No News like Ancient News – Roman frescoes discovered

[Mad Doc Morris]

No loss to see those fellas expelled. They are quite a nasty bunch.
However, I'm wondering if they upgraded their equipment lately to India-manufactured kits or if a poor reenactor was caught there by an ill-informed journalist. The caption on the original site is a bit erratic:

A man dressed as a Roman Gladiator stands in front of the ancient Colosseum as snowflakes are falling in downtown Rome on Feb. 3.

Right.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

No loss to see those fellas expelled. They are quite a nasty bunch.
However, I'm wondering if they upgraded their equipment lately to India-manufactured kits or if a poor reenactor was caught there by an ill-informed journalist. The caption on the original site is a bit erratic:

Right.

well spotted, didn't notice that

[Prof.Witchheimer]

You know, I've posted that news about Ancient Greek statue some days ago. Now update

'Ancient' Greek statue found in sheep pen is fake

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17596144

 
An "ancient" Greek statue found in a sheep pen north-west of Athens last week has now been deemed a fake.

At first, archaeologists at Greece's Culture ministry thought the figure of a woman dated from the 6th century BC.

Now, a closer examination has found moulding marks and traces of bubbles which prove it is a copy, sources at the ministry told news agencies.

Two men were arrested last week for allegedly trying to sell the statue for half a million euros (£417,000).

They are currently awaiting trial on charges of looting antiquities.

The figure is 1.2m (4ft) tall and depicts an archaic maiden, but experts are now certain it is a cast rather than an original sculpture.

They say it is an identical copy of a statue found in the Acropolis in Athens, and not an item of "priceless historical value" as originally thought.

[joroas]

We saw those guys in Rome a few years ago.  Most wore the least authentic kit that I have ever seen.  Luckily, we were not approached as we were with an Italian guide

[A Lot of Gaul]

You know, I've posted that news about Ancient Greek statue some days ago. Now update

'Ancient' Greek statue found in sheep pen is fake

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17596144
 

The only real surprise is that it took more than a cursory glance to determine that it was a fake.  

[Prof.Witchheimer]

"Breathtaking" Mummy Coffin Covers Seized in Israel

Two decorated covers of coffins that once contained mummies have been seized by Israeli authorities, authenticated and dated to thousands of years ago in ancient Egypt.
 
Inspectors of the Unit for Prevention of Antiquities Robbery found the artifacts while checking shops in a marketplace in the Old City of Jerusalem. The inspectors confiscated the items under suspicion of being stolen property.
 
The ancient covers are made of wood and adorned with "breathtaking decorations and paintings of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics," says the Israel Antiquities Authority.
 
Researchers examined the covers with carbon dating — which looks at a radioactive form of carbon in a sample to determine its age — and other tools, finding the artifacts are authentic. They dated one of the covers to the period between the 10th and eighth centuries B.C., considered the Iron Age, and the other to between the 16th and 14th centuries B.C. (Late Bronze Age).

read more - http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=breathtaking-mummy-coffin-covers-seized-in-israel

[OSHIROmodels]

Good to see them recovered 

cheers

James

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Ancient Egyptian Humor

Ancient Egyptian civilization lasted more than three thousand years, but confrontations with increasingly hostile and powerful foreign powers began taking their toll as the Ramesside period came to an end. Eventually these outside forces eclipsed Egypt in the ancient world, and what was once a great power became a region incorporated into other great civilizations. Despite its demise, ancient Egypt left a rich legacy for the following generations of humankind, and its arts and letters have provided access to and insight into one of the earliest advanced societies in history. From this valuable source, modem humankind has learned many details about the ancient Egyptians, including the inner workings of their society, government, religion, history, art and architecture, and literature. Not immediately apparent in this material, and therefore more difficult to discern, are the feelings and the emotions that the people expressed. What instilled fear in their hearts? What made them feel safe? What induced them to anger and rage? Why did they laugh, and why did they cry

VIII.  Egyptian Jokes.
 
As noted above, the Egyptians did not always explain their texts what caused them to
laugh.  They  did,  however,  occasionally  tell  a  joke.  In  recorded  correspondence    the
Ramesside  period,  one  can  find  an  example.  In  it,  a  man  named  Thutmose  writes  to
another whom he feels had slandered him because of a joke Thutmose had told high tax
official. Fortunately for us, Thutmose repeats his apparently offensive joke, which can be
paraphrased thus. "You are like the wife blind in one eye who had been tied for twenty
years, and then her husband decided to leave her for another woman. However, when he
confronted her, he told her the reason for his defection was she was blind in one eye. She
responded to him: 'Is this what you've learned in our twenty years together?' "

read more - http://www.asociacionseshat.com/articulos/humor.pdf

[Prof.Witchheimer]

[Christian]

I've been investigating my Galician heritage and I'd like to offer up something that I stumbled upon today...

The oldest tartan ever found was worn by the Ürümchi mummies around 1500 BC. The Ürümchi mummies belong to a group of caucasian indoeuropeans who explored the Silk Route between Europe and Central Asia. The mummies were found in the Xinjiang region, western China, dressed with colourful tartan plaids.

Further archaeological discoveries of early tartans have been found in the Alps, Great Britain and Galicia.

Statue of Galician king found at San Julião Celtic Hillfort, 3rd century BC. Picture by André Pena.

The rest can be found here: http://www.tartan.galician.org/history.htm

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Emperor Qin in the Afterlife

more - http://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/577/2EmperorQin.pdf

Of the many great archaeological finds in the 20th century, one of the
grandest is the discovery of Emperor Qin Shihuangdi’s terracotta
army. The ruler of the state of Qin, King Cheng, proclaimed himself
the First Emperor of China in 221 BC taking the name
Shihuangdi (first sovereign). After hundreds of years of open warfare
between the different feudal lords, referred to as the Warring States period
(475-221 BC) (Capon 1983), the state of Qin raised an army that conquered
them all and seized power (Cotterell 1981; Treasure! Tomb of the Terracotta
Warriors 1998). A monument of some 7,000 clay officers, soldiers, horses,
and chariots was found underground just outside Mount Li in Shaanxi
China, the legendary resting place of the First Emperor. The question that
still puzzles scholars and archaeologists is why Emperor Qin had this army
of pottery constructed. The answer may lie with the other items found in his
tomb in addition to the terracotta warriors.

[OSHIROmodels]

why Emperor Qin constructed the Terracotta army

Because garden gnomes hadn't been invented yet 

This is on my 'to do list before I snuff it' (to see them that is  ).

cheers

James

[Christian]

They exhibited the Terracotta Warriors here at the NSW Art Gallery.

After a multitude of decorative tiles, pottery, bits of ancient junk and milling crowds... I have to say the warriors themselves were absolutely breathtaking.

It was as if you were looking into eternity... the warriors are absolutely timeless.

[Sterling Moose]

I saw them at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) in Toronto.  Very impressive!!  It was interesting to see that there were also musicians, entertainer and acrobats not just the warriors that we are used to seeing on TV.

[joroas]

Was this the Mighty Qin they sang about in the 1970s?  

I did see the nice replicas they have at Epcot.