News Round Up

DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND—The Otago Daily Times reports that Monica Tromp of the University of Otago has found direct evidence of plants used by the first inhabitants of Vanuatu. It had been previously suggested that the first settlers to reach the…

GUWAHATI, INDIA—The Times of India reports that construction workers in northeastern India uncovered a three-foot-tall sculpture depicting the Sun God and his attendants Dandi and Pingala on the campus of Cotton University, near the ancient site of…

Oliver Gilkes explores a recently refurbished Sicilian museum. Sicily plays host to an unprecedented variety of archaeological sites and monuments, set in an extraordinary medley of landscapes. Combine this with Sicilian panache at cookery (very…

What is it? This statuette, dating from around 21,000 BC, has the familiar form of a Palaeolithic ‘Venus’ figurine. Carved out of chalk and standing to a height of 4cm, the female figure has the prominent, fleshy thighs, buttocks, and breasts…

NAPLES, ITALY—According to a report in The Guardian, a team of researchers including forensic anthropologist Pier Paolo Petrone of the University of Naples Federico II found unique material inside the skull of a 25-year-old man whose charred,…

NAPLES, ITALY—According to a report in The Guardian, a team of researchers including forensic anthropologist Pier Paolo Petrone of the University of Naples Federico II found unique material inside the skull of a 25-year-old man whose charred,…

LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND—The Lincolnite reports that archaeological investigations conducted by Allen Archaeology ahead of the installation of improved drainage works and landscaping in the area surrounding Lincoln Cathedral uncovered the grave of a…

Simple design, immaculate workmanship and romantic decoration – the ideals embodied by the Arts and Crafts movement, led by William Morris have produced some of the most splendid homes in the country and inspired designs which remain some of the…

Michelle Hill, Curator at Portland Basin Museum, on some of the bizarre objects she found in the museum stores for her Cabinet of Curiosities exhibition A forerunner to the modern museum, classic cabinets of curiosities emerged in 16th Century…

The National Museum of Computing at Bletchely Park takes us back to the 1980s and the revolution in home computing Hands up who had a Sinclair ZX Spectrum? If so this small but perfectly created pop up display of obsolete 1980s computers will be…

Two Temple Place takes us on a journey through textile collections and the women who collected them “Textiles sit within so many disciplines that it’s difficult to get a grasp of the diversity of human experience they encompass,” says textiles…

The Viking tradition of haaf net fishing is celebrated at the Devil’s Porridge Museum It is thought the Vikings first figured out how best to catch fish in the Solway Firth – by wading into the fast flowing river with a net fixed to a pole measuring…

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO—BBC News reports that archaeologists from Mexico’s Directorate of Archaeological Rescue and National Institute of Anthropology and History uncovered a fourteenth-century temazcal, or ritual steam bath, measuring about 16 feet…

WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA—According to a statement released by the College of William & Mary, archaeologists led by Joe Jones of the college’s Center for Archaeological Research (WMCAR) recovered a nineteenth-century glass bottle full of nails near…

SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA—The Khmer Times reports that the head of a statue of a makara, a crocodile-like sea dragon in Hindu iconography, was spotted in Phnom Kulen National Park by a local resident who alerted authorities at the Siem Reap Provincial…

MADRID, SPAIN—According to a Cosmos Magazine report, analysis of DNA obtained from the remains of two children who were buried in the Shum Laka rock shelter in western Cameroon around 8,000 years ago, and two children who were buried there some 3,…

The archaeological legacy of the Trojan war is immense. Key scenes from the conflict and its aftermath play out across ancient sarcophagi, wall paintings, and even fine tableware. Yet there is a strong chance that none of these events ever really…

The archaeological legacy of the Trojan war is immense. Greek vases pull no punches when they show Homeric heroes engaged in brutal combat. Key scenes from the conflict and its aftermath play out across ancient sarcophagi, wall paintings, and even…

Neil Ackerman (32), a PhD researcher at the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute, has been awarded the Robertson Medal from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for academic year 2019-20. The silver medal is…

Neil Ackerman (32), a PhD researcher at the University of the Highlands and Islands Archaeology Institute, has been awarded the Robertson Medal from the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland for academic year 2019-20. The silver medal is…