Last original Roman arch in Britain?

CORBRIDGE could be sheltering the only original Roman arch left in England, says an architecture enthusiast.

The arch within St Andrew’s Church has long been thought a reconstruction using stone from the nearby Roman garrison settlement of Corstopitum.

But retired architect’s assistant Fred Bowler contends it is too well made to be a reconstruction.

“The church was built by the Saxons, who used to bodge things together,” he said.

“But the arch is perfect and has several decorative features, unlike the rest of the 8th century church tower above it.

“Whoever built that knew what they were doing.”

The arch is typically Roman in design, with spring stones that stand proud of the main wall and shaped arch stones that rise in a semi-circle to a definite key stone, he added.

“The arch is very similar to examples found elsewhere in the Roman empire, including France, Germany and Greece.

“But there are no other original examples in England – I think this could be the only one.”

He felt his theory was confirmed by the presence of worn stonework at the bottom of the arch, and indications on old maps that a road had once led straight up to it.

He now believes that the arch is all that remains of a Roman granary, or perhaps a small amphitheatre or coliseum.

“It looks like the stone has been worn away by wheels, probably on carts, going through the arch.

“There is a road marked on old maps, including one dated 1770 in Corbridge library, that goes in a straight line from Corstopitum to the arch.

“Who would build over an existing road? The archway must have been there first, before the Saxons built the church tower.”

Roman coins found on Western Isles

Ancient coins have been found on a beach in the Western Isles giving new clues to the far reaching influence of the Roman Empire.

Archaeologists believe the pieces of copper alloy date from the middle of the 4th Century. They were found in a sand dune, but the location in the Uists has been kept secret to protect the site.
Archaeologists said it was a "lucky find" as the coins were at risk of vanishing in a high tide.

Just seven other Roman coins have previously been found on the isles. A Roman brooch and pieces of pottery have also been uncovered in the past.

Kate Macdonald, an archaeologist who has lived on the isles for three-and-a-half years, said the new find was exciting.

She said the coins dated from the Iron Age in Scottish terms, but in England would be considered to be from the late Roman period.

The isles were a "hub of development" throughout pre-history because travel was easier by sea than land at that time, said Ms Macdonald.

However, she said it was likely to always remain a mystery how the coins arrived on the islands.

They were either brought back by islanders from the mainland, or by Romans.

Augustan Ruins Draw Visitors to Side, Turkey

Side is an ancient maritime city in Pamphylia, the region from the Mediterranean to Mount Taurus. Located near the Mediterranean villages of Manavgat and Selimiye in Antalya, this city was the seat of some of the most important ancient civilizations. With a visit to Side today, you will discover not only this history but also the striking natural beauty of this region.

The ruins of ancient Side include a Roman-style theater complex which was used for gladiator fights and later as a church; well-preserved city walls; a monumental gate dating back to the second century; old Roman baths; an agora where pirates used to sell slaves; the early Roman Temple of Dionysus next to the theater; a fountain and the remains of a Byzantine Basilica.

Bulgaria yields more Roman finds

Novinite.com: The excavations of Bulgaria's best-known archaeologist Georgi Kitov near Sliven have yielded yet more artifacts, this time from the Roman era, state radio BNR reported on Saturday.

The latest finds include two pairs of gold earrings, five rings, a ritual coin and a semi-precious stone, all found in a tomb dating to the first century AD, at the earliest.

All the items were found in the second of the 14 tombs Kitov plans to excavate this summer near the villages of Topolchane and Kaloyanovo in the Sliven region, southeastern Bulgaria.

Italain Carabinieri make dent in number of tombaroli

Pietro Casasanta had no Indiana Jones-type escapes from angry natives or booby-trapped temples. He worked undisturbed in daylight with a bulldozer, posing as a construction worker to become one of Italy's most successful plunderers of archaeological treasures.

When he wasn't in prison, the convicted looter operated for decades in this countryside area outside Rome, benefiting from what he says was lax surveillance that allowed him to dig into ancient Roman villas and unearth statues, pottery and other artifacts which he then sold for millions of dollars on the illegal antiquities market.

"Nobody cared, and there was so much money going around," he recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. "I always worked during the day, with the same hours as construction crews, because at night it was easier to get noticed and to make mistakes.”

Casasanta was the prince of the tombaroli, as the looters are known in Italy – and some of his finds are priceless.

But the tombaroli are dwindling.

Police and prosecutors believe they are beginning to see results in efforts to combat the traffic of stolen or illegally excavated antiquities which they say made their way to the world's top museums and collectors.

Gen. Giovanni Nistri, who heads the art squad with the Carabinieri, Italy's paramilitary police, said that in 2006 his unit discovered fewer than 40 illegal digs. In the late 1990s that figure could soar to more than 1,000 a year.

