Belize City officials say ancient thirty-meter high Mayan pyramid razed for road fill

BELIZE CITY (AFP).- A construction company owned by a local politician demolished a 2,300-year-old Mayan temple in northern Belize to use the rubble as gravel for road repair work, authorities charged. The ancient 30-meter (yard) high pyramid, which was reduced to a small mound of debris, was part of the Noh Mul ceremonial center located 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Belize City near the border with Mexico. “This total disregard for Belize’s cultural heritage and national patrimony is callous, ignorant and [...]

A spectacular 1,500 year old mosaic was exposed in the fields of Kibbutz Bet Qama

JERUSALEM.- A spectacular colorful mosaic dating to the 4th–6th centuries CE was exposed in recent weeks in the fields of Kibbutz Bet Qama, in the B’nei Shimon regional council. The mosaic was discovered within the framework of an archaeological excavation the Israel Antiquities Authorityis carrying out prior to the construction of an interchange between Ma’ahaz and Devira Junction, undertaken and funded by the Cross-Israel Highway Company. Remains of a settlement that extends across more than six dunams were uncovered in the excavation [...]

French archaeologists uncover a Gallic necropolis from the 4th and 3rd centuries BC

PARIS.- An Inrap team has recently uncovered a Gallic necropolis from the 4th and 3rd centuries BC on the site of the Parc Logistique de l’Aube, at Buchères. Since 2004, the 260 hectares of this General Council project has been the object archaeological investigations prescribed by the State (Drac Champagne): 230 hectares have already been evaluated and 40 excavations have been conducted. The last of these has now yielded an exceptional group of Gallic tombs, many devoted to warriors. Highly visible enclosures on [...]

Excavation unearths evidence of Thessaloniki’s urban life between 4th and 9th centuries AD

THESSALONIKI (AFP).- Archaeologists in Greece’s northern metropolis Thessaloniki were already overjoyed in 2006 when a 2,300-year-old avenue was found during construction work on the city’s new underground rail network. But a decision to keep in situ the superbly preserved ancient neighbourhood described as “Thessaloniki’s Pompeii” has been hailed as a major win for preservationists in the cash-strapped country that has been forced to make unprecedented cuts to cultural spending. “This is a great victory,” says Aristotelis Mentzos, a professor of Byzantine Archaeology [...]

Mexican archaeologists study cave paintings found in the northeast part of Argentina

BUENOS IARES.- A hill in the northeast part of Argentina that holds various cave paintings, which was considered to be a sacred place before the Incan conquest of the region in the XV century, was identified by Mexican investigator Luis Alberto Martos Lopez from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH), as part of an archaeological salvage. The exploration of this space is within a much wider project destined to the excavation and restoration of the Incan site known as Potrero de [...]

“The Philippines: Archipelago of Exchange” opens at musée du quai Branly

PARIS.- The first exhibition of its kind in Europe, THE PHILIPPINES archipelago of exchange presents 310 unmissable pre-colonial works – sculptures, pottery, textiles, personal ornaments – selected from public and private Philippine, American and European collections. Located in the China Sea, the archipelago of the Philippines contains more than 7000 islands and extends over a distance of 1700 kilometres. Its geographical situation – between Taiwan and Indonesia – and the history of its settlement since the arrival of the Austronesians have [...]

After being uncovered by Soviet archaeologists, ancient mysteries revealed in Turkmen desert sands

MARY (AFP).- Over four millennia ago, the fortress town of Gonur-Tepe might have been a rare advanced civilisation before it was buried for centuries under the dust of the Kara Kum desert in remote western Turkmenistan. After being uncovered by Soviet archaeologists in the last century, Gonur-Tepe, once home to thousands of people and the centre of a thriving region, is gradually revealing its mysteries with new artifacts being uncovered on every summer dig. The scale of the huge complex which spans [...]

