LVR-RömerMuseum für European Museum of the Year Award nominiert

Das LVR-RömerMuseum im LVR-Archäologischen Park Xanten freut sich über die Nominierung für den European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA). Der EMYA gilt als renommiertester Museumspreis Europas und bereits die Nominierung als Auszeichnung.

Read the rest of this article...

Project starts at historic Dorchester Roman site

Work has started to transform a historic part of Dorchester.

The landscaping project, at West Walks Road and Bowling Alley Walk, will open up Trinity Street car park and Borough Gardens.

The three-week development will be carried out in a conservation area next to the original boundary wall to the Roman town of Durnovaria.

West Dorset District Council has also obtained permission to remove some of the trees along West Walks Road.

Read the rest of this article...

Roman mosaic may lie beneath Chester’s Dewa Experience building

ARCHAEOLOGISTS says there is the tantalising prospect of a Roman mosaic beneath the Dewa Roman Experience premises in the city centre.

A ongoing dig Pierpoint Lane site, off Bridge Street, has so far exposed an eight metres section of Roman wall next to a courtyard along with the remains of a flue.

The wall would have formed part of a building, of unknown purpose, leading to speculation about what may lie behind the wall in the centre of the former premises.

Read the rest of this article...

Gems find from Roman times

A GOLD ring and a gemstone found in a field near Upton Grey date back to Roman times, an inquest in Basingstoke heard.

The ring dates back to the third century, and the gemstone from the first or second century. They were found on January 18 last year by Martin Barker, a plumber and amateur treasure hunter from Middlesex, using a metal detector.

Sarah Whitby, deputy coroner for North East Hampshire, ruled at an inquest into the find, held at the Civic Offices, that the items were treasure.

Read the rest of this article...

Figurine of Roman God found in Devon goes on show at Plymouth Museum

A tiny figurine of a Roman God discovered in Devon has gone on display in the Uncovered Gallery at Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery.

The copper alloy figure, which is only seven centimetres long, is a scaled-down version of a well-known image of Jupiter, Roman King of the Gods and God of sky and thunder.

The figure is around 1,700 to 1,900 years old and was discovered by a metal detectorist near Loddiswell, where such finds are extremely rare.

Read the rest of this article...

Asian skeleton found in ruins suggests Roman Empire larger than thought

Archeologists have discovered the 2,000-year-old skeleton of an Asian man in an ancient cemetery in Italy, suggesting that the Roman Empire's reach was far more extensive than previously thought.

Although the Romans are known to have traded for silk and exotic spices with China, it was thought that most of the commerce was conducted through intermediaries along the Silk Route and that no Chinese or other Asians entered the empire itself.

But that orthodoxy will now have to be re-examined after a team of Canadian archaeologists conducted DNA analysis on the man's bones and found that he came from East Asia.

Read the rest of this article...

Ben Hur in Colchester? Race is on to save UK's only Roman chariot racetrack

When the white handkerchief dropped, the Ben Hurs of Colchester would have set off down Circular Road North, past the banked tiers of seats, turning left at Napier Road, their iron tyres gouging a deep rut in the track,and back up past St John's gatehouse towards the water-spouting dolphin marking the end of the first lap.

Colchester, it seems, was the Formula One track of Roman Britain, with the only chariot racing circus ever found on the island, and the first found in northern Europe for 20 years. Now modern residents have less than a month to raise the money to save a unique monument and create a visitor centre to reveal the site's history.

Read the rest of this article...

Book your place at 'Portable Antiquities: Archaeology, Collecting, Metal Detecting' Conference

Registration is now open for the ‘Portable Antiquities: Archaeology, Collecting, Metal Detecting’ conference on 13th and 14th March 2010. This event is co-organised by the CBA and Newcastle University’s International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies, and takes place at Newcastle University and the Great North Museum: Hancock.

The papers at this conference offer perspectives from a range of different interest groups, look at recent research, present case studies from around the UK and beyond, and ultimately offer views about what the future may hold for portable antiquities management. Much debate is anticipated at this timely event.

Read the rest of this article...

Skeleton uncovered at Roman dig in Sleaford

Roman artefacts and a complete 1,700-year-old human skeleton have been uncovered by workers preparing a building site in Lincolnshire.

The skeleton was found at The Hoplands, in Sleaford, where North Kesteven District Council is building housing.

The remains, pottery and animal bones will now be moved to Lincoln where they will be cleaned and assessed by archaeologists.

Read the rest of this article...

Skeleton uncovered at Roman dig in Sleaford

Roman artefacts and a complete 1,700-year-old human skeleton have been uncovered by workers preparing a building site in Lincolnshire.

The skeleton was found at The Hoplands, in Sleaford, where North Kesteven District Council is building housing.

The remains, pottery and animal bones will now be moved to Lincoln where they will be cleaned and assessed by archaeologists.

Read the rest of this article...

Lost Roman Codex Fragments Found in Book Binding

Fragments of a lost ancient Roman law text have been rediscovered in the scrap paper used to bind other books.

The Codex Gregorianus, or Gregorian Code, was compiled by an otherwise unknown man named Gregorius at the end of the third century A.D. It started a centuries-long tradition of collecting Roman emperors' laws in a single manuscript.

The Codex Gregorianus covered the laws of Hadrian, who ruled from A.D. 117 to 138, to those of Diocletian, ruler from A.D. 284 to 305. (See a picture of a colossal statue of Hadrian found in Turkey.)

Read the rest of this article...

Roman skeleton unearthed in Sleaford

Buried deep under the ground for centuries, a long-forgotten Roman skeleton has been unearthed in Lincolnshire.

The skeleton, whose age and gender remain a mystery, was uncovered during a dig at The Hoplands in Sleaford.

Little is known about the ancient figure other than the fact it was buried face down and was discovered with a plethora of other Roman items.

Read the rest of this article...

DNA Testing on 2,000-Year-Old Bones in Italy Reveal East Asian Ancestry

Researchers excavating an ancient Roman cemetery made a surprising discovery when they extracted ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from one of the skeletons buried at the site: the 2,000-year-old bones revealed a maternal East Asian ancestry.

The results will be presented at the Roman Archeology Conference at Oxford, England, in March, and published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology.

Read the rest of this article...

An ancient Roman temple, discovered in the chancel of the church of Sant Feliu Girona.

The work that has lasted three weeks have also brought to light several tombs and a Roman Christian who, according to experts, could belong to some bishops or individuals from that epoch

An ancient Roman temple, discovered following the first excavations in the chancel of the church of Sant Feliu Girona.

The temple, with cross-shaped plan, apse, three naves and two side chapels, and several tombs from the sixth and seventh centuries, have appeared

Read the rest of this article...