New Greek and Roman galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to open April 20

This is not only exciting but extremely fortunate since I plan to visit the Metropolitan the first week in June on my way to a conference in Albany, NY. I didn't even realize that the galleries were being rennovated. I would have been devastated if they had been closed when I was there since they were one of the primary reasons I modified my intinerary to include four days in New York before traveling on to the site of my conference.

"The new Greek and Roman Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which open April 20, suggest something about the limits of nostalgia trips.

At more than 30,000 square feet, the new series of 11 exhibition spaces continues the sequence of eight previously renovated galleries devoted to earlier Greek art, south of the Great Hall on the Met's first floor. (The earlier projects were completed between 1996 and 2000.) The $220 million cost includes renovations on the upper and lower floors that will eventually benefit the education and Islamic art facilities as well. Visitors can now systematically follow the developments in Greek and Roman art from the prehistoric, through the glories of classical Greece, into the Roman Empire at its height and toward its decline. Moreover, there is now space to display some 6,000 works that had previously been in storage.

Those familiar with the collection will also welcome back their own favorites, many of which have been absent from public view for some time. Mine is the Cubiculum from Boscoreale, near Pompeii and buried in the Vesuvian eruption of 79 C.E. It brings us amazingly close to the experience of being in a real Roman interior: a bedroom to match the elegance of the Met's neighbors across the street. Formerly incongruously set in a niche in the Great Hall, the room now relates to contemporaneous objects and paintings, including a pair of Odysseus frescoes. No later illustrations of Homer's tale can compete with that doleful one-eyed Polyphemus shown here."

Villa discovered in district frequented by Marcus Aurelius

The discovery of sections a Roman villa at Castel di Guido on the Via Aurelia, roughly 10 km outside Rome’s ring road has now been officially confirmed. The villa, which dates back to the second or third century AD, is part of a district called Lorium (la Bottaccia on a modern map), historically known as the first stop on the consular Via Aurelia, and where emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) lived for a period.

So far, walls delimiting the thermal area of the villa have been uncovered, while the caldarium and fridigarium, the latter with an almost perfectly preserved and superbly decorated mosaic floor depicting Medusa heads at its four corners, a marble pool and nymphaeum, have been totally excavated.

Further excavations conducted by archaeologists from La Sapienza and Foggia universities who originally worked on the site, will begin again in July when it is hoped to discover the full extent and historical importance of the villa.

Hippodrome starting gate discovered at Colchester

THE final piece in the archaeological jigsaw that is Colchester's Roman Circus has been found by excavators, the EADT can reveal.

The location of the 12 gates that released the competitors into frenetic and often violent chariot races was discovered near the sergeants' mess building in the former Colchester Garrison at Abbey Field.

These would have operated in the same way as greyhound traps, unleashing the charioteers on to the quarter-mile long opening stretch of the track.

With four horses at the head of each chariot, on full races there would have been 48 steeds pounding around the circuit, which is the only one ever to be found in the UK.

Foundations of the circus were first located in late 2004 when archaeologists were conducting digs at Abbey Field, prior to the construction of new housing.

Masada fresco restoration project completed

"The frescoes on the Northern Massada Palace were discovered during extensive archaeological excavations headed by Prof. Ygael Yadin in the sixties. It was a very exciting find at the time, because these frescoes were cutting edge in Roman design, same as in Rome itself or in Pompeii."

Ze'ev Margalit, an architect for the Israel Nature and National Parks Protections Authority, observed, "For 40 years, the frescoes had been preserved through then-modern techniques, but they had deteriorated terribly over time to a point where they might have been utterly ruined."

Before the current project began, the paintings were removed from the walls, put on fiberglass slabs and returned after being sealed in glass to protect them.

"This preservation technique turned out to be disastrous. The damage sustained during the past 40 years has been greater than that of the previous two millennia. The frescoes were crumbling," Margalit recounts.

To save the frescoes of the Northern Palace, the INNPPA launched the restoration project three years ago with funding from the ministries of finance, environment, tourism, industry, trade and education. The Israeli UNESCO (United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization) committee also participated in the project, along with the Dead Sea Water Authority. The Antiquities Authority then issued an international tender that resulted in Tagliapietra's involvement.

