After weathering severe damage for centuries, two restored colossal pharaoh statues unveiled in Egypt

LUXOR (AFP).- Archaeologists on Sunday unveiled two colossal statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in Egypt’s famed temple city of Luxor, adding to an existing pair of world-renowned tourist attractions. The two monoliths in red quartzite were raised at what European and Egyptian archaeologists said were their original sites in the funerary temple of the king, on the west bank of the Nile. The temple is already famous for its existing 3,400-year-old Memnon colossi — twin statues of Amenhotep III whose reign archaeologists [...]

Damage found in ancient ruins of Pompeii; Areas affected have been closed the public

POMPEII (AFP).- The Temple of Venus and walls of a tomb and shop in the long-neglected ruins of Pompeii near Naples have been damaged, possibly due to heavy rain, officials said on Monday. Custodians found that a two-metre wall of an ancient shop in the ruined city — which had recently been restored — had collapsed under the weight of another wall that crumbled onto it. It followed the discovery Sunday that parts of an archway in the temple had fallen off [...]

Expedition Silk Road: Exhibition in Amsterdam offers a glimpse of long-lost civilizations

AMSTERDAM.- From 1 March 2014 onwards, the Hermitage Amsterdam will offer visitors a glimpse of the long-lost civilizations along the legendary Silk Road. Until 5 September 2014, the exhibition Expedition Silk Road will present treasures from the Hermitage: 250 exceptionally beautiful objects, such as murals, Buddhas, precious silks, silver, glass, gold, and terracotta, excavated by Russian expeditions in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Visitors will follow in the footsteps of the explorers who mapped the routes of kings and merchants, and of the [...]

Closed in 2002, Spain’s paleolithic Altamira Cave to reopen, albeit to very small groups

MADRID (AFP).- The Altamira Cave in northern Spain and its well-preserved paintings will again be open to the public from Thursday, albeit to very small groups because of the spread of micro-organisms due to human visitors. The cave located at Santillana del Mar, in the Cantabria region, was closed in 2002 after damages had been reported to its polychrome prehistoric paintings from the carbon dioxide in the breath of the large number of visitors. In January the foundation which manages the cave, [...]

Archaeologists find 3,600-year-old Egyptian mummy in well-preserved sarcophagus

CAIRO (AFP).- Spanish archaeologists have discovered a 3,600-year-old Egyptian mummy inside a wooden sarcophagus adorned with rare feather drawings in the ancient city of Luxor, Egypt’s antiquities ministry said Thursday. The two metre-long and 50 centimetre-wide (6.5 feet by 20 inches) sarcophagus was in good condition and its colours were still bright, the ministry said in a statement. Antiquities minister Mohamed Ibrahim said feather drawings are rarely found on ancient coffins. “The sarcophagus goes back to the 17th dynasty (1600 years BC),” [...]

Gaza seeks global help to unravel mystery of Apollo statue discovered by a handful of fishermen

GAZA CITY (AFP).- A life-size bronze statue of the Greek god Apollo, which recently surfaced in Gaza, has prompted the territory’s Hamas rulers to seek international archaeological help to unravel the mystery behind it. According to Gaza’s antiquities authority, the rare statue, which weighs 450 kilograms(1,000 pounds) and is 1.7 metres (5.8 feet) tall, could be worth as much as 250 million euros ($340 million.) And now the Hamas government is seeking expertise, notably from France, to uncover the mystery of this [...]

Cyrus Cylinder United States tour culminates at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Cyrus Cylinder is one of the most celebrated discoveries from the ancient world, with a legacy that resounds to this day. Inscribed on the orders of the Persian king Cyrus II (ruled 559–530 B.C.), the cylinder recounts how he conquered the city of Babylon in 539 B.C. and instituted reforms throughout the region, restoring sanctuaries that had become dilapidated and permitting exiled peoples to return home. On loan from the British Museum, The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient [...]

