Archaeological News: Plague Helped Bring Down Roman Empire, Graveyard Suggests
Plague may have helped finish off the Roman Empire, researchers now reveal.
Plague is a fatal disease so infamous that it has become synonymous with any dangerous, widespread contagion. It was linked to one of the first known examples of biological warfare, when Mongols catapulted plague…
Archaeological News: Lost city of Heracleion gives up its secrets
For centuries it was thought to be a legend, a city of extraordinary wealth mentioned in Homer, visited by Helen of Troy and Paris, her lover, but apparently buried under the sea.
In fact, Heracleion was true, and a decade after divers began uncovering its treasures, archaeologists…
Archaeological News: How Did the Oracle at Delphi Really Prophesize?
The Oracle at Delphi is referenced throughout Greek myths and history. Supposedly she was rendered psychic by Apollo. Realistically, she was off her skull on gas that seeped out of the fissures of the temple in which she lived. Here is the scientific explanation for what caused this woman to…
Leicester archaeologists to reconstruct the face of Greyfriars skeleton
Archaeologists working to identify the Greyfriars remains are reconstructing the 500-year-old skeleton’s face to give people a possible glimpse of King Richard III.
Scientists at the University of Leicester are using techniques similar to those which recreated Tutankhamen’s face more than 3,000 years after the young Pharaoh died.
The Leicester skeleton, found at a council car park in August, has already been subjected to a CT scan which will allow a specialist team to build a 3D digital picture of the face.
They hope to reveal the results in the new year.
Professor Lin Foxhall, head of archaeology at the university, said: “We’ve provided 3D scans of all the bones, including the skull, to a specialist team, which will build up a picture of how he used to look. Read more.
Striding sphinx. Phoenician, 899–700 B.C. From Nimrud, Fort Shalmaneser, Room SW 11/12. Ivory.
Located at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Philadelphia museum to reveal mystery behind mummy conservation
PHILADELPHIA – The Penn Museum is unwrapping the mystery of mummy conservation, giving the public an unusual close-up of researchers’ efforts to preserve relics from ancient Egypt.
Human and animal mummies, as well as an intricately inscribed coffin, are among the items undergoing treatment and repair at the Philadelphia institution’s newly installed Artifact Lab.
Housed in a special gallery, the glass-enclosed workspace lets visitors share in “the thrill of discovery,” museum director Julian Siggers said.
“It demonstrates to you the work that’s actually being done behind the walls of these galleries,” Siggers said.
Visitors can watch staff members use microscopes, brushes and other tools of the trade to inspect, study and preserve items including the mummy of a 5-year-old girl, several human heads, a colorful but damaged sarcophagus, and a painting from a tomb wall. Read more.
#sculpture #Rome #history #ITALY #art (使用Instagram拍摄)
House of the Vestals (I think)
The Ancient Egyptian Temple of Philae, photo taken by Reiner Martin
Denarius of Caesar Augustus Celebrating His Triumph at Actium. Rome: Imperial, 28 BC, Silver, 2cm wide.
This silver coin features a portrait of Gaius Octavius, better known as Caesar Augustus, the first citizen of Rome. The reverse of the coin depicts a crocodile, the symbol of Egypt, with the text “Egypto Capta.” This inscription refers to Augustus’s recent victory over Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and Mark Antony at the Battle of Actium.
Decoding the Black Death: Anthropologist Finds Clues in Medieval Skeletons
Each time Sharon DeWitte takes a 3-foot by 1-foot archival box off the shelf at the Museum of London she hopes it will be heavy.
“Heavy means you know you have a relatively complete skeleton,” said DeWitte, an anthropologist at the University of South Carolina who has spent summers examining hundreds of Medieval skeletons, each time shedding new light on the dark subject of the Black Death.
Since 2003, DeWitte has been studying the medieval mass killer that wiped out 30 percent of Europeans and nearly half of Londoners from 1347-1351. She is among a small group of scientists devoted to decoding the ancient plague and the person researchers turn to for providing evidence from skeletal remains. Read more.
