The ancient deity Bes had bug eyes and a large face.Credit: Eliyahu Yanai, City of DavidArchaeologists recently found a piece of pottery decorated with the funny face of an ancient deity who is often depicted as a bearded dwarf with a big face and bug eye
A painting of a scantily clad sea nymph graces the storefront of an ancient fast-food joint in Pompeii.Credit: Archaeological Park of PompeiiBefore Mount Vesuvius blasted Pompeii to smithereens in 79, it was possible to grab a bite to eat there at a "
Roman relief of a chariot race and spectators, from the Vatican Museum's collection.Credit: CM Dixon/Print Collector/GettyDuring the first century, people across Rome were obsessed with chariot races, which frequently produced horrific crashes.However, on
Two thousand years ago, privileged Chinese, such as aristocrats or superrich businesspeople, could expect a lot upon their deaths.
Archaeologists exploring the site of a naval battle fought 2,200 years ago between Rome and Carthage have uncovered clues to how the battle may have unfolded — as well as several mysteries.
(National Museum of Denmark)Medieval drinking hornThe last aurochs, the wild ancestor of domesticated cattle and a favorite game animal up to the medieval period in Europe, died at a game preserve in Poland in 1627. Now a group of Scandinavian researchers
Ancient Knossos. Source: WikipediaThe Greek government has decided to remove more than 2,000ancient sites, monuments and museums from a state assets fund after archaeologists protested, fearing the country’s heritage might be sold off.Among the sites incl
Burial circle A, tomb IV from the top of the Lions Gate. In the background is the city of Argos. Photo by Robert McCabeThe Archaeological Society of Greece is celebrating 180 years of glorious history with a once-in-a-lifetime-exhibit of black and white p
Researchers say these chalk cylinders, carved more than 4,000 years ago, give the exact length measurements used to lay out Neolithic monuments like Stonehenge.Credit: British MuseumA set of highly decorated chalk cylinders, carved in Britain more than 4,
Dutch art detective Arthur Brand poses with two limestone Visigoth reliefs from the seventh century in London on Jan. 20, 2019.Credit: Niklas Halle'n/AFP/GettyIn 2004, two chunky limestone reliefs depictingCatholic saintswere stolen from a medieval church
Conservators and archaeologists complete conservation work of the wall paintings in the burial chamber of King Tut's tomb in the spring of 2016.Credit: copyright J. Paul Getty TrustConservators have finally completed a decade-long restoration of the tomb
An intentionally damaged limestone carving found within a 3,500-year-old shrine at Tell Edfu, in southern Egypt, shows what appears to be an ancient couple who someone tried to vanquish in the afterlife.The carving depicts a man and woman standing beside
Archeologists recently discovered two ancient tombs in Egypt.Credit: Egyptian Ministry of AntiquitiesArcheologists recently found two ancient tombs in Egypt that date back to Roman times, Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities announced yesterday (Jan. 15).One o
The discovery of a Roman cemetery in England has archaeologists scratching their heads, mainly because about 40 percent of the bodies buried there are missing theirs.Well, not missing, exactly. Of the 52 skeletons discovered in the fourth-century A.D. cem
A schoolchild's homework in Greek was written on a wax tablet nearly 2,000 years ago.Credit: Copyright British Library BoardHomework written by a school kid in ancient Egypt has been preserved since the second century A.D. And the words on the slab may so
An important Christian site has just been discovered inCypruswith mosaics which bear clear inscriptions in Greek, according to an Athens Macedonia News Agency (AMNA) report.The excavation, conducted on the Akrotirio peninsula by theDepartment of Antiquiti
Credit: Raffaella Bianucci, University of TurinHistoric finds in 2018Many fascinating archaeological discoveries were made in 2018. From the world'soldest cheeseto the world'soldest breweryto a massive black granite sarcophagus that ignited a mediafrenzys
The Forbidden City. On Oct 2, 2012, more than 180,000 people flocked to the Palace Museum, also known as the Forbidden City, in Beijing, setting a record for the highest number of daily visitors in the institution's history.Some of them became exhausted a
The places: The ruins of Aphrodisias, or the city of Aphrodite with its history parceled up in museums. The terraced landscape of Pamukkale, endowed with many hot springs, in southwestern Turkey.Spectacular archaeological sites provide a front-row seat to
This is a recently looted tomb in Northwest China. CREDIT Trevor WallaceMore than 2,500 years ago, horse riding nomads expanded their cultural realm throughout the Eurasian steppe from Southern Siberia to Eastern Europe.These tribes had in common, that th
An ancient city in Germany tells a different story of the Roman conquest
The main cave that Aristotle and Alexander the Great used as school. Photo by sxoliaristotelous.grA place of universal historic and cultural interest, the ruins of the School ofAristotlelocated are just two miles from the contemporary town of Naoussa, in
CAT archaeologists kneel next to a brick plinth that would have originally supported the timber frame of the c. 1520 house.Credit: Colchester Borough CouncilWhen a gang of goons rammed their Toyota truck into the side of a 500-year-old house in the Englis
Archaeologists sift the dirt carefully (left) to discover the ancient ceramic pieces (right) at the Allaippidy site in Sri Lanka, majority of which appear to have been made in China and have traveled along the ancient maritime Silk Road. Archaeologists fr
Everyday life inAncient Athensof the Hellenistic era was more exciting than in most ancient cities mainly due to the fact that Greeks had theater, great philosophers, were involved in politics, many were into athletics, and had developed the art of the di
The ongoing research in Akrotiri onSantorinigradually has revealed a place of rituals, very close to Xesti 3, an important public building with rich fresco decorations on the southern boundary of the settlement.According to archaeologists, theexcavationfi
This graffiti, recently discovered on the wall of a Pompeii house, suggests that Mount Vesuvius blew its top in the autumn of A.D. 79, not in August as some had thought.Credit: Pompeii Parco ArcheologicoGraffiti scribbled on the wall of a Pompeii house th
The 10-year-old has a rock stuffed in the mouth, something that may have been done to prevent the child from rising from the grave and spreading malaria to other people.Credit: David Pickel/Stanford UniversityA 1,550-year-old "vampire burial" of
Danit Levy, director of the excavations on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, inspects the inscribed column in the field.Credit: Yoli Shwartz/IAAArchaeologists have uncovered the oldest known instance of the word "Jerusalem" spelled out
The "Grand Lady's" coffin was buried inside another coffin in China.Credit: Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural RelicsAn exquisitely preserved skeleton of a woman dubbed the "Grand Lady" has been discovered in a water-filled coffin within
Final resting placeCredit: Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural RelicsArchaeologists in China have uncovered the tomb of a 900 year-old "Grand Lady," as writing found in her tomb calls her, in China. The inner coffin of the Grand Lady is shown here.