Will Hadrianoupolis Become Next Big Tourist Site in Turkey?

This article caught my attention because of the reference to mosaics as beautiful as those in Zeugma Mosaic are one of my favorite Greco-Roman art forms.

"Hadrianoupolis, or Paphlagonia in ancient times, was established in the first century B.C. and was inhabited until the eighth century A.D. The site was the region's largest province of the period. Last year's excavation works, which focused on four major areas called Bath A, Early Byzantine Church A, Byzantine Church B and Rome Tomb, uncovered 13 main sections of a Roman period bath as well as unique mosaics featuring many animal figures, such as horse, elephant, panther and deer. The mosaics are considered to be as magnificent as the mosaics unearthed in the ancient city of Zeugma in Gaziantep. The depictions of animal figures on mosaics, on the other hand, reflect unique samples of mosaic art from the late Roman period.

Excavations started four years ago and are scheduled to run through September 1. Short-term excavations will continue until the ruins have been fully uncovered. An archaeologist Ergun Laflı, the head of excavations in Hadrianoupolis who is also an academic at İzmir-based Dokuz Eylül University, and his team will conduct the excavations." - Turkish Daily News

"The archaeology of this region has been done very unevenly: the south coast has hardly been touched by comparison with the century and more of sustained excavation and survey on the other coasts. Inevitably the archaeological picture of these coasts in Antiquity looks strangely unbalanced, even though our literary texts offer moments of insight to the Classical Antiquity of Turkish Black Sea, spread across centuries and driven by a range of authorial agendas, e.g. Xenophon’s Anabasis, Strabo’s Geography, Arrian’s Periplus. Centuries later, the whole of Turkish coast of Black Sea is a live archaeological region, and the ongoing discoveries help shed more light on the facts of the past and on the incredible ancient prosperity of this region.

Beside local coarse wares the numbers of the so-called Pontic Sigillata found in the northern Aegean and Black Sea area may suggest a possible source in southern coast of Black Sea. There is good reason to believe the great potential in Roman field and nautical archaeology conducted in the region because of the existence of numerous discovered sites and ship wrecks with enourmous ceramic contents that will be helpful not only in explaining their production, but also ancient economy of Turkish Black Sea coastline.- Paphlagonian Hadrianoupolis Project

Roman fort Galerius in Serbia added to World Heritage list

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee finalised this year's additions to the coveted World Heritage List at a meeting in the New Zealand city of Christchurch. The list now includes the Roman fortified palace of Galerius or Gamzigrad-Romuliana in the east of Serbia.

"The Late Roman fortified palace compound and memorial complex of Gamzigrad-Romuliana, Palace of Galerius, was commissioned by Emperor Caius Valerius Galerius Maximianus, in the late 3rd and early 4th century. It was known as Felix Romuliana, named after the Emperor's mother. The site consists of fortifications, the palace in the north-western part of the complex, basilicas, temples, hot baths, memorial complex, and a tetrapylon. The site offers a unique testimony of the Roman building tradition marked by the ideology of the period of the Second Tetrachy. The group of buildings is also unique in its intertwining of ceremonial and memorial functions. The relation between two spatial ensembles in this site is stressed by the tetrapylon which is placed on the crossroads between the worldly fortification and palace on the one side and the other-worldly mausoleums and consecration monuments on the other."

Temple of Orpheus to be restored

Officials announced that Bulgaria and Greece are planning a joint project to rebuild the Temple of Orpheus. The Temple, in the Rhodope Mountains and dated to 6,000 BCE, predates the great pyramids of Egypt. Over the centuries it was the scene of many religious pilgramages but was burned by the Thracian Odrysian tribe in the second century. It was later rebuilt by the Romans.

Anthropologist offers alternate origin of Masada bodies

It looks like now an anthropologist is challenging the findings of the 1960s excavation at Masada:

"An Israeli anthropologist is using modern forensics and an obscure biblical passage to challenge accepted wisdom about mysterious human remains found at Masada, the desert fortress famous as the scene of a mass suicide nearly 2,000 years ago.

A new research paper published Friday takes another look at the remains of three people found at the site and given a state burial by Israel as Jewish heroes. The remains, the study says, could actually be those of the Jews' Roman enemies.

The remains of two male skeletons and a full head of woman's hair, including two braids, were found in a bathhouse by archaeologists in the 1960s. They were long thought to belong to a family of Zealots, the fanatic Jewish rebels said to have killed themselves rather than fall into Roman slavery in A.D. 73, a story that plays an important role in Israel's national mythology.

