X-Rays Reveal Unknown Van Gogh Portrait

The painting "patch of grass" completed by Van Gogh in 1887 has revealed the artist painted the scene over a portrait of a woman.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7535574.stm

Lost in Translation

A theory of a Spanish crew were responsible for sinking the Mary Rose because the did not understand orders.

Good grief!

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4439221.ece

Iran's Salt Mummies

This video talks about these more recent additions to mummification with the discovery of these six men who died in a collapse of the mine 2700 years ago.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/080731-saltmen-video-ap.html

The Happy Skeleton

Archaeologists in Perth England are uncovering medieval skeletons from a 13th century Carmelite friary.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/7533920.stm

Seal of Ancient King

A seal impression of a minister of the Biblical King Zedekiah.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331162371&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Busting Out

Students on an archaeological dig have found three roman busts including one of Trajan.

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_17654.shtml

Police Make Find

Police divers responding to a complaint that someone had found human remains found the remains of a shipwreck from the 17th or 18th centuries.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080730/ap_on_sc/puerto_rico_underwater_find_1;_ylt=AtO6mX.XPMKWo0NdFQEOMxFFeQoB

Ancient Clock

A 2100 year old calculator may have told the Olympic cycle. Nice Video.

http://www.nature.com/nature/videoarchive/antikythera/

and here:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/31/olympic-celestial-clock.html

Give Me Back My Head

All this Parthenon nonsense is enough to work up a thirst of Pointlessness.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aL01SM6B3NV8&refer=ho

Digging up God

This beautiful idol was dug up in a dry riverbed.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Chennai/Tussle_over_idol_dug_up_from_riverbed/articleshow/3286418.cms

No Backing Down

Both the Thai and Cambodian armies are refusing to back down and leave the disputed temple. The stones and temple reliefs would make a fortune on the New York auction market for both warring sides.

Why destroy what you can sell.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSBKK237324

Painting Lascaux

The supernatural ancient caves at Lascaux in France were painted by many hands. Well that seems kinda obvious but hey I am no expert.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article4425293.ece

Destroying Murals

This tragic story is about vision or lack of it, some people regard old things, including art, as junk and apparently these temple keepers feel this way too.

So they paint over what they could sell for a fortune on the New York auction market.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/stories/20080815251606400.htm

High Status Man

Excavations before the building of a housing project have unearthed the grave of an upper scale man.

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/3551234.Ancient_grave_found_on_Bognor_new_homes_site/

Gabriel's Revelation Stone

This amazing artifact can be found here along with a translation.

http://www.hartman.org.il/SHInews_View_Eng.asp?Article_Id=162

Qumran Quandary

Qumran is most famous for the discovery of 900 scrolls containing books of the bible. The Romans destroyed Qumran in 68 ad.

The sect who lived at Qumran were the Essenes and their most famous member was probably John the baptist.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331033237&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

Lost Da Vinci Found?

A small but exceedingly lovely sketch of a women which for years has sat in a drawer is now thought by some experts to be a genuine painting by Leonardo da Vinci.

If so its value will rise slightly from its L11000 purchase price to L100 000 000.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article4407175.ece

Rhodes Burning

Tourists are fleeing fires at the famous historical site Rhodes while one man is already serving four years for starting the fire.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7527280.stm

An Exceptional Collection Goes Under the Hammer

The book collection of the late Victorian English Prime minister William Gladstone is set to be auctioned off.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4393448.ece

UNESCO Skeletons

Scientists are studying human remains discovered at a world heritage site in Malaysia.

http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/27/stories/2008072753071800.htm

Repairing the Parthenon

I find it difficult to believe that any of the original sculpture is still on this monument. The picture with the article is beautiful.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jaa1be_yJBiOG96AxTpnbieQ4cpg

A Costly Lamp

For some reason people in the west who in the past have encountered oriental porcelains have drilled holes in the to make lamps.

Wow what a bunch of weirdos.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/dorset/7522788.stm

The New Museum

Here we have an article with good pictures on Athens new acropolis museum.

http://www.thetimes.co.za/PrintEdition/Lifestyle/Article.aspx?id=802266

Al Queda Meat

When one thinks about getting away for a while Baghdad is not generally what comes to the mind for fun and relaxation.

