert and was one of the westernmost points on an extensive incense trade network the Nabateans built stretching as far as the southern Saudi peninsula that flourished from the 3rd century B.C. to the 2nd century A.D. Incense was ...Naughty Roman Frescoes Uncovered In Colosseum
Jan 12th, 2013 at 2:00PM:
Archaeologists working on a conservation project at the Colosseum in Rome have discovered ancient frescoes of gladiators and erotic scenes, Agence France Press reports.
The brightly colored fragments were found on the walls of a corridor currently closed to the public for restoration. The scenes show gladiators being honored with laurels. There are also erotic scenes, although the researchers ...Temple To Phallic God Priapus Found In Bulgaria?
Jan 12th, 2013 at 11:00AM:
There's something weird going on in the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Sozopol.
Last year, Bulgarian archaeologists dug up the graves of two vampires and analyzed the purported bones of John the Baptist. Now the Sofia Globe reports they've found a temple to the Classical god Priapus. This deity, best known for his huge erect penis, was the god of fertility and its opposite – erectile ...Tourist Trinkets From The Roman Empire
Dec 21st, 2012 at 9:00AM:
The Roman Empire is remarkably familiar to the modern eye. It had highways, indoor plumbing, religious tolerance, and even fashion violations such as wearing socks with sandals. It's like a primitive version of our own culture, with more similarities than differences.
And now it turns out they had tourist trinkets too.
A press release from Hadrian's Wall Trust announces that a new book ...Archaeologists Discover Key To An Ancient City's Wealth
Sep 6th, 2012 at 2:00PM:
A couple of months ago we reported on how archaeologists discovered how the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria thrived in the desert. A complex system of canals and cisterns trapped the sparse but regular rainfall.
Residents of another ancient city, Petra in Jordan, appear to have taken advantage of desert water to support their civilization too. Jordanian and Dutch archaeologists have ...Hiking A Roman Road In England
Sep 4th, 2012 at 2:00PM:
At first glance this looks like a muddy field with an Australian contract lawyer walking away into the middle distance. Look again, though, and you'll notice something strange. Why is there no substantial vegetation in a big straight swath through this field?
The answer is that it's a Roman road. Only a few inches below the soil are the original stones laid down 2,000 years ago when this was ...Hadrian's Wall To Be Turned Into World's Longest Work Of Art
Aug 24th, 2012 at 4:00PM:
Hadrian's Wall has been the traditional boundary between England and Scotland ever since it was built by the Romans in the second century A.D. This 73-mile long structure was once the northernmost limit of the Roman Empire.
As part of the London 2012 Festival, the New York-based artists' collective YesYesNo will light up the entire length with a series of tethered balloons lit by internal LED ...Ancient Curses Uncovered In Two Countries
May 25th, 2012 at 12:00PM:
It's been a good week for ancient curses.
A "cursing stone" has been discovered on the Isle of Canna, Scotland. More precisely called a bullaun stone, they're natural or artificial depressions in a stone that catch rainwater and give it magical properties, usually to heal or to help women conceive a child. A shaped stone is placed in the hole that's turned to make a prayer or curse.
The ...Five toilet paper alternatives for the road (or if you live in New Jersey)
Mar 13th, 2012 at 12:00PM:
Trenton, New Jersey, has a serious problem. The city government is in a fight with their paper goods supplier over prices and the city's buildings are in danger of running out of toilet paper. What can they do for their voters in need? Installing bidets would be more expensive than simply paying the high cost the government contractor is demanding. Luckily, there are some other alternatives ...Ancient city of Palmyra under threat from Syrian army
Mar 11th, 2012 at 11:00AM:
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Palmyra may become the latest victim of the ongoing violence in Syria, according to a Global Heritage Fund report.
Palmyra, an ancient oasis city in the desert northeast of Damascus, remained untouched by the conflict until last month, when the Syrian army moved in. According to several reports by refugees since then, units from the army have taken up ...Is the Colosseum crumbling?
Dec 31st, 2011 at 10:00AM: Economic instability, a change of government, and now this.
It looks like Italy's most famous landmark, the Colosseum, may be crumbling. The Culture Ministry has launched an investigation after eyewitnesses spotted bits of stone falling off the Roman ruin on two different occasions in recent days.
An Italian shoe company has promised to restore the Colosseum with an ambitious 25 million euro ...Viking hoard highlights the value of responsible metal detectoring
Dec 17th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
When I used to work as an archaeologist, I heard a lot of bad-mouthing about metal detectorists. These guys scan the ground for coins and other metal objects. Most of the time they only find a few old pennies. It's when they discover something of historic value that some archaeologists get grumpy. Many archaeologists don't trust metal detectorists, saying they disturb ancient sites and pocket ...Early Christian art on display at the Onassis Cultural Center, NYC
Dec 8th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
It's often called the Dark Ages, a time when barbarian hordes overran Rome and that great civilization's art, culture, and learning disappeared. A time when there were no great achievements.
It's a misnomer.
Rome did not fall in the fifth century with the usurpation of the last emperor in Rome in 476. To the east, at the new capital of Constantinople, modern Istanbul, the Eastern Roman ...Roman sites in Libya survived the war mostly unscathed, initial reports show
Dec 1st, 2011 at 9:00AM:
The recent fighting in Libya that toppled Gaddafi destroyed many lives and laid waste to many neighborhoods. Now that the country is beginning to rebuild, Libyans are taking stock of other effects of the war.
Libya's beautiful Roman remains, it appears, got off easy. Earlier this week, the Guardian reported that the Roman cities of Lepcis Magna and Sabratha both survived the war without any ...Herod may not have completed Jerusalem's Western Wall, archaeologists discover
Nov 23rd, 2011 at 11:00AM:
It is one of the holiest spots in one of the holiest cities in the world. The Western Wall attracts Jews and Christians alike, and is on the limits of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a Muslim holy site.
It's always been believed to have been built by King Herod, the king of Judea and a vassal of the Roman Empire who reigned from 37-4 BC. Herod expanded the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the Western Wall ...London's Temple of Mithras is moving back to its original location
Nov 18th, 2011 at 1:30PM:
London got its start as the Roman city of Londinium in the first century AD. Back then the so-called "mystery religions" were very popular in the Roman Empire. These cults, with their personal connections to the divine and secret rites, gave believers a more personal experience than the giant temples to Jupiter, Mars, and the rest of the standard pantheon. One of the most popular mystery ...