After much deliberation, the archaeologists decided not to return the ruined frescoes to the site after they had been restored. "This wasn't an easy decision," says Margalit. "In renovation projects we always prefer to keep the articles at the original site, but the damage was just too extensive."

The frescoes were put into a special renovation laboratory built at the bottom of the Massada complex. Most are to remain in the new museum built at the site, which will soon be opened to the public. However, some of the frescoes were returned to the palace's southern wall, which is less exposed to damaging sunlight.

"We decided to replace the frescoes removed from the palace with replicas in order to return the color into the palace," says Orit Borbnik, conservation manager at the INNPPA. "These are exact copies prepared with the same techniques that were used on the original pieces during the times of Herod the Great," she adds.

At the start of the renovation process, the wall was perfectly aligned and then coated with several layers of whitewash. Then, rough plaster was applied and completed with a final layer of fine plaster. The frescoes were then drawn on the finest layer while the plaster was still moist, so the color would be fixed into it.

"This is how the color survives for 2,000 years," explains Margalit. The patterns themselves were sketched out on the walls by Tagliapietra using pieces of string to outline the borders of the fresco.

The paint was prepared from the same products used for the original painting. Yellow, for example, came from semi-solidified egg yolk. Earth, milk, resin and other natural pigments were used to produce other colors.

Leeds building "Scent of Rome" garden

A CORNER of Ancient Rome is being lovingly recreated in Leeds as the centrepiece of a special garden. Expert stonemasons are busy chipping away at Leeds City Council's nurseries at Red Hall to lay the foundations for the city's Roman-themed entry to this year's Chelsea Flower Show.

The council's Scent of a Roman entry draws its inspiration from archaeological and historical evidence that Leeds was home to a Roman settlement.

Locally-sourced materials have been used to reconstruct Roman splendour in West Yorkshire.

The design relies on both the hard features and the plants to appear mature, with particular emphasis on the paths, columns. stonework, mosaic and altar.

One of the key features of the garden will be a stone grotto, which will draw the visitor towards a seeping, mossy wall. Within this will be a Yorkshire stone altar, used for worship and prayer.

The design includes plant species that were introduced to Britain by the Romans for their scent and for their uses in cooking and medicine. Other native Yorkshire species will be interspersed with the Roman plants.

Roman era beam with 1st millenium-style iconography discovered near Karnak

The child gods of ancient Egypt are depicted in a surprisingly real-world way on a stunningly well-preserved, gilded beam recently found at the Temple Precinct of the Goddess Mut in South Karnak, Egypt.

The structure once crowned the doorway of a birthing house inside the temple more than 2,000 years ago. Rituals associated with royal childbirths — perhaps even including "honeymoon nights" — likely took place there.

The beam is significant because of "the quality of its carving and its gilding," said Brooklyn Museum archaeologist Richard Fazzini, who is leading the excavation, in a press release.

"Equally important is the unusual nature of its iconography, which has its origins in the early first millennium B.C., but which is here dated to the Ptolemaic Period or early Roman Period (late fourth to late first century B.C.) by the inscriptions," he continued.

Fazzini is still at the dig, but Edward Bleiberg, curator of Egyptian Art at the museum, described the relief to Discovery News.

The left side shows five child gods sitting on lotus leaves. Each is sticking what looks to be an index finger in his mouth.

The gesture, common to depictions of children in ancient Egypt, could also represent thumb-sucking, but researchers aren't sure. Each child is also holding royal instruments like those found in King Tutankhamun's tomb.

The first and fifth gods are crowned with a disk and crescent that represent phases of the moon. The other gods are forms of the solar deity Horus. All five wear blue capes, possibly symbolic of the sky, although much of the paint has eroded.

Normandy grave hints at 300-year defiance of the Roman Empire

By John Lichfield in Evreux, The Independent

"A macabre 1,700-year-old mass grave of people and horses, discovered in Normandy, poses perplexing new questions about the Roman conquest of France. Was there a small part of ancient Gaul which refused, Asterix-like, to surrender for 300 years?