Certainly on the tour one would also have to include stops along the Afghan/Pakistan border and hey why not a stop at that little temple in Cambodialand.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7669992

Over Brandy and Cigars

The United Nations security council has decided it can make something for itself by getting involved in the demolition of that ancient temple being fought over by Cambodia and Thailand.

Lets hope for the temple that the U.N. does not follow through or it is co-put for the temple.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gw1JZxLkcyn9yANBM-WQbyxIWzSA

A Warriors Grave

The video to this discovery is interesting unfortunately it would obviously have been more interesting had they made the video with the warrior in situ instead of after the excavation.

http://www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk/6427/VIDEO--2000yearold-Roman-body.4298651.jp

Cycle of Life

Some stay and some go. In Canada our children are forced to learn Quebecois french as part of Canadian children's education even though the language is almost completely irrelevant on the world market and in most of Canada.

Canadians would do better if they forced their children to learn Mandarin.

Its economics and nothing more.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/jun/13/referenceandlanguages.bestbooks

Codex Sinaiticus Online

This I greatly look forward to reading, yeah right, well I mean I am glad it will be online and finally presented as a whole.

http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=15221

Your Heritage is My Heritage

Those fine people at UNESCO have tough decisions to make and doubtless the excess will take away from the whole.

http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/7/22/lifefocus/1613102&sec=lifefocus

Amazing Neolithic

Extremely impressive neolithic site that I am sure will be of great significants in years to come.

Stunning!

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-07/22/content_6865172.htm

Codex Sinaiticus

This ancient biblical document has a colourful history and as a result the document is spread out between a number of countries with a few pages remaining at the monastery in the Sinai.

Scholars are piecing together all the parts online.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gzdZYondd-Jlqw-ziW9W3qmSSeUwD922HJ5G0

London's Dead

Here we have another video on the Wellcome exhibit of Londoners excavated over the years.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/science/article4380291.ece

Temple battle

This story will probably keep getting worse, the keepers of the temple may want to start burying statuary.

...and here we see the military coming to do battle in the temple, I suppose.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iFcuQJFH_RG8k3JJXyxKjsjlFaDQ

Axum's Return

Here we have the erection of the obelisk taken to Rome by that idiot Mussolini and his henchmen in 1937.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7505957.stm

Speaking with the Dearly Departed

The Amazing Wellcome trust has one of the largest collection of medical objects and specimens ancient and modern in the world.

A new exhibit of the museum are 26 people dug up in excavations around London. The videos are very informative.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7509348.stm

Wellcome Trust:

http://www.wellcomecollection.org/

Chess Anyone

Archaeologists have found a 600 year old chess piece, in fact it is a King carved from wood and probably dates to the 14th century.

http://en.rian.ru/culture/20080718/114352042.html

Oh No

This one is getting ugly and there is no sign of it becoming better.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Rest_of_World/Ancient_Hindu_temple_at_centre_of_Thai-Cambodian_dispute/articleshow/3246691.cms

Bamiyan

Nice BBC video of the artworks of ancient Afghanistan and their lose

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7508917.stm

Who Vandalized the Bayuex Tapestry?

Amusing article on the theft of a section of the famous tapestry.

http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/heritage/story/0,,2291107,00.html

50 000 Objects Missing

An audit of Russian museums has revealed that around 50 000 exhibits are gone.

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/07/17/russia.art.ap/index.html

Amazing Mummy

The unrolling of this Peruvian mummy is terrific make sure to watch the video of the unrolling.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/080717-new-mummy-missions.html

Fake Display

Fakes and forgeries are an experience every collector must deal with and museums with all their experts are no different.

http://www.nysun.com/arts/brooklyn-to-exhibit-fake-art/81900/

That New Museum Scent

University of Cambridge's museum has been refurbished.

http://www.cambridgenetwork.co.uk/news/article/default.aspx?objid=49273

The 6000 Year Old Knife

News Channel 8 photo by TODD DAVIS







Workers picked up an object and washed it only to find out that it was a knife from thousands of years ago.

http://suncoastpinellas.tbo.com/content/2008/jul/15/6000-year-old-knife-unearthed-safety-harbor-park/

A Missing Piece of England

Mosaic discovered in the 1930's is not where it should be, what happened to it is the puzzle.

http://www.times-series.co.uk/search/2397289.Mosaic_mystery_/

The Hippodrome

Famous race course from ancient Greece has apparently been located.