Extraordinary finds from archeological sites in Malta travel for first time to United States

NEW YORK, NY.- The art, architecture and culture of an astonishingly forward-thinking people who lived in Malta, an island group in the Southern Mediterranean, more than five thousand years ago, are examined in Temple and Tomb: Prehistoric Malta: 3600-2500 BCE, on view from Thursday, March 21 through July 7, 2013 at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University. The first major exhibition in the U.S. to be devoted to the art and artifacts of prehistoric Malta [...]

2,600 years of world history in one iconic object: The Cyrus Cylinder makes its US debut

WASHINGTON.- The Cyrus Cylinder, sometimes referred to as the first “bill of human rights,” traces its origins to the Persian king Cyrus the Great’s conquest of Babylon in the sixth century B.C. Almost 2,600 years later, its remarkable legacy continues to shape contemporary political debates, cultural rhetoric and philosophy. One of the most celebrated objects in world history made its U.S. debut this past Saturday when “The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia” opened at theArthur M. Sackler Gallery. On loan from [...]

Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History confirms paleontological site in Oaxaca

MEXICO CITY.- To Spanish pre Historian Eudald Carbonell, the labor of a field archaeologist is planetary and, when one (archaeologist) works on the evolution of men, a country must not be considered as a boundary. What truly is fundamental is the knowledge and the thinking that regards human beings. Under this premise, he came to excavate a site in North America for the first time: Chazumba, Oaxaca, where investigators from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) discovered a paleontological site with [...]

Antiquities collected by a future king reunite 150 years on at The Queen’s Gallery

LONDON.- Greek and Roman antiquities collected by King Edward VII, when Prince of Wales, are to be reunited for the first time in 150 years for an exhibition of photography at The Queen’s Gallery, Palace of Holyroodhouse. The antiquities were acquired by the Prince on his 1862 tour of the Middle East, which is documented through the work of British photographer Francis Bedford in the exhibition Cairo to Constantinople: Early Photographs of the Middle East (8 March – 21 July). The [...]

More than 3,000 year-old pyramid belonging to Egypt pharaoh’s vizier discovered

CAIRO (AFP).- A pyramid that dates back more than 3,000 years and built for an advisor to King Ramses II has been discovered in Luxor, Egypt’s state minister for antiquities said. The remains of the large mudbrick pyramid — whose original height was 15 metres (49 feet) — was unearthed during excavations on the hill of Sheikh Abdel Qurna by a Belgian mission of the Universite libre de Bruxelles and Universite de Liege, Mohammed Ibrahim said. “Stamp impressions on the bricks indicate [...]

Israel Antiquities Authority: An ancient industrial installation was revealed beneath the asphalt in Yafo

JERUSALEM.- The Israel Antiquities Authority exposed remains of an installation for extracting liquid which dates to the Byzantine period, within the framework of infrastructure development implemented by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality Archaeological excavations of the Israel Antiquities Authority provide a glimpse at hundreds of years of magnificent history that lies beneath the busy streets. The excavations are being conducted prior to modernizing the infrastructure, on behalf of the Tel Aviv municipality, by the Mashlama Le-Yafo, within the framework of the Magen Avraham [...]

Israel Museum presents first exhibition on King Herod featuring newly discovered tomb

JERUSALEM.- The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, premieres the world’s first exhibition on the life and legacy of Herod the Great, one of the most influential – and controversial – figures in ancient Roman and Jewish history. On view from February 13, 2013, through October 5, 2013, the landmark exhibition Herod the Great: The King’s Final Journey presents approximately 250 archaeological finds from the king’s recently discovered tomb at Herodium, as well as from Jericho and other related sites, to shed new light [...]

World’s most famous fossil “Lucy” exhibited in Santa Ana before returning to Ethiopia

SANTA ANA, CA.- Ethiopia is the cradle of mankind, the birthplace of coffee, the purported resting place of the Ark of the Covenant—and home to Lucy, the 3.2 million year old hominid that has become the world’s most famous fossil, outside of Ethiopia. Even three decades after her discovery, Lucy continues to profoundly influence our understanding of human origins. With 40 percent of her skeleton intact, Lucy remains the oldest and most complete adult human ancestor fully retrieved from African soil. [...]