In 1640, a bronze tablet was discovered during construction work on a palace in Tiriolo, southern Italy. Dating from 186 BC, it records a decree issued by the Roman senate strictly regulating the cult of Bacchus, which it seems had gotten too big for its boots. But despite its ostensible threat to authority, worship of […]
Archaeology
Review: Archaeology – the whole story
Archaeology: the whole story Paul Bahn (ed.) Thames & Hudson, £24.95 ISBN 978-0500292761 Review by: Lucia Marchini Guiding the reader through 4 million years of archaeology, this new book covers major sites and discoveries across the world, offering a broad overview of different periods on a global scale. It could be described as an encyclopaedic […]
Review: Museum of Ligurian Archaeology
Stretching down from France between the sea and the mountains, the Italian region of Liguria is home to a wide variety of historic sites. At one villa, in Pegli on the outskirts of Genoa, the recently renovated Museum of Ligurian Archaeology explores ancient activity in the area, from the first inhabitants to the Romans. A […]
Travel: Molise, Italy
Searching for Samnites in the ‘Region of Little Cities’ Surprisingly few people have heard of Molise. Yet this is one of the most beautiful and the most historically engaging areas of Italy. Emerging from the road-tunnel that leads into the region, you get the impression you are entering a forgotten world – and in […]
Travel: Las Eretas
Jules Stewart travels to the little-known site of an early Iron Age community in the Navarre region of northern Spain. Las Eretas was never meant to be on the beaten path. On the contrary, its inhabitants were determined to distance themselves as far as possible from hostile neighbours. Visitors should therefore not be discouraged by […]
Marzamemi Shipwreck: Moving Christian Architecture for Justinian’s Empire
Justin Leidwanger and Sebastiano Tusa dive into a 6th-century puzzle off the coast of Sicily. In 1959, a local fisherman, searching for cuttlefish in the shallow waters off the coast of south-east Sicily, spotted several carved stone blocks nestled among the rocks, reef, and sand about a kilometre from the coastal port of Marzamemi. […]
Travel: Pyramids of the Peloponnese, Greece
Eric Cauchi investigates mysterious ancient remains that have puzzled travellers and scholars for millennia. Greece, birthplace of the Olympics and mythical home of the gods, is known for its spectacular temples, its exquisite Classical statues, and its jewel-like islands with sandy beaches. But pyramids? That’s Egypt, surely. Think again. In the eastern Peloponnese of southern […]
An Etruscan puzzle: Investigating the monumental tomb of Grotte Scalina
This highly unusual Etruscan tomb is linked to the Macedonian court of Alexander the Great and, a millennium later, proved a magnet for medieval pilgrims. But does it have one last secret to reveal? Vincent Jolivet and Edwige Lovergne investigate. Tarquinia, about 100km north of Rome in the Lazio region of Italy, was one of […]
The Caspian Gates
The ‘Gates’ at Dariali Gorge, set amid the spectacular mountain scenery of modern Georgia, was a place of legend. It features in a wider range of ancient and medieval sources than any other mountain pass, yet it has long been ignored by archaeologists. Dariali Gorge was a place of legend. It was in the dramatic […]
Obituary: Klavs Randsborg (1944-2016)
Klavs Randsborg, Professor of World Archaeology in Copenhagen University, who died on 13 November aged 72 was one of the great figures in Scandinavian and world archaeology over the past half-century. Randsborg spent most of his academic life in Copenhagen University, but it was for the great breadth of his international research that he should […]
Excavating Iran: Stories from the Silk Road
When Ed Keall first visited Iran, at the age of 24, little did he realise that he was about to embark on an archaeological venture – involving a Persian castle and a fire temple – that has now been 50 years in the making. In 1962, I took an adventurous trip to Iran to […]
Ice Age Wonders
Ice Age art represents an astonishing explosion of human creativity. But what does it all mean? Much of what we thought we knew has been radically revised in the light of new findings and advances. Paul Pettitt turns to the new edition of Paul Bahn’s Images of the Ice Age to reveal the latest. […]
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