Ancient Discoveries

Archaeological stunner: Not Herod's Tomb after all? While attention is focused on a blockbuster exhibition purporting to display the tomb of Herod the Great, two archaeologists claim there's no way the egomaniac king was interred there. By  Nir Hasson |  Oct. 11, 2013 | 9:13 AM A model of Herod's mausoleum on Herodium. Luxurious enough for a king?   Photo by Moshe Gilad Nir Hasson RELATED TAGS Israel archaeology Copper coin of Herod the Great, with the legend "Basileus Herodon" on the obverse and a Macedonian sun-symbol on the reverse. Photo by Wikimedia Commons RELATED ARTICLES Top 10 Israeli ancient mosaic discoveries By Miriam Feinberg Vamosh |  May 26, 2013 | 12:36 PM |   3 In May 2007, at a dramatic press conference, archaeologist Ehud Netzer revealed that King Herod’s tomb had been discovered on the slopes of Herodium. Now two archaeologists argue that what ...

3,000-Year-Old Sundial Found in Ukraine ROSTOV OBLAST, RUSSIA—A carved slab discovered in a Bronze Age burial mound in the Ukraine is said to be  the oldest sundial of its kind  ever found. Larisa Vodolazhskaya of Russia’s Southern Federal University analyzed markings on both sides of the stone and found that the elliptical pattern on one side is consistent with an analemmatic sundial that could keep time in half-hour increments. “The [markings] are made for the geographic latitude at which the sundials were found,” she said. The 3,000-year-old sundial would have been adjusted to the changing position of the sun every day, requiring a sophisticated understanding of geometry by the people of the Srubnaya culture. The other side of the stone is carved with two sundials, one of which would not have kept time. Experts Discover the Mother of Roman Perfumes On the Mediterranean Coast Oct. 9, 2013  — Researchers at the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville have describe...

Contact: William Raillant-Clark w.raillant-clark@umontreal.ca 514-343-7593 University of Montreal   Discovery of a 2,700-year-old portico in Greece Practicum students try to piece back together the multiple tile fragments that covered the floor of this shop in the Argilos portico. Click here for more information. A 2,700-year-old portico was discovered this summer on the site of the ancient city of Argilos in northern Greece, following an archaeological excavation led by Jacques Perreault, Professor at the University of Montreal's Centre of Classical Studies and Zisis Bonias, an archaeologist with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports. In ancient Greece, the portico—stoa in Greek—was a long, open structure that often housed shops and delineated public squares from the city—the agora. "Porticos are well known from the Hellenistic period, from the 3rd to 1st century BC, but earlier examples are extremely rare. The one from Argilos is the ol...

Ancient Roman coins depict sundry sexual acts, but what were they for? The Romans  loved sex . The wrote  graphic poetry  about it, and  scrawled x-rated graffiti  on their city walls. They even emblazoned currency with depictions of sexual acts. But what purpose did this coinage serve?  Fair warning:  numismatic pornography after the jump – potentially NSFW. RELATED The Lost City of Pompeii: Pictures of an Alien World, Frozen in Time In the year 79 AD, Italy's Mt. Vesuvius erupted with superheated ash that rained fiery death on several Roman cities nearby. But none was hit… Read… The graffiti of Pompeii was downright raunchy, and absolutely hilarious Before being entombed with ash by Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii was a thriving city. There was government, there was infrastructure — and yes, there was…  Read… The racy coins in question are known as "spintriae." A single spintria is typically a little smaller than a m...

Israeli archaeologist: 'I have never found so much gold in my life!' Gold treasure trove unearthed at base of Temple Mount Byzantine-era coins and unique menorah medallion found by Hebrew University archaeologists at site abutting Southern Wall By  ILAN BEN ZION   September 9, 2013, 11:12 am   31 Share 1115 Email Print Share Byzantine-era gold coins found near the Southern Wall of the Temple Mount (photo credit: courtesy Ouria Tadmor/Hebrew University) WRITERS Ilan Ben Zion Ilan Ben Zion is a news editor at The Times of Israel. He holds a Masters degree in Diplomacy from  …  [More] Follow or contact: Twitter RSS NEWSROOM Email Facebook Twitter RELATED TOPICS JERUSALEM ARCHAEOLOGY ARCHAEOLOGY IN ISRAEL Hebrew University researchers on Monday announced the discovery of a rare trove of Byzantine-era gold and silver artifacts, the most impressive of which is a 10-centimeter solid gold medallio...