Spectacular Ancient Greek artefacts unveiled!

Medusa Gold, from the tomb of Philip II

Source

In the Macedonian city of Aegea, archaeologist found tombs with hidden treasures. These tomb’s secrets lay untouched and concealed from the world till the 1970s when Professor Manolis Andronikos discovered them.

It then came to light that they were the tombs of members of Alexander the Great’s direct family. But what was also extraordinary was that the tomb of King Philip II was also amongst them.

Did you know?

* King Philip II was king from 359 BC until 336 BC when he was assassinated by Pausanias of Orestis, one of his bodyguards. But don’t fret he didn’t get off scot free. He was found by Phillip II’s other bodyguards and they killed him. 
* He was also the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III.

Now as you can see this is a very important archaeological site. That is why the Ashmolean Museum is exhibiting over 500 spectacular archaeological objects, some that have never been seen before.

Some items include: 

* A golden head of Medusa (By the way if anyone finds a picture of this, please share with me)
* Armor
* Golden wreaths

Truly remarkable finds, I wish I could go to the Museum and see these items for myself!


Sources:
Heracles to Alexander: Ashmolean Museum unveils spectacular collection of Ancient Greek artefacts
http://eu.greekreporter.com/2011/03/29/heracles-to-alexander-the-great-exhibition-at-oxfords-ashmolean-museum/
http://eu.greekreporter.com/2011/02/25/alexander-the-great-exhibition-hosted-at-asmolean-museum-oxford/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_Macedon

Funny Friday

Source: http://www.funnytimes.com/playground/gallery.php?tag=archaeology

Cave of Forgotten Dreams

And just because everyone needs to see Werner Herzog's crazy life:



For more on this:
http://archaeology.about.com/b/2011/06/03/cave-of-forgotten-dreams-a-review.htm

Edible Archaeology

Edible Archaeology

The Archaeology News Network: Dig site gives glimpse into ancient daily life

On a routine dig in Beijing's north-western suburbs some rare discoveries were made. An ancient village that's over 2000 years old was found, as well as 21 ash pits and 24 houses.

For more on this:
The Archaeology News Network: Dig site gives glimpse into ancient daily life

Ancient Greek City Uncovered in Russia

Ancient Greek City Uncovered in Russia

The Top Ten Funny Archaeology Videos

The Top Ten Funny Archaeology Videos

Traces of ancient aboriginals found in Ontario lake bottom

By Tony the Misfit

Canadian scientists used drill cores to gather evidence of ancient Aboriginals in Ontario Lake (Canada). They found over a 150 small flakes of quartz which points to manufacturing of tools.

"The discovery of now-submerged archeological sites is expected to provide breakthroughs in the coming years for researchers trying to trace the initial peopling of the Americas via Pacific coastal routes in present-day Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California." (Source)

Source: Traces of ancient aboriginals found in Ontario lake bottom
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Assyrian dictionary finished after 90 years!

Source

In 1921 The University of Chicago started work on a Assyrian dictionary that lasted 90 years!

Gil Stein, director of the university's Oriental Institute:"The Assyrian Dictionary gives us the key into the world's first urban civilization," "Virtually everything that we take for granted ... has its origins in Mesopotamia, whether it's the origins of cities, of state societies, the invention of the wheel, the way we measure time, and most important the invention of writing. If we ever want to understand our roots we have to understand this first great civilization." (source)

I wouldn't mind a copy of this dictionary. It sounds facinating!

You can find the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary Project here:
http://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/cad/

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110604/ap_on_re_us/us_postcard_the90_year_dictionary_project

Spot The Difference

Some fakes exposed (I'm sure you all knew they were fake tho).