Though I fail to see the point in racing Hippo's?

http://en.rian.ru/world/20080715/114036407.html

Temple Fight

No doubt the temple will be destroyed before this one is over and this fight between Cambodia and Thailand undermine UNESCO's ability to look credible.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gXeZq8sBQkBr9sI_xIb9TRCqjqAA

Mummies with Stress

Scientific analysis of a pair of fourteenth century Mexican mummies has revealed ulcers.

http://www.livescience.com/history/080714-mummy-ulcer.html

Shakespeare Returns

After ten years missing the Durham libraries copy of Shakespeare's first folio has been recovered. The folio was printed in 1623 only a few years after Shakespeare's death and is regarded as only 1 of 230 copies known to exist.

The folio worth millions was taken by an antique book dealer for authentication when it was spotted as being the stolen folio.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4316464.ece

Discus Discovered

A man found a marble discus lying next to a beach in Israel which once belonged to a ship to scare off the evil eye.

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early+History+-+Archaeology/Rare+marble+discus+found+at+Yavne-Yam+13-Jul-2008.htm

Secret Tunnel

The tunnel discovered in 1971 was originally dismissed but for some reason 30 years later archaeologists are hoping a more thorough view might change its significance.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/2299796/Secret-chamber-may-solve-Mexican-pyramid-mystery.html

Phaistos Disc a Fake?

This famous and mysterious disc has been studied by someone worthy of an opinion of its authenticity and that person believes it to be fake.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article4318911.ece

Scientific Proof

This is the continuation of the return of stolen artifacts from Columbia. The article has nice pictures of the material.

http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/news.aspx?articleid=166932&zoneid=500

Shelby White Offers to Hand Over

From one of the Premier collections on earth comes a handover to the Greek government of artifacts of questionable provenances.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/greek-ministry-culture-shelby-white/story.aspx?guid=%7B565D806C-1501-4102-94A3-E35080F36103%7D&dist=hppr

The Shelby White- Leon Levy Program for Archaeological Publications.

http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~semitic/wl/

A Shy Venus

This article has a nice picture of the recently found statue being described as a masterpiece.

I like what I see!

http://macedoniaonline.eu/content/view/2244/45/

Accidental Discovery

A man digging a pond discovers a rare statue.

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=45221

Too Good to be True

This most famous statue has been questioned for years and if you were following, The Archaeological Review, a year ago you would already know the answer to this article.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7499469.stm

Herculaneum Papyrus's

Some charred scrolls of papyri found in the Villa of the papyri were taken to hospital for examination.

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/235510.html

A Masterpiece of Venus

A decent picture of the beautiful goddess is included in the article.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25626087/

Beautiful British Columbia

British Columbia on Canada's west coast is a beautiful place to live so it is no surprise how long this place has been occupied.

http://www.straight.com/article-152876/who-were-bcs-first-seafarers

New Culture Old

A previously unknown group of people have been dug up in Bolivia.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=b9522ae5-c6db-4614-82e0-3b1a55d64777

Forgotten Poet

Information is wanted to find a Victorian poet in Scotland.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/7500238.stm

Legionnaire's Standard

Believed to be the first found in the British Isles this legionnaire's standard was found broken into 3 pieces.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_east/7500223.stm

Crystal Skulls

This is old news however all those people who believe the "Davinci code" is real are in need of more archaeological garbage to add to their minds.

As you can see I am a bit of a sceptic and there was a time when the British museum had more dignity to its mission than to display its forgery.