The grave site, from the 3rd century, which was discovered by French state archaeologists at Evreux, appears to contain ritual arrangements of human and horse remains. In one, a human skull is clasped between two horse's skulls, like the two halves of a giant shell.

In Gaullish times, 300 years earlier, graves containing both horses and people were common. No such grave has ever been found from the Roman period, and even in the previous era, the remains were kept carefully apart.

In the recently discovered grave, about 50 miles west of Paris, the bones appear to have been intentionally mixed. The skeletons of 40 people and 100 horses have been found so far.

Was this a local - or maybe more widespread - survival of the Gaullish cult of Epona, the goddess of horses and warriors? Sylvie Pluton is leader of the dig for the |Institut National de Recherches Arcéologique Préventives (Inrap). She is also an expert on the Gallo-Roman period.

"With the Romans, you usually know what to expect," she said. "They were very organised. Their graves were very orderly. Not here. The bodies point in all directions ... Above all, there is extraordinary mingling of humans and horses. We could be looking at a cultural survival, previously unknown, such as a worship of the goddess Epona."

Roman graves often contained offerings of food, but Romans did not eat horse flesh. Nor can this have been a warriors' grave. Many of the human skeletons are those of children or women or old men.

Some Gaullish practices and beliefs did survive deep into Roman times, but there have been no previous finds as striking. One of the visitors to the site was Professor Christian Goudineau of the Collège de France, the foremost expert on the period. He said: "Personally, I am reluctant to believe in some kind of cultural survival, such as a cult of the goddess Epona. Why would it survive for so long? And here, on the edge of what we know was a large Roman town?"

Police seize 1st century reliefs of early gladiatorial combat

Italian police have unearthed the hidden cache of a group of grave robbers, recovering ancient Roman marble reliefs depicting stunningly lifelike gladiators locked in mortal combat, officials said Wednesday.

The 12 panels were found buried in the garden of a private home near Fiano Romano, some 25 miles north of Rome, and officials hailed the find as a major archaeological discovery and a blow to the illegal antiquities market.

Archaeologists said the work offers a glimpse into early gladiator fights, before the rise of more extravagant forms of combat popularized in the modern era by Hollywood movies.

The reliefs date back to the late first century B.C. and are believed to have decorated a tomb, yet to be located, in the Roman settlement of Lucus Feroniae, said Anna Maria Moretti, the superintendent for antiquities in the area north of Rome.

The pieces, made of high-quality Carrara marble, are notable for their size and age, and are among the finest examples from their period depicting one of Rome's favorite blood sports, Moretti said.

"The attention to detail is incredible," she said at a presentation of the finds at Rome's Villa Giulia Museum.

The panels show bare-chested fighters, armed with swords and shields, engaged in duels while surrounded by trumpet and horn players who accompanied the phases of combat in the bloodied arena. In one of the most dramatic scenes, a gladiator steps on the wrist of a downed opponent who raises a finger in a traditional plea for mercy.

The reliefs will undergo restoration before being shown to the public at Villa Giulia, officials said.

Archaeologists have unearthed many similar representations, but interest in the new discovery goes beyond its high-quality craftsmanship, Moretti said. The figures in the reliefs, equipped only with swords, shields and basic armor, offer a detailed image from the earlier days of gladiatorial combat.

Antonine Wall to be nominated for World Heritage status

"THE UK government will put forward a historic Scottish landmark for World Heritage Site status, it was announced today.

The Antonine Wall will be nominated to the United Nations for the elite heritage status. It would become only the fifth Scottish landmark to have been bestowed lofty recognition.

The 2,000-year-old wall runs 37 miles from Bo'ness in West Lothian to Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire and is one of the most significant Roman remains in existence. It is an extension to the trans-national Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, which includes Hadrian's Wall and the Upper German Raetian Limes.

Antonine Wall is named after Emperor Antonius Pius. It was built in 142 AD to keep Caledonian tribesman out of the northern part of Rome's empire. Two-thirds of the wall, made up of 12ft-high turf ramparts on a stone base, still survives.

Possible Lupercale found in Palatine Excavation

Work on Rome's Palatine Hill has turned up a trove of discoveries, including what might be the underground grotto where ancient Romans believed a wolf nursed the city's legendary founders Romulus and Remus.

