Ancient Rome in Google Earth

At a press conference in Rome at noon today, Google's Michael Jones and Rome's mayor Gianni Alemanno (cough) are announcing "Ancient Rome 3D" — The city of Rome as it was in 320 AD, brought to life via 6,700 buildings and monuments, 716 separate textures and 250 informational placemarks on historically accurate terrain. It's an entirely new kind of default layer for Google Earth — one that mirrors history as well as geography.

This layer wasn't built from scratch just now, however. Its development is the culmination of decades of work spanning some very different technologies. Between 1935 to 1971, the Italian archaeologist Italo Gismondi directed the rebuilding the Rome of Emperor Constantine as a real physical plaster-of-paris 1:250 scale model. You can visit the Plastico di Roma imperiale today at the Museo della Civiltà Romana:

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Neanderthals not only ate shellfish, they liked it as much as we do

Darren Fa, of the Gibraltar Museum’s research team, has just published an article online in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Quaternary Science Reviews. Dr Fa, who was awarded his Ph.D. in marine biology by the University of Southampton’s National Oceanography centre in 1998, has bought together his expertise in this field (specifically, the oceanographic and biological dynamics of the Strait of Gibraltar) and coupled it with the Gibraltar Museum’s ongoing research into the prehistoric inhabitants of the Rock and the surrounding hinterland to provide evidence that marine environments such as the intertidal could have played a significant role in the subsistence economies of these early humans.

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Anglo-Saxon Kent Electronic Database (ASKED)

ASKED, the Anglo-Saxon Kent Electronic Database was built collaboratively by Stuart Brookes and Sue Harrington to facilitate our respective PhD researches at UCL Institute of Archaeology, from 1998-2000. A pared down version of its content is presented here, in order for it to act as the pilot database for a much larger corpus of material currently being gathered under the aegis of the 'Beyond the Tribal Hidage Project' - a Leverhulme funded research project undertaken at UCL Institute of Archaeology by director Martin Welch and research assistant Sue Harrington. It is intended that this new dataset will be deposited with the Archaeology Data Service in late 2009, retaining the same format as this version of ASKED.

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700-year-old coins found in field

Three 700-year-old coins which were found in a field have been declared treasure by a coroner at Flint.

The silver pennies date back to between 1307 and 1314, to the reigns of both Edward I and his son Edward II.

Archaeology enthusiast Peter Jones, from Holywell, found a coin in 2006, then returned to the same spot a year later, when the other two were found.

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Iron Age ‘town in the sky’ is revealed

FROM the air, its hidden tree-covered slopes give little clue to the settlement that existed there 3,000 years ago.

And its position in one of the quietest corners of the nation may seem a million miles away from the bustle of today’s towns and cities.

But historians have now described an ancient Iron Age hillfort in Mid Wales as the “Millennium Stadium of its day”, after computer modelling revealed its true scale.

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Istanbul's burried history holds machines

ISTANBUL - 'Urn' type, 8,000 years old graves found at the Marmaray diggings at Yenikapı, Istanbul. Dr. Karamut, director of Istanbul Archeology Museums and the head of the excavation said the digging will continue as hand- operated for now

Istanbul's burried history holds machines

Construction on the new metro tunnel, which goes under the Bosporus and will connect the Asian and European sides of Istanbul, has uncovered 8,000-year-old cremation urns from the Neolithic Age.

The urns were found in the everglade at Marmaray, before heavy machinery was due to start excavations. The urns are a first in Anatolian history, which proves human tribes lived in Istanbul before the reigns of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires.

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Das Paradies im Kloster

Dalheimer Kreuzgang drei Tage lang wieder komplett

Von Freitag bis Sonntag (7. bis 9. November) haben Besucher die Chance, den Kreuzgang im LWL-Landesmuseum für Klosterkultur in Lichtenau-Dalheim (Kreis Paderborn) nach mehr als 200 Jahren wieder komplett zu erleben.

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Roman past 'neglected'

COLCHESTER councillors should “hang their heads in shame” at the neglect of the town's Roman heritage, it has been claimed.

The accusation comes from Dennis Willetts, himself a borough councillor, who is furious about what he says is the continued lack of funds being spent on the “exceptional” historic sites.

He has now demanded to know why Colchester Borough Council does not have a financial plan for preserving its Roman heritage which includes the only chariot racing track in Britain.

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Virtual Rome: Gladiator fights return to the Colosseum

Italian capital launches virtual tours of ancient Rome complete with gladiators, Vestal Virgins and Colosseum crowds.

Vestal Virgins, bloodthirsty gladiators grappling with tigers and a portly toga-wearing guide are the highlights of a new high-tech attraction which aims to bring Ancient Rome to life.

"3D Rewind Rome" opens this month in the Italian capital within sight of the Colosseum, the scene of fights to the death between gladiators, slaves and wild animals.

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Archaeologists discover 12,000 year-old grave of witch doctor

Archaeologists in Israel have unearthed an ancient grave of an elderly woman believed to have been a magical healer 12,000 years ago.

The grave was found in a burial ground for at least 28 people in a small cave in the lower Galilee region of present-day Israel.

It dates back to the Natufian people who were the first society to adopt a sedentary lifestyle.