Hopefully the crystal skulls will be put into a crate and left forgotten in a warehouse of crates somewhere.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080709/sc_afp/sciencearchaeologyentertainmentfilmskull_080709002041;_ylt=AlFUEFbDE3zRLX.64THC1ujPOrgF

The Great Crumbling Wall of China

The great wall as always is a great sign of Capitalism.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/080709-crumbling-video-ap.html

Gotcha!

A smuggler selling antiquities out of the back of a van in Florida is in deep doo and his collection is on its way back to South America.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gid5h2HMR402xFcPuNM21MlOlbGwD91PRR1O2

A Pot of Worms

These divers should be state sponsored with the unimportant objects being for sale to pay for a proper exploration of the site. As it stands now it is in the hands of tourists.

Very poor decision archaeologically speaking.

http://www.divemaster.com/diving-news/greek-sea-looted-by-divers_20323.html

Eutruscan Tomb

Good condition funerary urns and grave goods have been found.

http://www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2008-07-08_108227140.html

The Iron Age

Iron age graves may turn out to be from the Roman period.

http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=132384&command=displayContent&sourceNode=232710&home=yes&more_nodeId1=132393&contentPK=21047410

World Heritage

Criticism from UNESCO over a recent "renovation" which actually damaged one of the world heritage sites.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0709/1215537641571.html

Here is the list of UNESCO"S world heritage sites.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/news/452

Caves Under Pyramid

The magnificent Pyramid was built long before the Aztecs and is being approached by slums.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/mexico_pyramid_dc;_ylt=AhiDyYK._dFBa74XJWUzlB1FeQoB

Moche Tomb

The fine people at National Geographic have a film about this most recent find.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/07/080708-discovery-video-ap.html

Thank You

Syria returned a marble stolen from an archaeological site in Iraq.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080704/ap_on_sc/iraq_artifact_returned;_ylt=Ag5vnyGXFNJg7lWSdAvKMKVvieAA

Online Tour of Assos

In Turkey there is an ancient settlement under the Roman world known as Assos and here is Archaeology magazines article on it with nice photo's.

http://www.archaeology.org/assos/tour/

Pompeii in Danger

The Italian government has announced a restoration project on the famous site which is in danger of the erosion of environment and tourism

http://itn.co.uk/news/f6ffa5ad92a2b4bc5c2b5906da94c4fb.html

Bhuddist Cave Art

A thousand years in creation these beautiful sandstone works are in constant danger from the elements.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/07/arts/06cott.php

The Ring of Brodgar

This group of stones at Orkney is the United Kingdom's 3rd largest stone circle.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/7485875.stm

The 5 Year Old Archaeologist

A little boy was digging for ancient Egyptian tombs in his garden in England when he found a 300 year old pipe. He is very pleased with himself and wants to be an archaeologist when he grows up.

http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/content/news/story.aspx?brand=ENOnline&category=News&tBrand=ENOnline&tCategory=news&itemid=NOED04%20Jul%202008%2017%3A01%3A42%3A333

High Status Moche

An extremely high status grave of the Moche has been discovered in Peru.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7491827.stm

Amazing Autographs

I cannot pass on really incredible collections such as this collection of autographs who's importance is just being recognized and may well travel through history as important.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7486124.stm

Tattoomania

Nineteenth century photographs and drawings of Australian tattoos show a similarity to rock art.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/07/03/australia-tattoos-art.html

All is Not Lost

Eight important archaeological sites in Iraq appear not to have been looted since the 1993 invasion of the country.

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/article.asp?id=8066

The Revenge of the Uncouth Chewing Cow

Soon ladies your stilettos will have to stay in your closet when visiting an archaeological site and everyone knows chewing gum is a filthy habit especially when it is your stilettos it is stuck too.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/stage/article4264580.ece

Crumbling Pompeii

As with all archaeology once uncovered so restarts the process of erosion.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080704/sc_nm/italy_pompeii_dc_3;_ylt=ApjnJz95OlJrWiYsESV7.1ZFeQoB

Here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7490735.stm

17th Century Luxury

Divers have found the wreck of a ship which appears to be of top quality for its day in a mere 25 ft of water.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2228622/Elizabethan-'Titanic'-discovered-by-archaeologists.html