It was during the restoration of the palace of Rome's first emperor that workers taking core samples from the hill found what could be a long-lost place of worship, believed by ancient Romans to be the cave where a she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the abandoned twin sons of the god of war Mars.

Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the Palatine and the nearby Roman Forum, said experts used a probe to peer into the 52-foot-deep (15-meter-deep) cavity and found a vaulted space decorated with frescoes, niches and seashells. It is too early to say for sure whether the worship place known as "lupercale" — from "lupa," Latin for wolf — has been found, but Roman texts say that it was close to Augustus' palace and that the emperor had restored it, Iacopi said.

"It was a very important symbolic place and we believe that it was well-preserved," said Giovanna Tedone, an architect leading the work at the palace. Archaeologists are now looking for the grotto's entrance, she said.

Invading Romans' greatest obstacle uncovered in Jerusalem

The Jerusalem Post: "An immense bedrock cliff uncovered opposite Jerusalem's Temple Mount may help explain why it took the Romans so long to capture what is now known as the Jewish Quarter almost two millenia ago, an Israeli archeologist said Sunday.

The cliff, uncovered during a year-long excavation at the western edge of the Western Wall Plaza, was one of several important finds that include the remains of a colonnaded street called the Eastern Cardo, dating from the Roman-Byzantine period; a section of the Lower Aqueduct that conveyed water from Solomon's Pools to the Temple Mount; and a damaged rock-hewn and plastered Jewish mikve (ritual bath) that dates back to the Second Temple period, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced at a press conference.

The dig, which was conducted in an area that had not been excavated before due to plans for construction, also served to clarify the height of an immense bedrock cliff that separated the Upper City from the Temple Mount area. It in itself is "the most impressive" find, said Shlomit Wexler-Bedolah, the excavation director.

Wexler-Bedolah said the cliff's topography could help explain the slow Roman conquest, noting that it took the Roman army an entire month from the time they destroyed the Temple Mount on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av until they captured the ground of today's Jewish Quarter on the 10th day of the following month.

"This could have been a natural obstacle for the Roman army," she said.

Jerusalem regional archeologist Jon Seligman focused on the significance of the road that was uncovered at the foot of the cliff - an elaborate colonnaded street known as the Eastern Cardo.

The street, which began at the Damascus Gate, ran the length of the Tyropoeon Valley channel. Sections of the street had previously been uncovered in the northern part of the Old City, on Rehov Ha-Gai and west of the Dung Gate.

Wexler-Bedolah said the current excavation exposed for the first time the full 11-meter width of the original road, which had been paved in the Roman manner with large flagstones set in place diagonally, probably to prevent wagons from slipping. A drainage system had been installed below the flagstones, she said."

‘Vomitoria’ discovery at Chester amphitheater suggest much larger complex

Groundbreaking research has revealed that Chester’s Roman amphitheatre was in fact a grand two-storey structure, similar to those found in parts of the Mediterranean, and was built on the foundations of a second, earlier theatre.

The excavations found eight ‘vomitoria’, or entrance points, spaced evenly around the amphitheatre with two in each of its quadrants. They would have been housed in internal staircases running outside the structure’s walls, indicating that it had two storeys.

“This is the only amphitheatre in Britain which has this feature,” said Dan Garner, Co-Director of the excavations at Chester. “It demonstrates the height of the seating and therefore gives us the height of this structure.”

The findings could change the way historians think about Roman Chester.

“There were clearly wealthy people living there,” said Dan. “The thing we can’t be sure about is if it was a purely military settlement or if it was a civilian town.”

Estimates put the seating capacity of the two-floor amphitheatre at between 8-10,000 spectators, suggesting the town could have had a substantial civilian population.

“Chester was maybe being groomed as a possible provincial capital for the conquest of Ireland,” suggested Dan.

The amphitheatre was built in the second century AD, most probably in the time of the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus, who reigned from 193 until his death while campaigning in York in 211AD.

It was discovered in 1929 and is the largest uncovered amphitheatre found in the UK. Finds like bowls with pictures of gladiators on them indicate the gory activities that took place at the amphitheatre.