Destruction and Restoration: Egypt exhibits antiquities that survived 2011 uprising

CAIRO (AFP).- An exhibition of ancient artefacts that narrowly survived the turmoil of the 2011 Egyptian uprising opened in Cairo on Monday under the title “Destruction and Restoration”. The exhibit consists of 29 artefacts, including 11 that had been stolen from the famed Egyptian Museum near Cairo’s Tahrir Square on January 28, when protesters calling for the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak drove his feared security forces from the streets. The other 18 artefacts remained in the museum but were damaged or [...]

Archaeologists find tomb of ancient Chinese female ‘prime minister’ Shangguan Wan’er

BEIJING (AFP).- Archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a 7th-century female politician who was one of the most powerful women in China’s ancient history, local media said on Thursday. Shangguan Wan’er — who lived from 664 to 710 in the Tang dynasty — was a trusted aide to China’s first empress Wu Zetian and is sometimes described as effectively her prime minister. She married Wu’s son, while having relationships with both the ruler’s lover and her nephew. As a sequence of murders, [...]

Archaeologists discover a stucco sculpture depicting the crowning of a Maya ruler

PETEN.- A Mayan carving, considered as the most spectacular seen to date, was found in the pre Colombian archaeological center of Homul, located in the department of Peten, in the north of Guatemala, bordering with Mexico and Belice; revealed one of it’s finders. The Guatemalan Francisco Estrada-Belli, director of the site in Homul, explained in a press conference that the carving (8 meters [26.24 feet] long and 2 meters [6.56 feet] wide) was found in a Mayan pyramid that dates back [...]

Israel Antiquities Authority finds part of an enormous 1,000 year old hospital building

JERUSALEM.- The Israel Antiquities Authority conducted an excavation in the impressive Crusader building, which is similar in appearance to the Knights Halls in Akko and stands 6 meters high, prior to the construction of a restaurant by the Grand Bazaar Company Part of an enormous structure dating to the Crusader period (1099–1291 CE), which was a busy hospital, has currently been revealed to the public following excavations and research by the Israel Antiquities Authority there in cooperation with the Grand Bazaar Company [...]

14th-century painting by Pietro Lorenzetti bought for Hull’s Ferens Art Gallery

HULL.- Christ Between Saint Paul and Saint Peter, a 14th-century painting by Pietro Lorenzetti, has been bought for Ferens Art Gallery with help from the Art Fund. Created around 1320, the work is the oldest piece in the gallery’s collection, and is remarkably naturalistic for a 14th-century painting. Probably part of a larger altarpiece, the panel is painted in tempera on a gold background, and is Lorenzetti’s only fully autographed work in UK collections. The work will undergo a year of conservation [...]

Artifact found near Temple Mount bearing inscription from the time of Kings David & Solomon

JERUSALEM.- Working near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar has unearthed the earliest alphabetical written text ever uncovered in the city. The inscription is engraved on a large pithos, a neckless ceramic jar found with six others at the Ophel excavation site. According to Dr. Mazar, the inscription, in the Canaanite language, is the only one of its kind discovered in Jerusalem and an important addition to the city’s history. Dated to the tenth [...]

Archaeological dig at Tel Hazor finds Sphinx fragment of pyramid-building Egyptian king

TEL HAZOR (AFP).- Part of an ancient Egyptian king’s unique sphinx was unveiled at a dig in northern Israel on Tuesday, with researchers struggling to understand just how the unexpected find ended up there. The broken granite sphinx statue — including the paws and some of the mythical creature’s forearms — displayed at Tel Hazor archaeological site in Israel’s Galilee, is the first such find in the region. Its discovery also marks the first time ever that researchers have found a statue [...]

Israel Antiquities Authority announces 2,000 year old evidence of the siege in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM.- Recently a small cistern belonging to a building was exposed in an archaeological excavation directed by Eli Shukron, on behalf of theIsrael Antiquities Authority, near the Western Wall in the vicinity of Robinson’s Arch. Inside the cistern were three intact cooking pots and a small ceramic oil lamp that date to the time of the Great Revolt. The vessels were discovered inside the drainage channel that was exposed in its entirety from the Shiloah Pool in the City of David [...]