Experts Reveal the Full Beauty of Petra’s 2,000 Year-Old Cave Painting

LONDON.- Experts from London’s Courtauld Institute of Art recently completed the conservation of a rare and exquisite Nabataean wall painting at the World Heritage site of Petra in Jordan, for the Petra National Trust. Conservators Stephen Rickerby and Lisa Shekede from the Courtauld’s Conservation of Wall Painting Department worked on the project for three years. The remarkable painting, that can now be clearly seen for the first time in many years, was unveiled on Wednesday 18 August 2010 in a [...]

Italian Officials are Seeking Private Sponsors to Restore Colosseum

ROME (AP).- Italian officials are seeking to raise some euro25 million (about $32 million) in private money to finance the restoration of one of the country’s iconic landmarks: the Colosseum. The Culture Ministry says the government will accept bids from possible sponsors from Aug. 4 to Sept. 15. The ministry said in a statement that sponsors funding the project will be able to “promote their image,” but that any ads will have to be compatible with the decorum of the [...]

More Findings Registered Under Palacio de Bellas Artes

MEXICO CITY.- Nearly 50 pieces that include Prehispanic ritual objects and Colonial vessels, among them, porcelains from the Ming and Qing dynasties, as well as a dozen human burials, are part of the findings registered under Palacio de Bellas Artes during excavations conducted by the Archaeological Salvage Direction of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Information was announced by researcher Miguel Hernandez Perez, coordinator of the archaeological project when accounting for the objects discovered throughout the year at [...]

Experts Work to Free Buried Ship Hull at World Trade Center Site in New York

NEW YORK (AP).- The ship was buried as junk two centuries ago — landfill to expand a bustling little island of commerce called Manhattan. When it re-emerged this week, surrounded by skyscrapers, it was an instant treasure that popped up from the mud near ground zero. A 32-foot piece of the vessel was discovered in soil 20 feet under street level, amid noisy bulldozers excavating a parking garage for the future World Trade Center. Near the site of so many [...]

Egyptian Archaeologists Unveil Discovery of 4,300-Year-Old Tombs with Vivid Wall Paintings

SAQQARA (AP).- Egyptian archaeologists on Thursday unveiled a newly-unearthed double tomb with vivid wall paintings in the ancient necropolis of Saqqara near Cairo, saying it could be the start for uncovering a vast cemetery in the area. The tomb includes two false doors with colorful paintings depicting the two people buried there, a father and a son who served as heads of the royal scribes, said Abdel-Hakim Karar, a top archaeologist at Saqqara. “The colors of the false door are [...]

Subway System Excavations Important for Archaeology

MEXICO CITY.- Construction of the Metro Collective Transport System tunnels have benefited Mexican Archaeology by uncovering vestiges found in Mexico City. In 4 decades more than 20,000 objects from Prehispanic, Colonial, and Modern ages have been recovered, allowing verify information from historical documents. Archaeologist Raul Arana, who worked in the first archaeological salvage tasks conducted by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in 1967, when the first 2 Metro lines were being constructed, declared so. Explorations were performed [...]

Colonial Painting Found in Palacio de Bellas Artes Restored

MEXICO CITY.- Specialists of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) restored 40 square meters of a 17th century mural painting discovered in the subsoil of Palacio de Bellas Artes, in Mexico City, during reconditioning work conducted at the building. Fragments of mural painting were located on the rests of a wall of the former convent of Visitacion de Maria Santisima, which existed until mid-19th century in the terrain occupied to present by the Palacio de Bellas Artes. A [...]

Rock Paintings at La Pintada Archaeological Zone Catalogued

MEXICO CITY.- More than 2,000 rock paintings distributed in a natural canyon part of La Pintada Archaeological Zone, in Sonora, are being digitalized by experts from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). Designs reveal the world vision of ancient groups that dwelled this area 1,200 years ago, as well as at the colonization process. It has been calculated that more than 2,500 graphics are found in the area, from which 70 per cent have already been registered, with [...]

One of the Greatest Archaeological Finds in History Conquers Toronto

TORONTO.- The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) hosts the Canadian premiere of The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army from June 26, 2010. Prior to its embarking on a Canadian national tour, the exhibition will be displayed in the Garfield Weston Exhibition Hall on Level B2 of the ROM’s Michael Lee-Chin Crystal until January 2, 2011. The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army showcases one of the most significant archaeological finds in history: the 1974 discovery, in Shaanxi province in north-central [...]

Archaeologists and Art Restorers Find Oldest Paintings of Apostles

ROME (REUTERS).- Archaeologists and art restorers using new laser technology have discovered what they believe are the oldest paintings of the faces of Jesus Christ’s apostles. The images in a branch of the catacombs of St Tecla near St Paul’s Basilica, just outside the walls of ancient Rome, were painted at the end of the 4th century or the start of the 5th century. Archaeologists believe these images may have been among those that most influenced later artists’ depictions of [...]

For Sale: One of the Most Significant Archaeological Projects of Recent Times

LONDON.- One of the most significant archaeological projects of recent times – a reconstruction of the great Orpheus pavement – is to be sold by Chorley’s on Thursday, 24th June 2010. Made from 1.6 million pieces of small, hand-cut clay blocks called tesserae, the 2,200 square foot (205 square metre) mosaic took 10 years for brothers Bob and John Woodward to complete. The Roman period was one of great prosperity for Britain and Gloucestershire was no exception. Large settlements were [...]

Archaeological Team’s Radar Reveals Extent of Buried Ancient Egypt City

CAIRO (AP).- An Austrian archaeological team has used radar imaging to determine the extent of the ruins of the one time 3,500-year-old capital of Egypt’s foreign occupiers, said the antiquities department Sunday. Egypt was ruled for a century from 1664-1569 B.C. by the Hyksos, a warrior people from Asia, possibly Semitic in origin, whose summer capital was in the northern Delta area. Irene Mueller, the head of the Austrian team, said the main purpose of the project is to determine [...]

Moctezuma II Exhibition Opens and Experts Hope to Uncover an Emperor’s Tomb Soon

MEXICO CITY (AP).- Archaeologists found some of the richest and most unusual Aztec offerings ever in excavations under a mammoth slab depicting an earth goddess and said Wednesday they hope to uncover an emperor’s tomb nearby. The seven offerings of strange and unparalleled oddities found under the stone slab depicting the goddess Tlaltecuhtli include the skeleton of a dog or wolf dressed in turquoise ear plugs, jadeite necklaces and golden bells on its feet. The 4-meter (13-foot) long carving of [...]

French Engineer Saves Damascus Treasures

DAMASCUS (REUTERS).- When French engineer Jacques Montlucon bought one of the famed, centuries-old courtyard houses of Old Damascus six years ago he had no idea it contained an architectural marvel. But Montlucon, who has restored artifacts from the Titanic and helped rescue goods from a sunken Napoleonic merchant ship, has a knack for uncovering the unexpected. “I was removing the heavy varnish covering the wood-paneled walls in the iwan (reception room) when figures of painted strange birds, monsters and castles [...]

More than 100 Impressive and Intact Ancient Cultic Vessels were Found

JERUSALEM.- A natural hollow in the bedrock that was exposed in archaeological excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority prior to the installation of the northern gas pipeline by the Israel Natural Gas Lines Company, at the foot of Tel Qashish (Tell el Qassis), did not cease to provide ancient surprises. For two weeks archaeologists of the Israel Antiquities Authority excavated the contents of the rock-hollow and removed from it more than 100 intact cultic vessels and other extraordinary items that [...]