Along with other bodies found at Masada, the remains were recognized as those of Jewish heroes by Israel's government in 1969 and given a state burial, complete with Israeli soldiers carrying flag-draped coffins.

But anthropologist Joe Zias and forensics expert Azriel Gorski write in a paper in the June issue of the journal Near Eastern Archaeology that the remains buried with honors may not have been those of Jews at all, but of Romans.

The paper focuses on the hair, noting the odd absence of a skeleton to go with it. The researchers' new forensic analysis showed an even stranger fact — the hair had been cut off the woman's head with a sharp instrument while she was still alive.

Zias' attempt to explain the discrepancy led him to the Old Testament's Book of Deuteronomy, where a passage says that foreign women captured in battle by Jews must have all their hair cut off, apparently an attempt to make them less attractive to their captors.

Zias concluded the hair belonged not to a Jewish woman but to a foreign woman who fell captive in the hands of Jewish fighters.

In his scenario, the woman was attached to the Roman garrison at Masada in A.D. 66 when the Zealots seized the fortress and killed the soldiers. Jewish fighters threw two Roman bodies into the bathhouse, which they then used as a garbage dump, judging by other debris found inside. The Zealots treated the woman captive according to Jewish law, cutting off her hair, which they threw in with the bodies."

Studies show Etruscans descended from peoples of Asia Minor

I had read about the studies on Tuscan cattle earlier this year. Now the scientists have shown a link to the Etruscan people as well. I also find it gratifying that Herodotus was vindicated since some scholars have scoffed at his work, claiming it was too "fanciful" to be true.

"The long-running controversy about the origins of the Etruscan people appears to be very close to being settled once and for all, a geneticist will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today. Professor Alberto Piazza, from the University of Turin, Italy, will say that there is overwhelming evidence that the Etruscans, whose brilliant civilisation flourished 3000 years ago in what is now Tuscany, were settlers from old Anatolia (now in southern Turkey).

Etruscan culture was very advanced and quite different from other known Italian cultures that flourished at the same time, and highly influential in the development of Roman civilisation. Its origins have been debated by archaeologists, historians and linguists since time immemorial. Three main theories have emerged: that the Etruscans came from Anatolia, Southern Turkey, as propounded by the Greek historian Herotodus; that they were indigenous to the region and developed from the Iron Age Villanovan society, as suggested by another Greek historian, Dionysius of Halicarnassus; or that they originated from Northern Europe.

Now modern genetic techniques have given scientists the tools to answer this puzzle. Professor Piazza and his colleagues set out to study genetic samples from three present-day Italian populations living in Murlo, Volterra, and Casentino in Tuscany, central Italy. "We already knew that people living in this area were genetically different from those in the surrounding regions", he says. "Murlo and Volterra are among the most archaeologically important Etruscan sites in a region of Tuscany also known for having Etruscan-derived place names and local dialects. The Casentino valley sample was taken from an area bordering the area where Etruscan influence has been preserved."

The scientists compared DNA samples taken from healthy males living in Tuscany, Northern Italy, the Southern Balkans, the island of Lemnos in Greece, and the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia. The Tuscan samples were taken from individuals who had lived in the area for at least three generations, and were selected on the basis of their surnames, which were required to have a geographical distribution not extending beyond the linguistic area of sampling. The samples were compared with data from modern Turkish, South Italian, European and Middle-Eastern populations.

"We found that the DNA samples from individuals from Murlo and Volterra were more closely related those from near Eastern people than those of the other Italian samples", says Professor Piazza. "In Murlo particularly, one genetic variant is shared only by people from Turkey, and, of the samples we obtained, the Tuscan ones also show the closest affinity with those from Lemnos."

Herodotus’ theory, much criticised by subsequent historians, states that the Etruscans emigrated from the ancient region of Lydia, on what is now the southern coast of Turkey, because of a long-running famine. Half the population was sent by the king to look for a better life elsewhere, says his account, and sailed from Smyrna (now Izmir) until they reached Umbria in Italy.

"We think that our research provides convincing proof that Herodotus was right", says Professor Piazza, "and that the Etruscans did indeed arrive from ancient Lydia."

Italian police raid construction site to protect ancient Greek temple

Italian police have taken possession of a newly discovered ancient Greek temple in southern Italy after uncovering a developer's plot to build over the 2,000-year-old ruins.

Special art squad officers from Italy's Carabinieri police were tipped off about the construction site in Torre Melissa, near Crotone on the coast of southern Calabria, and used helicopters to locate the site last week.

Carabinieri police officers inspect the ruins of an ancient Greek temple in Torre Melissa, Italy, where a developer was about to build.
(Gregorio Borgia/Associated Press)

When police arrived, construction workers — who were set to build a number of tourist villas on the site — had already excavated and removed large, attractive sections of the ancient temple to decorate another hotel complex nearby, officials said at a media conference in Rome Tuesday.

