Chinesca Culture Offering Found in Tepic

MEXICO CITY.- A funerary offering of Chinesca culture integrated by 8 ceramic pieces created between 200 BC and 400 AD was found in Tepic municipality, at Nayarit Mexican state. This is the first conjunct of Chinesca objects located in their original place in all Western Mexico. Six anthropomorphic figures and 2 vessels were found; based on the way they were placed, a reduced space in a half-moon shape, it can be deduced it was part of a shaft tomb. For [...]

Christie’s to Offer Valuable Collection of Illuminated Manuscripts

LONDON.- Christie’s announce that they will offer the first part of an extensive selection of exceptional medieval and renaissance masterpieces on 7 July 2010 in London. The Arcana Collection: Exceptional Illuminated Manuscripts and Incunabula Part I is an outstanding private collection which has been assembled over the past 3 decades and which includes personal prayer books made for Royals, Bishops, Aristocracy and other important patrons from the 13th century to the 16th century. These include King François I of France, [...]

Awe-Inspiring Staffordshire Hoard Saved for the Nation

LONDON.- The Art Fund announced that the Staffordshire Hoard, the largest archaeological Anglo-Saxon find ever unearthed, has been saved for the nation. The news comes after the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF), the government’s fund of last resort for heritage items at risk, pledged £1,285,000 – bringing the campaign to the £3.3m target, just over three weeks ahead of schedule. Thanks to the support of the public, trusts and foundations, and the generous £1,285,000 NHMF grant, the awe-inspiring find has [...]

Rome to Display Ancient Greek Silverware Returned by the Metropolitan

ROME.- Ancient Greek artworks — pieces of silverware with gold detail dating to the third century B.C. — are going on display in Rome after being returned by the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The 16 pieces include two large bowls, a cup with two handles, plates and drinking utensils. They were returned as part of Italy’s aggressive campaign against illegal trafficking in antiquities. Italian art officials said Friday that the pieces will go on display at the Museo Nazionale [...]

Objects and Materials from the Funeral of Tutankhamun on View at Metropolitan

NEW YORK, NY.- n 1908, while excavating in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt, American archaeologist Theodore Davis discovered about a dozen large storage jars. Their contents included broken pottery, bags of natron (a mixture of sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium sulphate, and sodium chloride that occurs naturally in Egypt), bags of sawdust, floral collars, and pieces of linen with markings from years 6 and 8 during the reign of a then little-known pharaoh named Tutankhamun. The Metropolitan Museum [...]

Teotihuacan Mural Paintings Recover Splendor

MEXICO CITY.- Several Prehispanic mural paintings at Tetitla Palace, in Teotihuacan Archaeological Zone are fully restored after 2 years of work conducted by specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Among the paintings created between 600 and 700 AD, outstand Las Aguilas (The Eagles), Diosas verdes (Green Goddesses), Caballero Jaguar,(Jaguar Warrior), Jaguares anaranjados (Orange Jaguars), Manos (Hands), Aves con conchas (Birds with Shells) and Los Buzos (The Divers). Jaime Cama Villafranca, expert from the National School of [...]

Maya Site Inhabitants Manufactured Weapons and Tools

MEXICO CITY.- Specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) explore in Tenosique, Tabasco, an archaeological site of Maya affiliation dedicated exclusively to manufacture weapons and tools. San Claudio “was occupied from 200 BC to 900 AD by Maya workers at the service of other community of higher hierarchy”, informed archaeologist Jose Luis Romero Rivera, director of the excavation project at the site. Located in the contact region between Chiapas Mountain Range and Guatemala, this site accounts for [...]

Mummy of Egypt’s Monotheist Pharaoh to Return Home

CAIRO.- The DNA tests that revealed how the famed boy-king Tutankhamun most likely died solved another of ancient Egypt’s enduring mysteries — the fate of controversial Pharaoh Akhenaten’s mummy. The discovery could help fill out the picture of a fascinating era more than 3,300 years ago when Akhenaten embarked on history’s first attempt at monotheism. During his 17-year rule, Akhenaten sought to overturn more than a millennium of Egyptian religion and art to establish the worship of a single sun [...]

Sex, Death and Sacrifice in the Mochica Religion at the Musee du Quay Branly

PARIS.- For the very first time in Europe, the exhibition “Sex, death and sacrifice in the Mochica religion” puts together 134 Mochica ceramics depicting sexual or sacrificial acts with a surprising level of realism. These potteries reveal to us the link that the Mochica people had established between religion, power, sexuality and death. This amazing religious iconography, which is a meeting of the sexual act and the sacred, is unique in Precolumbian art and specific to Mochica mythology. It represents [...]

Dozen Centuries-Old Shipwrecks Found in Baltic Sea

STOCKHOLM.- A dozen centuries-old shipwrecks — some of them unusually well-preserved — have been found in the Baltic Sea by a gas company building an underwater pipeline between Russia and Germany. The oldest wreck probably dates back to medieval times and could be up to 800 years old, while the others are likely from the 17th to 19th centuries, Peter Norman of Sweden’s National Heritage Board said Tuesday. “They could be interesting, but we have only seen pictures of their [...]

Sotheby’s to Exhibit in Doha Treasures from Its Forthcoming “Arts of the Islamic World” Sale

DOHA.- Sotheby’s will stage an exhibition in Qatar of highlights from its bi-annual London sale of Arts of the Islamic World. The highlights will be on view to the public at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Doha from 11am to 8pm on Sunday, March 14, 2010. The exhibition will showcase an exceptional array of around 35 fine and rare works of art that will be available for collectors and connoisseurs to acquire at the Sotheby’s London auction on Wednesday, April 14, [...]

More than 100 Works from the Thaw Collection Showcase Artistry of Cultures Across Millennia

CLEVELAND, OH.- Art of the American Indians: The Thaw Collection, a major traveling exhibition, developed by the Fenimore Art Museum, making its debut at the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) in March 2010, explores Native North American art from the Eastern Woodlands to the Northwest through more than 140 masterpieces spanning 2,000 years. The exhibition provides visitors with a broad understanding and appreciation of the aesthetic accomplishments and cultural heritage of this country’s first peoples. Art of the American Indians [...]

Important Antiquities Sale to be Held at Christie’s in April

LONDON.- As part of the specialised sales on offer in South Kensington, Christie’s announced the upcoming Antiquities sale, to be held on 29 April 2010. The first Christie’s sale composed by Georgiana Aitken since her appointment as head of the Antiquities department in November 2009 is set to excite international collectors and connoisseurs as well as institutions with many important, rare and museum quality pieces. The sale will comprise approximately 350 lots, including sculpture, vases and bronzes as well as [...]

King Tut Unwrapped

United Kingdom. – World-renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass leads an unprecedented forensic investigation into the life and times of King Tut that reveals for the first time the identity of Tut’s parents and grandparents, his cause of death and new details of his reign in a two-night UK premiere, King Tut Unwrapped, airing on Discovery Channel Wednesday, March 3rd at 9pm and Thursday, March 4th at 9pm (For when to watch in your region, please see below). Papers published on Wednesday, [...]

Massive Head of Famous Pharaoh Amenhotep III Unearthed in Egypt

CAIRO.- Archaeologists have unearthed a massive red granite head of one Egypt’s most famous pharaohs who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities announced Sunday. The head of Amenhotep III, which alone is about the height of a person, was dug out of the ruins of the pharaoh’s mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor. The leader of the expedition that discovered the head described it as the best preserved sculpture of Amenhotep III’s face [...]