At the time of burial, more than 10 large stones were placed directly on the head, pelvis, and arms of the woman whose body was laid on its side. The legs were spread apart and folded inward at the knee.

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Icelandic heritage delegation in Island

A DELEGATION from the Icelandic Saga Trail Association visited the Island last week to learn about heritage management.

The seven-day trip was organised by Manx National Heritage.

The delegation included experts in cultural tourism from the Icelandic Saga Trail Association and a representative from the Orkney Islands, who all have a strong interest in the Isle of Man's Viking and Norse heritage.

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Limestone altar Discovered at Dalheim Roman Dig

Following previous archaelogical discoveries at the Dalheim dig (see http://www.station.lu/newsDetails.cfm?id=21601, another artefact has been discovered.

The site of the former Gallo-Roman baths has now produced what is described as an "exceptional archaeological discovery". The National Museum of History and Art (MNHA), led by the young German archaeologist Heike Posch and overseen by the curator John Krier, has uncovered fragments of a large 1.3m high limestone altar. The discovery dates from the 3rd century AD and has a Latin inscription showing that the altar was dedicated to the goddess Fortuna.

The text over 10 lines mentions not only the people of Ricciacum vicus, but it also describes the return of the portico of the building baths, destroyed 'by violent barbarians', probably during an incursion by Germans. The curator of the work undertaken at that time was a soldier of the 8th Augusta legion stationed in Strasbourg.

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Ancient Phoenicians may be forgotten but not gone

The ancient Phoenicians may be largely forgotten, but they're not gone. Rome destroyed the Phoenicians' greatest city — Carthage — centuries ago, but new genetic studies indicate that as many as one in 17 men living in communities around the Mediterranean may be descended from these ancient mariners.

Originating from what is now Lebanon, the Phoenicians were early seafarers and traders who spread their culture, including a love for the color purple, to North Africa, Spain and other countries around the region. But they seemed to fade from history after being defeated in a series of wars with Rome.

Genographic Research Project scientists led by Chris Tyler-Smith of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in England were able to locate a genetic marker for the Phoenicians on the male-only Y chromosome.

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Technological innovation may have driven first human migration

Technological innovation is more likely to have spurred the first modern humans to migrate out of Africa than climate change, according to a study that has accurately dated sophisticated stone tools made by our ancestors.

Scientists have long argued about the forces that drove the transition to modern human behaviour after our species evolved in Africa up to 280,000 years ago.

Most scholars agree that Homo sapiens passed a threshold between 60,000 and 80,000 years ago, with evidence for more complex technology, ornaments and symbolic art turning up in the archaeological record. Human genetics research also suggests that the population expanded markedly during this time.

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'Time teams' hit by housing woes

Archaeologists in Lincolnshire are suffering redundancies as a result of the credit crunch.

Firms in the Lincoln area are having to lay off staff and think of contingency plans because of the effects of the recession.

The problems have arisen because many archaeology companies are heavily dependent on construction work, which has declined dramatically this year.

Naomi Field, director of Lindsey Archaeological Services, said archaeology is 'a very sensitive barometer of the economic climate'.

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'Floating ramp' to preserve North East Wales hillfort

VITAL work has been carried out to prevent erosion damage to a historic hillfort.

As part of a lottery-funded project, footpath improvement and erosion control work has been completed at the Moel Arthur hillfort on the Clwydian Range.

A "floating ramp" is being built over the large earth banks to help protect them from damage.

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Ancient iceman probably has no modern relatives

"Otzi," Italy's prehistoric iceman, probably does not have any modern day descendants, according to a study published Thursday.

A team of Italian and British scientists who sequenced his mitochondrial DNA -- which is passed down through the mother's line -- found that Otzi belonged to a genetic lineage that is either extremely rare or has died out.

Otzi's 5,300-year-old corpse was found frozen in the Tyrolean Alps in 1991.

"Our research suggests that Otzi's lineage may indeed have become extinct," Martin Richards of Leeds University in Britain, who worked on the study, said in a statement.

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Neue Forschungsallianz zur Erhaltung des kulturellen Erbes

Zur Gründung der "Forschungsallianz Kulturerbe" haben die Präsidenten der Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft und der Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz (SPK) am Dienstag, den 28.10.2008 im Alten Museum (Museumsinsel Berlin) ein "Memorandum of Understanding" unterzeichnet.

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Candy Facts: Halloween Treats Stem From Ancient Recipes

Trick-or-treaters reaching for individually wrapped candy bars this Halloween probably won't stop to wonder about the origins of their sugary treats.

But for anyone with a taste for adventure, the holiday could be an ideal time for a sweet history lesson, as a remarkable number of bygone confections can still be bought or made.

For instance, "most medieval sweets are still around in some form or another," said Tim Richardson, author of Sweets: A History of Candy.

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'Exceptional' Roman coins hoard

One of the largest deposits of Roman coins ever recorded in Wales, has been declared treasure trove.

Nearly 6,000 copper alloy coins were found buried in two pots in a field at Sully, Vale of Glamorgan by a local metal detector enthusiast in April.

After the ruling by the Cardiff coroner, a reward is likely to be paid to the finder and landowner.

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