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Research into the largest relic from the Roman Empire's invasion of Scotland has given historians a dramatic insight into the daily life of ordinary soldiers and the gruesome nature of ancient warfare. Excavations of the 38-mile Antonine wall at Mumrills Fort, near Falkirk, have revealed evidence of the Romans' defensive structures, which were designed to cause the maximum damage to attackers, and even the daily cooking routines of foot-soldiers. The full article can be found at The Herald

Web-Beacon | Directory Ancient History Weab Beacon is a new directory that has already added UNRV to their Ancient History category.

A team of Australian archaeologists have sparked an academic row by claiming to have solved the riddle of a missing 1,000 years in human prehistory. The scientists from Melbourne's La Trobe University have found remnants of grains on the shore of the Dead Sea in Jordan that they believe help fill the 1,000-year gap in our knowledge of man's transition from nomad to farmer. But not everyone agrees, and the Australian team is now muscling up for an academic arm wrestle next month with the exponents of different theories in France. The debate is all about the period when man shifted from being a nomadic hunter-gatherer to settling down as a sedentary farmer. full story at The Age

Israeli archaeologists excavating caves near the Dead Sea have discovered a rare find

Controversial plans are afoot to revamp Rome's historic centre - to give visitors a better insight into how the ancient city looked. A 78-year-old Italian professor of architecture, Carlo Aymonino, has been entrusted by the city's mayor with redesigning the area around the Roman forum - once dominated by a soaring, white marble temple. more at the BBC

A life-sized statue of a warrior discovered in southern France reflects a stronger cultural influence for the Etruscan civilization throughout the western Mediterranean region than previously appreciated. Michael Dietler, Associate Professor in Anthropology, and his French colleague Michel Py have published a paper in the British journal Antiquity on the Iron Age statue, found at Lattes, a Celtic seaport Dietler is studying in southern France. They found the fine-grained limestone statue in the door of a large courtyard-style house they are excavating in the ancient settlement, which is five miles south of the modern day city of Montpellier. The statue dates from the sixth or early fifth century B.C. full article with image at Chicago Chronicle

"Never before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race.

I see Jug, so there was already roman coins in circulation long before he romans invaded? I also wonder how much the northern regions knew about the Romans at the time of the invasion, I mean how long would it take till people in Scotland (Picts, Brigantes) would have know that the Romans had invaded Britain. (if they actually cared)

Bulgarian archeologists will start some researches into the history of the Roman treasure of a total of 800 golden Republican-period coins dated from the period of II-I century B.C. as well as some Roman denars dated from the I century B.C. Some experts say that this will prove to be one of the greatest finds in the northern region of Vidin. The treasure was found during excavations in the Lozyata region near the Pokraina village. The northern Bulgarian region of Vidin has a rich ancient history as several ancient finds have already been excavated there. Different ancient ceramic works that are still to be studied and a cooper age village disclosed near the Antimovo village are among the numerous finds in the region. Last December Vidin's authorities announced that another two major ancient sites would be registered. The two sites are situated in the Grinduri and Albastrino countryside, near the Pokraina village. from novinite

The Roman site in North Swindon will undergo a major excavation later this year. Archaeologists want the help of local volunteers when they embark on a dig at the Groundwell Ridge site, in Abbey Meads. Dr Pete Wilson, the senior archaeologist at English Heritage, will outline plans for the site and review recent work during a talk at the Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, Bath Road, on Friday. He said: "What we hope to do this year is dig where Roman buildings were discovered in 1996. "The project will involve volunteers working alongside professional archaeologists. full article at the Evening Advertiser

Mel Gibsons controversial movie is set during the roman times. I will defenitely going to watch it as i like to get my own opinion, more info at http://www.thepassionofthechrist.com/splash.htm Some opinions: http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/news/2...sion-main_x.htm http://www.wthr.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647730 http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentSe...ol=969483191630 http://www.freep.com/news/religion/mel17_20040217.htm

A row over government plans to tunnel beneath the World Heritage site of Stonehenge is set to erupt at the opening of a public inquiry. The controversy centres over the proposal to dig under Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain and questions over whether the Government's plans go far enough to protect an irreplaceable asset. The Campaign to Protect Rural England objects to the scheme, arguing it falls short of the long bored tunnel, which would represent the best environmental option. George McDonic, Chairman of CPRE Wiltshire said: "The scale and impact of the Government proposals would seriously damage the visual character of the area and substantially worsen the physical division of the World Heritage Site. full article at ic Wales