The link with Septimus Severus provides a clue to its design – the Emperor was born in Leptis Magna in modern day Libya and many Roman amphitheatres in the region, at sites like El Djem in Tunisia, would have been very similar to Chester’s arena.

The excavations have also revealed a second amphitheatre built around 80-100AD upon which the later structure was built.

“The first one is a far more humble structure – similar to ones you got anywhere else in Britain," added Dan. "What we did find, though, was that it was furnished with an external staircase so although it was a far more simple design, it catered for spectators entering from the rear wall.”

Priceless' Roman find in farmer's field

"A RARE solid silver Roman bracelet unearthed in a farmer's field has been declared treasure trove.

The snake-shaped ornament could be the only one of its kind in the world, making it priceless, it was revealed at a Stockport coroner's hearing.

Archaeologist James Balme didn't even need his metal detector to make the discovery, gleaming in the soil in the field at Lymm near Warrington.

James said: "This is a very rare Roman solid silver snake bracelet, known as a zoomorphic bracelet, dating from the first to the second centuries. But what is really amazing is that it has been reworked in ancient times, possibly by the Saxons, who straightened the bracelet and pierced holes in it to use as a form of decoration or ornamentation.

"The actual bracelet is unique in its design and the attention to detail, especially the creature's head, is stunning.

"The head represents either a snake or possibly a sea serpent. There is little doubt that the bracelet would have been worn by a wealthy Roman citizen who lived in the area and could possibly be someone who was regarded as being of importance in the region."

"This could indicate that I am very close to what was once the site of an opulent Roman villa."

Pompeii's most popular brothel reopened to the public

POMPEII, Italy - "It was the jewel of Pompeii’s libertines: a brothel decorated with frescoes of erotic figures believed to be the most popular in the ancient Roman city.

The Lupanare — which derives its name from the Latin word “lupa,” or “prostitute” — was presented to the public again Thursday following a yearlong, $253,000 restoration to clean up its frescoes and fix the structure.

Pompeii was destroyed in A.D. 79 by a cataclysmic eruption of Mount Vesuvius that killed thousands of people — and buried the city in 20 feet of volcanic ash, preserving Pompeii for 1,600 years and providing precious information on what life was like in the ancient world.

The building was unearthed in 1862 and has undergone several restorations since, most recently in 1949, officials in Pompeii said. The latest restoration focused on fixing leaks in the building and restoring the frescoes, which had turned yellow and had faded in parts."

Although this article said the brothel was reopened after a year-long restoration, the building itself has been closed for quite a bit longer than that. When I was in Pompeii two years ago the brothel was closed to public access because of crumbling ceilings. I found it rather funny that there were tourists running around asking each other where the brothel was only to discover they could not go inside. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to finally see these "lascivious" frescoes when I return to Italy in a couple of years. I also didn't have time to visit Herculaneum or the Archaeological Museum which is really a must see.

Slovenia River Excavation yields Roman and Celt treasures

I recommend reading the full article in National Geographic magazine. It is accompanied by some breathtaking pictures of some of the items that have been recovered including an ornate greave in the shape of a goddess with her face over the portion that covers the knee cap.

Carol Kaufmann:

Archaeologist Andrej Gaspari is haunted by pieces of the past. His hometown river, the Ljubljanica, has yielded thousands of them?Celtic coins, Roman luxuries, medieval swords?all from a shallow 12-mile (19 kilometers) stretch. Those who lived near and traveled along the stream that winds through Slovenia's capital of Ljubljana considered it sacred, Gaspari believes. That would explain why generations of Celts, Romans, and earlier inhabitants offered treasures?far too many to be accidental?to the river during rites of passage, in mourning, or as thanksgiving for battles won.

But Gaspari may never be able to explain for certain why the Ljubljanica holds one of Europe's richest stores of river treasures, many of them remarkably preserved by the soft sediments and gentle waters. Too many pieces of the puzzle have already disappeared.