Other pieces had been excavated and placed in a dump for use as construction material.

When discovered, the workers had been preparing to pour the foundation for the new resort atop the remaining ruins.

"It would have been the final tombstones for this temple," Gen. Giovanni Nistri, head of the Carabinieri art squad, told reporters.

Experts believe the ancient temple dates from between the fourth and third centuries B.C. and was likely built by the Bruzii people, who lived in the region at the time when it was ruled by the Greeks.

Archeologists are now preparing to enlarge the dig site and will try to reconstruct the temple with the excavated pieces, which have been retrieved.

Calabrian archaeology superintendent Pietro Guzzo described the temple as interesting because it is the first important public building discovered in the region.

Geoarchaeologist thinks he has determined the pass Hannibal used to cross the Alps

"Few historical problems have produced more unprofitable discussion than that of Hannibal's pass over the Alps," said the mid-20th-century historian F. W. Walbank, whom Patrick Hunt, a lecturer in the Classics Department, quotes in acknowledging the difficulty and exhilaration of researching the subject. Hunt, director of the Stanford Alpine Archaeology Project, estimates that 20 major studies and articles have focused on it in the past century alone.

He has been investigating the question for the past decade. Now, he hopes he may have found the answer.

"It may be hubristic and definitely ambitious of me to think I might be able to prove that route," he conceded. His most notable predecessor was Napoleon Bonaparte, who reputedly carved his name under Hannibal's on rocks he found in the Alps.

But Hunt has new scientific tools to assist his investigation, and with them have come a profusion of evidence. As the first geoarchaeologist to tackle the question, Hunt has employed methods as diverse as analyzing rock weathering rates, scrutinizing lichen growth, studying pollen records and modeling historical glaciation on computers to help him envision how the land today might be different from that described in ancient texts. Ultimately, the tools will help him comprehend how feasible it was that certain paths were taken by Hannibal and his army traversing the mighty Alps.

"Putting all this together is like detective work," Hunt says. "For me, it's as much science as ancient history."

Before analyzing the Alps, however, Hunt hiked. Over the past 10 years he has traversed 25 passes. He has broken 30 bones along the way. During the summer, he brings groups of a dozen students along with him. "I'm the only one in the picture," he said, pointing to a photograph of himself backed by towering peaks, "because everybody else is way ahead of me."

Years of getting to know the mountains and comparing them to ancient texts—primarily those of Polybius and Livy, contemporary and post-contemporary historians of Hannibal—has led Hunt to conclude that Hannibal's pass was the Col de Clapier. Situated in the western central Alps at 8,000 feet above sea level, this relatively high route is the only one that has made it past Hunt's decade of scrutiny.

The pass must fulfill 11 criteria, as delineated by the ancient books, Hunt explains.

To begin, distances, landmarks and encounters with barbarian tribes in the ancient texts give indicators of where Hannibal's army could have begun and ended its trek. The army must have encountered the Allobroges tribe, for instance, whose territory was found only to the north. The endpoint must be a three-day's march from the city of Turin in Italy, so the path could not stray too far south. Furthermore, the summit, where the army reportedly camped for two days, must be large enough to hold at least 25,000 men and a few dozen elephants, as well as many pack animals. It also has to be high enough, and thus cold enough, for the previous winter's snow to have remained. The ascent must be gradual, but the descent deadly. Moreover, a "white rock place" must be found exactly one day's march from the top where the army sheltered itself against the last of the seemingly endless innumerable attacks by hostile tribes hampering their passage.

"Calculate the compounded probabilities of any one pass fulfilling all these criteria," Hunt says. "It's pretty slim."

The Col de Clapier fulfills all of these obligations, rising 1,000 feet higher than most of the other Alpine passes and exhibiting all the landmarks that the army reportedly saw. Cows graze on the sprawling plain at the summit, and a magnificent view of Italy reveals itself where the soldiers purportedly stood when Hannibal, by Polybius' account, "directed his men's gaze toward the plains of the Po … and in this way he did something to restore their confidence."

Hunt's theory is compelling but not without challengers. The favorite alternative was championed by historian John Prevas a few years ago as the Col de la Traversette. At almost 10,000 feet, the pass is one of the highest in the Alps and would certainly be cold enough to retain a former winter's snows.

But ironically, Hunt thinks it would be too high, and the terrain too treacherous. "This pass has the most dramatic view," he said. "But it's killer. In fact, I almost died on it last year." He describes both the ascent and descent near the summit as "very difficult," which runs counter to Polybius' descriptions of an easier ascent than descent. Glaciers might have made it more feasible, he admits, but he thinks their presence 2,000 years ago was unlikely because it was a warmer period than today. Other problems also weigh against the Traversette, he says—for example, its distance from Turin and its avoidance of a more obvious, direct neighboring route across the Montgenevre Pass.