A computer-generated graphic shows the design of the Palace Museum branch. After years of preparation, construction of a branch of the Palace Museum formally kicked off on Wednesday in Beijing's northwestern outskirts.The branch, covering 62 hectares in t
A group of archaeologists from Italy examined the remains of those who died as a result of the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius in 79 AD and found out that most of them had a head blast. Their research is published in the scientific journal Plos One.The e
A preserved painting shows the clearing of the site of Capitolias, with the assistance of Dionysus and other gods.Credit: Copyright CNRS HiSoMAIn an ancient Roman tomb that was recently discovered in Jordan, a colorful mural offers a comics-like glimpse o
This Bronze Age hand has a gold cuff. Next to it, sit a dagger, a bronze pin and a spiraled hair ornament. The two gold flakes likely came from the metal hand.Credit: Copyright Philippe Joner/Archaeological Service of the Canton of BernTreasure hunters in
This miniature artwork shows Pope Joan, who has just given birth to an infant during a Church procession.Credit: The New York Public LibraryMedieval legends claim that Pope Joan was the first and only female pope. And now, an analysis of ancient silver co
A servant in his birthday suit holds a silver-colored jug and a vase for wine.Credit: Copyright E. Lupoli/Jean Bérard Centre (CNRS/école française de Rome)A naked man holding a wine jug and a vase is just one of many figures depicted in a 2,200-year-
Shan Jixiang, center, curator of the Palace Museum, and Zheng Xinmiao, right, head of the research institute of the Palace Museum, hold up a treasure box at the main ridge of Yangxin Dian at the Palace Museum in Beijing on Sept 3, 2018. Yangxin Dian, or t
New painting and calligraphy galleries in Liaoning Provincial Museum have lifted the veil on dozens of rarely seen national treasuresThere are just 85 stars up there, but my how they shine!Those stars, Chinese paintings on display in a new section of the
The Palace Museum in Beijing, also known as the Forbidden City, signed agreement with the Syrian ministry of culture on Tuesday to kick off a series projects — which will include joint exhibitions and public education initiatives — to be brought about thr
(Courtesy of the Institute of Archaeology/Russian Academy of Sciences)Bronze Corinthian helmet, Taman PeninsulaArchaeologists have discovereda bronze Corinthian helmet in the burial of several fifth-century B.C. Greek warriors in southwestern Russia. This
Standing in the entrance to Raqefet Cave, where they found evidence for the oldest man-made alcohol in the world, are, from left, Dani Nadel, Li Liu, Jiajing Wang and Hao Zhao.Credit: Li LiuThe world's oldest beer may have been brewed for a funeral 13,000
The Smithsonian’s elegant Haliphat of Palmyra and the blue-eyed Miriam from Yemen raise awareness of the illegal trade in and destruction of antiquities
Archaeologists from China and Great Britain came to the conclusion that before the state of Yin, which is considered the first ancient Chinese state formation, there was an ancient developed civilization. Its representatives were able to erect complex eng
FromMay12to13,hostedbytheStateAdministrationofCulturalHeri- tageandShaanxiProvincialPeople'sGovernment,theInternationalSilk RoadsForumontheArchaeologicalViewwasorganizedbytheShaanxi ProvincialAdministrationCulturalHeritageofinXi'an.Expertsandschol- arsfro
A 1,600-year-old Christian church covered by the waters of Turkey’s Lake Iznik is giving up some of its secrets to archaeologists.The church was built around A.D. 390 on the shore of the lake beside the city of Nicaea, as Iznik was then known.But it was d
"You are the stench of a low-life latrine," said one irate character to another in the ancient Roman novel "The Metamorphoses," written by Apuleius in the late second century A.D.Credit: ShutterstockAre ugly accusations and verbal abus
Archaeologists from China and Great Britain came to the conclusion that before the state of Yin, which is considered the first ancient Chinese state formation, there was an ancient developed civilization. Its representatives were able to erect complex eng
This figure shows images of the step pyramid. a) part of the stone buttresses of the second and the third steps of the pyramid; b) eye symbols that decorate the pyramid c) a view of the buttresses under excavation; d) a general view of the pyramid before
An ancient Buddha statue in Sichuan's Anyue county (left) is said to have been painted by local believers to make it colorful.The Sichuan Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage recently said that it had inspected two ancient stone carvings of Buddha in re