During the past two decades, sport divers have made the river their playground, removing most of some 10,000 to 13,000 objects found so far. Even though removing artifacts from the Ljubljanica has long been illegal, professional archaeologists have been forced to compete with private collectors. Some divers sold their loot to museums; others to the highest bidder. Some kept their treasures private. Many artifacts have left the country, untraceable. Gaspari's greatest torment comes from the knowledge that few maverick collectors know?or care?where exactly their prizes were found. For an archaeologist, an object's meaning comes as much from its context?location, association with other objects?as from the prize itself. Without context, there is no story.

Technorati tags: Ljubljanica sword armor Roman Celt Slovenia "underwater archaeology"

Ancient Herculaneum Magistrates Decreed: 'No Dumping'

I found this item a little ironic. Apparently Mt. Vesuvius was oblivious to the commands of mere mortals.

Rossella Lorenzi:

The mountains of garbage that often fill the streets in the Italian city of Naples and surrounding areas aren't just a modern-day problem, suggest ancient wall inscriptions.

Using infrared reflectography, a non-destructive technique commonly used to peek beneath the surface of paintings, Italian researchers have brought to light two inscriptions against garbage dumping in the ancient Roman town Herculaneum.

The modest town was destroyed, along with its more famous neighbor Pompeii, in the first-century eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
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The finding shows that even before the eruption buried Herculaneum under 75 feet of ash, local authorities were already trying to reign in trash.

Luciano Rosario Maria Vicari, director of an applied optics laboratory at Naples University, and colleagues analyzed Herculaneum's notice board, which was found on the eastern side of the city's water tank.

The board for public notices consisted of a plastered rectangular area that housed the "tituli picti," ? painted inscriptions used to communicate decrees and measures.

Painted in black, the inscriptions were carefully placed on straight parallel lines carved on the plaster.

"The plastered area worked as a blackboard ? the previous inscriptions were wiped with a thin plaster layer to make space to a new inscription," Vicari told Discovery News.

Technorati tags: Herculaneum inscription reflectography ancient

History collides in the Villa Torlonia

CBS News: Since it was started in 1797, the sublime, the vainglorious and the ancient have merged and blended to make Villa Torlonia one of the most intriguing and exquisite examples of 18th century building in Rome.

Giovanni Torlonia made his fortune in banking, bought a title and then built a house he hoped would give him entree to the social elite. He never made it, but not for lack of trying.

An Egyptian theme room is complete with hieroglyphics. Breakfast was eaten under frescoes depicting the conquests of Alexander the Great. What today may seem overdone to the point of kitsch was very much the style of the times.

"We're in a Renaissance room and we walk though a door and we're in a Gothic room," Alberta Campitell, superintendent of Rome's historical parks and villas, told Sunday Morning correspondent Allen Pizzey.

The villa is undergoing a six million dollar restoration, a labor of love for Campitelli.

"Look also at the doors, all the doors are painted," she said as she walked through the villa with Pizzey. "They are very beautiful, with gold. It's really gold."

The restoration is providing Romans a unique insight into a way of life often thought of as more elegant times, but which turns out to be not that much different from today, at least when it comes to the "nouveau riche" equating wealth with class and style.

The ballroom is a classic example. Overlooking the dancers was a copy of Rafaello's fresco of a meeting on Mount Parnassus, retouched with willful disregard for historical context. The Greek poet Homer is shown sitting next to Dante Alighieri who is just a short reach away from Sir Isaac Newton sharing space with Galileo. The beauty hides a crude but not unusual aspiration of the time: refinement by association.

"So I have all these intelligent people in my villa, paintings, therefore I too am intelligent," Campitelli said.

There is also the not-so-subtle frieze of poets' faces, one of which has been painted over and replaced by the face of one of the Torlonia children.

One effort at self-aggrandizement that had no success at all was a plan to put the family crest atop a fake Egyptian obelisk. The pope of the day told Signor Torlonia the space was for crucifixes only.

Why anyone thought fakes were necessary in grounds that have been in use since before the dawn of Christianity is puzzling. Even digging the garden here is an adventure in history. The place is littered with things like a 1,800-year-old pot handle.

And there is some serious filling in to be done. These workmen are making a new top for one of the hidden mysteries of Villa Torlonia. When restoration began, a small hole was found under some stones which revealed a secret that even now can only be reached by a specially constructed passage.