Hunt's scientific tools have become of great use in his most recent analyses. Pollen records hint that the tree line may have been higher in Hannibal's time, indicating a warmer climate that would make it less likely that year-round snow would have been lower than at the Col de Clapier. Closely studying the geology at the Traversette further lends evidence that the pass may not even have been passable in Hannibal's time, Hunt says.

The next leg of his investigation is to look for hard evidence in the form of artifacts. "You have to assume that an army of 25,000 people plus elephants is going to leave a record of its passage," Hunt said. "But to date, not one Carthaginian coin has been found in the Alps proper."

And so he proposes new methods. "I think the topography has sufficiently changed over several millennia so that if the evidence is there, it's not going to be on the surface. I would look not on the direct route, but down the precipices," he said. Also, he said, efforts should be focused where the geology is stable, where rapid erosion would not have buried remains deeply.

Hunt and his team have identified 19 sites to excavate and are awaiting from the European governments the permits that are required before any evidence can be removed from the land. Hoping to be at the cusp of a breakthrough, Hunt and his research have attracted attention and funding from Helen and Peter Bing and the National Geographic Society."

Note: The image above is Hannibal, portrayed by Ben Maccabee in the History Channel special, The True Story of Hannibal, produced in 2004. I thought it was an excellent presentation.

In Pompeii eat like it's A.D. 79 until June 26

Researchers have tried to bring back to life the city's food chain by replanting, in the restaurant's garden and in other open spaces throughout the city's ruins, the fruits and vegetables that were part of the Roman diet -- figs and olives, plums and grapes, as well as broom, bramble, poppy and mallow.

Kits with the ingredients will be sold to visitors in the area around the restaurant with instructions on how to cook their own Roman specialties. Although there will be no cooking on the site, visitors will be directed to a local restaurant where some of the specialties will be offered.

"We wanted to learn what the inhabitants of Pompeii ate,'' said Anna Maria Ciarallo, a biologist who heads the project for Pompeii's archaeological office. "But we wanted a side of the project to appeal directly to the public as well.''

Some may keep away from "garum,'' a pungent sauce used for flavoring and obtained by fermenting fish entrails, but Ciarallo said that many Roman dishes closely resembled modern cuisine.

The recipe to make prosciutto ham has remained unchanged, while "savillum,'' the favorite dessert of many Romans, was a baked cream similar to today's custard, Ciarallo said.

Pompeii's rich were known to feast on such exotic dishes as swallow's tongue and parrot meat, but the project is presenting more everyday fare, Ciarallo said.

The restaurant was located between the gymnasium, the amphitheater and one of the city's gates and mostly catered to middle-class merchants and travelers, Ciarallo said.

Its six benches were probably always filled with hungry customers passing through the busy neighborhood, she said. The guests would recline on one side on the benches, as eating customs demanded at the time, to chat, play dice -- one of the Romans' favorite pastimes -- and partake of the dishes served out of large pots. The quiche-like "libum'' is made with bread, laurel leaves and cheese resembling today's ricotta.

"It was a sweet and sour cuisine, which blended the sharp tastes of vinegar and spices with the sugars of honey and figs,'' Ciarallo said. Cereals and beans were the staples of the Roman diet, together with fish, cheese and limited quantities of eggs and meat.

"The main differences were between the social classes,'' she said.

Slaves were kept on a high-energy diet of bread, dried-fruits and low quality cheese and wine. The upper classes enjoyed the same foods available to the middle class, but the quantities were larger, the ingredients finer, and the banquets were lavish presentations.

The project will shut down on June 26 because of lack of funds...

Some recipes prepared in ancient Pompeii:

Peaches with Cumin
Can be an appetizer or a dessert.
Peel and chop up some firm peaches
Cover peaches in a cumin sauce made with ground pepper, parsley, mint leaves, cumin, honey, vinegar and a dash of garum, which is a fish sauce made from fish entrails steeped in brine. A modern-day version of garum, "colatura di alici'' or anchovy juice, is still produced on the Amalfi coast.

Celery Dessert
Chop celery, roast the pieces in an oven.
Serve with honey and ground pepper.

Pork with Dried Figs and Cheese Side Dish
Boil a fresh pork shoulder with dried figs and bay leaves.
Carve off the rind, cover in pastry and bake in a hot oven.
For side dish, mix different types of herbs into fresh ricotta-like cheese, add some olive oil and serve with sesame seeds or hazelnuts.