Archaeologists in York believe a hoard of treasure recently found by metal detectorists could lead to the first discovery of a Viking boat burial in England. Simon Holmes, Finds Liaison Officer for the Portable Antiquities Scheme in Yorkshire, told the 24 Hour Museum that certain artefacts suggest this "awesome" find could be one of the most significant discoveries in the British Isles. "Some of the finds are boats nails," he said. "95% of me is happy that we

A prehistoric lost world under the North Sea has been mapped by scientists from the University of Birmingham. The team used earthquake data to devise a 3D reconstruction of the 10,000-year-old plain. The area, part of a land mass that once joined Britain to northern Europe, disappeared about 8,000 years ago. The virtual features they have developed include a river the length of the Thames which disappeared when its valley flooded due to glaciers melting. more at the BBC

The fraction of left-handed people today is about the same as it was during the Ice Age, according to data from prehistoric handprints. They were found in caves painted during the Upper Palaeolithic period, between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago. Left-handedness may have conferred prehistoric man advantages, such as in combat, say the researchers. The research is published in the February issue of the journal Biology Letters. full article at the BBC

Lying on a 2.3-hectare area, the garden represents that vast history by incorporating the growing number of ruins. Extraordinary findings were unearthed during the latest phase of excavation

i think 50.000 is a big number for any time, but as you said back in those days it was devastating for the persians.

Standing inside the maze of mysterious lines and figures that put this arid region on the tourist map, state archaeologist Alberto Urbano surveys a football field-sized spread of ankle-deep trash. But not just trash and small-time gold diggers threaten Peru's fragile Nazca Lines. Grave robbers, tractor trailers and tourists have left their mark on the mammoth designs carved more than a millennium ago along a 35-mile stretch of desert. In many ways the damage reflects Peru's inability to protect its myriad of pre-Columbian archaeological gems. full article at CNN

Tourists traversing Egypt's desert may solve a mystery that has puzzled archaeologists for centuries: what happened to the 50,000-man Persian army of King Cambyses. Set up by tourist operator Aqua Sun Desert, the Cambyses project will comb the desert sands using four-wheel-drive vehicles packed with paying tourists eager to find the remains of the lost army swallowed in a sandstorm in 524 B.C., according to the account of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus. via Discovery

Egypt's ancient pyramids are probably a byproduct of a decision to build walls around the tombs of kings, a leading expert on early Egyptian royal burials said Wednesday. Guenter Dreyer, director of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, said he based his theory on similarities between Egypt's first pyramid, built at Saqqara south of Cairo for the Pharaoh Zozer in about 2650 BC, and the structure of the tomb of one of his immediate predecessors. full article at Reuters

ARCHAEOLOGISTS working for Tesco have dug up more than they bargained for at the site of the company's planned new supermarket in Ballymoney. Hoping to discover traces of a medieval castle, believed to have once occupied the site, the archaeologists were amazed when they unearthed remains which date back some 9,000 years. Fragments of clay pottery and flints have been found in what is thought to be the remnants of an ancient settlement from the Neolithic period. Scientists also uncovered a complete axehead and evidence of a possible structure. more at ICNorthernIreland

A team of archaeologists is to dig for Roman remains - on the site of a Tyneside fire station. The excavations in Newcastle are planned around Westgate Fire Station, on the junction of Westgate Road and Wingrove Road, which is in the Hadrian's Wall corridor. The station, built in 1964, is due to be replaced by another, in Rye Hill, this summer with the dig due to begin after the crews have moved out. A team from the archaeology department of the Tyne & Wear museums service will start excavations to evaluate the site's significance. full article at ICNewcastle

The man who may have helped organise the building of Stonehenge was a settler from continental Europe, archaeologists say. The latest tests on the Amesbury Archer, whose grave astonished archaeologists last year with the richness of its contents, show he was originally from the Alps region, probably Switzerland, Austria or Germany. The tests also show that the gold hair tresses found in the grave are the earliest gold objects found in Britain. The grave of the Archer, who lived around 2,300BC, contained about 100 items, more than ten times as many objects as any other burial site from this time. When details were released, the media dubbed the Archer

Archaeologists from UCLA and the University of Delaware have unearthed the most extensive remains to date from sea trade between India and Egypt during the Roman Empire, adding to mounting evidence that spices and other exotic cargo traveled into Europe over sea as well as land. "These findings go a long way toward improving our understanding of the way in which a whole range of exotic cargo moved into Europe during antiquity," said Willeke Wendrich, an assistant professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures at UCLA and co-director of the project. "When cost and political conflict prevented overland transport, ancient mariners took to the Red Sea, and the route between India and Egypt appears to have been even more productive than we ever thought." the full article can be found at Popular Science

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