It looks like an Etruscan tomb, complete with alcoves for burial urns, paintings of animals - all of which seem authentic, except this was built in 1840. Available information indicates it was used for secret Masonic rites.

Whatever went on in the fake tomb was history by the 1920s when the villa was rented out for the token sum of one Italian lira. But then the new tenant was not a personage with whom a landlord quibbled.

Benito Mussolini was as much a would-be sophisticate as the villa's original owners had been.

His daughter's wedding was held there. It was an event as lavish as the setting.

Like anyone else, Mussolini made his own modifications, although not with the same style, taste or purpose as his predecessors. Deep under the ornate rooms he had an austere bunker - a bolt hole from modern warfare that had served a far earlier purpose ... an ancient tomb.

"This is a Roman tomb from the second century after Christ was dead and we found here also three skeletons," Campitelli said.

AP Wire | 11/26/2006 | Students really 'dig' archaeology class

Hands-on activities like this are the ultimate interactive learning experience!

Steve Marroni, The Hanover Evening Sun:

The students at Spring Grove Area High School dig history.

Literally.

Teacher Jason Baker's 11th-grade world history class took part earlier this month in an archaeological dig for replicated artifacts.

The dig was held to mimic actual excavations. Baker set up eight sites near the high school and, the previous week, teams of students buried objects at the sites. The objects ranged from oracle bones made out of paint stirrers to a clay statue of Ganesha, the elephant-head Hindu god. Students buried objects in one site last week, then excavated in another.

Baker said the purpose of this exercise is to show students where the history in the textbooks comes from. Much of it is derived in the field through archaeological work similar to Spring Grove's re-creation, he said.

"They're doing this like real archaeologists," Baker said.

Junior Jane Bridwell stood in a hole and dug out clumps of dirt and mud with a shovel. Her group had already gone through and catalogued artifacts similar to those that could be found in ancient Japan. They kept digging and, two more feet down, began to find Egyptian relics.

Each site contained two civilizations and several artifacts from that civilization.

"You don't know what you're going to find," Bridwell said, shovel in hand.

Some of her classmates scooped out clumps of mud with their hands, and others broke up dirt with a pick ax.

Bridwell and her classmates agreed that archaeology required a lot more digging and hard work than they thought. But, it paid off. When someone found an artifact, they could be heard from their hole, shouting in excitement.

Meredith Seibert and Brittany Kauffman dug alongside Bridwell.

"There's a lot of hands-on work," said Kauffman.

Seibert said she and her class learned about different aspects of civilization, ranging from arts and literature to government and economics to religion and customs. Buried objects represented different aspects of civilizations.

As they dug up objects, they staked the location and gave the objects to Zeb Kessler. He marked their map locations and bagged the artifacts. Students will analyze them in class later and determine what they were used for in ancient civilizations.

Technorati tags: archaeology student learning teaching excavation

Restoration unveils Roman 'Sistine Chapel of the Middle Ages'

Restoration unveils Roman 'Sistine Chapel of the Middle Ages':

A series of medieval frescoes painstakingly restored over nearly a decade was unveiled to the public in Rome Tuesday.

Visitors, including Italian Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli, were on hand to take a first glimpse at the 13th-century frescoes in the Santi Quattro Coronati monastery, which sits atop a hill in Rome.

A team of six experts carried out the restoration project, which began in 1997 and was financed completely by the Cultural Heritage Ministry.

Technorati tags: fresco medieval Rome Roman monastery religion

Rare sarcophagus, headless skeleton found in London | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

Associated Press:

Archaeologists discovered a rare Roman limestone sarcophagus containing a headless skeleton at the site of a historic London church, authorities said Friday.

The find dates to about 410 A.D. and lay 10 feet below the grounds of the St. Martin-in-the-Fields church near central London's busy Trafalgar Square, outside the boundaries researchers had established for London's Roman city walls.

The sarcophagus was made from a single piece of limestone from Oxfordshire or Northamptonshire, about 60 miles northwest of London, researchers said.

The skeleton, headless and missing fingers, is a 5-foot-6-inch male who died in his 40s. Researchers speculated that Victorian workmen building a sewer stumbled upon the sarcophagus and took the head.

Technorati tags: sarcophagus coffin burial Roman London