-- Associated Press

Pre-Roman thru Byzantine Period Wine Presses Found on Thassos

"Greek archaeologists have discovered a complex of ancient farmhouses and large wine-presses [similar to the Greco-Roman press pictured at left] on the northern Aegean island of Thassos dating from before the Roman period until late Byzantine times, the culture ministry said Wednesday [May 23, 2007].

Built with walls of stone over a meter (three feet) high and lined with plaster, the wine-presses were found clustered on a mountain near the coastal village of Limenaria, at an altitude of 500 meters.

The remains of enclosures suggest the presence of large estates that shared the use of the wine-presses, the ministry said.

Though apparently inhabited mainly during the grape harvest, the site was in use from the Hellenistic period that followed the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC onwards.

The local archaeological department has been researching the Thassos site for the past two years.

Also Wednesday, the ministry said that another archaeological team found the remains of a rural shrine to presumed fertility deities near the town of Orchomenos in central Greece.

The shrine had sustained damage in the construction of an irrigation canal in the 1950s, but the archaeologists found thousands of votive offerings, including miniature vessels, animal idols, scarabs, and lamps.

They also found rare clay replicas of flowers entwined with ears of corn, representing gifts left by faithful visiting the shrine.

In ancient times, citizens of Orchomenos are known to have worshipped the Three Graces, daughters of Zeus said to represent beauty, charm, and joy but also associated with bloom."

I wish archaeological teams would take field photographers with them so digital images of new finds could be more readily available. The clay replicas of flowers entwined with ears of corn sound very beautiful. I would love to see a picture of them! Unfortunately, they'll probably end up in some museum or university storage compartment never to be seen by the general public or anyone else for that matter outside a handful of researchers.

4th century Roman sarcophagus unearthed at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church

Archaeologists have moved closer to bridging a 200 year gap in the ancient history of London.

New treasures unearthed at St Martin-in the-Fields church, off Trafalgar Square, provide evidence of a link between the Romans and the Saxons.

The finds from the church, which go on display at the Museum of London from tomorrow to August 8th, include a limestone sarcophagus with the human remains of a middle-aged Roman man.

The exhibition also features a kiln, dating from between 400AD and 450AD, for making tiles and a gold pendant and beads dating between 650AD and 670AD, believed to have been found in a woman's grave.

The Museum's curator Francis Grew said the stone coffin of the man, who died between 410 to 420AD, was a "hugely moving discovery".

He said: "At that time the Roman Empire was rapidly disintegrating and Britain was not really part of the Roman Empire.

"This is a hugely exciting discovery. His bones symbolise the end of the Roman world, the end of the ancient world."

Mr Grew said that the man - thought to have been a rich, highly esteemed member of society - would have lived through a fascinating period.

He said: "He probably just caught a glimpse of the people from Germany, the Saxons.

Herod Tomb may have been found at Herodium

An Israeli archaeologist on Tuesday said he has found remnants of the tomb of King Herod, the legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem, on a flattened hilltop in the Judean Desert where the biblical monarch built a palace. Hebrew University archaeologist Ehud Netzer said the tomb was found at Herodium, a site where he has termed the find a "major discovery by all means," but cautioned further research is needed.

He said all signs indicate the tomb belongs to Herod, but said ruins with an inscription on it were needed for full verification. "We're moving in the right direction. It will be clinched once we have an inscription that bears his name," said Pfann, a textual scholar who did not participate in Netzer's dig.

The fragments of carved limestone found at the sandy site are decorated with floral motives, but do not include any inscriptions. It has long been assumed that Herod was buried at Herodium, but decades of excavations failed to turn up the site until now. The first century historian Josephus Flavius described the tomb and Herod's funeral procession.

Herodium was one of the last strong points held by Jewish rebels fighting against the Romans, and it was conquered and destroyed by Roman forces in A.D. 71, a year after they destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

Aeneas' Temple of Minerva found in Castro, Italy?

"Archaeologists at the University of Lecce have discovered that the modern town, with its 15th-century walls, sits on the ruins of the port that was the first landfall in Italy made by the semi-mythical wanderer of the ancient world, Aeneas. According to Virgil's epic, he fled Troy as the Greeks destroyed it and made his laborious way westwards finally to found a "new Troy", the imperial city of Rome.

In the third book of the Aeneid, according to John Dryden's 17th-century translation, the poet describes the hero's discovery of Italy thus:

"... And now the rising morn with rosy light

Adorns the skies, and puts the stars to flight;

When we from far, like bluish mists, descry

The hills, and then the plains, of Italy ...

The gentle gales their flagging force renew,

And now the happy harbour is in view.

Minerva's temple then salutes our sight,

Plac'd, as a landmark, on the mountain's height ..."

Minerva's temple is the key: the head of the Archaeology Department at Lecce University has found clinching evidence of the existence of a temple of Minerva, exactly where the poet describes it. "There is no doubt," Professor Francesco d'Andria said. "We have found fragments of a female divinity, and many iron weapons given to the goddess as offerings. In this temple a warrior goddess was worshipped. Minerva was worshipped."

Roman settlement discovered at the base of Silbury Hill

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a new Roman settlement at the base of Silbury Hill in Wiltshire.

The 40m high man made hill appears to have been home to a large community, as a village the size of around 24 football pitches has been found.

Partially buried under the modern A4 road, the village consists of streets and houses and may have been a stopover for people travelling to the sacred springs in Bath.

Discovered during a geophysical survey as part of restoration work on the hill, the Roman settlement may also have been a pilgrimage site itself.

The largest prehistoric structure in Europe, 5,000-year-old Silbury Hill was certainly known to the Romans, as the ancient road from London to Bath swerved to avoid it.

Straddling the road alongside the Winterbourne River, the village appears to offer a stop off point for travellers and is laid out in typical Roman style, with evenly spaced streets and dwellings.

Ancient Roman Paintings found in London

The Roman artworks were found underneath an Italian restaurant in Lime Street, in the City of London.

Painted 1,900 years ago, the paintings depict goldfinch and lavish bunches of grapes, magazine London Archaeologist reports.

Experts believe that they were painted for a wealthy Roman's home, as the area around Lime Street used to the most prestigious address in Roman London.

Archaeologists are hailing the find as one of the most significant of recent decades and hope that the whole set of paintings, damaged in a building fire, can be reconstructed.

Lincoln Roman aqueduct found to have provided decades of service

Archaeologists unearthing parts of an underground Roman aqueduct in Lincoln have found the first evidence that it was actually used, contrary to previous thinking.

The aqueduct, near Lincoln’s Nettleham Road, has been known about for centuries, and archaeological investigations of it were carried out in the 1950s and 70s, with no firm evidence for their ever carrying water being found. However, with the recent start of a housing development on the site, the time came for sections of the piping to be removed and studied thoroughly.

Excavations also revealed that a road thought to have been a Roman construction is in fact post-medieval.

Simon Johnson, principal archaeologist at Pre-Construct Archaeology, who carried out the work, explained that visible calcium deposits suggest the pipes did carry water.

“There’s been persistent questions over whether the aqueduct ever functioned,” he said. “We’ve got at least one section where there is furring around the full circumference, suggesting it was used. Who knows for how long? You’re looking at decades to produce that sort of deposit, I should think.”

Roman "Silver" pig to be sold at auction

I wonder if Lindsey Davis is going to bid on this "pig" to commemorate her first best selling Marcus Didius Falco mystery, "The Silver Pigs"?

"A 2000 year old lead ingot mined by the Romans shortly after they conquered Britain is expected to fetch up to £12,000 when it goes under the hammer this month.

The 154lb ingot, known as a 'pig', was mined by Romans in North Yorkshire, and would have been due to be made into piping of waterproof lining for roofs. Silver could also be extracted from it.

The Romans, who ran well organised mining operations in Britain and also produced silver and gold after invading the country in AD43.

Dating from AD81, the 11 stone pig bears a raised inscription on the top reading 'Imperatore Caesare Domitiano Augusto Consule Septimum’ - a reference to the Emperor Domitians seventh consulate.

Measuring 58.5cm by 10.5cm by 13.5cm, it has the word 'Brig' on the side - showing it came from the territory of the British Brigantes tribe, who had fallen under Roman rule.

The pig was discovered accidentally in 1731 in peat on Hawshaw Moor, which was famous in antiquity for its lead mines."

Bob Ballard to explore Byzantine Shipwrecks

Robert Ballard is known for discovering the Titanic shipwreck, but that's just skimming the surface of his career in undersea exploration.

Ballard has tracked down the ruins of several ships, including ancient wooden ones, and even found new life forms - 10-foot-long tube worms - deep below the ocean's surface.

However, Ballard considers his greatest achievement to be the educational programs he has developed to get young people excited about his work, the ocean and science in general.

This August, the world-famous underwater explorer-scientist, will excavate two Byzantine shipwrecks, which will be presented in streaming video online at immersionpresents.org. Ballard expects to find ships with perfectly mummified crews, who will look asleep rather than mummified in the Egyptian sense of the word.

He plans to create the first underwater museum, allowing the public to view these artifacts without having to remove them from their preserved state in the ocean.

New Roman Glass exhibit at Hallie Ford Museum of Art

Willamette University graduate Richard Brockway wanted to be an archaeologist but ended up as an engineer.

But he never lost his first love. Over a 30-year period, he traveled to the Middle East, Asia and Europe, amassing a collection of antiquities that has led to a new exhibit at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, "Ancient Glass: Selections from the Collection of Richard Brockway.

The works on view at Hallie Ford's Study Gallery are small but precious: drinking vessels, tableware, toiletry vessels, beakers and storage bottles from Egypt, the Near East, Greece and Rome, selected to demonstrate the evolution of glass artists' skill and mastery of glassblowing techniques.

Although not considered valuable in their own time, the works have amassed value over time.

"Everything in here is very functional, very utilitarian," Olbrantz said.

"These pieces would have been like our dishes, our pots and pans."

Still, these are among the earliest glass works in history, often simple but elegant in their shapes and speaking to us across thousands of years of history.

Little is known about the early years of glass, although by 2,500 BCE, solid glass beads and amulets were being made, and the oldest fragments of hollow glass vessels appeared in the 16th and 15th centuries BCE in Egypt and Mesopotamia.

At the beginning of the 18th century BCE, Egyptians developed a method for producing hollow glass vessels, making a core mold of compacted clay or dung and winding molten glass around it.

Among the notable pieces in the exhibit is a gleaming blue Ushabti from the New Kingdom. The tiny mold-cast work is a mummy-shaped figure meant to be placed in a tomb to do the work of the deceased in the afterlife. A complete collection would consist of 401, one for each day of the Egyptian year, plus 36 foremen.

A small but striking piece is the Eye of Horus, a mold-cast work of the late period, probably originally found on a statue or statuette of Horus, the falcon-headed god of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Among the Roman works is a large single-handed pitcher, from the first through third centuries CE, a work that Brockway has donated to the Hallie Ford Museum. The free-blown piece has an applied neck coil and handle.

Among the largest pieces is a Light Blue Cinerary Urn, a Roman work from the first through third centuries CE, a free-blown work.

The urn was used to hold cremated ashes but has transcended its mundane past to become a work of art visibly touched by the centuries.

A companion piece, also elegant and simple, is a light blue elongated storage vessel, a Roman work from the fifth to sixth centuries."

Roman-style Column found in newly discovered Han Dynasty Tomb

I noticed this short "photo-byte":

Archeologists excavate near a Roman-style column in a newly found Han Dynasty tomb (202 BC - 220 AD) in Xiao County, east China's Anhui Province, April 3, 2007.

Roman tomb on Greek Isle of Cephalonia yields glass, gold jewelry and coins

Greek archaeologists discovered a Roman tomb filled with glass, copper and gold artefacts and an amphitheatre on the island of Cephalonia, which they say must have been an important link between ancient Greece and Italy.

"It is the first time such a monument is discovered, not only in Cephalonia but in all the Ionian Sea islands," the culture ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The tomb, which included more than one grave, measures about 8 by 6 metres (yards) and included glass jars, clay pots, gold jewellery, copper items and coins, it said.

"It is a touching detail that the (stone) door still opens and closes to this day just as in antiquity," the ministry said.

The finds were revealed during digging for construction in the town of Fiscardo and the theatre, which extends underground beyond the lot, appears to be in excellent condition, the ministry added.

"From the finds so far, we see that Fiscardo was an important naval station between Greece and Italy in antiquity," it said.

In the past, archaeologists have found near the site a group of Roman urban dwellings - a paved open-air space surrounded by houses, a bath and a cemetery.

Classical Capitals for Modern Architecture

I noticed this article in an online business magazine. For any of us that may be looking for ways to incorporate our love of the classical world into our modern one, this company specializes in producing classical columns:

"The majesty and grandeur of ancient Roman architecture is brought to life with detailed decorative capitals. A profusion of carved acanthus leaves, egg and dart and volute scrolling details reproduced from Roman architecture, are beautifully captured in four distinct styles of Roman decorative column capitals from Timeless Architectural Reproductions™.

Presented in Scamozzi, Roman Ionic, Corinthian and Decorative Roman Doric styles of architecture, capitals are available in sizes from 6” to 30” in and in round, square and flat varieties*. Timeless Roman decorative column capitals can be painted, faux finished or gilded offering many design options not available when using other materials.

Virtually maintenance free the column capitals are impervious to insects and extreme weather conditions, they will not rot, split or crack and require a primer and coat of exterior or interior paint depending on the application.

Well known for their structural strength as well as their meticulous detailing that matches many classic styles of architecture, decorative capitals manufactured by Timeless are as functional as they are beautiful and exhibit the load-bearing capacity of the columns they adorn. Backed by a lifetime-limited warranty, Timeless decorative column capitals are finished with beautiful crisp detailing."

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.

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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.

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